It was warm, comfortable, quiet, and still dark outside his window. Kiwe wasn’t the first to wake up, but certainly not the last. His bed was a mess and the three friends that had stayed the night on his bed, while in their own sleeping bags, had left the room with the dozen others. The scent of frying fruit tickled his nose and he rolled from his futon to his knees on the floor and stood, shook his body starting with his head to his tail, then trotted happily from his room.
The sight of most of his friends playing and talking brought warm fuzzy feelings to him, made bigger by the greetings he got as he passed them all on his way to his father. “Good morning, Kiwe, I hope you weren’t up too late with your friends,” Crunch said as happily as he always did on Thursday mornings.
“I have had a great time, father. Are you cooking for us all?”
“No, just your friends. You’ve gotta go hungry,” he winked and reached a spoon into the large pan he was cooking in, tossing a piece of fruit toward his son. “School is in two hours, would you mind waking up your friends?”
Kiwe bit and used his tongue to squeeze a little extra juice from the apple slice he’d been given. It was warm and soft, just how he liked it. “M’kay, mom too?”
Crunch’s eyes widened quickly and he glanced knowingly at Kiwe. “Don’t, she needs her rest from last night, and your sparring took a lot out of her, too,” he stirred the pan sending mild sizzling sounds throughout the apartment.
Kiwe woke the last sleeping foals and they all hurried to spend time with each other, Kiwe sticking to a group with Jade by his side. Breakfast was a cauldron filled with mixed sauteed fruit, roughly sliced bread, and an open invitation to the faucet in the kitchen sink. The children were in heaven as they took turns placing their heads into the pot and filling their mouths with fruit before going to wash their faces with water and then shaking their heads until they were dizzy or dry, whichever came first.
The bathroom was abused and Kiwe was willing to hold it until he got to school so he wouldn’t have to add to the various scents that made his bathroom a confusing place to walk by for him and maybe others, he didn’t know.
Packing up their sleeping bags the children bid Kiwe and his father farewells and from the time breakfast was served to the time the last guest had left the sun had barely begun to crest the mountains in the distance. Kiwe helped clean up the mess as best he could, but with his rambling at the excited speed of a child telling a dozen stories with no apparent order he wasn’t much help with the cleaning, he stopped his story telling enough times for his father to finish his task.
“-over the wall but then Potluck chased it and flew after it and got her cutie mark catching it before it hit the ground and then Triple Shot said he was plugging in a television when his appeared because-”
“Good morning, husband and son. I see the day has begun,” Nangila nuzzled her husband and smiled at Kiwe’s rambling and animated gesturing.
“-twine is like rope but,” Kiwe stuttered and fell silent, “what happened?” he was looking at gauze taped to her chest.
“Ah, this? It is nothing to worry yourself about, our son. You must get ready for school, yes?” She turned and made toward the kitchen but Kiwe was in front of her in a heartbeat. She looked at his concerned and curious eyes and smiled, patting him on the head behind his horn. She moved his mane away from his eyes. “It was your strike last night, it was true and cut me deep, but has healed well in my sleep.”
Kiwe’s sighed and his ears lowered. “I’m sorry, mother. I know it can be dangerous to lash out blindly, now I’ve hurt you.”
“Bah, you learn from your mistakes, my foal. One day you will have to make a choice and when you do, this,” she tapped the gauze, “will remind you that actions have reactions. You aren’t in trouble, our son, so go and have some fun.”
He smiled a little smile and his ears perked as he gave a nod, went to his room, and began to clean it before school.
…
“Kiwe,” Jade said once they met on the street on the way to school, “last night was so fun. When’s the next sleepover, I’ve got ideas for games from my parents that are totally fun that I didn’t even think of.”
“I do not have plans for another party, last night was enough for me for a while,” Kiwe continued before Jade could complain, “the reason is I am not used to so much attention. Yesterday was as though all my holidays were combined with my parents multiplied over so many times, but it was different. I had fun, yes, however it was just a lot to take in.”
“Oh yeah, I had that when we came back from limbo and Spike the Brave and Glorious freed us from Sombra’s rule. They called it overstimulation and it took a few days for ponies to really come together and trust each other like we once did. Even then gathering outside family was difficult,” he looked around the various tribes and ponies on the sidewalk around them, “then this statue was built and everypony spent time looking at it, at Spike who freed us. Then, it wasn’t as hard to gather together because with him a mere day away, with his friends, we didn’t have to worry about being enslaved again.”
“Didn’t you have Princess Cadence to keep you safe?”
Jade shrugged. “Yeah, but she was just there to show us that we were back and safe. Safety is fleeting, we all learned,” he frowned at the ground below him as he walked, “but an idol was what we needed. A figure to bring us together that wasn’t an alicorn, one of the creatures that sent us away for the future to handle.”
Jade cocked his head and looked aside at his friend. “Wait, you mean Celestia sent everypony away?”
“We don’t know, but it was one of the four alicorns of the time.”
Kiwe snickered. “There were only two, cool colt. Luna and Celestia, everypony knows that.”
Jade shook his head and offered a genuine smile. “Those that win control history. When I was a baby I’d hear songs in my dreams about how Sombra was benevolent, kind, giving. When I was a young foal, I learned his dream magic was converting our thoughts to love him, even though we didn’t believe it. Celestia has had a millenium to do just that, what do you think she’d hidden away?”
Kiwe stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk and used that as a distraction, derailing the conversation into plans to have their hooves filed professionally together.
They arrived at school, took their seats and were offered many smiles and waves, then Miss Caramel walked in. “Good morning class. Before we begin, Mist won’t be returning to class for the foreseeable future, so would anypony mind taking her books and the contents of her desk home to her after school?”
There were short hushed conversations that fizzled away as a couple forelegs reached up and they were picked, then the class began.
“Kiwe,” a filly behind him whispered and his right ear turned to her direction, “is it because of yesterday?” He shrugged. “Her meltdown was pretty epic, maybe she’s-”
“Eyes and ears up front, children!”
“Yes, Miss Caramel,” the class droned in unison.
“Maybe she’s in an asylum,” the filly finished and went silent, leaving a seed of worry in Kiwe’s mind.
…
“Kiwe, why don’t you wanna play tetherball?”
“Wanna play hopscotch?!”
“No way, catch is best!”
“Boring, cards under the bridge in three minutes!”
“Cards are for nerds, let’s just practice fighting like he did last night.”
“Yeah!” “I wanna!” “Me too.” “I’m gonna kick your flank to the clouds.”
“Hi-yah!”
Kiwe walked past the herd of ponies pretending to fight with very bad, slow, inaccurate motions to a bench and climbed onto it, laying down and looking at a wall across the way.
“Kiwe?” Violet’s voice said his name softly with concern, “You know, if Mist went crazy, it’s not your fault. She was an emotional train, maybe she’s just at home seeing a doctor, or something.”
He sighed and looked at her. “What if she’s in trouble or in an asylum because of me?”
“Then she really is crazy, because you were so kind to her yesterday, even when she was mad at you. Her mom’s are nice and I’ve never seen them be mean to her, but who knows,” she stood beside him, resting a foreleg on the bench, her fur brushing his in a meaningful way, “maybe her parents are really mean to her when we’re not around.”
“Maybe,” Kiwe said as he scooted an inch away from her touch, “but no matter what, I got her to admit her problems and started all this.” Violet glared menacingly at him and he leaned back. “Okay, I apologize. I just…”
“You feel guilty,” Jade added, “because you had it so good for a day while she didn’t. Right?”
“Yes, kind of like that. However, I feel she needed help a long time ago and yesterday was the flower petal that broke the ant’s shell.”
The other two nodded then Violet shoved Kiwe’s side. “Tag, you’re it!”
The zony colt scrambled to his hooves and laughed as he chased her, then turned to Jade. “I will tag you and you will be it!”
They playground was filled with foalish laughter and games, as well as various play fighting and deaths from planned attacks. The supervising teacher relaxed and drank her tea, hoping nothing would interrupt their recess and make her stress rise again.
…
“Jade, wanna hang out after school? I can show you my favorite ice cream shop.”
“Ice cream? You do know I’m from a place surrounded by ice and constant storms, right?”
Kiwe looked bashful for a second. “I apolo-”
“I’d love to! Ice cream is awesome,” he laughed and bumped shoulders with his best friend. “C’mon, cool colt, let’s hurry so we don’t have to wait in line too long.”
“Yeah!”
Kiwe led Jade through the hoof traffic on the street to Malty’s and they sat at a table, waiting. “Well, isn’t this a nice surprise. Who’s your friend, Kiwe?”
“Hi, Miss Malty, this is Jade, he’s from the Crystal Empire. Can we have a banana split to share?” Jade waved hello and the mare blinked as her mind tried to understand why Jade was blushing.
“It’ll be right up, oh! Violet, would you like the usual?”
Attention was on the purple filly as she walked to Kiwe and nuzzled him hello. “Can I sit with you two?”
“Sure! But I can’t buy your dessert today,” Kiwe tapped the open spot at the table and swished his tail at the cushion she would sit on.
“Thanks,” she smiled and took a seat, settling in to get comfortable, “hi, Jade. I hope school was good for you, too. I saw you playing a lot today on the playground and I’d have joined but my other friends wanted to play fight. It was really cool how you did all that, by the way.”
Kiwe offered her a smile and nod but stayed silent.
“So,” Jade looked between the two in the silence that began, “crazy about Mist, huh?”
“Yeah,” Violet perked up, “I wasn’t gonna say in class, and you two can keep a secret, right?” The colts nodded. “I went to see her this morning after your sleepover and her mom wouldn’t let me see her because Mist was packing. She didn’t say where but if she was packing then maybe she was being sent away.”
Both colts looked nervously at each other. “Is she, going to an asylum?”
“I’unno,” Violet shrugged, “but I don’t think she’ll be back in school. Maybe ever.”
“Wow, I just moved across the land to get here and if it wasn’t for Kiwe, I’d be a real loner. I understand how she’s gonna feel. Maybe she’s just going to visit family at the last minute.”
“Maybe, but I don’t really care. She was mean and a bully and I don’t have to deal with her drama anymore, so that’s that.”
A whimper sounded behind her and they all turned to see Mist standing mid-stride coming toward them. There were a round of gulps from the table as they traded looks.
“Look,” Mist said stepping up to the table speaking bluntly, “I’m moving to some rural rinky-dink town with family that can help me and my problems. I’m sorry I was mean and all that, turns out I’ve got some psycho-something problem that’s from my mama and medication and talking about my feelings is the cure. I’m leaving for a while and wanted to say goodbye, but if you’re-”
Violet turned all the way around and extended her forelegs, inviting Mist into a hug. With only a heartbeat of consideration they embraced tightly. “Mist, I hope you come back soon a better filly. I’d like to be your friend more than anything, but only when you’re better.”
They separated and Kiwe smiled at Mist. “Farewell, may your journey be prosperous.”
“What he said,” Jade added.
A final round of goodbyes and Mist was gone, meeting her mother outside the door with a small suitcase and large trunk in a travel size wagon behind her.
“You know, I didn’t know her long, but she wasn’t that bad. She was mean, but I guess because she never bugged me…”
“Well, anyway, here comes our treats,” Violet motioned with her head at the approaching mare.
“Here ya go. A split and I made sure to shake this one myself,” she winked at Violet who grinned at the joke. “Enjoy.”
“Yes, Miss Malty,” they chorused and began to enjoy their ice creams.