Trotswold Boarding School

You feel a wet patch form around your groin. Your hand becomes cold and it feels like it’s submerged in something; something cold.  Your eyes widen in horror and you yank your hand from the bowl of cold water. You lean forward in your bed and give Vinyl a cold stare. She is grinning into the mirror as she flattens the creases on her uniform.

You lift the bowl and sneak towards her.

“Close.” She smiles, holding the bowl in her magic and tilting it back towards you.

A sliver of cold water spills from the bowl and runs down the back of your neck. Smiling, Vinyl places the bowl on the floor.

“I’m not that much of bitch,” She smiles, “Now hurry up, you’re going to be late.”

You rub your eyes and walk towards the closet. You pull out the first set of uniform and slip into it. The trousers are unbelievably tight but the shirt and blazer are both surprisingly comfortable. You quickly brush your hair and search for the piece of paper that was neatly packed into your bags. You pull it out and scan down the list.

Tuesday.

P1: Chemistry – Miss. Zecora

P2: English – Miss. Spearshake

P3: Physical Education – Mr. Streak

P4: Physical Education – Mr. Streak

P5: Biology – Miss. Henbury

P6: Study Period

You look over your schedule for today.

“Vinyl, what lessons do you have?” You question out of pure curiosity.

“Double Music, English, Chemistry, Double Sports.” She recites.

No lessons with Viny. Heh, Viny.

“Do you know where Chemistry is?”

“Yeah, it’s in the science block.”

“Ah, couldn’t work that bit out.” You reply sarcastically. “Where is the science block?”

“Mmmm, I’ll show you.” She beckons you towards the door.

You glumly walk over to her and she holds the door open for you. You exit the room and she lets the door slam shut. You walk in silence to the front door of you block. It’s warm outside, with a cool breeze that perfectly complements the heat. There sky is mostly clear, but a few stray clouds make their way across the sky.

You breathe in deeply, taking in the fresh air. Vinyl had already walked halfway down the path by the time you’d finished admiring the pleasant scenery. You jog after her and slow down as you reach her side.

You walk to the science block in silence and she turns to leave and you make your way into the science block. It’s one of the larger buildings in the school. The interior is crowded with uniformed students, making their way to their science lessons. There are so many classes along the bottom floor and properly an equal number along the top floor. Spotting a group of girls standing by the door, you decide it is in your best interest to ask them.

Here goes.

You strut your way up to the gossiping pair.

“Excuse me, do you know where chemistry is?” You ask.

Both girls turn to look at you.

“OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh! New kid! You must be new, because I haven’t seen you around and because I haven’t seen you around it means I’m not your friend! But I am your friend now and I am super excited to meet yo—“ The other girl had covered her mouth with her hand.

Huh? I didn’t catch a word.

“Ah’m sorry, sugarcube. This here is Pinkie Pie an’ Ah’m AppleJack.” Applejack spoke with a mild southern accent. This is surprising, because this school is as far north as you can get.

Applejack was about 5”10, average, athletic build. Her hair dangles to one side of her head in a pony tail that dangles down on the left side of her head. This… Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, hair was a curly mass of pink that somehow perfectly maintains is position. She’s about 5”4 and incredibly hyper. You tell them your name.

“So, who were ya looking for?” Applejack inquires, removing her hand from Pinkie Pies mouth.

“I was looking for… Miss Zecora, for chemistry.” You say uncertainly.

Pinkie Pies eyes widen.

“Well, we’re in Miss Ze—“

“She’s an evil enchantress! Who does evil dances! If you look in her eyes, she will put you in trances!” Pinkie Pie sings, leaping up and down on the spot.

This girl… is crazy.

“As ah was saying, we’re in Miss Zecora’s class, why don’t you stay with us?” Applejack suggests.

Well, it won’t do me any harm to meet new people, even if one of them looks like she is on a 24/7 sugar overload.

You nod your head thankfully.

“Alright, suppose it can’t do me any harm.” You respond.

“So, do ya mind if Ah ask who ya paired with?”

“I’m paired with Vinyl.” You answer.

“Ohmygosh! IknowVinyl! She’s got the best music ever! She even let me Dj once and It was super exciting and now you’re paired!” Pinkie appeared behind you, scaring the shit out of you and forcing you to stumble forwards.

Fortunately, Applejack was there to catch you. An apologetic look creeps across Pinkies face and her eyes widen and begin to water.

“It… it’s alright, you just caught me off guard.” You reply, brushing yourself down.

Her eyes turn back to normal and she smiles broadly. The unnecessarily loud bell rings through the science block, signalling the start of the lesson. The gathered students outside the classroom cease their gossiping and walk into the science room.

The classroom is what you had expected it to look like. The entire room is white with large windows lining the opposite side of the room from the door. To the right of the door is an interactive whiteboard and a normal whiteboard next to it. The teacher’s desk is only a few feet in front of the whiteboards. A small, venous flytrap sits on the desk. The rest of the classroom walls is dominated with posters of the human body, periodic tables and laboratory safety rules. The central area of the room is crowded with tables joined together with four seats around it.

The teacher looks… strange, to be polite. She’s about 6 foot 1 and dark skinned. Her hair is by far the most strange thing you've seen in a while. It’s a perfect Mohawk with black and white stripes running through it. If you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought she was a zebra. Her lab coat stretches down to her shoes. Strange patterns are illustrated on the front and the back of it.

You take a deep breath and walk towards her.

“Miss Zecora?” You ask, shakily.

She turns slowly towards you.

“Yes, young child?” Her accent is a vague generic African accent... crossed with vague Caribbean islander accent.

“Where should I sit? This is my first day.” You reply, rubbing the back of you neck.

She looks around the room and turns back to you. She raises a hand and points toward a table nearer to a table nearer to the back of the room. There’s only one space left. You recognize Applejack who appears to be in deep conversation with the boy next to her.

It’s no surprise that the guy who had an empty seat had an empty seat. He was 6” 4 and unbelievably thin.

His face is riddled with spots and he probably had a pretty bad BO. You lower your head slightly as you realize the teacher wanted you to sit next to him.

I hate you.

You amble sluggishly towards the table. He watches you and gives a sickly smile. You reach the table and go to sit down. He snaps his fingers loudly and the chair is whipped from beneath you. It feels like it takes forever for you to fall to the ground, but it was only about half a second.

His sick laughter feels your ears and you stand up, humiliated by a basic prank. You stand and drag the chair back to the table. He’s still laughing at you.

“Discord, that was a stupid thin’ to do!” Applejack announces.

‘Discord’ rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“It was funny, though.” He licked his lips in a creepy manner.

Applejack turns to you.

“Are you alright?”

You nod weakly in response.

“Discord, why you got to be a complete asshole towards everyone?” The bot sitting next to Applejack furiously declared.

“I’m not an assho—“

“Is it because you've never had a friend in your life before? Nobody wants to be your friend because you’re a complete ass to everyone else!” He continued.

“I’ve got tons of friends!” Discord retorted.

“Ok, name three.” He rose an eyebrow and leaned back slightly on the stall.

“Urm… Jenny… Hardhat… and…” Discord stuttered in response.

“Exactly. Jenny doesn’t even like you! She went with you to the dance just to make yourself feel better about youself! Hardhat said you were alright because you played a prank on his brother!”

“Clean Slate, don’t you think you’ve gone a bit far?” Applejack rested an arm on the raging boys shoulder.

He sighed loudly and shook his head slowly.

“I’m just so fed up with all the stuff Discord does…” Clean Slate muttered under his breath.

“Applejack, could you please inform, of what is on the board?” Zecora’s voice is cold and serious.

Applejack slowly turned her head to the board and quickly read through the writing. You clean over the desk slightly.

“A catalytic converter is a vehicle emissions control device which converts toxic by-products to less toxic substances by way of catalysed chemical reactions.” You’d been paying attention the entire time.

Applejack recites what you’d just told her to the best of her abilities. Zecora gives a small nod.

“Thank you.” Applejack whispers.

The rest of Chemistry passes by like a breeze. You ended up socialising with both Applejack and Clan Slate throughout the entire lesson. Discord didn’t really trouble you; he didn’t really do anything at all. Your teacher, Zecora, had the annoying trait of always speaking in rhymes, but everyone guarantees you won’t notice it after a few lessons.

You wait patiently outside the changing rooms door. You recognised Clean Slate from earlier and a guy called Storm. He was a short, buff lad. He harboured some pretty small wings. His uniform has two slits on the back of it so that his wings could pass through them. Other than that, his uniform was identical to yours.

A stocky, 6 foot tall coach, wearing jogging bottoms and a dark blue jacket, appeared from the changing rooms.

“ You've got five minutes to change. Anyone late gets kept behind.” His voice is deep and serious. He gave dirty looks to all of the students who dared to groan at his proposal.

The students filed into the changing rooms quietly, hanging their heads low. He turned and stared at you.

“Well? You gonna get changed or stand there looking like an idiot?”

“I don’t have any kit.” You retort.

“Detention. Saturday. 11am.” He sneers.

“What? How is that even fair?” You exclaim.

“No kit, Saturday detention. It’s that simple.” He smirks, crossing his arms.

Now my time to make him look like a complete dick.

“I don’t have kit, because it’s my first day.” You cockily reply.

You watch his face for a few seconds. His once confident smirk has turned to a sour, hateful glare.

He walks towards the staff room and reappears a few minutes later with a pair of size six, pink and red shoes and a tight pair of shorts. He hands them to you as you stare in disbelief.

“You’re not really going to make me wear this, are you?” You question, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. From now on, you’ll refer to me as Sir or Mr. Streak.” His face is harbours a sick smile.

What an idiot.

You walk towards the changing room and push the door open. The first thing that hit you was how big it is. The second thing that hit you was a pair of rolled up, dirty socks. They slid down your face, leaving a trail of humiliation and anger.

“Which wanker through these at me!?” You shout, throwing your makeshift sports kit onto the ground.

A couple of jeers and laughs creep around the changing room. You feel something cold behind you.

The smell of bad breath and BO.

“That would be me.” That oh-so familiar voice.

You turn and stare at him.

“Clean Slate was right. You really are an asshole.” You spit.

He vanished from your view.

“Is that so?” His voice dripped with confidence.

You feel two hands shove into your back.

Wow. He’s pretty strong. For an asshole.

You fall forwards and land against the wall. You begin to stand up but feel a firm grip on your shoulder.

“I WILL NOT TOLERATE THAT KIND OF BEHAVOIUR! If you want to fight, take it to the boxing ring!” Mr Streak’s voice filled the room with ease.

He releases his grip and you brush your shoulder off and stand up. Discord had retreated back to his changing spot.

A few minutes later.

You and the other students watched in the gymnasium as Mr Streak went through a lesson plan.

He checked you all of a list and walked towards a large, double door at the side of the gym. He pulled out a large boxing ring and positioned it in the middle of the room.

“Can anyone tell me what this is?” He asked, pointing at the boxing ring.

“A boxing ring, sir.” The students answered in unison.

“Can you tell me what you do in a boxing ring?”

“We spar with one another.” The gathered body replies.

“And thanks to Discords little act with the new kid, they’ll be sparring first.”