Chapter 01: Starling
"N-no... No, no, no, no. NO!" she cried, scrambling away from the edge of the cliff.
The long chase through the shadowy forest had been exhausting, and in her desperate attempt to escape she had nearly blundered over the ledge. She cursed her luck and doubled back toward the woods, but stopped dead in her tracks when a low growl resonated through the trees.
Her breath hitched and her heart skipped a beat. She was cornered... trapped between the certain death of a long fall and the unrelenting demon that had dogged her every step. Her wide, panicked eyes darted nervously from the edge of the forest to the steep cliff, searching in vain for any avenue of escape. She had to do something, anything to get away from the evil beast that was drawing near!
Sweat poured from her brow and her eyes clenched shut in concentration as purple arcane energies ebbed and flowed around her horn. The air burned with the smell of ozone as she called upon the very last of her magic reserves, hoping beyond hope that there was some untapped well of energy buried deep within, but it wasn't enough for another long-range teleport.
A whimper escaped her lips as she briefly weighed the risks of weaving an underpowered spell, but she lost her addled concentration when an aura of malice descend upon the clearing. The normal, healthy sounds of the forest had suddenly gone quiet as the birds stopped singing mid song and the other creatures hunkered down as if to weather a storm.
She cautiously backed away from the menacing trees, quickly glancing behind to make sure the edge wasn't too close. Her blood ran cold as she returned her gaze to the dark forest, only to see something sinister watching back. Two magenta eyes floated within the shadows, burning with an unrestrained fury that tore at her soul.
The beast growled and slowly crept into the clearing, never blinking as it focused upon its target. Ever so slowly, the rest of its body emerged from the woods as the darkness released its hold upon the monster. Mud and twigs covered its formerly cyan body and the remnants of a bees nest was scattered around the rainbow colored mane. Its sap stained tail whipped back and forth in agitation as a large, crazed smile grew upon its muzzle. Rainbow Dash, element of loyalty and fastest pegasus in Equestria, was absolutely pissed.
Twilight cowered from her equicidal friend, but there was one last thing she could try, one final gambit that could save her, “I TOLD you, Rainbow! I-I'm not ready yet!"
Purple fur stood on end as a deep rumble of laughter escaped the demonic looking pegasus, "No escaping this time, Twilight. I've got you exactly where I want you."
Twilight's back hoof slipped off the edge, but she caught herself with a grimace, "With everything else going on, I-I haven't had the time to sit down and thoroughly study the application of fluid mechanics in a gaseous medium," she nodded her head and tried to stand as tall as she could, emphasizing how right she obviously was. "For Celestia's sake, I've only memorized HALF of the supplemental reading that was listed in the back of the book. So my answer is an emphatic NO, I don’t think I’m ready for your 'accelerated lessons' yet!” her underused wings twitched anxiously as she waited for her friend to see reason.
The magenta eyed demon ground her teeth in frustration and jabbed a hoof toward the cliff face with enough force to knock out a manticore, "Twilight. One way or another, you're going over that cliff. You're too Luna damned stubborn to do it the easy way, so now we get to do it the fun way!"
Twilight gulped and hung her head in shame, she knew that she had been just a tad stubborn, but what was she supposed to do if she didn't know how to respond to every possible scenario? She hazarded a look over the cliff face and was immediately rewarded with a bout of vertigo, “Why wouldn't you let me bring the pegasus flight manual? At least if I had that I'd be able to..."
Her disheveled instructor stamped her hoof, cutting off what was likely to be another long and pointless excuse, “There’s not much more you can learn from ‘A Filly’s First Flight’, Twilight," she took a calming breath and sat down on her haunches, her eyes loosing a bit of the fury that they had contained, "and I’ve seen the damage you cause when you walk around with your muzzle buried in an encyclopedia. I’m worried you’ll be more destructive than Discord on Foal's Day if you try to study while flying.” She pulled the trembling alicorn into a tight hug, smearing mud and pitch all over her victim’s purple coat. “It doesn’t matter if it’s fifty feet or a thousand feet, if you freeze up in the air you won’t have time to consult the index.” Her eyes softened as she looked at her terrified friend, "Stop worrying so much, Twi. I'll be there to catch you if you need it, I Pinkie Promise!"
“O-Ok, ok,” Twilight sighed, resigned to her fate. “I just want you to know, for the record, that this is a really bad idea," She wrapped her hooves around her friend and hugged her back, "and... thanks.”
Rainbow smiled warmly and patted her head, "Don't even try to flap your wings yet, just open them up and glide. Get a feel for how the wind flows over your feathers and remember to listen to your pegasus instincts."
Twilight opened up her wings to feel the gentle breeze tickle her feathers. She wasn't ready, but it didn’t matter... it didn't make any sense to her, but the stunt flier was correct. She was about to thank her friend again when she noticed the wide smirk plastered on the mare's face.
"Oh, and Twilight?" before the alicorn could react, the demonic pegasus brought her fore hooves up and nudged her friend over the edge, "THAT'S FOR THE BEES NEST!"
Twilight's scream melded with the howl of the wind as she tumbled head over hooves through the bright, clear sky. A small part of her mind attempted to stay in control by running through the political ramifications of her friend's attempted regicide, but the rest of it was completely overwhelmed by the knowledge that the trees below were growing larger by the second.
She clenched her eyes shut and prayed to anydeity who would listen, that she was just asleep and would wake up in her library, simply having fallen off her bed... again.
"TWI! I'M RIGHT BESIDE YOU! OPEN UP YOUR WINGS AND FLY!"
Hope sparked within her heart. She opened her eyes a crack to see the concerned face of her blue, formerly evil pegasus flying closer and closer in her spinning vision. She struggled against the building nausea to smile, knowing that her loyal friend really was there for her.
Gathering the remaining shreds of her courage, she hesitantly extended her wings to catch the air. The change was jarring for the novice flier as the spin was immediately corrected and her downward velocity was translated into a forward direction, but the ground was still approaching fast.
"Point your nose towards the sky and angle your wings up a bit," Rainbow advised from only a couple of feet away as she perfectly mirrored Twilight's dive.
Twilight gave a shallow nod and hesitantly moved her unfamiliar muscles. She slowed considerably as she leveled out, the ghost of a smile playing over her lips as she watched the tops of the trees zip past. Hazarding a glance back at the cliff, she found it already sinking into the distance, taking most of her fear along with it.
The feeling of the wind caressing each of her feathers was almost therapeutic, and she marveled at the flood of new information she now had access too. She could actually see the differences in pressure and wind currents by using her wings, almost like a second pair of eyes. It reminded her of the arcane sight spell she learned from Celestia, where magic channeled through the eyes allowed the caster to see the ley lines and how they interacted with their environment.
So many new things to study! her smile brightened as she clapped her hooves together in joy.
"You may be close to the clouds, but you shouldn't have your head in them!" Rainbow beamed as she continued to mirror Twilight's every move.
Twilight scowled a bit, annoyed that the pursuit of a new field of study was cut short by something as trivial as not knowing how to fly. "When this is over, you and I are going to have a long talk about personal boundaries... You threw me off a bucking cliff, Rainbow Dash!" she pointed an accusing hoof at her tormenter, but stopped when she realized it destabilized her flight.
Rainbow Dash smirked as she lightly tapped Twilight's wing with her own, sending the purple alicorn into a worrisome bank. "Oh, I'm sorry! What was that?" she asked as she held a hoof up to her ear, "You want to try landing by yourself. Well alright, as long as you're so sure..."
"No, no..." Twilight interrupted as she fought to level out from the turn, "What I meant to say was, thank you for teaching me so much before you PUSH..." her oncoming rant was cut short as she felt a strange buzzing sensation pass over her wings.
All of a sudden, something snapped in the back of her mind. She was falling! Her eyes showed that she was still traveling straight and level, but all of her new pegasus senses were screaming to her that she was tumbling in the air again. She knew to trust her eyes and fought against the false signals, but her control failed when her blue friend suddenly bumped into her.
She was corkscrewing out of control again. Her eyes showed her spin going one way and the rest of her senses the other way. The trees grew larger in her vision, and even with her wings completely outstretched she still couldn't regain control.
"GOTCHA!" called out a triumphant Rainbow Dash as she slammed into Twilight's side, her hooves locked around the barrel of the still tumbling alicorn. With a mighty flap of her wings, Twilight's savior brought the spiral to an end and righted their descent before slamming into the ground.
The crash was not as spectacular as some of Rainbow's other misadventures, but it still hurt like Tartarus. They had made it to a small clearing in Whitetail Woods, but the vertigo was still there. Twilight kept her head on the ground, trying to keep the false sensations at bay with the rock steady feeling of dirt on her chin. She opened her eyes to see Rainbow doing the same thing by her side.
"Heh. Any landing you can walk away from, eh Twi?" Rainbow gave her a pained wink, making sure to keep her head on the ground.
All of a sudden the buzzing receded and, like a switch being flipped, the vertigo was completely gone. After a moment of stunned silence, they carefully stood up and dusted themselves off.
"What the hay was that all about?" Twilight asked as she messaged her head. "Even falling wasn't as disorienting as whatever that was," she shook her head and winced as she stretched the wing she had landed on.
"No idea, Twi. I've never felt anything like that before." Rainbow sighed and muttered, "And I just went to the doctor too..."
Twilight tapped her chin in thought, "Whatever that was felt somewhat similar to the dizziness after a magic overload, but it was centered on the wings this time... Very strange, I'll need to contact the princess about this."
Rainbow shook her head, having trouble believing what just happened, "Bar none! That was the worst vertigo I've ever felt. Thank Celestia that I was able to catch up to you, otherwise..." she gulped as the realization set in.
"Yeah..." Twilight moved forward and nuzzled her friend, wiping a few thankful tears on her friend's muddy coat. "I really appreciate that... and I'm sorry for throwing a bees nest at you earlier when I panicked."
Rainbow puffed her chest out, "heh, nothing that a rain cloud can't fix. Besides, I'd never leave a friend h-hang... h..." she trailed off mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open as she looked up into the sky.
Twilight followed Rainbow's gaze and her mouth joined her friend's in attracting flies. High up in the sky, long trails of fire rained down from a central column of black, billowing smoke that arced from horizon to horizon. The smaller trails were still lengthening as they moved away from the main column, but whatever caused the smoke had already blazed overhead.
\\\\\\°////////////
Apple Bloom scowled at the unruly chalkboard, willing the impossible equation to solve itself. She had only raised her hoof because she thought she had the answer, but she didn't see that sneaky little negative sign from way in the back of the classroom. Stupid, tricky math!
The hungry eyes of the other students bored into the back of her head, willing her to make a mistake. She could feel them sizing her up, like a pack of timerwolves circling their prey. In a double period of math; each student looked for any form of entertainment to relieve the monotony, and Apple Bloom was it at the moment.
"Ahh, Apple Bloom? Do you have the answer?" Miss. Cheerilee asked politely, shaking the filly out of her staring contest with the blackboard.
It’s just a whole bunch of numbers and weird lookin' letters, so why’s it have to be so darned difficult? She sighed to herself, knowing in her heart that there was only one course of action... She had to stall!
"Ah'm... thinkin' out the long division in ma' head, is all. Just gimme a minute Miss. Cheerilee." Apple Bloom briefly complimented herself on her masterful job of misdirection. She was adamant that it was a misdirection and not a lie, especially since she divided ten by two the long way to cover herself.
She faked a cough and turned her head to the side, glancing back at the pack of gloating predators. Deep within, there sat in the last row a purple maned pegasus who was wise in the ways of the geometer. Her abilities in math far beyond those of the other mortals in class, and Apple Bloom hoped that the generous goddess would smile upon her once again.
Her confidence dwindled as she saw that her only hope was lazily watching the clouds out the window, completely oblivious to her friend’s suffering. How Scootaloo could be such a math wiz, but fail nearly every other class was completely beyond Apple Bloom.
She sighed in defeat and steeled her nerves for the oncoming tsunami of humiliation. Her head hung low and was about to admit the truth, but she was elated to see the mathemagician subtly point to an open notebook on the ground... with the answer written large enough to read from the board.
Apple Bloom wheeled around with a giant grin and grabbed the chalk with her teeth, quickly scrawling out the answer. A grumble that distinctly sounded like Silver Spoon confirmed that the solution was in fact correct.
"Well done, Apple Bloom!" Miss Cheerilee congratulated with an approving smile, which quickly morphed into an all knowing one as she leaned down and whispered to her student, "Next time though, you might consider saving the long division for a problem that actually required it." Apple Bloom flashed her surprisingly perceptive teacher a sheepish grin and quickly trotted back to her seat, silently nodding her head in thanks to her savior.
The algebra lesson droned along and a sleepy haze descend upon the classroom, but Apple Bloom was startled awake when a wad of paper lightly bounced off her head. Her pink arch nemesis, Diamond Tiara, was glaring at her, mouthing the word 'cheater' over and over again. Apple Bloom glowered back, but her annoyance was quickly replaced by a cheshire grin as she watched Miss Cheerilee use her teacher magic to suddenly loom over the delinquent filly.
"Diamond Tiara? You must already know this material by heart if you're taking the time to talk to your friends. Why don't you stand up and show us how to do this next problem." For a second, Apple Bloom could feel the icy grip of the filly's glare harden, but after another prod by their teacher Diamond resigned herself to fate and shuffled toward the front of the classroom.
Apple Bloom rubbed her hooves together in anticipation, grinning from ear to ear. Diamond Tiara was almost as bad as she was at math... and there were TWO sneaky negative signs in this problem. She fought to repress a cackle when Diamond grimaced at the sight of the equation.
The minutes ticked by and with every wrong answer, the entertainment starved students snickered a bit louder. Sweat dripped down Diamond Tiara’s brow as she was forced to go through the indignity of being wither-walked through the solution. One could almost hear her whimper when she had to start all over again.
All too soon for Apple Bloom, the bully's torment was over. The chalk clacked in its tray and Diamond Tiara sighed in relief as she wiped the white dust from her face. She gave her teacher a huge, fake smile as she made her way back to the safety of her desk, but in her hurry to retreat she crashed headlong into the corner of Miss Cheerilee's desk and tumbled to the floor.
The class roared with laughter and a couple of the more boisterous colts fell out of their chairs, guffawing at the utterly humiliated filly. Apple Bloom felt a little bad that she was laughing since the crash looked like it had hurt, but any sympathy for the enemy was completely lost with the scathing glare that Diamond sent her way as she scurried back to her seat. Apple Bloom answered with a wide, cheerful smile before Diamond Tiara buried her head under her forelegs.
With her foe summarily defeated, she took a moment to glance around the room as Miss Cheerilee tried to restore order. Nearly the entire class was still at least smirking at Diamond, with the exception of two ponies. The first was Silver Spoon who looked absolutely mortified as she carefully consoled her friend. The other... never really showed any emotion at all.
The light grey colt with a navy blue mane was apparently named Starling, though he wasn't able to confirm that since he couldn't move or talk. He just sat by himself in the back of the classroom, stuck in that wheelchair day after day.
At the beginning of the school year, his mother Comet Chaser had introduced him to the class, and ever since that time he had been in every class for the 'social experience,' even though he couldn't participate. When pressed for the cause of his condition, Miss Chaser had mentioned something about an accident involving a head wound when he was much younger, and that she hoped a classroom environment might wake him up.
Apple Bloom always felt so sad whenever she looked at the colt. He couldn't even feed himself, for Celestia’s sake! The only time he ever moved at all was due to a swallowing reflex when Miss. Cheerilee fed him his lunc... wait... was his hoof shaking?
Her eyes widened and her ears perked up as high as they could, her entire attention on the colt. Starling was actually moving, though it was barely noticeable.
She jumped in place and frantically waved her hoof to call her teacher's attention to the colt, but Miss. Cheerilee's frustrated voice suddenly lanced through all the noise, "Alright class, that's enough! Featherweight!" she leveled her PTA approved glare at the still laughing pegasus, who immediately wilted under her gaze, "We only have a couple minutes before the bell rings, so we'll end the school day a bit early. Have a great weekend!" she nearly sang as most of the class tried to cram their way through the exit at once.
Apple Bloom fought the urge to gallop for freedom and returned her attention to the immobile colt, but his hoof was still once more; and even a bump from her own didn't produce a reaction. She tried waving her hoof in front of his half-lidded eyes like she had a few times before, but once again he was completely unresponsive. Did she just imagine that he was moving?
"What are you doing with that vegetable, blank flank?" came a very haughty voice.
Apple Bloom was so focused on the colt that she didn't hear Diamond Tiara until she was practically breathing down her neck. She yelped in surprise and wheeled around to glare at the pink filly, "Go away, Tiara. Ah've got to talk to Miss. Cheerilee ‘bout somethin important!"
Diamond Tiara lifted her muzzle into the air and sneered at the lowly apple farmer, "She's in her office right now, so we have a little bit of time to chat." She raised her foreleg to block the way as Apple Bloom tried to leave, "I was just curious as to why a cheating, blank flanked, failure would socially ostracize herself even further by hanging around this worthless lump of a pony?"
The farm filly growled and flicked her tail in annoyance, “He ain’t worthless, just sick is all. And what Ah do with ma time ain’t any of your concern.” She walked around the outstretched foreleg, but the bully wasn’t finished.
“He is a worthless pony. I mean, just look at him!" Diamond Tiara spun around and bucked his shin hard, eliciting a startled gasp from her coconspirator Silver Spoon, "Absolutely nothing..."
Apple Bloom bristled at the hit and stalked back, jabbing a hoof toward their tormenter, "What kinda monster are you, hittin' a defenseless pony like that?" she aggressively pawed the ground, steam radiating from her nostrils.
Diamond Tiara smiled and nonchalantly waved a hoof, "Though, I should give him a little credit, seeing that he’s at least a little less useless than you.”
Apple Bloom seethed, wanting nothing more in the world than to kick Diamond’s flank from here to appleoosa, but her pappy advised her long ago to settle her problems with words and not hooves. The country filly took a calming breath, opting to keep her anger under control.
“I mean, even as a vegatable he was able to earn a cutie mark. Makes one wonder why you can’t… or won't earn yours, doesn't it?" Diamond Tiara obviously had more to say, but she stopped short and stared at the colt's flank, her eyes widening a hair.
Apple Bloom glanced back at Starling to see... nothing, he hadn't moved an inch. Curious as to what had caught Diamond’s attention, she shifted her gaze to his cutie mark and gasped. The picture of a raven on his flank had almost completely faded away. How had she not noticed this before?
"Oh... This is too much!" Diamond cackled, "I get it, I really do! You’re so afraid of receiving a cutie mark that you came over here to catch his disease!” She shoved Apple Bloom and stared at her with a fiery intensity, “Are you really that afraid to be normal like the rest of…?" but she didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence as the farmer filly’s self restraint finally cracked.
Apple Bloom’s forehoof slammed into Diamond Tiara’s muzzle, the force propelling her back against the wheelchair. Tiara quickly picked herself up and growled as she shook away the dizziness. She stood there for a second, leveling a withering glare at the farmer before she let loose a battle cry that rivaled a manticore's and charged the furious apple farmer.
“Hey Apple Bloom? Are you ready to go or… Whoa!” Scootaloo had just walked back into the schoolhouse when she saw the hooves beginning to fly.
“Sweetie! A little help?” Scootaloo yelled as she buzzed over to the warring ponies and tried to pull her friend off.
Insults were lobbed back and forth as the two ponies clobbered each other, and they only got worse as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tried to pull them apart. The name calling got so bad that Scootaloo almost took a swing at the pink filly herself.
“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” the shrill voice of their teacher froze the warring parties mid-step. She stomped right up to the fight, daring her students to even try to make an excuse.
Four pairs of eyes drifted over to Diamond Tiara, who in the confusion of Miss. Cheerilee’s appearance had doubled over, blubbering on the floor. Apple Bloom opened her mouth to try and explain what happened, but the glare from her teacher advised her to shut it.
“Are you alright?” Miss. Cheerilee kneeled down and calmly asked Diamond Tiara with all the care and patience in the world.
Diamond Tiara continued sobbing for another couple of seconds before lifting her head to look at her teacher, “They g-ganged up on me!” she whimpered as she latched on to Miss. Cheerilee, sobbing and shivering into her coat. “I j-just wanted to ask a question when Apple Bloom p-punched me for no reason,” she pointed to her bloodied muzzle, “and then the other two joined in… I-I was so scared!” she hugged her teacher as if her life depended on it.
Miss. Cheerilee calmly patted the shivering filly and turned to Apple Bloom, who was rubbing her black eye, “Did you punch her?”
Apple Bloom’s anger flared as she caught Diamond Tiara’s small, toothy smile, “Yeah, but she…”
“Not another word,” she shifted her attention to the other two offenders, “Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle. What do you have to say?”
“Well… We heard somepony yell and came over to…” Scootaloo tried to explain what happened while Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement, but they were interrupted by an overly polite cough.
“Um… Miss. Cheerilee? I saw the whole thing,” Silver Spoon called from behind a desk as she slowly made her way to group, “It’s just like Tiara said, Apple Bloom threw the first punch and the other two ganged up on Tiara.” Diamond’s smile got a bit wider as she sobbed a couple more times for good measure.
“That’s a lie!” Sweetie shrieked.
Their teacher made a sharp shushing sound to silence their protests. She sighed and patted Diamond’s back to quell the poor filly’s tears. “I've seen enough. You three know that violence isn't tolerated in school! You each have a weeks worth of detention for this, so we might as well start now.”
They started to argue but were silenced once again by Miss. Cheerilee, “Enough! Sit down and do your homework while I get in touch with your families!”
The three friends grumbled as they went back to their chairs and pulled out their work. Silver Spoon helped Diamond Tiara up from the floor, supporting the filly as they slowly trudged toward the door. As soon as Miss. Cheerilee was safely in the other room, they both wheeled around to smile at their prey and skipped out of the class room, laughing.
Apple Bloom bit down on her pencil and groaned in frustration. Why couldn’t Miss. Cheerilee have come around a minute earlier to catch Diamond Tiara in the act? She figured that if a light tap to the face had earned them a week of detention, then kicking a defenseless pony should have earned that filly a one way trip to the Canterlot dungeons!
Scootaloo watched Apple Bloom bang her head against the desk for a few minutes before deciding to speak up in a whisper, “What on Earth was that, AB? You know she's a manipulative filly, so why'd you go and throw the first punch?”
Apple Bloom’s ears lowered as Sweetie Belle quietly threw in her own two bits, “Yeah, I mean if we’re going to do the time we might as well know the crime.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and muttered, “Egghead and her detective novels.”
Apple Bloom sighed as her head hit the desk, “She called me worthless and a whole mess of other things.”
Scootaloo threw her hooves into the air in exasperation, “That’s what she always does! Why did it…”
“She also kicked Starling… hard.” She glanced over to the colt to see him sitting exactly where he always was, disheartened to see that even pain wouldn’t wake him up.
“Ok. That’s a new low for her," Sweetie admitted, "but why were you guys even over there in the first place?”
Apple Boom’s ears perked up a bit, “Well, Ah’m pretty sure Ah saw him movin’ his hooves a bit during class, so Ah went over to get a better look afterwards.”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened in surprise, "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?"
Apple Bloom gave her a sour look, "Ah swear Ah saw him movin'. Ah wouldn't fib about somethin' like that!"
“Who’s Starling?” Scootaloo asked, scratching her head.
Sweetie Belle looked at her clueless friend with something amounting to awe, “Uhh… the pony who’s been sitting in the back of our class for the last three months,” she pointed a hoof at the immobile colt.
Scootaloo’s eyes shot open in realization, “Wait! You mean to tell me that statue is alive?” her two friends nodded and gave each other a look. “First Discord and now him, huh… who would have known…” Scootaloo began staring out at the clouds again.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, "Discord was turned to stone... twice. Starling just can't move, well... usually I think." She dropped her head to the desk again as she remembered, "He's also loosing his cutie mark."
Both fillies heads shot up. "What? That can't happen! Now I know you're making it all up," Sweetie Belle exclaimed in a harsh whisper, pointing an accusing hoof at Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo frowned as she looked over at the colt, "Yeah, I've got to go with Sweetie on this one. I've never heard of anypony loosing their cutie mark before."
Apple Bloom grinned slightly at her doubting friends, "Go take a gander for yourselves then, see if Ah'm a filly of ma word."
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded to each other and slipped away from their desks, quietly tiphoofing over to Starling's wheelchair. Apple Bloom watched them just stare at his flank, their eyes getting bigger and bigger until Sweetie Belle broke the silence.
"WHAT?" she exclaimed loudly.
"I hope you're doing your homework, girls," Miss Cheerilee sang from her office, a hint of a threat in her voice.
They dashed back to their seats, the clatter of hooves against the wooden floors echoing through the room. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat down just in the nick of time to see Miss. Cheerilee's head round the corner to glare at her students. All three fillies gave her pained smiles as they tried to look like they had been working all along. Miss. Cheerilee pointed a hoof at her eyes and then at the delinquent fillies before slowly backing away from the door, disappearing into the depths of her office. Breathing a sigh of relief, they quietly agreed to do a little work while the jailer was on high alert.
Half way through her reading comprehension worksheet on the Aerie Confederation's Codex of Rights, Apple Bloom grinned as she was struck with an idea. She quietly left her desk, careful not to make a sound as she tiphoofed over to Starling's wheelchair and disconnected the break. The wheelchair groaned as she started to push it, but quieted down when it began rolling toward the exit.
"What are you doing?" the sudden whisper in Apple Bloom's ear startled her, but she clamped her hooves over her mouth to suppress her frightened yelp. Standing next to her were her two friends, both with worried expressions on their faces.
She kept pushing the wheelchair toward the exit while she answered, not wanting the chair to make another sound if she stopped, "Ah really don't want to spend next week in detention because of Tiara's tricks, do you? I figure if we can wake Starling up, then we'll be town heroes and heroes never go to detention!"
"But," Sweetie pawed at the ground anxiously, "what if it doesn't work? We could be in detention for a whole month... or worse." she gulped.
Apple Bloom nudged the chair through the doorway and onto the grass before she turned around to look at her friends, "Ah'm not makin' y'all go with me, just stay here and Ah'll take the blame if everythin' goes south."
"Heh, no way am I missing this," Scootaloo puffed out her chest, "We're already in trouble for something we didn't do, so why not try to fix it. Besides, it'll be more fun than sitting around here!" she nudged Sweetie before helping Apple Bloom push Starling's wheelchair away from the school house.
Sweetie Belle anxiously paced back and forth before just inside of the doorway. She really didn't want to get in more trouble with Miss. Cheerilee, but she couldn't just leave her friends. "Oooh, I hope Rarity doesn't ground me forever for this!" she worried before galloping after her friends.
After a few minutes of evading other ponies on the streets, they found themselves walking along the nearly deserted road that led past the forest to Sweet Apple Acres. Sweetie Belle finally broke the silence as they neared their clubhouse.
"So, what now? You do realize that we’ve basically foal napped Starling?” She lowered her head and mumbled, “There's no way this is going to work…”
Apple Bloom reassured her friend with a pat on the head, “Ah already told ya, he was movin’ around durin' class. Ah Pinkie Promise that Ah’m telling y'all the honest truth!” she quickly pantomimed the sacred swear before continuing on, “Ah think he’s just stuck inside his brain somewhere, and we need to figure a way to help him. Plus, if he is loosin' his cutie mark then we can invite him to our club to help find it again!”
Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to retort, but was beat to the punch by Scootalloo, “Alright, I believe you AB. But, what are we actually going to do?” she waved a hoof in Starling’s direction, “I mean I’d love to help him out, but don’t you think that his mother has probably already tried everything?”
“Yeah,” Sweetie interjected, “I mean, we’re just three fillies, what could we do that the doctors haven’t already?”
Apple Bloom had to admit that they raised some very good points. She knew it was probably a mistake to take him from the classroom, but just looking at the poor colt made her want to cry… There had to be something that they could do to help him! “Well, Ah’ve got a few ideas… besides gals, what else were we plannin’ to do today?”
"Other than a wasted afternoon in detention?" Sweetie Belle tapped her chin with her hoof, “I think you suggested we try to get our cutie marks in salesponyship by helping Davenport sell a few quills and maybe a sofa.”
Scootaloo groaned, “Aw comeon… Why would you even pick that in the first place? I can’t think of anything MORE boring than that!” she huffed and shook her head.
“Grass growing cutie mark!” Sweetie Belle chirped.
“Ugh… Would you please stop bringing that up? I already admitted that it wasn’t one of my better ideas,” Scootaloo’s ears folded back as she winced from the memory.
Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo a friendly nudge, “At least Mr. Greenhoof accepted our apology, after we put out the fires. But, if we do somethin' heroic like wakin' him from this coma, we might even get our cutie marks!"
Scootaloo thought for a few second before replying “Hmmm, that would be kinda awesome.”
“Fine, count me in.” Sweetie Belle finally relented, “But what would a cutie mark like that even look like?”
“Ah suppose it’d look somethin’ like one pony screamin’ at another.”
The three fillies looked at each other and then over to Starling who hadn’t moved an inch. A smile grew on everysader’s muzzle.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, COMA BREAKERS!” They shouted in unison and clapped their hooves together. After a second of holding their pose, they each opened an eye to look at the still immobile Starling.
“Well, I guess that would have been too easy.” Sweetie sighed.
“Cheer up gals, Ah’ve got a few surefire ideas to help this guy out!” Apple Bloom rubbed her hooves together menacingly as the other two shrank in fear.
Author's Note
Well, here it is. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! If you didn't like it, please PM me or leave a comment, I'm always interested in hearing constructive criticism.
Wither-Walked
I needed a term that was synonymous with hand-held (like a child is hand-held across the street by his mom), but hoof-held didn't sit well with me. If a pony were to walk across a street with her foal, the last thing either of them would want to do is to give up a leg to hold on to each other since they would both be slower and off balance. I've read more than a few fics where the foals are carried on the withers of the parent, so I feel justified in using this term.
