Bluesong
I trotted through the hallways of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s School for Gifted Ponies, on my way to the first Science Olympiad practice of the season.
“Hi, Bluesong!” Lula called to me as I came through the door. I waved to her and continued on my way to the Anatomy table in the back. Dumping my saddlebags and coat on the floor, I plopped down in one of the chairs, waiting for my coach, Light Feather. Ponies slowly trickled in; my friends Green Lavender and Inferno came in together, then Scorpicus, Twerk, and Swift Flint. Finally, the first members of the Anatomy team came in, Flower Quill and Lightning Daisy, followed by Light Feather, who was holding two binders and three giant books in her green magical glow.
Before Light Feather could open her mouth, a green-coated pegasus mare in a pure white gown stepped up to the front of the room. My jaw dropped. She seemed to emulate happiness and hope in a radiant glow.
"Hi, everypony! I'm Nicole, and I'm the Science Olympiad head coach for Princess Twilight's School. We didn't do too well last year, we were beaten by sixth graders, but I'm sure that we'll do better this year. How many of you have done Science Olympiad before?" she said excitedly. Around three-fourths of the ponies in the room raised their hooves. "OK, so we've got a bunch of new ponies here. Great, I always want to see new faces! Don't worry, we'll get you up to speed soon enough. Let's smash all the records we've set over the past decade! Get to work, my friends!" I loved her instantly. I had never met anypony like her, and I probably never will. I wonder whether we could get together sometime.
"Bluesong! Equus to Bluesong!" With a jump, I realized that Lightning Daisy was waving her hoof in front of my face.
"Oops, sorry. Spaced out," I said sheepishly. After everypony gathered around a table, Light Feather opened her first binder and we got to work. We began studying the brain as the rest of the world slowly disappeared around us, enclosed in our focused bubble of the nervous system. After what felt like only a quarter-hour, Light Feather gave the call to end practice, and we all trooped out the door in pairs. As I flew away toward my house, I had the strange feeling I was missing something, but I had my saddlebags, my coat, and my binder… but there was something I missed. I just knew it, but I couldn't place it. I was still thinking about it as I slipped in the bright blue door of my cloud mansion, simultaneously turning on the lights, starting the stove, and levitating my HoofSound and earbuds over with my magic. Soon, I lost myself in my music and pushed the thought to the back of my head.
Bluesong
The next day was Meteorology practice for me from 3:20 to 4:20. My coach was Starshine, a unicorn from Appleloosa. It was a good thing that I had brought a huge three-inch binder, because it was clear right from the start that we would get a huge pile of paper in the event. I mostly listened with one ear while thinking about Nicole at the same time. I’m a multitasking queen and can do at least three things at once, even though sometimes I don’t do some very well. I mostly listened with one ear while thinking about Nicole at the same time. I’m a multitasking queen and can do at least three things at once, even though sometimes I don’t do some very well. Anyway, Starshine finished practice with a parting comment of “Study what I gave you this time, hard! You’ll get twice the amount of stuff next Wednesday.”
We all groaned, she had given us at least an inch of paper in an hour. We must be killing a rainforest here.
At 7:00 PM, I had Helicopters practice at Brown Flight’s house. We started building our first helicopter from a kit and a pattern. It was hard, precise work, we had divided into 2 groups of two: Lula and I, and Arctic Fire and Swift Flint. Half of practice was spent watching glue dry-it took 20 minutes!
The rest of the week was boring-I didn’t have anything other than school to do except think about Nicole, so I just practiced new magic for hours on end until Saturday, when Rotor Egg Drop practice was. Thunderlight, Scorpiocus’s dad, coached the event at his house, which was a mere block from mine. I showed up at the door bright and early 9:30 AM at the door with a large bag of balsa wood and a glue tube. Thunderlight welcomed me in, telling me to go down to the basement with Scorpiocus. There were three tables set up in a row with supplies spread over them, blocking off half the room. The doorbell rang multiple times, and Thunder Flash, Apple Fritter, Arctic Fire, and Swift Flint trotted in one after the other. Thunderlight brought up the rear with an attendance list suspended in his yellow magic. After ensuring that everypony was there, he headed up to the chalkboard. With a piece of chalk, he began to draw complicated aerodynamical diagrams while explaining the concepts necessary to build a proper Egg Drop device. At the end of practice, I had a green notebook filled with messy notes in my saddlebags as I flew home, contemplating the best way to build a successful device.
The next few weeks were similar, go to Anatomy and learn about systems, go to Meteorology and get piles of paper, go to Egg Drop and build, go to Helicopters and build. By the week right before our first competition at Dodge City South, I had a basic grasp on Meteorology, a deep understanding of Anatomy, a helicopter that stayed up for around a minute, and a half-decent Egg Drop device.
Nicole had sent out a finalized schedule, I was on Varsity in all four of my events. At practices that week, I finalized cheat sheets with Lightning Daisy and Cloud Chill, my Anatomy and Meteorology partners, respectively. Thunderlight took us to College of Ponyville across the street to drop our device for a last test run, it performed admirably. Brown Flight let us fly the helicopter in his basement, it got 1 minute and 30 seconds, our longest time yet. I went to bed on Friday after a long afternoon of studying, feeling quite confident about the next day.
