First Day
"Have a great day, Gentle Dream," Mom said, nuzzling me one last time. She was careful of my horn placed on top of my head.
"I love you, Mommy," I whispered. Then, it was time for her to go home. She had to get back to my sleeping little sisters, the earth ponies Joyful Passion and Meg. My older sister, Compose, who was a unicorn like me, was already in her first grade class. Yes, I had three sisters. Mom's cutie mark was a pacifier and rattle. She was very caring and loved little fouls, so in her filly years she foul-sat a lot. That's not too easy to do when you're an earth pony though. At this time, she was a stay-at-home mom, aspiring to be a day-care worker once her fillies were all in school. Because Mom was always at home, Dad was always at work. His cutie mark was a camera, so of course he was a professional photographer. The downside of his job was that he had to travel frequently, away from our home in Manehattan. However, because Dad could use his magic, took great pictures which earned him a lot of money to keep the family going. I missed him a lot though.
Mom gave me another smile then trotted away. I watched her go, her deep purple hair flowing and her light blue coat shimmering. I loved Mom a bunch, but sometimes I felt like her attention was always on somepony else. At least I got some attention today. It was my first day of Kindergarten.
I trotted into the classroom, hoping my pale green coat and dark blue mane weren't too ruffled from the nuzzling. I set my saddlebag down and pulled out some crayons and pencils. I found my assigned seat and noticed a picture of a large apple. The foals around me were coloring it, so I pulled out my red crayon and started filling it in. I loved to color. A few minutes later, a pegasis colt sat down beside me.
"Hi, I'm Star Chaser," he greeted friendly. He had light indigo fur with a bright sky blue mane and high lights that matched his coat. His face displayed a goofy grin and his pale purple eyes sparkled.
"I'm Gentle Dream," I replied softly, smiling back.
"That's a cool name!"
"Thanks, yours too." I began to feel more comfortable around this pony.
"Good morning class!" I looked up to see a dandelion colored mare with bright orange hair. Her cutie mark was a chalkboard.
"I'm your teacher, Ms. Fern," she explained. "To start off, please finish coloring the apple on your desk. Then, we're going to learn a little more about each other. You have five minutes." Those few minutes past quickly and we all gathered in a circle.
"We're going to play Two Truths and a Lie. What that means is that we'll go around and say three things about ourselves, two things being true and the other not, then everypony else has to guess which is the lie. Sound fun?" Ms. Fern asked. We nodded our heads in agreement.
"Great! How about you start for us?" Ms. Fern pointed at a vivid pink earth filly with a white curly mane. She stood up and cleared her throat.
"Ahem. I'm Spoiled Brat, but you can call me Spoiled," she said, although it sounded more like a demand than an invitation. "My daddy is a millionaire, I have a jewel incrusted jewelry box, and my purebred pup won the dog show two years in a row." A colt raised his hand.
"Your dad is a millionaire?"
"Try again," she grinned.
"The jewelry box thing?" a filly asked.
"Nope," she said.
"The dog show?" Star Chaser asked.
"Yep, he actually won three years in a row," Spoiled bragged, sitting down gracefully.
"Wow…" Ms. Fern mumbled. "Uh, great job Spoiled! Your turn," she pointed to the unicorn next to Spoiled.
"I'm Spoiled's best friend, Princess." This pony was off-white with a golden, wavy mane. "Let's see. I live in a castle, I have servants, and my mom is a queen."
"You're mom is a queen?" I asked unsurely.
"Nope, her name is Beauty Queen, so she is a queen."
"You live in a castle?"
"Aw, you got me," Princess pouted, "I don't live in a castle, I live in a regular old mansion." Regular, old mansion? I lived in a three bedroom home with one bathroom. A mansion wouldn't be regular or old, but probably magnificent and thrilling.
My teacher looked blown away for a moment, but quickly recovered herself. She called on a few more ponies and then pointed to Star Chaser.
"Hi everypony, I'm Star Chaser. I love to look out my telescope, I have an older brother, and my favorite color is blue."
"You like to look out of your telescope?" I asked unsurely.
"Sorry," he responded kindly.
"Your favorite color is blue?" another pony asked.
"Nope, my favorite color is blue. I don't have any siblings though," Star Chaser answered.
"Good job, Star Chaser. Now, it looks like you're the only one left," Ms. Fern said, gesturing to me. I nodded and stood up.
"I'm Gentle Dream," I spoke softly, "I'm not afraid of bugs, I like to daydream, and I have three sisters."
"You have three sisters?" asked a chubby colt named Chow.
"I do, sorry," I mumbled.
"Really?" Ms. Fern questioned. I nodded and blew my bangs up out of my eyes.
"Wow…Continue," Ms. Fern said.
"Daydream!" the excitable looking filly named Bouncy called. I shook my head.
"You're scared of bugs?" Star Chaser asked.
"Very afraid," I nodded.
"Well, that was fun! We all got to know each other a bit better. It looks like it's time for recess!" The foals around me cheered and ran out to the playground. Star Chaser and I trotted out together.
"Would you mind if I gave you a nickname? Not that I don't like your name, it'd just be easier to call you something shorter," Star Chaser said.
"Only if I can give you one," I agreed.
"Awesome. I'll call you…Dream," he declared.
"And I'll call you…Chase," I replied. Dream, I really liked the sound of that.
During recess, we played tag and talked a lot. I was having a lot of fun. But, then it was time to go in for naptime. I was confused why we had to take a nap after we got all energized, but I decided not to question my teacher. I pulled out a towel from my saddlebag and lay it on the floor beside Chase. I couldn't sleep though, so I just pretended to. After naptime, we started learning the alphabet and our numbers. We talked about the letter A and the number 1. I already knew my letters and numbers from Mom, so I gazed out the window and thought about the trees. What if the leaves were pink and the bark was orange? And what if they had polka-dots and stripes all around? That would make one tacky tree. I smiled to myself as I thought about it.
"Dream," Chase nudged. I returned to reality and looked at Chase who gestured to the teacher.
"Well?" she asked. I froze, realizing I probably just missed a question. I decided to just say something random so I wouldn't look like I wasn't paying attention.
"Um, an apple?" I guessed, thinking about what we colored earlier today.
"Yes, an apple starts with the letter A," Ms. Fern affirmed, looking slightly suspicious but putting on her smile again. I sighed in relief. Little did I know that that was just the first of many close calls.
"Nice save," Chase whispered.
"Thanks," I giggled quietly. Eventually, class was over and Chase and I were standing outside the schoolhouse.
"Hey, wanna come over today for a playdate?" Chase asked.
"Sure!" I exclaimed. Soon, I saw Mom coming towards us, pushing a stroller containing Joyful Passion and Meg.
"Mommy, can I go play with Star Chaser today?" I asked sweetly. Mom looked at Chase and back at me.
"I need to meet his mom first," Mom decided. We nodded and waited a moment. Then, a light pink pegasis with a lavender mane flew over. Her cutie mark was a telescope.
"Hey Starry, ready to go?" she asked.
"Mom…" Chase complained. Obviously he didn't like being called "Starry", or at least in public. He quickly regained composure.
"Mom, this is Gentle Dream. Can she come over and play?" The mare looked at me and I smiled shyly. She looked over at Mom.
"I don't see why not," she smiled, "Is that okay with you?" Mom looked back at her.
"You seem to be a nice and caring mare that will treat my daughter well. So, what the hay? Have fun Gentle Dream," Mom said. I beamed.
"I love you!" I exclaimed as Chase and I skipped down the road. I knew Mom wouldn't mind anyway, she still had to take home Compose.
Chase's house wasn't too far away. It was closer to the school than mine was. I stepped inside the small home and gazed at it all.
"I like your house," I said, spinning around.
"Wanna see my room?" Chase asked. I nodded. It was weird because I shared a room with Compose, while Chase had his own room. I guess most foals had their own room anyways. When I stepped in, I felt like I was out of this world. Glow-in-the-dark stickers nearly covered the ceiling and walls. Under it all was a dark blue paint and the floor had a fluffy white carpet, similar to a cloud perhaps. He was a pegasis, after all.
"Do you like it?"
"It's amazing," I whispered. I looked at him to see he was smiling like a goof again. I laughed.
"Hey, you wanna see my telescope? Well, I share it with my mom but, would you like to?" Chase asked excitedly.
"Okay!" I agreed. He took me outside and showed me the beautiful device. It was sleek and blue, his favorite color. It pointed up towards the sky.
"This looks awesome! How does it work?" I asked.
"Well, you look in this end and you can see what's up there," Chase said, pointing up. "But, it's better when you look through it at night."
"Cool," I replied, imagining what it'd look like to see the sky with the telescope.
"Hey, we should have a late-over sometime, so you can see for yourself," Chase suggested.
"I'd like that."
We spent the rest of our playdate playing games and having fun. When it was time to go, we hugged good-bye and I headed home with Mom. Compose was probably at home watching over the others.
"Did you have a good time?" Mom asked.
"It was great! Chase is a really good friend," I answered. I looked out at the sunset and thought to myself, This was a great first day.
