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Light Heart3,612 words

Light Heart

Light Heart was wrapping up his booth for the day. His business was slow that day, but he hoped that things would start picking up next week. The school that Twilight started did bring some more work in for him, but he was still working on building his business. He wanted to move from that small shack and using a booth to having his own store. The only real thing he had going for him to build his reputation was the fact that he was an alicorn. Light Heart never understood why he became one, but he had a goal in mind, to encourage children to see the value in themselves.

As Light got ready to head to his shack again he heard a few familiar voices shout behind him in unison. "Hey Light Heart."

Light smiled as he turned around to see the CMC behind him. "Hey, if it isn't my best customers! What can I do for you three?"

Applebloom pulled out a small sketch board. "We have a new friend in Twilight's school who has a birthday coming up in two weeks. We were trying to think of something to get her. Can you help us? We'll even pay for it."

Light chuckled a bit. "Don't worry about it. If this is a new kid then the first gift is free. So who is this mystery kid?"

Sweetie Bell handed him the sketch board. "Her name is Trail Dancer. She's a zebra, so it's kind of like getting something for Zecora. We can't decide what to get for her. We keep going to the conclusion that she'll either not understand it, or just hate it."

Light looked at the list of suggestions for a moment. "Well, you all have some nice designs here. Let's see what I can add to this."

Light then proceeded to pull out a file with Trail's name on it. Scootaloo stared at it with a worried look for a moment. "Where did you get that?"

"Pinkie Pie. She gives me a heads up on all of the birthdays in town a month before they happen. It's how I'm able to stay ahead in the business. Unfortunately, it sometimes ends up with me making toys that they don't end up buying, but I just sell those on the side. So, Trail likes more practical gifts. She prefers stuff that has a function and looks traditional. I think she would like a nightfinder compass."

Applebloom was instantly curious about Light's idea. "What's a nightfinder compass?"

Light pulled a small blueprint out of his cart. "It is something me and my brothers designed a while ago. It was one of our more calmer inventions. It's like a normal compass, but it has a rock inside of it known as a moonlight radiator. It's able to light up the darker it gets and has a nice blue glow to it. It's not exactly a toy, but I think I have the stuff to make another one. I'll have it for you by next week."

Sweetie Bell was always interested whenever Light made something new, but this one seemed a bit weird. "I thought you either invented new toys or crazy gadgets that tend to be misused and taken away."

Light shrugged. "Well, my brothers and I also made the streamer thrower that week. It took us a while to get those ponies untangled, but Pinkie Pie loved it. I believe that if the princesses didn't make it law for us to have controlled tests with an inventor present we'd show up on the insurance papers as a natural disaster."

Sweetie Bell raised her eyes with a curious look. "Then why do you three make this stuff?"

Light actually had to pause and think about it for a moment. "I think we just do it because we get bored."

Scootaloo joined in as she was busy looking at a music box. "Is that why our sisters keep trying to invite you to the school?"

Light paused when she brought that up. He didn't think that anybody else knew about him getting an application. "I don't know why they would want me to be a teacher, I'm not exactly experienced with stuff like that. Did you say your sisters invited me?"

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah, Twilight sent one first because she thought you could be a big help, then our sisters sent some to you when you never responded because you helped us several times and thought you would be good with the other kids, and we also think that Pinkie Pie sent you a few because she said it would be fun."

Light sighed as he finished hooking his booth to his back. "Well, that explains a lot, especially the ones that shot out confetti."

Sweetie Bell turned back to Light. "So why didn't you want to join?"

Light sighed as he tried making his way to his house. "Listen, I truthfully don't think that they need me there. There are a lot more experienced ponies there than me. I don't think I can live up to the standard that they would expect from me. I just think that the school would be better off without me."

The CMC looked worried when Light said that. He always tried encouraging other kids to not let their fears prevent them from achieving their goals and making friends. As much as he encouraged other kids to do it, he always seemed the have trouble following suit. He always was open to ponies who'd ask him questions, but he never seemed to open up himself.

Applebloom was the first one who tried to confront this. "I think you would make a good teacher. Our sisters trust you, and so do we. We don't expect you to be perfect, we just want you there."

Light chuckled as these three girls who weren't in the school were now wanting him to join. "I'm sorry, but I don't think the other ponies would accept my lack of experience."

Scootaloo shrugged. "From what Dash has said about some of the teachers you might be better at friendship than some of them, especially the "Monster of the brood lagoon", whatever that is. What's important is that we want you to be able to do what you are good at, helping kids overcome their problems."

Light paused for a moment. He knew that he wouldn't feel comfortable trying to live up to what was already set up, but maybe his fear was trying to keep him doing what he believed was his mission in life, helping the downtrodden and broken. Light never forgot the day that he became an alicorn. He was so far into his depression and thought that he couldn't do anything with his life. When he gave up on himself, the world wouldn't. He gained his wings when he was at the worse moment of his life, and even though he still can't understand why he is an alicorn, he wants to make sure nopony would face the darkness he did alone.

Light didn't want to answer them or give them any promises yet. "I'll look into it. I think you all should head home. It's getting late, and you don't want to keep your sisters waiting all night."

The CMC quickly realized that is was almost sunset. They all quickly said goodbye and ran off.

Light made his way back to his house. It wasn't much to look at. It was a one bedroom, one bathroom house with only enough extra room for a small workshop. Light locked the cart outside as he got all of his stuff out of it. Light walked in and placed most of his stuff on his workbench. It was littered with several blueprints and prototypes for toys. The room was filled with boxes of toys which he had yet to sale, fabric, and cotton for stuffed animals and other woods and metals for other toys and projects. He also had a small stack of letters on the bench that he had been ignoring until now. Light already knew what was in them, but didn't want to bother with them.

Light sat down at his desk for a while. He kept trying to weigh his options. On the one hand, he was afraid of what the peers in the school would think. On the other hand, he didn't know if those kids would need somepony like him. Finally, he decided to go through them just to see what they had, starting with the oldest ones. Almost all of them had the original application in them, but some of them talked about the kids there. Light read about the recent events that had happened. He learned about some of the struggles that the kids have dealt with and the ponies that have helped them.

At the end of the pile, he got to the most recent one. It was written by Twilight and again included an application.

It read: To Light Heart

If you have read the other letters you will have learned about some of the issues that we have run into and the teachers who have helped us all with them. I'll admit that we now have a large staff that is helping us, including a handicapped pony, a psychologist, and many others. I would assume that you didn't want to join because you'd be afraid that you wouldn't be useful, but we sent you the application before we hired most of our staff. It is now my opinion that you are just afraid of failing the school and the kids in it.

I understand what it is like to feel like you are living up to a high standard. (I was Princess Celestia's student, imagine living up to her) I've learned that when we set ourselves too high we often let ourselves down when we can't reach it. I didn't invite you to my school just so you can be a teacher, but so you can learn. I know how much you care about kids and I wanted to help you become better at helping them. I know you are an alicorn for a reason, but I just want to see you become the best you that you can be. I'm not planning on hiring more teachers, but I can squeeze in one more. Just give it a shot.

Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Light looked at it for a moment. They already seemed to be good on teachers, but they still wanted the autistic alicorn there. Light was still baffled at the idea that he could make a difference there. As Light got up from his seat he saw a sign that he made after he got his wings. It was a decorative piece, but the message read "Never forget why you do this". Next to it was a photo of his family.

Light gave a soft smile as he remembered the vow he made to himself. "Life isn't about me, it's about everypony else."

Light sat back down into his chair and pulled out a quill to fill out something he often dodged.

===============================================================================

That morning Light made his way through the school. He recognized most of the kids, but it did get annoying after the tenth time somebody bowed to him. As Light Heart walked up to the door to Twilight's office he could feel a knot forming in his stomach.

He sighed as he stood at the door. "I wonder how many other ponies have felt like this?"

Light slowly walked in to see Twilight once again working at her desk. She actually looked like things were running smooth that day. Light cleared his throat a bit to try to get her attention.

Twilight looked rather surprised by who she saw walk in. "Light! I didn't think I'd see you here. Please come in."

Light made his way to the desk and set his application in front of Twilight. "Hi. I just thought I'd give this to you in person. I didn't want to waste a few days waiting for the mail. Well, I think I'll let you get back to work."

As Light started to turn around he heard Twilight call out to him. "Wait! If you don't mind I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Okay?" Light said as he slowly sat down.

"I already know that a lot of ponies in this town trust you, along with several of my friends. Do you think you will be comfortable with teaching a class? I don't want to force you into this."

Light sighed. "I don't know, but I'm going to try. Who knows? I might get good at this."

Twilight quickly glanced through his file. "Well, I think the only problem we'd have is finding a class for you. I'd suggest building toys, but we already have somepony on top of that. A lot of our teachers can sub in and out because a lot of them just work part-time. Do you have an idea of what you might be able to bring that nopony else has?"

Light leaned back a bit as he tried to think about something. "Well, I do love history. A lot of ponies think it's boring, but I think it's just as cool as any fantasy book."

Twilight smiled as she pulled out 20 large books. "Alright, these should be able to help with that. Here you have the history of the nearby nations in pretty good detail. Is it alright if I have you give a lecture about Griffonstone today at three? I'll have the lecture hall ready for you."

Light looked a little scared at the large stack of books. "I don't have to have all of these studied by then, right?"

Twilight gave a nervous chuckle. "No, but I did leave a few notes in there highlighting the more important events. Just try to teach it how you feel comfortable and let the kids have fun."

Light gave a nervous chuckle as he picked up the books and started heading to the door. "You know something? I think you are putting a little too much faith in me."

Twilight shook her head. "I actually think you don't have enough faith in yourself. Don't forget who you are."

Light bit his lip as he walked out the door. "Yep, the autistic alicorn. I might be in trouble."

========================================================================

Light spent most of his time in the lecture hall studying for his class. Admittedly some of the books were a little too detailed, but he was able to get a pretty good idea of the settings and history in them. Whenever Light read something he would play it like a movie in his head. He found a rather interesting story that he figured would be interesting. As Light got his book ready and wrote down a few notes the kids started walking in.

As Light got up to the podium he heard Silverstream give an excited yell. "Wow! We get to be taught by a princess!"

Light sighed as she said that. "I think you are mistaken. First of all, I'm male. Second, becoming an alicorn isn't an automatic promotion to royalty. My name is Light Heart and I will be your history teacher. I know the others focus on Equestrian history, so I'll focus on the history of the other nations. I hope that this will give you all a better idea of the world around you and help you understand how universal friendship is."

Gallus yawned as he leaned back in his chair. "I think your whole alicorn story would be more entertaining."

Light gave a nervous chuckle as he picked up his book. "Maybe another time. Let's focus on the lesson for the day. Today we will be talking about the Griffonstone tornado incident that took place about a thousand years ago. This actually involves one of the pillars of Equestria. Now during this time, the relationship between the nations was so tense that ponies were not allowed to cross the border. The time when this takes place was during a bad tornado season. It actually leads to one of the strongest tornadoes you could ever imagine."

When Light looked up from his book he was actually shocked to see that he had quickly lost the students attention. They were either whispering to each other or just daydreaming. Nopony even noticed when he had stopped. He was worried for a moment as he looked at his bored class.

Light started whispering to himself as he tried to figure out what to do. "Okay, what am I supposed to do? They clearly don't see how cool this really is. How can I show them?"

A glimmer of light flickered in his eye as he remembered a little spell he stumbled upon. Light took his book and dropped it on the floor, sending a loud "THUD" across the room. all of the students jumped when they heard this.

Light smiled as he stood in front of the class. "I'm sorry, but I figured we should get started. I'll like to ask everybody to remain seated until the end of the show."

Without any warning, Light's horn glowed brightly as the world around them changed. The books and shelves gave away to green fields and a nearby mountainside. There were several strong storm clouds in the area.

As all of the students started wondering what happened Light spoke up. "Don't be afraid. I didn't teleport us or sent us to the past. I merely changed the perception of reality. I think the best way for you all to understand this is to see it. Take note that nothing you see is real, so you can't be hurt in any way. It's only a mental construction from my mind so I might be off on a few details. Now, who wants to see a tornado without having to worry about getting sucked in?"

Light could tell from the eager faces that it was a definite yes.

=====================================================================

Light was rather happy with how well his class actually went. The kids said that it was one of the most exciting classes they've had. Light just guessed that sometimes seeing is cooler than just reading about it. As Light was walking outside he noticed a few ponies by themselves. Normally he'd assume that they were just having fun, but he noticed that all of them stood with a somber look on their faces. Light looked concerned as he made his way over to them. He recognized them from some of Pinkie's file. He knew that it was Grass Valley, Golden Dash, and Trail Dancer.

He made himself known to them. "Hey, what's going on over here?"

Grass Lowered his head a bit when he saw Light. "Nothing."

Trail Dancer sighed. "We have had problems with some ponies with fiery tongues. Some of us have been burned by their words."

Light was a little confused by her words, but he assumed that she meant that they were being bullied. He took a deep breath before sitting down next to them. "Hey, you can't let some other ponies words get to you, otherwise a lot of ponies would get ticked by Prince Blueblood whenever he opens his mouth."

As the other two were still looking upset, Trail placed a hoof on Golden. "They brought up our pasts. They wanted us to believe that our broken pasts make us worthless. Fox is busy trying to console her sister, but we all took this pretty hard."

When she finished Golden curled up into a ball. Grass was busy crying into his hooves. Trail was trying to help them, but she really didn't know what to say. Light had seen this scene a few times and had his own mess of a life to deal with.

Light gave them a soft smile. "You know something, I don't think that there is such a thing as a worthless person. Listen, I remember when I was in the same place you were. Do you want to know who kept telling me that I was worthless?"

Golden looked up to him. "Who?"

"Me. I'm autistic and had a hard time with stuff that's supposed to be easy. I still struggle with magic to this day. Right when I was ready to completely give up on myself I became what you now see. I'm still not certain about what I'm supposed to be, but if there's one thing I know it's that you can never tell yourself that you are worthless. You are all amazing and you haven't seen it yet. Believe in yourself, and I'm certain that you all will do amazing things."

The kids smiled as Light helped them up. Grass looked curious as he asked one last question. "Are you sure that we can be something great?"

Light chuckled. "I recommend being the best you that you can be. As long as you keep growing, that's all you need to be."

The kids gave Light a hug before Trail spoke up. "We should spread this message to the others. Thank you sir. We needed your wisdom to comfort us."

Before Light could say anything they all ran back into the school. Light smiled as he watched them run off. As he started walking off Twilight was watching from a distance. She was proud of what he was able to do, but she knew that he was avoiding the teachers. She sighed as she finished writing her letter. "I'm glad that you have found a place here. If only I can help you open up to the others."

Author's Note:

And finally, I got to my own OC. This was a long wait, but all worth it. But just so you know, this isn't the end of this group. This is only the beginning. It will take a while before I'll be ready for some more chapters.

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