My Little Changeling: Friendship is Survival

--Canterlot Intruder--

--Part III--

I took a deep breath, I couldn't afford to screw up here. I needed this place.

The headmaster was picking apart my story with hardly any effort at all. The only chance I had at salvaging the situation was to dig for information.

“How do you know th- my dad, sir,” I nervously asked.

That question alone could sink me depending on how close those two were, unfortunately that's exactly what I needed to find out if I wanted to get through this.

“Your siblings went here so we inevitably had to meet on occasion, he was... interesting to deal with.” His expression darkened slightly at the memories.

There wasn't anything I could really say in response to that, apparently nobody was a fan of the duke.

On the plus side...

“You never got to know him personally then?” I asked.

Please, please, please...

He gave a relieved smile at the inquiry. “I'm afraid not,” he smirked.

Oh thank Celestia for small favors...

“So... What happens now, sir?”

“I believe it would be best to show you around now, rather than wait til tomorrow.”

The gray stallion snatched some papers resting on my table and handed them to me before leading me out of the room.

They were a map of the school, my schedule and the academy pamphlet. I skimmed the pamphlet over first.

Canterlot Academy

Providing the highest quality education in Equestria for over three centuries.

“This building is over three hundred years old?” I asked.

“Well... No. Not this building anyways. The only original building standing is the northern one, other structures have been torn down or remodeled, in addition to what has been added as the academy has expanded.”

There was nothing special in my schedule that differentiated it from the one I had in my school before, with the exception of a class related to magic. I was going to have to pray I was a fast learner, I had years to make up for in that area.

Then again, unicorns at my school always said it was really boring, it sounded like the classes go over information related to magic rather than actually teaching spells.

I had to take their complaints with a grain of salt though, despite what they said I frequently witnessed them showing off new spells their class taught them. Independent study was likely going to be necessary if I wanted to keep up in that class.

The building that contained the classrooms for my dorm was directly next to it, this appeared to be true for every other dorm as well. I suspected I might not actually be seeing students outside my bracket that frequently, which frankly may be a good thing.

The first floor of the classroom building didn't actually contain any classes, instead it had the cafeteria and a couple of recreational areas. The rest of the floor was devoted to holding offices and the teacher's break room.

There were two stories above the first floor of this building that held the classrooms. All the grades shared the same auditorium and library.

“Hey, I never got your name.” I said.

“Hmm? Oh, my apologies, Silver Chain.” He offered his hoof to me.

“Sh- Brighter Night,” I corrected, shaking it.

It was a little more formal than what I got at my old school. I guessed it was just how upper class ponies behaved, I was going to have to make a point of working on my etiquette if I wanted to blend in better.

There weren't very many other ponies around, it had been an hour or so since school had let out so the other students were likely in the rec rooms or their dorm rooms.

I doubted I would have had very much trouble finding the right classrooms without his help seeing as I had a map and the schedule showed the room number for each class, but he went ahead and showed me to each room specifically.

First class was pre-algebra, I wasn't sure what to make of it. We were at the pre-algebra level at my own school too, but in this one the eighth graders would move on to real algebra while the ones at mine were still being taught pre. It seemed to imply the course was either already ahead of mine here or the class just moved at a faster pace.

I can already tell this is gonna suck. Good thing I'm actually pretty good at math.

The second class was for magic. I literally had no clue how that class actually worked or what I was expected to do, I was really going to have to fake my way through it at the beginning.

The teacher for that class was still present when I was shown the room and Silver Chain took the liberty of introducing me. Something I would have preferred he not do considering my complete lack of knowledge on the subject, the last thing I needed was for my scheming to fall apart from an introduction.

She was a dark gray mare with a blue mane. “I'm Mirror Eclipse.” She offered her hoof to me as well.

I accepted it. “Brighter Night.”

As long as she doesn't ask me any questions about magi-

“So, how skilled are you at magic?”

Mother f-

“I- I am... I mean, you know. Nothing special. About average really.”

Stunningly she bought that, I was pleased when we moved on from her class right away.

We didn't make it to the next one before being interrupted.

“Why aren't you doing anything!? One of you knows something! You have to have seen something! Anything!” a pony shouted from downstairs.

The shouting practically caused me to jump straight out of my skin. Silver Chain did not appear amused in the slightest.

“Wait with Eclipse until I get back,” he said.

I didn't oblige him, instead I pretended to move towards her class until he was out of sight and stalked him down the stairs.

“You need to calm dow-”

“Do not tell me to calm down!”

“Local law enforcement will han-”

“It was on your watch! Your responsible and you haven't done anything, they haven't done anything! You are the headmaster of this school and you didn't see anything!?”

“Can we please talk about this inside my office?” Silver Chain insisted.

There was a brief moment where I believed that the screaming pegasus was about to attack Silver Chain, but he very begrudgingly followed him instead.

A green mare with a red mane who sat in one of the hallway's chairs spoke to me. “I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to see that.”

“Who was that?” I asked.

“My husband. We were trying... He just came here to talk with the headmaster about our child.”

My stomach clinched a little as it dawned on me who these people were. “Was your kid one of the ones that disappeared?”

She hesitated to respond, which I took as an affirmative.

“Do you miss him... or her?” I mumbled.

She nodded silently. “Him.”

I sat down on a chair placed next to her.

“I'm sorry that happened to you.”

She gave a weak smile that quickly faded.

A few thoughts bubbled to the surface that had been hiding in the back of my mind.

“I- It would be hard for any parent right?” I found myself struggling to figure out what I was trying to ask.

She gave me a curious look.

“I mean, any parent. They would miss the child they had raised no matter what. Right?”

She nodded expressionlessly.

Any parent would be happy to see their child again...

I sincerely believed all I had to do was wait, I could still reconnect with my mom. After that, everything would be fine.

“Can you tell me about him?”

She hesitated for a moment, which made me believe I may have treaded on a topic that was too sensitive. I let out a breath I had unknowingly been holding when she finally spoke.

“He was about your age. He had received his cutie mark a few weeks before school started, he was excited about showing it to his friends.”

“What was his mark?”

“Meteorology... odd for a unicorn, I still don't understand how he was even put in position to gain it.” She chuckled at the thought.

I had not.

“Wha- what was your child's name?” I asked, my voice shaky and breathless.

“Gale Force, it was more of a pegasus name, but I obliged my...”

I didn't hear the rest, couldn't hear the rest.

He was walking around in public. He got into a fight that guards had to break up. he gave those guards his real name!

“And... You haven't heard anything? They haven't seen him?” I had to force the disbelief in my voice down as I spoke.

She silently shook her head.

“I, uh. I have to go, thanks for talking.” I quickly got back on my hooves and went back upstairs.

I wanted to tell her I had seen him, but it was just too great of a risk. Keeping my head low until I could go back home had to be my top priority. As I walked up the stairs I wished I had at least given her some encouragement, even if it was just something cliché like, 'I'm sure he's fine'.

Maybe the only reason I wanted to say something like that was to relieve my guilt for doing nothing.

There was something else though, he was fine. He didn't look like he had been living on the streets. He hadn't been kidnapped, he spent the entire day with me. He also said he didn't go to the academy, maybe he was just a runaway.

I gloomily trotted back into Mirror Eclipse's classroom.

She looked up from the papers on her desk when I walked in. “Something wrong, sweetie?”

“Silver Chain told me to wait in here, he's talking with one of the parents.”

Her ears lowered slightly, I assumed she realized which parent it was.

“Ah, I apologize if he said anything in front of you that was inappropriate.”

I shook my head. “No, he was just upset. It's fine, he didn't say anything.” The last thing I wanted was to cause any more problems for those two.

I sat down in one of the desks to think about what I should do.

I didn't feel like I could tell them that I saw Gale Force, my story was too flimsy to hold up under real questioning. Then again, maybe I could help them without outing myself. If I found Gale around town again I could convince him to come back home.

Well... It's not like I have anything else to do here anyways. It'll feel good to help that mare too.