Yup
Friends are where you find them
Twilight Sparkle slumped down on her desk, staring blearily up at the dusty blackboard. She missed her Shiny, and her Momma and Poppa. The teacher was, she didn’t know, hard? Not soft and happy like Momma, or full of chuckles and hair tussles like Poppa. Teacher's eyes flicked around the classroom, her wings not quite tucked in, shifting like she was going to take off and burst through the ceiling with a raptorial screech.
“Class, we have made excellent progress in our reading and writing.” Teacher's frowning cheeks lifted a little. Twilight was pretty sure this was as close as she had ever seen to a smile on her face. “As such is the case, I will be assigning you all a bit of homework to help your little minds blossom further. Open your desks.”
Doing as she was bid, Twilight lifted the lid of the desk to find a thin hardbound book resting in it. Picking it up in her hooves, the slightly sticky plastic coating of the brand new novel created an unfamiliar, but not unwelcome feeling. Across the cover was the picture of a proudly posing St. Bernard dog backed by a snowy mountain range. A small barrel was attached to its collar. “Duck… Dutch… Duchess.” Twilight murmured to herself, sounding out the title. She started slightly as Teacher cleared her throat.
“Ahem, yes. This book will be your assignment. Although it may be a bit advanced, it is fairly short, and if you have too much trouble it would be understandable if you had your parents read it to you. A bed time story, if you care to consider it as such. Although it will serve as excellent practice if you read it yourself,” Teacher lifted her muzzle slightly and stared down at the class across the length of it enigmatically, “that is not the point of this assignment, and is not a strict requirement.”
Several fillies and colts eyes widened at this pronouncement. A requirement… That wasn’t strict? Unheard of. One unicorn filly toward the back of the class went so far as to utter a subdued gasp of shock. Teachers eyes darted to her, catching her with her mouth and eyes open wide. Under her piercing gaze, the filly slowly closed her mouth.
“As I was saying, you will read, or have read to you, this book. Preferably in its entirety, but as far as you get is… Fine.” Several students softly exclaimed this time. For Teacher to use such imprecise diction was flying against everything they knew about her. Teacher narrowed her eyes in annoyance as her emerald gaze swept the classroom, quelling the outbursts with her return to normalcy.
“Children, control yourselves. As today is Monday, I will be giving you until next Monday to complete your reading. A full week should be sufficient. If the books are lost or damaged, your parents will be billed and you will not be excused from this assignment.” Teacher's gaze wandered seemingly randomly toward a unicorn colt on the left side of the classroom, three rows back, who’s horn was fitfully giving off sparks as he stared intently at the book.
“That goes double for you, Flash Spark. I will literally charge your parents the price of two new books if that one is damaged. The excuse of your homework mysteriously catching on fire has run itself a bit ragged.” The orange colt gulped audibly, then carefully stowed the book back in his desk to the symphony of chuckles his classmates provided as background music. Teachers nostrils flared slightly in irritation.
“Children, do we need another lecture in the proper etiquette and comportment of schoolfoals?” A resounding NO from the mouths of every colt and filly in the class led to the slight relaxing of Teacher's eyes and a satisfied nod. “Hopefully I can now come back to the matter of your education without any more unseemly interruptions. Inside the covers of your books is a note to each of your parents explaining the assignment. On monday we will discuss the book, what you thought of it, and on Friday there will be a one page report due on it, the particulars of which will also be discussed on Monday.” Teacher surveyed the classroom, and seeing no raised hooves, turned to the blackboard.
Twilight sighed, seeing the list of conjunctive adverbs written on the board. She had mastered these some time ago, and so let her mind wander. Shiny ran past her in the fields of her mind, bucking and kicking and rolling in the grass. She joined him in his frolick, Teacher's lecture absorbed into the background. They moved from the sunny fields to the playground behind her school in her minds eye, playing out the scenes she wished she could be experiencing in reality.
Twilight shivered. The filly in her mind and her BBBFF slipped into coats and hats as they trotted into a snow-filled valley. The scent of evergreens wafted into her nose, and the trees themselves sprung into view, powdered white. “Here, Duchess!” Shiny called out, and a massive dog bounded toward them through the snow. Her coat rippled over the play of tremendous muscles in her sides and legs, plumes of snow kicked up in her wake like from the prow of a mighty ship. Twilight was in awe of the beast as she made a course for Shiny’s open forehooves. With a crash they collided, The dog bowling Shiny over and preceding to slobber him unmercifully. Twilight giggled uncontrollably as Shiny sputtered in dismay, trying unsuccessfully to push the great beast off.
“Ok, Duchess, that’s enough.” Twilight called. Duchess swung her great head up and away from Shiny’s face, strings of saliva dangling off her muzzle. Letting out a satisfied woof, she padded over to Twilight, settling down in front of her with a thud. Even with her head resting on her crossed paws, her eyes were nearly level with Twilight's.
“How are you, little Twilight?” Duchess asked, her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth.
“Hey,” Shiny called out, standing up and trying to wipe the drool off of his face, “Dogs can’t talk!” Twilight giggled, tapping the side of her head with a hoof.
“Of course they can, in here anyway.”
“Oh, well, yeah. I guess that’s true.” Shiny muttered, finally getting most of the slobber off by using his hat as a towel. Twilight poofed a dry hat onto Shiny's head, then turned back to Duchess. The dog regarded her with an almost regal look, but Twilight was sure that for a dog, the expression she was seeing was a welcoming smile.
“I’m doing well, Ms. Duchess. A little bored, but I guess that can’t be helped. Teacher has to do her best to make sure everypony in class learns everything, so, sometimes the foals that learn a little faster have to wait.” Twilight said this matter-of-factly, as it was something she’d come to terms with since the first day she stepped into a classroom. There was no undue pride in her voice. Her only inflection was a slight bit of dejection. “What are you up to today?” Twilight asked eagerly.
“Well, this and that, I suppose.” Duchess began licking her paw idly. “If you’re bored, why don’t you find out?” Rooting in the snow lightly, Duchess uncovered none other than the novel bearing her own name and image. “Reading your assignment must be less objectionable to Teacher than staring off into space. I’d get to it, before- oh, too late. See you around, little Twilight.”
Turning around, Duchess bounded off into the snow, kicking up a great cloud of it in her wake. Slowly, a familiar shape moved toward her through the cloud. Shiny, eyes wide with fear, swan dived into a mound of snow beside him and disappeared. Twilight snapped back to reality to see Teacher looming over her, glowering.
“Miss Twilight, What have I told you about paying attention in class…?”
“Eep…!”
(<>)
Twilight Velvet wandered sleepily down the upstairs hall of her home, her bleary brain homing in on the niggling sound that had awoken her. Her husband knew better than to wake her up at… She glanced at the hall clock, shuddering at what it told her.
“Two A.M. dear? Really?” Yawning mightily, Velvet trotted down the hall, only to see Night Light coming down the stairs at the end of the hall that led to his observatory. He stopped short at the sight of his wife, then walked over with a slightly concerned look on his face.
“Um, honey, have you been, well… Giggling and gasping tonight?” Velvet looked at him in consternation.
“When is the last time I’ve giggled like a schoolfoal? I thought it was you!” Night arched an eyebrow at his obviously sleep deprived wife.
“Because I giggle like a schoolfoal all the time, yes. Those upper octaves are my demesne, by birth and by right. Besides, I seem to recall a fairly outrageous bout of giggling over the society pages last week. Some faux pas by one of your old classmates at the Gala I believe?” Velvet Blushed furiously, stomping her hoof lightly.
“It was ONE TIME…” Velvet suddenly cut herself short as both ponies turned their heads toward a sound of faint giggling. Coming from the door right next to them. That led into their daughters bedroom. Their daughter that was a schoolfoal. As they both slowly saw the other come to the same conclusion, they grinned sheepishly at eachother.
“We are a couple strange ponies, huh dear?” Night said, rubbing a foreleg against the back of his head. Velvet laughed lightly, her cheeks glowing in embarrassment.
“Mhmm. Celestia help our foals with parents like us raising them.” Night chuckled.
“Well, in that spirit…” Night knocked lightly on Twilights door, opening it slowly. “Twilight? Honey, are you still awake?” He noticed a light wink out as he was opening the door, and a wild bit of rustling came to his ears as the light from the hall bathed Twilight's room in a soft glow. The filly in question was sitting up, rubbing a hoof in her eye as she sleepily looked out at her father in the doorway.
“Daddy? What time is it?” Twilight muttered wearily. Night surveyed the room, seeing nothing out of order. At least until he looked at her bed, and her herself. Walking over to Twilight's bed, he hoofed aside her pillow to better expose the flashlight that had been hastily stashed under it.
“I was wondering where this got to. Twilight, you seem to have grown overnight.” Night held out his other hoof after settling onto his haunches. Twilight pulled the book out from under herself and handed it over with a pout. “To answer your question, honey, it’s too late to be up reading o’clock. You should have been asleep hours ago. It’s six hours past your bedtime. I’m amazed you could even manage to stay up this late.”
“Well, I was going to go to bed, but… Duchess is trying to bring two full grown ponies down the mountain by herself! She’s braving the elements and the wiles of nature to save them! I have to see what happens!” Twilight seemed to grow frantic with worry as she explained Duchess’ dilemma. Her hooves flew in all directions as she gesticulated wildly. Night was pretty sure this was actually a tactical maneuver to distract him while one of her ‘flailing’ hooves grabbed the book back from him.
“None of that, now, Twilight.” Night said as he laid the book and flashlight in front of him, scooping Twilight up, settling her back into bed and tucking her in. “It’s Wednesday morning. You have the book for five more days. You can find out what happens tomorrow.” Night sighed, then looked back as his wife made her way into the room, trotting up to her daughter's bed and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
“I don’t see how you’re going to make it through class today, honey. Even if you go to sleep right now, you’ll only get four hours before you have to get ready.” Velvet looked down at her daughter with a worried look. Strangely enough, Twilight seemed to perk up at that. She leaned up out of her covers.
“Well, why don’t I just stay home tomorrow? That way I can finish my book! Besides,” Twilight muttered, “school is boring…” Night and Velvet gave each other a surprised look, before Night turned to Twilight with a look of concern.
“What do you mean, honey? You never told us you were bored at school.” Twilight looked away. She absently rubbed her hooves together for a moment, then turned back to her father.
“Well… It’s just that I learn all the things Teacher shows us the first day of the week, and then, the rest of the week is usually just going over it and making sure everypony understands. So, after the first day, I get kinda bored. But, Duchess is so exciting! She’s brave and strong and kind and nice, Just like Shiny! And she goes out into the depths of winter, and avalanches and everything. She finds the ponies and she saves them!” As Twilight began talking about Duchess, her words sped up until they were a torrent rushing from her mouth. Running out of breath, she took a huge lungful and plowed on.
“So, I thought if I finished this one tonight, I could ask Teacher if she had any more books about Duchess tomorrow…” Twilight gasped, shocking her already wide eyed and speechless parents. “Oh no! I have to go to school tomorrow! I have to ask Teacher about the books! Shoo! You’re keeping me awake!” With that, Twilight threw her blankets over her head. They then ballooned out in the direction of her parents, in what they assumed was the result of further shooing gestures. This was, of course, accompanied by exaggerated snoring sounds that would have sounded more natural coming out of an angry buffalo. Twilight's parents backed slowly out of the room, not making any sudden moves.
Closing the door gently, Night nodded in the direction of the stairs to his observatory. Velvet sighed, proceeding him. Not much chance of getting back to sleep tonight.
Trotting quietly up the stairs, Night sat down on his couch, while Velvet lay down on her back, her head in his lap. Looking up at him, she sighed again.
“Well, I suppose we should have noticed. All the signs were there. Straight A’s, but all those notes from her teacher about not paying attention… What was her teacher's name again?” Night looked down at his wife incredulously.
“Seriously, dear? Her name is Teacher.” He snickered lightly as Velvet facehoofed.
“Right, Right, how could I forget. Well, what should we do? Should we check out the gifted and talented program? Or shop around the prep schools?” Night hummed as he gently stroked his wife's mane, thinking.
“I think we should put this on the backburner for now. The Summer Sun Festival is this weekend. We don’t want to cause some sort of upheaval in Twilight's life right before that. It’s going to be the first one we can all go to as a family.” Night thought back on the strain his and his wife's disparate schedules already wrought on their family life with a sigh to match his wife's. Velvet snuggled deeper into her husband's lap, murmuring tiredly.
“Ok, honey. But we need to do something about this. This is our daughter's future…” She trailed off, her own tiredness and her husbands gentle, soothing touch pushing her back into the realm of dreams. Night smiled gently down on her, laying a kiss on her forehead and settling back into the couch.
“Of course we’ll do something about this, love. Our Twilight is an amazing filly. We have to help her go as far as she can.” He chuckled lightly. “We’ll help her right to the stars…” He muttered as he gazed up out of the open roof of his observatory to the brilliant night sky above.
(<>)
Twilight sat at her desk, barely keeping awake as the school day ground down to a close. She’d trotted into class to the sight of a particularly dour looking Teacher, and decided it might be a better idea to approach her after class. She had hoped to be as attentive as possible during class, to put Teacher in a better mood, but her late night was making that very difficult. That and the fact that Flash brought his book in today, or, the bag of ashes that used to be his book, and her prospects for an agreeable Teacher were looking grim indeed. Still, as the bell finally tolled and class was dismissed, Twilight screwed up her courage and groggily started walking up to the desk.
As Twilight walked through the aisle, her weary body dragging along, she thought this might be what it was like for Duchess. The snow of the northern mountains making forging her way up the valley difficult, and the desks… Evergreens sprung up around her, masking her goal from sight. As she slowly made progress up the chilly valley, she felt, then saw, the comforting presence of Duchess at her side. With renewed vigor, she soldiered on, cresting the valley's edge.
“Ms. Teacher?”
Teacher looked down at the tired looking filly. The beginnings of black circles seemed to be forming under her eyes. She couldn’t be sure what was going on with her, but she did remember that Twilight seemed to really be making an effort today. Looking down on the foal neutrally, she softened her normally strict tone.
“What can I do for you, Twilight?”
“Can I… Can I have another book?” The filly asked hesitantly. Teacher's gaze hardened instantly. With a sigh, she reached into her desk and pulled out a form.
“I told you, told the whole class, that any damaged books would have to be replaced by your parents. I bought those books out of my own pocket, and the school still wasn’t willing to cover replacement fees. I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to…” Teacher cut herself off as the pristine copy of Duchess that had been assigned to Twilight slid onto her desk.
“Oh, no, I would never let Duchess’ story get hurt. I just, I finished it early. I wanted to know if there were, well, more?” Teacher looked down at the little filly in shock.
“But, That book is more than one hundred and fifty pages long! It’s three grades above this classes reading level. You couldn’t possibly have finished it yet.” Teacher gave the filly a searching look, but Twilight just shrugged. “How big is Duchess?”
“Huh?” Twilight asked, a little bewildered. Teacher looked at her carefully.
“It’s a simple question, Twilight. They describe how big Duchess is in the book that you read, so, how big is she?” Twilight nodded in understanding, but put her hoof on her chin in puzzlement.
“Well, I’m not really sure.” Teacher sighed, turning away from Twilight and doing her best to keep the disappointment off her face. What a thing for a filly to lie about. “I mean, they have all these descriptions of her being as big as the mountains she protects, but she squeezed through that canyon that the bear couldn’t fit through. I guess, you meant when they said she was two hundred and forty two pounds and stood four and a half feet at the shoulder on page forty seven? But, on page one hundred and eight Jasper said she was two hundred and eighty pounds and not an ounce less. So, maybe she grew? Or just gained some weight? Or, or maybe, she’s as big as the ponies she saves need her to be! Wouldn’t that be cool!”
As Twilight rambled on, Teacher slowly turned back to the filly. She didn’t need to check. She knew that book by heart.
“You read it.” Twilight glanced up at Teacher and almost recoiled in shock.
“Teacher, you’re… You’re smiling.” Twilight was right. For the first time she could remember, Teacher was looking down at the little filly with a beatific smile on her face.
“Why don’t you smile more, Ms. Teacher? You look really pretty.” Teacher laughed. Twilight couldn’t believe it. first a smile, now a laugh.
“Are you feeling alright, Ms. Teacher? Do you need me to get the nurse?” Teacher laughed again, a riot of laughter pouring out from deep inside her. Tears came to her eyes, and wetted her cheeks as she clutched her stomach.
“You really read it all, and remembered every word of it. I, I can’t believe it.” Teacher choked the sentence out through her laughter. Twilight took a step back nervously. Maybe she really should get the nurse…
Teacher noticed Twilight's hesitance, and tried to get herself back under control. She slowly forced her laughter down, hiccuping a few times through the tears, but her smile wasn’t going anywhere.
“I’m sorry Twilight, that was very unprofessional of me. You just surprised me. I knew you were a very smart filly, But I didn’t realize you were so advanced.” Twilight, unsure what to do, smiled awkwardly and took a step back up to the desk. “Do you, umm, have your parents given you a library card?”
“What’s a library card?” Twilight asked innocently. Teacher slowly lowered her still smiling face to her desk, resting her forehead against it for a moment. when she raised her head again, the smile was strained, but still going strong.
“Twilight, I know you’re only five, but you do know what a library is, correct?” Twilight scrunched up her muzzle in annoyance.
“Hey, I’m not a baby, I’ll be six real soon. And yes, I know what a library is. It’s the building with all of the books… In it…” Teacher's smile was renewed as she watched realization dawn on Twilight's features.
“I’m sorry to say, I don’t have any more of the Duchess books, except my personal copies. But let me write you a note to your parents. I’ll tell them you expressed an interest in getting a library card, and here, this is the name of the author of the Duchess books. She writes a wonderful series of adventure novels as well that you might enjoy once you’re a little older.” Writing down the information happily, she passed the note over to Twilight, who accepted it with a poleaxed expression before dashing out of the classroom. Teacher leaned back into her chair, chuckling happily. This was why she taught. Suddenly Twilight's head poked back into the classroom.
“Thank you so much, Ms. Teacher!” Waving wildly, the little filly made her exit again. Teacher pulled out a certain form and started filling it out. It was her favorite, and at the same time most hated form. It was why she taught where she did, as opposed to any one of a dozen institutes of higher learning. As she filled in the form and wrote her notes, she muttered to herself.
“No, Twilight. Thank you…”
(<>)
Celestia sat at her desk, working her way through the seemingly endless paperwork it required to run a realm. As she neared the bottom of the formerly staggering pile with her usual efficiency, she noticed the red folder she looked forward to every week peeking out of the side. Smiling serenely, she decided to sneak a look at the treat she tried but often failed to save for her last bit of paperwork of the day.
Levitating the red folder carefully out of the pile, she opened it. She leafed through the pictures and descriptions of the many young colts and fillies, all smiling at her from out of the pages. Unconsciously organizing them as she went, her gaze fell upon a familiar seal appended to the file. Plucking it out, she started reading.
“Hmm, personal recommendation from Able Teacher… Very advanced… Needs to be challenged… Well well well. So you picked out another gem for me to polish, did you Able?” Celestia picked up her royal seal, rolled it in the inkpad, and stamped the application. Setting the form to the side so the ink could dry, Celestia put her chin in her hoof.
“Able has been there for a long time. It might be time to find a new little pony to take over the job. An important position it may be, but it wears on a pony in its limitations. It’s never been fair to pick them out only to watch them pass into some other pony's hooves. Factotum has been grumbling about retirement again. Perhaps I’ll take him up on it…”
(<>)
A cheering Twilight Sparkle rode across the snowy plain on the back of a massive dog. Beside them ran her brother, and flanking them in the air were a tan pegasus and Princess Celestia herself. As the dog ate up the ground in a smooth lope, Twilight leaned down and spoke into her ear.
“What should we do next, Duchess? We’ve already saved those llamas, and won back the sun for Celestia in that game of Go Fish.” Twilight grinned down at her shaggy companion.
“Not to put a damper on your fun, but shouldn’t you be going somewhere, little Twilight?” Duchess asked. Twilight popped off her back and into the snow, Frantically darting around and hugging everyone goodbye. “Good luck with your test, we all believe in you.” Duchess murmured as her turn came around. Twilight waved goodbye as she faded from view.
Duchess thumped down onto her haunches, the arctic wind whistling across the plain as she vigorously scratched an ear with one of her back legs. “Little Twilight, she faces a challenge. How will she fare, I wonder?”
The rising sun framing her majestic form, Celestia slowly lowered herself onto the dais of the summer sun.
“Twilight is a wonderful filly, and I’m sure my school will have no trouble seeing that. Tests were made to be passed, after all.” She indignantly muttered, stomping a hoof lightly and chuffing.
Sitting at a desk, Able teacher smiled widely as she graded homework, a massive library with more books than could be counted by the naked eye stretching off into the distance behind her.
“She’s been studying so hard, I’m sure she’ll have no trouble. She’s such a smart filly, how could she not pass with flying colors? You think so too, do you not Shining Armor?”
Shining armor sat on a swing set, idly kicking at the dirt as he regarded the empty playground around him.
“What do I think?” He muttered. “I think it’s getting crowded in here.”