Ray
The last bell resounds through the corridors of Canterlot High, meaning the end of another day of school. I hurry as quickly as possible to the bus stop, expecting nobody can see me.
The cold winter wind hits my face; the little dots that were snowflakes are piling up on my coat waiting to become a white blanket. I get into the vehicle where I stay warm shortly until I can reach my home.
I climb the stairs to the entrance of my apartment after the routine trip from school. My bag is left on the table unceremoniously as I reach the edge of my bed. My body meets the sheet and mattress while collapsing, covering my face in the cotton fabric.
It happened again: The looks, the teasing, and the pushes on purpose as well the offensive text messages that aren’t stopping to arrive at my cell phone.
And you may be wondering, what was the cause of so many abuses against me?
A user of the MyStable page who calls himself 'Anon-a-Miss'. I’m not sure know who can be or when the activities started, but since he/she appeared, many embarrassing gossips about Canterlot’s students as well the most embarrassing pictures one can imagine has been posted.
At first, I thought that it was just someone who likes to make bad jokes, but it quickly began to gain followers and change the versions of such gossip in order to offend the wronged.
Then - in one of the publications - he or she decided to post a photo to their user profile that consisted of nothing more than a shadow with a resemblance to my appearance.
Based on that image the students concluded: I was the one who published the rumors and the photos.
Thus, I ended up in the same place I started: hated and alone; every single one of them started to turn their backs on me; instead, I became the object of their insults and their murmurs.
Save for Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna and Flash, nobody believed in my innocence and no one wanted to hear out my side of the story. Nobody. Not even my friends.
I still remember the look of indignation and fury on Applejack's face when a photo of her was posted to Anon-a-Miss's profile about how her family used to call her when she was very young. As well as another picture, the one I took with my cell phone in a sleepover we had at Rarity's house.
I can’t understand how that photo ended up on the damn page but that didn’t stop the girls from having decided to cut ties with me once and for all.
That was a huge blow right into my hearth. I keep hearing their words at my head as if it were a recording.
“It was you all along! You're ‘Anon-a-Miss’!”
“We trusted you, Sunset! We thought you were our friend!”
“How could you do this? After all we've been through together?”
"You secret stealer!"
"You're not our friend!"
"I'm sorry, but you did this to us. Tell whatever secrets you want, but we don't have to listen."
I lose myself in my thoughts in such anxiety until a soft whistle brings me back to reality. I hear some little feet climbing up my leg until before me there is a small leopard gecko with beautiful jade eyes and a calm look.
"Hello Ray," I greet him trying to mimic a smile with my lips. "So, how have you been? All good at home while I was at school? "
Ray answers with another whistle, nodding his head in affirmation. Of course, everything was in order; he’s very smart and knows how to take care of things in the apartment. His eyelids weigh him down; I notice he wants to fall asleep. It seems he was waiting for me.
"Aw, I took your sleep away. Silly of me, I'm not letting you rest as it should be."
Again, Ray answers with a quick blink; it seems that it doesn’t affect him in the least. Even so, I really should be more careful with loud noises while he takes his nap.
He places his paw on my hand, apparently concerned. Sure, Ray knows that something wrong is happening.
"Yes buddy; it was another tough day for me. They threw my lunch tray during the recess, I don’t know who put scribbles in my locker but I fear I can’t remove them - it seems they wrote it with a permanent marker.
I saw Tennis Match discussing with her friends about something very personal in the bathroom; and of course, she blames me for it. Still, Anon-a-Miss keeps publishing embarrassing things about others without anyone stopping him. What angers me the most is that people seem to be enjoying it at the expense of others. "
Sure, I try to ignore them as the usual but…” I couldn’t help but release a sharp snort, pressing the soft sheets with my fists.
"I really believed that I had finally cleared my past sins and I could move on from now, you know. I tried so hard – really hard – so everyone can see that I finally changed," I try to sound serene with Ray yet my voice starts to break while the tears are forming in my eyes.
"I really thought they were my friends. Those girls made me believe that I was like family - that I was part of their group - and yet it turns out that in the end I was a burden on them!
I haven’t done anything wrong to be treated that way! But they still preferred to believe in such stupidities instead of HER FRIEND - THE ONE WHO SAVED THEIR GUTS BY RISKING HER LIFE!
YET they have the nerve to point me as the responsible of all that crap? HOW ON EQUESTRIA IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE FAIR ANYWAYS?!!”
To put it simply: It wasn’t.
I drown my sobs on the cloth blanket, cursing Anon-a-Miss for all my sorrows with all my strength. Something touches my cheek stained by tears. Ray tries to dry my face with his little tongue hoping to erase the horrid trace of the tears through my face.
"I'm so sorry Ray ...” I hold him gently, “don’t be sorry for me… it’s okay. I didn’t mean to tell you such mean stuff... It just- *Sniff* I don’t have anybody to talk about it but you.”
I'm supposed to be strong in these moments of despair and the only thing I do is overwhelm him with my laments. After all, the poor thing has nothing to do with this disaster.
Ray begins to move out of bed. I see how it is climbing the surface of my bedside table and with its tail opens one of the drawers. From this he takes out the box of tissues from which he takes a few and quickly places them near my hand.
I cannot help but smile at the gesture. Always so good to me. I dry all traces of tears and saliva from my face with care, the handkerchief that I spare, I use to clean my nose.
Again, my gecko moves to the small kitchen, searching the cupboard until I find the filter tea box. He makes an effort to take out a packet and he gets it, only that he falls and the whole box with him.
I run to where Ray is, pushing the tea aside and picking it up carefully. I do not want him to get hurt in any way; and by the fact that it fell from a good height considering its gecko size.
Playful Ray. It's hard to get mad at that little face. "Did you want to prepare tea for me? Tell you what: how about if we prepare it together and also a delicious snack, what do you say?"
Ray responds with a cheerful whistle and so we put hands - and paws - to the work.
The hours fly by while Ray and I are preparing lunch, without realizing all the grief and sadness I was feeling suddenly had vanished; instead I replaced it with fun moments of play and cheerful laughter.
A while later I find myself resting on the couch, with Ray on my lap; he releases a yawn indicating he wants to go back to sleep. I take it to his enclosure as I place him on his bed with delicacy. I'm staring at him a couple of seconds with satisfaction.
Funny: I never would have thought that an animal like Ray would have been of great help in these difficult times.
I'm glad he didn’t know about the pain, neither the meaning of abuse nor grief. I do not want to imagine what things would have been like if it were not so.
Now that I think about it, Twilight wrote me something about it when I told her about what was happening at school. I still remember his words written in my diary:
"Sometimes the only thing you can do is stay strong. Stay yourself, and find your family."
Indeed, she was right.
Without being a person or a pony, this little creature was able to give me support when I needed it most; He didn’t need to use anything other than his innocent personality and his unconditional support to return the smile I lost and give me the peace that I need so much.
Maybe I should thank Anon-a-Miss in part: this pathetic experiment made me realize who my family really are is. And those girls are not.
Speaking of which. I didn't notice my cell phone since I arrived. I see that I got several text messages and voice messages; a particular pair from Rainbow Dash and Rarity. I bet they are planning to offend me again and make me believe that I’m just a freak.
Well, screw them. I had planned to go to Sugarcube Corner to try to reason with them one more time, but now I see that it's not worth it; in fact, I will not let the Rainbooms, the student body or Anon-a-Miss see that they have managed to hurt me.
May they believe what they want. If I stay in this world it’s not for them anymore; I only do it for myself. I do it for Ray. Because just as I need his sympathy, he needs my strength to take care of him.
Anyway, I have homework to do and start to review my notes but first I approach Ray carefully and whisper in his ear: "Thank you very much for having appeared in my life, little one. I don’t have enough words to thank every single thing you are doing for me. Please don't change."
I give him a little kiss on his head and I retire to my studio to finish the schoolwork. I do not know what will happen in the following days but I assure that I will stand firm against the adversities and machinations of whatever they dare to throw me at.
And if for some reason I start to fail again, I have the security that I will always be counting on Ray for everything.