//------------------------------//
// The Road Ahead 
// Story: Humans in Equestria 
// by Dyon 
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“Alright class, now we will continue with our history lesson from yesterday,” Cheerilee said as she started to write some dates on the board. I didn’t know how she managed to talk clearly while holding the piece of chalk in her mouth but I bet it would turn out to be an important skill to learn. 

The dates meant less than nothing to me, the incredibly faded outlines of the triangles and numbers that had gone along with them still on the chalkboard made more sense, but I guessed that this might be something actually worth learning. One area that seems to constantly be unexplored within the show is the exact history of the land, but that is probably for marketing reasons, kids don’t enjoy learning history too much. The fandom itself has had many theories over the ages and they very vastly so that was little to no use at the time to me, so I guess learning these things from a reputable source was the only option. Luckily, I had such a source in front of me willing to teach the material so my interest was actually being held by this lesson. 

I was still covered in dirt, but luckily enough so were the majority of colts that had been playing outside and more than a few fillies. The stench of smelly children was hanging heavily in the room, but the teacher seemed so used to the smell that she didn’t mind or notice. I on the other hoof was sure that at any second I would be overcome with a case of the vapors and fall right out of my desk. It didn’t help that from what my nose could tell I was the worst one there, perhaps running so hard without access to a shower had not been the best idea. 

My legs were paining me significantly, just moving to get a new sheet of paper was agonizing but I kept from moaning and tried to not show any of the pain on my features. Children take any sign of weakness as a reason to attack and devour the individual, or was that wolves, was there really a difference? I blinked a few times as I realized my mind was once again wandering and tried to refocus on what I was supposed to be doing. Up ahead most of the class(yes there were a lot more females than males) were writing down everything that Cheerilee put up on the board, and I found myself struggling as I tried to catch up.

“So once the war was finally over the new Celestial Era came into being and we began to count our years as so,” Cheerilee continued, writing a capitol C.E. after the next date she listed. 

Wait a second I had missed something, war? What war was she talking about? Stupid tangent forming brain we missed something important. I quickly wrote down everything on the board though I wasn’t exactly sure what it all meant, but it would be good to have. Things such as “The Incision of Insurrection” were listed as well as a few named battles that probably held some significance. There was even mention of the Articles of Harmony being ratified in 2 D.A. so I guess I now knew the answer to that question. 

Cheerilee wrote another date on the chalkboard below all of the previous ones, 0 C.E. “Following the end of the war Equestria was left very hurt and trying to pull itself back together. The ponies were still afraid for themselves and their families and had a hard time trusting one another. Because of the Articles of Harmony, Princess Celestia didn’t have nearly the amount of power that she used to have and wasn’t able to help the ponies get back on their hooves as well as she wanted.

“The separate districts of Equestria had a very difficult time working together since the new government and the princess had most of their power taken away by the new articles. There were no common coins between the districts which made trade difficult, and each of the districts kept their own militant forces which were mostly set along the Equestrian border to protect from advances into our territories, back then dragons would rampage through the countryside without care. 

“It didn’t take too long for the ponies to realize that the Articles of Harmony weren’t working out like they wanted. They were afraid of giving all of the power back to the princess but they knew that limiting her like they had been wasn’t helping in the least. Does anyone know on what date the Equestrian Constitution was ratified by all four districts and put into place by Princess Celestia?” Cheerilee asked as she turned back to the class and was rewarded with a resounding silence and a lack of hooves in the air, or at least what I could tell from my seat in the middle row.

“Yes, Burnt Steel do you know?” she said as she pointed to the pony sitting behind me. My head whipped around just in time to see him putting his hoof back down on his desk, and his eyes flick over to see my no doubt stunned expression.

“The Equestrian Constitution was ratified on March 4th 6 C.E,” he simply replied.

“That is correct.” With her question answered Cheerilee turned back to the board and wrote down the dates before she continued with the lecture. “The noble congress reconvened during January of that year to address why the government wasn’t able to help the citizens weather the particularly harsh winter that year. It was Deep Thought that proclaimed that under the current articles Princess Celestia’s hooves were tied, and since we didn’t have a nationalized weather patrol at the time, we were unable to do much to help. The other nobles reluctantly came around to Deep Thought’s point and the joint hearing on the hazards of that winter quickly became the 1st Constitutional Session.”

For some reason this was starting to sound a bit familiar, but despite my memory kicking on and trying to place where I had heard these things before I continued to listen. “The nobles began to draft the new constitution and when they had finished nearly a month later they took it back to their respective districts and the princess for ratification. The new constitution was rapidly approved by the representatives and the ponies and was quickly put into place on March 4th of 6C.E. We still use the Equestrian Constitution today, and it is considered one of the greatest pieces of writing to ever come from ponykind.” All of a sudden it all clicked for me where I had heard this before.

“Oh you have to be fucking kidding me,” I said without thinking, I don’t think I even realized I had said it until the class and Cheerilee all turned their attention to me. 

“Ashen Stroke!” I hadn’t seen Cheerilee angry before but damn these women that I kept meeting in Ponyville could go from happy to scary as shit in a second. She quickly made her way between the desks, each of the kids leaning away to give her a wide berth, as she came to a stop at my desk. I remembered how I had essentially just folded in front of all the other adults that had turned a harsh eye on me, and this time I struggled diligently to not do so and actually succeeded. The two of us sat there for a few seconds, neither breaking eye contact until she started to talk once more. “That kind of language is unacceptable in my classroom, please go outside and sit in the hall until I come and get you.”

I hesitated there for a moment, I had honestly expected her to be much angrier but the voice she employed was far more controlled and level than I had expected. I stood from my desk and quickly walked out into the hall, closing the door behind me but taking measures to make sure that I didn’t slam the thing. There was silence for a few more seconds before I heard the teacher’s muffled voice begin to come from behind the door. Like I had been told to do I sat myself down in the bland looking hallway for what could only be called a timeout. 

Sure I had just sworn right there in the middle of the class, and if there was one thing that teachers hated it was people disrupting their class. There was an old analog clock hanging on the wall opposite me that informed the time to be 11:36, and after a little bit of quick math in my head I figured that I had just under an hour and a half until class was going to be done for the day. After that I would be shipped back to the Rich family estate to do whatever it was that they had for me to do there. 

I was starting to realize just how planned out my days were likely to be from now on, no room to do what I wanted to do. I was supposed to be trying to find a way back to my own home and here I was wasting my time in a school just so that it would seem like I was any other kid. I wasn’t any other kid though, and this was all just a huge waste of time, why should I just sit around here in a hallway when I had much more important things to be doing. 

I stood from the floor, my side and back legs were still nagging me somewhat, and with renewed determination I quickly marched out of the front door of the school and off to do things. Stepping outside I was once more greeted by the harsh glare of the midday sun and it took me a few moments before my eyes completely adjusted. I continued walking forwards despite trying to blink the black spots from my vision and made it all the way to the dirt road that ran in front of the school before coming to a stop. I looked down the road to my right to see the countryside that we had arrived at the school from, if I had to bet I would say that most of the farms that sat outside Ponyville would be found along this road. I looked back to the left to catch the sight of a few buildings peaking out over a hill in the distance, this would no doubt lead me back to Ponyville. The only real question was which direction should I go.