It was a calm summer morning in the small town of Ponyville as the sun rose in the distance. Things seemed rather calm today as many of the citizens in the small town carried on with their day to day lives, while others took advantage of the warm weather to relax and take a break from their duties. This included the creatures who attended the school of friendship. For after everything that had transpired during their chaotic first semester, they deserved to have the rest and relaxation that came with summer vacation.
Such was the case today for a few of the students as they were on their way to the lake that was northeast of Ponyville. Though, as time passed, some of them were beginning to express doubt, “Are you sure we’re headed to the right place, Silverstream?” the young earth pony that was known as Sandbar asked his friend, “This place seems kind of far from town for a place to swim.”
Silverstream, the young hippogriff that was ahead of the others nodded her head and smiled, “Yup! Professor Pinkie Pie told me that this spot is the perfect place to cool off on a hot day like today!! So, why not?”
“I can think of a few reasons,” the friend that was with them, a cerulean griffon named Gallus, interjected, “First, why is it just the three of us? Wouldn’t this be the kind of thing that every creature would want to do?”
“Well, I was going to offer if they wanted to come,” the hippogriff explained, “But then I remembered our field trip with Professor Applejack and Professor Rainbow Dash-”
Sandbar had a feeling of where she was going with this. On the field trip that Silverstream mentioned, they learned that Yona not only was afraid of water, but also couldn’t swim. It would be rather mean of them to invite her to take part in an activity that made her scared of the very thought.
Still, that only involved one of their friends. There were two other creatures that had yet to be mentioned yet. “Okay, but what about Ocellus and Smolder?” Sandbar now asked, “Surely, they don’t have anything going on now, do they?”
“Well, I did ask both of them if they wanted to join us, but-” Before she could say anything else, Silverstream stopped. Her ears twitched for a brief moment as the hippogriff looked around, “Did… either of you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Gallus then asked as the griffon looked back at her with a confused stare. Sandbar was just as puzzled as his friend, for he had no idea what the hippogriff was talking about.
“You really didn’t hear that just now?” she asked both of her friends, who only shook their heads in response as the hippogriff looked towards the lake that wasn’t that far away, “It sounded like a little filly singing to themselves.”
“Silverstream, we haven’t seen any other creatures on the way here,” the griffon pointed out to his friend, “Are you sure that-?”
Before he could finish speaking, all three of them felt a faint breeze pass by them and heard something in the distance. The sound of what appeared to be a young child’s laughter could be heard coming from Saddle Lake. “Da-da-da!”
Gallus blink, his jaw hanging a bit as he tried to process what he just heard, “On second thought, I think you might be onto something.”
“See? What did I tell you?” the hippogriff beamed. “Come on, let’s go see who it is!” Without warning, she took off towards the lake, leaving Sandbar and Gallus behind in the dust as her friends hastily tried to catch up to the eager hippogriff.
When the three of them first arrived at Saddle Lake, nothing really seemed too out of the ordinary. Though, as the three students continued to look around, they soon noticed something strange walking along the shore. A small bipedal figure that wore a red coat over a white dress with the symbol of a four leaf clover weaved onto their clothes. Their appearance was unlike anything the three of them had seen before, for they had pointed ears, sand like skin, a blonde mane and red eyes. The other thing that was rather noticeable was a rather large bag with a strange stuffed animal attached to the side and a red fire like jewel on the flap.
“Guys, what is that?” Gallus now asked as he and his friends looked at the figure from a distance.
“I… don’t know,” Sandbar admitted, the earth pony trying to get a closer look, “They don’t look like any species that we’ve covered in class.”
“Whatever they are, they look so adorable,” Silverstream commented, which had Gallus roll his eyes as the griffon looked back at the stranger. When he did, the strange figure had stopped walking along the shore and was now staring into the waters of the lake.
“This is the perfect spot!” they proclaimed with childlike glee. Before Sandbar and his friends could understand what the creature was talking about, the youngling had already opened up their bag and was rifling through its contents. Though, the three of them were puzzled by what they had in her bag.
It was a series of small spheres, but the ears on the, almost looked like they were stuffed animals. Each one with a stem with a red clover at the end. “Are those… supposed to be toys?”
“It looks like it,” Silverstream remarked as they watched the little one throw them in the water, “Ooh! Maybe they are water toys! That’s why they’re throwing them in the lake!”
“I don’t know,” Gallus said, taking his eyes off of the strange creature for only a moment as he looked at the hippogriff, “Those things don’t really look ‘cute and cuddly’ if you ask me.”
“Are you sure?” Sandbar asked, “I mean, whoever they are, they only seem to be a child. They don’t look dangerous-”
Before either of his friends could say anything, the sound of a loud blast redirected their attention back to the lake. As the young stranger cheered in childlike glee, what they threw into the lake exploded. Any fish that were swimming and got caught in the blast were sent flying out of the water as they landed on the shore. Only to be picked up by the young creature as she tried to hold as many as she could in her arms.
It took a moment for the earth pony to actually come up with something to say after all that they had just witnessed. Though, when he did, Sandbar started by stating the obvious, “Okay, I take it back. They definitely look dangerous.”
“B-but why would she do that?” Silverstream asked in disbelief, still horrified by what she had just witnessed, “W-what does she have against fish?”
“Guys?”
“I don’t think it’s like that, Silverstream,” the earth pony tried to assure the hippogriff, to no avail.
“I have friends back home that are fish! Why-!?”
“Uh guys,” Gallus tried again to get the attention of his friends unsuccessfully. Though, as the griffon looked back towards the lake, they spotted something that immediately caught their attention. So much so that he tried again to interrupt the conversation going on between Sandbar and Silverstream. “Hey, guys!”
When the both of them looked back at the griffon, all he did was just pointed back towards the lake. At first, they were confused by what Gallus was trying to tell them. Though, when they looked back at the shore of the lake, they immediately realized what he was trying to tell them. The little creature that was along the shore of the lake had spotted them, their pack was back on their shoulders and their arms filled with as much fish as they could carry. Though, they didn’t look rather happy.
If anything… they were scared. “Uh… h-hello-”
Before Sandbar was able to finish his sentence, the little one in red took off. Racing back down the road that Sandbar and his friends took to get to Saddle Lake in the first place. Even though they had just got here, the thought of what they had just witnessed at the lake happening in Ponyville was enough of a reason for them to give chase after the little one.
Yet, when the three of them found the little one again, she was with another figure. One with an ashy blond mane, pale skin and teal eyes. They wore a white coat with black and gold details over an indigo shirt, black pants and matching cloth over what looked to be strange claws. Though, what stood out to them the most was the amber colored jewel around the collar of the shirt.
“What the-?” Gallus spoke, caught off guard by the appearance of the newfound figure, “Who’s this guy?”
What was most shocking though… was when magic that was gold in color flowed to their hands as they looked back at the trio. “Who are you?” it asked, “And why did you startle my sister?”