• Published 20th Jun 2013
  • 7,844 Views, 611 Comments

School Days - Dai Kirai



The portal between Earth and Equestria has been open for 5 years and cultural exchanges have started taking place in earnest. One of these exchanges is sending ponies to human institutions for higher learning.

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Finally There

Stormy watched the different vehicles pass. The most common vehicles were cars, but every so often other vehicles would pass. The most common was a longer and taller version of the car, clearly designed as people transports. Judging by his earlier experience they could probably hold about eight people quite comfortably and had presumably four doors for people to enter through, but for some reason they mostly contained only one or two people. The occasional yellow car with a sign proclaiming ‘taxi’ would stop and wait for a passenger to enter. The least common vehicle was some sort of transport, they had only one row of seating but there was an open area in back for moving heavy items.

It was a boring wait, standing as time passed. The pegasus didn’t want to read while standing, he’d have to set it on the ground and maybe get it damaged. It wasn’t what he would normally read but he wouldn’t judge it until finishing it.

The number of cars would have surprised him if he hadn’t been warned about LAX being one of the biggest airports in the country. The stream of traffic never stopped or even let up. With each new vehicle picking people up and only rarely dropping people off. This area must be reserved only for those arriving. Maybe their ‘haphazard’ method of placing things is just more efficient by their standards.

Stormy yawned, inhaling a large gulp of the foul air. No one else seemed to care.

A glimpse of fuchsia and the pegasus turned his head. It was just a glimpse, but it was a glimpse of the first pony he’d seen since arriving to this world. He felt less alone, he really wasn’t the only pony.

A large white people mover pulled up, longer than the previous ones the young pony had seen. It was at least half a length longer than the other people movers, the only hint of coloration being the blue letters on the side ‘Flyaway.’ The vehicle pulled over in front and a set of double doors pulled aside and a heavy set man made his way slowly down the triple steps.

Edward passed the man a black roller suitcase and handed the man a small ticket, which was accepted and the man moved over to Stormy.

The pegasus quickly pulled another slip of paper out of his saddlebags and hoofed it over. It was a standard printout on human paper that the driver took quizzically as Stormy boarded the shuttle. He saw the driver take another look at the ticket then shove it in the pocket with Edward’s before going around the back with the lone suitcase.

Stormy saw the seats and immediately preferred the airplanes. The seats were shorter, meaning he’d have to sit in an unnatural manner. The pegasus climbed up to the first empty seat, next to a blonde female with an alabaster complexion and jet black hair who was asleep against the window. He placed his rump and dock along the seat with his croup against the back, his rear legs hung off the edge. It wasn’t comfortable but he could hold it for the short trip to school.

The heavy set man reboarded the shuttle and closed the door. The vehicle started with a lurch. It merged out into the second lane and for a couple dozen feet then merged back into the first lane to pick up more passengers. Three passengers boarded before the full shuttle left the curb. There were only two empty seats as the shuttle pulled up to the last terminal, where only one person got on. Again, Stormy was the only pony, which got him a few curious looks from the other passengers.

As the shuttle moved down the road it passed several tall poles carrying lights that would force the vehicle to stop. Stormy had seen them before in Washington but had paid them no heed. The longer he was on Earth though; the more it became real and that he had to learn this stuff. The lights dictated traffic movements on the full roads and kept it moving faster than walking could have.

Then the shuttle entered a different kind of road, it was elevated with sides made of concrete. The other surprising thing for the pony was the width, four full lanes of traffic going in a single direction, with a matching road on the other side. The flow of traffic sped up from 20 to 60 miles an hour by the pegasus’ estimation.

This is rather nice. Stormy thought as the gentle rocking slowly relaxed him. The view was nothing phenomenal, with houses and some other buildings passing by the elevated road; nothing as grand as what was in Washington, Canterlot or even the mechanisms of the vehicles around him. The buildings were bland with straight sides and subdued colors or plain concrete walls.

One of these days Stormy hoped to get a window seat for a better view, even if the one his current seat afforded wasn’t bad. A few things were becoming obvious about humans, things that just never occurred without actually seeing it. True, every person looked different beyond just their clothing and it was hard to see, but that subtle individuality expressed itself in everything he had seen and probably everything they did.

The pegasus, even with seeing only a couple hundred cars, he had so far seen no two the same. Ones that looked the same were different sometimes by small things like stickers on the backs on their vehicle. The colors were as varied as ponies, some more so like the neon green box-like car that passed the shuttle a moment before. But the styles were all different; each car had different lines, different lengths and heights. It was so different from back home where ponies would have carts for work or a carriage which were rare; there was no need to decorate them so they stood out.

It was hard for the pegasus to compare due to sheer numbers. Los Angeles had almost four million people in it. Canterlot only had 400,000 which included the main guard barracks and Stormy couldn’t even imagine what this city would truly look like.

Stormy stared out the window as more cement barricades passed by until the shuttle shifted to the rightmost lane, taking a turn onto another large road. The new road was greener with the raised sides instead being slopes that housed trees and bushes. Beyond the road a few large building could be seen or else it was just the road, the trees, and fellow vehicles.

It took the pegasus a few moments for the major change to set in; the number of lanes doubled as the traffic slowed. The section he was on had eight lanes all going the same direction; wide enough to house the Wonderbolt’s racetrack in Canterlot. The shuttle was in the left hand lane and Stormy could see the other side which was moving the same speed the shuttle had been minutes before.

The shuttle slowed to a crawl. The sea of cars became a dammed up river with it raised sides and unmoving current. The hum of a thousand motors replacing the strum of a current. The only river the Equestrian could think comparable in size to this road was the Amapone River in Equitos, the longest river ever discovered in Equestria.

Stormy closed his eyes to imagine sunbathing on a low hanging cloud above the Pronktze in summer. Letting the warmth of the sun warm his fur and dry his feathers after a pleasant dip after work.

Every car the pegasus saw had its windows rolled up and the ones on the shuttle refused to open; which would be a bad idea. One of the first things covered in making a cloud was the density and dispersion of water droplets in the resulting formation. Their instructor, when after the fifth try ponies still didn’t understand the needed opacity for low hanging clouds, decided to make a layer of water vapor that simulated a convex plate of glass designed to focus the light onto his group of students. The entire group wound up with singed fur and poor Raindrops developed a minor sunburn through her fur. Glass magnified light and the heat it created, but the shuttle just like Dulles Airport remained cool.

After ten minutes the traffic had barely moved, these vehicles only moved faster if they were moving. Stormy wondered what could be causing such congestion. The only time something like this happened in Canterlot would be a Royal Parade or during the rare occasions that one of the princesses made a special showing of raising their celestial object.

Or it could be an accident. Stormy realized, it was just a rare occurrence that anything like that could hold up traffic in Equestria where a pony could quickly take an alternate route or in his case, hop over the area.

“I hate rush hour.” A human male in a hoodie in front of Stormy muttered. “Every damned day. When are they going to fix this mess?”

The female next to him laughed. “When hell freezes over.”

This was news, it was standard. Then why don’t they walk to work? Ponies do it all the time. Almost nopony needs a ride. Or take more shuttles; the seats aren’t that bad for humans at least. His legs were uncomfortable in their semi-unnatural position.

The quiet hum of the motor and mutterings of the people and their music were drowned out by a deafening roar. Stormy’s blood froze as the noise came up quickly from behind the shuttle; it sounded like a lindworm. A giant limbless dragon, they could coil around smaller castles and killed anything that came close or was nearby during one of its rampages.

The pegasus’ head snapped around, trying to look out every window at once. He didn’t see any giant snake heads with greedy green eyes. But a lindworm wouldn’t have a hard time hiding in this environment with the grey concrete, bright green plants and the plethora of vehicles. Nobody gave the slightest concern of the approaching noise.

The noise passed the pony’s side of the shuttle as it sped off. Stormy caught sight of a new creature, more than likely just a human with unique ideas on clothing and means of conveyance though. The pegasus was able to get a better look as it passed by the front window.

The creature on top resembled a human; the body covered by a black skin tight black suit including gloves and boots. It wore a helmet, the front half a bright yellow while the back was azure all the way up to the hard ears. The vehicle, which the human hugged to their body, because only humans were known to live on this planet, had two wheels, one in front of the other. The entire thing was black, the only color differences were the result of the various materials used in the construction.

As his heartbeat slowed from his second bout of panic in the same day, Stormy Skies realized he could never have been ready for this, not without a primary source. He shifted his legs and waited for the log jam to move.

1.5 Hours Later

The shuttle pulled off the big road onto a smaller curvier one. This one only had two lanes of traffic going in either direction with only a painted yellow line to separate them. Despite the decreased size, traffic moved at what seemed a normal pace for cars. The dimming light of a setting sun just made what he saw next even more impressive.

The buildings were huge, easily making up for the loss in size of the road, some at least 15 stories tall and easily beating anything short of Canterlot Castle itself. The vermillion, and orchid, along with the emerging midnight blue all reflected beautifully off a building whose exterior was made entirely of glass. But not all the building had such uses for their windows; many were mostly some form of stone or stone facsimile. However; they were amazing to the young pony.

As if someone flipped a switch, the buildings shrunk into a more familiar height after just one street. The new buildings were only a few stories tall; it was clear they were all shops or restaurants. Stormy stared and wondered what could be in each of these stores. He couldn’t wait to see them, but during the day when it would be safer. He didn’t know how safe the most dangerous campus was, but Earth had a lot more crime than Equestria which had maybe one murder a year.

After a few more minutes the buildings changed again, this time to a collage of red brick on the right. Only one building on the right was made of brick, the other side was a concrete three story bunker with all open windows holding vehicles. But as the street continued, the pony could see more brick buildings behind that one, at least three deep.

The street ended with the only way out a left hand turn for the shuttle, several awnings over the sidewalk whose purpose was quickly apparent when the bus pull up to the last one and stopped. The heavyset man stood from his seat and opened the doors, walking outside and to the back of the shuttle to pull out the people’s bags. The new students, for their part, departed the bus and lined up grabbing their bags as each was pulled off.

Stormy pulled his bag out from under the seat and resituated on his back while the others slowly made their way off. He took a look back to make sure he didn’t miss anything and saw the woman was still asleep. The pegasus debated leaving her there. If he did though the rest of the crowd would disperse and there might not be anyone left he could walk to the dorms with. They should all be headed to the same space but he didn’t know for sure and was terrified of being alone here.

The driver will wake her up. Stormy assured himself. There was no one else left on the bus and the last few people were walking past the left turn, following signs to where ever early registration was held. He hurried off the bus and quickly ran to the walking humans.

As Stormy Skies walked he thought about the human on the bus. If crime really is high, how safe will she be travelling alone? But she’s a human; she should know how to travel safely. He wasn’t reassured; the pegasus kept looking backward at the bus until the buildings obscured it. He never saw the bus leave or the woman depart. More than once the pony turned back, tempted to go back and wake her and each time he couldn’t. This was the last bunch of students and if for any reason she was already gone, he would be alone, which was scarier than he’d ever imagined it would be.

Stormy’s clopping hooves were silent among the wheels of luggage banging over stone work pathway. The amount of greenery increased the further into campus the group walked. There was ivy growing up the height of a building in front of him and bushes around every building. There was a giant tree off to the side of the large four-way path, a path large enough to house a decent sized market.

The left was taken up with dirt and benches for sitting while the right had a giant three story building that switched between several feet of concrete and a layer of red bricks. Further down the plaza was a six foot tall bear statue that had been hidden by the tree and two new paths. While the current straight path continued, the plaza led to the right and the left, making it a four way intersection.

The ‘early arrivals’ sign pointed to the left path past the bear; what Stormy knew of as the school’s mascot. There was a girl riding on top of it while an elderly gentleman took a picture with a small camera, it was similar to what the news ponies used.

After a short while the building on his left became obscured with trees while the building on his right continued and contained a parapet at the end. The right opened up into a field large enough to play several games of hoofball, if not the entire Equestrian Games, with more brown than green grass. While the left turned into another path and a building whose walls were all glass and went up 20 feet to an overhanging roof. Inside this new building, it was lighted with blue walls and screens projecting information.

The path continued on as it curved left and moved uphill. Some of the students had trouble moving their heavy suitcases uphill as bags wanted to follow gravity back down. Stormy was again glad he didn’t have that problem and only needed to carry his saddlebags. Thankfully everyone had a good grip on their bags; they would have been hard to stop as they rolled down the hill. Stormy walked to the side just in case, next to a two foot tall concrete barrier that blocked off a small forest, not even six trees deep.

The trees provided such nice shade, but they still surprised the young pegasus where human building took over nature and then planted more without the two having a melded look. The place looked like Canterlot proper without the clean look and concrete instead of stone and designed to be more square.

The path split in two. Stormy followed the sign and the right curve, hoping this day would be over soon as the day caught up with him. If his wings weren’t tucked in at his sides they would have been drooping on the ground as his head dipped. He followed the signs to the right, crossing a small street and followed until the path split again, three ways this time. The signs were useful as they directed him and the humans up a three story flight of stairs.

Another short pathway and a second, smaller flight of stairs to his right and a contented sigh as the signs pointed him through a set of double doors and into a building. There were two pairs of metal doors on the left and a line of students ahead of him leading to a raised counter. The line went from the desk to another set of several glass doors on the other side of the room.

Stormy’s eyes drooped, even the concrete outside was beginning to look nice. The sky was clear enough; he would even be able to see the stars. As his mind drifted, the sound of hooves on linoleum shook him awake.

Stormy excitedly raised his ears to pinpoint the sound, but it didn’t return. The pegasus realized it must have been his mind creating sounds. His line moved and the sound of shoes on flooring echoed throughout the room as everyone huddled closer together. The sound was distinctive and nothing similar to the sound of clopping.

CLOP. CLOP. CLOP.

Stormy raised his head and his wings fluttered. That wasn’t his mind, there was at least one other pony in this room. His hooves moved up and down. He wanted to investigate, to see another pony, but more people had lined up behind him.

The pegasus looked at the long line in front of him, at the half dozen people behind him, several taking fleeting glances at the new creature. There would be no danger here, even if there had been he couldn’t have stopped his mind. Stormy looked at the line again as more clopping could be heard and an onyx black unicorn mare trotted out the doors. His tail swished against his the back of his legs; he wasn’t the only pony here.

CLOP. CLOP. CLOP.

Make that more than one other pony here. His need to know overwhelmed him. Stormy stepped out of line and through the front of it. Glancing at the counter, the only way he could ever see over it was by flying up there. What the hay! But he ignored the counter for now to scan the room. A hallway, a large room with fancy chairs and a large screen. And a table covered in yellow cloth and black lettering. “Equestrian Registration.”

This was news. Stormy ran through the information in his mind; there had been nothing about different lines for equestrians and humans. He walked up as a goldenrod earth pony left holding a paper envelope in her mouth.

A human male sat behind the table. It was clear this human stood at least half a foot taller than most of his kind and was built wider. His happy icy blue eyes and wide grin were comforting compared to his intimidating frame. “Welcome.” He boomed, voice deep and resonating. Nobody else even turn their attention to the pair as Stormy returned the greeting.

“How can I help you this fine evening?” The human tilted his head downward.

“I would like to check in.” Stormy offered, walking the rest of the way to the table.

“Okay. I just need to see your Equestrian ID.”

Stormy set his bags down and rummaged through his papers, pulling out the little card again. Making sure once he pulled it out with his muzzle to hand it over using his hoof.

The man took Stormy’s ID and began rummaging through a small box of envelopes. He muttered the pegasus’ name as his figures flipped through the papers. “Found it.” And handed over a white paper envelope. “That contains your room key and an itinerary of the events held over orientation so make sure not to lose it.”

Stormy took the envelope with his hoof and placed it along with his ID back in his bags. “Thank you.” He offered as he walked away. The envelope had mentioned his room was in Reiber Terrace room 903a. “Umm, where is Reiber Terrace?”

The man smiled as he stood, towering over the pony. “I can walk you over if that is acceptable.”

Stormy had to think it over. Had he offered the same help to the other ponies and they declined it or am I special? The pegasus conceded that it didn’t matter, he needed a bed and human designs so far had been very different.

“Thank you.” He said again, feeling like an idiot for always having the same reply.

The man picked up his box of envelopes and carried it over to the desk as Stormy waited. After a minute or so of speaking the human carried a sign over to his table: “Back in 5 minutes” and rejoined the pony.

“My name is Ilya, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The tall man offered, opening up the set of doors opposite the pair Stormy had entered. There were three building all nine stories tall.

The pegasus looked up at the sky, or the small section that was visible through the buildings. He missed Equestria more and more and he viewed what should be his domain, and area he could explore and relax in. An area that was locked off and barely visible. Stormy was beginning to see why some earth ponies detested the humans’ treatment of their world. They ignored the life and beauty around them, blocked off the sky, polluted their oceans. The pegasus sighed. Is this really what I want?

Before Stormy realized it, they were at another set of glass doors. What is this human fascination with glass doors? He wondered. So many of the buildings he had seen used glass doors. The pegasus began to worry it was to check for danger from others, but hoped it was wrong. Maybe it is so humans could look out the doors and wait for others while avoiding the elements. He hoped.

“This is your building.” Ilya informed the pegasus then pointed at a black box next to the doors. “That is a scanner. You swipe your room key to enter the building. And, if you head to the metal doors, those are elevators and will take you to your floor.”

Stormy stared at the contraption. It was all black except for a vertical slit. It was a weird design for a lock; regardless stormy opened the envelope and pulled out found a small white card like his ID with about ten sheets of paper that he would look at later. They key was white on one side and had a black stripe on the other with instructions on how to swipe it.

Stormy looked from his key to the door, it would be impossible to swipe if he held the key in his muzzle. The pegasus walked to the lock, key in hoof, and swiped. A light on the lock flashed green and an audible THUNK issued from the doors closest to him. The pony quickly tugged on the door, entering an empty hallway. Halfway down the hall were two sets of metal doors and two signs: one saying ‘stairs’ and the other saying ‘laundry’ at the end of the hall with each pointing in opposite directions.

Stormy scurried to the metal doors. There was no way to open them, only a small button between the two sets. The pegasus pushed it and stared as the button lit up but nothing else happened. His ears twitched as metal began to whir, some was happening.

Stormy sat and waited, soon the doors opened up. Inside was bland with metal walls, more harsh lighting, and a set of buttons that went up to nine next to the door.

The pony sat and stared, he had no idea what floor he needed as the doors closed. A sign above the door said ‘1’ so he was on the first floor. But, what floor did he need? He didn’t want to wander the halls looking for 903a. Pony residents only have a few stories so they would just tell you what floor you needed. But there had to be some logic or cultural norm for them to not have explained it to him.

Stormy pushed the number two, which lit up. The machine lurched into motion, a sense of unease moving him upwards. The feeling was just as artificial but more abrupt than the airplane ride. Though this time he didn’t panic, but that was also related to this ride only taking four seconds.

The door opened with a ding and the pony stepped out. The walls were a boring beige with a path left and right. Stormy turned left as it intersected with another hallway; the floor plan was like a giant H. This entire hallway was filled with doors on either side. A plaque with a number graced each door. 204a. 204b. 206a. It was a progression with even numbers on one side and odd on the other. Stormy checked the other side and each number began with a 2.

The pegasus went back to the metal doors, this time there were two buttons, each pointing different directions. The arrows gave away which direction they would go, so Stormy pushed the up button now that he had an idea where to go. The doors immediately opened and the pony stepped in, making sure to press the 9 button.

The doors closed slowly, slower than the weary pegasus would have liked. It was another 26 seconds before the doors opened again on the appropriate floor. The jarring motion of the elevator became more tolerable the more he used it. Familiarity made it less harrowing, his reflexes less apt to react.

The doors opened onto the top floor, which looked exactly the same as the second. Stormy noticed a plaque on the wall, something he didn’t notice on the other floor.

← 901 – 910

911 – 921 →

Stormy followed the signs until he found the correct room. The door was a boring wooden door with only a small hole toward the top. The lock was different than the earlier example. He pulled the room key back out; slipping it into the slot on top of the lock and pulling it back out with his hoof. The audible click informed the pony he could enter, leaving him wondering why a keypad would be on the lock if the key just opened it up; while the pegasus turned the handle thankful it wasn’t a knob. He could open a knob; it just required a more careful grip instead of just a downward turn.

The room was bland; two sets of bunk beds shoved against opposite plain white walls, a curtain between them hiding the only window. A door to his left beckoned as he set his saddlebag down next to the closest bed, this door used a knob. It turned with little difficulty as the cornflower blue stallion entered the attached room.

The door at the opposite end connected his room with another while the doors at either end of the sink held the facilities.

“Finally! A bathroom.” Stormy cheered. He’d felt the urge since the bus arrived on campus and waited, knowing there was one in the room. Behind the first room lay a shower, he’d need it eventually, but not at the moment. The door beyond the twin sinks contained the lone toilet. It was taller than Equestrian toilets, more suited to humans’ longer legs. He lifted the seat, clear on its intent to hold the sitting form and put his forehooves on the tank. The release felt like bliss after so long of holding it in; balancing might become an issue later when it came to his other bodily functions. But he would cross that cloud when he had to. Stormy Skies hit the little lever to flush the toilet and lowered the seat back down the way he found it.

The pegasus went back to take a closer look at his room. Each bunk bed had a desk at their foot while a third desk sat next to a dresser under the far bunk. It looked small for a human but adequate for a pony. The room was barely ten foot in any direction. But the seven foot long bed was luxurious, twice the length of the one at home. The only bottom bunk was already taken a long pillow sitting on top. The image was a human with pony sized eyes and cat ears and iris blue hair. The creature wore a black suit.

“Why is it on a pillow?” Stormy questioned before dropping the subject. The desk next to that set of beds was littered with white tubes and metal vials along with a brush, some small disks and other paraphernalia. The pegasus had no clue what any of them were for so he looked at the last empty bed knowing the other two had been taken.

There was no ladder up to the top bunk. Stormy considered hoping on the desk then up to his bed for a few seconds. Instead he flapped his wings and dragged his tired flank up to the appropriate height, settling gently onto the bed. It wasn’t as comfortable as hay filled beds. As it was covered in some sort of artificial material instead of cloth; it was a blue plastic like substance. The pillow was at least soft as was the fluffy blanket.

Stormy burrowed under the covers, wrapping them around himself in a tight ball, completely ignoring the pillow. His stomach growled and the pegasus contemplated retrieving his last few snacks, for the few moments of consciousness. Sleep quickly took the pony as the room door opened. Two voices greeted him in those last moments, giggling.

Author's Note:

The title is mostly because his trip was supposed to be two chapters in total. :fluttershbad:

As for the picture... It was originaly created to annoy a friend from Canada. A place where they do this really strange thing. They drink milk from a 1 liter bag. :pinkiegasp::pinkiegasp::pinkiegasp: I know!!!! Such weird tendencies. It was to show how different even two cultures that seem the same can really be.

As for me, I will be going on hiatus. Work and school have picked up. Combine that with no Prereaders. I will update when I finish something.

And Happy Thanksgiving!!!