Dormitory Checking

by LosticshyPam

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Colgate, Lyra, Chancellor Neighsay, Moondancer, Comedy
Length: 2443

Even for the excellent student such as Twilight, Dormitory Checking isn't a good memory completely.

Believe that when everyone recalls his or her schooldays, Dormitory Checking is always fresh.... and one of the most impressive memories in our mind, it really provides us with something too much, too much awkward conversation in our later life. Even for the excellent student such as Twilight, Dormitory Checking isn't a good memory completely.

Written by Kalong
Translated by LosticshyPam
Original link

Published 2019-05-03 22:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-05-03 22:00:01 UTC

Dormitory Checking

When they knocked on Twilight’s door at noon, she was sorting out a stack of thick data.

"Oh, I know! I know!" Twilight sighed, "Spike, help me send the literature review to princess right now. I'm going out."

"Going out? What are you going to do outside?" Spike asked.

"Dormitory Checking." Twilight answered. She hurried out of her dorm and accompanied a group of ponies knocking at her door, forgetting to close the door.

Whenever the hardest academic year, the School for Gifted Unicorns always arranged a routine Dormitory Checking. An inspection group made up of instructors, Student Unions and ministers would walk throughout the whole dormitory, to knock on the door of each room to enter inside, and write something in a blue notebook after checking for quite a while.

They didn't often want to take the ponies like Twilight. After all, Twilight doesn't like such errand, especially when everypony was writing the research reports. Today a member of Student Union had other things to do, so she had to take his place.

The group leader was a middle-aged instructor. Twilight knew his name was Neighsay. She asked him for working several times, so she knew that nopony would like Neighsay.

Neighsay knocked on the door of a dorm. It was a stallion who opened the door, and there was a choking smell of cheap perfume around the room inside.

"Welcome," the stallion said. "We've been waiting for you all the time."

Twilight crowded into the room behind the other ponies. Before entering, she saw several ponies poke their heads out of the other dorms and retract them back inside.

"What have you prepared beforehand?" Neighsay asked the stallion who opened the door.

"No, nothing."The pony said, "We don't do that. That's what we usually do in our dorm."

The lemon-yellow secretary of Student Union lifted the curtains, and the grass-green chairpony of Student Society opened the wardrobe as looking for something. Neighsay sniffed the smell of the room, walking to the blue stallion who was eating the instant hay, studying the wrapper of the food he eating. Twilight had a look at the trash can, which was absolutely empty.

"Is it coming from Flim Flam brothers'?" Neighsay asked curiously.

"If you are interested in its taste, I can share it with you all." the stallion joked.

"No."

Neighsay stared at him for a moment before returning the wrapper of instant hay to the blue stallion.

"Where's your dormitory leader?" Neighsay asked.

"Here, sir!" A white stallion in the inspection group said. Twilight recognized he was the chairpony of the Student Union, who following Neighsay in his research.

"Does he clean up the leftovers and wrappers in time?" Neighsay asked to him.

"Yes, sir!" The chairpony of Student Union strongly answered, "The roommates in our dorm are very conscious all the time."

"Very well." Neighsay nodded. The other ponies started to open up their pre-issued blue notebooks to write something on it.

"Where did you throw the garbage?" Twilight asked suddenly.

Twilight felt the chairpony of Student Union and Neighsay staring at her. But she still asked, "Your trash can is empty."

The silence lasted for a few moments. Then the chairpony of Student Union answered, "They dumped it just now."

"Okay, let's go." Neighsay said.

Twilight wanted to say something else, but the stallions who had just met them took them out of the door. She had to leave there. On her way to the next dorm, Twilight saw some wrappers piled up against the corridor messily. The smell of trashes and cheap perfume mixed up filling everywhere.

This dorm wasn't closed, and a mint-green mare met them in front of the door. She was Twilight's good friend Lyra Heartstrings. For some reasons, Twilight always thought Lyra was a little strange.

"It's Leader Neighsay and all the inspectors. Thank you for coming!" Lyra said fervently.

They squeezed into the room. The secretary of Student Union frowned and the instructor covered his nose with his hoof. Twilight couldn't tell what it smelt like, as some kind of insect secretions, which smelt sweet, anyhow.

"What is this?" Neighsay picked up a bottle with an unknown liquid.

"Ooooh, that's magic gel, Mr. Neighsay!" Lyra answered in shock.

"Can the chemical be brought into the dormitory?" Neighsay then asked.

"I'm really sorry!" Lyra lowered her head. "Drugs aren't allowed to be placed overnight in the lab," Her voice was trembling. "The teacher said the experiment was important. I know I made a big mistake. If you want to punish me, please don't blame to my roommates!"

Neighsay had a look at the green gel and found Lyra lying on the ground. A strange smile appeared on his face.

"Remember, just this once." Neighsay finally said, "Although your dorm is really terrible, your attitude is very good. Don't let me find out again next time."

"Thank you! Thank you very much, leader!" Lyra enthused. Twilight saw her almost falling down.

Lyra sent them out of the dorm, but Twilight already felt something was wrong. Instead of following with them, she slipped to another blue unicorn she knew in the room.

" Minuette, what's wrong with Lyra today?" Twilight whispered to her.

Minuette looked around, then lowered her voice and answered, "I think she's a bit weird today, too. You know she's in the department of music, right? "

"And she smells like a bug."

"She also brought that fellow to the dormitory over the night yesterday." Minuette pointed to the chairpony of Student Union, and Twilight saw Lyra give that guy a strange look.

"What are you doing, Twilight Sparkle!" Neighsay shouted outside the door.

Minuette didn't say anymore. Twilight had to follow with Neighsay. Before leaving, she swore that Lyra's magic was something's wrong, as if she was covered with a skin.

"They have a good attitude to admit their mistakes," The chairpony of Student Union said. "I think that we should give them a chance."

The ponies in the group nodded approvingly. No pony except Twilight wrote anything on their blue notebooks.

The door of the third dorm was locked. Twilight knew this was Moondancer's room, because she was her best friend as well. Neighsay knocked on the door but it didn't respond. Then he knocked harder.

Soon, Moondancer asked them to wait outside for a while before opening the door. The dark circles beneath her eyes were very heavy. Twilight knew she was busy with writing her papers recently.

"Sorry, what are you doing?" Moondancer asked, doubtful.

"Dormitory Checking," Neighsay explained angrily. "Why do you lock the door in your dorm?"

"I thought the dormitory should have some privacy." Moondancer answered calmly.

"You broke the school rules. Student dormitory cann't be closed, you know?" Neighsay said as he took out his note pad and wrote something on it. The ponies behind him also followed him to take out their notebooks and quills, except Twilight, as always.

Moondancer looked at Neighsay, smiled without saying a word.

"We have to go in and check." Neighsay said firmly.

Moondancer opened the door as they stormed in as a pack of hungry wolves looking for food.

The dormitory was filled with the fragrance of flowers, almost tasteless, which coming from a bunch of jasmines on the windowsill. Outside the balcony was a clothes hanger as some ordinary sweaters and dresses hanging on it. There was a desk near the window, above it there was a typewriter and a shelf with several folders. Books were arranged neatly by category on the bookshelf beside the desk. There were four beds between the door and the windowsill. Two beds were covered with tidy white quilts, without any stains. If approached, it could smell a little mare fragrance. The other two beds were empty, but they were still covered with two dust-proof covers. Next to the door were a wardrobe and a locker. The wardrobe had no doors and was divided into several squares; there was a stack of neat shirts and pajamas inside. There was a portable vacuum cleaner in the locker, and a trash can beside it. There were a few empty bottles in the trash can, and nothing else.

Twilight considered that she would be delighted to live in such a dorm herself.

The minister of learning took out a book and glanced at it, throwing it on the table casually, which made the books on the shelf a little irregular. The minister of propaganda paced the room continually that spilling with dust on the ground. The chairpony of Student Union couldn't get his pen writing, so he threw it into the trash can, which led to the black ink flicked onto the white wall. The lemon-yellow secretary pushed back the quilt of one bed, checking it importantly, but piled it up in a mess, and then lifted the quilt of another bed.

Finally everypony inside heard a hysterical scream, terrifying.

First the secretary hid in the corner, then the chairpony of Student Union followed, right after the ministers and Leader Neighsay until all the group ponies huddled together, except Twilight and Moondancer. They all stared at the creature on the bed in horror.

It looked like a pony, but it was much more horrible than a pony in their eyes. Its horn was terrible, curved, as a locust trunk; its back was frightful, covered with bright scales like razors; its mane is fearful, curly, thick around the chest; its hooves are dreadful, with two cuticles on them, and there was a fluff on its back knee. Even so, its tail was awful, straight, only a trace of mane on the tip of it.

"Christ! What.... What kind of..... creature is this?!" Neighsay shouted as he hid in the corner.

The awakened creature stood there, looking at the ponies hugging together and twisted its head doubtfully. This made them retreat again. Twilight and Moondancer couldn't help feeling it was very funny.

"This is my Kirin friend, Mr. Neighsay." Moondancer explained, "She comes from the East to share the research with me."

"Kirin? How dared you collude with the evil creatures outside of Equestria!" Neighsay scolded.

"Mr. Neighsay, you're mistaken." Moondancer tried to explain, "Kirin is a kind creature, just like us...."

"Nonsense!" Neighsay pushed aside the ponies next to him and walked close to the Kirin. "Kind creature?! How could the kind creature have such hard and sharp scales?"

"Mr. Neighsay," Twilight added, "Princess Celestia did tell me that Kirin is a kind and gentle Oriental creature..."

"Don't frighten me with princess, Twilight Sparkle." Neighsay said aloud, "Don't permit the other creatures from entering the school, which is the old rule of Equestria and keeps unchanged forever. These inferior creatures.... Are you responsible for the damage to students caused by these damn creatures? "

"But Mr. Neighsay, the Kirins...."

"Do you want to break the school rules, Miss Twilight?" Neighsay asked doubtfully.

Twilight opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything more. She just looked at Moondancer and Kirin apologetically.

"It's not your fault." Kirin spoke. Twilight and Moondancer knew it was said for them.

"And about your dormitory environment, Moondancer." Neighsay continued, "Oh, look at the dust on the ground. Besides, there are blots on the wall you don't clean. The bookshelves are cluttered and the beds are untidy! If that's still the case in a week, you will just wait to drop out of the school."

Neighsay left with a group of ponies aggressively, but Moondancer didn't say goodbye to them. Knowing that something was written fast in their notebooks, it naturally made Twilight feel bad.

"I'm really sorry." Twilight said to Moondancer and Kirin as she left.

"Actually, it's not your fault." Kirin comforted her, "Thank you."

Later, Twilight learned that the Kirin was ordered to get out of school immediately after that Dormitory Checking. Shortly afterwards, there was a rumor that a magic gel recipe was secretly leaked to the Changelings at the school, to everyone's surprise, which was just on the day of that Dormitory Checking. Neighsay strongly insisted that the Kirin was the guy behind the event.

The results of the Dormitory Checking were posted on the bulletin board at the school gate. The dorm of chairpony of Student Union won the laurel unsurprisingly. Sadly, Moondancer was named and criticized and even fined.

After a long time, when Twilight gathered with her companions, sometimes she mentioned to the rumor of that year, as well as the Dormitory Checking in that day. Lyra always said that she regretted not staying in the dormitory at noon that day, or she would have a good talk with Neighsay.

And Twilight, until now, hadn't figured out who the mint-green mare she met that day.

Author's Note

This is my translation of Kalong's another fiction! If you want to know more about him from this story, please read his notes next! :pinkiehappy:

Original Author's Note

First of all, I really appreciate everyone who enjoys and supports this little piece of story!

Ever since the Chinese version of this story was posted several months ago on fimtale.com (you can see it as a Chinese version of fimfiction ^_^), people had always been asking me some questions, about whether the story is based on a true experience, or whether the actual situation has been dramatized and overstated.

Well, honestly saying, although I really understand how ridiculous this story may seems, that's pretty much what happens here in China everyday.

Since this story was finished, I have been wondering to myself: For what purpose did I write this story? Is there anything I've been trying to express to my readers through this story?

Perhaps I'm just complaining about the highly restricted environment that I'm going through, perhaps I'm just being sacarstic about the notorious educational system here...

...Or, perhaps, I'm just tired of all the restrictions and injustice on this land.

In fact, the ending of this story is a happy one, for we all see how Twilight managed to establish the School of Friendship, making it a wonderland where students can learn about knowledge and friendship in harmony, with assured equality and justice...probably because she realized how injustice and restrictions can ruin true harmony and friendship, from this little experience that this story mentioned.

But the reality just doesn't turn out like a fairy tale ending. Injustice, inequality and illiberality is still going on in many uparts of the world, so please, for all those who benefits from a more liberal environment, cherish the liberty, equality and justice that you're enjoying, and try to make a sound for those less fortunated ones.