Astral's Thunder

by Bolted Sky

Chapter Four.

I was in my room doing one of my projects for school when I was called down for dinner. It had been a year since I was punished for "attacking" Varsity. Needless to say, I was still bitter about that. My relationship with my mom deteriorated hard after that. Unfortunately, she was too busy with my stepbrother to notice.

The three of them were already at the table. As I sat down and dinner was served, every pony began talking about their day, mom's job, Field's job, Varsity's buckball training. The conversation finally got around to me.

"So, kid. What's going on in your neck of the woods?"

"Yeah, like anyone's actually interested in anything he does." Said Varsity with a snark.

"Hey, that's not very nice."

"Aw, come on. Don't you want to hear about how I was able to buck the ball in the goal from the other side of the field?"

"Wait, what?" Rainbow asked, astonished. Now Varsity had her attention. Field just smirked at the display... And my obvious frustration.

"You gotta tell me how you did that!" She said.

"Uh, mom, I was..."

"Hold on, Astral. I gotta hear this." She said, cutting me off.

I sat patiently, listening to Varsity go on about his buckball training... Again. That turned into him trying out for Hoofball, which turned into his track team progress. By the time he was through, I was all but forgotten.

"Sure more exciting that some boring nerd project, right Astral?" Varsity asked with a spiteful grin.

"I don't see what's so exciting about putting a ball in a bucket." I said, looking down at my plate. Noticing the silence oh, he looks up to see every pony glaring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Astral, you need to apologize." Mom said. I looked around at the others. Field was glaring at me really hard and Varsity gleeful smile on his face all of a sudden, obviously happy that I was going to be forced to apologize.

"And what about what Varsity said? You didn't make him apologize. In fact, he insulted me twice."

"Oh, hear that? He thinks he's grown. This is what happens when you don't discipline your foals, Dash." Said Field with a sneer.

"I'll take care of this, Field. Astral, this isn't up for discussion. You need to apologize, now!" My mom shouted. I was taken aback to say the least. It was bad before, but now my mom was ganging up on me with these ponies. I had no idea what to do. The whole situation was humiliating.

Finally, after a solid thirty seconds of having holes bore into me buy everyponies angry looks, I decided the best thing to do was relent and give everyone what they wanted.

"Sorry... Varsity." I said meekly.

"And low down too." Field said under his breath. Him and his son both begin howling with laughter. Mom tried to give them a dirty look, but eventually began giggling herself. I sat there and listen to them laugh for a couple of minutes before getting up and going to my room.

---

A couple of hours later, I was in my room working on the project that no one wanted to hear about. If you're interested, Cheerilee wanted us to choose a subject for presentation. I chose the works of Sir Isaac Newtrot... Specifically his laws regarding motion. I was designing a few props, including an egg drop that was essentially a cardboard box with a piece of pantyhose strung inside of it, which held the egg.

During all of this, Varsity decided to barge into my room without knocking. As I'm sure you can imagine, he only wanted to torment me. I mean, we have nothing in common. So what would he want talk to me for?

"What'cha doin' nerd?" He sad. He really isn't that creative.

"None of your business? What do you want?" I asked rather impatiently. The guy had his own room, had no business being in mine. We've been under the same roof for close to six months now and this was a regular occurrence, though.

"You know your mom doesn't like you anymore, right?" He said.

Well this will certainly new. While it's true he was usually nasty, this was a new low. And it was low even for him. And yet... I couldn't help but feel some part of that was coming from a place of truth, even if he was simply trying to bully me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Dude, Rainbow Dash spends way more time with me now then she ever did with you. I mean, you've noticed that, right? She even comes to my events more than she does yours now."

During this entire exchange, I never even turned to look at him. But as I listened, I racked my brain trying to think and calculate. And the only conclusion I could come to was that he was right, as cruel and mean-spirited as he was. In fact, the only thing he was wrong about was my events. I had to quit those. The reason? Picking me up and dropping me off would've conflicted with Varsity's practices.

The two of them hit it off immediately after they met. That was fine of course, I know what kind of mare my mom is. Heck, I'm aware that his presence means I get less attention. I get that. But I noticed almost immediately that I seem to be playing second fiddle to this guy and continue to do so more and more as time went on. It was disheartening.

"Just... Get out. Get out of my room." I choked out.

"Aww, what's the matter, big baby. Sad because Mommy doesn't love you anymore?" He jeered.

I remained silent, seething with anger. What had I done to make these ponies so angry. Why does my existence offend them?

"Whatever, loser."

He walked out of my room, slamming the door. I sat there, my anger dissolving and quickly replaced by depression. Well, at least it was Saturday... And I had something to look forward to that night.

Author's Note:

For those of you wondering what's so special about Saturday, I'll give you one hint:

Guys night!

Comments

[tiarac72]

Kinda hope astral run away maybe than rainbow dash can get a kick in the head