Bucky and Pint got to catch up with Fall during morning recess.
“So?” asked Pint. “What do you think?”
Fall was positioned on a swing and moving slowly back-and-forth.
“I love it!” she cheered with perhaps the biggest smile the boys had ever seen on her face. “Every pony is so nice.”
FWEET!
“Hey!” shouted Ms. Star towards a pair of colts who were fighting over who got to go down the slide next. “Friends don’t fight! They take turns!”
Bucky shrugged as he stated, “For the most part.”
“Ms. Star and Ms. Dovetail are so kind,” stated Fall as she kicked at the sand in the ground beneath her. “It feels like this is where I’m supposed to be.”
“Oh!” squeaked Candy Cloud. “There you are, Fall!”
Fall, Bucky, and Pint looked to see almost every filly and colt who was a part of the Purple Class and Blue Class converging on them.
“Sorry,” said Bucky. “I didn’t bring any Backyard Brawlers today.”
“That’s okay,” Candy Cloud replied. “We’re all here to talk to Fall.”
“Me?” asked Fall.
“Is it okay if we take turns on the swing?” asked a colt. “I’ll push you and then you push me?”
Fall had to think for a moment. She was more accustomed to just being pushed off anything she tried to play with outside. Being asked was something pleasantly new to her.
“Sure,” she said.
The colt got behind Fall, got up on his hind legs, and gave Fall a big push.
“Use your wings!” called out Candy Cloud. “They help you get up really high!”
Fall unfurled her tiny wings and began to flutter them as fast as she could.
“Don’t forget to move your legs as you go up-and-down!” another colt called out.
Fall felt so happy. No pony was judging her. No pony was trying to hurt her, and no pony was telling her she needed to go in and scrub the floors.
“I can’t wait for you to start school next year!” Candy Cloud announced. “I’ll be your Blue Class buddy and help you like you helped me with this morning’s work!”
There was a part of Fall that felt guilty. After all, she was truly seven years old and did have some lessons taught to her at the orphanage by Ms. Powder Puff. But these lessons often were applied to how she could do chores instead of building her knowledge of the world outside the orphanage.
“You and Bucky must wrestle a lot!” commented a filly. “You have a lot of boo-boos.”
The sunlight against Fall’s brown coat made all her bruises and scars from the orphanage stick out like a sore nose.
Bucky, sensing he needed to say something quick, stated, “Yeah! Fall puts up quite a fight. You might say I’m toughening her up.”
Pint was unsure of this response. But he definitely didn’t want Fall to think about the orphanage while she was here at school with them.
“You can be too rough sometimes,” he said while nudging his friend.
“Hey,” grinned Bucky as he bumped Pint hard enough to knock him off balance. “I toughened up your scrawny flank.”
Pint got up and scowled towards his friend.
“Two words,” he said sternly. “Growth spurt and pay back.”
“That’s actually four words,” corrected Bucky.
“What? Err,” growled Pint. “It figures you’d only remember what Ms. Star teaches when it comes to being a joker, Bucky.”
“What can I say,” the yellow Pegasus said as he raised his hoof to the air. “It’s a gift.”
“It’s a gift alright,” mumbled Pint.
Fall switched positions with the colt who was pushing her and laughed at the combination of Pint and Bucky’s silly argument and all the goofy sounds the colt made as he wriggled about in the swing.
“You’re one of us, Fall,” Candy Cloud said as she opened her noticeably larger wings and gave them a flap. “Maybe I can even help you learn to fly? You’re not already taking flying lessons, are you?”
“Flying lessons…?” asked Fall. “No…”
Candy Cloud squeaked before running around in little circles.
“You help me with school stuff and I teach you how to fly!” she cheered. “It’ll be so fun!”
Fall giggled as her blue eyes beamed with glee.
“Sounds wonderful,” she said. “I’d really like that.”