//------------------------------// // First day of school // Story: Forgiveness? // by Feather Guide //------------------------------// Pinkamena the third went by Mina. She walked slowly behind her cousin Watermelon. Today was their first day of kindergarten and either of their parents could take them "I'm so excited!" Watermelon said as they walked closer to the school. "C-c-c-can w-w-w-we g-g-g-go i-i-i-inside?" Mina stuttered. "Not yet." Watermelon said. Four pegasi came flying down which scared Mia and made her try to run away but Watermelon stopped her. "Hey, where are your parents?" Posey asked. "Work." Watermelon said. "Mina, you will have Belladonna and Wisteria in your class," Petula said bending down to Mina's eye level. Wisteria was a purple pegasus with a lavender mane and blue eyes. Belladonna was a yellow pegasus with a dark purple mane and green eyes. Mina didn't meet Petulas eyes and looked at the rainy sky. "Slow down! My sister will have my head if something happened to either of you." a silver mare said running after two earth pony fillies. "Sorry auntie Sterling." the two fillies said in unison. "It's alright. Be good." Sterling said. The school bell rang and all the foals went inside. Mina went to the back corner farthest from anypony. "The desks will have your name on it," Cheerliee said. "Mina, fine your seat." Watermelon said. Mina looked at the ground. Cheerliee walked over to them. "Please take your seats," Cheerliee said. "Can she sit near someone she knows?" Watermelon asked. "I tried my best," Cheerliee said. "Who is she going to be next to?" Watermelon asked. "Pandora will be on her right and you will be in the row in front of her," Cheerliee said. “Who will be on her left?” Watermelon asked. "On her left will be a donkey named Hilda," Cheerliee said. "It will be alright." Watermelon said to Mina Mina and Watermelon walked to their seats. "Introduce yourself to the creature next to you," Cheerliee said. "Hi, my name is Hilda. What's yours?" Hilda asked. "Mina, it's short for Pinkamena the third," Mina said. "It's nice to meet you," Hilda said. "Now it is time to introduce yourself to the class you need to say your name and tell us something about yourself," Cheerliee said. "My name is Gala and my mom is a famous mane stylist," Gala said. "My name is Watermelon and I'm going to be a future chef. Just you wait." Watermelon said spreading out her wings. "My name is Mollie and I love baking apple pies," Mollie said. "My name is Hilda and I don't know what to say except I live with a foster mom," Hilda said. "M-m-m-my n-n-n-name i-i-i-is M-m-m-mina a-a-a-and I'm t-t-t-terrified o-o-o-of..." Mina started. There were a few giggles,. "Go on," Cherrilee said in a low voice. "M-m-m-my s-s-s-sister w-w-w-was st-stolen s-s-s-so I h-h-h-have s-s-s-some t-t-t-trust i-i-i-issues." Mina said before sitting down. "My name is Pandora and I'm a granddaughter of Discord," Pandora said. Some creatures looked a little scared but it only lasted four seconds. Mina had her head on the table when she heard the fillies behind her whisper. "Why does our cousin have to be such a scary cat?" "She should get over Blue Blossom or whatever her name was. She wears the blanket that pony gave her around her neck. It's stupid." Mina held part of the blanket her hooves. Hilda saw it and turned around to face the two ponies. "Be nice. That's no way to treat family." Hilda said. "What do you know about family?!" "More than you!" Hilda yelled starting to cry. "Hilda!" Hilda turned around to face the teacher and looked sorry. Warm tears were rolling down her face. "What's going on?" Cheerilee asked. "They were saying mean things about Mina and said that I knew nothing about family," Hilda said trying to wiping away her tears. "Is this true Nyx?" Cherrliee asked. "We were only saying that Mina should get over her sister. I mean how can you miss someone you barely knew?" Nyx asked. "You're a granddaughter of the princess of friendship who made a friendship school before it burned done. Your mom gives friendship speeches and opened a friendship school. I expected better." Cherrliee said. Later at recess... "Let's go play hide and seek," Pandora said. "All of you can go ahead. I'll walk with Mina." Hilda said. Pandora along with her friends followed the other students. Hilda moved to the tree closest to where everyone was with Mina. They frowned when they saw it was Nyx and her twin sister Hermta who made the announcement. "Sorry but you have to be fully pony to play," Nyx said. "But you're a half pony." Watermelon said. "No, we're not. Just because our dad is a non-pony doesn't mean we're half ponies like he is." Hermta said. "You're both seventy-five percent pony since your dad is half-pony," Pandora said. "You're a freak just like Dotty and you're a nerd," Nyx said. "Neither of them are freaks," Hilda said. "No one cares about someone like you. No matter what you will always be alone with no one to care about you. You will always be an orphan. You will never have a real family." Nyx said. Mina glanced at Hilda, who was on the verge of tears. Hilda may be an orphan but she's loved. Nyx made Mina so mad she just wished the sky would come crashing down on her! The students looked up as a dark shadow covered them and screamed when they saw an organ hurdling directly towards Nyx. They all scattered out of the way. Mina managed to grab Hilda before the instrument hit the ground, smashing into pieces. As soon as she heard the crash, Cheerilee rushed out and sighed at the sight of the broken organ. She looked around and saw Mina, who had a mix of guilty and horrified look on her face. Mia knew something was up when her daughter did not come out of the building immediately. Hilda then explained that Cheerilee had kept Mina after class. Not knowing what to expect, Mia entered the classroom. Cheerilee was sitting expectedly at her desk, Mina sat on a stool in the corner. As soon as she saw her mom, she faced the wall in shame. "Hello Mia," Cherrliee said. "Hi, what happened?" Mia asked "Well.... how do I put this? An organ dropped from the sky." Cheerilee said. "An organ?" Mia asked in shock. "Yes, and I already checked there were no moving or mail carts in the sky at that moment," Cherrliee said. "You think Mina could've done it?" Mia asked. Cheerilee looked to the filly in the corner. "Well, Mina?" "I didn't mean to!" she insisted. "They were making fun of Hilda! I didn't want it to happen! I don't even know how it happened! They made me so mad!" Mina said without stuttering which surprised Mia. "Honey, it's good you wanted to protect your friend but you can't hurt others," Mia said. "Nyx said that no one will ever care Hilda and that she will never have a real family," Mina said. "Wait Nyx said those things?" Mia asked making sure she heard correctly. "Yeah," Mina said. Mia sighed then faced the teacher again. "I assure you it won't happen again." "See that it doesn't," Cheerilee said coldly. "You may go home now, Mina." The filly slid off the stool and smiled nervously up at her mom. The glare she received in return caused her to hang her head. "We're going to talk to your mother about this." "An organ? You should've tripped her or something like that." Rainy said looking up from her ribs. "Rainy!" Mia exclaimed. "What?" Rainy asked. "That's no advice you should be giving our daughter. I think this is worse than when Flameheart burned the Golden Delicious." Mia said. "How do they still have the burn marks? Also, how is an organ better than an erupting volcano?' Rainy asked. "Point taken," Mia said eating her seaweed. They were sitting at the dinner table. Mia had just explained the events at school. "It's nice to see that you are eating with us," Rainy said looking at her daughter. "I might do this from now on. After what happened today, I have a new view of the world. I realized that I shouldn't have shut myself away from ponies. I know that not everypony is like Nyx or that pony who foalnapped Blueberry." Mina said "I found out that the foster home that Hildas staying in is Aunt Party Lights," Mia said. "Does that mean I can go visit her whenever I want?" Mina asked excitedly. "Yes," Mia said. "Awesome," Mina said. "I'm sure you two will be like two peas in a pod," Mia said. "Can we go visit Hilda now?" Mina asked. "When we finish eating," Mia said. "Yay," Mina said. After dinner the three of them went to Party Lights. "It's nice to see you." Party Lights said. "It's nice to see you too," Mia said hugging her sister. "Where's Hilda?" Mina asked. "She's in her room reading." Party Lights said. Hilda came down the stairs holding a book in one of her hooves. "Oh hi," Hilda said noticing Mina. "This place looks wonderful sis," Mia said. "Thanks." Party Lights said. "How many kids?" Mina asked. "Four in total." Party Lights said. Hilda grabbed a cinnamon roll from the kitchen to eat. "I'm glad you're no longer lonely," Mia said. "I'm hungry," Rainy said. "There should be some rabbit." Party Lights said. Rainy went to the kitchen and found the rabbit and ate it. "That was delicious," Rainy said flying back. "Mimi, I want to show you something," Hilda said pulling on Mina's hoof. Mina followed her friend to her room. There was a knock at the door. Party Lights opened the door and saw a dragon with what seemed to be two creatures being carried on the back. "Who are you?" Party Lights asked. "Ocellus, I was a student of both your moms." Ocellus said. "Is something wrong?" Party Lights asked. "My daughters and I need a place to stay." Ocellus said. "You can stay here. It might get crazy just warning you." Party Lights said. "Thank you." Ocellus said. "No problem. Make yourselves at home." Party Lights said. "Where are the rooms we'll be staying in?" Ocellus asked. "I recommend the ones upstairs." Party Lights said. Ocellus walked up the stairs since her daughters were on her wings. "I don't trust her," Rainy said when Ocellus was out of earshot. "Neither do I but, I want to make sure that her daughters are healthy." Party Lights said. "We better be leaving. It's a school night after all." Mia said. "Mina, it's time to go home!" Rainy shouted. Mina ran down the stairs and left with her moms. Party Lights went up to her room and was surprised to see Ocellus sleeping in her bed. She levitated Ocellus to the spare bed in the room. Then she went to hers and went right to sleep. Party Lights woke up in the middle of the night feeling like she was being drained. "What's going on?" Party Lights asked sleepily. Party Lights then noticed pink energy entering Ocelluse's mouth. "Go back to sleep." Ocellus said wripping her mouth. "A-are you feeding off me?" Party Lights asked fearfully as she felt herself being drained. "I need to. I've been living like this for years now. The Crystal Empire had no love so I went back to the way I was before." Ocellus explained. "Why me?" Party Lights asked. "You have more love in your heart then you realized." Ocellus said. "What do you mean?" Party Lights asked. Your love for the kids you take care of and your family makes you strong and full of love." Ocellus went on. Ocellus's heart was beating fast and she was starting to blush. "We should go back to sleep and starting tomorrow you will no longer feed off of love." Party Lights said. "You're as beautiful as a sunset." Ocellus said looking at Party Lights lovely. Party Lights felt very uncomfortable. She had never liked any creature whether mare, stallion, or those outside of the binary. Ocellus then kissed Party Lights. Realizing that she had crossed the line she went back to her bed. Party Lights tried to sleep but all she could think about was the kiss. She hated it and wish she could have forgotten it. Ocellus couldn't sleep either.