School of Anthros

Sunlight shined through the window as Emberwing woke up, he rubbed his eyes as he climbed out of bed. After quickly washing himself he put on his uniform and headed outside, he walked to the Alicorn statue where he waited for Sunset.

She arrived a few minutes later “sorry I’m not late am I?” She asked he looked at her.

“Don’t worry you’re not late” he said hugging her.

Never being hugged before by anypony other than her parents she didn’t know how to respond.

He looked at her “we still have time before the first class how about a quick tour?” He asked.

She nodded smiling a little as she kinda liked how it felt when somepony is being nice to her, she took him around a bit pointing out buildings of interest "That's the library where books of all sorts can be found" she said pointing to the building. "It's mostly occupied with either Unicorns studying magic or mostly other ponies reading the various comic they have in" she explained, they moved to another building "that's the sky court" it was the only building without a roof "its where Pegasus go to practice flying and on certain days hold games and events". She pointed to another building next to the sky court "That one has both the gym and the Obstacle course which is mostly used by the Earth ponies", she pointed to the last main building "that's the Magic hall where Unicorns practice magic and often duel each other".

Emberwing kissed her on the forehead "thanks for that" he said, "you can be nice when you want to be so why".

Sunset cut him off "why be bad? my family came from a long line of believing that magical might equals right" she said hanging her head. Emberwing placed his left hand on her cheek as she continued "My parents brought me up using that as a guideline" she continued, "you can't be weak and you can't have friends as that makes you weak they'd say to me" she said upset. "I was born with quite exceptional magical powers that it caught Princess Celestia's attention when I was still a filly" she remembered her first meeting with her, "the only times my parents showed any kind of kindness is when I passed her test and they hugged me in front of her but they never did again". Tears started to appear in her eyes " I was their only offspring but they made me feel like I was nothing more than a number to add to their ranks of strong magic users", Emberwing wiped her tears away with his fingers "if I wasn't able to do a spell they'd reduced my food until I could do it". She placed her head on his chest "they said they didn't want a weak daughter who'd only bring them shame, they wanted me to cast away anyone who was weaker than me and to crush those that thought were my equal" he wrapped his arms around her.

Emberwing gently said to her "you're not weak, misguided but not weak" as he stroked her hair, "magically you'd beat me if I didn't catch you by surprise" this caught her by surprise. "That spell I used was a spell my mother passed down from our ancestors who used to guard the royal family," he said, "they taught my ancestor the spell as a gift for the friendship they shared during the dark wars". The bell rang to let the students know to head for their first class "outside of that spell my mother taught me when I was a young colt I can only do the basic Telekinesis" he said as they headed to their first class, "I never got the chance to learn other spells yet and my level of the restraint spell only works in close quarters" he explained.

They headed to auditorium styled class and they both sat at the back of the room together while everypony else gave them space, the students mumbled stuff like.

"Why are they together?" or.

"Are we gonna have more problems now?".

Eventually, the teacher and Princess Celestia entered the room.

The teacher spoke up "as you know with each new school year we accept more students so the first week as always, we'll simply review the basics to help them understand the world and how the magic in the world works" he stepped to one side. "This year Princess Celestia has graciously decided to explain to you the basic fundaments of each race and their magic", he said as Celestia looked at the students, in particular, the only two at the back.

"Hmm Sunset seems different less dark," she thought to her self as she used her magic to create 3d models of the three races. "As you all know the world is filled with magic" she began "the magic is know by its given name Elieirx, which is comprised of six currently unknown elements" she points to the 3d Unicorn "you all absorb the magic naturally but the uses differ such as the Unicorns". The model started to rotate slowly "they focus the Elieirx into their horns which allows them to perform magic depending on their knowledge level and understanding", the model stops rotating as the 3d Pegasus rotates "note that even though the wings looks weird" she said. Pegasus wings are small wings that float behind their shoulder blades "once they channel the Elieirx into their wings they grow, they also use the Elieirx to adjust their weight and wing muscles" as she said this the model's wings grew larger and connected to the body. The model stopped its rotation too as the 3d Earth Pony started to rotate "Earth Ponies focuses their Elieirx into their body to do various things such as increased strength or endurance, however, some ponies regardless of race can have their own unique abilities" the models disappeared as the bell rang for the first break.

The students quietly walked out with most of them trying to keep away from Emberwing and Sunset but a few looked at them unsure of what to think about them, Emberwing and Sunset were the last two left when Celestia called out to them making Sunset worried as during her time here her bad reputation gave her a long list of problems she caused the school.

"I see the usual look on your face is gone Sunset," she said "for a long time I've wanted to punish you for what you've done but" she looked at Emberwing, "maybe he can help change you" she placed a hand on Sunset's head "I saw a special pony when I first met you maybe now I can finally see her".

With that Celestia left leaving Sunset questioning herself "was I really being myself all this time or was I just what my parents wanted me to be?".

Emberwing held her hands "the real question is who do you truly want to be?".

She thought on this question feeling a pain in her heart when she thought of how she was. But somehow thinking of how he is treating her now her heart didn't hurt as much it felt warmer "I want to be different" she said, "but I can't do it on my own please I need help I need your help" she begged him wanting to let go of her past.

He unfurled his wings and wrapped them around her "it'll take time but I'll be there for you" he said embracing her in a hug.

"Thank you," she said feeling for the first time what feels like to be free from her shackles.

Emberwing thought for a bit "know anypony that might not be judgemental?" he asked Sunset as he furled his wings back behind him.

Sunset thought for a bit as she has made a lot of potential enemies " I might know of one at least but she's currently in the sacred forest" she said. "Her friend often takes notes for her as she kinda acts like the caretaker for the animals that live there" she continued, they decided to wait until after school as that would be the best bet to meet her.

When break time was over they attended a magic class for Unicorns which primarily consisted of Telekinesis and basic control aimed mostly at the younger ages, the last class was science based on them trying to uncover the bases of the magic in the world to find out the six unknown elements.

After the last bell for the day rang they walked to the sacred forest they passed a small building with a large fenced off area "that's the schools swimming pool" Sunset said.

"I bet you look good in a swimsuit," Emberwing said making her blush.

"I've only ever been in there on my own," she said as they neared the forest, several small animals can be seen on the outskirts of the forest, thankfully they didn't have to head inside as they spotted a white wolf having its hind leg looked at by a yellow Pegasus with pink hair.

She was wrapping up a small wound the Wolf had aquirred in the forest, "that's Fluttershy" Sunset said, "I left her alone back then simply because I didn't see her as any form of threat". "In fact, I saw her help out a cat once and I guess I couldn't bring my self to be nasty to her" Sunset looked at Fluttershy as she finished bandaging the wolf.

Fluttershy saw them standing there as Emberwing spoke up "may we talk?" he said slowly approaching her.