//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Librarian, And The Next Generation Of Friendship! // by The_Whovian16 //------------------------------// Once upon a time, there was a Librarian... Her name, was Twilight Sparkle. She was (and still is) an avid lover of books, stories, facts, and knowledge. She is a deity of curiosity, and has a soul that searches for, the “Truth.” The Truth of course, is something that cannot be defined in full detail to any creature, as it is fully dependent on that creature’s views of philosophy and reality as a whole. For Twilight Sparkle, however, the truth was far from hard to figure out... All it took was the right group of friends. Her Truth became her Friendship. Her friends became her world. They became her integrity, and her empathy. Through her truth, they became the Elements of Harmony. Those who embody the best of Magic’s qualities, and whom became a part of Magic through the Truth they all shared. From that friendship, a great era of peace unlike any known before it blossomed forth in Equestria’s history. Villains stood no chance against the Heroines, no foe was too mighty, and no creature could harm them. Even when depowered, and without the Elements of Harmony, they themselves found the strength to defeat foes which Goddess and Gods before them could not. This meek. Timid. Shy, anti-social mare, would become Princess of the realm one day. This avid lover of all things bibliographical, would learn so much more from her friends than she could in any library in the world. That was why she dedicated a whole school to the subject- the subject of Friendship. Because no institution in the world could yet comprehend the power of this great structure. Twilight Sparkle’s School of Friendship, is where our story begins. One day after the defeat of Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow. The official day, the “Twilight Era” in Equestria’s Golden Age began.... -----&----- “WHAT?!” An entire auditorium’s worth of children, ambassadors, and parents all cried out at once. The Headmare on stage winced as her ears flattened back. That was about the reaction Starlight was expecting at that news. She took a breath at that response, but found it unhelpful as the air in the room was stagnant, and yet getting charged with emotions. “The School of Friendship will be closing down...” She stated again, being slower and much more articulate with her words. She needed to defuse this situation. “For a BRIEF period!” She told them all, looking around as she held up her hoof. “Now, please! Listen everyone, I know how you are all feeling, but I want to explain our reasoning behind this decision.” “Yah better!” A grouchy older griffon squawked all the way in the back of the auditorium. “I ain’t payin fer no lousey school that ain’t gonna teach!” Grandpa Gruff declared, as a number of parents agreed with him on that sentiment. The young, blue griffon ‘Gallus’ rolled his eyes and sighed. “You didn’t pay to send me here, they gave me free tuition.” He muttered, but knew better than to bring it up with the senile old bird. Starlight sighed and looked off to the side of the stage, towards her help. Trixie gave a small shrug, while Sunburst tried to motion for her to continue with a wave of his hoof. Shaking her head, she turned back to the crowd and spoke up. “The reason we are closing down the School of Friendship is... is!!- Well... because we don’t have any staff!” She told everyone with a huff, trying not to get upset at having to admit this before Leaders of Government. “Our entire staff QUIT Yesterday! The Headmare has just had the entire Government passed on to her, and our teachers jumped ship with her to go join her council! As you might imagine- that puts the new Headmare (ME) in a bind at the moment!” She said, straightening up as her voice commanded the room and everyone’s attention. There was a moment of silence as the ambassadors and parents in the room considered this fact. It didn’t quell their anger, but it did temper their expectations. She was just one mare afterall- she wasn’t a princess or anything. “I don’t want to close down the school.” She told everyone, sighing as she looked down at her own hooves, letting her hair fall over one of her eyes. “I don’t want to have to send you all home or away. You’ve all been taking well to your lessons. You kids have become such a tightly knit family, that... this isn’t an easy decision for me to make! But... It’s either I close down the school, and find replacement teachers for the Next Semester, or I try to teach every classroom at once, by myself. And even with my own duplication spell, Pinkie Pie’s advised me against trying to create multiples of myself. Princess Twilight has as well.” She said, sighing as she shook her head. “Now, as this happens to be a government funded school, Princess Celestia and Twilight have agreed to give tuition to whatever families need it to help their children move to other schools, local or boarding. My counselors, Trixie, Sunburst and I, will be more than happy to talk with any and all parents over the coming days to get your children moved into other classrooms across town and across the country if need be!” Starlight began, trying to calm the swelling tides of upset parents that composed 65% of the student body at the moment. The other 35% however, were none too happy to hear about any of this. Especially those of the Ambassador Students... they could all see exactly what this meant, like it was painted in red on the walls. “We’re... We’re done?” Silverstream asked out loud with anguish. She was going back? Back to Seaquestria??? ... She didn’t want to go! She had friends here- really good ones! And she had found so many amazing things here on the surface- she didn’t want to be stuck on a beach, looking out over the ocean! “But, but we can’t!” The little teal Ling cried out, fluttering above King Thorax’s head not but a seat over from Silver. “We can’t be done! We’ve only just started- this is our first year! If we don’t finish then. Then what about our grades? Our tests?! ... Our Homework?!” “Psshh. Pretty sure there are more pressing things than our grades here Ocellus.” Smolder grumbled, sitting the farthest back in her seat and nearly sliding out. She was sitting next to Ocellus’s empty spot, rolling her eyes. “Knew this had to end at some point...” She muttered under her breath. “Smolder’s right.” Sandbar stated, having joined his friends in the back instead of sitting with his parents, and missed the rest of her statement. “This isn’t just about a School, and grades... But, they can’t just do this! We’ve got friends here! We’ve made friends here, we’ve been putting everything we learn to use! They can’t just split us up!... Can they?” “Ooohhh you better believe they can.” Gallus huffed, sitting back like Smolder as he rolled his eyes, claws wrapped over his chest. “Cuz they just did. So much for “Friendship is Magic.”” He added ‘quotation’ marks thanks to his opposable digits, clearly marking the sarcasm for the literal of the bunch. “No!” Yona stomped her hooves down hard on the ground, snorting as she looked to Silver, getting out of her seat and stomping up the aisle towards the auditorium door. “No no no no!” “Yona?” Silver called out, looking back to her friends- whom also took notice of the Yak leaving the party early. (It wasn’t a very fun party admittedly.) “Yona- you can’t leave!” Ocellus said. “This is important!” “Why not?” Smolder asked, before suddenly getting up and fluttering over to the yak. “The rest of this is just boring adult stuff. Might as well leave and spend some time together while we still can...” “...” The weight of that sentence alone hit everyone’s hearts deep to their core. Like a shard of ice, Ocellus couldn’t argue it because of how deeply it sank into her. She turned and looked over to her other friends whom all seemed equally distraught by how true that statement was, before agreeing with Smolder. So, while Starlight continued to talk and call out to the parents of the student body, the Student Six slipped away to the only place they could think to go. The Clubhouse of Friendship. -----&----- Ocellus looked around the main area from atop her stool, curled up like a cat on a high perch, overlooking the scene before her. It was dreary and dreadful, thanks to the mournful expressions on her friends faces. Everyone had taken a seat, and was now just sitting in silence around the room unsure what to say. What could they say to each other? Smolder had voiced all of their thoughts perfectly 15 minutes ago, and the trudge through the Everfree in utter silence only solidified what they now knew. It was done. It was over. This was likely the end of their story, as a group of friends. “... Welp. This sucks.” Smolder finally broke the silence like a sledgehammer to glass, sighing deeply as she finished that sentence with a barrel’s worth of smoke trailing from her nose. “... I’m pissed.” “Welcome to the Club.” Gallus muttered, before motioning the yak with a frown permanently glued on her face. “That’s our Princess, right over there.” “Gallus, you know that doesn’t help...” Silver muttered in an almost hurt whimper, but she sounded so defeated in her tone. She was usually the cheery one who could find a bright side to any situation, but the thought of returning home? Going back to Seaquestria- when she had a whole new world set before her?? and GREAT friends to explore it with!? It was devastating to her! It wasn’t right! This couldn’t be happening, and yet... it was. “Help, shmelp- they don’t want to help us!” Gallus snapped, but his emotions were tempered. He was usually the best at hiding how he felt, but there were moments like these where his heart really did shine through. “They just screwed up big time, and now WE have to pay the price!” Once more, these words rang true. The silence began to take root between them, growing like a sickness infecting their bonds, but Sandbar still tried to rally and reason with them. “We can’t just give up.” He pointed out. “We’re all friends here right? .... Friendship can do anything- it’s a new and special kind of magic, right?” Gallus gave a roll of his eyes, but didn’t give a snappy retort back. As much as he wanted to admit he liked the idea of fighting for what they had, he knew how this would turn out. And it wasn’t going to turn out well for them. “We’re just kids, Sandy.” Smolder pointed out. “What the heck can we do? ... Yeah we’re like, ambassadors and junk- well. Most of us.” She muttered to him with a shrug. “Sorry bud.” “It’s fine.” Sandbar admitted, giving a shake of his head. “I dunno honestly... we could try and figure out something though, can’t we? I mean. It would be better than just sitting here and doing... nothing.” “Like what? What can we do? Fight the Adults? Run away again? That didn’t work the last time the school got shut down.” Ocellus reminded him, shaking her head. “And they know where we would hide- plus we would be betraying Headmare Starlight’s trust if we did that, and Princess Twilight’s.” Once more, heads were hung. Defeat seemed ever looming over these children, who didn’t want to say goodbye to their friends just yet. “... We could talk to them.” Yona muttered, breaking her thousand yard stare at the crystal coffee table to look up. “... Yona say we talk to them. To adults.” “What would we say?” Silver asked, cocking her head slightly to the side. “We don’t exactly have a lot of sway. I mean, we’re just students. Kids.” “We can still talk to them!” Yona said, looking up to Silver. “We don’t need to sway! Just speak! Speak Loudly! Speak loud enough to be heard! ... Yona... Yona doesn’t want to go home!” She called out, smashing her hooves down with a loud crack into the crystal floor. Before... there was a soft sniffling noise crawling out from underneath the mountain of yak-fur. “Y-Yona doesn’t want to go... Yona found f-friends! Real friends! Yona like friends, and like everything about them! -sniff- Yona loves them.” A set of wings flapped softly, as someone sat down beside her... claws softly gripped one of her hooves before she felt a strong warmth hug her gently, pressing into that thick fur. She didn’t say anything- but she also didn’t need to. It was all agreed that they... they were more than just friends. Best friends even. They were a family of a sort... Slowly, another set of wings flapped and joined Yona. Gallus sat down beside her, on the other side from Smolder, and gently stroked her back as Yona cried silently. “Gallus loves you too.” He muttered, giving a weak chuckle as he shook his head. “To be real for a moment? ... You guys are the only thing I’ve got.” He admitted, looking Yona in the eyes when she managed to stop crying. “If this does happen, and I get sent back to Griffonstone, I’ll have nothing. Absolutely nothing... I didn’t have anything before I came here, but. What we’ve been through in the last year, has made me come to realize how much you guys mean to me. You guys are my friends... And even if all we can do is. Is kick, and scream, like a bunch of kids? ... Then I say we do it.” He declared in a somber tone, looking up to Smolder first, before looking out to the rest of them. “I say we tell them that we aren’t leaving. That this school is the best thing for us- even if we aren’t gonna learn anything while here. We’ll still have each other, and that’s what we need. More than some stupid letters on a piece of paper.” Silverstream sniffled, smiling softly as she had tears in her own eyes. “... I-I wanna stay.” She sniffled and flew up gently, crossing the room over to Yona and Gallus and Smolder, and sat herself in before them. “I want to stay here with you guys...” Ocellus bit her bottom lip, uncertain about how this would turn out. She knew how important being taught things, and learning was. A proper curriculum in Equestrian Society was important- that’s why they still had to learn things like Math and History, ontop of Animal Handling and Cloud Control! To be allowed to just skip the rest of what they needed to learn was impossible to talk their way out of! They had to do more than talk to them. They needed some kind of plan they needed to present! But as she thought about it, she realized how it was their only option. If they ran away again- they wouldn’t get saved by their professors this time. They wouldn’t show how strong friendship was, they would just be creating more problems for Headmare Starlight, and their own families... Honestly? This was the best option for them. Even if all they could do was beg for their friendship. “... -sigh- Well. I guess there could be worse alternatives.” She admitted shyly, before buzzing over to Yona, who was slowly lifting herself up to see all of her friends around her now- supporting her idea. Supporting her, and telling her they were all feeling the same way by doing so. Sandbar smiled slowly, watching his friends all gather around Yona now, seeing them come together under her idea. It wasn’t much. They had learned from their first experience with the school getting closed down that running away from the problem wasn’t going to fix it. So he guessed that this was a step in the right direction at least. Facing your problems head on. “Well?” Smolder looked directly at him. “Common Sandy. You gonna join us?~” She asked, seeming the least affected- though she had been the first to sit with Yona. Sandbar blinked, before giving a small nod. “Yeah... Of course. I was willing to give up my allowance for you guys last time. Figure this might be a bit cheaper than having to buy you all cupcakes again.” He muttered, giving a small chuckle as that got a laugh or two. And a small punch from Gallus. “You’re sounding more like a Griffon everyday.” Gallus teased. “Yeah well, I blame the company I keep.” Sandbar muttered, before shrugging as he then looked out at everyone. And then put up his hoof. “... No matter what happens after that talk though? ... No matter how far we might go, or where we all might end up. Can we promise we’ll still be friends? No matter what?” Yona rubbed the tears from her eyes and nodded swiftly, putting her hoof on Sandbar’s. “Yona Promise. Yona Pinkie Promise.” She said, going through the motions with her free hoof. The tree around them seemed to grow a bit brighter in that moment, the sunlight passing through growing stronger in that moment. Silverstream giggled at the display and nodded as she did the same, throwing her claws over Yona’s hoof. “Ditto! I pinkie promise too. We’re all friends, no matter what!” Gallus snorted but put his hoof in anyway. “Guess I should join in before I get guilted.” He muttered, but seemed happy with the thought that he would still have friends, even in the end. It was kinda comforting to him. The walls around them began to glimmer softly, like how light refracted under the waves of the ocean, and added a sense of warmth between them all. Ocellus put her hoof in as well, and did the motions for it too, crossing her heart, and spreading her wings, before sticking the metaphorical cupcake in her bug-eyes. “I agree! We’re all going to be friends, no matter what happens to us. We can still write letters, and come visit each other! That might even be fun to see everyone’s homes.” Smolder looked up to the bug. She looked over to the Bird Brain. The Gerk with a capital “G”. The Mud-Horse, and the Stubborn Yak... She slowly smiled, her eyes falling into half-lidded moons. A small sense of strength growing within her as she looked at them all holding hooves over the others like it was some kind of ritual. “... You guys are weird.” She finally added, before putting her own claws into the mix. “But... It’s a kind of weird I can get behind~ ... How’s that Pinkie Promise go again?” “Oh Oh! I know!” Silver smiled and lifted a talon high. “It goes like this! Cross my heart and hope to fly, or stick a cupcake in my eye!~” Doing all the motions again for added effect. That shimmering in the background started to get a lot brighter now. A lot brighter, like a glowing mess of waves and patterns across the crystal backdrop that was their clubhouse. Smolder chuckled, before rolling her eyes as she half-heartedly repeated the motions her excitable friend made. “Yeah, yeah. What she said.” And like that, Sandbar threw up his hoof, and everyone did the same. “Friends! Forever!” He called out bravely. The other shrugged, before calling it as well feeling emboldened by his action. “Friends Forever!” The walls exploded with light and color, as rainbow hues shot out around the group of friends. They all turned to look and see what was happening around them, but couldn’t react fast enough. The rainbow wrapped itself around them like a vortex, before shooting through the roof of the tree and blasting off into the skies- deep into the unknown lands of Equestria. Leaving behind an empty Treehouse, with no students in sight....