Flurry Heart shot out of bed on instinct, her body acting as its own alarm clock. On weekdays, Flurry Heart was naturally wired to wake up at around seven in the morning, which was a relief, as classes didn't start until eight-thirty.

Stretching, the young pony's joints released a series of cracks and pops. This unintentionally stirred Lunette into the waking world, the gray unicorn lifting a hooving to her eyes in order to rub the sleep crust out of them.

"Good morning, Lune!"

"Morning, Flurry," she replied tiredly, remnants of a dream still fading away.

"Are you ready for the beginning of the most awesome adventure of our lives?"

"Have you ever attended a public school?"

"Yes! I practically begged my parents to stop my personal tutoring ses—" The princess looked across the room, only to be met with a smirk. Lunette rested her cheek against the sole of her hoof, waiting.

Flurry stopped her excited rambling and hoof gestures, face falling. "Oh. That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"

"Uh-huh," Lunette confirmed, giggling at the joke soaring over her roommate's head.

The pale pink pony rolled her eyes and began to get ready for the day, dragging Lunette with her despite her persistent pleas.

At eight on the nose, Flurry knocked on Honey Canvas' door excitedly, ready to get going.

The colt opened the door just as she went to knock again, narrowly avoiding a hoof to his eye. "Jeez, can we hold off on the violence? It's not even noon yet."

Honey stepped past her and into the hallway, where Lunette stood, a little less eager to go sit through an hour long class. "Hey Honey, how's it going?"

"Almost got my eyes gouged out just a moment ago, so really well!"

"Great," the unicorn replied, her response fueled with just as much sarcasm as his statement.

"This is gonna be so awesome." Flurry unfurled her wings and took to the air, creating imaginary loops and patterns in the open space. Yet again, she'd thrown caution to the wind and forgotten to survey her surroundings before doing so.

CRASH!

"Hey, watch where you're—"

"Sorry, that's my bad—"

Both sentences stopped short as soon as they registered who they'd just headbutted.

"Oh, hey, your majesty. How's the kingdom of stupidity doing?"

"You tell me! You're the entire population."

Mint Surge stood up, fluttering his wings to confirm there was no damage. "Nice comeback, loser. As much as I love bringing your inferiority to everyone's attention, I gotta bounce. You know punctuality and all that junk. See you around, dumbasses."

The mint pegasus waved and flew down the hall, much to Flurry's annoyance—she wasn't done chewing him out. She'd barely got a sentence in!

"That guy is seriously the worst," Lunette said, rolling her eyes.

Honey Canvas agreed silently by nodding as they continued down the hall. The trio diverged as they approached their classrooms, Honey Canvas and Flurry Heart having Equestrian History as their first class, and Lunette having Honesty.

The pair took their seats in the front row, right next to each other. After a few minutes, the school bell rang, signaling the school year's preamble. Ocellus greeted the class warmly, and began to launch into her detailed description of what the course would entail, as well as basic information contained in the syllabus.

Flurry would love to say that she had paid attention, but that wouldn't sit all that well with their honesty teacher. Honey Canvas, however, was engrossed in their first lecture, gifting Ocellus his undivided attention. He even took notes—which Flurry would definitely be looking at later—as he clung to Ocellus' every word.

Flurry began to stare, and unintentionally flipped the switch in her brain. Rather than listening, she was now caught in a flood of thoughts, failing to stay afloat.

I wonder what Lunette is learning about right now. Probably nothing. Are we even learning anything? I'd need to listen to know that, I guess.

The princess temporarily tuned into the lecture.

"—and that is relative. History, however—"

Yeah, no, definitely learning. Why do I have to learn about the past at eight in the morning? Whose idea was this?? No disrespect to Ocellus, she seems pretty dope, but...oh my Celestia is that a cat sitting diagonal to me?

Flurry used her peripheral vision to confirm her suspicion. A tan abyssinian cat stretched in his seat, crossing his back legs and placing his front two behind him, propping up his head. A large patch of beige fur sliced through the tan that colored the rest of his body, running down his body. That was a feline, alright.

It is! I've never met a cat before! I mean, I've met a cat before but never the kind that can talk and take tests and stuff! That's so cool...Aunt Twilight isn't messing around when it comes to forming bonds and uniting nations and stuff.

As she continued on her tangent, Flurry Heart began to realize that there really were several species here to learn about friendship, and not just the initial five that had been inducted a decade ago. Aside from griffons, yaks, dragons, changelings and hippogriffs, there were cats, parrots, zebras, kirin, minotaurs, etcetera. She was the only alicorn of course, but she was still a pony, and all these new species were foreign to her, as in the Crystal Empire, there were really only ponies, yaks, and the occasional griffon. You couldn't find a kirin back home, especially not within the castle. Experiencing new things is exactly what Flurry had hoped for, whether they be cultural education and enlightenment or watching a hippogriff explain the variation in underwater wildlife, and she was getting exactly that.

After an hour and fifteen minutes, the next bell rang, meaning class was over and each student had five minutes to get to their next one. Honey Canvas clapped his hooves together excitedly, pulling Flurry Heart from her zoned out state.

"Wasn't that lecture riveting?"

"Uh huh," Flurry replied sarcastically. "Yeah it was the best thing I've listened to—" she yawned, stretching her foreleg as she did so, "—in a while." The colt didn't seem to pick up on her tone. He continued to marvel at the 75 minute monologue they'd just sat through.

Meanwhile, across the hall, Lunette was having a slightly better time.

Honesty class itself was fine, today was a light day, with ice breakers and such. The unicorn had been paired with a fern green kirin. Her mane was a rust red, as were the tips of her hooves and tail. Her eyes shined brightly in a glittering gold color, and she went by the name Sage Blaze, apparently the offspring of the first kirin to ever form bonds with Equestrians, Autumn Blaze.

She wasn't quite as energetic and talkative as her mother, but she had a deep love for reading, writing, and cooking. But best of all—she had a low tolerance for bullshit.

Ergo, allowing her to share Lunette's hatred for Mint Surge.

The kirin rolled her eyes as the pegasus kicked her and her new friend's seat from behind, becoming more and more aggravated. After the seventeenth kick, Sage lost her composure. She whipped around, her eye twitching a little. "Can you please stop that?"

"I mean, yeah, I could…"

"Great, thanks."

"But I don't really want to."

Sage's eye twitched again. "Excuse me?"

"Watching you get all heated about this is extremely entertaining, sorry."

"Excuse me," she repeated, annoyance bordering on complete, unadulterated anger.

Mint kicked harder, causing the chair to rock a little. "Oh yeah, this is fucking hilarious."

"Stop it, Mint," a dragon next to the colt spoke. He had iris purple scales and lavender rounded spikes that ran from the top of his head to the end of his tail.

"You have to admit this is at least a little funny, Pierce."

"Not really…"

"I agree," Lunette said, disgust dripping from her words.

"You two have no sense of humor." He kicked harder.

Sage was at her limit. "Stop it. Now. Or else."

"Or else what?"

A flash of fire rose high in the room, then centered around the nirik, her coat going dark and mane becoming flame itself.

"OR ELSE THIS."

Mint shrunk back in his chair, much more intimidated than he had been moments ago.

The fire was going to spread, so Lunette did the only thing a panicked unicorn could do.

Using her magic, Lunette conjured a bucket full of water and dumped it directly onto Sage's head.

The soaked chimera descendant widened her eyes in shock, shivering from the cold liquid. "Did you just—"

"I did."

The four creatures looked between each other, and then snapped their attention to the front of the room, expecting a teacher to reprimand one of them—for what exactly, no one was sure. But as they looked to the several rows in front of them, they realized there was loud chatter and disarray, and the professor was far more concerned with that than the potential fire hazard.

Sage immediately turned in her seat. "Or else that. So stop kicking my chair."

Mint blinked, and turned back to Pierce.

Lunette giggled, still holding the bucket. "That was so cool."

"Thank you! And thanks for the water too...part of why I'm here is to learn to control my anger. Once I do, I'll be able to turn into a nirik voluntarily. Until then...you might wanna keep your bucket around."

"Will do, cap!" Lunette gave a fake salute.

The two continued to talk as she created a towel from thin air and draped it around Sage's shoulders.

Once the bell rang, everyone bid their farewells to their professor before exiting the room. While Mint Surge flew out of the room, his companion hung back. "Hey…I'm really sorry about him. He can be.."

"An asshole?"

"The most annoying pegasus to ever come out of Cloudsdale?"

"–A lot. But yeah, those things too."

"It's okay Pierce, I'm already starting to get used to it. Wanna walk with us?"

The dragon stared and Lunette in disbelief. "Really?"

Sage nodded. The three walked out of the classroom and in the opposite direction of Mint. "Thanks for sticking up for me, by the way," the kirin spoke, not looking at anyone in particular.

"Any time."

After formal introductions and another class period, the group was pretty well acquainted. Honey Canvas was quiet around the newcomers and avoided eye contact. Flurry got along well with both Sage and Pierce, despite the fact that she couldn't believe that the latter was his friend.

"He's not that bad."

Three ponies and a kirin threw him a look.

"Okay, he's not that bad all the time."

"So is he like...nice to you? Or is this a hostage situation? Blink twice if you need help. I promise we can free you," Flurry Heart said, only half joking.

"He's actually really dependable and forgiving. I've known him all summer, and he's pretty awesome. To be honest, I've only ever seen him act like that around you guys."

The alicorn stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"

"So, he's just a jerk to us? That's not fair," Honey Canvas spoke, earning a few stares.

"Why would he be a jerk to us in particular?"

Pierce shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly, I never really know what's going on in his head."

The bell for lunch rang, meaning they'd have to get to the dining hall soon.

"You guys go, I have to check in with my guard," Flurry Heart said, flapping her wings.

"You have a guard," Sage asked, staring at the princess in awe.

"As extra precaution. Not that I really need one. However, wearing down his defenses and getting him to unintentionally accept me as the little sister he never had is absolutely necessary. So I'm gonna go pester him and let him know I'm not dead. See you in like, fifteen minutes." The pale pink pony sped down the hall, a gust of wind flowing in her wake.

"Well she's fun!"

Flurry Heart flew towards the crystal treehouse and knocked on the door, knowing only one creature would be between its walls at this time.

"Gallus," she knocked on the door, not wanting to intrude at first. The griffon opened the door after a moment or two, the princess' voice having interrupted his daydreams.

"Hey, what's up?"

"You said to check in with you around noon, and then after class. So this is me doing that."

"Oh, right! Thanks for remembering."

"No problem!" Flurry took his lack of response as an invitation to walk into the treehouse and disturb the griffon.

Gallus was about to protest, but saw no point. "Welcome in, I guess."

The princess hovered in the air, looking at the furniture and magical structure. It was a lot more livable than it looked to be from the outside. The windows weren't really windows, more just holes in the walls. The sounds of the warm day streamed in peacefully. Flurry plopped down on the couch, now centering her vision on the Captain of the Royal Guard. "So, how's your day been? Said hi to Professor Silverstream yet?"

Gallus frowned. "It was better before you sat on my couch and interrogated me about my non-existent relationship," he said, moving to sit on the couch next to her. "I don't know what you think is going on, but I'm not into Silverstream. And even if I was—"

"You totally are."

"—It's none of your business. You're the princess and I'm your guard. No need to get personal."

Now the pony was frowning. "But you know everything about me and my family—Mom made sure of that—so why can't I know about yours?"

Gallus stilled for a second at the words 'family' and 'yours', but ignored it. She doesn't know. It wasn't on purpose. "Listen, princess, I don't really want to talk about my love life with a thirteen year old."

The frown warped into a pout. "Okay. Well, what will you talk about?"

"Anything related to your safety."

She blinked. "Yeah, no. That won't cut it." Her eyes scanned the room, and fell upon a snapback with words embroidered across the top. Ponyville Prancers.

"You're into buckball?"

Gallus side eyed her. "Isn't everyone?"

Flurry Heart clapped her hooves in excitement. "It sounds so awesome."

"Sounds? What, are you not into buckball?"

"Eh," she shrugged. "Not really, but I'd like to be. Back in the Crystal Empire, it's not really a thing. Crystal ponies are a lot more concerned with royalty, and politics, and...well, crystals. There's nothing wrong with being shiny, when we go all crystal-y it's totally cool, but nobody likes to get dirty or kick a ball around. Except for professional athletes. And they're more into track, ski, and swim. We don't even have our own team, and my dad can never find any time to take off work and get on a train to Canterlot or Ponyville or Appleloosa for a game. So I've never actually...you know...seen one. Except for when I was really little, and we saw Pinkie and Fluttershy go, but I wasn't paying attention since I was a foal. Even with my alicorn memory, all I see is carrot dogs and caramel corn. And screaming. So much screaming."

Gallus nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's unacceptable. I will not accept that. I'm taking you to a buckball game."

Flurry Heart's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah! And hey, if you end up liking it, you can join the school's buckball team."

"THE SCHOOL HAS ITS OWN TEAM?!"

Gallus nodded despite the throbbing pain in his ears due to the ungodly screech Flurry just let out.

After doing a little happy dance, Flurry attacked Gallus in a hug, crushing his bones a bit. "THANK YOU!"

"No problem, kid. Now let go. I've seen boa constrictors that have looser grips than this."

Despite her instincts, Flurry freed him of her grasp and headed out the door. "See you later!"

The griffon waved and closed the door.

She's a great kid. Annoying as all hell, of course. But still, a really good kid.

When Flurry got back to school, only fifteen minutes had passed, just as she'd promised. She found her friends seated at a table farthest from the entrance on the left. She sat down gracefully, giddy with excitement.

"So, did you annoy him?"

"Only a little. It went well though," she placed a sandwich full of sauteed vegetables and cheese with a side of hay fries on the table, getting ready to dig in.

"Quick question," Pierce cut in, as Flurry was seconds from stuffing her face.

"Mm?"

"Why do ponies eat hay fries? Potatoes are vegetables. You guys could be eating those instead."

Flurry dropped her sandwich. Every other pony froze as well, Sage sipping at her thermos full of soup behind curious eyes.

"Pierce, ponies can't eat potatoes."

Silence.

"Huh?"

"I mean, yeah, it's a veggie, but...we can't eat it."

She looked to Lunette for support. "Ah...yeah…"

She looked to Honey Canvas, as he could probably give the best explanation.

"Potatoes are toxic to us. Well, not Flurry Heart, since her chemical structure is different as an alicorn. She could eat potatoes if she really wanted to, though it might be rejected the first time since she's never eaten them before. However, earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi can't eat potatoes because they're unpalatable to us, and even if you can choke one down, you could potentially die from it."

"Wait, I can eat potatoes?"

"Probably, yeah."

"So no pony can eat potatoes but Flurry Heart?"

"And any other alicorn, yes."

"Huh."

"'Huh' indeed," Honey said, biting into a hayburger.

An odd silence of realization laid over the table until a blur of fur scurried towards them. "Hey, can I sit here?"

It was the same abyssinian cat from earlier, and his words were rushed and a little fearful. "Sure," Lunette said, scooting over so he had a place to sit.

"Thanks, I'm kind of hiding from someone right now."

"Really? Why?"

"Chemistry is not an easy class."

Before any creature could question it, Mint Surge burst into the cafeteria, annoyed, and upper body completely singed. "WHERE IS HE?"

The feline ducked beneath the table, while the entire cafeteria snickered.

Flurry leaned down slightly. "You did that to him?"

He nodded.

"What's your name?"

"Coda."

"Well Coda, we are going to get along."

Mint stomped towards them, steam practically puffing out of his ears.

"Where is he?"

"Where's who," Flurry asked in her most innocent voice. Despite how smart she was, if there was one thing the princess was good at, it was playing dumb.

"Coda. Cat, about an inch or two taller than you while on two legs."

"No clue who that is, but I definitely won't let you know if I see them."

Mint growled at her before stomping away as she waved her hoof. "Bye! Come back never!"

As soon as he left the room, Coda popped back up from beneath the table. "Thank you so much."

"No problem! I love what you did with his coat."

"And his mane is to die for," Lunette giggled.

"Seemed like he's the one who's all heated about something now," Sage added, elbowing Pierce. Lunette laughed with her, but Pierce stayed silent. She dropped her foreleg when he didn't laugh at her joke—he was still Mint's friend after all.

"I'll be back," he said, flying after Mint.

"No, Pierce wait—"

"Just let him go," Flurry said. "He wouldn't be a good friend to him if he didn't at least check on him, even if he's friends with us now."

Instead of thinking about Pierce, the princess turned her attention to Coda. "So, how'd you even manage to burn Mint?"

"Well, it all started when we became lab partners…"

Mint Surge flew straight to his dorm room and slammed it shut, pressing his back to his door. He took in deep breaths, to calm himself and also reminded him that this was unfortunately very real, and not at all his imagination torturing him (like it always did). After a few moments, there was a knock at the door.

"Go away, Coda! Too late to apologize!"

"It's Pierce," the dragon said, the door muffling his voice a bit. "You okay, buddy?"

"What do you think?"

Pierce stepped back at the severity of the bite in his tone. Ouch.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? Betraying me?"

"Be–Betraying you? What?"

"You're gonna hang out with the pony I hate the most and expect me to be fine?"

"Hey, you can't choose who I'm friends with. Why do you hate her so much anyway?"

"That's not your business."

"If it affects me, then yeah, it kind of is."

"Can you just go already?"

"No."

"No?"

"No. Let me in."

Mint huffed before standing and opening the door. "Are you kidding me? Why would I? You're just gonna get all chummy with the enemy again. So go. Go be her friend and make—or eat—crystal sculptures or something. I don't care."

"Mint," Pierce tried.

"I SAID GO! OR CAN YOUR DUMB FUCKING DRAGON BRAIN NOT COMPREHEND THAT?"

Pierce gasped, but recovered quickly. That didn't mean it hurt any less, though. He clenched his jaw and fists before speaking.

"You know what? Fine. If that's how it is, maybe I will." He began to walk off, before stopping promptly. "And for the record, she's a better friend than you'll ever be."

SLAM!

When Pierce returned to the table, Coda was in the middle of a story about his daring uncle, Capper Dapperpaws, and his adventures before reformation. Sage was the first to notice his return. "You okay?"

Pierce's face was neutral and cold. He leaned into the touch of the kirin's hoof on his shoulder. "Yeah. I will be."

Author's Note

do you smell a mint surge backstory coming on? cause i smell a mint surge backstory coming on.