//------------------------------// // School's In Session // Story: As Sweet As Lavender // by Draconian Soul //------------------------------// The streets of Ponyville were looking to be busy that morning, because it was the first day the little children were going back to school. All the fillies and colts were roaming the walking towards school, ready to meet their old friends again as they exceled to the next grade. Even first timers were eager to meet new faces, happily talking to their parents as they were walked to school. Inside the boutique however, there was less enthusiasm from the little dracony living inside. Lavender sat still moping as her mother prepped her for her first day. “Do you have everything in your backpack?” Rarity asked, curling her daughter’s hair. “Yes mom,” Lavender groaned. “You remembered to pack your glue, crayons, pencils, tissue?” “Yes ma'am.” “Good!” Rarity released Lavender once she finished working on her hair. “So what are the rules when coming back home?” Lavender sighed, annoyed that she had to recite her mother’s rules once again. “Come home as soon as the bell rings unless I have permission to do otherwise. No talking to strangers. No walking off with stallions, mares, zebras, donkeys, yada yada, that I don’t know.” “And if a stranger talks to you?” “Mom!” Lavender impatiently blurted. “I’m just making sure you understand so nothing bad happens to my precious little Lavender,” Rarity stated. “No reason to get all huffy about it young lady.” “Yes ma'am. I’m sorry,” Lavender apologized. “It’s quite alright. Just go get your stuff and wait downstairs with your father. We’ll walk you to school today so you know where to go.” “Okay!” Lavender obeyed beginning to walk off to her room to grab her backpack. “Wait a minute!” Rarity stopped her daughter and grabbed a small cloth with her magic. “I think I spotted a little drool on the side of your face!” Rarity went towards Lavender and began to rub the cloth against her cheek. “Can’t have my wittle princess going out like a drool monster now can I?” “Moooom!” Lavender groaned as Rarity continued cleaning her face. “Almost done.” Rarity kept rubbing the cloth against the little dracony’s face, much to her disapproval. “There! Much better!” “You can’t possibly embarrass me for the rest of my life can you?” Lavender asked, receiving a small chuckle from her mother. “Sweetie, even when you grow up into a nice young lady, I’m still entitled to embarrass you,” Rarity smiled. “Now get your backpack and go downstairs. We’ll take you to school shortly.” “Yes ma'am,” Lavender complied, rushing towards her room to avoid her mother’s OCD habits and grabbing her backpack. She trotted downstairs and headed towards her father, who was sitting in the living room. Lavender jolted a bit when she heard a loud screeching sound. She hadn’t realized that she had stepped on Opalescence’s tail, causing the poor cat’s fur to coil up in pain. “Oh, sorry Opal,” Lavender apologized stroking the cat's fur. Opal knew what was coming next and didn’t want any part in it. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t quick enough to escape Lavender’s grasp, as the dracony grabbed the cat and gave her a nice, strong hug. “Opal, you’re a very cute kitty,” the oblivious Lavender smiled as Opalescence tried to escape her grip, kicking and straining in vain. When Lavender was an infant, Opal attempted to swat at her, only to be scolded by Rarity for her act. Even if she was allowed to swat at the young dracony, it wouldn’t do her any good as Lavender would probably see this as her playing and swat back. So for Opal, it was a lose/lose situation she had to deal with if she wanted to eat. “So, is my little girl ready for school today?” Spike asked, walking in on the one sided cuddling. “No,” Lavender bluntly answered. “I didn’t think you would, but remember what I told you yesterday.” Spike winked at his daughter causing her to bear a wide grin. “OK.” “Now, about Opal, I think you should let her go.” “But why?” Lavender wined stroking the cats head. “She likes it when I hug her!” Opalescence looked pleadingly at Spike, hoping that he could convince the little girl to release her. “While that may be true,” Spike chuckled, “Mommy won’t like it if you have cat dandruff all over you after she just cleaned you.” “Yeah, I suppose you’re right Daddy.” Lavender let go of Opal, much to the cat’s relief, and watched as she scurried away from the rough dracony. “Now, we just wait for your mother,” Spike impatiently added. They waited for the fashion loving pony to get done with whatever she was doing, sharing small talk while they waited. It wasn’t too long before Rarity came downstairs, sporting a big hat with a peacock feather. “So, you had us waiting so you could find yourself a giant unnecessary hat?” Spike taunted as Rarity harrumphed at his statement. “This unnecessary hat dear, will keep the sun off me so I don’t get burned. Not all of us are graced with perfect scales that prevent sunburns!” “Yeah yeah,” Spike wavered off, rolling his eyes. “Now, if there isn’t anything else you need to powder or put on before we go, let’s get our daughter to school.” “Yes, lets,” Rarity agreed, walking alongside her husband and daughter and exiting the boutique. The three walked down the busy streets of Ponyville. The clamor of the little fillies and colts nearly drowned out the voices of everypony else on the streets. “Everypony sure seems excited to go to school,” Lavender analyzed looking at her potential schoolmates. “That’s because they’re eager to make new friends,” Rarity said. “All these little ponies will go off to class and make at least one friend to play with.” “Yeah, everypony but me.” “Now Lavender, I’m sure that you’ll make some friends in school as well.” “Right, and I’m not a dracony!” Lavender droned stubbornly. Rarity sighed in annoyance. “Spike, could you please talk to Lavender?” “What am I supposed to tell her?” Spike asked wondering how he got dragged into this. “Am I supposed to just pretend she isn’t going to have ponies judge her!?” Lavender frowned, causing Rarity to glare at her husband. If he didn’t try to fix the situation he would really be in a rut. “But, those who do judge don’t know what a precious gem you are,” Spike began. “You shouldn’t listen to what those ponies say, because they only want to make you feel bad about yourself.” “Yes Daddy,” “I made pony friends when I was young, and I’m a dragon. A giant, ferocious, fire breathing dragon!” The silly green dragon flared his teeth at Lavender, causing her to laugh at her father’s failed attempt at being menacing. “So, do you feel a little better about school?” Spike asked. Lavender pondered on it for a moment, thinking about what both her parents had told her. “Yeah, I suppose so.” “Well good,” Rarity smiled. “Because we’re already here!” The three walked towards the schoolhouse, watching as newcomers hugged their parents and ran inside. Lavender looked at the pink schoolhouse with slight disappointment. “Something wrong sweetie,” Rarity asked, noticing Lavender cocking her head to the side. “No, it’s nothing. It’s just that this school looks….kinda small. It’s smaller than our own house.” “Well that’s just because it’s a small schoolhouse for new ponies like you,” Rarity explained. “Once you’ve passed at least 3 years here, they move you on to another level, where you go for higher learning. Most of the education will be on certain talents you’re good at.” “Oh, I see.” The school bell rang constantly, signaling the start of the new school year. All of the ponies trotted towards the building, ready to start their new adventure. “Well, looks like school started,” Spike said, stating the obvious. “Now, I want you to be on your best behavior and obey the teacher. If you have a good day today we’ll go for ice cream when you get home, alright?” “Ok Daddy,” Lavender replied, running towards him for a hug. “I love you,” “You make it sound like I’ll never see you again,” Spike laughed. “But I love you too, pumpkin.” Lavender then ran towards her mother and nudged against her affectionately. “Love you Mommy.” “I love you too sweetie. Now head off to class, and have fun!” Lavender walked towards the schoolhouse, ready as she would ever be to tackle the day. Once she entered the building, the couple began to walk back to the boutique. Rarity noticed Spike sighing slightly, looking at him with concern. “You’re still worried about her?” Rarity asked. Spike simply nodded, frowning a bit. “I really hope they don’t give her such a hard time.” “Oh Spike, you’re stressing yourself out over this,” Rarity stated cuddling against him. “It’s going to take more than a couple of school children to dishearten her fully. She’ll find friends there who accept her for who she is, just how I accept you for what you are.” Spike smiled at his lovely wife; it always warmed and comforted him when she stated how their differences didn’t matter. “I’m glad you did. You’re the best thing that happened to me.” “So, what can we do to get my big, burly dragon to stop worrying about Lavender in school?” Rarity said in a lower tone than usual. “Well…your words have already calmed this dragon down,” Spike stated, noticing Rarity wrapping her hooves around him. He flushed slightly at her touch. “Well, that’s nice and all,” she began in a sultry voice. “But isn’t there another way we can ease the tension you might be having?” Spike gulped loudly at her implications. Not trying to jump the gun, he decided to press on. “Wh…what do you mean exactly?” Rarity walked in front of her drake and dragged her tail towards his nose, forcing him to smell the perfume on her. “Well, this will be the first time for about five years that we’ve had legit alone time. Why not make the most of it?” There was no doubt about what she wanted at that point. She giggled lovingly and swayed her hips, hypnotizing Spike into following her to the boutique for what would surely be a good time. *** Lavender became lost in the sea of ponies bypassing her and heading towards their classroom. She found that it would be better to follow the crowd to easily find her way around the small building. One thing that disturbed her was the amount of glares she was receiving by the ponies. The glances ranged from looks of confusion, fear, and what could possibly be malice. She looked towards the ground to avoid looking at their gazes. It didn’t take her too long to find her classroom. Most of the seats were available at the time, so she decided it would be best to claim a seat before the other ponies got there, taking the best ones. She didn’t want to sit directly in the front of the class to avoid attention, and sitting in the back will lead her not to be noticed (though that also wasn’t a bad thing). After quickly thinking, she decided to sit in the middle of the classroom. She sat at the desk next to a blue filly with silver mane, looking disgusted at the fact that Lavender chose the seat. “Excuse me,” she began, “but why did you decide to sit here?” “Because it was an empty seat,” Lavender bluntly stated, causing the snobbish filly to huff a bit. “Well, normally I’d tell you to get up and sit somewhere else, however it would seem the entire class is already here,” the filly scoffed. “Besides, knowing you, you’re probably incapable of obeying orders.” “Wha…” Lavender couldn’t understand this mare at all. Why was she judging her instantly? Lavender wanted to bad mouth her so badly, but remembered what her mother told her: Treat other ponies how you would like to be treated. Even if others are rude, you must act like a young lady and counter their rudeness with politeness. Those words plagued Lavender’s mind like a curse, but if she was going to get her ice cream (not to mention her mother’s secret stash courtesy of her father) she was going to have to be kind. “Well anyways, my name’s Lavender,” she stated extending a claw out. “What’s yours?” “Who wants to know?” “Me. I’m just trying to get to know you!” The silver maned filly haughtily turned away from Lavender and directed her attention to the front. “I don’t know where your grubby paws have been! You probably went rummaging through a dumpster or something before you came here.” “No, they’re clean. I washed them before I…” “My goodness, you can’t take a hint can you! Do I have to spell it slowly for your small brain to process it? I…don’t…want…you…tal….king….to…me!” “I was just trying to…” The filly completely ignored Lavender, instead talking to the colt in front of her and laughing at what he was saying. The dracony brought her claw back in and glared at the blue meanie. “Jerk…” Lavender planted her head on the head on the desk, dreading her decision to sit by the blue pony next to her. She shot a quick glance at the clock to see what time it was, hoping a significant amount of time had passed. Unfortunately, it was only eight o’clock, meaning school was far from over. It was looking to be a long day for Lavender. The ponies made quick haste to start conversations with others. The room was filled with others talking and laughing with one another. Sometimes, the ponies would take a quick glance at Lavender, who stood out more than anypony in the class, and proceed to laugh and talk. Lavender wasn’t sure if they were laughing at her, but she’d rather not find out. The only other pony that wasn’t carrying on a conversation was a caramel tinted colt, sitting in the back seat. Lavender looked back at him, noticing he wasn’t making much effort in trying to be social, much like her. The colt swiftly avoided eye contact with her, looking down every time he was caught sneaking a glance at her. Lavender didn’t know what his problem was, but if it was anything like that of the other ponies, she didn’t want anything to do with him. The chatter calmed down as their teacher walked in. The purple mare with three sunflowers for a cutie mark walked up to the chalkboard and turned towards her new students. “Greetings everypony,” she cheerfully spoke out. “I am your teacher, Mrs. Cheerilee, and I hope to have a fantastic year with all of you. For the sake of remembering your names, the seats you’re sitting at will be your required seat." Lavender groaned. Now she would have to spend the rest of the year sitting next to the stuck up pony. She wasn't looking forward to this. “Now, so we can get to know each other, when I call on you, I want you to come to the front and introduce yourself to the classroom. Is that clear?” All of the students answered in unison, a collective flurry of “yes mams” being said. “Good. Now how about we will start from the front of the class and move on to the back?” Lavender sat and watched as the students were called to the front. Fillies and colts of all different shapes and sizes went up to tell a little something about themselves. Lavender listened to them intently, hoping to learn something and find a friend. After a while, Cheerilee called the blue filly that gave Lavender a hard time to introduce herself. “Greetings class,” she introduced. “My name is Sapphire, and I’m a very social pony. So if you actually interest me, I’ll most likely talk to you.” So Sapphire was the name of the pony that was rude to her. Lavender huffed to herself while she talked and began to mumble under her breath. “Social and friendly my…” “And how about you, the one sitting next to Sapphire?” Lavender looked up as the teacher asked for her attention. She pointed at herself to make sure she was who she was talking about. “Yes dear,” Cheerilee replied. “Why don’t you come up and introduce yourself to the class.” Lavender got out of her seat and walked up to the front of the class, receiving strong malicious glances from Sapphire as she walked back to her seat. Her teacher was smiling brightly at her, but the other students were looking at her with mixed reactions. “So, why not tell the class your name, something about you, and what you like to do.” Lavender stood for a few seconds, kicked at the ground, and began to talk. “Um, my name is Lavender,” she began. “I live with my Mommy and Daddy at the boutique.” “Surprised they didn’t keep a leash on her…” Small giggles from a few classmates filled the classroom, discouraging Lavender to continue. “Class!” Cheerilee called, stopping the laughter. “Go ahead Lavender.” “Okay,” she replied. “Well, my Mommy is a dressmaker, and Daddy is a cool dragon.” None of the class seemed impressed, probably because they’ve heard about her through their parents. “Um, my favorite food is fish and…” “Eww, you actually eat that!?” Sapphire commented. “What kind of pony does…oh wait, that’s right. You aren’t a pony. You’re just some weird mutant hybrid thing!” The classroom proceeded to laugh at the dracony, who started to grow aggravated at them for taunting her. “That is enough!” Cheerilee exclaimed stomping her hooves to the ground. “Another outburst like that and you’ll be the first to have after school detention!” Sapphire closed her mouth and the class stopped their laughter. “You know what,” Lavender said angrily, “I don’t wanna talk about myself anymore.” She walked back to her seat avoiding Sapphire’s glance. The teacher then called on the next ponies to come up and introduce themselves. Lavender found no interest in learning about the class that taunted her anymore, and instead scratched at the desk. She kept at it throughout the introductions, until she saw a piece of paper on her desk. She read it. Look, I’m sorry for embarrassing you in front of the class. It was unnecessary and I shouldn’t have publically humiliated you. Though I think you would understand my concerns. Lavender looked at the piece of paper and then at Sapphire, who handed her a pencil, hinting she wanted her to write on it as well. Concerned about what? Lavender passed the paper back to Sapphire, making sure the teacher wouldn’t see them exchanging notes. Sapphire jotted down some more words on the paper and passed it back to Lavender. Well, your father is a dragon after all. And you know what they say about dragons that live with ponies. What are you talking about? You really are a naive one aren’t you? You know, about dragons and their feeding habits. Daddy eats gems and foods that ponies eat. Do you honestly think that a dragon, one of the most violent creatures in Equestria, wouldn’t eat a pony too? Lavender was starting to get annoyed at Sapphire’s constant negativity towards her father. Daddy would never do that! Are you sure? How do you know he isn’t at home sinking his teeth into your mother right now? Don’t dragons have urges if they aren’t handled correctly? Lavender paused momentarily, knowing that what she was saying was at least half true. Well, yes, but that wouldn’t involve him eating Mommy. Lavender passed the paper back to the blue pony, who was writing down her next statement. Her teacher was still focused on getting all the students to introduce themselves, only covering half of the classroom. Sapphire handed Lavender back the piece of paper. Once Lavender read what the pony had written to her, she was nearly brought to tears. That’s what they want you to think. They tell you that everything’s going to be alright, and then the next thing you know your mother’s all gobbled up and your dragon dad is being executed. Then, you’ll be in a foster home for waiting to be adopted by somepony, and most likely be there for the rest of your life because no one wants to adopt a freaky mutant lizard like you. Lavender’s hands quivered, tears welling up in her eyes. “THAT’S NOT TRUE!” Lavender blurted catching the attention of the rest of the class and the teacher. “AND I CAN PROVE IT!” Lavender hopped out of her seat and ran out of the classroom, racing back home as fast as she could. She didn’t want to be at that building anymore, not if she had to hear and read the hurtful words of the ponies that mocked her. She wanted to prove Sapphire wrong. She wanted to show her that her parent’s loved each other and her father would never try to eat her mom. In a matter of minutes, Lavender rushed back to the Boutique, opening the door and walking in. There was an ambient silence in the house, something unusual to Lavender. “Mom? Dad?” There was no answer. She looked around the house searching for her parents. However, when she looked through the kitchen, living room, and work area, all she could find was Opalescence, who was surprised to see Lavender at the house so early. She let out a confused meow, letting Lavender know she was there. “Oh, hey Opal,” Lavender said quietly. “Have you seen Mommy and Daddy? I need to ask them something?” After asking Opal, Lavender immediately heard a faint, creaking sound coming from upstairs. Wondering what the noise could possibly be, she climbed up the stairs to the source of the noise. As she headed up the stairs, she also began to pick up a mixture of gasps and what sounded like deep, strained humming. “Mom?” The sound seemed to have been coming from her parent’s bedroom. She walked cautiously towards the door and stuck her ear against it. Her parents always told her not to eavesdrop, but the noises sounded so foreign to Lavender. She wanted to make sure her parent’s were safe from any known danger. “Oh, you’re pretty tasty dear,” a familiar voice cooed, giggling. “Daddy?” Lavender was confused by what he meant, but her heart began to race once she heard smacking sounds, similar to the ones he made when he was actually… “Now, how about I take a little bite of my precious goddess,” A bite!! Lavender heard a disturbingly loud cry from her mother, causing her to fear the worst. “Oh Spiiiiiiiiike!!~~” “DADDY, NO!!” Lavender opened the bedroom door, causing the dragon to hop off of Rarity in surprise. “Lavender!” Spike and Rarity flushed deeply, covering their bodies from the startled dracony before them. “Young lady, what in Equestria are you doing out of class!!?” Rarity squeaked, embarrassed that they were caught in the act. “B…but Daddy was trying to eat you!” Lavender shivered as tears were flowing down her face. “Y…you even screamed!” “Tried to eat Mommy?” Spike looked at the startled child in confusion, as Lavender walked cautiously to the bed. “Please Daddy, don’t eat Mommy,” Lavender pleaded. “I know you two don’t always agree…but you don’t have to eat her like a mean old dragon. I don’t want you to get executed and have me sent to a foster home!” As Lavender began to cry more heavily, Spike and Rarity turned to each other and sighed. They were going to have to explain themselves if they wanted to calm her down. “Lavender, Spike wasn’t eating me sweetie.” Rarity explained to the teary eyed dracony. “In fact, what he was doing was, rather nice.” “So…so why were you screaming?” Lavender sniffled, “And why did Daddy say you tasted good?” “Well, you see,” Rarity began, blushing and tapping her hooves together. “When two ponies…or in our case a pony and a dragon…love each other…no wait. Oh goodness, I can’t explain this. Spike?” The dragon dreaded the moment Rarity passed the explaining onto him. “Well, you see honey, this was a game me and Mommy were playing.” “A game?” “Yes, a game only adults play with each other. It’s kind of like….wrestling in a way, only with somepony you’re married with.” “Oooh! So you weren’t really eating Mommy?” “Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Spike chuckled causing Lavender to cringe up again in fear. He received a nice punch in the gut from Rarity for his remark. “Wh..what I meant to say is no! I wasn’t trying to eat Mommy. It was just a little game we played!” “Oh, okay,” Lavender sighed in relief. “Now, what in the world got you thinking your father would eat me?” Lavender explained to her parent’s what was said to her at school and what she had received on paper. The couple frowned at the response they received. “Oh my,” Rarity responded, looking at her saddened daughter. Lavender jumped on the bed and nudged her parents. “Mom, Dad, I don’t want to go back to school anymore.” Spike patted Lavender’s head softly. “I know sweety. However, you can’t skip school no matter what was said to you. Once we take you back to school, we’ll talk to your teacher about that.” “Yes sir,” she said disheartened. “So, am I not going to get any ice cream now?” “Honey, we’ll still go out for ice cream after school,” Rarity reassured planting a kiss on Lavender’s head. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Now if you excuse us, Spike and I have to clean up after our…game.” “Yes ma'am,” Lavender softly sighed, jumping off of her parent’s bed and walking to her room with her head hung low. She sat on the floor sniffling, repeating the events in her mind. You aren’t a pony. You’re just some weird mutant hybrid thing! No one wants to adopt a freaky mutant lizard like you. Mutant. Freak. Lizard. Those three words repeated themselves over and over again. Opalescence climbed up the stairs and walked into Lavender’s room. Noticing the saddened dracony, the cat walked towards her, nestling against her side. “Opal, you don’t think I’m a freaky mutant lizard do you?” Lavender asked on the verge of more tears. Opal attempted to console her by rubbing against her and purring softly. Lavender rubbed Opal’s head tenderly while sniffling, not anticipating the new school year.