The Royal School of Canterlot
Prologue: It's been 10 years
Princess Celestia stood before her former school for Gifted Unicorns, her mind shifting back to the day of its opening, two centuries ago. She founded the school during her sister's time on the moon. At that time, she was unaware if Luna would ever come back. She feared that if something to her, there would be no one to look after Equestria. The school as here to gather the most powerful unicorns in the land, so that the Princess could find somepony perfect to act as heir. During those thousand years, she was a really busy and stressed alicorn, for running a kingdom is no easy feat. She used to be the only one powerful enough to rule and protect the kingdom against threats. But not anymore. The Princess could finally allow herself to relax a bit more.
"Do you really think it's a good idea?" Luna's voice snapped Celestia out of her reverie.
"I... Yes. This place means a lot to me. I wouldn't want it to close down because it has no more students. Renovating it into a school for everyone is the best course of action," Celestia replied.
"Then let's get to work."
Before the renovation could actually start, a meeting needed to be held. This was a big deal. A lot of matters had to be discussed first.
So, here we are, with the four ruling princesses seated at a large circular table.
"I get your point, Celestia, but would our budget be enough? I mean, cleaning an entire building, then expanding it and buying new furniture. Let's not forget paying the staff," Twilight Sparkle explained.
"The budget is enough. Trust me, I calculated it," Luna showed her the school budget.
"Okay. You have a lot of subjects on your list. Algebra, science, history, magic, flight, even literature. That's a lot for kids of 10 years," Cadance looked at Celestia, who seemed annoyed that everyone was questioning her decision.
"I could prepare the application form for the teachers and students," Twilight offered.
"Thank you. This is a pretty big deal. We could really use all the help we could get," Celestia smiled.
The renovation went smoothly. The school was big, clean and ready to be used. There were many classrooms, each equipped with desks, chairs, books and even a projector. There was a large playground, cafeteria, assembly hall and teachers' lounge.
The school was ready to welcome its first generation of students and teachers.
Author's Note
•There goes my second fanfic.
•This story will contain one prologue and epilogue in the third person and the five in-between chapters will be in first person.
•In this story, the manes and tails of the Royal Sisters do not flow; they are normal.
•Things will be different in Equestria as this takes place a decade after the events of the show.
The Royal School of Canterlot
The Royal School of Canterlot was officially open.
Students from all across Equestria (and even beyond) rushed to the doors, accompanied by their parents. It was the first day. Everyone was excited.
Including me.
"Darling! Please get down here and walk," Dad shouted from down below. I looked down at him but continued flying nevertherless.
Hi, you. Yes, you. The reader.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Flurry Heart, daughter of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armour. I'm an alicorn and I live in the Crystal Empire, but you already know that, don't you? My parents decided to send me here to learn and socialise like everyone else.
I did some somersaults in the air before landing. I love flying. My parents looked at me with relief.
We soon arrived at the gigantic front doors of the school. Woah. This is big. There was large crowd of students and parents gathered in front of the stage where stood the Sisters.
We found a spot in the crowd. I looked around and saw the... Cakes? They are quite famous bakers and were right next to us. The couple had twins, who had to be around my age. They looked familiar-
"Welcome, one and all to the Royal School of Canterlot!" Princess Celestia's voice stopped my train of thoughts. "This school is new and you-" she pointed to the crowd "-are its first generation of students. I hope you enjoy your year here. Now, as you probably know, your parents filled in your enrollement form."
Princess Luna took over, "They will leave you here after this assembly. You will be given your locker key and inside your locker will be your schedule of classes. Head to your class afterwards. Your teachers are waiting for you there. Each of your teachers will have their own set of rules. We'll see wach other on the end-of- year school reunion. Have a great year!"
The assembly was dismissed, and so was the crowd.
"Well, have a fun first day, dear," Mom kissed my cheek.
"Learn lots and... make some friends," Dad kissed my forehead.
"I will," I smiled then flew off to my locker.
The hallway was aligned with doors and lockers. I searched for mine, the key floating in my telekinetic field. Locker #42.
I saw the Cake twins again. I landed next to them and saw my locker. Looks like their locker is next to theirs. I opened it to find my schedule for the year.
History was my first class.
I emptied my saddlebags and filled it with only the necesary supplies. I looked at the twins again. Might as well talk to them while they were here.
"Hey there! " I tried to make a good first impression. "My name is Flurry Heart."
That's when I realized that one was a unicorn filly and the other one a pegasus colt.
"Flurry Heart? You are an alicorn! I'm Pumpkin Cake and he is my twin brother, Pound Cake," the unicorn greeted back. She had a yellow coat and an orange mane, tied in pigtails with blue bows.
"We've met before, haven't we?" the pegasus known as Pound Cake inquired. He had a beige coat with brown mane and eyes.
I did a quick mental scan, trying to find a topic to talk about. "So, what's your first class?"
"History," they answered simultaneously.
"Shall we go?" I asked, "I don't want to be late on my first day." They followed me with bright smiles that I returned.
This day was going to be perfect.
The Royal School of Canterlot
The teacher just sat there.
When I entered the classroom, I saw the teacher sitting at her desk, filling a notebook. She was a beige unicorn, with a red, purple-highlighted mane. She wore thick, black glasses along with the white tie and collar that was part of the school dress code.
She did not utter a word. Not even a 'Hello' or 'Good morning.' She did not even look at us. Just continued doing her work.
There were already some students seated in the class. To my surprise, there were not only ponies. I saw a griffon and a changeling in the far corner. I took a seat in the front row and took out my supplies. The Cake twins sat next to me.
I sat there. Waiting. As the clock was ticking, more students filed in the class. After what seemed like eternity, the class was full and the teacher closed the door with her magic, got up and spoke:
"Good morning, dear students! I am Professor Moondancer, this year's history teacher. If you don't know, history is the study of past events. Now, I have some rules. First, please pay attention in class. Second, remain seated. Do not teleport or fly in my class. Third, do not hesitate to ask questions. Any questions?"
Prof. Moondancer scanned the class for questions. None. She continued:
"Since you have nothing to ask, I think we should get started on our first lesson. But before that, I should probably give you these."
She lifted a carton box over our heads and started giving out books. A copy landed on my desk. It was a brown book, on which was written in readable calligraphy: 'The History of Equestria: Abridged for Youngsters.' That's our schoolbooks! I immediately started going through the colourful pages, looking at the events of the past and the actions of my ancestors, a smile plastered on my face. I am so excited to learn about them all!
Prof. Moondancer continued, "You can read your books after class. For now, we'll begin our fisrt lesson: the foundation of Equestria!"
She began drawing the 3 races of ponies (minus alicorns) on the blackboard. "A very long time ago, more than a thousand years ago, there were 3 tribes: Earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi. They hated each other!"
I gasped. And so did my new classmates.
"They only looked out for their own tribe's well-being. The earth ponies cared for the land and grew food, the pegasi controlled the weather, as they do now, and the unicorns used their magic to bring forth day and night. They did all this in exchange for something else that the two other tribes gave. That's how they lived for generations. But one day, the weather grew inexplicably cold. No one knew the reason."
As if on cue, the classroom grew a bit colder and fake snow fell from the ceiling. Prof. Moondancer must have installed those effects to keep her students interested.
"The tribes decided to hold a meeting. The leaders came to it. There was Chancellor Pudinghead of the Earth Ponies, Princess Platinium of the unicorns and Commander Hurricane of the pegasi."
The lights went off and the projector was switched on. We saw the leaders' black-and-white pictures.
"The summit was fruitless. The leaders only blamed other for the disater. Each went home and made the same decision separately: to find a new land. They each went with their loyal assisstants: Smart Cookie of the earth ponies, Clover the Clever of the unicorns and Private Pansy of the pegasi."
Another slide. We saw the ever-so loyal assisstants.
"They did find their lands. But to their utter shock, it was at the same place!"
Another slide. We saw the pegasi on the clouds, the unicorns on a mountain and the Earth ponies on the ground. They were looking at each other with anger and hate.
"The land was perfect. But since it was the same place, the leaders started fighting again. The cold came back, colder than before! They found shelter in a cave nearby."
The temperature fell further.
"And more fightining. This unknown blizzard entered their cave and... froze the leaders!"
A lot of gasps were heard.
"Yes! Froze the leaders! The assisstants were shocked, naturally. Clover explained that the cold was caused by the Windigos; creatures that feed off hate to create the cold! They admitted to each other that they never hated anypony. And just before the ice could envelop them all, something magical happened from Clover the Clever's horn! The Fire of Friendship!"
Suddenly, a pink, heart-shaped flame illuminated the room. It was bright and heartwarming.
"The three of them kept the fire burning by sharing love and friendship. Eventually, this unfroze the leaders who made peace afterwards. They went to the land they found, which was even more beautiful than before, and decided to share. They named it Equestria!"
The lights went on and flag of our land stood right in front of us. This was beautiful.
Prof. Moondancer looked at us with a genuine smile. She looked pleased. She looked at the clock and so did I.
The bell rang.
"Class dismissed. See you next time!"
I stayed back to go through the book again. The teacher noticed that.
She approached me, "Aren't you going to go, Miss...?"
"Flurry Heart," I finished, then looked at her, "And I will. In a minute or two."
"Flurry Heart," Prof. Moondancer repeated, "You are the daughter of the royal couple of the Crystal Empire. You are the heir of the throne, aren't you?"
"Yup," I answered nonchalantly. Truth be told, I don't really want to rule someday. Leading sounds like an awful lot of work. I should probably tell her that. "But, you know Professor, I really don't want to."
"Why?"
"It sounds like an awful lot of work and stress. I don't have my cutie mark, so I don't really know if its my destiny," I explained.
"I see," Prof. Moondancer lifted her eyes to the celing. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here," she continued with a warm smile.
I returned it, took my saddlebags and headed out.
I flew down the hallway to my locker. Opening it, I starred at my history textbook.
It's official. Prof. Moondancer is my best teacher.
Author's Note
That was a long chapter...
