Fancy Mathmatics
There was some nudging on my side followed by a sound. I didn't really get whatever was said but I knew that I absolutely didn't want to get up right now. My shoulder was shaken again and I caught there word "leaving" this time through the bleary haze that is half-sleep. Murmuring, I rolled away and lifted the blanket over my head. This time the shaking wasn't near as subtle as the blankets were ripped off of me and I was taken into the air abruptly. My surprise caused my eyes to shoot wide to find my assailant but all I found was and elderly butler pony long me in the face with his horn glowing, "It is time to greet the morning young Master Stroke."
I'm sure I would have made some quick witted quip if he didn't just drop me back onto the bed where I sputtered for a moment before righting myself. "I am glad to see you are awake," he continued, "your brother and Miss Tiara are already downstairs and waiting on you to join them as the litter is set to leave soon. I'm afraid that since you slept in you will need to eat your breakfast on the way to school." Dusty then turned and started to exit the room, leaving me to jump off of the bed as I processed what he said.
"Ma...my brother is already awake and has eaten? Why didn't you guys wake me up I want breakfast too," I said as I tried my best to keep up with him which wasn't to difficult since he was keeping a friendly pace for me.
"We tried but you could not be roused. The first maid we sent tried to wake you for nearly ten minutes before giving up and allowing you to rest a little longer. It seems that she did not know the importance of today or else she surely would have taken harsher measures," he said ominously. I knew I was a heavy sleeper but that couldn't really be true could it, I mean no one sleeps that soundly unless they're drugged.
"Are you being for real or just pulling my leg?" I asked as we started to descend the stairs to the main greeting area. The front door was open and Steel and Diamond were waiting at it though they didn't seem to be talking. A sheepish looking cyan pegasus maid was waiting next to them with a backpack at her hooves. Now that I took a look DT was wearing a bright pink backpack and Steel a red one. It looked like this tan one was to be mine, I would have preffered black but whatever I guess.
"Indeed, I recommend that tonight you make sure to get plenty of rest so that this does not occur again," Dusty said as he came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. "Make sure that you are well behaved at school and obey your teacher. Miss Cherilee is a very good instructor so I doubt that there should be any problems."
I turned back to look at him a moment, I had been half expecting him to follow us all the way to school, maybe even follow us around from the shadows to keep an eye on us. "Later," I said simply before turning back to the main door and hurrying over to the three there. "This my backpack?" I asked as I motioned to the article in question.
"Yes sir it is," Blue Fluttershy said as she hoofed it over to me. The mane wasn't quite the right shape as well as being blue but the overall demeanor was there. I bet she's good with kids.
I picked up the backpack and slung it over one shoulder deftly, okay I know I had bitched about the whole Earth Pony earlier but it definitely seemed to be coming in handy with actually being able use this body. I smirked as I wondered to myself just how long it had taken Steel to put his on, him trying to get it off was probably going to be pretty funny too. "Come on you two we need to hurry up or we are going to be late," Diamond Tiara ordered as she made her way out the door. Have to say I was a little surprised to see her in such a big hurry to get to school in the first place but I guess she does have friends there, or a friend anyways.
Steel followed with a shrug and I did as well with a yawn, man I was still pretty tired. The same mare shut the door as we left and proceeded to follow us outside to the litter that was waiting where it had dropped us off yesterday. We duly climbed down the stairs and then back up a few as we boarded, I was a little surprised when the maid got into the carriage with us as well and sat next to Diamond while me and Steel took the other side. Once the door was closed the stallions began pulling us out of the driveway and on our way.
"So," I began to break the silence, "I don't think we have met properly. I'm Ashen Stroke, and you are?" I asked as I motioned to the shy seeming mare.
"Soft Melody," she responded as she glanced to me. "Would you like your breakfast? I brought it." I nodded and she removed a small lunchbox from her bag that I hadn't seen her carrying, wow that thing was concealed. She handed the box to me and I opened it to find a grilled cheese sandwich inside. I thanked the gods(note to self: should probably change over to Celestia and Luna they seem like the patron deities around here) and took half of the sandwich that was cut into a triangle and bit off a mouth watering bite. Surprisingly it was still warm and perfectly cooked.
"So you ready for school?" Steel asked from the seat next to me as I ate. I finished a few more bites of my sandwich before responding.
"Should be fun, been a while since I've been to school." I finish the half of sandwich and unslung the pack from my back to store away the rest of it for later.
"How long has it been since you two went to school anyways?" Diamond asked though I didn't really get the feeling that she cared too much; she was likely just trying to fill the time.
"Don't know," Steel replies before I can get a word in edgewise. Diamond just gives him a look like she isn't fully buying it but she doesn't really say anything against him either. The maid, Soft Melody, just continued to sit there without saying anything, I wasn't exactly sure what the etiquette was with "the help" so I didn't speak to her either.
We continued to sit there for a little while in silence: Diamond staring out the window, Melody staring down at her hooves, Steel was also looking out at the world, and I was sifting through my bag to see what I had been given. Flashes of my own childhood spent in middle and elementary school came to me as I pulled a box of 36 crayons from the bag. School had really captured my interest at an early age and it had been fun to make new friends, but my constant moving from one school to the next hadn't exactly helped me keep them. Still, if you could get past the immense sociopathic tendencies of children, school had been a good experience, and I was starting to get a little bit excited.
It isn't everyone that gets the chance to relive at least a small portion of their childhood, and even if this wasn't exactly the same thing here it was still giving me butterflies of anticipation. Our litter continued to bump along the dirt paths that seemed to decoratePonyville, every time the wheels went over a particularly big rock or divert we would feel the jolt but after a bit that faded to the background. "So what's school like Diamond?" I asked after a whole to break the tension that seemed to be building.
"It's, school. I don't know it's fine I guess, and Miss Cherilee is nice. Some of the ponies can get pretty annoying but other than that it's like any school I guess," she finished with a shrug, still looking out of the window. I didn't really know if I should have been surprised or not, the show did paint Diamond as a minor antagonist after all so she probably wouldn't be too enthusiastic. Other than that though she didn't seem to be too incredibly unlikeable, but I could still see how the show had showed her as authentic.
An uneasy silence fell upon the group once again as we continued down whatever road we were on. The clopping hooves to the front of the carriage kept up a constant pace along the gravel road that began to sound like a steady rhythm after a while. Glancing out the door I saw that it seemed like it was going to be a nice sunny day and I found myself wondering for a moment what season it was. For that matter what was the date even, they don't really make things clear about that in the show and I have only been here a day so I know very little. Judging solely on what I saw outside I would have to think that it was spring or summer since the sky seemed so clear and bright. It occurred to me that since the weather is controlled by the ponies that it could look like that at any time, but the wildflowers along the ground definitely gave it away as being once of the warmer seasons.
Now that I actually cared to look I could see that there were flowers everywhere along the road as we continued down it at our steady pace. Massive fields of Bluebonnets spread far and were interspersed with white Lilies and yellow Daffodils. Actually taking the time to look around at this new world I was in felt a little freeing, kind of like I was exploring a new place never seen before and in a way I was. The swift wind outside our litter would sweep the flowers in soft waves that would break at the edge of a field to start again in the next shore. There was a beauty to this place that I had only really seen a few times before back home, and I felt like I could look at it for a long while.
"We're here," Diamond said, looking out the opposite window as the litter finally came to a stop. I turned my eyes to where her's were locked to see the schoolhouse standing just on the other side of the road from the field. There are many youths running about, entering the school or talking with one another as a few adults mingled. There was a particular slate grey earth pony walking towards the liter we were in, her trademark glasses in place as she approached.
"Wait here for a few minutes before getting out," Diamond said as she left the go join her friend, shutting the door behind her as she went.
I looked to Steel who had been quiet for what seemed like a while, "So should we wait here?" I asked.
"I think that would be a good idea. I guess she doesn't want to be seen with us," he replied. His wings doing a strange twitch.
"Did you just..."
"No!" he immediately exclaimed.
"You did. You tried to do a wing shrug and you totally failed. You are so lame," I said as I started laughing.
"Alright dude, it isn't that funny," he said with a sigh.
"It totally is, you just failed at the whole trying to make me jealous thing. Oh man, I had completely forgotten that one ahahaha." I fell to the floor and started laughing on my back as he proceeded to turn red faced where he is sitting. How he was even able to show a blush beneath all of that orange fur I was not really even able to say, for a moment it looked like the color of the fur on his face started to change slightly but before I could study it long somepony cleared their throat to get my attention. I glanced up to see Soft Melody still sitting where she had been for the past while seeming a little impatient.
"We really should get you two to meeting your teacher," she said as she opened the door and smoothly stepped out. I rolled to my hooves easily enough and forwent using the stair to just jump down to the ground. It was really strange it seemed to me, I had never been particularly athletic or extremely dexterous, though I had thought myself above average in that respect, but now in this body I felt like if I tried to do anything difficult it would just become easy. Kind of like I was now one of those people who was just incredibly comfortable being in my own skin, and I had to admit that I did feel terrific.
I turned and looked back at the litter as I walked back a few feet. "Three, two, one," I start as Steel tried to carefully navigate the steps, his wings spreading a little as he did so to give him some balance. Much against my expectations he actually made it all the way to the ground without falling.
"Ha," he said pointing a hoof at me and once again staying upright.
"You climbed down three stairs, congratulations now let's go find your trophies. Melody where is the teacher so we can tell them?" I asked, turning back to the maid that is just looking at us with confusion. It took her a few seconds but she eventually turned to look back at the school "She will be inside." she turned back to us to find me smiling and Steel glaring up at me from the ground "What happened?" she asked as I started to hurry past her.
"Come on Steel, don't want to be late for our first day and get detention do you?" I called back laughing, forced to break into a sprint as he jumped to his hooves and ran after me. I dodged and weaved between the colts and fillies in the playground interacting with each other, turning back to call out taunts every so often. "Come on slowpoke. Is that the fastest you are scrawny? I thought pegasi were supposed to be fast. Buzz those feathers it might help." With each jab he seemed to get a little angrier as I kept just away from him easily. I was turning back to jeer at him again when I slammed face first into a brick wall, a fur covered, warm, brick wall.
I was left dizzied on my back as I heard Steel start laughing next to me. The world around me spun for a little while before I could finally get it to focus on the tall magenta mare standing over me. It took a few seconds for my brain to turn back on fully and register exactly who she was, her looking down to me and speaking helped a bit too. "You must be Ashen Stroke the new student in my class," she said with a smile that doesn't give away that I had just run into her at full speed in the least.
"Ah," I replied as I continued lying on my back and scratched a hoof against my chest, "it seems that my reputation has preceded me."
"Quite," she said with a smirk before turning her gaze to Steel, "and you must be Burnt Steel. If you two will join me quickly we should get you started as soon as possible so we do not have the whole class waiting on you." She stood there for a few more silent moments until I realized she was waiting for me to stand, which I rolled over and up to my hooves to do. Once I was standing once more she motioned inwards and me and Steel went into the interior of the building ahead of her.
She continued to stand at the door waving in children and telling them that class was about to begin as the two of us fumbled around in the entrance hall not really doing anything. Above everything that had been bringing back memories to me of my own childhood the smell of the school practically threw them at me. Every school has the same smell to it; a mix between cardboard, children, and cleaning supplies. As I cast my eyes about the singular hallway with a few doors coming off of it, one of which was open and had the sound of muttering children emanating from it, I couldn't help but compare it to my old school. Sure that building had been several times bigger but this was an out of the way country school where mine had been near a city. Cherilee seemed to be the only adult around, perhaps making her the only teacher in this place. I remembered hearing of schools like this where there is only one class with all different ages, that would likely be our situation.
During my nostalgic rumination it seemed that the rest of the children had finished entering the building and filing into the open room. Cherilee closed the door behind herself and walked over to talk with the two of us once more. "Alright you two, go ahead and make your way inside and find a cubby for your things. There should be a few desks still free so sit wherever you like. I have a test that I need each of you to take so we now where to start you both out okay?" she said as she looked down at the two of us.
"Yes ma'am," we said simultaneously.
"Jinx!" Steel called on me, causing me to growl in frustration, and he teacher to laugh a little before heading inside. I did find an open cubby and tossed my bag into it, making sure to take a pen and pencil from it before I walked back to look for an open desk. There seemed to be only a few unoccupied seats, the two that stood out to me the most being the one in the front and the one in the back.
"Ah, the age old dilemma. Do I sit in the front near the teacher or the back to be...oh look one in the middle." I cut my soliloquy and walked over to the empty desk that was just about smack dab in the middle of the room. I looked back to see Steel taking the seat in the back of the room. The sound of chalk on board brought my attention back to the front where Cherilee was writing something on the board, when she was done I thanked Luna I was able to make out the words easily before she put down the piece of chalk.
"Good morning class, I hope everypony finished their math homework alright last night. You might have noticed we have two new students joining us today: Ashen Stroke and his brother Burnt Steel. Why don't you two stand up and introduce yourselves," she said, motioning to each of as she said our names. I complied and stood there for a moment as I heard Steel clumsily do the same behind me.
"Hey, I'm Ashen Stroke but you guys can call me Ash if you want. I don't like being bored and I like to party." I sat back in my chair as the many heads in the room turned from me to Steel.
"Burnt Steel, I also like to party," he said before also taking a seat.
I grinned widely at that "No I'm the one that likes to party, he doesn't party."
Steel was also smiling now "No, it is me that definitely likes to party. You are the one that is the party pooper."
"I party all the time you don't even know!"
"Pics or it didn't happen." By this time neither of us can really keep up the act anymore and just burst into a fit of laughing as the class looked on at us in confusion. A few of them were smirking or giggling but the vast majority didn't really know what to make of it, Cheerilie looked to have enjoyed the little back and forth a bit.
"Well I don't now how much partying the two of you will be able to do in class but there is some testing I need you to do," she said as she walked forwards and dropped a stack of paper on each of our desks.
"I forgot to study!" Steel exclaimed as the paper fell to his desk.
"Do your best then," Cheerilie said as she walked back to the front of the class once more to begin the lesson. I barely listened and got that it was about geometry or something but I was far too focused on the sheets in front of me. The test was twenty pages of multiple choice questions ranging from subject to subject with no rhyme or reason. I did think ahead a little bit this time and realized that I had never written as a pony before. All of the non-unicorns I saw around me all had their pens or pencils in their mouths and were writing that way so I figure I should as well. I flipped the test over to the blank page on the back and took a few practice tries at writing my new name with the pencil.
Like everything else it seemed that as well began to come more naturally after a little bit and after seven tries I had an at least somewhat legible representation of my name. I did another twenty writings of the name until I was confident with it before erasing all of it and turning the test back over. I quickly scrawled "Ashen Stroke" onto the paper where it told me to put my name and moved onto the first question.
It was some simple arithmetic so it didn't really take me longer than a few seconds to get the answer and circle the correct letter. The next question was about grammar which was insanely easy and I circled that answer as well. Another math question followed before a simple earth science question. Like I had thought previously this test was going to be way to easy for me to ace without even trying, but should I? We were trying to keep a low cover here and me just rolling through all of these questions without even trying might not have been for the best. It occurred to me that I should at least try to miss some of these questions so that we didn't get scrutinized too much, would Steel be thinking the same thing though?
The next question that I came up against was a history one that completely stopped me in my tracks. "When was the Articles of Harmony written?" it asked, and there were four choices outlined below it. I had no idea what to make of the dates and I really didn't have any idea about what the Articles of Harmony were. I smiled and laughed quietly to myself, it seemed that I didn't have to choose because these history questions would just make me look like and idiot either way. I circled an answer at random, not even wanting to try and eliminate answers so that I might find the correct one and moved on.
The next question had something to do with government so I circled and answer at random there and moved onto the math question which I answered easily. The rest of the test seemed to pass in a blur but brought me to an abrupt stop at the last page. There were five questions on the last page, one for each subject that I had been answering questions about throughout the test. These questions though we're incredibly difficult, probably meant for college students and left open ended in a "Bonus Questions" section.
I didn't know the dates for this specific battle and the significance of it, though I did find it interesting that ponies had a recorded history of battles. I didn't know the ways that parliament appealed the the diarchy and set into motion new ordinances. I didn't know the significance of electron spin, nor could I point out all of the literary tools used in the following question. I did however, know how to find the volume of the three dimensional object made by rotating the function around the line y=2 in the last question. Was this supposed to be some kind of trap or just a way to determine genius? Should I answer this question since I did in fact know how to find the answer, or should I have left it blank? I knew how to get the answer, it seemed so simple looking at it now, and without giving the question too much thought I flipped the test over to the back to start graphing.
It took me another fifteen minutes to finish the test since I didn't have a calculator to do any of the actual calculations for me, but with a satisfied smile I laid it back upright on the desk and raised my hoof. Cheerilie was busy teaching at the moment and didn't see me waiting there patiently for her to address me. After five more minutes she turned to find me propping my hoof up with another on the desk before turning her eyes to the closed test in front of me.
"Done already?"
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Nice, but what is the significance of electron spin? The only thing I know about electron spin is so you can specify which electron your talking about.
Seems like you rushed this chapter a bit. You had a few misspellings and weird grammar near the beginning.
His luck he probably guessed the history questions correctly and will get in put in advanced class he wasn't prepared for...
2991400
The electron spin actually determines an atoms net magnetic field. Depending on whether the electron is paired or unpaired (or has an oppositely charged electron, I won't go to far into details for sake of simplicity) the atom will or will not have a noticeable magnetic field. It also is connected with atomic bonding in various ways.
I may have worded that wrong, feel free to correct me if so. It's been a while since I studied any of this.
2991760 Alright, that sounds sorta familiar. Thanks.
2991779
Heh, I'm pretty sure there's more to it, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Something to do with single, double, ionic, and covalent bonds. I think... It's been a few years though, so...
2991560
I wouldn't say this chapter was rushed. Those mistakes probably stem from my writing this chapter on an ipad, in the car, as i take a 30 hour trip from NY to TX
Nice chapter. Felt a tad bit rushed
2992047Hm, that will happen. Still, hoping you can come out with newer chapters somewhat soon. I'm really just looking forward to the conflict. I can almost guarantee anyone reading this story, including myself, is expecting shit to go down with Diamond Tiara and the two "colts".
I believe that you meant since. Or you could use because or as a result of you sleeping in (that one's pretty wordy actually, don't use it) or some other wording might work.
That should be preferred.
Perhaps you meant, to be.
To.
2993936
Thanks for pointing that stuff out for me.
Aside from knowing nothing of history, the math and science portion will skew their grade level... or a pony with a tinfoil hat might suspect Changelings.
How a pony got the aluminum to make the tinfoil hat is unknown but they can't have mine. It's special.
2994576
No problem.
this guy has the internet, if they think one test will make his intellect look askew they haven't seen anything yet...
Love this story!!!
I need more!
Preceded.
"It seems that my reputation precedes me" works even better, but that's mostly a matter of preference.
I like the Story so far. Hope there will be more to read in the Future.
...What.
He should go with the genius route.
4875715
And leave his "brother" behind? Hell naw.
Isn't that used to determine electron shell positions and magnetism?