"Pitch! Breakfast!" called Pitch's mom, from the base of the stairs.

"Coming mom!" Pitch yelled down to his mother as he hurried to finish his homework.

Normally Pitch would have already done it, but unfortunately he was distracted last night by the new book that he had checked out of the library. It was a fantasy about a knight in a world without magic, fighting against an evil shadowy group that was trying to control the king of the land. Pitch loved it because the knight was fighting for what was right, even though the bad guys were dragging his name through the mud, making the very people he was trying to help turn on him.

He admired that kind of spirit.

As Pitch went down to eat his breakfast he went over what he wanted to do in his head as he did every day.

"Okay, one, get to school fine. Two, don't have any surges, it would be very bad if it got out of control again. Three... try to find a way to ask Pond to get a milkshake or something. Four, have a good day and get home alright."

"Alright Pitch, eat up!" his mom said as she placed his breakfast at his spot on the table.

"Thank you, mom! It looks just as tasty as always!" he said, being polite as he always was. Not that his mom was a bad cook, he just liked to let her know that he appreciated that she took the time to make his food. He had seen more than a few other kids whose parents made them get the food at school, and that stuff was... less than appetizing, to put it nicely.

While enjoying the pancakes his mom made for him, Pitch listened to his father and mother as they talked to each other. It was nothing that would really affect him so he didn't really hear them, he just enjoyed listening to his parents voices. It made him feel safe and considering how different he was... well, his family loved him, so none of that mattered, it was all okay. Listening to his mother talk about her hospital work was always interesting and it filled him with pride to know that his mother saved lives every day, his father was a little harder to understand as his job was something to do with the law, but it was still nice to hear him talk even if Pitch didn't understand.

"Pitch? Are you listening?" His father asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, um, could you repeat that please?" Pitch said sheepishly as he came back from space gazing.

"I asked if you were feeling any pressure? If you needed the spell cast again?" His dad asked with a worried look.

"No! No, I'm fine. Really! I'm just thinking about school..." Pitch said hurriedly, with a strained smile as he tried to assure his father. He was lying but it still felt safe, and he really, really didn't want the spell again so soon, or before school. It always made doing P.E. so hard.

"It seems like we're needing to re-apply that spell more and more often lately... I'm sorry sweetie, but you know it's for your own good right? We aren't doing this to punish you, or to hurt you..." His mom asked him, giving him a comforting rub on the shoulder.

"Yes... I just don't like it... But I wasn't lying, everything feels fine I promise." Pitch lied to his parents with a sad smile.

"Okay son, just make sure you tell us when you need it. I know it hurts, but it's the only way to protect you from them." said his dad as he went back to reading his paper.

The infamous 'Them'... it was the term used to denote ponies who wouldn't understand Pitch's nature and would try to hurt him. It had been explained to him a long time ago, but Pitch still remembered all the reasons why he needed to keep his magic as hidden as possible.

"So... ~are you going to ask out that filly that you like today?~" asked his mom with a teasing smile, trying and succeeding at changing the mood at the table.

"Mooooom!" Pitch yelled out while he tried to hide his blushing face in his hooves.

When he got to school Pitch talked with Silver and a few mutual friends for a bit before heading to class without talking to anyone else, as usual.

And also as usual, his bully waited until that moment to strike.

"Hey! Blank Flank! Gimme your lunch! I don't want to eat the nasty stuff they serve in this poor excuse for daycare!" said Brute Force, the class bully.

An earth pony from a noble family that was trying to teach him some humility, he had gotten his cutie mark first out of anypony in class, a hoof smashing a boulder shaped suspiciously like a pony, and used that as grounds to pick on anypony without a cutie mark. It was clear that his parents plan wasn't working. His favorite victim was Pitch, as he never fought back or even said anything, he would either ignore him or just do as Brute said without a word.

Nopony said or did anything as he did this, in fact most ponies just ignored it as one of the daily occurrences, like the bell or math class. Even Pitch's class friend Golden Nectar just gave him a sad face and shook his head, doing nothing to help or even shift the attention of the bully.

Pitch, as he had off and on since Brute had gotten his cutie mark, wordlessly handed over his lunch. The bully had an almost board look on his face as he took the lunch that Pitch's mother had lovingly made for her son. He walked away just before the teacher entered the room, sitting down just before she could look at any of her students as she was getting ready for her class.

"Alright, alright, everypony settle down! Class is now going on, get to your seats!" she yelled at the students who were all talking at once, getting them to do as she asked. "Today we're going to be doing something a bit different, instead of just learning about biology from a book as we have been for the past week. Instead, in an effort to force the information into everypony's head, we are going to be taking a more... hooves on approach. Today, we're going to be dissecting a frog, now don't worry! They all died of old age and passed peacefully in their sleep, so there is no reason to feel sad for them."

She levitated a platter with a dead frog to each student, all of the frogs were spread eagle on the platter, arms and legs locked to the surface with small clamps that kept them from moving when they weren't supposed to. She also gave each pony a scalpel, with a stern warning and glare to not even pretend to swing it at another pony, and that if they did they would be suspended for two weeks and have detention for the next four months.

One of the first things Brute did when the teacher wasn't looking was to wave his scalpel at Pitch, as he sat next to him. Pitch just leaned away with a sigh and a deadpan forward stare.

His teacher was talking at the front of the class, but Pitch wasn't listening. Instead, as his thoughts had wandered to the frog in front of him, his magic, the pain in his head, especially the pain building behind his eyes... his eyes which were wandering. He came back to his reality when he realized that Pond Lily, one of the few fillys in his class who didn't avoid him due to his quirks, had lifted up her frog and was using it to wave at him.

He blushed as he realized that he had been staring at her as he had zoned out and quickly looked at his frog to unclasp it, so he could wave back. He fumbled with the clasps for a moment, but he was able to get it undone and lift his frog up enough to stand it on its hind legs and have it wave back at Pond Lily.

Three things happened at once.

Pitch felt a slight sting on his flank and could see a slight glow from the corner of his eye, which caused Brute to scream like a filly once he saw what was casting the light. Then the world exploded, a blast of dark magic shooting out in all directions from Pitch, not hurting anypony, just temporarily blinding everypony in class. Finally, all the frogs in class jerked to life and started jumping everywhere, causing no small amount of panic and sending everything into chaos.

"I should've let dad cast the spell this morning." was Pitch's last thought before the black around his eyes claimed him and he fainted.

Author's Note

Set up is almost done, the real story will begin next chapter or so...