Miss Cheerilee smiled at her classroom of little ponies. "Calm down, everypony. I know this is an exciting idea, but the breezies will only be sending a few ponies, and they only have room for a few in return." She raised her hooves. "One for one, a fair trade."
Her eyes wandered over the classroom. "While you're there, you'll be living as a breezie, with the breezies. You will not be able to return." She raised a hoof to her chin. "I will also expect a full report on the experience." The two conditions made many raised hooves lower. But still some remained up and ready. "While I want you to learn from the breezies and do things as they do, you will be the only support the others have. You have to work together."
More hooves shrank with worry. One set of three remained just as high, waving eagerly. Cheerfilee smiled at the crusaders. "I am, somehow, completely unsurprised."
Apple Bloom grabbed Sweetie, who was next to her. "We'll watch out fer each other!"
Sweetie raised a notebook with her magic. "And take so many notes!" She lurched to the side, Scootaloo crashing in from the other way to grab her.
"We'll check it all out!" Scoots shouted with a grin.
Cheerilee set down her hooves. "Well, there is a final step." She looked from the CMC to the other eager foals. "You have to get permission from your parents."
Scootaloo wilted with a suffering sigh.
Cheerilee did notice that. "Scootaloo, an okay from your aunts will suffice."
Her mood rebounded instantly as she jumped up over the desk with a cheer, clopping her hooves together.
"Now, back to the lesson of the day." Class had not been cancelled to broach that topic, and they were dragged back into more local learning.
"It's gonna be so cool!" Scootaloo had arrived home, jittering with excitement. "I wanna see how those little ponies get anything done." She slapped down a paper on the table. "I just need a singature from you two."
Her aunts looked at the paper more skeptically. Lofty mussed Scootaloo's mane. "Did you even read this?"
"Yes."
Holiday laughed. "By which you mean, 'no and I'm hoping you don't either.'" She smooched Scootaloo's blushing cheek. "You are too easy to read sometimes."
Lofty sat, crossing her arms. "It says here Twilight's gonna zap you."
"Wouldn't be the first time," defended Scootaloo.
Lofty tapped at the paper. "You'll be a breezie." She brought her hooves close. "This small. That something you want to do?"
"Yes?" Scootaloo smiled brightly. "Why wouldn't I?! It'll be so much fun."
"Hm?" Sweetie's father was watching something on television, only half-paying attention.
"I need your hoof stamp right here, please." Sweetie presented the form. "It's for a school trip."
"Oh, sure." Down came his hoof, stomping it without hesitation. "Have fun! Oh, how long is it, a day trip?"
That was a fine question! Sweetie turned the paper to look at it. "A moon."
"A moon?!" Hondo sat up sharply. "That's quite a long time for a school trip!"
Sweetie neatly folded the paper, tucking it away even as this new piece of information was digested. "We're going to learn a lot. I'll be taking notes the entire time."
Hondo hiked a dubious brow. "That's the longest you've ever been away before."
"I'm not a little foal anymore." Sweetie extended her tongue slightly. "I can take care of myself for a little while. Besides, Twilight's involved!" She saw her name on the paper.
"Oh, well, if Twilight's gonna be there." Hondo sat back, clearly put at ease. "Just, be careful, alright? I don't want my Sweetie getting hurt." He put out a hoof and soon had a Sweetie to hug gently. "And have fun."
"I will!" she sang joyfully, permission obtained!
Apple Bloom pointed at the paper before Granny. "Ah just need ya to give the alright!"
Granny Smith was not so swift, leaning in with a thoughtful noise. "A whole moon? Who's gonna cover yer chores while you're off gallivantin' to who knows where?"
"What's this now?" Applejack was just entering, shaking herself out from a day's work. "Whatcha got there?"
Granny waved at the paper. "Apple Bloom wants to run off somewhere fer a whole moon."
"This one of them contests?" Applejack circled the table to have a peek. "Bunch of scams, lemme tell ya." But then she could read it. "Oh, it's a school thin'." Her hoof trailed down across it. "Twilight's doin' it?"
Apple Bloom bobbed her head. "She's gonna zap us into breezies and we're trading places with breezie foals to learn stuff!"
Applejack's brows fell even as a sly smile grew. "Well, that sounds like we done found an answer then."
"We did?" Granny raised her shoulders. "What answer?"
Applejack tapped at the paper. "If yer gettin' breezie exchange students, one of 'em, or all of 'em, can stay here and do yer chores while you're gone."
Apple Bloom drew her head back. "Huh... Sure." She pointed up at her room through the roof. "They kin use mah room while ah'm gone. Ain't no harm in that."
Granny nodded firmly. "Good, then we'll teach them somethin'. Bein' an earth pony ain't easy, but we'll show 'em how it's done, little flittering things. They won't be flitterin' so much if they're full size." A pause. "They'll be full size, right?"
Apple Bloom pointed at herself. "And ah'll be teeny tiny!"
Applejack grabbed her little sister, hugging her fiercely with one leg. "You'll always be teeny tiny in mah book, sis. Now, alright." She stomped her hoof on the paper, leaving a nice clear mark. "You better learn somethin' new! This ain't just fer fun."
Lofty hummed. "I'm not sure I approve of the idea, you being so far away from all the adults you know and can turn to."
"It is a long way aways," joined Aunt Holiday. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"
Scootaloo bobbed her head. "I won't be alone. Other ponies from my class are going too." She clapped her hooves. "Including the girls! You know them!"
"We do," allowed Lofty with a little smirk. "If they went off for so long without you--"
"--You'd be beside yourself," agreed Holiday. "We can't allow that."
"We certainly can! But we wouldn't. Scootaloo, we need to go over a few things first. If you're going to be so far away for so long, you need to be ready."
Scootaloo snapped a salute. She was getting permission! Did anything else really matter?
Holiday set an arm over Scootaloo. "You're taking after your parents, aren't you? Going off to far off places to mingle with the locals and maybe get into trouble."
Scootaloo's cheer took a turn. "Um, sorta?" She wasn't sure how she felt about that bit. "It looks fun, with the girls."
"With the girls," echoed Lofty with a little snort. "Now, if you're in trouble..."
The next day, Cheerilee found a stack of papers on her desk. It wasn't a big stack, but it was a stack. She pushed at them with a hoof to count them quickly. Five papers. "I'll let Twilight know. She'll contact you when she's ready. But that's not today's lesson. You know how the flowers had dew this morning?" A tepid affirmative from the crowd came. "It's time to learn why that is!"
Twilight floated the permission slips about. "Hm!" Five eager little minds, wanting to learn. How delightful! She turned and zapped the table that served as the cutie map.
A little breezie popped into being atop it. "--with three slices." He turned in place to face Twilight. "What the? Oh, it is the Twilight! How can I be helping you today?"
Twilight nodded at Seabreeze. "I have five volunteers."
"Five?! That is being too many." He frowned at the large form of the pony princess. "Why do you have so many?"
"The foals are very eager to take part in this." Twilight curled a hoof to her chin. "I was thinking, what if we exchange with two towns at once? Could you arrange for that? We'd send three to one and two to the other. We'll gladly take five breezies in return. Our school can accommodate that."
"Easy for you to be saying. Your school is very much larger." He threw his hooves wide for emphasis. "I will talk. Goodbye!" And he vanished, the map returning to its usual state.
Half a world away, Seabreeze clapped his face between two tiny hooves. "Five?!"
"Told you," taunted a female breezie. "Ponies adore us."
"Why are they doing that? They are the ones who are large and great! We are tiny and--"
"They still like us," whistled the female with a giggle. "Still, this is good, isn't it?"
"I am not ready!" cried Seabreeze. "The Twilight, she said she would send three to one and two to the other, yes?"
"Ja," agreed the female, seeming to enjoy Seabreeze's meltdown. "Why?"
"Then we can give three to the other." He pointed off. "And just deal with two. We just need a village for the three." Seabreeze looked hopeful, the disaster showing signs of being resolved. "But which one will want ponies?"
"They'll be breezies," noted the female, waving over herself. "Not big ponies. A few guests isn't that big."
"They are ponies," exclaimed Seabreeze with a frown. "About as big as it is getting."
"Tiny ponies," giggled the female. "Sounds fun! Little pony larvae? I bet they will be so very cute!"
"Adorable," grunted Seabreeze without the same enthusiasm. "Why were you so sure they'd agree to the plan you were making?"
"Do you close your eyes every time?" She sat and rolled her eyes. "They watch us each flight. The ponies wish they could be so small."
"But why?" To Seabreeze, clearly a baffling concept. "Whatever, it is too late. Promises were made! You!" He pointed at the female. "You like it so much, your problem! Find somewhere to take the three. I will set up for the two."
He fluttered off in a tizzy, leaving things in her hooves. "Three little ponies." She clapped with naked joy. "That sounds so fun!" She lifted into the air to make her own plans with a huge smile. "I'll make this work. Silly boy, this is not even being a problem. A chill pill or three is what you need." She rolled her eyes as she navigated the idyllic forest that was home to the breezies.
"The winds are just right." Twilight had a hoof up. "Confirmation?"
Fluttershy nodded with confidence. "Are you sure the foals will arrive safely?"
"If they stay in the current and don't stray away from it." She looked across the foals, CMC included. "Now, time to get dressed, as it were."
Her horn glowed brightly as she wove the spell around them, reducing five foals to five even teenier young breezies looking around from their new vantage point. "Now--" She scooped them all up. "You just need to spread your wings and..." And they were carried away with a bunch of tiny squeals of excitement and alarm.
"Ah got it!" assured Apple Bloom, doing her best to stay straight as the winds pushed her and the girls along. "We're on the way!"
"Woo!" That she'd be able to fly hadn't been noted a specific benefit. It was still one, and Scootaloo was living the dream, soaring along the breeze. Though her wings hadn't ever been powerful enough to lift her from the ground, her practice still came in handy, allowing her to control her motions with far greater skill than her peers. "This is already super fun!"
Sweetie made notes in a floating pad as she did a slow spin in the air, not focusing enough on keeping upright. "Don't forget, we're here to learn too. I bet Miss Cheerilee will quiz us!"
Apple Bloom paled. "Good thing we have you here to take such good notes." She caught Sweetie as she was about to float past. "Gotcha!"