To Silver Spoon’s relief, the school year eventually came. The only thing she did worth mentioning was the times she escorted Decimal to the therapist office—though it could be said she had other, brighter, thoughts on her mind when she went.
Oddly enough, despite Bright Minds claims to stop by often, she never saw him again in that time. Though, there was always that teacher class form she still had laying on her dresser standing next to a hoofful of letters she had received from her friends in Ponyville. Though, the one she was always anxious for never came.
She had also been too busy to hang out with her new friends since her mother had
“insisted” she spend time getting settled in and meeting other friends. Though, silver Spoon was able to keep Babs on her mother’s somewhat good side when she said that Bab’s aunt and uncle were the Oranges.
As much as Silver Spoon tried, she just couldn't get over how horrible the upper class were, and too an effect, how she used to be, and what she wanted to be them.
Then of course, there was a certain permission slip, for a certain teaching class she had. It was still unsigned, and taunted her whenever she saw it. Aside from worrying what her mother would think. She was more upset that she just couldn't bring herself to guilt trip her mother with the whole divorce thing to sign it, which may not have been a problem before… She stared at her new three-spoon cutie mark.
It only felt like yesterday when she earned it. She still could never get Diamond Tiara’s sour face out of her mind when she sides with Apple Bloom instead of herself. Maybe she would write Diamond another letter today.
She looked up at the clock and sighed. It would have would have to wait. What was she supposed to do? She really wanted to go and try to be a teacher, even though she knew her parents would never be behind it since there were other “opportunities” as they’d both put it.
“Silver Spoon!” her mother cried, “you’re going to be late, hurry up!”
Silver Spoon mumbled in annoyance, “Okay, mom.”
Not sure what else to do with it, she decided to take the permission slip with her and worry about what to tell her mother later.
Silver Spoon then made her way downstairs where her mother was anxiously tapping her hooves with a smile. No matter what happened, Silver Plater always made time to see her off on the first day of school.
“Well now,” she said in a firm, but gentle manner, “do you have all of your supplies? How about your lunch money? Do you like the new saddlebag I've gotten for you? Of course, if you don’t like the color I could always—”
“I’m fine, mom!” While it wasn't a shout, the loud volume of her voice caused Silver Platter to wince as Silver Spoon took a step back. “Oh, sorry, I mean—”
Silver Platter grinned. “Oh think nothing of it! A proper lady must know when to tell someone no. Just like with your… Well anyways, I’m glad to see you’re all set up. Your aunt and cousin are waiting to take you to school, to which I trust you will act your best.”
Silver Spoon rolled her eyes.
“Now then,” her mother stringed the diamond necklace she was wearing, “let us be off then. And are you sure you’d rather not join your aunt and I for the polo match? There’s going to be quite the crowd of kids your age that I know you’d fit right into.”
Silver Spoon stood in place and bite her lip. “Um, I’m sure. After all, my close friends from school wanted to try some shops in town.” She licked her lip. “After all, we've been having such a good time as they helped get my mind off Ponyville, dad, my old life, and how much I enjoy this city and, you know.” She added that last bit by nuzzling up to her mother’s leg.
Her mother smiled warmly. “Well, I guess as long as you're having fun.”
Silver Spoon looked down. “Yeah, you’re the best mom ever.” She then noticed a corner of the permission slip was visible from the bag. “Oh, and—”
“Yes?” Her mother’s eyes widened.
Silver Spoon flinched. “Um… Nothing.”
*****
One short cab ride later, Silver Spoon and Decimal made their way into their new school: Baxston.
For a more upper class school of Manehatten, it was rather small. However, it had a lot to offer with a brand new playground, top of the line books, and anything else an expensive private school would have.
The only problems was, it came with the problems a fancy private school would have.
“Hey, blankie, still looking for a cutie mark with the baby classes?” Silver Spoon heard someone say as she and Decimal walked into the schoolyard.
She prayed she hadn't sounded that clichéd with Diamond Tiara.
“Ya better knock it off!”
Silver Spoon’s eyes expanded when she heard a familiar v voice.
“Hey look,” another filly said, “the country girl is getting a hot head. Isn't that cute.”
Babs, steamed at this point, raised her hoof. “I’ll show you—”
“Teacher, teacher!” someone called out.
Silver Spoon turned to the side, to see Switch shouting at a teacher. “They’re picking on my friend!”
The teacher looked at the girls, who froze in place at the mention. With one last glare at Switch, they walked off and tried to act like nothing happened.
With a sigh, Switch walked up to Babs.
“I didn't need ya’s help,” Babs grunted.
Switch grinned and shook his head. “You’d do the same for me. Oh hey, Silver!”
Silver jumped when he called her name. She then relaxed. “Oh, hey, guys.” She then walked up to them as Decimal followed in tow. “You okay, Babs?”
Babs blew a strain of mane out of her face. “Yeah, just some upper ups who think it’s amusing to pick on kids. Rich spoiled brats.” Her eyes shot open and winced as she looked to Silver Spoon. “Um… no offense?”
Silver Spoon shook her head. “None taken.”
“It really is fine.” Babs explained. “It happens, but least not as much as in my old school.”
“School, school is a place where we all go.” Decimal began to hum.
Babs and Switch looked to him.
“Who’s ya friend?”
Silver Spoon walked next to Decimal. “This is my cousin, Decimal. Decimal, you want to say hello?”
At the mention of his name, he hushed up.
Silver Spoon winced at her friends. “He’s… a bit shy.”
“Hello, everypony!” Lucky shouted, causing them all to jump as she raced towards them. “Boy, do I got a good feeling about this year. I— hey, who’s the new guy?” She reached out a hoof to the younger colt. “I’m Lucky.”
Decimal backed away.
Lucky raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter with him?” She looked at her hoof. “Am I contaminated with some kind of foreign bacteria?!” She began to circle around herself.
“Lucky,” Switch said through his teeth, “it’s just Silver Spoon’s cousin.”
Lucky stopped and began to beam. “Oh, that’s nice.” She then raced forward and pressed her face to his. “So, do you like comic books too?”
Decimal began to tear up.
Silver Spoon grabbed Lucky and pulled her back. “Lucky, take it easy. He’s a bit… sensitive.”
Lucky shrank. “Oh. Okay.”
“It’s nothing you did,” Silver Spoon assured, though she had to convince herself that. “He’s just—”
The school bell rang.
“Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”
Lucky nodded, and picked herself up. They then all walked into the schoolhouse, but not before Decimal looked up to Lucky and said, “Hi.”
*****
“So, autism they’re calling it?” Lucky asked as she stared deeply at him.
They had all gathered and took one of the many round tables near the front of the classroom so Silver Spoon could read the board better.
“Yeah, and no, he’s not an alien robot if that’s what you were thinking.”
Lucky huffed at Silver Spoon. “Oh that’s just silly. Though, you sure he’s not a cyborg?”
Further up, they heard Switch chuckle. “Isn't that just so cute?”
Lucky raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Switch blushed bright red. “Nothing!” He sharply turned forward.
Lucky shook her head. “I swear, they need to really examine him or something. Switch’s been really having trouble making sense around me.”
Silver Spoon dropped her chin.
“Morning, class,” the teacher said.
They all turned their attention towards her and said good morning to their teacher, a yellow coat earth pony named Ms. Chalk.
“Welcome to another wonderful year, class,” she said with a small smile as she picked up the chalk. “Now, I know we have a lot to do, and I even see some new faces. So why don’t—”
From outside, a firepony ran by making a siren cry.
Suddenly, Decimal—along with a few other students to every other pony’s surprise—started to wail right in tune.
Ms. Chalk face paled. “Now… class, settle down. Settle down!”
It soon became apparent that Decimal wasn't the only autistic student at the school. As more students similar to him began to act up, some of the other students began to either snicker or ask what was wrong with them—in a less than polite way.
“No, no!” He continued to moan even after the siren ponies had passed.
“Alright, class,” Ms. Chalk said very distressed. “Let’s um… let’s—”
The door flew open.
“Hey, aunt,” a familiar voice said that made Silver Spoon’s hair stand on end. “Sorry I’m,” Bright Mind said as he looked into the room. “Whoa, hang on,” he said as he trotted forward.
Bab Seed leaned into Silver Spoon’s ear and whispered “Isn't the student aid this year a looker?”
Silver Spoon’s eyes widened. “What?” She looked up to Bright Mind, who had brought along a guitar. Holding it in his magic, he began to pick out a calm, yet, energetic tune. It didn't really have a song to it at first, just something that seemed to get the crying students to lighten up.
“Alright now,” he said as the tempo began to pick up, “you all ready for a new year?”
Some of the students looked at him in disbelief whiles others —Sliver Spoon and friends in particular—watched him in fascination, waiting to see where it went.
Then, he began to play.,
Come on ev’rybody, just gather around,
I can tell you that there’s no need to pout
Just listen very closely, don’t be scared
And I will tell you all that School can be the best!
Instantly, the class began to settle down, and turned their attention towards him. A few even began to hum with him.
We’ve come in from vacation, just today
And now we have to chase that vacay fog away
It’s early in the morning, The sun shines bright
And I just know that everything’s gonna be alright!
After he played and the last of the restless students was handled, everypony clapped
Ms. Chalk let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Bright. I’m so glad you decided to help out this year.”
Bright Mind smiled. “Anything for my favorite aunt.” He turned towards Silver Spoon. “And anything for my favorite school. I myself actually attended—” His eyes went wide when he saw her.
“Um… yes,” he puffed out his chest. “I have a cross between ADHD and autism, and use to go to this school just like you. However, despite my difficulties, I am doing very well, and I am very happy to have a chance to be Ms. Chalk’s aid this year.” He narrowed his eyes. “So don’t you think of causing any mischief?” He then grinned. “So how about you give auntie some respect, and we can make this a good year.”
Seemed like a plan to Silver Spoon.
*****
“Ya coming, Silver?” Babs pestered as they were dismissed for recess.
“Just a second,” Silver Spoon said as she looked towards Bright Mind and Ms. Chalk talking .
“Oh,” Switch teased, “somepony got a crush on the new colt.”
Silver Spoon’s tail shot up. “What? No, no I don’t.”
Lucky titled her head. “Crush, huh?” She scratched her chin. “Nah, doesn’t seem like a guy she’d want to hurt. Definitely not an alien.”
Silver Spoons eyes narrowed, until they all figured out what she had meant and began to snicker.
Lucky’s mane dropped. “What, what did I say?” Her eyes started to tear up
Switch snapped to attention. “Oh, it’s nothing, Lucky!” he walked to her side. “It’s just, um… How about we head out, and I’ll explain it to you while you tell me what enemy Kilngons you’ve identified last week, and why?”
Lucky’s mane poofed back up. “Okay, because I think my garbage man is one. He kept looking through our trash, like he was looking for something.”
Switch happily nodded as he wrapped a hoof around her shoulder and lead her out. “Do tell.”
They then walked off, and Silver Spoon would have continued to stare, if she hadn’t felt a bump to her side.
She looked to see a devilish smirk on Babs face.
“What?”
“Ah, nothing, just thought I’d wish you luck with that stallion.” She blew a puff of hair out of her mane. “Dang hair, anyways, don’t you think bout lyin ta me. I knowz when I see a pony in love.”
Silver Spoon’s face burned bright red.
“Alright,” she sighed. “But—”
“And don’t ya worry bout that comment I had about him being cute. He is, but I wouldn’t even think bout it.” She lifted her hoof and put it to her chest. “Friend’s honor.” She then put that hoof to Silver Spoon’s shoulder, patted it, and walked off. “Though, don’t think I may not if you don’t try to ask him soon.” She gave her a playful wink, and headed out.
Not sure what to make of that last comment, but without any excuse now, Silver Spoon inhaled deeply, and approached the colt.
Bright Mind and Ms. Chalk had just finished up a conversation when the blue unicorn noticed Silver Spoon walking up to him.
He turned to smile at her. “Oh, hey there. Silver Spoon, right?”
“Um…” she mentally slapped herself and gained some composure. “Yeah. So, you used to go here, and that’s how you know my cousin?” she blinked. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Oh no,” Ms. Chalk said in a bad acting voice, “I think I had to do… Something with the students upstairs, see you later.” She trotted upstairs, but not before giving him a hard to miss wink for either of them.
Left alone, Silver Spoon quickly picked up the conversation to avoid an awkward silence. “So, um, ADHD, huh? And were you the rich type, or just scholarship?” She widened her eyes when she realized that comment might have come off as rude.
Bright Mind shrugged his shoulders. “Oh you know, just a colt with a good family, I guess.” He lightened up when Silver Spoon chuckled. “Still, I wasn’t aware you might have something.” He stammered his hooves. “If I may, what you got? Since we don’t need to hide it anymore I suppose?”
Silver Spoon twitched her lips.
She had thought about not telling him, since she was still getting use to other ponies knowing. “Well… I…” She put a hoof behind her neck.
“It’s fine, I don’t need to know if you’re uncomfortable about it.”
“Dyslexia!”
They both stared at one another, silent. Then, Bright began to chuckle, and Silver Spoon grinned.
“Well, I guess that’s that.” He gave his head a little shake and asked. “So, how you’ve been? You get your mom to sign that slip to attend the class?”
Silver Spoon clicked her tongue. “Well, I wanted to, but… I just couldn’t. It’s a long story”
Bright Mind looked around the room. “I’ve got some time, want to talk about it?”
“Um…” She closed her eyes and raised her shoulder. “I guess.”
So for the next half hour and the rest of that recess, Silver Spoon told him everything there was to know about herself. What started off as just a way to tell him why she couldn’t guilt trip her mother, ended up as a talk about her life story. She told him about her earlier days, before she got her cutie mark—along with that, even though he knew already. She told him about how she was the bully type, quite a bit about her past friendship with Diamond Tiara and how she hoped to still be friends with her, down to her tales with the Ponyville and Manehatten CMC.
She had just gotten to her parents’ divorce when the light bell range.
Bright Mind shook his head. “Grr, just as it was getting to the good part.”
Silver Spoon grumbled. “Huh, well, I guess it was a long story.” She looked at him apologetically. “Well long story short I should have told you,” she said as students began to file in, “I don’t want to be a rich brat who can get whatever she wants now. And despite suddenly wanting to be a teacher, my mom would rather I’d find a higher prestigious career.”
Bright Mind chuckled. “I can respect.” He picked himself up from the chair he was sitting in. “Though, I suppose your biggest issues is to stand up to her.” He scratched his chin. “If you want, I can help with that.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “What, you have some ‘confidence’ superpowers?”
Bright scratched his chin. “Huh, sounds better than something like log powers?”
“What?”
“Nothing, just a little inside joke with some frineds of mine. Anyways, yeah, you got a week before the first class. I could get you confident enough for the job. Just… Um, you free anytime this week after school… Maybe we could… Well anyways, just when would you be free next to chat?”
Not sure if this was his idea to try and ask her on a date, she said, “Um, maybe next recess, or… No, I promised I’d check out some clubhouse on theirs next meeting, and we had plans after school… Maybe soon. I’d love to hear about your ‘self-motivation’ and how you got them.”
His hoof began to tap. “Yes, it’s quite the story. Anyways, back to being an aid. Have a good day, Silver Spoon.”
With that, Silver Spoon made her way back to her desk. Where all three of her friends—even Lukey—smirked at hereverypony (if you want)