Author's Note: This story takes place a few years after Defenders of Harmony, so if you want some background, I suggest you read that first. Please, read and review if you enjoyed, or if you have critique on how I could do better.

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"Alexandria! It's time for school, darling!" called Mom from downstairs. "Hurry up or you'll be late!"

"Coming, Mom!" I called, sitting up in my bed. I jumped out of bed and stretched out my wings. "I hate these stupid things." I walked into my bathroom and grabbed a brush off my sink. I passed it through my blue and black mane a few times. I pushed the hair out of my face, revealing my dark green eyes and slitted pupils. I used my magic to levitate my favorite article of clothing, my denim jacket, over to me, along with a pair of jeans. I threw on my jeans haphazardly and put my jacket on slowly and carefully, watching my scaly wings disappear. Lovely. I grabbed my dark shades and ran downstairs, putting them on.

"Good morning, darling." said Mom. "Would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks." I said, hugging her tightly.

"Ah, ah! Claws! Claws!" she cried in pain. Oops. I pulled my hands back and willed my razor-sharp claws back into my fingers.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly. "Where's Dad?"

"Your father went out to get me a gift for Hearts and Hooves Day. I mean, he went out to get milk. Spike was never really good at hiding things. But don't tell him I said that." said Mom. The door flew open and in walked a green and purple dragon holding two paper bags. He put them down on the table and walked over to me.

"Spike the Dragon." I said seriously, looking him in the eyes with intense ferocity.

"Alexandria the Great." he replied, equally serious. Then, without warning, he raised his right claw high above his head. I mirrored him and swung down while raising my left hand. I brought my hand back down and twirled around.

"GRAAAAAH!" we growled together, spewing fire out of our mouths. My blue flames mixed with his green and we fell to the ground laughing.

"Hi Dad!" I said cheerfully.

"What's up, honey?" he asked, getting to his feet.

"Spike! I told you to stop spitting fire in the house!" exclaimed Mom.

"Sorry, Rarity." he said. "I'm just trying to get her to show some dragon pride. I don't want her to go through life hating her heritage."

"I don't hate being a dragon. I actually kinda like it. I like being a unicorn too. I just wish I didn't have to be both." I said. I made my way to the door, just to be stopped by a tall white unicorn with a light purple and pink mane.

"Hi, Alex!" she said happily.

"Auntie Sweetie Belle!" I squealed, hugging her. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom told me you were having some problems fitting in so I thought I'd come down and talk to you. Of course, that means Scootaloo and Applebloom tagged along."

"Where are they?"

"Right here, Alex." said Scootaloo, walking in the house. Behind her entered a mare with a light yellow coat and a reddish mane.

"Howdy!" she said. "We heard that ya feelin a little self-conscious about ya… ya know… Cutie Mark."

"Or lack thereof." I said grumpily. "I still don't have mine."

"We understand how that feels." said Scootaloo. "It took us an awful long time to get ours."

"Yeah, but you did get your's. And they're for something really cool. What can I do? I can't fly, I can barely do magic, and I'm a freak! What if I never get mine? What if I can't get mine? Dragons don't have Cutie Marks." I cried.

"What?! You can't fly?!" exclaimed Scootaloo. She whipped out a cell phone, pressed a few buttons and put it to her ear. "Ma? Yeah, I need you to do me a favor. Do you think you could come give Alex a few flying lessons? I'd teach her, but I thought she'd like to learn from the best. Uh-huh. Yeah. How does next Saturday sound? Good. Thanks. Tell Mom I said 'hi'. Me and Applebloom are coming over for dinner tomorrow. Ok. Bye."

"What was that?" I asked.

"I just got you flying lessons from the best flyer in Equestria. Rainbow Dash will be here on Saturday."

"If you call Rainbow Dash 'mom', what do you call Applejack?" I asked curiously.

"Rainbow Dash is 'Ma' and Applejack is normally 'Mom' or 'Mother'. I dunno, they tend to understand who I'm trying to talk to."

"Is it weird having two moms?"

"No! Why would it be? You got a problem with that?" asked Scootaloo defensively.

"Of course not! I just wanted to know how you dealt with being different." I replied.

"Oh. Sorry." said Scootaloo, scratching her head. "I guess I just kinda… took offense."

"Ya might as well have told em'!" said Applebloom, "Ah thought we were supposed to get everypony together and tell them at once!"

"Oops! Guess I let the cat out of the bag on this one." said Scootaloo. "Well, might as well tell you all: me and Applebloom are going out!"

"What?!" exclaimed Mom. "How long has this been going on?! Does your mother know about this Scootaloo?"

"Considering my mothers loves me, and I have two of them, I don't think they would care." said Scootaloo.

"And Sweetie Belle!" she continued. "Are you also… you know… Do you… Speak French in Algeria?"

"What? If you're trying to asked me if I'm gay, then no. You've met my colt-friend! Twice!"

"Oh. That's right. Pardon me." she said, turning away embarrassed.

"Back to my problems." I said. "It's not just the Cutie Mark. I'm so… different. Half-unicorn, half-dragon. I don't fit in anywhere. I wear these shades to cover my eyes and I wouldn't even leave the house if it wasn't for this jacket Conjure gave me. Nopony at school even knows I have wings or what my eyes look like. What do I do about it?"

"It doesn't matter what you look like. What matters is what's on the inside. You have nothing to worry about. You're unique. Alex the Great, the first pony/dragon hybrid. You should be proud." said Aunt Sweetie. "And besides, at least you don't have to deal with the bullies that we did."

"Pah! I doubt you three has ever had to deal with bullies as mean as Platinum Pendant! Or Sterling Silver!" I exclaimed.

"Who does that sound like?" groaned Scootaloo.

"Let me guess: Rich fillies? First in the class to get their Cutie Marks? Total bitches?" asked Applebloom.

"Applebloom! Language, please!" exclaimed Mom.

"Uh… sorry Rarity. But that sounds an awful lot like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon."

"Those are their parents. Do you know them?" I asked.

"Know them?" scoffed Auntie Sweetie Belle. "Yeah, we go way back. They used to torment us for being 'Blank-Flanks'. Jerks."

"How did you deal with them?"

"We let them egg us on and ended up in quite a few stupid situations. If we would've ignored them, we probably would have discovered our talents much sooner. Just don't let them bother you."

"Thanks for the advice, guys, but I'm ten minutes late for school." I said, looking at the time.

"Oh my gosh! We'll have to take you and explain to… who's teaching nowadays? I know it's not still Cheerilee."

"My teacher is Ms. Dinky." I said.

"Dinky? Dinky Doo? Isn't that Derpy's filly?" asked Scootaloo. "I remember Dinky! She was pretty ok."

"Scootaloo! Focus!" said Auntie Sweetie. "We have to get Alex to school!"

"Come on." I said, walking out the door. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!"

"Have a nice day, darling!" called Mom.

"I'll see you after school Alex!" yelled Dad. I walked behind my aunt and her two best friends in silence, thinking about what they'd said. Maybe they were right.

"Hey, Alex." said Scootaloo. "I got you something." She dug into her pocket and pulled out a large sapphire gem. She tossed it to me with a grin.

"No way! Scootaloo, you're the best!" I said, catching it. I put in my mouth and sucked on it for a second, savoring the sugar-sweet flavor. I quickly took a bite and shoved the rest in my pocket for safe-keeping.

"Don't tell your mother." she replied. "You're not supposed to eat too many of those. But Conjure and the princess was doing some alchemy involving gemstones, and they just so happened to have some left over. I couldn't just throw them away. You're mother would consider me a blasphemer if I let 30 perfectly good sapphires, rubies, and emeralds go to waste. I have the rest at my house. You can get them next time you come over."

"You are the best!" I repeated approaching the doors of the school house. I pushed it open and entered the empty school. Absolutely nopony was here. Huh?

"Oh right!" I exclaimed. "Today's the field trip! I completely forgot! We're supposed to be in the Crystal Empire for a tour from the princess!"

"Oh! That's why Twilight was so busy today!" said Scootaloo. "Don't worry, Sweetie Belle can get us there. Right?"

"I can try." answered my aunt. "Everypony come here." We huddled together, linking arms. Pale green light bathed us and…

POP!

"Hello, Cutie Mark Crusaders." said the princess. "Care to explain why Alexandria is late?"