It was a clear bright, cloudless and warm day over the public grounds at the School of Friendship, as springtime season was in bloom over the town of Ponyville. Aside from the tweets from morning birds, the flutters from pollinating butterflies and the scurrying of furry critters, the atmosphere was also densely populated with friendly chatters among several Earthen Equestrians, pegasi and unicorns of all ages, ranging from newly fresh-minded immature colts and fillies to mature well-mannered stallions and mares. Some Earthen Equestrians were lounging around near the beautiful spring-water fountain, while others decided to stop and smell the diverse flora of aromatic efflorescence sprouting from the gardens.

As for the free-spirited pegasi students, they were very busy gliding across the sky to keep up with their closely-bonded winged peers like a flock of geese, hoping to catch up on the latest gossip and trends within their local hometown. Other pegasi decided to take a leisurely laid-back nap on the thick branches on top of the fruitful apple orchards planted around the tranquil school garden. As for the unicorns though, unlike the other two pony races, they were more affixed to reading and studying on their important subjects of the day, anticipating for their upcoming quizzes and tests. Though there were some occasional chattering among these horned individuals, most of them were about sharing important academic study notes that may be on their tests, while others were also focused on developing the crafting skills of various items for their workshop courses. Those skills ranged from fabricating elaborate dresses and suits for the upcoming Amity Ball, to constructing birdhouses and mechanical feeders for the school's local pet sanctuary.

Of course, it would be unfair to say that each different pony race was segregated into specific cliques to do their own kind of business. To be frank, it would be safer to say that all ponies, regardless of their physical attributes and specific abilities, come together to socially interact with each other to discuss on their favorite topics, reflect on their academic progresses on their subjects of choice or express on their personal troubles they face back at home.

In fact, it would totally be unfathomable for anypony (or in this case, any creature) to say this School of Friendship is only reserved for ponies. It was this type of discriminatory philosophy that would not sit well with the current ruler of all Equestria,Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship (oh, and her friendship advisor Spike the Dragon). Unlike all the other schools in Equestria, this School of Friendship was teemed with all types of creatures from all walks of life around the world. Those included boastful yet encouraging griffons, elated yet caring hippogriffs, communal yet socially awkward changelings (without their disguises, of course), hard-headed yet gentle yaks and ambitious yet laid-back dragons. These wonderful creatures could be seen chatting with the other ponies, as if they belonged to each of the ponies' own social circle. Moreover, various creatures were also invited to participate in social sport activities with their Equestrian friends, such as passing buckballs, flying through hoops, tossing logs and pulling ropes in tug-of-war. Though there had been one of each non-Equestrian race attending the School of Friendship, the large scale of application and acceptance of even more creatures into the School of Friendship had not been seen before until after the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle as the ruler of Equestria. Ever since one year has passed after the start of an epoch of the Princess of Friendship's worldwide rule, the percentage population of non-Equestrian creatures attending the School of Friendship had skyrocketed to 40%.

In addition to these fantastical creatures mentioned above, there were also minor groups of musically adept yet very chatty kirins from Eastern Equestria and stubborn yet hopefully open-minded Thracians* from the island of Thrace that had just recently applied for foreign exchange programs, which were established under different academic institutions from other geographical continents. Enacted by the Princess of Friendship, this set of government programs were introduced in the hopes that various Equestrian-like races that had not yet encountered the true magic of friendship will have a chance to be introduced to its wise teachings, courtesy of Her Majesty. There were also a couple of Abyssinian Cats and Diamond Dogs who had heard about the School of Friendship through word of mouth spread by independent friendship missionaries. Though still a somewhat small majority, those who were actually interested in learning the magic of friendship would apply, in which they were given friendship resumes by the missionaries as part of process.

In fact, all types of creatures, regardless of their isolation from the Equestrian world, were given brochures on the School of Friendship to read about and resume forms to fill out for such an application. In addition to asking for personal information, these resume forms were also designed in mind to ensure that the new foreign students will be most amicable and tolerable to other races in the school. In fact, the questionnaires on the forms were meant to question the applicants' reasons and intentions to attend the School of Friendship. Ever since the Worldwide Magic Blackout incident caused by the mastermind filly criminal named Cozy Glow and the attempted nationwide takeover of the infamous Villainous Trio (Former Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow), the School of Friendship braced up extra precautionary screening measures to filter out any potential psychopaths and sociopaths that may want to use the magic of friendship as an offensive WMD for world domination. As a result, only 20% of non-Equestrian applicants were accepted only as recommendations by the Headmare of the School of Friendship, for their intellect, basic social understanding, racial tolerance, willingness to be educated and, last but not least, their intention to maintain world peace.

Even so, the School of Friendship sends out its top interviewers and alumni students to each recommended applicant's home address to evaluate on their future students' home environment, socioeconomic status, family stability and many other external factors that could affect the student's capability of learning. Based on their research, these data collectors would send their notes about their experience from each applicant, and the Headmare (or if absent, the Vice Headmare) will decide on whether to place the recommended applicant for regular class courses for the average student, specialist programs for the elite and educated (e.g. business workers who want to be better negotiators, diplomats who wanted to learn multiple languages), or special-needs programs that will provide accommodations for the poorly disadvantaged (e.g. mentally scarred creatures from broken homes, impoverish neighborhoods or dilapidated institutions).

---

Out of these three programs mentioned above, a certain yellow-coated and short black-maned Far Eastern Earthen Equestrian stallion had signed up for the third special-needs program of the School of Friendship. But this innovative school program was not for him, for he thinks himself as a remarkable polymath genius back in his home country, like---a jack of all trades (and he has the encircled triple dot cutie mark to prove it!). To further accentuate that self-image, the yellow stallion wore brown-plaid patterned pants, a three-buttoned black vest, a pair of round glasses and a red-and-black Qing cap worn by business workers back in his home country.

In actual truth, this program was actually meant for his tiny, elated, hyperactive, white-coated and purple bowl-maned pegasus colt with a knack for being too excited about everything new to his innocent reality. You could say that this little zippy flyer, who bears a sweet little turnip cutie mark on his flank, is like the yellow stallion's foster son and it was the middle-aged Earthen Equestrian's job to keep an eye on his little best friend. To prepare for his new adventure in the School of Friendship, the white pegasus wore a tiny green round Qing cap, a purple silk vest, a pair of round glasses and black wool pants as his new official school garb. Ever since the start of their momentous journey to Western Equestria, the little white pegasus colt couldn't wait to visit the most holy diverse land in the Equestrian world.

Though, to be honest, not everypony within this traveling group of Far Eastern Equestrians were happy to see the Western land of the free, home of the diverse. Walking behind with a cripple was a beige-coated elderly unicorn stallion with a shabby sheep-like grey mane and his facial expression was as dreadful as a dragon without its gem stash. For this trip, he decided to wear an orange-plaid jacket, alongside a dark brown tweed coat and trousers. Aside from the tangerine cutie mark on his flank, that old stallion was also carrying behind a huge cartload of luggage that was stacked 5 suitcases high and tied together with elastic hooked ropes. Here, he was trotting grudgingly with his travel companions, along a stretch of dirt road surrounded by freshly grown grass, surrounded by springing flora. Though the luggage was well-secured by both the ropes and levitation magic, the strain of pulling the entire heavyweight load was giving the elderly stallion a major migraine and he was at the brink of exploding his head (if not a heart attack first). Suddenly, out from the silent tranquil sunny atmosphere, the elderly unicorn stallion cried,

"How long before we get to that damn school, you damn fool??!! I feel like the longer we walk, the sooner my kidney stones are gonna pass out!!"

"Relax, old timer!! We're only a few clicks away from the entry point! If there's a restroom facility along the way, I'll stop by over there and I'll let you pass that stone in peace!", happily yelled the middle-aged yellow Earthen stallion.

"Awwwwww, BUT I WANNA BE AT THE PONYVILLE MOTEL NOOOOWW!!!" complained the screeching tiny white pegasus colt as he fluttered with frustration, before taking a seat on the highest luggage bag with a pouty upset face and crossed arms.

"HEY, no sitting on the damn cart, you little runt!! I don't need YOU putting more deadweight on my cart, Tia dammit!! And if you even make ONE more complaint about the journey, I will turn this cart around", shouted the elderly unicorn stallion as he threw his walking cane at the white pegasus colt boy, before the unicorn picked his cane back up and continued pulling the luggage cart.

"Yeeaahh, of course! Because we already get enough bitching from you!", mumbled the yellow Earthen stallion with a sneering sarcastic manner.

"OOPS, sorry! I'm just feeling SOOOO excited about meeting new people today!! I never get to see the outside world beyond Eastern Equestria!", shouted the turnip pegasus colt as jumps up and loops around across the sky excitedly.

"Why the hell would I wanna visit a country full of these damn critches**?! I was much happier staying in my humble pawnshop back in our home country!", grumbled the elderly tangerine unicorn, though his voice was still a bit loudly audible to his close peers.

"PFFTT, like you enjoyed the company of thousands of angry qilin*** protesters wanting their money back for selling them shoddy merchandise!", scoffed the yellow middle-aged Earthen stallion with another sarcastic tone. Then, he continued with this remark, "Look, the only reason I brought you here is because I needed a few extra hands in gathering the necessary income to keep my little colt boy at that Friendship school! I need him to grow up to be a successful business salaryman, so that someday he could help me AND you in a time of crisis!"

"I dunno", said the elderly tangerine unicorn, who had his doubts, "Even with that special program you signed him up to, do you REALLY think he's up for the task? What if he causes even MORE trouble and gets US kicked outta town like LAST time?!"

The middle-aged Earthen stallion then suddenly sighed with groaning frustration and then replied,

"Ugggghhhhhh, okay, lemme re-word this in ANOTHER phrase that a old grouch like you will understand! The more you encourage that runt to push himself from village idiot to smart point-dexter, the FASTER he'll be off your ass and the more income he will conjure up once he gets himself onto the top! Does THAT sound clear to you, ol' boomer??!"

"And how about them critches, huh? How do we make sure he doesn't end up like them?", questioned the elderly tangerine unicorn, which caused the yellow middle-aged Earthen stallion to cringe with frustration.

"Look, once we arrived at the school AND find our designated apartment, I will discuss to you about my foolproof plan to both keep my foster son safe AND raise enough money to cover our expenses!", explained the yellow Earthen stallion

"Why not discuss it now? I'm SURE you have a very elaborate plan to help deal with our new shit-hole abode", snarled the elderly tangerine unicorn.

"HEY, it is NOT a shit-hole! Our new home has nice floor tiles, evenly painted green walls AND a functioning toilet, unlike YOUR old apartment back there! The only reason why I'm keeping this plan a secret is because if you knew what I was planning, you'll turn your back on us like a soapbox race car on a U-turn!", shouted the yellow Earthen stallion

"I swear to Celestia, if it's another job involving me being your test dummy for your cruddy home inventions, I'll buck your teeth harder than a kung-fu dentist with a wooden plank!", barked the elder tangerine unicorn as he struggled to pull the heavy and barely unstable luggage cart.

"LISTEN, you old boomer! You gotta trust me on this, all right?! This will be a new life far away from the cruddy slums AND you wouldn't have to deal with the Triad Mafia anymore, yes??!", shouted the yellow Earthen stallion as he grinned with feigned elating positivity. The smile, however, did not seem to phase the grouchy wrinkly-faced unicorn. He continued to mumble a variety of swear words under his breath in both his native tongue and secondary tongue.

"HEY, I know what'll cheer you both up! A SOOONNGG!", excitedly shouted the white pegasus colt

"DAMIT, you little shitebag! I am NOT letting you turn this journey to Ponyville into another cringey musical---", shouted the grouchy tangerine unicorn, but before he could finish his sentence, the white turnip pegasus had already whipped out his miniature vinyl record player and started to play his series of nursery rhymes:

(Cantonese nursery rhyme songs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_M24xV65-I

"Uggghhh, I rather pass my kidney stones RIGHT NOW than listen to that childish crap! Why did you even bother giving him a music player??", groaned the elderly tangerine unicorn.

"Just let him be, old friend...you know how prissy he'll get if you dare stop his musical montage", said the yellow Earthen stallion as he comforted his annoyed friend.

And so, the strange trio of Far Eastern Equestrians continued to venture forth towards Ponyville's entry point as the two old stallion men endure the childish nursery rhymes playing loudly, before it ended all together, right as the three newcomers had finally arrived at their destination...

What adventures will these three seek in the holy land of diverse creatures from all around the world?

"SHUT UP, NARRATOR! It's not holy like Celestia's sunny bum! It's not like this place holds a shrine for the second coming of Faust!!"

---END

Author's Notes:

This is my first time typing out a fanfiction for MLP, so please take this a little easy on me and give me constructive criticisms on my new story only. I was planning to write out something like this one day, but I want to make sure everything in this story is still completely within canon territory. That's why I waited until the official end of MLP:FIM.

This story is somewhat and loosely based on the 2001 Cantonese movie "Old Master Q 2001". I'll try to make this as dissimilar from the original plot as possible, but still retain the original humor plots without making this fanfiction look like a "plagiarized and novelized version of the original movie".

If you happened to be an Old Master Q fan who recognizes all the movie scenes of "Old Master Q 2001", please feel free to edit this story for any scenes that are deemed way too similar to the original and I'll try to change the plot with the best of my abilities.

-For this preface scene, I first want to establish a brief yet informative description of the setting that takes place after the "Ending of the End", but before "The Last Problem"

OTHER NOTES TO MENTION:

*The Thracians were the class of ponies that were ostracized out from the Earth-Pegasus-Unicorn group during the Wendigo era (they were mentioned in the IDW comic "Feats of Friendship Issue #3")

**Critch(es): slang word for "creature(s)"; a.k.a, a non-Equestrian citizen (based off from Orlando Bloom's "Carnival Row")

***"Qilin" is an alternative spelling of "kirin"