A Silver Lining
Canterlot, the golden city upon a mountain. The crown jewel of the mighty Equestrian Empire. Its streets paved with gold, it’s towers shine like diamonds amid the night sky. A monument, a torch, a flame for all the lands to see. A blinding beacon of hope amid the turbulent seas of the world. It’s people are cultured, mighty, and strong. To the poor they give love, food, and care. It’s beating heart; the hope and devotion of Princess Celestia, a god descended. Her wise rule benefits us all and leads us into prosperity. For Canterlot is the golden city. Canterlot is my home.
I am Blueblood the Tenth, heir to House Blueblood and Canterlot is my home.
“Canterlot: The golden city praised by one and all. Glory be to her majesty who devotes her love, food, and care unto us; the poor. Now, please sing with me our praises for her divine care and guidance.”
And they sung those praises. Of course, just like always, I mouthed the words. Madam Cheerilee knows that I mouth the words, I know that she knows that I mouth the praises. She also knows how much I don’t care about this stupid pseudo religious nonsense. But still Prince Blueblood’s little speech is the second steamiest pile of horse turds I’ve ever heard. It’s right behind the popular phrase, ‘We are all equal.’ now that is the steamiest pile of turds that I’ve ever heard.
“Thank you all for joining in with our surprise guest today. Prince Blueblood, is there anything that you’d like to say to the children?”
‘I pocket all the monies that your parents donate to this school then use it to buy my pompous brat of a son all the fancy food he wants.’
“I want to say that it is a pleasure to partake in the education of Equestria’s youth alongside such excellent teaching staff. Thank you for affording me the opportunity. But most importantly, I hope you all get home safely. You may all go, school is dismissed.”
‘So that we can brag and cry to our parents so they donate more money. Yeah right. But hey, he let us get out early. He’s totally a good guy… not.’
Now don’t get me wrong, Prince Blueblood the Ninth is actually a really nice guy, it’s just the fact that he has to say those praises and give us some ‘life-lesson’ along the way. It’s part of that whole PR show that the Nobles are putting on. It’s something that the ‘divine’ Princess Celestia supposedly asked them to do in order to, ‘make friends and know everyone just a little bit better.’ I don’t think riding around in a carriage or going to the market with guards is going to make friends. I mean, I’d love to get my hooves on one of those daggers the Noble guards carry around but at the same time I like my hooves where they are; firmly attached to me. Then again, I’d be able to sell it for a really nice profit, if I got away with the theft.
But school is out so that means that I get to hang out with my friends! Aw-yeah! I quickly rushed out the classroom door before I could be stopped then made my way down the hallway to the exit. With a victorious yell I burst through the school doors and jumped over the front steps. I botched my landing when I tripped but I made it look cool by rolling with it. Popping back up I dusted myself off amid the applause of my friends.
“- Sil that was sick!”
“-You were awesome!”
“-You messed up.”
That last comment made me look up and my eyes settled on the wry grin of my best friend. A small female Earth Pony named Strong Hooves, I made my way over to her and ruffled her short straw colored hair with one of my hooves.
“At least my ‘mess ups’ look cool, short stuff”
She shoved my hoof off her mane with a grunt.
“Pig.”
“Ohoho, that- that’s rich coming from you, dirteater.”
“Oh yeah? At least I don’t kill everything I grow.”
“Really Hooves?” High Wind, my pegasus friend, interrupted, “That’s your comeback? That was weak! Lemme show ya how it's done.”
Wind got in my face and puffed out his chest.
“Hey little birdy, why don’t you spread your wings and fly?”
Oh boy, Wind knows how to throw insults. He knows I’m sensitive about my wings and he keeps using that to his advantage whenever we get into these type of contests.
“Hey you kids, what’s the matter here?”
Whoever interrupted us just saved Wind a buck to his shining white teeth. We all stopped and looked up. Our yelling had drawn the attention of Blueblood and he was marching over here.
“What do you kids think you’re doing, picking on a sweet filly like that?”
We all looked at him then laughed. He drew back in confusion but still tried to ‘fix’ the situation.
“Stop. Stop that laughter now.”
We continued laughing. Privileged Noble Ponies, they just don’t understand us ‘commoners’ sometimes.
“M-Mr. Blood, ya gotta understand we was just messin around wit her.” Morning Blossom, the youngest member and the only Unicorn of our group supplied. “We do stuff like that all the time.”
“Yeah, there’s no harm done.” Wind said, backing Blossom up. “In fact, little Hooves here’ll get us back with some of her ‘pranks’ wontcha?”
“In yer dreams cloud sniffer.”
“Enough children.” Blueblood said as her rubbed his forehead in exasperation. “You… you say that you kids mock each other and call each other… rude names like that all the time?”
“Only when we mess around. An’ if someone wants us to stop they just walk away or get us back later.” Blossom answered.
I guess that old Bluey started to get a bit uncomfortable. He changed the subject.
“Do you kids go to this school?” he asked, pointing to the little building; our ‘school’. He was met with a resounding no from everyone except me. Of course, my positive answer just drew his attention.
“Ah yes, I remember you. You were in Miss Cheerilee’s last class, correct?”
“Yessir.” I answered.
“You seem like-”
“-An ignorant commoner.” Interrupted Silver Tassel, the school bully and little daddy’s girl. She and her ‘friends’ quickly surrounded us. Blueblood gave her a disapproving glare, “Well that’s what he is.” She said defensively.
Wind came to my rescue… with a clod of dirt and gravel. As much as I like getting into scraps, I don’t like getting into scraps right next to a Noble. That lands you in trouble with the City Guards and they don’t make life easy for you; they hold grudges. But I couldn’t stop her, I don’t know where she got her ammunition from but I would bet that her clod of dirt was meant for me. She hit Silver right in the chest and that little she-witch unleashed a wail that would easily be heard from the palace. Of course, her shout acted like a battle horn and her minions rushed our small group. Ten against what, four? I didn't like those odds and apparently no one else did either as Blossom grabbed me by the wrist then shot off towards an alley that ran down the length of the school.
Our small group had the advantage, we could go places that those rich twerps couldn't or wouldn’t. We quickly lost our pursuers by scrambling into an open storm drain. It was filthy, hot and disgusting but hey, we won that fight. I don't know how long we were down there for but I do know that when we came up for air we were all soaked through with unimaginable things. It was a unanimous decision to end our adventurous day there. So we all said our goodbyes, commented on how bad everyone else smelt, then went our separate ways.
For many people seeing a kid sprinting through the streets of Lower Canterlot was not a rare sight, often time it was a cutpurse who failed to get his mark, other times it was a foot race held between two of the ‘most athletic’ kids. But sometimes, and this only happens to stupid people, you’ll see a kid running for his or her life to get away from a gang of pissed off ingrates. That was me.
Okay, I may have taken the scenic route home, which was lovely, but I took a wrong turn, found a couple bad guys, said a few things I shouldn’t have, then took off running. Thankfully I had only meandered a bit off my standard route so I was quickly able to find my way then lose the suckers. Unfortunately my little detour made me late for supper which was not something I was supposed to miss. So, I hurried down Poplar Lane then jumped up the steps of our rowhouse apartment, number 037, and knocked on the door.
My mother, Styrling Heart opened the door a couple seconds later. She was… not happy.
“Silver!” Mom yelled, pulling me into our house by my left ear. “What have I told you about being late for dinner.”
“Not to be.” I answered in a small voice. You see, my mother is a very, very large pony. She’s not fat, or big-boned, or a whale. She’s just tall, wide, and very muscular. I know that she’s been mistaken for a stallion once or twice and those folks received a very good look at parts that are only found on mares, before being bucked into oblivion. In fact, she was once asked by the Captain of the Guard if she would join Royal Guard. She said that she didn’t have time to join Celestia’s Little Pretty Pony Brigade, that left the Captain speechless, and I guess that’s why we don’t receive help from the guards.
But she is the best cook I know of, there’s not a pony in the entirety of Canterlot who can cook hay fries or hayburgers as well as she can. Of course, she is kinda strict. Be home from school before dinner; go to bed by nine-o’clock; wake up an hour before school starts to get food, brush your teeth, and go to the bathroom; don’t get in fights; but most importantly, don’t piss off the City Guards, Royal Guards, or gangs because when it comes down to it those Guards will protect you, it’s their duty.
Of course, I don’t think the Guards would protect me from my mother should I break one of her rules, which I did. The ‘no fighting’ and the ‘be home before dinner’ rules were broken and well, she just yells. She has never laid a hoof on me, she just yells and somehow, someway, she always manages to make me feel guilty about what I did. But in the end we make up, hug, then eat dinner. She and I are the only two ponies in our apartment. I… well I’m an only child but I wasn’t supposed to be. I was supposed to have a twin but he died during childbirth. I don’t think mom ever forgave my father or forgot my brother.
After she yelled at me and we made up we sat down to have dinner. String beans, hayburgers, and hayfries, oh joy. We didn’t really speak, instead we just chowed down and enjoyed the food. Of course with me being a young growing stallion I ate far more than my mother did, at times it was rather hilarious. Her favourite comment was, ‘Where in the world are you dumping all that food? The floor?’ it was only partially true. Besides, with me eating like a hog we quickly cleared out all of the food on the table. Seeing as I finished first I gathered up all of the empty plates, dishes and used silverware then deposited them in the sink.
“Hey mom, as much as I would love to do the dishes right now, I have an important assignment due tomorrow.”
She just looked at me with unamused eyes.
“Silver, you don’t have school tomorrow, it’s a holiday.”
I swallowed nervously and sidled over to the sink whistling all the while. Mom’s dirty dish quickly joined the pile and she took up the task of drying the washed dishes. Her help made my task go by much faster seeing as I could just concentrate on the dishes themselves. Occasionally she would give me one back and say that I missed a spot or two, that was annoying, but when it came down it time passed by like it was nothing and pretty soon everything was done. I hung up the dish towel and made my way to the base of the stairs, I shot a quick “goodnight” off to mom then hopped on upstairs to bed. The days activities had left me exhausted, I’m pretty sure I passed out while climbing into my bed though.
You know when you wake up from a dream and all you have is a racing heart, sweat and tears on your face? That was me, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember what the dream was. All I know is that my adrenaline was running, my body was shaking and I couldn’t get to sleep. And to be honest, that dream or whatever it was saved my life. I was awake when I heard the sound of shattering glass followed by a ‘wompf’. I had gotten out of bed when I started to smell smoke and by the time I got to the landing of our stairwell the fire was out of control. Thinking quickly I raced back upstairs to my mothers bedroom to get her up. Bursting through her bedroom door like a rampaging bull should’ve woken her up but she wasn’t there. She must've been downstairs.
Turning around I galloped out the bedroom door and into a furnace. The fire and smoke was already shooting up the stairwell separating me from the downstairs area. I started choking then I panicked.
“Mom!” I shouted lowering myself to the floor. “Mom!”
“Si-”
I know I heard mom shout, but it came from downstairs, but I couldn’t get downstairs. I crawled as close as I could to the stairwell balcony.
“Mom, I’m upstairs!”
I couldn’t make out her reply and I had reached the limit of my endurance. I quickly retreated to her bedroom then locked and blocked the door. I don’t know how long I was in there for but I do know that I was on my last legs when the window was smashed open and an armoured Pegasus came in. He scooped me up then flew me out of my house. I was on the ground a second or two later with ponies gathering around me. By that point I started to get really dizzy and shaky, then I guess- I guess I blacked out.
Okay, that was only partially true.
I remember voices and the shapes of ponies swarming around me, I remember being put into a vehicle but that was all from a hazy shifting third pony perspective. It’s like I was flying but I couldn’t feel my wings or my body. But I could feel this wall of --I don’t know how to describe it-- it was like a really fast moving wall, it was hot then cold then hot again but what I know it that it whenever it started getting hot I would start shivering so I used a breathing technique that mom taught me, it worked.
I knew that my emotional wall was going to break but I didn’t know when it was going to shatter. Unfortunately, it broke at the police station. I felt that wall cracking the whole ride to the station so I used the breathing techniques I had been taught. They helped a bit but I was still shaking, mute, and unresponsive. When we did get to the station I didn’t move to get out of the vehicle instead I sat there with my knees tucked under my chin and my arms wrapped around my legs. I guess the officer or guard didn’t like that or something because the next thing I know he had his hand on my shoulder and I felt my wall shatter. Just him touching me set me off, I pushed him away then jumped out of the vehicle. He grabbed my left ankle and I fell. I don’t remember much of what I did next, I only remember some bit and pieces. I know I kicked him until he let go then I got up and ran.
I don’t know.
I don’t want to know what I did afterwards.
But I do remember a voice, and it was kind.
“Come on kid, let’s get you home.”