SLAM!

Mint Surge turned his back to the door and sank against it, the door ruffling his coat.

His eyes stung, but he ignored it. No. He extended his hoof and grabbed his saddlebag, which contained the small and expensive communicator his guardians had bought for him in order to keep in touch easier. Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail were very important Wonderbolts after all, and didn't always have enough time to write a letter.

His hoof hovered over the call button. Sucking in a shaky breath, he pressed it, and listened to it as it dialed.

There was no answer. There usually wasn't, so why would it be any different today? Just cause Mint was going through something? Mint was always going through something, so once again, today would be no exception.

He left a half-hearted message. "Uh, hey, Mom and Dad...just wanted to um...update you on how school's going! We haven't talked in almost a month...totally okay though! Just keep doing your thing, I guess. It's not like I'm struggling and wish you were here for some support. Or that I want to go home. Heh. Anyway uh, call me back when you get this. Or don't. You probably won't. Bye."

Click.

Mint mentally cursed himself when he realized what he'd said. Mom and Dad.

Vapor and Sky were not Mint's parents. Vapor Trail was a distant relative and the only person who'd cared enough to take him in after his parents went missing, and Sky just so happened to be her boyfriend. They raised him, but as he got older, their work got more rigorous. He'd started to attend boarding schools rather than staying at home alone.

Consequently, he was pretty damn friendless. Many would describe him as a recluse rather than an introvert who knew he was headed somewhere new at the end of the semester and saw no sense in trying.

Vapor enrolled him in the friendship school, hoping that maybe he'd come out of his shell a bit and try to interact with others.

And for a while, it was working.

But then she came around. Her and her stupid, stupid friends.

Though he had a track record for blaming his actions on other people, Mint couldn’t seem to place blame on anyone but himself for this. He lashed out for no reason, like he always did. He wanted it to be the princess' fault. But it wasn't.

But gods, why apologize? He would just hurt Pierce again eventually. He should just leave it alone and fly solo, which was better for both of them, anyway.

Mint didn't return to his next class, and stayed curled up like that for a while. His roommate didn't care all that much, seeing as they were non-existent.

After reading ahead in his textbooks (because contrary to popular belief, Mr. Surge was a wonderful pawn in the Equestrian Education System's chessboard) and pretending not to cry, Mint fell asleep on top of his bed rather than in it, covers tucked beneat him instead of over. He drifted into a distant reality where his parents and cousin and cousin's boyfriend all got along and flew around for family outings on Saturday afternoons.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to thank Luna for making it so beautiful and fulfilling, or curse her for making it feel real enough to physically hurt when he woke up.

The rest of the day went smoothly, even though Coda had to go back and clean up the lab after lunch. Lunette had already begun to jot down her ideas about architectural improvements and what monument their graduating class could leave behind.

"We don't graduate until we've mastered friendship, Lune."

"Yes. What's your point, exactly?"

Flurry rolled her eyes playfully.

Sage was talking to Honey Canvas, doing her best not to make him uncomfortable, and Pierce hung back, not saying much.

His mind was focused on other things. Other creatures.

Flurry noticed, and made her way to the back of the group as Lunette lost herself in her work.

"You okay?"

"Mm," Pierce replied, not really wanting to talk about it.

"It didn't go well, did it?"

He shook his head.

"Do you want a distraction?"

A nod.

"Okay, let's go do something distracting, then."

Pierce raised a brow, but Flurry had already told the rest of their friends that they had other things to attend to. Man, she talks fast.

Flurry turned back around and guided her draconic friend towards the nearest exit, and into the courtyard.

"You said you keep crystals on you earlier, right?"

"Uh, yeah. For snacking."

"Well, I guess you could eat your sculpture after you carve it, but that's not my intention."

"Sculpture?"

"Oh, I make sculptures whenever I need a distraction. It's how I stayed sane in the Crystal Empire."

She walked towards a table and sat, and he followed hesitantly.

"I don't know how to make sculptures."

"That's why I'm going to show you," Flurry said, silently urging the dragon to reveal his crystal collection.

It was only a portion of the real thing, but the pouch of gems was enough for two sculptures.

"Okay, what is your favorite object in the world? It can be anything."

"Anything?"

"Mhm."

"My signet ring. My dad got it for me." The gold ring with initials engraved in it glinted in the warm afternoon sun.

The girl smiled fondly, remembering that Shining Armor had turned the petrified rose into a necklace for her, and they both owned jewelry courtesy of their fathers.

"Great. Then we'll make that."

Flurry directed him, tapping at certain crystals and how to curve them, but at some point Pierce gave up.

They both stared at his mangled stone. "This is not my signet ring."

"It is not."

She stifled a laugh, but eventually failed and openly chortled at the dragon's failure. He shot a look her way. "I'm no good at this. This is your thing, not mine."

"Want me to do it for you?"

Pierce nodded, shoving all their materials across the table. "We can just talk while I work."

"Okay. Tell me about the Crystal Empire. Your family, the food. Stuff like that."

"Well, first of all, it's freaking beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen anywhere so gorgeous. All the buildings, all the houses, all the stores are made of crystals. Even the roads and sidewalks. And when we get filled with pride for our homeland, we start to shimmer and go all crystal-y. And our manes usually get fixed up too."

"Like, magically? The magic does your hair for you?" Pierce folded his arms on the table and laid his head across them, watching Flurry Heart intently.

"Yeah! I can't really explain it, but then again I can't explain most Equestria magic. Like how hooved creatures can write and hold spoons and stuff. Anyway, we have a rich history to some extent. We fill the empire with love and laughter, which powers the crystal heart, which drives away the insane cold and evil forces."

"Is it an actual heart? Like does it actually...beat..and stuff?"

The alicorn stopped hacking away at the edge of two poorly mended gems, breaking them apart so that she could bend one. "No, it doesn't beat. It's like one of the cutesy hearts. Not the kind in our chests."

"Dang. Wouldn't it be cool if it did, though?"

"Yeah! Yeah, actually. Like imagine a tourist passing by and hearing that thump, thump, thump and losing their shit."

They both laughed at that. She picked up the ring in progress again, starting back up where she'd left off. "The castle is really big, sometimes annoyingly big. I won't complain about it though, I love to discover new things. I haven't seen every inch of the castle yet, and that excites me. When I get back, I'll have so much to check out still. And I can take my little sister with me. Oh, right, you asked about my family! Well obviously there's me, but my mom and dad are Princess Mi Amore Cadenza—she hates it when people call her that, so everyone just calls her Cadance—and Prince Shining Armor, former captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle. And I have a little sister named Skyla. She's just a baby, but I can tell she loves adventure just like the rest of our family." Pierce's initials were done, and the circle they were meant to sit in was being pounded in my Flurry's hooves.

"Your family is pretty cool. Your grandparents must be ecstatic."

"Oh, yeah, definitely! I mean, they birthed a princess, a prince, got a princess for a daughter in-law, and two princess grandchildren. Talk about luck, am I right?"

"Incredible luck. My family's not nearly as extravagant. Back in the Dragonlands, it's just me, my dad, and my older sister Jade. We swim in lava, have fire breathing contests, and we don't really have houses exactly. Just structures made out of jagged rocks. We live with our families after the molting season, if we survive. My dad didn't send me away when I molted, because he doesn't have a sense of smell. Jade is pretty cool, but she doesn't do all the touchy feely stuff. Typical dragon behavior. I'm kind of the odd one out. I like to feel things. I like to express my emotions. That's why I like Ponyville a lot more than the Dragonlands. Sometimes I feel guilty for it."

"Why would you feel guilty?"

"I don't know, I just... it's my homeland, you know? Where I come from. I shouldn't like anywhere more than I like it there."

"I like Ponyville more than the Crystal Empire, even if they're leagues apart. You're allowed to like somewhere more than where you were born, Pierce. Especially if they make you feel better emotionally. You're not turning your back on the Dragonlands, you're just appreciating the change of pace. I'm sure you can't dive bomb into lava pools here, and you'll definitely miss that. But you can't have conversations like these back there, either. There's a balance of pros and cons to both, and if you learn to appreciate them both, you'll love both of these places a lot more."

"For someone who didn't know she could eat potatoes, you're pretty damn wise."

Flurry Heart laughed. "You know that was a joke, right?"

"Mm?"

"About eating potatoes. Ponies can eat potatoes."

Pierce sat up. "What?"

"Yeah, Lunette, Honey and I were just messing around."

The purple being clutched his chest, a pained look on his face. "I feel so betrayed."

"Oh, how ever will I get to sleep tonight knowing that I betrayed a dear friend of mine?"

"This is a crime worthy of a thousand deaths."

"I deserve death a thousand times."

The both smiled at the shift in tones and energy. Tension, darkness and anything alike had dissipated.

"So, your highness, what's the real reason ponies don't eat potato fries?"

"No clue, honestly. Potatoes are used in plenty of common foods, but I have no idea why no joint around here sells anything but hay fries."

"One of these days, I'm gonna get Sage to make us some potato fries, you're gonna try em, and love them."

"I look forward to the opportunity, my good sir. Oh, and I finished your ring."

Locking the last piece into place, Flurry passed the sculpture to Pierce. It was a direct replica of the golden, fire forged family possession. "Go on."

"Huh?"

"Aren't you gonna eat it?"

The dragon looked over the gem, then slid it onto his middle claw(?).

"Nah. Think I wanna keep this one."

The week carried on seamlessly. Flurry and her friends were getting to know each other, and Pierce felt less and less guilty for walking away three days ago.

"No school tomorrow?" Sage's question was muffled due to a mouthful of noodles from a dish that she and Coda had been sharing. The cat greedily yanked the container back to keep the kirin from eating it all. She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, they said they wanted us to have a nice, long weekend after this week," Lunette replied from the other side of the picnic blanket.

Their arrangement was due to an assignment, and they had to plan a picnic for them and their friends. Bonus points if they shared the food they brought. It had been rather easy as none of them were busy and rather enjoyed each other's company.

Flurry lazily lounged across Pierce's legs as he read a comic book, though he didn't seem to mind the princess' presence very much. It was a given with Flurry Heart—once she was comfortable with you, she was bound to invade your personal space. The duo were sharing potato fries, as promised. Flurry wasn't meant to eat too many, just a few to test how strong her stomach was against a foreign entity in her body. So far nothing had happened, Flurry was coming to find that she enjoyed these far more than hay fries.

Honey Canvas sketched the scenery before him in his sketchbook, Lunette peering over his shoulder and watching him work. He was in his element for sure.

"This works out great, I'm gonna go watch buckball for the first time tomorrow," Flurry said, lifting another fry to her mouth with closed eyes.

"Oh? By yourself," Honey Canvas asked, not looking up from his work.

"No, Gallus is taking me. He has an extra ticket though, if any of you want to go with me."

"Y'know, this reminds me an awful lot of that story Professor Ocellus told us about Princess Twilight and her tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, so I'll pass," Sage said, swirling her fork in the noodles. Coda was beginning to accept that she was going to be eating it with him, and placed the bowl in between them.

The rest of the group murmured in agreement. Flurry cracked an eye open, her mind laying down the foundation of a scheme.

But first, sustenance!

"Pierce, don't hog all the fries! Gimme gimme," She turned onto her back and flailed her arms in an attempt to grab the small cardboard container.

"You've already eaten like, half of them. No."

"I have not! Give!"

Being a little too comfortable to sit upright, and Pierce being far taller, Flurry Heart was at a disadvantage. He held the container out of reach, and laughed as he did so.

After a few minutes the alicorn grumbled. Pierce procured a fry and held it down to her, just above her face. He tapped her nose with it before eating it himself. "Mine."

Rubbing at the grease on her nose, the princess giggled, which caused Pierce to laugh alongside her. They began to laugh so hard that Flurry got the hiccups.

Pierce stopped laughing, suddenly hyper aware of the pony's soft laughs and gasps for air. Time seemed to slow down a little, and a small breeze ruffled Flurry's curls. Her smile was bright, despite the fact that every few moments a hiccup would erupt from her mouth. Cute.

But then again, every creature was pretty cute at this school—the dragon was beginning to think that it was a requirement to get in.

He didn't think much of it, or the blush that was just barely visible beneath his scales.

"Hey guys, come look at what Honey drew!"

Lunette's statement cut through Coda and Sage's light conversation, and the small fry fight to their left.

Flurry got to her hooves and took a few steps over to see what art her friend had created, and Pierce forced himself to ignore the sudden coldness across his legs and thighs so that he could join the group.

It wasn't finished, but the golden colt had created a beautiful landscape drawing, perfectly capturing the flower petals that drifted in the wind, the trees nearby, the looks on his friends faces—Sage's mild embarrassment and Coda's half-hearted annoyance, Lunette's smile, Flurry and Pierce's playful manner. It was beautiful, and they all made sure to tell Honey Canvas that. The artist got shy, and shrunk down at the attention. "Ah, this is nothing…"

"Nothing?! Are you crazy? This is amazing," Lunette reassured him, looking over her drawn counterpart once more. "Give yourself some credit!"

"Well..it did come out pretty good…"

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Coda added, patting the colt on the back. "Look at that shit! You did that!"

Honey Canvas grew warm at the support. Nobody back home supported him like that.

The grew sat down where they were and fell into a comfortable silence, all watching in awe as Honey Canvas began to create the final product. Pierce's mind wasn't quite settled on the drawing, though.

"Please?"

"Can't, sorry! Plus, won't Flurry Heart make fun of us?"

"She's the least of my worries, I can deal with taunting," Gallus replied.

He'd been begging Silverstream to take his extra ticket, but it was to no avail. She had to go back to Mt. Aris for the weekend to meet Terramar's girlfriend, as the three day weekend would give them plenty of time to get acquainted.

"Can't Ocellus or Smolder go with you? They were literally on the cheer squad for our team, you know."

"They're going on a date on Friday, which cancels both of them out."

"How about Yona?"

"Busy running Carousel Boutique."

Silverstream was hesitant with her next suggestion, but said it nonetheless. "Sandbar?"

Gallus tensed at the mention of Sandbar's name. "Haven't asked, won't be asking as long as I live."

"CMCS?"

"All busy, but with different things."

"Sandbar?"

"Again, no."

*Seems you don't really have a choice, my friend. Unless you wanna sell your ticket?"

"Would rather sell my soul to Satan."

"Like I thought. So take Sandbar. I know for a fact he's not busy doing anything other than smoking weed on Friday. I'll even ask him for you, okay?"

Gallus nodded reluctantly. The last thing he wanted to do was go to a Buckball game with Sandy. Sure, he'd been the first of the six to even know what the sport is, or how it worked, and he was an expert, and he ways knew what snacks to get and how to tell where the jumbotron was going next—

Gods. Sandbar was the perfect creature to take to a buckball game.

So why was he dreading it so much?

Flurry lay awake, staring at her ceiling, thoughts running amuck. She was tired from today, but excited for tomorrow. The clock would strike midnight in an hour.

"Hey, Lunette?"

"Hngnnh."

"Do you think potato fries are illegal?"

"What?"

Author's Note

when i say gallustream aren't romantically interested i'm not kidding. they're not in denial. this is not the place for that. i do however have a gallustream fic in the works though, so if that's more your speed, check that out when i publish it! this however? gallbar hell, all the way.

oh and also pierce is bad at recognizing emotions. so it mint. but like, in a self deprecating way.