The Kobold of Ponyville

“Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice carrying an hint of irritation on it, “He’s going to be late!”

“I know, I know!” Fluttershy replied, “but, but he just look so adorable! I need to take more pictures!”

“Yes! All the pictures!” Rarity added with a demented giggle.

“Oh lord…” Applejack mumbled as she facehoofed herself.

Tak blinked in confusion as he was kobold-handled by Fluttershy and Rarity, the two mares moving him about before taking pictures, with him wearing his replica daring do outfit and newly acquired brown backpack which just about fit the kobold, with a strange device he quickly learned was called a camera.

However, he preferred to keep referring to it as the flashy box.

As the two were doing this, Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood to one side clearly not amused by their friends antics as the blue mare kept looking back between the clock on the wall and her friends.

“Oh, I know!  Let’s get one of him on your back, Fluttershy!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Oh my, yes!” Fluttershy happily agreed with a giggle as she pulled the kobold up onto her back.

As Tak’s eyes blinked rapidly from the flash of the camera for what seemed to be like the fifteenth time that morning, Rainbow Dash let out a very irritated groan

“For crying out loud, Rarity!”

Applejack, although equally annoyed as Rainbow Dash, couldn’t help chortle under her breath at the irritated pegasus.

“Ya know, Dash. Ah find it pretty amusing that you of all ponies are gettin’ frustrated at being late. Yer always late for anything that requires work.”

Rainbow Dash shot her friend a glare before snorting, “Well, yeah. But I don’t want the lil guy to be late! He’s gotta show up in his awesome Daring Do outfit and strut his awesome self and show his classmates he is just… well, awesome!”

“Uhuh,” Applejack replied.

Meanwhile, by the front door to Fluttershy’s cottage, the cutie mark crusaders sat impatiently as they watched their siblings bicker and chat away with their own expressions of irritation.

“Ah hate to say it, but Rainbow is right,” Applebloom said, “we are gunna be late at this point.

The other two nodded as Tak staggered over to them rubbing his eyes as he groaned loudly.

“Stupid flashy box is hurting Tak’s eyes!” he grumbled.

Scootaloo snickered and wrapped pulled the kobold into a one sided hug and noggied his scaly head, “You’ll get over it soon. So, you ready for your first day of school?”

Tak pushed the filly away as he let out a soft bark of protest, causing the girls to giggle, “Tak is ready for anything!”

The kobold grinned as he put his hands on his hips before turning to look back at Fluttershy and the others.

“Oh come now, Rainbow!” Rarity said, “Fluttershy is only ever going to get one chance to document little Tak’s first day of pony school!”

“Or, ya just want to take photos of him in your clothing, Rarity,” Applejack replied as Rainbow Nodded in agreement.

“Oh come now, girls. Do we have to argue? Can’t we just agree my little Tak looks so adorable?” Fluttershy asked.

“You two are just, URGH!” Rainbow groaned.

Tak looked back to the three fillies and rolled his eyes, “You know, that is, till these four stop their talking.”

“Hey, Applejack! We’re gunna be late!” Applebloom yelled, bringing a hoof to the side of her mouth.

He shout was ignored by Applejack and the other three as they continued to bicker amongst each other.

“Hey, Rarity!” Sweetie Belle chimed in, trying to get the unicorn’s attention. “Come on, let’s go already!”

Again, just like Applebloom the filly was ignored by her siste. Scootaloo let out a low groan, knowing full well there was no point in trying to get Rainbow Dash’s attention knowing full well that once the pegasus was in an argument there was little one could do to get her out of out it.

“Guys, I think we should just go. Not like we don’t know the way or anything,” Scootaloo suggested.

“I’d rather not be late,” Sweetie Belle added. “Again…”

Applebloom nodded in agreement, “Yeah, would look bad fer Tak if he was late. Come on, guys.”

Tak watched as the three left the building one after the other before he shot a glance over to the mares and back to the front door. He stood there for a moment, seemingly contemplating weather or not he should follow the three fillies.

“Come on, Tak!” Scootaloo called from the outside.

The kobold blinked before he turned to the group and offered a meek wave, despite none of them paying him any attention, and picked up the small blue lunchbox Fluttershy had prepared for him that was waiting by the front door.

“Well… bye bye, see you after school.”

And with that, The kobold exited the house and closed the door, leaving the four mares still bickering away with one another.

They day was starting to get into its full swing in the early morning as the residents of Ponyville began their daily routines. The market stall owners were reading up their wares ready to begin selling as fillies and colts walked with their parents down the main road of Ponyville heading towards the school building.

The three crusaders walked over the bridge that lead from the town’s market place towards Fluttershy’s home and the Everfree forest and stopped as they noticed that Tak wasn’t beside them. Scootaloo looked back to see him standing in the middle of the bridge looking a little nervous as his eyes darted from the marketplace towards where they had come from.

“You okay, bud?” Scootaloo asked.

“Y-Yeah, just… a little nervous,” Tak said softly as he slowly approached them.

“It’ll pass,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile, “just stick with us and the others today and you’ll be fine. We promise!”

Tak smiled as both Applebloom and Scootaloo nodded in agreement, “Thanks, Tak really is lucky to have friends like you!”

“Well, that’s what friends do, stick together and help each other!” Scootaloo replied, “And crusaders will be there for each other even honorary ones like—”

Scootaloo was quickly silenced as both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom rushed at her and pressed their hooves into Scootaloo’s mouth, earning a confused and muffled protest from the pegasus filly.

“Shh! It’s ah surprise!” Applebloom whispered at Scootaloo through clenched teeth.

Scootaloo pushed their hooves away and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, “Oh yeah… sorry, I forgot.”

“Forgot what? Tak is confused.” Tak asked, tiling his head.

“Oh nothing, nothing. Just some crusader stuff, don’t worry about it.” Sweetie Belle replied.

The kobold stared at the three who did their best, and subsequently failed at giving an innocent grin to the kobold. Thankfully, Tak didn’t think anything of it and merely shrugged.

“Alright then, whatever.”

The three crusaders let out a sigh of relief as the four began to make their way down the road and towards the school.

As they walked, they received various different looks and greetings from ponies they passed by. Some like Red Balaton, the mare who ran the cherry and other types of fruits stand, gave the four a cheery greeting and wished Tak good luck on his first day of official pony kobold relations. This confused the kobold but he was soon informed that more often than not in a small town such as Ponyville, word and gossip gets around at a ridiculously fast rate.

However, some such as the three flower ponies eyed Tak with some degree of suspicion whilst others muttered under their breath as they watched carefully as the four walked by them. The crusaders felt uncomfortable under the gazes of the ponies that watched them walk by, feeling their eyes lock onto them as if they had committed a huge crime, but Tak didn’t seem to care too much. He had often seen ponies glaring at him during raids when he was with his clan so he was somewhat used to it.

Though, he was curious as to some of the words they used to describe him were. The kobold decided he would ask Fluttershy later on in the evening.

Soon enough, the school house came into view and already a mass of fillies and colts had gathered in the playground enjoying themselves before the first bell of the day rang out. The parents of the foals stood just outside, milling around and chatting to one another as the four approached. Just like in the marketplace, they were greeted by different expressions, however, unlike the market there seemed to be less negative looking expressions.

“Y’all see the others?” Applebloom asked.

Scootaloo squinted her eyes before she laid them upon where the group's other friends were, playing on the metal jungle gym and pointed with a hoof, “Found ‘em!”

Tak followed her hoof and smiled as he spotted Pipsqueak and the other friends he had made playing near the weird looking metal bar contraption and started to wag his tail. The four were about to pass through the gates when they heard the voice of a certain filly they all despised.

“See! I told you, mother! They are letting that thing into the school!”

They turned around to see Diamond Tiara with Silver Spoon nearby. Beside them was a mare with an exquisite mane and a string of shiny pearls around her neck, also sneering in utter disgust down at the group.

“Good, grief!” the mare exclaimed, “So it is true, they are letting little monsters into our schools!”

The three fillies glared at the mare and Diamond, recognizing her immediately as the aforementioned fillies’ mother. Unlike her father, Filthy Rich, who at most times was a pleasant enough stallion to be around, Diamond’s mother Spoilt Rich was another matter entirely. Spoilt by name and by nature,the mare was snobbish and stuck up and would always look down at everyone.

Tak swallowed a lump in his throat and did everything in his power to stop his small frame shaking. For some reason, this mare was giving off a bad feeling and every instinct in his body was telling Tak to be cautious or to run away. Either way, the kobold knew this mare was bad news.

“First my daughter must associate with these blank flanks. Now monsters?! I won’t allow this! Miss Cheerilee!” Spoilt all but barked.

From near the schoolhouse, Miss Cheerilee trotted over, struggling to show her irritation at having to speak with Spoilt Rich by faking a smile.

“Yes, what’s the matter, Mrs Rich?” she asked her.

“Just why are you allowing this creature, this freak!” she pointed a hoof at Tak, who shrunk a little as she did, “Into my daughter’s school?!”

“Well, Tak here is helping improve the relations between ponies and kobolds by—”

“Relations?!” Spoilt interrupted with an angry sneer, “Have you lost your common sense you stupid mare! It’s a monster! It has no place amongst the civilized world of ponies. Especially not in a place where fillies and colts are! Who knows what that freakish lizard will do to them!”

Much to Miss Cheerilee’s horror, some of the mares and stallions in the crowd muttered their agreements with Spoilt Rich, causing her to glare into the crowd around her. Tak swallowed a lump in his throat as he looked around him. He didn’t care what the fillies and colts would say to him as he had learned from Fluttershy that they were still learning how they should behave, this a fact proven that he had made friends with several of the fillies and colts.

However, something about the voice of this mare made him a very uneasy, feeling his body go cold and shake slightly as the mare pointed at him, shooting him a sneering glare every so often.

“You will never have a place in pony society, not whilst sensible level headed individuals like myself have anything to say about it you little vermin!”

Tak felt his eyes well up a little as his body shook. Her glare made his heart sink and his body go numb as if a snake had injected its venom into him. He instantly knew that unlike with Pinkie, this mare was evil, and nothing good came from her. For the kobold, he felt true fear as she glared down at him

“F-Fluttershy and her friends a-accept Tak…” Tak whispered, finding his voice.

Spoilt scoffed, “I hardly think so!”

“Yeah!” Diamond added.

“You are most likely just a little play thing to that pink haired coward,” Spoilt continued.

Despite everything that had happened up to that point, Fluttershy saving his life and taking him under her wing. Making friends with the crusaders and the other amres as well as some of the fillies and colts at the school. There was something about the words Spoilt said, the way she said them stabbed into Tak like a knife and he choked back a sob.

Her words were literal poison and were successfully sinking in and taking a hold of the kobold and he started to doubt everything, even with the evidence contradicting what the mare was spewing. Were they just mucking about with him? Tak knew that his kind wasn’t as clever as others, going from what little he had already seen of pony society, so for all he knew Spoilt could be right.

“S-Stop it…” he mumbled, wringing his hands together as he looked down on the verge of crying.

Spoilt leant down till she was nearly pressing her nose to his snout, her eyes perceiving directly into Tak’s with an ice cold glare that send his body numb.

“You will never be accepted.” she said coldly.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Scootaloo shouted at Spoilt, getting in between her and Tak along with the other two crusaders, “You’re scaring him!”

“I’m scaring him?!” she scoffed, “Look at him, he’s a damn abomination! You should be the one scared of him, you silly little blank flank filly!”

Scootaloo glared at the mare with gritted teeth as Diamond Tiara held back a snicker from behind her mother. Miss Cheerilee gasped and angrily stomped up to Spoilt Rich coming face to face to her, much to the mare’s surprize.

“Mrs. Rich!” the teacher all but snarled, “How dare you call a filly that word! You are supposed to set an example to the young ones, not insult and degrade them like that! Why in all my years of teaching I have never seen such disgusting behaviour from a grown mare, you should be ashamed of yourself! And how dare you talk to Tak that way! Just because he is different—”

Spoilt Rich merely sniffed as she tilted her head up and interrupted the teacher, “Honestly, Miss Cheerilee. The little brats need to hear the truth about how the world sees them sooner or later, I’m just helping them.”

Miss Cheerilee flayed her ears back in anger and utter shock. “Mrs Rich—!”

“Enough!” Spoilt Rich interrupted her again, “I have made up my mind, as long as you dare entertain the idea that this freakish lizard attends here I will pull out all of my funding to your school and send my daughter to a proper, highly classed school for her education.”

Miss Cheerilee gritted her teeth in anger as she glared at the mare. As much as she hated to admit it, the rich family's wealth did help a major amount for the school and losing it would be a massive blow to her. However, she knew she had to do.

“Then take your filthy money, we can find funding elsewhere!” the teacher replied as she sneered at the mare, “I will not abandoning my principles of teaching anypony or kobold who wishes to learn here!”

Around her, the crowd of fillies and colts cheered along with a vast majority of mares and stallions as Spoilt Rich looked around her in shock. The rich mare snorted as she glared at the teacher who did her best not to shrink under the rich mare’s gaze.

“Why I never—!”

“What’s going on here?”

Spoilt and Cheerilee looked to their side to see Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash approaching her, each mare sharing a look of irritation which Spoilt equally returned as the four mares entered the circle the crowd had formed, snorting as she glared at them.