Time to hire some extra teachers

by Light Heart101

John Darkblaze

Twilight was placing the last few files on her desk into her filing cabinet. She was actually surprised how much Astral was able to help her with organizing the office. It did allow her to make some more free time for herself and it no longer felt like she had to allow everything to fall apart in order to keep up with everything. With her OCD now settled she was actually ready to take a break. As she got out a cup of tea and the morning newspaper she heard her short moment of free time go out the window. A male pegasus walked in. He had a reddish-brown mane and tail with a blue coat. His cutie mark was a hammer and nail, but the strangest thing about him was his wings. While the rest of his body was fuzzy, his wings were smooth and seemed to be metallic.

He gave her a small bow and quickly introduced himself. "Good morning. My name is John Darkblaze. I'm here for two reasons. The first one is because I received a royal request to make a prosthetic leg for a griffon in one of your classes. The letter said something about helping strengthen international relations and it being covered by his scholarship by order of Celestia. The second thing I'm here for is an interview with you."

Twilight soon recognized his name from one of the applications. "Oh, now I remember you. You are the resident blacksmith."

John nodded. "Yes, although I mainly specialize in prosthetic's."

Twilight motioned over to a chair. "Well, please take a seat." John sat down into the chair while Twilight got out his file. "You already seem to have a good list of friends here."

John grinned. "I do have a few good buddies who have stuck by me."

"So, how exactly did you get into this field?"

John rubbed one of his wings a bit. "Well, I got into an accident when I was just a colt. It ended up costing me my wings. I won't lie when I say that I was ready to give up on life, but I found a three legged cat that inspired me to make a difference. So after a few cheap prototypes of some missing limbs I got my talent in this. I got a degree in engineering and made Ponyville my home."

Twilight was rather impressed by what all he went through and where he was at now. Twilight soon turned her attention back to the file. "So, why do you want to work here?"

"The first goal of mine is to encourage kids with handicaps to not give up on themselves. My second, which is what most of my class will revolve around, is designing. I want to teach these kids how to work together to come up with inventive ideas for problems."

Twilight looked through the folder one more time before setting it down. "Well, you have a strong resume and a lot of experience with friendship. I do love the idea of having somebody who can encourage them to overcome their handicaps. I invited one pony, but I don't think he's comfortable with it yet. I think you'll be a great addition here. Welcome to the school."

Twilight got up and shook his hoof. John smiled because he was happy that this interview was easy. "Well, thank you. By the way, do you have a workshop here that I can use as a classroom?"

Twilight bit her lip as she started thinking about the budget. "Um, can you bring your own tools?"

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Soon a group of students were making their way into a room that was an empty storage room until now. Now there were workbenches set up and tools all over the wall. There were also some tools that were locked in a chest in the corner. Underneath the tools was a pile of construction supplies, like wood, metal, and other items. While everybody made their way to the benches John walked in with a saddlebag full of canvases.

He looked a little shocked when he saw that everybody was already seated. "You're here early! Oh well! Let's get started."

He made his way to all of the tables and placed a canvas and a few pencils on every desk. "Alright, my name is John Darkblaze and today we are talking about problem solving. Now, sometimes you will run into problems that can't be solved by a musical number. It's at times like these when you need to pull your friends together and work on an idea of how to fix it. Now this can be broken into three steps. One, identify the problem, two, come up with a plan, three, execute it. It sounds easy, but you need to be willing to listen to all of your friends ideas, and you need to consider what's the best option."

Smolder raised her claw. "Does this have anything to do with the over sized bookshelf with only one book on top?"

John nodded. "Yep, now the goal is to get to the book off of the shelf using whatever resources you have in here."

Gallus chuckled a bit. "Excuse me, but most of us have wings or magic."

"Well, how about you try to make it with a crippled pegasus in mind." John said as he took off his wingspan. Several of the kids cringed or jumped as they saw the two scars on his back. John was used to the looks that ponies gave them when they saw his back. He didn't want to explain what happened, so he got back to the topic. "Try to make the idea with the goal for me being able to use it without help. Once we are done I'll show you a gadget I made and perfected for this task. Each table is officially a team, but take not this isn't a competition. Try to sketch it out before doing anything and I will help as much as can. Now before you all can get building I need to teach you all about basic construction safety. We'll be working on this project all week, so let's get started."

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Class was pretty fun that day. John was able to keep track of everybody so he could keep injuries to a minimum, but there were the few small bruises from the few kids who used a hammer for the first time. John decided to keep the kids away from the saws for a while until he and Twilight believe they're ready.

As he made his way to Twilight's office he heard a pony call out to him. "Hey, do you mind talking for a moment?"

John lived in Ponyville long enough to recognize Friendly Advice. "Sure."

They both sat down at a bench. John never met Friendly in person, but there's a first time for everything. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, I've had to help some disabled kids who were struggling with the changes in their lives, and I thought if I could listen to how you've dealt with it then I'd be able to help them better. Is that alright."

John thought about it for a moment. He never liked reliving that day, but maybe the suffering he had could help make the road easier for others. "Alright, ask away."

Friendly quickly got out a quill and scroll. "Alright, what was is like losing your wings."

John took a deep breath as he got ready to relive that day again. "I don't remember much about the accident. I remember a sharp pain in my back, but I blacked out shortly after I crashed onto the ground. As for when I found out that I lost my wings, it crushed me. I was an amazing flyer and all the possibilities from that disappeared in a second. I was so young when it happened, and I thought that it would last my whole life. It even had an effect on the people around me. My friends blamed themselves for letting it happen, even my parents started fighting with each other. I was so upset with myself and the pain I was causing others. I believe that while I was in that hospital, I gave up on my future."

John noticed that Friendly's face turned from one of curiosity to one of sympathy. It was almost like Friendly was trying to envision himself in that same scenario. After Friendly cleaned his glasses he got back on track. "So what changed?"

John smiled a bit. "I found a three legged cat outside of my window. I took him inside and found him somewhat relatable, but he kept trying to move forward. I felt burdened to help the poor thing, so I took some rubber bands, pencils, and string and made him a new leg. After that I started thinking about my own situation. I was so busy thinking my life was over when I could make something new. So I made a pair of wings out of the curtains. That was when I got my cutie mark. I learned that no matter what life throws at you, you can always find a way to move forward. That's what I try to teach."

Friendly looked rather impressed. This broken pony took his problem and turned it into something amazing. As he sat up he placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I really with there were more ponies like you around. I think if we had more visionaries and less quitters the world would be a brighter place. I'll see you around, and thank you."

John waved as he felt proud about making his first friend here. As he turned to head to Twilight's office again Twilight was watching from around the corner. She smiled and whispered to herself. "Thank you for overcoming this John, Equestria wouldn't be the same without you."

Author's Note:

Thanks to

JohnDarkblaze15

for giving me his inspiring OC.
To learn more about his OC sheck out his story. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/420194/broken-wings-broken-spirits