Episode 3: New Day, New Student, New Confusion?
Side note: Ok apologize for the confusing ep-3-starting, but the stupid site doesnt allow script formats period X/ cant really argue since not my site, still say its a stupid rule T_T. *sigh* anyway, enjoy the parts that are NOT-SCRIPTED!!! For those interested in the scripted parts too, be sure to check out Fanfiction.net ( im the same author as this one)- while they dont generally allow scripts (which is wierd since i've read alot of FFs scripted : /...) They don't enforceit XP. Either way, enjoy and review ^^
Episode 3: New Day, New Student, New Confusion...
"Will ya hurry up in there?" The baby dragon asked impatiently, tapping his foot on the other side of the bathroom door with a towel around his waist, a light blue shower cap on, and green scrubber secured in his hand. It had only been A full day since Starlight began his new life among the other ponies, and official first day he was going to learn anything that he didn't already learn about from Spike. From the day before, majority of it was spent with Twilight explaining to him what the Princess had requested, and what the plan was between the group. It was officially decided that once a week, everypony would take a turn watching over him at their respective houses, save for Pinkie Pie. It wasn't anything against her, but Twilight didn't want to rush things since she was still the "scariest" pony among the group, at least according to Starlight.
As for Starlight himself, he was a bit interested in the idea. Starlight had mentioned how none of the other ponies in space had any knowledge of what they reffered to as the "Below World", and that was just for the ponies that were able to make contact with each other. Being in space, Starlight commented how he rarely ever saw ponies, or made many friends for that matter. Whether it was still just a case of what he could remember from the day before, he couldn't even recall his parents if he even wanted to. It was one of the little comments he made that made some of the group feel a bit sorry for him.
Thus brings us to today...well...yesterday first of course. After the night's crazy adventure, Twilight spent most of the next day planning on what to do. It only JUST occured to her that she's never been in charge of actually teaching a pupil of her own, and she was excited for it! At the same time, it struck her that she was dealing with a small pony who didn't know much of anything about the new world. And it was at that moment when it struck her; what better way to start teaching a new pony something than starting his or her first day of school? Now it brings us to where we currently were- in the bathroom where Twilight was busy getting Starlight ready.
"Sorry Spike, it'll just be a few more minutes!" Twilight apologized briefly before continuing to scrub Starlight's head, "I just want to make sure Starlight looks presentable for his first day of school!"
"And she's attacking me with some strange weapon!" Starlight added.
"It's called a scrubber Starlight. And I'm not attacking you with it, I'm just trying to flatten your mane so it's not all bushy. And stop eating the bars of soap!"
"Hey, I've never experienced hunger before, I don't know what I should be eating. Besides, I thought you said I needed to start having fresh breath?"
"I don't understand how you can enjoy the taste anyway?"
"...I'm only supposed to eat stuff that tastes good?"
"Geeeh!" Twilight moaned as Spike simply rolled his eyes. It was conversations like this he had to spend hearing of most of yesterday. As with any pony who's entirely new to just about everything, Starlight had no idea how things worked around the place. He kept asking questions about what ponies did, whenever he saw something he found interesting, he asked to the last detail about it (taking over two hours to explain how a clock works for example...), and so on. And that was just for the things inside of the tree! Starlight didn't know anything about the outside yet, and wasn't exactly all that thrilled either. When Twilight first mentioned school to him, he was ok with the fact since it was only for half the day for the first few weeks to start out. Then when he found out there would be about twenty other kids like him, that's when he got a bit anxious. Still, the only relief he did have at the moment was how he would only be at school for part of the day, Twilight didn't want to put too much pressure on the little colt on his first day out in the real world.
*Knock*
*Knock*
*Knock*
"You almost done?" Spike knocked again. His ears perked up as he heard the sound of locks clicking from the other side of the door.
"It's open." Twilight hollered as Spike casually walked in. He noticed Starlight sitting on a stool near one of the large mirrors as Twilight worked on combing and blow-drying his hair. The little colt didn't seem too thrilled, however, letting out an occasional grunt or moan as Spike closed the shower curtain.
"Mmhh...Ngh...Do you have to pull so hard?" Starlight asked, a bit confused about the scenario at all. "And why does my hair have to be straight anyway?"
"Because, it's going to be your first day meeting other ponies other than myself and my friends. You need to make a good first impression with everypony, show 'em what you can do!" Twilight replied, somewhat excited about the thought, even though it was technically Starlight's "day". Starlight rubbed his chin for a moment as he thought about the last statement she said.
"Show 'em what I can do?" Starlight repeated as a smile grew on his face. "I know how to do that!" He chirped, quickly building magic up in his horn. Before Twilight could stop him, it was already too late as Starlight's magic began to build up around the blow-dryer, causing it to-
*KA-BOOM!*
There was a minor explosion that only engulfed both Starlight and Twilight. As the smoke cleared, the two ponies could still be seen in their natural positions as before, except now covered up in suit and a bit of dust. While Starlight had a simple smile on his face, not even opening his eyes, Twilight's half opened eyes obviously knew one thing; she would have to give him a bath, again, and herself one later. She shook what suit she could again before giving Starlight a calm but firm look.
"And no magic today, Starlight!" Twilight deemed, causing the small pony to moan. She perked her ears up again as she heard Spike chuckling while scrubbing his head in the shower.
"Awww c'mon Twilight, everypony loooves the new pony that can cause explosions." Spike teased, although the comment didn't phase Starlight quite right as he got his hopes up again, smiling.
"Really?" He asked excitedly. Before Spike could even respond, Twilight, knowing how Spike's "encouragement" would make things worse, used her magic as she turned the right faucet on the sink. Almost instantly, there was a shrieking cry as Spike's shower water began to go steaming hot, only for a few seconds before Twilight turned the sink off again.
"Oops, my magic slipped."
"Did not!"
My Little Pony...
My Little Pony...
Aaah aah aah aah...
(My Little Pony)...
I used to wonder what friendship could be...
(My Little Pony)...
Until you all shared its magic with me...
Big adventure...
Tons of fun...
A beautiful heart...
Faithful and strong...
Sharing kindness...
It's an easy feat...
And magic makes it all complete...
You have My Little Pony...
Do you know, you are my very best friends...
"Hey Sweetiebell, hey Scootaloo!" Applebloom greeted excitedly as she rushed towards her friends on the School's playground.
"Hey Applebloom," Sweetiebell greeted back, "What's up?"
"You won't b'alieve what mah sister told me yesterday. We're gettin ourselves a new student!" Both, Sweetiebell and Scootaloo gasped excitedly.
"Really? That sounds awesome!" Scootaloo announced before a curious look grew on her face. "Umm...exactly who are we getting?" Applebloom rubbed her chin for a moment as she went deep into thought. Sadly, all she could do was shrug as she didn't know the answer.
"Sorry, but Ah didn't get that much detail 'bout it. She said it was somepony livin' around with Twilight for awhile, but then the same pony would be livin' at our place for awhile too!" She added.
"Where's the pony from exactly?" Sweetiebell asked, wanting a little more information about the new pony as well.
"Still don't know that, sorry. Mah sister said she and her friends found 'em yesterday, but said it'd be too confusing to explain to me."
"It's a pony they found, what's to be confusing?" Scootaloo asked, getting confusion from the actual confusion of the problem.
"Hard to say, but mah sister asked if we could introduce ourselves to the new pony so they wouldn't feel lonely. She say's we'd be in a surprise when we meet 'em, but didn't really say why either." Applebloom added. As Scootaloo opened her mouth, most likly to ask another question, her brows raised a bit as something caught her sight.
"Hey, isn't that Twilight over there?" Scootaloo asked, pointing her hoof as she did. The other two looked back to see the grown unicorn walking over to the school itself casually, also apparently chatting to another small pony next to her. The girls couldn't see from where they were standing, seeing how the small pony was on the complete opposite side of where they were, but they could see small orangish legs on the other side, indicating there was another pony there, and more or less likly the one that had been the subject of their conversation. Sadly, they couldn't even see said pony enter the school as Twilight opened the door, due to the doorway opening in their direction. With a moan, the trio watched as Twilight entered behind the pony before closing the door, dissopointed that they didn't even manage to get a good glimpse of who the pony was or what it looked like.
"Ah reckon that's them then." Applebloom commented before facing the others again.
"I wonder if they have their cutie mark too?" Sweetiebell asked, wondering somewhat excitedly at the thought.
"Hey yeah, we could ask him or her to join Triple C!" Scootaloo added happily.
"Wouldn't it be the "Quadruple C" if we did?" Applebloom added with a raised brow. Scootaloos excitement dimmed down slightly as she rubbed her chin.
"Oh yeah..."Quadruple C" doesn't really have a good ring to it though..." She commented as the trio all tried to come up with a better name.
At the same time, Twilight currently checked things in with Ms. Cheerilee. They had already met the other day to set up a scheduel for school, but it was the first official time meeting Starlight in pony. It was a bit of a surprise to her at first to find out that Starlight was actually a alicorn, not getting that part of the detail as they talked yesterday. But she couldn't care less either way as it was just another face for her to meet as well as a new student to befriend. Starlight himself, however, reverted back to his previous shyness the group had come to known from earlier. Twilight officially deemed that anytime Starlight would run into anypony that he would most likely be scared, though, would be able to warm up to them eventually in time. And Cheerilee was perfectly fine with it. Being an experienced teacher, she was used to shyness from students on their first day of school, even having experienced it herself when she was a little filly.
"Well Starlight, I'd like to be the first to officially welcome you to our school. I'm sure you'll make many friends around here." Ms. Cheerliee greeted with a positive-pony additude. As expected, Starlight slowly turned his head away, unable to look directly at her as he replied.
"T-Th...Thanks..." He said, meeply. Twilight smiled at the sight though, knowing it was a lot faster than when the group had tried to get him to talk upon meeting him.
"Thanks again for accepting him to the school too Ms. Cheerilee. " Twilight thanked as she looked back to her, "I know it was short notice and all, but I really appreciate it." Ms. Cheerilee simply smiled back to her.
"It was no problem at all Twilight," she replied, "I know we'll have a great time." Cheerilee said as she looked towards the clock. The small hand was almost on the 9 by this point, indicating it was almost time for the bell to ring. "And speaking of time, I think it's about time for you to meet your new classmates." Twilight's attention slowly shifted to the clock though as a thought suddenly came to mind.
"Hey wait...do you still use the school bell in the morning?" Twilight asked with a slight hint of nervousness. Cheerilee looked back to her in a somewhat questioning state.
"Umm yes, why do you ask?" A brief hint of terror befell Twilight's face as she realized a rather important aspect of Starlight's personality.
"Oh no-"
*RIIIIINNNNG!*
"Ahhhhhhh!" Starlight's scream was the next noise that followed after the bell as he quickly burst out of the room through the open door, leaving behind a glowing star trail as before for a few seconds. At the same time, the students who were just walking towards the school were awwed by the dazzling light they just saw, along with the large ball of light that flew out of the school, and left the sparkling trail behind it. Twilight simply moaned to herself as she quickly galloped out of the school, chasing the trail Starlight left behind as she tried to catch up to him.
With the chaos briefly out of the way, Ms. Cheerilee called the rest of her students in as the school day began. She began explaining to everypony about the new students they should be expecting within the next few minutes, added that Twilight manages to find him in that amount of time to begin with. Over the few minutes, Ms. Cheerilee explained to the classroom more about the new pony from what Twilight told her, minus any mention of possibly belonging to royalty considering even Celestia herself wasn't sure, and about how he would be joining the school for only half a day long for the first few months. Many of the pony students were more surprised by how she mentioned the new pony was an alicorn, already getting the excited "Cutie Mark Crusaders" even more excited. Just as she finished with introductions, everyone jumped a bit startled by the feeling of the ground shaking, as well as something sounding like it was brushing from outside. As everypony turned their heads, many of them were dumbfounded by what they saw out the window.
While it wasn't fully clear what was pulling it, everypony watched as a large tree appeared to be moving outside, slowly past the classroom windows. The sight of it was surprise enough, but what surprised them even more was who was pulling it. The door magically opened with a purple aura around it as Twilight could be seen could be seen struggling to walk backwards as she walked inside, pulling the still terrified Starlight by his tail, over to the school door. Interestingly enough, he had a rather tight grip with his arms attached around the tree, holding onto it for dear life. After a brief sigh escaped Twilight's lips, she took a rather interesting attempt of prying Starlight from the tree as she removed one of the quills from her saddle bag, then used it's feather tip to lightly stroke Starlight's underhooves. The small tickle alone was enough to send the small alicorn into a giggling fit, and loosening his arms enough for Twilight to teleport the tree back where he got it from, presumably at least.
Seeing her work done, she wiped her forehead calmly before putting the quill away. Realizing where he was again, Starlight gave Twilight a somewhat pleading and worried look. It couldn't be heard what she was saying, but Twilight appeared to be giving some comforting words to the small alicorn before patting him on the head, watching briefly as he slowly walked into the classroom before carrying on her own way. Starlight looked around a bit nervously at the class as he slowly walked over to the teacher, sitting next to her in front of the glass with his head slightly down. As he did, he didn't seem to notice some of the gossiping that already took place around the room, mostly of students finding it rather interesting about how he was an alicorn pony.
"Is that the surprise your sister was talking about, Applebloom?" Scootaloo whispered.
"It has to be! Callin' me surprised, Ah haven't even seen another alicorn other than Celestia or Luna herself!" Applebloom whispered back excitedly.
"Now then everypony, let's give our new student Starlight a friendly welcome." Cheerilee said, taking a small breath as the rest of the class replied.
"Welcome to our school, Starlight!" The entire class, and Ms. Cheerilee, said in unison. The small alicorn continued to have his head down as he quietly muttered back.
"H-H-...Hi..." He said sheepishly.
"Now class, I'm sure we have so many wonderful questions to ask him, but for now, let's wait until it's time for reccess." Cheerilee announced before turning her attention to Starlight. "Now Star, why don't you go take a seat somewhere in the class? We brought up three new desks, so why don't you take a seat wherever you feel comfortable, hmm?"
"Ok..." Starlight muttered again as he walked away. Cheerilee soon brought her attention back to the rest of the class as she walked over to the blackboard.
"Now class, last time we were discussing more about the "Founding of Ponyville". Can anypony tell me-"
"Ahhahahahaha!" The class of ponies burst into laughter suddenly, much to Ms. Cheerilee's surprise. Unbeknownest to her, Starlight, having taken her comment of "take a seat somewhere in the class" wasn't exactly specific enough for him. As she turned around, she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle of the sight of the small alicorn pony taking a seat in her chair at her desk, looking completely innocent back to her as he did. And in terms of Starlight, he was in a bit of confusion as he saw the rest of the class laughing, though, couldn't figure out at what.
"Aww great, the new pony's a goofball..." Scootaloo commented, feeling a bit dissopointed thinking the new pony would be a bit brighter. Applebloom frowned a little, feeling a bit disoppointed as her, but still tried to maintain a positive attitude.
"He can't be that bad," she whispered, "Mah sister said he's a bit new to stuff. Maybe this is what she meant?"
"Hehehe," Cheerilee chuckled before continuing, "Starlight, hehe, sweetie? I'm sorry but that's my desk your sitting in." Starlight looked down at the chair briefly, mostliy in confusion, before looking back.
"Can't we share? It's really comfy!" He commented, smiling down at it as he patted the cushiony seat. He looked back towards the class as the rest of the ponies snickered again, some trying to contain their laughter.
"I'm sorry Starlight, but the seat's already taken. Why don't you go find some seats in one of the desks near the classmates? I'm sure they'd love to get to know you." Cheerilee suggested. Almost immediately, there were already some small fillys and colts volunteering to have him sit near them, though, that was more likely from the fact he was an alicorn to begin with. Seeing a empty seat near a small yellow filly with red hair and pink bow tie, Starlight simply shrugged to himself as he walked on over to sit by her, which Applebloom noticed.
"He's coming this way!" She whispered to Scootaloo, somewhat excited.
"Well, greet him already." Scootaloo replied, wanting to get to know the new pony as well. Applebloom turned back as she saw the alicorn getting closer, smiling to him as he approached.
"Well hey there, Starlight. My name's-
*CRASH!*
"Hello there Starlight!" The pink Unicorn with the purple hair and tiara greeted as she shoved Applebloom out of her seat, apparently while the teacher wasn't even looking. "My name's Diamond Tiara, and I just know we're going to be goooood friends." She said with a completely innocent smile, Scootaloo making a gagging noise from the sickening act she was putting on before walking over to Applebloom.
"U-Umm...H-Hi..." He greeted back nervously, taking a seat in the desk next to hers. Applebloom shook her head from the momentary dizziness she felt from getting pushed out of her own chair before looking back irritated at Diamond Tiara.
"You okay Applebloom?" Scootaloo asked, somewhat worried.
"I'm fine Scootaloo, thanks." She replied before looking at Diamond Tiara, "I'm just not used to getting shoved out of my seat by a stubborn mule!" Applebloom commented. Strangely enough, Diamond Tiara let out an innocent, shocked gasp as she raised her right hoof.
"Ms. Cheerilee, Applebloom called me a stubborn mule just because I greeted our new friend here!" Diamond Tiara whined, innocently. Ms. Cheerilee looked back to Applebloom, partially in surprise, and a bit sternly.
"Huh, Applebloom! What did we say about calling names?" Ms. Cheerilee questioned, reminding the pony about good behavior.
"But Ms. Cheerilee," Applebloom started as she frowned, "Ah was just gonna greet the new pony when-"
"Uh uh uh, no "buts" Applebloom. Now apologize to Diamond Tiara and take a seat somewhere." Ms. Cheerilee commanded.
"But-" Applebloom was silenced as Ms. Cheerilee pointed her right hoof back to Diamond Tiara, still looking sternly at her. Applebloom frowned as she turned her head back, her view being greeted by a sneaky smirk from Diamond Tiara, knowing she got in trouble instead of Tiara. "Fine, Ah'm sorry for calling you a mule..." Applebloom apologized, trying her best to keep herself from sounding sarcastic.
"Apology accepted." Diamond Tiara replied with a sly grin. Applebloom simply grumbled to herself as she walked to one of the empty chairs near the front desk. When the teacher looked back to the chalkboard, Tiara leaned over to the orange alicorn as she whispered, "See? Nice ponies like us are supposed to stick together. You don't want to mess with the wrong crowd of ponies like her." She commented.
"I don't?" Starlight asked, looking back. Scootaloo simply grumbled as she walked back to her own seat, but not before a familiar grey pony quickly dashed into her seat.
"Wha-Hey!" Scootaloo grumbled, "I was sitting there Silverspoons!" Silverspoons simply pushed her glasses up a bit before she replied.
"Oh Ms. Cheerliee...!" Silverspoons began to mumble, giving Scootaloo the hint. Scootaloo grumbled irritantly as she walked away, knowing she would get in trouble too from Diamond Tiara's and Silverspoons "False-victim" tales. After taking her seat, Silverspoons and Diamond Tiara grinned, winking to each other as they already set their plan into motion.
The rest of the morning proceed as normal, at least for everypony except Starlight. Majority of it was spent reviewing Ponyville's history with the students, going over questions they had gone over before the weekened started. Despite being a little pony who knew nothing about what was being taught, Starlight found himself a bit curious about all the facts and wonders that were suddenly pooring into his head. Sure, majority of it he didn't really understand for that matter, but nonetheless, he did enjoy learning about all the different things the teacher had to offer. He didn't really ask any questions though, mostly due to shyness, and the fact he didn't even know he was supposed to raise his hoof to ask any.
By around Noon, the bell had rung again, indicating it was time for reccess. For Starlight, however, it indicated a strange form of attack apparently as he shrieked almost immediately after it rang, hiding under his desk for protection. That earned him enough laughs around the class from almost everypony, all except for Applebloom who was still a bit peeved about getting in trouble for name calling when Diamond Tiara got away with nearly throwing her off her desk- that just didn't seem quite right according to her, esspecially since she knew that the two fillies were up to something.
Finally coming to reccess, it was much unexpected to the new alicorn. He was confused for the most part about what the little ponies were doing. He saw some on swing sets, some playing Hoof-scotch, and even some playing jump rope. But he was confused about all these forms of entertainment, never examing things like this before, much less seeing kids his age simply playing around and laughing about. Even if he wanted to, he probably couldn't do to the fact he was now engaged in a conversation with Diamond Tiara, the filly taking her sweet time to "re-educate" the small colt in her own little way.
"And so, if you ever see anypony with a blank flank, you say...?" Diamond Tiara questioned, quizzing Starlight. Starlight rubbed his chin for a few seconds, trying to come up with an answer for the mysterious question.
"Umm...H-Hello?" He asked. Silverspoon let out an "AAAANG!" noise, sounding like a buzzer.
"Wrong," Tiara yelled quietly, "it's a trick question! You don't say anything to a blank flank pony." She added.
"O-Oh...Ok...B-But why?" He asked, still a bit shy despite being more social.
"Oh, don't tell me you haven't heard! Everypony knows if you talk to a blank flank, you turn to stone!" Silverspoon warned, causing Starlight's eyes to widen slightly in shock.
"T-T-They d-do?" Starlight asked worriedly. Diamond Tiara turned her back only briefly to let out a small chuckle she felt escaping her, before looking back and nodding with a slightly serious expression.
"Oh, you bet! Did you see that hedge on the side of the school that looked like a pony?" Tiara asked curiously. Starlight gulped slightly, getting more and more uneasy as the conversation went on.
"Y-Ye-Yeah..." He mumbled.
"That used to be an young pony too, just like you Starlight!" Silverspoon added, making the orange alicorn worry more. "His name was-ehhhh..." Silverspoon paused as she rubbed her chin, trying to think of a good fake name, "It was ummm..."
"Greenie!" Diamond Tiara said quickly.
"Yeah, Greenie! He was a nice alicorn just like you Starlight. But one day, he made a verrrry serious mistake, and talked to an ugly blank flank, just like those three!" Silverspoon stated, pointing to the three Crusaders who were playing on the other side of the playground. A brief look of confusion took Starlight's face.
"But why is it a hedge if he turned to stone?" He wondered. It only took a whole second for Diamond Tiara to think of an excuse.
"Well, duh! It's because it was over hundreds of years ago! The bushes all grew around him." She replied.
"Oh..."
"And they say to this day, you can still hear little Greenie's voice crying out "don't talk to the blank flaaaanks"!" Silverspoons said in a ghostly moan. Starlight shook a bit in fear, finding the situation creepier by the minute. While the chatting continued, Applebloom simply grumbled to herself as she watched the two fillies continue to chat with the new pony. She knew whatever they were up to, it couldn't be good, esspecially after she saw Diamond Tiara point to the three of them.
"Why those no-good two timin'- urrrgh!" Applebloom grumbled as she walked around a bit in place. Sweetiebell paused from her chalk drawing as she looked back.
"Awww c'mon Applebloom. There's no need to worry about him. There's no way Ms. Cheerilee would allow them to cause any trouble for him." Sweetiebell stated, trying to calm her friend down.
"Yeah, now come over here and draw with us," Scootaloo suggested as she continued drawing with her red chalk, "we'll be Cutie Mark Artists' for sure!" Sweetiebell smiled as she looked back to Scootaloo's drawing.
"Wow, that's an awesome butterfly, Scootaloo!" Scootaloo shot back a face of confusion.
"It's not a buttersly, it's a house."
"Girls', we don't have time for this!" Applebloom grunted, looking back to the trouble makers-in-question. "Ah just know whatever they're plannin' it ain't gonna be good."
"Why not just go over there and talk to him then? I'm sure the other two wouldn't do anything bad to you as long as he's watching too." Sweetiebell suggested as she went back to drawing.
"Wow, that's a cool fish Sweetiebell!" Scootaloo said excitedly.
"What fish?" Sweetiebell asked confused. "I was drawing a cat." Scootaloo sighed with a slight moan as she leaned on her hoofs.
"Maybe we're not cut out for being Cutie Mark Artists'. There's no way I can finish this picture."
"Cheer up," Sweetiebell commented, "I think your dragon is pretty cool." She encouraged.
"I was drawing a catterpillar!"
"Well, I do know one thing for sure," Applebloom commented as she looked back, "there's no way I'm letting a new pony befriending a couple of trouble makers like those two." And with that, Applebloom finally decided to walk her way over. Meanwhile, the duo-in-question were once again "educating" their new friends, holding a white cutout board with a small drawing of pony heads on them, with arrows pointing up inbetween them. On top were Diamond Tiara herself and Silverspoons with happy stars around them, in the middle were other pony head drawings with no fancy background or design, and on the very bottom were the heads of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Coincidentally", the heads resembled more along the lines of pig heads instead...
"Ok Starlight, now to teach you about the "Pecking Order"." Diamond Tiara said, tapping the board with a stick.
"What do birds have to do with this?" Starlight asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion. Silverspoons rolled her eyes as she sat behind him.
"I'm not talking about birds, I'm talking about Popularity!"
"Oh...what's "popularity"?" Diamond Tiara grinned at the turn of events.
"Right on topic, that's what we like to see!" She commented, pointing to the top of the board with the stick. "Now, up here, this is where Diamond Tiara and I are. With our help and trainning, we'll make you almost as half as popular as we are. And if you're really good, almost as popular even!" Starlight smiled at the comment.
"Really? Thanks!" Starlight said excitedly before growing curious again. "Umm...why do you wanna be popular though?"
"Why? WHY? Why, popularity is only the most important thing EVER! People look up to you, they like you more, and you can become all famous and stuff!" Tiara roared before growing a small grin. "Plus, it's the only thing that makes you immune to," Diamond started, pausing briefly as she gestured to the pig-headed Crusaders, "The Cursed ones!" Starlight gave another small gulp at that comment, which Silverspoon smirked to. Just as Diamond Tiara was about to continue, she paused suddenly at the sight of Applebloom approaching. "Uh oh, a cursed one! Quick, look away!" Starlight's eyes widened slightly before doing as instructed, turning his back to Applebloom just as she approached.
"Hey there, Starlight!" Applebloom greeted kindly. She stood there, smiling for a few seconds, waiting for a reply, before blinking a bit confused. "Umm...hello there? Ah didn't get to introduce myself last time. Mah name's Applebloom." She greeted again, with a more positive attitude. Starlight simply shifted his eyes back briefly before looking ahead again, his back turned away from her. He was more nervous about the fact she was talking to him than ending up talking to her at all, unable to tell if he would turn to stone even if she talked to him. Now Applebloom started to get frusterated, and a little confused as well. "Well? Can you at least say hi to me?"
"Sorry," Diamond Tiara teased with a grin as she moved in front of her, "we don't talk to blank flanks, right Starlight?" Applebloom let out a small gasp, mostly surprised by Starlight's nod, but grumbled as she knew who the true culprits were.
"What'd you tell him?" Applebloom grunted.
"Nothing, blank flanks!" Silverspoon yelped, startling the yellow filly from behind. "Now why don't you leave us alone? We got more work to do." Silverspoon suggested, swishing her tail in Applebloom's face as she passed. Applebloom was about to let out another grumbled comment before another voice interrupted.
"Hello there my little ponies." Twilight greeted as she walked over. It was a sign of relief and joy for Starlight as he quickly ran over.
"Twilight!" He said happily, quickly running behind her. "Can we go home now?"He asked, looking back to the threesome filles, "This place is scary..." he muttered.
"Don't you wanna say goodbye to your friends first?" Twilight asked, looking back to Applebloom with a casual smile. Starlight muttered for a few seconds to himself before he managed to reply.
"Mmhhh...b-bye..." He whispered, just audible for the fillies to hear. It was more or less a sign of relief to him when the duo finally began to walk away, though, not before Applebloom looked back to see the other two fillies waving with their "all-too-casual" sly smiles.
"Bye Starlight, see you tomorrow...hehehehe..." Diamond Tiara said, waiting until the alicorn and unicorn were out of sight before the two of them (Tiara and Silverspoons) went into a giggling fit. At the same time, Twilight and Starlight went on their way as they walked back to their home. Twilight noticed how the small alicorn seemed pretty gloomy for the most part, but was unable to figure out exactly what was the cause. She mostly assumed it was just nerves from being his first day of school, but there was something about his expression that told her otherwise.
"So...Starlight, how was your first day of school?" Twilight asked curiously.
"U-Umm...i-i-it was a-emm...mmhh..." He mumbled a bit, unable to actually form words.
"Did you learn anything interesting today?" Starlight's eyes opened up a bit more to this, looking back at her intently.
"Actually, yeah, a whole bunch." He replied, causing Twilight to smile at how he began to open up.
"That's great!" Twilight said enthusiastically. "What did you learn?" Starlight looked up a bit in thought as he tried to remember.
"Well...for starters, I learned that girls are part bird."
"That's gre-", Twilight blinked suddenly, rethinking what he just said, "Wait, what?"
"Also I learned, that if you don't want to turn to stone, you need to be popular..." Starlight paused briefly to look back at her, "Does that sound right?" He asked. Twilight simply blinked at the statement, feeling something wrong about everything he just said. Still, it was his first day learning about things at school, and decided to shrug it off for now.
"Uhh...sure, I guess..." She replied, looking back to the school questionably. "Just what are they teaching you at that school?" She mumbled to herself before smiling back to him. "Anyway, when we get home, I thought I'd help you out by first teaching you how to read." Starlight blinked curiously at this.
"Is "read" important?"
"Hmhmhm," she chuckled, "of course it is! It's almost as important as learning all four directions around here." She stated.
"There's more than one?" Twilight simply sighed at this.
Over the next four days, the time schedule went as followed. Twilight would wake up in the morning and get Starlight ready for school, help bring him over there and get ready for school (at least one of these occurances requiring to pry him from a tree again when the bell rang), his new "friendly pals", which were Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons, would help "educate" him into everything he must know, and sadly Applebloom was unable to do anything about it as anytime she did try to do something, one of two things would happen; one, Starlight wouldn't say a single word to her, mostly due to the fact he was too afraid to turn to stone, and the obvious Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons wouldn't reveal a word about what was going on. And whenever she began to annoy the two that were Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons, they would find some method of getting her into trouble to make her go away.
The last time Applebloom persisted, Diamond Tiara shoved casually, just not enough to fall to the floor, but kept repeating herself over and over again. It went on until Applebloom got tired of her pushing, and the last time she tried to shove her, she slapped her hoof away with her own. This was a rather devious trick, however, as the next thing she knew, Diamond Tiara was fake crying it, crying about how Applebloom hit her really hard. Whether a lie or otherwise, that preformance was enough to convince Ms. Cheerilee, who saw at least up to the part where Applebloom hit her back. That was enough to earn her a spot indoors working for the remainder of the week during reccess.
And as for Starlight, things were still a bit confusing to him, thinking how the school system worked this way. To him, his daily schedule was waking up for some strange ritual which involved Twilight attacking him in a tub of water with a strange weapon, aka the scrubber, going to school and hearing that strange, frieghtening signal go off every morning, coming from some mysterious sound box on the wall, listen to the teacher talk about things he couldn't understand or know about, go outside to learn more things he didn't know about from his two new "friends", then for the last three days after school, he would come home with Twilight, and for the next hour, they would practice his reading skills. He was getting better at it each day, though the concept still confused him, seeing how there were a total of twenty-six letters to learn, and the fact he was confused about all the possible combinations. Still, even with this, he did learn it rather easily, and then everyday after supper, he would do more reading practice with Twilight's help too.
The only part of his day that did scare him a little was the "blank flank" pony that went over to talk to him everyday. Whenever he was at reccess, waiting for Twilight to come pick him up, she would always come near him and the other two, trying to get him to talk. It gave him goosebumps everyday, knowing that if he even accidentally said a single word to her, he would end up turning to stone! No no, he couldn't let that happen! Until Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons were sure that he was "Popular" like them, he wouldn't be immune to her "stone-turning powers", as he called it. And to be honest, each day he began to think she was more and more of a trouble maker too, seeing how she's been getting into trouble when Ms. Cheerilee was around. He didn't know that what the others were doing to her were actual misbehavior too, and thought whatever it was, it was just a way of being social friendly. Yup, those two were deffinitely his best of friends at the moment!
The next day at reccess, however...
"Ok Starlight, here ya go." Diamond Tiara said as she stuffed her books full of homework into his saddlebag, along with Silverspoons. Starlight blinked confused for a bit until he looked back.
"Umm...what's this?" He asked with a raised brow.
"Well our homework, duh!" Silverspoons retorted.
"Oh...umm...w-why are you giving it to me?"
"Because, we've officially decided you're ready to be popular!" Diamond Tiara announced, causing Starlight to give a small gasp.
"Really? Awesome!" He said excitedly. Diamond Tiara nodding.
"Mh hm. All you have to do is do our homework for the rest of your life." She added, causing Starlight's brief moment of excitement to suddenly be struck with confusion.
"W-What?"
"You heard her," Silverspoons snapped, "from now on you're in charge of our homework!" Starlight's ears and excitement instantly flopped down at this.
"O-Oh..." He shuffled his front hoofs uneasily as he became a bit nervous. Diamond Tiara grew an unammused expression as she tilted her head slightly.
"What? Got something to say?" She questioned. Starlight remained silent for a few more seconds, feeling a bit nervous about the sudden situation.
"Umm emm..." He muttered.
"What? I cant hear youuuu..."
"Umm...s-s-shouldn't you t-two do your own h-h-homework? Everyp-pony else is..." He muttered. Silverspoons and Diamond Tiara looked at each other with a bored expression on their faces.
"Huh, pitty too." Silverspoons commented as the two began to walk away.
"I know, I really liked the new alicorn. But I guess if he wants to turn to stone insteaaad..." Diamond Tiara added. Sudden panic and worry befell Starlight in only a few short seconds. While he wasn't all to familiar with the concept of homework, based on what Ms. Cheerilee told him, and from what he saw from the other classmates he had, usually when it came to homework, everypony was to do their own work. Sure, some of them could do it with others to try to help each other, but none of them were supposed to actually provide the answers to the others. Still, it was either help them with their homework and forever become immune to turning to stone, or become the next lawn ornament in front of somepony's building. It wasn't hard on choosing which to do.
"Wait!" He pleaded, to which Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons grinned to. "I'll do it!"
"There, much better!" Diamond Tiara commented, patting his head. "Just make sure you do all our homework, and everything will work out.
"So...Does this mean I can talk to the blanks flanks now?" He asked, much to Diamond Tiara's and Silverspoons' shock.
"What?" Silverspoons stammered.
"Why would you ever wanna talk to them? They're cursed, remember!" Diamond Tiara yelled.
"Well yeah," Starlight muttered, drooping his ears again, "I mean I know they're cursed and all," He paused briefly, smiling as he looked back to two of the three playing with each other, "but maybe they're really lonely cause no one popular talks to them too! Besides, they seem to be having alot of fun."
"But you can't talk to them!" Diamond Tiara yelled worriedly.
"Why not?" Diamond Tiara began to grow nervous. The last thing she needed at this point was Applebloom chatting with him, telling her all about thier history with each other, and on top of that, on the off chance that she did find out, she and Silverspoons could get into alot of trouble for making the new kid do their homework from now on. Fortunately, at least for her, her worries went away with the sudden spark of an idea.
"Because, if you do talk to them, you'll turn to stone."
What?" Starlight and Silverspoons studdered. Diamond Tiara gave Silverspoons a confident wink, sending her the idea.
"Oh! Uhhh yeah!" Silverspoons added. "You don't wanna turn to stone, do you?"
"B-But why would I turn to stone? I thought I was popular!"
"Awww, we're sorry, but we forgot to tell you it buids over time. You don't get popular until after a long amount of time of doing nice things for popular people." Diamond Tiara stated.
"R-Really...?" Starlight asked with a frown.
"Awww don't be like that. After all, you wanna be "friendly" with us, don't ya?" Diamond Tiara asked with a grin. Starlight looked off to the side for a bit, feeling a bit anxious about the order.
"W-Well...Y-Yes..." He muttered.
"Good!"
"Starliiiight!" Twilight called over from the other side of the playground fence, waving as the trio looked. "Ready to go?"
"One more thing," Diamond Tiara muttered loudly, sliding near him, "if anypony finds out you're doing our homework, you'll turn to stone instantly!" Starlight's eyes widened at this, but gave a nervous gulp as he nodded before walking away. Like before, as Starlight left the two behind, they burst into a fit of chuckles, something that a particularly angry yellow filly pony noticed from inside the school, missing reccess due to all the "trouble" she's been causing.
Later during that same day in the evening, Spike, Starlight, and Twilight were currently in the middle of dinner, with both Starlight and Twilight eating a nice sandwhich of grass and dasies, and with Spike gorging himself with some delicious rupies. It was finally the weekened for the trio, which meant a bit of relaxing, a bit magic training for Starlight, and an entire two days to simply relax after being nearly a full week since Starlight's first coming here. That was the intention at least for Twilight's agenda, however, she was about to find out new plans as she let out a delightful sigh, finishing her sandwhich.
"Ahh, that was delicious!" Twilight said gleefully.
"I'll say!" Spike added, licking his fingers as he finished the last of his ruby-filled dinner.
*Burp!*
"Spike!" Twilight yelled.
"Hehehe, 'scuse me." Spike apologized, hopping off his chair as he grabbed the threesomes' plates, walking over to the sink as he got started on the dishes.
"Well now that that's out of the way, why don't we get some more work on done on-" Twilight began, only to be cut off as she saw Starlight nearing the door. "Star?" Twilight suddenly said, causing Starlight to freeze where he was as he looked back nervously.
"Y-Yes?" He asked.
"Hey, where 'ya going?" Twilight asked as she hopped out of her chair. Starlight looked down nervously, knowing when it came to after supper, it usually involved reading work at the table.
"Umm...I uhhh..." He muttered, lowering his head, "got...homework to do." Starlight said. Twilight blinked a bit, curious at what he just said.
"What? Starlight, you can barely read as it is! Does Ms. Cheerilee know that?"
"Ehh...umm..." Starlight began to worry, unable to think of a response.
"I'm gonna call her and get this sorted out, this isn't right-"
"NOOOO!" Starlight suddenly shouted, much to Twilight's and Spike's surprised as they looked back. It wasn't neccesarily that he didn't want her calling his teacher, but the last thing he wanted was for the two of them to find out that it was the other fillies' homework. If that happened, then he'd deffinitely get turned to stone! And he gaurenteed that he couldn't have that happening. Still, it now left the problem of "now" as in this very moment, seeing how he just caused a sudden scene for no apparent reason. "Uhh...I mean," Starlight started, swallowing a bit to clear his throat, "I-I mean I can do it! Really, I'll be fine." Starlight said, walking back to the doorway. Twilight moaned slightly, growing a bit worried.
"Well...do you at least want some help-"
"No! Uhh...I-I m-me-mean no...no thanks..." He replied quickly, as he walked out the door. Twilight simply sighed as she watched him leave. In only a few short days, Starlight has started going to school, gone out to Ponyville at all since he's actually come to live here, interacted and seen a lot of ponies that were different from him and had a different life style, and he still has so much stuff to learn! Starlight wasn't used to the things around Ponyville, and even then he's still new to practically everything around here. Still, on one hoof she knew that she couldn't worry over him forever, esspecially since he would be living with one of her friend's for a full week, and even after, it would be somepony else's turn to watch him then, even if he did visit her occasionally for magic practice. On the other hoof, however, she was the only one Starlight was more opened towards when it came to talking about stuff, and if there ever was a problem going on, she wasn't too sure if he'd be open to any of the others like he was to her, esspecially when it came to being Pinkie's turn to watch him. As if sensing her stress, Spike let out a bit of a chuckle which caught her attention.
"Relax Twilight," Spike started as he wiped the plates with a wash cloth, "he's a lot like you. He'll manage to pull through on his own just fine."
"You mean because he works hard like me, right?" Twilight asked, a smiling starting to grow again.
"No, mostly just because you two waste your time being nothing more than eggheads, heh heh..." Spike chuckled again. Unfortunately, if the small baby dragon had bothered to look back after that little comment he made, he would've noticed her building up magic again in her horn. To his surprise, the sinks faucet suddenly began to make a strange rattling noise as the whole thing began to shade, most of the sound coming from the drain itself. As he began to take a closer look, Twilight unleashed her small amount of magic as a sudden stream of water began shooting straight up out of the sink, spraying him directly in his face. Covering the opening did little to nothing to stop the flow of water, soaking the small dragon as he tried to stop it, and to which Twilight smiled to.
"Oops, my magic slipped again." Twilight said innocently.
"Twilight!"
Meanwhile, the rest of the evening went on as Starlight had wanted it to; just him, "his" homework, and no one finding out anything else about it. The only problem was, as Twilight had mentioned, he couldn't understand any of the questions whatsoever! It was as if reading an entirely new, ancient, dialect to himself, one he hasn't even seen before in his life...ok, so it was an ancient dialect he's never seen before, but that's besides the point. It wasn't so much that he had to do both fillies' homework, majority of the problem arose to the fact he had to do different assignments that both filles apparently hadn't done, so even if he did finish one, he'd had to do an entirely different worksheet then, and that's still a very big "IF".
And to say he eventually gave up and asked Twilight to help...would be a lie. He spent nearly all night on the two papers of homework, trying to finish them the best he could so he could become popular, and no longer have to fear turning into stone. But as already stated, Starlight knew very little to no words at all. While he did recognize some of the letterings in the papers, he had no idea what they meant or how to pronounce them when combined with the other "mysterious" letters that he didn't recognize. When it came to reading with Twilight, they mostly worked on short, easy words like "And", "The", "Easy", etc. Mostly words between two and four letters long. That didn't really help though when it came to all the other letters and words he had to go through, and there was only one part on the paper that was done on all the pages: The part where it asked for the pony's name, and that was done by the fillies themselves.
The moon had finally risen by the time Twilight came back downstairs, just finishing her own work and reports recently. She was a bit in awe and upset at the sight she was greeted with; Starlight had fallen asleep at the books on the floor. She found it a bit cute at the thought, knowing it was time for bed anyway, and that the pony just fell asleep while he worked. She couldn't really bring herself to wake him up either. With only one possible option at the moment that came to mind, she used her magic to leviate a small blue blanket over to him, wrapping it around him so he could at least sleep warmly for the night. It was at that moment, that she finally noticed the homework that was laying at his side.
Although Twilight tried to offer assistance earlier, Starlight still refused to accept her help, even though he partly wished he did have her help. Knowing that there was a long weekened coming up again, and Starlight's first, she wouldn't have much time to help him with his work once he went to somepony else's house, seeing how it would then be their responsibility at that point to help educate him in their own personal way.
Deciding not to leave the papers on the floor at least, Twilight used her magic agian as she gathered all the sheets of paper she found on the ground, and any loose ones hanging out of his saddle bag. However, as she did, she blinked suddenly as she noticed a second book in his bag. Her first thought was a bit of worry since she thought he ended up having more homework than she thought he did. If she knew earlier, she wouldn't have taken no for an answer, knowing that he would deffinitely be up all night like this. Using her magic to levitate the book again, she kept it nice and flattened in front of her as she organized the papers and books next to each other. That's when it suddenly struck her when she realized something shocking: he had two copies of the same books and homework assignments. It meant either A, the teacher thought he was so smart that he ought to be doing twice as much work, or B, something ELSE was going on around here, and she was dertermined to get to the bottom of it.
*Knock*
*Knock*
*Knock*
"I'll get it!" Twilight announced as she walked over to the door. Starlight mumbled a bit as he sleepily opened his eyes, letting out a yawn as he woke up for the day.
"Huh?" Starlight asked, rubbing his eyes as he woke up.
"Oh, morning Starlight." Twilight said briefly looking back before turning her attention to the door. She opened the door with her magic as Applejack walked through, greeting her on the way.
"Mornin' y'all." She greeted. "Ready to go, Twi?"
"Sure," Twilight replied with a nod before looking back to Spike, who was currently organizing the bookshelves, "we'll be back shortly Spike. Watch over things until we're back."
"Got it!" Spike replied, keeping his focus on the books he was carrying. Starlight tilted his head at this as he stood up again, shaking the small blanket off of him as he walked over.
"Where are you going?" He asked curiously.
"Oh, sorry Starlight, I forgot to mention. I'm helping Applejack fix some stuff at her farm. We'll only be gone for awhile." Twilight replied.
"'Till then, Ah'd thought Ah'd brought some company so you wouldn't get lonely." Applejack added as she gestured to the door.
"Really? Who?"
"Howdy, Starlight!" Applebloom greeted cheerfully as she walked in. Starlight's pupils immediately shrunk at the sight.
"Ahhhh!" He screeched, quickly dashing into the kitchen. The others simply stared in silence for a few seconds, still a bit confused about the small alicorn's reaction.
"You sure this is gonna work?" Twilight asked, whispering to Applejack.
"Of course it is!" Applejack said with a confident nod of approval. "If there's one th'ang we Apple families know, it's how to get somepony to talk to us." Applejack lowered her head down towards her little sister as she added, "Ok Sugarcube, work your magic."
"Oh Starrrliiiight!" Applebloom yelled casually, walking into the kitchen after him.
"Trust mah little sis', you can't go five sentences from her without saying somethin' back." Applejack commented as the two walked out the door, ready to watch everything from the windows around the tree itself. At the same time, Applebloom hummed to herself as she poked her head into the kitchen doorway. Hopefully, her plan would prove whatever suspicions she already had from the two jerk ponies that started this mess in the first place.
"Come out come out, wherever you arrrre!" Applebloom called out, walking over to the cabinets near the kitchen sink. There was only one way in and out of the kitchen, and there weren't many hiding spaces for Starlight to go to, only leaving one place for him to hide. "C'mon Star, Ah'm not a bad pony! At least not what those other two are tryin' to make us sound like." She stated as she opened the cabinet door. As expected, she saw Starlight hunched up the back of the cabinet wall, although, she wasn't expecting his next move.
"Ahhh!" He screeched, dashing past the small filly with his super speed, and leaving the sparkling trail behind him for a few seconds like always. The speed alone was enough to send Applebloom into a twirling fit as she spun out of control, having a looping-eyed, dizzy expression on her face as she slowed down, wobbling in place for a few seconds. Shaking her head, snapping out of it, she gave a slight moan as she quickly rushed back into the library itself. To more of her surprise, she didn't see Starlight from her point-of-view, and knew even though he sped away quickly, he would've still been noticable if he went somewhere else.
"He's up there." Spike announced casually, sitting on a small wooden table as he pointed up. Like Spike said, as Applebloom looked up, she found the orange alicorn looking down at her worriedly from the top shelf of books, sitting in the middle of the row he spaced out for himself.
"Starlight! Will you quit actin' like a goof and say something to me?" Applebloom. Starlight gave a simple shook of his head, stating "no" without needing to actually say anything. "Aww c'mon Star! Can you at least tell me "why" you won't talk to me?" Sadly, that was also met with a regrettable "no" head shake. Applebloom let out an irrtable moan before rubbing her chin, getting an idea forming in her head as she smiled. "Al'raght Star, Ah'll make ya a deal. If you come down from there, Ah'll leave." Applebloom announced.
Starlight blinked in surprise at this as he rubbed his chin, thinking for a bit. He couldn't tell if she was trying to trick him in some form or way, but he also knew that ponies usually kept their promises, although he didn't fully know ponies could choose "not to" either. Still, with his options limited, he let out a slight "gulp" before slowly and steadily climbing down the rows of shelves. Spike moaned silently to himself, watching as Starlight knocked some books off the shelves as he climbed down, and knowing he would have to be the one to reorganize AND dust again when this whole ordeal was over.
Getting back, Applebloom watched as he climbed down towards the last ledge of the bookshelf carefully. Naturally, the small colt was a bit frieghtened as he leg dangled just inches from the floor, trying to get a proper hooving on the floor, but still too frieghtened to jump from where he was. Applebloom just rolled her eyes as she watched him dangle in place for a few seconds before pulling his tail with her mouth, quickly yanking him down finally as he landed on his rear. Starlight shook his head briefly from his momentary daze before standing back up, looking at Applebloom nervously.
"So, Ah'll leave as agreed. Why don't we have just one friendly hoof-shake before we part?" Applebloom suggested, raising her right hoof towards him. Like before, Starlight looked at it a bit nervously, unable to tell what gesture she was actually giving to him at the moment. "C'mon, just shake mah hoof! There's no talking involved." She commented. Starlight actually smiled at this a bit, seeing how as long as it wouldn't be considered talking. Seeing how everything was officially ok, Starlight did as he was told, raising his hoof as he was about to bid his fellow pony farewe-
"Whoops!" Applebloom yelped, "accidentally" chucking a small hoofful of pepper powder into Starlight's face with her other hoof. Starlight didn't even have time to react to this, not expecting any tricks or such planning from the small pony, instantly coming over with the incredible urge to sneeze.
"A-Ahhh-Ahhhh-!" Starlight began to whine as his face scrunched up from the incoming sneezing. Applebloom chuckled a bit as she backed away, not wanting to get any of Starlight's "sneezing-juices" on herself when he sneezed. At the same time, Twilight and Applejack were watching the entire scenario just outside of the tree, hiding near a small bush next to a clear window. They had a perfect view of the show from where they watched, but kept their heads partly down just to make sure they weren't spotted by Starlight. At the sight of Applebloom chucking pepper into Starlight's face, Twilight raised a brow as confusion took over her mind.
"Pepper? That's your "big plan" to figure out what's wrong?" Twilight asked, sitting back down into the bush as she looked at her. Applejack simply smiled back as she sat back as well.
"Well of course. It's all natural Twi. There ain't a single pony who can go around without saying "thank you" after another pony says-"
*KA-BOOM!*
There was an almost thunderous explosion as a quick burst of fire broke through the window the two were near. Fortunately, it didn't appear to actually catch anything on fire, which was even more fortunate given a large building full of flammable books. The explosion itself made Twilight's and Applejack's eyes widen, knowing how the explosion was caused, just not expecting it though through all the planning they thought of.
"...Ah was gonna say "Thank you", but..." Applejack commented briefly, the both of them taking no hesitation as they quickly ran back inside, slamming the door open.
"Starlight!" Twilight said worriedly.
"Applebloom!" Applejack also stated both looking at the room somewhat in surprise.
The surprise wasn't so much the explosion...well, it was when it happened, but what did surprise the duo was that there didn't seem to be any permanent damage. The place was a little bit smokey as a result, but in terms of property, everything still seemed to be in tact. A lot of the books had apparently fallen off the shelves as a result, and there were plenty of suit-covered spots on the floor and walls that were almost pitch black, but fortunately, no pony appeared to be injured. Of course, that was just for the "Pony" part of the gang. Spike himself was also fortunately okay, but he did appear a bit delerious with a dizzy-looking expression on his face, seeing how a pile of books collapsed around him, leaving only his head noticable.
Applebloom and Starlight both appeared to be okay too for the most part. Applebloom was apparently thrown back from the explosion, but was fortunate enough to land on another pile of books that apparently fell from the shelves. As for Starlight, despite not getting blown back from the explosion, he did seem to have sort've a twitchy-nosed expression on his face, looking as if he was about to let out another sneeze. He also panted somewhat heavily, seeming to be purposely trying to breath out of his mouth so he wouldn't sneeze with the pepper still somewhat in his nose. If there was to be any said "damage" done to him, aside from a possibly now stuffy nose, the extra would be the fact he was partially covered in suit all around. Both girls looked at each other briefly, mostly in relief, before running to their own respective charges.
"Sugarcube!" Applejack called out, running over to her little sister. Applebloom simply chuckled a bit as her sister helped her back to her four hooves again, rubbing her noggin once she was standing.
"Ah'm okay, Applejack. No worries." She replied before the two of them walked over to the other two.
"You alright, Star?" Twilight asked somewhat worried, patting the back of his head softly.
"Ye-yahhhh...nngghh..." Starlight blurted, trying to actually form words at the moment, finding it difficult to do without having a sneezing urge, however. After another quickly sniffle, he finally nodded in reply. "Yeah...I think." Twilight looked back as she heard Spike moan, muttering to himself as he unburried himself from the books.
"I really hope you don't expect me to clean this all by myself later." Spike grumbled, to which Twilight simply rolled her eyes before looking back to the others.
"Well golly," Applebloom commented a bit surprised, "bless you indefinitely Star!" She stated.
"Thank you." Starlight replied with another sniffle. His eyes suddenly widened as much as they could as his entire world suddenly came crashing down on him. "Nooooooooo!" He shouted in dispair. "Now I talked to a blank flank! Now I'm going to turn to stone!" He yelled worriedly, quickly ducking his head and covering it with his hooves as he awaited the eventuality. Twilight and Applejack both looked at each other in a mix of surprise and confusion from the small alicorn's reaction, then back to him. Starlight continued to moan to himself frieghtened for a few more seconds before uncovering his eyes again, looking back and forth in confusion.
"Huh...I guess it takes longer than I thought to turn to stone?" He commented, looking at his hooves to see if anything changed yet.
"Turn to stone? Starlight, what are you talking about?" Twilight asked confused.
"I talked to a blank flank before I could get popular. It means I'm going to turn to stone!" Starlight whined worriedly.
"Stone? Pardon, but what kind of silly-neck hoodlum told ya that?" Applejack asked.
"Ah bet Ah know..." Applebloom commented as she rolled her eyes.
"It was those two friends I made at school. They said if I did their homework for them then they'd help me get popular. I didn't want to end up like Greenie!" Starlight whimpered, getting a bit teary-eyed.
" 'Greenie'?" Twilight asked confused.
"Yeah, you know? The pony who talked to blank flanks almost a hundred years ago! He turned into the green hedge in front of the school." Starlight added.
"A hundr- Ok, forgive meh for speakin', but exactly how old did ya think those two ponys' were?" Applejack asked, only to earn an unammused look back from Twilight.
"He can't count yet Applejack..." She stated.
"What's counting?" He asked curiously. Applejack blinked a bit surprised before pulling her hat slightly down from guilt.
"Oh...uhhh mah bad..." She commented a bit nervously.
"Ah told you they were up to somethin'!" Applebloom stated as she looked back to Applejack. Applejack simply sighed as she patted Applebloom's head.
"Alright, alright! Ah'm sorry for not believing you." Applejack replied, earning a curious look back from Twilight. "Applebloom's been gettin' into al' sorts'a trouble at school this week, but she kept claiming it was because of the two bullies at school." Applejack added, much to more of Starlight's confusion.
"What's a "bully"?" Twilight sighed dissopointedly, mostly due to the fact she never told him about these types of ponies.
"Oh, I'm sorry Starlight. This is my fault." Twilight apologized, patting his head.
"How so?" Applejack asked, raising a brow.
"I kept telling him to make some friends at school, I didn't really teach him much about the "bad types" of ponies to be friends with though." She answered.
"But they said they wanted to be friendly with me..." Starlight commented.
"Ah'm sorry sport, but ponies your friends with and ponies that are "friendly" are two completely different things." Applejack stated.
"They were just usin' you so you would do their homework for 'em!" Applebloom added. Starlight frowned more sadly as he lowered his head.
"S-So...they didn't want to be friends with me in the first place?" He asked, sniffling a bit. "Twilight j-just said I should make some friends on my first day of school though..." He said, sniffling a bit as he rubbed his teary eye slightly. Twilight only frowned a bit as she looked away, feeling even more guilty and responsible for the trouble. Applejack, however, simply gave a calm smile as she gestured to her sister.
"Well that's why Ah asked my sister here to introduce herself and such. Ah knew you'd be in the same class together, so Applebloom volunteered to show ya around and be friends with." She stated.
"Sorry I didn't talk to you or anything..." Starlight apologized, lowering his head again.
"Ahh, that's al'right. It's those two fillies to blame, not you." Applebloom replied before raising her hoof. "Friends?" She asked with a happy smile. Starlight actually smiled back as she shook her hoof.
"Friends!" He said excitedly, which quickly lowered down to a frown again.
"What's wrong?" Applebloom asked, tilting her head slightly. Starlight just sighed before he replied.
"Well I'm glad I have a real friend now and all, but that just means I did their homework for nothing." He complained. Twilight looked back to the worksheets he had done earlier before walking over to them for a closer look. True to his word, he actually did complete the papers last night, which Twilight couldn't tell due to the dark. As she raised the papers for a closer inspection with her magic, however, she quickly burst into a small chuckles at what she saw. Applejack was just as confused as the two small ponies in front of her before she walked over. Much like Twilight, Applejack covered her lips to contain the laughter that almost broke out, still to the two smaller ponies confusion as they looked to each other.
"Actually, maaaybe you didn't do it all for nothing..." Twilight commented...
*Riiiiiiiiiiing!*
The class of ponies all cheered excitedly as the school bell rang again, indicating it was time for reccess. As expected and planned, Starlight followed the two fillies' directions as he gave them back their homework assignments before class started for the new week, niether of them bothering to look through their work. And the two fillies couldn't feel any prouder of themselves as they did now. Sure, maybe the new kid would get an answer or two incorrect, but that would make it all the more convincing that it was their homework too; getting perfect answers all the time obviously would've been suspicious. Just as the two fillies were about to walk out the door, however, Ms. Cheerilee called out.
"Oh Diamond Tiara, Silverspoons! Would you come here for a second?" Ms. Cheerilee asked calmly. The two fillies looked at each other momentarily before walking back to Ms. Cheerilee with an innocent smile.
"Sure Ms. Cheerilee!" Diamond Tiara said happily as she walked over. To their concern, Ms. Cheerilee's happy expression changed to a small stern look as they got there.
"Girls, out of all the dirty tricks that could've been pulled, I'm shocked to see this even coming from you!" She stated sternly, much to their worry and confusion.
"W-What are you talking about?" Diamond Tiara asked nervously. To both the fillies dread, Ms. Cheerilee pulled out both their assignment sheets from her desk drawer, looking at them intently.
"Girls, in all my years, I'd never thought I'd see the day when somepony would make a new friend and classmate do their homework." Ms. Cheerilee replied. Both Silverspoons and Diamond Tiara were overcome with shock at this point, not only feeling ratted out by somepony, but worried at their consequence. Surprisingly, the two continued to play their "innocence" the best they could.
"But Ms. Cheerilee, we'd never ask our new friend to do our work!" Diamond Tiara whined.
"What makes you think he did it anyway?" Silverspoons asked.
"Hmm, well I will admit that nopony has perfect hoof writing, and I could be mistaken that he did it for you..." Ms. Cheerilee commented. The two fillies looked at each other with a sense of relief, feeling a bit of hope left for themselves. "But!" Ms. Cheerilee snapped again, causing the two filles to jump slightly. "No matter what kind of hoof writing you may have, I KNOW it's not as bad as this!" Cheerilee said as she revealed the homework pages to the small filles. The girls both gasped in shock at what they saw; if there was one thing Twilight was officially proud she didn't teach for one, it was hoof writing, because all around the answer slots for the papers, there was nothing but scribble marks and scrapings. You couldn't make out a single word in the papers even if you tried, it was so inelligible!
"And don't bother telling me it was somepony else's either," Ms. Cheerilee continued, digging through her drawers again as she pulled out more paper "written" by Starlight, "because of all the ponies in this class, only one of them has his hoof writing!" Ms. Cheerilee added as she showed the rest of the class notes and assignments Starlight has done. Like Ms. Cheerilee announced, and proven upon the other pieces of evidence, every single assignment and notes taken by Starlight were all in the same hoof writing. Even his name was scribbled like the rest of the pieces, some of the scribbles taking the entire page too.
"But...But..." Diamond Tiara mumbled, trying to think of an excuse.
"But, not only are you two going to apologize to Starlight AND Applebloom, you two will be missing the next week of reccess!" Ms. Cheerilee announced, much to the two fillies' surprise.
"What?" Silverspoons whined.
"But why do we have to apologize to Applebloom too? We didn't do anything to her!" Diamond Tiara lied.
"And I'd be inclined to believe that, IF it wasn't for the fact there's a certain rumor going around the classroom about "blank flanks being cursed"." She replied.
"W-What? But that wasn't us!" Silverspoons lied as well.
"Yeah! I mean we don't even know who said anything about blanks flanks turning ponies to stone-!" Diamond Tiara blurtted out, much to Silverspoons and Diamond Tiara's horror, realizing her mistake.
"And how did you know exactly what curse it was?" Ms. Cheerilee asked. As the two fillies continued to whine and moan miserably, four small ponies and two much older ones were peeking through the window, all watching as the plan unfolded itself in front of them. By the time the two filles began to whine about their innocence, five of the six began to burst into giggles at their downfall, while at the same time, a small orange alicorn frowned a bit, looking back at his hooves.
"I-Is my hoof writing really that bad?" Starlight asked sadly.
"Ahh don't sweat it partner," Applejack replied, patting his head, "when we get back to mah farm, Ah'll teach ya a whole bunch of stuff to make ya feel right in'."
"Can we go play till reccess is over before you go?" Scootaloo asked Twilight excitedly. Twilight playfully rolled her eyes as she shrugged.
"Beats me, you'll have to ask Starlight's current caregiver for the week..." Twilight commented, gesturing to Applejack.
"Ah don't see why not. Ah still gotta fetch some of Star's stuff from Twilight's house anyway." Applejack replied as she walked away to preform her task. The three smaller fillies cheered as they quickly rushed off to the playground, while Starlight simply looked back to Twilight curiously.
"So...am I in trouble for helping the bullies then?" Starlight asked. Twilight simply chuckled a bit as she patted his shoulder.
"Nah, I think we can manage past that. Now run along and play." Twilight instructed. Starlight smiled before turning back, laughing excitedly as he ran to play with his first real friends. Twilight sighed in relief from her first week managing a small colt, then turned her attention as she smiled, watching all the other children play around on the playground. Even Spike was within the school yard's playground, although he had more of a "fun" time lounging around, napping on the large tree branch.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that the first day of school can be a big thing, not only for a child, but a parent as well. Making a good first impression with everypony is important if you wanna make good friends. But at the same time, it's important to learn and know which ponies may not always make the best of friends. I also learned that sometimes, you need to pay more attention to a child instead of being so focused on how you want their life to be, because sometimes, you might end up looking past certain signs of trouble or problems a child is facing. Otherwise, you might just end up making things worse for everypony, and then no one will be able to make a good impression.
Your Pupil,
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight smiled as she continued to watch the four small ponies playing together, standing on the other side of the fence at the time.
"So Starlight, what's it like being an alicorn pony? I bet it's awesome!" Scootaloo wondered.
"Yeah, I bet you can do a whole lot of things compared to any other pony." Sweetiebell added. Starlight simply blinked confused at the questions though, not understanding the whole "excitement" about being an alicorn.
"H-Huh?" He questioned.
"Can you do any tricks?" Applebloom asked. Starlight rubbed his chin briefly before smiling.
"Oh, yeah! I know a trick!" He replied, standing firmly as he concentrated his magic in his horn. Twilight began to worry as she saw the scene in front of her.
"Starlight, wait!" She pleaded, only to once again be too little too late, as Starlight had already unleashed his magic. Curiously, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, much to Starlight's and Twilight's surprise too. What did happen, however, soon became evident as the large tree near them suddenly began to glow with an orangish aura. Surprisingly, the entire tree itself disappeared into thin air, making no more than a gustly sound of wind as it vanished briefly. At the same time, that brief moment was all it took to make the baby dragon, who was still resting on the branch at the time, suddenly fall from the branch, landing down with a large "Thud!" sound, and with Spike moaning an "Ouch!" sound when he landed. Almost immediately after, the same tree reappeared again, in the same exact state it was in before it left.
"Huh...that's a new one..." Twilight commented as she rubbed her chin. Starlight huddled down a bit nervously from the act.
"Oops, my magic slipped..." He commented. Spike simply rubbed his forehead as he leaned up again.
"Now that one, I believe." Spike stated. The group burst into laughter soon after, finding the irony and humor in what Spike said...
Now it's time for "Pinkie's Puller #1!"
Pinkie Pie: Hello Everypony! My name's Pinkie Pie, and I'll be your host on-
Narrator: Wha- Pinkie! What are you doing back here?
Pinkie: Oh, hello Mr. Narrator person! Well, after the last episode, I decided we should host a Question and Answer session at the end of each episode, each one letting the fans ask their favorite actor or actoress questions about our show. And who better to run the show, than me!
Narrator: That-!...Actually, that sounds like a good idea...But why can't I run it?
Pinkie: Hehehe, oh silly! A Narrator isn't an actor.
Narrator:...but it's my show...*sniff*
Pinkie Pie: Anyway, I hope you ponies out there are watching us, because next time, we'll be interviewing Twilight Sparkle and Starlight, so feel free to ask them any questions you have about the show in your review!
Narrator: Uhhh, yes, I would also like to take part in this show...
Pinkie Pie: Oh Mr. Narrator, I know that's you in a fake moustache.
Narrator: What? That Manager at the store lied to me, he'd said nopony would know!
