Ch. 27 - Weeks Turn Into Months
The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian
Weeks Turn Into Months
“Good morning, Miss Doo,” called out Green Grass as he trotted through the early morning market, only slightly out of breath for a change. “Any news on the first snow schedule?”
The grey mailmare landed with a backwards flap and started rooting around in her saddlebag. “I think the weather team is planning a surprise, but they’re building up quite an inventory. Got an official looking letter for you this morning.”
“Thank you kindly. Oooo, a form letter from the Princess.”
“You’ve sure been sending and receiving a lot of mail from Canterlot, Mr. Green Grass.”
“Yes, I certainly have.” He ripped open the letter and pulled it out. “I’ve got a couple old school buddies searching for tickets to this month’s premiere event in Canterlot. It’s sold out, so I’m pulling some strings, cashing in some blackmail photos, things like that.”
Unfolding the letter, he started reading with Ditzy right behind him, looking over a shoulder. “Princess’ Council on Physical Fitness⁽*⁾… randomly selected from a number of educational professionals, ha! Scheduled physical examination… Pre-paid, at least there’s that… Ten pounds! Miss Doo, do I look ten pounds overweight?”
(*) Another aftershock from what has been known as “The Cake Fiasco” in 1304 A.D. (After diet)
—
Ditzy’s blonde mane fluttered while she shook her head. “Oh, no. Probably closer to fifteen.”
* * *
“Breathe in. Now out. Now back in. Okay, you can relax.”
“Easy for you to say,” grumbled Green Grass as he shifted uncomfortably on the cold bench of the doctor’s office. “Say Doc, would you say I’m ten pounds overweight?”
“Well, that can be difficult to say,” said Dr. Stable, flipping a page over on his clipboard. “By the way, little Tootsie pruned up our evergreen bushes outside the house yesterday. They look quite nice. You can even tell they’re supposed to look like you and Miss Twilight.”
“Oops. Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. You should hear the things I got in trouble for at that age when I was looking for my cutie mark. I sent her and Glimmer off with some pruning shears. Think they may have gone over to her father’s house. He has a nice set of bushes that were looking a little ragged.”
“Very nice, doctor. But I was asking about my weight?”
“I see you’ve started an exercise program recently, that should help. Really, it’s probably a little early to be judging your results.”
“My weight?”
“As you know, earth ponies are generally a little more stocky than pegasi or even unicorns. For somepony with a sedentary lifestyle, you’re actually not that bad. Unfortunately, your family medical history⁽¹⁾ shows a tendency to the overweight side of unicorn physiology, and some minor heart disease risks which an exercise program should alleviate.”
(1) Transferred to Ponyville General by Royal Courier, for some reason.
—
“My weight?”
Doctor Stable sighed. “About ten pounds overweight, give or take. You were probably closer to fifteen. Be thankful you’re not dating Pinkie Pie, or you’d be too fat to walk by now.”
* * *
The weekly meeting of the What’s Twilight Up To Now Club⁽²⁾ had officially started when Rainbow Dash finally dropped into her chair and began gobbling up her order of Pasta Fagioli before it could cool any more. “Sorry I’m late,” she gasped between bites. “Tonight’s surprise storm is taking a lot more to organize than I thought.”
(2) It was just a weekly meeting of good friends, but Twilight had been late arriving so many times over the last month.
—
“Awwww!” cried Pinkie Pie. “You ruined the surprise! I’ve been stocking all up on hot chocolate and organic marshmallows for days! I wanted us all to get snowed in at Sugarcube Corner for a whole week so we could have nothing to do but play games and have fun!”
“Shucks, Pinkie. Don’t be sore. RD’s just tellin’ us what we all knew anyway. The whole town’s been looking forward to it. Big Mac’s got the sled out and sanded, and Apple Bloom’s little friends are talking about how fast Scootaloo is going to be able to make it go.”
“All of my little hibernating friends are snuggled away in their dens, and we’ve got a lot of nuts and seeds stockpiled,” said Fluttershy sweetly. “The rest of us plan on curling up with a nice hot cup of tea and just waiting out the storm.”
“I think our two little lovebirds are planning something along that line,” whispered Rarity, pointing at Twilight Sparkle and Green Grass walking in their direction, leaning into each other as they talked.
“…so nervous about it. Can’t I just use a script or something? It’s my first time and I want it to be perfect, but I know I’m not good enough to—”
Twilight cut Green Grass off sharply. “Stop that right now. We’ve been over it again and again, and you’ve been a very diligent student. I think you’re ready to take this important step, and if you would just admit it to yourself, you would realize it too. We can practice all you want, but eventually you have to do it for real. Oh! Hi girls! Greenie, would you care to sit in with us?”
“No, thank you. I really don’t have an appetite. If you will excuse me, ladies.” Six pairs of eyes watched the green stallion plod down the path on the way back to his wagon. Five pairs then turned to watch Twilight, who looked pained at her coltfriend’s slow pace. As in any uncomfortable pause in a conversation, the least patient member of the group was the first to break the silence.
“Greenie doesn’t look too good,” said Rainbow Dash, chasing the last noodle around in the bottom of her bowl while considering if Rarity would protest too loudly if she were just to lick it clean. “Have you two been practicing…” She trailed off, trying to think of how to translate the idea into Lingua Sparkle when Twilight perked up.
“Yes, every night! Twice some nights. It’s going to be his first time, and we want it to be perfect.”
At a loss for words, Rainbow sharply elbowed Applejack, who attempted her turn to fill in the conversational hole. “It sounds really important to the both of you, Twi. Are you sure he’s ready?”
“Ready? Of course he’s ready.” Twilight blew a breath upwards to lift a thread of unkempt mane which was trying to block her vision of the departing stallion. “We’ve studied the topic almost to death! We’ve made study guides, and detailed chronological listings of every step in the process. His performance is just about perfect.”
Having lost her conversational ability, Applejack franticly passed the bit to Rarity with a poke of the hoof. The fashionista rose to the occasion gracefully and attempted to wade into the discussion with style. “Have you considered that the dear thing may actually be not worried about himself, Twilight? After all, this may be his first time, but what about you?”
Twilight scoffed and waved a hoof in dismissal, still looking at the departing stallion. “Oh, please. I’ve been through this six times already. It just gets easier and more fun. Princess Celestia could never be there, but she was always glad to hear about it afterwards. I wonder if he would want to talk with her… no, he’s nervous enough already. I wish there were something else I could do to calm him down.”
Rarity wordlessly reached out a hoof to poke Fluttershy, who “Eep’d” almost silently and quickly poked Pinkie Pie in turn.
“I know, Twilight! We could have a part— *mumph* *mum* *mumgpht*” The remainder of Pinkie’s exuberant outburst was muffled thoroughly by four different hooves over her mouth and a group tackle.
“You’re right, Pinkie! Why are you all sitting on Pinkie Pie?” asked Twilight as she turned back to her friends. “Anyway, why don’t all of you come along, sit in the audience, and we could have a party afterwards? I’m sure he would appreciate the moral support.”
There was a faint gasp from Fluttershy as she pitched over backwards, with only the tips of four yellow hooves visible over the table. Rainbow Dash was slightly less reserved.
“Audience? You mean, like watching?”
“Why certainly. Normally a thesis is defended in front of a committee in some boring meeting room, but they always permit an audience if they’re quiet and don’t interrupt. Why when I gave my defense over the role of Sub-Etheric Feedback in Magical Decay Phenomena Relating to Quantum Age Determination⁽³⁾, there were over thirty graduate students and faculty in the audience. I had to answer questions all afternoon. It was fantastic! Certainly the History Department will not have an issue over a half-dozen or so of his good friends sitting in during his thesis defense. I’m going to go tell him, right now! He’ll be so excited!”
(3) Building mostly on Starswirl the Bearded’s work with Thaumaturgic Decay Particles.
—
Twilight happily bounded away from the table, her tail swishing from side to side and with more than a little skipping to her gait. As the rest of her friends revived Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs.
“I think that deserves a little something special from our weather team tonight, don’t you agree?”
* * *
One last flake of snow descended out of the morning sky, backlit by a magnificent sunrise that seemed to light the entire Ponyville valley into a glittering wonderland of crystalline beauty. Snow draped across each building in town in a thick⁽⁴⁾ coat that covered eves, blanketed porches, gently topped lampposts, and of course, cancelled school.
(4) Carefully within Weather Regulation 104.7b - Maximum Depth of Snowfall in Rural Areas, with one minor exception.
—
The morning light shone brightly through the wagon window, reflected by the heavy snow and amplified into a sleep-destroying, coruscating brilliance that made Green Grass pull his blanket over his head and try to get back to sleep, much to the disapproval of the blanket.
“Come on, sleepyhead. Time to get up and go out on our morning jog.”
“Don’ wana go to school. It snowed.” Green Grass tried to tunnel back under his blankets, only to have them hop up and head for the door leading out into the frostbitten wilderness. He settled for the comforter, vanishing inside with only his tail sticking out.
“Oh, come on! It’s just a little snow.” Twilight gave the door a push. Then a harder push. Finally, with a magically forced shove, she managed to get it open about an inch, only to let it close again as the snow began to filter in from the top of the door.
“Oh, Greenie,” she caroled cheerfully in a sing-song voice. “Would you peek out from under your covers and tell me how much snow is outside?”
A green nose poked out from the comforter as he peered out the window. “It’s right up to the top of my wagon, but the rest of the town looks about knee to ankle deep. Hey, how did I get up here to the windo—”
Gravity again reasserted its hold on the stallion as Twilight released her spell, wincing only slightly as he landed with a wagon-shaking ‘whump’ on the lumpy mattress.
“Thank you, dear,” said Twilight, focusing her magic again while Green Grass picked himself up from the floor. “I’ll be right back.” Magic swirled, and the wagon suddenly became much emptier with a familiar ‘pop.’
“Well, don’t forget me,” he grumbled, wrapping himself back up in the comforter and getting comfortable on the mattress. “I suppose I could find something to do.”
A few minutes later, Twilight reappeared, holding two large insulated drink containers and wearing a huge smile.
“Spike says hi. Now come on and get up. You’ve got a thesis defense to work on.”
Green Grass pulled his tail under the blanket. “Name one good reason.”
“Your house doesn’t have a bathroom.”
A green nose poked out from under the blanket. “You have my attention.”
“I’ll be more than happy to teleport us into the library.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
“Just as soon as you get your thesis defense up to my standards.”
A faint whimper escaped from under the blanket, and Green Grass peeked out pitifully. “Sadist.”
“And Spike sent you a nice, hot, frothy mug of low-fat cocoa to help you work.”
He considered the offer. “Marshmallows?”
“Three⁽⁵⁾. And no, he said to tell you the rejection of your hoof in marriage still stands.”
(5) Spike actually put in five. Guys have to stick together.
—
“I shall accede to your offer, M’Lady, but only for the fact that your immediate presence encourages your draconic friend to such feats of gastronomic excess.”
“Good!” Twilight promptly curled up around Green Grass’ back and began to arrange papers. “We have a lot to do yet this morning, but I believe you’re up to it.”
Green Grass considered his position, and wisely decided to remain silent.
Stats
Page generated in 0.016 seconds
Total duration
1,079 users online
1,641,785 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
The story just gets better and better.
This story is a warm cup of cocoa all on its own. Unlike with most shipping stories this is something I'd love to see in the show.
Does make me wonder if seeing one of their friends in a relationship might not incline some of Twilight's friends in that direction as well.
1947286
Pretty much everything you just said. This story makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside
I'm not sure if it says more about you or me that I immediately knew Twilight was talking about a thesis defense. You may be overusing the gag, or I may just be developing a better understanding of your sense of humor. Or it was an intentional use of dramatic irony.
In any case, a-freaking-dorable.
I loved that meeting of the Mane Six there. Five dirty-minded mares and an oblivious Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn for whom academic recognition will always be comparable to sex.
1947689
Somehow, I get the feeling that Twilight wasn't quite as oblivious there as she seemed.
lol @ the "surprise storm"
Huh. This chapter's footnotes start with (1) instead of (*). Mind you, it's more logical this way in my opinion. But it gave me the impression I missed a note when I saw that (1).
"with one minor exception."
I should've seen THAT coming
Rainbow Dash, you sly dog.
Hmmm, that family reunion is drawing near...
Oh, come on, Dashie. It's Twilight. You know that wasn't deliberate. Completely innocent and unintentional.