How was my life after high school?

Boring.

Nearly everything I did every day since ended up being boring me in no time. Maybe it was because I just had nothing I was specifically required to do anymore, leaving me purposeless and without motivation or a clear goal.

I let myself wishfully think that one day I'd have something to do much more worthwhile than laying in my bed and listening to the latest album of Colt Sweat. However, after throwing away the letter of denial for the fifth and final college within a hundred mile radius, I found it harder and harder to wishfully think anymore.

It didn't matter. I didn't really wanna join those colleges, anyway.

Sighing, I popped a few sparks in the air above my face. It was another habit I formed when I got bored. Mom would always ask me to stop since it was a little loud even though her room was on the other side of the house. Thankfully, she wasn't here to stop me.

I still wasn't used to all the white in the house. Nearly every wall and every corridor was painted white. The ceilings were white, the cabinets were white... The abundance of windows in the house made it worse since it lit up every white thing it touched.

I remembered my old house growing up and how relatively small and cozy it was compared to this. My parents, aunty Octy and I moved here a few years ago. The princesses said they wanted to keep my dad "safe" and thought it would be best to move them way out here on the outskirts of Ponyville.

Don't get me wrong, I love my house. Not many girls my age get to live like I do, mostly because they don't have a dad as important as mine.

I stopped my sparking and stared at the ceiling for a while. I had just accidentally reminded myself of one of the most annoying and depressing ideas that I had stuck in my mind since as long as I could understand it.

Nopony really knew me because of... Well, me. All they talked about was "Alex's kid" this and "Alex's daughter" that. I didn't really mind and I never called them out on it, but it began hurting my confidence after a while.

But, what was I supposed to do? The only thing I knew I wanted to do was learn more about the kind of magic that I liked to use, and no college I applied for had a curriculum that had anything to do with that.

I bobbed my hoof up and down on the end of my bed in sync with the beat of the song that was doing a swell job of drowning out most of my doubts about my future. Even with my eyes closed, the sun-illuminated white walls seemed to drill into my corneas, which was the only thing reminding me that I was still awake.

"ANGEL!" I heard a voice suddenly yell, managing to cut through my dense headphones.

I took them off and opened my eyes before seeing what my dad was freaking out about. My black mane with my single bolt-like blue streak had somehow managed to sweep in front of my face, so I pushed it out of the way so I could see. I liked to keep it like my mom's hair except for a short ponytail in back, and just like her mane, it had a bad habit of getting in my face at times.

There were sparks of electricity going everywhere across the room making extremely loud noises as they zipped back and forth.

Losing control of my magic was only something that happened when I wasn't aware that I was using it. It often happened when I was doing thing like I was earlier. This time, though, it was probably because I got a little frustrated about the whole "Alex's daughter" thing.

It didn't take much effort to stop the semi-chaos, even though my mischievousness wanted to make it keep going.

"Heheh. Sorry, dad..." I sat up in my bed.

I wasn't really expecting him to scold or punish me since he never was the parent who did that. I never got in much trouble, but when I did, it was usually my mom who handled punishment. I guess you could say that I was a good kid and I didn't have to deal with that too often, though.

"It's okay... I just don't want you to hurt yourself." He calmed down a bit as he turned to walk away, but he paused and came back in.

"Yeah?" I asked, hesitating before putting my headphones back on.

"Are you... Okay?"

The way he asked confused me a little. He seemed unsure... As if he knew something that I didn't.

"Yup. Just getting bored, I guess."

"Alright... Oh, by the way, I found this academy in Canterlot..." He said as he pulled out a brochure. "Canterlot Academy for Advanced Magic."

As you probably guess, my ears perked up once I heard the name of the school.

"I'll leave it here if you're interested."

He tossed it onto my desk on the other side of the room and it slid a little before stopping when it bumped into my lamp.

"Don't blow your ears out with that music, Angel." His voice echoed through the hall outside my door as he walked away.

"'Kay!"

I turned the volume up on my headphones and closed my eyes, but not before getting up and retrieving the tiny piece of printed paper sitting on my desk. The song that came up next wasn't my favorite, but it was alright since I was more interested in what I was holding in my hooves.

There was a big "C.A.A.M." on the top of the front page in a font that looked old and fancy. It had a picture of the academy below it. I was a bit confused since the architecture looked so similar to the royal castle. I thought at first that it was located inside the castle, which made me a bit nervous at first, but I could tell by the lack of guard ponies around it that it was different.

I opened the first page and it looked just like any other spiel to get ponies to sign up. Pictures of ponies smiling and having a good time, a bullet list of "core values" or some crap... They conveniently left out the part about how much it would cost. That didn't surprise me.

Other than that, it looked too... Preppy.

I could picture in my mind going there and being assaulted by sassy vicious goody-two-shoes "my dad is really important and he'll sue you if you look at me the wrong way" type mares every single day. Then again, that wasn't all too different than high school; I suppose I was used to it by then.

The only thing keeping me from throwing the thing in the trash was the name of the place itself.

"Advanced Magic, huh?"

I flipped through the rest of the pages, hoping that they'd have a list of the different curricula they had. Of course, they conveniently left that golden piece of information out as well.

I sighed and fell back onto my back on the bed.

I guess I could send them a letter and ask... Ugh. That would take weeks, though...

I thought to myself, turning off the music since it was getting in the way of my thinking. The particular song that was playing wasn't doing it for me, anyway.

"Oh, and guess what?" Dad's voice cut through the silence suddenly and I looked down to see his head peeking around the corner.

"Princess Twilight is the headmistress there. She's the one who told me about it."

A princess is the headmistress?!

My eyes widened; I couldn't help but to feel a bit shocked.

"That's not all-" He leaned against the door frame to my room; I knew he could tell that I was interested. "I told her you were looking to learn more about shock magic and she said that there was a curriculum for that as well."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was afraid that she was maybe trying to sell her product too high, but a princess wouldn't do that... Right?

I was too surprised to speak, so he continued.

"Well? What'cha think? Who'd be better to teach you the extents of magic than the element of magic herself?"

It was unlikely that she'd teach me herself, but her being at the head of the school was definitely promising. I kept trying to think of reasons why it wouldn't work out, but I knew that I wouldn't get a setup of this magnitude anyplace else. I could handle stupid classmates and teachers if it meant learning more about shock magic.

"Angel? Hello?" Dad grinned at my obvious awe of what he just told me.

I rose up from my bed; I couldn't help but smile once I snapped out of my daydreaming.

"When do I start?!"

Nine months.

That's how long I'd be away from home. It took me a while to come to grips with it; I had been going to bed at home nearly every day of my life.

I guess dad forgot to mention it earlier, but since the school was so far away, it was more feasible for me to stay in their dorm in Canterlot. Of course, both my parents really wanted me to stay home, but the three hour train ride there and back every day would start to get exhausting after a while.

Leaving the house and boarding the train for the first time was the hardest part for my parents.

"Please make sure you write to us, Angel... We're going to miss you a lot..." My mom was stable enough not to cry, but it was obvious that she was a little emotional about the whole thing.

I was at the Ponyville Train Station, a place I rarely visited. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't as crowded as I thought it’d be.

There wasn't any place to sit and we got there thirty minutes early, so we were forced to stand on the old worn boards that held the station up.

"I know, mom. I will."

"And just be sure to talk to Twilight if anything bad happens. I'm sure she'd be happy to help you out." My dad added in as he rubbed my shoulders; they were so achy from standing for so long... The two heavy saddlebags full of clothes and other random stuff didn't help, either.

I had only met her once or twice, but she acted as if I were her best friend when she did. It was awkward; it felt so... Wrong... To have such an intimate and informal relationship with somepony of her status. I always called her "ma'am" and "Your Highness" just to be safe, but she always corrected me when I did.

Either way, it was nice to know that there would at least be one pony there that actually cared about my existence.

Not many ponies are ever excited to go to school, but I had to say that I was. I was anxious to see just how extensive magic could go. No more introductory beginners spells, and no more training books for ten-year-olds....

No. From that point, I was determined to do what I wanted with my own talent and take it as far as I wanted to without the damned bureaucracy getting in my way.

~Forty Minutes Later...~

I could hear the train coming from literally a mile away; it blew its horn several times to let everypony know.

It was a lot longer and bigger than I expected it to be. I had only ridden the train once, but I was far too little to remember all the specifics.

A cloud of steam and smoke covered the station as it pulled in and it took several moments for it to clear. When it finally did, there was already a tall stallion standing next to an open car door with a fancy blue cap on and a golden chain watch in his hoof.

"That's you, sweetie. Be careful, okay? You can handle anything they throw at you." My dad encouraged me and kissed my head. I smiled, embarrassed.

"And just *zap* ‘em if they piss 'ya off, okay?" Mom said as they both hugged me tight. "And don't be shy if you find any cute girls there!"

"Mom!"

"Just teasing." She added, but gave me a wink to let me know that she really wasn't teasing. I rolled my eyes at her and grinned.

"All aboard for Canterlot Downtown!" The train stallion yelled out and half the ponies that were waiting there with us began piling in.

"Bye, Angel! Love you!"

"Love you too!" I shouted back to them both as I disappeared behind the smoke cloud and into the train.

I expected it to be kinda grungy and dirty inside from multiple years of abuse, but it was actually pretty tidy. In fact, it seemed as if I was in the first class car. That couldn't be, though, since that was all the way in front and the one I hopped onto was midway through the train.

It wasn't difficult finding a seat. Everypony filled up the first class car, so I almost had this one all to myself.

I picked the closest one to my right and sat down, scooting over to the window and putting my two saddlebags on the floor beneath my hind hooves.

It felt nice to sit down after so long, and the cushions on the seats were actually pretty decent.

I looked to my right and saw my parents waving at me as the train shuddered into motion. The windows were apparently not tinted; they could obviously see me clearly.

Despite my nervousness, I smiled and waved back until they were out of my field of view.

The view was dull at first, but it got better as we made our way into the countryside.

The door behind me opened abruptly. It was the only noise I heard other than the train engine for a long time since the car I was riding in was relatively empty, thankfully.

Whoever came in was obviously out of breath and when she walked down the aisle, she sat right across from me on opposite row of seats.

We both made obligatory eye contact.

Her egg yolk colored fur complimented the rays of sunlight shining on her. She had brilliant blue eyes, too, which made my dark brown ones look cruddy and mundane.

"Hi." I smiled, trying to be as friendly as possible since she would be only company on the trip there. I reached into my bag and pulled out my headphones to listen to music.

"Hey! Are you going to C.A.A.M too?" She responded way friendlier than I did.

I rested the headphones on my lap for the moment since it would've been rude to talk with them on.

"Oh. Uh, yeah."

"Me too! I'm so nervous... I heard it was huge!" She reminded me a little of Pinkie Pie: one of dad's friends. Except, she wasn't nearly as crazy and bouncy.

"Heheh. Yeah." I admit I could've been more talkative, but I always had a shyness problem with new ponies.

She got up from her seat and sat next to me in mine.

"Sorry. Lightweight. Nice to meet ya!" She held out her hoof and I shook it, enjoying the friendliness.

Her mane hung down when she leaned forward and I got of a whiff of whatever kind of shampoo she most recently used. It smelled like coconut which complimented its beautiful angelic white color. It was tied up in a ponytail in the back, but she let the front part of it out which made it somewhat difficult to see her eyes at times. It was a lot like how mine was styled, but a little neater and less wild than mine.

I almost wanted to sneak in another whiff... It was nearly intoxicating.

Her cutie mark was a large grey weight that had "1 ton" written in black within the boundaries. It was hard to guess what her talent was.

Like I said earlier: Just because you have a cutie mark doesn't mean your life purpose has anything to do with what it is.

You're probably wondering why I was being so observant about her appearance, so I'll get this out of the way before I continue. You might've picked up on it when my mom made that comment about girls back at the station.

I like girls. Yeah, I know, you can call me a dyke all you want, I don't care. I'm used to it by now. All I know is that I've never really been attracted to colts in the same way as nearly every other girl out there. I start feeling flutters in my chest whenever I see a beautiful mare the same way a straight girl would when she sees a handsome stallion, and I was feeling that a little when Lightweight came to sit next to me. It was obvious that she was more beautiful than a lot of the other mares I tended to meet back in Ponyville.

I've been in a few relationships with mares before, but none of them really worked out. A lot of girls nowadays just say they're lesbian so they can get more attention from the guys, and I was able to pick out the ones just labeling themselves for the attention as soon as I started getting serious with them.

Also, if you're perverted enough to want to know... I'm usually the dominant one. I guess I get that from my mom's assertiveness.

Anyways... Where was I...?

"Angel Bolt. Same." I started to warm up to her and moved closer to the window so she would have more room. I knew I was being a bore to talk to so far, so I chose to not let the following silence hang for too long.

"What'cha going to study for there?" I put my headphones back in my bag; it seemed as if I wouldn't need them.

"Oh, this and that. I really hope I can learn more about telekinesis magic, though."

Sounds kinda like me.

I sat quietly and listened.

"I help my dad at his construction sites lifting equipment and stuff. He said that I could lift more than most of his employees, so he insisted that I learn more about it."

"So I guess Lightweight is..."

She chuckled. "Yeah. Kinda annoying, right? All my co-workers joke about it, but I don't care. I know they know I can lift ten times my weight."

Lightweight crossed her hooves to her chest and gave a "Hmph." out of pride. I always appreciated a sense of self-confidence in somepony; I guess that's why I took such a quick liking to her.

"Ah, sorry for rambling." She giggled at herself. "What about you?"

Thank goodness she didn't just keep talking about herself...

"W- Well..." I couldn't really think of anything noteworthy. "I'm kinda the same; I'm going to learn about shock magic."

"Ooh... Shock magic...? I don't hear about many unicorns interested in something like that. What do ya wanna do with it? Fight? Work...?"

"I dunno. That's another reason I'm going to C.A.A.M, I guess."

The train went over a bump and it made us bounce up slightly before going into a dark underground tunnel. The dim lights on its inside flashed by us as we continued to talk.

"That's fine if you don't know, don't worry." Lightweight put her hoof on me to reassure me. I couldn't tell whether to take it as supportive or patronizing. I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

"Thanks... Small world, huh?"

She giggled more. "I know, right?! I hope we get the same classes together; that would be awesome!"

I didn't follow up with anything else since I couldn't really think of anything. I wasn't that great at conversations.

The tunnel ended abruptly and I had to squint my eyes to adjust for the blinding orange sunset over the horizon.

"So... How are your parents like? O- Oh, I'm sorry, do you have parents? I didn't mean-"

I couldn't help but grin at her little airhead moments. I could tell we were already set on being good friends.

"Nah, I have parents. My mom is Vinyl Scratch; she used to make music way back when. My dad..."

I wasn't sure whether or not it was a good idea to bring up who my dad was since everypony everywhere went goo-goo when I spilled the beans about him.

Lightweight cocked her head to the side and gave me a funny look, probably wondering why I was sitting there like a buffoon and not saying anything.

Why not? She doesn't look like somepony who'd take it the wrong way.

Before I could follow up, though...

"Wait..."

I could almost see the gears turning in her head.

"Scratch... You wouldn't happen to be..."

"Yeah. Just... Please don't make a scene, okay?" I whispered and gestured her to lower her voice. I looked around to make sure that nopony else noticed.

Her eyes widened and her hooves covered her mouth.

"Oh goodness gosh!" She exclaimed in a hushed tone. "I didn't know they had a daughter!"

The only reason I didn't stop talking to her after she said that was because I knew that it wasn't her fault for not knowing.

"Yeah..."

I tried to keep my mood up, but I couldn't help but feel a little unimportant whenever people said they knew me because of my dad instead of me. My self-confidence balloon was quickly deflating.

The promise of making a name for myself at C.A.A.M. was the only motivation I had so far. It was too late to turn back even if I wanted to.

"So, like... You got earth blood in you, don't 'cha?"

Lightweight poked my shoulder to tease me and it kinda helped cool off my internal stress.

"Heheh. Yeah, I guess so, if you wanna think of it that way." I looked back out the window. The sun had turned a beautiful red and half of it was already hiding behind the horizon.

"So, you're from Ponyville?" It was a stupid question since she got on the same train that I did. I was just trying to avoid awkward silences.

"Eeyup. I'm more on the outskirts, though. Can't stand being right in the middle of town."

Sounds just like me...

"Same here." I said with a smile. It was odd learning just how many things we had in common.

"Cool! Hey, you think we'll be roommates?! Omigosh that would be so fun!" She *squee*d and giggled.

I couldn't help but notice how cute she was. I had a feeling she made a lot of other girls jealous.

"Hope so. Better with you than some schmuck I barely know." I said, still staring out the window. I hoped it didn't come off as insulting, but she didn't seem like the kind of mare to take offense that easily.

I could barely see the outline of Canterlot sitting on the side of the mountain. The specific buildings weren't distinguishable since the light was dimming by the second, but I knew we were getting close.

"We could help each other study since we'll be in the same classes... Do whatever we want... Gosh, it'll feel so nice being away from my parents and having my own place for once."

"Yeah, same here. My parents are pretty lax, but I don't really get to do many things on my own very often since they're so protective of me."

"Well, I don't blame them! You're a very important-"

I put a hoof to her muzzle gently. It cut her off, but I hoped it wasn't rude.

"Oh... S- Sorry... Forgot."

I couldn't help but to fall asleep with my head leaning against the train window for the rest of the way despite Lightweight's energetic conversations. She didn't try waking me, though, which means that she was a considerate mare as well.

I appreciated that.

I woke drowsily to the jolt of the train hitting the brakes and it was completely dark outside the window save for a few street lights lined up beside the track.

A large yawn escaped my mouth and I instinctively stretched my legs, feeling them crack a little from stiffness. My eyes were still half open when I sat back up and looked over at Lightweight, who had dozed off as well. Her head was leaning against my side and I blushed a little from the unintended intimacy.

Her fur is so soft...

"Hey..." I tried gently shaking her shoulder.

It probably wasn't enough, but I didn't want to be rude.

Nothing.

I tried a little harder this time.

"Lightweight... We're here."

Still, nothing.

Looks like her name doesn't reflect her sleeping habits, either...

The lights outside started getting less far apart and I figured we'd be stopping soon.

I had an idea.

I reached down into my saddlebag and looked for the chocolate energy bar that my mom packed for me. I didn't really need it, but I was glad that it was in there now.

I took it out and unwrapped it, already smelling the strong aroma of cocoa and caramel. It was a silly idea, but it was more subtle and polite than shaking her more.

Tactfully, I put it under her nose and held it for a moment.

Almost as if on cue, her body began to shift around and she groaned softly.

Luna... It actually worked!

"H- Huh... Are we there?" She rubbed her eyes and sat up. "And what's that smell?"

"Mhmm. And, uh... Nothing..." I hid the bar back in my pack before she was awake enough to notice.

I was glad that I was sitting back up when the train engaged the brakes harder or else my head would've collided with the seat in front of me.

"Whaaah!" Lightweight fell forward and I caught her since she was too drowsy to catch herself.

"Geez, where's the seat belts on these things when you need them?" I complained as I helped her back up.

"T- Thanks..." Lightweight's cheeks turned a shade redder and her eyes averted me.

Was she just embarrassed about falling over? Or, was she just delirious from recently waking up? I couldn't tell why she seemed so shy all of a sudden.

There were a few moments of silence as the train completely stopped and we waited for someone to tell us to get off. I looked out the window and there was only one way to describe what was outside.

Culture shock.

"Whoa!" I couldn't contain my curiosity and awe of such a drastically new environment.

My eyes instantly magnetized towards the tall buildings. They were ten times taller than any building I'd remembered seeing. Some of them were so tall that I couldn't even look high enough to see their tops due to the window only being so wide.

The ponies there were all... Different, too. Some looked just like me, but most could simply be labeled as gaudy. It was like they were constantly trying to out-do themselves with how big their jewelry was and how crazy their clothes were.

Lightweight and I giggled a little and one particular mare that walked right in front of our window wearing a hat that looked like it had come out of a crane's nest.

We heard the doors open abruptly followed by the same conductor shouting out from the front of the train car.

"Downtown Canterlot!"

Author's Notes:

If there are any grammatical or spelling errors, please send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE and let me know so that I can fix them asap. Thanks for reading! <3