The More Interesting Part
By: Emily_Is_Bunnii
As they continued their walk, Emmaline noticed that they were going the route she takes to get home. Then she realized what time it was. “Oh my gosh! It’s like… Eight o’ clock! My mom is going to kill me… I was supposed to be home at six. I hope she understands…” Zee looked at Emmaline and asked why she had to be home so early. “Well my farm is covered in leaves and I was supposed to help mom out. I hope she didn’t try to do it herself. I feel awful!” Zee thought for a second and asked to see if he could help. “No, I wouldn’t ask that of you! We only just met…” Zee turned Emmaline towards him and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Emmaline, its fine, I love to help people, no matter how early I just met them. If your mother allows it, I’m helping. Do you only live with your mom?” Emmaline nodded. “If you don’t mind me asking, where is the rest of your family?” Emmaline never really talked about this much. She felt uncomfortable talking about it. Only because she hadn’t said anything about it for a long time, not because it was him she was telling. “Well, my Dad took custody of one of my little brothers, and my other little brother… He likes to go over to friends’ houses a LOT. He’s pretty much never home, and when he is, he’s in his own little world. … So pretty much it’s just me and mom.” Zee nodded compassionately, and said “Well if you ever need anything, I’ll be here for a while to come. Okay?” He asked with a smile. Emmaline smiled back and nodded. So off they went, to Emmaline’s farm.
…
SunnySide welcomed the help full heartedly, being very happy that Emmaline made a new friend. All three of them had a good time, picking up the leaves and occasionally tossing them at each other. At some point, Zee and SunnySide picked up Emmaline and threw her into the pile of leaves, lightly scattering them around but getting itchy leaves all under her cloak and in her mane. She didn’t mind one bit- She was having fun!
It got late, and Zee went home, but not after having one more lengthy conversation with Emmaline. They both stood at the end of the drive, looking at each other for a while until Zee broke the silence and said “Well… All I can say for now, is I’m very glad I met you. I had a wonderful day, getting things done, having an enjoyable day, and meeting a very special pony, and one that I look forward to talking to again!” Emmaline blushed, and gathered the courage to say “Well I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you too. It’s not very often that such a stallion like you comes around, and I’m so glad that I got the chance to meet you.” Zee had never been called a stallion before, and he started to blush, tinting his face a bright red. He looked down and laughed a bit before saying “Oh... Well, thank you. I’m glad I made you happy. I’ll make it a goal to continue making such a pony happy.” Zee looked up when saying this, gazing right into Emmaline’s eyes. They stared at each other a bit, and then the tower bell rang, signaling a sort of curfew. Zee realized that he had to go.
Emmaline lifted a hoof to shake his, but Zee grabbed her hoof and pulled her close. He stood up on his hind legs and lifted Emmaline with him, giving her a very large hug. They let go and Emmaline’s heart about burst. It was one of the first times a pony of the opposite gender hugged her, other than her father on short occasions. They smiled at each other and Emmaline said “Well, I’ll see you later then.” He nodded and said “Definitely. Bye Emma.”
“Bye Zee.” Emmaline watched at Zee opened his wings and started to slowly move them up and down to get some leverage going. He turned around after one last smile, and started to jog while flapping his wings and flew off into the darkening sky. His wings were a lot wider than they looked when folded. Keeping this in mind, Emmaline continued to watch him until she couldn’t see him anymore. She looked down at her own wings, and stretched them as far as she could. She had never really learned to fly yet. Seeing Zee fly with such amazing wings made her feel inferior. She already felt like that.
So Emmaline went back up the drive, laying herself down to sleep after saying goodnight to her mother. SunnySide put a hoof on Emmaline and told her to wait. “Yeah mom?” Emmaline asked. “Well, about that boy… Zee, was it? Where did you meet him, he’s such a nice boy! You said he was from Canterlot, but why was he down here in little old Ponyville?” Emmaline brightened up a bit and told her mother of the events of going to Applejack’s farm to actually get some help with the leaves. “I admit, there was that sense of awkwardness around but we really got along as soon as we really started talking. He had asked me to give him a tour of Ponyville, and eventually we ran into Pinkie Pie…” SunnySide became wide eyed, knowing how Pinkie Pie was with newcomers. “But all around, I had a good day. Not so much at school, but Zee made that better. A lot better... He wants to hang out with me again tomorrow, do you mind?” Emmaline asked. “Well no, I don’t mind. Just tell me if you’re going to be out so late again, alright my little Bunn?” Emmaline nodded. “Great! Now goodnight sweetie, sleep well. Maybe tomorrow we can wake up a little bit earlier…” SunnySide trailed off into a thought process of some kind. Emmaline wasn’t really paying attention, and neither was her mother. Emmaline walked up the stairs of her small little ranch, and went into the very last room. She shut the door, took her cloak off, and lied down.
The next day, it was a normal school day. They learned a bit on how exactly to make a good sentence, and how to use the word ‘because’ correctly. At first she couldn’t focus because Emmaline didn’t even wear her cloak that day. To be honest, she forgot it but when she got about halfway is when she realized it and just sort of went with it. It was too late to turn around anyway. What difference did it make really?
But during break, she started thinking about other things than the English language, like Zee. She remembered how graceful his wings were, and how much she just wanted to cuddle up underneath them…
Then she heard a loud ‘swish’ sound right in front of her face, and looked up to see one of the Pegasus ponies trying to get her attention. “Well finally she actually moves. What’s wrong, frozen in fear? Where’s your little super cape today, Blankie? Did you think we would forget? Well don’t worry about that, how about some fresh new wounds??” The Pegasus grabbed Emmaline’s wings, and tugged really hard. He dragged her up really high, and Emmaline, not wanting her wings damaged, tried to flap her wings too. She somehow managed to get out of his grip, but her wing base was already sore because Emmaline had never really flown. It showed.
Emmaline couldn’t keep her balance so high up. She was terrified of heights, let alone when she is brought against her will. She accidentally looked down and things went downhill from there… Literally. “Oh look, how surprising. The little twerp can’t fly, like every other Pegasus. How long have you lived in your little cave again, Blankie, longer than Granny Apple’s whole life? It sure seems like it!” All the earth ponies below them were laughing at poor Emmaline. She’s been bullied before, but not this badly. She tried to lower herself down without hurting herself or anypony else, but the rude pony who got her into this lifted her back up by using her mane. “Don’t even try to get yourself out of this. Maybe I can help you get your cutie mark. Maybe you’re special talent is being a back drop, huh? Just one of those insignificant ponies that nopony else really cares about. Or, I don’t know, you could be like one of those lame little fillies and join the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Such a fittingly lame ‘hobby’ for such a fittingly lame pony.” This same pegasus spun Emmaline around in the air, and backed up leaving Emmaline alone and dizzy. She accidentally looked down again, except this time she couldn’t see the ground clearly. All she knew is that things were moving, she just couldn’t tell in what direction.
Next think poor Emmaline knew, she was on the ground and very dirty. While her short flight, and her distortion, some other pony got a bucket of water and as soon as Emmaline hit the ground, that pony poured this bucket all over her causing the dirt beneath her to turn to mud instantly. Her ears were ringing, but the laughter of all the other ponies increased in volume drastically. She looked up and around, and saw every pony in her class staring at her, laughing their tails off. Emmaline has never been hurt so badly, physically and emotionally. She got up as soon as she could handle, and darted off pushing as many ponies as she could. She could feel the dirty looks layering upon her already muddy coat, but it didn’t matter. Emmaline knew that she did not deserve this. Yeah, she was different. But she was a pony, just like them.
Emmaline didn’t go back to school, even though it was only around twelve. She started for home. She kept her head down, but her mane gave off who she was immediately. It made no difference. She still felt the stares, and she felt the pity that circled through all these other ponies’ minds. She didn’t want pity. She wanted empathy. She wanted someone to help her.
Emmaline, having her head down, didn’t know where she was going. All she knew was that she was fortunately on dry ground, and on the road. She turned a corner and bumped into a pony. She looked up to say she was sorry, and saw black and white. “Oh my lord, Emma! What happened to you? Why are you out of school so…” Zee’s face of worry turned to realization, and disappointment. “Emma… Who did this?” Emmaline just looked at him, and looked back down at her mud caked self. “Just some… Just a jerk. I don’t actually know who exactly it was, all I know is that he just...” Emmaline was getting upset, and tears were now swelling down. Zee wrapped a front hoof around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll make sure they don’t do it again, whoever it was. Come on, let’s go to your house to get you cleaned up. And then we’ll be able to talk about it, alright?”
He let Emmaline go, and she nodded still looking at the ground. Zee lightly pulled her head back up to where she was face to face with him and said “Emma, please keep your head held high. I don’t want you to be so upset that it weights you down. Nopony deserves that.” Emmaline smiled, knowing that his words were genuine. They galloped to Sunny Field Farm. When they got there, they both walked inside and SunnySide immediately dropped her bouquet of flowers and ran to Emmaline. “Emmaline, my poor honey bun! What did those terrible kids do to you? Oh I will make sure that every single one of them who even SMIRKED at you in this state will be at the very least given some very strong words! Are you okay?” Emmaline looked up at her mom and said “I’ll tell you about it once I take a shower, alright?” SunnySide was taken aback from such a blank, straightforward answer. She actually expected her daughter to do what any girl would do- seek solitude in any and every person who even looked at her!
Emmaline walked off, sliding herself upstairs and into the bathroom. SunnySide turned to finally realize that Zee was there. “Oh! Hello Zee… Sorry I didn’t see you there at first. Uhm… Do you know what happened?” Zee shook his head no, and said “All I know is that she’s literally hurt. Her wings were twitching. She told me it was one certain pegasus that started it all, and I had told her to clean up and refresh herself before going into such detail. It’s never a pleasant experience to stay in the state you’re in while describing what happened. It clears your mind to restart a bit, appearance wise.” SunnySide nodded, and a stream of surprised and approving kind of thoughts went through her head. ‘He helped her get home. I like how he cares so much already…’ SunnySide grinned at Zee and asked “Would you like something to eat, or drink? I can make some really good sweets for when Emmaline gets out of the shower.” Zee’s stomach growled with perfect timing and volume, and laughed as he said yes. SunnySide made Emmaline’s most favorite sweet – Chocolate!