//------------------------------//
// 230 - To School 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

The changeling guard took a turn and pushed out a door right out of the hive, entering the street without pause.

Moonbeam blinked as he followed with his adoptive mother. "Where are we going?"

"The school."

Moonbeam peeked behind him. "I thought it was back there? It isn't a changeling school?"

"We have one going there, but it isn't for changelings, or any one type of pony."

Samantha perked an ear. "Oh, I've created a misunderstanding. I knew Fast Change knew about this school, but it isn't hers, or the changelings. My apologies for the confusion."

Moonbeam sagged as he went. "If it wasn't a changeling school, why'd you let me get all worked up?"

The guard grinned but didn't turn. "We're ponies too. Making you a bit rattled for your preconceptions was too tempting."

They pressed on to the less opulent portion of Canterlot, where most of the non-unicorns lived. Few bothered them with a changeling guard with them, looking stern and official in his armor. "Welcome to what the locals call 'Decanter'."

"I know this place," spoke Moonbeam with a little excitement, pointing. "My place wasn't that far away from here."

Their target wasn't far from the hive and they approached an unassuming building. "Miss Shade Fire, are you in?" called the guard as he entered the front door. "I have a student for you."

A shadow pixie flitted out. "What's all the noise about?" Her eyes wandered from the guard directly for Moonbeam. "Well aren't you the most adorable little scamp!"

"That's my teacher?"

Samantha nudged her wayward son forward. "I can entrust you to see to the proper education of my ward?"

"That's a very fancy way of asking if I'll be his teacher, and I will be." She landed lightly and offered a hoof to Moonbeam. "I'm Miss Shade Fire, and I will be your teacher. Come with me and let's get some paperwork out of the way, then you can meet the others."

Moonbeam reached hesitantly for the odd hoof presented to him. "You don't care if I'm older?"

"Are you willing to learn?" asked Shade Fire. He nodded a little, still unsure. "Good, then I'll teach an old stallion if I have to, which you aren't. We'll do a few tests to see where you stand and go from there. You just be ready to learn and be a good pony in my class, alright?"

A griffon flew out of the room. "Hey, Miss..." She trailed off, seeing the two new faces. "Oh, uh, hey."

"Glenda, splendid timing. I want you to take our newest student--"

"Moonbeam," he offered with a little smile.

"Yes, Moonbeam. Show him around the class and see he's introduced. Moonbeam, this is Glenda, one of your classmates."

They exchanged greetings with equal uncertainty, but they obeyed the directions and were soon off into the classroom. Shade Fire turned to Samantha with a nod. "I gather if you're here, you know about this school?"

"Please inform me." Samantha smiled brightly. "I would gladly know more about where my son is being educated."

The guard saluted lightly. "It looks like you're in good hooves." He turned and headed back to the hive with a little whistle.

Shade Fire offered a wave before nodding. "This is Decanter Elementary. We teach ponies of all tribes how to be all they can be, to proceed to a productive life directly, or to head off to a university. We cover all the basics: History, Math, basic chemistry and biology, writing, social studies and home economics. Does that sound like what you want for your colt?"

Samantha smiled brightly. "That sounds optimal. I notice you haven't asked about our different appearances?"

"Sometimes that just happens," pointed out Miss Shade Fire. "If you're not his birth mother, I'd treat you the same so long as you love him, and I think you do. If there's more that I should know, you or he will tell me."

Samantha perked an ear at the umbrum. "Your attitude is commendable. I feel I should inform you so you can make the best decisions possible. His birth parents are deceased, and I am his legal guardian in the form of his adoptive mother. I wish him to be treated well and prepared for adult life. He is clever and driven, but that fell into trouble before. I wish to see that channeled to more productive things."

She nodded back. "I'll keep an eye on him, see what makes him stick." She got a bit of a menacing look. "If I have to, I'll scare him onto the right path."

"Does that work?" Samantha tilted her head. "Let us complete the papers, so you may resume your lessons."

They went off together to see about Moonbeam's proper induction.





Silver followed after Night with a frown on his face. He bore the foals, but was silent.

"You're unusually quiet," noted Night. "We're alone now, speak up."

But he said nothing.

Clear made a little noise, and he nuzzled her, silence still hanging over him.

They arrived at their room and Night opened the door with a deft twist of a wing. "Come on, then you'll tell me what the silent treatment is about."

Silver proceeded inside and made for the nursery to set the foals down with near-whisper promises that everything would be alright.

"So we're saying no, right?"

Silver turned on her with a scowl.

"What? That's the obvious course of action. It's not good for her, and it certainly isn't good for our forming family. I mean, you looked angry that she was even suggesting it." Night waved a hoof at Silver, then retreated from the nursery, lest the foals be upset again.

Silver followed her, still quiet.

"Enough of the quiet," she snarled, advancing on him. "Talk!"

"Or you'll hit me?" he asked.

Her mouth worked silently a moment before she shook her head. "I didn't hit you that hard."

"This isn't the first time. I doubt it will be the last. I never hit you."

Night's wings spread. "This isn't about that!"

"It never is." He turned away from her and approached the small bar that rested in their room. He normally ignored it, but perhaps that was a fine time for... He didn't know. He wasn't much of a drinker at all, and they all looked the same to him. With his magic, he snatched a cider bottle. He knew what that was!

"Silver..." Night come up beside him. "Please. I want you to be happy, and to be happy with you. Do you really think--"

Silver wheeled on her, bottle raised high, but it waved and fell, still closed. It landed with a dull thump. He couldn't hit her. "Do you have that little faith in me?"

"What?"

"I wanted her to go. I got her to go."

Night sucked a little air through her teeth. "Great, but there is no question. She can't jo--"

"It doesn't matter. I wanted her to go. I wanted us to talk, like adults. I wanted us to be a team, together... She drove a wedge and instead of accepting my... I tried to back away from it, and you hit me."

Night looked guilty for a moment. She rallied, ready to fight, but her memory of her recent battle weighed heavily on her. "You... don't want her then?"

"I wanted to talk with you." He picked up the bottle and applied his magic to the cork, popping it free with some fizz overflowing from it being dropped. Despite that, he poured a glass quickly. "You don't trust me."

"Of course I--"

"Actions speak louder than orders." He set the bottle back on its shelf and took up the glass in his magic, hovering it before his eyes.

"Don't be like that..." Night glanced off, then back at Silver. "Look, I'm sorry I hit you. I thought you--"

"Even if I was, would that make it alright?"

She wanted to say yes. She knew that was the wrong answer, at least to Silver. Being struck seemed to be a very sensitive topic to him, and she took a slow breath to regain control. "I was wrong. I'm sorry. What do I have to do to make it up?"

"Never again." He swigged the glass. It tasted of apples. He couldn't taste the alcohol that should have been in it.

She glanced between the hovering glass and the alicorn that just drained it. She was also aware that he rarely partook. "Is this that important?"

"I expect it from some... If I'm trying to convince a stranger, I may have to yell, beg, or even be slapped around to get the job done." He turned to Night. "But we're supposed to be together, closer than that. You can... Be as angry as you want, but we're supposed to be members of the same team." He gestured to the room where the foals slept. "I never forgot that. Did you?"

He turned away from her and stormed to a window to peer outside at nothing.

She watched him before taking a slow breath. "Look, I'm sorry."  She came up behind him. "I'm going to hug you." He didn't object, so she pulled him in from behind and embraced his larger form. It was ridiculous in some ways, that he, the larger of the two, would be worried about being struck by her, the smaller. He, who fought the warlike anubians to a standstill. Still, she hugged him. The heart she could feel, she wanted it, and the pony attached. She still loved him. "Can we talk?"

"Always," sighed out Silver, perking an ear back at her. "She wants to join us. If it was a few moons ago, maybe, but..."

"Things have changed," agreed Night. "Between her and I, and her and you, and even her and Samantha, though one apology would make the last right as rain, so I'm only half counting that."

Silver quirked a smile. "Whether we accept or not, we should take this advantage."

"Hmm?"

"Make her face Samantha, and hopefully apologize. That was cruel, even for her. She needs a few friendship lessons of her own."

"Friendship lessons?" Night raised a brow. "Not kidnapping the spirit of a pony's mother is more than a 'friendship' lesson." She grunted softly. "Still... It's not a bad idea. If we can get a little bad water cleared, that's good."

Silver turned to her, shivering. He wanted to kiss her. So he did. He leaned in and their muzzles met in a gentle exchange and silent promise to not repeat the mistake that created that rift between them.