Equestria Academy

by Sigil Flare

Chapter 2

“How long does it take for you to take a shower” yelled Gear rapping his fist on the bathroom door

Scratch had been in there for roughly 30 minutes now. Dubstep was blaring from the other side of the door. When the disk-jockey had asked to go first this morning, Gear was still half asleep so had said “sure why not.” Now he was beginning to regret his decision.

“Wow bro slow your roll” said Scratch opening the bathroom door and stepping out He had on a blue t-shirt and yet again that thick green hoodie of his. He was wearing gray baggy sweatpants this time however. Those shades of his were on his face, his hair was lying flat, and he had a towel slung across his shoulders behind his head.

“You know when you asked if you could go first this morning” complained Gear as Scratch shook his hair out the rest of the way “I actually wanted to take a shower too you know?”

“Sorry roomy” said Scratch rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly “How bout this bro? I'll take mine the night before. That way you can have the mornings all to yourself. That sound fair?”

“ That's if you can remember before your out cold” mumbled Gear closing the bathroom door, leaving Scratch to do whatever it is he does in the morning. It's been a week now and Gear had been getting a little irritated with his roommate. He's so weird sometimes.

He's always playing that dubstep of his. Which Gear admitted alone wouldn't be a problem, however he always has it playing to loud. He'd lost track of how many times he had to fend off noise complaints from the rest of the dorm. Besides that he always wore that green hoodie of his. Gear hadn't seen him take it off all week, not even to go to sleep.

Gear turned the water off as he wrapped his towel around his waist. He opened the door and walked into the living room. He had about an hour till his next class and he planned on lounging around a bit, before he had to run off. On his way he took a second to look in on his roommate to make sure he hadn't just gone back to sleep again, like he usually did.

What he saw confused him for a second. There was Scratch sitting on his balcony, green hoodie still on. His bed for once was neatly made. All this was a little weird, what made it really strange was the ivory colored bra laying half hidden under the covers hanging down to the floor. Gear thought about it for a second and realize no dubstep was playing.

“Hey Scratch?” asked Gear walking into the room, taking each step cautiously “Everything alright?”

“Yeah man I'm good” replied Scratch still staring out the window “Just enjoying the morning breeze ya know?”

“Alright” said Gear shaking his head making sure this was the same dude that woke him up yesterday with a 5000 watt subwoofer “I meant why is there a bra on your bed?”

“Oh that's from my girlfriend” he replied waving his hand nonchalantly “She must have left it here last might”

“Scratch you know girls aren't allowed in the boys dorm” said Gear with a heavy sigh “Your gonna get us kicked out of here”

“Don't worry bro” said Scratch finally looking back at Gear with a toothy grin “I planned on breaking up with her today after class anyways. I got important stuff to do tonight”

“Oh yeah” thought Gear remembering a few days ago “It's Tuesday isn't it?”

“Yeah which means I need all my skills focused for tonight” said Scratch looking out the window once more “I want to live through my first encounter you know?”

“Trust me bro” said Gear with a laugh “Your not the one I'm worried about” With that he turned to leave.

He was halfway out the door when Scratch called out “Gear”

“Yeah” replied Gear turning to see the disk-jockey standing in front of him

“I'm not real good at this kinda stuff” said Scratch shifting uneasily the palms of his feet “But I wanted to thank you for putting up with me this week. I know it wasn't easy”

“Your not a bad dude Scratch” said Gear patting his roommate on the shoulder “Usually your just really loud”

“Me loud” bragged Scratch “Nah... must be someone else”

“Alright I'm gonna watch some tv before I have to get dressed and go to class you in?” asked Gear pointing to the tv in the livingroom

“Heck yeah man” said Scratch racing to the sofa “But I call remote!”

____________________________________________________________________

“Aw man of all the days for me to get lost” whined Gear wondering the halls aimlessly He read the plaques on the doors as he walked past. “I know I was going to Engineering class, but I forgot where it is”

Gear took another right when he reached the end of the corridor and ended up out front in the courtyard again. He had just walked straight through the entire building and still hadn't found what he was looking for. He was about to head for the headmaster's office to ask for directions, when a familiar voice stopped him.

“Hey there you lost?” asked Rainbow Dash walking up behind him

“Yeah you could say that” replied Gear a little embarrassed “Any idea where the Engineering room is?”

“Is that where your headed?” laughed Rainbow Dash “You know it's on the other side of the courtyard right? In the industrial wing?”

“Man I wasn't even close” said Gear begrudgingly “Well thanks for the directions” He turned to walk away but felt his shirt collar tighten

“Hey don't be running off just yet” said Rainbow one hand in the collar of his shirt “I think I'll tag along this time. Don't want you getting lost again.”

“I really appreciate it” said Gear with a friendly smile “But isn't a little much to walk me all the way there?”

“Not really” replied Rainbow with a shrug “I'm in your class now, after all”

“What?” said Gear confused “You can't just switch classes like that...”

“I traded with that girl.. what was her name again?” said Rainbow scratching her head in thought “Oh now I remember. I switched a english class with Tulip. Now I have Engineering instead”

“The Headmaster was okay with this?” asked Gear a bit skeptical

“She seemed cool with it” answered Rainbow Dash with a smile “Besides don't you think it'll be nice to have someone you know in your class?”

“Well it is my first real class...” said Gear

“Are you serious?” asked Rainbow in amazement “Is this really your first class?”

“Yeah” answered Gear “I got to goof off the last week. I guess I should have familiarizing myself with the campus grounds, huh?”

“You'll have time to do that later” said Rainbow opening the Engineering room door “come on in and grab a seat class is about to start”

Steam Gear and Rainbow Dash both took seats on the right side of the room in the middle row. As more students came in and sat down a bell rang. At the sound of the bell the doors slammed shut and a beam of metal slid across them sealing the students inside. A murmur of confusion went through the students before a loud clang was heard at the front of the room.

“What haven't any of you seen engineering before?” asked a tall bronzed skin figure holding a rather big wrench in one hand At his students confused faces he gave a laugh. “My name is Crooked Wrench. I'll be your Engineering professor for this semester”

“That's the professor” asked Rainbow with a smirk He had dark black hair trimmed into a flat top. He had on a sleeveless gray shirt and carpenter jeans, with brown work boots. His wrench was massive and had splotches of rust on it.

“I'd like to start off with a little exercise to explore everyone knowledge of engineering” said Wrench “I hope that at least one of you knows what engineering is? Anybody?”

A girl on the left side of the room raised her hand. She had long burning red hair and intense amber eyes. She was wearing a blue runners jacket, a yellow t-shirt and blue sweatpants.

“Engineering is the branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures; or to put it simply the work done by an engineer.” the girl said as if reading it straight from a text book

“I'm impressed that you could say it off the cuff that easily” said Wrench pointing her out “What's your name Miss?”

“My name is Spitfire” she replied

“Well Miss Spitfire” continued the professor “You know what the word means, but do you truly know what it is?”

“I'm afraid I don't understand professor?” asked Spitfire confused

“Is there anyone else who can help out this young lady?” asked Wrench with a cheeky grin “Any noble young lads not afraid to stick a foot in their mouth?”

Steam Gear stood up and took a deep breath before saying “It takes years to master the sheer magnitude and scale of what a well focused and imaginative engineer can create, and the skills to do it with. So I'd say that Engineering is more than just a science, it is an art. Wouldn't you agree Professor?”

“Good lord lad...” said Wrench in a well over dramatized display “I couldn't have said it better myself! Engineering is taking the fantastic creations you see in your minds eye and using all of you knowledge and skills to make it a reality. All of you could learn a thing or two from that lad over there. What's your name son?”

“The name is Steam Gear” the rusty colored lad replied with a beaming smile

“Surely to have done a speech like that you must have engineering in your blood” said Wrench curiously “Am I right?”

“Yeah my dad was an engineer” answered Gear “Taught me everything he could before he passed away 2 years ago. It's why I came here”

“Well it's good thing you did” said Wrench with a hearty laugh “I can tell your going to be the star of this class already” He froze as if he had a sudden stroke of genius before adding “Why don't you and Miss Spitfire work together for our first project? What do you say to that”

“I'm okay with it” replied Spitfire running a hand through her hair nonchalantly

“Gear's good with it too” Rainbow answered for him

“Rainbow Dash” yelled Gear in a whisper “Why did you do that?”

“Spitfire is the daughter of the Captain of the Wonderbolts” said Rainbow trying to contain her excitement “Do you know how popular you will be if you hang around with her?”

“Then it's settled” said Wrench in a commanding overtone “Everyone grab a partner. For your first assignment you must design something of your very own and display it in class on Monday next week”

The entire class burst out in a flurry of questions and outcry's. A lot of which sound like either “What?” or “That's not fair”. Wrench did nothing but stand there for a while before announcing

“This first assignment is to help me find out how many of you actual want to be in this class. Those of you who just took it to try and get an easy A, will probably not bring anything significant on Monday. Those of you who have questions come and see me. If not then class is over for today”

“That's it?” asked Rainbow Dash having to grab the desk in front of her in order to keep on her chair “We didn't even learn anything”

“Half of engineering is figuring it out yourself” replied Gear with a chuckle “My old man told me that”

“Really? Well in that case I better go grab me a nerd while I can” said Rainbow Dash jumping her desk going down a row “Have fun with Spitfire”

“So your the new student I've been hearing about” said Spitfire approaching him her arms crossed “Seems like we're partners huh?”

“Yeah” said Gear in response “You seem to know a lot about Engineering. Have you done any engineering before?”

“Not really” replied Spitfire taking a seat next to Steam Gear “I got everything I know about Engineering from textbooks. I'd say you know A lot more than me”

“Well I guess I do have more experience than you” said Gear not wanting to sound like he was bragging

“Come on lighten up” said Spitfire running a hand through her hair and giving Steam Gear a comforting smile “You already said Your dad taught you everything he knows. Besides you literally have “gear in your name. I bet your probably the biggest gear-head around here”

“Thanks...?” replied Gear wondering if that was meant to be a compliment

“Your welcome” answered Spitfire with a chuckle “I'm just trying to say, if your good at something you love, then you shouldn't be afraid to brag a little. Just don't go overboard, alright?”

“Alright” said Gear with a nod He looked around and noticed almost everyone had exited the room and the ones who were left, Rainbow Dash and her partner included, were bombarding the professor with questions He turned back to Spitfire and asked “So any ideas on what were building?”

“I've been trying to brainstorm” said Spitfire shrugging apologetically “But I keep drawing up blanks”

“Well if you give me a day or two I could come up with something” said Gear scratching his chin in thought “Short notice like this though I'm not working on anything on the moment”

“Sounds you're a tinkerer” said Spitfire making an astute observation

“I prefer to think of myself as an inventor” replied Gear smartly

“Oops” said Spitfire acting as if she was dreadfully sorry “My mistake”

“Well now I have the rest of the day off” said Gear with a sigh “This my only class today. Only I have no idea what to do. I don't feel like making up another project yet”

“Why don't you tag along with me?” asked Spitfire sincerely “This is my only class today too. I was gonna go and grab a drink down at Discordia”

“I don't know” responded Gear “I have a history with alcohol”

“What you scared a girl's going to out drink you?” challenged Spitfire standing up

“If your going to be like that” responded Gear rising to meet her challenge “I'm gonna put those words to the test. We're going to need a third wheel to be judge though”

“I think I can handle that” said Rainbow joining in on the fun “I don't drink myself but I'm always up for a little Discordia”

“Then it's on” said Spitfire leading the way out of the room “I hope you can keep up”

“I hope you don't fall behind” responded Gear already feeling victory in his grasp

“Are you really the same guy that got lost this morning?” laughed Rainbow

Comments

[shandesa]

People need to read this story. I mean really, only 13 veiws.

[Sigil Flare]

2074342 I like your support

[shandesa]

2085138
You're welcome.