Chasing The Stars

       Shadow slowly opened his eyes. All he saw was just a grey colored ceiling. Shadow was somewhat taken aback for awhile, but he immediately came back to himself. He should have already known that there was no turning back when he walked out of the orphanage a few days ago. Shadow got up and made his bed. Even though that his bed didn’t have much to tidy but still…

       Happy with his work, Shadow smiled to himself and walked out of the cave. Outside the dark cave, the sun was shining brightly, bringing light and warmth to all the citizens of Equestria. After taking a deep breath, Shadow trotted happily towards Ponyville.

       Inside the town, it was brimming with excitement. Every inch of the town was full of laughter and warmth. It wasn’t like the town he lived a few days ago, everypony in that town only care for themselves and didn’t care about anypony else. Well…Except for Miss Starshine that is.

       ‘What a nice town this is…’Shadow thought to himself.

        As Shadow was walking leisurely, he accidently bumped into a filly.

        “Ouch!” The filly shouted.

       “Oh, I’m so sorry.” Shadow apologized quickly, not wanting to be hated at his first day in this new town.

        “Its okay, I’m fine.” The filly said again as she got up from the ground.

        Shadow looked at the filly he bumped into just now. She had white-colored fur and a pink-colored mane and tail. Also, she had a pair of sapphire blue eyes.

        “My name’s Star Painter, what’s your name?” The filly said while helping Shadow to get up.

       “M…My name’s Shadow Blade.” Shadow said nervously and slightly blushing while getting up from the ground.

       “Cool name!” Star exclaimed after listening his name.

       “Y…You really think so?” Shadow asked while looking at her.

       Star nodded her head excitedly.

        “By the way, are you new here? I’ve never seen you before here in Ponyville.” Star asked Shadow curiously.

Shadow just nodded awkwardly.

       “Want me to lead you the way to school?” Star Painter suggested.

       Shadow went stunned for a few seconds and finally asked: “Do you need school fees to go to school?”

       Then, there was an awkward silence for a while until Star Painter burst out laughing loudly. It was a good thing that it was noisy there or her laughter would probably attract a crowd here. Shadow stared at her as she laughed. Did he say something funny just now? Shadow thought in his mind.

       After a few minutes of laughing, Star finally went back to herself and got back to her own position. And then she asked:

     “What were we saying just now?”

      Shadow almost face hoofed after listening to her remark.

       “Uh… I was wondering do I need to pay for the school fees to go to school.” Shadow repeated his question, choosing his words carefully as he didn’t want Star to have a sudden laugh again. On one hoof, he didn’t want to catch anypony’s attention. And on the other hoof, he wouldn’t want to be jump scared again. His heart couldn’t accept it again.

       “Actually, you don’t need to pay for the school fees. The Mayor pays for our school fees you know.” Star explained to him.

       “Oh…”Shadow replied, silently thanking the Mayor that Star mentioned. If he needed to pay for the school fees, he’d rather not to go to school and work for somepony already.

       “So…want to join me at school?” Star asked Shadow intensely.

       “Okay?” Shadow answered her question unsurely. Well, nothing could happen right? At least he can learn at school again.

       “Great! Let’s go then, what are you waiting for?” Star said while having a big grin on her face.

                                                                               * * *

        After their little conversation, the duo walked towards the school together. In the distance to the school that Star mentioned, Shadow just followed Star silently as if he wasn’t there. Well, it wasn’t like he didn’t want to talk with Star. He actually likes talking with her. It’s just that he didn’t know what to talk about…

       A few minutes of awkward silence and walking, they finally arrived at the front of the school. Shadow looked at the school and began to daze again until Star spoke:

      “Here we are, this is our school.” She said with a proud look on her face.

Shadow just nodded plainly. Well, the school doesn’t have a really special look at the outside. Its just a plain, normal sized building.

      ‘I wonder how does it look like inside.’ Shadow thought curiously.

      “Lets go in, the classes are starting.” Star told him, waking him up from his daze.

      “Oh, right…” Shadow mumbled as they went inside the school together.

                                                                               * * *

      Inside the school was a classroom. The classroom only has a desk at the front and nine seats at the back. There is also a blackboard behind the desk. It looks kind of small but everypony still fits in perfectly.  The classroom was full of fillies and colts. Everypony are having a little fun before class time. Some are gossiping, some are folding paper airplanes and some are even playing with their magic. Shadow looked at the class and then looked at Star helplessly. Star looked at him and sighed.

      “Maybe you can go and look for a seat?” Star suggested.

      Shadow made an “Oh, right!” face and went to look for a seat. After looking around the class, he finally decided to take the seat at the left corner of the class. There were two reasons the chose that seat. The first reason is because he can sit beside Star, so he can ask her if he had any questions. Second, that seat is the most unnoticed seat in the class. So he could probably stay unnoticed by other foals and the teacher for the rest of the semester.

      As Shadow reached for the seat, another filly with blue and light pink mane snatched his seat and said:

      “Hey! Get off of my seat!” the filly shouted as she pushed Shadow aside.

       Shadow instantly felt his cheeks are getting as red as an apple and quickly apologized to the filly. After that, he looked around the class. Every seat was taken already. Just then, a purple colored mare came inside the classroom. As she stepped inside the class, everypony fell silent. Shadow looked at the mare.

        ‘Maybe she’s the teacher.’ Shadow thought to himself.

       “Good morning everypony!” the mare greeted cheerfully.

       “Good morning Miss Cheerlie.” The other nine foals including Shadow greeted back in response.

       “Okay, let’s start our classes shall we?” Miss Cheerlie said while tidying her books.

       Shadow started to panic a little and looked at Star Painter for help. Star Painter looked back at him and gave him an “Its okay, I’ll handle it for you” face to him.

       “Uh… Miss Cheerlie? Shadow here doesn’t have a seat” Star told Miss Cheerlie while raising her hoof.

        Miss Cheerlie looked confused after listening to Star’s words until she used her hoof to point at an obviously feeling embarrassed Shadow.

        “Oh, so…you said that his name is Shadow right, Star?” Miss Cheerlie asked Star Painter.

Star Painter nodded repeatedly.

        “Well then, Shadow you may sit with Star Painter until we have another empty seat.” Miss Cheerlie announced.

        Shadow and Star’s face both went red and blushed in embarrassment at the same time, making other foals in the class to start gossiping and whispering to each other.

        “Okay everypony, let’s start our classes now!” Miss Cheerlie said with a smile on her face.

        After that, everypony started to take out their textbooks as Miss Cheerlie got ready for their class while Shadow went to sit behind Star nervously.

        ‘What else could go wrong?’ Shadow thought to himself.