With the sun barely peeking over the mountain, ponies across Equestria began to wake up to prepare for the day ahead, adults getting themselves properly ready for the daily grind to support themselves or their families. Inside the castle, guards shifted as the ones on the graveyard shift were relieved for the day to get some rest from staying up all night to protect the royal family. Up in the royal bedchambers, Solaris began to stir as his inner alarm clock kicked in. He opened his eyes, seeing the sight of his wife still fast asleep, snoring loudly as she drooled on her pillow.

He shook his head, always finding Trill too deep in sleep that she winds up in an awkward position or drooling all over herself, sitting up and stretching out his limbs as he yawned. He smacked his lips and scratched at his chin, beginning to grow some stubble as his facial hair began coming in again. He disliked having a beard or a moustache, mostly because of how itchy it can always get when it grows in. He always ignored Trill when she begs him to grow it out, somehow finding him more sexier that way. He got out of bed, reminding himself to shave after taking a shower, but he needed to do something first before getting himself ready for more of his princely duties.

Solaris approached the calendar, crossing off another day. Within a week, it would be the start of the school year for foals, and now that Emerald was old enough to attend, he wanted to get her, Trill, and himself into a morning routine. He was amazed to see the time pass as his little filly was already five years old and about to start preschool. It was pretty difficult getting her potty trained, learning to eat on her own without making too much of a mess, and being careful with whatever words she says that weren't vulgar or insulting. That last part was harder than the rest because Trill was never that careful whenever she swore or made terrible innuendos Emerald wouldn't understand but would wind up repeating if said enough times.

He exited their bedroom and walked across the hall to Emerald's. He slowly opened the door, noting the few small changes he and Trill made as the filly got older. The crib was gone as a full-size bed took its place, where the little pony/changeling filly was still soundly sleeping. The changing table and sink were gone as more shelves were put in place, along with some dressers for the many clothes one of her aunts generously made for her and kept sending new ones every couple months. The baby toys were gone, replaced by some dolls and dollhouses, a small play tea party set, some easy to learn books that she could read, or look at the pictures until she learns to read, coloring books with many drawn in pages hanging on the walls or her own drawings she made, but she still kept her little teddy bear, keeping it clean and in good condition as she cherished her favorite toy.

The walls and floor were still pink, the only different color in the room were the covers on the bed. It was white with lots of yellow suns patterned all over the comfy quilt Emerald was curled up in. Solaris quietly approached the side of the bed, watching his daughter sleeping as she hugged her bear close to her. As much as he wanted to let her sleep, he had to start practicing their morning routine so she won't end up being late for school next week.

"Emmy, time to wake up," he said softly, the filly murmuring in her sleep as she buried her face deeper in her soft pillow. Solaris gently pulled the covers off her, giving her a light nudge to stir her out of the dream she wanted to stay in. Eventually, she squinted her eyes open with a groan, staring at her daddy as he forced her awake. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Emerald sat up and yawned, showing her little fangs that came with her changeling lineage and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Morning, sweetie."

"Morning, daddy," she said, smacking her lips as she looked at him with tired eyes. She looked over at her window, not seeing any light shine in through her pink curtains. "Is it still dark?"

"The sun's just starting to rise, and so should you," Solaris said, gently booping her muzzle with his hoof. "You remember what's going to happen starting next week?"

It took a while for her slowly waking thoughts to answer his question, her eyes opening a little as she smiled. "I go to school...But, why so early?"

"So we can get ourselves motivated and get there on time. There's preparing to wake up, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, checking your supplies to take with you in your new saddlebags. And if we keep up with this routine waking up early, you won't be so sleepy when you have to get up." Emerald stared blankly at the alicorn, blinking a couple times as she processed her daddy's words.

"...It's still early. Nighty night, daddy." She fell back onto her pillow and began fake snoring.

Solaris pouted, obviously learning the fake sleeping trick from Trill, but he grinned deviously as he had an idea to get her back up. "Oh, so you just want to sleep in all day and be a little lazy filly, huh?"

"Can't hear you, daddy. I'm sleeping." He shook his head as she continued "snoring".

"Will you be sleeping after this!?" He leaned forward, took in a deep breath, pressed his lips against Emerald's belly, and blew a raspberry, making her giggle uproariously as she was at the mercy of the ticklish attack.

"NOOOHOHOHOHAHAH! STOP, DADDY!" she squealed, unable to breathe as she laughed, fully awake as he continued his assault.

"You still sleepy!?" he asked as he went back in for another raspberry.

"NO! I'M AWAKE!" Solaris stopped, letting Emerald catch her breath as her laughter began to die down.

"Good," the alicorn said, nuzzling his little filly, making her giggle more as his morning stubble tickled her face. "Come on. Let's go and take a bath, brush our teeth, and head to the dining hall for some breakfast."

"Ok, daddy." Emerald stood up on her bed, stretching her back and let out another yawn before climbing down. "Where's mommy?"

"She's still sleeping," he said. "I'll wake her up after making sure you're all ready for the morning." Both father and daughter exited Emerald's room and entered his to reach their bathroom. Trill was still asleep, shifting her position to where her head was buried in her pillow while her rump stood up in the air. At least she wasn't flagging her tail up, usually having dreams where she was always being rutted by Solaris as he sometimes wound up feeling her acting out her dream subconsciously. "Keep that rump up in the air when we're done, and I'm going to give you a good wake-up call, dear."

Once he opened the bathroom door, Emerald trotted inside as he followed, closing the door so they don't disturb her. At least not yet. Emerald headed to the center of the large bathroom where the large circular bathing tub lied, the water filled enough for the filly to sit in without having her neck fully submerged. It was always set at a warm temperature thanks to Solaris's emerald flames in the center of the small pool, keeping the water at the perfect heat to get in and relax in. And since the water was magically enchanted, done so during some evenings where he and Trill had some alone time, any filth that touches the water evaporates, keeping it clean for anyone to use over and over.

Emerald stepped inside, letting out a sigh as the warm water enveloped her little body. She really loved the warmth due to her changeling blood. Solaris walked in, the water only reaching up barely to his knees, sitting down behind Emerald as he levitated the shampoo toward them. Splashing some water over her head, he lathered some shampoo in his hooves, beginning to clean Emerald's mane.

"Daddy, I can clean myself," she said. "I'm a big filly."

"I just want to make sure I get every single bit of you squeaky clean," he responded, ignoring Emerald's complaints. "The last time you said you could scrub yourself, you still had some mud behind your ears."

"I can do it this time," she insisted.

"Ok. Just don't get any soap in your eyes. It really stings." Solaris moved his hooves away, letting Emerald scrub her mane with her hooves. He couldn't see her face, but she scrunched her nose and stuck out her tongue in concentration, making sure she got every single strand of her hair all sudsy. "Want me to do your tail?"

"I got it, daddy," she said, dunking her head in the water as she rinsed off the soap.

"Alright then. You're a big filly." Solaris kept a close eye on her as he began to scrub himself off, spurting some shampoo in his mane and began scrubbing.

Emerald held her hooves out for some more shampoo to get her tail, her daddy giving her small squirt as she curled her tail around her as she stood by the edge of the pool-like tub. The two washed themselves in silence, water splashing about as they rinsed the suds off of them. Once they were squeaky clean, they climbed out of the bath, the soap in the water fading away from the magical enchantment in the water, Solaris grabbing a towel to dry her off. He started drying Emerald, enveloping her in the white and fluffy towel, hearing her muffled giggling as he rubbed her down and made sure her body, mane, and tail weren't too wet.

She popped her head out from the towel, her hair a splayed out mess that needed a good brushing. "Hi!"

"Hi, yourself," Solaris chuckled, taking in a breath and exhaling.

He released steam out of his nostrils, the heat from his dragon fire given by his late dragon uncle making his body heat warmer, instantly drying off his fur and hair. Emerald always wondered how her daddy was able to breathe green fire, curious to know if she could do something like that.

"Daddy, can I breathe fire too?" she asked, blowing out air as she tried to breathe fire.

"I don't think you can. And you're not going to be playing with fire. Ever." After drying off, Solaris carried Emerald over to the bathroom sink so they can brush their teeth and give himself a clean shave, setting her down on a footstool tall enough for her to stand on nearby. Emerald grabbed her green toothbrush as he hovered the toothpaste over the bristles, squeezing out a small dollop on it for her, doing the same for his own. "Two minutes of teeth brushing starting...now."

Solaris and Emerald began brushing their teeth, the filly minding her little fangs as she cleaned her teeth. He grabbed a hairbrush and began brushing down his daughter's hair, being careful not to move her head too much or have her accidentally swallow some of the toothpaste in her mouth. He finished straightening her mane, looking just like his mother's hairstyle just as they were done with their two minutes. They both spat into the sink, their teeth cleaned as they took a small sip of water from the faucet to rinse their mouths.

"All clean!" Emerald cheered.

"Not yet. Daddy's gotta shave, then we're all clean." Solaris grabbed the shaving cream, giving it a good shake before spraying some of it in his hoof.

Emerald watched with curiosity as he applied the cream to his face, smearing it around his cheeks, chin, and neck, leaving his lips and nose uncovered to breathe. Once he put on enough, he looked down at the remaining amount of shaving cream on his hooves, looking down at his daughter as she continued watching. He smeared a little bit on her nose, making her yelp in surprise as she wiped it away.

"Hey!" Solaris chuckled as she gave him the angry pout, making her more adorable than menacing.

"Just making sure you're still awake," he teased before looking back at the mirror, grabbing his razor and carefully stroked the blades against his face.

While the stallion shaved, Emerald splashed some water on her face to rinse off the small dollop of shaving cream her daddy put on her nose. She looked up at him and waited patiently as he carefully removed his morning stubble. After a few minutes, Solaris's face was cleanly shaved, splashing water on his face to rinse off the rest of the shaving cream on his muzzle.

"All clean now?" Emerald asked.

"Yup. All clean. Now, let's wake mommy up before we head down for breakfast." They left the bathroom, finding Trill still asleep, though her position changed, now completely laying down on her stomach. Solaris was a little disappointed that his planned method of waking her up was now gone, but either way, he was getting her lazy flank up. "Trill. Wake up, hon."

She grumbled and turned over, pressing the pillow over her head to drown out his voice. "Don't wanna..."

"You knew we were going to start a morning routine for Emmy when she starts going to school, so up and at 'em." He grabbed the sheets and pulled them off her.

She sat up and turned around, glaring at her husband with the pillow resting on top of her head. "Did we have to do this now? Why not until the weekend?"

"Yes. I told you about this, and it was your fault for staying up later. And if we started on the weekend, a couple days before Emmy begins her first day of school, it'll be more of a problem to get everyone up and motivated." Trill let out a tired groan as she plopped down on the bed. Solaris removed the pillow away from her head and gave her a peck on the muzzle. "Take a cold shower to wake yourself up, then meet us in the dining hall for breakfast."

"Can't you just give me breakfast in bed?" she begged, wanting to stay in bed and go back to sleep. He shook his head, making her growl as she forced her legs to climb down, pressing her snout against his. "I hate mornings."

"Morning, mommy!" Emerald said as she hugged her foreleg. She tiredly mumbled and patted the filly's head, making her way to the bathroom after their daughter let go. "She's cranky."

"Yup. But that's what happens when you stay up past your bedtime. You don't wanna be a little crab if I wake you up when you don't get enough sleep, do you?" Emerald shook her head. "Exactly. Now, let's have some breakfast."

"I want chocolate chip pancakes!" Emerald said as she bounced alongside her daddy, the two making their way through the castle to the dining hall.

"You had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast all last week," Solaris said. "We're going to have a healthy breakfast today."

"Aww...But I like chocolate chip pancakes..." Her enthusiasm died as her favorite breakfast meal won't be made.

"You like the chocolate chips more than the pancakes themselves," he stated, picking the disappointed filly up in his hooves. "You and mommy like chocolate way too much."

During the mornings for the next week, Solaris woke up Emerald and Trill early to get them used to waking up and get ready. Trill was more of a struggle, unable to fall asleep before midnight and always waking up tired and cranky. After the morning wake up routine, their days went by normally, Emerald playing with either of her parents, running around outside in the gardens and spooking the gardeners, or playing with her toys in her room. Each day that passed, the filly couldn't wait until the first day of school began, always double checking her bags to see if she had all the school supplies she would need.

Early in the morning, the day was about to begin, and Emerald was up before the sun began to rise. She was awake far earlier than her daddy, very excited for the start of her first day going to school. She leapt out of bed, not bothering to fix her sheets as she ran out of her room and barged into her parents' bedroom.

"First day of school! First day of school!" Emerald chanted as she bounced around, waking the changeling and alicorn up.

Trill grumbled as she covered her ears, hearing their daughter cheering and leaping up to bounce on their bed. "Solly, this is all your fault."

"Come on, mommy! Daddy! First day of school!" She bounced on Solaris's back to wake him up, the stallion stirring as his daughter kept bouncing excitedly.

"Ok, ok. I'm up," he muttered as he rolled off the bed, Emerald squealing as she fell over while he moved. "Time to get motivated."

"Hurry, daddy! I gotta get ready for school!" the filly said as she fluttered off the bed and ran into the bathroom.

"Emmy, honey, school doesn't start until eight-thirty. It's a bit too early to be getting ready right now." Emerald didn't listen as she clambered her way up the stool to reach the sink and begin brushing her teeth. Solaris just shook his head, unable to help but smile, seeing the utter joy on his daughter's face. He wanted to give her a better life than he had growing up, being raised by both him and her mother, go to school and make friends while she was still young, and have fun. "I'll get your mane. And not too much toothpaste."

"I got it, daddy!" Emerald scrunched her face as she lit up her horn, a green aura flickering around the tube of toothpaste, using her levitation to bring it over to her. She managed to open it and squeeze a little bit onto her toothbrush, but lost her concentration from her succession, dropping the tube. "Oops."

"That some pretty good levitation, Emmy," Solaris complimented, earning a beaming grin from her as he hovered the brush over her head. He began brushing down her bed head while she brushed her teeth, the stallion making sure not a single hair on her head stuck out or was out of place. "So, you're pretty eager to get to school today, huh?"

"Mhmm!" Emerald mumbled with a nod, her mouth full from her brush and the paste cleaning her teeth.

"I know you're going to have a lot of fun. You'll be able to learn new things, make some friends, give you something to do if mommy or I am too busy." The filly spat in the sink after two minutes passed, looking up at him with some foam around her muzzle.

"Is Vivi gonna be there?" she asked, Vivi being the nickname she gave Virtuo, the two becoming really close friends after all the play dates Solaris and Sweetie Belle made for them.

"Yes, he'll be at the school, but he's in a different grade. I don't think he'll be in the same class as you since he's a couple years older than you." Emerald whined and pouted, unable to hang out with her friend now that she was going to school too. "You might see him during lunch or recess. Though, I would suggest not pouncing him every time you see him. Don't want to embarrass him when you're being a bit too friendly around your fellow classmates."

"But I like giving Vivi tackle hugs," she said, rinsing her mouth after.

"You have to be on your best behavior while in school. So that means no tackle hugs, and if you get hungry and want a snack in the middle of class, no love stealing. Got it?" Emerald nodded, understanding him. "And speaking of food, why don't we head downstairs for breakfast and get your lunchbox ready for later this afternoon?"

"Can we have chocolate chip pancakes?" Emerald began begging, giving him the pleading eyes to break him down and say yes.

"Well, I guess since it's the first day of school, you should have something you like. Chocolate chip pancakes it is." She squealed happily, leaping into her daddy as she hugged his neck tightly.

"I love you, daddy!" she said.

"Love you too, sweetie." Solaris nuzzled her and chuckled, lowering her back down to the floor as they made their way downstairs to the dining hall, letting Trill sleep after being awoken by the energetic hybrid filly.

Once they were in the dining room, Emerald politely asked the kitchen staff to make her favorite breakfast, a small stack of chocolate chip pancakes set before her a few minutes later. After Solaris cut her flapjacks for her, not yet ready to trust her with cutting her food on her own, he headed into the kitchen to make his daughter's lunch for school. A simple daffodil and daisy sandwich with a little love essence sprinkled on it, a small bag of fruit snacks, and a box of apple juice a perfect lunch for a filly to regain some of that energy during her break of learning and play. He also realized that, in Emerald's excited haste to get herself ready, she forgot to bring her new saddlebags downstairs with her.

Teleporting himself to Emerald's room and back into the kitchen, carrying her forgotten saddlebags, he placed her lunch inside her lunchbox and headed back into the dining room. He saw her munching on her breakfast, having poured plenty of syrup to go with her pancakes as she was mindful of not making too much of a mess before school starts. He hid her bags behind him and approached her.

"So, enjoying your breakfast?" he asked.

"Mhmm!" Emerald swallowed her mouthful, licking some syrup off her lips. "I love chocolate chip pancakes!"

"I can see that." Solaris looked out the windows, watching the sun beginning to rise over the kingdom. After the sudden wake up call from Emerald, getting her ready, and waiting for her breakfast, there was still an hour left before they needed to leave to take her to school. "Now with a full belly and fully ready for your first day of school, are you forgetting anything you need to do?"

"...Ummmm..." Emerald began to think, tapping her hoof against her chin while scrunching her muzzle. As she ruffled her wings, she gasped and looked down at her back. "My saddlebags! I forgot to grab them!"

"Well, lucky for you, daddy's able to keep you organized." He pulled out her bags from behind him and placed them down on the floor next to her seat.

She sighed in relief, stepping down from her chair and picked up her bags. "Thank you, daddy."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," he said, leaning down and giving Emerald a small kiss on the nose. "We still have a little time left before we have to go. Let's see if you have everything you need for your first day of school."

"Ok!" They looked through her bags to make sure every last bit of her school supplies was present and accounted for.

With her fresh paper, pencils, erasers, crayons, safety scissors, and her lunchbox, everything was there and Emerald was ready for the start of her education. When it was finally time to leave, Solaris and Emerald headed out into the city and walked along the road, the filly skipping alongside her daddy in excitement. Ponies who were out and about bowed to their prince and young princess as they passed, even though they didn't wear their crown/tiara. It was best for Emerald not show off her royalty toward her peers, and she thankfully didn't behave like a spoiled rich filly, not wanting her to end up like Blueblood when she got older. Good thing he didn't spoil her, although Trill seemed to have when it comes to chocolate, sharing the same addiction as her mother whenever she wanted.

A few blocks of walking later, they arrived at the public school for younger foals: Canterlot Elementary. Other foals, either accompanied by their parents, gaurdians, older siblings, or by themselves made their way inside. Most of them unicorns, but there were some around Emerald's age who were either just as excited as her or really nervous. Once inside as they tried to find Emerald's classroom, they bumped into Button Mash and Virtuo.

"Hey, Button. Virtuo," Solaris greeted.

"Vivi!" Emerald squealed, tackling the colt over as she pounced and hugged him.

"H-Hi, Emerald," Virtuo gasped, his lungs being crushed to death by the filly.

"I'm starting school today!" she announced as she let go, the colt coughing as he sucked in air from the death hug.

"I see that," the colt said.

"So, you're in charge of bringing Virtuo to school, Button Mash?" Solaris asked.

"Yeah. Sweetie had a long night and went passed out the moment she fell into bed," Button explained. "And I mean literally falling onto the bed."

"And I thought my job could get tiring." The alicorn looked up at a nearby clock, nearly time for school to start. "Well, don't want to keep us getting our kids late for class. I'll see either you or Sweetie later."

"Right. Come on, Virtuo." Button and Virtuo began continuing making their way down the hall to find the colt's classroom, Emerald waving wildly as she watched her friend go.

"Bye, Vivi!" she said.

Solaris and Emerald finally found the classroom, where a couple other parents were inside as their foals were introduced to their teacher. The classroom was exactly how a preschool room was supposed to look: bright and colorful, large circular tables where some of the foals sat at in their little groups, some worn out toys for free time, all facing a large desk for the teacher to sit at in front of a chalkboard. The teacher was a lime green unicorn mare, her yellow mane tied in a ponytail that hung over her right shoulder, bearing a cutie mark with a big yellow smiley face. The parents before them began to take their leave as the young mare spotted the prince and his daughter.

"Your Highness! Good to see you again!" she said with a cheery attitude. She gasped when she looked down at Emerald. "And this must be the little princess I'll be teaching this year!"

"Yes, and she was quite eager to get started this morning," Solaris said. "I thought Hearth's Warming was supposed to be the only day to be woken up before the sun does."

"Oh, yes. Foals can be excited over everything," she said with a giggle. "We are going to have lots of fun this year! Now, go and find your name and get to know your new friends, sweetie! Class is going to start very soon!"

"Ok." Emerald gave Solaris a hug on the leg before heading over to meet her new friends, earning a kiss on the head from her daddy. "Love you, daddy!"

"Love you too." As Emerald headed over to the many small tables to find her assigned seat, Solaris turned back to the teacher. "Uhh, you do remember what we had discussed about with Emerald when I last came here, right?"

"Oh, right. Emerald is like a changeling as well," she said. "The whole cold weather thing. Don't you worry about that. The school board's discussed the issue and will fully dismiss any absences she has during the winter season if it's too cold for her to be outside. We'll send you her fun little assignments to do to the castle, and if you want to play teacher, it helps to have somepony teach her the lesson."

"Great. Thank you very much," Solaris said, relieved to hear Emerald wouldn't wind up being held back when she misses a few months of school during winter. "I really don't want her to be held back from any unnecessary absences when she goes, then passes out in a hibernating state due to her changeling blood."

"She's going to be a delight, Prince Solaris. She's in good hooves." Solaris took his leave as the warning bell rang. Emerald found her seat at a table with a purple unicorn filly with her curly mane a dark blue, and two earth pony colts, one with a light fuchsia coat and white and purple streaked, slicked back hair, the other silver with white hair. The filly waved to him, waving back as he left, not wanting to distract her from her first day of learning. The bell rang again as class truly began, the teacher stepping up to the front of her desk to begin the day. "Good morning, everypony! Welcome to preschool, the first of many years of learning new things, and getting the chance to make some new friends, too!

"My name is Mrs. Smiley, or you can call me Mrs. Smiles!" Levitating a piece of chalk with her magic, she wrote her name for them to see, putting a happy face underneath. "We'll start today with introducing each other to the class and tell a little something about them or their families. I'll start first to show you how it goes. I'm Smiley, and I love teaching. I have two older sisters, I enjoy reading stories, and I love eating pasta dishes. I really don't like eating brussels sprouts." She stuck out her tongue in disgust, making some of her students laugh at the face she made. "Even now as an adult, I hated them when I was a filly.

"So, who wants to introduce themselves first? Hooves in the air, my little ponies!" As Mrs. Smiley looked around the room, a few of the foals had their hooves raised in the air, one of them being Emerald. The filly was practically bouncing in her seat, chanting "Me!" over and over. The two colts at her table rolled their eyes, clearly not interested with introducing themselves to their class, or being in class at all. "How about...you?"

"Yes!" Emerald cheered as the mare pointed to her, the filly leaping out of her seat as she stood at the front of the class, Mrs. Smiley giggling at her enthusiasm as she stepped aside. "Hello, everypony! I am Princess Emerald Sparkle! I am part pony and part changeling, so don't be afraid of my horn, my legs, or my teeth." She showed off her changeling anatomy, chomping her teeth as she pointed at her mouth. "I have my mommy and daddy, I love chocolate because it also tastes like love, but I don't like broccoli."

As the filly mimicked her teacher's face of disgust earlier, the two colts at her table whispered something to each other as they pointed at her. "She's already a weirdo."

"More like a weirdo freak." They snickered as they made fun of Emerald behind her back, the other filly looking at them as she heard their private conversation.

"Very good, Emerald. You can head back to your seat now." Emerald skipped back to her seat as Mrs. Smiley continued. "Now, class, know that Princess Emerald is indeed part changeling. She won't be coming to school during winter since she can't handle the weather during the season, so don't be alarmed if she's absent during that time."

Only the two colts seemed to groan from the explanation as the rest of the class absorbed their first bit of knowledge on a changeling. They leered at Emerald as she sat back down with a grin, eager to get to know the names of her other classmates. The rest of the class introduced themselves and told everyone about themselves, including her group table. The fuchsia colt was named Gold Plate, his family owning the Barnyard Bargains store chain all across Equestria, his mother running the shopping center here in Canterlot. The silver colt was named Platinum Band, clearly Gold's friend and seemingly just as rich as his friend's family, though with what he didn't explain. And the other filly was named Melody, born in a family of singers as she spoke highly of her grandmother she called "Grandma Rara", who was a very popular singer many years ago.

Once introducing themselves to their classmates had ended, they placed their saddlebags in cubbies with their names on them, pulling out their crayons and pencils for their first fun activity: drawing a picture of their families. Mrs. Smiley told them that, once they were done, she was going to put them up on the wall for everyone to see. Emerald wanted to be artistic with her "family portrait", but she only had enough time for her actual family, not her extra extended family down in Ponyville. On a green field, she drew stick figures of them with a black crayon. She scribbled the bodies of her mother and Grandma Chrysie black with the same crayon, along with some green for their hair as they stood on one side. Emerald Solaris were in the middle, left as black pony stick figures as their bodies were white like the background, giving her daddy yellow hair in place of a gold crayon she unfortunately didn't have, and hers green and yellow. On the other side were her Grandaunt, Granduncle, and cousin Flurry Heart, Shining's hair blue while his body was left blank, Cadence pink with her pink, yellow, and purple hair, and Flurry a lighter shade of pink with her purple and blue curls.

"Wow. That's your family?" Emerald looked up from her work as her group classmate Melody looked at her drawing.

"Yup!" she said. "Here's my mommy and daddy, my grandma, and my auntie, uncle, and my cousin. Grandma's queen of the changelings, and they live in a hive like bumble bees. My auntie, uncle, and cousin live in the Crystal Empire."

"Cool," Melody said. "Who's the purple one in the sky?"

"Purple one?" Emerald turned her drawing around, surprised to see a stick figure of a purple alicorn hovering above her and her daddy. She didn't know if she drew it without noticing or if her mind was playing tricks on her, but she somehow recognized this pony. "Umm...I didn't draw this one...Did I?" Her thoughts were interrupted when one of the colts threw a paper ball at her, hitting her in the forehead. They were utterly bored, already done with their drawings of their families, though not as carefully drawn like Emerald's or any of the other foals. "Why'd you throw that at me?"

"Sorry. Thought you were a trash can," Gold Plate said.

"It's not nice to throw stuff at-" Platinum threw a paper ball at her this time, smacking her in the muzzle. The two colts snickered as she leered at them. "Stop throwing stuff at me."

"You two are gonna get in trouble," Melody said, getting equally annoyed by their bullying.

"Yeah, right," Platinum scoffed. "Our moms are rich. We can do anything we want."

"Oh, is that what you two think?" Mrs. Smiley asked, both colts yelping as neither of them, or anypony else, even heard the teacher approach or teleport behind them. In fact, she didn't even seem to have teleported at all. Gold Plate and Platinum Band looked up at the teacher, an unnerving smile on her face as she leaned her head down to their level. "Now, I know this is your first day of school, but I want to make everything clear with the rules of the class. Number one is to respect your classmates. We all want to be friends, and bullying is a big no no.

"This will be your only warning for the day. Good behavior gets you rewards, while bad behavior gives you a punishment you must serve for that behavior." She levitated the paper balls they threw at Emerald and set them down in front of the colts. They looked down at their trash, then back at Mrs. Smiley, only she wasn't smiling anymore, glaring intensely at the misbehaving colts, making their fur stand on end. Emerald also thought that she saw their teacher's cutie mark change from happy to angry, but she couldn't see, unable to move from strict gaze she gave to the two colts. "You act out and think this classroom is your own personal playroom away from home, you will not have snack time or recess, and I will tell your parents about your misbehavior. No ifs, ands, or buts.

"Am I perfectly clear?" Without saying a word, Gold and Platinum nodded their heads, Mrs. Smiley's words sounding like she would end up spanking them with her low tone. She immediately perked back to her happy, cheerful self and stood up. "Good! Now, why don't you throw your crumpled paper in the recycling bin, and not at other ponies!? Also, apologize to Emerald for throwing them at her."

"Sorry, Emerald," they both quickly said, taking their wasted paper and walked over to the blue recycling bin by the teacher's desk.

"Now, sweetheart, if those colts ever pick on you again, you can come and tell me," Mrs. Smiley instructed. "Don't be afraid to tell an adult if somepony picks on you. We want to make sure everypony is treated equally here in school. Ok?"

"Yes, Mrs. Smiley," Emerald said.

"Good." The mare looked down at Emerald's drawing, seeing her family, along with the purple alicorn she made. "Ooooh. That's a pretty drawing. Is this your whole family?"

"Yes...but, I don't know who this one is." Emerald pointed at the lavender stick figure. She gasped when she saw it had a halo over its head, drawn with yellow crayon. "Huh? When did-?"

"Oh, I think I know who that might be," Mrs. Smiley said. "Is she an angel?...Because of that little gold ring over her head?"

"But I didn't draw-" The bell suddenly rang, surprising the filly as the other colts and fillies wondered what was going on.

"Ok, my little ponies! It's time for recess!" the mare announced. "Leave your drawings on the table! I'll pick them up after we got outside and have a little fun! Everypony line up, single file!"

As the class got up from their seats, excited to play outside as they all stood at the front of the door in a single line, Emerald stared at her drawing for a while longer. She scratched her head in confusion, swearing she knew this alicorn from somewhere, but at the same time, she didn't. What's weird is that she didn't remember drawing the halo over the pony, too busy getting miffed at Gold Plate and Platinum Band for picking on her. She ignored it and stood in line behind Melody as they began to head outside for recess.

The door closed as the empty classroom was left alone. In Emerald's drawing, a small flash of lavender light appeared on the page, the stick figure pony turning more detailed from a foal's drawing to a lifelike mare, still drawn in crayon. The alicorn giggled at the little surprise joke she played, looking down from her two dimensional perspective at the filly's drawing of her family.

"I never thought I would try this spell in a lifetime, but that surely caught her by surprise." She laughed again as she began disappearing in the same light. "I'll see you back home after school, Emerald."

The angel disappeared, leaving Emerald's drawing alone as her image was now gone from the filly's creation.

As recess began, Mrs. Smiley watched her students as they all ran out to enjoy the fresh air and burn off some energy. Foals began playing catch with some rubber balls set up by the school building for them to play with, running around the playground as they played tag, or fooled around on the jungle gym. While the others played, Emerald was too busy lost in thought, wondering what was going on with her drawing as she sat on the swing set. Melody sat in the other swing next to her, noticing her classmate's silence and lack of fun.

"Aren't you gonna swing?" Melody asked.

"Huh?" Emerald snapped out of her thoughts as she looked at the unicorn. "Oh. I don't feel like having fun."

"Why?" she asked.

"My drawing. I didn't even draw a purple alicorn on it. I don't know anypony in my family like that." She went back to thinking, pressing a hoof to her lips. "But I feel like I know her..."

Her thoughts were snapped out again by a hard shove, Gold Plate and Platinum Band pushing Emerald and Melody off of the swing set. "Our turn on the swings!"

The hybrid filly growled as she got up, turning around to glare at the colts. "We were on it first!"

"You weren't even swinging!" As true as Gold's words were since she was just sitting on it, Emerald and Melody were roughly pushed off.

"You didn't have to push us!" Emerald argued. "I'm telling Mrs. Smiley you're being a bunch of dummies!"

She turned to march off to the teacher, but Gold Plate grabbed her tail and pulled her harshly, making her flop to the ground. "So you're gonna be a little tattle tale all the time?"

"Let go of my tail!" she shouted as she flailed her back legs to try to kick Gold in the face.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Gold goaded. "You're not a princess! You're just a giant white bug that was kicked out of her real family's life! You can't do anything to me!"

Emerald snapped at the insult, pulling her tail and bucking the light fuchsia colt hard in the nose. He let go and cried out in pain, holding onto his muzzle, but he couldn't escape as she yelled and jumped on him. Her hooves flailed over his face, fed up with his insults and teasing on their first day of school.

"Take it back, you stupid jerk!" she yelled. Platinum tried to drag her off, but the filly punched him hard in the face, giving him a black eye as he began crying. Emerald pulled Gold up, pressing her face against the terrified colt's bruised and teary-eyed face. "My mommy and daddy love me, and I too am a princess!"

"Emerald Sparkle!" She winced when she heard Mrs. Smiley, turning her head to see the disappointed and angry gaze on the mare's face as she approached them, Melody standing behind her as she ran off to tell her after Emerald attacked Gold Plate. She pulled Emerald off of the colt and looked down at her. "What are you doing?"

"B-But Mrs. Smiley, he started it," she said.

"I don't care who started it, but you do not hurt your classmates!" Mrs. Smiley scolded. "If anypony was bothering you, you come to an adult, remember?"

"I was, but he-" The green mare didn't want to hear any excuses as she helped both Gold Plate and Platinum Band up, using her magic to make a first aid kit appear.

"Hurting others to solve your problems is not right, Emerald." She began wiping the colts' faces of their tears, seeing only bruises on their faces and no blood or broken muzzles. "Let's get you two to the nurse's office for some ice packs. Emerald, you sit your flanks down on that bench over there and stay there for the rest of recess."

Emerald lowered her head, her ears drooping down as she did as she was told. She looked at the colts to apologize to them, only to see them smirking as they managed to get her in trouble. The filly grumbled and turned her head before Mrs. Smiley saw, her first day going from great to terrible in only a few hours. She sat down on the bench near the building, scowling in anger as she watched her teacher escort Gold Plate and Platinum Band over to the door, one of the school nurses notified by Mrs. Smiley via telepathy to come and get them to ice down their bruises.

"Humph," Emerald pouted, crossing her forelegs over her chest as she glared at the playground. "Stupid Gold Plate. Stupid Platinum Band..."

"Sorry I got you in trouble." She looked at Melody, feeling guilty for telling their teacher and getting her in more trouble than the two bullies. "I told her they pushed us off the swing and pulled your tail, but...you also hit them."

"They got me in trouble on purpose," Emerald said. "And they also picked on you. I wasn't going to let that happen."

"Thanks," Melody said.

"Melody, don't talk to Emerald!" Mrs. Smiley called out. "She's in time-out!"

The purple unicorn filly backed away, not wanting to get into trouble herself, but she didn't want to leave Emerald by herself. Emerald just nudged her head toward the playground, assuring her she would be fine by herself and let her friend enjoy her recess. She watched Melody head back to the empty swing set to swing again, slumping back against the bench as she groaned in boredom, wishing she played a little bit before pondering what or who added that pony in her drawing. Some of her classmates eyed her, a little wary of her after pummeling Gold Plate and smacking Platinum in the face.

"Well, at least I made one new friend," Emerald said to herself as she looked at Melody, the filly giving a small wave with a guilty expression on her face.

Recess ended, Mrs. Smiley escorting her class back to their room, making sure Emerald stayed by her so she doesn't cause anymore trouble. Once inside, she guided the filly to a back table she called the "Bad Corner", being an example to the rest of her classmates showing that if they do anything bad toward another student that ends up physically hurting them, they were sent there, away from the others, until they had enough time to think about what they did. The teacher picked up her little ponies' drawings after writing their names down on the back of the papers, a little surprised not seeing the purple alicorn in Emerald's, but ignored it, thinking she must have erased the other pony before they left for recess.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know everything in the class and all the rules, but the best part was when Mrs. Smiley told them about a reward chart for those with good behavior. Each week, she'll give put a gold star every day in the rows with their names, and if they get five stars, they'll get a little treat if they listen, follow directions, and be on their best behavior. She'll award a star to each student at the end of the day, though, after getting into trouble because of Gold Plate and Platinum Band, she surely wasn't going to be getting any reward this week.

They soon had lunch when the bell rang, walking single file behind their teacher with their lunches from home. Emerald didn't bother chatting with anyone, not even Melody. She knew she was going to fear getting scolded by her parents, and she didn't want her daddy to yell at her for being bad. Once lunch was over, they headed back to the classroom for a bit of free time until it was time for school to end. The final bell of the day rang as the colts and fillies grabbed their saddlebags and followed Mrs. Smiley out by the front of the school. Parents or older siblings came around to pick up each of Emerald's classmates, waving bye to Melody as her grandmother came to pick her up, the elder ex-singer's coat a pale aquamarine, her hair slightly grayed among her dark indigo and opal highlighted mane, her cutie mark a star with five different colored musical notes angled between the points of the star.

Eventually, it was just Emerald, her two bullies, and her teacher. She didn't have to wait long, unfortunately, as she saw Solaris fly in as he panted heavily.

"Sorry I'm late," the alicorn apologized. "I lost track of time during open court with some Canterlot business ponies. But I'm here now to pick Emmy up."

"Understandable, Your Highness, but I think you should know something that happened today," Mrs. Smiley said. Solaris winced as he began to dread the bad news from the tone in the mare's voice. "Earlier today at recess, it seemed Emerald had a little problem with these two colts." She pointed at Gold and Platinum beside her, the stallion noting the bruises on their faces. "I saw them throw paper balls at her before that and gave them a warning, but while out on the playground, these three began to fight, and your daughter began hitting them."

"...What?" Emerald winced at the tone of disbelief in her daddy's voice, feeling his eyes gaze at her, greatly disappointed and unable to believe she would do something like that, and she did do it.

"It was self-defense as her friend came and told me what was happening. She said they pushed her and Emerald off the swings, Gold Plate pulled her tail and made her fall to the ground, and said something that instigated her into punching them. I'll be sure to tell these colts' parents about their behavior as well." Gold Plate and his friend blanched, the both of them in trouble too.

"But she's the one who-!" Gold quickly shut his mouth when Mrs. Smiley leered at him, the same stern gaze that terrified him more than his own mother.

"All three of you misbehaved, so don't try to play innocent when you start something," she warned, turning back to the prince. "I had to put her in the 'Bad Corner' as her punishment, but if she acts out like that again, she could wind up expelled from this school if this keeps up."

"I assure you she's never misbehaved at home...I know she knows better than that." Solaris felt like he was already failing as a father, making sure she learned right from wrong and didn't spoil her. He grabbed Emerald's hoof and pulled her closer to him. "This won't happen again. Right, Emerald?"

The filly's ears drooped and winced, her daddy only calling her by her name instead of Emmy when she was in trouble. "Y-Yes, daddy..."

"Let's go." Solaris and Emerald began to head back to the castle, the filly's head hung low in shame. "We are going to have a long talk when we get home. And your mother's going to hear about this, too."