Lessons in Kindness and Empathy

by Violet Rose in The Rain


Chapter 1: Physical punishment

Chapter One: Physical punishment

Here I am. Once again.

Quite a catchy and relevant song line, considering the situation I’m stuck in. It played itself over and over again in my mind as I sat on a plastic chair in an air-conditioned office, staring straight into the cold, merciless eyes of my executioner. Raising a fist to her mouth, she cleared her throat with a loud “Harrumph!” before setting it back on the table, angrily furrowing her brow.

“So, Snowy Skies,” my executor began. “do you know the reason as to why you were called here?”

Glancing around the lemon-coloured room, I could only see a few certificates and drab, grey posters displaying important rules. The Venetian blinds in the room were drawn, allowing only tiny slivers of light inside. Most of the illumination in here came from the hanging lamp overhead. Her grey, metallic desk sported no photos of any sort, bearing only a short stack of papers at her left hand’s side and a small, white-on-black plaque that bore my executor’s name.

Tap, tap.

Miss Harshwhinny.

Tap, tap.

School pioneer, Discipline Master of Canterlot High and a Grade-B bitch.

Tap, tap.

“Well?” She snapped, irritatedly tapping a finger on the drab desk. Jolted out of my reverie, I stared back at Miss Harshwhinny who wore that wrinkled, unamused expression on her face like a second layer of skin.

Better not drag this out too long.

“Um,” I muttered, throwing false glances around the room. “...no. I thought I was supposed to report to Vice-Principal Luna’s office because of the incident in the hall, and...”

“No!” She snapped.

I blinked as I stared back at her.

“I called you here,” she barked, “because I convinced her to let me take the full burden of disciplining you instead! Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna have many duties and responsibilities, a few of which involves the approval of appropriate plans and activities to enrich the school lives of students, the overseeing of the curriculum, and the continued existence of Canterlot High. All of these require their utmost dedication, time, and energy.”

“Which,” she pointed and accusatory finger in my face. “should not be spared for the rebellious like of you.”

Relaxing, she placed a hand on her chest and softly exhaled. I could observe a few crease lines on her face slowly disappear as she released a bit of tension.

I don’t know which one of us had a rougher day right now.

“At least you are correct,” she continued. “the reason you are here is because you verbally insulted and bullied a fellow student, causing her to burst into tears and potentially harming her emotional well-being."

Oh. Is that how you see it?

“Now,” she exhaled. “kindly explain why you did what you did.”

“Glad to.” I began. “Well, in the hallway after school, I was helping a classmate out with her homework by going over her answers when another girl came along and introduced herself as Pearl Necklace.”


A frown crossed Rarity’s face as she stared at the cat on the simple, wide and spotless table in front of her. Her eyes narrowed further the longer she looked at her pet, a

"Like I said earlier, Doctor Stable, there seems to be something wrong with my cat," Rarity began as she extended a hand to the cat on the table. "Opalescence won't eat, reacts terribly to water whenever it's bathtime, and she can’t stop scratching herself behind her ears!”

Doctor Stable tapped a finger on his chin as he studied the cat. With a swift movement of his arm, he threw a saliva-covered wooden stick into the bin. “Hmm, she is be under the weather. Assistant Fluttershy, what do you make of this?”

Opalescence looked worse for the wear. Tufts of hair were falling out in different areas of her body, and what patches were left had lost their silky, smooth texture. It was no longer a snow-white tone now, but a sickly, pale grey. Multiple pinkish-red scratch marks lined the back of the cat’s ears, some of them still fresh and open.

On the other side of the table, Fluttershy and Doctor Stable observed the cat, with the former steadily taking down notes on a clipboard.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy exclaimed. “If I’m not wrong, she’s really sick. I think we might have to give her an injection, followed by a regular course of antibiotics, which has to be administered orally.”

“Astute observation, Fluttershy,” Doctor Stable noted. “I’ll prepare the injection. You keep an eye on the patient.”

Sauntering over to a nearby fridge, he took out a small vial containing a strange, green liquid and with a prepared syringe, pierced the protective seal and withdrew a large amount of the medicine.

“Um, Doctor,” Rarity bit down on her lower lip as she looked back in between the cat and the vet. “W...will this be absolutely safe?”

“Why, of course it will be,” Doctor Stable replied. “Now Fluttershy, hold the cat still, this might hurt a bit-”

“Mrrroooww!”

Out of the blue, Opalescence swiped a claw at Fluttershy’s outstretched hand, shocking her.

“Oh, my!” Fluttershy exclaimed in shock.

The cat then tensed itself on its hind legs before jumping off the table, soaring through the air in a graceful arc before landing on the brown, copper window frame of the ajar window.

Opalescence!” Rarity shrieked. “What are you doing?”

Without another look at the two girls behind her, the cat took a leap out of the clinic and down to the nearby grass field, shocking them.

“Ahh!” Rarity’s shriek sharpened into that of a high-pitched scream. “Quickly, after her! Who knows what could happen to her in this current state!”

Turning upon their heels, the two of them quickly paced towards the door. As Fluttershy held it open, Rarity led the both of them, with Fluttershy following suit.

“Follow that cat! I’ll go get the restraining equipment!”


 “…and the next thing I know, I ended up with a sobbing, rich bitch at my feet and a trip to the pits of Canterlot's Tartarus. A.K.A, here, Miss Harshwhinny.”

Spreading my arms to reveal open palms, I heaved my shoulders.

“And that’s about it, really.”

Studying her face, I could see her gently squeeze her forehead with the first two fingers on her right hand. Setting it down, she turned her eyes back on me.

“Now,” she drawled. “It is obvious you need to be taught a lesson. Help is required to make you reflect on the consequences of your actions, in addition to the detentions you’ll have to serve.”

Sigh.

This is the pits.

“For verbally provoking fellow students and emotional assault,” she drawled, scribbling away on a sheet of paper, I will have to give you…”

I paused, waiting for my sentence.

“…a week’s worth of detentions!” Miss Harshwhinny finished.

Of course.

“And I don’t mean the five-day kind! I mean the seven-day kind, which starts tomorrow!” she added.

I don’t know why I’d hoped for something more merciful.

Repeating the breathing ritual, she slowly exhaled a third time, with the same results as before. Focusing her harsh, sapphire-blue eyes on me, Miss Harshwhinny drawled again.

“Now, I understand you are in the Elements of Harmony programme, an extension of the Social Sciences module.”

I narrowed my eyes as I studied her face. It was like watching a statue.

What is she getting at?

With a reach of her hand into the small stack of papers to her left, she used her fingers and made a small gap, rifling through the stack.

Is she going to make me sign a Tartarus contract with my blood or something?

I could see Miss Harshwhinny pause momentarily, pressing on a sheet before dragging it out, pinching with her thumb and forefinger. With a gentle flap of the slip, she settled it before me.

Oh. I see.

As a report on my progress in the programme, it included my particulars, grades in displaying each moral characteristic emphasised by the programme, and comments written by the teacher and their assistants of the designated group they are supposed to oversee.

To cut a long story short, students in a cohort are grouped according to the emphasised trait they are perceived to be lacking the most, which the designated teacher must teach the group of students to help “develop character”.

Right. The Elements of Harmony programme results. My bad.

Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Loyalty. These are the five emphasised traits. The Elements of Harmony.

Every now and then, they would grade us based on how we conduct ourselves, using the Elements as a measuring stick.

Studying at my own report, I recalled how they mentioned they used smiley-face stickers or sad face stickers representing how we fared in each trait. Five for most extreme, zero for least, yadda, yadda, yadda. That kind of stuff.

Hmm…

Loyalty - Four smiles. Great.

Honesty - Three smiles. Hmm, meh.

Generosity-Two and a half smiles. Decent.

Laughter-One and a half frowns. Well, it’s not my fault I rarely laugh at funny stuff.

Now, as for Kindness, it was a-

Ow.

Well, that’s a new low, even by my standards.

Right next to the word ‘Kindness’ in a box, was-

“Wow, I didn’t even know you guys used vomiting face stickers.” I remarked. And three of them, no less. Sure, I rarely displayed touchy-feely sentiment and not really care a single bit about this programme, but…

But Miss Harshwhinny slowly bobbed her head. “Yes, Snowy Skies. We’ve decided to use this for truly terrible attempts at displaying the Element qualities. The decision has only been approved yesterday. Congratulations on being the first to learn about and experience the new feature of the Harmony reports.”

God, what a fucking bitch.

With two fingertips on the other edge of the report, she dragged it back to her side before clipping it between her fingers, holding it up for herself to read. “While I am pleased with the way you openly voice your thoughts, ideas and opinions,” she read, “You should however interact more with your peers and weigh your words carefully before speaking and responding to others.” Settling it on top of the stack, she turned her eyes back upon me.

“Considering the incident in the hall, that last phrase seems particularly relevant.”

Wait. That means-

And before you ask,” Miss Harshwhinny went on. “The incident in the hall was taken into account while compiling your report, thus pushing your Kindness rating down from a sub-average one smile to a dismal three vomiting face stickers. Did you know that out of all the students in your class, you are the one who has consistently earned the lowest score for the past two years?”

“Gee, thanks for reminding me.” Sarcasm dripped from my voice.

“As I have mentioned earlier, you have to be justly punished, since we cannot let a poor track record and a violent incident slide like that. Since your designated teacher and his assistants has their hands full teaching your group, I have no choice but to assign you a tutor; a student who has an excellent rating in Kindness to teach you.”

Oh, great. A tutor. I really wish her dad pulled out the same way she’s pulling out all the stops on me.

Then again, the way she acts around every student meant it probably wasn’t successful and her parents felt fit to remind her of that.

But I’m probably overthinking this.

“The tutoring period,” she drawled, “will begin after your week of detentions. You will report to your tutor’s homeroom at three-thirty in the afternoon every Tuesday and Thursday. Each session will last for an hour, after which you are free to go.”

“However,” she paused, tapping a finger on the table.

No way I’m gonna let her draw this one out. “However what, Miss Harshwhinny?”

“Silence!” she angrily barked. Narrowing her eyes even further, she slowly rose from her chair, pushing it backwards with the back of her knees.

“The thing is, dear student,” she continued. “Is that the arrangement will last until you obtain at least one and a half smiles in your rating on your next report.”

Huh. That’s...actually doable.

“And before you think you can get away with your after-school activities,” Miss Harshwhinny warned. “I’ve written a letter to the relevant coach and captain in charge of your school activities to suspend you, so from this day onwards, you are effectively banned from taking part in school sport competitions.”

Wait. Hold it all up!

What did she just say?

“Banned until the next report, which is in the start of November, if you try your best.”

November?

November?

That’s two months from now!

Oh, shit. Two hours wasted every week for two whole months.

Two whole months.

I stand corrected. This is the pits.

“And if the tutor’s sick?” I risked.

“Then I will simply assign a substitute tutor if the original is inconvenienced.” Miss Harshwhinny dismissed it with a flick of her hand.

“But I,” she glared hard at me. "Would worry more about myself if I were you. Bullying a fellow student under the guise of 'brutal honesty' is hardly a sign of outstanding behaviour in this school. Your parents must be ashamed."

Her parents might be too for raising the tense, angry troll that she is, but they might not have told her that.

And it's not as if-

"Wait. Hang on a minute." I made a gesture.

Miss Harshwhinny raised an eyebrow at me.

“Are you telling me that the system comprises of only smiley, frowny and vomiting face stickers from now on? Or is there another feature you haven’t told me about? How about a euphoric face sticker, huh?”

A long sigh escaped from Miss Harsh Whinny’s mouth. Leaning back into her chair, she took a paper cone of water and sipped from it before replying.

“To answer your questions, yes, Castle. We are working on introducing new stickers and broadening the spectrum to allow for greater accuracy for calculating students’ results, which, in your case, should be less than welcome.”

Right. Time to wrap this up.

“So, we done here?” I asked.

Her eyes now tiny slits, Miss Harshwhinny shook her head. “Politeness, student.”

Sigh.

“Alright. May I please leave now, Miss Harshwhinny?” I grimaced.

And she slowly nodded, relaxing her eyelids. “Yes, you may leave now. Here’s your detention slip. I’m sure you know what to do with it, since this isn’t your first time.”

Rising up to my feet, I took the slip, turned upon my heels and paced out, not even sparing a backward glance at the Nutcase Queen or her sour den.

Two whole months. I think I’ll start mourning for all that wasted time in advance.


A slight, tingling sensation ran down my spine as I stepped out into the deserted hallway, setting off the goose bumps on my neck. The thought of having a really punishing punishment can do that to you.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the one and only senior too dumb to study here in Canterlot High.”

The dull tingling in my spine inexplicably exploded into a full-blown chill that ran throughout my ribcage; cold droplets of sweat that had little to do with the October wind steadily dripped down my forehead.

I slowly twisted my neck, craning my head for a good look at the speaker who lurked in the shadows of the locker shelf with the ruined lights.

Oh, hell no.

Standing in a dimly-lit dead end section of the hallway was the last person I wanted to see right now; the only girl that can out-bitch Miss Harshwhinny.

“Hello, Snowy Skies,” A thin smile stretched across her face. "We need to talk."

“Sunset Shimmer?” I raised an eyebrow. “Well, it's rare to see you without your lackeys.”

Humph,” Sunset lifted a stray hair strand away from her face with a finger. “I have work that I won't trust anyone else to do; this place just happened to be the best place for my...activities.”

“Your work, in a place with malfunctioning lights,” A snort escaped my mouth as I began pacing down the opposite direction. “I’m glad that makes perfect sense.”

But I only took three steps before a slender, hard hand gripped my right shoulder, immobilising me.

“Tut, tut. Didn’t your mother tell you it’s rude to leave when other people are talking to you?”

The cold sweat on my forehead ran faster and in larger amounts, coating it with a thin film of sweat. The goose bumps on the back of my neck that had gradually subsided returned in a full-blown force, like the sensation of so many prickly needles lightly piercing my neck.

Why am I feeling this way right now?

“Didn’t your mother tell you it’s rude to touch other people without their consent?” I snapped. Alpha bitch or no, I want to enjoy my free afternoons while it still lasts.

Sunset Shimmer exhaled. “It might be,” she conceded. “But your offense is greater than mine, and you still haven’t heard what I have to say.”

 “Then spill it.” I hissed. “I have places to be, and I’d rather not be late.”

“Tut, tut,” Sunset repeated. “You obviously haven’t learned who’s really in charge here. Let me give you a crash course, in case your old high school was any different.”

Suddenly pulling her hand back, I was spun around in place, whirling back to see her face and curling sneer. Damn, she’s actually quite strong.

“Here, in Canterlot High,” Sunset began. “There are many types of students, each possessing different types of interests and abilities.”

“We have the jocks, the fashionistas, the eco-kids, the nerds, the artsies-fartsies,” Sunset ticked off on one hand. “The goths, the rebels, the rock star-wannabes…”

I frowned as she went on.

“…and of course, the outcasts,” She finished. “All these different groups need an authority figure; a leader to call the shots and do what’s best for everyone, including punishing those who step out of line.” Sunset then inhaled, raising herself to her full height.

Frankly, it wasn’t that intimidating when her full height was still shorter than how I stood slouching, but if her tone and voice was any indication, she was still unfazed.

“Go on,” Her smile grew wider. “Take a wild guess as to who’s the real leader of the students around here.”

“Hmmm…” I raised a hand to my chin, pretending to be in deep thought.

Time to get a rise out of her.

“Oh, I know!” I piped up. “Ivory Scroll, Head of the student committee! No, wait!” I held up an open hand. “Vice-Principal Luna and Principal Celestia!”

Sunset Shimmer’s eyes momentarily widened, letting the implications of my answers sink in. But those eyes narrowed as suddenly as they had widened, accompanied by a creeping smile I’d usually see psycho villains in the movies make…

Oh.

Oh, shit.

Those light turquoise eyes that glared back at me were as cold as the dark, smooth ice on the surface of frozen lakes, and just as translucent. Rumours stated that any defiant student who dared to stare back into those eyes ended up shaken and unnerved, as if they had gazed past the topmost layer into her soul.

Just what in Equus could be hidden behind those eyes? What in Equus could be there be hidden in the darkest corners of her inner being?

“No and no, Snowy Skies,” Sunset replied. “You see, Air Castle, all three are placed at the top of or near the school official authority ladder, and are thus far removed from the daily lives and struggles of the ordinary students.”

“They look pretty relaxed and happy to me,” I interrupted.

“Oh no,” Sunset shook her head. “Every now and then, disagreements crop up between them, slowly but surely degenerating into quarrels and squabbles over who should do and get what. If left unchecked and unresolved, it could lead to a feud between two different cliques, which in turn would lead to a school divided. Those three people you’ve just mentioned can only do so much in a system that doesn’t respond well to an official top-down approach.”

Funny how she mentioned official.

“Therefore,” She concluded. “A popular figure is needed, someone who can communicate with all the different cliques and groups and keep them separate so as not to start any hostilities among them. And a simple answer to that need is naturally the Fall Formal Princess,” Sunset pointed towards herself. “Me.”

Top-down approach? Keeping different groups separate? A single, bat-shit crazy leader everyone supposedly looks up to? How fucking stupid does she think I am? Anyone with half a brain can clearly see through the bullshit lies she’s clearly spouting.

For someone who can only reach up to my mouth at her full height, she sure as hell loves talking down to me like I’m kind of idiot.

“And you,” She turned a finger towards me. “Should be punished for attacking one of my subordinates, Pearl Necklace. Since this is your first time, I’ll let you off the hook. But you better not try anything funny again, because something bad will happen if you ever dare step out of line again.”

“Oooohhh,” I faked a full body shudder right in front of her, narrowing my eyes to slits as I did so. “I’m so scared.”

Sunset snorted.

Hmph,” She turned upon her heel and stalked away, sending one last malignant glare at me. “You should be, Snowy Skies,”

I cautiously waited till Sunset Shimmer disappeared down the hallway before I paced down in the opposite direction.

And that makes three awful meetings I’ve seen in two days. Better run before Harshwhinny accuses me of loitering.

A shudder ran down my back that had little to do with the early Autumn chill.


The September wind blew warm-hued leaves past my windshield as I drove down the suburban street, carrying dead leaves from the branches of shedding trees and leaving them all over the yards, where some unfortunate person has to sweep it all up and put it into a pile.

“Oh, do please come down, Opalescence!”

Ah, autumn. My second-favourite season of the year.

“Your mummy will be so scared if you stay up there, in that dead tree!”

It has nothing on winter, of course. What with all the driveway-shovelling and excessive preparations for extended family reunions destined to screw up, no matter the year or occasion. It’s totally stress-free.

“Yes, Opalescence. Please listen to Fluttershy! Try not to stay up there!”

On a more urgent note, I should probably take the bus to school again and lay low for a while; there’s no telling what a crazy bitch like Sunset and her lackeys might do to my car-

“Yoo-Hoo! Help, please!”

I snapped out of my train of thought as I spotted a figure in the distance waving an arm at me. Without a second thought, I slowly pressed a foot down on the brake pedal and stared straight at the flagger as my car slowed down, coming to a complete stop right beside her.

“Oh, thank goodness you’ve arrived in time, stranger!”

I gazed out of the open car window, taking in the sight of a chalk-coloured, purple-haired girl making a pleading gesture to me.

“There’s something I really need your help with. It’s an absolute disaster!”

I tilted my head. “What? Your lover dumped you?”

“What?” The chalk-coloured girl flinched. “No! My cat, Opalescence, has climbed up a tree and hasn’t come down! If she remains up there, who knows what might happen to her!”

My first reaction was a snort, followed by an annoyed frown.

 “Go bug somebody else, drama queen.” I hissed. “If that cat matters so much to you, then call the fire department. Who do you think rescues all the cats from the trees for the crazy, old cat ladies?”

“Wh…wh…what?” The purple-haired girl sputtered, taking a step backwards. “Are you implying that I’ll grow up to be a crazy, cat lady?”

The girl then turned away from me, sticking her nose up high in the air. “Humph! Fine then! If you don’t want to help, then I’ll simply ask somebody else to do the job! Good day to you!”

“And the rest of the day to yourself.” I replied.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a second girl with butter-hued skin, long, straight hair the colour of cotton candy and teal eyes standing beside the tree the crazy cat girl was stomping off to, turning away from a white cat in the tree to talk to the purple-haired girl.

Huh.

I could see the second girl well from where I was standing, and I could tell that the body language she was giving me wasn’t from a person who would invite me to any kind of occasion, joyous or otherwise. Or even wish to see me, for that matter.

Oh, well. Nothing new.

I turned back to the road ahead and drove off in the direction of my house as the dim October sun shimmered in the corner of my eyes, eager to savour the last of my freedom before my two month-long punishment.

I sincerely hope that’s the last I see of these two idiots; God knows I have enough on my plate at the moment.