I woke up with a yawn, stretching and rolling over onto my hooves. Even if alien, everything moved. Nothing screamed. My back, it felt great. My head, clear. It was already a great day. I tried to count my blessings, even back when I was a human. Count those blessings. "This counts." I was a healthy teen!

Teens often had no idea ho blessed they were. I did. "Another blessing." I made a check swish with a hoof. "And... bathroom time." I trotted out of the room, eyes on the door I needed. I spotted Spike, his tail more specifically, working on breakfast. Smelled good... Less sugary than the day before. "Morning," I called.

"Morning," echoed Twilight from above. "Don't go anywhere. I have news."

News? I went into the bathroom and closed the door. Ah, the bathroom, a safe room where few would intrude on someone. I went to the curious long tray that was a pony toilet and made use of it. Feeling the pressure abate, I shook myself out and headed back outside.

Twilight was waiting behind the library counter. "There you are." She waved me closer. "I found a lovely way, I think, for you to get familiar with this new world. You can make some friends while you're there, and learn more about us."

Theories of what she meant came and went in a rush as I wandered towards her. "Hi. Good morning. What do you have in mind?"

Twilight laughed gently. "You didn't have to greet me before you got to your question."

"Habit," called Spike, still in the kitchen.

"Really? Hm. Well." She set down a single paper. "Princess Celestia started a school of friendship. I think it's a wonderful idea, and I can think of a new pony that might be served quite well there."

Wait. School of friendship? A world away, Twilight was the dean of that school. She wasn't? "Who's in charge?"

"Celestia. Princess Celestia." She inclined her head. "I know you know about her. You brought her up enough times in your stories."

I blinked in surprise as Twilight revealed Princess Celestia herself was running this school of friendship. My mind raced trying to slot this new information into my patchwork understanding of how hierarchies and systems operated in this alternate Equestria.

Clearly, if even magic prodigy Twilight wasn't involved in such a major venture, Celestia held central authority without distributing too many administrative duties. But then why suggest sending me there? Did Twilight know the Princess well enough to secure enrollment favorably on her recommendation alone?

I rubbed my chin, mulling over the possibilities. "So let me get this straight - Princess Celestia started up a friendship school and you want me, a newcomer alien pony, to attend? Do you think she'd even accept a total stranger as a pupil?"

Twilight smiled patiently. "Of course! The whole point of the school is fostering cross-cultural understanding. As the first human-turned-pony ever in our world, you'd make for a perfect candidate."

She patted the brochure eagerly. "Plus Celestia and I exchange regular correspondence given my diplomatic role here in Ponyville. I'm happy to send along a letter of introduction on your behalf."

My eyes widened at that. Direct personal access to Equestrian royalty via Twilight? Far be it from me to turn down such an opportunity, even if trepidation stirred too. Everything was moving so fast!

But I didn't want to seem ungrateful when Twilight was trying her best to help me adjust to unintended new circumstances. School did sound like a supportive transitional environment too while I found my hooves...

"Alright, you make a convincing case," I finally said with a conceding chuckle. "I suppose getting to directly experience your world through an educational lens is an invaluable chance. And making new local friends sounds nice too." I smiled over at her. "So sign me up to be a school of friendship student!"

Twilight's smile grew even brighter. "Excellent! I'll send the letter right away so you can start this term." Her horn lit up as she began magically preparing writing implements. "You're going to have such an enriching experience, I just know it!"

I smiled and nodded along to her clear excitement over this new opportunity as scrolls and quills zipped about overhead. It was that moment I realized I had done something so very dumb. "Uh, I still have appointments. I can't just not show up, and I don't even know how dates work here." I laughed nervously. "Too late the back out?"

"No, of course--" Twilight paused as flames licked over her her. Spike had puffed some fire, sending the scroll up in mystical smoke. "Now it's too late..."

Spike smirked as he settled there. "No excuses. This is your life now. Your old one can take a hike."

Twilight twirled on Spike. "Spike! That was... extremely rude, at best."

I could feel heat rising. Part of me wanted to be very... very angry... But it fizzled limply. Spike was trying to help me. I was the one being unreasonable... "I can... Do you set up schedules in the school? Maybe I can work around it?"

Twilight rested against a hoof. "I admit, I never attended the school myself, only serving as a teacher at times. I have little experience with what it's like from the student perspective."

Spike reached to pat me on the head. "Good pony." Okay, that was irritating... I was an adult, darn it! "Time to go school shopping." He turned and made his way back to the kitchen.

I sighed with defeat. "When would I even start?"

"Not today." Twilight scowled at where Spike had gone. "For now, eat breakfast, then I'll call Applejack over. She can take you shopping. You got along with her, didn't you?"

"Sure." I struggled to imagine too many ponies I didn't get along with at least on a surface level. "She's great. More active, physically, than I'd been... but I'm younger now." I cantered in place. "A little activity won't kill me."

Twilight snorted softly. "Less activity, more shopping, for school. She may try to lasso you over to her farm though... Don't resist her too much. It's a fine time to make friends."

I nodded, returning to the table where we all sat to enjoy breakfast as Twilight sent word for Applejack. Soon enough, the farm pony arrived with a knocking. "Ah know yer in there," came her muffled voice before she nosed the door open. "'Sides, it's a library, public buildin' an' all."

She fixed her eyes on me. "Eatin'? Good! We'll need energy to get through the day. Go on!" She clapped her hooves, settling to watch me.

Fortunately, I was in the habit of eating quickly, so I made short work of the food, chugged down some apple juice(coincedence?) and hopped to my hooves. We headed into town to pick up school supplies. Along the way, Applejack was brimming with questions. "So! Yer from another world, huh? Was it a nice one?"

"Eh?"

Applejack hiked a brow, a motion she was practiced at. "Eh? If I were in another world, ah'd have a lot more than 'eh' to say 'bout this one." She shook herself with a snort. "Well, welcome to 'Questria! We're better than 'eh'. 'Least, if ya asked me, which I just did mahself."

She leaned in closer. "So, what's it like? Ya enjoyin' yerself here? Everypony bein' nice?" We were making our way through the roads of the town, towards somewhere only she knew for sure. "Jus' makin' sure! Ah wouldn't stand fer people pickin' on a foal."

Foal? "I'm not a foal..."

Applejack burst into an uproar of a laugh. "Sure, ya say that... Most anypony your age would say that. But yain't no 'dult just yet. Yer right on the edge." She wobbled left and right to emphasize that. "Still a foal in my book, and ah ain't gonna left nothin' hurt ya." She waved ahead. "Welcome to Sofa and Quills. Jus' the place to grab some writin' supplies to be ready fer school."

I blinked up at the storefront as we arrived. Sofa and Quills? There it was, sprouting from the show to a fancier situation in front of me. But before I could dwell too long, Applejack gave me a hearty nudge towards the entrance.

"Go on now, lotsa shoppin' for you to get done!" She trailed after me shaking her head. "Still can't believe yer startin' from scratch gettin' ready fer school. Ain'tcha got no supplies where yer from?"

I rubbed my neck, taking in the cozy rows of stationery wares. I considered saying I was an adult, but would that help? "Well you see, where I'm from we usually have...flashier tools." I clopped my hooves together awkwardly. "Like, solid magic boxes you can use to write, or talk to ponies far away!"

Seeing AJ's incredulous look I coughed self-consciously. "Eh, anyway, yes - very different from quills and parchment...What would you recommend?"

Applejack took charge guiding me through selecting a new book satchel, notebooks, and pens. As we browsed, my earlier grousing over the abrupt enrollment faded. There were good odds I had just forgotten about it. Applejack also had a way of making any job feel like a sunny adventure with a friend.

"Thanks for all this, AJ," I said finally as we stepped back out into the street, my packed bags held firmly in my jaws. "You really helped get me excited for classes now - never would've managed all that setup alone!"

She waved dismissively but smiled all the same. "Ain't nothin'! You just come find me if them fancy classmates give you any trouble, ya hear?" She laughed, but I didn't. I began to wonder if I actually should be worried or not.

It was Equestria, even an odd one. Surely any classmates would be nice folk... I hoped? I returned to the library and quickly set the bag down in my room, rubbing my jaws firmly to work out the stiffness. Coming out, I saw Spike enjoying a comic. The comic was far from me, in his hands as he enjoyed it.

Big adult dragon or not, Spike still liked his comics, clearly. "Hey."

Spike looked down at me. "Hey. Got everything?"

"Everything we could think of, I should be ready." Uh, wait... "Except text books?"

Spike peered at me with confusion a moment. "You plan to start a school?"

"No?" I sat down, head craned to face up at Spike. "Don't I need books to read, for class?"

Spike pointed off. "Yeah, and? You'll read them at school, duh. I have no idea what you have in your mind." He reached, stroking down my middle towards my back. "You are a very funny pony. Never change."

I chuckled self-consciously as Spike gave me an affectionate pat. Clearly my lingering Earth logic was still misaligning expectations about school procedures. I made a mental note to curb assumptions, even as I knew I would likely make many more.

"Heh, will do my best not to change too much," I replied, leaning into the contact. "Though some kinda class syllabus might still help me wrap my head around what I'm in for at this friendship academy."

I glanced around the cozy library interior, hoping inspiration on lesson planning might strike from the numerous books filling the shelves. But academic mysteries still lingered.

"So will I get assigned a schedule on arrival?" I wondered aloud. "Or do we set our own class lists? Are there grades? Do you get...I dunno, extra friendship credits for doing extra well?" I laughed awkwardly. "Clearly the curriculum framework still eludes me..."

Spike snorted in amusement. "Dude, chill. It's not that complicated." He rolled the comic up with a flourish worthy of Rarity herself. "Just show up, join what looks fun, make some buddies. Easy stuff."

He cocked his head at me knowingly. "It's Equestria - friendship just kinda comes natural around here once you open up." He thumped his barrel chest proudly. "Trust your dragon - you'll be starring in no time!"

I couldn't help but grin wryly at Spike's contagious casual confidence. Perhaps I was overthinking things trying to map formalized structures atop such an organic concept...if anyone in Equestria breathed right friendship vibes intuitively, surely Celestia's school exemplified that spirit.

I met Spike's eyes with fresh boldness. "Lucky for me to have a seasoned expert like you guiding this lost alien then!" I reached to bump our offered fist. "Alright bud, I'll follow your friendship insights to keep me chill."

Spike smirked approvingly. "Now you're getting it!"

A pity Spike had never gone to that school, or any other that was made for ponies.

Author's Note

Seems ponies around here are eager to thrust me into productive things in this world. Dang ponies...

Join the special community of folks who like my stories and/or get your own here at atreon!

Don't want to do an ongoing thing? You could

Join my discord to chat!