“Grey, that's all I get from her. As if life has no direction for our little filly.” Said father to the shrink he paid for. “Its like… she doesn’t feel anything. Can you help her doc? I have never heard my little mare cry, laugh, or even express love for anything.” He looked forlornly into the doctor’s eyes. Divine was just watching, it certainly wasn’t the first time her father had spoken as if she wasn’t there.
“I’ll see what I can do for you Mr. Star.” To Doctor Whistle’s credit, he was a brilliant doctor. Divine had read medical journals by Dr. Whistle, groundbreaking research into the element of harmony that exist in everypony, which has lead to intensive evaluations of pony’s minds. Stuff he wrote has been around her house a while now. He was definitely the top of the field, just like father paid for, she thought cynically.
Divine Star just sighed; it probably was the only emotion she ever expressed openly to anypony. Melancholy was what the entire world thought she exclusively felt. They would never understand…
Her father continued talking with Dr. Whistle, she was disinterested then the words she was hoping for finally came. “I guess that concludes our business Dr. Whistle.” She was ready to go home already, but then he had more to say… “I’ll just leave little Divine with you.”
Divine Star looked at her father. “You’re leaving me here?”
Father then turned to her. “Why yes, you need sometime out of the house with other ponies.”
Little Star didn’t do well with other ponies, especially ones her age. “Whatever.”
Father walked out of Dr. Whistle’s office, leaving Divine with the elder pony. “So, dear… I will show you to your room. You will be staying here at the clinic with us, but you will be attending a local public school and are free to roam the town after your studies.” The doctor gave Ms. Star a warm smile. He wanted it to be clear with her that she wasn’t a prisoner here.
“Whatever…” She responded flatly. It was the best the doctor hoped for. He personally showed her to a small, but comfortably sized room. It had a box of her belongings that the house staff knew the little filly would like to have with her. Inside was a picture of mom, Bright Star, her name was Bright Smile before she met Divine’s father. She placed mom on a shelf next to the bed. The next time was a small stuffed pony it was hers since before she could remember. That got placed on the bed. The last item of real importance to Divine was a small locked journal at the bottom. She took that out and placed it in a drawer in the nightstand next to the bed.
Dr. Whistle watched all of this to get a feel for the little mare he would be trying to help. Divine had placed the box and the rest of its contents into the closet. She felt no pressing need to deal with any of the rest of the knickknacks the staff had seen fit to include.
She then sat on the bed and looked over at Dr. Whistle. “Is that all?” It was more of a question to see if she had been done with the doctor or if she was expected to do more.
“No, I suppose that’s all quiet fine my dear. Dinner is in about an hour. It’s the double doors at the end of the hall. I hope I can help you enjoy life, so that you can enjoy your time here.” He gave her a small and worried smile. Whistle walked out of the room. He had not accepted the job for the money. He wanted to help the poor girl open up and… smile. He went back to his office; the next pony would be arriving shortly. Otherwise, he would have probably stayed and talked with his newest charge.
Once alone in her room Divine Star opened the drawer with her journal and flipped to the latest page.
Divine Star walked into the mess an hour later. Emotion barren or not, she was hungry. It’s filled with ponies, but most of them had worse problems than her and are in the clinic primarily because; they couldn’t fit in with society. Luckily it wasn’t packed, but there had been more there than she was used to dealing with.
Divine grabbed a plate for the prepared line and sat down at an open table that was meant for four. She didn’t want to bother nopony with her presence. It was best they stay away rather than have them get frustrated from her cold responses she thought. It was how she dealt with people at home anyways. It should work here too.
Today’s dinner was steamed carrots and some mashed potatoes. It wasn’t like the meals at home which came with an extravagant cost. This was rather humble in comparison. She didn’t mind and chewed away at it. It was dull and tasteless.
Against her wishes some younger pony walked up and set his meal on top of the table she was sitting at. “Gee lady, you sure are pretty, aren’t ya?” Divine looked at the young yellow earth pony.
He did have a point. Divine Star was a muted lavender color with dark violet curls for a mane. Her horn was a pleasing spiral with no imperfections. Although, since she was not passionate about anything she had yet to gain any cutie mark. Her eyes were permanently in a droop and didn’t seem to bother to open fully for anypony.
“Is there… Something I can do for you?” She asked bluntly hoping to be away with him.
“No, just wanted to sit with you. My name is Blaze Charm.” Divine looked at him.
“My name is Divine Star.” She figured to introduce herself. It was only polite, but the flat way she put it wasn’t probably the best way.
“You seem nice.” Blaze went on. Since Divine hadn’t interjected he continued. “A lot of the younger ponies here ignore me because, they say I get annoying.”
He looked into Divine’s eyes for approval. Admittedly there was none present, but she had said, “I’m not like other ponies.” It was the truest statement she could offer. Anything more would have been a lie just to comfort him.
“So, why you here lady? Everypony here has some kinda head problem. What’s yours lady?” He said lady probably was cause “Divine” was hard to pronounce at his age. Well, at least that’s what she thought.
“Well, Blaze, I guess it’s because I just don’t ‘feel’ things, as my dad puts it.” The truth was the best thing to tell him right? She figured everypony wanted the truth.
“Sounds kinda mild lady.” He scuffed at the table. He wasn’t eating his food.
“Why aren’t you eating Blaze?” Divine asked.
“I dun wanna.”
“But, you have to. It’s either eat or starve. Isn’t it?” She said frankly. Her reasoning for eating was that it was easier to do it than to refuse to.
“But, I dun like it! I wanna eat cupcakes…” Divine stared at him. Deciding what to do, she got up without a word and walked over to the staff. After a short discussion she came back to a now confused Blaze.
“They said you can have some sweets after you finished your dinner.” She didn’t see how hard that was for him to do himself. It wasn’t so hard asking a question was it?
“Thanks, Dee.” He said then greedily devoured his meal so he could get to his sweets. Much to Divine’s expectations the rest of the feeding session wasn’t filled with awkward conversation. Small talk as she humored the little stallion to be.
She didn’t stick around for cupcakes with Blaze but rather went back to her room. She wasn’t done with that journal yet.
“Oh good, you're looking well rested this morning.” Dr. Whistle yawned. He himself slept absolutely horribly. The whole night was spent with a patient that was having recurring nightmares. Long story short, he wasn’t at the top of his game and was still expected to see even more ponies today.
Little Miss Star was sitting in his office today, waiting for her instructions regarding her aforementioned schooling. Whistle knew this of course he just liked to have a bit of small talk too. After she didn’t respond he assumed she wanted him to get on with it. So, he coughed and continued.
“Well, today is your first day in your new school. Your father told me you were homeschooled so, I thought it would be prudent to have you go to a public one. It’s not so much for your education, but instead the interaction between young foals and fillies your age.” It all made sense, so Divine Star nodded.
The doctor wasn’t quite finished though. A foal, much younger than Divine, walked into the room. “I was told you needa me for somethin’.”
“Divine, Blaze here will show you to the school. Blaze, this is Divine Star. She’s going to be staying with us for a while.” It was the young colt that insisted on calling her lady yesterday. She wasn’t old enough to be some old mare yet. She pondered for a moment if she looked older for some reason.
Her moment of thought however was interrupted as she eventually remembered that there were others in the room with her. “Sounds easy enuff to me.” Was Blaze here to correct some speech problem? Divine wondered next.
She sighed and got up. No way to avoid it now, she’ll just have to go to this little school and hope not to make a big splash so she can just slip into the background.
Following Blaze to school did make it easy to find the place at least, but before they got there she noticed a little disturbance. A couple of colts were teasing a red-maned filly by playing keep away with her lunch. “Please stop!” Blaze hid behind Divine’s leg. She could guess these colts had a reputation for being bullies then.
Divine approached them. Tapped one on the shoulder and stated simply. “Please stop.” Dumbstruck he didn’t even make the motions to catch the bag as it was being thrown to him. Divine intervened before it hit the ground, catching it with a lot of effort just before it hit the ground. Telepathically holding the bagged lunch in front of her, she turned to the same colt. “Thank you.”
Divine walked over and delivered the bag lunch directly to its owner. The colt however, started fuming with anger and embarrassment. “You’re not going to get away with that.” She ignored his threat.
“I’m sorry, but will you accompany us to school?” Divine said in her monotone. The other young filly accepted the bagged lunch with teary eyes and nodded.
Ignoring the colt however just got him more furious. He picked up and threw a rock at Divine. “Hey! I was talking to you!”
The rock hit Divine on the body. Fortunately he threw poorly so all the impact was just the weight of the rock. Still if he would resort to violence already perhaps it was best to talk with him a bit. “I’m sorry,” She said with no conviction. “Was there something you needed?”
Apparently, not getting a reaction from hitting her with a rock was not what he was looking for. “Yea, I want you to look me in the eyes and say I’m sorry for taking your lunch from you and say it like you mean it!” Obediently Divine stared straight into the colt’s eyes
“No.” Both colts were standing next to each other now. The other seemed to be content in letting the other speak for the both of them. Both were completely flabbergasted at the filly’s response. Divine turned to Blaze. “I think this is going to take a while. Take our friend here safely to the school and perhaps get some help.” Blaze nodded with fearful eyes. He looked a bit too afraid of a couple of bullies, but he nudged the red-maned filly to follow him.
“Now, don’t you feel like a hero? Saving poor little Applebloom , but you aren’t a hero.” He turned real cold right there. “heroes win.”
“They were over here!” The two colts bolted at the words, leaving as fast as they could.
Applebloom, Blaze, and a mare with magenta colorings turned the corner to find only Divine Star. She stubbornly stood with a fierce look of raw determination in her eyes. The colts had beaten the hell out of her. Bruises covered the visible parts of her legs and she was bleeding from her head. They had hit her in the mouth too, her puffy cheek not showing even a frown. “Oh good…” She had more to say, but had fallen over.
Divine woke up in an unfamiliar room. Her eyes adjusting to its light level, she determined a few details. First, she had a headache; the next one was a bit of a leap. There was somepony holding her hoof. Sitting up she saw Blaze clinging to her hoof. He had passed out.
“Oh, you’re awake. You took a nasty little beating didn’t you? Well, I suppose that happens when you meet someone who wants to enforce their will on you and you give them nothing they want.” There, she finally recognized the voice.
“Hello Dr. Whistle, sorry to trouble you.” The doctor smiled at her.
“I guess your first day can wait until tomorrow. For now just rest today, if you feel you don’t want to sit inside all day you can walk around town. Your bruises aren’t bad enough to keep you in bed. Colts these days hit like fillies.” He laughed, after that he left.
Divine reached up. Her last suspicion was confirmed. Her head was neatly bandaged.
After waking up Blaze and sending him on his way, Divine went back to her room. She took out her journal and flipped to a new page. She started drawing on it with a black and a red colored pencil.
There was a knock on the door. “You can come in,” Divine shouted. Dr. Whistle came in. He was done with his other patients today, at least the ones with appointments. Ms. Star had already closed her journal.
“You’re a brave little mare, aren’t you? Standing up to those bullies on account of someone else, just standing still as they beat you.” He sat down. “They said you never even fought back. Just stood there looking at them like some kind of demon. Some first impression, Ms. Star.” He smirked and rubbed her mane. He was sitting on the bed next to her.
Divine didn’t move. “May I see that little book of yours? I would like to know what is in there.”
“No.” The doctor was good enough where he wouldn’t press the issue and wasn’t going to violate her privacy either.
“Then, is there anything more you want to talk about?” Dr. Whistle questioned more.
“No.” It was like a recording. An automated response…
“Well then I guess I’ll leave you alone then dear. Get a good night’s sleep. I hope Luna watches over your dreams tonight.” He was sincere and Divine knew it. The doctor left the little filly to her thoughts.
The next day Blaze and Divine left for school immediately. The doctor had explained that the colts from yesterday were on a short suspension and shouldn’t bother them today. This at least was accurate and they made it to the school uneventfully. Blaze was in a younger class so they split up. Divine Star was able to find the room herself. In there were a lot of colts and fillies of her age. They were talking up until when Divine walked in, and then they fell silent and began to whisper.
Despite herself Divine couldn’t help, but over hear a few of them. “Is that her?” Came one from the back, “She doesn’t look like some kind of devil.” Said another, “Looks like a snob to me…”
Divine stood at the front of the class to wait for the teacher and to be placed in a seat. She only saw one open one, but was not one to assume.
She saw at least the familiar face of the pony she helped yesterday. She seemed fine at least. She felt the bandage on her head.
A magenta mare walked into the room. “Oh, you did make it in today,” She said happily. “I’m Cheerilee, your teacher.” She addressed Divine who nodded. “Class, this is Divine Star, she will be staying with us for a while. Please make her feel at home.”
“Told you she’s a snob… Just listen to that name. I bet daddy has a lot of money.” The filly from earlier chirped again. This prompted a laugh from her section of the class.
“Divine, why don’t you sit back there behind Applebloom so we can get on with the lessons for today.” Divine obediently sat down behind Applebloom, the filly she had stood up for yesterday. “Sorry about yesterday, ah went to get Cheerilee as fast as ah could…” She whispered to her as she passed.
“It’s fine,” Divine said in return. With that Cheerilee started their lessons on Hoofspeare. They were reading Romeo and Juliet, a classic of the great bard. They were to the third act and a bit ways in. Their Mercutio had a throat cold and could not read so they had Divine take that role. They had just got up to his death scene anyways.
Eloquently Divine spoke
“I am hurt.
A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?”
A brown Earth colt was Benvolio he read his line aloud. “What…” Paused too long “Ar’t thou… hurt?” there was a few unnecessary pauses, but he got it out.
Divine read aloud her next line in response.
“Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.
Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.”
Cheerilee read the stage direction. “Exit Page.”
Applebloom had got stuck as Romeo. She read it well enough. “Courage, mare; the hurt canno-ot be much.” Except she over emphasized some words.
Here was the big line Divine stood up and really sold it. It was his big finish, a real dramatic death.
“No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave mare. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'
both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
was hurt under your arm.”
The room was agape. Divine had got very passionate and was yelling as if she meant it. Every word was as if she had just got stabbed and was blaming them for it.
Cheerilee coughed. “Applebloom.”
“Ah, oh… erm… Ah thought all for the best.”
“Help me into some house, Benvolio,
Or I shall faint. A plague o' both your houses!
They have made worms' meat of me: I have it,
And soundly too: your houses!” Divine kept the pace up the whole way through not embarrassed by the words in the least. She sat back down and returned to the quiet lavender filly she was.
Cheerilee barely remembered to say. “Exit Mercutio and Benvolio.” Shocked she looked to the quiet little filly.
“I think that will be good for now. Let’s do a bit of comprehension on Mercutio’s death scene. Then we can continue tomorrow.” The class groaned at having to do actual work.
After class Cheerilee approached Divine for a one on one talk. “Divine can I speak with you for a bit before you go?”
“Yes, I can spare some time.” Divine walked over to Cheerilee.
“In class today… Where did that come from? Were you acting out the scene cause of yesterday? Did you feel betrayed by your classmates?” Cheerilee asked with some concern.
“No, is that not how the scene should be read?” She tilted her head.
“Yes, but… so can you read a bit more for me?” Cheerilee brought out a pair of the books they were reading from.
“Here, read this little rant from Juliet. Just skip Romeo’s interruption.” Divine read the heart-breaking scene of when Juliet was above on a balcony Romeo and was wishing they could just be together.
The same passion, but differently came from Divine Star. Instead of the revenge seeking Mercutio there was the love at first sight Juliet. Quiet the stark contrast, but her Juliet reading was weaker, like she didn’t really understand it. “Ah, um… Good. Thank you. You can go now.”
Divine had left and Cheerilee was alone with her thoughts. “Didn’t Dr. Whistle say she had trouble expressing any emotion?” Cheerilee thought she might need to make a phone call.
