“That’s a big building,” Pond said in awe as she looked at the tower looming over her. She had to physically move her head upwards to be able to see the top of the clock tower.
“I know, it’s huge,” Tesla said as he too looked at the building, standing close to his best friend for comfort.
“Gigantic.”
“Enormous.”
“Ginormous!”
“Terrifying.”
“Yeah…”
The building in question was their new school. Now they were both old enough it was time to move to secondary school, and it was huge. Neither of them had seen such a big building, Mareton’s largest building is no larger than two storeys, but this was something else. It was hidden behind a hill on the outskirts of the small fishing village so they had never seen it before.
“How can they even build this big?!” Pond asked angrily.
“I don’t know. It defies logic.”
“Yeah…”
They were approached by a tall stallion, wearing a long black gown with half-moon spectacles resting precariously on his muzzle. His coat was dark grey in colour and had a white mane, which grew down the side of his face in the form of mutton chops. He was clearly the Headmaster.
“Good morning, little Unicorns,” his voice was calm and incredibly soothing.
“M-m-m-morning,” the two terrified foals stuttered back.
“No need to be scared. Here is a brilliant school that will help you and be kind to you. There’s nothing to be worried about.”
Pond and Tesla smiled back sheepishly.
“Now tell me. What are you names?”
“I'm Tesla.”
“And I'm Pond.”
“Well then, welcome to Mareton Grammar School. I'm Mr Scrupulous, and I'm your Headmaster.” His eyes narrowed as he caught a glance at Pond’s forehead.
Pond looked away embarrassedly once she noticed he was staring.
“Please, don’t shy away. But may I ask, where’s your horn?”
“She was born without one,” Tesla stated firmly, stepping forward and trying to take control of the situation. He didn’t like it when Ponies talked about her hornlessness.
“I see. I would have said you took it!” Scrupulous jested as he pointed a hoof at the grumpy Tricorn’s forehead, where three horns resided.
“HEY!” Tesla shouted. He liked it even less when he was being mocked for his horns.
“Oh come on now, it’s just a harmless joke. I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”
The bell rang.
The two foals jumped before cowering in fear at the loud buzz of a bell, very dissimilar to the simple ding-dong of their old school.
Scrupulous laughed. “That’s just the bell, it’s time to go inside. Head to the Hall with the rest of new-comers.”
“Where is the Hall?” Pond asked nervously, she didn’t want to get lost and be late on her first day.
“Just fellow those Unicorns over there.” He pointed towards a large group of small Unicorns with larger ones, who were most likely teachers, amongst them. “They’re new as well. They will lead you the right way. And remember: there’s safety in numbers.”
“Huh?” the two little Unicorns said with confusion as the Headmaster walked off.
– P –
Pond and Tesla headed towards the group which Mr Scrupulous told them to go with. They stuck to each other’s sides as closely as possible, not wanting to get separated for sheer fear of everything. They looked as they walked at everypony else.
They were all so much taller than them, towering above them greatly, not even noticing the two terrified foals walking around there legs.
Pond didn’t even come close to being as tall of their shoulders, unlike Tesla, who was always a little taller than her. But even he only came that tall if he lifted his horns in the air.
They reached the group in a very short time; they didn’t want to dawdle among the tall Ponies and wanted to be around those of a similar height.
Pond saw one of her old bullies from primary school, but even she seemed terrified, more so than Pond. She could help but find that pleasing and had to smile maliciously.
One of the teachers loudly cleared her throat, bringing a silence from the bustling gathering on short Unicorns around her ankles.
“Alright, welcome to Mareton Grammar School and I do hope you’ll enjoy your time here and learn lots blah blah blah.”
The crowd laughed at her attitude towards school. Pond already liked her.
“We’re going inside now to the Hall, where the Headmaster will give you an enthralling speech about being here.” Her sarcastic enthusiasm was very calming, Pond already felt less nervous.
“Stick close, I don’t want to lose any of you on the short walk.”
She started moving her way to the head of the group to lead them through the corridors and hallways of the school.
Pond’s nervousness had turned to excitement.
– P –
They were all sat in the hall, every single one of the newcomers. There was a little over one hundred little Unicorns sitting there, all as terrified as each other.
It was eerily silent, only a few of them had any confidence to talk to anypony, but only to the friends they had come with. But as the headmaster stepped out onto the stage and behind the podium, what little noise there was disappeared instantly.
He cleared his throat loudly. “Good morning. I am the Headmaster, Mr Scrupulous, and I would like to welcome you all to Mareton Grammar School. I'm sure your time here will be fruitful as well as fun.
“Now, if you would look around the room.”
Everypony did so. The sound of screeching chairs was ear grating.
“You will see your new form tutors, who will be with you every morning and afternoon for registration. In a moment, you will all have your names called and you will go with your assigned teachers to your form rooms, where you will spent the first hour of the day sorting everything out. And now, over to my assistant head, Mrs Overseer.”
He trotted backwards to the side to allow his assistant head to come into the limelight. His hooves tapped repeatedly against the floor to rouse the new pupils into a round of applause for her. None did so, out of fear and embarrassment.
“Right then you lot, I am, as your Headmaster said, Mrs Overseer, and I'm in charge here. Along with Mr Scrupulous, of course,” she added quickly.
Scrupulous eyed her suspiciously as she said this. He never didn’t her and was certain she would mutiny against him one day.
“I have assigned you all form tutors and I will know begin the strenuous task of splitting you off into your tutor groups.” Mrs Overseer could not sound any less enthused. “I will announce and direct your attention to a teacher, and then I will tell you who will be going with whom. And now, let’s begin…”
Pond ignored everything she said hereafter, only focusing on the teacher names she called out and listening intently for her name, she did not want to mess up on her first day. She was on the edge of her seat with both anticipation and nervousness.
Mrs Overseer called out the name Ms Lecture. Pond looked around quickly for the mare, who waved her hoof. It was the mare who had led her into the hall.
She hoped she was going with her, she looked very nice. She was a young Unicorn, possibly teaching for only a year or two, so she still seemed very eager. She also looked very friendly, with a warm smile and excitement in her eyes.
She was a light green in colour, with a mane similar to Pond’s in colour but much neater as it was in a bun behind her head, she also wore glassed that hung on a beaded chain around her neck, and a collar and black bowtie.
Pond returned her attention to Mrs Overseer, and hoped that she would call her name. Fortunately she did, her name was last one the list, but unfortunately though, Tesla wasn’t.
Pond looked at Tesla beside her. “I’ll see ya later, Tesla!” she chirped cheerfully as she got down from her seat.
“Bye, Pond!” Tesla said back.
He was clearly upset that he wasn’t in the same form as her. He watched her bounce away happily, making him almost miss his name being called.
Pond approached her new teacher, Ms Lecture, with a great sense of happiness. Having such a friendly and pretty teacher was very calming for her, and now she was even excited to get started for school, a thought she never thought she’d have.
As Pond trotted up in front of her, Ms Lecture smiled back happily. “And you must be Pond? Right?”
Pond nodded back in response, feeling too shy to talk.
“Good… good…” she muttered out loud as she ticked off Pond’s name against her chart. “Alright, is that all of you?” she asked largely to herself, knowing full well that none of her pupils wouldn’t have the faintest idea.
She looked over their heads and started counting to herself, her mouth moving with each number.
“That’s good, you’re all here.” She removed her glasses from her face, allowing Pond to see that she had dark green eyes.
“As you probably heard, I'm Ms Lecture and I will be both your form tutor and Trottish teacher. Now, if you would like to follow me, we will head to our new form room. And in case you get separated, it’s room four. And now… we go!” she said cheerfully with a hoof pointing dramatically in the direction they would be going before setting it down again and starting to walk.
– P –
Pond and her new classmates followed Ms Lecture with a disturbing silence. Now that most of the older students had settled down in their respective classes there was very little noise, only the gentle clip-clop of their hooves on the hard floors.
“You know, girls, you can talk, it’s not against the rules,” Ms Lecture tried to persuade them, but they still didn’t talk, they were all far too scared.
Lecture tutted and rolled her eyes happily, her mind drifting away to her first days at secondary school and how shy she was.
They arrived at their new form room in a few minutes. Ms Lecture opened the door and walked in, her class following behind closely. She reached her desk at the front and let out a great sigh.
“Alright girls, find your seats!” she said excitedly. Watching her new pupils looking around confusedly brought a smile to her face.
“Just sit anywhere for now!” she said through a laugh.
The children found seats, all of them having to pair up, much to their dislike, with fillies they didn’t know.
It was at this time when Pond noticed that they had split colts and fillies from each other, as her class was entirely female, although the teacher was only coincidentally of the same gender.
“Good.” Lecture smiled sweetly at the class now that they had all sat down and were waiting patiently. “Now, what I'm about to hand you are your timetables.”
A few students looked around, terrified that they hadn’t heard of these things before. This included Pond.
“Timetables?” squeaked a nervous filly.
“Yes, timetables. And don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. You have two lessons, then break, another two lessons, then lunch, and another two lessons before you can run off home again.”
Ms Lecture levitated identical pieces of crisp white paper to each of the class, each one printed with their timetables, all of which were identical for now.
Pond looked at it, it seemed to make sense. It was all abbreviated so easy to understand: a capital M for Maths, a T for Trottish, and PE for Physical Education, obviously; but there was one thing she couldn’t quite get her head around.
Pond slowly raised her hoof into the air; it shook with nerves and embarrassment.
“Miss?” she murmured sheepishly, barely audible despite the silence of the class.
Ms Lecture looked up. “Yes? What’s up err… Pond?” she hazarded a guess at her name, which was luckily correct.
“W-w-w-what’s Mag stand for?” she asked sheepishly, only just audible but Ms Lecture still had to strain her ears.
“Mag?” she asked herself, as if not sure herself. She had to take a quick glance at her own teacher’s timetable to remind herself. “Oh yes! That’s magic!”
This was met by an excited gasp from most of the class. Obviously they didn’t have established magic lessons in their old schools, including Pond’s old one as well.
Pond didn’t gasp, instead she hung her head down in shame and tried to hide her bare forehead from everypony.
“A-are you alright?” asked the terrified little child sat next to Pond in the most friendly voice she could muster.
Pond shook her head.
“What’s wrong?”
Pond looked up at her, her eyes already starting to tear up. She felt that even at this school she would get bullied for her being a Unicorn without a horn.
The filly noticed the lack of horn instantly. “Oh,” she said in a slow, long sound of enlightenment. “You have no horn!” she said excitedly.
Pond hid her head under the table, she could feel a tear drop fall from her eye as she tried to hide the fact she was crying from everypony. She didn’t want to be known as a cry-baby as well as a Unic.
“That’s sooo cool!” said the filly in a voice full of awe.
Pond looked up again and dried her eyes on her foreleg. “Really?” she asked hopefully.
“Yeah! I’ve never met a-a-a-a Unic before!” she managed to use that old insult in a way that made it a compliment. “And I love weird things!”
Pond wasn’t insulted by any of this. This filly, this white filly with a pink mane, had accepted her. Pond was so glad to have made a friend so quickly.
“I'm pond!” she said happily.
“I'm Scribble,” she said quickly before hugging Pond a little bit. Pond would have hugged back but was taken by far too much surprise and it was a very short hug.
The entire class was distracted by a loud thud on Ms Lecture’s desk. It was caused by a large cardboard box.
“These are your school planners.” She levitated out a couple of the bound paper books.
“Planners?” said the entire class in perfect, confused synchronisation.
Ms Lecture had to laugh.
“Yes, planners. You will make a note of all your homework and anything else important down in this. Although, later on in school, you will learn that you can just remember it.”
This brought a little giggle from some of the Unicorns before her. From what Pond had seen so far, she seemed to have a very relaxed view on teaching and school.
The planners were distributed. Pond plucked hers out of the air and gave it a quick flick through. It was incredibly dull.
Scribble took hers and gave it a little flick through. “Yes!” she whispered ecstatically.
Pond gave her a puzzled look. “What?”
“More drawing paper!”
“Drawing paper?”
“Yep. I love drawing. Nothing too fancy, just a few doodles. But I'm getting better.” Scribble reached a hoof down into her bags on the floor and pulled out a small pad of paper. She quickly skimmed over the pages.
Pond caught blurs of colour and lines flash before her eyes. They looked good, even if she didn’t see them properly, but the colours were well chosen and complimented each other near perfectly.
“Here. I like this one the best.” Scribble placed the pad in front of Pond. “Good, huh?”
“Yeah…” Pond was in awe of it. For a Pony of eleven years old, to draw such a detailed drawing of a dragon was beyond belief.
“D’ya like it?”
“Yeah…” Pond still couldn’t take her eyes off it.
“Then you can have it!” Scribble ripped it carefully from her drawing pad and slammed it down on Pond’s desk.
“Really?” Pond asked as she held it up to marvel at it some more.
“Yep.”
“Thanks, Scribble.” Pond tucked the drawing carefully into the front cover of her planner, not wanting to crease it. She took a short moment to line it up exactly with the see through cover, not being able to relax until it was as precise as she could make it.
Scribble watched her curiously, but mostly her fascinated attention was on Pond’s blank forehead.
Now that her class was talking amongst themselves, making friendships likely to stand the test of time, as friendships at that age so often do, Ms Lecture decided that she should have a word with Pond.
“Pond?” she said quietly as she approached the hornless Unicorn.
“Yes, Miss?” Pond replied nervously.
Ms Lecture knelt down to get eye level with Pond, making her, if anything, somehow more intimidating.
“I was told about you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I was told I would have a special little Unicorn in my form this year. And I was also told about your previous years in school.”
“Oh…” Pond shrank down a little.
“What happened in her previous years, Miss?” Scribble butted in rather rudely.
“Never you mind, Scribble. It’s up to Pond to tell you if she wants, not me. And you can’t force her to either.”
“Okay… sorry, Miss,” Scribble said sheepishly.
Despite her appearance and general attitude, Ms Lecture could give a stern word when needed.
“And anyway, Pond.” She refocused her attention on the matter at hoof. “If you want to talk about anything, you have but to ask, okay?”
Pond nodded.
“Good. And you don’t need to worry either, I will keep what you tell me with the strictest confidence, and nopony else will know whatsoever, okay?”
Pond nodded again.
“Good.” Ms Lecture stood up again and started to walk off before Pond drew her attention once again.
“What about magic class?”
Me Lecture turned on the spot and trotted back over to Pond. “What about it?” she asked with a smile.
“I can’t use… magic,” her voice trailed off towards the end, she was embarrassed to say it. But despite her best efforts, the Unicorns in her immediate area still heard, and so it spread around the class in mere seconds.
Everypony turned to look at her, including her old bully which she hadn’t noticed was in her class until then.
Pond slammed her head against her desk.
The class started muttering things to each other. A couple even started giggling.
“Now girls,” Ms Lecture said loudly as she gently stomped her hoof on the ground, her voice took on a very authoritative nature which commanded a lot of respect and silence.
“It’s no laughing matter. In fact, it’s no matter at all! She is a normal Unicorn, apart from the horn, so you must treat the same. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Miss Lecture,” the class sang back in unison, even Pond did due to the tone in which she spoke.
“And, Pond,” she changed her tone to her usual kind one and looked back to Pond. “Don’t worry, we have made arrangements for you to mix with another class when you have magic lessons.”
Pond smiled at her, she felt so excited now to be at this school. Her old school never seemed to think about her and often forgot that she couldn’t use magic, but this school understood so much better already and it was only the first day.
Ms Lecture smiled back at her before heading back to her desk slowly.
Pond felt happier after that. Miss Doltish had never been able to control a class with such ease, and Ms Lecture didn’t even have to resort to angered shouting, only a strict voice.
“You can’t use magic?” Scribble asked solemnly.
Pond shook her head.
Scribble snorted. “Lucky.”
Pond looked slowly towards the white Unicorn beside her. Her mouth hung open with bafflement. “Huh?”
“Magic makes everything too easy, I like the challenge.”
“You don’t have to use magic if you don’t want. It’s not compulsory.”
“But it’s so easy!”
Pond eyed her curiously. Scribble was completely contradicting herself, but she let it slide for now.
“Hey… Pond?” whispered a small voice coming from Pond’s side.
Pond looked around, it was her old bully. “Oh… hello, Gem,” she said coldly. Pond did not like her.
“I-I-I just wanted to say sorry,” Gem stuttered apologetically.
“What?” Pond couldn’t care less about what she had to say. After the bullying and the horrible few years of her life thanks almost entirely to her, Pond didn’t even want her near her. And now, thanks to this new school and her awesome new teacher, she could stay as far away from her as possible. Pond was untouchable.
“I'm sorry for all those years of bullying. I-I was just doing what everypony else was doing. I didn’t want to be left out. So I'm sorry. Do you forgive me?”
Pond looked at her for a little while, letting her sweat it out. But as she looked, she could tell that she was being sincere.
“Alright, I forgive you.” Pond didn’t really.
“Friends?” Gem asked with a hopeful smile, raising her hoof in the hopes Pond would bump it back.
“Friends.” Pond gingerly tapped the hoof.
Gem smiled at her before turning around and heading back to her chair.
“Who was that?” Scribble asked nosily.
“That’s Gem, my old bully.”
“Your bully? Really?”
“Yep.”
“And you just forgave her?” Scribble asked with a large sense of doubt and amazement.
“She seems to think so…” Pond smiled mischievously.
“Oh! Gotcha,” Scribble winked.
– P –
The bell rang signalling it was the end of the day. Pond and her class had just finished their first ever music lesson, where Pond discovered that she was particularly good at absolutely no instruments whatsoever.
The rest of her class were at least average at instruments, and could make a decent sound, but Pond couldn’t, only the piano could she use, as that is much simpler to play than any of the other stringed and percussion instruments, but she was still far too uncoordinated.
Pond wasn’t upset by this though, she was just happy at how well her first day went, and how fun this school was. And the fact she had made several friends on the first day was fantastic, and when compared to the three years it took to make just one at her first school, it is clearly visible that she had made a vast improvement.
Pond left the school with Scribble by her side, talking happily about their first day, but Pond kept an eye out for the three horned Unicorn. Fortunately for her, he saw her first.
“POND!” he shouted as he galloped over to her, skidding to a halt just in front of her.
“Hey, Tesla!” she shouted back with just as much enthusiasm.
“Did ya like it?” he asked quickly, barely being able to control his excitement, indicated by him bouncing on the spot. “Did ya make any friends?”
“Yep!” Pond shouted. “This is Scribble!” She pointed to her new friend, who jumped forward and hugged Tesla, taking him by complete surprise to the point where he couldn’t react in time before it was over.
“Err… hi! I'm Tesla!”
“And I'm Scribble!” Her eyes drifted upwards to his forehead. “Whoa…” she said loudly and slowly.
Tesla tried to hide his head behind a foreleg.
“You have three horns? That’s so weird…”
Tesla felt anger and sadness build up inside, but this subsided with her next words.
“That’s so AWESOME! So I’ve met a Unic AND a Tricorn on my first day of school! This is so COOL!” she squeaked.
“So you don’t think we’re… freaks?” Tesla asked hopefully.
“Freaks? Of course not! You’re awesome. I'm getting bored of Unicorns with just the one horn in fact, so seeing you and extra two is just the best thing ever!”
Tesla beamed at her, he already liked her.
“C’mon you two,” Pond tried to be authoritative, but failed, and so she just shouted louder, which got their attention.
“What?” the two horned Ponies said together.
“We should get going. It’s a long walk back home and I don’t like being out in the dark.”
The others nodded in agreement and they all started to walk back to their homes so they could share their day with their parents.
Pond couldn’t wait to tell her parents how brilliant a first day she had at her new school. All the teachers were friendly. All the students were nice to her. There was a little questioning about her lack of horn, but that was just general curiosity, and they all found it more fascinating rather than something to laugh at her about.
Pond could tell that this school will be good to her, and that she would have the best time of her life here.
And she couldn’t have been more wrong…
– P –
Pond loved this school. There was a lot of staring, of course, but that was all, no harsh words or bullying. Even Gem, her old bully, left her alone, and even became friends to a small degree. Pond felt normal here.
She loved her lessons as well. Every single one was engaging in some way or another, even Maths no longer sent her to sleep.
She especially loved chemistry, and so, when the rest of her class was doing their magic lessons, Pond was allowed to go take part in chemistry with another class. And to her delight, that class happened to be Tesla’s.
Tesla, even though he didn’t see much of her around school, was still a good friend to her. There was a bond there that would take something much more drastic to break. He excelled in magic, having three horns made it much easier for him, as he could channel thrice as much magic as a normal Unicorn, although it took three times the effort. But he was getting around that problem by trying to make himself fitter.
Scribble, as well, was a brilliant friend to Pond. She was always happy, and quickly became a fantastic artist. She was in fact the first of her year to gain a cutie mark. It was a pencil that resided on her flank, and she wore it with pride.
The first two years were fine. They flew by with very little hassle. It was the third that was a problem.
– P –
Tesla was a popular Unicorn. His strict exercise regime he put into practice to get him fitter and to make it easier to use magic had made him very attractive. Plus, having three horns was seen as some kind of symbol of power, among other things (you know what they say about a Unicorn with long horns). This all made him very popular with fillies around school.
This wasn’t the case for Pond. She may have been a pretty, young thing, but the lack of horn made her a sort of social outcast, and therefore didn’t hang out with the popular kids. But she still had Scribble and a few others, but mostly Scribble.
Naturally, being separated by gender and social groups, they drifted apart. They began to speak less and less, although it was still very friendly when they did. They clearly hadn’t lost the bond they had made all those years ago, even though it was stretching thin.
They lost common interests. Pond was more interested in fishing and music; listening to, not playing. Tesla was more interested in magic and friends.
They talked less, their conversations they did have were shorter and more awkward.
Tesla would ignore her if he passed her in the corridors, as if he was ashamed to be her friend. If he was on his own he would say “Hi”, but little else. If he was with a friend he would completely blank her.
“Tesla!” Pond called out as she saw her Tricorn friend down the corridor.
“Tesla!” she shouted again, breaking into a quick jog to catch up, with Scribble following closely.
“Hey, Tesla,” she said with a little pant as she stopped beside him.
Tesla ignored her. It was clear from his tense walk that it was intentional, and not because he didn’t hear her, which Pond so hoped was the case. He kept walking.
“Tesla?” Pond whimpered.
He kept walking.
Pond started to walk after him.
“Leave him, Pond,” Scribble whispered affectionately. She placed a hoof on her shoulder and turned her around.
Pond kept looking over her shoulder at her best friend walking away from her until she couldn’t anymore.
Scribble led her away.
Pond couldn’t believe it. Her best friend for years had just completely blanked her. He was even on his own, which made it worse.
She didn’t know why he did it. Her fellow freak had turned on her for absolutely no reason. She felt hurt beyond belief and alone.
That night, she cried for the first time in years.
– P –
Pond earned her cutie mark at the age of fourteen, only one month after Tesla’s abandonment.
It happened on a fishing trip with her father.
She would often go out on his boat with him on weekends to fish with him ever since she had discovered she had a knack for it. If it wasn’t for her, her father would have had to find a different vocation.
This trip was different.
Pond was still upset by Tesla, but the fishing kept her mind occupied. She had her fishing rod cast out in The Mare, waiting patiently for a bite.
It was unusual. She almost always beat her father in terms of number of fish caught, but this time she hadn’t caught a single one in the two hours she had been there.
“Chin up!” Blue said as he saw his daughter’s glum face.
Pond ignored him.
There was a gentle tug on her line, snapping her back to reality.
She tightened her grip on the rod and began to size up her target, determining its strength.
It nearly pulled her into the water.
She stood up quickly and propped herself against the edge of the boat, with her back hooves on the rim and the rod grasped tightly in the front two, so she could use her weight as she strained to fight against it.
She opened her eyes a crack to see if she could see her catch.
Its spines glistened with all the colours of the rainbow.
Her eyes widened and she tightened her grip further.
“Dad?” she asked mildly urgently.
“What?” he said as he pulled another fish on board. He looked over to his daughter. He was worried instantly as soon as he saw how she was standing. He thought she was about to be pulled into the sea.
“Dad, could you tie me down, or something?” she asked casually. “I’ve hooked a Rainbow Shark.”
His eyes widened with excitement and amazement.
He quickly levitated a belt around his daughter’s waist and fastened it with a rope to the deck.
“Thanks.” Pond now began the difficult task of bringing it in.
It was tricky to say the least. The line nearly broke several times in the long back and forth between her and the Shark.
It had been almost an hour, and the Shark was growing weary, but not as much as Pond was. She almost gave up, but a strong current beat the Shark and pushed it closer to the boat.
Pond saw her one opportunity. She reached down by her hooves and grabbed a harpoon. She launched it at the Shark.
The harpoon lodged itself in the Shark’s back, causing it to paralyze and go weak.
Pond’s mouth fell agape. She couldn’t believe it.
She quickly unfastened the belt and darted to the winch. She connected the rope attached to the harpoon to the winch and began to reel in the Shark.
The Shark came in without a fight.
It fell onto the deck with a mighty thud.
Pond and Blue stared at it, not able to believe their eyes.
They turned to each other slowly.
After a short moment, they both smiled and started jumping and cheering.
“I caught a Rainbow Shark!” Pond shouted.
“That’s amazing, Pond. Just brilliant!” Blue shouted back proudly.
“I can’t believe it! A Rainbow Shark!”
Blue grabbed his daughter and hugged her. “I am so proud of you!”
“I know, Dad,” she replied cockily.
He let her go again and started bouncing with excitement.
“We don’t need the rest of this fish thanks to you. We won’t even have to find somewhere cheaper to live anymore!”
“Yeah! Wait, what?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Blue dismissed her. “C’mon, let’s get a picture with you and your catch.”
“Okay!” Pond cheered enthusiastically and trotted off to the Rainbow Shark.
She marvelled at it. She had never seen one close up before. She didn’t even know of its sword nose. Its spines were majestic and eerily beautiful, as was the rest of it. It shined in the sun that beat down on them.
Blue stared at his daughter, as if hypnotised. He stared particularly at her flank.
“Pond?”
“Yeah?” she replied happily.
He raised a shaky hoof and pointed it at her flank.
She looked down and instantly squealed with excitement.
“My cutie mark!” she said in an awe filled voice. She started jumping around excitedly. “Look at it! It’s so awesome!”
Her cutie mark was a golden swordfish, circling in her flank.
Blue went off to the cabin and retrieved his camera. He came back excitedly.
“Okay, Pond,” he said enthusiastically. “Strike a pose, and try to get your cutie mark in as well!”
Pond nodded and stood up onto her back legs, facing the shark. She looked over her shoulder and threw her forelegs forward and pointed at the Rainbow Shark. Her cutie mark was clearly visible.
“Okay, big smile!” Blue said as he raised the camera up to his eyes.
Pond put on the biggest smile she could.
The camera went off and a photo fell out of the front, which Blue caught in some magic.
He brought it up and looked at it. “I think we might need another,” he decided. “Smile!”
Pond did as asked and smiled broader.
The camera went off again and released a second photo. “Much better,” Blue concluded. He stepped forward to show Pond.
He stooped down and kissed her forehead, and for once she didn’t rub it off.
“Right, back to shore, I guess. Let’s get bragging about how my amazing daughter caught a Rainbow Shark,” Blue said smugly.
Pond didn’t care about bragging. She was always particularly modest, most of the time. All that came into her mind was the desire to go tell Tesla.
That thought nearly made her cry.
– P –
A few weeks later, enough time for the hype of her cutie mark to disappear and also to become fifteen, Pond was on the school field, eating her lunch.
Scribble wasn’t there. She was apparently feeling ill. Although, knowing her, she was probably pretending to get out of doing a Maths test.
A colt came up to her. She recognised him as one of the popular kids but couldn’t remember his name.
“Hey, Pond,” he said quietly. All the while looking around to make sure nopony saw him.
“Hi,” she replied with a curious look. She was wondering why a popular kid was talking to her.
“I have a note for you.” He lifted a scrap of paper from his mane with a little magic and dropped it in front of her. He quickly galloped away, as if ashamed to be near her, which Pond thought was the most plausible reason.
Pond watched him run away from her with a curious look. She hated to admit it, but she liked watching him walk away. She was coming to that age, after all.
She drew her attention back to the scrap of paper. She quickly unfolded it and read it. She recognised his writing instantly. It read:
Meet me behind the bike sheds after school.
Tesla.
She was over the moon. Her heart raced at the possibilities of what he wanted.
It had been a little over two months since he started to completely ignore her, but now he wanted to make amends.
She knew her oldest friend wouldn’t abandon her/
She couldn’t wait.
If only Scribble had been there to advise her.
– P –
Pond waited behind the bike sheds, as instructed, humming a tune to keep her occupied.
Her mind was wandering all over the place as she tried to think of what they would talk about. She had never been one for starting decent conversations, but she felt that this was important for she wanted Tesla back so bad.
She heard the sound of hooves on gravel and looked up expectantly, with a wide grin. She was so glad it was him.
Her heart fluttered a little. She hadn’t noticed how attractive he was now. Obviously, his fitness scheme had paid off. He was definitely one of the more attractive colts at school.
If Pond was standing her knees would have weakened.
She laughed awkwardly, trying desperately to say something.
Tesla was also useless at starting conversations, but he was much less awkward.
He wore a devious smile. He was definitely up to something.
Pond gulped and took the first go. “Hey, Tesla,” she said with a small, shaking voice.
“Hi, Pond,” he replied with an unusual amount of confidence for what Pond knew of him.
“H-how’s it going?” she asked sheepishly.
“Good, good,” he replied with little emotion.
They remained silent for a little while longer until Pond couldn’t bear it anymore. It had been burning in her mind since lunchtime and she had to ask.
“Why did you want to talk to me?” she asked in an unintentionally stern tone.
His smile grew slighter bigger, making it look far more threatening when before it was slightly charming.
Pond suddenly felt nervous.
“Well, Pond, I fancied hanging out with you,” he said with much contempt. He stepped closer to her.
Pond recoiled slightly and started feeling a horrible feeling of dread in her stomach.
“Why?” she asked, hoping his next response would help ease her panic.
Tesla just shrugged, which made it worse for Pond. “Don’t know,” he said with little thought behind his words.
The look in his eyes filled her with fear like she hadn’t felt in years. They were filled with desire and a determination that she did not want to think about.
Pond heard more footsteps on the gravel. Part of her wanted it to be somepony to distract Tesla so she could get away.
The many hooves thundered around the corner, revealing their owners to be Tesla friends, all of which were colts.
“W-what are they doing here?” she whimpered.
Tesla didn’t reply. He looked over his shoulder and gave a small nod to his friends.
The four colts jumped at Pond and grabbed her. They pushed her back into the wall of the bike sheds.
Pond tried as hard as she could to wrestle free from them, but even with her fear induced adrenaline rush she was easily overpowered.
They slammed her viscously into the wooden wall and turned her around so her back was facing them.
She tried as hard as she could to scream, but no sound came out. She was too terrified.
The four Unicorns magically pinned each of her legs against the wall as hard as they could, hurting her.
Pond tried her hardest to break free of their magical grip, but her thoughts were no longer coordinated. She could barely move anymore. She only shivered with fear.
She broke down into hysterical crying as she felt her hind legs being spread against her will.
She knew what they were about to do. It never even crossed her mind when she got the note. Her mind doesn’t work that way.
What she felt next was the most unexpected sense of relief she would ever feel, but that only lasted not even a tenth of a second, for it was replaced near instantly with the most horrendous pain she had ever experienced.
– P –
It was two months before she could talk again.
Tesla was expelled.