Monday, January 11th
Early Morning
Weather: Sunny
Creation’s Room
Creation soon awoke to the warm beams of the morning, the tweeting of birds, and the soft commotions of the city outside. He stretched and yawned, smacking his lips afterward to get that morning taste out of his mouth. After he finished his morning routine, he would walk downstairs to be met by the sight of his cousins waiting for him with his satchel in Mint’s aura of magic.

“How are you guys ready this early in the morning..?” He asked, his question followed by a yawn.

“Mint and I were so excited to go to school with you, so we decided to wake up early in the morning,” Cinnamon replied.

“We packed your breakfast and put it in your bag. You can eat it when you get to class.” Mint added, placing his satchel upon his back.

“Um... Alright.” He said as he shrugged. He was usually used to being almost late for everything, but it looks like he’ll have just enough time to get some breakfast-to-go. Mint and Cinnamon would accompany their male cousin into the streets of Barcelponia and head towards the collage, picking up breakfast on the way.

Morning
Barcelponian College of the Collective Arts
Creation’s mouth was agape when he saw his chosen school. It was beautiful. The architecture... The decor... The flora... It was perfect! The cleanly chiseled columns, the stylistically trimmed hedges, the fountain depicting mystical creatures spitting water into the shimmering pool of clear water below, the beautiful statues of well-known benevolent rulers. It was like a dream come true for him.

“I am not worthy of this place!” Creation yelled out in passion.

“You and me both, Color Butt,” Cinnamon replied, earning a glare from her two relatives.

“C’mon, you two, let’s go get our schedules for the year,” Mint said as she trotted up the stairs, Cinnamon and Creation following her. Creation was taking all of the features in. He looked over to one of the side gardens at the statues. They had statues depicting Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight as well as the other leaders of allied nations of Equestria. It seemed they were just building one for Princess Flurry Heart. He then stopped to gaze at the other garden seeing the non-Equine leaders. King Thorax, Dragon Lord Ember, Prince Rutherford, Queen Novo. They were so gracious and lifelike. He then felt someone beginning to drag him into the building, though it didn't deter his gaze.

“Come on, Creation... You can praise the academic gods later...” Mint snarked in a kind tone, dragging him into the institution of art.

Morning
BCCA Gym
The gym had multiple sets of desks with lines of colts and mares waiting to get their schedules for the 1st semester. Creation, due to having a surname, was in the ‘N’ line instead of the ‘C’ line.

‘Wow... There’s a lot of ponies in this line...’ He thought to himself as he waited.

And waited...

And waited...

And waited...

...Until he finally got to the front of the line, snapped out of his daydreams by the kind mare at the desk, acquiring his schedule. Upon leaving the physical education space, he placed his schedule on the floor to take a look at it, his face gaining a look of jubilation as he saw his first period.

“YES! VISUAL ARTS!” Creation rejoiced loudly in the middle of the hallway, gaining almost everyone’s attention. Upon this realization, Creation stopped his celebration, shrinking into himself slightly, chuckling and waving to all who stared.

“Sorry about that..” Creation said in a hushed tone, quickly galloping to his classroom.

Schooltime
Visual Arts
Creation Nation arrived at his designated classroom, Room A-19, which was run by a “Pastel Skies”. Once he entered, he mentally deduced that the classroom reminded him of a high-school classroom, but much bigger, and well decorated with what seemingly was past art, mostly done by the teacher. Everypony was sitting at tables in groups of 8. Every table was filled with talking students except for one, a table right in the middle of the room which only held 7 ponies. Creation Nation, for personal reasons, decided to sit there, instead of the back of the room, something he usually would do. Before introducing himself to the new ponies, he took a deep breath before walking up to them with trepidation in every step.

“Um, hi there..” Creation said as he tried to conceal his anxious behavior. The ponies stopped their conversation and looked at him. One of them, in particular, was giving him a cold glare, and another was mirroring his anxiousness.

“Uh... I’m Creation Nation, and I was, uh... Wondering if I could sit in that spare seat..” The ponies all look at each other and nod in a consensus in response to the request.

“Sure. You can sit here. You’re more than welcome to! I’m Finish Line!” said the earth colt with a dark brown coat and a black mane with a single white stripe running through, kinda like a skunk. He’s taller than the average colt, mostly from his legs, and he was pretty thin. He wasn’t scrawny, but he wasn’t built either. He was wearing a white jersey with 01 on it and a pair of black gym shorts. Creation Nation sighed with relief and sat down, his insecurities slowly ebbing away.

“I-Is this your first day?” said a hushed voice next to Creation, which caused him to look around before his eyes set on the orange colt next to him.

“I-It’s mine too... At least my friends are here..” said the orange colt, obscuring his face with a white hoodie. Though, upon closer inspection, he had a silver-grey mane and tail, with icy blue eyes. Yet, he had no cutie mark.

“That’s Silver Flame. He’s pretty shy and doesn’t talk too much, but he’s a pretty nice guy,” Finish Line pointed out.

“Oh.” Creation Nation, making a gesture with his hoof to silently say ‘hello’, caused Silver Flame to smile softly before looking away ever so slightly.

“Now, this gal-” He said, going over to a tan mare he seemed to be introducing next, pulling her into a side hug.

“This is Cruel Fate. Don’t be bothered by her name, she won’t speak any kind of curses on your life. Unless you make her mad~” Finish Line said jokingly, a huge grin on his face as the tan mare gasped and removed herself from his contact.

“Don’t joke like that!” Cruel Fate yelled as she started to scold Finish Line. Not too much, but she wasn’t going easy on him either. She was shorter than the average mare. Well, for her age. Accompanying her tannish coat were locks of scarlet for her mane and tail, along with fiery amber eyes.

“Can you two get through a day with scolding each other? You sound like an old married couple,” Said a white earth pony mare jokingly. She just so happened to be sitting on the other side of Creation. She had a white coat and a nice mix of blue and white strands in her mane. Her cutie mark consisted of two frost-covered berries, with two green leaves. Cruel Fate sits down and huffs while Finish Line chuckles and looks back to Creation to address the mare.

“That’s Winter Fields, a master of the agricultural arts.” Finish Line said in a mockingly flattering tone, eliciting Winter Fields to giggle.

“Stop flattering me!” Winter Fields said between her giggles. Once she had stopped, she looked at Creation Nation, looking as if she was going to say something, but she simply closed her mouth and puffed out her cheeks for a short moment, looking away in supposed thought before returning to her passive staring at Creation.

‘Maybe she forgot what she was going to say.’ Creation thought to himself before he would return his attention to Finish Line as he continued to introduce this large friend group.

“This pretty gal right her is [color=#ff00]Sapphire Valley..” Finish Line said with an interesting tone motioning to a beautiful unicorn mare, whose beauty could rival that of a very popular and generous mare. Her coat was the purest of snow whites and her mane was a mixture of light blue and dark blue, with a pink bow placed at the back of her head. Her eyes were like the ocean, having its deep blue color which could captivate anyone. She simply gave Finish Line a look, causing the smug grin upon Finish Line’s face to disappear. Afterward, she looked towards Creation, taking a break from the book she was reading.

“...Greetings.” She said coldly, though there wasn’t a hint of animosity on her face.

'Yikes..' Creation thought, seeing her display of emotion. ‘I’ll watch what I say.’

“Alright, I’m not ‘finished’ yet..” Finish Line proclaimed as he skipped right over his pun, getting ready to introduce the next of his friends only to be interrupted by Creation bursting out into laughter. He always loved a good pun. His laugh was very squeaky and youthful if that made sense. He laughed with no sense of inhibition at all. It was the perfect laugh if laughter were ever ranked. When he stopped, he saw everyone looking at him, causing him to blush and sink into his chair.

“Oh, sorry... I know, my laugh is kinda annoying..” He said as he rubbed his hoof across the back of his mane.

“I’d beg to differ..” Said the collected-looking unicorn stallion across the table, smirking. He had a swept-back electric blue mane, with eyes of the same color, and a dark grey coat. His cutie mark was a sigil rune. “It was quite amusing, to be honest.” He said.

“R-Really?” Creation said, happier to hear the compliment.

“Uh-huh! Definitely broke some ice in the atmosphere!” Finish Line said while turning to Sapphire Valley, who look back at before realizing the reason the earth colt was staring at her and huffed, returning to her book. Creation Nation smiled more at the other compliment.

“I’m Rune Writer. I came here to learn about magic, so my magical horizon can expand.” Rune Writer said as he lifted his head in the air with modest confidence.

“Well, that just leaves one person left. Curio Libre, get out of that book!” Finish Line exclaimed playfully. Another earth pony colt, this one with a bluish-gray coat and a dark red mane which was a bit spiky on one side, raised his head from a brown leatherbound book.

“Interesting..” he stated in a slightly hushed tone, still looking down at the book he put on the table. Only when he closed it, would he direct his gaze towards Creation Nation. Looking closer, he had amber eyes and a satchel around his shoulders. His cutie mark was that of a face. Half of the face was covered by a mask with a neutral expression, while the uncovered half donned a mischievous smile. He looked over at Creation Nation and smiled.

"Welcome to the group. It's nice to meet a new face." He said with calm enthusiasm. This made Creation Nation smile, as he looked around. A new group of people to talk to. On his first day too! Soon, a feminine voice calls out to everyone in the class.

"Alright everyone, settle down. Class is going to begin in a second.." Said a unicorn mare walking through the entrance to the room. She had a silvery pink and melon-colored mane, which was tied into 'hippie' dreads. She had a peach-colored coat and dark slate grey eyes. Her cutie mark was a piece of chalk drawing a cloud.

"I am Pastel Skies, your visual arts instructor. Through the year, I will not only teach you about art. I will tell you the mathematics, history, and literature that goes behind the art. You see, other subjects are intertwined into this subject, and it's my job to teach you how to embrace these different facets of art. Now first, let's go over the basics.." She said as she started to lecture everyone on the meaning of 'art'.

'This is going to be a long, yet interesting year...' Creation thought to himself as he listened to the mare prattle on.

After School
BCCA Hallway
Creation was making his way to the entrance of the school which doubled as an exit to embark on his walk home but was stopped by a voice calling out to him. He turned and was met with the sight of Mint.

“Hey, Creation. Where are you going?” Mint asked. Creation tilted his head at this because Mint made it sound like he had somewhere else to be.

“Back to Cherry’s place. Why?”

“Well, I was thinking that on your first day, maybe you should get ahead on any work you may have so you can be scott-free for the next few days. So, I was wondering if you’d like to accompany me to Study Hall?” Mint suggested, leaning in with a small, innocent grin planted on her face. Creation shrugged and nodded.

“Sure, why not? Studying early can’t hurt..”

Evening
Cherry Drink's Home
Upon hearing knocks coming from the front door, Cinnamon Sunset would get up from her spot on the couch and opened the door for her sister and cousin, who both had very lethargic expressions plastered on their faces. Cinnamon raised one of her brows in response to this observation.

"Where were you two? I came home right after my school ended." Cinnamon inquired.

"We went to a study session," Mint said, groggily, trudging up the wooden stairs, her trotting heavy. "With pre-assessments coming up and our classes already piling on the homework, we thought we'd study a bit and knock out some of the work..."

"We were gonna come back way earlier but we were distracted by the inane ramblings of some of the other people who were ‘studying’, " Creation said as he flopped onto the couch, letting out a big huff before closing his heavy eyelids. Cinnamon seeing this would grab a blanket with her teeth and slid it over Creation, before trotting up the stairs after her sister, leaving the yellow colt to wandering into the realm of his dreams.

Unknown Area
Creation woke up in an ebon void with white noise being the only thing that entered his ears.

"H-huh..? Wh-where am I..?" He questioned himself, cautious of his surroundings. He frantically looked around to catch sight of anything that could give him any sense of geography until he saw a sight that made his blood go cold.

He saw.. himself. Though, there was something definitely wrong. His once slightly vibrant yellow pelt was pale and matted, and his bones formed horrific hills within his skin. His eyes which were normally a vibrant blue were now faded gray, and his sclera was tinted to a dirty gold. His mane and tail were reduced to tangled and unkempt patches of frazzled curls. Though, the part that horrified the colt the most was how half of the skin on his snout was gone, revealing his boney jaws with an unnaturally long tongue hanging out the side.

Creation couldn’t stare any longer. He had to do something. He couldn’t throw up in disgust, he couldn’t scream in fear, nothing would leave his throat. So, he ran. But, it would be for naught at the zombie horse would already be in the direction he was running in, pinning him to the ground with a quick pounce. Creation finally was able to let a frightened scream escape his lips as the beast he saw was standing over him.

It would bend its head down and opened its jaws to let out an unearthly growl, which would be followed by a waterfall of black ooze to come pouring out of its mouth, starting to coat Creation's pelt. It was thick and unyielding, unlike any liquid he felt. The more liquid that poured from the beast’s mouth, the more Creation was enveloped by it, wrapping and constricting itself around him...

He started to struggle with all his might, but nothing he did would help... It started to cover his hooves, his flank, and his main body... Then his neck, around his head... Soon, it started to suffocate him as it covered his nostrils and mouth... He felt like he was going to drown... Soon, his eyes would be the only things that were unclaimed by the ooze, but it wouldn’t persist as it began to cover them.

First his left, then slowly closing over the right, all before-

Nighttime
Cherry Drink's Home
Creation woke up abruptly and looked around, seeing that he was still in the home of his grandmother, safe and sound. Creation clutched his blanket towards his person and laid back down to attempt to gain some more sleep, but it seemed that fear had robbed that privilege from him for the rest of that night...

Author's Note

• You now have the options of going to Study Sessions, during the After School period. Going here may increase your Knowledge, but it will occupy the rest of your day.
• Despite the constant arguing around you, you felt a bit smarter after going to that study session.

8 more crucial characters of the story have been introduced.

Golden Flare's Silver Flame, Serefin's Finish Line, that one guy on the left's Cruel Fate, Chrome Masquerade's Winter Fields, Sapphire Valley's Sapphire Valley, Camolot the Creator's Rune Writer, Mr Curious Writer's Curio Libre, and my Pastel Skies. Give kudos to all these wonderful people. (PS. If you need me to change anything, like a person's attitude, or personality, just comment below. If it's personal, then send a PM.)