school of friendship Again, For the First Time (Hippo, SteelEagle, RainbowFoxxy)

[Hippo]

 

Once he received his class assignments, he held onto them closely to make sure he knew exactly what his surroundings were like. As he walked through the hallways of the academy which were full of stranger ponies much like himself, he paid close attention to the figures above the doors, attempting to attach to memory the location of rooms he may have to visit for future classes. But for his first class, which was Loyalty 101, he needed to make his way to a room whose door was stamped by a red lightning bolt.

 

"Okay, right here." Remington stared at his class assignment card as he walked into the room. He accidentally ran into another student. "Oh, sorry, excuse me." He looked at the classroom, which was full of desks, some with faithful students eager to get started, others hovering around the room talking to new or old friends, and even others still nervously inspecting the walls and windows of the classroom. The teacher had not entered the room apparently. Remington looked around for an idea on which desk he should claim as his place to sit, softly minding the students expressions to get a hint for which classmates to avoid and who to greet as new friends.

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                                     


An older filly sat in the middle-back of the room, her desk tidy and organized. She swept her purple and aqua mane away from her horn, Allsource on today, and her tail flitted about nervously. She was all smiles and easy, quick words of greeting but was otherwise keeping to herself. She had arrived exceptionally early and was among the first to have taken her seat. Maybe she was an ace student or maybe she was simply an eager student, but all who saw her agreed on two things: She was awfully pretty and she was likely very confident and prepared.

One half of that was undoubtedly true. She was tremendously pretty!

Moonlight was extremely nervous despite her outwardly calm demeanor. Everything that was new was old and what was old never existed. She had signed up to attend this school as Valen but after...well, perhaps the most obvious change a pony could ever undergo and the paperwork flurry right before the school year hit, she could at least say that her nervousness didn't relate to that particular element of her story. She also had her school supplies all squared away and she had a good relationship with her teachers. From the standpoint of a student, no, she wasn't nervous. She knew that if all came down to coursework and meanings she would be the best of the best of the best. 

 

No, she was nervous because the first few days, even weeks, after her change she had been surrounded by either close family or the ponies who would be her teachers or administrators. She didn't deal with...anypony else, really. It was hard enough getting used to who she was now among those who knew the full story. It was another thing entirely to just...be a pony among other ponies. It was, like, really strange to just go about her normal day to day life after everything that had happened. Hopefully she wouldn't be a total weirdo freakazoid. Nopony would have any reason to assume anything was out of the ordinary but she knew that the new ordinary for her was different from the old. Not bad, not bad at all. Just different. 

 

As she finished arranging her desk and materials she ended up looking around, smiling and trying to acclimate like a normal pony would. While looking around she had to do a quick double take when her eyes found an old friend. Is that Remington? It is! She thought happily. She had been friends with that colt when she attended school in Manehattan (amongst other notable differences). He was a fun colt and look at that cute mane- huh? She shook her head and smiled broadly at him.
He was new here and she was more than happy to see him. She was about to jump up and start talking to him then reminded herself that Moonlight was new to him. Oooh. Ooooohhhhh. Okay, she shouldn't do that then. Still, he seemed to be wanting a place to sit himself and what better place than next to her? "Hey! Yeah, you there! I have a seat, like, right next to me open, yeah?" She offered with a wave, hoping to at least have a friend sit next to her. Even if it was like meeting him again.

[Hippo]

 

Remington's slow and shy scan over the classroom (which was him looking to break awkwardness disguised as him looking for a seat, of which there were plenty) was interrupted by the sound of a pink filly coming from the fourth row of desks. When he looked at her sharply wondering if he had heard her in error, she acknowledged his attention and waved him to sit next to her. "Oh, um, yeah!" Remington jumped to a slow trot towards the empty desk next to the friendly pony. As he sat down, he was overly shy to make eye-contact with her, but then realized how rude that might appear to a stranger who offered permission to be a desk neighbor. So he turned to her. "Hi, my name's Remington. This is my first day, just got off the train from Manehatten this morning. I didn't expect so many other students. Are they all new, too? Are, are you new?"

Remington looked friendly back to the filly. But when he asked his second question, he realized the kind of filly he was speaking to. Her sky blue eyes seemed to deepen the more you looked at them, and the marvelous shimmer of her mane reflected the light in the room that surrounded her. It was like she radiated energy and gave life to those she was close to. She was beautiful. And that was when the first bead of sweat fell from Remington's head. He quickly re-hydrated himself by nervously swallowing the stray spit in his mouth.

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                            

It took Remington a few seconds to answer but when he did he did take her up on her offer, sitting next to Moonlight and being extremely awkward about it for a few moments. It was clear that he didn't know who she was, who she had been, and she was more than willing to let that information lay deep down for now. She was so relieved that she forgot to notice that he seemed to trail off and get lost in her. Just as well, because she was just sitting there happy that she had enabled her friend to have some manner of calmness regarding his first day. She couldn't say that she remembered much of her first day here when she had done the tour. It seemed so long ago now! But she did know how much it meant to have a friend that had your back, even if you didn't know it yet. Hey, maybe she could be Remington's guardian angel! Now didn't that just seem right for the little urban darling?

 

"Yep! All new here! Well, I mean, new to, like, this school and stuff. I think most students in this class are totes new, too. Like, I could be totally wrong but I think this early Loyalty class is for first timers and, like, those who flunk. But I don't think anycreature's flunked so...whatever?" She ended with a friendly shrug as she refocused back on her friend. "Nice to meetcha, Remington. I'm Moonlight Glitter! You're from Manehattan? That's, like, so cool. Are you some kind of rough and tumble fella with a penchant for, like, chaos? Or are you a bit of the bookish sort?" She said with a giggle. "Your glasses are kinda cute, you know!" She let out though she quickly wondered why it had come to her mind so fast. 

[Hippo]

 

"Chaos?" Remington chuckled. "No, no. Not me anyway. I know I don't look like a colt from the city but it's because my parents aren't from there either. I lived there for most of my life, though. Books?" He rambled on. "I mean I don't know, I guess. Some books are cool, I've read a few here and there but I don't consider myself uh." He stammered at the realization that he was complimented quite flirtatiously on his glasses. "Oh, you uh like them?" Remington pretended to adjust his glasses. "They're kind of cu- cool, I guess. You really think so? I mean I like them well enough but yeah, heh heh. Yours are cute too. Not your glasses though, your eyes. I mean not your eyes, I mean if you had glasses. But your eyes are pretty, too." Remington blushed. A large part of him wanted to die.

 

Remington had been a filly's colt his entire life. Much more of a reasonable friend to fillies than a boyfriend, however. Much more than not, his young life was spent having more female friends. But now that he was getting older, something about his demeanor for the female friend dynamic was changing, and like most colts, he had no idea what to do about it. He was fairly good at recovering, though. "Where did you come from? You said you're not from here?" There was no recollection of whether Moonlight had said she wasn't from here, but Remington gathered enough context in her voice that he was pretty sure she might be a transplant like himself.

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                         


Oh my Celestia he is a giant, awkward dork.

No great sin though, he had always been kind of a dork with his books and his glasses. Well less the books. Of the two it had been Valen who was the reader. He was always reading something new, something he found interesting. Sometimes Valen would annoy his friends (however few he had) playfully with a random fact from a book he read. Remington's story was well known to Moonlight but it was really interesting seeing him try and detail it on the backhoof from her oddly forward, strangely natural flirting with him. And then he shot back with his own compliment- only after he tripped over himself, of course. What a delightfully awkward friend to have. "Oh, my eyes? I mean, like, I guess they're kinda cute. I've been working on a killer makeup routine that, like, will be totally radical. I think it, like, accentuates all of my curves. On my face I mean. It would be weird to, like, use makeup on...the bod, or...whatever," she said as she trailed off herself, having got lost in her own words. And then she shot something to try and save it. "I should try it on you. Like, your eyes with those glasses would look bitchin'!" She ended positively.

 

Okay, that was a fool thing to say. Gag me with a spoon already, tcha!

 

"Me?" She asked rhetorically and stopped in her tracks a moment. Oh yeah, this. Well, she couldn't be from Manehattan because she made a big deal about it. Not from Ponyville. She wracked her brain, trying to remember the places where a valley filly came from. Then it struck here. A mid-major city on the Bridleback Shore, which was home to a lot of mid-major cities close together. "I'm from San Flankado. Ya know, the valley?" She laughed. "Its so warm down there. Uggh, I miss the beach!" She added with an exaggerated sigh. That would work. That place was known for its warmth and, frankly, the valley filly accent that Moonlight had found herself using. The dots connected. Yep, she'd have to do a lot more research to keep that cover up but it would work for now! 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Then entered...the professor. A blast of wind, a swirl of papers and she was among them. Yep! The professor of Loyalty! In the flesh! 

 

Rainbow loved this time of year. All these fresh young minds, eager to take in the awesome that was Dash. Well....they might have thought they were there for like you know other stuff. Like learning, expanding their minds, gaining skills they would be able to use in their lives. But most of all...and they would all come to find this out soon enough...they were there to marvel at the wonder that was Rainbow Dash!

 

Aaaaat least that's how she had come into the school last year. Since then Rainbow had learned that there was a small chance that students weren't just there to fawn over her awesomeness. Not that she'd tell anypony that.She was however, loyal to Twilight and Twilight had charged her with educating young minds in the ways of loyalty in friendship. If anypony could do that she could!

 

"Alright everyone!" She glanced at the seats, nodding when she saw they were mostly filled up. "Let's settle down. Time to get to the good stuff!"

 

Dash trotted to the front and cleared her throat. It was then that she noticed Moonlight in the midst of her students. She had a soft spot for the kid no doubt, and also a little green streak.

 

"The name's Rainbow Dash...Professor Dash to you guys!" She smiled openly. "Now, who's ready for something fun?"

[Hippo]

 

Moonlight had just made a pretty compelling argument for Remington to use make-up. He would skip the details and instead be entertained that the filly was even talking to him in this manner. It didn't feel right, but it also felt great. After her somewhat confusing explanation of things Remington has no idea on, he mustered all of his cognitive ability to respond in the most fitting way a strong young colt of his age could manage. "Yeah, cool." Was it cool? Was it intended to be a joke? Remington had zero clue.

 

She then responded to the question of where she is from. "San Flankado? I've never been there, and I've been to a lot of places," Remington unnecessarily flexed. "I've been to Canterlot, too. But only for a short time. My dad works in the..."

 

The flirtatious and nervously talkative conversation was interrupted by the Professor of Flash herself. Remington knew all about Rainbow Dash, seen her up close a couple times, but never had the privilege to talk to her and meet her. It was going to be awesome. He wasn't at all keen on learning any flying moves from her, but she sure seemed cool. "Wooo!" Remington cheered with the other students at Rainbow Dash's introduction. Were all the classes like this? If so, Remington was going to like it here.

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                    

 

Remington really had no idea how to react to this much concentrated flirting, which made Moonlight giggle to herself. Okay, she didn't know why she was so flirty with him. Was it that former friendship and this odd sort of link back to the past? Was it the freedom of having a secret? Something else she didn't really understand? All of the above? Whatever it was, she knew it wouldn't last. He'd find out somehow and this would just be weird, so might as well have fun with this while it lasts. Or at least that is what she told herself as he tried to flex about being to all these cool places. A part of her wanted to ask if he had ever been to Neighpon on a modelling contract, but she reckoned that would be a total bitch move.
And she liked his flex. 

 

She almost felt the need to finish what his father's occupation was, but was saved from an impossible to conceal revelation by the arrival of her Professor. Rainbow Dash was a good enough friend and a decent enough Professor who didn't fit this occupation all that well. She had all this energy and jazzy excitement that felt good but it took a while to get to the good stuff. She was much like an apple: A lot of sugar and some nutrients if you stuck around often enough. Still, she liked Rainbow. Other ponies would try to change who they were when they entered such an environment but not her. She would try and be awesome no matter where she was, even when the idea was a little silly. Not that Moonlight would ever complain about fun things. "Ooh, I totally like fun things!"

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

"Cool!" She nodded at the class, happy with their enthusiastic response. I mean who wouldn't want to do something fun on their first day in a new class? 

 

RD had thought of this totally awesome activity on her flight over to the school from the Wonderbolts camp. Yep, lots of planning was not up Dash's alley. She'd instruct the same way she flew, fast, furious, and awesomely! 

 

"Bring em' in Tank!" The door was pressed open gingerly and the propeller driven tortoise entered the classroom, a cardboard box clamped in her mouth. 

 

"Thanks buddy!" RD patted Tank on the head as he dropped off the box on the front podium. 

 

"So!" She addressed the class. "Before I reveal what we're going to be up to...everycreature needs a partner. Try to pick someone you don't know very well!"

 

RD gave the class a bit of time to pick partners before continuing on with her scheme. 

[Hippo]

Find a partner? Excellent. This was a great opportunity for Remington to meet others. He quickly looked at Moonlight but then looked away shyly. I just met her, maybe she doesn't know me well enough to partner up. Or maybe she met so well just now that it would be strange to partner up. Maybe I should find someone brand new, he thought. His internal thought processes of social interaction was overdone. He was silly to avoid exposure to Moonlight, but it was all under the guise of subconscious shyness he had for the filly. Remington was always a colt who was easy to make friends with fillies before. But something about this pink unicorn made Remington feel a little different, and the awkwardness would encourage him to repel.

 

Remington spotted a male kirin on his left. The kirin was standing up panning the room as many others were. When his eyes seemed to meet with the kirin's, he smiled and waved him over. Immediately, the male kirin smiled as well and started walking towards Remington. As he approached, Remington spoke up. "Hi, my name is Remington, would you like to be my part...ner?" The kirin walked right passed Remington. On the other side of Remington was Moonlight, and behind her was a unicorn colt who the kirin was really walking towards. "Oh." Remington remarked to himself. He saw that most of the room was paired up and started slowly panning his head back towards Moonlight. "Um. Loonmight, I mean Moonlight. Um...     ...Partner?" Remington held his hooves up like this was happenstance.

 

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                          


Rainbow called for teams to form and her mind immediately jumped to any one of a number of possibilities. She knew a few ponies in this room and found that as she looked around, a few beamed at her. Couldn't blame them. She was amazing. But she found herself poking her head at others, playing matchmaker between ponies that had just met or were total strangers. She didn't have any special insight into who would become friends but she did know that this was the best time for students to get to know one another and she wasn't about to hog everypony's time and attention. Not right now at least. That would come later when she was looking infinitely more fabulous and awesome. She smiled and contented herself with waiting it out and seeing how it transpired. She had no fear of who she would partner with in the end. 

 

Remington eventually turned to her and asked as the options dwindle. It had looked like a cute little kirin was going to partner with him but that kirin had instead chosen the unicorn who sat behind her (and smelled). He asked to be her partner and she smiled broadly. "Well, duh of course I'll be your partner! Like, we're the dream team!" She said as she brought him in with a half-hug, looking at her professor with a wide grin. "Tsssh, this just in. Remington and Moonlight, like, totally ace whatever it is Professor Fast has planned! As if anything else was possible!" She said as she released him. "Hey Professor Daaaash! What's, like, in the box?"

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Professor Fast? Tcha! More like Professor Fastest...um, in Equestria... Rainbow was glad she hadn't tried to make that boast out loud. She nodded towards the box and smiled.

 

"Ah! Now that's the good part! Glad you asked Moonlight!" She waited until the students had taken a seat next to their chosen partners. 

 

"Now in this box we have some..." he pulled out a bunch of colored fabric strips. "Blindfolds!" 

 

After the obligatory groans from her pupils she continued. "Now I know you've all played trust games before. And I know that trust is like one of the key aspects of loyalty. So, we're going to play a little game!" She grinned. "Of course there's prizes for the winners!"

 

The students as a whole looked skeptical.  "All you have to do is finished and you win!" That lightened them up a bit! "Right! So, you have to choose one of the two of you to be blind folded. The other will lead the blind! There's a few obstacles out there for you of course. Let all go out into the hallway and from there we'll blindfold up!"

 

She herded the class out the door. Once they were in the hallway she continued. "Ok everyone! Get those blindfolds on! I'll be checking to make sure you can't see through them!" Once that was done she announced the first goal. 

 

"First part is simple. Lead your partner down the hall and into the cafeteria!" She smiled. "Oh! And don't let them touch the red x's!" Rainbow waved a hoof towards the hallway that was a veritable mine field of red x's taped to the floor! "If you touch a red x, you'll have the start this whole section again. If you skip a section, no prize at the end! It's not a race so it doesn't matter how long it takes you, but it's better to be fast of course! Let's go have some fun everyone! Ready, go!"

[Hippo]

Remington was reeled in by Moonlight, an affectionate side-hug that seemed like one would only give another pony if they knew them well. This mare is really friendly, he thought. As he was slightly pulled in, his glasses jostled slightly and so he lifted a quick hoof to straighten them out. When the professor had revealed what was inside the box, Remington went forward to grab a blindfold. The one he selected was orange. And when Rainbow Dash instructed the class to meet her outside, he showed the blindfold to Moonlight and insisted an important decision be made. As he walked out to the hallway with her, he mumbled his humility both in intentional and unintentional ways. "You want me to wear the blindfold? Or do you want to? It's not a big deal if you don't want to. Er, or maybe you do want to because you trust me and are not scared. You can trust me. Unless you don't yet, which is fine." Remington rambled. "Do you like the color? Is it orange, or is it like a bold peach color?"

 

Remington was having some issue with this whole, 'keep calm when a cute-' no strike that, 'keep calm when a beautiful filly is talking to you' piece of advice that every young colt had been taught and none had ever successfully mastered. Even as he rambled off the wide list of options made from a selection of two regarding what was in front of them, she rolled her eyes playfully and started tying the blindfold around his head in a proper fashion. "This tangerine blindfold will look better on you for now, Remington. Does it hurt?"

 

 

He pulled up his hoof to touch the blindfold to make sure it was there. Yup, it was there! The blindfold covered his squared glasses. "Um, yeah. That's fine." Remington stood still in the middle of the classroom and made a long pause. "Should I have walked out to the hallway first?"

"Yes. Probably, hehehehe," she said as she checked around them to make sure she had space as other ponies in their pairs walked out into the hallway. "Can you hear me fine in there? If so, just follow my directions, okay?"

"Okay." He carefully walked forward in the direction of the hallway. He knew eventually there would be a doorway so he started periodically reaching out his hooves to touch it.

"Like, I got the door, Remington," she said as she debated watching him flail about for it some more. "You're doing great."

 

Remington stepped out to the hallway with relatively-looking ease. However in his brain he was having  a bit of a panic attack due to the lack of sensory perception. He would get used to it in a few minutes, hopefully. Rainbow Dash finished explaining the details of the hallway excursion and thought it was amazing that it was all setup in the time they were sitting in class waiting. When Remington found the classroom, the hallways seemed clear with no red X's. Unfortunately for him, however, he did not yet know the campus very well, so he probably wouldn't have been able to find the cafeteria on his own even without a blindfold.

 

Remington looked around at nothing, because he couldn't see anything. He tested shifting his ears around in order to get the best possible depth perception by noise alone. It would only help him a little. "I'm ready." He said with a serious blindfolded look on his face. He started walking forward slowly.

"Forward. Forward. No exes yet, Remmy! You have room, like, to strut your stuff," Moonlight said as she walked backwards. She made sure to speak a little louder- a lot of other pairs were at this too. She made sure also to look down and all around, because she didn't- ahh, there's one. "In two steps, go left. Like, your left."

 

Remington pranced gaily for a few strides in reaction to Moonlight implying he had room to strut. Either she would think it was a funny joke, or she liked the way he strutted his stuff. Win-win. The other classmates had call-outs that were of varying degrees of voices. Some were loud, some were obvious. Changelings had a very unique way of speaking that was hard to mimic, unless you were a changeling. Moonlight had a very normal young mare voice, but she spoke in a very Applewood showmare-y style. And it was, like, easy to pick out. Remington only hoped that her inflectional pauses, while cute, did not cause a long enough delay to cause him to confront something with his nose. He turned left.

 

He did a good job going left. Which was good, because one pair failed and- "Go right now."- and that was a shame because being the first to lose at anything was demoralizing. "You're doing super good. Like, look at you work it! Oh, go very straight. Exes on both sides. Okay, like, you're past it.  They do anything rad like this at your old school? Right."

 

Remington followed the coordination with his partner to the tee. So far so good. "I can't say I've ever done anything like this anywhere. P.S. 57 in Manehatten was pretty normal I think. But even though it was normal, I had a lot of fun with the friends I had there." Remington took equal strides forward. "Thought maybe one or two of them would transfer to Ponyville with me, but I guess I'm the only one."

"Then I guess you're, like, the official Manehattan P.S. 57 Ambassador- STOP!" She said dramatically. He couldn't see her smile.

 

He stopped immediately almost tripping on his own hooves in the process. He clinched his teeth like he was about to meet the business end of one of the stray benches or vases that littered the hallways.

"There are, like, two tiles in front of you and to both sides that are totally exes right now. You're gonna need to, like, jump or hop over."

"Can't I just walk around it?"

"No, 'cause, like, it is a whole row!"

"Oh." Remington though about how he would do this. Should he back up? "How long of a jump are we talking?"

"You-size. Remmy size. Like, just imagine you're jumping over you."

 

Did she just call him Remmy? Only his close friends and mother back in Manehatten ever called him that. As far as the obstacle in front of him, he had the ability to be graceful but he was no athlete. He had a hard time judging what he couldn't see. So he took two small steps back, pivoted his hooves to get a good launch, and skipped forward ahead before leaping forward. He got scared on his descent and fluttered forward a little. "Heh. You don't suppose I can just fly the whole thing, do you?"

 

 

Thank Twilight he fluttered because he would have otherwise landed on her. "Oh, good jump. Like, you got hops! I don't think its cool to fly, like, the rest of the way though. Rad jump by the way," she said as she looked around. She had just made him jump over nothing and it was super fun, but now the real work begins. "Okay, this is gonna start getting, like, super hard! Take a breath and tell me when you're ready."

 

Remington had no reason to take his time. In fact, the anxiety of not being able to see made him want to get it over with. "Sure, let's go."

 

"Right. Left. And then right. Okay- one step forward, then, like, hard left. More left. Then right. Okay straightaway. Like, you're quick on your hooves, ain'tcha?"

 

Remington wasn't sure if he was just supposed to rotate right or do a complete right turn. Same for going left. He just did what seemed natural to her commands and without giving back negative feedback, he felt like he was indeed acing this with her. "Yeah, we're making this look easy aren't we?" Remington did a goofy twist of the hooves during a quick change of direction, which could have easily have been mistaken for him break-dancing. "How much farther do we need to go?"

 

"Almost done. Oh, like, do you want to go under a barricade of tables or, like, over it, Remington?"

Remington paused, the confused ripple on his lips being the only visible expression he could show. "Define barricade."

"Uhh, well. There are, like, tables blocking the path at the entrance. There is a small hole at the bottom where, like, the legs seem to be folded. Or you can, like, go over it, there is a scoche of a clearance."

"Entrance? To what? Like in a doorway?"

"Entrance to a cafeteria, dork," she giggled,  "they had cafeterias in P.S. 57, right? Like, a big open doorway. Two big doors. Wooden. I think they're made of Mahogany? Maybe oak. But...no, the grain is ribbon like. DEFINITELY Mahogany."

 

Remington wasn't aware of his surroundings for obvious reasons, but he could still hear the cheekiness coming from his new friend. "Okay, I get it. Um, I'll just go over the tables." Remington slowly walked forward to touch the tables. When he could feel the smooth surface on his hoof, he attempt to feel around and gain leverage. He tried pulling himself up over the table without using any wingpower. Without knowing how long this table was, he pulled himself too far and fell head over hoofs onto the cafeteria floor on the other side of the doorway.

 

Moonlight for her role was happy to see he was gonna go over the table. Under looked rough and his nicely formed rear legs may have caused some problems. She helped guide him to the barricade and then happily started her trot to the other side from one of the open side entrances. By the time she made it to the other side she...had expected to see Remington. But there was no Remington! "Oh Remington, having-" she began as she looked up- just as the colt fell over the side and onto her, smashing her into the ground.
"Naaaaaaailed it," she said with what was likely a mild concussion, head waving around with a dopey smile on.

 

Remington would normally feel fuzzy landing on a new fillyfriend in this manner, and he was of course embarrassed, but not for the reasons one would imagine. "Yeah, nailed it." He got off Moonlight, took his blindfold off, and laid down looking up at her through his cracked lenses. He sighed. "I broke my glasses."

 

"Awww, gag you with a spoon! That's, like, the worst. Professor Rainbow Dash, we have a problem!" Moonlight said as she got up. "We need to make sure you can see, Remington. How else can our unstoppable team remain, like, unstoppable?"

 

"I mean, I can kind of see without my glasses, just not as good." Remington took the pair off his face, his eyes noticeably smaller due to the lack of refraction of his irises. "I'll have to get them repaired after school."

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Professor Dash gritted her teeth at the truly cringe worthy effort of her class. And she wasn't really gritting because of their performance, it was that she had just assigned it to them! The more crashes and blunders she saw the more she regretted the awesome assignment she had thought up on her way to the classroom! 

 

"Oh!" Dash fluttered nearby the chaotic scene. "Yikes! Ummmmm..." Yep truly regretting this.

 

She sighed. It just seemed like she could never catch a break lately. She wasn't dumb, not at all! Rainbow was a pretty smart mare actually. She just never. thought. things. out. ever. 

 

When the pair brought the broken glasses forth Dash glanced around. "Ok!" She raised her voice. "Everypony stop!"

 

She spoke quietly to Remmy. "Sorry about your glasses uh, Remington was it?" She eyed the broken frames. "Yeah, those aren't gonna be helping you much. Can you see at all without them?"

 

Back to the whole class. "Everybody out to the field out front!" She pointed in the direction of the doors leading to the hallway that would take them out to the front of the school. "Right now!" 

[Hippo]

 

Remington felt a little flustered because of his broken eyewear, but at the same time he was slightly enamored at talking to the hero Rainbow Dash for the first time. He coughed to clear his throat. "Um, yeah I think I'll be fine." Remington couldn't make out the specifics of details around him, but he could see a rainbow colored pegasus in front of him with the iconic voice he heard at the beginning of class. "I just want to say, Rainbow Dash. Um. Professor Rainbow Dash. It's an honor to learn from you. You're the best pegasus in Equestria." Remington blushed, less in a romantic way and more in a nerdy fangasm way.

 

Remington turned to the pinkish blob next to him. "I guess we'll just follow the class outside. I should be fine for the rest of the day, just don't give me any instructions written on a small piece of paper."

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                         

 

 

Remmy's glasses were broken and that was a tragedy. Remmy's glasses were broken and that was pretty awesome.
Both things were true at the same time.
It was rather awful that he couldn't see. A bad time for Remington, yeah, sure. She'd never had anything but the best eyes herself but she imagined it was pretty bad to not be able to see perfectly. On the other hand he certainly looked better without the. A lot better. The glasses were cute and all but once he removed them, or they were removed from him, he became pretty handsome. He always had a certain charm about him and he had grown into it over the years and his eyes had a certain quality that was hard for her to put down just right. All she knew is that he was bangin' without them.

 

As she wallowed in these thoughts, and she beat back some weird feelings that came up when he spoke with Rainbow Dash, they were ordered to go ahead and move on outside. Ahh, time for the role reversal! She was a little worried about taking directions from a colt who couldn't see but who was she to say no to the Professor? She trotted energetically outside, though not too far from Remington. She wasn't sure just how bad his eyesight was- hey, ponies who were totally blind didn't want fine print directions either after all- but she was also sure it didn't matter. Well...maybe it did. Most professors were just looking for teamwork. Professor Wonderbolt was probably keeping mental track of the timing though. Maybe at the end of the semester they'd run this again, and see who had improving friendships.

As they got outside, she started to tie the blindfold on herself, giving him a wink before her eyes vanished behind her constructed veil. "So, like, you aren't gonna have me trot into the pool will you? That'd be totally bogus, and, like, I don't even have a towel," she said as she leaned in to his last known location. "It's all on you, Manehattan."

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Ok, so some students had some bumps and bruises...that wasn't that bad...right? Dash smirked a half smile and brushed it off. She wouldn't get in trouble. She couldn't. She was Professor Dash and her lessons were worth a few bumps and bruises! That was how you got tough right? Tough and um...loyal! Yeah that's it, though loyalty! See, she could do this!

 

The pegasus brushed a hoof over her chest floof, checking it for shine when Remington got all fan boy in front of her. That was something she was all too used to! She flashed him a smile and flew out to the field. 

 

"Yep! You're lucky Remington! You're gonna learn from the best!" She struck a pose over the field before settling to the turf. Rainbow waited for the students to make their way out and then waited for them to switch who had their eyes blind folded. 

 

"Ok! Listen up!" She glanced around. Perfect. What could possibly happen out here? Just grass and dirt. She flew some quick lines in various directions, tossing chalk down from a bag she'd found a sports coach must have left behind. "Ok, you just need to lead your partner down the chalk lines. Once you get to the end, taa daa! You're done!"

 

There. Easy peasy. What could possibly go wrong? She was the best professor ever!

[Hippo]

 

Remington chuckled shyly. "Hehe, no. I don't think there are any pools out here anyway." Remington walked outside with the rest of the class, his eyes adjusting to the blurry brightness of the sunshine. He peered across the field they were walking towards once he could see the mostly green terrain. "There aren't any pools out here, are there?"

Moonlight thought about it. She knew there was a pool somewhere out there, since they needed to train the swim team and whatnot. But was there one nearby? She wasn't sure. She tapped her hoof to her chin, almost missing and hitting her snout. Not seeing was a bitch, wasn't it? "I don't think there are. But, like, if there are, don't lead me to one. I don't have a towel and drying off in the sun is, uggh, so super grody like you wouldn't believe. I'd be totally itchy all over."

 

Remington walked down the path to meet with the rest of the class next to what the professor deemed the starting line. Every moment that passed this began to look more like a race to the fast pegasus. Figures. "Alright, Moonlight, we're over here." Remington looked back and saw the disfigured Moonlight-shaped object far behind him. "Oh, that's right. You can't see." He started walking back briskly to where Moonlight was, tripped on a misstep of his hoof and quickly recovered. Next to Moonlight he started telling her where the path was. "Ok, the path is beneath you. It's beneath you. It's still beneath you. Turn left, I mean right, my right. Oh you can't see me, just go straight, there's nothing in front of you." Remington began to realize how helpless he might be at this.

 

Remington was walking a little bit faster than Moonlight was. Easy to see why- well, see was the inappropriate word. Easy to understand why. Because he could see, see? That and she would never claim to be the fastest pony anyway. As she meandered listlessly though there was a moment of concern, her ears twitching at the sound of a pony...perhaps falling? Huh. Whoever tripped better not be the leader of the group. That could cause trouble! His voice chimed in with exact instructions. It would be easy to get annoyed at them but she had been working with a rather demanding fashion mare and her equally demanding fashion show compatriots on shows across the land. Reacting to a colt's hurried, harried instructions wasn't something to tickle her tail hairs any. She followed his instructions, flaws included, but could hear the trepidation creeping in his voice. "You're doing so good. Just relax, Manehattan."

 

Remington exhaled. Everything was cool. Moonlight was cool. He was not cool for some reason. Or maybe he was just worried something bad was going to happen. It was possible the only reason why he felt this anxious about anything was because he was constantly worried about how long he might be without a fixed pair of glasses. Having his vision impaired flustered Remington, and all times, it had to be now, when he was giving directions to a potential friend who seemed to like what he was about, whatever that was. "Only a few more steps and...  Stop! We made it. Well, we made it to the start line, keep your blindfold on."

 

She reacted on point, stopping at what she could only assume was the right position. Out of habit she stuck out her chest and stood with a straight stern back, as if she were about to spin in place and walk up and down the aisle. Fashion models were second behind only the Royal Guard when it came to parade-ground formation trotting, or so she had been told. "Ready when you are. Or when the Professor is. Or really whenever."

 

When the professor gave the signal, Remington turned and faced Moonlight. "Alright we got this. Hey, wait don't move yet. What are you doing? I didn't say to walk forward yet." When a stallion was close enough for Remington to notice he wasn't even talking to Moonlight, he shook his head and looked at the lone mare standing by herself. "Oh. Moonlight, go ahead and walk forward at a normal pace. Turn left in about six steps. Or seven. Six and a half, maybe."

 

She waited and when it was time to go she excitedly waited for his instructions. That excitement became confusion which was expertly hidden in her eyes, away from the prying judgments of her compatriot, when he then told her not to move. What was that all about? She was having doubts now. Was his eyesight gonna lead him to trouble? Her to trouble? As these thoughts flew about her head, he started giving her orders. And she did her best to follow them, even including a half-step- which she did with a short hop, her tail rolling up and down like a wave in the ocean as she did so.

 

Moonlight did a great job following his instructions. Except she had deviated from the line by about two steps. Was that too far? "Great, now just sidestep to the left a couple steps." Remington turned to look ahead of the pair. All the other ponies were ahead of them including some of the ones that seemed to cripple themselves to the finish of the last obstacle course. At least this one seemed filled with nothing but green grass. The white chalk line the professor had drawn started to fade already having been trampled by the students before them. So he decided to call an audible and try to make do. He walked backward in the direction of the other ponies. "Follow my voice, Moonlight. Turn to your 2 o'clock and keep walking straight. Nothing is in front of you. Except me."

 

Everything was fine in Moonlight's world. Truth was the hop had adjusted her blindfold and if she wanted to cheat it had been loosened enough to do so, but she wasn't going to do that. So she also closed her eyes, to double-lock-blind herself for the time being. She moved with practiced precision and grace, gliding over the grass with great gaiety as she followed the voice in front of her, which was all she needed to hear. It was a calming one too, even as it went up and down and seemed to try and steel itself. He could do it. She had the faith!

 

Remington and Moonlight had been walking in tandem for a few moments. He had constantly been checking behind him--the direction they were walking--to make sure the others where still there and that they were in their wake. The white line seemed to have completely faded and seemed like a misjudgment on the professor's call to even suggest following an arbitrary line in the first place. But then, a stallion walked in the opposite direction of the two. "Oh, stop! Turn right ninety degrees, and then turn ninety degrees again, to the right. I guess turn a hundred and eighty degrees. Not twice though, only once. Just turn around." Remington facehoofed himself and walked to the other side of Moonlight, the direction the other stallion had trotted. He seemed to be in a hurry. Hopefully he knew where he was going. Remington was counting on following others to help him lead his newly found friend.

 

She walked and walked and then found herself suddenly being stopped. She could feel the tail of somepony else graze her...going in the opposite direction. Weird. She then started to follow his directions but this time they were hurried, confused, almost panicked. She turned ninety degrees, then another, then started to do a one-eighty when she was told what the real scoop was. Luckily she hadn't been made a fool of yet and started to walk forward. "Remmy, relax. No need to pull a Sunrise Special out of this," she said with a giggle. Then realized he likely didn't know what that meant. And then was embarrassed, and kept quiet.

 

Only a short moment after they had started walking in their new direction, the same stallion as before and another pony quickly ran in the other direction again. They were going back? "Oh no," Remington thought out loud. "This might be the blind leading the blind." Remington paused on that sentiment and the longer he lingered on it, the more real it became.

 

A pony next to Remington who was purple and seemed to have an orange afro mane suggested to him, "What are you doing on the buckball court?"

 

Remington facehoofed again. "Moonlight, just stand still, I need to get us out of this." Apparently he got lost in an open field and lead himself and blindfolded Moonlight into the practice field during hoofball practice. He flew upwards to get an aerial view and saw instantly they had trotted off course by about forty to fifty steps. He fell down gracefully next to Moonlight. "Alright Moonlight, let's walk forward, turn left to your 10 o'clock and continue walking." Remington was now in Moonlight's right ear, instead of facing her and not looking at where he was going. Though blurry, the distant trees gave him a field of view he could relate to, and he could make it pretty easy. Being this close to Moonlight seemed to give him funny feelings as well.

 

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened and Moonlight was a genius- well, a genius when it came to figuring out when ponies were in over their head. Like Remington was. Though in his case it was more likely blinded by his shattered eye glasses. She nodded when he said he needed to clear it up. That was fine. She was not happy to be on the buckball court (which she could feel the difference in grass underneath her hoof). And she took this time to fix herself a way out of this jam.

 

Eyes open, horn lit, she nudged the blindfold a little lower. Not enough to uncover her eyes, but just enough for her to be able to get a sense of what was around her. He returned then and started giving her orders once again, and she followed now with her added bit of aid. And he ordered her around with his warm breath on her ears, which made her spine tingle and her ear twitch. "Ooooh, getting a little close now ain'tcha?"

 

"Oh, sorry." Remington blushed. "Just wanted to make sure you could hear me. Sorry for yelling earlier, I was just a little, turn right. I was just a little stressed about my glasses. But everything seems fine now. Turn left." Remington seemed to be able to lead Moonlight a lot better this way, along side her instead of leading her like some kind of stray animal. They should have done this from the start. "There's a line of small rocks in front of you, they should be easy to step over or onto. A few more steps and we're done."

 

"It's fine. Like, really. It isn't the first dramatic situation I've been in," she said with a giggle as she followed his directions. It had nothing over a giant worm trying to eat her alive now, did it? It came time for the rocks. She thought they were in the right area and so, in case Rainbow Dash was in the area, closed her eyes and resettled the blindfold before hopping over the rocks.

 

As the two approached the rest of the class, it was obvious they were in last place if this was a race. Good thing it wasn't a race, right? Oh, Luna, was it a race!? "We made it, heh," Remington stated to the others as he and Moonlight joined the group.

 

She walked the last few steps, using her tail to strategically slap him as a sign of gratitude. "Good work there, Remmy. Without your glasses, too! Like, so cool!" She said as she joined the group, turning to face him.

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Alrighty then. It seemed like her idea of a simple little game was really not so easy for the class. Well some of the class. Well, specifically a certain pink filly and maroon colt. Oh well, thankfully everypony finished without too much indecent. As Remington and Moonlight crossed the finish line Rainbow clapped her fore hooves together while she hovered in the air.

 

"Great work everyone!" She glanced around. "You all made it, and thankfully nopony got hurt this time!" That was a success right? Sure! Wow, she was such an awesome professor!

 

"So," Rainbow glanced at the group. "Who can tell me what the exercise has to do with loyalty?" She gave it a moment and then pointed her hoof lazily around, landing on Moonlight and Remington. "How about you two? Learn anything about loyalty?"

[Hippo]

 

Remington smiled at the professor and the rest of the class. The object lesson was definitely interesting, and didn't require a stuffy room with four walls and uncomfortable desks. If every class was like this, he was going to enjoy going to school here. And even if every other session was in a stuffy room, being able to relate and converse every day with this new pink unicorn he was lucky enough to be partnered with would make up the difference, and then some. He was playfully smacked by her tail as she walked around him and looked at him. His vision saw blurs, but his heart could see beauty, and it began pumping double time. "Thanks." Remington said, his face burning rose red.

 

Rainbow Dash appreciated the work her students had done, although maybe she was being easy on her the first day on purpose. Remington figured she might be the kind of teacher that would stress hard work, but in-between difficult lessons be treated with a lecture on how to take it easy. But today, she asked them about loyalty, and no creature was eager enough yet to speak up. And then she hovered on Moonlight and him and asked what they learned. Remington nervously swallowed. "Um, I guess sometimes it's hard to trust someone else, but you have to if you can't rely on your own sense to guide you. And even if you help someone else who trusts you and you initially fail, added loyalty can provide a way for both of you to end up succeeding. Without my partner's loyalty to me, I might not have had the confidence to find our way." Remington rubbed his eyes. "Even blind-folded, she could see what needed to be done more than I could." He chuckled.

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                  

 

Moonlight was not the style of pony who needed an object lesson when it came to loyalty. She'd stuck by friends no matter how deep the cave or how treacherous the angle they pitched. And, like most trust exercises, she had aced this one. Yes she had cheated a little but that wasn't because she didn't trust her blushing friend. It was because he was half-blind. That wasn't an insult, that was just a fact! She'd trust Remington with just about anything. Except leading her while blind, seeing as it lead them to a buckball court! But beyond that, no. She knew for a fact that she could really trust him. That had been a bonus to any Remington interaction from the time of their foalhood and it would remain so for however long they knew one another.

 

Then it came time for her to give her lesson statement after Remington gave his, which was more eloquent than what she had in mind. "Sometimes it can be totally hard to trust somecreature if, like, what they're telling you doesn't always work out. You know, like, if you lead them into a barricade and get your classes broke, or if you're on a buckball court. But, like, loyalty doesn't mean you're perfect, it just means that you're doing your best for your friends. And trust means believing, like, that those around you are doing their best for you, even if you can't always see it," she said positively. It seemed like a good lesson to learn when you were this young, and a perfect way for Rainbow Dash to teach it to boot!

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

RD raised her brows at the two students responded. Honestly their answers were better than anything she had prepared for the class! That was awesome! She was proud of herself for hosting such a great lesson and even more proud of her students for their learning!

 

"Totally agree with both of you!" RD flew slowly around her class, eyeing each of them to see if anypony had anything to add. It seemed like Remington and Moonlight had summed everything up. 

 

"So!" She smiled at everypony. "Looks like all of you have passed my first lesson! Don't worry," She winked "They get much more exciting than this!"

 

Then she smirked and began to fly back towards the classroom. "Two page hoof/claw written summary on this activity due tomorrow at the beginning of class!" She called over her shoulder and giggled at what their responses might be to this homework announcement!

[Hippo]

 

Remington's eyes were impaired, but his hearing was enhanced and relied on the soft vocal expressions Moonlight voiced after he had given his little classroom reflection. This mare's voice was so distinctive, and it was brand new to him, but the way she talked also seemed so familiar. He was attracted to her beauty and her friendliness, but her affection was mostly bridled on her personality and her way of speaking. It was almost as if she still had that innocent and bright attitude that ponies lose when they start to get a little older. He didn't know why or how, but Remington felt nostalgic for Moonlight's encouragement and her affirmation of the things around her, including Remington. Especially Remington. Listening to Moonlight rant with her cute soft voice time traveled Remington forwards and backwards at the same time, splitting his reality in two. She was mesmerizing!

 

Remington followed the rest of the class behind Rainbow Dash as everpony made their way back to the classroom where they began. He started with a simple trot, but once he tripped over a stray rock in the school yard, he picked himself up with his wings and elected to fly the rest of the way. Once they got into the classroom, Remington felt around the desks to make sure he wouldn't step into or onto anything he wasn't supposed to and then found his desk he had picked next to Moonlight's. He could tell hers was on the right because of the residual smell of her flowery perfume coming from it.

 

When Rainbow Dash mentioned everypony would have to write an essay, Remington rolled his eyes and groaned. He looked up at the ceiling in disgust. He knew it was going too well. He let himself have too much fun, and now he had to deal with what he should have expected would come, a homework assignment. But since Remington was living on campus, it wouldn't necessarily be considered homework, would it? "Ugh! I knew it was too good to be true. I really need to get a new pair of specks if I'm going to have to write it with my own wing." Remington was outwardly talking, but he directed his voice towards Moonlight so she could hear him. Anything to keep the young mare talking to him would help keep his mind off the idea of having to do paperwork.

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                                          

Moonlight breathed a huge sigh of relief as Rainbow Dash bought her word flow as much as a mare could. Truth be told, Moonlight had just been taking to fill the silence. She knew what Rainbow liked to hear and what she was trying to do so she just went for it. Her little gambit had worked- score! It wasn't as if what she said wasn't true of course, just that she had an inside advantage and was more than happy to use. She gave a proud smile as Rainbow left and the group started to move, though it started to dry off in time.

 

Looks like her old-new friend needed some help. She was growing increasingly concerned about just how bad his eyesight was if losing them for such a brief period of time he was almost ready to die on some rocks. It was made safe only when he decided to fly the rest of the way but how much safer was that really? There was a lot of things he could run into the sky, like birds, or fast flying pegasi obsessed with tricks. Luckily that last one was a little less likely. After all, they had Rainbow Dash safely corralled on the ground so Remington was a little safer today.

 

In time they made their way back in. She almost helped Remington find his seat but she didn't need to- he used his hooves to feel his way in. Okay, this was concerning. She really needed to get him an appointment with the school about this. He needed his glasses and he needed them two times past due, like, for real. Speaking of other awful things, a two page essay on what they just learned? She joined the chorus of groans and rolled her eyes. "For real, filly? I mean, like, talk about a brutal day one! Can't we have something that is more day one appropriate, uhh, like a multi-choice thing? Literally, like, blaa, gag me with a spoon," she said, sticking her tongue out with a disgusted expression.

She looked over at Remington. "Do you have a doctor in town, or, like, are you going to need a seeing eye pony?"