“But…mom,” Cloudchaser complained between coughing fits, a thermometer sticking out from under her tongue as she laid in bed. “I gotta go to school!”
“Sorry sweetie, I don’t think you should go,” Blue said as she took the thermometer from Cloudchaser. “Not when your temperature is this high.”
“No, it’s not,” Cloudchaser weakly argued. “I can still get out of bed…see.”
“Oh, no you’re not,” Blue said sternly, placing a hoof on Cloudchaser’s chest to keep her from getting out of bed. “You’re staying right here until you get better.”
“But, mom…Sky’s gets to go.”
“That’s because Sky’s not sick.”
“That’s not fair,” Cloudchaser pouted, crossing her hooves over her chest.
Blue gave her an amused smirk before replying, “Sorry, kiddo, that’s how things are. How about I get you some lemonade? Will that make you feel better?”
“…Maybe.”
“Alright, one lemonade coming right up,” Blue said, leaving the room. Once she got to the kitchen, she saw Storm by the sink, washing the last of the dishes.
He looked at her before asking, “So, how is she?”
She grabbed a glass before saying, “Well, she’s frustrated that she’s not going to school, so she’ll be fine. She’s still going to be in bed for a couple of days, though.”
“That’s good,” Storm said, putting up the last plate. “They weren’t kidding when they said that stomach bugs spread like crazy here. Both Berry Punch and Thunderlane were out sick yesterday.”
“Well, it is what it is,” Blue replied, pulling the lemonade out of the fridge. “Do you mind bringing Sky to school today? I don’t feel comfortable leaving Cloudchaser alone while she’s sick.”
“Yeah, of course, dear,” he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. “Hopefully he doesn’t get sick like Cloudchaser did.”
“He’ll be fine. It’s better than keeping him here around Cloudchaser right now. Besides, I’m sure it’ll still be a productive day at school for him.”
Honestly, today’s going to be so unproductive. Whiteboard noted to herself, her head resting on her hoof as she looked over her class. If there were only a couple of foals out sick, then it would’ve been another normal school day. Instead, she found that all but eight of her students were absent. She didn’t even feel a need to do roll call since she already made a mental note of who was here. Roseluck, Carrot Top, Cloud Kicker, Sea Swirl, Daisy, Shoeshine, Raindrops, and Sky Chaser. She wasn’t really surprised by this though. It was the curse of teaching in a school in a small town. When one student gets a virus, then almost all of them get it.
With so many students out, she couldn’t just go through with her original lesson plan. Not unless she wanted to play a massive game of catch up. So, instead she decided that she needed to alter her lesson plan to something light, but still engaging. Or, as she liked to call it, turning school into a glorified day care.
“Alright class,” she announced, getting everyone’s attention. “We’ll start today’s class with a lesson…in…teamwork. So, let me get some materials and I’ll give you your assignment.” She then turned around to walk to the supply closet.
A “lesson in teamwork”…real original, White. She chastised herself. Well, the least I can do is give them something to do while I try to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. So, let’s see what I got to work with… She began to rummage around in the closet. Pipe cleaners? Eh, they’re always useful for something. Styrofoam balls? Why not. Popsicle sticks? Hey, I might be getting somewhere with this. Markers, glue, and… actually, I think I have an assignment right here.
With a plan in mind, Whiteboard left the closet with the supplies before addressing the class. “Alright, I need you all to get into groups of two and work together to make a pony. The first group to finish their pony will…” she trailed off before her eyes landed on the bookshelf. “Pick the story I read today.”
Most of the foals looked at each other with confusion at first, but then they all decided to go along with it and group up. It was something that didn’t take long for them to do, since most of them just grouped up with a friend. All except for two.
Raindrops was looking around the classroom for somepony to group up with. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t really friends with anyone there. The only pony she did consider a friend was Spoiled Milk, though recently she had been questioning how good of a friend she was. In the weeks that she knew her, all Spoiled Milk wanted to do was take naps or gossip about things she didn’t care about. No games. No running around. Nothing she considered remotely fun. She almost felt like she didn’t really care about her at all. She continued to look around the classroom until her eyes landed on Sky, who was looking also looking around the classroom for somepony to group up with until his eyes landed on her.
Of course, he’d have to be the last one. Just look at how pathetic he is without those three little punks circling around him. So much for being “Mr. Popular.” She sneered to herself. She started looking around to see if there was anyway to group up with someone else, but saw that Whiteboard had already started giving out the materials to the other groups. She looked back at Sky for a few seconds. …If I have to. She sighed before walking up to him. “Look, I’m only going to group up with you for this assignment, alright. As soon as this is done, I’m picking the story, got it.” She said, taking a seat in front of him.
“O-okay,” he responded meekly, sitting down as well.
“Good,” she said with a nod, right as Whiteboard placed a whole bunch of materials in front of them. Almost immediately, Raindrops grabbed a Styrofoam ball and a popsicle stick and tried to jam the two pieced together. But when she did, the ball slid out of her hoof. With a growl, she picked it back up and tried again, only to get the same result.
Sky recognized what was wrong as he watched her try for the fourth time. The ball was too big for her to grip effectively and her wings were too short to act as an extra set of limbs. He knew what he could do to try and help her, but he also knew that just trying to jump in would tick her off. “Um, maybe I should help,” he meekly offered.
“No, I got this!” Raindrops argued as the ball fell out of her hoof again.
“But, you clearly-”
“Alright, listen you monkey,” Raindrops sneered, slamming the popsicle stick to the ground. “I’m not some scared little filly who needs a freak like you to be my friend just because you think you’re special or something!”
“But I was only trying to-”
“And I’m definitely not like that stupid little filly that hangs around all the time,” she continued to rant, not really paying attention to what Sky was trying to say. “What’s her name…Cloud…Flaker or something. I mean, what’s her deal anyway? Probably hangs around you just so she can brag about it to her parents or maybe-”
Sky stopped listening to her as she rambled on. Her insults to him were one thing, but the insults to his sister made him something that he rarely ever was. Angry. Angry, because he knew that whatever she was saying about Cloudchaser was completely undeserved. So, with a loud voice that surprised even himself, he yelled, “Stop talking about my sister like that, you jerk!”
Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Sky, but no one was as shocked as Raindrops. That shock quickly evaporated as she realized what he just said. Did he just say…sister?
“Raindrops. Sky. Is there a problem?” Whiteboard asked the two of them with a stern glare.
“Um…” Raindrops trailed off. She took occasional glances at Sky, who just sat there and refused to look at her. “N-no, ma’am.” Whiteboard’s frown hardened before she turned her attention back to the other groups.
Raindrops looked over at Sky as she mulled over her thoughts. She was his sister. But that can’t be possible. They can’t be brother and sister. They look nothing alike. I’ve never even seen anypony that looks like him around. I’ve…I’ve never seen anypony like him in town. I’ve mostly seen him get picked up a pegasi, but I just assumed they were babysitters. Are they his…parents?
She felt horrible. All this time, she thought that the foals that hung around him did that to boost whatever ego she thought he had. Especially Cloudchaser. But as she thought about the two of them being siblings, it started to make sense to her. It would explain why she was always so close to him and protective of him. She looked down at all the materials in front of her. And as she looked at them, a plan began to form in her head. One she hoped would make up for her behavior.
She picked the Styrofoam ball and popsicle stick again before nudging Sky’s shoulder with her snout. “Hey…um…Sky. I’m…I’m sorry alright.” Sky began to turn to face her. “I shouldn’t have said those things. I never knew that Cloudchaser was your sister. I just…I just…do you want to still help me with this?” She asked, holding the items out to him.
Sky stared at her silently for a few seconds, his expression almost unreadable, before he said, “Okay, what do you want me to do?”
“Um…” Raindrops thought as she looked at the items, then over to Sky, and finally over at Sky’s hands. “Here, hold this,” she said as she passed the Styrofoam ball over him. “You can probably hold on to this better than I can. That way I can push this into it.” She explained, holding the popsicle stick between her two hooves.
“Okay,” he said as he held on to the ball.
“Now, on the count of three,” Raindrops said, holding the stick next to the ball. “One…Two…Three.” Together, they almost effortlessly pushed the stick into the ball to form the pony’s head and neck. “Wow, that was… a lot easier.”
“Yeah,” Sky responded before picking up the other Styrofoam ball. “Again?”
They repeated the process to get the other ball to form the pony’s body and to get the other popsicle sticks to form its legs. As Raindrops inspected their work so far, she said, “Well, I think we should glue the pipe cleaners onto the head and use the marker to draw its face, but I feel like it’s still going to be missing something.”
Sky nodded as he looked at the pony they’ve built so far and at the materials they had left, which mostly consisted of the unused pipe cleaners and a couple of popsicle sticks. He then looked over at Raindrops and soon realized what was going to be missing. “The ears. We’re missing the ears.”
“You’re right! But what are we going to use for ears?”
Sky looked over at the materials one last time before a single idea came to mind. He picked up one of the popsicle sticks and began to break the ends of it off.
“What are you doing?” Raindrops asked with a raised brow.
He held up the two pieces with a proud smile. “Ears.”
“Huh, that’s pretty clever, Sky,” Raindrops replied. She grabbed the pony’s head and held it up to Sky. “Well, what are you waiting for? Put ‘em in.”
And put them in they did, followed by Raindrops gluing some pipe cleaners on its head while Sky put in the tail. Finally, Sky used the marker to draw the pony’s face with a simple smile. And when the marker was capped, their pony was done.
“Mrs. Whiteboard, we’re done!” Raindrops called out with a raised hoof. It was at this point that she saw that most of the other groups were just now finishing up putting the legs on. Huh, guess we had an easier time putting it together with Sky’s weird…hoof thingies.
“Let me see,” Whiteboard said, approaching the. “Huh, well that’s definitely a pony. The two of you even thought about giving it ears. Well, a deal’s a deal, go ahead and pick a story.”
Raindrops smiled proudly as she began to stand up, only to stop as she saw Sky was starting to look down glumly. Guess he’s still a little bummed out about what I said earlier. She silently observed before looking over to the bookshelf. She let out a soft sigh before looking over at Sky again. Well, I guess I still owe him a lot. “Hey, why don’t you pick the story, Sky?”
He looked up at her with a surprised look. “Really?! But you said-”
“I know what I said, but you were the reason we were able to finish our assignment so fast. So, you go pick one.”
“O-okay,” Sky said, still feeling slightly unsure. He walked over to the bookshelf and began to browse through the books. Then he found one that caught his eye. “This one!” he exclaimed as he held it out to Whiteboard.
“Gusty the Great. That’s a great choice, Sky,” Whiteboard commented as she took the book. She turned to the rest of the class before saying, “The rest of you can finish your pony while I read the story if you want.”
Sky smiled as he watched Whiteboard walk toward the front of the class. He turned to go to his seat, but paused when he saw that Raindrops was staring at him with a surprised look. “W-what is it?”
“You picked that story?”
“Yeah, it’s my favorite. You don’t like it?”
“No, it’s…it’s my favorite story too.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah...so, wanna sit together while we listen?” Raindrops asked without really thinking.
Sky was caught off guard, not really expecting her to ask him to join her. Regardless, he gave her a nod. “Yeah, sure,” he said, sitting next to her to listen to the story together.
“So, you’ve never seen your real parents?” Raindrops asked as she swung on the swing.
“Yeah, mom and dad said they found me in the backyard,” Sky said from the other swing.
“That…must really suck.”
“I mean…it kinda does, but my mom and dad are my parents.”
“What do you mean?” Raindrops asked, raising a brow at him.
“All I remember are my mom and dad here. I don’t really miss my real parents cause I don’t remember them.”
“I…guess that makes sense. What about that sister of yours?”
“Cloudchaser? She didn’t really like me at first, but now we get along great.”
“Really, you didn’t get along why’s that?”
“She was scared of me because of what I eat. I eat meat.”
Raindrops stopped swinging at stared at him with shock. “Meat? As in animals?”
“Yeah,” Sky admitted.
“Why do have to do that?”
“Daddy tells me that if I don’t, I then I start to feel sick. Don’t worry, we have somepony come to give me stuff to eat.”
“Oh, well, that’s good to hear,” She replied, feeling a little reassured. She then let out a chuckle as she said, “And to think, I thought you were some punk who thought that he was special.”
“I would never call myself that. Besides, you’re more special than I am.”
Raindrops turned to stare at Sky, shocked by his response. “Me, special? What makes you say that?”
“Cause you already have your cutie mark. My sister and her friends don’t have their cutie marks yet,” he answered honestly.
Raindrops let out a frustrated groan. “Yeah, I do.” She shifted in her seat so that her cutie mark was visible. “And do you wanna know how I got it?”
“Yeah, of course!”
“By jumping on a cloud and making it rain. Just like every other pegasus?”
“So?”
“So?! So?! My special talent is doing something that pegasi just…do. What’s so special about that?!” she yelled.
“Well…” Sky trailed off. “…At least you can get one.”
Raindrops frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“Just that. I probably can’t get a cutie mark,” Sky admitted.
“What?!” Raindrops exclaimed. “How are you going to know what your special talent is then?”
“Probably the same way Shef Silverclaw did-”
“Who?”
“He’s a griffon that taught my mom and dad how to cook meat. He doesn’t have a cutie mark either.”
“Then how did he know what his special talent is?”
“I asked him that. He said he tried stuff until he found something he was good at, then he kept doing it til he was better at it.”
“Huh, that…kinda sounds like how my parents said they got their cutie marks,” Raindrops commented. There was a silence between the two of them before she suddenly said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For how I’ve been treating you. And not just today, but all the other times to. I know now that you didn’t deserve it,” Raindrops admitted.
“So…does that make us friends then?”
Raindrops tensed up at that question. Sure, a good bit of the air was settled between the two, she still didn’t feel like it made up for her actions. “I don’t know,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I really don’t know right now.”
At that moment, Mrs. Whiteboard started calling everyone back to the schoolhouse. “C’mon, we gotta head back,” Sky said before getting up to follow the rest of the class.
As Raindrops got up to follow him, she thought about the time she spent with Sky. More importantly, she thought about how much more fun she had around Sky than she did with Spoiled Milk. Even before they had their talk, he actually made sure that they were working on the assignment together. Had Spoiled Milk been her partner, she probably would have had her do most of the work by herself. So, as she walked back to class, she looked back up at Sky and thought, Maybe being friends with him wouldn’t be so bad.