Chapter 1
He watched the clock with boredom so thick he could almost taste it. Only 30 minutes until summer vacation started for the colts and fillies of Ponyville Elementary. He wasn’t even paying attention to the commotion in the three desks behind him, or Miss Cheerilee’s “School year wrap up”. He’d already heard it last year and wasn’t interested in listening to it again. The colt sighed impatiently, waiting for the school bell to ring, signaling the end of the day.
“And in closing, I’d like to tell you all to have fun on your summer vacation, but be sure to study once in a while, so you don’t forget anything you’ve learned so far. You would hate to have to go through it all again, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee..” the class groaned in unison.
“Ok class, you may talk amongst yourselves for the remainder of the day.” Miss Cheerilee finished with a hint of a laugh.
He plopped his head on his desk. He then looked around at his classmates. Featherweight was playing with his camera, trying to get the film to stay in. On his other side, Snips and Snails were talking about how they were going to go see a magic show in Canterlot with their parents. Nothing new there. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were giggling, bragging about how they were going to ponyland for a week during vacation. Some ponies had too much money for their own good, he thought to himself.
Then he finally noticed to commotion behind him, spying out the Cutie Mark Crusaders, also known as Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. They were forever getting in trouble for their crusading, but he got along well with them. They were arguing over what they should do first to try and earn their cutie marks.
“How about a reading marathon, or community service at the library?” Sweetie Belle asked. She was answered by gagging noises in unison.
“What kind of pony wants a book for a cutie mark? That’s so boring. Not even close to extreme or awesome.” Scootaloo said
“I think we should try hang gliding or zip lining or something awesome like that!” She finished excitedly, a glint in her eye.
“And how do you think we can find a hang glider or zip line?” Applebloom said. “I don’t even know how to start building something like that, much less using it.”
“That’s why we should go to the library, for research. We could learn how to build both of those things and almost anything else from books.” Sweetie Belle asked hopefully.
“You can research, I’m gonna go ride my scooter down the side of Mount Celestia. You coming, bloom?” Scootaloo finished.
“Yeah, why not. Maybe we can earn a cutie mark for mountain climbing or wilderness survival.” Applebloom added. As the two departed, Sweetie caught up with them, still pursuing the library idea.
“Well, there they go. Wonder how many bones they’ll break this time.” The colt thought to himself. Then he saw Featherweight, obviously flustered with his camera.
“Hey, Feathers!” He called to the white Pegasus. Featherweight turned to face him, disappointment across his features.
“What’s wrong with your camera, man? Want me to try and fix it?” He asked.
“If you could, I’d appreciate it. It was given to me last week and I promised
I wouldn’t break it. It’s a really rare model.” Featherwieght said dejectedly.
“Well, lemme see…” He slid the camera across to his side of the desk he was now standing next to. After a moment or two, the camera was fixed.
“How’d you do that?” Featherweight asked him, amazed.
“You forgot to move the little pin that holds the film in the camera. It was in a weird place, see?” He pointed to the pin in question, which was the opposite of any other camera Featherweight had seen.
“Really? That simple? Thanks!” Featherweight said, disappointment replaced by joy.
“No problem, I promise.” The colt said, smiling. “So what are you doing for summer vacation, Feathers?” He asked.
“Nothing really. I have to clean my room and organize my camera collection, but that’s it, really.”
“Me neither. Want to hang out sometime?” The colt asked, softly.
“Yeah, sure! I really don’t know anypony too well, even our classmates. It would be nice to have a friend. I didn’t get to know anypony too well, even when I was on the school paper. All Diamond Tiara did was yell at us and tell me to take lots of pictures.”
“You’ll definitely make friends that way.” The colt said with a sarcastic laugh. “Guess it was a good idea to not ask her for friendship advice.” He laughed again.
“I wouldn’t ask her anyway. She’s kind of mean and snooty.” Featherweight said.
At this, they both shared a laugh.
The school bell finally rang and the school kids set off to their respective homes with a cheer. School was finally over, and they would not have to come back for the next month.
Featherweight and his new friend set off towards Featherweight’s house, laughing and going over ideas about what they would do for the first day of summer.
“We could go to the lake for a swim, or see if Pinkie needs help in sugarcube corner.” Featherweight mentioned.
“We could also go see if Applejack needs help. She always offers me free apples when I do work for her.” The young colt said, his mouth watering at the thought of fresh, juicy apples.
“That’s true too.” Feathers said. “But I’m not really too strong. Pegasi really aren’t all that bulky. We need to be light to fly.
“It doesn’t take much to pull the small apple carts, especially on the downhill. I’ve seen Sweetie Belle pull these carts, she’s one of the smallest in our class.
“You really think I could do it?” Feathers asked.
“You’ll never know until you try, feathers.” The colt said, clapping him on the shoulder.
“I guess you’re right. So I guess tomorrow we’ll go to the Acres until we tire ourselves out, then go to the lake for a swim, and then to Sugarcube corner for Lunch?
“Sounds like a plan.” The young colt said.