Arel Areneo a new spider

"Is there a problem with my son?" Arel heard as he kept reading his book, stories about knights.

"No, the reason I called you here is that your son built this on his own," Arel looked over his shoulder to see what his teacher was showing his mom. It was the little model of a boat he saw in a picture of his books, a small sailboat he put together using the building blocks they had at the class a carefully built model that had a decent amount of resemblance to the picture he saw. "He did it during class."

"And he didn't do the task the teacher told him to? If that's the case I'll explain to him to pay more attention and give him a little scolding," Arel's ears dropped as he heard that.

'Why am I going to be...'

"There is no need, Mrs. Areneo. When the teacher took his textbook, he found the entirety of the book with the answers. He checked it and found out that they were all answered correctly. And before you conclude that your son might have stolen the answers, know that these books just arrived last week. But due to a problem, the teachers textbook arrived just yesterday. Meaning that your son to copy the answers would have needed to steal from the couriers."

"And since he is just six..."

"Yes, there is no way that he broke into the school to steal these. He wouldn't even be able to carry all the books. No, we checked the other subjects' textbooks and found out that he did everything right. Grammar, math, reading. Your son is a little prodigy in academics."

"But why call me here if everything is okay?"

"Since we just started the school's year and there are still spots left in the following grade. We would like to know if you are okay with him skipping a grade."

'Does that mean I get to be with the bigger kids? Neat!' Arel thought as he returned to his book.

He got distracted by the story of a brave knight wielding a magic stone he had removed from the rock and became king. The book was a bit heavy for him, so Arel made him slide off the shelve using a ramp he made using the triangle pieces f the building blocks. Just as he was reaching the part of a great battle to defend his city from a horde of bad guys, Arel felt something petting his head.

"Let's go home, dearie," His mother said with a soft tone.

"Okay, mom!" He said happily closing the book, Arel tried to lift it but he wasn't able to. His mother crouched and took the book back to the shelf where he had taken it. Then she took his hand and walked away from the school, as she was leaving Arel's mom stopped by the door to say goodbye to the teacher.

"Have a good day, Mrs. Minds."

"You too, Mrs. Areneo. Before you go, maybe you should consider looking into colleges here Canterlot to enroll him. He has a bright future. Too bad he can't make to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns."

Arel saw his mother nod and she walked away pulling him by the hand, he wasn't sure of what was happening but he was excited with the idea of learning more things. He wanted to see more. Arel was very curious since he started to be able to walk, always losing his mother and wandering off in his next little adventure. His curiosity was matched only by his love for reading.

The little earth pony started to read when he was three years old, his father found him in his study repeating the words on one of his documents. After that, it didn't take long for Arel to start reading every book he could get his little hands on. But what he had in brains, he lacked in brawn. An earth pony that was scrawny and a very slow runner, unlike his friends.

It didn't take long for him to get to his home and see his father sitting in his study. Arel ran to him as soon as his mother let go of his hand, Arel's father got up and went to him.

"Hello, you little troublemaker!" His father said picking him up and spinning him around.

"Not a troublemaker!" Arel heard from behind him. "More like a little genius in the making."

"Is that so?" Arel's father asked turning around. "So, our little boy is a smart one? Who would have thought that after e caught him reading the history of Equestria?"

"I know," Mrs. Areneo replied giving a kiss to her husband. "The principal wants him to skip a grade. She also told us to start looking up colleges for him. She might be thinking a bit ahead but given how our little boy is going...I guess we ought to consider that."

"Well, son, whatever it is you chose to learn and. Knowledge is power. Remember what I told you about power?"

"With great power, comes great responsibility!"

"That's my little genius. So here is another thing for you to remember, ok?" Arel nodded as his father put Arel on top of his table. "Every life is precious, so are yours. You are a smart one, never throw your life or your values away in exchange for an easier path. Understand?"

"He might be smart, but I don't think he can have that level of conversation yet, dear."

"I just want you to promise to remember that as well, ok?" Arel nodded positively. "You don't need to worry about understanding it. It will have it's meaning when you're older. You just keep that little spark of yours burning brightly, ok?"

Arel noded positively to his father. "I'll make sure to remember father!"

And so he did, Arel performed brilliantly in academics, just as his teacher predicted. The young colt grew into a teenager, graduating from his school with honors he continued on his path to High School. His frame kept its aspect of being frailer than other earth ponies. Due to his avid reading, he ended up needing glasses once he came to the age of 11.

His cutie mark was chemistry vials and physics formulas, his coat was an orange fading to a bright yellow at the bottom of his hooves. Arel's mane went from a vivid blue to a lighter tone towards the end of the edge of his mane, it would stay styled if he combed it, and it would be all spiky if he didn't do it. So he varied based on how he felt or if he had the time to do it.

In terms of knowledge, high school was a breeze. When it came to dealing with others, he was pretty naive. He ended up being mocked a few times due to his nerdy nature, however, he just kept moving on. Arel had a goal, making the world a better place with his inventions. During his free time, he would study technology, magic, chemistry, biology. Anything that could help him come up with new projects was welcome in his studies.

"Well, Mr. Areano," The principal started, Arel was a bit freaked for being called to his office out of the blue. Especially six months before graduation. "You can relax, son. I just want to ask if you heard about the new project in the works at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns?"

"I-I can't say I have sir."

"They are planning on letting students that aren't unicorns to enter. For now, the project is still being evaluated and they need to see if they will work. So, they are taking in some students if they have a letter of recommendation and pass their interview."

"That is amazing sir! That ought to help a lot of ponies to grow in the academic field quicker."

"And we would like to recommend you to it," Arel tilted his head at that. "You are our most brilliant student. Your projects and scores in competitions of physics and mathematics brought a lot of spotlight to our school. This is our way of saying thanks!"

"I-I see! Well, sir! I would be honored if you were to recommend me to the project!"

"Okay then, son. After graduation, you will receive a letter telling the place and time to do the interview. Now, go out there and enjoy your last six months in our academy!"

"Will do sir!"

And just as promised, three days after his graduation in high school. Arel received a letter with the Princess' seal on it, the appointed time was 10:30 AM. The interview's place, within the castle walls. Apparently, there was a connecting area between the castle gardens and the school grounds. There they would be interviewed and those who passed would be evaluated to determine their level of knowledge.

Arel went to the determined spot at the appointed hour. His mother took the day off to accompany him there, there was a considerable amount of ponies waiting by a circular area that was closed off by a magical wall that prevented others from seeing what was inside

"Looks like a lot of schools are trying to get their students here," Arel's mother commented as she turned around and started to groom his mane and adjust his clothes. A red and white flannel shirt with a white T-shirt underneath it and dark blue jeans. "Now, remember..."

"It's okay mom," He said interrupting her speech and her attempts to groom Arel's mane. "I'm sure everything will be just fine. You can go find a place to wait. I'll just go wait for my turn."

Arel gave her a hug and went to the group of ponies, they seemed to be very tense. There were mostly females, the few males he caught sight of were hitting on the mares. The mares, however, seemed to be really concerned there were some in the verge of tears. Some were even sitting on the ground shivering a little bit.

'Maybe this is how things normally go during job interviews?'

Even being a few minutes earlier, Arel had to wait until 11:00 AM before somepony walked out of the magical wall. It was a mare with some small round glasses, a lavender coat, purple and pink mane, unicorn, reading some sort of small cards, her eyes were moving way too fast to follow. She didn't seem very comfortable with doing a speech, Arel concluded she must have been the first student to enter the place. Actually, she seemed too young to be attending there.

'Maybe she skipped a few grades just like me? I swear I think I've seen her before.' Suddenly he saw her take a deep breath, take off her glasses and looked at the crowd.

"Good morning to all of you. My name is Twilight Sparkle and I am a first-year student of the High School segment of this institution. I was asked to welcome all of you to the interview process to apply to our academy. And also to explain how this process will be conducted," She said while walking red to left again and again.

'That was a sudden change. She looked like she was freaking out when she was reading.'

"The Princess believed that a student receiving other students would help ease the tension before proceeding to be interviewed. Now, pay attention to this is how things will go: behind me is the entrance, once your name appears on the wall approach it and you will be allowed entry. Once inside, you answer a few questions related to your highest grades while in High School. You will not receive feedback on it at first, after answering the questions you will proceed to the next phase. The interview, once that is finished you will proceed to the final room where you can find the feedback on your answers for the first phase. If you do not find a document evaluating your answers, that means you were not selected. That is all."

And with that Arel watched a bunch of mares and some of the stallions start to complain and be angry, Twilight just waved good-bye and left the place. Soon after, some of the students up and left with their heads hung low. Not long after that, names started to pop up on the wall. Nopony came forth.

'I guess they did that on purpose? To see who could handle the pressure?'

Then a name appeared and one of the students went to the wall, a door appeared and they went inside. The door disappeared immediately after they passed through preventing the others from seeing what was inside. Silence took over the garden, some students went to the wall and pressed their heads against it as if they wanted to hear what was happening inside.

Arel thought it would be useless to do that, so he simply walked to a bench and sat down. His legs were a bit shaky due to him being slightly more nervous after seeing the ones organizing this interviews using those tactics. Arel just closed his eyes and sat down, opening them whenever he started to hear murmurs and ponies asking about the name that had appeared.

Time passed by, more and more names were called. Arel started to feel more uneasy as time went by. 'Did they set this all up to see who would break? This is very stressful. Just a name on a wall and tests that we know nothing about. If making us feel uneasy was your goal...salutations cause you've done it right!'

Tired of sitting around, Arel got back on his hooves and started to walk around. Then more murmurs came around and he heard somepony mentioning his name. Turning around as fast as he could, Arel walked towards the wall and went inside. The first room was small and had only a desk with some papers, a pencil, an eraser, and a timer marking 15 minutes.

'I guess these are my questions?'

Arel sat down and started to read, physics, chemistry, math, his three best subjects in High school. They were very tough, two questions for each subject, all multiple choice. Arel worked as fast as he could through each one, carefully making the calculations and formulas and checking each step as he proceeded. The pencil danced like crazy through the paper, calculation after calculation he reached a result and marked the answer he arrived at. When he had finished the seventh question, a loud buzz sounded and the items before him disappeared. All that was left was the desk where he was sitting.

'DAMN IT! I didn't answer all!' Arel thought as he stood up. One of the walls opened and Arel stepped through, his shoulders were dropped and his gaze was on the ground. Then he heard a voice he didn't recognize.

"So, you are Arel?" He looked up and saw something that he didn't quite expect.

The interviewer he was meeting was none other than the Princess of the sun. Celestia, who also was, as the name clearly stated, the founder of Celestia's school for gifted Unicorns. Arel had seen her in newspapers, parades, and he had heard about her feats in the past because of the history books he had read. He bowed as quickly as he could.

"Yes, your majesty!"

"There is no need for that. Come, take a seat," Arel looked up to see the Princess pointing at a chair opposite to where she sat. The Princess had a tea set placed over a table, Arel obeyed and sat at the appointed table. "You seem to want to ask me something, what is it?"

"U-um...d-did you conduct all the interviews so far?"

"Yes," She replied before serving herself some tea. "Now, let's proceed to yours. Your mother is called July Areneo, correct?"

"Y-yes, she is an e-engineer in the Harmony-Tech civilian outfit. S-she is currently working in items to help ponies have an easier life. B-but based on what I've seen, there has been some issues integrating the magic channeled through the current power cell model. The circuits break down too fast because the power cells need a different modulator to control the power flow and prevent overheating them. If that issue was to be solved the complexity of each of the circuits could be improved and then we could..."

Arel stopped the moment he realized that he was about to mention one of his ideas for after he managed to finish his college. He looked at the Princess to see her watching him with a smile, the teacup in her hands.

"Go on, don't let me stop you."

"I-if the complexity increased, more intricate mechanisms could be made. M-maybe an interface connecting directly to ponies nervous systems allowing a pony who lost the ability to walk to walk again. M-maybe by making a prosthesis to replace a pony's limb, e-even reconnect spots between a fractured spinal cord."

"Interesting, am I right to assume you saw the designs for the circuits your mother is working on?" Princess Celestia asked placing the teacup back on the table. Then magic surrounded her horn and a blueprint appeared on the table. "These are the blueprints for the current modulator for the Harmony-Tech cells. Go ahead, check them and tell me what you would do to solve the modulator problem."

Arel gulped, he placed himself in that situation. Now, he had to get himself out. Leaning over the table, he started to analyze the entirety of the blueprint. After running his eyes over it again and again, Arel took a deep breath before looking up.

"T-the component for this part modulator where the harmony flows through has a poor response to the harmony energy liberated by the energy cell. Reducing its efficiency. I-if we were to change this component that would be a start."

"And what do you suggest to replace it with?"

Arel gulped again before scratching his chin. "T-the natural elements we currently know have poor responses to Harmony, especially if there is fluctuation to the amount of energy running through it. B-but some materials apparently can have a decent response if we change their physical state. Therefore, if the part was substituted by a component with the right response ratio in its most responsive physical state, the time before breaking down the circuits due to use would be increased considerably."

"Then we could start experimenting on different material combinations to see if the response would increase until we found something with the most efficient response. With that, we can work on the remaining design changes to make the modulator efficiency increase even more."

Celestia smiled. "You are not far off. As far as I know, our scientists arrived at that conclusion a few weeks ago after revising the blueprints for months. You, however, got through it in a few seconds. Now, let's continue. Your father, Neil Nauka. He is a geneticist, correct?"

"Correct. He is studying the possibility of applying magic to modify genes and prevent diseases from manifesting. Maybe even stimulating the genes to increase the immune response to diseases." Arel replied breathing a bit more easily since he was through the storm now.

"Interesting. Now, let's change back to you. Why would you want to apply to my school?"

"Huh? I-I...I think that if I were to apply here I could be more easily gain access to research centers since this place is pretty famous. Meaning that maybe I could..."

"Gain fame more easily? Make a fortune?" The kind expression she bore to that point was a scowl, her voice went from calm and kind to cold. "To be another celebrity that came out of our 'famous academy'?"

"No! If had access to advanced research material and equipment in a laboratory that has decent funding. I could make my projects work! I could help to improve our technology making the lives of ponies easier! Making it better! I'm sure I can do it if I have the right tools!"

Arel shouted all that while he slammed his hands on the table and got up. Once he realized that he had just shouted at the princess, Arel began to sweat.

'Shit, I might just have signed a death sentence to me applying here.'

Celestia snorted before she burst in laughter, nearly falling off her chair her wings shot open as she tried to regain her balance and speak. But she wasn't able to make any response, that scene remained with Arel confused for several moments.

"Haha...T-that...was certainly refreshing! The last 45 students were so quick to simply agree to everything I said. And on top of that, you actually raised your voice against me! Out of those 45 students, about ten of them actually had some decent reason to apply here. The others had those rehearsed phrases about always dreaming of entering the academy."

"Uh...y-you kinda lost me there."

"I'm saying that you've been admitted to the academy. Which course would you like to enter?"

Arel's legs gave in and he fell on the chair, he was baffled by what was happening right before his eyes. He had just shouted at the princess, spilled the tea on the teacup, and actually passed the entrance exam. 'What the heck is going on here?'

"So? What course would you like to enter?"

"E-engineering? NeuroEngineering?" Arel replied after shaking his head a few times.

"Very well. Your place has been guaranteed. Your classes begin in a few weeks. We hope to you showing our teacher what you got, Mr. Araneo."

Arel still a bit shaken, got up and bowed to her.

"Look up."

Arel raised his head and saw the princess offering her hand, he reached to it and then he shared a handshake with the Princess. After that, she pointed the way Arel should go and he followed. The next room had only a file on top of a table, Arel picked it. It had the answers to his test, he was right on all the ones he answered.

At the end of the document, he found the following note:

Arel Araneo, we are glad to inform that you've been accepted in Celestia's School for gifted unicorns. Your course is NeuroEngineering, based on the score of your test. You've been evaluated to be on par with the students of the beginning of the third year. A list of the required materials for your classes shall be sent to you in two days. Your classes begin in a month form this date.

We hope to see you soon.

With that in hands, Arel left the place and went to meet his mother. Leaving the campus that he was going to be using for the next few years.