1_6_Government

Digital_Hex- - - - - - - -A fan-fiction by Digital_Hex

Chapter 6

        White Cross was one tough cookie. She was could and tough, not the least bit sweet. But just like a cookie, she had my undivided attention. I would savor that cookie.

        I tried to talk with her for the rest of class, to no avail. Seriously, it was like as soon as she slipped in her earpieces, she was gone.

        I huffed loudly as my latest attempt to garner her attention once again went unnoticed. So much for trying. The time clicked away slowly as I dejectedly flipped on my Walkmare, tuning in to the local radio station. It was being deejay'd by some DJ PON-3, as she referred to herself numerous times, and she played some good music. I sighed contently as she struck up a track I recognized, a heavy set from Applewood Undead.

        Right as I settled in my seat comfortably, the bell rang. Figures. I reluctantly rose to my hooves, grabbing my saddlebags and turning off my Walkmare. White Cross was gone when I looked back her way.

        I left the room and headed back to Mrs. Victory's room. On the way, that damn black pegasus ran into me again, playing out almost exactly as it had before. Something registered in my mind that time. He was familiar, I recognized him from somewhere. No, I didn't mean from two class periods ago, but...

        Oh well. No need to try and sift through my memories. It was pointless to worry myself over silly things. I reached Mrs. Victory's fairly quickly and let myself in. Inside, I saw Lemon Hearts and Lug sitting in the same seats as before. Hesitantly, I trotted over to them.

What if they don't recognize me? They'll probably just make more fun of you. Don't go over there. You don't even really know them. These were a few things that were running through my mind. I might have been a little reluctant to try sitting next to them. Thankfully, however, I had nothing to fear.

        “Hey, Hex!” Lug said when he saw me, giving me a toothy smile. I gave a weak smirk back before settling in at my previous seat. The class filled up after I'd trotted in.

        “Hey,” I returned, feeling myself loosen up a little bit. They seemed like nice enough ponies... I wouldn't let my guard down, though. They could be trouble yet.

        “So, how're you liking Ponyville High so far?” Lemon Drops asked me.

        “Oh, it's a pretty cool school, I guess,” I said. In all honesty, the school wasn't that bad. I really couldn't remember much about the High School at Hope Hill, but this one was a pretty nice place.

        “That's good,” Lemon Drops said, smiling. “We rarely have new students here, especially cute little guys like you!” she said, making a d'awww face at me. I grimaced; there it was, the short jokes again.

        I recognized that she was joking, however. It took a moment, but I realized it. Dang, I really needed to work on my sense of humor.

        I let out a relieved chuckle that she was joking right before the bell rang. Aaand enter Mrs. Crazyhorse- I mean, Victory.

        “Hello, class!” she said with a demented smile. Have I mentioned she scares me?

        No?

        Well... to this day, she still scares me.

        “Welcome to Government and Foreign Culture! I'm Mrs. Victory, your teacher for today, and-”

        She stopped, suddenly eying a student suspiciously.

        “You,” she said slowly. Every face in the room turned to the mare she was looking at, which was Lemon Hearts. I felt my core temperature flare from the near-attention I was receiving. Don't panic, don''t panic, don't panic...

        “Me?” Lemon Hearts asked innocently. Too innocently. I knew that tone...

        “You're the one who was passing notes in my second period class, weren't you?”

        Oh no she didn't-

        “Wha- Me? Why, I would never!” Lemon Hearts said dramatically, lifting a hoof to her horn for emphasis. She was selling it way too hard.

        “Yes, it was you!” Mrs. Victory suddenly screeched, turning a hoof to Lug. “And you were the one getting them!”

        Lug did not live up to his namesake. With that type of title, you'd expect him to be slow and, well, a grunt. Not him, though.

        As if he'd rehearsed it, Lug shot back as cool as one could, “Me? You have no proof! Nay, it was not me!”

        For a second, Mrs. Victory's scowl twitched into a pleased smile, unnoticed by everypony except me.

        I facehoofed, grinning. I should have guessed it. They had rehearsed, this was all a ploy. What for, I had no idea, but it was still interesting.

        “You say it was not you, but I say it was!” Mrs. Victory declared, stepping forward. “However will we be able to decide who is right?”

        Some pony from the back of the room spoke up, playing right into their little game. It was actually rather clever, this interactive class she was holding.

        “Sue him!”

        A round of chuckling rose from the rest of the class, to which Mrs. Victory then spoke to at large.

        “Ah, but how would we go about doing that? Surely there is a place for such matters!”

        Another pony, seated ahead of me, said, “Go to court!”

        Mrs. Victory pointed a hoof while shouting “Aha! There you have it! One of the founding causes for the current government of Equestria, the Royal Court!”

        I winced. That was something I didn't know, but she had just played it out like everypony should have known that, like a review over past courses.

        “And who was the founding monarch of the Equestrian Royal Court?” Mrs. Victory asked the class.

        I hid in my seat, an easy feat.

        A pony on the other side of the class, a chunky unicorn, answered, “Wasn't it Princess Celestia?”

        “Yes, good job Chunk!”

        … Seriously, what was going through some of the parents heads here in Ponyville when they named their kids? That was the third name I'd heard that was, well, ridiculous yet perfectly fitting!

        “The first court case in Equestrian history was settled almost two thousand years ago. Who knows what it was over?”

        This time, it was Lug bouncing up and down in his seat as he waved a hoof over his head. He must really like to answer questions, I thought to myself as Lug shook up and down like he had to pee.

        “Lug?” Mrs. Victory asked him, “Do you know the answer, perhaps?”

        Another round of chuckles.

        “It was over an apple!” he practically yelled. Yeah, he was trying too hard.

        “Yes! The first court case in Equestrian history was over an apple stolen from an earth pony. Does anypony know who was originally accused of the crime?”

        Lemon Hearts spoke up, a hint of disdain in her voice as she said, “The earth pony accused a noble unicorn duke of stealing the apple, claiming that he had used his magic. The audacity of the merchant!”

        Mrs. Victory rolled her eyes, enjoying the conversation.

        “Yes, the earth pony originally accused the unicorn duke Sir Streamer of stealing the apple, but can anypony new tell me who was actually found to be guilty?”

        Anypony new. That should have been my first clue to become invisible. Instead, I just sat around thinking of what the answer could be. Surely I knew such a simple yet historical event!

        “Maybe somepony who hasn't taken my classes before?”

        My second chance, present.

        My second chance, wasted.

        “Maybe somepony who is new to the school?”

        I barely registered what she'd said, not enough to mentally tick strike three off my list.

        It took the entire class staring at me with Mrs. Victory tapping her hoof against the floor to return to reality.

        My first reaction?

        “What?”

        A few students laughed at my relapse. For my part, I blushed something fierce.

Oh no, they're all staring... Buck...

        “Do you have an answer for us, Digital Hex?” Mrs. Victory asked me.

        I didn't.

        I had no idea who was found guilty. Less than five minutes ago, I hadn't even known this encounter had happened! How was I supposed to know who had actually committed the crime?

        “Uh...” I sputtered out, looking like a total moron.

        … Yeah, there went all of the self-esteem I'd built up from math class. I was stupid.

        Five minutes ticked by as my face got deeper and deeper red, to the point that I expected my forehead to burst in a geyser of blood and gore from the pressure building up.

        “You don't know?” Mrs. Victory asked.

        “N-no...” I squeaked out, feeling every part the little colt I looked and sounded like. Embarrassing indeed.

        Mrs. Victory narrowed her eyes at me as if I'd failed some insanely important test of character or something dramatic like that.

        “Pity,” She then looked back at the rest of the class.

        “Does anypony else know who was eventually found guilty of stealing the apple?”

        Chuck spoke up, sounding only slightly smug as he answered a question I couldn't.

        “Yeah, it was a pegasus named Swift.”

        “Correct, Chunk!” Mrs. Victory said happily. Chunk just shot me a look that screamed I'm better than you.

        Oh boy, two enemies made, and it wasn't even lunch. This day just got better and better.

        The rest of the class, Mrs. Victory went through a slide-show of what to expect over the next semester, as well as some other stuff that I didn't pay attention to. I was too busy looking out the window. The sun was getting close to it's apex in the sky, spreading warm rays of light across the school grounds. Birds chirped and danced around through the air, free and not in school. I had to constantly remind myself that it had been my idea to go back to school, not anypony else's. It was a difficult thing to do at the moment.

        The gym class was out on the track again, but that wasn't what had me so focused. Not entirely, at least.

        There was one little mare who had my eyes in her grasp. White Cross.

        She wasn't the fastest pony out there, but she was keeping up pretty well as they ran the mile. Like me, she was considerably smaller than her fellow classmates. I wondered if she was younger than the other students, like me, and had skipped a grade or two. That would explain her lack of size, as well as her obviously under-developed horn.

        While I was thinking about her horn, I began to wonder what it would have been like to have a horn of my own. I had a taste of what magic was like, having my cuffs on my hooves, but it wasn't the same. It had to have been quite the experience, being able to alter the physical world around you with a simple pulse of magic. I wasn't envious, but still...

        I watched as a bird swooped past the window, followed by another bird chasing after the first. I smiled as they played a game of tag in the air. I'm going to assume it was tag, at least.

        What would have it been like if I'd been born a pegasus? To be able to soar through the sky, free to travel with the wind as far as it could take you. The adrenaline, the art. It had to be quite exhilarating. Now wings, I envied wings a tad. Those were some fine appendages, if I do say so myself.

        Before I even knew it, the bell rang. Class was over. I rose to my hooves as I collected my bag, ready to leave class and meet up with Raindrops for lunch, as we'd agreed after gym during our impromptu tour.

        I was about to leave when Mrs. Victory stopped me.

        “Digital Hex, could you see me for a moment, please?” she asked, voice strained with concern. I sighed as I trotted over to her desk.

        What did she want?

        . . . . . . . . . .

Note from Digital_Hex: I would like to personally thank all of the readers who have made it here. This means that you are actually reading my story! If you have followed the story thus far, please spend just a little time and send me a PM or quick review on the story in the comments of this blog post here. I'd love to know what your favorite parts of the story are, the things that have kept you interested. I would also like to know what you are disappointed in, and what can be made better. I'm about to start working on the second half to the first day of school, which is going to be pretty dramatic. I'd just like to let you all know that the story doesn't end with the first day of school, for this is merely the beginning to Digit's senior year. I'm sure it will be a blast, and I hope you all can ride this through with me til the end!

~Digital_Hex