Chapter III: Lone Digger.
Right... I didn't quite expect that to be honest.
Magic kindergarten was... A kindergarten. Nothing interesting to be learned, and it was mostly playtime with some writing and speaking lessons in between. Very boring since I knew the language pretty well at this point. But it came with something else that I actually quite enjoyed.
Social interactions. I was in desperate need of them since I did not know anything about ponies' social lives and norms apart from the things I knew from the books and had gathered over the years. And those small notes or hints made no real difference really, it became real how much I needed them when I first spoke to another pony aside from my mom, dad, or sisters.
After the first lesson was over I decided to bravely introduce myself to the nearest pony available, she was quite brightly colored with pink fur and an even pinker mane. Walking to her from behind I introduced myself.
"Hey, Name's Aurora. What's yours?" I asked as she instantly spun around and looked at me with terror in her eyes. She backed away a few paces and made a gasping noise before disappearing.
Originally I thought that maybe it was because I did something wrong. But when I tried different ponies, colts, and fillies, it was possible that something else might be wrong with me. Every time I walked up to them they started to back away, and even look fearful. I reminisced about the thought when my mom dropped me here half an hour ago and everypony looked at me weirdly for a while before the teacher introduced herself.
I tried with different words and even smiled brightly at them, but that didn't seem to really help. And after twelve colts and seven fillies, I gave up. The only ponies I haven't talked to were the teacher and two fillies on the first bench. I didn't want to try them since by this point I didn't want to lose my last opportunity to score a friend. However, by going to the teacher and asking what might be wrong, it might be possible to see what the issue is. And with that, I checked my appearance once again and trotted over to the teacher's desk.
She was currently busy chatting with some colts I already tried to talk to, but when I approached they saw me and ran away. Ms.Bright was surprised to see them scared and looked in my direction. By that point, she didn't make any weird faces or said anything to me, but she definitely acknowledged my presence.
As I drew closer she replaced her confusion with a soft smile, which I really appreciated. I looked her straight in the eyes and made an attempt of a smile, which I must tell, wasn't very good.
"Ms.Bright?" I asked her once she leveled her head with mine.
"Yes? What is it? Was it... Aurora?" She guessed and then smiled a bit more cheerfully. I nodded.
"Why does no one want to talk to me?" I asked her with a look of both curiosity and determination.
"W-What? What do you mean no one wants to talk to you? Did you try to introduce yourself? Perhaps they are shy and a little smile will do the trick." She proposed as I thought about it for a moment.
"I tried that. It didn't work. Maybe it's because I'm very grey, and everyone has bright fur and manes?" I suggested as Ms.Bright looked around the room to see other ponies. They were mostly playing and not looking in our direction.
"Oh, No, no, no! Don't worry about that sweetie! It's not because you have a darker mane or fur... And those red ey- Never mind that. It must be..." She paused and thought for a moment.
'Yeah, definitely not that. But you can't really come up with anything else, do you?' I thought as I looked at her with a natural expression.
"Look, let me introduce you to someone. Here, come with me." She nudged me with her hoof to follow her. I didn't think that was a particularly good idea but followed her nonetheless.
Being an adult she seems to have a slightly better tolerance to different appearances and to not judge a book by its cover, but thinking about it clearly, I do look like a villain. Dark and mysterious with bright red eyes. That's the definition of a villain, and since it's kids we are talking about, they see me as someone dangerous and they simply fear me.
I do not know if that was on purpose or not, but she guided me to two fillies I haven't talked to yet. Two pink mares with green and sapphire manes. They looked at the teacher once she drew close enough, not really catching sight of me yet. They stopped talking and waited for the teacher to start speaking.
"Girls, would you be so kind to play with Aurora here? She is really nice!" Ms. Bright said in a cheery voice
When they acknowledged the request and looked at me their faces did the same thing as the other fillies and colts I approached. However, once they thoroughly examined me, they nodded to the teacher and smiled dimly.
"Great! Well then, go ahead Aurora." Ms. Bright instructed me to go forward and meet them.
I did so without much hesitation, feeling like it was coming better than I anticipated. But once Ms. Bright was gone and I turned to see the fillies she introduced me to, I was fairly shocked to see them gone.
'Oh, so that's what it is. I was going to be this one left out...' I thought before my emotions died out. 'Well, you can't have everything.' I added with a hint of resignation and sadness.
The rest of the day made it obvious to me that ponies simply didn't want to be friends with me. I guess you could call that racism or something similar. But since they are just kids, I do not see anything wrong with that. However... This might prove rather uncomfortable and it might develop into something that will put me in the wrong all of the time. There are two options out of this. The first is to 'force' a friendship and make allies so that I will not be bullied. The second option is to 'be' the bully or rather be strong enough to fight it and earn respect.
Rather grim prospects for a six-year-old, but since I'm actually older than that I will manage. Still, I should probably do my best to train myself properly in case someone actually tries to bully me into submission. While not perfect, it's good to cut the poison at its roots and do that as soon as the opportunity arises. I wonder why I'm feeling like something like this happened before?
Days passed. And was once again left to play alone, while everyone else had at least one friend they could rely on. The kindergarten will last for one or two years, so I need to make sure that I do everything I can before real school begins. By that time I should be able to score a sizable amount of knowledge to pass without much effort and focus on other things like...
'What do I want to do with my life actually?' I asked myself as I stared into the bright sky in the playground outside the schoolhouse.
That's... A good question. I do not really have a goal. At first, I thought it would be something like going back to earth or turning myself into a human. But once I discovered how this world works and how much there is to it, I really thought about staying and living here.
Where on earth could you perform actual magic or see dragons? I guess it's settled then. I stay, and perhaps changing my sex, later on, might be still valid, but I got used to those hooves and this body so much already that I do not think changing to human form is really what I want anymore. And since I do not even know how I look, it might be a gamble. What if I'm ugly? What if ponies won't accept me while I'm in my human form? Too many questions, and no answers.
Hmmm... Considering how little I actually know, and how vast and interesting this world is... I think the best thing I can do is to live, wait and see. Maybe I'm destined to do something great? Maybe, once my cutie mark is revealed, which intrigues me by itself, I will be able to tell what I'm good at, and what I want to do with my life. Yeah, I think that might be a good plan.
My mom actually nudges me towards trying to use magic now, which I still can't do, but I try nonetheless since I like when she is proud of me for trying. She also realized I was gaining some muscle from my workout and took me to a doctor fearing that I might be having some sort of strange weird mutation that causes those to grow rapidly. I then proceeded to lighten my workload a bit, since I didn't want her to panic about turning into a bodybuilder by the age of ten.
Months passed and nothing interesting happened, still no magic, and still in Kindergarten.
Today, however, someone actually talked to me for the first time. So that's a plus. The minus is that they tried to bully me.
I saw that coming and was prepared. A purple colt with two brown ones came to me when I was making notes on my study of pony weather and cloud forming, when they saw my notebook they guessed I was trying to make doodles or something along those lines. They approached me from the sides and snickered with wide grins.
"Nice clouds dork, give me that." The purple colt insisted as he drew closer.
"No." I replied without much hesitation.
"No? I want that notebook, and you will give it to me." He ordered as he moved ever so closer to me.
"If you come any closer I will break your nose." I informed him as I placed my notebook on the grass and moved up from the sitting position.
"It's three versus one! We have an advantage! Give me that." He ordered once again before coming close enough for me to hit him. Which I did instantly. Once he staggered and fell back, the other two colts jumped at me which I avoided by moving back a little and allowing them to hit each other. They fell to the ground as well.
"I warned you. Now, leave me alone." I said as I moved to retrieve my notebook.
I was too slow. Because the purple colt snatched it with his magic grasp. That shocked me a little bit since I didn't have any magic powers until that point to do anything against that. He snickered as a small bruise and a little bit of blood spilled from his nose.
"I will break it!" He said in a victorious tone. By his appearance and the way he is acting, I think it's not the first situation he bullied someone.
'Why it's always bad or good. No in-between...' I thought as I looked him straight in the eyes, while also observing the brown colts which started to stand up.
"Do it. I can make more notes. But if you do. I will break your nose, this time for real." I declared as his expression softened. It was a five-second pause between what happened next.
He has done it. He shredded it using his magic. The two brown colts laughed as he snickered and the notebook fell to the ground in two pieces.
"Now you are not tha-" He didn't have time to say anything past that. I calmly yet quickly moved in front of him and planted a mighty punch into his nose, with the sound of breaking bones. Two brown colts didn't have time to react either when I used my hind hooves to kick their faces once I was done with the purple colt. I heard them gasp and start to cry desperately.
A little bit of blood could be visible on my hooves which made me regret hitting them this hard, but since it's good to learn once you are young, I decided to not think about it and focus on the teacher who was practically rushing past fillies and colts whose watched out the struggle.
"What is happening here?!" She declared as she moved between me and my attackers.
"S-She... S-She attacked us!" Purple colt exclaimed while he held his nuzzle covered in blood. It was most likely broken since I heard some bone snap.
"What?!" She looked at me with a raging face. I knew that I might be pushing my luck by this, but I smiled softly.
"Aurora! Why did you attack them!?" Ms.Bright asked while shouting.
"Who said I attacked them?" That statement took aback Ms.Bright a little bit.
"Tender Seed! And those two are hurt as well!" She answered while advancing on me.
"Did you ask me what happened?" I replied with a natural expression as her face fell.
"What... What happened then!?" Her face came back to her original shape of anger and discomfort.
"I was making notes when those three came and insisted I give them my notebook. I said no, and then they tried to take it from me by force. I fought back." I knew practically well how a teacher would take that and I was going to be told that's not a reason to-
"That's not a reason to hit them! You should've come to me! Did anypony see what has happened?" She stared at everypony else watching.
No one spoke for a second before a single mare moved forward. She was the first filly I introduced myself to on the first day. With pink fur and a pinker mane.
"She... She started it!" She said with a squeak.
"What?" I said without thinking.
"Yeah! She... Hit them first." One colt added.
'Oh... So that's what it's gonna be... Well... It's one against everyone...' I thought as my mind filled with a desire to make those brats feel the hammer of justice... But then I remembered something...
'If you let your enemies anger you, you already lost' That statement was from someone I knew, but who? Can't dwell on it now...
You might expect what happened next. Ms.Bright took me to the schoolhouse and told me that she was going to speak with my mother and the same was told to the three colts. I already knew I was lost here, so without much of a choice I nodded and thought about what to do next.
While I knew something like that might happen, I was foolish to not consider it a little better, and maybe execute my plan a little more gently. But all in all, I achieved what I wanted from the original two options I had those months ago. Now no one should threaten me without preparation.
Once my mom came to pick me up from school Ms. Bright scooped her instantly to the side with the other foals' parents. Once they talked for a bit my mother called me to them. I obeyed and moved closer to the circle of death, I mean, parents.
"Aurora. Can you tell me what happened?" She said in a casual tone, which had a slight hint of 'I will be angry in a moment'.
"Sure. I was making notes in my notebook." I showed her the notebook which was broken in two. "And then the three colts approached me. Tender Seed said to give them my notebook, and I told him no. Once they moved closer I said that I was going to break his nose if he moved any closer. And he didn't stop. So I broke his nose." I explained before adding. "I know I should've gone to the teacher, but I didn't think about it then. I was scared he was going to take my notebook..."
'Maybe this will keep me from being punished.' I thought.
"Who broke the notebook then?" My mom asked.
"Tender did, to annoy me." I replied with a slight hope that it might work.
"Aurora... You can't just... Break ponies' noses because they annoy you... And even if they break your stuff." She said while frowning.
"I know. Sorry." I replied with a natural expression.
"She doesn't seem sorry at all!" One of the mothers of the colts implied as she moved forward. "She should be taught how to treat others, and this behavior!" She added.
"She doesn't show many emotions, but she means it. She is sorry, it's my daughter and I can tell. Now. As Ms. Bright suggested. If they apologize to her for trying to take her notebook, she will apologize for breaking his nose and kicking them. And!" Mom looked at me. "She will not do that again! E-V-E-R. Right?" She nudged me with her hoof.
"Yes. I will not hurt them. If they behave..." I replied as I felt my mother press her hoof more firmly at my horn. Which was most likely because she heard the last part.
Once the colts gathered we apologized to each other. I knew they didn't mean it and they would most likely try other stuff in the future, but now I knew what type of ground I was walking on and what to expect.
It's going to be hard, but I feel a little bit of excitement actually.
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Caught two typos, I think.
11709473
Thank you, will correct it right away.
She may be in a little bit of trouble, but bits to bagels, those three will think twice before attacking her again.
In the words of Winston Churchill, "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."
I hope Aurora can hold her temper next time, I don't like seeing her succumb to violence and alienating herself further. The ponies are scared of her, she is giving them reason and validation in their fear (and likely hate if she continues to respond like that). I feel like the teacher should have noticed how alone she was much earlier though. Aurora went directly to the teacher from the start, asking why nopony would talk to her. The teacher introduced her to two ponies, then didn't do anything further when Aurora was abandoned immediately and was never seen in any further social interaction. In this, I think the teacher is somewhat in the wrong for not teaching ponies not to judge ponies on their appearance and ignoring the signs of it happening in her own classroom to the point of violent escalation.
So, I've been seeing you use this word a lot, and in the context of the story, I think the right word to use isn't "natural", it's "neutral". "Neutral" means neither angry or happy. "Natural" means something that comes from nature.
11836733
Yeah, I noticed that too. In the future chapters, there's less of it happening. But It comes down to my English level, and my autocorrect, which sometimes does this without me noticing.
Why colts, there are probably 80% mares and 20% stallions in Equestria, so bullies by number should not be colt, but fillies.