Saturn in the Sun

Rian leapt down the Academy’s front steps and was the next on the minibus. With an excited grin to Asha, he settled in the front row next to her, closest to the door. He’d had his eye on a gorgeous buckskin stallion with eye-catching white markings; the stallion was as spirited as the boy himself, and if his massive bucks were anything to go by, he’d have plenty of power for Rian’s eventing dream to come true. Plus, the little bob of a tail the pony had would cut down on grooming before a show, and that was a big plus in Rian's book.
 
He palmed the purple bell ribbon in his hand. His older brother, a Twelve, had given it to him last week, and Rian had first watched, then practiced, plaiting the ribbon together with other textiles of varying weights. The blanket on his bed was perpetually wrinkled and had begun fraying at one corner with how much he’d been twisting the ends into a braid, and his female friends had long since stopped allowing him anywhere near their hair after being regularly trapped into hours of plait practice. He felt ready now, though. He smoothed the ribbon across his lap, the little bell at the end glistening, and waited impatiently for the others to arrive.
 
It wasn’t too long before the other two Eights tore across the gravel driveway and clambered into their seats. Mistress Lyon turned from the front seat and admonished them lightly for their infraction - nobody was to run on the driveway or the quad - but even then, the twinkle in her eye gave her away. Secretly, she loved these children's enthusiasm and was nearly as excited as they were about the prospect of more ponies at the Academy's stables. She did a quick headcount, and at her word, the sliding door was pulled shut and the van was on its way.

Though the Academy's property shared a fenceline with the rolling hills the ponies roamed across, the van rumbled down the winding road and through the small town at the foot of the incline. The meeting point for anyone hoping to bond with a pony was on the other side of town, closer to where the sprawling agricultural suburbs began. Mistress Lyon thought nothing of it, but the children peered eagerly out of the van's windows, only just stifling the cries of 'are we there yet?!' that threatened to bubble up from their throats.

Before long, they began to see handmade banners advertising the Pónikötés Napja - "Pony Bonding Day", and the children began to veritably shake in their seats. As the van pulled into the parking field, they could barely keep themselves together, and Mistress Lyon had to resort to clapping loudly to get their attention for their briefing. The children leapt down from the van, bells clutched tightly in hand - it was finally time!