Sunshadow ripped a hunk of grass out of the ground with his teeth, still nostalgic for his mother’s sweet milk. He looked across the small ring of his friends’ faces, his eyes settling on Darkblaze. The black foals had been given more freedom to move around in the grazing area, but most of the adult pegasi treated them warily, giving them wide berths. This led to them mingling with some other foals, and they had sought out Flamefrost first because he was the twin brother of Blackstorm. Through Flamefrost, they met and befriended Sunshadow, because the foals’ parents were so close. There was also a sixth face in the circle, belonging to a cheerful and bold white filly with a gray mane and tail and white-tipped lavender wings named Wintermist.

“Hey, Darkblaze,” Sunshadow started, “how has the weaning treated you?”

Darkblaze flicked his ears, recognizing teasing when he heard it. He had been the most reluctant of the six of them to give up his milk when they had been weaned a week ago. He answered honestly. “I still think grass is bitter, but Rainstone says I should get used to it.”

With that, he took another mouthful of grass and intentionally made a face of displeasure when he bit into it. That got a laugh from the other four foals.

Wintermist changed the subject. “Are any of you looking forward to flight school?” she asked. “Hedgewind is still the instructor.”

The other five pricked their ears at the first question, but let them fall back when they heard the second thing. They were all excited for flight school, but none of them particularly liked Hedgewind after what had happened with Shadepebble.

Flamefrost answered. “Well, I don’t really like Hedgewind, but I do want to be able to fly better.” Most of the others agreed, but Wintermist still wasn’t convinced.

"I think I can already fly well enough, thank you,” she said defiantly. “I don’t need to go to flight school with an instructor who would rather eat and snooze than be a good teacher to us. I’ll learn to fly on my own time.”

The others glanced at each other. They knew Wintermist could be bold from time to time, but they didn’t want her to insult anyone.

“Keep your voice down,” Nightpearl urged gently. Wintermist subsided, but something told Sunshadow that this matter was far from over. That night, he realized he was correct. Wintermist was up to something.