Well despite what she said, I didn't actually see her later that night. I didn't see her on Sunday either. I think it's because I went into town to pick up a few things that I'd forgotten, there's always something. I also saw a show while I was there, none of the unicorns there could hold a candle to you mom. Still, it was a lot of fun and it wouldn't be the last time I would go see it. That's later though.
So that Sunday was uneventful except for meeting the two ponies who lived in the rooms next to mine. On the left was a rather quiet yellow earth pony named Blissful Jazz. I really like her, in part because she doesn't talk very loudly and sometimes I hear the most beautiful music coming from her room at night. It's a far cry from the pegasus on the right. Starry Romp is one of Carat's crowd. She's an earth pony but I don't think she's as brainless as the others in the group, at least, as brainless as they act. I'd say she was the political adviser or whatever. I do my best to avoid her. She tried reporting me twice already for playing my music too loud. I do not play music too loud, it was Blissful Jazz and it wasn't loud. Also she ends up having loud and late parties in her room all the time so she's just a pain.
Classes started Monday so I had to get up early which wasn't really pleasant but there's nothing I can do about that. The first class was math and the teacher started with a few basics I already had down pat. That was going to be an easy start at least, not like history. That's a bit later in the day though so I'll get there.
I was in the halls after math when I ran into Pusher again. She looked absolutely awful. There are all sorts of reasons a pony can look poor on a Monday morning, staying up all night, being sick, general laziness, that sort of thing. Pusher looked awful because, as she explained, she had slept through her alarm and had to be roused from her room by another student. She complained to me about how it was always one of Carat's crowd they sent and she wasn't nice and all sorts of things that were really her own fault. I pretended to have some sort of sympathy and resolved to never sleep through my alarm.
“So, what's your next class?” she asked.
“Intro Magic, apparently it's required for unicorns until they can be placed proper or some nonsense like that. I deserve to be higher but I've got to deal with this for now.” I sighed. I really wasn't looking forward to the class. I had assumed it would be boring and I could do everything they'd teach before they even taught it like back at Rising Acres. I was right, kind of.
“If you say so.” said Pusher in the middle of a yawn. “I've got History. Not even the good sort of History either.” She looked at me through half open eyes. “Want to skip with me? I need a nap and they wouldn't find me in your bed.”
“What? No. Just no.” I said. “And they'd look there for me so it wouldn't work.”
“You're right.” She frowned and looked at the floor. “Guess you'll have to go to class then, give me your room key.” Pusher held out a hoof.
“No. Dear Celestia, what is wrong with your head? Just go to class.” I sighed.
“Fine, you'll regret it though. Someday you'll wake up all ugly and wrinkled and will dream of the days when you could have had your beauty sleep.” She yawned right in my face and trotted off. I just rolled my eyes and went to class. Nothing else to do really.
The teacher was a unicorn named Flicker Sugarcube. She opened up the class with a rather distressing statement. “Well students, welcome to Magic One-oh-nothing. I expect you to excel out of the class or drop it, I don't want a single one of you left in here by the end of week six. Any questions?” One filly in the back of the class raised her hand. “Good, now for your first lesson, prove you know how to read a room number.” She started reading off the attendance sheet, not really waiting for a here or not before jumping to the next name. Then she paused on my name.
“Here.” I said, raising my hand.
“Oh yes, I can see that.” The teacher stepped out from behind the desk and gave me a look I couldn't decipher. “So nice to have you here, imagine my surprise to find you in my class. It's like an early Hearth Warming gift.”
“Do I know you?” I asked. It was kind of weird and I didn't like it.
“Oh no, you wouldn't know me, but I know of you. At least, I knew your mother.” That was my first clue something wasn't good. I swear mom, you made a lot of ponies angry at you in your wild years and they always seem to end up teaching me. “I expect” she paused, “great things from you. If you aren't the top, be assured you will be on the bottom. That goes for the rest of you too.” She roared at the rest of the class, all of us jumped in surprise. “Be the best or the worst, and if you're the worst don't expect any coddling.”
The rest of the class went about the same way. She scolded us when something didn't work and just moved on when it did. I did my best to avoid any attention but she kept pointing me out. All the tasks she asked for were easy enough, mostly thanks to your tutoring, mom. Still, every little imperfection was pointed out. By the time the bell rang I was totally wiped out mentally. I was even starting to think Pusher had the right idea. This was twice as unfortunate because my next class was science. I had been looking forward to it but now I wasn't feeling up to learning a thing. That changed when the professor walked in. He was an absolutely gorgeous gray stallion in a white lab coat. It was dirty but that just showed he had experience. I wasn't the only one who noticed him though, most of the class was following his movements like a hungry hawk.
“Good morning class. My name is Professor Ether and I will be teaching you science. With my help I hope you will find science to be the same fascinating and joyful experience that I do.” He smiled at us and we were putty in his hands. We began with a small experiment that was really simple, but you'd think it was turning dirt into diamonds for all the help everyone wanted. He seemed really impressed when I told him I wanted to be a doctor.
I came out of that class revitalized and ready for lunch. It's so nice to be able to pick and choose everything on the plate, and to get it made special. The rare bonus to having an alfalfa allergy I suppose. So once I got my food I had to find a place to sit. Most of the tables were full of ponies in their own groups, most of them doing their best to ignore me. I could already tell the cliques had formed. Carat and her crowd had their own table of course, off in the back I saw a group of griffons all keeping to themselves and eating distressing things. Then one of them waved at me. I trotted over with my tray and she switched to an empty table which I was glad at. I will get over my squeamishness someday but I still don't like seeing creatures eaten.
“Hey there Gabrielle.” I said as I set my tray down and took a seat.
“Hey yourself Grace.” She said back. “And hay seems to be all your eating. You ought to branch out a little.” She smiled at me, I think to show she was joking but I still shuddered.
“No way.” I shook my head and looked around. “Is this the only lunch? I don't see Pusher anywhere around.”
“What? Oh, well I don't know where Shallo is.” She shrugged and frowned at me. “Pusher, interesting. So how've your classes been? Getting used to the school alright?”
“Yeah, but I think Professor Sugarcube wants to flunk me out of spite.”
“I'm sorry, it's been one day. How can you make any teacher hate you in one day?”
“She really hates my mother apparently.” I said with a sigh and bit in to an apple fritter. “Just like everyone else who ends up teaching magic.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm no snoop or detective or whatever, but you've got to be exaggerating a little. My family isn't exactly low profile but I still run into a lot who've never heard of us.”
“I wish I was exaggerating. My mom pissed off a ton of ponies before she was married. Most of them were in the magical community and now that time has passed, her magical generation is teaching the next.”
“Is that so? Who is she, maybe I've heard of her.”
“Oh, her name's-”
“Well if it isn't my two favorite girls.” Pusher slammed into the table at near full gallop. The whole thing shook and I barely caught my drink before it tipped over. “You won't believe what I found.”
“What is it?” Gabrielle leaned over the table and Pusher joined her. “It better not involve me flying you anywhere.”
“What?” I said. They could whisper and be all secretive if they liked but the lunchroom was loud and I was pretty sure nopony would overhear us unless they were really listening.
“For Celestia's sake, you haven't got any sense of dramatics. Look, I've found the greatest opportunity of our lives and I want you both to join me.”
“No.” Gabrielle said and leaned back in her seat.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, because somepony had to.
“Us, together. Don't be so quick to judge it Gabrielle. See, now it's all coming together. All my life has been coming down to this moment.” She looked between Gabrielle and me. “You can fly, I'm a genius, and our newest member can do magic.”
“Oh no.” Gabrielle put her claw to her forehead.
“Member of what? I didn't join anything.”
“Together, we can do it. We'll have a threesome.” Pusher was grinning like a loon and Gabrielle slumped all the way to the table.
“Sometimes I wonder how smart you really are.” Gabrielle muttered into the table. “I'm not doing it.”
“Too late, we're going out after school.”
“Hold it,” I said, quite loudly in fact, “hold everything. What the heck are you talking about? Use your words.” I don't mean to be bossy but sometimes you have to be firm with ponies. Not that it helps much with Pusher.
“Look, we've got all the areas covered. I can't fly which is a huge detriment and I can't do magic which might be useful.”
“What?” I interrupted. “Magic totally beats flying.” She ignored me.
“So that's why I need two best friends to help me out. You two are my best friends.”
“I just met you yesterday.” I protested. Gabrielle still hadn't moved from her face-down position.
“Doesn't change anything, best friend. We're going into business together. Where do you think I've been all day.”
“In class.” I answered.
“Wrong, I've been scouting out locations and I've found the perfect little niche for our new detective agency.” She laughed. “It was hard but I got it, paid asking price too. Expensive but what's a little money between friends?” Gabrielle hit her head against the table again and I was a bit too stunned to speak. “Oh come on, it's not that much. We'll make it back in no time at all, you can even pay me back out of your wages.”
“I'm not paying you anything, I didn't agree to any of this.”
“You know if you don't pay they can sue you. You signed the contract after all.”
“I signed nothing.” I was getting really loud now. Gabrielle hit her head again.
“Well I signed for you so you don't have to worry about doing the paperwork yourself.”
“That's forgery.”
“Oh what's a little forgery between friends.” She was still smiling.
“You are...I don't know what you are. You're a terrible pony. How dare you do something like this? You are beyond evil.”
“What's a little evil between-”
“No.” I shouted. “Just no!” I stood up and backed away. “You are the rudest and most infuriating pony I've ever met. I should report you to somepony. I thought that Carat was bad but you're the worst Pusher.”
“What did you say?” She had been smiling but suddenly she was glaring at me as much as I was at her.
“You're the worst and I never want to speak to you again.” I turned away and stalked off.
Behind me I heard Gabrielle berating Pusher but I was too mad to care. I was so mad I didn't know what to do, I was ready to cry but I held that in until I got to my room. The end result was me missing my Equestrian class and arriving late to my History class. It wasn't the impression I wanted to make. Apparently I hadn't done the reading I was supposed to and she started the class off with a pop quiz to make sure we had. So not only do I miss the first part of the test but I had no idea what the answers were. It was awful and I almost broke down crying right there in class. Good thing I didn't since I shared that class with Carat. She kept shooting me dirty looks and I could tell she was whispering to her friends about me. I probably looked awful and they certainly seemed to agree with me from what I could hear. After class I finally lost it. I skipped my last class as well which was just a wonderful addition to a perfect first day of school.
I was in my room, crying into my pillow when there came a knock at the door. I really wanted to just ignore it until it finally went away but when the knocking got louder I forced myself up and answered it. Knocking at my door was Blissful Jazz which was rather unexpected. I almost shut the door on her but my polite nature stopped me. “What do you want?” I asked, my being polite has its limits.
“I was the one they sent to see why you weren't in class.” Suddenly I remembered what Pusher had told me earlier and my promise to myself. I'd broken that faster than a Solstice resolution. “That said, they sent me because I've pretty much got a guaranteed A so if you'd rather avoid Public Speaking and just talk to me I'd be happy to listen. You look pretty rough.” She smiled at me and I nodded. I felt the tears building up in my eyes again and I didn't like it. Still, she seemed to understand. “Come on to my room and let me cheer you up some, I've got something that'll help.” She stepped over to her door and unlocked it. She even held it open for me as I went in. Her room was amazing though. It was so decorated. There were posters everywhere and musical instruments on stands in all corners and against walls. It was not what I had expected from the soft spoken pony. Of course my opinion changed as I got to know her but she seemed really quiet at first.
“I like your room.” I said, and I wasn't lying either. She just brushed off the complement.
“It could be better.” Bliss answered and guided me through the maze of sheet music all over her floor to her bed. She patted it and I hopped on. She got up next to me. “Alright, so obviously something has gone wrong for you and you've ended up in tears. I'm here to make you feel better so you should probably start with why you're crying and missing class.”
“It's stupid.”
“Probably, but it doesn't have to be logical to be a problem.” She smiled at me and patted my shoulder.
“Well I only got here three days ago and I'm already a target for that bitch Carat and her friends.” I heard her giggle. “It's not funny, she's a bitch.”
“I'm not denying that. She doesn't much like me either. I just think she's too stupid and spoiled to worry about.”
“It's not just her. I agree with you, she's stupid. It's not her though, not really. She's not helping me though. I think the worst part is Pusher. Do you know her?”
“You mean Shallo?” Bliss asked. “Yeah I know her. So you've gotten caught up with her then?”
“Yeah I guess I have. She's just so pushy all the time. I don't think she knows the meaning of the word no.”
“She wouldn't be the only one.” Bliss rolled her eyes. “Still, I can see why that's a pain. Is that it?”
“No, she's pulling me into something and I don't know.” I didn't want to come out and say what she'd done, it was illegal after all, but it was just so completely wrong. “I just don't want to get forced into whatever fantasy she lives in.” I was starting to cry again. The emotion just kept building up inside me and try as I might, it always seemed to boil over.
“Now now, don't cry. Here, I'll be right back.” She pulled away and stepped off the bed. I watched her go into the bathroom. With nothing to do but wipe my eyes I took a better look around the room. It was set up like mine, with a small dresser next to the bed, but it was the decorations that made it stand apart. The walls were almost covered in paintings and photographs of colts and stallions. I didn't recognize most of them and the few I did were music stars from a couple different genres. However there was a rather obvious blank spot in the pictures. It was obvious that something that was missing there, the space didn't have any tack holes or anything to indicate the picture there was taken down. It was strange. I happened to glance up and there, above the bed, was a large, signed poster of DJ Pon-3 and Octavia. It was a rather strange thing to see above the bed. Off on the dresser was another, smaller signed picture of the two mares with Bliss in front of them. Obviously she was a really big fan, though I'm not sure how good a giant poster of your heroes staring down at you while you sleep is for your sanity.
“Alright, I've got some tissues and the answer to your emotions here.” said Bliss as she stepped out of the bathroom with a box of tissues and a rather odd looking sock. I really noticed it because she was walking on three legs to keep it off the ground. She tossed the tissues at me which I snagged out of the air with magic. “Fancy.” She hopped back onto the bed with me. “Can you magic that acoustic over here?”
“Yeah, I guess.” I did but I wasn't sure why she wanted it. “What's the sock for?”
“It helps me hold the pick so I don't lose it when I get intense.” She held up the covered hoof and I saw the guitar pick. “Now I want you to be comfortable. So feel free to cry on my shoulder because I'm about to play all your troubles away.” She strummed a note. “You know they say Jazz is the sound of the soul.” She strummed a few chords. “But what about when the soul hurts like yours.” She kept strumming between each sentence. “Jazz can be sad, it can be happy.” She strummed once and then placed her hoof against the strings. “But it don't ever beat the blues.”
Then she began to really play. I've listened to a lot of music. The popular sort of thing you hear on radio or at parties. I hadn't heard playing like this before. Maybe it's because I stuck with one or two genre's of music but I'm pretty sure even if I knew a lot about the blues I would still have been impressed. At the time I was more than impressed. The music seemed to fill me and then trickle out, dragging the tears with it. I started sobbing again. I'm not sure if Bliss started crying too but I really think she had. The music just felt so powerful, so passionate, so sad. I don't remember how long she played it but at some point I cried myself to sleep right there on her bed while Jazz played the blues.