1: Phylling in Her Horseshoes
It was another warm afternoon in Ponyville, Celestia’s sun rested high in the center of the blue sky. Occasional clouds would make their way across the endless blue providing brief shady spots. The town was abuzz with many different citizens varying in color walking down its cobblestone roads. Some would greet each other as they passed having warm smiles on their muzzles. In the market place, many were talking to one another with open excitement. How could they not be given the events happening in their town?
Princess Twilight Sparkle, the previous unicorn that had one day moved to their little town to study friendship, was going to become Equestria’s new ruler! Ever since she had arrived nearly nine and a half years ago things in Ponyville changed. The most recent edition being the School of Friendship which had a new Headmare. Twilight’s own student Starlight Glimmer had officially taken over that role, leaving the Princess to step up as a new ruler. Her coronation was scheduled next month leaving everypony to hurriedly prepare.
There was so much to do after all: food to be baked, planning the seats, holding a secret/not-so-secret after coronation party that wasn’t as formal, getting coats and manes brushed, finding the right gift, etc...
For several of her friends, it was going to be hard seeing her as anything other than the mare they had grown accustomed to. Sure she and the other Element bearers were national heroes. Yet when it came down to it they were simply regular ponies who had pretty incredible things. Compared to the godlike pedestal many, including Twilight, had placed the Princesses on for so long it was a challenge adjusting. The crystalline castle that stood on the outskirts of Ponyville would become a grim reminder; Twilight was moving onto bigger things and handling them relatively on her own.
Many had accepted this over the several months from when her ascension of the crown was first announced. They had grown used to a new event happening every once a week after all, this was something to celebrate not to be discouraged over. Changes were happening for the better.
If only everypony was more excited than nervous about this, such as a certain magically inclined unicorn...
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Starlight Glimmer, a pale light grayish heliotrope coated unicorn with a moderate purple and light purple mane that sported a very light aquamarine highlight, trotted around in her new office. Worry was written all over her face as beads of sweat slowly inched down her forehead. Being just half an hour after she had assigned her two close friends their new positions, this had left the mare to think about recent events. She was actually taking over her mentor’s role as headmare which came with a few concerns in its own right.
- First of all, she would need to work out a new schedule for the Magic classes since the usual teacher was extremely busy. While she could teach the subject, her talent leaned more toward doing it than explaining it in an easily understandable way. Sunburst’s experience with teaching Flurry Heart would definitely help, but she didn’t want to rely on him every single time. The only permanent solution Starlight could come up with was learning as she went.
- Her second concern was a bit related to the first one: assigning regular substitutes when Twilight’s (and her) friends were either too busy or called on a Friendship problem. There were a few ponies in town she could think of filling this role on occasion, except they wouldn’t be available all the time. She was starting to consider sending out teacher applications around the neighboring towns. Those applicants would need a place to stay, and unlike the other element bearers would seek a stable salary. Figuring that out from the school budget was a matter for later if this became the case. The castle had several empty guests rooms so lodging resolved itself.
- Issue number three was thinking about next year’s new additions, due to Twilight having her coronation soon, her school had more attention directed toward it. New ponies and creatures were showing interest in the School of Friendship. A Kirin named Autumn Blaze, who Fluttershy and Applejack met on a recent Friendship Problem, had reached out to the school two weeks ago. Her leader Rain Shine was considering sending a few Kirin to learn more about friendship.
Since the village had started recovering from their magically induced pledge of silence, she felt that some were struggling in relearning how to rekindle their friendships. Particularly the two who had started the unfortunate argument that made them discover their temperamental Nirik sides. They were quite hesitant to start speaking again, going as far as avoiding each other since they were cured. Starlight felt sympathy for the Kirin’s blight yet she had to prepare the school for such students.
Their Nirik transformations presented a slight challenge in preparing other students next year. It was simply something to work on before that semester started, they’d be welcomed regardless of any challenges brought.
Moving on to the final issue, for now, she worried about how Twilight would miss her friends since she’ll be moving to Canterlot. Despite taking into account how well her mentor had been about managing her stress levels those worries festered. Starlight wondered if this was how Twilight felt during her graduation, the alicorn had felt it necessary sending her somewhere until Princess Celestia shared some insight. She resigned to sitting in the desk chair and letting out a long sigh at her new dilemmas.
”What am I going to do...?” she asked herself in a quiet whisper. Her head rested on her hooves that were laid on top of the desk. Compared to when she was a guidance counselor in the school’s earlier, her schedule was going to be regularly packed.
”Shame you can’t do something similar to her friends using the roots of her old home. Not only did that use a broken tree, but it was quite meaningful with the memory crystals, ” replied a quiet female voice. Starlight’s head immediately popped up at hearing the sudden commentary, she hastily looked around the office to see no one. Her eyes flickered across several things until they landed on her philodendron. The unicorn lets out a sigh of relief, ”I am going to go out on a root and infer you forgot once again, my dear.”
Starlight somberly nodded. ”Sorry, Phyllis, I’m still getting used to the whole... mentally communicating thing.”
Even though the potted plant couldn’t show any sort of facial expression, Starlight knew she would have had a small understanding smile on her face. ”It’s quite alright when you consider the rather unique circumstances that brought to our acquaintance. If anything it would be peculiar for this to be something you were used to upon our first interactions, ” stated Phyllis.
The mare was about to make a slight joke before rapid knocking sounded from the office central doors. ”Starlight~” said in a sing-song voice from outside. Not a second later did Trixie open the doors to her office with a horn glowing, ”soooo. I was starting to redecorate my new office and I figured you would want these.” Both doors were opened fully as several of her kites floated into the room. They were placed on her desk except some had been ripped possibly due to Trixie's carelessness.
Starlight did her best to hide a slight eye twitch from the other unicorn. ”Trixie... would you mind holding off on decorating for a day so I can gather my things later?”
Thankfully, her usually boastful friend didn’t notice the slight strain in Starlight’s voice when saying her name. ”I suppose that will give me more time for my magnificent mind to plan out the new decor, ” she said in her usual confident tone. Trixie left shortly after, forgetting to close the doors behind her. The remaining unicorn closed the doors using her light aquamarine magic while she heard Phyllis huff. Turning her attention back toward the philodendron, giving the magically sentient plant an annoyed glare.
”Don’t direct that type of gaze at me, ” she started, ”we both know that mare has certain issues, and I believe it is fair for me to be upset considering she was quick to shove me into a trash bin! I do hope you rescue the Ponish Ivy outside your former office before she sees to throwing him out.”
”Phyllis...”
”I would rather not discuss this topic any further, Starlight.”
In the School of Friendship’s hallways hurriedly flew a young blue Griffon named Gallus, he was late for his friend’s study group session. Gallus tended to be more chill when it came to schoolwork yet he did occasionally pay close attention in class. His friend Ocellus the Changeling encouraged having good studying habits after their first study group kinda flopped. Who would have had thought a magical sentient crystal tree could start testing them out of the blue?
He happened to be passing by new Headmare Starlight’s office when he heard her talking to some creature. Only there was just one muffled voice, curiosity struck him so he decided to listen in for a moment.
”Come on... you can’t stay mad at Trixie forever, ” said the unicorn before a long pause. ”THAT is inappropriate language, do I need to remind you this is a school?”
This left the young griffon confused as he hadn’t heard any creature say something inappropriate. And believe him, hailing from Griffonstone meant you heard plenty of that through the day. Maybe it was a new student or a magical unicorn call thing. With all the crazy stuff they were capable of doing, it wouldn’t really surprise him. ”You know she’s my friend, Phyll. Besides, she had no idea you were more than just a plant, ” she stated.
Okay... taking that into context, he guessed that maybe they were getting a new changing student who liked to become a plant (?). That was more than a little weird yet he decided to listen a little longer, he might be shyer than Ocellus was.
”...fine. I’ll drop it for now, but we really need to talk about this if you two are gonna be okay being present in the same room together.” By leaning against the door he could hear faint whispering, but it was too quiet to pick up anything coherent. Gallus leaned in closer until his tail accidentally swished against the door causing Starlight to notice him. Panicking he flew down the hallway taking several turns until he was outside.
This caused his five friends who were sitting under a tree’s shade to look at him questioningly. He hastily tried to play it cool by pretending like he had arrived normally, which failed horribly. All the while the school’s new headmare watched this happen from a nearby window.
Author's Note
Sorry if this first chapter seems like a slight info dump, but believe me I tried editing down so it wouldn’t feel like that.
For those who have thoughts on my story, I would love to hear them in a comment. Please and Thank You. (It’s not required in the slightest, but I appreciate any feedback to further improve my story upon.)
