Chapter 2 - Aftermath

Dusk awoke in his bed, his body throbbing in pain.

"Ugggggh. Wh-what happened," Dusk wondered.

He sat up, his body protesting, and ripped the covers off. His body was wrapped in bandages and his head screamed in pain. His breath was short and raspy. Dusk flopped back into his bed.

"Honey? Are you awake?" Dusk's mother called from the hallway. "How are you feeling honey?" his mother cooed as she entered the room.

Dusk's mother was a tall mare with a dark blue coat, the same shade as Dusk's. Her mane, however, was a deep green which flowed like water. Her eyes were also the same colour green and could hold a gaze a mile away.

"What happened, mum?" Dusk asked.

"You got into a fight. According to the headmaster, you used your magic very offensively in effort to protect yourself from two bullies," Dusk's mum explained. "They have both been suspended for the rest of the week, but you have to go back on Friday."

Dusk groaned. Beat up and suspended on the first day. How was he going to face the ponies at school on Friday? What would they think of him?

"Mum? Could I have a drink of water?" Dusk asked.

Dusk's mum nodded and went into the kitchen, leaving Dusk to his thoughts.

"The last thing I remember was throwing up and passing out," Dusk thought. "I must have used up all my magic, my head really hurts."

Dusk's mum came back into the room and levitated the glass to Dusk's muzzle. He drank deeply, savouring the soothing feeling as the cool water went down his throat.

"Better?" his mum asked.

"Better," Dusk affirmed.

"I'll let you get some rest, Dusk," Dusk's mum said. "I love you, honey."

"I love you too, mum," Dusk replied, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

Dusk spent the rest of the week in his bed, his mother tending to his needs. The first few days were horrible. He spent most of Tuesday sleeping, only getting up to go to the toilet. Despite this fact, his body still protested his every move, his head throbbing, like someone was crushing his skull.

Wednesday brought some relief from the headache, the throbbing going down, making it easier for Dusk to sleep. His injuries no longer protested with such sharp pains. His movements now answered with dull aches.

Thursday was significantly better. Dusk's mother removed his bandages to reveal a few dark bruises where he had been punched. Dusk's mother's healing spells had been quite effective, the aches now almost gone. Dusk's head no longer throbbed and he could finally move around the house.

Dusk had made a speedy recovery, and he was able to move without pain by Friday. As he packed his lunch that morning, Dusk wondered what the ponies at school would do when he walked in the gates. Would they ridicule him? Would other bullies have a go at him? Would they be scared of him? Dusk wanted them to stop staring, but he didn't want them to be scared of him.

"Mum? Can't I just stay home today as well?" Dusk pleaded.

"No, Dusk. You have to go to school today, the headmaster needs to speak to you about what happened on Monday," Dusk's mother replied.

Dusk groaned and finished packing his lunch. He said goodbye to his mother as he clamped the bag between his teeth and walked out the front door.

As Dusk walked down his street, he practiced a confident stance. If he walked into the school gates looking triumphant, maybe they wouldn't be so scared of him.

Dusk turned the corner and saw the large brass gates of Manehattan High. He exhaled and began to walk toward them, holding his head high, and puffing his chest out.

He could hear the chatter coming from the school grounds. It got louder as he moved toward the school gates.

He entered the gates, his confident stance in place.

Ponies stopped to look at him as he strode triumphantly through the gates.

"That's him. The one who bucked up Beam and Shots," Dusk heard a pony say.

"Shit, what are they gonna do?" Dusk thought.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pink pony running towards him. Dusk stopped as the pony came to a halt in front of him.

"Petal?" Dusk asked.

"Dusk! Oh I'm so glad you're okay!" Petal exclaimed. "Everyone thought you were gonna be expelled."

"What? I guess they wanted me gone, then," Dusk said, down-heartedly.

"NO! They wanted you to stay!" Petal exclaimed. "How could you think that they wanted you gone after you beat the buck out of the school bullies?"

"Yeah bro!" Dusk heard a pony say.

Dusk heard another pony cheer. Another one started clapping. Pretty soon there were several ponies around him applauding him, and cheering his name. This was not what Dusk expected.

"What the buck is all this for?" Dusk asked Petal.

"They're cheering for you, silly," Petal replied. "Beam and Shots terrorized the ponies at school, and you just showed everyone that they aren't invincible."

"This is like something out of a book," Dusk thought. "This shit doesn't happen in real life, does it?"

Petal grabbed Dusk's hoof and dragged him along behind her.

"Come on! We have math!" Petal exclaimed with a smile.

"Ugh, buck that," Dusk replied. 'I hate math, I'm no good at it!"

"Oh come on, you couldn't be that bad," Petal said.

"Trust me when I say this, Petal, I suck at mathematics," Dusk stated.

Petal dismissed his comment with a wave of her hoof and an eye roll. She walked on, dragging Dusk behind her. Dusk yanked his hoof from her grip and continued to reluctantly follow her to their math class.

The hallways were teeming with ponies excited for the weekend, the air buzzing with gossip of what had happened during the week. It still felt like Tuesday for Dusk, the school halls still new and un-explored, the class rooms still intriguing. Dusk had no idea where Petal was taking him, he had left his school map at home that morning and suddenly realised that he was dependent on it. Alongside this realisation, Dusk remembered he had to talk to the headmaster.

"Petal? I need to go to the headmaster's office," Dusk said. "Do you think you could show me the way?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Petal replied, her smile faltering. She suddenly realised Dusk wouldn't be in class that morning.

Petal turned around and led Dusk down a different set of halls, almost too quickly for him to remember. At least he would be getting out of math that morning. Petal stopped in front of a wooden door with 'Headmaster' stenciled upon in gold. Petal gave Dusk a quick hug and trotted off to class.

Dusk knocked on the door and heard the headmaster call from within.

"Come in!" the headmaster called.

Dusk opened the door and walked inside.

"Ah, Mr. Fire. Please, take a seat," the headmaster said as Dusk closed the door behind him and crossed the room. "Tell me about what happened on Monday, Dusk."

"Well, it's all a little fuzzy, sir," Dusk said. "I remember walking out of Magic class and straight into these two earth ponies. They started harassing me, calling me names and what not. Then they started walking towards me. One of them lunged at me and I had to protect myself. It's all blurry after that, sir, it happened so fast."

"So, you're telling me that these two earth ponies attacked you, and you defended yourself?" the headmaster asked.

"Yes, sir," Dusk replied. "That's what I remember, at least, sir."

"Mr. Fire, I can see that you are telling the truth. The two earth ponies you encountered on Monday were two of this school's most notorious bullies. They have been involved in many incidents since their enrollment at this school. Although I do not approve of your use of violence, I believe your actions were more or less justified. I have, however suspended you because of the injuries that you inflicted on the two bullies," the headmaster explained.

"I thought as much, sir," Dusk replied.

"If these two harass you again, do not engage them, come to me and I will deal with them accordingly. Because it was your first day, I am letting you off with a warning. If this happens again, however, I will not be so forgiving," the headmaster stated.

"Yes, sir, I understand, sir," Dusk replied.

"Now, I believe you have math?" the headmaster asked.

"Yes, sir," Dusk replied. "I left my school map at home this morning, sir. Do you have another copy I could borrow?"

The headmaster nodded and reached into his drawer and pulled out a map for Dusk. Dusk accepted the map gratefully, uttering his thanks, and left the room.

Dusk arrived at the door to his maths class halfway through the lesson. He stood there for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. Reluctantly, he knocked on the door and waited for the teacher to let him in.

The door opened and a rather tall earth pony stood before him. In a deep voice, he spoke, "Good morning. Who are you, and why in Equestria are you so late?"

"Sorry, sir. My name is Dusk Fire and I was at a re-entry meeting with the headmaster," Dusk replied.

"Ah, so you must be the infamous Mr. Fire," the math teacher stated bluntly. "I am Mr. Roston. Welcome to mathematics."

Dusk pushed passed Roston and found his way to the vacant desk next to Petal. Dusk sat down, not really wanting to be here, next to Petal, or even in the class for that matter, but Petal was his only friend so far and Dusk just had to deal with that, even if he didn't like her that much.

"Now then, back to simultaneous equations," Mr. Roston said.

"Ahhh buck," Dusk thought. 'I wish Jet was here. He always helped me with this stuff. I can't even multiply anything other than 2, 5, or 10."

Dusk leaned over to Petal and prodded her lightly.

"What?" Petal whispered.

"Do you know how to do this stuff?" Dusk whispered back.

"No, what about you?' Petal replied.

"I've never been good at math, I can't even do the whole multiplication table,' Dusk answered.

"Mr. Fire," Roston said, raising his voice. "Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, no, sir. I was just asking Petal if she understood this stuff, sir," Dusk answered.

"Well, instead of asking your classmates, who, I must say, can't complete most of these equations anyway, you should ask me. The teacher," Roston scolded.

"Yes, sir," Dusk replied.

Dusk looked over to Petal, who looked visibly shocked. It was quite obvious that she had never been so openly insulted before; by a teacher nonetheless. Dusk felt sorry for her. He didn't mean to get her in trouble, and now she was feeling just as hurt as he was. Dusk face-hoofed. How could he have been so stupid?

The class ended a half hour later. Half an hour of Dusk feebly trying to grasp the concept of simultaneous equations. It was hard enough for him to do one equation, but two at once?

Dusk walked out of the door first, eager to escape the dreary atmosphere of the maths classroom. He stood beside the door waiting for Petal while the rest of the class filed out.

Petal came out last, still looking rather upset. She looked at Dusk and smiled a little.

"Hey. Sorry about that, Petal," Dusk said.

"Naw, that's alright. I'm just not used to teachers insulting me, that's all," Petal replied with a giggle.

Dusk and Petal walked down the hallway together, making idle conversation.

"I can't wait for our date on Saturday!" Petal exclaimed.

"Me neither," Dusk said, sarcastically.

"Don't look so glum, it'll be fun!" Petal said, trying to cheer Dusk up.

"Well, we'll see how it goes then," Dusk said. "I have to get to class, I'll see you later."

They parted ways, Petal going to her dance class and Dusk heading to his magic class. Dusk sighed in disappointment. Magic class was going to be hell, those mares were going to stare at him even more now that he had gotten into that fight. the only time mares didn't stare at him was when he was with Petal. At least that was one good thing about having her around.

Turning the corner, Dusk's prediction came true. The mares waiting in front of the classroom gawked at him. They had plenty to gawk about.

"Why are you staring at me?" Dusk growled.

One of the mares looked away, frightened.

Another said, "What, you don't like being looked at, sexy?"

Dusk tensed up. His gave an angry scowl and took two steps towards the mare that had spoken. The others watched in awe, and fear.

"I don't like being looked at, because I don't like you," Dusk growled, just loud enough for the other mares to hear. "Take your damn eyes off of me. I don't need your admiration, nor do I want it. Leave. Me. ALONE."

The mare's cheeky smile dropped and she stepped backwards, looking shocked. Dusk expected her to cry and run away, but she did the opposite. Her shocked face turned to one of bitter anger and she reeled to slap him. Dusk swiftly blocked her hoof, surprised at his speed, and scowled at her.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Dusk said, through gritted teeth.

Dusk knocked her hoof to the ground and made to punch her. She quickly backed off, now fearing him. Dusk wouldn't hit her, he only raised his hoof to scare her. He looked at the other mares that had surrounded him. They backed off as he looked each of them in the eye, his piercing gaze intimidating them.

Dusk retreated to the other side of the hallway, smiling inside at his small victory over the mares. He had power over them, but how was he going to use that power?

Dusk's secret smile faded as he had realised what he had just done. His anger had once again pushed him to do something he deemed unspeakable.

"Buck," Dusk muttered under his breath.

Professor Short opened the classroom door and everyone filed in, Dusk trailing behind. He took a seat at the back of the class, and slumped back into his chair. Evidently, Short had moved on from simple levitation to telekinesis. 'It is one thing to know how to move objects up and down, but one must know how to manipulate them as well.' Dusk remembered this quote from one of the magic tomes he had in his room.

The students in the class had seemed to improve, and the mare he had confronted seemed to be doing the best. Dusk stared at her from the back of the class, sorry for how he had treated her. She was a deep lavender unicorn with a deep purple mane with magenta streaks running through it. It was cut rather short, but was still thoroughly groomed. Her cutie mark was a small book with magical streaks exploding from the pages. She successfully levitated her book, opened it, and flicked trough the pages. Dusk wanted to show off to her for some reason. He levitated a piece of paper from Professor Short's desk and moved it into the middle of the class. He began to fold it into a swan, something his mother had taught him to do when he was in primary school. He finished the swan and gently placed it on the lavender unicorn's desk. She turned in her place, looking at him quizzically. First this colt threatens her, then he makes her a gift? Dusk gave her a small smile as she looked at him. She turned around, looking back to the front of the class. Dusk's smile dropped.

"Because that was going to work," Dusk thought, sarcastically.

"A fantastic display of telekinesis by Mr. Fire over there!" Short exclaimed, giving Dusk a small clap.

The rest of the class played out like the first day, ponies trying and failing to do spells, Dusk just sitting back, watching them. As he sat there, Dusk thought about how he would apologize to the unicorn he had threatened. She was quite good looking, and was certainly talented in magic. She certainly didn't deserve to be treated the way Dusk had treated her.

Lost in his thoughts, Dusk barely noticed the passage of time. The class was over as soon as it had begun, and Dusk was barely prepared to face the mare he had threatened only an hour ago.

Dusk was one of the first ponies to exit the classroom and, as he did with Petal, he stood beside the door waiting for the unicorn to come out.

She walked past him on her way out, and Dusk cleared his throat. She turned towards Dusk, looking frightened and angry at the same time.

"What do you want?" she asked, bitterly.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," Dusk replied. "I shouldn't have done that to you. I just don't like being flirted with. Could we start over? My name is Dusk, what's yours?"

The mare just stood there, her mouth agape. She was obviously shocked, but at what? Was she shocked that Dusk could think he could make up so easily? Or was she shocked that he had actually said sorry?

The latter seemed to be true, as the unicorn said, "Well, Dusk, my name is Velvet. I accept your apology."

Dusk sighed in relief. "I thought you were going to slap me. I wouldn't have stopped you, I deserve it," Dusk said.

Velvet offered no argument. She simply smiled and tapped her hoof on his cheek. She turned around and walked off, leaving Dusk in a state of relief.

"Thank god she accepted my apology," Dusk thought.

It was first break and Dusk headed towards the cafeteria, his stomach growling. He walked through the double doors of the cafeteria and was instantly met with a dilemma. Where to sit? All of the tables were full, and he didn't really belong to any group. Petal was his only friend, and he couldn't see her anywhere. Dusk began to walk down one of the aisles, looking for a place to sit. Luckily for Dusk, everyone was too enthralled in eating their morning tea to be interested in him. He reached the end of the first aisle and began to walk up the second. He heard a voice calling his name. Dusk turned around and saw Petal waving at him from a table at the end of the aisle. He sighed in relief, then quickly retracted said sigh when he saw several mares sitting with Petal. Dusk wasn't exactly shocked, of course she'd have other friends, Dusk was just daunted at having to entertain the interests of several other ponies.

He quickly trotted down the aisle towards Petal and took the seat she had saved for him. There were three mares and a colt at the table, another earth pony, like Petal, a unicorn, and two pegasi, who looked nearly identical, apart from the colour of their eyes.

"So this is the stallion you keep telling us about," the unicorn said. "I was starting to think you had made him up. My name is Crystal, it's a pleasure to meet you, Dusk."

"The pleasure is mine, Crystal," Dusk said, extending a hoof.

She giggled and blushed at his gentlemanly nature, and shook his hoof.

The earth pony took his turn and spoke in a southern drawl, "Mighty fine of you ta join us, Dusk. The name's Monroe, but the girls 'ere call me Roe."

"You seem ta be pretty far from 'ome, mate," Dusk said, in his best rural accent. "You sound like ya'd be from Ponyville or somethin'."

Roe chuckled and said, "True that, Dusk. Mah parents moved 'ere from Ponyville a couple o' years back. Mah dad got 'imself a big city job an' we had to move up 'ere."

"Good on 'im, then. I reckon the bits are comin' in now?" Dusk asked.

"Sure are. Dad's gone and bought mah little brother a bloody swing set an' all. Somethin' we couldn't afford out in the country."

"Well, it's been a damn pleasure meetin' ya, Roe," Dusk said as he extended his hoof. Roe took it and gave it a firm shake.

This left the the pegasus twins. "So, who may you be?" Dusk asked the two pegasi.

"I'm Feather, and this is Fleur," the pegasus with blue eyes said.

"It's nice to meet you, Dusk. Petal talks very highly of you," Fleur, the green eyed pegasus, said.

"She does?" Dusk inquired, looking at Petal, who couldn't wipe an embarrassed smile off of her face.

"Yeah, she says you're really handsome!" Feather said, flapping her wings in excitement.

"We can see now that she was telling the truth," Crystal said, with a small smile.

Dusk chuckled, lightly kicking Petal under the table.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Dusk," Fleur said.

"Yeah!" Feather said, now flapping her wings rather fast.

"Calm down, Feather, you know what mum said about overreacting," Fleur said.

"Oh, that's right," Feather said, folding her wings by her side.

"It's been a pleasure, meeting you all," Dusk said, giving an honest smile.

"That wasn't so bad," Dusk thought. "They don't bite, and they don't seem to be full of shit."

Dusk now looked for his lunch bag, which he had placed in his locker that morning, after going to the headmaster's office.

"I seem to have forgotten my lunch," Dusk said, getting up. "I'll be right back."

Dusk used his magic to teleport to his locker, leaving the five ponies sitting at the table in awe. Dusk suddenly remembered he had forgotten his locker key. He quickly looked around, making sure no one was looking, and picked the lock using his magic.

"I knew that one would come in handy," Dusk thought as he opened the door and grabbed his lunch. He quickly closed the door and locked it again using his magic. He then promptly teleported back to Petal and her friends.

"You simply must teach me how to do that," Crystal said.

"Petal didn't tell us you were good wit' magic," Roe said.

"Please, it's really nothing. If I had to bloody run out to my locker, lunch'd be over before I got back," Dusk said, laughing.

He sat down and pulled an apple out of his lunch bag, and took a bite. The apple was sweet, and it satiated his hunger with it's crispy goodness.

Dusk stared off into the distance, lost in his own world, contemplating many things. This was a regular lunchtime activity for Dusk, he had always cherished these moments that he had to himself. To become lost in his own thoughts. He thought about what had brought him here. What had happened on Monday, what was going to happen on Saturday. He wasn't a great fan of mares like Petal, but he was grateful that he had met her. It was hard dealing with Jet's departure. Petal was a welcome reprieve from the gaping hole in his heart that his best friend had left. She wasn't the best choice, but she was definitely better than nothing. That, and she had other friends. A rather regal looking light blue unicorn with a beautifully styled light yellow mane with red highlights. A dark brown cow-colt of an earth pony, who Dusk had likened to quickly. The colt was more down to earth than any of the other ponies around here, and Dusk could appreciate that. Then there was the overly enthusiastic Feather, who seemed to flap her wings at anything exciting. Finally, Fleur, the calm twin sister of Feather. These ponies where an interesting bunch, and Dusk didn't know what to make of them so far. The only thing he was certain about at the moment was that they weren't like any other ponies around here, and Dusk could respect that.

Author's Note

I'm sorry this took so long to come out. I had exam block (finals week), and most of my attention was focused on that. Chapter 3 should be out sooner than Chapter 2. If you like the fic, I'd appreciate it if you clicked that follow button on my profile :D
Thanks for being patient, guys!