Silver calmly walked through the Oasis’ old courthouse with two student teachers; a green pegasus named Lightning Glow, and a maroon night pony named Moonlight Star. The two had petitioned for a school to be opened in the Oasis, and were more than happy when Silver had agreed to take them on a tour of the different buildings that might be suitable for the pilot program that they were proposing.
Orion was cheerfully trotting around the large meeting room they were currently standing in, running wild, but calm enough that Silver didn’t have to worry about him. The colt had scared him with his series of stunts a week ago, but had stayed relatively calm up until now. It was clear that he had a ton of energy that needed to be put into something, and as long as he wasn’t doing anything dangerous, Silver could tolerate it.
“So I know that this is one of the older buildings, but it was fully renovated and reinforced. For a while it was the old courthouse, but it could easily be converted into a small school, at least for your pilot program. We can always look into expansion or purpose building something at a later date whenever the need arises for it.”
The maroon night pony nodded, “How’s the power grid here? I know some of the older buildings weren’t all up to code yet., It’s important to know, because if we’re going to be serving everyone here, the lights need to be running at night.”
Silver nodded, “Perfectly reasonable question Moon, part of the renovation involved getting this up to code so we could actually utilize it for more than just storage, I know that a lot of old town will probably go unused after we start expanding, but I wanted to make sure we could utilize it as best as we could before then.”
She nodded, “I know that the foals here are too young to start formal education, but I want to make sure that everything’s up and running before we get to that point. Measure twice, cut once as they say.”
“Will the shuttles service this or is it worth petitioning for a dedicated school shuttle?”
Silver looked towards the pegasus and nodded, “Of course. Right now I don’t think we’ll be able to fit a dedicated shuttle into phase one, but there’s an existing stop outside that’ll service it. We’re looking at a handful of foals right now, probably a few dozen more by the time this needs to be fully running, if the demand is there by then we can look at fitting that into the revised transportation budget. I know Sprocket and Tinker have been getting on my tail about getting that up to speed.”
While the three were chatting away, Orion took it upon himself to clumsily climb up onto the stage that was set up at the far side of the room. Jumping up and down, he giggled at the hollow sound that the stage made when he landed on it, a sound that was now echoing through the room.
Thud
“Obviously we’ll need to clear out the building and possibly modify the layout, but I’ll leave you two to decide. Keep in mind that this will probably only serve as the preschool long term, and maybe up to second grade if there’s a need for it in the immediate future.”
Thud
“Well this room could work as a multipurpose room, the kindergarten I went to as a foal basically had one big room divided up into four classrooms that way, but they could open it up more as needed.” Moon added
Thud
“Ooh yes, I like the idea Moon! There could even be a—”
Thud
The two paused as they started to become acutely aware of Orion’s antics. They slowly glanced over in the colt’s direction, much to the confusion of Silver.
Thud
“What’s up? Was it something I said?” Silver asked, raising an eyebrow.
Thud
Lightning awkwardly smiled, “Silver, does your foal… is he umm... always this energetic?”
Silver glanced over to the colt, who was still excitedly jumping around on the stage, oblivious that he was starting to become a nuisance, “Yeah no, he’s kind of going through a phase right now. I’m trying to give him some slack and let him get his energy out in a safe way… sorry if it’s bothering you, I can go get him if you want.”
Moonlight stared with an understanding look, “He’s becoming a diablo…”
Lightning gave her a small jab in the side, “No it’s fine, don’t worry. I can kind of understand, at least if what Moon told me is anything to go by.”
The hollow thuds were growing louder as the colt started jumping around in more varied patterns, giggling like he had discovered a new and exciting way to have fun that no one had ever tried before.
Silver let out a sigh, “Just give me a moment,” He turned towards Orion and began to sternly raise his voice, “Orion please take it down a notch…”
The colt only began to jump faster, much to Silver’s annoyance.
Silver closed his eyes for a moment and turned back towards the two, letting out a breath, “Alright, give me just a moment, he needs to learn that he has to follow my rules instead of making up his own.”
Lightning was about to speak up, but Moon quickly shushed her, “It’s a night pony thing, there’s a reason why we call em’ diablos.”
Lightning returned a quick nod and watched on as Silver trotted towards the colt, who proceeded to jump off the stage and start running around like an excited dog. The more Silver would chase him, the faster he would run until the two were practically engaged in a full on race around the meeting hall.
“Orion enough is enough! You need to stop right now!”
The colt only responded with a series of giggles and began to rapidly zigzag around Silver, earning a chuckle from Moon as the poor director tripped and fell, sliding into a wall and letting out a pained grunt. Orion pounced on him, earning another groan of pain.
Lightning looked towards the maroon night pony with a look of concern, “Should we help him?”
Moon let out another chuckle, “No, it’s just a phase of night pony development… one that I don’t think Silver was prepared for.”
“And you were?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
Moon shrugged, “I had Marco to help, Silver’s wife’s off in another world right now, I can’t imagine it’s been easy for him dealing with it alone. I’m sure he’ll figure it out on his own in due time…”
Silver slowly walked back up to the pair, completely out of breath, “I’m… I… Sorry about that…” He took another moment to compose himself, letting out a deep breath as Orion continued to happily trot around the three, “Look, this is highly unorthodox, but considering that the closest school is almost 2 hours way, I’m going to run the budget proposal over to Patrick and fast track it for you. Why don’t we break for now and meet up in an hour, we can look over what needs to be done before I head home for the day.”
The two looked at each other with a bewildered expression before Moonlight Star spoke up, “This uhh—”
“—Works great for us! Thanks so much Director Eclipse—” Lightning excitedly finished.
Silver raised a hoof, “—Just Silver, please. I know I’m the director here but we don’t need to act so formal. Hell I’m sure we’re all in the same boat, if we’re going to operate as a private city we should probably make sure our foals are getting a good education that isn’t going to set us back four hours each day, I’d say that’s more than important enough to warrant fast tracking.”
The maroon night pony nodded, “Glad we can all see eye to eye on that,” She paused and looked over towards Orion who was currently trying to scale the wall with his wings, “Uhh… Silve—”
Without a second thought Silver followed her gaze and bolted off to grab the energetic foal, “Orion NO! I told you no more climbing until mommy gets home!”
As he reached up to pull the colt in, Orion leapt off of the wall and landed on Silver’s back, much to the older night pony’s relief. Silver glanced back over towards the two teachers who were staring at him with a look that was a mixture of concern and intrigue. “He’s not a diablo… I promise!”
The maroon night pony returned a look of understanding and nodded, no doubt fully aware of what Silver had been going through. “Good luck boss, you’re gonna need it.”
Silver gave a quick nod and trotted towards the door, hoping that Orion would settle down for the trip back to City Central. With a sigh, Silver raised his gauntlet and began to speak a command, “NAVI, please schedule a budgetary meeting and send an alert to Patrick, ASAP.”
One Moment Director… Meeting with Patrick scheduled.
Silver breathed a sigh of relief, “No more games Orion… please.”
The colt simply giggled and snuggled up closer on Silver’s back.
Over the next week Silver had taken to keeping a close eye on Orion, and much to his relief there hadn’t been many other incidents of note. Any time that the colt would start to act up he’d immediately jump into action and find something that Orion could do to wear himself out. So far Silver’s plan had worked save for a few small slip ups and a few broken shelves.
Silver sat in his office working away at his desk while keeping a close eye on Orion, who was playing in the corner with some of the toys that he had brought along. The diablo was docile for now, but Silver knew that it was only a matter of time until he slipped up and let his guard down. Orion would recognize that moment and strike when he least expected it.
He glanced back to his computer for a moment, and then back towards where Orion was, suddenly noticing that the colt had trotted towards one of the large bookshelves in his office.
A smirk spread across his face as Silver jumped up and ran over to him before he had a chance to even touch the case, “Oh no you don’t! We’re not having another cookie jar incident this time!”
He scooped up the colt and trotted over towards Diamond Glider’s adjacent office, giving the door a quick knock.
“Come in!.. Oh, Silver, what’s up man?”
In a deadpan serious voice, Silver answered his friend. “The little diablo’s growing restless. I’m going to go break for lunch early and take him out to the park to play. I’ll be back in a few. If anything comes up just give me a call.”
Diamond chuckled, eyeing the two, “Got your hooves full? It’s fine, I understand. Good luck man.”
Silver walked out to the balcony and set Orion down for a moment, tightly wrapping his hooves around him so he wouldn’t be able to wriggle around. He gently took off and began to fly down to the park that was set up near City Central. He came to a soft landing and set Orion down, double checking that the park gate was closed and secure.
“Okay little buddy, we’re gonna have a fun time here and you’re not going to get into trouble again, okay?”
The colt giggled and nodded, quickly taking off and running a few laps around the playground. Silver ran after him and jumped up onto the equipment, calling him over towards the slide.
“Come on buddy, you like the slide right?”
Orion ran over and jumped up the steps, trotting towards the slide and eyeing it with hesitation at first. Silver picked up on this and inched closer to it. “Look it’s fine, I’ll go down with you if you want.”
Orion hesitated for a moment, but finally started to trot towards Silver. He pulled him close and held onto him as the two went down the slide together, earning an excited squeal and big happy grin from Orion.
As they touched the ground Orion jumped up and excitedly ran towards the top of the equipment again, jumping up and down a few times before bravely sliding down the slide once more.
“See?! It’s fun right?!” Silver excitedly cheered at him.
Orion giggled and proceeded to run back to the top again and sliding down a few more times. By the eighth or ninth time he was out of breath and desperately in need of some water.
Silver smiled and picked him up, bringing him towards the water fountain. As Orion drank, Silver could only smile at the thought that his plan had worked. He had caught the colt before he had a chance to cause trouble and had successfully worn him out enough that he’d likely be ready for a nap when the two returned to his office. Plus he was able to share a few adorable moments with his son, and he wouldn’t trade any of those for the work he was currently missing.
Silver glanced over towards Orion, chuckling as he noticed him carefully trailing a small insect. “Whatcha got there buddy?...” he paused as he noticed that it was a small harmless spider, a sight that still sent a shiver down his spine. “That’s uhh… that’s quite a find… maybe we should stay away from it— NO!”
Before he could even finish Orion pounced on the spider and quickly ate it as if it was some kind of treat, much to Silver’s horror.
With wide eyed panic he immediately shouted out to the colt, “Orion! Spit that out right now, that is not candy!”
The deed was already done however and Orion only returned a happy grin, much to Silver’s dismay.
Silver looked on with a mortified expression on his face. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO He quickly thought to himself in a panic as he raised up his gauntlet to make a call. “Navi call Dr. Wayne Marshall on the priority line.”
Calling Dr. Marshall. Please standby.
Silver pulled Orion close, keeping an eye on him as the Oasis’ resident doctor answered the comm.
“Ah Silver, good morning. What’s the problem?”
Without hesitation Silver quickly broke into a frantic explanation. “Doc, I don’t know how to explain this but I’m with Orion at the park and he just ate a spider. Should I be concerned?”
“Fascinating, I haven’t heard that one yet,” the unicorn answered in genuine interest.
Silver’s eyes widened more, “What do you mean fascinating?! Doc, should I bring him in?”
“Do you know what type it was?”
“I… uh… guess it was just a daddy-longlegs, should I be worried?”
“You guess or you know?”
Silver rolled his eyes, “I know… look, you know I hate the things, is Orion going to be okay?”
Marshall laughed, “Of course, if it’s just a daddy-longlegs he’ll be just fine. It’s not exactly common out here but it hasn’t been unheard of for Equestrian night ponies to eat insects for protein. Maybe it wasn’t the healthiest choice for him to just eat it off the ground, but he should be perfectly alright.”
“So you’re saying that he’s just going to eat insects now?!”
“Well no, at least not unless you specifically prepare them for him. He’s a night pony though, your tribe has that subtle predatory instinct that he’s probably just now acting on. Just keep an eye on him and discourage him from eating anything you don’t specifically prepare and you’ll be fine.”
The color seemed to drain from Silver’s face, “So you’re suggesting that I prepare spiders to eat now?!”
“Only if you want, I’d suggest you give it a try though, you might find that you enjoy it more than you’d think.”
Silver sighed and tried to clear his head, “Thanks Doc, I’ll uhh… give you a call if I need anything else answered.”
“Please do, take care Silver.”
The call ended and Silver got down to Orion’s level. “Okay buddy, I don’t know how I’m going to explain everything to Scarlet, but we’re going to have a safe and fun rest of the day at home, where you can’t eat anymore spiders.” He sighed, I thought I had every single angle covered… Scarlet’s never going to let me live this down.
Orion simply giggled at him again as Silver carried him up to his office.
“Alright buddy, we’ve only got a week left, I really need you to be on your best behavior okay? Please?”
As much as Silver was dreading what further surprises awaited him, at the same time he knew that that single week would fly by in an instant.
The diablo hungers for arachnids...
