//------------------------------// // Always seek a healthy life, but one that is ignorant // Story: Few // by Birdring //------------------------------// Standing in this place... this hopeless sidewalk. Waiting for something... for something I don't know what it is. Not. Denying reality doesn't help me to face it, I'm waiting for death, a being that presents itself and does the job I never wanted to finish. I hold my breath until the sun comes up, waiting in the dark shadows of the skyscrapers. Waiting for that day to come, the day someone finally sees my need... the day someone does the work looking me in the eye. This… day will take forever to arrive. But someday... I know it will. All that waiting...all that hope...all that longing. It wasn't done. He came from a dream. It came from my mind. He came from heaven. But how could he have ended up with me? I ask myself this all the time. Luck? Destiny? Or…maybe it's just a waste of time. But I wasted so much time...waiting...waiting for death to appear in my life. It must be fate. But I know the time will come, I don't have much time. Death already speaks to me softly. She talks to me with interest. I already smiled at me. She squeezes my hand like I'm worth it. And she treats me... like a person. I'm trapped and she's the only one who could set me free. Still... I get caught in chains. And it hurts. So much pain inside of me. Waiting... The procedure involving the also human Dylan was fruitful, I was behind the tree lines following his steps, he took my envelope to a building. There is a huge entrance of creatures starting at 6 am and leaving at 11:30 am, curious. I discovered a new name, Starlight glimmer, unfortunately I couldn't discern who it is associated with. Now I'm standing here. Despicable world, dark street, no light, looking at the house ahead, waiting.... Standing still, on this moonless night with all the doors of the magic chickens closed, streets empty. Any sound fades when I arrive in town, they cease their routine to hide from me, hold their breath. Eventually lights come on revealing the silhouette of a sentient equine, he wants to see me. They want to see the bastard next door, the dying man standing, they want to remember my appearance, the potential killer, the possible destroyer of lives, of the monster. You are right, I am all of these. Even in another world, they know I have nothing to lose. I have the sensation of your eyes profiling the anatomy of my face, ears, nose, chin, mouth, cheek, forehead and eyes, nothing escapes their vision, I suppose they want to determine my emotion based on my facial muscles, many interpretations can be taken for an expressionless face. The magic chickens want to see if I feel remorse for smothering their almighty rooster, as usual, biased judges, incompetent superiors. Little do they know that I did it because I wanted them to kill me but this service is already underway, better forget the shortcuts, better wait. Waiting.... I speak with the wait So I keep quiet... I talk to her in my head... But this is just a dream. I'm out... hidden behind a mask, metaphorically, physically underneath my cap that darkens the top of my face. She can't see who I really am… I put on a show. I'm a character. Old. War Veteran. I am against all thoughts of love and sex, life and death, contempt and affection, grace and adversity. I throw all my anger and deep thoughts on my victims. And I'm completely emotionless. Inside I'm just a man. Brannam Axelson. Afraid. Traumatized. But what am I? I will never know. But I know one thing... with waiting I will die. The wait will never know that. No, no one will ever know. I'm really good at hiding it. Why do I hide this? Because I'm too broken... too hard to deal with myself. I would end up killing myself. I need to put on a strong cover... a hard shell to protect me, to keep me alive and at least 1% sane. Brannam Axelson, a condemned man who doesn't want to be seen. A sociopath, an insane, a stain. Impossible to clean it. So the two… Brannam and the Veteran. We are both destined to fall... destined for a horrible life. But I chose Veteran because I think he'll keep me alive a little longer... I call my neighbor's death. But at night, when I go to sleep... I think about her... I talk to her.... I think about what could be... what should be... how it's going to be... And then I wake up knowing this will never happen. But then I think… At least she's there. At least I can see it. And the sooner I get out of bed, the sooner everything will come true because it will be one less day of life. And that's enough for me...so I'm fine. And together we walk, together we talk, together we fly... and together we own the sky. <><><><> "And so Clover the Smart spawned Luscious the Lusty," Starlight stated flatly, slamming her hoof against the wooden surface of her desk. Around the classroom, some of the students jumped at the sudden noise. She sighed. They were obviously sleeping. Frowning, she looked around the room at the participants. Most of the creatures were looking at her, their eyes devoid of any life. She was already used to this laziness that always comes before a quick holiday, tomorrow would be hallowen. At least two were completely passed out, silent snores escaping their muzzles. One of the students, a griffin, had a trail of drool running down the table. After a few seconds, the class looked back at Starlight. Some of the students in the back looked at her with glazed eyes, and another part scribbled in their notebooks, and one shared her latest artistic masterpiece with her friend. Starlight couldn't understand, but given the giggle, she could guess. With a huff, she got out from behind her desk and trotted forward. Frowning, she stopped a few steps from the first row of tables. One or two students stopped their conversation, their mouths frozen mid-speech. Wordlessly, she let her presence dampen the conversation. After those who noticed her finished her play, she cleared her throat and retorted, “Quiet!” She tapped a hoof and wagged her tail. “They need to learn , Starlight,” she could almost hear Twilight say. “If they are not in class, they are not learning! Imagine if many were… late ?!” In her head, she could see Twilight giving her a final lesson as an alumnus. The lesson of “I have to be firm sometimes”. For some reason, it was just her writing thousands of lines of “I won't let my students skip class”. As much as it was probably best for her to let them off the hook, she would need to hold them for the rest of class time. It wouldn't be long anyway, there were only twenty-five minutes left in class. Snorting, she gritted her teeth and internally complained, “Why, Twilight? Why did you only give me three substitute teachers? You couldn't fill in the rest of the Pillars? Was Star Swirl too busy sniffing out a resurrection spell or something? She moaned. If this went on much longer, she would have a headache before long. While Starlight was grateful that Twilight had convinced some of the Pillars of Equestria to help, she was still understaffed. Also, the Pillars weren't ideal. Mistmane spent a lot of time napping instead of teaching. Despite his young mind, his old body demanded rest. Flash conducted his classes generally like old-school military drills. More than once, ponies or other creatures came out screaming when they were done. If they could move, that was. This also depended on the Flash not lusting after Somnambula, as they often taught together. Shifting her gaze from one student to another, Starlight grunted, “Now , if we are finally done, can we go back to Clover the Clever?” A round of exasperated gasps found her. She smiled. It was more or less what she expected. When she opened her mouth, the bell for the half hour before the end of the day rang. The mass of students instantly begin packing up materials with the clear intention of withdrawing. Starlight waits for them to put the materials in their bags and when they are ready to leave she says in a loud voice "Something really bad happened today" All the students now, curious, sit up straight, facing Starlight, of course the sign would make them more alert but the students had an idea of ​​what Starlight would talk about, it was the most talked about topic of the day, nothing that the discipline of gossip can't to do. "Three students from the Class C basketball club have filed a complaint against Soul glow. They allege that after practice, soul glow attacked and injured them and left without a scratch." Soul glow, a blue earth pony, brown eyes and black mane slams its hoof on the table, brow furrows and keeps its body avant-garde leaning forward and speaks, its voice conveying injustice "It was self-defense! Legitimate!" he palm up "It was envy that I became the starter, then they came to fight!" "There's no evidence of that." said Starlight, keeping the same tone as when she started talking. She notices the stallion open his mouth, as if his base has been broken. "It would have been a different story if there had been a witness." He turns his head downwards, as if the floor of the floor is interesting, she is trying to remember that at the time of the fight there was some witness. "Guys!" says a unicorn getting up, addressing the class "Has anyone seen the Soul glow fight? Does anyone know anything about it?" Total silence in the room, Soul glow looks at his colleagues, trying to see if anyone from his class saw the fight but no one says anything, they just content themselves with looking at the wallet. Starlight says with her eyes closed "Tomorrow, there will be a meeting with the C class" she opens her eyes "Depending on what this happens, there may be changes and disciplinary measures for Soul glow." <><><><> After another end of class Starlight heads behind her desk, waiting for most of the students to leave. After all the students have left, Starlight gets up and when she reaches the doorway she stops, as if she's forgotten something. She turns her head back and using her magic, turns off the light No remedial action this time She was walking to her private office,that there was nothing private, a kind of "place does everything" as she called it, because it was there where some social workshops operated, it was her office, and even a kind of clinic. Funny, the door to this room used to say "Councillor" and now it says "Principal" Starlight will always feel a little proud of this little change in the sticker on one of the school's many doors. Before entering her office, she couldn't help but notice the blue earth stallion, it was one of the students in the flash class. He was clearly waiting. He had been in a fight recently, by the way, today will be the meeting to find out what happened. Starlight stops in front of him, immediately the stallion becomes more reclusive, and looks at the ground "Before we go to the board to see your case I have to check the agenda, matter of 1 minute" Starlight effortlessly teleports a small notebook and before it drops to eye level it is already open, on the page she wanted. She, before opening it, had a mental image of her schedule, according to her calculations, she had completed all the tasks and what she should do from now on until the weekend, with the exception of the blue stallion, nothing stressful. Starlight was right but until she read half of the small sheet, she had a notation that wasn't long. She read"Clinical follow-up to Brannam Axelson" was written in black and had a note written on the side written in red"EXTREMALY SPECIAL CASE" She remembers Dylan's insistence on helping Brannam perfectly well, she was very persistent about prioritizing his case, she wanted him to come here several times a day, it seemed like Dylan wanted a 24/7 vigil for the new human, Starlight wasn't sure if she would agree to have him committed using one of the student rooms. It couldn't be that serious the situation of it, right? Perhaps the human who put Raibown Dash on a stretcher is seriously suffering from some problems. Dylan didn't go into too much detail, just said he'd understand if he read what was written on the envelope, "better read while accompanying it, better to hold on to it" the pony recalls her thought. She frowns, the first meeting between Starlight and Brannam was supposed to have taken place day ago. But she should focus on the pony in front of her, Starlight feels a quick cold air pass through her belly as she notices it left him waiting for a while "Well Soul glow, I recommend that you enter, I have to save the schedule" The stallion nods his head and when he enters, through the small gap there was when Soul glow opened the door, Starlight quickly saw the silhouette three heads turning to face who was entering, they were from the basketball team of class C, after Soul Glow closed the door behind him, only Starlight remained in the hallway. There was a nightstand a little further back, which Starlight had to walk over to approach, opening the drawer with her magic, she put the notepad inside. Obviously before entering the room and resolving the post-fight situation, Starlight has to do her "Anti-Outbreak" ritual Starlight looks at the other, hair brushing her withers, slowly closes her eyes, lets the air in through her nostrils, and slowly release the air. Starlight always feels like the stress is gone with the carbon dioxide when she does this process. She looks out the window, taking in the scenery "Why nature is so calming?" "Blind obedience. Pointless exercises" The pony clenches every muscle when she hears a dopey male voice, the fight or flight instinct makes her heart beat a little faster. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a blur, slender but tall, approaching. She turns her body slowly, head down to find the owner of the voice. Sensing that she was heading in the right direction, she lifts her head, forcing a smile just to try to be polite. "Busy?" says the bipedal figure, wearing a cap, pants, boots and blouse. She'd seen Dylan before, but was this human really… unique? She's not sure if it's because she only saw one single human but she has a feeling that the being in front of her is not a human, even though anatomically similar to Dylan, it was at the same time different not knowing how to explain why. "Oh, you were just in time haam..." She looks away and places her hoof on her chin, trying to remember the man's name. "Brannam" he says calmly She puts it in front of her mouth and clears her throat "Mr Brannam, actually was going to see the situation in the council about a fight" she looks at Brannam "Would you like to accompany me? consider this our first appointment" "This isn't a bother for me," shrugging he says, still calm. ----------------- In the council room there was a large rectangular table with its 6 chairs placed one in front of the other, with 3 on the left side and 3 on the right side, forcing the participants to sit facing each other. Starlight had her own chair, it was in a position where she could see all the students. In the chairs on the right side were Soul glow and 2 friends, a griffin and a changeling and on the left side were the three ponies of the basketball team that were attacked, they still had bandages on their bodies Brannam then stands, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and his right foot placed beside his left foot. "Let's now do the deliberations of the violent event" says Starlight "For both sides, I want to be sure which version is the real one." She teleports in front of her a leaf that already hovers at the height of her open eyes. "Sky Shadow and the other three, you all claim to have been called by Soul Glow to a special annex and there he attacked them. Soul Glow denies this. He insists that Sky Shadow was the one who called him there." Still reading she continues "The versions are contradictory. The only certainty here is that the aggressor, Soul glow, attacked Dazzle flash, Colt Ice and Sky Shadow." Soul glow that after the end of the sentence immediately slams its hoof on the table, standing up and tilting its head towards the three accusers "I admit I hit them!" he points the hoof accusingly "But they started it!" "Keeping the discussion about aggression and letting Soul glow free from punishment are both bad options" mentally says Brannam, he tilts his face towards the black equine, the changelling is looking at the wooden table , immobile and mute. Soul continued to say "That's envy because I'm on the list of possible starters! And in training, you guys always get in my way-" "Please silence." Starlight interrupts, Soul glow sits back in her chair. "Without witnesses or evidence, we will proceed on these terms. Acceptable?" The griffin settle down in his chair and the changeling cringes a little but both remain silent. Brannam without breaking his stance, pulls a rock out of his pants pocket, he aims for the chagelling's horn. Silence in the room. Starlight finally puts the paper on the table "It's clear from the injuries that the violence was one-sided." She rests her chin on both hooves "I think I should make my decision based on tha-." She is interrupted by a female scream, coming from the chageling, she has stood up and is looking at the human, asking non-verbally why he had thrown a rock at her head, she had some moisture in her eyes, Lila Night was a person sensitive. Brannam thinks to himself with his eyes closed on his always expressionless face "When someone is unconscious, a physical stimulus brings them back to reality" He opening his eyes says "If you don't fight, you'll end up losing ." Lila Night holds her breath as she realizes he was right, she looks at the three ponies in front of her. "I beg your pardon. I would like to cross-examine the witness, may I?" asks chagelling for Starlight Starlight still with her hooves crossed in front of her chin responds "Can" Lila Night lets out her breath before saying "What was the situation Soul glown called you in? "After Training was over, he said he wanted to talk to me." Reply The Pony Who Had Some Bandages On His Face "And what was Colt Ice doing there? He's not from the basketball club." "I-I wanted security." "Safety?" "Everyone knows how strong Soul glow is!" Soul glow lets out a small 'tcht' and keeps her face scornful, lila night continues "Did you think he might attack you then?" "That's right!" Brannam is still unperturbed even though he already thinks it's a joke "Answer prepared." instant thought about the answers. "Did you bring Colt ice as security?" "Yes, I did it to protect myself!" "Fighting multiple enemies makes combat more difficult" The changelling lets out a sigh. Dazzle flash for a slight moment opens his mouth a little surprised to see his thesis being rebutted "Well... It was because we didn't want to fight!" he says trying to sound firm "If you didn't want to fight and didn't intend to fight back, it's highly unlikely the three of you would get hurt." concludes the equine still standing. Brannam uncrosses his arms and straightens his shirt he looks somewhere a little above the center of the wooden table and mentally speaks "Common sense" with just a turn to the left he is already in the hallway, outside of the room, he endured too much what he considered a theater. When the C-Class representative opened his mouth to speak, Starlight said, still without changing position, "Both sides gave false testimony." she continues "Let me ask you Class C... Can you say your testimony is true?" "Y-yes, of course!" speak Dazzle "What about you, D-Class?" "Certainly" says chagenlling "Then I'll give the verdict tomorrow at 4:00. "If I don't get proof of who's lying, or admission of guilt by then, I'll take it into account until expulsion." She looks ahead and says with a little wave "it's just ." ---------- Starlight, as usual procedure in meetings, waited for everyone to leave for her turn to leave and lock the door. After going through the main gate she also decides to close it with magic, tomorrow she wouldn't have class because it's hallowen. Beyond the vast plain it was already possible to see that the sun was almost ending its setting, the sky turning orange and already getting dark. Upon returning her gaze to her front, she realizes that the human was standing on the lawn in front of her, he was facing her direction but had his head turned to the left, seeing the last lights of the sun disappear from the sky. Starlight wonders why he wasn't under the light pole, I don't know, it was everyone's normal attitude. She blinks a few times because she thinks it's strange that she didn't see him coming through the gate. "Are you still here?" Starlight question approaching Brannam. He looks at the pony that had come down the few stairs to meet him. Starlight seeing that the expressionless man wouldn't respond, says with a smile and a little ironic tone "When you helped Lila to compose herself, I thought you had some strategy in mind." Brannam with his usual look in the eye when talking says "I'm not Dazzle or Colt. I have no strategy." The director looks away and speaks as if thinking aloud "So Soul glow was acting recklessly in claiming innocence?" Brannam turns to the side, toward where the sun has set. Starlight didn't expect an answer but the man says "Winning this is an illusion" Starlight was about to answer but notices that the man started to walk, he didn't seem to want to leave the school because he was walking on the lawn path that had floor. As she follows behind Brannam, Starlight, after a few minutes of silent walking, slightly tilts her head to the side and looks at the human's back and says trying to bring up something "Hmm... If Soul Glow had a witness, it would help quite his case, don't you think?" Brannam says still walking, not making a point of looking at the director "Even if she testified, she wouldn't do much good." Starlight lets out a low growl, barely perceptible in surprise. "The question of whether it was self-defense or not is a trivial detail." As they walk into the now night area outside the school, Brannam continues, "Even if it was self-defense, that's not the root of the problem." Starlight who is about 2 meters behind the man lets out a small questioning with raised eyebrow "ham?" Still walking, he continues, "This type of student is always talking and doing stupid things. They act in a way that ends up generating resentment." Brannam looks at something on the ground in front of him, not taking his eyes off the thing that caught his attention he continues "They make a horrible impression around them." Starlight while listening also starts looking at the ground, looking for what the human observed. The moon this night did not want to emit its lights. Even with the streetlights it was still hard to see small objects on the ground, especially for untrained eyes like the pony. Brannam stops walking when she approaches the bark resulting from the shedding of a cicada's skin, she was on her back, part of her right wing had been ripped off by the ants present. "Let's say there was a murder. There are two suspects. One has killed in the past. The other is full of virtues and follows the law." The ants gather under the broken wing and manage to lift it and lead it to wherever the anthill is. Brannam now losing interest in the dead creature-how can a being still be considered a "being" after death? banishing the question from his mind, he starts walking again "Who would you believe?" Starlight who is still behind Brannam is looking down at the ground towards the human's heel "On those who walk within the law, I guess." "Maybe it's not true." He promptly replies "But with so little evidence, people end up making decisions on what they know." Starlight looks at Brannam's back "Are you saying that Soul glow ended up being a victim of its own behavior?" After realizing that Brannam wouldn't answer her question she says looking at his back that slightly rose and fell as he walked "But I still think he needed to say something" she drops her gaze again to the human's heel "Is what it means to be a friend." "You must follow what you think is right." says Brannam with his chin always up and eyes staring straight ahead, unless, of course, he sees another carcass. "I don't think it's wrong to do that."