I was at recess with Pumpkin and Pound. I liked them because they were the resident weirdos like myself. They were about a year older than me and where the twins of the local earth pony bakers.
What made them noteworthy was that they weren't earth ponies. Pound was pegasus and his sister was a unicorn. The only conclusion any of us could come to was that there was a pegasus and a unicorn in their family line somewhere.
Then of course there was Princess Flurry Heart. Her parents sent her to Ponyville to live with Twilight while she went to school. Their reasoning was that she needed a "normal" childhood.
Now, you would think being a princess would make her popular. Let me just say being popular is a fickle thing. And anything, even the flimsiest excuse, can make you unpopular very quickly. For Flurry Heart, it was a number of things: Being BORN an alicorn(i.e. a freak), wearing all black, and hanging around US of all ponies.
But she didn't care. She stuck with her style and with us all the same.
"So how have things at home been?" Asked Pumpkin. This was not a question I wanted to answer. A long exhale was enough to get that message across.
"That bad, huh?" She asked.
"With a guy like Varsity around, what do you think?" Asked Pound.
"You really don't like the guy, do you?"
"Do you?"
"Of corse not! I don't think anyone likes him. Not really. I'm more concerned about Field. From what I've heard, he's even worse... And he's the one Astral has to go home to. Well... both of them, really." Pumpkin said, turning toward me. Great, another name I've grown to despise.
"When I take over, they better not set a hoof in the Crystal Empire." Said Flurry Heart, in a cold voice. It was her goth voice she like to use when she was just the least bit irritated by something.
"And if they do?" Asked Pound, smiling.
"I'll banish them to Tartarus and make them watch as all they hold dear crumbles before their eyes." She said. She really took this goth things seriously. Pumpkin and I looked at each other while Pound looks at her with absolute happiness on his face.
"Ahahaha, wow Princess. Talk about a Draconian regime."
"That's me being merciful." She said.
It seemed that Flurry Heart and Pound fed off of each other. We were all bullied and had to stick together. The two of them had a special way of coping with it all. Flurry Heart would say something outrageous and Pound, obviously getting a kick out of it, would make some sort of funny comment or joke about it, which would encourage her to say something even more outrageous.
As all this was going on, we heard the bell ring and all the other school Ponies were making their way back inside.
"Alright guys, let's go. We don't want to be late again." Pumpkin said while waving her hoof.
"I'll be there in a minute." I said. I forgot my lunch box on the other side of the playground and made my way there while they went inside.
"At least Varsity didn't bother us today." I mumbled to myself. As I made my way around the corner of the school house, who do I see spilling the contents of my lunchbox on the ground? You guessed it. It's my step-brother.
"What are you doing!?" I shouted.
"I heard what you and the other little freaks said. So guess who doesn't get to eat today?" He said with a sneer.
The food that had fallen on the ground was in smaller containers, something the idiot hadn't noticed. I used my magic to gather up everything and grab my lunch box out of his hooves. I then put everything back in and start briskly making my way to the school house.
Now enraged, he flew after me. Obviously he caught me and began whaling on me hard. I tried to fight back, but in case you haven't guessed, he's quite a bit bigger than I am... And stronger to boot.
At this point I only have one option. Remember when I said I was a perspective wizard? That's because I have a passion for magic. And I'm good at it too. Really good.
Well, I had a lot of practice. In fact, it was all I had time for nowadays, since I was forced to quit my other extracurriculars. And now, I was about to put that training to the test. The first thing I did was teleport. It was a hard spell and I can only go a few feet away. But a few feet was all I needed anyway.
When he saw that I had slipped away, he came after me again. I shot a small beam of magic into his face. It wasn't enough to seriously hurt him. I couldn't really produce enough power to do that anyway, not at that age. It was enough to stun him.
He then got up and came after me a THIRD time! At this point, I was getting desperate. I didn't know how well I could pull it off, but I used telekinesis on him. I didn't exactly have a good grip, but I was able to hold him.
He was almost able to get out when I heard Miss Cheerilee calling out to me. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I would have liked to have heard.
"Astral, what and Celestia's name are you doing to your brother!" She shouted as she walked up next to me.
I let go of him and immediately backed up afterwards. I probably should have spoken up quicker. The problem is that I didn't realize Varsity was such a good liar.
"Thank Celestia! Miss Cheerilee, I don't know what his problem is! All I was trying to do is be nice!" Oh, he was milking this.
"Astral, you mind explaining why you attacked our star athlete?.. With magic, no less?" Miss Cheerilee asked sternly.
"He attacked me! First he dumped my food out everywhere! Then he..."
"And for that you used a telekinesis spell on him?" Ask Miss Cheerilee with a cocked eyebrow.
"He also blasted me in the face!" He shouted.
"Astral, it doesn't matter what he did, you obviously overreacted. Using physical force is never, and I mean never okay. Plus, you used magic on him. Do you know what that could have done him? Do you know how badly you could have hurt in him?"
"So what? I'm not supposed to defend myself?" I asked.
"You call that defending yourself?" She pointed to Varsity, who was covered and scratches and had a nasty bruise on his nose, oblivious to the fact that I looked worse.
"I'm sorry, Astral. But there's going to be consequences for this. I'm going to have a talk with your mother."
Well there's some good news.
I was sitting on the couch trying to explain to Mom what happened at school. It was not going very well.
"But mom, he attacked me first!"
"I don't want to hear it! You attacked your brother with magic! The kid is a pegasus! He can't even use magic! Don't you ever think about what you're doing?"
"He doesn't act like a brother." I said under my breath.
"I don't like your attitude. Well, if that's the way you're going to be, you're grounded for six months."
"What!? But Mom!.."
"First school, then come straight home. No going to your friend's houses, no magic lessons with Twilight, and I already took all your stuff out of your room except for your bed. Now go upstairs and think about what you did!" She said, pointing.
"And Astral, I don't know why you're this way now or why you seem to dislike your dad and your brother so much. But if you use magic on him like that again, you might just get your wish and end up away from this family!"
I made a full gallop to my room, tears streaming down my face. It felt like my whole world was falling apart around me.
I had crawled into bed, my head still spinning from the day's events. I was both physically and emotionally exhausted. I didn't even want to think about what happened earlier. I laid my head on my pillow and began to drift off when I heard my door open. I turned to Field staring me down.
"So you think you can attack my son and get away with it, punk?" He asked. I didn't say anything and remained very still. I continued looking at him with fear filled eyes. This made him angrier.
"I asked you a question!?" He said as he began walking up to my bed. He grabbed me and shook me hard. The last thing I remembered was a hoof connecting to the side of my head. I woke up the next morning with a headache.
I didn't even bother telling Mom this time. There was no longer any point.