Chapter Eleven: Back to School

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuuisshou: Fukkou

だいじゅういっしょう：ふっこう

第十一章：復校

Chapter Eleven: Back to School

It was now the next morning, and Gash had been awoken by the sounds of deep moans and panting from within the cottage. He groaned as his right shoulder was still sore, but not as much as the last few days. He looked over to the small kitchen within the lodge and saw Chrysalis inside, filling bowls with food using her magic, apparently for the animals. A thump could be heard as his frame hit the floor, with him groaning in pain.

‘I should really learn to sit up, instead of rolling off of the damn couch…’ he thought as he flipped over to his side, then using the couch as support to rise.

“Good morning, Gash!” Chrysalis yelled, putting more bowls on the ground. Animals of all sorts soon rushed to the bowls, chowing down on the food.

“’Ai. What time is it?”

“It’s 7:00 in the morning."

“Alright. Were you the one who I heard moaning?”

“What? No. I think Fluttershy woke up earlier, though.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Gash said, walking up the stairs. His limp had disappeared, and he was walking at a normal pace once again. There was still a soreness, however.

When he got up the stairs, he was shocked to see a much disheveled Fluttershy laying there on the bed. Her fur was completely wrinkled and she reeked of nausea. He viewed upon her shaking form and many light-brown stains near her mouth, most likely being puke stains. He walked up to her, carefully putting his hand down on the back of her head. She opened her eyes slightly and looked up at him, and her eyes looked sickly with illness.

“Fluttershy…are you alright?”

“I feel…terrible…my head hurts…a lot…” she said, looking like she would regurgitate if she said anything else.

“You don’t look so good, either.”

“What…happened yesterday?”

“You…fainted on our way home from the hospital. Yes, that’s what happened…” he lied, in order to preserve her sanity.

“I fainted? Why wo-“ she started to ask, but felt a rising lump in her throat.

She put a hoof to her mouth to stop the spitball from coming out. Gash, thinking on the spot, rushed downstairs and returned a few moments later with a large, wooden bowl. He slipped the bowl underneath her head, and she immediately released her upchuck within. Gash turned his head in disgust, not wanting to see the vile mass of solids and liquids. After a few moments, the horrendous sound being emitted from her mouth ended. She pushed the bowl away.

“Thank you, Gash…”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything I could get for you?” he offered.

A glass of water, perhaps…”

“Okay. I’ll be right back with that.”

As Gash descended the stairs once more, Chrysalis was walking toward him. He cocked his head slightly, stopping at the filly’s actions. She walked up to him, whispering in his ear.

“How is she?” she quizzed.

“She’s very ill,” he answered, continuing his walk to the kitchen.

“How so?”

“She’s shaking a lot, and she’s also throwing up. I believe she also has a headache,” he stated, filling up a large glass of water. He began his retreat back to the sick mare. “Do you think this has anything to do with her demonic transformation?” he whispered, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

“Most likely. She was fine yesterday up until that point, so that seems like the thing that would make the most sense,” she answered.

“Ah,” Gash sighed, walking up the stairs and over to Fluttershy. He gave her the glass of water, which she took sips out of.

“T-Thank you, Gash…” she gratified. Gash gave a small grin, nodding.

“No problem. Is there anything else that you need?”

“Um…n-nothing that I can th-think of at the m-moment…”

“Okay. In that case, I think I’ll get ready to go to school,” he informed.

“W-Would you like me t-to take you there?” she offered, picking her head up off the pillow.

“No. For today, you should just rest yourself until you feel better,” he declined, stroking his hand through her soft mane.

“A-Are you sure? I could-“

“No. You need the rest.”

“Oh…alright. Are you l-leaving now?”

“Pretty soon. Which reminds me: Where did you put my school bag?”

“It’s under the c-couch,” she told, laying her head back down on the pillow.

“Okay. Thanks,” he appreciated, leaving towards the stairs. He looked back at her as she was falling back asleep.

Gash descended the stairs and walked to the couch. He kneeled down, looking under and found the saddlebag he was looking for. He pulled it out, clipping it around his mantle as he stood back up.

“Where are you going?” Chrysalis asked.

“I’m going to school.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. I assume that you can take care of Fluttershy while I’m gone?”

“I think I can handle that.”

“Wonderful.”

Gash checked to make sure he had everything he needed-paper, quills, inkpots, etc., and realized he didn’t have his book on him. He searched around the couch, but couldn’t find it.

“Chrysalis? Where’s my book?”

“I put our books behind the couch, so that if any demons barged in, they wouldn’t be able to find them immediately."

“Okay,” he understood, reaching behind the couch, grabbing his red text. He walked towards the door, taking a deep breath as he approached it.

“See you later, Gash,” Chrysalis hoped, waving.

“See ya’,” he said back, opening the door and walking out.

As Gash was walked into Ponyville on his way to school, he was immediately met with stares by the townsponies. The stares ranged from horrified to cautious to even angry. He found himself feeling rather uncomfortable. He was becoming a tad nervous over time as he walked. After a little while, the feeling he got was turning to frustration, and soon he found anger rising. Eventually the feeling got unbearable, and it began to show when his face scrunched and his fists clenched. Still, he held his anger down beneath the surface and attempted to calm himself by taking deep breaths.

Eventually, he found his way at the school. He stopped before it, taking deep breaths, preparing for the inevitable awkwardness that was going to ensue when he entered. After a few moments, he entered the large, red building. When he got in, he noticed there was nopony there except for Cheerilee, who was sitting at her desk, looking over some notes for her instruction. She looked up at him, and to Gash’s surprise, she didn’t look the least bit horrified or angry, but confused.

“Gash? You’re back?” she curiously asked.

“That I am. I apologize for my…outburst a few days ago,” he said, walking over to the front-leftmost desk in the room.

“About that…why did that happen?”

“Let’s just say that I hit a…rough patch in life, and leave it at that. I don’t really know the details as to why I was like that. Now, however, I’m feeling a bit better, so that shouldn’t happen again,” he explained, setting his bag down on the desk, pulling out some paper, a quill and an inkpot.

“Okay, I understand. By the way, class doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes, and you’re the only one here. You can go outside for a little bit while the other students are on their way, if you’d like.”

“No, thanks. The towns…ponies just stare at me when I’m out there, and I really dislike that, so I’ll stay in here.”

“Alright.”

Over the next ten minutes, as students arrived at the school, they noticed Gash sitting in his desk. The mere sight of Gash frightened them, and thus they started filling up the seats furthest away from him. He sighed, expecting this result. As the others entered, this pattern repeated over and over. Eventually, there were only seats near him, and the remainder of the foals were terrified to sit anywhere near him. He once again sighed, looking out the window to his left. Cheerilee noticed this and spoke up.

“Class, I understand why you’re feeling so uncomfortable near Gash, but he’s not any threat to you anymore, so please, take your seats,” she requested. Hearing this from Cheerilee gave them no reassurance, but they still took their seats to start the day with hesitance. “Okay, let’s begin!” Cheerilee announced, and the class started their normal day.

Over the course of the day, he could almost literally feel the tension in the air around him, and it distracted him from the lessons that Cheerilee was giving. This bothered him a bit, but it wasn’t too major of a setback, as he knew most of what she was talking about already-the math and the science. He was still able to concentrate enough to jot down some notes, but he couldn’t get enough focus to take good information. She gave them a worksheet that covered the information for homework.

Soon enough, recess came, and Gash was thankful that he would get some time to himself again. That’s what he thought at the time, but that thought was dashed when he heard a voice from behind him.

“Hey!” she called. He turned around as saw Scootaloo standing there.

“Uh…hi?”

“That was some pretty crazy stuff you pulled a few days ago,” she said.

‘Oh, please, no. Don’t start talking about that,’ he thought, not answering her.

He turned back around to look out the window. This was a haunting memory for him, as the scene replayed in his head every time it was brought back up. It was like a terrible nightmare that wouldn't ever go away. He shut his eyes, letting a tear fall from his left one.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m sorry, but could you go away? I don’t feel like talking right now,” he stated, almost rudely.

“Uh…yeah, whatever,” she awkwardly accepted, walking past him and out the door.

‘At least there’s no one to bother me no-‘

“Gash?” Cheerilee asked.

‘Damn.’

“Yes?” he answered, not looking away from the window.

“Are you going to stay inside during recess, too?” she quizzed.

“I was planning on that. I don’t really have anything better to do,” he explained.

“Why not go outside and try talking to the other ponies?” she suggested.

“Why should I? They’re all afraid of me,” he deadpanned.

“Well, shouldn’t you at least try?” she attempted.

“I’ll try later. Right now, I just don’t feel like talking to any…pony,” he answered with a sigh.

“Okay…”

After twenty minutes, the ponies all came back inside and class resumed like it normally would. The awkwardness immediately shot back up, and he got that feeling of uneasiness again. Cheerilee began to teach some history of Equestria, but Gash couldn’t concentrate enough on it to get any information out of it. This began to frustrate him, as he didn’t know anything about Equestria’s history and was legitimately interested in learning it.

Over the course of the next four hours, the subjects changed from history to social studies to reading and writing to grammar. The entire time, Gash still couldn’t concentrate on the class during the entire period, and it drove him partially insane. When the teaching was over, it was lunch time, and he continued his stay within the classroom.

“Gash?” Cheerilee once again asked.

“Yeah?”

“It’s lunch time,” she informed.

“Well, that’s a shame because I didn’t bring anything to eat.”

“You didn’t?”

“Nope.”

“I think I brought an extra apple today,” she said, pulling a small paper bag out of her desk. She opened it and lay it down on its side. Out rolled two shiny, red apples. “Indeed, I did. Would you like one?” she offered.

“Eh, sure,” he accepted, getting up and walking to her desk. He picked up the apple, giving a slight bow to her.

“You said you’d go outside this time.”

“I did, didn’t I?” he asked.

“You did.”

“Fine, whatever,” he said, walking out the door.

When he got outside, any activity that had been happening stopped as he walked across the field. Stares were fixed on him as he trudged along to the tree, which had burn marks on it from the battle with Diamond Tiara. He sat down, taking a bite of the apple he had been given. He pulled the book out and started to read along the unreadable pages, wondering if there was anything else could be able to read. In his peripheral, he could see the others staring at him as he lazily sat back against the small tree. He looked up, seeing their stares. He could sense a pattern coming on.

“What?” he asked loudly, looking around the group. “Is my presence really that disturbing?”

There was a deadly silence, with only mumbles among the small groups, and he found it agonizing. He felt even more awkward now that he had asked that question.

“Well!?”

There was an even greater silence now than before, and when he realized he had put himself in the situation as awkward as this one, he got up and went back into the classroom.

“How’d it go?” Cheerilee asked, hoping for a positive answer.

“Not so well. They just kept staring at me, and I hate it!” he pouted, slumping back in his desk seat when he got there.

“Did you even try to talk to them?”

“Yeah, and they just responded with silence. It was just too unsettling, so I came back in.”

“Oh…well, lunch lasts for another ten minutes.”

“That’s fine. I can just draw or something.”

Ten minutes passed and lunch ended. Gash had an entire sheet of paper with random doodles of abstraction. Right before class resumed again, he threw the paper to the trash can, bouncing it off of the wall.

Class resumed, and the last subjects of the day-spelling, basic health and basic safety-were taught over the course of an hour and a half. Gash still had the same problem as before. Once again, she gave them another worksheet.

Class ended, and the fillies and colts went home. Gash got up, walking out of the classroom. He decided to run back home today to make the time he was stared at minimal, and he found that it worked, as he only felt mild frustration. Thirty minutes later, he found himself back at Fluttershy’s cottage. He entered the lodge and found Chrysalis lying on the couch with a blanket folded over her, reading a book. She glanced upward, seeing him.

“Gash, you’re back!”

“Yes, I am.”

“How’d it go?”

“Not so good. The entire time they were staring at me and I was constantly uncomfortable. I hated it!”

“I’m sure that it was just a one-day thing. It’ll be better tomorrow.”

“I hope so.”

A few minutes passed and Gash remembered Fluttershy’s condition.

“How’s Fluttershy?”

“She’s still the same as when she left, unfortunately.”

“Oh. That bites the big one.”

“Yeah. It’s just that her body wasn’t used to the book’s power, and it completely threw off the chemistry of her body.”

“I can understand that. That makes me wonder: When I first used the book’s power, why didn’t I get sick like that?”

“Well, generally, that kind of thing only happens when you have a full-body transformation like Fluttershy’s. I’ve never heard of a demon who used elemental powers that got sick by using those. The worst that I’ve heard happen to an elemental user is that they go temporarily unconscious until their body gets used to the strength of the spell.”

“Ah. That makes much more sense,” he said, walking over to the couch. He sit down, pulling out the homework he had been given.

Over the course of the rest of the day, Gash did his homework, ate, lay down, read, and did other various things. When it came time to sleep, he put all of his stuff away and went up to check on Fluttershy, who was already asleep. Chrysalis was already asleep by then as well, and she had all of the animals fed. With nothing left to do, pulled the blanket over himself and fell asleep.

The next day, Gash woke up, ate some eggs that Chrysalis had made, checked on Fluttershy, made a sandwich with jelly and went to school. Today, the same thing that happened the day before in Ponyville and at the school had repeated itself-unbearable stares and not being able to concentrate on his schoolwork. It was clear that the foals of the school were still bothered by his presence and were scared by him, but he suffered through the entire day. When he got home, Chrysalis was once again reading on the couch. The same events unfolded-Gash did the homework assigned, read, and eventually fell asleep.

Over the next few days, he found himself going to school with more and more anxiety each day, not looking forward to it in the slightest. After the third day, he left the school early, at the end of the lunch period, and found himself spending less and less time there each day. After a week, he started leaving during the recess, and eventually stopped going at all. Chrysalis understood why he stopped going, and didn’t question him much after she figured out why.

During this entire time, Fluttershy had been recovered well, and it shocked her to find that he was skipping school. At first, she thought it was a temporary thing, and that he might’ve been sick or something of that nature. However, she noticed that over the span of another week, he was clearly not willing to go, as he just stayed home and read whatever books she had in her bookshelf. She found this to be disappointing, but didn’t say anything.

Gash had also begun to put on weight out of laziness, and he found himself with a much rounder belly than he had before. His arms and legs were also larger, but of fat, instead of muscle. His laziness led to his overall hygiene plummeting-he had bad breath, smelled bad, and got no sunlight.

His attitude began to drop as well: He became more snarky and rude, and he treated Fluttershy and Chrysalis more like servants instead of friends. They could both notice it, but neither said anything about it.

After nearly two weeks of him staying at her cottage and being lazy, Fluttershy finally decided to speak up about his truancy. She approached him slowly as he was reading a book in the morning, and she spoke to him.

“Gash? Will you go to school today?” she asked.

“Nah. I’m good right where I am,” he replied.

“Are you sure? I can take you there…if you’d like,” she offered.

“I’m positive. I like it right here, where there’s nothing to bother me, and nothing for me to be annoyed about,” he hinted.

“Is there something that’s bothering or annoying you?” she inquired.

“Whenever I go there, the only thing that happens is that they stare at me and make me feel uncomfortable, and that makes me not able to concentrate, which frustrates me. It feels hostile.” he explained.

“Well, I’m sure it’s just them getting used to you being back. Surely they’ll start trying to be your frien-.“ she started, but was cut off.

“No! The same thing happens every single time I go there! They stare at me, and the sequence of events I just told you happen! They’re scared of me, Fluttershy! I can tell by their body language that just my very presence makes them shudder in fear! They clearly don’t want me there, so I’m not going to go! And plus, I’m already smarter than all of them! I know everything already! They’re jealous because I’m smarter than they are! Why should I have to waste eight hours of my day and try to make friends, just for me to go somewhere where I’m only feared and hated!?” he lashed, making her step back in shock at what he said.

“I-…But…” she stammered, having no way to respond to that. She lowered her head and walked away.

Over the next few weeks, Fluttershy took what Gash had said and thought about it for a while. She really had no idea as to how to counter that question, so she thought about certain punishments that she could give him.

One day, Gash woke up and had eaten breakfast and was going to get a book from the shelf, but found the entire thing had been emptied of its contents.

“What the hell?” he asked himself, going upstairs to ask Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy?” he requested.

“Yes?” she answered.

“Where are all of the books?” he demanded to know.

“I’ve decided that until you start going back to school and making friends, the books are off-limits,” she explained.

“Of course they are,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I guess I’ll just find other things to do, then,” he stubbornly added.

‘I guess I’ll just draw then,’ he thought to himself, going back down the stairs to find his schoolbag, but couldn’t find the bag anywhere in the room. He searched the cottage top to bottom, but no matter where he looked, it wasn’t there.

“Damn,” he muttered to himself. “Smart.”

Gash once again went back up the stairs to ask Fluttershy.

“Okay, where’s my schoolbag now?” he quizzed. He was me with the same type of response.

“Until you go back to school, I’m keeping it from you,” she answered.

“Ugh!” Gash yelled in a defeated manner, throwing his arms up in the air. He went back down the stairs. He just lay down now and fell to sleep.

There was nothing to do for the rest of the day. He literally just lay there for the entire time. The next day was the same. He ate, and did nothing else. The next day was the same as well.

After these few days, he was drowning in the feeling of numb boredom. It became unbearable.

‘Damn it all. She got me,’ he thought, going upstairs

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to school.”

“Wonderful!” she exclaimed, pulling his saddlebag out from behind her bed and handing it over to him. Gash walked down the stairs and to the door.

“Have a nice day!”

“Whatever,” he mumbled, walking out the door.

Gash decided to attempt to run to school in order to get past the stares, but found himself tiring about three fourths of the way there. He took a moment to catch his breath.

‘Why am I so tired all of a sudden?’ he thought, walking the rest of the way.

The days events unfolded the same as they did every time he got there. Cheerilee greeted him, he sat down, class started, etc. The same feelings and the same frustration from before conquered him, and at the start of the lunch period, he found himself picking up his bag and beginning to leave.

“Leaving so soon, lardo?” a voice menacingly asked from behind. Gash locked up, not looking forward to this moment in the slightest.

He turned around and saw Diamond Tiara standing there. Looking over her body, she was completely healed, but he could’ve sworn that she was more buff now than he was later. He sighed, not looking forward to this confrontation.

“Uh…hi, Diamond Tiara…” he awkwardly announced, keeping a nervous smile upon his face.

“Yeah, hi. Where do you think you’re going so early, fatty?” she menaced, stepping toward him.

“Uh…home?” he said, taking a step backwards.

“Oh, I don’t think so. You think that after the shame you’ve caused me that you’ll be just leaving, tubby? Oh, no, no, no.”

“Listen. I’m sorry about all the pain I caused you. It was wrong of me to do it and I apologize.”

“I don’t want your apology. I want-“

“My blood? Revenge?”

“Precisely. You’re going to be wishing that you had never crossed me in the first place!” she yelled, galloping toward him, turning around to buck him.

Thinking quickly, he jumped out of the way and ran backwards toward the school house. The attention of the school foals was now focused on them once again as Gash weaved his way around her bucks and head rams. Not seeing where he was going, he got caught up against a tree. This gave Diamond Tiara the opportunity to give him a buck straight to the chin, sending him flying backwards through the tree’s branches. In midair, he gained his balance and landed on his feet, stammering forward. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and turned back around. Diamond Tiara was flying toward him. He put up his fists in front of his face in order to block her, but her hoof slammed right into the top of his nose-right on the gash.

“Ow!” he cried out, falling backwards to his backside.

He lifted a hand and put it on the spot, which was now releasing a fresh load of the warm, red liquid all over his face. His pupils had contracted and he was gasping in pain. He was immobilized.

“Ha! I’ve got you now!” she yelled, out, preparing for another attack.

“Stop it, Diamond Tiara!” another feminine voice yelled.

“Yeah, that’s enough!” one more said.

“The violence ends here!” the last one stated.

Gash was confused as to what was happening, as he had faded out of reality momentarily when the pain in his head seized control over his body. His eyes focused back into reality and he saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing in front of him, blocking Diamond Tiara’s path.

“Huh?” Gash sounded out.

“What do you blank-flanks think that you’re doing? Get out of the way!” Diamond Tiara yelled out.

“No! He clearly wasn’t pickin’ a fahght, but you were trahyin’ to force him into one anyway!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Yeah! That’s so uncool!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Leave him alone!” Sweetie Belle protectively shouted.

“What’s it to you!? Didn’t you see what he did to me!?”

“Yeah, we did! But you were the one who was beatin’ up on him first!” Apple Bloom retorted.

“He shocked me!”

“Ugh…” Gash moaned out of pain, pulling a small rag from his bag, wiping it all over his face and holding it against his wound.

“We understand that! But it was something that you could’ve prevented by leaving him alone when he told you to!” Sweetie Belle stated.

“You don’t understand the pain I’ve been through in the last month and a half. You can’t-“

“What’s going on here?” Cheerilee shouted, gaining the attention of all of the fillies and colts.

“Diamond Tiara was beating up on Gash!” Scootaloo shouted, pointing to the now sitting up Gash.

“Diamond Tiara, is this true?”

“Well…”

“Yes,” Gash said, managing to get on one knee, still holding the bloodied bandage to his forehead.

“Diamond Tiara, go inside. We’ll discuss this in a few minutes,” Cheerilee strictly said.

“But-“

“No. Inside, now.”

Diamond Tiara looked fiercely at Gash, before storming off toward the schoolhouse, mumbling to herself. Gash had now managed to stand up, and was now applying a bandage to his wound.

“Gash, are you alright?” Cheerilee asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he assured, holding out the blood-stained rag to his side.

“Good,” she happily stated, looking over the three fillies. “And thank you for stopping Diamond Tiara, girls.”

“Of course!” they shouted in unison, causing Gash to take a step back from the volume. Cheerilee went back to the classroom where Diamond Tiara was.

“Wow…Thank you,” Gash said, shocked at what they had just done.

“No problem,” Scootaloo accepted.

“But…why?”

“Ever since Dahmond Tiara’s come back from the hospital, she’s been actin’ really, really hostile toward everypony. When we saw her attackin’ you and makin’ you bleed hard, we knew she took it too far,” Apple Bloom explained.

“Yeah! She’s been nothing more than a jerk since forever! She crossed the line this time!” Scootaloo agreed.

“We know that you did some pretty harsh things to her, but she attacked you with no reason! That’s just wrong!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Wow…I don’t know what to say…”

“They always say that friends should stick together, no matter what!” Apple Bloom chanted. This made Gash think for a moment.

“We’re…friends?” he asked.

“Of course!” they shouted in his face, causing his ears to ring.

‘How they could ever call themselves my friends after how I’ve treated everyone is incomprehensible to me. Maybe this is a sign. A sign that I should stop being so lazy and try to actually put myself out there for others like they have for me. Fluttershy and now these three have done nothing but be friendly and nice to me, so maybe I should try to stop being so rude and actually be a good person. Maybe if that happens, they’ll all stop staring at me like I’m some monster and accept me.’

“Well…thanks for being willing to be my friends. It means a lot to me, truly!” he happily said, smiling.

“No problem!” they all said, once again together.

School came to an end a couple hours later and Gash went back home.

“I’m home!” he announced as we walked into the cottage.

“Oh, good afternoon, Gash. How was school?” Fluttershy asked.

“It went…alright today, to be honest.”

“That’s wonderful news!” Fluttershy announced, walking up to Gash. “Did you make any friends?”

“Actually, I did! It was great!”

“That’s great! I’m glad to hear that everything’s starting to get back on track for you,” she said as Gash walked over to the couch. He sat down, relaxing.

Fluttershy looked at Gash, smiling, grateful that he was able to actually make friends. She was worried that after the events that had transpired a month and a half ago, he wouldn’t be able to get any response out of the school fillies except for fear, but that completely vanished and was replaced by a wave of happiness that splashed over her.

‘Now, everything can finally go back to normal,’ she thought, as she went off to do her normal, daily routine.