//------------------------------// // The School Routine, Again // Story: The Royal Fillies // by blazikenking //------------------------------// It’s the first day of school. For the 8th time. That’s right, it’s the start of 7th grade for me. I am ready for it. Aunt Twilight sent Skyla and me checklists of things we’d need before the start of school. It’s the fifth time she’s sent such lists. I’ve always been able to get mine cleared easily since I’ve kept all my school stuff together in one place, and this year was no exception. My first hour class this year is health and equine anatomy. The teacher gave us a quick overview of what we would be going through, and I could tell that some of my classmates were already not looking forward to some of the material. Personally, I did well compared to them. Not once did I flinch at any of the mentioned topics. After that, we were given a couple of pamphlets that were more palatable to everypony: clubs and extracurricular activities. I was browsing through the clubs, looking for one in particular. I found it in its rightful place towards the end of the H’s: Human Club. Joining that one should be easy enough, since I joined it a couple months before the end of last school year. I should see if Diamond would like to join it too. The extracurricular classes were another matter entirely. Music sounded good, but that was also one of my regular classes. Spellcrafting and aerial acrobatics were right out for me, even if they’d help me with my flight and magic. I couldn’t see myself doing any athletic activities either, and I didn’t really care for them either. Finally, I found an extracurricular class that I was interested in. I had passed it over earlier because it started with “thaum”, meaning magic would be involved. I didn’t even look at anything that started with “thaum”, honestly. The one that caught my interest was Thaumechanics, and it was described as a class to create small mechanical items with magical properties. I could even build some of the things I’ve drawn over the summer, such as some shoes like what mom and my alicorn aunts wear for court, though mine had room for extra tricks. While waiting for the period to end, I talked with a black pegasus next to me. His name is Vanta, and his coat and feathers are the darkest I’ve ever seen. Now, I’ve seen ponies with black coats before (who hasn’t?), but Vanta’s coat appeared to absorb all the light. It was like looking at a pony shaped void. The only part of him that didn’t look like void was the whites of his eyes, with more visible when he spoke. He was friendly, but apparently hadn’t made many friends because of how his coat absorbed all light. I’ll admit, his coat was a bit freaky, but it was also kind of awesome at the same time. I think I’ve made another friend. Second hour was a boring one for me. I found math way easy. And it was also the first day of school, so nothing much really happened. I did see some younger students in the class. They must be really good at math to have gotten the choice to jump the grades like that. Third hour was one of my dreaded classes: magic. With my skills, I’d normally go to a lower grade classroom, but my understanding of the concepts and forces was top notch, and the grades I got on those papers were what kept me advancing through the grades. I’d probably still find a magic tutor to help occasionally. Maybe Ms. Shimmer could help me. She’s nice and has experience. Fourth hour was culture studies. Apparently, we’d be learning more in depth about the cultures of the non-pony sapients, and the first ones we were going to learn about were the griffons. That brought back some tasty, tasty memories. I may have gotten a few odd looks when I smacked my lips at the thought of a juicy steak wrapped in bacon. I really had to make a trip back to Griffonstone sometime just to try the meats. I hadn’t been back there since our first trip, and I’ve had cravings for meat since then, at least once per week. Lunch was a little disappointing, especially after my recollection of steak and bacon. That extra variety in my taste made me realize how limited equestrian meals were. Almost everything was plant matter, though there were things like eggs and dairy products as well, so there was that at least. Oh, there’s also been the addition of pasta dishes. They started serving pasta after Hearth’s Warming last year. Macaroni’s business has been growing fast. I know this because of the small profit cuts I get (a few hundred bits per month) and letters that are in with the money. Macaroni never sends me free pasta, but that’s alright with me. He needs every bit of product out that he can get out. Besides, it’s not that expensive. I’m not sure what to do with my fortune though. At least Diamond and I still have lunch together. We each got cheese and daffodill lasagna with a side of grilled vegetable salad and milkshakes to drink. We were dining like princesses at a small table a bit away from everypony else. “So, how’s your first day going, Inova?” Diamond asked me over her lunch that I bought for her because I’m nice, rich, and like her a lot. “Well, I think I’ve made a new friend” I said. “His name’s Vanta, and he has the blackest coat I’ve ever seen. I’ve never even seen ink that dark.” “Just how dark is he?” “What’s the darkest thing you can think of?” Diamond put a hoof to her chin in thought. “The inside of my closet with the door closed, the lights off, and at night.” “Take that darkness, and imagine it as a pegasus. Also, make it even darker, to where you couldn’t tell the feathers from the fur.” Diamond’s face became one of intense concentration for about 20 seconds. “That’s hard to imagine, Inova. I’m getting a headache just trying to imagine that.” “Oh, sorry. Um, imagine pink butterflies!” Diamond’s face relaxed a bit. “That’s easier and so much cuter to imagine.” I decided a change of topic was due. “So, have you looked into any clubs yet?” “I did that in third hour. Cooking club sounds like a good one for me, and my last class is also cooking, so I won’t have to go anywhere else. Mom also said that I should learn how to cook.” “Cooking club, huh?” I couldn’t think of anything to say to get her to join the Human club. “Could you save some samples of what you make for me?” “You’re my best friend, Inova. Of course I’d save some samples for you.” We enjoyed the rest of our lunch before going outside. Part of me felt that we were supposed to go to our next class right after lunch, but that part quieted itself pretty quickly once we got outside. It was time to just run around and have some fun. Eventually, it was time for Diamond and I to head to our fifth class of the day, and the only one that we shared: Phys Ed. It was a fairly normal obstacle course with the standard rules of no flight and no magic. Phys Ed is designed to make the body stronger, after all. Flying over obstacles or moving them aside with a spell kind of defeats the purpose. This year, we got a dull yellow unicorn for a coach. Her special talent is apparently gravity manipulation. I could feel the ideas starting to flow through my head when I learned this tidbit. I’d have to talk with her later on. We got a good sample of her coaching style, namely the same exercises we’ve done before, but with a spell that slightly increased the effect of gravity in the area. It certainly made things harder to do. Most of the class complained, but I took the challenge on. After being pulled down for a class, it was time to go in the opposite direction for my next class: flight. We were encouraged and given time after phys ed to rinse off, but I didn’t take that opportunity. Instead, I simply rested. I was going to explain an idea I had for some gravity affected courses, but I only got as far as saying I had an idea before I had to go. I’ve gotten better at flying. I spent a couple weeks over the summer in Ponyville getting flight lessons and training from Rainbow Dash, one of aunt Twilight’s friends and apparently the captain of the Wonderbolts, a position she’s held for almost a whole decade. Not once during those two weeks did I set hoof on solid ground. It was kind of scary, in all honesty. I was still kind of shaky on taking off and ascending, but at least I was able to reliably do both now. Gliding was easy once I got my wings to the correct position. I should have been able to do that years ago, but I kept on passing with subpar skills and superb understanding, like in magic, though not as bad. This year’s flight instructor is a pegasus named Spitfire. She apparently used to be a Wonderbolt. We went through various exercises, during which time Spitfire got on almost everypony about one thing or another, though she seemed to not be as bad with me, despite my lackluster skills. If she was spitting fire with everypony else, she was spitting embers with me. I’m not sure why, but I’m just glad she seems to be at least a little forgiving. After finally getting rinsed off, which felt wonderful after two highly physical classes in a row, it was time for my seventh class: science. Science is fun. I’m sure I could figure out how to (metaphorically) blind someone with it. Aside from that, I don’t have much to say about it. Starting in 7th grade is 8th hour. For me, that means music. Ponies are fairly in tune with music, and are the most likely out of all the sapients on Avol to break into spontaneous song numbers. There was one time Pinkie Pie apparently got over half of Ponyville into a spontaneous song and dance routine. The first week of music is planned out as thus: figure out an instrument that you like. Whether by luck or coincidence, I found one that I liked on my first try: the piano. The piano is more of a unicorn or pegasus instrument due to its small keys, though earth pony variants do exist. In the piano, I saw lots of potential. Also, the phantom hands I often feel came into effect. I knew from that that this was the instrument for me. I tried playing a few notes by hoof, which didn’t really seem to work out for me. A bit of telekinesis did great, and the keys were apparently sensitive enough to be played by wing. I’ve never really been a musically inclined equine, but music started coming to my mind. It wasn’t necessarily coherent, but the form was there. We had to try multiple instruments, so I eventually left the piano. What caught my attention next was the xylophone. I soon found myself tapping out a bit of a tune on it. In the cacophony of other students trying instruments out, my tune was lost, but I didn’t really mind. The third instrument I tried out were chimes. Well, I call them chimes, but the label on them called them Tubular Bells. They played like the xylophone, but were vertical instead of horizontal and made of metal instead of wood. They made some really cool sounds. Eventually, we were called to attention by the teacher, who told us that we would be doing a few concerts throughout the school year, as well as providing music for plays done by the acting classes. We were also given a week to decide if the class was suitable for us. Personally, I found myself liking it already, so I figured I’d be staying. I found Diamond again on the way out, and so I walked with her. We talked for a bit about our classes. She was quite enthusiastic about learning to cook, though the teacher did apparently say something about the possibility of working with foods and ingredients that ponies might not like. The first thing that came to mind was meat. The second thing that came to mind was to swallow the saliva that was building up in my mouth at the thought of delicious meat. Note to self: get to Griffonstone again for meat. Cravings must be satisfied. On the way to Diamond’s house, we stopped for some ice cream. I could have bought it, but Diamond insisted she buy it since I bought lunch. I wanted to argue the point, but found I couldn’t bring myself to, and so with an imaginary sigh of defeat, I let her buy our ice cream. We each got triple scoop bowls, which I took to the table because I have telekinesis. We talked about what our classes were and which ones we were looking forward to most. Being an earth pony, Diamond had two more free spaces for classes than I did, since she had neither pegasus flight or unicorn magic capabilities. One of those classes she had was a study hall. I envied her for that. I’ve never had a study hall. I’ve never really needed one, but it sounded good. Overall, today was a good day. Not much can be added to that.