//------------------------------//
// 4 Years 
// Story: My Little Rainbows 2: Rainbow Harder 
// by The PatioHeater 
//------------------------------//

The alarm went off with a quiet yet annoying buzz, enough to wake Rainbow up from her sleep. However, this morning she felt more excited than usual as it was the first day of school for her fillies.

Rainbow rolled out of bed and switched the alarm clock off. She was up earlier than usual as she anticipated difficulties with timing breakfast, making packed lunches and waking up the fillies. She walked slowly down the corridor, pausing only to let out a loud yawn, and opened up the door to the other bedroom in the house.
“Wakey, wa-.” Rainbow was shocked into silence by the sight of the little Rainbows sat up and whispering excitedly.
Swirl turned around with a smile on her face. “Morning, Mummy!” she said while bouncing on her bed.
Rainbow smile lovingly at them. “You three are up early.”
“Yeah!” Dash said with a huge grin.
“We’re super excited!” Swirl squeaked. Shine nodded enthusiastically. It was still too early for her to be that energetic.
“Oh well that’s good. Now, who’s excited for their first day at school?!” Rainbow asked loudly with as much excitement as she could muster at this time.

They all filled their bellies with a hearty breakfast and brushed their teeth. Next were bags.
“Now then,” Rainbow started as she finished tightening the last straps of Dash’s saddle bag, “Have we got everything?”
The fillies nodded.
“Pencils? Paper? Crayons? Lunch?” Rainbow asked, the answers to all of which were nods. “Alright, let’s go!” she cheered with a hoof pointed in the direction they were going.
All three shouted back in unison, “YEAH!”




Monday




The school was small, with barely over one hundred students split between the whole school, but it was the nicest, and the little Rainbows deserved no less. The playground, a rectangle of tarmac, was at the front of the school and provided parents a place to leave the children in the morning. Many young children walked in through the front gate, either with or without their parents, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, ranging from the terrified to the bored to those who really didn’t want to be there and the really excited ponies. It was interesting to watch. Some were crying, some were playing but most were standing around waiting.
Just before they managed to get inside the Rainbows were pushed to the side as a small group of colts sped inside followed shortly by an apologetic parent. Those who got in first were laughing at the one in last, who was severely disappointed. “You’re IT first!” said the brattiest of them. Rainbow smiled. Soon her kids will be making friends and that made her happy.

The playground was fairly dull, it being a grey mass with faded lines of some kind of sport court in spots. Rainbow stood and looked around at the parents, none of which interested her. The children on the other hand were showing much more emotion. She found herself lost staring at the turmoil ahead.
The fillies were looking around as well, trying to get a grip on this completely alien situation. The only kids they had spent any time with were Sass’, but they hated them.
“She looks cool,” Dash said as she saw an older filly walk in like she owned the place. Rainbow couldn’t help but agree. Maybe a bit up herself, she thought, but definitely cool.
Time passed. Most of the older children had gone inside, leaving the new students behind. There weren’t many. A fairly young mare with the distinct air of teacher about her cleared her throat for attention. Silence fell over the playground.
“Will all the children please come with me. School is about to start.” She sounded friendly yet forceful. Rainbow liked her.
All the parents were now saying their goodbyes with differing degrees of emotion.
“Well then,” Rainbow started with a little croak in her voice, but she swallowed it down. “You three have a great first day,” she said as she fiddled with their manes, “learn lots of new, interesting things, and make a lot of friends, because that’s just as important.”
They all nodded. Rainbow spent a long moment looking at them and their excited, eager eyes.
“Come here,” she said quietly as she pulled them in a hug. She held them tight, not wanting to let them go.
“Excuse me, Miss,” the teacher said from across the playground, “Could you please.” She left the question as open and kind as she could, but she was a stickler for schedules.
Rainbow gave them each a kiss on the forehead and placed them down. “Go on. Have a good day,” she whimpered, and gave them a gentle push towards the teacher. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye mummy!” they chanted back at her and trotted quickly to the teacher.
The children disappeared inside.

Rainbow stood there, watching the door they went through, for a few minutes, motionless, knowing that any movement could set her off. She had been preparing herself mentally for her children to cry, but not for herself.
“Are you okay?” a concerned parent asked, but that was a poor decision. Rainbow sobbed loudly and collapsed to the ground. She tried to speak through the tears but all that came out was an unintelligible babble of random syllables. That parent stood staring. She too hadn’t prepared herself for Rainbow to cry. She was half tempted to leave her to it, but that didn’t feel right. She got down on the ground with Rainbow and picked her up in a hug.
“There there,” she said softly as she rocked to the crying mare back and forth. She was mesmerised by her mane; so many colours and so much of it. “I love your mane,” she let slip out of her mouth.
“T-t-t-thank you,” Rainbow stuttered.
“Come on now. Dry your eyes. You’re making the other parents feel bad.”
Rainbow couldn’t see since her eyes were full of water but other parents look downtrodden. They didn’t know that they should be that emotional about it. “Sorry,” she said. She sniffed loud and hard and managed to stem the flow of tears. “Phew. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that I’ve never been this far away from them like, ever. Or even for this long before. Oh god I miss them.” She exploded again.
The parent sighed. “Stop it now. You’re just being silly.”
“I know. But I can’t stop.”
“How about we go get some coffee and we can chat. Would that help?”
Rainbow thought for a second. She wouldn’t have to go home to an empty house for a while. “That would be nice.”
“Okay. Up you get,” she groaned as she helped Rainbow to her hooves. They walked off the school premises.
“I’m Rainbow,” Rainbow said through the last tears that were leaving her.
“I’m Airheart, or whatever the canon is actually for my character, but who cares?” the parent said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Rainbow nodded in agreement. “Do you have kids?” It was a stupid question, she knew, but it was all that could come to mind.
“Oh yes. I have a little filly called Fluttershy and an even littler colt called whatever the fuck I decided to call him. Probably some dumb horse or cloud pun.”

The room was bright with big windows, obviously designed to provide children with the best learning environment possible. The walls was a sickly peach colour that had faded over years of neglect, with patches of darker colour where the previous years of students’ work was removed to make room for new work.
The class had around twenty students, distributed evenly in groups of five and sat around desks, and the teacher sat at the end closest to the door at her big, well organised desk.

Swirl was furious. She slammed her hooves down on the desk as hard as she could, bringing silence over the class, stopping the teacher in the middle of the register, and stood tall on her seat.
“Why was I Last?!” she screamed with all the anger she could muster.
“Excuse me?” the teacher asked in a friendly, inquisitive voice but with a distinct tone of annoyance underlying.
“I was born first so my name should be first! Not last!”
Shine leant over and said softly. “Ssh. It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does!” Swirl shouted back.
“Please, there is no need to shout. I can explain to you why as long as you don’t shout.”
Swirl stared at her, determined not to break eye contact as it was a sign of weakness, until she broke off to push her mane out of the way. “Okay.”
“Right,” the teacher started as she stood from her seat and gave the class a quick yet thorough explanation of the alphabet. “Does that make sense?”
Swirl sat back in her chair, her face red with embarrassment, and looked at the ground. “Yes, Miss Doltish,” she said quietly into her chest. She was still angry about it but knew she couldn’t argue with the alphabet.
Meanwhile throughout the whole debacle Dash sat with a pleased grin at being before her sisters.

“Right class,” Miss Doltish said in an upbeat voice, “now I want you all to get to know your classmates, so please walk around and try to make some friends.”
No one moved for a moment. All were too nervous. This situation had been sprang upon them without warning and they none of them wanted to be the first. Fortunately for the rest of the class, the Rainbows were confident and spoke first in the silence, inspiring the rest of them.
“Who are you?” Dash asked the boy sat with her and her sisters. He was light brown colt with dark brown hair that covered most of his eyes, but the way they darted between the three of them showed how uncomfortable he was around them, along with the nervous gulping and fidgeting he did as he tried to answer the question.
“I-I’m Hoops. Why are you here three times?” there was genuine fear in his voice, as if he stumbled into the scary stories that he sometimes thought of.
“We’re triplets,” Shine informed him. “So we look almost the same. I’m Shine, that’s Swirl and that’s Dash.” The fillies waved and smiled when their name came up.
“Are you fast?” Dash asked like it was important.
Hoops was taken aback by this. He hadn’t thought about it. “Yeah, I think so.”
Dash celebrated to herself. “Good. Who else do you think is fast?”

The class was full of noise as the students talked between themselves and the teacher psyched herself up for another year of this.
Swirl trotted around looking at all the other fillies and colts, trying to decide who to talk to, when she came across a filly sat at a desk on her own with a subtle face as she looked round. The hell is a subtle face? Seriously, I wrote that so long ago I forgot what I was on about. I'm so confused. Anyway. For some reason she clicked with Swirl, so Swirl walked over to her. When the filly noticed this she beamed a great smile. She was the colour of milky coffee with a mass of what looked like thick brown wool on her head and tail.
“Hi! Who are you?” Swirl asked excitedly. She couldn’t explain why but she really wanted to be friends with this filly.
The filly smiled back at her but said nothing, only her wings seemed to flap.
Swirl waited a long time for an answer, but she had to ask again. “Who are you?” the excitement was waning.
Again the filly said nothing but flapped her wings with a large smile.
Swirl wasn’t having any of this. “It’s rude to not answer questions and I want to be your friend but I can’t be unless you tell me your name.”
The smile fell from the filly’s face and was replaced with a nervous urgency. She flapped her wings again, only quicker.
Swirl stood tall with her front hooves on the desk. She got her face up close to the filly. “Tell me your name,” she demanded threateningly. There was a quiet menace in her whisper.
The filly gulped before flapping her wings again.
“No! Stop flapping your wings and tell me your name,” Swirl squeaked with anger as she pinned the filly’s wing to her side.
The filly squirmed but couldn’t get her wings free, instead she stared at Swirl with a feeble smile, hoping it would be enough. It wasn’t.
Swirl frowned and had the angriest of angry eyebrows. Jesus fucking christ that was an awful line. Just... awful. She stepped back onto the ground and walked backwards slowly, maintaining eye contact as she did. “I don’t like you.” Her voice was cold.
The filly looked distraught and looked away. She wore a frown for the rest of the day.
Swirl returned to searching the class for someone else to be her friend, but no one was as appealing to her.

Shine wandered around, looking at ponies, but felt much more awkward than her sisters. There was one colt sat at the side, watching everyone else. He seemed liked Shine’s kind of pony, one who prefers to watch than get involved. He was white from head to hoof, and his mane resembled toothpaste, only with much more white than red or blue. He already looked tired, as if the effects of ageing had already ravaged him.
She took a seat next to him. “I'm Shine,” she said quietly.
He barely reacted. He might have cracked a slight smile but nothing that would make anyone certain it actually happened. Shine took this as a sign that she could sit next to him, and so did.
After 20 minutes of meeting and greeting the class was called to attention and told to return to their seats. Shine stood and walked back over to her desk. Little did either of them knew that they were actually friends now.

Dash was immediately popular with her declaration of her legendary speeds. Hoards of classmates surrounded her to get to be friends, but only few were selected. It was a group of the fastest fillies and colts in the room, five in total, that all claimed to be the fastest, just what Dash wanted. However, after all the class asked to be friends, there was one that didn’t and it bothered Dash a little. It was a filly of yellow and pink that seemed to avoid acknowledging everyone else in the room, but the fast kids took priority. No. This is just completely wrong! This isn't how it happens at all! She's like three years or something older than Dash so why would they share a class?! That's just weird of her. And of course it's just fucking Fluttershy. It's not exactly a surprise to anyone, why am  trying to be sublte!

The first recess came a little bit later after a small amount of learning, and with it the tryouts to by Rainbow Dash’s friend.
The little ponies were lined up, facing Dash as she paced up and down the line. “Okay ponies,” Dash said loudly over the noise, “only the best can be my friend and it’s time to find out who makes the cut.”
“What about them?” a colt asked as he pointed to the fillies waiting patiently behind Dash. “Are they here because they are also you?”
“They are my sisters so they are my friends already, but all you others have to prove yourself.”
“That’s not fair.”
“If you don’t like it you can leave and play with the boring ponies.”
The colt quieted down.
“That’s what I thought. Now, the first test is to see who is the fastest.”
The remainder of the recess for Dash was full of racing, which whittled her potential friends considerably.
“Alright, slowpokes,” she announced with no sign of tiredness, “you can go about your business, you’re out of the runnings. Fast ones, well done! You’re now my friends!”
Although exhausted the two colts and two fillies celebrated to their hearts’ content, although it was cut short by the school bell. They all headed back inside for more learning, but Dash slowed as she walked. Hiding behind the bike shed was the small yellow and pink pony, just peeking around the corner and staring at her, and Dash found herself staring back curiously. Just who is this pony, she thought. Seriously Fluttershy, the hell you perving on children for? I know you're a child too but your almost double her age.

Shine had cut off shortly after Dash had announced the first race and set off to find the colt she had met earlier. It wasn’t hard given that he was the brightest thing on the field. His white coat was almost a mirror, reflecting the sun in all directions.
“Hello,” she said as she stood next to him.
This time round he actually acknowledged her. “Hello,” he replied in a strangely raspy voice.
“I'm Swirl.”
“Star Scream.”
They sat for the rest of break quietly enjoying each others’ company.

Swirl too had left Dash long ago in her own quest to make friends. Unlike her sister, speed wasn’t high on her prerequisites to be her friend. It wasn’t long before she found a group she liked the looks of. They were a little older and obviously took pride in their appearances, just like Swirl. However, just before she could tack herself onto the side of this group and assimilate into it, the coffee and brown filly intercepted her with a huge grin.
Swirl scowled at her. “I don’t like you remember?” She turned her head away and walked defiantly passed.
The filly jump in front of her again and smiled wide still. She moved in a way to try to instigate some kind of game that involved running. It didn't work.
“Go away!” Swirl screeched. “You’re really frustrating!”
That stung the filly deeply and she fell to the floor. She watched as Swirl began talking to the older fillies, who had taken great interest in her due to her mane.
“I really like your mane too!” Swirl squeaked with glee. “Not so much yours though. It’s too big at the back. It looks weird.”
The weird mane pony looked positively flabbergasted and wasn’t sure if she should insult her back or even if she could. Her friends found it hilarious.
“You’re funny, filly. What’s your name?”
“I'm Swirl. I'm new. What do you guys do?”
The fillies looked at each other. They weren’t sure themselves. “Y’know, stuff,” offered one of them. “We can give you help with your mane.”
Swirl was shocked and appalled. “Well I never.”
“If you got something to hold your fringe up it would look very nice. Here.” The filly took the hair band from her mane and placed it in Swirl’s hair. “That should hold it up.”
Swirl looked up at her head band. It was white, soft and kept her mane out of her eyes, which she hadn’t noticed was a problem until then. She gasped and said, “Thank you!”
The coffee filly came up to her to compliment her but didn’t get the chance between the older fillies asking “Is this your friend?” and Swirl screaming “GO AWAY!”
The filly ran away crying to herself with sadness and fear.
The older fillies stood back and watched Swirl carefully as she huffed the rest of the anger out of her system. “You’ve got quite the temper.”
“Thanks! You too,” Swirl answered, not knowing what temper was but assuming it was something good.

Rainbow was at home. She very much enjoyed coffee and breakfast with Airheart but it could only last so long. After going home and cleaning what needed to be cleaned in the house, followed by cleaning what could have gone on a while without cleaning, Rainbow found she had nothing else to do.
It was eerily quiet. She kept thinking something was wrong, but had to keep reminding herself that nothing was.
The carpet was wearing thin beneath her hooves. She hadn’t realised for how long she was doing it but she was pacing a circle in living room.
“My life is so dull without them,” she said aloud. “It’s so long until I can go pick them up.” She stopped dead in her tracks. “Hang on. It’s been ages now so I should need to go get them soon.” Her heart jumped at the idea. She quickly trotted over to the clock on the mantel piece and inspected the time. Her hopeful smile faded into a disappointed scowl. “It’s only been three hours.”
She waited there, absent mindedly watching the second tick by on the clock. “I’ll go check the other clocks, just to be sure.”
The other clocks said more or less the same thing, except the one in her bedroom that had reset itself so she spent as long as she could putting it to the correct time again, and returned to pacing around the living room, trying to think of things to do to occupy her time. The only things that came to mind involved her children in some way, and that only made her feel sad.

The school day was coming to an end and the class was getting ready for it. Chairs were placed on top of tables, the reason for which no one could even guess, and bags were packed and ready to go.
“My dad likes basketball so they called me Hoops. What did your dad call you?”
“Mummy gave us our names,” Shine answered calmly before her sister could shout at him. Hoops had a personality that easily grated on anyone, yet somehow Shine was immune.
Hoops snickered. “You still say mummy?” he said through a giggle.
“You don’t?!” Swirl answered back as if it was disrespectful.
“No.”
Dash shook her head. “Some ponies,” she muttered, followed by loud tutting.
“So why did your… mummy, call you that?” He sniggered at the use of the word.
“Swirl is named after Mummy because she was first, she liked the name Shine and Dash looked fast,” Shine answered simply. Dash looked smug.
“What does your dad do?” Hoops asked.
“We don’t have a dad,” Shine answered simply.
Hoops’ jaw hit the floor. “What?!”
The three Rainbows shrugged their shoulders. “So? We’ve got Mummy and she’s the best!” Swirl insisted.
“Yeah,” Dash added, “We don’t need a dad when we’ve got Mummy.”
Hoops couldn’t believe it and refused to. “But dads are the best. Mums are for girls.”
Before they could make sense of what they thought was an insult and figure out why it was an insult the bell rang. The clas fell silent.
“Alright, children,” the teacher said nicely. “I hope you’ve all had a wonderful first day and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Now please follow me back to the playground.”
All the students followed the teacher back into the playground in an almost orderly fashion where all the parents and guardians were waiting.
“See ya tomorrow,” Hoops said to the Rainbows as he walked over to his mother.

The Rainbows trotted casually through the crowds, keeping an eye out for their mother. Through a clearing Shine spotted her looking around impatiently. She broke into a sprint.
Rainbow gasped a sigh of relief as she saw her daughters but was a little concerned seeing Shine sprinting, but there was no time to dwell as the filly launched herself at her mother and clutched onto her neck in a tight hug.
Rainbow was taken aback and felt a well of tears build up as she heard Shine sniff. She wrapped her hooves tightly around her and enjoyed the hug immensely. It was one of the best.
Dash and Swirl trotted beside her and watched in confusion. “Why is she doing that?” Dash asked. “This wasn’t sad it was fun!”
“Yeah,” agreed Swirl.
“What? Don’t you miss me?” Rainbow asked sarcastically, but secretly hoped they did.
“A little,” Dash said after some consideration. “But not enough to cry over.”
“I cried though,” Rainbow said. Dash and Swirl gave her a confused look. “Yeah. This morning I was a wreck! Just a crying blob on the floor. So it’s okay to miss me and cry if you want to.”
Swirl and Dash exchanged looks before they dived onto their mother as well.
Rainbow caught them and hugged all three as tightly as she could. Dash and Swirl may not have cried, but she could tell they missed her as much as Shine. Rainbow fell to the ground, propped up by the fence behind her. She felt whole again as she held her children.
Some moments passed before they moved again due to children shouting at them.
“Bye, Dash!” said an excited colt.
“See ya!” Dash said back. “That’s one of my friends,” she said proudly to her mother.
“Oh, he seems nice, Dashie.” Rainbow kissed her forehead, followed by the other two. “How about you two? Did you make any new friends?”
Shine nodded her head.
Swirl thought of the coffee and brown filly and was filled with seething anger, and in a low, threatening voice she said, “I made an enemy.”
Rainbow laughed. “An enemy? Already?”
Swirl nodded. “She wouldn’t tell me her name when I asked so now I don’t like her.”
Rainbow smiled and shook her head. “Give her time. Maybe she was just shy.”
Swirl decided to ignore that. Hating the filly was more fun.
“Come on,” Rainbow said as she gently placed her little Rainbows on the ground. “Let’s go home.” They took to the skies. “You still have four more days until you get a day off.”
The fillies had mixed feelings about this.




Tuesday




Rainbow saw her children off to school again. Through the door they walked, not looking back, leaving her alone for another day.
“I'm not gonna cry,” she assured herself. “Not this time.” She sniffed loudly and dried her eyes on the back of her hoof.
“Hi there. How are you holding up today then?” Airheart asked.
“Oh, yes. Much better, thank you,” Rainbow replied. “Do you want to get coffee again? It’s just that I’m so bored without them and I need to do something before I go crazy.”
“Sure. I'm not doing anything anymore now that Fluttershy is here so… after you.”
The two mares left to enjoy each other’s company.

Shine and Hoops were in a heated argument over which is better: boys or girls? Hoops was insisting boys were better at everything, except cooking and cleaning, while Shine was determined to convince him that that isn’t the case and it differs from to pony to pony.
“But Princess Celestia runs a whole country! And she’s a mare!” Shine argued. For the first time in her life she felt anger.
“But she’s an Alicorn so she has an unfair advantage. If she was a boy she would run the country even better. That’s what my dad says.” The smugness was unbearable.
“Shut up about your dad,” Dash told him. “No one cares about him. He’s making you think badly about mares.”
“No he’s not. He’s smart. He’s older than us so he knows what he’s talking about.”
Dash and Shine stared at him dumbfoundedly. They couldn’t believe how stubborn he was being despite all the evidence placed before him. They needed Swirl but she was distracted.
The staring was intense between them. Daggers flew across the room. The coffee and brown filly had changed drastically in the evening they weren’t near each other. Yesterday she was a sweet, smiling filly who was looking for a friend, but now she was angry. Something had snapped inside her and she felt nothing but a seething hatred. At least that’s all Swirl could read from her.
“Swirl,” Dash started, “Want to weigh in here? Hoops is being stupid.”
“I am not!”
Swirl turned round on her chair but before she could unleash her opinions on Hoops the teacher called for attention. It was time for the next lesson.

Lunchtime was fast becoming one of the favourite times of day for the fillies. After a hard morning of basic maths and literacy they needed a well earned meal. Dash and Shine scoffed down their food, Dash because she wanted to go fly some more and Shine because she had no self control. Swirl did not eat fast, she was never one to and enjoyed taking her time with it, but this time it was because she could feel that filly boring holes in the back of her head. Try hard as she might she could still not shake the filly from her mind and it was getting to her. Fortunately, across the cafeteria were the older fillies she latched onto the day before which she managed to focus on. They were excitingly discussing some topic that made them giggle and Swirl was eager to find out. She packed her lunch box up and sat in the spare seat on their table.
“Hi there,” said the one that seemed the leader of the gang, although in far too patronising a tone.
“Hi.” Swirl unpacked her lunch and ate with them. The fillies were confused at first but after a moment or two they continued their conversation of boys and hairstyles. Swirl loved it and laughed and joined in when she could. She was fast earning their friendship. All the while the coffee and brown filly stared at her but Swirl didn't pay her any attention, which only made her more angry.

The Rainbows left on their table continued as normal. Across from Dash were her two favourite friends, a blue-ish colt and a green filly who proved faster than the competition. They finished their lunches quickly and headed out to play, leaving Shine behind on her own, but that wasn't the case for long. Shortly after she was joined by Star Scream.
She looked at him and to his lunch. Both seemed sad, but Shine was pretty sure that was always the case with the colt at least. With a big gulp she swallowed her mouthful and brushed off the crumbs that remained around her mouth. She looked at him with big, sympathetic eyes.
He flashed her a smile and slid a cheap apple pie across to her.
She looked at it and him, trying to work out why he had done this. Was it a friendly gesture or was it poison? She couldn't tell.
“Do you like them?” he asked but didn't wait for an answer. “I can't stand them. You can have it if you want.” His voice scraped through his throat.
Tentatively Shine took a bite out of the pie. It was disgusting, but she struggled and swallowed it. “Yuck,” she muttered as she reached for the juicebox.
Star Scream smiled a weak smile at her and scooched a little closer.

“Alright,” Dash said loudly in front of her friends, who were lined up neatly like troops, “Today we're going to fly fast. Not just fast, but really fast.” She stood proud, puffing her chest out and wings flaring.
A few more ponies joined them, wondering what was happening. The green filly rose her hoof and spoke out of turn. “I want to run though.”
“Why run when you can fly?”
The filly lowered her hoof.
Dash spun around, skidding against the ground, and prepped her take off, but again she saw this filly, a little older than her, yellow coat and pink mane, stood on the corner of the playground, staring at her. Dash shook it off and took to the sky. Her friends followed with much less enthusiasm than the previous day. They could see that speed was the only thing on her mind and they didn't think they could handle that.

Dash had already done a few laps of the playground, as high as the dinner ladies let them fly, when she heard a snide laugh from the ground. It was Hoops, pointing and laughing at her. She couldn't tell why until she saw her friends with him instead. She slowed to a halt and dropped lightly out the sky, landing in the middle.
All around her were ponies playing and having fun, being friends, but she wasn't. No one was flying, some hovered but that didn't count. Everyone was running and jumping and playing, but not with her. Even her sisters had friends. She could see Swirl with the pretty fillies in an older class and Shine gently kicking rocks with the creepy kid. She felt alone. She was alone.
She fell to the floor and laid there. A horrible well of bad feelings filled her stomach and she didn't like it. She thought she would be the most popular filly and everyone would be amazed by her. They would clamber over each other just to get a glimpse of her flowing mane in the wind, of her impressive wings already with some big feathers. Everyone would want a piece of her and she'd have more friends than she could count. But no one cared.
The bad feelings moved from her stomach to her eyes and a few tears escaped. She didn't know what to do.
She kept looking around for anyone but there wasn't. She thought the yellow and pink filly was coming over to her but she took a sharp turn at the last minute.
She didn't want to be sad. That wasn't the filly she wanted to be. So instead she focused that negativity in one direction, into anger. A pure, burning rage for the one who stole her only friends. She stood tall and her teeth ground as she whispered his name. “Hoops.”

Right. That's thay shit out the way. Can you tell I don't really care anymore? I'm just gonna fling shit at this free knock-off of Word and see what sticks. I put too much effort into this story to let it not be finished. Anyway. As we were...




Wednesday




The entire class briefly had tinitus and the teacher feared for her windows. The argument had been short but loud and incredibly high-pitched, so much so no one knew what it was about. The teacher had enough.
“Right, that's it. Hoops. You swap with that twat over there,” she pointed at who is obviously supposed to be Fluttershy's brother but that isn't revealed until later. “Yes you, whatever your name is. Swap. Now.”
The kids did so, and seemed happy to do so. Hoops took it as a victory, while the kid called what turns out to be Zephyr clearly had been wanting to sit with them since the beginning.
“Well hello there,” he said, his words oozing with the sexual conotations of a camp colt. “I'm Zephyr. I just love your manes.” His hoof bend in a strangely effeminate manner.
“Hi.” Dash looked him for a moment, judging intently. “You look nice.”
“Not too bad yourself, hot lips,” he winked.
Dash quickly felt her lips, thinking there might be something wrong with them.
Zephyr placed his hoof around Swirl's shoulder. “I think I'm gonna like it at this table.”
Swirl looked over her shoulder at the coffee and brown filly. The daggers she had been staring at Swirl were becoming alarmingly real as the coffee filly played with the point of one into the desk.
Swirl looked away and tried to get a grasp on whether or not it was real. As she returned her gaze to the coffee filly she gasped as the brass hooves she was pounding together in a menacing fashion.
Again Swirl had to look away for a moment, but her attention was grabbed by a strange sound. That of a butterfly knife fwicking expertly in the filly's hooves.
Swirl was a little worried, especially as she saw her rubbing a whet stone over a glinting machete, but this worry disappated as she saw the filly driving a grindstone with one hoof and sharpening a battle axe with the others.
“You've taken it too far now it's just ridiculous.” And she turned back triumphantly.




Thursday




“Thank you, Zephyr,” Dash said sincerely. “You have taught me an important lesson about friendship and how it means giving as much as you get.”
“No worries, babe,” Zephyr cooed, playfully slapping her bum but it's alright because he is clearly gay and I'm no longer taking this chapter seriously, if that wasn't clear already. “Oh by the way, have you met my big sister? Fluttershy?”
The tall pink and yellow filly approached the group, almost paralyzed with fear.
“So you're that creep that's been perving on me!” Dash screeched.
Fluttershy went as stiff as a board and fell to the ground, almost like a poorly thought out defense mechanism.

Dash looked around the playground at lunch, not looking for anything in particular, but in doing so she saw something that made her heart leap and her blood boil.
Shine was in a heated argument with Hoops, and it was getting too hot. Dash saw Hoops slap her square in the jaw. Shine didn't seem to even register it, as one would expect from a malnourished child. Why malnourished, I don't know.
Dash exploded from the ground and landed slapbang on Hoops' spine. He folded like a deck chair.
He tried to fight back but Star Scream had turned up. The look in his eyes was hypnotic, and if they had access to that kind of weaponry Star Scream would have turned Hoops on himself, ending his lineage there and then. But alas, there were no guns, and so Star Scream resorted to breaking his spirit and sent him home crying and shivering.




Friday




It happened. The playground lay in ruin. Dust settled on the ground and children dug themselves out of the rubble. Most were unscathed, save for a few scratches and bruises. Others were not so lucky. The Head Teacher would have to send some heart breaking news.
It all started because she wouldn't tell her her name...

Swirl watched the coffee and brown filly approach the centre of the playground. A bat with nails slung over her shoulder. A look of murder in her eyes.
They locked eyes and both stood their ground. The children all around them had no idea what was coming, but it would all be over before they even had a chance to find out.
Swirl bared her teeth in a furious smile, clenching her jaw hard enough to break bone. Her hind legs bent against the ground, ready to launch at the filly. But the filly merely cracked a smile and readied the bat.
“Fuck her up!” came some words of encouragement from one of the faculty. Who it was directed at didn't seem to matter.
Swirl sprang into the air, hoof ready to come smashing down, and the filly prepared to whack her out of the sky.
It was about to get violent. But they love violence.

The school hall became an emergency centre to take care of the owies and boo-boos. Beds lined the walls, filled with crying children clutching various aching body parts. The dead had been moved into the staff room out of respect.
Swirl and the filly had been sat opposite each other at a table while they were fixed up. Swirl had a chunk of her ear bitten off and eaten by the other, if it was an active act of cannibalism or just the heat of the moment it was hard to tell. The filly had a hoof in a splint and sling.
The nurse, wholly unqualified for such a disaster, took the responsibilty of sorting out what misunderstanding could have caused such a scuffle. She took a seat between them.
“Now, tell me, why did you fight this filly, Swirl?”
“She wouldn't tell me her name,” Swirl siad coldly. The anger inside was too spent to be aggressive and merely became a sulk.
“Is this true?” the nurse asked the filly.
The filly began flapping her wings with a pleading look in her eyes.
“Stop flapping your wings!” Swirl moaned.
“You don't know?” The nurse shook her head. “Wow. That fucking moron. This is quite an important thing for a teacher to cover. You see, Swirl, Ticker here is a mute. She can't speak.”
Ticker tapped her throat to help explain.
“So instead of words she speaks by making very particular shapes with her wings. So when you asked her what her name was, she said...”
Ticker flapped her wings purposefully, and the nurse translated it as, “Hello, my name is Ticker. What's yours?”
Swirl's jaw dropped. “That's so cool!”
Ticker's smile lit up the room, almost making you forget the death and destruction, and her little wings fluttered happily.
“Can you teach me?”
Ticker nodded. “Does this mean we're friends?” Ticker asked via the nurse.
“Well duh!”
Thus began an amazing friendship.


Rainbow came to pick them up. Happy as can be with the knowledge she got to keep them for the next two days.
The playground had already been repaired, as it's easy to fix what is made of clouds and slave labour, and such the world continued as normal.
The three Little Rainbows trotted happily yet tired to their mother, who greeted them with a teary smile, until she saw Swirl with her ear in a bandage and several small plasters covering her body.
“Swirl?! What happened?” Rainbow shrieked. No one looked as they were busy having the same reaction to those on crutches and in body bags.
“Ticker got in a fight with me.”
“Where is she so I can have a word.”
“She's over there. But it's okay she's my friend!”
Rainbow hadn't listened and instead marched over to the where Swirl had pointed, only to be met halfway by a short mare storming up to her.
“Oi your brat beat up my little sister,” she spat.
“Oh fuck you're hot,” Rainbow muttered accidentally out loud.
“What?”
Rainbow froze. That was supposed to stay inside. This young mare was her exact type during her brief, two week lesbian phase. Scrawny, pierced, messy. Looks like she'd treat you wrong but you never leave because you love it, don't ya? You slut.
Err..... that was weird.
“What did your sister to mine?! Mine daughter, that is!”
“What?”
“Well my little girl didn't go to school all bandaged up!” She pulled Swirl round to show her.
“I was gonna say the same to you, bitch.”
Rainbow had to bite her lip. It was lighting a fire inside her. A fire that quickly subsided when she saw the battered filly that was clearly related to the big sister. “Oh my gosh, I didn't know. I guess they're even though.”
The big sister looked for a second. “I guess you're right. C'mon Ticker, let's go.”
Rainbow watched the young mare walk away, a familiar heat burning her cheeks as she blushed.
“I don't want you hanging out with that filly again, okay?”
“Oh... but she's my bestest friend!”
Rainbow stared at her daughter, trying to rationalise it, but it was getting late and her shoulder was hurting from lying on bed typing, so she decided to let it go and see what happens.
“See ya tomorrow, Ticker!” Swirl shouted and waved. Ticker waved back before flying off with that hot piece of ass sister of hers.
“You're not going to school tomorrow,” Rainbow told them as if they were adorable idiots.
“What?!” the three of them blurted out, clearly shocked by this.
“You don't go to school on saturdays or sundays. You're back again on monday.”
“Oh,” they moaned.
Rainbow laughed. They wouldn't feel that way for long.