So far I’ve found Ponyville to be… calm. It’s a nice change of pace, really. Thanks to the money I made by aerating that guy's spinal column, we were able to rent out a cozy, two bedroom cottage with a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom (with hot water!) and a cellar for storage.

As it turns out- delivering that letter for Maggie turned out to be a fantastic move. It gave Mamma an in to work at the local hospital- which is something she’s always wanted to do anyway. Better than farm work, that’s for sure.

Admittedly, the townsfolk regarded us with suspicion at first- apparently, they had a bad experience with a griffon recently- but they welcomed us when they realized it was just a mother and her kid looking to live a better life.

I haven’t even broken any laws yet; She even took me to a doctor and they put me on a nicotine patch.

Unfortunately, I still had like 3 and a half cartons of smokes left. That… it felt a fuckin shame to get rid of them. I have, however, started chewing on straw just to keep my mouth occupied.

Honestly though, things have been working out fantastic. For the first time in almost a year, I don’t feel like I have to go do greasy stuff just to survive. Probably the greasiest thing I’ve done since I got to this town is to try smoking discarded cigarette butts- but it just wasn’t worth it. The patch works good enough, I guess.

What, you’ve never been so desperate as to try smoking butts? Frig off.

Even better (Or worse), we arrived just in time for the school year to be starting in the early fall. I… don’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, it’ll be nice to live somewhat of a normal life, but on the other hand… how the Hell am I gonna make friends with any of these kids? I feel like we have nothing in common- after all, we literally come from two different worlds.

Honestly? I was feeling kinda nervous. Thankfully, I had Mamma there.

We approached the red schoolhouse from a distance, Mamma putting her wing around my back.

“I don’t know about this… what if they make fun of me?” it felt so childish, but at the same time… it felt warranted.

“Sweetie, you’re gonna be fine. You’re gonna make a lot of friends, I can tell!” I just snorted.

“Come on, Ma. I’m an unlikeable asshole, you know that about as well as anyone else.” Once again, I felt a wing slap the back of my head.

“That’s bullcrap and you know it. And cut back on the swearing! I know for a fact Mrs. Cheerilee will not tolerate it.” I know as much- I was there when Mamma was signing me up for the school year. She asked me a yes or no question, and my response was does the tin man have a sheet metal cock?

She… she made sure to nip that habit in the bud, real fast. I also got slapped with a wing- a form of silent body language that means Girl you better shut it.

“Just try to be nice, alright?” I simply nodded. We arrived just in time- I heard the morning bell ringing. Mamma gave me a quick nuzzle on the cheek and set my lunchbag on my back. I honestly felt naked; I wasn’t wearing a cloak and I didn’t have my dagger on me. It felt wrong, to be honest.

“I love you, sweetie. Have fun!” I smirked.

“I love you too, but I can’t promise you anything to that extent.”

Mrs. Cheerilee stood outside and waved at us. I gave Mamma a quick hug, and I was off.

The plan was simple- Cheerilee was gonna do her new student spiel, I was gonna introduce myself, tell them a little bit about where I came from, maybe answer a couple questions, then just sort of exist for the rest of the day.

“Please, everypony give a warm welcome to our newest student!” That was my cue to enter.

On an unrelated note, I refuse to say things like everypony or anypony. That’s just stupid nonsense.

Slowly I walked through the door and gave a quick wave.

“How’s everyone doin’? Name’s Leona.” I gave a warm smirk. “Nice to meet ya’s.” Cheerilee spoke up-

“Why don’t you tell us about your home, Leona?” The classroom actually looked somewhat interested- after all, I was a bit of a novelty around here. I just shrugged.

“Well, for starters, it’s a bit of a dumpster fire right now. The economy’s falling apart in most places and there’s a very probable war of attrition on the horizon where any possible victory will likely be pyrrhic in nature. Fun, huh?” Most people in the classroom looked confused at most, aside from a few shocked faces. I figured out those ones for the nerds. I looked back and noticed that Cheerilee was giving me a glare- so I decided to change the subject.

“But let me tell ya, The various histories and cultures of The Confederacy is honestly my favorite thing to study.” I looked back to Cheerilee and she gave me a nod. “It’s so fascinating, I think. Griffons as a species are chimeric beings; we display traits both avian and leonine- two distinct species of animals which should have no compatibility whatsoever. Even the culture and the kingdoms are made up of many distinct architectural styles and themes- it’s as if the country itself is a chimera!” I noticed the looks of confusion and boredom I was being given from the classroom- I’ll be honest, I felt a little embarrassed.

“Well, before I bore ya’s to death, I was told ya’s had some questions?” and just like that, everyone in the room raised a hoof. I just snorted. “Full house tonight. Mind if I pull a chair?” I looked around the room.

“You there, yellow tall guy, what you wanna know?” and the kid proceeded to ask, in the slowest voice I’ve ever heard-

“Why do you talk so funny?” I facepalmed.

“Why does everyone ask me that friggin’ question? I ain’t got no accent, dis is how I talk!” the fat gray kid next to him spoke up-

“Why do you move your arms so much when you talk?” I just spread my arms wide in a gesture that said fuck if I know.

“I don’t know, why are you so fat? Next question,” I snapped my finger twice, “Let’s go.” Apparently, the pink pony wearing a tiara in the middle found that hysterical, and soon the whole class was laughing- except for the kid that looked like he was about to cry.

Cheerilee was less than thrilled.

"Leona?" She said, getting my attention. "See me before lunch. Take your seat, please. And yes, your mother will hear about this."

I just sucked in a breath through my gritted beak, cringing. "Ahhh shhhhhhucks" I was about to say the other thing, not even gonna lie.

I decided to take a seat next to pink tiara. After Cheerilee was distracted with the lesson, I saw a piece of paper slide across my desk. I looked over- and she smiled and nodded.

You’re pretty funny. My name’s Diamond Tiara- wanna hang out later? I gave her a smirk and a subtle nod, figuring eh, what the hell I got to lose?

Little did I know what sort of lasting effect saying yes would have.

After getting bitched out by Cheerilee for calling the fat kid fat, I found DT eating her lunch at one of the picnic tables. She was sitting next to the silver chick wearing glasses and a pearl necklace. They looked like the type of folks I’d normally try to rob- but I wasn’t gonna try anything.

“Hey, what’s up?” I sat across from them and began to unpack my lunch. “Diamond Tiara, yeah? My name’s Leona- you know, in case ya forgot.” I held out a hand which she shook.

“This is my best friend, Silver Spoon-” definitely rich kids- “What you said to Truffle earlier was pretty funny!” they both chuckled in unison, and I realized something- and I struggled to hold in my laughter.

“Waitwaitwait, hold on… His last name wouldn’t happen to be Shuffle, would it?” They both looked confused.

“Yeah… why?” Holy fuck there’s no fucking way… I began to crack up.

“So, the Truffle Shuffle is a… dance move from back home- we’d use it to fuck with the fat kids all the time. You’d make them jiggle around like a damn fool and make fun of ‘em for it.” I swear to fuck, pony names are God’s gift to this planet. They joined me in laughter, and we just shot the shit for a little bit.

Thankfully, Cheerilee was inside grading papers or someshit- so I didn’t have to worry about censoring myself.

Eventually, however, Truffle decided to give me his two cents. He was surrounded by a posse of three other kids- A white unicorn, an orange pegasus, and a yellow earth pony. I cocked an eyebrow.

“The hell is this supposed to be?” he seemed taken aback by my choice of wording. I didn’t care.

“W-what you said earlier… i-it really hurt, you know!” I just snorted.

“You asked me a stupid question, why shouldn’t I ask you a stupid question? And besides, you go look in the mirror and tell me I’m wrong.” I took a sip of my apple juice, “Preferably a double-wide one.” the girls at my table started cracking up- and I smiled. Then I noticed his Cutie Mark- which was a knife and fork.

“What’s your special skill anyway?” I asked, giving them a smug look. “Drivin’ food into your gut?” the laughter continued from my table- “How much did you piledrive into that big fuckin’ cheeseburger locker today?” He started to shake, backing off slightly. Fuck em- if he can’t handle getting roasted, it’s hardly my fault.

“If you don’t stop that, we’re gonna tell on you!” Just then, my laughter stopped. I fixed her a scowl which wordlessly said now you fucked up. I got off the bench slowly, making sure my claws were visible. I got up in her face with a scowl.

“Do you know what we’d do to snitches back home?” she began to sweat, eyes darting from side to side. Her friends already backed off- a wise move on their part.

“Th-they, uh… they get stitches?” I waved a fist near her head.

“Last prick who thought he could rat me out- well, let's just say no amount of stitching could fix what was left of his face.” I grabbed the back of her hair with my right hand. “You get what I’m sayin’?” she nodded her head rapidly, probably ripping a couple strands out in the process.

Just then, I yanked her head down and slammed it into the mud below- not hard enough to injure her, but hard enough to hurt and cover her in mud.

“I’m a generous motherfucker. Consider this your warning.” I just sat back on the bench and resumed my lunch. Hopefully, they’d be smart enough to run away.

The two others at our table were giving me a weird look. “What?” was all I said.

“That… was awesome!” Silvie spoke up, and I began to chuckle.

“You really showed those blank flanks what for!” Said DT. I just shrugged.

“Hey, I had to make sure they didn’t snitch. I’m already in enough shit as it is- they’d better hope they got the message.” I finished the remains of my juice box, using it to gesture around.

“What’s their deal, anyway? The trio of uh… blank flanks, that is.” DT rolled her eyes at me.

“They call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“More like the Cutie Lame Crusaders!” Silver Spoon’s ‘joke’ was so shitty I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Basically they’re a bunch of crybabies who haven’t even discovered their special talents.” DT just shrugged. “Heck, Scootaloo can’t even fly!” I just snorted.

“You’re tellin’ me I just beat up a cripple?” I just gave a sarcastic shrug. “Whoops.” far from the worst thing I’ve ever done to someone by a mile though.

Just then, the bell rang- and I couldn’t help but express my disappointment with a sigh.

“Hey Leona, wanna hang out with us after school?” I smiled and shrugged.

“Sure, why not. Got nothin’ better to do.” Silver Spoon snorted-

“Unless Cheerilee gives us homework.” I groaned. That was always the most bullshit part of school- I’m here for seven cocksuckin’ hours- why do I gotta do shit at home?

“Well if it’s alright, we’ll just work together on it. Just change the answers a bit so it’s not obvious.” DT smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, we can do that.”

And so, we made our way back into the classroom and took our seats. The CMC came in last- Scootaloo was still a little dirty and red-eyed. Either she was smokin’ a joint in the shitter or she was crying.

“Scootaloo!” Cheerilee spoke up- “What happened?” I fixed the orange one- Scootaloo, apparently, a harsh glare and shook my fist.

“I was running and-and I fell.” she sniffled.

“You can tell me anything, you know.” noooo the fuck she can’t. I pointed at my eyes then back to her. Bitch I fuckin’ mean it.

“No, really. I wasn’t paying attention and I tripped. Seriously!” Cheerilee didn’t seem to believe it, but conceded anyway.

“Well… if you’d like, you can go home and get cleaned up. You don’t want all that dirt to settle in.” and nearly instantly, she bolted out the door.

I looked at DT and held up a fist- and she bumped her hoof into mine.

Something tells me that this is gonna be a long and fruitful friendship.

The rest of the day went by smoothly. Cheerilee was teaching us about poems and stuff- after all, this is basically elementary school. Truth be told, I didn’t expect to learn a whole lot- after all, I was mainly here because Mamma wanted me to make some friends.

We had a quick assignment- which was to make up a little poem of our own, then we’d read them aloud in class. I decided to show off a bit by plagiarizing one that always stuck with me.

“Leona? Would you like to read your poem?” I wordlessly got out of my seat and stood in front of the class.

“I don’t think it’s very good, but… I call it Carcosa.” I cleared my throat and began to read.

“Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake.
The shadows lengthen… in Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing.
Where flap the tatters of The King
Must die unheard in Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in Lost Carcosa.”

I smiled sheepishly and looked around the classroom- and was met with mainly looks of confusion. I looked back towards Cheerilee, who looked considerably more impressed.

“Thank you for sharing, Leona. That was… very creative! Well, if a little grim…” I moved to make my way back to my seat, then she asked, “May I keep that one? I’d really like to have it.” I just shrugged.

“Hey, it’s all yours.” Just as I handed her the paper, the school bell rang for the final time that day.

We all made our leave and I met up with DT. Sadly, Silver Spoon said she had stuff she forgot about to do- so that just left the two of us.

“What the heck was that?” I just cocked an eyebrow. “That poem?” I just nodded in understanding.

“Don’t tell Cheerilee but I totally got it from somewhere else.” I elbowed her side playfully, “Come on, don’t give me so much credit.” She just snorted.

“No, like… what does it mean?” Honestly? I was only vaguely sure myself.

“Eh, I dunno. It’s describing this weird place, Carcosa, but that’s all I know.”

“That’s weird.” I couldn’t disagree, to be honest.

“So wait, that guard just wanted a carton of cigarettes?” Diamond Tiara asked (Who I started calling Dee, as a nickname.)

“Yeah! That asshole freaked me the fuck out, lemme tell ya.” I just snorted, “Even thinking about it makes me want a proper cigarette.” I was currently chewing on the plastic straw from a juice box as a substitute.

We’d basically been hanging out all afternoon- eventually settling in a quiet area of the Whitetail Woods to just chill out for a bit. It was quite beautiful, to be honest- there was a massive lake in the middle which would apparently reflect the moonlight when the sun went down. I was leaning my back against a tree and Dee was sitting on a blanket.

“Cigarettes are nasty, though.” I just snorted.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

We were just shooting the shit, talking about all the fucked up shit we’d done. Apparently, she could be quite ruthless when it came to fucking with people. I wonder if I could teach her how to do it for financial purposes instead of just for fun? I mean, beating someone up for lunch money is the most classic schoolyard racket there is.

Of course, I was talking about the more tame shit I did. I doubted I would tell anyone about that other stuff.

The sun had begun to fall and Dee yawned.

“I’m thinkin’ we oughta start heading home. What you think?” I asked her and she nodded. We just walked side-by-side into Ponyville, where eventually we had to part ways.

“Well, Leona. I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” she asked and I nodded, smiling warmly. I went in for a quick one-armed hug- a common friendly gesture where I’m from. Her back stiffened and when I pulled back she seemed to have a light blush. I just chuckled, figuring that she was just surprised.

“Sounds good. See ya!” she blinked twice and shook her head with an odd look on her face.

“Oh… uh, right. See you tomorrow!” We both made our way to our homes and I thought nothing of that interaction.

I passed the threshold.

“Ma! I’m home!” I yelled… and my eyes widened. Sitting on one of the couches was Scootaloo and who I assumed to be her guardian. Mamma… did not look happy.

“Oh, you know I just remembered I got somewhere to be okay bye!” I turned around and quickly tried to leave.

“Leona Grimfeather, you get your tail right back here this instant or I WILL get the paddle.”

I cringed, muttering fuck under my breath.

This… was gonna suck.

Author's Note

All things considered, Leona's first day of school could've gone better. I mean, did you expect anything better from her? She's always been a ruthless asshole.
Although, something tells me that this might just alter the course of history. Just a little bit, though.
And man, Diamond Tiara was acting quite strange at the end, no?
As always, thank you for reading! Likes and comments are encouraged and appreciated greatly :3