Prism Blitz sighed as she pushed the door of her home open. Mornings were always tough on the pony, the dread of reaching her school almost forcing her back into her room with each day. But the smile of her father when she returned always made up for it. He loved her with all her heart, and she loved him in the same way. They had become close after her mother's disappearance, both of them helping each other through the difficult time.
“Have a good day at school, sweetie!” He called from the living room, bringing a small smile to the young pony.
“Thanks, dad! See you later!” She called back, placing her usual façade over her voice to mask her want to stay at home.
She stepped from the doorway and closed the door behind her, taking a look around. Not many ponies were up at this time of the morning, as her school began its lessons earlier than most others would. This was of no issue to Prism, as it gave her time to walk alone.
Her walk was mostly quiet, the occasional bird or animal breaking the stony silence that inevitably came with each one of her walks. As she journeyed through her town, her gaze became focused on the pavement before her. The passing cracks would draw her eyes over to them as she moved, giving her something to move her focus to as she thought about her upcoming day.
The school itself was fine. The teachers were mostly reasonable, and the general passing percentage was above average. But it was the students that could be more of a... problem.
With her mother being a pony, and her father a zebra, it left her appearance almost comical to the immature minds of the students. Instead of the dull, monochrome stripes that most zebras had, hers were a dark blue, going well with her light blue fur that covered the un-striped areas. Her mane and tail were black, a rainbow streak breaking the dull colour.
This colour scheme was, of course, not the norm, and because of that it gave the bullies plenty to use. Various comments were thrown at her about her stripes and her hair, none of them pleasant. She could have handled it if it ended there, but many of the ponies would deliberately cause trouble, and then blame it on her. With enough ponies shifting the blame to her, none of her explanations would be heard.
Not all of the ponies were like this, but the few that were not inherently mean spirited to her were too afraid of ruining the reputation they had by actually speaking with her. She was alone, surrounded by ponies that would sooner shun her than talk with her.
Her attention eventually shifted up when the school came into view. The quiet environment of the town had helped to calm her slightly, but the same feeling that had nearly overcame her that morning remained at the back of her mind, threatening to break through.
A few ponies were hanging around the gates, talking with one another. Those conversations quickly became hushed whispers, however, when she was noticed by the majority of them. Prism already knew the topic of their now whispered conversations, she just wished it was something else.
Ignoring the ponies around her, she walked into the school. The corridors were fairly crowded with other students either waiting for their classes or stowing their belongings inside their lockers. She had learned early on that anything she brought with her would be broken or stolen, so she had stopped completely, relying on the school to provide her with the necessary equipment.
When she arrived at the door to her class, she opened it and sat at her table. Normally there were not any designated seats, but a situation involving a group of ponies shifting the blame of a prank to her ended her with a seat right at the front.
The teacher hadn't arrived yet, likely still in the teachers office, leaving her with time to get ready. First, she checked the drawer on the table for any signs of pranks, of which there were thankfully none this time. Next she checked the pen the teacher had given her, giving a short shake to make sure it hadn't been broken. This had also been untouched, surprising the filly.
With nothing else to check or fix, she sat back and waited. She had got to class about five minutes early, meaning that she had to endure each pony filtering into the class when the bell rang. The insults seemed to be a little less today, further confusing and surprising Prism.
Shrugging the feeling off, she stared at the front, waiting for the teacher to arrive.
After just a minute, the door opened, revealing the grey pony that ran her class. He walked over to the table up front and set down the papers he was holding, looking over the class to do a quick headcount. When all the ponies were accounted for, he stood up tall and began his lesson.
Math wasn't something Prism excelled at, but she did fairly well, normally getting passing grades on any papers they had to do. Her mind had also been multitasking all the way through, awaiting the pranks or insults that normally got thrown her way during classes. It had almost become a game to them to find creative ways to get her in trouble.
But they never came. Not a single prank was pulled, and the class was quiet barring their teacher showing them how to do advanced division. Even the older pony up at the front gave her a few confused looks, obviously expecting her to have done something by now.
An hour later, the bell sounded throughout the building, signifying the end of the first period. The rest of the school day was the same, nopony bothering her too much, even at the cafeteria. Normally ponies would mess with her food, or trip her over, anything to cause her problems. But nothing happened, even the normal bullies didn't pay her much attention.
Normally this would have been a relief, but she knew better than to let her guard down. It wasn't normal for her to be ignored, especially for an entire day. And so, when the bells rang for the final time, she kept her head on a swivel, constantly looking for trouble.
She managed to leave the school with no signs of anypony coming for her, relief finally settling in when the gates of the school were out of sight. She even managed a smile as she walked the streets of her town, watching the sky as the pegasi moved to and fro.
But all good things had to come to an end. As she walked, she noticed more hoofsteps following her. Paranoia set in without pause, almost forcing her to start running. But she held onto the hope that it was just a small group of ponies from another school, or maybe even a group of friends heading into the town.
Her hopes were, unfortunately, shattered when a voice called out.
“Hey, bitch! Where ya' goin'?”
Prism stopped instantly. She recognised that voice, and she knew it couldn't be a coincidence that they were following her.
She felt a hoof shove her into a nearby alley, away from sight to the nearby ponies.
“I said, where you goin', bitch?” They pony said, more aggressively this time. The pony was a brown unicorn, being flanked by three other ponies. The others almost look like they didn't want to be there, bringing alarm to the filly.
Turning to the brown pony, she gave her timid response, “H-home, what do you want with me?”
“We tell you the same thing every single day, but it looks like you haven't listened to us.” He said, stepping closer, “You ain't welcome here, freak. Why haven't you left yet?”
She began to take steps back as he closed in on her, the ponies behind him preventing escape around him.
“I-I can't, we don't have the money.” She whispered, letting out a startled yelp of surprise when her rear legs touched the alley wall. She was backed into a corner with four ponies that clearly didn't want her to leave.
“You think I give a shit? We told you to leave, but here you are.” He was still pushing forward, drawing more fear from the filly.
“Please, I'll leave, just don't hurt me,” She whimpered, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.
“You think I would go through the trouble of getting all those ponies to quit goin' after you for the day, just to back off? Fuck that, I'm here to teach you a lesson.”
Before Prism could react, her face was smacked to the side, a blinding pain coursing through the left side of her head.
“That all you got, bitch?” The unicorn asked, glaring down at her.
Without waiting for a response, he raised his hoof again and punched her face, blood seeping out of the now visible cut.
“Hey man, surely that's enough, c'mon.” One of the other ponies said, trying to pull the unicorn back.
“What? You tryin' to tell me what to do?” He asked, looking at the pony.
“Yeah, dude. Look at her, you're gonna kill her.”
He gave a grunt, looking down once more at the blue filly. Her face had began to swell, the blood drying on her cheek. She was watching him with a look of pure fear, flinching away at any movement he gave.
“Fine. But if I see you around here again I swear to Celestia, those punches with be the least of your problems.” He grumbled, pushing past the three ponies behind him. The pony that had saved her gave her a sympathetic look, offering a hoof to help her up.
Prism looked at the outstretched hoof for a moment, trying to find any malicious intent. When none was found, she slowly reached out and accepted the help up, looking away from the pony.
“Listen, I'm sorry about what happened with him. He said we were going to teach you a lesson, but I didn't think he was going to go that far.” He said, a frown dominant on his face.
The filly gave him a short look of shock, not expecting them to actually apologise. The look seemed to register with the blue Earth pony as he smiled at her, “We'll try to keep him reigned in. Don't worry too much about being seen by him, we won't let him do anything to you.”
“T-thanks,” She whispered, her tears beginning to dry.
“No problem. Can't say the same for the others though, just try to keep low for a while. I don't doubt that he will try to stir up trouble for you at your school.”
She gave a small nod, and watched as the blue pony walked away, the other two following behind him closely. While the pain was still present, the knowledge that at least one pony was looking out for her was enough to bring a smile around.
Her walk home was short, as she ran home to avoid any more confrontations. Though the conversation with her father about what had happened was... interesting to say the least.
The next few weeks went well, in her mind at least. There was still insults and whispering, but it almost seemed lessened. It looked like the blue pony kept to his word, keeping the brown unicorn away from the school and preventing bullies from having anything real to go off of hen insulting her.
Even the pranks had slowed to an almost complete stop after her father had found out exactly what had been happening. He had rushed into the school and from what she had heard, went ballistic on all the teachers that had paid such little attention to what she had actually been doing.
Now during her classes, any teachers in the room would pay a close eye on her, making sure the others were not trying anything. With the pranks now slowed, she could focus on her work. Her grades saw a rise over time, ending up being one of the top in the class.
A month after the incident in the alley, Prism sat upon a hill just outside of town, watching the horizon. The distant forms of chariots and ponies could be seen flying away to the distant cities, giving her eyes plenty of things to focus on.
The sound of a new set of hoofsteps drew her attention behind her. The blue pony was walking up the hill, a smile on his face as he reached her.
“Hey there,” He said, staying a respectable distance from her.
“Um, hey,” She replied, looking around a little to make sure there wasn't any others trailing him.
“Don't worry, I'm alone. I saw you up here from the town, was wondering how you were doing.” He said.
“I'm fine.” She said simply, watching him closely.
“That's good.”
The silence that followed quickly became awkward, the two of them shuffling slightly, awaiting the other to start some sort of conversation.
“You, uh, mind if I join you?” He asked, finally breaking the silence.
Prism shook her head slightly, allowing the pony to sit near her. They didn't speak much after that, lying there well into the night. As the stars came out, their focus shifted to watching them, trying to find shapes within the mass of little dots.
They lay there until they couldn't keep their eyes open, both of them wishing each other goodnight and heading home, Prism finally getting a good night's sleep, knowing that finally, after all this time, she had a friend.
