And It's up to Us to Keep Pace
“It’s a little weird to see so many hippogryphs here,” Gallus mused.
“So many?” Sandbar trotted to the edge. “I dunno, dude. I only see three.”
“Okay, but that’s –”
“Three more than last yeeeear!” Silverstream finished, jumping forward to pull Gallus and Sandbar into a wobbly hug. “I can’t wait to show them all the cool things ponies have up here!”
“Uhhhh, Silverstream? Not so close to the edge, please.” Sandbar squeaked out.
All three creatures backed away from the edge of the roof. They had been among the first students to arrive. It was time for a new year, time for a new batch of students to experience the magic of the School of Friendship.
Time for the School’s first graduating class to grow up and continue their lives.
“Yeah, like she said. I’m so used to Sil being the only one around here. I know nothing’s going to change, it’s just… weird to think about.” Gallus sat back and watched the new students mingle in the distance. He could see more ponies walking up the path from Ponyville.
“Are they all like you, Silverstream?” Sandbar asked jokingly.
“Nah,” Gallus responded for her. “Riptide is excitable, but the other two are pretty laid back.”
“Gal convinced them all to come here!” Gallus suddenly found himself swept up into his girlfriend’s crushing embrace. “It was so amazing!”
“Gallus? That doesn’t sound right.” Sandbar began scratching his head and humming. The whole nine yards.
“Sil asked me to. So… y’know,” Gallus admitted.
“You?”
“Wha– I can be convincing!” Silverstream and Sandbar burst into giggles at Gallus’ outburst. “I like this school, even if I don’t show it like the rest of you! I have good stories to tell!”
Silverstream immediately wrapped her arms around her boyfriend again. “Hey, hey, we know, Gal. We know. It’s okay.”
“Yeah. Sorry, dude. I was just trying to rib you, I didn’t mean to you mad. That’s my bad.” Sandbar also joined in on the hug after apologizing.
Well, this was just embarrassing. Gallus thought about squirming out of the pair’s grasp, but that idea just made him feel like an ungrateful brat. He settled on staying put and trying to focus on the words of his friends…
Until the beating of approaching wings broke up the hug in an instant. Gallus was frantically scanning for someplace to hide when Sandbar put a hoof on his shoulder.
“Relax, dude. It’s Smolder.”
“We’re in so much trouble if we get caught up here,” Smolder chuckled as she plopped onto the tiles next to Silverstream. “How did you even get on the roof, Sandbar?”
“We flew him up here,” Gallus answered. “And yeah, we know. Ho– woah. How many dragons did you get to come here?” As he observed the mob of young dragons joining the collection of students in front of the school, Gallus had trouble counting all the new scaly faces.
“Oh I didn’t do that. Ash didn’t either. When the time came to fly over for this year, they all said they wanted to come. Dragon Lord Ember just about burst a blood vessel!” Smolder doubled over laughing.
“Did they not know they have to be enrolled?” Silverstream asked.
Smolder wiped a tear from her eye. “Most dragons only pay attention to exciting stuff. When Dragon Lord Ember did her spiel about going to the School of Friendship at the beginning of the summer, they probably all ignored her. They just heard about two dragons having a good time and wanted in.”
Sandbar looked around. “Speaking of Ash, where is she?”
“Said she was gonna wait on the ground for Ocellus. How many changeling students do you think we’ll get?”
“I hope it’s a lot! Imagine the haunted house they could run for Nightmare Night!” Silverstream’s eyes sparkled and her wings flared in excitement.
“That’s… huh, that could be pretty cool.” Gallus hadn’t thought about the implications of having a group of shapeshifters at the school.
The four students looked down at the growing group of their peers. A chromatic swirl of teenaged dragons now lingered at the edge of the mass of ponies, with one exception weaving her way through the equines, greeting her friends from last year.
After the school’s rocky first year, international enrollment reached a record low. For their sophomore year, Gallus, Ocellus, Silverstream, Yona, and Smolder were once again the only non-pony students. It was demoralizing, and the five vowed to try their hardest to convince other foreign students to enroll next year.
It almost didn’t work. The changelings were still scared of the trouble the school’s opening had attracted. The yaks already missed Yona terribly and didn’t want any of the other kids to be gone for that long. The griffons didn’t even try to listen to Gallus. Silverstream’s intense focus on stairs and other mundanities made the hippogryphs think the school was boring.
Smolder took a different approach. She knew dragons didn’t care about learning. So she waited. And watched. And only a month away from the end of summer, she finally saw what she was looking for.
Ash was always getting into fights with the other dragons. Always arguing before stomping off to be alone. Just as Smolder guessed, when she asked Ash if she wanted to get away from the Dragonlands, Ash said yes. At the time, no creature could have guessed how well the rebellious young drake would take to the school setting.
Of course, while a single student was technically a success, it was hardly something to be proud of. So once again, the group had promised to spread word of how great Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship is. And how fun it is. And cool.
“Sooooooo…” Silverstream broke the quiet that fell over the group. “Smolder?”
“Oh goody. What?”
“Anycreature you’ve got your eyes on?” Silverstream waggled her eyebrows at the dragoness. “Maybe this year’s the year.”
“You are still on this, huh?” Smolder threw her arms out and laid down. “I’m just gonna ignore her.”
“You know if you need any relationship advice, we’re here for you,” Sandbar offered.
Smolder responded by giving him a pretty nasty stink-eye.
“Yeah, Smolder,” Gallus chimed in with a smirk. “We can help you snag a date so you have somebody to be all snuggly-wuggly with.”
“I will push you off this roof, Gallus.”
“Plus, there’s going to be all these dragons now. It isn’t Spike or nothing, anymore,” Sandbar pointed out.
Smolder groaned while her friends had a laugh. “It’s not– ugh, geez you all are annoying. It’s not about species. I mean, if I was going to be with someone, it would probably be a dragon. But just because that’s what I’m used to. Trying to be loving in a different culture would kill me. But that doesn’t matter because I don’t want a boyfriend.”
“If you sayyy sooo!” Silverstream pushed herself further into Gallus’ side. “It’s pretty great, though.”
Thankfully, Gallus was saved from Smolder’s inevitable teasing comment by two new arrivals.
“What’s up, nerds?”
“Hey, everybody! It’s great to see you.”
Silverstream jumped up and rushed over to now-present changeling. “Ocellus! How was your summer? How’s your family been? Did little Fovea get any bigger since the last time she was here?”
Ocellus struggled to keep up with Silverstream’s onslaught of questions while Ash, a heavily built dragoness with mostly grey scales, landed in a similar manner to how Smolder had. Hitting the roof sitting, her momentum caused her to nearly knock Smolder over. The two shared a fist bump after they resettled.
“How’s it hanging, Ash?” Gallus asked.
“Way better now that I’m here. You seen the horde down there?”
“Yeah, you just about brought the whole Dragonlands back with you!” Sandbar and Gallus had a laugh at Ash’s groan. “You gonna be alright?”
At that moment, Ocellus joined the sitting group, perching her front hooves on Ash’s leg. Ash placed an arm around her with a smile.
“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” A wicked grin flashed across Ash’s face. “Hey Smolder, you think you’ll –”
“Late to the party, we already annoyed me,” Smolder interjected.
“Damn.”
“Language.” Ocellus quietly chided her girlfriend.
“Sorry.”
“So, Ocellus.” Sandbar drew the attention of the group. “How many you got?”
The changeling’s beaming response brought the group to attention quickly. “You all won’t believe this.”
“… Well? Keep going.” Gallus pushed.
“The school’s getting two new changeling students, but that’s not all! We’re also getting…”
“Ooooh, the suspense is killing me!” Silverstream whined.
“… A…”
“You’re really milking this, huh?” Smolder teased.
“… Teacher! A changeling teacher!” Ocellus clapped her hooves “The school’s first non-pony professor!”
Everyone’s gasps of surprise filled the air.
“Oh my gosh! That’s so exciting!” Silverstream hopped up and down, her wings happily fluttering behind her.
“That’s awesome! I wonder what they’ll teach.” Sandbar’s expression quickly became one of contemplation.
“That’s pretty cool,” Gallus agreed. “I didn’t think that would ever happen. Or at least, like, not while we were here.”
“Headmare Starlight and Princess Twilight came to the Hive and everything!” Ocellus explained as the other five settled down. “They said they wanted to expand the curriculum that the school offered so ponies could also learn about the world outside Equestria.”
The group continued to talk about the new school year as Gallus lost focus. It was nice to sit here with his friends and bask in the familiar, but he couldn’t shake the looming feeling that everything was about to change.
Come the end of the year, he would no longer be a kid. Gallus didn’t feel any older than he did when he first arrived, despite the drastic changes in his life. He wasn’t an adult, even if his actual age disagreed with him. He looked around at his friends.
What would they do? Gallus was planning to join Equestria’s Royal Guard. That was a nice, planned future where he wouldn’t have to think too hard. But the rest of them… how do you even begin to find a job? To find your life’s calling? Except for Sandbar of course, he had a cutie mark.
Everything was just so unknown. And the unknown is terrifying.
“Hey,” Gallus stopped the conversation. “Does anyone else hear that? Deep rumbling?”
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Ash responded. “Sounds like the Yaks are here.”
“Let’s go meet Yona!” Silverstream quickly jumped into the air and dove off the School’s roof, gliding off towards Ponyville.
“Hey, wait! You’re supposed to fly me back down!” Sandbar called after her.
As everyone got up and started to head out toward the nearby town, Gallus made his decision. Yeah, life was about to change for all of them. Maybe for the worse, maybe not.
But for now, it’s not wrong to take comfort in the familiar.
Author's Note
This story brought to you by my crippling fear of finally being finished with school. What do you even do when you don't have to read textbooks and study for exams?
