Different

by Hardwired

Chapter 7: Teamwork? With him!? (Spring Seed's perspective)

Author's Note:

I'm going to try to make up lost time by posting these ASAP, well, I hope you enjoy reading this 7th chapter, magical horse lovers!

I started getting ready for school, packed my things, said goodbye to my parents and went on my way, it was a pretty long walk, around half an hour, but eventually, I got there, there was my bestie, Whipping Cream, we met in school the first day and we clicked, she ran over to me and gave me a hug.

“Heyyyyy, how you doin’?” She asked. “I’m doing pretty good, you know, it’s not the same excitement as the first day, but it’s still good,” I responded with a slight grin on my face, the bell rang so we both started heading to class, it was Twilight’s class, which in my opinion, is the most boring one.

“So, are you going to throw paper balls at that filly again?” She asked with a slight smirk on her face. “No, I only did that to get his attention, and he’s a colt,” I responded back, it seemed like the perfect way to get his attention… at the time.

We arrived and sat down, I scooted a little closer to Whipping Cream, then, the little guy arrived, I never actually asked his name, not like it mattered much. “Hi, colts and fillies!” Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically; I wonder if she was always like that. “Today, we’re doing a special activity in pairs.”

That seems to have caught everypony’s attention, even mine, except little dude, he seemed to be staring off into the window, Whipping Cream immediately says. “I put bids on Spring Seed!” I gave a small chuckle, but Twilight shook her head. “Nope, I'm picking the pairs.”

Wait… so, I couldn’t be with Whipping Cream? She was the only pony I really knew here, I can’t just be with somepony else, I’m not confident enough.”

She started assigning pairs. “Silver Song, you go with Sugar Cube, Shooting Star, pair up with Shadow Beat, and… Hardwired!” The little guy looked up. “You can go with Spring Seed.” My heart sank… with him?! B-But! I would’ve been fine with anypony else! And he didn’t seem happy either as he walked then sat down next to me, doing that weird stare thing.

Twilight finished pairing us up. “So, the task for today is to get to know each other, I picked ponies that didn’t really seem to know each other much, so now you can know all your classmates!” Hardwired took his stare off me and started moving his hoof across the floor. “Uh… what are you doing?” No answer. “Uhm, hello?” He suddenly snapped out of wherever he was and looked at me.

“I can definitely see how they can confuse you with a filly.” I gave a small chuckle, he wasn’t very fond of it, but still, silence… Twilight came over to us. “Oh, I see you’ve met Hardwired, he doesn’t really speak,” That explains a lot. “Hardwired, write down on your notebook the questions you have for her and you can answer on your notebook.” He gave a small nod before writing. “You can start.”

“Oh! Well, I guess… Uhm, where do your parents work?” He wrote a little before showing me the notebook. “My parents are Princesses!” I laughed a little. “You can’t be serious, where do your parents really work?” He wrote down. “My moms are Luna and Celestia.” No, that can’t be true, I chuckled a little before asking Twilight. “Twilight! Is lying allowed! Because I think he is!”

He seemed a bit offended, but Twilight walked over to us and said. “What did you ask Spring?” I told her. “I asked where his parents worked at and he said they were Luna and Celestia, that’s ridiculous!” Twilight chuckled. “Hardwired would never lie, they actually are.” I was flabbergasted, to say the least, his parents were the princesses? I had so many more questions, but I told him. “Your turn!”

He wrote down a small sentence. “Why do you look like that?” I told him gleefully. “I’m a kirin! I’m not a pony, it’s like a special type of pony.” He wrote down. “My moms said I’m special too!” “Yeah, but I have this antler which kind of has its own magic, it’s like a horn.” He just poked it a little, I giggled saying. “You like it?” He nodded, now my turn.

“What’s it like living in their huge castle?” He wrote a small paragraph, perfect, I wanted to know a lot about their castle, I always wanted to live in one! He finished writing “Well, it’s big, it has a lot of doors, every door is a mystery, one time there were shelves of books, another time there was a lot of food, you never know what’s behind a door, and everything is so fancy, the beds are so comfortable, the guards are nice, everything’s amazing!” He smiled, it sure did seem amazing living there.

Now it was his turn to ask. “Why did you throw paper at me?” “Oh, I just thought it was the best way to get your attention, I thought you know, I could make a new friend or something… heh.” He wrote a little. “That was rude.” Now that I think about it, it kinda was. “I guess, but now we’re good right?” He nodded.

“So… is there anything you like to do?” I asked, he wrote down on his notebook. “Well, I don’t know, I haven’t really found anything enjoyable, and I don’t really have any friends here…” Ouch, and after that cafeteria meltdown, I don’t think anypony would want to be his friends. “But the teachers are my friends!” He puts down the pen with a smile on his face. I’m pretty sure they don’t count as friends but ok.

It was Hardwired’s turn. “Do you want to be friends? I can invite you over and we can you know, have fun, and do stuff we both like.” “Yeah! I’ll be your friend.” We both looked at each other and smiled, he went over and hugged me tightly, I just smiled and patted his back.

Twilight clapped her hooves together. “Alright everypony, time’s up, now pairs will come here and explain to everypony else what they learned about their partners.” Oh, well… I was never good with talking to a crowd, I normally get really nervous, I’ll try, for Hardwired.

Pairs started coming and going, explaining all they had learned about their partners, Hardwired was just playing with his hooves, obviously distracted, but at the same time, it seemed like he was paying close attention, I guess they do say everypony has their way of learning.

“Hardwired, Spring Seed!” We both look up to Twilight. “It’s your turn!” I suddenly start getting worried, I felt a knot in my throat and butterflies in my stomach. “C-C-Could we w-wait a little?” Twilight responded. “You’re the last pair left, you can do it, come on.”

We slowly started walking up to the middle of the classroom, all other ponies sitting around in a semicircle around us, Hardwired looked at me reassuringly, and to be completely honest, it sort of made me feel better. Twilight remarked. “Since Hardwired doesn’t really want to speak, you’ll read what Hardwired wrote.”

Welp here went nothing. “Well, I-I learned Hardwired’s parents a-are actually the p-princesses…” My voice was a bit shaky but still understandable, there were murmurs in the classroom, it felt like everypony was about to burst out laughing at me, but I had to stay strong.

“They live in this g-giant castle!” I started getting a little more confident. “He said every door is a mystery, there’s a lot of rooms! And everyone has a different purpose!” All the ponies in the crowd start smiling, that’s good I guess?

“That’s great!” Twilight said with a soft, warm, smile on her face. “And what did Hardwired learn about you?” “Well, he learned what a Kirin was.” I chuckled a little bit. “Which is what I am, and well, yeah, we became friends!”

“That’s great!” Twilight exclaimed really excited for some reason. “It’s great to see that Hardwired’s making some friends.

The bell rang, so we started heading to lunch. “Remember, your homework is getting to know your pair better!” Twilight exclaimed. “Yes, ma’am!” We all responded Hardwired and I sat down on a chair.

“So, Hardwired,” I asked, he looked up to me as he took out his bag, it read. “Hopefully you have a better day today! Love – Tia and Luna.” I gave a small giggle. “Do you think you’ve had a good day?” He nodded, taking out the food in the bad, it was a small milk carton, an apple, and some pancakes.

“You know, there is some honey and maple syrup over there!” I pointed over to where they were with the rest of the condiments. He walked over there and brought both of them. He pushed the apple closer to me, he wrote down on his notebook. “Want it?” “Nah, it’s fine, I already ate at home.” Soon Whipping Cream came over to our seats. “Heyo! How you doing Spring?”

“I’m doing fine,” I responded. “Hey, why don’t you come to sit over with us?” She asked. “Oh, sure! Hardwired let-” “Nuh-uh-uh.” She quickly interrupted, “Just you and me.” “Oh, but it’s homework, plus he’s pretty chill!” I said, wondering why she didn’t want him?

“Well, he can’t come, because he doesn’t give out a good vibe.” I was starting to get miffed. “What do you mean? He’s a really nice guy! You know, if you don’t let him go, I’m staying.” Whipping Cream felt betrayed, she said. “Fine!” Before turning and walking away.

Hardwired looked at me surprised, then hugged me. “Woah, I was just doing what a friend does, she was kind of toxic from the beginning, but she was my only friend, you know, the only one that made me feel special.”

We ate lunch together, you know, he wasn’t as bad as I thought.

Comments

[Tael_Spinner]

Story is going well. You're writing skills are also improving with each chapter. Keep up the good work.