The Kobold of Ponyville
Chapter X - Class is in Session.
Princess Celestia looked at the clock that rested on Twilight's shelf and clapped her hooves gently together and smiled, “Well then. That concludes everything I think. Luna and I shall return to Canterlot, are you sure you’re okay with the tasks given to you, Fluttershy and Tak?”
“Of course, Princess. We won’t let you down!” Fluttershy replied.
Tak gave the alicorn a toothy grin and propped his thumb up, “Tak will easily conquer this quest!”
Celestia smiled as she gently patted the kobold’s head with her wing, “Good, I look forward to our next meeting, little kobold.”
The meeting had carried on for another hour or so after Miss Cheerilee had left, with things such as further ideas and daily routines being discussed as well as a possible trip to Canterlot in the near future. Celestia and Luna got up before the the white alicorn turned to address Twilight, “Twilight, can I count on you to keep a record of how well Tak does? Let me know of any issues or whatever comes up?”
“Yes, Princess!” Twilight replied gleefully.
Smiling, the alicorn nodded and was about to cast a spell when she felt a tug on her leg. Looking down, she saw Tak looking up at her with a curious look on his face.
“What can I do for you, Tak?” the princess asked.
“Can… can Tak look in your mane too?” Tak asked as he held his tail and shyly wringed it.
Celestia couldn’t help but giggle and leant her head down to be level with the kobold’s, “Of course, Tak.”
Tak ‘s tail wagged wildly behind him as he grinned and stuck his head into Celestia’s mane. Fluttershy and the others watched with joyful expressions as Tak’s tail flicked about in random patterns before it went rigid and he pulled back, his eyes wide and his expression locked in a large grin.
“What did you see, Tak?” Fluttershy asked.
“Tak saw many, many cakes.” the kobold replied as he fell onto his rump, still grinning madly, “Tak wants cake.”
Rainbow and Applejack held down Pinkie before the mare could leap up and summon up some cake for the kobold, each mare giving the pink pony a look of ‘wait till they are done talking’. Celestia giggled as she raised her head back up and smiled.
“Now that the important business is concluded, I think it’s time for Tak to go and meet his classmates.”
“Sister,” Luna suddenly asked, “would it be better if everyday Tak sent you a report on how he was doing? Including what he did that day?”
“That’s a good idea, Luna,” Celestia replied before she turned to Twilight and Fluttershy, “is that okay?”
“Of course,” Twilight replied, “Spike and I don’t mind sending them to you once Tak’s done them.”
“And I don’t mind helping Tak, either,” Fluttershy added.
Tak looked between the two mares, not entirely sure what a report was. But they seemed happy about it so it must be something good.
“Very well then, we look forward to hearing from you. Take care.”
As everyone bowed to the Princess, the guards took positions around the two before both Celestia and Luna’s horns began to glow with their magic. In a bright flash, both alicorns and their guards had teleported leaving the elements and Tak by themselves.
“Right then,” Twilight said, breaking the silence. “I need to prepare myself and get ready to catalog Tak’s daily updates.”
Rainbow stretched and popped her wings a little bit, “I need to go and get some air time, so I’ll catch you guys later!”
The rainbow mare quickly zipped out of one of the windows as Applejack stretched her limbs and headed for the door.
“Ah still got one or two things to do at the farm before ah gotta pick up Applebloom, should see ya there later, eh, Tak?”
Tak tilted his head, not sure what the mare meant. Applejack was soon joined by Rarity who had to leave to do some work on a couple of orders before she too had to go and pick up Sweetie Belle, the fashion mare being followed closely by Pinkie. But not before she had slipped a small cupcake beside Tak without the kobold noticing.
Fluttershy giggled as she watched Tak do a double take between the cupcake and the pink mare before nudging him with her nose, “Well, sweetie. Let’s head over to the school so you can introduce yourself. Then we can stop by some of the shops and get you some equipment.”
“You mean like a new metal bit for my spear?!” Tak asked excitedly.
“No, silly. Like notebooks,” Fluttershy replied, stifling another giggle.
“Oh, okay,” Tak replied as he started to eat the cupcake.
Fluttershy lowered herself a little so Tak could clamber onto her back before the two said their goodbyes to Twilight and headed out into Ponyville, making a beeline for the schoolhouse. About three minutes into the ride, Tak licked his lips of the frosting covering his mouth before her wrapped his arms around Fluttershy’s neck tightly.
“So… will Tak be okay?”
“Of course, sweetie. Why do you ask?”
“You know why, mother! Tak is different!”
Fluttershy held back the urge to pick the kobold up and snuggle the living daylight out of him as he called her mother, “I know, sweetie, I know. But you’ll have your friends you made at the party, and Miss cheerilee is one of the nicest mares you will ever know. You can talk to her about any problems you run into.”
“Okay, that sounds fine.” Tak replied with a nod of his head.
The two carried on through the town in relative silence, Fluttershy occasionally greeting a passer by until the two reached the gates of the school.
“Okay, Tak. Do you want me to come in with you?”
The kobold nervously nodded as he got off the pegasus, “Tak would l-like that.”
Fluttershy smiled as they approached the building’s door. The kobold could hear a lively chatter coming from within the building and brought his tail round to hold onto nervously. Fluttershy gently knocked on the door and waited patiently. Tak could hear the chatter die down as someone shushed the other voices before he heard the tell tale sounds of hooves making their way closer to the door. The door opened and Miss Cheerilee appeared in the doorway, smiling down at the two.
“Oh, hello you two! I was wondering when you’d turn up.” she tittered, “Just give me a moment.”
Tak watched as the mare disappeared back into the building and heard her address the class.
“Okay, everypony. Our new student has arrived and I want you all to make him feel welcome, okay?”
“Yes, Miss cheerilee,” the class responded as the earth pony made her way back to the door.
“Okay, Tak. Would you like to come inside?”
Tak shook on the spot as he nervously bit his lower lip and peered into the building, getting his first glimpse of the class. He ducked back when one of the fillies saw him and let out an excited gasp before he looked up to Fluttershy.
“You’ll come in there with Tak, right?” Tak asked her.
Fluttershy nuzzled his head softly, “Of course. But I won’t be able to stay tomorrow though.”
Tak swallowed a lump in his throat as he nodded slowly, “O-Okay…”
“It’ll be fine, Tak,” cheerilee reassured him, “everypony who starts school gets nervous on the first day. And tomorrow, we have something fun planned.”
Again, the kobold nodded as he felt Fluttershy gently scoot him into the building. Following Miss Cheerilee, Tak made his way into the classroom and was greeted by excited chatter.
“Okay, everypony. Simmer down. This is our new classmate and I know, some of you already have met him but I’d like you all to welcome Tak to our class!”
Tak waved shyly as he offered a nervous smile. He was greeted by a mixture of greetings as he felt his confidence rise, especially spying Scootaloo and some of the other foals he had made a friend of. However, he felt his body goa little cold as his eyes met with the angry and hate filled glare that came from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. He growled softly as he glared right back at the two fillies, something that was not missed by Cheerilee.
“Anyway, does everypony know what Tak is?”
“A kobold!” Scootaloo answered.
“Correct, nice of you too actually participate in a question, Scootaloo,” Cheerilee replied.
The class giggled as Scootaloo scrunched up her face and grumbled before the mare continued.
“As you know, Tak is staying with Fluttershy, and as a part of his learning experience of how we as ponies live our daily lives. He has volunteered to join our class so he may better his knowledge of our culture, and us of how kobolds live.”
“He actually volunteered to go to school?” Rumble called out, gaining a round of gigglesfrom his classmates including Miss cheerilee/
“Very funny, Rumble. But you know what else is?” she asked.
Rumble shrugged his shoulders as Miss cheerilee smiled sweetly at him.
“Eraser cleaning duties, which you’ve just earned.”
The class laughed as Rumble let out a groan of frustration, sticking his tongue out at some of the other colts as they teased their friend.
“Anyway,” Cheerilee said as she turned to Tak, “Is there anything you’d like to say, Tak?”
“T-Tak just wants to say Tak is… looking forward?” he questioned, looking to Fluttershy to see if he had phrased it correctly and received a nod in reply before he continued, “to g-getting to know you guys better and to learn stuff.”
“Why do you speak like that?”
Everyone turned to look at the one who spoke, Diamond Tiara, who was looking at the kobold with a condescending sneer.
“Diamond!” Cheerilee scowled, “Don’t be so—”
“It’s okay, teacher pony,” Tak interrupted as he glared at the filly, “Tak isn’t so easily hurt by words, Tak’s had much worse than that!”
Miss Cheerilee went to correct him, but a gentle nudge from Fluttershy, giving her a 'I'll explain it to him later' look on her face stopped her as one of the colts from the classroom called out.
“Like what?” Button Mash replied, tilting his head in curiosity.
Before Fluttershy and Miss cheerilee could respond, Tak had leapt onto the earth mare’s desk and smirked at the class as he lifted his shirt up and pointed to several large scars that covered his torso. Fluttershy held back a gasp, seeing the marks for the first time.
“See that?” he asked as the class nodded, their eyes wide in awe, “Tak got these defending his clan’s village from a big dog attack!”
“Big dog?” Silver Spoon snickered, “That doesn’t sound scary at all!”
“Course they are!” Tak replied, “Big dogs fight in packs and are huge with sharp fangs and claws, they’re bigger than ponies!”
“Do you mean, wolves?” Featherweight asked.
“Tak has heard big dogs get called that, yes.” Tak replied.
“You fought wolves?!” Pinchy gasped.
Tak nodded, “That’s right, it was a few years ago. Tak was only ten years old when it happened.”
“Only ten?!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
“That’s right,” Tak grinned.
“Can you tell us?” Pipsqueak asked.
Tak looked around the class who were all looking at him eagerly, their eyes wide and attention solely fixed on the little kobold. Tak could feel a feeling of smugness fill him as his confidence beat his initial shyness into the dirt.
“Okay, class. Maybe Tak can tell us next time. We really should—” Miss Cheerilee was interrupted by Tak as the kobold began his tale.
“It was dark,” Tak began, squatting a little as he kept his eyes moving around the room, making sure each colt and filly got a look at him, “Tak had just come back from a hunting party with our prey, a great feast of a bighorner!”
“Bighorner?” a colt asked.
“Large, grey monsters with a big horn on their face!” Tak replied. “Bighorners!”
The class varied in reaction times as they worked out Tak was referring to a rhinoceros as he continued.
“But Tak reckons that the smell of Tak’s clan’s prey caught the attention of the big dogs, drawing them out into surrounding us!”
The class stared in awe as Take picked up a meter ruler that Cheerilee used for lectures.
“Tak and his brothers formed a circle as the big dogs attacked!” He continued, using the ruler as a weapon, ducking and dodging invisible strikes. “We tried to stand together, but there was just too many!”
Fluttershy looked to Cheerilee, unsure if they should intervene. However, cheerilee’s expression told the mare that they should let Tak continue talking.
“Then what happened?” Applebloom asked.
“Though we were outnumbered, Tak’s brothers used their smallness to get an advantage!”
“And you?” Snails asked.
“At first, Tak was terrified, but somehow Tak found his courage and was able to join in the attack. But admittedly Tak didn’t last long.”
What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked him.
Tak smirked, “Tak charged at a wolf and plunged Tak’s spear into its chest! Tak still remembers how he felt when the blood spurted out and landed on Tak’s face! But Tak was immediately hit by its paw as it tried to get Tak away from it, sending Tak into a nearby tree and causing Tak to go to not only break Tak’s arm, but Tak fell asleep immediately,” Tak looked around before he pointed at his wounds again, “When Tak woke up, he found the wolf's claws had scared him and the wolf was dead. So were most of Tak’s brothers, the big dogs having ripped some of them apart. But the important thing was that Tak’s clan’s prey was safe and the few of us that were left!”
Tak grinned proudly as he rested his hands on his hips, looking around at the faces of the class.
“Tak later found out that Tak’s clan came to give reinforcements. And our numbers were greater than the big dogs so we won! We claimed not only the bighorner but we got a few new fur pelts for our houses. Not to mention all the tasty meat from the big dogs!”
As he looked around the room, he took in the different expressions they all had. Some, mainly the colts and a his friends, looked at him with wide eyes filled with awe. Others, simply looked at the little kobold with their jaws dropped, shocked at what happened in his story. The remainder of the class, most notably Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, had gre faces and were trying their hardest to not vomit. Tak tilted his head, confused to their reactions as Miss cheerilee, who had been silent with shock during the last portion of Tak’s tale, coughed into her hoof.
“W-Well, uh… thank you for that, Tak. That was… well, something.” Cheerilee said.
“Tak has more stories he can tell! Like the time Tak nearly got eaten by—”
“I think that’s enough for today, sweetie,” Fluttershy interrupted, ushering Tak off the desk.
“Anyway…” cheerilee said, coughing into her hoof, “As I was saying, Tak will be joining us tomorrow as a student so I want all of you to make him feel welcome and to help him out.”
Cheerilee smiled down to the kobold, “We’ll see you tomorrow then, Tak.”
“Tak can’t wait!” the kobold grinned as he walked out the door with Fluttershy, waving to the class who were waving back to him.
“Let’s go get you some school supplies, sweetie,” Fluttershy smiled as Tak clambered onto her back.
“Okay, everypony. Back to our lesson! Please turn to page three hundred and ninety four and we can carry on.” Cheerilee said.
As the the sounds of books being moved and opened filled the class, Diamond Tiara scowled and turned to Silver Spoon, the grey filly sharing the same look of annoyance and disgust on her face.
“I am not going to be in the same room as that thing,” she sneered.
“But what can we do about it?” Silver asked.
Diamond grinned wickedly as she pulled out her book, “Leave that, to me…”