Twilight’s alarm clock went off bright and early, signalling the start of the first day of classes. She sat up in bed, yawned, and switched her alarm off.
The first thing Twilight noticed was that Fluttershy’s bed was empty, and her pink quilt-patterned sheets were perfectly made. It was as though it hadn’t been touched all night. Twilight figured she must be taking a shower or something, and didn’t think anything of it.
Twilight grabbed the papers off of her desk, and sifted through them until she found her schedule for the classes she was taking. Everybody took five courses per semester, and this semester Twilight was taking calculus, physics, psychology, chemistry, and astronomy. Since today was a Monday, she had psychology first at 9am, calculus at 10am, then astronomy later on at 7pm.
She left her room to shower and brush her teeth, noting that none of the bathrooms were occupied. Where on earth was Fluttershy? She tried not to worry too much about it, and quickly showered, then threw on clothes, dried her hair, and grabbed everything she needed for her first two classes before she headed out of Kismet House.
Twilight held the map up, this time looking for Xanterlot’s Dining Hall. She soon realized it might be a bit easier just to follow where the large amount of other students were all heading.
It wasn’t long before she had navigated the dirt paths all the way to the dining hall. She entered, expecting to grab a quick breakfast before heading off to psychology. The place was packed with students who also had classes at 9am, making the room buzz with hundreds of students chatting at the same time.
The food was set up buffet-style on one side of the room, and there were tables and chairs on the other side. Twilight looked around for an empty table, and was surprised to see Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack waving at her from a round table near the front.
Twilight walked over to them. She couldn’t help but note the concerned expressions on their faces. “Hi guys.” Twilight smiled and took a seat at their table.
“Are ya feelin’ any better this mornin’?” Applejack asked on behalf of the group.
Twilight nodded. “I’m really sorry if I worried you. I’m fine.” The other four girls smiled in relief. Twilight looked at Fluttershy. “Where were you this morning?” she asked. “You weren’t there when I woke up.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy said, quiet as usual. “Well, you said you wanted to be alone last night, so…”
Twilight stared at her. “So you didn’t come home all night?!” Fluttershy nodded. “Oh Fluttershy, that’s not what I meant at all…” Twilight groaned, feeling terrible. “Where were you, then?”
“She was with me and Pinkie.” Rarity explained. “She was insistent on staying for a little longer to give you more time, and she somehow managed to fall asleep in my desk chair!” Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow laughed, causing Fluttershy to blush and Twilight to feel even worse. “We didn’t want to wake her up, so we just let her be.”
Fluttershy gave a small smile, half of her face hidden behind her blonde hair. “Please don’t think anything of it, Twilight,” she said sweetly, sensing Twilight’s distress. “I really did just fall asleep. I meant to go back and check on you… I’m the one who should be sorry. ”
Twilight wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth or not, but was willing to drop the topic with a simple shake of her head. “Just remember for next time that it’s your room too, alright?” Her roommate nodded. Twilight smiled back, then looked at the rest of the girls curiously. “You all have 9am classes too?”
They all nodded the affirmative. “I have psychology.” Rarity explained, pulling out the same textbook that Twilight had purchased.
“Me too!” Twilight said happily, and took out her own copy to show her. The other three girls pulled out the same textbook, and laughed at the similarity. “Are you majoring in it, Rarity?”
Rarity blinked in surprise. “Oh, heavens, no! I’m in the business program. It’s my dream to open a fashion company one day.” She said, her eyes sparkling with excitement at the thought. “Psychology is just a silly elective.”
“Same here!” Rainbow Dash agreed, then quickly added, “The elective part, I mean. Not the fashion part.” She looked disgusted, and Rarity shot her a glare.
“Ya’d better hurry up an’ get breakfast, Twilight. Classes start in twenty.” Applejack suggested. “Pinkie Pie’s up there now gettin’ seconds.”
Twilight nodded and stood up. She went and made herself a bowl of cereal, and after a bit of searching, saw that Pinkie Pie was at the buffet as well. She had a plate of waffles, and was in the process of absolutely drowning them in whipped cream, berries, and syrup.
Twilight walked over to her. “Hey, Pinkie!” she greeted.
The poofy-haired girl spun around, and her face broke into a huge grin at the sight of Twilight.
“Twilight, you’re okay! I was so worried about you!”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Do you have a class this morning too?”
Pinkie Pie nodded excitedly. “Psychology. Bright and early!”
Twilight laughed. “Same as all of us, then. Is it an elective?” she guessed.
Pinkie Pie shook her head vigorously. “An elective? No, silly! I’m majoring in psychology!” she said happily, and beamed as she picked up her plate.
“Oh… of course you are…” Twilight mumbled.
“Anyways, come on slowpoke! We’ve gotta go eat!” she sang, and led the way back to the table.
…
Breakfast was quickly devoured, and the six girls managed to navigate their way to the large auditorium where their psychology class was held. They nervously claimed seats next to each other near the back.
At the head of the classroom, a balding old man stood with the support of a cane as he watched the students file in.
“That guy looks like he could drop dead any second,” Rainbow Dash whispered, earning giggles from Pinkie and Rarity.
“As long as he knows his stuff, I’m sure it’ll be fine…” Twilight said in reply, watching as the clock at the front of the room ticked to the 9:00 position.
“Good morning, class,” the man at the front said, gaining the attention of the room. His voice was surprisingly loud for his frail appearance, and he had a very slight European accent. “My name is Dr. Frank Wires. I’m assuming you’re all here because you’re taking ancient history 101?”
The room filled with an anxious buzz, and the girls all leaned towards Twilight as she pulled out her schedule to double check that they were in the right place.
Dr. Wires chuckled. “I’m only joking! What a gullible bunch I’ve been given this year. We’re all here for psychology 101, correct?”
Most of the students gave small ohs or sighs of relief, and collectively nodded. One boy actually was there for ancient history 101, and hurried out of the room.
“It’s interesting how we as humans are compelled to believe authority,” Dr. Wires continued. “We’ll discuss the Milgram Experiment later on in the course. But for now, maybe it would in fact be best to give a brief history lesson. How many students here are in their first year of studies?”
Nearly every student in the room raised their hand.
“Excellent. How many of you know about Xanterlot’s history?”
Not one student raised their hand. Dr. Wires smiled. “To be expected. Xanterlot University was founded back in 1831, primarily by two extraordinary scholars.”
“Is he really going to give us a history lesson?” Rainbow Dash whispered in an annoyed tone.
Twilight shushed her, interested in what the professor had to say.
“The two scholars were named Dr. John Voli and Sir Lionel Kismet. You’ll recognize their last names, as two of the residence buildings here were named after them.”
“Yes, the most beautiful residence, and the grungiest,” Rarity whispered. “I wish I was in Voli…”
“Rumour has it that they were as different as night and day, but they worked well together,” Dr. Wires continued. “Voli put practices into place to allow students to learn a wide variety of topics. Kismet put together ways for students to grow in the one area they were best at. Choosing majors and electives may seem like common practice now, but back then there weren’t as many options to study.
Eventually, conflict arose between the two great scholars. Kismet was upset that students were crowding courses in areas they did not even intend to pursue, while Voli was delighted by this fact. Unable to agree on any ways to fix the problem, Kismet gave up, believing that Xanterlot would fall under Voli’s policies.
Xanterlot did begin to fall, but Voli realized his mistakes, and used Kismet’s methods to fix the problem by limiting the number of electives students could take.”
Dr. Wires paused, looking at the glazed-over expressions of the students. “I suppose we should move onto a brief introduction of the psychology course material…” He brought out a remote, and flicked a button, causing a screen to move down and turn on. A picture of a human brain with several different chemical structures labeled around it appeared. “Our first month or so will be focused on neuroscience. If you took biology in high school, you’ll find this pretty simple.”
As Dr. Wires rambled on about different chemical makeups of the brain, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie stared at him with confused expressions. Fluttershy, on the other hand, perked up. Twilight was left wishing she’d thought to review biology over the summer.
…
“That wasn’t so bad,” Fluttershy said cheerfully as they stood outside the classroom after class. The other girls stared at her incredulously.
“I thought psychology was supposed to be about human behaviour and stuff, not science!” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“I don’t understand my own major!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed worriedly. “Psychology in high school was nothing like that!”
“It’s really not that bad,” Fluttershy said calmly. “I can teach you later, if you want.”
The other girls thanked Fluttershy profusely. Twilight glanced down at her schedule. “I need to get going to calculus. I’ll catch you guys later, alright?”
“You’re taking calculus this semester?” Rarity asked, and looked at Twilight’s schedule. “Oh, wonderful! We’re in the same class!”
The other four girls waved as Twilight and Rarity departed. The two girls quickly located the correct building, and headed inside the classroom labeled on their schedules.
Many students were already there when they entered, and Twilight took a seat next to a boy with longish sand-coloured hair. Rarity sat on Twilight’s other side.
The professor walked in shortly afterwards. He was middle aged, with dark hair that was greying in places. He introduced himself as Professor Chris Kobson, and immediately started rambling on about what a limit was.
Twilight picked up her pencil and scribbled down a few notes, but she wasn’t sure why she was bothering. “Why do we have to go over the basics? Everyone here’s probably already learned this,” she muttered to Rarity.
Rarity shrugged. “It makes note taking easy.”
As their professor continued to go over the basics of calculus, Rarity gave up on taking notes altogether, though Twilight continued to copy them down just in case.
“Excuse me,” the boy Twilight had sat beside whispered to her. Twilight looked over. “I’m a bit confused,” he admitted. “Could I look at your notes?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Twilight said, pushing her notepad over to him. He smiled at her gratefully, and began copying them to his own page.
Twilight glanced at Rarity, who was surveying the boy curiously. Rarity’s gaze shifted back to Twilight, and the aspiring fashion designer mouthed the words ‘he’s cute’ with an added smirk. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment.
“Thanks,” the boy whispered as he pushed the notepad back to Twilight. ”I’ve taken calculus before, but it’s been a while. You must be really smart.”
Twilight smiled at him. “It’s nothing.”
The boy smiled back, then turned his attention back to Professor Kobson. Twilight stole a glance at Rarity, who looked giddy with excitement.
After what was a rather pointless lecture in Twilight’s opinion, the class was over. As Twilight and Rarity exited the building, Rarity grabbed Twilight’s arm, stopping her in her tracks.
Twilight looked over, confused. “What is it?”
“We need to see where he goes, of course,” Rarity said in a hushed tone.
“Where who goes?”
“That cute boy who said you were smart and smiled at you in class, Twilight!” Rarity gushed, staring fervently at the sandy-haired boy in question as he walked further and further away from them.
Eventually, he walked into a building with beautiful white bricks. Rarity gasped. “He lives in Voli?! Voli’s only for upper years! Oh Twilight, we need to find out his name!” she continued, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “That’s the most prestigious residence on campus! Oh, we’d be able to go to parties there… I hear they throw the best suite parties around!”
Twilight laughed as Rarity went on. “Rarity, don’t be ridiculous. All he did was ask for my notes.”
Rarity nodded happily. “Yes, that’s the first step!”
Twilight couldn’t do much but listen in amusement as Rarity continued going on during the entire walk back to Kismet.