Chapter 1: Foal Move
David and Twilight slipped into the room quietly. David made sure to close the door as slowly and silently as humanely possible. Twilight watched him as he did so, smiling humorously at his exaggerated movements. David could tell that Twilight was still on guard, but less so than the high-strung human.
“Why are we here?” David hissed. He winced as Twilight’s hooves made contact with the solid wood of the floorboards. The sound seemed deafening in the confined space, but the transition from Twilight’s furtive glance to a relieved look told David that their entry hadn’t been noted yet. Twilight didn’t deign to answer David’s query, merely opting to lean passively on the back wall of the room and observe her surroundings.
It was a miracle, he decided, that the looks of the gathered audience remained enraptured by the animated presenter at the front of the room.
"Who is that, by the way?" He pointed to the front.
"That's Miss Cheerilee, the teacher."
“I don’t like this,” he said, his voice low. An ear flicked inquisitively among the group and he immediately fell silent. “I don’t like this,” he repeated in a lower voice.
Twilight rolled her eyes, finally giving David the satisfaction of a reaction.
“What are you so afraid of?” Twilight replied mildly, her gaze fixated on the pony at the head of the room. They had to wait for the cue and then they would be thrown to the wolves… or at least that’s what David thought.
“I’m not too good with these sorts of things. I prefer a beer and a comfortable chair and preferably, no company.”
“You always say that.”
“Doesn’t stop it from being true.”
The teacher wrapped up her speech.
“And now,” she announced, gesturing to the back of the room. “We have two special guests. Miss Twilight Sparkle and Mister David Collins, please make them feel welcome." There was the steady beat of hooves as the class gave Twilight and David a round of applause. Curious gazes fell upon him, wondering what manner of mystery he was to be revealed.
“Today,” Twilight said with a smile, “a little history.”
There were groans all around.
A hoof shot up.
“Yes, Diamond Tiara?”
“Uhh, what is David Collins?”
“That's Mister Collins,” Cheerilee corrected gently. “Miss Sparkle was about to explain what David is.”
Twilight smiled. “You can all just call me Twilight. David here ties into our ancient history.”
There were mutters around the classroom.
Another hoof shot up. Cheerilee nodded.
“Does that mean he's immortal, just like the Princesses?”
Twilight grinned. “Thank Celestia, no. Would you like to explain how you got here, David?”
David looked supremely uncomfortable as the gazes of roughly fifteen sets of round curious eyes trained on the lone human. He rubbed an arm self-consciously.
“It's kind of a long story…” he said.
Classroom interest manifested itself so quickly that David swore it was like a physical wave of inquisitive curiosity had swept over him.
“Tell us! Yeah, tell us!” the class cheered.
“Eh, it's really boring, I was asleep for the better part of ten thousand years.”
“Ten thousand years!” gasped Cheerilee, then she put an embarrassed hoof over her mouth. “That's astronomical.”
David nodded. “It boggles the mind,” he commented wryly.
Cheerilee nodded to a waving hoof.
“Go ahead, Apple Bloom,” she called out.
“‘Scuse me, Mister Collins, but how can ya be asleep for ten thousand years?”
David shrugged. “I was frozen.”
“Yah mean you were frozen in like ice?”
David nodded. There were mutters around the room.
“How come yer alive, then?”
David laughed. “I had a good doctor and the best technology money could buy.” The room looked confused. “Just don’t try that at home,” he added quickly. “Being frozen, even with a doctor, wasn’t that fun.”
“Oooh, but Mister Collins?” another filly spoke up.
“Yes?”
“How come we’ve never seen anything like you before? What kind of accent do you have? I’ve never heard of anypony having that kind of accent before.”
David grinned. “Well I’m what you call a human. Among the humans we have different kinds. I’m an Australian-kind of human. We’re big on our accent.” He winked. “If you make it strong enough and you speak enough ‘Australianisms’ you might even be able to get away with some secret messages.”
“How?”
“Well we have something called, ‘G’day’, it’s short for ‘Good day’. If you’re impressed with something you can say ‘you beauty, mate’.” He cocked his head, remembering something. “In Australia, everyone’s your mate, so you can call everyone ‘mate’. If something is true or genuine you can say ‘Fair dinkum’.” David was pleased to see some notes being taken down.
The sudden peal of the recess bell jolted David back to himself.
As the foals left the classroom, chattering excitedly, Twilight leaned in conspiratorially.
“That wasn’t so bad was it?” she cajoled him, with a nudge of her fetlock to his ribs. David smirked and patted Twilight on the head. He hummed agreeably.
“Thanks,” he finally said, exiting out of the main entrance. In an instant he was surrounded by foals asking him rapid-fire questions. He looked back to see Twilight tied up with talking to Cheerilee. He glanced back at the gathered foals.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ve had too much talking, let’s play some games!”
––––––
“He seems to enjoy the company of foals,” Cheerilee remarked off-hoofedly.
Twilight regarded David’s plight as he was wrestled half-laughing half-screaming to the ground by numerous young ponies.
“I’m glad for him. He’s had it rough recently.”
Cheerilee grew sombre at the comment. She saw the distant look within Twilight’s eyes.
Ah, she thought.
“It must be hard being alone.”
“It must be harder to hide it, I think.”