Bloodlines

by SleepIsforTheWeak

Third Year (15)

He is fifteen and Dash can tell school is going much better. He seems happier in general when he comes home for Hearswarming break, and in his letters he raves about all of his victories over his classmates and even some of the upperclassponies. She is thrilled that he is fitting in and Pinkie is too. He has started to send a separate letter to every pony in their family, and stuffs them all in the same envelope.

She loves the fact that he is reaching out to all of his siblings because while it is not crippling anymore, they still miss him.

Her and Pinkie get one letter between the two of them, but he splits it into two parts and marks it Mommy or Momma. She loves that he still addresses them as that in private.

In Dash's part of the letter he usually talks about flying. His races, the things he is learning in school, which are mostly things she's taught him before. He talks about his professors and how they supposedly hate him because he is so much like her, which she believes.

In Pinkie's part of the letter he talks about his friends, mostly. He claims to be friends with a lot of ponies, and they both believe him, because he's actually pretty good at making friends once he comes out of his shell a bit.

They are happy for him, and happy with him, because the individual letters really make a difference in the house. Now instead of sulkily staring at his place mat at the dinner table, the six of them talk about his letters, and it's almost as good as having him there.

Almost.

---

He is fifteen and being popular is awesome, being the most talented is awesome, and just being him in general is way awesome. He loves school, now that he has ponies to talk to, and he doesn't miss his family nearly as much, but he still makes sure to send letters home to let them know that they are still number one in his heart.

And speaking of being number one. . . he is number one in everything. He kind of wants that on his tombstone when he dies, to let the world know how awesome he is.

His classes are going really well, actually, now that the professors are starting to take them out and make the lessons a bit more physical. His professors quickly find that he is what they call a 'kinesthetic learner'. They explain that kinesthetic learners learn more by 'doing' instead of listening or seeing. He could have told them that.

Overall, being him rocks. Everywhere he goes, ponies call him by name and some even hoof thump him, for no apparent reason but to touch him. He is known by the majority of the school, but truth is, he doesn't really have close friends. Instead, he has ponies who are friendly with him.

He chooses to bend the truth and tell his mothers that he has good friends.

He thinks that he went the wrong way about doing things last year. There are quite a few ponies that don't like him because he picked a ridiculous fight with them, challenged them to a race, and humiliated them in front of their classmates.

But isn't that how popularity works? If there is a group of ponies who like you, you can almost bet that there will be a group of ponies who dislike you, sometimes just for the fact that there are a group of ponies who like you.

This rule, of course, doesn't apply to his Momma, whom everypony seems to like, and nopony dislike.

At the end of the year, in the last month or so, his class is called to the auditorium. The dean of the school, Dr. Blizzard, tells them that they need to start thinking about what they want to be when they get older.

At the end of the summer they will be expected to let the school know what three careers they are interested in, Dr. Blizzard explains, and the first half of their fourth year will be spent exploring those careers and they will be expected to choose one by Heartswarming break.

He sits in his seat and listens to the dean respectfully, while actually panicking a bit inside. Careers? He was fifteen years old! He hadn't even thought about careers! Was he suppose to?

The dean finishes his speech with a warning that classes were going to get a lot tougher next year and that fourth year is where the Academy began their elimination process. Instantly, the hall is filled with chatter.

He sits in his seat, not paying attention to the ponies around him, lost in his own panicked haze.