Prologue: A Brief "Brush" Of Friendship
It was just one touch. One touch it took for the five ponies, soon to be friends, to meet. It was unbeknownst to them at the time that one day they would band together to form the most powerful group in Equestria. The only thing they needed to survive?
The bus was packed from front to back. The students enclosed all crooned out cheery tunes from their filly years, the bus bouncing with each jump on the chorus. This wasn't the typical vehicle you would expect to see on its way to a high school; After all, what kind of pony in high school would sing songs whereas they could be mumbling about their dates or, even better, their future employments?
The chauffeur of the vehicle, Silver Shill, merrily joined in with the coming freshman, happy to lead a new group of wonders to-be.
“Alright, everypony! As much as we may love 'The Wheels On the Bus,' it’s time we sang a real song!” Her name was Rainbow Dash. Coming from Cloudsdale, she had a knack for bragging; She was known for being the fastest pony alive, much to the dismay of others. The various ponies she had met throughout her life looked up to her. “What’s that song on the radio all the time?”
The pink mare next to her sprang up, hands in the air to signal the others to quiet down and listen to her. This mare was Pinkie Pie; A party planner since she had been a filly, her dream was to graduate from high school and travel Equestria to spread happiness across the land. The only thing stopping her was a lack of transportation, though that didn't seem to delay her getting from Point A to Point B.
“Everypony, I think we should all sing a song I wrote just a minute ago! I call it the “Smile Song!” With one deep breath, Pinkie Pie began to harmonize, the other ponies nervously accompanying her.
With a shrug, Rainbow Dash looked out the window. She may be popular in racing, but nopony listened to her outside of sporting events, and it was really starting to bug her. She knew that this pony next to her would never become even her acquaintance, much less what she would call a “friend.” Friends didn't embezzle ideas from other ponies.
The scenery outside was just as it always had been. Rainbow Dash had heard enough about this particular high school to know that a lot of this journey was going to be a cacophony of trees, trees, and yes, more trees. Supposedly, it was a private high school, labeled as number one in Equestria; It was a wonder that half of these ponies even made their way into an elite academy such as this one. All Rainbow Dash saw when she searched the rows on the bus was a bunch of ponies that couldn’t do multiplication to save their lives. This was definitely going to be a great ride.
As the bus approached, the pony at the gates peeked up from her books. Applejack was a hard-working mare; You never found her far from her books. She actually wanted to succeed in the art of engineering, unlike all the ponies who came here just for sports. Undeniably, she hated the ponies who took school as a joke just so they could get popular. Honestly, Applejack didn’t care about having friends; She had grown up learning how to work hard, and that’s how she wanted to keep it.
The cheers and hollers of the bus passed by her as the gates to the school opened; She placed her hooves on the ground, helping to support her weight as she lifted her body off of the dirt. Brushing herself off, she walked through the gates of the Baltimare College Prep High School.
The fields were crowded with students, the stage at the front being prepped for the oncoming bands. All of the ponies, even the shyest ones, knew that this school played regular concerts to keep the students pumped. Truthfully, there was only one pony too afraid to get near the crowd.
Fluttershy stood in the cafeteria, watching from afar as the other ponies rocked to their own beats. As a mare with an electric blue mane stepped up onto the spotlight with her turntable, Fluttershy got up, trotting over to her dorm. Dorms weren't very popular, as most ponies liked to stay at home with their families.
Slamming the door behind her, she slid down the door frame, the floor catching her body in all its hard love. “Oh Celestia, they might’ve seen me!”
Fluttershy had never strayed far from home until the letter of recommendation came in the mail. Her dreams involved crossing the barriers of her house, travelling Equestria, but her first step was to get over her anxiety of attention. Just calling the school to get her way in was hard enough; She was voted most likely to have left by the first week, according to the yearbook staff from middle school.
A knock erupted above her, the door slightly pushing open. “I see there’s a light on, but is anypony hooome?”
The pony trotting her hooves into the room was none other than the head of student council, Rarity. In the light of day the sun radiated off of her shining mane, demanding that everypony stop, even if just for a few seconds, to stare in awe. Head of the student council, she planned all of the school events, and ponies from all around loved them.
“N-nopony’s home…” her voice came from under the bed, a soft whisper among the shrieks outside.
“Oh, come on, miss…”
“Shy…” That was all she said before she emitted a loud shriek, jumping back from under the hiding place, a spider flying from her mane onto the head of council.
“Oh Celestia, this is terrible! Get it off me! This gross, dirty, disgusting, wretched spider!!” As Fluttershy opened the window, Rarity ran over, shooting the arachnid off into the crowd below, loud whoops coming from the area it had landed in.
“Now, dearie, why won't you come out? Everypony is having a lot of fun down there, and it is required that all ponies attend the first meeting. After that, feel free to stay in your dorm as long as you want.”
Fluttershy ducked down, cowering towards the corner. Her eyes told Rarity all she needed to know; She used her horn to whip up a simple levitation spell, picking Fluttershy up and carrying her, boisterously, outside. As Rarity walked through the crowd, Fluttershy stopped for a moment to actually comprehend where she was headed; When their destination burned itself into Fluttershy’s head, she only struggled more, still to no avail.
“Stop fighting, darling… we’ll get you over that fear in no time at all!”
“Nononononono, I don’t want to get over anything! Let me down!” Her pleas for help went unanswered, drowned out by the loud music from onstage, the mare, Vinyl Scratch, blasting her music into everypony's ears, their tapping to the beats.
Walking up the steps, her presence halted all music and any dancing alongside it. “Everypony! May I present to you all, Ms. Shy! Let’s give her a good old Baltimare High School welcome!”
With the approval of Rarity, Pinkie pie jumped onto the stage, throwing party favors at the crowd. Fluttershy had no option but to stay, surrounded by the two others who refused to let her take her leave. Rainbow Dash flew up on stage to manage the laser spotlights, keeping them hovered over the crowd as Vinyl Scratch started up the wubs once again.
All pressed into Fluttershy, picking her up, reigniting her endeavors to escape active once again. With the added conflict, all ponies tried keeping her down, realizing a second too late that they were falling, all of them, right off of the stage; They all landed right onto a mare enjoying a crisp apple tart.
Applejack looked up, yelping as a heap of ponies landed on her.
“Gosh darnit, everypony! Y’all ruined mah treats, and now Ah’m gonna have ta go all the way back to mah apartment fer more! Don’t ever do that again, y’hear!?”
All quickly apologized, jumping up and staring at each other, the circle attracting attention. A faint glow shone from the circle; It wasn’t a glow of friendship nor hate, only the glow of a spotlight gone haywire which only happened to rest on the five mares, squabbling over something as small as a slight fall.
The only pony not quarreling with the rest was Pinkie Pie, too busy bouncing around on stage throwing streamers and balloons at everypony to celebrate the new school year; For Pinkie, the new school year meant another year of partying and physics classes, both of which would give her the chance to defy nature.
Principal Caroline looked down upon her school, a small sigh escaping her lips. “This is going to be one heck of a year. Celestia help me through it…”