//------------------------------// // 17 - Homework // Story: Soaring on Little Wings // by tom117z //------------------------------// Little Wing sat quietly, muzzle deep in a menu she wasn’t really reading. Both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo sat opposite the filly in the booth, both glancing at one another before looking back at Little Wing with concern. The school day had ended, though Little Wing’s low spirits were obvious throughout. Since the incident with Silver Breeze she had said very little to anypony, so they knew it was still bothering her greatly. In an attempt to cheer her up they had diverted course on the way home and entered the nearest hay burger joint, without much success in the cheering up department. So they just sat there in an unbearably awkward silence, the elder two ponies not ordering anything themselves while waiting for Little Wing to finish browsing the menu. If she ever did. Little Wing was in her own little world, her thoughts troubled by the previous events of that day. Her… episode only compounded the issue, as it had the previous two occasions it had happened. Such echoes of the past was one side effect she wished wasn’t a thing. After an indeterminate amount of time, a groan from her stomach caused her to half-heartedly begin to actually read the contents of the menu. Hay burgers, hay fries and many of dishes of the hay variety dominated the list. An overly sugared salad sat near the bottom of the menu, a list of drinks coming along after it. None of it particularly took her fancy, so she was tempted to go with a pretty standard filly sized hay burger and get it over with. Her eyes glazed on past the drinks and to the desert menu. Various ice creams that, if she were in a better mood, would have her unable to sit still in anticipation. She thought she might get one, but only if she felt like it after the burger. Which, at the point of reading, she didn’t anyway. And then there was one final tiny section of the menu past all the other selections. In the bottom right corner of the menu sat a more carnivorous menu designed more for griffon consumption. Pork burger, chicken burgers… Despite her changed digestive system, Little Wing couldn’t help but drool a little on the inside. Burger of meat, she still remembered the taste from those few occasions she’d consumed them way back when. A tiny bit of nostalgia, amidst a swarming mass of bleaker memories that dominated her humanity. Shaking off the reminder of her past, Little Wing let the menu fall from her hooves and back onto the table without much thought. “Hay burger,” she said simply, adding afterwards: “Please.” “That all?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Took you quite a while to just ask for a plain old hay burger.” Little Wing shrugged in response. “Let her have what she wants,” Scootaloo defended. “I’ll go order, want anything Dash?” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No. Just get something for yourself and Wing.” “I’m not really that hungry anyway,” Scootaloo stated. “I’m sure Twilight can hear your stomach growling from Ponyville,” Rainbow retorted. “And you need your strength if you want to become a Wonderbolt you know!” “And you need your strength to stay in the Wonderbolts too,” Scootaloo shot back, rising from her seat. “But I suppose I’ll get a non-filly version of what she’s having. Be right back.” So Scootaloo cantered off to go order their food, leaving Rainbow Dash and Little Wing alone at the table. Rainbow looked over to Little Wing, hopeful that she would be the first to speak. She wasn’t. She realised she would just have to coax her out a little more. “So, how was the rest of the school day?” Rainbow Dash asked casually. “Keeping you busy?” “I guess… kinda,” Little Wing replied. “Just boring usual stuff.” “No lesson with the flying instructor today?” The filly paused a moment, before shaking her head gently. “Nope. Just book stuff.” “Heh, I know an egghead who’d be jealous,” Rainbow Dash said with a half-hearted laugh. “So, anything else?” “Not really,” Little Wing stated. “Just some homework.” “Homework? What about?” “Maths.” “Oh,” Rainbow said, feigning a gag. “Sums and calculations, the bane of my school life. Except altitude, or anything else I could use while flying.” “I don’t think it’s that kind of maths,” Little Wing remarked. “It’s stupid.” “It is a little stupid,” Rainbow agreed. “You probably won’t need half the stuff they teach you, but you never know. Besides, there’s no need to look so glum about it. Be awesome, take it all in stride!” “I’m not bothered about the work,” Little Wing shot back. “We do it all the time. It’s normal.” “So… your homework isn’t bothering you at all?” Little Wing shook her head. “So it is just Silver Breeze?” Little Wing didn’t answer. Rainbow Dash sighed. “I thought so. Ugh, where’s Fluttershy when you need her?” “I don’t think there’s anypony more qualified than you, Dash,” Scootaloo stated as she returned with a tray held on her back between her wings. Scootaloo outstretched a wing and deposited the tray onto the table. The tray held two hayburger boxes, one a fair bit larger than the other, and two small bags of hay fries. Little Wing had also been provided with an apple juice box, while Scootaloo had opted for a coffee instead. With the food delivered, she sat back down next to Rainbow Dash and examined her own meal eagerly. “That was fast,” Little Wing dryly commented. “It is a fast food restaurant,” Scootaloo pointed out, consuming the first hay fry. “Meh, I could do it faster,” Rainbow Dash claimed. “Four seconds flat, no lie.” “I thought it was ten seconds?” “I aim for improvement,” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk. “It’ll be three seconds before you know it!” The pair turned back to Little Wing, who was just staring at the yet unopened burger box. They both grimaced, and it was Scootaloo who spoke up next. “You going to eat that, Wing?” Scootaloo enquired. “You know, before it gets cold or something.” Little Wing looked up at Scootaloo, and then back to the box. She had to admit it smelled quite enticing, and but a moment after that thought she was taking her first, second and third bites in quick succession. “Knew she was hungry,” Rainbow commented to Scootaloo as Little Wing brutalised her meal. “She eats these things like Twilight.” “And you,” Scootaloo jabbed, before taking on a more serious expression. “So… did she say much while I was ordering?” “Not much,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “She had some homework to do, but she clammed up when Silver Breeze got mentioned.” Scootaloo groaned. “Maybe your parents will have more luck.” Little Wing hadn’t taken long to finish her dinner, and Scootaloo had only been a short while behind her. The filly said little more since that point, though having a full stomach did at least manage to make her look a little more content. After that, the sisterly trio departed the fast food joint and headed straight for home, Little Wing nestled on her elder sister’s back for the duration of the trip. When the home came into sight, the pegasi dropped steadily from the sky and came to a soft landing on the cloud a short ways from the front door. Celestia’s sun was beginning to fall below the horizon when they arrived, a few lights coming on in the home directly ahead of them. Movement could be seen through the living room window, either Bow Hothoof or Windy Whistles relocating themselves to one of the seats within. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, with Little Wing still on the former’s back, approached the front door and let themselves inside. “Hey, we’re home!” Rainbow Dash called out to her parents. “Sorry we’re late, we hopped into a burger joint while we were out.” “Yes, I thought that was the case,” Windy Whistles stated as she emerged from the living room, giving the three a broad smile. “Hello dears! How was your day?” “Uh, about that…” Rainbow sheepishly replied, gesturing to the downtrodden filly on her back. “The presentation went prefect, the colts and fillies loved it! But after that was… rocky.” Windy gasped, motherly instinct overcoming her as she snatched Little Wing from Rainbow back and placed her down between her own wings. “What happened? Why does she seem so upset?” “Can we sit down first?” Rainbow asked. “You know, getting comfortable before the heavy stuff hits.” “Oh, alright,” Windy agreed, leading the other into the living room where Bow was muzzle deep in a newspaper. The stallion put the paper down and examined the group as they entered. “Alright then, what’s with the moody looks?” “That’s what I’d like to know,” Windy muttered as she took a seat on the larger sofa, placing Little Wing between her forelegs protectively. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash found their own seats, and then Windy asked the question on her mind once more. “So…? Somepony is going to explain what happened?” “Er, yes. That,” Rainbow elegantly began. “Well we’d just gotten finished with the talk, the kids were all having a break. Then we heard some shouting, so we went to check it out.” “Shouting? What happened?” Bow asked. “That Silver Breeze colt, he’d apparently been bullying Misty Gust and Wing came to her rescue,” Scootaloo explained. “He’d then started on Little Wing, leading to an argument between them.” “An argument?” Windy said questioningly. “What did he say to leave her so upset?” “I almost hit him,” Little Wing interrupted. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo both blinked. They had intended to leave that part out, not wanting the filly to get into trouble. Bow and Windy both stared at her, the latter saying in a shocked tone: “Hit him? C-can somepony please explain that!?” “It’s… true,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “But she didn’t actually do it! She stopped just as we were arriving!” “So you stopped her,” Bow noted. “Maybe a little, but just listen!” Rainbow protested. “I already talked to her about the hitting thing, so forget that a second. The punk was really laying into Wing before it came to that.” “He said she’d be alone, that she’d be forgotten and unloved,” Scootaloo further explained. “At least that’s what Misty told us. We think… we think that the colt was playing into the whole adoption thing. You know, seeing as her birth parents…” Little Wing’s flinch told them all they needed to know, even if they didn’t quite understand the unique circumstances or the magnitude of it. How could they? Aside from Little Wing and one lone alicorn, not a soul knew the truth about the child’s origin. But neither did they really need to know. They knew enough from how she was discovered, and the hurt it would bring. Windy held into Little Wing a little tighter, though still gentle enough as to not suffocate the poor filly. The look of concern as to Little Wing’s own actions was wiped away by one of horror as to what caused her reaction in the first place. “Did he really say all those things, Little Wing?” Windy asked gently, albeit shakily. Little Wing sniffled, renewed tears breaching her eyelids as she looked up at her mother. “You’re not going to leave me… right?” Windy Whistles gave her child a loving nuzzle, bringing the first real smile to her face in hours. “Of course not, honey. Never. Ever. We love you, no matter what some brutish colt says. And we will no matter what.” “You mean that?” Windy nodded alongside the others. “Of course! No matter who you choose to become, what you do, you are our foal. Whatever you imagine about your birth parents, don’t. They have never been a part of your life, and they never deserved you. I love you, Little Wing.” Little Wing burrowed herself into her mother’s chest. There was nothing to imagine about her birth parents, and they had been a part of her life. But that life was long gone. She forced her fears and insecurities back down, her mother’s words shattering her shell. “Thank you,” she muttered into Windy’s chest. “Well, now the family drama is done with,” Rainbow said with a slightly evil smile. “The squirt has some homework she needs doing, it’s probably best she doesn’t delay it.” Little Wing emerged from the fluffy chest and glared dagger at her elder sister. “You traitor!” Rainbow feigned hurt. “Traitor? Kid, as the Element of Loyalty I couldn’t possibly be a traitor!” Little Wing was less than convinced. “Homework, huh?” Bow Hothoof spoke up with a hum. “Well since you won’t be having dinner here, I suppose we could make some time to sit down and do it right now, don’t you think?” Little Wing groaned. “Oh come on! Can’t I do it tomorrow?” Bow glanced a Little Wing with a coy smirk. "Do your homework, Little Wing." "Oh, BWAH!" Little Wing snarked back with a frown.