//------------------------------// // All Grown Up // Story: Strength // by Snowfrost //------------------------------// Neon and Frost still remained the best of friends all the way up to their senior year of high school, their friendship just as strong as when they met in the fourth grade. It was rare to see them alone, even after they had passed their general studies and were about to be inducted into their specialized schools. They wanted to wait a little after graduating, however, to relax and prepare mentally for the road that lay ahead. It was also one of the last times they’d see each other for a while, so they wanted to make the most of it. They spent most of this time hanging out with each other. More often than not they spent a fair deal of their time at the arcade; playing a variety of the games there, such as Pinball and Ski ball. Though they occasionally spent time at the park, sometimes playing pranks on passersby whenever the whim struck them. Their favorite was altering the patterns in a cloud to make it snow on the ponies below. Neon supplied the cloud while Frost used his magic to change the cloud, something Neon was not yet skilled enough to do. Frost had grown in not only magical prowess, but in height as well. He now stood at a respectable twelve hands tall, his horn not included. He excelled in his magic classes, easily reaching the top of his class with not only his ice magic, but with other magic as well. Neon was turning out to be quite the daredevil, performing for her school at several flying competitions. Her signature stunt was, of course, the Neon Blitz, which won her many a contest. She was sportier than Frost was, so needless to say she was faster on her hooves than he was. Though, while she knew Frost only thought of her as a friend, she started to feel closer to him. Occasionally, when she laid her eyes on him, her heart would beat a little faster and her wings would grow restless in certain instances. She thanked Celestia that Frost didn’t know enough about pegasus anatomy to know what it meant. She just dismissed these feelings as nothing more than a foalhood crush that would pass once she got older, yet they kept coming back. Just as they had been for the past several years. ­­­---- “Oh c’mon!” Frost shouted, watching his last ball completely bypass the flippers into the out hole; the machine lighting up and a “you lose!” flashing as if to add insult to injury. Neon snickered, “Hey, look at it this way Frost; you got fiftieth place! That’s way better than last time!” He huffed, scrunching up his snout. “I still don’t get how you can manage to get one and a half million points at this game.” “Lots of practice,” Neon gloated. “Let’s get out of here; you used up your last bit on this game.” He snorted. “I still think that thing is rigged.” They left the arcade, the various dings and chimes fading away as they ventured down the streets of Manehatten. The streets were just as they always were; bustling with the movement of countless ponies off doing whatever business needed attending to. One such pony had to be somewhere in a hurry, galloping past Frost and Neon, nearly hitting them in his haste. “We’re walking here!” Frost yelled, shaking an angry hoof in the air. “Geeze, one of these days I’m going to settle down in a nice quiet place away from any city. This is just ridiculous.” “Yeah; I hear ya. Oh, let’s take a detour down this alley; it should lead to less crowded street,” suggested Neon. “Anything to get away from this mess.” The two hung a right, venturing down the alley way to what they hoped to be a more open space. Upon exiting the alley, their assumptions were proven to be right as there were far less ponies inhabiting this street than the previous one. “Nice eye, Neon,” declared Frost. She smiled back, finding his comment to be to her liking. The pair walked for a while longer, idly chatting about their waning schooldays and what they were going to do once they were out on their own. “So Frost, what magic school are you going to?” “Haven’t really set my eye on any to be honest,” he said thoughtfully. “Even if I do go it won’t be as fancy as Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. But it would be nice if I could go there.” “Yeah. Besides; you’d be too good for that school anyhow.” He chuckled, “Yeah, probably. But what about you; you going to Cloudsdale for flight school?” She nodded happily. “Yep; figured I’d help refine my daredevil skills and make myself ten times better!” She puffed out her chest proudly. “That and I’m sure they’d be interested in learning about my special neon clouds.” Frost chuckled, rolling his eyes. His gaze ventured to their right, spying a snow cone stand. “Hey, those look pretty good,” Frost pointed out as he rummaged through his saddlebags, finding it full of everything but money. “Darn I’m out of bits. Knew I shouldn’t have played that extra game of pinball...” Neon put a hoof to her chin, “I think I have some extra cash.” She too searched her saddlebags, only returning with one bit. “I found some, but there isn’t enough for us to both get one.” “Hmmmm.” Thought Frost. He assumed a thoughtful look as his brain processed for a possible solution to their dilemma. His face lit up as an idea came to mind. “Can I see that bit for a second?” Neon shot him a puzzled look, reluctantly handing him the coinage. He trotted over to the stand, giving the owner his payment and selecting his flavoring. He used a scoop that was secured to his hoof by way of an apparatus that was strapped around his foreleg, allowing him to use it without the need for magic. He scooped a generous amount of the shaved ice into a pink and green cone, adding an equally copious amount of cherry flavoring to it, dying the white substance a deep red. Frost secured it in his magic, thanking the clerk and walking back over to Neon. She looked at his curiously, tapping a hoof to her chin. “So, why did you only get one, Frost?” She questioned. “Let’s go over to a table and I’ll show you,” he suggested. Neon didn’t release her confused look as Frost directed her to a nearby café table. The two friends sat down, Frost levitating the frozen confection between them. He sat one of his forehooves on the table, a line of ice snaking its way from his hoof to the base cone. The ice crept up the cone, encasing it completely in ice. Just as quickly as the ice appeared it receded, retreating back to the patch of ice beneath it. Shortly after, another trail of ice crept its way from the patch beneath the cone, forming another equally sized patch a few inches away. The ice began to take the shape a cone that had a rounded top. The colors soon followed, the slush quickly taking on a crimson red color, the cone changing into a pink and green. Frost levitated both cones up, not a single thing differed one from the other. If you were to switch one with the other you wouldn’t notice a single difference. “Go on, try it,” he urged, waving the treat in front of her. She grabbed the cone with her hoof, taking a bite out of the icy treat. Her taste buds danced as the cherry flavoring rushed over her tongue and down her throat. “Mmmm, that was delicious!” She chirped happily. “Are you sure this is just a clone?” Frost chuckled, “Yep, that’s a one hundred percent accurate clone,” he stated, taking a bite of the original. Neon furrowed her brow for a moment, looking at the snow cone copy inquisitively. “Wait, I thought you could only make clones out of a single piece of ice?” Frost nodded, “Normally, yes. But for this one I did something a little more intricate. To make this one I had to make sure the shaved ice and cone were separate from each other. I also had to command the ice to take a small amount of flavoring from the original so it would retain the same flavor. Neat huh?” Neon looked at the snow cone with an impressed look, “I’ll say.” After they finished their snow cones, they took a short walk to the Manehatten Park. They strolled down one of the park’s many sidewalks, taking in the beautiful scenery. Frost particularly enjoyed the springtime scent that was in the air. The freshness of plants having just been released from their sleep was intoxicating. Neon also took great joy in springtime; feeling the fresh air flow through her wings while she flew was utter bliss. But their serenity was broken when they heard the mocking of two ponies they loathed. “Hey look! Frosty the Snowmare is dating Neon Frightning!” Dart taunted, followed by a round of laughter from Galaxy. “Think they’ll finally kiss?” Galaxy mocked, making a kissy face at the pair. Frost and Neon both groaned, expressing their disdain for the two ponies. They weren’t bullies anymore. Far from it, in fact. Instead they turned into more of a nuisance than anything else, calling upon Frost’s old nickname and Neon’s fairly new one, of which she got for her so called “Frighteningly terrible flying”, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Both Dart and Galaxy were the same height as Frost was, though Galaxy was just a hair taller than he was. Even with that, Frost was still a better unicorn that he was, being the second best in the school as far as magical prowess. Dart and Neon were also rivals, each claiming to be the best flier in the school. Though Neon was clearly the superior flier, Dart was too proud and stubborn to admit it. “We’re not dating!” Shouted Neon. “We’re just friends!” Dart clicked his tongue, taking flight and hovering near the two. “Yeah, and I’m Princess Celestia. You two are always together, you hardly talk to anypony else, and just a few weeks ago everypony saw Neon hug you, Frost,” he rebutted. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Friends can’t hug each other every now and then?” Frost added, remaining the calm head in the discussion. “When said friend is a mare it’s kinda hard to deny the fact that you’re going out,” retorted Galaxy with a snicker. Frost rolled his eyes, Neon groaning as well. “Plus you were the one who helped her get her cutie mark. So you’re also like her cutie-twin!” Dart added. “Hey! I earned my cutie mark on my own! Frost just helped with planning it, I performed the actual trick!” Shouted Neon, furious that he would accused her of fraud. “Please, that cutie mark is a fake and you know it!” Dart poked her chest with a hoof, staring her down. Neon didn’t give an inch of ground to the belligerent pegasus, glaring back harshly at him. Frost Nexus, on the other hand, had had enough. He used his magic to throw Dart backwards, landing on his back. Dart sat back up, rubbing his head and glaring back at Frost. “Why you little-!” He was stopped when he met Frost’s cold glare. He summoned two dragon-like claws from ice that formed on the ground. The arms of the claws were about the width of a small tree, the claws were about as big as an average sized pony. Frost opened the claws, preparing to strike at a moment’s notice. “Test me, I dare you,” he spat, glaring daggers at the pegasus. “C’mon Dart, let’s get out of here; it’s not worth it right now,” advised Galaxy. “Besides, if he were a real stallion he’d fight without his magic. ‘Course he’s too weak for that.” “If you two know what’s good for you, you’ll get out of here before I mangle you both,” threatened Frost. “And if I ever catch you saying Neon’s cutie mark is fake-” He slammed one of the claws on the ground next to them, startling everyone but Frost. “Well, let’s hope you two are actually smarter than that.” They nodded, scurrying away like scared puppies. Frost snorted triumphantly, deconstructing the claws and ice in an icy mist. Everypony knew better than to get on Frost’s bad side, but they also knew that he wasn’t as cold as some ponies claimed him to be. Though he is one of the more stubborn ponies out there. “Thanks,” said Neon with a grateful smile. “You didn’t have to do that you know.” “Hey, I’m not going to let some punks insult my best friend,” he replied, smiling back. “Plus I’ve had enough of them to begin with.” She gave Frost a thank-you hug, squeezing his neck with a generous amount of pressure. Frost didn’t know how much these hugs meant to her, knowing that it would never work out between them left her with only these embraces to satisfy her. Though this one was lasting slightly longer than intended, making Frost’s cheeks turn rosy. He cleared his throat and addressed her, “Um, Neon? You can let go now.” Neon’s eyes shot open, quickly releasing his neck from her grasp. Her coat was aiding her in hiding her red-hot cheeks. “Heh, sorry,” she apologized, offering a sheepish smile. Frost noticed her wings twitch and pondered this in his mind or a moment, then dismissed it, instead thinking about a way to get back at Dart and Galaxy without fighting them. He smiled wickedly. “Hey Neon,” he called to her. “Want to make a couple of snow ponies?” Neon looked at him with her head cocked to the side, then lit up as his words finally clicked into place. “Oh, that. Heh heh.” She rubbed her hooves together like a mad scientist, an evil grin on her face. “I’ll go get a cloud.” ---- Neon arrived home that evening, greeting her parents then heading back to her room. She plopped down on her bed as her mind wandered back to the hug she gave Frost that afternoon. It felt different than the others, as if she was hugging him for more than just saying thank you or to fulfill an unrequited love. It brought up so many emotions that she didn’t even knew she had. She put her forehooves behind her head, sighing and staring blankly at the ceiling. She couldn’t deny it anymore; she had a huge crush on him. Whether he felt the same way or not she didn’t know, but she knew deep down that he was the one for her. With how he defended her when she was in trouble. How he was there for her when she needed him most. How handsome he was. Her cheeks flushed at the last thought, covering her face with one of her pillows to hide her shame. ‘No no no!’ She scolded herself. ‘You two are just friends, you shouldn’t think about him like that! But…’ Her train of thought was derailed when her mother called her for supper. “Neon! Dinner’s ready!” Called Thunder Burst. ‘I’ll have to think later.’ ---- As Frost made his way home, his mind was tormenting him with the thought of the hug he and Neon shared today. It felt different than the others, like it was more than just a gracious gesture. He couldn’t quite place it, but he thought it to be related to her wings flicking after he called her out on it. He dismissed the thought of her liking him as more than just a friend, reasoning that there was no way she felt feelings for him. Though he couldn’t deny the fact that he started feeling increasingly attracted to the crimson pegasus. There were a lot of things he admired about her. Her courage, her tenacity, her kindness. They all played a part in enhancing his emotions for her, but one things stood out that he didn’t like thinking about. Her beauty. Why he suddenly felt this way towards his best friend he didn’t have a clue, but seeing her made his heart flutter with a warm feeling surging throughout his body. He blushed as he continued to let the emotions and thoughts run wild. He was thankful that he learned to keep a stoic face, thanks to his innate ability to keep a level-head in stressful situations. He chuckled to himself at the thought of himself asking Neon out on a date. After a few minutes of walking, he arrived at his apartment, ascending the stairs to his apartment door. He twisted open the handle, greeting his mother. “Hey mom I’m-.” He stopped when he saw another an orange unicorn stallion sitting in the chair in front of where she sat on the couch, a cup of steaming tea levitating in the yellow aura of his magic. He cocked an eyebrow at this, feeling slightly confused. “Who’s this, mom?” “He’s a representative from Celestia’s school,” she explained, smiling warmly. The stallion arose from his seat now, walking over to Frost with a friendly smile that helped to quell his beating heart that was pounding after the mention of Celestia’s school, “My name is Sunny Day,” he stated with the elegant sophistication that was commonplace in the capital city, “it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Nexus.” He extended a hoof to Frost, which he shook eagerly. “It’s an honor, sir. And you can call me Frost.” “Whatever makes you most comfortable,” Sunny said, going back to his seat. Frost sat next to Grace on the couch. “Well, I may as well get to the point,” Sunny recited, his voice taking on a more professional tone, “my superiors have taken notice of your skill, and they sent me to see if you have the right stuff for our school.” “I didn’t apply though,” Frost argued, “and my basic school is hardly on the map here in Manehatten. Did someone mention me?” Sunny nodded. “As a matter of fact, two ponies have mentioned you to our school. Your basic magic teacher Star Charmer and your principal Quick SIlver. They both sent in very positive letters to the school board, who decided it best to see if your skill was anything like they described.” Frost was still trying to process everything that happened. He had expected to come home just like every other day, practice some spells, have supper and then go to bed. To find that he had been nominated to go to one of the most prestigious schools in Equestria took him by surprise so much that he was debating whether or not it was a dream. “W-well,” Frost began, shaking slightly from both nervousness and excitement, “what do I need to do to prove myself?” “Just a few tests,” Sunny began, levitating out a clipboard from the bag that lie next to the chair, “You first have to cast at least five spells that are at an advanced level, demonstrate a healing spell, use a reconstruction spell, and finally I need to test how well you can control yourself during a magic surge.” Frost assumed a questionable look at the final trial he’d have to face, “I read all about the tests they give before entry, but it didn’t mention that.” “It’s a new addition,” Sunny stated simply, scribbling some things down onto the clipboard, “one of our students experienced a magical surge while taking their own test and caused a great deal of damage to the testing room.” “Oh wow. I guess that would be a viable reason to put that in there I guess,” joked Frost. “Yeah, we had to change a few rules after that. And It took all the examiners by surprise that’s for sure,” Sunny chuckled, clearing his throat and looking up from the clipboard, “anyways, are you ready to begin the tests?” “Yeah, I need to calm my nerves first, though.” Sunny nodded, smiling pleasantly, “Whatever makes you most comfortable.” Frost took in a deep breath, slowly exhaling as he felt his frayed nerves slowly come back into order. He needed his wits about him if he had any hope of passing. He needed to think about something relaxing, something that would comfort him. That train of thought led him to the hug he and Neon shared earlier that day. Just being so close to her made his heart flutter, he wasn’t sure why he felt that way towards his best friend but all he knew was that just thinking about it was calming him down. After his swirling mind had calmed down, he looked to Sunny with a determined look, “I’m ready.” Sunny returned the look, “Show me what you got.” Frost lit his horn, extending his magic into the air to find any and all water vapor. He then sent the harvested water molecules to the ground where he condensed it and froze it, repeating this action multiple times until a sizeable area was covered in ice around his hooves. “This was my first spell. It’s something I have to do before I can do my next spell,” he explained. Frost waited for Sunny to finish writing before commencing his next spell. He focused his magic onto the icy ground below, generating more ice from the stuff already existing around him. Slowly but surely he began constructing the general shape of a pair of ice claws. These were different than the ones he used on Dart and Galaxy in that they were several fractions smaller and used much less material to form. “What can those do?” Sunny questioned. “These are just to help me with a few simple tasks. Like helping me carry stuff and helping me multitask,” Frost explained. “Hm! Care to give me a demonstration?” Frost nodded, “Pour me a cup of tea.” Frost gave the command to the icy appendages using his mind. He thought about the task he was assigned, going through each step as the claws followed every instruction to a T. As one poured the tea into the small porcelain container, Sunny couldn’t help but silently admire how dexterous they were. Moreover, he was also impressed by how well Frost was controlling them. It must’ve taken an incredible amount of concentration to make something move so intricately, something he’d definitely have trouble with, and yet Frost seemed to be executing it without breaking a sweat. If Sunny saw more of this, he couldn’t think of single reason why the board wouldn’t want Frost to go to their school. Sunny took the cup extended to him from one of the claws. “Well I must say I’m impressed. But you still have three more spells to do.” Frost nodded, breaking down the ice claws and then covering his body head to hoof in the ice he got as a result. He then made the chunks of ice form more angular surfaces that began reflecting more and more light as the process continued, each angle getting smaller than the last. Frost eventually faded completely from view, becoming fully invisible and hidden from the naked eye as the ice bounced light the light perfectly around his body.. “An invisibility spell? Very nice,” complimented Sunny. “There is a few downsides to it, though. I can’t use it if the environment around me is too hot. Which goes for almost all my other spells.” Frost stated, fading back into reality after he shook all the ice from his body. “Interesting,” Sunny added, scribbling a note down on the paper. “What’s next on the list?” Frost made use of the same patch of ice he used earlier, but this time he poured more magic into it. He looked up at Sunny for a moment, scanning him for his features to make a mental image of him. Once he gathered what he needed, he began slowly building up the ice in a similar fashion as his second spell. This time, however, he formed the basic shape of a pony rather than an animate appendage of frozen water. Frost then used the mental image of Sunny as a guide for adding in any additional features to the blank slate that lay before him. Frost slowly began carving Sunny’s physical attributes into the ice, also being sure to include his coat color as well as his cutiemark, which was the hardest part of the process. The result was what seemed to be an accurate statue made from ice that resembled Sunny’s profile perfectly. This didn’t impress Sunny at first, but his mind only really started to change once the sculpture started to move, also surprising him when it moved with the same fluid movements as a real pony. “You like it? I figured you’d like seeing a clone that looked and acted like you,” Frost commented, smirking cockily. “Oh so this is a clone, huh? Color me impressed,” Sunny joked, gawking at his own life-like visage. “So what’s your final spell going to be?” Frost raised a hoof to answer, but he was at a loss for words as he couldn’t seem to form any in his head. He had presented all of the best spell he had and was short just one more. Any other spells he had left were either works in progress or he hadn’t figured out how to execute them properly. Though he did have one spell that could work, but it was very risky. Frost took every ounce of mana present in his body then focused it into his horn. He then focused all that mana onto his back, about where a pegasus’s wings would be. Once he found the perfect spot, he began gathering ice and sending it to converge on the single point. After a while, the distinct shape of pegasus wings began to form on Frost’s back, but it was still missing the one crucial thing to complete them. Feathers. It was the one thing about this spell he had the most trouble with, even after studying the anatomy of pegasi wings he still couldn’t nail down how he was supposed to make them. He had to try his best, though, he just needed to get airborne for a few second to at least get a pass on this spell. With that, he began forming the feathers which had to be made of very thin layers of ice if they had any hope of getting him into the air. He strained his horn more and more, feeling the heat from his horn increase as more of his mana surged out of it. Soon after, he felt the last of the feathers form on the wing’s frame, leaving the completed pair of wings glistening in the artificial light of the room. Panting from the intense exertion, looking back to see the fruits of his labor. He was still wary about the strength of the wings, not being entirely certain that they’d be able to handle the stress they were about to be subjected to. “It’s impressive that you were able to make those wings,” commented Sunny, “but will they function like real ones?” ‘I hope they do.’ Frost thought, extending his magic into the wings. The other hard part about this spell was the amount of effort it took just to make the wings flap, it required him to be solely focused on making the wings articulate in just the right way to get the lift he needed to hover. He used what he saw his mother and Neon do when they flew, mostly using the image of how they flapped to help aid him. Frost then used those images set to repeat in his mind while at the same time instructing his new wings what to do, eventually feeling his wings pump as well as feeling the air they generated. Frost strained his horn even more, feeling his head throb the more effort he put into the spell. He repeated the same action over and over again, no longer using the mental image to help guide his actions which helped him focus more on the spell rather than both the template and the spell. Frost now felt his hooves leave the ground, hovering slightly above the floor. He opened his eyes for a moment to allow himself to see what the result is of all his strain and allowed himself to smile at his achievement, but only briefly as he needed to concentrate. *crack* He both heard and felt the distinctive noise emanating from his newly formed wing. Frost searched the structure of the appendage with his magic, scanning high and low for the site of it, eventually locating it on his left wing just above the point where it was attached to his body. The crack was growing steadily with every flap of the wings, showing no signs of stopping and was impossible to fix while in the air. Frost slowed the wings down to allow him to land, albeit a bit roughly due to time constraints. The last thing he needed was to fall flat on his face in front of scout. “Why’d you stop?” Questioned Sunny, cocking his head to the side. It was at that very same moment that the icy wings shattered into hundreds of fragments, the pieces falling haphazardly to the ground. “Well,” began Frost, scratching the back of his head nervously, “the spell was one that I hadn’t quite perfected yet. So as you can imagine it was bound to be unstable, I also got the structure of the wings wrong by making them too heavy and not giving them enough support.” “I see. Well, while you may have gotten airborne for a few seconds, you used an imperfect spell which is very dangerous and above all reckless. So you’ll be marked down for that,” Sunny stated in an authoritative tone. Frost cringed as the quill scribbled forebodingly on the paper, but his worries eased when Sunny looked up with a smile. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it, though,” reassured Sunny. “You’re still doing very well. All that’s left is the healing spell and reconstructing spell.” Frost breathed a sigh of relief, “Alright. What do I need to heal?” Sunny pulled out a tiny flower from his bag, using a special spell to make it double in size. When it grew to normal size, it looked in deplorable condition. The petals that weren’t lying on the soil were brown and almost completely dry, the stalk of the poor plant wilting sadly to the right. It was difficult to decipher what kind of flower it was, but if Frost had to guess he’d say it was a rose; a very pitiful looking rose. Without a second thought, Frost enveloped it in his magic to begin the healing process. The first thing he needed to do was restore the water it had lost, taking the water out of the air to inject it into the sickly flower. The presence of more water helped it perk up, losing its wilt after it gladly took the liquid sustenance. The next thing Frost had to do was repair all the damage that was caused by the lack of water. He trimmed off all the dead petals, forcing new ones to grow back by supplying it with more water and nutrients from the soil.. It didn’t take long after that for the rose to return to its former glory, its deep red petals full of the same color and vibrancy as if it had just bloomed a few seconds ago for the first time; also standing erect proudly as if to make its presence known in words rather than stature. “Impressive, Frost,” Sunny complimented, “I must say that it looks even better than before it underwent the drought treatment.” He stowed away the flower, pulling out another small object which he used the same spell to make it grow to full size. The object in question was a beautiful stain-glass portrait of Celestia rearing up in front of her glorious sun. Frost marveled at its beauty for a moment before Sunny broke it apart by way of magic, letting the pieces of the once beautiful masterpiece fall to the ground with several light tinkling noises. Sunny pulled out a golden stopwatch, resetting the time and looking to Frost, “I forgot to mention that this is timed. You have thirty minutes.” Frost scoffed confidently, “That all? I can complete it in half that time.” “Then let’s see it. Begin.” Frost wasted no time in gathering up all the pieces in his magic’s white aura, the pieces floating all around him. Making use of his photographic memory to slowly place the pieces back together much like jigsaw puzzle, only a million times harder. Frost was at the ten minute mark and was already three fourths of the way done, there wasn’t a change in Tartarus that he would fail this part of the test; but he didn’t relax for a second lest he get cocky and fail it outright. “Alright…” Frost said thoughtfully, “this pieces goes here… that one there and… done!” Sunny stopped the stopwatch, looking at the time and nodding approvingly, “Well I’m happy to say that you’ve completed the entrance exam and I’ll be submitting this sheet to my supervisors for review. I can’t promise anything yet, but I’d say your chances of getting in are very high.” He lifted his bag onto his back, pacing everything back within its confines. He averted his gaze to Grace, “I’ll send the results of their decision in the mail. I don’t expect them to give too many negative feelings.” And with that he was out the door, allowing Frost to slump back onto the couch, sighing with relief. “That was brutal,” Frost stated tiredly, “exciting, but brutal.” Grace kissed him on the forehead, “Well, you did great. I’m sure once they read what he wrote down they’ll fight tooth and nail to get you over there.” Frost chuckled, “I bet. I mean, what school wouldn’t want me?” Grace rolled her eyes. “Well, we still have to wait for the letter. But I think you earned a rest.” “That’s for sure.” Frost stated, retreating into the kitchen to cook up a reward for Frost. ‘Neon’s gonna freak when I tell her what happened.’