TEK: The Beginning

by Jet Fly

Chapter 3: Arrival

As Jet Fly slowly descended into Canterlot air space, he marveled at the beauty of the capital city of Equestria. It was simply marvelous. Everything shined, and glistened in the sunlight. There were many tall buildings and shops, but what stood out most was the castle. It was amazing, from its high balconies to its intricate brick and craftsmanship. Along with its beauty, it was huge, easily taking up 1/4 of the mountain city. Most of it was built onto the mountain, or near it. It had many peaks, pillars and towers.

Jet could do nothing but marvel at the master craftsmanship that it must have taken to build such a marvel. The cool touch of the cobblestone streets brought Jet back to reality and back to his mission. After he had found out that Canterlot was giving Kaiju and exotic creature classes, he had jumped at the opportunity to follow his dreams. He honestly didn't know what to expect or even where to go, but to him, being one step closer to fulfilling his dream was good enough. But now, just being here wasn't good enough. He had to find the school. Finding a light blue unicorn with a pink dress to be closest to him, he quickly trotted to her destination.

“Hello Miss, I'm new here, could you please direct me to the Canterlot college?" Jet inquired.

In return he got an arrogant smirk and snort.

“You? Schooling at Canterlot? HA! I have a better chance of becoming the next princess than you do at studying in the most prestigious school in all of Equestria!" she scoffed.

"But-"

“Look at you, your a ruffian. Look at your spiky and unkept mane. HA! The Princess only lets in the most highly esteemed equines into her school. Not just random ponies who waltz in. You clearly don't have what it takes to study under the Princess. Why don't you do yourself a favor and go home before you embarrass yourself?" She said with clear disgust in her voice.

Jet suddenly found the ground very interesting as he looked down at his hooves.

*Maybe she's right... maybe I don't have what it takes...* he thought as the mare kept staring at him with her snout held high.

Thinking her job complete, she began to make her way back to her business. As she proudly walked away, Jet could just make out her last word that summed up her rampage.

“Pathetic."

Jet stayed in that depressed state until he felt a warm hoof on his shoulder.

“Don't listen to her. She's just like most of the ponies in this city: high strung, stingy, and haughty".

Jet turned around to find an extremely light grey mare, with a purple mane with light grey streaks in it. She had three purple stars as a cutie mark, and her eyes were an arctic blue.

“Hi! I'm Twilight Velvet. Nice to meet you!" she said with a smile and an extended hoof.

“Uhh... h-hey..." Jet stuttered out.

He was still a bit down after his "talk" with that prissy pony. Twilight Velvet seemed to notice, and decided that it was her duty to help out this poor, sad pony.

“Look, don't take it personally. Most if the ponies here are jerks. They'll go out of their way to make fun of somepony that doesn't reach their standards. You just gotta ignore them," she said with a smile.

Jet seemed to perk up a bit at this, and sensing her advantage, she continued:

“So, why is it your here again?"

Jet was nervous at first to answer the question, but finally relented saying,

“I'm here to apply for the Canterlot school. I wanna take the Kaiju and Creature classes. But, I don't know where the school is."

Her smile seemed to get bigger at this revelation.

“Ahh, now that's something I know. My daughter goes there. She studies under the Princess herself in Gifted Unicorns section of the school. I'm so glad that you've decided to take the next step in your education. It's located inside the castle."

"Wut," Jet gasped as his pupils shrunk to half their size.

“It's...i-in the castle? WHERE THE PRINCESS LIVES? I CAN'T WORK UNDER THAT KIND OF PRESSURE!" Jet yelled as he began to hyperventilate.

"Hey hey, it's ok. Don't panic. Your a nice stallion, just as good as anypony. You flew all the way here, you can't quit now. Besides, I'm sure you'll do fine."

Jet calmed down a little bit at the encouragement.

“A-are you sure?" he asked.

She simply smiled and said:

“You got this. Now go on, registration ends in a little while. You'd better hurry."

“Thank you, Miss Velvet, for your kindness. I really appreciate that."

“No problem. With all these snobs running around, there's gotta be at least one pony willing to help an equine out, right?" she said with a smirk.

Jet chuckled at this, and finally jumped in the air and aimed towards the castle. Before he left, he turned around one last time and said,

“Your daughter is a very fortunate mare to have a mother like you," before taking off into the air and zooming off.

“Good luck!" she yelled after him while waving her hoof in the air.

“What a nice stallion", she mused before returning to her work.
_______________

Filled with new-found energy after his conversion with Miss Velvet, Jet had quickly made his way to castle. After signing up, taking a few tests, and waiting about 2 hours, he had finally been excepted into the school. Jet was dumbstruck to find out that he had been accepted. He sure did show that one jerk mare.

*Miss Velvet was right,* Jet thought to himself.

Thankfully, a dorm had been prepared for him to stay in for the time that he studied. Making his way to his dorm, he was relieved to find out that he had it all to himself. He was notified that class started the next day, and that he could take today to explore the city and get settled in.

“No way am I going back down to the city. Those guys are jerks... except Miss Velvet. She's a nice mare. But I'm in no mood to be chewed out again. I'm just gonna relax and prepare for tomorrow. I wonder who my classmates will be... Wait, there is one thing I have to to take care of," Jet thought to himself as he drifted off into sleep.

Today was the beginning of the rest of his life.
____________________________________

Today had been a successful day for Miss Bits. She had bought a new dress, shoes, and furniture. And as a bonus, she got help out a young stallion realize that he was foolish to try to get into Canterlot's school. How dumb of him; only high class, elite ponies could get into that school, not hillbilly wanderers.

While on her way to her house, she saw an orange blur shoot past her and stop right in front of her. Fearful of her life, she galloped into the nearest opening. She saw a way out in a small passage way leading to an alley. While running she heard the orange thing laugh evilly. It was taunting her, and taking the challenge it ran into the alley after her. She could feel it following her with its sick, twisted laugh. Bits gulped as she ran face to face with a dead end. She quickly began yelling for help, and that some psycho was trying to kill her, but to no avail. There was no-pony nearby to help her, and she was at this thing's mercy. She turned to face her attacker, a stallion, but failed because the alleyway shadow was blocking his face, and the only light in the alley was right next to her in the form of a small lamp. As he slowly closed in on her, she could just make out a small piece of paper hanging from his wing.

“Remember me?" it asked in a voice similar to a dragon growling.

She shook her head no, hoping that he would show mercy.

“I'm not surprised. Snobs like you usually don't remember those whom you hurt. But let me try and jog your memory."

He slowly stepped into the light of the lamp. Bits gasped as she recognized the stallion from the street, the one she had helped out. She tried to talk, but was too dumbstruck to speak.

“Never thought you'd see me again did you? Well anyway, I'm here for one reason, and one reason only. And I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll make this fast..." he stated as he slowly reached back to grab the paper.

Bits' mind was filled with fear, imagining all kind of ways that he might try to kill her with that paper. SHE WAS TOO RICH TO DIE! She flinched and tensed her muscles as he walked closer to her so she could read the paper. Rolling her dice, she leaned forward to read what was on the document. She reeled back at what was written in it. It couldn't be possible. It was simply impossible. He just smirked as she muttered that such a thing was impossible. Once she was finished, he said:

“Oh yes, I accomplished the impossible. And guess what? YOU WERE WRONG AND I WAS RIGHT!"

She reeled back as he shoved the acceptance letter into her face. Written on it was a royal seal with the words “You have been accepted" on it. She simply fell to the ground in shock as He danced in celebration of his victory. “AWWW YEEAA I SHOWED YOU! WHO'S PATHETIC NOW!?" he laughed as he continued his dance.

Once finished, he grabbed back the paper and took off into the air. Before leaving, he left her with the words:

“Next time, show a little kindness".

Bits simply stayed in her trance as he finally flew off.
__________________
Two months later
__________________

The sun slowly started to set in the afternoon sky of Canterlot. Everything was going as it usually went in the city streets; nothing was out of order. This was quite pleasing to Celestia's royal guard, especially those guarding the city entrance. Even if their job proved to be boring at times, they enjoyed the peace.

"Same as usual again," sighed one of the guards.

His companion merely nodded in agreement. However, the guard's smile soon faded into an expression of suspicion and anticipation.

"Something wrong?"

"Something doesn't feel right... I sense that something is about to arrive," he replied.

The fellow guard didn't question it, his partner's special talent was prediction after all. So he simply readied himself as well, unsure of what exactly was coming. Half a minute later, blue and white sparks of magical energy formulated above the ground. The guards readied their stance, gripping their spears. Within seconds, a cloaked form teleported in front of them, collapsing onto the stone ground of the mountainside entrance.

"Who goes there?" both guards demanded.

The form looked up to remove the hood of his tattered cloak to reveal the scratched face of a gray-coated, black-maned unicorn.

"Help...m-me," was all Shade Vortex could muster before dropping back down into unconsciousness.
________________

Shade slowly awoke to a hospital bed, relieved to discover he'd successfully escaped his previous near-death experience. His strength was severely depleted, so he gladly took the time to relax, lying in the bed half-awake.

His attention was revived when he heard hoofsteps coming towards his room. He heard the visitor with a greater hearing range than the average pony, as some of his senses had been heightened during his previous 'Journey.' Shade could smell all the medicines and mediocre hospital food around him, and feel the stinging injuries that were bandaged and covered in gauze.

The visitor eventually reached his room, and Shade was surprised by who she was.

"Princess... Celestia...?" Shade asked weakly.

The pearl Alicorn smiled as she began:

"It is good to see you are awake, Shade Vortex. Your injuries have been sustained and tended to, but you will still need time to fully recover."

As good of news as this was, Shade was still confused as to why he was hearing this from the Princess herself, and not from any of the doctors or nurses.

"You...know me? And why...did you come to see me?" he couldn't help to ask.

"Not too long ago, you attended one of our schools here in Canterlot, and you were an exceptional student. As to why I'm here, it is because of how you arrived here yesterday." Celestia stated.

"How I... arrived?" Shade questioned.

Celestia went on to explain:

"Yes. My guards have informed me that you teleported in front of them at the entrance of the city. However, that is a skill taught in only the more advanced classes, of which I have confirmed you have not attended. I'm curious as to how you were able to perform such a skill."

Shade strained to jog his memory of the past two months, memories he was not a fan of reliving. In a somewhat uneasy tone, he finally replied:

"I just sorta... did it. I was in a tight spot with no way out, and I just concentrated... Next thing I know, I was a safe distance away."

While his reply somewhat gave her an answer, Celestia was still curious and had more questions.

"And what kind of situation led you to pull off such a feat?"

Shade turned from facing her at that question, closing his eyes as he painfully responded:

"I'd rather not talk about it..."

Celestia frowned at this, a look of concern reshaping her expression. Something awful had clearly happened to this poor stallion, and it was obvious he wasn't open to sharing it, at least not now.

"I can see this is clearly a difficult subject for you, so I will leave my questions at that for the time being. I only wished to offer you this."

Shade perked back up as Celestia levitated a rolled up scroll towards him, and set it on a nearby table.

"It is an application to one of Canterlot's most advanced schools. You are obviously quite gifted, and I believe you would benefit from training your abilities here. The 1st semester has already started, so you'd be starting a couple months late, but I do not think that should prove to be a problem," Celestia explained.

Shade looked at the scroll with curiosity. Celestia started her way out of his room, saying:

"I must go to attend to other matters. The offer remains yours to consider while you recover."

Shade weighed the decision in his mind. He wanted mainly to return home to his friends and parents in Ponyville, but at the same time he saw that the Princess' offer was a great opportunity for him. Thinking for a moment, he came to a decision.

"Princess..?" he called out just before Celestia had left the room.

She stopped and turned her head to face him.

"I'll do it."

Celestia smiled and said:

"I had hoped that you would."

Shade thought to himself as Celestia left his room:

*When I left Ponyville, I promised I would return. And I intend to keep that promise...*

He reached over to the scroll, observing its written contents. "Canterlot's School for the Gifted (Unicorn sector)" is what read in bold letters, information following it explaining the school's setup and a basic description of the classes.

*...But now I will return better than ever.*
______________

Jet Fly had become well accustomed to his college schedule over the past two months. Strolling through the east wing of the school which housed the pegasus classes, however, he noticed an odd sight: Princess Celestia, apparently escorting a dark gray unicorn in a tan cloak, whose legs were partially bandaged, towards the west wing for the unicorn classes.

*Strange... Celestia only walks with a student if they're new to the college. That's simple enough, but why was he covered in bandages?*

Jet's thoughts were interrupted as he abruptly bumped into an earth stallion.

"Hey watch where you're going!" the earth stallion grunted.

"Sorry. Got lost in though-"

"You pegasi really irritate me sometimes. You fly all high and proud in the sky but as SOON as you touch ground you can't tell right from left!" the earth stallion continued to rant.

Jet tried to just move around him, but the earth stallion kept stepping in his way.

"DUDE!"

"You think you can just walk away from me?" the earth stallion challenged.

Now Jet was the one getting irritated.

"Maybe not, but I can sure do this!"

With that, Jet lifted off the floor and flew over and past the aggressive stallion.

"Lousy jerk," he said as he landed a safe distance away from the scene of confrontation.
_____________

Shade continued to walk beside Celestia, wincing every now and then from the soreness in his legs. They eventually reached the classroom Shade would be assigned to. Before entering, Shade stopped.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Yes, Shade Vortex?"

"I just want to thank you for everything you've done for me up to this point. You had me nursed back to health, gave me this opportunity to improve my skills, and encouraged me when I began to have doubts. I will not let you down now, and will give this my best effort," Shade stated in a confident yet slightly painful stance.

"I have no doubt that you will. Now, I think it's time you meet your class."

With that, they entered the class. The whole class seemed to stop immediately to gaze upon their gracious monarch.

"Hello, Princess Celestia! Do we have a new student joining us today?" the teacher cheerfully asked.

"Indeed. Class, I'd like you all to meet Shade Vortex."

Shade merely waved his hoof as he tensed up with nervousness. It had been a while since he had needed to interact with multiple ponies. He didn't even realize that he was shaking. Or that he was sweating. Or that the Princess had left half a minute ago and he was still standing there.

"Mr. Vortex?" the teacher called.

Shade remained in his trance.

"Mr. Vortex!"

"Huh!?" Shade blurted as his mind snapped back to reality.

“Shade you may take a seat now," the teacher informed him in a tone that said 'this should be obvious.'

Already embarrassed, Shade took an empty seat in the back of the classroom. This way, all the focus would be away from him. Except for when the teacher did what she did next:

"Now then. I am Ms. Sapphire. At this moment we only have less than half an hour before lunch. In the meantime, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

Shade's pupils shrank and his body started to heat up.

"I... I, uh... d-dont know what to talk about," he weakly choked out.

Shade could feel everyone's skepticism. Ms. Sapphire, almost annoyed, responded:

"Well for starters, perhaps you'd like to tell us about your cutie mark?"

Shade started to begin his old habit of fidgeting uncomfortably, turning his head to glance at his cutie mark: 3 blue, slightly bent half-circles that all seemed to converge at one central point like a pinwheel, with a small light blue circle in between each half circle.

"I... think it means I have some talent in teleporting."

Some of his classmates gasped at the mention of teleporting, while Ms. Sapphire was more stricken by the way Shade explained it.

"You think or you know?" she asked with one eyebrow raised.

Shade was getting more uncomfortable now, nervously replying:

"Well... I mean, I'm not *exactly* sure... I can teleport, but I'm not that good at controlling it yet..."

This irked Ms. Sapphire more. Before she could speak however, another student interjected:

"What do you mean you're not exactly sure? You should know by now!"

That was when Shade knew he had to reveal the one embarrassing truth about himself that started all of this and caused him so many hardships the last two months.

"Well... actually, you see... I didn't actually get my mark until... a few weeks ago..." Shade trailed off, immediately hanging his head low.

Some of the same students gasped again even harder. Others started to giggle. The rest just looked at him like he just said his dad was a dragon. Ms. Sapphire stared at him for a while before the lunch bell rang. The class quickly left the room to head for the central cafeteria, a few no longer able to contain their laughter on the way out. Shade could hear nearly all of their remarks:

"Is he serious?"

"What a weirdo."

"Newbie probably won't last a week."

Shade took it all in as he shamefully followed the crowds to the cafeteria. He was glad he brought the remaining bits he had with him that were carried in his new cloak, kindly provided to him by Princess Celestia.
_____________

Jet hovered above the floor as he cruised towards the cafeteria. He took a place in line and bought himself some hay fries and a sunflower sandwich, then went to take a seat at a table. While searching for a seat, however, he noticed the same unicorn he saw earlier in the corner of his eye, sitting by himself at an empty table.

*This newcomer looks like he could use a friend, or at least somepony to talk to,* he thought, moving towards the lonely-looking stallion.

"Hey, mind if I take a seat here?" he asked as he floated over with his tray in his hooves.

"Go ahead, I guess. I'm not waiting for anypony..." the unicorn stated in a somewhat discouraged tone.

Jet took a seat across from him and asked:

"This your first day?"

"Yeah."

"Not going so good, is it?"

"No." Jet could tell this stallion was feeling down, watching as he sat there and fiddled with his own hay fries, levitating and shifting them with his telekinesis.

"Yeah, first day is always a bit rough, but you should do fine here as you get used to it. Just try to avoid confrontation with the hot heads and the overly competitive," Jet assured the dark gray stallion.

The stallion just continued to sit there, though, and his expression confirmed that he didn't feel any better.

"Is there... something wrong? You look like something's bothering you," Jet asked.

The unicorn let out a sigh and began:

"I've just... been through a lot recently. Haven't had much contact with anypony for a while."

He proceeded to take a bite of some of his hay fries as Jet looked at him with sympathy.

"You probably don't want to talk about it, do you?" he asked.

The unicorn shook his head as he continued to slowly chew.

"Well, if you ever do want to talk about it, and you need somepony to talk to, you can talk to me. Name's Jet Fly," Jet said with an outstretched hoof.

The unicorn swallowed and returned the gesture, saying:

"Shade Vortex."
_______________

Jet and Shade sat with each other every day for the past month, and they quickly became friends. Shade also quickly developed an enemy, much to his dismay.

"I just don't get it, Jet," he went on to explain.

"I never even spoke to anypony in class, but this one guy won't leave me alone. I know I'm new and all, but I think he actually feels threatened by my skills because he's the top in the class."

"I told you this kind of stuff happens, Shade," Jet told his annoyed friend.

"You just gotta ignore it. Over time, what's-his-face will eventually back off."

"I'd like to think so, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Nova Orbit."

Shade said in a distasteful tone.

"You talking about me?" a third, uninvited stallion mocked from behind Shade.

"...You've gotta be kidding me..." Shade groaned as he turned to see Nova Orbit standing behind him.

Nova jabbed a hoof into Shade's chest as he said:

"You just watch your back and stay outta my way, newbie. This is my turf, and no place for a weirdo like you."

"Come on Nova, leave him alone. He's not causing any trouble," Jet defended.

"I don't think I was talking to you, featherbrain, so pipe down," Nova barked.

"Listen, Nova. I don't know what your deal is, but please just leave me alone," Shade said firmly.

"What're you gonna do about it, newbie?" Nova asked, shoving Shade in the chest, making him stumble back.

"DUDE!" Jet exclaimed.

“Don't. Push me," Shade said in a tone colder than ice, regaining his balance.

He then proceeded to stand up on his hind legs, slightly towering over Nova. Now the whole cafeteria was staring at the ongoing confrontation. Nova just looked up at the standing stallion with pure cockiness.

"Why not?"

Push.

"Do something. I DARE you."

Push.

Shade's pupils shrank as his face changed from an expression of annoyance to pure rage. Regaining his balance again, and gritting his teeth, he punched Nova. Right in the face.

"OOF!"

Jet's jaw dropped and the growing crowd gasped and "oohed" as Nova fell over, rubbing his swelling face.

"YOU LITTLE-"

Nova's exclamation was cut short as a blue aura enveloped him, and Shade, back on all fours, lifted Nova and slammed him against the wall with his telekinesis.

"AAARRGHH!!!" Nova yelled as he struggled against the strength of Shade's telekinesis that kept him pinned against the wall.

The crowd was going nuts.

"Dude let him go!"

Jet yelled to his enraged friend, but Shade's grip wasn't letting up. If anything it was growing stronger.

"SHADE!"

But Shade was long gone, consumed by anger and frustration as he forced Nova harder against the wall. Everything was broken up when a loud, regal voice called Shade's attention.

"SHADE VORTEX!"

The crowd stopped its commotion as Princess Celestia stormed through the cafeteria. Shade's rage fleed him, and he immediately released his hold on Nova, who fell to the floor, groaning in pain. Shade was completely shocked when he realized what he had done.

"I...I-I...."

Celestia stood almost directly behind him.

"WHAT has gotten INTO you?" Celestia demanded.

Shade continued to stammer, sitting down on the cold cafeteria floor, tears forming in his eyes.

"...What have I done..."

And with that, Shade completely broke down as he collapsed onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably and curled up in a shameful ball of regret. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

Nova Orbit

Author's Note:

Whoa! Well THAT was unexpected! Shade has definitely got some issues. Wonder what caused him to lose it like that? Perhaps we should take a look at his past for a bit. Next "chapter" will be the first part of a "flashback" bonus to help fill in some gaps about what happened exactly in Shade's "Journey to Nowhere..."

Comments

[raptordile]

What the flop is this! This looks great! I haven't even started reading it yet it's already overflowing with potential! I mean read really you've got little known about canon characters, ocs, and what looks like the author and some of his friends!
The only thing that could make this look better is a raptor.

Don't screw this up!

Wait is the changeling a friend too?