The Final Year

"Okay, so your first class is gym with Iron Will. Just a tip, don't call him that. Even in town Will has everpony call him Mr. Will, no matter who are," Spike said.

"Even the princesses," I asked as we went over my schedule late into the night, the map set beside us as he pointed out the rooms and explained what I should do.

"He's insane, not suicidal," Spike replied, giving me a smirk. That plus the lean body he had almost made me forget that he was two hundred years old.

"Right, so I think we've done enough tonight," I said, standing up to stretch.

"We still need to go over your schedule kid," he replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh please. I can handle my first day of school."

"So you don't need any of my help?"

"Nah, I've got this."

"Okay."

He said it so suddenly and with such a smug tone that I immediately knew something was wrong, but we were both too far into this game of pride now to back out and ask/offer for the things not being said.

"Hmm, 7:34. Seems he plans to sleep through his first day at Seventh Element High," a voice said, marelike and harmonic.

"I wouldn't doubt it, seeing as how him and Spike were up until after midnight last night," another voice said, this one the voice of a stallion and gruff and dismissive.

I started to wake up, the voices having roused my consciousness, but even as I woke up, the voices continued, seemingly oblivious to me.

"I know how you're feeling, but he's his own stallion now," the mare said as I started to get to my hooves, my eyes still too blurry to get a glance at them.

"Fuck that, he's still our-"

The voice of the stallion was cut off as a coldness tackled me, my many years with the entity granting me the knowledge that it was Aiden. My vision slowly cleared and I realized that the stallion and the mare had disappeared, and if it wasn't for Aiden laying on top of me I probably would have dropped it off as a dream. He wouldn't have tackled me for no reason, if not to distract me or stop me from hearing something wrong.

"Aiden, what the hell," I asked, rolling over and getting up. A clock floated over into my vision and I caught sight of the time, a small "Shit," escaping my throat as I took it in.

I was about to be late.

I quickly scrambled up, counting off the minutes to 7:55 as I rushed to get ready.

7:36; Throw some toast in the toaster.

7:37; Brush my teeth.

7:38; Look for my bag that'd gone missing.

7:45; Spot the bag hanging by the front door instead of where I'd left it.

7:46; Run out the front door with the toast in my mouth and start flying frantically towards the school.

I might have made it, if not for the cart that suddenly appeared in my path, not even giving me enough time to try and curl above it as I slammed face first into the side of it. I struggled to get to my hooves and felt another pair wrap around me, lifting me and half carry, half drag me to the school as stars danced in my head.

"Nice job," I heard a mare say, my mind making the connection that it was the pony carrying me. "You've gone and made us both late for school."

"You could just leave me," I managed, trying to get my hooves to keep my weight and failing again.

"Nahh, it'd look better for me if I walk in with a new student on my arm," she said, the humor apparent in her voice.

"You have a point, I just hope that Mr. Will'll allow me to get in late," I said.

"You have Mr. Will too," she asked, "that's great!"

I looked up at her features, taking in the sight of a mare with white fur, a red mane, and pale blue eyes. I also took notice of her wings and I felt something in me click, giving me power to get my hooves under me and stop leaning on her as much.

"We'd better hurry," I said, "we're gonna be late."

"Puh-lease," she said, laughing a bit, "me, late? I'd like to see that happen."

For some reason, the nonchalant way she was acting only fueled whatever source was giving me strength, allowing me to pick myself off of her entirely and take a few steps on my own. "You can be late if you want," I said, taking a few more unsteady steps and wondering if I had a concussion before continuing my statement, "but I don't plan on being kicked out on day one."

I took off at a lopsided gallop after that, my steps faltering every few times they landed, but not before I heard her say, "Nopony ever listens," with a laugh.

I ignored it and hurried down the road, my steps becoming more sure with each hooffall, and soon reached the school with thirty seconds to spare. I hurried in, recalling the map of the school, and hurried to the gym as fast as I could.

I threw open the doors just as the late bell rang and shouted, "I'M NOT LATE," being thrown flat on my back as a rubber ball hit me square in the snout. My vision trippled and a minotaur's face appeared in my sight, three of them spinning around for a few seconds before he noticed I was okay, his worried look disappearing and a smug look taking its place.

"And that, students, is why you're not late to my class," he said, "understood?" There were a few murmurs from the class I assumed was behind him and he turned back to me, saying, "Now, ten laps around the gym."

"What for," I asked, sitting up and rubbing my head, thankful that the tripple vision had disappeared.

"Five for being late to class, and the other five for not catching that ball," he said.

"Well you'd better get another ready because ther-" I began, pausing as I spotted the mare at the front of the group of students. "Nevermind," I groaned, getting up and using my wings to float around the edge of the gym.

"No wings," Will called out to me in a sing-song voice that let me know he was enjoying this too much. I closed my wings and continued on around the gym, listening in on as he said, "Now the rest of you get into groups. There are enough students here for everyone to be in pairs of two, so get it accomplished."

I took a few moments to examine the rest of the class and took notice of the thing that the stallion I had met yesterday was talking about. These ponies were all wearing clothes. All except that mare who had helped me. By the time I had completed my eighth lap everpony was in a group other than the mare, leaving me to give a sigh and sit beside her after I finished my laps.

"Okay, now that Mr. Late is done-" he began, stopping as I interrupted.

"It's Trebb," I said.

"What," he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"My name is Trebb, not Mr. Late," I replied, knowing exactly what I was getting myself into.

"Okay then Trebb," he said, "since you've so graciously set yourself up as tribute, how about we show the class what we're doing today."

"And what would that be," I asked.

"Dodgeball." I shrugged and began to get up, stopping as Will he'd out a blue hand, stopping me in my tracks. "Trust me, you'll want someone to catch you."

He picked up a ball after I'd settled down again and turned, getting ready to throw the ball. He threw the ball as hard as he could and I instantly knew that I wouldn't live to see tomorrow, no matter what I did, the ball was traveling too fast and had too much force behind it. So I did what any sane pony in my situation would've done.

I closed my eyes, held out my hooves and hoped for the best.

After about thirty seconds of not being turned to paste on a dodgeball I cracked my eyes open, surprise dawning on my face as I caught sight of the ball in my hooves. After another second of silence I finally figured out what had happened, silently thanking Aiden for helping me out. I looked back up at Will, giving a small smile at the look of surprise on his face, and tossed the ball back to him.

"Alright, that's what you do if there's a ball coming towards you," he said, straightening his blue tie. "Now before I continue explaining the rules to you foals, I'll come around and do attendance."

As he started going around with his clipboard the mare next to me said, "I saw that."

I felt a small jolt of fear surface and I asked, "Saw what?"

She squinted at me and said, "There's something weird about you, and I plan to find out what it is."

Right, I thought to myself, first day of school and I've already got a stalker.

"Okay then," I said, smiling as I thought up a counter to her observations, "you tell me how you got here before me and I'll tell you how I caught the ball. Secret for a secret, right?"

"Well I dare say, you don't even know my-"

"Name," Will interrupted her, giving me a curious look out if the corner of his eyes.

"Roseluck," she said, ignoring the smile that broke out on my face.

Will nodded and walked to the next group, not bothering to ask my name.

"So, Roseluck," I said, rolling the name around on my tongue. "Interesting."

"As if Trebb is any better. What kind of name even is that," she asked.

"It's the name of a great and powerful DJ," I said defensively.

"Oh great, another DJ, just what we needed," she said, "as if Vinyl wasn't enough."

"Wait, Vinyl," I asked, "as in-"

"Vinyl Scratch, yes. Her and Octav-"

  Will 's voice cut in from the back of the gym, forcing us to turn to him as he said, "Alright class, today, as you can see from these dodgeballs, we're going to be playing dodgeball. Oh, and you're stuck with your partner for the rest of the year, so I hope you picked somepony you won't have to strangle. If you feel like you're going to kill somepony, follow your urges. Now then, onto the rules." He looked around at the class, taking in the smiles of the kids and awaiting looks. "Each group will be handed a rope and it's going to be your job to find some way to tie yourselves together. For Pegasi there shall be a special rule. If two Pegasi are in the same group then they shall have to tie together the base of their wings. For any other group you'll just have to tie together your tails if nothing else."

"Yeah, cause that's fair," I muttered, giving Rose a small smile.

She returned it and said, "Don't worry, he does this every year."

"You've had him as a teacher before," I asked as a rope was passed to us.

"Yeah, but he never remembers any of his students," she replied, lining us up so my left wing was pressed against her right one.

"That seems kinda mean," I said as she tied the bases together.

"Eh, the students get used to it. There were only like two, maybe three ponies who've ever made him remember them," she said as we both flexed our wings, trying to get used to the feeling.

I don't know what it was about that moment, but things seemed perfect for just one moment. For a brief moment, our wings seemed to fit together, as if they were cut in half and sewn onto different bodies, and apparently she noticed it too, from the look she gave me but the moment was broken as her wing slipped suddenly, breaking the wholeness. We both looked at each other, wondering if what we had felt was real or just a figment of our imaginations, but we were broken out of it by Will 's voice shouting.

"READY, SET, GO," he shouted, tipping over an entire basket of dodgeballs.

"You ready," Rose asked me.

"You know it," I replied, scrambling up quickly.

"How can you be that rubbish at dodgeball," Rose asked as I held an ice pack to my eye on one of the examination tables in the nurse's office.

"Well excuuuse me for not having a ton of time to play it," I replied, wincing a bit as I pressed the ice deeper into my flesh.

"Everypony knows how to play dodgeball, it's a foals game. I still can't believe that we were the first ones out," she groaned, nursing the slightly bruised cheek she was now sporting.

"Don't blame me," I muttered as the nurse walked in, her light pink mane slightly frazzled from overworking more likely than not.

"Hey, you okay Heart," Rose asked, apparently noticing what I had.

"Yeah," the nurse replied, "just a bit overloaded with forms. What about you Rose, and who's your cute friend over there?"

I almost choked when she said that, but managed not to and managed to limit it to a wary smile instead.

"That's Trebb, he's an idiot," Rose replied, "Trebb, this is Heart Stroke, the school nurse."

"And the mare after your very heart," Heart added.

That time I did choke, my breathing catching in my throat a second and forcing me to cough a few times to restart my lung functions.

"S-sorry," I said as I noticed the combined look they were giving me, "I'm just not used to mares admitting to...that."

"Wait, you think I...oh, nononono," Rose said, "it's only her, this heart is meant for stallions alone. And not mares, no matter how many times she tries to get me to change my mind."

"I don't mean to pry, but doesn't that go just a bit past your code of conduct," I asked.

"Well it's not like I've tried to do anything I'm not allowed, and besides, as of today, it's no longer against the law," Heart said with a smile and a cute little giggle.

It took me a second to process what she'd said and I turned to Rose after I had and asked, "Today's your birthday?"

"Yes," she said, lowering her eyes, "I don't like too many ponies knowing though."

  "What, that's stupid," I said.

"Isn't it though," Heart said, wrapping Rose in a hug, "it's okay though, she still enjoys the parties I throw her."

"No," Rose corrected her, "I don't, and especially not last year's."

"What happened last year," I asked.

Heart opened her mouth to respond but Rose stuck her hoof in her mouth silencing her and glaring at me as she said, "Nothing happened."

"Okay," I replied. Feeling a bit of hostile tension, I decided to steer the conversation in a new direction. "Don't you have to fill out something explaining how we got hurt," I asked Heart.

Rose took her hoof out of Heart's mouth and she replied, "Yes, I do, so why don't you get started explaining how you ended up with a black eye and how she ended up with a bruised cheek."

The balls spilled out across the floor and I scrambled up to get my hooves on one, pulling Rose up with me. What I hadn't noticed was the ball that Will had used for the demonstration had rolled and one of my hooves was now landing where it was, throwing my balance off and making me fall to the ground. My eye slammed on a ball that had rolled over and as Rose fell with me, a ball that had been heading her way that she had intended to catch slammed into her cheek.

Will apparently caught sight of the entire thing and shouted, "You two are out, Trebb, go get that eye checked out, I know that's not going to end well."

"And that's exactly how it happened," I finished.

"Yes, we lost because this idiot couldn't pay attention," Rose said.

"It's not that bad dear," Heart said, wrapping a light gray hoof around Rose's shoulders.

"It is though," Rose cried out, "I'm stuck with him for the rest of the year."

I took that comment pretty hard, even if it was from her...in fact, because it was coming from her made it sting all the more for some reason. After a few seconds of dwelling on it, I figured out why. This was perhaps one of the closest things to a friend I would ever make in this town. I didn't have clothes and I didn't plan on ever getting any, leaving me bound as a social outcast indefinitely. And then here was this mare, the only one closest to my current setting, and she was saying that she'd rather be stuck with anyone other than me.

"I'm just going to go," I said, getting off the examination table and setting down the ice pack. "It was nice meeting you," I said to Heart as I picked up my bags and exited the room.

I decided to find my next class and I took my schedule out, scanning it until I saw A-2. English with Sweetie Belle. Room 113. I put the schedule away and continued onwards, finding the room easily and waiting outside it for the bell to ring, thinking about my day so far. I had woken up to two strange voices, made a potential friend, made an ass of myself in front of the class, and then lost said potential friend.

It was going to be a long day.