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// Welcome to Ponyville High  
// Story: Quirky 
// by MrRedRang1 
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Ponyville High was a place of greatness and going there was the biggest dream Crimson Fire could have, he longed to make more friends other than his mother and his teddy bear Mr Wiggles. Crimson Fire had a long, messy and red mane that stretched down to his back. His eyes surprisingly enough were a light crimson color with a hint of red while his skin was a nice light orange, Crimson Fire had wings and a horn but because his mother was an earth pony he didn't know how to use them. He also didn't have a cutie mark yet, but that didn't bother him. Their house was located just outside Ponyville, they had a great view of the town(which Crimson Fire was not allowed in) the only time Crimson Fire was allowed outside was when he could go in the backyard to have his lunch which would only happen if it were sunny out. Other than that he was kept inside all the day.

The time was roughly 7:30AM when Crimson started to wake up, slowly he started to open his well rested eyes and saw his mother standing there obviously waiting for him to get up for breakfast, she gave the awakening pony a warm, loving smile and said "Get up lazy-bones or you'll be late for breakfast and I know how cranky you get when you don't eat in the morning." She said in such a loving tone that made Crimson excited for just breakfast. She was wearing a large pink and yellow skirt with hair in a small bun. She had big blue eyes and a pink coat.

"OK mom, just give me a second and I'll be right down." he said as his mom gave him a big hug and left the room. Crimson then removed his duvet from his body, sat up and scratched the back of his head. The sun was shining through Crimson's open window and it felt great on the young stallion's body. His room was filled with toys and board games neatly put into drawers and chests, except for Mr Wiggles sitting right next to him. Next to his bed was a small cabinet with a lamp on top and inside was more toys and games that his mother had gotten over the years. He then shuffled himself to the side of the bed and put his legs on the floor so he was sitting upright, it started to slightly hurt his back so he lightly fell onto his forelegs and stood in the middle of his room for a few seconds before opening the bedroom door and go downstairs.

Crimson's mother was very protective over her son and was scared to let him go to public school for something had happened to her at school when she was a young mare, but she never told Crimson about it. To his mother Crimson was like a perfect little pony, for he had never heard a scary story before so he had nothing to fear nor does he know where filly's come from or anything in that category. But his mother wasn't thinking of how her little filly she had helped over his life would one day want some independence and meet other ponies his age, and that was exactly what Crimson was thinking and dreaming about.

Crimson now at the bottom of the stairs was just thinking of ways he could ask his mother today about going to Ponyville High, would he spell it out with fridge magnets or would he leave a leaflet for Ponyville High (which he found in the mail) in the book she was reading.

He made his way to the kitchen and found his mother sitting there with a brown hardback book. She averted her gaze from the book to her son getting on a chair opposite of her and with a smile she said "Enjoy your breakfast, honey." looking down Crimson saw his breakfast, a very healthy bowl of bran flakes, he didn't bother trying to eat it because he was going ask the same question he did every day

"So mom, is it OK if I go to Ponyville High and meet other ponies, please?" he was hopefully thinking that she would say 'yes' but of course the answer for the 100th time was 'no'.

"But mom a new year is starting at the school tomorrow and there will be ton of new ponies and I'll fit in with the rest, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!" Crimson said getting annoyingly high pitched at the 'please' part.

"The answer is no again Crimson." she said in a new assertive voice that Crimson only hears when his mom starts getting mad.

"But why mom, WHY! You've never told me why, you just say 'no' or change the subject I don't see the downside to going to school, you make friends there, you learn more stuff, you go on trips, there are tons of things you can do and there all fun." Crimson's voice getting louder and angrier.

"Yes but you can also get called very nasty names and get beaten up" His mom raising her voice as well "and you can get flunked out of school and feel shameful and......and.......an-" she took her gaze away from her son and looked at the floor. She was thinking very hard of what to do, she was scared of letting her son go and what could happen to him at school. But she knew she couldn't control his life anymore, it was the day she had dreaded all these years, Crimson wanted to leave and see the world.

"You really want to go don't you." she said with a sigh.

This took Crimson by surprise and left him sitting there for a few seconds speechless but then he spoke "Yes I do mom, I feel alone nearly all the time now, I have never met anypony other than you before and I'm 14 years old, i want go out and meet other ponies and laugh with them and play with them.........................please."

The room was filled with complete silence for about 5 minutes, Crimson was very scared and very excited at the same time, he didn't know what his mother was going to say until she finally said something.
"Well son you have asked me a lot recently and you seem to know what you want, but you do know if I send you to Ponyville High you cant come running back to me saying you want to leave." Excitement rushed through Crimson's body as he heard the words he only dreamed of coming out of his mother's mouth.

"Oh thank you mom, I love you sooooooooooooooo much!" He ran over to his mom and gave her a giant bear hug. She let out a small sigh and said "I love you too son, you stay here and I'll go down to the school and get you registered."

They then let go of each other and Crimson's mom started to walk to the front door. She swung the door open, turned around and said goodbye. This wasn't the first time Crimson had been in the house by himself, his mother sometimes went out to buy food, clothes, toys and always came back with something for her son.

There were about a thousand different thoughts rushing through Crimson's mind like 'I wonder what lesson i'll have first' and 'What will they do since I'm an alicorn' but the biggest thought was 'I'm finally going to meet somepony else'. 

30 minutes had passed since Crimson's mother had left and he was still very excited, he was sitting by the front door like a dog awaiting for it's master to arrive home. He was starting to get a bit frightened with thoughts of not seeing his mom again but those fears were put to rest as his mother walked into the house carrying a brown saddlebag. It had pockets all around and a Ponyville High logo on the front. She was slightly shocked at instantly seeing a very eager little pony sitting right in front of her but was pleased to see the house hadn't burnt to the ground. 

"Hey there kiddo, how are you feeling." her voice was muffled due to the saddle bag in her mouth, but Crimson could still understand her.

"Yes mom I'm fine so what happened." the words fell out of Crimson's mouth so fast it took his mom a couple of seconds to understand what he had just said.

"Well firstly I opened the door and then started walking and then I breathed in and then breathed out..............." she giggled to herself after seeing a small, angry expression on her sons face.

"No about the school, I mean"

"Fine then my very impatient one" she slowly walked over to the living room, sat down and also offered a cushion to Crimson as well. He quickly ran over to the cushion and listened to his mother very carefully.

"When I got down to the school I met the principle, his name is Mr Stronghoof, we got to talking and he said that it would be great for another student to join but only on the condition that you don't cause any trouble or anything like that. 

A thrilling feeling was shot through the body of Crimson Fire that had finally got what he was dreaming about all his life. He leaped into the air and cheered. Once he touched the ground again he put his hoof's around his mother and squeezed her tight. He was so happy he couldn't contain himself, he was jumping everywhere and laughing.

"OK Crimson calm down, you don't want to injure yourself on the day before school do you?" as soon as he heard that he sat back down, he didn't want anything bad to happen so he couldn't go into school.

"Oh umm sorry mom, I'm just so excited" 

"It's OK son I just care about you so much" she gave Crimson the brown saddle bag and went into the kitchen to clean.

He opened up the saddle bag to see if anything was inside, there were a few pencils, a note book and another leaflet about the school saying 'Welcome to Ponyville High'. He then took his things upstairs to his room. Once in his room he looked around for something to bring with him. Crimson picked up his beloved Mr Wiggles and put him in his saddle bag holding back his excitement. 

The next day Crimson woke up early (6:30AM) and rushed straight out of bed to his mother's room, almost tripping on the way there.

"C'mon mom, get up I have to get to school!" he began pushing his mother and she slowly started waking up. Crimson could hear a lot of muffled, tired noises but the only one he cared about was 'OK'. He ran back out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. Crimson probably set a record for fastest time to eat a bowl of cereal in the history of Equestria. Straight after he called for his mother to come down. He knew that school wouldn't start for an hour or so but since this was his first time in Ponyville he wanted to walk slowly and savoir everything. Crimson's mother was now in the kitchen too.

"Crimson, you do know that school doesn't start for another hour honey?." her eyes were slightly bloodshot probably due to her staying awake late at night.

"Yes I know mom its just that I would like to walk slowly and see the whole town." after hearing this she let out a small sigh and said "Oh very well my little pumpkin."

Crimson was ready to go off to school now, he had his saddle bag with all his things in, his mane was slightly combed and his tail was clean.

"OK mom shall we go now?"

"Only if your ready we will." she was fixing her hair in a mirror near the front door. Crimson quickly checked his bag again and said "Yes I'm ready."

They both walked to the door at the same speed and time. They then looked at each other, Crimson had a smile from ear to ear but his mom had a worried expression on her face. She slowly opened the door and a huge ray of light bursted inside making Crimson flinch and making him look away. His eye's had adjusted to the powerful light and he took his first step outside. The feeling of Crimson's hoof touching the gravel was amazing, he let out a small giggle and vaulted forward letting all his hooves touch the ground, he began to look around and saw a sign about 10 foot away saying 'Welcome to Ponyville'. He ran off to the large sign and touched it, still smiling like a 5 year old getting a puppy for Christmas.

"Hold on son, I thought you wanted to take it slow?" she said with a weak smile on her face.

"Sorry mom, I'm just so happy! Thank you so much!"

"It's alright son, I understand let me just catch up."

10 minutes later they were in Ponyville, Crimson had seen a bunch of new things for the first time like a bakery, a farm, a town in the clouds, a bouquet, a library in a tree and way more. He also saw a few ponies as well, they all seemed really nice and waved at him, some though looked quite shocked at the sight of an alicorn, Crimson didn't really notice though so he kept on walking and enjoying the day. He didn't understand why his mother didn't want him to come out here. When Crimson said he was going to take everything in he really meant it, he was looking at EVERYTHING, the ground, the sky, the ponies, the houses, the birds, the air, the everything and anything.

After a little while they finally arrived at the school, it was a giant building full with colors and shapes, windows were nearly everywhere so Crimson could still see the outside world once he was inside. There seemed to be a lot of different rooms in the school. Crimson looked around and saw a group of ponies sitting about 20 foot away (or is it hoof?), they were sitting under a large tree.

"Mom could I please go to those ponies over there please?"

"Ugh.......well.......alright Crimson, I'll go inside and tell the principle your here." Crimson's mom walked into the school and yet again Crimson was alone, but not for long.

He went on and walked to the group of ponies (3 to be exact) on his way over he got to see the back of the school, it was just like the front but with less windows and there was also a gigantic field with a race track and a place for hoofball. As he got closer to the group he could see them a little better. There were two young stallion pegasi and a very pretty unicorn. One of the stallions had brownish black skin and an army like haircut with a lightning cloud cutie mark. The other one had orange, spiky hair, yellow skin and a heart cutie mark. The very pretty mare had messy blue hair, white skin with a musical note cutie mark and also wore purple sunglasses. 

Crimson could tell he was being noticed due to the whispering and looks, but that did not stop him from going over there. He was finally at the group bringing all his awkwardness with him, he totally froze up and couldn't say a thing, he was getting slightly embarrassed at the fact all of them were staring at him now. 

"Um, hello?" the mare was the first to speak to him. "What do you want?" 

"Oh, well ugh, I'm sort of new here and I just wanted to meet somepony before school started and well, I saw you guys so I just came to say 'Hi'....................hi."

Each of the ponies said hey or hi and Crimson felt a bit better.

"So can I like, sit with you ponies please?"

"Umm yeah sure, sit down." the two stallions parted and made room for Crimson.   

"Thank you." he sat down and let himself get comfy, the grass was nice and soft. He was still felt blessed to be out here and feel the grass.

"My name's Crimson Fire, but you can just call me Crimson if you want." the mare smiled slightly and said "My name's Vinyl Scratch, but you can call me Vinyl. Hey your an alicorn! Cool. What does it feel like?"

"Oh thanks. Well for me it feels kinda normal really."

"I'm Thunderlane by the way." said the pony with an army haircut.

"And I'm..................Heartsworth." he put his head to the ground in shame, he must not like having a sort of girly name. "You can laugh if you like, I'm alright with it."

"Why would I do that? That would make you feel bad ultimately making me feel bad too." he lifted his head back up to see if Crimson was laughing, he wasn't, that made Heartsworth happy.

"Thanks dude."

"It's OK." Heartsworth looked at Crimson for a while until Vinyl broke the moment.

"Man you two love looking into each others eye's don't ya, Heartsworth are you gay?" he looked at Vinyl and shouted 'NO!'

"Okay dude, chill. What about you Crimson, are you gay?" Crimson didn't even know what gay meant let alone being it.

"Um well, I don't really know what that means" Crimson's face went even more red then before, but asking what gay meant was better than humiliating himself by saying the wrong answer. The group was giving him blank expressions, Vinyl started snickering to herself and told him what it meant.

"NO WAY, I LIKE MARES!, I DON'T LIKE...............guy's things." the three ponies started to laugh, not at Crimson just with him and even Crimson laughed as well. Crimson started to look around and saw loads of ponies starting to arrive, some went straight into the school but others talked outside.

"So guys when do we have to go inside?"

"In a few minutes I think." Thunderlane was the first to answer. Crimson was about to say thanks but he was interrupted by somepony.

"Looks like we've got another member in this little group of losers" the voice came from behind Crimson, it was a deep, taunting voice that made Crimson somewhat intimidated. Crimson turned around to find a large and tough stallion standing over him. He had a long blue mane and grey skin, his eyes were full of anger and pain (something Crimson hadn't seen yet) his cutie mark was what appeared to be a hoofball. 

"So whats your name? Or do you just want me to call you Loser number 4?" 

"My name is Crimson Fire, but you can call me Cri-" he was cut by the tall stallion.

"Yeah, yeah I don't care that much." the stallion rested his arm on Crimson's head, he could tell it slightly hurt Crimson due to his new facial expression."I'm RT and come to think of it I've never seen you around town before, where'd you come from anyway?"

Crimson didn't know what to say, should he make up a lie or would he tell him he was home schooled.

"I just ugh, moved here a few days ago." he was expecting RT to tell he was lying and show him up for it.

"Okay then, well I guess since your new here and everything there's a couple things you should know. Number 1, don't ever get in me or my gang's way or I'll destroy you. Number 2, don't ever hav-"     

"Oh leave him alone RT, he's new." Vinyl was trying to stand up for Crimson. RT seemed ticked off, he was glaring at Vinyl with his terrible eyes but she wasn't backing down. "Will you please get outta here now, I'm sick of having to look at your ugly face." 

RT was about to say something but didn't, he knew having a mare cry in front of everypony would make him look like an even bigger douche.

He then stormed off in a small strop, giving all the ponies around him dirty looks.

"Thanks for that Vinyl."

"Don't mention it dude, so where are you from anyway, oh wait let me guess." she put her hoof up to her chin and thought for a little while.

Wow, she actually stood up for me and I've only known her for about 5 minutes. Man I love the way she's done her hair, it's quite messy but it's also very nice.

"So am I right Crimson? Hey Crimson. CRIMSON!"

He snapped out of his little daydream to realize that Vinyl had been talking this whole time.

"Yeah, your absolutely right about..........that."

"Oh so you are from Manehatten."

"Yes I am, what did you think I wasn't listening or something?" the group laughed and Crimson felt happy, school hadn't even started yet and he'd already met some friends, laughed and found out what 'gay' meant.

"Hey Crimson isn't that your mom over there?"  Thunderlane pointed over to the school and Crimson turned around to see. His mom was standing outside signaling him to come over to her.

"Yeah that's my mom, I think she wants me to come over there, well I guess I'll see you guys later." Crimson began to stand up and his new friends said goodbye. He turned and walked away still thinking about his new experience, mostly about Vinyl though. He was also thinking about his encounter with RT, he didn't realize it yet but RT was going to be Crimson's first ever bully. He was trying to concentrate on the good things though like the fact that there were dozens and dozens of different students now, some were depressed and just moped around not happy to be at school, some were excited and bounced everywhere, some were playing hoofball with each other.

"Looks like somepony made a few friends." 

"Yep I sure did and there's tons of other ponies here so I'll make even more!" Crimson was getting more excited the more he talked.

"That's good honey, now the principle wants a quick word with you about your lessons OK."  

"OK mom, I mean that is one of the reasons I came here."

Crimson and his mother walked to the front door of the school, the doors were huge, about the size of two fully grown      ponies. Crimson insisted on opening the doors himself and his mother allowed it. Crimson pushed open the doors and saw his dreams come true. There were even more ponies in here than outside, again all of them different, lockers were also scattered around the place, the walls were painted a nice yellow and green. The school was like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, twists and turns everywhere. 

The two of them had finally made it to Mr Stronghoof's office, it stood out from the rest of the school because it was quite bland with photos of relatives and friends, but to say the least it was the cleanest place in the entire school, not a spec of dust in sight. 

"Hello there Crimson, how ya feeling?" the principle spoke in a very kind, fun voice but Crimson knew if you got on his bad side he could really change. Mr Stronghoof was a quite tall stallion with a big grey beard and hair, he had dark orange skin and his cutie mark was a book.

"I'm feeling pretty good, sir."

"Well that's good Crimson, now down to business, this school prides itself to let students use all parts of there body and mind in education, meaning pegasi and unicorns have normal lessons such as Math, English, Science etc, but they also have lessons practicing there own abilities like flight and magic, we have taken in account that you can do both and we have created this very thought out times table." Mr Stronghoof gave the small timetable to Crimson and a big grin grew on his face. "It may be hard Crimson but if you accept, you will have the chance to learn, fly better and perform more advanced magic."

Crimson looked at his mother to see if she had anything to say, all she did was look at him awaiting for him to make an answer. For the very first time Crimson got to answer for himself and he was so happy to know it.

"Yes sir, I accept your offer. I will try my hardest to be the best student EVER!"

Mr Stronghoof laughed at how much excitement and happiness went into that sentence, his mother though only gave a soft smile to hide slight sadness of the realization that Crimson is starting to grow up.

"Well that's great Crimson, I hope you have a wonderful time at the school and remember, if you have any trouble come straight to me." Crimson smiled at Mr Stronghoof, believing that there would be no trouble at all. "If I'm correct, you have a flying lesson first." 

Crimson looked at the timetable which was folded up into a neat square. He opened up the timetable and saw an array of different colors and blocks containing lessons, rooms and teachers. It seemed that the type of lessons were all color coded as well. The pegasi lessons were blue, unicorn lessons were red and normal lessons were yellow. It was a Monday so Crimson viewed the first set of blocks. Mr StrongHoof was correct, he had a pegasi lesson first. 

Crimson and his mother were standing outside the principle's office looking at each other and smiling. Still there were ponies running around but there was a few getting to there lessons.

"Thank you mom, for everything. I love you." Crimson hugged her and she hugged him back.

"I love you too Crimson," she let go of her son and put on her serious face. "son I'll have to go now, but remember there is still time to change your mind and come back home with me."   

"No way mom, I'm going to be fine here. I'm going to be fine and happy."

A loud bell rang out indicating that class was about to start. Ponies started to walk off to there lessons whiles others stood around a talked for longer.

"I hope you have a great day Crimson."

"I think I will mom."

They hugged one last time, a faint shout was heard from behind Crimson. Crimson turned around to see Thunderlane shouting him. He was smiling while saying it and made Crimson felt welcome.

"Yo Crimson! Do you want to walk to class with me!" Thunderlane shouted out. 

"OK guys! Just give me a second." he turned back to face his mom.

"Goodbye mom, I love you."

"I love you too son, see you after school." she started to trot away, she felt like making Crimson come back with her, but she knew she had to let him go. He watched as his mother left the hallway, leaving Crimson by himself, he was happy.

"Hurry up Crimson! Were going to be late!" Crimson didn't want his new friends to angry with him so he ran over to them. The group wasn't that far away and only took a matter of seconds for Crimson to get there.

"So are you excited for the first lesson of this school ever." Crimson said. Thunderlane said 'not really' and Crimson felt a bit awkward.

"Oh, well I am."

They started to walk to the door leading them outside, they were heading to the field were they first met.

"I like your enthusiasm Crimson, your going to need it." Thunderlane nudged Crimson on the shoulder.

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"Well this school has a really hard flight course, with obstacles and hoops and way more dangerous stuff."

"Oh yeah I read about that in the leaflet, hey didn't somepony end up in hospital because of how tough the course was?" Crimson was starting to get worried.

"Yes they did, isn't it cool!" 

"Well, if you say so."

Crimson was getting really scared now, he didn't want to be in hospital on his first day, he was also nervous by the fact that he couldn't fly yet. He knew he was scared but he was going to make himself try, he wanted to learn so badly. Crimson started to think.

OK well I'm really scared now, but I have to try, I mean really, what can go wrong?