“Okay class, that is it. Thank you for attending and I’ll see you-”
Fluttershy had barely let the word “later” leave her lips when Silverstream bolted out of the room, far ahead of every other creature. While they may simply be eager for a good lunch or to prepare for gym class, Silverstream had other plans.
“Smolder!” she called out, pushing the cafeteria doors open with a bang! That sent everyone’s heads spinning around. Glancing around, she desperately looked and searched for the little orange dragon, eager to tell him about her revolutionary brainwave. Staff and the noise of cookery machines aside, the room was quiet.
Silverstream frowned. Had Smolder stayed behind for extra help during her class? Or had she snuck out with her board on some wild dragon adventure?
“Smolder? Smoooooolderrrrrrrr!” she called out, running down the hall, frantically glancing around for her friend. Reaching the end of the hall, she noticed a plump little rump with a purple tail disappearing into another room.
“Twilight, Twilight!” she called out, flying over as fast as she could, skidding to a stop in front of the headmare just in time.
“Woah, Silverstream, what’s got you so hyper?” Twilight Sparkle inquired.
“It’s Smolder,” Silverstream replied, catching her breath in short pants. “I looked around in the cafeteria and she wasn’t there! I really need to tell her something important!”
Twilight shot the tense hippogriff a shrewd look. “I suppose it has something to do with Spinner?”
“Yes, I can’t wait!”
“Well, let’s look for her. Maybe she’s still in class trying to study something.”
The two walked back down the hall and returned to the cafeteria. Sandbar, Yona, and the others were there, and so were almost all of the other students. But not Smolder.”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “Interesting. We already established no students can leave by their own will, and must have a verified valid reason for doing so. So why don’t you go on ahead and eat, and I’ll see if she’s still in class. If so, I’ll let you know right away.”
“Okay.”
Feeling a little more at ease, Silverstream rushed into the cafeteria, put together a quick meal of mackerel and kelp salad, and sat down at a table in the corner, though still visible from the entrance door. She took a few bites from the salad, gazed out to the rows of tables where other students were happily chatting together in groups, and sighed sadly. Without her friends for company and support, eating felt like the most boring thing ever. She could only hope that Smolder would show up soon.
As if on cue, Yona trotted up, a soft, almost motherly concerning look across her face.
“Why Silverstream sad? Anything yak can do to make hippogriff feel happy?”
Silverstream looked up from her platter of food and smiled, albeit sadly. “I’m just eagerly waiting for Smolder because I really really wanted to tell her something amazing I discovered and I don’t want to forget it before she arrives!”
Yona sat next to her. “Well, maybe you can tell me it first. Even if it may not be to my complete interest…”
“Letting it out will help you hear your own thoughts as you wish to present them. That way they’ll stick with you longer,” Sandbar added, walking over and sitting across from them both. “So, what’s the big discovery?”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Silverstream began to explain how she had closely observed a ferret’s method of running across a long table in Fluttershy’s class and the method of transferring the energy of jumping, in addition to shifting weight forward.
“Sounds interesting, actually,” Sandbar admitted. “I’ve never thought of jumping that way before.”
Just then, Smolder flew in through the doors and put together a quick lunch. Spotting Silverstream at a table in the corner, she sped over right away and set down her tray.
“Hey Silverstream, so sorry for being late. Battling my inner competitive side was a real fight in Rarity’s class, and so was my fiery breath. But hey, I discovered I’m almost as fast as her at sewing!”
“Go figure, you have fingers,” Sandbar mused. “But experience with telekinesis always wins.”
With Smolder now at the table, Silverstream quickly reiterated her thoughts and the events of Fluttershy’s class.
“I mean, it’s no clear-cut answer to the puzzling thought I had earlier in the gym this morning, but-”
“What in Equestria are we waiting for?” Smolder blurted, gobbling down the rest of her lunch. “Let’s do this. I believe we can coax Dash into a few extra minutes in gym class.”
Silverstream gobbled down the rest of her mackerel, sipped some water, and slid her tray onto the pile of used ones. Wiping her mouth, she then headed out of the cafeteria, with her dragon friend right behind her. Galloping down the halls, they skeetered into the gym and pushed the doors open, only to find the room empty. No one was around - not Rainbow Dash, no staff, nothing.
“Well, free for all! Let’s -” Smolder huffed, then bit her lip upon realizing her skateboard was still under her bed.
“Oh, great! I left it upstairs, didn’t I?”
Before Silverstream could even respond, Smolder was halfway down the hall. Just as she turned around a corner, her heart froze. Twilight was there, but her back was to the dragon, talking with some of the staff members. And the door to the stairwell was on the other side.
Smolder sighed and her face fell. How was she going to get her board now without being noticed? There was no way around the crowd without being seen, and crawling across the ceiling would be too noisy.
A slight breeze gave her the answer. To her left, a window was wide open. If she could get through it and fly outside, then…
“Aha!” Smolder thought, running to the window. Although it was fairly large, she just about squeezed through. Popping her wings open, she flew up and around, glancing at the windows.
So if that was the window at the hallway corner, then the stairwell must be there, and...yes! It should be this one.
Pinpointing the dorm window, Smolder flew straight towards it and pulled at the shutters. Thankfully, they were still unlocked, and with a little effort, she climbed through and landed in the dorm with a plop. Right there, still under the bed, was her beloved board. Reaching under, she grabbed it, closed the shutters (which were swinging in the wind) and raced for the stairs. Just as she reached the bottom, the commanding get somewhat genial voice of Twilight Sparkle rang out.
“Alright, so do we all agree on this?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now, would you please get to work on the dorm?”
Smolder didn’t really care for what was said, she just didn’t want to be seen. And now one of the cleaners was coming right this way! His hoofsteps were close - there was no time to run back up the steps and dive out the window - at least not without being seen and/or heard.
Looking around, Smolder found the answer again - a small chandelier hanging above her in the stairwell. Flying up, she planted her feet on the angled ceiling and held onto the chandelier’s chain with one hand, holding the board in the other - all while keeping as quiet as possible. Once the cleaning-stallion had safely passed on by, all the way up the steps, Smolder flew back down onto the steps and peered out into the hall. A quick click of a door latch indicated Twilight was back in her office. The coast was clear. Gripping the board firmly in one hand, Smolder ran and ran down the halls as fast as she could, almost bumping into two ponies on her way. Finally she burst through the doors and into the gym, where Silverstream already had her bike out and Yona was also practicing bouncing her ball from horn to horn.
“You ready, Smolder?” Silverstream called out.
“Definitely!”
“Alright, let me break it down as best as I can remember.”
Silverstream hopped onto her BMX bike and began thinking of what she’d seen in class. All the minute details of Sasha preparing to run and jump - the little ferret’s feet, the muscles’ movements, and the body’s postures.
Sasha’s feet were flat, so Silverstream leveled out her pedals. Leaning forward and gripping the handlebars, she tried to remember how the little ferret readied for the forward movement. A pull backward like during the “punch” that gave energy for a jump, and tucking the front legs back along with the body, and pulling the back up and forward…
Before she could think about it too much, Silverstream tightened her arms and squatting forward, straightened out her legs and pulled back hard. There was a clang and a crash, and her vision went blurry, then to black, and then to blurry again. Smolder’s voice rang out, yet it sounded distant.
“Silverstream! You okay?”
“Uuuuuunnnnnnnggggggghhhhhhhhh,” was all Silverstream muttered in return. When she reached for her head, a zap of pain shot through her skull, causing her to pull back.
“Here, let me help you,” Smolder offered, lifting the poor hippogriff off her back and upright on the gym floor. After a few minutes, Silverstream found her bearings and immediately noticed her bike on its side.
“W-wh-what happened?”
“Well, you pulled on the handlebars too hard and flipped over backwards, and hit your head pretty hard. I think you need to pull a little less harder.”
Yona then spoke up, peering at Silverstream from behind.
“Yak think hippogriff needs ice pack and a long rest to recover. Well, because she not as strong as yak!”
A good while later, Silverstream lay in the Ponyville hospital bed, her head bandaged up and her belly full of food and some medicine. At the other students’ insistence, Twilight declined to destroy the bike or the skateboard, but had them confiscated under lock and key until Silverstream had fully recovered.
Her eyes droopy from the medicine, Silverstream looked up at the plain, bland ceiling, thinking longingly about her beloved BMX bike, then felt her wrapped-up head again. She wanted to just get up and rest her legs on those pedals, to grip those handlebars, to ride again. So badly. Deep down, she knew the technic and had a strong feeling that it would work.
Except this time it didn’t - and had painful consequences.