Chapter 3: Serenity
Above Sunny Spirit and Flurry Heart, the bells of the clocktowers continued their dark chiming, alerting the students of the magic kindergarden that their first lesson of the day was about to begin. And at the same time, it sounded like they were commenting on what cruel event had just happened in front of the entrance. Neither Sunny nor Flurry had ever noticed how grim and foreboding the bells of their school sounded, but now it dawned on them in a horrifying way. And yet despite that, both of them didn't really pay attention to the big, metallic structures and their scary play.
Flurry Heart was heavily sobbing, her eyes now turned away from her wing. Her heart was filled with fear after Magnolia's treatment and this fear used up all her concentration.
Sunny Spirit still stood at the same spot, eyeing the door with the same amount of disbelief and shock that appeared in her face moments earlier. She didn't have ears for anything right now, all that was going on in her mind was that she constantly asked herself the question why such things happen and why Magnolia managed it time after time to get out of it unharmed and unpunished. It was only as an especially loud sob escaped Flurry's throat that Sunny was thrown out of her state of shock. All of a sudden, she was aware of her surroundings again and felt the crying of Flurry Heart cut through her like somepony was just using a sharp knife on her.
Having been reminded on Flurry's condition again, she abruptly turned around to her and rushed at her side. The sight that greeted her was terrifying.
The young alicorn had crouched down on the floor, her face buried in her hooves, in which she was weeping uncontrollably. Her injured wing was still stretched into the air, the massive limb towering over her friend. It was twitching in the rhythm the pain from the small injury flashed through it and a thin trail of blood trickled down her wing and torso. The drops formed a tiny puddle of blood under Flurry, which soaked the coat on her belly.
Sunny Spirit shuddered as she saw what a picture of misery her best friend displayed right now. In this moment, she was anything but the cheerful filly that seemed to absorb every little piece of happiness that was in the world. Sunny choked, then she carefully reached out with a hoof and touched her friends' shoulder. “Hey..... Flurry?”
Hearing the voice of her friend at her side, Flurry Heart looked up to her. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears that constantly ran down her cheeks in thick streams, only to be replaced by a seemingly infinite supply of new ones. And her face was distorted by distress and grief in a way Sunny had never seen it before. It was red and her cheeks were puffy and there were deep wrinkles on her forehead. The drenched coat added to the mysery that offered itself to Sunny in front of her eyes. Her mouth gaped open from shock and dismay.
Flurry Heart opened her mouth too and tried to say something, but before a word could leave it, she broke out in sobs again and buried her head into her hooves once more.
Upon seeing this reaction, anger flared up in Sunny Spirit and for a moment, all she felt was the desire to enter the school building, to go into their class and to pull Magnolia out of her chair and teach her a lesson. She clenched her teeth, her whole body shivering from the anger and hatred that was coursing through it right now. But she also knew this wasn't the right moment to give in to her negative feelings.
Sunny closed her eyes and did a few, deep breaths, then, as she felt her pulse returning to a somewhat normal speed, she opened them again, took position to Flurry's right, crouched down herself and wrapped her hooves around her friend. She rested her chin on Flurry's head and began to gently stroke her mane. “Sssssh,” she said calmingly. “It's all over now, Flurry.”
As she felt the gentle embrace, Flurry raised her head and brought her face out from under her hooves. Feeling how she was in need of it, she instinctively pressed it against Sunny's neck and continued her crying there, soaking Sunny's coat. After a few more sobs had left her throat, she found a little strength to speak.
“N-Now she really did it. I knew she would, S-Sunny. I knew she would hurt my w-wings and now she did it. S-She is really going after my wings n-now.” Behind her sobs, Sunny could hear her voice cracking from fear.
She intensified her embrace. “I know, Flurry. But we don't let this happen. Magnolia is so incredibly jealous of your wings that she doesn't know what she's doing anymore, but I'm here for you and I won't allow that she hurts you again. And you know that I'm not the only one who will help you.”
Flurry sniffled, then she retracted her face from Sunny's neck and looked her straight into the eyes. “What should we do? A-After all she did today.....”
“We go to the toilet. I need to take care of your wing first. Can you get up?”
Flurry Heart nodded weakly, then she slowly rose up on her hooves. They felt wobbly to her and she was shaking, but eventually, Flurry managed it to stand somewhat secure.
The little alicorn looked to her right and at her wing. Grimacing, she moved it a little and, as it didn't hurt too much, tried to fold it in, which was unfortunately only rewarded with another strong flash of pain. More tears shot into her eyes and she let her head hang, followed by a deep sigh.
Sunny rushed at her side and nudged her gently. Understanding the signal, Flurry Heart carefully stretched her wing over Sunny's back to rest it on it. She gave her friend a thankful smile, which looked anything but happy with the agonized expression and the tears still flowing over her cheeks. Noticing that, another wave of concern washed over Sunny. She put a hoof over Flurry's shoulders and gave her a smile on her own, a reassuring and motivating one.
Then both of the fillies sat themselves into motion and brought the small distance between them and the entrance behind. As Sunny proceeded to open the crystalline swing door, she felt her friends body vibrating under her hoof. A look at Flurry Heart confirmed her suspicion, she was facing the ground and her eyes were widely open. Sunny tightened the grip around her friend's shoulder and pulled her closer to her. “Don't worry, I'm sure Magnolia is in class already now. She won't be behind this door.” As Flurry still didn't move, Sunny dragged her forward, gently, but firm, while simultaneously pushing the door open. She could feel the resistance of her friend as every cell of her body seemed to strive against entering the building. After a little struggle between her and Flurry, both of them had finally managed to enter the magic kindergarden.
Sunny Spirit turned her head to the left and let her eyes wander over the long corridor observingly, carefully checking that their nemesis and her two henchponies weren't here. Then she turned to the right and repeated the procedure. As she had made sure that the corridor was clear on both sides, she turned her attention back to Flurry Heart.
“She isn't here, Flurry. Take a look.” As soft as possible she placed a hoof under the chin of the paralyzed filly and moved her head into the two directions of the corridor she had just checked out.
A relieved sigh left Flurry's mouth as she saw that Sunny was right. Taking the initiative again, Sunny Spirit directed her friend to the corridor to their left.
Now a little more confident, Flurry got into motion all by herself. Somehow, she felt eagerly to spend some time alone with her best friend in the small, quiet fillys toilet now. Still, while on their way, her eyes darted over the corridor, from the blue floor over the yellow walls that were adorned with pictures. She expected that Magnolia would suddenly stand in front of them, ready to continue her tantalizing bullying. Deep inside of her she knew it was unlikely. It was right that Magnolia wouldn't hang around in the corridor anymore, it was a few minutes past the beginning of their first lesson and she had said that she didn't want to come late. And on top of that, the toilet they were heading towards right now was exactly at the opposite side of their classroom.
Due to the longish shape of the building, it was separated into two parts. The classrooms were located in the right corridor, together with a set of toilets on their own, and the left corridor was reserved for the teacher's rooms, the office of the principal and the aforementioned fillys toilet, as well as an accompanying counterpart for colts. Even if Magnolia would leave the classroom right now to go to the toilet, she would visit the one at the far end of the school building. They were safe here, for now, but Flurry's fear dominated her mind.
Her eyes were carefully scrutinizing the walls, like she was expecting that the cruel bully would suddenly come out of one of them. The pictures on the walls showed classes that had graduated here before, as well as pictures of the teachers. The latter ones were hanging at the side of the doors of the teacher's rooms and as they came across a particular one, a new shudder went through Flurry's body. Before she could start to ponder about what the face that looked at her from inside the picture frame meant to her, she was thrown out of her trance by Sunny's voice.
“We're here.” The other filly pointed at a door with the red silhouette of a filly painted on near the top. “Now let's head in and take care of your injury!” She gave Flurry another reassuring smile, then she pushed the door open and they disappeared inside the room.
Sunny Spirit quietly closed the door, then she turned around and faced the inside of the room. To their left, a few lavatorys were attached to the bright, pink wall, just low enough that fillies could reach them without having to stand on something. At the opposite side of the room were the stalls, three in number, the doors and the walls of them white. Finally, opposite of the door was a window, the windowsill unfortunately too small to sit on it. Lacking a proper seat, Sunny Spirit directed Flurry Heart into one of the stalls. She put down the lid of the toilet and Flurry Heart took seat on it. Sunny Spirit lifted Flurry's saddlebag off of her back and placed it at the wall, followed by her own. Then she left the stall and headed for one of the lavatorys.
As she was alone inside the stall, Flurry Heart noticed surprised that there were still big tears rolling down her cheeks. She choked. Finally doing an effort to stop the crying, she reached up with her hooves and rubbed the tears out of her eyes. With small success, the little alicorn filly managed it to stop most of the flow, but a few tears still trickled out. Something else that she hadn't noticed so far, but that came to her now in the serenity of the fillys toilet, was that the pain in her wing had become significantly weaker since they entered the building. She did a few, tiny flaps with it and found it much less painful than before. It was probably still the best to not move it too much, though, she thought, so she let it carefully sink to the floor again after the short check-up.
While she was examining her wings, she could hear Sunny Spirit being busy at the lavatory opposite of her. The little crystal filly took some paper towels out of the dispenser to her right and held one of them under the water, making it soaking wet. She turned off the faucet and wrung the paper towel out a little, then she took it and the other, dry one and returned to Flurry Heart.
“Now let's clean up your wing!” she said with a cheer in her voice that made it seem to Flurry Heart like nothing bad has happened a few minutes ago. Her face took on a surprised expression for a moment as Sunny Spirit approached her injured wing with the wet towel. As she touched the spot where her feather had sat, Flurry Heart winced and let out a small whimper. The overall pain was much weaker now and it had almost stopped bleeding, but touching it still caused a substantial amount of it. New tears appeared in Flurry's eyes now and quickly streamed down her face, which Sunny noticed, but instead of frowning, she just smiled this time. “Be brave, Flurry, I'm done soon!” To highlight her words, she bent forward a little and gave Flurry a kiss on the forehead, right underneath her horn.
A gesture that caused Flurry to set up a smile too now, the first one she managed to make look somewhat happy since Magnolia's torture ended.
Noticing it with a satisfying nod, Sunny switched to the dry towel and carefully tapped the sore spot with it. Then she ripped the towel into two halves, folded one of them and held it against Flurry's injury. She looked into Flurry's face and gave her another one of her trademark confident smiles. “Try to tuck in your wing now.”
Flurry Heart nodded and slowly lifted her wing off of the ground, carefully doing the necessary steps to fold the big limb against her body. Sunny Spirit removed her hoof from the piece of the towel as she was almost finished and a moment later, it was sandwiched between Flurry's wing and her torso. To Flurry's surprise, she could barely feel the pain anymore now.
Another satisfied nod by Sunny. “That should take care of the rest of the bleeding! Speaking about blood.....” She pointed at Flurry's stomach, then she switched back to the wet towel and folded the side with the bloodstain on it to the inside.
Flurry Heart followed Sunny's hoof and gasped from shock as she found her coat being stained with blood that became a little brown already. “Wow.....” was all she could say at first. “Was I bleeding so much?” Her face scrunched a little in fear again as she thought on it that her tormentor had really injured her this time.
“Only a few drops, don't worry!” Sunny chimed in response. “And we have those stains removed in no time! Soon your coat will look as nice as before!”
With that said, she put down the wet towel on the blood-stained hairs, put pressure on it and moved it around in circles. As Flurry felt the towel tickling her belly, she broke out in faint giggles that soon grew louder, which resulted in Flurry trying to stiffle them to avoid that any teacher or the principal came to look what the commotion was about.
Sunny Spirit began to grin broadly. That was a true weakpoint of her friend, she was incredibly ticklish on her belly, even just a slight touch there could let her erupt, and right now, it came in handy after the gruesome experience Flurry just had to make. This was just the right moment for a little feel good torture, Sunny decided. She removed the wet towel from Flurry's coat, which gave the little alicorn finally time to relax and breath, then she switched again to the rest of the dry towel and wiped over the spot a few times. She let both of the towels drop to the floor, then looked up to her friend in a playfully malicious way.
“Sunny, what do you want to do.....?” A slightly clueless expression appeared on Flurry's face. “Oh no!” she exclaimed then as her friend's intention dawned upon her. She tried to get up from her seat to escape, but Sunny was faster and had quickly pinned her against the backwall of the stall, were she started to tickle her belly furiously. “S-Sunny..... no!” were all the words Flurry could manage to say, before another fit of giggles left her throat, louder this time, and she quickly put her hooves over her mouth again.
Needless to say that Sunny Spirit was merciless. She snickered and for a few minutes, she did nothing else than tickling her friend with increasing intensity while laughing herself, until Flurry Heart couldn't take it anymore.
“S-Sunny, please stop now! It's too m-much and w-we get late to the classroom if you continue!” The latter argument was of course just an excuse to get her friend to cease the incessant tickling, as they were already way too late anyway.
But Sunny listened and removed her hooves upon seeing that her friend had enough. With a satisfied grin, she sat down in front of the toilet seat and watched Flurry as she recovered from the attack.
Flurry Heart leaned back against the wall and breathed heavily. She closed her eyes and placed her hooves on her belly to protect it from another assault. “That was mean, Sunny!” she said after she had gained her breath back a little. After a few breathers more, she opened her eyes and gave her friend a glare, but then she laughed and her friend soon joined in.
Both fillies laughed without hesitation, now neither of them caring anymore that anypony could hear them.
As their fits had subsided, they wiped the tears out of their eyes and slowly calmed down. Sunny Spirit was the first one who found her speech back. She pointed again at Flurry's stomach. “So, that would be done!” she announced.
Flurry removed her hooves from her stomach and looked down at it again, her face lighting up brightly as she noticed that her coat was as pristine as before now. She darted forward and wrapped her hooves around Sunny's neck, a cheerful giggle escaping her throat. As she released her friend of the tight embrace, she rewarded her with a quick, but strong, kiss on her left cheek. Which she followed up with wrapping her tiny hooves around her friend again. “Thank you so much, Sunny! Sometimes I really wouldn't know what to do without you!” The other filly reciprocated the hug, then, after a few seconds in which both of them were quiet and just enjoyed the other's presence, they let go of each other.
The two of them exchanged smiles, that lasted for another few seconds, then Sunny took the word. “I'm so glad you feel better now!” But.....” Now her face became stern. “We really need to talk about Magnolia now.”
Hearing her tormentor's name changed the mood for Flurry immediately again. Like it was a magic word of a dark spell, Flurry Heart felt the fear rising in her heart again upon hearing it. Her lips pointed downwards, she leaned back and began to shake again. “I know.....” she pressed out between her lips. “What is it that we are going to do?” Hopeful, she looked up to her friend.
“Don't worry about that!” she began. “I already know something. But first.....” She sighed. This was probably going to be the hardest part. Now sporting an even more stern and very serious expression, she looked Flurry straight into the eyes. “You must finally stop being so afraid of her and defend yourself against Magnolia!”
For a moment it was completely silent in the room. The words Sunny had just spoken washed over Flurry like a wave of cold, arctic water. This was a sobriety she had never seen from her friend. It was something that made her speechless and she was looking at her with big eyes. It took quite a few moments until Flurry had found her speech back.
“You mean I should just..... snap back at her like I do with other ponies?”
The answer was a stern nod by her friend. “Yes. We know you can do that, Flurry. It's not the first time somepony bullies you and you can deal with it just fine. Every time some other foal bullies you, you are so snappy! You need to do the same with Magnolia!”
Flurry gave her a shy, intimidated glance. “I know, but–“
“And what's with that colt from the parallel class?” Sunny interrupted her. “How is his name again?”
Flurry waited, but soon realized that her friend expected to hear it from her. She sighed. “Swift Hoof.” She let her eyes wander to the ground as she began to remember what happened with him.
Swift Hoof was a bully as well, although, unlike Magnolia who preferred to torment her victims in more psychological ways, he loved it to beat his victims up. He was feared in his class. Because everypony was afraid of him, he didn't have any friends, but somehow, he seemed to enjoy it that everypony was shivering from fear when he approached them.
Swift Hoof seemed to see it as a hobby and the more foals he beat in a fight, the more it increased his ego. And since he was not only strong, but also a very fast fighter, nopony could stand a chance against him. Soon, he had beaten up every foal in his class, so he expanded his activities to other classes. And the first one who jumped into his eyes was Flurry Heart. He knew about Flurry's snappy attitude, her ability to beat a pony that treated her poorly or tried to get smart with her with apt, and sometimes impudent, remarks, and wanted to see if she was as good with her hooves as she was with words. And this was a mistake.
The young alicorn princess made short work of him. It was still an impressive and long fight, with losses on both sides. Both of them ended up with a multitude of scratches, bite marks and bruises and each of them received a black eye. Flurry Heart lost quite a few feathers as well and they both were punished with detention for two weeks. But Flurry Heart was the winner of this fight, her faster tempo was Swift Hoof's demise. It was a lesson for him and even though he didn't stop being a bully, he never dared to touch Flurry Heart again.
Everypony knew that Flurry Heart was, despite her fragile appearance, anything but a weak filly. She could stand her ground against most ponies, and Flurry Heart was well aware of this, and yet, it was different with Magnolia, and Flurry Heart knew that as well. She shot another shy glance at Sunny Spirit as her friend continued the talk with her.
“You know as well as me how you beat him up when he attacked you. And you must do the same with Magnolia if she gets more violent.”
As she heard this stern advice by her friend, the shivering continued and tears returned once more to Flurry Heart's eyes.
More gentle now, Sunny Spirit continued. “You saw it today, Flurry. Magnolia is getting out of control. I don't know why she's so jealous of your wings, but now that she attacked them the first time, she might do it again! I will always help you against her and you can tell your parents what she does, but your parents aren't at your side all the time. And what if I can't come to school one day? Or if Dork and Dope keep me away from you again like today? You can't always rely on other ponies to help you against her and if you don't defend yourself the next time, who knows what happens!”
All these words Sunny Spirit directed at Flurry Heart weren't really necessary and yet at the same time, they were. Flurry Heart knew all of these things. She knew how good she usually was at defending herself. She knew that Magnolia was acting up and would soon do very bad things to her, maybe even things that couldn't be undone anymore, if she didn't finally start fighting the rich bully. But despite all of this, she knew she couldn't do it.
Flurry Heart let out a sigh as new tears streamed down her face. “I know, Sunny, but it's not as easy with Magnolia. She's so different than other bullies. All the things she says..... The way she's saying them..... And the way she behaves..... I never saw that with another pony. I think.....” Flurry Heart trailed off for more than a few moments here, having it hard to take this word into her mouth, as it seemed so unbelievable and surreal to her. “I think she might be insane for real, Sunny. How should I know what she's capable of doing if I defend myself against her? I bet it's making her mad so much that she might.....” Unable to end the sentence, she just presented her friend with a scared look.
Sunny Spirit was already one step ahead of her. “I know, Flurry. But now that she went so far, she's maybe doing this anyway. I'm not saying you shouldn't be careful around her. And I really hope we're wrong. I don't actually think that Magnolia is an evil filly. Maybe she has some problems on her own that make her be like that to you. That's why I want that we talk with her today after what she did this morning. But–“
“Talking with her?” Flurry Heart interrupted her upset. “You can't talk with Magnolia!” she burst out. Flurry Heart rolled her eyes over the naivety of her friend. “Sunny, Magnolia won't listen! You said yourself that she is out of control, she either doesn't know what she's doing or she just doesn't care!” Now it was Flurry Heart who sported a stern expression, with some tears still glistening in her eyes.
But Sunny Spirit stayed calm. “I know she's a complicated filly and maybe even really dangerous, but..... She went too far today, Flurry. And maybe she knows that. It's right that she is a problem, but I don't want to believe that's her only side. Maybe even she has something good in her. She never did something so cruel before. Maybe she is shocked herself over what she did today and just needs an opportunity to show she's sorry for it. I want to find that out first before before we do something else.”
Now Flurry felt a slight anger flare up in her. “And what if not?” she asked Sunny and crossed her arms. “What if she isn't and she's really knocking me out from behind and cutting off my wings or worse one day?!” She almost snapped at her friend now.
Sunny's mouth gaped open and for a moment, she just stared at Flurry with an empty glare.
Flurry Heart noticed it and her heart sank. “I'm sorry, Sunny,” she said resignated. “But I'm really afraid of her.....” A slight whimper escaped her throat and she pulled up her legs and wrapped her arms around them. Flurry Heart fixated the ground with a similar emptyness coming from her eyes.
A compassionate expression appeared in Sunny's face. She got up and reached out to Flurry, lifting her head up. “I know, Flurry. I'm not mad, don't worry. I know that I could be wrong about Magnolia, but that's why I said you must start to defend yourself against her. We're going to talk to her today during recess, but if I'm really wrong and if you don't defend yourself, then she will do it anyway. You're becoming her doormat, Flurry Heart, and this is getting dangerous for you! And that's why you must finally stand up to her and fight her if necessary! Do you understand this?”
All of a sudden, Flurry Heart felt all the feelings of anger, desperation and fear vanishing. She suddenly felt confident. It was like a flame was now burning in her, a strong, hot flame. She opened her mouth and looked into Sunny's eyes, baffled about what just happened. And she felt that Sunny was right. It was the only right thing to do. She even felt silly now that she didn't realize this before.
“You're right!” she shouted into the face of her friend. “I can't be her pushover! I must stand up to her and hit her on the nose if necessary!” She threw a hoof into the air in an attempt to strike a victory pose.
“But there's something I don't understand,” she said as she took down her hoof again. “Why do I feel so confident suddenly? Just a moment ago I just wanted to go home and lock myself into my room and never come out again and now..... I feel like teaching Magnolia a lesson right now! How have you done this? How can you always make ponies feel so good again, Sunny?”
This question just caused a clueless expression in her friend's face and Sunny shrugged. “I don't know. I was always good at this. I guess I was just born with this ability.” She presented Flurry with a smile now, who reciprocated the gesture.
Then her face became more serious again. “But now we need to hurry! We are way too late for our first lesson and you know how much Mr. Know hates it when we come late!”
Flurry's face became pale as she heard this. With all the trouble with Magnolia, her hurt wing and the peptalk Sunny had given her, she had completely forgotten about it that class had already started. Now her usual energy returned to her.
Flurry Heart jumped off of the toilet seat and over her friend. “Come on, what you're waiting for?” she said. “We must hurry or we will be in detention today!” Her faced showed a frantic expression now.
Sunny nodded. At quick pace, she lifted the used towels off the ground while Flurry Heart used her magic to put their respective saddlebags onto their backs. In one fluid movement, Sunny Spirit left the stall in which she took care of Flurry's injury and threw the towels into the wastebin.
Once more using her magic, Flurry Heart threw the door of the fillys toilet open and both friends rushed outside and hurried down the corridor towards their classroom.....
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Can't wait to see Flurry deal with Magnolia.
7298644
I bet everyone wants to see this now.
You have managed to portray the fear one can feel around a bully pretty well through this chapter, I must say. Well done!
7300792
I'm glad to hear I did. There probably went a lot of personal experience from the bullying in my foalhood into it, in a subconsious way, because I don't have many memories on that.
Thanks for your comment!
Man, this story deserves FAR more attention than it's getting! And who was the pony in the picture that scared Flurry? Could it be ...Sombra?
Can't wait to find out!
Oh, and I don't wanna be harsh, but Sunny Spirit ...needs more development. She's coming across as a little Mary Sue, so please flesh her out better.
to be honest as loathsome as Maggie is a single feather is not worth crying over... even adult primaries have to be preened...
Edit 2/9/2022:
Yeah Flurry! Beat that filly to a pulp! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! MAKE HER SUFFER!