Chapter 19: Pendulum
Tick-tock.
Absentmindedly, Flurry Heart eyed the Saddle-Arabian carpet under her hooves, head slightly tilted to the right. Her eyes were still red and they felt sore, but Flurry Heart did not really notice the sting in them anymore.
Tick-tock.
There was a sudden pain in her flank. Uncomfortably, Flurry Heart inched around on the hard, dark brown wooden chair. A thought flashed up in her mind, that this chair was definitely not made for somepony to sit comfy on. Deep inside of her, fear began to rise as she realized what this meant and what was awaiting her. But as fast as the thought had appeared, as fast it vanished, drowned out by the fuzzy feeling in her head as her mind drifted off again.
Tick-tock.
Her heart made a leap in her chest. Unwillingly, but driven by a sudden agitation, Flurry Heart lifted her head and looked to the left, at the pendulum clock on the wall.
Tick-tock.
Another leap from her heart as the repetitive sound of the old clock washed over her once again. Flurry Heart sniffed, then bit on her lower lip. A metallic taste spread out on her tongue. For a moment, she felt like she was going to gag, but then she just gulped and the taste disappeared.
Tick-tock.
Flurry Heart followed the pendulum with her eyes, each tick and each tock becoming more painful for her. After minutes, her distraught mind was suddenly met with a certain relief, as another sound entered her ears, distracting her from the clock's sounds.
Fast hoofsteps approached the door behind her, hurry and nervousness ringing out from them. The relief dissipated as the door got opened, a distant sound of upset voices audible for a moment, then, as it was closed again, it became replaced by a wave of panic. It hit the shores of her mind, feeling like it was washing away her last bits of sanity.
Flurry Heart twitched as the door got closed with a loud bang, then her whole body erupted into shudders as the hoofsteps came into her direction. Swiftly, she retracted her eyes from the clock and fixated them on her lap. As the arrival had passed her and sounds of a pony sitting down at the massive mahogany desk in front of her could be heard, she still did not dare to look up. There was rustling of paper, followed by a quiet thud on the desk's surface, then silence.
Tick-tock.
The clock was suddenly the only sound in the room again. Like it was her sole friend, Flurry Heart focused her attention on the clock, her ears and mind following each of the sounds it made. The pony in front of her cleared its throat. Flurry Heart did not react, anchoring her mind on the clock more and more. Finally, the other pony spoke.
“The situation is hard enough already and you're not making this any easier. Look at me, finally.” The deep voice spoke calmly, yet there was a slight shaking in it, which did not make Flurry Heart any more eager to look up.
New tears began to glisten in the corner of her eyes. With a heavy, unsteady wheeze leaving her nostrils, Flurry Heart slowly looked in front of her, facing her principal. He had his head propped up on his forelegs, hooves covering his mouth, and his blue eyes looked at her sternly.
Flurry Heart began to shiver again, but, deep inside her, a nagging thought made its way to the surface of her mind, until the feeling became unbearable. Lips quivering, she hesitantly opened her mouth to ask the question her mind had just formed. “W-What happened to S-Swift Hoof?” A cold feeling spread out in her chest as the question had been spoken.
In front of her, the principal sighed audibly, sending a flood of terror through Flurry Heart's body with that reaction. He took down his forelegs and leaned back in his black chair.
“He is still alive,” he finally said after a few seconds, seconds that felt like an eternity to Flurry Heart. A relieved sob rang out from her throat. “But the burns you gave him are severe.” He sighed again, a look of disappointment in his eyes. “The wound on his head is going to heal without complications and by a miracle, there are no broken bones despite the impact on the wall. But the forefront of his body is charred, from the stomach to his lower lip. We got the first response from the hospital and according to the doctors, his skin will grow back, but they are not so sure about his coat, and they say that scars will remain.”
Flurry Heart gasped, a new wave of terror washing through her body, then her eyes welled up with new tears. She slumped back in her chair and thick streams of tears began to cover her face, as another crying fit kicked in. Her body rocked to the rhythm of her sobs. As the disappointed stare of the principal became too much for Flurry Heart, the young filly closed her eyes and capped them with her hooves.
Wordlessly, the principal pulled out a tissue from a blue box on his table and, standing up for a moment, hoofed it to Flurry Heart. Instinctively, she grabbed it, then began to dry her eyes.
“Swift Hoof is in the hospital right now and the doctors do their best to treat his injuries. We don't know yet how well he will recover, but in any case, this is a serious situation, princess.” His voice turned to a strange tone for a moment as he took the word “princess” into his mouth. Not one of deep disdain, as Flurry would expect it from Mr. Know, but not friendly either. The unspoken accusation could be heard in it, as well as the disappointment and a slight trace of anger.
As the stream of tears had been reduced to a small trickle, Flurry Heart blew her nose into the tissue, then crumpled it and let it sit in her lap. With shyness and insecurity in her red eyes, she looked at the principal again.
“I need to know what happened exactly. The other teachers are worried and asked me a lot of questions that I could not answer.” His voice began to shake more and also increased in volume. “And there will be more questions once I have to talk to the worried parents that wait outside!” A stressed expression in his face, he let his hooves come down on the desk. The sound echoed like thunder through the office and let Flurry Heart twitch. A new sob escaped her throat. “And that's why I need to know everything,” he continued, more calmly, and leaned back in his chair again. “You must tell me all that happened and it needs to be the truth.”
Flurry Heart stared at him, her eyes now filled with fear. Repeatedly, she opened her mouth and closed it again, not able to produce a single word. Trying to calm herself, she closed her eyes and leaned back. She took two deep breaths, then choked and tried it again. “I-I didn't want to attack him,” she began, her voice filled with grief. Her eyes searched for a sign of the principal believing her, but were just met with the same stern expression. Flurry Heart took another breath. “I-I just wanted to use the bathroom. When I was finished, he was there suddenly. H-He pushed me back into the stall and locked us in it and then..... then.....” She stopped, choking. Her hooves began to shake as she tried to continue to explain the events.
“And then, what?” the principal asked as still nothing came from her after a few seconds. His face had become more grim.
“T-Then..... T-Then he..... He had a scroll with him and.....” Now the sentences came out only in chunks anymore. “H-He said he is going to c-cripple me with the spell he g-got.” Flurry Heart's body got shaken as another sob erupted. She wiped over her nose, then continued. “I-I'm not sure anymore what exactly happened then. M-My horn, t-the magic..... It s-suddenly pushed him away from me.” Nervously, Flurry Heart began to jostle the crumpled tissue back and forth between her hooves, looking down now. “A-And all I remember after that is how Swift Hoof laid on the floor and he was bleeding and.....” Her voice broke and she looked to the side, unable to say more. New pools of tears appeared in her eyes and began to run down her cheeks swiftly.
Not saying anything right away, the principal looked at Flurry Heart observingly, his eyes scrutinizing the expression in her face while she cried and tried to bring her tears under control. “And this is the truth?” he asked then, while hoofing her another tissue.
Quietly, Flurry Heart nodded, taking the tissue from him. She began to dry her tears once more, avoiding eye contact with the principal now.
Another sigh left the principal's throat. If Flurry Heart would have paid attention, she would have been able to see the signs of the gears in his head turning at rapid speed while he recapped her words. Finally, after another eternity, he nodded. “I believe you,” he said. “Swift Hoof is a colt with issues, I can see him trying to do this.” His face became a tad softer as he saw Flurry Heart reacting with another relieved sob, yet it still radiated concern. “But I will still have to talk with a lot of parents and try to calm them down, to prevent more trouble.”
Flurry Heart blew her nose into this tissue as well, after which it joined its crumpled comrade in the same condition, then she finally found her speech again. The nervousness in her eyes was overwhelming. “W-What are they going to do once they f-find out?” she asked the principal, voice shivering in fear.
The concern in his face eased a little. “Luckily, Swift Hoof's attitude is no surprise to anypony. He is picking fights nearly every day and I remember many talks with parents whose foals he has beaten up. Even his parents know what a problematic colt their son is.” For the first time since he had entered his office, a small smile appeared on his face. “It has already made the rounds that it was Swift Hoof who got injured and on my way here, I heard many parents talk about him in less than beneficial ways. What you just told me should be enough to make most of them believe you attacked him in self-defense.”
The reassuring words were not enough to make Flurry Heart smile as well, but they were not without effect on the young princess. A small feeling of relief rose in her heart, barely enough to scare away the anxiety, but it eased her mind a little and made her feel slightly more confident.
The principal got up from his chair. “But now it's time for me to address their concerns. I can't let them wait longer, or else they will become impatient,” he said while approaching the door of the office. In response, Flurry Heart slipped down from her chair and followed him quietly, her head hanging low.
The principal opened the door for her, then invitingly pointed to the opening with his other hoof, still a faint smile on his lips. Slowly, Flurry Heart crept outside, not looking where she was going. Only as she sensed other ponies in front of her, she lifted her head to not run into them. Sharp Pitch, Sunny Spirit and Magnolia were there, all of them wearing expressions that were a mixture of concern and uplifting smiles. As Flurry Heart saw them, a sudden smile snuck itself on her face while processing the thought that the accident was now more than two hours ago, but that her friends were still waiting for her. More swing in her steps, she continued her way to them and was immediately met with a crushing hug by Sunny.
Behind her, the principal shut the door of his office. He tapped on Flurry Heart's shoulder, requesting her attention. Retreating from the hug by her friend, she looked at him quizzically.
“You should stay here and watch the conference, princess.” That was all he said, then he hurried past the group and towards the lobby. A crowd of parents had gathered there, some of them with their foals, but most of them alone.
Everything in Flurry Heart said no to this suggestion. Staying there, facing all those parents of her schoolmates who were without a doubt mad at her, hearing their snide remarks, seeing all of their hatred..... It was something that was out of the question for Flurry Heart. But the voice of the principal had something to it. An aura of reassurance and conviction that the young alicorn filly had never heard in his words before. Baffled over these words and the tone in his voice, Flurry Heart watched the principal make his way to the front of the crowd. The gathered parents murmured and, as they noticed her, some of them looked into her direction, confusion and a weird expression of discrepancy coming from their faces.
“Should we leave, princess?” Sharp Pitch bent down close to her.
Flurry Heart turned around and looked at him, then back at the crowd, then at Sharp Pitch again. “No,” she said then. “I want to stay.”
An uneasy expression showed up in Sharp Pitch's face. Sunny and Magnolia looked at Flurry in similar ways. “Are you sure, princess?” he asked her. “You won't hear many nice things.”
An expression of utter conviction graced Flurry Heart's face now. “Mhm. I want to know what they have to say.” Without awaiting another reply, Flurry Heart proceeded towards the crowd. More parents noticed her now, still giving her the same kind of glances like she received before. Flurry Heart trotted behind the crowd, between the last row of adult ponies and the school's entrance gate. A second later, Sharp Pitch, Sunny and Magnolia joined her side. The principal had taken his position in front of the crowd in the meantime.
“Why is she so confident suddenly?” Sharp Pitch asked out loud in bewilderment, to nopony in particular. “Just because of one sentence by her principal?”
At his side, Sunny Spirit shrugged. “It's no surprise. He's good at lifting the spirits of other ponies and I must have gotten that from somewhere.”
The bewilderment in Sharp Pitch's face got replaced by confusion. “Gotten from somewhere..... What do you mean?”
Sunny looked over to the guard. Bewilderment was in her face now, like it had moved there from Sharp Pitch's own face. “The principal is my grandpa. Did Flurry Heart not tell you?”
“No, not a word,” he answered surprised. “She did not talk to me much yet.”
Sunny Spirit wanted to reply something else, but before she could, the voice of her grandpa sounded into her ear. Immediately, the murmur of the crowd stopped and everypony turned his attention to the stallion with the green coat who was here to give all of them an explanation.
“Thank you for coming, everypony. The reason you are all here today is the tragic event that happened a few hours earlier in the filly's toilet involving Princess Flurry Heart and Swift Hoof.” Not wasting any time and risking impatience of the agitated crowd, he came right to the point. “I understand that all of you want answers about what happened today. I have spoken with the princess and have the full picture of the events now.”
In quick words, he repeated what Flurry Heart had told him earlier. With every detail, the confusion and the curiosity in the faces of the attending parents cleared up more and more, but, at the same time, got replaced with horror and disgust. As the principal had finished, the murmur of the crowd returned again.
Flurry Heart realized that the moment had now come where everypony would talk about her and she began to break out in sweat. Nopony was looking at her yet, but the young alicorn braced herself for this. To her left, Sunny Spirit put a hoof on her shoulder and gave her one of her trademark, uplifting smiles. Magnolia wrapped a hoof around her neck from the right.
The murmur grew more intense and, occasionally, a few louder statements stuck out. Flurry Heart squeezed her eyes shut as she was able to distinguish the statements from each other.
“What surprise! I knew this troublemaker was the cause of everything!”
“He's always starting fights and bullying other ponies, it was just a matter of time until something like this would happen!”
“Last week, my daughter returned home from school crying, because Swift Hoof beat her up! He got what he deserved!”
“If he ever returns from the hospital, he should get suspended from school and be locked away!”
More and more statements like this came from the parents gathered in the lobby. Flurry Heart gasped in surprise and opened her eyes as she realized that none of those were aimed at her. Some of the parents in attendance finally looked at her now. A few of them shot her hostile glances still, as she had expected, but none of them dared to say anything about her, too charged was the atmosphere against the colt who tried to attack her right now. And, more importantly, the rest of the faces – the overwhelming majority of faces even – gave her looks of compassion or empathy. None of them said anything to her either, but to Flurry Heart's surprise, they all looked at her in a sympathetic way!
Sharp Pitch nudged Flurry slightly, trying to get her out of her baffled state. “Come on, princess, let's go!”
Dumbfounded, Flurry Heart nodded. Then she turned around slowly, keeping her eyes on the crowd as long as possible, and motioned towards the exit. Sunny and Magnolia followed closely behind.
As they had left the school, none of them said a word for some time, while they headed down the broad street leading away from the school. But a smile on Flurry Heart's face, one so broad that it could have fought with the street for dominance, made up for the silence and spoke a language clearer than any words the young princess could have said.
It was only as they reached the crossroads where Sunny and Magnolia had to split off from the group that the silence got broken and were Flurry Heart finally found it in her to say something. “What did just happen?” she asked, her mind still confused over the unexpected sympathy and compassion that was shown to her.
Sharp Pitch laughed. “I guess your bravery was rewarded, princess!” Sunny and Magnolia gave her confirming nods.
“D-Do they suddenly trust me again?” Flurry Heart asked, looking over all of them.
In response, Sunny gave her a pat on the back. “I'm not sure, but don't worry about this now! We have a weekend full of fun ahead of us, just take your happiness along with you for it!”
Flurry Heart could not help but nod at the advice. Like she was used to from talking to her best friend, all the confusion was suddenly gone and even the last remaining insecurity was now replaced with cheer. Happily, she wrapped up Sunny into a hug, following up with another hug for Magnolia. “Now I can't wait for our sleepover!” she exclaimed in joy as both hugs were finished. “Hurry with the homework, okay?” she addressed the other two fillies.
“We do our best!” the two of them replied in a surprising unison.
The three fillies exchanged hoofbumps. Then another, spontaneous round of hugs followed, before Sunny and Magnolia headed off into the direction of their respective homes.
The two of them left alone, Flurry Heart and Sharp Pitch set themselves into motion again, towards the castle. While Flurry Heart still sported the happy smile she had since they left the school, the face of the guard at her side was of a more neutral nature. Aside from him observing every inch around Flurry Heart, as it was still his task to protect her in case anything unexpected should happen, there was also a slight sobriety in his eyes. He felt happy for Flurry Heart, but also knew that things rarely were as easy as it seemed now and that winning back the trust of her subjects would require more steps and more time.
“Still, things are looking up,” he thought to himself. His eyes fell on the filly at his side for a moment. “Maybe I won't be needed as her bodyguard anymore soon.” Finally, he smiled as well. “But for now, I'm just happy you are happy, princess.” The smile deepened as Flurry Heart turned at him for a moment and shot him a grin, the first time he received such a sign of sympathy from his little protégé.
“And just wait until you see the surprise your parents have prepared for you this evening. I'm sure this will increase your mood even more, princess.”
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7880949
It doesn't matter if an earth pony, crystal pony, or pegasus uses a spell scroll. They are all equally slower with it than a unicorn or alicorn casting a spell would be.
I'm imagining them having the actual name of the spell written in them, in form of letters, not runes. They are supposed to be of easy use for foals who normally can't use magic.
The foals know this, there was just no need to describe the whole lesson. That is why Swift Hoof whispered the spell he had to Flurry Heart first, in finest sadistic fashion.
Surpris? What for a surprise
I want to now
*Starts praying that the tide is hopefully fianlly starting to turn favorably but keeps a sharp eye for any change*
Flurry needs some victories at this point, I'll take what I can get.
You have to wonder "How did Swift Hoof get past the guard to get in there?"
Suddenly people think of you as of a tool or a vehicle of righteous justice while you are not so sure that you did the right thing. How familiar...