The Harmony Initiative

by uhrora

PART ONE - Chapter Two

The Harmony Initiative
Part One: Integration
Chapter Two

“Hi there, Royal Clan students! Welcome to your homeroom!” The friendly greeting came from the man at the head of the classroom. Who happened to be wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

The students sitting before him stared back at him with varying expressions, most of them with the slightest sense of disapproval. One light-blue-haired girl looked positively scornful as she clutched her purple Royal Clan band. Tall and skinny, like Twilight and Rarity, the majority of the students exuded a kind of graceful boredom. It was not hard to tell the Ponyville students from the Canterlot ones. A simple untucked garment tag, cuffed jeans or plain sneakers, for example, marked the Ponyvillians, who seemed to be grouped together near the front.

“You can all call me Magnum,” the teacher continued. “I’m not much for formalities.” He chuckled, but the students remained silent. “Now, I’m not sure how many of you are from Canterlot, but I want to give you all a very warm welcome to your new school and to Ponyville as well. But, wait! You’re all freshmen here! So let me welcome everyone to Ponyville High!”

Silence would have followed yet again if the door hadn’t burst open, revealing a frazzled-looking Twilight Sparkle. “I’m so sorry I’m late!” she exclaimed, gripping a huge binder in front of her like a battle shield. “I went to the wrong room. I didn’t know there was more than one first-year-Royal-Clan homeroom and I somehow misread my schedule and went to B-42, not D-42, and then I had to run all the way... Mr. Belle?” she asked, squinting at the teacher in confusion. “Are you my teacher?” Twilight was unaware of the snorts she’d earned from her frantic behavior. A few kids rolled their eyes, mouthing, not her again.

“Magnum, please! Call me Magnum!” their teacher replied with a grin. “And yep, I sure am. Saw you on the list, Twilight Sparkle. And don’t worry about it. Go ahead and sit down.”

Twilight nodded, still unsure why nobody had told her that Rarity’s father was a teacher at the high school. His daughter certainly hadn’t mentioned it. Neither had they gone along with Magnum to school. And Twilight’s own mother had kept the fact from her.

Twilight moved through the rows of desks, spotting an empty one near the back. Sitting down in the chair gratefully, she pushed her backpack onto the floor and opened her binder on her desk. To make a note, she pulled out her pink highlighter—the one used for helpful reminders, but not urgent ones—and circled the location of her homeroom on her schedule.

“Now, as I was getting to. The way homeroom’s gonna work here is that it’s divided into three categories: Clan, grade and room. So everyone has a homeroom with some of their grade members and some of their Clan members.”

Silence.

“Duh,” one girl whispered, not loud enough for Magnum to hear.

“Homeroom’s a short class and we only have it three times a week. It’s just kind of a way to check in with everyone and see how everything is going. You know, with school and everything. High school is gonna be different from middle school. And, I guess some of you might see the Clan integration as a big change. So we can all work with that. Any questions?”

Several hands shot up, obviously surprising Magnum.

The first girl he called on was the blue-haired one right next to Twilight—the one who had been glowering at Magnum so fiercely before. “So all our other classes are going to be with Sky and Earth Clan?” she demanded.

“Yes, this is your only class that’s not integrated. And, here’s the most exciting part!”

Everyone waited.

“You’ll be split up into small Harmony Groups! They’ll be made up of all Clans and all genders. They’ll be mixed by grades, but only to group upperclassmen and lowerclassmen together. So you’ll make lots of friends outside your Clan and grade!”

Apparently that was not exciting enough for the Royal Clan freshmen. “What about specialization?” another student wanted to know. “Like when do we learn about how to run, you know, the government? Like important things?”

“Well, we can talk about that in here. And the princesses have set up some very helpful after-school and lunchtime clubs to focus on that kind of stuff—”

“Do we have to use the same bathrooms or are there Royal Clan bathrooms?”

Magnum frowned. “Well, the only way the bathrooms are split up are between boys and girls,” he answered with a bit of a nervous laugh. There were a few gasps in response, and Twilight heard a few scattered bits of conversation:

“But my mother said...!”

“...Earth Clan, ew, ew!”

“...desanitizer with me...”

“You know Sky Clan will just deface everything!” The last came from the girl sitting beside Twilight. She made no attempt to be quiet. “And that Earth Clan will just... ugh, I don’t even know! Dirty things up. Do they even have plumbing?”

Twilight turned towards her. “Are you serious?” she asked, unable to help herself anymore. The girl directed her glare at Twilight, and the purple-haired girl instantly backed down. Her neighbor’s intensity was scary.

“Yes, I am serious!” she replied. “Of course. This whole thing is serious! We have to share facilities with those... others. You know they have different kinds of diseases and mannerisms, and I don’t want to get sick from Earth Clan’s bad hygiene or have to deal with some High Clan member in my bathroom, facedown in her own vomit! We have rights too!” Her face was getting redder, and she was progressively getting closer and closer to Twilight. “We all know we got the worst end of the stick. Sky Clan and Earth Clan will only improve under our influence. But what if we end up like them?! Tricks... I don’t want that to happen! Not to tricks me! It’s an outrage!”

Twilight could barely follow what she was saying, or why she suddenly began to add the word “tricks” to her diatribe as it got more and more heated. But luckily Magnum stepped in before Twilight could be completely melted under the fierce girl’s glare.

“Okay, okay!” he said. “Look, we’ll figure this all out. There are rules for common courtesy bathroom usage, and you’ll be glad to know that teenagers make school bathrooms messy by nature. Whatever Clan you’re in doesn’t really matter.”

“Are you even in Royal Clan?” the girl next to Twilight shot at their teacher.

There was a pause. “Yes. Yes, I am,” Magnum answered. He held up his band as proof. “Royal Clan member for more years than I’d care to say, as a matter of fact,” he replied calmly. “I’d like to think I’ve learned some about being in the Clan, and how to coexist with the other Clans. So hopefully you all can come to me if you have any issues doing so.” Magnum looked at the students for a moment, and if Twilight hadn’t know him better she would have sworn he was daring them to ask any more questions. “Well, now. The point of the homeroom is to have a small community.” The earnest smile had appeared back on Magnum’s face. “So why don’t we all introduce ourselves? Who wants to go first?”

Twilight raised her hand immediately. Rising from her desk, although unprompted by Magnum, she looked around the room. “Hi, everyone. I see some people I recognize, and a lot of new faces.”

“What is she doing, giving a speech?” hissed a girl a few desks away.

Twilight’s face reddened, but she continued: “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I’m from Canterlot.”

“What. Really? In that outfit?” the vocal girl next to Twilight muttered.

“I’m the recipient of Princess Celestia’s Equestrian Scholar of the Year Award and will be reporting back to her on how integration is proceeding,” Twilight added. There. Maybe that would shut them up.

“You?!” the girl next to her suddenly gasped. “It’s not possible!”

Twilight couldn’t help but glance towards her. “Why not?”

“Because... because...”

“Would you just shut up?” came a request from a girl across the room. She had minty green hair with a white streak, and she looked irritated. “All you Canterlot snobs feel so entitled to speak whenever you want. Just let the girl finish speaking, why don’t you?”

“I...I’m done,” Twilight replied, sitting back down.

“Thanks, Twilight! How about you go next, then?” Magnum said, nodding towards Twilight’s annoying neighbor.

The silvery-blue-haired girl stood, fists on her hips. “I’m Trixie. Trixie Lulamoon. I’m also from Canterlot. And I’m the runner-up to Princess Celestia’s award.” She paused, looking down at Twilight. “But I suppose we can’t all be the daughters of palace aides.”

Twilight stared back at her, shocked into silence. How did she know that?

“Well, it looks like we have some very talented students in this class!” laughed Magnum. “I can’t wait to hear about all of your achievements!”

As Trixie sat down, she ripped out a page from her notebook and scribbled something on it. She crumpled it up and tossed it onto Twilight’s desk. The dark-haired girl unfolded it slowly as the next student, someone Twilight didn’t know, stood and introduced himself. But she wasn’t listening. Twilight was reading the angrily-scrawled message in purple ink: Enjoy the award while you can, palace brat. It’s the last time you’ll win anything around here. The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie will make sure of that! Anything you can do, I CAN DO BETTER.

Not only had Twilight been the laughingstock of the entire class so far, but she’d also made a snooty, and possibly insane enemy. All in the first half hour of school. Ponyville was shaping up to be absolutely fantastic.

Applejack wasn’t exactly nosy, but even she was curious to see how the new students were. But when she entered her chemistry class—the first integrated class she would be taking—she noticed something strange. She recognized almost every face.

“Hi, AJ!” came a friendly greeting from Bon Bon, a pink-and-blue-haired girl Applejack had always had in her classes.

Applejack smiled and sat down next to her. “Hey, Bon Bon. How was your summer?”

“It was great! Lyra and I went to Canterlot to visit her grandma. So I got to do lots of new shopping!” That was true. If Applejack hadn’t known better, or couldn’t see the green band around Bon Bon’s wrist, she would have thought she was a Royal Clan member from her fancy dress. “How about yours?”

“Oh, y'know. The usual,” Applejack replied with a laugh. She’d learned enough by now that she shouldn’t go off on tangents about the farm anymore. A few sentences about tractors and pest control and trouble with the wholesale markets and most peoples’ eyes glazed over. AJ took another look around the room. “Don’t seem to be many new students here, huh?”

Bon Bon shook her head. “Nope. Except...” she pointed at a girl sitting near the front of the classroom, headphones over her ears. Her spiky electric blue hair seemed more of a Sky Clan fad, but her wristband was clearly purple.

The classroom door opened, and all heads turned to see. This must be another new student, AJ thought. But it was just Rarity, followed by her two friends Aloe and Lotus. Although Rarity was a Royal Clan member, she was from Ponyville—Applejack had been in the same class with her nearly her whole life. They’d never really gotten along, though. Rarity spent most of her time doing... well, girly things. Shopping. Going to the spa. Flirting with guys. Aloe and Lotus trailed after her, the twin sisters enamored by Rarity’s charm and popularity. She was a nice person. But she was so fussy about certain things. And Applejack had never seen her work for anything in her life. Like a lot of the Royal Clan members in Ponyville, Rarity was from a wealthier family that had left Canterlot and other Royal Clan-populated places for a country home and a simpler way of life. But for Applejack, the countryside wasn’t a simple way of life, it was the only way of life. And it was sure tough.

It appeared Rarity had spotted the new student right away. She immediately went to the girl’s side and stuck out her hand. “Hello, you must be new! So nice to meet you. My name is Rarity.”

AJ couldn’t help but smirk to herself. Rarity was always pretending to be a bigshot from Canterlot; she wondered how she’d react to real Canterlot kids.

“What?” came the response from the girl. She removed her headphones, letting them rest around her neck. She turned towards Rarity and AJ saw that she was wearing large sunglasses.

“I said, I’m Rarity. It’s nice to meet you!”

The girl nodded with a smile. “Oh. Yeah, you too! My name’s Vinyl.”

“Vinyl. Exquisite. So, do you come from the capital?” Rarity asked, seating herself beside Vinyl. Aloe and Lotus immediately sat down in the two seats behind them. Everyone else in the class, curious about the new additions to their school, watched the exchange as if Vinyl were some kind of exotic creature in a zoo.

“Yep. Born and bred in Canterrot.”

Rarity stared at her for a moment. “Beg pardon?”

“Oh, you don’t call it that here?” Vinyl asked with a grin. “Canterrot. The joke is that nothing rots there cause all the plants are fake, and people don’t let themselves grow old.”

Rarity continued to stare blankly at Vinyl.

“Plastic surgery?” the blue-head tried.

Still nothing.

“Oh. Well, anyway, it’s also because the politicians are rotten and the Royal Clan kids are spoiled rotten. So it works both ways. There are lots of names for Canterlot,” Vinyl explained slowly. “Can’t-a-lot. That one’s for the politicians too, cause they veto stuff. Or Can’t-allot. Get it, like—”

“Are all the names derogatory?” Rarity asked, smile faltering.

“Most, yeah.”

There was a silence in the room. Everyone else knew how Rarity idolized Canterlot. She’d made that very clear. And now to hear it bashed by a Canterlot native—

“Well, I suppose we have names for Ponyville too!” Rarity replied, smile returning, if a bit forced. “And there are names for Cloudsdale. And names for people in each Clan. But it’s all just silly, isn’t it?”

Applejack turned back to Bon Bon. “If that girl was any other Clan, Rarity would hate her. I guess she can befriend anyone who has enough cash,” she joked quietly.

But apparently not quietly enough. Rarity suddenly cleared her throat, and AJ looked up towards her. The girl must have supersonic hearing. She was staring towards AJ, and instead of looking angry, she actually appeared a bit... hurt? Before Applejack could try to figure that one out, the bell rang and the teacher came rushing into the room. She’d heard the expression “saved by the bell” before, but she’d never known quite how true it was until now.

It was lunchtime. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash! I didn’t mean to crash into you like that.” Rainbow Dash was in line for food, craning her neck to see if Ponyville cafeteria food was going to be any better than Cloudsdale’s. “Oops. I dropped my lunch money.” She thought it might—after all, this was right down on the ground where the food was actually grown. “I’m sorry, please let me know if I’m bothering you.” So far, Dash’s day had been all right. A few Sky Clan members she knew in her classes, but no one she really liked. Fluttershy was omniscient. She was in her homeroom and two of her other classes—including the one right before lunch. Like an insect buzzing in her ear, Fluttershy had followed her straight to the cafeteria, trying to make some kind of small talk about classes and weather and other random shit Dash didn’t care about. “Rainbow Dash?” And now she was standing right behind Dash in line, trying to talk to her, her sweet little voice grating into Dash’s brain. “Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?”

“What?” Dash finally demanded, turning around to face her.

Fluttershy looked startled. “Um, I just... you weren’t answering... I just wanted... I’m sorry!”

Dash sighed, rolling her eyes. “It’s fine. But what do you want?”

“Um... You mean to eat?”

“No, I meant why do you keep saying my name? What is it?”

Fluttershy thought for a moment. “Um, I don’t know. I was worried you couldn’t hear me anymore.”

“Why would I not be able to hear you anymore?” Dash asked, impatient.

“Because you weren’t answering.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, turning away from Fluttershy. She was next in line to order food, and she wanted to figure out what there was.

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you. Am I bothering you?”

“What’ll you have?” the lunch lady asked Dash. It was her turn, and she didn’t even know her options. Stupid Fluttershy. Didn’t she know how serious Dash took food?

“Potatoes. And... some meat.” It didn’t really matter what her choices were—Dash was on her caveman diet. The food would help her on her run later. Or kill her. It was always one way or another.

“Next,” the lunch lady said, handing the food to her and shooing her along.

“And chocolate milk!” Dash added suddenly.

“Next,” the lady repeated. “You there. Pink-head. Start talking.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Um, well, I think she wants—”

“Who’s she? I’m talking to you. You want meat and potatoes too?”

“N-no! No, I don’t eat meat. Um, I’ll take a salad and one of those Portobello sandwiches? And... a chocolate milk?”

“Here you go,” the woman said, handing Fluttershy her tray. “Next.”

Dash sighed, giving up. She would get enough protein from the gray meat thing, whatever it was. And next time she would bring her own lunch to school. Complete with chocolate milk. She moved ahead in line to the cashier and bought her food. As soon as she made it past the cash register, she took off at a quick walk, making her way to the back of the cafeteria. She neared a table where a lofty-sounding purple-haired girl was eating with a collection of other kids, mostly girls, hanging on her every word. All of a sudden, Dash realized she had no idea where she was going to sit. Fuck, she thought. Without Gilda or anyone here I’m like a walking teen movie. The cafeteria dilemma. Oh well. As long as she didn’t have to put up with Fluttershy, she was fine. She scanned the room quickly and found an empty table. Just as she was heading towards it, she heard a small, familiar voice at her side.

“Here you go.”

Dash turned. It was Fluttershy, holding out her chocolate milk.

“What?” Dash asked, taken aback.

“You didn’t get it. So I got one for you.”

“But... you paid for it,” Dash said.

“I know. It’s fine.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I’ll pay you back.”

“It’s really fine...”

Dash frowned. This must be something Fluttershy’s parents had told her to do. Poor little Rainbow Dash, 90% orphan and victim of the world – “I told you I’ll pay you back!”

“It’s really not necessary...”

“Hey, Spitfire! Over here!” came a voice all too familiar. Spitfire? Dash looked towards it immediately with a sharp intake of breath. It couldn’t be... Soarin? There he was, sitting at a nearby table, surrounded by other Sky Clan members. And there was Spitfire, heading towards the table with her usual confident air. One of the girls at the table, the only other one wearing a Cloudbolt jacket, turned to greet Spitfire and Dash saw that it was Fleetfoot.

Holy crap. The princesses had actually sent some of the Cloudbolts to Ponyville.

And they were right. There. Just a few measly feet away.

The Cloudbolts were a kind of junior version of the Wonderbolts. If one wanted to join the elite special forces squad, the easiest way was through one of the youth divisions—Cloudbolts hailing, of course, from Cloudsdale. But more than just a way to get noticed by the Wonderbolts, the Cloudbolts were a team. They were all-out athletes who competed against other Wonderbolt youth divisions from cities and bases all around Equestria. The most important Wonderbolt training, claimed the captain of the special forces troop, was physical training and teamwork. Learning to fly jets and do the aerobatics shows would come at the Royal Equestrian Air Force Academy.

Spitfire, the Cloudbolt’s own captain, was kind of Rainbow Dash’s hero. Same went for Soarin, Fleetfoot, Misty, Surprise, Blaze... any of them. They were all older than her by one or two years and she’d never really talked to them. In fact, she’d almost given up on being invited to join the Cloudbolts after she found out she’d been transferred to Ponyville. But maybe there was a way. After all, Spitfire was here.

Wait’ll Gilda hears about this! Dash thought to herself with a smirk. She’ll be begging to be transferred to Ponyville.

“Rainbow Dash?” came the annoying voice of Fluttershy, bringing Dash back out of her ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh moment.

“What?” snapped Dash.

Fluttershy was still holding out the milk carton. Dash remembered what was going on. The Swift family's charity for poor Rainbow Dash. What if the Cloudbolts saw? How humiliating.

“So what is this? You don’t think I have enough money to pay for a fucking milk carton?” Dash demanded. Loudly. She was getting more and more irritated by this girl by the second. Couldn’t she just leave her to drool over her idols in peace? Or, better yet, leave her to make a good impression on them? Dash was already thinking her way to the Cloudbolts’ table. It wasn’t something that was really done in Cloudsdale, but there were less Cloudbolt-hopefuls here in Ponyville. It might just be okay... But first Dash had Fluttershy to deal with.

“N-no, I just—”

“Well then, what?”

“I... was... trying to be nice...”

“Well, don’t. I don’t know why you are. We’re not even friends! You’ve been clinging on to me all day and I’m sick of it!”

Fluttershy stared at her, eyes wide. Oh, fuck, was she starting to cry? Was this really going to happen? Why was she so pathetic?

“I just... I thought maybe...” Her voice was coming out mostly in squeaks now.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell if she felt sorry for Fluttershy, or just more annoyed. Maybe both. Either way, she didn’t want to spend a single second with the girl any longer. And, luckily, she didn’t have to. All of a sudden, Dash’s dreams came true.

Spitfire and Soarin appeared at her side. Almost like magic. If magic came in the form of two perfect Sky Clan members with awesome hair and Cloudbolts jackets.

“Hey,” came Spitfire’s purr. “Is this chick bothering you?”

Dash was so amazed that she couldn’t respond for a few seconds. Come on, don’t be an idiot! she told herself. “A-actually, yeah. Kinda,” she stammered.

Spitfire’s amber eyes narrowed slightly. “I wasn’t talking to you,” she replied coolly.

Excuse me?

“Fluttershy, right?” Soarin asked. The timid pink-haired girl nodded slightly. “I’m Soarin. Wanna eat with us?”

Fluttershy stared at him, wordless.

Soarin took her silence as hesitation and jokingly added, “We have pie. Or at least I do. I’m willing to share.”

“Um... well... yes! I mean, I would like that...”

“Awesome. Come on,” he replied, putting his hand on her back and steering her to the table gently.

What. Just. Happened.

Spitfire remained, eyebrow raised at Rainbow Dash. “You’re Raincloud, right?”

Not only did Dash’s heroes think Fluttershy was more worth their time than she was, they didn’t even know her name. She’d been one of the best on Cloudsdale High’s sports teams! Soccer in the fall. Track and field in the winter. Swimming and diving for spring. Okay, so she was only JV, but she’d only been at CHS for a year. There were rumors of her as potential JV captain this year, or even advanced to varsity—rare for a second-year student. Fluttershy didn’t play sports. She didn’t get academic awards. She didn’t throw parties. She didn’t even go to parties. In fact, she didn’t even speak in an audible voice. So why did they know her name, of all people’s, and not Dash’s?! Who the hell was Raincloud?

“Rainbow Dash,” came the sophomore’s dejected correction.

Spitfire smirked. “Oh. Sorry. Rainbow Dash,” she repeated, mocking Dash’s tone. “I don’t know who you think you are, but there’s no need to be such a bitch. You should be careful how you treat your friends or you won’t have any anymore.” She tilted her head slightly. “Oh, wait. Looks like you’re all alone.”

Dash stared at her, unable to think of anything to say.

“See you, Rainbow Dash.” Spitfire turned and walked back towards her table. Fluttershy sat there between Soarin and Fleetfoot, red-faced but nevertheless looking cheerful.

She couldn’t believe it. In a state of shock, Dash did the only thing she could think of doing. She set her sights on an empty table and made her way towards it.

“I call this first meeting of the party club to order!”

All heads turned to face Pinkie as she thwacked a textbook down on her desk.

It was after school, and Pinkie had decided she was going to do what she did best: organize parties! When she’d seen the flier for the club that morning, she knew she would love being part of it. She didn’t know anyone in it, but that wasn’t really a problem. Pinkie made friends everywhere she went. In fact, she’d made a lot of friends that day! There was that really cute boy who had smiled gallantly at her in the hall. And there was that girl she’d always seen around with the weirdly colorful green and pink mane who she’d finally talked to. Pinkie was sure she’d make all sorts of friends with all her fellow partiers!

“This is not a party club,” corrected one snooty-sounding girl. She had dark hair and violet eyes and seemed to look down her nose at Pinkie. “I don’t know who advertised it as such. This is Ponyville High’s Event Planning and Organizational Committee. We are part of student government and are allocated funds directly from the treasurer herself.” She paused for a moment. “I am the treasurer,” she added.

"Treasurer hopeful!" came a warm addition from a light-pink-haired girl. "Remember, everyone, vote Octavia!"

"Treasurer hopeful and incumbent,"

“Hell, it’s not a party club? I thought we were throwing parties,” came the retort of a magenta-haired girl. Pinkie watched with glee as she actually pulled out a flask and took a quick drink of something. Now this was the kind of friend she wanted!

Octavia's friend laughed a little bit to herself. “I may have made more than just one flier. The plain ones you wanted, and a few... well, fun ones.”

Octavia stepped forward towards the girl. “Cheerilee.” She sighed. “Fine. Show me.” She held out her hand.

Cheerilee pulled a spare flier from her bag and handed it to Octavia. It was a bright piece of paper, and Cheerilee had printed them in all neon colors of the rainbow. The flier read:

PARTY!
Like parties? Want to meet friends who like parties? And throw parties?
WHILE PARTICIPATING IN AN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY?!
Then come to the Party Club*!
After school today in B142

* (Event Planning and Organizational Committee)

As Octavia read, her nose began to wrinkle with disgust. "What is..." All of a sudden, the door was thrown open.

“Hey! Sorry I’m late! Is this the party club?” A blue-haired girl with sunglasses was standing in the doorway.

Octavia took one look at her and sent a heated glare towards Cheerilee, who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute. “Is anyone actually here for the Event Planning and Organizational Committee?!”

Cheerilee raised her hand after a moment, when it became clear nobody else was going to. She gave a bit of a nervous laugh.

The dark-haired girl stared at the classroom before her. “So why are you all here, then?”

“I need an extracurricular,” said one light-blue-haired boy boredly.

“Getting into college for partying? Um, yes please!” came the excited voice of a Sky Clan girl with a large bow in her hair.

“PARTIES!” Pinkie added.

“Hoped I could help out with the music,” said the girl at the door with a grin.

Octavia looked up from her death glare at Cheerilee, raising an eyebrow. “Really?” she asked, sounding genuinely interested. “Are you a musician?”

The girl shrugged. “I guess you could say that.”

“Me, too. I'm in Advanced Symphonic this year. What do you play?”

“Uh... everything, I guess,” began the girl. “I’m—”

“So are we throwing a homecoming party or not?” the flask girl interrupted.

Octavia sighed. “I suppose we’ll have to take a vote on it. Hold on a moment while I write the information on the board.”

The blue-haired girl came in and took a seat. Pinkie smiled at her. “In the meantime, let’s all introduce ourselves! I’m Pinkie!” She leaned over to the flask girl’s desk. “By the way! Whatcha drinking there?”

“Berry punch,” replied the girl.

“Wow, classy! What’s your name?”

“Berry Punch,” she repeated.

Pinkie stared at her for a moment. “Wow!”

“Vinyl,” the blue-haired girl went next.

“I’m Braeburn,” came a strawberry-blonde Earth Clan boy.

“Well, as long as we’re all doing introductions, I’m Flitter!” announced the girl with the bow in her hair. “I can’t wait to throw tons of parties!”

Pinkie grinned. “Yeah! That’s the spirit!” She turned to the guy sitting next to her—the one with blue hair. “Your turn!”

He stared at her for a moment before offering his name. “Pokey.”

“Pokey! Like the pokey little puppy!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“No.”

“Pokey Pierce, right?” came Vinyl’s question. She grinned at him. “I remember you from middle school.”

“And I have no idea who you are,” Pokey replied. He looked back at her, bored. “But apparently you’re quite the creep.”

Vinyl laughed, unoffended. “I remember all your stunts you pulled when you were a sixth grader. You were pretty famous back then. Even famous enough to get noticed by an eighth grader.”

“Then my life goal is complete,” he muttered.

“Okay, enough!” came Octavia’s voice. “Here is the information needed to vote. Please only vote once. You may come up to the board and draw a line under either option.” She narrowed her eyes. “Do we need to make this a silent vote or are you all mature enough not to judge each other?”

“Mature, no! Not judgey, yes!” Pinkie replied.

“Fine. I’ll go first.” Octavia turned back to the board and drew a single line beneath the option “Yes for homecoming dance—musically-themed party following homecoming game.”

In the end, there was only one vote underneath “No for homecoming party.” Unsurprisingly, it was Pokey’s. He didn’t look too pleased that he’d lost. Pinkie wondered why he would have joined the party club if he didn’t even want to throw parties anyway. Oh well! Maybe he was just shy. Lots of people were shy. And Pinkie was great at bringing them out of their shells! Everyone else seemed nice, anyway. Even Octavia. Maybe.

“Does anyone have any ideas for theme?” the leader was asking.

“Under the sea!” someone offered.

“A star-studded event!”

“Luau?”

“Anything that serves alcohol.”

“How about a hoe-down?”

“Candy!” came Pinkie’s contribution. “No, wait! Harmony!” They turned to look at her. “Harmony,” Pinkie explained. “Because this will be our first dance as an integrated school.”

“We could have a theme that kind of honors all clans,” Cheerilee added.

“Show everyone how well integration works!” Flitter said with a smile.

“Wait, wait.” Pokey was shaking his head. “This is the first day of school. Does anyone actually know how well integration works?”

“Well... I’m from Sky Clan,” Flitter said. “But I live in Ponyville. And I love it here. So, I already know it works. It’s everyone from outside that we have to convince!”

“I’m not so sure, either,” said Braeburn. “I might not have it as hard as kids brought in from Sky and Royal Clans, but the princess brought me from Appleloosa.”

Pokey snorted. “Two-bit dirt town,” he muttered.

Braeburn glared at Pokey. “Which means I’m not having the best time getting along with all the kids from other Clans. Especially snooty Royal Clan kids. Frankly, I’m just not sure if it’ll work.”

“But it will! Just wait and see!” Pinkie argued. “I’m from Ponyville too. I have lots of friends from all clans. You’ll see!”

“Please. Your Cloudhead there is more of a Dirtclod," Pokey sneered, pointing at Flitter. "Anyone becomes Earthy after living in an Earth Clan place for so long."

“It’s not an Earth Clan place. It’s an everyone place!”

“Okay, okay,” Octavia interjected. “We’ll come back to our theme next time we meet. For now, it’s important that we get used to the way our school is now.”

As Pinkie leaned back in her chair, she glared at Pokey. How dare he say such mean things about Ponyville! And the other clans! And Flitter! Pinkie hated all those derogatory names for clans. But she would take the high road. After all, she didn’t say anything about Royal Clan.

Comments

[ddiablo2008]

I liked how you humanized the characters flawlessly

[Dearbourne]

I DEMAND MORE!!
Uhm......please?

[i have a number]

i couldn't help but notice a lack of a certain dragon fax machine
and you used ponies instead of people sometimes still a great story i really love it

[Misty Spell]

static.fjcdn.com/comments/I+know+the+artist+likely+wont+read+this+or+even+_d6671b4bcd2d50870e980ba44398a4cf.jpg

[vinviasshine]

In love with Spitfire’s act, finally someone thinks Rainbow Dash is the bitch