Violet Streak

It was only my second day in Ponyville and I already had to go to school. We had only just moved though. Why couldn’t I stay home? It should be a law: No filly goes to school until every moving box is unpacked… and then only if she feels like it. Seriously, there were so many boxes that they blocked out the sun!

Mom took me to my new school that morning. It wasn’t very impressive, just one dinky-looking red building. There was only one room too. My old school was a lot better. It was brand new, big and, best of all, made of clouds. This one had a lot of open space, I guess. You know, like the way the whole world is open space. I mean, no matter how far you go on the ground you never reach an edge. Unlike the clouds, where you could actually fall out of the sky if you wandered too far. I think what I missed the most, though, were my friends. I wondered sometimes if I’d ever see them again.

We stopped in front of the building. I sighed heavily so Mom would be very aware of my feelings toward this place. She kneeled down in front of me, smiled warmly, and looked me in the eye.

“I know it’s hard, Violet,” she said, patting my head, “but please just give this place a try. I’m sure you’ll come to love it here, especially if you make some new friends.”

I scowled and refused to meet her eyes. She just ignored it, hugged me, and kissed me on the forehead. I spotted a pair of colts snickering at me as they walked into the schoolhouse. I immediately squirmed out of the hug, there was no way I would let everypony think of me as a baby on my first day. Why does she have to do that to me anyway?

The bell rang and I quickly started walking toward the door. Mom waved to me and told me she’d be there to pick me up as soon as class was done. The inside of the school wasn’t any more impressive than the outside. There were only, like, fifteen student desks and one teacher’s desk at the front with a chalkboard behind it. The room looked like any classroom, I guess; there was an alphabet above the chalkboard, numbers one through twenty on another wall, all kinds of educational posters and one part of the back wall had a bunch of student drawings tacked up above a row of shelves for saddlebags. At least there were windows and plenty of space.

A magenta mare came up to me. Her mane was two shades of bright pink and kind of reminded me of cotton candy. “Hello there. You must be Violet Streak. I’m your new teacher, Miss Cheerilee. Would you wait here for a moment please?” She had a warm smile and sounded happy that I was there.

I nodded and waited next to the chalkboard. At least Miss Cheerilee seemed nice, not like my last teacher. He wasn’t super mean or anything, but he was old and you could tell he just wanted to be done with school. I think he only had one more year left before retirement. It was nice to see a teacher who actually wanted to teach for once.

I noticed her cutie mark was three flowers with smiley faces in them. All the other teachers I’d ever met had chalk, or rulers, or something like that for their mark, showing that their special talent was teaching. What did flowers have to do with teaching? Or was her special talent supposed to be, like, gardening?

“Alright, everypony, settle down,” my new teacher said, getting the whole class to quiet down and pay attention. “I have a special announcement to make. Today, we have a new student joining our class. This is Violet Streak. She’s come to us all the way from Cloudsdale. I know you’ll all get along and make her feel welcome.”

I stood there for a moment and smiled at my new classmates. If I was going to be living in Ponyville, I wanted to make a good impression even if I didn’t want to be there. Miss Cheerilee told me to take a seat, so I sat at the only open desk in the second row and off to the far side of the room. Another filly sat next to me. She was a unicorn with a blue coat maybe a shade or two darker than mine. Her long, straight mane was orange and tied up in the back with a red ribbon, making it look like her tail. The front of her mane was neatly combed to the right side. She had her cutie mark: a red, a blue and a green gem. She smiled at me and I smiled back. We didn’t have time to talk, though, because Miss Cheerilee wanted to start the lesson right away.

I spotted the two colts who were laughing at me before on the other side of the room. One of them was slightly taller than the other. The tall one was an earth pony, brown with a black mane. The shorter one was red with a white mane. He was a pegasus, the only other pegasus in class from what I could see. Neither of them noticed me.

Miss Cheerilee was telling us about cutie marks and how ponies get them and what they mean and blah, blah, blah. I mean, it’s good stuff to know, but really, who doesn’t know all about cutie marks? It’s, like, the first thing you learn about. I could see that my parents and other older ponies had them since before I could talk.

Finally, the bell rang and it was time for recess. The rest of the class raced outside, but I just kind of followed after them. It sounds silly, but I had no idea what recess would be like on the ground. Back in Cloudsdale, we mostly flew around and raced through rings and cloud obstacles or had cloudball fights; like snowball fights but better because you get to attack from above and below too. At least, that’s what my friends and I did. I had no idea how to play here, especially when most of the other fillies and colts couldn’t even fly.

I wandered around the playground and watched to see how everypony played. It wasn’t like I was completely helpless or anything. I knew ground toys when I saw them. Like the swing set, or the jump rope, or the big metal wire half-ball thingy… Or the big box of dirt…

“Huh?” I said to myself as I walked over to take a closer look. “Why would somepony build a wooden box just to put dirt in it? There’s dirt everywhere down here.”

I climbed in and picked up some dirt in my hoof. All I could do was tilt my head and watch as I let it slowly fall back to the box in a growing mound. How could anypony think of something like that as a playground toy? I jumped at the sound of giggling coming from behind me.

“It’s called a sandbox.” It was the filly who sat next to me in class.

“Oh, yeah. I knew that,” I lied. “I just meant that… I don’t really like dirt… is all… I’m Violet Streak.”

“Yeah, I know. Miss Cheerilee said that to the whole class, remember?”

“Oh, right. Well, what’s your name?”

The filly smiled just big enough to show her teeth. “I’m Sapphire.”

I grinned. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe Ponyville wouldn’t be too bad. I noticed the other fillies and colts watching us like they were nervous or something. I didn’t get it. Were pegasi and unicorns not supposed to talk or something?

“So you’re from Cloudsdale, huh?” Sapphire asked as she joined me in the box of sand.

“Yep. I—”

“Is it true that it floats on the clouds?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, the whole place is made of clouds. It’s pretty awesome.”

“So I bet you’ve never been to the ground before, have you?”

“I’ve been on the ground before!”

“Really?” she said with a slight chuckle. “You said you knew what a sandbox was, but all you’re doing is picking up the dirt.”

She said that like any foal should have known how to play with dirt. It felt like she was calling me dumb. I wasn’t going to let that get to me though. Rainbow Dash would never let something like that get to her. I looked down and pushed my hoof through the tiny grains of sand again before asking, “So, how do you play in this then?”

“Let me show you.”

I looked back up and saw her horn glowing a ruby-red, the same color as her eyes. Living in the clouds all your life, you don’t really get to see unicorns, let alone unicorn magic. All I could do was stare at the shining aura around her horn as it wobbled. Frankly, it was a beautiful thing to see. At least, it was until all I could see was a big clump of sand hitting me in the face.

I stumbled back and tried to blink the dirt from my eyes. Sapphire threw another ball of sand in my face. “Hey!” I said between coughs as I rubbed my eyes.

“Don’t think that just because you came from Cloudsdale that you’re special. ‘Cause you’re not. You’re just another blank flank.”

The sand floating in front of my face finally cleared and I saw her walking away with her nose in the air. I looked around, all the other students were quiet and still as they watched me, waiting to see what I would do. Even I wasn’t sure what I would do. I could’ve gone to Miss Cheerilee, but then I’d be a tattletale. I could’ve done what I wanted to do and flown over and hit her when she wasn’t looking. Instead, I did the only thing I didn’t want to do, sit still and be upset as I tried not to cry.

Note to self: Sapphire is a big dumb jerk! Stay away!

The other students slowly went back to what they were doing. I let my head fall down on the sand as I desperately tried not to cry. Now I knew why the only open seat in class was next to her; nopony wanted to sit there. I hated my new school. I hated my new town. I hated the ground! I just wanted to go back home, to my real home.

“She got you pretty good, huh?” some new filly said in a way that wasn’t hateful, or mocking, or even understanding. She just seemed sort of neutral.

“Leave me alone!” I spat back without turning to look at her. I didn’t want to be alone.

“Don’t let Sapphire get to you too much.”

The filly came over and sat almost uncomfortably close. I picked up my head and, leaning away a bit, looked at her. She was a unicorn, light pink with a short, mint-green mane and golden eyes. I must have looked like a wreck because she gave me the sweetest, most caring smile I’d ever seen like she was telling me, without really trying, that everything would be fine. I wasn’t about to be fooled a second time by a smile.

I turned my head away and continued to sulk. “I said leave me alone!”

She didn’t move a muscle. “She used to be nice. Then she got her cutie mark and now she thinks she’s better than everypony.”

It was like this filly knew exactly what I needed to feel better. A yellow magical aura shown brightly in my mane. I winced, the memory of my last encounter with magic still very fresh in my mind. But this wasn’t like Sapphire. It was warm and gently pulled most of the dirt out of my hair.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“I’m Whisper, by the way.”

I sat in silence for a moment. Part of me wanted to drive her away, but a bigger part of me wanted to risk trusting her just in case I could make a friend. I had already been humiliated once. What was once more?

“I’m Violet.”

She smiled again. Whatever she was about to say got cut off by the school bell. Recess was short on the ground. Or maybe I had spent more time than I realized sulking. I followed Whisper and sat next to her instead of Sapphire. Miss Cheerilee had moved on from cutie marks and started teaching math. I barely paid any attention because I couldn’t stop thinking about recess. Though it probably didn’t help any that I hated math. I made an enemy, but with any luck, I also made a friend. Maybe I could survive until I could make it back to Cloudsdale. If I made it back to Cloudsdale.

By the time lunch rolled around, I was starving. I couldn’t wait to get some food and eat, but I didn’t remember seeing the cafeteria anywhere. I looked around and noticed all the other students – and I mean all of them – grabbing lunch boxes from the shelves in the back. Then I realized there was no cafeteria, I was supposed to bring a lunch. Now I’d just have to sit there and go hungry.

“Great,” I mumbled.

Note to self: Ask Mom to make me a lunch from now on.

“Hey, Violet,” Whisper called as she walked over. “Where’s your lunch?”

“Nopony told me I was supposed to bring one.”

She looked into the distance for a moment like she was thinking. “Let’s go outside. You can share some of mine and my brother’s lunch.”

We went out to one of the picnic tables and Whisper sat down right up close to a colt, her brother, I assumed. I didn’t sit down. When I saw who he was I just stood to the side and stared, my jaw hanging open. It was one of the colts that was laughing at me that morning, the taller, brown earth pony. I just couldn’t catch a break, could I?

“What’s wrong? Take a seat,” Whisper said.

I shook off my stupor and slowly sat down across from her. Her brother seemed not to care that I was there and just started going through his lunch box. Maybe he didn’t remember seeing me that morning. The other colt walked over and stopped when he saw me, pretty much reacting like I did to the earth pony. He sat down next to me, making sure there was a good space between us.

“This idiot,” Whisper said joyously, putting a hoof up to the earth pony’s face, “is my brother, Gear Tooth.”

Gear furrowed his brow and turned to his sister. “Hey!” he said, sounding only mildly bothered from being called an idiot.

“And the quiet one next to you is Dust Trail. We call him Dusty,” she said matter-of-factly as she waved her hoof. “Guys, this is Violet.”

“Hello,” Gear said.

Dusty turned to me and managed a soft, “Hi.”

I said “Hello” back. I’d hoped that we could all get along.

“So Violet didn’t bring a lunch today ‘cause she didn’t know she was supposed to,” Whisper said while opening her lunch box. “Gear, give her some of yours.”

“Why?” Gear complained. “She’s your friend, why don’t you give her yours?”

“I am. But you should give her some too. You know Mom always packs too much.” Whisper gave me half of a sandwich. It was packed full of daffodils and lettuce.

“Fine,” Gear mumbled as he looked through his lunch and passed something to me. “Here, you can have my apple. I don’t like them anyway.”

Whisper started arguing with her brother. Something about Gear being selfish because he only gave me something he didn’t want anyway. I wasn’t really paying attention. I was too focused on the perfect, shining, red apple in front of me. It looked so good. I picked it up and took a big bite. It tasted even better than it looked! So juicy!

“Mmm!” I let out as I took more bites. The other three all got quiet and looked at me as I devoured it core and all, loving every bite.

Gear raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s just an apple.”

I swallowed the last of it before talking. “Are you kidding? That was the juiciest, tastiest apple I’ve ever had!”

“Do they not have apples in Cloudsdale or something?” Whisper asked.

“No, we had apples, but they were never really fresh. It’s not like we can grow apple trees on clouds.”

Whisper looked off into the distance and put a hoof to her chin. “Huh. I never thought about that. We get all our apples from an orchard next to town. They make the best apples in Equestria. We should go there sometime.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” I said.

Out of nowhere, Dusty slid a juicebox over to me. “Um, here. You can have my applejuice if you’re thirsty.”

“You didn’t have to give up your lunch, Dusty,” Whisper said in a caring tone. “We have enough extra between Gear and me.”

“How come he doesn’t need to give his lunch away?” Gear whined.

“Cause his dad doesn’t overpack food.”

Dusty waved his hooves dismissively. “It’s okay. Besides, I have my water bottle. I don’t really need juice too.”

“Thanks,” I said to all of them with a smile.

Gear and Whisper started arguing. Gear said that he could eat all of his food just fine. Whisper rolled her eyes and said it didn’t matter if he could make himself eat it all. Dusty chimed in now and then, trying to stop the argument.

I started giggling and laughing. I couldn’t help it. Everypony got quiet and I just kept laughing and laughing. Gear looked at me like I was crazy. Dusty looked around like he wasn’t sure what to do. And Whisper started to giggle a little bit with me. It was too cheesy to say out loud, but I realized that I suddenly had new friends and it made me really happy.