//------------------------------// // School // Story: The Story of Nightshade // by Phoenix Nebula //------------------------------// Chapter 4: School "Do I have to go?" Nightshade asked, looking up at Phoenix with pleading eyes. It had been a week since Phoenix found her in the forest and has remained at his castle since then. Now he was getting her ready to go to this thing called School. She didn't like going outside the castle and preferred to remain inside away from other ponies. "Yes you do if your going to stay here then you're going to need to get some sort of proper education." He declared "But can't you teach me?" "I wish I could but I have a lot of work that needs to be done as of recent," That wasn't entirely true. In truth he was going to look for somepony to take in Nightshade, and hopefully adopt her. He could take care of her himself, but she would be at risk of being hurt, especially with the number of beings who had a grudge against him. "I'll walk you to school and then I'll have to attend to my work. Besides the teacher is really nice she used to live in Ponyville and has been teaching for almost forty years!" He said as he made his way out of the front doors with the filly following along side him. "Is she pretty?" "I guess you could say that." They continued down the path to the school house. As they walked Nightshade began to become more aware of ponies staring at her. She tried not make eye contact, but she could feel their stares burning into the side of her head. Luckily Phoenix noticed her discomfort and waved the ponies off. Nightshade gave a small smile of gratitude as they continued down the path. Eventually they came to a light blue schoolhouse with a white shingle roof. There was white picket fence around a green yard, and in the yard Nightshade could see a large, colorful structure sticking out from behind the schoolhouse. Fillies and colts of different shapes and sizes made there way into the building. Some walked in groups, and others walked alone. Nightshade felt very uncomfortable with so many ponies in one place. When a few foals turned to look at them Nightshade attempted to hide herself behind one of Phoenix's legs. As they got closer more and more of the school ponies turned to look at them. To say Nightshade was very uncomfortable would be an absolute understatement, she felt like she wanted to crawl under a rock and hide forever. "Okay nothing to see her now move along!" Phoenix practically demanded. The foals soon turned away from the pair and made their way into the school house. As the fillies and colts made their way into the blue building a cerise colored earth pony stepped out and made her way to the two ponies standing on the path. Her cutie mark comprised or three smiling flowers, and the mare looked to be in her late twenties. "King Phoenix it's great to see you today!" The mare greeted with a bow. "Cheerilee I've told you 351 times to just call me Phoenix!" "Considering you technically rule over me you are my king." "I only protect the town nothing more I wish you would all just treat me like a normal pony instead of a king or a god." "Fair enough," Cheerilee turns towards Nightshade and smiles "And who do we have here?" "This is Nightshade she is staying with me and I thought it would be a good idea for her to go to school and make some friends" "Hello Nightshade I'm Miss Cheerilee the school teacher!" She said with a smile, but Nightshade gave her a confused look. "Mister Phoenix I thought you said she has been teaching for almost forty years. She looks too young!" the filly exclaimed clearly confused. "Oh well you see medical technology in this town is so advanced that ponies live to be very old and age slowly!" the unicorn answered "And it's all thanks to you!" the earth pony said to the unicorn. Phoenix grumbled under his breath but Nightshade didn't hear it. "Any way I have work to attend to so why don't you run along and I'll pick you up this afternoon, okay?" Phoenix asked the small filly. She nodded and followed Cheerilee into the school house. Nightshade trotted into the classroom right behind the teacher. The class room was large and had posters all over the walls with positive messages. Many of the colts and fillies were chattering away. That is until she walked in. As soon as Nightshade stepped into the class every foul turned to stare at her. That uncomfortable feeling from before had returned, and she was really wishing to be someplace else. She could feel their emotions , and almost all of them had some sort of contempt or hatred towards her. "Okay my little ponies take your seats so we can begin today's lesson!" she said in a singsong voice! The fillies and colts turned their attention away from Nightshade as every pony took their seat. Nightshade, however, was unfortunate enough to have to sit in the front being the only available seat. She tried to ignore the negative emotions towards her, but it was incredibly difficult. "Okay class we have a new student today. Her name is Nightshade and I expect you all to welcome her and treat her with respect!" She said before beginning the lesson. "Today class we will be talking about elements! Does anyone know what kind of elements I'm talking about?" She asked the class. A colt raised his hoof. "Yes Rocket?" "The elements of harmony!" He said confidently "Nope! Anypony else?" "The elements like wind and water?" A filly asked "Nope! Any other guesses? How about you Nightshade do you know?" The mare asked. Nightshade's eyes went wide with fear all the ponies in the class were staring at her expecting her to give an answer. "Um... I-I-I... T-the P-Periodic Table of E-Elements?" She stammered. She remembered her father used to teach her about how different objects were made of different things and these things were called elements. "Correct! That is right, and does anypony know the name of any of them? "Oxygen?" A colt asked "That is one! Dose anyone know any others?" She asked the class. After getting the last question right Nightshade felt confident enough to answer. "Um, Hydrogen, Helium, Tungsten, Carbon, and steel are some right?" "Close. The first four were right but steal is an alloy not an element. You will learn about compounds and alloys in the coming month!" She said as she continued with the lesson. Nightshade felt a bit embarrassed about getting the last one wrong but that soon faded as the lesson went on. The filly was completely absorbed in the lesson and she was asking questions every chance she got. "The next element we will be looking at is-" The teacher was cut off by the school bell going off. " Looks like it's time for lunch and Recess!" The fillies and colts practically cheered at that and ran out the door and were gone in an instant. Nightshade however was saddened by this and wanted to keep hearing more about the elements. She slowly got up from her desk and grabbed the lunch out of her bag and made her way out of the room and out the door to the playground and seating area. She looked over the benches and found a lonely seat away from all the other students. She sat down and pulled out a tuna fish sandwich. I know what your thing and yes she is an omnivore, and she was glad that Phoenix so happened to be one as well it made things a lot easier when he is caring for her. "Mind if ah' sit here?" a voice asked. Nightshade was startled by the voice and turned to see a small white colt with brown splotches all over his body, a red mane, and a yellow red eyes. He was much shorter than any of the other fouls which kind of surprised her. "Um.. no you can have a seat..." "Thank ya' kindly!" He said before sitting across from Nightshade and pulling out a hey sandwich, "Name's Pipsqueak Jr. but ya'll can just call me Pip for short." He said extending his hoof to shake. "H-hi I'm Nightshade." She said taking his hoof and shaking it. "Is your daddies named Pipsqueak too?" "Eeyup! Ah'm named after my Pa!" he said. At first Nightshade was uncomfortable, but as they talked that feeling went away. They sat and chatted for a bit as they ate their lunch. Nightshade was thankful he didn't know she was eating tuna. After they finished eating they engaged in a game of tag. The two ran around the playground playfully chasing each other around trying to catch each other. Soon the school bell rang and all the fillies and colts made their way back to class. The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Miss Cheerilee went on to talk about more of the elements of the periodic table. Nightshade remained absorbed in the lesson and continued to ask questions. The teacher was more than happy to answer them, much to the displeasure of most of the students having to hear more about the element neon more than any of them particularly cared to. Many of the students began to develop a hatred towards Nightshade, but she did not scenes there growing distaste for her because she was so focused on the lesson. Eventually, to the relief of the students, the school bell rang signaling the end of the school day. All the students rushed out the door with there bags in tow. Pip said goodbye to Nightshade and left the school building to meet a yellow mare with a red mane. Just as Nightshade was about to leave a pop sound rang throughout the classroom. Nightshade turned to see a scroll had appeared on the teacher's desk. Miss Cheerilee walked over to it and read it. "Nightshade King Phoenix has sent me a scroll telling me that you will be needing to walk home he says he's a bit busy at the moment and won't be able to pick you up." "Okay thanks Miss Cheerilee! See you tomorrow!" She said before leaving the class "Have a good afternoon Nightshade!" Nightshade exited the school building happily and skipped down the path back to the castle completely unaware of the three colts following her. Nightshade was halfway home when she suddenly felt a wave of hatred flow towards her. She shivered and suddenly felt very scared. " Wh-who's there?" she asked looking around trying to find out the sources of the intense emotion. "Well what do we have here? looks like we found a little know it all!" A voice came from her left. As soon as she turned to the direction of the voice she found herself surrounded by three colts at least twice her size. "Who do you think you are acting all smart and asking questions like you own the place?" The colt who asked was an earth pony with a black mane and and grey body with a tan book as a cutie mark. "Yeah who do you think you are." A white unicorn with a blue mane and an orange as a cutie mark. "Why do you think you're so special that you have to waste every ponies time asking stupid questions?" a grey blue pegasus with a brown mane and a tornado as a cutie mark asked. "Yeah!" The unicorn said. "I think we should teach her what happens when you ask so many questions after all you obviously like to learn!" He smiled evilly. Nightshade was absolutely terrified she could feel the immense hatred towards her. Before she could run the unicorn to her left kicked her in the side causing her to fall over. The other colts soon joined in on kicking her and beating on her. She desperately attempted to fight back, but it was all in vain. She did the only thing she could do! She called for help. "DADDY!" "Shut up you're daddy isn't here to save you!" The unicorn said before delivering a swift kick to her head and to her eye. As soon as he said that there was a loud thud from behind the colts. They immediately stopped and turned to see a tall white unicorn with a yellow and orange mane. "K-king Phoenix w-we were just-" "Beating up my daughter?" he asked rhetorically. All three colts' pupils shrunk to the size of pin heads. "Nightshade come here!" Nightshade complied and rushed behind Phoenix. He looked down at Nightshade to asses the damage. The filly could suddenly feel a great burning anger emanating from the larger pony. She was thankful that it wasn't directed at her. Phoenix turned back towards the colts and spoke in a slow and dangerous voice. "Give me one good reason to not throw you in juvenile prison?" "Um.. because she is a know it all?" the unicorn colt said stupidly. This only caused Phoenix to become even more enraged. "DISCORD!" The king called. A second letter a flash of light speared and a draconequus appeared. "You called?" Discord said with a smile, but that soon vanished as soon as he saw his friend's anger. "Return these colts to their families and inform their parents that they have assaulted the king's newly adopted daughter. Also tell them that I am letting them decide the punishment of their colts or if they want me to decide on what their punishment should be. "You three are in big trouble!" He said before snapping his fingers and all four vanished except for the stallion and filly. After a short silence Nightshade began to whimper bring the unicorns attention back to her. "Sh it's alright I'm here now." he said as he sat down on the dirt, hugged her, and gently stroked her mane. "D-daddy..." she said weakly as she attempted to wrap her arms around the stallion's chest. "Sh it's okay daddy's here daddy's got you." He continued to sooth her. " Don't worry I will always protect you." To be continued...