I squirmed around in bed from the agonizing ache of not getting enough sleep. Quickly, after shutting off the alarm, I found myself drifting off again.

I woke back up to my side being nudged softly by two hooves.

"Come on, Angel, wake up! We need to leave in ten minutes!"

"Nghh..." I rolled over again and pulled a pillow over my head.

"Don't make me tickle you, sleepy head..." Lightweight giggled and poked my shoulder a few times.

My ears perked up quickly and I rolled out of bed on the opposite side of her. I didn't know if she was actually going to do it, but I couldn't risk it. I was extremely ticklish.

Once I was able to get myself on four legs, I stumbled to the bathroom to fix my mane. I could already tell it was a mess; it felt like a bird's nest up there.

I levitated a brush, knowing I didn't have time to wash my mane, and combed it down while simultaneously tying a ponytail band in the back.

"You're so cute when you're groggy." Lightweight's voice startled me and I looked around in the mirror to find that she was standing right in the doorway with her mane already done, staring at me.

I was too tired to feel embarrassed.

"Are you high?" I chuckled with as much energy as I could, teasing my bangs just a little to work out some split ends that managed to develop during my slumber.

"High on life!" She smiled wide and hummed to herself, retreating from the bathroom to pack some things up.

I shook my head and smiled as well, not understanding why she was so giddy but enjoying her ability to lift my mood.

Looks like somepony's a morning pony...

My mane obeyed as much as it could and, after being satisfied by it, I brushed my tail a few times just for good measure.

"I already got your backpack ready!" I heard her call out while zipping up what I assumed to be backpacks.

"Oh..." I was surprised, but then again, acts of random kindness were commonplace for her. Or, at least, since I'd known her.

"Thanks!"

"No problem!" Lightweight sang.

Feeling my drowsiness start to wear off, I trotted into the living room where she had already packed both of our bags with supplies. The lights in the hallway still caused my eyes to strain just a bit, which reminded me that I still wasn't fully awake.

"Where'd you get those from?" I pointed to the textbooks sticking out of the backpacks.

"They were right outside the door when I woke up this morning. Thank goodness they supplied them to us so we didn't have to buy them ourselves!"

"Heck yeah."

"Ready to go?" She followed up cheerfully, levitating my backpack over to me.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I took it and strapped it to my back, taking a quick moment to adjust the straps so it would make a snug fit around my body.

I was surprised since it was only the middle of fall, but I felt a fairly significant chill run up my spine when we walked out of the front doors and into the courtyard where thousands of ponies were already standing. I had packed a thick blue scarf in my bag, but I assumed that I wouldn't need it given the current season. I regretted not opening the window and feeling the outside air before leaving.

"Sweet Celestia, look at how many ponies there are!" Lightweight whispered as we crossed into the cold dewy grass.

I couldn't see over most of their heads, but my guesstimation was that there were well over a thousand, maybe even two. The only thing I could see over their heads besides the giant statue of Twilight was a large wooden platform that sat up about five to seven feet in the air that was accompanied by a podium and a microphone.

Lightweight gasped as we settled into an open spot on the grass in between two older looking colts. "Omigosh, you think Princess Twilight will come?!"

One of the colts turned to her. "Yeah, dude! That's what everypony's saying!" He said in a surfer-boy tone and I swore he took a peek at her body after Lightweight went back to looking forward.

Back off, "dude"...

I gave him a death stare even though he wasn't looking at me.

"Ahem..." The microphone squealed and I cringed to its high pitch before it settled down.

I looked up to see the same middle aged stallion who led us to the dorms standing behind the podium. He tapped the microphone a few times and several loud thumping noises emitted from the speakers on either side of him.

"Good morning, freshmen of Canterlot Academy of Advanced Magic!" He said with a smile.

The crowd cheered and Lightweight let out a "Wooo!" as well.

"It is marvelous to see such a group of aspiring individuals, eager to take on any challenge that may lie before them! This school will present several challenges for all of you, but I have faith that you will all be able to overcome them-"

Pff... Blah blah blah...

Lightweight obviously noticed the look of boredom on my face and nudged my hoof, subtly telling me to pay attention.

"-and to come out as masters of all branches of the school of magic!"

After his long-winded paragraph ended, everypony cheered again.

"Now, to properly welcome you all to our academy, Your Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

I saw the purple alicorn that I had met quite informally on countless occasions trot up on stage. Events like this reminded me of what her true status was since she seemed just like anypony else face to face. With me, at least.

As expected, the crowd erupted in cheering again; it was twice as loud as before.

"Hello and good morning, students!"

The crowd didn't quiet down.

"Ahem... Settle down, please."

Absolute instantaneous silence spread all around.

"Thank you! Now-" Twilight spoke happily while pulling out a rather large stack of papers.

Oh crap, not this again...

I was all too familiar with her habits of public speeches. Thankfully, the stallion came up and whispered something into her ear. With a somewhat irritated response, she put the papers away and cleared her throat.

"Being the element of magic, I cannot express how glad I am to see so many ponies interested in the study of it. While my desire to personally teach is limited by my royal duties, I have full confidence in the staff and employees of C.A.A.M."

She paused and then acted a bit strange. Her head lowered just barely and she looked down at the podium.

"I know a lot of you are nervous..."

Did she just ditch her script...?

"But I was in the same position you were all in once before. Back before I became a princess, I stressed every night and day trying to fulfill my destiny: to learn everything I could about magic and friendship. I would pull countless all-nighters struggling to find answers... And... meanings..."

She sounded much more sincere now and from everypony's reaction around me, I could tell it was making an impact. For once, I actually listened to the speech, trying to apply it to myself.

"What I finally realized from my studies was that it wasn't about the amount of raw knowledge I retained, it wasn't about the number of complex spells I knew... No. It was about the friends I made and the lessons that we all learned together... That knowledge was more helpful to me than anything else and I found that having loyal, trustworthy, reliable friends that I could count on were more valuable than any spell ever invented. I know many of you are here to learn the extent of your magical abilities. Trust me, I should know how fun and fulfilling that can be. But the number one thing that will make everyone here truly remember your name is the value of friendship."

Normally, I tended to ignore such speeches. It sounded bland and typical, but for some reason, I was paying close attention to it.

"Remember this, students. No matter how famous, powerful or wise you become in your journey to mastering magic, it all means nothing if you don't take the time to make friends with others. Study hard and listen to your teachers, but above all, my most important request for you all is for you to bond together... And give yourselves the chance to see just how powerful the gift of magic can be when coupled with the elements of friendship! I know I may sound boring and generic when I say all these things..."

She was leaning into the podium now. I could tell she was getting into it.

"I failed in achieving the peak of my potential because I kept to myself... And didn't let anypony help me reach as high as I could go. If all of you can learn from and with each other as well as our professors, you'll be on a straight path to excelling much farther than I ever could when I was a student here."

She paused and stood up tall, looking at each one of us sternly, yet encouragingly.

"Face your challenges with friends by your side, and you will always succeed! No matter how hard the test, no matter how hard the challenge, only together can you make a name for yourselves and make a permanent impact on our world that will echo throughout the centuries! Without further ado, I send you out to learn all of these things with faith that you will one day become even greater than all the princesses combined! Newly confirmed freshmen of C.A.A.M., go now and make a name for yourself! Dismissed!"

I froze with my eyes wide open in shock.

Was it just a coincidence that she said "make a name for yourself"?! There's no way... My dad must have said something to her... But even if he did, why would she take that and wrap her speech around it?

The crowd went absolutely nuts, and I couldn't blame them. Of all the bullshit speeches I've heard, I knew I'd remember that one.

Loud thundering stomps of rallying hooves hitting the ground shook me to my core, but I just sat there with my eyes wide, still trying to take everything in.

"Wow... That was..." Lightweight was standing there just like I was when I looked over at her.

"I know... Come on. Let's do what we came here for." I took her hoof without thinking of the possibility that she might've taken it the wrong way since we were both lesbians.

Thankfully, she didn't shy away or pull back; she held onto my hoof and let me lead her.

"Aw..." Lightweight said in a depressed tone as she looked up at the classroom assignments.

"What's wrong?"

"There are a couple classes we won't be in together..."

"Yeah, but look at all those classes!" I pointed a little to her right where it listed six classes with both of our names next to them.

"I know... I was just hoping we could be in all of them together..."

"Oh, come on, at least we have six... Heheh."

She smiled and sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I guess we were lucky that we got even that many.

I found myself more excited than I was before, thanks to the speech. Somehow, Twilight's words struck home for me and gave me motivation to do well in all my classes so that I could make my parents proud.

"Come on! Our homeroom starts in ten minutes and it's on the other side of campus!" I put my legs into high gear and trotted in place.

"W- Wait, what? It says it's in the same building we're in now..."

"What building are we in now? Starswirl?"

"Nope." She pointed to the sign directly above the list of classes that read "Harmony Hall".

"Oh..."

Lightweight rolled her eyes at me teasingly and began trotting down the hallway while I followed close behind. I didn't remember what room we were supposed to be in, but I had a good idea that she did given the fact that she was bending left and right around corners like she knew the place.

"Hey! Wait up!" I sped up, trying to catch up to that elegant white tail swishing back and forth behind her.

The halls were empty thanks to most of the other ponies still staring at the board in the main lobby and it gave me time to take in my surroundings. Unfortunately, the inside of the place wasn't too different from your typical school hallway. Albeit, it was a lot cleaner and more polished. Bulletin boards lined the walls to my left; they were filled with miscellaneous pictures of professors, club flyers, maps of the school and the occasional colorful encouraging snippet such as "Welcome to C.A.A.M.!" and "You're awesome!"

Cheesy...

"Angel? Where ya goin'?" Lightweight's voice called out from behind me.

I let myself get distracted again. She was standing in the doorway of a classroom when I turned around and she was giving me a stare like she thought I was stupid, but in a funny way. I could see why; I had been acting really clumsy ever since I arrived.

I trotted into the room after her and saw a series of desks lined up to my left. I thought there would be more judging by how many students I saw earlier; my rough estimation was that there were only fifty.

There was nopony in the room yet, not even our teacher.

"Hey, don't you think we should wait outside until everypony shows up?" I looked around the room, feeling unsure and a bit uneasy.

"We're fine. Besides, maybe the professor will like us more for showing up early?"

Lightweight put her things down and sat in the desk directly front and center... I was usually a big fan of sitting in the back or near a window in classes. Being so far up front made me feel nervous. Since she'd be there with me, though, I reluctantly sat in the seat directly behind her, making sure my backpack was nestled safely underneath where nopony could snatch it.

"You don't wanna sit beside me?" She turned and asked with her books already out and ready to go on her desk.

"Oh, um... I don't really like sitting in the front..."

"Awh... Come on, don't be so shy."

I shrank back in my chair a little. "N- No... It's fine."

Turning back and flipping through her textbook pages, she shrugged while a few ponies finally decided to show up. Lightweight smiled at them cheerfully while I tried to avoid eye contact. It was a colt that looked just a bit older than me accompanied by two girls about my age. They looked like they'd be a perfect fit for the physics club. All of them had nerdy black rimmed glasses and both of the girls had pencils hung against their ear. I was glad that they were already talking to each other nonstop; it meant that I wouldn't have to deal with an awkward conversation with them.

"I can't believe Princess Twilight actually made an appearance this year! My brother went here for six years and he said he never saw her!" One of the nerdy looking girls said with a lisp that was barely noticeable until she started pronouncing her "S"'s.

"Whatever. You know she's just doing that for public relations. She probably doesn't do anything but sit in her office all day and goof around." The stallion followed up with a rather condescending tone while they all picked out seats in the back of the room.

Ass...

Lightweight turned back slightly and gave me a look that said: "Can you believe he just said that?!"

I just rolled my eyes and rested my cheek on my hoof on the desk. I knew more than anypony else that it was useless to confront ponies like that.

Another couple of ponies came in, then another, then another. Eventually, the room was filled with jabbering and I was made to hear every bit of it. I was hoping to Celestia that the professor would show up and make it stop. It was just getting louder and louder.

Lightweight turned around to check on me just in time to see a tiny spark pop off of my horn that made her jump and yelp. I guess I was getting annoyed too much by the mindless yelling between the other ponies, but I don't know who would want to listen to "My boyfriend did this" and "My girlfriend did that" stories.

The class was silent, but it wasn't in the way I was hoping for. They were all looking at me; once I realized what was going on, my cheeks turned red.

"S- Sorry... I didn't mean-" My eyes darted down at the ground.

For the next few minutes everypony resumed talking to themselves, but they were stealing glances at me at the same time. I knew that they were probably making fun of me behind my back, but I was too embarrassed to even care.

"Goodness... Are you alright, Angel? Where did that come from?" Lightweight seemed to be the only pony in the room who was actually concerned about me.

"Yeah... Sorry, I... I guess I got a little aggravated..."

"At what?" She lowered her head to try and make eye contact with me; I had my head buried in my hooves on the desk.

The professor opened the door and caused Lightweight to abandon her questioning. I was happy because it meant an end to the mindless banter, but I still couldn't get over how humiliated I felt. It was only the first day of school and I already had people talking about me behind my back.

Then again, looking back on my past school experiences, I shouldn't have been so surprised. Rumors and school go together like peanut butter and jelly.

For some reason, I was expecting the middle-aged stallion from last night to be our instructor, but the one who came in was much much older and had a completely gray mane and tail that was surprisingly neat and well-kept. He was wearing a suit jacket, but with a red tee-shirt underneath it that made him look like he was trying to capture his long lost days as a youngster.

"Good morning!" He said in a scruffy deep tone.

"Morning!" Everypony around me replied except for me.

"Let's start with attendance before we begin. Let's see..." He turned the pages in one of the notebooks he recently pulled out.

"Afterburner?"

"Here!" A bright, red-maned stallion raised his hoof in the back. I wouldn't be surprised if he was interested in fire magic.

"Angel Scratch?"

"Here..." I raised my hoof.

The professor paused and looked at me again.

Shit... Not this again...

"Well then... I'm glad to have you with us, Miss Scratch." He smiled warmly and I returned it as best as I could, but I could already hear other students whispering about me.

"Wait... That's Alex Scratch's daughter!" One of the mares' whispers wasn't quiet enough for me to not hear.

"What?! No way!" Another stallion, possibly the nerdy looking one from before, responded, but the professor tapped his hoof against the floor, making them shut up.

"Ahem... Backdraft?"

There must have been a lot of ponies interested in fire magic in the class because every other name had something to do with explosions or flame. I always had a thing against ponies who liked fire magic. For some reason, they were always either ass holes or extremely reckless with their abilities. I liked to avoid inductive reasoning when it came to personalities based on magic, but the trends were too strong to ignore sometimes.

At long last, the whispers about me stopped. I didn't know how much more I could take. At the rate I was going, I was going to be the class fool by the end of the week.

The professor closed his notes and pulled out a hefty textbook.

"Okay! Now, I know it's not too exciting to lecture on the first day of class, but there are some specific things that I want to cover as soon as possible."

The whole class groaned and I heard textbooks slapping against desks all around me. Of course, all Lightweight had to do was just sit there and look pretty since she was already prepared.

I followed suit and opened to the first chapter in my textbook. It was funny, but I never even took the time to look at what the book was about until I opened it.

"Intro To Advanced Magical Learning 101: Magic safety" was the title of the first chapter. It was to be expected since a lot of hot shots would be joining who didn't know the first thing about controlling themselves. I wasn't excluding myself, though. I was too self-conscious to forget about all those times I lost control of my shock magic when I was daydreaming or bored. Heck, I was the one who accidentally let out a spark not but a few minutes ago.

My eyes were glazed over from boredom when the bell rang; it snapped me out of my trance.

The professor cut off his lecture about friendly fire and tried to get everypony's attention, but it was futile.

"Eh- Don't forget to read over chapter two for tomorrow!" He announced as I rose up and packed my books away. Half the class was already gone at that point.

"So? That wasn't that bad, was it?" Lightweight said as she paused to let me out the door first.

"Boring... But, I guess it could've been worse."

She giggled at me, but I didn't know why. Her horn glowed as she pulled out a slip of paper and turned left into the hallway crowded with ponies.

"Looks like our next class is-"

Suddenly, I heard loud booming hoof steps behind me and I instinctively braced myself for a senior to freshman initiation routine. Everypony around me was looking intently at whoever or whatever was behind me and my ears flattened in fear as I turned my head around.

"Miss Scratch? Your Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, requests your presence in her office immediately."

I should've been shocked. It's what anypony else would've felt and I could see it on Lightweight's face when I glanced over at her. But no, I wasn't shocked. If anything, I was halfway expecting her to want to see me.

"Go ahead, Angel. I'll wait for you after class."

"Oh... Y- You sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Ma'am?" One of the guards grabbed my attention with a low-pitched intimidating tone.

"Okay, I'll see ya."

"Have fun." Lightweight winked at me and then quickly turned around to get to whatever our next class was. I would've felt a bit embarrassed from the playful wink even if it was just friendly, but I was too nervous to do so.

By the time I turned back to follow the guards, they had already begun walking down the hallway. I sped up to catch up to them and could feel everypony's eyes staring at me.

"Um... What's this about? If you don't mind me asking, that is..."

"Not here."

"Oh... Right... Okay."

We took a right up the stairs and started climbing. Thoughts started flooding my head. Was I in trouble already? I didn't do anything wrong. Maybe it was because of that accidental spark earlier...? Was magic not allowed on campus or something? But Lightweight used a levitation spell on that paper... Surely the guards saw that, too.

The only explanation I could come up with was that she just wanted to chat. But then, why pull me out of classes to do so rather than waiting until I was done with them? I was so confused.

Once we got high enough through the stairwell, my legs were beginning to get a bit worn out. I guessed that we were at the seventh or eighth floor at that point.

"Miss Scratch, do you see the mark on this door?"

My ears perked up and I looked at what the guard was talking about. At the highest point of the stairs where we stood, there was a single red door that had Princess Twilight's cutie mark on it.

"Do not use any door marked with this symbol under any circumstance. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." One of the guards pulled out a key and unlocked it. The door swung open into another room, and I paused before going in even though they gestured for me to do so.

I could tell that it was some sort of spell because I could clearly see a thin film of something separating the stairwell and the room I was currently looking into.

"Basic level door portal. Nothing to be afraid of." The guard, oddly enough, smiled at me reassuringly. It was odd because I was so used to them showing zero emotion.

Still being cautious, I stepped in and the door closed behind me. They didn't follow me in.

The room looked like a librarian’s office, only without a desk. Bookshelves acted as walls and there were as many books as there were spaces for them. There was a brown leather couch with a glass coffee table in front of it. I took the liberty of sitting down since it looked so comfy and I sank into the cushion. I could feel a huge tension in my legs escape and I let out a groan as I relaxed.

It was absolutely silent in the room, which made everything even more peaceful. Looking around curiously, I began scanning over the titles of books on the shelves. Most of them were yearbooks and textbooks, but there were others that were just random.

I did see one that wasn't quite flush with the other books around it and it seemed as if somepony was using it recently.

I turned my head sideways to read it and I raised an eyebrow when I could make out the words.

"C.A.A.M. Building Schematics"

It was definitely odd because the subject of the book didn't quite fit in with the ones around it, but it was even stranger because whoever put it back in its place put it in backwards. The text on the spine was facing in the opposite direction relative to the other books beside it. Twilight was way too much of a neat freak to do something like that, so I had to assume that somepony else took it out.

My ears perked up and my attention snapped to a sudden movement out of the corner of my eye. The only thing I managed to see was some sort of black... Thing escaping through the partially opened window on the opposite side of the room. It was small enough to be a rat or even a mouse, but I doubted that something like that could get in here. I shrugged it off and dismissed it as a bird, sinking back into the couch.

I noticed a ticking sound that was only audible because everything else in the room was silent. It sounded like a clock and sure enough, I saw one sitting on the glass coffee table in front of me. It was probably one of the weirdest clocks I had ever seen.

The face of the clock was smaller than the size of my hoof, but it had a small glass tube running horizontally underneath it that was about as long as one of my legs. Inside of it was a ball of light that tapped against each end of the tube, travelling back and forth and making the second hand tick. I couldn't help but lean in and study it closer.

"Neat, isn't it?"

I jerked back and saw Twilight leaning against the door frame. She was focused on the clock, though.

"Took me months to figure out how to make an energy source that was stable enough to work for a clock. Never guessed that something as simple as sunlight could do the trick."

I sat there staring at her, not saying anything.

"Relax, Angel. You're not in trouble or anything."

Twilight calmly walked over to the couch and sat down next to me, tucking her wings neatly in between the back of the couch and her back. I let out a sigh of relief once I knew I didn't do anything wrong.

"So, what did you think?" She looked at me as if she expected that I knew what she was talking about.

"I'm... sorry?" My head cocked to the side slightly.

"My speech! How was it? I was so nervous..."

"Oh... Well, I actually liked it. A lot."

She looked at me like I had just given her a million bits.

"Really?!"

It amazed me how somepony of her status acted just like any other normal girl would at times.

"Yeah. And that's saying something because I'm not too big on motivational speeches. But... That thing about 'making a name for yourself'... Did my dad tell you something about that?"

"The only thing your father told me was that you were interested in shock magic. I assume you still are?"

"Y- Yeah, but... Nevermind."

She didn't back up my response and I was left listening to the solar light clock thingy behind me for several moments.

"Oh! You're probably wondering why I asked you to be here." She said as she got up from the couch and walked around.

"Is it about that thing I did in my class? I'm sorry... I-"

She giggled.

"Relax, Angel. I already told you; you aren't in trouble. Besides, I do things like that all the time when I'm nervous. Anyways, I'm sure your dad told you that I would be willing to teach you about magic personally."

"Yes, ma'am." I thought she'd never ask. I was starting to get excited, anticipating each word she'd say next.

"Well..."

She sighed and looked off into the distance, particularly towards the window at the far end of the room.

"I can't do that just yet. It would look like I was picking favorites. I'd need you to do something for me. Something that would make me want to give any ordinary pony that I had just met yesterday personal lessons."

"Like... What?"

She thought while pacing slowly back and forth and staring at the beige carpet beneath her.

"I don't know..." Twilight truly looked puzzled.

"If you're worried about your public appearance, then... We could always have them privately." For some reason, I knew she wouldn't think ill of me for suggesting such a dishonest and sneaky idea that was clearly against school policy.

She laughed.

"You think just like your mother, Angel Scratch."

"I'll... Take that as a compliment?" I raised an eyebrow and grinned. I felt like I was comfortable enough with her to tease her a bit.

"Yes, of course. I just wish I could afford to think that way every so often." She paused and looked up the ceiling. "Meet me at Gastoire's tomorrow night at eight p.m. sharp, and bring the textbook that you'll receive in the mail tonight. Oh, I almost forgot!"

A burst of light flashed in front of me and the scarf that I forgot to pack was floating right in front of me. Her horn shined a bright shade of purple as she made the scarf wrap around my neck neatly.

"It's chilly outside. Wouldn't want you catching a cold for our first lesson!"

I got up and tugged it snugly against my neck. "Thanks!"

"Don't be late." She winked.

I couldn't help but smile wide.

"Yes ma'am!"

Author's Notes:

A lot of my editors weren't able to meet the deadline for editing, so I'm posting this anyway. I did my best to look over it myself, but please don't kill me if there's any consistency or grammar errors.

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