Aptitude

by Kestrel

Laying Low and Finding Home

Chapter 2: Laying Low and Finding Home
Aptitude
MLP: FiM
By: Kestrel

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Blizzard had managed to calm down on the walk to campus from the station. He fell in with a bunch of other ponies who had been shepherded up as other first years. He was slightly older than most of them, but he saw a few others he assumed were also transfers. The other ponies in the crowd were talking amongst their own friends, leaving Blizzard to just keep his mouth shut as they trekked to the school.

The campus was beautiful. There were flowers of bright hues and many overlooks that stood above the river where a few students had set up a picnic. Starswirl Academy was situated just a short distance away from Baltimare. Aparently lots of students traveled to Baltimare on weekends to go hit up the town or just go swimming in Horseshoe Bay.

Being in an already isolated and safe area of Equestria, Starswirl Academy lacked gates or walls. All it used were some ornate fencing around the perimeter of the property. Blizzard could see multiple buildings. Some of which, he assumed were dormitories, since he’d be living in one.

The leader of the little high-speed ‘tour’ lead the first year ponies into the main building. Inside was spacious, with the main hall extending up three stories with stairs flanking either wall and hallways cutting down to lead to classrooms. Instead of going through one of those directions, the group went straight into a pair of double doors at the back, leading into a big auditorium.

A few more adult ponies were stationed inside, waiting for the new students to arrive. Each and every one of the them were quickly ushered to a seat as a light flickered on the stage and shone upon a lone podium. Once everypony was all settled, a tall, confident looking orange unicorn stallion walked into the room, eyeing all the students amassed with a studious look. His cutie mark was that of an astrolabe, pointing fearlessly toward the ceiling.

Once the stallion had managed to make it to the podium, he got up and struck the microphone attached to the stand. The resulting feedback made all the colts and fillies cringe and cover their ears. The unicorn’s face broke into a smile.

“Glad to see you’re all awake!” he yelled into the microphone. The ponies in their seats continued to hold their hooves over their ears.

“Now,” he began again at a lower volume. “I want to welcome all you first year students to our lovely Starswirl Academy! My name is Keen Insight, and I’ll be your headmaster for the next few years of your lives.” Blizzard assumed that it would be alright to let his hooves down and just listen normally, without the grimace of pain on his face.

“As you all know, this school was founded about four hundred years ago in honor of the great wizard Starswirl. He was the absolute greatest magical mind of his time, a true paragon of his talent. And to follow in his daunting hoofsteps, we have all invited you here to share in the education that will help you reach your fullest potential.”

Blizzard’s mind drifted away from Keen Insight’s speech and to his cutie mark. This is what his parents had sent him away for, guidance. Could he really find the answers to his problems here? He had his cutie mark, but he hoped dearly that it didn’t mean what it had seemed to for the past few years.

“I guess I can start with a little about myself,” he said. “I was once a student here too, and I came to learn how to best practice my talent. I had thought that I was meant for being a cartographer, mapping out new lands like Daring Do might in one of those books. But after a while of studying, I was helping my friends, and I figured out that that wasn’t what my cutie mark actually meant at all. This astrolabe on my flank wasn’t pointing toward a destination, it was pointing to my friends!”

Keen Insight stepped down from the podium and raised his voice accordingly to be heard without the aid of the microphone. He propped himself up, leaning on the podium, taking a broad sweep of the students.

“Just like what I’m feeling right now…” he mused in a slightly quieter voice. “You’re all new students and new friends. And I want to help you succeed. Let the teachers here help guide you on your journey to greatness. Like an astrolabe, I will point your way to your place in the heavens...”

All the colts and fillies gasped and murmured in awe. It was quite a big promise, but with a reputation like Starswirl Academy’s, it wasn’t too farfetched.

“...so I invite you to join me on a journey to discover your place and join Starswirl up in that night sky, painted with the feats of so many great ponies over the centuries. On behalf of all the staff here at our great academy, welcome!”

The colts and fillies clapped their hooves together feverishly, Blizzard joining in. This headmaster pony was pretty charismatic.

“And speaking of Starswirl…” he started again. Blizzard’s breath caught in his throat. Uh oh, here it comes. “I want to share with all of you that we will be having a Starswirl family member attending classes this year!” Now all the ponies made a very audible gasp with some outright cheers from some of the more studious ponies.

Keen Insight waved a hoof to quiet everypony down. It took twenty full seconds for them to finally restore silence to the auditorium.

“So look left and look right, little ponies. One of your new friends might just be that pony. So let’s do our best to make Starswirl’s name proud!” he announced loudly. “Thank you everypony!”

The headmaster leapt off the stage and exited through one of the back doors as the rest of the ponies were herded out the way they came in. Gossip was ablaze through the crowd as they shuffled through. Blizzard casually conversed with some of the ponies who talked to him, but he generally kept his silence as he was a little nervous about the others discovering his secret.

Back in the main hall, the new students were being put into lines organized by school year to receive their schedules and room placement. Blizzard was put into line with a couple other second year students. The majority of new students were first years, with the other lines being markedly shorter.

It didn’t take very long for Blizzard to get to the end of the line and receive his schedule and placement. He was placed in his basic unicorn class first things on Mondays once a week for the first month or so of class. His practical spells class was in the morning later on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Then was his interspecies relations class every day after lunch followed by health. Finally, his weather class met twice a week for three hours.

Searching further down the official documents he had received gave Blizzard the location of his new home for the year: Enchantment Hall. All of the halls were co-ed, but had rooms designated to a specific gender. Each of the halls were based off of a type of magic: Enchantment, Conjuration, Illusion, and Animation. Blizzard would be sharing a two pony room. Rooms were arranged by year, so his roommate would be in his second year as well.

Each of the lines formed into smaller groups centered around one of four staff ponies, holding up signs for each of the halls. Blizzard trotted over to join the group going to the Enchantment Hall. Once all the students had conglomerated in their huddles, the ponies holding signs rounded everypony up and started the trek to each hall.

“Alright everypony, how do you like campus so far?” asked the mare leading Blizzard’s group. A resounding cheer went out among all the colts and fillies. “Good! You all will be staying in Enchantment Hall, it’s the second oldest dormitory of the school, right after the Conjuration Hall.” The mare giggled out loud. “Don’t worry though, they’re all up to date on all the amenities you could need.”

The group exited the main hall and took a left, heading up a small hill that overlooked most of the campus. While it wasn’t particularly steep, the hill was tall due to how long the incline was. The dormitory sat sleepily on the hill. It was fairly close to the rest of the campus, but it was far enough away for silence to reign. It looked to be a good place for stargazing or just studying.

The building itself was a genuine mansion. It was huge and ornate, and looked like a noble pony’s dwelling.

“This dormitory was actually once the headmaster’s quarters, until the student population of the school increased enough to warrant a new building,” the guide said. “Instead of building a new one, the headmistress at the time decided to vacate the house and renovate it into a new dormitory, opting to find another temporary home while the current headmaster’s house was being built.”

Some of the students murmured in awe at the sacrifice of that pony. This place looked amazing! It was a two story home with windows lining the entirety of the long property. It had been renovated, so there were more rooms in it than there ever used to be. According to the guide, the kitchen wasn’t ever removed, and the academy employed staff there to cook breakfasts for the residents, a perk that none of the other halls had.

“Well, here we are!” she exclaimed excitedly. “This is your new home, everypony. You should have no trouble finding your rooms. Your sheets should tell you where to go. The hall’s kitchen, dining and recreation areas are all on the first floor to the left, the right leads to the first residential wing, while the entire second floor is all rooms. Good luck, I can’t wait to see you all in class this year!”

As soon as she finished her piece, the new students cheered and promptly bull-rushed the foyer, stopping to look around at the balcony of the second floor with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Some of the ponies bolted straight to the recreational area, not concerned with going to their room and claiming a bed. Blizzard thought opposite. He took a glance at his schedule and room assignment sheet and saw that his room was 206. He made a break for the stairs and dashed to his room. Taking the key from the sheet in his magical grip, he tore it off of the adhesive and turned the knob of his door, entering the homely setting.

His dormitory room wasn’t large, but it would be more than comfortable. It had a small entryway with a coat rack for when it got rainy, and another door leading to the bathroom. He entered the actual bedroom to find that the bed nearest to the window had thankfully not been taken. Though, the other bed was already set up. And oddly enough… so was his. The staff from Starswirl Academy had said they would deliver his stuff to his room, but they wouldn’t open any of it. Blizzard’s ears pinned back to his head in annoyance.

Clearly, somepony had gotten a bit too comfortable with their job and decided to snoop around. Blizzard turned and began to storm out the door. He collided with a bright yellow stallion with a striking brown mane, only to be matched by the vividness of his green eyes.

“Hey there!” he greeted Blizzard. Blizzard Warning fell back onto his newly made bed with a startled yelp. The strange new pony tipped his head up and laughed. “You must be Blizzard Warning, the Starswirl family member. It’s a pleasure,” he said with a smirk.

Blizzard suddenly felt very uncomfortable. This new pony already knew who he was and… who he was. How did he know? The other stallion closed the door and locked it, making sure nopony could intrude.

“How the heck did you know that!?” Blizzard exclaimed, fully on his guard. The other pony just cocked his head and grinned.

“I know lots of things. Ever since I received the name of my roommate for this year, I just had to know more,” he exclaimed. “You see, I’m studying detective work. My name is Flathoof.”

Flathoof, huh? That explained a lot. For all he knew, this colt could have been following him since he left Hollow Shades. And looking around, all of Blizzard’s stuff was arranged in a messy and disorganized way, almost as if he had done it himself.

“Don’t worry, I’m just really good at what I do. I took a look at your file by uh… ‘accessing’ the documents on students here. I saw the name of your dad and knew who you were by association. I mean, who wouldn’t know of the hero Lodestar?” he said, attempting to dissuade Blizzard’s fear. Blizzard Warning’s face suddenly soured. Oh, so he was in a room with a detective colt who bordered on the line of a criminal stalker. Splendid.

“Well, I guess you already know everything about me… so keep it to yourself, okay?” he said. “I don’t want everypony to know who I am. I don’t wanna be famous like that.”

Flathoof put his hoof up to his chin, rubbing it in thought. He flittered around unevenly as he seemed to weigh a few options in his head.

“Personally, it isn’t your bloodline that has me most interested in you,” he admitted. “I read up on how you got in. It wasn’t because of your academic ability, right? Let’s just say you have a certain… talent, eh Harbinger?”

Blizzard’s blood froze in his veins. This pony knew way more than he was comfortable with. His ears flopped down and his face broke into a heavy frown.

Flathoof noticed the sudden shift in his roommate’s attitude and his expression morphed to that of shock. Whoops, he hadn’t quite meant to make an impression quite like that.

“Woah, hey now! Sorry about that!” he blurted out. “I really should stick my hoof in my mouth sometimes! Don’t worry, I actually think it’s pretty cool stuff!” Now the yellow pegasus was waving his hooves around frantically, his eyes closed in mock strain. Blizzard’s ears perked up. Cool? Nopony had ever described his penchant for wanton destruction as ‘cool.’

“Really…?” he questioned softly. Flathoof nodded vigorously.

“Yeah, dude!” he exclaimed. “I read up why you came here, and I believe in your mission one-hundred percent. I wanna help you. It’ll be like a mystery that the great Flathoof can help you solve! Don’t worry though, if you want, I’ll keep your secrets.”

Blizzard sighed unhappily. Secrets… how far could he trust this stallion to keep those? He didn’t want to be ostracized like he was back home.

“Tell you what… I already know about you, probably more than you’d prefer,” he admitted sheepishly. Blizzard aimed a sharp glare at Flathoof and nodded. “I’ll tell you about me!”

Blizzard decided that it would be rude to leave and might anger the pony who already held so much information he didn’t want to be shared. It wasn’t exactly blackmail, and Flathoof seemed to be actually pretty nice, albeit a little creepy, but Blizzard didn’t want to take any chances, so he stayed seated and listened.

“I come from Fillydelphia,” he started. “And as you can see…” he flashed his cutie mark of a magnifying glass. “I’m destined to become a great detective. You see, it all started when I was at my orphanage and the matron was so so sad because somepony had apparently stolen a bunch of money that Canterlot had sent it to help feed the orphans. Well… she didn’t tell me, but I found out.

“I mean, seriously? Who would steal from orphans? So I did all that I could, I snooped around my home and talked to all the ponies at school and around town. I also tapped into a few of the criminal records at the police station, also without permission.”

Blizzard suddenly felt like as if he’d be a wanted pony if he started hanging out with this one. But he had to admit, it was a strangely interesting story.

“I did a lot of investigation regarding the identities of all the orphans, our matron and all the potential adopters of that month. It turns out that one of the potential adopters had a criminal background, and I spent the next week gathering evidence. Being a little colt at the time, and a blank flank at that, I didn’t really feel up to confronting the criminal, so I brought my evidence to the police. At first they laughed me off.”

Blizzard nodded once more. Nopony would have believed him either if he brought criminal charges against a random pony when he was nothing more than a blank flank.

“But my evidence was irrefutable!” Flathoof exclaimed. “And the police ponies were forced to believe me. And it turned out I was right! I was given back the money for our orphanage and even given a special award from the police! It was then that my cutie mark appeared, and I knew what I was going to do with the rest of my life from that point on.”

Flathoof concluded and gave a bow, dipping his right wing low. Blizzard clopped his hooves together a few times, giving the apparently attention-starved other stallion some applause for his story. Blizzard once again felt the stirrings of jealousy in him. Another colt who knew how to use his talent and what he’d do with it.

“See?” Flathoof said. “Now you have my life’s story too, and I’ve got yours. No hard feelings?" He nervously reached out a hoof to shake, hoping that his actions had garnered a bit more respect rather than fear. Blizzard tentatively reached out and shook it.

“Great!” Flathoof said. “We’ll be great friends! I just know it!” Blizzard’s mind crashed. Friends? Again, so soon? It had been one crazy day for sure. Hugged by a filly who wanted to be his friend along with a colt who said he did despite not sounding the least bit thrilled and now having this strange pegasus adopt him as a friend. And yet Flathoof was the orphan, not him!

Flathoof flew out the door before Blizzard Warning could respond. Blizzard just rubbed his forehead slowly with a hoof. He had a sudden headache and wanted to lay down and take a nap. But his stomach cried out, telling him that it had gotten late and had yet to eat dinner. So Blizzard took a look at his schedule for moving day. It had one more event on it left, the opening banquet.

That must have been what Flathoof had rushed out to go to. The banquet would be in the common grounds out near the Starswirl Building, the main hall. There would be an all-you-can-eat buffet open for all students and staff.

Blizzard’s stomach growled once more, and Blizzard darted out the door as well.

---

By the time that Blizzard had reached the banquet, night had fallen. Lightning bugs were out and about, bathing the darkened landscape in a soft glow. Luna’s blanket of stars and the moon were shining down on Equestria. The weather was warm and there was a nice breeze blowing, all in all, a perfect evening for a picnic!

Blizzard approached the buffet table and piled his plate high with hayburgers, carrots and radishes, an apple turnover, celery, a cucumber sandwich, and a scoop of ice cream. He also picked up one of the many glasses of fruit juice on the table, carrying all of his food to a nearby bench.

With all the glorious food situated and his stomach practically eating itself from anticipation, Blizzard rubbed his hooves together and started tucking away into his food. It wasn’t the greatest food ever, but it beat his old school’s food by a mile. He was so enraptured with filling his stomach that he didn’t notice somepony come up behind him. Two hooves were thrown over his eyes and he flailed in fright.

“Guess who…” came a sing-song voice and a giggle. It didn’t take him long to figure it out, especially with the constant wind blowing on him in spurts.

“Is it Merry Weather?” he asked. The pony behind him removed her hooves and crossed them over her chest, huffing at how quickly he figured it out.

“Awww… you’re no fun…” she complained. He laughed out loud, and the purple pegasus giggled with him. “So how are you? Did you get comfy at your dorm?”

“Uh, yeah, it was great!” he half-lied. He was still recovering from the extreme invasion of privacy from Flathoof to be honest. “I’m staying in the Enchantment Hall. It’s pretty nice, and I even got the bed closest to the window!”

“Awesome!” the filly cried. “I’m staying in the Animation Building. It’s the newest one they’ve got, and it’s amaaazing! So did you meet your roommate? Who is it? Do you like him?” she asked, firing off questions.

“Yeah, I did, his name is Flathoof, and he’s… interesting,” Blizzard said, nodding after answering each question. Merry Weather suddenly backed up sharply.

“Did you say Flathoof?” she asked. Blizzard nodded in the affirmative. “That guy is kinda… kooky.” She started fiddling with her cotton candy colored blue and pink mane. Blizzard furrowed an eyebrow, he knew this already. “He knows like… everything about everypony. It’s kinda scary actually. He was in a few of my classes last year. He’s pretty nice, and uses his powers for good, but I have to admit it’s sort of unnerving.” Blizzard nodded and took a drink out of his juice.

Suddenly, a pair of hooves flew over her eyes this time. Blizzard hacked and choked on his juice as he saw the same yellow pegasus stallion that had told him his life story just a half hour ago.

“Guess who…” Flathoof said in a deep and low voice, perfectly matching Double Dose’s tone. Merry Weather put her hooves on her hips.

“Right, cause you could ever fool anypony, Double Dose,” she said snarkily. The hooves left her eyes and she turned around to look right into the face of Flathoof from less than a nose’s length away.

“Hi Merry Weather,” he said simply.

Merry screamed and launched herself into Blizzard. His cup flew right out of his hooves and he barely managed to catch it with his magic before it landed on the approaching form of Double Dose, the real one this time. Merry Weather clutched hard onto Blizzard as she pointed an accusing hoof at Flathoof.

“Don’t do that!” she screamed. Flathoof just laughed victoriously.

“I heard my name and I came running,” he answered nonchalantly. “How are you?”

Merry Weather huffed out a sigh and turned to face Blizzard, ready to say a snide remark before she noticed his raging blush. She groaned and smacked Blizzard playfully with one of her wings, causing him to lose focus on his magic. His cup, which had returned close to him dropped out of the air and onto the head of Double Dose.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked disinterestedly as his blood-red mane was dripping with the punch. Despite being recently drenched in beverage, his mood didn’t seem any different from his stoic expression on the train. Blizzard wondered whether he held his anger on the inside or simply didn’t care.

Now it was Merry Weather’s turn to blush. She jumped off of Blizzard, pushing off of his stomach, leaving him gasping from the expulsion of air, leaving him coughing and gasping now that the air had been effectively knocked out of him.

“No!” she fussed.

“Merry, Merry, Merry,” the third year earth pony remarked. “Going for the new kids when they don’t know anypony else. Smart.”

She fired forward from where she was hovering and punched her hooves into Double Dose’s side, knocking him over. He winced in pain as he hit the grass, but he still managed to break into a smile and stick out his tongue. Merry blushed once more, her face becoming a reddened patch on her purple coat.

“Hmph, well look at that,” Merry defiantly proclaimed. “I think Double Dose is into me.”

“Hey!” Double Dose retorted. “Am not!”

“Aww, looks like Double Dose doesn’t like the taste of his own medicine.”

“Ha, ha, very funny, Merry, haven’t heard that one before,” Double Dose said as he rolled his eyes.

Blizzard, Flathoof, Merry, and even Double Dose all laughed at the light-hearted frivolity they were sharing.

Flathoof walked over to where Double Dose laid on the ground and offered a hoof. Double Dose took it and regained his balance.

“So, I take it you all are Blizzard’s other friends?” Flathoof asked. “It’s good to see you all again after the summer break.”

“Likewise,” Double Dose answered, despite not really knowing the enigmatic young stallion. “And yes, we’re his friends. So if you disturb him too much, you answer to me.”

“Yeah!” Merry Weather interjected, holding up her hooves in a fighting stance. Flathoof laughed merrily.

“No problem, friends. He and I are roommates, and we’re friends as well,” he responded. “I plan to be good friends with all of you and help him out with anything he might need.”

The answer seemed to be good enough for Double Dose and Merry Weather, so they backed off and all four of the ponies settled onto the bench. There wasn’t enough room for all of them to sit normally, so Merry Weather sat on top of Double Dose’s shoulders. It didn’t look comfortable for him, but his expression betrayed no annoyance.

A flash of light momentarily blinded all the students engaged in conversation and stuffing their faces full. Once the brilliant light faded, headmaster Keen Insight was standing on the crest of a hill next to a pair of large wooden crates.

“Hello everypony!” he declared to the congregated mass of ponies. “Welcome to another great year at Starswirl Academy!”

Some of the ponies were still rubbing the flash out of their eyes, but the majority responded with cheers. The first night on campus was already pretty great, with free food that tasted pretty good and the ability to reconnect and make new friends.

“I hope everypony’s been having a good time tonight,” he said. “I hope that you’re all ready to kick things up a little bit,” he asked the crowd, furrowing his eyebrow in what apparently seemed to be something like a trademark look for him.

The ponies below cheered once more. Keen Insight gestured to the boxes next to him.

“Everypony line up, cause we’ve got fireworks!” he yelled out. “One firework per pony please, and wait for me to launch the first one before you start letting yours go off. You will find directions attached to each one.”

All the ponies raced to form a line at the boxes, stumbling over each other to get first dibs on the fireworks. Blizzard, Merry Weather, Double Dose, and Flathoof all got into line a good way in the line.

After about five minutes, all the students had received a firework stick to launch. Keen Insight made his way to the top of the hill and planted his firework into the ground. He looked to all the other ponies as they did the same. Once he had seen the other ponies ground their fireworks into the hillside, the headmaster touched his horn to the wick and let the first firework go off.

“Fire at will!” he cried in an exaggerated voice as if he were a commander in a warzone. His firework launched into the night, exploding in a dazzling array of sparks and color. These fireworks had been infused with gemstones, making the colors more vibrant than normal materials.

In sporadic bursts, the other students lit their own fireworks, and they launched into the sky in turn, painting the dark with color and booms. Blizzard broke his attention from the spectacle in the sky and lit his own firework. But as he turned away to back up, one of his hooves tipped it and the firework launched down into a buffet table, lighting it on fire.

A few screams went up from the area around the table as staff ponies were on it with fire extinguishers in moments. Blizzard backed away, ashamed at what had just happened. It seemed that nopony seemed to notice, aside from Flathoof of course, and Double Dose threw a quizzical look in Blizzard Warning’s direction when he saw his expression.

Blizzard saw Double Dose’s glance and knew he’d probably have to answer questions later. Besides, he’d understand, right? They were… friends, after all, right? Blizzard’s vision swam just a bit. He didn’t want anypony to link his ‘talents’ to his life back home. Flathoof had already put two and two together, how long would it be until other ponies figured it out? How many more slip-ups?

“Hey, are you okay?” Merry Weather asked, nudging the taller stallion. Blizzard Warning was sweating heavily from his worries. “You’re shaking… do you wanna sit down?”

“N-no, I’m fine,” he said. “W-wow! It sure is hot out, isn’t it?” Blizzard’s attempts to shift the subject were all but ignored by the unimpressed pegasus filly. She opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted by another colt pointing and hollering at his friends to look at the headmaster.

Keen Insight ran to the bottom of the hill and snagged a piece of slowly burning celery before the ponies with the fire extinguishers got to them. He held it like a torch while the fireworks exploded overhead.

When the light show ended, he produced another flash of light from his horn and recaptured the attention of everypony as he cleared his throat.

“And now, we will light the bonfire of friendship and learning to light the path to a new year!” he announced. All the students laughed and cheered. Leave it to Keen Insight to find a way to turn an accident into a festivity.

The stallion made his way to a large pile of wood stacked high. Blizzard sat down and focused until his panicked vision returned to him. Now he was seeing the tower of wood, which looked oddly enough like a stack of books… Hopefully his classmates wouldn’t take the idea of book burning to heart, or else Keen Insight could have a lot of trouble on his hooves.

Flames licked the wooden stack of books and climbed higher and higher, burning more light into the night. Warmth from the flame radiated outward to where Blizzard could even feel it from the hillside. There had to be a section roped off around the bonfire to keep ponies from getting burned by the heat just from proximity.

Blizzard’s new friends took the opportunity to sit down next to him and quickly asked him about what happened when he seemed to have a seizure. But the snowy stallion was quick to shrug it off and pretend that nothing had happened. Flathoof eyed Blizzard carefully, but thankfully managed to figure out that Blizzard wanted to confess on his own time.

“Hey, you guys, you wanna hear about the time I found an orphanage’s funding from a criminal?” he asked the group. As gasps of awe went up from Merry and a surprisingly interested grunt from Double Dose, Blizzard thanked his lucky stars that Flathoof would help him out like that.

Soon the colts and filly were engaged in telling stories from their foalhood and from the last year they had at Starswirl Academy. Blizzard carefully left out anything that would be incriminating to his pariah status back home, but managed to tell a few enticing tales of his foalhood to the others.

Four stories in and Blizzard’s inhibitions had melted away from him. All these ponies had such interesting lives. He was barely able to keep up! And he was already doctoring these stories. He made a mental note to have some adventures of his own up here with his brand new friends so he could have more great memories to share. Just like this one.

So this is what it was like to have friends… Maybe this year wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Author's Note:

Flathoof, well, aren't you just... interesting? Anyone else ever have that roommate who was just kind of weird? Hopefully he turns out to be a good pony, but better stay on guard just in case. Anyway, now that Blizzard has some friends, let's see what his first year at Starswirl has in store for him.

Comments

[Sorril]

That picture is the classic face an author makes when leaving people on a cliffhanger.

[Azure_Shadow]

Heh, Flathoof is already awesome. Makes me think of a male combination of Pinkie Pie and Twilight.