//------------------------------//
// Family Appreciation Day 
// Story: The Secret of Sheldon Clopper. 
// by theanonymousbrony 
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When Family Appreciation Day had finally come, you can just imagine how excited my grandpa was.  By the time we finally got to school, my grandpa was still hopping up and down with anticipation.  But when he found out that other foals' family members will be attending as well, he was then held still by his own disappointment.

I just went to my seat as I started having a conversation with my friends.  "So who did you bring, Sheldon?" asked Rumble.

"My grandpa."

"Oh, I didn't know your grandpa was living with you and your folks."

"He's not."  I erased that sentence.  "He and my grandma are just visiting."

"No kidding! My folks are visiting as well."

"My parents came all the way from San Haytonio just ta see me."  Said Pecan.

"And my dad even cancelled an important meeting just for Family Appreciation Day."  Said Button.

"So what do your dads do?"

"You're about to find out," said Rumble.  "That is if Diamond Tiara's dad doesn't take up most of the time to talk about boring business stuff."

Upon mentioning that name, a scowl had started to appear on my face.  Pecan placed his hoof on my shoulder and said, "Hey, we heard about what Apple Bloom said ta ya; and I just want ta tell ya that there's no shame in bein' upset about it."

"That's not why I'm upset," I erased that sentence.  "I'm upset because those two snobs were behind it!"

"You mean Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?" Button asked.  "What did they do, exactly?"

"While I was being forced to go on a date with Silver Spoon," I erased that statement.  "She told me that she and Diamond purposely planned those challenges just so Apple Bloom could have a reason to hate me."

"Yep, I would've suspected that they chose Apple Bloom for a reason."  Rumble's inner voice was saying.  He then opened his mouth and told me, "Listen Sheldon, as much I hate what those two just did, you really have no choice but to stick with Silver Spoon at this point."

"No I don't!"  I erased that statement.  "In fact, the first chance I get, I'm gonna end it."

"Whoa there," said Rumble, "you can't just dump her just like that."

"Why not?"  I erased that question, "You broke up with Diamond Tiara, so how hard could it be?"

"I broke up with her because I had a reason to."

"And purposely preventing me from ever being with the filly of my dreams isn't a reason to end a forced relationship because...?"

"Look, even if you do end your forced relationship with Silver, it still won't change the fact that Apple Bloom hates you."

"So what?" I erased that statement.  "Having to spend the rest of your life with nopony to love, is much better than spending your life with somepony you don't love."



While I was having this conversation, my grandpa was patiently waiting for Ms. Cheerilee to come in and start everything when he was tapped on the shoulder by a red earth pony with scruffy black hair and a shaggy beard.  "Which one's yers?"

"The one with the chalkboard around his neck is my grandson."

"Why does he need a chalkboard fer?"

"He was born mute; most ponies consider that to be a handicap, but I just think that my grandson's so perfect that he's just too good to be talking."

"I suppose that's one way of puttin' it."  The red earth pony extended his hoof and said, "Name's Haysmen, but everypony just calls me Walnut."

My grandpa shook his hoof and said, "Sheldon Clopper.  My grandson's named after me, you know."

"Oh, he's a junior?"

"No, he's simply the second of his name."

"Exactly, a junior."

Before my grandpa could get into a long lecture, he and Walnut turned their attention to some black pegasus with spiky light blue hair who came flying into the school entrance and shouted, "Yes, still undefeated!  Even after high school, you still can't outrun me!"

They then saw this earth pony with dark brown fur and gelled orange hair came in while panting.  "Only because you have wings."

"Blaming will get you nowhere, Flynn."  The pegasus turned his attention to my grandpa and Walnut.  "Hey there, names Hurricane Smasher.  You both here for Family Appreciation Day?"

"Yep," said Walnut, "me and my wife came all the way from San Haytonio just ta see our two boys."

"What a coincidence! My wife and I came all the way from Cloudsdale to see our boys as well."

My grandpa then asked him, "Pardon me for asking this, but why is it that you're called Hurricane Smasher?"

"Because it just so happens that I'm a member of a weather team that deals with the handling of hurricanes."

Right when the brown earth pony--known as Flynn--was about to introduce himself, he was interrupted by a certain rich pony.  "Well, if it isn't Flynn and Hurricane Smasher.  Never thought I'd run into you two misfits after high school."

Flynn had an annoyed look on his face as he said, "Ah, hello Filthy."

"You know I prefer Rich."

Hurricane then retorted, "Yeah, but Filthy seems to suit you better."

As he was laughing, Filthy Rich started to get irritated.  "I came here for my Diamond, not for you two to insult me!"

"Oh, but you're just so much fun to insult."  Said Flynn.

"Only because I'm richer than you two."

"True, you may have a lot of money, but I got the most beautiful wife a stallion could ask for."

"I still can't understand why Elaina would ever pick a goof like you over somepony like me?"

"Because although you might've been the richest pony in town, Elaina and I have known each other since we were foals.  Besides, she finds sweet, goofy guys like me to be charming."

"Please, you're about as charming as Discord.  When I asked her to the prom, I gave her a diamond necklace and a carriage ride.  All you did was put on a fake mustache and offer her a carton of apple juice."

"What can I say?  I just know my mare.  Besides, you got to marry Spoiled Milk."

Filthy Rich would've laugh it off, if only he wasn't the butt of the joke.  His marriage to his wife was clearly one of business and not at all one of love.  His wife could never be satisfied with anything; and controls him so much that she practically has him tied to a leash.  Had it not been for having a daughter, and all the photographic evidence she most likely has of him cheating on her, the unhappy millionaire would've filed for a divorce already.  Getting fed up with his old rival, Filthy Rich turned to my grandpa and Walnut and said, "So what do you two do for a living?"

"I'm a plumber."  Said Walnut.

"Oh, you fix toilets?"

"Toilets, sinks, pretty much anythin' havin' ta do with pipes."

"And what about you?"

Always eager to talk about himself, my grandpa said, "Well, since you asked, I happen to be a world renown physicist."

"And what's that?"

Before my grandpa could get into anymore detail, Ms. Cheerilee had finally came in and started the presentations.


...


The first to go was Filthy Rich, whose speech was extremely boring.  For minutes he just rambled on about all the ways he made money (the only ponies who weren't bored by this were the two snobs themselves).  After him was Walnut; he mostly talked about plumbing (and after having to listen to Filthy Rich's speech, fixing toilets had suddenly become more interesting at this point).  Next we got to listen to Hurricane talk about handling hurricanes, and Flynn talking about running a game company.

My grandpa wasn't at all pleased to be last, but when his time finally came, he had no reason to complain.  "Hello, I am the grandfather of Sheldon Clopper II."

This caused Diamond Tiara to raise her hoof, but Ms. Cheerilee said, "Diamond, save your questions until Mr. Clopper's done."

And when she laid her hoof down, my grandpa continued his presentation.  "Anyway, I am a physicist, which means that I'm extremely smart.  And seeing as how you're probably still in third grade, I'll try my best to do this presentation in words you can understand."

"Well at least I know where Sheldon gets his smart aleck attitude from." Ms. Cheerilee's inner voice said.

As my grandpa kept talking about his theories, everypony was pretty much as bored as they were with Filthy Rich's speech.  While my grandpa was just rambling on, I took the time to listen to Diamond Tiara's inner voice.  And to my somewhat horror, it was saying, "Clopper?  I thought his last name was Vandelay."

Uh-oh, looks like somepony's getting suspicious.  As much as I was worried that she might be getting closer to finding out my secret, that feeling toned down a bit when I heard Silver Spoon's inner voice say, "So instead of Mrs. Vandelay, I would be Mrs. Clopper...I guess it's like not that bad." Well at least somepony doesn't suspect anything.

Seeing as how my grandpa is still killing time, I decided to listen to Rumble's inner voice.  I was silently chuckling to myself as I heard his inner voice say, "Oh Ms. Cheerilee, even through Sheldon's gramp's boring speech, you still have my attention." 

And for no reason at all, I listened to Apple Bloom's inner voice.  This was all it had to say, "Gees, and I thought Diamond's dad was borin'.  Maybe it's a good thing Sheldon can't talk."

As much as I was offended by that comment, I lost focus on it when Ms. Cheerilee said, "OK, does anypony have any questions?"

Diamond Tiara immediately raised her hoof.  "Do you have a son named Colt Vandelay?"

My grandpa--unwittingly--told her, "No, the only son I have is Jack Clopper (who just happens to be Sheldon Clopper II's father)."

"Really?  Because that's not what Sheldon said."

"Yeah," Silver Spoon added, "He like said that it was Colt Vandelay.  So which is it?"

Right when my grandpa was about to correct her, his inner voice said, "Oh that's right, Sheldon's trying to not draw attention to himself."  And when that finally went through his head, he quickly tried to come up with an excuse.  "That's right, I just remembered.  My son is named Jack Clopper, but in the business world he's known as Colt Vandelay.  He just never likes to go by his real name whenever he's working."  Everything seemed to be going on just smoothly...that is until my grandpa said, "Say, you wouldn't happen to be Silver Spoon, by any chance?"

"Yes."

"So you're the one who forced Sheldon to be your boyfriend."

Everypony had one of those "Say what?!" expressions on their faces after he brought that up.  Silver Spoon said nervously, "I, uh...I don't know what you're like talking about."

And so my grandpa decided to give her the full details, "Well last night, Sheldon had told me, his grandmother, his parents, and his therapist how you forced him into a relationship, how you and your friend plotted to have this one filly that he has a crush to hate him so that way he would have no choice but to stick with you, and how you told him all this during a date that you were also forcing him to attend."

All that information was said so fast that everypony couldn't even bother to have a reaction to all this.  That is until the bell rang and everypony got out of their seats and went with their folks.



Meanwhile, over at the snob fortress, Silver Spoon was pacing back in forth in anger as Diamond Tiara tried to calm her down.  "Now Silver, there's no need to lose our composure."

"Easy for you to say," Silver snapped.  "It's not like you have a boyfriend who doesn't want to have anything to do with you!"

"Who cares what that old pony said? Besides, it's not like he's still interested in Apple Bloom."

"Oh yes he is! He must be if he like had to lie to me about his real name and not give me a good kiss!"

"Come on, how bad could his kiss be?"

"When your special somepony kisses you, it's supposed to feel magical.  His however felt like he was kissing a Changeling!  I bet he wouldn't give that sort of uncomfortable kiss to Apple Bloom!"

"It doesn't matter what he would do with her; she's not even interested in him now."

"She may not be interested in him, but as long as he still has feelings for her, he'll never like have any for me!"

"Then maybe we've been doing a wrong approach; maybe we should try something different."

"Like what?"

"Well, if forcing him to be your boyfriend, force him to go on a date, and forcing him to outshine that Blank Flank so much that she can't stand to be near him isn't enough, then maybe we shouldn't be focusing on Sheldon after all."

"Then like who should we be focusing on?"

Diamond then looked out her window and a devilish grin started to form on her face as she watched Apple Bloom walk by.  "I think I know just the pony."