//------------------------------// // Say Hello to Mr. Wiggles // Story: My Little Pony: Slice of Life is Magic Season 1 // by cavalieredraghi //------------------------------// Vanhoover, a small farming town with a population barely over 2000. Ponies work, ponies live, and ponies play as like any other town. Fillies and Colts go to school, artisans and merchants of all sorts practice their craft, and earth ponies (in addition to several unicorns and changlings) farm the fields with the aid of Pegasus weather teams. Hold on a second... school?! That's right, the weathered school bell tower shrugs off the summer dust as it rings in the new school year! Foals from all around the town awaken from their slumber and prepare for another semester. The school house had gained a new classroom addition this past summer to accommodate all the new expected students this year. Unfortunately, the youngest ponies got that room. The older students, those that are at or nearing their first decade of age, remain assigned to one of the oldest rooms. While not in bad shape, it has an interesting history of rumors told from past students. Fillies/colts/nymphs/wyrmling slowly arrive and begin that timeless tradition of picking out a seat. Will they sit near the teacher? Or near their friends? Truly it is an endless struggle in the life of a student. The classroom slowly was filled by an amalgam fillies, colts, and nymphs. None seeming to stretch the imagination of who may be in this town, at least not to those who live in it. Two well dressed colts seemed to stand out as they entered the class, one had a slicked back golden mane, and a very light coat almost white. The other, was light grey with a tightly trimmed black mane. One colt who walked into the class room, seeming to be slightly scared of the new environment. He stuck out compared to the others in the class, given his coat. It glowed and shimmered like crystals. His color being a beautiful Turquoise, and his mane a messy pink. The colt not wanting to be the center of attention, moved to the farthest left desk of the class room, there he took a seat. The next being of notice to enter this hollowed classroom, was a little Changling Nymph. Her carapace, was a dark Violet, nearing to black, but in the right light one could tell it wasn’t. From her head a white mane flowed down, and she was followed by a white tail, along with a set of violet bug like wings on her back. She entered the room almost as a ball of Anxiety and Nervousness. She looked slightly disappoint when she did not recognize anyone yet, so she took at seat near the far back right corner. However not the one furthest away. Two foals entered next, an orange Pegasus, and a white Unicorn. While the Unicorn looked tired, the Pegasus that stayed with her looked confident. They both took seats in front of the classroom, but the Pegasus seemed to continually watch the Unicorn. Was there something wrong with the Unicorn, or did something happen between the two, time would tell. Close to these two an Earth pony filly grudgingly walked in. She looked as if she just awaken from last night’s hibernation. Her red mane was spikey, yet messy at the same time, and her tan coat, seemed to be rushed to be neat. As she entered the room, she slowly trudged over the Changling in the back. Who seemed excited, almost bouncing off her seat with energy, seeing her. As the filly sat down the two started to chat, rather loudly, they allow could probably fill the room with noise that would rival the rest of the class, about the summer vacation they just had. As the last School bell rang the whole class, aside for one missing pony, was in their seats, and waiting on the teacher. It was at this moment that a golden dragon hatchling, came running into the door panting heavily. As he entered he seemed to be the center of attention, for even in a town of ponies living with Changlings, none had seen a dragon before. The dragon quickly moved to the back of the room quickly and quietly, slinking and hunching his way through, never making eye contact with anyone. The tan filly and nymph ignored him, clearly getting that feel from him. As he moved any who looked could see many scales where missing from his body replaced by what looked like gems, and he spine looked to be ripped to shreds in certain areas, along with to scar lined nobs on his back, that looked like tiny bones to wings. It was then an adult stallion, walked into the class carrying a cup of coffee. "Good morning, class!" he greeted as he walked to his desk. He set down a large mug of coffee and a saddlebag filled with books. As he turned to write his name on the chalkboard, the class could see the cutie mark of a sunflower superimposed over two quills. "My name is Mr. Penrod and I will be your teacher for the semester," he began. "We have an interesting class roster this year. I've learned that we have four new faces in town that have joined us, so why don't we have these new students come up and introduce themselves first? Come on up, we're all friends here." Following this, the orange Pegasus went up first. This colt seemed to carry a presences the demanded attention. "Hello fellow students I am Straight Truth from Baltimare. I hope to get to know many of you." Truth sat back down, his bravado still present. He nudged the white unicorn next to him to go up next, which she did. She meekly went up to the front of the class room and near a whisper said, “Hi. I'm Subtle Hoof.” Not a second later she took her seat again, trying to stay out of the class’s eye. It was the crystal pony who was next. His sparkles seem to dim slightly as he nervously walks to the front of the class. “Um, greetings. I am Diamond Gear. My Family moved here from the Crystal Empire about a week ago. Yeah.”He sat back down, but glanced over to see the gold dragon. The sparkles in his coat began to glow again as it seemed he liked dragons. The gold dragon himself was exhaling thin lines of smoke for some reason. When he noticed Gear was looking at him, this behavior stopped. The dragon then found the courage to walk up to the front of the class though on his way there he still hunched over trying to appear smaller then he was. “Hello names Spark!” The dragon said loudly, almost shouting, and with a heavy accent that was foreign to the class. Mr. Penrod gives the new students a round of applause, and then took a sip of his coffee. "Now then class, if we could go down the rows and introduce ourselves to these bright new students and welcome them?" the colt with the slicked-back mane in the back raised his hoof. "Mister Penrod, I think the rest of us already know each other," he said casually as well with a smug attitude. "We've been in school for a few years now." The teacher nodded, but held up his coffee mug. "True, but don't you want to make these new students feel welcomed? Why don't you go first since you seem to have so much experience with knowing the class." The colt stood up, obviously bored with introductions, "My name is Tenn Pence. My mother is Silver Pence, the head banker of this two-bit town." He sat down and remained quiet, though his demeanor never changed from bored, for the other students to go through with their introductions. The other finely dressed colt next to him applauded his performance. One by one the other students stood and gave their name before quickly sitting down. Till it was finally the red maned filly’s turn. "My name is Sabina," the red-maned filly said. "Um... I like sports. That's about it." She sat down, slightly blushing at what she thought was a poor performance, and looked at her friend the nymph, who was next. The nymph got out of her chair at a normal pace, but did not wait a beat after Sabina sat down, “Hi, I’m Adepha, and I learned my first spell over the summer!” She beamed with pride over that fact for a moment before she sat down. After the introductions, each foal, nymph, and wyrmling seemed to take a special interest into one another; Adepha found Spark to be a conundrum, Spark made a mental note to talk to Gear, and Truth wanted to start a circle of friends/followers quickly. Even Subtle was curious about Changlings, though she stayed quiet about it. "Alright class, now that we have acquainted ourselves," Mr. Penrod began as he put down his coffee mug. "Let's begin our lesson with some geography. Stay awake through this and maybe we'll try some math!" The teacher pulled down the roll-up map above the chalk board and explained the geography of western Equestria. He touched upon a little history of some of the settlements and why many towns shared similar geographical aspects. One of the other teachers walked up to the classroom and knocked on the open door. She had a sheepish look on her face. "Excuse me, Mr. Penrod?" she asked. "My students left the mouse cage door open after feeding them, and a couple mice seem to be... um, missing. Could you lend me a hoof?" Mr. Penrod nodded. "Okay class, five minute break. Go over the geography terms in this lesson and I'll be right back." The two teachers walked next door to find the missing mice. A few seconds later, a small white mouse peeked its head from behind Mr. Penrod's coffee mug. It sniffed the air curiously. Quickly Adepha and Spark noticed the mouse on Mr. Penrod’s desk. Spark was the first to start moving towards it, but he was stopped by Adepha, who said,“Hold on. Let's team up. I'll use my spell to daze it, and you and Sabina try and catch the mouse. Then we hold it in one of the holes in my legs until Mr. Penrod gets back.” Spark looked at her legs then amazed at the design of them. Holes in one’s legs? Who would have thought. Sabina, Gear, Subtle and Truth looked to Adepha and Spark, and agreed to her plan. Though, some disagreed about keeping it till Mr. Penrod got back. Gear remained at his desk as the others moved to get closer to the mouse. The little creature saw Spark and jumped into a desk drawer to hide from the big scary dragon. Gear pointed out where the mouse hid to the others. “Um, if you would look, you'll see that the Mouse has gone into one of the drawers. so, um, just close it and tell Mr. Penrod.” Upon which Adepha was the quickest to act. She closed the desk draw and trapping the mouse inside. If only it were that easy however. Thanks to older furniture not being replace, the mouse escaped it prison from a whole in the draw. It scurried across the floor. This caused a number of foals to cry and shriek in fear. Many jump onto their seats or desk. Sabina dove to catch the mouse, but missed it by inches. Tenn Pence lifted his saddlebag. "Just whack it and it'll stop running!" The mouse unknowingly was scurrying in his direction, and towards the little creature’s doom. Tenn Pence held his bag up as he waited for the mouse to get closer! Gear, Truth and Subtle, yelled at Tenn to not harm the mouse, almost in unison. “DON’T YOU DARE HURT THAT MOUSE!” Adepha screamed and jumped on the desk just like the rest of her classmates. Though unlike her classmate, her horn glows violet as she seemed to cast a spell in the mouse. While Spark jumped over the desk, his tail swaying from side to side, with the enjoyment of the hunt. Unfortunately hitting Mr. Penrod’s coffee mug in the process to catch the mouse. Pang! Splush! Squeak? Spark slid across the floor as the mouse’s head glowed a faint violet. The little creature seem to forget what it was doing suddenly, as it stopped and sniffed the air. This gave Spark enough time to catch it in his claws. Tenn on the other hoof, look at Gear, Subtle and Truth with an angry expression. "I wasn't going to hurt it," he said to Gear and Truth. There was slight anger in his voice. "I was only going to stun it since you all didn't seem too skilled in catching vermin." He sat back down in his seat, crossing his hooves over his chest. Subtle looked between the steaming mess on the floor and Spark’s tail, "Um, do you think Mr. Penrod will be mad when he finds out we knocked over his coffee?" Spark looked at the same scene, and while still holding the mouse, seemed to grow very fearful. “I don't know it was an accident!? I don’t want to be in trouble!” Mr. Penrod peeked into the classroom with a short buzzing noise between his lips. He noticed students standing up and coffee sitting on the floor. His expression was primarily... confusion. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked. "I heard some shouting in here and my coffee is most certainly not where I left it." Adepha tries to apologize and explain the situation. Spark seems to cringe in terror upon see Mr. Penrod, dropping the mouse again. Adepha in a flash, caught the mouse in mid-air. Gear and Subtle then explained the story while the two seemed to juggle the mouse around, before returning it to Mr. Penrod. Mr. Penrod walks over to the students. "Well the mystery of the last missing mouse appears to be solved," he said in a chipper voice. "I'll assume the mouse tipped over my mug this time. Hopefully if there's another rodent breakout, the mug will be spared from the chaos, yes?" The other teacher arrived with an empty cage. "Did you find the other... oh, there's Mr. Wiggles!" she happily stated. The mare held the cage open for the mouse. With the mouse returned safely and the coffee spill mopped up with some paper towels from the teacher's desk, the lesson picked back up with language arts and spelling. Mr. Penrod spoke fairly quickly, which forced the occasional student to ask him to repeat a sentence. His lesson carried all the way to the lunch bell, which nearly startled the teacher. "That time already?" he asked as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "Alright class, have yourselves a good recess!" Students quickly shuffled their way out to the yard to eat and romp around.