It was a peaceful day in Ponyville and everypony was enjoying the warmth of the summer sun. Well, almost everypony. A small filly walked down the dirt path to the Ponyville Elementary with a solid, stone cold expression covering her face. Her eyes were dull and turned almost gray as the filly walked down the path.
She was a pale pinkie-white unicorn filly with a darker pink mane, the only thing not pink were her eyes. A haunting magenta, they were. Most of the nearby fillies kept clear from her upon seeing her haunting magenta eyes. She was also wearing a vest of silver and purple, the vest was pretty big for a filly of her size and it almost covered her entire body, with the exception of her flank, which processed a cutie mark of a cherry blossom tree's branch.
One filly, a small light blue pegasus with a white mane, that was tied with a golden ribbon, and tail, which had a pink bow tied into it, and green eyes, decided to walk up to the filly to be brave. ''Um, hello. My name is Shiny Prism, but my parents and friends call me Shine because it's easier to say. What's yours? Are you new here? Do you know any spells? What are you parents like?''
The jumble of questions confused the unicorn filly. She hadn't expected anypony to speak to her, but she couldn't turn down the offer to be able to speak to somebody. ''...My name's Cherry Blossom, though many just call me Sakura which means Cherry Blossom in Neighese. Yes I am new here. I can do simply telekinesis and can teleport short distances and my parents.....'' She trailed off, quietly.
Shiny Prism realized something was up and looked away, awkwardly. ''So, what class will you be in, Sakura? Or don't you know yet?''
''....Class 4-B.....what about you?'' asked Sakura, curiously. She was still quiet, unable to understand why anypony would talk to her. Especially after she had given anypony a cold glare for standing too close. But she was surprised, Shine was keeping a fair distance yet talking to her about stuff. It was confusing.
''Same, that's so cool. Your a transfer student, aren't you. After all, it's late in the year. It's almost the summer break then only 6 weeks later is the summer holidays. Where did you live before you moved to Ponyville, Sakura?''
''...Yes, I'm a transfer student. I used to live in...'' Sakura went quiet, thinking 'I can't tell her the truth, after all my parents would kill me. They told me to say Las Pegasus if this happened. I guess, I'll go with that'. She took in a deep breath and turned to Shine, who was waiting patiently for the answer. ''I lived in Las Pegasus.''
''That big city!? That's super cool!'' said Shine, with sparkling eyes. She then saw Sakura cringing and wincing under her shadow. ''Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to go all fanfilly on you. I just love big cities like that, they're so stylish.''
''Style....'' mumbled Sakura, confused. She got a glare from Shine that told her to continue. ''Oh, I'm sorry. I just got the impression that you were a tomboy, I wasn't expecting you to be interested in that kind of thing.''
''Oh. You see, I'm a natural tomboy, after all my mother's a wonderbolt, the same with my late father. And when you have a younger brother, who wants to be a wonderbolt too. It kinda rubs off onto you. But I love stylish clothes and fashion lines, much like my 'Auntie' Rarity, who is the town's fashionesta. Nopony knows where it came from, but from a young age, I was always looking to disigning my mane and tail and wearing cute clothes. Oh yeah, nice vest by the way. It suits you, but I would like to see you without it on. To see the adorable you.'' giggled Shine.
Sakura blushed, she hadn't expected a compliment like that. ''...Um...t-thank you...Miss Prism....''
''Nah, just call me Shine. It's cuter.'' giggled Shine, smirking at the timid filly's blush. ''Look, we're here. Meet cha at lunch, then ya can meet my best friends. Just watch out for Golden Tiara and Silver Penny, they are meanies. Well, see ya when Mrs Dinky introduces you.''
The pegasus filly left her new friend and ran into the 4-B classroom. Sakura just nodded to herself, thinking. 'She was so kind. Unexpected but kind. I do hope she can be friends. I wonder what her friends are like. Oh well, roll on lunchtime.'. She ran inside, hoping that lunch would come quickly.
Inside the classroom. Dinky Hooves, the classroom teacher stood in front of the blackboard, smiling. She had a hoof over Sakura's shoulder as she looked at the class. ''Good morning, little ones. Today, we're having a new student join our class. This is Cherry Blossom, she's been out of school since Kindergarten, because of family issue. This is her first time as a proper student so welcome her warmly. Do you want to say anything, Cherry?''
''Um...well...hello, everypony. Like Mrs Dinky said, I'm Cherry Blossom. I enjoy drawing and singing....I hope to get along with all of you.'' The filly smiled a little, but a moment later it was turned upside down as she was forced to eat her sentence. A couple of fillies were glaring at her and many were throwing comments around.
She listened to where her seat was and rushed to it, tears flowing down her cheeks yet unnoticed by everypony but a little group in the far right back corner of the room. Sakura sat down and put her head on the desk, tears freely flowing as everypony glared at her, saying she was being noisy and annoying. Very little of them cared, and the ones who truly cared was Shine and her friends.
After that, the lesson went on as normal. Yet Sakura was having trouble just reading the blackboard as Dinky spoke. She had never learnt how to read or write, if anypony knew then they would just mock her like they did when she was introduced. It reminded her of her Kindergarten school, where everypony would shun her because she was different, unnatural and unwanted by anypony, not even her family.
But when she could tell was that there were letters and numbers on the blackboard, not that she understand what they meant or what she had to do. She also heard Dinky say the word 'Algabra' everything now and again, was this Algebra? She had to know, yet she didn't want to embrass herself by asking her question.
She continue to be troubled by the work, unable to answer anything, and when she was called on, her answers were all wrong and thus everypony would laugh as if on cue. She eventually choose to give up trying to work it out and rested her head on the desk, tears flowing down her face, soaking her cheeks and muzzle.
She then saw a hoof raise into the air, a light blue one that she recognize as Shine's hoof. Dinky looked at Shine and told her to speak. ''Mrs Dinky, I think S-...Cherry Blossom is having trouble understanding what the lesson is about. I been watching her for a while, and she just doesn't seem to understand. Would you mind if I move places and help her?''
Dinky looked at Sakura, and understand. ''Alright, Shine. Anypony willing to swap places with Shine for a few weeks.'' A single brown and periwinkle spotted hoof rose up. ''Okay, Pippy. Swap with Shine.''
''Alright, mother.'' said Pippy, short for Pip Muffin. The small earth pony rose from her seat and swapped with Shine, who now sat next to Sakura.
''Hi, Sakura. Having trouble?'' asked Shine, when she sat down. The lesson has resumed as normal
''...I-I...just don't understand it, nothing makes sense...I don't remember anything like this from my Kindergarten years.'' cried Sakura, quietly as to not disturb the other students.
''Oh yea, you were out of school for a while, weren't you?'' said Shine. ''So, you wouldn't understand.''
''Yea......family issues forced me to stay at home, with my parents and older brother.''
''Well, what Mrs Dinky is teaching is called Algebra. It's replacing numbers with letters. Here's something simple, if a=5 and b=2, what is a+b going to be.'' said Shine, as she wrote it into Sakura's book for her to answer.
''...Um....I don't understand....I get the letters and numbers but what does add mean?''
''Add is where you put two numbers together, say like 2+2 equals 4. Simple, right?''
''...I guess so....so 5+2, doesn't that equal 7?'' asked Sakura, as she slowly wrote down the number, having followed Shine's writing example. It was messy but clear.
''That's right and it's the answer too. Now, what Mrs is teaching us now is multiplying them. Multiplying is where you times two numbers together, like 10 times 10, which equals....''
''100, right?'' said Sakura, cutting her off.
''Right. Now, here's another question.'' said Shine, as she wrote down 'if a=2, b=4 and c=7 then what's 2c+ab'. If two letters are together, it means times. It's just easier to not write the times in. Now, work it out.''
''....Um....well, the first part is 2 times 7, which is 14, right?''
''Right, now out the ab.''
''A times b is 6...no 8, 8+14 = 22, right?''
''Your prefect, you learn pretty quickly. I guess you learn numbers and letters when you were in Kindergarten, so that helps you. Now, here you go.'' Shine wrote down a various group of questions, that Sakura answered pretty quickly, even quicker then Shine had ever seen during and before the lesson. ''Wow, your quick and their all right. Maybe we should join back into the lesson.''
''....Yes, I think I understand it more but if I need your help, I'll ask you.''
The lesson went on, and Sakura didn't have to ask for help and even answered some of the questions that Dinky had asked. In fact, she was so optimestic that she was sad when the lesson finally finished. The day rolled on and on, Sakura was happy learning along with the other fillies trying to figure out the work.
Sakura walked slowly out of the classroom into the playground, staring at the other fillies who were sitting around either eating their lunches or playing games with their friends. It was a happy site and warmed her slightly frozen heart, it was what kept her from despair, despair that she could barely escape. After all, what happened to her....
''Oh look, it's the new filly.'' said a voice, catching Sakura's attension. She turned to see a pair of earth ponies, one themed in golden and the other themed in shades of white, gray and black. The pair looked pretty weird standing next to each other, but their cutie marks were similar both themed in money. The golden filly had a golden tiara, hinting that this was the Golden Tiara that Shine spoke about. And the other one had some silver bits on his flank. Were these really Golden Tiara and Silver Penny?
''What do you want...'' muttered Sakura, with a cold tinge to her voice that frightened her more then it did the foals. She normally spoke in a soft, not warm or cold, voice but this cold tinge spooked her like everything else to do with this school.
''We want to tell you that your a annoying twit. All you do is cry and that might as well be your pathetic talent, if you have one.'' mocked Golden Tiara, sneering at the filly's flank which to her appeared blank. ''Do you even have a cutie mark?''
Silver Penny walked around Sakura and spotted the cherry blossom cutie mark on her flank. ''What does a cherry blossom even mean, it's not a talent. So basically you probably just painted that pathetic talent onto your flank, how stupid. Your more stupid then Pip Muffin who has her grandmother's stupid eyes. The only thing keeping her better is that she has a cutie mark with a meaning, unlike you.''
A few tears leaked from Sakura's eyes, she quickly wiped them not wanting to show weakness to the bullies. She decided to make up a small lie because she couldn't tell them the true story behind her cutie mark, she couldn't tell that to anypony, not even Shine. ''What do you know, I have a talent and it's helping bring spring. I earned my cutie mark last spring during winter wrap up when I helped a cherry blossom tree bloom with success ready for the birds to lay their nests.''
''That's still pathetic, you have a talent that factors on one aspect of a season. Winter at that, we're nowhere near winter. We're in summer from Celestia's sakes, so get your head out of that pathetic cloud and back down onto the ground where it belongs.'' said Golden Tiara, mocking the small unicorn. ''If your going to lie then you should just magic up a cutie mark, it should be simple for a unicorn. Oh wait, I never even seen you use basic levertaition. I bet you can't use it can you.''
Sakura gritted her teeth, prepared the magic surging within her and was about to show the no good bully who's boss. Suddenly, a blue figure streaked down from the sky, well from the swings actually, and kicked Golden Tiara in the face and it landed the golden filly in a mud puddle as on-sighters what in shock as the figure landed and turned out to be Shine, standing next to her were two fillies. ''Stop bullying her, you no good, spoil little bitch. Or do I have to tell you that your mother and 'father' that your bullying again.''
Sakura just watched in shock, like she had seen in all happen in slow motion. She hadn't expected Shine to come out of nowhere, especially with the two friends that she had mentioned earlier. It was just unbelievable and that wasn't the only thing to shock her that day, not by a long shot.
