Friendship 101

by BrawnyBold

Chapter 4: Wolf Barks and Monster Roars

The weekend passed and all of Twilight's students returned for more new friendship lessons. Everypony, except for Lone, talked to one another about what happened at the arcade. Twilight noticed the tensions between each student disappeared and she was satisfied that they were getting along.

"I see that everypony had a good weekend?" Twilight asked.

Guide, Fireworks, and Comfort nodded in agreement while Lone just yawned with boredom.

"Let's begin!" Twilight started writing on the chalkboard.

Friendship 101:

Help Your Friends

"Helping one another is a good way to make friendships stronger." Twilight explained "It shows that you're never alone when you face a tough challenge."

Fireworks accidentally dropped a book from her desk and it landed right next to Lone. Twilight thought of a way to demonstrate her lesson.

"Lone Wolf," Twilight called out, "could you get that book for Fireworks? I believe she will appreciate it."

Lone did not care what Twilight requested from him. All he did was kick the book back near Fireworks.

"Um, thanks Lone?" Fireworks said.

Twilight felt very annoyed from Lone's actions, but she decided to let it go and move on.

The class went on with more lectures from Twilight. "Who would like to answer this question?" She asked. Guide was the first to raise her hoof, but Twilight turned towards Lone and noticed that he was not paying attention. "Lone Wolf," Twilight asked politely, "can you answer this question for me?"

"Because you don't know the answer or you don't want to?" Twilight faced Lone.

"Both," Lone said rudely.

Twilight felt annoyed a second time from Lone, but she kept herself calm and allowed Guide to answer. Halfway of the class, Comfort was in a middle of an assignment when a spitball hit his head. He turned and saw Lone with a straw in his hoof.

"Can you please stop, Lone?"Comfort asked.

"Hmm....when I feel like it." Lone smiled. He continued to shoot spitballs until Twilight had enough of it.

"That's it!" Twilight yelled. "Lone Wolf, stay seated! The rest of you, please step outside while Lone and I have a discussion." Twilight demanded.

The students did what they were told and exited the classroom with the doors shut.

"Is there a problem, Princess?" Lone asked.

"Yes," Twilight said, "you have been acting like a delinquent since the beginning of my classes." Twilight explained.

"Well, it's not my fault these classes are boring." Lone said as he flicked a pencil.

"Boring?!" Twilight became shocked. "These lessons helped me become the pony I am today." Twilight replied with anger in her voice.

"Oh sure," Lone said, "getting some wings and a crown, ta-da! You think you're better cause you're a princess." Lone talked back.

"You should appreciate that I made you one of my students!" Twilight glared.

"Appreciate it?!" Lone questioned. "I didn't ask for this in the first place!" Lone started to yell. He then stood face to face with Twilight and asked "Do you know why, Princess? It's because I don't need you, I don't need friendship, and I don't need anypony!" Lone stomped towards the door to punch it open and stormed off, leaving the rest of the students shocked from what happened. They walked slowly back to the classroom to check on Twilight. She was sitting on the ground with her hoof on her face as she groaned with frustration.

"Twilight?" Comfort asked the princess, "Is everything alright?"

Twilight was so stressed that she couldn't find a proper answer. She only said "Class is dismissed, I don't want to be disturbed."

The three friends nodded in agreement and left the princess alone. Twilight walked to her room where she laid down and tried
to figure out her problem.

"I heard from the others about what happened." Spike said as he entered the room and sat next to Twilight.

"What am I going to do, Spike?" Twilight whined. "I feel like I haven't made any effort with these ponies."

"It's only the second week," Spike replied.

"Today, Lone was misbehaving and he threw a fit at me!" Twilight groaned. "Not a good way to start off."

"Maybe you should ask somepony for advice?" Spike suggested to Twilight.

"Like Princess Celestia?" Twilight thought, "But she is too busy, I can't think of anypony else who has experience with- " Twilight suddenly had an idea of who should she speak to. She then trotted to the door, "Thanks, Spike!" Twilight yelled before she left.

"No problem!" Spike yelled.

Twilight flew across Ponyville until she saw the schoolhouse. She landed at a safe distant and walked toward the building. The bell rang and the young fillies and colts left the school wit Cheerilee standing at the entrance.

"Good-bye everypony!" Cheerilee yelled to her students. "See you all tomorrow!" She turned to see Twilight standing right in front of her. "Oh, hi Twilight!" Cheerilee said with surprise. "How are you?"

"Just fine, Cheerilee," Twilight replied, "May I come in?"

"Sure," Cheerilee smiled. Both of them entered the schoolhouse and they sit on some chairs near Cheerilee's desk.

"So what can I do for the princess?" Cheerilee joked.

"You know that I now have students of my own?" Twilight asked.

"Oh yeah! I heard about that." Cheerilee remembered about that news. "I think that it's nice of you to share your knowledge to the younger ponies." Cheerilee said. "How are they?" she asked.

"Well, most of them are fine," Twilight replied. "it's just that this colt in my class recently talked back to me for forcing him to learn friendship."

"Sometimes it's hard for teachers to teach those kinds of students." Cheerilee advised. "It only depends if the student wants to learn something, you can't force anypony to accept new lessons."

"That's true, I haven't exactly given any thought about that." Twilight realized. "All I wanted to do was to teach friendship, just like how Princess Celestia had taught me."

"It's our job as teachers to make sure that the students get the knowledge." Cheerilee said. "There is always another side of a story you don't really notice."

"What should I do then?" Twilight asked.

"Let him have some time by himself, he will probably cooperate when he realized that he needs your lessons."

"If he doesn't?" Twilight asked once again.

"Then it's his lost, you are a great teacher, Twilight." Cheerilee said.

After Twilight thanked Cheerilee and flew back to the castle, her mind was processing the advise she was given. She hasn't really put any thought about what was best for her students because she only wanted to teach friendship to those who needed it. Maybe Lone needs to realize how important friendship is to him. She returned to the castle and made her to her room to sleep on it.

Guide, Comfort, and Fireworks were at Ponyville's local cafe, trying to forget what happened during class.

"That was something, huh?" Fireworks broke the ice.

"No kidding, how dare Lone!" Guide growled, "Talking to Princess Twilight like that!"

"Now now," Comfort trying to calm Guide down, "let's not get angry for something that was just some misunderstanding."

"How can you say that?!" Guide was offended, "That jerk has been nothing but a meanie since class started!"

"M-Maybe if we talk to Lone, we can understand why he acted the way he was." Comfort suggested.

"Why should we do that?" Guide demanded.

"Didn't Princess Twilight mention a lesson that involves not judging anypony?" Comfort trying to recall that lesson.

"Oh yeah!" Fireworks remembered, "it involved Princess Twilight and her friends being exposed to Poison Joke and blamed it on that zebra for cursing them."

Guide realized that she was accusing Lone like how Princess Twilight had accused Zecora for a misunderstanding. "The lesson was to never judge a book by its cover." She admitted. "But still, how are we suppose to look for Lone?"

"We can walk right over there and ask him." Fireworks pointed towards Lone who was getting some fruit from a salespony. He slowly turned around and walked down the streets. Fireworks and Guide stood behind a barrel while Comfort was confused about what they were doing. He was suddenly pulled toward the two mares and had a hoof on his mouth.

"Shh!" Guide and Fireworks hushed Comfort.

"Don't you know being sneaky is the key of spying?" Fireworks whispered.

"Isn't that kind of wrong?" Comfort question the mares' logic.

"One of the best way to research is to study subjects in their natural habitat." Guide explained.

The three friends followed Lone as he continued to walk in the streets of Ponyville. The friends continued until they recognized the place Lone just entered, the Everfree Forest!

"Why is that bonehead going into the forest?!" Guide asked. "Doesn't he know that place is dangerous?!"

"Maybe he is visiting somepony?" Fireworks suggested. All of them continued to follow Lone while staying cautious about the dangers in the Everfree Forest. They stopped in their tracks when they saw Lone entering an old, abandon cottage.

'This is where Lone lives?' The three friends thought.

Before Lone opened the door, he lifted his head and said "I know you three are hiding, come out or I'll do that for you."

Worried that they were spotted, the three friends quickly came out from hiding. Now, they were being stared at by a mean-looking colt.

"Hey Lone, how are you?" Fireworks awkwardly said.

"Is there a reason why you three were stalking me?" Lone asked in a rude manner.

"You do realize that it's dangerous to live in the Everfree Forest." Guide pointed out.

"That means ponies won't enter the here and bother me, like what you're doing right now." Lone claimed.

"Look, we wanted to know if we can help you understand that Twilight's lessons are important." Guide said.

"Let me tell you what I told the princess," Lone raised his voice, "I don't need lessons or friends!" He slammed the door, leaving the three friends alone.

"Well, that didn't help," Guide said as they exited the forest.

"Maybe he needs some time to think about it." Comfort suggested.

Lone watched as the ponies left the forest. He turned and made his way to the kitchen. 'Why should I care about some lessons/' Lone thought, 'Friendship never did anything to me,' He made his way to his bed, which was a dirty mattress, and slept there for the rest of the day.

At night, Twilight was still thinking about Cheerilee's advice. She had to be patient for her students. Despite their flaws, friendship can find its way even towards the most different. Twilight called it a night and went to sleep. A night in Ponyville was peaceful, citizens were dreaming, the stars and moon shined the sky, and the land was silent. It was interrupted when a large roar woke up the entire population of Ponyville. Everypony went outside to find out where it came from. The roar was from the Everfree Forest, the same area where Lone's cottage was. Guide, Fireworks, and Comfort had all the some thoughts, Lone!

All three of them ran as fast as they could towards the Everfree Forest. Even though it was completely dark, Guide was able to use her horn to light the way. They were about to reach the cottage until Lone came crashing down to the dirt. He had scratches and bruises all over his body.

"Lone!" the ponies cried out as they ran to help Lone.

"What happened to you?!" Comfort said with worry.

"Some....thing.....attacked.....m-me." Lone moaned in agony.

"What attacked you?" Guide asked.

Lone struggled to point his hoof towards the moving trees. The creature got close enough to be seen by the four ponies. It was a giant Timberwolf that was the same size of a mountain. It howled with anger as it was about to attack the ponies.

"Just...go!" Lone continued to moaned, "Leave me!"

"No, we're not!" Guide talked back. "Comfort! Get Lone to safety as fast as you can! Fireworks and I can hold off this beast!"

Comfort nodded and started to pull Lone away from the upcoming fight with the timberwolf.

"Hey! Big, bad, and smelly, over here!" Fireworks called out.

The timberwolf turned towards the mares and Guide fired a yellow beam at it, which caused the timberwolf to get angry and roar even louder. Fireworks flew all around the timberwolf to distract it, but it started swatting in the air as if Fireworks was a fly.

"Na-na!" Fireworks taunted. "You can't get-" before she could finish, a wooden paw slammed her near Comfort and Lone.

"Fireworks!" Guide screamed.

"I'm alright," Fireworks got up from the ground. "it didn't hurt that much."

The large timberwolf started growling at Fireworks, Comfort, and Lone. Guide ran next to the others and charged her horn for another spell. Fireworks pounded her hooves to show that she was up for a fight. Even though Comfort was very frightened, he stood in front of Lone, ready to protect him. Lone was shocked that these three ponies would risk their lives after all he did to them. Both sides were about to charge until Princess Twilight flew down and shot a large, pink beam shot the timberwolf on the head. She flew towards the other ponies to check on them.

"Is everypony alright?" Twilight immediately asked.

"We're fine," Guide confirmed. "Lone has some wounds from that timberwolf."

"Get him to safety, I'll handle this." Twilight flew back into the battle and started shooting lasers at the timberwolf. Guide, Comfort, and Fireworks carried Lone away from the area. Lone slowly went unconscious from all the pain he took.

He started to wake up and found himself laying in a bed inside Ponyville Hospital.

"Lone!" The three ponies arrived at the door.

"What happened?" Lone asked.

"Princess Twilight came to the rescue after the timberwolf attacked." Guide explained. "When we carried you to a safe distant, she was able to defeat it and helped us get you to the hospital."

"You were pretty bruised up," Fireworks added, "luckily the doctors were able to patch you up from the damage, free of charge."

From all that had happened, Lone was confused about these three saving him from the timberwolf. "Why did all of you save me?" he asked, "I could've done this on my own."

"Well, if you did that, then you would have been timberwolf food." Guide sassed. "Besides, you're one of us, and we never leave anypony behind."

Princess Twilight entered the room to check on her students. "Hello everypony,"

"Hey Princess!" Fireworks replied.

"Could you give some privacy between me and Lone?" Twilight requested. "I like to talk to him for a moment."

The three students nodded and left the room. Twilight approached Lone.

"What did I do this time?" Lone sighed, waiting for a lecture.

"You're not in trouble," Twilight said. "That timberwolf was on a rampage lately and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry a clear choice of talking my lessons. I thought that if you learned more about friendship, you would gain things that you needed in your life."

Lone was surprised to hear that from a princess of Equestria.

"I'm going to give you some options, Lone." Twilight said. "You can no longer take the classes and live your life, or you can continue your studies on friendship to find what you need." She turned towards the door and said, "The choice is your's."

After the princess left, Lone was thinking about the decision he was given. Ever since he took part in these lessons, he wanted to quit in the start of it. But after what his classmates and teacher did, he started to have second thoughts. Throughout his life, Lone had been on his own without anypony to care for. Other ponies would think he was scary, but his classmates didn't treat him like some criminal. Lone looked out of the window to figure out his thoughts.

Few days had passed and Lone was recovering from his injuries. Class at the castle wen on, but the students were uncertain if Lone quit the classes or was still recovering. Twilight started writing on the chalkboard and began. "Okay class, today we will discuss-" the door slowly opened and everypony looked to see who it was. Entering the room was Lone as he walked toward his desk.

"I see that you have returned, Lone." Twilight presumed.

"I came to learn more on what I needed," Lone turned his head to see his three classmates smiling for his return. "and that is friendship."

Twilight smiled and resumed her lesson. She was proud of Lone for making this decision. A decision that can change his life for the better.

Comments

[luftschl0ss]

I think the rest of the chapter wasn't supposed to be in italics, but good plot line.
9.5/10