Sorry, everypony, if I've forgotten all about you. Studying at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorn's takes up a lot of time. I'm sure a few of you understand that.
What a year it's been while I've been away! I mean, really! I never had so much fun in my life!
The big stuff happened after my teary goodbyes from my days at the bureau. They threw me on a boat and we set sail to Equestria. You wouldn't imagine who was there when we docked. My parents and sister! I honestly never thought I'd be so overjoyed to see the people who didn't even bother to drag me kicking and screaming to experience this world sooner!
People used to say that there was a noticeable resemblance between me and the folks, but I don't think there's much of any now. Mum and I have the same mane colour, and that's about it.
Supposedly, the princess took it upon herself to have my family here when I arrived, and I was given only two hours with them to catch up before she sent an escort to drag me off to Canterlot, whilst every other newfoal were going to local communities.
I was like one of the cool kids, showing up with armoured guards in the front of the school, a month behind class, and standing a little taller than the rest.
Actually, I stood a lot taller. Actually, I made two or three foals cry because I was so different. First day of class, I was stuck with the first year classes. Ya, that was weird. They had to get me a desk that fit my size and lumped me in the back of the room so my classmates could see the board.
Math was redundant, so I was given an hour of free time roaming the halls. Science was a little different, but this was another world with different physics to talk about. Language arts... Oh dear Celestia, don't get me started. I was practically illiterate with a new written language to learn. I spent that hour trying to find the Equestrian equivalent to "Hello, where's the bathroom", using English and Equestrian dictionaries. I always figured that's the most important phrase to learn in any language.
I have Lyra and Vinyl to thank for teaching me how to use magic properly, but I still had a few things to learn in Basics of Magic class. So many little upstart f*beep*s in one room. But hey, at least I can levitate with the best of them, but that's a "novice skill" as the teachers says. I like using it to doodle in papers. I got pretty good too, and it was really funny when the art teacher posted my drawing of my human self on the wall of fame. She called it "imaginative", I called it boredom.
I was a month into being a pony when I started getting the hang of things. Screw you, Moondust, you can't levitate twelve things at once! Oh, ya, Moondust. Some little filly that's all high on herself for getting accepted into this place. Never mind her. As I was saying, I started recognizing the little symbols in textbooks as what they meant, science was just accepted, and I got bumped up a grade. Cool. Now I was two months behind class. Again, more accepting of science, language f*beep*ed me over with bigger words, and more talented little schmucks to deal with in Basics of Magic Two.
Well, I'm not going to bore you with school life, so let me bore you with my social life. Of course, I needed a job, being a full grown stallion with the knowledge of someone that recently had a stroke. I asked around the administration, and I landed a job playing nighttime hall-monitor. Doesn't pay much, but it was enough to get me some lunch money.
It's how I met the other princess, Luna, the regent of the night. Celestia never told her about me, so she was rather curious about an older stallion sitting in classes with much younger students. Pretty nice, complimented my drawing that stood out in the halls next to the art room when we walked by them. The next day she joined me on my rounds, I showed her a drawing a did that day of her. She really liked it and took it with her.
I was a little sad to hear about her in history class, though. Little sister, envious of her older sister's glory, gets banished to the moon for a thousand years, and only recently came back. Because of her envy, and turning into a monster that threatened to make the night last forever, not many people look up to her. My drawing of her made her night a little bit brighter, at least I like to think so. I saw her a few more times, and she told me that my drawing's on her mirror. Yay!
Then came the holidays. I got a letter from Celestia that seemed like she was commanding me to see my family in Apploosa. So, I took a train and went to see them. Pretty strange. Pony-drawn trains. That's raw horsepower right there. Har har.
It was like visiting a town from an old Western film. I actually liked it. Again, I was easy to point out, as a "City-Slicker", but I got to see mum, dad, and my sister again. Cherry Cheesecake made me what had to be the best damn cake I ever tasted. One of my favourites; Black Forest cake with a light drizzle of chocolate syrup and her person touch of gummy candy, just for me. I could just live on that, but all things have to come to an end. Week ended, and I was back at the school.
Class continued, I got moved up a grade level, and I'm still behind, but I love it.
My favourite class has to be the fifth grade art class. Hay, I was pretty much teaching the class myself at that point. All the little fillies and colts would come to me for advice before the teacher. Us Under Thirty's gotta stick together.
Oh oh oh! I didn't even tell you that I got my cutie mark! A big ol' pencil with a drawn line that looks vaguely like a heart. My talent was drawing! That was the best day in the world, and I sent Celestia and Luna both a letter thanking them for everything. I got replies from them, congratulating me and everything.
It was the best year of my life, and I only had to trade my old one to get it. Totally worth it. Kenneth Baxter's gone, and this stallion's here to stay.
In fact... Maybe it's high time I changed my name, something that fits in with my peers. I got a pencil on my ass and I like sketching, so there we go. Pencil Sketch. Sounds about right.
My name is Pencil Sketch, and this past year was the best I've ever had.