Three
Chapter 11: Chapter Ten: Physics!
Previous Chapter Next ChapterThe next few weeks went by mostly without incident. Everypony went back to their normal daily lives, the finishing touches were being put on the repairs, and most importantly, we didn’t have anymore major apocalyptic disasters. Yup, everything was back to normal status... everything except for one pony: Omnius. Standing on the school’s rooftop, Principal Shadow Mark had already tasked the busy janitor with another “unique” objective once his last was completed.
There was only one obstacle blocking Omnius’ path... a wall... a structured block of four walls leading to the school’s bell tower. Easy for a pegasi to escalate, right? Well, you see, that was the problem... Omnius was an earth pony without a ladder.
“Dammit, Shadow Mark! Why does the school even need a diving board?!” the blue-jump suited pony mumbled through the plank of wood in his mouth. “And more importantly, why doesn’t the school have any bucking ladders?!” He shouted at the perfectly unscalable, red bricked wall. “Twilight’s lucky enough she has magic to reach the bookshelves!”
Ohohoho, Omnius! Don’t you know that ladders are dangerous to have in possession? Statistics show that having a ladder in the house is more dangerous than a knife. That’s why I have two blades, six throwing knives, one crossbow and a gun... just in case some maniac tries to sneak in a ladder. The words of the principal echoed through the confinements of Omnius’ mind. Do you know how long seven years of bad luck can last? That’s 2555 days.
Sir, that is seven years, all you did was convert it into days Omnius remembered answering his director.
Sounds worse, doesn’t it?
“Right, seven years of bad luck... stupid ladders,” Omnius rolled his eyes, leaning his back against the bricked wall providing both him and the plank at his side with cool shade. “It’d be so much easier if sir was here...” he sighed, staring upward at the bell tower. “Wait... why couldn’t he be here, again?”
Mr. Charge is preparing something big for the entire Physics class for a certain topic, so while he does that, I shall substitute for him! The principal’s words answered once again in the machinations of Omnius’ conscious.
“Riiiight... flashbacks,” Omnius grunted in defeat. “I’m gonna have to get this done one way or another, I guess.”
The atmosphere of the physics class was polluted with sound, a constant uproar with the absent, dreadful teacher that drew breath over their necks. On this extremely rare occasion, there must have been a pretty damn good reason as for why Mr. Charge was either late or absent. It was strange, really, as according to fellow members of staff, Mr. Charge had never in his career missed a day.
Desk beside desk, the two pegasi alike, Ditzy and Vinetion promoted the act of the uproar with continuous small talk. “Mr. Charge is never late, what do you think happened?” Ditzy asked the olive mare, quiet as she sat alone, probably bored out of her skull.
“I don’t know, but I have this weird feeling in my stomach that something strange is going to happen,” Vinetion bemusedly replied, twiddling her hoof in circles on the desk as another supported her by the cheek.
“Aw c’mon, why do you have to be so pessimistic?” Ditzy shared her complaint, smiling, beaming her rays of non-stop joy. “To you, it seems like we can’t ever have a regular, good day.”
“Nope.”
“Ugh, just you wait and see,” the blonde mare waved her hoof, shooing away her negativity. “I can bet you five bits that today will be completely normal.”
SLAM! The classroom’s door was bucked wide open, revealing a certain director of the school, Shadow Mark. “Settle down, class, settle down,” he hushed the class, seemingly busy as he trotted towards the desk with his belongings. Just at sight of the substitute, Ditzy reached a hoof to the floor where her saddlebags gently laid, rummaging in search for her purse.
“Don’t worry, blondie,” Vine halted the mare from her side of the bet. Ditzy was completely shocked at Vinetion’s refusal, responding to this with a smile and an oncoming embrace. “You can pay for my lunch, instead,” Vinetion quickly inserted as her moon of negativity eclipsed Ditzy’s beam of rainbows and sunshine.
“I hate you, so much,” the blonde mare bemusedly replied, focusing her attention at the teacher in front who had begun his introductions.
“Bongiorno, class!” Shadow Mark greeted, picking up a marker as he did so. “For those of you who don’t know, today you shall address me by Prof-”
The principal suddenly paused from writing his name on the whiteboard. Oh crap, does “professor” have one F or two? he thought to himself, stressing over the difficulty of the situation. Merda, they’re all staring at me! C’mon, think! Professor... the stallion continued to contemplate on the mapping of the word. I don’t know! Just do something, hoof! He broke into the submission of another F, quickly scribbling it onto the board beside the first. Two F’s... yeah, that looks right... I think.
At the polar opposite of the class, way at the back and unnoticed by any pony, Grim slowly shook his head in disapproval. Shadow Mark took this to heart, cringing as he made a slow, frightful dash at the base of the letter, transforming it into an E. Grim silently showed his approval of this correction with a nod, allowing the teacher to continue his lesson.
“Right, now that that’s over with, today you shall address me by Professor Shadow Mark as for this once in a lifetime opportunity, I am Mr. Charge’s substitute,” he continued his formalities, centering the class’ attention upon him. “And today, I shall be teaching you physics!” The light blue marker violently squeaked as he wrote the subject’s title below his name, with a neat underline.
“So... physics!” He closed the writing instrument, randomly flinging it onto the desk once its blood oath had been fulfilled. Trotting to another student, Twilight, he repeated that very word. “Physics, ey! Physics!” Shadow Mark continued to exclaim, trotting to each side of the class, his focus on everypony. “Phhhhhyyysics!” his voice trailed off the name of the subject, ending with a slightly more high pitched tone, “Physics!”
“Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics!” the hoodie wearing stallion emphasised as he leaned his back against Charge’s desk, inhaling deeply through his nostrils. “I hope all of you are getting this down.”
Facehoofing in agonizing boredom, Vinetion slammed her head against the desk. “Ditzy,” she called out, muffling words through the wooden surface. “Do you have time for two questions?”
“Sure, what are they?” Ditzy nodded.
“Where the buck is Graze, and why isn’t he suffering with us?” she asked, staring at the empty seat beside her.
“You think Graze knew and didn’t tell us?” Ditzy asked, willing to accept all theories of my absence. “Well, you know, since he is Cloud Chaser’s apprentice and all, do you think he gets special treatment?”
“I am going to kill him if he does,” Vinetion warned, gritting her teeth.
Hidden amongst the fluffy clouds of the sky, and far from anypony’s sight, two pegasi of magister and apprentice faced each other as the elder one began to converse. “Graze, you had me scared for a moment there... when that bubble exploded and I saw your body drop, I swore to Luna that you were dead," Cloud Chaser broke the silence. "I don’t think I could have forgiven myself if I allowed you to die.”
“Don’t worry, Chaser, that was almost a month ago, just forget about it,” I hopefully washed away the worries of the stallion. “It was my fault anyways, I forgot abo-”
“No, it wasn’t!” he disrupted my speech with an exclamation. “You were my wingman, and I was yours, we pegassist each other, we look out for each others backs, that’s how it works! What if you didn’t make it?! Have you even worried about that?” He shouted, taking a stand from his relaxed seat upon his haunches. I chose no to respond. “Every single day since that incident, my mind allowed no rest from what I saw...” he paused, relaxing his body from the immediate surge of distraught.
I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I feared for the answer. “What did you see?”
“...” his mouth opened, but no sound was heard. “You won’t believe the amount of relief I felt when I saw your eyes open, a sign of life. Graze, I honestly hated being in limbo, not knowing whether you’d make it or not."
“And thanks to us, you did! Well, mostly me since I did all the work!” Kill boasted, appearing by the side of my left shoulder.
“Oh shut up, this isn’t the time for bragging rights,” Joy called him out, appearing and in a flash, disappearing with his other half. I simply ignored their little gimmick, continuing my conversation with Chaser.
“But, I’m alive, right? That’s all that matters, case closed,” I said, unworried of the situation, trying to change the sour topic as quickly as possible.
“No, Graze, case reopened. Do you remember that swarm of changelings?”
I nodded. “Oh yeah! We took out like fifty or so, until the big swarm came... but thanks to you and that wicked lightning move, you saved us both!” I reminisced on how the lightning surged through the swarm, electrocuting each grunt of the battalion within its range. “And then, well, an even bigger swarm came.”
“That’s the point, Graze, what if I’m not here to back you up? What if such situation occurs that you have no choice but to fight back, and then, Luna forbid, the worst happened?” I gulped at my teacher’s remark.
“Chaser, what are you getting at?” I questioned his motives.
“What I’m getting at is, I can’t leave you defenseless if something like that happens again. I’m sorry, man, but with what happened, if I wasn't there, I’d be sobbing over your tombstone all now,” he truthfully admitted, killing my spirit in the process.
“Graze,” he called out, staring at me with determined eyes. I returned the stare within the silent pause, the chilling wind blew as it flowed through our manes, taking this moment to stare into the soul of the other through the eyes as our gates. “It’s time I teach you how to perform the Denryū.”