43-Empty Nest
I tape the final box shut, and a small ball of pressure forms in my chest. This it. Comet is now officially off to college. Thanks to her 4.0 GPA that I never got close to at her age, she was accepted into Canterlot Medical University, focusing tentatively on toxicology. Goes well with her cutie mark, which is obviously ideal. She's been talking about going into that field for the past few years, and if the excitement she gets in her eyes whenever she talks about it transfers to the college level, she's going to do just fine. Still, she's been our little filly since she was eight. And now she's off to college.
When did she grow up so much?
I sigh and pick the two remaining boxes up. Before I go to carry them down to the main room with the rest of them, I take a moment to look at Comet's room. Other than the furniture like her bed and bookshelf, it's completely empty. Her bed is made and everything is perfectly clean, making it look more like a guest bedroom than something our daughter has lived in since we moved in.
Ugh. This may be harder than I thought.
I turn away from the empty room and walk down there stairs where Cheerilee, Oswald and Comet are all waiting for me alongside the other three boxes. I put the ones I'm carrying next to the others and nod.
"Alright. That's everything. You all ready to go?"
Comet grins and nods. "Oh yeah, totally!" She bounces up and down, flapping her wings in excitement. "This is gonna be so cool! Can you believe I'm actually off to college now?"
"No," Cheerilee and I say at the exact same time.
"Pshh, you two," Comet says, rolling her eyes and waving her hoof. "It's not like I'm going off to war or anything. I'm just in Canterlot. You can even see it from where we are!"
"Yeah, well, I'm from a state where you can pretty much always see the mountains, but it's not like they were a few miles away," I point out. "Canterlot can be a bit of a train ride."
"Speaking of, the taxi just pulled up," Cheerilee says, glancing out the window. "I guess it's time to load on up."
Yeah, I guess so. I manage to get ahold of three of the boxes while Comet and Cheerilee each take one. In my prime I'd be able to take all five, but I'm not as good as I used to be. In any case, we meet the taxi, and we load the boxes and ourselves on. I'm happy for the drivers that they don't have to pull any furniture we're loading, though if we did take any, we'd have it shipped to the train station. Comet is happily chatting the whole ride, but Cheerilee and I are quiet. Life is going too fast for me. Comet's eighteen and starting college, and I'm about to turn forty-four, and Cheerilee already has. Gosh, is this how it was for my parents when we were driving to drop me off at college? Maybe it was easier the second time around since my sister Kristen had already gone off herself, but... ugh. Now I'm going through it.
This is all happening too fast. Why isn't she still eight and snuggling up on my back?
We reach the train station a few minutes before the train is scheduled to arrive. By the time we've unloaded everything, the train has arrived, and the porters have loaded everything onto a cart for the luggage car. Since this is a special occasion, I've paid for a private, luxury car for the four of us. Once our luggage is taken care of, we file in, and Comet instantly flops onto one of the reclining seats and fires up the massage on it. She lets out a contented sigh, and I get into one of the bigger seats.
"Well, we're on our way," Cheerilee says. "Are you sure that you don't want to stay in Ponyville and attend the school that Twilight is starting?"
Comet glances at Cheerilee out of the corner of her eye and scoffs. "Yeah, sure. I've heard that they have a great medical program. Top notch. You can do toxicology with friendship beams. I've heard that Rainbow Dash has her certification to teach that."
"Yeah, yeah," I groan, turning the massage on myself as Oswald lands on the back of my chair. He only stays there for a few seconds, as the massage setting makes his whole body vibrate. "Still not sure how Twilight got all of her friends to be professors at that school. You think they'd all be too busy doing stuff like, I dunno, their normal jobs and being parents and whatnot."
"Well, I'm a good teacher on top of being a parent," Cheerilee points out.
"Sure, but you don't also have a full-time job outside of those things." I shrug. "I dunno. From what I've heard it won't be just them. The CMCs are picking up a few classes, and they've managed to poach a few teachers from Ponyville High."
"Heard that too," Comet says. "Miss Cozy Glow was headed over there, if I remember right."
"She always weirded me out," Cheerilee muttered. "Great debate teacher, but she always seemed to take things just a half step too far. Wonder what she'll being to a friendship school."
"Maybe lessons on how to have an argument or debate with a friend while still keeping it civil and friendly?" Comet guesses. "Though if I were picking, she's not the one I'd hire for that kind of thing. Like you said, Mom: she always seemed to take it a half step too far. Too serious. Too focused on winning."
"In any case, we'll be sure to keep you updated on that kind of thing," I reply as the train lurches forward. We're officially on our way to Canterlot. Ugh.
"Well, either way, it's sure to be interesting," Comet says as she picks up a nearby menu. "Friendship is magic is still a weird idea. Orange Peel and Silver Shine and me never really stopped any world-ending stuff with our buddy-buddyness."
"Maybe there aren't any more world-ending monsters out there," I reply, nabbing a menu of my own. "I mean, Discord is reformed, Nightmare Moon is gone, Chrysalis is in stone forever, and I killed Tirek."
"And the Storm King was defeated really quickly, and Starlight reformed," Cheerilee chimes in thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that Storm King thing was really weird," Comet agrees. "Wish I could have been there to watch that gojira thing take down his whole fleet of airships."
"Regardless, you're probably going some where quieter and with a lot less drama," I say. "Canterlot has a lot of politics, but a lot fewer monster attacks."
"And I'm not going into politics anyway," Comet says. "Though there are a lot of kinds of politics, and I may have to figure out how to navigate them if I'm going to get a job in a Canterlot hospital."
Let's not get too ahead of ourselves there, Comet. Maybe a really high-paying job that you can't resist will open up in Ponyville. Yeah, that sounds good.
We order some food and continue chatting about nothing as we go along. Every time I look out the window, Canterlot is that much closer. Cheerilee and I pick at our food, while Comet inhales hers. I end up sharing with Oswald, who goes through what we got for him pretty quickly as well. During my latest glance, I can tell that it probably won't be more than an hour or so before we're there.
"So Comet, what class are you looking forward to the most?" I ask, distracting myself from how close we are.
"Hm." She looks up and taps her jaw in thought. "Hard to say since I'm pretty much just working on my associates degree for the first few years, but I'd probably say the biology 101 class. I'm not particularly looking forward to the history class, though."
"At least if you get a class on my exploits, the textbook should be more accurate," I point out.
Celestia helped make sure of that. I doubted that Quality Learning was particularly happy, but at least ponies would have a more accurate representation of my exploits. Or they could just read the darned book and get the same information, but not as dry as a textbook. Nothing kills something interesting like a textbook.
"Although," Comet continues. "I suppose that the film class looks interesting. From what the description says, we won't be analyzing anything of yours, Dad."
I shrug. "I'm sure they'll put them in at some point. Maybe after I'm dead and ponies forget that they were based on human stories."
"I doubt that they'll ever forget that, TD," Cheerilee says. "It's pretty tied to everything."
"Eh." I turn my attention to Comet. "From what I remember of freshman year, or freshmare to you, I guess, the classes are easier than the high school ones. A lot of it is just redoing what you did in senior year. Least that was my experience."
"Well, that'll be nice if that's true, then," Comet says. "Though CMU is a little more ivy league than a lot of schools in Equestria."
"Your hard work definitely paid off," Cheerilee says. "Just keep that going for the next four years, and you'll be really successful."
"So you've said," Comet grumbles, rolling her eyes. "Might be more than four, though. Masters degree wouldn't be a bad idea."
"Yeah, but let's get you loaded in to your dorm room before we start thinking that far ahead," I say. Eighteen year old Comet going to college is a hard enough idea already. Twenty-six year old toxicologist Comet with her masters degree is worse.
"Or, or, this could be a good idea: what about a PhD?" Comet says, giving us a small smirk at our obvious discomfort at the idea of Comet all grown up. "Yeah, Doctor Comet Screech Powell." She frowns and tilts her head. "Or would that be an M.D. since I'm probably going into hospital work?"
"Let's get you settled into your dorm room before we think about that," I repeat. I glance back outside of the window again. "Which is going to be sooner rather than later."
Comet's grin fades, and she takes a deep breath. "Yeah. Cool."
Cheerilee gives her a knowing grin. "I knew you were nervous. I've been around enough ponies to know when they're hiding their nervousness."
"Yeah, yeah," Comet groans, waving her hoof at Cheerilee. "This is a big milestone for sure. Back at the orphanage, I wasn't even sure that I would be going to college, much less almost free because of my grades and stuff."
"We're definitely really proud of you for all you've accomplished," Cheerilee says.
"I agree. You worked hard," I respond.
"Yeah, I guess so," Comet mutters.
We're pretty silent until the train reaches the station. Once it stops, Comet takes one last gulp of her drink and stands up, fluttering her wings nervously. We all exchange nods and, once the doors open, file out to find our luggage. It doesn't take too long to find the cart our boxes are on, and once we've verified that everything looks good, I go out and flag a taxi down. It only takes a few minutes for us to load everything in, and once we do, we're off.
We don't talk much during the half hour ride to CMU. We're all nervous. Even Oswald isn't quite as chipper as he usually is. Finally, we see the clock tower of CMU, and know that we're close. I reach into my pocket and pull out a map of the school that I managed to snag when we were here taking a tour of the school and look it over as we reach the main entrance.
"Okay, it looks like we're pretty close to your dorm, which is nice," I say.
"Mhm," Comet mutters, looking down at the ground. She flinches when the taxi stops. Nothing else to do now but head on over to her dorm. I hop out and pay the driver, then start gathering up the boxes. Like before, I grab three while Cheerilee and Comet each take one for themselves.
As we walk toward Comet's dorm, we're surrounded by a bunch of other parents and students. We're not the only people carrying boxes. Figured that move-in day would be pretty packed. We reach Hurricane Hall and head on in.
It's organized chaos. There are lines for ponies waiting to check in, and I see other ponies who I can only assume are RAs leading ponies to their rooms. We get into a line that's labeled for ponies who have a room on the first floor, and it doesn't take too long before its our turn. The colt behind the table smiles at us before looking down at his sheet.
"I'm going to guess that you're Comet Powell, then," he says, pointing to a spot on his sheet.
"That'd be me," Comet says with a nod. "Other than my dad being human, I'm probably the only bat pony you've seen today."
The colt shakes his head. "No, actually. You're the fourth or fifth. Something like that. There's another one on your floor even. Not your roommate, but a few doors down from you." He takes a pencil in his magic and checks off a box next to Comet's name. "Alright, your RA will be here in a few minutes to lead you to your room, so you can just hang out and wait for her to come get you."
"Sounds good," Comet says. We head on over to a corner of the room and put our boxes down. Comet plops down on the floor and leans against the wall.
"Luna, this is happening," Comet whispers.
"So it is," I say. "But hey, classes don't start for another few days, and the dining hall is already open, so once you're unpacked, you can relax a bit after getting your ID and stuff like that. Get used to the idea of being here. Get to know your roommate a little bit."
"Guess so."
"Comet Powell?" a pony calls out from the front of the room. We all turn and see a blonde unicorn mare scanning the crowd for us. Like usual, we're pretty easy to spot, so once she does, she smiles and walks up to us as we're gathering Comet's boxes.
"Hey, everybody," she says, extending a hoof for Comet to shake. "I'm Tea Leaf. I'm your RA this year."
"Nice to meet you," Comet says, shaking Tea Leaf's hoof.
Tea Leaf looks over at us and nods. "Mr. Powell. Mrs. Powell. Oswald... Powell?"
"Guess so," I respond, adjusting the boxes in my grip. "Nice to meet you, Tea Leaf."
"Likewise. Never really met a celebrity." I roll my eyes. "In any case, follow me to your room. You're room 124."
We follow Tea Leaf past all of the tables and turn right at the front desk. Comet's room is at the second door to the right at the end of the hall. There are two large paper cutouts in the shape of tea leaves on the door, one of which has the name "Comet Powell" written on it in black marker. Tea Leaf takes a key out of a bag by her side and uses it to unlock the front door.
Well, it looks like a typical dorm room. There's a simple bed, wardrobe and desk setup on each side of the room, and a bathroom to the left of the door. Since her roommate hasn't shown up yet, Comet gets her pick of the beds. She tosses her box on the bed on the right. With nothing else for it, I tear open the first box, which has her sheets neatly folded inside of it. I take them out and begin making Comet's bed.
"So, you're entering our medical school with an emphasis in toxicology, right?" Tea Leaf asks as we unpack.
Comet nods as she takes Albert out of one of the boxes and places him on her desk. "Yeah. Cutie mark kind of leant itself to that. Always been interested in it."
"She's definitely also got the grades for it," I respond as I put her clothes in the wardrobe. Comet blushes, grimaces and flattens her ears.
"Daaad," she groans. "Don't embarrass me." She sighs and looks back to Tea Leaf. "So there's another bat pony on this floor?"
Tea Leaf nods. "Yeah, Night Blade. She's in room 148. Got another couple on the third floor, and then I know the fifth floor has one as well. CMU is a little more..." She spins her hoof as she thinks of the word. "Diverse than a lot of places in Equestria."
"Well, even a second bat pony is more than I've ever seen in Ponyville," Comet says. "I've only ever seen them around Princess Luna."
"Yeah, we've had a few bat ponies go into her guard after they get their degrees," Tea Leaf says. "But yeah, go meet her! Get to know everypony on the floor! As a third year RA, I can tell you that these ponies are all really interesting. Although, before I forget..." Tea Leaf motions to a piece of paper on Comet's desk. "That's for you to fill out. It's a room quality form. It's for you to write down any problems with the room so we know if there are any issues, and so we can see what was already there once you move out as opposed to damage you caused."
"Okay," Comet says, taking the paper and reading it over.
"Just drop that off at the front desk sometime this weekend." Tea Leaf nods and motions to the door. "Well, I've gotta get back to it. Just let me know if there's anything you need help with, and that goes for all the time." She nods at Cheerilee and I. "Mr. Powell. Mrs. Powell. Have a good day."
With that, she walks out, leaving the three of us alone. I close the wardrobe door and turn to Comet, who is still reading the paper in between glances around the room.
"Well, it looks like you're about set, then," I say, breaking down the boxes and stacking them on top of each other. "How are you feeling?"
"What's that word Pinkie keeps using? Nervouscited?" Comet says, putting the paper down. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
"Well, your father and I both went to college ourselves, so we can totally relate," Cheerilee says. "Just work hard, don't get into too much trouble, clean up after yourself, and you'll do just fine."
"In any case, I guess..." I quietly sigh. "I guess it's about time for your mother and I to be heading out. Just let us know if you need anything." I smirk at her. "Like if this place could use some updates. Just say the word and you can be living the brand-new Powell hall."
Comet groans and facehooves. "No. Just... no. I think I'll be fine." She smiles at the two of us and walks over to Cheerilee for a hug and nuzzle. "Yeah, I think I'll be fine."
I kneel down and hug the two of them. "I know you will be," I say. "Just try not to get into any big trouble. If something potentially world-ending happens, stay in your room, curl up with a good book, get some snacks if you can, and wait it out. "
Comet scoffs. "I'll do my best, but... well, Powell."
"Too true." I stand up and am just about to say something when the door opens again and Tea Leaf walks in again with a light green pegasus mare with a cinnamon colored mane and a mixing bowl cutie mark. Both mares nodded to the two of us.
"Hello, Powells," Tea Leaf says. "This is Mint Swirl. She's your roommate for the year, Comet."
Comet extends a hoof. "Nice to meet you. I'm Comet."
Mint Swirl took Comet's hoof. "Charmed. You can call me Mint."
"Alright then, Mint," Comet says. "I assume you're in the baking department?"
Mint nods. "Yeah. Focus on desserts. You?"
"Medical. Toxicology focus."
"Nice." Mint takes a few boxes off of her back and puts them on her bed. She stares at Oswald for a few moments, most ponies haven't ever seen a phoenix up close, so that isn't unusual, before she start unpacking.
"Well, we'll let the two of you unpack and get to know each other," Tea Leaf says. "Let me know if you two need anything."
After giving Mint the same rundown that she gave Comet, the three of us walk out. Even through the now closed door, we can still hear Mint talking.
"So, how well can you hold your booze?"
Tea Leaf grimaces and flattens her ears before going back to the room and poking her head in.
"No. No drinking in the res halls."
Cheerilee and I exchange a glance as we walk down the hall.
"She'll be fine," I say.
"Yeah, she'll be fine."
* * * *
We step off of the train to Ponyville later that evening. We don't say anything as we make our way back to Manderley. All around us ponies are going about their daily lives. Ponyville is going on as normal...
Except for the fact that Comet isn't here.
Not to say that she was the only one. A lot of the graduating seniors had gone off to college. The only ones that stuck around were the ones who were going directly into their trade. Comet wasn't the only one who was gone. Didn't make it any easier.
We made it home and walked inside. Somehow everything seemed a little less lively. I half expected Comet to walk down the stairs with a plate of food balanced on her wing. But no, the house just seemed a little emptier.
"Well, should we get dinner going, then?" I ask, walking over to the kitchen.
"Sounds good," Cheerilee replies.
I open up the pantry and scan it. Definitely nothing elaborate. Soup sounds good, I suppose. Nothing too complicated. I reach in and grab a can.
Comet's gonna be okay. Not like she's gone off to war, or anything like that. There are going to be breaks, and the train ride back to Ponyville isn't too bad. She'll be fine.
* * * *
I take a deep breath as I stand in front of room 148. Like Tea Leaf said, this is Night Blade's room, unless she wildly mislabeled the door decorations. I reach up and knock on the door. I hear shifting from the other side of the door, and my stomach clenches up. This might be the first time I've ever had a real conversation with another bat pony, and one my age, too. The door opens up, and a dour looking pony with a dyed black mane, thick mascara and eye liner, and several ear piercings looks out at me. At first I think this is Night Blade, but this is an earth pony.
"Uh, hi," I say, giving her my best smile. "I'm looking for Night Blade?"
"Ooh, that's me!" a disturbingly chipper voice from behind the other pony says. Before I can react, a dark blue bat pony with a dark purple mane and a pair of pink thin rimmed glasses pushes the earth pony aside and gives me the biggest grin this side of Pinkie Pie. The earth pony rolls her eyes and goes back to her bed.
Night Blade gasps and instantly pulls me into a tight hug. "O.M.L! Another bat pony! Yay! I heard that there were a few of us in the dorm."
"Yeah, heard that too. I'm Comet Screech Powell." I motion to my door. "I live a few doors down from you."
"Well then hello, neighbor!" Night Blade squees. "Come on in! I have some tea going. Would you like some? Is jasmine fine?"
"Uh..."
Before I can really respond, she grabs my hoof and pulls me into the room. She's on the right side like me, but instead of the heavy metal band posters I have, she has pictures of... flowers and a cat poster, alongside a picture of a colt band with hearts drawn on it in pink marker.
Really not what I expected from somepony named "Night Blade."
Night Blade hums a chipper tune to herself and starts making tea on a small table. I give the little burner she has going an odd look. I thought we weren't allowed to have stuff like that in the dorms. She must have noticed my look, because she gave me a comforting smile.
"Magic burner. Parents got it for me. It doesn't have fire or anything like that. We checked, and it's allowed in the dorms because its enchantments mean it's not a fire hazard."
"Ah. Gotcha." Maybe I can look into getting one of those. Having a steady supply of coffee in the morning would be nice for all of my eight AM classes.
She sets a pink teacup on a pink doily in front of me, and I sit in front of the small table. She pours tea for the both of us.
"Anything you'd like in it?" Night Blade asks.
"No, this is fine," I reply. I take my coffee black. Can't imagine putting anything in tea.
"Suit yourself," she replies, putting some honey in hers. She stirs it up for a moment before taking a sip. She nods in approval and sets it down. "So, tell me about yourself."
"Uh, well you probably know something about me because of my dad, but I'm a freshmare studying toxicology." I motion to my nightshade cutie mark.
Night Blade nods. "Yeah, I have heard some stuff, and I read the book just like pretty much everypony in Equestria."
"I like the part where he was almost killed by an assassin," the earth pony says, not looking up from a book I can only assume is full of angsty poetry. "It was dark, and his struggle for life spoke to my soul."
"Freak," I grumble quietly to myself as I consider shooting the mare a rude gesture. Not worth it, though. I turn my attention back to Night Blade. "So what about you? I've never actually had a conversation with another bat pony before."
Night Blade shrugs. "Yeah, I guess I'm pretty normal. Parents both work for Princess Luna. Not really sure what they do for her. Classified, I think." She motions to her cutie mark, which is a pair of crossed knives. "Right now I'm just here for my associates degree, then I'll see what I want to do after that."
"So... are you good with knives, or something like that?"
Night Blade vigorously nods. "Oh yeah! Got my cutie mark when I won the Baltimare Knife Throwing competition when I was nine."
My eyes widen. "Wow, that's pretty impressive. So do you want to be an assassin or something?"
Night Blade sticks her tongue out and closes her eyes. "Ew. No way. Blood is icky. Not sure what I'm going to be doing yet, but that's why I'm just focusing on my associates for the moment. I guess I could do something like that. My parents have said that I'm fast enough that I could cut somepony's heart out before they felt the first cut." She rolls her eyes. "I'm going to assume that they're exaggerating."
"Hope so," I respond as I finish my tea. Although, that would be kind of neat. In any case, I put my teacup down and look around her side of the room. "No offense or anything, but, uh... your décor isn't quite what I expected from a bat pony."
Night Blade shrugs. "Bat ponies are just as unique as day ponies. We don't all listen to heavy metal and worship Princess Luna and stuff like that. Although, I am looking forward to my night classes. We're all still nocturnal, after all."
I vigorously nod. "Totally! When I graduate, it's night shifts for me. As far as I know, I'm the only bat pony to ever really live in Ponyville, so there weren't really night classes for the high schoolers."
"Yeah. I totally get that." Night Blade perks up. "Hey, I know! We should have a little get-together with all of the bat ponies on campus! Other ponies can be there too, of course, but it'd be really cool for other bat ponies to meet each other, especially if they haven't really seen others."
I smile at that idea. "Yeah, that could be pretty cool. We could talk to our RA about setting that up." The more bat ponies that I get to meet, the better.
"It sounds like a good party. Anything that happens at night is better than the day," Night Blade's roommate mutters.
Night Blade rolls her eyes. "My roommate, fillies and gentlecolts."
I shrug. "Better than mine. The first thing mine asked me was how good I could hold my booze."
"Booze helps dull the pain of an awful, dark life. With that--"
Night Blade stood up and threw a pillow at her, managing to not only clip her muzzle, but also hit her book and close it. Her roommate glowered at her, but Night Blade just sat back down and poured more tea.
"So anyway. Tell me more about yourself."
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Pretty sure there is a wrong name here. :)
10565360
Egh. Fixed.
"It sounds like a good party. Anything that happens at night is better than the day," Night Blade mutters.
Night Blade rolls her eyes. "My roommate, fillies and gentlecolts."
Did she roommate with her self and it's a some Goth Earth pony persona?
10565382
Fixed it.
I don’t know... taking rtd up to golden isnt unreasonably long, and I doubt a train to canterlot would be much worse.
10565406
Depends on the episode. Sometimes Scootaloo can get there on her scooter, and sometimes it's an overnight trip like with the cake mystery episode.
10565438
Meh, sometimes rails need maintenance and circuitous routes exist. But anything that isn’t hidden by the horizon can easily be reached in a fraction of a day by mechanical transit systems.
I can hear the goth mare.
10565478
No, like, you can hear her in the darkness in your soul.
I can see it now...Tomorrow:
Cheerilee - "I want another one"
10565747
I bet TD will be saying it to her at the same time. I am surprised they didn’t try to adopt another foal earlier.
time to make everyone hate me.....
how long till he wakes up in the changeling cell ?
Life rolls on...
Wow. Happy she's finding her place and following her dreams, but the thought of time passing is still mellowing.
Found a few typos i think.
*Down the stairs
*What she'll bring
10566087
Either that or Oswald's gonna turn into their furbaby (run Oswald, while you still can!)
>tfw you're on your way home after dropping Comet off
Ohhhhh? They're all out of world-ending monsters, are they? Eh-heh-heh-heh... HAA-HAA-HAA-HAA!!! MUWAH HA HA HA HA HA!!!
I shall send them... TWITTER!!
