A drowsy Thomas awoke from his sleep, smelling the scent of spiced pancakes, fresh maple syrup, and crisp apple fritters.
He suddenly shot up out of bed.
He sniffed the air again.
"What is that appealing smell?"
"I don't know,"
Percy was in the next bed over, also smelling the sweet breakfast.
"But it smells really good."
Thomas and Percy slowly walked out of the room, joining their friends who were also following the scent. They all were still new to walking, and were taking it slow.
Henry noticed them first.
"Ah, hey."
Edward, James, Gordon, and Toby looked to Thomas and Percy. Thomas looked himself over again. "Still ponies. Not a dream."
"I think that much is obvious." Gordon rolled his eyes.
The group didn't talk too much as they were trying to find where the aroma was.
"This place is huge." Edward commented, gazing at the hallway they walked through.
"Big enough to get lost in." Toby said, looking down another hallway.
As the group continued down the hallway, a unicorn popped out of one of the rooms, levitating a piece of parchment in front of her. Her coat color was periwinkle, and mane was a striped purple and aquamarine. The steam team looked at each other, and Edward decided to speak.
"Um, hello."
The unicorn snapped out of her reading, and turned her head to the group of ponies. She smiled.
"Oh. You ponies must be the group Twilight about this morning. I'm Starlight Glimmer."
She rolled up the piece of paper, to turned her attention to them. "I take it you're lost?"
"Yeah, we're looking for the dining hall?" Henry asked.
Starlight pointed her hoof down the hall. "Turn left after three doors down, then make a right."
"Thanks."
Starlight trotted the opposite direction, once again opening and looking at the piece of paper.
The team once again glanced at each other, and went in the direction the unicorn pointed to.
Soon enough, they entered a large room with a expansive dining table. Twilight's friends were settling down at the table as Pinkie rolled a cart in. Twilight remained standing, having awaited the team. She turned to see them, and smiled.
"Good morning. I hope you all got enough sleep last night."
Thomas answered honestly. "It was.. Okay."
"Really weird though." Edward added, looking up at his horn.
Twilight smiled politely, gesturing them to follow to the table. "You'll get used it, trust me."
They followed her to the table, and everypony eventually settled down, except for Pinkie Pie who was starting to serve breakfast.
"We've had many otherworldly creatures visit our world, including a few who transformed into ponies when they arrived." Applejack was nonchalant in starting conversation.
"We've never had this many from the same world before." Rarity pointed out.
"Well, not if you count Shady's Earth." Pinkie Pie said as she slid a plate of pancakes with a side of apple fritters in front of Rainbow Dash.
"So, could you all tell us more about where you're from?"
Toby shrugged. "Well there's not much to tell than what we already told you."
Thomas decided to add. "Edward and I run our own branch lines on the railway, and Gordon regularly pulls the express train."
"The fastest, on-time express train!" Gordon boasted, not even noticing the plate of pancakes and fritters being pushed in front of him. James and Thomas rolled their eyes.
Rainbow Dash commented on his response through bites of pancakes. "I'll bet that's no comparison to the flight speeds I've recorded though."
Henry was surprised. "Really?"
"I'll have to give you two a crash course on flying later." Rainbow smiled, using her right wing to pick up a fritter and throw it into her mouth.
Percy was the first to acknowledge the plate in front of him. He raised a hoof to a pancake, and tried to move it closer to his now scrunched up face. "Um, how do I?-"
He eventually gave up but was able to lift an apple fritter with a hoof. Pinkie giggled as she sat down, placing a huge stack of pancakes in front of her.
"Oh it's easy! You just go-"
Pinkie took a huge bite out of the side of the stack. James glanced at the thick pile of flapjacks.
"That's a lot of pancakes."
Rarity chuckled in embarrassment, glancing down and away, specifically from James.
"She has uh (a), big appetite."
Percy took a small bite of the apple fritter, and almost gasped. He savored the flavor. "Hmmm- This is so good, you guys have to try this!"
Thomas glanced at his friend, then down at the plate in front of him. Percy took a bite of the two pancakes in front of him and got just as giddy. Thomas tried some flapjacks and Toby tried the fritter. Both were blown away with how good the taste was.
Rarity cleared her throat and looked to James and Edward.
"If you're a unicorn, you use your magic to hold a fork." She gestured to the fork and knife with her magic. She pointed slightly to Fluttershy. "If you're a pegasus, you can try to use your wing as a hand of sorts."
Fluttershy was holding a fork in her left wing, picking up a piece of fritter. "You have to be talented to do so though."
Edward tried to use magic, but nothing was happening. Gordon and Henry were well into their meals, quickly getting the gist of eating.
"Just think of what you want to do, and concentrate on it." Twilight said, picking up a piece of pancake.
Again, Edward concentrated on the fork resting next to the plate. He watched in awe as the fork was lifted off the table with a dark purple aura. "Whoa... Am I doing that?"
James lifted a fork and and butter knife up with a golden shine. "I think we are.."
Starlight entered the room, now wearing a school robe, carrying even more scrolls and a feather pen with her magic. She noticed the two unicorns in awe, and chuckled.
"It is pretty amazing isn't it?"
She walked up to Twilight and have her a side hug. Twilight greeted her. "Hey Starlight."
"Hey Twilight."
Twilight glanced at her scrolls and chuckled. "Busy day?"
Starlight levitated a apple fritter to herself.
"You would know. Running a school isn't exactly a piece of cake." She ate the fritter in one bite while writing something down on a different paper.
"Don't you mean a piece of pancake?" Pinkie smiled, popping up next to her with a pancake on a disposable plate.
Starlight laughed lightly, and took the plate with her magic.
"Thank you Pinkie."
She trotted off to the doorway. "I gotta go, school starts in an hour."
"Good luck, and happy teaching!" Twilight waved goodbye to her friend, and Pinkie popped back into her chair. Percy and Toby were staring at her with amazement.
"How did you do that?" Percy asked.
"It's Pinkie Pie, you learn not to really question it." Applejack said simply, leading the two away from that conversation.
"She runs a school?" Edward inquired about Starlight.
Spike the Dragon entered the room at this time, flying over to sit next to Twilight. He answered the question.
"Twilight created it, the School of Friendship."
The steam team was a little shocked at the sight of a little dragon casually sitting at the table. Spike noticed and introduced himself.
"Oh, I'm Spike by the way, Twilight's trusty assistant. She said we'd have guests this morning."
Fluttershy decided to add back to the original conversation, the team coming back from collective shock. "The School of Friendship is a place for every pony, creature, and kinds alike to learn about friendship."
Henry pushed back a now empty plate. "Friendship sounds pretty important around here."
Thomas sighed. "Well, we are sitting with the Princess of Friendship here, that one's pretty obvious Henry."
Percy was done as well, satisfied as he pushed the plate away. "Mmm, that was really good! Who made this?"
Pinkie giggled. "The one and only! With help from Applejack."
Applejack tilted her hat slightly in response. "Farm fresh apples turn out a reaction everytime."
Toby spoke to Applejack. "You work on a farm?"
"It's hard work, but honest living. You can come visit if you're interested."
Percy spoke to Pinkie. "You need to teach me how to cook this!"
Pinkie nodded as she stood, beginning to collect empty and dirty dishes. "Of course I will! You guys don't have anything to do anyways, right?"
Gordon stood from the table, looking to his closed wings. "I want to learn more about what these wings can do."
Rainbow Dash flew up from her seat.
"Now that's what I like to hear. Fluttershy, you'll come along with me to help these stallions get the gist?"
Fluttershy slowly stood up, helping Pinkie with the cleaning.
"Um, sure."
She pointed to the table. "But first we have to get this cleaned up."
"You got to flap your wings hard and fast."
Rainbow was instructing Gordon and Henry on how to fly up. Fluttershy was with her, also giving advice.
"Oh, but not too fast or you might land upside down." She worried.
The two stallions hovered off the ground, carefully rising in altitude. Henry was impressed with himself, and Gordon was starting to smile in amazement. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed.
Rainbow nudged Fluttershy with a shoulder from her comment.
"Calm down Fluttershy, they've got it." She flew above them while Fluttershy stated below them. "It's important to remember to carry your weight while you fly." Fluttershy continued.
Rainbow went ahead of them a fair bit, angling her wing beats below her.
"Sometimes your balance will be challenged."
Henry and Gordon were met with wind turbulence from RD. They had to flap their wings a lot more. Fluttershy was not amused at Rainbow's challenge. "Rainbow Dash, don't do that."
"They can handle it." Rainbow was confidant in this statement. Quickly Gordon regained flight, and flew through the air swiftly. He stopped next to Dash.
"Hey, that was pretty good." Rainbow complemented.
Gordon smiled. "Thanks."
Rainbow chuckled, and smirked. "For a beginner."
At first Gordon felt insulted, but he quickly composed and took her challenging tone.
"We'll meet up at that cloud above. Then I can show you what real flying is like." Rainbow started off to the cloud, and Gordon have chase.
Meanwhile Henry was taking it slow, not daring to look at the ground. He took a breath, before glancing down by accident. The ground looked so far away..
Fluttershy noticed, and flew over next to him.
"Hey, if you ever get scared of the height, I like to imagine I'm a giant. Larger than life, but still connected to the ground." She flew a little higher. Henry inhaled, and matched her pace, relaxing his nerves.
"I'm guessing you don't like to fly much?" Henry guessed, the two reaching the cloud.
"No, I don't like to fly so high up. I prefer being close to the ground." She landed on the cloud and Henry was shocked again.
"I can stand on a cloud?"
He landed to stand on the cloud, and chuckled. In the background, Gordon is also in excited awe about standing on the cloud.
"Yeah, as a pegasus you can walk on clouds, butterflies, and other light surfaces." Fluttershy said, looking slightly up to watch Rainbow.
"I think I prefer staying close to the ground as well." Henry concluded.
Fluttershy glanced at the blue pegasus, then the green one.
"Are you and Gordon close?"
Henry shrugged, noticing Gordon watching Rainbow Dash with extreme interest. "You could say that I guess. We don't spend a whole lot of time together."
Rainbow was urging Gordon to practice with her.
Fluttershy smiled at the blooming friendship.
"It looks like Rainbow's taken a liking to your friend though."
Henry had noticed that too. "Hm. So it does." The two blue Pegasi took to the left of the cloud, not going far.
"It'll be good for him to make a new friend." Henry said this to himself, but allowing Fluttershy to hear it.
A bird suddenly flew past them, catching Henry's interest. He gasped. "Is that a robin?"
"You like animals too?" Fluttershy spoke, following the robin with her sight.
As the two talked about nature, Rainbow Dash was teaching Gordon some advanced movement.
"Come on, I know you can go faster than that!" Rainbow urged. Gordon sped past her, dodging clouds. He was having the time of his life.
"Whoo! The speed-!"
Rainbow flew over to him quickly. "I know! The speed! The agility! It's freeing!"
She dived down to gain more speed and Gordon followed suit.
Rainbow kicked through a cloud, and Gordon copied the same movement through a different cloud. Rainbow whooped as Gordon cought up with her.
"I take back my backhanded compliment, you're actually pretty good at this."
Gordon nodded. "You are too, I mean, you did those stunts like it was nothing."
"I do pride myself with having the fastest recorded Wonderbolt speed record." She busted through another cloud, as Gordon stopped to hover.
"What's that?"
Rainbow explained, also stopping to hover.
"The Wonderbolts are an elite flying squad of Pegasi, who once served under former princess Celestia and Luna. I wanted to be one for so long. Then one day, I sucked it up, worked hard, and finally got in. With a little help from luck."
"You're an official member." Gordon clarified for himself. Rainbow flew up to land on a cloud above them, Gordon followed.
"Precisely."
Gordon and RD landed on the cloud. Rainbow continued. "It took a lot of mess ups and learning along the way, but I know more now."
She looked across Ponyville.
"I'm proud of what I do."
Gordon understood, keeping his wings open.
"I do as well. There's no higher honor on the railway than leading the express."
Rainbow glanced at his wings. "I haven't commented on this yet, but your wings are huge, like, almost bigger than Twilight's wings!"
"Yeah?" He looked his wings, then at RD's wings. "I suppose they are. Henry's too."
"Care for a race?" Rainbow suggested.
Gordon chuckled lightly. "You know, I'm always the one being invited into a race, It's almost never been the opposite."
"Well it seems like you're a good opponent then."
Gordon recalled his rivalry with Spencer, and chuckled again. "For their egos maybe."
The rest of the day was quite uneventful. Twilight and Starlight were creating another mirror portal, some of the steam team read up Equestrian history, they all got a thorough tour of Ponyville from Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity, and the team was getting used to their new forms. The days brought new bonds and new friendships to bloom.