BRRRIIIIIIIING!

It was Monday. A very sleepy Monday. Once the first bell rang, the halls of Canterlot High were ambushed by half-awake students squeezing their way past each other to get to their lockers. The day was beginning on a rough start for a couple of teens whose locks refused to open no matter how many times they put in their code. Rainbow Dash was experiencing this inconvenience, thumping her head against the small metal door and letting out a deep sigh. “Pinkie Pie, could you help me open my locker?”

“Okie dokie.” Usually being the most energetic student around, Pinkie Pie seemed quite laid-back this morning. However, true to herself, she was still trying to keep a bright smile on her face despite the tired look in her eyes. With a few twists of the knob, the door swung open.

“How did you know my combo?” Dash asked, relieved to have access to her textbooks, but annoyed that Pinkie was able to get it open on the first try.

“You told me it three months ago. I always remember my friends’ locker combos in case of emergencies,” Pinkie smiled back. Once Rainbow grabbed her things, the two walked together to their algebra class.

“That’s cool.” Dash yawned, not bothering to cover her mouth. “I wish we didn’t have to deal with stupid math first thing in the morning. I’m still tired from kicking Siren butt over the weekend.”

“I think the whole school would say the same,” Pinkie says, looking around and seeing her sleep-deprived peers sluggishly drag themselves to class. “Well, if my gut is right, an epic monster battle like that means we won’t have to deal with anything like that for a while, hopefully never again. That or my tummy is mad that I skipped breakfast.”

“Hey, if we end up falling asleep in class, lunch will come by faster.”

“That or a bummer detention.”

Dash let out a chuckle. “Detention? After saving the world, I bet my lucky pencil that we won’t have to worry about detention for the rest of the year!”

“I’ll keep your word on it…” The pair walked through the threshold to Mr. Cranky’s classroom, mentally preparing themselves for the hour-long snoozefest that awaited them.

It felt like an eternity, but the lunch bell finally rang that afternoon. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash joined their friends at their usual table. None of the girls looked more awake than when they arrived at school. In fact, Rainbow seemed even worse. Digging through her backpack, she pulled out a nibbled-on pencil and rolled it over to Pinkie.

“You don’t need to give me your lucky pencil, Dashie. I wasn’t expecting you to actually bet on it,” Pinkie said.

“I don’t think it’s as lucky as I thought it was,” Dash sighed, putting her head in her hand.

“What’s all this about?” Rarity asked, biting into a granny smith apple.

“Rainbow Dash got detention,” Pinkie replied. “She fell asleep in Mr. Cranky’s class.”

“I had my shades on and everything!” Dash retorted, picking at her food with her fork while Pinkie blew bubbles into her chocolate milk. “He still caught me, and he still gave me detention even though he wouldn’t even be teaching if we didn’t save the world!”

“Well, you know what they say,” Rarity said, “justice is blind.”

“I don’t see how this is justice!” Dash aggressively bit into her pear, chewing away as she talked. “My shleep schedule needsh jushtish!”

“And your table manners need justice…” Rarity mumbled under her breath.

“Ah, the ol’ sunglasses trick. You can call me an expert on that,” Sunset Shimmer smirked. “I think the only reason you got caught is that Mr. Cranky caught on when I kept doing it. I guess not answering questions when the teacher calls on you makes it pretty obvious.”

“And, ya know, wearin’ sunglasses inside.” Applejack laughed.

Silverware clanked against plastic trays as the cafeteria crowd ate their mediocre meals. Fluttershy looked up from her lunch and glanced around. “It’s nice and quiet today. I like it.”

“Yeah, everyone seems to be out of it today,” Sunset nodded, following Fluttershy’s gaze. “I don’t blame them. I wasn’t able to sleep much this weekend either.” Just then, a lively humming broke through the quiet murmurs of the lunchroom. Turning their heads, the girls saw exactly who was acting so preppy, and honestly, it wasn’t all that surprising.

“Hi, Trixie!” Pinkie grinned, waving her over.

“Hmm? Ah, greetings, fellow students!” Trixie strode over to their table with a flourish of her skirt, sitting down on the edge of the tabletop.

“You seem pretty happy today,” Sunset pointed out.

“Why of course! Why wouldn’t the Great and Powerful Trrrixie /i] have an extra pep in her step after receiving extra credit for reading to the kindergarten next door?”

The six girls all shared odd looks with each other before looking back at the self-called magician. “You… volunteered to do that?” Sunset asked, summing up the thoughts on everyone’s minds.

“Indeed! The Great and Powerful Trixie always has the time to entertain the youth of today!” She ran her hand through her hair and gave it a flip. “There was this one adorable little girl. Trixie didn’t get her name, but Trixie knows we are going to be best friends from now on! In fact, Trixie is going to take her out for lunch all paid for by moi.”

“Wow, that’s awfully nice of you, Trixie.” Fluttershy smiled.

“Trixie doesn’t settle for less. Now, alas, Trixie must go! The lunch line calls her!” With another flourish of her skirt, Trixie ran off. Sensing eyes still on her, she turned back around. “Trixie forgot her smoke bombs today, but that does not stop the Great and Powerful Trixie from exiting greatly and powerfully!” After watching her leave (again), the girls gave another look at each other. Rainbow Dash let out a groan.

“Gosh, Trixie gets dragged into babysitting a bunch of kids, and she’s still having a better day than me!” She put her head in her arms.

“Babysitting is tons of fun!” Pinkie grinned. “It’s fun, and you can get paid to do it! Two in one!”

“Yep, have fun dealing with whiny kids, Pinks. I’m plenty happy working on my soccer skills to win an epic scholarship.”

“Suit yourself, Dashie!’ Pinkie smiled, eating her ham sandwich.

A few minutes later, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. The girls grabbed their bags and went to dispose of their lunch trays.

“So, since Rainbow has detention, does that mean we won’t have band practice after school today?” AJ asked.

“Nah, you guys go ahead. From what I heard, Sunset can play some sweet guitar.” Rainbow Dash smiled over at Sunset, causing the girl to blush sweetly.

“Thanks, Rainbow. Detention isn’t that bad. Trust me, I know. At least they let you do homework there.”

“Great, nothing like passing the time with some exciting algebra problems. As long as no one bothers me there, I think I’ll survive. See you guys later then.”

The girls said their goodbyes and head off to finish their classes for the day. Once the final bell rang, Rainbow Dash called her mom to tell her about the situation. Of course, she wasn’t happy. Dash’s mom gave her some extra to-do’s on her chores list before hanging up. Dash let out her umpteenth groan of the day as she made her way up a flight of stairs. “I’m already being punished. Why pile more on top of that?” She opened the detention room door, seeing no one inside just yet. She set her things down near the desk at the very back of the room and took her seat. Looking around the room, Dash saw a bunch of cheesy motivational posters and bookshelves filled with old, tattered, classic literature books. Do they really expect us to read those ancient books for fun? Dash thinks to herself, glancing over to the door and seeing a shoe organizer hooked on it with the phrase “No Phone Zone” above it in foam letters. Rainbow Dash immediately grabbed her phone to spend as much precious time with it as she could before the supervisor could come in and confiscate it.

“Of course, sweetheart, you can spend as much time as you want in here,” a friendly voice Dash recognized as the school’s librarian Cheerilee said just outside the door. It slowly swung open to reveal not Cheerilee but a little girl walking in, the librarian following after her. The child looked around the room before noticing Dash in the back, causing the athlete to raise her eyebrow in confusion. Rainbow Dash got up and handed her detention slip over to Cheerilee. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Cheerilee said, “please put your phone on the door and take your seat. You will be dismissed at 4:00.”

“Thank you, Miss Cheerilee,” Dash replied, more out of habit than actual sincerity. Her eyes glanced over to the little girl trying to lift herself onto one of the desk’s chairs. “If you don’t mind me asking, is this girl your niece or something?”

“Oh no, she’s just a little friend I met today.” Cheerilee smiled over at the girl, and she smiled in return. “She needed something to do, and I offered to let her spend time here. I feel so bad though, I don’t have any games or toys for her to play with. Maybe you could entertain her, Rainbow Dash?”

“Huh? Me?” Dash pointed at herself. “Doesn’t this girl have parents coming to pick her up?”

“I’m sure that’s something we don’t need to worry about. If you help me with her, it will give you something to do before you’re free to go.”

Rainbow looked back at the kid once more. “I guess it’s better than doing math homework… fine, I’ll help.” She sat herself down next to the desk where the girl was, watching her little legs kicking idly over the side of the chair. “Hey, kid. Wassup?”

The child, who looked about five years old, gave her a toothy grin. “Hi! I’m Cwystal Peawl, wha’s yoh name?”

“Oh, uh, Crystal Pearl, huh? I’m Rainbow Dash,” She replied, feeling a bit awkward trying to have a conversation with a lisped kindergartener.

“Wanna pway?” Crystal Pearl kept swinging her legs, grinning eagerly at the teenager.

“Play?” Dash contemplated the offer, not sure if she wanted to lower herself to this girl’s level just for her entertainment. However, knowing that Cheerilee had her eyes on her, Dash knew she didn’t have a choice. “Uh, okay, I’ll play with you.”

With a cheerful grin, Crystal Pearl hopped off her chair and proceeded to take off her little Mary Janes and frilly socks. Dash gave her an odd look as the girl began wiggling her toes excitedly. “Do you have dees?”

“What, toes?” Dash raised an eyebrow, looking to the side at the odd display. “Uh, yeah. I do.”

“I wanna see!”

Oh come on… Dash let out a sigh. “Why do you wanna see my toes?”

“Because dey cool!” Crystal giggled, examining her own feet. “Look! I gots lotsa toes!”

Dash had to hold back from rolling her eyes. “Fine, just real quick.” Dash bent down and took off one of her sneakers, yanking the sock off and showing Crystal Pearl her toes. Who on earth would wanna look at people’s feet? Dash wondered.

“Ooo!” Crystal crawls over and grabs her foot, trying to look at it from all angles. “Dey bigger den mine! Yoo gots lotsa toes too!” She then stands up and grabs Dash’s arm, looking at her hand. “You got dem here too, just like me!”

“Uh, yep! Hands and fingers, just like you…” Dash looked over at the clock. It’s only been five minutes?! Rainbow looked over at Crystal who was looking right back at her expectantly. What do I do with this kid? “So, Crystal Pearl… uh, that’s a nice scarf you got there.”

Crystal gave her a big grin, playing around with the sparkly purple scarf around her neck. “Thankies! Dewe was dis girl who read to me and a buncha kids, and she gave dis to me! She’s gonna get me lunch tomorrows.”

“Oh, you mean Trixie gave that to you?” So this is the girl she was talking about…

“Yus, dat giwl!” She smiled, “I’m not never ever taking it off!”

“Cool…” Rainbow started digging into her backpack to find some hand sanitizer for Crystal; touching other people’s feet wasn’t the most hygienic activity after all. “Umm… do you have anything you really like to do?”

“Ooo! I like singing!” Crystal immediately replied, bouncing back up. “Wanna hear a song? Ish my favowite song. Ish my happy song!”

“Your happy song?” Dash had to mentally prepare herself for the torture her ears would have to endure. “Nngh… fine. Lemme hear it.”

Crystal stood up straight and proud, taking a deep breath before letting a melody escape her throat. Rainbow Dash immediately looked up from her backpack. Even Miss Cheerilee stopped her work to watch and listen. This girl was only five years old, right? If that was the case… then why did she sound so beautiful? With every pitch-perfect note she sang, both student and teacher found themselves lulled by the sweet music Crystal Pearl created. It was lively, cheerful, and better than any song either of them had ever heard. It felt too soon when Crystal finished singing.

“Beautiful as ever, dearie!” Cheerilee praises, “You’re the most talented girl I’ve ever had the chance to meet! Wouldn’t you say so, Rainbow Dash?”

It took a moment for Rainbow to process what Cheerilee had asked. She blinked a couple of times before facing the happy-looking girl in front of her. In an instant, she picked her up and twirled her around, making Crystal laugh in delight.

“You, kid, are the most awesome thing in the world!” Dash beamed up at her. Crystal Pearl squeals and beams proudly. Dash gave her a big hug. “Are you free tomorrow? We gotta hang out again!”

“Wanna come to lunch tommorrows wif me and Twixie?”

“You bet! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

If detention was meant to be a punishment, Rainbow Dash didn’t care in the slightest. She was perfectly happy playing with little Crystal Pearl and asking her to sing over and over again. By the time detention was over, Dash was pained to have to leave her new buddy. After getting reassured that the two would meet once again at the cafeteria, Dash opened the door and exited with a slight skip to her step, paying no mind to the pink mist leaving the room with her as she walked back down the stairs.

Author's Note

Wondering what Crystal Pearl's "happy song" is? It might be familiar to Legend of Zelda fans!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-icqyQH-kbU