(Canterlot Terrace District Elementary School, Shining Armor [age 5] POV)

The Education system in Equestria is weird, but it is rather innovative as well. Each section of school (elementary, middle, and high) are four grades each, and school goes from Pre-K to 10. Amazingly, Pre-K is optional, so some students only have three grades for elementary. Another thing to note about the Education system is the district system that is for the big cities. Using Canterlot as an example, the elementary districts are the Terrace, Center, and Gate districts. Each district may sound like they are separated based on upper, middle, and lower classes, but Celestia herself made sure that the districts have a healthy mix of all three classes. Now, as for why I brought all of that up, well...today, I start my second, very first day of school.

Now, I start Kindergarten, as my parents decided to hold me from Pre-K, and I can pretty much agree with their decision, and you’ll understand momentarily.

My family and I live in the Terrace district, and the school is on the way to where Dad works. So, I had the privilege of having Dad walking me to school. When the roughly 10 minute walk ended and we stood in front of the school, I was nervous out of my mind, attempting to adjust the shirt I’m wearing. Dad seemed to pick up on my nervousness and he gave me a hug and a reassuring grin. It calmed me down and I went inside the school, giving Dad a good-bye wave as I did so.

Upon entry, I saw a set of signs that lead to the school’s auditorium. The seats were divided into the four elementary grades, with Pre-K in the back (as their parents had to be there for the orientation speech). Taking my seat, I looked over the Kindergarten class and saw that most were unicorns, with a slight sprinkling of pegasi and earth ponies. One thing that stood out, however, was the minotaur, griffin, and bat pony that were sitting off on their own in separate corners of the Kindergarten seating.

Unfortunately, I had to put my curiosity on hold, as Principal Dusty Books got onto the auditorium stage. Dusty Books was a well aged, but somewhat still young looking stallion. Also, despite his age and name, he seemed rather spry for an older stallion.

“Good Morning Students!” He greeted all of us with enthusiasm. We all greeted him back with a mix of enthusiasm and boredom. “That seemed to lack some enthusiasm. Let’s try that again.” He said, before greeting us again and we all responded again with the same amount of enthusiasm, blowing his mane back in the process. “Nice to hear you students again after a good summer break. Now, as the Principal of the Terrace District, I welcome back old students and welcome new students into the school.” He said, looking around at the Pre-K and some of the Kindergarten students when mentioning the new students.

“Now, while we are greeting new students, it would be a crime to not mention our three foreign exchange students and a new unique student from here in Canterlot.” He said, getting the many foals in the room to gasp and start talking amongst each other until he calmly shushed them. “Our first foreign student is from the country of Minos, Titanium Build.” The minotaur calf stood up and waved nervously before sitting back down. “Next, from Griffonia, Gregory.” The griffin cub opened his wings for a little bit, allowing everyone to see him before settling back in his seat. “And finally, from the hidden city of Valley Star, Midnight Nebula.” The bat filly seemed to shrink into her seat, almost turning invisible, causing some of the kids to giggle a bit, but not in a mean way. “Now as for our unique student, please welcome Shining Armor.” I took that as my cue to stand and wave, feeling just as nervous as Titanium looked when he was introduced.

After that introduction, Dusty Books introduced the four teachers and their aides. We were instructed to get up and follow our teacher to our classroom when the relevant teacher was introduced. I ignored when the Pre-K teacher and aide was introduced, and when the Kindergarten teacher and aide, Pencil Guide (unicorn) and Soft Touch (pegasus), were introduced, I got up with the rest of my class and followed them to the Kindergarten room.

When we arrived at the room, we were given the opportunity to play a bit and interact with the other students for the start of the class. This gave me the time I needed to go to one of the three foreign students.

“Hello, I’m Shining Armor.” I introduced myself to Titanium Build. The minotaur was roughly just barely taller than I am and was a chocolate color with a lot of white splotches and spots all over his face, like freckles.

“Oh...umm, hi?” Titanium practically asked, while setting down the wooden blocks he was messing with.

“Hi, umm, I want to hang out with you and the other non-pony students.” I said proudly, putting my fists on my hips like a proud man would.

My declaration took Titanium by surprise. “Are you sure?” He asked carefully. “No other ponies didn’t want to be Titan’s friend.”

“I’m not other ponies.” I pointed out. “Don’t even look like them. And I want to be the first of many ponies to be your friend.” I extended a hand to him and he hesitantly took and shook it. As we shook, I pulled him onto his hooves and then gave him a bro-hug. He hugged back, with a stronger squeeze, but not painfully so. I then gestured to the griffin and bat-pony, who were in the same portion of the room, but separate from each other.

As we both walked to the duo, an orange pegasus with a blue mane and tail was also approaching the duo. All three of us arrived and we began to interact with each other.

“Hey there you guys.” I greeted the duo and the pegasus. “I’m Shining Armor, and this is Titan.”

The griffin, bat-pony, and pegasus took notice of Titan and I. “Umm...hi, I guess?” The griffin, Gregory, said nervously, while the bat-pony, Midnight, seemed to get flustered and hid behind a nearby bean bag.

The pegasus, on the other hand, seemed to get excited when he saw me. “Wow! What kind a pony are you?” He asked excitedly, flying up to me and began flying circles around me.

“I’m...an Anthro Pony,” I said nervously. “It’s basically a Pony of any tribe that has similar features of a minotaur.”

“How are you like this?” Titan asked, taking a seat on a bean bag as the other few students calmed down and sat on a few. “Was some of your family minotaurs?”

“No, it was a magical accident roughly a year ago.” I said. “I was too impatient and I hurt myself. When I woke up, I was like this.”

“A pony’s weakness is also his greatest strength.” Gregory said with a slight hint of smugness. The pegasus looked like he was going to berate him for the comment, but I covered his mouth.

“I can’t disagree with your comment.” I agreed with him, causing the pegasus to look at me in confusion. “We get too confident and what may have been our best trait can easily turn against us.”

“Mistress Luna of Old is a fair example of such.” Midnight said, getting brave enough to insert herself into the conversation. “As much as my kind reveres her, we know that she had and will have flaws. Most of our kind do what we can to emulate her, even at her most evil, so long as our actions don’t break laws or angers the Harmony of the Land.”

“Words to live by, my winged friend.” I said, gently patting her withers. “Speaking of winged friends, what’s your name, buddy.” I asked the pegasus.

“I’m Flash Sentry!” The pegasus said proudly, taking flight for a few seconds before setting down.

“Who’s up for block building?” Titan said, grabbing a few buckets of blocks that weren’t being used. We all cheered in the affirmative and began building a really tall and somewhat fancy block tower. Little did we know, a life-long friendship was being built as well.

Author's Note

Here's the second chapter. It takes a lot of thinking to get any of these chapters done and keep this story alive.