The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Sky spent most of the day as he normally did, which is to say, studying and reading. After he had finished planning for school tomorrow, he re-read his favorite sections in one of his astronomy books (mostly involving stars and their many types; he was currently trying to determine if he was seeing a white dwarf, or a strangely persistent speck of dust in his telescope). He determined that he simply needed to clean his lens more vigorously, and then went about finishing the last few chapters of Daring Do and the Gryphon's Goblet. Once that Sky had finished his pleasure reading, and he had finally caught up in his reading for Equis class (he still couldn't see what was so funny when he told Melody his school reading would get in the way of his study time, it was a serious matter!), Celestia finally began to lower the sun, making way for the night. This was his cue to head out onto the balcony and begin his nightly ritual of scanning the sky through his telescope until his father came up and sent all the youngest members of the family off to bed. Sky lay his head down, thinking about what the next day might bring with a strange sensation in his chest. Was that excitement, or terror?

The next day began with a feeling Sky WAS familiar with. It was the same feeling he got on the first day of the new school year. He was eager to see what would happen, but was absolutely dreading the process of actually getting up and facing it. 'Why cant life have a save-load button?' His salvation, or perhaps damnation, from this state of lethargy, came in the form of an all-powerful voice coming through the door to his room. The voice of Faust herself. "Night Sky, you where suppose to be up and getting ready for school ten minutes ago mister! Up, out, now." His mothers call had the desired effect, though not with as much enthusiasm as she would have liked. Groaning and moaning the morning zombies that young children often are, Sky rolled-over to remove himself from his bed. This was a mistake. A loud thump and a sharp yelp could be heard from the other side of the door. Gentle heard this and opened the door to see what it was that had gone wrong. The sight she was gifted was one that even now she will say was one of the "most hilariously-adorable" things she has ever seen.

At some point in the night, the tossing and turning Night Sky had managed to wrap a corner of his blanket in a primitive, but tight, not around his back-right hoof. As a result of the warming nights of a Canterlot Spring, the young Sky had subconsciously shrugged off said blanket, and it had then proceeded to get itself caught on his now dormant heater, right next to the foot of the right side of his bed; the result? A young colt now hung from the end of his bed, upside down, with only his head touching the floor, which he was now tenderly rubbing with a wince and a small tear in his eye.

His mothers tear ducts would never be the same.

After his moms riotous laughing fit settled down, and Sky had finally managed to extricate himself from the accursed blanket-trap, and was standing on his own four hooves, the two of them went downstairs where Gentle Breeze gave her son his breakfast and, feeling just a bit guilty for laughing at his pain, went about gathering his things for school for him. Sky just sat and ate his eggs and toast next to his sisters, save Sunny, who was still to young to go to school. Melody and Autumn gave him an evil eye for causing the ruckus woke them early this morning, where Evergreen just seemed a curious as to what had happened, as she was already awake when it had occurred, but was still to tired to care enough to ask. She did, however, give a non-verbal question in the form of a raised eyebrow. "Tell you later," Sky mumbled, "Not in the mood." Evergreen just shrugged.

"Well dear if your -snerk- 'interesting' way of waking up this morning is any clue, today should be very interesting." Sky rubbed his head, running his hoof through his deep orange and brown mane. "Ya, hopefully it will be a little less painful, or surprising... or humiliating..." Sky mumbled the last part. Gentle giggled a little at his comment. "Well, whatever it brings, you had better hurry, or you'll miss it. Your little, hehe, incident, probably left you a bit behind, and I would suggest getting a move on." This caused Sky to pause, a bite of egg halfway to his mouth, as he looked up at the clock. His mother did the same. There reaction was almost identical.

"7:53?!"

"8 o' clock?!"

"LATE!" they both looked to the door, where Evergreen was looking at Sky with a amused look on her face. "Maybe a mark on that perfect record of yours will finally convince you to go to bed at a reasonable time," she called as she walked out the door, closing the door behind her with a flare of magic. Melody and Autumn both laughed at their brothers expense, finding this a great form of retribution for their abrupt awakening.

School started at 8:00 on the dot, and it was a five minute walk to the building. Gentle also had to be at work, with a still sleeping Sunny Day, by 8:45. Sky practically threw the fork from his hoof and ran to briefly comb his wild mane and quickly go over his teeth with a toothbrush. Gentle rushed up to his room to grab the last of his things for him. They met at the door, him taking his bag from her, her giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Notimetomakeyoulunch," she cried, "I'll have your father give it to you on his way back from his lunch break!" He nodded, and looked at the clock; 7:57. "ACK!" Sky quickly kissed his mom back, and bolted through the door. "AND TRY TO MAKE SOME FRIENDS!" She reminded him as he dashed from the lawn and onto the streets.

'Great start to a day', Sky thought as he raced through the crowded streets of Canterlot. 'What else could possibly go wrong?', he asked himself, thinking that it couldn't get any worse.

Deep in the palace garden, a stone Draconequus statue, frozen as it was, felt an increase in ambient chaos magic, and chuckled. 'Who said it this time,', he wondered?

Author's Note

• I had fun writing this chapter. A distinct lack of distractions let the creative juices flow. Hopefully more will follow soon.

• As always, help and critics are approved, and thanks for reading