//------------------------------// // chapter 5. Bright Mind // Story: A Silver Life // by TheOneAJ //------------------------------// “You’re kidding, right?” Silver Spoon asked her aunt as she eyed the foal-leash on her hoof and back to Decimal. He seemed to think the same thing as he backed into the room’s corner. Silver Lining shook her head. “Afraid not, dear, he just can’t be trusted. If he wanders off he can go into a meltdown.” Silver Spoon winced at the thought of Decimal’s meltdown from their first encounter. “Besides,” Silver Lining said as she walked towards her son with the foal-leash, “he likes it.” As soon as her hoof reached out towards him, the colt snapped his teeth at her and tried to make a run for it. As he did, he was cornered by the staff and held as the collar went around his neck in one fluid motion. “You see?” Her aunt said as she patted him on the back. Decimal responded by shivering. “He actually relaxes once you get it on him.” Silver Spoon didn’t know a lot about body language, but relaxed certainly wasn’t what Decimal seemed to display. If she knew the word, she would have described his mood with the collar on as pony who didn’t want to venture out of the apartment, but felt more secure with a collar around his neck than without it. “Now then,” Silver Lining said as she handed her the leash, “you will be escorted to a cab by Sweeper here.” she nodded toward the muscular yellow stallion who nodded his head. “If anything goes awry, just give him the leash and he’ll take care of it. Though, once you get to the doctor’s office everything will be fine until he picks you two up later. Do you understand everything?” “Yes, auntie,” Silver Spoon nodded, eager to get going. “Alright,” her aunt sighed, “and thank you so much for doing this again.” she looked over to her son. “How about a hug for your mommy before you go?” Decimal turned his head. Despite this, Silver Lining quickly wrapped a hoof around him and released before he could react. “See you later,” she smiled as Silver Spoon simply shook her head and lead her cousin out the door. ***** A short ride later, they reached the therapist building. A thirty or so story building marked as 366 Eastway, with an awkward gap between the two sixes. To her relief, the cab ride over to the office had been rather uneventful, for the most part. On the way, she couldn’t help but stare as Decimal threw his hooves over his ears when a police car ran by with its siren blazing. She tried to calm him down, only to have him snap his teeth at her. The servant, and even cab driver, explained that it wasn’t anything to worry about with him. It happened on every trip and it would just have to be something that she would get used too. “216.” Silver Spoon jumped at her cousin’s voice. “What was that, Decimal?” “Trees are green because they absorb green sunlight.” Silver Spoon took a step towards the door. “Okay,” she said with a nod. He seemed to know things, and hated loud noises. So she didn’t have a lot to go on to figure him out yet, but she would be patient. She would observe, spend as much time as she could with him and find out what she could do for him. “Finally feel like chatting?” she turned towards him to ask. When he didn’t say anything else she shrugged and said, “Oh well, I guess that’s why we’re here.” He moaned, but didn’t resist as she lead him inside. They made their way up the stairs as she read the directions her aunt had given her to the therapist’s room. Once they entered, Silver Spoon whistled at the scenery. It was a rather large waiting room, with foals running around everywhere either painting on a multicoloured wall or playing on the indoor playset. Actually, it was more of a playground. It came complete with two slides, a rope bridge and a tunnel underneath, even a sandbox was somehow squeezed in there. On the wall adjacent to it, rested a sign labeled, Playset Inc. “Alright, Decimal,” Silver Spoon said as she unhooked him from his collar, “here we are.” As she did so, her cousin took off towards the playground's tunnel. He went in, but didn’t come out. She was tempted to go talk to him, but held back for today. She still wanted to help him, but had another excuse to keep her mind occupied on this visit; a colt. It wasn’t the colt himself that caught her attention. He was a light blue colt with a black mane and a green book for a cutie mark who looked to be a few years older than herself. Which wouldn’t have stood out to her, if he hadn’t used his horn to post something on the lobby’s bulletin board. Thinking about it, she hadn’t seen a unicorn since she arrived in the city. Which to be fair, was an earthpony city. There were the occasional unicorn servants for rich ponies (none of whom work for her mother or aunt) but a unicorn colt posting up a flyer in a Manehattan waiting room was something to stare at. And stare she did until he looked her way, clearly aware of what she had been doing for the past several minutes. She turned a beet red as she turned around to try and act like she hadn’t noticed him When she turned around, she saw him advancing towards her. “Something on my horn?” he said as he looked up at it. “Um…” Silver Spoon found herself lost for words. “Oh, right, it’s because I’m a unicorn in an earth pony city.” He shrugged. “I know, weird, isn’t it?” “No,” Silver Spoon protested, “I was just wondering what you were posting.” “Oh, well in that case,” he said with a smile as he levitated one of his flyers towards her. Written in bold she read; Interested in Teaching Young Colts and Fillies with Special Needs? “Interested in becoming an aid?” “Aid?” She re-read the bold, fearing that she had read it wrong and would look stupid if she said so. “I know it says teacher in bold, but teacher isn’t a lie and I thought that it would be a lot more attracting than aid.” She carefully let out a sigh of relief before he went on. “Yeah, I was promised some extra bits to put these up wherever I could.” “Oh,” she asked suddenly interested in him, “where do you work?” Before he could reply one of the nurses shouted, “Decimal, Decimal Silver?” “Ah!” he said as he rubbed his ear that faced towards the direction of the office along with serval of the other foals in the room. "Sorry," the nurse apologized in a hushed voice. Silver Spoon’s ears shot up. “Are you okay?” “Yeah,” he said as he rubbed his ear, “I think it was that bug bite from earlier.” he nervously chuckled, “you gotta love the summer.” She tilted her head and then shrugged her shoulder with other things on her mind. “Alright then, but if you would excuse me for a second.” She raced over to her cousin’s tunnel and found him curled up into a ball. “Come on, cousin, it’s time to come out.” He gave out a moan and stayed where he was. Silver Spoon Lowered her eyelids. “I get it, you don’t want to be here. Who would, right?” His ears perked up as he seemed surprised by her approach. “So what do you say we get this done so you can go home and play with all your Star toys?” With that he began to make his way out. Once he did, she smiled at him and lead her cousin towards the door to the therapy room. “My my,” the nurse beamed, “you sure are being a good patient today.” Decimal began to back up, but Silver Spoon gently held his hoof. It seemed to relax him. “Go on, I’ll be right here when you’re done.” The door opened to reveal another doctor who lead him in, leaving Silver Spoon to spend the next hour all by herself. Fun times for sure, at least the place has some up to date magazines for all her trouble. With those expectations set in mind, she was pleasantly surprised that the colt from before hadn’t left. “Oh,” she blushed, “you’re still here? I mean, you don’t have to stay I just...” she took a deep breath. “Sorry, I guess I’m still jittery that things haven’t fallen apart yet.” A good enough story, she figured. “Lucky you then,” he chuckled, “then I wouldn’t have had a chance to compliment on how well you handled Decimal. Most of the time he has to be dragged out of that tunnel.” “Well that sounds awful. I… Wait, you know my cousin?” “Oh," he said as he lowered his eyes, “we went to the same school together and I frequent here to post flyers up.” Before she could point out an problems with that explanation, he asked. “So you're his cousin? I didn’t know he had any.” “Well,” Silver Spoon explained, “his mother had a sister, her sister had me, hence, cousin.” It seemed to take him a moment to realize that she was trying to be funny, but then laughed along in a pleasant laugh that Silver Spoon couldn’t help but believe he was manipulating. “That’s cool,” he said right after he finished laughing. “Although, do you want some company? These things can take a while.” "Well… You’re not busy are you?” He smiled, and she swore she felt her cheeks heat up again. “Nah, this is my lunch break. I can stick around to help a damsel in distress.” She was flattered. “Too much? I didn’t say it wrong did I?” And there that feeling went. “It wasn’t,” she admitted, “until you asked, Mr...” “Bright Mind, “he said as he extended his hoof. “Although you can just call me Bright. “Silver Spoon,” she said as she bumped his hoof with her own. “but you can call me Silver, or Spoon if your around my family.” “A pleasure to meet you.” he said as he walked over to the chair. Silver Spoon followed and sat down beside him. “So, you new to the city, Silver Spoon?” “Oh no,” she shook her head. “I mean, I’ve visited this city many times. It’s like my second home. Sure made my choice much easier when my parents split up.” Bright straightened himself up. “Your parents are divorced? I’m sorry to hear that?” “It’s not a big deal.” she said matter of factly, which surprised herself a moment later. It hadn’t even been a month, and she already felt cool about the whole thing. “I mean,” she rubbed her hoof to her chin. “Ah! I mean, it’s still a big deal, I just haven't let the whole thing bother me.” She decided that was true enough. It wasn’t the divorce she hated, she hated how her parents couldn’t have waited until she graduated and moved out in two more years to do it. Bright Mind twitched his lips. “By whole thing, do you just mean you’re not bothered by it, but by how your parents are putting your though all of it?” Her eyes widened. “How did you…” “I was five,” he said. “What’s worse, I don’t even remember a time when they could stand being in the same room with each other. I just remember them yelling at each other, and the next thing I know, I’m traveling between one house to the next every week as I hear each of them trying to win me over with toys and tales of how awful their ex was.” Silver Spoon shuddered. “Sounds like I’m in for a fun two years.” “Oh it wasn’t all bad,” he defended, “I mean, they always tried to make me happy. Maybe now that I’m older I can see that they aren't doing what’s best, but still.” A few words in his last sentence caught her attention. “Wait, do you still live with them.” “Of course not,” he grinned as he turned to look at the clock and back to her. “That’d be weird; a colt a year out of school with his cutie mark still living with his parents. I’d never get a date.” She held up a hoof to her muzzle as she laughed. “I just mean that they can get along in the same room without killing each other.” “Oh,” she nodded. “well then, you don’t happen to have any advice to a new girl in this game of divorce do you?” “Just one,” he said as he got up, “learn from their mistakes, and don’t sink to any of their levels. Hey, I got to get going now,” he said as he levitated one of his flyers out towards her, “think you would be interested?” She didn’t even look at the flyer as it landed in her hooves. “You bet!” “Great, just don’t forget to get your parent’s signature before our first meet up since you're under 13.” Her mouth dropped as she looked down at the dotted line at the bottom of the page as her pupils shrank. The corner of Bright’s lip raised up. “That’s not going to be a problem for you, is it?” “Oh, no, I’m sure if I promise.” “You can always just play the divorce to whatever parent you need to sign it if that’s the problem. Works for me all the time.” If he was joking, she didn’t notice because—truthfully—she knew that if she played that card right, she could get anything she wanted. Not that she hadn’t always gotten what she wanted, just that she always felt bad about it even then. This time however, it would be a good reason for her, other than getting some new earrings… She shook her head. “I’ll think about it, but I’ll do whatever I can to get there, I promise.” “Alright then,” he said as he used his magic to open the door, “I’ll see you around, Silver Spoon.” “You too, Bright Mind.” She waved as he glanced at her with one last smile as he closed the door behind him. She then leaned back into her chair, realizing she had that funny feeling in her tummy she had only ever felt three times before. She thought it just meant that she was very close friends with a pony, but now she wasn’t sure. Of course, that would mean that she believed in love at first sight. She might still be a filly, but she wasn’t stupid. Still, even if she just meet him and knew nothing more about him other than he knew her cousin and was going through a similar experience she was, she thought he was a nice colt. Maybe she wouldn’t have said yes if he asked her out on a date right then and there, but that was enough to let her imagine what it would be like to have a coltfriend. To have a colt she could hold and kiss, was she really thinking that? Apparently, she was lost in a fantasy of having a coltfriend that a whole hour had ticked by without her noticing as she heard her cousin and his therapist enter the waiting room “You take care, Decimal,” the brown stallion said, “and I’ll see you next week.” He didn't respond as the door closed behind him, but as soon as it did he walked up to her and asked, “Home now?” She nodded her head. “Yeah, we can go home now.” She hooked him up to his leash and lead him out into the hallway. “Did you have a good time?” He didn’t respond. “What did you do?” He kept his head down. “alright, you don’t want to talk, I guess it was boring then. did you even enjoy it?” She actually jumped when he spoke. “I.. I ah, just, just do, do, gah!” He said as he slammed a hoof to his head. “Hey,” she said said as she pulled him to the side. “There is no need to get upset.” “No need.” “That’s right, no need.” “Right, no need.” It was at that point that she realized that he had just repeated what she said. “You are something, cousin, I’ll give you that.” She guided him to the building’s exit. “I just wish there was a way to get inside your head to see what’s up.” Before they exited the building, he muttered again, “216.” As before, she looked around, but the only number she saw where the clock numbers and the spaced apart address numbers on the lobby window 366 with that awkward gap between the sixes. Silver Spoon shook her head. “Well now,” she said as she lead him out the door to their waiting cab, “I think I ought to take you to therapy sessions more often.”