> Pony School Days, or The Adventures of a Bookworm and Her Friends. > by FluttershyButterfly > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > New Beginnings > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight was anxious. She was going to a new school, her very first "real" school, and she had no idea what it would be like. What if she didn't make any friends? What if other ponies wouldn't like her? What if, she gasped as the thought struck her mind, they didn't have a library?! Oh, well. She would have to be a brave pony like her brother Shiny, and face her fears. After all, they might have a great school library, she thought just as she reached the school-building. Ponies of all colors were pouring in, rushing to get inside before the bell rang on the first day of school. "Bye, Mom. I'll be fine, I promise!" Twilight said as she looked up at her mother, who had walked to school with her. "Okay, Twi. Remember, have fun! I love you!" Her mom said as she squeezed Twilight tight, then waved goodbye and left. After her mom left, Twilight gathered herself and entered the building. It was actually pretty inside, the walls painted a nice cheery blue, and the desks lined up in straight rows. Or, rather, as straight rows as could be, considering about twenty fillies and colts were trying to cram into desks close to their friends. Twilight sighed, then spotted a desk near the back of the room. Perfect. It would be out of everyponies way, and she would be able to read and doodle back there easily. As she made her way to the seat, she was cut off by a rainbow-maned cyan pegasus. "Heya! You knew in town?" The pegasus grinned at Twilight. "Er..no. I just don't get out much." Twilight stammered. "Well, anyways, I haven't met you before. So let me introduce myself. I'm Rainbow Dash, the best and awesomest-est flyer in this town!" the pegasus bragged. "Uh..that's nice. Now I you'll excuse me, I need to get to my seat, so I can start studying." Twilight said. "No way! Studying this early? Are you crazy?! For that matter, studying at all?!" Rainbow Dash seemed genuinely baffled. Twilight just sighed and pushed past Rainbow to her desk. Twilight sat down and arranged her pencils neatly. Hmm, Red, then Orange, then Yellow, then Green, Blue, and last Purple! Twilight thought to herself as she sorted the pencils, not noticing a pink pony standing by her. "Omigosh you're new and I haven't seen you before so you must be knew, and I didn't know you were new earlier and now that I know you're new I can throw you a party 'cuz I love parties after all who doesn't love parties and it'll be so awesome ooh I could invite everypony and we could all meet you 'cuz you're new!" The pink pony said, somehow all in one breath. Twilight jumped backwards before recollecting herself. "...hi?" She said to the strangely cheerful pink pony. "Ooh did I scare you? I scare ponies a lot but I don't mean to cuz what fun is scaring ponies when you could be having fun instead of being a scary-scaredy-scary-pants!" The pink pony grinned. "Omigosh I forgot to tell you my name! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?!" Pinkie Pie yelled in Twilight's face. "...twilight. Twilight Sparkle." Twilight stammered out. "Oh wow you sound just like James Bond! Or James Barn, like they call him here. Tee-hee, I keep forgetting not to break the fourth wall!" Pinkie Pie giggled as she hopped off. Twilight sighed again. If she could just get through today without meeting any more ponies, she might make it. After all, meeting ponies was okay she guessed, but reading books was even better, right? As class was about to start, the teacher walked in the room. She was a unicorn, with a white coat, red hair, and a quill pen dipped in a bottle of ink for her cutie mark. "Hello, class." the teacher smiled. "My name is Light, and I will be your teacher." A hoof was raised in the back of the class. "Yes?" "Do you give out candy for good grades?!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Er..no." "Awww...." "However, I do make it a rule not to give out much homework.." "Yaaay!" The entire class cheered, except for Twilight. She waved her hoof frantically. "Yes, dear?" Said the teacher. "Ma'am? Could you please give out lots of homework to me?" Twilight sank down in her seat as she said it, feeling the confused stares of all her classmates on her. "I..I like homework, ma'am..." "Why, yes, of course." Light smiled at Twilight. "Now, why don't we all introduce ourselves? You can start by telling us your name." She said, pointing at an orange earth pony in the front row. "Ah'm AppleJack, Miss Light, ma'am." The orange pony grinned. "Nice to meet you, AppleJack. Now, what's your name?" Light pointed at a white unicorn. "Why, my name is Rarity!" Said the unicorn. "A very pretty name. Now you?" Light pointed at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash! I'm the best flyer there ever was an' ever will be!" Rainbow grinned. "I'm sure. Now, you?" Light pointed at a butter-yellow pegasus. "...i'm fluttershy." The pegasus squeaked. And so it went on, with the entire class being introduced. There was AppleJack, Rarity, RainbowDash, and Fluttershy, of course. There was also a blue unicorn named Trixie, Pinkie Pie, Big Macintosh, Flim and Flam, Cheerilee, Derpy Do, and of course, Twilight Sparkle. As the class started on math, Trixie leaned forward in her seat to talk to Twilight, who was sitting in the seat in front of her. "Pssst." Twilight turned around. "What?" she whispered. "Pass this note to the seat in front of you." "Uh..okay." Twilight did as Trixie asked, not knowing any better. "Tea-cher! Twilight is passing notes in class!" Trixie yelled. Twilight was flabbergasted. "B..but Trixie told me to!" "That's ridiculous! If I told you to, why would I tell teacher?" Trixie snorted. "I'm sorry Twilight, but unless you confess, you will have to have detention." Light said sternly. "What?! That's ridiculous! It wasn't even my fault!" Twilight yelled, her temper starting to rise. "Alright, that's it. Detention for you." Light said. Twilight simmered through the rest of class. So far, today was most definitely not going well. When class was about to end, the yellow pegasus named FlutterShy timidly raised her hand. "Yes?" "M..miss Light? I...I saw Trixie tell Twilight to pass the note." FlutterShy said, her voice quivering. "Is that so? Well, then, Twilight, it appears I have misjudged you. You are free to go after class is dismissed. You, Trixie, will stay after class with me, and I will have a stern discussion with you about getting others in trouble." Light said. "But, may I ask, why did you wait till now to tell me, FlutterShy?" "Oh...um, well, you see I didn't want to get Trixie mad at me...but I didn't want to let Twilight get detention for something she didn't do..." Fluttershy said quietly. "Well, thank you for telling me now." Light smiled at FlutterShy. After class was dismissed, Twilight walked over to FlutterShy. "Thank you so much for sticking up for me! You're so kind!" Twilight grinned. "Um...well..it was nothing." FlutterShy stammered. "Of course it was something! That was really nice and brave of you to do that for me!" Twilight said. "Y..you really think it was brave?" FlutterShy said. "Of course!" Twilight said, before hugging FlutterShy. FlutterShy hugged back, awkwardly at first, then stronger. "N...nopony's ever called me brave before." FlutterShy smiled as she let go. "D..does this mean we're friends? I mean if you want to be of course..." Twilight grinned at her. "I'd love that. Friends?" "Friends." FlutterShy smiled back. As Twilight reflected back on the day, she smiled again, thinking that maybe, just maybe, meeting new ponies was a whole lot nicer than just reading books. > Party? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day, Twilight was just about to enter the school building. It was strangely quiet, but she had double-checked and it was, indeed, a school day. She entered the dark school building rather hesitantly. "Hello?" She called out. "SURPRISE!" Yelled Pinkie Pie, as streamers shot out from everywhere and ponies cheered. Twilight back-pedaled, before falling to her haunches with her mouth wide open. "Wh..whu...huh?!" She gasped. "Why, it's a party, silly! Do you like it? Huh? Huh? Do you?!" Pinkie Pie yelled. "Wh..what's a party?" Twilight said, absolutely flabbergasted. Pinkie Pie gasped before yelling so loud that it literally shook the school, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A PARTY IS?!" "Uh..no." "Omigosh then I have so much to show you because parties are soo much fun and there's cake and balloons and streamers and games and punch and did I say cake and tons of ponies and ---" "Um...class?" Light said as she stepped into the schoolroom, which was now in full-blown party mode, with some of the ponies even doing a conga line. The room fell silent as they saw her, then suddenly everypony was everywhere, trying to shove streamers under desks and gulp down the last bit of chocolate cake before it was taken. "Uh...I can explain..." Pinkie Pie said, looking guilty. "Look, I really don't mean to be harsh, but did all of you really think throwing a party in my classroom was a good idea? You got a mess everywhere, none of you will be able to concentrate all day, and I certainly will have to have a talk with all of your parents!" Light seethed. All of the fillies and colts suddenly grew even quieter, thinking of the lecture their parents were sure to give them. Nopony noticed that Pinkie Pie's hair had suddenly gone flat, and tears had sprung to her eyes. "Now, I'll need everypony to pitch in and help clea..." Light began, before being interrupted by a series of loud sobs coming from Pinkie Pie, who by this point was streaming tears. "I didn't mean to make such a mess and now everypony will hate me and nopony will want to come to my parties ever again and all I wanted to do was make Twilight haaappyy!" Pinkie Pie sobbed brokenly, before running outside of the classroom. "Uh...I'll go get her, miss Light." Twilight said. "Yes, please do. I really am sorry now for having lectured all of you like that, apparently Pinkie Pie took it really harshly." Light sighed. Twilight went outside the school, and after a few minutes of searching, she found Pinkie Pie crying behind a tree. Twilight slowly trotted up to her."Are you alright?" She asked. "N..no. All I wanted was a party and fun and now I've ruined it for everypony and you didn't even get your "Welcome To Town" party!" She cried. "Pinkie, I'm not new to town. I've lived here all my life, I just don't get out much, so that's why you haven't seen me before. And you didn't ruin it for anypony! We had fun while the party lasted, even if it was only for about two minutes, and even if we are going to get lectured, that doesn't mean anypony is going to stop being your friend!" Twilight smiled encouragingly at Pinkie. "Y..you really think so?" Pinkie Pie said, almost in a whisper. "I know so!" Twilight hugged Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie hugged back, saying, "You know, Twily, you're a great filly. Thanks so much for cheering me up!" Pinkie let go and wiped her eyes with the back of her hooves as her hair poofed up again. "Does this mean we're friends?" "Of course, Pinkie." Twilight grinned. As the two fillies walked back to the schoolbuilding, they were met by the sound of a filly arguing. "But why should Trixie have to clean up aall the leftover cake and not even eat aannnyyy of it?!" Trixie wailed. Pinkie and Twilight looked at each other. Pinkie snorted, and before they knew it, both of them had exploded into laughter. As she laughed, Twilight thought, even though today had gotten off to a bumpy start, so far, it was a pretty great day. > Science Fair > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight was excited. No, excited wasn't a good enough word for it. Electrified? Exhilarated? Exuberant? The reason for this was simple. Miss Light had just announced there was to be a science fair. Twilight was snapped out of it by Light saying, "Twilight?" "Yes ma'am?" "You are to be partnered with Rainbow Dash." Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was snoring on top of her desk. "Uh...are you sure?" Light said yes, she was sure, then proceeded telling the other students who they were partnered with. Twilight was too deep in shock to listen. Her, partnered with...Rainbow Dash?! Rainbow Dash probably didn't even know what a "Science Fair" was! Oh, well, she finally decided,she'd just have to do most of the work herself. As class drew to a close, Rainbow Dash woke up. "Huh? Oh, cool, class is over." She said, stretching. Twilight walked up to her. "Uh, hi, Rainbow." "Heya, bookworm. What's up?" "Well, there's going to be a science fair." "So?" "We're partners." "Awesome! I can design something totally epic, and you can help me build it!" "I didn't think you'd be excited about a chance to do a science project." "Why not? I can make some sort of machine-robot-thingy that'll be super cool! Maybe some kind of doom-robot-thing, huh?" Rainbow Dash said, grinning widely. "Um, I was actually thinking of a magic-powered machine that could tell when your eyes had crossed to the bottom of a page in a book, then flip the page for you..." "Meh, my ideas way better. See ya!" RD said, before gliding off. "....what did I get myself in for?" Twilight said, face-hooving. The next day after school, Rainbow Dash and Twilight headed for Twilight's house. They had decided to meet up there to brainstorm a project. "I still think we should make a Doom-Robot." "I told you, making a robot that shoots lasers towards everything it 'sees' is NOT going to earn us a good grade." "But it'll be totally awesome!" "NO!" "....party-pooper." Twilight sighed as they entered her house. This was going to be a long week before the science fair. As the week went on, Twilight shifted pretty much all of the work to her shoulders, while Rainbow mainly took turns flying, complaining, or napping. However, the day before the science fair, Twilight was in a panic. "Come oonn, why won't this stupid thing woorrkk?!" She said, an eye twitching slightly. "What's the matter, egghead?" R.D. said, trotting towards Twilight. "I'll tell you what's the matter, this stupid thing isn't working! I can't get the stupid sensors to line up so it can 'see'!" "Whaddaya mean?" ".....okay, I'll explain. The sensor cords are not fully coordinated with the magic input device, which is itself malfunctioning due to a broken cable, but I can't fix the cable because if I try sparks fly from it , AND the whole thing just isn't working, AND it's the day before the science fair, there is no possible way I could get it fixed and done in time, AND I was stupid to even think I could build something like this!" Twilight finished, groaning. "...told ya we should have gone with my idea." "You're reeaally not helping!" "Oh, ookkaayyy, if you insist..." Rainbow Dash trotted over towards the machine, and hunched over it, twiddling around with the cables. "...What are you doing?!" Twilight said. "Fixing it!" Rainbow snorted. Twilight rolled her eyes and proceeded to pace around the room, thinking of ideas. Maybe she could hide the project and run away-no, that would never work. But she couldn't face getting a bad gra--- "Fixed it!" Dash cried, proudly presenting the now-fixed machine. Twilight's jaw dropped to the floor. "B..but how did you..." "Eh, I have to know some about machines if I'm going to join the WonderBolts, they only accept the ponies who are awesome at everything!" "B..bu..but..." Twilight said. "I thought you were stupid!" "WHAAT?!" "I mean..uh..I mean I didn't know you were smart?" "...Look, I may not be an egghead, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid, okay?" Rainbow Dash said angrily. "I..I'm sorry..."Twilight said, hanging her head. "I shouldn't have made assumptions about you that weren't true. Please forgive me?" Tears sprang to Twilight's eyes. "Course I will, egghead!" Rainbow Dash said, cheering up. "After all, what are friends for?" "Wait, we're friends?" "Of course! I mean, if you want to be, but who wouldn't want to be friends with an awesome pony like me?!" Twilight sniffed and smiled. "Thank you, Dash. You taught me a lesson today, to never judge a book by its cover. I would love to be friends with you." Rainbow Dash grinned, and hugged Twilight. "Thanks, egghead." "You do know that's not my real name, right?" "Uh...." Twilight smiled to herself as Rainbow Dash left. With the help of Rainbow Dash, the project was now going smoothly. All that remained was to wait for the fair tomorrow.