Gasping for air, well not particularly gasping but breathing harshly from the exertion of running all the way from Ponyville back to the schoolhouse. My hooves were heavy as I dragged them past the threshold of the old building and into the hallway that I had been sequestered to nearly an hour earlier. I somehow managed to make it all the way to the door that led into the classroom before I plopped down and tried to stop my legs from trembling. I found that sitting there propped up on my front hooves was actually too exhausting and ended up fully on the ground sighing as I stretched out my legs as much as I could.
Walking seemed like it would be agony right now and running was completely out of the question, but despite the pain and burning I couldn’t get the smile off of my face. Why was my cutie mark a pen and a strange spiral when it should have been a pair of sneakers. Well ponies didn’t have sneakers or shoes for that matter so it would have needed to be...something else. Honestly I was far too tired to try and think of some sort of cutie mark that would correspond with my newfound love of running so I just let my mind drift wherever it wanted to for the time being.
Since the door was still closed and I could hear voices emanating from inside the classroom it was safe to assume that class was still in session and my little walkabout hadn’t been discovered by anypony. Not that I really accomplished anything aside from meeting the one pony that I had really hoped to avoid, and confirming that the book I wanted might in fact exist. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to use any information that I got from the book, or if I was going to even understand anything that I gleaned from it. Now that I thought about it there didn’t seem to be anything useful that I was going to get from the book, but doing nothing just seemed completely unthinkable at the time.
I heard a chorus of laughter come from the children inside the classroom, and guessed that the teacher had made some kind of joke; she seemed like the type to do that. I continued to lie on the ground for a few seconds longer before the sound of many sets of hooves getting out of their desks and moving about alerted me to the fact that class was likely over. With a groan I managed to right myself and gain a sitting position once more just as the door opened and the entire class rushed out of the room as quickly as they could. I was completely ignored as the students rushed hurriedly past and out the door that led to the front yard. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn’t care to run out of the room with the rest of the children; they instead took their time to exit the room and DT even spared me a look that I couldn’t really place as they passed. Steel was the last out, taking even more time than the two before and sighing once he saw me sitting in the hallway.
“Did I miss anything important?” I asked with a smirk.
“You can get my notes, after your detention of course,” he replied, his smirk matching my own.
“Detention? Why do I have detention?”
“Well I don’t know if you have it, but you will probably get it for running off like that.”
Ah shit, did they really find out about that. “Whaaaaat.” Yeah, I knew that I didn’t pull that off in the least.
“Well about twenty minutes after sending you outside she called for you to come back in, and when you didn’t answer she stepped outside to find you not there. Man, she looked really pissed off.” The grin on his face wasn’t the only indicator of how much he was enjoying this. His smug and superior tone was doing wonders for revealing that little fact.
“Damn, I thought she would have left me out here until the end of class. Swearing seems like it would be a big thing around here.”
Steel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose somehow. “We had only three things that we were supposed to do and you already messed up big time. Seriously you couldn’t get through a single day of school. All you had to do was sit there and not say anything for the entire class and you would have been fine.”
“I know dude, but come on. When I figured out that date thing it was just too ridiculous and I couldn’t help myself.”
He put a hoof on my shoulder, and in the state I was in at the moment he probably could have easily pushed me over. “Stay strong my friend, I will try and stop them from leaving for a little bit.” With his piece said he left me behind and continued outside.
I sat there for nearly a minute before I decided that this was stupid and started to get up to follow him out when Cheerilee called to me from inside the classroom “Ash, can you come in here please?”
I grunted as I finally managed to make it all the way back to a standing position. I peered into the classroom and saw that she was sitting at her desk writing something down and not bothering to look up at me. I shuffled as best I could into the room, but it seemed that my legs had started to get stiff and I really regretted not spending more time stretching after what seemed like my marathon run back to the school. I did somehow manage to cross the floor all the way over to her desk where I stood waiting on her to finish whatever it was that she was writing.
She didn’t seem to mind keeping me waiting there, and I was definitely picking up some very pissed off vibes from her. It was probably very difficult being a teacher when students just flat out disobeyed you and ignored your punishments. Thinking on it now it was a really inconsiderate thing for me to do. She probably thought that I didn’t respect her at all, but she couldn't lash out at me like she wanted to do. Of course I could be completely wrong and she might be dealing with some kind of school board at the moment and that’s what was frustrating her.
As I was busy trying to figure out the structure of the Equestrian educational system Cheerilee put her pen down and turned to look down at my small and dirty form. “Ashen Stroke,” well this couldn’t be good, “do you understand why I asked you to step out of the classroom?”
“Sure, I swore in class and needed to be punished so you sent me outside to be by myself for a while,” I said with a shrug.
“No Ash, that isn’t why I asked you to step outside.” She got up out of her seat and stood before me with that kind smile on her face that I found her often wearing. “I needed to have a talk with you about what you said, but I needed to also finish the lesson so I asked you to wait outside until I was done. When I did finish however you weren’t waiting in the hallway were you?”
I looked down at my hooves and scuffed one on the short carpet “No.”
“Where were you?”
“I was outside.” Okay now I was really starting to feel like shit.
“What were you doing outside?” she asked, looking genuinely interested.
“I was running and stuff.”
We continued to stand there for a few more moment before she finally caught on that I wasn’t going to elaborate. “So you understand that what you said was inappropriate, and you shouldn’t have said it don’t you. Can you tell me why it was a bad thing to say?” I had to give it to her, she was doing an amazing job at not sounding condescending.
“Those words aren’t supposed to be said because they make ponies angry and uncomfortable,” that was the established theory behind why cursing is so bad, or at least that is what I had learned.
“Yes, but also we aren’t supposed to say those things because they lower what others think of you. If you heard a pony that swore all the time would you think that pony respectable. Would you think that they were intelligent and knew what they were talking about?”
“I guess not,” I replied reluctantly.
“So I won't hear you saying things like that again will I?”
“No Miss Cheerilee,” Damn this in many ways was worse than if she was yelling, that at least I could blow off easily enough. But since she was being so nice about everything and understanding the shame was nearly unbearable. I hate just letting people down as a rule, and letting somepony as sympathetic as this down nearly brought me to tears but I managed to hold off.
“Now I know that you and your brother have been through a lot. You’ve had to deal with a lot for your age and I can understand where you’re coming from so I’m willing to work with you and be lenient, but you are going to have to meet me halfway Ash. When I ask you to do something I expect you to listen to me, can you do that for me?” I looked up to her and of course she wasn’t angry in the least which just made it all the harder to do anything but just nod dumbly.
“Very good,” she reached onto her desk and pulled off the piece of paper that she had been writing on and handed it to me. I looked it over and immediately I recognized it for what it was.
“Is this a detention slip?” I asked, really astounded that she was actually giving me detention with all that she had just said.
“Yes, you left when I asked you to wait outside and that is not only against the rules, but a dangerous thing for you to do. Nopony knew where you were or where you were going which is a very bad thing. Tomorrow you will be staying and making up the lesson that you missed as well as studying with the other students that will be in detention with you.” Her tone completely changed, and now she was in a completely strict teacher mode, it was almost enough to make me swear once more then and there but I caught myself before I could and simply took the paper.
“So, can I get my stuff and leave then?” I asked, now having fully lost whatever disappointment in myself that her talk had inflicted upon me.
“Yes you may,” she said with all the seriousness disappearing from her voice. Man, she really was really good with kids, good enough to manipulate me easily enough and I liked to think of myself as mature and intelligent.
I stomped my way over to the back of the room where my backpack was waiting for me to pick it up, the weariness in my hooves seemingly gone. I pulled it out of the cubby rather harshly and quickly stuffed the detention slip into it before slinging the pack over my shoulder and heading for the exit.
“Have a good day Ash,” Cheerilee called to me from her desk just as I was about to walk out, causing me to stop and look back to her.
“Have a good day Miss Cheerilee.” Sure I was peeved, but that was honestly no excuse for being needlessly rude.
As he had said he would, Steel had kept the carriage from leaving and it was still waiting outside for me when I exited the building. My day so far had been a blurry mix of so many things that I wasn’t really sure how I should feel about it, but one thing was certain, I was happy that I wouldn’t have to walk all the way back to the rich compound. Melody was there standing next to the open door and waiting patiently for me to limp myself all the way over to litter and slowly climb inside before she did the same as well. She pulled the door closed behind her and we were quickly on our way back to “home.”
“So,” Steel began, “did you end up getting detention?”
“Yes,” I replied a little more annoyed than angry.
“Ha, knew it.”
“You got detention? Whatever for?” Melody asked.
“Skipping,” Diamond said flatly.
“I didn’t really skip. More like I stepped out for a moment and came back later. The teacher and I had a really nice little chat about it but she still wants me to stay late tomorrow. Should I like get this slip signed by anypony?” I asked as I took the piece of paper from my backpack.
Melody lightly grabbed it from me and looked it over for a few moments before replying, “I will make sure this gets to Mr. Rich and he looks it over.” With that it seemed that the matter was over and dropped. We continued to bump down the road for a little while longer before I started to open a whole new can of worms.
“So what time are we meeting up with the CMC?” Steel perked up at me using the acronym. I didn’t recall it ever actually being used in the show, so maybe it was a little bit dangerous to do, but there was likely little harm in it.
“I knew you set that up!” he exclaimed.
“Do you hate me for it?”
“No, but still don’t try and manipulate me into things, I hate it when you do that. Anyways, Applebloom said to meet them at the clubhouse around seven I think so we have a while until then.”
“Applebloom,” Diamond chimed in with a hint of disgust echoing in her voice, “why would you want to hang around her?”
“She said that she had a club for ponies that haven’t gotten their cutie marks yet and I thought that might be fun for Steel. Why, is there something wrong with her?” I replied cooly. I felt this might be an interesting look into why DT and Applebloom don’t get along too well.
Diamond Tiara simply rolled her eyes at my question. “You mean aside from the fact that she is an annoying blank flank. What else has to be wrong with her?” No I suppose not a complex reason, just something childish and shallow.
“Well Steel is a blank flank so I would appreciate you not bad mouthing them,” I said sternly.
“Hey I can speak up for myself,” he protested.
“Of course you can.”
Diamond rolled her eyes once more, she was actually pretty good at that, before crossing her hooves and sitting back in her seat. “Whatever, just know that this will make you total losers at school from now on.”
I just simply shrugged and sat back in my seat as well. I occupied myself with staring out the window and watching the landscape roll by slowly. On the trip back I was allowed to see the opposite side of the road which very much mirrored the other side, but was still pleasant to look at all the same. The wildflowers I had occupied my time gazing at were still waving back and forth in the breeze. I still reeked, but strangely it seemed like nopony else noticed or cared so I decided to not care too much about it since I would be able to take a bath back at the house soon enough.
An awkward silence once again settled over everypony in the litter though I found myself enjoying it. The recovery from my self induced torture was proceeding rapidly and ten minutes into the sojourn back to the Rich Estate I was already feeling much better though the aching in my legs still persisted. I figured that a bath would also help a good bit with that as well and so I really began looking forward to my first bath as a colt. I knew that it was kind of strange to be feeling so excited over a bath that I was going to have but I would be very glad to get all this dirt and grime off myself.
The soft bumping of the two stallions pulling the litter ahead of us started to make me feel a bit sleepy. I tried to occupy myself with my gazing out the window but that came with difficulty. I hadn’t really taken too much notice in the path that we had taken to get to the school the first time around, but this time I tried to keep the route straight in my head. It wasn’t very difficult really since there seemed to only be a single dirt road that led away from Ponyville and we happened to be traveling along it at the moment.
Several dirt paths peeled off of the main road and seemed to lead to various farms and fields sown with crops of all kinds. I recognized vast expanses of golden wheat as we passed a particular field and noted the machinery that was being used by the ponies tending to it. One in particular was riding a large tractor off to the far left where the crop met the treeline and seemed to be reaping a portion of the field though it seemed a little early for harvest to me. I would find out later that part of the crop had been tainted with disease and had to be removed before it spread to the rest of the field.
We also passed an orange orchard on the way back, the trees heavy with their fruit and looking just about ready to drop it at any moment. I think we also passed a cherry orchard but the trees were so far off in the distance that I couldn’t really make out if there was any fruit hanging from them or not. I was unfortunately not able to see Sweet Apple Acres, but I had a strong feeling that it was around here somewhere and when we wanted to go over to the clubhouse later it wouldn’t be too difficult to find. I knew that Diamond Tiara knew where it was but asking her might not be for the best, it was a well known place I was sure so somepony was bound to know where it was at.
The gravel beneath the wooden wheels of the litter began to smooth out ever so slowly as we approached the estate. I was able to see this time the large gate and fence as we came into view of the turn off a mile ahead and a few more minutes later somepony opened up the gate for us without a word and we peeled into the long driveway that led up to the main house which was still out of sight. The hill that we began to ascend seemed to be artificially made and the lawn was impeccable, I didn’t know if they had motorized lawn mowers but if they did I couldn’t see the lines that it would have cut in the grass. Unlike I had earlier this time I noticed the shrubberies that were on either side of the path as we made out slow ascent. They seemed to be organized into three different colors of roses: red, white, and pink, and alternated between those colors in a clear pattern.
We pulled into the drive that circled in front of the house and the two stallions at the front of the litter unhitched themselves and quickly made their way around to open the door for us and stand on either side of it. Melody was the first to actually exit and one of the stallions, I believe he was grey with a red mane, lent her a hoof as she got down and onto the smooth pavement below. Diamond made her way gracefully from the litter as well and proceeded to walk on ahead to the entrance of the house where she was swarmed by three servants who took her things and listened to the requests she had. Steel was the next out and he actually bothered to wait for me to climb out along next to him before we both started to head up the stairs and into the house.
There was no team of servants that came to greet us and make sure that we had a good day at school. “Can I get those for you?” I heard Melody ask from behind us as she motioned to the two backpacks that we were carrying.
Steel quickly handed his over as best he could and I simply unslung it and did the same. The maid placed both book bags on her back and began forward with us towards the main staircase. “Is there anything that you two would like before your fitting in an hour?” she asked.
“Yes actually,” I immediately replied, “where is the washroom I need to really take a bath and get all this gunk off of me.”
“That’s what she said.” That earned Steel a thunk in the back of the head from me, but he looked to think it was worth it.
“The washroom is just upstairs and if you require I will have a bath drawn for you,” Melody replied motioning to the indicated room I could just see on the upper level.
I was about to decline when I realized that I had no idea how the tubs here actually worked here and that my small form might not actually be able to work the controls. “Yes that would be very welcome,” I said in my best imitation of a posh accent which gained a little giggle from the maid before she began ahead of me up the stairs and to the bathroom.
Steel was still nursing his new wound when I turned back to look at him. “What?” he asked.
“Can we not make jokes like that dude, I’ve already gotten into trouble for slips like that and we don’t need you doing it too.”
“Sorry, but it was just too good to pass up. You practically set me up for that one,” he pointed out.
“Yeah yeah, just get your shit together and be thankful that she didn’t get it. At least I don’t think she did. We have a big day ahead of us still so lets not lose sight of what is important,” I said as I began to walk away and head up the stairs.
“And what exactly is that?” he asked as I walked away.
“I don’t know dude. You figure that out, I have a bubble bath to take.”