MoonThief

"Day" 19, week 32. Weeks later.

Life was getting better. Lots of the bullying had stopped after Tender Hoof had reached out to him. He even had some more friends now. Brawny Flank, who had been taunted for his name- until he pounded in the faces of his tormentors.; Since then, he had been pretty much a loner. Handsome Shadow, who didn't realize that he got all the mares without trying. And then Lightning Crasher, who was a "cool" and athletic Pegasus that ditched his collective of friends in order to show Luke that he wasn't alone. But Luke could tell that he still kind of had a problem. He was just too rebellious and cocky. His friends had later apologized for the mockery, and there was no longer any tension between them, but they hung out with different people now.

Oh, and his foster parents had reformed their drinking habits, to a degree. Luke was no longer completely neglected at any rate; but it was hard to vie for attention against 4 other younger foals, especially when you don't want it anyway.

He was walking home from school alongside his friends and Cloud Chaser, who was Lightning's marefriend. Not too many of the kids had one yet; they were only 3 (13 in Human years, for you readers); but there were some, and Lightning was one of them. Despite being the athletic type, it amazed Luke how well he did other things, like thinking every once in a while. The other kids at his school had proved that the human body only had enough Oxygen to fuel either the brain, or the skeletal muscles; never both. But Lightning shattered this assumption. He got A's in everything while not trying. He played poker and chess in class. No matter how hard they tried, the teachers couldn't seem to lower his grade in a "fair" way, even though they all hated him.

They stopped for a Pony Cola and fries at a nearby restaurant, with Shadow claiming that he would pay for the food. They ordered and began talking about school shit.

"So how is Mrs. Flower Stem?" Brawny asked.

"Lesbian." Replied Lightning.

The others laughed, but Brawny didn't.

"What's wrong with her? " The earth pony queried. "She seems really nice, and she doesn't give that much homework."

"She told me to stop playing Minesweeper during the test. I told her I was finished and to fuck off, and she gave me detention. I have to serve it next Monday." Answered Lightning.

"That isn't so bad… Teachers don't like being cussed at." He responded.

"And I don't like teachers. What does this have to do with anything anyway?" Retorted Lightning.

"Whatever, let's just drop it"

"I dropped your mom's panties last night."

"Take that back"

"Fine. But you suck at arguing, for the record."

"That I can live with."

"So we're cool"

"Yeah."

Cloud Chaser winced a little. Sometimes her coltfriend could be a major dick. It didn't take much to piss people off, and he didn't seem to recognize that. Luckily Brawny was more cool-headed and had the sense to not only stop the toxic discussion, but also to weather the famed maternal insult that Lightning pulled off so well and everyone feared. Either way, any crisis had been averted.

"Can we leave now that we aren't going to kill each other?" Prompted Tender Foot.

"Yeah, but we gotta pay." Said Shadow.

"Um. Guys…" Responded Lightning.

"What?" All said simulaneously.

"I kinda don't have the money. I must have left it in my locker."

"Fuckin kidding me," muttered Shadow; the exasperation evident on his face. "I need to get home! I have a ton of homework, not to mention that I have yard work and stuff to do." He continued.

"We can call someone's mom to come and pay the bill," suggested Cloud Chaser.

"I don't have a mom," offered Luke.

"Mine can come if I call her now, but she's at work and can't get here for at least an hour," stated Brawny.

"That's not good enough!" Said Shadow.

"Well. We have a number of options available. Either all of us work to make up the money, which will likely take a while. We can wait for Brawny's mom to buy us out of this 26 dollar hole we're in… Or…" He explained. A mischeivious smile curled up on his face.

"Do go on," asked Cloud Chaser.

` "We can always walk out on the bill," he said.

"Hell no. I'm too pretty for juvie," said Brawny.

Lightning and Shadow both snorted.

"I'm for it," said Shadow. "I REALLY need to get home soon or I'll be behind."

The others agreed, if grudgingly. The only resolute dissenter was Brawny.

"I evaluate our chances of being caught as .024%, with a 2.9% chance of being caught and easily talking our way out of it. The waitress is on the other side of the room and won't see us. The managers are in the kitchen checking on the food. And the hostess is seating someone," said Lightning.

Brawny consented. They walked out on the check.

Luke felt a pang of guilt that slowly vanished as he walked home. In that moment; without realizing it; his heart hardened. He was no longer the innocent foal. Now he would do what he needed to do when he needed to do it.