An Earthling Earth Pony at Celestia's School of Magic: Year One

December 15th

Before we knew it, the holidays were upon us and the mid-year rankings. I finished the semester at a respectable ninth place. Why was I ninth place? I had no idea. I was doing well in all my classes... except for mathematics... yeah, that was probably why I wasn't ranked higher. At least I was passing the class, if only by the skin of my teeth. Hannah was ahead of me at seventh. Summer had clocked in at number two, and Bright was mid-tier at fifteenth. The person at the top mid-year left a sour taste in my mouth.

"This just goes to show how superior I am," Prim said, nose in the air as we all looked at the board that had been put up at the entrance to the dorm building.

"Still can't beat me at chess most of the time," I muttered.

Twilight Glow was in the third spot. Red was in twelfth—and looking darkly at his sister. Rocky and Onyx were in the nineteenth and twentieth spots, respectively, and both of them looked shaken at how much they teetered on the edge. Hail Storm was just ahead of them at eighteenth. Lunar Light was in the twenty-first spot, but wasn't present for me to judge the reaction to being the only one out of our part of the class completely in the crisis range. I felt bad for the other two classes; they had overall worse numbers across the board. None of them had secured one of the top three spots, and they had far more students in danger of dismissal. Hail Storm's class did have the number four student... but also had three of their ten students in the bottom third.

I knew I wasn't going to fall to the bottom third, and I'd only worried about Bright. Now that I saw he wasn't in immediate danger, I had other things to worry about.

"Students, I know you are all excited... or horrified... to see the class rankings, but everypony needs to take their seat and eat. We have announcements to do," Sweetie Belle announced, standing next to Headmaster as he sat and ate... I think he was eating some sort of omelet.

We all made our way to the cafeteria line. Students who were doing well tended to chatter excitedly. Those doing not-so-well had a gloom about them that left no room for talk. Hannah and Bright spent time congratulating Summer on her high ranking, and Summer accepted the compliments bashfully. Prim wasn't getting the same round of congratulations, as Aroma, the ringleader in Prim's little clique, was in the crisis zone, and all that clique was busy trying to console her and tell her how unfair the rankings were. I doubt Prim wanted to press the fact she was number one in those circumstances. Red had decided to congratulate Twilight about his performance, and Lunar Light had slipped in at some point, yawning as he got in line without looking at the board. I kept silent, brooding on what was to come.

After we all reached our seats, Headmaster wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood.

"Congratulations on making it through the first semester without dying," he greeted.

Some of us shared confused looks, me included. That hadn't seemed like a possibility at any point.

“You have all seen the rankings. For those of you at the top, you’ve done adequately. For those of you at the bottom, at this point, I could care less if I see you again. If you want to change that, you have half a year left,” he continued.

A few students actually whimpered.

“But we still have that half year, and much can change,” he continued. “For now, the holidays are upon us. For those of you staying with us through the holidays. meals will be continued to be served on the regular schedule. For those of you going home for the holidays, I hope you take the time away to relax and get your heads in order, and I expect you all back promptly by the night before classes resume. Students that can’t prioritize where they need to be may get my displeasure.”

He sat back down and pulled a piece of apple pie over to himself.

Sweetie Belle, who had been standing at attention beside him the entire time. gave us all a warm smile.

“We have a group who will be doing Hearthswarming carols this evening outside the main building, if anypony wishes to join, and there will be a massive feast tonight with extra treats and presents for all,” she announced. “I hope everypony can enjoy themselves and focus on the holidays with friends and family. For right now, Professor Newman is going to treat you to an Earth song from one of their holidays that falls near this time of year…she lost a bet to me and she’d better honor it.”

Newman. who had been at the forth-year table, stood up, giving Sweetie Belle a disgusted look.

“I can’t believe you are making me do this,” Newman complained. “This is why I avoid gambling.”

Sweetie Belle smiled back at her. “You have a wonderful singing voice. It would be a shame if none of the students ever heard you sing. They could use more exposure to Earth traditions and culture anyway.”

Newman grunted and walked iver to stand beside Sweetie Belle. Headmaster stopped eating, gentle put his fork down, and focused his attention completely on Professor Newman.

Newman looked around at us.m, put a hand up to her throat, and took a deep breath, before lowering her hand and grasping them together in front of her.

“Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to…the newborn king. Peace on Earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled-”

I closed my eyes. She was a good singer. and the song was both relaxing and comforting. It took me back to happy Christmases where I sat staring up at the brightly lit tree.

As she reached the chorus, something unexpected happened. a voice joined hers.

“O come all ye faithful. Joyful and triumphant. O come. ye, o come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him. Born the king of angels-”

I opened my eyes and stared in shock. It was Headmaster. He still sat. but had joined in chorus with Newman. She didn’t even bat an eye at it.

“O come let us adore him-”

I looked across the table and saw Lunar Light had silently joined in. He had unreadable look on his face.

“O come let us adore him-” Hannah joined in tentatively. She looked at me.

“O come let us adore him-” I joined in, not being able to help myself.

“Christ, the Lord!” We all sang in concert.

The rest of us went silent as Newman continued with the main song. As she did, Stockman walked over from a corner to stand beside her. Headmaster shared a brief glance with him, and nodded. Then the chorus came again. This time, Newman, Hannah, Lunar Light, me, Headmaster, and Stockman, all sang it together loudly.

“O come all ye faithful.
Joyful and triumphant.
O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him.
Born the king of angels.
O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him.
Christ the Lord!”

The song came to an end. Newman quietly returned to her seat. Stockman returned to his corner. Headmaster returned to his pie. Some of the students were staring at me, Hannah, and even more do at Lunar Light. Some were staring at Headmaster. I never knew before today that Lunar Light was from Earth, but that display certainly indicated as much. I didn’t mind the stares. For right now, in this one rare moment. I felt a pang of homesickness.

Hannah wiped a tear from her eye. “I didn’t know I needed that.”

“Such a peculiar song. I don’t know what an angel is or where Bethlehem is. Can you explain the significance of this song?” Red asked.

“Yeah, it was nice and all, but we’re confused,” Rocky said. Onyx nodded along in agreement.

“I think it's about the return of some king,” Summer said. “Is that right?”

“It’s a religious song. We have a religious holiday called Christmas around this time of year, but people celebrate it even if they aren’t that religious,” Hannah explained. She then gave Lunar a dirty look. “And you never mentioned you were from Earth!”

He yawned and smacked his lips before answering. “You never asked.”

“I didn’t know, and I’m your roommate,” Twilight said.

Lunar shrugged.

“Do we really need their weird Earth cults infiltrating Equestria?” Prim asked snidely.

“You are supposed to be exposed to diverse cultures,” Coach Scootaloo chided. She was the professor at our table today.

Prim frowned and looked down. “As you say, professor.”

Summer looked at me. “Are you wishing you could go home for the holidays? I notice you were quiet earlier before the singing.”

That brought me back to my earlier discomfort. “No need. My parents are coming here.”

Scootaloo blinked. “Oh, yeah…I was supposed to tell you that your parents will be arriving at Canterlot station in two hours. We already have a hotel room for them in town, and you are allowed to give them tours of the school and bring them to meals. Professor Newman said she expects you to visit her with them at least once while they are here.”

I gasped. “Two hours?!”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yep! Sorry I forgot to mention it. Seeing Headmaster sing kind of distracted me. I never knew the guy had a soft side to him. He’s normally the why are you making me take time away from staring down my nose at you to deal with your nonsense type of guy. Anyway, you must be excited. Hope everything goes well.”

Excited? That was one way of saying it. A better way of saying it was shaking in my fur and ready to cry.

Bright gave me a pat on the shoulder. “Want us to come with ya ta meet them? Ah know ya’ve heen dreadin’ this.”

Prim gave me a wicked grin. “Scared if what we’ll think of your backwards Earth farm parents?”

“Naw, he’s scared they’ll take him away. He forged their signatures to get in here. Stop trin’ to shame ‘em,” Bright said, then instantly covered his mouth.

The whole table, including Coach Scootaloo, stared at me. Way to go Bright. I didn’t need the whole school knowing that.

“They signed the permission papers for real afterward, so I am here with their permission. Newman knows about the entire situation,” I hastily informed them. “But, yeah, they aren’t happy about it—not about me being here or about me forging their signatures.”

“You forged your parents signatures, and you claim to have some moral superiority over me?” Prim asked, smirking.

I looked her in the eyes. “I wanted to be here. You don’t want to. I did what I thought I had to do. You aren’t the only one with ambition. They eventually relented and signed the forms.”

“I hope they decide to haul your flank back to Earth where you belong,” Prim snarled.

“Prim Tape!” Scootaloo scolded.

“There has been an update to the rankings.”

We all turned to look at Headmaster.

“Prim Tape has been moved to fifth in rankings, all those who were previously fifth or higher have moved up a ranking,” Headmaster announced.

Prim beat her hoof against the table in frustration.

“Lets change that to eighth. Again with everyone else moving up a rank,” Headmaster saud, not even looking at her. “Would you like to continue?”

Prim withdrew her hoof from the table. “No. I think I have had enough.”

“Good,” Headmaster said. “Another update is Turnip Jones is being moved to fifteenth in rankings, with all those who were previously above him moved up a rank. I was not aware of the matter you mentioned. I’m sure Professor Newman had her reasons for keeping it private, but now that I know, I cannot ignore it.”

Well. heck. Wait…he was lying. He knew. Professor Newman sent him a message about it. I suppose he couldn't admit knowing, but I still hated him pretending he didn’t already know, and cutting my rank for it.

Prim smirked at me. I glared back. My ability to do numbers might be worse than hers, but I knew the fall from ninth to fifteenth wasn’t as far as the fall from first to eighth, even by the numbers.

I looked at Bright. “I wouldn’t mind the company, but don’t you have your own train to catch?” I asked.

“Ah’ll be goin’ back ya Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow. Aunt Applebloom has some stuff she needs ta take care of before we go back,” he answered. “Ya’re welcome ta come visit us, all of y’all.”

My parents are coming into town tomorrow. I’ll come back you up Turnip,” Hannah said.

“My mom has to hang around here, so dhe won’t mind me delaying visiting home an extra day. You know how clingy she is,” Summer said.

I smiled. “Thanks, guys.”

“Thanks for gettin’ meh moved up a rank. ‘Preciate it,” Bright said, chuckling.

I gave him a light kick on the side. “What are friends for?” I turned and gave Summer a smile. “Hey, congratulations on being number one.”

Summer blushed. “Um, thanks.”

Prim ground her teeth together so hard I could hear it. That made me smile wider.