Chapter 6: Afterschool Beatdown
by Tray Hunter
I went to the bathroom for the second time that day.
As I climbed into the bathtub, I sat down on my haunches.
This time I would definitly need my hooves.
Also I found the soap, I searched before the incident with the puking filly.
It took me about 10 minutes to get Scootaloo's breakfast out of my coat but managed to get it clean and shiny at last.
The soap burned as I cleaned my bloody knees and my wings just felt as if they were made of lead.
"Maybe I could fly longer, if that lunatic of a flighttrainer weren't making me RUN all the time!"
'Maybe you could fly longer if you weren't just a line in the landscape!'
"Do you think, I like how my ribs show through my coat?!
But if we don't get some bits, we'll wish for some roots."
My stomach grumbled.
'We better see if the others are back and have some breakfast.
Although you maybe want to dry yourself before dripping on the carpet. '
"You can bet, I'm not trying that centrifugething again.
Let's see if we can find some towels."
As I looked through a nearby drawer for a towel, I found a strange contraption.
It looked like a small fan and seemed as if it could fit on some nails that stuck out of the wall above the drawer.
'Maybe we shouldn't tinker with stuff we don't know.
Especially if said stuff belongs to our hosts. '
"The faster we get dry, the faster we can eat!"
I hung the contraption on the nails and looked at it.
"Let's see. How do you work?"
I noticed a small string hanging down from it.
'Do you think what i think?'
"Ripline!"
I pulled the string with my mouth and the fan moved.
It wasn't powered in any sort, so I had to frequently pull the string to keep it blowing.
After another three minutes my wings, mane and coat were dry.
My tail was still a little bit wet but at least not soaking anymore.
Its just hard to pull at a ripline and hold your flank into the airstream at the same time.
I stored the "riplinefan" back into the drawer and left for the kitchen.
The others were already there and eating.
I sat on the last empty chair between Applebloom and Rainbow Dash, whose mane had dryed in the meantime.
She looked at me as if I just had told the wonderbolts to let her join.
"You know, that stunt you pulled off out there."
"You mean the centrifuge?" I said, loading some apples on my plate.
"No, and you could have at least warned me before!
I'm talking about the one Scootaloo told me about.
The one with the cloudwriting.
Could you show me how you did that?
I just saw these strange cloud, saying "Smookel" from Cloudsdale."
"It's Smokey!" I said in a calm but annoyed tone "I guess Scootaloo told you about my hoo- wingwriting. "
She looked at me and said ".....
>>Due to some confusion this might have caused I want to remind you that Smokey was writing a book.<<
2 years after Smokey´s arival - Now
Aaaw, B?
What did she say again?
No, thats not what she said.
The pegasus stood up from his chair and trotted towards the kitchen, pounding his head with a hoof.
"Yeah, I know that hurts you!
Why don't you remember what she said?
It was important!"
He opend the fridge to grab a bottle of milk with his mouth and returned to his chair.
Before him, spread on an old desk, lay two piles of paper and an inkwell.
A white quill hovered above the last, half finished sheet of paper.
He sat down on the old, tattered chair and put the bottle on the desk before him.
"Lyra's right" he said "she always tells me to live in the present and let the past be the past. "
He sighed and looked through one of the piles.
"These are as far away from good writing, as... as..."
The pegasus kicked his head back, the chair protesting under the unexpected movement.
"I can't even think of any good lines in real life!" he shouted "If only she were still with me..."
Suddenly the door behind him swung open and a mint-green unicorn entered, a plate with cookies floating after her.
She looked at the pegasus, his wings in casts and his head hanging low.
She trotted over to his chair and looked on the desk.
"Are you still writing on that book?
You know they won't belive you, do you?"
She looked at him.
No response or reaction came from him.
"Smokey?"
He looked at her with big, tired eyes.
"Have you been working all night again?
You realy should get some sleep!"
Tears formed in Smokey's eyes.
He covered his face in his hooves and sobbed.
She levitated the plate onto the desk and put a hoof on his back.
"Are you alright?
Is it about her again?"
He nodded and broke out in tears.
She sighed and shook her head.
"You know it was for your own good, don't you?
She bucked you from that bridge and broke your wings, when you told her what you are!"
"But...but..."
Smokey stopped his crying instantly and shot Lyra a thoughtfull look.
"Thanks, Lyra.
Almost forgot about that."
Lyra smiled at him and said "You're welcome." then she levitated a cookie towardes her.
"You should try them!
BB realy know her way around cookies."
Smokey shook his head and stood up again.
"No, thanks. I'll better get some sleep. "
After they said their goodnights, he left for his bed, which was in the guestroom on the first floor.
The pegasus literaly fell onto the bed and was asleep before he could even hit it.
The next morning, Smokey went downstairs for breakfast.
In the kitchen, Lyra and her marefriend Bon Bon were eating already.
"Good morning.
How are your wings?" Lyra asked.
He looked at his back and shrugged.
"Not much better but at least they don't hurt anymore." the pegasus said "as long as I don't move at all!"
Bon Bon looked at him and sighed.
"Nurse Redheart said it will take a few weeks before they will get better.
Do you think you can work today?"
Smokey rolled his eyes and answered "Yep, won't be too much of a problem.
Mac would probably get mad at me, if I leave him alone with the bucking. "
Lyra shot him an confused look.
"Alone?
I thought Applejack is helping him."
"Usually, but she is visiting somepony in Appleloosa.
Some Bloomberg."
After breakfast he left for the door, saying his goodbye to Lyra, who was still sitting in front of a bowl of cereals.
Cap'n Hay's, to be exact.
Bon Bon left about ten minutes ago.
Smokey yawned as he closed the door behind him.
"Yeah, we should try to get some more sleep tonight."
he said to, one could think, himself.
The town was quite crowded, at this tuesday morning, and everywhere, ponies where going after their daily chores.
"If only my wings were working." the pegasus frowned at the cast adoring his sides.
"You heard what the nurse said!
Don't overdo it or they will be like this for even longer." Lyra shouted from inside as she looked through the kitchen window.
Smokey shot her a frustrated look.
"Could you please stop that!
Chatting with B behind my forehead, I mean!"
Lyra smiled and just waved a hoof, before leaving the kitchen and his sight.
Frowning at the ground, he decided it was time to finaly go and not keep Mac waiting for much longer.
Fortunaley, he could find the way in his sleep, having worked at the orchard for the last six months.
And so he kind of did.
When our half asleep hero arived at the orchard, a certain red farmpony was already on duty.
"Better get started..." Smokey yawned "... apples to buck..." and with that he stumbled to the first tree.
Macintosh fortunatley, had put the buckets for the fruits under the ones that were ripe for harvesting already.
The pegasus started to kick it, after he found out which of the three before his sleep deprived eyes, he had to hit.
"Take this *buck* or this *buck* or maybe this? *buck*"
The apples weren't even shaking.
"Or maybe...you just keep your damn apples!
Yeah, keep them!" he shouted and frowned at the still non-responding tree.
"Hey, it works!
The apples stay in place!" he sighed "and all it took, was a teeny tiny, spineshaking pain in my wings!"
He sat down and grimaced in pain.
The other farmpony came closer with a concerned look on his face.
"Ar' yer alright?
Maybe yer should take a break from buckin' an' jus' rest."
Smokey jumped onto his hooves and said with a proud expression "No way, I just have to find a way to get the apples down without moving and I'll be fine!"
His face grimaced again and he fell back on his haunches.
"Or" he said with pain in his voice "maybe you are right."
Big Mac nodded and offered him to do something else.
After they found out that there wasn't one single job, a pegasus with brocken wings could do, without breaking said wings (again), Mac asked if Smokey could at least get his sister from school.
"No problem!
Maybe I can't buck trees without crying like a schoolfilly but I still can take care of a schoolfilly without...crying like a tree!?
I mean... I'll get her back here in no time!"
With that said, he trotted towards the village, his eyes twitching with every step.
After half an hour of painfull leaping, our hero with the painfull expression on his face arived at the school in pain.
Very painfull pain!
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
Could you at least try to get these painkillers working, B?"
Suddenly he sighed and let his head hang lower.
"Beeeeetteeeer! Thanks."
The school bell rang and dozens of fillies came out of the door in a wild stampede.
A small yellow furball flew out of the mass, tacklehuging the suprised pegasus on the fly.
"Smokey!" Applebloom yelled "Ah heard yer wer'e in the hospital and..." suddenly she noticed the casts around his wings and gasped, as she released him from her hug "Oh, Ah'm sorry. Didn' wanta hurt yer!"
She made a shoked face.
"No problem.
I've been through worse!" he said with a smile on his face, remembering his flighttraining and all the jobs he had in the meantime.
One included, getting shot out of a cannon while hogtied with a pair of rattlesnakes.
Actually it was more of a lost bar bet than a job but worse with no doubt.
"So, whats up? "An' where's mah brother?" Applebloom asked.
"He's busy at the farm and sent me to pick you up.
Also with all these bandages around my wings, I can't do any bucking for the next time."
She nodded, looking a bit worried at said bandages.
"Don't worry!
Nurse Redheart said I'll be soaring through the air again in a few weeks. " Smokey said with a proud smile on his face.
She smiled.
"So, let's go, if wer'e gonna make it before dinner."
After a few minutes, Applebloom hoofed him a piece of paper, she took out of her saddlebags.
"Can yer explain this to me, please?"
Smokey swallowed at the sight of the mathematic problem, but then a small voice inside his head said
'Nothing easier than that!'
And so the brain explained the calculation to Smokey, who gave every last word on to the little filly.
Suddenly they stopped, as they heard a scream.
As they came closer, three bigger earthponies were bucking and kicking a younger one.
"Applebloom!" Smokey whispered to her "Galopp home and get Mac!
I'll try to take care of these jerks in the meantime!"
"Smokey!" she looked at him in confusion as he went towards the bullies.
He turned his head back at her and shot her a serious look, saying "Go!"
As Applebloom ran off, our hero in the cast armor yelled at the three ponies.
"Hey! Wanna try somepony of your calibre?!"
They looked at him and smiled
"Looky here. We got ourselves a hero!" the tallest of them said.
Smokey reared up, forelegs extended and eyes focused on the presumed leader of the group.
He was a black earthpony, about the size of Big Mac, with a blue mane and a bloody tooth for a cutiemark.
"Yeah Breaker, let's see if he can...uh...something!" one of the others said while almost drooling on his own hooves.
Breaker hit the green pony at the back of his head, which caused his blonde mane to slack into his face.
"Huhuhuhuhuhu....Me like something!" the last one, a yellow earthpony with a brocken horseshooe as a cutiemark, laughed, almost forgeting to breath.
Appearently he had shore his mane off recently.
"Enough of this!" Breaker yelled "Drooly! Whacko! Show him what he's getting for bravery!"
Smokey prepared for the clash as Drooly dashed towards him, a dumbstruck expression on his face.
"Come at me, Bro!"
That said, the pegasus brought a straight hoof right in the direction of his opponents face and concentrated on his energy.
When the dull earthpony was about 2m away, he stopped in his tracks and his face deformed at the crash with the wall of compressed air, Smokey had formed in front of him.
The wall vanished and Drooly shook his head.
"That was ....uhm....ouch!"
He frowned at the pegasus and continued his attack, by swinging a hoof at him.
It was blocked in midair and a bright grin formed on Smokey's face.
"Too slow." he said in a mocking tone "My turn!"
A straight hoof hit the earthponies face, throwing him over and knocking him out.
"That foal!" Breaker yelled "Whacko! Do Pain!"
On said, appearently trained command, the yellow earthpony smiled sheepishly.
"Me do pain? Me fun and punching!"
He reared up and waved a hoof at Smokey.
'Are you serious?' the wing-casted pony thought, getting the advice to be carefull from his brain.
Suddenly Whacko ran towards him.
Well, one could only imagine he actually ran, since he was more like a yellow blur dashing towards the pegasus, who was on the ground within the tenth of a second.
As Smokey got up again, shaking his head in confusion, he felt as if a herd of trainponies just ran over his face...twice.
"Where did all these hooves come from?"
As the yellow earthpony looked at him, Smokey closed his eyes and turned on his magicsenor.
Whacko took off for him again, but this time the pegasus was prepared.
Now he could see his movements and react.
Although he had to fight the urge to break out laughing.
His oppenent ran towards him on his hindlegs, tongue hanging and waving out of his mouth and his forelegs swinging around as if they were made of ruber.
It was then that Smokey noticed how hard it would be to penetrate this wall of hooves without getting hit several times.
"Quick! A plan!
Are you serious?
Ok, we'll try that."
After this short discusion with his one and only thinking organ, our two-minded protagonist simply stepped aside and reached a hoof out.
The earthpony stumbled and ran straight into a nearby housewall.
"Me pain now!" Whacko mumured as he landed on the ground "Me sleepy now!"
With that he passed out, snorring loudly.
"Are you bucking kidding me? How am I suposed to found a gang with idiots and mental ponies?"
Breaker was raging.
His eyebrow was twitching and a vein on his forehead grew to the double of its size.
"Looks like it's only you and me, Toothfairy!"
"I'll gonna tore out your wings and feed them to you!"
"Come and try me, Missy!"
The earthpony screamed in anger and stomped his hooves, burying them several centimeters into the ground.
"Nope, not impressed!"
He screamed again, throwing his forelegs over his head.
Smokey smiled widely and said "U MAD?"
Breaker snapped out and ran towards the pegasus, whitch spun around, preparing for the attack.
As the earthpony was about 3m from Smokey, the undercover human bucked him in the face as hard as he could.
Breaker reacted quckly and with a jerk of his head, he threw his opponent on his back.
Our hero with the dumbstruck expression was dumbstruck... and lying on the back of the earthpony, using his teeth to hold on to his mane.
Breaker tried to kick him off, jumping around like a madpony.
"Veeeewaaaawf! Fgetrlongf lilf, pfoggeees!" Smokey exclaimed through the hairs in his mouth.
"Get down and fight!"
He neighed, from a strong kick to his side and reared up, throwing the pegasus from his back.
Smokey, who meanwhile got his magicsensor working, landed on his hooves and bowed like an acrobat, who just performed his signature stunt.
Suddenly he saw a pair of hooves, flying right into his direction.
With a loud "Whooooaaaa", he dodged them only blinks before they could smash his face, only to be met by the sight of Breaker right before him.
"Gotcha!"
A straight headbutt hit Smokey.
Breaker moved almost as fast as the pegasus and had twice his strength.
Bedazzled and shaking on his legs, the red-maned pony stumbled around in highspeed.
Breaker laughed at the sight and trotted towards the waving pegasus.
Smokey shook his head and focused his oppenent, channeling enough energy in his hoof to push over a small mountain.
The earthpony stopped and laughed "Eitherway you are pretty tough or very stupid! Hahahaha, probably just stupid!
Alright, go for it! Hit me!"
Without a second thought, our winged hero slammed Breaker's face with all of his energy, making it count.
The black pony didn't even move a muscle.
"My turn!"
An incomming hoof threw the pegasus across the place and right through a housewall.
Breaker laughed and screamed in amusement.
"In your face, featherbrain! In your face!"
He went over to wake up Whacko and Drooly.
"Wake up you lazy lame-o's!!!" he kicked Drooly's plot, getting a quiet grunt from him.
"Have we ...uhm...not lost?"
Breaker pointed at the wall begind him.
Out of the wreckage a brown, liveless hoof hung losely, in a unusual angle.
Whacko, who eventualy awoke, laughed.
"Huhuhihihuhuhoho, pony unliving now!"
The three earthponies laughed over their most recent victory and the overcomming of the stranger with the loudmouth.
They turned to leave, but suddenly the sound of poltering bricks alarmed them.
The ponygang swung around.
Out of what was left of the wall, a black wing erected.
Their jaws dropped and their eyes widend to the size of waggonwheels.
Some bricks shattered to the ground, as Smokey got up.
He clopped some dust from his coat and stretched his wings.
Breaker stared at the nightblack featherlimbs and stuttered "W-what? How could you...?"
Suddenly the pegasus spoke up.
"Hey Toothfairy! Ready for round 2?!"
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Hey folks
took some time to get this one working but I think it was worth the while.
I hope you think the same about it.
If you don't, just let me know.
Although I got a bit better over the chapters, I'm still new to writing and realy would appreciate if you tell me what you don't want to read again or what you'd like to see more often.
As you may noticed, the story is getting a bit more action-ish and we get some new perspectives on Smokey.
Although this technically means less smartflanking from B, I'll figure out a way to make this possible afterall
As always, leave any suggestions, comments or crittics in the commentfield down below or send me a message.
Also thanks for sticking with me so far.