School of Friendship

The School of Friendship is Twilight Sparkle's answer to the Cuite Map's expanding to other places in the world of Equestria.

Background.
During Twilight Sparkle and her friends' journey beyond Equestria, the Cutie Map has expanded to include the various locations they visited, including Klugetown, the pirate ship, and Mount Aris. Tempest Shadow, the former lieutenant of the Storm King, has left to travel Equestria and spread the word of the Storm King's defeat. Realizing that there are so many creatures beyond Equestria who know nothing about friendship, Twilight decides to open a friendship school.

At the School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight informs Princess Celestia of her plans, and Celestia gives her full approval and support. When Twilight bombards Celestia with questions on how to run the school properly, Celestia tells her that her time as Celestia's pupil has already more than prepared her. In addition, Celestia informs Twilight that her school plans must be approved by the Equestria Education Association —or E.E.A.—the leading authority on all school-related matters.

When Twilight and Spike meet with the E.E.A.'s hard-nosed Chancellor Neighsay, Twilight assures him and his council that her friendship curriculum will make Equestria a safer place. Neighsay places an emphasis on teaching ponies rather than other creatures, but he and the council accept Twilight's plans and grant provisional approval for the opening of her school.

Some time later, the School of Friendship is officially opened near Twilight's castle. To realize her goal of teaching friendship to others, Twilight has appointed her friends as teachers and Starlight Glimmer as a guidance counselor. Some of the ponies are unsure about their qualifications to be teachers, but Twilight is confident that everything will be fine as long as they follow the E.E.A.'s guidelines.

The school doors open, and Twilight's friends discover that she has invited not just ponies to be school students but also dragons, griffons, yaks, changelings, and Hippogriffs. As the students get settled in, several key characters start to interact with their new teachers as well as each other: an easygoing Earth pony named Sandbar, a sarcastic griffon named Gallus, a cheerful but clumsy yak named Yona, a gruff dragon named Smolder, a shy changeling named Ocellus, and a hyperactive Hippogriff named Silverstream.

In her first address to the new students, Twilight welcomes them to the school and invites them to "Friends and Family Day" so that students' family members can see their education progress. In the song School of Friendship, both teachers and students are bright-eyed and hopeful for the classes to come. However, as time goes on and Twilight forces her friends' lessons to be in accordance with the E.E.A.'s guidelines, the fun that the rest of the Mane Six and the students are having rapidly dwindles.

As some of the students get bored and frustrated with their classes and teachers, they start to argue amongst themselves. Smolder challenges Yona's claims that yaks have the best of everything, and Gallus criticizes Sandbar's soft pony sensibilities. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Starlight Glimmer break up the argument and tell the students to get to class. With their students arguing around them instead of learning about friendship, the ponies wonder if they are cut out to be teachers.

The next day, in Twilight's office, the ponies complain to her about their lack of teaching progress. But Twilight assures them that, despite their rough start, they will be fine as long as they stick to the E.E.A.'s guidelines. Starlight suggests a teaching method not outlined by the E.E.A., but Twilight says Chancellor Neighsay will be visiting later for Friends and Family Day to make sure the guidelines are being followed.

Frustrated with the boring lessons, Gallus and Smolder decide to ditch class to take a "mental health break". Sandbar, Silverstream, Yona, and Ocellus join them with the assurance that they will be back in time for Friends and Family Day. Before Fluttershy nearly catches them playing hooky, Ocellus disguises herself as Rarity and says she is taking the others on a field trip to the lake. Her quick-thinking is met by Smolder's approval.

Later that day, Chancellor Neighsay arrives at the School of Friendship to check on Twilight's progress. Rainbow Dash informs Twilight and Starlight that her students are gone, but the three of them keep this a secret from Neighsay and distract him. Meanwhile, as Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder, Yona, Sandbar, and Ocellus spend time together at the lake, they start to get along better than earlier, and Ocellus impresses her new friends with her changeling transformations.

At the lake outside the school, ponies and various other creatures gather together for Friends and Family Day. Just as Twilight and Neighsay join them, the students return from ditching class, with Ocellus disguised as a giant insect-like monster. The event attendees erupt into a panic, and Neighsay believes the school is under attack. When the students inadvertently make a mess of Friends and Family Day, Neighsay perceives it as an act of aggression, and Twilight apologizes on behalf of her students.

Neighsay is shocked to learn that Twilight has non-ponies among her students, calling the other races "dangerous" and believing they would use Twilight's lessons against Equestria. Thorax, Ember, Prince Rutherford, Seaspray, a Hippogriff representive, and Grampa Gruff take extreme offense to Neighsay's insinuations and pull the students they represent out of the school. Because Twilight failed to meet the E.E.A.'s high-reaching standards, Chancellor Neighsay shuts down the School of Friendship and puts a magical lock on its doors.

Following the closure and discrediting of her School of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle falls into a depression and refuses to get out of bed. After upsetting her friends and making enemies out of Equestria's allies, she feels like a failure as the Princess of Friendship. Her friends enter to try and cheer her up, but Twilight says she needs time to be alone and think.

Outside the closed-down school, Starlight Glimmer appears before Twilight, but instead of trying to cheer her up, she tells Twilight what she did wrong. Starlight tells Twilight she gave up too easily and should stand up for what she believes in, regardless of what anyone says. Twilight is unsure about going against Chancellor Neighsay and the E.E.A.'s rules, but Starlight says, as the Princess of Friendship, she should write her own rules.

Taking Starlight's words to heart, Twilight meets with the rest of her friends in the castle throne room and declares she is reopening the school. After the lack of success in their lessons, the ponies are nervous about trying again, but Twilight allows them to teach their own way this time instead of the E.E.A's way. While Twilight deals with the school's discrediting, her friends go to get their students back.

At Yakyakistan, the Dragon Lands, the Changeling Kingdom, Mount Aris, and Griffonstone, the Mane Six attempt to make peace with the creature representatives that Neighsay offended in the previous episode and ask to enroll Yona, Smolder, Ocellus, Silverstream, and Gallus at the school again. Unfortunately, the same students went missing.

With the students missing, the leaders of the different races of Equestria gather at Canterlot Castle. According to Seaspray, the students left notes saying they didn't want to say goodbye after the school was closed and ran away to stay together. Believing someone helped them accomplished this, the leaders all start accusing each other of hiding the students. Princess Celestia tells Twilight to find the students quickly before war breaks out between all the races.

Back at Sugarcube Corner, the Mane Six, Starlight, and Spike try to figure out where the students have gone. Sandbar enters to buy a large quantity of cupcakes from Pinkie Pie. Upon realizing the ponies are looking for his friends, he immediately gets nervous. Applejack and Rarity recall Sandbar picking up a large amount of apples and pillows earlier that day and deduce they'll find the other students if they follow him.

Gallus, Smolder, Ocellus, Yona, and Silverstream hide from their students and leaders at the Castle of the Two Sisters. When Sandbar returns with the supplies he picked up in Ponyville, the six friends eat cupcakes together and have a pillow fight. However, their food draws the attention of a small porcupine creature called a pukwudgie.

Ocellus transforms into a pukwudgie herself to try and befriend it, but the creature turns feral and calls other pukwudgies to its side. When Yona attacks them, they shoot their quills at the six friends, forcing them to take cover. Before the pukwudgies can attack again, the six friends are rescued by the Mane Six, who round up the little creatures and send them flying with Pinkie's party cannon.

The six students are impressed by their teachers' skills, and the Mane Six are relieved to see their students unharmed. Now that they have been found, Ocellus fears their teachers are going to send them back home, but Twilight has another idea. Impressed that the students have already learned about friendship outside of their school lessons, Twilight asks them to return to the School of Friendship. The students agree under the assurance that their lessons won't be as boring as last time.

The Mane Six and their students return to the school in time for the arrival of Princess Celestia and the race leaders. The students decide to stay at the school, much to the surprise of their leaders, and Twilight uses her magic to break Chancellor Neighsay's seal on the doors. When Neighsay appears to investigate the broken seal, Twilight and her friends tell him to step aside so they can resume classes. Neighsay angrily refuses to allow the school to be reopened, insisting that its closing was for the greater good.

Twilight declares that even though the School of Friendship is not E.E.A.-accredited, it is an independent institution with its own set of rules that do not need the E.E.A.'s approval. Neighsay insists that changing the rules for such a diverse group of students will not work, but Celestia says the same thing was once thought about Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi. With the belief that Twilight's school could one day destroy Equestria, Neighsay leaves in a rage.

With the School of Friendship officially reopened, Twilight and her friends sing the song Friendship Always Wins, ending with a group shot of the Mane Six and their students. In the end, Ember, Rutherford, and the other leaders allow the students to remain at the school. Grampa Gruff refuses at first, but after enough of Gallus' begging, he relents. As Celestia and the other leaders leave, Twilight and her friends head inside the school to begin their lessons.

The Shcool would become famous for defying the will of the EEA, to the point that Neighsay would lose his creditability as chancellor, leading to the group's disbanion in the name of revaluation, and that the shcool will soon start inviting more inter-racial students along with inter-racial teachers.