Stopwatch

by N o - F a c e

Chapter 3

By the time Whirl was in school, he had a good grasp on language and how his body worked. He could read (though not yet write, with these strange, digitless yet grabby feet), and could glide and hop small distances.

His parents happily declared him a natural when it came to both. Their enthusiastic support straddled the line between obnoxious and endearing, as they waved pom-poms to his first flutter up to the kitchen countertop.

It was an odd thing: constantly being praised, and though he often got tired of it quickly, it was somewhat reassuring. It was something he hadn’t had, outside of his conjuxes. For so long, he had never been good enough (at anything except killing), and now it seemed like there was somebody wowed by him. Two somebodies, in fact. Two somebodies whom this body instinctively wanted approval from.

These thoughts were the only things that comforted him as he waited with his parents by the school gate.

He had insisted his messy hair be strung up in pigtails, longing for familiarity, and his parents had happily obliged, cooing at how cute he looked.

Whirl had gone to school before, and hated every klick of it.

Granted, this likely wouldn’t be a militaristic school, considering how soft most sentient organics were on their offspring, and he wasn’t even old enough to fly. But still, he didn’t know for sure. Whirl didn’t want any nasty surprises.

He didn’t like surprises.

“Hey, sport! Chin up! This day is gonna be a breeze for you!” His father nudged him.

When Whirl glanced up from his glare at the school, his dad was wearing an encouraging smile.

“You’re gonna do great, baby! You got this!” His mother squealed.

“...” Whirl didn’t know what to say to that.

The bell rang, and all the students began parting from their parents.

Whirl’s wings twitched nervously as he got up and made his way into the crowd of fillies and colts. It was a rainbow of unfamiliar faces and coats, disorientating him as they all trotted into the large wood and stone building that sat upon the clouds.

Pegasus foal after pegasus foal filed in after each other, through the halls, to the assembly room.

Once everyone was gathered, teachers began calling the names of the children they would lead to their classroom. It was alphabetical, so it took a while for Whirl to be called.

“Rainbow Dash! You’re with Pitter Splatter!” A blue appaloosa mare waved him over.

He fidgeted by her side as the rest of his class was called. He didn’t particularly pay attention to their names, but it seemed there was a lot of “S” ones.

Soon, a cluster of baby ponies was gathered around him and their teacher. As the very last of them were called, the teachers dispersed to their classrooms, taking their hoards of children with them.

Whirl followed reluctantly.

It seemed to take forever on these tiny legs to reach the classroom, but they reached the door and clambered in. Some of the foals took to pushing each other out of the way to get in, which their teacher admonished them for.

Whirl soon saw why: the room was filled with toys that would appeal to the dumb, tiny herbivores he was surrounded by.

Balls, blocks, toy ponies, planes, and carriages were scattered across the floor.

The only ones he took interest in were, as usual, the wind-ups.

There was also bookshelves lined with simple titles like “Bunny’s Happy Day”, and a corner of the room contained a large cabinet. Large tables with clusters of tiny chairs around them were also arranged around the room. The floor was a thick, shaggy carpet that felt odd on his hooves. Nestled in another corner of the room was some fluffy clouds, pillows, and blankets - presumably for nap time.

“Well! It’s nice to see you class! I’m Pitter Splatter!“ Their teacher said as they all looked around.

“Now, I can tell you’re all eager to play and explore, but perhaps we should first say hello?” She prompted.

“Hi!” Several ponies chirped.

“Great! Let’s introduce ourselves!” She sat down on the carpet and motioned for them to join her.

One by one, little ponies sat down in a crowd surrounding her.

Whirl plopped down as well.

“Now, I’ve already introduced myself, but now we’ve got to introduce you! I’ll call your name, and you stand up and tell us a bit about yourself, ok?” Pitter Splatter smiled.

“Coldfront!” A blue colt with icy blue hair started, but stood up quickly.

“Uhm... I’m Coldfront, and I wanna be on the snow team like my daddy.” He said awkwardly.

“Me too!” A appaloosa filly exclaimed excitedly, waving her hoof in the air.

“Shush, it’s not your turn yet.” Pitter gently reprimanded.

“Oops! Sorry!”

“Cotton Cloud!” A cotton candy blue and pink filly looked up.

“I’m Cotton, and I really like cloud watching.” She stated with a small smile.

“Ditzy Doo” A grey and blonde filly jumped.

“Oh! I’m Ditzy Doo! I really, really like muffins! They’re yummy and fun to bake! I kinda messed up mommy’s last batch, though...” She explained.

“Fluttershy!”

“...” No response.

There was silence, as the other ponies glanced around. Was she absent?

“Fluttershy dear, don’t you want to introduce yourself?” Their teacher carefully said.

A scrawny yellow filly shook her head. She gazed fearfully around her between her strands of pink hair.

“Alright, maybe later then? When you feel more comfortable? It’s alright if you don’t want to, honey. Mocking Bird!”

A dark blue colt puffed up his chest, “I’m Mocking Bird, and I like staying up late to watch comedies!” His wings, tipped black, fluttered.

“Lucky!” A acid green colt complained.

Pitter Splatter giggled, “Again, shoosh!”

“Quincy Cue!”

“I like watching movies too!” A cherry pink colt piped up. His brown hair was cropped in an androgynous style.

“Quirky Cue!”

“I’m gonna BE in movies when I grow up!” His reddish brown twin countered. Her hair was a washed out pink.

“Nuh-uh! I’LL be in movies!” Quincy said.

“Kids, you can both be in movies! Maybe even in the same one?”

“NO!” They said in unison, disgust in their voices.

“Ok, ok! Rainbow Dash!“ Their teacher interrupted.

Distracted by the amusing argument, Whirl almost didn’t catch it.

“Huh? Oh. Uh... I’m Rainbow? I... like clocks.” Whirl didn’t really know what to say to a class of four year olds that he was supposed to be the same age as.

“Snowfleck!”

The appaloosa filly from before eagerly stood up. “I’m Snowfleck and I’m gonna make it snow FOREVER!” Her grey hair flopped happily.

“Static Bend!”

“I’m Static and I like action movies and rock music!” The acid green colt stated, tossing his spikey yellow mane.

“Stormy!”

“I like reading.” A dark purple filly with grey hair covering her eyes said flatly.

“Sunny Day!”

“Weather team!” The colt that was bright yellow with a red poof of hair stated his end goal with briefness and finality.

“Swept Scent!”

“I’m Swept Scent. I like detective movies.” A seafoam green colt said calmly. His mane was a light cobalt color.

“Thunder!”

“Uh, I’m also hoping for the weather team.” The pale yellow colt shrugged. His mane was a pale blue with more vivid jagged stripes of blue through it.

“Weather Vain!”

“I’m going to be planning the weather when I grow up.” A pink filly said confidently. Her green hair had purple streaks though it.

“Windchime!”

“I’m Windchime, and I, uh... like music.” A dull green coated and grey maned colt said distractedly.

“Fluttershy dear, would you like to try again?” Their teacher put a gentle hoof across the filly’s shoulders.

Shaking, Fluttershy slowly nodded.

She didn’t stand up, but instead hunched down further.

“I’m... flfshy... I...... lk brds.....” she mumbled.

“You... like birds?” Pitter clarified.

Fluttershy nodded.

“Awesome! Great job, sweetie!”

Fluttershy gave a wobbly smile before hiding in her mane again.

Whirl watched this carefully.

Their teacher clapped her hooves together. “Now! We’re all, done with introductions, so it’s playtime now! Remember to take turns with the toys and ask before you grab or join in! Go on now!”

And with that, all the little fillies and colts scampered off to play.

Author's Note:

Not my favorite chapter *squints*