//------------------------------// // Seeing Red in Autumn // Story: The Life and Trials of Autumn Moon // by TraumaLane //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Seeing Red in Autumn: Waxing Gibbous The worn dirt path that led from the humble wheat farm to Bright Pear Orchards was lined on both sides by great oak trees, their crisp leaves painting the morning with warm oranges, yellows and reds. The path itself was made by hooves of ponies past walking the path throughout many generations, and the trees themselves seemed like old friends to those who walked the road. There was a sense of calm in the cool crisp morning. As the sun cut pillars of light through the trees, Autumn glanced down at her shadow, which seemed to be racing down the path with her. She panted slightly as she felt her saddlebags hit her sides with every gallop. As the wind blew towards her, Autumn took a deep breath. Scenting the air, she smelled the crispness of the falling leaves, some squirrels that were foraging nearby, and she even smelled the faint smell of pears and her destination in the wind. “If I hurry, I should be able to meet up with Butters before she gets too far down the path,” thought Autumn optimistically as her hooves continued to beat the dirt and a cloud of dust followed closely behind her. The olive oil filly’s amber eyes glowed with determination as she picked up the pace grinning, her heart pounding in her ears. She had always been faster than most ponies her age but at times like this she was thankful for her additional speed her breath coming out in short puffs of condensation. As Autumn crested the sloping hill, a quarter mile away from the orchard’s border, her thickly furred ears perked up as she picked up the sound of hooves walking down the path ahead of her. She noticed they sounded pretty light and heard the sound of bags rattling slightly with supplies. Taking a deep breath through her flattened wider nostrils, Autumn confirmed her suspicions as she smelled the scent of pears and buttercups. She smiled knowing who was coming even before she spotted them over the hill, her tail swishing in anticipation as her eyes spotted a familiar orange maned earth pony. “Hey, Autumn… I almost thought you weren’t going to show!” French Butter shouted teasingly down the path at her friend, a face breaking grin spreading over her cheeks. The green pea earth pony filly’s smile seemed to reach her turquoise eyes. Autumn noticed that her long curly orange hair was pulled into a high ponytail. Her saddle bags labeled with her cutie mark, a dark green pear with a red bottom, rattled slightly as she waved her hoof energetically to greet Autumn as she ran the rest of the way. “So, what kept you?” French Butter asked curiously. “Sorry, I took... a bit longer to get ready today,” Autumn said sheepishly as her silver tail wagged slightly. She used her hoof to rub the back of her head as she looked over to her friend. French Butter rolled her eyes and shook her head as she began walking with her friend down the path to school. “Oh, and let me guess, your new plan to scare your dad probably fell through, right?” French Butter said teasingly. As she glanced at the olive oil filly, she noticed Autumn's eyes widen and her mouth open in surprise at being caught so easily. “Alright, alright… you got me. I was close though, the decoy almost worked!” Autumn said in her defense, rolling her amber eyes as she lightly punched French Butter’s shoulder. “So how are things going at the Orchard?” Autumn asked as they continued their walk. French Butter’s turquoise eyes lit up and she nodded her head smiling enthusiastically. “Things are going pretty well, the harvest this year has been pretty good, and Ma was talking about adding more items to sell at the stall. I even helped make a new pear jam, and Great Uncle Grand Pear said he may even sell it soon!” Butter said, puffing out her chest with pride. Autumn grinned at her friend earnestly “That’s awesome, Butters! Maybe my mom will use it on apple cinnamon flapjacks soon.” Autumn smiled a little sadly as she looked at her still blank flank. “I must be the oldest pony I know that still doesn’t have one yet; obviously not for sneaking or surprising others. Nothing with farming or cooking like French’s…” thought Autumn. The green pea filly noticed her friend’s mood had decreased, turquoise eyes looked to try and find the cause. French Butter noticed where Autumn’s golden gaze had been looking and saw the olive oil filly looking somberly at her blank flank. French’s turquoise eyes grew sympathetic and she smiled warmly towards Autumn as amber eyes met hers as she turned back to face the road. “Hey, I’m sure you’ll get your cutie mark soon, and besides, you’ve got plenty of talents!” French Butter said encouragingly. Autumn looked over to her friend and her mouth curled up slightly and her amber eyes looked appreciatively at the pea green filly. “Besides your dad, you can sneak up on just about anypony. You can find just about anycreature like it’s nothing, you know a ton about animals and plants, and you're more creative than half the ponies I know,” Butter said kindly, nudging Autumn in her side as they walked. “Thanks Butters,” Autumn said as her tail wagged faintly, and she lifted her head smiling genuinely. “Maybe I’d make a good Colt Scout,” she said semi-sacrcastically, only slightly rolling her eyes as she shook her head. Autumn scented the air unconsciously as she breathed in the cool air to sigh... her eyes widened and her face became more focused as she analyzed the scent. Musky short but thick fur hit her nose, mixed with a noticeable feline tint her nose had detected the smell of a large cat; glancing around she spotted some faint prints caught in the mud by the edge of the path and saw some space that didn’t match the rest of the brush in the surrounding area. Excited Autumn took the clues and was able to put together a picture of what could have passed by. “Hey, check it out, looks like a critter made its way through here not too long ago, maybe a lynx?” Autumn said excitedly. Her golden eyes glowing slightly as she glanced at the forest, an almost natural pull seemed to be trying to lure her to try and find the creature paused her movements. “I wonder how far he’s gotten, why do I want to find out? thought Autumn as she shook her head noticing where she was and that she had almost forgotten about French Butter beside her. French Butter’s eyes widened, and she looked slightly alarmed as she saw her friend seemingly returning from a deep thought. “S-should we be worried?” Butter asked her voice shaking fearfully. Autumn shook her head no, chuckling a bit at unintentionally startling her friend. “Not about the cat,” Autumn said looking at the sun her eyes widened, and her ears shot up a serious look overtaking her muzzle, “but if we don’t start moving, we’re going to hear it from Miss Turner.” The silver maned filly looked at her friend and reared up before she started galloping down the path. As the teenage fillies started galloping down the trail, worries of the future faded away from Autumn’s mind. Soon they were replaced with the fear of being late and a good-natured race between the two earth ponies friends. The chill of the fall wind rushed past the two fillies biting into their noses as they breathed in the cool air. The two sets of hooves pounding against the worn path, and the adrenaline from possibility of being late pushed them to run even harder. Feeling the excitement of the race, Autumn whinnied slightly as she smiled a face splitting grin. Her heart pounding in her thickly furred chest Autumn glanced competitively at Butters, who was a short distance behind her. Seeing her, the green filly’s own wide determined smile grew despite the gap of space between them. Maybe missing school wouldn’t be so bad, thought Autumn as she felt very content in the friendly race and the free feeling of running through the forest. As they ran past the main square, quite a few of the adult ponies began to begin their own daily grind. Some of the faces in the town were familiar, others were ponies that had traveled to Vanhoover and were just passing through. It wasn't uncommon for travelers to spend a few days in Ontaurio before moving on to their next destination most tourists stopping to see Neighagra falls and Horseshoe falls. Autumn had gained a decent distance ahead of French Butter as she ran nimbly through the square carefully avoiding the ponies in the thriving square. Suddenly Autumn felt the fur on her neck stand on end... something was wrong and it caused her fur to itch her body seemingly trying to react to a possible threat. Autumn’s hackles started to rise on her withers and she sniffed the air carefully trying to scent the square without drawing to much attention to herself. “W-what was that?” thought Autumn, slowing down to a slow canter to try and see who or what was causing the feeling. As she scented the air again and tried to listen for anything strange in the sounds of the morning square, distracted by the clutter of sounds and smells around her Autumn jumped in surprise at the feeling of a body colliding with her. French Butter had caught up to her and had nearly ran Autumn over. “Oh geeze sorry Autumn, I thought… we were in a hurry…” French Butter said breathing hard as a result of the run. “Is… something wrong?” Butter asked, seeing the concentrated look on her friend’s face. Autumn scanned the crowd with narrowed eyes, unconsciously baring her fangs, but saw nothing out of the ordinary besides a few ponies in shadows preparing for the day's work. Despite that, Autumn still felt her fur stand on end, but decided to dismiss it for the time being snorting she tried to clear the multiple scents from her nose. “Sorry, Butters, I thought I saw something…” said Autumn apologetically. “We’re almost there, let's keep moving.” Butter nodded and started to trot down the street that led to the schoolhouse. “Hey, you two!” shouted a familiar voice, the two fillies turned to see a cornflower unicorn colt with a short well-kept dark gray mane rushing towards them, his bright orange eyes shining in amusement. Autumn had missed the scent at first but as the colt got closer, she smelled the familiar sandalwood scent of the last part of their trio. “Hey, Tales,” said Autumn happily as she saw him approach, holding up a hoof for a bump as the colt came to a stop next to the two fillies, “didn’t think we’d run into you so soon… you running late too?” The slightly older colt happily bumped his hoof with the olive oil filly and a mischievous smile grew on his muzzle as he got ready to spin his story for his friends. His cutie mark was of a pony silhouetted holding a book as their hoof waved out as if addressing a crowd. “Yup, and I can’t wait to tell you guys all about it,” said Tall Tales grandly as he spread his hooves in mock wonder before he straightened up and placed his hooves back on the ground. “But if we don’t get moving, the only stories we’ll be telling is how we ended up staying after school,” Tales said, chuckling at his wit. Agreeing with the unicorn, the two fillies nodded and they joined the colt as they galloped to their destination. Little known to the trio of ponies, a pair of cold blue eyes full of malice and suspicion watched as they disappeared around the bend. Miss Turner was just about to close the aged wooden door to the red schoolhouse when she saw a very familiar sight of three young ponies running down the path. The prussian blue unicorn mare smiled slightly, her own light gray mane streaked with silver, and shook her head in slight wonder at the irony. “Running late again, I see, looks like they’ll make it just in time though,” thought Page Turner. Her yellow eyes widened in surprise as she saw the small stampede approaching the door wasn’t slowing down. The school mare made sure that there were no other students in the way and stepped to the side, hoping that the way was clear enough before the inevitable happened. “We’re going to make it!” thought Autumn excitedly, the other two following close behind her. Not paying attention, her front hoof caught on the door’s threshold sending her tumbling muzzle first onto the ground. “W-whoa!” shouted Autumn, flinching as she fell forward and tumbled rolling her body over in a semi somersault as she fell. French Butter and Tall Tales followed suit and stumbled close behind her falling unceremoniously on her in a clumsy pile. “Oof… ugh. Sorry, guys.” Autumn said, grunting as Butter and Tales moved on top of her. Noticing the shadow that seemed to appear above them, the adolescent ponies all looked up to see Miss Turner looking at them in amusement. “Nice entrance you three, are any of you injured?” asked Miss Turner earnestly as she glanced at the small pile of students. The three embarrassed ponies looked up and sheepishly shook their heads as they attempted to get up. As Tall Tales turned his head to move, he saw that his muzzle was only inches from Butters. As Tales’ bright orange eyes met Butter’s cool turquoise, they both froze blushing slightly before looking away. “Any time, you two. I’d like to get off the floor at some point today,” Autumn said playfully, her tail flicking in slight annoyance. Her joke snapped the two adolescent ponies out of their stupor. Tales jumped back and mumbled a quick apology to both fillies as he tried not to step on Autumn’s silver tail. After righting himself, he offered a hoof to aid both the fillies up as they heard the muffled laughter of their classmates around them. “Good to hear, you three, but next time try not to make the classroom a test crash site for the flying relay team. Alright?” the prussian blue mare said teasingly, smiling kindly at her students. “Settle down everypony, please take your seats and we’ll get started. Turn your history books to page three hundred and ninety-four,” Miss Turner said, addressing the rest of the class. “Yes, Miss Turner,” came the unanimous reply from the still sheepish ponies. As the trio made their way to the desks, the muffled laughter of the other students died down to a few whispers around the room. The sound of saddlebags shifting, supplies being grabbed, and books opening filled the classroom of the modest school. Miss Turner nodded as her students followed her instructions and grabbed onto the chalk with a light blue aura and began to draw a diagram showing the history of Equestria and how it led to the Equestria of today. Autumn pulled her history book out and noticed the worn marks her fangs had left where she had used her mouth to grab the book. As she opened the book her ears picked up a whisper from across the room “Hey… would you look at that… Do you think the freak chews her books?” the voice said cruelly. Autumn’s ears lowered slightly and a sad look came across her eyes as she recognized the voice of one of the colts in her class. “Heh… maybe. I’ve seen her sniff the air like a mutt… maybe she eats homework like one too!” said the colt next to the one that made the first comment, chuckling under his breath. Autumn’s ears flattened further to her head and she felt both sorrow and anger at hearing the familiar barbs. “Well, what do they know?” Autumn thought to herself, sullenly trying to block out the unpleasant words of the colts. Uncomfortable she tucked her tail under her chair slightly. Despite the attempt to ignore their words, she did her best to hide her fangs underneath her lips and brushed her hoof over her ears, trying to flatten the extra fur they held down. Shaking her head, Autumn snorted slightly and shook her head doing her best to pay attention to her teacher at the front of the class. French Butter noticed her friend fidgeting and nudged the olive filly’s chair with her back hoof. Tall Tales glanced at Autumn as well to see what was causing the fillies to stop taking notes. Butter looked at Autumn as if to ask if she was okay. Tales nodded silently as if to mirror the filly’s thoughts and confirm Autumn’s feelings. Autumn tried her best to assure the two of them and gave them a forced fang filled smile and a slight hoof wave trying her best to play it off as classroom boredom. As Miss Turner dismissed her students to eat lunch, the room became a loud symphony of chairs moving back, bags being grabbed, and students chatting, eager to get to the first break of the day. “Finally, I never thought the morning would end,” thought Autumn as she felt her stomach begin to growl and hastily grabbed her saddle bags. “Good thing I snagged my lunch this morning,” Autumn thought as she felt the corners of her mouth rise slightly as she recalled her morning with her family. The olive oil filly turned towards French Butter as she realized that she and Tales had been trying to get her attention as she was lost in thought. “Sorry guys, I was spacing out for a minute. What did you guys ask?” Autumn asked as she shrugged her bags onto her back. Autumn stood up on her four hooves and turned to face her friends smiling sheepishly. Thankfully she didn’t hear any more comments from the other students near them as they began to vacate the room and avoided any questions from her friends. “Oh, no worries, Autumn, we just wanted to know if you wanted to hit the clearing for lunch?” Tales asked again, accepting the reason for Autumn's lack of response. “Plus, I want to tell you guys the epic tale of why I was late this morning,” Tales said in a false bravado voice and puffed out his chest in pride. French Butter giggled at the cornflower unicorn and covered her mouth with her hoof as she looked at the colt, warmly shaking her head. Autumn looked at her two friends and rolled her amber eyes smirking at the colt’s absurdity. “Sure, sounds good. Plus, I’m curious how you’ll make something as basic as being late sound exciting,” Autumn said jokingly as she nudged the unicorn walking out the door, smiling a little wider as she did so. The trio laughed together and made small talk as they walked the short distance to the small valley clearing near their school. After setting their saddlebags down, the trio of ponies each pulled out their lunches and began to eat. Autumn opened the simple brown bag and saw that her mom had made her three egg salad sandwiches and even packed her some spiced apples and pears. Her bushy silver tail began to wag as she pulled out the food and took a huge bite of the first sandwich, ivory fangs easily tearing the tasty homemade wheat bread apart. Tales cleared his throat after finishing the first bite of his lavender sandwich and began to tell his story excitedly waving his hooves and entrancing the fillies. “The sun cut through the clouds and, despite Celestia’s sun's promise of warmth, the cold cut right through my coat as I trotted past the intersection. I ran down the dirt path, my hooves kicking up dirt with every step, eager to try and meet you guys before we met in the main square… not paying attention, I ran into the leg of a huge tan stallion! The first thing I saw were his cold blue eyes looking at me, scars running across his right eye leading down his muzzle. His mane was a deep purple like the night sky and his scowl curdled my blood as he looked down at me… his shadow covering the road until the tree line. The weirdest part was that this titan of a stallion wasn’t alone. I was surrounded by five of them, all of them wearing skins of different animals, some I couldn’t recognize…” said Tall Tales as he continued his epic saga waving his hooves and even acting out parts of the story using his magic to mimic shadows. Autumn's eyes were wide as she listened to the cornflower unicorn recall his tale, and for some reason when she heard of the group of stallions who wore the skins of animals, she couldn’t help but feel her skin crawl. As Tales finished his story both fillies began to stomp their hooves in approval and the unicorn colt proudly took a bow. “That was pretty awesome, Tales. Guess I’d be late too if something like that happened to me. Hopefully, those stallions are just passing through,” said Autumn as she smiled at the unicorn colt. “Sounds pretty frightening to me, but I’m glad we ran into you all the same,” said Butter as she winked at the colt smiling before she continued eating her lunch. French Butter pulled out some pears and was about to take a bite when they heard an obnoxious yell from across the field. “Well, if it isn’t the fuzzy-eared freak, the hick, and the liar all together as usual… What's wrong, can't find anypony better to hang out with? Oh… wait… never mind,” said the voice before laughing cruelly. The trio turned at the familiar voice and couldn’t help the scowls that covered their muzzles. All their ears lay flat against their skulls. The speaker was none other than Silver Tongue, an upper-class unicorn colt with a smug look on his powder blue muzzle. He flipped his medium-length golden yellow mane out of his dark blue eyes as if he was better than those he addressed and approached the group of three, sneering as he walked. His cutie mark was an antique silver scale. Following behind him was a large earth pony colt by the name of Brick Breaker. His light brown coat and dark red mane was a stark contrast to his counterpart. His green eyes held nothing but amusement at mocking the trio and, true to his namesake, his cutie mark was of a brick under a sledgehammer. Autumn couldn’t help but growl at the colts who had intruded on them during lunch; they bullied her and some of the other ponies in class. However, they never failed to mock Autumn and her friends more than any others. “What do you guys want?” asked Autumn in annoyance, baring the very fangs that the colts had ridiculed earlier that morning. “Oh, nothing much, blank flank, we just wanted to ask why your nose looks like it got hit with the door? Why do you sniff the air like a dirty mongrel?” asked Silver as he watched the filly in question’s amber eyes narrow at his comments. “I mean, you’d blend right in at the animal shelter with your ratty tail, it looks like it carries fleas,” Silver continued his onslaught grinning and flicking his tail in Autumn's face as he passed her. It took everything Autumn had not to bite the smug colt’s tail and toss him into the nearest dumpster; surprised at that abnormally violent thought, she raised her brows slightly. The olive oil filly took a deep breath to try and calm her anger. Just as Autumn was about to retort she was surprised to see that French Butter and Tall Tales had both stood up on all four hooves and moved to stand defensively in front of her. “Why don’t you two just buck off already!” yelled French Butter snorting in anger as she looked at the two colts. The normally calm mare pawed at the ground and her turquoise eyes burned in cold fury as they bored into the bullies. Snorting Tales nodded his head in agreement and narrowed his eyes at the colts, almost daring them to come any closer. Autumn whinnied in surprise and nearly busted out laughing at the shock on the colts’ faces at the green farm mare’s response. “I don’t think I could have said it any better,” thought Autumn as she started to clean up her belongings before she too stood up behind her friends. Silver stepped up to French Butter and stood inches from her as he glared down at her. “And what if I don’t, hayseed, what are you going to do? Toss pears at me?” said the unicorn tauntingly. Butter was about to snap back at the obnoxious unicorn when she felt a hoof on her withers. Looking behind her, she saw Autumn step forward to be in front of her friends. “I don’t think she’d waste good pears on you, and she has more class than either of you combined,” Autumn said as she walked confidently up to the two tormentors, “and Tales is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever met, and unlike you, Silver, he doesn’t need to lie or be cruel to have anyone listen to him.” The silver maned filly turned to face her friends, who both had smiles starting to grow on their muzzles. “Come on, you guys. These two aren’t worth it. Let’s head on back,” said Autumn as she started walking past the stupefied unicorn and the large silent colt, ignoring them as the trio gathered their belongings and began walking back to the schoolhouse. Autumn couldn’t help the smug smile she felt growing on her muzzle as she heard Silver start to growl in rage at her standing up to them. Just as they reached the view of the schoolhouse Autumn heard something rushing towards her sadly she couldn’t react in time as a sharp pain filled her left ear. “Ouch! What the hay…” Autumn shouted as the stone that had cut into her ear caused a small rut to form in the dirt. Smelling the metal tang in the air Autumns eyes narrowed. The rock had traveled at a magically enhanced speed. Reaching up a hoof, she felt a warm liquid begin to run down her face. Touching her ear and flinching in pain, she felt the rock had cut a notch in her ear. Butter’s and Tales' eyes widened in disbelief and both of their mouths dropped open as their faces showed concern for their now injured friend. A few of the other students gasped at seeing the blood dripping from the ear and others fell silent in order to see what would happen next. The taunts were nothing new—Autumn heard them time and time again from the powder blue unicorn and his minion. But this was the first time they had physically tried to hurt her. Turning slowly, eyes narrowed and a sneer on her lips, Autumn faced Silver. The cocky unicorn tossed a rock up and down in his hoof tauntingly as he smirked at Autumn. Brick Breaker's eyes were locked on Silver Tongue in surprise, his muzzle slightly open in disbelief. “Okay, no more miss nice filly…” Autumn thought in silent fury as she started to slowly approach her occasional tormentor. She took off her saddle bags in one swift movement and tossed it towards her friends for safe keeping. She felt a slight pain in her jaws and tasted blood in her mouth. Unknown to Autumn, her eyes flashed blood red and her fangs had grown slightly longer in a matter of seconds. Her heart began to pound, adrenaline and rage rushing through her body, and she swore she could hear the hearts of all the ponies around her beating as well in a symphony of excitement or fear, Autumn couldn’t tell which. Autumn’s whole body ached, her fur stood on end, her tail bristled, and she felt her hackles raise as she stared down Silver Tongue. Everything else faded away. Before anypony could move she rushed towards the unicorn with a snarl on her muzzle. “Grrrrraaaahhh!” shouted Autumn, her mouth slightly frothing with pink saliva as she ran full speed towards the unicorn that had drawn first blood. Brick Breaker moved in front of the unicorn trying to block the enraged filly, but Autumn wasn’t having anything stop her. “No,” thought Autumn, the word growled out. Her thoughts felt like they weren’t her own, her actions belonging to some other creature lurking in her mind. Using her front hooves, Autumn quickly stopped and changed direction. Autumn got low and closed the distance, striking Brick Breaker in the stomach with her shoulder and knocking the wind out of him. Brick Breaker’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open gasping in pain as he fell to the ground coughing trying to get air into his lungs. “H-How’d she move so fast?” thought Brick as he lay on the ground. Trembling, the large colt tried to get up, his hooves scraping against the grass, however his legs failed him. The gasps of the crowd could be heard in the background, but none of the others paid them much attention. Silver’s eyes widened in fear and he began to tremble slightly as Autumn turned her blood red eyes back to the powder blue unicorn a deep growl leaving the fillies throat as she stalked toward him. “S-stay away from me you freak!” screamed Silver as he prepared to shoot more magically charged rocks at the silver maned filly. Silver panted, feeling the sweat dripping down his forehead, the rocks in the unicorn’s green aura shook slightly as he could barely focus. Autumn's flaming eyes glanced quickly at the glowing rocks and growled deeply in her throat at their perceived threat, her ears lay flat against her skull. She lowered her body crouching low to the ground, her forehooves close to her chest as she prepared to pounce. She was so focused on Silver she didn’t hear the two ponies walking up carefully behind her. Before Autumn could take another step, she felt two hooves on her withers. Her red eyes flashed, snarling a growl escaped her throat as she turned to look at the creatures that dared to touch her. Autumn's eyes widened as she saw who it was behind her and the growl died in her throat, her lips falling over her fangs as her face turned from rage to surprise. “W-wait, don’t do it Autumn… I know that load of horse apples took it too far, but you’ll only get in more trouble if you hurt him. In stories, the hero always has to be better than those he fights. I know you're better than him and so does Butters,” said Tales pleadingly as he looked into Autumn's eyes and saw the anger and fear that the blood red orbs held. Tales shuddered slightly at the sight but stood firm with his friend, hoping he could prevent any more injuries. Autumn's ruby eyes softened as she saw the concern on both their faces; she felt herself calm down and her thoughts felt clear again. The sounds around Autumn seemed to quiet down slightly, her mouth hurt less, and like liquid gold bleeding over a bed of lava the golden color of her eyes returned. Her olive body began to shake in fear and confusion, tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. As the tears began to stain her olive oil fur a dark brown she felt relief as well as feeling grateful for the friends that pulled her back from that frightening place inside her head. Looking at her friends in gratitude she nodded and smiled kindly to Butter and Tales. “Sorry, you’re right, Tales. Thanks for… I- I don’t know what came over me,” said Autumn, slightly ashamed at what she almost did. “It’s alright, Autumn. Honestly, I probably would’ve decked him too if you hadn't stopped me in the clearing,” French Butter said mirthfully, some tears in her turquoise eyes as she smiled back at Autumn. Tales’ and Autumn's eyes both widened in surprise before they burst out laughing at the fierce green pea filly. Butter huffed before she rolled her eyes and began to laugh herself. The crowd of ponies around them were still frozen in place after witnessing the fight, some in fear, disbelief, and others were confused about what the three ponies found so funny. Silver stared at the trio in disbelief, still shaking his hooves clicking slightly on the ground. Silver lowered himself and his rocks onto the ground releasing a huge breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. His heart was pounding, and he felt like all the strength had been taken out of his legs. For once in his life he was relieved that he was being ignored. Silver Tongue's breath shook as he glanced over at Brick Breaker. The colt was beginning to finally catch his breath and looked over at Silver, a question in his eyes that the unicorn couldn’t answer. Before he could even think about trying to process all that had occurred, the bell rang, signifying the end of lunch for the colts and fillies. French took a deep breath of relief; the green filly was happy that nopony else had gotten injured in the chaos and watched as most of the crowd began to disperse back into the school building. As a cold wind blew past them, she could smell the blood and couldn’t help but look in concern at Autumn's torn ear. Butter’s face filled with concern but was surprised to see that most of the bleeding had stopped. “We should probably take her to the nurse all the same, it looks like it hurts… hopefully she won’t get in too much trouble… Silver’s the one who started it,” thought the concerned filly. As if reading her mind, Tales broke the silence that had taken place of the laughter. “Autumn, h-how are you feeling?” Tales asked his friend cautiously. As Autumn glanced at him, he couldn’t help but look away after a few seconds. A little bit of fear ran through his mind. Feeling a little guilty, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with his hoof, trying to shift his mind to a different topic. “Is your ear okay? That rock took a good chunk of it off. Does it still hurt?” asked the cornflower colt in genuine concern for his friend. He pointed to his own ear with his hoof and offered to help Autumn up. Autumn declined Tales' offer and got up on her own four hooves, shaking her body trying to get rid of the excess dirt, wanting to see that she still could. Autumn wiggled her furry ears and felt a sharp sting in the left one and couldn’t help hissing in pain. Autumn watched as her friends both flinched at her hissing and saw them both look at her in worry. “Hehe… Sorry about that. It still hurts, but I can move it and I think the bleeding stopped. But I should probably go to the nurse and get it looked at,” Autumn said, her voice rough from yelling earlier. It still sounded like she was growling unintentionally, but she was happy that her body seemed to stop aching as if she had helped harvest three wheat fields single hoofedly. Taking a breath through her nose, Autumn smelled a bittersweet smell soaking through the air, like fruit rotting, and turned to look at Brick Breaker and Silver Tongue, who hadn’t moved too far from where she had left them. Their eyes were locked on her and both colts looked at her as if she were a Manticore charging at them. “A-am I smelling their fear?” Autumn thought sadly as she looked at the colts. They may have hurt her, but she never acted that way before. “I’m definitely going to get in trouble for this… I need to apologize,” thought Autumn solemnly. “I’ll give them some time… first things first, gotta get my ear patched up,” thought Autumn. She silently wondered how she was going to explain all this to her parents when she wasn’t even sure what happened or what came over her. Butter and Tales saw the troubled look on Autumn's face, and they both felt bad for their friend. Even though they were a little scared of what had happened, they realized that right now Autumn needed some help, and it was up to them to get her to the nurse. Nodding to each other, French took the lead and went to address Autumn while Tales grabbed their bags from a few feet away. “Hey… Autumn… I know that was weird and you’re probably scared, right? Don’t worry, Tales and I are gonna take you to the nurse and we’ll help you explain what happened to Miss Turner, okay?” French Butter asked her friend sympathetically. The pea green filly placed a hoof on her friend's withers to show her support, and looking in the relief she saw in Autumn's amber eyes still shining with tears she felt silly for feeling scared, Autumn was her friend and she’d be there for her and Tales no matter what happens. “At least I won’t have to do this alone,” thought Autumn appreciatively as Tales met back up with the two fillies. “At least I won’t be getting screamed at right away,” thought Autumn in slight amusement as the trio attempted to sneak off to the nurse. Before the trio had made it a few feet from where they started, they heard the familiar voice of their teacher behind them. “What in Celestia’s name happened here?!” shouted Miss Turner in concern. Autumn’s coat on the back of her neck stood up and she looked ruefully up at the prussian blue mare’s face. “Oh, buck…” thought all five ponies as their teacher’s brow raised up as she sat on her haunches and crossed her forehooves waiting for their response. Autumn’s mouth opened and shut, and the only words she could manage at that moment escaped her muzzle: “Aw, rats…” Tales and Butters both face-hooved at her response.