It was morning. The sun rose up from the horizon, illuminating everything below it. It was sure to be a nice day for the ponies of Ponyville to go out and about. It would be for one colt.
North Compass was a brown unicorn colt with his mane and tail coloured both blue and green. He has a cutie mark of a compass used for hiking. He had it two years ago when he went hiking with his old friends in scouts back when he lived in Canterlot. He remembered how he enjoyed his first hike and the most amazing feeling he felt when his mark appeared after he helped his Patrol Leader (1) with some given grid references to mark the checkpoints on their map and went on their hike flawlessly. North Compass enjoyed his time scouting back in Canterlot for two years, but he had to move to Ponyville after his dad opened a bookshop there. He was sad to leave his friends behind, but he cannot wait to make some new friends here. He wondered if they need someone good at hiking like him.
“North, honey! It’s time to get up,” a sweet melodious voice of his mother called. North sat up, looking at the door opening to reveal a crimson-coated unicorn mare with blue coloured mane and tail. “Ah, you’re awake. Good morning!” said the mare.
“Morning, Mum!” North replied happily.
“Are you excited to meet your new friends here?” North’s mum asked, with a happy grin on her muzzle.
“Sure! I can’t wait to show them my skills!” North replied.
“Then come out of the bed now, dear. I’m making you breakfast, then we will go and meet the Group Leader for your joining the Ponyville Scout Group,” said his mum and she left to prepare her son oatmeal cereals.
North Compass happily jumped out of his bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up for the day. While he was brushing his teeth, he imagined what would his Patrol would be like. Would there be fillies with him or just colts? Would there be other unicorns with him, or would he be the only unicorn in his Patrol? Would there even be a griffin, like when he was back in Canterlot? Or a deer? Or a zebra? Questions flew in his head like an army of Roaman Pegasi legionaries in his favourite comic series, except they weren't being pummelled by a short and blond earth pony and his bigger friend (2).
He went downstairs to the kitchen to find his father reading a newspaper and a bowl of his favourite oatmeal cereal ready for him to eat. The light green-coated unicorn stallion with canary yellow mane and tail looked up from the daily newspaper he was reading to look at North Compass.
“So how are you today, son?” North’s dad asked.
“I’m OK, Dad! Thanks!” chirped North.
“Do you think that you will have fun scouting in Ponyville?” asked North’s dad.
“Yes. Why?” North replied while he ate his cereal.
“You were a little reluctant when we moved here. I just thought that you didn't like it here,” his dad answered.
North’s mother came to the table to join in the breakfast and she gave her husband an annoyed look. “Come on Spell Book, you know it was because he is leaving his friends back in Canterlot,” chided North’s mum. “Besides, he is looking forward to making new friends here in Ponyville. He had told me.”
“Ah! That’s good then,” replied Spell Book with a smile. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll find a cute filly with you this time,” he commented mischievously.
“Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!!” whined North Compass with a growing blush on his face. He chuckled a little when he saw his mother gently slapping his dad’s shoulder.
“Oh stop teasing him, Spell,” chided North’s mum with a mock angry look.
“Come on, Melody. You know I'm only trying to make him less shy to fillies,” Spell defended himself with a mock pained expression.
“That is very rich of you to say, Mister Spell Book. I seem to remember you not even looking at me in the eyes and mumbling in gibberish when we were dating,” Melody replied mischievously.
“Fine, you win,” grumbled Spell Book. North couldn't help it. He almost choked on his cereal and laughed while coughing. Spell looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and yelped when he saw that it was eight past ten. “Yikes! Look at the time, I'm late already! Sorry hon, but I have to go to work now. The shop should have been opened ten minutes ago!” Spell said hurriedly. He got up, pecked Melody and ran to the front door.
After the remaining ponies heard the front door closing, Melody turned to her son. “Now North, after you finish with your breakfast we will go to the Ponyville Scout HQ (3). Their leader told us to meet him there in half an hour,” Melody told him.
“OK, Mum,” North replied, and the continued eating his cereal.
***
Half an hour later, the new colt and his mother walked in the streets of Ponyville receiving greetings and welcomes from the locals. One pink mare in particular invited them to a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party with Melody accepting it with a fearful smile while pushing her son away from the strange mare. They continued on walking with Melody muttering about unattended hyperactive ponies (4) until they reached a medium sized building.
It had two floors, the ground floor which they saw is an adventure shop stocked with tents, canvases, cutlery, mess tins, hurricane lamps, camping stoves, torches, camping hats, maps, hiking shoes, raincoats, and books detailing about hiking, uses of maps, ropes, first-aid and camping. The floor above had the Scout Leader’s office and the HQ for the Ponyville Scout Group.
When Melody and North Compass climbed up the stairs and arrived in front of the Scout Leader’s office, they knocked the door. A “Come In!” was heard, and the mother and son immediately entered the office. A grey pegasus with a white mane met their eyes. He looked young, not much older than North’s father. He wore a yellow scarf with red and blue stripes. His cutie mark is a tent and two ropes knotted together in a figure of eight shape (5) under it. He smiled when he motioned them to get seated.
“Hello, my name is Swift Sky. I am this group’s Scout Leader,” said the pegasus joyously. He leaned forward to give them a hoof shake with his left hoof and sat down again. “Now, am I to understand that young North Compass, nice name by the way, wishes to join our group?”
“Yes you did. He was a member of the 1st Canterlot Scout Group for two years and since we have moved from Canterlot to Ponyville, he can’t keep attending their meetings and he wants to stay active in scouting. So we decided that North could join Ponyville’s scouts,” answered Melody.
“Of course. He will have as much fun here as he did back in Canterlot, I can promise you that,” Swift replied with a thoughtful expression. “What needs to be done is the group conversion. He will attend our meetings for three months before he will change his scarf.”
“We’ll remember that. So, when is his first meeting?” asked Melody.
“Our next activity will be tomorrow at nine o'clock. Here, I have a copy of this month’s circular,” Swift answered. He opened his desk drawer and got out a parchment with the activities, their dates and more information about said activities written on it. He gave the parchment to North Compass. “So, I am looking forward to see you tomorrow, North. You will have fun with us as much as you did with your last group. Good day!”
Melody and North Compass replied their thanks and greetings to the Scout Leader and went outside. Melody looked at her son with a smile. “You will have fun tomorrow now, wouldn't you?”
North looked back at his mum with a grin. “Yes mum, I will.”