Sofin opened his bleary eyes the next morning to see two songbirds, one red and one blue, holding up a purple suit for him to wear. Wait, what? Sofin rubbed his eyes to focus, wondering if he was still half asleep. When he opened them again, he was greeted with the sight of a gray rabbit with a white neck immediately in his face.

"Gah!" yelled Sofin out of reflex. The animals recoiled, and the songbirds dropped the suit onto the floor.

After a moment, the door in Sofin's new room opened to reveal Baileywick. The—what was he called again? Royal steward? The royal steward entered the room, seeing the animals scattered around the room and immediately moved to shoo them. "Out," he yelled, "Shoo! This is a bedroom, not a petting zoo!" The rabbit and a red squirrel Sofin hadn't noticed scurried away and through a tiny mousehole, while the two birds flew out the open window. Sofin was still waking up and didn't even think to stop them all until it was too late.

"Sofin?" asked Baileywick. "Why were you sleeping on the windowsill?"

"Huh?" Sofin shook his head again: he was really not a morning person. "Oh, the bed was too soft. I couldn't really fall asleep on it."

Baileywick moved to poke Sofin's mattress, and watched his finger sink a few inches. "Oh, Sofin, I'm very sorry. We must have gotten you one of Amber's mattresses by mistake. I'll have it fixed by tonight." Sofin was confused. Amber slept on mattresses that soft? Did all princesses do that? He remembered hearing about a princess who could feel a pea through twenty mattresses. Could Amber do that?

"But," continued the royal steward, and Sofin stopped thinking about princesses and peas to listen. "You'll have to get ready for school, first. I'll leave you to it." Baileywick left the room, leaving the boy to get ready for the big day. His first day at Royal Prep, it was all so exciting.

Sofin managed to get dressed without trouble until reaching the bowtie. Pulling the piece of cloth one way and then the other, he only succeeded in tying a knot around his neck. It didn't help that the amulet also got in the way of the fabric at times.

"Chirp chirp chirp."

"Huh?" Sofin realized the two songbirds who had been holding up his suit earlier were back. He watched the two flit around, still feeling discouraged at his inability to tie a knot. "Oh, I'm sorry for yelling at you two earlier. I just woke up and was, um, a little surprised, that's all. I'm not really a morning person."

"Chirp chirp."

Sofin watched as the two birds each took one end of the ribbon and flew in a complicated loop around his neck. Before he even realized what they were doing, the two had finished arranging the bowtie. The birds released the ends of the ribbon in sync, let out a little happy trill, then flew away. Sofin, still half-shocked, was just a little too slow.

"Wait! Thank you!" he called, but the birds were already gone. Sighing, Sofin looked at himself in the mirror one last time. He looked…good. Princely, even, if you ignored the amulet around his neck. He looked nothing like he did back in the village. 'And,' he thought, looking at the clock, 'I think I'm late for breakfast, too.'

One royal breakfast later, Sofin found himself standing in front of a large purple coach, where James and Amber already were seated. Two white pegasi stood proudly in front of the coach. Sofin admired their massive white wings and pretty blue manes. Wait, why did the horses have wings?

"Hey Sofin!" beckoned James, calling to the newest royal. He moved to grab Sofin's hand and pull him into the coach.

The boy took a seat next to Amber. Opening his mouth, the youngest royal asked, "Why do the horses have wiiiIIIIIIINGS?" Before he had finished, the horses had begun to leap forward, and in a few moments, they opened their great white wings and took to the air. Sofin felt the coach rise above the ground, as the two winged horses pulled it way into the sky. As the pegasi rose, Sofin felt weightless, and his momentary surprise gave way to joy.

James stood up and whooped. "Yeah!" he exclaimed.

Sofin rose to join his brother. Curious, he looked down over the edge of the coach to see the castle below. The castle looked so tiny from up here! And the orange dawn light was beautiful from way up in the sky. He could feel the wind on his face as the coach gained speed. He was flying! Really flying, in the air, like derby racers! "This is so much fun!" called out the boy. Today was already shaping up to be better than yesterday.

"Just wait! It gets better!" called out James.

"It does?" questioned Sofin. But the flying horses immediately began to turn, sweeping a great arc across the sky, the wind pushing Sofin to one edge of the coach as the floor tilted beneath his feet. "WHOOOOAAAA!" he screamed, and by the time the horses stopped and the carriage had righted itself, Sofin was laughing in joy. Between gasps of breath, the prince managed to say, "That…was…amazing."

"I just knew you'd like it! You'll have to try out for the Flying Derby team with me later," said the older prince. Amber still sat in the same place in her seat, her arms crossed, eyeing the two. "Come on, Amber," called James to his sister, "get up and join us."

Amber didn't get up, and responded with a dignified "Hmph." She didn't look particularly excited to fly in the coach. "I suppose if you've never been on a flying coach before, it must be a grand experience. But as royals, we travel everywhere like this. That includes going to school each morning."

This only made Sofin more excited. "We get to fly like this every day?"

"Yes," continued Amber, "and the novelty does wear off after the first few trips." Whispering so that the other prince couldn't hear, she continued, "James is just being childish."

"Oh," said Sofin. He wasn't sure exactly what was wrong with being childish since they were all children, but hoping to make friends with his new sister, he sat back down nonetheless. "What's Royal Prep like?" he asked, hoping to make small talk.

"Oh, it's just a school where all the princes and princesses learn about being royal. Greetings for royal kingdoms, fan-waving techniques, painting, all those important things you'll need to know." Amber studied her stepbrother closely, her gaze falling to his neck and the gleaming purple amulet. "And, of course, the proper attire for a royal prince."

Following her gaze, Sofin touched one finger to his amulet. "This? I know princes don't usually wear amulets, but I didn't think it would be that weird."

Amber sighed. "You won't see any other princes wearing amulets at Royal Prep. If you really want to fit in, I'd be happy to take it from you."

Sofin shook his head. "Sorry, Amber, but the king made me promise to never take it off. If none of the other princes are wearing amulets, I guess I'll just have to be the first."

Amber sighed, then muttered something under her breath that Sofin couldn't quite hear.

"What was that?" asked Sofin.

"I suppose you won't stick out too much," said Amber, though Sofin was pretty sure that wasn't what she had said the first time. "Come on, we're almost here."

"Already?" asked Sofin. He hadn't realized flying horses moved so quickly. The new prince looked below again to see the ground rapidly approaching. The driver flicked the reins, and the horses slowly descended, then came to a stop on a path in front of a large open iron gate. Sofin spied similar flying coaches touching to the ground, and watched as groups of kids left their own coaches and walked towards the school. Amber opened their own door and stepped out, holding her gown up so that no dirt would get on it. James and Sofin followed behind her.

"Prince Sofin," called a voice, and Sofin looked around to find where it had come from. "Up here," came another call, and Sofin looked up to see three fairies floating in the air. "Welcome to the Royal Preparatory Academy. I'm Flora," said the one clothed in red, "and this is Fauna," she motioned to the one wearing green, "and this is—"

"Merriweather," interrupted the last fairy, wearing blue. "We're the headmistresses,"

"Of Royal Prep," continued Flora.

"We're so excited you're here," continued Fauna. "We're always looking for a few good princes." Sofin suddenly remembered where he had heard those three names. 'Those are the fairies who helped Princess Aurora, aren't they?' he thought. He shook his head. 'No time for distractions.'

"That's great," said Sofin, "because I need to learn how to act like one by Friday."

Flora laughed. "I'm afraid it will take a little longer than a few days to learn how to be a prince."

"But," said Merriweather, "you've certainly come to the right place." She ushered the prince into the school, and Sofin prepared himself for a wonderful first day of school.

Hours later, when the recess bell finally rang, Sofin followed the other royals outside into the courtyard. Royal school was tough! Between lessons on the various royal kingdoms, bowing and curtsying, and introductory sorcery, Sofin felt like he hadn't gotten time to get to know any of his new classmates. 'But now's my time to introduce myself,' thought Sofin, looking out at the crowd of students. 'Just…where do I start?'

"Over here, Sofin!" called James, and Sofin turned towards the sound of his brother's voice. James was waving from within a group of four boys. "Come meet my friends!"

"Coming!" responded Sofin, and he moved to join the group. James was beaming.

"Hey, everyone, this is my new brother, Sofin! Sofin, this is Zandar, this is Hugo, and this is Khalid." The three other boys nodded in turn.

"Hi Zandar, hi Hugo, hi Khalid!" greeted Sofin enthusiastically. "What kingdoms are you all from?" The newest prince noticed James wince in the corner of his eye. What was up with that?

"I'm from Tangu," said Zandar. "It's located in the desert, and we have elephants and flying carpets and oases. You have to come visit sometime."

"Wow," responded Sofin, "that does sound great! I'd love—"

"Yeah, Tangu is cool, but Khaldoun is way cooler," interrupted Prince Khalid. "That's where I'm from. We've got all sorts of wild creatures, like jaguars and toucans and monkeys! And our kingdom's in the middle of a rainforest, which is way more awesome than a desert. You should visit Khaldoun first, Sofin!"

"Uh, well," hesitated Sofin, "Both your kingdoms sound—"

"Actually," said Prince Hugo, cutting Sofin off again, "Kraizar is the best out of all the kingdoms. Our kingdom's filled with ice, so you can play hockey all day long. And our palace is way better than the ones in Khaldoun and Tangu."

"Wait, no, my kingdom is the best!"

"No, mine is!"

"Mine is better than both of yours!"

Sofin backed away from the three boys, who had immediately started arguing with each other. That hadn't gone anything like he had hoped. Instead of making friends, he might have just torn a friendship apart.

"Hey, don't worry about them," said Prince James, who had appeared by Sofin's side. "They always get into dumb fights like this. They'll calm down soon enough, it's just their way of playing with each other."

"Oh," said Sofin, watching the three boys get more heated. "I, um, I think I'm gonna go talk to someone else." Then, turning away from the scene, the prince walked away. He could hear James sigh from behind as he walked away.

Spying Amber in the crowd, Sofin headed towards his other new sibling in hopes that he could still make friends that day. Meeting James's friends hadn't worked out, but maybe Amber's friends would be easier to talk to?

Reaching them, Sofin introduced himself. "Hi! I'm Prince Sofin. Amber's sibling." He smiled at the group.

"Stepsibling," muttered Amber, but her two friends didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, I'm attending your ball on Friday!" said the princess in a blue gown. "I'm Princess Hildegard, of Friezenburg. It's a pleasure to meet you." The princess curtsied.

"I'm Princess Clio of Corinthia," said the other princess, wearing a pink gown, with a pink and a yellow feather in her dark brown hair. "I really like your amulet!"

"Oh!" said Sofin, reaching one hand to hold the jewel. "King Roland gave it to me as a welcome present. It's very pretty." Talking with these two was so much easier!

Excited as he was to make new friends, it was only after a couple minutes of idle chatter that Sofin noticed his sister had disappeared completely. "Wait," he said to the two princesses, "where did Amber go?" The two seemingly hadn't noticed either, and left to find their friend. Before Sofin could follow them, he heard a voice call from the playground.

"Hey, Sof!" called James, who was standing near the swingset. Sofin walked towards his brother. "Is it okay if I call you Sof?"

"Sure," agreed Sofin.

"Sof, try out this swing set! It's enchanted to swing by itself, so you don't even need to push!"

Sofin eyed the swingset. It was recess after all, and he really did want to try a magical swing set. He'd never seen something like it before. "Okay!" he agreed, and sat down. True to James's word, the swing began moving by itself, forwards and backwards, at first low off the ground but slowly swinging higher and higher. Excited, Sofin held onto the ropes as the swing swooped higher…and higher…and higher.

But soon the swing started higher and even higher, and Sofin held on desperately. This wasn't as fun when he was this high up! "Wait! Stop!" called Sofin, now panicked as the swing kept climbing. Then, at the peak of its swing, Sofin felt his grip slip, and flew off the enchanted swing, falling forward into the cold water fountain.

'Ow ow ow ow,' thought Sofin as he pulled himself up and out of the water. He was greeted with the sight of James facing the water fountain and laughing hysterically. Looking between his laughing brother and the slowly descending swing set, Sofin realized what had just happened. 'Oh.'

"Haha, you got me," said Sofin, trying to ignore the rising feeling of hurt in his chest. He climbed out of the fountain.

James seemed to notice something was wrong with the tone of his voice, because he stopped laughing. "Hey, it was just a prank," said James, still not sounding very serious.

"Yeah, a prank," replied Sofin. "I should go dry off before next class." Then, to escape the horrible sense of betrayal, he turned and ran off, not really caring which direction so long as it was away from James.

"Wait!" called James behind him. "Sof!" But Sofin wasn't listening: he could only hear the thunder of his own footsteps and the thumping of his own heartbeat as he ran, far away from the prince that once was his first royal friend.