//------------------------------//
// A Friendship Field Trip 
// Story: Twilight's Pirate School 
// by Lets Do This 
//------------------------------//

The next morning, with the Friendship docked safely at the city's downtown airfield, the students trooped out of the local intra-city train station and down the sidewalks of Vanhoover's downtown district. They were shepherded closely by their professors, with Tempest and her soldiers bringing up the rear.

"Okay," Smolder said, her arms crossed in annoyance. "Explain to me again how we're supposed to learn anything about inter-species friendship... by visiting a pony city?"

"You heard Tempest." Gallus smiled. "Our professors want to keep it easy on themselves this first field-trip."

"Maybe," Ocellus offered nervously, "they think that if we each learn how to make friends with ponies, it'll be that much easier to make friends with each other?"

"Or maybe this way, there'll be more ponies to go around?" Silverstream said, excitely. "So everyone's sure to find a friend?"

"Maybe they try to scare us!" Yona growled. "By taking us to big pony city, when Yona come from small yak village. But Yona not scared! Yona is grown yak! Yona can take any..."

They came around a corner, and stood facing a seemingly endless avenue, with tall skyscrapers to either side and bustling traffic all along its length.

"...thing?" Yona finished weakly, cringing and peering up in astonishment.

For many of the Ponyville students, it was also their first visit to one of Equestria's larger urban environments. They gazed in awe at the tall, cylindrical office blocks and apartment complexes, and around at the hundreds of ponies, both locals and tourists, who thronged the sidewalks.

"Now remember!" Twilight called out from her place in front. "This isn't just a pleasure cruise: it's a field trip in Friendship studies. So I'd like you all to start practicing right away. Pair up with your tour buddy, stick close to your assigned professor, and let's get out there and say hello!"

The teams of pony students found this relatively easy, since ponies made up the majority of Vanhoover's population. They simply introduced themselves and the School, and had pleasant chats, both with passersby on the streets and with ponies seated at the outdoor tables of local restaurants.

The members of the Odd Squad, however, found it more of a challenge.

Sandbar was teamed up with Ocellus, which was a study in contrasts: the locals nodded politely enough to him, but eyed her a little nervously. Sandbar had to keep reminding Ocellus not to hide herself in pony form, since the point of the exercise was to promote interspecies understanding... and also because Ocellus had an unfortunate habit of simply copying any pony she happened to be standing next to. This tended to put off anyone who wasn't already a twin or triplet by birth.

Gallus and Smolder each took turns greeting the locals, and they did surprisingly well... considering that each of them would offer a barely tolerant, dispiritedly grumbled "hello" to whoever happened to be standing right in front of them. But given that they were in an urban environment, this paradoxically helped them fit right in. They would often get a mildly disinterested nod in response... at which they would proudly bump claws like champions.

Silverstream was paired up with Yona, and they were like the tag-team of verbal assault. Silverstream would launch herself into the personal space of passers-by, talking a mile a minute. Occasionally she'd remember to introduce herself, usually just as ponies were already running away. And Yona simply trotted around bellowing "Hello!" at everyone, at the top of her lungs.

After an hour or so of this, Twilight called everyone back together. "Now, I know some of you found that easier than others," she told them. "But I want you all to remember that learning to make friends takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. You have to give it time, keep at it, give friendship every opportunity. If you stick with it, you'll get there. So each of you, remember how you did today because one day, when you've finished your classes at the School, you'll be able to look back on today and see just how much progress you've made!"

With that, Twilight swung round and headed off, leading the group onward into the city center.

It so happened that the city was holding a dedication ceremony for its brand new city hall, so the students joined the crowd that had gathered to watch. Gallus pointed a claw-tip at the stage. "Uh, what's with the curly-haired yaks with the feathered headdresses, and the wheelbarrows full of burning tree branches?"

"Those are buffalo, not yaks," Twilight corrected him. "And the branches are cedar. This is a smudging ceremony, where plant matter like sage or cedar is burned and the smoke is used, together with prayer, to symbolically purify an individual or a location, removing any bad influences."

"Seriously?" Smolder shrugged, looking nonplussed. "For a dragon, smoke just means your flame isn't running hot enough. All smoke does is get up your nose."

"Maybe in the Dragonlands," Applejack reminded her. "Where y'all have hot and cold running volcanoes on every corner. But here in the north, fire helps keep folks warm, and the smoke has uses of its own. Like hick'ry-smoked vegetable skewers... mmm... them's good eatin'!"

The buffalo elders were carefully maneuvering the wheelbarrows of smoking cedar along the sidewalks around the exterior of the building, and younger buffalo were carefully carrying smaller clay bowls of smoking herbs into the building, to walk the interior rooms. They also carried small fans made of turkey feathers, which they used to gently guide the smoke to where it was needed.

"Okay," Gallus summarized, "so... smoke used to purify stuff. Uh... why?"

"Because this land once belonged to the buffalo?" Ocellus offered. Then, when the others turned to look at her, she hunched bashfully. "Um... I read that in a history book on Equestria last night."

"Absolutely right," Fluttershy said. "The buffalo were the original inhabitants of the southern and northwestern regions of the continent. And as Equestria expanded over the centuries, we did pretty much push them out of many of their original territories."

Twilight nodded. "Most of the city of Vanhoover is on what's termed 'unceded land', meaning that native title to the land hasn't been officially surrendered nor acquired. So it's common for dedication ceremonies like this to include native purification rituals, as a way of honoring and acknowledging the original inhabitants of the region."

"Yona not understand! Ponies push out buffalos, but have ceremonies honoring them? And buffalos not push out ponies in return?" She shook her head, confused. "Yaks not do things like that. Either yaks in, or yaks out!"

"It is a sore point," Rarity acknowledged. "But for the most part, both sides acknowledge it's the way things are now, and do their best not to step on each other's feelings. The buffalo understand that it's not like the city of Vanhoover could just pack up and move elsewhere. And the city acknowledges that it's occupying their land. And both sides get along from day to day on those terms, more or less."

"That's... pretty reasonable of them," Gallus acknowledged.

"Yeah," Smolder agreed. "And I suppose I can see the point of the smoke-purification thing." She noticed a local pony standing nearby who had unpacked a small bundle of sage for his own use, and was trying unsuccessfully to strike a match to light it. "Here, lemme get that for ya," she said. Snatching the bundle from his startled hoof, she huffed flame on it, then tamped out the flame with her claw, leaving it gently smoking. "There ya go," she said, passing it back. "No charge!"

The pony nervously nodded to her, and began wafting the smoke from the bundle about himself, fervently whispering a prayer to Celestia... though whether it was to purify himself or to guard against creatures like Smolder wasn't quite clear.

After the ceremony, the group wandered along Quilter Street, and passed through the obsidian crystal gate marking the entrance to the city's Dragontown district.

Everyone was amazed by the colorful signs, the seemingly endless small shops and restaurants, and the resident dragons wandering about on their errands. And none more than Smolder, who looked upon the whole thing with a seriously raised eyebrow. "This is what passes for dragon culture in Equestria?" she asked. "Can you say tourist trap? I mean, at home, what few visitors we get take one look at the hot lava baths and combat arenas and run screaming back where they came from."

"Eee-yeah, it's imported culture," Rainbow agreed. "And I suppose it loses a lot in translation. But, ya can't beat good Dragon food, when you're really hungry and nothin' else will hit the spot. Am I right, gang?"

Twilight and the others willingly agreed.

"Dragon food?" Smolder looked unimpressed. "This I gotta see!"

"Well," Twilight suggested, "it's close to lunchtime anyway. What say we find a likely-looking place, and give Smolder a chance to try some?"

There were plenty of options, so they took their time, window-shopping along the way. Finally they came across a place located on a side-street that looked like a hole in the wall from the outside, but had a family-sized dining area inside. The dining room was decorated in dark crystal paneling with glowing lava-seam lighting, beaded curtains, and lava-lamps as accents on each of the tables.

The School's party pretty much filled the place to capacity, but even so it didn't take long for the team of dragon and pony servers to get everyone's order and serve out piping hot plates to them all.

Smolder eyed hers with suspicion. "Uh... what's with all these noodles?" she asked. "And chopped vegetables? And fried hay?" She looked around at the other Odd Squad members. "You guys know this isn't real dragon cuisine, right? I mean, where's the pummeled granite base, the diced gemstones? And where's the lava pool to dip stuff in?"

Rainbow, who happened to be sitting at their table, shrugged at this. "Yeah, to be honest, a lot of this stuff was actually invented in Equestria. The dragons who originally migrated here needed to make a living, so they figured out what ponies liked to eat, and came up with stuff that was quick to prepare and tasty as well. And it works! I mean, I can't tell ya how often I've found myself dying for some sweet and sour lava rocks!"

"Bleh." Smolder wrinkled her nose. "It's just diced vegetables in some kind of fried pastry, with honey and hot sauce drizzled all over it. I mean, come on!"

Gallus grinned. "Hey, don't knock it. This stuff is pretty great."

"Not you too! I thought you were the sensible one here!"

"I'm a griffon." He shrugged. "We like what we like."

"And I looove the noodles!" Silverstream said. "And the egg-rolls! And the carrots in Commander Hurricane's Sauce! And... that other thing that I just ate! I don't know what it was, but it was delicious! Oh, and did I mention the noodles?"

"Yona want more pancakes!" She pounded the table with a hoof.

"Uh, I think you're supposed to use them to wrap the chopped vegetables," Ocellus suggested nervously. "Not just eat them by themselves."

"Oh. Yona not know this. Yona try it that way..." She smiled craftily. "If Yona get more pancakes!"

Sandbar was loading his plate with an extra helping of the chopped suet. "Could somepony... uh, sorry... somecreature pass the sear sauce?"

Gallus stared at the various condiment bottles, utterly baffled. "Uh... is that the red stuff, the brown stuff, the green stuff, or the... what the heck color is that anyway?"

"The bottle that looks like it's filled with squid ink."

"Oh. Here." Gallus gingerly passed it to him. "Whatever lifts your wings, I guess."

"Thanks! Yum!"

After lunch, they continued their walk through the downtown area, exiting Dragontown and coming to a large marketplace square, with shops and small carts selling sweets and baked goods.

"Now, if you'll indulge me," Twilight said, "there's a particular store over there a friend asked me to visit, since it has something he was looking for. And I also think it would make a useful stop on our Friendship field trip. So stick close together, and remember to take notes!"

The griffon owner of Wing And Claw Games was rather startled when the store was suddenly inundated by a large group of ponies and other creatures. She was even more amazed when she saw that the pony in the lead was Princess Twilight.

"This is such an honor!" Diceclaw's gold-flecked wings flapped excitedly as she rushed around the counter to shake Twilight's hoof. "I've read so much about you, Your Highness. In your Friendship Journal, I mean!" She pointed a claw at the purple-jacketed volume sitting on a display shelf behind the register.

"Oh, call me Twilight, please! And it's wonderful meeting someone who's actually read the thing." Twilight grinned. "I'm here with a group of students from my School of Friendship, on a field trip to see the city and its culture. And I figured it might be interesting for them to learn about the kinds of games ponies like to play. I mean, if you have time, and wouldn't mind answering questions?"

"Not at all. It's not busy right now. I'd be glad to!"

Twilight nodded thankfully. "Oh, and one other thing: my assistant asked me -- well, pestered me is more like it! -- to ask if you might have a Third Edition copy of the Monster Manual from Ogres and Oubliettes? Apparently he wanted to compare the old stats for some of the tougher monsters he's using in his next adventure."

"Absolutely! I probably have that on the used book shelf on the back room. Give me one second and I'll check!"

Diceclaw quickly found and wrapped the book up for Twilight. Then she circulated among the students wandering amongst the shelves, to answer questions.

Smolder was doubtfully picking up boxes and reading the descriptions on the backs of them. "Lemme get this straight," she finally said to the other students. "Instead of actually going out and doing things like fighting monsters, cutting trade deals, and waging battles for dominance and territory... you just sit around playing cards, rolling dice, and pushing little markers around on a piece of cardboard?"

Sandbar shrugged. "Hey, don't knock it. If you don't happen to be a big muscular pony, it evens out the playing field. And it means you can wage no-holds-barred war in your living room and everyone can still go home completely unharmed. And some of these games can be really challenging." He pointed a hoof at a huge box on one shelf. "That one, in particular... it's a test of memory and skill just setting it up to play. But it's totally worth it once you do!"

Ocellus stared wide-eyed at a display table, which had a game board set up, covered with cards, markers, and small colored chips. "We don't have anything like this back in the Changeling Hive!" she whispered.

Sandbar smiled at the others. "Looks like we've got a convert already!"

"I should totally learn some of these games," Ocellus went on. "And then send them back home for the other Changelings to play. We'd be able to settle our disagreements so much more peacefully!"

Pinkie Pie happened to be listening. "Don't send them Ponyopoly!" she warned. "Or you might not have a Hive to go back to. But you should totally talk to Spike, Twilight's assistant. He's our resident game-master back in Ponyville."

"Thanks, I will!"

Near the front of the store, Gallus was chatting with Diceclaw. "So, you started this store pretty much on your own? That's... seriously awesome!"

"Thanks!" She nodded. "It was rough at first, figuring out what to stock, keeping track of orders, and so on. But once I got into the swing of it, things went much more smoothly. And once I felt able to run gaming nights -- phew! I never looked back. Those are so much fun!"

"Gaming nights?"

"Nights when the store is open late, and locals come by to play their favorite games against each other. We've got a bunch of regulars already, and it's nice seeing them again and again. We get the veteran gamers, of course, but we also get businessponies, and students from the University, and families with older children, and customers who wander in off the street to see what the fuss is about. And we get all kinds of species, since it's a college town. There's ponies, and griffons, and dragons from Dragontown... they're really into Clawstrike, by the way! Don't ever challenge a dragon at Clawstrike!"

"I'll... make a note of it," Gallus said.

"And some of the regulars are so hilarious. There's the showboats who can't really play but are a scream to listen to, because they talk a mile a minute, all night long..."

"Sounds like somecreature I know." Gallus glanced at Silverstream, who was enthusing at length to a startled pony customer about some game she herself had only learned about thirty seconds ago.

"... and then there's the quiet ones," Diceclaw went on, "who wait until the very last second to drop that triple damage combo in Assembly of Sorcery. And then there's these two ponies who spend so much time arguing over minutia of rules... it's like they hardly ever finish a game, right?" She smiled. "And then there's Bug Out!"

"Bug Out?" Gallus raised an eyebrow.

"That's not his real name. It's a nickname folks have given him. He's this really huge, really aggressive griffon. He's seriously into wargaming, and he basically loses it at every session and flips the table. Some of the customers even take side bets on how long he'll last!"

Gallus looked uncomfortable. "But... if he's always like that, who'd ever want to play games with him?"

Diceclaw shrugged. "Because he's so apologetic afterward, and he pays for any damage. And he'll always take the time to tutor anycreature who wants to play the games he's expert in. So we've gotten used to him. He's basically just part of the evening's entertainment."

"Wow..." Gallus looked thoughtful. "I never realized anyone could actually learn to like how we griffons behave!"

"That's the funny thing about gaming," Diceclaw agreed. "It gives you something safe to argue about and compete in, so you have a chance to learn about the nice qualities of the creatures you're gaming with."

"I'll... bear that in mind, too!"

Since many of the students had expressed interest in learning some of the more well-known board and card games, Twilight purchased a few of them for the School and had one of Tempest's soldiers take charge of them to bring back to the ship.

And then, gathering up the students, she pressed onwards, leading them up into the heights near the tip of the seaboard peninsula, and onto the main campus of the University of Vanhoover.

"And here we are," she said, proudly. "One of the finer institutions of higher education in all of Equestria!"

And if the population on the streets of downtown had felt mildly diverse, here it was a true melting pot: there were ponies from all the various towns and cities in Equestria, plus a smattering of dragons, griffons, and a fair number of buffalo students. There was even a small group of zebra, trotting quietly in perfect step across the central quad. And Ocellus was pretty sure she could sense a Changeling or two, hidden somewhere amongst the passing students.

"Wow!" Sandbar said. "I thought the School of Friendship was cool, having students from so many cultures studying together. But this place..."

"What pony mean?" Yona glanced around, dismissively. "Yona not see yaks! School not cool without yaks!"

"And hippogriffs!" Silverstream shouted. "Oh yeah, right. We're still just coming out of hiding. And that means... I'm the first one here! YAY!"

"There's all kinds of creatures here," Smolder agreed. "It's nice seeing I'm not the only dragon who wound up being shipped off to school."

"And griffons, too..." Gallus chuckled. "Hey, maybe this school thing isn't going to be as hard as I thought."

"Is that a library over there?" Ocellus pointed with a hoof. "Wow! I wonder how many books it has!"

The students were all looking around now, commenting animatedly, pointing things out to each other.

At the head of the group, Twilight had come to a halt. And she stood there, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"There are a lot of different species here," she said quietly.

Rainbow, standing next to her, shrugged dismissively. "Eh, it probably has a lot to do with this place being so far from Canterlot," she said. "Nobody bothers coming all this way to check up on who's enrolled."

"And too," Applejack added, "this place has been in operation a while. They've had time to bring in students from different cultures bit by bit. Whereas we're basically startin' from scratch, gettin' it all rolling all at once."

"And ya know," Pinkie added, stotting happily, "this place just teaches boring practical stuff like science and art and history and engineering. But we're the only School that's all about teaching Friendship! Yes, indeedy!"

Twilight nodded, dispiritedly. Then she wandered away from the group and came to a halt beside a nearby fountain, staring down into its rippling waters.

Gallus stared after her, puzzled. "Hey, what's up with Headmare Twilight?"

Smolder crossed her arms. "Yeah! I thought she was all about schools and learning and stuff. What's got her so down about this place?"

The students suddenly became aware of Tempest. The Commander had trotted forward from her place at the back of the group, and stood close behind them, staring at Twilight. There was an unreadable look on her face.

"This Friendship School means a lot to her," she said quietly. "She wants it to be the very best it can be. And she's been facing... well, I'll just say she's had to deal with some opposition back home. Some officials have questioned the need for a school devoted to Friendship."

"Oh!" Silverstream looked worried. "There's nothing, well... wrong with it, is there?"

"Nothing at all," Tempest replied evenly. "Why would there be?"

Applejack trotted over and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Y'alright there, sugarcube?" she asked gently. "We, uh... we still got a field-trip to finish up here..."

Twilight sighed, and pulled herself together. "You're right, A.J. ... and thanks for reminding me."

"Uh... perhaps, Your Highness..." Tempest said, "we should consider heading back soon? It's getting late in the day. And it'll be a bit of a walk back, even if we take the cross-town train like we planned."

"Good point," Twilight agreed, turning back to the students. "Though I did want you all to have a chance to see what a land-based school was like. So we'll limit ourselves to a quick tour around the campus, just to get a feel for things. And who knows? Maybe along the way we'll see some useful ideas for things we can do at our School, huh?"

The students nodded willingly, and followed after her.