So, it turned out that nobles had a very high opinion of chess, and I was the only non-noble in the club. Every other pony in the club was the heir apparent of some noble family or another, and that included Prim—but not Red because that would be a huge faux pas on his part to sign up for chess while Prim was still the heir to their family, even if the future of that was in doubt. It might have been nice to know about this social rule before signing up because now I wasn't just in a club with a bunch of noble kids, but I was also breaking unwritten rules, which earned me additional disdain from them.
I was right about it coming from Earth. It had come over extremely early after contact had been established and had become highly trendy among nobles and the rich. There had been a few minor changes made to the game; primarily, all the pieces had been renamed. The king was Celestia. The queen was now Luna. The bishops were now unicorns. The knights were now pegasi. The rooks were now Twilight Sparkle and Cadence, although they both played the same way. The pawns were all earth ponies because what else would an earth pony be to these nobles? I suppose they must feel we were lucky because the minor tribes like the kirin, night ponies, crystal ponies, obscure and isolated tribes (which, to be fair, were only rumored), not to mention any creature that wasn't a pony, didn't even get representative pieces, which said something about the noble worldview.
Luckily, I didn't have to spend much time with the club during the introduction day, and attending this club wasn't mandatory (though it could look bad if I didn't). Professor Newman introduced everyone since she already knew everyone's names (and likely didn't want to listen to nobles talking about how great they were during introductions) before giving a long speech about the history of chess, the value of learning strategy, and how this can be applied in students' lives. We were told when and where meetings would take place and then dismissed.
As I was leaving, Professor Newman stepped in front of me. “Mister Jones, I would like to have a quick, private word with you if you would.”
I sighed, just wanting to find my friends, but nodded. She then led me out into the hall and bent down beside me. I was shocked to see her give me a sympathetic smile.
“I know that this club is not particularly friendly to people outside the nobility, and I can understand if you are having thoughts about avoiding it. I would not blame you for that, and it is your right to do so, but I want to plead the case for you to attend,” she said.
“Okay,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Despite your desire for a low-stress, low-effort club, I think you could benefit from this club. There is the strategy aspect, which I already explained, and that I think you would take to that well. You are a very bright colt, though your inexperience is quite glaring—given how poorly executed your scheme to attend this school without your parents’ permission. You could benefit greatly with more experience in critical thinking and stratagem, and chess is an excellent game to develop these skills.”
I blinked. “Are you telling me that the biggest issue you had with me lying to get into school was how badly I did it?”
She frowned and shook her head. “Oh, no, I have bigger issues with it—primarily that it was an extremely hurtful thing to do to your parents. Your actual credentials for attending the school were fine, so there was no lie there. It was the betrayal of your family's trust and the poor treatment of them that I was most offended by. Also, I learned you turned to such an action without at least trying to negotiate it with them or write to us for help in convincing them. You should have at least tried to do it the honest way before turning to duplicitous means, but you didn't. These things are what most offended me, in addition to the lie itself. The fact you are bad at lying is just inexperience; I can't be offended by that.”
“Oh,” I said, even more unsure what to say about that.
“Another reason you should attend is to learn how to deal with people you don't particularly like and who don't particularly like you,” she continued. “This is a skill often overlooked and underdeveloped. We just tell people to accept they will be in this situation and tell them to deal with it. It really should get more time in school to develop. I know these nobles will have some friction with you, and you learning how to stay calm and cordial around them will serve you well. The same could be said of them; they need to learn to work with people they think are below them and have some respect. You don't have to like someone to respect them, and I want these nobles to learn that non-nobles aren't inferiors in skill, just as I want you to learn that there may be more to these high-nosed brats than being high-nosed brats. Even when at odds with someone, you should respect their capabilities. Underestimating them is one of the worst mistakes you can make.”
I grunted. “Alright, I'll give it a chance. You seem really into this for someone who didn't want to do it.”
“If I'm going to do something, I'm going to give it my all,” she replied as she stood up. “I hope you have a good rest of your day, and enjoy your weekend.”
As I was returning to the dorms, I bumped into Hannah.
“Hey there, how did AV go?” I asked as I started walking beside her.
“It's alright,” she replied. “That night pony we saw back in gym is the head of it. He says his name is Baxter Stockman, and I can't shake the feeling that I know that name from somewhere.”
I frowned. “Yeah, I think I've heard that name before, but I don't know where. It is definitely an Earth name, but who names their kid Baxter in the twenty-first century? That's an old-timey name, and he didn't look that old.”
Hannah shrugged. “No idea. Anyway, he's kinda cool. He's got lots of electronics from Earth, though most are a bit out of date. He says that he has to have the older stuff because Equestria has no Wi-Fi. He's even got a whole bunch of drones that communicate via radio. He was thrilled when he found out I was from Earth. I think Equestria's lack of technology drives him nuts.”
“If he's from Earth, why's he even here then?” I asked.
She shrugged again. “Don't know. Maybe he just wanted to go and see what's out here. The best part of the day was when Headmaster came to check on us. Baxter Stockman and Headmaster got into a name-calling argument right there in front of us! Everyone else is terrified of Headmaster, but not Baxter Stockman.”
“A name-calling argument?” I asked, confused.
“It started with Baxter saying something rude about Headmaster, then Headmaster said something rude back, then it just escalated to all they were doing was calling each other names, trying to outdo one another. It was hilarious.”
“And Headmaster didn't threaten to fire him for that?” I asked in disbelief. “If I were Baxter, I'd be worried about my job.”
“Headmaster just got exasperated and walked off. He never threatened to fire Baxter, though he did threaten to send Professor Newman to deal with him. That shut Baxter up in a hurry.”
“Professor Newman is kind of scary. She knows things about everyone here. She could probably blackmail him or something.”
She giggled. “You know what they say. Knowledge is power. I guess that goes to show that having magic isn't everything, even at magic school. They probably all know each other outside of school if they are all originally from Earth. How many Earthlings are permanent residents in the city? It makes sense that they get to know one another. It might also be why Baxter can get away with so much.”
“Hey! Wait up!”
Bright came hurrying up to us just as we reached the dorm building.
“Ya guys really missed out by not signin' up for buckball. It was great!” Bright exclaimed as he caught up to us.
I wasn't so sure he was wrong, but I had made my choice, for better or worse. “Oh? What happened?” I asked.
He grinned. “Coach Scootaloo brought in three Wonderbolts to talk to us. They told us all about how they enjoyed playin' buckball when they were younger. She even got Commander Rainbow Dash to show up! Rainbow Dash, Flag Flyer, and Drizzle.”
“Except for Rainbow Dash, never heard of them,” Hannah said. “Still, I’m happy with my choice.”
“Flag Flyer had been a star in the professional buckball league before bein' a Wonderbolt; he'd been third all-time in air blocks before he quit to join the wonderbolts. Drizzle…well, she's still a Wonderbolt, kinda bottom of the barrel, but still a full-fledged Wonderbolt, and that's still better than what most them pegasi that try to be Wonderbolts achieve,” Bright replied.
“You’re an Apple who is from Sweet Apple Acres; don’t you see Rainbow Dash all the time?” I asked.
“Yeah, she parked her cloud house out over the orchards. She and mah aunt Applejack spend a lot of time together. Sometimes ah come across them layin’ out in orchards together, doin’ nothin’.”
“Doing nothing?” Hannah asked.
“That’s wha’ they say,” Bright confirmed. “Just hangin’ out doin’ nothin’ for hours. Sometimes, they even fall asleep out there doin’ nothin’. They say doin’ nothin’ is mighty tirin’.”
“So, why are you excited to see her?” I asked.
“Well, ah got to see her and two other Wonderbolts,” Bright replied. It made no sense to me.
“Sure the poser pegasus loved it,” Hannah said.
Bright shook his head. “He didn’t sign up for buckball. Disappointed a bunch of his classmates.”
“What did he sign up for instead?” I asked.
Bright snickered. “Art. Guy thinks himself the perfect model for it.”
I rolled my eyes. Well, Summer would have to deal with that. That club should be interesting since they were mixing a strong ice student with a strong fire student. Ice and fire typically didn't go together very well.
“Well, he's the son of a pony that can't quite cut it to be a real Wonderbolt, so it sounds like he’s pretty mediocre,” Hannah said. She shook her head. “Sorry, that was mean to say. I just don't like showboaters. It always leads to big promises that they can't deliver on and somebody losing money because of it. My family has been burned a few times by people who talked big and couldn't back what they said up. However, I don't know the guy, so I shouldn't judge.”
“What did everybody else sign up for?” I asked. “I'm unlucky enough to have Prim in chess with me.”
“Just can't shake your rival, huh?” Bright snickered.
“Seems not,” I agreed.
“Onyx and Rocky are in buckball with meh,” Bright informed us.
“I saw Red going to debate, Summer to art, and Twilight went to chorus,” Hannah informed us. “I didn't see Lunar around. Either of you see him?”
Bright and I both shook our heads.
“The guy seems like a real loner type. He might not have signed up for anything. It isn't mandatory,” I said.
We still hadn’t gone inside as Summer came hurrying up, looking excited.
“Hey! I got a date!” Summer exclaimed.
Hannah’s ears went erect. “A date? With who?”
Summer smiled happily. “With that pegasus, Hail Storm!”
I guess fire and ice could go together.