Chapter 2: The Resident With The WHAT?
Pain, discomfort, and unending torment, those would be the words Breezy Kite would use to describe her life. She had long grown accustomed to them, as if they were an ever-present companion, but she knew in her mind that she would never be rid of them. Why would it ever? She was being punished by the goddess for a crime she had no idea she committed.
It was a punishment that had been placed upon her ever since she was merely eight years old, when her whole family was caught in a bad inferno. While the cause of the fire was never made clear to her, the effects were long-lasting. It had claimed her home, her toys, her skin, and worse her family. According to her aunt, Kite’s mother had almost gotten them out of the house when a beam collapsed, pinning the two in the blaze.
The fire tortured her for over five minutes, tearing her skin apart, burning her hair off, and forcing the beam to nearly crush her left leg. Her mother, still holding her, burned to death next to Kite before the firefighters combating the blaze could reach them. When they did reach them, only Kite was pulled out alive. Her father had died in his sleep during the blaze, unable to be rescued before he could even be awoken.
Scared, barely alive, and with more than half her body burned, Breezy Kite began her long road to recovery. She spent the rest of her childhood and early teenage years in the hospital, receiving skin graft after skin graft, going through hours of reconstructive surgery, and even hair transplants.
Yet, nine years later, she was still a freak. Her once fair skin was now very rough and coarse along with a magenta color, giving her a nearly frightening appearance. Her black hair had returned though while it had length, it did little to improve her looks. Furthermore, her carcass of a face was now hidden behind a white mask.
When she hit puberty, her chest grew out giving her some bouncy breasts but even they were scared by the flames that had once tortured her so. The muscle damage to her leg also resulted in her having to use a cane to maintain balance. The only thing the fire didn’t take were her eyes, a deep brown that was once described to be as beautiful as a sandy beach. Her voice did return to her however, granting her a gentle yet powerful singing voice that felt meaningless without a body behind it.
Things didn’t improve when she was finally released from the hospital.
She was now living with her Aunt Whistler Kite and Uncle Skyrocket Kite, who were both members of the Equestrian Military, Breezy found herself constantly moving from home to home until she was seventeen. By then, both her new guardians had retired to take better care of her, and Breezy found herself in Canterlot’s suburb of Ponyville.
She had only heard of this neighborhood and its school in particular, as well as a little bit about school life for its attendees. But what troubled her were the stories told, that while it was fantastic for students, it was also true that it could easily be divided.
When she was finally enrolled in Canterlot High School for the New Year, she wasn’t thrilled. But whether she liked it or not, she was now a student at CHS. And when she awoke the morning of the first day of school, she was hyper aware of that. Her eyes opened on her new room, which despite it only being occupied for less than a day felt more like home than the others she had once occupied after the fire.
Posters of her favorite musicals and bands adorned the walls, providing some level of comfort to her. Yet it did little to fully uplift her spirits. The walls underneath the posters were an emerald color mixed with lime and black patterns giving the room a slightly dark vibe to it. That was how Breezy liked it, so that she could barely be seen by the outside world.
“Breezy,” Her Aunt Kite called from the living room, “Time for breakfast.”
Breezy rubbed her eyes, climbed out of bed, grabbed her cane, and made her way to breakfast. Despite her constant torment, her aunt and uncle had done their best to make her comfortable. They were loving, caring, and most of all supportive. It was something Breezy deeply appreciated, but against the unending misery, it was nothing more than a dream compared to real life.
Still, it was all she had, and with everything else that had happened she couldn’t have asked for better guardians. So she put her bravest face on as she limped into the kitchen. The smell of eggs and sausages filled her nostrils and a smile curled on her face. Something her uncle took notice of.
“Now there’s my little pearl, how are you feeling today Hun?” he asked.
“Better,” Breezy answered, lying slightly, “Thank you.”
“Well hopefully some of my eggs and sausage will help you be ready to start the day.” Uncle Kite smiled, “I made them extra spicy, just how you like ’em.”
“Thanks Uncle,” Breezy smiled sliding into her chair.
“I’ll be taking you to school today honey,” Aunt Kite told her, “Don’t worry everything has been arranged to handle your needs. And don’t feel too put off; this is the best school in town when it comes to special education.”
Special, what can a special education program offer a criminal like me? Breeze thought. Out loud she simply nodded as her uncle handed her the breakfast plate. Usually it was bad for burn victims to eat spicy food, but Breezy had always been a fan of them. In the end, it was her way of trying to make the best of this horrible situation.
“Are you excited for school today?” Uncle Kite asked.
Breezy nodded slightly, though to be honest she wasn’t sure. The last few times she had gone to a new school, regardless of public or private, her garish appearance even behind her mask frightened anyone and everyone away.
What is going to make this school any different? She thought to herself.
But her aunt and uncle smiled brightly. She took some solace within their love and happiness, yet deep down her mind told her that once again hoping for the best was a fool’s errand.
After breakfast was done, Breezy went upstairs to get ready. First was applying lotion to her skin, in order to keep it from fully drying up and causing even more discomfort than she normally had. This was the one part of the day she always hated as it involved removing all her clothes to properly apply the lotion. She was sure that had the fire never happened, she would be gorgeous, but instead she was a ghoul.
Once that process was done, she would now have to dress. To protect her appearance from the world, she covered up her body entirely regardless of outside temperature. After the intense heat of the inferno, a humid day like this wasn’t much of an annoyance so being fully covered never bothered her.
First she wore long socks along with long pants that revealed nothing about her legs. Then she wore long sleeve shirts with a hoodie so she could cover her head and arms. Only her hands would be visible, but most of the time they would be covered by the cuffs of her sleeves and would only come out when needed. Then came her mask, her most visible feature. The mask was held on her face thanks to a strap that was clipped on near both eye holes. Then when she would raise the hood over her head, the covering was complete.
Cane in hand, Breezy began her first day of school. Her aunt drove her carefully to school, neither of them saying much on the way. Breezy wasn’t paying much attention anyway, the dread of what might come next haunted every mile the car drove. Soon enough however, she was going to have to face the music. The car pulled up to the front entrance and Breezy got her first look at Canterlot High.
Breezy's first impression of Canterlot High School was mixed. For a school that had a reputation for the weird yet friendly atmosphere, the front of the school looked very boring. Outside of a smashed statue of a horse near the front, it was just a mixture of brick and stone that made the school like a very normal high school. It almost looked very uninviting, yet for Breezy it was going to be her new high school for the next two years.
Breezy opened the door, but her aunt stopped her from leaving. “Breezy, honey, have a good day. And try to make some friends okay.” She said sincerely.
Behind the mask, Breezy forced a smile, “Yes Auntie.”
But inwardly her mind said who would make friends with a ghoul?
With her cane in hand and backpack slung over her back, Breezy made her way forward. Students of all heights and ages passed her as they walked into the school, either giving her a moment's glance or ignoring her entirely. While the looks did make Breezy uncomfortable, she didn’t feel any level of malevolence or fear within them. It didn’t take long for her to figure out why: none of them really saw what she exactly looked like.
For the first time in a while, her clothing was working. Maybe just this time she could pass into school unnoticed. Getting up the stairs that lead into the school was a bit of a process though. While Breezy was aware of the ramp nearby that most handicapped students used, she was determined to defy the punishment placed upon her and look normal even when she wasn’t.
But that often meant long delays as she would always climb steps with difficulty. Each step put pain into her wounded leg and forced her to throw all her weight onto the cane, and while it would often hold, Breezy’s paranoid mind always feared it would one day break. And should it ever, no one would be there to catch her fall.
Yet, as it had many times before, the cane never gave and she made it up the stairs without much delay. But when she walked into the school’s front lobby her heart sank. Before her was a sea of students as far as her eyes could see. And for being a girl of six feet, even with her limitation, she could see very far.
And while none of them noticed her, it wasn’t going to take long for someone to do just that, and freak out as a result. But she had to get to her first class, or homeroom depending upon how this High School worked, and loitering around in the front lobby would attract unwanted attention. So Breezy Kite began to walk through the torrent of students.
So far so good, she thought to herself. But even as she thought that, the population of the students began to increase.
Her heart began to beat as she limped along as large crowds scared Breezy as the larger the crowds the higher the chances of Breezy being seen. Yet, unlike many other times she had been out in large crowds, her sense of foreboding vanished as she walked into one of the hallways. While the plethora of students was disconcerting the overall atmosphere was extremely positive.
So much for what she had heard about this school being very clique oriented, everyone seemed to be socializing very well. Nerds were chatting with jocks or high school cheerleaders, including both hot girls and some that would be deemed ugly in other circles. And interestingly of all, there was no clear semblance of a school hierarchy. Canterlot High looked, at least to Breezy, to be the most sociable and accepting school she had ever enrolled in.
This was both a blessing, and a curse. It was a blessing because, as if the past ten minutes weren’t an example, she could get around the school completely unnoticed. Yet with this school’s seeming openness with each other, the chances of her getting spotted and the whole school finding out increased exponentially. So Breezy was going to have to work extra hard at staying hidden.