"C.A.A.M. first years, form a line here!" An elizabethan-style voice rang out through the crowd to our left right after hopping off the train and I saw an important-looking older mare standing on a two-step high pedestal. There were already three long lines in front of her.

As we found the shortest line and got in, I couldn't help but notice the diversity of everypony around me.

The fact that they were all unicorns was probably the only thing they all had in common. Some groups looked like they were from farmland with their calloused hooves and un-kept manes while others looked like they were born and raised right here in Canterlot.

"Line one will follow instructor-"

"Hey, what's this line for?" Lightweight whispered to me. Her eyes were glued to the tall buildings too. I couldn't really blame her since she was from the same area as me.

"Dunno... Maybe class assignments?" I tried to look over everypony to see what was going on, but I was too short to see over some of the taller stallions.

"Oh! Good thing we're in the same line, then!"

"And line three will-" The older mare continued and pointed her stick looking thing at us.

"Hey, that's us!" Lightweight whispered again in a hushed yet excited tone.

Suddenly, our line started moving quickly and I could see a middle-aged pony in a suit jacket leading us from the front. He had a strange mane style that swirled into a ponytail in the back; half of it was black and half was silver. Then again, strange mane styles were commonplace in Canterlot, so I wasn't sure why I thought it so odd.

Everypony in front of us and the few that were behind us were chatting quite loudly and it was starting to get on my nerves. I was wondering when the stallion in front would put a stop to it, but he never did. Ponies had to talk over other ponies to be heard and other ponies had to talk over those ponies to be heard and eventually, I was starting to get a headache.

I was glad that I had Lightweight with me to make me feel guilty if I lost my temper and told everypony to shut up, otherwise I probably would have.

"Get a load of this place, huh?!" She leaned close to my ear to talk instead of just raising her voice.

"I know, right?" I said, even though the chattering was making me lose focus.

I looked up and there were tall buildings with roofs that penetrated deep into the night sky. The farther up I traced them, the more they blended into the dark blue of the atmosphere to the point where they were indistinguishable from it save for the few lights in the windows on their very tops.

There was an abundance of activity going on at the ground as well. Countless fancy restaurants and clothing shops lined the streets left and right and tons of important looking mares and stallions were filtering through them nonstop. I couldn't help but to take everything in because of how different it was from Ponyville. Back there, all business stopped after sundown. I dunno if it was because it was founded mainly as a farming community or what, but Canterlot certainly seemed to be just as lively after dark as it was before dark.

Smells of fine dining filtered through the restaurants and out into the streets, making me feel hungry. I wanted so badly to just sit down and munch on a nice hot corn dog with mustard, but I had a feeling such "barbaric" types of food wouldn't be found here. I hoped to Luna that there would be some sort of food at the dorms for us.

I took a peek inside some of the clothing stores along the way as we curved left and right through busy cobblestone streets towards what I assumed was C.A.A.M. Lightweight and I shared some looks of excitement when we passed by a few clothing stores that looked fun to shop in.

I tried my best not to be a typical frilly girl, but I guess that part of me was genetic by nature.

Ninety percent of them were filled with the same kind of weird outlandish outfits that everypony was wearing around us, but there were a few diamonds in the rough with more toned down selections that looked worthwhile to visit when we had some down time.

I was beginning to notice, as my hooves got more and more sore from trotting on the streets for so long, that said shops and restaurants were starting to thin out in quantity. I had a feeling that we were getting close because the architecture of the buildings was beginning to look more fancy and intricate. Smoothed stone became white brick and concrete, and I saw more and more buildings with royal flags flying above them.

"Looks like we'll have plenty to do when we're bored and don't have classes, huh?" Lightweight leaned over and whispered again. I thought that I was feeling culture shock, but she looked like a filly in a candy shop compared to me. Her eyes were wide with awe and her muzzle was smiling nearly the whole way.

I couldn't get over how cute she was at times. When I wasn't looking at the new atmosphere around me, I often caught myself stealing glances at her. Thankfully, she didn't notice me even a single time because she was so affixed to everything else. The lights from the street lamps lit up her mane gorgeously and made her blue eyes sparkle in a way that made me jealous in several aspects.

I knew she was taken. There was no doubt that somepony so beautiful and friendly had already drawn the attention of every colt within her five mile radius wherever she went. As the streets started to lose more and more of its tourist spots the further we went, I found myself getting bored; I was daydreaming about how it'd be if I was able to land a relationship with somepony like her. It was wishful thinking, but it was still fun to consider it only for a moment or two.

I suddenly felt a gentle tap on my side and my ears perked up as I came out of my thoughts.

"Hey, there are the dorms!" Lightweight held a hoof out past my face and towards the tall majestic castle-like buildings that were spread out before me. At first glance, it looked like some sort of royal courthouse or something.

"Wow... Really? Those are our dorms?!" I tried to whisper back, but I was too surprised to keep it down to just a whisper.

"Yeah! I overheard some guy behind me saying that the senior dorms are way bigger, though."

"Geez... How could it be bigger than that?!"

After we crossed a huge courtyard with a statue of Princess Twilight sitting in the center, we finally arrived at the front doors. Half our group split up and I saw all the stallions going to the building to the left of the one we were walking right towards. The only thing I could see above everypony's head in front of me was a golden plaque above the door that read: "C.A.A.M. Freshmen 3 G". Going off of my intuition, since there were two other large lines that split off from our line at the train station, there were two more buildings just like this for freshmen. I guess it was then that I realized just how many unicorns just like me were enrolled in this academy.

As expected, we waited outside for what seemed like no reason at all as bugs nipped at our legs. Mine were so achy and worn out that I was considering sitting down on the wet grass beneath me until the doors opened, but merely seconds before I was committed to doing so, they finally did so. Cheers followed as we all piled in and a fresh wave of cool air swept over us while we made our way through the doors.

Our mouths both dropped and we both looked up in a similar fashion to when we first arrived off the train. Staircases spiraled up either side of the gigantic elegant room, branching off to each one of the six floors that were all visible from the main lobby. A huge chandelier hung in the middle with thousands of tiny crystals dangling from it in a circular pattern.

Before we could fully take it in though, the stallion in front spoke up and announced that we were to split up by first name to each floor where we'd get our room number. The well-formed lines quickly turned into a group of scattered ponies as they all went left and right to find their rooms.

"Oh, no!" Lightweight said with a troubled set of eyes looking right at me. I quickly came to realize what she was worried about. "That means we won't get the same room..."

My heart sank.

Wait that means... Damn. If we can't room together that means whatever shot I have at her is kaput- Wait, what am I saying?! Sweet Celestia, Angel, stop thinking like that!

"You think they'll make a compromise if we ask?" She asked me after I snapped out of my thoughts yet again.

"I dunno. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. Come on."

I took point and sneaked through the unorganized group of ponies with Lightweight closely following behind me. I had to, as politely as I could, nudge some of them out of the way since they had a bad case of standing still in the most inconvenient spot and chatting.

God, that annoys me.

We finally got to the stallion in front, and I had a better chance to observe him now that we were five feet apart. Like I saw back at the station, his mane was curled in a fancy way that was similar to other middle aged stallions in show-biz. He had a goatee that was a bit scruffy on the edges, hinting that it hadn't been shaved for several days. Overall, he looked like a nice enough dude; he was smiling at the ponies that he was talking to before he got there.

"Excuse me, sir!" Lightweight interjected even though the stallion was mid-sentence with somepony else.

He simply held his hoof up, gesturing for her to wait while he finished chatting with one of the other freshmen. We both gave each other nervous looks.

"Terribly sorry. What is it you need?" He spoke in a raspy yet refined tone as the other mare trotted off.

"W- Well... My friend and I were hoping to room together, but our names start with 'A' and 'L'... So..."

It was obvious that she was nervous talking to him. She probably should've let me handle it since I could've been more assertive.

"Hmm... I see. Hold on a moment." He took out his flip pad and flipped through several pages. "We typically don't re-assign classmates since it would cause a lot of inconveniences with other ponies... What are your names?"

"I'm Lightweight-" She held a hoof to her chest and then pointed at me. "And this is Angel Bolt."

I was hoping he wouldn't recognize my name because of my dad, but part of me wouldn't have minded since it could change his mind.

Sure enough, his eyes widened and he stared at me for a few seconds, clearing his throat quickly to regain his composure.

"L- Let me have a word with the dorm manager; please excuse me."

I felt a nudge on my shoulder and Lightweight was giving me a mischievous yet happy grin.

"There you go! Maybe he'll let us room together because you're so important!"

"Because my dad is important... Not me..."

I admit, I could've been more cheerful, but it was starting to get to me like it always did.

"Oh... Um, sorry..."

"No, no. It's fine. That's why we're both here, right? To make names for ourselves?" I gave her a reassuring smile to make up for my depressing response earlier.

Her cute smile returned to her face.

"Mhmm!"

The stallion came back rather quickly and he had a different sort of look on his face this time. It was like he was scared or something, but I didn't know why. I mean, it wasn't like I was gonna sue him or anything.

"We've... Made some arrangements for the two of you to room together this semester. I'm terribly sorry about the inconvenience, Miss Scratch."

He handed us our room keys and a little brochure.

"And please give my most sincerest of thanks to your father. All of the staff here at C.A.A.M. are-"

"Okay, will do. Thanks."

I had to cut him off. It didn't take much to make me sick and tired of the same old "Omigod your dad is so cool tell him I said hi" stuff. There was line where I simply couldn't stand it or else I'd either fall into a depressive void or go on a burning angry rant.

My irritation was partially caused by my hunger, too.

I looked closely at the key he handed me as I trotted away, but not before giving him a quick smile of appreciation to make sure he didn't think I was being completely rude. Even though I was in this for myself, I still understood the importance of not giving my family a bad reputation.

I let out an exhausted sigh as we made our way up the stairs. Our room was 527, so it was most likely on the fifth floor.

Even though it annoyed me, I couldn't help but to feel guilty for slightly losing my temper about what the stallion said, especially when Lightweight was standing there watching it all.

"Sorry about that... I try not to get worked up about it all, but-"

"It's totally fine. I can understand why you'd feel that way."

For some reason, just hearing her voice made me feel better.

She continued after giving me a gentle teasing push on my shoulder. "Just be sure not to snap if somepony really important does that, Miss Grumpy-Butt!"

"Yeah, yeah... I'll try." I rolled my eyes and smiled. She giggled cutely as we passed up the fourth floor.

"Five-two-four, five-two-five..." I mumbled as I walked past the doors. Even the hallways were extravagant. The soft off-white carpet beneath us had tiny little designs made into it and it felt just like a five star hotel.

"Here we go; five-two-seven." Lightweight said happily trotted in front of me to open the door. I couldn't blame her for being excited. I was too, to a certain extent.

The door opened and yet again, we were silent and in awe of what was inside as we quickly walked in.

The first thing I noticed was the huge window on the opposite side of the door, allowing a gorgeous full view of the courtyard as well as the statue in the middle. The moon shone down and lit up the carpet beneath it as well as the curtains on either side.

My eyes quickly snapped to the large black vinyl couch sitting in the center of the room facing a huge flat screen T.V. I could even see one or two video game consoles lying on the shelves beneath it with drawers that almost certainly held controllers and games.

"Whoa!" Lightweight walked further inside and looked all around. "This place is huge! This is supposed to be for two ponies?!"

"I guess so..." I weakly replied as I inspected the kitchen; it had a full set of kitchen appliances with everything one could possibly need plus a granite island bar table in the middle.

"Omigosh, Angel! Come see!"

I turned around to see that she was gone and had already moved back into a hallway that most likely held the bed and bath.

I chuckled a little at how giddy she was and walked back around the kitchen to join her.

"Look at this! Two queen sized beds!" She said right as I walked into the bedroom and she dove onto one of the soft bouncy white mattresses.

There was a large window in the bedroom, too; it had the same view as the one in the living room and the fancy white silk curtains in front of it as well. The beds actually weren't all that bad, either. They were neatly made, of course, and had several pillows on each one. The smaller one sitting on top of them had "C.A.A.M." sewn in gold onto its front.

"Damn... How much did this place cost?! I didn't even bother to look at what the tuition was..."

"Oh! Uh... It's two thousand bits for base tuition and dorms are another thousand. So, something like... Three thousand three hundred? With tax?"

My eyes widened not only because of the insane amount of money that my dad apparently paid, but also because Lightweight's dad must've been way more successful than I thought previously.

"Geez... Your dad must be hot shit back in Ponyville..." I asked as she rolled around on the soft fluffy mattress.

"Yeah! Well, I forgot to mention that he does a lot of jobs for the mayor... Sooo... Yeah! Hehe."

I was hoping for a more detailed description, but she was having too much fun taking everything in to focus on it. I didn't mind. It was impossible to be mad at her, anyway.

I was going to test out the bed as well, but my stomach complained at me with a loud growl and I was uncomfortably reminded of how famished I was.

Lightweight apparently heard it.

"Come on, let's see if there's anything in the kitchen for 'ya." She quickly got up and trotted past me. It gave me a chance to steal another whiff of that intoxicating shampoo she used recently and I couldn't help but blush a little from her leg brushing against mine.

Keep it cool, Angel. Don't creep her out or anything...

I took one last look in the bedroom and assumed that she'd want to sleep in separate beds. Luna... If she suggested sleeping in the same bed I might've gotten a nosebleed. I just couldn't help it and I couldn't deny it any longer.

I was attracted to her. I knew how risky it would be given that she probably wasn't gay. Not only that. Even if she was, there was no way some other mare wouldn't have jumped all over her already. My heart was pounding as I trotted back to the kitchen and I knew that my conscience would make me ask her if she was interested in girls eventually.

Then again, maybe it wasn't all that bad. Maybe she'd just blow it off as me being curious or... Heck, I dunno.

I tried my absolute hardest to not stare at her butt as she rounded the corner to the kitchen. It was really the first time since I met her that I could've gotten away with it.

"Okay... Let's see..." Lightweight opened up some cabinets with her magic and bent over to open some drawers at the same time. Like a fool, I just sat there and watched, not wanting to get in her way. I feared that doing so might reveal my reddened face to her, anyway.

"Here we go!" My ears perked up as she opened the fridge and started pulling out lettuce, ranch, carrots and croutons. "Wow, they got everything you need to make like a dozen salads!"

"Sweet." I walked up and grabbed a salad bowl out of the cabinet that she opened earlier with my magic.

"No, no, I'll make it for ya!" She said, quickly yet politely taking the bowl from me and dumping the lettuce into it.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It's the least I can do for you being so friendly to me. I dunno how I could've managed going to school here with zero friends..."

"Aw, come on. You probably would've made plenty of friends all by yourself." I leaned back against the island and watched her even though I felt guilty for her doing all the work for me.

It didn't take her long to find a cutting knife and a chopping board and she quickly and quite efficiently started to chop up the carrots. Apparently, her skill with lifting things with telekinesis also extended too insane levels of dexterity.

"Wow... That's some pretty fast knife-work..."

"Oh, thanks!" She smiled back at me and cut a second carrot into eighth-inch circles in just a couple of seconds while not even bothering to look at what she was doing.

"You know, I haven't really seen your magic yet..." She pondered but then quickly realized the risk. "But, I guess there's no need for that, huh?"

I guess it was my prideful side that led me to pop a few sparks of shock magic around me in a circle.

Lightweight jumped at the loud noise and flashes, nearly dropping the knife she was so craftily handling only a second before.

"Ah!"

"Oh... M- My bad..." I quickly dispelled it and lowered my head. "It sucks having a talent that's so dangerous sometimes..."

"Aw, it's okay!" She smiled, but I could tell that she was still nervous. "I completely understand. Hopefully they'll have something for you that lets you... You know... Let it rip?"

"Yeah. I hope so..." I replied, still a bit embarrassed that I made myself look like a fool in front of her.

She proceeded to hum a soft tune to herself as she squirted some ranch into the bowl and tossed it with two forks. The air was getting awkward fast.

"So... Um... Do you have a coltfriend?"

I didn't even know where it came from. I wanted to find out if she liked girls too, but I was planning on at least waiting a while before trying to pry it out of her. Though, I had to give myself credit for thinking of a way to introduce the subject in the most innocent manner possible given that it was practically ad libbed.

I could see her cheeks redden, as expected, and she didn't respond for the first few seconds as she chopped up the lettuce into smaller bits.

"Sorry, I was just curious... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Lightweight. I was just askin'" I tried to smile apologetically.

"It's alright. No, I'm... I have a marefriend..."

My heart jumped out of my chest.

I didn't know whether to feel overjoyed or jealous. In the end, it was a good mixture of both as I struggled to maintain my composure and not look like a buffoon.

Still....

Whoever snagged that mare is one lucky-

"S- So what about you?" Lightweight quickly directed the subject to me.

"I'm the same, but I'm single." I said as straightforward as I could, trying my best not to give away the fact that I already had a certain degree of interest towards her.

"Oh, I see..."

She put the salad into two smaller bowls and gave me one of them. When she turned around, her head was lower than normal, probably because I was being too pushy and nosy.

"But... Yeah. We haven't really gotten along too well, though." She stirred her salad with her fork.

I was already hoofing it down. I was too damn hungry. It took a second or two to realize that she was talking about her and her marefriend.

"Oh? What's wrong?" I gulped down what was in my mouth, understanding that she was getting into a touchier subject and that it would've been rude of me to talk to her about it with a muzzle full of lettuce. "Are you... Alright?"

"Huh? Yeah! I'm good!" A quick yet sincere smile on her face made my unease dissipate. "I just... She hasn't talked to me in a while and... When she does, she usually doesn't sound that happy to hear from me..." Her smile still remained, but her head was looking down at her hooves.

Her fork was still twisting around in her salad; she hadn't eaten a single bite yet.

"I'm sorry... Maybe she's just shy? Or...?" I tried my best to make her feel better.

"No, it's not that..." She paused for an uncomfortably long period of time and I took the hint that she didn't want to talk about it despite her reassurance earlier.

I figured I was done being nosy for the night and joined her on her side of the kitchen, leaning against the counter and leaning against her not in an affectionate way, but in a friendly way.

"Don't worry about it. Hey, if she ever starts being mean to 'ya, lemme know and I'll *zap* 'er." I snickered and it seemed to lighten her up a little.

I was instantly reminded to my mom's comment back on the train station when I said that. It was weird how similar I was to her.

She giggled and leaned back against me. "Thanks."

After finally taking her first bite of her salad, she moved some of her mane out of her eyes before continuing.

"You know... I only met you today, but... You've been so much nicer to me than any of my friends even though you barely know me."

I blushed a little from the praise.

"It's nothin'."

"No, I mean it..."

I felt a hoof wrap around my neck and she pulled me closer to her, hugging me gently. Her warm fur and mane brushed against me and it almost made me choke from how nervous I was for having such an attractive mare so close. Her warm cheek squished against mine cutely.

I was so surprised by the gesture that I almost forgot to hug her back, but I finally did. It was a sweet moment that only lasted for a few seconds, but it felt way longer to me. If not for the scant amount of shameful arousal I felt, then the warm fuzzy feeling of sharing a hug with a friend.

"You probably think it's nothing, but it means a lot to me." She said, releasing me and setting her salad bowl aside. Apparently, she wasn't nearly as hungry as I was.

As she trotted away, I couldn't help feeling proud of myself that I was able to be so nice and friendly to somepony even with her attractiveness discounted, especially since some of my peers and even my parents often described me as somewhat cold to new ponies.

I don't know what it was. Even if I threw aside the fact that I was attracted to her, I couldn't fathom why I couldn't help being so nice to her. For any other pony, I knew based on my track record that I would've just said "hi" and carried on about my business.

But, for some reason, I actually enjoyed talking to her... Being around her. And it was strange because I'd met several ponies with similar personalities that didn't cause me to have that sort of reaction.

I caught myself staring down into my salad, daydreaming.

"Hey, you gonna come to bed too, or are you gonna stay up for a while?" Lightweight raised her voice from what I assumed was the bathroom.

"Nah. I'll be there in a sec."

I could already hear her brushing her teeth with the sink running in the background. I usually had a bad habit for staying up too late, but I knew that the next day would be awful if I didn't get enough sleep for it.

I completely failed to notice that there was a tiny cherry filled chocolate treat on top of the pillow on the bed when I first inspected everything earlier, and my sweet tooth simply wouldn't allow me to pass it up. Even though the taste of toothpaste made it a little weird, it was all I needed to calm whatever nerves I had left over from the trip there.

The sheets were super thick and I was thankful that Lightweight liked to sleep with the air conditioning turned down; right before she slipped beneath her sheets, she cranked the thermostat down seven degrees. The sheets would've made me break a sweat otherwise.

"We gotta wake up at six tomorrow for the opening ceremony, so we should probably hit the sack..." She said after a yawn, fiddling with her alarm clock.

"Aw, man. And I was hoping for a girly frilly pillow fight..." I snickered and did the same, making sure it was set to five.

"Really? You don't seem like the kind of girl that'd be into that sort of thing..." Her hoof propped her up on her side facing me and the dim light from the lamp made her blue eyes glow beautifully.

Damn... You could put her in a wasteland and those eyes would still look just as pretty...

"Sarcasm." I laughed lightly.

"Figured... Heheh." She turned the lamp off and all the light from the room vanished, leaving only the dimmer splash of neutral white light from the moon radiating in from the window.

We both let out a sigh, relaxing ourselves from the long journey there and relishing finally in the feeling of a warm soft bed against our backs.

I was wondering whether she'd say goodnight or something since she stayed silent for a while.

She finally whispered and broke the silence.

"I'm really glad I met you, Angel..."

I could feel my face flush from embarrassment.

"Me too..."

She let out a cute giggle that sounded as if she was happy that I said that.

"Night."

"Night."

I looked out of the window through the tiny space in between the translucent curtains, admiring the full moon for a few moments before closing my eyes and quickly feeling sleepiness wash over me.

I opened one eye and peeked over at Lightweight.

To my surprise, she was looking back at me with half-open eyes as well. We quickly closed our eyes to keep from sharing an awkward moment. It, along with other subtle hints that she'd given me over the course of the day, made me curious about how she thought about me.

Sure, she already let me know that she liked me a lot as a friend, but... What if she was attracted to me as well?

I took into appreciation how lucky I was for her to be in a somewhat open relationship. From the way she talked about her marefriend, she didn't seem too nice to her.

Who knows... Maybe I have a chance...?

I thought to myself even though the thought made me a feel a bit naughty. I respected other ponies' relationships, but that didn't mean I didn't participate in proactively putting my hoof in the door in some situations from time to time.

I shrugged off the thought, knowing that thinking too hard about it would most likely keep me awake all night. I let my body relax and the distant yet barely audible crickets outside helped my weary self slip into a well needed, well deserved sleep.

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