April 14th, 1001 Domina Solaria

“I can’t believe you got this much done in six days,” Doug remarks to Twilight outside the newly constructed School of Friendship.

The alicorn excavator returns a bashful, almost sheepish nod, her meekness so unlike the other contractors tasked with transforming the open field north of Ponyville into a school worthy of the Princess of Friendship. She moved the earth, all of it, down to the unyielding crystal below, yet took no more pleasure in the mass levitation than had she been asked to sort her books by the Canterlot Archives Classification System instead of her own. She saw it as a pleasant distraction from the onerous chore of developing a curriculum for the teachers who, despite being her Friends, insist they aren’t cut out for the job.

Just like Twilight insists it isn’t a castle, a replacement for the one Doug buried, yet the gleaming splendor overrules her tepid objections. The two stand outside the moat (because what castle doesn’t have a moat?). Scintillating water gurgles along brooks and down waterfalls and through channels, spreading half a dozen rainbows in every direction. A series of heart-shaped stepping stones automagically raise and lower when anycreature draws near, powered by the same set of pumps that shoots the water from the base of the deep pools back to the earthworks sculpted from all the material Twilight dug out.

“The inside still needs to be furnished,” Twilight explains as they hop from stone to stone. She wants to fly, give him an aerial tour, but also wants to see what impression an earthbound creature would experience. “But I thought that would be better suited to each teacher, to modulate their classrooms to their personal preferences rather than me making assumptions.”

“Makes sense.” Doug reaches the golden entrance doors, tall enough to accommodate Princess Celestia standing on her hind legs and waving her long horn around, or Rainbow Dash if she were to fly above them as they enter. He pushes on the ornate plate; the doors are made to swing in either direction, a great convenience for any non-magic wielder.

Stone busts and oil portraits decorate the interior walls, generic unicorns and wizards and a few of Twilight and her Friends. Marble columns rise up while luxurious carpets span the floors, each inlaid with hearts or wispy swirls or diamond patterns. Despite the beauty it feels empty without any students, silent but for their muffled steps.

Doug can tell Twilight feels anxious about all this, from getting the building set up to the hundreds of applicants to making sure her teaching plans are all finalized. She beams up at him, her smile a touch over-broad, eagerly awaiting and dreading his response in equal parts.

“It looks great,” Doug commends with a casual rub to just behind her ears. He has to pull his hand away lest he get speared during her gleeful happy dance, hooves furrowing the carpets with every bounce.

“Yes yes yes yes yes yes~”

“What did the others say?” Doug asks, carefully watching in case she turns that exuberance on him. Though that’s mostly Pinkie Pie. Or Rainbow Dash. Actually, any of them.

“Oh, I haven’t asked them yet.” Twilight comes to a stop, pensively rubbing at her chin while staring down a hallway. “Though I can’t see them saying anything else. This place looks amazing! I can’t wait to see how they like their classrooms!”

“Err,” Doug stalls as she dips between his legs, bracing against her withers as she takes to the air. She may not be as competent a flyer as Rainbow Dash, and lacks the experience of the elder alicorns, but he’s certainly not going to remind her of that when he’s speeding along faster than he can run and higher than he can jump. He clings to her, arms around her neck and legs clenching her chest.

They zoom outside, climbing high above the walls. The hill behind the outer face hides the true size of the school, concealing kitchens, storage, spare rooms, and laboratories, while student quarters and offices ring the outer walls, classrooms nestled in the middle. Everything is in regal purples, brilliant raspberries, and sapphire blues, much like the colors of her mane. Wood and stone and crystal alike blend seamlessly, with thick plates of teal glass as windows in the many parapets and towers.

“Like what you see?”

Doug almost laughs at the salacious remark, and yet the alicorn is completely focused on giving him the best tour she can. She always flies better when she’s distracted, and the aerial view is quite distracting.

“It’s beautiful.” Against his better judgement, a hand slips to the base of the mane that spills and flows around him. “The school looks nice, too.”

Twilight snorts, an un-princess-like guffaw Rarity would certainly chastise. “Keep it in your sheath, bucko. I can’t get too distracted!” She wheels to the west and the open field between Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville Elementary. Five colorful dots ring a checkered sheet stacked with baskets, Twilight’s fellow Elements enjoying the pleasant morning weather.

“Nice moves, Twi!” Rainbow Dash calls out as the alicorn lands, all of them stomping politely.

Doug dismounts; it’s a maneuver he thought, once arriving at a land of sentient ponies, that he would never need to use. But now that three of the alicorns have given him a ride - and he can see in Dash’s eyes a hint of jealousy, that she’s going to be the next one to take him on her back, foal in her belly or no - he’s quickly getting more comfortable hopping off their left side.

“Thanks, everypony.” Twilight trades nuzzles with each of her herdmates before taking a place at the checkered cloth. Baskets swap back and forth until each has a heaping plate of greens, apples, and sandwiches, with bottles of 5-F! to drink. “I’ve only got a short while before my EEA meeting and there’s nopony I’d rather spend it with than you!”

“Oh, of course.” Fluttershy offers Twilight a happy smile, sharing her love of relaxing under the warm sun - though finds herself able to do it considerably more frequently than the alicorn.

“I hate to say it, AJ.” Rainbow Dash takes a long drag from her bottle, grinning like it’s her stallion’s seed she’s guzzling down. “But those Flim Flam brothers of yours sure know what they’re doing when it comes to making cider.”

“Don’t lie,” Applejack chides. “Ya love anythin’ that gets ya more cider.” She elbows the pegasus, friendly-like, ignoring how the unicorn swindlers are technically Rarity’s brothers.

“Okay, you got me there,” Rainbow Dash admits with a sheepish smile.

“‘Sides.” Applejack lifts her bottle; it’s the only one with SAA stamped on the front. “It’s ‘Bo ya should be thankin’. He’s the one ‘keeps firin’ it up. Ah’m just glad we got ‘nough apples sorted ‘such we don’t need’ta worry ‘bout that crazy contraption suckin’ him in again.”

“Hey, whatever it takes to get me my cider.” Rainbow Dash winks, taking another long sip. As long as they drink it soon enough, the ‘fermented’ part of Flim Flam Fields Fermented Fruit doesn’t apply, but it’ll be Tartarus once winter comes and they don’t have any more fresh apples to feed to the cranky machine.

“How about you, Rarity?” Twilight asks between hearty bites. “How are things at the shop?”

“Quiet after hours without Sweetie Belle and the rest coming around.” Rarity sighs, giving Ponyville a forlorn look. “Extra ponies browsing through my wares doesn’t quite make up for it. I’m swamped just keeping my bins stocked! Are there really going to be that many new students?”

“I think a lot of them are friends and family, helping their fillies settle in. Or they will be.” Twilight takes a deep breath, hopeful to her herdmates’ response. “Before my big meeting with the EEA, and opening the dorms to the masses, did any of you want help preparing your classrooms?”

“Wait,” Pinkie Pie interrupts, face scrunching up quizzically, one eye focusing on Twilight while the other zeroes in on the far-off school. “Our classrooms?”

The others share her bewilderment, much to Twilight’s dismay. “Doug,” she starts slowly, her smile twitching in a troubling manner. She can barely talk through her clenched teeth. “Didn’t you say you talked to them about this?”

“I did,” Doug explains, the other ponies nodding in agreement that, yes, their stallion had mentioned something of the sort. “But I also told you their answers.”

Twilight’s muzzle turns to a hard line. “And I told you that wasn’t good enough.”

“Look, Twi,” Rainbow Dash butts in, coming to her wavering stallion’s rescue. “It’s not that we don’t love you, or think that what you’re going to do is going to fail. I mean, when have you ever failed at something you put your mind to?” She lists off on her hooves, “You defeated Nightmare Moon and rescued Princess Luna, you beat King Sombra and rescued the Crystal Ponies, and you convinced everycreature to not go to war with Equestria and learn Friendship instead. It’s like you rescued all of us!”

“And yet,” Twilight counters, staring down her cerulean Friend, “it sounds like you want me to fail now, in convincing you all to be teachers at this oh-so-important school.”

Rainbow Dash huffs, her ears folding down at the admonishment.

Applejack interjects, “It ain’t that, Twilight. Ya know we’d be there for ya if’n ya needed somethin’. Ah mean, look at me; how many times have y’all helped out on the farm? Shoot, just last week we were makin’ cider for the town. But that’s a one time thing.” Her head dips down, chagrinned. “Well, okay, maybe more’n once. But we ain’t askin’ ya to sign on for life, not like we did that’n.”

“Oh?” Doug grins as Twilight follows Applejack’s hoof, ending at himself. “Is that what I signed up for all those years ago?”

Applejack blows him a kiss as she rubs her pregnant belly. “Haven’t heard ya complain ‘bout the pay yet!” Doug blows her a kiss back as she turns to Twilight. “But this here teachin’ gigs’ a big commitment. Ah don’t know if the farm’ll be able to spare the hooves, ‘specially with ‘Baum’n ‘Bloom gone. An’ with another on the way?”

“All the more important that we get it up and running now,” Twilight counters forcefully, “before we have half a dozen hungry mouths to look after.”

“But this is more than just feeding a foal, darling,” Rarity tries. Applejack and Rainbow Dash nod along feverishly. “I already told you how much work is picking up here, and if I’m to have any hope of starting outlets in Canterlot, to say nothing of Manehattan? Why, somepony bought the dress I would have worn to teach, I’m so short of garments!”

“It’s not that I’d really mind being called Professor Egghead or anything,” Rainbow Dash fibs, hoping that Applejack won’t call her out. To her relief, the only change is a slight dip from the orange muzzle. “I’d put up with it. But I’m already super busy making sure everymare gets their weather assignments done! Plus, I gotta keep in shape, and that means more than being some gym teacher.”

“And ya know what it’s like on the farm,” Applejack laments, kicking at the grass in front of her. “Ah could spare half a day or two a week, tops, but Ah can’t be no Miss Cheerilee an’ watch ‘em from dawn till dusk.”

Twilight can’t believe it. She expected excuses, sure, but not adamant refusals from each. She already got a commitment from Doug to substitute teach, but to expect him to give up what he loves, in order to help around the school… No, she wouldn’t do that, not to him, not to any of her Friends. And neither will she guilt them into helping out, much as she feels she needs them.

“Hey,” Doug consoles, wrapping an arm around her withers. It helps, barely, a single gust of wind on a hot summer’s day. “We’ll still be there for you. Anytime you need help, just say the word.”

It’s almost like he can read her mind. “Thanks,” Twilight whispers, burying her head against his chest. Hoofsteps precede her Friends tackling them, nearly bowling them over as they join.

“S-sorry,” Rainbow Dash sobs, her wing wiping a tear away. “Open Skies and Clear Skies, they’re ready to take over when I leave, it’s just…”

“It’s okay,” Twilight comforts. She knows Rainbow Dash still hopes, desperately at times, for that coveted Wonderbolt position. And it would be quite the feat to make the commute from the Academy just to teach a class. Even if it is a class she knows the headstrong pegasus perfectly embodies.

She holds out hope for the last of her Friends. One of them has been uncharacteristically quiet. “And you, Pinkie Pie?” She leaves out asking what her excuse would be.

Pinkie Pie holds up a thick stack of papers, bound in blue. Her frown can be seen even with the book in the way. “I read through these guidelines.” She peeks over the top at Twilight, eyes narrowed. “Am I correct, that there are to be no confetti cannons?”

Twilight sighs. “Pinkie Pie, you have to understand. The EEA guidelines are very clear on how things are run.”

A pink hoof raises up, despite both of Pinkie Pie’s hooves continuing to hold onto the book. Nestled in her frog is the tiniest, cutest cannon imaginable. “Not even a teeny cannon?”

A high-pitched boom echoes as the tiny cannon fires, spewing tiny confetti all over the book.

Twilight sighs; this might be the make-or-break at getting one of her Friends to join her. “I’ll see about getting your classes defined as military studies.”

Pinkie Pie’s grin spreads from ear to ear. “I’ll go polish off Big Bertha now, and empty out all the dragon!”

“That’s-” Twilight starts, only for a pink blur to disappear towards Ponyville. “-Not necessary.” Twilight sighs, and turns to Fluttershy. She offers what she hopes isn’t too much of an exhausted smile. “Fluttershy, I know you’re very busy with your animals, but it would be a great help if-”

“Oh, I’ll do it.” Fluttershy wriggles out of the hug to stand up straight. She nearly looks the part, too. “Um, hello there. I’m your teacher. I hope you enjoy class. But if you don’t enjoy it, that’s okay, too.”

“Couldn’t find an excuse?” Rainbow Dash teases, the only one in the group (besides Doug) who attempts such jests with the sensitive pegasus. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to mind, beaming all the brighter, much to Doug’s encouragement.

“I’m just glad half of the teachers will be me or my best Friends,” Twilight chides. Rainbow’s ears fold against her head as she sinks down. “But what am I going to do about the other half?”

Next Chapter: Ch. 95 - Grand Spectrum, Part Two Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 55 Minutes