The Chalk Prince and the Clover

by FrostTheWolf

12- Freundinnen

It might have only been a short while since the School of Friendship had opened, but the creatures at the school were quick to learn that on any particular day, something weird and obscene will happen. It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ it would happen at all, but ‘when’ exactly it would happen. No creature knew this better than the ponies that were not just close friends of the school’s headmare, but also teachers at the school itself. They were all too familiar with the day to day phenomenon that happens not just in the town of Ponyville, but throughout Equestria.

Though, when two of them happened to stop by the school to check in on a friend of theirs, they were a bit surprised by what they found. “Dear me, what is going on?”

Those were the only words that Rarity said some time after walking through the doors of the school with her friend Fluttershy not that far behind. The two of them were at the school today to check on Starlight, who was absent from their morning brunch and wanted to see how she was doing. Though, as they began to look around and try to find her, they happened to overhear several of the students talking to themselves about some new arrivals at the school.

“Did you see those two creatures that were at the library earlier?”

“No, I could barely see them with the big crowd that was in front of the library. Though, they’ve now become the talk of the entire school. Seriously, like what’s the big deal with them?”

“Are they… t-talking about new students?” Fluttershy asked the unicorn that was with her, while Rarity could only just shrug her shoulders and tried to continue listening.

“The big deal? Whoever they are, Ocellus and her friends are helping them and they were even seen coming out of Counselor Starlight’s office! I don’t know about you, but considering what the school just went through last week with Cozy Glow, doesn’t that raise some red flags?”

“Personally, I think you’re just overthinking it. Unless we actually met them in person, I wouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions.”

As the two creatures that were talking walked farther down the hall, Rarity looked back to her friend, “Not sure if they’re new students, from the sounds of it. I think it’s too early for enrollment anyways, darling.”

“M-maybe we should ask Starlight, then?” the pegasus suggested, “It sounds like w-whoever they are, t-they did happen to visit her.”

Rarity could definitely agree with that. Though, as luck would have it, the mare that they happened to be looking for ended up finding them first. “Hey there girls,” the voice of Starlight Glimmer called out to them as she trotted over to join the two of them.

“O-oh, hey Starlight,” Fluttershy squeaked, “H-how are you?”

“I’m doing alright,” the unicorn let out a sigh, “Sorry that I wasn’t able to make it for brunch this morning. I had some paperwork I needed to go through this morning.”

“No worries, Darling. We understand,” Rarity spoke up afterwards, “Though, do you have a moment? We happened to overhear some of the students talking and there was something that we wanted to ask you about.”

The moment that she heard the fellow unicorn say that, Starlight immediately realized the sort of direction that this conversation was going to be headed in. “Would this happen to be about the two ‘new arrivals’?” The simple question was followed by a nod from both of her friends, which prompted Starlight to continue, “Yeah, Sandbar and his friends happen to find them not far from Saddle Lake earlier today. Sandbar and Ocellus actually came to me to see if there was anything I could do to help Albedo and Klee-”

“Who?” Rarity interjected.

Starlight paused for a brief moment, before taking it upon herself in order to try and help clear up some confusion, “Those are their names actually, Albedo and Klee,” she replied, “From what they told me, they’re… not really from Equestria. So, they asked Sandbar and his friends if they knew any creature that could help them. Which led to them coming to see me.”

“O-oh, I see,” Fluttershy replied, before a different thought emerged in her mind, “W-was it because of us n-not being at the s-school?”

“More like they had some personal concerns,” the counselor told them, “Apparently, Gallus overheard a conversation between Twilight and Mayor Mare earlier in the week and thought that Twilight was going to be a bit… overprotective.”

“How overprotective are we talking about, darling?”

“Like how Shining Armor is with Flurry Heart.”

“Oh… oh,” Rarity blinked, realizing what Starlight was implying and shuddering at the thought, “I-i see.”

“Point being, they were worried that Twilight and some of the other staff would immediately jump to conclusions upon seeing them,” the counselor summarized for them, “Fortunately, when Twilight did end up meeting Albedo and Klee, it wasn’t really as bad as they thought it would be. If anything, Twilight actually agreed to help them try to find the way back home. Though, it’s not really going to be easy.”

“H-how so?” Fluttershy now asked, “A-are they from another country outside of Equestria?”

At that, Starlight bit her bottom lip as she tried to come up with an answer. “It’s… a bit more complicated than that, I’m afraid. Like ‘you wouldn’t believe me unless you saw it for yourself’ complicated. That and Twilight left with Albedo and Klee a little while ago, so it may be a while before they come back.”

Ironically, just as Starlight said that, the doors to the School of Friendship opened and who she was talking about moments ago walked on inside, “Hey Starlight, we’re back!”

“O-oh, hi T-twilight,” the counselor stammered, caught off guard by the alicorn’s sudden return. Both Twilight and Ocellus looked alright, though Albedo himself was carrying a rather tired Klee on his back, “H-how did everything go?”

“Better than expected,” the alicorn replied, just before she noticed the other two faculty members that were right next to the counselor, “Oh, hi Rarity. Hi Fluttershy. Is everything alright?”

“Well darling, we were coming by to see how Starlight was doing since she was absent during our brunch banquet earlier-” Around that point, Rarity’s gaze had shifted towards where Albedo was. The moment that she saw him, her train of thought came to a screeching halt. Her gaze was fixed not on the alchemist himself, but his clothes. The patterns on his coat, the colors of his shirt, the details of his gloves and boots. Every square inch of him was of a style of clothing that she had not seen before. A style that amazed her as the unicorn stared in wonder and awe.

That was, until she heard a voice get her attention, “Professor Rarity, are you alright?”

Quickly, the unicorn snapped out of her temporary trance as she looked around the room, only to notice that Ocellus was now right next to Fluttershy, “H-huh? Ocellus? What’s the matter?”

“Well, you kind of were staring at Albedo, so-”

“W-wait,” the unicorn stuttered, looking back to the alchemist before turning towards Starlight, “That’s Albedo? The one that you were telling us about?”

At that, Starlight just nodded, before looking back towards Twilight as she began to explain, “Rarity and Fluttershy overheard some of the students talking about Albedo and Klee when they first arrived, so I tried to help explain to them what was going on. Though, before I could really get into anything, you guys came through the door.”

“I see,” Twilight replied, glancing over to Albedo before looking back to her friends, “I think we can help bring them up to speed, but perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere? That way Albedo can set Klee down and let her rest.”

---

Once every creature was in Twilight’s office, the headmare and the counselor began to bring their friends up to speed on what was going on, making sure that no important details were left out in the process. With Albedo’s help, they covered everything from the accident in Teyvat that led to their arrival to the steps that they were taking to try and come up with a way for them to return back home. They even went as far as to talk about their visit to the Tree of Harmony and the outcome of the test that Albedo had to take.

A lot of what was shared surprised Rarity and Fluttershy, especially when they were told about Albedo’s abilities. Though, once the explanation was done, a new question was asked. “S-so… w-what are you going to do now?”

“Well, even though we did plant the seed, it’ll be some time before it’s ready,” Albedo replied, “In any other circumstance, I would think more on what other preparations we could make in the meantime. Though, considering our trip into the Everfree tired out Klee, I think rest should be our first priority above anything else.”

“That’s a good idea,” Starlight said, before asking a question that immediately popped up in her mind, “Though, where would you guys stay? The school has dorms for students, but I don’t think that would exactly work for you and Klee.”

“I believe I have a room or two open at my boutique if that works-”

“Um, Professor Rarity?” Ocellus interjected, “I’m not so sure if that’s a good idea.”

“What do you mean? I think it’ll be perfect-” Before the unicorn could continue, Ocellus was quick to go over and whisper into Rarity’s ear. At first, it didn’t seem to be anything big. Though, it only took a few seconds to quickly change that, “Oh… Oh MY! Dear sweet Celestia, you must be joking… r-right?”

Ocellus’ only reply to her question was just shaking her head from side to side. Something that made Rarity’s eyes widen in horror just at the thought. To her friends though, they took that as a sign that the seamstress had thought twice about opening the boutique to the two siblings. “What about your castle, Twilight?” Starlight then asked, “I remember you telling me that it had a guest room.”

“That we do,” Twilight replied, “However, it’s still a mess after some dragon named Sludge tricked Spike into thinking that he was his father, only to actually be a con-artist. I’ve been meaning to get it sorted out, but my duties at the school and duties as a princess have been preventing me from making any significant progress.”

“I-if that’s the case, t-they can stay over at my cottage,” Fluttershy offered, “I’m always open t-to having a few extra creatures help out with the animals at the cottage.”

Now both Twilight and Starlight looked towards the pegasus with looks of uncertainty on their face. “A-are you sure about that, Fluttershy? F-from what Albedo told us, Klee can be a real hoof-ful-”

“I-i’m sure everything will be okay,” the pegasus insisted, “I-i mean… it can’t be that hard to look after her, right?”

---

Author's Note:

Optimism can be a good thing... though, not necessarily if you have no idea what you're getting yourself into.

Comments

[Nosoni]

Poor Fluttershy her heart is in the right place but with Klee's personality she might regret it later

[Twilight_Shimmer]

“I-i’m sure everything will be okay,” the pegasus insisted, “I-i mean… it can’t be that hard to look after her, right?”

Discord paused looking to the above quote and sighed "My dear friend Fluttershy, may have just invoked a spot of bad luck with that phrase"