Anga's Origin

“I am going to school, mother!” Anga strapped his bag onto his back and ran to the door.

“Have a great day, dear. Do well on your quizzes today! Also, do not forget to ask Miss Merry Loo about extra hours of study!” Purity said from the kitchen.

“I will, mother! Do not worry!” Anga ran out the door and down the road to school. As he ran, he spotted the sign that read Talltale Elementary for the gifted. No matter how many times he passed it, Anga always felt butterflies in his tummy. He was so excited to be able to learn something new every single day. Not only that, his teacher, Miss Merry Loo was the best teacher he'd ever had. She's sweet, she knows how to teach, she makes learning fun, unlike his parents. Anga was so happy when his parents decided they were done with home schooling him.

Then, Anga heard a familiar voice, “Hey, Anga! Over here!” He turned to see his best friend, Suiter. A gray unicorn with a short, smooth black mane that hung between his light red-orange eyes. Anga smiled and ran over to his friend. Anga couldn’t describe it, but he felt warm and happy whenever he saw his friend. Nopony else made him happier. He brushed the feelings off, thinking it was just how ponies felt whenever they saw their best friend.

“Hello, Suiter! How are you doing?” Anga asked.

“I’m doing alright, hey you did the homework, right? What’d you get for number three? Miss Merry Loo really makes challenging work.” Suiter asked, pulling out a sheet of paper from his bag with his magic. They both huddled around the piece of paper and looked at the question that Suiter had left blank. Anga could tell his friend tried various methods by all of the eraser streaks and faded writing on the paper.

“What did you try before?”

“Well, I used the method she used in class, but i get some random number.. Look.” Suiter wrote down the same thing he had tried the night before and got a very long, irrational number. Anga looked over his work carefully. He mumbled some math things while reading until he had his aha moment.

“I see your problem, Suiter. Look at the graph closely.” Anga said, pointing at the graph in the question.

Suiter tried to see what Anga was getting at, but couldn’t quite understand the problem. He replied, “Yeah, what about it?”

“The graph is a cosine graph, not a Sine graph. You used Sine instead of Cosine in your equation. The method was correct, however, you must have just had a momentary.. Um.. what is the term?”

“Brain fart.. I see it now.” Suiter replied, “Thanks Anga, you’re so much better at this math thing. I wish math was as easy as design class.”

“Easy for you, Suiter. If you do not mind, I would need help on the project.”

“What do we have here? A couple of ponies cheating on their homework?” The two colts turned their heads quickly, feeling nervous and scared for a moment. However, when they turned around, they had a sigh of relief.

“Oh, you scared us there, Miss Merry Loo.” Suiter said to the very light pink pegasus mare. She had a graying, purple, curled mane that nearly went over her glasses. Her fake frown turned to a smile as the two colts gazed upon her.

“We are sorry, Miss Merry Loo. Suiter had issues with one of the homework problems and asked for my assistance.” Anga explained to his favorite teacher.

“Don’t worry, darling. While some teachers outlaw this, I love seeing my pupils help each other to learn. Did you two figure it out?” The teacher asked.

“Yea, I.. kinda used Sine instead of Cosine.. Heh…” Suiter responded.

“Don’t worry, dear. It happens all the time. That is why you should always have somepony check over your work. Now, you two should hurry, classes are about to start.”

“Thank you, Miss Merry Loo. We will see you in class!” Anga said before running off with his friend to their first class of the day.

Over the course of the day, Anga thrived in all of his classes, learning as much as he could from every teacher, from biology to physics to literature. Though gym class was a rough one for the smaller pony. While he did enjoy learning, the best part was that Suiter was in almost all of his classes, allowing the not so out going pony to have at least one friend in each class.

Then came time for the last class of the day, Anga’s favorite class, math. While a lot of ponies looked at the board as if they were reading an ancient, foreign language written backwards, he saw it as art. Every little detail had a meaning and clue to find the answer. It helped that his teacher was so good. Merry Loo got even the most mathematically challenged ponies to succeed in the class.

“So who knows the answer?” The pink pegasus asked the class as she finished writing a complex trigonometry question on the board. She looked around the room and nearly every child had a perplexed look on their faces. However, Anga was writing away on his notebook, calculating the answer. “Anyone?”

Anga then put his pencil down and raised his hoof. Merry Loo looked at the light blue earth pony and nodded, “Anga, go ahead.”

“The answer is sixty degrees.” Anga answered.

“Huh? How’d you get that? I was thinking pi over three.” Suiter suggested.

“Yes, the equation does end up giving us pi over three. However, the question is asking for the angle of the line of sight, so we must convert the answer from radians to degrees.” Anga refuted.

“Great job, Anga. That’s correct. You almost got it, Suiter.” The pegasus teacher said, “ That should do it for now. Remember class, do questions three through ten tonight for homework. Have a nice day.” As soon as she finished her sentence, the class began to pack all of their things to go home for the day. Anga neatly put his papers into his folder and placed it into his bag.

“How do you keep getting those right, Anga?” Suiter said, watching Anga pack.

“I guess it just comes to me.” Anga replied.

“Well either way, wanna come over to my place to work on our homework. You help me in math and I’ll help you in design.”

“Deal, however, I must speak to Miss Merry Loo before I leave.” Anga replied.

“Alright, I’ll meet you outside by the flagpole.” Suiter grabbed his bag and ran to the door, leaving Anga alone with his teacher.

“Miss Merry Loo? May I ask you something?”

“Of course dear, what is it?” She said as she put a stack of paper on her desk.

“Well, my parents saw my grade on the last quiz and told me to ask you for extra tutoring.” Anga said, making his teacher stare at him blankly.

“Wait really? I mean, do not get me wrong, I would love to teach you more, but you got a ninety one percent on the test. You got the best grade in the class.” She replied.

“Well.. I guess my parents expect nothing less than a one hundred percent. They called me complacent and naive.”

Merry Loo looked kind of weird to Anga, as if she was holding something back, which she was. She was biting her tongue, wanting to call his parents ignorant and over reactant. She could not believe how those parents treated her favorite student. However, she maintained her composure and took a deep breathe. If it meant keeping him away from that home for a little longer each day, she’d be happy to tutor him.

“Don’t worry, Anga. I’ll help you get better.”

“Thank you, Miss Merry Loo.” Anga was about to walk out of the classroom when he thought of one more question, “Um, Miss Merry Loo?”

“What is it, Anga?”

“What does gay mean?” Anga asked.

“Well.. it is a word used to describe a pony when they love ponies of the same gender. Why do you ask?”

“Well, Suiter and I were playing outside when some ponies from school called us gay. Am I gay, Miss Merry Loo?” Anga asked.

Merry Lo took her time to answer, as this was a question she did not expect from her most intelligent student.

“Well, how do you feel about girls? Do you have any crushes?” She asked.

“No, I do not. I have not looked at any girls that way.” He replied.

“How about boys? Any crushes?”

Anga paused for a moment, thinking about his relationship with Suiter. “Well, if the definition of a crush is liking somepony beyond friendship, would.. Suiter count as a crush?” The prodigy asked.

“Well, explain your feelings.” The teacher said.

“Well, I get excited whenever I am around him. He fills me with joy and compassion. I feel.. Safe around him. It is weird, I never feel like that around anypony, not even my parents.” Anga replied.

Merry Loo cracked a smile, “Then it is possible, but you must decide whether you are gay or not. Nopony else can decide that for you.”

“Is it wrong to be gay?” Anga asked.

Merry Loo thought for a moment. The world hasn’t really opened up to gays as of now, despite Princess Celestia’s best attempts to silence the hate. She needed to chose her words very carefully.

“Well, it’s different. Most ponies are not gay. However, I would not say it is wrong, not in my opinion. I wouldn’t go around telling ponies that just yet.”

“Can I tell Suiter?” Anga asked.

“Well, if you feel that you are ready to, then tell him. However, do not get too distraught if he does not feel the same way,” Miss Merry Loo said.

“Do not worry, Miss Merry Loo. Even if he does not feel like this, I will respect his wishes. We are best friends after all.”

“Well, have fun, and let me know how it goes.”

“I will, thank you, Miss Merry Loo!” Anga grabbed his bag and ran out of the classroom with a big grin on his face. He finally knew what that feeling was whenever he saw his best friend. It was not just the joy of seeing a good friend and knowing you were going to have fun. It was more than that. It was love, or something close to it.