Rainbow Dash goes with Twilight Sparkle to Biology Class
While having a small chat at the library Twilight asks Rainbow Dash if she would come with her to Canterlot in the morning to attend a presentation on Biology the unicorn was already planning on seeing. After some convincing from Twilight to follow her Rainbow Dash hops on the train and heads to Canterlot for a few hours of real education.
“-And as the night sky crept behind the horizon, the new sun rose in a grand and spectacular entrance over the mountain ridge, ready to start the new day. The End.” Twilight finished the story for the baby phoenix. Peewee had been asleep for a while, but Twilight enjoyed the book too much to not finish it each time it was read.
Normally Twilight Sparkle would also fall to sleep shortly after finishing the book, but since it was only three o’clock in the afternoon, she simply wasn't going to. Though it was the bird’s last nap before bed, the only way to get him asleep was by reading a story of some kind.
She thought a few moments about their slowly growing family. First it was just Spike and herself, then came along Owlowicious, and now there is Peewee. Twilight wondered if next they would be taking in a dog, or a bear cub, or even a Manticore. At this rate, Twilight thought, she would be the owner of every species in Equestria before the end of the year.
The front door opening was barely heard all the way upstairs in her bedroom. Twilight hopped her way downstairs and was surprised to see the front door wide open, but no one in the library.
“Huh, it must have been the wind.” Twilight shrugged. She walked over and closed the door and gave it a quick look over to see if it was closing correctly, which it was.
The sound of fast hooves sprinting on the wood floor spooked the unicorn. Twilight jumped a full one hundred and eighty degrees and started looking around for whoever was there with her. Her heart beat a little faster than normal. Once again, she saw no pony at all, and Spike was out being an errand boy for Rarity, so it couldn't have been him.
“Calm down Twilight, maybe you’re just hearing things.” She tried to reassure herself that she was safe. As the unicorn stood there looking around for the slightest sign of another pony in the library, the fact she wasn't seeing anyone was making her believe that her mind was playing tricks on her.
Slowly she started to the kitchen for a glass of milk to calm her jumpy nerves. Step by step she moved closer to the door looking all around just to be extra sure she was alone. Finally, when her nerves had subsided, she reached the kitchen door. She opened it with a sigh of relief and…
“TAG!” Some pony screamed shooting out of the kitchen door faster than Twilight could keep up with. The unknown voice slammed straight into the purple mare and the two skidded against the ground almost all the way back to the front door. When Twilight opened her eyes she was slightly in understanding of it all when she saw the unknown voice was somepony she knew. “You’re it.”
“Rainbow, you scared me!” Twilight said pushing the cyan Pegasus off her.
“I know--you should have seen the look on your face.” Dash laughed holding her sides. Twilight’s face scrunched a little in annoyance at her friend’s attempt to frighten her; mostly because it succeeded. After a few seconds, though, Twilight couldn't help but think it was a pretty good scare, but she wasn't sure why Dash said “tag” since a simple “surprise” would suffice.
“Okay, you got me, but what was with the ‘tag you’re it’?” Twilight asked with a small chuckle.
“Oh, Pinkie Pie, AJ, and I've been playing the longest game of tag and I always try to surprise them when we play, so I just say ‘tag’ when I surprise any of them. Guess I just got a little carried away. Anyways, what are you doing tomorrow?” Rainbow Dash couldn't really stay on topic for very long.
“Well, I’m going up to Canterlot for a special presentation in biology. It’s on the anatomy and structure of physical bodies known in Equestria.”
“Is that even Equine?” Dash said with her head tilted to the side.
“It’s a class about what some of the creatures in Equestria are made of. And it’s being presented by an idol of mine in the field of science and I really want to go watch it.” Twilight sighed, but then she had a spark of an idea. “Hey, why don’t you come with me to Canterlot to attend it with me?”
“Uh, Twilight, it’s me Rainbow Dash. The last thing I need is a boring lecture in tieology.”
“It’s bi-ology, and besides it’ll be fun.”
“No way. I don’t want to be stuck with homework and sit around with a bunch of super egg heads for hours in a boring class.” Words like that in the science hall of Canterlot would probably get a combination of chemicals “accidentally” spilled on her mane and the colors in it would change.
“There isn't any homework. It’s a short few hour lecture, and a few experiments will be thrown in and then it’s over. Please, Rainbow Dash; I don’t have anyone else going to it that I know.”
“I don’t know.” Rainbow said folding her arms. Then of all the things Rainbow expected Twilight to do, give a lecture of education, use her magic to drag her on the train—she didn't do any of it. Instead the purple unicorn dawned the saddest of puppy dog eyes and her ears drooped as low as they physically could go and she looked like a filly whose favorite toy had just been taken away.
Something then happened to Rainbow Dash she didn't expect; she thought Twilight looked so adorable. The Pegasus’s mind actually thought Twilight’s little act was unbearably cute. So cute, in fact, Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself.
“Ugh, okay , I’ll go with you.” Instantly at the words Twilight wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, this is going to be so much fun!” She screamed excitedly. “The train leaves at ten tomorrow. I’ll come by your house and get you around nine thirty. Oh my gosh this is going to be so much fun!” She continued to claim that tomorrow would be full of fun and excitement as giddily as a foal on her birthday.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was wondering exactly what the day would be like if all it was, is a bunch of science nerds talking about what stuff in Equestria is made out of. Though Twilight said it would be fun, the two ponies had very different ideas of what “fun” is. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, though it wasn't a Pinkie promise, it was, in fact, way too late to flake out of this little arrangement of Twilight’s.
Tomorrow there was one thing Rainbow would unfortunately do; she was going to learn some biology.
The clock next to Rainbow Dash’s bed read nine twenty eight in the morning. The Pegasus had been awake for the past hour and a half, but she didn’t want to get up yet. She knew very soon, though, Twilight would trot her way over to Rainbow’s house and in a voice ever so excited, she would call up to Dash to glide down so they could be taken away on the train to the biology presentation.
Even though Rainbow was the element of loyalty and was therefore loyal to her friends and their promises, that didn’t mean she had to like them. In this case, she wished she hadn’t said yes to the unicorn’s offer to tag along.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend some time with Twilight, which recently they hadn’t been doing much of, but she wished it didn’t have to be through science. If it was science of flying really, really fast, that would be different.
She didn’t even remember anything from science class way back when she was in school, but Twilight was dragging her right back to school.
Rainbow figured she should just get up and get ready to fulfill her promise. Dash threw off the sheets and climbed her way downstairs to get a drink and a quick bite before she left. Opening her fridge she grabbed an apple and a glass of milk and plopped herself down on the couch next to Tank.
She gave him a few bites out of the apple and drank all of the milk, took Tank outside for a few minutes, and then returned to the living room. It was nine thirty now, and there was no sign of Twilight. Rainbow was still drowsy, so she closed her eyes only wanting a few more minutes of rest, but instead fell back to sleep on the couch.
Rainbow dreamed peacefully. Not a single annoying or bad thought crossed her mind. She dreamt of racing Spitfire and Soarin’ from the Wonderbolts through Ghastly gorge. The wind in her face, two of the most famous Pegasi in Equestria racing against her, and all that would be at stake in a race like that would be the complete respect of The Wonderbolts as the fastest Pegasus out there.
As the three of them flew through the gorge, one by one they would overtake one another on the corners and straight-aways through quick thinking. To Rainbow’s left was Soarin’ coming up on the inside corner, to her right was Spitfire trying to go to the outside wall and cut in sharp to bypass both of them.
Dash cut off Soarin’, and Spitfire only managed to shift herself passed Soarin’. Up ahead were several corners and then it came out to the final straight shot to the finish line. Going into the first corner Rainbow stayed in first place, but in the second she slowed down, and by the third corner both Soarin’ and Spitfire were leading the rainbow mane Pegasus by quite a distance. Victory seemed inevitable until…
FFFFFFWWWWWOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH
A massive boom echoed across the rocky gorge. A Rainbow streak shot right between the Wonderbolts leaving them confused. Looking back they saw the long lasting shockwave of a sonic rainboom behind them. The shockwave shook the canyon and rocks started falling from the top. Soarin’ and Spitfire were forced to fly above the gorge’s walls to avoid being crushed. Up ahead of them, Rainbow split the ribbon strung across the finished line. She had won the race.
She had purposefully dropped to last place just so she could do a sonic rainboom for an epic finish to the race. She swung around and skidded to a halt at the finish line. Sweat dripping off her face, her mane and tail were all frizzled from the speed she was going, and her wings were starting to ache a little.
As Soarin’ and Spitfire made their way to the finish line, the orange pony pulled something out of a small bag that was next to the finish line post. When Rainbow saw what it was, her mouth dropped to the ground.
It was a full Wonderbolt’s outfit, but it wasn’t just any outfit. The outfit had a small patch on the shoulder with a word written on it and the goggles had the same word written on the band that held them together, it was the word “Captain.”
This outfit was the one only worn by the Pegasus worthy enough to be made captain of the whole team, and that was Spitfire’s position, until now. In respect of pulling off a sonic rainboom and beating the two members in a race of pure speed and agility, she had won it and was now the new captain of the Wonderbolt’s.
“Rainbow Dash.” Spitfire said.
“Yes?” Rainbow asked still in utter shock.
“Rainbow Dash, wake up.” The orange Wonderbolt replied.
“What?”
“We’re going to miss the train! Wake up Rainbow!” Rainbow’s eyes shot wide open. Dash sprinted to the door and looked over the edge and saw Twilight standing way down below.
“Why are you so early! The train doesn’t leave for like half an hour.” The Pegasus told her loudly.
“The train leaves in two minutes!” Rainbow didn’t realize she had slept for thirty minutes. Her dream unfortunately was just that and as much as she wanted to fall back asleep and continue it, it was time to go get on the train.
A little reluctantly, Dash glided down to the unicorn and quickly Twilight pulled the Pegasus to the train station. Faster than Rainbow Dash could blink, Twilight had pulled her to the station, paid for the tickets, found their seats, and the train had already left Ponyville when she realized it was moving. It might have been the fact the Pegasus was still half asleep and so the she didn’t notice Twilight yanked Rainbow to the station at a dead sprint, and that there was only seconds to spare when they bought the tickets.
Already they were half way to the base of the mountain Canterlot was built upon. There wasn’t anyone else hardly on the train. There were a few ponies a was back but it was basically just Twilight and Dash.
“So how long is this whole…this whole…biology thingy gonna be?” Dash asked half asleep.
“Uh, well it’ll probably be about three hours and then the half hour ride back. So we’ll be done and back by two in the afternoon.” Twilight told her friend, who was an inch away from being back at Ghastly Gorge with Spitfire and Soarin’. A small snack cart came by and Dash got herself a chocolate bar and the two ponies ate it on the way to Canterlot.
“Hey, you said some idol was doing the presentation thingy, who is it?”
“His name is Professor Atlas and he has a degree in all the fields of science. He has traveled to several other towns to examine all the different species of animals there are all across the world. He’s been around for a long time and he was always someone to inspire me to learn complex science. I met him one time in Canterlot when I was really little, back then Princess Celestia had him visit the kindergarten because he always had a way of showing all the colts and fillies ways that make science fun.”
“And so this old guys gonna be doing…whatever it is he’s gonna be doing today?”
“Yes, and it’s going to be so much fun! Promise me, Rainbow, you’ll behave yourself, though, the science wing of the college we’re going to likes ponies that are on the same level as them. Sometimes though they can also just get carried away and pull pranks on any new ponies that come in.”
“What kind of pranks? What should I be looking for?”
“Well, if your coat turns a different color every five seconds then it was probably one of the science students. The same goes for if you suddenly become stuck to the floor, or if you an unnatural urge to eat your tail.”
Well now, Rainbow had a list of some creative pranks she should try to avoid. As a matter of fact, she could probably pull the same pranks on Twilight and the others when she got back. That was until her science friend told her about the other, not-so-carefree pranks they pull on ponies. One time some pony changed from a Pegasus to an earth pony and stayed like that for two whole weeks without his ability of flight, however, the reason that lasted so long was because the stallion responsible made the potion too strong. It should’ve only lasted about an hour or two, so it shows how sometimes they can get carried away.
Finally the train arrived at the station in Canterlot. It was a small hike from the train to the grounds of the collage. The walk seemed a little longer then it should’ve because though they had been to Canterlot before, Twilight gave Dash a partial tour. She pointed out the tree where she learned about Nightmare Moon all that time ago and the Library she learned about the Elements of Harmony.
It was kind of a fun journey to see how the simple reading of a book brought them all together to become not only the protectors of Equestria, but also close friends.
Up ahead was the entrance to the science wing of the collage. This was Dash’s last chance to turn back on the excuse she left the door open or that Tank didn’t have any food. Any chance of avoiding the awaiting lecture stopped when she stepped through the door. Rainbow Dash would’ve normally dropped out at a moment’s chance, but instead she kept true to what she had promised her friend, and when they reached the door, she stepped through it.
Passing the door to the science wing, Rainbow Dash was astonished at the gleaming shine everything here had. She thought the royal castle was the cleanest place in Equestria for the longest time, but now it seems the adolescence of the science wing took extreme pride in the idea of seeing your reflection everywhere, even on the garbage cans.
The halls were long with a silver tile floor, the lockers were large, thin blue ones that lined the walls and were spaced out the whole length of the wing. The remaining spots of nothing on the walls were reserved for motivational science posters, science jokes, and the schools science trophies. Most if not all of which, were gold. Twilight didn’t seem as impressed her friend and it was due to the fact she had been here before, as a matter of fact next to the library, this was her favorite place to come when she was bored before she moved to Ponyville.
The ponies were mildly chatting about the day’s events so far, and all had the same attire. White lab coats with red ties and pens and pencils in their pockets. There was sign in front of Twilight that pointed them to the room at the other of the hall upstairs for the presentation. They didn’t have a lot of time so they started walking down the long hallway.
Again just like walking through Canterlot, Twilight gave a tour of the collage and its history. How it was built in the name of Star Swirl the Bearded, how they were the running science fair champions for the seventeenth year running, and how the colt’s room was rebuilt three times thanks the pranks that went a little overboard.
“Speaking of which,” Twilight said. “I need to use the mare’s room. I’ll be out in a minute, don’t get into any trouble.” The unicorn was feeling natures call and trotted into the restroom leaving Dash outside. The Pegasus stood outside the door waiting for her friend. Dash looked around at all there was of the science wing.
“Hey, Rainbow Pegasus.” Someone to her left called. Dash looked over and saw two stallions with a small box of crackers. One was Black mane and grey bodied wearing a black t-shirt, the other was red and blue mixed in the mane and scarlet for the body and he had a saddle bag, for some reason full of lemons. “Where are you from?” The grey one asked.
“I’m from Ponyville.” The cyan mare replied. While the grey one seemed a little shady, the scarlet one reminded her of Pinkie Pie. That stallion was grinning wide and couldn’t help but giggle about something, just like the party pony of Ponyville.
“Yeek, that’s a long trip. Would you like a cracker or two?” The red and blue stallion offered her a box full of some animal shaped crackers. The smelled like graham crackers and Rainbow’s stomach couldn’t help herself. Dash reached into the box and grabbed a cracker shaped like a walrus.
“Thanks.” And she tossed it into the air. Twilight came out of the bathroom and saw the shady stallions. She knew something bad was about to happen. The cracker landed in Dash's mouth, and she began to chew it.
“No Rainbow Don’t-“ Right as she tried to stop Rainbow, the Pegasus swallowed the cracker. “-eat the cracker.” Twilight finished.
Already the stallions were laughing their flanks off, and Dash couldn’t tell why. She reached for another cracker and then she found out why Twilight tried to stop her.
Her flank dropped to the floor with quite a weight. Her back legs widened and flattened before connecting together. Her front half grew large and her head became very wide. Her face scrunched into a different shape, her incisors lengthened by a foot, and her front legs turned into flippers. Rainbow Dash soon became a large, cyan blue, rainbow colored mane…walrus.
The two stallions had never laughed as hard in their entire laughs. Dash was twice the size of Twilight and was still confused as to what she had just transformed into.
“What happened Twilight? What happened to me? Can you fix it?” Rainbow said, however, no one understood her. Not only did it turn her into a walrus on the outside, but it replaced her voice with the typical moans and groans of a real walrus. Whenever she talked, she made loud dense and annoying sounds that only made the pranksters laugh even harder than they already were.
“Party Bash, Reinert, give Dash the pony cracker right now.” Twilight ordered them. Both tricksters recognized the voice they were ordered by and their laughter ceased when the saw Dash’s companion.
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!?” They shouted shocked at her presence. Suddenly their mood change from this was the funniest thing ever, to we’re screwed. “We’re so sorry Twilight, please don’t prank us, we’re sorry, here take the cracker, please just don’t prank us.” The two pleaded in pure terror. Twilight grabbed the box from them and found the one shaped like a pony.
“Here Rainbow, eat this one. This’ll fix you up.” The unicorn tossed it up to Rainbow’s mouth. She caught it and ate it as quickly as possible. Rainbow’s body shook a little and she shrank back to her original size in a second and the rest of her body changed back as well. Rainbow hopped around the unicorn so thankful to be back to what she is supposed to be.
“Thanks Twilight, I don’t want to ever be a walrus again.” Dash hugged her friend and noticed the two stallions had run off. They had run in fear, of Twilight? That, needless to say, didn’t seem to make much sense to the Pegasus. “Hey Twilight, why were those guys scared of you?”
“Oh them, uh, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” The unicorn replied.
“I just got turned into a giant walrus, so try me.” Rainbow was really determined to see what made them so scared.
“Well, someone obviously invented the animal crackers you just ate, and in this school somepony like that would have their named passed around as the best prankster of the school.”
“Wait are you saying…you made the crackers? Wow that is the best prank ever!” Rainbow was so amazed to learn her book worm friend was such a good prankster. Dash had never heard of animal crackers like those, but she’s been friends a long time with the very pony that made them and had no idea. “When do you become a prankster?”
“When I came here to the science wing, I was always able to see all of the pranks the ponies would pull on each other, so one day I decided to make my own.” Twilight said sounding absolutely pleased with herself. Dash would be too. To be the creator of something that amazingly complex but also hilarious would be awesome. Thinking on it now, Rainbow made a mental note to herself. “Never accept animal crackers from Twilight again.”
“Come on Rainbow, we’re going to be late.” The two ponies walked quickly down the remaining length of the hall and hopped their way up the stairs. Step by step up to the second floor on the circular stairway. They turned to their right and saw room 23 of the science wing, with a large sign out front labeled “Biology Presentation Here”. They walked up to the door and gave it a quick push open into the classroom.
The class was rectangular in shape with work benches spread all around the class. The benches were a silver metal color and simply for legs with a flat work table above. In the middle of each table were a sink and two nozzles labeled “GAS” on the top. The room had several cabinets along the back wall that stretched from the bottom up to the ceiling. To the left of the door was the teacher’s desk which was similar to everyone else’s but larger in size for files and other things to be laid about and still have room to show an experiment.
“Ah, please take your seats.” An old stallion said. He appeared from almost out of nowhere from his desk. He had been bent underneath it pulling something out of a cabinet. He was a Pegasus with a grey mane and a tan body. His thick glasses made his eyes look three times as big as they normally should. He had a blue coat on with a white tie. His voice was confident but at the same time it showed his frail age.
Twilight and Rainbow both saw a desk at the other end next to the window that over looked the courtyard. The two ponies walked over and sat on the hard, metal seats that were more uncomfortable then sitting on a cactus. Twilight seemed to find the seats comfortable just fine; Dash on the other hand was wiggling in the seat trying to find a spot that made the seat feel somewhat comfortable. It wasn't working in the slightest unfortunately.
“Hello everypony.” The old stallion said to the class at exactly 12 o’clock. Already the class seemed anxious and ready to begin. They were all on the edge of their seats as if it were the epic climactic end to a movie they had been so longing to see, except for Rainbow Dash. She would be more excited about watching grass grow.
But she would give it a chance; maybe he’ll start the class off with a bang. This old stallion might have a wild side on him, or he could be utterly boring to even listen to for just two minutes. Dash didn’t know anything about him. Twilight had seen him before and she said that Atlas would make science fun for the ponies of younger ages. However back then, most fillies and colts in elementary school were easily impressed.
All of these ponies here were more sharp minded and already full of knowledge, so the odds that this class will be more facts then fun was pretty high for the cyan Pegasus. Twilight and the others on the other hand, could probably find some fun in learning anatomy and organs.
“Well, before we get started let’s get to know a little bit more about each other. Most of you might remember this from Elementary school, but we’ll start from my left and go clockwise around the class. When it comes to you, you say your name and anything else you would like to tell me to help me remember your name better. I’ll go first. My name is Atlas and I love chocolate. See, it’s very simple. Now it’s your turn sir.” Atlas said looking over at the stallion directly to the left of him.
The pony was Red Spice and he was working to be a high-end chef and was currently apprenticed at Canterlot’s most pristine restaurant. Next was Amber Light, and she was training to get her medical degree. Just like Red Spice, science of all natures was a hobby she enjoyed deeply, and it’s the reason she was here today.
As Rainbow Dash listened to all the backgrounds each pony had, she felt a little self conscious. Each had a glamorous or really cool story behind them. Heck Twilight could brag about being the Princess’s personal student. Dash on the other hand cleared the clouds for weather patrol, and could care less for anything science related. Hopefully this would be the only thing the Professor asks her. She could probably handle the day easier if she didn’t have to answer many questions.
She glanced outside and could see almost all of Canterlot from the window. There were ponies prancing around having fun in the college courtyard, and outside the walls were exquisitely dressed stallions and mares shopping at the many stores that lined the streets. Down at the end of the street Rainbow spied a store that sold treats of all kinds, shapes, and flavors like Sugar Cube Corner. Rainbow could see ponies walking out side with everything from fresh bread to apple pies and even at one point a three layer cake.
Rainbow Dash wondered if she should lie about what her job was. Everyone else had a cool back story to them, so Dash could probably share a good lie and at least look cool to the class. But if she were to lie, what job would she say she does for a living? Maybe she could be a fashion model.
“Miss?”
Or a rock singer, she listens to enough songs she could probably fake some song titles.
“Miss?”
Or maybe Dash could say she’s-
“Miss!”
“I’M CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” Rainbow yelled. The whole time she had been dreaming up jobs, Atlas had been trying to get her attention because it was her turn to share. She had been so deep in thought that when he raised his voice it spooked her a little and caused the scream.
Most of her classmates were staring at the cyan Pegasus with small giggles escaping them. Even Twilight found it funny how Dash yelped out the same job as her older brother Shining Armor. The unicorn could have easily told the Professor that she worked for the weather patrol of Ponyville, but it was pretty obvious already she wasn’t Captain of the Royal Guard.
“Yes, and I’m the ruler of Gumball World.” Atlas poked at Dash’s squeal a bit. The class found his reply funny, but what made it little funnier was he actually thought about it. “On second thought I wouldn’t mind being the ruler of Gumball World; it would be a pretty fun place. Now miss, what’s your name?” The class continued to stare at Rainbow Dash. It bugged her how all those eyes were so locked on her, but then again she did just yell that she was the Captain of Celestia’s guards, so who could blame them.
“My name’s Rainbow Dash and I work at-“
“Rainbow Dash you say? Aren’t you the Pegasus that one the best young fliers competition by pulling off a Sonic Rainboom?” Atlas asked.
“Yeah, that was me.” She said with her usual cockiness.
“Oh marvelous, I’ve always wanted to know, what sort of sensation is felt upon breaching the sound barrier creating said Rainboom and what is the G-force you feel upon entering supersonic state?” And in that single question, all of Dash’s cockiness disappeared without a trace. She didn’t have the slightest idea what he said. Twilight did though.
“He’s asking what it feels like to pull off a Sonic Rainboom.” She explained to the blue Pegasus.
“Oh, I get it. Well, it kinda feels like your free falling the air and then it feels like everything slows down and you’re moving faster then everything else.” Rainbow said.
“How extraordinary, it must be quite the rush. Thank you for sharing Miss Dash.” Atlas moved onto the next pony just passed Twilight and Dash’s table. Rainbow was glad the other students stopped starring at her for her little blunder earlier.
Rainbow glanced over at the clock just above the door they had come in. The class started at 12 o’clock on the dot and it was now 12:01. After all that it had only been one minute since Atlas said “Hello everypony.” Rainbow quietly sighed and let her head fall onto the large text book on her desk labeled Biology.
“This is going to be the longest three hours of my life.” She whispered to herself.
“Okay everypony, now that the introduction is out of our way, if you would be so kind as to open to page thirty two in the books on your desk, we’ll get started. I plan to get you all read through the entire book. Unfortunately since the class is limited to three hours, a good handful of it will be a simple summery, but we’ll get to the end.” Atlas said happily. The intro to biology was reasons why there are biologists, what they do, and the underlining reason to have a biology class, all of which took close to thirty slow minutes.
Time was not on Rainbow Dash’s side. There was nothing that could possibly make time go any slower, because if it did, they would be going backwards in time. She flipped her way onto the page and then kept flipping to see how many pages were in the book. She flipped through page after page trying to reach the end, because she didn’t think to open it from the back page. When she came to the end, she passed page eight hundred and seventy two. The only reason they started on page thirty two was the previous pages were simply the table of contents.
Twilight already began reading the pages silently, so that way she could see if it was things she already knew. Her eyes were locked onto the page like she had never focused before. That was until a piece of paper blew over and landed on her book. It was folded in half, and when she opened it she read the words…
"You didn’t say we were gonna be reading."
They were from Rainbow Dash. Twilight could tell instantly by the fact Dash was the only pony she would bring out here that she knew would complain about it. Twilight scribbled something down on the paper, folded it, and slid it back to the Pegasus.
"It's not all we're going to be doing, I promise. Come on Rainbow Dash, don’t you find any of studies conducted on anatomy, cells, and ecosystems amusing?"
Rainbow Dash looked up from the paper at her friend with a less then amused expression. The purple unicorn had a smile as wide as the moon, Twilight was anticipating the idea Dash would say she did find biology fun. The Pegasus scribbled something that took several seconds before tossing it to her friend. Twilight thought it was a few sentences, but actually Rainbow Dash spent the time bolding the only word she wrote to make it clearer.
"NO."
That was all the Pegasus wrote. Twilight sighed with a smile as she wrote out another sentence and passed it back.
"That’s probably because you never got into the details of it. When you dig deep enough, you’ll probably find something you enjoy."
Dash rolled her eyes and began scribbling down more for the quiet conversation but stopped when she heard the professor’s voice.
“Miss Dash,” He called across the classroom. All its eyes spun to look at the Pegasus, and she could see and feel all of their eyes on her. “Are you passing notes in class?” The jig was up, and she was caught. The note was hidden behind her back. All eyes were on Rainbow Dash, she didn’t want to get in trouble for such a simple note.
Rainbow spun the chair around on its swivel and when she came around again, she was eating the paper. It was all bunched in her mouth and a few chews later she swallowed the note. It didn’t feel or taste good at all, but at least now there was no evidence.
“Nope, no note.” She said with a quick gasp of air. Twilight slammed her hoof onto her face in disbelief that Dash just ate a sheet of paper.
“Oh, well I preferred you passed notes instead of talking. It makes less noise then talking. Carry on.” Rainbow also slammed her hoof into her own face. The purple unicorn next to her laughed quietly.
“Alright, let’s start off with basic physical biology. An example is that we’re all different. Some of us have wings or horns or neither, another example of difference that’s revolving around biology is the difference between a colt and mare.” Atlas said.
Somehow Rainbow was actually paying attention so far to the demonstration, then again there wasn’t much else going on. It’s still a surprise that she didn’t just fall asleep already. Normally it would have been an easy two seconds after her eyes closed for her to be dreaming away. Instead she intended on paying attention to the lecture, at least for now. Five minutes from now was a different story.
For now she would humor Twilight and the professor and pay attention to what he had to say. She’d probably yawn a few times but she came here for her friend, so why not see why Twilight was so desperate to come.
“Miss Dash.” Atlas called the Pegasus again. Rainbow sat up surprised, she hadn’t done anything yet.
“What did I do this time?” She asked.
“Nothing, I would just like you to come up to the front and help me demonstrate something real quick for the class.” He said. Slowly, she sat up and walked over to his desk. He reached under the table and brought up a small brown bag. He reached inside and pulled out some hay fries.
“All I want you to do is eat these, nothing more, nothing less.” Atlas explained. Rainbow was a little nervous, the last time she ate something someone offered, it turned her into a walrus.
“This isn’t spiced with anything is it? I’m not gonna turn into a walrus, or a giraffe?”
“No nothing of the sort. You’re simply demonstrating something, I promise.” Rainbow entrusted the professor and reached into the bag. She grabbed a few fries and tossed them into her mouth.
“Alright, now what.” Dash asked still chewing the fries.
“Class if you’ll notice Miss Dash is doing a very simple and good demonstration of one of the most common traits of animals in Equestria, masticating.” Rainbow’s eyes shot open wide. She spit it out the food and dawned a rather unhappy face.
“That’s disgusting Doc, what kinda mind makes someone do that in front of a class?” Rainbow asked him.
“No Miss Dash,” The professor was trying his hardest not to laugh at her, it was a losing battle. “Masticating means to chew, just like how you chew your cereal in the morning, or like how you chewed on those fries, it’s called masticating.” Rainbow listened to his words, and then slowly, her cheeks began to turn rose red.
“Oh…” She said embarrassed. The class once again was giggling at her almost uncontrollably. “Well, can I take my seat now?”
As the time crept by and the learning continued, Dash's mind began to wonder. There was two hours left in the entire presentation, she had almost made it half way, but wasn't done yet. Twilight was absolutely focused on Professor Atlas. Rainbow was leaning on her hoof which propped her head up, and was staring outside the window. The middle courtyard was right below them, and there were someponies out there. A few were reading, two were playing Frisbee, and the others were laying in the grass letting the sun shine on them.
Dash played Frisbee for a long time back at flight school. Gilda was always playing too, and Rainbow would have the griffin throw it really hard so Dash could fly after it. It was one of her more favorite practice routines at school. Skydiving was the only thing that was competing for the title. What was more fun than falling from an insane height and either correcting yourself or letting an instructor catch you last minute. They made sure no pony got hurt in the progress, and everyone enjoyed it, except for Fluttershy.
Rainbow was never able to get her to try it. That filly was always afraid of heights, among other things. Dash tried to help Fluttershy conquer some of her fears, if anything though, she only made them worse, but at least she tried. It's the thought that counts.
"Okay, now let's all turn to page sixty two." Atlas told the class. Everyone, except Rainbow Dash, readily turned the pages. "Now we shall begin our next review of the brains of Equines."
Oh what fun. Twilight Thought. Though most of this was a basic recap she was having an absolute blast. Rainbow Dash turned the pages and then stared blankly at them for a minute while Atlas lectured on. She stared at them without even half a thought. Blankly looking at something in a book at this point was slightly more entertaining than Atlas's lecture. Still, she would stay for Twilight's sake.
Slowly her gaze drifted to the sky outside. Oh Celestia how she wished she could be flying right now. The wind flapping her mane and tail, the speed and adrenaline, and the freedom of not being at a Biology presentation. It was unbelievable to her, that there were some pegasi in outside, but not a single one was flying. All of them were walking or sitting, none were even an inch off the ground. Dash knew what fun it was to soar, these ponies were missing out.
Once again her mind drifted, this time back to the dream she had this morning. The Canyon race and becoming Captain of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow let her mind ponder the thought while her stare into the clouds remain blank.
She relived the dream several times. The cornering, overtaking, and the rush all seemed more possible each time she thought of it. The rainboom finisher was killer. Rainbow could see the canyon walls crack and break away from the force of it, the expressions on Spitfire and Soarin's faces when she rocketed ahead to claim victory. It was so vivid and clear, it was like it was happening.
Dash screeched in for a landing, sweating like a dog. Her wings were on fire from how hard she pushed them, her heartbeat was intense, and as the adrenaline left her system she dropped to her haunches. Her mane lay low, weighted down by sweat. Rainbow sat there awaiting the arrival of her rivals.
First was Spitfire, who followed the same track as before. She complimented Dash's skill this time, but ended up handing over the Wonderbolts Captains uniform. Rainbow accepted instantly, and not much else was different, until Spitfire stepped aside as Soarin came in for his landing.
He skidded a few feet coming to a stop. His mane was dripping with sweat; his breathing was heavy from how hard he pushed to stay alongside the others. Soarin' looked straight over at Dash, and smiled before slowly making his way towards her. It was almost slow motion; he even flicked his hair which shimmered like a diamond in the sunlight. Each step closer became more confident, until he was right there. Inches away from her.
"Miss Dash." He said looking down at her with a handsome smile.
"You can call me whatever you want." She replied. Rainbow puckered her lips and leaned closer to Soarin' waiting the epic moment when they made contact.
"Miss Dash." Said a voice. Rainbow opened her eyes and saw Atlas, hardly an inch away from her face. Her dream was visualized to the point the rest of the body thought that it was really happening. She was leaning forward in her chair; lips puckered still awaiting the kiss.
Again the class laughed, they couldn't believe it. They came for a biology presentation and got a comedy show instead. Twilight was laughing to, because apparently when she said the words "You can call me whatever you want", she said them aloud as well as in her mind. Rainbow withdrew quickly from Atlas embarrassed.
"I see your hormones are working Miss Dash." He said walking back to his table.
"Hey! Watch it with the name calling bud." Rainbow called after him. She had been offended and her face was a little red to prove it.
"No, Miss Dash, hormones is one word. It refers to the testosterone in males and estrogen in females. It makes you feel feminine, manly, tough, pleasure, and several other feelings you experience. You're day dream cause a spike in your hormones. It must have been something you liked." Atlas explained it to her.
"Oh, yeah, okay." Dash didn't know what to say, but understood what the Doc meant. She buried herself in the book hoping to not humiliate herself anymore for the remaining hours of the presentation. The hours, which felt more like days.
Finally. It was ticking away. The final hour of the presentation. Rainbow Dash could taste the sweat freedom outside the school doors. Just sixty minutes held her back, luckily though, she had vowed to herself that after the last slip up she would not be the laughing stock of the class the rest of the day. So far she was doing good. Atlas hadn't really been asking questions, but when he did, Dash felt like she won the lottery when he didn't point to her.
Though the class had drudge through most of the book already, Twilight still smiling, everyone wondered what as going on, when Atlas closed his book. He set the book aside after ending another chapter, then walked out of the classroom. Everyone sat in silence for a minute. Just wondering what he was doing.
"Psst, Twilight." Dash whispered keeping the silence. "Is the class over or something? Can we go now?"
"I don't know. The presentation was supposed to last another hour...I thought." Twilight looked to another table, and asked if they knew what he was doing. It seemed that know one knew what was going on, soon though came a squeak that gradually grew louder outside the door. They could all hear something rolling closer and closer, finally Atlas opened the door and re rolled in a plastic cart.
"Okay class, gather around this cart please." He positioned it in the center of the room, and everyone made their way over. As Twilight and Dash made their way over, they could smell something weird on the cart. There was a wooden palate with something covered under a rag. Beside it were a few small sets of scissors, some scalpels, and a small pair of tweezers. He makes sure everyone is around before opening his mouth to continue.
"What stinks?" Dash asked with a hoof on her nose. Only a few ponies looked at her, not for being dumb, just for interrupting Atlas.
"Good question Miss Dash, allow me to show you. For the past few hours we've been going over Biology from the basics to the more detailed, but we've only talked about it. Now, I've decided it's time you all actually see what all of this is like under the skin." He pulls back the towel covering the wooden palate, and there was a stretched out, dead Bull frog. The stinky smell was released into the air and everyone was gawking at the dead amphibian. Rainbow Dash bumped Twilight with her elbow and whispered. "Fluttershy would hate Atlas for this."
"Now before I continue," Atlas's eyes looked at all the students. "If you do not which to watch the dissection, I completely understand. If you wish to leave, I would rather you leave then pass out and fall and bang your head on the hard floor. This is also the rest of the lecture, so if you wish to leave for the day that's fine too, so think of this more as a little extra lesson." He looked around to see if anyone would leave. Which two ponies did, and he told them good bye.
Twilight glanced over at her friend who had sit through the whole thing, and she new Dash didn't truly want to stay longer then she wanted. Since she had stayed the three hours of lecture, the unicorn decided to let the Pegasus leave if she wanted to. Before she could give her a nudge to the door, Atlas spoke up.
"Miss Dash, since you decided to stay, would you mind helping me with this?" He asked.
"Uh..." She scratched the back of her head.
"Come on, it's very simple. I'll walk you through it." He stepped aside so there was a spot for her. Slowly she walked over and stood beside Atlas facing the frog. He held up a scalpel to her. "I want you to take this and make a cut from both of the frogs shoulders to the center of his chest in diagonal cuts. Down here from both sides of his lower stomach to the middle of his stomach, also in diagonal cuts, and then make a long cut from the point where the top two cuts meet, to the point where the bottom two meet. Okay?"
"Uh...alright?" She looks between the frog and knife to try and figure out a way to make the cuts. She puts the knife in both of her hooves, and puts her front elbows on the table. She moves them a bit and decides that this would work. She lowers the knife to the first corner and presses it in. It made a squishy sound and felt a bit rubbery to Dash.
"Try not to push to hard. Now, do a sawing motion to the center of the chest." Which she slowly did making more squishing sounds with each push down. It was the same for the other three corner cuts, rubber, occasional resistance from something, and many strange sounds. "Now make the final cut, only use the tip so you don't damage any organs." She pressed the knife into the first point until only a fraction of it was in. Dash pulled the knife down making a perfect cut to the second point, she drew the knife, set it down, and waited.
"Now that the cuts have been made, we can get to the nitty gritty bits. " He slowly and methodically pulls back the rubbery skin of the frog, showing off all that was underneath. Every bit of organ, muscle, fat, vein, and blood was on display for the entire class. To make sure they could all see he lifted it up and held it out to all the students.
"Now as you can see, Miss Dash has done an excellent set of cuts and we now have access to the entire anatomy. So now what we will do, Miss Dash if you'd like to assist me a bit more, we are going to remove a few key parts. So we'll...oh..." He is looking into the frog's open chest. "Oops, Miss Dash it seems you've punctured the little fella's heart. You can just see the tiniest trickle of fluids flowing down onto the stomach and lungs."
A heavy dropping sound yanked everyone's attention. They looked over and on the opposite side of the operating table was the purple pony company Rainbow had tagged along with had fainted. On her back, hooves in the air above her, and the only thing missing was three little yellow birds circling her head.
***
After what seemed to Twilight like only a few seconds, she opened her eyes slowly to see Atlas and Rainbow Dash with no one else in the class. Her head hurt a bit, she was sitting against a nearby wall, and her vision was a bit blurry.
"Hey, Twilight, are you alright?" Rainbow said with a slight echo to the unicorn.
"What happened?" The purple pony groaned.
"You fainted my dear Twilight. Right after we opened up the frog with Dash's precision cuts." The professor complimented.
"How long have I been out?" Twilight tried to stand up with help from both of them.
"About an hour. Everyone left class about ten minutes ago."
"Really? Oh I'm so sorry Professor. That hasn't happened to me before..." Twilight had a hoof rubbing the back of her head as she apologized.
"It's alright my dear, sometimes ponies just can't handle the inner workings, but think they can. However if I may ask, you did enjoy the presentation, yes?"
"Oh definitely. I've been waiting to see this one for a while. Even if I did miss the final portion." Twilight 's cheeks turned a bit red of embarrassment.
"I'm glad to hear, and I understand completely. Will I have the honor of seeing you again at the next presentation in Stalliongrad?"
"Absolutely."
"And, will Miss Dash be joining you for that one as well?" He looked to the Pegasus. It came as quite a surprise when she heard Rainbow say "Yeah, I'll be there." Maybe her fainting caused her hearing to be off.
"Well I look forward to it. I don't mean to kick you out abruptly, but since you are feeling better though I think it is time for you both to get going back to Ponyville, Rainbow said you have a bit of a train schedule."
"Oh right, thank you so much Professor Atlas. Thank you for your time." The two shake hooves.
"My pleasure Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn walked, slightly with a wobble, towards the main door. Rainbow Dash stepped up to say her thanks. "Miss Dash, I need to thank you."
"Why?"
"Because that was the best class I've ever had. I have never had such laugh filled lecture before. I'm sorry it caused you some embarrassment Miss Dash but I thank you still for making a lecture in biology even more enjoyable."
"So...you're thanking me for embarrassing myself?"
"In a sense, but I do mean it. Thank you Miss Rainbow Dash." He holds a hoof up, though not as a hoofshake. She laughs a bit at the strange compliment and returns the hoof bump.
"Anytime doc." She trots after Twilight and the two leave him alone in the class. He watches the door close for a second, with a smile of success, and picks up his things ready to go home."
"So what did I miss Rainbow?"
"Well a couple ponies, and myself, made sure you were okay. Then we went on with the whole frog thing."
"Really? Was I the only one who fainted?"
"Yeah," They burst through the doors they came in and headed towards the train station. "He had me do everything. It was pretty cool actually, I was really into it."
"Well that's good."
"I got nervous a few times. Like when I cut out it's stomach thingy, well, I pinched it a little too hard, and there was some yellow stuff inside it that shot out one of the tube things and hit one of the ponies there. She was freaking out and it was funny, she was holding her nose and kept saying "It went up my nose, it went up my nose!" so me and Atlas-"
A new sound made Rainbow stop talking immediately. It was a sound that could not be confused with anything else. She turned her head around slowly, and sure enough Twilight's head was shoved into a trash can near a bench with two ponies on it, who stood and quickly walked away from the unicorn. Rainbow Dash decided to to tell Twilight more of the details the rest of the way, they finally made it back to the train, and the now green faced unicorn was slightly thankful because she didn't get road sick easily.
