The next day, Icy was walking to her new school, the bizarre encounter having gone to the back of her mind. The rest of the day had been fairly normal – dinner, talking with her Mom, reading comics, being reminded that she had school tomorrow and it was half-an-hour past her bedtime and to put the comics away right now, the usual.
She hadn't told her Mom about her little escapade. Partly because she didn't think she'd believe her and partly out of fear that she would. If Sunny Flight believed her daughter had been attacked by lava-ponies, she would immediately go out, scour the countryside, and smash anything even vaguely rocky and hot, not resting until there were no more lava-ponies in existence.
Not that Icy doubted her ability to do exactly that, she just felt her mother had enough on her plate.
Besides, at that moment Icy wasn’t focused on such things, instead being excited about her new school. She'd seen it during her self-guided tour and the cheerful, homey building had got her hopes up, being a far cry from the dull pinky-brown walls of her old schoolhouse. Her old teachers had tried to cheer things up, but it didn't have a patch on this one.
As her destination came into view, Icy could see a playground filled with colts and fillies talking, running about, and generally getting all their energy out and fun in before class began. There were a lot of students for a one-room schoolhouse, but given how recently Ponyville had gained prominence, they probably hadn't had time to expand for the influx of new residents.
Trotting into the centre, Icy stood and observed the children around her. She didn't want to barge into any groups and the only fillies she'd met had talked to her solely due to weird circumstances, so she didn't want to bother them. Still, I'd like to get to kno-
“STOP IGNORING ME!”
A shout in Icy's ear knocked her over, her mane and tail standing on end for a moment as she tripped over her hooves and fell on her rump. She looked up to see a pink earth pony standing over her, her mane glistening almost as much as the crown on top of it. Her coat was impeccably groomed, and a stylish pair of saddlebags rested over her back.
A pang of self-consciousness went through Icy as she realized how scruffy she looked by comparison. She looked at her mane, hanging limply around her head in wavy clusters, and her pale blue coat, the hairs naturally clumping together. This filly, on the other hoof, looked to have been touched up by a professional. Geez, anyone who'd do that before school’s got to b-
“HEY! I said: PAY ATTENTION!”
Icy looked back at the filly, seeing her eyes fill with murder. It was kind of ironic: she must have spent quite a bit on looking pretty, but it was ruined by her expression. No one could look beautiful with that sort of hateful sneer on their face. Maybe she’s jus-
“ARE YOU DISRESPECTING ME?!”
That puzzled Icy. Disrespecting her? Why would she disrespect her? Why would she respect her? For that matter, how could she respect her - she didn't know her! Was she some kind of class queen? Did this school have its own monarchy? She had the crown for it, after all.
A silver-grey filly came out from behind her – also well-groomed, but with a huge pair of glasses and a pearl necklace that made her look like an old mare.
“She totally is, Di. She didn't even listen when you asked her a question. Rude!”
Icy blinked. She must have spaced out when this filly had asked her something. Her annoyance was understandable – it happened a lot, and sometimes got her in trouble. She decided to try to patch things up.
“I'm sorry, I was, er..., a bit lost in thought. What did you ask?”
The filly's, or “Di”'s, sneer shifted from angry to disdainful, a movement that seemed well practiced. “I wanted to know who you are. I was just checking to see if you were as dumb as the other blank flanks.” She snorted. “ But I guess you answered that question. Come on, Sil!”
With that, “Di” and “Sil” turned around, flicked their tails at Icy, and flounced off, noses hoisted as if on fishing line. Icy just looked blankly at where they’d been, baffled.
“What the hay just happened?”
“Aw, don't worry about them. They do that with every new student. Some dumb rich pony thing.”
Icy turned around to see Scootaloo standing behind her, a sympathetic smirk on her face.
“Oh, I guess that explains it.” Icy replied. She thought for a second. “Actually, no it doesn't, what was with them?”
“What, ya never seen rich fillies before?” Scootaloo raised an amused eyebrow at her.
“No, not really. You see, I used to live in Flanchorage, and that's not the sort of place most ponies go if they can afford to live anywhere. Unless you're like me or Mom, I guess.” Icy belatedly realized that Scootaloo was laughing at her old home's name. “Mostly because of that, I think.”
“Sorry, sorry. Anyway, don't worry about them.” Scootaloo stuck her nose up and put on her poshest voice. It wasn't that convincing but it did the job. “Dihamond Tiaahra and Hsilver Spooooon,” she lowered her snout and chuckled, “the local bi-”
She snapped her mouth shut mid-word and looked away,
“Local what?” Icy asked, puzzled.
“Sorry, Dad says I'm not s'posed to use that word.” Scootaloo's eyes went up as she thought. “I dunno why, though. I hear Mom say it sometimes, and Dad doesn't say anything unless he knows I'm there.”
“Huh. Weird.”
“Yeah.”
A short silence arose as the fillies pondered the strangeness of adults before Icy brought them back to the main topic. “So, are all rich ponies like that?”
Scootaloo waved a hoof. “Nah, just them.” She looked at Icy oddly. “Gotta say, ya got some weird priorities. Woulda thought you'd ask about last night.”
Icy thought back. “Last night? What happened last ni- oh, yeah, that.”
Scootaloo chuckled. “Yeah, the whole lava-pony thing. Never seen anything like that before.”
“Really? You seemed to know what you were doing.”
“Aw, we've just seen a lot of stuff. I could tell ya...”
“Hey, Scoots, get over here! We're gonna try for our firework cutie marks!” A southern-accented voice came from across the yard.”
Scootaloo's ears shot up and she looked over. “I could tell ya, but I gotta go. Ask Dinks, she'll tell ya.”
She pointed, and Icy looked to see Dinky talking with two other ponies. She looked back at Scootaloo. “Do you think she'd mind?”
“Dinky? Mind stuff? Yeah, right! See ya!” And with that, Scootaloo was off to what Icy really hoped would be a pretend game of fireworks.
Shrugging, she cantered over to Dinky and her friends. Well, she hoped they were friends, but after her encounter with the rich fillies, she couldn't be sure.
They seemed to be getting on, though. One was a pegasus filly with a pale yellow coat. Her light purple mane was in a vaguely similar style to Dinky's, but without the tuft that stuck up at the back. She was facing away from Icy, so her face wasn't visible, but she was definitely a bit bigger than Dinky. Not that that was hard – Dinky did rather live up to her name.
Speaking of which, the other was an earth pony colt with a pinto coat and brown mane who looked roughly the same size as Dinky, if not a bit smaller. He was chatting animatedly until he noticed Icy coming up to them. He and Dinky looked up.
“Oh, Hiya, Icy!” Dinky called, waving as soon as she saw her. “Lu, Pip, this is the filly I was telling you about – the one who saved us from the lava-ponies! This is Icy!”
Icy was about to return the greeting, when she paused. “Er, didn't you save me from the lava-ponies?”
Dinky thought for a moment. “Well, I guess so. A bit. But the important thing is that you helped us!”
As far as Icy could recall, her contributions had been minimal, but if that's how Dinky wanted to remember it, she wasn’t going to argue
“Anyway, Icy, these are my friends:” she pointed a hoof towards the colt, who Icy was eager to learn the name of, lest she slip up and accidentally call him Titch or Shorty or something, “this is Pipsqueak.”
Or that.
“Hi!” Pipsqueak beamed at her.
“And this is Alula.” She indicated the filly, who nodded at her slowly, looking at her through narrowed eyes.
“Good morning.” She said, almost cagily. This filly gave Icy an odd feeling, like she was suspicious of her. She realized she was staring when Dinky and Pip laughed.
“Don't worry,” Pip chuckled as Icy turned to him and Dinky, “she's like that with everyone.”
Icy wasn't sure how comforting that was, but decided to move on anyway. “I... hope I'm not bothering you, Dinky.”
The remnants of her laughter seemed to settle into a quiet giggle at this. “Of course not, I've always got time for my friends.”
Friends. After knowing each other for an hour at most. Icy liked this town.
Pipsqueak smiled at Dinky before he turned to Icy. “Anyway, are you doing alright after being attacked by these lava-things?” He asked, speaking in a distinct Trottingham accent.
Icy shrugged. “I guess so. It was kind of a shock, but everything turned out alright, I guess.”
“It did,” Alula said, “but I wonder – if what Dinky said is accurate, these creatures were particularly interested in you. Is that correct?” Her words had an odd cadence – almost but not quite a monotone. It was like everything she said needed to be spoken with a certain amount of emphasis, but not too much so as not to disturb something. It made Icy a touch uneasy.
She shook her head, remembering that she'd been asked a question, and not wanting to offend someone else by not answering. “I... think so.”
“And I don't suppose you have any idea why?”
Icy shook her head again, this time in denial. “No! They just came at me whenever they could.” A thought struck her, and she looked down and away. “I hope they don't come after me again. I don't want them to hurt my Mom or anyone.”
Before she could get too morose, she felt a pair of hooves close around her and she looked up to see Dinky pulling her into a hug. A surprisingly firm one, given her size. “Don't worry – if anything happens, we'll protect you.”
Icy was taken by surprise by the Dinky insta-hug, but quickly realized the intent and settled into it, returning it gently. As they disengaged, though, she thought about what Dinky had just said. “We? You mean you and Scootaloo, right?”
Pipsqueak let out a large guffaw at this. “Not at all. They were just the only ones fast enough to get out to you in time.”
Dinky looked away. “The rest of us could have come, Pip. It's just they thought me and her could handle whatever it was.”
Pip put a hoof over her shoulder. “And with her speed and your amazing time-wibbling, they were right!”
Dinky still looked embarrassed at the praise, but gave a small smile regardless. “Thanks, Pip!”
Icy barely restrained herself from giving an “Awwww”, and, out of the corner of her eye, she could see Alula's lips curl up, her defenses apparently lowered by the sweet sight before her.
Not wanting to interrupt, Icy waited a few moments before asking, “So, there are more of you?”
Dinky was about to answer but, for the second time, the explanation was interrupted, this time by the school bell.
“We'll tell you at Recess.” Pip said as he and Dinky ran past her, Alula following at a more sedate pace. She was still smiling, though, so that was good. Icy shrugged and followed them inside.