I awoke to the sound of the alarm going off on the nightstand. I was about to shut it off, but someone already beat me to the punch. "You know, for a farm boy, you have a very hard time getting up in the morning." Cheery told me on her bed on the other side of nightstand.

"Ma and Granny's cooking is what got me up in the morning," I told her before getting up. "And no offense to your uncle, whom I'm grateful for letting us stay here while we go to school, but his cooking is terrible."

"Hehe, I know. It's all I can do to stomach his carrot stew," She told me from her side of the room as I looked away while she dressed. Occasionally, I would sneak a peek at her in the mirror. "It's not polite to stare, Johnny." I saw her smirk at me.

"Like you don't sneak peeks at me." I got on my boots and hat before holding our bedroom door open. "My lady."

"Thank you, my lord." We giggled at the banter before we headed down for breakfast. "Are you nervous?" She asked me as we stopped at the top of the stairs.

"A little. We always seem to find ourselves in situations where we face the unknown." I took her while smiling at her. "But at least we'll face it together."

Cheery smiled back at me before kissing my cheek. "I wouldn't want anyone else by my side but you." We cuddled for a bit atop the stairs before hearing her uncle call us down for breakfast.

"Hurry up you two before your food gets cold!" The old stallion said while flipping some pancakes as we rushed downstairs. "I hope you two weren't up to anything while up there."

"No, uncle. We were just talking about our first day at Princess Celestia's school," Cheery told her uncle while we sat down for breakfast.

"Well, I hope that's all that happened, otherwise someone's gonna be sleeping on the sofa from now on," He directed that at me, which I guess was fair, but still.

"Wouldn't even think about it," I told him before taking a bite of the super dry pancakes. "Cough! Pass the syrup."

An hour later

After stomaching breakfast, Cheery and I stood before the gates of Princess Celestia's school for gifted youngsters. As expected, most of the students were from elite families around the city and were escorted by their parents with some giving us odd looks as we walked by. "They're staring at us, John," Cheery told me as we walked up to get our schedule.

"Must have something in your hair or something," I joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Excuse me." One of the ponies standing at the entrance addressed us wearing some overly sized glasses and holding a clipboard.

"I've never seen you two before, what are your names?"

"Uh...I'm Cheerilee and this is John Apple." Cheery answered for us as the pony checked his clipboard before slamming his finger down in excitement.

"OH! The ones who were recommended on a scholarship! We've been expecting you two." The stallion handed us a class schedule each, as well as a student ID. When we looked at our schedule, we were happy to see that we had all the same classes.

"Commoners at this school? what are they thinking?" One of the parents scoffed as we were let through the gates and already, several students began giving us scornful looks.

"What's got them all sour?" I asked as we stopped at the courtyard in the center of the school.

"I don't know," Cheery said as we sat down and waited for the first bell.

As we kept to ourselves, we were met with a disgusted sound from behind us. "Ugh! Who let this trash in here!?" We both looked to see a white unicorn colt with blonde hair and a permanent smug look on him.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked while standing up and bowing up to him, even though I was a foot taller than him.

"I am Blueblood, PRINCE Blueblood and you'd do well to remember that you...what even are you?"

"John Apple, of the Apple Family." I announced myself while everyone around me laughed.

"Apple Family? So you're from a family of lowborn farmers?" The prince laughed.

I grabbed the entitled prick by his collar and spun him around til he was about to hit the ground, if not for me holding him. "Listen here, crotch stain! I wouldn't be making fun of others if I looked like you! Cause to me, it looks like the best part of you ran down the crack of your mama's ass and left a brown stain on the mattress."

Many of the students gasped in shock while Cheerilee just facepalmed, knowing I had a temper especially with those who thought themselves better than others.

"Unhand me at once you brute!" He barked at me.

"If you insist." I smirked letting him drop to the ground with a very audible oof! as the whole class laughed.

As he was left in the dust, the first bell rang and everyone was heading for class. As Cheery and I walked away from the prince, she gave my arm a hard pinch. "Our day hasn't even begun and you're already making enemies!"

"And a few friends as well," I directed her attention over to a few ponies that gave us a thumbs up or a smile. "Besides, he had it coming. And better he get it from me now, then later from the wrong person."

"You my friend have nerves of steel." Said one of the other students behind me. "Not once in all my years at this school has anyone been bold enough to stand up to Blueblood."

When I looked back, my mood turned a complete 180 at seeing who said it. "Shining!?"

"Hey, John." We stopped in the middle of the hall and gave each other a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Cheery and I got a scholarship. What about you? I thought you were in the academy?" I asked him.

"I go here for general education. The academy is mainly a weekend thing," We squeezed each other again before letting go. He then saw Cheery standing behind me. "Is this the Marefriend you've been writing to me about?"

"Oh, so you write about me?" Cheery asked while going to introduce herself to Shining. "My name is Cheerilee."

"Shining Armor. And let me tell you, John's letter does little justice on your beauty," He told her, making her blush.

"Alright, alright. Jeez, not even here five minutes and you're trying to woo my marefriend," I teased before the second to last bell rang. "Alright, we'll catch up at lunch."

"See you there." Shining said when I noticed some of the other students were giving me jealous looks, some of them were even mares.

When the time came for our next class, I was surprised to see a copy of my rifle on the teachers desk as we took our seats. From what I could tell, the one who made this was able to copy it just from a single glance of the one I presented at the fair which could only mean they were one of the judges from that time. "Alright students, sit down and pay attention."

As we sat down, I felt a little angry that a teacher is using my blueprints to make him look good. Though looking at them more carefully, I could see that he was missing a few things.

As I was busy contemplating whether or not I should call the teacher out on theft, He called me over. "Mister Apple, please come up to the front." When I went up there, the teacher handed me my original blueprint, the one I gave to the Princess. "Would you like to tell the class the difference between your original blueprint, and the one I drew up?"

The whole class was stunned when they heard I was the original inventor as I gave the teachers rifle a close examination. "Well the barrel’s a tad too heavy, there's no sight to help aim your shot, plus the stock is too long, and seems to have been made in a hurry."

"Excellent observation Mister Apple! You heard right, students, this brilliant young man is an inventor."

"Wait. You mean he is the one who won first prize at the science fair last week?" One of the upperclassmen asked.

"Yes. He and Miss Cheerilee here came up with the design of the, you called it a rifle, correct?" The teacher asked us.

"Yes sir," I said while Cheery joined me. "Our original design was the Boomstick, but then we had to re-design it." I took the rifle the teacher had and aimed it at a random window. "Also, the barrel isn't rifled, so the ammo will stray from the target."

"Oh please." A student next to Shining scoffed. "Are we expected to believe that this lowborn invented such a device? What good is that thing even for?"

"Well aside from hunting pests in your gardens, it can put a hole in your chest from at least three hundred yards." I replied, making some of the students feel nervous. "Thankfully, we have no black powder or shots available so I am unable to demonstrate." I joked before checking the firing pin and trigger. "Also sir, the trigger is jammed, you might wanna look into that."

The teacher chuckled before scraping his blueprints and placing his rifle on the bookshelf behind him. "And there is your first lesson. Failure is a better teacher than success."

As the class continued, Shining and I snuck a quick fist bump before taking our seats as the teacher continued his lessons on mechanics, which is why he created his own version of the rifle. Cherry and I took notes right up until the end of the lecture and as planned, we went to rendezvous with Shining for lunch when we ran into an unexpected dilemma.

"John was it?" One of the upperclassmen from earlier came over to our table. "I actually saw how well your rifle performed that day at the fair, my father and I were intrigued."

The Upperclassman was a filly about two years older than me and Cheery. She had... well to be honest she looked like my Ma or Aunt Orange with a horn on her head. Unlike most of the students here, she had a simple but beautiful purple dress. She had a kind smile and went ahead and sat across from me and next to Cheery.

Shaking my head, I introduced myself. "Yes, I'm John Apple. This is Cheerilee, who helped create it with me, and my marefriend. And this is my friend, Shining Armor."

"A pleasure to meet you all," The filly greeted us with a nod. "My name is Primrose, and I was hoping for two things."

"Really? And what are they?" Cheery asked while crossing her arms.

"First, is to offer you this." She took out a business card and offered it to me. "My dad is a weapons developer for the royal guard. When he saw your rifle, he saw that you could be the best employee he could ever have, whenever you're old enough of course."

I took the card and flipped it around a couple of times. "Well, that does sound very interesting. Uh, what's the second thing?"

"I was wondering if we could be friends?" Prim asked with a nervous look. "I... don't have many friends here, not since Blueblood."

"You were friends with that prick?" Cheery asked.

"Not really. Two years ago, he asked-no-demanded I be his marefriend. When I refused, he got made and started saying things about me behind my back, and put my name through the mud. So it's very hard for me to make friends." When she was done explaining, I could see a tear forming in her eye.

Before I could react, Cheery brought Primrose into a hug. "No need to ask. I can already tell we'll be friends already."

"And I look forward to discussing any future business together." I said before inviting Primrose to join us for lunch, once there, the four of us sat together at one of the empty tables and just like before, the mares of the school were giving me jealous looks as I chatted it up with Shining and shared a few laughs. I'm glad he didn't change after all this time and he was still the same nice guy I knew back when we first met.

"By the way, what happened to the guy who stole your original design? Cedar Pines right?" He asked as I put the fork down and sighed.

"Last anyone heard he was seen running down south towards the desert lands. That's buffalo territory and I heard they don't take kindly to strangers." Serves him right for pointing a weapon at my Cheery.

"Right after he got his hand blown off," Cheery said, causing Shining and Primrose to gasp.

"Yeah, he used too much powder and it blew up in his hand. It actually has me thinking of a new design, one where it's meant to blow up," I said while doodling a design.

"Uhh a rifle that blows up? Are you right in the head?" Shining asked as I got into the zone.

"No, not a rifle, an explosive device. About the size of a hoofball or apple. You light the fuse, throw it, and the explosion and shrapnel will take down the target," I told him while showing them a stick figure throwing a ball that blew up on the other side of a wall.

"But we already have dynamite, how is this any different?" Shining asked as I put my notebook into my shirt pocket.

"It's made of metal but that's all I can say for now." I told him while finishing my lunch.

"Where do you come up with these ideas?" Primrose asked as the bell rang for our next class.

"Mainly through dreams," I told her before we headed towards history. "I have other dreams too, but they seem to be random and in different places entirely."

"Sounds like you should see someone about that. They might not be dreams but memories." Primrose suggested before bumping into one of the other mares at the school.

"Watch where you're going."

"I could say the same to you." I snapped back at the one who bumped into my friend.

"Excuse me?" The mare tilted her head at me with a strange, nasally voice that seemed annoying.

"I might, if you apologize." I demanded.

"Apologize? For what? For being bumped into by this little hussy?" Hearing her say that, Prim started to cry a little, and for me to ball up my fist.

Before I could say another word, Cheery accidentally spilled some ink onto the mares expensive looking coat. "Oops! Better go wash that off before it sets." The mare let out an outraged gasp before running toward the nearest bathroom. With her gone, Cheery hugged Prim close. "Don't let them get to you."

"Thanks Cheerilee." Prim said as she dried her eyes.

The rest of the day seemed to go off without a hitch until the mares of our school caught me talking to Shining again and decided to do something as they stormed up to us like an angry mob.

"I had a dream like this once. Except the mares were all Cheerilee and they didn't look pissed off at me," I told Shining as the mares circled us.

"Shining Armor, what are you doing talking with this commoner trash?" One of them asked and I noticed she was in charge of the group.

"I'm pretty sure he can talk to whoever he wants." I said when they glared at me.

"Nobody asked you, peasant!" Who the hell uses the word peasant anymore?

"Who are you calling, peasant, you uptight bitches!?" I roared at them before getting in the lead mares face. "Shining and I are friends! If you can't get that minuscule detail through all that crappy expensive make-up and hair product, then you can complain to your therapist after you're done bitching about how your Mama dolls you up and how daddy touches you!" The lead mare backed away with a tremble in her lip. When her friends or rather lackeys went to comfort her, she turned tail and ran away crying.

The rest of their group immediately turned tail and ran as I took a breath to calm down with Shining looking impressed and a bit surprised at how I handled the situation.

"You sure you didn't go to boot camp when we were little?" He joked while Cheerilee helped wipe the sweat off my brow.

"That was tense." I huffed in relief.

"And a little hot," Cheery told me with half-lidded eyes, causing me to have butterflies in my stomach.

"Hehe, that was pretty funny," Prim said before we made it to history class.

After School

Shining invited me and Cheery over to his house after school. He invited Primrose to join, but she said she had to be home before dark. Next time I guess.

"Mom! I'm home!" Shining announced when we entered his house. "And I brought some guests."

"Oh that's nice sweetie who did you-!" Shining's mom, Twilight Velvet, gasped when she saw me and Cheery at the entrance. "John? Little John Apple is that you?"

"Been a while Miss Velvet." I said as she came over to give me a big hug.

When she let me go, she noticed Cheery. "And who's this lovely young lady?"

"This is Cheerilee. She's my friend from home," I told Velvet as Cheery came over and held my hand.

"I'm also his marefriend. And he's my boyfriend," Cheery smirked my way.

"Oooh well someone's been a busy boy. If only I could say the same about Shining." Velvet teased while smirking at her son.

"MOM?!?" Shining whined to his mother.

"Oh honey you know I'm only teasing. Truth is, he gets so many love letters on a daily basis that it's hard to keep track of them all." She teased further.

"MOM!!" Shining complained some more.

"So that's why all those mares were pissed at me. Wait a minute, I thought you were being bullied in school. That's how we met," I told Shining.

"Yeah, I was. Then the girls started to see me in a different light. Now I get bullied for a different reason," We shared a laugh at his little joke.

"Anyone you like?" Cheery asked with a smirk.

"Well, there is somebody, but I don't think she's interested in me," Shining said in a sad tone, but he quickly shrugged it off. "So, what to do first?"

"How about homework?" Velvet asked all three of us with a knowing smirk. "Get set up at the table and I'll make all three of you a snack." Just then, we all heard a baby crying. "As soon as I get Twilight up from her nap."

"Gasp Can we see her? Please, please, please, pleeeeease?" Cheery begged while hopping on her toes. She always did love to see babies.

"Alright. But homework right after," Mrs. Velvet told us while leading us to the baby's room.

Once we entered the nursery, we could hear the baby scream more loudly as Velvet approached the crib and gently reached down for her little one.

"Ohh oh oh it's okay my precious Twily. Shh there, there." She whispered while bouncing the little filly. "Everyone, meet Twilight Sparkle."

The second Cheery saw the baby, her face lit up brighter than a fireflies as she gazed at the little unicorn, nomming on her thumb with her eyes still closed. "She's adorable!"

"Yeah but she can be a handful." Shining chuckled. "Last week she almost burnt my homework. Magic flux, normal for baby unicorns."

As if to demonstrate, Twilight took in a couple breaths of air before sneezing and a few sparks flew from her horn, causing grass to grow where the sparks fell on the wood. "Wow."

"Aww, cute and magical," Cheery said while tickling Twilight's chin, making her laugh.

"Alright, that's enough play time. Time for Homework," Mrs. Velvet told us before going into the living room.

As we got started on our homework, we would fall into random conversations. "Sooooo, who's the lucky girl, Shiny?" Cheery asked, making him groan.

"You're both gonna think I'm stupid for saying this. I bumped into her a week ago, literally, and she helped me up before she went to her class," Shining told us.

"Well, don't leave us in the dark, give us a name," I told him, pushing my reading assignment aside.

He looked a little nervous before whispering. "Princess Cadance."

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that, who?" I asked. He whispered the name again. "What?"

"Princess Cadance! There! I have a crush on Princess Cadance! You happy!?" He pretty much yelled in my face.

"Say it, don't spray it," I told him before wiping away the spittle from my cheek. "Anyway, congrats. Granny always said to aim high, and you can't aim higher than that, unless you count Princess Celestia."

"Or me," Cheery jokes while switching to her history homework. "Anyway, I think it's great, and I'm sure if you approach it delicately, you'll win her heart."

"Uhh about that..." Shining then said something we didn't see coming.

"WHAT?!?" We both screamed.

"She's dating someone already?!?" Cheery said in outrage.

"Yeah...the head of the buckball team." Shining said in a depressed tone.

"Oh man, I feel depressed now. I know! We'll split them up! What's the name of the guy?" I asked, already getting ideas that bordered the line of legal and illegal.

"It's okay, I don't mind." Shining sighed. "Besides she's the most popular girl in school, EVERY stallion wanted to date her...me included."

"I see. Well, don't worry about anything. You know why?" I asked him.

"No, why?" He asked me.

"Because from this day forth, I will dedicate my entire life so that you and the princess will be together!" I bellowed while striking a pose.

"Really?" Shining asked with a gleam of hope.

"Hell no. But I will make it a personal side project and help you out wherever I can," I reassured him before finishing my homework.

"Oh ha ha, you're a comedic genius." Shining said while we continued to work until everything was done.

Once the books and papers were put away, Cheery immediately went to little Twily as she scooped her up in her arms and began to practically smother her with affection. ”OooH! You are Soo cute!!"

Shining and I watched as Cheery played with Twilight. She would hold her and make funny faces while making the little foal laugh and reach for her. Shining saw her little sister laughing with a new friend, but for me, I started to see something else.

I saw Cheery and me as adults, sitting outside on the porch in the early morning. I had my head resting atop of hers while she leaned against my chest. In her arms was a little foal wrapped in a blanket being fed by a bottle. I'm not sure when this is, or how it happened, or it was even a reality, but I knew that was my future.

"Equestria to John!" I was so busy fantasizing, I didn't realize Shining was talking to me.

"Wah, huh, what? Sorry, what were you saying?" I asked him, trying to clear my head.

"I asked if you wanted to learn how to play O&O," Shining said while showing me a game board and strategy guide. As I sat down across from him and he got the board set up, he looked at me strangely. "What made you black out like that? Another dream?"

"No. No, not a dream." I looked over at Cheery reading Twilight a story on the couch and a loving smile made its way on me. "A wish."

Author's Note

Once more, I thank my co-writer Valiant Charge for another brilliant chapter. I urge everyone to follow him. As well as all the members of The League.

Now, for the clips.