Shoot for the Stars

The Happiest Days of Our Lives

Twilight Sparkle cantered through the vast halls of the Equestrian International University. There weren’t too many students attending early morning classes, but even so the halls weren’t exactly empty. The young unicorn supposed it had to do with the size of the university’s attendance. She, herself, had opted to take as many classes as she could get away with on her scholarship, and this meant most of her days would be taken up in study, including the early morning. Of course, even with the scholarship the university was providing half of the lavender filly’s expenses still fell to her family to pay. She felt guilty for that. Her family was lower-middle class, and while they might be able to make it by they would do much better without her. She was expensive, and she was aware of it. It was not that Twilight had expensive tastes, nor anything else so shallow. It was more of the issue of keeping her alive that was expensive, the pills in particular, and here she was now going to a university. “Well, at least they won’t have to spend much else on me during the semester, hopefully.” The unicorn thought.

Twilight noticed she was drawing a few stares, and was thankful it wasn’t much else. If her experience meeting her roommate yesterday had been enough of an example, her interactions with her fellow students here likely wouldn’t be much better than they had been in high school. The unicorn sighed at the memory.
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The dark blue alicorn cautiously shook Twilight’s hoof saying, “I’m Luna.”

“Pleased to meet you.” The lavender filly responded politely before asking, “Hey, you’re an alicorn right?”

Luna retracted her hoof and sighed as an annoyed look crossed her face. “Yes. I am.” She answered shortly.

Twilight smiled eagerly, and had to resist squeeing as she exclaimed. “Oh my gosh! I’ve never met an alicorn before! I have so many questions!”

Luna closed her eyes in aggravation, but at the time Twilight had ignored the sign and pressed on. As navy mare walked further into the dorm the unicorn continued, “Is it true alicorns are more powerful magically than most unicorns can hope to be?”

“Yes.” Luna grunted, and took off her headphones and the MP3 player hooked on her side.

As she placed them on the desk Twilight spoke up again, “Do you have any idea how or why? I mean, I know Neighkola Tesla had a theory among his other research and experiments, but what was recovered from the burning of his lab was negligible, just like most everything else from the incident.”

Luna took a deep breath before answering shortly, “No.”

“Really? Well that’s a shame. I was hopin-”

The alicorn interrupted the filly by raising a single hoof as she turned to the unicorn. “Stop. Right. There.”

Twilight ceased her eager speech, and stared at Luna curiously before the navy mare spoke again, “How old are you exactly?”

“Fifteen. You?” Twilight queried.

Luna raised an eyebrow but answered, “Twenty-one. Aren’t you a bit young to be here?”

Twilight dragged a hoof across the floor, and looked down embarrassedly as she explained. “Well, yeah, I guess. I graduated high school two years ago, though, at the top of my class. I guess the university must have heard. Because a few months ago they sent me a notice with an offer of a scholarship. They weren’t the only one, but EIU’s the best. I wanted to come here, so…here I am.”

Luna’s face scrunched up as she asked, “You graduated high school at thirteen? EIU requested you to attend? Are you some kind of genius?”

Twilight blushed but nodded. The older mare took that in for a moment, and shook her head mumbling something incoherent to the lavender unicorn. “Is everything ok?” Twilight asked.

“Fine.” Luna responded shortly before making her way out of the dorm room.

“Where are you going?” Twilight called.

“To get my stuff.” Luna answered in an aggravated tone.
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Twilight wasn’t exactly certain what she had done wrong, but when her roommate returned she’d refused to speak. The young unicorn knew well enough that she was being purposefully ignored, and she supposed she should be glad Luna hadn’t decided to pick on her instead. Still, she had to wonder what had caused the cold behavior. She had been polite. Maybe a bit more energetic than normal, but could she be blamed? Alicorns were very rare, and typically privileged in many ways. The things Twilight imagined she could learn from them just made her tingle with excitement. Well, she could puzzle it out later. It was only the second day of the semester, and she would have plenty of time to work out her roommate later. For now, she should focus. After all she was about to enter her first class of the year. Professor Flam’s language arts.

Twilight took her seat in the center of the first row, and stared about the empty room. It was large. Much larger than it had any business being, but that was only because it was made to seat two hundred students. Of course, since it was early morning there weren’t nearly that many ponies present. Only around twenty-five were in attendance, and class would be starting in a few minutes. An alabaster unicorn with a gorgeous purple mane sat down next to Twilight. She didn’t seem to notice the younger pony for a few moment, but when she did she began to stare. Twilight tried to ignore the older mare’s look by focusing on the professor’s vacant desk, but it became increasingly difficult as the seconds slowed. “Um, excuse me,” The white unicorn spoke up, “I don’t mean to be rude, but how old are you?”

“Uhh…fifteen.” Twilight answered as she glanced at the older unicorn nervously. “And yes, I know where I am.”

The alabaster mare rubbed her chin in thought before saying, “You must be something special then.”

She offered a hoof introducing herself, “My name is Rarity.”

“Twilight Sparkle.” The lavender filly responded as she shook the older mare’s hoof.

“It is pleasure to meet you, Ms. Sparkle.” Rarity stated.

“Please, just…Twilight.” The filly corrected with a glassy smile.

“As you wish.” Rarity acquiesced, and withdrew her hoof. “You appear nervous. Are you alright?”

“Um…well…” Twilight mumbled.

Rarity smiled, “Oh don’t be so bashful. I don’t bite.”

“S-sorry. I’m new here.” Twilight tried to excuse herself.

The older unicorn seemed to accept this as she replied, “A freshmare, hmm? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to things around here quick.”

“Wait, you’re not a first year too?” Twilight asked.

“Oh no, this is my third year here.” Rarity answered.

“But, shouldn’t you be in a different class?” Twilight wondered.

Rarity laughed before explaining, “Oh no, Twilight. This place is a lot different from whatever school you’ve been to before. They can’t afford to organize the classes by year here. There’s too many students who attend EIU. If they did that the classes would drag on forever, and the professors would never get a break. This way they can pack in as many students per lesson as possible.”

Before Twilight Sparkle could question the matter further her attention was brought to the front of the class by a stomping hoof on the professor’s desk. There stood a very tall but slim unicorn stallion wearing a dress vest and jacket. His fur was cream-colored, but his mane, tail, and large mustache were all red with white stripes in them. “Good morning class.” He said in a cheery tone. “For those of you new to EIU, I am Prof. Flam, and I welcome you all to another year of learning. Now then, I suggest you all turn to page 75 of Modern Literary Genius. To start off the year we will be studying Neil Gaimane.”

Twilight telekinetically retrieved the textbook from her saddlebags without looking, and turned to the indicated page with a smile. She was eager to start learning again.
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Luna tapped a hoof impatiently as she waited for Discord to show up. It was twelve o’clock, and the magical science class was supposed to begin an hour ago. The alicorn wasn’t the only one growing agitated. The room was filled with ponies and other various creatures taping their claws, hoof wrestling, and pacing to waste the time. Luna idly wished she could have her music and headphones to pass the time, but, for obvious reasons, music was forbidden in the class room. Still, she was irked at not having her headphones on her. The big bulky black things had been with her since she was small, and she felt exposed without their comfortably familiar weight resting against her neck or ears.

This vulnerability only served to further her aggravation at Discord. She had opted to take his classes again this year because he had been entertaining the last, and Luna was certain, from all the stories her sister told her, that being late like this was Discord’s idea of a joke. The dark mare was beginning to regret taking this class a second year when a voice suddenly cried out from the back of the room, “Hello, my little ponies! It is wonderful to see you all again this year!”

Luna, and everyone else, quickly looked to the back to find the draconequus with an arm wrapped around the shoulder of a red teenage dragon. The dragon was glaring at the taller creature, and it was fairly obvious to everyone that angering him was just what Discord had intended with the little pony comment. “I hope you are all ready for another splendid year! For those who do not know I am your professor. The great and powerful Discord!” The draconequus introduced himself, and struck a dramatic pose as a star and moon speckled cape and pointed hat appeared on him.

“Trixie’s clothes!” One of the students cried out.

Discord casually grabbed his apparel, and wadded them up into ball. He threw the ball in the general direction of the voice saying, “Oh, calm down. As if I’d think of keeping something so tacky.”

Despite her earlier aggravation Luna couldn’t help, but smirk at the professor’s antics. The draconequus backstroked through the air before landing in front of his desk explaining, “Now, I was thinking that since it took me so long to arrive that I might as well skip your lecture, and credit you all the hours anyway. However, then I thought how irresponsible that was of me, and I decided that instead of a two hour lecture I would give a three hour one instead. Unfortunately the university won’t let me credit you the extra hour, but look at it this way, you’ll be prepared for any early tests I might just throw your way.”

Luna scowled. She knew well enough from last year that Discord would likely be holding a pop quiz the very next day, and if she wanted to stand a chance of passing she’d have to stay the whole three hours. “Now then, let's begin. As you all know runes were invented as way to- Oh, what are you all doing?” The draconequus stopped his speech.

Luna rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what Discord was questioning. She had been one of the few students not grab a textbook from her saddlebags, and that was a smart move. Discord hated textbooks. He considered them bland and restrictive. As the professor began a tirade about the learning material the alicorn let her mind wander.

It drifted to the only interesting piece of information it had been given recently. Her roommate. The dark blue mare had nothing against the filly she’d been stuck with, but, to be frank, she found Twilight Sparkle to be annoying. All those questions had simply gotten on her nerves. Luna had hoped it was all just some joke, but the lavender unicorn had confirmed that she was indeed attending the university. Perhaps the alicorn had been a bit hasty in making a judgment on Twilight, but she wasn’t much into hyperactive fillies, like she assumed her roommate was. She also didn’t want to spend her spare time talking about science or math. She had to deal with that enough from her sister. So Luna had decided to ignore her roommate for the time being. Eventually the unicorn would take a hint, and leave her alone. “Luna here is a perfect example.” A voice snapped the alicorn back to reality. “Look at her, daydreaming in my class! My class! The fun one! Why I’m insulted by this. What have you to say for yourself young mare?”

The alicorn flustered, “Professor, I-I didn’t mean to-”

“No, no. You’ve done enough damage as it is. If my class isn’t entertaining enough for you then simply leave.” Discord instructed before bending over, and whispering into her ear. “Enjoy the quiz tomorrow.”

“But professor, I-” Luna began again only to be interrupted.

“I said leave.” Discord ordered adopting a mock-superior tone, and pointing at the door.

Luna grumbled as she stood from her seat, and trotted outside lecture hall. She had spent an hour waiting for Discord to show, and when he did he didn’t set about teaching anything. He just prattled on, joked, and kicked her out. An hour wasted, and she would have to spend the entire evening studying to be ready for his test tomorrow. She had no idea what he had been about to teach. He was just as likely to jump on a different subject as teach whatever he had been about to on runes. Luna was starting to see why her sister hated Discord so much.
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Twilight Sparkle sat happily munching on the veggie pizza she had ordered. Flim’s Pizzeria was conveniently located on the same complex block as her dorm, so the unicorn has decided to stop here for lunch before heading back for a few hours. Though, she had to say she was surprised by the remarkable similarity between Flim and Prof. Flam. She wondered about that. Of course, the thought of Prof. Flam pushed the curiosity right out. As it reminded her of the three classes she’d been to so far today. All had gone well, and the filly was indeed pleased with the little bit she had learnt so far. Aside from staring no one had been rude to her, and the unicorn Rarity seemed like a nice pony. Twilight hoped she would be able to see more of the unicorn over the semester. After all, the young filly’s roommate didn’t really appear eager to have her, and having no one to talk to did become rather lonely. “Hi there!” A pink pony exclaimed as her face popped up upside down right in front of Twilight.

The unicorn started at the sudden invasion of personal space before a piece of paper was shoved into her face. She pulled the paper off with her magic only to find that the pink pony was gone. Twilight stared about the restaurant for a moment, but she could discover no traces of her mysterious assailant. She sighed, and looked over the piece of paper. It had a picture of three balloons, two blue and one yellow, and a small greeting written in bright pink. What was more, both the picture and the text looked suspiciously like they were written in crayon. Twilight read the greeting silently, “I am super-duper-ultra-happy to announce the opening semester party being held on the vacant third floor of Building Five in Block Z. I giddily invite you to come, and join the fun on Friday. There will be candy, snacks, soda, games, dancing, and I wanted there to be music, but the staff wouldn’t let met because music’s not supposed to be performed on campus and I argued saying, ‘Well it’s not going to be performed you silly-willy-filly I’m just going to play recorded music REAL LOUD’ but they didn’t seem to want to be anymore lenient so-”

Twilight ceased reading, and clenched her eyes shut while she rubbed her temple with a hoof. The blatant disregard for grammar appalled her, and made her brain hunch over in pain. After she recovered from the shock, the lavender unicorn neatly folded up the invitation, and placed it in her saddlebags. She would read more about the party later.

Once she had finished eating, Twilight rose from her seat, and began to leave only to bump into something. She backed up to see that she had hit a rather large gryphon. The carnivore was almost entirely brown, but its head was white. Next to it was a rainbow-maned pegasus, and both of them of were glaring at Twilight. The lavender filly gulped and apologized, “I’m sorry. I should have been paying attention to where I was going.”

“Damn straight you should’ve.” The gryphon said in feminine voice.

“What are you doing here anyway, shrimp? Shouldn’t you be off enjoying nap time at magic kindergarten?” The rainbow pegasus asked mockingly.

“I-what? No. I’m supposed to be here.” Twilight replied.

The gryphon snorted, “What? You got some kind of growth problem?”

“No. I’m still a filly. I’m not fully grown yet.” Twilight corrected, but immediately wished she hadn’t.

The pegasus broke down laughing. “You got to be shittin’ me!” She proclaimed. “What are you? Some kind of egg-head?”

“Spends her whole life in books never learning about real life.” The gryphon continued mocking. “Tell me foal, do you even know how to do it?”

Twilight ground her teeth, and struggled to breathe right. She couldn’t become too upset. That would only make things worse. Fortunately for her, she was saved at that moment. “And just what is so wrong with being intelligent, or short for that matter?” A very authoritative voice said from behind her.

The gryphon and pegasus began balking as the latter stuttered, “I-I-I ne-need to-”

“Need to what? I can’t understand you.” The voice asked again.

“W-we need to go practice.” The gryphon said with glassy smile before snatching up her companion and running away.

“I thought so.” The voice said to itself.

Twilight turned around with a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” She said.

When she looked at her savior, however, she fell on her plot in awe. It was the tallest pony she’d ever seen and another alicorn. An absolutely beautiful white one with a multi-colored mane and tail. The alicorn smiled kindly as she replied, “It was nothing. You’re Twilight Sparkle, correct?”

“How do you know?” The filly asked tilting her head in confusion.

“My name is Celestia, and the university has assigned me as your advisor.” The alicorn introduced herself.

“Wait…Aren’t advisors normally for third year and over students?” Twilight wondered.

“Yes, but you’re a special exception.” Celestia explained.

“I seem to be a special exception to a lot of things.” Twilight stated.

Celestia chuckled, and offered the young unicorn a hoof. “Well, we can discuss just how special you are at your dorm. That is, if you don’t have anymore classes to attend to.”

Twilight blushed, and grabbed the alicorn’s hoof to pull herself up. “No. Not until late this afternoon.”

“Then lead the way.”
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Luna sighed as she approached her dorm room door. The only other class she had today had gone well, but Discord’s little trick wasn’t something she was going to get over easily. She had no idea if the draconequus was going to make the quiz count for grading or not. He was hard predict sometimes. The sounds of laughter from her room caught her attention. The alicorn furrowed her brow, and opened the door to find her roommate laughing with her sister. The navy mare wasn’t sure what had been so funny, but she didn’t really care. There was another matter here. “Tia? What are you doing here? I know I didn’t text you where my dorm was yet.” She wondered.

Celestia appeared surprised but smirked, “You have the same dorm room as Twilight here? Well that should make things simple.”

Twilight appeared confused. “Wait, you two know each other?” The filly asked.

“We’re sisters.” Luna answered without looking at her roommate. “You didn’t answer my question Tia.”

“I’m here for Twilight.” Celestia stated.

“Why?”

“The staff assigned me to her. That’s what Prof. Zecora wanted to talk about the other day.” The white alicorn explained.

Assigned? Luna wasn’t going to ask again. She wasn’t happy though. She had even more reason to ignore her roommate now. After all, there’s no telling what Twilight would say to her sister. The younger alicorn wasn’t paranoid enough to think her sister spied on her, but Celestia was overprotective. If she caught wind of something she didn’t like she’d be on Luna’s flank in instant to nag her until whatever was wrong was fixed. The navy mare shook her head, and levitated her pPod and headphones to her before turning back towards the door. “Where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“For a walk.” Luna answered shortly before she turned on her pPod, and began drowning her ears in music.
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Author's Note: Well I have several things to apologize for with this chapter. First, I'd like to say that I'm sorry for the lateness. I just barely made it before my deadline. Second, I'd like to apologize for not much happening in this chapter either. Don't worry though, that will change with the next chapter. I intend to reward you all for your patience with a, hopefully, long one that does contain a lot of interest. For now, I'd like to ask what you all think of this latest chapter?

Also, this chapter's title is another reference to Pink Floyd. It is named after another of the songs from The Wall. I would like to have chosen a different title, but, as I said, not much happened in here. So it was hard to find a song fitting of this chapter. I had to make do. Sorry.