Crash of the Hammer
“I’ll tell ya Brad, I’m relieved you and Sparkler are friends now, I thought for sure that spark died after that incident.” Mark commented.
“Yeah. Remind me NEVER to tell anypony anything ever again.” Brad responded.
“Especially since it got all but four students detention for the rest of the time they were in school.” Hanzal commented.
“Detention for the rest of their school careers?” Sparkler asked. “I heard everypony got detention but I didn’t know for how long.”
“Right, you weren’t there that day.” Candy responded. “Ooh boy was there ever a fallout at school when you failed to show.” She said.
“What…what DID happen?” Sparkler asked. “My adopted parents never talked about it.”
Sparkler’s four schoolmates glanced at each other, before looking back to her. “Well, it all started when you failed to show up for school.”
“Ok, Brad.” A KiliHima school teacher said.
“Here!” Brad responded.
“Candy.”
“Here!”
“Sparkler.”
There was silence when the teacher called Sparkler’s name. The teacher raised an eyebrow. “Sparkler?” The teacher asked again. They looked to where Sparkler SHOULD be sitting, but all they found was an empty seat. “Uh…does anypony know where Sparkler is?” The teacher asked. “She’s never been absent before.”
“Maybe she decided to stay with the chickens where she belongs.” One of the students responded, causing a round of laughter from most of the class.
The teacher frowned and whistled so the class would be quiet. “Mr. Galvin, it is not nice to make snarky comments like that about other students.” They said. Though they had zero confidence it wouldn’t happen again. After finishing the rollcall, the teacher told the students to read the next chapter of their textbooks. While that was happening, she dialed the main office to let them know who was missing, as was protocol. “The only one missing from my class this morning is Sparkler.” She told the receptionist.
“Sparkling Medley? She’s never absent.” The receptionist responded.
“I know, it’s weird. I hope she’s ok.” The teacher responded.
Sparkler was not in fact fine, she hadn’t been fine since the previous night nearly saw her end. Sparkler walked the streets of KiliHima, having decided to run away. Never again. She told herself as she used her hoodie to conceal her face and her wings, hoping to avoid recognition.
“The news that you weren’t in school that day spread like wildfire in the school, and of course it left the faculty worried because you never were absent before.”
Principal Lampshade paced in the teacher’s lounge with all the other faculty members in the building. All of them having one thing on their minds. “So NOPONY has seen hide nor tail of Sparkler?” She asked.
“Not since the end of the school day yesterday.” Ms. Nook responded.
“Could she be sick?” Mr. Rhythm asked.
“Possibly.” One of the teachers responded.
“But why wouldn’t her parents call to let us know? It’s standard procedure so we don’t worry anymore than usual for a sick kid. But we have received no such call.” The receptionist asked.
“Something fishy is going on here.” Lampshade responded. “I’m gonna give Aurora and Thundercracker a call. Make sure Sparkler’s alright.” She reasoned.
“And that’s when all Tartarus broke loose I’m guessing.” Sparkler responded.
“Yep. Lampshade called and that’s when they discovered you had run away from home.” Mark responded.
At the KPD station, police chief Hard Case had just gotten off the phone with a very irate property manager who had called to complain that punks trashed his building the previous night. Hard Case was about to assign an officer to visit the building to check the CCTV cameras when his phone rang again. “Chief Hard Case.” He said.
“Hard Case? It’s Thundercracker.” Thundercracker responded.
“Cracker? Well this is a surprise. What’s going on?” Hard Case asked.
“I’m reporting a child missing. Sparkler’s gone.” Thundercracker responded.
Hard Case’s eyes widened. “GONE?!” He exclaimed. “What do you mean gone?” He asked.
“She left the house for school this morning and they just called saying she was a no show.” Thundercracker responded. “And this is following an incident last night where her schoolmates played a cruel prank on her.” He added.
Hard Case didn’t know why, but as soon as Thundercracker added that prank bit, he had a sneaking suspicion the building manager’s complaint was related to that prank. “I’ll be at the school soon to investigate, see you there.” He said. He turned to the officer he was about to assign. “Go to the building and check the CCTV camera footage, watch out for a pony with both a horn and wings, if you see a pony like that, radio me at once.” He said.
“Yes chief.” The officer said before trotting off.
Hard Case grabbed his coat as he exited his office. “This is gonna be a LONG day.” He predicted. “Everypony! We have a situation. I’m ordering a full scale ponyhunt for a pony with a horn and wings. I want her found as soon as possible let’s go!” He called out to his officers.
“That pony hunt remains the most famous in KPD history. No other pony hunt was issued as a full scale hunt.” Mark commented.
“Figures the most famous would involve the only Alicorn in the region.” Sparkler responded.
“Yeah. And of course when you were discovered in the CCTV footage, that‘s when the whole school heard a shouting match.”
“So Sparkler was PRANKED last night and it nearly drove her to end her life?” Lampshade asked. Thundercracker, Aurora, and Hard Case were in her office when the officer at the building radioed saying Sparkler was indeed there last night.
“Yep. From what we can infer, her fellow students lured her into a trap with the hope that maybe she’d finally have a friend in this place, and then they pelted her with food once she was surrounded.” Hard Case deduced.
Thundercracker let out a groan. “I had a sneaking suspicion something was going on. Of course I wanted to be wrong, but alas.” He said.
“Do you two know who she was going out with?” Lampshade asked Cracker and Aurora.
“The only name she gave us was Bradford.” Thundercracker responded.
Lampshade’s eyes widened. “Bradford.” She repeated. “Excuse me while I make a call to his parents.”
“I know this is probably not going to work but would you consider a harsher punishment than detention?” Aurora asked.
Lampshade sighed. “Aurora, you know what would happen if we issued expulsions and suspensions. Your daughter is sadly the enemy of the entire school body and if we sent all of them home or expelled them, we’d be effectively shutting ourselves down.” She explained. “I’m afraid we’re stuck.” She said as she called Brad’s parents.
While she was doing that, Hard Case took Aurora and Thundercracker aside. “Look, I know you’ve said before that this school is her only option for getting an education. But for real, I honestly don’t think it’s a good idea for her to remain a student here. She has now spent 10 years being tormented by these kids.”
Aurora sighed. “It’s not that we don’t WANT her to be safe and happy, we just can’t afford any other options. Both of our incomes are needed to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, so homeschooling is our, as is being able to send her away to boarding school. That and there’s the added emotional risk. If we sent her away that could only further damage her by saying we don’t want her either.” She explained.
Hard Case facehooved, before an idea came to him. “Flappy…”
“What?” Aurora asked.
“Sparkler’s parrot, Flappy.” Hard Case responded. “Right now he can’t be with Sparkler during school hours because pets aren’t allowed in the building. But he’s small enough to fit into her saddlebag, and there’s no specific rules on WHAT animals can serve as Service Animals.” He explained.
Thundercracker blinked. “You're thinking he gets certified as an emotional support animal.” He deduced.
“Bingo.” Hard Case responded. “And even if Lampshade can’t allow it, if she ever goes to college, that would be a different story.” He added.
Aurora and Thundercracker looked at each other, and nodded. “It shouldn’t take too long to get him certified since he’s a smart bird and can talk. Let’s do it.” Aurora responded.
“So THAT’S why Flappy is a registered service animal!” Potion Nova said.
“Squawk! Yep. Thanks to Hard Case’s good idea. Thank Faust Lampshade let me come with Sparkler from that day forward. Squawk!”
“Ok so what was going on in the meantime?” Sparkler asked.
“We got a chewing out from the teachers.”
“Alright guys, settle down, before we get into our lesson we need to have a serious talk.” Mr. Rhythm told his students. “About this war on Sparkler that’s been going on for years.”
“You mean the horned chicken?” Asked a student, followed by laughter from the others.
“Quiet! This is not an open discussion Mr. Galvin. I am going to talk, and all of you are going to listen.” He growled. “We have a problem in this school. A problem that REALLY crossed the line this time. For YEARS, students at this school have been putting a young mare through tartarus just because she looks different from us. And last night that bullying escalated to a truly intolerable level. You all think that little prank was funny, it wasn’t. In fact it was the exact opposite of funny. Because it caused her so much emotional stress that it nearly killed her. Literally, we needlessly nearly lost a good student last night because of what happened. I hope you all are proud of yourselves, because myself and the rest of the faculty are not. We have never been more disappointed in our students. Never before have we seen bullying at this level. And for what? Because she’s different from us? She may have both a horn and wings, but she’s no different from us where it counts. She has just as much right to be here as you do. She shouldn’t need to be afraid to come to school and learn. She shouldn’t need to worry about if somepony is gonna steal her saddlebag or pelt her with food. She should feel safe in this building. It’s honestly heartbreaking that she doesn’t feel safe here. It’s heartbreaking that she has to endure needless abuse every day in order to get an education.” He explained. “Now, I do not expect any of you to tell me WHY you all put her through Tartarus every day, but this school has zero tolerance for it. So starting immediately, all after school activities like sports teams and clubs, are effectively shut down. Instead, you all will be spending that time in detention until you graduate.” He announced.
That of course sparked an outrage with the students. After Mr. Rhythm got them to settle down, he spoke again. “We are done messing around. If you cannot treat another student the way you want to be treated, which, by the way is rule #1 here at Kilihima school, then you can deal with the consequences of those actions. This decision is final.” He announced. “Now, onto today’s lesson.” He said as he started teaching like he didn’t just drop the hammer hard.
“So THAT’S why I didn’t hear anymore sports announcements in school.” Sparkler commented.
“Yeah. They were not messing around.” Hanzal said.
“Yeah.” Bradford said. “And meanwhile I had just gotten yelled at by Lampshade and sent to clean out my locker since I was expelled and being transferred to boarding school.”
Bradford sighed as he cleaned out his locker. “Gah. Stupid, that was stupid. I should never have told them about my date with her. It was stupid.” He said to himself.
“Oh for sure it was.” Said a voice beside him. Bradford turned and saw Mark Hasnworth leaning against the lockers, and he had a sour expression on his face.
“Mark!” Brad squeaked in fear.
“Yeah. Me. What the frax were you thinking.” He said. “Leading her to a fake date for a prank? Are you kidding me?” He asked.
“Ok, I know what it looked like, but I didn’t intend for it to turn out that way, I genuinely, honestly did want to…at the bare minimum, show her that not everypony in this blasted school hated her. I wanted her to see that she COULD have a friend in this place.” Brad defended himself.
“Oh really? Why the sudden interest?” Mark asked.
“Don’t act like you don’t know Mark. Since I didn’t see you, or Hanzal or Candy, reach out to her. I can deduce that like me you all are affected by peer pressure. Well I wasn’t gonna let that run my life anymore.” Brad responded. “No, I wanted to break free of the status quo. To maybe, just MAYBE, turn Sparkler’s life around. But no, my coltish instincts drove me to tell my “friends” and that ruined any chance I may have had.” He said.
“You do realize she’s not straight right? Or even bi.” Mark responded.
“I know that Mark. But you can’t blame a guy for trying. I knew I wasn’t going to win her over in the romance department. But I still had hope we could be friends.”
“After this she’s not gonna want to even hear your name anymore.” Mark responded.
“Oh I know. And you know what? I’m ok with that. Because I deserve it. For being such a freaking idiot I deserve to be expelled, transferred, and probably grounded until I turn 18.” Brad took a deep breath to calm down. “Just…can you do me a solid Mark?” He asked.
“What?” Mark asked.
“Can you make sure she doesn’t go through that again? Last night nearly destroyed her and I don’t ever want her to go through that again.” Brad asked.
Mark sighed. “I’ll do what I can.” He said.
“Thanks Mark.” Brad responded as he closed his locker for the final time and walked away.
“And that was what is now referred to as the Crash of the Hammer.” Maek said.
“Whoa. I sure missed a crapshow.” Sparkler commented.
“I’m still trying not to laugh at the fact that this is what got Flappy to become a certified service animal.” Amber commented.
“Squawk! It could ONLY take that incident to show the officials why Sparkler needed a service animal. Squawk!” Flappy responded.
“For sure.” Sparkler said, hugging Flappy.
“Well, at any rate, I’m glad we’re friends now Sparkler.” Brad said. “Even if it did take a bit.”
“Thank the map for sending me to Saddle Arabia otherwise we still might not be friends.” Sparkler responded.
“Here here.” Hanzal responded.
That got everypony to chuckle. That incident several years ago may have left some of them emotionally scarred, but at least they were able to come together eventually as friends.
To be continued…
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11299827
Not asking anything to add, but how is this type of backstory?
(it will take a while but Id like to know what you think of it. And it is original, nothing stolen. I thought of it on my own)
11345250
Erm...I'm sorry I'm not quite sure what you're asking.
11299827
(I forgot the name, lets just go with Dust Shine)
Dust shine is stallion pony who lives an ordinary life in Ponyville. But he has a deep secret.
He is an alicorn and has been keeping it a secret from Equestria for a good reason.
He was born as an alicorn in a village, but his parents kept it a secret because he came with powers that are stronger that Celestia and Luna themselves.
They were also afraid that evil creatures could use for his powers, because 'With great power, comes great power hungry bad guys.'
Years later.
Dust Shine couldn't remember how his parents died and his grandma passed away a few years later when raising him on her own.
He was told to keep it a secret for the rest of his life because nopony and creature must know about it.
He took care for himself for 7 years (moons?) until 1 day would change his life forever and he would learn the horrible secrets of his past.
How is that?
11345268
Like I said, it would take a while.
And it is original or a coincidence.
I hope college goes well for you and very nice work!
Heh, I imagine Hanzal would have been dead worried about her back then and extremely nervous at the serious talk
great chapter i wondered what exactly went down that day
11345279
Lot of angry ponies. That's for sure. Heheh
11345282
I will eventually read this.
Where IS that cloaked guy that was supposed to keep an eye on her?
Both now, and when she almost suicided?
I still don't understand how she survived the remaining years in that school.
After all that, the anger towards her should have escalated exponentially....
11347327
A certain parrot being allowed by her side after that helped a lot.
ooooh🙁
Mark