The Beauty and the Nerd 1

The school was the same as always, bustling with the noise of teenagers having light-spirited conversations of who kissed who at the last party, who got drunk and made an ass of himself, and occasionally even the talk of academic success. Twilight Sparkle was not part of this group, however; being entirely focused on her books had left the young mare wanting when it came to friends. Her adoptive mother, Celestia, fussed about it, but there was little to do; Twilight wanted nothing more than to be a successful scientist, and if it meant studying instead of partying, so be it.

The purple unicorn maneuvered her way into the building, flicking her tail angrily as several other ponies swarmed past her, almost knocking her books out of her book sack. After entering the school, Twilight turned and began heading towards her locker. The school year was just beginning, and nopony was happier than Twilight herself. She had always wanted to go to school in Canterlot. She loved Celestia's large library, but her new school library had books from all over the world. She couldn't wait for study hall. She was going to read, read, read. She double-checked her map. Yup, she was going the right way. She just hoped nopony would try to be friends with her. She wanted to study, get high marks, and be the youngest scientist in pony history to win a Peace Prize. Making friends would get in the way of that.

As she passed down the corridor, now on her way to the great library, she saw a beautiful young mare pass her by. Perhaps a year older than herself, the mare was a beautiful white unicorn with a stylish purple mane and a rather proper stance. The purple-maned pony was followed by four or so other mares, all surrounding her while chatting and babbling about one thing or another. The white unicorn smirked, her face brimming with confidence.

A typical high school queen, lording over her little subjects, Twilight thought to herself, shaking her head as she examined the group. She made a note not to get any more involved with the white mare than necessary; she was popular and that meant she could make Twilight's time here very difficult if she was somehow offended. Twilight was the class nerd already; she didn't need to be even more of a pariah. It wasn't that she minded being alone, but she could certainly do without being bullied.

Twilight eventually came upon her locker. Canterlot's main high school was so much bigger than Ponyville's high school that Twilight still needed a map to find her way to her locker, which always irritated her. This time was the best though - only once did she look at the map. At least opening her locker was easy.

"Good morning, Twilight," a soft voice greeted. Twilight glanced to her right to see who had spoken, and instantly smiled. The only pony she could stand (other than teachers) stood beside her. This was Fluttershy, a social loner due to shyness and a lover of nature rather than school activities. Twilight didn't mind her because they rarely spoke - Fluttershy wanted to do her nature sketches while Twilight worried about her studies. Most of their conversations were carbon copies of the previous ones. This morning conversation was no different.
"Morning, Shy," Twilight replied, using the yellow Pegasus' nickname.

No sooner had she spoke to Fluttershy when loud laughter rang out from behind them. Twilight glanced back, visibly wincing as she noticed who was there. It was that "High School Queen" again. However, regardless of who she was, Twilight noticed how the light did catch the white unicorn's purple mane in a lovely glow.

"Who's that mare with the purple mane, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, "She looks like she's…you know…one of the [i]cool[/i] ponies." She put a certain emphasis on "cool", leaving no doubt what she thought of ponies she labeled this way: shallow, pretentious and unambitious.

"Oh, that's Rarity," Fluttershy said quietly, "She's a really nice, really beautiful pony, but she's always busy making new clothes. Everypony goes to her to ask what the best thing to wear is."

"And they actually listen?" The idea that just one pony could decide for a whole school what was hot and what was not when it came to fashion perplexed Twilight to no end.

"Mm-hmm," Fluttershy nodded, "She's a nice pony; she's just a little…impressed with herself."

Given how subtle Fluttershy would always be in the ways of criticism, Twilight took this to mean she was an egomaniacal diva.

Fluttershy waved a hoof in front of Twilight's eyes.

"Oh!" Twilight blinked and snapped out of her trance. She realized she had been staring at Rarity.

"Twi, we need go to class now." Fluttershy pointed in the opposite direction. "Rarity shares Advanced Magical Clothes-Making with us, if you want to talk to her later."

"Talk to her?" Twilight echoed, "No, no, I'm just…I don't remember her."

Fluttershy nodded in understanding. "Well, it's her first day back from Manehattan. Her parents are..." Fluttershy's voice grew so quiet that Twilight was forced to lean forward.

"Could you repeat that, Shy?"

"…divorced." The word seemed to be made of air. Twilight wasn't sure she had heard it.

"I don't understand what the problem is. Lots of ponies are divorced."

Fluttershy shook her head. "Rarity is…oh! We need to get to our classes, Twilight; the second bell is gonna ring any moment now!" Fluttershy hurried off, leaving a confused Twilight in her wake.

The purple unicorn, about to head off to her own class, suddenly realized somepony was watching her. Glancing to the side, she saw Rarity, alone, at the other end of the hall. The two mares locked eyes with each other for a moment, but when the bell rang, both blushed and hurried their separate ways.