The sun shined through white puffy clouds as a cool breeze blew through. The temperature was mildly warm and birds flew past the cottage where the Chaos family lived as they cheerfully tweeted. It was certainly a beautiful day.
If only Fluttershy could convince her daughter to come out of hiding.
"Sweetie, please come on out." Fluttershy asked as she lowered herself to look under a small bed. A little snake tail with a pink tuft poked out from beneath the sheets, shaking like a leaf. The tail disappeared, though moments later, a pink eye stared out nervously as she looked at her mother.
"Raven, you need to come out. School's starting soon and we don't want to be late, right?" Fluttershy said with a gentle smile. The eye looked down before a five year old draconequus crawled out from her bed, her hair being long enough to completely cover one of her eyes. Fluttershy grabbed the mismatched filly. Or cub? Or filly-cub? Discord's kind didn't really have terms for their kids as far as she knew. If they had a term, Discord never told her. Or maybe he just didn't remember. Considering he barely remembers his parents, Fluttershy assumed it was the latter.
Clearing her mind of these thoughts, Fluttershy flew up and then sat on the bed, putting Raven on her lap. She grabbed a turquoise mane brush and started brushing her daughter's mane.
"I know you're nervous, little flower, but it's important that you go to school." Fluttershy said. Raven looked down nervously.
"Can't I just...be taught at home or something, mama?" Raven asked, her voice having a very slight lisp due to the tiny braces in her mouth. Her mother stopped brushing before turning slightly to better look at her.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, but me and Discord agreed that it'd be best for you if you go to a school with others your age. Besides, don't you want to make friends?" Fluttershy asked. Raven sighed and let her mama continue to brush her mane.
After she finished brushing, Fluttershy set aside the brush and grabbed two ruby red hair ties. She used her wings to hold Raven's locks up before using her hooves to put it up in her usual hairstyle at five years old—cute little twin tails that matched Fluttershy when she herself was her age. Fluttershy took a moment to shift the fringe to the side, revealing both of her daughter's gorgeous eyes in their full glory.
"There we go. Now everypony will get to see your beautiful self." Fluttershy hugged her daughter tightly. "Now, let's get your bag together and head downstairs, where your sister should be waiting."
Once they got everything they needed in the bag, they headed to the stairs. Fluttershy gently walked down while Raven hopped down the steps behind her, a tiny saddlebag over her back. Wildflower stood by the door wearing a similar looking saddlebag, though she looked slightly annoyed at the little pink bow that held up a ponytail that Discord had put on her. While Wildflower had already been in school before, today was the first day in a new grade and Fluttershy wanted to make her look as nice as possible to make a good impression for the teacher, even if Fluttershy herself didn't mind Wildflower being more of a tomcolt.
"Alright, girls. If we're all ready, let's get going." Fluttershy said, ready to head out the door.
"Hold up, Flutters." Discord called out, carrying two tiny brown paper bags, both of which had little pink hearts and the faces of Discord and Fluttershy drawn on them in a crudely done, but cute, fashion. "Can't forget their lunch." He placed the both bags in the two filly's respective saddlebags.
Fluttershy smiled towards him, though there was a noticeable sad tint to her eyes. "I wish you could come with me to take the girls to school." Discord's expression soon match hers as he looked over at her direction.
"I know, dear." He sighed. "But Twilight said the job she has for me was urgent. I mean, she says that a lot, but you know how it is." A watch appeared on his wrist as he looked at it. "In fact, I should be leaving right now."
The watch disappeared before he looked over to his wondrous children. "Alright, girls. Have a good day at school. I should be back in time to pick you up with your mother, so I expect to hear all about your day. And remember to cause your teachers a bit of trouble." He said with a slight smirk.
Fluttershy raised a brow at his words. He rolled his eyes before revising his words. "Okay, don't cause them any trouble."
He picked up and kissed both his girls on their respective cheeks before a portal to Canterlot opened up and the older draconequus hopped in. His neck stuck back out and he stretched his neck, pecking his wife on the lips. She smiled and returned the peck. Once his neck retracted back in, the portal closed. Fluttershy turned to her daughters. "Okay. Let's head out."
As Fluttershy strolled with her daughters next to her, stopping every now and then to gently step on Wildflower's tail to keep her from running off, Raven couldn't help but drag her feet slightly in the dirt path. When she learned she was going to school, she had been completely apprehensive. She didn't miss the looks that creatures gave her and her father whenever they left home. Though she wasn't entirely sure why, it made her a little nervous to be around those who weren't her family or her parent's friends. Fluttershy had promised that her teacher Miss Cheerilee was a nice pony that she could trust and while Raven believed her mother's words, that gave no guarantee that the other students wouldn't cause her issues.
They eventually made it to the Ponyville Schoolhouse. In the years following the School of Friendship's construction, the original Ponyville Schoolhouse had been expanded in size and they started accepting more non-pony students, hence the creatures like griffons, dragons, and kirin that were roaming the schoolyard. Even with all these other creatures around, Raven still felt out of place due to being the only draconequus here. They entered the schoolhouse, Raven taking up the rear. They took Wildflower to her class with her teacher (Wildflower tried to squirm out of her mother's goodbye hugs and kisses with little success) and then walked to Raven's class with Cheerilee. Once they made it, Fluttershy stood by the open door to their classroom. Raven hid behind her mom's leg at the sight of all the students who were already in the classroom.
"Hello, Fluttershy." Cheerilee said as she walked forward and gave Fluttershy a one hoof hug.
Over the years, she started putting her mane, which has subtle grey streaks in the dark pink of her mane, in a tight bun and her vision had started getting bad, hence the cat eye glasses she now wore, but she still looked a little young for her age. She also wore earrings that matched the smiling sunflowers on her cutie mark.
Fluttershy smiled towards her as she hugged back. While the two weren't the closest friends, they were always friendly towards one other.
"Hi, Cheerilee. How have you and your sister been doing?" Fluttershy asked once they released their hug.
Cheerilee took a moment to adjust her glasses before replying, "I'm doing good, Fluttershy. Cherry Blossom just learned she's having triplets, so that's exciting."
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Fluttershy beamed. "You must be so happy to be an aunt."
Cheerilee nodded before looking down and saw the little draconequus hiding behind Fluttershy's leg. "And I'm assuming this is Raven?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Mm-hmm." Fluttershy looked down at her daughter. "Raven, it's okay. Come on out." The draconequus hesitantly moved from her hiding spot, kicking her paw against the floor before looking up slightly at the green eyed earth pony.
"Aw, she's precious, Fluttershy." Cheerilee gushed before directing her attention to Raven, kneeling herself down to be at better eye level with the draconequus. "Hello. I'm Miss Cheerilee and I'm going to be your teacher." Raven clearly started getting less tense due to the kind nature of her teacher, curling her mouth into an adorable smile.
"Alright, little flower." Fluttershy said, getting the attention of the draconequus. "Have a good day at school. Listen to your teacher, make friends, and if there's a problem, tell Miss Cheerilee."
She hugged her baby girl and kissed her forehead before setting her down. She got up and looked over to Cheerilee with concern in her eyes.
"I should let you know, Raven doesn't really have too much control over her magic yet, so if you could-."
"I'll keep an eye out and if something happens, I'll let you know." Cheerilee interrupted as she gave a reassuring smile. Fluttershy nodded with a smile of her own before looking down at Raven.
"Bye, little flower. I love you." She said.
"Bye, mama." Raven said, hugging her. "I love you, too." Raven reluctantly let go and Fluttershy turned to leave the building.
"Alright, Raven." The draconequus turned to Cheerilee. "Let's head in now." Raven followed the earth pony.
Despite the expansion of the school, Cheerilee's room didn't look that different from before Twilight became an alicorn. There were twelve desks, an extra row then before, but otherwise, it wasn't that different. She put her saddlebag into a cubby and walked over to the only seat that was left, the middle desk just behind the first row of desks, and sat down. Cheerilee walked up to the chalkboard and turned towards her new students.
"Good morning, class." She cheerfully spoke out. “I'm your teacher, Miss Cheerilee and I'm happy to meet all of you. For the sake of remembering your names, the seats you’re currently sitting at will be your required seat for the rest of the school year."
Raven looked around to see who was sitting next to her. On her left, there was a lavender unicorn filly with bright green eyes, a curly red mane held in braided pigtails, and freckles across her muzzle. Her tail had a bow tied to her tail at the base. She didn't have a cutie mark yet, but Raven knew that she would some day. Raven had deer spots on her hoof, but they'll likely fade away with age like a normal deer, the exact opposite of a pony's cutie mark.
The unicorn looked over towards her and waved her hoof in a friendly manner. Raven waved her paw back with a shy smile before looking to her right.
A white earth pony filly sat there, her gold-and-white mane going down in waves and her eyes matched the gold of her mane. She also lacked a cutie mark. Raven suspected that all the ponies in the class probably lack cutie marks. The earth pony looked her way briefly before looking away with a frown.
Cheerilee began talking again, so Raven turned her attention back towards her.
"Now, we're going to go around and introduce ourselves to the class. So I want you to say your name and something interesting about yourself. I'll go first as an example." She cleared her throat. "My name is Cheerilee, and I'm happy to be your teacher."
As the draconequus patiently waited for her turn as the ones in the front row spoke, she tried to think of what to say. She knew that her teacher wanted her to say something interesting about herself, but she couldn't think of much other than her being a draconequus. Maybe she should just go with that. Her thoughts were jostled when the white filly on her right spoke.
"My name is Gold Digger and my mother is the owner of her own business." She said confidently with a smug grin. Raven heard the unicorn filly next to her scoff but before she could think too much about it, Raven saw Cheerilee looking at her, indicating that it was her turn to speak.
"Um, m-my name is Raven Shy." She said in a quiet but still audible voice. She could feel the stares the other kids were giving her. But Cheerilee smiled encouragingly, which convinced her that she was doing good. The draconequus took a deep breath before continuing to speak. "And I'm a draconequus like my daddy, Discord."
Raven saw out of the corner of her eye that Gold Digger was looking at her and her expression was just a hair's breadth away from a glare. Raven looked down to avoid the filly's look. What did she do wrong? All she did was tell the truth. Now she wished her mother didn't move her forelock. She wanted to hide so badly right now. Her floppy ear twitched as the unicorn filly to her left spoke.
"My name is Honey Suckle and me and my family just moved here from Appleloosa." She said proudly. Raven heard Gold Digger scoff, much like how the other filly, evidently named Honey Suckle, had scoffed at her statement earlier.
Eventually, the introductions were over and Cheerilee began her lesson. "Alright, class. Today, we are going to learn about cutie marks. I know not all of you will get one as this is a pony trait, but I think it's still important to learn about some things that may not directly effect you, but you may run into in the future."
Raven sat up straight, folding her paw and claw on her desk. Though she wouldn't get a cutie mark, she still listened to the teacher's words. Even ignoring the fact that her sister would get one, she felt it was important to learn about cutie marks for when she meets other ponies in the future. So, she listened intently as Cheerilee explained what cutie marks were for.
She payed attention throughout the whole lesson, never once losing attentiveness. After the cutie mark lesson was over, Cheerilee moved on to math problems, with many of the non-ponies being grateful for the change in topic.
Later on, the bell rang and Raven left with the crowd to enjoy recess. As she walked through the hall, she saw Wildflower's class being dismissed for recess as well. Her sister walked forward past her teacher, seemily looking relieved to be out of there.
"Hi, sis." Wildflower said once she walked up and the two walked together. "How was class so far?"
"Well, Miss Cheerilee is really nice." Raven smiled as her mind thought back to how kind her teacher was. She turned to Wildflower and asked, "How was class for you?"
"Ugh, so boring. Mr Golden Chariot is nice enough, but that doesn't change that his lessons were so dull. I wanted to fall asleep multiple times." She turned to her baby sister. "Anyway, let's go play." Raven nodded and the two of them made it to the schoolyard where the other kids were playing.
After a short disagreement about what game to play, the Chaos sisters decided to play a game of ball. As they tossed the ball around, Raven's body began to tremble, a sign the young draconequus was all too familiar with. But before she could do anything, her magic caused the ball to turn from a plain dull pink to plaid. In surprise, Wildflower dropped the ball and it rolled down the small hill they were playing on. Raven looked apologetically at Wildflower.
"Sorry, sis. I didn't mean to." Raven said as she shuffled her mismatched feet and looked away in embarrassment. Because of her young age, Raven didn't have good control over her chaos magic. Her dad was teaching her to control her abilities, but she still has a long way to go before she could control them. Wildflower walked over at her and placed her hoof on her sister's shoulder, causing the draconequus to look towards her.
"Hey, it's okay, sis. Besides, you made the ball look cooler." She smiled widely, revealing her missing front tooth, showing that it was water under the bridge. Raven smiled back and the two of them went to get their ball.
Once they reached the reached the bottom of the hill, Wildflower grabbed the ball, only to look up to see some kids playing with a frisbee. One kid miscalculated the throw and it flew past the group until it landed right the front of Raven. One of the kids, a griffon with a dark grey head and a light reddish brown body, approached them to get the frisbee back. Once he grabbed it, he looked towards them with light violet eyes. He looked a little nervous, but then smiled towards them.
"Hey, do you fillies want to play with us?" He asked.
But before they could answer, a voice yelled out, "Are you out of your mind?!"
It was none other than Gold Digger, the earth pony from Raven's class. Wildflower didn't like the look she was giving them and stood in front of her sister with her tiny wings spread apart to shield her as the filly approached.
Raven looked to her sister and then to Gold Digger before looking down. She wondered if it would be a bad idea to try and act friendly to Gold Digger after the look she gave her in class. Gold Digger seemed to ignore the glare Wildflower was giving her as she continued to rant towards the now ashamed looking griffon.
"Seriously, Glenn?! You want these things to play with us?" She asked incredulously, as if the very idea of letting them play was the worst thing one could do. Maybe in her mind, it was. "Do you even know who they are or who their dad is?"
"Hey!" Wildflower called out, finally gaining Gold Digger's attention. "He was just asking us nicely. We could've declined and let you play your game without us, but instead, the mere suggestion of letting us play makes you turn into a drama queen and act it's the worst thing for us to even be asked to join you?"
Gold Digger flipped her mane as she stared with bored, lidded eyes. "I just don't deal with ponies who can't choose what color to be at any given time," she looked over towards Raven with a frown, "and their pets."
Raven looked down at this insult, which only caused Wildflower to be even more enraged. But before she could jump and beat the living snot out of this prissy princess, another pony got in between them, her green eyes boring down the white filly.
"Hey, lay off em. Just cause your ma owns some fancy company doesn't mean you can act all self entitled and be a jerk." She said in an annoyed tone. It was then Raven recognized her from her class. Honey Suckle, if she remembered correctly. Rather than just looking bored like with Wildflower, Gold Digger glared back at the lavender unicorn.
"Why are you defending them, hick? Do you even know who their dad is? My mom told me all about him. Heavens know why Princess Twilight lets him work for her after all he's done." Raven and Wildflower just looked at each other in confusion. What did their dad do to make her think that? He was dorky and silly, but he wasn't some evil threat, was he?
Honey Suckle just glared back. "As far as I'm concerned, whatever their dad may of done doesn't define them anymore than my pa's history defines me."
They stared each other down for a short while longer before Gold Digger scoffed, "Fine." She said as she started turning away. "By all means, play with the freaks. See where that gets you."
Gold Digger walked off to continue their game. The griffon looked back with an apologetic look before following Gold Digger.
Wildflower snorted. "Jerk."
"I'll say." Honey Suckle said as she faced them.
"Um, t-thanks for defending us." Raven said, feeling safe enough to get out from behind her sister.
"Heh, no sweat. I couldn't just stand by and watch her insult you guys." She smiled towards them in a friendly manner. "Name's Honey Suckle."
"I'm Wildflower and this is my sister, Raven." The pegasus said while Raven waved like in the classroom.
"Do you, um, want to play with us?" Raven asked.
Honey Suckle smile grew. "Sure. I'd love to."
The three of the played for the rest of recess before the bell rang, letting them know it was time to head back to class.
The rest of the day went without many more incidents. Raven had a few more magical episodes—in class no less—but Cheerilee was rather understanding and helped calm her down when she started to feel embarrassed. Raven enjoyed art time and she sat with her sister as well as her new friend Honey Suckle when it was lunch break.
But eventually, the school day ended, the last bell of the day ringing.
"Have a good day, class," Cheerilee called out as the students left their seats, "see you all tomorrow!"
"Hey, Raven!" A voice called out just as the little draconequus was exiting the classroom door. She turned around to see Honey Suckle running up to her.
"Do ya mind if I tag along?" She asked.
"Sure." Raven grinned. "I don't mind."
As they walked, they met up with Raven's sister, who was also being dismissed from her class, and walked out into the schoolyard, Wildflower complaining about the amount of homework she already has.
"Honey Suckle?" A voice called out.
"Aw, shoot. That's my ma." Honey Suckle turned towards the Chaos sisters before saying, "I'll see y'all later." The unicorn filly waved goodbye as she ran to her mother, who also had a small colt standing next to her.
A weird horn honking sound was heard, confusing most of the students and parents, but the sisters knew what it meant. Sure enough, there was their dad being his usual weird and kooky self, driving a weird looking carriage made entirely out of steel and metal, with the words 'School Bus' written on the sides. He pulled the brake, not only causing it to stop right in front of them, but also making it disappear once it did, revealing him and Fluttershy standing there.
"Hi, girls." Fluttershy said, hugging both of her baby girls. "How was your day?"
Raven was the one speak. "Well, I made a friend."
Fluttershy's smile grew wider. "That's wonderful!"
Discord teleported above the sisters, flapping is mismatched wings in an irregular beat, yet he stayed in flight. "Indeed it is, princess," He started hovering past them, "A friend goes a long way."
He wrapped his talon around Fluttershy's withers. "Doesn't it, my dear?" He asked his wife with lidded eyes.
Fluttershy giggled at his flirty nature before turning to the young foals. "Alright, let's head home."
The family soon walked their way home. As Raven rode on her mother's back, she realized her first day may not have been great, but she at least made a friend.