Spike stood nervously with his maternal grandparents in front of the large building and adjusted his tiny backpack that was a gift from Rarity. He hadn’t met the rest of his parents’ herd yet but already considered them friendly ponies.

“It’s ok Spike we’re right behind you.” Twilight Velvet put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. She knew the young drake would have preferred her daughter and future son in-law be there with him, but they had their own classes to attend.

Spike looked up at his grandmother and gave her leg a hug. “Thanks.”

“Shall we go inside?” Night Light was more excited, it reminded him of when they had first dropped of their own children.

As the three made their way into the school building they received plenty of curious looks. Most ponies had never seen a dragon let alone one so young. Luckily the school did allow other creatures to attend so the looks ranged between curiosity, fearful, and dismissive.

“Hey Spike!” The friendly voice of Alicia and her sister’s ringing out in unison quickly perked Spike’s mood.

“Hi.” Spike ran over and gave Digit and Ditto a hug. He wasn’t as close with the other two sisters so just did a friendly hoof bump.

“Hello girls. Are your parents here?” Velvet looked around for the princesses.

“Not in person. But mom is keeping in touch with the hive mind. They thought coming with us would caus a crowd.” Alicia tapped the side of her head while Digit and Ditto nodded enthusiastically. Ceres just looked bored and would have preferred to be back at the hive watching over the eggs.

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Velvet frowned. She had hoped to ask about how Twilight was doing since she didn’t get to see her daughter as often.

“Parents and guardians, it’s about time for class so we ask that you all head off now while we get the students situated.” A teacher called out into the hall.

“Well looks like it’s time for us to go.” Night Light gave Spike a hug.

“Have a great day our little dragon.” Velvet gave him a tight squeeze while holding back tears.

“I will grandma. You both have a great day too.” Spike put on a brave face.

“Don’t worry we’ll keep him safe.” Ditto gave a playful salute.

“We know you girls will.” Velvet gave one last smile as they were ushered out along with the fellow families that lagged behind to say ‘goodbye’ by the school staff.

“Looks like it’s just us now.” Spike tapped his claws together. “What now?”

“Now, young ones, it’s time to find your classroom.” Spike almost jumped out of his scales when the teacher spoke.

”Why am I the only one in another room?” Alicia nervously tapped her hooves together while contacting her sister’s via the hive mind.

”It’s okay sis we’re just a room away.” Digit was lucky enough to be sitting right next to spike at the circular foal sized table. Her other two sisters were at other tables around the room.

”We should probably pay attention the teacher is speaking.” Ceres may have rather been at the hive but she wouldn’t let her sister’s get in trouble.

“Good morning every-creature. My name is Ms. Misty Rain and as you can see I’m a pegasus.” Spike’s teacher smiled brightly, fluffing her wings, and looking around at her new students from her spot at the center of the classroom. “Now as most of you may have noticed I said ‘creature’ because there’s more than just ponies in our class today. We’re lucky enough to have not only a zebra friend,” she motioned towards the shy zebra filly with a wing, “but a dragon, a griffin, and a couple of the newly discovered love bugs as well.”

“What’s a love bug?” One filly excitedly asked.

“Before I answer that little one, please remember that when at school you should raise your hoof or similar appendage before asking a question.” Misty demonstrated by raising a wing. “This way not every-creature is talking at once. It also becomes more important in later grades.” The teacher gave a warm smile but made sure to explain herself. “As for your question why don’t we ask one of our new friends as we all introduce ourselves?”

Digit excitedly raised her hoof causing Spike to quietly laugh. “Oh me. Pick me.”

Even Misty gave a small chuckle. “Go ahead little filly.”

Digit excitedly stood up. “Hi I’m Digit and I’m a Love Bug. We survive by eating and spreading love. We can fly and do magic and um~.” She tapped her chin and tilted her head while thinking of something else to say. “And that’s it I guess.” She shrugged and sat back down. Most of the fillies around the room giggled while a few colts looked confused. Ceres just rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics.

“Does that make you a princess since you have wings and a horn?” The same curious filly asked.

Digit shook her head. “Nope mom’s the princess I’m just a drone.” Luckily most ponies only heard the first part and excitedly started asking about her mom.

“Alright my little ponies calm down. It’s only our first day so you all have plenty of time to get to know each other.” Misty had been warned some of her students were important but not ‘children of the Princess’ levels of importance. “Why don’t we continue with introductions. Why don’t you go next little drake.” Misty knew Spike’s name from her roster but found it best to let students tell them.

Spike nervously stood up and played with his claws “Um hi, I’m Spike. I’m a dragon and I can breathe fire and I live with my mom and dad and I like comics.” He gave a shy smile and Digit gave him a comforting shoulder pat as he sat down.

“Are your parents dragons?” This time an excited colt, one of the few in the room, asked.

“No my mom is a unicorn. She hatched my egg and my dad is an alicorn.” Most of the foals looked confused sine Celestia was the only alicorn the knew.

“How is your dad an alicorn there’s only one?” A filly huffed.

“No there’s two. You forgot Cadence.” Another filly argued.

“But that’s still a girl pony.” The griffin hen didn’t want to be left out.

“Class calm yourselves. I was going to cover this in modern day facts but there’s actually three alicorns now. Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence and the newest alicorn Balanced Dawn who isn’t a prince but Celestia’s student.”

There was a round of ‘oohs’ from the class. “Now then let’s continue introducing ourselves.”

I watched Twilight nervously scratching in her notes as class continued.

“You okay?” I asked. The two of us were sitting further back in magic class having already read ahead of the current curriculum so didn’t have to pay that much attention.

“I’m just so worried about spike. What if ponies don’t like him and he gets left out and he gets angry and, and…” Twilight started Twilighting.

“He’s fine.” I put a wing over her back after raising a discrete sound bubble so the teacher didn’t get mad. He already didn’t like Twilight. “He isn’t alone at school and foals aren’t that bad.”

Twilight gave a deadpan look.

“Not all foals are that bad.” I corrected myself.

Spike was having a great day so far. After the lengthy introductions of everyone in class they had snacks and now were drawing pictures of their families.

“And how are we doing Spike?” Misty looked over his shoulder. It was her first time teaching a dragon so wasn’t quite sure what to expect but so far he was extremely well behaved. She figured most of the rumors were just that, rumors.

“Really good.” Spike excitedly finished drawing his grandmother Pear before setting down his colored pencil. “Want to see?”

“Of course.” Misty nodded.

“This is my mom Twilight. She hatched me. And that’s my dad Dawn. They aren’t married yet but he takes good care of me when mom’s studying. And that’s my grandparents and the princess and…”

“Who are these ponies?” Misty noticed there were quite a few ponies it wasn’t surprised considering how large herds could get.

“Oh that’s actually Digit and her sisters.” Digit looked over after hearing her name while Spike tilted his head. “We’re not exactly related but we all live at the castle and I wanted to include them. Was that ok?”

“Of course it is. Friends can end up as family so draw who you want.” Misty nodded and move on as other foals wanted to show off their own drawings.

“I’m family?” Digit asked hopefully.

Spike nodded without a second thought. “Of course.” This earned him a quick hug before they got back to drawing.

Spike yawned as he rolled over. He couldn’t remember why he was so scared of school. It had snacks and napping and drawing and friends. As he thought about it though he realized it wasn’t like his parents school and figured maybe that’s how all schools started. Easy then harder, he had already been learning so much like raising his hand and soon they would be learning to read and write.

Spike knew the basics of reading thanks to his mom but he felt school will definitely get harder.

Author's Note

I made a minor change last chapter. Twilight will be going to Ponyville in a few weeks not just one as I got the timeline a bit wrong.