//------------------------------// // Day 1 part 2: Obstacles and Backstories // Story: St Trineighans School for Fillies // by SamuelK28 //------------------------------// After breakfast, The Crazies as they’d been dubbed, were gathered up alongside their fellow first-years and provided with the so-called tour of the school. In fact, Starlight had simply collected them all together in the dining hall and levitated up signs that displayed the name of the subject and an arrow pointing toward its rough location. How they were going to find the Chemistry lab in particular was anypony’s guess as the only instruction they had been provided with was an arrow pointing down at the floor. They were then led out the front of the castle cum school where they were greeted by a loud roar from all the other students before Vice Principal Glimmer raised a hoof and everypony fell instantly silent as Miss Dust swept down out of nowhere and addressed them. “All right firsties. It's tradition here at St Trineighans for every first year to take part in the obstacle course as a rite of passage and to be inducted as a proper St Trineighan filly. You don’t have to finish it; just take part. As an incentive, the pony with the best time or who gets the furthest will earn one hundred bits and the best overall dorm will earn another one hundred bits or twenty-five bits per pony along with any other bets you may have placed.” She paused for a moment as her eyes deliberately picked out Apple Bloom in the crowd. “Sounds simple enough? Wrong. Let me introduce St Trineighans' Seven Deadly Sins Obstacle Course. First up we’re giving you a freebie. Simply walk across the bridge to task number two, that simple. Just mind the trapdoors as that’s quicksand underneath. Next up is the cockatrice pen, try not to get turned to stone. Then you need to leap across the chasm on perilously unstable pillars before waltzing along the hot coals and then back over the canyon along the lubricated balance beam. Six is where it really gets tricky; navigating the swinging blades of death whilst trying to avoid being shot with paint balls. Oh, did I mention if you fall off that bridge there are a hundred or so Red Everfree snakes, the most venomous in Equestria, just waiting to bite you? Don’t worry; we do have Madam Zecora, the school witch doctor, on hoof with the antidote if needs be. Last up is the Mount Canter climbing wall and the dive into a paddling pool to finish. Just don’t miss the pool unless you want to be impaled by spikes. Any questions?” Lightning Dust finished in rapid time without even taking a breath. Every first-year stared at her completely dumbstruck aside Apple Bloom who’d turned and was now glowering at Scootaloo. "Wouldn’t put us in any true danger my arse!" she retorted before turning her attention back to Miss Dust. “No? Excellent. Then we’ll go one team at a time in alphabe…” Lightning Dust began to continue only for Diamond Tiara to rudely interrupt. “Yeah, are you bucking insane? That’s a death sentence!” she exclaimed. “I can promise that you are in no serious danger and congratulate you on volunteering to be the first up from dorm one. Tiara, Diamond, isn’t it?” Lightning Dust said with a smug smile. “What? No way. You’ve got to be kidding?” Diamond replied, taking a somewhat less-confident step back. “Well, you can refuse but then we’d have to expel you, lock you in the dungeon and manipulate your father’s memories of you, your choice,” Lightning Dust responded, all the while maintaining her smug smile. Diamond stared at Dust for a moment unsure if she was for real. For one of the few times in her life Diamond felt true fear. This crazy mare wasn’t joking. She barely made it a third of the way across the first bridge before a trapdoor opened up and swallowed her whole. A loud splash followed accompanied by a squeal of disgust and then a shrill cry for help. Lightning looked at Starlight and asked, “Do I have to? She’s an annoying brat.” Starlight simply frowned at her and a moment later Lightning had plucked Diamond out of the quicksand and put her back on solid ground. “Why don’t you go take a shower and then comeback out to watch the rest of your fellow firsties fail?” Lightning suggested to Diamond in a voice laced with clearly fake sympathy. “NO,” Diamond spat, shaking off the sludge that now gripped her coat. “Not until I see her fail.” She jabbed a sludge covered hoof in Apple Bloom's direction. Apple Bloom glowered back at Diamond before she spat back in return, “Fine. Miss Dust, am I free to proceed for dorm two?” “Erm, yeah, I guess. Go ahead,” Lightning said a little surprised at Apple Bloom’s willingness. As far back as she could remember nopony had ever wanted to do the obstacle course and especially to be one of the first. Those few who had succeeded had been those who went last and who had observed intently how their year mates had failed. Apple Bloom raced forward transforming into her wolf form as she did so. Some might have seen her speed as foolhardy and that she was rushing into the first obstacle. That was until she raced up the ramp and leapt high over both the entire trapdoor bridge and the quicksand, landing at the far end of the bridge on the descending ramp. “Woah. Okay, I’ll admit, that was pretty awesome,” Lightning Dust muttered under her breath. Next up Apple Bloom curled into a ball and closed her eyes tightly shut before barrelling through the cockatrice pen to numerous squawks and hisses of indignation. It wasn’t a perfect run by any means as she crashed through the wall rather than pass through the flap but she’d made it through without turning to stone. Lightning Dust continued to look on impressed with the werewolf’s attempt so far. Next up was the unstable stepping stones across the chasm. The gap was too large for her to jump in a single bound but she was also too quick for the one pillar she did land on for it to be of any issue to her. “Nice,” Lightning Dust commented. The hot coals had been painful but Apple Bloom had gritted her teeth and moved on to the balance beam. This time she didn’t dare jump for fear she’d slip on the beam and fall to her doom. Instead, she gripped the beam as best she could with her paws and slid across like a slug. This was by far the slowest bit of her run so far but she forced herself not to rush as she eventually made it to the other side after what felt like an eternity. By now a hushed silence had fallen upon the crowd of students. All of them knew from previous experience very few made it even this far as Apple Bloom reached the swinging blades of death and ducked as a paintball flew over where her head had been mere moments ago. Taking a deep breath, she charged the blades leaping over the first two and sweeping past three with ease as paintballs flew all around her. Blade four though was where she made her first critical error as a slight misjudgement saw the final blade take off her tail! “Oof, that’s gonna hurt in the morning,” Lightning grimaced yet Apple Bloom doggedly soldiered on even as a snake tried to leap out the pit at her. She nimbly dodged it as paintballs continued raining down on her until she finally staggered of the bridge and towards the final obstacle, blood oozing from the wound to her tail. The climbing wall must have risen at least one hundred hooves into the air. Ignoring the wooziness due to the blood loss from her missing tail, Apple Bloom leapt onto the wall and began the arduous climb. She hadn’t even noticed that half her body now depicted a rainbow from numerous paintball hits, her werewolf and earth pony genes having numbed the pain alongside the shock of losing her tail. “Come on kid, you can do it,” Lightning Dust murmured under her breath. The whole field had fallen deathly quiet. And then Lightning Dust saw her and shot of as fast as her name suggested. Dizzy and disoriented from the loss of blood from the wound to her tail, Apple Bloom had finally stubbornly made it to the top of the ginormous climbing wall. It was because of how out of it she was by this point that she didn’t really register how far up she was and thus simply stumbled off the platform to either her doom or success, closing her eyes as she did so. She felt the air shoot past her and wondered if this is what it felt like to be a Pegasus before her thoughts turned to the spikes that encircled the swimming pool that would almost certainly turn her into a grotesque imitation of a lollipop. And then all of a sudden the breeze changed and she was no longer falling. “See, what did I tell you, no serious danger,” a voice she vaguely recognised chuckled. “Tell that to my tail and my hooves,” Apple Bloom grumbled to a massive roar of congratulations as they came into land. “Miss Bloom completes the course in five minutes twenty-seven seconds,” Princess Luna informed the crowd. “An outstanding achievement. Next up Alafern, Spur for dorm three.” Apple Bloom hadn't heard her, she'd passed out, her reserves of adrenalin having been well and truly exhausted. * Both Spur and Dinky Doo made it as far as the cockatrice pen before having to be retrieved by Fluttershy and then revived by Scootaloo. Apple Bloom was just coming round as round two was about to begin. “Aah,” she screamed as she woke to see a skeletal face staring right back at her. “Do not worry my dear, you have nothing to fear,” Madam Zecora replied, pulling back the mask she was wearing before she finished applying some horrifically foul-smelling poultices to Apple Bloom’s badly burned hooves and wrapped them in bandages. “I must now ask that you don’t move, if you wish for your condition to improve. Your natural earth pony healing magic should have you back on your feet in a beat but your tail may take several days to regenerate.” Apple Bloom stared down at her bandaged hooves and then looked up at the zebra who had treated her. “Well, that’s a relief. As for moving, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere with my hooves bandaged like this.” She waggled her hooves to emphasise her point. “Well, for that I am glad. I have others I need to see, so relax and watch the display, okay?” Apple Bloom nodded her head in reply to the peculiar rhyming zebra, who, as soon as she departed was replaced by Scootaloo and Screwball. “That was incredible! I can’t believe you succeeded!” Scootaloo squeaked, buzzing with excitement. “I had to put a few ponies in their place,” Apple Bloom grunted in reply. “Who’s next by the way?” “Moon, Moon,” Lightning Dust’s voice echoed out across the playing fields. A Pegasus filly as black as night, including her mane, walked forward. She sported two moons on her flank. Apple Bloom watched as the filly shot off faster than her eyes could follow. In the blink of an eye, she was attempting to fly across the gorge only to realise her mistake a moment to late as multiple gusts of winds from every direction imaginable sent her careering of course. She made it across the gorge but landed with a sickening crunch on the other side. She momentarily rose to three of her hooves in defiance but it was clear her wounds were too severe to continue and she abruptly collapsed onto the ground panting heavily. “And that Pegasi is why you shouldn’t attempt to fly across the gorge,” Lightning Dust informed before she raced of to retrieve Moon Moon only to find Starlight and Luna had already done so. The serious injuries their year mate had suffered seemed to have only further amplified the anxiety amongst the remaining eleven students who still needed to complete their initiation. Sweetie was up next and sadly for Apple Bloom and her dormmates the filly’s luck wasn’t in and she only made it halfway across the first obstacle before falling through a trapdoor. She tried her best to levitate herself up but her magic wasn’t strong enough and eventually she succumbed to the quicksand. As Apple Bloom consoled her distraught friend, Mjӧlna Ragnarök went for dorm three. As an earth pony she was at a serious disadvantage on the first obstacle but despite one or two scares she made it across, wedging her hammer across the gaps and climbing back up to safety on the few occasions she fell through a trapdoor. She also made it through the cockatrice pen and then managed to navigate the tricky pillars. By this point though you could tell the amount of exertion she had so far put in was starting to tell as sweat began dripping down her muzzle. Burning her hooves on the hot coals only worsened matters and by the end of the walk she staggered and fell, her hooves too burnt and blistered for her to continue. “A very good attempt by Mjӧlna there putting her into second place so far. Up next is Erroria, Princess,” Lightning Dust instructed. A yellow Pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail stepped forward. Her cutie mark was a peculiar one, a red and yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark in the middle of it. Apple Bloom watched impressed as the Pegasus, learning from her prior competitors' mistakes navigated the first three obstacles cautiously but successfully. She then used her wings to direct a breeze at the coals to cool them before crossing them and then attempting the beam. Unfortunately, this was where she made her mistake, not using Apple Bloom’s successful method and instead attempting to walk across it. Halfway across she slipped and was only saved a similar fate as Moon Moon by Rarity who wrapped her in her magic and brought her back to safety. It did not go unnoticed by Apple Bloom that Vice Principal Glimmer had disappeared alongside Moon Moon and Zecora. “Well, that was another brave run by Princess Erroria, if somewhat slow. Let’s check the halftime leader board to see where we are at,” Lightning Dust’s voice hollered across the field. Apple Bloom looked up from where she was still consoling Sweetie to find that despite the unicorn’s poor performance, they were still tied for the team title with two other dorms while dorm one was currently trailing and needing a good performance from their next performer, Ruby Pinch. And she didn’t disappoint, storming the course until a torrent of paintballs sent her toppling into the snake pit to visible grimaces from everyone in the audience. Then it was Screwball’s turn and everyone watched on in amazement as she floated across the first obstacle, through the pen, across the chasm and hot coals, back across the chasm and then went THROUGH the snake pit, leaving the snakes dancing in her wake before floating up and over the climbing wall into the pool below. Stunned silence greeted the insane filly’s performance until Lightning Dust shrugged her shoulders and spoke up. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be to surprised. What was her time Principal Moon?” “Five minutes twenty-eight seconds,” Nightmare Moon replied as Screwball bounced over to embrace her friends. “How’d I do?” she giggled. “Incredible,” Apple Bloom replied “Outstanding,” Scootaloo exclaimed. Sweetie, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes, simply launched herself at Screwball and embraced her in a tight hug. “D’aww, I love you to Sweetie.” They barely caught the next run by Tempest Shadow, a broody purple unicorn wearing a tight black jumpsuit with a broken horn and a scar going the whole way down the right side of her face until they caught sight of her being hit in the head with a paintball over the snake pit that clearly made her dizzy and disorientated resulting in her walking right into the final blade. She would have been sliced in two if not for Rarity teleporting her out at the last second. The final filly on round three was Lily Longsocks, a timid looking earth pony who never looked comfortable and got only marginally further than Sweetie Belle before succumbing to the quicksand. Looking up at the scoreboard Apple Bloom could see after Screwball’s performance they were clear favourites to win but that dorm three, the so-called jocks, were still in contention. After watching, and laughing so hard her sides hurt, as Silver Spoon barely made it any further than Diamond Tiara before succumbing to the quicksand, she turned and gave Scootaloo a curt nod. “Try not to break a leg out there,” She chuckled. “Thanks for the encouragement,” Scootaloo replied with a smirk as she pushed herself forward and prepared to take on the course. It started well as she raced up the ramp and copied Apple Bloom’s technique, except as a Pegasus she used her wings to glide across the bridge. Of course, she had no issue tackling the cockatrice pen but then, as she came to the chasm, she froze. “Ah, shit,” Screwball muttered under her breath just loud enough for Apple Bloom to hear. “What, what do you mean?” Apple Bloom replied, somewhat concerned at the usually jovial filly’s sudden shift in tone. “She’s afraid of heights,” Screwball replied. Apple Bloom stared at the other filly as if she was mad. Okay, so she was but still. “Afraid of heights? She’s a Pegasus. A ruler of the skies. How can she be afraid of heights?” Screwball shrugged her shoulders. “No idea. She just is. One of the reasons why I’m guessing I’ve never seen her attempt to fly over the past four years. Oh Discord.” Upon the second curse from the insane filly Apple Bloom squinted and saw that Scootaloo was backing up. And then she sprinted to the edge of the chasm and leapt. Gasps erupted from the older students watching on as she released her wings and attempted to glide across the canyon. “Is she mad!” Apple Bloom screamed remembering what had happened to Moon Moon just a little while earlier. “Hmm, clever,” Screwball chuckled clearly knowing something Apple Bloom didn’t. The werewolf glowered at her crazy friend. “Have you finally decided to submit to the will and madness of our lord and saviour Discord?” Screwball asked hopefully. Apple Bloom showed off her sharpened canines. “Okay, I may be insane but I can take a hint. So, what’s the difference between a chicken and a Pegasus?” “What?” Apple Bloom grumbled; eyes glued on Scootaloo as she dangerously hovered above the canyon. “Come on,” she muttered under her breath, hoping and praying Scootaloo could prove Lightning Dust wrong. “Huh, clever. Still, even with your reduced wingspan you’ll find it difficult,” the P.E. teacher announced causing Apple Bloom to briefly turn her attention back to Screwball then turn back to Scootaloo and focus intently on the Pegasus’ wings. Now that she looked closely, they did seem awfully small for a Pegasus her age. “Wait, is there something wrong with her wings! Can she not fly properly!” Apple Bloom blurted, eyes going wide. “Jackpot, we have a winner,” Screwball announced but Apple Bloom wasn’t listening. Instead, her attention was solely focused on Scootaloo and specifically the fact that although the Pegasus was nearing the other side, she almost certainly wasn’t going to make it. That was until an unexpected updraught came out of nowhere and sent Scootaloo spinning dangerously out of control. What came next were two things. First, Scootaloo’s breakfast went everywhere. Then, she somehow managed to land perfectly on her feet before ungracefully depositing the last remains of her breakfast on the grass and passing out in said remains. * Screaming and falling. Screaming and falling. Screaming and falling. That’s all she could ever remember. And then all of a sudden everything changed and she was in a pool of water struggling to stay afloat. Scootaloo awoke with a start as ice cold water flooded her vision. “Glub, blub, flub,” she spluttered trying to regain her bearings. “Sweetie, will you stop trying to drown poor Scootaloo,” she heard what sounded like Apple Bloom chastise her other friend. “Yes, I know she stinks but I think that’s enough. Yes, you can apply whatever soaps and makeup you like to that braindead Pegasus just as long as you turn off the hose.” The hose immediately stopped to Scootaloo’s relief only for her to slowly realise just what Apple Bloom had said. She immediately tried to rise to her hooves only for an overwhelming dizziness to overtake her. “I wouldn’t try standing if I were you,” Apple Bloom chuckled in the distance. “Just how many flips did she do in the end Screwball?” “Thirty-eight,” Screwball replied. “Yeah. Lightning said it could be up to an hour before you fully regain your sense of balance. So why don’t you just do what I’m doing and rest while Sweetie cleans you up. They’ll be announcing the results soon,” Apple Bloom explained. “Before Sweetie tortures me with unfair and unusual punishment, can you at least tell me what happened? The last thing I remember is leaping across the chasm and then a lot of spinning.” Even the memory made Scootaloo turn green and she dry heaved onto the grass next to her, her stomach having long been emptied. “You got hit with one of the strange gusts of wind the chasm is renowned for, sent you spiralling out of control. Nice landing though although the passing out in your own vomit knocks a few marks off,” Apple Bloom explained. “Ah, that explains the hose,” Scootaloo replied as Sweetie silently sat down next to her with more makeup and bottles of soap than Scootaloo could possibly count. “What about the competition?” she added as Sweetie started on her hooves. “And we have our winners,” Luna’s perfectly timed and booming voice called out across the field. “But first, a warm round of applause for all of the first years who bravely completed their initiations. I know some of them will still be feeling the after effects for many days to come!” A loud round of whistles, claps and hollers erupted around them before once again abruptly falling silent at Luna’s command. Scootaloo had finally noticed that the principal was making herself heard from a temporary stage that must have been set up whilst she was unconscious. “First up are the participation awards starting with Best Elimination which goes to Moon Moon for that spectacular crash landing. We’ll get her trophy to her as soon as she’s a bit more alive,” Luna chuckled and her laughter was reciprocated by many of the other students. “Anyway, moving on as I know many of you will want to enjoy the remainder of this final night before school starts proper for yet another year. The next participation award goes to Diamond Tiara for worst, sorry, funniest performance.” This time laughter erupted amongst everypony as an embarrassed and rather displeased looking Diamond Tiara, fresh from the shower, was pushed forward to collect her prize, a trophy of a pony’s face pulling what was supposed to be a comedic expression although which more resembled a pony having a heart attack. “Do you have any words to describe your feeble attempt?” Luna enquired looking at Diamond expectantly as she passed the trophy over. “Aside from “My daddy will be hearing about this” because trust me, he won’t,” Luna stated jovially to everypony before leaning into Diamond’s ear and whispering deadly seriously, “Because you know, all it will take is a bit of mind control and a terrible accident and daddy’s little girl is left with nothing in his will, understood?” Diamond Tiara shivered at the coldness of the Moon Princess’s words before she turned to everypony and stammered. “G-glad I was able to give every pony a laugh. Thanks for the award,” and with that she shot off the stage and back into the crowd of first years faster than even Lightning Dust could move. “Woah, I’ve never seen her that skittish,” Apple Bloom admitted. “I wonder what Luna said to her.” “No idea,” Scootaloo sighed, not even bothering to stop Sweetie as she continued her rigorous cleaning regime. She had just come to the end of giving Scootaloo a perfect hooficure along with applying purple hoof polish to her hooves. Apple Bloom sniggered. “You look like you’re enjoying yourself.” “You realise after a while that sacrifices have to be made if you don’t want an unhappy unicorn burning the school to the ground. Unfortunately for me, the only other thing she really seems to enjoy aside fire is making others look like princesses. Oh, and I’m not sure why you’re laughing, you’re next, Rainbow Bloom.” “What?” Apple Bloom exclaimed as the next award was called out. “The Best Strategy award goes to Princess Erroria who kept calm, level-headed and refused to rush into any of the obstacles despite being in a time critical environment. I hope you older years have taken note of her actions as some of you still don’t seem able to understand the concept of thinking first before you act,” Princess Luna explained as Erroria came up and collected her award. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo watched as the girl gave a quick, nervous thank you, blushed profusely and then retreated back to her fellow dormmates as quickly as she could. “Finally, we have the sportsmareship award which, unusually, I will be doing alongside the best individual performance award. So, could I have Screwball and Apple Bloom up here please.” “Yay, we won!” Screwball cried as Apple Bloom was encased in a blue aura and levitated to where Luna stood on the stage. “I don’t think many others would have held back to allow a friend the opportunity to win instead, especially with one hundred bits on the table,” Luna explained handing Screwball her trophy. “Pfft, oh please. My new friend Apple Bloom deserved to win and needs the money way more than me,” Screwball replied as the trophy disappeared into her hair. “I mean just look at her. It’s a good job we have Sweetie otherwise she’d need to spend the one hundred bits on cleaning herself up alone!” Apple Bloom’s mouth had slipped open wide in shock. She had completely forgotten about the one-hundred-bit prize for finishing first. “Such modesty, how humbling. Miss Bloom, is there anything you’d like to add?” Luna asked as she passed over Apple Bloom’s own trophy. “One hundred bits,” Apple Bloom squeaked in disbelief. Luna chuckled. “Yes, that is correct. You can collect the bits from Miss Dust after I've announced the winner of the collective prize and the sooner you return to your classmates, the sooner I can do that.” She lowered Apple Bloom onto Screwball’s back and as Apple Bloom gripped on for dear life as Screwball bounced back to their friends, Luna was left in deep conversation with Lightning Dust. “Erm, Princess, not sure how to tell you this but for the first time ever we have a tie,” Lightning whispered into her ear. “What do you mean it’s a tie?” Luna hissed back as she tried to remain calm and cheerful in front of the students. “Well dorm two’s students finished first, second, tenth and fourteenth. That’s forty-one points. Dorm three’s students on the other hoof finished third, sixth, seventh and eleventh. Also equalling forty-one points,” Lightning explained as Luna sighed. Did she have to do everything around here herself? “Right folks, it seems we’ve a very interesting scenario and a tie for first place that will need to be settled,” Luna stated to gasps and murmurs from the crowd. Luna ignored them and went on. “But first a big round of applause to dorms one and four who scored twenty-four and thirty points respectively. A polite applause accompanied that revelation as murmurs continued around the playing fields. “Now, in second place with a total score of forty-one points but with zero ponies completing the course, is dorm three. So that means our winners with forty-one points and…” “THAT’S NOT FAIR,” a voice interrupted to gasps of shock and surprise. Who in their right mind would interrupt a princess? Everybody moved to one side to reveal a brown earth pony littered with scars with curled green locks looking up angrily at Princess Luna. “Okay then. Would you prefer being turned to stone again instead?” Luna enquired nonchalantly. “Because that can be arranged. We are always in need for more garden ornaments.” Spur gulped, eyes going wide. Being turned to stone, even for only a couple of minutes, had not been at all a nice experience. She bent low to the ground and muttered through gritted teeth, “I apologise my princess. My outburst was uncalled for.” “Apology accepted. Now, who wants to come up and receive the award for dorm two?” * Apple Bloom stared at the wad of notes in her hoof. One hundred and fifty bits. One hundred and fifty bits. More money than she’d ever had in her entire life and yet Applejack would still be disappointed in her for being so careless with the ten bits she’d entrusted her with. “Earth to Apple Bloom. Earth to Apple Bloom. You’ve been staring at your money for the past fifteen minutes,” Scootaloo stated, finishing with a chortle. “It’s like you’ve never seen such a meagre amount of money in your…” “No, I haven’t. Before today the most I’ve ever had to my name is one solitary bit. I don’t even class the ten bits my sister gave me, likely her life savings, as truly mine. So yeah, this to me is a lot of money.” “Huh, sounds like you had it tough growing up. Like to talk about it?” Scootaloo asked with genuine concern. Even after heading over to Miss Dust to collect their winnings there had still been two hours until lunch so the girls had retired to their dorm for the time being to unwind and let Sweetie continue their makeovers. The trophies they’d won now had pride of place on the window sill next to their beds. Apple Bloom sighed and gave a Scootaloo a questioning look. “Says the girl who grew up alongside cockatrices and well, okay, I’m not going to lie, Sweetie did an epic job and really helped me get all that paint off,” she replied. Sweetie smiled behind her as she continued to braid Apple Bloom’s mane. Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders. Her usually unkempt mane had been straightened and now flowed freely down the back of her head whilst her coat had been thoroughly brushed and washed with shampoo along with her tail which now sported black highlights. To finish the look Sweetie had applied purple eyeliner, eyeshadow and lipstick. Scootaloo had at least managed to stop her friend applying any blush. “At least living with cockatrices was simple. No money, just every cockatrice pulls its weight for the flock. Whether that be finding food, looking after the young, protecting the flock. Life was simple from what little I can remember. As for Sweetie, yeah, she could make a killing as a beautician although walking around like this for the next few days is going to be painfully embarrassing.” Sweetie glowered at Scootaloo and ignited one of her hooves. “Okay, okay, fine, a week but then the hair goes back to normal,” Scootaloo conceded looking less than pleased with the deal. Sweetie nodded and the flames went out as she returned her attention to Apple Bloom’s mane. Apple Bloom sniggered before asking, “So anyway, seeing as we have some time, what was it like, living with cockatrices?” “Honestly, I don’t remember much before Fluttershy came along with Starlight to negotiate my release when I was, we believe, five? My exact age isn’t truly known,” Scootaloo admitted looking somewhat distant. “And before you ask, I’ve no idea how I got there or what happened to my true parents.” Tears had slowly formed in her eyes but she blinked them away before asking, “Now, I do believe I asked you first.” “I was born on an apple farm and live with my two older siblings and grandmother. Ma died shortly after I was born. All me and my siblings know is there were some complications with my birth. Apparently, it was a miracle they saved one of us but it hit my father hard and he became distant after that. Disappeared shortly after my third birthday to leave a farm barely breaking even in the hooves of a thirteen- and eleven-year-old the no-good deserter. Yeah, you can imagine how that played out. Still, despite a tough beginning they did everything they could to turn the farm around, raise me proper and respect the importance of every hard-earned bit. My sister ever finds out I nearly lost what was likely her life-savings on a wager, damn, it would likely be months until she even spoke to me again,” Apple Bloom finished with a whistle of relief. “Then why did you?” Scootaloo pressed. “Honestly? Us Apples do have a couple of well-known weaknesses. We’re hot-headed and defensive,” Apple Bloom confessed sheepishly. “Ah, I see and I know what you mean. Miss Dust does seem to rub off the wrong way on a lot of ponies. At least you got the bits back though. Fluttershy probably tell us there’s a lesson to be learnt there,” Scootaloo stated with a forced chuckle. Sweetie nodded from behind Apple Bloom as she finished braiding the filly’s hair. “And at least she didn’t dub us the orphan dorm,” Scootaloo added to a look of surprise from Apple Bloom. “Wait, all of you, too?” “Well, not really,” Screwball admitted. “My father’s head exploded when he came to find me and looked into the chaos realm. I used his blood and organs to temporarily summon Discord so he could bless me with a fraction of his power. As for mum, she just went insane and thinks she’s a dog. You’ll meet her tomorrow night; she’s the languages teacher. Although, the only language she can actually speak now is canine but still, should be a laugh.” Screwball casually revealed to her friends. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo simply stared at one another for a moment before both saying the same thing simultaneously. “Time for lunch.” It wasn’t a question as they hurriedly made their way to the door to their dormitory neither wanting to continue their backstories after that bombshell. Sweetie was only too happy to follow them. She didn’t like talking about the accident that took her parents and her voice away then labelled her with this cruel reminder of a cutie mark, even if it was fun to spontaneously set herself on fire sometimes. Ooh, maybe she should do that right now. “SWEETIE!” Scootaloo screamed. * Starlight looked down upon the prone filly in the bed like a disappointed mother looking down at their foal after they’d been caught with their hoof in the cookie jar. You really did a number on yourself this time, didn’t you? the sign Starlight held up read. Moon Moon looked at it with her one good eye, the other covered with an ice pack, and turned her head away. She hadn’t talked to her mother in more than two years since finding out the truth. She’d be damned if she was going to start now. For a while the two just sat there in ever growing awkward silence until the door to the infirmary creaked open behind Starlight. “How’s my favourite pupil doing? That was a nasty landing back there,” Luna chuckled as she entered the infirmary, casting a silencing charm on the room as she did so. Grumpy, Starlight replied as she rose from her chair and headed for the door Luna just entered from. You talk to her. And without another written word she was gone and the awkward silence was back. “So,” Luna began. “I brought you your trophy. You won best elimination. That was some crash back there.” The only response she got in reply was silence as she placed said trophy down on the trolley next to the infirmary bed. “Still giving us the silent treatment, huh? How many years you been doing that…” Luna paused as a poorly scribbled note was lifted from the bed. BUCK OF BITCH! “Woah, lucky Starlight’s not here or she’d ground you for a month for such language. Where did you even hear such language in the…” Luna paused and thought for a moment. “I’ll have to have a word with Lightning later.” She settled down on the end of the bed. “How many times do we need to have the whole you may have been a drunken mistake but you’re the best thing to ever happen to us speech?” Silence. “Because that’s the honest truth and your childish actions right now are breaking Starlight’s heart. You know what? This is going to sound so stereotypical but you should be grateful for what you’ve got. Most you classmates don’t even have one loving parent let alone two,” Luna explained. Moon’s head turned with a ferocious death glare. “Girl, I had to deal with your pregnant mother. No matter how ferocious your one-eyed death glare may be, nothing you could possibly do could compete against that, except maybe you being you,” Luna chuckled receiving a prod from Moon in retaliation. “Ow, that really hurt,” Luna chuckled as Moon returned to trying to murder her mother with her eyes. “Anyway, I’m getting off track. Let me go over these as quickly as I can for you. Scootaloo, raised by cockatrices, parents unknown. Alafern, Spur, abused from the age of three by her father, finally murdered him when she was eight. Cracked his head open with an axe.” “Wait, one of my classmates is a murderer?” Moon exclaimed in astonishment. “Oh, woops, my mistake. Killed in self-defence. You should see what that bastard did to her. He got exactly what he deserved,” Luna explained. “And does that mean you’re finally talking to me again?” she added looking hopefully at the rebellious filly in the infirmary bed. Moon’s death glare returned. “I guess I’ll have to continue then,” Luna said with a heavy sigh. “Where was I? Oh yes, Belle, Sweetie, parents died in a housefire when she was four. Barely survived herself and suffered permanent damage to her vocal chords that means she can only speak via magic. Bloom, Apple, mother died shortly after she was born, father disappeared when she was only three. You don’t want to know what Screwball did to her father. Pinch, Ruby, mum’s an alcoholic. No idea who her father might be. Dinky Doo, parents are divorced, lives with her mother who’s slowly going blind. Little Strongheart, the buffalo, mother killed fighting against the first pony settlers. Shadow, Tempest, ran away from home after having her horn cleaved of by an ursa minor. Longsocks, Lily, extremely strong even for an earth pony, a tantrum when she was seven saw her accidentally paralyse her mother. Paleo, Petunia, was abandoned at an orphanage when her cutie mark was revealed to be necromancy whilst Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon probably have it the worst. Their parents are so rich they feel they can just answer all of their problems with money, including their fillies. All those two girls have ever wanted is one day with their parents rather than a butler or a nanny. And what might I ask is your problem? Yeah, you weren’t exactly expected and were the result of a night of debauchery but damn was it a whole lot of fun. Starlight sure isn’t a saint, that’s for sure,” Luna finished with a devilish smirk. Moon Moon’s glare turned to a look of disgust. “Hmm, would you like to hear some of the things we got up to the night you were conceived?” Moon Moon’s one visible eye twitched before finally she blurted, “NO, please for the love of Celestia I’m too young for the talk!” “Hmm, two years and all I had to do was cripple you and then threaten you with the talk. Damn, if I’d known it was going to be that easy,” Luna replied merrily. “To be fair you never really bothered after the first couple of times. Told mum I’d come around eventually. But that was just mean,” Moon grumbled. “Maybe I’ll tell her how you got me to talk after scarring me for life?” “Oh, there’s the conniving and manipulative filly I helped bring up. Double desert?” Luna chuckled. “Double desert,” Moon replied. “And m-mum did my fellow classmates really go through all that?” “Yeah, they did, just don’t go revealing any of what I just told you to anyone as even a princess can be done by her sister’s data protection laws. Why do you think St Trineighans is a school for special fillies?” “Because it takes in those fillies who are criminally insane?” Moon deadpanned. “Close,” Luna chuckled. It’s because we take in those with difficult upbringings and unusual special talents and give them a chance to succeed when almost every pony else in society has given up on them. Yes, there may be other factors as to why some are picked, the school does need bits to survive, but our main aim is to help those fillies in need and give them that chance at life they could have only dreamed of previously. What?” Luna suddenly exclaimed finding two hooves wrapped around her and a head snuggling deep into her belly. “I’m sorry mum. I really am,” Moon sniffled as the tears bottled up inside her for two years finally came out. “I just…” “Thought we didn’t want you? That you were nothing more than an unwanted mistake. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me and don’t you ever forget it. Aside possibly from that night with Starlight. You know she can even hypnotise me, right?” “Triple desert,” Moon sniggered into her mother’s chest. “Triple desert. And I promise we’ll never argue within earshot of you again,” Luna sighed with content only for the fire alarm to suddenly blare out. “Shouldn’t you go sort that?” Moon asked snuggling into her mother’s fur. “I’m sure Starlight can sort it.” “Double desert for a week.”