Insanity is its Own Reward

  I have never once been inside the magic building in our school. The building is large and made of white glossy stone, outside is a large statue of a pony with a long beard looking up at the sky. I think Red told me his name a while ago, umm...oh yeah! Star Swirl the Bearded, that's his name. I trot passed the grand statue and go to the automatic sliding doors where a dark blue unicorn mare stands.

"Hey you." The mare says.

I look back at the blue mare. "Yes?" I ask.

"Your not a unicorn."

Gee really? Is it that obvious? "Ok? What does that matter?" I ask.

The unicorn rolls her pink eyes as if she's talking to an idiot. "It matters because you cant cast spells, so you have no purpose in this building."

"I do have a purpose here, I need to speak to professor Sparkle."

"And why would she want to talk to a earth pony?" She asks.

Wow. I've never once met a racist pony before. Well I guess there is a first time for everything. "Listen I have a spell to deliver to her." I say showing her the piece of parchment.

The unicorn sighs. "Listen. Your not fooling anypony, there is no way a earth pony can make a spell. So get lost." She says glaring at me.

"I didn't make it." I tell her.

"Then who did?"

"You might know him. His name is Red."

She rolls her eyes again. "Oh that guy. He hasn't come to class in a week. What an idiot." She mutters.

  At this point I've lost my patience with this mare. Not only did she insult me, but she also insulted Red and that's enough to get me angry. My cheeks begin to feel warm, but I somehow manage to make them turn back to their original pink color. Why am I even going through this for Red? He could just easily waltz right into the building without going through this nonsense.

"Cant I just go in?" I ask trying one last time to reason with her.

"No." She says smirking.

  OK that's it! I trot right past her and go to the automatic doors, leading into the building. But...I cant go in something's stopping me. I move back from the doors and look at the unicorn. Her horn is glowing dark blue and the doors are open but there is a force field of blue unicorn magic. I look back at the mare my eyes narrowed.

"Let me in." I hiss at her.

She smirks again. "Nope."

  At this point I'm contemplating giving her a hoof to her face. But that could lead to expulsion, so lets not go there. I breathe in attempting to regain my calm attitude, to no avail. I stomp my hoof on the white stone, trying to vent out my anger with this mare. But still I'm angry with her, so what if I'm an earth pony just let me in!

"Racist prick." My though comes out as a mutter but she still hears me.

Her ears perk up. "What was that?"

"Oh nothing." I lie.

"That's right. Just get out of here your wasting your time. And more importantly my time."

"Just let me in." I growl at her.

She giggles. "Nope, I already said you are not going in. Stupid earth pony."

"What was that now?" I hear another voice say.

  I look behind the orange force field and there stands professor Sparkle, glaring angrily at the orange unicorn mare. Wow, I've never once in my life seen an alicorn princess in the flesh. I mean I've seen pictures of princess Celestia and her sister Luna. But never in my life have I ever seen an alicorn right before me. Its like she radiates power and authority, the way she stands...proud but also at the same time she seems humble and down to earth.

"I thought I told you that I would not tolerate your attitude towards other ponies Moon." She says looking at the dark blue mare apparently named Moon. "I'm very sorry about this, I've been trying to get her to shape up." She says looking at me with a warm smile. "But apparently she hasn't changed at all." She says looking back at Moon. "Now Moon I demand that you take down the force field this instant." She says to Moon.

"B...but professor." Moon responds nervously.

Professor Sparkle stomps her hoof. "I said take it down." She says sternly.

Moon sighs looking at the ground. "OK." And just like that the blue force field is down.

"And stop loitering around here Moon, don't you have some studying to do?" Professor Sparkle says.

"Yes professor." Moon says trotting away.

"Goodness. Sorry about that dear, I never knew she was still like that. Now what I can I do for you?" She asks.

I show her the parchment. "Well one of your students Red wanted me to give you this." I put it in her hoof. "Its a spell to change ponies eye color."

"Thank you. You can come in if you like." Professor Sparkle says.

  I had almost forgotten that the blue force field had been taken down. I quickly enter the building and stand next to the alicorn who is still reading over Red's notes. The interior of the building is large and made of the same white stone that the exterior is made of. All around are purple drapes depicting a unicorn with a glowing horn. And various spell books lay in glass containers, with various hoof written spells. They have spells for everything! Spells for mane growth, spells for good luck, and so on. I'm surprised I'm able to survive without magic.

"This all looks very elaborate." Professor Sparkle says.

"Yes, he has been working on it for a year now."  I tell her.

"Well the spell looks like it should work. But I'll send it to the department of magic in Canterlot just to be sure. Who knows maybe Red can make something of himself with this."

"He would love that." I tell her.

She giggles. "Yes I'm sure he would." She smiles at me. "Oh but you may want to tell him that there is a final tomorrow. He wouldn't want to fail that."

"I will professor Sparkle."

"Please call me Twilight."

"I will Twilight." I tell her.

"Good. Now please go do so I have a class to teach in five minutes wouldn't want to be late. Celestia knows what happens when I'm late for something." Twilight says galloping off. The sound of her hooves on the white stone resonating throughout the building.

                                                                  ***

  Before I go back to my dorm I decide to go to the bathroom. The bathroom is in the same hallway as our dorm but all the way down to the left. I open the bathroom door and enter. The bathroom is always nice and tidy, the floor is hardwood and the stalls are always kept clean. But I don't plan on peeing instead I go over to the sink and look at myself in the mirror. My purple mane is done in a nice simple braid but I have a few flyaway hairs that need to be put back in order. I begin to do my mane adjusting the little hairs, but they keep coming up.

"Oh what a damn mess." A mare grumbles behind me. "That damn professor." Jeez what's she mad about?

  I look into the mirror and see a light yellow pegasus mare in the reflection with a sour expression on her face. In her hoof is a small brown bottle that she drinks from as she goes into one of the stalls. She's probably just some dropout drunk that's mad at the world. I continue to attempt to put my purple mane in order while the mare in the stall continues to talk.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" I hear a gulp. "I know what I'm doing I'm the training psychologist here." Psychologist?

  My ears perk up at the word psychologist and I stop trying to fix my hair. Instead I look over at the stall where the mare is at and continue to listen.

"Oh no that could be hazardous!" I hear her yell in a mocking tone. "B.S. its hazardous!" She yells.

  The stall door opens and she angrily trots next to me taking another swig from her bottle. She then proceeds to inspect herself in the mirror at the same time making small glances at me. I make eye contact with her a few times. Not too many though she's already in a very bad mood as it is.

"Your in my class huh?" She asks me.

"I'm sorry?" I say.

"I asked if your in my class." She says.

"Um. If you mean professor Trotter's psychology class then yes." I tell her.

"Then I feel sorry for us." She takes another gulp then turns to me. "He's a complete prick." She says, her breath reeking of alcohol.

I cough at the stench of her breath. "Really? He's always been nice to me." I tell her.

"Then your lucky." She says. She puts her hoof out for me to shake. "Names Violet, Violet Hearth."

I take her hoof in mine and shake it feeling very awkward. "I'm Evening Star, you can call me Eve."

"Cool, no way in hell am I calling you Evening Star. So for how long have you been in the horrid class of Mr. Trotter?"

I know he's not a bad teacher but no use in getting Violet mad. "Um, about a year why?"

"Oh Celestia I feel sorry for you." She smirks at her bottle and takes another long drink. "Want some?" She asks.

  Never once in my life have I touched a drop of alcohol. I remember when I was just a filly when I said to my dad that I would never drink in fear of becoming like my mom. But I don't want to seem disrespectful so I take the bottle and take a small sip. Wow that stuff is strong the moment that the liquid came in contact with my throat it burned.

"What you never drank before?" She asks.

"Nope." I say trying to get the taste out of my mouth.

"Hmm. So Eve you wanna go do something tomorrow after class?"

  I probably shouldn't go with this mare since she'd probably have a bad impact on my studies. But again I don't want to look bad, and maybe Red can tag along too. After all Celestia knows he could use a day outside.

"Sure, but do you mind if my friend tags along?"

"Yes." She says quickly.

Well that was a quick response. "Are you sure he could really use the fresh air." I tell her.

"Not my problem." She says walking to the bathroom door. "If you want to do something just meet me behind the building where they teach magic." She says leaving the bathroom without saying another word.

Well that was. Odd.

                                                                  ***

  Soon after the encounter with Violet I went back to the dorm were Red is waiting for me in the desk. He had moved the chair at the desk to face the entryway probably to get the news sooner. Red puts his hooves together excitedly then jumps out of his seat and gallops to me.

"So how did it go!? Did she like it!? Could it be useful to other ponies!? And-"

I put a hoof to stop him from talking. "Red calm down. Yes Twilight liked, and she sent it to the department of magic in Canterlot to be reviewed to see if it'll be useful."

  Red's ears go up for a bit, but then droop down. And then his ears perk up again this time they stay perked up.

"So is this good or bad?" He asks.

"Both it all depends on what the department of magic thinks." I tell him.

"Oh...so its like fifty, fifty huh?" He asks.

"Um yes." I say.

"Well I guess that's good."

"Yeah don't worry Red I'm sure they'll like it."

Red smiles. "Thanks Eve." He says. He trots behind me and goes to the bunk bed and rests on the bottom bunk. "Well I might as well relax, no need to let my nerves get the better of me." He says.

  Its good to see Red relaxing for once, instead of his constant writing on the desk and the window. He's even run out of space on the desk so now he's writing in the drawers! Well at least he wont be writing anymore notes on my things, not that it matters now anyway. Since the desk is barely recognizable and you can just barely see outside of the window through his notes and diagrams of eyes and notes. Well I may as well get to studying tomorrow I actually have a class so...wait! Almost forgot.

"Hey Red." I say.

"Yeah Eve?"

"Twilight wanted me to tell you that tomorrow you have a final so you'd better be at class tomorrow." I tell him.

"Oh yeah of course. I wont miss class tomorrow."

"So shouldn't you study?" I ask.

He shakes his head, his shaggy mane moving with him. "No need to." He points to his head. "Got it all up here." He says.

"If you say so Red." I respond.

  I sure hope he's right I wouldn't want him to fail and not pass. But he should be able to pass I mean he did manage to make a spell that changes ponies eye color. I look back at his notes and smile, yep I'm sure he will pass. After all he is probably one of the smartest stallions in the entire school. Maybe even in all of Equestria.