Siege of Equitol

Pumpkin opened his eyes slowly. the teacher's lounge was strangely empty. He rubbed his eyes with his hooves and yawned. Then he looked at the clock on the wall. 1:30 PM. He was late.

He jerked awake and jumped on his hooves. "Damn, damn, damn!" he swore as he hastily grabbed his notebooks and the thick, heavy history book. He then raced towards the door, and turned back, because he had forgotten something. Less than a minute later, he burst through the door and flew through the hallways to reach the class he was supposed to be in fifteen minutes ago.

Pumpkin was a teacher at the Fillydelphia general education school. And he was a pegasus. While it is unusual for a daring, bold creature such as a pegasus to take up a monotone, underappreciated job as a teacher, it wasn't unheard of. Besides, he got along well with his earth and unicorn colleagues, who despite pulling a prank on him every now and then, were respectful and (though they'd never admit it) even slightly inspired by their winged co worker who defied the stereotypes pushed upon him by the Pegasi society.

The foals he was supposed to teach were taking to each other, exchanging the latest gossip and some tried to appeal to the opposite sex in a manner most adolescents are familiar with; bragging.
but all that commotion, the rustle and bustle of the classroom was silenced when someone announced that he heard a flapping sound from the hallway. All eyes were fixated at the door, and soon everypony could hear the flapping of wings, accompanied by slight swearing of a buck that is unmistakably late for something.

The flapping was abruptly ended by a loud crash. One of the paintings hanging by the door fell to the floor. after a particularly loud and colourful curse, the door opened and a dark-orange coated stallion entered, covering his nose with his forehoof. he walked up to his desk, and dropped the notebooks and the large, heavy book on it. ten he turned to the slightly shocked pupils and asked: "Does any of you unicorns have a bleed clotting spell? because I have a really bad nosebleed." he said, and as if to confirm his words, a trickle of blood poured on the floor from behind the forehoof that he kept on his nose.

A young unicorn mare searched the classroom, sighed and then raised her hoof. "Well, don't just wave your hoof in the air like an idiot, cast it!" Pumpkin said impatiently. the mare focused, a grayish glow enveloping her horn and subsequently, Pumpkin's nose. Pumpkin felt the bleeding recede and let out a sigh of relief. He then trotted to the sink to wash off the blood from his hoof and his face. "Sorry that I am late, everypony. I fell asleep in the teacher's lounge. So I guess you won't be having a terribly long lesson today, eh?" he asked with a hint of a smile.

the class gave him confused looks. "Mr. Pumpkin, it's 1:17 PM." one of the pupils said. "You are only two minutes late."

Pumpkin raised his eyebrow suspiciously and grazed the clock in the classroom. 1:17 PM. he wasn't late. another pupil spoke up:" besides, we have two hours of History now."

Pumpkin felt a dark feeling of despair overcome him. he had to lecture a bunch of adolescent foals for whole 90 minutes. he sighed.

"Okie dokie." he said. "Now where were we when we last had history?" he asked. a grey mare with glasses lifted her hoof. "Okay, Greybook, begin." he said. the grey mare straightened her pose and began talking. "We have just finished explaining exactly how important the reforms of farming, introduced by prince Goldhoof were important for the development of Canterlot back in..." "Okay, stop, stop, stop." pumpkin interrupted her. "By Luna, haven't I been teaching you kids anything fun?" he asked. the whole class shook their heads. Pumpkin thought for a moment. "Okay, I have an idea. I’ll teach you about history the same way my grandmother taught me: by telling a story. Are you up for it?" he asked. there was an approving murmur heard from the pupils.

Pumpkin closed his eyes and cleared his throat. "Now, how many of you fine ponies have ever heard of Equitol?"