The doors opened, and Gallus flew to the corner of the main room, standing behind one of the pillars. The amount of ponies in one room felt...intense.
Twilight made her confident stride to the center of the room, where she introduced herself as Headmare. She instructed the students to see the guidance counselor to sign in and receive their class schedules.
Gallus looked at the pink unicorn, and noticed the welcoming demeanor she held from the softness in her eyes, her smile, and the gentle wave of her hoof.
Bonk!
Gallus nearly fell as he felt some creature bump into him. He caught his footing just as he heard the creature talking to him.
"Whoa, sorry. I'm Sandbar, are you a student here too?"
Gallus turned to face the light green pony, with many different shades of green from the lightness in his eyes to the dark multiple shades of his mane. He looked like a beautiful garden in the form of a pony.
It was when he was taking in these details that he realized that he hadn't spoken a word. He was staring agape at the first pony student he met.
Shit, say something you dumb fuck!
“No, I thought I'd just randomly stand here and see how many ponies would walk into me.” Gallus huffed, blowing his head feathers into place.
Sandbar simply looked at him, his smile not fading in the slightest at Gallus’ weird introduction. The silence, among the undeterred look that Sandbar gave him, was causing Gallus to blush. He opened his mouth to spea-
“Gallus!”
There goes the smile, Sandbar frowned at the loud voice calling the griffon’s name. Not waiting for a response, Gallus walked past him and towards Grandpa Gruff.
“Grandpa Gruff, what’re you doing here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Came all the way from Griffonstone to introduce...Gallus.” Grandpa Gruff said with a dramatic wave of his claw.
As he was speaking, Gallus recognized the blue rainbow-maned pegasus in front of him.
“Rainbow Dash?” Gallus asked. “You’re a teacher? Huh, Gilda told me about you, thought you’d be cooler.”
“What the buck?” Rainbow Dash growled. “What kind of smart-mouthed griffon did you bring to our school, Grandpa Gruff?”
“Hehe.” Grandpa Gruff snickered. “He’s your problem now, pony.”
Gallus smirked, reveling in their conversation. The griffons back at Griffonstone were used to his sarcastic comments, but ponies? They were innocent little poofballs, according to Grandpa Gruff. Messing with them could be a lot of fun.
Rainbow Dash gave Gallus a cross look before flying past him.
“Well, I best be taking my leave. I’ll be back for the Friends and Family mumbo jumbo that Twilight told me about to see your progress.” Grandpa Gruff patted Gallus’ shoulder. “See ya.”
“Um, thanks by the way.” Gallus said, looking away. “For everything.”
“Don’t mention it, kid.” Grandpa Gruff said. He flew out the door, leaving Gallus by himself.
There were so many things going on at once: a big brown creature was stumbling into the pillars of the building, losing her footing, a skinny pony-like bug was running away from...another griffon? No, she had hooves at the ends of her legs instead of paws. Wha?
The pony-like bug that Gallus was unfamiliar with abruptly turned into another pony, hiding in the crowds. The griffon-like creature stopped and looked around the room, eventually landing her gaze on Gallus.
“Whoa!!” she shouted. “Are you another hippogriff?!”
Great griffons above, she was the shrillest creature Gallus had ever heard! Definitely not a griffon.
“Uh, no.” Gallus muttered. “Griffon, I got paws instead of hooves. See?”
He sat on his haunches and extended his paws out for the hippogriff to see. She flew right above his legs and felt his paws with her talons.
Her face being inches away from his face and...other body parts, made heat spread throughout his body. Does this girl not know boundaries? She reminded him of…
Don’t think about her right now. Today’s your chance to start over.
“I’m Gallus, by the way.” Gallus broke the silence.
“Silverstream!” the hippogriff held out her other talon, shaking Gallus’. “Thanks for letting me feel your paws.”
Hopefully that’s the only thing you feel from me.
“N-No problem.” Gallus got up. “I’m gonna go check in registration now.”
“Oh my goodness, I almost forgot about that! Where is it again?” Silverstream asked. “Nevermind that, I’ll just follow you!”
“Cool.” Gallus said, looking at the pink unicorn again. The line in front of her was a long one, so long that Gallus considered meeting other creatures while the line dwindled.
“I, um, will probably wait actually.” Gallus decided. “Long lines are boring.”
“Aren’t they?!” Silverstream agreed. “Life is too short for boring lines, let’s go meet more students! Is...IS THAT A YAK?!”
Before Gallus could respond, Silverstream flew towards the big brown creature Gallus saw earlier. Which was a yak, Gallus realized.
Twilight resumed talking again, reminding students of the Friends and Family Day coming up. Gallus frowned. The ponies probably had family to invite, but what about him?
A scrawny yellow mare with a dark blue mane bumped into Gallus. Gallus turned around, recognizing her as the pony-like bug from earlier.
“Hey you!” Gallus leaned closer. “How do you transform like that?”
“I, um. I’m a ch-changeling.” the mare stammered, reverting back to her original form. “My name is Ocellus.”
“Gallus.” the griffon replied.
“Hey! I just realized, I didn’t catch your name earlier.”
Sandbar approached the griffon and changeling, looking at the former with his signature calm smile.
“Gallus.” he felt the heat returning to his face, again.
“Ocellus.” the changeling managed a smile.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Sandbar.” Sandbar grinned.
“Yona can’t wait to make pony school better!” the yak shouted, tumbling into the conversation. She nearly knocked Sandbar over, grinning at Gallus and Ocellus.
“Hey, at least you’re in your original form now.”
A tall, orange, and scaly creature approached Ocellus, smirking at her.
“I didn’t get to introduce myself to you, I’m Smolder.” the creature grinned. “Dragons can really be intimidating, I don’t blame ya for running off.”
“I’m uh, Gallus.” Gallus stated, noticing the predatory stare Smolder was giving Ocellus.
The intensifying look disappeared entirely as Smolder looked at the griffon, puzzled.
“Oh, hey.” Smolder gave a slow wave of her claw, looking at the other creatures that were apparently staring at her.
“A little intimidating, isn’t it?” Ocellus mocked her, giggling.
“Oh shut up.” Smolder huffed, walking towards registration.
Gallus found it to be a weird way to meet all the other non-ponies of the School of Friendship, but at least he was on the road to making new friends. And if these friendships stayed strong, perhaps he’ll stay here in Ponyville where he felt welcomed.
“This school sucks ass!”
“Hey now, these heroic mares worked hard to make this school happen.” Sandbar defended their teachers to Gallus.
The griffon and his pony friend were walking down the hallway leading to their dorm rooms, weeks after they had all met each other.
“Maybe, but Twilight’s ruining it with her dumb book!” Gallus hissed. “Pinkie was about to put me in a canon and blast me out the window!”
“And then what? What if you sprained a wing, or broke a leg?” Sandbar stopped, glaring at Gallus.
“Why do you care?!” Gallus squawked. “Let it happen to me then!”
“I...I need to go.” Sandbar sighed, turning his back to Gallus and towards his room.
Gallus exhaled sharply through the nostrils in his beak. Doesn’t that dumb fuck know that he could just fly as soon as he was blasted out the window?
It’s Twilight’s fault that I wanna launch myself out a window to begin with! How am I supposed to pass all my classes and keep my sanity? It’s endless textbook pages and pop quizzes! If I fail, I might be sent back to...oh no.
No, Grandpa Gruff wouldn’t. That old hag knew exactly how bad things were for him, and he wouldn’t want to bring a homeless griffon back to Griffonstone anyway! Right?
Gallus needed to ensure that his citizenship in Ponyville was safe and secure, no matter what happened. He couldn’t go to that alicorn he once trusted, the book and her obsession with it was derailing everything.
Sandbar wasn’t the only one frustrated with him, they were all complaining and having spats with one another. This wasn’t the place he thought it was.
But then he remembered the kind guidance counselor at registration. She was usually packed with erupting students most of the day, but it was about half an hour before she’d leave to go home. He had to see if he could secure his safety.
Gallus flew the other direction, into the hallways until he saw the door of the unicorn’s office, slightly cracked open. There was no line. Gallus breathed in, ebbing some of his anxiety into the air.
He knocked on the door.