"I swear you were put on this earth to help Red."
He gives her a confused look, "How do you know?"
The woman chuckled at the child's response, "Well for one, your the only boy in the world that I've met that would stay after school to help his teacher clean up."
He blushed at that, "Well I'm not the only student to do that, and besides it's not like I help her with much."
The woman chuckled again before giving him another response, "OK that's true, but aren't you also the boy that helps the elders at the retirement home?"
"Well someone has to help them, it's not like those meanies from the high school will ever do it. All they care about is themselves."
"Hey now, your brother goes there, so you can't say "all" of them are meanies."
"OK then everyone, except for him, are meanies."
The woman gave a warm smile to the boy and rustled his hair, "That's better," she pulled him into what would be the last hug he would ever receive from her, "I love you Red."
"I love you too mommy."
closing his eyes and leaning back against the chair, Red sighed and smiled at memory of his mother. He loved that memory, he loved seeing how proud his mother was of what he had done that day. He knew that there was other good memories of his mother and him, but no memory could stand out more than that one. It was the day that he knew what he was meant to do in life, and that was to help people.
His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of a door. He opened his eyes just in time to greet the person who now was now entering the room.
"Good day Principal Celestia." He said, slightly smiling at the site of the principal.
"Good day Mr.Burner." she replied with a smile. closing the door behind her, She turned towards him and rolled a large inflatable ball out from under her desk.
Red always chuckled a little every time he saw the principal pull out that ball, he didn't really know why though, he guessed it's because he never seen any other Principal do that before. He watched as she straighten the ball out so she could sit, after a couple of minutes of moving the ball around, she down on it, trying not to fall over in the process.
"I do apologize for my tardiness today Red," she said, wobbling on the ball, "but Vice Principal Luna and I were just finishing up a call with the truancy officer."
"Oh?" he said in a curious tone, "why did she call this time?"
Celestia sighed and shook her head in disapproval, "Adagio, she ran off again. Sometimes I wonder why she still comes here if she's just going to keep running off like this. If she doesn't stop doing this soon, I'm afraid I'll have to expel her. "
Red thought on this for a moment "Adagio, she the golden haired one that was friends with sonata right?"
Celestia gave him a questioning look, "Well they're actually sisters but yes that is her, why do you ask?"
Red thought for a moment before answering. He at one time was very close to Adagio, but he knew if he told Celestia that, she would continue to question him, So he lied. "Well, the only reason I ask is because I've seen her in a couple my classes and I happen to be good friends with sonata girlfriend and well..."
Celestia chuckled. She already knew what was coming next, "And you want to try to see if you can help another student out again right?"
Red blushed and smiled slightly at the principals remark. His kind and helpful nature was known and respected by most at Canterlot high, he was always helping in one way or another, whether that be setting up for the school dances, or showing a new student around Canterlot high, Red was always willing to help those that needed it.
"You know me so well."
"Well of course, your always in here helping Vice Principal Luna and I. Not to mention all of the students who've come in to tell us about what you do around here." Celestia chuckled and and gave Red a smirk, "Hey by the way, where's our Friday special?"
"Oh yea," he mentally face palmed himself, almost forgotten why he came to the Principals office in the first place. He reached under his seat and pulled out two steaming mugs. He put both mugs on the table closest to Celestia, "one lactose free caramel mocha for you, and for Ms.Luna, a black."
Celestia gave a sigh of relief at the sight of the mugs, "oh thank goodness, I thought you had forgotten. Heaven forbid Lulu doesn't get her coffee." Celestia grabbed her cream colored mug and began to drink the warm liquid within it.
Red watched as the principal slowly drank from the mug, wondering how she was able to drink such an odd concoction. He had bought it once before, just to see if the drink was as good as the principal told him it was, but to his displeasure though, he found that the drink tasted more like sugar than coffee.
Once Principal Celestia finished drinking her "coffee", she turned her attention back to their conversation. After about an hour of conversing with the principal, Red glanced at his watch to find that he only had a few more minutes before his spare was over.
"Well, it seems my spare is coming to an end," he said, as he stood up from his chair, "I best be going, I don't want to be class late for class again." He was headed for the for the door, but before he could open it, he heard Celestia call his name. "Red wait," she said. Pulling out two dark colored items from her pocket, she handed them to him. "I know this a little late, but Luna and I thought you deserved these for helping repair the front of the school."
He looked over the two items she gave him. They were two small purple slips of paper that had nothing written on them, except for two bold black letter, "F.D".
confusion spread across his face as he looked over the slips of paper, "what are these?"
"There "free day" tickets. Just think of them as a sort of alibi so you don't have to come to school when you don't want to."
"Well thank you, i guess," He put the tickets into his pant pocket, "but aren't these things considered, you know, illegal?"
Celestia smiled and shook her head, "Well yes, but if you call Vice Principal Luna or I, we'll know that you have those and just stay you came down with the flu or something like that."
Red gave her a shrug and turned for the door. As Red was opening the door, he caught a look at one of the many student awards that covered the rooms walls. He took a step back to get a better look at it. His smiled faded once he saw what was on it. Without saying a word, he took the award off the wall and began to look it over. He felt tears begin to well up in the corners of his eyes as he read what it said, Canterlot High honors award, awarded to Stone burner.
He quickly wiped the corners of his eyes and tried to put the award back before Celestia would notice that he had taken it down. But as he went to put the award back up though, he now found that the spot was being blocked by a pair of white hands. He sighed, and turned to see the source of where the hands came from. He was surprised how fast Celestia was, but even more so on how quite she was, it was almost as if she had teleported herself. Red hung his head, trying not to let Celestia see his pain.
"I.. I'm sorry..," he said, holding the award closely to his chest, "I... I just-"
"I know," she said sadly, cutting his explanation short. He could hear the sympathy that was now in the principals voice, " I know how much your brother meant to you."
He looked at the award again, "He was all the family i had left after... after our mom passed away." He looked up at Celestia who had now moved away from the wall. She pulled a card out from her desk and handed it to him. He read what was written on it, "Dr. Red heart, licensed psychology therapist."
He sighed, "thank you Ms.Celestia but I don't need help, I'm perfectly fine." He put the card in the pocket opposite of the one that held his free day tickets.
"Alright Red," She said uncertain, "but promise me you'll hold on to that card. It'll just make me a little more at ease knowing that you have it"
He gave a small smile,"O...OK." His mood lifted a little after hearing the concern in the principals voice. It made him feel a bit better knowing that he still had someone who cared about him.
Without another word, Red quickly placed his brothers award back onto the wall and left Principal Celestia's office before she could say anything else. He walked as fast he could down the hallway to his class, fighting off the memories of his brother.