Aptitude

by Kestrel

Relocation

Chapter 1: Relocation
Aptitude
MLP: FiM
By: Kestrel

---

The summer passed uneventfully in Hollow Shades, with very little of note happening. While most would consider it boring, Blizzard Warning found it to be relieving since it meant that nopony was trying to bash down his door to yell at him. He hadn’t had the time to practice magic anyway. There was just so much to do with preparing for the next school term. He had to fill out a class form, health forms, room forms, forms about forms. Wasn’t this stuff meant for adults?

One of the things that Blizzard had learned over the summer was that at Starswirl Academy, he’d have to share a room. Being an only child, he wasn’t used to the concept of sharing his living space, but was willing to give it a try. Blizzard just hoped that he’d be able to make friends there while he learned to direct his magic in a less destructive way.

Apparently classes at the academy were fairly standard, with some specialty classes offered for varying talent fields. As such, in addition to all the normal classes for unicorns and general studies, Blizzard was going to take classes in the natural aspect of Equestria, ranging from weather management to farm practices.

His schedule included his specialty class, a class for unicorns on how to direct magic efficiently to avoid fatigue, the other compulsory unicorn class about practical uses for magic, an Equestrian history course, a health class, and an elective for interspecies relations.

Blizzard looked up from his schedule and around his room. It looked so different now. To him, it felt that his entire life had more or less been packed up into just a few solitary suitcases. He had all his formalwear and school uniform in one bag along with some personal mementos, and all his school supplies in another with his own leisure reading and his Joy Boy game system.

Looking around the room, Blizzard thought on how much of his past few years he had spent holed up in it. While it had afforded him safety from the anger and fear of the other townsponies, it also forced him into lonely isolation. Without any friends, he only had his books and videogames to turn to.

The floor of the bedroom was clean, for once in his life, and it almost made Blizzard sad. It really did feel like he had packed up his existence to be moved to another place. He’d lived in Hollow Shades ever since he was a young foal. He had been born elsewhere, but his home was always here.

Taking one last look at the room, he slung on his saddlebags and lifted his remaining luggage with his magic. Today was the day he’d finally be leaving for Starswirl Academy. He’d be riding the rails to get there, and he had to get to the station for the train that was leaving in about twenty minutes.

“Next time I come home, things’ll be different,” Blizzard said to himself. “I’ll be able to help ponies around here rather than just be a disaster waiting to happen.”

He shut the door.

---

“I’ll miss you so much when you’re gone!” Honey Breeze cried out, not really caring that she was in public and other ponies were giving her looks. “Make sure you write home often! And don’t be afraid to ask for us to come down sometime.”

Blizzard huffed a sigh, again. To his mom’s credit, she had only had four extremely embarrassing outbursts. Avoiding the snickers around town from other ponies had been unsuccessful to say the least, and Blizzard was surprised his coat hadn’t turned permanently red. He tried his best to make the wood of the train platform creak as loudly as possible to cover his mother’s wailing, but to no avail.

“Honey Breeze, quit embarrassing him,” Lodestar said, putting a hoof directly into his face. “We knew that this was the best decision for him and everything that meant. I’ll miss him too.”

Honey Breeze only clung tighter to the unamused colt. Blizzard Warning’s ears flopped down in irritation. He took a glance up at the big clock at the station directory. There was still ten minutes to go before boarding time! Though his mother was clinging to him like a foal, he plodded onward to line two of the station, currently the only one working due to a slight… mishap involving a freak earthquake some months ago. Orders had gone out for the metal to repair the railing, but for now it lay broken.

“Ooooh, look at my little snowflake! You’re growing up so fast!” Honey sniffed, with tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Blizzard winced as another sob rent the air around her. His face flushed scarlet once more.

“Moooom! Don’t call me that!” he whined. “That’s so embarrassing!”

The sobbing mare detached herself from Blizzard with a sniff and promptly latched onto her husband, earning a grunt from the stallion.

“Ugh…” he managed to get out from the sudden impact. “Sorry about that, Blizzard. But we were young once too, and we were embarrassed like that too.”

“Gee… thanks Dad,” Blizzard said with a deadpanned expression. He decided to quickly take a few steps back to avoid another latch-on from his mom.

“Now then, Blizzard Warning, you know what you need to do to get there, right?” Lodestar asked with a picture of concern painted on his face. Despite being willing to let him go off on his own to figure out his own life, Lodestar was still worried for his son’s well-being.

“Yup!” Blizzard answered enthusiastically. “I’m gonna be riding the line from here to Canterlot, and then I’ll transfer onto the school chartered train straight to campus from there.” Blizzard stood up smartly and puffed out his chest in pride. Then he remembered something that his dad had drilled into his head over the past week. “And I’ll stay right by the platform when I arrive, I’ll head straight to the platform and sit there until it leaves.”

Lodestar nodded his head sagely and put a hoof to his chin in thought.

“Hmm… I hope that nopony there will treat you differently,” Lodestar said. Blizzard seemed to shrink at those words, hoping vigorously that nopony would find out his issue with talent related magic. Lodestar caught on and his eyes widened. “Oh! Not like that! I mean that it’ll probably be fairly well-known by now that you’re from Starswirl’s family, so I hope that you won’t get swarmed by the other students there.”

“W-w-wait!” Blizzard exclaimed in shock. “Everypony knows already!?” He was ready to shake off the loneliness he felt here in Hollow Shades, but he wasn’t quite sure he had been prepared to be on the opposite end of the spectrum in so short a time.

“No, no, no, not everypony knows, or at least specifics,” Lodestar admitted sheepishly. “The professors know who you are, as does the headmaster. But the students only know that a Starswirl family member will be joining them this year.”

Now that his mind had only been semi-blown from the sudden fear of being recognized like that, Blizzard managed to close his mouth, which had somehow fallen open without his knowledge.

The ground began to rumble beneath the hooves of the ponies at the station, the tremors resounding through the wooden platform, only this time it wasn’t natural, but a train coming into town.

Blizzard’s mom started crying loud enough to be heard over the train, much to his chagrin. Lodestar just gave a nervous smile to Blizzard.

Blizzard mouthed ‘good luck’ to Lodestar as the train came to a stop. The train blew its whistle, smoke puffing up into the air as if the train’s engine had just finished a tasty meal.

“All aboard!” called out the conductor, who had vacated the train and was ushering ponies between the carriages and platform. Blizzard picked up his luggage and made his way quickly to the nearest seat by a window.

He put down his things and used his magic to open the window. The excited young stallion popped his head out the window and started waving to his parents with a huge grin on his face.

“Bye Mom, bye Dad!” he yelled out. “Thanks for letting me do this!”

Both his parents were waving back at him, and Honey Breeze had even managed to stop her tears for the moment.

“Make sure you write to us when you get there!” Honey called back. “I’ll miss you!”

“Make some new friends and have a good time, son!” Lodestar shouted.

Blizzard threw a salute to his parents and struck a confident pose.

“Sure thing, Mom! And don’t worry, Dad, I’ll make loads of new friends,” Blizzard responded, confident in himself for the first time in a while.

Soon enough, the ponies boarding the train had finished and the conductor was making his rounds to close the cabin doors. The whistle blew once more as the train started to chug along slowly, making its way out of town.

Blizzard rolled up his window but continued to wave until he couldn’t see his parents anymore. But even after they had gotten out of sight, they still weren’t out of earshot.

“Goodbye! I love you, my little snowflake!” Honey Breeze called out at the top of her lungs so loud that Blizzard could clearly hear inside the train.

He slammed his head into the empty seat in front of him, his face red once more.

---

It had been years since Blizzard had left Hollow Shades. His last vacation was about five years ago, shortly after he got his cutie mark that winter. The world outside of the cradle of trees and foliage seemed so alien. The openness of the Equestrian countryside was expansive and frightening, but also welcoming and warm all the same. Trees didn’t block the sunlight from reaching most parts of the area, and there was a clear view of everything for miles. It was so different from what he was used to, and he relished in delight at the sight. Suddenly all the talk about leaving and seeing the world started to sink in and become real to Blizzard.

There weren’t many other ponies from Hollow Shades, especially that he wanted to talk to, on the train. With nopony to talk to, Blizzard spent his trip watching the fields roll by. Hill upon lush hill faded in and out of view, sprawling with fresh grass and the occasional farmer pony. The trip to Canterlot was the first of two legs for the journey to Starswirl, but this line seemed to definitely be idyllic and rustic to say the least. While it was beautiful, the countryside didn’t have much to offer in the way of excitement. Blizzard nodded off to sleep.

The train puffed on toward its destination, chugging along at a brisk and steady pace, softly bouncing the carriages in a rhythmic manner. Blizzard hardly even noticed his two hour nap go by.

The blare of the train whistle woke Blizzard Warning with a start, sending him sprawling to the floor of the car. When he looked up and out the window, the train was beginning its ascent to Canterlot proper. The majestic city was situated on top of a great mountain with tracks and tunnels coursing through it.

“Woah…” Blizzard breathed out in awe. Canterlot sure was amazing. Even from this distance, it was very bright and magnificent. It made sense, he supposed, considering that Canterlot Castle was where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made their homes.

Darkness overtook the train and obscured the colt’s view of, well anything, outside of the cars as the train entered the first tunnel. Shielded from the sun, Blizzard’s eyes opened wider as his vision adapted to the shadows of the mountain, sparsely lit by only a few torches hanging from the walls.

It only took a few minutes for Blizzard to get comfortable again and locate his things before he had to shield his eyes from the sudden pain he felt from the sun forcing his vision to adapt once more.

When Blizzard Warning took his hoof away from covering his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of the Canterlot city walls and the impressive sight of the royal guards standing watch. The guards saw the train’s approach and opened a gate into the city. As the train veered off to the side, away from the main road, Blizzard cast his gaze downward over the expanse where the earth ended and only the rail held the train up.

He was shocked by the insane height of Canterlot. Looking down, the fall to reach the ground from here must be at least fifteen seconds long or so, not that Blizzard ever had the idea to try it, he wasn’t a pegasus.

It only took a few more minutes for Blizzard to reach the Canterlot station and disembark.

The station was in a word, crowded. Ponies congregated in nearly every nook and cranny of the place, packing it very full. There were a whopping eight platforms, dwarfing the size of the train station of Blizzard’s home. With all the ponies around, he hoped he wouldn’t have trouble finding the right platform.

The snowy colt reached into his suitcase and produced his train schedule. He had arrived with about forty-five minutes of layover time. Throwing caution to the wind and promptly ignoring his father’s advice, Blizzard pranced around, exploring the new place enthusiastically.

Checking the clock, Blizzard decided he’d be safe to explore around for twenty minutes or so. He took a short moment to secure his belongings to make sure he wouldn’t lose anything, and then took his first steps into high society. Things just got a lot more fancy. Paved roads! Stone houses that reached up multiple stories, shops that sold nearly anything Blizzard could think of! There was so much that Blizzard had never had access to back home. It was such a shame he couldn’t immerse himself here for longer.

Clank! Clank! Blizzard’s ears perked up at the sound of a royal guard patrol coming down the street. A pair of stallions with shiny armor and stony expressions marched in sync down the pathway, and the young colt opened up a wide grin. Gosh, they were so cool.

Blizzard remembered a few of the stories his father had told him about the time he had spent with the royal guard. They went to so many places and even had a few battles! Blizzard hadn’t ever actually seen his dad have to fight, but he did see how he cleaned up after his messes back home, so it must have been something. Lodestar had met Honey Breeze while on a mission near Las Pegasus, but Blizzard always ignored that part about all the gross and mushy love stuff.

At one point, the colt even wanted to follow in his father’s hoofsteps and be a guard as well, but he wouldn’t have it. Maybe it was due to Blizzard’s unruly magic or something, but his dad had told him he never wanted him to enroll to keep his lineage from being a burden to his daily life.

After recovering from the catatonic state Blizzard had found himself in from watching the patrol, he felt his belly rumble. He hadn’t had anything to eat since leaving Hollow Shades, so he took a stroll down the way to the nearest bakery he could find. Taking a moment to dive into his saddlebag, Blizzard managed to find enough bits to pay for an overpriced slice of cake. It didn’t taste any better than anything else he had ever had. Lodestar had said that Canterlot was snobbish and expensive, but Blizzard supposed that maybe it really was true based off of the cake.

The ornate clock standing in the bakery began tolling out the hour in repeated rings. Blizzard temporarily choked on his cake as he realized that he only had fifteen minutes to get back to the station and find his platform.

The snow white colt raced through the streets, with his mane becoming a blur of blue and white that made him look like a speeding snowball. It took him five minutes to reach the station and promptly bump into somepony on his way to work. All the fancy language went right over his head as Blizzard apologized frantically. He raced up to the directory at the front of the station.

“You gotta help me!” Blizzard Warning cried out to the poor mare behind the glass who suddenly flinched back.

The mare got over herself and forced a smile at the slightly crazed and sweaty young stallion.

“Sure thing, sir. What can I do for you?” she asked politely.

“So I got here from Hollow Shades and I was gonna go find my terminal for my connecting line, but I got distracted and headed out to explore Canterlot and had some cake and then I was late and I had to race back here and now I’m here and I can’t find my terminal!” Blizzard explained at mach speed. The mare blinked and spoke her next few words carefully.

“Sir, what terminal are you looking for?” she asked. “If you tell me, I can help you.”

“Uh…” Blizzard stopped to fish out his ticket. “Uh…” He searched the ticket to find the platform he needed since he didn’t have time to waste exploring the station anymore. The directory mare rolled her eyes and mouthed the word ‘kids.’

“Oh! I need to get to platform four! It’s the chartered train for students to Starswirl Academy!”

The mare raised her eyebrows, impressed that such a disorganized and apparently tardy colt could be a student to such a prestigious school. But she kept her thoughts to herself and pointed the stallion on his way.

As he approached the boarding area, all the students had congregated and lined up in front of what Blizzard assumed was a staff member. She was calling out names for attendance. He vigorously prayed that his hadn’t been called yet. It would be a terrible first impression to be counted as late on his first day, heck, it wasn’t even his first day!

Blizzard waited until the unicorn mare calling attendance was looking down and snuck into an open gap in the group of other ponies, earning snickers and giggles from the others around him.

“Trade Winds!” the mare called out. An earth pony mare with a ship emblazoned on her yellow flank raised her hoof. The mare checked off a box on her list. Blizzard tried to keep his cool and wipe off some of the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead from running and nervous energy.

“Basil!” the mare called out. Another hoof raised in the air, though Blizzard couldn’t see this pony, nor what type he or she was, but assumed it was another earth pony because of the name.

“Scissor Kick!”

“Aww yeah! That’s me!” an outspoken young pegasus said. His coat was an abrasive red and his flanked was marked with his cutie mark of a hoofball. It took all of a second for Blizzard to guess what he was going to Starswirl for.

“Okay, now that I have gone through the list…” the mare began. Blizzard turned white, or would have if he wasn’t already, as he realized that his name hadn’t been called. “I will go through the list to make sure we don’t leave behind any stragglers.”

“Blizzard Warning!”

“Here, ma’am!” Blizzard announced half-heartedly as he got more looks and snickers from his soon-to-be classmates. The mare marked another box on her checklist and made a discontented snort. She didn’t call any other names. Blizzard had been the only one late. He really hoped that wouldn’t go down on a report card.

“Alright everypony,” she said as she floated the clipboard into her saddlebag. “It’s time to board the train. Single file! No fighting! Up to four ponies per cabin! It will be a long ride, so I suggest you get comfortable. Stow your luggage on the cart next to me and it will be delivered to your assigned home for the year.” She made a move toward the open cabin door and waved a hoof to the still stationary colts and fillies. “Get moving, you all,” she said, kicking the young ponies into gear.

---

In less than ten minutes, the train had blown its whistle and was moving toward Baltimare and Starswirl Academy. Soon, the posh heights and snooty citizens of Canterlot were left behind, and the open and rolling hills of the Equestrian countryside lolled lazily into view once more.

The train had been moving for about ten minutes, but Blizzard had yet to find a compartment that had room for him to sit down in. Most were taken up by other colts and fillies who were spending their trip either looking out the windows, chatting, or just taking a nap.

Blizzard crossed a connection door and made his way into a new car. This one seemed less full. But most compartments were already filled with ponies engaged in deep conversation, and Blizzard didn’t want to interrupt, so he decided to come into a compartment where there was only one pegasus filly and a earth pony colt. Nopony was talking, so Blizzard broke the silence.

“Uh, is it okay if I sit in here?” Blizzard asked.

“Sure thing!” the filly exclaimed happily, spreading her purple wings out excitedly. “My name’s Merry Weather, what’s yours?” Blizzard blinked, taken aback by how forward the other pony was with him. Nopony had been willing to be so friendly for a long time.

“It’s… Blizzard Warning,” he said with an unintentional pause. While he was still getting over the temporary brain disfunction, the earth pony coughed, catching his attention.

“Are you going to stand there like a dork all day, or are you gonna take a seat?” he asked somewhat dryly. The stunned colt shook his head out and focused on the coffee colored colt with a mane that reminded him somewhat like blood… which further set him off seeing his cutie mark of a syringe.

Blizzard’s cheeks flashed a slight pink, earning a giggle from the filly. He quickly made the move to sit down in the empty seat and looked out the window, detaching himself from embarrassment.

“Sorry about Double Dose, he comes on a bit strong,” Merry Weather giggled at her own joke. Double Dose rolled his eyes disinterestedly.

“She’s an airhead,” Double Dose said, waving a dismissive hoof. Merry huffed at him and prodded him playfully with a hoof. He didn’t budge, merely shrugging off the contact from the smaller pony.

“Me and Double-D were classmates last year too! So now we’re friends, he just doesn’t like to show it off to anypony cause he’s a big softie,” she said with a snicker. Double Dose snorted and threw a glance in Blizzard’s direction.

“Yeah, I’m studying medicine, and she’s studying weather management,” he said. Merry Weather threw up her hooves and made a face, sticking her tongue out at Double Dose. It struck Blizzard that Double Dose was probably older than Merry Weather. They both looked to be around his age, but Double Dose clearly handled himself more maturely.

“So…” Double Dose began. “What are you going to Starswirl for?”

Blizzard returned his thoughts to active conversation now that he had been re-invited into it.

“I uh… well, I’m not quite sure yet,” Blizzard managed to mumble out, barely audible. “I’m basically just taking the unicorn classes and a few classes in weather and some electives.”

“Ooooh, weather!?” asked an elated Merry Weather. Double Dose put his hoof to his face.

“Oh boy, here we go…” he whined.

“I’m studying weather too! Well, you know that, D-D just said that,” she giggled. “Anyway, my mom is the boss of the Cloudsdale weather factory, and I’m gonna grow up to be just like her. I’m gonna take over the business someday.”

She puffed out her chest with pride and pointed to her flank, adorned with a pair of clouds connected by a rainbow.

“I’m gonna live up to my name and make sure everyone gets weather that makes them happy!” she boasted. “It’s my duty as a pegasus!”

Blizzard kept quiet and admired her passion for her ambitions. If he had just half her direction, he might be able to be as excited to start classes. Taking note of the quiet colt’s reticence, Merry continued.

“Soooo… what’s your cutie mark mean? It’s uh… snowy?” she asked. “Oh wait! I get it, you’re gonna be a snow plow pony! That’s why your name’s Blizzard Warning!”

Finally managing to find his voice, Blizzard decided he’d better speak up and defend his reputation before he was deemed a snow plow pony for the entire student body.

“Actually, my name’s Blizzard Warning because I was born in the middle of a snow storm,” Blizzard began. “My mom had a lot of trouble getting to the hospital when I was born because of all the snow and ice. The doctor said that we were both lucky that my mom didn’t get there any later than she did, or there might have been complications.”

Merry Weather took the cue to close her mouth and listen. She didn’t feel like making any more a fool of herself in front of her new friend. That is, they were friends now, right? Even Double Dose gave his attention to Blizzard Warning.

“It’s okay, I’m just fine and so is she, we just cut it close is all,” Blizzard explained. “Anyway, my cutie mark is a blizzard because… well, I’m not sure. All I really know is that I got it during a blizzard and during a particularly rough time for my hometown.”

“So, you don’t know what it means?” Merry Weather questioned. “That’s kinda weird.”

Blizzard liked talking with these new ponies, and they seemed pretty nice, even if Double Dose was kind of insensitive, but he didn’t want to share what he was apparently really good at. Blizzard wanted to avoid the kind of mistreatment he received at Hollow Shades.

“I’m not sure, maybe my cutie mark means that I’m just good at surviving and being safe during natural disasters?” he half said, half asked. “I just know that I’ve been through way more disasters and bad weather than a lot of other ponies.”

The other two ponies in the cabin fell silent. There just wasn’t a great deal to be said about the topic. All three young ponies’ gazes drifted to the passing scenery. The hills of Central Equestria had given way to flatter land and a forest that seemed to be a sea of trees at the high speed of the locomotive. They were getting close to Starswirl Academy.

Merry Weather decided to break the silence.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find out what your special talent really is soon enough,” Merry Weather assured Blizzard. “Anyway, we’re getting close. I’m gonna go visit another friend now. It was nice meeting you, and I’m sure we’ll have at least one class together! We should talk more often!” Merry Weather got up with a start and gave a hug to Blizzard, leaving the poor, defenseless stallion blushing hard. She quickly turned and left the compartment, zipping off toward the front of the train.

Double Dose snickered.

“Glad to see I’m not the only one who finds that weird,” he jeered. “She did the same thing to me when I became her friend.”

Blizzard’s blush faded and the two colts sat in silence for another five minutes or so before Double Dose stirred, moving from the reclined position he had been in for the entire ride from Canterlot.

“Well, I’m gonna get going. I don’t wanna be the last one off the train,” he said. “Gotta get off before the crowd comes barreling through.”

“Yeah,” Blizzard replied, but didn’t move.

“You know, this was kind of nice,” Double Dose admitted, showing a faint smile. “I’ll catch you around. If you’re gonna be hanging out with Merry Weather, then I guess we’ll see each other now and then.”

“Sure thing!” Blizzard smiled at his new friend. “Thanks.”

“No problem, it’s nothing big,” Double Dose replied. Blizzard just smiled back. He realized how making friends probably wouldn’t be anything new to other ponies, but this meant a lot to him. “Oh, another little tidbit of interesting information. Apparently, there’s a rumor going around that we’ll actually have a Starswirl family member here this year. I wonder if he or she will be worth the name.” Double Dose started to walk out, sliding the door shut after him. “See you around,” he said before sliding it completely closed.

Blizzard kept his silence. Nopony knew who he was for sure yet, right? Even so, he was suddenly filled with dread. Nopony knew him, and yet he was already being set up to an expectation. Starswirl the Bearded. His great-great-great-great-great-great-great something grandfather. The young colt had to fight back his nerves and he made a very audible gulp.

The whistle blew as the train screeched to a stop. The world outside stopped speeding by and the colt was greeted by a nice, but not fancy stone paved platform station. Ponies were starting to get off the train and were walking toward the campus in the distance. It stood tall, proud and imposing.

Blizzard Warning got to his hooves to find they were shaking. Stifling more nerves, he slowly made his way out of the compartment and through the train cars, being bumped my other ponies in a rush to get off the train. He was a quivering wreck, and it showed. The first day of school started tomorrow, so he had today to get settled in.

Well, here he was. His new home. Nine months on his own in a new school. Here goes...

Author's Note:

Man, wouldn't it be cool to go to school in Equestria? Learning about how to control weather, cast magic or fly or heck, be a clown would be so much more awesome than school here on Earth Hopefully our friend Blizzard will be able to find out a bit of what he should do with his talent this year, hm?

Comments

[Azure_Shadow]

This story seems pretty cool so far, I like the concept.

[Calm Wind]

“Gee… thanks Dad,” Blizzard said with a deadpanned expression. He decided to quickly take a few steps back to avoid another latch-on from his mom.
“Now then, Blizzard Warning, you know what you need to do to get there, right?” Lodestar asked with a picture of concern painted on his face. Despite being willing to let him go off on his own to figure out his own life, Lodestar was still worried for his son’s well-being.

whoops need another space between the paragraphs there.

The snow white colt raced through the streets,

Same thing i drilled Azure on, it's actually better practice to simply use their names. I admit im guilty of doing this from time to time too, but as with my ellipses problem (), don't make it a habit. stick with names.

“Scissor Kick!”

i have such a dirty mind... NO BAD CALM WIND!

great introduction of characters let the protagonist feel it himself as opposed to flat out describing them 11/10 thats pefrect character introduction form bro

looking forward to reading on, sorry it's taking me so long, you know i have terrible reading speed xD