//------------------------------// // Prologue: The name's Grim // Story: Last Rites // by Humanarian //------------------------------// It was a regular day at Cloudsdale's school. Nothing out of ordinary. The children had gathered in the class room, preparing for their teacher to come in, some of them were sharing stories, some were getting their student's books ready and opened at some exact page, the others whispered something about how much they hated Math... As expected, in a few moments their teacher had come in, but she wasn't alone. "Alright, class! I want your attention now!" the teacher's voice had immediately silenced the room, everypony was waiting for what she had to say next, "Today we have a new foal in our class! He's a sweet little pegasus and will make a great addition to the class. But, the life has not been... as fortunate to him as it is to all of us, so, please, be nice to him. Do you understand?" "Yes, miss Windghast!" the foals replied, some sincerely, but there were a few with a sly grin on their faces. Obviously, the bullies. "Alrighty then. You may introduce yourself now," the light blue mare with a long white mane had addressed the foal standing next to her. The said foal had a pitch black coat, but his white mane was perfectly matching the teacher's. Yet, the most strange detail about him was his cutiemark: it was a ghostly pony silhouette that looked like it was jumping over a sickle... or was about to be cut it in half by it. "Hi," he said simply, but there was not a hint of shyness in his voice. Instead, the voice was unusually deep for a foal, and it almost seemed like it was leaving an echo, "The name's Grim." The slience had filled the class room. Nopony knew what to say. That was one of the most lame speeches they ever heard from a newbie. And yet... the foal's voice had made it sound rather dark, almost threatening. What a combination... "A-alight," the teacher was the first to break the silence, professionally continuing the introduction, "Class, say 'Hello' to Grim!" "Hello, Grim!" the class was as obedient as ever. After all, no foal wanted to anger their teacher and get in trouble. "You may take your place now, Grim," miss Windghast had smiled at the addition to her class kindly, "Be good, pay attention in the calss - and there will be no troubles." A couple of ponies at the back seats had smirked at that, their eyes were following the newbie. The days passed, and Grim was doing well at the class. However, he wasn't doing well during the breaks, very much to the certain ponies' amusement. Moreover, it had become clear that the pegasus could not fly. For the reason unknown, he always kept his wings shut. From the ancient times, the flightless pegasus was considered a shame, and was humiliated in front of the others. The time had passed, and the pegasi changed since they had joined the land of Equestria. But such traditions... just remain in the blood for a long-long time. That was the day when they had finally decided to take a bite. Waiting for the moment when all of the other foals and the teacher went out of the class room during the break, they approached Grim. "Oh, lookie here... What's that?" Dumb-Bell was the first one to act. "Wait, that's not a 'what', but a 'who'. Sorry for confusing you for a ball of dirt, kid," Hoops had joined in. Their classic tactics. Yet, surprisingly, the kid payed them no attention. And that certainly angered the bullies. "Hey, we're talking to you!" Score yelled, joining the duo. That has caught the foal's attention. "Don't," he replied simply. His deep and dark voice had sent a shiver down the bullies' spines, even though they hadn't let it show. The answer itself, however, had caught them off-guard. After collecting themselves for a couple of moments, they had finally found the words to reply with. "Who do you think you are, talking to us like that?" "Yeah! You're looking for trouble, aren't you, eh... rock?!" Hoops was not great at giving the nicknames. "Why is he a rock?" Dumb-Bell asked him. "Because he's gonna hit the ground like one as soon as he steps out of the clouds!" Hoops replied, earning a wholehearted laugh from his fellow bullies. Grim, however, had remained busy with doing his homework during the break. The display seemed to annoy the bullies further. "Hey!" Dumb-Bell had hit the talble, causing Grim's notebook to jump and his pen to leave a blot on it's page. The foal stopped writing, "You're gonna listen to us when we talk to you, or else!" "Or else... " the dark foal had slowly turned his gaze the bulky bully until their eyes met, "...what?" There was something unusual about that gaze, something that had made the dumb jock pause, struggling to find a reply. His friends, however, were there to save him. Score had taken a hold on Grim from behind. "You're about to find out. I've got him, guys!" he exclaimed. The other two were already surrounding the incapacitated foal. However, he had another surprise for them. "Is 'rock' a nickname you have given me?" he asked simply, as if he wasn't in any sort of a dire situation. "Yeah! What about it?" Dumb-Bell's bravery had returned to him at anticipation of having some fun. "I like it," the foal replied, surprising the bullies further, pretty much to their annoyance. "Oh, yeah? Well, too bad for ya! We aren't taking any apologies now!" Hoops replied, already preparing to land the first hit on the dark foal. But at that exact moment, Grim's body had slipped out... no, slipped through the Score's grip, breaking free from it. Before any of them could react, a hard blow had connected with Dumb-Bell's chin. The unconscious body of a bulky jock had hit the floor. Hoops, acting completely out of combination of instinct and fear had tried to land his hit, but simply wasn't fast enough. His body had soon joined his friend's one. Score was speechless, his mind was struggling to understand what was going on. The dark foal had slowly turned around, facing the last bully standing. His gaze had frozen Score in place. It felt like looking the very Death in the eye... "Rocks are supposed to hit hard, are they not...?" the dark pegasus asked the shaking one. It was not long before Score had joined his friends in the Dreamland... He didn't even need to get hit for that. The time had passed, and Grim had been sent to a school in the town named Ponyville. Being flightless, it was simply not safe for him to remain in Cloudsdale. Not to mention... that incident in the school had caused quite a noise. And it wasn't just about the fact of him beating up the infamous trio, but also... When teacher came back to the class room, she had nearly fainted at the sight of Grim sitting there, calmly doing his homework while surrounded with three unconscious bodies. One of the pegasi, however, had looked at him with admiration and respect since that moment. He remembered her well... She was easy to remember, after all. Her mane was a pure rainbow. Ever since that day, the foal had been considered "problematic", despite not repeating anything like that. And, since he was an orphan, there was no trouble in moving him to the other location. The new place, however, had accepted him rather well. The new school was nice, and the kids there were the match. They were kind and friendly, none of them seemed to pay attention to the fact he was flightless. They had simply shrugged off the fact that he wasn't talkative, accepting him for who he was. And since that was the case, he was left alone. Perhaps, that's exactly what he wanted. The time was passing by, day by day... He had graduated along with the others and then disappeared as soon as he had become an official adult pony. Noone knew where he went, and nopony really gave it much thought. Especially since they had a much bigger concern. The Crystal War had begun...