Tuesday, February 31, 1015
I woke up the same way I usually do: Skyla jolting awake next to me, jumping around me saying "Breakfast!" a few times, and falling onto the floor and running out, which amused me. I could faintly smell something good in the air. It smelled like. . . cinnamon rolls. With citrus icing!
I quickly got out of bed and ran to get to the dining room. Skyla was already at her spot at the table when I got there, and I took my spot next to her, an excited grin on my face.
"Good morning you two" mom said. "Your dad had to leave early, so he won't be joining us for breakfast today."
"Aw" Skyla said, disappointment in her voice, while I let out a sigh of relief. Skyla often asked him to make something extra for breakfast, but everything he made that wasn't liquid in a glass came out burnt all over. Not even a cold peanut butter and jelly sandwich was safe. Last time he poured himself a bowl of cereal, it caught fire.
Mom took her spot at the table and gave each of us two cinnamon rolls. Skyla grabbed one of hers with a hoof, tossed it in the air, and caught the whole thing in her mouth while I picked up one of mine, found the edge of the roll's spiral, and began unraveling it as I ate it, enjoying each bite. Citrus cinnamon rolls are my favorite breakfast food.
I had just finished my first roll when Skyla asked me "are you going to eat that?" and pointed a hoof at my remaining roll. Both of hers were gone.
"Yes, I am going to eat it" I said as I picked it up and started eating it the same way as the first one.
"Are you going to eat all of it?"
"Yes" I turned away from Skyla as I finished my roll quickly. The sooner it was gone, the less likely Skyla was to whine. After I was done, I turned back to the table to get some orange juice, but Skyla grabbed my face with her hooves and turned me to face her before I could get the juice.
She stared at me for a bit before licking my lips and releasing me. "You had a bit of icing there." That wasn't the first time Skyla had done that, but I knew that someday, I'd figure out a way to keep her from doing that. I knew mom and dad wouldn't do anything, since they thought it was cute.
Now that I was free from my sister's hooves, I turned back to my orange juice. I grabbed the glass with both hooves and carefully drank the juice. I had learned a few times what happens if I try to drink too quickly, and I hate it when my face gets wet and sticky. Having fur can suck sometimes.
Eventually, it was time for mom to take us to school. She helped Skyla and me with our saddlebags, which recently grew ever so slightly heavier with ten bits every day for lunch.
On the way to school, mom always had to hold Skyla back with her magic to keep her from wandering off to some food stalls in the market, and today was no exception. I just stayed by mom the whole time and kept my eyes forward. However, there was this one alley close to school that always drew my attention as we walked past it. There was a faint aroma coming from it that I couldn't quite place, but smelled familiar somehow. It was something I knew I had to keep Skyla from knowing about. Fortunately, she never seemed to catch that aroma since there were other stands nearby with other food.
We showed up at school fifteen minutes early, as usual. Mom took us to our classroom before giving each of us a hug and leaving. Skyla found one of her friends, a pegasus filly called Arctic Tail, which I found to be a silly name, and ran over to her. I went to my desk and opened it up, putting my saddlebags inside. With the bags side by side and the openings facing me, they fit perfectly. I was able to keep everything organized as well, with blank paper, pencils and bits on the left and everything else on the right. Apparently, aunt Sparkle did something similar when she was in school.
To pass the time, I usually drew things. I pulled out a pencil and my sketchbook (3rd one of the school year) and opened it to a blank page. I stared at it for a bit before simply putting down lots of dots in a spiral pattern, with the dots being closer together as they got towards the center, until I just started filling it in.
After ten minutes, I was finished and was thinking of what to call it when somepony spoke over my shoulder.
"What did you draw today, Inova?" The voice belonged to Mr. Bluffs, my geography teacher. He was an earth pony with brown and yellow fur, a bright, nearly glowing golden mane and tail, and was always upbeat. He always liked to see what I drew before class started.
"I don't know. I kind of know what it is, but I'm not sure what it's called."
"How about you start with a word that describes its shape? Maybe the next word will come naturally after that."
I wrote 'spiral' at the top of the page. The next word came smoothly after that without me realizing it. I looked at the word and felt it to be fitting.
"So that's a spiral galaxy?" Mr. Bluffs asked. "It looks very nice. I don't know what a galaxy is, but it's almost time for class to start, so put it away."
I looked at my spiral galaxy a bit longer before closing my sketchbook and putting it away and pulling out my yellow and brown geography folder. Today, we're going to be learning about Zebrica.
After geography and a teacher change came math. I always got everything right in this class, and it was all very easy. One time, I asked for all of the math problems we would be getting that week, and I got a small stack of papers, some labeled CW and others labeled HW. I ignored everything going on in math that day and finished the whole stack right before class was over. The next day, I got the papers back, and I had answered everything correctly.
Eventually, it came to be that on Mondays, I would get a stack of papers of the week's math problems, and I would power through it all during that class, leaving me to help my classmates with their problems. The only times I wasn't allowed to help was when we were taking a test, which I always finished first and always got everything correct.
After math was over, Skyla, I, and my earth pony classmates went outside for Earth P. E., which I kind of liked. However, I never ran fast, because that was when I started to get my legs tangled and I would fall, resulting in me getting laughed at. One earth filly in the class, Diamond Heart, decided to stay with me after the third time I fell early in the school year.
We became friends, but because we were in different first grade classes, we didn't see each other much. I wish we could be together more often.
After Earth P.E., Skyla and I went to our next class: Magic. I did not like this class. Even though Ms. Shimmer was patient with me and gave me lots of help, I couldn't get most of it. Here, I was at the bottom of the class. Some of my classmates were already levitating things a couple inches off the ground while I could barely produce a spark if I was lucky. Skyla could hold a glow for a while when she tried.
I caught a glimpse of Ms. Shimmer's notebook once, and I saw a ranking of magic reserves for the class. I was the one with the least magic in me. For some reason, it wasn't as demotivating as you would think.
Finally, lunch time. Ever since the holidays passed, the first grade classes got to eat in the elementary cafeteria. The eating area was split into three sections for the first, second, and third graders.
Today's special was something called 'tacos'. I was mildly surprised to see that they looked like what I imagined them to look like. I saw soft shelled tacos and hard shelled tacos, 1 bit each. I got one of each, as an idea was forming in my mind. I also got some seasoned fries for 2 bits and a carton of milk for 1 bit, coming to 5 bits. Skyla got double of everything I did, as usual.
After we paid for our lunches, Skyla and I went our separate ways. She found a round table in the middle of the floor with her friends and I found a smaller one off to the side. Shortly after I sat down, Diamond Heart joined me, putting her lunchbox on the table.
"Hi, Diamond" I said. "How are you?"
"I'm okay, Inova" Diamond said as she opened her lunchbox. "How was magic class?"
"I only made a single small burst of sparks today. I don't get the stuff there at all either. And I've also got the least magic there. I hate magic class. What do you have for lunch today?"
Diamond listed off the items in her lunchbox as she took them out. "I have a peanut butter and sweet hay sandwich, cheesy carrot slices, milk, and a brownie. Do you want half of the brownie?"
"Sure." I liked the desserts Diamond shared with me. They were always delicious. Before I got to the brownie, I first set my taco plan into motion. I opened up the soft taco and used my fork to spread the squishy, cheesy insides around before putting the hard taco in the middle and putting the hard taco in it and folding the sides up.
I took a moment to admire my creation, the double taco, before taking a bite of it. It was delicious, and since Skyla was elsewhere, I was able to slow down and enjoy the meal. I looked around and saw that those with the hard shells were making messes with the shells breaking under the force of a bite, and those with the soft shells were losing bits of filling with each bite. I had no mess of any kind with my double taco.
I didn't think on it for long as I ate my lunch. I offered some of my fries to Diamond, but she turned down the offer, as usual. After I finished those, I got my brownie half from Diamond (which looked a bit bigger than her half) and bit into it. It was so delicious, I almost ate it like Skyla would have.
Once I had finished the brownie, I licked my lips and drank my milk. Diamond finished hers shortly after I did, and after we took care of our lunch items, we went out to the playground and played around. We had fun until it was time to go back inside for our classes. Diamond and I hugged each other before going back inside to our classrooms.
My next class was language arts, which I was at the top of. Yesterday, we got a list of five fruits to learn. When mom looked at the last one with Skyla last night, her face turned kind of green. She had to run off before she could finish spelling out the word with her.
Today, we spent the first part of class going over the spelling of various fruits. After that, we read simple books about fruit. I finished first, wrote a little bit about what I read, and got permission to draw in my sketchbook for the rest of class. I drew a sword that looked like an orange slice.
After language arts, Skyla and I got our saddlebags and went to our final class, which was outside. We sat on the ground near a cloud structure for a moment before our teacher, a short orange pegasus mare with blue sunglasses, landed on the clouds.
"Welcome back to flight class, everypony" Ms. Radar said. "I've set up an obstacle course for you all to practice gliding in. I've put some turns in it, but they should be easy enough for you to get the hang of. Go on and get started."
All of my classmates ran towards the start of the obstacle course, but I kept sitting there.
"Is there something wrong, Inova?" Ms. Radar asked me.
"Why am I in this class again?" I asked her.
Ms. Radar rubbed her forehead with a forehoof and sighed. "You're in this class because you have wings. Everypony in this class has wings."
I looked at my back and saw my wings right there. "Oh." I forgot about them a lot. I got up and made my way towards the cloud structure, stopping at the very edge of it, my trembling forehoof just inches from the cloud.
"You can step on the clouds, Inova. You won't fall through them."
I knew that I wouldn't fall through the clouds. I knew they were soft. I also knew that I was too scared to step hoof on them. After keeping my forehoof over the cloud for a minute, I ran back to a crystal column and hid behind it.
"Inova, please come back here." Ms. Radar said.
"No!" I said. "I don't wanna."
"Inova, you're an alicorn, and you have to learn how to fly. Part of that is walking on clouds. I know you're afraid of falling through the clouds, but your magic will keep you safe."
"I don't have much magic."
"Even just a little bit will keep you safe. You'll be fine."
"No! I'm not going on the clouds."
Ms. Radar sighed before jumping and gliding over to me. "Inova, I'm not asking you to fly like a pro right now. All I need you to do is walk on the clouds in the starting area. If you can do that without hesitation by the end of the school year, that will be enough."
"But what if the clouds break?"
"Then it's a very short fall to the ground. Less than a foot. You'll be fine no matter what."
I slowly came out from behind the crystal column and made my way back towards the starting area. I looked at the cloud surface and cautiously set a forehoof on it. My hoof sunk a little bit into the cloud, which held firm. I pulled my hoof back before putting it back on the cloud, which still held firm.
While I kept poking the cloud, Ms. Radar came up beside me, stuck a forehoof under me, and tossed me onto the clouds. It wasn't the first time she had done that. I wasn't tossed far, and I knew in my head that I would be fine, just like all the other times I had been tossed onto the clouds. Despite that, I still let out a small scream right before landing on my underside on the cloud. The fact that I never fell through always amazed me for some reason.
"Inova, you need to get comfortable with walking on clouds" Ms. Radar said as she walked up next to me. "Like I said, it will be enough for you if you just get used to walking on the clouds by the end of the school year. Of course, if you can do that and a bit more, that would be even better.
"I have to check up on the other students, so just work on getting used to walking on the cloud in the meantime." Ms. Radar flew up and over the course and went off towards a section of it. I could hear her helping some other students with something.
I stayed in my position and turned to look at my wings. They felt familiar, as they always had been a part of me, but also felt weird, as if they weren't supposed to be there. Because of the weird feeling, I was a bit of a wing klutz.
I have gotten some lift before, but it took a lot of effort, and the feeling of my hooves leaving the ground and nothing supporting me freaked me out to the point that I crashed a second later. I was laughed at by my classmates for that. I haven't gotten any lift since then.
After flight class, mom showed up to get Skyla and me.
"So, how were your days?" Mom asked us as we walked home.
"Fine" I said.
"It was fun!" Skyla said. "We had tacos for lunch. I used all of my lunch bits."
"Those tacos must have been good" mom said. "Did you use all your bits too, Inova?"
"Yes" I said. I didn't actually use them all, but I didn't want her to know about the bits I was hiding away in Skyla's and my room. I didn't want Skyla to know about them either because I was pretty sure she'd just buy a lot of food and eat it all.
After a bit of walking, mom said "who wants ice cream?"
"I DO! I DO! I DO!" Skyla shouted.
"Do you want some too, Inova?"
"Sure" I said. "Can we go to Central Creamery?"
"Of course. We need some milk anyways. Your dad burned the last of it trying to make a bowl of cereal before he went to work today."
"Again?" Skyla and I asked at the same time.
"Again. Still, it's a good excuse for us to get some ice cream. Skyla, don't ask for every flavor this time. You can have no more than two scoops. Same goes for you, Inova."
"But I never asked for every flavor" I said.
"I know. I meant that you can only have two scoops of ice cream."
"Oh." That made sense.
When we got to Central Creamery, Skyla ran and jumped up to the nearest freezer, her muzzle pressed against the glass. I walked over to a different one and stood on my hind legs to look inside. This one usually had. . . yes, there was the flavor I wanted.
"Girls, do you know what you want?" Mom asked us.
"I want every flavor" Skyla said, to nopony's surprise.
"Choose one or two flavors, Skyla. Otherwise, you'll only get one scoop of one flavor. Inova, do you know what you want?"
"Two scoops of raw honey" I said.
"That's good. Skyla, do you know what you want?"
"I want two scoops of everything flavor" she said.
"There is no everything flavor. You're down to one scoop of one flavor. You have twenty seconds to choose or I'll choose for you."
Skyla became frantic, looking at every flavor she could while mom counted down from twenty. Just as mom was about to say 'three', Skyla said "Chocolate marshmallow".
"Chocolate marshmallow? Skyla, I said one flavor, not two."
"Actually, Princess-" the pony behind the counter said "-chocolate marshmallow is a flavor. It's chocolate ice cream with marshmallows in it. It's actually pretty good."
"Really now? I'll have to try it sometime. We'll have one scoop of chocolate marshmallow for Skyla, two of raw honey for Inova, and a blended dish of strawberry and cherry for me. Oh, and a gallon of milk. Can I get the milk on the way out?"
"Certainly. That will be nine bits, please."
Mom gave the pony nine bits and led Skyla and I to a table. "So, what do you two have for homework?"
"I've got none" I said. "I did it all in class."
"I have math and spelling" Skyla said.
"Any in geography?" Mom asked.
"Nope."
Mom turned to me as our ice cream was delivered. "How was magic and flight, Inova?"
"Not good" I said. "I only made a small amount of sparks and I'm still scared of stepping on clouds." I leaned forward and took a small bite of my ice cream. It was really good.
"Then we'll practice tonight." Mom floated her spoon into her ice cream before taking a bite and smiling at her blended flavors.
I was the last of us to finish, as usual. Skyla's single scoop was gone in less than a minute while it took a couple minutes for me to finish. Mom was done between us. Once I was done, mom picked up the milk and we left Central Creamery for home.
Once we got home, mom and Skyla went to the living room to work on homework. I went to Skyla's and my room and went to my toy chest, which Skyla couldn't get into. Skyla had her own toy chest, but I couldn't open it. I opened mine and moved a few things aside to get to my hidden bit box. I got my five leftover bits from today and put them in the box. Once that was done, I opened my gold trimmed notebook I kept in my saddlebags and put in a '5' for the bits I put in today. I added them up to what I had saved so far and got 200. I felt really proud of myself. I basked in that pride for a bit before hiding the bit box back under my toys and closing the chest.
With mom and Skyla working on Skyla's homework, I found myself with nopony to play with. I asked mom yesterday if I could go to town alone, and she said I had to wait until I was in middle school, which was just under two and a half years away. I didn't want to wait that long.
I left the room and went over to mom, who was still helping Skyla. "Mom, can I take a nap?"
"Yes, but just for 30 minutes" she said. "If you don't wake up by then, I'll wake you up."
"Okay" I went back to my room, darkened it, and climbed into bed, where I fell asleep in about five minutes.
"Inova, wake up" mom gently said as she lightly shook me with a forehoof. I opened my eyes and sat up, still feeling a bit sleepy. My bed was a lot more comfortable than I remembered. "You overslept by 15 minutes."
"Sorry" I said.
"You're not in trouble. I lost track of time too. So, how about we practice your flight a bit?"
"Sure."
"Excellent. While you were asleep, I moved you to a cloud bed."
I looked at what I was sleeping on and promptly freaked out, flailing my limbs and falling to the floor only a foot away.
"Inova, I've heard that the goal for you in flight class is to get comfortable with walking on clouds" mom said. "Until it's time for supper, we will work on getting to that point."
"But I-"
"No objections, Inova. This is a vital skill you need to learn. Now then, I'm sure you noticed that the cloud was really comfortable when you woke up."
"Yes."
"You were in it for 20 minutes. Your magic is more than enough to keep you safe while you sleep on a cloud."
"I thought you wanted me to walk on clouds?" I was perplexed. What would sleeping on a cloud prove to me?
"If you can fall asleep on something, you can walk on it. How many times have you jumped on your bed with your sister, or fallen asleep on the floor?"
"A few?"
"That's right. And not once did the bed or floor break under you. The clouds are the same way for you. They won't break under you just by standing on them."
I looked back at the cloud I apparently slept on. It was just floating there, not moving or doing anything. A few months ago, I was weirded out when I first saw a cloud near the ground in flight class. I thought clouds were supposed to be high up in the sky, just floating around on their own.
Before I could put a hoof on the cloud, Skyla jumped onto and off my back and onto the cloud, forcing me onto the floor with my legs spread out. I quickly got back to my hooves and jumped up onto the cloud to try and push Skyla off. It quickly turned into a play fight with me on the losing end, as tended to happen. Skyla was a bit bigger than me, a bit stronger, and had more magic in her.
Our fight on the cloud didn't last long, as it was pulled out from under us, causing us to fall the short distance to the ground, where mom split us up with her magic. "No fighting, girls." Her voice was stern. "Skyla, go to your room until it's time for supper. You'll also be there after supper. Inova, you will practice magic after supper's cleaned up. No playtime for either of you tonight."
"Aww" Skyla and I said together before she slowly went to our room. Once mom and I saw that she had indeed gone to our room, mom and I faced each other.
"I think we might have gotten you over your reluctance of getting on clouds."
"How?" I asked.
"You didn't hesitate to jump on the cloud after Skyla jumped off you. If you were still scared, you wouldn't have done that."
"Really?" I looked at the cloud as mom brought it back down closer to the ground. Once it was in front of me, I poked it. As expected, it did nothing. I jumped onto it like I did after Skyla jumped off of me. All that happened was that I landed on the cloud. I jumped off and on it a few times, a smile on my face.
"Good job, Inova" mom praised me. "Do you remember the wing exercises from flight class?"
"Yes."
"I want you to do some of those until supper is ready. Tonight is a casserole night."
"Okay!" I liked mom's casseroles. They were always delicious. Except for the one time dad helped her. That one was so bad, it dissolved the dish it was in and part of the floor once it was out of the oven. We ate out at Emerald Thursday's that night.
While I was doing wing exercises to the best of my memory, dad came home. He had a tan folder in his magic and went to the office room with it. I kept at my exercises, even though I wanted to follow him.
Eventually, supper came around. My wings were tired, and I couldn't find the strength to fold them on my sides. I got to my spot at the table while mom went to get Skyla and dad. I didn't have to wait long for my family to show up. Skyla and dad took their spots at the table while mom got the casserole and glasses of water, which she put on the table.
"So, how was your day, Shining?" Mom asked as she served us with her magic. I quietly started on my portion.
"Not bad" he said. "I got some suggestions for new procedures for the Crystal Guard. I should be done going over them before nine-thirty."
I didn't pay much attention after that, as I kept my focus on my food. I was eating faster than I did at lunch, since Skyla was right next to me. Even though we were eating the same way, with our muzzles down in our food, she was eating much faster than I was, and was already halfway done. I moved my plate away from her a bit and ate a little bit faster. The casserole was good, and I wanted to enjoy every bite of it, but I still wanted to feel full. I hated going to bed hungry because Skyla ate my food.
Eventually, supper came to an end. Dad was quick to clear the table and wash the dishes. Skyla went to our room while mom and I went back to the living room to work on my magic. In the hour mom and I were at it, I managed to create a few small spark showers, but nothing more. I still couldn't focus my magic into my horn very well.
After that, it was bath time. Mom set the water in the huge round tub and had Skyla and me get in. The water was nice and warm, and had a smell like jasmine. At least that's what mom says it smells like. She always puts something in the water before any of us get in. She says it's to help keep the mane, tail, and fur clean and smooth. As far as I know, it works.
Mom and dad came back, and just like every bath time, they joined Skyla and me in the tub. And just as always, I got this strange feeling. I liked bathtime, as everypony was here, and pony families apparently bathed together all the time. Something about everypony bathing together also felt strange to me, like it was something that wasn't supposed to be done.
The strange feeling about everypony bathing together always went away the moment mom or dad started washing my mane by hoof. It felt great and really relaxed me. There were times that I nearly fell asleep from that alone.
After my mane was washed, my fur was next, starting with my face and going down to my rear. It always felt a little strange at the end, kind of like the feeling I had about everypony bathing together. That feeling of it being normal, but something small in my mind not quite liking it. It really bugged me.
My tail was done with a quick wash with a shampoo comb run through it a few times. Always quick, never anything of note there.
Mom took care of preening Skyla's and my wings, and she always worked to teach us how to do it. I had a rough idea on how to do it, but because I was a wing klutz, it didn't usually end up looking nice. There were always missed and misaligned feathers when I did it on my own. Sometimes, my wings wound up looking worse after I preened them myself.
Once everypony was clean, the water was drained from the tub while we stayed in it and let the water drip off of us for a bit before we got our towels, which matched our coats. The towels were always warm and toasty. They apparently had long-lasting warmth charms in them, and I liked to bring one with me whenever we left the Crystal Empire. After leaving the bubble around it, it gets chilly in the train pretty fast.
After we were all dry, we left the bathroom for some tea before heading off to bed. Mom always made it slightly sweet, and I was fine with that. Better that than dad making it. The tea always gave me a short burst of energy before I got really tired and made my way to bed. Because of that, I liked to just drink it and go straight to bed. Tonight was no exception.
Just as I was almost asleep, mom came in, carrying Skyla in her magic. Skyla was already asleep and didn't react to being moved. It was difficult to wake Skyla up. Mom gave us both a hug and wished us good night before closing the door, plunging the room into darkness suitable for sleeping through the night in.
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Pretty decent and lengthy chapter.
Really good chapter.
reminds me of when you were writing Technia
6539871 Oh? How so?
6540223 Your first POV seems better written than the third POV
6541262 I guess that's more of an indication of a writing strength of mine than anything. I do find it easier to (metaphorically) take the driver's seat and write from a character's own perspective.
6541695 as to me, where I have a more Third POV where I like being the observer.
A spiral galaxy? Something tells me Inova loved anime in her past life.
6839401
Or Astrology
Is that a play on Ruby Tuesday?
6839401 row row.....
This is how I eat my cinnamon rolls too!!!
Oh and did they sleep on clouds that night?
6841057
It's not 'astrology' it's astronomy there is a difference
6839401
Gee, ya think? xD
That's pretty impressive
DIS I HEAR TEAM FORTRESS TWO?