‘Four years. Four years of hard work and accomplishments. One could not understand how much I worked myself to reach this point. This is it. This is where I will become acknowledged. They were right. I can do this!’

Tony smiled as he approached the class room. He was quite something eccentric, being the only earth pony in the M.I.T. The Institute was mostly ‘populated’ by unicorns. Some pegasi were around as well, but in comparison with the unicorn numbers, they were like the needle in the hay. The large lobby was dazzling with students, each talking excitedly about the new year. But almost everyone took a quick glance at him. It was very rare for an earth pony to reach the doors of the Institute. One similar case was that of the now renowned Doctor Whooves, which resided in Ponyville.

‘I really wonder what is he doing there anyway, with his intellect. What a waste…’

The bell rang loudly, announcing everypony to head to their class rooms. Tony trotted around the lobby, searching for his class room.

‘291… 291… where is that class?! Ah here it is. I hope I’m not tardy on my first day’ he muttered to himself. To his relief, the professor had yet to enter the class room. Only a few spots were unoccupied. Walking between the rows, he found a spot close enough to the desk, and at equal distance from any other pony. He did not want to make friends, yet. ‘So many unicorns, I think I can see a few pegasi, but no earth ponies. I might be all alone in here.’

The class rose as the professor entered the class room and placed his books on the desk. Turning to see the class, he shot a glance, from left to right, to inspect his new class. Scanning the crowd, his eyes rested upon the only earth pony present. ‘Hmm, another one? Reminds me of Whooves…’

“Good morning, class! I am professor Michail Hoofinten. You will study physics this year with me, and as such I have a few rules that you must follow if you want the class to be pleasant. One, nopony is to say anything without raising their hooves; two, class assignments must be done on time, tardy ponies will not be forgiven.” At this, he received a few groans. “And third, I want everypony to be quiet during class and to participate in the lesson, either by answering questions, or posing questions, the choice is yours. Have I made myself understood?”

“Yes, sir” said the class in unison.

“Alright, I want you to introduce yourselves and tell me the exact reason you came here. Let’s start from the left, shall we?”

The class started introducing themselves one by one. Nothing special was happening, just the plain, old and boring introductions. Until...

“My name is Alexa Sundancer and I came to MIT to further develop medical technologies.”

Tony’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of her name. ‘It can’t be!’ Stealing a quick glance toward the source of the introduction, his gaze rested upon the most beautiful Pegasus he had ever seen, his old marefriend… Sundancer. ‘It IS her!’

“Interesting, Sundancer. Sit down please. Next.”

A few more minutes passed until it was his turn to introduce himself.

“My name is Tony Redmane, and I came to MIT to study robotics and to study nuclear physics.”

“Very well, sit down please. Next.”

The introductions continued for another 3 minutes. During that time, Tony shot a few glances toward Sundancer. Apparently she either did not hear him, or did not remember him. ‘I gotta talk to her after class. I want to know what happened, where did she go.’

“Alright class, let’s start on today’s assignment, shall we?” the professor then turned toward the board and started the lesson.

---

The bell rang.

Two hours of complex math. Most students looked like they had been hit with a sack of bricks. But not Tony. He was rather bored that he finished his class work before everypony else and even started on the next lesson, ahead of his teacher. ‘Are these guys serious? That was so easy…’

Walking to the mess hall, he saw Sundancer accompanied by 2 other pegasi, one was a mare and the other was… a stallion. The way they walked together. ‘It can’t be… No, this is merely a misunderstanding. I better go talk to her… but not when he is around… ‘ he growled.

“Mister Redmane?”

He turned around to see the face of his professor, Michail Hoofinten. “Hello sir. Is there anything I can help you with?” he shifted slightly, nervous that he might have done something wrong.

“No, I just wanted to congratulate you. I took a peek through all the students’ notebooks, and eventually I ended up at yours. I must say I am impressed.” He rested his left forearm on his shoulder. “I can’t wait to have you in the workshop.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The professor smiled and trotted away, leaving him with his thoughts.

‘Phew, I thought I screwed up.’ He sighed. ‘Better go eat something.’

Entering the mess hall, his mouth fell agape when he saw the large number of ponies gathered. Yet one stood out in the crowd. His love, in the company of the same stallion, but without the other mare. He tried to ignore it. Placing himself in the queue, he waited patiently for his turn at the cafeteria. However, he could not shake off this dreadful feeling, this pain. It was so similar, but where? Where did he felt such a tremendous pain in the past? Turning his head around slightly to see her again, he gasped silently as he saw her locked in a kiss with that stallion. He remembered. This pain. ‘Jake…’

“Next” said the mare at the cafeteria, expectantly.

“I’ll have a large coffee and a hay sandwich, please.”

“That will be 25 bits, please.”

Placing the bits on the counter, he picked his tray and headed for a table where there were 3 empty spots. He took the spot furthermost from the other ponies. However, he could still hear some hushed whispers from those around him.

“An earth pony, what is he doing here, did he get lost or something?”

Glancing left and right, he could see many eyes were upon him, like he was some sort of a freak. He decided to ignore it, until a yellow unicorn mare with navy blue mane sat in front of him and asked him loudly.

“Hey sweetie, I think you entered the wrong school, the Agronomy University is in the other part of the town.”

He stopped drinking his coffee and stared her right in the eyes. “I think you are mistaking the school with a strip club, from where you came from.”

The mare was stunned. Only then did he realize that he was the only one talking at the moment, every other discussion ended and everypony was staring at him. ‘What the buck are they looking at…’

The mare, released from her trance, huffed then went away. In her place now came a male unicorn, who had a beard and a slightly crazy hairstyle.

“You shouldn’t have done that” he said in a calm tone.

“Do what?”

“Y’know, insulting that bitch. Let me give you a piece of advice. Leave the school while you can. Things will get ugly. Not everypony here has a brain, there are some losers who have a high tendency towards violence. Just sayin’.” With that, the unicorn pony left the mess hall. Three unicorns were glaring at him from the other side of the mess hall. That mare was present there aswell, talking to a rather bulky red unicorn stallion.

‘Leave school, for HIM? Hay no.’

The bell rang again, signaling the beginning of the second class session.

Everypony started trotting to their respective class rooms, with Tony following behind them. On his way out of the mess hall, his path was blocked by the same Pegasus that kissed his love. Looking behind he found the red unicorn along with his friends standing in a semi circle around him. Looking back at the Pegasus in front of him, he could see the form of Sundancer, staying behind him, not caring what was going to happen.

“Quite a bad mouth you have there, Redmane. You think you can start throwing insults left and right just because you are the teacher’s favorite? Well, let me tell you something. Continue being a loud mouth, I’d like to see you talk without your teeth!” The Pegasus snored loudly in front of him, then trotted away in the company of his lover.

“I wouldn’t mess with Spectrum if I were you” said the red unicorn behind him.

“Or what? He’s going to tell the teacher on me?” Tony said in an uncaring tone.

The red unicorn laughed heartily. “You won’t last a month here with that loud mouth of yours. Enjoy your stay!” he said while passing beside Tony, laughing. The yellow mare beside him whipped her tail to hit him on the rump. He didn’t flinch.

Snapping out of the situation, he remembered he was late to class. He galloped to the class room and entered quietly, taking the nearest empty seat.

---

It was 18:00 hours when he finally escaped school and started trotting home. ‘First day and I already have enemies? Good job, featherbrain. At least the teachers appreciate my work.’ His lips curled in a smile. ‘I can handle them. I won’t back away from a fight if they want it. After all, I’m an earth pony. Strength is my middle name.’ He was deep in thought as he passed by pedestrians. At the corner of the street, he met none other than Sundancer. He decided to approach her.

"Hey Sundancer." The mare turned to face him and sighed.

"What do you want, what-was-your-name-again?" she said, in a very uncaring tone. He bit his lower lip.

"Don't you remember me? It's me, Tony. You're the one that helped me a few years ago after I got a beating from an angry crowd of ponies, remember?" he asked, pleadingly.

"Of course I remember. So, what's with it? You need something or what the buck is your problem?!" she hissed at him.

"Why are you angry with me? Sundancer, you were my best friend, even more than that, I loved you... what happened, you dissapeared all of a sudden back then."

"I moved out with my parents. Long story short, I don't give a buck on you or what happened back then, now leave before Spectrum arrives and handles you. For your own good" she said to him, turning around and taking flight.

Tony was heart broken. 'What happened to you, Sundancer... this isn't you.' He held back his tears and resumed the walk home.

---

“Mom, dad, I’m home!”

“Hey kiddo, welcome home! Mom’s in the shower, she will be out shortly. How was your first day?”

“Oh, well, nothing much, the teachers appreciate me a lot. I’ve made some enemies though, apparently their attempt to make fun of me backfired and I earned a few threats. Nothing I can’t handle, dad.” He said, puffing his chest.

“That’s my boy! Just be careful, there are some types of ponies in this world that can have some real problems in the head, if you get the idea.”

“Of course, dad, I will be careful.”

“Hey sweetie! I’m glad you’re home! How was your day?” Margaret said with happiness emanating from her like heat from the Sun.

“It went good, I made some friends and I impressed my teachers.” He received a small wink from his dad. They had secretly made a pact not to tell his mother anything bad about his life.

“Glad to hear it! I have some good news aswell!” she squealed. “I went to the doctor today to run some tests, since you know I don’t feel really well in the morning. He told me that the only reason that I was feeling sick is because I am pregnant in four weeks!” she let out another squeal, as he grabbed her husband and her son and pulled them in a tight hug. “I can’t believe my dream is coming true after all these years!”

Tony was stunned. He was going to have a sibling. But will they love him as much as they did so far? He shook the thought out of his mind. They loved him and he knew it. He made them proud.

"I love you, mom... dad."

"We love you too, sweetie."

---

Several weeks into the semester, he was at the top of his class, earning him praise from all of the teachers. They would refer to him as ‘the brother of Whooves’. Even his class mates have accepted him, except for one mare, who didn’t even bother to reply to his salute. It broke his heart knowing that the mare that once helped him and loved him, became a soulless pony. But he had a reason to be happy.

Today, after school, he would go with his parents at the concert of his favorite artists, Marilyn Maneson and D3adHors3. It seemed odd for his parents to accompany him to a concert, but they loved their music a lot and were long time fans of the artists. Sitting in the queue, they each shared their opinions on the newest releases in terms of music.

“Come on sweetie, you know Death Metal is my absolute favorite.” Margaret was literally hopping like a newborn foal expecting candy.

“Calm down Margaret, you’re giving the filly a head ache.” Dillon snickered softly. He was the proud father of a filly, now developing in the womb of his wife.

“Mother has the best tastes in music, we can all agree on that!” Tony said with a large smile on his face. “Oh, look, its our turn!” But before the trio could enter, a hooded figure stepped between the guards and turned to see those waiting in the queue, who were now glaring daggers at the newcomer.

“What the hay do you think you’re doing?!” Said Dillon, being very pissed that somepony just stepped ahead of them. Other ponies joined him.

The hooded figure dropped her hood, revealing the character to be a zebra stallion, which had a red mark on its forehead. He reared up and yelled:

“EQUESTRIA WILL FALL! DEATH TO THE PRINCESSESS! LONG LIVE ZABRAJIN!”

Before anypony could get a hold of him, he revealed all of the explosives attached to him.

“MY LIFE FOR ZABRAJIN!” he cried out before pressing the button on the harness.

A bright light and a thunderous roar echoed throughout the stadium and into the city, along cries of agony and fear. Then silence.

Next Chapter: Chapter 6: Doctor Whooves Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes