The morning was half over, and Cheerilee's earlier melancholy had been washed away by the smiles of her students. Even now they were chatting merrily while discussing the writing prompt their teacher had given them. Doubtless more than half of the conversations had strayed into what had occurred over the summer months, but it was only the first day and the purple and pink mare was willing to be lenient. She was just about to call everyone's attention back to the front of the class when she was forestalled by a knock on the door.

Most chose to continue their conversations, though a few of the more curious children looked for the source of the disturbance even as their teacher hurried to answer. They hardly ever had visitors to the schoolhouse in the middle of the day, this year was looking up!

The door opened to reveal a grey-coated stallion with a weedy, straw colored mane and a white, button up shirt. His cutie mark was one of those old fashioned calculators that spit out the strip of paper from the top. From the frown on his face, it was clear there was somewhere else he'd rather be. Cheerilee spotted her new student slouched behind the stallion, and she guessed he didn't want to be here either. Her unease from this morning churned back to life in the depths of her stomach.

The older stallion cleared his throat, drawing her focus back to himself. "Miss...?" he left the silence hang in the air until she felt obligated to fill it. "Cheerilee" she supplied with a smile that she hoped would put them both at ease.

"Miss Cheerilee, I'm Slick Figure and this is my son Silver. I believe you should have been informed he was transferring into your class?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Welcome, both of you, to Ponyville." the words came out perhaps a little too fast.

"I hope his tardiness isn't too much of an inconvenience. Rest assured he'll be punctual from now on." Slick shot his son a glare that left the consequences for future cutting unstated but clearly implied. Silver merely rolled his large blue eyes and sighed, but he seemed to get the message.

"It's not a problem, so far today we've mostly been going over the yearly syllabus, so he hasn't missed much. Why don't you come inside Silver?" By now the topic of the student body's conversation had turned to the identity of this newly glimpsed black colt, and if their curiosity was not sated soon Cheerilee feared her classroom would descend into chaos.

Silver was about to comply when his father's hoof on his shoulder brought him up short. "You know I have to get back to work, son." The older stallion remarked. He pulled the boy into a hug before he could protest. "I know this is a big adjustment, but Ponyville is a fresh start for both of us. Listen to Miss Cheerilee, and I'm sure you'll make all kinds of new friends. You can tell me all about it tonight." The teacher finally saw some of the father in her student as his deep blue eyes softened briefly in the embrace. But he was at that awkward age where children begin to be embarrassed by their parents, so the young colt quickly broke his fathers grasp. "Yeah. Sure, Dad." was all he said as he entered the schoolhouse. Slick let him go, and with a nod to Cheerilee turned to walk back to town and his work. She closed the door and turned back to her own.

"My little ponies!" the sound of her voice caught the attention those few in the back still unaware, but more importantly it stilled the chatter. Once things were calm, Cheerilee continued "You can all see that we have a new member of the class. I trust you'll all make him feel welcome here in his new home." The majority of the class nodded enthusiastically at the prospect of a new friend, and she felt so proud of her students in that moment. "Why don't you give your name and introduce yourself?" Instantly all eyes turned to the lanky black newcomer standing in front of the chalkboard.

"Uh..." he hesitated, looking first at his classmates and then at his teacher until she gave him an encouraging nod. "My name's Silva Slice, and I'm from Manehattan..." his words carried a slight Broncs accent, but they trailed off uncomfortably.

Three uncomfortable heartbeats passed before Cheerilee realized there wasn't more forthcoming and decided to step in to fill the gap. "Thank you, Silver! Now, does anyone have any questions for our new friend? I'm sure he'd be happy to answer them for you."

She almost instantly regretted her invitation, as Diamond Tiara's hand shot up. The pastel pink filly didn't even wait to be called on before blurting out what was on her mind. "Miss Cheeerilee," despite the smile pasted on her face, the foal's teacher hated the nasally way her most troublesome student drew out the first half of her name. "Why would someone from Manehattan leave the city and come all the way out here to live in Ponyville?" The question was innocent, but the implication was clearly that there must be something wrong with the new student.

"Well..." the teacher hedged, unsure what would be appropriate to share.

She was saved from her dilemma when Silver's blue eyes narrowed and the formerly taciturn kid spoke for himself. "I got expelled cause some mare thought she could bully me, and I broke her legs."

For the first time since Cheerilee had known Diamond Tiara, the girl was struck dumb, her mouth literally hanging open in shock at the threat. The expression alone was priceless, and the teacher wished she had had a camera ready to preserve the moment forever. No one else was aware of the black colt's history, and titters erupted from the foals at the joke. They quickly died as everyone realized Silver wasn't smiling.

Cheerilee sighed inwardly. No matter how satisfying that comeuppance had been, she knew Silver Slice had just confirmed Diamond Tiara's unstated accusation and that things would now be much harder for him. Best to cut things short before he got a chance to dig himself a deeper hole. "Thank you, Silver! But I'm afraid we've no more time for questions. Please choose one of the empty desks and take a seat. The rest of you, please take out your summer observation reports and begin passing them forward."

There were quite a few empty desks, as last year's graduation had been fairly large, and Silver was the only new student this year. Still, amidst the busy shuffling of papers there was a fair amount of trepidation from the foals on either side of the row he walked down. The teacher noted that no one seemed to want to be the one he sat down next to, with the possible exception of the three other blank flanks in her class. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been a frequent target of Diamond Tiara's ire in the past, and Sweetie Belle actually motioned at an empty desk next to her. Silver ignored her invitation, stalking past to settle in a desk near the back, next to exactly nopony.

As Cheerilee gathered up the stacks of papers gathered to the front, she hoped this would be the most dramatic thing to happen this school year, but the pit in her stomach told her that hope was in vain.

Author's Note

We finally get to meet one of our focus ponies in this chapter, and it's clear he has an attitude. It's already earned him many enemies, but has he won any friends? We'll see in the next chapters!