Apples'n'Wrenches

Apples N’ Wrenches

By The Write Bros.

Chapter 3: School Days are Nuts

Nuttanbolt awoke in his room with excitement. Today was finally the day he’d been waiting for ever since he had gotten to Ponyville. It was his first day of school. Looking back on his early days in Manehattan, he’d never been to school before. His big brother, Ficksitup, had pretty much taught him everything he knew so this was going to be a completely new experience for him. He leapt out of bed and ran out of the room. He trotted down to the hall towards the stairs that led to the attic. Nut didn’t bother knocking since he knew his brother wouldn’t hear it anyway. He pushed the door open with his head and ran over to Ficks’ bedside. He crawled onto his bed and began jumping up and down in attempt to awaken his slumbering brother.

“Ficks wake up. Wake up! It’s time for school. I get to go to school!”

“...I don’t wanna go to school...Five more minutes.” Ficks mumbled from under the covers.

“Not you ya big lug nut, me!”

Ficks slowly opened his eyes to see his brother staring at him with wide, blissful eyes. He rolled over in his bed and looked at the clock on his nightstand next to him. When he saw the time, he growled very loudly. “Are you foalin’ me? Nut, it’s 4 in the mornin’! Why in all of Equestria are you wakin’ me up this early? You don’t have to be at school until 8 am!” he cried out hysterically. Nut stopped jumping and looked at Ficks in a confused manner.

“You mean to say school doesn’t start ‘til later?”

“Yeah! That’s exactly what I’m sayin’! There’s no reason to be wakin’ up this early. Heck, I coulda gotten at least two more hours a’ sleep.” Ficks grumbled again and rolled back over.

“Well how was I supposed to know that? I’ve never been to school before.”

It was no use. Ficks was already back asleep. Nut’s expression dimmed, as he trotted back downstairs to his room. He hopped back into bed, though restless as he was, and tried to go back to sleep.

A few hours later Nut was jolted awake by his brother frantically shaking him from his bed.

“Get up Nut!” Ficks shouted at him.

Nut rubbed his eyes as he stared at Ficks, “Whaaaa, what is it?” he asked, yawning.

“Nut we both slept in, we gotta hurry, you’re gonna be late for school!”

Startled and disgruntled, Nut struggled to leave his bed in panic. His legs were caught in his bed sheets so he clumsily rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a loud thump. He looked up to see Ficks snickering at him with a mischievous grin on his face. He got up and looked at his clock. It was 7am.

“You said school started at eight!” Nut proclaimed angrily.

“Yeah I know. I just thought I’d getcha back for wakin’ me up so darn early this mornin’.” Nut gave an unimpressed look and trotted past his brother out of the room. The two then trotted downstairs into the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

“What’s for breakfast?” Nut asked impatiently.

Ficks opened the fridge in an attempt to find something to make. He sighed glumly. “Greenwhiches...again. I’m too lazy to make anything practical right now and besides, cookin’ ain’t exactly my strong point. I’ll probably burn the shop down before you get eggs and hashbrowns.” Nut smiled at the thought of it. He imagined everypony in town fleeing in terror as the entire village erupted in flames. All he could see was Ficks standing in the midst of it holding only a frying pan and having a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“Yeah you’re terrible at it. Remember that one time when you tried to make the cake for my eighth birthday? You almost set the whole apartment on fire. Boy was Dad really mad a-” Nut stopped short and looked at his brother who had stopped what he was doing. Ficks looked over at Nuttanbolt who was biting his lip nervously.

“It’s alright Nut. We don’t need to worry ‘bout him. Anyway, I guess we’ll stick with simple meals fer now alright?” Nuttanbolt nodded his head to comply.

After breakfast, they both headed upstairs and finished getting ready for the day. Nut got his saddlebag together placing a couple of pencils and pieces of paper in one of the pockets. He placed a few books in the other. As he finished packing everything he looked over at the bed and saw his small ferret sleeping on the corner of the bed. Its nose quivered for a moment. It let out a large yawn before continuing to sleep peacefully, undisturbed. It seemed completely unfazed by all the events that had occurred this morning. Nut smiled at the creature. Taking care of this lil’ guy is gonna be easier than I thought. He filled up a bowl with water and another one with some food that Fluttershy had given to him the night before. It was only a little to last through most of the week. She did tell him though that he could stop by anytime to get more food when he had run out. He set them down at the edge of the bed. With that settled, he quickly headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Afterwards he rushed down the stairs to the front of the shop where Ficks was waiting for him.

“Ya ready to go ‘lil guy?” Ficks asked.

“Am I ever!”, Ficks looked at Nuttanbolt’s side and gave him a puzzled look.

“Uh Nut... what about your books and stuff?”

“Oh, right!” Nut said as he dashed back upstairs to get his bookbag. I can’t believe I almost forgot these! He threw them over his head and onto his back. After a gallop back downstairs and to Ficks’ side, the two left their home and trotted towards the school.

“Well yer certainly bright eyed and bushy tailed this mornin’. Yer not excited or anything right? I couldn’t possibly tell from this mornin’. His witty sarcasm fell on deaf ears.

“Am I ever. I can’t believe I’m finally gonna get to go to school!”

“Now you know this ain’t gonna’ be all fun and games, right Nut?”

Nut rolled his eyes and replied, “Oh, come on how bad can it be?”

“You’d be surprised...” Ficks said, with a dismayed expression on his face.

When they arrived at Ponyville Elementary, Nut was a little surprised at what he saw. Despite being almost ten years old, he had never seen so many fillies and colts in one area before. They were trotting around the playground together expressing joy and laughter. Unfortunately, Nut didn’t know a single one of them as far as he could see.

“Hello there, can I help you two?” A violet mare came trotting from out of the schoolhouse towards the two brothers. Ficks stepped forward and casually introduced himself.

“Hello ma’am, my name is Ficksitup. My lil’ brother here’s just been enrolled recently. We were hopin’ to find the teacher here. Do you know where she is?” The mare chuckled then gave him a big grin.

“Well look no further Mr. Ficksitup. I’m the teacher here. My name is Miss Cheerilee.” She extedended her hoof and Ficks generously shook it.

“That’s great, saves us the trouble of tryin’ to get this little guy all situated with.” Ficks gestured for his little brother to step forth. Nut confidently strode up next to his brother.

“Hiya. I’m Nuttanbolt. But you can just call me Nut.” he said with a similar semblance of pride that Ficks was all too familiar with. Cheerilee chuckled again and stooped down to his eye level.

“Well it is very nice to meet you Nuttanbolt. I’m Miss Cheerilee and I’ll be your teacher. I’m fairly certain you’ll be an interesting and exciting addition to my class.” Little did she know that she was going to get just that. She gave him another reassuring smile. “Well since we actually already started school a week ago, you might be a little behind with some of our lessons, but fear not I’ll make sure you get caught up with the rest of us.” Ficks let out a few soft grunts to get their attention. He had been fidgeting a bit. As happy as he was that Nut was getting to know his teacher, he still had errands to run.

“Alright, Nut. I gotta’ go take care of some business around town. You sure you’ve got this?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.”

“Alright, you take care now.”, he put a hoof on his brother’s shoulder and added, “And stay out of trouble.” He tipped his hat and began trotting towards the east side of Ponyville. The bell from the school tower chimed loudly to signal that it was 8 am. The bell was loud and nearly startled Nut since he was standing right underneath the tower itself. As he revived himself from the spook he’d just been given, he thought that he felt something. He turned his head and looked at his bookbag. For a moment he could have sworn he felt something shift inside there. He was tempted to inspect but Cheerilee interrupted his investigation when she put a hoof on his shoulder.

“Class is about to start Nuttanbolt. Why don’t you head inside and find an open seat in the classroom.” A few classmates had already run inside so Nut did the same and stepped into the classroom. As he stepped inside, the confidence that he had been carrying on his shoulders had completely flown out the door.

Everywhere he looked there were rows of desks that were slowly filling up with several fillies and colts. The walls were littered with random posters. Some listed number systems while others displayed vowels and sentence rules. One showed the different planets in the Celestial System. One small one near the back of the room showed a small colt explaining the importance of washing your hooves. To Nut, none of them made sense. The overall feeling was alien to him. Being in a new and unfamiliar place like this. And the noise... This had to be the noisiest place he’d ever been to. Even the busy streets of Manehattan couldn’t compare to the commotion that was being caused by Nut’s fellow classmates. If this is what school is like then I shoulda’ just stayed home.

“Alright class, take your seats please.” Cheerilee spoke as she walked towards the front of the classroom. Everypony took their seats and became silent. Nut looked around in desperation and finally found one of the few remaining empty desks in the back of the room. Since he felt unsure in this new environment, he hoped he could avoid any sort of social interactions and stay hidden in the back of the classroom. Unfortunately, Cheerilee had already spotted him. She had memorized where each of her students sat accordingly so it was very easy to spot the newly occupied desk in the back. “Well as you may or may not know class, we have a new student today.”

Nut peeked over the shoulders of his classmates in front of him to see she was staring intently at him with a smile on her face. He didn’t say anything. He merely continued to sit in his seat nervously. She then gestured for him to come forward.

“Come on up, don’t be shy.” she beckoned to him. Nut got up from his seat and slowly approached the front of the classroom. He could tell that all eyes were on him now which only made him even more nervous. He took his place next to Cheerilee and looked at everypony. “Well, go on. Tell us your name.” She gave him a slight nudge.

Nuttanbolt only stood in awkward silence looking at everypony in the room. There were a few grunts and coughs from the audience. This was a completely unexpected experience for him and the longer he stood there, the worse it felt. He noticed Applebloom for the first time that day, sitting in the front row. She gave him a little wave but he couldn’t even move his legs to respond. He was frozen with anxiety.

Cheerilee leaned in and whispered in Nut’s ear, “Is this your first time in front of a big group?” Nut nodded his head rapidly with wide eyes. “Just relax, and tell us your name, don’t worry.”

With a gulp, he finally spoke. “Uh... my name is... Nuttanbolt...” He said hoarsely. He got a few strange looks from his introduction. It wasn’t so much that his name had caught everypony off guard. It was the way his voice had tweaked and cracked as the words left his mouth. It sounded like some sort of dying animal that needed to be put out of its misery. A few classmates giggled in the back, Cheerilee gave them a stern look which silenced them immediately.

“Why don’t you tell us where you’re from Nuttanbolt.” Cheerilee suggested. Nut looked at her and then back at the class. His increasing discomfort made it difficult for him to think straight. He couldn’t even remember where he was from. Why wasn’t it coming to him? He began racking his brain for an answer. After what felt like minutes of lost thought, he finally remembered the answer he was looking for.

“I’m from uh... Manehatten.”

“Well thank you for the introduction Nuttanbolt, you may take your seat again.” Nut walked as fast as he could back to his desk and sat down with relief. He put his head down on the desk. Some of the others were looking back at him with weird looks on their faces. He tried his best not to make eye contact with them. Applebloom spun around in her desk and flashed him a big grin. He returned in kind with a slight smile. It was good to see a familiar face again, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

“Today class we’re going to learn a little bit about Equestrian world history.” Cheerilee said as she walked over to the easel with various papers on it. A few classmates groaned. “Now now, it’s not that difficult and I’m sure some of you will find it even a little interesting. So if you’ll all please turn to page seventeen in your history books, we can get started.”

Everypony did as they were told and removed their books from their saddlebags. Nuttanbolt reached into his bag to get his book when he felt something soft and...furry. He peeked inside and almost yelped in surprise. Staring back at him was his pet ferret, which was snuggling between his book and pencil bag. He quickly scanned the room to see if anypony else had noticed. When he was sure they hadn’t seen anything, he turned back towards the ferret which was beginning to climb out in an attempt to explore its new surroundings. Nut gently stuffed the ferret back into the bag, staring at it with wide eyes that said, What in the hay are you doing here? The ferret simply looked back at him with innocent curiosity.

He was completely dumbfounded. He could have sworn the ferret was still sleeping on his bed this morning. Unless... suddenly Nut felt a shadow over him. He turned his head to see Cheerilee standing by his desk. Nut almost yelled from being startled by her presence.

“Is there something wrong Nuttanbolt?” Nut quickly shut the pocket on his bag, almost smashing the ferret’s head in the process.

He gave a slight gulp then flat out lied, “Oh uh... no ma’am, it’s just that I uh... I guess I forgot my book today.” Cheerilee gave him a small look of disappointment but then smiled again.

“Well that’s no good. How can you learn with us if you don’t have your book? Well luckily I have a spare that you can use for now. Just make sure to bring your own next time, okay?” She walked over to her desk in the front of the room and opened up a drawer. She pulled out a worn textbook and returned to Nut’s desk. She placed it on his desk and returned to her place by the easel in the front. “Page seventeen please.”

Nut opened the book casually glancing down at his bag. The pocket bulged at one side where the ferret was hiding. I just hope he doesn’t suffocate in there.

Cheerilee opened up her notebook as she began her lecture, “Now then we shall start with the founding of Equestria and the discovery of the outside territories. Many lands outiside of Equestria were discovered in the early fifteen hundreds by the colt-quistadors including the famous Hernán Coltez. When given leave by Princess Celestia, the colt-quistadors had hoped to discover new cultures, resources, and other colonies to trade with, to better benefit early Equestria as a whole...”

She pulled down a world map from the top of the chalkboard while a few ponies had begun jotting down notes, but Nuttanbolt was only half listening to the lesson. He still had to worry about his stowaway. He didn’t risk pulling out a pencil or piece of paper as to avoid providing the ferret another chance to escape. Hopefully he wouldn’t need it. I’ll just listen to everything she says, yeah. I don’t need to take notes anyway. I’m a pretty good listener. He thought. He knew he was going to have to get the ferret out of here, but he was going to have to stick it out until the first break.

Cheerilee’s lesson continued full force, “... and with the southern movements of the explorers soon led to the discovery of Zebrabwe, which is now the known homeland of the Zebras...”

Nut soon found himself slipping in and out of consciousness from sheer boredom. His head bobbed back and forth as he struggled to stay awake. The hours of lecturing seemed to never end as the teacher went on and on. Nuttanbolt’s ability to listen drifted in and out as she continued. Time had all but slowed to a crawl. Eventually, he succumbed to his boredom as his head hit the desk with a soft thump. Moments later he was fast asleep.

Cheerilee shut her notebook, “... and that is how early Equestria was made.” she finally concluded. The bell chimed loudly from the tower which pulled Nuttanbolt out of his slumbering state.

“Huh... whaa... ?” He wiped the drool from his face.

“Alright class, it’s time for recess. Go on out and play. We’ll continue where we left off when you come back.”

Everypony trotted out of the classroom laughing and talking to each other, leaving Nut by himself in his desk. Nut waited until everypony else had left before he finally grabbed his bookbag and trotted out the door towards the playground. He began moving towards the end of the school where there were less students. The less attention he had, the easier this would be. Hopefully he could leave the ferret somewhere outside in a hidden spot for the time being and then he could retrieve him after school. He spotted a tree on the outskirts of the schoolyard. It was big and provided a lot of shade... or in his case, cover. Nut began making his way towards the tree. As long as nopony saw what he was doing he’d be home free.

Out of his left ear, Nut heard what sounded like a small skirmish coming from the other side of the playground. Nut turned around to see what the cause was.

Off in the distance he saw Applebloom with two other fillies which he could only assume were her friends. One was a white unicorn and the other was an orange pegasus. The three of them stood out immensely when they were together. Two other fillies approached the group. One of them was grey, wearing a pearled necklace while the other wore a small tiara on her head. The two of them together gave off a very snobby rich presence to them. Nut knew the type. He’d had plenty of run ins with them in Manehatten. They were nothing but trouble. He could see that Applebloom and her friends had very discontent looks on their faces. Nut looked back at the tree and then back towards Applebloom. He finally let out a sigh in desperation. Guess the ferret will have to wait. He thought. He quickly trotted towards the group. As he got closer he was beginning to hear the conversation. The filly wearing the necklace was in Applebloom’s face.

“What’s the matter Apple-doom? Did you and your friends fail to find your cutie marks again? What did you try this time? Pottery making? Or no, let me guess, circus side-shows?” The gray filly sneered. Her friend laughed with her.

“Heh, good one Silverspoon.”

“Ah don’t know what yer talkin’ bout princess.” Applebloom sneered back with denial.

“Oh pleeease. Don’t even try to deny that sad excuse of a performance that you and those other two blank flanks tried pulling off that night. That really had to be the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. Well... at least you made me laugh, so I guess it wasn’t that bad... but it was still pathetic.” Applebloom and her friends glared at Silverspoon. They hoped they had finally put that night behind them. Apparently not.

Nuttanbolt had heard enough, “What’s goin’ on here?” he intervened.

Silverspoon replied immediately with, “Oh well if it isn’t the new colt from Manehattan. If you really feel the need to butt in, we’re picking on these blank-flanks. Wanna’ join in on the fun?”

“No... Applebloom’s a friend of mine.” Nut said in a straight forward tone.

Silverspoon was shocked. “You mean to tell me you actually know this blank flank?”

“Yeah, I do. You got a problem with that?” Nut became defensive of his new friend.

“Why of course; you already have your Cutie Mark... although I have no idea what it’s for nor do I care; you have no reason to be speaking with these wastes of trotting space!”

“Hey just cause we ain’t got cutie marks doesn’t mean we’re worthless n’ speak fer yerself. Yer the one who’s a waste a space ya spoiled filly!” Applebloom butted in. Silverspoon ignored her comment and returned her attention to Nut.

Nut was appalled by her comments. “No I’m not! Just ‘cause I have my cutie mark already doesn’t make me better than anypony, and you ought to me ashamed’a yourself for thinkin’ such a thing!” Nut shouted. Their sudden outbursts had begun to draw the attention of other students who had begun to gather around the group. Once again Nut felt a little uncomfortable with all eyes on him, but he stood his ground.

“I can’t believe you’re standing up for these bla-”

“You stop calling them that! They have names!”

Silverspoon was now getting flustered with Nut’s stubbornness. She took a few steps closer until she was in his face like she had been with Applebloom. “And what if I don’t stop calling them that? What are you going to do about it? Huh?” She was using every bit of influence she had to instigate him. She wanted to see what he would do.

Nut began to feel increasing hostility toward this filly. Oh I can think of a few things I’d like to do to wipe that stupid looking grin off your face... He thought angrily. But he knew that wasn’t going to solve anything. Besides that, she was a girl. There was just no way he could hit a girl, no matter how badly she was starting to deserve it.

“Well... I’ll... I’ll... I’ll tell the teacher on you.” Nut replied pathetically. Of all the responses he could give, that was the best he could come up with? Silverspoon literally burst into tears with laughter.

“Are you kidding me? That’s the best you can do? I should have known, you’re just as worthless as those blank flanks. You’re a pathetic little colt, Nut. You can’t even come up with a good comeback!” Nut stood there silently, taking every individual word like a hoof to the face. Some of the other students had also begun to laugh with Silverspoon, which only added salt to the wound. He had to muster every bit of willpower to fight back the tears that were welling up. “What’s the matter? You’re not gonna start crying are you? What a baby. Why don’t you just go home Nut? Yeah, that’s right. Go home and cry to mommy...”

Nut could literally feel his temper snap like a twig. His tiny amber eyes now glowed like hot embers. There was nothing to hold him back. He’d had enough of her outbursts. He took a step forward and was about to raise his hoof when suddenly Silverspoon screamed in fear. Nut snapped out of his trance of rage to see that her smirk had disappeared from her face and was now replaced with sheer terror. She wasn’t scared of him though, she was looking above Nut, on top of his head...

“WHAT IS THAT! OH MY GOSH IT’S A RAT! HELP, HELP ME!” Silverspoon pushed herself through the crowd nearly trampling several fillies in the process. Nut looked up to see the ferret standing on top of his mane.

“Oh no...” He had been so distracted that he didn’t even notice the ferret had gotten free from his saddlebag and had climbed out. Everypony in the crowd looked at Nut and then at the ferret on his mane. The ferret looked at all of them with beady little eyes. Then complete chaos erupted.

Everypony began screaming in terror and running around in panic. The loud screams made the ferret anxious with energy. It jumped down from his mane and began to scurry over the playground.

“Wait! Stop, come back!” Nut cried out, but the ferret didn’t listen. It ran around in any direction, often taking the opportunity to playfully chase after an unsuspecting student. From the way that they were all terrified of the small creature, they had most likely never seen a ferret before. Everypony began taking drastic measures to escape. They ran to any object they could climb on: trees, jungle gyms, each other.

Silverspoon was backed into a corner. Her eyes darted back and forth in panic. She curled up in a ball, like she was pretending this was just some bad dream. Though her panic attack was interrupted when the ferret had found her hiding spot. It slithered towards her like a snake with legs. Silverspoon let out a blood curdling scream. “HELP! HELP ME! GET IT AWAY FROM ME! GET THIS THING AWAY FROM MEEEEE!” The ferret ignored her pleas and casually leaped onto her head. Silverspoon fainted from fright and collapsed on the ground. The ferret then rolled off her head and began to playfully bat at her pearl necklace with its paws.

Nuttanbolt turned back to Applebloom and her friends with a look of desperation. “Applebloom what am I gonna’ do? I need to get that ferret. If my brother or Uncle ‘Plank find out about this, I’m dead!” Applebloom stood there thinking for a moment. She then turned to her friends who were watching the chaos continue in the distance. The two seemed to be enjoying the disturbance on this rather boring day of school.

“Well girls? What’dya think? Looks like another poor sap is need of the Crusader’s help.”

“Yeah we’ve got this one in the bag, no problem!” Scootaloo said.

“We’ll catch that critter if it’s the last thing we do!” Sweetiebelle said.

They put their hooves together then shouted in unison, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: PEST CONTROL!” They threw their hooves up in the air. Nut just stared at them in disbelief. They returned to their huddle position to discuss their next plan of action.

“Alright we’ve got ourselves a Ferret to catch. Any ideas?” Applebloom asked.

“That thing is one slippery little devil, there’s no way we’ll be able to catch it by hoof.” Scootaloo chimed in.

“Shucks, yer right. Then how are we s’posed to nab him?”

“Hey! Doesn’t Miss Cheerilee keep some butterfly nets in the closet? I bet we could use those.” Sweetiebelle suggested. Applebloom looked at her and smiled.

“That’s a great idea! Alright let’s get those nets and catch this rodent!” The three broke out of their huddle and began trotting towards the schoolhouse. Applebloom turned back to face Nuttanbolt again. “Have no fear Nut. We’ll have that critter caught in no time!”

“Okay, just please don’t hurt him.” he said as they fled to the building. For some reason he couldn’t help but feel that those three were only going to make matters worse...

***

“Alright, Miss Fluttershy, that should just about do it.” Ficks said prominently as he finished sanding down a newly built coffee table. He wiped a few last traces of sawdust from the top and stepped back to admire his craftsmanship. Fluttershy came in from the other room to look at it herself.

“Oh my, it’s absolutely wonderful.”

“Well it was nothin’, just a simple table, but I’m glad you like it.” Normally he didn’t boast about his carpentry skills and rather preferred to be modest about the whole thing, but he was just happy he was able to make up for his previous failure from the other night.

“I still think it’s very nice.”

“Well alrighty then. Is there anything else you’d like me to do to it while I’m here?”

Fluttershy let her mane fall in front of one half of her face,“Oh, well umm... no I wouldn’t want to cause a fuss or anything like that, I’m sure it’s fine.”

“You sure? Anything else you need done will be free of charge.” he offered.

She let her head hang below her shoulders as if she was trying to resist the urge to speak, “Well you see um... my old table was blue and I guess it looked nicer that way since it sort of matched with all the other furniture... you know that sort of thing I guess.”

“So you’d like me to paint it sometime?”

She nodded her head, “Yes please!” She squeaked shyly.

“No problem!” Ficks said as he put his tool saddle on, “I’ll just have to stop by another time when I have my paintin’ utensils.”

“Okay then...” Ficks finished packing up his tools and the spare lumber that he had brought with him. Before he had a chance to leave Fluttershy quickly rushed over to him. “Wait before you leave, I wanted to ask you something.”

Ficks put his things down to look at her again, “Sure thing, ask away.”

“I just wanted to know how your little brother was getting along with his new companion?”

“His little compa-? Oh right, you mean the ferret. Yeah we managed to convince our uncle to let him stay at the shop. Nut’s doin’ his best to take care of the little guy.”

“Oh well that’s nice to know... I was afraid that he was going to cause all sorts of trouble for you.”

“Trouble? Why would the ferret cause any trouble?” Ficks was a little hesitant with his last question. He suspected that Fluttershy was hiding something.

“Well um... you see, that ferret has been known to wander off sometimes. He can be very sneaky. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to catch him after he had run off somewhere.”

“Well I can assure you Fluttershy that we’ve got everything under control. Right now that little critter is sleepin’ on Nuttanbolt’s bed behind a locked door ‘til he gets back. Ain’t no way he’s gettin’ out of there.” His answer didn’t sound as confident as he had hoped it would. He had no idea why. There was just this gut feeling he had... that something wasn’t right.

“Oh... okay then. I’m glad that you were able to make it work out.”

Ficks looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. “Speakin’ of little critters, I’ve gotta head over to the schoolhouse and pick up Nuttanbolt now.”

“Oh right, of course... I’m sorry if I kept you waiting.” She shyly backed into a corner again.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be sure to stop by again to finish that table. ‘Til then Fluttershy, please have yourself a nice day.” He donned his hat and walked out the door with his supplies. He waved goodbye and began double-timing it towards the schoolhouse.

Within minutes he closed in on the school yard. He had hoped to see Nut waiting for him, ready to go home. Instead he came across a much more unpleasant scene. Everywhere he looked he could see colts and fillies leaving the school with distraught expressions on their faces. Their parents were hurriedly escorting them off the school grounds, including a small gray filly that was walking with her mother. She was crying hysterically while her mother held her in attempts to comfort her.

“Oh mother it was horrible! It was running around everywhere, I swear it almost killed me! I thought it was going to eat me...!” she sobbed in agony.

Ficks stared at them with confusion as they walked past. What in the hay happened here? He got his answer when he finally reached the schoolhouse and saw Nuttanbolt sitting on the steps by the front door. Cheerilee was standing next to Nut. She saw Ficks approaching and gave him a rather disapproving look. Hoh boy, here we go...

“Mr. Ficksitup?” Her tone was sharp and stung like ice.

“Yes ma’am uh... good to see you again. I hope there wasn’t any trouble from uh...” He nervously glanced around then swallowed, “Please tell me nothin’ happened here today.”

She continued to look disapprovingly at him. “Mr. Ficksitup, I’m not sure how you two were brought up but I would have hoped that you would know that pets are not allowed at school under any circumstances.”

“Pets? What in the hay are y-” Ficks’ stopped when he figured it out. He turned his attention to Nut who was still sitting on the stairs. In his arms he was holding, as Ficks had figured, the small ferret. Nut looked up at his older brother. When their eyes met, he knew he was in a whole new heap of trouble. Ficks began glaring at him to show that he was not happy about the situation, not one bit. Nut bowed his head in shame to avoid further eye contact.

“Ma’am I’m very sorry about all of this and I honestly have no excuse for any of it, but please you need to tell me what happened.”

“Very well if you’ll follow me...” Cheerilee said as she gestured Ficks to follow her into the classroom, leaving Nut to wallow on the stairs. A minute later, Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo came trotting from the side of the building to meet up with Nut at the door.

“Ya see? I told ya we’d catch that pesky critter eventually.” Applebloom panted, sounding out of breath. Truth was, they had chased the ferret all over the school. They had finally managed to catch it using an empty fish bowl they had found in the now obliterated classroom.

“Yeah but you three nearly destroyed half the school in the process!” Nut complained.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad. Look, the schoolhouse is still standing and nopony got hurt.” Sweetiebelle said cheerfully.

“Well... not exactly. I think some of the desks in there can’t ever be used again, a lot of books got torn up, and I’m pretty sure Silverspoon is going to have nightmares for weeks.” Scootaloo said. The three fillies giggled at the thought.

“Yeah well I say she gits what she deserves for pickin’ on Nuttanbolt here. By the way, thanks for stickin’ up for us back there Nut.” Applebloom flashed a big grin at him. He only nodded back.

“Yeah... no problem.”

“Well as a way of returnin’ the favor, if ya ever lose that little guy again, you just let us know and the Crusaders will git him back for ya.”

“No really that’s okay you don’t need to do th-” He never got a chance to finish as they started to cheer excitedly. They began dancing, until Cheerilee stepped out onto the steps with Ficks behind her.

“Uh oh. We gotta get outta here!” Scootaloo yelled as the three quickly began running away.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook young ladies. I will be talking with your parents today!” Cheerilee yelled after them. They were already out of earshot, so she turned back around to face her current situation with the two brothers. “Well I hope you now understand the gravity of the issue Mr. Ficksitup.”

“I understand ma’am. I just don’t... how can one ferret cause so much trouble?”

“It wasn’t just him bro! It was those three girls, they turned the whole place upside down trying to catch him. I didn’t need their help. I had it all figured out, honest. If they hadn’t tri-” Nuttanbolt began but Ficks put a hoof up to stop him. He glared at him to make sure he wouldn’t interrupt again.

“Well he is right about that. Those girls have been known to be quite troublesome on occasion.” Cheerilee said in attempt to defend Nut.

“Yeah I can imagine...” Ficks hadn’t forgotten the last problem that he had to deal with that involved Applebloom.

“Well even with their involvement I’m afraid that Nuttanbolt must still be held responsible for today’s disturbance. Because of that, I have no choice but to schedule a parent/teacher conference to get this sorted out.” Her tone was cold but regretful. She hated having to schedule conferences with the parents. She usually did her best to get along with every one of her students, but sometimes... there were exceptions.

Ficks suddenly felt a ping of anxiety when he heard her comment.

“Um ma’am that’s sorta easier said than done.”

Impatiently she replied, “What do you mean? I just need to speak with either the father or the mother.” Ficks winced at the mention of his mother.

“Well you see that’s the thing...” Ficks began but he stopped and looked back at Nut who was listening to them. Ficks gestured Cheerilee to walk a few feet away until they were out of earshot. There he filled her in on all the details from the passing of his mother to how they had ended up staying with their uncle at the local shop. When he had finished, she stood there silently thinking to herself. Finally she spoke after giving it some thought.

“I’m very sorry to hear about that Mr. Ficksitup. I... I had no idea that all this was going on.” Her usual cheerful manner was all but gone in the conversation.

“It’s alright. We usually don’t tell very many ponies about our situation, but I figure yer an exception.”

“Putting that aside, you said that your uncle is currently looking after you both?”

“Well yeah... but what’s that got to do with anything?” Ficks asked rather forcibly.

“Well in your position, that technically makes him both you and Nuttanbolt’s legal guardian. In the absence of parents, the guardian is entitled to all responsibilities over the siblings they look after. Which means they handle all parental matters, including teacher conferences.” She looked at him glumly.

Ficks’ ears pricked up at the mention of teacher conference again. There was no way he could let Uncle ‘Plank have a parent teacher conference with Cheerilee. “Ma’am I understand that completely, but please, you can’t have that meetin’ with our uncle. If he found out what happened and that the ferret was involved... we’d have to get rid of him for good.”

“I’m sorry Ficksitup, those are the rules and I’m merely following the teacher’s policy. If a student is involved in any sort of misbehavior then we have to report it or speak with a pa-”

“He’s a good kid! I’m tellin’ ya he won’t do it again! If you’ll please just give him another chance I swear! I’ll... I’ll even help fix the desks that were damaged as repayment. Just please don’t say anything about this.”

Cheerilee thought for a very long time. She moved her glance from Ficks to Nuttanbolt and then back to Ficks. She knew that she was taking a risk if she didn’t report this. At the same time though she felt pity for the two brothers. Their current state was already troublesome enough and she didn’t wish to cause anymore conflict at home. Finally after a few minutes she spoke,

“Alright, I’ll let this one slide. But I will be keeping my eye on him from now on.”

Ficks looked at her with an ecstatic expression. “Oh thank you miss. You have no idea how much this means to us. I’m tellin’ ya we won’t forget it.”

“It’s no problem Mr. Ficksitup. Now then, I think you two should hurry home. Wouldn’t want to keep your uncle waiting.”

Ficks shook her hoof to thank her once again, and then gestured Nut to grab his things and follow him. As they were walking away, Cheerilee called out to Nut.

“Mister Nuttanbolt?”

“Yeah?...” Nut said as he faced his teacher.

“Be sure to bring your book next time... and not your pet. Or at least wait until we have show and tell to do that.” Once again a smile appeared on her face which comforted Nut a little.

The two brothers walked back to the shop in silence. Nut followed his brother a few feet behind him. He looked up to see if Ficks was angry or not but he couldn’t tell. He only had a blank expression on his face.

“Are you mad?” Nut asked quietly. He flinched, expecting a barrage of angry words to come out of his brother’s mouth. Instead, Ficks kept walking ahead in silence. A few minutes later though, Ficks finally stopped to speak. He sighed and then spoke softly.

“No Nut... I’m not mad. I’m just... disappointed that’s all.”

He was glad that his brother was not enraged with him, but he still felt guilty.

“Why are you disappointed bro?” He was pretty sure what the answer was.

“Because Nut, I trusted you to take full responsibility of that pet... and then you go and let a thing like this happen. On your first day of school!” His tone was harsh and struck fast.

“It’s not my fault Ficks! I thought I had him locked up in my room. Somehow he managed to get into my bookbag. Even then I had no idea he was gonna do this!”

“It doesn’t matter Nut. You shoulda’ double checked to make sure that thing was really in your room.”

“I’m sorry Ficks... I really am. I didn’t mean to let anypony down...” Nut had started crying and ran into Ficks’ arms. He sobbed miserably into his chest, soaking his coat with tears. Ficks stood there and hugged his brother gently. He ruffled his mane and spoke again.

“Hey hey hey ‘lil guy, take it easy. Ya didn’t let me down alright? Don’t worry about it. Ya just made a mistake. It’s all behind us now. Besides you promised not to do it again right?”

Nut sniffed and wiped the tears from his eyes. He manged to muster out a muffled Uh huh from his mouth with his face still buried in Ficks’ coat.

“Well alright then. I don’t think we’ve got anything else to worry about.”

Just as Ficks said that, the ferret climbed out of Nut’s bag to investigate what all the ruckus was about. Nut looked up and smiled at the curious pet that was now resting on his head again.

“Well... we still have this little guy to worry about.”

“Yeah... keepin’ him outta trouble is gonna be quite a task. He certainly is a little oddball ain’t he?”

Nuts ears pricked up and he looked at his brother excitedly. “That’s it Ficks! That’s what I’ll call him. Oddball!”

“Wait. You mean to tell me ya never named the darn thing yet?”

“Well... I couldn’t really think of any good ones at the time. But I guess from everything that happened today and you just sayin’ it now, it’s perfect.”

“Well if you insist Nut, he is your pet.”

Nut looked up at the ferret and spoke. “What d’ya think lil guy? You want that to be your name?” The ferret did a little dance to show its appreciation which made Nut giggle. “Well alright then, from now on I’m gonna call you Oddball.”

The two continued walking to the shop together with their spirits in a much lighter mood than before. Nut walked along with Oddball clinging to his mane and his bookbag feeling a few pounds lighter, since most likely there were no more stowaways.

“So... not bad for my first day at school huh?” Ficks just looked him straight in the eyes and scowled.

“Don’t press your luck kid.”

To contact the writers of this story...

Jamescameronjackson@hotmail.com

t.schomburg@yahoo.com

Happy Back to School Everybrony