Chapter 3: The Schedule.
Class was increasingly interesting, and it was nice to have a challenge for once. Her last school was insistent on teaching 2+3=5 over and over again, even when she skipped a grade. To say that she was learning something more at her brain level was joyful was an understatement.
Her classes that day began with magic, and ended with the study of other species. At the end of the night, she would star gaze and map the night sky. As the day progressed she found herself loving everything from the complex magical theory to the less challenging pony type special.
She resisted the urge to race to her first class of the morning, Magical theory; instead she settled for a quick-paced trot.
It would challenge everything she knew about magic, and poke at all the bases for simple to complex spells. It was made to see who could dissect a spell, learn it inside and out, then cast it at top efficiency. She planned on being the very best at this class.
“As it is the beginning of the school-year, and you all being novices, lets start with the most basic and simple spell, Night-Light.”
A few ponies scoffed, but Twilight continued to grin and listen, notes in hoof.
“Night-Light is a simple spell every unicorn knows. Can anypony tell me how you cast it?” Professor Spell Map asked.
A stallion raised his hoof. Not many earth-ponies took this class unless they planned on being a doctor in the field of magical wounds. “Doesn’t it light up the area around you?”
“That is what it does, Herb Crumble, not how you cast it, or a unicorn might cast it.”
Twilight raised her hoof shyly.
Spell Map raised an eyebrow in questioning manner, but called on the young unicorn. “Twilight Sparkle?”
“You cast it by drawing on the energy every creature has inside itself, namely, magic. You then coax it out your horn and will it to appear in the form of a small light so you can light up the area.”
He let a small grin form on his lips. The old teacher was surprised a small pony like her knew how to explain it, instead of saying, you just do it. Well, there was a reason she was there. “Good job, Miss Sparkle. However, you didn’t cover it all…”
He began to go into a lecture that most ponies would call, dronning on. Twilight however, called it by its true and unappreciated name, a lecture. By the end of it, ponies were holding back groans and moans, with only the most attentive students sitting still.
With no warning the bell rang, jolting Twilight out of her thoughts and the voice of her teacher. He hadn’t even began to wrap up class, so now he spoke in a hurried voice as the students readied to leave.
“Tomorrow we check out books, but for now try to brush up on your knowledge of basic spells again! We all know how to cast them, or how a unicorn might cast them, but do you know their inner workings? Dismissed!”
They rushed out of the room, Twilight easily swept along in the crowd of larger ponies. That. Class. Was. Awesome. She had to hold back inappropriate squeals of joy! It was so different from the usual stuff her school or home tutors taught. Not even advanced division matched this.
Resisting the urge to skip down the white halls, she headed to her next class. A place where she gets to cast the spells. Magic spells would undoubtedly be hard, because compared to the others unicorns around her, she had less power at that age. Or so she had been told by scientists, and honestly, numbers don’t lie. The majority of ponies her age often had troubles lifting up a single broom, but she could pick up more than that, and bigger objects. So it was speculated that while she had larger amounts of magic at her she shouldn’t stress herself.
Entering the next room she sat down, patiently waiting for the tardy bell to ring. She could see a young mare at the black board writing down instructions, but she couldn’t quite read them. Twilight had great eyes, never had trouble seeing in her life, however this board was out to prove her wrong. Even when she squinted she still couldn’t make out the letters. Why, she was at the front of the room, for Celestia sake!
She heard a chuckle, the grey mare was laughing as she observed Twilight trying to read the words.
“Oh, hun.” She said in a slight southern accent. Her fur was grey and she had dull orange hair along with dull purple eyes. “You wouldn’t be able to read those words unless you were an inch away from them.”
Twilight choose not to respond. Instead, she tried to figure the problem out on her own. She suspected a trick. The words of this mare, who was probably the teacher, told her so. She cast a simple detection spell for foreign magic and found it all across the board.
“You magicked it so I can’t see it.” She accused.
“Bingo! Now comes the fun part.” She let out another chuckle, her dull purple eyes gleaming with humor.
The teacher walked up to the front of the room as the bell rung again and the rest of her students sat down. This was an all unicorn class, while the pegasi had a flying class, and the earth ponies had an earth class. It was to help them hone their given skills of each subspecies.
“Ok class, as you can see, or can’t,” She chuckled a third time. “the board is all blurry, and so are the words on it. If you can figure out how to deactivate the spell, then you can write down your homework. Oh, and a hint for all your slackers, don’t rely on your classmates to do this for you. Seeing spells are fun like that, as only one pony can see it a certain way. You have seven minutes!”
The ponies in the room got to work, some horns lighting up right away while others casted passive spells. Twilight was among the smaller group who casted passive spells. It was how she figured out what was wrong with the board in the first place, she had casted a spell to find strange magic.
The next one she casted was to find weaknesses in the spell. She lazily draped the spell across the board and soon enough she found the weak spots. Smirking confidently she put a magical thread on the strings of the magical spell and lit up her horn finally. She pulled the spell apart and saw the words clearly.
It had only taken four or so minutes, leaving her plenty of time to copy down the words on the black board: k194jf ← password.
This would undoubtedly be an interesting class.
Time passed, and she found out the teacher had a wicked sense of humor, and enjoyed making her students struggle to get things done.
“Now remember, keep those,” Giggle, “Important words from the blackboard near you! You will need them for tomorrow…”
Riiiing! Next class already?
She rushed out of the room, eager to learn more and more and more! Until she remembered what was next, making her stop short. She didn’t have a real class next, she had study hall. Continuing forward after a few angry grunts from her fellow schoolmates, she held back more noises. Mainly groans. Study hall was nice and all for reading or homework, but she had no real homework, and she still needed to get familiar with the new library. She had no idea where the best books were yet.
Entering the humongous library, she went to the small gathering of ponies. They hunched themselves over a table. She chose a seat randomly, sitting near a large, bulky, blue earth pony stallion.
He gave Twilight a skeptical look with his brown eyes before returning to his book. It was plain that he, like so many, was surprised by her tiny appearance.
The day continued on. After study hall in the library, she had a wonderful lunch with Chocolate Noms, and went to her next class, P.T.S
Pony Type Special was an interesting class for all races. In it, you learned about the history of each subspecies, their specialties, and most careers they went into. It was a fun class for Twilight, and at least in this one, ponies didn’t mind it when she asked a lot of questions.
Her very last class was S.O.S. (study other species), and also incredibly knowledgable. In that class they were going to follow a similar path to P.T.S., but this one would be with other species that were allies or enemies with Equestria. Also, any up and coming species, such as the notorious Diamond Dogs. Like the class before that one, she adored it.
“Heya, Sparkie.” A familiar voice greeted her.
“Twilight.” She replied with slight exasperation. “My name is, Twilight.”
“Spaaaaaaaarkie.” Chocolate Noms came walking up, giggling. “How was your day?”
Twilight gave Chocolate a scathing look before replying, though her voice was happy. “It was amazing! I love all my classes, you have no idea how much fun they are!” She squeaked, jumping up and down.
“Calm down Sparkie.” Chocolate gave a warm grin. It was nice to see Twilight so happy at her new school. For a young filly, she was handling everything surprisingly well. Perhaps it had to do with her super brain. “You ready to hit the library again? I refuse to let you fall behind on your homework already!”
Twilight humphed. “I would never fall behind. I love learning too much to let it down.”
“Awesome, then off we trot.” Chocolate said, steering her to the library.
They entered the magnificent book-filled place a few minutes later, bags in tow. Twilight didn’t have a lot of homework because it was the first day and she was in the beginner classes, but Chocolate Noms had quite a few pieces already. Lluckily it was all easy and review.
Twilight brought out her favorite dolly as they sat down, Miss Smartypants. She could never study without her, it was like eating icecream with no chocolate syrup. Chocolate gave the doll a curious glance.
“Wha-er, who is that?” Chocolate asked Twilight. The tiny unicorn had just confused her once more. Twilight could act three years older than her current age, but little things like that reminded Chocolate just how young she truly was, and how it was still possible she had habits like any other young kid.
“My best friend in the whole entire world, except for my big brother.” Twilight hugged the doll. “Miss Smartypants. She helps me keep focus and study, even if she isn’t very good at helping me with hard problems.”
“Well, how about I help you with the hard ones, and Smartypants helps you with the easy ones?” Chocolate asked
“Ok!” Twilight nodded her head eagerly. “Thanks!”
Studying was suddenly made easier. Twilight’s parents were smart, but they had no idea on how to help their little savant. Chocolate however, knew how to explain things and point out the little details. Together, they untangled the knots of their homework. Even Twilight managed to help Chocolate, when her memory failed to call up some ancient prince, Twilight knew who it was.
After Twilight finished with her homework, which was to go over some beginner spells, skim over the three tribes time, and research three different Equestrian allies, she was content to sit there and wait for Chocolate to finish.
Soon enough, she finished her last problem and the two mares stood up, Smartypants draped over Twilights back.
“You sure you still want to go her so young?” Chocolate asked Twilight playfully. “I mean, you just saw the mountain of homework I had to go through on my first day back! You could be using the homework time as play time if you were in a regular school. Hanging out with your friends-”
“I don’t need friends.” Twilight snapped suddenly. “Everypony says I need them, but I don’t. I have you, Shiny, Smartypants, and my parents.”
Chocolate hesitated before speaking again. “What do you consider me, Twilight?”
There was no pause when Twilight answered. “The only friend I will ever need.”
She didn’t speak after that. The rest of the trip to the dorms was made in silence. It wasn’t a bad silence in Chocolate’s mind, but more of a thinking silence. Granted it was slightly thick due to Twilight’s sudden snapping and revelation that she didn’t want many friends, but it wasn’t bad.
They entered the dorm room, got settled in and readied for night. It had been a busy day for Twilight. She had actually learned things, and done stuff, but now it was time for weary ponies to rest their heads everywhere. Especially Twilight, who would need her sleep for the following months.
She floated about on the moon. The black cloud was ever-patient, having a 1000 years to practice the difficult skill. Weeks were seconds to her, months, half an hour. A year might pass as her week. Time was difficult where she was, but she managed to keep track in the endless void.
“Yes, my pretties.” She purred to the stars. “We play with fate, but we know this game well.” A sudden explosion of insane laughter happened, but no pony as around to hear it.