Chapter 2: Looking Around.
She happily walked over to her new home until the summer, or maybe it would be all year. Some parents insisted their children staying during the summer, but Twilight couldn’t imagine her parents doing such a thing to her, ever!
As she reached the building she would be sleeping and studying in she found out why it was so big, even from a distance. Its own glass dome reached to half the schools magnificent height, but this dome was made out of stronger stuff, because in it, she could see books, upon books, upon books.
Ok, maybe her parents could get away with leaving her there for the summer.
“Whoop!” She laughed, but managed to recompose herself as she barged into the dorm entrance room.
A sign that was held in an elegant golden frame stood before her, reading.
Bedrooms →
Bathrooms ←
Library →
Lounge →
She nodded her head. Simple enough, really. She began to go forward when she accidentally smashed face-first into a pony.
“Omigosh I am sooo sorry!” Twilight gasped.
The pony she had bumped into looked down at her. She was a bit younger than Chocolate, but not by much, Twilight guessed. Her hooves, just like a few streaks in her short hair, were a bright neon yellow. The rest of her was black, even her eyes. The cutie mark on her side was a horn with stars coming out of it.
“Well hey there, Tiny.” She giggled, and not in an all-out mean way.
Twilight however, looked at her crossly. “What is it with you ponies and calling me small?”
“You’re just so itsy-bitsy, I guess!” The mare grinned.
Twilight shuddered at that word, itsy-bitsy. “Please never call me that again.” She spoke. “I may be young, but I am no foal!”
“Yes you are.” The unicorn mare ruffled her hair. “In fact, what is a little blank-flank like you doing here?”
Twilight straightened her hair, glaring at the mare before her. “I am Twilight Sparkle, youngest pony to enter this school!” She was too annoyed to be proud.
“Suuuuure. What are ya, five, seven?”
“Eight.” Twilight huffed.
The mare laughed much like Chocolate Nom did, but Twilight sensed a nastier edge to her. “Kids like you aren’t the smartest ponies. Why don’t you scamper back to your mommy? Hmm?”
“No! Some stranger like you won’t tell me to do, especially a rude stranger!”
“My name is Starr, there, now you know me. So go back to your mother, father, whatever it is that takes care of you and stop bothering us that really go here.” He voice grew more serious as she looked at the stubborn filly.
“But I really do go here!” Twilight whined.
“The filly is right, Starr, Twilight Sparkle belongs here.” A voice spoke behind her.
Both mares turned their heads to see Chocolate Noms walk up.
“Go away Chocolate.” Starr groaned. “Talentless earth ponies like you shouldn’t even be here!”
Chocolate narrowed her eyes and stomped up to the unicorn. “Talentless earth ponies eh? The school has been cracking down on both racism and bullying, right now I could easily report you for both, with Twilight as my witness!” She snarled the last sentence.
Starr growled. “Idiot, you will need more than some tiny filly to help back up your claims!”
“Then she will have mine.” A voice came from nowhere.
Starr however seemed to know who that voice belonged to, and a strange expression came on her face. “Nebby, stop hiding!”
A grey pony seemed to materialize from no-where. “I never hide! You all are just to blind to spot me!”
The new-comer was a pegasus with a grey coat and showing ribs. She had long flat hair with a few tangles in it, it was the same color as the rest of her. The only thing that could have stood out would have been her eyes if she was in a better state of health. At the moment though they looked like a mud puddle of blue and green sloppily blending into one another, with a few yellow specks thrown into the mix. From what Twilight could see on the cutie mark, was a constellation of some sort.
“Oh Nebula, how could I ever ignore my own sister, especially when mom and dad told me to look after you?” Starr gave a pained grin to her sister. “You just have such a habit of blending into the background.”
Nebula visibly flinched. “I don’t do that, you just always steal the spotlight.” She argued back.
It was already a loss cause, anypony could see that as Starr drew herself up and laughed at the tinier pony. “Oh just fly off little sister, this isn’t your concern. Besides, you never tell anyway.” She gave a knowing wink.
Nebula flinched again, not speaking a word.
Chocolate sensed things flying out of hoof, and drew herself up to her full height. “Enough!” She snapped, banging her hooves on the ground. “Starr, you will apologize, or I will tell the teachers! Even if Twilight backs down, and that pegasus, I won’t!”
Twilight ran to her side. “Me neither!”
Starr glared at them both. “Ok, I am sorry… That you can’t handle the truth! A powerless earth pony, a useless pegasus, and a blank flank filly. Ha! You three are the funniest things to come together.” She snorted. “Well, I really must be off. Twilight, I think I will be the judge if you belong here.” She shoved her snout into the air and trotted off hastily.
Chocolate stared as she left. “Why that stuck up, snobby, no offense to you Sparkie, unicorn!” She shouted.
“None taken.” Twilight spoke as she glared at the direction that she left.
Nebula sighed. “Well bye, good luck trying to get her in trouble.” She stated sourly and went to walk off.
“Woah, woah, woah, where are you going?” Chocolate demanded. “She called you “sister”, why would any sister be mean to their kin like that?”
Nebula glared. “None of your business, earth pony!” She snapped suddenly and ran off.
“I swear, this school get stranger with each passing year, and the ponies stranger yet.” Chocolate muttered.
Twilight was unsure of what to make of the scene. “Do we go report her now?”
“No… For all my brave words, that is something you don’t report.” Chocolate sighed. “There are very few bullying cases that are reported actually, unless it gets really personal, or physical. Luckily though, it rarely gets that bad.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Twilight stated. “Why not report it now?”
“Because it will only get worse. I promise I will explain it to you sometime, but hey, lets get off this topic!”
Twilight willingly got off the subject of bullies, even if she was still intensely curious about it. “Ok, um, don’t you have school to go too?” She asked.
“Hehe, I got the day off!” Chocolate laughed. “All thanks to you, Sparkie.”
“Twilight, and why thanks to me?”
“I am going to be showing you around today, now lets get you settled in. Thanks to that Starr character you were unable to put your things away, and I guess your back is starting to get tired.”
She snorted. “It’s been tired for a while now. I walked here!” She exclaimed.
Chocolate Noms gave her a warm smile and led her to the bedrooms.
Twilight got unpacked and was told by Chocolate where to put her stuff, and to never worry about it getting stolen, for powerful protection spells had been put up. After that they went over her schedule, and what she would need. With that done they went to explore the school building.
Twilight was shown her classes in order. Science, room 318, math, 440, history, room 517, lunch, magic spells, 235, writing, 690, and study hall, library. That was only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays though. Tomorrow, which was Tuesday, and on Thursday she would have the following instead: Magical theory, room 505, magic spells, 670, study hall, library, lunch, pony type special, and S.O.S.(Study other species). The other class was a night class, Astrology. Nearly all her classes were mandatory, and next year, if she lasted that long, was when she could start to choose classes she preferred.
When they had gotten done trotting around the school, Twilight was puffing and out of breath. It was around lunch time thankfully, and she knew that meant she could sit down soon.
“Not used to exercise eh?” Chocolate asked.
“Nuh uh.” Twilight shook her head. “I mostly read and practiced magic so I could enter this school!”
The earth pony tapped her chin. “Makes more sense why you got in so early, and spending the morning with you, well, everything is adding up. You are one bright mare, Sparkie, don’t you forget that!”
Twilight blushed and she looked down modestly. “Ah thanks, but surely you are smarter!”
“Probably.” Chocolate gave a cheeky grin. “Now lets go grab some food! Unlike other schools I hear about, this school doesn’t have food that attacks on sight.”
After going through the lunch-line they sat down at an uncrowded table. Many ponies were just getting there, but the two mares had gotten there ahead of schedule. Twilight and Chocolate both got a hay sandwich, but only Twilight got some apples on the side.
“So, Sparkie-”
“Twilight.”
“When do you think you will get your cutie mark, and what for?”
“Dunno, and dunno.” She answered. “Though, I imagine it will help with ponies not looking down on me so much.” She added bitterly.
Chocolate laughed softly. “Nah, not really. If it isn’t for your age or lack of cutie mark, it might be because you got that attitude, ponies here want complacent psychophants.” She eyed Twilight.
Not many ponies her age knew that word, but being Twilight, she was already a walking dictionary with a horn. “Who wants the followers?” Twilight pondered.
“You met one. Starr.” Chocolate growled the name. “Lets see, another big shot around this school is Cherry Red. She is a pony known as a “prep”. You know what those mares are, right?”
“Female versions of jocks, correct?” Twilight answered.
“Somewhat, but most of them are insufferably cheerful, than proceed to go behind your back and start rumors. Never trust a prep, no matter how nice they are. They are not trustworthy, well, very few are, but they are so hard to find.” She sighed.
“Personal experience?” Twilight asked. The sigh that belonged to Chocolate seemed so forlorn.
“Hehe, sorta. More like it was the pony who guided me around here. She was some unlucky mare who took the crashcourse into school social.”
Twilight flinched. “Sounds… Emotionally painful.”
“Very.” Chocolate nodded wisely. “You count yourself lucky I will be here to show you around for the next year.”
“How many more years do you have after this year?”
Chocolate gave a happy grin. “One. I may not look it, but I am 17, and you leave this school around age 18, if you stay long enough. Due to it being the academy for the best, you don’t even have to go to college after this!”
Twilight frowned. “What if I wanna go to college?”
“Then the next best education, the only one higher than this school’s, is to be tutored by a princess, and only two exist. Cadance and Celestia.”
Twilight giggled. “My brother is dating Cadance!”
Chocolate Noms eyes went wide, and she shoved her hooves over Twilight's mouth. “Shhh!” She hissed, suddenly filled with a panicked look. She glanced around, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw no pony watching. Slowly, she removed her hooves.
Twilight gave her a cross look. “What was that for!” She demanded.
Chocolate returned the glare, but it quickly lightened. Smartest mare or not, Twilight was sorely missing in the social skills she should have had when entering this school. Besides, she still was a filly, and bound to not understand everything. “Listen, just, if you are telling the truth, don’t let any other pony know. They might take advantage of you, or spread nasty rumors.”
“What kind of rumors?”
Chocolate closed her eyes and exhaled. “Kid, remind me to get you a socialization book, k?” Continuing, “They might try to get cozy with the princess, if your brother and her really are together.” It came out as a whisper, so no pony overheard. “Or, they could spread rumors that you only got in here because they pulled strings. Lots of horrible things. Kids are mean? Ha, try teenagers competing for the brightest star that is in their future.”
Twilight made an odd face of displeasure. “But… Why are they so mean? I thought Celestia taught harmonization?”
Chocolate's face turned into one of amusement. “Kiddo, haven’t you learned about puberty yet? You will probably be experiencing it around the fifth year here, you being the youngest pony and all!”
“Mother and father banned me from those books, saying something about adult things were in them too.” Twilight announced.
Chocolate sighed once more. “The only thing you don’t know about, isn’t that just my luck? Listen, I won’t explain it all, but puberty can make ponies be very moody and mean. Not always in complete control of their emotions. “
“Why is that? All I know is that puberty makes you grow and you go through body changes. What type of changes? Is that when pegasus wings grow bigger? Is it different for the pony types? What is the general age, will I go through it sooner because I’m smarter-”
Another hoof appeared on her mouth. Slowly Chocolate removed it and rubbed her temples, faking the actions of a headache coming on. “Kiddo, slow down. I won’t tell you more than what I have and don’t ask about it until you’re older.”
“But I love asking questions!” She protested.
“Too bad, you will only get strange looks and laughed at. The teachers won’t be much better.” She warned.
At this Twilight fell into a sullen silence. She hated the fact that this pony refused to answer her questions. Questions were asked for a reason, to be answered! A pony who asked questions, not including rhetorical or sarcastic, did not know all about that subject and only wanted to learn about it! Why were questions about puberty forbidden? Ah, that would be something to look up in the Library!
Finishing her lunch in silence, Twilight Sparkle quickly dusted off the crumbs and humphed loudly at Chocolate Noms when the earth pony tried to speak to her.
Chocolate did not get into that school without being clever though. Grinning, she played on the one thing she knew Twilight loved, considering she asked to go their constantly since they began the tour. “Ah, well I guess we can’t go to the main library if you don’t feel like talking.” She said in a happy, yet uncaring tone.
She twitched, and Chocolate pushed harder.
“No, not the one in the girls dorm, but the big one in the center of the school. With three times as many books, and fifteen times as many subjects to learn about. Magical theories, math, spell casting…” She eyed the eight year old.
Twilight cracked quickly in the name of knowledge. “Please please please, take me there!” She turned around and begged, her purple eyes huge.
Chocolate ruffled her hair, knowing Twilight hated it. “Ah geez, how could I say no to such a face?”
Ignoring the hair ruffling, Twilight squealed in joy. “Lets go, lets go, lets go!” She jumped up and tried to drag the much bigger mare from her seat.
“Hehe, slow down Sparkie!” She laughed and led the way their.
It was fun, spending the rest of the day in the library with a friendly pony, and despite all her words, Twilight was beginning to feel that maybe having at least one friend would be good. At least in sticky social situations it would help, and general questions about social interactions too. In a sense she was a mentor to, a mentor for her new life at the school and all things pony social.
Social… She needed to look that word up again, make sure she had all of the definitions down, and she wanted them all. After all, this thing with socializing seemed so important. She had to be social, talking with other ponies was social, social situations were impossible to avoid in everyday life. Yes, it was best she learned what she could from books before learning from a pony.
As she read a bit about the schools history, she saw something that really caught her eye. Racism in the school.
Celestia’s school for the Elite and Gifted used to be Celestia’s school for talented unicorns. After many riots it had to be changed however, for pegasi and earth ponies often felt second-classed to unicorns, claiming they were favored by the sun monarch. So in order to show her love of all three races, she opened the school to all three races.
Yet it didn’t fix everything. One unicorn house that had been attending since the creation of the school protested, and began to spread racist rumors. The earth ponies wallowed in mud to bath, and pegasi were just there to train for head butting were two common rumors amongst the socially elite unicorns.
Soon enough it was stomped out, but a trace still remained. The case of 984 C.E. was the last famous case,involving two students-
Riiiiiing!
The bell rung for one last time during the day, signaling that classes were over unless you took a special night class.
“Come on Sparkie, lets go to the dorm and relax.”
“Book.” She whimpered, hugging it to her chest.
“Another day. Besides, you can’t check out any books until the third day of school.” Chocolate informed her.
“Why not?” Twilight demanded. “Books are the best!”
“Dunno, probably so they can organize all the students first.”
“I suppose that makes sense…” Twilight concluded as she put her book back on the shelf, already knowing where it belonged.
One of the things that got her in the school besides her grades were her volunteer hours at the library. They were outrageous, nearly all free time was spent there and for a young foal that was impressive. This allowed her to navigate any library with the Dewy system with utter ease and practice.
“So, what do you wanna do now, Sparkie?”
“Twilight, and I want to go read more, but at the dorm library.” She answered with a shrug.
Chocolate shrugged too. “Whatever, I guess any first day would be tiring, and reading a good book would be a nice way to end today since you are already in the reading mood.”
Twilight wasn’t sure how to respond. That was always how she spent her free time, reading or studying. Well, Chocolate Noms didn’t need to know that piece of information if she wasn’t going to ask for it.
True to her word the minute they got there, Twilight hit the books faster than a rabbit devouring a carrot. She couldn’t find many school history books sadly, but she did find one on mood swings and things that might cause them. Didn’t Chocolate mention mood swings in puberty?
She read the book to page 122 before Chocolate had to go up there and tell her it was bed time.
“But I was just getting to the good part!” She whined.
“Twilight, it is nine o’ clock. I doubt your parents even let you stay up this late.”
“They, uh, let me stay up however long I want!” She declared.
Chocolate gave her a leveled look, a near demanding look. “Twilight, when do you usually go to bed?”
She had to look down, unable to meet the steely gaze of her newfound mentor-friend. “Maybe they usually make me go to bed at eight…”
With that, the earth mare picked up the book gently in her teeth and gave Twilight one last stern look. “Don’t make me be your mom, I would rather be your friend.”
“O-k.” She jumped off the chair tail lagging behind. “Can I read in bed?”
“No. If there is anything I have gathered from you, it is that you will read to your hearts content before sleeping, just so you can soak up any piece of knowledge.” Chocolate spoke with finality, not inviting a debate.
Groaning, the filly scampered to her bunk and crawled in. “Nighty night, Chocolate!”
“Sleep tight, Sparkie!”
“It’s Twilight!”
A mare watched from a far away place. She was not even in physical form as she gracefully roamed. Yet, a tiny cackle would have happened from the midnight cloud of magic with a mind if it could make noise. All was going to plan, ah yes. Her little plan would make sure nothing stood in her way when she returned. Only she could tell who would thwart her, for her stars still loved her, and spoke to her alone.