//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Hi Friend! // Story: The Magic of Friendship - Part 1 // by johnerose126 //------------------------------// Starlight Glimmer couldn't remember the last time she was this awakened by something that sounded so bizarre and eerily so delightful, despite how exciting things can get at school. The difference was because she was at a school where, officially, they were ranked number one as the most diverse school in Equestria (thanks to the EEA), so of course weird things can happen at any given moment and with that, she, and the rest of the school staff, will be prepared, ready to fix the mad potion, tree, or whatever the problem was among the creatures. Despite those circumstances, it has been a long time since she ever had that feeling of being adventurous, as it has been forever since she had to go on some crazy adventure where Equestria was hanging at the balance of total destruction. So when she heard a very loud, very royal "SWEET CELESTIA!" and a loud thump from above, she woke up with a start, immediately sitting up on her bed, her eyes wide open. The same trait of calmness she would present at school whenever such an explosion happened didn't apply to her at her home, for obvious reasons. "Did you just hear that?!"  It also didn't apply to her husband as well. Starlight turned slowly to look at Sunburst, who was down on the ground, leading her to assume that he jumped out of the bed in a panic. She nodded her head slowly at him, as her horn was powering up with magic, her turquoise aura giving little bits of light in the dark bedroom.  Sunburst, knowing Starlight well, immediately spoke. He knew her well enough to know what she was about to do despite being many moons since she showed such inattention to herself. "Wait, Starlight! We don't know who or what is up there! For all we know, this could be something big thing that we- you can't handle!" "It'll all be fine, Sunburst," responded Starlight quietly, her eyes still fixed at Sunburst. She was getting her teleportation spell ready along with a couple of shield and blast spells in mind in preparation for the upcoming battle. Her mind was elsewhere at the moment as well, as she was trying to figure out where exactly did the “explosion” happen. The more she thought about it, the more she was certain that it had to come from the room she just cleaned yesterday. "It'll all be fine." "Where are you even going to Teleport!?" hissed Sunburst as he grabbed the ends of the blanket from the bed, suddenly then fidgeting around in terror. "Don’t worry about it. I'll see you soon," answered Starlight in an assuring voice. She was ready. And with that, without waiting for a desperate goodbye from Sunburst, she teleported in the room that she knew it had to have come from. She wasn't worried about getting kidnapped or beaten up. She was worried about the room and how Sunburst might find herself in after the battle. Immediately upon teleporting, she did a somersault away from her location and fired two blasts toward… whatever that something was, holding her ground and putting up a magical shield in front of her as she looked through her magic aura to glance at who or what she was going up against. Like waking up from one of Applejack’s cider parties, the answer slammed her hard. Her mouth dropped open as she saw that the two blasts that she fired were being held in their spot, not moving forward at all. Just vibrating in place thanks to the pony sitting on the bed and a tall, buff dragon down on the ground. Not just that, she noticed that the said pony was an alicorn, tall and purple, an Alcorn who had her cutie mark, of a sparkle with other sparkles around, glowing. "Good morning, Starlight," spoke the alicorn in an embarrassed, yet weirdly comforting voice. Starlight continued to look in a daze, soaking in what just happened. She removed her shield and loosen up, her face still in complete shock over the unexpected surprise. She didn't even bother to notice the blasts she fired disappear. "Hey Twilight" was all that she could muster. *** Luster Dawn woke up with a start from what sounded like one of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich’s Mother Bertha cannon. She was just dreaming about a rather weird dream that she kept dreaming of for a while now. She couldn’t remember the entire detail of it, but all she could muster from her mind every time was that it was about a creature with fire around her body before she felt that a disturbance screamed at her back to reality. Today, that literally happened. As she laid on her bed gasping for air, her ears picked up some creature speaking in a rather loud, energetic voice. Who could that be? "Rise and shine, my little pony! It's the start of a new, exciting day here at the School of Friendship cause you're our new best friend!" Of course, how could I forget, wondered Luster as her facial expression changed from shock to a frown, her eyes relaxing into a hard line and her mouth slowly closing as she heard every word come off from her new friend, Miss… some Kirin.  As the Kirin kept yapping, Luster rubbed her eyes and tried her best to remember her new crazy friend’s name. She had just only got to know a bit about her new… peers from yesterday, having met them near Town Square and she couldn’t exactly remember what happened afterward. Something about friend names, classes, and a little party in one of her new friend’s room before she knew she left the party for some unknown reason that she couldn't even remember. While trying to recall what happened, alongside remembering her new, extremely talkative Kirin’s name, she got out of bed and began to fix her dorm up with her magic, stretching the blanket and puffing the pillow as the Kirin was galloping around her room.  Luster’s dorm in the Friendship School was a bit different than the other dorms. For one, it really wasn’t necessarily a dorm as it was much more like a bedroom for Luster and Luster only. While the room was set up like a dorm, with its desk, portraits, chests and drawers and such, one notable factor was that there was no bunk bed, but just a bed. Not just that, but while the room was rather clean, it was clean for anypony or anycreature to move his or her hooves around, as clumps of books and papers were placed around the perimeter of the room, with the desk as the only exception, where most of the clutter laid lying or taped. The warm-grey Kirin with teal-coated mane and violet eyes continued to move around in excitement, spouting out random comments about her new best friend such as “I can’t wait to show you my collection of flower petals” and “Do you think that musical theater is yeah-high or yeah-high” and “Come on now, first period’s about to start” and “I managed to bring you a muffin for-” “Wait, what?!” exclaimed Luster Dawn as she dropped her pillow with her magic, plopping it in the middle of the bed.  “I brought you a muffin, silly. You missed out on breakfast cuz you were so tuckered out. I mean, Gisselle-” “Not that! I mean, what did you say, the- the last sentence you said. What did you say?” stuttered Luster as the Kirin continued to look at her with a happy face, unfazed by Luster’s questions. “You missed out on breakfast cuz you were so tuckered out.” “Back!” “I brought you a muffin, si-” “Back, back, back! Way back!” “I can’t wait to show you my collection of flower petals.” “No! I mean, um… ugh... something regarding first period or something, class! Class! What did you say about class!?” Luster was gradually losing her mind as she leaned closer to the Kirin, still smiling at her. She swore she heard something that she thought she would never hear from anycreature tell her. “That 1st period is about to start?” Luster’s left eye twitched a bit. With a gasp as the news struck her like a delayed hit on the head, Luster rushed over to her desk, her hooves opening the cabinets while her magic grabbed nearby books that were cluttered with papers, stuffing them all in a saddlebag. All while the Kirin stood there, watching Luster with great interest, like a cat watching her owner digging around for her keys.  As Luster finally removed two quills and two bottles of ink from the cabinet and stuffed them inside her bag, she quickly made her way toward her opened door. Just as she was about to exit her dorm, she remembered something else. She turned around and cried to the Kirin,” Aren’t you going to be late to your class?!” The Kirin simply tilted her head to the right as she walked toward Luster and said,” What do you mean? Our first period...”  The Kirin then kept walking alongside the corridor, then made a left on the intersection of the foyer, disappearing. Surprised, Luster slammed her door closed with her magic with a jolt as she chased down the walking Kirin. As she made her left to the intersection of the foyer, she saw that the Kirin went inside a classroom on her right.  “... is almost right across from your room, silly! Didn’t I told you yesterday?” Luster just looked at the Kirin with an expressionless look, her wrinkles showing. She then shook her head vigorously, trying to get her mind back into the first objective of the day: make it to class on time. Don’t get tardy.  Without a good-bye, Luster gave a confused yelp as she turned around and began to run as fast as she could to her 1st-period class: Magic.  “Are you going to the restroom or something?!” cried the Kirin. “Cuz you only got like exactly 11 seconds before our class starts!” Another slam on her face, Luster stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn't realized it yet until now that the Kirin kept saying the word “our”. What did I say my 1st-period class was, wondered Luster. I said Magic was my first-period class and - Magic wasn’t her 1st-period class. Laughter was.  Haysticks. All a sudden, Luster made a very sharp U-turn toward her class and ran as fast as she could to reach the door on time, taking large strides while the Kirin looked at her, again with great interest. She felt every second beating on her heart, beating from what the Kirn had said. 10. 9. 8. She was already back at the intersection. 7, 6, 5. She made her first steps in her classroom. She would relax now, but it didn’t count. Not on her books. 4, 3, 2. She ran up the soft, couchy steps of the room, sitting on her seat from the top row and getting out her materials. 1. 0. With her papers and books on the ground (and the usual thought of why the room wouldn’t insist on getting proper desks for good note-taking), the bell rang to clock in that 1st period started. Within all that rushing, the Kirin simply walked over to her seat on the first row and sat, a smile on her face as she was ready to learn from one of the best professors she’s ever got to learn from. What she expected wasn’t what she got, however, as almost as soon as the bell rang, a pony walked into the room, not the pink hippogriff. Not just any other pony though. A brilliant gamboge unicorn with glasses walked in the room with his long, vermillion beard and his dark cornflower blue cloak following him. Vice Principal Sunburst, the Kirin wondered. Oh dear, that could only mean one thing! I hope Professor Silverstream didn’t get any food poisoning from yesterday’s cake lesson. Luster Dawn, who was already starting to calm down from her rather exciting morning, also found it weird to not see nor hear a cheerful “Morning, class!” from the pink hippogriff. Though, to be honest, she was sort of glad that she wasn’t going to get hit by another dosage of excitement just as she was trying to calm down. Sometimes that hippogriff has a hard time knowing social cues. As Sunburst made his way toward the lavender desk, he said,” Good morning, class! I will be subbing your class today as Professor Silverstream won't come in today due to, um, certain circumstances.” Almost the entirety of the class shared a form of disappointment, either sighing loudly, gasping in surprise, or simply giving a sad look, while Luster seemed untouched by the news, still trying to calm her breathing… or so it seemed. The kirin immediately raised her hoof up in the air while Luster took in what the Vice Principal said carefully.  Luster wasn’t one to be deceived so easily. Despite her unwillingness to make friends by force (though, as she realized yesterday, she will have to very soon), she understood the concepts of friendship. She just didn’t know - or better yet, want - to apply those concepts in her life, as she felt that magic was a much stronger force than some bonding time. Thus, when she heard Sunburst pausing a bit before saying “certain circumstances”, her mind was already racing with such ideas of what could’ve happened to Professor Silverstream. Luckily though, it seemed that her questions might be answered thanks to…  “Yes, Allegro?” Allegro! There it is! Wait, Allegro? What a weird name.  “Um, may I ask what happened to Professor Silverstream? Exactly?”  Sunburst cleared his throat as he began to open a cabinet from the desk he stood before, revealing a pink folder that was marked with a glitter bold purple word marked “SUBS”. “Now Allegro, you know I can’t release personal information regarding our professors…” Allegro looked down on the ground, a bit saddened by the repeated note yet reluctantly understanding. Luster still kept her ground, however, knowing that Sunburst might reveal a little bit of something. “... but… “ Allegro’s ears perked up. Luster remained still, yet attentive now more than ever. She couldn’t remember much of the dream. But she did remember something about unfinished business. “... let’s just say that its going to be one heck of a trip for a bunch of our teachers around here.” *** “I'm so sorry, but I came as soon as I can, Twilight! I still can’t believe that-” Rarity stopped her sentence midway, standing in front of the closing door behind her as she observed the situation that she was in right now. She was in the Friendship Council Chamber, inside the Castle of Friendship, the same huge, circular room that was different and special for all the right reasons. Though it has been forever since she entered the room, let alone Twilight’s former castle, it was still as grand and majestic as it was the first day it sprouted out of the ground from Twilight’s battle with Tirek. Purple carpet, glass-paned windows, crystals, Twilight’s Golden Oak roots hanging up in the room with its memories. In the room was everypony else, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, their cutie marks flashing from their flanks. Spike was in the room as well, though looking disappointed at his scales as they weren't shining or flashing at all, as that was the signal that he was being called on by the map. While all that observation was fine and well, her eyes couldn’t believe what else she was seeing. In the room stood a changeling, a yak, a hippogriff, a griffon, another dragon, and another pony. Each of them had a body part that was flashing with lights, with the dragon’s scales and the pony’s cutie mark again, while the hippogriff’s mane, the griffon’s feathers, the yak’s horns, and the changeling's neckfins were flashing lights. There was no need for introductions as she instantly recognized the six in the room, they weren't the reason why she was surprised by the guests. Their body parts flashing lights was part of the reason why she gasped.  She then made her way to the middle of the room, where stood was seven crystal thrones, six for each of the Council members that had their cutie marks marked on each of them and one small one for Spike near Twilight's throne that followed as clockwise: Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Spike. They were all surrounding a round table that was also crystal clear and would normally be just a round table, but, for the first time in moons, the table was now lit up, revealing a hologram map of the wide, wide world of Equestria, depicting all places such as Ponyville, Canterlot, Manehattan, Yakyakistan, and much much more. Not just that, but from the map, numerous symbols were revolving around a certain area that Rarity couldn’t see clearly. As she walked closer to the table to examine, she gasped at what the map was revealing. It really was happening. The map had signaled her for sure, her cutie mark on the table (supporting her cutie mark on her flank signaling her, no doubt, occurring just as she got off the late-night train from Manehattan). Among her cutie mark were the rest of her friends’ cutie marks, sparkles, butterflies, a cloud with rainbow-colored lighting, apples, and balloons.  Yet even then, among her friends, there were an additional 6 more symbols she couldn’t believe were revolving around as well in an area where it looked like a coastal town. From her eyes, she saw that the 6 symbols were shaped like a griffin's brilliant cerulean head, a dragon’s brilliant gamboge head, a yak’s grayish amber head, a hippogriff’s light magentish gray head, a changeling’s pale, light grayish arctic blue head, and finally, three moderate opal turtles. All 6 revolving alongside theirs.  The Young Six were being called by the map for the first time in ever. “I know, right? Isn’t that incredible?” asked Twilight as she saw Rarity’s mouth drop open in shock. “Not only is the map calling us for the first time in moons, but the map is calling our alumni students for the first time in ever!” “Well, I mean, the map is kinda part of the Friendship Tree, so I wouldn’t say that it’s the first time we’ve been called over by the forces of Friendship, but…” started Gallus. He was wearing his Captain of the Royal Guards armor with his helmet laying on his side. He would’ve kept going if he wasn't given a glare from Twilight and the rest of his old friends in the room. “All right, all right, fine, it is the first time that - "specifically" - the map has called us,” said Gallus, reluctantly agreeing with their definition as he quoted the word with his talons. “Princess Twilight," started Ocellus, who was a fully-grown changeling," while it is an honor to be called by the map, I wonder why the map will call not only you and your friends, but for us as well." “Oh, come on, Celly!” exclaimed Silverstream as she grabbed Ocellus and hugged her, fully-grown as well and almost the tallest among the group besides Twilight,” Imagine it! You, me, our friends among our teachers and heroes! Going to an unknown place where danger lies ahead!” “Exactly, danger” added Smolder, who grew seemingly almost as tall as Silverstream,” We don’t know where we’re going, and since the map is calling us twelve, I really don't think this mission won’t be a simple walk in the park.” “Wait, are we going to a park!?” jumped Pinkie Pie. “Ooo! This’ll be easy and fun! Imagine all the mini-games and picnics we could pull off to our creatures-in-distress! Hide-and-seek, leapfrog! Just to save their friendships!” “I don’t think that’s what Smolder means, Pinkie,” said Fluttershy, putting her hoof around Pinkie who was jumping up and down in excitement. “Well, you’re both technically right, Silverstream and Smolder,” interjected Twilight. The group of eleven looked at Twilight in surprise, with Silverstream, Smolder, and Pinkie Pie saying,” I am?” (with Pinkie Pie the loudest and longest). “I say that because apparently the place that we’re going to search our Friendship problem is in a place called Silver Shoals, a nice coastal town,” Twilight continued as the rest listened, not noticing that Applejack and Sandbar almost instantly had a face of concern, while Rarity gasped a tiny bit. “But as Smolder said, with us twelve being called on, it seems that this won’t be an easy Friendship problem to solve. It almost seems like it could be-"  "Aw, yeah! Another epic threat that we have to take down!" interjected Rainbow, hoof-bumping up in the air. "Now that's my kind of friendship problem!" As some of her friends gave glaring and concerned looks at Rainbow, Rarity piped in and said," Wait, Silver Shoals? As in, the Silver Shoals?" "The one and only. Right?" replied Twilight, confused by what Rarity meant by her question. "Um, Princess Twilight?" jumped Sandbar, a full-grown pony with shaggy hair. "You do remember who resides there, right?" "Yeah," added Applejack," ponies that we haven't seen for a long, long time?" Princess Twilight Sparkle looked down on Applejack and Sandbar, a confused look on her face as she tried to decipher what her friends meant by those responses. For the longest time, she was going through her mind about who lived in Silver Shoals. Clearly nopony she hasn’t heard of, right? Why were they expecting her to know these ponies they're referring to? Could it be some of the diplomats or old friends? Perhaps maybe- "Um, why Princess staring deeply at Yona?"  Twilight blinked once and realized that she was staring right into Yona's eyes for a while, discomforting the tall yak a bit. She shook her head and said, "Sorry Yona, I was just thinking about what the girls and Sandbar were saying." She turned to Applejack, Sandbar, and Rarity and said, "Maybe because it's been a while, but could you perhaps remind me who you're referring to?" With that, the room almost felt like the air was gone. Breathing for air didn't help as the gasping creatures took in what the Princess of Friendship just said. All Twilight could do was stare and watch at her friends' distraught expressions.  "Um, can somepony at least try to be less discreet about how awful I am to not remember? It’s been a while, that's all!" Twilight was certainly feeling ashamed for her lack of knowledge, a feeling she never knew she could ever feel for a long time, knowing that her mind was a library. But every library lacks new books and in this case, certain old books. "Yeah, even I can't," said Gallus as he shook his head, putting on his helmet and tilting as far down as she can, hoping that it could hide away his face at the moment. Silverstream, noticing him, decided to pat his helmet in comfort. "Twilight, the ponies that the rest of us are referring," said Fluttershy, coming up to Twilight and placing her hoof on her, unsure about the reaction she might get, "are Celestia and Luna." A lot of processing and a blink later, Twilight could only let out, "Wait, what?!" *** "No! That’s- what even- that idea’s too crazy! Even for them!” It was break-time for the students at the School of Friendship, a ten-minute period for each student to do whatever they want, either use the restroom, grab something small to eat, study (or cram) in before a test, and, most importantly, talk to their friends about the most interesting thing so far today (as Allegro would say,” If today’s a bliss, something’s a-miss”).  That being said, the most interesting thing so far today was that the Trio was gone. Professor Silverstream, Professor Smolder, and Professor Ocellus were all gone today, apparently because of "certain circumstances,'' the same excuse every teacher, substitute or not, said to every creature wondering of their absence. While the reasons were never clear or stated to begin with, it led to some students creating wild theories about what could have happened to the three.  “Maybe they were sick? Nah, they’re way too important to ever be sick…” “Probably has something to do with their rulers? Wait, what if they’re in trouble? What would that mean for us?” “What if whatever they’re in it’s all Professor Silverstream’s fault? You know how that sea-pony is… ” “Maybe they were suspended! If, you know, teachers can be suspended…” More of the wild, wild theories were mostly coming from a certain group of friends in the main quad, sitting around in a circle next to a tree that provided a shield from a rather hot day. “Oh! Wait! What if a hungry, hungry hippo took them and placed them on top of a castle?!” This group of friends was perhaps the most diverse of other friend-groups at the School of Friendship. One of them was a regular Earth pony, with a pale sweet corn coat, an almost neon carrot mane that looked struck up, and a hayburger cutie mark. One was a yak with almost the same mane color as the Earth pony, but her coat was in a cinnamon color. Her mane had bangs in the front while most were braided. She was decorated with colors of mostly pale gold and dark spring bud, colors of Yakyakistan strength, with a gray robe that was held by a belt bearing those colors that covered the bottom half of her body, a ring with a tassel of those colors placed on each side of her horns, and a dark gold ring pierced on her nose. One was a griffon with light east-bay coat and an almost steel-gray assortment of feathers, and a golden beak but had light grey claws. Feathers on the top of her head jumbled up, she also had a red maroon scarf covering her neck that had almost a light pippin color of beads in the middle. The three creatures were with Luster and Allegro, one being a unicorn and the other a kirin, respectively. “What? That dumb. Can’t happen at all… right?” responded the yak, her hoof rubbing on her chin as she thought about the possibility of that ever happening. “Of course that can happen,” started the griffon, “you know, if you happen to live in Allegro’s crazy world.” Taking no note from her fellow bird’s comment, Allegro kept going. “OH! Wait! This makes sense! What if, and hear me out guys, but what if, Professor Silverstream was invited to one of Professors Smolder and Ocellus’s tea party? You know, with all those rumors about how those-” With some groans drowning the rest of the Kirin’s theory, the Earth pony interjected by saying,“ Aaand that theory is immediately shut down because this is a happy, innocent place. Thank you for your countless ideas, Allegro.” “Even I can’t think of something so…” the griffon started before shivering at the very thought of the idea the Kirin popped on her head. “Dang it, Allegro! Now it’s in my head!” “Sorry, Gisselle,” said the Kirin with a chuckle,” but the possibilities are endless! I mean, this is like the first time ever that these three specific professors didn’t show up on the same day! I should know! I keep a record of everything about anything! And I’m telling you, that, right there, is what you call a rarity!” More groans after that unnecessary pun.  “Do you honestly believe that hill-billy nonsense?” said the Earth pony, turning to Luster, who was awfully quiet throughout the whole ordeal. Unknown to the pony, Luster wasn’t paying that much attention to the group, looking down at the green grass that covered the brown dirt as she was deep-thinking about some certain events today.  Three of my professors gone, each important to each other as they’re considered the second line of defense when it comes to threats to Equestria. The unwillingness of each teacher to respond to why they were missing, with only Sunburst seemingly more involved as to why they were gone. It shouldn’t connect at all, but it all kinda aligns with what I’ve been… A rather hot day today. My strange vision. My strange vision. With the fires and flames around space and… ...her. “Princess Twilight Sparkle to Luster! Hello? Anypony in there?” “Huh, no, what!?”  With a stumble, Luster shook her head and started to look around. She noticed that her peers were looking at her with great interest, expecting a reply from her about… something. Dang it. “So, whatcha think, Kluster?” asked Gisselle, tilting her head to the left, her eyes on Luster with great interest. Luster just sat there, blinking once. “Think about what?” Almost immediately, Gisselle tilted her head back and had her normal uninterested face. “Weren’t listening again, right?” Without any show of shame or embarrassment, Luster nodded her head, her eyebrows starting to show that she was getting annoyed with these little interruptions. She was trying to get to the bottom of the dilemma of what appeared to be much more than simple absences and her peers weren’t helping her.  Perhaps if I told them about what I’m thinking about and what theory I believe about the professors, they might even help me out on something! Hopefully, this works... “Wait, we’re talking about why our Professors are absent, right?” Everycreature nodded her head, with Allegro saying,” Yeppity-yep-yup!” “Well,” started Luster, growing more confident now that it seemed they will finally be talking about a topic she was interested in. “here’s what I think. I think that the Trio are missing because they were called on an important mission by my teacher, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Whatever it is, it can’t just be them missing. I mean, it should only be just two that are called for something, so with the three gone, this must mean that the entire Young 6 was called in as well, perhaps maybe with the Friendship Council too! Whatever this mission is, it’s like a new threat to Equestria! Somepony with a burning passion to bring about destruction, ruin, and despair here! And that’s the thing! I think I know her, but I just can’t seem to put my hoof on it!”  With a deep breath in and a deep breath out, using her right hoof to direct herself (a method to calming herself as taught by her mentor), Luster continued. “I don’t suppose you guys know who I’m trying to describe? You know, tall… creature of some sort, flames around, has some very scary eyes? Perhaps she could be a legend that is finally coming true? A former villain? Those dinosaurs again? Anycreature?” The pony, kirin, griffon, and yak just looked at the unicorn with confusion in their eyes. The yak, however, looked like she might have an answer but just as she was opening her mouth, Gisselle jumped in and commented,” Well, Allegro, I think Kluster might have taken your trophy for ‘Weirdest Theory of the Trio Mystery’”. “Huh? My ‘theories’ aren’t weird! They’re possible factual opinions!” argued Allegro with her head up in the air. While the Earth pony raised his hoof up to protest what Allegro said, Luster could only stare at how little help her peers provided. She couldn’t believe that she thought it was possible to exchange an interesting and continuing conversation with them. Just now, the griffon just pulled a 180 around her theory, which actually provided a real reason as to why to believe so, and now… now they’re talking about how crazy Allegro is. All of this was enough to make her leave.  And so, she did. Immediately standing up and releasing a groan in the process, she left the group, which they were still debating about Allegro’s case.  These creatures, I swear, thought Luster as she walked her way to exiting the quad and entering the main hallway of the school. What did I ever do to deserve this? Oh yeah, I remember. I decided to go up to my mentor and basically splat in front of her that friendship is practically useless. Me and my big fat mouth. And I’m trying, I’m really trying my best. I mean, this is just one of the many tasks that Twilight has given… me… Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! First forgetting that I have Magic in my fifth period, then forgetting their names within a night’s rest, now this!? Princess Twilight sent me the rest of my tasks alongside making friends and I got distracted!  Having no idea where she was walking to, Luster teleported a small list and started to read through the scroll. “All right, let’s see here… first one is, of course, make new friends. Second is taking notes about Nightmare forces in…” Luster’s eyes opened a bit wider as she read through her list twice. The name of the textbook Twilight wanted her to take notes about was a textbook she never heard of. Much like Twilight, Luster herself was a bookworm as well, having a collection of books back at her home in Canterlot that rivaled her nearby bookstore. To see and hear about a book that she never heard of wasn’t that rare; she always enjoyed discovering new books and adding them into her overflowing bookshelves. To hear a title of an educational textbook that her mentor would ask her to take notes on and be a book that she never heard of… that was rare. “Huh, that’s strange. That’s a new textbook I’ve never heard of. Oh well. Guess that means a quick trip to the library then. Next task is… uh-huh…”  Normally, a revelation like that would wander around Luster’s mind, but as far as she knew, little things, especially a pet peeve like that, won’t matter to her… except until she was finished with her mentor’s tasks. As she mumbled through her list, noting that the last of her three tasks were just simple work assignments, she didn’t heard multiple cries of her name from the distance, growing louder and louder until- “LUSTER... DAWN!!!” Luster stopped walking and thinking, letting out a little yelp and dropping her scroll on the ground. Weirdly enough, she couldn’t remember the last time somepony - or creature - called her name out loud, other than her parents, her mentor, and her old elementary teacher. Turning around, she was surprised to see a yak running up to her. One of her… friends. “Hey…” started Luster before immediately realizing she forgot her name. In an attempt to avoid such a mistake (as well as giving another chance to one member of her “chosen” group), she awkwardly ended her greeting with,”... you…”. “Unicorn…” panted the yak, catching her breath. Running wasn’t quite her style. “...Winifred… might have solution… to your riddle…” Luster would have raised her eyebrow up in concern for the dying yak, but the fact that one of her friends might have an answer to the theory she came up with was… in a weird way, amazing.  Like a baby foal finally learning how to walk! Wait, no, that’s bad… “Really?” Luster exclaimed, smiling for the first time today. “Tell me, what do you think Winifred? Am I just crazy or what?” Taking huge gasps of air, Winifred didn’t say a word for a while, but it didn’t seem to bother Luster at all.  “Okay… okay… Winifred heard story of such… creature… flames all over…” “Yes, yes, tell me!” “... in Yakyakistan, yaks tell legends of creatures that… help yaks… over seasons…” Luster’s joy was slowly depleting as the yak continued on her answer. “... creature name was Helios… Sun lord… though not scary, in Winifred’s opinion… has flames all over. Could Helios… be it?” Luster blinked once. She knew of Helios’s name (and most importantly of the suggestion, his figure), but never knew what was his purpose was (sometimes the textbooks can be unreliable at times). Despite the little education lesson, the flames and such, knowing his shape, Helios didn’t really fit in the silhouette of that burning, skinny, scary-looking figure always looking at her with those eyes… now that she was thinking about, the thing looked like a pony… a really tall, burning one, if she could remember... She would’ve kept on thinking if she didn’t remember that… Winifred, right, Winifred wasn’t looking at her, her breathing less fanatic than it was some seconds ago. “Oh, um…” stammered Luster,”... well, I know of Helios’s shape and I’m pretty sure that it isn’t him that I’m dreaming of. But it does help clear somethings from my mind. So…” Luster didn’t know how to end the conversation. Despite her compliment and now new respect to the yak, she still didn’t know how to leave off to the library. She didn’t know how much time she has before the warning bell rang for the start of the third period so she was anxious to get a move on. “...thanks for your input… Winifred… Winifred, right?” The yak nodded her head with a smile and said,“ Anytime, friend!” and the two broke ways, Luster smiling awkwardly at the mention of “friend” as she headed to the library while Winifred was heading back to the quad to meet back with her friends, still debating about Allegro’s theories. However, it was not meant to be this way. Winifred noticed something was off, turned her head around and was surprised to see that Luster wasn’t walking beside her. She then turned her body around and saw that Luster was walking away from her. Learning from her mistake, she yelled out, “Luster!” Luster stopped walking and turned her head around to see why Winifred called her. “What’s wrong?” “Luster not coming back to friends?” That word again.  Luster winced a bit at the mention of “friends” and while Winifired’s attempt was enough to at least give her peers another chance, she knew she was behind her tasks and she had to work on them now if she hoped to find out about the Trio and the vision’s connection… if there was one anyhoof. The primary task of making friends can wait. These small tasks can eventually grow and eat her up and she didn’t want that. Not like that time when she accidentally didn’t feed that piranha plant like she was told to (she was scared of living, moving plants at the time). “Oh, you go on ahead. I’m going to go to the library to work on some assignments that Princess Twilight left me.” The yak had a little frown on her face, sad that her friend couldn’t come along. Yet through it she replied,” Winifred understands. Winifred’ll see you again during the fourth period,” and with a wave, she walked away.  Unknown to Winifred, Luster continued to stare down at the yak, wondering about her. She then slowly raised her hoof up and waved back once as the yak finally moved to the left, exiting the hallway and toward the quad. Not giving that much thought on the yak anymore longer, Luster turned around and continued onward to her destination: the school library. She made it to the school library quite quickly, jogging through as she had no idea how much time she had left before the warning bell rang. She hoped that she could quickly find that new textbook and borrow it before anycreature else could so that she can sneak in some reading during her third and fourth-period classes. Respectively, they were about loyalty and honesty, classes she didn’t necessarily and not-in-a-bad-way care for.  While anycreature would have some trouble trying to find a specific book in the two-level room, Luster knew the library like the back of her hoof. Even though the library was crowded with creatures (the library was a hot spot for creatures to hang around), she moved her way quickly toward the textbook section of the library, which was at the back left corner on the ground level Despite the obstacles of freshponies (or first-year ponies) standing in the middle of the hallway or saddlebags laid out on the side from tables or bookshelves, she was so determined, so eager… “Ack!” … that she didn’t notice she bumped into some creature on making a left corner right to her destination. Rubbing her head from that crash, she shook her head around a couple of times to wave the distortion away and looked for who she crashed into. Staring back at her was a moderate deep-blue changeling with sky blue eyes.  “Oh, I’m sorry,” said Luster, beginning to apologize. “I didn’t see you there, I was in a rush for a book and-” “Equestrian Pageant Second Edition?” interrupted the changeling with a serious voice, his eyes crossed. “Yeah. I figured.” Luster got up and dusted herself off, not realizing that the changeling was back at looking at her again, eyes wide open and down on the ground still. Luster then noticed the changeling still down and offered her hoof to the changeling, who sat there without emotion, still looking at her. “Um… you need any help? Getting up?” said Luster, getting quite uncomfortable with the way the changeling was looking at her. Part of her wanted to just leave him be and finally pick up the book that she was looking for, but another part told her to stay and help him out. Who knows? Could be a chance to make a friend and finish Twilight’s main task. That and he did say the title of the boo that she wanted. But as if her words sprang a bad taste, the changeling immediately got up, his eyes crossed again and said,” Don’t bother.” Luster looked taken aback by the sudden change of mood.  Looks like a bad idea to make friends with him, she thought. But either way, he mentioned that book. “Well, I wouldn’t anymore, anyway, but you mentioned the book that I was looking for, so I think you might know where it is or-” Up with a hopeful voice. “I have the only copy and I’m borrowing it.” “- you might have it and be willing to not lend it to me.” And down with a sorrowful voice. Luster looked down on the ground, letting out a deep sigh. “And perhaps there isn’t a way for me to convince you to not take the copy?” “Not unless it’s a pretty good logical reason.” Luster’s eyes widen a bit, realizing an opportunity was there. This changeling, no matter how rude, seemed smart. So he might be willing to give it up. “Okay, well, I need it because I have some tasks from the Princess of Friendship and ruler of Equestria herself that deals with that book.” She didn’t mean to sound so snobby up on him, but given how he just rejected her help and seemed stubborn enough to interrupt her, it was a reason to, right? “Twilight Sparkle, huh?” replied the changeling, raising an eyebrow up. “Princess, Twilight Sparkle,” added the Unicorn. “You know, being in a school of friendship, you should at least know to have some respect.” Temperature was rising. “Hmpf,” snorted the changeling,” and I would think that some personal student to the princess would at least have some humbleness.” “And what’s that suppose to mean?” “Means exactly what you think it means, unicorn.” “Try me, changeling.” The two were already head-to-head with each other, both grinding their teeth as they angrily looked at each other. It was almost as if they were about to fight for the book. And so, the changeling then leaped away from Luster and, in a surprising twist, levitated the leather-coated, gold-sketched book in front of Luster and… … made another copy of the book. All that with magic. Luster couldn’t believe what happened right in front of her eyes. The book was down on the ground alongside a copy of it. The changeling used an advanced magical spell to do so. Real magic. Changelings, as far as she was concerned, can't do real magic. They can only change and that's that. They were dangerously close to each other. It was almost as if a magic duel- a magic duel was going to happen. And then, no matter who wins, they two will be suspended for sure with a bad mark on their report cards. Her reputation and her character with the Princess will be shattered and shadowed over how she started a fight over a book with a changeling. “Don’t… need to…” panted the changeling as sweat was seen dripping down on his forehead. “I think you would... know that we’ll be in trouble if we… try…” The changeling then used his magic once more, gritting his teeth as he levitated the copy of the book toward him and stuffed it inside his saddlebag. Lifting that book was making the changeling lose his calm, mysterious yet rude mood, noted Luster. The changeling then moved past Luster, still in complete shock of what happened, unaware that he finally had a tiny smile on his face. Suddenly, without any thinking whatsoever, Luster turned around and yelled,” Hey!” Followed by multiple shushing by ponies who were actually studying from above, the changeling looked back with a concerned look on his face. He almost spoke before Luster interrupted him, whispering,” What’s your name?” The changeling looked emotionless again, his eyes wide open once more. “... Maxilla.” Luster, still in shock, said her name. “... Luster Dawn.” Maxilla looked at the original copy of the book down at the ground and then at Luster’s face. “..I-I’lll see you in fifth period.” “... yeah…” The two looked at each other, unsure of what to think of what each of the other just did for a while before the loud ringing of a school bell broke the trance between the two. Maxilla immediately switched back into an uninterested face, turned around, and disappeared from the corner while Luster turned around and had a concerned face as she looked for the book, levitating it and placing it inside her saddlebag, speaking as she did her task. “Hey, um, sorry for that-” She turned around and saw that the changeling was gone. She was alone in the corner, hearing the silence of the library no more, replaced by the loud conversations of her peers exiting the library and heading toward their third-period class. She looked around, sort of hoping that the changeling didn’t just leave off without her. But no matter where she looked, he really did leave. That dang changeling, she thought angrily as she decided to move and leave the library to go to her Loyalty class. How dare he decided to act all tough on me and waste my time? I mean, humbleness? I am humble, he just decided to pick the wrong day to pick that book up when I needed it, that’s all! Sure, he might have - amazingly - used magic to make a copy for me and he did answer finally answered without showing signs that he’ll kill me or something… like, he was really rude in the beginning, and leaving without any sign, and yet… yet he was… helpful? Luster finally made a right to the hallway where her class awaited her about a few steps ahead. Thanks to the bell, she mentally knew she had about a minute before class would begin, enough to leave her saddlebag down on the shelves and just sit down on the ground in perhaps the biggest, tallest room in the whole school, closely followed by her mentor’s own classroom. Luster would just perform a simple charm that allowed her to read the text of the book in her mind and her mind only. The only problem will be that if today is a day where they would be performing aerodynamic exercises again, it’ll throw her off for sure, having a textbook right in front of her as she’ll terribly fly her way around the room. But not as much as Maxilla did back there. Not as much as her… friend.