Bronies, Unite!

In today’s lesson, we’re learning more about mathematics. I personally think that it’s stupid, I bet they teach you math, just so you can teach it when you grow up, that’s the only logic I can find behind it, I never have to use it in my day to day life, so why should we learn it? Matthew on the other hand, thinks that it’s very important, at least for him, anyway. He says it helps him when he’s fixing things back together, calculating stuff and what not. I don’t get it, but he does. I usually just sleep, or talk to everyone in the class, it’s just so boring, and I bet it would be a lot more fun if we had Mrs Cheerilee, she’s the best teacher, ever, and I can actually just imagine it.

*****

Marks mind.

“So, what are we going to do today, fillies and colts?” Mrs Cheerilee asks, looking around the classroom.

I raise my hoof into the air; I think it will fall off if I try to push it up any further, “I know Mrs Cheerilee! I know I know!” I bellow, she turns around from the chalk board and looks at me with her warm loving smile.

“And what might that be, Speedster?”

“We’re going to do mathematics!”

“That’s right! You get a gold star for being the first to answer.” Mrs Cheerilee walks over to the right side of the classroom, to a mini white board which has all of our names on it, and she places a sticker next to mine, I feel so special when she does that, and I’m almost in front of Lucy now, I stick out my tongue at her, she just giggles. “And now, open up your desks and pull out your mathematics book, and please turn to page 324, today we’re going to learn about algebra.

I give out a woot of cheer, as the class looks at me and laughs, I brisk it off, just watching Mrs Cheerilee smile and write things on the chalk board, I love learning with her, she’s the best teacher ever. After a while of her writing on the board, I hear her humming a tune, it’s a happy tune, peaceful, bliss. It actually makes me feel really tired; I put my hooves on my desk and sink my head into them for a few seconds, when I look back up, I no longer see Mrs Cheerilee, I see our ordinary teacher, Mr Roftus, or as I like to say, Mr Hater.

*****

I feel something nudge me on the side. It’s Lucy, handing me a note. I turn at look at her, her brown hair slightly in her eyes; she moves it and looks at me, her amazing green eyes, looking right at me. I think about what I’m doing for a second, snapping back to the note. Just as I’m about to read it, a mysterious hand reaches down and grabs it, ripping it away from me. I look up to see that it’s actually Mr ‘Hater’.

“Well, what do we have here?” He brings the note closer to his eyes, slowly putting on his tiny glasses, which only balance on the end of his big nose. “You wouldn’t mind me reading this to the rest of the class, would you, Mark?” I reach up, trying to snatch it back from him, to no avail. “Now, now, I’ll take that as a yes.” He clears his throat for a few seconds; I turn to look at Lucy, who is blushing heavily. “Ahem! It reads; ‘Hey Mark, would you like to come over tonight? I have something special planned. Love heart?’” The entire class, who are now staring at me and Lucy as I join her in blushing, are now making remarks towards us, along the lines of gasping, chanting, and insults such as; ‘They’re perfect for each other, stupid pony lovers!’, ‘Ew, is she gay or something?!’. 'They're stupid gay arse Bronies!' ‘I bet that they’re going to have messed up kinds, who are stupid ‘Bronies’ like they are, too!’

I stand up, and look at the students. While still blushing heavily, I go to say something, but Lucy runs out, holding her eyes from tears. The entire class start to laugh, I however, run after, flipping them off. As I’m about to leave the room, Mr ‘Hater’ grabs my arm, pulling me back.

“You can’t leave the classroom, it’s against the rules!”

“Yeah, you can’t touch kids, it’s against the law!”

The class directs their eyes to his hand, firmly grasping my wrist. He lets go quickly and moves back towards his desk as I flee the class room while signalling to my other friends that it’s going to be okay. This happens more or less, twice a week. I hate the kids for doing this, and now the teacher has to get involved, too.

The door slams behind me, and I see Lucy running down the corridor, running into the girl’s bathroom. I follow her, not that far behind, but come to a stop as the door slams in my face.

*****

“Does that mean Lucy is finally going to admit she likes Mark?” Blake asks Jero and Matthew.

Matthew perks up first, “I don’t know dude.”

“Sorry that she likes him more, dude.”

“Yeah well, forget about it, alright?” Matthew snaps.

“Alright dude, chill out. So, what do you think, Jero?”

“Well, I think she wants to tell him, but he can’t seem to notice, he’s so stupid.”

“Well, you got the last part right.” All three of them share a laugh together, “But seriously, I hope he realizes soon, I don’t even understand how he doesn’t notice, she’s right in front of him, and they have history, too.”

“Well, some people are just stupid, right?”

“I guess so, God, if I was with him, I would have noticed straight away, I pretty much noticed when I first saw them.” Matthew says.

“Well, I can’t believe that Lucy made us promise not to tell him, it’s just stupid.”

“Yeah well, if we weren’t so damn scared of her overly powerful slaps, we would have told him, right?”

Blake speaks up, “Well, we’d have fun with him first, right?”

“Dude, that’s gay.” Matthew says, laughing pretty hard.

“Not like that!”

“Whatever you say, homo.”

“I’M NOT GAY!” The whole class turns and look at Blake, who is now standing up, looking down at Matthew. “Uhm, I’m not gay, okay?”

“Suuuure… Whatever you say, homo.”

“I swear, one of these days I will get you back, Matthew.”

“Whatever you say, homo!” Matthew is laughing so hard now, no sound is coming out, and he just looks like a walrus clapping his hands.

“Anyway.” Jero says, interrupting the laughter and anger spiralling around the two, “Where did Mark and Lucy go, anyway?”

“Well, they probably went to the toilets, as per usual, don’t worry, we’ll see them at the end of class.”

*****

“Lucy, are you ok?”

“Go away!”

“Lucy come on, we’ve been over this!”

“No! I am fed up with them! I could just kill one of them, and no one would know it was me!”

“Right, I’m coming in!” I push the door open, to be greeted by Lucy, crying in the corner of the room. I slowly pace over to her, sitting down next to her, and bringing her into a cuddle. “Don’t listen to them; they’re not worth the effort.”

She just sits there, crying into my shoulder. “Mark… I can’t take this anymore…”

“Lucy, I agree with you, but we made a promise, can you remember that for me?”

She is hesitant as first, but then complies. “…Not to end it.” She finally sputters out, calming herself down in the process.

“That’s my girl, now, what’s this surprise?”

“Oh! Uhm well…”

“Come on, you were going to show me it, anyway.”

“Well, yeah but…”

“Can I guess?”

“S-Sure?”

“Okay, is it an uhm…? A drawing?” I ask, excitedly.

“No, it’s not a drawing.”

“Oh… Is it a Rainbow Dash plushie?”

“Not that either.” She says, while slightly giggling.

“Oh I give up, what is it?”

Lucy stares up at me, as I stare down at her, she slowly moves her head towards mine, almost kissing me, before I can stop her, the door is wildly kicked open, by none other than Matthew. We quickly break away from each other, and look up at him.

“There you are!”

I speak up, “What’s up, Matthew?”

“Oh well uhm, the bell went, are you heading out yet?”

“We’ll be there in just a sec.” I look at Lucy, who’s no longer crying, but wiping the tears away from her eyes with her sleeves. “I’ll see you at the gates?”

“Sure man, see you in a few.” He turns around, into the corridor of people, shutting the door behind him.

“So uh, guess we better get going, then? We had a short day today.”

“Oh, yeah uhm, sure, let’s get going, we only had him for an hour, too.”

“Have you calmed down?”

“Yeah, thanks.” She gives me a hug, holding on tight, I hug her back and we leave the bathroom.

As we leave the bathroom, Lucy still holding onto me slightly, only covering one arm, we’re greeted by none other than Brock, with his gang of boys. I turn around and whisper for Lucy to run, as I don’t want her to get hurt, after a little convincing, she runs away, leaving me on my own to face them.

“Aww, sending the little bitch home, are we?”

“Don’t talk about her like that!”

Right now, I felt like I could just break his neck, I had so much anger in me, but luckily I held myself back, I don’t want to have to go through another episode in my life like that, I only just got past the other one. I felt my first raising to punch in right in the gut or even his chin, and knocking him clean out, but I restrain myself with all of my might, only to stay in that pose for a few seconds.

“Oh? What you gonna do, faggot?” He pushes me in my chest, knocking me slightly backwards, but I stand my ground, bringing my fist back down, but still clenched. “Oh, looks like we got a tough one here guys, J-Z, Drogh, grab him.” Before I can react, J-Z and Drogh grab my arms, holding me in place. Brock moves forward, bending down to bring his face next to mine. I can literally smell his rancid breath, consisting of whatever he ate for breakfast and the previous night, and it smells awful. “We’re going to have some fun with you, Mark!” Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my right side, turns out that Brock punched me in my kidney, and he then hit my other side, making me jerk in pain. I let out a slight cry as he continues to hit me around those areas that I can already tell are bruising. “Come on! Hit me back, you wimp!”

“No, and you know why.”

“Ha! Lame excuse, you’re just too chicken!” He then hits me square in the jaw, sending my head snapping to the right.

“I will not fight you. Your words fall on deaf ears.” I say, wincing in pain the more I talk.

“Whatever, you stupid Brony!”

He kicks me in the groin, which forces me to my knees, wincing in pain. J-Z and Drogh let go of me, and they too, start to beat me, mainly hitting me in my back as I cover my face with my hands. I look up slightly, only to see Lucy peaking around the corner. I immediately look away, hoping not to point the bullies in her direction. Luckily she gets the hint and runs away.

*****

After a brutal beating, my nads on fire, my jaw hurts, and my sides, which hurt the most, are covered in bruises, as too is my back. I lay there, curled in the fetal position, holding my sides, crying in pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Lucy appear, the bullies have gone now, so she must have just been hiding.

“Are you okay, Mark?”

“Y-yes…” I try to cover up my crying, even though there is a small puddle under me anyway, filled with my tears.

“Why didn’t you hit them back?”

“Because it’s a rule I have. I will just be as bad as them if I do.”

Lucy sighs, and puts an arm over my shoulder, resting her head on my lap. After about five minutes of lying there, I decide to get up. I nudge Lucy a bit. She zips up, offering me a hand. I happily take it and she helps me up onto my feet. We slowly walk to the exit door. I push the button and it opens the door instantly. We both walk out, heading towards her house.

*****

Upon entering her house, it looks to be getting late out. I think about my mum, and if she’ll be okay on her own, which is interrupted by Lucy.

“Do you want me to get some ice for your bruises?”

“No, I’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Well, okay. Do you want to call your mum? See if she’s okay?”

“Yeah, please. Is it okay if I stay over tonight? I really don’t feel like going home…”

“Sure you can, Mark.”

Lucy heads into the kitchen, popping up a few moments later, forming a phone from behind her, handing it to me.

“Take as long as you need.”

“Thanks, I’ll be just a minute.” I quickly dial my mum’s phone number; she takes a while but picks up a few moments later.

“H-hello? Who’s this?” My mum asks, coughing as she finishes speaking.

“Hi mum, is it okay if I sleep out tonight?”

“Well of course honey, *cough* you don’t have to ask, you know.”

“Well, I just wanted to check to see if you’re okay, how are you holding up?”

“I’m fine, dear. *cough* How was school?”

“It was good; I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay Mark, love you.”

“Love you too, mum.”

I hang up the phone, and turn around to look back at Lucy, who’s smiling warmly at me. “It’s all set, so what was this ‘surprise’, then?”

“Come upstairs, I’ll show you.”

Immediately, I follow up behind her, watching her steps, in turn stepping in sync with her. Eventually we come up to her room. She leaves the door open as I walk in. As usual, her room is always tidy, everything organized and in the correct place, her bed made to perfection. She lies down and I take my usual place next to her, looking up at the ceiling. I’m about to speak when the phone rings. Lucy reaches for it from her bed side table, and answers it, “Hello? Oh, it’s for you, Mark. It sounds urgent.”

“Oh, uhm okay, thanks.” I grab the phone, and press it to my ear, “Hello?”

“Yes, is this Mark speaking?”

“Yes, who’s asking?”

“It’s your mother’s carer. We couldn’t get in touch with you, so we called her last call and she said it should be you.”

“Is my mum okay?!” I ask, snapping at him.

“Well, this isn’t something best told over the phone, Mark.”

“Tell me! Is she okay?!” I shoot up, no longer laying down on the bed, I hear Lucy ask what’s wrong. I quickly wave her off, as not to miss anything the man tells me.

“Well, there has been a misfortunate accident, Mark. Your mother, her illness seems to of worsened since her last check up and well…” His voice trails off into the distance for some time, before speaking up again, “She’s dead, Mark. I’m so sorry. I think you should come home as soon as you can.”

I drop the phone, staring at a wall, while tears fall down my checks instantly. Lucy nervously picks up the phone asking what has been said. When she realizes what’s happened, she hangs the phone up, looking at me with a very saddened look, “I’m so sorry, Mark…” I just continue to stare at the wall, tears streaming down my face, not making a sound. Lucy quickly brings me in for a hug, which I happily accept, still not able to speak because of the sheer shock, I’ve just lost my own mum…

I rest my face in her shoulder, and the tears keep coming. I feel like a dagger has just been ripped through my very heart, and at the same time, I feel like my world just came crashing down around me. The pain from my bruises intensifies, sending waves of cries out of my mouth.

We both go onto the bed and lay down, I’m wrapped in her arms, her whispering in my ear that

Lucy tells me to shush, slowly stroking the back of my head, we lay there on the bed for hours, with me just crying into her shoulder and her comforting me, telling me everything will be okay, even though she is comforting me, all that keeps going through my mind is that my mums last words to me were ‘Love you too; make sure that you eat something!’ And I never even got to eat the chocolate bar, too.