Chapter 1: Freshmen
"Twilight! Twilight!!"
Aroused from her sleep, the purple-haired girl lifted her head, exclaiming, "Oh!" The voice from outside sounded oddly familiar, but with her drowsiness, she couldn’t wake up her senses to focus and find out who. Eyes fluttering, she found her nose dipping into her cereal. "Gak!" she called in surprise, pulling back and feeling the cold milk dripping off her nose and down to her dark purple skirt, leaving very faint white stains. Twilight quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped off the liquid. "I can't believe I just fell asleep during breakfast! I thought I went to bed early last night. How-" Twilight muttered frustratedly, slightly unable to process the fact that this had just happened to her.
Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet, turned her attention to her daughter, finally noticing her odd behavior. Since she was busily washing the dishes, she was unaware that Twilight was asleep. "Oh my," she sighed. "Quickly finish your breakfast before going to school. I don't want you leaving with an empty stomach on the first day!" She turned away, scrubbing a dish with a towel. "Or on any other day, either," she added, smiling slightly.
Twilight nodded with a nervous chuckle, rubbing her nose with her fingers. The smell of milk still lingered near her.
"Twilight!!" called the same voice from earlier, this time louder. "Are you comin'?"
Twilight gasped in realization. "I forgot! Rarity was going to drive me to school today," she groaned, growing irritated about her sloppiness this morning. Normally, she wouldn’t fall asleep during breakfast or forget that her friend was driving her to school.
"You feeling okay?" Twilight’s mother asked, her concern for her daughter visible. She reached for a fresh apple and slipped into Twilight’s hands. "Eat this during the ride. It'll fill you up just a tiny bit."
Twilight threw herself off the chair and grabbed her bag, quickly glancing at her the apple in her palm. She didn't feel like bringing any food with her, so she bent over to the table, grabbed the spoon and forcefully shoved the cereal into her mouth. Slowly, Twilight chewed on the food as much as she could, placing the apple down. The girl gave her mother a thumbs up, and a rub on the belly, telling her she had enough.
She darted towards the door, sending her mom a noise through her closed mouth - her attempts of a goodbye. She swiftly flew out the door, closing it shut behind her.
"Twi-Twilight?!" called her mother, gazing at her daughter in confusion. Twilight Velvet shook her head and chuckled, moving to the window. She watched as her daughter approached the car outside, filled with other girls.
Twilight swung the car door open and saw the faces of her closest friends. Rarity and AJ were in the front, and Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike in the back.
As Twilight swallowed down the last remains of her soggy breakfast, she realized something, horror streaking through her mind. 'Oh no! I forgot to brush my teeth!' thought Twilight desperately, realizing that people might have to close their noses while she spoke. She shook her head slightly, blinking several times. Why was she so out of line today?
"Howdy Twilight!"
"Hello Twilight!"
"Heya, Twi!”
Twilight’s friends greeted eagerly, their eyes sparkling with excitement.
Her train of thought breaking from the chiming voices of her friends, Twilight spoke before quietly gasping for air, "Hi guys!" She quickly She quickly jumped into the car, squeezing in with her friends. Twilight’s bag was held tightly in her arms, nervousness causing her to tense up.
"All set?" asked Rarity, eyes glimmering as she glanced behind her seat.
"Yup!" sang the rest of the girls in delighted unison.
Rarity drove off, finally on the way to school. "Twilight, Spike, I'm going to drop you guys off first. As always, right?"
"Yeah, that'd be great," replied Twilight, though enthusiasm was lagging in her voice. Truthfully, Twilight wished she was in the same school as her best friends. Though, she was grateful that she was one of the selected few to go to the School of Arts.
AJ's gaze shortly followed Rarity's, landing on Twilight. "Hey, what took ya so long? I've been calling ya a couple times and there wasn't any answer."
"I uh, fell asleep..." Twilight lifted her hand and scratched the back of her neck, her cheeks blossoming a faint pink, "in my cereal," she added quietly.
"Hah! Seriously?! That is so unlike you!" cried Rainbow Dash, her laughter louder than the radio. Her blue wings were shuffling on her back.
Twilight blushed harder, sending her friend a sheepish grin.
After a couple moments of laughing, the vibes seemed to calm down.
As they drove, Rainbow Dash explained an activity she did during the holiday to Fluttershy, moving her hands as she spoke. Twilight heard something about it being amazing and unbelievable. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled to herself. Typical Rainbow Dash!
Rarity and AJ were slowly gossiping about some boys they met up a couple days ago - of course, Rarity had to concentrate on driving safely at the same time.
While everyone was falling into conversations, Twilight, Pinkie and Spike were sinking in their own. "So, are you excited?" asked Spike, eyes shining with curiosity.
"Excited?! Who, meee? Pff, nooo..." replied Pinkie in her usual, cheerful self. "Except...maybe A LOT!!" she squealed happily, jumping off her seat and landing her head on Rainbow's lap, facing the ceiling.
"Hey!" laughed Rainbow, throwing her hands up at Pinkie.
Fluttershy giggled sweetly, covering her mouth with her hand.
Twilight chuckled at them and nodded to Spike, "Yes. I am.." She replied. "but didn't you already ask that question a dozen times before?"
Spike shrugged, "I don't know, I guess I'm really nervous! You know I do when it's the first day of school," he said, looking up to Twilight. Of course, Spike was the youngest and therefore the smallest of the group. Surprisingly, he was 3 grades lower than the others.
Twilight nodded and rubbed her hand through Spike's fluffy green hair. "Yes, I know, Spike," she giggled. "But you shouldn't worry at all! You finally get to see your friends again."
The small boy rolled his eyes and lowered his eyelids, showing her that he was not very impressed, "Yeah, but they're not as cool as you guys. They don't laugh at any of my jokes." Spike threw his hand up in slight frustration and leaned back.
"Jokes? Jokes?! I know some jokes! Wanna hear 'em?" Asked Pinkie, pushing her words out of her mouth.
Before they could answer, Pinkie continued on without their permission, "Why did the chicken cross the road? Ooh, wait, no that's not a good one.." she mumbled, tapping her finger on the chin. She then brightened up again, her big poofy hair flying around her head. "Okay, wait!! Why did the cupcake cross the road! Do you guys know? Huh, huh? Hmmmm?" Questioned Pinkie, leaning closer to Spike and Twilight.
Spike, frightened, slightly leaned back against Twilight, pressing his shoulder against her arm; "Uh, to get to the other side?" he guessed.
Pinkie gasped and pointed her finger at him, "How did you know?! Do you know my secret?" She whispered quickly, staring wide-eyed at Spike. This time, she gasped even louder; "Did you read my diary?"
Spike viciously shook his head, "What? No!" he replied quickly, then tensed up his body in silence, "Uh.. wait, what diary?" He asked confusedly.
With narrow eyes, Pinkie replied to his question, before properly sitting on her seat again, "Nevermind." Within mere seconds, a wide smile appeared on her face again as she hummed a happy tune.
Spike switched his gaze to Twilight, giving her an unsure look.
In return, Twilight chuckled, closing her eyes in glee.
Rarity slowed down the car and stopped in front of a big school, next to a other parked cars. "First stop; School of the Arts!"
Twilight grabbed her bag, and pulled herself out, as well as Spike did. They both glanced at their school, seeing a huge banner hanging ontop of the gates.
'WELCOME TO SCHOOL STUDENTS!'
Spike sighed in irritation, unable to find any excitement within him as he thought about his school lessons that were to come, especially without Twilight not being in the same class.
Twilight turned back and waved at the other 5 girls in the car, "We'll meet you guys here after school. I don't think we're allowed to sneak off during the break to see each other anymore, after what happened last time," she commented, a small flashback of humilitation playing through her head.
"Yeah.." said Applejack nervously, remembering what happened.
Rainbow coughed, breaking the tension; "I think we should be going now. Don't wanna be late for school, right?"
Rarity nodded, "Yes, you're right," she replied, then turned to Twilight. "Anyway, have a nice day! Don't cause too much trouble, Spike!" Called the driver as she pressed her foot on the pedal. Their school wasn't very far from Twilight and Spike's. In fact, it was less than 5 minutes away – just around the corner.
Twilight smiled, watching as the white car became smaller and smaller the more it distanced from her.
"She's so beautiful," mumbled Spike, leaning against Twilight's arm once again.
She rolled her eyes as her smile turned into a grin. Spike's crush on Rarity was extremely obvious, and everyone in their friendship except Rarity knew. It's as if she was acting completely oblivious! "Come on, let's go loverboy." Twilight nudged Spike off her arm and continued to walk along the path into her school. Spike laughed, gingerly following after his friend. "Haha, loverboy.." he repeated.
After a minute of searching, Rarity found a parking spot beside the school. She parked backwards, making it an easier experience if she wanted to exit the squeeze between the cars.
"Right, let's go!"
Within seconds, the girls exited the car with their bags and books. Together, they entered the school terrain, seeing a similar looking banner hanging from the roof like the one from Twilight's school.
'WELCOME BACK, STUDENTS!'
It was pretty obvious though. Principal Celestia had a sister who was the principal of this school. They must've shared the idea.
"Yo, Dash!" Called a voice from behind, becoming louder as the owner of it jogged towards Rainbow.
Rainbow turned quickly, recognizing that voice. "Hm?"
With curiosity, her friends turned back as well. "Oh gosh.." muttered AJ as she rolled her eyes. They saw a tan girl; short grey hair, tips of her long bangs were dipped in light purple, yellow eyes, wore a thin brown leather jacket. It was Gilda. Why did it have to be her? Well, of course. She was Rainbow's rebel friend.
"Gilda!" Gasped Rainbow and jumped slightly, giving Gilda a tight squeeze.
Gilda hugged Rainbow back, leaning her head on her shoulder. She smirked at the group of friends behind her.
Fluttershy hid behind Pinkie in fright. Gilda hasn't given her any threats or anything like that, but she just felt uncomfortable being around her. In all honesty, she was just a bad person in general.
Once, she saw her mobbing a helpless middle schooler. She heard rumors saying she did it because the victim was a 'geek', and was 'bothering' her for being in her way. Whatever the reason was, Fluttershy made sure to not cross Gilda's path.
"Hi Gilda!" squealed Pinkie, hopping around Rainbow's friend. She was too optimistic to worry about being screamed at. "How are you? Were your holidays good? Huh? Huh?"
Gilda released Rainbow from her grip and glanced at Pinkie unamusedly. Since her best friend was around, she didn't want to look like a jerk, unless she wasn't there. "Uh, they were good I guess." She formed a chill smile, raising her clenched hand to fist bump Dash. It was another way of saying 'hello' between the two.
Pinkie watched their fists before she pushed herself close to Gilda's face, their noses almost touching. "Grrrr-EAT! Wanna hear about mine?"
Surprised by the sudden movement, Gilda almost fell back, feeling extremely uncomfortable. "Aha, yeah, no thanks.. a little space please?" She tried shoving Pinkie lightly off her, as a red glow appeared on her cheeks.
Applejack snorted loudly, trying her best to keep her cool and not burst into a laughing fit. She tipped her stetson hat over her face, hiding her grin.
Rarity placed her finger tips on her chin, giggling quietly behind Fluttershy, who was also smiling slightly.
Pinkie leaned back, "Okie dokie! Sorry about that!" she said simply before returning to her group of friends.
Rarity's eyes followed Pinkie. She smiled and switched her gaze to her multi-hair colored friend, "Uh, Rainbow, we're going inside. We'll see you later." With that, the rest of the girls, including Rarity herself, walked towards the school building.
Rainbow nodded and waved slowly, "Alright, see ya!" Shortly after, she plastered an apologetic smile on her face as she watched Gilda, "Sorry. You know how she is. Pinkie being Pinkie!"
Smiling nervously, Gilda pretended to understand what she meant, "Yeah, I know!" Her chuckle slowly died out, obvious to Rainbow that she was growing impatient. "Uhm, let's get inside. I heard Principal Luna will be giving a big welcoming speech in the auditorium." Gilda turned towards the building, waiting for her friend to respond.
She nodded, "Sweet, let's go," replied Rainbow, as her wings lifted her from the ground and flew after Gilda, somewhat trailing behind.
--
"...however, this year, let's try to take it a step further. I encourage you all to make a change and take action. Starting from today, let us take small steps to make our school and community an even better place to learn, work and thrive.
"Remember:
'There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.'
"Have a nice day, and see you all in class." As Principal Celestia finished up her welcome speech in which she read off a paper in front of her, the students and teachers in the audience cheered and applauded.
Twilight, sitting next to Spike, applauded excitedly and much faster than he did. She was happy to join school again and continue her studies. Compared to Twilight, Spike wasn't half as happy as she was. He would much rather lay in bed, and doze off to sleep day after day without being disturbed. His eyelids became slightly heavier by the thought. Spike yawned, stretching his arms, almost hitting the person sitting next to him. Instantly, he pulled his arms to himself, laughing nervously as he scooted closer to his purple haired friend.
Soon, the teachers and students removed themselves from their seats as they lined up to exit the auditorium.
--
Spike turned and began to jog backwards to have Twilight in his view. He waved at her, "See ya, Twi!" Not very long after, a familiar looking girl shoved her slightly. He finally noticed who it was. Spike halted and wished Twilight good luck before struggling to make his way towards his classroom in the crowded hall.
"Hey!" Grunted Twilight as she felt someone bump against her shoulder. She turned around to find an unpleasant surprise. Trixie.
The girl stopped dead in her tracks, right before entering the classroom. Looking down, she smirked, "Twilight," she said, acknowledging her presence before turning around to face her. She had recognised her voice.
Twilight felt like a huge boulder was set on her shoulders, "T-Trixie!?" she gasped, slamming her hand on her forehead. "What are you doing here?"
The same smirk was plastered on her face; "Oh, Twilight, I'm surprised you haven't heard yet! Principal Celestia has chosen the great and powerful Trixie to be in her school. How magnificent is that?" She paused, waiting for Twilight's response. She continued as she cleared her throat, "I don't suppose you're in the same classroom as moi? Room 104?" Questioned Trixie, placing her hand on her chest as she grinned slyly at her longtime enemy.
On the walls were a series of numbers. They were the numbers of every classroom in the school.
Flicking her eyes to the number on the wall, beside the door, Twilight's stomach turned and received a strange feeling. Her jaw dropped. 104. 104. 104.. You've got to be kidding me! she thought in despair as the number was printed right in front of her eyes.
Trixie's smirk seemed to lighten a bit. She raised her hand and checked her polished nails as she shifted her weight on a hip, "Judging by your hilarious expression, I'm guessing we are in the same classroom." She shrugged. "What luck for the great and powerful Trixie." Instantly, she sent Twilight a cold stare. Turning around, she nodded. "You don't know how much I am looking forward to this."
Twilight felt shivers sent down her spine. Obviously this wasn't a good sign; not for her anyway. She pushed passed Trixie and hurried herself to a free seat in the front. She let out a sigh of relief, glad that her encounter with Trixie was over. She always felt uncomfortable when she ran into her, but seeing her in the same school was a huge surprise. Twilight turned around to see Trixie's smirk fixed on her as she made her way to a seat in the far back. Within seconds, the girl with purple hair turned back to the front.
She sighed, forcing out most of the air in her lungs before taking another deep breath. She ran her hand through her hair before leaned tiredly against her chair.
This is going to be a long year.