- Gallus, the snarky, quickwitted griffon who always seemed inattentive in class, but did listen… even if he’d never admit it.
- Smolder, the tough young dragon who always spoke her mind and definitely didn’t like cute stuff. Nope. Absolutely not.
- Ocellus, the meek, timid yet kind changeling with a bright, academically-inclined mind.
- Silverstream, the cheerful, excitable hippogriff with a fondness for stairs.
- Sandbar, the chill, easygoing Earth pony, and the only equine of the group.
- Yona, the loud and proud yak who was always ready to smash something… when it’s necessary, of course.
The School of Friendship had opened up its doors to every creature throughout Equestria; from land, sea, sky or anywhere in between, they were more than welcome to attend… a prospect which had brought its fair share of criticism, namely from the stern judgments of the EEA’s policies, which were subsequently overruled by the headmare/founder of the school – and, oh yeah, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, then fully dropped after the thwarted coup by Cozy Glow and her manipulative conquest for power.
Once the dust had settled, the school had grown into a well-established institution for not just Ponyville, but for all of Equestria, and its lessons had gone from haphazardly disorganized to a steady, focused curriculum that enlightened the masses on friendship from the ponies who knew it best: that being the Elements of Harmony themselves.
One particularly diverse group of young students had become quite the star pupils in the aftermath of the Cozy Glow incident, who had affectionately been referred to as the ‘Student Six’:
Despite their cultural differences, these six students had all grown to become close friends, and were locked in for the ride ahead of them – a ride which one new student was just about to go on for themselves at the start of this latest semester.
While they strolled along the school grounds, taking it all in that they were actually here, they soon found themselves about an inch away from a sudden burst of orange flames that walled off their path for a moment and made them stumble back in surprise. Once the flaming roadblock simmered, they took a second to collect themselves, having not expected their daydreaming to be interrupted like that.
“Whoa! Hey, you okay?” came the scratchy voice of the school’s resident dragon student in all her short, orange-scaled glory.
Smolder quickly approached them, mild concern in her turquoise-eyed gaze… which soon turned into that familiar impish smirk of hers, fangs poking out from beneath her muzzle.
“Sheesh, talk about not watching where you’re going – one step closer and I coulda roasted you like a marshmallow! You freshies get distracted real easy, don’t you?” she teased good-naturedly, one hand on her hip while the other brushed back the purple frill atop her head.
The little dragon then waved it off nonchalantly. “Eh, s’alright though, no harm done. Just make sure you’re not spacing out when I’m in the middle of target practice, will ‘ya?”
Jerking a thumb off to the side, the ‘freshie’ in question did indeed find a scorched-looking target about a hoof’s length away from them. Huh.
“Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking: ’but you’re a dragon, you should already know how to breathe fire and make it look super cool!’ Heh, well, you’re not wrong, but you should see some of our elders; their flames can be seen for miles beyond the Dragon Lands” she keenly explained.
“Obviously I wanna be that when I hit my growth spurt in a few thousand moons or whatever, so I’m just getting a head start, ‘ya know?” She wisely tapped one clawed finger to her temple. “You can never be too prepared when you’re a dragon.”
Barely a second passed before an eager gleam shone in her eyes. “Hey, I got an idea: how ‘bout instead of standing there in cooking range, you hang out behind me where it’s safe and watch a professional at work?”
She gave them a playful wink. “You might learn a thing or two, freshie, even if you don’t have the tough scales to prove it.”