The Flurried Soul and the Troubled Heart
Shining Armor sprawled out on the grass of the training grounds, feeling the sweat drip down every inch of his body, two empty bottles of water next to him. He’d been showing a platoon of Crystal Guards how to deflect magic, except he was the only one actually throwing the magic for them to deflect.
He was knocked out of a semi-doze by the approach of hurried hooves. “Captain, Sir.”
Shining opened his eyes and scrambled up in full armor to render a salute. A messenger held out a scroll. “Urgent message from your wife, Sir. Your eyes only.”
Shining’s heart skipped a beat. Cadance wouldn’t be messaging him during an exercise unless it was urgent. He opened the scroll.
Shining—
Emergency message just came in from Dean Emerald at Crystal Prep. Flurry’s been involved in a big fight, and the Dean claims she started it. Lots of bruises, but nobody seriously hurt. One of the other students involved is the daughter of a Yakyakistan consul. Please meet me at the school as soon as you get this.
Flurry Heart attacking another student? he thought. Sure, Flurry was strong-willed and could be a pill on her bad days—not unlike her mother—but she was nothing but kind to those around her. At least, so she said. And all the parents of her friends, too. No, there’s gotta be more here.
The teleportation spell sapped his strength even further, and he wobbled on his hooves ever-so-slightly when he appeared at the front door of Crystal Prep. Thankfully, no one was around to see. Shining Armor strode into the lobby, identified himself to the secretary, and was shown back to a series of offices and corridors, all of which were lined with parents from Flurry Heart’s class talking in low tones.
“Shining, over here!” He saw Cadance, who rushed over and embraced him. Shining returned the embrace.
“Is Flurry alright? Where is she?”
“Yes, Flurry’s fine— just a few scratches and a bump on her head. She’s with a counselor. Dean Emerald wants to see us; I was waiting for you.”
The Dean’s report was grim. There had been an argument among Flurry’s class during recess, and Flurry had jumped in—flown in—and had knocked four students down with her magic, unprovoked.
Unprovoked my pasty flanks, Shining thought. If she was fighting, it was for a good reason. “Dean, did you talk to Flurry about this? Did she say why she threw the first hoof?”
The Dean shook his head. “Ms. Flurry said that she got mad because another student was being teased on the playground and they wouldn’t stop.”
“Which student?”
“Excuse me?”
“Which student did she see being teased?”
“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss that with…”
He saw a shadow rising up over him. Cadance was still a lithe and regal princess, but she could be intimidating as hell when she needed to.
“Shining, go speak with Flurry and get her side of the story. I would like to talk to the Dean. Alone.”
Shining knew better than to question a princess, especially one in full Mother Ursa Major mode. “Yes, dear,” he said, and trotted out.
It took a few minutes of peeking through windows of small offices—the kind used to counsel wayward students—before he saw Flurry in one, all alone.
When Shining walked into the room, his daughter looked up at him with eyes of incredible sadness. Her eyes were red and puffy, her mane a mess, her fuzzy pink face lined with tears. “Daddy…” She choked out a sob. “I screwed up. I’m so sorry…”
She lay her head down on the table, her hooves pressed inward against her temples. Shining went over to her and laid a comforting hoof on her back, gently rubbing like he had done when she was an upset little foal, not that many years ago.
“It’s OK. Tell me what happened.”
“You probably won’t believe me…” Flurry started.
“I won’t know until you tell me,” Shining said.
Flurry sat back. Shining saw a long scratch down her forelimb, and a visible bruise under the fuzz of her shoulder.
“Must have been important for you to go starting a fight.”
“It was Yulia.”
“Who’s Yulia?”
“A new student. She’s a yak.”
Shining wracked his brain and then remembered the name. The Second Consul of Yakyakistan, Yorador, had been at one of those fancy receptions. He said he had a daughter about Flurry’s age, and that he was thinking of enrolling her in school here in the Crystal Empire instead of back home. Shining and Cadance had gushed about Crystal Prep, and Shining felt a pang of guilt that their advice to him had gone so wrong.
“They went after her. Making fun of her,” Flurry said.
“Who did, sweetie?”
Flurry rattled off a disturbingly long list of a half-dozen names. “It was… it was wrong. They were calling her fat, and a cow, and saying, ‘yak yak, shit-brown sack, go away and never come back,’ and ‘yaks stupid’ and begging her to try and smash them. And Yulia was crying and telling them to stop, and they wouldn’t stop…”
Shining sat down next to Flurry. “Did you tell them to stop?”
Flurry shook her head. “Nuh-uh. You told me that just because I’m an alicorn doesn’t mean I get to boss other ponies around. And I didn’t want to say or do anything, but seeing her just made me so angry I couldn’t help myself. So I told them to stop once, then they told me to ‘lighten up,’ and that was it. I flew in and cast that magic-throwing bubble spell you showed me. Knocked them all back. Then we started fighting on the ground. I couldn’t help it. Yulia was fighting next to me, too. Then the teachers broke it up.” She looked up at him, begging. “I know… I know you told me not to do things like this, but I’m sorry, I couldn’t just…” Another wailing sob, and Flurry turned away.
Before he could stop himself, Shining had both hooves around his daughter. “Fighting should never be the first thing you do, honey. But some fights are worth picking. And sometimes, creatures need to be told to knock it off.”
Flurry took his large hooves in her tiny ones. “I… I didn’t know. I thought you and mom told me never to boss anypony around just because I’m an alicorn and a princess.”
Shining looked directly into his daughter’s large eyes. “Consider this the exception. You see anypony… you see anycreature being picked on, or abused, or treated badly, you tell them to stop. That’s one of the perks of being a princess.”
And one of your duties, he thought.
Flurry nodded. “I… I understand. So… am I still in trouble?”
Shining thought for a moment. “A little,” he said. “But nowhere near as much as the kids who started picking on Yulia.” He gave her a hug. “We’ll talk some more in a bit. Right now I’m guessing your mom is getting the rest of the story from Dean Emerald and the other parents…”
Just then, the door opened, and Cadance appeared, along with the even larger-framed yak Second Consul Yorador, and in between them, the rather small—and sheepish-looking—Dean Emerald. “Captain Armor, I think there may have been a misunderstanding.”
Cadance blew a magic heart over to her daughter, and one to her husband. Only he saw the slight half-grin on his wife’s face.
I figured she’d get it straightened out.
Flurry came down the stairs, nervously, at her father’s call. She’d taken her punishment of a week’s grounding—save for school, of course—quite hard, spending most of her time after school either doing chores or being quiet up in her room.
“Flurry, honey, there’s someone here to see you.”
Shining held open the door. It was Yulia, her thick black mane in a long single braid, clothed in a red robe. He motioned for Yulia to come in. “Flurry, Yulia just came by. You can come say hi.”
Flurry stepped over next to her father, looking confused.
“Um, hi, Flurry Heart,” Yulia began. “Yulia just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for sticking up for Yulia in front of all those bullies. Does… uh… would Flurry want to be Yulia’s friend?”
Before she could say another word, Flurry had flashed over to Yulia’s side and gave her a big glomping hug. “I’d love that, Yulia! I’m so happy!” Yulia let out a huge giggle.
Then Shining saw Flurry look up at him, nervously. “Oh… but I can’t play with you right now, Yulia. My dad says I’m grounded for knocking down all the bullies.” Her face fell. “When I’m not grounded anymore, I’ll come play at your house, I promise… if it’s OK with you, Daddy…”
Shining looked down at his daughter and the friend she had stuck up for. She’s growing up just fine.
“You can stay here and play with Flurry if you want, Yulia. It’s fine.”
“But… Dad…” Flurry asked, “I thought I was grounded. You and Mom said…”
“Well, yes, you do have to stay here,” Shining said. “We didn’t say you had to be here all alone.” He gave a sly wink.
He felt Flurry flash over to him and give him another one of her big hugs. “Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered. Then she turned to Yulia. “Come on up to my room, Yulia! Let me show you around!”
“Yulia would like that so much!,” the young yak squeed with delight.
The two of them scampered away, leaving Shining wondering how in the heavens he had been graced with such a daughter.
