After Spike and Shyfrost finished in Sugarcube Corner, they decided to call it a day. Spike gave Shyfrost a hug before he left his side, leaving him a bit confused. He wasn’t angry at receiving a hug, but it lasted for longer than a normal one. When Shyfrost finally started heading back to Fluttershy’s cottage he got a glimpse of Spike staring back at him. For now he shrugged it off and entered the cottage; he had bigger problems to worry about, namely school.
“Oh you’re back, good,” Fluttershy said and approached him, “How did it go with Twilight? I noticed you were gone most of the day.”
“It went well, I guess. The princess was over there and I told them about how my tail ended up the way it is,” he paused looking down at it, it made him a bit sad, but Fluttershy let him finish talking. “After that me and Spike went to hang out all day, and he bought me a... cupcake, it was amazing!”
“You’ve never had a cupcake before? Oh my I bet it was amazing,” Fluttershy said while giggling. Then she frowned and shook her head. "We should take it slowly with those, though, too much and your stomach might not agree with the excess sugar." He nodded.
“Okay, oh! I had a good day me and Spike just talked a lot.”
“That’s good, but was Twilight able to find out about your amulet?”
“No, she said it has more magic in it than the average gemstone, though, whatever that means.”
“Hmm, well Rarity knows a lot about gemstones maybe you could ask her next time you get the chance.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Yes, so what is it that you told Twilight? About your tail?” Fluttershy walked up to him and pointed to the metal end.
Shyfrost let out a long sigh and repeated his story about losing his tail and the blacksmith griffon. While talking the dragon's mood started to damper more, Fluttershy had to resist the urge to squeeze him in a bone crushing hug so he could finish uninterrupted. At the end of the story Fluttershy looked a bit confused when he told her about the griffon that helped him, but she shrugged it off.
Shyfrost had finished telling his little tale and was looking down at his feet, he looked almost ashamed. Fluttershy was shocked at everything but was debating what to do next. She could have sworn that Shyfrost was beginning to cry, but she saw no tears. After a while she slowly walked over to him and picked him up. It was hug time.
He stared at her, wondering what she was doing. After around thirty seconds she brought him in for the most affectionate hug he had ever known.
“Shyfrost, what those griffons did was unforgivable,” she replied while still hugging, “but what that other griffon did probably saved your life.”
“What do you mean?” He asked while still in the loving embrace of his adopted mom. It almost hurt from how much she was force she was using, but it was a good hurt.
“Well, if he hadn’t come along you might not have moved from your spot out of… fear, am I right?”
He simply nodded. It was true that after the griffons left him, he did not feel like moving one bit.
“Right, you probably would have bled to death without proper treatment! So, this griffon blacksmith saved your life and showed you kindness. I only wish I could meet him.”
The hug was finally over after three minutes, Shyfrost felt so good inside, he wished for it to never end. For that moment he felt happier than any moment in the entirety of his life. He didn’t care that most of the town wanted nothing to do with him. He had a mother that cared for him and another dragon he could call friend, and that’s all that mattered.
“Right, so we only have one more day to prepare you for school.”
“Oh, right, Twilight said that I’ll be the first dragon to attend school, is that true?”
Fluttershy was taken aback by his question, surely Spike had at least attended school but she never asked Twilight. Spike certainly seemed educated enough, perhaps he was only home schooled.
“I’m not sure Shyfrost; if Twilight said so then it must be true. Does that make you nervous?”
“Yes… everything about school makes me nervous. Spike even said he was too afraid to go.”
“I promise you that if you just give school some time, that it can be a wonderful place,” she paused and looked him over, and then remembered some of the fillies she knew in his upcoming class, “and true, being the only dragon in class is going to be difficult at first, but you just need to give some of the students time and you will make some friends.”
All he could do was nod at her statement and give her another hug; he was starting to like them. That night he was able to actually get some sleep. It wasn’t difficult, for once, and after saying goodnight to Fluttershy he plopped down on his bed and was out like a light. The next day was spent getting him ready and making sure he had everything he would need, the day went by quickly, and oddly enough, Shyfrost was able to sleep that night as well.
Shyfrost woke up early in the morning; this was it the day he would be going to school. The sun had barely just come up. He was pacing back and forth near his bed, waiting for Fluttershy to wake up. He kept silently hoping that Fluttershy would just tell him that school wasn’t for him and they had made a mistake. The anxiety he was filling up with was enough to faze Celestia. Maybe.
Breakfast was quiet with Fluttershy and Angel eating on one side of the table and Shyfrost on the other. He looked up at the bowl of gems, that she had placed on the cupboard from the other day, and sighed. Fluttershy wanted to comfort him, she knew he was feeling like an outcast, or so she figured. I wonder why he's not speaking? Must be nervous. She thought, then shook her head.
“Okay, go get your school supplies and meet me by the door, Shyfrost.”
He nodded and went over to his bed; he grabbed everything he would need. A special saddlebag was waiting for him."I had Rarity stitch you up your own bag, it should be easier for you to use." The saddlebag wrapped around his body and on the front had embroidery of a snowflake on it. Fluttershy explained that the snowflake was meant to represent his special ability with ice. Inside he had several books, quills and a lunch that Fluttershy packed. He also packed his amulet by safely placing it inside.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Shyfrost said while nervously walking up to Fluttershy.
“Right, let’s get going, class will start soon.”
The walk to school was mostly uneventful. Shyfrost had chosen to stay on Fluttershy’s back the entire time, he would occasionally see a young filly or colt run towards the school yard, but nopony noticed him. As instructed, Fluttershy was to leave Shyfrost in the back of the school ten minutes after class had started. Miss Cheerliee was to meet them and then introduce him to the students as calmly as possible.
The bell for class had already rang, it was past eight.
“Fluttershy?”
“Yes, Shyfrost?”
“I don’t want to do this,” Shyfrost replied with an obvious nervous crackling in his voice.
Fluttershy placed her hoof on his shoulder and began to speak, “Listen to me, Shyfrost. Everyp- err everydragon has to do things they don’t want to do. But I promise you that it's not that bad, school is just school. You will eventually make friends and get used to it, just like you got used to Ponyville.”
“But I’m not used to Ponyville!”
She shushed him, hoping none of the other students noticed. “Well, you will be eventually, just listen to Miss Cheerliee and you will be fine.”
Miss Cheerliee had just walked out of the side entrance to join them.
“Are you ready, Shyfrost?”
He hesitated, but then quickly nodded.
“Right, you can pick him up at two thirty, like we talked about.”
“Good, I will see you after class, Shyfrost, and have a good day!” Fluttershy waved to him and he waved back, after a single moment, she was gone. Shyfrost had no other choice but to slowly follow Miss Cheerliee into the classroom. She instructed him to wait in the doorway with most of the student’s eyes following Miss Cheerliee only.
“Alright class, sorry for the late start and good morning everypony!”
“GOOD MORNING MISS CHEERLIEE,” The entire class said in a monotone singsong manner, which was loud enough to make Shyfrost flinch.
“We have a new student joining us today, his name is Shyfrost,” She said and motioned for Shyfrost to stand in front of the class next to her, “So please show him the same kindness you would to anypony.”
There was a moment of silence from both Miss Cheerliee and the students. Shyfrost was now standing in front of sixteen other young fillies and colts, they seemed to remember him. There were a few whispers in the class which, of course, did nothing to help the young dragon’s nerves. He felt paralyzed to the spot and with no further instruction from Miss Cheerlie; he was at a loss for what to do next.
“Why don’t you take a seat anywhere, Shyfrost,” Miss Cheerliee said while pointing to a few empty seats.
He hesitated, but started walking to one of the seats in the back. He got half way to his desk when all of a sudden he stopped moving, his senses seemed to kick into overdrive. He was standing next to a certain pink colored filly with a light purple mane mixed in with the color white, she wore rather large tiara that was lined with various pearls and diamonds. His eyes had started to dilate, he began to sweat profoundly which caused some glimmering to appear on his skin and other students to stare. It didn't help matters when he began to sniff the air lightly.
What smells so good?
“Shyfrost? Are you feeling alright?” Miss Cheerliee had walked up to him which caused him to snap out of his frozen state. He immediately looked around and noticed, to his embarrassment, he had stopped walking and every student was now staring at him. The pink colored pony was now looking at him with disgust.
“Y...Yes, I’m fine.”
“Good, then please take a seat,” she commanded firmly, though, with a gently smile.
He immediately walked up to a desk that was in-between two students and sat down. He then picked up his saddlebag and gently placed it on his desk. To his left was an orange colored pegasus pony, with a purple colored man, who was now staring at him with a raised brow. To his right was a white colored unicorn pony, with a pink and purple colored mane, that was doing the same, but she looked down at his bag which caused her eyes to glimmer.
“Is that-“
“Sweetie Belle, if you would please wait until after class?” Miss Cheerliee asked while writing down some lessons on the board.
“Oh, sorry Miss Cheerliee,” she replied while giving her a sheepish smile.
The orange colored pegasus leaned over to look at her friend Sweetie Belle and gave her a questioning look. Sweetie Belle simply shrugged and gave her a wave indicating that she would be told later. Shyfrost, on the other claw, was now lost in his own world, he couldn’t stop sniffing the air. Even if he wanted to.
That smell, it's like a million cupcakes at once. But where is it coming from?! Shyfrost started to look around the room, eventually glancing at some of the other students. Most of them had stopped looking at him, which helped his nerves, but he was desperately searching for anything that could cause that glorious smell.
It started next to that pink pony… could it be from her?
The lessons were mostly uneventful, Miss Cheerliee had a simple history lesson that Shyfrost pretended to pay attention to. A single glance to his left revealed to him that a certain young filly was doing the same thing. He was starting to grow bored and anxious all at once; the smell would not let up and the class was not all that engaging. He almost felt like screaming or leaving the class, when out of nowhere, a bell rang.
“Alright class it's recess time, you all have twenty minutes of play time,” Miss Cheerliee smiled at all her students with most of them leaving. Shyfrost stood up but looked confused.
“Shyfrost, are you sure that you’re okay? You were sweating earlier, dear.”
“Yeah, it's just I keep smelling something, something good.”
“Well…Twilight mentioned that dragons have an extra sense of smell so maybe you are smelling someponies lunch. But for now why don’t you go outside and play? Maybe try and make some friends?” Miss Cheerliee had motioned for the door, doing her best to encourage him.
“Okay sure,” he said, then hesitated again, but slowly walked outside.
On the playground he felt more calm, all be it, weird. Some ponies were playing on swing sets, a few sat at some wooden tables and others were off in their own smaller groups. He kept remembering all of the other adult ponies telling him to make friends. But he had no clue where to start making any friends or even who to talk to. He noticed two of the groups were talking and looking back at him. The smell was still lingering outside but not as strong as in the classroom which gave Shyfrsot time to calm down.
“Excuse me,” Sweetie Belle said after walking up to him.
“Uh, y-yeah?”
“Where did you get your bag?”
He blinked a few times and had to think on what she just asked. He wasn’t sure what she meant.
“My bag?”
“Yeah the one with the snowflake on it, I noticed it looks like something my sister might make.”
He glanced down to it and shrugged. “Oh, Fluttershy said her friend Rarity made it for me.”
“That’s my sister!” She replied proudly.
“Oh,” he paused, “that’s good.”
“Yeah, so listen did you want to-“
“Hey blank flank, I guess it makes sense to be friends with a creature with a permanent blank flank,” The pink pony yelled out in her nasally sounding voice. Shyfrost froze up instantly. His dilation returned, his senses going into overdrive.
“Diamond Tiara, shut up! Go back to your stupid friend!” Sweetie Belle spat out at her. It was usually Scootaloo or even Apple Bloom who said suhc things, but Sweetie didn't care. She's always bothering everypony! Why?! she thought bitterly.
Shyfrost refused to move but he knew now that the smell was unmistakably coming from Diamond Tiara. His breathing was heavy and his nerves calm, he felt like any movements were coming purely from instinct. Without thinking, he reached out to grab the tiara on her head and picked it up in his claws. His mind was blank but he was staring at it hungrily. Everypony was now staring at him.
“Hey! Give me that back you stupid dragon!” Diamond Tiara was fast to place it back on her head. “Don’t you ever touch this again!” She fumed and felt she had enough of the weird blank flanks and went back to her group.
The unicorn filly shook her head. “What was that about? You looked like you wanted to eat it,” Sweetie Belle mentioned while giggling to herself. She then noticed that he was looking at the ground and blushed in response. “You weren’t going to eat it, right? I mean I know Spike eats a lot of weird--“
The bell suddenly rang out, interrupting Sweetie Belle’s questioning. Every student had started trotting back inside, Shyfrost was last since he had to shake his confusion off.
What just happened?
They all took their seats without incident. Diamond Tiara was now glaring daggers at Shyfrost. Sweetie Belle was now looking back at her friends and back to Shyfrost like he was crazy. Things didn't seem to be going well, he figured. Though, part of him didn't care.
That smell is coming from her tiara, and it was so…amazing. But why would I want to eat a tiara? And why couldn't I control myself?
He sighed in frustration and continued on with his lessons. He found it to be just as dull as before. Some math and science lessons followed but nothing he couldn’t handle without distractions. Mostly. Unfortunately the smell was now stronger than ever, it was simply driving him mad. All he could do was stare at her tiara as he attempted to study it. In a way it was rather plain, along the rims of its shape were small diamonds and on top were five rather large pearls. But what was bothering him was why the smell was coming; he had sniffed Spike’s gemstones before and clear colored diamonds didn’t smell like anything to him. Was it the pearls? The diamonds contained no smell and he knew that the gold would not smell like much since he had seen Spike’s bits before and they gave off no stench. It had to be the pearls, but why pearls?
His thoughts were interrupted by the lunch bell, the students all left the class in the same manner as recess, with Shyfrost trailing behind. He failed to notice all the whispers in the class surrounding his tiara incident. Outside most of the students sat at one wooden bench with Sweetie belle and two others sitting alone. With no other options or room he sat down at the edge of the empty bench with the three fillies sitting on the other side. Shyfrost gently placed his bag down and began to take out his lunch, Fluttershy packed him one cupcake, some chips and two apples with some plain bread. He figured the bread was meant to be a daisy sandwich but Fluttershy knew dragons did not eat those. He looked inside and found a couple slices of cheese. Oh, cool.
“Hey, how come you don’t have any gemstones to eat?”
He looked up and noticed all three fillies staring at his lunch; it was the orange colored pegasus that asked him.
“Oh Frost Dragons don’t eat gemstones,” he swiftly replied remembering what Twilight now called his species. So he figured he would get used to the term.
“What’s a Frost Dragon?” The yellow colored filly with a red bow in her hair asked this one.
Shyfrost pondered to himself unsure how to answer, so he took in a deep breath and let out some of his frost into the air next away from their faces. They stared back in shock, but he simply smirked. “I’m a frost dragon.”
“THAT…WAS AWESOME!” The orange pegasus screamed loud enough to catch the attention of the other lunch group, but they ignored her.
“It was... nothing.”
“No, it was awesome! I’ve never seen a dragon that could do that before. I mean we only know Spike, but still,” the pegasus replied. She then blushed when she realized something. “Oh right, I’m Scootaloo,” She reached out her hoof to him and he hesitantly touched it.
“I’m Apple Bloom,” one of the other fillies replied, copying Scootaloo's gesture.
“And I’m Sweetie Belle!” She had a smirk on her face but did the same with her hoof.
“I’m Shyfrost.”
“We know,” All three of them giggled which caused a nervous smile to form from him.
There was some silence while all four of them ate for a while.
“How come you grabbed her tiara, Shyfrost?” Scootaloo bluntly asked, which made Sweetie Belle to punch her in the chest to shut her up.
“I, well... I think it's because of those pearls on it.” He sniffed once, absentmindedly.
“What’s so special about pearls?” All three asked.
“They just smell, really, really good for some reason.”
They all pondered this for a while. Eventually, one of them broke the silence.
“Maybe you’re supposed to eat 'em,” Apple Bloom suggested, but she wasn’t smiling or giggling this time.
“Eat... Pearls?” Could it really be that simple?
“Well, yeah, you said that frost dragons don’t eat gemstones so maybe you eat other shiny things.”
This statement caused him to stop and think. He remembered Spike telling him that maybe frost dragons eat something else that other ponies don’t. It started to make perfect sense, but other than her tiara he wasn’t sure where to find any to test out the theory.
“I guess that makes sense, but where do I get more pearls? I don’t think she's gonna let me try one,” he said this, giggling slightly, but still with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
“Maybe you can just take one,” Scootaloo said smiling to herself, “I mean she has so much money and her tiara has five of 'em! I bet her "daddy" would buy her a million more!”
The unicorn filly huffed, and swatted Scootaloo in the back side of her head. “Scootaloo that’s stealing! He can’t do that!” Sweetie Belle was insisted that he not steal any pearls. She grumbled in response, but nodded to agree.
He wasn’t sure what to do, so, they all sat in silence eating their meals. Some of the other students had finished early and were playing. He noticed Diamond Tiara get up and gently place her tiara next to her lunch bag on the bench and leave with her friend. But he was not supposed to steal, Sweetie Belle made that very clear! Ss did his previous encounter with Applejack.
All four of them had stood up after lunch and started to play some, though, Shyfrost didn't do much. They tried to insist, but he kept looking back at that tiara and he still felt more comfortable to just watch. They shrugged and went to the swing set, leaving the dragon alone. He walked over to the tiara and eyed it from a distance, nopony had noticed him yet, so he stayed. He inched closer to it while looking around. He was now a few inches away from the tiara and it was at that moment that his senses kicked into overdrive yet again. In less than ten seconds flat his mind blanked, his pupils dilated, again, and he began to sweat. Out of instinct his claw reached out to the top most pearl, in the middle and he gently picked it off. It was loose and his weak strength was easily able to remove it. Time appeared to slow for all the ponies on the playground, some had noticed the dragon near the tiara and when he picked off the pearl all eyes had suddenly appeared on him. He placed the pearl near his lips, and without thinking, placed it in his mouth. With a single satisfying crunch, it was gone. It tasted better than any cupcake ever could. Wow...
“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Diamond Tiara's voice shriekd, breaking him out of his thoughts. “You… YOU ATE MY PEARL! HOW DARE YOU!” She was marching towards him with a huge scowl on her face, which caused him to trip back in fear; Miss Cheerliee had heard all the noise and ran outside.
“What is going on here?”
“Hey ate one of my pearls!” She pointed to her tiara and glared back at Shyfrost who still was too scared to stand up.
Miss Cheerliee looked down at her tiara and did notice one pearl was missing. “Shyfrost, is this true?”
Eating that pearl tasted better than a million cupcakes, it broke him out of his trance but this time he knew that he had chosen to do it. He couldn’t’ help it, but at the same time he felt like he could if he wanted to. Everypony on the playground had seen him and lying would be stupid.
“Yes I-“
“Then please come with me inside and bring your things,” she replied sternly and told Diamond Tiara to wait outside. He followed quickly, not wishing to anger Miss Cheerliee anymore.
The two sat in silence for a good few minutes. All anxiety had left him, he felt satisfied, if not fearful of what was to come next.
“Shyfrost, why did you eat a pearl?”
“I’m sorry, it's just it smelled so good and I couldn’t help it, it tasted amazing,” he replied with some heavy guilt in his voice.
“While I cannot say that I fully understand dragons, or even "Frost Dragons", in your case,” she paused and sighed, “I still cannot leave this unpunished, if you eat pearls then fine, but you need to bring your own and not go stealing them.” She sighed again and continued when he failed to respond. “And now I need to go talk to Diamond Tiara and get her father involved, I will be leaving a note for you to bring to Fluttershy when she picks you up; do make sure she gets it.”
Great now Fluttershy is going to hate me.’
School was rather uneventful after that, he felt his senses return to him and the smell was no longer lingering in the class. He was able to concentrate again but most of the students kept looking back at him. The three that were quick to befriend him looked back, with worried expressions, but occasionally he would catch a giggle from them. When the bell to go home rang, Miss Cheerliee asked for Shyfrost to remain behind, so she could write out a note for his caretaker.
Fluttershy picked him up and was not pleased when Miss Cheerliee talked to her about the note and what had transpired. But he noticed that she wasn’t yelling or lecturing him, she simply choose not to speak on the way home until they got back inside. She sighed to herself, silently hoping that Diamond Tiara’s father would not charge her.
“Shyfrost, why did you do it?” Fluttershy asked, looking down at him. She seemed sad, but not angry.
“I don’t know, it's just the pearl and the smell it- it was all too much. I… I had to.” He stuttered a bit but while trying to stay honest.
“Had to? So, are you saying that you feel inclined to eat pearls?”
“I guess so.”
“Well, at least something good came out of this, Shyfrost,” she said, shrugging.
“It did?”
“Sure, now we know what Frost Dragons love to eat, Pearls! Fire dragons love gemstones and Frost Dragons love pearls. I’m sure Twilight will be excited to hear this.”
All he could do was smile, Spike was right and his new friends were right too. At least, they seemed like friends now.
Meanwhile, halfway across town.
“C’mon girls that was hilarious, he ate her pearl!” Scootaloo giggled on her back, rolling around.
“Ah know, but it was still like stealin', “Apple Bloom pointed out.
Sweetie nodded, sighing. “So, should we be friends with him?” Sweetie Belle suddenly asked.
“I guess so, but he would need to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders, uh, do dragons get cutie marks?” Scootaloo asked, wondering what a dragon mark would even look like.
“I don’t think so, but that doesn’t matter. We look for our special talents and he can find his too. He doesn’t need a cutie mark for that,” Sweetie Belle replied. "Just look at Spike, he's good at helping others when they need it!"
“Yeah, ah reckon you’re right, ah just hope he’s not in too much trouble. Heh, it was pretty funny,” Apple Bloom said and all three of them joined in one large giggle fit. “We can ask him to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders tomorrow, in class.”
“Sure, I mean he seems alright, plus that frost power of his could be useful in helping us get our cutie marks!” Scootaloo rubbed her hooves together, just thinking of the possibilities.
“How in the hay are "dragon ice powers" gonna get us our cutie marks?!”
“I dunno, we can think of some ideas back at the club house, though.” They all agreed with Scootaloo, on that note, and left for the clubhouse.
Back at Fluttershy’s cottage, the two were going over some bills. At least Fluttershy was, making sure she had enough expenses for the month.
Diamond Tiara and her father did show up to chew her out. Fluttershy was forced to pay for repairs, but it only seemed to cost a few bits. She apologized a million times and they finally left.
“I’m sorry Fluttershy.”
“I know you are but you can’t just go around eating other ponies pearls,” she said sternly.
“Now then the pearl seemed to only cost around a few bits, if we’re lucky, I can get you a bunch more soon enough. Smaller pearls should be much cheaper. Then you can have some in your lunches each day,”she paused and noticed that he was looking at her with a raised scaly brow, “Would you like that?”
“Well, of course, but I thought I was going to be punished?”
“You are, for the next week after homework you will report to Twilight to help her with the research project. Ordinarily you would only need to visit her three times a week, but with your punishment, this week you will see her every day to help with her with research. Every day,” she repeated in a stern tone.
It didn’t seem like a punishment to him so he agreed, it almost seemed like Fluttershy really didn't want to punish him at all, and he knew he was getting off lightly. But it didn’t worry him, so he shrugged and nodded.
“Now other than that pearl incident, how was your day?”
“Awkward, the other ponies kept staring at me, but I did meet... three ponies.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah the first one was called Sweetie Belle; she said Rarity is her sister.”
“Yes, I’m sure you will be great friends.”
“Yeah, the other one was named Apple Bloom.”
“That’s Applejacks sister.”
“Oh, I hope Applejack didn’t tell her how we meet,” Shyfrost said while blushing.
She shook her head and giggled a bit. “I’ m sure she didn’t, but I'm also sure Apple Bloom wouldn't think any differently of you.”
“Oh and the last one was named Scootaloo, heh, let me guess, Rainbow Dash’s sister?"
“Actually no, I'm not quite sure who her family is, but I'm sure those three will be amazing friends,” Fluttershy said while smiling, she was glad that he was finally making friends.
The rest of the day was uneventful, Fluttershy helped him with his homework and she decided it was best to start his punishment the next day. Tomorrow, after class and homework he would report to Twilight to help her in any way possible. He was about to get some sleep when he paused, he realized that all day he never brought out his amulet to help him once. It wasn’t unsettling but it did make him feel odd. Perhaps he was getting used to Ponyville faster than he had originally hoped; perhaps he wouldn’t need the amulet anymore. He looked back at it, just sitting on his nightstand, and shook his head. Yeah right. He thought while giggling. As he drifted off to sleep, he failed to notice a single shimmering glow, coming from his amulet.