"Oh gosh. I can't wait."
Cotton could feel the filly twitching on her back as Cotton walked.
"Like, I just. I don't know. I wanna be there already, but it's class, so ew."
Cotton giggled. "You remind me of myself when I was younger. I-" Cotton intended to continue, but was cut off.
The filly spoke with not a small amount of snark, "Well, yeah. I'm just you but younger. In like every way. Absolutely. One hundred percent. My name is even Cotton."
Cotton sighed and hung her head. Slowing her pace, she facehooved.
The filly's giggling bled into her sentence, "Anyway... It's- I'm excited. It's the first day of the school year. At a new school too! Why wouldn't I be excited, Cotton? Sure, some kids would be very against it. You know, those ones who just kinda dislike school and shit." The filly tensed.
"Aqua. Language." Cotton sighed again.
"Yeah, sorry. I know I can't talk like that at the school but anyway, So like those people don't really like doing stuff, or just kinda don't like being bored. I mean, hell, being bored is just like the opposite end of having fun. You gotta be bored now and then to have fun, right? And if something is really boring, and then you get to do something that's only a little fun, it's great suddenly!"
Cotton forced herself to look forward as she trotted down the street. Other ponies were glancing this way. Don't blame them. Cotton mentally sighed.
Aqua continued, unaware of the attention she was gathering. "Sure, that boredom isn't fun itself, but that's life. You gotta go through the boring, unfun stuff, or else you don't get the fun stuff. Sure, school is sometimes fun, and sometimes, though it's often more than just sometimes, not fun. But that's why you choose the good classes. Well, good is also subjective, but damn. Some classes aren't ever fun. Like take math, for example."
Cotton could feel Aqua talk animatedly, slightly moving about atop her back. Does she know ponies are watching?
"Math really isn't fun. Well, unless you're a nerd or a geek or something. I don't remember the proper terminology. Anyway, where was I? Oh right, math. Math isn't really fun at all. It's boring and basically you just input funny number into funny equation and work it out. It's like if you made a puzzle but just made it not fun. Sure, you're gonna be able to complete it in time, but it's just boring. Well, not if you're one of those mathematicians who like make new theories and stuff. Though that's more physics and other stuff like that. Not really what you would do in a class. You don't go around changing the world in a single class, after all."
Cotton turned to the filly on her back as she walked slower.
"That kind of stuff comes after the classes, and like after you've graduated." The filly leaned to her side slightly, "At least that's how I think it works." Leaned back. "There's very likely been people who really did change the world with like one simple theory in classes." Aqua turned her head. "I think some famous geniuses did that. But that's beyond the standard for someone to expect or even strive for. It's really annoying sometimes, though. Comparing yourself to someone great, but like also, that could be you." Aqua's forehooves shot into the sky. "You just don't know yet! All you gotta do is just keep trying! Well, that and hope for the best. Though sometimes that doesn't really help. But then you got other problems like depression." The filly breathed in deeply, nearly hyperventilating due to how much air she just used up.
Cotton opened her mouth to speak.
Only to be cut off as the filly looked straight forward and slightly leaned back. "Wow I'm really energetic." Which meant she was now facing Cotton's face. Aqua's ears also began to twitch and turn this way and that. "Oh." Her cheeks and ears reddened.
Cotton giggled. At least she knows. Turning back to the road, she spoke to the filly, "Relax, Aqua. It's your first day of class. You'll be fine."
Aqua laughed. "Oh I'm not anxious I'm-. I know I said I was nervous or something, but that's normal. I'm only normally nervous. But I'm not anxious. It's like a... a... uh... I don't know, something like anticipation for both the event and for the event to be over, I suppose? So like excited and maybe just slightly nervous, but like it's gonna be weird... Yeah."
"It'll all be okay, Aqua."
"Yeah, I know. I just gotta stop being so energetic. Unfortunately I can't really go running around while we walk. WAIT! I can just do the levitation thing. That bleeds off energy, right?" Cotton felt the filly reach a hoof into the saddlebags on Cotton's back.
"Aqua, we're almost there. Just wait a little bit, okay?"
Aqua groaned, hoof still in bag. "How long you thinking? Can you see the building?"
Cotton giggled again. "Yes, but you can see it from most of Canterlot. We are close, though."
"Oh, okay. Why didn't you start with that, though? And I got you... How tall is the building if you can see it from most of the city?"
The pegasus looked over the nearby storefronts at the large building not far in the distance. "I'm... not sure. It's almost four or five houses tall? And the highest points are all towers."
"Oh okay, so more like a cathedral rather than just a really really large building. Makes sense. Easier to build, as well."
Cotton's eyebrows furrowed. "You know how to make buildings?"
The filly giggled. "No, I just know some things here and there that are fairly important. Arches, and how pyramids work." The pegasus could hear the smile on Aqua's face as she lowered her voice for a second. "Stack rock on rock. Simple."
Cotton laughed. Turning a corner, the pegasus could now see the front doors of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Cotton looked back at the filly on her back and smirked. "Hey Aqua."
The filly had a smile on her face as she tilted her head. "Yeah?"
"We're here."