The 6 foot tall, purple, with green spikes, dragon groaned, loudly, his mouth opening wide, revealing two rows of long, sharp, gleaming teeth. His wings swept out from under the covers as he stretched, working out the kinks that came about from sleeping in a bed, on top of wings. A lavender unicorn, standing in front of the dragon, gasped, and then shouted “Spike, get up right now, we have to catch the train, you better have completely packed your bags last night”
The dragon reached up, and wiped the sleep from his eyes, yawning, and moaned “yeah, I know Twilight, I just have to get Ember ready, and then we’ll be off; I still can’t believe I thought Peewee was a good name for him”. Having said this, Spike got out of his bed, and reached underneath it, pulled out a large suitcase and a large cage, gilded with gold. He walked over to a birds perch in a corner of his room, where a red and yellow phoenix, sat atop it. He called out to Ember, causing the bird to alight itself upon his shoulder, then, he walked out of his room, Twilight following him.
“So, what’s for breakfast?” he enquired, as they walked down the stairs, and into the kitchen.
“Well, I guess it’s hey cakes for me, and eggs and bacon for you. Celestia, I wish adolescent dragons didn’t have to eat meat, sometimes it really gets to me” the unicorn replied. Then preceded to pull some hay cakes out of a cupboard, and presented them to Spike, who breathed fire upon them, having placed his things at the door to the library. He then made himself breakfast, not requiring any heating source, as he could do that himself, he merely placed his food in a pan, then breathed on it, cooking it quickly, but to perfection.
“So, are you excited to start high school?”, Twilight asked as they sat down to eat. Spike finished his meal, burped, then looked at her for a moment before clearing his throat.
“I still don’t understand why I have to go and board at Canterlot High, you didn’t have too. Why can’t you just teach me, it’s not as if you didn’t teach me before?” he said.
“Look Spike, we’ve been over this before, as chief researcher in obscure magic for Princess Celestia, I just won’t have time to teach you at a high school level, and besides, you really should start hanging around people your own mental age. Now can we just stop having this conversation, nothing you say is going to change the decision the Princess and I made”, she responded, grumbling, before perking up at the sound of a ringing doorbell.
“Come on, Applebloom, its time tah get up, sugarcube, we have tah get to the train station, if we want to make it tah the train on time”, a Stetson wearing, orange furred, blonde maned pony whispered to her red maned, yellow furred, little sister, as she shook her in her bed. Eventually, the shaken pony woke up, and looked at her sister, then her eyes widened, and she leapt out of her bed. She ran from her room, and dashed down the stairs and into the kitchen. She bit a slightly stale apple fritter from the counter. Then, while chewing the fritter, she ran out onto her porch, where she found an old grey mare, and a large red Stallion, waiting for her, the stallion chewing a hayseed, with a large suitcase sitting next to him.
Her sister came up behind her, and said “Applebloom, yah better say goodbye tah granny apple, and Big Mac, before we go. Seein as, they’ll have tah stay here, on the farm, while we go to Canterlot.”
The teenage filly turned to her two relatives, and raced up to hug her bigger brother. “I’m gonna miss you so much Big Macintosh, don’t you dare break up with Cheerilee, ok”, she said.
“Eeyup”, her brother responded, nuzzling her. Applebloom then went and hugged her grandmother, who told her to be good.
“Let’s go Applejack, ah’m so excited, but ah’ll miss you three so much. Ah’ll write every week. Ah’ll go wake up Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, they asked me too yesterday, while you get Fluttershy, okay Applejack”. Then, she picked up her suitcase and threw it on her back, before trotting down the road towards the town.
“Ah had better go you two, Ah have to go get Fluttershy, then meet with the rest of the girls at the library. Ah’ll see you this evening when we get back, okay?” Applejack said, and then walked of in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.
Granny Smith turned to her grandson and said “I'm gonna miss having that girl around, she always seemed to brighten up mah day”, and wiped a tear from her eye, before continuing “well, I guess that’s just the way things are”.
Big Mac looked at his grandmother and said “Eeyup”.
“Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo”, was all Scootaloo could hear, as she lay on her cloud bed, in her adoptive mother’s house. She turned and rolled over, stuffing her head beneath a cloud pillow, but still couldn’t block the noise out. Eventually, it became too annoying, so she flew up from her bed, the covers slipping of her, revealing a Pegasus, her much larger than average wingspan blowing of the rest of the covers. She trotted out of her room, hitting her wings on the door frame as she did.
“Celestia that hurt” She moaned as she rubbed her wings. After this, a cyan furred, Pegasus maned walked out of her room, yawning loudly.
“Morning Scoots, any idea why Apple bloom’s yelling at us?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she trotted over to her kitchen, and pulled a salad out of the fridge.
“Don’t tell me you forgot were going to Canterlot High today, you know, the whole, art sports scholarship, for my aerial dancing, so now I'm going to high school there, and boarding. "I asked Applebloom to wake us up cause I know neither of us would manage it” she said sarcastically.
“Hey, don’t get snarky with me, you know what I'm like in the morning, I can never remember this kind of thing. Anyway, you packed?” she asked, as she finished her morning salad. Scootaloo nodded, before trotting back into her room, and returning with a large duffle bag.
“Come on lets go, before Applebloom gets a little hoarse”, and she flew out the door. Rainbow Dash locked her house, before following her down, to the ground.
“Morning you two, are yah ready?”, Applebloom asked; as she sat looking up at the two Pegasus descend towards her, her suitcase astride her.
"Morning Squirt, thanks for waking us up. Of course were ready, now let’s go to the library”, Rainbow Dash said, then trotted off in the direction of the library, while the two younger mares chatted excitedly to each other.
“Rarity, come on, I was ready last night, and I'm staying there for months, what’s taking so long?”, a white furred, purple and pink maned unicorn whined, at her older sister, who was trying on different arrangements of clothing, zipping from one to the next.
“I’m sorry Sweetie Belle, but a lady must always look her best, now, what do you think of this, is the red too much” she asked, as she walked in a frilly red and white dress, with a small hat upon her head. She continued trying on new dresses for 10 minutes, before finally, she stopped, and immediately walked out of the Carousel Boutique.
Sweetie belle stared at the door, dumb founded, for a moment before Rarity popped her head through the door and asked “well, are we going are not”. Sweetie Belle picked up her suit case with her magic, but soon dropped it, so she began looking mournfully at her sister, her eyes big and wide, seemingly on the verge of tears. Rarity huffed, then picked up the bag with her magic, and left the boutique again, her sister walking after her.
“I wish mum and dad could come and drop me of at school”, Sweetie Belle said, as they walked towards the Ponyville library.
“I do too, Sweetie Belle, but you know how they are with their trips, and they were ever so excited to go to Griffland”, Rarity said, her face scrunching up as she said it. They walked towards the library, a short distance away, and saw Applejack and Fluttershy coming from one direction, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, coming from another direction, and Pinkie Pie, racing towards them, a large picnic basket in tow, from another.
“Howdy yah all, ah’m so excited, what about you Sweetie Belle, are you excited. Getting to sing with a proper band and all, will be lots of fun” Applebloom asked, as their friend walked up to them. She momentarily glanced at her friend’s song bird cutiemark, two robins holding a musical stanza in their beaks.
“Yeah of course I am, what about you Scootaloo, I still can’t believe their giving you a complete scholarship, just to do aerial dancing, but then again, I’ve never seen a Pegasus with wings as big as yours, and you haven’t even finished growing yet”, Sweetie Belle responded, looking at her purple maned, orange furred friend’s cutiemark, of a silhouetted Pegasus, with large wings, dancing in a night sky.
“What can I say, I am the best” Scootaloo responded in a sarcastically serious manner, and then began laughing, along with her friends.
“Well how about you Apple Bloom, I bet your excited to get started on your art, right, Canterlot High is supposed to have the best art and craft’s teachers in all of Equestria, and even beyond”, Scootaloo asked her friend, who nodded, and turned and looked at her own cutiemark, a circle of a pencil, a hammer, and a paintbrush, all surrounding an easel. The three friends stood for a moment, thinking about all their adventures together as young kids, searching for their cutiemarks.
Applejack walked up to the library door, and rang the bell, which was almost immediately opened by Twilight Sparkle, who was grinning widely. She trotted out the door, and was immediately followed by Spike, with Ember in the cage, in one claw, and his suitcase in his other. The girls all gasped at his appearance, he was well over the height of an adult pony, and absolutely towered over his fellow teenagers.
“Wow Spike, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get used to how big you’ve gotten” Fluttershy said, as she flew up and gave him a hug around the neck, knowing how much he liked being hugged like that, and missed it now that he was bigger than everybody.
“Well don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to get used to it, I shouldn’t grow again for another century” Spike reassured her. Fluttershy dropped down, and the group began trotting towards the train station. Spike began walking alongside the three mares he would be going to school with, taking one step for every three of theirs, but finding that, because of the speed they actually trotted at, their pace was matched.
“So, are you guys as tired as I am?” Spike yawned out, grinning widely when Scootaloo nodded, having adopted some of her caretaker's mannerisms, such as liking to sleep in, she was known to be a horrible morning pony. They chuckled, having become good friends over the last few years; they knew each other’s mannerisms to a tee.
Spike called out to Twilight, who was walking ahead of them with her friends, “hey Twilight, can you please carry my bag? Rarity is carrying Sweetie Belles”, then he began laughing, expecting her to be annoyed.
Twilight turned to her assistant and said “yes well, Sweetie Belle isn’t a six foot tall dragon now is she, but fine, I guess you have to carry Ember as well. Applebloom and Scootaloo would you like me to carry your bags as well”.
The two pubescent ponies turned to each other, and then chorused “yes please”. All three of their bags where immediately surrounded by a purple glow, and began floating effortlessly in the air, in front of the lavender unicorn.
They made it to the train station, and then looked at the boarding times on the wall. It said the next train too Canterlot, the express would be coming in 45 minutes. 9 of them looked at this in confusion.
Twilight turned to her pink friend, and questioned “Pinkie Pie, I asked you yesterday what time we had to be at the train station, why did you say 7:15, and not 8 o’clock?” Pinkie, meanwhile, was setting up a feast on a nearby table, filled with cupcakes, and thermos of juice, as well as some gems for Spike.
“Twilight you silly filly, how long did you think our ‘Goodbye to Spike, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle Party’ would take” Pinkie giggled. Her friends harrumphed, before smiling, and sitting down at the table.
Scootaloo said what they were all thinking “well, I guess a Pinkie Pie party is a much better reason than to get to school on time, for getting up earlier”. They ate and drank, having fun, while Pinkie basked in the good feelings surrounding the table. Eventually, the express train pulled up, and they all raced onto the train.
During the train ride, they mainly just sat there, chatting about the courses they wanted to take. Spike was planning on trying everything, seeing as what little knowledge he may learn then, he could always bolster later, during his long life. Scootaloo decided on doing mainly sports, such as dancing, but also straight endurance flying, as she was already able to keep up with Rainbow Dash, over long distances. Sweetie Belle wanted to mainly do singing, but also desired to try making her own music. Applebloom, wanted to try all the visual arts she could, such as sculpting, painting, and building.
Two hours later, they arrived in Canterlot, and walked out of the train, all ten of them, stretching from sitting down to long, especially Spike, who had had to sit on the floor, otherwise he wouldn’t fit. They walked out of the train station, and headed towards a taxi rank. There, they hopped in, two to a taxi, while Spike had to fly, and got Fluttershy to fly with him, as the two shared a bond these days, what with her being the first to accept he would have to eat animals, as she was used to feeding fish to her carnivorous animal friends.
They soon arrived at the Canterlot High front gates, and 8 of them dismounted the taxies, while Fluttershy and Spike stood there waiting for them, smiling slightly. Spike grabbed his things from Twilight, and Ember cawed loudly when he saw him. They shared a group hug, before the older mares left, to enjoy a day in Canterlot together, while the teenagers settled in to their new lives. Then, the four friends gathered together, with Spike carrying Sweetie belles bag, and headed towards the front office.
A large teenage griffin, his brown body and black wings, contrasting to both his white neck and head, and his nest, made of pillows, stared out of his families abode, looking through the large windows of his room. His mother was behind him saying “Good morning Brutus, I hope you’re ready, you have to start boarding today”.
“Yes mother” the griffin responded in a lamenting tone “but why do I have to board, we live so close to the school anyway”.
“Come now Brutus, you know how much we move around, what with your father being a foreign minister too Equestria from Griffland, you would have to board, and besides Canterlot High is a boarder only school. Now get your trunk, theirs some fish waiting downstairs, and your sister, the guard, is taking you to school” she continued, her attitude becoming sarcastic when she said ‘the guard’.
He hopped out of his nest, and walked down the stairs; his trunk pulled along by his tail, and found a large baked trout, waiting on the kitchen bench for him. He wolfed down the trout, taking huge chunks with his beak, then swallowing it whole. Once finished he walked out to his sister, who was standing in front of the house door. His sister, wearing an eye patch she used to cover a lost eye, from a fight against a rogue dragon, during her time in the peace keepers. She nodded her greeting to him.
“Morning Gilda, mother says you’re taking me to school today” He questioned, to which she nodded. Then she went and picked up his trunk, holding it effortlessly in one claw, while he held the other. They began flying, headed in the direction of Canterlot high, and arrived their five minutes later. Gilda dropped her side of the trunk, and then turned to her little brother.
She said, “I know we don’t talk much Brutus, but you’re still my brother, so I want to give you some advice. Don’t fall in love with a pony, it will only end badly”. Having said her piece she leapt up, and flew back towards the diplomat housing area of Canterlot.
“I wonder why she thinks that” Brutus said out loud to himself, before picking up his trunk, and heading towards the Canterlot High front desk.
A small red and white unicorn colt, just beginning to reach puberty, yawned, just as a large bucket of icy cold water was dumped upon his head, by two identical, even smaller colts. The twin colts chuckled gleefully, before racing out of the room, as their older brother started turning red with rage.
He jumped up from his bed, and tripped over his covers, before falling to the floor of his room, dripping water everywhere. “Well, that’s something I won’t miss” he said, as he shook himself free of water.
A shout came from downstairs “come on Cad, it’s time for breakfast, and then we have to travel too Canterlot High, so we’ll have to get a taxi chariot”. Cad grumbled, but then his stomach made the same sound, se he grabbed his bag, with his magic, and headed downstairs.
He found pancakes waiting for him, which, though not as good as waffles, were one of his favourite foods. He dug in, eating hastily, wanting to get to the school first, as he always found it easier to be the first to arrive at something. Soon he finished, and almost immediately found him wrapped in the hooves of his family, while a camera was levitated by his unicorn father in front of them; it went off, flaring brightly, before being set back down on the table. Cad stood up, and walked away from the table, before his mother wrapped herself around him again, and began crying, dropping her nurses hat of her head.
“Mum, please get off, we really have to go” he whined, as his father tried to pull his mother of him, his fathers red mane falling in his mother’s eyes when they hugged after she let her son go. Cad gave his father a look of thanks, before the two of them waved good bye to the rest of their family, and headed out the door, Cad levitating his bag before him. A taxi chariot soon pulled up, which they loaded, before telling the lead horse to head to Canterlot High.
When they arrived, Cad said goodbye to his father, who nodded at him, then said “I’ll see you at the mid-term break, ok. Please Caduceus make some friends, it’s not that hard”. His father walked away, his stethoscope cutiemark the last Caduceus saw of him. He turned around, and headed for the front building.