Princess Celestia's Royal Academy for Gifted Youngsters

by SomeRandomWeirdGuy

Rating: teen
Tags: Big Macintosh, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Human, Main 6, Romance, Original Character, Soarin, Adventure, Prince Blueblood
Length: 6540

Moving to Canterlot and entering a prestigious new school was hard enough on its own, but then things started getting... complicated. (Humanized ponies, Canon semi-adaptation)

In an Equestria populated by humans of three tribes: the horned Magic Tribe, the winged Sky Tribe, and the powerful Earth Tribe, an anxious young Magic Tribesman finds himself transferring to the capital city's most prestigious school, Princess Celestia's Royal Academy for Gifted Youngsters. to begin a whole new life. There he meets a very particular group of girls, and his life takes a turn for the adventurous.

Life has been peaceful since the end of the last war, but with the Summer Sun Celebration nearing, how will Manic Masquerade and his new-found group of friends fare?

(Somewhat of an adaptation of canon, with nearly all elements remaining in some form, including spellcasting, Griffons, dragons, villains, and much more. The Mane Six and several others will be members of the core cast. Most shipping is yet to be decided)

Published 2013-08-22 12:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-22 12:20:02 UTC

Chapter I: First Impressions

Princess Celestia’s Royal Academy for Gifted Youngsters

By Some Random Weird Guy

Chapter I: First Impressions

Wow. That was a fancy gate.

He supposed it should’ve been expected, considering just how glitzy the rest of Canterlot was, but a part of him had wanted to believe that his new residence would be just a bit more unassuming. But of course not! The gate was massive, gilded, and exquisitely designed, and the gargantuan building complex behind it was no less extravagant. If he hadn’t known any better (which he did) he would’ve thought he was walking into Celestia’s castle itself.

Wait. Did he know better?

In a sudden surge of paranoia he hurriedly looked for a sign post or something of the sort in order to allay his fears.

And sure enough, emblazoned upon one of the concrete columns that signaled the should be school’s entrance, were the words “Princess Celestia’s Royal Academy for Gifted Youngsters”.

So he was in the right place. His paranoia faded, and then promptly morphed into anxiety before he’d even had a moment to relax. This was going to be a new life for him. He needed to make good impressions, and do well in school, and make new friends, and maybe join some clubs, and not disappoint his parents, and…

He took a deep, gasping breath in an attempt to calm himself down. He couldn’t be crying this early in the game. He wasn’t even in the school yet!

The crying comes later. Preferably when alone. And in bed.

He lifted his wrist and glanced at his watch. Alright. He had plenty of time left before school started. All he had to do for step one was get in the building.

He didn’t know what step two was. But he’d probably just make it up as he went along, as per usual.

Gripping his backpack strap, he steeled himself and began walking forward. Passing through the gateway, he allowed himself to calm slightly as he took in the rather scenic entryway to the Academy. Two large statues stood on either side of the brick path he walked upon. Both depicted horses rearing up onto their hind legs majestically, appearing almost to be guards for the school. Flowers of all sorts were planted around the pedestals of both statues. A well-kept and massive lawn spread out on either side of the pathway. This was certainly a fantastic first impression of the school (or second if you count the gate).

He was halfway into the school building, and as he neared the door to the main structure, it dawned on him that he hadn’t seen a single student outside.

He froze.

A whirlwind of possible situations blew through his mindscape and obliterated his prior calm. What if it was a holiday and he hadn’t known it? What if he was wearing the wrong uniform? What if he was supposed to bring all his stuff with him now and bring it to his dormitory first thing in the morning? What if…?

Okay. Okay. Another deep breath. He had to collect himself. He’d checked all the dates the previous night at least twice. And another two or three times when he’d woken up this morning. Today was the day.

Definitely.

He forced himself to continue taking steps forward. As he closed in on the building, he took a closer look at its front door.

Wow. That was a fancy door.

He supposed it should have been expected, especial- wait. He’d gone over this. Ignore the looks of the school, focus on getting into it. That was his current mission statement.

Grabbing the doorknob, he came to the moral crossroads as to whether he should tear the door open “like a man” or open it “like a normal person”. His masculinity demanded the former, while his sensibility called for the latter. His sensible side ended up winning out, for he could be manly at all kinds of other times. Plus, if he threw the door open and ended up hitting someone, his social life was probably over before it began.

Drawing the door open with what his instincts and years of door experience told him was “a normal amount of force” he caught his first glimpse into life at the Royal Academy.

Except not really.

The spacious lobby was basically empty. He could see a few adults walking here or there paying him no heed, but as far as he could tell, he was the only student in the area. He was both elated and disappointed. This was his grand entrance into his new life! Or it would've been, had there been anyone there to witness it. Welp, step one was down. Step two was to find his way to the main office.

Luckily there was a nearby sign helpfully pointing him to the “Administrative Office”! Karma was definitely approving of his prior sensibility. Turning into the hallway the sign pointed him to, he began his urgent quest.

Now that he was inside, a lot of his earlier fears and worries were beginning to bother him less and less. He was doing fine so far, after all, what could go wrong?

As it turned out, nothing! He quickly found himself at the administrative office with nary a scratch on him, and his mind for once completely calm. With his brain working as intended, he had no qualms opening this door, and did so with ease. Only this time, there was actually more than a handful of people on the other side of it.

At the front desk sat a cheerful looking woman with red hair tied into a tight bun. The name plate sitting atop the desk read “Scarlet Mane”. Behind Ms. Mane he could see several other desks, and paths to smaller offices, and people of all shapes and sizes going about their business. Papers in the hands of some, and donuts in the hands of others.

Creeping his way to the front desk, some fear returned to his once spotless mind. It must have shown on his face, because before he had completely reached the desk, the woman piped up, “May I help you?” she asked, her voice sounding about as cheerful as she looked.

His right hand leapt to the side of his face, and pushed some errant hair behind his ear. Somehow lost for words, he languished awkwardly in silence just long enough for it to become noticeable before releasing a few words, “I’m an… uh… new student.”

She smiled, “You’re the second one today!” She said, her eyes flicking to a spot somewhere behind him. “Name please?”

“Manic Masquerade,” he said, managing to reply in a timely fashion this time around.

“Well Mr. Masquerade, if you could have a seat please, I’ll be right back with you shortly.”

Manic nodded in assent, and turned to find a seat. He hadn’t noticed her when he walked in, but there had evidently been a girl about his age sitting in one of the chairs provided. She was eyeing him with mild curiosity.

He shivered.

He briskly took a seat a few chairs down from her, far enough that he wasn’t being creepy, but not so far that he looked like a social outcast. His seat secured, Manic took a closer look at the female when he thought she wasn’t looking. She was definitely about his age, and she was wearing what he only assumed was the female version of the uniform. She had long, dark blue hair that stretched just a bit past her shoulder blades, with a few shocks of pink and purple hair framing her rather cute face. A small horn sprouted out from her forehead.

Following his inspection, her eyes shot over to him, and he swiftly averted his gaze. He couldn't help but feel happy at the sight of another magic user. There was safety in numbers after all!

“Ms. Sparkle?”

The girl quickly rose from her seat and walked to the front desk. Manic knew at least part of her name now, though he supposed there probably wasn't too much he could do with that information. He didn't like eavesdropping, but because there wasn't exactly a whole lot of activity going on, it was impossible not to listen in.

"Well Ms. Sparkle, I have your schedule ready right here," Scarlet Mane said, handing her a slip of paper. "Your dorm room number is there too, so don't you worry about that. It's a bit too late now, but if you haven't already moved your belongings in yet, we'd be happy to send a few Magicians to speed up the process after school!" She smiled.

Shaking her head hastily, the girl replied, "No no no, I can take care of all that myself, I'll be fine!" She paused, "I... uh... need the practice anyway!"

Something about her reaction seemed off to Manic (though he too could probably use some practice), but Scarlet Mane took it in stride. "One last thing Ms. Sparkle," She said, as the girl was beginning to turn to leave, "This boy here is also a new student, and it just so happens that the two of you share your first period class. If you could please wait a moment, the both of you could go to class together! Being new is tough, so having someone else is always a great help."

Both women turned to Manic.

"Your schedule is ready too Mr. Masquerade," the receptionist said, waving a similar slip of paper.

He shot up from his seat and had the paper in his hands in a matter of seconds.

"Now I'm not sure if you were listening to what I was telling her, but it all applies to you too," Ms. Mane said with a twinkle in her eye, "If you need help moving your stuff, just let us know. And if anything is wrong on either of your schedules, just contact your counselor."

They both thanked her, and she gave them an especially large smile. They then turned to each other, not exactly sure of how to go on. Taking the initiative, Manic made a move towards the door, and held it open for the girl, for he was nothing if not a gentleman.

Well actually he was a lot of things but that wasn't important.

The girl thanked him and exited the office. Giving the bright receptionist a farewell wave, Manic joined his classmate outside.

Finding the girl waiting for him, and not wanting to deal with any potential awkwardness, he again took the initiative (wow, he was on a roll today!) and went about introducing himself. "I'm Manic Masquerade. This is my first time in Canterlot, so please forgive me if I do something stupid." He paused, unsure if he should add any more. "I'm not used to the big city yet, so that's pretty likely."

"You'll get used to it soon enough, it's not nearly as bad as you'd think," she said with a smile. "I've been here all my life, but I just transferred here, so I might do something silly too."

"I certainly hope so, Ms...?"

She caught on quickly, a light blush forming on her cheeks, "Oh! And my name is Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to meet you Manic."

Manic bowed his head slightly, and then remembered the reason he'd gone to the office in the first place. "So what's that first class that we share?" he asked, honestly curious.

"Equestrian, I think." She looked down at her schedule and nodded, confirming it.

Guh. He desperately hoped that this year would be the year that Equestrian class would stop making them read impossibly old novels and dry nonfiction. But his hopes were probably baseless. Watching her scan her slip of paper made him realize that he should check out his own as well. The classes were laid out by period and had the room numbers on a column to the right, but he'd figure out how to find everything later. Now was the time for disappoint/triumph.

Equestrian Language and Literature

Equestrian History in the Modern Era

EM Physical Education

Practical Applications of Magic

Advanced Mathematics

Defensive and Offensive Applications of Magic

Definitely disappointment. And some confusion. Also terror. He was not in any way looking forward to PE, Equestrian, or Math, mostly out of laziness. He was neutral towards history, and actually rather happy with Practical Magic. But the final class simply served to confuse him. He'd never taken a class like that before, so he why in the world would they give it to him?

Well, that's probably just the nature of getting into a school right before the term begins, they just toss whatever electives still have spots open into your schedule.

Manic just really, really, really hoped that last class was more theoretical than it was applicable. He didn't want to get his ass kicked. It would bruise his ego and fledgling reputation, as well as his ass.

Magical explosions and the sounds of his own pained whimpering entered his head.

He must have cringed or something because Twilight Sparkle suddenly piped up, "Is something wrong?"

"I got a class I'm not particularly looking forward to," Manic replied, looking up from his schedule. "I'd switch it for something else, but I don't even know who my counselor is yet so the whole thing would way take too much work." Hopefully that didn't come off as lazy as it sounded.

She snatched Manic's schedule and held it next to her own while he lamented his fate.

"Hey! We have Practical Magic together too!" She said happily, handing him back his slip. "And I'm sure that last class will be fine. I don't think students beating each other up would be good for the school's image." A few pats on the shoulder accompanied her almost encouraging words.

Manic cast one last fateful look at his schedule and then shuffled it away into his pocket. "I think we should get going. Wouldn't want to make bad first impressions would we?"

Twilight Sparkle nodded, and beckoned for him to follow her, "I looked over a map earlier," she explained.

Thankful that one of them had had any amount of foresight, he fell into step beside her and began his journey to class. A few steps into said journey he realized that the two of them sharing Equestrian meant a bit more than a companion in misery, it also meant that they were in the same year!

That fact didn't really have any implications as far as he could tell, but it was definitely kind of cool. Finding someone in a very similar position to his was a massive stroke of luck, if only because it seemed to have dulled his usual awkwardness when acquainting himself with someone. Normally he would've tripped all over his words and accidentally insulted a dead relative of hers, but this time, he got lucky.

He dearly hoped his luck would continue.

As they walked he found himself quite shocked at the sheer size of the place. There were halls and halls and doors and doors, and they hadn't even left the office building yet! Manic supposed that for a school as high profile as this one, that there'd have to be a whole lot of bureaucracy involved, or at least that's how he rationalized the office's size. He was kinda scared to see the school proper if he had already walked this much in the administrative area.

He wasn't exactly known for his path-finding ability, and being lost at school wasn't a pleasant thought. Maybe all his classes were close to each other? He'd have to ask Twilight about that at some point.

It was at about the time that more fears were beginning to rear their ugly heads that Manic found himself nearly slamming into a door. He managed to just barely catch himself before Twilight started talking.

"If I have my directions right, then through this door should be the main school grounds! Which is where we'll be spending most of our time for the next few years," she said matter-of-factly.

To many that would sound claustrophobic, but Manic had spent most of his time cooped up in his room back home, so he wasn't disturbed by being stuck in one place. At that thought he began to wonder what size his new room would be. But before he could get too invested in his thoughts, Twilight threw open the door.

The first thing that hit him was sunlight. The second thing he could make out through squinted eyes was that the school's grounds were massive. Before him lay what could be described of as a park. A huge expanse of green stretched out before him, with the occasional tree here and there, and what looked like a pond at the other end. It was certainly pretty, but he hadn't been expecting it in the slightest.

Looking to his feet he could see several pathways. One led straight across the "park", cutting it in two. It led past the pond and to a huge building. Manic wanted to assume that it was the main schoolbuilding, but he had been fantastically wrong about such things before. Another path led to his right, where he could see a similarly large building. It looked like a gym to him, but again, his prior wrongness knew no bounds. A third path led to his left, to a smaller pair of buildings. He had no idea what they could be.

Oh and the place was also crawling with students.

Students here, students there, students everywhere! All shapes and sizes were roaming the grounds: hanging out with friends, going to classes, getting food, or some mixture of the three. It felt like there were more people here than there were in the entirety of his hometown! It was both a sad and hopeful thought for him. Sad, because his hometown was unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and hopeful because-

Twilight started to talk again, or at least he thought she did. Maybe he'd been accidentally ignoring her? Man, he hoped not.

"Wow," she said breathlessly, summing up both her feelings and his own. "The maps didn't do it justice at all."

"Mind giving me the lay of the land?" Manic asked.

She pondered his question for a moment, before pointing directly in front of him, "That should be the building where most of the classes are. And," she pointed to the right, "that should be the gym. I think there's a track behind it too"

Woo, two for two!

Pointing to the pair of buildings, she continued, "The building closer to us is the cafeteria, while the one closer to the main building is the library." Manic swore he saw her expression change when she mouthed the word 'library', but he wasn't one to question people.

There was one last piece of information he need though, so he voiced his concern, "So... where's the dormitories then?"

Twilight froze, seemingly scanning her mental databases, before turning back to him. "They're on either side of the Administrative building, one closer to the cafeteria, and the other closer to the gym. I forgot which is which," she answered, shrugging.

Manic hoped the boys' dormitory was closer to the cafeteria. That would make mornings much easier on his frail/lazy constitution. He stood still for a moment, debating the benefits of living next to the cafeteria before he came back to reality due to the shout of some unruly (no doubt) freshman in the distance. "It looks like kind of a long walk to class, I think we should get going," Manic said, checking his watch.

She agreed, and they began their trek across campus. Luckily, most people seemed to be heading the same direction as they were, so Manic wasn't forced to face any form of confrontation. A few people were running here or there, and a group of guys were horsing around on the grass. He could spy a few Sky Tribe performing acrobatic maneuvers up in the air.

Pfft. Show offs.

Wow. That was a big building. It had to be at least three floors from the look of it. He could probably stuff every building from his old school in there and still have room for more! A plate above the main entrance to the building bore its name, "Tormac Hall".

As they neared the entrance, Manic turned to Twilight, "Are you ready for this?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied with a shaky smile.

"Good, because I'm not," Manic said, hoping to prompt a laugh.

Success.

Not wanting to be "those people" by holding up the door, Manic and Twilight quickly made their way inside. For what felt like the umpteenth time that day, he found himself shocked at the size of something. The place was huge, and much like outside, it was filled with people. The entrance to Tormac Hall was more or less the midpoint of the building, with a massive hall paving the way to various classes on either side of him, and a staircase directly in front of him. Manic hadn't bothered to remember Equestrian's classroom number, so this was Twilight's time to shine.

She seemed to be on the same page as he was, because she responded to his question before he even opened his mouth, "It's here on the first floor, T-112, we just have to figure out which way is which."

"Well, considering I'm leaving all the memorization to you, I can at least go check. Stay out of peoples' way, I'll be right back," Manic said before trotting to the right side of the hallway.

Staying out of peoples' way was actually much more easily said thandone. Manic had never been a fan of those situations where both you and the guy in front of you are going in opposite directions, and neither of you can figure out a way to keep walking without ramming into the person in front of you, so you just kinda stand there awkwardly waiting for the other person to take the initiative. So basically he tended to stay as far out of the paths of anyone he could see as physically possible.

This usually meant he was hugging the wall.

But soon enough, he was at the nearest two classrooms, and could spy their numbers: T-115 and T-114. Sweet, this was the right way. He turned around quickly to get Twilight's attention, and instead collided with what felt like a tree. Luckily, Manic had enough experience with running into things that he didn't fall on his ass, he just winced and backpedaled a few steps.

"I'm real sorry sir, " said the tree in a deep, accented voice. Of course, it wasn't actually a tree, it was just a a massive man. Looking up, he saw that the man had a rather excellent tan, and light freckles below the corners of his green eyes. His blonde hair was rather long (though not quite as long as his own) and he was built like a draft horse in both height and muscle. He was also looking down at Manic with what looked like genuine apology.

Manic forcefully shook his head, "No no no, it's my fault man. Everyone knows you're not supposed to just stop and turn around in the middle of a busy area!" he said. But before he could adequately apologize, a bell began to echo through the halls. It was a pleasant melody, but it also signaled that he should hurry up and get to class. He let out a quick, "Sorry!" to the massive pile of man that he bumped into, and then awkwardly scampered off to where he'd last seen Twilight Sparkle.

Luckily, she was standing there patiently. "It's over there," he said to her, indicating to where he'd just rammed into the tree-man, "the class numbers are descending from 115, so unless they're just screwing with us, that's where it should be."

"So'd you know that guy?" she asked after a brief pause, as she began to walk to the classroom.

"Not at all, he just ran into me because I'm an idiot," Manic replied self-deprecatingly.

She giggled lightly. "He was pretty big from what I can see, especially for a student!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I mean, I've seen some pretty big guys in my time, especially Earth Tribe, but—wait. He was a student?" Thinking back, Manic realized that he'd been wearing the school uniform.

He then felt extraordinarily inadequate.

But before Manic could get too down in the dumps over it, he managed to nearly run into someone. Which had the neat side effect of mostly keeping his mind focused on staying out of peoples' way while trying not to look like an idiot to Twilight, rather than his own lack of size and muscle. He shifted his gaze to Twilight. At least he was taller than most women.

Before he knew it, the two of them were standing outside of Tormac Hall Room T-112. Many had already gotten to their classes, which meant that the two of them could stand against the wall and not really be in anyone's way. Manic was thankful for this, because he wanted to give her a few last words before they probably got seated across the room from each other.

Hopefully it wouldn't come off too weirdly.

Manic turned to her, "Thanks for helping me out Twilight. I know I'm just some guy who happened to be at the office the same time as you, so I really appreciate everything. I'd probably still be running around out there..." He finished with a sheepish laugh and a scratch of the back of his head.

Manic didn't think she expected anything like that, because she looks rather flustered. He was about to start apologizing for being an awkward nerd when she smiled.

"You're welcome Manic," Twilight replied. "We're both in the same boat after all! It would've been mean to leave someone just like me sitting in the office like that."

"Well I'm glad you didn't," he said, smiling back at her, "Sadly, I think it's about time we actually go to class." He reached for the door handle.

Manic steeled himself. At this point, there was no turning back. He didn't feel ready for this, not at all. He'd spent three years of his life at his old school, and he was going to have to start all over here. At one of the largest and most prestigious schools in all of Equestria, where all sorts of things could go disastrously wrong. But—he turned back to Twilight Sparkle—it wasn't hopeless. He'd already made one kinda friend, he hadn't made an idiot of himself yet. Maybe he could do this.

She gave him a nod, and he opened the door for the two of them.

Suddenly, it was as if he was in a brand new world. The room was large, and the entire wall opposite him was windowed, granting a fantastic view of the park-like school grounds. Despite that view, it still felt different. Like he wasn't in the same school he'd been in before he took that step.

Desks took up most of the classroom's space, with bookshelves of varying sizes lining three of the walls. The desks were mostly filled, while each of the numerous shelves were at their occupancy limits (and some even exceeding that). As Manic continued to take in what was in front of him, a smooth voice called out.

"There's a seating chart," it said.

Manic's head swiveled to the front of the room, and his eyes met the dark greens of the teacher he had yet to notice. The imposing looking man had ashy blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail, and had a pair of dark aviator sunglasses resting on his forehead. From the look of things, he could be either Sky Tribe or Earth Tribe, it was hard to tell when they didn't have their wings unsealed. He wore an expensive looking brown sat, and sat casually in an expensive looking chair behind an expensive looking desk. It was stationed opposite those of the students and slightly off center, presumably so that students could still easily write on the gargantuan blackboard that took up the fourth wall.

The man radiated class.

The teacher shifted his piercing gaze to Twilight, and then indicated to a piece of paper on the side of his desk. In a sudden surge of self-consciousness Manic half-ran to the teacher's desk, with Twilight at his heels. It took Manic a minute to figure out how the seating chart was arranged, but it eventually worked itself out.

He was in the front row. Awesome.

Even more awesome? The only person he had any familiarity with was nowhere near him. He shared a defeated look with Twilight, but before he could make his way to his desk, she grabbed his backpack to stop him.

Almost whispering, she said, "I'll probably be in the library at lunch."

"Thanks," Manic almost-whispered back with a smile.

Considering where he sat, it took only seconds to get to his seat. Watching Twilight walk to her desk way in the back of the class, he slowly took his seat and attempted to get comfortable. It was rather hard to do, considering he was now surrounded by even more complete strangers.

At least the other students seemed to know each other, because there was a nice chatter filling the air that managed to make his loneliness mildly pleasant. Resolving to not be entirely dejected, Manic fumbled around in his backpack for pencils as the last few stragglers walked into class in an attempt to do something with himself.

By the time he'd finished finding and arranging a few pencils and erasers the final bell was ringing and the chatter was dying down. The teacher leisurely stood up from his seat and stretched with a loud yawn before grabbing the sheet he'd laid out for the seating arrangements. His eyes flicked from the sheet to Manic and his peers.

Without warning, he slammed the sheet back onto his desk and scared Manic (as well as several others) several inches off their seats. He then walked out from behind his desk and to the front of class, where everyone could see him. Instead of dress shoes that would match his get up, he wore combat boots. It clashed beautifully.

"I am Master Miller. And I am your Fourth Year Equestrian Language and Literature teacher," The man said emphatically, "I am pleased to note that everyone is here today. Though one would expect all of their students to attend the first day of the new school year."

Master Miller quickly locked eyes with Manic, and someone else in a row behind him, "Joining us today at our beloved school are two transfer students: one Mr. Manic Masquerade, and one... Ms. Twilight Sparkle," he said, pointing both of them out. "Please, show them some good old fashioned Canterlot hospitality."

Manic could feel the gazes of his classmates turning to him, and at that exact moment realized being a turtle might be kind of cool.

The teacher continued before Manic could regress too far into himself, "Since this is the fourth year of all of your higher educations, I am going to assume that I do not need to baby you. So I won't bother you with rules that any teenager with a shred of human decency should have memorized by this point in their life. I only have some very simple guidelines in my classroom."

Manic was glad for the change in topic.

"First off, don't be an idiot. Second, follow the official school rules. And third, do all of the work assigned to you." He looked at a few students in particular as he said the second guideline, "If you do that, we should get along just fine."

Master Miller lowered his sunglasses over his eyes, "As you should know, this class revolves around books," he continued, "Reading books, writing about books, talking about books. We do it all. So expect to do a lot of reading, and a lot of writing. Expect poor grades if you don't do the assigned reading."

"Seeing as I am an Equestrian teacher, I would love to get our hands on our textbooks, as well as some..." he paused, "light reading material. but there seems to have been some trouble at the library recently, and they are behind schedule. So we won't be able to receive our materials for another day or two. Because of this, you will find that we are about out of things to do. So I turn the discussion to you, my students." He leaned up against the blackboard and crossed his arms.

"So how about it. Did any of you do any reading of any kind over your vacations?" He asked.

The way he emphasized the "reading" and "books" almost made it sound like Master Miller was talking in code to Manic, but he had no idea what he could be meaning to say if it really was code. So even though he had actually done some reading, he kept his hand down, and instead watched as a few sparse hands rose up.

"Oh?" Master Miller said, seemingly surprised at any actual takers. "How about you then, Ms. Sparkle?"

Manic turned around to get a good look at his friend/acquaintance.

No one in the class was prepared.

‡

She talked for ten minutes before Master Miller finally managed to stop her. She could just talk, and talk, and talk, and talk about books. In all honesty, it was more amazing than it was weird. She had seemingly read anything and everything that fell in her lap, be it about magic (Starswirl's Tome of Basic Magicks), classical history (The Founding of Equestria), modern history (What Really Caused the Draco-Equo War?), or just fiction (The Diamond Dog Chronicles).

The teacher seemed earnestly impressed by with Twilight Sparkle. She'd definitely earned some points from him, but he'd had to stop her if he was going to actually make it a group discussion.

And so, other questions were asked to random students, such as where they'd been over the summer, what they'd done, etc. He learned that a Sky Tribe named Thunderlane had gone to see his grandparents up in Cloudsdale, and that a girl called Lyra had taken the riverboat all the way to Horseshoe Bay. Manic actually rather enjoyed listening to people talk about their lives, it meant he could get to know people without actually having to try.

It was when Manic had become completely relaxed that Master Miller finally turned his attentions to him. "So what's your story Manic Masquerade?"

Suddenly his relaxation was gone. "Uh, story?" Manic asked lamely.

"Yeah, what brought you here from wherever you lived before?" Master Miller elaborated.

"Well I, uh, lived out west near Unicorn Range, in a moderately sized town. And near the end of Summer, I got a letter saying I'd been accepted here. I didn't remember applying for a transfer, so I don't really even know why I was accepted," Manic said, "I talked to my parents about it, and they thought I should come. And my friends all said to take the chance too. So... here I am, trying to get a high class education."

Manic gave a sloppy smile and even sloppier thumbs up.

Master Miller looked to be pondering Manic's not particularly elegant words, and before he replied, he raised his sunglasses back up to his forehead, "So what do you plan to do with your life?" He asked.

Manic was not expecting that follow up question in the slightest, and was honestly, truly, lost for words. He hadn't really begun thinking about his future yet, he was focused on trying to enjoy life, and deal with things as they came.

"I'm not—," he began.

And then the school bell rang.

Master gave Manic a knowing smile before addressing the classroom, "Alright, class dismissed. We'll continue this tomorrow if we can't get our books." He sat in his fancy chair, "Now get out of my classroom."

Putting the pencils and erasers he'd uselessly withdrawn from his backpack back into it, he made his way to Twilight and withdrew his schedule from his pocket. Looking over it, he saw that Equestrian History was in Room T-124. Which by his calculations was on the other side of the hall.

Twilight Sparkle met him half way across the class with an apologetic look on her face, "I've got PE next, so I have to get going," she said, "If I'm remembering right, History should be on the other side of the hall. I'll see you at lunch though, or at least fourth period!" She smiled.

"Y-yeah," Manic replied with a half-smile and wave, "Be seeing you."

She jogged out of the room and into the hallway, leaving Manic to fend for himself before he could even question how she'd remembered his schedule better than he had. He knew he'd have to fly alone, but it was rather depressing that it was so soon. He resigned himself to just stalking over to his next class like a loner.

Maybe there would end up being a third transfer student for him to bond with?

Nah, he'd better not get his hopes up.

There's no way he could get that lucky.

Author's Note

Heya, I hope that anyone who actually reads this enjoyed my first foray into MLP fanfiction! I've got a lot of cool stuff in store if this gains any traction. Apologies for the slow pace of this chapter, I have just always been partial to slow first chapters. There'll be plenty more world building as I go, and the pace will pick up after he gets used to the school and more of the main cast is introduced.

I'd just like to note a few things for any readers I have: while the pairings are uncertain, it will definitely not be ManicxTwilight. Because they're in more or less the same boat, they band together, and are each other's first friends here.But that's the limit of it.

Manic will not be some overpowered gary stu, don't you worry. Once it picks up, he's basically just along for the ride. He won't be a savior of Equestria or anything like that.

Manic will be the only important OC, the rest of the main cast is all canon. The Mane Six and others will be core to the story. (Master Miller was inspired by a background pony).

Oh, and Sky Tribe (Pegasi) and Earth Tribe (Earth ponies) are basically indistinguishable except for size. So it can be hard to differentiate them. Sky Tribe's wings are magically sealed, but can be unsealed and resealed at a moment's notice. This is because they have human appropriate wing sizes, and they would get in the way of everyday life. I plan to explain that in-fic, but it may be a while, so here is an explanation to prevent confusion.