Chapters It was another morning at the School of Friendship, and after the first set of classes had ended, students were spending their first break of the day either socialising, playing, or studying. Inside one of the breakrooms, a small group of students were sitting together on rows of sofas and chairs facing the window looking over the vast open fields and mountains that surround Ponyville, each working through their notes for an assignment set earlier that day by their teacher on Kindness, one Professor Fluttershy.
Most of the students and staff at the school were ponies, but this group was much different. There was Yona, a Yak from Yakyakistan, Ocellus, a Changeling from the Hive, Silverstream, a Hippogriff from Mount Aris, Gallus, a Griffon from Griffonstone, and Smolder, a Dragon from the Dragonlands. Being different creatures from outside of Equestria made them stand out quite a bit from the rest of the school, but after a few months at the school, they were treated like everyone else.
All of them in the group did have one pony friend who hung around with them the most, but as minutes passed during break time, the more it became apparent that he was absent.
“Hey, does anycreature know why Sandbar still isn’t here yet?” Silverstream asked the rest of the group, the first to speak up amongst the silence.
One by one, the rest of the group raised their heads from their notebooks and looked around at each other.
“I’m not sure.” Ocellus was the first to answer. “I’m sure he was the last one of us to leave at the end of Professor Fluttershy’s class.”
“Yona was first to leave classroom” Yona put it bluntly. “So Yona could not see Sandbar from small crowd of other ponies.”
“He’s probably needed somewhere else, I’m sure we’ll see him later,” Gallus responded with a shrug, flicking through the pages of his notebook, looking for examples of acts of selflessness based on Professor Fluttershy’s lesson.
“It looked like it” Smolder added, “I saw Spike approach him and say he needed to be taken somewhere, both of them went in the opposite direction to us.”
There was a momentary pause for thought from the rest of the group, they knew Spike as the small purple dragon that follows Headmare Twilight around the school, almost like an assistant. Why did Spike speak with Sandbar? Where did he take him? Was it to see Headmare Twilight? Why would Spike want Sandbar to see Headmare Twilight, unless…
“Do you guys think Sandbar is in trouble?”
Silverstream, Ocellus, and Yona, all three looked at each other, trying to remain doubtful. Gallus and Smolder, on the other hand, took no interest or concern and kept their heads focused on their notebooks. Although that did not stop Smolder from giving a slight smirk as she responded with an ominous tone.
“Maybe...”
Ocellus and Silverstream were quick to feel unease at the answer. “But what for?”
Gallus noticed what Smolder was doing, a small bit of teasing over a situation that’s not a big deal, and he couldn’t help but join in. “Guess we’ll find out later”, he added with a subtle smirk of his own.
The unease started to worsen for Ocellus and Silverstream as they started to imagine their friend standing in front of Headmare Twilight’s desk as she looked down on him, possibly to be given detention or suspension. On the other hand, Yona didn’t buy into what was being suggested.
“Yona refuse to believe Sandbar in trouble, Sandbar too kind pony to be bad.”
Smolder couldn’t help but amuse herself a bit more. “Those are the kind of creatures you wouldn’t expect…” she remarked in her ominous tone.
Having had enough of the two playing around, she put her hoof down. “Yona thinks Griffon and Dragon shouldn’t be teasing the idea.”
The pair finally raised their heads from their notebooks to see the other three staring back at them. Ocellus and Silverstream remained nervous, while Yona was judging them. They realised then that they should drop their act before things get too out of hand for either of them.
“Alright, we won’t. Sandbar’s gonna be fine.”
The five settled back to their notebooks, meanwhile, the chatter going on behind them all in the breakroom changed from the casual mundane goings-on of everyday ponies to the sounds of oos and aws, as well as a few chuckles and giggles, could be heard, and all seemed to focus on something going on behind them.
“Doesn’t that look so cute!” said one student. “That looks adorable!” uttered another.
It was not long after that a light green pony with a green wavy mane emerged from around the side of the chairs.
“Hey guys!” he greeted the group of creatures. The five all turned, and from each of their line of sights could see the green pony smiling back at them.
“Sandbar!” Silverstream exclaimed. “We were all getting worried about you! Were you sent to Headmare Twilight’s office? What happened? What did you do? Are you in trouble?” she asked frantically, each question shot out in rapid-fire.
Sandbar raised an eyebrow at the question while taken aback by Silversteam's upfront line of questioning, he tried to look at the others for an explanation of what had gone on while he was away. All he could see was Ocellus patiently waiting for an answer, with Yona turning her head to Gallus and Smolder, who in turn were trying to play coy.
“Uh… I’m not in trouble or anything…” he answered slowly. “I was sent to the courtyard, partially because of this.”
“Everycreature, I’d like you all to meet my little sister, Coral Currents!” Sandbar proudly proclaimed as gestured one of his forehooves towards the little filly.
The filly gave a wave and a small “Hallo!” in return.
The appearance explained the commotion that happened behind them moments earlier, especially when Silverstream, Ocellus, and Yona, all in unison gasped in awe and excitement, with pupils dilating, and on the brink of screaming.
“Green Pony brought over smaller Green Pony!” Yona exclaimed as she jumped off her chair, shaking the room as she landed on the floor.
Silverstream and Ocellus also beamed at the sight of Coral. “Aw, she’s so cute! I just want to pick her up and swing her around and around and around…” Silverstream started spinning in her seat as she spoke.
Gallus and Smolder looked on jadedly, their whispers towards each other being monotone.
“I’m not seeing it…”
“Yeah, me neither…”
“Do we get to play with her today? Oooh, I love playing with littlelings!” Ocellus asked, unable to refrain her wings from fluttering in eagerness.
Sandbar was happy to answer. “Yep, outside of our classes, we can.” He explained that he was sent to the courtyard because his parents were waiting to see him there, wanting to check up on him and get a full tour of the school and the surrounding area, bringing Coral along because she was missing him.
School Guidance Counsellor Starlight was with them at the time, and after asking if Coral could spend time with him and his friends around the school, she allowed on the condition it was only during break times to not interfere with classes. Since she offered to supervise Coral during lessons and their parents were happy with the arrangement, Sandbar brought Coral up to breakroom to introduce her to all his friends properly.
“Coral, these are all the friends I wrote about in my letters.”
He proceeded to lift her off his back and hold her up to his chest as he sat in front of his friends, pointing to each creature one by one, starting from furthest away to nearest. It was quickly apparent that Coral had come up with her own names for her big brother’s friends based on these letters, presumably from what species they were.
First was Yona. “Yak!” A straightforward one, Yona felt a bit proud in response.
Next was Ocellus. “Love Bug!” Another straightforward one, Ocellus felt a bit touched by it.
Followed by Smolder. “Draggo!” Smolder didn’t move from her notebook when she heard it, a subtle hmph and a muttered “close enough” was the most effort she was willing to give as a reaction, albeit not one Sandbar or Coral could notice.
Then there was Silverstream, no response from Coral, not that the hippogriff seemed to notice as she was too busy grinning and waving at the filly.
Finally, there was Gallus. “Birdie!” By contrast, the Griffon absolutely noticed the response. He started out surprised before he blushed and glared a hole into Sandbar as everyone snickered and giggled to themselves. Meanwhile, Coral looked around the room with a confused look on her face, before turning around and looking up to her big brother.
“Sandy, where’s Fishy?”
Silverstream and all others showing interest looked towards Sandbar for an explanation, Sandbar blanked momentarily as he tried to figure out an answer. “Sorry Silver, Coral really likes fishes. I figured she’d be a lot happier if I told her I was friends with a Seapony instead of a Hippogriff.” Sandbar tried to explain as he gave a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his head.
Fortunately, Silverstream didn’t seem too bothered, in fact, she seemed to excite her a bit more. “Ooh, that’s not a problem!” She followed her forgiveness to Sandbar by quietly calling to Coral. “Oh Coral~ Come look over here~” she cooed, and sure enough Coral turned her head back around towards the pink Hippogriff.
As Silverstream placed one of her claws on her necklace, her talons wrapping around the shard of a pearl hanging from the centre, a quick bright flash emerged. When it cleared, she had transformed from a brightly coloured pink bird with hooves on her hind legs to a brightly coloured pink fish with a soft scaley body and a pony-like face. She finished off her transformation to a Seapony with a gleeful “ta-da!”
Coral’s eyes went wide as she stared at the large talking sea creature in front of her, it was her turn to be awestruck. “FISHY!” she called out as she ran from Sandbar’s arms and hugged tightly onto Silverstream’s tail fin.
It was from that point that plans had changed, as most of the notebooks were put down and attention was put on the happy little filly. After a bit of effort to pry away Coral’s hooves from her tight hug, the entertainment began with her sitting on Silverstream’s lap, watching Yona making funny faces. Coral was loving every moment of it, giggling along with every new face.
Then Ocellus had an idea. “Oooh! There’s a game I play with my younger siblings, I’ve always wanted to try it out here!” She then proceeded to whisper her plan to Sandbar, who was happily on board and keen to try it out, as well as Silverstream, adding to tell her to keep Coral where is she is sitting.
Ocellus then made her way around the right side of the seats, and Sandbar made his way around the left side of the chairs so that both were hiding behind the group where Coral couldn’t see them. After a moment, a bright blue flare emerged from where the two were hiding, and another moment later Sandbar appeared from both sides of the set of seats. The group could now see two Sandbars standing in front of them.
“Hey sis!” both Sandbars called in almost perfect unison. Coral looked on completely confuzzled, rubbing her eyes and shifting her head between two identical versions of her big brother. What was when Silverstream played her role in the game.
“Woah! Two Sandbars? Now that doesn’t seem right, I’m sure there’s only one of him.” Silverstream spoke out loud, overacting on purpose to the point that Yona couldn’t help but giggle at the exaggerated performance. “Coral, I can’t tell these two apart, do you think you can find which Sandbar is the REAL Sandbar?”
Little Coral slowly climb down from Silverstream and their seat and cautiously approached the two Sandbars. Both smiled as she walked between them, trying to figure out if there was a difference between them. She could tell their coats matched in colour and even felt the same when she tried touching them. She could also see their cutie marks matched exactly too, three turtles in a triangle formation as they swam up to their flanks. Both even had the same wavy haircuts, eye colour, tail, all looked the same from how she remembers.
As she tilted her head and looked hard at their faces, and while they seemed similar, she was sure there was a difference. The Sandbar on the right had a smile that was eager as if he was trying to hide a surprise for her, and his eyes appeared clear like he was fully awake. Coral may be incredibly young, but she has seen her brother long enough to know he wouldn’t feel fully awake unless he was ready to surf at the beach with their dad, or it was late in the afternoon. The Sandbar on the left, by contrast, his smile seemed to be more confident, as if he knew it was really him. His eyes were also telling, feeling a bit more relaxed like he had only started feeling awake.
As she stood in front of the Sandbar on the left, she smiled and lifted her front hooves to rest onto his own and proclaimed, “BIG BRO!” to declare that she made her decision. Sure enough, a bright blue flare emerged and encompassed the other Sandbar, and once it cleared up, Ocellus had returned to her natural form. Big cheers and applause emerged from the group, and a big hug from Sandbar, to show that she had chosen correctly and won the game.
The only ones who weren’t participating were Smolder and Gallus, who still going through their notebooks and working on their assignments. Not wanting to leave them out, Sandbar approached them to see if they join in, still holding Coral in one of his hooves.
“Hey dudes, you sure you two don’t want to join in?” he asked.
Coral was especially encouraging, calling “Draggo! Draggo play!” as she reaches out to Smolder.
Smolder became agitated at the offer, eyes widened and shifting in her seat. “Uh… sorry, can’t do! Gotta get this assignment out of the way!” and dropped her head back down to her notebook. Coral tilted her head but didn’t feel despair just yet as she turned to Gallus.
“Birdie! Birdie Play!”
Gallus, on the other hand, felt much less enthused. “GRIFFON can’t play either” he sharply answered as he kept his eyes locked on his own notebook.
“Aw…” Coral felt discouraged that neither of them wanted to play. Sandbar felt down as well but wanted to keep his time with his little sister as positive as he could.
“Don’t worry, sis. I’m sure they’ll get a chance to play with you later, okay?” he tried to reassure her, as did the others.
"Yeah, we still want to play! It's their loss if they'd rather be bored and grumpy!"
"Yona thinks Griffon and Dragon just bad with kids..."
Having the rest of the group continue to give her attention and play did help lift her spirits back up, but every now and then she’d look over at the blue griffon and orange dragon sitting on the sofa together, looking bored as they flip through their notebooks, wondering why they don’t want to play.
The bell rang, and all the students in Professor Applejack’s classroom had just left for their next lesson. Gallus was flying just above his friends as they made their way through the hallway, as they all talked about Pinkie Pie’s laughter class.
“Oh, I hope it’ll be fun” proclaimed Silverstream, “I love that about Professor Pinkie’s classes!”
“I’m just hoping that Professor Pinkie doesn’t fire her party cannon in my face like last time,” remarked Gallus.
Sandbar chuckled, “Yeah, I was finding bits of confetti in our dorm room for days.”
“Yona thought last Pink Pony Lesson was a blast!” Yona absently chimed in and was confused when everyone turned to look at her.
As they reached the main hall, it occurred to Gallus that he was missing something, noticing his empty claws while the rest of the groups had either a hoof or a hand holding onto something. Then it hit him…
“Ugh, darn Grover. I left my notebook in Professor Applejack’s classroom, you all go on ahead, I’ll catch up!”
Gallus quickly flew in the opposite direction, all the way back to the classroom where, fortunately, the notebook was resting on the workshop bench with the Professor herself resting her hoof on it. Applejack seemed to appreciate the honesty when Gallus admitted that he forgot about it at the end of class.
By the time he got back into the main hall, it was virtually empty, no pony in sight aside any painting or busts of famous pony figures. He figured lessons were just starting, and everyone was already inside, so he needed to get a move on. In his mind, the sooner he got to class, the less he would have to deal with being late, and the less he would need to catch up during lunch.
“Birdie?”
Suddenly he was reminded that lunchtime also meant more time with Sandbar’s “cute” little sister. He initially felt peeved at the thought, but after a moment he sighed, pressed on his beak, and turned to be peeved at himself. Perhaps he was being a little too harsh when he refused to play along with the little filly and the others, especially over something as minor as a nickname from a two-year-old or whatever. He could only admit to himself that he probably should make it up to Sandbar at least and try to be nicer, it’s not like he should be mad at anyone who’s family was willing to travel all the way to the school to see him, even if he didn’t…
“Birdie!”
Gallus’ mind hit back on the name again, groaning quietly to himself. He tried to remind himself to let it go, arguing internally that Silverstream and Ocellus were happy to be called “Fishy” and “Love Bug”, and even Smolder didn’t seem to take “Draggo” personally, but the other part of him was arguing back that Griffons still hold what little pride they had left. In his mind, he’s not just a bird, and not a cute little one either, he was part-eagle and part-lion. At the very least, he felt like even some little filly shouldn’t call him something he doesn’t like.
“Gree…fo?”
That was when he stopped, he could hear a voice in the main hall, but no creature was around. “Is someone calling me?” he asked as his vision panned across the room, that was when he heard someone or something sniffling from near one of the pillars. The sound compelled him against his main priority to see what it was, so he investigated around the pillars themselves. Sure enough, he found the source, Sandbar’s little sister was hiding behind the bust of Rockhoof, huddled in between it and the stone pillar with visible tears coming out of her face.
“Coral, right? What are you doing out here?” he calmly asked, “Shouldn’t you be in the Student Guidance Counsellor’s Office?”
Coral sniffled some more. “I was following fishies. Then found strange ponies all-round…” she answered with a tremble in her voice. “Thought I saw big bro, but big bro no see me…”
From what Gallus could gather, Coral wondered out of the Student Guidance office while somehow following fishes, getting lost and scared in the crowd of students. He knew he should do the responsible thing and take her to a staff member, but his mind was reminding him that he should be getting back to class.
“Well, Sandbar is in Professor Pinkie’s classroom by now, and I need to head to class too so…” Gallus looked into the little filly’s soaking and glistening eyes and could feel his heart starting to fight back against his mind. “…I’ll find someone who can take you back to the Guidance Counsellor, so stay put.”
He started making his way towards one of the corridors but was suddenly stopped by the feeling of his tail being tugged on, confirmed when he turned around to see Coral hugging onto the end of it. To which she asked, “Can Cowal go with you?”
Part of him could imagine that if any other griffon were in this scenario, they would be quick to push Coral off and say no, but he could feel something in his chest preventing him from trying.
He tried his best to shake it off, “Look, I’m already late for class, can you just let…”
Another look at Coral’s sniffling face, the sadness, and fear of being left alone was taking him back to early days on Griffonstone, wandering the streets alone and not having any griffon to go to for help. He didn’t realise what was building up inside him was empathy until that very moment, and in the battle between his heart and his mind, his heart had won. He sighed, picked up Coral, and placed her on his back.
“You owe me one, Sandbar” he murmured to himself.
He had made a new plan, enter Pinkie Pie’s class, apologise for being late, get Sandbar to help with Coral. Simple plan, but the first thing is to get to the classroom as soon as possible, and it was going to take him too long to go through the school building. Luckily, he knew of a shortcut that Smolder and he would take in scenarios that caused them to fall behind. He just needed to open a window from the corridor and fly down to the window just outside the classroom.
He jumped up and perched from the windowsill and opened his wings, Coral looked out at the open window and hooked her hooves around Gallus’ neck as tight as she could. Gallus then jumped off the windowsill and started flapping. Coral was already amazed at being in the air, but after Gallus closed the window from the outside, she would really begin to experience flight as he started to dive towards the lower floor.
The little filly yelled “Wheee!” as Gallus swooped down, enough indication that her mood swung up. The griffon slowed down to a stop as the two were close enough to look through the window of Professor Pinkie Pie’s Laughter classroom, able to make out his friends at their seats. All Gallus needed to do was to find the nearest window outside the classroom and make his way through the door, unfortunately, Coral seemed to have other plans.
“More! Griffo Fly More!” she demanded as she pulled on Gallus’ neck away from the classroom and towards an open lake, the same one that Gallus remembered hanging out with when he skipped class with his friends during their first week of school.
Not sure why the sudden change in mood, he resisted by moving towards the school. “You know, we’re really close to the classroom and you want to see Sandb-ACK!?” Coral didn’t seem to listen, pulling on Gallus’ head with enough force that it was causing him to lean back and move backwards.
As a result, Gallus quickly reoriented himself and started flying towards the lake.
“Sandbar, you REALLY owe me one now” he murmured to himself.
The flight around the lake started slow and easy enough, with Coral sat upright calling out directions, unable to see Gallus’ jaded expression as he followed along. That was until Coral started calling to go faster, seeming to enjoy the speed, that was when Gallus was starting to enjoy the moment too. With a determined smile on his face, he wanted to see how thrilling he can go with a creature on his back.
“Hey Coral, you might want to hang on!”
Coral wasn’t sure what was going on at first, but once Gallus started gaining altitude, she quickly hooked her hooved around Gallus’ neck again. By the time Gallus stopped ascending, both could see the entire lake without moving their heads, it was not too long before Gallus turned around, and leant forwards. With his claws held around Coral’s hooves and wings bunched together, there was anticipation for Gallus to dive headfirst into the water, but when his wings extended out as far as they could go, the two were whooshed back up, creating a small wave in the lake as they passed.
From that point on, it went from a flight to a rollercoaster ride. Gallus leant back for the first loop as Coral cheered onwards, and followed with winding turn after winding turn, and corkscrew after corkscrew. “Having fun back there?” he asked, not that he needed an answer, Coral’s cheering provided that.
As Gallus started to rise up and swoop back down again to prepare for another loop, he noticed in his vision and orange blur. As he got closer and closer, it started appearing clearer and clearer, the orange blur could now be seen with a purple mane, wings… His heart momentarily stopped, and he quickly moved upright and flapped his wings against his velocity to try and slow down. He managed to grind himself to a halt just metres in front of a familiar orange dragon.
“Having fun, are we?” Smolder asked with a pierced glare, arms resting firmly on her hips.
Beads of sweat started dripping down Gallus’ head, “Smolder! Uh… what are you doing here?”
“I should be asking you that question!” she snapped back, “I WAS in Professor Pinkie’s class wondering what was taking you so long, only to find YOU flying past the window! I managed to convince the Professor that I needed to go to the bathroom so I could figure out what you were up to, so care to explain?”
Before Gallus could give an answer, the small filly hiding behind Gallus gave the answer for him. “Griffo, why you stop?” She climbed up Gallus’s back and peeked over his shoulder, Smolder mouth went agape and eyes grew wide at the site of the tiny head of a filly poking into view.
“Draggo!” Coral exclaimed, waving her front hooves in her direction as she balanced herself on Gallus’ shoulders.
“Is… is that… Sandbar’s sister?” asked Smolder, trying to compose herself.
Gallus nodded, he explained the situation leading up to that point, including how he found her hiding and upset, tried to get help but was led to taking her along to class and used the shortcut but was pulled along to the lake. Smolder seemed to understand the story but didn’t seem to buy the decision he made to spend time with Coral, knowing how he acted at breaktime.
“Well, I’m sure there are ponies in the school looking for us, so SHE needs to be taken back to the Guidance Counsellor and YOU need to head back to class.”
Gallus raised an eyebrow and smirked, “Since when did you care about us missing classes?” he remarked.
“Oh, I don’t know? NOW?” she snapped back.
Gallus rolled his eyes and groaned as he lifted Coral off her shoulders and held her towards Smolder as they all remained flying above the lake, “Fine, how about you take Coral then?”
That was when Smolder started to appear agitated again, inching backwards. “Uh… why?”
Confused by the sudden change in behaviour, Gallus decided to inch closer. “Because I need to head back to class as soon as possible, and as far as the class is concerned, you’re still in the bathroom, so you take the little pony.”
Smolder inched back a bit further, “Um… no, I’m good, you seem to have a handle on her…”
“Come on! She’s not gonna hurt you.” Gallus noticed Coral eagerly reaching out to Smolder, wanting to be held by the dragon who remained unusually uncomfortable at the idea. “See, Coral here thinks it’s a good idea too.” He inched further, to the point where Coral was arm’s length from Smolder.
Smolder, on the other hand, remained resistant as she folded her arms and shifted her body away from Gallus and Coral, “…I don’t want to.”
That was when Gallus decided to take a risk, “Then catch her.” Gallus then hoisted Coral towards Smolder, who upon witnessing the filly in mid-air rushed her into a panic, catching Coral and holding her close to the dragon's chest.
“GALLUS!” she yelled, while Coral giggled at what she assumed was a fun game.
“I knew you could hold her” he confidently remarked.
“That’s not funny, you idiot! She’s not even ours, what if I didn’t catch her?” her anger in full display with smoke pouring out of her jaw and nose.
“Then I would have made a mistake” replied Gallus, trying to hide the relief that his risk somewhat paid off. “What’s your deal anyway?” he asked, much to her frustration. “I had my issues, but you, getting all nervous over playtime and hugs? Not like you to be scared of little kids.”
That’s when Smolder had enough, “I’m NOT scared of little kids! I’m just… not good with them…” she paused and sighed. “In the Dragon Lands, I only hung out with my mom, my brother, and his friends, all of them older than me” she explained, having calmed enough that the smoke had cleared away.
“The last time I tried hanging around anyone younger than me was the last hatching season, I had volunteered to help with the newly hatched dragons, and all the ones I carried would start crying the moment I got near.” She started feeling down the more she had to explain herself.
“It… kinda put me off being around dragons younger than me, so could you blame me for trying to avoid being near a younger pony?”
As the two remained flying above the lake, Gallus couldn’t help but noticed that Coral was rather quiet, turning to look at him as if to ask why Smolder was feeling down all of a sudden.
“Not really, I’m... an only griffon, so no brothers or sisters or…” he paused as he noticed both Smolder and Coral looking at him now with concerned looks, wondering if they were expecting him to reveal his own upbringing. Growing nervous at the thought of bringing up his own past, he quickly tried to change it back to the current topic, “Anyways, you are aware that Coral hasn’t cried at all since you started holding her, right?”
Smolder looked down at Coral, almost forgetting she was right there. She couldn't fathom why Coral was so calm as she was being held in her arms, looking at upwards unafraid of her presence.
“Perhaps that one time you were unlucky, and maybe you shouldn’t avoid giving it another shot?” he suggested.
“I guess… I could…” she nervously answered as Coral looked up at her, hoping the dragon could join in the fun. That was when Smolder turned to Gallus “but how did you know what to do?”
Gallus in returned just shrugged, “I just started doing what she wanted me to do.”
Confused by the answer, Smolder looked down at the little filly, hoping for some sort of hint. Coral returned a smile, saying “Draggo fire!” in a raspy voice before blowing hard, spraying spit over Smolder in the process before giggling.
After a moment though, Smolder smiled as she figured out what to do. She proceeded to lift Coral over her head and carry her on her back.
“Hey Gallus, you might want to move…”
The griffon raised an eyebrow at first, but his confident look transitioned into concern as Smolder’s eyes fixed on him with a sharp grin. He then transitioned to worried when she started breathing in heavily, before blowing hard. Fire spewed out blazing-fast towards him, causing him to shoot upwards in a panic. Gallus had just barely dodged a fireball, only singeing his tail, while Coral cheered on.
“SMOLDER!” he yelled at her this time.
“I knew you’d get out the way,” she remarked, smirking as she rubbed the nails on her claws with her chest.
“Oh and what if I didn’t get out the way and got burned alive?!” he asked, with his beak right up in Smolder’s face.
“Then I would have made a mistake” she answered in imitation of the griffon’s own voice. As much as it annoyed him, he could tell it was some good payback, so his anger was short-lived.
“Oh, you’re gonna pay…” he called out as he started chasing Smolder, and in quick response, she started to flee. The pair raced each other around the lake, and Coral enjoying the sight as she held onto Smolder, cheering on Griffo to catch up.
That was until they heard a bell ringing. Smolder and Gallus both stopped and looked towards the school.
“Were we outside for the entire class?”
The thought of the worst for them dawned on them the moment the bell ringing ceased. “We should probably go…”
For anyone not in classes and wandering around the school, they would have been able to see a bright purple unicorn looking around frantically, or at least they could have seen her had she not vanish in a literal flash. Starlight Glimmer searched around every nook and cranny every part of the school premises for Coral in high anxiety, teleporting to save time on running and begging that she could be found soon. Her paper fishes were easier to be found scattered just outside her office, trodden on, and crumpled by the hooves of aimless creatures from several minutes earlier.
Her mental list of possible locations a young foal like her had expanded from one, two, five, ten, all the way to the whole interior of the school grounds to no avail. Her mind scrolled through all locations to double and quadruple check, until she had zapped herself back inside the calming confines of her office, whereupon hearing the school bell, she finally cracked.
“I LOST SOMEPONY’S CHILD! Why on Equestria did I think using a spell to keep her occupied was a good idea?” she asked herself as she paced around her desk. Her mind raced at the outcomes of the level of trouble she landed herself in, thinking of how she could have supervised her better or given the responsibility to someone more available like Fluttershy or Twilight, although there was no way she could use a time-travel spell to fix the mess.
She took as many breaths as she could to calm herself down, gradually each breath getting longer and longer before she could compose herself. “Okay Starlight, you can fix this, you just need some help,” she told herself, “I’ll tell Twilight what happened, she can call on the rest of the school, and we can get a better search going.”
Determined with her plan, she made her exit out of the office, confident that when she tells Twilight, no one else would need to worry. At least that is what she hoped until she was outside her office and closed the door to find a set of creatures standing in front of her. She panned left to right, recognising Yona, Ocellus, and Silverstream, all smiling and relaxed after an eventful lesson from Pinkie Pie’s Laughter class.
Next was Sandbar, who she recalled having spoken to less than a couple hours earlier, but her heart stopped at the two older looking ponies that stood next to him. The first was a tall stallion with a coat that was on the lighter shade of green, his most standout feature being his bright blue dreads that reached all the way down his long neck. Then there was a bright yellow mare, her mane was short, pink and wavy, and wore a necklace with small seashell as its central piece, one of her hooves was still upright as if she was about to knock on the door before Starlight made her appearance.
It was certain that they would know each other, having spoken earlier that morning at the courtyard. “Oh hi! You’re Coral’s parents, it’s so nice to meet you again.” As much as she feared the moment she was caught in, she tried her best to hide it with a smile and a friendly face, although she couldn’t avoid the lengthen vowels and the raised octave in her voice as she started speaking.
Coral’s parents, on the other hand, seemed not to notice. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you too” her mother responded, her soft tone radiating calmness at every word. She explained, “We just had a lovely tour of the school from that little purple dragon of yours and thought we should pick up our little Coral so we could all have lunch with our son and his friends.” Starlight started to laugh quietly behind a wide grin, the scenario getting more unsettling for her.
“How is she?” the mother politely asked, “I hope she wasn’t too much trouble?”
Starlight looked across the smiling and eager faces as she gulped, unprepared for the news she was about to begin. “O-oh no, your daughter has been great! Not a trouble at all, except…” her voice started to tremble, she could feel herself shaking slowly as she made small steps backwards. “You see… this is gonna be very, very, very, difficult to hear, but I’m afraid Coral…”
“MAMA! PAPA! BIG BRO!” a sudden familiar-sounding call emerged from behind Starlight, and as her head swung around, she caught the sight of Gallus and Smolder, and sitting on the orange dragon’s shoulders was a small green filly with a big smile on her face.
“THERE YOU ARE!” Starlight called gleefully, her worst fears rushing out of her as she used her unicorn magic to lift the filly off Smolder and transport her across to her parent’s hooves, Coral giggling at the short ride into her mother’s hooves.
The parents smiled contently as they reunited with their youngest pony, “So, did our little dudette have fun while we were away?” her father asked, his voice carrying a heavy drawl, a stark contrast to the cheery tone of his young daughter, who eagerly nodded.
“Paper Fishies Swim, Griffo Fly, Draggo Breath Fire!” she listed, acting out each instance with as much movement as her hooves could handle.
Her father just smiled, “They do? That sounds rad…” he responded in his drawn-out tone, ruffling her mane with his hoof.
Everyone was smiling and Starlight felt heavily relieved that Coral was safe and sound, attention turned to the Griffon and Dragon that remained standing behind Starlight, their situation being unexplained to the rest of the party. The pair had anticipated the worst as they arrived, and they dropped their defences at the happy sight in front of them.
Yona went straight to the point, “Question. Where has Griffon been? Friends did not see him in previous class.” The corridor became silent, all Gallus could muster was an elongated “uh” as everyone stared in his direction for an answer. Starlight was especially looking for an answer, as her stare had the presence of fire and daggers pointing right at him.
This was followed up by Silverstream, “Yeah, we haven’t seen either of you for a while. Smolder must have really needed the bathroom, badly…” Now Smolder was uttering her own “uh” sound as both were now the focus of attention, with Starlight glaring harder as the pair knew how much trouble they were in.
At least, that was until Sandbar started realising something off, “Wait a minute… very difficult to hear… there you are…” he muttered, “Counsellor Starlight, did you not know where Coral was when we got here?”
In a flash, Starlight’s anxiety shot up, the anger wiped clean off her face and her body froze like a statue. “NO!” she snapped back, turning to find everyone was now looking in her direction. Finding herself in a state of panic, she suddenly found the desperate need to correct herself as she cleared her throat. “I-I mean, of COURSE, I knew where Coral has been,” she explained, “I did my best to supervise her during the morning, but when work started building up, Gallus and Smolder VOLUNTEERED to supervise in my stead.”
Gallus and Smolder shared their confusion at what was happening, but when Starlight’s head turned back in their direction, her awkward smile shifted into a darted glare, and they felt a sudden urge to smile and nod along like she was telling the truth.
Starlight returned back to her smile and explained further, “I did agree to let them take Coral outside, for some fresh air and a change of scenery, on the condition that they bring her back here before class would end. So… I may have gotten a LITTLE worried that they were late coming back.” She then proceeded to laugh, almost uncomfortably, hoping that her excuse would cover up the situation.
Everyone else was staring blankly through the entire speech, processing the account word by word. It was in the moment of uncertainty that Coral’s father just smiled and uttered, “Far out…”, seemingly convinced of what supposedly happened.
Silverstream followed suit, “Aww… that’s so sweet” holding her hands to her heart.
"That's really cool, you guys..." said Sandar, expressing his gratitude.
"Yona always knew friends good with kids!" Yona remarked boastfully. Both Gallus and Smolder noticed the rest of their friends were pretty heartfelt by their “volunteering”.
Coral’s mom simply smiled, “Thank you all for taking good care of her”, addressing all three of them as they bashfully stood around.
This was shortly followed by a question raised by Coral’s father, “So then? Who wants to go to the cafeteria to grab lunch?” and all the youngsters raised their hooves and claws in eager agreement. After a nod and wave, the group started making a move down the hall, at least most of them were.
“You lot go on ahead, I just need to have a quick word with Gallus and Smolder, and then they can catch up!” she cheerfully called towards the rest of the group, although the pair that would be spoken to had frozen by that point, uncertain of what they were going to hear. As the rest of the group was out of view, Starlight turned around, and both the cheeriness and discomfort were gone, returning to her dagger filled glare with a burning aura.
“Neither of you were in class, huh?” she began, her seriousness as clearly defined as her calm approach. “I seem to recall the last time you two were skipping classes, a major panic had occurred. So how are you two going to explain yourselves?”
The pair looked at each other, anticipating the worse, at least now they could tell the truth. “We shouldn’t have skipped class and we’re sorry…” Gallus opened, “…but in my defence, I wouldn’t have done so if I didn’t find Coral alone in the halls…” One of Starlight’s eyes started to twitch at the point, and it wasn’t even Smolder’s turn to speak.
“I... shouldn’t have skipped class either” the young dragon added, “but we did help cheer up and entertain Coral while you were gone, and Professor Fluttershy wanted us to do something selfless and an act of kindness so…” The judging unicorn did not take their words well, but she also couldn’t leave away the fact that she had to lie in order to avoid being faced with punishment for the trouble she caused.
Her head dropped in defeat, she told the pair with a heavy sigh “I’ll have a word with your teacher, just make sure you catch up on any work you missed…” The two looked at each other with confusion, unsure if she was really letting them both off the hook? To give some credence, Starlight also gave one more judgemental glare towards them, “But next time this happens, just be late. Don’t ever skip class again, GOT IT?” The pair quickly responded by hastily nodding, before Starlight walked off with her head held down, as she departed for the teacher’s lounge.
As the griffon and dragon started flying down the corridors, towards the cafeteria to reunite with their friends and Sandbar’s family, the pair thought about what they both went through during that hour, and how they managed to skip detention in spite of it all.
Smolder looked over at Gallus with a smirk, “So, does birdie like to play now?” she teased.
Gallus hmphed and returned his own smirk, “Actually, I think you’ll find it’s Griffo now” he retorted, “Do you think you’re good with kids now?”
Smolder shrugged, “Meh, I’m at least good with one.” Gallus nodded.
“Yeah, me too.”
The Counsellor's Assistant
“Are you sure it’s okay to leave Coral with you during class?” asked Sandbar, as he stood outside the Student Guidance Office. On his side of the open door, students were walking through the corridor to their next classes as the bell had rung in the distance. On the other side was the Student Guidance Counsellor herself, Starlight Glimmer, using magic from her horn to levitate little Coral towards her eye level.
The bright purple unicorn didn’t seem to show any worry at all at the idea. “Oh, of course, it will be fine!” she reassured Sandbar. “As I said earlier, it’s my duty to help you students with your studies, and that means I’m more than willing to take care of a cute little brother or sister on a rare occasion. Yes I am, yes I am!” she tickled the little filly and managed to get her giggling.
Sandbar felt relieved to see how supportive the school staff over this, just if there wasn’t any hassle. He looked over at Coral to quickly talk to her before he left for Professor Applejack’s class. “Hey sis, I’ve got two classes to go to, and then I’ll head straight back here to pick you up. Okay?”
His little sister smiled as he gave a nod and replied “Bah-bye!” as she waved to her big brother. Sandbar smiled and waved back before he made a hasty departure down the corridor.
For Starlight Glimmer, it was time to go to work. “Okay Coral, how would you like to be an Assistant Student Guidance Counsellor for the day?” she asked eagerly as she approached her desk. Coral was still floating around in the air thanks to Starlight’s levitation, so she was a bit too preoccupied with the fun of floating a few feet off the ground to give a proper answer, at least until Starlight safely landed the young filly onto her desk.
“Well don’t worry about how daunting the job is, I’m sure you’ll be able to manage it just fine. Most of the time you will be sitting in an office like this just… waiting… for a student to need your help.” The one thing Starlight didn’t like about her work was all the time in between helping students, she had already lost count of the number of times she cleaned her desk and rearranged her bookshelf in the last month or two since the school opened.
The opportunity to bond with a student’s younger sibling was one of her new ways to help pass the time with something between the wait. “But, fortunately, we can do all the other important stuff while we wait for students to knock at the door, and I came prepared!”
Starlight used her unicorn abilities to open her desk draws and reveal papers and coloured pencils, and lots of them! “I may have made a favour to one of our professors to borrow some of their art equipment, so let’s see how many of the things you like you can draw!” Coral showed her enthusiasm by grabbing a green pencil she finds and starts scribbling on one of the sheets of paper.
After a moment of observing the little filly try to draw certain shapes on the piece of paper when she could hear a knock at the door, a student! “Come in!” she called, and the door slowly opened. Emerging from the entrance was a bright blue unicorn who was all too familiar for her, November Rain. He was one of her few regular visitors, a silent and sensitive figure who struggled to fit into the school, often visiting every week with a new issue he was having.
As he approached to sit down, he could not help but notice the little filly sitting on Starlight’s desk, to which Starlight remarked that he shouldn’t worry as she’s just “her little assistant”. He gave a little wave when Coral briefly glanced over to see the unicorn sit down on one of the bean bags in front of the desk.
“So, how can I help you today?” Starlight asked with a radiant glow. November Rain paused for a moment, nervously rubbing his hooves before plucking the courage to speak. He started talking slowly about how he’s been at the school for months now but was starting to feel a little homesick.
“I haven’t seen mom or dad or my little brother since I started school, and I’m not sure how they’re doing, or if they still think about me…” as he spoke, he gradually went downcast. Homesickness seemed like a new issue for Starlight to encounter, a quick glance at Coral made her ponder if her visit brought it up some way, but there was no time to make assumptions.
“I’m sure your family still thinks about you.” Starlight assured him with a clear and uplifting tone. “Perhaps you could write to them to let them know how you’re doing?”
There was a pause as November Rain looked down at his hooves. “Well… I’m not sure what to write. I don’t want them to feel bad for me, or think I don’t like it here, or…” he continued to list more negative things he was worried about. Starlight knew he needed to do something to reduce his anxiety, but as she listened it started to appear like a mountain that was growing larger and larger to climb.
That was when she started to feel a small hoof poke her arm, Coral held up a sheet of paper with a crude drawing of what looked like four brightly coloured ponies, at least if you squinted and tried to make out the wobbly circles, the basic lined faces, and jagged lines as the heads, bodies, legs and tails of them. This gave Starlight an idea.
“Oh WOW! Would you look at that!” she cut off November Rain as she exclaimed ecstatically and presented the drawing so all three of them could see it. “Doesn’t this drawing look amazing?”
All November Rain could make out were the jagged lines and scruffy colouring in, but as he could also see a toddler on the desk and the guidance counsellor gleefully and forcefully showing it off, he nervously nodded with an uncomfortable smile in the hopes that it could suffice as approval.
“Now let’s see here…” Starlight started pointing to the different vaguely looking ponies on the drawing. “This one must be you… this yellow one with the pink mane must be your mom… this tall green one with the blue mane must be your dad… and who might this one be?”
Coral gleefully answered, “BIG BRO!”
“Of course! It must be!” Starlight turned back to November Rain. “You know Sandbar, right? I believe he’s in one or two of your classes…”
November Rain pondered for a moment, he could imagine a green pony with a wavy mane and a surfer's voice, always hanging around the group of non-ponies in the school. He quietly nodded.
Starlight gave a smile. “Well, Sandbar may not be as far away from home as you are to yours, but he still thinks about his family a lot. I know he writes to them regularly about how he’s getting on, and today his family is visiting the school to check-up on him. As you can see, his little sister here thinks about him a lot. Isn't that right? You think about him a lot, yes you do!” she proceeded to boop Coral’s nose, as the little filly smiled and giggled in response.
November Rain looked on and started to smile as he saw Starlight being playful towards Coral, and what she said got a thought going in his mind. “So what you’re saying is… I should write to my family to let them know how I feel… and maybe they’ll come over to see me?”
Starlight beamed as she could hear the sign of progress going through her ears. “Yes, that sounds like a great idea! Write a letter to your family, let them know you think of them, how you’re getting on well in classes, how you made a friend two weeks ago, all that stuff! They will be glad to hear from you.”
The smile started to grow on November Rain, he felt sure about he wanted to do after classes ended for the day. “Okay, I will! Thank you, Counsellor Starlight, I really appreciate your help.” He got off the bean bag chair and started making his approach for the entrance.
“That’s why I’m here!” she responded with her cheery tone and a wide grin.
“…and I’ll be waiting to see you again next week.”
As the door shut and a moment passed, Starlight turned to Coral. “Well, it looks like you got the hang of being an assistant guidance counsellor!” she remarked as she ruffled her hair.
They returned to waiting for the next student to arrive, Starlight could tell if there would have been another student waiting outside by that point. She let out a sigh before turning back to Coral, “How should we pass the time now, huh?” she asked, as boredom began to dawn on her.
Coral in response picked up a pencil and started making another drawing, and proudly revealed a drawing what appeared to be a pointed sphere with a triangle attached to the end. “Fishy!” she called it.
This gave Starlight an idea. Using her magic, she opened one of the desks draws and took out a pair of scissors, followed by several sheets of paper. Coral watched on as the scissors float around cutting in and around the pieces of paper in the end, as the remaining shards fall like snow or confetti. By the time she was finished with the scissors, she had a stack of perfectly cut paper fish sitting in front of her desk.
“Now for the fun part!” she uttered, rubbing her hooves together. She focused on the stack of paper fish as her horn glowed brighter and brighter, before leaning in and zap! Magic lightning shot out from her horn and onto the stack, although as the lighting faded away, nothing appeared to happen.
That was until pieces of paper from the stack started to move on their own, floating up into the air one by one. More and more pieces started floating until all of them were in the air, jittering in place. Then, all of the pieces flipped onto their sides and started swimming around. Coral’s eyes were now transfixed on the paper fish that were coming to life.
“This is a spell I’ve been practising in my spare time, Levitation Automaton, where you make things move on their own! I've yet to master how complex it is, and I shouldn't really be using it to create an open-air paper aquarium, but I won't tell if you won't!” As proud as Starlight was that she got the spell working, Coral was too much in awe at the fish around her to pay attention.
Not that it did not bother Starlight, as she could hear a bell ring and a knock at her door, another student needed her help. All things looked straightforward at first, a Pegasus student named Patty Peppermint needing advice on how to pick the best partners for an assignment in Professor Rarity’s class, saying she wanted to get the best marks from her favourite teacher. Starlight had the answer ready at hoof: it is better to work with a pony you get on well with, than a pony who thinks they can get the best job done.
Patty Peppermint seemed satisfied with the advice, saying she will ask one of her friends to help and made her leave. Before Starlight could check on Coral, another student knocked on the door and poked their head inside. From her desk, Starlight could see from the opening of the door that outside was crowded with students all walking by, she could only assume most students were making their visits in these brief periods between classes to avoid interfering with their actual lessons.
As a result, Starlight’s next task was offering advice to Hyper Sonic on his issues with public speaking, resolving an argument between Pepper Pot and Water Spout, and Mulberry Flowers with dealing with the stress of doing Rainbow Dash’s Loyalty assignment. Several minutes felt like an hour, but she could finally breathe a sigh of relief when she finished and could hear the outside corridor become quiet once more.
Starlight gave a relieved sigh, “Well, that’s what makes this job an experience! One moment you need to help several students at once, and another you don’t need to help any students at all!” she laughed. “But now the heavy load is over, sorry if you needed me for anything Coral… Coral?” She looked on and around her desk, and the young filly was nowhere to be found.
She cooed around for Coral as she noticed the paper fish still swimming slowly, almost in a line. She followed the path of paper fish as it went around her desk, underneath the window, past the bookshelf and out of the door. When Starlight noticed the door was ajar, she realised that if Coral was nowhere inside her office, then she had to be outside, and she had no idea for how long.
“Oh no…”
