The Odd Squad
Sandbar couldn't have been happier. Seriously, about anything. He just didn't stress out as a rule. It wasn't how he rolled.
Being the first pony student admitted to Twilight's new school was a total fluke. The light-green, blue-maned pony had been down by the lower falls on the Argentum river, just shy of the Everfree Forest. He was searching for turtles to invite to spend some time in the class aquarium in Miss Cheerilee's schoolroom. And then...
... he didn't find any, so he'd had to return to the schoolhouse empty-hoofed, and worrying that he wouldn't get the extra credit for his Living Creatures assignment.
When he got there, Miss Cheerilee was just reading a letter she'd received from Princess Twilight, describing the School of Friendship and asking if Cheerilee could recommend any young pony students to attend its initial class. And Cheerilee had given Sandbar an odd look, and declared she knew exactly who should go.
Sandbar was okay with that. He never worried too much about having friends or making friends. Things generally worked out okay on his own, and if other ponies wanted to be friendly, hey, that was okay too. But he wasn't against going to a School of Friendship either. It sounded all right.
Miss Cheerilee had talked it over with Sandbar's parents when they came by for their semi-annual parent-teacher conference. And Sandbar's parents had also thought it was a marvelous idea. Sandbar himself wasn't sure why they made such a fuss about it. After all, it was just another school, right? Even if it was being run by one of the four ruling Princesses of Equestria. And there seemed to be an awful lot of secrecy, which Sandbar didn't get at all. Who ever heard of a school being organized in secret? Still, it was mildly intriguing, and added to the feeling of mystery about it all.
And then he and his parents took the Friendship Train down to Dodge, and a local stagecoach across the Appleloosa desert to a remote valley that was being used as a temporary landing strip and work site.
They came around the final turn, and Sandbar finally got his first look at the School itself, the great lavender ship holding station in the sky overhead. It wasn't anything like he'd expected. It hung poised in the air with a promise of adventure and faraway lands... and homework assignments, too. After all, it was a school. But hey, rough with the smooth, right?
Sandbar was hooked instantly. He had to be a part of it, even if his parents hadn't already been sold on the idea. It took a lot to get Sandbar truly excited about anything. But when it happened, he went all in, gung-ho, no reservations. It was simply the way he was.
There had been a number of arrangements to make, which delayed things. And then Sandbar's little sister had to go and catch the pony flu the day before they were supposed to leave for Dodge to board the cutter to the School. Which meant they were delayed getting there, and only just made it in time.
So in the end, Sandbar wound up being the last pony student to officially sign in aboard the Friendship -- as the students immediately started calling it. And thus he was also last on room assignments too, and wound up the only student initally assigned to his three-bunk dorm cabin.
Which was cool. Sandbar was totally okay with getting to know the place first, and seeing who else from Ponyville and Canterlot had managed to wangle a place in the School's initial class. He figured he'd have roommates soon enough.
And so he did. The very next morning, he pulled open the door to the cabin and headed out into the corridor... and smacked straight into the hindquarters of a bright blue feathered creature with wings, beak, and claws.
"Whoa, sorry! I'm Sandbar. Are you a student here too?"
"No, I just thought I'd stand here and see how many ponies would just randomly walk into me." When Sandbar didn't react to that, the griffon put out a claw. "Name's Gallus. You happen to know where room 6A is?"
"Right here. Looks like we're roomies." Sandbar stepped aside and gestured welcomingly. "I had trouble finding it myself. That jog in the corridor really throws you off, doesn't it?"
"Yeah." Gallus strolled into the room, and flung himself onto the bottom bunk of the bunk bed, putting his claws behind his head. "Not bad. This place is pretty nice actually. Still, I give it a week. Me, I mean. Griffons aren't really the friendliest of species."
"I dunno." Sandbar shrugged. "I think you're all right."
"Wait 'til the shock wears off," Gallus replied dryly, "and you get to know the real me."
"Okay." Sandbar sat down on his own bunk in companionable silence, apparently taking Gallus entirely literally.
Gallus stared at him. "Are all ponies like you?"
Sandbar shrugged. "Dunno. Are all griffons like you?"
Despite himself, Gallus found himself liking the light-green pony. Sandbar didn't push, and he didn't take offense. He simply made himself available for any overture at friendship. And if it didn't happen right away... well, apparently he was in no hurry.
Gallus found it surprisingly difficult to be snarky when he got nothing back.
He sighed. "You wouldn't happen to know where Professor Dash's classroom is, would you? I'm booked for an orientation session this afternoon."
"Hey, yeah, I was just there myself this morning. What do you think of her, huh? Element of Loyalty, member of Princess Twilight's inner circle, flyer on the Wonderbolts. And now, teaching Friendship lessons, too!"
"Not sure. From the way Gilda described her, I thought she'd be, you know..." Gallus smirked. "... cooler!"
Later that afternoon a third roommate arrived, in the form of a young orange dragoness. She immediately flapped up to the top bunk and sat on it, looking seriously grouched.
"Smolder," she introduced herself curtly, when they asked.
Gallus peered up at her from the bunk below. "They... do know you're a girl, right, sharing a room with us?"
She glared down at him. "You got a problem with that, griffon?"
"Nah, not at all. It actually restores my faith in the essential brokenness of things."
"Hmph!" She crossed her arms angrily. "I'm supposed to be here learning about friendship. Can you imagine anything lamer for a dragon?"
There was a knock at the door, and then it swung open. A small purple dragon wearing a chef's hat and an apron with a heart on it, and carrying a tray of rainbow-sprinkled cupcakes, peered in at them.
"Hey, guys! Just makin' sure you all know about the welcome get-together tomorrow evening! It'll be in the main classroom, right after dinner." With a cheery wave Spike left, shutting the door behind him.
Smolder raised an eyebrow. "Well... okay. Maybe it's not the lamest thing for a dragon!"
They all smiled.
The next day, room 6B next door began to fill up. Sandbar worked out how to slide open the connecting partition door, so they could all get to know each other. First there was a pink hippogriff, who introduced herself as Silverstream... about five minutes into a breathless, pauseless conversation in which she herself did most of the talking.
Later, Professor Fluttershy came by. And so did Professor Fluttershy.
Seeing their startled looks, Fluttershy looked at the other copy of herself. "Ocellus..." she said, gently.
With a flash, the other Fluttershy became an arctic-blue insect-like creature. Who scuffed one forehoof against the other nervously, and then tried to hide behind Fluttershy's mane.
"This is Ocellus," Fluttershy explained. "She's just a little shy..."
But she got no further. "What is that?" Silverstream said, barely able to contain her excitement. "No way! I didn't know ponies could turn into... um... what are you?"
"Oh! She's a changeling," Fluttershy said.
"Ponies can turn into changelings?"
"No, but changelings can turn into ponies."
Silverstream scratched her mane. "Huh. That's confusing!" She smiled happily. "But I like it!"
Sandbar trotted over. "Hey, welcome aboard, Ocellus! I'm Sandbar." He offered a hoof.
After a moment Ocellus cautiously shook it, with an uneasy look. "Um, hi!" she whispered. "And, well... I'm sorry, by the way."
"About what?"
"Uh..." Ocellus winced. "About the changeling attack on Canterlot?"
"Oh, that! That was what, like five years ago?" Sandbar shrugged. "Ancient history! Princess Twilight says the changelings are friendly now, and that's good enough for me. C'mon in. I'll introduce you to the rest of the Odd Squad."
Gallus and Smolder glanced at each other.
"Odd Squad?" Smolder asked, a disgusted look on her face. "Seriously?"
Sandbar shrugged. "You got a better name for us, now's the time!"
The last member of their group arrived that afternoon. When the door to the hallway swung open, the lower half of the doorway seemed to be entirely filled with hair, horns, and yard-long braids.
"Yona confused!" she shouted. "This room 6A? Or 6B?"
"WOW! Is that a YAK?" Silverstream dove at her excitedly, causing Yona to tumble backwards into the corridor. The two of them disappeared to the left, a sound of stampeding hooves and general thumping and banging echoing up and down the corridor. Then Yona raced past the doorway to the right, pursued by Silverstream, followed by even more thumping and banging. After a few more moments of this, Yona came racing by again. And this time, she was laughing as loudly as Silverstream, both of them clearly enjoying the chase.
Gallus looked at the others. "Guess we won't need an alarm clock, huh?"
"Guess not!" Sandbar agreed, grinning.
Ocellus smiled at that, and Gallus chuckled. Even Smolder managed a begrudging smirk.
That evening, they trooped up the corridor together and into the main classroom. They found that all the other students were gathered there already, either on the main floor or sitting on the seating ranks, chatting happily together. Their professors were there as well, walking around and introducing themselves to anyone they hadn't met individually yet.
Professor Pie greeted Sandbar and the others at the door, made sure they were each served with punch and cake, and encouraged them to mingle with the other students. Sandbar appointed himself unofficial cultural ambassador, and introduced them all around. The pony students were friendly in general, if a little cautious and curious around them. Yet even with the friendly welcome, both from the pony students and from the professors, the Odd Squad ultimately found themselves re-congregating on one of the curved seating platforms in front of the stage. Somehow they all felt more at ease amongst fellow roommates, at least at first.
And then Princess Twilight herself took the stage. She called for attention with a spell that played a brief, fluting melody in the air.
"Hello, everycreature! And welcome to the Friendship School. I'm your Headmare, Princess Twilight Sparkle. And I want to welcome each and every one of you to this inaugural class. I'm sure we'll have a lot to learn from each other, and I can't wait to get started. In particular, I want to extend a special welcome to our international students!"
She gestured towards the Odd Squad, who looked around uncomfortably, wondering if they were expected to stand or wave at everyone.
"A key mission of the Friendship School," Twilight went on, "is to open doors between our many cultures, and help us come to understand one another. So I hope you'll all join with me in making them feel welcome here!"
The pony students willingly clapped and stamped hooves in welcome.
Sandbar looked around at his new friends, and held up his punch glass.
"To the Odd Squad," he said.
They all glanced at each other, and then self-consciously clinked glasses with him.
"The Odd Squad," Smolder agreed. Then she waved a claw, rolling her eyes. "Whatever!"
Stats
Page generated in 0.067 seconds
Total duration
900 users online
331,940 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Neat ... Two little things:
on their own
alright is one word.
9534175
Thanks for the advice! Actually this usage is correct -- "his" refers to Sandbar, not "things":
Perhaps I could phrase it as "when he was on his own" to be more clear, but that spoils the flow somewhat.
And "alright" is a one-word spelling of the phrase "all right", used in dialogue and informal writing. "All right" is preferred in more proper, edited writing. I was leaning towards the latter usage here, though I'll admit it's on the borderline, given the casual air I was going for in general.
And chilled pony makes 6, Sandbar's interactions with the rest of the Young Six was golden!
Hey I agree!
Hope Smolder gets to know Spike better though this story like in S8, their interactions there were very enjoyable.
9534209
Thanks much for the feedback! It's nice knowing I've been doing all right by each of the Young Six, given this is the first story I've written that includes them.
And by the way, I'm with Sandbar here:
And with the introductions out of the way, let the real adventures begin!
Well, let's see here, there's Young Six, Student Six...
Picturing a boatswain whistle sound for this, like this:
Because, you know...it is still a boat.
9534441
Yeah, that's what we call them -- but what would they choose to call themselves? Kind of like the CMCs: they chose that name for themselves, and then made it mean something.
I left it unspecified, to allow readers their preference, but personally I mentally picture it as being the opening notes of the My Little Pony theme:
Da-dee-da-dah-dee, da-dee-da-dah-do...
9534315
⚡ "One thing I know for sure: no one is better suited to protect this world than me, the ponies I work for, and their students..."
9534552
Which movie was that from?
9534615
It's from the tie-in comic, "Fury's Big Week". There's a reference here:
https://marvelcinematicdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Nick_Fury
9534655
Oh, that's why I never heard of it.
Still, good quote. You earned a Pinkie Pie!
Just out of curiosity, are you planning on adding any OCs?
9534716
Thanks! Not as major characters, since the stage is already pretty full here, though I do have a few minor/background characters in chapters coming up. I wanted to focus more on showing the Young Six and their teachers finding their way at the School, something that kind of gets glossed over in the song in School Daze. If there's interest, it would always be possible on future adventures to send the Friendship to visit cultures we really haven't seen yet, like the Zebras.
9535026
Or the Kirin.
9535049
Very true! Though the School might need to get permission slips to take the students on a field trip to the Peaks of Peril...
9535414
True.
At first I thought this was a typo.
I really do how like they introduce themselves to each other and Starting to get to know each other better and that's cool and I like that
Ocellus best lady bug