Rosy poked her head through the door and almost fainted at the insane amount of fillies and colts inside that tiny room. Foals were laughing, talking, or spitting paper balls at each other, and Rosy had to dodge so she didn’t get hit by one that flew across the room. She gulped. then stepped bravely into the schoolhouse.
Immediately she was welcomed by a group of fillies. One was yellow with bright red hair and a huge pink bow. Next to her was a white unicorn with pink and purple curls bouncing with her movements. The last one was an orange pegasus with spiky violet hair. They were all smiling at her, at it was starting to get kind of creepy.
“Hi there!” the yellow pony said, stepping back after a long awkward pause. “Ah’m Apple Bloom, and that’s Scootaloo, and that’s Sweetie Belle!” They continued their happy gazes.
Rosy stared at them, her face twisted in confusion. The first one, who was apparently Apple Bloom, softened her smile. “You must be the new student Ms. Cheerilee was talkin’ about yesterday. What’s yer name?”
She was frozen in her spot. Celestia forbid her hooves to move, and she almost tried to break her legs and run away back to her mother. But she just said quietly, “I’m Rosy Cheeks.”
“What was that?” Sweetie Belle asked innocently.
Rosy sighed. She really didn’t feel like repeating herself. “Rosy Cheeks,” she said a bit louder.
“That’s a cool name!” Scootaloo said, grinning. “Hey, wanna sit by us?”
Rosy contemplated this for a second. Her mother had told her to try and make some friends. Sitting by nice ponies was making friends, right? She nodded and started to follow them to the back of the room.
There was a snicker beside her as she walked. “Look at that new pony’s hair,” the voice sneered. Rosy turned and saw a pink pony with a purple and white mane. A large tiara sat atop her head.
Rosy just realized the tiara pony had insulted her hair and felt a rush of blood creep over her muzzle. She folded back her ears in embarrassment and hurried to catch up with her new friends.
She sat down in the chair and, after a few moments, a purple pony with pink, bouncy hair walked in, her sappy eyes sparkling. That must be Ms. Cheerilee; Twilight had talked about her the day she signed her up for school. Rosy sat with her back straight and put her pearly whites to the test.
“Good morning, class!” she sang, standing behind her own desk and placing her ruling stick on the top.
The class echoed with the same happiness, “Good morning, Ms. Cheerilee!” and Rosy found herself following the crowd.
“As you probably all noticed, we have a new student today. Say hello to Rosy Cheeks!” She pointed at Rosy, who nearly jumped as other eyes gazed upon her. She wanted duck under the table, but decided better and waved her hoof shyly.
The pink pony from earlier chuckled, but Rosy tried not to acknowledge it.
From there, the day went pretty smoothly. The lessons varied from multiplication to griffins to just plain grammar and language. Rosy was bored to death when they were on the latter topic, having already known all of it from Twilight, and hadn’t even noticed anything else until the bell rang for recess.
Rosy snapped up from her trance and looked around wildly when the ring hit her ears. “What? Who?” she stammered, then sighed in relief when she realized it was just the bell. She got out of her seat and, not knowing what else to do, just followed the rest of the students outside.
The sun was shining brightly and warmly onto the ponies beneath it. Some were playing hoofball or jump rope, while others just sat at the picnic tables and ate and talked. Rosy had no idea what she would do first, until the pink pony with the tiara walked up to her.
Her voice was just as snobbish as before. “Hey, new kid,” she jeered, and Rosy noticed the silver pony behind her.
“Uh... hello,” Rosy said, since she didn’t know what else to say. She thought of her options and settled with the ‘try to be nice’ approach. “What’s your name?”
“Diamond Tiara,” she said. “I’m surprised you didn’t know that, but then again, you were probably raised in a barn or something.” She pointed at her messy bangs and pigtails. “What’s up with your mane?”
Rosy frowned, putting a hoof up to one of her pigtails, and said, “There’s nothing wrong with it. That’s just how it looks.”
“Whatever. It still looks like a pile of hay was put on your head and pulled back,” she said and glanced over at the silver pony. Even though Rosy didn’t find it the least bit funny, the filly with glasses was laughing at her lame joke.
Rosy had no idea what to do. Her first instinct was to just punch her in the face, but that would get her in trouble, and she didn’t want to have a note sent home on her first day of school. Her other urge was to just walk away slowly, but somehow her hooves were glued on the ground again.
“Diamond Tiara!” a drawled voice said, and Rosy whipped around to see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo coming over with angry frowns on their faces.
“Leave her alone!” Scootaloo told her sharply, who, in reply, simply rolled her eyes.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle agreed, a bit more calmly. “She’s just gotten here. You don’t need to be mean to her.”
“Whatever, blank flanks,” Diamond Tiara scoffed, and Rosy began to wonder if that was her only response to anything. With that, the bullies scoffed at the same time and twinkled away like snobbish stars.
Rosy smiled at the fillies. “Thanks for standing up for me,” she said.
“No problem,” Scootaloo said. “That’s what Cutie Mark Crusaders do!”
Rosy didn’t know what that word was and stared at them in confusion. “... A what now?” she finally said, and Scootaloo face-hooved.
“The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” she repeated. “We search for our cutie marks! Wanna join?” Her wings buzzed in excitement.
Rosy would have accepted, but then she remembered. She already had her cutie mark. She couldn’t share in their adventures unless she just tagged along, but that would be kind of awkward. “Well,” she said hesitantly. “I, um, have mine. Already. I’m sorry.”
Their faces fell. “Oh,” Sweetie Belle sighed. “I guess you can’t, then.”
Apple Bloom stepped closer to Rosy. “Ya’ll can still join us,” she said. The other two fillies were confused, but Apple Bloom ignored them and continued, “You can help us look! You have experience, so that can be useful! We can even make you a cape and everything!”
“A cape?” Rosy inquired, and was yet again forced into another explanation. They were really into this, weren’t they? Not wanting to crush their feelings, she said, “Fine, I’ll join.”
“Yay!” they cheered, and held up their hooves readily, then stared at Rosy like they were expecting her to do something. She processed that, then raised up her hoof with them and they had a four-way hoof-bump.
It was awesome, to say the least.
Later on, back in class, Rosy was sitting closer up front, next to Diamond Tiara and an orange colt with teal hair and a glazed, distant look on his face. Ms. Cheerilee was in the middle on an engaging lesson about economy, but a sudden harsh noise interrupted her listening.
She looked to her right and saw Diamond Tiara with a stern glare and a note in her teeth. “Psst...” she whispered again, and leaned forward so Rosy could take the note.
Much to Diamond Tiara’s surprise, Rosy just sighed and levitated the note from her grip, then scanned it silently. Magic was so underrated in this school.
There was only one sentence on the paper.
Join us. :)
Rosy frowned, then crinkled it up and threw it inside her desk. After making fun of her hair, she was not going to become even remotely close to their friend. If anything, she’d be their enemy. Luckily, Ms. Cheerilee hadn’t seen them passing notes and was still talking about how the economy was falling more than it had in years.
Once the final bell rang, Rosy literally zoomed out of the door and waited impatiently for her mother to come by and pick her up. She didn’t want to be there any longer in case Diamond Tiara decided to abduct her into their clique.
To Rosy’s dismay, Diamond Tiara, her follower, and her mother walked up. At the same time. She wanted to run off and hide, but that wasn’t an option anymore.
“Hello, dear!” Sweet said, smiling warmly. Rosy sent her the same greeting, then winced as Diamond Tiara made a snide comment.
“Rosy, your mother is bald?!” Diamond Tiara said before busting out in laughter. The silver pony looked confused for a moment, then followed her in a fit of giggles.
Sweet heard them and gasped inaudibly to herself. Rosy turned around to face Diamond Tiara, rage, tears, and frustration rattling about her brain.
“What did you say about my mother?” she snapped, and grabbed the tip of Diamond Tiara’s hair with her magic. The pink pony’s laughter turned into a squeal of surprise.
That surprise faded away as Diamond Tiara glared at Rosy with a taunting grin. “Your mother is bald. It’s so obvious. I think she needs a wig to cover that up, don’t you think, Silver Spoon?”
The gray pony, who was apparently Silver Spoon, nodded fiercely.
Rosy growled. “I don’t care what you think, Diamond! Just leave us alone, okay?” she said. She had the right mind not to rip her mane and tail out by the roots to see how she liked it, but knew her mother and friends wouldn’t like that. So she let go of the purple and white tail, pivoted, and walked back to Sweet with her nose high in the air. She felt so powerful all of a sudden.
“I’m sorry I did that,” she apologized as they began their trek back to the apartments. She didn’t know how her mother would respond, and Rosy was starting to regret the whole thing. They were probably going to restart teasing her again the next day, anyways.
Sweet didn’t appear to be happy nor sad. She said without tearing her eyes away from the road, “It’s okay, darling. You didn’t have to say anything to them, I didn’t mind it.”
How could she not have minded it?
“But they were making fun of you!” she retorted. “I had to do something!”
“Violence is not the answer. If it was, I would have done a lot more than just stand there,” Sweet said, then smiled a sly smile down at her daughter.
“I have an awesome Momma,” Rosy said, knowing her actions were most likely correct now.
“Off the topic,” Sweet said to try to change the subject. “how was your first day of school?”
Rosy was grinning again. “It was great!” she said. “I became part of a group of three other fillies, found out my enemies, and learned that the economy is a gigantic black hole of death!”
Sweet faced Rosy quickly. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said, not mentioning the last part again.
Dear Diary,
Today was my first day of school. I learned all sorts of new things, and made new friends. Their names are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. They made a group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders and let me join them, even though I already have my cutie mark.
I also made two new enemies: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They made fun of both my hair and my Momma’s lack thereof. But I showed them who’s boss, though they’ll probably make fun of me again tomorrow.
Oh well. I still had fun anyways. I hope I’ll have a better day tomorrow.
Your Friend,
Rosy Cheeks
PS: The economy nowadays is a scary place. I feel sorry for Momma.
Rosy felt much more confident this time after walking inside the schoolhouse. Once she had gotten some friends, in the first day, she might add, she was now used to the environment filled with foals.
She was lucky enough to get the front seat in the classroom and sat there patiently. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were on her left and right, while Scootaloo was a row behind them. She waved at them, then switched her attention to the front of the class as Ms. Cheerilee entered the room.
After her greeting, she said, “Since we didn’t have enough time to learn about her today, Rosy will tell us a little bit of her history this morning before we start. Rosy, come up to the front, please.”
Rosy’s happiness drained from her face, turning her blood to ice, and her heart thudded faster. She couldn’t speak in front of ponies, much less ponies her age. Her rear planted roots inside the chair, and she couldn’t move. Again. This was the third time.
But, with Ms. Cheerilee’s pleading smile and eyes, Rosy sighed and slowly scuttled to the front and turned around. Huge, unblinking eyes haunted her every move, and she gulped.
“You can speak when ready,” Cheerilee said, breaking Rosy out of her stare. She shook her head, trying to ignore Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, then cleared her throat and thought of something to say without making a fool of herself.
“Um...” she stammered. “My name i-is Rosy Cheeks, I-I’m 11 years old, and I live in Ponyville Apartments.” To her relief, none of the ponies laughed at the last part, and Rosy straightened up some and continued. “My mother is named Sweet Cheeks, and my father was Crimson Rose. I know how to do all kinds of magic, too.”
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow at this. “Already you can do magic?” she asked. “Such a young age. Perhaps you can show us some magic?”
Rosy grinned. “I’d be happy to.” A plethora of ideas and options ran through her brain, and she focused her mind on Diamond Tiara’s crown. She lit up her horn to a blue spark, picked up her tiara, and put it on her own head. Diamond Tiara gasped.
“I’ll give it back,” Rosy said, smiling at her enemy’s misfortune. It was a sight for sore eyes to see her blubbering like an idiot. Cheerilee, on the other hoof, was happy to see this. Other foals agreed and stomped their hooves, hooting with awe.
Cheerilee said, “That was great, Rosy!” Then she saw poor Diamond Tiara’s face and said, “Now return her tiara, please.” It was obvious that the teacher couldn’t hide her amusement, though.
Rosy’s disappointment was pure. “Alright,” she sighed, then brought the crown back to her. Diamond Tiara huffed and faced the other direction.
“Anything else you would like to add?” Cheerilee said.
“I have my cutie mark, which is a heart-shaped rosebud, and-”
Someone’s hoof shot into the air and waggled around. Rosy pointed at the teal colt and said, ”You with the... eyebrows.” She really had nothing else to call him, and he seemed not to take offence from her comment.
“What does your cutie mark mean?” he asked, blinked black eyes at her.
Rosy shrugged. “I care for ponies really well, I guess...”
Another pony said, “So you’re, like, a foalsitter or something?”
“Well, no, I’m too young for that.”
“Then what do you do?” the same filly questioned.
Rosy groaned, “I just said that I care for ponies and their feelings really well...”
“Are you a psychiatrist?” To Rosy’s bit of surprise, it was Sweetie Belle. She shook her head.
“No, I’m not, now stop asking-”
“Can you put a spell on ponies so that they can fall in love with you?” said a young, tan colt.
Giving up on answering her classmates altogether, Rosy sighed and walked back to her desk, not caring to talk to them anymore.
Cheerilee was smiling, and Rosy felt for a split second like wiping the smile off of her muzzle, but she refrained from that and listened to the lesson. There were ponies asking multiple questions again, and Rosy wondered if they ever really learned anything from the school.
Finally, when what felt like a week passed, the bell screamed and it was time for recess. Rosy charged out the door and was one of the first to get out.
She was about to debate on either the teeter totter or the slide, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were approaching her. Rosy began panicking, not knowing if she should run or not. If she ran, they could probably catch up to her. If she stayed, Celestia knows what would happen.
Before her mind was set, Diamond Tiara stood in front of her. “Hello,” she said. Her voice wasn’t as nasty as it was the other day. It was as if she was... happy to see her? Somehow it seemed forced, though, so Rosy was doubtful. “How’s your day been?”
“Uh,” she said quietly. “Good, I guess.”
Her smile seemed to widen a mile. “That’s great! Hey, wanna know a secret?”
“A secret?” Rosy repeated. Diamond Tiara nodded. “Well, I don’t like keeping secrets from other ponies-”
“Great!” the prissy filly said, then wrapped a hoof around her neck and pulled her closer. “Okay, you have to promise to never tell Ms. Cheerilee this. Ever.”
Rosy cast a worried glance over at Silver Spoon, who was shaking her head to agree with her friend. She sighed, then whispered, “Fine.”
“Alright. So, you know the Cutie Mark Crusaders, right?”
“Yeah...” she murmured, nodding.
Her smile widening, she continued, “They tried to hurt me this morning.”
Rosy gasped. She tried to pull away, but Diamond Tiara had quite the tight grip. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. They were closing up on me like hyenas. I barely escaped without a scratch, but it was very close. Do you know how much trouble you’d be in if you were caught with them, knowing of their terrible, hidden personalities?” Diamond Tiara hissed.
Rosy suddenly felt like she had committed murder. Somehow she was falling for it. But should she believe them or not? “I wouldn’t want that...” she said, totally unsure about this. “What can I do, then?”
“You can either be a tattle-tail,” she said in mock thought. “Or, you could join us so you don’t get in any trouble. What do you say?”
Rosy sighed, thinking about the consequences. And, for the most part, there were none. “O-okay,” she said.
Diamond Tiara got up, smiled then walked away, her steps in perfect rhythm with Silver Spoon’s. She looked back with glaring blue eyes, expecting her to follow. Rosy, not sure of what else to do, got up and followed until she was in sync as well, yet not as perfect.
Behind them, out of earshot, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stared in awe and silence. Finally, Apple Bloom spoke up.
“What... just... happened?”
Scootaloo frowned and answered, “I think Rosy just went to the dark side...”
