New Perspective

by Arbiter Balemead

First Day

High school. Specifically Coudsdale East Flight Training Academy. I was going to love this.

My mom used to tell me that high school would be different and that it would be a turning point in my life and blah, blah, blah. Then she sent me to a boarding school. Turning point for sure. At least my friends are going to the same school as me. Fluttershy and Gilda...

I know they don't get along but... well Fluttershy does, but Gilda doesn't... I swear the way G treats Shy, someday they'll run into each other and G won't even recognize her.

*sigh* At least they don't fight or argue. Often... again Fluttershy doesn't DO anything and Gilda just decides to trash on her. She's so timid... I feel like I have to keep the peace.

Well that's enough ranting. This day won't be over with if I never start it. I trotted in through the big double door entrance to the school. I looked around for the easy to spot form of Gilda. Being friends with the only griffon in school did make some things easier. Like this... where are those big wings?... Ahha!

"Hey, G!" I shouted. She turned and found me.

"Oh, Hey Dash." She pushed her way through the crowd, knocking a few kids over. I winced at the sight of a kid smashing his face into some filly's flank. Gilda just laughed it off. "So what's up? Haven't seen you in like two weeks, dude."

"Ehh. Mom had me on this stupid 'self control' program. She thinks I'm impulsive..."

"Aren't you?"

"Maybe. It didn't help either way."

"That's my girl." She said ruffling my mane.

Now that I think about, I wonder where Shy is... I figured she'd be with G...

"Where's Shy?"

"Heck if I know. Why?"

"I figured she'd be with you."

"Yeah right! You know she can't stand me." Not really. She just doesn't like to be called a whiner, a baby, or a failure on a regular basis. It's not her fault she fell off the cloud layer and was stuck on the ground for a quarter. She could've passed that year if I hadn't knocked her off like a clumsy dunce, but no, she got held back a year. At least she's in my year now...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got to school a bit late. Well, not late for school, but late for my friends. They wanted me to be here five minutes ago. I walked in through the big double doors and looked around for Rainbow Dash's vibrant mane.

I spotted her on the other side of the main hall. I tried to get to her but I couldn't get past the sea of my peers. I kept getting bumped around until eventually I ran face-first into Flash Sparker, the popular colt. He had a dark orange coat and a fiery yellow mane. Other fillies said he was 'hot', but I just don't see it.

"Hey, it's Klutzershy! Hey, Silver, remember her?" His buddy, Quick Silver turned to see what he was talking about. He had a gray coat and a silver mane with an icy blues streak through it. Fillies say he's hot too but I still don't see it. He glanced at me then back at Flash with a sigh.

"Flash, it's our first day back. Please don't."

"Pfft, whatever. Hey, how is it being the oldest filly in class?" He asked turning back on me. I shrank away from him, hoping he'd leave me alone if I didn't say anything. "Heh, not so good eh? I bet the teachers think your stupid. They're right, aren't they?" I whimpered quietly in response. He took a step towards me, smiling wickedly.

"That's enough, Flash." He turned on Silver at the sound of his voice.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" I watched as Silver held his gaze for several seconds before finally speaking.

"What I have to." He said quietly.

"Riiight." Flash said. He turned back on me. "Now, where was-"

"Leave her alone, Flash." We both turned to see Rainbow Dash pushing through the crowd, Gilda only a short distance behind her. I looked around and realized that a bunch of the other foals were watching us.

"Oh? And what are YOU gonna do, Rainbow Crash?"

"You wanna find out?" She asked walking right up to him. This time, Flash was the first one to drop their gaze. Rainbow turned to me and wrapped a wing around me. "C'mon. Let's go." She lead me out of the crowd, not giving a care what they thought of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just ignore them, Rainbow. If they wanna stare, that's their business. Just take care of your friends and ignore the crowd.

"Th-thank you, Rainbow." Fluttershy mumbled. I glanced at her. She wasn't looking at me. She was too busy hiding behind that thick mane of hers.

"Hey, don't mention it, Shy. What're friends for?" I nudged her playfully, eliciting a shy smile and a soft blush from her. "So, whatchu got for homeroom?"

"Uhm..." Her face scrunched together in thought. "Equstrian History."

"Dang. I've got Algebra."

"I-it's okay. We'll see how the day goes..."

"Yeah... yeah, sure." I said trying to feign high hopes.

"Can anyone tell me what the answer is to the question on the board?" It's sixty-four. "Yes? Miss Doo?"

"Seventy-two?"

"No. But close." It's sixty-four.

"Sixty-two?"

"Warmer." Sixty-four. "How about you, Rainbow Dash?" I looked up at her from my notebook.

"Sixty-four." I deadpanned.

"Good! Now I think I know what the rest of you were doing wrong..." I zoned out and went back to doodling. The first page of my math notebook was riddled with images of the Wonderbolts. There was one math problem written down and solved at the top, but it sat there, alone and forgotten, amongst images of stunt and athletic marvels.

I got the feeling somepony was watching me, so I looked up and around the class room. Then I spotted them. A pair of emerald eyes watching me. They were accompanied by a gray face and a silver mane with an icy blue streak. Why, of all ponies, would Quick Silver be watching me?

When I caught him staring he went back to jotting down notes. Weird...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now can anyone tell me what tool was used to defeat Nightmare Moon?" Uhmm.... I know the answer, but I don't want to say. I don't really want to bring attention to myself.

"Magic?"

"Close, but no cigar."

"A large force of pegasi?"

"Hasn't anypony in here heard this story before?" Probably not. Since I'd been held back I've been put in the lower level classes. Not to be mean, but I think a lot of the foals in here will drop out... That was harsh, I didn't mean it.

"How about you miss...." he checked the class roster. "... Fluttershy?" My heart skipped a beat. It felt like all eyes in the classroom had turned back to look at me, sitting here quietly in the corner of the classroom.

"Uhm... w-was it the Elements of Harmony?"

"Correct!" One of the fillies in the front row raised her hoof. "Yes?"

"What are the Elements of Harmony?" He facehoofed, mumbling something about a long year.

My next class was gym. I walked into the big, high-ceilinged room, hoping that there would be somepony in here that I knew. I looked around and found Rainbow and Gilda chatting in the bleachers. I hovered over to them, landing next to Rainbow.

"Hey, Shy! What are the chances of us all having the same second hour?"

"I-I don't know...not high?"

"Ya don't say?" Gilda muttered.

"Alright, Pansies! Fall in!" The coach shouted. We flew over and landed in a small huddle of foals, wondering what today's activities were going to be. "Alright. First things first. I'm gonna need to get used to how well you foals can fly so I can adjust my curriculum. So today and tomorrow we'll be having you all do dashes across the track outside. Remember the point is speed. It's a simple hundred-meter and I'll be timing you."

"Oh, just watch me top this class." Rainbow muttered.

Ten minutes later we were outside by the track. The coach was going down the list alphabetically, two foals at a time.

"Alright, up next is Boomer and Broadwing." The two stepped up and took off on the coach's signal. "Boomer, you got twenty-six-point-five, and Broadwing, you got twenty-nine on the dot. Next is Flash Sparker and Fluttershy." I froze. I was racing with Flash? I know it's not really a race, but that won't stop him from rubbing it in when he wins.

"Go on, Shy. Just ignore him and his time. You'll do great." Rainbow said nudging me towards the starting line. I walked over slowly and took my place next to Flash.

"Heh, this is gonna be good." Flash laughed as he took his place. The coach raised his hoof and was about to give the signal.

"Hey coach!"

"Hmm? What is it, Gilda?"

"Can I go early?"

"If you really want to..."

She flew over and took her place on the other side of Flash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched as the coach gave the signal and Gilda took off with enough speed to throw Flash off course. He only moved over three or four inches, but it was enough to give Fluttershy some drift. She managed to keep up with him for a moment, but she fell behind when he went back to his place in the track.

"Very impressive, Gilda. Nineteen-point-eight. Flash you got twenty-three-point six. And Fluttershy. You got Thirty-three-point-nine. Alright next we've got-" But I stopped listening as the other two flew over to me.

"G, that was awesome. Did you mean to knock Flash over to give Shy that drift."

"No, it just happened." She answered sarcastically.

"Th-thank you, Gilda." Fluttershy said.

"Don't mention it... I mean, seriously. Don't."

"Oh. O-okay."

We didn't have any more classes together until lunch; fifth hour. Only two more classes, then we head back to our dorms. Me and G ended up rooming together, while Shy got the room down the hall to herself.

We sat down at a table in the back of the lunch room, in the section that ponies only sit at if all the tables closer to the doors were taken. The three of us talked back and forth about our days so far and what classes we had next. Apparently Fluttershy and I shared our next class, which would be Study Hall. Then after that none of us shared a class.

"I guess it doesn't suck, yet." G commented.

"Nah... The classes are fine." I said, putting emphasis on the word 'classes'. Fluttershy glanced sidelong at me.

"My day was...nice. S-so far."

"You mean getting made fun of constantly has been nice? I wish I had that kind of tolerance." Gilda noted.

"W-well... I mean... I didn't HATE my day, I-I just... I don't know..." She trailed off.

"Anyways... what do you have next hour, Gilda?" I asked, trying to relieve the tension between these two.

"Meh... I've got Lit. Why?"

"Just wonderin'."

"Hey, either of you had Lit yet?"

"Nah, that's my seventh hour."

"I-I have..."

"Is it hard, or annoying or anything?"

"W-well I don't think we have the same teacher, sooo...."

"Yeah yeah, but was it a big deal or not?"

"N-not really." I guess she didn't want to mention that she was in a special ed teacher's class that hour, lest Gilda strike an open opportunity .

"'Kay, cool. Hey what do you have seventh hour, Shy?"

"Health."

*RRRRRIIINNNNNNGGGG!!!*

"Welp, that's it for lunch. C'mon, Shy, we got a study hall to get to."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way to our next class we passed by Flash. He started staring me down. I began to shrink down, but Rainbow wrapped her wing around me and pulled me closer while glaring at him. Flash looked intimidated for a moment, but I could see his eyes tracing Rainbow's wing.

As we passed him he began to snicker and snort, to my confusion.

"Uhm-"

"Just ignore him." She said sternly.

"Rainbow."

"What?"

"Ponies are staring at us." She looked around, seemingly noticing this for the first time. She followed their eyes to her wing, then quickly removed it and put some distance between herself. I guess it made other ponies uncomfortable...

I liked it...

We arrived at the study hall classroom. It wasn't very big, but there weren't many students in here, either.

"Ah, you must be Rainbow Dash, and..." The teacher looked at me. I shied away from her. "...Fluttershy... I presume?"

"Yeah that's us." Rainbow said. We sat at the nearest table and opened up our saddlebags.

"Well, just so you know, the rules of this room are simple. Keep it down and you may work with somepony else on your homework. And please try not to annoy me."

"N-no problem." I said politely. We started studiing quietly. Can you believe that some of our teachers gave us assignments on the first day? Not to sound mean but... I guess that's private school for you...

"He's in here?" I looked up, confused.

"Who is?" I asked. She used her eyes to point to the other side of the room. I looked over and spotted Quick Silver working on something.

"Why? I-is that a problem?"

"He's Flash's friend..." She muttered.

"B-but he's not that mean."

"Crime by association...." She mumbled then went back to her math work.

My seventh hour was boring. We spent the whole hour just watching this odd movie about what to expect from our freshman year. It was nice and all, but a little awkward when they got to the point about relationships. Really awkward.... It was a school film and they actually showed two ponies making out... The other kids snickered at the scene and only laughed harder when the colt in the front row's wings stood up and stiffened. I tried to ignore it, but the other foals laughed and laughed.

Poor guy...

After that the teacher gave a strict speech on the "actions performed by us today" and gave us a paper to write. On the first day...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, class, here are your text books for the year." The whole class groaned, myself included. "Oh, I know most of your other teachers won't be handing these out until next week, but I have a few things planned for the week, and if you just bear with me I think you'll enjoy some of them." Sure. I'll remember that when I pass out in class.

After that we spent most the day going over all the things we learned over the last eight years of school in summary. Same old routine, you know how it is.

"Hey guys." I said as I landed and fell in step beside them.

"Sup, dude?"

"Meh. My Lit teacher actually gave us these things." I used my wing to open the saddle bag and show them the text book.

"On the first day? That's rough dude."

"How about you, Shy?" I asked.

"My entire seventh hour was given an essay as punishment."

"For what?" I asked.

"Did you DO anything?" Gilda added.

"A colt got a uhmm...a uh... wing-boner." I barely caught that last part. "A-and the whole class laughed at him."

"What did you do?"

"N-nothing."

"Dude! That's bull!" Gilda exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anythi- right... never mind."

"What's the essay about?"

"I-it's a full-page essay about being kinder."

"Well you got that in the bag. You practically represent kindness."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got back to my dorm. I'm happy I got my room all to myself. I don't really do well without some privacy. I sat down and started writing my paper. It didn't take long to get down everything. I kind of avoided the subject of what it was my peers had been mean about... I don't really like talking about things like that.

Once that was done I opened up a duffel bag and I looked through the things I'd packed, but hadn't gotten out yet. I found my picture of mom. She looked a lot like me, but with darker eyes and a cutie mark for foal care, not animal care. It was an image of a heart-shaped gemstone.

She was way more confident than me. My dad always said the similarities stopped with the beauty. He was right, I guess. I mean she's soft-voiced and kind-hearted like me, but she's such a confident pony. I'm just not.

She was so happy to see me when she found me in Ponyville, and proud to see my cutie mark. She loved me. A lot. *sniff* I miss her...

*sigh* Well, I guess the only thing left to do is go to bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on, G. I need my sleep. Turn off the dang light." I moaned.

"I don't know what's wrong with you, but I love these things."

"But they're so nerdy!"

"There is nothing wrong with comic books, dude."

"Whatever. It's half past midnight. Can you please turn the light off?" I tried again.

"Fine. Wuss."

"Dweeb."

*click*

Comments

[Wumz]

I approve and will track.

[DarkStratos]

Good chapter, was sad we didn't get to read about Rainbow Dash racing.

[Arbiter Balemead]

982663 that's because her name is later in the Alphabet and will be called the next day (wait for next chapter *wink*)

[Wayward Mind]

After reading the first chapter, I am now faving, liking and commenting. Now to read the rest!

Great story so far! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Fluttershy_lolface.png

[There At The Close]

I like that Gilda isnt a total ass to Fluttershy, and is a total ass to everyone else. yay!
this is also one of the greater high school fics ive read that aren't humanized.
great job man.
~Wywint