As Celestia’s sun faded and Luna’s moon rose, all of the students at the Friendship School prepared for a good night’s sleep in. Many had had a great day learning new topics and expanding their knowledge on what had already been learnt. Gallus had invented a new trick to score more points in quidditch, and Sandbar scored a A+ on a geology test. Yona had a blast with her football, having perfected her technic of bouncing it from her horn onto her back and then kicking with her back legs.
Smolder, however, had not perfected any tricks, nor had she learned the key technic that Silverstream’s mind held. And she had attempted to release it in the form of a demonstration involving a blend of explanatory words and action. But that action had led to overworking a motion, resulting in a head injury. Twilight had stated it would take about three weeks for Silverstream’s head to heal, but even for Smolder, who’d come to tolerate and even admire Silverstream’s exuberancy and passionate sharing nature, three weeks was too much.
By nine p.m. all the students were quietly snoozing away in bed - except for one restless dragon. Smolder was too dazed, disappointed, sad, and even a little frustrated to care for sleep. She wanted to visit her friend in the hospital. She wanted to ride her board again, too - but how, with so little time and such stiff restrictions? Twilight’s friends had praised her abilities in class to perform well and cooperate despite being naturally competitive. But now, there wasn’t anything to compete against or to strive for. There was just an urge and a longing. A longing to be independent, free, and creative no matter what the environment or those within it threw at her.
Which left one option: escape.
Smolder slipped through the doors and raced down the steps, heading straight for the nearest classroom. She gripped the handle and tried to turn it. It was locked. She tried the next one, and then the next. All locked. Finally, she found one with the door slightly ajar.
Perhaps one of the staff forgot this one while closing up, she thought, stepping inside. Without any lights, the room was completely dark - apart from a few beams of moonlight poking through the windows. Finding her bearings, Smolder found a quill pen, ink, and some paper by the teacher’s desk. Moving over to one of the moonlight beams, she sat down and raised her hand… then hesitated. Was this choice sincere? Did she really want to sneak away, just to be free with her board? There was no guarantee that the rest of Equestria would welcome her, in spite of the friendship school’s growing popularity.
Swallowing the lump in her little dragon throat, she lowered her hand and started to write.
Dear Twilight,
Thank you for all the amazing support and effort to teach so many young minds of all kinds about the magic of friendship. While part of me wants to continue learning and expanding knowledge, I feel that I need some... extended time off. I have found my mind too occupied with a fascination of this board that I have to be able to properly focus and dedicate myself to learning friendship and the other activities your school has to offer. By the time you read this I’ll be long gone, having traveled to a place where I can be free to let my mind have ample time to exploit all corners of creativity in coming up with new ways to have fun with my board. Once I feel at ease with this burst of eager creativeness, I’ll be able to return and get my mind clear and focused on learning friendship properly. Please don’t worry about me - I won’t be gone for long. Like I said, I just need some time.
- Smolder
With the words sealed in ink, she rolled it up and stuffed it under the door to Twilight’s head office, before heading back up the steps into the dorm. With one last look at all the sleepyhead students, Smolder’s heart sank a little as she noticed Silverstream’s empty bed. Gripping her board, she pushed the window open, stepped onto the sill, and took off into the night.
Flapping her wings a little harder to cope with the added weight of the board, Smolder really didn’t know exactly where she’d be going, but wanted to be in a well-lit area where her mind could de-stress and release all the creativity within. Her eyes weren’t super adept to low light, but with the aid of Luna’s bright warm moon, she could make out the town square. The road looked flat and without any lights on.
Aha! she thought, and raced down towards Ponyville.
But upon a closer investigation, her hopes were quickly crushed as she noticed a rather pebbly surface of the road, and many house lights still on, with some actually starting to turn on. Added to which, there was still a few ponies walking about for who-knows-what reason. Smolder didn’t think of it twice and flew off out of ground-level sight, fast. If anypony saw her, they’d want to know why she, as a dragon, was meddling in their little town, and then they’d report her to Twilight - who definitely wouldn’t be happy at all. Worse yet, they could perceive her as a spy or a threat to their kind.
Speeding off back northeast, Smolder again was confronted with the same question: where exactly to go? She’d been so hasty to try and fix all the complexities of her restlessly troubled mind that she hadn’t completely thought her escape plan through.
If she actually had one, that is.
The chugging sound of a train soon gave her a solution - ride the rails to Canterlot and find a place there. The elites may not like it, but there wasn’t much they’d be able to do about it - right?
Deeming her plan feasible, Smolder chased after the train as it left Ponyville, flying towards the caboose and gradually reducing her altitude. Once low enough, she gently landed on top of the car’s roof and laid back, resting her board on top of her belly, keeping one hand close by in case it fell off.
The journey to the big city took a while, and Smolder passed the time by forcing her slumber-ridden head to think of what Silverstream was attempting to do. She’d whispered the sequence to herself before pulling up her bike’s handlebars, but it hadn’t been loud enough for the little dragon’s ears to hear clearly. The only option left was to use rough guesses to fill in the detailed spaces from what Silverstream had excitedly and hurriedly summarized over lunch break.
“Just do what you wish, and apply whatever you can remember along the way. Creativity has no bounds.”
The train pulled into the station with a loud screech and steamy hiss, jolting Smolder awake with a shock and throwing her prized board off the caboose’s roof - towards the tracks. She shot her arm out and caught it just in time. Several ponies got off - but only about ten or so. Fortunately the train’s night crew were already well into their shift and so there wasn’t much to worry about her being noticed. There still was the issue of those who were present noticing a flying dragon. So Smolder simply sat back and waited. Once everypony was inside the station building and the platform was clear, she gripped her board and took off, flying over the station building and into the city. Like in Ponyville, there were a few townsfolk still out and about, but not too many.
To make things easier, Smolder flew in an irregular pattern over the city, such that her shadow would not be directly cast over the streets below. For the most part, the streets were wide and the buildings tall and elegant, their designs clearly exhibiting the luxury aesthetic feel they were designed with in mind. Keeping her eyes peeled for any movement or pony-shaped figures on the ground below, Smolder soon found an empty street and dove straight down, curving her flight path horizontal and upwards at the last moment to avoid a crash. Her eyes glowed with delight as a brief stroll revealed what she’d been looking for - flat, smooth ground with no overly bumpy or rocky texture.
“Yes!” Smolder quietly exclaimed. Looking out down the road, she saw that the rest of the road had the same texture. Now all she had to do was find a wide enough space with a good amount of moonlight.
Back in the air, it took a mere minute to spot it: a wide open space where an alleyway and three large roads met, with a statue of Princess Celestia adorning the middle with two benches off to the side. With a smooth, elegant surface, the ground was perfect for skating. Furthermore, no lights were on, and the air was dead quiet - apart from a very slight, gentle wind.
Flying in, Smolder set her board on the bench and sat down to relax for a bit. She looked around at the ground, the flat, circular pedestal that the statue stood on top of, and the dancing flames of the streetlights on the sides of the surrounding buildings. Her eyes drooped and her body felt limp. It was time to call it quits. Now that she’d found a place, all that was needed was to wait until early morning, between the fade of night and sunrise - during which she could practice with her board and try to unleash all of her stuck, overbearing creative side.