> A Nightmareish Apprentice > by FluffyDoom > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > You're going to be late! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: You’re going to be Late! She sighed in happiness as her dream ended. In her dream she had not failed in hatching the dragon, and as soon as the dragon had hatched, she jumped on its back and flew on it. She and the dragon, who was soon named Lilly, flew over Canterlot castle, and over the everfree itself. They flew higher, and higher, all the way to the moon! Beep! Beep! Beep! The annoying noise reminded her why the fantastic dream had ended. Ugh, when would that annoying sound stop? She only wanted to sleep more after those exhausting exams… The exams had been yesterday, her first day was today! She was going to be late! Eight years old, and Twilight had passed all the exams, save for the optional one, with straight A’s. However, that gave her no excuse to lounge around in bed! “Mom!” She cried out. “Skip breakfast, I need to hurry to get back on schedule!” “Twilight Sparkle! It is only 5:45, and school starts at 7:45!” Velvet replied from downstairs. “I know, I am 15 minutes off!” She wailed and hurried to the shower. Fifteen minutes, a whole quarter of an hour! An hour was only 60 minutes. She only had two times 60 to get ready for school! She needed fifteen more minutes to make sure everything was perfect! Fretting about it, she decided she could cut her ten minute shower short by five minutes, and instead of relaxing a bit in it she went straight to shampooing and washing her mane and coat. As soon as that was done, she jumped back out to dry off as quickly as she could. Feeling confident that was well within five minutes she brushed her mane and trotted out. Fixed the schedule. Twilight grinned silly, not even bothered by the fact that her flank was still blank as she readied for her very first day of school! Oh she was so excited! “Backpack, check! Locker combo memorized, 2868, check! Checklist, list!” She squeaked with joy. “I am ready, and with 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 20 seconds to spare.” She stood still and grinned. Twilight Velvet watched her daughter with slight concern as she stood there grinning, not moving an inch. “Honey, are you um, ok?” Twilight didn't stop grinning but a small sweat appeared on her forehead. “Perfect mother! I mean, I still don’t have my cutie mark, and I am the youngest student to enter that school ever, but I am peachy!” Velvet sighed. “Honey, you will do fine. And remember, any bullies you gain are just jealous nancies!” She put a comforting hoof around the statue-like filly. “Relax, you will be fine. You will make lots of friends too I bet!” The last sentence snapped Twilight out of her body-lock. “Friends?” She growled. “I don’t need friends. Friends didn’t get me this far, and they will only slow me down now. A mentor I could get behind, but nothing less.” Velvet was taken aback by the tone of dislike in her daughter, but assumed it was just a phase. “Whatever you say, sweetums.” She sighed. The time finally came and Twilight walked to school with her mother and fathers fare-well wishes. They put a protective shield over her in case of an unlikely mugger, and sent her off. They wouldn't be there for their little girl anymore, as the school was a boarding school, and she would live there now. Twilight Sparkle walked the one mile to school all on her own, which was her request, but now she was starting to regret it. The beautiful morning sun, the quiet walk, only bird chirps to make sound. It was oddly all unnerving as she walked the streets alone, only her parents shield to protect her for a few hours. Granted, they were extraordinary unicorns with lots of power, and they were known nobles. Very few would dare to mess with their extra-smart daughter. Finally, an hour later she arrived right on time at the school. There were four main buildings. Two were wings for the girl and boy dorms, then there was the school building itself, tall and majestic. A large dome graced its top, while two spires for star-gazing saddled its sides. It was originally a palace that was owned by a noble from the three tribes times, but it had been converted into a top-notch school centuries ago. The females dorm rooms stood proudly on the right, while the male counterpart was on the left of the building. The fourth building was mainly storage. Being the genius in general that she was, Twilight would have liked to ogle more about its structure, but she really had to get going. The principle, aka Celestia herself, wanted to speak to her! Twilight couldn't comprehend why, but she hopped she wasn't already in trouble for not hatching the dragon! She entered the grand great-hall. If she went forward she would have soon found the cafeteria. To her left there was a hall that lead to all the classrooms that involved learning mainly with paper, pencil, and books. A little farther down her left she could find the spell-casting classes, and science experiments. On her right, a few wonderful white halls led to the exercise, musical, extra places. Farthest down on the right, that would be her path, was the hallway that lead to the nurse, principal offices, and counselors. She trotted to the last path, her hooves clicking lightly on the marble floor, though when she left the great-hall, she would be walking on a red carpet that snugly stayed on the marble. Equally bleach-white stone walls surrounded her, and it quickly came to her attention that despite its greatness, the school was very… Monotoned. A little yellow, but mostly white. It struck her, despite how young she was, a bit odd. Why only white? Because it was a new school year, and Twilight was early, very few ponies roamed the hall, and those that did gave her a weird look. Even though Twilight didn’t like the looks they gave her, she had to approach one as she became lost in the great school. Just because the four main hallways were split up into sensible areas, it didn't stop the school from springing other hallways on her and adding to the confusion. “Excuse me, Miss!” She squeaked out to a student, and quickly cleared her throat. She was young, and it struck her how silly she might sound to them. The earth pony mare gave her a curious look. “Yeah, youngun?” She asked. Twilight guessed that she was at least 15, which was 8 years older than her. It was kind of intimidating, but she pushed it aside. “Where could I find the principals office?” The dark brown mare with golden eyes and light brown mane laughed. “Ohohoho! Pipsqueak, you are three years too young for that. Or maybe four or five.” She continued to laugh. It didn’t take Twilight long to become red in the face. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the youngest student to attend Canterlot School for the elite and gifted ponies!” She stated. “Now please stop laughing so rudely at me, and direct me to the principle!” The mare continued to grin, despite Twilight being a bit rude herself. “You got spunk, Sparky.” “Twilight Sparkle.” “Whatever Sparky, as I was saying you got spunk. IF you really are supposed to be here, and I doubt you are, then you may want to watch your attitude around others. They aren’t as easily amused by spunky little Sparkies like I am.” “It’s Twilight Sparkle!” She huffed. “And if you won’t help me, then I will just go ask some other pony!” “Fine, you just go down this hall to the very end, turn right, and go to the end of that hall. You can find either the principal, or the vice principal there.” She relented. “If you need more directions, just find me, Chocolate Noms.” “Thankyou!” Twilight grinned, the hated squeak re-entering her voice. “Cya later Sparky, that is, if you really go here!” Chocolate called out as the blank-flank filly ran off. Twilight knew she found the correct office. Two large brown wooden doors stood before her, each one elegantly carved and standing five times her height. She gulped nervously, all her worries catching up with her. Was she really in trouble already? IF she was, would they punish her? Would they suspend her, or worse, give her an F?! What if they kicked her out of the school! “Calm down, Twilight.” She spoke to herself in a shaky voice. “That-that won’t happen!” Forcing herself to believe her own words she knocked on the heavy wooden doors. “Come in.” A cold voice cut through the wood, its words spoken with an icy purpose. Twilight struggled to open the doors physically, but with the help of her magic she succeeded. “H-h-hello.” She squeaked, her voice higher than usual. “Ah, it is the youngest student. Twilight Sparkle.” The mare greeted her. “Hello to you too, come sit.” She ordered. The mare before her had a megaphone for a cutie mark, and a light-blue unicorn horn poking up out of her white and light-blue short hairdo. Her eyes were a silvery color, and though nothing about her outer looks spoke warmth, a kind light was ignited in her eyes, and Twilight began to hear past her crystal clear and cold voice. “Greetings Twilight.” She began as the lavender mare sat down. “The princess was unable to meet you today, but I am Vice-Principal Icy Locks, or just Miss Icy Locks. I mainly run the school for her, but you can see her here from time to time. Aside from that, the main point I asked you here, is to help you understand something. “You are the youngest unicorn, no, pony, ever to enter the school. Everypony was highly impressed by you.” She praised. “Students here might be jealous though, so we have refrained from showing them your grades if they asked. They do, do that from time to time. I want to tell you, that if you ever get bullied for anything, you blank flank, your age, or even your looks, though I approve of your orderly mane, you just come down here, and tell me personally if you wish. We take the feelings of our students very seriously, and after the last serious bullying case we had here, we want to make sure it never happens again. Never.” Twilight gulped. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” Icy frowned deeply. “It was a very rare type of bullying, though any bullying here is rare from what I can gather, it got physical, and on more than one occasion. The bully was eventually dealt with by Celestia herself, and the victim wanted to quit school altogether, but we convinced him to stay long enough to graduate.” “What did she do to the bully?” Twilight asked, curious as ever. “She not only banished him from the school, she suspended him from Equestria for one whole month. He was much too young to be put in jail, but she heard he had some griffin friends he could live with. After making the proper arrangements he got to learn how harsh life is outside our fair country. Off of that grim subject though! I doubt you will be bullied here.” Icy Locks said. Twilight thought about Chocolate, who seemed like a nice pony, even if she was annoying. “I meet a pony on the way here. She only teased me, but I don’t think she meant to hurt my feelings, and she didn’t.” Miss Icy nodded. “Yes, you also shouldn’t be a tattle-tail. Learn to tell the difference between teasing and bullies.” She suggested. “Did you like this mare?” “Chocolate Nom did give me directions here, so I guess so?” Twilight answered unsure. “I don’t really know her though.” Icy Locks tapped her hooves together. “Well, I should send you to your dorm room. Do you have everything you need?” “All in my saddlebags!” Twilight grinned. “Wonderful. you go get settled, I shall have a pony fetch for with a schedule for today, and then with your permanent one.” “Oh, thank you so much!” Twilight exclaimed. “No troubles dear, even our youngest and newest students must be protected.” Icy said warmly, waving a hoof, “Now off you trot!” > Looking Around. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: Looking Around. She happily walked over to her new home until the summer, or maybe it would be all year. Some parents insisted their children staying during the summer, but Twilight couldn’t imagine her parents doing such a thing to her, ever! As she reached the building she would be sleeping and studying in she found out why it was so big, even from a distance. Its own glass dome reached to half the schools magnificent height, but this dome was made out of stronger stuff, because in it, she could see books, upon books, upon books. Ok, maybe her parents could get away with leaving her there for the summer. “Whoop!” She laughed, but managed to recompose herself as she barged into the dorm entrance room. A sign that was held in an elegant golden frame stood before her, reading. Bedrooms → Bathrooms ← Library → Lounge → She nodded her head. Simple enough, really. She began to go forward when she accidentally smashed face-first into a pony. “Omigosh I am sooo sorry!” Twilight gasped. The pony she had bumped into looked down at her. She was a bit younger than Chocolate, but not by much, Twilight guessed. Her hooves, just like a few streaks in her short hair, were a bright neon yellow. The rest of her was black, even her eyes. The cutie mark on her side was a horn with stars coming out of it. “Well hey there, Tiny.” She giggled, and not in an all-out mean way. Twilight however, looked at her crossly. “What is it with you ponies and calling me small?” “You’re just so itsy-bitsy, I guess!” The mare grinned. Twilight shuddered at that word, itsy-bitsy. “Please never call me that again.” She spoke. “I may be young, but I am no foal!” “Yes you are.” The unicorn mare ruffled her hair. “In fact, what is a little blank-flank like you doing here?” Twilight straightened her hair, glaring at the mare before her. “I am Twilight Sparkle, youngest pony to enter this school!” She was too annoyed to be proud. “Suuuuure. What are ya, five, seven?” “Eight.” Twilight huffed. The mare laughed much like Chocolate Nom did, but Twilight sensed a nastier edge to her. “Kids like you aren’t the smartest ponies. Why don’t you scamper back to your mommy? Hmm?” “No! Some stranger like you won’t tell me to do, especially a rude stranger!” “My name is Starr, there, now you know me. So go back to your mother, father, whatever it is that takes care of you and stop bothering us that really go here.” He voice grew more serious as she looked at the stubborn filly. “But I really do go here!” Twilight whined. “The filly is right, Starr, Twilight Sparkle belongs here.” A voice spoke behind her. Both mares turned their heads to see Chocolate Noms walk up. “Go away Chocolate.” Starr groaned. “Talentless earth ponies like you shouldn’t even be here!” Chocolate narrowed her eyes and stomped up to the unicorn. “Talentless earth ponies eh? The school has been cracking down on both racism and bullying, right now I could easily report you for both, with Twilight as my witness!” She snarled the last sentence. Starr growled. “Idiot, you will need more than some tiny filly to help back up your claims!” “Then she will have mine.” A voice came from nowhere. Starr however seemed to know who that voice belonged to, and a strange expression came on her face. “Nebby, stop hiding!” A grey pony seemed to materialize from no-where. “I never hide! You all are just to blind to spot me!” The new-comer was a pegasus with a grey coat and showing ribs. She had long flat hair with a few tangles in it, it was the same color as the rest of her. The only thing that could have stood out would have been her eyes if she was in a better state of health. At the moment though they looked like a mud puddle of blue and green sloppily blending into one another, with a few yellow specks thrown into the mix. From what Twilight could see on the cutie mark, was a constellation of some sort. “Oh Nebula, how could I ever ignore my own sister, especially when mom and dad told me to look after you?” Starr gave a pained grin to her sister. “You just have such a habit of blending into the background.” Nebula visibly flinched. “I don’t do that, you just always steal the spotlight.” She argued back. It was already a loss cause, anypony could see that as Starr drew herself up and laughed at the tinier pony. “Oh just fly off little sister, this isn’t your concern. Besides, you never tell anyway.” She gave a knowing wink. Nebula flinched again, not speaking a word. Chocolate sensed things flying out of hoof, and drew herself up to her full height. “Enough!” She snapped, banging her hooves on the ground. “Starr, you will apologize, or I will tell the teachers! Even if Twilight backs down, and that pegasus, I won’t!” Twilight ran to her side. “Me neither!” Starr glared at them both. “Ok, I am sorry… That you can’t handle the truth! A powerless earth pony, a useless pegasus, and a blank flank filly. Ha! You three are the funniest things to come together.” She snorted. “Well, I really must be off. Twilight, I think I will be the judge if you belong here.” She shoved her snout into the air and trotted off hastily. Chocolate stared as she left. “Why that stuck up, snobby, no offense to you Sparkie, unicorn!” She shouted. “None taken.” Twilight spoke as she glared at the direction that she left. Nebula sighed. “Well bye, good luck trying to get her in trouble.” She stated sourly and went to walk off. “Woah, woah, woah, where are you going?” Chocolate demanded. “She called you “sister”, why would any sister be mean to their kin like that?” Nebula glared. “None of your business, earth pony!” She snapped suddenly and ran off. “I swear, this school get stranger with each passing year, and the ponies stranger yet.” Chocolate muttered. Twilight was unsure of what to make of the scene. “Do we go report her now?” “No… For all my brave words, that is something you don’t report.” Chocolate sighed. “There are very few bullying cases that are reported actually, unless it gets really personal, or physical. Luckily though, it rarely gets that bad.” “That doesn’t make sense.” Twilight stated. “Why not report it now?” “Because it will only get worse. I promise I will explain it to you sometime, but hey, lets get off this topic!” Twilight willingly got off the subject of bullies, even if she was still intensely curious about it. “Ok, um, don’t you have school to go too?” She asked. “Hehe, I got the day off!” Chocolate laughed. “All thanks to you, Sparkie.” “Twilight, and why thanks to me?” “I am going to be showing you around today, now lets get you settled in. Thanks to that Starr character you were unable to put your things away, and I guess your back is starting to get tired.” She snorted. “It’s been tired for a while now. I walked here!” She exclaimed. Chocolate Noms gave her a warm smile and led her to the bedrooms. Twilight got unpacked and was told by Chocolate where to put her stuff, and to never worry about it getting stolen, for powerful protection spells had been put up. After that they went over her schedule, and what she would need. With that done they went to explore the school building. Twilight was shown her classes in order. Science, room 318, math, 440, history, room 517, lunch, magic spells, 235, writing, 690,  and study hall, library. That was only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays though. Tomorrow, which was Tuesday, and on Thursday she would have the following instead: Magical theory, room 505, magic spells, 670, study hall, library, lunch, pony type special, and S.O.S.(Study other species). The other class was a night class, Astrology. Nearly all her classes were mandatory, and next year, if she lasted that long, was when she could start to choose classes she preferred. When they had gotten done trotting around the school, Twilight was puffing and out of breath. It was around lunch time thankfully, and she knew that meant she could sit down soon. “Not used to exercise eh?” Chocolate asked. “Nuh uh.” Twilight shook her head. “I mostly read and practiced magic so I could enter this school!” The earth pony tapped her chin. “Makes more sense why you got in so early, and spending the morning with you, well, everything is adding up. You are one bright mare, Sparkie, don’t you forget that!” Twilight blushed and she looked down modestly. “Ah thanks, but surely you are smarter!” “Probably.” Chocolate gave a cheeky grin. “Now lets go grab some food! Unlike other schools I hear about, this school doesn’t have food that attacks on sight.” After going through the lunch-line they sat down at an uncrowded table. Many ponies were just getting there, but the two mares had gotten there ahead of schedule. Twilight and Chocolate both got a hay sandwich, but only Twilight got some apples on the side. “So, Sparkie-” “Twilight.” “When do you think you will get your cutie mark, and what for?” “Dunno, and dunno.” She answered. “Though, I imagine it will help with ponies not looking down on me so much.” She added bitterly. Chocolate laughed softly. “Nah, not really. If it isn’t for your age or lack of cutie mark, it might be because you got that attitude, ponies here want complacent psychophants.” She eyed Twilight. Not many ponies her age knew that word, but being Twilight, she was already a walking dictionary with a horn. “Who wants the followers?” Twilight pondered. “You met one. Starr.” Chocolate growled the name. “Lets see, another big shot around this school is Cherry Red. She is a pony known as a “prep”. You know what those mares are, right?” “Female versions of jocks, correct?” Twilight answered. “Somewhat, but most of them are insufferably cheerful, than proceed to go behind your back and start rumors. Never trust a prep, no matter how nice they are. They are not trustworthy, well, very few are, but they are so hard to find.” She sighed. “Personal experience?” Twilight asked. The sigh that belonged to Chocolate seemed so forlorn. “Hehe, sorta. More like it was the pony who guided me around here. She was some unlucky mare who took the crashcourse into school social.” Twilight flinched. “Sounds… Emotionally painful.” “Very.” Chocolate nodded wisely. “You count yourself lucky I will be here to show you around for the next year.” “How many more years do you have after this year?” Chocolate gave a happy grin. “One. I may not look it, but I am 17, and you leave this school around age 18, if you stay long enough. Due to it being the academy for the best, you don’t even have to go to college after this!” Twilight frowned. “What if I wanna go to college?” “Then the next best education, the only one higher than this school’s, is to be tutored by a princess, and only two exist. Cadance and Celestia.” Twilight giggled. “My brother is dating Cadance!” Chocolate Noms eyes went wide, and she shoved her hooves over Twilight's mouth. “Shhh!” She hissed, suddenly filled with a panicked look. She glanced around, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw no pony watching. Slowly, she removed her hooves. Twilight gave her a cross look. “What was that for!” She demanded. Chocolate returned the glare, but it quickly lightened. Smartest mare or not, Twilight was sorely missing in the social skills she should have had when entering this school. Besides, she still was a filly, and bound to not understand everything. “Listen, just, if you are telling the truth, don’t let any other pony know. They might take advantage of you, or spread nasty rumors.” “What kind of rumors?” Chocolate closed her eyes and exhaled. “Kid, remind me to get you a socialization book, k?” Continuing, “They might try to get cozy with the princess, if your brother and her really are together.” It came out as a whisper, so no pony overheard. “Or, they could spread rumors that you only got in here because they pulled strings. Lots of horrible things. Kids are mean? Ha, try teenagers competing for the brightest star that is in their future.” Twilight made an odd face of displeasure. “But… Why are they so mean? I thought Celestia taught harmonization?” Chocolate's face turned into one of amusement. “Kiddo, haven’t you learned about puberty yet? You will probably be experiencing it around the fifth year here, you being the youngest pony and all!” “Mother and father banned me from those books, saying something about adult things were in them too.” Twilight announced. Chocolate sighed once more. “The only thing you don’t know about, isn’t that just my luck? Listen, I won’t explain it all, but puberty can make ponies be very moody and mean. Not always in complete control of their emotions. “ “Why is that? All I know is that puberty makes you grow and you go through body changes. What type of changes? Is that when pegasus wings grow bigger? Is it different for the pony types? What is the general age, will I go through it sooner because I’m smarter-” Another hoof appeared on her mouth. Slowly Chocolate removed it and rubbed her temples, faking the actions of a headache coming on. “Kiddo, slow down. I won’t tell you more than what I have and don’t ask about it until you’re older.” “But I love asking questions!” She protested. “Too bad, you will only get strange looks and laughed at. The teachers won’t be much better.” She warned. At this Twilight fell into a sullen silence. She hated the fact that this pony refused to answer her questions. Questions were asked for a reason, to be answered! A pony who asked questions, not including rhetorical or sarcastic, did not know all about that subject and only wanted to learn about it! Why were questions about puberty forbidden? Ah, that would be something to look up in the Library! Finishing her lunch in silence, Twilight Sparkle quickly dusted off the crumbs and humphed loudly at Chocolate Noms when the earth pony tried to speak to her. Chocolate did not get into that school without being clever though. Grinning, she played on the one thing she knew Twilight loved, considering she asked to go their constantly since they began the tour. “Ah, well I guess we can’t go to the main library if you don’t feel like talking.” She said in a happy, yet uncaring tone. She twitched, and Chocolate pushed harder. “No, not the one in the girls dorm, but the big one in the center of the school. With three times as many books, and fifteen times as many subjects to learn about. Magical theories, math, spell casting…” She eyed the eight year old. Twilight cracked quickly in the name of knowledge. “Please please please, take me there!” She turned around and begged, her purple eyes huge. Chocolate ruffled her hair, knowing Twilight hated it. “Ah geez, how could I say no to such a face?” Ignoring the hair ruffling, Twilight squealed in joy. “Lets go, lets go, lets go!” She jumped up and tried to drag the much bigger mare from her seat. “Hehe, slow down Sparkie!” She laughed and led the way their. It was fun, spending the rest of the day in the library with a friendly pony, and despite all her words, Twilight was beginning to feel that maybe having at least one friend would be good. At least in sticky social situations it would help, and general questions about social interactions too. In a sense she was a mentor to, a mentor for her new life at the school and all things pony social. Social… She needed to look that word up again, make sure she had all of the definitions down, and she wanted them all. After all, this thing with socializing seemed so important. She had to be social, talking with other ponies was social, social situations were impossible to avoid in everyday life. Yes, it was best she learned what she could from books before learning from a pony. As she read a bit about the schools history, she saw something that really caught her eye. Racism in the school. Celestia’s school for the Elite and Gifted used to be Celestia’s school for talented unicorns. After many riots it had to be changed however, for pegasi and earth ponies often felt second-classed to unicorns, claiming they were favored by the sun monarch. So in order to show her love of all three races, she opened the school to all three races. Yet it didn’t fix everything. One unicorn house that had been attending since the creation of the school protested, and began to spread racist rumors. The earth ponies wallowed in mud to bath, and pegasi were just there to train for head butting were two common rumors amongst the socially elite unicorns. Soon enough it was stomped out, but a trace still remained. The case of 984 C.E. was the last famous case,involving two students- Riiiiiing! The bell rung for one last time during the day, signaling that classes were over unless you took a special night class. “Come on Sparkie, lets go to the dorm and relax.” “Book.” She whimpered, hugging it to her chest. “Another day. Besides, you can’t check out any books until the third day of school.” Chocolate informed her. “Why not?” Twilight demanded. “Books are the best!” “Dunno, probably so they can organize all the students first.” “I suppose that makes sense…” Twilight concluded as she put her book back on the shelf, already knowing where it belonged. One of the things that got her in the school besides her grades were her volunteer hours at the library. They were outrageous, nearly all free time was spent there and for a young foal that was impressive. This allowed her to navigate any library with the Dewy system with utter ease and practice. “So, what do you wanna do now, Sparkie?” “Twilight, and I want to go read more, but at the dorm library.” She answered with a shrug. Chocolate shrugged too. “Whatever, I guess any first day would be tiring, and reading a good book would be a nice way to end today since you are already in the reading mood.” Twilight wasn’t sure how to respond. That was always how she spent her free time, reading or studying. Well, Chocolate Noms didn’t need to know that piece of information if she wasn’t going to ask for it. True to her word the minute they got there, Twilight hit the books faster than a rabbit devouring a carrot. She couldn’t find many school history books sadly, but she did find one on mood swings and things that might cause them. Didn’t Chocolate mention mood swings in puberty? She read the book to page 122 before Chocolate had to go up there and tell her it was bed time. “But I was just getting to the good part!” She whined. “Twilight, it is nine o’ clock. I doubt your parents even let you stay up this late.” “They, uh, let me stay up however long I want!” She declared. Chocolate gave her a leveled look, a near demanding look. “Twilight, when do you usually go to bed?” She had to look down, unable to meet the steely gaze of her newfound mentor-friend. “Maybe they usually make me go to bed at eight…” With that, the earth mare picked up the book gently in her teeth and gave Twilight one last stern look. “Don’t make me be your mom, I would rather be your friend.” “O-k.” She jumped off the chair tail lagging behind. “Can I read in bed?” “No. If there is anything I have gathered from you, it is that you will read to your hearts content before sleeping, just so you can soak up any piece of knowledge.” Chocolate spoke with finality, not inviting a debate. Groaning, the filly scampered to her bunk and crawled in. “Nighty night, Chocolate!” “Sleep tight, Sparkie!” “It’s Twilight!” A mare watched from a far away place. She was not even in physical form as she gracefully roamed. Yet, a tiny cackle would have happened from the midnight cloud of magic with a mind if it could make noise. All was going to plan, ah yes. Her little plan would make sure nothing stood in her way when she returned. Only she could tell who would  thwart her, for her stars still loved her, and spoke to her alone. > The Schedule. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: The Schedule. Class was increasingly interesting, and it was nice to have a challenge for once. Her last school was insistent on teaching 2+3=5 over and over again, even when she skipped a grade. To say that she was learning something more at her brain level was joyful was an understatement. Her classes that day began with magic, and ended with the study of other species. At the end of the night, she would star gaze and map the night sky. As the day progressed she found herself loving everything from the complex magical theory to the less challenging pony type special. She resisted the urge to race to her first class of the morning, Magical theory; instead she settled for a quick-paced trot. It would challenge everything she knew about magic, and poke at all the bases for simple to complex spells. It was made to see who could dissect a spell, learn it inside and out, then cast it at top efficiency. She planned on being the very best at this class. “As it is the beginning of the school-year, and you all being novices, lets start with the most basic and simple spell, Night-Light.” A few ponies scoffed, but Twilight continued to grin and listen, notes in hoof. “Night-Light is a simple spell every unicorn knows. Can anypony tell me how you cast it?” Professor Spell Map asked. A stallion raised his hoof. Not many earth-ponies took this class unless they planned on being a doctor in the field of magical wounds. “Doesn’t it light up the area around you?” “That is what it does, Herb Crumble, not how you cast it, or a unicorn might cast it.” Twilight raised her hoof shyly. Spell Map raised an eyebrow in questioning manner, but called on the young unicorn. “Twilight Sparkle?” “You cast it by drawing on the energy every creature has inside itself, namely, magic. You then coax it out your horn and will it to appear in the form of a small light so you can light up the area.” He let a small grin form on his lips. The old teacher was surprised a small pony like her knew how to explain it, instead of saying, you just do it. Well, there was a reason she was there. “Good job, Miss Sparkle. However, you didn’t cover it all…” He began to go into a lecture that most ponies would call, dronning on. Twilight however, called it by its true and unappreciated name, a lecture. By the end of it, ponies were holding back groans and moans, with only the most attentive students sitting still. With no warning the bell rang, jolting Twilight out of her thoughts and the voice of her teacher. He hadn’t even began to wrap up class, so now he spoke in a hurried voice as the students readied to leave. “Tomorrow we check out books, but for now try to brush up on your knowledge of basic spells again! We all know how to cast them, or how a unicorn might cast them, but do you know their inner workings? Dismissed!” They rushed out of the room, Twilight easily swept along in the crowd of larger ponies. That. Class. Was. Awesome. She had to hold back inappropriate squeals of joy! It was so different from the usual stuff her school or home tutors taught. Not even advanced division matched this. Resisting the urge to skip down the white halls, she headed to her next class. A place where she gets to cast the spells. Magic spells would undoubtedly be hard, because compared to the others unicorns around her, she had less power at that age. Or so she had been told by scientists, and honestly, numbers don’t lie. The majority of ponies her age often had troubles lifting up a single broom, but she could pick up more than that, and bigger objects. So it was speculated that while she had larger amounts of magic at her she shouldn’t stress herself. Entering the next room she sat down, patiently waiting for the tardy bell to ring. She could see a young mare at the black board writing down instructions, but she couldn’t quite read them. Twilight had great eyes, never had trouble seeing in her life, however this board was out to prove her wrong. Even when she squinted she still couldn’t make out the letters. Why, she was at the front of the room, for Celestia sake! She heard a chuckle, the grey mare was laughing as she observed Twilight trying to read the words. “Oh, hun.” She said in a slight southern accent. Her fur was grey and she had dull orange hair along with dull purple eyes. “You wouldn’t be able to read those words unless you were an inch away from them.” Twilight choose not to respond. Instead, she tried to figure the problem out on her own. She suspected a trick. The words of this mare, who was probably the teacher, told her so. She cast a simple detection spell for foreign magic and found it all across the board. “You magicked it so I can’t see it.” She accused. “Bingo! Now comes the fun part.” She let out another chuckle, her dull purple eyes gleaming with humor. The teacher walked up to the front of the room as the bell rung again and the rest of her students sat down. This was an all unicorn class, while the pegasi had a flying class, and the earth ponies had an earth class. It was to help them hone their given skills of each subspecies. “Ok class, as you can see, or can’t,” She chuckled a third time. “the board is all blurry, and so are the words on it. If you can figure out how to deactivate the spell, then you can write down your homework. Oh, and a hint for all your slackers, don’t rely on your classmates to do this for you. Seeing spells are fun like that, as only one pony can see it a certain way. You have seven minutes!” The ponies in the room got to work, some horns lighting up right away while others casted passive spells. Twilight was among the smaller group who casted passive spells. It was how she figured out what was wrong with the board in the first place, she had casted a spell to find strange magic. The next one she casted was to find weaknesses in the spell. She lazily draped the spell across the board and soon enough she found the weak spots. Smirking confidently she put a magical thread on the strings of the magical spell and lit up her horn finally. She pulled the spell apart and saw the words clearly. It had only taken four or so minutes, leaving her plenty of time to copy down the words on the black board: k194jf ← password. This would undoubtedly be an interesting class. Time passed, and she found out the teacher had a wicked sense of humor, and enjoyed making her students struggle to get things done. “Now remember, keep those,” Giggle, “Important words from the blackboard near you! You will need them for tomorrow…” Riiiing! Next class already? She rushed out of the room, eager to learn more and more and more! Until she remembered what was next, making her stop short. She didn’t have a real class next, she had study hall. Continuing forward after a few angry grunts from her fellow schoolmates, she held back more noises. Mainly groans. Study hall was nice and all for reading or homework, but she had no real homework, and she still needed to get familiar with the new library. She had no idea where the best books were yet. Entering the humongous library, she went to the small gathering of ponies. They hunched themselves over a table. She chose a seat randomly, sitting near a large, bulky, blue earth pony stallion. He gave Twilight a skeptical look with his brown eyes before returning to his book. It was plain that he, like so many, was surprised by her tiny appearance. The day continued on. After study hall in the library, she had a wonderful lunch with Chocolate Noms, and went to her next class, P.T.S Pony Type Special was an interesting class for all races. In it, you learned about the history of each subspecies, their specialties, and most careers they went into. It was a fun class for Twilight, and at least in this one, ponies didn’t mind it when she asked a lot of questions. Her very last class was S.O.S. (study other species), and also incredibly knowledgable. In that class they were going to follow a similar path to P.T.S., but this one would be with other species that were allies or enemies with Equestria. Also, any up and coming species, such as the notorious Diamond Dogs. Like the class before that one, she adored it. “Heya, Sparkie.” A familiar voice greeted her. “Twilight.” She replied with slight exasperation. “My name is, Twilight.” “Spaaaaaaaarkie.” Chocolate Noms came walking up, giggling. “How was your day?” Twilight gave Chocolate a scathing look before replying, though her voice was happy. “It was amazing! I love all my classes, you have no idea how much fun they are!” She squeaked, jumping up and down. “Calm down Sparkie.” Chocolate gave a warm grin. It was nice to see Twilight so happy at her new school. For a young filly, she was handling everything surprisingly well. Perhaps it had to do with her super brain. “You ready to hit the library again? I refuse to let you fall behind on your homework already!” Twilight humphed. “I would never fall behind. I love learning too much to let it down.” “Awesome, then off we trot.” Chocolate said, steering her to the library. They entered the magnificent book-filled place a few minutes later, bags in tow. Twilight didn’t have a lot of homework because it was the first day and she was in the beginner classes, but Chocolate Noms had quite a few pieces already. Lluckily it was all easy and review. Twilight brought out her favorite dolly as they sat down, Miss Smartypants. She could never study without her, it was like eating icecream with no chocolate syrup. Chocolate gave the doll a curious glance. “Wha-er, who is that?” Chocolate asked Twilight. The tiny unicorn had just confused her once more. Twilight could act three years older than her current age, but little things like that reminded Chocolate just how young she truly was, and how it was still possible she had habits like any other young kid. “My best friend in the whole entire world, except for my big brother.” Twilight hugged the doll. “Miss Smartypants. She helps me keep focus and study, even if she isn’t very good at helping me with hard problems.” “Well, how about I help you with the hard ones, and Smartypants helps you with the easy ones?” Chocolate asked “Ok!” Twilight nodded her head eagerly. “Thanks!” Studying was suddenly made easier. Twilight’s parents were smart, but they had no idea on how to help their little savant. Chocolate however, knew  how to explain things and point out the little details. Together, they untangled the knots of their homework. Even Twilight managed to help Chocolate, when her memory failed to call up some ancient prince, Twilight knew who it was. After Twilight finished with her homework, which was to go over some beginner spells, skim over the three tribes time, and research three different Equestrian allies, she was content to sit there and wait for Chocolate to finish. Soon enough, she finished her last problem and the two mares stood up, Smartypants draped over Twilights back. “You sure you still want to go her so young?” Chocolate asked Twilight playfully. “I mean, you just saw the mountain of homework I had to go through on my first day back! You could be using the homework time as play time if you were in a regular school. Hanging out with your friends-” “I don’t need friends.” Twilight snapped suddenly. “Everypony says I need them, but I don’t. I have you, Shiny, Smartypants, and my parents.” Chocolate hesitated before speaking again. “What do you consider me, Twilight?” There was no pause when Twilight answered. “The only friend I will ever need.” She didn’t speak after that. The rest of the trip to the dorms was made in silence. It wasn’t a bad silence in Chocolate’s mind, but more of a thinking silence. Granted it was slightly thick due to Twilight’s sudden snapping and revelation that she didn’t want many friends, but it wasn’t bad. They entered the dorm room, got settled in and readied for night. It had been a busy day for Twilight. She had actually learned things, and done stuff, but now it was time for weary ponies to rest their heads everywhere. Especially Twilight, who would need her sleep for the following months. She floated about on the moon. The black cloud was ever-patient, having a 1000 years to practice the difficult skill. Weeks were seconds to her, months, half an hour. A year might pass as her week. Time was difficult where she was, but she managed to keep track in the endless void. “Yes, my pretties.” She purred to the stars. “We play with fate, but we know this game well.” A sudden explosion of insane laughter happened, but no pony as around to hear it. > The Chocolate Ending. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Twilight Sparkle, look at your butt!” “What about my butt, you sicky!” “Just look, I am not checkin out your filly flank because it makes me happy!” Twilight glared and checked her butt as she was told, only to gasp in wondrous surprise. “MY CUTIE MARK!” “DAMN RIGHT YOUR CUTIE MARK.” Suddenly, Nightmare moon flowed into the room. “Twilight Sparkle, be my apprentice.” She said, offering a hoof. “But… Why should I? You look nothing like our perfect goddess, Princess almighty Celestia.” “Damn… Ego much?” Nighty muttered to herself before turning back to Twilight. “Because I am your mother! Join me, and we can rule, as mother and daughter!” “Hmmmm, giving untold power to me, a little kid no older than ten? What could go wrong? Ok!” “Amazing, now, lets go conquer Equestria- What the heck are you doing, you cheap cheeseburger?” “Summoning all the icecream I could ever eat.” “What? No. Put it back, we got to kill my annoying sister.” “Woah, geeze, calm down.” Chocolate randomly appeared again. “No! I want to kill my sister!” “Why? Tell me how you feel.” She suddenly had a clipboard and grew a mustache and bird. “Vat was your fillyhood like? Vhy are you so angry?” “BECAUSE MOMMY NEVER LOVED ME LIKE SHE LOVED CELLY.” Nightmare Moon bawled. “Mmmhmm.” She hugged Nightmare Moon. “Shhh, it’s  ok… You can be loved now. Suddenly, Luna was in her place. “Th-thank you Chocolate. You saved the day, and all of Equestria from Eternal night. To celebrate your single-hoofed victory, I bestow upon you, alicorn powers.” Her horn lit up blue and the magic surrounded Chocolate. Minutes later Chocolate came down from the stars, now sporting a horn and wings, and several inches taller. “Oh yeah, that’s right.” She smirked. “CHOCOLATE NOMS IS BEST ALICORN!” They all cheered. The end, because this is totally the plotline of my story.