//------------------------------// // The New Students and the CMC // Story: The Life of Princess Skyla // by Stardom Freedom //------------------------------// As the weeks past by, I got more talkative, especially around Sun Burn. I mean, Mommy always says, "If you find love, go after it!" So I decided to do just that. I also got more talkative around Radiant Jewel, Shooting Star, and Magnum. Magnum still tries to flirt with me though. But I swear that every time he does flirt, Radiant looks jealous. So, whenever Magnum does flirt, I just blush a little bit and then nod. So, here's the whole point I'm writing: today we got two new students. Here's what happened: Everypony was chattering. My friends and I all met up at Shooting Star's desk. We talked about random things that just happened to slip our minds. A little while later, Mrs. Hope came in and silenced us. "Thank you, class. Now, before we begin our lesson, I have to share some exciting news with you. We are getting some new students from Ponyville!" The whole class, including me, cheered. New students? That is so awesome! We could have new additions to our group! I thought, excited. Just then, two foals, one a filly and the other a colt, walked in. They weren't Crystal Ponies. "Welcome to our class, you two! Please go to the front of the classroom and introduce yourselves and tell something interesting about yourself." Mrs. Hope beamed. The filly with a cutie mark of a shimmering gem walked to the front of the classroom. "My name is Royal Shimmer. My mommy is Diamond Tiara and my daddy is Lickety Split. My mommy is a famous fashion designer and my daddy owns the whole chain of Lickety Split Sundaes. Also, I'm rich and pretty." The colt with a cutie mark of a bronze medal stepped forward. "I'm Bronze Blaze. My parents are Truffle, a famous chef with his own cooking show, and Silver Spoon, a very famous food critic. They're awesome. Royal and I will move back to Ponyville in a few years." Jewel, Star, Magnum, Sun Burn, and I shared knowing glances. Royal Shimmer and Bronze Blaze seemed nice. Maybe they would want to hang out with us. During recess, we approached them. "Hi, Royal Shimmer and Bronze Blaze!" I extended my hoof to them. "I'm Princess Skyla of the Crystal Empire, but just call my Skyla or Sky." "I'm Shooting Star, but just call me Star," Star smiled. "I'm Magnum, and Royal Shimmer, I must say, you are as pretty as you think you are," "I know," Royal said flirtatiously, fluttering her eyelashes. For a split second, I swore that I saw hurt flicker across Bronze and Jewel's faces. Wiping the feeling off, Radiant smiled falsely and said, "I'm Radiant Jewel, but you can call me Jewel," "And I'm Sun Burn," my crush introduced himself. "Yeah, yeah, we don't care. What we do care about is why you're coming over to talk to us." Bronze explained with an attitude. "Because we want to know if you want to hang out with us and join our circle of friends," I explained with no attitude. Royal Shimmer scoffed. "Sorry, but we don't hang out with lame blank-flanks!" She and Bronze began to laugh - hard. I was offended. We had just come over to invite them into our group and then they insult us for not having a cutie mark! The nerve! I thought angrily. I heard a sniffle come out of Jewel. I looked at her and saw she was trying to fight back tears. Fortunately, she succeeded. Sun Burn stepped forward. "We're five-years-old! Are we supposed to have a cutie mark at this age?" "Well, if we do, then you should too! And everypony else in the class have one too! So how come you don't?" Bronze shot back at him. Royal Shimmer then approached me. "And you, Princess Skyla of the Crystal Empire, without a cutie mark? Your parents must be so embarrassed." That's when I went from angry to furious. "MY PARENTS ARE NOT EMBARRASSED BECAUSE OF ME!" I hollered in her face. Royal looked frightened, but quickly brushed it off. "Well, they should. You're a princess without a cutie mark at this age. If I were them, I'd be pretty ashamed. It's no wonder you only hang out with these stupid blank-flanks. And you're just as stupid as them." She and Bronze then sashayed away. Oh. My. Auntie Celestia. She. Just. Called. Me. Stupid! I'll show her who's stupid! I flew into the air and screamed to the top of my lungs, "My friends and I aren't stupid, you... you...!" My friends covered their ears as I said the word. "Skyla Armor!" I looked down to see the angry face of my Unicorn teacher glaring at me. I sheepishly flew down. "Your parents are going to be told about this." The only thing I last saw and heard outside was Magnum approaching Royal and saying, "I take back my compliment, Commoner Shimmer," *** I sat in time-out while the rest of the class did math stations and Mrs. Hope wrote the letter about my "reckless behavior" that would be sent to Mommy and Daddy. A tear rolled down my cheek, which was followed by more tears. I wasn't in the wrong. Mommy and Daddy always said that if somepony messes with me, I stand up for myself. I had done just that. But I was getting in trouble because of what Royal Shimmer and Bronze Blaze did. I hate them. I hate them. Soon I saw Mrs. Hope put her quill down and she walked to the front of the classroom. "Class, we will be having a speaker come to us any minute now. When she comes, I want you to give her your full, undivided attention." I started to turn around, but she stopped me. "Not you, Skyla. You're staying in time-out." I turned to face the wall. At that moment, a mare walked in the class. "Hi, kids! I'm Mrs. Bell Bow, the leader of the Crystal Empire Cutie Mark Crusaders troop! The Cutie Mark Crusaders is a group devoted to helping ponies get their cutie marks." "But we all already have our cutie marks!" Butterfly, a non-Crystal Pony filly in my class, called out. She has a butterfly as a cutie mark. "No," Polka Dot, Butterfly's friend (a non-Crystal Pony with a cutie mark of a polka dot), countered. "Magnum, Skyla, Star, Jewel, and Sun Burn don't have theirs." I felt a twinge of embarrassment. "Well, that's good! Now, I'm speaking specifically to those five. Do you want to find your cutie marks?" Mrs. Bell said encouragingly. "YES!" Star, Sun Burn, Jewel, and Magnum yelled. "Do you want to participate in fun activities to find your cutie marks?" "YES!" "Then ask your parents to join the Crystal Empire Cutie Mark Crusaders troop! It'll be lots of fun!" The bell rang for dismissal. Everypony left the building and Mrs. Hope trotted to me and handed me the letter she wrote. "Give this to your parents," I nodded and took the letter. I went outside with my head hung down. Royal and Bronze walked up to me. "Well, well, well. Looks like the ring leader of the blank-flanks got in trouble. Makes sense; you are un-special." Royal smirked and then she and her little minion laughed as they sashayed to their rich parents. I sighed sadly. My friends approached me. Jewel touched my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Sky. But your parents will understand that Royal and Bronze started it." "No, they won't," I saw the silhouette of an Alicorn walking with a Unicorn. "Here they come now," Sure enough, it was my parents. "Sun Burn, Jewel, Star, Magnum, we'll be taking you with us today. Anyway, how was school, Skyla?" Mommy questioned. "Horrible. Mrs. Hope wanted you two to read this." I handed them the letter, my hoof shaking. Daddy read it. "'Dear Queen Cadance and King Shining Armor, I am writing this to inform you about...'" His eyes kept widening after each word. It was when he got to the part where I called Royal and Bronze a you-know-what when he went to his volcanic mode. "YOU CALLED THE NEW STUDENTS A WHAT?!" Daddy hollered. "Daddy, Mommy, I can explain!" I told them the whole story and they nodded. "Okay, we'll let you off the hook this time. But next time, we won't that easily," Daddy warned. "Thank you," I whispered. My friends and I walked to the castle. "Let's become Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Star exclaimed. That instant, Mrs. Bell was suddenly in the room (I decided not to question it). "You want to be Cutie Mark Crusaders? Then, let's get started!" She threw Cutie Mark Crusader capes on us to begin our journey.