Chapter 2.

Ironheart went straight to his locker when he reached Mulewaukee High. He stared at the large clock in the middle of the main entrance for a moment.

‘Good, I have about an hour till first period,’ He thought. He was always an early bird, getting to his destination well before he needed to be. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like his house or he had anything to do here this early, he just hated being late or cutting it close to being late.

The combination locks hadn’t changed since the summer, and he was lucky enough to remember his combination and open the lock on his first try. He looked at the empty locker, and then proceeded to throw his books in there lazily in no particular order or fashion.

“Same old, same old,” he said to himself, one of the perks of being early was the lack of peers to judge you on everything you say or do. “Now let’s take a look at my schedule again…”

Name: Ironheart

Cutie Mark: ???

Locker Number: 2437

Hour 1: Calculus--Mr. Addams  

Hour 2 :Band--Mr. Keystrike

Hour 3: Physics--Mrs. Addams

Hour 4: Study Hall--Mr. Haydens

Hour 5: Advanced Language--Mrs. Pollsen

Hour 6: Government Studies--Mr. Shuster

Hour 7: Foreign Studies--Mr. Geralds

“OK, so I have Calc first, huh. Well, might as well find the room.”

‘I’ve never had Mr. Addams for a teacher, otherwise the rest of them know me; I hope he’s better than his sister. It’ll be hard, that’s for sure. I could barely made it through pre-calc last year, could only stay awake cuz Mrs. Sequens was good looking.’

Ironheart was very intelligent, and caught on very quickly with most of the material. In fact, math and science were his strongest subjects; but he was lazy and never wanted to do the work, just learn the material. He did his homework and did well on tests, but fell asleep when the lesson was simple or boring. This wasn’t exclusive to math, and it was one of his biggest downfalls as a scholar. He thought that maybe this was why he didn’t have a cutie mark related to school. It didn’t take him long to find the classroom, and his teacher, Mr. Addams was there.

“Why, hello there! You must be Ironheart!” The deep blue unicorn said enthusiastically.

“Uh… yea, I am,” He replied cautiously. He wasn’t expecting a warm welcome so early, or from a pony with such a sad shade of blue for a coat.

“I knew it must be you, becau-

“Because I’m still a blank flank!?” Ironheart jumped in, he was not about to be demeaned on the first day before class even started.

“Ummm… no. I heard from my sister that you always arrived here early; so I assumed it’s you,” Mr. Addams replied calmly. Ironheart immediately felt bad about his defensive response.

“Oh… I’m sorry sir. I’ll just find a seat.” ‘Great, there goes my first impression…’ he thought as he picked a desk on the other side of the room. He was still in front, as to help prevent dozing off during a lesson, but was also furthest away from the teacher’s desk. ’This is gonna be a long day…’

He sat their silently for half an hour, Mr. Addams gave him some space and didn’t talk, but the situation was leaking awkwardness. Finally, some other students walked in, all of which Ironheart has known since his first year. However, there were a few individuals whom his thoughts dwelled upon more so than the rest.

There was Joy, his step-sister, whose mother married Ironheart’s father. She was intelligent enough to be in many of the same classes as him, but she often struggled with her work. She was quite popular, but also infamously known for her sharp tongue at inappropriate times. Ironheart loved her like a true sister though, and often just referred to her as such. Because of this, some have asked how she could be a red Pegasus and he just an Earth pony. Of course, their question was easily answered when they explained how Joy’s mother married Ironheart’s father several years prior.

Joy was speaking with some other Pegasi, including Hope. She and Ironheart were good friends since they were young ponies. While they rarely talked outside of school, they enjoyed each other’s company once in a while during class and just talked about random things while the teacher was away. She was quite an athlete, but very nice to everyone she met. Ironheart was content with the relationship they had, but never thought of it as anything more, and didn’t want to.

Ironheart’s zoning out was interrupted by the sound of the bell. Class was about to begin, though he thought nothing of it. ‘Just gonna be an overview for the year. No way are we gonna get homework on the first day’ he thought.

“Good morning class, while I’ve had some of you before, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Addams, and I will be your calculus teacher for the year. I’d like each of you to take one of these syllabi that will outline the course. I expect it signed and returned by the end of the week. Now please take out your books, we are going to begin our lessons right away.”

‘Wait, what!? It’s the first day! Cmon, why can we have a little break before we get into this?’ Ironheart pondered. He was caught off guard by this statement, but wasn’t unprepared. It was just basic review of things that they covered in math several years ago.

‘No biggy. Besides, I’m not worried about what happens in school. It’s what’s after that final bell that I’m anxious about.’