Chapter 11 Nucleus "Lesson"

Chapter 11

Nucleus

Lesson

The roads were, as always, filled with ponies either talking to each other or conducting their daily business with many shops on the sides or by the many standby carts that offered anything from flowers to many odd trinkets that puffed up in the air while making loud noise. All this registered to my mind as I walked down the roads through Ponyville while keeping an eye out for any fillies or colts that might be going to the school.

My luck that those signs from yesterday only marked the way to the market area. Now the only clue I have is that the school is somewhere outside of the town...

*THUMP*

Something hit me from behind, making me stagger forward couple of hasty hoofsteps before regaining my balance. Turning over, I saw, to my delight, a small white unicorn filly sitting down and rubbing her head while rubbing her head. Then the bronypedia section of my mind registered her appearance and soon the roll came in.

Bronypedia----Sweetie Belle; Part of the CMC and younger sister of Rarity

"Uhh my head..." she groaned silently, making me snap out of thinking and walk to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked from her, fearing that she had injured herself but she didn't either hear me talking or she didn't care, as she quickly stood up and looked behind towards the corner where she probably appeared from.

Strange, is something following...

"Oh no, she's still chasing me!" Sweetie shouted before turning over towards me. "You've got to help me mister; my sister is trying to use me to meet with the new teacher!"

My eyes popped open from hearing this and soon I figured that the pegasus from yesterday had indeed been working for some kind of local paper or magazine tabloid. But I didn't even get to bother my current situation before the marshmallow mare appeared from behind the corner Sweetie had just looked at and she was visibly outright mad.

"SWEETIE WHERE ARE YOU!" Rarity shouted out loud before looking right at our direction and immediately her face turned from mad to the one fascinated mixed with little relief. Sweetie quickly hid behind me and even I gulped nervously as Rarity started to walk towards me while flipping her mane.

Tom, I know you can handle this. Even though you had planned for Twilight introducing us to her friends.

"Ah Sweetie there you are." Rarity said and her little sister looked at her from behind me.

"No, I won't help you meet the new teacher, so stop pestering me around!" she shouted, making me blush a little as she had to be unaware that I'm the new teacher. Rarity just glared at her in frustration before turning to face me.

"I'm terribly sorry for my younger sister mister Nucleus."

Sweetie's eyes turned into saucers and she proceeded to look down onto my flank before gasping.

Well isn't this awkward.

"It's okay. I was actually looking for the school, so it was quite lucky that she bumped into me." I told to Rarity, but just then Sweetie started to jump around in excitement.

"APPLEBLOOM WAS TELLING THE TRUTH! YOU REALLY DON’T HAVE A CUTIE MARK!"

Rarity looked at her sister in horror, but I stepped in before this could end up in a fight by placing my hoof over Sweetie's mane and giving a quick brush, making her giggle a little.

"It's true but I'd hate to repeat myself, so you just have to wait for the lesson where I'll introduce myself."

Sweetie just looked at me with her big round eyes for a moment before running off. Sighing, I turned to look at Rarity who just kept staring at the back of her sister while her eye twitched a little.

"Could I ask a favour from you miss..."

Ahh, the irony of acting like I don't know her already.

Rarity turned towards my direction and flipped her mane once more before looking me directly in the eyes.

"Rarity; local fashionista." she said while fluttering her eye slashed, making me stagger a little bit before getting my patented mental kick to the nuts.

"Miss Rarity, could you guide me to the school?" I bashfully asked from her while rubbing the back of my head and looking down at the ground.

Did she seriously plan to use Sweetie as a way to get near me?

Rarity just smiled before walking past me towards the direction where Sweetie had ran off.

"Certainly, just follow me and we will be there in ten minutes."

A breath of relief escaped my mouth and I quickly walked next to her in hopes that I would be there on time.

* * * * *

One could say the trip was... quite an experience.

First; just walking with Rarity was odd; she didn't talk much and instead greeted many of the ponies walking past. When she talked, it was to ask irrelevant questions concerning me and my guys' fashion interest. Actually most of the time she would just look at me until turning back whenever I would look back at her.

Second; as we walked down the streets, I noticed that just too many ponies were carrying newspapers around and frankly all of them seemed to be mares, mostly in groups of four or five chatting to each other while pointing something on the paper. This didn’t bother me at first, though I knew it was most likely about the three of us, but it changed at one point when one mare saw me and squealed little, making ponies next to her look at me as well. Somewhat luckily Rarity stepped between me and the group, but it felt awkward as she then proceeded to grab my hoof and lead me away.

Hopefully Maero left early enough so that no mares got to him. His current condition would only get worse when dozens of mares would try to push on him. Then again I think that Alto doesn't mind the attention at all...

She kept her hoof around mine for the rest of the trip, that ended just at the edge of the town. There she finally let go of me, which erupted a little gasp as she was quite a frisky holder, and pointed her hoof towards the small hill some thirty feet away, where the road continued on.

"The school is just behind that little hill there, so just follow the road." she said before lowering her hoof and turning to look at me. "Unfortunately I must hurry back to my Boutique but might it be possible to meet when I come to pick up my sister?"

This caught me a little off guard, but I smiled back to her and this time it was her turn to blush a little.

"I don't see a problem with that, but I'm not promising anything as my friends might want to meet up later." I told her while starting to head towards the top of the hill. "Oh and thanks for showing the way."

Rarity didn't answer back, but I could hear a faint squeal behind me that grew silent as I got to the top of the hill.

Immediately I recognized the school building from the show; its red outer colour with a flag pole outside while there was a little playground just next to an open area that had many little ponies running around while cheers and laughter filled the air.

My admiring was interrupted however when the bell rang from somewhere and the children began trotting inside. Luckily I didn't even need to hurry as I was literally a rock throw away and even when I got there, the last ones had just gotten in.

Just before entering the school, I gulped from overall nervousness.

What am I doing here? Do I really have the qualifications to teach younger ones?

Stepping in, I saw I was in a long hallway that seemed to act as a place to drop your belongings before entering class. The first door appeared to be the classroom, as it was open and I could hear sounds like desks rustling coming from it. The second door was at the end of the hallway and it blandly read out STORAGE.

"Alright class, settle down." echoed a female voice with some authority, as suddenly the voices fell silent. As I walked over to the first door and peeked inside, I saw a somewhat regular classroom with about twenty desks arranged in single rows and large teacher's desk laid in front of the class. There was also a bookcase at the end of the room and many posters filled the walls along with what seemed to be like group-works on various different subjects. Every desk was occupied, but most of the foals were fillies. About five of them were colts.

But what caught my eye was the pony up front.

Bronypedia---- Cheerilee; The teacher

"Is it true that we've got new teacher coming?" somepony shouted from the rows and all the others murmured the same question also. Cheerilee just smiled as she walked between the rows to the back towards the bookcase.

"Yes it is true. I was informed by the Mayor yesterday that a suitable candidate appeared and we need all extra help as you know what is nearing." she said to them while going through the bookcase and occasionally taking a book to the forming pile. All of the students were looking at her, so I decided to move in while their attention was elsewhere, but my idea was doomed in the very second as I saw Sweetie Belle looking at me. She quickly bent over to her other side to wake the filly with a red tie on her mane.

Bronypedia---- Applebloom; Part of CMC and Younger sister of Applejack

Applebloom only looked at me for a second before leaning to her other side to make the orange pegasus filly turn over.

Bronypedia---- Scootaloo; Part of CMC and a chicken

"Excuse me..." I started out, but stopped as every student in the class turned their heads towards me while loud gasps were made in every corner except at the bookcase, where Cheerilee just raised her head to llook at before walking to me. Instead of talking to me, she turned to face the class which was still talking to itself.

"Alright settle down, as I would like you to meet your new teacher Mr. Nucleus." she told them before taking a chalk and writing my name to the board behind. What fascinated me was that I wasn't really nervous, not even when the whole class was looking at me. After Cheerilee had written the name, she turned to face me.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to them and answer a couple of questions while I get your material?" she told me and almost the whole class fiercely nodded to me, especially the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

It seems that some questions have to be answered.

"Certainly. But there are some questions that I'll not answer." I said to her and to my surprise she nodded before starting to head out and closing the door behind.

As I turned back to the class, every single one of them was looking at me and particularly at my blank flank. But what uneased me was the silence that wasn't present when Cheerilee was here.

Perhaps they're just a little shy?

I cleared my throat little bit before starting to talk.

"Hello to all of you. My name is Nucleus and I'm going to help Cheerilee teach you the various subjects." I said, perhaps a little bit too stern as many looked at each other in a little bit of confusion. ”Now you shouldn't worry as I'm here to help you so don't hesitate to come and ask for it."

Some breaths of relief were heard but still many looked at me with a little hint of fear or curiosity. But then I saw that Sweetie Belle had raised her hoof up and then I recalled what I had promised her. A little laughter came from me, making the entire class look back to me in confusion.

"Let me guess Sweetie; you, along with the whole class, want to know why I don't have a Cutie Mark."

Sweetie lowered her hoof and nodded, making me laugh a bit more.

"Well isn't it obvious; I simply haven't got it, not even after seventeen years of living." I told to all of them, but soon regretted it as many looked at me in either horror or with a somber expression. Particularly the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were in shock and looked down at their desks.

Tom, you need to resolve this as smoothly as possible without leaving any traumas.

"But in the end, does it really matter if you have the Mark or not?"

Now many of those looks turned into curious ones, but Sweetie Belle turned to look at me in sorrow.

"But you don't know what you're good at without the Mark..."

Perhaps it was a bit inappropriate, but I laughed yet again before walking next to her.

"Tell me, what differs from having a one and not having a one?" I asked from the class, but none were able to answer me.

"Now I'm not expert when it comes to Cutie Marks, but I know that being a blank flank hasn't stopped me and my two good friends from traveling around Equestria..."

I didn't get to finish, as suddenly all the filies and colts started to whisper to themselves, particularly Applebloom and Scootaloo. Those two were looking at me with awe in their eyes. But after I walked back to the front of the class, the door opened and soon Cheerilee came in carrying some sort of saddle pack with her mouth. After placing the pack next to the table, she turned to look at me before leaning over to my ear.

"Good speech. I think we will get along just fine." she whispered silently, and after looking at me she giggled a bit along with many students as I most likely had blushed from hearing the compliment.

"Now now class. Remember that we still have some studying to do." she cheerfully said before the whole class groaned, but as I looked, I saw that Applebloom had raised her hoof.

"Yes Applebloom, what is it?" Cheerilee asked from her, who then turned to look at me.

"Is it true mister that you fought a timber wolf?" Applebloom asked and then the awkward silence fell down and all faces turned to look at me as even Cheerilee holstered a surprised expression.

*mental sight* Might as well get over with it.

"It's true, I suppose your sister told this to you?" I inquired and she nodded, but then the class bell rang.

"Okay it's time for the recess." Cheerilee shouted and soon all the kids went outside while the air filled with cheers of joy and laughter. Yet as I turned to look at Cheerilee, she closed the door of the class before looking at me with a somewhat worried expression.

"Are you alright?" she asked from me while walking back to me. Sighing, I looked at the pack leaning to the table.

"I assume my teaching material is in that?" I asked from her, but she just came closer to me before looking down to the floor.

"I'm sorry for that, it seems like I need to have a talk with Applebloom about what to ask and what not to ask." she said before turning to face me, but I just smiled before walking next the table while also looking at her in the eyes.

"It's okay. She was just curious, but it's something I don't want to talk about..." I said before grabbing the pack and placing it on top of the desk.

"But you didn't answer my question, is my material in this?"

* * * * *

Outside, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were hanging around the swings as they waited for their turn. To Scootaloo, it was question time.

"Did your sister actually tell you about that wolf thing?" she said, making Applebloom turn towards her friend before shaking her head.

"Nah. I overheard her talking to mah brother two nights ago and she also talked a lot about somepony named Maero and how he could help around the farm. But Mac insisted that they were doing already fine and that we don't have the bits to hire extra work."

Sweetie just shrugged before turning over to her friends.

"I don't know what it is but my sister acted all weird this morning. After waking me up, she first gave me my favourite food as breakfast and told just how good I'd been these few days. But soon she wanted to make me up and finally she insisted on accompanying me to the school like I was some little filly! Luckily her gaze slipped a little and I was able to make a run for it, but she started to chase me around until I accidentally ran into the new teacher."

Applebloom just started to think why their sisters had acted so weird while Scootaloo jumped to the now free place on the swing. After a couple minutes of silent looking and being, Scootaloo jumped off from the swing while gliding next to her friends.

"But the new teacher isn't that bad. I guess it might be little odd having two at the same time, but I'm fine with him. Maybe he'll tell us about his travels around Equestria?"

Before either Sweetie or Applebloom got to say anything, all three of them turned to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon talking to themselves.

"Seems like standards have fallen pretty low for an blank flank to be allowed to teach us. An adult blank flank no less." Diamond Tiara said out loud, obviously trying to catch the attention of the three fillies.

"Yeah tell me about it. And that speech about Marks not being important..." Silver Spoon continued on before laughing at the end like it was a joke.

"But what could you expect when one blank flank talks to three of the same kind?"

Suddenly, Applebloom escaped from the grip of her two friends trying to hold her in place and jumped screaming on top of Diamond Tiara.

"Now are you going to quit it?" Applebloom asked the frightened Tiara but something grabbed her from behind and to her surprise it was Miss Cheerilee.

"Girls, what are you doing? You should be ashamed of yourselves!" she asked and her voice was very stern and it lacked the usual kindness. Before Applebloom got to say anything, Silver Spoon shouted that she had attacked Tiara while they were talking. Of course Sweetie and Scootaloo defended Applebloom by saying that they had talked awful stuff about the new teacher.

"I have told you constantly that no fighting is allowed. Applebloom, your sister and brother will hear about this. Same goes to you Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo."

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon just smirked, but Cheerilee then turned towards them.

"As for you two, I think an essay about acceptance is the most fitting punishment."

Now it was the Cutie Mark Crusader's turn to smirk from seeing the two bullies’ faces.

"Alright, the recess is over! Time for class!" Cheerilee shouted, making all activity stop at the playground and soon all were making their way to the class.

* * * * *

Lets see...

Counting Hoof vol.III; some basic mathematics along with start to advanced parts.

Bestiary of Equestria; contains every living creature there is with pictures and facts.

Allons-y Atoms!; very basic level chemistry and physics, but there were lot of differences like that water boils at a different temperature.

Encyclopaedia of History Short Edition; the longest book of all and perhaps the most interesting for me, as it holds information from times before the show. Have to see if library has the Long Edition...

Compile Maps of Equestria and Nearby Regions; actually really well made book with really detailed maps. Need to check it for possible names to use later.

Herbs of Life; odd book that listed many plants, both poison and healing ones, and telling basically what to eat and what not to eat in wilderness. Just if we would have had this back there...

Along with these books came some kind of notebook, for grades I assumed, some ten quills to start with, two ink bottles and of course the saddle pack.

Cheerilee had told me that for today I should just look at the side and go through the books while observing the study. I didn't mind this at all because I needed to study all these along with revising the math. This went on for the first two lessons about different birds and even between the breaks. Occasionally I would observe Cheerilee while she taught the students that listened to her with their ears perked up. It was just simply fascinating to see such authority without raising her voice a bit.

The bell rang for the third time and soon only Cheerilee was left along with me. But oddly she took the wet sponge and cleared the board from the amazing pictures of birds she had drawn and it felt like a crime what she did. As I put the book back in the saddle pack, I saw that she had already written small text on the board.

Basic Multiplying

A grin grew to my face and an idea came to my mind. I stood up from my chair, that was at the side next to the window, and walked to the board where Cheerilee was still standing and reading the Counting Hoof, but she stopped when my shadow fell over the book. She was little dazzled as I had kept to myself for since the first recess, yet she still smiled, perhaps a little awkwardly.

"Look, you told me that I should just observe this day but if you don't mind I would like to teach the next lesson along with you." I said to her before turning over to the book of hers and looking at what part there was needed to be done. Cheerilee didn't say anything as she grabbed the chalk from the table before proceeding to write down some basic multiplying formulas.

"Would you kindly go and tell that the recess is over?" she asked from me while looking back at the book and I simply walked outside to the hallway and down to the front door. After shouting that recess was over, I quickly trotted back and took my copy of the math book as the class started to fill up. Whispers erupted when I walked next to the table and laid the book open on the page about Multiplying.

"Now class, for the final lesson we'll continue with multiplying math but first let's check our homework. Does anypony volunteer to go to the board?" Cheerilee said, but only got silence and nervous coughing as an answer. She sighed before walking over to the desk and grabbing her notebook.

"Very well then... Scootaloo, you're next on the list, please show us what you've learned." she said while glancing over her notes towards her while I walked over the board. From the looks of it, Scootaloo was really nervous, amd it seemed like she didn't know a thing she was supposed to do, but she still stood up and walked over the board right next to me. She took the chair from the desk to get to the same height as the formulas were.

"Come on Scootaloo, you know what to do." Cheerilee said, but she gulped before looking over at the first one.

6x3

Scootaloo just glared at the formula for a minute before turning over towards, to my surprise, me. I looked over at Cheerilee, who tilted her head towards the board and I got the idea. Smiling, I took the chalk from Scootaloo and quickly wrote another formula next to the original one.

6+6+6

Now Scootaloo's face light up and eagerly took the chalk back from me before writing the right answer to the board.

"Very good Scootaloo. Now what Mr Nucleus did is to break down the formula so it's easier to count the numbers. Try to remember this when you're unsure what to do." she told to the class while Scootaloo jumped off the chair and walked back to her desk. From there she smiled back to me before turning over to her friends.

For the next ten minutes I stood by the board and whenever some student had trouble with the formula, I would either break it down or provide an hint of what to do. After this, Cheerilee cleaned the board and started to write notes about basic multiplying with the tens numbers. After explaining and presenting a couple examples, she gave some work for the class before turning over towards me.

"Could we have a brief chat?"

"Umm sure." I said and headed out of the room while Cheerilee informed the class that we would be away only for a moment. The door closed behind her as she turned to look at me.

"Now Mr Nucleus..."

"Please, Nucleus will do." I politely pointed out, but she sighed before returning to look at me.

"Nucleus, how well can you do magic?"

For a moment, I just turned to stare at the ceiling before muttering a response.

"What gave me away?"

"Well, when reading the books you didn't use magic to flip the pages and at the board you used your hoof to write."

Sighing, I turned to look back at her and, to my surprise, she was still looking at me with her light green eyes. But I took my glasses off and placed them to the edge of the window while taking a step back. Then I fixed my gaze to them and focused my mind solely on their appearance while trying not to catch that spark deep in my head.

But what I feared happened; the spark took a hold, causing now even more pain than last time and making me fall on my knees while Cheerilee quickly ran to my side.

"Are you okay?" she asked while helping me to get up. Still feeling the pain in my head, I grabbed my glasses from the edge and put them on before turning over to her. I tried to put on a smile, but instead got a weak grin that made an even worse statement than being bland.

"Head's still little bit sore but otherwise I'm fine." I told her but she just shook her head before putting her hoof over my forehead.

"Odd. I'm not an expert when it comes to magic, but it shouldn't cause that much pain for trying to lift an object so light." she said before backing off and soon she shot me with relieving smile. "But still, you can teach even without magic so don't think about quitting."

Urgh, my head feels like it's being squished from inside. Have to ask Twilight about this...

As Cheerilee opened the door, the air filled with silent whispers as dozens of fillies and the few colts talked to each other. Cheerilee coughed out loud, making the whispers stop and every head in the class to turn towards her.

"As it seems like you're doing so well, I think you can leave a little bit early." she said before the whole class erupted in cheers as everyone started to pack their books before running outside. After the wave of laughing kids had passed, I walked to my chair and took the saddle pack, which quite frankly fit perfectly on me, before also starting to head outside. But I was interrupted by a giggle coming from the desk.

"So you don't mind not getting your salary?" Cheerilee said before taking a small wooden box from one of the drawers and placing it on the desk. She then took out a little pouch from within and handed it to me. Nodding, I put it to my pack before heading out of the class and soon outside of the school.

Certainly a very mixed day... Agh, my head!

"Hey Nuc'!" cheered a familiar voice from just behind me, around the playground. As I turned, I saw Alto along with Twilight standing around the swings when a grey Pegasus with blond mane was pushing small unicorn on it.

Wait...isn't that...Derpy?

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I said as I walked the distance over to them. Twilight smiled to me along with Alto and even Derpy turned to look at me.

"Mom, more speed!" shouted the little filly with pale purple coat and Derpy smiled before rubbing her head.

Well look at that; fandom actually got something right: Dinky is daughter of Derpy.

"Well my day ended little bit earlier and Ditzy..

Her name is actually Ditzy? So Derpy is most likely nickname.

"..here needed to pick up Dinky. Twilight here was just at the post office when we left and she tagged along." Alto said, but before I got to say anything:

"Oh mister Nucleuuuus!" said a voice behind me.

Oh crap I forgot!

Twilight looked behind me and her face turned into one of surprise.

"Rarity, what are you doing here?" Twilight said and soon the white unicorn walked to our little circle while flipping her mane.

"Well Twilight, I'm here for mister Nucleus. He agreed to meet me after school." Rarity said and Alto just chuckled before covering his mouth with a hoof but Twilight just dropped her jaw to the ground before turning towards me.

"If I recall right, nothing was agreed on." I blandly said and Rarity just grinned before grabbing my hoof but luckily Twilight came in between by grabbing Rarity with magic.

"Will you excuse us for a moment?" she said while sheepishly smiling and soon they disappeared to the other side of the school. I turned over to the swings and raised my hoof over to Ditzy.

"Anyway, I'm Nucleus, Alto's friend and nowadays also Dinky's teacher."

Ditzy smiled as she grabbed my hoof for a shake but Dinky just jumped over to her mother's back.

"Mom, we've got to go! Club starts soon." she said and Ditzy slapped her face with a hoof before turning over towards Alto.

"I'm so sorry! I forgot that today is Dinky's club day, so...." she started but Alto just smiled before brushing Dinky's mane.

"It's okay. I'll see you tomorrow at work." Alto said and then Ditzy backed off little bit before opening her wings and soon she started to fly towards the town while Dinky grabbed her from the neck. We waved as she left and as she disappeared from sight, Twilight and Rarity came back but both just looked at each other in anger from the corners of their eyes.

"Anyway, so what now?" Alto asked from me as the girls got to us, still angry at each other, but both of them acted all happy to us.

"Well we could go and check on Maero." I said and Alto just shrugged while I turned to look at Twilight.

"Do you know where..."

My words stopped as I looked behind her over to the road. Confused, both Twilight and Rarity also turned over but neither got the chance as Alto squeezed between them and ran towards the huge maroon brown pony with a blond mane that was covered by a large straw hat.

A/U: Now I need you folks to go back to the start of the Chapter 2 and re-read it, due to a change in the start. Please don't hate me :unsuresweetie: Note that this applies only if you've read it before 13th of April.

I'd also like to welcome our newest editor Meliron, the finest grammar nazi thus far, on-board this train wreck of an fiction.

Also thanks for the 2,000 total views. You've made this young brony very happy. :twilightsmile: