Monday, first day of school after a very long time
A new day started in Ponyville, and unlike the other days where Spike slept all he wanted to, this time he was awoken by a soft melody from a lyre. First slow and smooth that subtly mixed with his dreams and then fast and frenetic that ended up waking him.
“Huh? What is it?” Asked Spike still half asleep.
“Oh, nothing kid. You just have to get ready for your big day!” Explained Lyra.
“My big day?” Asked Spike scratching the back of his head. “Oh, you want me to help you with the store or…”
“What? No!” Said Bon-Bon getting into the guests room too. “I mean, I would appreciate your help Spike, but it’s Monday and all the kids of your age are supposed to go to school. Breakfast is ready so get up and hurry because Cheerilee asked us you be there at eight with fifteen minutes without excuse”
Spike shook his head confused.
“School? Me? But…”
“Yes, school” said Lyra before he said something that irritates Bon-Bon even more. “Go wash yourself quickly so you have time to eat your breakfast calmly. Understood?”
Still confused, Spike nodded and the mares left him alone. Not knowing what to think of all this, he made the bed and ran downstairs. He wasn’t sure about this new change, but he also was intrigued; last time he went to school he and Twilight still lived in Canterlot, besides he had a very good time playing with the other kids in Ponyville. Why he never joined on the first place?
Bon-Bon put in front of him a plate of eggs, bread, butter and hay bacon with juice and hot chocolate.
“Excited?” Asked Bon-Bon.
“A little, but also nervous” admitted Spike. “It’s been a while since I went to school”
Bon-Bon had to use all her self-control to not to frown in front of the kid, but Lyra came to rescue by giving him an old backpack.
“Don’t be, you know all your classmates already” said the minty unicorn. “So here, we got you a notebook, a few pencils and something to eat for the recess”
Spike looked at the backpack and smiled faintly, so this was going to be interesting.
“Finish your breakfast Spike, Cheerilee will get mad if you don’t show up on time” warned Bon-Bon looking at the kitchen clock. “Also I put you some chocolates for you to share with your friends, don’t eat them all. Understood?”
Spike nodded and finished his meal.
“Okay, thank you Bon-Bon, and I guess I’ll be back for lunch!”
“Do you want us to walk you to school?” Offered Lyra.
“No, I think I’m fine!”
“Okay, have fun!”
So Spike ran to the schoolhouse, it had been a while but he had a feeling that he was going to have fun.
That day Cheerilee woke up really early just to receive her new student. She really wanted that everything went fine for the little dragon; and she had a good feeling since she saw him playing and sharing with the other kids, a sign that he would adapt quickly to the school and the group.
“Good morning Miss Cheerilee!” Greeted the students as they were coming.
“Morning kids! Please come on in!”
Seeing the children arriving from early always put Cheerilee in an excellent mood.
And for the kids, they sat on their desk as always; sometimes they came all by themselves or sometimes a family member walked them to school like Pipsqueak with his mom or Rumble with his big brother. Another who was always walked by her brother was Apple Bloom, but this time the one who walked the filly was her older sister. Cheerilee received Apple Bloom with a smile as always, but sent the older mare a death-glare.
“Cheerilee, A’ just came to talk” said Applejack.
“Okay, let’s go outside” said the teacher as she turned to her students. “Kids, I’ll be back soon. Draw something, or read a comic or whatever you want as long as you don’t get into trouble or fights!”
“Yes Miss Cheerilee!” Answered the kids at the unison.
So the two adults walked to the playground.
“A’ know he’ll come today. How is him?” Asked Applejack to break the ice.
“Now you care about him?” Asked Cheerilee dryly.
“Cheerilee…”
“That’s nothing of your business, none of you” answered the teacher firmly.
Applejack sighed.
“A’ know we did wrong and we cannot repair the damage we did. A’ get it, alright? But A’ came cause’ Twilight is bad, like really bad; you didn’t see her, she really misses Spike and needs him at her side. And A’m pretty sure that Spike needs Twilight as well. Yer’ the plaintiff, A’m sure you can do something on the audience to make things easier for Twilight. Please help us, or at least go talk with Twilight and see her in person. The Social Services taking Spike away from her until the trial left her devastated, and A’ don’t wanna see if they took him away forever.”
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow.
“Excuse me? You’re asking ME to help Twilight Sparkle to get Spike back? Get out of my school right now or I’ll call the authorities!”
“Twilight isn’t bad!” Protested Applejack.
“No, she isn’t, but she proved to be an incompetent tutor and I won’t allow her to get Spike back; not after he was in a condition of servitude”
Applejack lowered her head.
“She’s willing to change”
“The damage is already done. No GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SCHOOL!”
“This is public property, you can’t kick me out just like that!”
“I know, but you have a restraining order, and Spike will be her any second now; and if the authorities see you this close…”
Applejack got it, she just nodded and left sadly. In her way back to Sweet Apple Acres, she bumped into Spike, who smiled brightly at seeing her; but Applejack just smiled to him weakly and ran as fast as she could.
Spike looked at her running away, but didn’t tried to follow her, after all he was told that none of his friends had allowed to talk with him until the audience; so he hurried to get to school.
“Spike, I’m so glad to see you! Ready for your first day of school?” Greeted Cheerilee with a huge smile.
“I think so, I haven’t come to school in a while, and I’m not sure how this will work”
“Everything will be fine, you’ll see. Now hurry!”
And the two of them entered to the schoolhouse where Spike stood in front of all the other kids, who seemed genuinely surprised to see him.
“Okay kids, from today Spike will be joining us. I hope everrpony get along with him”
The foals mumbled among them confused, what was Spike doing in the school? Didn’t he supposed to help Twilight at the library all day? And by the way, what about that argument between Applejack and the teacher?
“First he join us for a pine nut war and now he’s here?” Asked Rumble.
“And did noticed how she was looking at Applejack? If looks could kill…”
“And what does it have to di with Spike?”
All that gossip just made Spike lower his head in sadness, all those comments only reminded him his problems. And seeing the dragon’s mood, the teacher gently guided him to an empty desk and indicated him the class was about to start, but that didn’t stopped the foals from gossiping.
Only Apple Bloom stood quiet, remembering what just happened. Since last day her older sister seemed unusually sad and thoughtful, she tried to ask her what happened but Applejack only said it wasn’t a problem for children. And when she tried to cheer her up telling her how Spike joined them to play, she began to cry and locked herself in her room.
But still, after the initial shock, they greeted Spike as an old friend; especially the ones who played with him during the weekend.
“Okay kids, enough of the chit-chat, the class is about to start. Everypony open your text books in page 34 and we’ll continue where we left yesterday. Spike, you wait a little, I’m going to make you a small test”
“But it’s my first day!” Said Spike causing the rest of the class to giggle.
But Cheerilee called to order by raising a hoof.
“Enough class. And Spike, don’t worry, this test it’s only to determine in which grade I shall put you in”
Spike sighed but agreed with a small nod.
“Okay…”
“That’s the spirit! Now the rest of you don’t try to help him. I’ll be watching”
Bon-Bon was happily mixing the mix for the chocolates as every morning when she heard the front door opening. Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow, it wasn’t like she didn’t had any costumers in the mornings but it was unusual; her sales usually started pass noon. Anyway, Bon-Bon walked to the counter, but she frowned when she saw who it was.
“Hi Bon-Bon” said Rarity shyly.
The chocolatier simply aimed a hoof to the door.
“I reserve the right to refuse service to anypony. Would you be so kind to get out of my store?”
“At least listen to me!”
“You have two choices: one, you walk out of my store with your own hooves; and two, I literally kick you out”
Still Rarity stood firm and put a beautiful backpack on the counter. It had an S embroiled with imitation emeralds (she knew Spike would eat them if they were real) and a realistic-looking dragon. A work of art, but Bon-Bon didn’t care.
“Don’t you think it’s too late for that? Why didn’t you gave it to him when he first arrived Ponyville?”
“I didn’t thought…”
“You didn’t thought that a little kid around your sister’s age would have to go to school? Get out of my store”
“How is he? Is he okay? Did he had enough sleep?”
“He’s better than with Twilight Sparkle. This is your last warning: get out”
“Please tell him I filled the backpack with all his favorite gems”
Enough, Rarity didn’t had time to react, Bon-Bon moved too fast and before the unicorn noticed, she was already in a small pond of mud in front of the store.
“Don’t you dare to come back. None of you!”
Some ponies looked at the scene with concerned looks but when they saw it was Rarity, they walked away shrugging, some of them even gave Bon-Bon an approval nod. At first the unicorn couldn’t believe she was being treated like that; but then she realized it was a small town and at this point most of the ponies knew about the scandal. She didn’t said more, so she lowered her head and walked back to her home for a quick shower.
At that Monday, Pinkie Pie woke up a little later than usual; like the others she had problems accepting what happened with the baby dragon. And like the others, she couldn’t stop blaming herself about what she have done to Spike. But she had work to do so she went downstairs to the bakery; but as soon as she saw the Cakes she knew something was wrong.
“Morning Pinkie Pie” said Mr. Cake looking awfully serious.
“Did something happened, Miss and Mister Cake?”
“Yes and no darling” said Miss Cake uncomfortable. “It’s just we don’t know how to tell you this…”
Pinkie Pie gulped.
“Tell me what?”
“It’s about your job”
Pinkie Pie shivered.
“Am I fired?”
“Not exactly Pinkie” said Mr. Cake to calm her. “Sorry but from now on you’ll be limited to the kitchen. We cannot allow you to keep attending the counter”
Pinkie nodded slowly.
“Okay… but why? I don’t get it!”
“Because ponies talk dear” explained Miss Cake sighing. “And everyone in Ponyville knows that your friends and you are involved in a child abuse scandal. Sorry but we cannot allow you to keep attending the counter, especially since most of our customers are children”
Pinkie sobbed.
“But everypony in town are friends of mine!”
“Maybe, but we’re talking about a huge scandal” said Miss Cake.
“And nopony wants anything to do with the six of you. Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll forget soon, but until then, try not to show your face”
And there was nothing to reply, so Pinkie Pie just nodded sadly and walked slowly to the kitchen.
Spike felt that day a little too fast, the recess was especially memorable: all the kids ate their snacks really fast and then started an improvised soccer game, the class’ favorite. But this version was a little different from the one Spike knew: first off all the goals were made of two stones each other, second the new kid (Spike) and the chubby one (Snips) were unanimous selected as goalkeepers; also a couple of times they had to interrupt the game because somepony kicked the ball out of the school playground and had to go find it. But the funniest part was, no matter which team was winning, when Cheerilee announced that in a minute they’ll had to go back inside, the game was decided by: ‘last point wins’.
Spike seemed genuinely surprised by all this much for the other’s delight since they took it pretty normally.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never played soccer like this?” Asked Rumble.
“Actually…”
“Dude, you have to get out more” chuckled the little Pegasus.
The rest of the day Spike solved his little test and before he realized, he was invited by the other to another soccer game, this time at the park. And of course he accepted, but before he joined the others, Spike had to run to Bon-Bon’s store to tell her.
“Okay, but I want you home at one thirty for lunch!” Warned the cream-coated pony.
“Of course!” Smiled the dragon while running through the door.
And in the meantime, Lyra and Cheerilee were checking Spike’s exam.
“As you can see, he’s behind the others in some subjects, but really advanced in others; his levels in basic math, urbanity, basic reading and writing are really high; but social studies, science and foreign language he’s below average. I had to send him extra homework just for that”
Lyra nodded.
“This is what happens when you don’t have an order in your education”
“No, this is what happens when your education is on the hooves of certain lavender idiot who only cares about what can you do for her. Spike is really smart and I really think he can reach the others soon but needs a lot of support, and Twilight Sparkle isn’t the one who’ll give it to him”
“Not you too please” asked Lyra patiently.
“Lyra…”
“Forget it, I’ll do what I can to help him. Unless until his family comes for him”
Cheerilee sighed.
“I know. Poor kid, right now what Spike needs the most is stability”
“We’ll do what we can as long as we can” assured Lyra.