Cinnamon Bun shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her gaze still locked with the professor as his stern voice resounded in the room. The stares of seemingly the entire class were fixated on Cinnamon as the scene unfolded. Cinnamon started to speak, but her words stammered. Her body tensed up as the Professor slammed a hoof on her desk, agitation coming over his features.

“Young mare, if you have the audacity to hold up this class then you should at the very least have the decency to explain why.” The professor's eyes bored into Cinnamon’s. She tried to match her teacher’s stare but just couldn’t hold her gaze against him. Shaken, Cinnamon started to speak.

“I-I overslept, and there was some unicorn who tried to shake me down on the way here.” Cinnamon stuttered out, averting her eyes from the professor.

“Oh, so we’re blaming this on a unicorn now are we?” The remark earned Cinnamon a few sneers from unicorn classmates while others cringed knowing how poor of a decision blaming a unicorn was. A malign grin formed on the professor’s expression. “Well then, why don’t we get this supposed aggressor's name?”

She was in a bind. Midnight Star, the son of Moon Chaser, mayor of Harvest, the man most likely in charge of her teacher’s salary.

“It was bad that it was a unicorn already, but why’d it have to be him?” Cinnamon thought to herself, quickly mulling over her options.

The situation was a lose, lose. She could either tell the truth and be called a liar, or not answer at all and still be called one.

The professor leaned in towards Cinnamon. “Well?” Cinnamon gulped. Her mind was telling her no but…

“What was that?” the teacher said almost mockingly as he cupped a hoof to his ear and edged closer to her.

“Midnight Star.” She said again, just loud enough for everyone to hear in the quiet classroom. she could have sworn someone in the back of the room winced so hard it was audible. The teacher stood idle for a moment, seemingly dumbfounded by her answer when suddenly he spoke.

“Blaming your superiors now are you?” his eyes narrowed and his voice dripped with cold malice.

“But!” was all she managed to get out before the teacher swiped his hooves across her desk, knocking all of her books to the floor. Every earth pony and pegasus in the room felt just a bit more unsafe.

“That boy is a prodigy and worth more than anything any of you pegasi will ever amount to in your pathetic lives!” The teacher yelled, momentarily lashing out at all pegasi in the room, not just her. All the ponies in the room flinched at the professor’s sudden incursion. Cinnamon saw him as not far from a snake. The mental image of his hissing forked tongue made her quiver before she saw something out of the corner of her eye and shifted her attention to her right.

Her gaze met with an earth pony on the far end of the classroom. His coat was a bright columbia blue and a hazel mane draped over his forehead, a single streak of red running through. They briefly exchanged looks before the condescending cough of the professor had her quickly turn back to the front. The professor glared at Cinnamon before beginning to speak.

The deafening roar of students conversing filled the cafeteria. Cinnamon had taken her seat at a table secluded from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the lunchroom. Her eyes were fixated on a pink slip that laid motionless on the wooden surface of the table in front of her. She didn’t bother looking up when she heard someone take a seat across from her.

“It’s unfair and you know it, they can’t just punish me like that!” Cinnamon stared moodily at the pink slip as she pawed it in between her hooves. “You know, Notes, I read a book about Princess Celestia. I doubt she’d like any of this.” she mused. Brushing the slip off to the side, she lifted her eyes towards the pony sitting across from her.

Fiddling with a pencil sat the same colt she had momentarily exchanged looks with before being kicked out of the classroom. He eyed the slip inquisitively. “What’s that?” he pryed.

“Detention slip.” She said unceremoniously. “I’m supposed to stay after school for however long Mr. Page sees fit. From how mad he was I’m guessing that’s one, two, maybe three centuries.”

“C’mon, stop sulking,” badgered Notes. “Besides, have you heard? The Timberwood Library got a rare alchemy tome added to it’s shelves. I think it was called ‘The Book of Neighbon’.”
Cinnamon’s eyes widened as she exhaled loudly. “Don’t tempt me Notes, I’m in a lot of trouble already.”

The cyan colt simply shrugged. “Well I mean, it probably won’t be around for tomorrow.” he added wryly. “You know how those rich folk are.”

“What do you want, Notes?” queried the sullen mare. Notes let his pencil fall from his hooves before speaking up.

“Well, you know, your parents are bakers, right?” He inquired, edging closer to Cinnamon. “And you know how I’m taking cooking classes, right? So here’s the thing; I’m really bad at cooking.”

“Notes, I haven’t cooked a day in my life, unless you count toast.” Her expression deadpanned. Notes gaped.

“My parents cook all my meals for me, I never had to learn,” she explained before pointing an accusatory hoof at her friend. “By the way, are you a good politician?”

Their conversation was cut short by the sharp buzzing of the school bell. All the students began to rise from their seats and file back to the classrooms.

“See you after detention!” Notes jeered as he followed the crowd of students.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re there with me next time!” She retorted, going her own way.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cinnamon grimaced as she toiled at mopping the classroom floor. Mr Page surveilled her from his desk, never letting her leave his sight. He idly toyed with a key in one of his hooves as if showing it off before sliding it into one of the compartments of his saddlebag.

“Don’t miss a spot young mare, the janitor doesn’t deserve to clean up after you.” He crossed his hooves looking sternly at her.

“Isn’t that his job though-” Cinnamon tried to get a word in before Mr. Page yelled.

“No talking! I won’t hesitate to keep you here all night if I have to.” He threatened but with the tone of his voice it sounded more like a promise. But the promise of rare books left cinnamon undeterred.

“What if we made a deal?” she asked.

“What did I just tell you!-”

“Hold on, just hear me out for a second.”

The irritated professor’s ears perked up slightly. He stared attentively at the pleading mare before giving a defeated sigh and gesturing for her to continue. The silence was broken by Cinnamon once again.

“What if I gave you... a billion bits.”

There was not a trace of detectable sarcasm in her voice.

“A billion... bits?” Page asked incredulously as his eyes narrowed in uncertainty.

“Yeah, want a billion bits? Just let me go for the night.” She gave a smile that seemed to annoy the teacher if nothing else.

“How about instead of that, you actually finish mopping and then you get to go home?” The teacher replied, his anger rising.

“Look, it’s easy, not hard. I just take out a loan and give it to you, it’ll be my problem after that.” Veins had started to bulge from Mr Page’s forehead and his cheeks were flushed with anger. Getting up from his desk, he walked right up to Cinnamon and brought his face so close to Cinnamon’s that their muzzles were almost touching.

“Why don’t you just do what you’re told for once in your miserable life before I hit you?” he said in a voice audible for only her to hear.

“Mr. Page, I think you’re missing out on a seriously big windfall.” Cinnamon kept smiling and gave her teacher a pat on the shoulder and back. He struck her with his hoof once, knocking her to the floor, yelping.

“You’ve earned yourself a caning, young mare!” he yelled with barely restrained rage, walking out the classroom door and slamming it, knocking over a pencil holder and spilling its contents all over the floor. Papers scattered like leaves over the room.

“You stay in there and don’t move.” He said, muttering something under his breath. He paused to reach for his key to lock her in.

His blood ran cold. By the time he noticed his key was gone, he heard the sound of the door locking from the inside. Through the window stood Cinnamon with a triumphant smirk. In her hoof she jangled the keys mockingly.

“Hey, really sorry about this teach but there's this new book in town that probably won’t be around-.”

“Let me back in this instant!” Came the muffled screams of Mr. Page as he banged his hooves on the door, his breath fogging the glass window in it’s center.

“Will do.” she said walking up to one of the windows on the adjacent side of the room and unlocking it. “All open for you teach, sorry about this, you can keep me after class tomorrow but I gotta be somewhere today!” Cinnamon said ecstatically as she threw the key to the floor and climbed out the window, going airborne momentarily before plummeting head-first into the ground, the soft grass cushioning her fall.

Pulling herself up, Cinnamon took a moment to brush aside some dirt that had been caught in her coat before the sound of the door breaking down had her snap back to her senses. She made her escape, sprinting across the schoolyard and into the streets. The distant yells of her teacher could be heard but she was too far away to make out anything comprehensible.

The sun made it’s slow descent beneath the horizon. Cinnamon’s gallop eventually eased into a trot as the school receded off into the distance. A thrill accompanied the familiarity of the situation. As she navigated the city streets, a massive building came into view. The structure was very practical, efficient, and built with the utilitarian flavor of earth ponies in mind. The exterior was made of unpainted cement. The words “Timberwood Public Library” were displayed on a wooden sign hung above the entrance. It didn’t try to impress, and if you wanted a book there was nowhere else to go.

Behind a window the Book of Neighbon was on public display in the library. Her attention was drawn to the many signs bolted onto the building’s walls. One depicting the words “No Pegasi Allowed” stood out among them.

“Gonna pick you up soon, just need to get a few things,” she mused, resuming her walk. Her pace quickened with each step as she drew nearer and nearer to her home.

-------------------------------

The sun was barely visible on the edge of the horizon when Cinnamon halted, panting. She had taken the long route home to pay the library a brief visit, and she was beginning to regret it. Her surroundings had began to become increasingly familiar. Out of breath, she slowly pushed onwards. “Home is just around the corner,” she thought.

Her house came into view. The relief she felt was fleeting as it came into focus. Something was off.

The door was slightly ajar, as if the house was left in a hurry. The windows were shattered, shards of glass debris littering the ground. But what scared her the most was the silence.

There was no one to greet her at the door. No one to yell at her for being late. Only uncomfortable silence.

Cinnamon checked to make sure this was the right house before hesitantly pushing the door open and entering.

“Hello?”

A stygian darkness obscured the room. An unbearably pungent odor made her wince as she peered into the blackness. Straining her eyes, Cinnamon could only make out the faint outlines of the interior. Blindly running her hoof against the wall, it stopped upon coming into contact with what felt like a light switch. She paused, a foreboding sensation coming over her, before flicking the light switch on.

As the kitchen illuminated, Cinnamon’s eyes widened in disbelief. Her home was in a state of disrepair. Chairs were tossed to the wall and a table was flipped on it’s side. Kitchen utensils littered the floor along with pieces of broken plates. Something else caught her eye, though.

Lying on the floor in bloody heaps were the lifeless bodies of her mom and dad.

Cinnamon Bun

by Lord Erhswin Wholewheat

Mania