> A chaotic class. > by Wonder > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > After School > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I have to what?!" Rainbow Dash sat stunned, facing principal Celestia. "It's not something you should be surprised about Miss Dash. You have been missing quite a lot of your classes after all." Celestia opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out a folder with Rainbow's name and photo on it. "It says here that you have been missing most of your biology classes. On top of that, your grades overall have begun to fall." "But isn't their another way to make up for my grades?" Vice principal Luna spoke. "Just see it as an after school project instead of a class. You could make new friends and learn a thing or two on the side." Rainbow cross her arms and sighed. "So if I do this class, I don't fail. That's it?" "Unless you fail the after school class, yes." Rainbow Dash sat at her desk in class, staring at the clock above the door. Usually she would be counting down the seconds until school ended. This time she was trying to use telekinesis to stop the clock. Rainbow narrowed her eyes, hoping to focus her will power, but the clock kept doing it's job. "-ash" Rainbow thought she saw the second hand slow down, but after a second it actually skipped five seconds. Oh come on! "Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow looked to where the voice had come from and saw that the teacher was standing right in front of her. Where did she come from? "Y-yes, Ms Punch?" "Since you obviously know everything there is to know about algebra, maybe you would like to answer the next question." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. "Uh, no thanks, I'm good." "That wasn't a question Rainbow." Berry Punch handed Rainbow a black whiteboard marker. Sighing, Rainbow took the marker and walked up to the whiteboard which was filled with math equations she could have sworn weren't there a minute ago. Rainbow stared at the board. I am so screwed. The question didn't make any sense to her. The only thing she understood from it was the part where it told her to find 'x'. Why is it always x? "We're waiting Rainbow Dash." Ms Punch sang. Rainbow couldn't figure it out. Screw it, just guess. She wrote the first thing that came into her head. "Uh, seven." She announced, sounding extremely unsure of herself. Berry looked at Dash for several seconds before speaking again. "My apologies Rainbow. It looks like you were paying attention after all." "Of course I was." Rainbow smiled. "I'm an awesome multitasker." I can't believe I got that! She tossed the marker on the teachers desk, which was when the bell finally decided to ring. Rainbow's face fell. Great, more class. While the rest of the class hurried out excitedly, Rainbow collected her stuff slowly, trying to take as long as she could without looking conspicuous. "Could you hurry Rainbow Dash. While I absolutely adore your presence, I do have a life outside of school." "Your life is in a bottle." Rainbow muttered under her breath. "What was that, Rainbow?" Ms Punch crossed her arms, somehow pulling off an intimidating look. "Just talking to myself, miss." Berry narrowed her eyes, then turned her attention to cleaning the board as Rainbow left. Berry Punch finished cleaning the board and sat down heavily at her desk. She looked around her class room to see if anymore students had stayed behind, but she was the only one in the room. Finally she was alone. She opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out a large brown bottle. "Finally, time to relax." She tilted her head back and took a large gulp. Rainbow's gait was slow, her footsteps making hardly any noise as she walked to her locker. She reached a part where the hallway split in two directions and turned left. From there it was only a short walk to her locker and already she could see someone was waiting there for her. "Hey Dashie. The girls and I are heading over to Fluttershy's place. We're just waiting for you.." The girl smiled widely. "Sorry Pinkie, can't. Principal Celestia is making me go to an afterschool class." Pinkie's grin disappeared instantly, leaving the normally happy girl looking almost statue like. "I can hang with you after class, but I really have to go to this, otherwise I'll fail school." "But, you promised." Pinkie sniffled. "We've been planning this sleepover for days." "I won't be here all night. I'll be there by six. At the worst, seven. Don't worry." "Pinkie promise." Pinkie's eyes were watering. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie jumped excitedly into the air with her grin reappearing again. Sometimes Rainbow thought Pinkie faked being sad to get people to do what she wanted. "I'll see you at seven then." Pinkie wrapped Rainbow in a hug before running off. Rainbow opened her locker and threw her books inside except a spare note book. Rainbow took a piece of paper from her pocket which had the location of her class written onto it. Your class is in room thirty seven. Not going to tell you what it is. It's a surprise. From vice principal Luna. Good luck. "Wonder what torture they have in mind for me?" Rainbow walked down the halls of the school, counting the numbers as she went. She walked around each hall twice but the number only went up to thirty six. She ran the circuit again, but there was still no room thirty seven. Was Luna pranking her? Rainbow spotted a janitor mopping the floor up ahead and ran up to him. "Excuse me, do you know where room thirty seven is?" The janitor was wearing purple overalls and had grey hair with white bleached hair on top. He was also sporting a pointy white goatee which matched his hair in an odd way. He was surprisingly young, compared to other janitors. "Room thirty seven you say? If I am not mistaken, that would be down in the basement." "The basement?" "Yes, definitely the basement. Unless they renovated the school without telling me." He stroked his goatee. "Nope, it is definitely down in the basement." "And where would that be?" Rainbow put her hand on her hip. "Such a sassy pose." The janitor chuckled. Rainbow quickly put her hands to her side in response. The janitor pointed to a door just behind Rainbow which she was certain wasn't there when she arrived. "Just through there. It's the first door on the right. Don't open the one on the left." "Thanks, I guess." Rainbow opened the door which revealed a set of well lit stairs, leading down into the school basement. The janitor whistled a familiar tune as he continued working. Rainbow walked down the steps. She turned to the door on the left and saw a door with the picture of a horse etched into it. She went to check if the door was locked but decided against it. The door gave her the creeps for some reason. Rainbow turned on the spot and took the first door on the right as she was told to. The room was a lot brighter than she was expecting it to be considering that it was underground. It looked like the class rooms above, except for the lack of windows which had been replaced with pictures of people she had never seen before. Rainbow looked up and saw that halogen lights had been built into the roof at random intervals. What she noticed the most though, was the surprising lack of desks. This was an afterschool class, so where were the desks and stuff? Rainbow looked to the front of the class and noticed a tall man busy scribbling on the blackboard, chalk dust fell to the ground as he wrote. "Hey, is this the after school class?" "Ah, finally. I thought you weren't going to show up." The teacher turned to face her. He was wearing a brown turtle neck with black vertical stripes and tan trousers. He had grey hair with white bleached hair on top. He was also sporting a pointy white goatee which matched his hair in an odd way. "Hey, I thought you were the janitor?" Rainbow just realised something. "How did you get down her before me... and when did you change?" Rainbow pointed at him. "First, it is rude to point and second, I am the janitor. Third, I was here the whole time... I think. And last of all, what's wrong with changing my attire. I think this looks rather dashing." Rainbow looked at him confused "Okay, forget that, where is the teacher, then?" Rainbow scanned the room. "I am the teacher!" He smiled, pointing to himself with a thumb. "But you may call me Mr Discord." "Ok, So what we learning?" Rainbow held up her notebook. "Let's get this over with." Discord leapt forward and snatched the book out of her hand. "Hey!?" He then threw them into a bin by the door, which she was certain, had not been there moments ago. "You won't be needing those for this class. Today we are going to be studying one of most important thing in the universe. Art!" He threw a paint brush at her, which she caught. "Nice catch." "Thanks." Rainbow crossed her arms with a smug grin on her face. "So we're studying art? I thought it would be maths or something I would be learning." "Math! Please, Miss Dash. Math is full of rules, none of which I wish to follow. The only subjects I am willing to teach are art and poetry. Now, I am only available for the next hour or so, so this will have to be a quick lesson." He brought out an easel and canvas, seemingly from nowhere. Discord grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and positioned her in front of the canvas. "Now before we get into the fun stuff, a quick tip. There are no rules when it comes to art, so just do whatever you want. Just let you body do the work and go crazy. You can even draw me if you want." He gave her a sly grin. "So I can do anything?" His hands were still on her shoulder. It felt kind of creepy. "Of course. You can paint portrait, landscape or even diagonal. Any style and any angle. Even abstract, my personal favourite." Discord took his hands off Rainbow's shoulders and brought out his own easel. Where did he get that one? Next to him was a table full of various tins, each with a different colour of paint. "Ok, this time I'm certain that wasn't there. Where the heck did the table come from?" "The table? That was always there." He stared at her with confused look in his eyes. "No it wasn't. It just appeared three seconds ago." "How do you think it got there? Because I certainly have no idea how it did." Rainbow went to speak again, but could think of a response. She instead opted to start painting. She didn't really know what to paint, but anything was better than nothing, right? Rainbow placed the brush wherever it felt right, but it was quickly starting to resemble a fish that had been tossed in a blender. She looked over to Discord's canvas and saw the outline of a person. Discord quickly rotated the easel so the painting was out of her line of sight. "You can see it when I'm done." He immediately went back to painting, his eyes darting across the canvas as he did. The rest of the class went by quickly. Rainbow zoned out as she painted, the strokes coming without thought. Her painting turned from disaster, into a myriad of colours. It looked like one of those paintings that when you stare at them a hidden picture is revealed. She was brought out of her trance when Discord tapped her on the shoulder. "Huh?" Was Rainbow's response. "I must say that is a lovely chaotic painting. I'm glad you chose to go with abstract, but it is time for me to leave, and time for you to go hang out with your friends." "Already?" Rainbow went to look at her watch, but then realised she didn't have one. "I'm afraid so. But don't worry, we still have four lessons together." Discord raised five fingers. "So what did you paint?" Rainbow went to look at his painting but Discord stood in front of the canvas before she could get a good look. All she saw was a rainbow. "It's not completely finished yet. You can see it when you finish your last lesson." He moved out of her way and the canvas was no longer there. "Was that me?" She queried, slightly concerned. Is he painting me? Okay, that's scary. "My, my. Don't we have a large ego?" He pulled open the door. "You'll just have to wait to see it, like everybody else." He left the room. Rainbow left a few seconds after, only to see the door opposite close. She could have sworn she saw the horse symbol glow for a second. This guy is weird. "Hey girls." Rainbow waved as she entered the house. "Oh, you made it." Fluttershy ran up to Rainbow Dash and hugged her. "I was worried you were going to be too busy." "I promised Pinkie I wouldn't miss this." Rainbow shrugged. Applejack walked into the foyer, followed by Pinkie Pie. "So how did the class go? Ya get into any trouble." "It was actually kind of fun. The teacher was pretty odd though." Rainbow scratched her head. Pinkie bounced up to her, completely disregarding Rainbow's personal space by pushing her face right up to the athletes. "So what did you learn? Anything cool, anything boring?" "He didn't teach me anything. We just did painting. It was really odd. I'm pretty sure he is also a wizard. He kept making things appear and disappear." Pinkie jumped away from Rainbow and began doing a handstand. "That's just ya imagination. Only Pinkie Pie can do that kind of stuff." Applejack pointed at the party girl, who responded by pulling a baby alligator out of her hair, which was impressive considering she was still in a handstand. "See? Now come on, we still have some popcorn left and Pinkie is almost done bakin' the cupcakes." "Sweet! I love Pinkie's cupcakes. What's your secret anyway?" Pinkie got back onto her feet and whispered right next to Rainbow's ear. "It's a secret." Pinkie put a lot of emphasis on 'secret'. The party girl then bounced out of room. "Pinkie is difficult enough, but a creepy wizard as well? I'm not sure I will be able to handle two people breaking the laws of physics. At least there are only four days of class left I guess. Worst thing is, I can't decide if he is creepy or cool. He is a bit random, but not too random. He also has this fun attitude towards things." "So why is he creepy?" Applejack asked. "Nothing really. That's the weirdest part. He just seems strange. Plus I think he was painting me." "Him painting a painting of you painting? Doesn't sound too odd." "I guess, but it just feels weird." "well, while you think about that, I going to eat the last of that popcorn." She walked into the living room. Rainbow sprinted after her. "Hey, you said the popcorn was mine!" > Epilogue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canterlot castle had a myriad of rooms, all with their own purpose. One in particular, in the lower floors of the castle, had a strange symbol etched into it. It looked kind of like a Minotaur, but was smaller and thinner. It was also missing horns and hooves. It was just... weird. Rainbow Dash hovered in front of the door, waiting for the chaos spirit to reappear. She considered sitting down for a bit, but she wanted to keep active so she wouldn't fall asleep. She had been awake for the last thirty seven hours waiting for him to pop his ugly head out. She had seen Discord enter the broom closet, which wasn't too weird, but when she saw a bright light from inside and the Sigil on the door glow, she knew something was up. She checked inside and he wasn't there, so she had stayed there waiting for him to come back. Rainbow grinned when she saw the Sigil on the door flash. "Got you now. Let's see what you're up to." Discord opened the door and walked out whistling. "So, that's a nice broom closet you got yourself there, isn't it." Discord didn't even bat an eyelid. The chaos spirit turned to face her calmly, wearing his usual grin. "It is a very nice room indeed. Surprisingly dirty for a room made for the purpose of cleaning. Quiet chaotic I must say. So what about you Dash? What are you up to, spying on little old me." "I not... well I am technically, but just because I know you're up to something. You're planning something, I can tell." "I am doing nothing of the sort. Just a bit of work. I do have a life, outside of making Equestria more fun." "Then why did you sneak off?" "I did not. I just walked off. No sneaking whatsoever. Besides, I have to find something to amuse myself, especially when Celestia forbids me from meddling." "You walked into a broom closet and teleported away." Rainbow deadpanned. "Seems like sneaking off to me. And what's with the symbol thing?" "You can't expect me to remember which doors lead to which realms, can you?" "Huh?" Rainbow looked at the draconequus confused. "It's complicated. Do you like art?" A question mark appeared in Discord's hand. "Hey don't change the subject. What are you planning?" Rainbow glared. "Still on that, huh? Fine, if you really must know, I was painting." "Painting on what? The castle? Some poor animal?" "You think I would use some poor defenceless animal as a canvas, how cruel do you think I am? Well, maybe I would paint on that rabbit of Fluttershy's, but other than that, no. I wouldn't use any animals as a canvas. I was actually painting you." Discord smiled, shoving a painting in her face. Rainbow recoiled in surprise. What the hay is that!? "That doesn't even look like me! The hair is close, but that doesn't even look like a pony. Doesn't even have fur!" Rainbow looked at the portrait with distaste. "It doesn't? That's odd, I thought it would transform into pony form as well. Well that's something to tell Twilight." "This is hurting my brain." Rainbow rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. "Yeah, something like this would confuse you. At least this might cheer you up." "What will cheer me-" Rainbow's sentence was cut off when she was teleported out of the room. The gala this year was going as planned and Celestia hated it. Every year was the same, excluding the year previous when Twilight and her friends had attended. But even they were behaving this year. Celestia sighed. Just a few more hours and it will be over. "Well, hello Princess. It is good to see you away from the foyer for once. It must get tiring shaking all those hooves." Fancy Pants smiled. "It does get a bit monotonous, but nothing I cannot handle." "Yes, well at least we have someponies to break the cycle this year." He pointed to Twilight, who was talking with another guest. "What are they planning this year?" "Anything would be better than this." There was a loud popping noise from above. Celestia and Fancy looked up and smiled. A few of the other guests also looked above, which caused others to look as well. Soon the whole room was staring. "Finally." They said in unison. Above them was a chandelier, which was nothing odd in itself, except for the fact that it was now a giant cupcake, with four legs sticking through the bottom and Rainbow's head poking out the top. Celestia leaned to whisper in Fancy's ear. "Let the fun begin." That was when the door to the castle garden burst open and the animals came pouring in, with a yellow pegasus following behind. "Stop running. Please love me!" Her voice echoed through the room.