“Jade! Wake up!” A voice shouted. Jade’s eyes snapped open. Her heart was pounding and her breathing was rapid. She shook her head and looked around. A blue pegasus mare with a rugged rainbow colored mane.

“Hi Rainbow Dash.” Jade yawned. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t you know?!” Rainbow Dash was still shouting at the top of her lungs even though Jade was right next to her. “Today is your day to spend with me!” Jade’s eyes widened.

“Right!” she realized aloud.

“Now come on!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Let’s go!”

“What’s the rush?” Jade asked, rubbing her still tired eyes.

“School starts in ten minutes!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Jade gasped and leaped out of bed.

“Come on!” Rainbow Dash flew toward the window. “We can fly and be there in a few minutes if we hurry.” Jade nodded and zipped out the window, just behind Rainbow Dash. She was flapping her wings harder and faster than she ever had before just to keep up with Rainbow. A beautiful purple building surrounded by waterfalls and a lake began to come into view. It was the school! Jade landed beside Rainbow Dash, struggling to catch her breath. Rainbow Dash however trotted effortlessly into the school. Jade ran after her.

“How are you not tired?” Jade asked.

“I’m used to flying fast.” Rainbow answered nonchalantly. “It’s part of being a Wonderbolt.” Jade followed Rainbow Dash into the school. They passed Starlight’s office before making it to a much bigger room. There were baskets on poles set up on each side of the room. “This is my classroom.” Rainbow Dash explained. Jade looked around in confusion. There were no desks, no paper, not even any places to sit.

“What do you teach?” Jade asked.

“My element.” Rainbow Dash answered. “Loyalty.” Jade tilted her head in confusion.

“How exactly do you teach that?” She asked.

“However I want.” Rainbow shrugged. “Today I’m having the students play Buckball.” Jade had to stifle a laugh. Stop thinking that! “And since you’re spending the day with me, you can be an honorary student of mine.”

“Sure.” Jade shrugged. “How many classes do you teach a day?”

“Five.” Rainbow answered. “You don’t have to participate in every game, but once you play your first game of buckball, you’ll definitely want to!”

“I’m sure it’s fun. How do you play?” Jade asked. Suddenly, the school bell rang and the doors of the classroom opened. A bunch of ponies poured into the room at once.

“I’ll explain it to class.” Rainbow Dash replied. “There’s some students like you who aren’t from around here and’ll need an explanation.” Jade nodded and trotted over to join the students. She sat down beside a purple pegasus filly with pink hair that was pointed at the ends. On her other side, sat a much taller sea-green pony with a rugged light and blue mane. Jade looked up at the pony, only to realize that they weren’t a pony at all. They had a beak and claws and huge feathery wings. Then it clicked in Jade’s mind. This was a hippogriff, like Buckbeak from Harry Potter! Jade looked at the two students sitting beside her. Starlight told me I should make new friends.

“H--hi.” Jade greeted shyly. The hippogriff and purple pegasus looked at her.

“Hey.” The hippogriff replied. “I haven’t seen you here before.”

“I’m visiting Ponyville.” Jade replied. “Rainbow Dash decided to make me her honorary student for the day.”

“That explains it.” The purple pony chimed in. “Don’t worry, you’ll like professor Dash’s class. It’s really fun.” The hippogriff nodded in agreement.

“Name’s Seastorm by the way,” They greeted, extending their claw. “Though my friends call me Gale.” Jade shook the hippogriff’s claw.

“And I’m Lavender.” The purple pegasus greeted. Jade shook her hoof as well.

“I’m Jade.” she greeted.

“Nice to meet you.” Gale and Lavender replied.

“You too.” Jade replied awkwardly. Suddenly, the bell went off again, signaling that class had started.

“Alright class!” Rainbow Dash announced. “Today, we’re gonna play the best game ever!”

“Twister?!” One pony asked. Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Apples to apples?!” another one asked.

“Charades? Truth or Dare?!”

“No.” Rainbow Dash answered. “It’s Buckball!” The students all exchanged confused glances and murmurs. “It’s okay if you’ve never heard of it. It’s more of an apple family thing, but it’s a fun game so I want to share it with all of you!” Gale raised their claw. “Yes Seastorm?”

“How do we play?” Gale asked.

“Great question!” Rainbow Dash replied. She zipped toward the middle of the room. “The earth ponies, or just anyone without wings or a horn, play in the middle. Your goal is to kick the ball into the goal.” Rainbow Dash flew toward one of the baskets. “The flyers play on defense. You have to defend your team’s basket. And the unicorns levitate the basket to catch the ball.”

“Sounds like a boring game for the unicorns.”

Gale murmured. Jade nodded in agreement.
“The class will be split into two teams for the game.” Rainbow Dash explained. “Seastorm, you’ll be the captain of team one and Gallus, you’ll be the captain of team two. You can pick eight other students to be on your teams and alternate roles on the team.” The students dispersed and began socializing with each other.

“Jade, Lavender, you two can be on my team.” Gale announced. Lavender and Jade nodded. “Wait here, I’ll go round up some more teammates.” Gale zipped away toward a crowd of students, leaving Jade with Lavender. The purple pegasus had her tail wrapped around her hooves and her gaze seemed to be intently focused on the ground.

“So...Lavender,” Jade began awkwardly. “What are you into?”

“I like...gardening.” Lavender replied. “What about you?”

“I like writing.” Jade admitted. “Though I haven’t done any serious writing since I came to Equestria.”

“Why not?” Lavender asked.

"No laptop.” Jade answered. “If ponies have those.”

“I’ve never heard of a laptop.” Lavender replied. “We do have typewriters though. Are those similar?” Jade nodded.

“Jade! Lavender!” Gale called. Jade and Lavender gazed at them. Gale had a group of about five ponies behind them. “I’ve gathered up the rest of our team. Three unicorns, three earth ponies and us, three flyers. Who wants to go first?” Gale raised their claw, along with one earth pony and one unicorn. “Perfect! Now let’s get to some Buckball!” Jade followed Lavender and the rest of the team and sat beside them against the wall. Gale and their two players went to the middle of the classroom to begin the game. The other team joined them shortly after. The two unicorns levitated the baskets to their sides while Gale and another hippogriff hovered into their positions. Rainbow Dash flew toward the teams, holding a red ball.

“Is every creature ready?” Rainbow Dash asked. The students nodded. “Alright! Prepare for the buck-off!” The two earth ponies got into position. Upon dropping the ball, the pony on the opposite team kicked it toward Gale. They bumped the ball away with their head.

“Ooh!” Lavender cheered. “This is so exciting!”

Jade shrugged, “Eh.”

“You don’t like sports?!” One of her teammates gasped.

“I don’t like watching them.” Jade admitted. “They’re all just the same thing over and over again but I do like playing them.”

“I’ve never played any sports.” Lavender admitted. The rest of the team gasped.

“Not even hoofball?!” One of the teammates gasped. Lavender shook her head. “But everypony loves hoofball!” Jade assumed that hoofball was the pony version of football.

“They don’t have sports where I’m from.” Lavender informed.

“Where are you from?” Jade asked curiously. Lavender’s eyes widened. She gazed down at her hooves uncomfortably.

“I-I can’t talk about it.” She admitted. Jade wrapped her hoof around Lavender.

“That’s alright.” Jade comforted. “I can’t talk about my home either.” Lavender looked at Jade. Her eyes were wide with fear.

“No!” Lavender’s voice dropped to a whisper. Her eyes were wide with fear. “I mean I literally can’t! Something bad could happen if I do!”

“Same here.” Jade whispered back. Could Lavender be from the human world too? “I can’t even give away too many details or ponies will get suspicious!” Lavender’s eyes widened.

“Huh, I guess we are really similar.” Lavender replied. “But if it’s okay with you, I’d still rather keep my ‘home’ a secret.”

“Me too.” Jade replied. Suddenly, a whistle sound filled the air. Jade jerked up to see Rainbow Dash, flying over the buckball paying area. However, all the playing had stopped. Gale flew back to the team, the others trailing after them.

“Jade, Blueberry, Cobalt, you’re all up.” Gale announced. Jade nodded and flew toward her team’s basket. Her other two teammates and the ponies on the other team lined up as well. To Jade’s surprise, the flyer on the other team wasn’t a pony or a Hippogriff. He had eagle talons and a beak, blue feathers and fur, and the legs of a lion.

“A griffin?!” Jade gasped aloud.

“What?” The griffin replied. “Never seen a griffin before?” Jade shook her head.

“Oh...well we’re great at sports! So prepare to be taken down!”

“You’re the one who’s goin’ down!” Jade replied fiercely.

“We’ll just see about that!” The griffin snapped back. Jade looked down at the offense players. The one on her team was an earth pony, but the one of the other team was a little brown yak with styled hair. The yak rammed her head into the ball and it went flying toward Jade. Her eyes widened as she angled back to kick the ball away with her back hooves. Jade did a flip mid-air before getting back into position. Laughing from the bliss, Jade kicked the ball again toward Cobalt, the earth pony on her team, Cobalt kicked the ball toward the goal with his back hooves. It was about to make it into the basket but was cut off by the griffin throwing it toward the ground with his claws.

“Take that!” He cheered. The yak bumped the ball upward with her back. Thinking fast, Jade knocked the ball toward the griffin with her head. Jade smiled as her heart thumped in her ears. The ball hit the griffin in the head and began to fall toward the ground.

“Get it!” Jade called. Cobalt nodded and struck the ball with his back hooves. It went barreling right past the griffin and with the help of Blueberry’s magic, the ball landed right in the basket. Jade, Cobalt, and Blueberry cheered pridefully. The griffin gasped from exhaustion and landed on the ground. Jade followed his lead, her wings drooping toward the ground. Her heart was still pounding but rather than feeling tired, she actually felt kind of exhilarated.

“Well played.” The griffin congratulated.

“Thanks.” Jade replied. “I’m Jade by the way.”

"I’m Gallus.” He greeted, extending his clenched claw. Jade tapped his claw with her hoof, in the fashion of a fist-bump. “You may have won this time, but be assured, I’ll get you next time.” Gallus’s tone was playful yet competitive. Jade smirked.

“We’ll just see about that.” Jade replied, trotting away. Blueberry and Cobalt followed Jade back to the the rest of the team.

“Alright.” Gale announced. “Lavender, Onyx, and Pearl, you three are up next.” The three ponies trotted toward the buckball playing ground. Jade sat down next to the much taller Gale.

“Are all hippogriffs as tall as you?” Jade asked curiously.

Gale shrugged. “I’m about the same height as most griffs my age.”

“Where do the hippogriffs live?” Jade asked.
“On Mount Aris.” Gale replied. “You probably wouldn’t know where it is, it’s outside of Equestria, next to Seaquestria.”

“Seaquestria?” Jade asked.

“You don’t know the story behind the hippogriffs and sea ponies?” Gale asked. Jade shook her head. “Wow, you really aren’t from around here. This happened pretty recently.”
“Can you tell me?” Jade begged. “Please?!” She put on her best pleading face.

“Okay.” Gale sighed in exasperation. “Once upon a time, all the hippogriffs lived on Mount Aris. Until one day when a horrible monster called the Storm King invaded our land. The hippogriffs used the power of our magic pearl to change into sea ponies and hide underwater where the Storm King couldn’t get us.” Jade stared at Gale intently.

“What happened next?!” Jade gasped.

“We lived underwater as sea ponies for a while.” Gale continued. “Until Princess Skystar, Twilight, and her friends defeated the storm king. Thanks to them, we didn’t have to hide anymore. Some of us changed back into hippogriffs and returned to Mount Aris but the others were used to living underwater so they stayed in Seaquestria.”

“What did you do?” Jade asked.

“Me and my friend Terramar go back and forth with a tiny piece of the pearl.” Gale pointed at their necklace. Jade noticed that there was a small pink gem on it.

“Can you change into anything with that?” Jade inquired. Gale nodded and grabbed the pink gem in their claw. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared around Gale. Once it disappeared, Gale was shorter, about Jade’s height, and was missing their claws and beak.

“Wow!” Jade gasped. Gale grabbed the pearl again and in a flash of light, was returned to their normal hippogriff form. “Can you turn into a seapony? I want to see what they look like!”

“I kinda need water for that.” Gale responded. “Maybe after school we can both go for a swim in the lake?”

“That sounds nice.” Jade replied. “And maybe we can bring Lavender along?” Gale nodded. Rainbow Dash’s whistle was suddenly blown again. Jade and Gale looked up. The opposite team had scored a point.

“Gallus’s team is the winner!” Rainbow announced. The griffin’s team cheered in excitement.

“Darnit!” Gale groaned.

“Oh well.” Jade shrugged. “It was a fun game.” Gale nodded in agreement as Lavender trotted toward them.

“Hey Lavender.” Gale greeted. “Me and Jade are gonna go swim in the lake after school. You wanna join us?”

“Sure.” Lavender replied. “I’m not really the best swimmer, but I can bring my floaty.”

“Sounds great!” Jade responded.

“Jade.” A familiar voice butted it. Jade let out a gasp as she turned around to see Rainbow Dash.

“Right...I’m supposed to be spending the day with you.” Jade’s voice was laced with guilt.

“Nah, it’s cool.” Rainbow Dash replied calmly.

“I didn’t really have any plans for after school. You can hang out with your new friends.”

“Thanks Rainbow!” Jade responded gratefully.

“Eh, don’t mention it.” Rainbow’s tone was laid back. Suddenly, the bell rang again, signaling that it was time to go to the next class.

“See ya later Jade!” Gale called as they flew out of the classroom with Lavender.

“Bye!” Jade called back.

Author's Note

More OCs. I apologize if you don't like OCs but the main character is an OC so whatever.