Chapter 3: Unfair

Featherweight’s eyes shot open. He slowly adjusted them to the light, shifting around uncomfortably in his seat. He noticed that he had drooled a bit on the long table he was half lying on, his back stiff from being in an awkward position all night. He quickly wiped it off with his hoof as he looked around to see if anyone had noticed. No one was even there yet. ‘Weird. I must have slept in the school basement again last night.’ He thought to himself as he looked at the clock. ‘8:37. The rest of the student council members must be coming soon. It was 9:00 A.M. that they said the meeting was, right? Should be. That’s what I remember, at least.’ He scooched his chair out and hopped down, twisting and stretching his stiff legs and wings. Cracks in his joints and back sent relief tingling through his lanky body. He fluttered his wings to get some circulation through to them and yawned. “Whelp. I better set things up for the meeting if I am already here,” He said to no one in particular.

Time ticked away as he got the rest of the table set up and tidied up the cramped and cluttered meeting space, which doubled up as his darkroom in the corner; that being the reason it was warm in the basement the majority of the time. Once he was finished, he was happy to see that he had a few minutes left to fiddle around with his camera through, poking the lens in the direction of various bugs and animals he saw from the basement angled window. He spotted a Pekin Robin on an oak tree branch that was closely eying an earthworm below. He quickly snapped a picture of the robin steady on the branch. The next moment, the robin dove down to claim its breakfast. Featherweight changed the shutter speed and aperture with near impossible speed and tracked the robin until it got to the earthworm and ripped it from the earth. Snap after snap processed through the camera as Feather got the shots, looking up from his lens to see where the robin landed. He spotted it and smiled, putting his eye back to the viewfinder to see an eye staring back at him through it. He screamed in surprise as he pulled his camera away to be met by the form of Pipsqueak waving at him from the other side. Featherweight caught his breath after that scare and stuck his tongue out at Pip, who responded similarly. Looking at the clock, he decided to let his camera rest on its strap, turning back to the long table that would hold their meeting.

Pipsqueak pushed open the door and smiled at his friend,”’Ello Feather! You're ‘ere right early, aren't ya!” Pip shut the door with a loud slam, smiling with that endless reservoir of happiness emanating from him. his seat next to the manila colored colt.

“As usual. How are you?” Featherweight asked, look at him and then the door. “Where’s your mom and dad?”

“They had a different meeting to go to. I told them I would fill them in on the details here once I get home,” Pip said, giddy about discussing the contents of this meeting. “Are you ready for this final meeting?”

Featherweight’s face immediately lit up, “you bet I am! It will be good to finally get the planning settled out and cemented before the trip. I just can’t believe it is only two weeks away. It feels like I just heard that we were going yesterday!” Feather exclaimed, happily fluttering a bit in the air in excitement.

Pip chuckled at the excitement of his friend and looked at the clock, “It’s already past 9, where’s everpony else?”

Featherweight moved to set his camera down. “Come to think of it, Yeah. Where ar-”

The door swung open and featherweight jumped slightly, accidentally losing a grip of the camera, causing it to fall. He winced as it clanked against his chest, the strap around it doing its job and keeping his most valued and delicate possession from smashing into gears and film.

An entourage of adults filed in, their sons and daughters following suit. That was Feather and Pip’s queue to take their seats. Along with the sound of children chattering, an odd feeling arose from the room. It felt colder almost, making Featherweight anxious, his fur sticking up as well as a lone shiver that one would get when they feel they are being watched. A quick “stretch” of his back and neck allowed him to see where that feeling was coming from; Spoiled Rich.

He glanced at her for only a brief second, but his mind had already etched her face. He didn't need to look at her very long to picture the exact cold glare she was making. Like the debacle that happened during last elections between Diamond and Pip, where Featherweight was taking less than flattering photos of Spoiled yelling at her daughter, he imagined that same power hungry, insatiable, and vexing clench of her jaw which sat below her naturally upturned nose and make-up washed, half-lidded eyes. He shuddered at the image and decided to look back around at everypony else as an attempt of purging the thought from his mind.

He realized something as he did that. Most everypony was sitting on the opposite side of the table. Namby-Pamby, her mother. Diamond Tiara, her mother. Truffle Shuffle, his parents. All of them were sitting next to each other, as if this were some kind of Business meeting and Pipsqueak was the CEO. What would I be then? Vice CEO? What does CEO even stand for? He thought to himself.

“Right, well now that everypony is here, we can begin!” Pipsqueak exclaimed in excitement, repositioning himself to where he could see everypony well enough.

“What is there to discuss? I was pretty sure, from the notes at least, that we discussed everything last meeting,” Namby-Pamby’s mother said as she hovered her notepad in front of her daughter to confirm.

“Well, we did. This last meeting is mainly for any last minute questions or ideas for the trip. If there are any, then please address them now,” Pip said.

“Actually, there was one thi-” Spoiled started

“Why are we having this ‘last minute meeting’ two weeks before the actual trip? Why leave so much time in between if we are supposed to finally wrap up planning and the trip date?” Diamond asked, the twinge of cruel judgement that all the foals knew too well was still evident in Diamond’s tone. Of course, by now, everypony had come to an understanding of that-that she is trying to lose it, but occasionally slips out in her conversations.

“Oh, well it’s ‘cause we ‘ave some members that won’t be here in those two weeks for us to all meet together, an’ this was the closest date and time that we had where everypony was still around to attend the meeting,” Pip answered matter-of-factly, his front foreleg moving accordingly to each word he was trying to describe and accentuate it to his audience, who were intently listening as a result. Featherweight quietly giggled at the “President’s” confidence and natural aura of leadership that he exuded. It was an interesting quality for somepony so small to have, and Feather admired Pip a lot for it.

Diamond seemed content with that answer and rested in her chair, allowing for Spoiled Rich to ask a question of her own. “There was a problem that I had found, actually. In the budget that Filthy, my husband, is sponsoring,” Spoiled began in her forced high society accent, emphasizing each word that she pertained mentioning herself or anything she was associated with.

Pip nodded at her to move on, and featherweight felt his heart start to beat faster ‘What if we don’t have the funds to go on the trip, or we can’t go see a play like we were planning...’ his mind kept racing with every bad outcome that this statement could mean for the trip that meant the whole of Equestria to him.

“It states that we are underfunded, but only to a degree. We won’t be able to take everypony if we want to do everything that we had planned on in Vanhoover,” murmurs spread throughout the whole of the meeting, leaving only Featherweight staying silent as he feared what Spoiled would say next. “The… Simple plan that I had come up with was to elimina- er, exclude somepony from going on this trip, which.... unfortunately, seems to be the only way,” The murmuring stopped immediately. “Now, I did the math and we only need to exclude one pony. It shouldn’t have to be a parent, since both parents should be there for their child for comfort and legal reasons,”

Almost everypony breathed a bit easier, except the two colts who sat next to each other. Neither of their parents would be able to make it to the trip, leaving them uncanny targets to Spoiled Rich’s brash solution.

“As far as going from there, we have to evaluate who should be chosen from the group that don’t have parents going, which would be,” She hovered her own notepad in front of her, immediately lifting her gaze to the two little colts on the other end of the table, “Featherweight and Pipsqueak!”

All eyes at the meeting turned to the nervous colts, displaying mixed expressions of relief and empathy for them.

Featherweight and Pip exchanged glances, their faces near identical in their emotions of outright fear. They sat helplessly in their seats, unable to stop the merchant of bad news from continuing. Both of them had very good reasons to be picked and just as many reasons to be excluded; Pipsqueak being the one who beat Diamond Tiara in the last election, Featherweight being the one who had documented and printed out Spoiled’s outrage because of the former fact.

“Now I know that picking somepony won’t be easy. I want the input from the parents and council members to narrow down who to exclude,” Spoiled said, a faint smirk donning her face, only noticeable by her daughter, who was starting to look very uncomfortable beside her smiling mother.

The meeting stayed silent, no one really wanting to be the voice of condemnation on either of the two.

“Well, to start off, I would say that Featherweight hasn’t really done much to help the student council,” Namby-Pamby’s mother began. “I mean, what exactly can you say you’ve done to help, Featherweight? Take pictures?”

Featherweight looked over to Mrs. Pampy, mouth agape. He tried to speak, tried to defend himself and say that it wasn’t as simple as just taking pictures, but nothing came out.

The Room hummed and murmured in agreement. “Then should it be a question of who is more active and important to our council,” Spoiled stated. “That makes the picking process a bit easier. Pipsqueak IS president of the student council after all. Who is more involved than that?”

Pipsqueak dug down into his chair, blushing both out of embarrassment and out of shame that his status was leaning toward Featherweight not getting to go on the trip.

“Then I think it is settled. Featherweight. It looks like you won’t be able to go on this trip. I am sorry, but it is what has to be done to ensure an enjoyable time for everypony going,” Spoiled said, not in the least sympathetic to his situation.

Featherweight sat there. Stunned. So fast had everything gone that his head was reeling. He could barely hear everypony else saying their apologies over his heartbeat catching in his throat and pulsating in his ears. His breathing grew even more rapid from what it was before the decision was made. He turned to Pip, who was staring at him with pity.

Giving him the smallest amount of time to cope, Spoiled began, “Well, then. Mr. President, shall we continue with the meeting?”

“Ah,” Pip didn’t want to turn away from his friend. “C-can't we get other people to chip in? Isn't there some way we could raise funds enough to let Featherweight go?”

Spoiled sighed and made an attempt at a compassionate smile. “We have two weeks to raise over 400 bits. It would put too much of a strain on ponies to try to rush something like fundraising” she looked over to the completely mortified Featherweight. “I know this must hurt, but think of what you're absence will do to help the rest of your classmates.” She then looked back at pip. “I'm sorry, but I can't think of any reasonable way to raise that much money so soon,”

Pipsqueak looked solemnly toward the ground in defeat. He raised his head and tried to clear his mind, “Yes, well. Are there any other last minute questions or problems to discuss?” Pip asked, his voice trembling still from the nerves.

A silence fell over the meeting again. A silence that both Pip and Featherweight wished had stayed all the way through the meeting. No one really wanted to say anything at that point. The deed had been done, and there was no need for anything more to be discussed.

“Alright. Then I declare this last meeting adjourned. I’ll see you all in two weeks” Pip tried to sound as enthusiastic as he could, struggling hard not to hint at his sadness for Feather.

Everypony got up, not wanting to be in that tension filled area anymore. They left in a parade-like filing, each one stating their condolences for Featherweight, who was still sitting in his chair in shock.

Featherweight got up. He sighed, his breath still shaky. He grabbed his camera and strapped it onto his body. Giving a quick glance and nod to Pipsqueak, Feather left the school house basement.

Thoughts swimmed and poured in his head as he walked around. He was just beginning to comprehend what just happened. ‘Why me? this is all just… just unfair!’ He screamed into his mind. No Henri Bison, no play, no hanging out with his friend at a hotel, no Vanhoover. He gritted his teeth and felt a rumbling underneath his hooves.He paid no mind to it until the rumbling was practically shaking his entire body. Looking up, he saw a plume of dust cascading towards him. It was close, too close. The stampeding cows were barreling straight for him. Featherweight Screamed and ran in the other direction, briefly forgetting he was a pegasus. He felt the rumbling inch closer and closer to him, his lungs burning and his leg muscles breaking down, weakening and threatening to give. The rumbling loosened up stones, making him have to dodge them as they came in his path. He missed a stone and tripped, tumbling from the momentum behind him and facing him toward the stampede. He started screaming at the top of his lungs. Within a second, they were on him, about to stomp him into the ground until...he woke up.

He jolted up in his hospital bed, screaming still, his head pounding and his heart racing. Nurses came in to restrain him, to calm him down, to make him just stop screaming. Five minutes passed and those goals were finally achieved. Their next goal was to help him stop crying.

Author's Note

Hi again. I hope you are enjoying the story. Leave me some feedback on what you don't like and what you like. Also thanks again to Milo for editing this fic for me