//------------------------------// // Get Schooled // Story: Me and Mr. B // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Ditzy sighed and breathed in as calmly as she could as she walked down the stairs to her living room, where a large assortment of ponies and other sat there. Dinky was bouncing around in place as she waited to head off to school, with Bubbles keeping a tab on all the ponies around him. Luna sat on her couch, nodding to her when she came down and Berry Punch was passed out on the floor. "Alright, I think I'm finally ready to do this," she said to herself as she looked up at Luna. She had received a letter from the princess in the middle of the night that had informed her that she would look over Mr. Bubbles while he was at Dinky's school and she would be prepared for anything. "Luna, I hate to take time out of your busy day, but..." "You are worried for your daughter and for the safety of the other foals, that is clear," Luna said with a smile as she looked to Bubbles. "Besides, my sister asked me to keep observing him and that is what I will do. The town knows to stay away from him unless me or my sister is with him, so I do not expect too much trouble as long as Dinky keeps him in line." "Can we go now? I'm already late for today as it is," Dinky said as she paced by the door, Bubbles standing beside her. Ditzy looked at her daughter again as Luna stood up and walked over to the pair, getting as close as she could before Bubbles stepped between them. "By mom, I'll talk to you later!" Dinky said as she rushed out the door, Bubbles pushing Luna out of the way as he walked by her. "Well, that was rude," Luna muttered as she followed the pair, leaving the nervous mother with her drunken friend on the floor. The three walked towards the school at a fast pace, with Dinky almost running ahead, but slowed down every time Bubbles moaned at her. Luna floated along behind them, wondering why Dinky had waited till this day to try and return to school. The school house appeared on the horizon after ten minutes and from what Luna could see in the class room, it was a crowded class. "Okay, now I want you to wait out her with the princess until I call you," Dinky said to Mr. Bubbles as she approached the door, waiting until Bubbles had moaned in agreement before she headed in. The room was filled with foals, but there were also a large number of stallions in there, along with Ms. Cheerilee. "And that's what my dad does when I'm staying with Rarity," Sweetie Belle said from the front of the class, her father standing next to her with a smile. Tiara yelled out how boring that was and while Sweetie fumed, her dad laughed at it with good graces. "Thank you Sweetie Belle and...Dinky, what are you doing here?" Cheerilee asked once she noticed the small filly standing by the door. "I thought your mother told me in the note she sent me that you wouldn't be at school for a while due to family issues?" "Oh don't worry, they've been taken care of," she said with a smile as she ran over to her seat and sat down, looking around the room with a smile. "I'm not too late for what today is, right?" "Um, it is still bring your father to school day, but I don't know why you would be excited for that," Cheerilee said with hesitation. "But if you want to stay..." "Oh, I'd love to," she replied with another smile, ignoring the snickering by Tiara and Silver Spoon in the back. Another pony went ahead of her and another after them while Dinky bounced in place the entire time, eventually gaining her the attention of her teacher once all the other students had finished. "Yes Dinky, is there something you wanted to show us?" Cheerilee asked, wondering why she was so excited. Dinky jumped out of her chair and shot to the front of the class, waiting until they had all stopped talking before she spoke up. "Friends and Tiara," she began with a look at Tiara. "There is somepony that I wanted you to meet today." "What, is it your mom?" Tiara asked with a smirk. "Because I know you don't have a dad and no other pony would dare be caught with you." She chuckled at her own joke, but quickly stopped when Dinky began to laugh as well. "Oh, you're somewhat right Tiara," she said with an evil smile. "No PONY would come with me. But that's who I want to introduce you to right now. Mr. Bubbles!" The class froze as they heard a moan from outside followed by the sounds of heavy footsteps heading towards the door. Most of the foals shrunk under their seats when the eight eyes on the metal helmet poked their way in, but they screamed when all of Mr. Bubbles pushed his way through the entrance, breaking the frames in the process. Cheerilee had no idea what to do as the metal monster walked into her classroom, but her fears were slightly alleviated when Luna walked in behind the monster. "Don't worry everypony, I am here to make sure HE doesn't try anything," Luna said as she stood beside Mr. Bubbles, sighing as she watched a wave of relief spread across the ponies faces at her presences. Dinky waited once again until they had all calmed down before she began to speak. "Now then, this is Mr. Bubbles. He might not be my real father, but he's done a decent job of filling in for one," she said with a smile up at him, causing him to moan in a way that caused the class to shriek again. Luna carefully watched Bubbles the entire time, but he looked over at the little ponies with interest. "W-what is that thing?" Tiara eventually choked out, causing Dinky to laugh. "This is Bubbles. He keeps me safe and has fun with me...and he also protects me from anypony that tries to hurt me," she said with an innocent smile, but Bubbles revved his drill to drive the point home. "But he won't hurt you unless you try to hurt me." No pony in the room knew what to say next, except for a small brown and white colt that raised his hoof. "A question? Shoot." "Um, where is Mr. Bubbles from?" Pipsqueak asked with as much courage as he could muster. "Hmm. I actually don't know myself, but he's believed to be from the era of humans," Dinky said with a smile, causing a few of the older ponies to laugh. "Humans are a myth, something that mares tell their foals as a bedtime story," Filthy Rich said with another chuckle, only to yelp as Bubble moaned and turned his gaze towards him. "Of course, there's nothing saying that they might not be real." Scootaloo was the next pony to raise her hoof. "Is he really your foster father?" she asked. "Well, he is called a Big Daddy, so I'd assume he's a father of sorts, but I don't know if he's had any other foals before me," Dinky said, not noticing that Luna looked at Bubbles with a hint of sympathy. "So, any other questions?" No pony else said anything, so Dinky looked up at the clock. "Oh cool, it's time for recess!" she yelled as she ran out the door, Bubbles following her out and leaving a speechless class behind them. "What was that thing?" Cheerilee eventually asked out loud once the creature was gone. "That was a Big Daddy, a being that protected the children of humans back in the forgotten days," Luna said with a frown, causing the ponies in the school to gasp. "But I have no idea how it got here. What you need to know is that Bubbles as Dinky calls him in non-aggressive until you try to get close to Dinky, then he becomes protective of her. And if you hurt her..." She didn't finish that sentence as the bell for recess rang, the foals hesitantly leaving their chairs to head outside, Cheerilee walking over to Luna. "Why did she bring that thing here?" she whispered to Luna. "She's putting the children in danger!" "Maybe..." Luna replied as she watched the parents head out with their kids. "But I have a theory about Bubbles." Back in the schoolyard, Bubbles was sitting on the ground near the swings, with Dinky holding onto his drill. All the other ponies were watching the two, but were far too afraid to get close to them to say anything. "Okay Mr. B., spin me around!" she said with a smile as she tightened her grip. Bubbles began to spin the drill, but kept its speed slow enough so she wouldn't be flung off or injured. After a few rotations, Dinky let go of the drill and staggered around, laughing to herself as her eyes spun. "Whoa, that was weird. Let's go again!" Bubbles allowed her back onto the drill and begun to spin her around again, leaving the ponies near the school to shake their heads. "What is that filly thinking, bringing a monster like that near the school?" Filthy said with a scowl. "I will be talking to the mayor about this." "Yeah, why is she even friends with that thing!?" Tiara said loud enough so that Dinky could hear. "That thing isn't a father, he's a monster!" "He's only a monster if you treat him as one!" Dinky yelled back as she tried to see straight. "If you gave him a chance, you'd see that he's actually a kind pony...person...Bubbles." The ponies all scoffed at her except for the small foal with the brown and white coat, who looked up at all the parents before walking slowly over to Mr. Bubbles. "Hey Pipsqueak, you want something?" Dinky asked. "Well...y-you said that he's not a monster, right?" he said with all of his courage barely keeping him from sprinting away as he looked up at the eight eyes. "S-so, I wanted to meet him." "Okay then! Mr. Bubbles, this is Pipsqueak. He's a friend." Bubbles looked down at the small colt in front of him with eight yellow eyes, confused by the colt. He looked similar to a little sister, but he wasn't a sister, so did that make him...a little brother? And his sister called him a friend and he was smaller than her, so he wasn't a threat. Pipsqueak stared into the eyes with his courage quickly giving way to fear before Bubbles let out a moan and his eyes changed green, causing Dinky to gasp with a smile. "I don't believe it, he likes you! And you didn't have to save my life!" Dinky said with a smile. "See if he'll let you on his head." Dinky told Bubbles to pick him up and much to her shock and amazement, he did so, picking up the frozen Pip and placing him on top of his head. "I don't believe it," Luna whispered to herself as Dinky got Bubbles to pick her up and carry the two around. "He' being...nice." The entire time she had been watching Bubbles eyes, waiting on pins and needles for them to change. But they remained green as Dinky got him to jump, causing the ground to shake as he landed. "Why is he being so nice now?" ===K> "I wish that we could figure out more about him," Celestia muttered to herself as she looked over the notes about Bubbles for the hundredth time. Luna had written down everything that she had noticed when she had looked through Bubbles mind, but she still wished that she had more information. She sighed and looked to her door where she noticed a shadow against the wall. She slowly got up and walked towards the door, wary due to the fact that nopony should be in there with her. She opened the door to find nothing on the other side, but a book was now on a table that had been empty before. "Where did this come from?" Celestia asked herself as she looked down at it, seeing a hint of silver magic coming off of it. She looked at the title of the book before gasping, her eyes going wide. "The Big Daddies? Why would here be a book about them?" she asked as she began to flip through the pages, realizing that each page was filled with notes and images of how the Big Daddies worked and how they had been created. She took the book with her and sat down on her couch, looking through it with blazing speeds. "This is incredible...and yet at the same time, mortifying," she muttered as she skimmed the part on how the Daddies were brainwashed and their wills repressed. "How could the humans do something so cruel to another human? But where did this journal come from? And who is Tenebaum?" She shook these questions from her head as she opened her wings and flew out the window with the journal, knowing that her sister had to see this immediately. She knew that her sister would still be at the school at this time of day, but she wasn't ready for what she saw when she landed. "Sister...what is going on?" Celestia asked as she landed beside Luna, looking at the yard filled with foals in confusion. They were all playing around, but instead of climbing on the bars or swings, they were all crawling and climbing Bubbles, who sat there with his green eyes showing from under the sea of foals. Some of the foals were holding onto his drill and were spun around by him, dropping to the ground after a few seconds as they staggered away with smiles on their faces. "I am not sure myself what is going on," Luna said as she gazed at the scene. "But it seems that Bubbles is harmless to children, as long as they don't play too rough. It's been like this and nopony has been hurt. He actually caught another filly that fell of the jungle gym." "That is...interesting, considering what I found inside the castle," she said as she gave the book to her sister who flipped through it as well. "It has everything on Big Daddies, from how they are made to what happened in the city called Rapture." Luna's eyes widened much like Celestia's did as she read the book, horrified by it. "Where did you get this" she eventually asked. "I know not as it just seemed to appear, but I do know one thing. We must study this book," she said as she looked at Mr. Bubble who had as many foals as he could carry on his back as he walked around, eyes still green. "Because this might be the only way we can figure out what is Mr. Bubble." The two turned their gazes to the metal man, who seemed perfectly fine being surrounded all of the foals around him. "And I found out what kind of Daddy he is," Celestia said. "And the name fits his personality perfectly." "Bouncer."