Okaaaaay. There was no way I was gonna be able to talk to Ash directly. Mainly because I kinda already tried that and I don’t wanna make him feel any more awkward than he probably already does.
So instead, I decided to stal--er, tail him! It’s just what Papa-Pale does when he’s looking after someone, right? It’s not illegal if you’re not caught doing it!
Hoo boy, maybe I should keep my thoughts to myself sometimes.
Anyway, the next day when school got started, I entered the campus wearing a sunhat and a pair of glasses. It kept who I was a secret from most of the kiddos there like a charm. If it worked for Superstallion, then it could work for me.
With a clipboard in my hoof, I trotted around the campus, realizing just how big this place was. It was like entering some little filly’s dollhouse. From the outside, it looked like your average two-story building, but on the inside, it was gigantic with super high ceilings akin to that of a castle!
“Twilight almighty--just who designed this place?” I asked, then realized whose name I just spoke into existence. Of course it’d be someone like her who crafted a place like this. She was used to those large, open spaces…that she could fill to the brim with books. That wasn’t a roast, I was just spitting facts.
Anyway, getting off-track. I needed to figure out which class Ash had first and how his schedule went so I could follo--er, tail him throughout the day. Man this doesn’t sound good any way I spin it, but dragons are built so differently that I don’t have much choice when it comes to how to approach this. If Smolder is worried about him, then I have to take this seriously.
DIIIIIING!
That was the first bell for the day and everyone was getting out of their dorm rooms to head towards their first classes. Time to locate Ash.and see how he goes about his day.
So I casually stayed idle by one of the classroom doors, disguising myself as a member of the faculty as the students entered the common area. I saw ponies, griffons, kirin, zebras, changelings--the whole nine yards. Oh, and dragons of course.
Ash in particular seemed to exit from Hall Omega. The silver dragon could be seen walking alongside a young male minotaur, female griffon, and a female zebra.
Interesting. Time to see what sort of dynamic their friendship has--assuming they’re friends at all.
Ash walked ahead of them and the young minotaur--who was brown in color--approached him afterwards.
“Hey! Looks like we have the mixed martial arts class next, bro!” the minotaur squealed in his raspy young voice, “This is gonna be awesome.”
“Hm…I suppose it couldn’t hurt to brush up on my skills,” Ash replied as he stretched and rolled one of his arms. “But do keep in mind that we also have home economics as well. That’s equally as important.”
“Aw, c’mon. Learning how to cook won’t make you stronger, Ash,” the minotaur boy replied as he raised his fist, “You gotta know how to fight if you wanna survive!”
“...And what if you go hungry?” Ash mentioned, “No matter what happens, you need to eat in order to live, Titanus.”
So the minotaur’s name was Titanus, huh? Pretty powerful. So now I knew that Ash had at least one other connection in this institution. Glad that he isn’t completely alone.
The zebra and griffon had parted ways with them and gone off in their own direction. I suppose their class schedule was completely different. Either way, my focus was the dragon boy. I tailed them both until they arrived at the training grounds for self-defense. A nice new addition since everyone agreed to start teaching the next generation how to stand up for, and defend themselves as well as each other.
So I hid in one of the bushes near the training grounds in the field located behind the school. Their combat coach was the retired Wonderbolt, Spitfire--who was apparently rather adept in many forms fighting including Wing Chun. No, I’m not joking.
Anyhow, I watched closely as I saw Ash and other other kids run up and start pummeling various training dummies. On Spitfire’s command, each of them started stomping, kicking, and throwing their targets in order to ward off would-be attackers. Very neat stuff and I hyper-focused on Ash…
Ash’s method involved the use of his fire breath to create a shield for a more defensive combat style--and the end result was him flying into the dummy with it in order to set it ablaze and reduce it to nothing but--well, ya know.
It was interesting though because I had seen dragons use their teeth and claws way more often when it came to fighting. What about Ash was different than most other dragons…?
“Are you watching them from a bush?” a voice suddenly spoke up from behind me, “Isn’t that kinda weird?”
“I’m a doctor,” I spoke up in response to the voice as I looked down at who it was. It was that griffon girl from before. I immediately narrowed my eyes and said, “Hey. Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”
“Oh, uh…I’m done with the baking class,” she continued. Her feline lion half was a teal color of fur and her eagle-half was comprised of pink feathers and a yellow beak along with soft green eyes. “But I bet you’re lookin’ at Ash, right?”
I glared at her once again. “No. Even so, who are you, little missy?”
“Fenja,” she replied--the ‘j’ was pronounced like a ‘y’, “And I just had a hunch. Guess you’re not interested in the little behavior quirks I noticed he has, hm?”
“Wait…you’ve noticed his behavior quirks?” I asked with an interested, yet doubtful tone of voice.
This was a bit suspicious.