Reaching For The Stars

“Now arriving in Ponyville. Reminder to passengers to please take any belongings that they have. Once more, we are now arriving in Ponyville. Thank you for choosing the Friendship Express as your premier choice of travel throughout Equestria. We hope to see you again soon.”

The train arrived at the Ponyville train station and came to a slow and easy stop. Picking up my bags and placing them on my back, I started walking off of the train, minding the gap between the coach and the platform, taking in the new surroundings around me. I saw the station exit and proceeded through it promptly.

“Wow,” I said aloud, “it’s so vibrant and colorful.”

Everywhere I looked, bright colors could be seen. This was much different than what I was used to back home in Whineysota. I looked to the left and saw a sign close to the station and read it to myself.

“Welcome to Ponyville,” the sign said, “the unofficial Color Capital of Equestria.”

Yeah, I thought, I can see why they would say that about themselves.

I looked around some more and noticed on the right side of town a large crystal castle towering over the other buildings around it. Next to it was a large building that appeared to have been recently built. I wondered where the school was and decided to check the acceptance letter for any details as to how to get to the school once ponies had entered the town.

“Hmm,” I mumbled, “let’s see…delighted to inform, yada yada, accepted, yada yada, Ponyville, okay, uh huh, classes start, yes, look forward to orientation, Princess Twilight.” I flipped the letter, trying to locate directions to the school, but the other side was blank. Flipping the letter back over, I sighed slightly. “Great...no directions. How am I supposed to get there if I don’t know where it is?”

It seemed to me that I had no choice but to ask for directions on how to get to the school. I felt a bit embarrassed that I was forced to do such a thing, but wandering around in a place I’m not familiar with at all was probably a more dangerous option.

Walking along the main path of the town, I noticed a bunch of ponies and shops all around me. They each wore smiles and happy faces on themselves, which uplifted my mood a bit and made me forget about my nervousness momentarily. I continued walking down the main path until I saw a shop that had a sign with an image of a cupcake on it. Biting my lip, I approached the shop as I was a bit hungry.

I opened the door to the shop, making a little bell chime softly. I looked around the shop and saw that it was just as colorful on the inside as the rest of the town was on the outside. There was a pony behind the counter that spotted me and beamed delightfully. She was a bright pink pony with a mane that was a shade darker and appeared to be a bit unkept.

“Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner!” She spoke. She looked at me for an extended time before continuing. “Oooh, are you a new pony? I haven’t seen you around town before and I like to get to know everypony! Ask anypony...they’ll say that I was their first friend when they came to Ponyville.”

I nodded bashfully, “I, uhh, yes. I am new to town.”

She sprang up from behind the counter and tackled me with a hug. Her hug was a really strong one and caught me off guard. I coughed a bit, trying to gather myself from the sudden motions.

“My name’s Pinkie Pie,” she told me, “and I just love making new friends!”

“I, urgh, can see,” I answered, grunting a bit in an attempt to gather my breath.

Pinkie Pie pulled herself away from me and booped my muzzle softly. “What’s your name, stranger?”

I scrunched my muzzle a bit, rubbing it softly. I looked back towards Pinkie Pie and answered her. “My name is Astral Flare. I’m here to-”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “I can guess this! I know this! Let me guess, please!”

I blinked a few times, confused slightly. “Uhh, okay, I guess?”

Pinkie Pie rose her hoof towards me and began guessing. “You’re here because you’re hungry, aren’t you?”

I giggled softly, “Well, that and something else.”

“You’re here for the School of Friendship,” Pinkie Pie claimed, “because Twilight accepted you and you want to learn about that stuff, riiiiight?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “How’d you know?”

She pointed at me. “I can see the letter in your bag, silly!”

I looked back at the bag and saw that the letter was visible from it. I placed it further into the bag and closed it up, nodding at Pinkie Pie in the process.

“Yeah,” I said feebly, “that’s the other reason why I’m here. I actually don’t know where the school is since the letter doesn’t have a set of directions on it.”

“Oh, Twilight does that on purpose,” Pinkie Pie replied, “she says that the first lesson always starts when you get into town, unless you’re already living in the town, then your first lesson is always in the school. Come to think of it, the first lesson is always the application process...or is it when you hear about it? Oh, I know! It’s when you want to go to school! No wait, it’s when you talk to other ponies! Or, orrr it could be when you’re born! No, it’s when your parents-”

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything,” I butted in, trying not to sound mean, “but do you know where the school is located, Pinkie Pie? Apparently there’s an orientation I’m supposed to have there.”

Pinkie Pie stopped and looked at a nearby clock, gasping greatly. “Oh my gosh! I’m late for the orientation!”

I tilted my head a bit, “You’re attending the school too?”

“Oh, I don’t go there,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

I was confused again, “Then how are you late for it?”

Pinkie Pie stood behind me and started pushing me out of the shop. “I teach there, silly!”

“Wait,” I replied, regaining my balance on the ground with my hooves, “you’re a teacher there?”

“I’m Professor Pie!” Pinkie Pie smiled, continuing to push me. “But, I let the creatures I teach call me Pinkie. Professor Pie sounds like a really, really, really smart pie that sounds good to eat, and I don’t want anycreature eating me!”

“Anycreature?” I repeated, shuffling my hooves so that I wouldn’t fall face first into the ground.

“Yes indeedy dandy!” Pinkie Pie beamed. “Ponies aren’t the only creatures that go to the School of Friendship. Now come on, Astral! We’re gonna be super duper late if we don’t get to the school soon.”

“Is that where you’re pushing me?” I asked.

“Yup!” Pinkie Pie answered, giggling in the process.

Up ahead, I saw the same building from earlier, the one that was next to the castle. There was a large waterfall and fountain surrounding it and everything looked beautiful on the outside. Pinkie Pie pushed me over a small bridge and inside the structure, where other ponies stood, along with a few other creatures.

“Sorry, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie yelled, disrupting the orientation in the process. “I kinda lost the time.”

The pony in the center of the group, a taller, lavender colored pony, looked towards us and smiled softly. “It’s okay, Pinkie. I was just about to start the orientation.” She noticed me being pushed by Pinkie Pie. “Ah, you must be Astral Flare.”

I blushed slightly and nodded in response.

“She sure is, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie answered as well for me.

“I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she continued, “like I was telling these creatures, I am the headmare to the School of Friendship. You may address me as Headmare Twilight, or just Twilight when school isn’t in session. If you would follow me, I’ll start giving you a tour of the school.” She turned to Pinkie Pie. “You’re free to join us, Pinkie, if you’d like.”

“Nah!” Pinkie Pie giggled, bouncing off elsewhere.

Twilight rolled her eyes playfully, then gazed at us. “In that case, you will all have the opportunity to meet Pinkie Pie when classes start again. Until then, I’ll be the pony you get to know most.”

Leading us down the main hallway, Twilight began her tour of the school, showing us everything we needed to know about our new place of learning.

“The main hallway is basically where you’ll spend your time moving between classes,” Twilight began, “and I know some of you are already saying to yourselves, ‘why is she beginning with the hallway’ and I answer that by saying the hallway is also part of the school, even if creatures tend to forget about that.”

She led us up a flight of stairs and turned the corner, showing us one section of the school. Twilight gave us all a small piece of information as we passed each classroom.

“Each of these classrooms are designed to suit the professor best,” she told us, “at this school, you’ll be learning first hoof about the building blocks to a successful friendship.”

“What are the basic blocks to friendship?” Somepony asked.

Turning to face us, Twilight giggled softly. She sighed just a bit, answering the question that was asked.

“Well,” she said, “since you’re all going to be attending here soon, I might as well give you a small lesson. I’ll list the basic blocks to friendship, but you’ll have to attend your classes if you wish to learn more about them.” She stepped around the group of us and began pointing out specific doors as she listed the blocks. “The basic blocks are honesty, loyalty, laughter, generosity, kindness, and magic. These blocks will help you form the perfect and strongest types of friendships in each of your lives.”

I thought about the blocks for a long time, wondering how each of them related to a successful friendship.

“...and if you ever need any assistance whatsoever, whether it’s for a problem you have during your studies here or if you just need somepony to talk to, I’d like to introduce you all to the school’s guidance counselor, Starlight Glimmer.”

Twilight smiled, pointing out Starlight Glimmer to us. She was a peculiar looking heliotrope colored unicorn with a moderately purple mane. She also had two highlights in her mane that were a lighter purple color and an aquamarine color as well. Starlight Glimmer smiled and waved at all of us, introducing herself in the process.

“Thank you, Twilight,” she cheerfully spoke, “like Twilight said, I am the guidance counselor here in the school. You may come into my office at any point for some sympathy cocoa, protection pillows, and security blankets if you ever need to talk to anypony about a problem you may be experiencing.”

“In addition,” Twilight added, “Starlight here is in charge with creating your schedules. With help from myself, we have your schedules for each of you, ready to be picked up. Once you’ve collected your schedules, you may proceed to your dorm rooms, for those who come from different areas, or you may frolic and explore what Ponyville has to offer. Classes start first thing tomorrow morning, so I expect all of you to be here bright and early, ready to learn.”

The other ponies and creatures approached Starlight Glimmer in a single-file line, giving their names and receiving a small piece of paper that was their schedule before leaving the school for the day. I looked around the school before stepping on the line and felt my hooves shaking a bit. I gave a lengthy sigh, trying to calm myself down a bit.

It’s okay, Astral, I thought, you can do this. It’s not too bad, you know. There are other ponies here doing what you’re doing, so it’s not impossible.

I felt somepony place a hoof on my back, making me jump slightly. I turned around and saw that the hoof belonged to Twilight. She blushed slightly and lifted her hoof from my back.

“I’m sorry about that,” she told me, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“N-no, it’s fine, Princess,” I replied, feeling a bit nervous talking to somepony of royalty, “I wasn’t expecting that, hehe.”

Twilight smiled in response, “It reminds me of what Princess Cadance taught me when I was young: whenever you feel anxious or overwhelmed about something, just take a step back and take a deep breath. It usually makes me feel better.”

I nodded, “Same here.”

“I’m going to take a guess that you’re Astral Flare,” Twilight guessed, “am I right?”

“How did you know?” I wondered.

Twilight motioned her head back in the direction of where Starlight Glimmer was. Following her lead, I saw that there were only a couple of creatures left on the line and myself. I looked back to Twilight and blushed slightly.

“Lucky guess,” Twilight chuckled quietly, “but you’re the pony whose mother wrote to me for an application. I can tell you personally that friendship is so much more than what you’ve experienced in your life.”

“How do you know?” I responded instinctively.

“Well,” continued Twilight, looking back towards Starlight Glimmer, “I may know a pony or two who were originally reluctant and skeptical about friendship before.” When the other creatures collected their schedules, Twilight spoke up once more. “Starlight, could you come here please?”

Starlight Glimmer rose from her desk and approached Twilight and myself. She smiled at us both and asked Twilight what she needed.

“Would you mind telling Astral something about yourself?” Twilight politely asked.

Starlight Glimmer nodded and looked towards me. “What would you like to know, Astral?”

I gulped a bit, blushing slightly once more. “Princess Twilight tells me that you were reluctant to give friendship a chance before. I-I’m kind of feeling the same way after my experiences.” I paused slightly. “I was wondering what your experiences were, Starlight Glimmer.”

Starlight Glimmer locked eye contact with me, resting a hoof softly on my chest. “When I met Twilight, she beat me and took everything that I had worked for away from me. She offered me a chance to learn, but I sought out revenge and changed things in the past. After seeing what would happen in the present and almost destroying Equestria in the process, Twilight once again offered to teach me the ways of friendship, leading me down a path that has reunited me with my oldest friend, made new friends, and led me here to be a guidance counselor.

“I know things might seem difficult and you might feel that you’re working so hard to move so little,” continued Starlight Glimmer, “but I can tell you from personal experience that things can get better if you give friendship another chance. Twilight is a wonderful teacher and a skillful pony because if anypony can help save a friendship, it’s her. If it weren’t for her seeing something inside of me, I don’t think any of us would be here right now. I owe Twilight plenty for helping to make my life better.”

I looked back towards Twilight, stunned by Starlight Glimmer’s story. I had no idea that friendship was that powerful and, honestly, only knew it for the worst things imaginable. I began to think about Mom back home and thought that she would probably tell me to give it a try, despite my hesitation. At this point, I knew Mom was right in sending me here because, from what I’ve heard from Starlight Glimmer, I feel that I am in the right place to give friendship another chance, especially if she was able to find solace and comfort in it now.