"Sweetie Belle, your father is here!" The school teacher stated, causing my sour faced filly to hop down from her desk and lurch towards me. I wore as muted an expression as possible, both disappointed and understanding of the ongoing issue she had with the other fillies here. Sweetie Belle stood before me, next to the teacher's desk. "Hello Magnum...." Cheerilee groaned, smiling her exasperated smile. "I supposed you know why I asked you here...again."
I nodded once or twice. "Another fight, wasn't it?"
"I didn't start it!" Sweetie chirped, shooting bolt stiff as she did.
"Sweetie Belle, it doesn't matter who started it, what matters is who threw the first hoof!" Cheerilee continued to chastise my child, right in her own mind and right in the laws. Even if I did feel differently, I wasn't about to interrupt her doling out a useful lesson on the matter. "Now...I don't want you two--"
"We weren't hanging out, we weren't even talking! She just came up to us and started being mean!" Sweetie cried, stomping her tiny hooves on the ground. "Daddy I--"
"I'll take care of this," I stepped next to Sweetie and pulled her behind me. "Thank you Cheerilee."
The teacher smiled her tired smile and nodded, "Just please talk to her, we can't have this get out of hoof, more than it already is...that is." She laughed a nervous laugh and set her head down on the desk. "Its been a long day...."
"I can imagine." I jeered, turning towards the door and nudging Sweetie Along with a hoof. Cheerilee realized my jab halfway out the door, letting out a low whine and nickering at me. "Alright Cheery, go take a nap." I cooed, the pony quite a few years younger, and something of a little sister after my arrival in Ponyville. I was glad she of all ponies was the one to teach my foal, but I knew about the fights for sometime, and haven't quite put my thoughts on the matter into order.
I walked through the calm autumn air, a few leaves clinging to barren branches, Sweetie trudging along after me like a sullen cow about to be milked. "Sweetie...ya wanna talk about it?"
Sweetie turned her nose sharply, "No." A gust of wind blew past, causing her to shudder hard. "It's not even my fault, but everypony is still mad at me!"
I shook my head, spotting a few ponies heading around the town next to us. "I'm not mad at ya sweetheart."
"Yes you are!" She snapped, racing before me and stopping us in the middle of the street, "You wouldn't have put on the sweater if you weren't mad!"
I looked down at my front end, the thick sweater completely benign. "Sweetie, it's just a sweater."
"Liar! It's your dad sweater! It's the one you wear when you talk with Rarity!" Sweetie walked backwards, dusting the ground with her tail to keep straight. "You're always so serious when you have it on, you're no fun, and I hate it!"
I looked back down at my sweater, pushing Sweetie towards home with each step towards her. "Honey there's a reason why I'm serious when I wear this...and it's- it brings up something I'd like to talk to you about."
Sweetie spun around before me, walking with me down the dirt road towards home. "See...I knew it had something to do with the sweater."
I shrugged, tapping my hoof on the ground a few times, "Sweetie do you know what this is?" I stopped and tucked my hoof under my free sleeve, I pushed out the guardspony patch, "Ya recognize it?"
Sweetie leaned in, rubbing her chin with her hoof. "I don't know...it's just your sweater, I don't--"
"It's a guards' patch honey." I pulled my hoof out and popped it back against the dusty road through Ponyville, "Nine-hundred-eighty-three After Banishment, Clash Company, Third Guard Battalion." I read out my service information, passing from the empty path from the town and into the crowded streets of Ponyville, the roads cleared of by the stiff breeze jumping down every alley and passage. "That was...almost twenty years ago now, Rarity was barely born, I was still bright white, my mane was still thick." I chuckled, my age just starting to show as grey speckled my coat and tail. "Twenty years...hes been gone twenty years...."
Sweetie looked around the narrow path, "Uh, who?"
I coughed roughly, "Bucky Horseshoes, not his real name of course...Bucky, something." I trotted to a stop outside a sweet shoppe. "He used to beat me up, he used to beat up ponies all over Vanhoover."
Sweetie's eyes went a bit wide, "You had a bully!?" She squeaked, her pubescent voice cracking sharply. "But...you're big, and tough, and--"
"I wasn't always." I stated, continuing my march through the cold streets. "But Bucky was just mean, to everyone. He used to wear these bright brass horseshoes, cleats. Everypony knew he was trouble, and nopony ever went around him."
"Well..." Sweetie stomped a circle, dusting her tail around like mad. "Did you hate him?"
I took a deep breath and looked down to Sweetie. "Do you hate...what's her name, Diamond something?"
"Tiara?! Yes, yes I hate her! She's so mean, and she's manipulative, I wish she'd just go away and die somewhere!" She screamed, rearing up and stomping her hooves, plumes of dust kicking up as she did.
I stared at my daughter, leaving her to kick and scream, exert her rage and tire herself out. "Sweetie, let me tell you a little story, okay?"
Sweetie huffed angrily, red in the face and dusty. "Fine...."
I cleared my throat, "You know where Vanhoover is?"
"Yes...mom took me like a month ago!"
I nodded, "and you know about the north, right? The real cold north, the north were bad ponies live."
Sweetie tapped her hooves on the ground, "Uh...no?"
I blew a stream of foggy air past my mustache, continuing my walk towards the edge of town. "North, beyond the crystal empire, near the places it always snows, there are bad things. They come down from the mountains, like the timberwolves from the Everfree. And...they take ponies away, a lot." I scratched at the dirt, spotting the unicorn badge on my sleeve. "And Celestia sent the guard...and, Vanhoover got its own guard unit. They sent about five ponies, told them, get volunteers, just get anyone."
Sweetie smiled wide, "And you joined?"
I matched her smile with a frown. "I did...Bucky did too." I took a deep, biting breath. "Bucky, Bitter Spring, Crescent, Parka, Tom-Tom, and me...all colts from the same school."
Sweetie let out a gleeful cheer as we moved into the grasslands that surrounded the lake, the cold damp grass brushing along my underhoof. "That's so cool!"
I smiled down at her, "I thought it was pretty cool too. I got armor, this sweater, my friends and I were all grown up. This was way back, even before Rarity." I smiled at the thought of my younger self. "But there was always Bucky too." My smile quickly faded, "And he's who I wanted to talk to you about."
Sweetie stopped as we passed the edge of the lake, the water freezing around the edges and littered with leaves. "But...you hated him, why do you--"
"Sweetie, I hated Bucky, we all hated Bucky, Bucky was a bad pony. But he was still a pony." I took a stern breath, blowing it out my nostrils and whinnying. "He was still a pony."
Sweetie paced a circle before me. "Dad...are you okay?"
I nodded, scratching the grass with my hoof. "I'm fine honey. This is a story from a long time ago, and I've got a lot to keep me happy." I reached out and rustled Sweetie's mane, "But this...you want your little bully to go away, you said you wanted her to die?"
Sweetie pushed free of my hoof. "Yes...no.... I just wish she'd stop being such a witch."
"You said you wanted her to die." I stated, "I wanted Bucky to die too, I think everypony did." I turned to the lake, spotting our home along the rim. "And when it happened, when he died, when he got chewed up by wraith, do you know who came to his funeral?"
Sweetie stepped back, chewing softly, "Um...no."
"Nopony." I stated calmly, trying to keep from bowling over my daughter with my words. "One one pony showed up to say goodbye, and that was himself."
Sweetie fell to the grass, her ears flopping low. "Wait...nopony came to say goodbye?"
"Sweetie...when Bucky died I thought I'd be happy, I thought I could stop thinking about his bullying and just move on. But seeing him sitting there, alone, nopony deserved that." I adjusted the neck of my sweater, "It was over Sweetie, Bucky's bullying was gone. But nothing got solved, nothing got resolved, there was no happy ending. He was just gone, and everypony could see just how alone he was."
Sweetie looked out to the lake. "But...it was over, you said--"
"Over, and, Resolved, are two very different things." I spotted my wife stepping out of the house, spotting us and waving a hoof. "Just...remember, when somepony is gone, you can't apologize, you can't look back and change what you said, it's just over. Now go on, your mother's going to want some help cooking."
Sweetie lingered around me, staring out over the lake. "Oh...okay." She lifted her rump off the grass and started slowly pushing towards our house.
I sat there, staring out over the lake. "Sorry Bucky," I straightened out my stache, "for what it's worth...I'll always be sorry."
