Canterlot,
6 Years into The Space Age

Canterlot looks nice at night. The lights of the big city in the nearby distance, yet here in their suburban home the lights were going out around the neighborhood. All was going quiet, except for the snores of the happy ponies living there. There was a particular colt looking out the window that night–Which is odd because they definitely should have been asleep by now! That colt's name was Smart Mouth and you don’t know it yet, but I think you’re going to grow to like him. Smart Mouth turned from the window and looked at his front paws. They were definitely paws, not hooves like his Daddy had. The 3 year old colt had hooves on his back legs but his front legs had paws and weird looking digits called thumbs. Real ponies could just hold things because of a type of magical static cling but he had to use the short digits and thumbs. His face was that of a pony, although he had a girly snout. He had sharp teeth and fox ears as well as the fluffy tail of a fox. With all that, he also had the wings and the body type of a Pegasus.

He stretched, that bright white underbelly contrasting with his orange fur nicely. Although most of his fur was short and slick like a pony's, he had a puff of white fluff on his chest. The lower half of his legs were black with thick blue squigly lines between the black and orange fur. The colt flicked his tail, the same pattern from his legs showing there as well. Stretch those wings! There were short blue feathers and long white ones, each with black tips. His cheeks and lower jaw were white well the rest of his face was orange. Well except for the large number of black freckles around his large blue eyes.

Gosh! He hated his freckles. They seemed to always invite grownups to pinch his cheeks. At least he was allowed to style his mane how he liked. It was blue, cut in a short spiky boyish style that was popular. His mane kinda naturally stood on end so the adults didn't have to do anything to it but give it a quick brushing in the morning. Honestly, he kept his mane this way more out of laziness then style.

He looked weird. He had the classic pretty colt features, but with odd fox bits added on. It was obvious he wasn't a normal pony. Even so, he was not an abomination–Just not the norm. That didn’t stop other ponies from bullying him though.

It didn't help that he didn't even eat plants like other ponies did. Those tasted really nasty and made him gag–Even gave him a belly ache. Grains, dairy, and pastries were all fine, even good for him, but not straight up plants like vegetables or fruits. Although, what was really good for him scared other ponies. He loved meat; bacon made from pigs instead of hay, burger patties made from chicken instead of tofu or beans, and fish–Lots and lots of fish. He loved seafood. It had no equal.

The meat was all synthetic... kinda, it grew like fruits out of trees imported from the Yokai's home dimension. It was still legitimate organic flesh, with electronic impulses running through it, but it was never really alive. The Earth Ponies grew the plants on some of their farming moons, to help feed carnivores without the need to kill anything. Still, ponies found the organic slabs of flesh disgusting. They were even scared of it on an instinctual level. It's like they thought because he ate a fish that he might eat a pony. He was half pony himself though, the dumbbells! It wasn't so bad. No one really picked on him, but that was because they were scared of him. He was the creepy quiet kid that ate meat. The weird looking half breed.

The young colt kit sighed as he stretched his wings and glided off the top bunk. He passed his older brother on the bottom as he got to the floor. The Unicorn colt kit blinked looking up at him as he played his JoyBoy. "Where are you going?" Asked his brother, Book Smarts.

"I'm thirsty," Smart Mouth declared in a voice that definitely was not a whine.

"You're trying not to drink at bedtime, remember? So you don't wet the bed."

Smart Mouth blushed. "I haven't wet in a week!"

"Because you haven't drunk any water just before bed," Book Smarts glared.

"B-but I'm REALLY thirsty," Smart Mouth insisted.

"Okay, but you better put on your special underpants before you go back to sleep."

Smart Mouth blushed. "But-"

"Everytime you wet it ends up dripping on me," Book Smarts glared, "If you're going to drink then you're going to wear the pants,"

Mouth's blush deepened but begrudgingly agreed. "Fine," he said before walking out of the room.

Book Smarts had been awfully bossy and overprotective ever since their mom died last year. No, it was even before that, but it had gotten worse this past year. He didn't know why. Their mom was pure evil! She was always yelling at daddy and hit them when he wasn't around. He didn't miss her at all; for some reason his chest got all tight as he thought that. He really didn't understand what he was feeling.

Daddy made excuses for mommy–That she was a Kitsune and that she didn't understand pony culture–But Koto Sensei, their tutor, was a Kitsune to and he was really nice. He never raised his voice or hit them so obviously being a Kitsune was no excuse.

When Mommy died Daddy hired Koto Sensei to teach them Kitsune magic. Daddy was a bit overprotective himself and had them learning from a tutor instead of going to school. Koto Sensei was teaching them how to read and write and do math–All the traditional preschool stuff. They watched the Magic School Bus and worked in their self grading textbooks. However, they also learned really cool stuff like how to bend raw energy, called Kai, as well as simple spell casting right out of the Elder Scrolls. Kitsune didn't nearly have the reality bending magic of unicorns, but they could do basic spell casting. The old fox was even teaching them magical crafts like making Runes, Enchantments, and Potions.

Smart Mouth loved the crafting lessons the most and liked to play with his potions set. He only had simple recipes like minor tummy ache soothers but they were a lot of fun to make. Koto Sensei was also teaching him to be sneaky because Kitsune were naturally very light footed. It was an important skill to their survival.

Smart Mouth used those super special sneaking skills to enter the hallway and slink by the adjacent nursery. There his baby sister, Curious Cat, slept. It was her fault mom was dead. Mommy died giving birth to her. Smart Mouth was kinda thankful to her for that but at the same time mad at her; it was weird.

He just knew he didn't want to wake her. She screamed whenever she was woken up and demanded that if she was awake then everypony else had to be. She was an Earth pony and fox hybrid. Daddy liked to joke that he had a full set now: Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth pony. It was a full house to him–At least that’s how he made it seem.

Although Daddy was a unicorn, like Auntie and so many others of their family, he was descended from all three tribes like a lot of families were nowadays.The Smart family was a wealthy line of mostly unicorns. They perfected computers during the industrial age, created the first Android-type phones they called "Smart phones", and created the magical Wi-Fi network which stretched across the planet. Later, after ponies started exploring the solar system and the other races moved off onto less high maintenance planets, Celestia extended the Wi-Fi spell to cover the entire solar system, allowing everypony free access to the Internet no matter where they were.

Ponies might not have invented whatever a "television" was, but they did have shows that were posted by season in the form of Apps. Each Studio had its own App where you could watch the entire series of shows they made for free. You just had to sit through a few commercials during the beginning and middle.

Most shows and movies were stuff that the Yokai added on their own Apps. That mouse Yokai, that owned something called "Disney", was rather popular with ponies

However, most ponies prefered Audio Dramas over shows still. Radio stations used to be played through actual radio but now each station was an App, the most popular being an App that came with Smartphones called the Smart Tunes Station. The music was organized by genre but you could search by artist and listen to them and similar artists.

Like all stations in the Equus System, the app didn't have commercials as record companies would pay the station to play the music as advertisements to buy the album. The closest thing to a commercial radio stations had was the song giving its name, the band, and the album as it played. On the Smart Tunes Station you could buy the song directly as it played, or follow a link to the album and buy songs from it individually or the entire album. The point was that once you purchased it you could listen to it whenever from your library, even putting it into a custom playlist.

The App also had a bunch of Audio dramas separated by genre, which you could search by series and even rate like a channel app but with no commercials. It only had one season at a time and posted the episodes weekly instead of all at once, but that meant there was a lot more new content. The current season was always free to listen to for a year, a new episode being posted every week.

Mouthy's favorite Audio Drama had to be "Classic Doctor Who". It was about the early adventures of the lesser god, back when he was still mortal, as he flew around in his time machine, protecting the universe. There was a whole "Doctor Who" studio app, with the main cartoon and tons of spin offs. Koto Sensei insisted Mouthy watch it, because the Doctor was the favored god of the Yokai and it was important to honor him. The only god Mouthy knew of beforehoof was Discord, a fact which really really upset Koto Sensei. The nine tailed fox insisted that Mouthy's "ignorance" wasn't his fault but rather his mother's.

The main cartoon was over 50 seasons long, at 500 Episodes a piece! That was a whole lot of homework, but it didn't feel like it. It was just so awesome! Mouthy had only been learning from Koto Sensei for a few moons and he had already finished season one.

The Yokai added lots of stuff to the Wifi network, even sold their own videogame devices and toys... which the Smart Family owned lots of. Book Smart refered his Joyboy over the Nintendo Switch, cuz it was what all his pony friends had, but the older boy still owned both. Mouthy was too young to own a JoyBoy, cuz it was so delicate, but he did own a Switch. Yokai put a lot of effort into it to make that sturdy. It had a magic battery which recharged itself after playing it. The battery even lasted like 20 hours and only took 1 to recharge to full power. It could even magically connect to any Television, which the species from Pathfinder liked... but was kinda useless to most ponies. No, what Mouthy loved the most was it could pull him into the game world like an enchanted comic book.

Thinking of comics, Mouthy's mind wandered to Stan Lee. He owned "Detective Marvel Comics", but he wasn't a Yokai. He was a demigod of some kind of race of deities called "Watchers". He sold his enchanted comics in the Yokai dimension, who in turn sold them to the Refugee planets the Doctor made.

Those comics were AWESOME!!! Mouthy loved reading them but especially playing in their worlds.

Worlds like:
Naruto, Inuyasha, YuYu Hakusho, Avatar the last Airbender, Junjou Romantica, Gravitation, Fruits Basket, Pirates of the Caribbean, WALL-E, Robots, I ROBOT, Mass Effect, Outlaw Star, Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, Ben 10, Farscape, Dragon Ball Z, , Doctor Who, Mister Peabody and Sherman, Predator / Alien, Harry Potter, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Marvel Comics, Judge Dredd, DC Comics, Hancock, Astro Boy, Megamind, Danny Phantom, One Punch Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Watchmen, Push, Sky High, and more.

Koto Sensei said all of these worlds and characters really existed, but that they happened in other Dimensions. Who knows maybe these people do exist in this one to, or will exist someday... it was a pretty epic thought.

Shaking his head, and getting his mind back on track, Mouthy continued his journey. His brain tended to wander way too much. It just jumped from topic to topic. The colt kit slowly sneaked by the nursery and looked around the lit hallway. Daddy kept the hallway light on at night so the children's rooms wouldn't be so dark. Taking the turn Mouthy got to the living room and was a little shocked to see daddy awake and drinking Cider with a special guest.

"Auntie Computer Wiz!" Smart Mouth grinned spotting his favorite Aunt on the couch. He ran over to her excitedly but frowned when he saw she was all misty eyed.

"Hi Sweetie," The normal unicorn mare reached out and ruffled his mane as she forced her eyes to dry and showed a clearly fake smile.

It looked like she was still upset about losing her husband. Know It All Senior died in a shuttle accident about the same time Mom died in childbirth. Soon after, Auntie gave birth to a colt she named him Know It All Junior. She'd been visiting a lot since then, getting help from Daddy.

Uncle Know It All had been a nice stallion but honestly Smart Mouth didn't know him very well. Before he died Smart Mouth rarely got to see Auntie so the foal didn't know him very well.

"Buddy," Daddy got his attention, looking strangely serious, "It's well past your bedtime."

"But I'm thirsty," Smart Mouth whined. He just wanted to stay with Auntie.

Daddy sighed. He walked over to the kitchen which was directly connected to the living room and separated only by a long counter. He pulled out a sippy cup from the dish washer and poured some water into it from the faucet. He quickly screwed on the lid and brought the cup to the colt kit. That was good enough to send Mouthy away, but really he was practically begging to be eavesdropped on. So Smart Mouth, being a good little colt, sat in the hallway drinking his sippy.

"Sorry about that," Daddy said to Auntie.

"It's okay," said Auntie, "You've got a house filled with foals, it's bound to happen... Stealthy... do... do you think we're cursed?"

Daddy didn't answer.

"Your mother, my sister, your wife... My husband... So many ponies lost..."

"It really does feel like it sometimes..." Daddy admitted taking a sip of his own drink, "It's the reason I refuse to let what happened to my wife affect my daughter. When my own mother died giving birth to me... Father couldn't even stand the sight of me. I spent my foalhood bouncing from house to house as he pawned me off on other family members. I always told myself I'd be a good father if something like that happened to me... I just... Never thought it would.” Daddy sighed unhappily and took a sip of his cider. “Still... I love my daughter and will raise her with all the love she could ever hope to have...

Auntie stared up at the ceiling for a moment, as Daddy continued, “You know, I think we are cursed but–But that's why we need to spit in the face of whatever asshole deity keeps bucking with us! Why we need to cling to what we have…” Auntie stared off into the distance. “You know I'm not very good at the whole comforting thing but... I worry about you. With Celestia transferring me over to Ponyville you won't have any more support out here in Canterlot... Please... Come with us."

"I don't know..." Auntie sighed, "I have a good job out here working for the family business... And it was hard getting Junior in the Celestial Daycare. Ever since my sister passed I've been having to look after my niece too. She's so distraught she actually dropped out of her apprenticeship.

"I know.” Daddy hummed thoughtfully. “Bring her too,"

Auntie sighed, "I can't just drop everything, and I couldn't burden you like that,"

Daddy thought for a moment. "We might be distant cousins but we were raised together a good portion of the time. There's a reason my children call you 'Auntie'. I consider you a sister! Please, stay with me instead. I might not be much help but at least this way we can mourn together–And stop each other from doing anything stupid too. Plus, since I'm working as an Archer for the Princess of Friendship's Royal Guard, I can probably get Princess Twilight to enroll your foals in her school and daycare free of charge as a member of my household."

"Really living up to your name eh, 'Stealthy Intellect'," Auntie chuckled, "Trying to bribe me?"

"You know it’s a good idea. Besides Street Smart, is getting to be a real hoof full–And like you said Smart Alec needs help. In her state of mind she's willing to destroy her future and neither of us want that.”

“My son and our niece could use help I suppose…”

“They could both do with some time under the guidance of the Council of Friendship... please Wiz, stay with me. You can work still here on the family business. It isn't even that long of a commute from Ponyville. I need you just as much as you need me right now."

Auntie needed some time to think that over. To be honest, both ponies were sad and frightened, even though each one didn’t want to show it. Auntie would be giving up Celestia’s position and Daddy had a lot of things going on in Ponyville. What would each do?

Deep down, they both knew they needed each other. If they were together they’d stay strong through the pain. Maybe that was worth it. Auntie finished thinking and sighed, "Alright..."

"Woo-hoo!" Smart Mouth cheered.

"Smart Mouth!" Daddy scolded, "Go. To. Bed,"

"Sorry Daddy!" The colt grinned before running off to give his brother the good news.

###

3 Years Later:
Ponyville

In the following years the family got settled into a routine in the Ponyville Barracks. They were near the Ever Free Forest; that way the Soldiers could react quickly, and hopefully prevent monsters from getting into the town. The barracks was actually made up of 5 rows of apartment units, following the perimeter of the Ever Free Forest.

Each family was assigned one of these units; not just a condo but the entire unit. That’s where Mouthy found himself that morning. He got out of bed as usual, his brother still had the bottom bunk. The room was filled with toys and the odds and ends of two boys growing up. Of note, in the corner was hanging a police box and some styrofoam planets. There was also a connected bathroom and walk-in closet. All of the bedrooms in the unit had that general layout.

Mouthy headed out into the sitting room connected to his room. Each unit was arranged much like this, with two bedrooms connected to a sitting room in the center. The sitting room for Mouthy was a brilliant playroom, with a TV and a comfy couch. Even in the barracks, they still managed to live rather well. His sister’s room was next to his, down a hallway.

Outside the sitting room was an arch, leading to another hallway, which connected to three more condos that looked exactly like this one. There were no doors on any of them and the children were allowed into any of them. Across from Smartie’s condo was his daddy’s. Daddy had a bedroom and made his other bedroom into an office. Smart Mouth wasn’t allowed in there; daddy was afraid he’d get into trouble with the weapons hung on the wall (or at least, that’s what daddy said to keep Smartie out). Daddy’s sitting room was a large library filled to the brim with books as well as a comfy chair on which to read them. The library was mostly fictional stories and plenty of enchanted books, as Daddy wasn't big on reference guides. There was a small section for references–A few history books but mostly monster manuals for work.

Down the hall immediately next to dad's, was Auntie's condo, which she had all to herself as well. Her extra bedroom was a workshop, for her techno magic stuff. Smartie wasn’t really allowed in there as there were so many delicate objects that could break. Computers, gizmos, magic contraptions–Things auntie didn’t want in pieces on the floor. Her sitting room was just a regular sitting room. It had a few bookshelves on the walls, some comfy chairs, a desk in the corner–All the things she used regularly.

Her kids shared the condo across from her. Know It All Junior had a nursery all to himself in the smaller bedroom. Then Street Smart and Smart Alec shared a bedroom, separated by a large screen Auntie had installed. Their sitting area was a more teen appropriate play room. It had an Arcade box with thousands of different classic games on it. There was also a low to the ground table with cubbies built underneath that stored more advanced puzzles. There was even an illusionary table to play O&O. That table created Illusions of what the player and Dungeon master were describing and let the players see the rooms their characters were in.

Connected to this hallway was a lobby with a laundry room, a kitchen (they had the latest technology in the stove), and a large living room. Connected to this was a door to the storage room underneath. A garage door allowed ponies to park their wagons in the storage room. Behind this room was the boiler (a huge tank which cycled, purified, and replenished all the water in the house using technology to disintegrate bacteria), the heater and air conditioner, and everything else the house needed to be self sufficient.

There was a patio on the main level too. Nice!

Even with all these ponies living here it didn't feel crowded. Sure, the kids could be awfully nosy. It was nothing the adults couldn’t shoo away when it got too bothersome. Smart Mouth also really preferred having a playroom. Even at the impressive age of 6 he was still scared to sleep by himself.

This is where the family lived and spent their lives together.

###

Both the older kids were doing much better through frequent exposure to the Bearers of Harmony. The teenagers were apprenticing at Twilight's school of friendship. Although it was technically a school to train world leaders, diplomats, and politicians the school taught a little bit of everything. The teens had eagerly soaked up all that they could. Now they were in their Senior year and eager to move beyond it to study under a legitimate master of their desired trades.

For the past three years, Mouthy and Book accompanied their Auntie on her morning commute to Canterlot. The train ride only took about 30 minutes, but it was still hard for such young boys to sit still for that long. The commute was worth it in Auntie's eyes. She had been promoted to Vice President of her department at the tech company run by the Smart Family.

She would drop the boys off with Koto Sensei on her way to work. Curious Cat had just joined them to a few months ago. After they finished studying and power training, Koto Sensei would bring the kids to the Ponyville Royal Daycare at the Castle of Friendship.

It was a pretty easy trip for the old kitsune. He would rip open a portal, with the ease of scratching the air, and just casually walk them through it. The kids would be in Canterlot one second and Ponyville the next. Koto Sensei would usually stop to flirt with the daycare receptionist, then walk back through his portal. It would then close completely when he left.

Mouthy couldn't wait until he learned that spell. Dimensional manipulation was one of the Yokai's signature fields of magic. Unfortunately, however fun learning from Koto Sensei was, their time at the castle was boring. His siblings loved it but Mouthy tended to stay away from the other kids. He just had trouble understanding them and they kept claiming he was weird. Typical little monster crap.

One day, after Daddy picked up all the kids, they got a very special visitor when they got back home. Doctor Clockwork Whooves, Princess Twilight's head Wizard, and the Time Lord god himself... He was just standing there, by the stairs of their unit waiting for them.

Daddy was amazed that someone so powerful and special would just be there. “Good day, Doctor!” Daddy looked at the Doctor then back at his children. “Please come in?” The Doctor nodded at him and they ascended the stairs together. “Kids, please go play. We are going to talk.” The children slowly made their way out of the room.

The Doctor spoke up. “Smart Mouth? Could you please stay here with us?” Mouthy would rather be playing. Daddy looked slightly worried about this. Koto Sensei would lecture him about what an honor it was that the Doctor wanted to speak with him, but there were lots of gods hanging around Ponyville these days. Discord was here at least once a week. Besides, although he knew and loved the cartoons and Audio Dramas, the Doctor himself was kinda scary.

Daddy pinned his ears back in a slightly frightened manner. “What would you want with Smart Mouth, sir?”

“Relax.” The doctor smiled. “I actually want Smart Mouth to go to my new school.”

"You want Mouthy to go to your school," Stealthy blinked as he looked at his middle child sitting next to him on the couch. The 6 year old was busy playing with his Smart Phone but looked up at the word 'School', a little nervous as well as excited by the concept. The Coltkit was technically old enough to start at a real school but Stealthy still had the little hanyous tutored privately, "I heard you were opening up a magic school. He's still a bit young for that, though."

The Doctor smiled, "My school teaches academics alongside magic, but it's probably a different kind of magic then you're expecting.” The doctor waved a hoof majestically. “Magic is in all of us–Even Earth ponies and Griffins. However, sometimes it comes out in strange ways. What causes this is unknown but I have found a noticeable pattern! Certain powers tend to appear in specific groupings. I call these 'Classifications of Atypical Magical Manifestations', or rather 'Classes'. I want to teach these gifted children how to control these rare powers.”

Daddy nodded, understanding this but not understanding how this related to his son. “Are you saying my son is gifted?”

“Yes,” the Doctor nodded, "and Princess Twilight has been fascinated by Classes ever since she learned her friend Pinkie Pie had one. When she learned they were real and not just a myth, well, she's been funding my research into them ever since! So when I told her I wanted to open up a school to actually help these people, she was all for it,"

"People?" Mouthy blinked.

The Doctor explained, "That's what you call any creature aware of mind and magic. Not everyone is a pony after all–As I'm sure you know,"

The little Colt kit nodded, knowing all too well.

Daddy eyed, "I know what your school is... But I haven't seen Mouthy show any signs of... a Class."

"That's because it's subtle," explained the Doctor, "You know all those 'imaginary friends' of his?”

Daddy nodded. “He has a very active imagination.”

The doctor shook his hoof. “Well they aren't imaginary. They're ghosts!"

Daddy paused. If it had been anyone else he would think they were high, but this was the Doctor. He was literally a god. He also had a wealth of technology and information that would have led him here. “I had no idea.”

"Your son has great potential. The speed and dexterity of a Pegasus, the natural stealth and magic of a Kitsune, and the healing powers and divine magic of a Cleric–Not to mention the vast variety of powers of a Necromancer. He has the potential to become a very powerful master of the craft!"

"Necromancer!?" Daddy gaped. "Are you telling me my son is a Corpse Stealer!?" The little colt kit shrank at that. Whatever a 'corpse stealer’ was, it did not sound good.

The Doctor sighed, "I thought you would be more sensitive to the misconceptions that come with classes."

Daddy blushed and hugged his son, as if to protect him from his own corpse stealing ways. "How can you be sure?"

"Well, first the way he moves and the stiffness of his joints indicates a higher bone density–A clear sign of Necromancers is a result of their ability to manipulate their own bones. Although the more obvious sign is his friends. They are phantoms. I might not be able to hear them but as a trained wizard, I have the means to detect them.”

The doctor continued. "My school will be able to help him control these gifts and use them for the betterment of Equestria. It doesn't just teach how Classes work though. My students receive the best education, both magical and academic. There, children will learn at their own pace from computers with breaks for class participation activities such as labs and story time. I'll also take them on weekly Field Trips to expand their worldview. I'll make sure they eat and have their naps. All expenses and board is included.”

Stealthy nibbled his bottom lip. "I think my cousin has a class... Ponies with such things don't exactly have the best recommendations. No matter how useful they can be."

The Doctor interjected, "And Necromancers have an even worse reputation, as you yourself demonstrated. Most, however, are as honorable as people can be. They are rather obsessed with helping the dead rest and are more benevolent than what films might have you believe... Sadly I can't protect your son from such prejudice but I can give him a place to belong. A place with other kids like him. They'll grow up together and learn to master their powers in a safe environment.” The Doctor pointed at daddy. “Isn't that something you would have liked when you were a foal?"

Daddy thought hard. "What's the catch?"

"Hummm?" The Doctor blinked

"You're telling me a government sponsored school for children with... Classes–Of all things! Isn't hoping to get something out of this?"

The Doctor sighed, "I was getting to that. You see–And this is purely voluntary after graduation–The students have an automatic acceptance into a special program. They will be given a lot of freedom to live... But will receive the occasional missions. They could, if they choose, become government agents. A mix between Celestia's monster hunters and the Equestria Interplanetary Fleet; charged with exploration and defense throughout the Star Cluster."

The Doctor walked towards the picture window and looked out at the sky. "We are hoping to have the Mass Effect drive done by their graduation so that they can use the technology on a ship to explore the rest of the Star Cluster. They will have more free range than the Fleet and will be accountable only to the United Council. They would not be above the spirit of the law but they would have permission to act outside it."

"So you want my son to be some kind of Secret Agent?" Daddy eyed.

"Not so secret, he would be asked to directly represent the Equus System to other planets. A champion of Equus!” The Doctor turned back to Daddy hopefully. “Think of this as going to military school. He will receive the training but it is up to him if he actually joins when he graduates."

"What about his apprenticeship?"

"I'm afraid since this is the first generation of this program he won't have a proper apprenticeship if he chooses to enter the program, as there is no one to learn from. However he will receive the proper training during his school days in a safe environment and will have the support of not only his fellow students but the Castle of Friendship after graduation."

"Kids are just barely teenagers after they graduate from school," Daddy pointed out, "Are you really telling me you expect 16 year olds to prance around the galaxy unsupervised?"

"Prince Spike will be there to guide them, so they won't be totally unsupervised."

"Don't give me that," Daddy waved that off, "Spike is very much a child, himself, by dragon standards."

"Yes, but he does have experience. Besides, you can be rest assured that when the time comes to pick a captain, we will find someone qualified. I also said this program is optional. All my students will be encouraged to join, but not forced to."

Daddy looked thoughtful for a moment. The thought immediately came to him. "It's a boarding school, isn't it?"

The Doctor sighed, "I'm afraid it is. Like any form of magic, Classes can be unstable during learning. They need constant supervision as they learn their art. It would be dangerous otherwise. However you can come visit him on family day every weekend and he will return home for the holidays."

Daddy looked down at Smart Mouth who had been staring at the Doctor while listening. Neither was entirely certain, but they both intrinsically knew the gravity of what they were hearing. Daddy sighed and looked into the distance. He could hear the jeers of Smart Mouth’s classmates in a regular school. Necromancy was massively understood! Daddy knew that Smart Mouth would have an even tougher time understanding himself–That is, if he didn’t have a proper teacher. Daddy knew Koto Sensei was a smart kitsune, but this was out of his league. Maybe having the Doctor turn his son into a champion of Equus wasn’t such a bad idea given the circumstances. "Alright... I'll let him go to your school."

Author's Notes:

I got a new collab partner in:

MadHatBat
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/357409/Madhatbat

She suggested that I move the chapters around a bit and devote Episode 2 to introducing the main Characters, that way you know who your dealing with.

Please check her out. She is hoping on doing more commission work.