School Days

3rd Pov:

Celestia

4 hours. That was how long it took for the princess of the sun to hear about the condition of the only human in Equestria. And the doctors… they didn't like what they found. Multiple lacerations, numerous cracked ribs, one broken rib, a ruptured blood vessel in his left eye, burn marks on 78 percent of his face from a magic attack, and he was currently in a coma. But that wasn't all they found. He was malnourished.

While Thomas was fit to a degree, he was quite underweight compared to when they first met. From 5 foot 9 at 148 pounds to nearly 5 foot 11 at 132 pounds. Thomas wasn't all that healthy before his beating, that much they could tell. Upon hearing this, the temperature in the room rose a few degrees.

Through it all, Celestia kept her princess mask up. And yet her mane and tail betrayed her, the smooth gentle waves now more akin to a tempered tempest. The ponies that had done this were bad enough, but to learn that he hadn't even been fed right was just not right. Nopony should be denied the right to a proper meal 3 times a day, and yet Thomas had… for a whole year, and she did not know.

As soon as the doctors had finished telling her of Tom's condition, she told Cadence to stay here and make sure nopony but the doctors and nurses tried to visit Thomas. Cadence, a slightly fearful look in her eyes from never having seen her aunt so serious, nodded. Celestia then made her way back to the castle, a plan already forming in her mind.

First things first, Thomas wasn't going back to the orphanage, nor to a foster home. The hoof marks on his body were too small to be made by a fully grown stallion or mare, but just the right size for a colt or filly in high school. So until she brought the ones responsible to justice, he wouldn't be seeing them again. At first a house in the lower district popped into her head, but was quickly swept aside.

Then, an apartment somewhere between the castle and the school. This she mentally jotted down. Of course, he wouldn't be living there alone. She would have either a pair of guards or a small squad of guards, 3 or 4 guards, with him at all times. Two definitely wasn't enough, four would most likely feel too much to Thomas, so three it was. Of course, she would have to start off by saying four, and eventually negotiate him down to three.

Second, she would need to have to start an investigation into both the ponies who did this to Thomas, and the owner of the orphanage Thomas had been staying at. She already had a good idea that some foul play or embezzlement would be found though. The ponies who did this thought… that was going to be tough. Thomas however had already given her ideas on how to apprehend such criminals. He had a 'show' he had downloaded on his smartphone called 'NCIS'. Naval Criminal Investigative Services if she remembered the acronym correctly.

While hoof print dusting wouldn't turn up anything, the 'black lights' used would definitely reveal the culprits. Her spell crafters had been hard at work converting the science of a black light to a spell. And just a month ago, they had come to her with results. And those results were spectacular. The spell was then distributed to all cities in Equestria, which turned an already low crime rate even lower. Thomas wasn't even aware that he was the catalyst for over 50 arrests made in the past year.

But with such a large pool of ponies that could be responsible for Tom's near demise, trying to do so discreetly would prove difficult. When Celestia arrived at the castle, she immediately ordered that no less than six guards be sent to the hospital to guard Thomas. Her next stop was to her guard captain, Steadfast Phalanx. Stepping into his office, the guard captain saluted her.

"Princess, to what do I owe this visit?" He asked, keeping his salute.

"At ease, Phalanx. And I wish this was a more casual visit, but it isn't." On tone alone, Phalanx knew something had gone terribly wrong. That, and he had also heard the cry of the love princess to be.

"Is this about the human, your majesty?" Celestia nodded.

"This morning, Thomas was found near death in an alley by my niece." Phalanx immediately straightened at that. Sure, there had been reports of violent crimes in the past, but never had any been reported as life threatening. "I want two investigations started, one into the mare known as Young Hope, and a second into the pony or ponies who have nearly killed Thomas the human. But I must ask, keep the latter one as discreet as possible."

The captain nodded at this, and gave a salute. Celestia nodded as well, turning and walking out of the captain's office.

3rd Pov:

Cadence

Time:

Next Morning

Cadence stared down into her bowl of oatmeal, a spoon levitating in her magic but not eating. She simply pushed the mushy oats around, a dead look in her eyes. She had always thought the best of ponies, and now that it had finally sunk in that ponies did this to Thomas, she could only imagine them at their worst.

Images of what could have happened to Thomas to make him look like that filled her mind, each scenario more terrible than the last. Celestia had long since left Cadence to sit alone in the dining hall. She didn't think her niece could handle going back to school in her state, so simply left her alone to do what she needed to to get through her grief. Her ear flicked however when she caught the sound of ponies she knew, one better than the other two.

Looking to the doors at the end of the hall, she saw them being opened by two guards who led Shining, Fleur, and Fancy into the room. Upon seeing her, Shining immediately rushed over to her, wrapping her up in a hug. The other two were more subdued, simply trotting over with sad looks in their eyes. However, Fleur's eyes looked a bit guilty. "Oh Cady, I was so worried about you. Are you alright?"

Cadence jolted, looking up at Shining in fury. "Am I alright? AM I ALRIGHT?! YOU SHOULD BE ASKING THOMAS THAT!" Cadence shouted, glaring death into Shining. Shining winced, stepping back at her shouting. Cadence saw his scared and hurt look and immediately deflated. "S- sorry. I just…"

"It's alright princess, we understand. We are all grieving at this moment. But do take solace that our friend is under the best medical care Equestria has to offer." Fancy said, a soft caring look on his face.

"It shouldn't have happened at all. Thomas did nothing, nothing except be different from us. Thomas was right, ponies are nothing but racist jerks." Cadence said bitterly, glaring into her long gone cold oatmeal. The other three ponies were stunned, having never heard such cold words spoken from somepony they thought was incredibly kind.

"Cadence!" Shining exclaimed, causing the pink princess to flinch and reflect on her words.

"S- sorry. I- I don't know what's come over me." Shining sighed, stepping up to his marefriend and giving her a hug.

"We know, we're all a bit angry right now, but I don't think lashing out at us or beating yourself up over it is going to help anything. Right now, all we can do is be there for Thomas. Celestia had ordered that the school be closed for the day. So why don't we all visit Thomas at the hospital? Maybe he's woken up?" That lifted Cadence's mood a bit, and she nodded.

However, with the knots in her stomach finally unclenching, her hunger returned with a vengeance. Cadence winced as she felt her stomach rumble from being devoid of sustenance. "Um, maybe after I eat?" The three looked at her quizzically, then to her bowl of oatmeal. Spotting this, Cadence groaned. She really should have been more eager to learn magic from Celestia.

Time:

One and a half hours later

The small group of teens stepped through the doors of the hospital and into the receptionist area. The receptionist on duty, upon seeing the pink Alicorn, bowed as much as she could while sitting behind a desk. "Your majesty, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes, actually. I was hoping you could tell me what room Thomas is staying in." Cadence asked, a bit sheepish as she was still not used to being treated so formally from adults.

"Of course Princess, he's in room three-seventeen. However I believe he is still unconscious." The group nodded, and began following Cadence to the stairs. After climbing two flights, they were finally on the third floor. A sign on the wall pointed them in the right direction of rooms three eleven to three twenty. Plaques besides the doors allowed them to know which room was which.

Shining knocked on the door, and waited for a few seconds. After no reply from a nurse or physician, they went in. They all gasped at what they saw. Thomas lay in bed, bandages covering his arms and most of his face. Only his right eye and some of his forehead was exposed. But even then, a small bandage was placed where some of his hair had been cut. A breathing tube was stuck down his throat.

"Oh… Oh Celestia. I knew he would look bad… but…" Fleur said, holding a hoof to her mouth as her eyes were wide in shock. Fancy simply shook his head sadly. Shining winced, imagining what it would feel like to have that tube down his own throat. Cadence teared up, trotting up to the bed slowly. She sat down, putting a hoof on top of Thomas's hand. She stayed quiet, simply just being there for him.

"How… how bad is it?" Shining asked, coming to sit besides Cadence. His ears were folded back, a sad look on his face.

"Aunty told me most of his face was burned by a spell. The hoofs that hit him had cut his skin some. He has a few broken or cracked bones." Cadence read off, almost without any feeling in her words. After a few silent moments, Fleur spoke up.

"I should have said something." All three ponies in the room turned to her, tears maring her face as her make up ran.

"Whatever do you mean?" Fancy asked his sister.

"Thomas, in gym, I… I heard something. I… I heard a few of the other students… I heard that… that they were going to… but I… I didn't… This… this is all my fault." Fleur fell to the floor, her forehooves covering her eyes as she let everything out.

"You… knew?" Cadence asked, her voice cold as she stared angrily at Fleur. "You knew this was going to happen and you said nothing?" Cadence got up and started for Fleur, but was held back by Shining.

"I was going to warn him! I… I was going to. But… but then-"

"Get. Out." Cadence hissed, glaring death at Fleur as her eyes flashed from their normal light purple to become a dark purple as her pupils became snake-like.

"Now hold on, let's-"

"Get, OUT!" Cadence screamed, wings flaring out as her horn lit up, the normally cornflower blue hue of her magic becoming a dark, almost navy, blue color. Scared and with heavy hearts, Fleur and Fancy ran from the room, with Fancy behind Fleur. Fancy stopped just outside the door, and looked back with a sad look on his face as he watched Cadence break down, head buried in Tom's leg as Shining shakily rubbed her back.

Their eyes met, and they had an unspoken conversation at that point. Both understood that the past few moments were from high emotions and loads of stress. Fancy left, taking his sister home while Shining stayed with Cadence. And where she would stay until the doctors and nurses came to clean him up and replace his bandages.

3rd Pov:

Celestia

Time:

3 days later

It had taken some time and a good deal of resources, but Celestia had finally learned the identities of Thomas's attackers. The noble that had once owned the orphanage he was staying at was put under arrest for embezzling money from her own orphanage. While the taxes of her subjects did pay for the orphanage mostly, some came from the crown as well, about 40% of it is given to the pony that would run the day to day of the orphanage, and they'd be given the title of 'noble'.

However, not only had Young Hope taken her 40%, but nearly 85% of all the bits that were put into her orphanage. The rest of the 15% was spent on food and bills. Suffice to say, Celestia's soft spot for foals became a stone cold hatred for the pony that had not only neglected the foals, but basically stole from them as well. After that court case, Celestia wondered if she would have ever noticed or been notified if Thomas hadn't been placed there.

Now, for the ponies that actually attacked him, there were 5 of them, but with their accomplices, a little over 10. The five that attacked him were 3 colts and 2 mares. Their accomplices, either a parent or parents, tried to cover their foals' tracks. But thanks to Thomas and the blacklight spell, they were tracked down. Who knew catching somepony with blood on their hooves could be taken so literally?

But that court case was over and done with a few hours ago. Now, Celestia sat in the dining hall with her niece, trying to enjoy a meal together. Cadence was a bit better, but not by much. Her mane was a bit more unkempt than usual, and without her eyeliner as well. Tonight was spaghetti, however they were trying something new tonight.

Instead of the normal red tomato sauce, they had a pinkish sauce that if Celestia remembered correctly, was a combination of the red tomato sauce with alfredo sauce. Thomas had told Golden about it one day, and she felt like now was as good as time as any to try it out. It tastes amazing to Celestia, especially because it was so new to her. If there was one thing she loved about her ponies, it was the creativity with new dishes.

But apparently humans also had that creative gift. Cadence also liked it, and had started eating a bit more readily when Celestia told her where she got the idea from, or, more accurately, who. Celestia could sense the growing emotions of Cadence for each day Thomas was in the hospital. Whatever Thomas had done to gain her friendship, she certainly cherished it. Just as Celestia was finishing though, the doors to the dining hall were thrown open by a panting doctor. Turning, they both looked at the doctor with a curious look. She also got suspicious looks from the guards.

"Princesses… he's… awake." The doctor barely breathed out, before turning, waiting for them to follow her to the hospital.