//------------------------------// // 05 // Story: Son of Man, Daughter of Pony // by Marvelous Cheshire //------------------------------// Melody blinked as she felt someone poking her in her side. “Hmm?” She glanced over to find Marcus giving her a confused look. “You okay? You’ve been drifting in and out of sleep since you sat down.” He gestured to the stage. “You slept through most of the principal’s speech.” She yawned before rubbing her eyes lazily. “Sorry, tried to take nap earlier but got preoccupied by my roommate dragging me to the principal to… “discuss” the decision to place us together.” “That bad?” Marcus asked with a slight wince. “You have no idea,” she grumbled, moving her hands to rub her temples. “Speciesist, acts like she’s better than me, refuses to stop complaining about the fact she’s basically been forced into this situation thanks to a loophole allowing her father to sign her up for a program she wants no part of.” She gave a shrug. “Annoying as all hell, but as long as she doesn’t start to become a major problem that interferes with my studies or sleep schedule, I’ll go about tolerating it just to annoy her a bit.” “Always the passive-aggressive route,” Marcus mused. Melody rolled her eyes. “Would you prefer I act with physical aggression? Because honestly I’d like to avoid getting any assault charges in the foreseeable future.” “Um,” Jareth spoke up, earning their attention. “She does know she can pretty much just leave, right? There’s no rule forcing her to remain here. Wouldn’t even be considered dropping out since she’s only been here for a day now.” Melody mulled over this for a moment “So, either she leaves, and I get a new roommate, or she stays, and I get to continue annoying her slightly while trying to be her friend?” “Friend? You actually plan on trying to get on her good side?” Jareth asked with a shocked expression. “Of course,” Melody answered nonchalantly. “I don't actually intend to be a jerk to her all the time, I honestly intend to be as nice as I can in the future.” Jareth just stared at her, confusion evident on his face. “Why, exactly?” “Because friendship is one of the dearest things to ponies and, by extension, anthros. It’s part of our nature. I signed up for the program looking to make a new friend or two, and I swore to myself I would do whatever I could to accomplish that goal, regardless of the hand I’m dealt.” Melody shrugged, leaning back in her seat. “I don’t how long it’ll take, or if can even be done, but I’ll do what I can to make her see me for who I am, not what I am.” She paused for a moment, before muttering to herself. “Stars above, that sounded cheesy…” “With that done, I’d like to move on to more troubling matter,” The principal said, ending the trio’s conversation as they all turned to the stage. “Due to an unsettling number of inter-species violence in the past few years, it has been decided by the administration, as well as the school founder, Miss Aurora Star,” he paused and turned to nod at a red coated unicorn mare sitting off to the side. She gave a solemn nod in return and gestured for him to continue. “That the school will be enacting a zero tolerance policy regarding violence towards fellow students. While none of us wish to take such actions, this school was founded on the idea of promoting peace between all species, and anyone that would act against it is such ways does not belong in this school.” He let out a heavy sigh before continuing. “With this in mind, the student council has been tasked with assigning each dormitory two representatives, each of whom will be responsible with keeping order and ensuring no students are harmed.” He cleared his throat before grabbing a sheet of paper from from the pile in front of him. “The representatives are as follow: Building one, Damien Richter and Sable Wind. Building two, Gilded Mind and Samantha Williams. Building three, Noble Shield and Katherine Ramirez. And building four, Sebastian Miles and Zephyra Blackfeather.” At each name, one of the students-four humans, two ponies, and two anthros- stood up one by one and gave a slight bow to the crowd. Once they were finished, the Principal gave an approving nod before speaking once more. “In closing, I would like to say that, despite these new developments, we hope you will all enjoy your time here at our fair university. Thank you all and welcome to Aurora Academy.” A few students applauded as the crowd stood, finally alerting Melody to just how many people were around her. Her eyes darted back and forth as she felt her heartbeat quicken, panic beginning to to take hold. Hair stood up on end as she felt her tail curl around her leg tightly. Snapping her head to the side, she found Marcus giving her a worried look before turning and quickly guiding her out of the building. Marcus' strong hand poured confidence into Melody as she felt her body calm down. A stray thought reminded her that physical contact could be helpful psychologically. Once outside, Melody leaned against the wall, holding a hand to her chest and taking slow, deep breaths as she tried to get her heart to stop racing. “You gonna be okay?” Marcus asked, worry still evident on his face. She gave a shallow nod. “Y-yeah. Just need to catch my breath,” she stammered, her heartbeat finally returning to normal after a moment. After a few minutes, Jareth managed to ease his way out of the crowd and catch up with the duo. “What the hell was that about?” he asked, looking at her in shock. “Mel’s not exactly… comfortable... in crowded area,” Marcus explained. “Probably wasn’t as noticeable with everyone sitting down and Mel still being a bit tired.” Jareth nodded slowly. “I read that claustrophobia was somewhat common in pegasi, guessing it affects thestrals as well?” “Kind of,” Melody replied with a sigh. “Not as common, but from time to time it can come up. Though there are… other reasons, for my problem. Ones I’d rather not talk about.” Jareth nodded once more, looking away in thought before speaking again. “So, any plans for the rest of the day?” Melody gave a shrug that turned into a long stretch. Joints popped as the last of her tension eased from her muscles. “Not really. I need to call me parents to let them know where to send my stuff, but otherwise I’ve nothing to do.” “We could take a look around the city, maybe see if there’s a good place to hang out nearby,” Marcus offered. “I could go for something sweet,” she said, a smile forming on her muzzle. After a moment, Jareth spoke up. “There’s a bakery not too far from here that seems to be pretty popular with students.” “Sounds like a plan,” Marcus commented, earning a somewhat eager nod from Melody. Without another word, the trio set off towards the school’s entrance. Back in the dorms, Cassandra began pacing her bedroom as she waited for her phone to pick up, a scowl etched on her features. After a moment, an older male voice spoke from the other end. “Cassandra?” “Hello dad,” she growled. “Mind explaining why I’m signed up to some interspecies program, despite never even hearing anything about it till just a couple hours ago?” Her father sighed. “Look Cassandra, I’m worried about you. You’ve practically never so much as spoken to anyone that isn’t human since elementary school, even cutting off the few pony friends you had while in kindergarten.” “And so that just gives you permission to go and force me into some program without even asking me?” she snapped. “Do you have any idea how mom would react to this if she was still around?” He sighed once more. “As much as I loved your mother, I’ve made it no secret that I never agreed with her rather… negative... opinions concerning non-humans. I’ve never liked how she raised you when it came to other species, but I rarely said anything since I knew it would just cause an argument. When you told me you wanted to attend Aurora Academy, I felt like this might be a good opportunity for you to at least try to interact with some fellow students that aren’t human.” "Fine," She said, still growling. "I'll try to make some friends with the freaks if it'll get you off my back." He gave a tired sigh. "Please just give them a chance. That's all I ask." "Fine," she said once more, finally let some of the anger die down. “Bye dad. I love you.” “I love you too,” he replied before hanging up. Cassandra remained still for a moment, before setting her phone down on the nightstand and collapsing onto the bed. Turning over, she stared up at the ceiling as her mind tried to wrap itself around the events of the day.