FIRST STRING
The seat of my chair was chafing my flank, my blank flank. The teacher droned on something about how the weather machines worked, drawing little diagrams on the drawing board. I heard the tick-tick-ticking of the clock above the doorway. The fillies in front of me were passing notes. Flitter and Cloudchaser, twins. They both had light purple coats, but while Flitter had a turquoise green mane and tail, her sister had a blue-white mane and tail. I think they both have purple eyes as well.
Urgh! I'm so board! I rolled my red eyes and chewed on the end of my two toned mane, separating the black hairs from the brown ones.
I wanted to bang my head against my desk two or three times and maybe get sent home for being sick or something. I didn't think school could get this boring! I mean, I know I've only been in school for a month, but come on! To say I was getting antsy would be an understatement. My wings were trembling and my hooves ground against my seat, for all the good it did me. Clouds didn't really give the rough, grinding sensation I saw searching for.
Suddenly, the bell rang and my head shot up. I looked to the door and shot from my seat, zipping out the door. Behind me the pair of fillies who'd been passing notes followed. I landed not far from the door to the school, the twins walking up to me from behind. I took a deep breath. Ah, fresh air.
"You okay, Fretlock?" Flitter asked.
"No." I said.
"What's wrong?" Cloudchaser asked.
"I hate school."
"Why?" Flitter asked.
"If it makes you feel better, I didn't like today's lesson either?" Cloudchaser said, a small smile playing across her face.
"It's not JUST that. I don't really care how the cloud machines work or why rainbows are spicy tasting. I want to learn about other stuff too!"
"Like what?" Flitter said.
"I don't know. That's the problem." I said and looked down at my hooves.
"Have you told your parents?" Cloudchaser said.
"Yes. But they're so clueless sometimes. It's like they expect me to be a weather pony when I grow up." I said scowling, "I don't even know anymore. I don't know what to do with myself!"
I got a concerned look from the twins. "Why don't you try looking for other things? Things you don't know about." Flitter said.
"Yeah! You could always try asking what other foals do to have fun." Cloudchaser said, her grin was nearly ear to ear.
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... Okay."
"Who would you like to ask first?" Flitter said.
"What do you two do?"
My question caught them by surprise for a second, but just as quickly they answered in unison,
"Draw!" Flitter said,
"Fly!" Cloudchaser said,
"Okay. Show me how you two do it. Maybe I'll like it too?"
"Sure! Let's start with--" Flitter started,
"Flying!" her sister interupted, throwing her hooves up in my face.
I dropped backwards onto my haunches. I liked her enthusiasm, but her in-your-face way of doing things was almost too much.
"Cloudy! You're being rude again. Besides, we should start with drawing. If we try flying first he'll be too tired to hold a pencil." Flitter scolding her sister was kinda cute.
"Pft. Fine." Cloudchaser scoffed.
We all went back into the school and sat at our desks. Flitter turned her desk to the left so I could watch her draw and copy her. I took out a pencil and a piece of paper. We sat there and scribbled for a bit. Flitter's drawing was pretty good for a foal's. Mine? I needed a fireplace to burn it in.
Flitter held hers up for us to see. I liked it. Cloudchaser did too despite her lack of enthusiasm. I pulled my drawing up for them to see. I smiled as widely as I could, hoping they would not laugh at me, at least not Flitter. I fully expected Cloudchaser to laugh. They both looked at each other then asked,
"It's... good? What is it?"
My ears drooped, "It's supposed to be you two."
"Aww! It's a nice try." Flitter said kindly.
Cloudchaser on the other hoof was holding in a laugh and nearly crying. "Yeah -- a nice try." she started giggling and Flitter gave her an annoyed frown, "I think Fretlock likes us --ck-k!"
Flitter shot her a look and pushed her a bit. I gust stuffed the drawing into my desk. I rested my face in my hooves, a little red and embarrassed, I turned my gaze away from them.
"It's not that bad, Lock. You can keep trying and get better at it if you enjoyed doing it." Flitter put a hoof on my desk.
After she calmed her giggles, Cloudchaser looked at me, eager to do her favorite thing, "So Loverboy? Wanna fly now?" her wings fluttered excited ly, pulling her out of her seat a bit.
"Sure. If it makes you happy and you get a laugh..."
"Aww!" Flitter gave an elated smile. Her sister, a wide-eyed blush.
"What?" Did I say something weird?
The twins hopped down on their hooves and trotted out of the schoolhouse. I followed them out to the playground. Cloudchaser jumped and flew off threw the floating cloud hoops that hung over the cloudy grounds. She flew through them pretty quickly. Flitter and I followed her as best we could. This was much more fun than drawing! I was enjoying trying to do rolls and loops, I was doing something and enjoying it. Maybe I could do this more often?
A group of rowdy colts flew in behind us. They were laughing and I could vaguely hear one of them say, "Hey, watch this!" before he bolted forward and rammed through me and Flitter. We spiraled off and crashed into the semi-soft cloud s below us. I heard flitter give a little yelp and then a poof when she landed in the clouds. Cloudchaser, however, was flying circles around the colts that ruined my buzz
The three of us walked around the room of the school and looked through all the different things that hung on the wall or were laid out on the book shelves. I saw something on the spine of a book that struck out at me. I reached for -- Oomf! -- and was squashed between two fillies peering at what I'd reached for.
"What'ja find?" Cloudchaser asked and pulled the book from the shelf.
I found myself looking up at the back of the, now open, book and the two faces staring down at it.
"It's a music book... but I can't read it." Flitter said.
"Is it in another language?" Cloudchaser asked.
I really want to see what's in that book.
"I'm not sure. Let's ask the teacher when he comes back!" Flitter said, smiling.
"Eh'hem!" they looked down at me, "I'm still here, you know."
They stepped aside and let me out from under their hooves. Once I was up, I turned to look at the book I had wanted to see. I could make out a lot of rows of lines with dots and weird symbols. Maybe it was in another language.
Cloudchaser closed it and pushed it back into the shelf, "No point. I don't feel like learning another language. Besides. Locky here looked like he enjoyed flying before he got knocked down, right?"
"Locky?" I raised an eyebrow at her..
"Cloudy, don't give him cutsy nicknames! He'll get teased." Flitter nudged her sister again.
"Oh come on. A little teasing might toughen him up." she gave me a playful smile.
"I don't want more teasing." I said, unamused.
"See?" Flitter nudged her sister again.
Cloudchaser slapped her hoof away with a loud Whap! "Stop poking me!"
"Ow!" Flitter said, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked angrily at her sister and shoved her. Cloudchaser stumbled back onto somepony's saddlebags. She jumped forward and shrieked. The clasp on the one bag hag broken halfway through and pinched her. Cloudchaser's head rammed right into Flitter's, knocking them both onto their flanks. A second of rubbing hooves on their heads and then they were crying. Loudly. I felt like laughing at first, but their crying made my chest tighten up and I felt like my head was being drained. I felt bad. I don't know why. Was it because they were hurt? Because It might be my fault this happened? Because I might get in trouble for this?
It turns out, I got in trouble for this whole mess. The teacher had come back into the room, seeing me standing in front of two crying fillies. To say I was in trouble would be a misunderstanding. I got put into my seat, roughly, while the twins were taken to the teacher's desk to be looked over and bandaged were needed. They both got ice packs, I got detention. They sat back down at their desks in front of me and we waited til recess was over. We were getting odd looks from the other colts and fillies, me especially since I wasn't hurt. I felt like somepony had pained my smokey white coat bright red, like, Here! Look at me! I'm trouble! I felt pretty bad. Worse than I knew I should.
The last class went by pretty quickly. Quicker than I thought, anyway. I was in my own in little world of bad feelings and worry. It didn't help that when the twins' parents came to get them, their parents gave me mean looks. My mom came to get me, but she had to wait outside for my detention to be over. The teacher, Mr. Long Feathers, made me write and recite, "I will not bully fillies." over and over for an hour. My lips tasted like chalk and my tongue felt fat and loose. When it was all over, my teacher explained to my mother (what he thought) he caught me doing. She looked at me. I couldn't tell what kind of look she had on her face. She looked like she wanted to spank me, cry, yell... Like I said, I couldn't tell. She just kept silent and walked me out of the school and then home. I don't think any walk home had been so long as this one.
"Fretlock." she said calmly.
I stiffened and my trotting beside her felt labored. "Yeah, mom?"
"What - happened?" her words were slow and deliberate. Oh. She was mad.
"Nothing." I said softly.
She turned to look at me and I froze. If her eyebrows could meet in the middle, I'm sure they would have. "Bullying two fillies is not 'nothing', Fretlock."
I hated when she used my whole name like that. "I didn't do anything to them! I promise!"
She backed off a bit, raising her head to its full height. I shank before her height. Her shadow fell over me. The bright blue sky from earlier was growing darker as the weather ponies were laying cloud after cloud higher in the sky for tonight's rainfall. I kicked a hoof at the cloud beneath me.
"Then tell me what happened." she said even calmer than before.
"W-well..." I started slowly. In about ten seconds flat I told her everything that happened when Flitter and Cloudchaser got into their fight. Mom looked like she believed me, but then,
"Alright. We'll wait till we hear from their parents before we decide what to do. Climb on, Locky."
I was in no mood to fight my mother's pet name for me. I climbed onto her back and she flew us home. Being in detention had taken quite a bit of time out of our usual walk home. Oh, we flew here and there, but mostly we walked home from my school. I felt her warm body under my chest and legs. Her tan coat and purple mane brightening up the darkening sky around us. I couldn't tell if mom was angry with me, but I loved being this close to her. I always felt better when I rested on her back. The chill winds only got colder as the sky got darker and darker. I was getting more and more tired by the minute. This had been an awfully long day.
Before I knew realized it, we were home. Mom landed on the roof and opened the top door to step inside. The white door on the red roof of the house swung shut after her and I rode on her back all the way down to the living room, past the drawing room, my room and my parents' room on the second floor, and down onto the main floor where the living room, guest room, kitchen, dining room, and closets were. Mom sat me down on the couch gently and went into the kitchen. The soft cloud-furniture of our house had fabric magically woven over the fluffy stuffing. Our living room had two long couches on either side of the room, two book cases on either side between the couches, and a short table on the middle. The only bad thing about living in a cloud-house was that if the skies were dark outside, so were the walls, floors, and anything else made from the magically shaped clouds. Come to think of it... do all pegasi have an obsession with making nearly everything out of clouds?
The lights in our house were what dad called "soft lights'. Each one was coming to life with a magic flame that cast yellow and orange lights over the walls and warmed the house. The fireplace slowly built to a roar from the enchanted gems near its base. Against the darkening walls and shadows around the house, the warm lights were welcome like hot cocoa.
And, speaking of hot cocoa. I could smell it from the kitchen. I trotted over to the doorway of the kitchen and peeked in. Mom was mixing cocoa mix and hot water in the black mugs. One, two, three? Oh! Dad should be home soon! I'm not sure if I should be happy or scared.
"Mom?"
"Yes?" she turned and looked at me. No smiles, no frowns... it looked like she was annoyed, maybe.
"Is dad going to be home soon?"
"I hope so." she glanced at the clock.
"Are you going to tell him what happened today?"
"Yes. I am."
"Oh. Okay." my ears fell flat against my head and I looked away. I knew I shouldn't feel this way, but I did.
"Fretlock?" I looked up at her, "Do you love your mommy?"
"Yes. I love you lots and lots." my hooves rubbed together.
"And since you love me so much, do you promise me that you're telling the truth? That you didn't bully those girls?"
"I do!" I said, "They were helping me look for something to do. We tried drawing and flying. Me and Flitter got knocked out of the sky by some mean older colts. And then we were all just looking around the class at books and stuff... and then the girls started fighting . They hurt each other. I just watched."
She looked at the ceiling for a second then smiled at me. "Come here, Locky."
I walked over to her slowly and sat next to her, looking at the floor. She reached down and nuzzled my cheek with her nose. I leaned into her and closed my eyes. A smile crept over my face and I found myself nuzzling mom's face. I love my mother. I love her a lot. She was always warm and she never yelled at me. Maybe she'd raise her voice to get my attention, but it wasn't yelling.
Mom returned to fixing the hot cocoa and then took it into the living room. We sat on the floor and sipped our cocoa, waiting for dad. I'm glad toady isn't all bad. I don't think every day could ever be all bad.
Sour Notes
We learned why dad was late. Flitter and Cloudchaser's parents had stopped dad on his way home from work and talked to him. They told him their version of what they hadn't actually seen and told him to keep me away from their daughters. It was unfair and really messed up. They wouldn't believe that the whole thing was an accident. My parents believed me. But when I saw Flitter and Cloudchaser the next day, they wouldn't talk to me. My two only friends in the whole class and they couldn't talk to me or play with me. Flitter slipped a note into my desk after recess,
"Hi, Fretlock,
Mom and dad won't listen to us. We told them you didn't hurt us and that we were just fighting. They say you're bullying us into saying those kinds of things and they don't want to hanging around us any more. I'm really sorry. Me and Cloudy want to play with you a lot, but dad made sure the teachers will keep you away from us.
Cloudchaser cried all night after they said we couldn't play with you any more. I wanted to cry like that too. I wanted to be strong for her so I didn't cry.
I'm so so so sorry, Fretlock. I wish I could undo that fight. I hate my parents for what they're doing.
I hope to see you around. Even when we can't talk to each other. Cloudchaser was kicking the stalls in the bathroom earlier. I think she got detention for it.
Anyway, I don't mean to make this long. I just don't know what to do or what to say. I'm going to miss you. I hope you're alright. Good bye."
I was so mad! I was crying and gritting my teeth and pounding on the floor. This is so unfair! It's stupid! Their parents are stupid! Hot tears stained my cheeks and dripped onto the floor of the colt's wash room. I folded up the letter and tucked it under my wing. I was so angry. I didn't know what to do and my body kept shaking.
Just then, one of the older colts stepped into the wash room and saw my sitting on the floor, tears all over my face. I knew what was coming, teasing, calling me a little filly for crying when I was a boy. He said I should have hit Flitter and Cloudchaser harder... and that was it. I turned all my anger and frustration on him. I don't think he expected me to fight him. I beat him. Not like a little schoolyard fight. I beat him bloody and I think I broke something inside him. When the teacher came to see what all the noise was about I didn't even try to hide it. He took me and set me outside then ran back inside to call for an ambulance team. They showed up about five minutes later and carried the beaten colt off in a stretcher. I watched them fly off to the hospital. I didn't care. The teacher tried scolding me but I blew him off, content to stay angry at everyone but my two friends.
Speaking of, they were looking at me now. They were worried and scared. Now I knew I was never going to see them again. Their parents ran the weather station in Cloudsdale and it was likely dad would get fired or demoted. But, I didn't care. I couldn't care. My friends were gone from me in nearly every possible way. Flitter finally broke down and cried. Her sister holding her in her hooves. I could see where this was going. I was going to be expelled.
Mom came to get me. Her worried face told me all I needed to know. I wouldn't talk. I didn't want to talk. I was just so angry! She and I walked home. She didn't say anything to me until we were home.
"What happened?" she said worriedly.
I just unfolded my wing and let the letter drop to the floor. I didn't look at her. I just looked at the wall. If my eyes could burn a hole in it I'm sure they would have. Mom read the letter and I could feel her heart sink.
"I'm sorry, Locky. We'll fix this somehow. When your father comes home--"
"He'll what?! He'll go off and talk to my friends' parents? They don't listen!" I jumped to my hooved and screamed, "They never listen to anypony! They won't listen to their daughters when they tried to tell them it was a sister fight. Why should they listen to dad at all?! They'll just fire him or something to punish me!" my chest heaved and my hot tears had started again. I thought I was all out but I guess not.
Mom was surprised. I was surprised. I've never been this upset about anything. "Locky, sweety, you have to hope this will get better. You'll still have to be punished for hurting that colt, but you should let yourself be this mad."
"Why not?"
"You might end up hating your friends too. Not just their parents."
Even in my anger-filled state, I found myself able to calm down enough to think about that. I looked over all the wrath and rage I felt and, by entretaining my feelings a bit... yes. I could feel it. I was starting to hate my two filly friends too. My madness turned to cold sickness and sadness. I couldn't believe I could hate my friends at all, even this much. Right now, I was sorrier than I'd ever been. It hurt. Everything about me hurt like I was the one who'd been beaten. Now I wished I was. I hated myself.
Mom wrapped her wings around me and pulled my close to her. She was crying now too. I didn't like this. I just made my momma cry, which made me cry even more. This sucked, it sucked so bad.
Dad came home early. He'd been a little angry lat night before mom told him what happened. Now, though, he was mad. Really mad. He stomped off to his room and mom followed him, giving me a little smile before dissappearing up the stairs. I felt like I was going to die when he came back down so I crept into the corner of the room between the couch and the bookcase, under the window that looked out to the streets.
I heard a little stomping and raised voiced. Mom was talking to dad as carefully as she could, but dad was angry. I think I caught a hint of saying that I threatened his job. I wished so badly that somepony would just come and fix this whole mess or just make me disappear.
Please, somepony! Help me.
The voices upstairs stopped, or, I think they did. I heard mom and dad come down the steps. Somepony approached me and laid a hoof on my trembling body. I opened my eyes to see my dad's grey hoof stroking my mane. He smiled down at me kindly. Mom had calmed him down.
"Hey, kiddo. You okay?" he asked, his black mane falling over his eyes a little bit.
"Y-yeah?" I wanted to say 'no' and I think he knew it. He hugged me in his hooves and wings tightly before letting me go.
"Want to go fix this?" he said softly.
I nodded my head. Then me, mom, and dad went out of the house and off to the hospital. We waited for over an hour to see the colt I'd beaten. His parents sitting right across from us. I didn't talk, my parents didn't say much either. They told the older colt's parents that I was here to apologize and make amends. Once inside the colt's room, and after his parents had talked to him, me and my parents went in. I hung my head but looked up at him as best I could. I told him how sorry I was and how I wished I hadn't hurt him. He just stared at me the whole time. I think he was shocked that I'd actually apologized to him..or... something?
"So, you did this to me because your friends' parents are being unfair?"
"Yeah..."
"And your two friends are fillies?" he said, almost like he was disgusted.
I could only nod.
"Dude. You're amazing!"
I raised my head, eyes wide, Is he stupid? I just beat him up!
"What?"
"Did I hurt your brain or something? You should hate me, or be afraid of me!"
"Naw, it's cool, bro. I would have done the same thing." he smiled, then looked himself over, "Well, almost." he gave a little chuckle.
My father was snuckering behind me. I looked back to see mom elbow his ribs. She looked at him with that 'you jerk!' look she often gave him. To my surprise even the other colt's father had a similar reaction and his mother gave an identical elbow and look same as my mom. She seemed less fond of me though.
"What's your name, bro?" the older boy asked.
"I turned back to him, "Fretlock."
"Mine's 'Asure Light'."
"Nice to beat--I mean meet you." I said, still a little stunned. Asure's mother caught my slip and gave me that look my mom gave my dad, but meaner.
"Well, when I get out of the hospital, you wanna hang out?"
"Um... sure?"
"Sweet! Hey, maybe I can help you with you problem with your friends?"
"Sure?"
"Cool. Well see you around, bro. I'm gonna hang with my folks for a while." Later." he smiled at me, then looked to hisparents, who, walked up even closer to him.
I turned around to look at my parents. They looked at me and smiled. My dad had this 'I know what's going on and it's alright look', but mom had this, 'I don't get what just happened either, but I'm glad everything's okay' look. Me? I was confused. We walked out of the room and the hospital and I turned to my dad.
"What just happened?"
"I think you made a friend." he said.
"By beating him up?"
"Yeah. Some boys have to be taught respect the hard way. You managed to earn his respect the hard way. He'll be a solid friend for a long time, I think."
My mother rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Boys are so weird."
"And don't you forget it." dad said, giving her a little wink. To which, she rolled her eyes again.
