//------------------------------// // Ch. 1 - Welcome to Canterlot High // Story: Equestria World, Book 1: Surviving Canterlot High // by Gear Works //------------------------------// I come up to Canterlot High’s parking area and saw a lavender girl with purple hair waiving me down “Looks like Twilight got here early.” Twilight Sparkle. One of the smartest and friendliest students at the school, or so I have been told. Her mother worked with my mother in getting me enrolled to this school while she showed me around the place so I know where every room was located. She’s a junior, just like me, and has a brother who is now a senior at this school. I went to park my truck next to where Twilight parked her car, or I think it was her car. I never knew what car she was driving in the first place. “About time you got here, Jack,” said Twilight just as I was getting out of my truck. “Sorry. My parents held me up a bit.” As I came up to her, I saw a white guy with blue hair and a Letterman jacket coming out of the driver’s side of the car. “Oh, I never had a chance to introduce you to my brother. Jack, this is Shining Armor.” “Nice to meet you, Jack,” said Shining Armor as he shook my hand. “My little sis told me much about you.” “She told me a bit about yourself as well,” I said. “You’re part of the school’s football team, right?” “Quarterback and co-captain last year.” “He’s also a bit of a geek as well,” Twilight whispered to my ear. “Only because I get that from you, Twilight.” “So, Twilight,” I asked, “Has the Principal arrived?” “Principal Celestia? I haven’t seen her, yet. She should have been here right about now.” As we were wondering why it was taking her so long to get here, a dark sedan came driving up the parking lot. Ah, that’s Vice Principal Luna’s car,” said Twilight. “Maybe she knows, since they are both sisters.” “You mean both the Principal and VP are sisters, Twilight?” I said. “Oh yes,” as she was pointing to the parked sedan, “she’s the younger of the two.” Went the sedan was parked, a dark blue lady came out. “Twilight Sparkle. Shining Armor. It’s nice to see you two here early.” She soon noticed me and said, “And you must be Jack Diamond. Principal Celestia told me about you transferring to our school, and on such short notice.” Twilight asked, “Miss Luna, is Principal Celestia on her way here?” “She’s going to be running a little late getting here,” said Luna. “But she should be here before classes begin. She wanted me to make sure that our new student is all set with his classes today. She said something about having to take care of some last minute replacements in the staff. I think it was with Coach Goalkeeper having to retire due to family related issues.” Shining Armor hit his hand on his forehead and said, “Of course. I heard that Coach Goalkeeper had some family emergency to take care of and decided to retire so she can focus on her family.” Twilight went into shock and yelled, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Tell me Rainbow Dash knows about this!” “I’m not sure,” he replied. “YOU’RE NOT SURE?” Twilight looked like her head was about to explode. “Rainbow Dash is going to freak when she hears about this. She was supposed to help Dash in earning her college scholarship next year. I have to find her and make sure she doesn’t freak out.” “Why would that be the case?” I asked. “Trust me, Jack. You do NOT want to see her freak out. It’s like a disaster when she freaks.” She then turned to her brother and said, “You have to help me find her. I know she likes to come early to workout, so she has to be here.” “Maybe she’s on the track around the football field. We can check there, Twilight.” They both decided to run towards the track field. “Jack, I’ll see you later. I have to take care of this.” “OK, Twilight.” I sighed knowing that this was going to be a crazy first day. “Don’t worry, Jack. Twilight has a way of handling these issues, no matter how strange they are.” I turned around to Miss Luna as she signaled me to follow her. “Let’s make sure we got everything settled while there’s still time.” We walked into the school and made our way the school office. “My sister…I mean, Principal Celestia should have your paperwork in her office.” Miss Luna got out some keys and went to unlock the Principal’s office. Once inside, Miss Luna went to the desk in front of her to look for the paperwork. I noticed a picture of Miss Luna with another lady. I asked Miss Luna, “Is this your sister, Principal Celestia?” She looks and said, “That’s her.” She went back to the desk and found the folder with the paperwork on me. “Here it is. Why don’t you take a seat while I look over this.” I sat down in one of the chairs with the office door behind me. Miss Luna looked through all the paperwork and said, “Looks like some of your core classes from the first two years are covered so far. That’s good.” She placed the folder on the table and looked at me with her hands together on the desk. “I know most of the school standards that go on out there. And at Canterlot High, we run things slight differently.” I was wondering what she meant by that as she continued. “Classes start at 7:00, with each class period lasting about an hour for six periods. Each class ends at the top of the hour and you will have 10 minutes between classes.” That seems common like my last school, with the fact that I was having 50-minute classes, but what could be different at this school? “The only difference from most schools is that we have a 2 hour break between 4th and 5th periods. The first hour is what we like to call Free Study. It’s a chance for students to get with clubs, practice, or just study. Lunch is held during the second hour.” So that’s what she meant by being different from most schools. “We never had a Free Study back in my last school,” I said. “I know,” she said. “Manehattan schools can be somewhat strict, but the schools in Ponyville want to make sure that students don’t burn out in classes. Mr. Discord, our Student Board Director, believes it’s the best for our students. He calls it his ‘Chaos Theory’ before he took over the seat decades ago.” She then pointed to another picture with Principal Celestia and a gray man with a goatee. “That’s him when he was the Principal and my sister was the VP of this school back then.” “Chaos Theory?” I said. “Don’t ask. I have no idea why he called it that.” She rolled her eyes after saying that. She went back to the folder looking for another page in the paperwork. “Here we go. Your class schedule.” She was looking over the list before she spoke again. “Let’s see. You have English Lit 3 for your 1st period class, History 2 for your 2nd, Algebra 2 for your 3rd, Science 2 for your 4th, Music Lit for your 5th, and…” She paused for a moment with a puzzled look. At that moment, the door behind me opened, then slammed shut. “I swear, Discord can be such a pest at times.” The woman who walked in was Principal Celestia with a furious look on her face. “I ask him days ago to find a replacement for Coach Goalkeeper, and he’s still busy looking for one. How hard can it be to find a coach?” “Well, you worked under him decades ago,” replied Miss Luna as she was getting up from the Principal’s seat. “You should know him better than me. By the way, this is Jack Diamond, the new student you told me about.” Principal Celestia walked to my side for a moment. “Sorry for the outburst. Just all this last minute stuff I have to take care of. And I’m not talking about your transfer happening weeks before school starts.” She went to shake my hand and said, “My name is Principal Celestia.” “I’m glad to meet you,” I said standing up. “And don’t worry, I’m used to all this late transfer issues I keep going through. Been through it about every year.” “I know, your mother told me about it when we first met. I’m glad that Twilight’s mother was there to help.” She looked around and said, “Where is Twilight, anyway? “She went with her brother to find Rainbow Dash before she freaks out, Tia.” “Please don’t call me that in front of the students, Luna. We’re grown adults, not kids.” She sat down in front of her desk and continued, “I knew I was forgetting something. Dash has been working with Goalkeeper in hopes of earning an athletic scholarship for college. I’m sure Twilight can handle it for me.” “I hope you are right about that,” said Miss Luna. “By the way, I was looking through Jack’s class schedule, and you left 6th period blank.” “That’s something I wanted to talk you about, Jack. Thanks for your help anyway, Woona.” “What was that about being adults, Tia,” she replied as she was staring at her sister. “I’ll see you later.” She opened the door and left the office, closing the door. “I guess the two of you must be close,” I said. “She can be a pain, but she is my younger sister. I guess it’s in our blood. Now, about that last class you wanted to take. Auto Mechanics class. Coach Iron Will runs that class but only in the spring, and the other class you wanted to take is not available at this school. I was looking through the list of semester only classes and was not sure which ones are to your liking that are still available.” She sighed after saying all that to me. Great, I did not see this coming. I’m not even sure what other classes that she had thought of that I would be able to take. I wanted to take the Auto Mechanics class soon after working on the truck with my father early this year. As I was thinking, the door behind me burst open, and a blue girl with rainbow hair came flying in. “Tell me it’s not true, Principal Celestia. Tell me that Coach Goalkeeper didn’t quit,” said the light blue girl. Principal Celestia got up and slammed her hands to her desk. “Do you have to rush in here without knocking, Rainbow Dash. I’m busy with a new student here.” I saw Twilight come in looking a little out of breath. “Sorry. I tried to tell her in a clam manner, but she decided to freak out like always.” “You know how much this scholarship means to me, Twilight. How am I supposed to earn it now without Coach Goalkeeper around to help me make it happen? I was also going to be a teacher’s aide with her in 6th Period gym class.” She fell on her knees and said, “How am I supposed to get my scholarship now?” “Well, I know that Coach Iron Will can cover for most of her classes expect for 6th Period,” replied Principal Celestia. “For now, I will be taking over her 6th Period gym class until a new female coach comes in.” “Um, Principal,” Twilight interpreted. “Are you able to do so?” Rainbow Dash stood back up with a confused look. “Of course. It’s been a while since I had to sub for one of the coaches in gym class, but I still remember how to teach in that class.” She then looked at me, and an idea came to her head. “And Dash doesn’t have to be my only aide in gym class.” All three of us had a puzzled look on our faces when she said that. She grabbed he folder on me to look something up. “Good. Jack, I think you qualify for our teacher’s aide program with the grades you have. When a student enters their junior or senior year, if a student maintains a 2.5 to 3.0 average, based on attendance, they qualify for the program for only one semester. This can help fill in the blank on your 6th Period class for this semester. You want to give it a try?” “I guess I don’t have much of a choice in the manner, now do I.” “Then it’s settled. I have you and Dash as my aides in 6th Period until I hear more on a new female coach to teach here. Let me make a copy of your schedule so you know where to go for your other classes.” She took my schedule and went out of her office to make a copy of it. The three of us followed behind her. “Good morning, Principal Celestia.” “Good morning, Ms. Raven.” “Good morning, Twilight Sparkle.” The white lady with her brown hair in a bun looked at Rainbow Dash and said, “Let me guess. Dash decided to run through the door like a crazy girl, right?” “Something like that,” replied Twilight. “Jack, this is Principal Celestia’s secretary, Ms. Raven.” She turned to Ms. Raven and said, “Jack just moved here a couple of weeks ago from Manehattan.” “Nice to meet you, Ms. Raven.” “Same here,” replied Ms. Raven. “I can already tell you that you will like it here. Manehattan can be a busy city with tough schools. But here, it’s a bit easier to get through day by day.” “You’ve been to Manehattan before?” “Been there? I grew up there before I went to college. After that, I got a job in this school in Ponyville. It’s much more peaceful here. Unless you’re near Rainbow Dash.” “Hey!” replied Rainbow Dash. “I don’t make that much noise.” Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “Really? Then what just happened minutes ago?” “That was just a-a-a, an emergency. Yea, an emergency.” Twilight just stood in disbelief after she said that. Principal Celestia came back to me with a copy of my schedule and said, “Here you go, Jack. I think you and Twilight have the same four classes this year.” Twilight came by to look at my schedule and said, “She’s right. We share 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Period together. This will make it easy to get around school early on.” She looked at the clock and noticed that it was a quarter til seven. “We might as well head on to our first class.” She looked at Rainbow Dash and said, “You’re coming, Dash?” “Just a moment. Let me run to the restroom and get changed out of my gym clothes.” Dash grabbed her blue gym bag and ran out of the school office. Twilight and me decided to leave as well and meet up with Dash in the hallway.