Two days later, Celestia's sun hangs over a bright clear day, hopefully signifying a joyous semester to all those attending CMA. The custom schedules mean that some ponies, of course, don't actually see the solar diarch's work just yet as their heads are currently blissfully buried in their beds in light of not having morning classes. Other students though, are rising or are already out and about at this point of the morning. The sounds of running water from the bathroom of a certain blonde-maned-blue-eyed, white mare telegraphs her need to be up crystal clearly.
The faucets turn as the water suddenly stops flowing, a towel floating into the curtains before the mare herself steps out a moment later with her mane wrapped up in it. The rest of her remains bare to the world and still slightly dripping, but of course, one of the benefits of having a room to yourself is being able to be in this state and still have all the privacy you want.
"You know," a familiar voice rings out, "I'd die happy if I could see you right now."
The mare rolls her eyes, picking up the necklace and putting it around her neck. "Sorry, but you'll have to do with your imagination for a while, still. As in, forever." She opens her closet, eyeing her wardrobe critically. "Why couldn't you two have packed me less revealing clothes?"
"Because that isn't how Angel is." He pauses as the sound of hangers on metal rods fills the room. "You know she loves to tease, and we picked outfits suited for that mindset."
"How degrading..." She grabs a baby tee, scowling. "You didn't even get the right measurements, did you?"
"No, but we took estimates during pre-assessment." A drawer to the dresser slides open and a pair of simple white panties floats out, enveloped in a blue aura. "Don't forget, from what you told me, yoga is your first class. You won't have time to come back here and change, so make sure your clothes are comfortable."
She looks at her necklace in the mirror, an eyebrow quirked. "Did you really have to remind me?" She briefly lifts a leg as the underwear floats into position, moving up around her shin before she repeats the motion with her other leg. "Besides, you know me. Yoga will be a breeze."
"I bet."
She smirks as she grabs a sky-blue sport top, carefully pulling it on. "Of course you would." She smooths the tight top down before getting her matching track shorts. "I'm almost done here, so you should turn your mic off, for now." She pauses with the tights halfway up her thighs, waiting for a response. When none comes, she smiles and shakes her head. "Good old Flick."
"I'm not that old."
She puts her hand to her head, groaning quietly.
***
Weaving her way through the crowds and along the paths, Angel soon arrives at her very first class, similarly garbed students all radiating towards the room as she draws closer. Stepping into the room itself, none are particularly surprised to see that it is nothing more than a room with large windows, empty except for mats laid out in a grid-like pattern.
Avoiding the single mat on it's own in front, the students all wander over to a mat of their own, the usual murmur of morning chatter present. Though the vast majority of the class is female, there are a few males present, though all but one look a little uncomfortable or nervous, and thus take their spots near the back of the room.
Angel, curious, moves to one in the center of the room, sitting down with her legs crossed. She turns and waves at the stallions in the back, giving them a small smile.
Most of them smile and lift a hand up to her in response, but a couple of shy ones simply avert their eyes and focus on their mats.
A moment later, as the last of the mats is filled, an older mare walks in from a side door, the talking dying down as she calmly and quietly walks to the single mat and stands squarely on it, looking over them all.
"Good morning, class." She greets them all, her voice has a soft airy feel to it, the kind that puts ponies at ease and is considered something to avoid in most classes, for fear of having the students fall asleep. "My name is Still Mind, and I will be your instructor this semester in the art of yoga." She lifts up a back leg, pulling it up behind her back and curling backwards as she grabs onto it with her hands, all while standing on her remaining hoof. She maintains this pose for a few seconds before slowly coming back down into a normal standing position. Every single one of her motions was smooth, without a trace of shaking of misstepping. Calmly, as seems to be her normal state, she eyes the class to see their reactions.
Angel, still sitting, smiles brightly, seeing this display. She bites her lip, trying to stay silent so she could pay attention all the better.
The instructor speaks again. "Of course, I don't expect any of you to try what I just did on the first day, nor will I expect it on the last. I just wanted to show you the possibilities if you choose to continue along this path." She sits down onto the floor, her legs crossed. "Now, yoga is an exercise of both the body and mind. If nothing else, you will come away from this class with knowledge of meditation, and ways to calm the mind. As spellcasters, you all know how rampant emotions can hinder the magical process, thus this at least, should be useful for you in all fields, or indeed your life." She takes a deep breath and places her hands on her knees. "Now then, I would like everyone to take this pose, and remain this way for the next ten minutes. Focus on your breathing, feel free to think of other things in the mean time, but mostly, think of this: in..." she breaths in, "and out..." the air slowly slips from her lungs. "Come everyone, join me. In... and out..."
The white mare blinks, surprised at the hidden reason for this class. She does as told, muttering to herself as she gets in position. "I guess I actually learned something in this class..."
Ten minutes pass in silence only ever interrupted by breathing, shifting, and one or two snores followed by a few giggles. Eventually, Still speaks again, somehow her voice having the exact qualities needed to draw one out of their own mind without shocking them out of it. "Good... Today, we shall start on a few poses, you may feel slightly sore afterward, but after this first session, it should lessen. Such is the way we will progress, learning the poses until we feel comfortable enough to move on. Now, follow my lead." She shifts around, laying flat on her stomach before pushing her front half up with her hands, bending her back and pushing her chest forward as the rest of her remains on the ground. "This is the cobra pose. Attempt this, but do not push yourself too hard. The most important thing is to breathe and relax, feeling it throughout your body. If you need to take a moment's break, do so, then resume when you can."
Angel smiles, moving herself around so she mimics the instructor's pose. She grimaces slightly when she flips onto her stomach, but ignores the discomfort so she can push herself up. She sighs in relief, glad the pose takes the pressure off.
The chorus of silence and breathing returns, though this time accompanied by it's infrequent partner of groaning as ponies stretch themselves in ways some of them have not done before. After a few minutes of this, Still Mind gets up and starts, well, not so much walking as much as gliding around the room for how graceful and smooth it is, and goes to each student, offering advice, encouragement, fixing poses, and reminding them all to breathe. This last part is more necessary for some than others, as they stretch themselves to a point where they can't, resulting in sudden explosions of air not near relaxing.
One statement she uses infrequently, can be heard by the quieter students if they listen hard enough as she goes around the back of the class. As she approaches her first stallion, she leans down, whispering into his ear. "The wandering eye is fine, but where you linger doesn't exactly cause relaxation. Also... yoga shorts are not nearly as loose fitting on you as normal ones may be... and this class does not have changing rooms." A ghost of a mischievous smile hovers on her face as she stands back up, the stallion in question eyeing the floor now as the instructor moves on to give a slightly altered version of the warning to a mare a few mats over who has started to drool at the lithe form in front of her.
The whole time the white unicorn's ear is turned to them, wondering just who the ponies were gawking at. She starts to turn her head to see but catches herself, facing forward so she wouldn't mess up her pose. She closes her eyes and relaxes her breathing, waiting for the older mare to reach her mat.
After a time, Still does reach her, standing silently for a moment before leaning down and pushing a finger lightly on her spine. "Overall, excellent form young Miss. If you feel up to it, try to bend yourself backwards a little more. It's wonderful for getting kinks out in the mornings. Oh, and flick your tail back to the center if you would." She smiles and goes over to the next mat.
She blinks, looking up at the instructor in confusion. "My... tail? What do you mean, Miss Mind?"
Backtracing her steps a little bit, the instructor comes back and leans down again. "Your tail is off to one side. Now, I know it is comfortable there, but for now, I would be grateful if you were to have it straight behind you, so as to lessen the number of distractions for those behind you."
She blushes softly, her tail tucking itself between her legs. "Oh. Sorry." She turns forward and does as she advised, leaning back enough for her eyes to look straight at the spot between the ceiling and wall. She glances at her, smiling sheepishly and not in any visible discomfort, aside from embarrassment. "Like this?"
"Perfect, dear. It also helps to take some of the weight pulling the chest forward, so it may feel easier. Remember to breathe." She moves on.
Angel sighs in relief, letting her eyes close and focusing on her breathing.
A quiet grumble comes from behind her, barely in the range of hearing, but it is ignored as class moves forward. They only try out one more pose that day, very similar to their first one, but stretching a few different muscles. In the end class ends and it's almost like everypony awakens from a sleep in the magical world of yoga as the clock announces that time is up. Much stretching, groaning, and a little popping occurs as students gather themselves and their things.
The white unicorn stretches a bit more, trying to rouse herself from the tingling sensation invading her senses. It didn't help that she has started to get light headed during the class.
That thought, however, causes her eyes to snap open wide. She swiftly grabs her backpack from next to her mat and rushes out the door, not responding at all to a yelp from a classmate who was almost run over.
One brisk walk later, which is mind cleansing in its own monotonously repetitive way, and Angel arrives at her Xenobiology class. Entering the room, she sees that it's about as far from the yoga room as it could be. The room is smaller, and instead of mats, there are desks, about fifteen to twenty in all. Along one wall of the room is a gigantic white board, and along another is a white screen. Two windows are present, but they are average size with half their light either blocked or filtered through yellowing blinds. Up at the front of the room, behind a podium, stands a older purple stallion with grey mane and tail, ignoring the slow flow of students in favor of messing with the papers in front of him.
She stares at the scene for a moment before shrugging, moving towards the front row and taking a seat. She glances around with her joyful smile still on her lips, pulling out a small notebook and a pencil.
As the time until class ticks down, more students trickle in. The desk fill up as students sit, some preferring to be against the wall, other going to the back, all-in-all the usual spread of seating arrangements. When thirty seconds are left, one final stallion walks in, looking like he'd power-walked to get here on time. He stands awkwardly a moment as his gaze goes over the room, taking in the half dozen empty seats before finally settling on the one seat he would have to squeeze through rows to get to: the one right next to Angel. Silently, he walks over and sets his bag down, sliding into the seat and giving her a friendly smile.
She smiles back at him, setting her book in her lap to give the stallion her attention. "Hey there." She glances at the empty seats before looking back at him, a playful smile on her lips. "Prefer the front row, do you?"
He nods. "It helps make sure I don't miss anything important, especially on these first few days."
Meanwhile, the professor starts passing around a sheet of paper with a blank diagram of the desk layout on it, asking students to sign their names where they are so he can start learning them.
She pouts, crossing her arms. "Aww, I was hoping you'd say you prefer my company." She winks and picks up her book, starting to scribble in it. "Good thing you're cute."
A small blush comes to the stallion's cheeks as he lets out a quiet chuckle. "Well... thank you very much."
"No problem, stud." She giggles as the roll sheet flits over her shoulder, landing on her book. She quickly signs it and passes to him, her smile faltering slightly before she covers her mouth. "You look like you're ready for Hearth's Warming with that big a blush. I didn't embro... embri... do that, did I?"
He averts his eyes to his desk as he readies papers and quill. "I just wasn't expecting a compliment out of the blue like that... you didn't do anything wrong though." He signs the paper, passing it backwards.
She tilts her head to one side, confused. "You don't like compliments? Is that what you mean?"
"No, no, that's not it." He turns to her, his blush fading but his earnest smile sincere. "I said I just wasn't expecting it. Everypony likes compliments."
"Oh, okay, then!" She glances at his desk and, reaching into her bag, pulls out an inkwell and hands it to him. "You seemed to have forgotten something, stud." She wags her finger playfully at him.
He blushes slightly again, double checking his desk and bag before sheepishly looking at her and taking the inkwell gently from her fingers. "Thanks... again."
"No problem!" She winks and turns back to her notebook, scribbling a bit more. "I had three of those, anyways, and it wasn't like I was going to use all of them."
He smiles, setting it down on his desk. "Well, still, thank you. I'll give it back-"
"Ahem."
The student stallion flinches and looks up to see the stern gaze of the professor squarely on him.
His voice is flat. "Are you two quite finished so that I may begin the lesson?"
The student simply swallows and nods silently, to which the older male nods approvingly and turns around, starting to write on the board.
The mare next to him goes silent, continuing to mark a few things down in her book. She glances up at the teacher every so often before resuming her little scribbles. Her tail absently sways behind her, at one point accidentally brushing against the stallion next to her, yet she's too into her book to notice.
That doesn't mean the action goes unnoticed by the stallion though, as he glances over to her in response. At the sight of her not moving though, he regards it as an accident and continues taking notes as the professor goes over rudimentary physical biology of zebras.
With a quick lighting of his horn, the professor projects a full-body image of a zebra onto the screen in the classroom and starts to point out specifics that make them different from ponies and even tossing in a little interesting stripe trivia.
Angel quickly averts her eyes, blushing softly and muttering to herself. "Did he have to use a male zebra?" She glances at the picture before covering her face with her book, feeling as though her face was on fire. "At least he's wearing underwear..."
The student beside her, who seems unfazed by the picture as he scribbles with a neutral expression, pauses as the the picture shifts to showing the insides of the subject. He looks to Angel, seeing her still behind her book. Reaching over, he taps her shoulder lightly. "You can look now..."
She looks up, blinking in surprise. "Oh. Much better." She sighs in relief, examining the picture for a moment before glancing at her neighbor, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "...you know, I like your hair. What kind of dye did you use for the stripe? Or is it a trade secret?" She smirks, playfully elbowing his side.
He chuckles quietly, glancing up at the royal blue stripe going down the center of his otherwise solid black mane and tail. "Nothing really secret about it, it's all natural." He bats the lock of blue that hangs just into his vision for emphasis.
She stares at him, eyes wide in surprise. "Really?" She reaches up and strokes his mane, smiling softly. "Interesting. Soft, too. Is... um..."
He freezes at her touch, but as she strokes he seems to relax more. Still though, he retains his silence as a small smile graces his lips.
She pulls her hand away, curious. "You know, I may like your hair... but I adore your smile." She giggles, her tail reaching up and wrapping around his waist. "Maybe I could see it more often?"
He blinks, his blush coming back full-blown as he struggles to form words. "Well... I ... That... Umm..." Fortunately, or unfortunately, he is spared further rambling by another sharp tone from the professor.
His yellow eyes spark as he looks at the two of them. "Miss Angelic Grace, Mister Rhino, do I need to separate the two of you, or can you behave like responsible adults?"
Rhino flinches, straightening forward and not looking at Angel. "Sorry sir."
Angel, meanwhile, freezes in place at the stallion's name. She glances at him out of the corner of her eye, her voice coming out as a whisper. "...Rhino?" She shakes her head, putting a hand on her forehead. "...no. Patience." She bites her lip, returning to her book and her previous scribbles, adding a few more.
Class proceeds normally as the professor goes one, hoping to quickly get over what is essentially review of a species extremely close to their own. As the cadence of speaking, quills scratching, and the light ringing of his horn as his magic keeps the image up, the clock turns ever around.
As he wraps up the lecture, he holds up his hand to make sure there was no preemptive packing. "Now, next time we shall actually be getting into the magical aspect of this species." He levitates a stack of papers from his desk and distributes one to every student. "Now, here is the tentative course syllabus, as well as the two books you will need for it. You can either by them for yourself or go to the library to look at them, but either way, I suggest reading the few required pages before each class to get a general sense of what I will be going into more detail on in class. And no, for those of you thinking it, you can't just sit at home with the book and pass. You have to come to class." After pausing a moment and not seeing any questions, he nods. "Very well then. It's a few minutes early, but... Dismissed." Instantly the sounds of papers and chatting starts as ponies immediately start vacating the room.
As the emerald stallion starts to stand, she grabs his hand, flinching from her own action. She quickly recovers, a bright smile on her face. "Hey... Rhino, was it? This subject might be a bit tri... tree... hard for me." She holds her notebook to her chest, idly twirling a lock of hair around a finger. "Would you please help me study?"
He blinks, processing the question a moment before smiling warmly. "Sure, I could do that. Studying together tends to help everypony." He shoulders his bag, offering her inkwell back to her. "Umm... did you want to meet somewhere? I mean, I have some time right now but I don't know if you do..."
"I do!" She giggles, opening her book up. "I was thinking that the library would work for now..." She pulls out a notecard, winking at him. "...and maybe my dorm room, later in the semester?"
He smiles, a faint blush again coming to him. "Well... I mean if it's more comfortable for you, sure. That's fine..." He looks towards the door before taking a step back and making a sweeping motion with his arm. "Shall we go, then?"
Angel smiles, wrapping her arm around his. "Lead the way... and you can keep the inkwell."