Silent Strike

It was a bright, sunny day in Ponyville. It was 8:15, so most of the foals were at school preparing for their new school year.

But for three ponies it wasn't just a school year, it was their last school year as they are graduating Primary School and are going to Secondary School. It was a year of preparing for exams, re-learning everything they've had in their first five classes.

All of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are thirteen, so they are now teenagers. But they were not excited about finishing their Primary School. For them, it means that they'll have to study hard, rarely having time for any cutie mark crusade. Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle prepared for their Math class, which was first that day.

Cherilee, the teacher, entered the class and greeted all the pupils. She walked to her teacher desk and said:

"Attention everypony! We are having a new pony this year!"

As she said it, a unicorn stallion entered the class. He was quite hoofsome with his perfectly cleaned, short light gray coat, a black spiky mane and tail with few white stripes in them, pale cyan eyes, and slightly pointed ears. And he was a little taller than Cherilee, making him almost a head taller than the highest pony in the class, who was Scootaloo.

Most of the fillies were frozen in place, staring at the stallion. Well, most of the ponies their age were dreaming about a white hoofsome stallion coming for them to bring them to his castle, so the new stallion was almost a dream-come-true for them.

"Well, would you be so kind and tell us about yourself?" Cherilee asked the stallion. He nodded in response.

"Hello everypony," he started. His voice was a little deep in a good way, which drew more attraction towards the stallion from the fillies. "My name's Silent Strike, I'm fourteen and I came here from a northern village. There isn't really anything interesting about me."

"Alright," the teacher said. "Do anypony has any questions for him?"

Diamond Tiara couldn't miss the moment to mock another... Blank-flank. She raised her hoof.

"Silent, what is your special talent?" she asked.

"I don't have a special talent yet," the stallion replied, looking at the pink filly. The Cutie Mark Crusaders squeed in excitement - maybe the stallion will join their club!

"You are fourteen already and you don't have your cutie mark? That must be a shame," Diamond said with a grin on her face.

"I don't care if I or any other pony don't have a cutie mark. For me, it's just a tattoo on the flanks, nothing more."

"Just a tattoo? It can change you and your future! Blank-flanks can't earn anything in life!" Diamond Tiara said, giggling. The stallion ignored her mocking.

"Hmm, I can see that your cutie mark is your tiara," Silent said with his corners of the mouth up. "Does that mean that your special talent is... wearing a tiara?"

"What? No!" the pink pony said and huffed, silencing. Other foals giggled: finally someone was able to mock Diamond Tiara back!

Suddenly a school bell rang, announcing the beginning of the lesson and the ponies went to their places.

Lunch break, 12:00.

Silent Strike went outside the school, carrying a saddlebag on his back. He decided to lay on the grass nearby. He layed down, opened his saddlebag and took a book out of it. He opened it, covering its title on the cover with his right hoof and began reading.

"Hey there, blank-flank," a sneering voice sounded. "I am the only one who mocks here, you understand that?"

The stallion twitched his ears but ignored Diamond Tiara, reading his book.

"Hey, do you hear me?" she angrily said. "Don't you dare ignore me!"

She landed her left hoof on stallion's book. Suddenly the stallion made some quick moves and a moment after Diamond Tiara was flying towards the nearest tree, hitting it with her head a second after. The stallion glared at her, but said nothing and layed down, wiped his book and continued reading, ignoring Diamond Tiara's groans as she fell from the tree on the ground.

"Wow, have you seen that, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked, staring at the stallion. She and all the CMC were sitting near the school entrance, watching Diamond Tiara and Silent Strike.

"Yeah, awesome!" Scootaloo replied in a cheerful voice. "Rainbow Dash wanted to teach me martial arts, but now I think she's not the only one who is good at it. It was like, I don't know, a second, and here's DT flying towards the tree! That was SO awesome!"

"Yep, dat must've hurt. Ah thought dat stallion was just all fancy, wanting to have a new fillyfriend to do things fer 'im. Ah just thought dat he is like Prince Blueblood, good on da outside ahnd rotten on da inside," Applebloom added, looking at still laying Diamond Tiara who rubbed her head with her pink right hoof.

After the lessons, in the classroom.

Cherilee gathered Diamond Tiara, her parents and Silent Strike in the classroom for a talk.

"Silent Striker, I am disappointed with you. It's your first day and you started it with a fight!" the teacher said. "I want an explanation from you, Silent."

"She insulted me, invaded my personal space, and damaged my property," he replied, taking the book out of his saddlebag. It was a bit dirty and had a small hoofprint on it.

"And is it really Diamond's hoofprint? Perhaps you faked it?" DT's mother asked, glaring at the stallion.

"Just compare," Silent Strike replied. The stallion gave her the book and she compared DT's hoof with the hoofprint. They were the same.

"Diamond, I am disappointed," DT's mother said to her. "I'll have a little talk with you once we get home."

"Well, if I am not the guilty one, I'm going home," Silent Strike said, put his book back in a saddlebag and went out of the school, heading to his home.

His house was pretty small. It had only one floor with only one room. This house had been abandoned for years when finally Silent Strike moved in and bought it for the price of ten bits.

The house was poorly decorated, it looked more like a box with a triangular roof than a house. However, Silent didn't care as long as he had a home to live. He repainted the house white and repaired parts of the roof.

The inside had been pretty poor too. The walls hadn't have any wallpapers and had been very dusty. Once Silent Strike moved in he repainted the walls white and added some furniture in the room.

Now the room is quite comfortable, even if there is only one window with thin curtains. The room had a sink in the right far corner, a bath and a toilet nearby, both covered behind a blue rubber curtain, a wooden bed with a soft mattress beside the window, a chest of drawers with a phone on it near the window, a small dark wooden table with a chair of same material near the wall, one large black wooden box with a lock under the table, a cupboard with plates, forks, spoons and kitchen knives on the nearest wall , and a small painting on the wall near the bed. The painting represented an outside scenery of a large field with a lone tree in its center.

Silent Strike sighed in relief as he was finally at home. He took off his saddlebags and put them near the bed. The stallion stretched himself and went to the cupboard, getting a plate, a fork and a knife, and a loaf of white bread as well. He put the loaf on the table and cut off two slices of bread. He took one of them, smeared it with apple jam which he also took from the cupboard and ate it.

Suddenly the phone rang. Silent Strike turned to the source of the sound and took the phone with his magic. He brought it to his and answered the call.

"Hello, Silent," a low, raspy male voice came out of the phone. "How is it going in Ponyville? Getting on well with your new classmates?"

"It seems that most of the fillies have an attraction towards me," the stallion replied. "Well, one of them tried to mock me for my blank-flank-ness, but I didn't give her a single chance."

"Tell me more about that filly," the voice asked.

"It seems she's the bully in the class. I've heard of her before as she is infamous for her rudeness and her hate towards ones who doesn't have a cutie mark."

"Well, that would explain why she tried to mock you. And what have you done to her?"

"I showed her my skills of martial arts. I think she'll have a headache for the rest of the week, but she deserved that."

"And that's how we do it, kid," the voice laughed. "Never give any bully or anyone else to treat you like crap. Anyway, do you remember why are you in Ponyville now?"

"I do remember the reason," the stallion replied. "Do not worry."

"Good luck then," the voice said and hung up. Silent Strike put the phone back on the chest of drawers, ate the second slice of bread and sat at the table, opened his saddlebags, took some of the textbooks and started doing his homework.