Crime And Punishment
ith no new signs of hostility from River, I was growing nervous. “I still can't believe she didn't do anything to me at breakfast,” I said to Whisper as we trotted across the courtyard to exercise class.
“I know.” Whisper shook her head. “She took my whole tray for herthelf.” She glanced over at me with a warm smile. “Thanks for tharing, by the way.”
I laughed. “You already thanked me, like, a hundred times! It was no big deal.” We were almost to the door now. “And maybe that's all it takes. Maybe if you just stand up to River a little, she backs off.”
Whisper's smile faded. “I with it was that easy. No... I'm thorry Thcootaloo, I'm really thorry... but I just know she mutht have thomthing really ugly planned.”
With that, we walked in through the big arched doorway, and the echoing sounds of rambunctious young unicorns drowned out any hope of further conversation.
Once all the students settled into their seats, Miss Honeydown spoke up from the center of the ring in her soft, clear voice. “Okay, my little ponies. Today we'll be learning the second basic spell any unicorn should know – the light spell.” She closed her eyes and kept talking, obviously in part of a well-rehearsed speech. “The light spell isn't a proper spell at all, actually, and thus is quite easy to execute. You need only focus your magical energy into your horn and not give it any release or any target.” As she spoke, her horn began to glow, slowly at first, but brighter and brighter. “The key to making your light steady and clear is to provide it with a very constant, smooth flow of energy. When you're done, you can turn off your light spell by drawing the remaining magical energy back into yourself.” By now, the deep yellow glow of her horn was the dominant light source in the room. As she completed her short lecture, the light dimmed and went out. “Now, just like yesterday, I'll be going around the circle answering questions–” she looked directly at me “–and helping anypony who needs a little extra assistance.”
I ducked my head low, and my cheeks burned. I didn't even need to look. I could feel the derisive stares of my classmates from all around.
Miss Honeydown discreetly slipped on a pair of sunglasses. “Okay, class, your turn. Give it a try.”
I wondered what the glasses were about, but not for long. A dazzling array of multicolored light shot out from all around the room, more colors and more brightness building up every moment. Many of them flickered, wavered, or sparked, but some of them burned painfully bright. This was Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, after all.
Squinting through the light, I belatedly realized that I should be trying it, too. I concentrated on the feeling of magical energy; it began to feel a little familiar. I directed it out to my wings, but nowhere else. Looking back at my wings, I sighed in dejection. They were glowing, but it was hardly even visible in the glare from all the unicorns around me. Well, what about flapping the wings? That always seemed to make my magic work better in the past... As soon as I moved my wings, the glow around them flared up impressively, but it flickered horribly.
A few of the students around me cried out as the strobing light from my wings blinded them. “Aah! Make it stop!”
I cringed and pulled my magic back into myself, and the flashing light from my wings died away. With a pained sigh, I raised my hoof. I hated playing into the teacher's assumption that I would need help, but honestly, I did.
“Yes, dear?”
I had thought of Miss Honeydown as benign and friendly, but by now I could see what she truly thought. She didn't hate me like some others did, but her assumptions about me and her lower standards for me were even more hurtful when it came down to it... especially because they were justified. “I'm having trouble keeping it steady.”
She smiled all too knowingly. “I saw, dear. Have you been keeping the magic flow nice and steady?”
I looked away. The other students were practicing again, most of them holding nice, steady lights... nothing like mine. “I have, but to make it bright, I have to flap my wings.” I ignored River's derisive giggle coming in from my left.
“Well, I don't know much about wings...” She squinted her eyes and brought a hoof up to her chin. “Could you maybe alternate the two, flapping one up while the other goes down?”
I shook my head and stared at the floor some more. “No.”
Her head tilted to the side a little, and confusion crept onto her face. “Why not?”
Wow, she was telling me the truth when she said she didn't know much about wings. Was that ignorance the reason for her attitude toward me? “They... they just don't work that way. They just kind of stay together all on their own.”
“Hm...” A raised eyebrow showed she wasn't quite convinced, but how could she argue after admitting she didn't know what she was talking about? “Well, maybe you could try flapping them slower?”
I shrugged. Well, it might be worth a try. Again, I focused my magic into my wings, and again I began to flap them, but slower this time. The only effect it seemed to have, though, was that the flashes of light were slower, in time with my wing beats. With an exasperated sigh, I stopped again and stared up at Miss Honeydown.
She smiled at me sweetly. “Aw, don't worry, dear. Soon these classes will be over, and then you can be back in the clouds where your kind belongs. Then everything will be okay.”
I plopped back down into my seat, feeling a little sick. The condescension in her voice infuriated and disgusted me all the more because she genuinely thought it would make me feel better. In reality, it made me feel like I'd just been kicked in the gut.
“Okay. You just keep practicing there.” With a twinge, she looked up at a few of the other students. “I need to get to some of the others who need help, but I'll be back for you.”
That wasn't comforting. With a heavy sigh, I channeled the energy again. It wasn't easy, given the thoughts running through my head. Dumb Twilight. What was she thinking, sending me to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns? I was anything but gifted, and definitely not a unicorn. Wouldn't she know how horrible it would be here as the least talented pony in class? Of course not. What would the princess of magic know about lacking magical talent?
I stepped through the lunchroom crowd carefully, carrying my tray of dirty, empty dishes in my mouth. This day had already been exhausting, even though it was only halfway done, so I had made short work of the hay pasta and garlic bread from today's lunch.
Thankfully, lunch had also been bully-free for me. It was a nice change of pace, to be sure.
I wondered if my upbeat feelings had been premature as I saw Lilly Pearl heading for me with a malicious grin on her face, though. She trotted toward me in a rush, her eyes glued to my tray, and my grip on it began to feel very precarious.
Just before the white filly sent my tray flying, a violet hoof slipped out in front of her chest and stopped her in her tracks. My tray was saved from disaster.
“Not yet, Lilly.” River dropped her hoof back down to the floor. “She'll get what's coming to her very soon... just be patient.”
Lilly just shrugged. “If you say so.”
“Soon,” River whispered to me as she backed away, smiling. “Soon.”
I tried to shake the foreboding thoughts out of my head as I resumed carrying my tray to the dishwashers' counter. She was probably just playing head games with me, right? She couldn't do anything too horrible to me and get away with it... I had to be sure of that, at least.
As I dropped my tray down on top of the shiny steel counter where the dishes were cleaned, I saw a few unicorns already heading out into the courtyard for recess. I hurried after them, eager to get some play time in before any of the usual bullies caught up to me.
Only a few ponies were in the yard, and the bin holding the toys was still locked. Still, that didn't mean I couldn't have any fun. I spotted one little group of fillies who seemed to be playing tag, and I trotted up with a smile on my face. “Hey, can I join in?”
They all stopped, and they looked at each other with doubt-filled faces. “Um, well,” one stammered, “We'd really rather you didn't.” They trotted away. “No offense.”
“Oh, yeah, okay... of course.” Well, that was a bust. I looked around again and spotted a pink colt running around. I sprinted up alongside him and flashed him my best challenging grin. “Hey, wanna race?”
He slowed to a stop and backed away. “Well, ah, I don't really feel like racing right now...”
I stood and watched him back away in disbelief. What was wrong with these unicorn ponies? As I turned around, I spotted Whisper coming outside, so I trotted over to her.
Her mane had tomato stains all over it, and she wouldn't look me in the eye.
“Hey, what happened?”
She shook her head and tried to wipe a little more sauce out of her mane. “What do you think happened? River and her freindth dumped my tray on my head.”
I winced. Whisper got the same treatment I had just narrowly avoided... and there was nothing I could do to make it better.
Before I could say anything, the school's bell rang, signaling the official start of recess. Among the rush of young ponies coming out through the door, I spotted River, with her friend Pearl by her side. She headed straight for me, with a predatory gleam in her eyes.
They trotted up to us, and it looked like the other ponies in the courtyard could sense the oncoming storm as well as I could. As River and Pearl stalked in a circle around us, we found ourselves in the middle of a wide open spot where no other pony dared to go.
“Oh give it a rest, River.” I rolled my eyes. “I already told you I'm not scared.”
Whisper, on the other hoof, cowered behind me, trembling. She must have been terrified.
River's horn lit up, and a shiny little red ball floated up to her, surrounded in her magic's violet glow. “Recognize this?” she asked, as she dropped it to the ground next to her.
“Yeah, that's the ball I was playing with yesterday.” I raised an eyebrow and looked at her out of the corner of my eye. This didn't make much sense. “What're you gonna do, steal it from me? You already have it.”
A savage grin spread across her face. “I'm going to do this.” With a back hoof, she gave the ball a solid kick, sending it flying off towards one of the school buildings. The sound of breaking glass came back in answer.
I looked over to where the ball went, still unsure what was going on. Just as I spotted the broken window, the Headmaster's face popped out through it.
The Headmaster stared out at me with a deepening frown on his face and a rage-filled glint in his eyes. Too late, I noticed River and Pearl pointing their hooves at Whisper and me. Several other ponies around us joined them.
My eyes widened in sudden realization of what River just did to me.
The Headmaster disappeared from his broken window and reappeared – shockingly quick – through the front door of the building, levitating a little whistle with his magic. As soon as he stepped out, he blew a piercing shriek on the whistle.
All the ponies who had been playing froze, and a still silence overtook the whole courtyard, broken only by the sound of a ball bouncing to a halt.
“You two.” The Headmaster's voice wasn't loud. It was cold and stark in the sudden hush. “The blue filly and the pegasus.” I could already feel the cold sweat breaking out as his frosty glare bored into me. “In my office. Now.”
I walked toward the building as he disappeared inside, keenly aware of how every eye in the courtyard stared at Whisper and me. Silence smothered the whole courtyard as everypony watched the two of us gingerly trodding our way to the door as if we were two condemned prisoners on our way to the gallows. That's what it felt like, anyway. Now I knew the full extent of River's plan, and I was trapped in it. No way out.
I nudged Whisper with a hoof and smiled weakly at her as we stepped in through the door. When she looked back at me though, I could only see fear and anxiety in her face, nothing reassuring.
Down the empty, echoing hall, the Headmaster's door already stood open. Whisper shot me another worried glance and with a gulp, walked up to it. “Headmathter, thir?”
A moment of silence passed as Whisper sweated in front of that foreboding door. “Ah, Night Whisper? I'll speak with each of you privately. Please tell the pegasus to wait outside.”
Whisper glanced over at me, looking to see if I got the message.
I nodded and let out the breath I had been holding. Reluctantly, I made my way to the wooden bench waiting for me in the hallway. I settled into the harsh, uncomfortable seat as well as I could, and watched Whisper disappear inside.
Voices percolated through the closed door, but they were too muffled to understand, which left me alone with my thoughts. It was the first time I had actually been alone since I left Ponyville, though the immense looming quiet of the hallway, the uncompromising wood of the bench beneath me, and of course, the reason I was here in the first place all conspired to make it anything but relaxing. I wished Rainbow Dash could be here with me, or Cheerilee. They would know what to do. Or maybe Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They might not have been able to help, but at least they would make me feel better. We had been in trouble worse than this together so many times; this would feel like nothing. As it was, though, I had to face it more alone than I had ever been since I lost my parents, and I was too young to even remember that.
Whisper was my friend, sure, but I couldn't exactly count on her, and who else would look out for me? Nopony. I couldn't even–
With a soft click that would have been impossible to hear anywhere other than this silent, empty hallway, the doorknob turned. It opened, and Whisper slowly walked out. It was normal for her to not be able to look me – or anypony else for that matter – in the eye, but now she wouldn't look at me at all. She hung her head low and looked away as she slank away down the carpeted hallway. She never said a single word.
Before Whisper disappeared down the hall, the Headmaster's voice called out from the open door. “Come in.” It still retained an icy hardness.
With a chill creeping down my spine, I rose up from the bench and made the long trip across the hall and into the Headmaster's office.
Inside, the air stood perfectly still, despite the gaping window. Little sparkling shards of glass littered the plush red carpeting on the floor, and a shiny red ball sat on the dark, glossy desk, right next to the embossed brass nameplate reading: Herald Dust, Headmaster, Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Magic Kindergarten division.
I gulped and looked up at the looming face of the Headmaster. His cold glare was even less welcoming than his dark, stuffy office. “Sit,” he said, motioning toward the chair across from his desk.
As inconspicuously as possible, I climbed into the simple wooden chair.
The Headmaster adjusted his glasses and set a hoof on top of the ball sitting on his desk. “Now, would you care to explain this?” His eyes pierced into me over the rims of his glasses.
Explain it? I could hardly breathe. Still, I couldn't let River get away with such a dirty trick without a fight. “That's the ball River Star kicked through your window.”
The Headmaster just sighed and shook his head. “Are you sure that's what happened, young pegasus?”
I couldn't back down now. “She's trying to blame it on me so I'll get in trouble.”
“Young mare, I will not have such talk in this office!” I shrank down into my seat as he finally allowed some heat into his voice. “Your friend Night Whisper already told me everything, so there's no point in lying.”
“She... huh?” I couldn't believe it. Why would she say something like that? “But that's not true. I really didn't do anything!”
He shot up from his chair, bracing his hooves on the desk in front of him, and towered over me. “Are you seriously insinuating that I should believe that two unicorns – my own daughters – as well as several of your classmates are all lying because one troublemaking pegasus says so?”
I glanced side to side, trying to find some way to escape this unicorn's fierce gaze. There was none, of course. “Um, yes?” I winced. That sounded weak even to me.
He sat back down, growling disgustedly. “As soon as you came here, I knew some damage to the school was bound to happen with a rough-and-tumble pegasus around... but I was prepared to accept that. 'At least she isn't an earth pony,' I thought. Turns out, I was wrong. Apparently, nothing is worse than a pegasus! Trying to blame your mistakes on your classmates and my own daughter, the nerve!” He shook his head. “I only warned Whisper to be more careful next time, as a reward for her admirable honesty.” His eyes zeroed in on me. “You though... Your brazen lying brings discredit upon you, your kind, and worse, it brings dishonor to this school. You will be reprimanded.”
I let out a heavy sigh and sank into my chair as he paused, presumably thinking up a suitable punishment. So much for defending myself. I should have known he wouldn't believe me.
He looked up at me again, over the rims of his glasses and smoothed down his mustache. “For the remainder of your time here at the school, rather than joining the other students at recess, you will be helping the kitchen staff clean up after the meal and prepare the next one.”
My resulting groan brought the first smile I'd ever seen on his face.
Standing up and walking around to the side of the desk, he leaned against it with one hoof. “You won't last long in this school with the moral quality you have displayed thus far. Another incident like this, and I will be forced to dismiss you from the school, no matter who sent you here. Do I make myself clear?”
I should have felt outraged, indignant, defiant... instead, I felt only the hollow emptiness of defeat. “Yes, Headmaster.”
“Good.” He raised an eyebrow at me, tilting his head a little. “I understand you're sharing a room with my daughters. You would do well to learn from their fine moral example.” He waved toward the door. “You are dismissed.”
“While zebra magic tends to center around the making of potions ... griffons are not known to possess any magical ... which is what results in the unusually long lifespans of most earth ponies...” The magic theory lessons were especially hard to pay attention to today. My mind kept wandering back to the events from recess, or forward to guess what helping in the kitchen would be like. “ ...And that's how pegasus magic interacts with the weather patterns...”
I shot up, my attention suddenly focused back on the lecture. “Pegasus magic? How does that apply to me?”
Missus Primrose glared at me from her position at the front of the room. The way her mane was tied up in a tight bun stretched and attenuated the thinly veiled loathing in her eyes. “I will thank you, young mare, to not disrupt the class further.” It was the first thing she had said to me – ever. Progress of a sort. “You wouldn't want me to have to send you to the Headmaster's office, would you?”
I shrank down into my seat. No, I definitely didn't want to go back there.
“Very well. Now, the next interaction class I would like to cover is unicorn-dragon interaction. The best known form of this is dragon's breath letter sending. This works by connecting with the dragon's inherent affinity to the element of fire. While most unicorns would send a letter to a dragon by magically igniting it, this is, in fact, not necessary. Because of this elemental connection, it is only necessary to levitate the letter, think of the intended recipient, and consume it with any fire, magical or mundane. Similarly, a unicorn's interaction with sylphs centers through the element of air. When a sylph...”
Well, that was interesting... and useful! I never guessed that sending letters to a dragon could be so easy. That could be very useful indeed. Maybe I didn't have to be so alone here after all.
I bent over my homework for the day in the flickering candlelight of my room. Having not paid much attention during the day, it gave me a particularly hard time.
Once again, an incomprehensible question forced me to crack open the textbook and search for the answer. This had to be the least fun place in all of Equestria.
I glanced up at River's bunk. No sign of movement there. Hopefully she was already asleep. As quietly as I could, I took out a fresh sheet of paper and began penning a letter to Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, via Spike.
Maybe if they knew what I was going through here, they could do something about it and make this whole magic kindergarten thing into what it was supposed to be. I scribbled furiously, pouring all my frustration onto the page.
River's bedsheets rustled. She hopped out and eyed Whisper and me.
I froze. There was no hiding it now. If I tried to hide it, she'd see me and only want to see it more.
“Let's check and see how my servants are doing...” She leaned in over Whisper's shoulder, looking at her notes. “Good, good...” When she reached my side of the desk, though, she frowned. “What is this?”
I winced. She was never supposed to see it.
She pulled the half-finished letter out of my hooves with her magic and began reading it. Soon, she turned to me with a menacing glare. “I will not put up with a lowly pegasus saying things like that about me!” The letter suddenly shredded into tiny pieces under the violet glow of River's magic. “And I will not put up with this from you. You get back to my homework like you're supposed to and quit writing letters. Or else. I don't think you want another taste of punishment, do you?”
I just glared at her.
“That's what I thought.” She slicked her hair back with a hoof. “Now, I'm going over to Pearl's room to hang out with some ponies who aren't as horribly lame as you two.” She trotted to the door, her head held high.
“But you're not allowed to go into other ponieth' roomth.” Whisper turned to look in River's direction.
“Oh, and are you going to do something about it, Worm?” River stared her down. “You know better.”
Whisper lowered her head and went back to work on the notes.
“That's what I thought. Now, finally, I'm out of here.” She stepped out through the door, slamming it behind her.
I shook my head and went back to writing my letter. It was my only hope that anything would get better.
I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to concentrate on both things at once. I had to keep my wings going, holding my letter aloft with my shaky magic, and I had to keep my recipient in mind, the little dragon Spike, far off in the Griffon Kingdoms with Twilight Sparkle. If I faltered in either one, this letter would burn up uselessly... like my last two attempts.
Carefully, I moved the letter over to the flickering candle's flame. I ignored Whisper's concerned look. For this, I needed total concentration.
The little flame flared up and consumed my letter, but the flames turned green as it burned. That was my sign that the message sent successfully. The smoke from the letter shimmered and sparkled and raced through the crack in the door, on its way. Now I only needed to wait.
I glanced to the side at Whisper. She still sat scribbling notes for her adoptive sister, her frizzy blue mane bobbing just a bit as she wrote. If she had taken issue with my letter sending activities, she wasn't saying anything about it. Shaking my head, I turned back to my own work. I couldn't imagine putting up with River's petty tyranny for even the few days of magic kindergarten, but this little filly had been with her for years. How was it even possible to endure somepony like River Star for that long?
As if in response to my thoughts, River burst in through the door, stomped over to her bed, and jumped in. Mere seconds later, a heavy snore gushed from the top bunk. I groaned. Doing this double-duty homework was difficult enough without that distracting noise, not to mention the damage it would do to my sleep schedule.
Drooping my head and sighing out my disgust, I picked up the quill again. These elemental interaction tables weren't going to do themselves – twice. With a smug grin, I drew another line into the diagram, proud that I had remembered what the teacher said about the lightning exception to the general fire and water interaction rules. Before I could copy it to River's sheet, though, a plume of green smoke snaked its way in under the door and swirled over my head. I dropped my quill just in time to lunge up and catch the falling scroll, setting it down on our desk.
This time, Whisper definitely was paying attention. She turned around in her seat to stare at me with wide open eyes. “You did magic? Without permithion?”
“Ugh, Whisper,” I whined, “you didn't tattle on River when she did it.” I looked her in the eye. “You aren't going to rat me out, are you?”
She looked away, unable to meet my gaze. “Well, no.”
“Good.” I gave her a warm smile. “Us two have to stick together.”
She looked back at me then, and while her smile wasn't as big as mine, it was just as warm. Whisper might not have been much help against River, but I was still glad to be able to call her my friend here. She leaned over to stare at the rolled-up scroll. “Who'th that from?”
I grabbed the scroll and opened it, a sly smile on my face and a beaming pride in my heart. “It's from a friend of mine.” I glanced at Whisper through the corner of my eye. I wanted to see her reaction. “Twilight Sparkle.”
Whisper just looked confused for a moment, squinting her eyes and cocking her head to the side, but a second later, her eyes shot open wide. “No! The Twilight Thparkle?” She just stared at me with her mouth gaping open. “You know the Printheths?”
I giggled a little at her reaction. I couldn't help it. “Yep, the Twilight Sparkle.” I spread the scroll out on the table. It was good news. This would change everything. “And it says here that she's going to write a royal decree to the school's headmaster to put a stop to the bullying!”
A true smile blossomed on Whisper's face, and joy augmented the shock in her eyes. “Really?”
“Yep. He should be getting it any minute now.”
Whisper jittered in her seat. She looked too excited to stay put, and her mane somehow seemed fluffier than ever, but she turned back to the desk and resumed working on the notes, despite rocking back and forth in the chair. For a moment, I wondered what this little blue filly would have been like if she hadn't been repressed by River Star. Perhaps I was getting a glimpse of it now.
Still, I supposed, she had the right idea. There was plenty of homework left to be done. Reluctantly, I turned back to the interaction tables. Now, earth and water in cooperative interaction, what class was that? Before I could come up with the answer, my eyes were drawn to River's extra copy. I probably should make her copy, I supposed, at least until after the Headmaster fixed things. I grinned wickedly as a devious idea came to me. River wouldn't know the difference between right and wrong answers.
I settled into my soft middle bunk with a grin on my face despite the snores still echoing from above. This was the first time in days that I had gone to bed looking forward to the next day. Between the letter and River about to discover her failing grade on the homework, this was shaping up to be the best day yet.