//------------------------------//
// Horses, Hoof-Balls and Hallways 
// Story: The Chronicles of a Ponyville Teacher 
// by CluelessFilly 
//------------------------------//

	June 8th, 2008
"The square root of 176,908.4189 is 420. 60482510308889702985775223711," Time Turner answered. Cheerilee had been smiling for the whole seven hours they'd played square roots so far. She pulled out Mary's calculator, the one they'd been using, and began to enter the initial number, but it wasn't working.
"The battery died," Cheerilee deadpanned, passing it to the twelfth grader.
"Well, we had a lot of fun, didn't we?" Colgate commented. "I wish that Spitfire and Soarin' were here. They'd have enjoyed that." Cheerilee glanced to where the two eleventh graders were; they were seemingly texting each other with their fancy phones.
Mary loaded it into a side pocket on her gray backpack. "Well, we can always talk about physics," she shrugged. The scholars were interrupted by a loud whistle, which made Cheerilee's heart skip a beat. Colgate, who was closest to the window, peeked out and gasped.
"The college!" she exclaimed. "It's there!"
"Really?" Cheerilee involuntarily tossed Colgate out of the way and saw the huge stone building coming closer and closer. Her eyes danced over the dark building as the others joined her.
"It looks like something that came out of a horror movie," Lyra commented. "Maybe I'll meet my very special somepony in there... with all of the smarty-ponies that'll be in."
The train came to a complete halt, and the scholars eagerly climbed off. Cheerilee grinned a little meekly when Time Turner trotted at her side. He was really nice, as she'd learned a few hours before. She slowed down her bouncy trot on the dirt road to a more tentative walk to match his pace, stopping to adjust her black and white-checkered scarf, which began chafing her neck.
"Wow, that's a cool place!" Derpy commented in awe, staring at the school. She walked into part of the barbed wire and galloped nonchalantly past. Once again, Cheerilee wondered how that quaint little mare got a scholarship.
"How'd you do that?" Spitfire asked as she ducked down, allowing herself and her fiery mane to get through.
"What?" Derpy responded, spinning in place.
"How did you get past the fence w-without...?" Lyra took over, making some wild motions with her hooves as Soarin' nosed his way through.
"No reason," Derpy shrugged. "I just can't feel it." Cheerilee proceeded to go under when the wire stood up.
A brown hoof was carefully holding the wire up so she could get through. Time Turner. She beamed. "Thanks, Time Turner!" she acknowledged. Her scarf chafed her enough, so she pulled it back again. Mary began getting through as she rubbed the back of her head, which felt a little bit numb for some reason.
"No problem," Time Turner smiled as Mary trotted out to the other side. For a reason she could explain, she felt a good inch closer to Time Turner than the others. "After you, I insist."
The magenta mare trotted through, careful not to add her normal bounce in her step until she came out. Time Turner, unrushed, followed, and they sped up ever so slightly to keep up with the rest of the group.
"It looks even bigger up close!" Cheerilee marveled, grinning widely at Colgate, who had taken the lead.
"You can lead us for a bit," she invited, smiling brightly. "You're the most passionate about school out of all of us."
Cheerilee glanced around slyly, as if she half-expected somepony to sweep her up if she took on this oh-so-important job. "Thanks a lot, Colgate," Cheerilee acknowledged as Colgate changed her course a little and took a slower pace as  Cheerilee took over the nose. Colgate was super cool, too. For a fifteen-year-old, she was mature as she was compared to the Stompers, which was just another word for the kids who tackled everypony in tenth grade.
As they got closer, Cheerilee had to firmly hold herself back from speeding ahead impolitely. Mr. Perfect would have been proud.
"The school is so... big!" Derpy commented. Next to the massive school was a green field with huge stallions in gear out, tossing an oddly-shaped ball around.
"What are they doing?" Cheerilee asked. She almost immediately regretted it when Lyra. the closest pony, began giggling. She might be laughing with you, not at you, she  reminded herself.
"Don't you know what hoof-ball is?" she snickered after a moment. "A bunch of stallions toss that weirdly-shaped ball around and tackle each other." She puffed out her chest proudly. "My brother was a PROFESSIONAL hoof-ball player for the Detrot Rockers!"
"Nopony watches sports anymore, Lyra," Colgate pointed out sternly.
"You should still know what hoof-ball is," the mint colored unicorn protested.
"We're here," Soarin' announced. Cheerilee gazed up, ignoring the two ninth graders' argument. It looked even bigger up close!
"Should we go in?" Mary suggested after a moment of awe. There was no response for several awe-filled moments.
"Let's go," Colgate replied, opening and holding the door. Cheerilee was overflowed with a sense of accomplishment when she headed in behind Lyra. This college was huge! The content would be a breeze, but who might her roommate be? She shivered at the thought that she'd have to share a room with Lyra. Maybe she was just joking around, but she already hurt her feelings more than once. Mary, she'd noticed on the train, was hyper-organized, even for her standards. Soarin' and Spitfire were still a bit of a mystery, but they almost seemed... lenient! They didn't stay for square roots! Derpy appeared to be quite absent-minded and maybe a little destructive (she broke at least four calculators on the train, but Mary always holds extra) but not mean. Colgate was really nice so far, and so was Time Turner...
"Ya okay, Cheers?" Lyra interrupted as a warm sensation reached her cheeks. "You look kind of embarrassed."
Sharing a room with Time Turner was in her thoughts, but she shook her head. "I'm fine," she responded, looking away from the unicorn. She half-expected Lyra to turn and ask questions; it was so confusing that she would even enlist her help.
"Whatever floats your boat," Lyra answered with a shrug, falling behind. Just when Cheerilee was going to badger her to try harder, a loud, repetitive donging rung through the air. Period change!
Out of the brown doors, mares and stallions of all different shapes and sizes poured out. Cheerilee stared around in wonder at the wide variety. But, at the same time, there was no real shoving, save for the occasional shove by a rushing pony.
A college student, gold with a green mane decorated with bows, halted in their path. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Some of you look like eighth graders! Are you lost?"
"Ninth grade," Lyra corrected under her breath.
"Oh..." Colgate cleared her throat. "My name is Colgate. You see, we won a scholarship, and we're kinda lost."
"Alright; try heading down the hallway to the main office... I'm headed there anyway, so it's worth my trip!" The yellow mare beamed before adding, "My name is Apple Fritter." Then she led us along quickly; undoubtedly wanting to get to class on time. Cheerilee and Time Turner were taking up the rear, and as Cheerilee quickly learned, he didn't get thrown around like she did. No, he was the iron pony! When his gaze was sliding toward her, Cheerilee quickly turned to the others. Spitfire and Soarin' seemed to be more popular anyway, even clearing the way for a nearby Mary. Lyra was shouting something very crude to a mare that hit her side, but Derpy didn't seem to notice anything. Then she saw Colgate. She was struggling through the hall, bumping painfully into college ponies and then rebounding into the other scholars.
But Colagate's so nice! A group of mares hit Cheerilee forward, almost as if she was meant to help Colgate, calculating the exact times, place and force she had to use, unfortunately not being able to compute the individual students. She quickly leaped ahead when she was just rebounding off of Soarin'. Despite her lack of physical strength, Cheerilee beamed at her prize: a dizzy, ruffled Colgate with blue eyes like Derpy's. "Are you alright?" Cheerilee asked.
"Thanks," Colgate replied, stupefied by the dizziness. "And I'm fine!" The magenta mare still lent a shoulder and took some of the hits that came that way, but she didn't seem to have the same tendency to bounce around as Colgate, and bluntly got off easily. I spotted Apple Fritter standing in place, causing the main part of the group to bump into each other.
"This is the main office," she explained, motioning to the door. "You'll get a map of the school in there, and even schedules and rooms!" Apple Fritter dashed int he direction of one of the two exits, situated down long hallways.
Time Turner hurried ahead. "Let's head in before the bell rings," he suggested, opening the door. He's such a gentlecolt! Cheerilee almost giggled out loud to herself, but she just managed to keep back and help a still dizzy Colgate. She grinned. Y'know, it's kind've fun helping another scholar. Cheerilee sat in a chair, bordered by Derpy and Colgate. Ah, whatever: friends.
Number Two, the assistant principal, approached from behind the counter. "Can I help you?"
Before any of them could respond, she let out a battle screech and attacked the wall.