//------------------------------// // Prompt #384-First Class // Story: Ponywatching // by ThunderTempest //------------------------------// “But mom, I don’t want to!” whined the filly unicorn, as an older one dragged her along magically by her hind legs. “Now look sweetie, just because you’ve got your cutie mark doesn’t mean you can’t do other things. Your father and I both think that you should learn how to defend yourself, and it will stop you from getting too pudgy,” the elder unicorn explained, as she renewed her magical grasp on the filly, “And besides,” she continued, “some of your classmates will be there as well. Don’t you want to see them?” “I don’t want them to see me, though. I’ll be all icky and gross!” “Oh look, we’re here,” chirped the elder unicorn, as the two arrived at a large building on the outskirts of town. The outside was well kept, and a small rock garden was laid out next to the entrance, and the sign above the door proudly proclaimed the owner and their rank. Upon entering, they saw ponies of all shapes, sizes and types engaged in various practice routines. Some were limbering up, swinging their legs and stretching, others were running through routines, and towards the back of the hall, a group of fillies and colts seemed to be engaged in a game of tag. As the two unicorns watched all this, one of the unicorns in the class spotted them, and made her way over to them. “Hello, dears. Are you here to sign up?” greeted the unicorn, “my name is Rarity, by the way.” “No,” muttered the filly. “Yes, we are. Well, my daughter, at least,” said her mother, giving the filly a short glare. “I remember being like you, once,” laughed Rarity, bending down to the filly’s level, “I didn’t want to do this either. But it has saved my life on more than one occasion. How about this, then: if you do this class, just try it out, I’ll tell you all about the time I fought a horde of changelings.” “Really? You fought changelings?” inquired the filly, “Well, I guess trying this out wouldn’t be so bad,” she continued. Rarity straightened up from where she’d been talking, and gave the mother a subtle wink as she did so, before leading the filly off to meet the owner of the gym. ~~~ “Mom, Rarity is so cool! She’s fought changelings and everything!” exclaimed the filly, as the two left the gym a couple of hours later. “So you’ve said, dear. I take it you want to go back next week, then?” asked her mother. “Yep! And the class was pretty fun, too.” “I thought that you might like it.”