The morning sun came with the gentleness of a new born foal's coat. Carrying a reinvigorating warmth to all the creatures under its gentle light. This would however still not be enough to please the dozens of tired students it awoken.

Most of the creatures inside The School's hallways looked like they'd been run through the ringer. Feathers and fur stuck up, manes laid unkept and eyes rested with large bags under them. The hallway was full of the echoes of the students; it was a chain reaction, as one yawn caused the next and so on.

Most the students were doomed to the same fate of groggy annoyance as the sun announced a new day. Lilly, however, was an exception to this rule; much to Everstone's annoyance. The changeling awoke with the energy of an Olympic sprinter and all the grace of once. She radiated with a ready to go, joyful aura that could, unfortunately, not be contained.

She started humming without a care in the world. While it wasn't awful it was more than enough to rub Everstone the wrong way. Much like the rest of his day, he liked his mornings quite, preferably silent if possible. He began turning his head to request the changeling to stop only to stop upon realizing their fourth roommate had made her way in.

Everstone scratches his head wondering where the mare steel grey mare had come from. As he'd been up well past midnight writing in his journal and hadn't seen the mare come in. Speaking of the journal, the dozen or so pages he tore out for redrafts still need to be thrown out. She still looked like she was out cold implying it must have been wee hours of the morning. Which raised the question once more, what was she doing?

He thought for a moment to awaken, took the mare and asked but the female changeling beat him to it. In the blink of an eye the bug skipped her way across the room and shook the mares wings; careful not to ruffle her feathers. The egasus let out a soft groan of annoyance or maybe it was rather resignation like she knew she wouldn't win a fight with the bug's attempts to awaken her. Everstone couldn't tell, in either case the pegasus slowly arose like a lumbering giant; brushing her azure mane out of her face, revealing a set of soft, rosemary blue eyes.

"I'm up, I'm up." The mare insisted groggily; rubbing her forehead with the flat end of her hoof. While the mare was certainly up, she didn't look at it. Her eyelids hug half open as if they'd close at any moment. Her body swayed side to side; nearly tearing over and falling back into the bed once more with each sway.

"Come on Ollie, we got class in an hour." Lilly chimed happily, as if unaware of the pegasus' discomfort.

"Don't call me that." The pegasus protested with a loud groan. Her eyes finally opened to shoot Lilly a death glare; To which Lilly just smiled.

"I know. But it got you up didn't it?" Lilly pointed out as she turned around and started humming again. Oleander's face shifted to annoyance then after a moment of contemplation amusement. Oleander let outsoft chuckle and nodded.

"Yea guess you're right, but seriously don't call me that. Use my actual name" oleander insisted.

"Will do Oleander." Lilly agreed before stopping; her eyes widening as if she'd forgotten something important.

"Oh right. Oleander, Everstone. Everstone, Oleander" Lilly introduced stepping to the side so their eyes could meet. Oleander just gave Everstone a nod of acknowledgment. Everstone hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to reply before finally settling on an uneasy.

"Hey." He managed to choke out; to which Oleander shot him an odd look. Oleander began to open her mouth but before she could ask, or Everstone defended himself Lilly interjected on his behalf.

"He's not a very social pony." Lilly explained as she looked back to Oleander. After a moment of looking him over curiously at that small revelation Oleander shrugged.

"Alright. Where's your brother?" Oleander finally asked; her muzzle widening to let out an inaudible yawn.

-"Oh, Leo? I think he went to go visit the music hall before class. Though I'm not entirely sure, he was leaving by the time I got up." She answered with a shrug.

"Anyway!" Oleander began as she stretched her legs and wings out; nearly hitting Lilly in the process, "Which class do we have first?"

"I believe we start with the history of elements of harmony first." Lilly said, though she seemed unsure in her answer; having to rub her chin as she searched through her memories.

"You two share a class?" Everstone interjected; finally finding the words to ask.

"Oh all dorm rooms share classes. So we can see each other more frequently and build friendships. Didn't you read the school guide book?" Lilly's brow rose into a small arch intermixed with a perplexed face. To which Everstone winced, after the mailbox incident he knew he should have but he still hadn't. The book was nearly the size of two of his legs put together and most of it, from his understanding, was how not to be a bad friend. So he hadn't bothered to read it.

His diffident look did earn him an amused chuckle from oleander however. To which Everstone simply rolled his eyes and crawled out of bed; making sure to get his two hind hooves on the floor before hopping off the ladder.

"I'm with you on that one Everstone. Can't stand books. Well nonfiction anyway. " Oleander commented as her chuckle died off. The two's conversation continued, though it was little more than background noise to Everstone now as he worked on fixing his own mane. Though as he drifted back off to his own thoughts he realized she still had yet to give an answer for where she ran off to.

“Say, um Oleander where were you last night?” he Interrupted as he turned his head back to face him. Oleander’s face grew to a wide grin at the question; a flicker of mischievous glinting in the back of her eyes.

“Why you asking?” She asked back, her grin now stretching ear to ear.

“Well you were out past curfew, well past midnight for that matter.” He answered as he shot her an expected look.

“Are you really sure you want to know?” She asked again, still grinning like a mad pony. However Everstone didn't answer this time; instead giving her an annoyed glance of the eyes. Oleander simply laughed at the reaction.

“There we are, the reaction I was looking for,” she snickered, “but I'm only pulling your leg. It wasn't anything major. I was out playing poker with a few of the other students.” Everstone studied her with a look of disbelief, but she seemed genuine in her answer so he began to drop the issue.

“You know gambling's against school policy!” Lilly shrieked in abject terror; as if she'd just found out she was just told she had a terminal illness.

“Chill sunshine,” Oleander waved her hoof in the air as if to disburse Lilly's worry, “ I’m aware. Which is why we didn't do it on school grounds. So no harm done.” she smiled proudly at her supposed loophole.

“That's not how that works!” Lilly began but was promptly cut off by the growl of Oleander’s stomach rumbling. At first Everstone mistook the noise for a train before noticing Oleander’s sheepish smile.

“Discuss it over breakfast?” Oleander offered nonchalantly to which Lilly scowled.

“Fine...consider yourself lucky I don't tell the staff!” Lilly scolded as Oleander anxiously chuckled.

“What are friends for?” she asked nervously. Lilly rolled her eyes at the comment before turning to Everstone; giving him a silent look that asked if he wished to join them. Everstone shuffled in place as his lips rolled about, unable to settle on an answer. After a few moments he began to open his mouth to decline her offer but Oleander wrapped a wing around him and interjected.

-Sure he does, look at him, he's thin as a skeleton!” She exclaimed as she started to drag him out of the room. More so to escape being alone with Lilly’s disapproving glare than anything else. Everstone tried to squirm free, but Oleander’s grip was surprisingly fierce; much more so than one might expect from her light frame. As Oleander continued to drag him out he tried to protest the breakfast idea, but like his squirms it did little to stop Oleander.

It took several minutes for the trio to arrive on account of Everstone’s protesting but they arrived nonetheless. Everstone, wishing to avoid making a fool of himself, settled down as they approached. Oleander let out a relieved sigh and shot him a thankful smile, but only received an unamused scowl instead. Oleander released Everstone from their grasp as she began walking in. Everstone’s eyes followed her momentarily before observing the cafeteria for the first time.

The cafeteria was about as packed as the assembly hall, however its larger area and spaced out seats helped make it feel more spacious. Its dozens of windows let the sunlight come in, amplifying the already lively atmosphere. Most creatures, while tired, seemed genuinely happy and excited for their day. Each lost in conversation with their own budding social circles.

“Nothing Like a room full of fresh joy and love to get you going in the morning.” Lilly commented as she took in a deep breath. To which Oleander shot her an unsure gaze and Evertsone winced. Everstone was aware changelings fed on emotions but actually hearing it be confirmed by one was something else.

“It might as well be a changelings coffee. It's not like I’m taking any creature's love, I'm simply taking in the excess no creature is using!” Lilly added defensively as she saw the two’s reactions. Oleander’s inquisitive look morphed into a one that was more so amused at the changeling's sudden panic. While Everstone tried to block out Lilly's comment from his mind.

“Don't worry, I wont tell no pony if you drop my gambling game.” Oleander promised with a cheeky smile. Lilly stopped in stupefied silence for a moment as she looked at Oleander with an expression between perplexed and annoyed.

“I wasn't- That's not how that- I wasn't even going to comment- Ughh! Fine whatever.” Lilly gave in as she drove her face into her hoof. Oleander fluttered into the air with a victorious grin that stretched ear to ear, as if she had just won the lottery.

Everstone Shook his head as he watched the two. While their bickering was comparable to two foals, it did allow for Everstone to relax a bit. As more time bickering amongst themselves meant the more time he could spend gathering his thoughts. His attention then shifted from them and onto the cafeteria’s menu. The menu itself was about what Everstone expected. A blend of familiar and exotic, however some of his fellow creature’s diets still made his stomach uneasy.

“Grilled fish.” Everstone muttered between gags. In Everstone’s mind, any creature that took another life of another was repugnant at best. Even if such creatures claimed to do so in survival it didn't make their habits anymore palatable. As the thoughts of meat went through Everstone’s head, his stomach began convulsing uneasily in response.

Everstone’s discomfort grabbed the two mares' attention. Both dropping their quarrel to examine the stallion’s green face. The mares shared a look of worry before setting Everstone against a wall to rest.

“Are you okay?” Lilly asked; bring her face down to meet his. Everstone answered with a shake of his head.

“Well, mind telling us what's wrong then?” Lilly continued, but only received pointing in response. She didn't need to look to know he was pointing at the menu overhead. After looking at him for a long moment, she let out a pent up breath of relief now intermixed with slight annoyance.

"It's not that bad. You're just being over dramatic." She chided. Everstone frowned at the comment, but another churn of his stomach caused him to remain silent.

"Look, even Oleander is fine." Lilly continued. Not that Everstone noticed, he was preoccupied with trying to calm the maelstrom forming in his stomach.

Lilly and oleander spent the next several minutes trying to get Evertsone to calm down. Unfortunately the bell for class interrupted their efforts; forcing them to push Everstone to his feet. He thanked them with a sickly nod as he stumbled his way to the door. While his physical disgust had started to subside his mental and emotional discomfort lingered in the back of his mind. He tried to shake the lingering thoughts from his head but couldn't; worse yet he could feel Lilly’s judgment. She put on a caring demeanor but he could read it in her eyes that she was at the very least disappointed. The silent condemnation only made his state worse. He felt a pang of guilt; even though Lilly didn’t eat meat, he figured his reaction probably upset her. He wanted to just vanish and avoid her looks, however he could barely walk straight right now and so he was forced to rest between the two’s support.

"Can't believe I missed breakfast for this..." Oleander griped only to bite her lip as Lilly glared her down for the comment.

"I mean erm, always glad to help a friend." Oleander amended with a timid, apologetic smile. The mange was already done however, as Everstone shot them both an apologetic look.

He felt horrible in a matter of seconds he managed to already botch his whole reason for being here. He knew making friends was a ship wreck waiting to happen, he just didn't expect he'd do it so quickly. On Top of that he did so over things they couldn't even help.

It's going to be a long day he thought to himself.

Author's Note

I apologize for this chapter being both late and shorter than I intended. Unfortunately my work life has been erratic to say the least. So my two stories are unfortunately largely on the backburner. I still plan to try and get them out on a biweekly schedule however chapters will probably start to be shorter on account that my original ideas are having to be broken down to meet the dead line. For instance, this chapter was originally suppose to encapsulate the whole day, but I've ultimately deicide to cut it short to compensate and keep these post on a biweekly update schedule.

Post edit, this book is on hiatus till further notice. I would love to return to it, but as of now life is hectic and on top of feeling unfulfilled with other chapters I would like to focus time on one story at a time.