Cantorlot can be a scary place for a little pony all on their own, especially when a unicorn that seems to not have much potential at magic is transferred to Celestia's School for gifted Unicorns. This unicorn is Acid Flask. He stands at the front of the class of 20 ponies in a chemist class.
Acid is a small unicorn, even at his young age. He is red with blue zebra stripes and a bent horn that can barely do magic. His hair is a mess, his bangs slightly covering his eyes. The red and blue strands of hair look like a firework went off in his hair.
"Class, this is our new student Acid Flask," The mare standing next to him says loud enough that the other classe next door probably heard it. The mare is dark blue with red eyes and a dark blue mane that is put back into a ponytail. The class was so quiet after the announcement you could hear a pony shift uncomfortably.
One colt in the front who was half asleep noticed Acid's bent horn. He whispers to his seat partner how chuckled at something the colt said. He then whispered to the mare behind her which then started to spread as Acid walked through the rows of desks.
"I wonder if he can even do magic?" One mare wispears to her seat partner. The wispears started to pound on Acid's Skull, making the walk all that more painful. The students seem to get bigger as Acid lowers his head to hide himself. The walls feel like they are closing in as the walk seems to go on for hours. Finally the pot boiled over and a kid in the back yelled out as he stood up and pointed at Acid.
"Why is he here if he can't do magic!" The class erupts with laughter. The laughs pound into Acid like a migraine as he shrinks into himself, wanting to leave.
"Butter Cup! Sit down and be nice to your new classmate!" The teacher yelled at him. The class went silent except for a few chuckles at the stallion's name. Acid sighs in relief that the teacher had intervened.
"Hay, over here," a mare whispers while motioning to Acid. He looks over to see a unicorn mare. Her fur is a light yellow with red mane and tail that had a purple stripe going through it. She wears glasses which were taped together at the nose. She smiled kindly at Acid as she pats the chair next to her.
"Thanks," Acid says, his voice cracking while trying to talk. He walks over to her and sits down and places his saddle bag on the ground as the teacher starts the lesson.
"M-my name is-s Moondancer," She shudders out, reaching out a hoof. Acid bumps it with his hoof and the two shake.
"I'm Acid Flask," Acid replies as the two turn back to the teacher.
(Time skip)
Acid and Moondancer are dressed in a white lab coat and goggles. Acid is trying to get a cap off of his syringe with his mouth as Moondancer lets water out of her syringe. She watches as a little white lid with powder floats down to the bottom as the water drains. She sucks up some liquid he puts the cap on the syringe
She starts shaking it with her magic as she looks over to Acid to see him struggling even getting the syringe open. Acid looks over at her with his mouth still on the cap and looks at her chekely as his face turns even more red then it already was.
"Need help?" Moondancer asks, raising a hoof up so he could pass the syringe over. He hands over the syringe with a pouty face which Moondancer chuckles at. She then effortlessly takes the cap off with her magic and hands it back.
"Thanks," Acid says, taking the syringe and filling it with water. Moondancer stops shaking the syringe and takes off the cap and sucks up some water into the syringe. She recaps the syringe and shakes. Acid caps his and starts shaking it up. The liquid inside turns yellow as the syringe plunger starts to be pushed out. His shaking causes his entire body to shake from the force.
Acid stops and quickly tries to take the cap off but to no avail. He grunts as he twists and pulls with all his might. The plunger slowly pushed out, threatening to pop off. This causes Acid's heart to race as he tries to frantically pull the cap off. The plunger is about to pop off when Acid finally twists it off. His pulling caused his head to run into the back of the chair.
"Ow.." Acid says, rubbing the back of his head as he places the syringe down on the table. Moondancer chuckles as the teacher walks over.
"You ok Acid?" The teacher asks kindly as she rubs his back.
"Ya, I think I'll be ok," Acid replies, looking up at the teacher with a smile. The teacher smiles and walks away.
"Need any help?" Moondancer asks, putting her syringe down on the table.
"No, I think I got this," Acid says as he slowly pushes the plunger down. This causes the liquid inside to be pushed out and into the little cup sitting in front of him. He then moves over to a cup of water and sucks up a little with his syringe. He caps the syringe and starts shaking it again. This time without causing his entire body to shake. He takes the cap off with a little bit more ease than last time. He then pushes the water back into the cup and places the syringe on the table with a big smile.
"Good work Acid, but you created ethanol and not Hydrogen," Moon dancer says nonchalantly, looking at the yellow liquid in the cup. Acid looks over at Moondancer with his best attempt at a questioning look.
"What?" Acid asks.
"You used aluminum," Moondacner says causley pointing at the little vial of powder ment for making ethanol. "You need to pay attention." She says as Acid hoof palms himself.
"Dang it," Acid says as the teacher walks to the front of the room.
"Class is almost over, finish up and clean up your table," She says as the room erupts into talk as ponies put away their equipment. Acid slowly moves to put away his coat and goggles. His head hung low from both embarrassment of no magic, and using the wrong metail. He grabs the syringe and walks up to the teachers desk and places it with the rest.
"Good work, but next time do what you are supposed to do." She says sweetly as she places the syringe in the small group of ethanol. Acid sadly nodes before the bell rings. The students get even louder as the hallway is flooded with ponies. Acid grabs his bag and quickly walks out of the room before Moondancer stops him.
"Acid! Wait!" She yells, running after him. Acid looks back as Moondancer catches up. "Acid I want to ask you if you would l-like.." She studers and looks down at the floor. Acid turns to her and pats her on the back.
"What is it?"
"Would you like to meet after school later, like 5:00PM?" Moondancer asks. Acid nods yes as Moondancer smiles. The two hug and separate to get to their next class.
(Time Skip)
Acid runs into their house, basically jumping up and down. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" He yells as he puts his saddle bag down as the door closes behind him. His mother, a unicorn mare, walks around the corner from the kitchen. She is red with long red and blue main nicely combed back into a bun. Her cutie mark is an empty flask with fire coming out of the top. She wears a pink apron around her body.
"Hello sweetie, why are you jumping off the walls?" She asks, hugging him. He hugs her back, basically vibrating in her arms. The two separate and Acid starts going off about how his first day went. Glass walks into the kitchen as Acid follows her in. He talks about the good and the bad as his mother keeps cooking dinner. Acid finally calms down and notices his mother cooking an early dinner.
"Mom, why are you cooking dinner? Film's not even home?" Acid asks, walking up to his mother.
"We are going to see the play they have created." His mother says as she strains the spaghetti. Acid's ears flop against his head.
"B-but I have to go see my friend after dinner!" Acid yells in worry.
"You're just going to have to explain to her why you couldn't make it, because we are going to support your brother." His mother says nonchalantly as Acid slightly freaks out.
"What is she going to think if I don't show up!" Acid thinks as he walks quickly to his room.
"Hey there, squirt.." His father says, trailing off as Acid passes him without a word. His father is a zebra with a pretty muscular build with short white and black fur. The patterns on his body look exactly like Acid's. His main is pulled up in a mohawk while his tail is braided together with blue string tying the end off. Acid walks into his and Film's room and closes the door.
"She would think I abandoned her! She's going to hate me!" Acid thinks as he passes back and forth in their room.
"Glass, hunny, do you know what's up with Acid?" His father asks his wife.
"He's upset that he can't go see his friend after dinner," Glass Flask explains as she stirs the sauce.
"It must be stressful for him to be the new student," He replies as the door opens.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Film Wheel yells out from the door. Film looks exactly like Acid, but with light blue fur with blue and light blue in his messy hair. He is also a pegasus. He slides the saddle bag off.
"Hello hot shot!" His father says, walking into the living room.
"Hi Avi!" Film says, hugging him. Avi wraps his arm around Film's body as the two nuzzle into each other.
"I told you not to call me dad," Avi says as the two pull away.
"But Avi means Dad in zebra, right?" Film asks, looking up at Avi. He chuckles and rubs Film's hair. Film tries and fails to push away his dad's hoof.
"Yes, but Ponies don't know that. Other ponies might think that's my name."
"But it is," Film retorts, pointing an accusing hoof at him.
"Yes, it's part of my name. Do you remember the rest?"
"Avichai!" Film yells happily as Avi smiles down at his kid. Glass walks into the living room while taking off the apron.
"Film, go tell Acid it's time to eat." Glass says sweetly. Film nods and runs towards their room. He opens the door and runs up to Acid who is face first in his bed.
"Acid, it's time to.." He is cut off by Acid who glares at him with an angry eyes. His orange eyes burning into his mind. Tears roll down his eyes before he buries his face back into the bed. "Acid, what's wrong?"
"Because of your stuiped play that I have to go to. I will not be able to see my new friend Moondancer. Who was already insecure, now she's going to hate me and I'll be all alone again!" Acid yells, sitting up and flailing his arms in the air dramatically.
"Oh.." Film says, lowering his head. He knew about Acid's problem with getting friends. Film never had that big of a problem, but the unicorns in canterlot grew up thinking they are better, meaning anyone that is different is worse than them.
"I'm sorry, it's not your fault," Acid says, wiping his eyes. He jumps down from the bed as he makes his way to the door. Film stops him by wrapping his arms around Acid's body. Acid freezes in his place in slight shock. He looks back at Film before tears fill his eyes again. He hugs back as he lets out his frustration.
"I know it's not your fault. I don't know why I'm so angry at you," Acid says as Film pats his head while holding him tight to his chest.
"It's ok Acid. It's neither of our faults. I don't know what you are going through, but I'll be here for you."
"Thanks," Acid says, sniffing and whipping the new tears out of his eyes. "I'm.. I'll think it over to see the positives. Like mom always told us."
"Good, now we need to eat, mom made spaghetti," Film says, smiling at Acid, who smiles back at him. The two walk out of their room and to dinner.
(Time Skip)
"Ok, now let me make sure the spell worked," Glass Flask says to the kids before stepping off the balloon and onto the clouds. They landed a few feet away from Cloudsdale's High School. Glass places a hoof gently on the clouds. Her hoof pushes into the cloud, but ends up being supported by the fluffy matter.
"Ok, it worked." Glass says, walking off the balloon more confidently. She turns around and helps Acid and Film off the Bloon. The two start walking as Glass was about to follow them, Avi speaks up as he also follows.
"What, you don't help your own husband?" He says sarcastically and as dramatically as he could. Leaning his head against the top of hers. She chuckles and nuzzles into his head.
"I think you can handle yourself dear," Glass responds. The group walks into the school and pays for the three tickets. The four then walk to the auditorium. Acid and his parents sit down as Film walks up to the stage and into the back. The auditorium is full of chatter and parents seeing their kids off before taking their seats. Acid still has a nagging anger feeling in the back of his head.
"I need to go to the restroom," Acid says, standing up quickly.
"Ok, do you know where the bathrooms are?" Glass asks.
"Ya, Film showed me once," Acid lied as he walked up the aisle and out of the auditorium. He walks into the cafeteria and turns down the side hallway next to the auditorium. He walks up to the door that leads into the back stage and hesitates. He stands there and rethinks what he is about to do. He takes a deep breath before opening the door and walking in.
Film backstage is putting on his bird costume with a few other pegasus. The talking stops as the curtain rises on three fillies dressed as witches are revealed.
"When shall we have three commerce again? In thunder, lightning, or rain?" One of the fillies says as Film and two other colts stand in their positions. Acid peeks his head through the door to see the play had started and quickly darts behind the couch near the door to make sure Film doesn't see him.
"By the pricking of my hoof, something wicked comes thy way!" Another of the fillies says, pointing at something off stage. The Film and the others run onto stage flapping their wings and making eerie sounds as best as they can. Almost all of the pegasus get some lift except Film. This causes some of the kids in the audience to point and laugh, only being quickly hushed by their parents.
Acid was breaking a broom in half in anger when he heard the all too familiar sounds of Fillies and Colts laughing. Acid looks out on the stage to see Film's smile is gone now as he and the others return to the back. Film sees Acid and goes wide eyed. He rushes over and asks, "What are you doing here?" Film looks around for the teacher to see her missing.
"Helping you," Acid lies, looking around quickly. "Do you have that part or something similar later?" Acid asks, spotting a rope and pulley system. He grabs the end of the rope not attached to anything else and ties it into a slip knot.
"Ya, later when Mcroth is attacked by big bird things in a few minutes," Film says, watching him work at the knote and trying out the pulley system. "You should be in your seat, our parents will worry for you."
"I'm worried about you Film!" Acid snapps back looking back at him in slit anger. Film flinches at the sudden change in emotions. A few heads were now turned on them from the other students. Acid takes a breath before painting. "Film, you can't fly,"
"I will!"
"You don't know that, but I can help you fly a little," Acid says, placing the rope in front of Film. "Go through the loop and tighten it around your body just under your wings." Acid says before turning back to the pulley system. "I'll use this to get you off the ground." Film's left lip goes up in a small smile as he watches Acid talk about how the rig worked that he had figured out how to use from the old pulley system. Acid basically glowing with happiness.
Film walks up to Acid and hugs him, surprising him. Acid goes stiff before relaxing and hugging back. "Thank you," Film wispears into Acid's chest.
"You're welcome," Acid replies.
"Film! Chaser! Feather! You are up in a few minutes!" a smart-looking colt says with a clipboard as he walks around backstage. The brothers separate from their hug.
"Break a wing," Acid says with a smile and a chuckle. Film laughs before heading to the edge of the stage as he puts the rope around his waist before tightening it. Film is lined up with Chaser and Feather, both mares, at the edge of the stage. The light of the magic enhanced candles glows onto his face as the scene on stage wraps up.
"Mcroth! Look out!" a mare in armor yells, pointing towards Film. Film grins as the three kids run onto stage. Acid pulls on the rope in unison with Film's jumps, making it look like he was flying for a few seconds before landing. The three circle around the colt playing Mcroth as they make crow sounds. The audience laughs as Mcroth pulls out a wooden sword and points it at the three.
"Stay away from these evil creatures!" He yells while poking at the three. Each one goes down with a single poke. Film dramatically falls to the ground and dies. Acid smiles as he and Film make eye contact. Film smiles and winks at him. Acid then turns and runs out the door as a teacher walks in.
"What… how.. WAIT!" The teacher finally yells out in confusion as Acid runs down the hallway.
"I can't tell if that was supposed to be funny or not," Avi says sarcastically as he holds Glass tighter to him. Her head was nuzzled into his neck. As Film walks off stage, it dawns on Glass that Acid has been gone for a while. She turns to see Acid sitting nicely in his seat with a big smile on his face. She sighs before nuzzling into Avi again.
"Almost forgot we had kids,"
"It's like we are back in college," Avi responds, kissing Glass's forehead.
(Time Skip)
One Week Later
Acid walks into the chemistry classroom. The room is full of character as he walks down the rows of seats. He looks over to see Moondancer sitting with Twilight sparkle at the other side of the room. The two talking happily together. He looks down in shaim and sits down at his desk. The seat next to him is now empty without her.
The two tried to hang out, but the universe just didn't want Acid to see her. Moondancer got sick of it and found a new friend. The very smart Twilight Sparkle who is top of their class. Acid takes out his books for the class as the teacher walks in.
"Everypony clear your desks off and get your safety gear, today we have a test over chemicals!" The students do as they are told as the teacher passes out a little slip of paper to all the students with a gas on it. Acid puts on the goggles as he looks at his paper. It reads ethinal.
Acid smiles to himself as he thinks "Nice, I can make that." Acid starts grabbing the syringe and the liquid needed as he looks over to Moondancer and Twilight. Twilight had already done most of her's. Acid grabs a small cup of pouder mindlessly as he opens the syringe up using his mouth.
Acid places the end of the nozzle on the table as he carefully pours water into the syringe. He stops right when the water reaches the top. He places it down on the table and grabs the little cup and places it in the syringe. Then he slides the syringe over to the side of the table where he quickly slides it off and places his hoof at the end of it to keep water from spilling out. He then hovers over the cup of water and moves his hoof so the water can fall out into the cup.
He hears other ponies finishing up as chatter starts spreading through the room. The teacher hushes them as there are still a few ponies doing their test.
"How do they get done so fast?" Acid thinks to himself as the cup finally hits the bottom of the syringe. Now with his heart racing, Acid slowly puts the plunger back in and pushes it all the way to the bottom where it barely touches the top of the little cup inside. He moves and sucks up the liquid from earlier before placing the cap on and shaking.
After shaking a bit the liquid bubbles and the plunger starts being pushed out. Acid quickly pulls the cap off fluently. He then pushes the liquid out into the second cup and sucks up a little bit of water before capping it and shaking. He then takes the cap off and pushes the water out before capping it one last time and placing it on the table with a big smile on his face right as the bell rings.
Acid looks up at the clock to see it took all period to do. He looked around to see that as some of the class was leaving, others were still finishing. The teacher walks over to Acid as he puts away his stuff in the closet. She looks at the syringe and at the ingredients used. She sighs to herself as Acid walks back to her.
"Acid, you REALLY need to pay attention better, you made hydrogen. I can only give you a 75 present on the test." She says as she moves to the next student. Acid's ears had flopped to the sides of his head as the smile had turned into one of confusion and anger.
(Time Skip)
"How, How did I manage to do that?" Acid angrily whispers to himself as he walks home. All day he had been running through the test in his mind and couldn't find the reason why he had made hydrogen. He walks up to the house and is about to open the door when he hears crying from inside.
He presses his ear against the door to hear Film crying. Acid's heart drops as his other ear flops against his head. His heart breaks as he hears his dad trying to comfort Film.
"It's ok, those ponies are just being mean.."
"B-but they're r-right!" Film blurts out before burying his head into the couch. Avi sits next to Film while he rubs Film's back. Glass was working on making dinner as Acid walked into the house. He looks over to see Film crying as he walks by without a word. He looks into the kitchen to see his mother making sandwiches.
Acid completely forgets about the test as he heads to the garage and throws his bag against the wall. He runs over to the work bench he and his dad always used to build random stuff. He clears it and pulls over some tools, fabric and metal. He starts to get to work. He takes no breaks, except for dinner when his mother literally dragged him out, but other than that he worked the rest of the day and worked well into the night. He has to stop when his mother tells him to go to bed after the fifth time. Even that didn't stop him as he snuck out of their room to keep building.
(Time Skip)
Film now stands at the bus stop that brings him to Cloudsdale's school. His eyes are red from crying. Acid walks up to Film, dragging a mess of metal and fabric on his back.
"Hi Film!" Acid says cheerfully. Film puts on his best smile before turning to Acid.
"What are you doing, you don't have to go to school yet?" Film asks. He then sees the thing on Acid's back as he slides it off. Falling to the ground was a metallic system of beams combined together to fit Film's wings, with cloth inplace for the feathers. Film's eyes start to water as Acid explains.
"I heard you crying and decided to make you a pair of wings so you can at least glide and get off the ground. Tho I haven't tested them yet!" Acid is interrupted by Film hugging him as he crys into Acid's shoulder. Acid smiles as he hugs Film back. The two standing there as the cold wind pushes past them. The two not wanting to let go of the other. "Is this a happy or sad tear?" Acid asks, breaking the silence.
Film pulls away and whips his eyes of tears. "Happy, thank you Acid, If this works I could be normal for once," Film says, putting the metal wings around his normal wings. He fastened the wings to his body before spreading his wings.
His wings were magnificent in normal standards. His big wings are almost comically larger than his body. The only thing preventing him from flying was the lack of big feathers to get him in the air and strong enough mussels. He flaps ones, the metal creaking as he stays in the air for a second. He squeaks in delight as Acid watches Film's try it on.
Acid starts walking away before Film stops him. "Acid! Where are you going!? The house is that way!" Acid turns back to see Film pointing towards their house.
"Ya! But my understanding is that way!" Acid says, pointing towards his school. Film looks at Acid confusingly as he walks away.
(Time Skip)
Acid looks around the corner to see a royal guard walking by the front door to the school. The guard walks away after looking around. Acid quickly runs up to the door while looking around to make sure no one else was there.
He opens the door just enough for him to slip through. He closes the door slowly before quickly walking down the hallway. His metal horseshoes clanking against the ground. He slows down and peeks around the corner to see if no one was there. After confirming no one was there, he quickly walks down the hallway as he looks back the way he came. He looks down the other hallway to see Celestia talking to a teacher. He ducks behind the wall as his heart skyrockets.
"Oh no! The princess is here!" He thinks to himself. Celestia smirks to herself, feeling his very faint magic presence.
"Some little pony is here early," Celestia thinks as the teacher says goodbye to her. Acid looks around the corner to see Celestia turning around. Acid ducks back around and looks around frantically as Celestia walks towards him. His heart pounding against his chest as he thinks of a way out of his problem. He sees a door to a janitor room. He quickly opens the door, his heart threatening to jump out of his throat as he closes the door and locks it. Celestia turns the corner and looks around, slightly confused.
"Hmm.. maybe I'm getting old," Celesti thinks, walking past the closet and down the hallway. Acid peeks out to see Celestia turning down another hallway. He sighs and takes a deep breath in. Calming his heart down as best as he can.
He closes the door and runs down the hallway until he finds his classroom. He opens the door, thanking Celestia that it wasn't locked, before slipping into the classroom. He places his bag next to the door before going over to the cabinet where the chemicals were cept. He opens the door and grabs the right ingredients this time for ethanol.
He grabs the goggles before setting up at his desk. He looks up at the clock and notes he has twenty minutes.
"Let's do this," Acid thinks to himself in determination before placing the goggles over his face. He works quickly, his hoof movements as fluent as water. He makes the gas in ten minute, much more time to spare. He smiles at himself while he looks at the syringe in his hoof.
He then pulls on the plunger as Celestia walks by the door. She stops as she feels the same faint magic from before. She closes her eyes to try and locate it. Acid pulls the plunger off, the force transfering to his legs he was using to pull on the syringe. His metal hoof shoes hitting the table and sending a spark into the air.
Acid's eyes go wide as the ethanol explodes, sending him into the ceiling and langin on one of the wood rafters. His hair now spiked up like the Wonderbolt's. Celestia opens her eyes as she feels the explosion rock the ground.
"I might be late for the meeting. I have a little pony to meet." Celestia thinks, sending a magic thought to one of her advisers before stepping into the classroom.
Acid's heart races as he grips harder onto the rafter. His body shaking from the explosion and fear from the door opening. Celestia eyes the little bag at the door before heading to the source of the explosion. He watches as Celestia walks towards his desk. Acid shaking in fear, his heart pumping against his chest rapidly. Celestia looks at the broken syringe on the ground and the half-burnt chair with a slight outline of Acid's lower body.
She smiles to herself before saying, "Looks like some little pony decided to sneak in and make an explosion." She looks up at Acid with a kind smile. He tries to hide behind the rafter. He is engulfed by Celestia's white magic. He is pulled gently off the rafter as he frantically tries to hold onto the rafter. He is pulled off of it and placed gently down in front of Celestia, who looks down at him with a consurning look.
"Why are you here so early?" Celestia asks kindly. Acid shrinking at Celestia's stare. He bumps into the table, which causes him to jump up and scream. Celesti chuckles at the cute yip that just came out of Acid.
"I-I was j-just.." Acid is interrupted when Celestia sits down in front of him and hugs him. He freezes as he feels her warm body wash over him. He can't help but relax at the feeling of her body. Her soft fur was like a heavy carpet. She felt like his mother's hug was mixed with an angel. He nuzzles into her chest as Celestia speaks kindly to him.
"I think I know why." Celestia looks down at the colt in her hoofs. He looks up at her with his big orange eyes. She smiles before asking, "Do you want to be my special student?" Acid's eyes go wide as the words sink into his head. He jumps out of her arms and lands perfectly on all four hooves in excitement.
"You mean I could be like Twilight!" Acid yells with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Much better than that," Celestia says, standing up. Acid screams like a little girl in excitement. "I'll teach you what I know about any science topic you want, but you have to show me you know by taking special tests."
"I'll do anything!" Acid says with a big grin on his face. The day gets better with every word that falls out of Celestia's mouth.
"First meeting is tomorrow morning at this time before school." Celestia as the two walk to the door. "Now let's get you to your homeroom teacher before school starts." Acid grabs his bag with a skip in his step. The two leave the room and head down the hallway.