Author's Note

Reading the final part of "Colgate's Practice" will aid in understanding some of the events mentioned in the first chapter. Things such as the disappearances of Lyra and Pinkamena, the explosion that caused Colgate to code and the destruction of her old practice and why Amethyst and Sea Swirl were hired.

Graduation Day

It was a chilly December morning when Amethyst Star and her best friend Sea Swirl woke up. The two were both very excited because they were finally going to get their certificates in their fields of study. Amethyst was getting her certificate to be a dental hygienist and Sea Swirl was getting her certificate in clerical work. While the two had only shared the same dorm for a few months, the two had become very close and while they didn't show it, they dreaded the thoughts of no longer living together.

Amethyst headed into the kitchen to find Sea Swirl fixing herself a bowl of cereal. For a while she has had a crush on her but did a good job hiding it. She asked, "Sea Swirl, are you ready for today?"

Sea Swirl replied, "Yeah but I will admit that I really hope we will get jobs in the same town."

Amethyst added, "That would be nice and what would make things even nicer is if we could both get jobs back in Ponyville. I miss home so much."

While both of them hoped they could get jobs in their hometown, they knew that with the way the economy in Equestria was at that time, that getting a job in their field anywhere would be a blessing. After finishing their breakfast the two smiled at one another and headed to the academy to get ready for their ceremonies. When she got there Amethyst headed to the dental wing of the academy and out of the corner of her eye she saw Luna talking to Colgate. She could hear a bit of what they were saying and heard that Colgate was up there looking for a new hygienist. She got a smile on her face and said to herself, "Oh my goodness, I might be able to go home after all!"

Before the ceremony started Amethyst's adviser, Blue Star, pulled her to the side and said, "Well Amethyst, I have some good news for you. I am pretty close to getting you a position lined up in Fillydelphia to work for the dental hospital there. It isn't guaranteed yet but you will be paid very well there."

Amethyst's face dropped a bit when she heard this. She replied, "Thank you. I really appreciate everything you do for me."

Blue Star could sense a bit of sadness within her. He asked, "Amethyst, are you ok? You just seemed to lose a bit of enthusiasm when I told you I was close to getting you a great job lined up."

Amethyst replied, "I will admit, I do wish I could get a job back home but I know the chances of that are small because there is only one dentist down there."

Blue Star said, "Well with the way things are in Equestria right now, you should be glad that there is a chance for you to get a job at all." He gave her a more stern look and continued, "Now go get in line so you can get your certificate."

Amethyst gave him a weak smile and replied, "Yes sir, I understand."

She got in line waiting for the ceremony to begin. She was looking forward and saw that Colgate had an aisle seat in the section for perspective employers. Her eyes lit up a bit again despite what her adviser said. She knows how Colgate prefers ponies from Ponyville over ones from other places to work for her. Soon the band started playing and they began walking up to the stage to get their certificate. Given that she was the only Ponyville native graduating that year, Colgate's eyes were fixed on her throughout the ceremony and she could see that. She had a feeling deep down that Colgate was going to approach her immediately after the ceremony.

The ceremony lasted twenty minutes and as soon as it was over Colgate approached her. Amethyst saw her, gave her a huge smile and asked, "Hi Colgate! How is everything going?"

Colgate replied, "Things are going fairly good." She put her hoof around Amethyst and continued, "I am very glad you approached me Amethyst. I am wondering what you would think about working for me?"

Amethyst hugged her and excitedly asked, "You want me to work for you?"

Colgate smiled and replied, "Of course! You are a Ponyville native and I know you have a good work ethic."

Amethyst said, "I would love to work for you!"

Colgate replied, "Good! If you want you can return with me to Ponyville and we can get all the proper paperwork filled out and you can start on Monday when I reopen."

Amethyst asked, "Reopen?" She then realized why Colgate said reopen. She continued, "Oh yeah, you lost your first office to that explosion. Are you ok?"

Colgate replied, "Yeah I'm a lot better. Had it not been for Twilight rushing me to the emergency room right away, I probably would not be standing here."

Amethyst's adviser saw her talking to Colgate and was not happy. He had a feeling that despite him being in the process of getting her a high paying job in Fillydelphia, that she had accepted a job offer from Colgate. He glared at Amethyst and said, "So Amethyst, I see you are talking to Colgate about a job. You do know that she won't be able to pay you as much as they would in Fillydelphia don't you?"

Amethyst had a nervous look on her face when Colgate interrupted, "Listen, I may not be able to pay her quite as much but given the cost of living in Fillydelphia, she will be able to do a whole lot more with what I pay her living in Ponyville than she would be able to with what they would pay her there."

This was not the first time that Colgate had hired one of Blue Star's students while he was in the process of negotiating a job for them. She had done the same thing with Lyra when she hired her. He was very angry and snapped, "You know what Colgate, this is the second time you have done this to me. Sometimes I wonder why I even try when it comes to Ponyville natives. I should know that you will come up here, hire them and make their dreams of returning home a reality." He sighed and continued, "Screw it, I'm done with Ponyville natives."

The two rolled their eyes and headed off towards the cafe when they bumped into Sea Swirl. Sea Swirl saw Amethyst with Colgate and by the look on her face, she had a feeling that she had got a job. She hugged Amethyst and asked, "Amethyst, you look so happy. I take it Colgate hired you already?"

Amethyst replied, "Yep!"

Colgate saw that she had came from the clerical ceremony and asked, "Sea Swirl, I take it you got your certificate in clerical work?"

Sea Swirl replied, "Yes, why do you ask?"

Colgate said, "Well, I could use a receptionist. What would you think of coming and working for me?"

Sea Swirl was thrilled when Colgate asked her this. She enthusiastically accepted her offer and both graduates realized that what they had hoped for that morning was becoming reality. Now there was only one other thing that they were hoping for, and that was that they could live in the same place. Colgate realized that they would need to get their stuff before heading back to Ponyville. She asked, "Hey, when do you want to get your stuff and head back home?"

Amethyst replied, "Well we only have a few things since we lived in the dorms so getting our stuff home won't be much trouble."

Colgate asked, "What about living arrangements? Are you two going to live with your parents or do you have something else set up?"

Sea Swirl replied, "Well we would rather not live with our parents but we don't have anything set up because we didn't know where we would wind up getting hired."

Colgate had an unused bedroom in her upstairs and realized that having them live with her would be to her advantage. She asked, "Amethyst, Sea Swirl, what would you two think about living in the upstairs of my house? You'll have to share the same bedroom but it does have it's own bathroom. I know this might be an inconvenience but since the upstairs does not have a kitchen you will have to use the same one I do. Is that okay with you two?"

Sea Swirl replied "Of course it is okay! We're just happy that we'll have somewhere other than with our parents to live."

Amethyst asked, "How much rent will we have to pay?"

Colgate replied, "I wasn't planning on charging you rent. You can live there free of charge."

The two hugged Colgate and thanked her. They went to the cafe and grabbed some lunch before going to the dorms and getting the few things they did have. The train was relatively empty so transporting their stuff home was not that difficult. Once they arrived in Ponyville Colgate led the two upstairs to their bedroom. While Sea Swirl didn't think much about it Amethyst was very happy that they would still be sleeping in the same room like they did in their dorm.

Before she headed downstairs, Colgate was hugged by Amethyst who said, "Thank you so much Colgate! You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

Sea Swirl added, "Me too! I really appreciate everything you have already done for us."

Colgate replied, "Don't mention it ladies. I'll see you downstairs at supper time."

It was still a couple of hours until supper time so the two new graduates decided to talk some. Amethyst sat next to Sea Swirl on her bed and wrapped her hooves around her. She said, "You know Sea Swirl, I have a feeling that life is going to be very good for us."

Sea Swirl didn't like physical contact the way Amethyst did but put up with it so she wouldn't hurt her feelings. She had a nervous smile on her face and replied, "I agree, it will be."

After relaxing for a couple hours they headed down to the kitchen and was greeted by Colgate who was fixing cheeseburgers and macaroni and cheese for supper. While the two were used to eating mac and cheese neither one had ever eaten meat before. The two gagged at the very thoughts of it but realized that they should at least give it a chance since Colgate was being so nice and letting them live there for free.