Chapter 4: School Is For Foals
Several months had rolled by and the big moment had finally come. Luke stood nervously outside his house on a clear sunny morning, alongside his darling daughter. The reason for his tension was the same reason Fluttershy was wearing a custom made saddlebag on her back full of notebooks and pencils.
"Now you're sure you still want to do this, Fluttershy?" asked Luke. "Because we can still wait another year if you want to."
"Daddy, I think I've waited long enough." Fluttershy answered with a smile. "I'm so excited, I can hardly wait!"
"Well, just let me and your mother know if anything goes wrong."
"I'll be fine, Daddy. It's only my first day."
"You're right, sweetheart. Oh, here comes the bus."
"Yay!"
Fluttershy began hopping in place and flapping her little wings at the sight of the big yellow school bus approaching up the street with a loud clunky engine. The bus soon stopped in front of the house and the doors opened with a hiss.
"Alright, Fluttershy," said Luke, kneeling down. "Hope it goes well."
"Thanks, Daddy." She hugged her father before scampering off to climb aboard the bus. "Bye!"
As Fluttershy stepped aboard, the driver greeted her happily. "Why hello there, little girl, you ready for..." The man stopped as he took a second longer look at her.
"You bet!" she said and walked down the aisle to find a seat.
The driver darted his eyes in confusion, but then shrugged as he closed the doors and prepared to drive off.
After drawing more puzzled stares from the kids onboard, Fluttershy found an empty seat in the back and gazed out the window at her waving father. She waved back as the bus drove away.
Luke sighed to himself after watching his little filly dissapear down the road. At long last, he had found a local elementary school to enroll Fluttershy in. As a bonus, she was placed in the third grade class, since her pony intellect had already developed so quickly. Thanks to her father's teachings, she was adept at basic math, including addition and subtraction, her writing and spelling were on the ball, and she was practically reading at a sixth grade level. Although he had no doubt she would excell in all subjects, Luke still felt uneasy about letting his pony daughter join an institution of human kids. He was never all too sociable in school as a boy, so he feared to imagine how Fluttershy would be accepted, as he went back inside to prepare for work.
...
Fluttershy stepped off the bus and looked ahead with awe. With a broad smile, she gazed at the front doors of the elementary school wondering what would lie beyond; what wonders she would be taught in the hallowed halls of learning. Wasting no more time, she pranced on through the doors and immediately stopped at an imposing sight. Every which way, there were human children bustling about the halls, chatting and gossiping at their lockers and running through the halls with laughter. Never before had Fluttershy seen so many humans in one place; the crowd was intimidating, but she took a deep breath and pressed on.
As she wandered through the hall slowly, more and more children began noticing her with shock. Some of the boys pointed with amazement, while the girls whispered to each other in gossip; even some of the teachers gave discrete glances. Fluttershy grew increasingly uncomfortable with the amount of eyes staring at her as she hid her face behind her mane. Nevertheless, she continued to look for the classroom she had been assigned to, room 303. At last, she found the room and noticed a woman standing outside the doorway smiling at her.
"You must be Fluttershy." The elderly woman said, adjusting her glasses.
"Um...yes." Fluttershy answered with her face still shrouded.
"It's very nice to meet you, dear. I'm your teacher, Mrs. Jenson. Why don't you come inside? The bell is about to ring any second."
Suddenly, Fluttershy began to feel a bit more relaxed, finding trust in this kindly lady. "Okay, thanks." She smiled as she followed her new teacher into the room.
Upon entering, she gazed at the square formation of desks laid out before Mrs. Jenson's, each one occupied by another average third grader. Amongst the constant chatter, the girls were showing off their new back-to-school wear in seperate little cliques, while the boys waged war on each other with paper airplanes and spitballs. Fluttershy continued to stare at the loud hoard as Mrs. Jenson spoke up.
"Class, quiet down now." She ordered making the kids instantly shut their traps. "I'd like you to meet our new student. It's her first day of school, so make her feel welcome." She then knelt down to the filly. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"
Fluttershy hid behind her mane again as she addressed the class. "Um...hi. Uh, I'm...Fluttershy..." she mumbled as she scuffed the floor.
"What was that, dear?" asked Mrs. Jenson.
"...I'm...Fluttershy..."
"I'm not sure the class can hear you, sweetheart. Can you speak louder please?"
"I don't think she can speak at all, Mrs. Jenson." One of the boys in the back teased causing a few others to laugh immaturely.
"Benjamin, you behave!" Mrs. Jenson scolded at the boy.
Fluttershy blushed and averted her eyes from the tough crowd.
"It's alright, Fluttershy," said Mrs. Jenson. "You can take a seat at the front."
"Thank you, Mrs. Jenson." She sighed as she walked over and sat at a front corner desk. Fluttershy slouched in her seat, feeling judgement from the rest of the class.
"Okay everyone," continued their teacher. "Now I know we've only had a week of school so far, but let's start with our multiplication tables."
The class groaned strangely in unison, except for Fluttershy who was curious to discover these 'multiplication tables'. She politely pulled out a notebook and pencil from her saddlebag, and directed her attention to Mrs. Jenson at the chalkboard.
"Now, when multiplying two numbers," she explained. "You are basically putting one number into groups of the other. For example, 2 X 3." She scribed the equation upon the board. "To solve this, you take two groups, and put three units into each one, making a total of six units. Therefore, the answer to this problem is 6."
Fluttershy eagerly copied down the equation and the instructions to solve it, by maneuvering the pencil with her mouth. Little did she know about the snickering coming from one of the kids about her writing style.
"Let's try another one: 2 X 4. Now who wants to give this one a try?" asked Mrs. Jenson, with no response. "Come now, class, one of you must know how to do this."
In that moment, Fluttershy knew that she could easily tackle this equation. But the thought of herself speaking up amongst the class made a knot in her throat.
"Anyone? Anyone at all?" urged Mrs. Jenson.
The tension was gripping Fluttershy. Seeing none of the other kids volunteering, she through caution to the wind and raised her quivering hoof slowly.
"Yes, Fluttershy. Do you know the answer?" said Mrs. Jenson before her new student could reach above her head.
Fluttershy darted her eyes in pause, then spoke as clearly as she could while still keeping her hushed tone. "Um...8?" she squeaked.
"That's correct!" smiled Mrs. Jenson, writing the answer. "Very good, Fluttershy. I'm glad to see one of you is paying attention."
Fluttershy smiled with relief at her teacher's compliment. But she then felt awkward after seeing the cockeyed stares from most of the other students.
After a while, the class ended with a ring of the school bell, and the students were dismissed to use their lockers. Fluttershy found hers at the bottom row and read the combination for the lock. As she configured the dial, she turned to the side and noticed a trio of kids standing close to her, giggling and glancing at her quickly. There were two boys plus a girl who waved at the new student with a smile.
Fluttershy returned the smile and waved back. "Um, hi." She said.
Without a response, the three kids went back to laughing and snickering to themselves.
Fluttershy looked at them puzzled as to what was so funny, but then shrugged and continued turning the dial. After one more spin, she unlocked the latch, opened the locker and gasped. Inside, the locker was filled to the top with dry yellow hay. It was then that the trio of kids finally burst out in laughter. Fluttershy darted between the pile of hay and the guffawing children who ponted at her, in confusion. Then, it soon became apparent to her.
"Did you guys do this?" she asked them innocently.
The kids could not reply as they were too caught up in laughter to utter anything intelligible. As they continued holding their sides, Fluttershy spoke.
"That was really thoughtful of you!"
The three instantly ceased their laughter and looked up. They gawked as Fluttershy began munching away at the pile in her locker, enjoying the hearty crunchy taste. One of the boys slapped his face and muttered. "Oh that's right, they eat hay."
Having finished half the hay pile, Fluttershy then closed the locker and smiled at the pranksters. "Thanks you guys. I can tell we're going to be great friends." She then trotted off humming merrily to herself.
The trio of kids scratched their heads in wondering about what had just happened.
Later that day, Fluttershy sat alone in the school cafeteria during lunch. She had just picked up a tray of pizza, or at least what looked like pizza and not just an amorphous mound of cheese and sauce. Fluttershy poked at it hesitantly; she had eaten pizza before, but none that looked like it would crawl off the tray and lay eggs somewhere. Nonetheless, she began to choke it down and considered getting a salad next time.
As she ate her lunch, a group of girls wearing flashy clothes approached her table. One of them, with the name 'Samantha' bedazzled on her backpack, spoke to her with a wad of gum in her mouth.
"Hey Fluttershy." Samantha greeted.
Fluttershy glanced up. "Um, hello." She replied with a sheepish smile.
"So, like, me and my friends were wondering. You're, like, a pegasus pony, right?"
"Uh, yes I am."
"Oh my gosh, that is like so cool!" Samantha flicked her hands flamboyantly. "So that means you can, like, fly and stuff?"
"Well, actually not yet." Fluttershy shrugged. "I never really learned how."
"What? You have wings and you can't fly?" exclaimed Samantha with a scoffing smile.
Another girl, with 'Miranda' embroidered on her backpack, scoffed as well. "Oh my gosh, like, if I had a pair of wings, I would, like, fly to Pinkberry every day, like no joke."
Fluttershy stared puzzled by this girl's exclamation. "Um, what's Pinkberry?"
Samantha gave yet another scoff. "She doesn't know?" she turned to Miranda then back to the filly. "Well, see you round, Fluttershy. Maybe we'll come back and give you, like, balloons or something to help you fly."
The girls walked off giggling and chattering obnoxiously, leaving a bewildered Fluttershy still sitting alone. She lowered her head on the empty table, getting the feeling that she wasn't quite fitting in.
"Uh, hi. Is this seat taken?"
Fluttershy's ears perked up at the sound of a young male voice. She up in front to see a tall looking boy smiling at her with dark brown eyes. He seemed quite handsome to her, with neatly combed blonde hair, a sweater vest and khakis. After a pause, Fluttershy replied.
"Um, no. You can sit down if you want."
"Thanks." The boy sat on the table bench across from her putting his tray of food down. "So I guess you're the new pony student." He said knowingly.
"I guess I am." She answered ducking behind her mane.
"That's awesome." The boy responded positively. "I bet it's pretty weird being the only one here at school."
"Yeah, I'm not sure if the other kids like me very much."
"They're just not used to seeing you, that's all. I know how you feel; my family moved here a year ago, so I still get called the new kid. By the way, what's your name?"
"Um...Fluttershy." She felt surprised at herself for introducing herself clearly this time.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Scott; Scott Ashton." He reached out his hand.
Suddenly feeling confident again, Fluttershy revealed her face with a smile and gave Scott her hoof for him to shake. "It's nice to meet you too."
"Listen, don't let those dumb girls upset you." Scott resumed. "If you ever want someone to talk to, you can always sit with me during lunch."
Fluttershy gave an excited flap of her wings. For once, she finally had found another human other than her parents who she felt comfortable speaking to. She lit up with a grin.
"Thanks, Scott. Um, do you think we can be friends?"
"You bet, Fluttershy." Scott nodded.
...
Luke rested his cheek in his palm, as he sat in his cubicle sipping a mug of coffee. It wasn't even noon yet and he already felt like heading home. Deep down, he worried about Fluttershy's first school experience, and badly wanted to be there for her if anything were to go wrong. After putting off his spreadsheet for a few more minutes, he heard a knock on his cube.
"Morning, Luke."
It was Luke's coworker and friend, Mac, one of the IT specialists at the office; but he was also one of the several ponies who worked there. The earth stallion had a white coat, with a light blue mane and green eyes; his cutie mark featured a blank laser CD. Originally a native of Manehattan, Mac later moved to California to join the small workforce of ponies in the land of humans. He quickly found business at a software company in Silicon Valley, where Luke worked as a marketer. The two of them hit it off and would frequently chat on and off company time. Still, Luke had told him about having a daughter, but failed to mention that it was one of his own kind.
"You look like you're having a rough day." Mac said.
"Oh, yeah," replied Luke. "It's, uh, it's my daughter's first day of school."
"Ah yeah," nodded Mac. "That's always rough for them. I remember my foal's first day."
Luke perked his head up. "You do?" he asked curiously.
"Of course. Before we moved to California, my daughter went to Manehattan Elementary. I tell you, she was actually less nervous than I was. I was so afraid of her fitting in and what not."
Luke blinked, hearing the irony in his friend's words.
"But you shouldn't worry too much;" resumed Mac. "Pretty soon, your little girl is giong to make some friends."
"Yeah, you're right." A thought then popped into Luke's head, and he changed the subject. "Say Mac, do you know any pegasi in flight camp? Or at least anypony who has a kid in flight camp? Just curious."
"As a matter of fact, I have a friend who works at a flight camp. From what he's told me, it's pretty much like a boarding school. The teens all live together while learning to handle their flying ability; simple as that."
"But let me ask you something hypothetically. If a foal pegasus is raised by, uh, non-pegasi parents, does that change anything."
"Hmm, I would imagine so. Without parents who could fly, the foal probably wouldn't adapt the ability to do so as well as other pegasi. It's kind of like that human movie I saw once. What was it called...oh yeah, Last of the Mohicans."
That final point struck Luke inside. He played through his head the story of Hawkeye, the English settler who was raised all his life by a vanishing native American tribe during the French and Indian War. It was then that he grasped the concept of a living thing being brought up outside its own element.
"Well, I got to get back to work." Mac said. "Say hi to your daughter for me, will ya?"
"...Yeah...sure." As Mac walked away, Luke rested his head on his desk, not bothering to finish his coffee.
...
That afternoon, the school bus drove off and Fluttershy scampered up to the front door. As expected, Haley opened the door and greeted her daughter with a lift up in her arms.
"Hi sweetie," she said with a kiss. "How was it?"
"It was great, Mommy," replied Fluttershy. "I learned a whole bunch of new stuff, and I even met a boy who was really nice."
"Wow, you made a friend already? That's terrific, Fluttershy."
"Yeah, his name is Scott and he lives just across the street. He said I could come over to his house to play after school. Can I, Mommy, please? Um, if it's okay?"
Haley smiled at her filly, unable to resist those sparkling teal eyes. "I don't see why not. Sure you can go over...but only if you finish your homework first."
"Oh, I already finished it on the bus."
"Well, alright. But make sure you come back for dinner."
"Okay. Thanks, Mommy!" smiled Fluttershy as she hugged her mother and then trotted off across the street. Standing on the other side in one of the front yards was Scott waving to her as she scampered over.
Haley watched from afar and muttered to herself. "Since when do kids these days finish their homework early?"
Just then, she spotted the familiar silver Volkswagen approach up the driveway and park in front of the garage. Out of the driver's seat came Luke who looked as if he was ready to go back to bed. He walked up to his wife who kissed him on the cheek.
"Hey, glad you're home." She greeted.
"Is she home yet?" asked Luke.
"Yup, and she's perfectly fine." Haley replied aware of her husband's anxiety. "She's just across the street playing with a new friend from school."
Luke peered across the street at the neighboring yard. He caught Fluttershy learning to kick a soccer ball from Scott and seeming to have fun.
"Don't worry," nudged Haley. "He seems like a nice boy. Aren't you glad she found a friend?"
"Yeah," uttered Luke still looking on. "I'm proud of her."
The couple went inside as Fluttershy carried on playing with her new friend. At one point, she even rode in a small wagon as Scott ran and pulled her along.
"Wee! Ride, horsie, ride!" she cheered.