After such an awesome party, Manic Moon and Zelda spent most of the next day unpacking their belongings and buying some goods they still needed for the house. Manic was more than happy they didn´t have to hide anymore. Just two days in town and they were already being treated like normal ponies. It was like a dream come true for him. Now all he needed was a new job, but a bartender was nothing Ponyville was looking for, since there was no bar in this town. On the other side, Zelda had completely different problems. Today was Monday, and Monday is a schoolday; her first schoolday in the new town. She was running through the living room, not knowing what to think first.
"OMG! OMG! OMG!.......My first schoolday.......But what if I´m not smart enough?.........And there are so many new fillies.....But what if they don't like me?.......I heard my teacher's name is Ms. Cherilee.......But what if she doesn´t like me either?..........And..." she was zipping from one place in the room to another. Manic was following her the entire time, holding down a giggle. Suddenly he was putting his hoof on the ground, pinning Zeldas tail down and stopping her from running around any longer.
"Calm down Zelda! You had a lot of friends in your old class and you will find even more in your new one." he said.
"But what if I don´t? The Cutie Mark Crusaders asked me to join their club, but I refused. What if they hate me now and start to bully me?" she said nervously. Manic put his hoof on her head and laughed.
" If they do, I'll visit you class and eat all the mean fillies. 'Cause I´m the big and evil demon-pony! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Manic chuckled. She punched him playfully.
"Daddy! I am serious about this. He he he he!" Zelda started to laugh too.
"Now go and get your saddle bag! You don´t want to be late on your first day, do you?" he said. Zelda ran off and collected her school things. In the meantime, Manic made a banana sandwich for her. Together with an apple and a little bottle of milk he packed Zelda's lunch box and waited at the frontdoor. Soon enough Zelda ran down the stairs and met him there. He laid the lunch box in her bag and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"Have fun my little angel." Manic said with a smile.
"I'll do my best daddy." Zelda answered and run of in the direction of her school.
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A short time later, every foal in Ponyville was sitting in Cherilee's classroom and waiting for the lesson to begin. The teaching mare stood before her class, like always, but next to her stood a very nervous little filly with changeling wings. Cherilee felt this and gave Zelda a comforting smile.
"Good morning my beloved pupils. Today we´ve got a new filly in class. Maybe you already know her from Pinkie Pie's party last Saturday. Zelda and her father just moved to Ponyville, and I hope you all will help her to feel comfortable in this class soon." the teacher said with her kindest voice.
"Hello. I'm Zelda" Zelda said, still a little nervous.
"Does anypony have a question for Zelda?" Cherilee asked. The first foal to raise a hoof was Rumble, the little brother of Thunderlane.
"Can you fly with those wings? They look so.....fragile." he asked. Zelda looked at her insect-like wings. They shimmered a little in the light of the classroom.
"Well, thats true. They are not as strong as pegasus wings, but it´s easier to fly with them too." she said and started to beat her wings until a buzzing noise could be heared. With that she slowly rose off the ground. A chorus of "Os and A´s " resonated through the room when she started to fly above the heads of her class mates. Most of the pegasus foals couldn´t fly at this age. Most of them put their hopes in this summer's " Flight Camp ", but to see a filly of their age just flying through the room raised their will to learn it even faster. Soon Zelda landed at her starting spot and smiled at the class. Cherilee was about to say something, when suddenly another hoof was raised.
"Yes, Diamond Tiara. Do you have a question too?" Cherilee asked.
"Miss Cherilee! Isn´t it dangerous for us to sit next to a changeling? She could feed on our emotions or use mind control on us." Tiara said with a scornful look at Zelda. Once again Cherilee couldn´t say a word, since Zelda was responding too fast.
"I would never steal love from a pony! The only love I feed off is the love my daddy gives me, but most of the time I eat normal food like everypony else. And I can´t use mind control, because only fully grown changeling queens can use that kind of magic." Zelda said, glaring daggers at Diamond Tiara. Cherilee stepped next to Zelda and soothed her.
"It´s okay, Zelda. I´m sure Diamond Tiara just wanted to make certain nopony would be afraid of you. Right, Diamond Tiara? the teacher said.
"Of course Miss Cherilee." Tiara answered with her best plastic smile.
"Good. Now let´s finish this question round and start with today's lesson. Zelda, there is a free place behind Rumble. Just sit down and we can begin." Cherilee pointed on the only free desk in the room. Zelda took her saddle bag and sat down at her new place. Like Cherilee said, Rumble was right in front of her, and behind her sat Dinky, the daughter of Derpy Hooves. Zelda already met her at the party and even if she was not much of a big talker, Dinky seams to be a realy nice filly. When Zelda turned around, she happily waved at her. Since Zelda was sitting at the left window of the classroom there was only one more filly in her close proximity. On her right side sat a red pegasus filly with a long blond mane and some white freckles on her face. She looked at Zelda with big yellow eyes and smiled.
"Hello. I´m Autumn Skies. Nice to meet you!" she said.
"Nice to meet you too!" Zelda said and smiled back.
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After a long lesson about the great sky war between the pegasus ponies and griffons, the pause bell finally rang and everypony ran outside. Quickly the garden behind the school house was filled with little groups of laughing foals, who were playing games, eating their lunchs or just chatting about silly things. Zelda was standing in the middle of all this, unsure where to go, when suddenly a voice caught her ears.
"What´s the problem bug-wing? Having problems finding somepony to hang out with a full life blank flank? I can´t wait for the first holes to appear in your legs, so we can call you cheese-leg too. Ha ha ha ha ha!" Tiara said with her nastiest face. Before Zelda could say anything in reply, Diamond Tiara and her only friend Silver Spoon walked away, still laughing at her. The little half blood looked sadly at her hooves. She still hoped that the typical changeling holes would never appear on her legs. She never liked them, and she was afraid of being bullied for them too. Then she heard another voice calling her name.
"Zelda! Wanna eat with us? the voice called. She looked over her shoulder and saw Autumn Skies, Dinky and Rumble sitting on one of the big tables in the garden, happily waving at her. Zelda smiled from one end of her face to the other and sat herself next to Rumble, Autumn and Dinky sat opposite to them.
"Thank you for letting me eat with you. I wasn´t sure if anypony wanted anything to do with me after what Tiara said." Zelda said while she unpacked her lunch box.
"Don´t you worry about them. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are the bullies in town. They try everything to show us how much better they are, just because their parents are rich and both already got their cutie marks." Rumble said.
"Yeah! They always mock me for my freckles. Like it´s my fault I´ve got them." Autumn said angrily.
"Sometimes they call my mother retarded just because she has this little problem with her eyes. It's so mean, but my mother says if she doesn´t worry herself about it, I shouldn´t either." Dinky said while she ate her muffin.
"And they keep on calling me a Dodo, only cuz I once tried to fly and ended up in the hospital with both wings broken." Rumble answered and looked sad at his wings. After that it was quiet for a while. The four fillies ate their lunches, all while wishing the worst for Tiara and Spoon. When Zelda was done with her banana sandwich, a wicked but funny idea crossed her mind. She jumped out of her seat.
"Watch this guys!" she called to the three confused foals. Zelda rushed behind a nearby tree and a green flame appeared. Suddenly Diamond Tiara trotted from behind the tree. The mouths of Autumn, Dinky and Rumble hung wide open. Zelda looked around but the real Diamond Tiara was nowhere to be seen. She snuck into one of the open windows to the classroom and looked inside. There sat Cherilee at her teacher's desk and corrected some of the tests, sighing at all the mistakes Snails once again made on his. Zelda took some dirt into her hoof and aimed precisely. The dirt landed in the middle of the table and succeeded in it's purpose; the table was one big mess. Every test was ruined and Cherilee was boiling. But now came the brilliant part of Zelda's masterplan. Just when her teacher was looking towards the window to find the pony who was responsible for this attack, Zelda peeked into the room. But all Cherilee saw was the face of Diamond Tiara.
"Diamond Tiara! What do you think you´re doing?" Cherilee said angry. Now everything had to go fast. Zelda crouched herself out of view and around a corner. When she was shore nopony could see her, she changed back to her normal form and went back to the lunch table. All three fillies still looking at her with open mouths. Cherilee angrily walked into the garden and called for Diamond Tiara and soon enough the real Tiara appeared again and was quickly grabbed by her ear.
"Come with me young lady. There is quiet a mess in my classroom and since you are responsible for it, you will clean it up too. And for throwing around dirt and ruining last week's test I guess I´ve got to have a little talk with you father. I really expected better behavior from you, Diamond Tiara." Cherilee said while walking to the school house with the confused little filly.
"What? But I didn´t do anything Miss Cherilee. This must be a mistake!" Diamond Tiara insisted.
"Don´t you dare lie to me too. I saw you in the window young lady. Now go to the broom closet and get yourself a bucket with water and a cloth! Your lunch break is over." the teacher said in a voice that didn't allow for any objections. When the door to the classroom closed behind them, Zelda looked at her three spectators. Autumn was the first who got control over her mouth back.
"That was soooo awesome!" she said with a high-pitched voice.
"I´ve never seen a pony outsmart Diamond Tiara like that! Finally she got the punishment she deserves. You are the best new classmate ever!" Rumble said.
"Thank you, but it´s just a simple change. Nothing special." Zelda said with red cheeks.
"Maybe for a changeling, but for normal ponys like us this was an amazing show. Can change yourself in anypony? Dinky asked excited.
"Technically yes, but I´m still a beginner with the art of change. I can´t change my age, so if I try to change into an adult pony, I only change into a foal version of that pony. And I can´t keep the form for longer than one day. My daddy said a full grown changeling can change as long as they wants and even can change his age and size, whatever they want. The best of them can create new looks too, without needing a living creature as a template." Zelda answered.
"Wow! Having a changeling as parent sure is cool. I wish I could change into other ponies too." Dinky said with a dreamy look on her face. Autumn whispered something to Dinky and Rumble and both nodded in agreement.
"Zelda, would you like to be our friend?" Autumn Skies asked. Zeldas face nearly exploded with excitement.
"Yes, of couse I want to be your friend? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said. All four foals brought their hooves together and screamed: "BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!!!"
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The rest of the day went on pretty eventless, except for the fact that most of the foals in class were happy when they heard that Zeldas little attack resulted into the total destruction of last week's test. This meant no bad grades and no trouble with their parents, and more time for fun! Besides Diamond Tiara of couse, who sat pretty mad at her place, asking herself who could have played this prank on her and how she could get her revenge. When school finally ended, Zelda and her new found friends ran out of the school house and chatted about how awesome the pegasus warriors looked in their antique armor.
"Did you girl see the claw-glove that black pegasus had? I wish I had such a thing." Rumble said and shook his hoof like he had one.
"Yeah, or that beautiful silver armor this general wore. I bet he was invulnerable in it." Dinky said, daydreaming. During this Zelda looked around, searching for something.
"What are you looking for Zelda? Did you forget something in the classroom?" Autumn asked.
"No. It´s just... *she still looked from side to side* ...my dad said he would pick me up after my first schoolday, but I can´t see him anywhere." Zelda answered with a sad face.
"Mayby he´s just a little late. I´m sure he will come any second now." Autumn said. At that exact moment a big, black creature landed behind the four foals. Slowly getting closer to them he moved his face right behind them and screamed.
"BEWARE!!! A DEMONPONY!!!" he screamed. Autumn Skies, Dinky and Rumble nearly jumped out of their skin by surprise. Only Zelda turned around and jumped at Manic Moon's chest to hug him.
"Daddy! You made it!" Zelda said happily. Manic stoped laughing and hugged his daughter too.
"Of course I'm here. I would never break a promise to my little angel." he turned his head to the three scared foals, who slowly rose back to their hooves.
"Sorry kids, I couldn´t resist. I hope I didn't scare you too much." he said, still holding back some more giggles.
"Well..I wasn´t scared at all. I totaly know there was no danger." Rumble said a little embarrassed.
"Yeah. Totally." Zelda said with a smirk. Manic Moon looked at him with a big grin, showing his sharp theet.
"I guess you must be the strong and manly colt in this group, if not even a big and scary demonpony can intimidate you. Am I right little man?" Manic said with a deep voice.
"Sir, yes Sir!" Rumble said proud. Autumn and Dinky giggled behind his back.
"Good to know that my little angel is in good hoofs during her school time. Now why don´t you introduce me to your bodyguard and friends? Manic said.
"My bodyguard's name... * she had to hold down some giggles * ...is Rumble and this is Dinky and Autumn Skies. They are my new BFF." Zelda said while she pointed at them.
"Nice to meet you Mr Moon." Autumn said with a big smile.
"Hello." Dinky said. Rumble just saluted, when she said his name.
"It´s nice to meet you all too." Manic answered. Suddenly the town clock started to toll.
"I guess you all should go home now, or your parents may start to wonder where you are and than they might think I really ate you. ha ha ha ha!" Manic said while looking at the clock.
"You´re right Mr. Moon. My mom always worries herself half to dead when I´m late. We´ve got to go guys!" Dinky said. All three foals ran off, waving at Zelda and Mani cas they went. Both started to walk home too. When they were near their house, the demon pony gave his daughter a little push in her side.
"And you said you wouldn't find a new friend. Three in one day seems like pretty good results to me." Manic said with a matter of fact voice.
"Maybe. Looks like I´ve got the same talent with finding new friends as mom had." Zelda answered with a cookie grin at her father.
"Hey! Who said you didn´t get that talent from me?" Manic asked.
"I do." Zelda said, sticking out her tongue at him as she flew off to their home laughing.
"What? Just wait until I get you young lady. Then we see who´s had the last laugh." Manic screamed while chasing after her, laughing too.