“You left school grounds.”

“Yes, but –”

“You left school grounds,” Cheerilee sat disbelievingly behind her desk, looking over her paperwork at William.

He continuously attributed it to the heat, but for some reason he found that every time that she gave him that pointed, searching glance it made him sweat uncomfortably.

It didn’t help that the rest of the classroom was completely empty aside from Diamond Tiara.

Who was sitting as far away from him as possible, and even though he couldn’t see her behind him, William was almost positive that she was glaring a hole in the back of his head. It was a feeling that made him want to scratch his head, awkwardly.

“Really, William,” Cheerilee continued, steepling her hooves together. “I’m surprised at you. Up until this point, perfect attendance, astounding grades… I’m a little – actually, no, I am very – disappointed in you, Mister Klaskovsky.”

He didn’t know how she did it, whether it was merely because he hadn’t heard her speak with this kind of tone before or if maybe he was only imagining things, but the mare made him highly uncomfortable. Almost as if he should be ashamed of his actions, or something equally strange. In short, she was speaking to him and treating him as if he were a child.

And William utterly despised her for it.

The fact that he was still so flustered didn’t seem to help matters along at all, and it was all he could do to remain silent.

“… Well?” she asked eventually, obviously expecting feedback as she looked at them both. “I had high hopes for you foals – Mister Rich even tells me that you two were getting along fine. And from what I gather, there’s a falling out shortly afterwards, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Really, William, do you have any idea just what you put everypony through when you went missing all day?”

How in the blue blazes could this mare manage to make him feel so unexpectedly guilty?

William cleared his throat uneasily, interlocking his fingers and forcing himself to meet his teacher’s gaze.

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee. I understand that my behavior was… excessive and childish,” he said with an obvious layer of disdain. “And I apologize for both my actions and their results, which I did not take into account.”

The mare gave him an odd look for a moment, and quietly let out a long breath before turning her head back and rubbing her temples.

“I suppose that’s all I can expect for the moment,” Cheerilee sighed. “Although I am glad to see that you’re at least mature enough to accept responsibility. Speaking of which…” she turned her head toward the silently fuming Diamond Tiara, sitting with her forehooves crossed grumpily at the back of the room.

“You two were getting along great one day, and now… this,” Cheerilee waved her hoof. “Care to explain what the problem is now?”

Tiara’s already irritable look darkened.

“There is no problem, Miss Cheerilee,” Diamond Tiara quietly seethed. “Everything is just peachy.”

“Uh huh.” Cheerilee deadpanned. “You know, I think I’m seriously confused as to see how you two might not get along. After all, you’re nearly identical.”

The filly snorted loudly, and William only cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s true,” the schoolteacher shrugged, leaning back in her chair behind her desk. She cast a single glance over at the clock above the door, evidently unworried by the amount of time that she had kept them after class. “You’re both bright enough young foals in your own rights, both… overly confident,” Cheerilee stated carefully. “And for reasons that I cannot ascertain, you both seem to think that I’m stupid.

“Honestly,” Cheerilee shook her head. “I can’t think of a single reason that you two can’t can the drama for a couple of days aside from maybe really wanting summer school. And believe me, that’s not going to be fun for anypony involved.”

“I apologize, Miss Cheerilee,” William bowed his head quietly. “I won’t do it again.”

“That’s good to hear,” she nodded with a small smile. “But you have to know that nopony thinks any less of you for your decision; it’s nothing to run away for. That’s just plain silly.”

William couldn’t keep the confusion off of his features.

“Sorry?” he asked, raising an eyebrow slowly.

“Oh, I already know all about you and your mom,” Cheerilee tittered good naturedly.

“Lies! It’s all lies!”

William thought for a moment that his heart rate was loud enough to hear from another room, and the sweating suddenly became a much larger problem than it was before.

Cheerilee simply stood for a moment, and blinked.

“O… kay…?” she said slowly. “William, just because you’re adopted doesn’t mean you should feel ashamed of that,” Cheerilee shook her head.

William felt a heat rising in his cheeks, and he cleared his throat loudly without looking up.

“Right. Yes. Yes, right,” he blathered pointlessly. “Absolutely. Right. I’ll take that into-into consideration.”

Cheerilee let out another near silent breath, resisting the urge to allow it to grow into a full exasperated groan. She eyed the clock one last time, and gave a final internal shrug.

“Go on, you two,” Cheerilee shook her head hopelessly. “I want the both of you to get along, and if you have a problem, just come to me about it.”

Both Diamond Tiara and William sat silently for a moment.

“… Well?” Cheerilee waved toward the door. “Go on! Skedaddle already!” she chortled. “I won’t hold you two up any longer; have a nice rest of the day, behave yourselves, go kiss and make up.”

For some odd reason, this made William suddenly begin clearing his throat loudly again as he tried to leave as quickly as possible, the agitated filly close behind.

“And turn in your homework this time, Diamond Tiara!” she called after her as the door swung shut.

Cheerilee was left in blissful silence for a while, and she released her umpteenth sigh for the day as she relaxed behind her desk. The young ones were always such a hoofful. However, she was a teacher for a reason; and if there was one thing that Cheerilee knew inside and out it was that you couldn’t force somepony to learn something.

Similarly, regardless of signs of maturity that her students might occasionally display, one could not force somepony to just grow up. They needed the space, the time, the material and the guidance to do so; much like flowers, they needed proper care and required lots of patience.

You can lead a horse to homework, but you can’t make her remember to do it.

Cheerilee snorted quietly to herself, filing away her paperwork for the day.

William stepped into the bright sunlight with a sense of gratitude for both the fresh air and freedom from the stuffy classroom. That, and the relief of finally being freed from the watchful gaze of Miss Cheerilee allowed him to breathe a little easier.

He couldn’t spot Sweetie, Apple Bloom, or Scootaloo anywhere; or anyone else, for that matter. He had been half hoping that they would have waited around a while longer, but it was a bit selfish to think that they didn’t have their own lives and schedules.

Diamond Tiara huffed angrily behind him as he shuffled along his way.

“… Well?” she asked as he was walking away.

William paused.

“Aren’t you going to walk me home?”

He only shrugged.

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, and walked away in her own direction. She stomped forward for a while, head down and thoughts dark and heavy. The occasional looming tree along the way cast interspersing shadows, patches of light and dark thrown out along the road like so many bits of quilt.

It took her a few minutes to realize that William was walking silently beside her, plodding along without saying a word. They walked in silence for a while, a light breeze trickling over the tips of the long grass alongside the road. It felt oddly empty, in part from the lack of chirping and singing birds. William thought (or hoped) that Diamond Tiara would merely remain silent and surly, but she found it in herself to speak again before long.

“… I think she’s right.”

“Hm?” William blinked, having been lost in thoughts of his own as they gradually rounded a bend in the road.

“Miss Cheerilee,” Diamond Tiara pronounced slowly. “I think she’s right, too. We should be getting along.”

“I suppose,” he answered distractedly, walking around a fallen branch. “I should prefer to avoid the aspect of a heavily scheduled summer as well.”

Diamond Tiara noiselessly shook her head, and stood in front of him. He ground to a halt, the filly’s large, brilliant blue eyes meeting his small almond ones.

“I don’t think that’s all Miss Cheerilee’s right about.” She insisted, a light pink tinge beginning to creep into her cheeks. “We should.”

“I… agree…?” William stated cautiously, confused.

“She really is right, you know,” Tiara said with bated breath, slowly cornering the tentative William against a roadside tree, placing one hoof on either side of him until she was mere inches away from his face. “We should kiss and make up.”

And when he found that her lips had suddenly made passionate contact with his own, William’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

He blinked, freezing in place, uncertain of how to react. For as much as he could have sworn that his heartbeat was loud enough to hear from another room before, he was almost certain that it could be heard from another town over by now.

And Diamond Tiara probably knew it, from as closely as she was pressed to his chest.

Within moments, she broke away and William instantly blurted “Oh gee look at the time well this is close enough to home I guess – I mean your home, not my home – not that I don’t like your home, lovely – I mean, your home is lovely, I don’t mean to call you lovely – I mean, I don’t mean that you’re not lovely, you are lovely – I mean, your home is – not implying that my own home isn’t, that’s where I was going – I mean, I wasn’t taking you to my home, I was taking me to my home – I mean, my home is not your home, it’s the other way – I mean, I have to go!”

And with that, he took off with a brisk pace, and William could almost swear that his ears had spontaneously combusted from the sheer heat that radiated from them.

Journal of William Zachariah Klaskovsky

Day 20 –

Oh, where do I even start.

I believe that I may have caught another cold, as I do feel a bit feverish. I shall hunt for a thermometer shortly.

The situation with Miss Dash is a bit awkward. I understand that she did not necessarily expect me to be in her life; and she has explained her situation a bit more thoroughly to me, but still so vague. From what I can gather, she feels cheated by Discord for leaving me with her.

I don’t even know where to begin with that one alone.

So, I shan’t.

Mother clearly has existing emotional baggage pertaining to Discord, and it unsettles me just how much of an impact I have had on her life. It leaves me feeling somewhat responsible, to tell the truth. As if I have somehow personally managed to upset her and somehow make her… unhappy. That maybe her current conduct and bitterness is my fault.

The knowledge claws at me.

I know that Miss Pie possesses extensive knowledge on Miss Dash – at least, compared to what I know of her. Miss Pie seems to hold her in extremely high regard, and whereas I do find her a bit too much… well, just a bit too much, really. Miss Pie is hyperactive at times, and easily distracted, but I must admit that I honestly enjoy her company, to a degree. Whereas the majority of the others that I have met since my stay here have been cordial and agreeable enough, Miss Pie is one of the few that appear to be completely wholehearted in her every claim and action.

Really, I dare believe that I say it, but I find her to be a little inspiring.

I am not quite certain as to what makes her seem so trustworthy, but I find that I rather like her. It is difficult to be around Miss Pie and not slowly become contaminated by her seemingly radiated good mood. She seems honest enough, and her every action is just so full of motion, so energetic that sometimes I can hardly believe that she’s real. It is not that she is just a very happy person, it seems that she sincerely wishes to share that in any way that she can. To be frank, the woman is nearly the extreme of sentimentality – and perhaps that is not such a bad thing.

She has not spoken much of Miss Dash that isn’t either praise or… I could be misreading signs, but… longing? Maybe? But then again, I have not necessarily pried, nor have I delved into the subject of Discord as much as I should like. Perhaps I should rectify this.

Silver Spoon is expected back at school within the next day or so, and I have not drawn conclusions on that particular predicament either. It is obvious that she is very close to Diamond Tiara…

The most difficult part to write.

I cannot even bring myself to think of that name without a host of difficulties.

Sometimes, I swear, I think the girl is trying to kill me.

Perhaps she was trying to get retribution for my initial deed to dissuade her from instigating arguments? I should like to believe so, but there was just something too… intimate about that contact to imply that she were merely attempting to obtain a form of vengeance. And another thing, if she were, why do it when we were alone instead of surrounded by other students as she was the first time?

I don’t know. It just felt too zealous to be a form of revenge…

Or maybe she was planning on ensuring some kind of comeuppance, and she knows that I’m onto her.

She does!

She knows it, I can feel it. That unbearable, smug, arrogant, conceited, manipulative charlatan!

Ooh, that girl infuriates me! That unscrupulous wench enrages me to the point that I can barely think straight!

Maybe I am looking too deeply into this and overanalyzing. I think I may be a tiny bit frightened by the idea that she really isn’t the calculative, coldblooded cactus part of me wishes she were; it would make loathing her so much simpler. If that were really what I wanted to do, I think. Something about her actions just seemed so… genuine.

I don’t know what to think. And it burns me intensely that I do not have the answer; I always have the answer. I don’t know how I am supposed to react in this kind of situation.

I’m so confused.

Rainbow Dash poked her head in through William’s bedroom doorway to find him slightly preoccupied. The manner in which she found him ‘slightly preoccupied’ consisted of slowly but repeatedly thumping a black hardback journal across his forehead as he sat on the edge of his small bed.

Tunk.

Tunk.

Tunk.

“Hey, Squirt,” Dash grinned. “Dinner’s almost ready. You comin’, or what?”

… Tunk.

“Yes, Mother,” William replied quietly, a little muffled behind his book. “I shall be along presently.”

“Sweet,” she rambled as he walked alongside her, making the hallway feel a little more cramped. “I think Fluttershy might have been right about the whole ‘different diet’ thing,” Rainbow Dash said to him absentmindedly. “Maybe start to get a bit of color into those tight little cheeks.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Rainbow Dash laughed, passing him a couple of plates for the table. After a moment, she frowned and stuck out her tongue. “I just can’t tell how you can stand the taste of something like fish. I mean, blech,” she made a disgusted face and shook her head. “Guess I just prefer getting my protein in other ways, if you know what I mean.”

William was pensive for a moment, mildly befuddled.

“… Soy and bean products?”

“Forget I said that,” Dash said quickly. “How’d your day at school go, Squirt?”

Tunk.

“Kinda hard to eat with your forehead on the table, Squirt.”

William stared up at the ceiling just as he had all night, his thoughts dark and heavy.

In almost complete contrast, the morning sun filtering in through the bedroom window was soft and light, ever so slowly beginning to trickle in with a warm glow. William let out a little sigh and for a while only listened to the sound of the quiet breathing of the pegasus beside him.

After a while, he eventually nudged her in the side softly with the flat of his hands.

“Miss Dash.”

“Yesh Mashter?” she instantly forced one eye open blearily, jerking suddenly.

“What?”

Rainbow Dash immediately sat up, shaking her head furiously and pulling William in close with her wings.

“Nothing,” she insisted almost noiselessly, her scratchy voice a little weak from just awakening. “Nothing, hon. Just a bad-a bad dream. You okay?”

“Yes. Fine.” William replied quietly, pulling away from her and slipping out of bed. “I merely wished to inform you that I shall be… running personal errands before school.”

It wasn’t technically a lie.

“I won’t be long,” William said quickly. “I actually wished to go... thank Miss Pie personally.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again shortly afterwards. She slowly nodded, and tugged at the blankets a bit fitfully.

“Do you want me to come with you?” she asked quietly.

“No!” William said swiftly. “I mean, that won’t be necessary, Mother. As-as I said, I won’t be long.”

Rainbow Dash silently nodded again, casting a forlorn gaze out the window over at the rising sun. It felt like no time at all before she was left lying all alone again, still staring out the window and watching the sun creep up over the horizon. It was something that she hardly realized that she missed, something comforting and reliable that rose every day like clockwork.

After a while of sifting through old memories, Dash quietly slipped out the door to leave the house completely empty.

It had been far too long since she’d watched something like a sunrise.

The rapping on the door of Sugarcube Corner sounded much louder to William that he thought it would, and he instinctively cringed from the noise.

The stallion that he vaguely recognized as Mister Cake answered the door around half a minute afterwards, smudges of flour coating his smock. He was surprisingly scrawny for a stallion, with a bit of extra-long stubble on his chin that gave him an oddly scruffy appearance beneath his brim of bright orange mane.

“Hullo?” he glanced downward, spotting the boy. “Oh, hey! Uh…” Mister Cake paused for a moment, hoof halfway in the air as if he were just on the tip of remembering.

“William.”

“Right,” his hoof clopped back against the ground. “William, knew it, couldn’t quite think of it. We don’t open for a couple more hours –”

“Actually, I was wondering if-if Miss Pie might happen to be available…” William said slowly clasping his hands together in front of him.

“Oh, Pinkie,” the stallion rolled his eyes with a chuckle and friendly grin. “Yep, she’s already up and about. Oy, Pinkie!” he turned on the spot, calling into the store and leading William inside. “You have visi-”

He didn’t manage to finish before (a slightly flour dusted) Pinkie Pie skidded around the corner from another room, zipping toward him as quickly as possible before coming to a sudden halt and performing a military style salute.

“Yessir, Mister Cake!” Pinkie said with a goofy smile. “Hiya, Willy!”

“My name is William.”

She promptly bumped the tip of his nose with her own, cheerfully exclaiming “Boop!” before giving a snort and giggle.

“Carrot, would you mind giving me a hoof with this?” William heard the sound of another mare as he attempted to wiped the traces of flour from his nose with his sleeve, and Pinkie Pie threw the slightly amused stallion a sheepish grin before he waved her off. She led William through Sugarcube Corner to a small dining area through a little archway, separate from the rest of the place.

“What’s up, Doc?” Pinkie asked cheerfully as William silently made himself comfortable at the table, and Pinkie began calmly pouring herself a cup of morning coffee. Which seemed significantly odd to William, considering just how hyper she seemed already. She offered him a cup as well, which he politely declined.

Just in case she really had slipped him something the last time, and it wasn’t just because he was sleep deprived and cried himself to sleep.

After a few moments of quiet contemplation, William silently accepted the cup of hot brew and held it between his hands, allowing the heat to seep into his fingers.

“Yo,” Pinkie said serenely as she sat across from him and gave him a warm smile after cleaning herself up a bit. “What’s up, Big Will?”

“My name is William –”

“Oh, pshaw,” Pinkie waved her hoof at him and gave him another silly looking grin. “You always say that.”

Pinkie pressed her cheeks together with her hooves until she looked like an enormous pink blowfish.

“Awwaysh sho sherioush,” she said with a completely deadpan expression, her head dropping another few inches with every word. “Awwaysh sho grumpy and frumpy sho shtuff.”

Her chin finally hit the table with a loud thunk! with the clink of the china, and she continued to make fish-like faces at him, eyes wide.

“Shewioushwy, Wiww – you gotta wighten up nao an’ tphfffffffffthn.”

Perhaps it was because she spoke without ever once dropping eye contact or with such a completely serious look on her face as she lowered her voice into a complete raspberry, but William suddenly found himself struggling with every fiber of his being against the urge to giggle stupidly at her display. He forced himself to keep a straight face, furrowing his brows and clearing his throat before speaking.

“Actuawwy –”

"HAHAHA HA!"

Pinkie burst out laughing hysterically, rolling out of her chair and onto the floor. She took in great, deep breaths as tears strained down her muzzle from the sheer hilarity of his slipup, and William even allowed himself an embarrassed (albeit reluctant) snicker or two. She let out enormous peals of laughter, loud enough that even the mare that William had heard earlier poked her head in momentarily before trotting off.

Eventually, Pinkie Pie picked herself up from the floor, and wiped a few tears from her eyes as she fought to reign in her giggles.

She coughed weakly into her hoof, goofy but infectiously cheerful smile still pulling at her face.

“Sorry,” William bowed his head slightly. “I hope you’ll forgive the parapraxis.”

“Nah,” Pinkie waved him off nonchalantly. “Everypony has a Freudian slip now and then.”

William cleared his throat uncomfortably, and fiddled with his thumbs as he thought of the best method to convey his ideas. He was silent for a while, and only stared at his hands. William eventually became aware that Pinkie was watching him closely, and he quickly stopped.

“… You okay?” Pinkie Pie asked softly, and for a moment, William contemplated even more furiously before dismissing the idea in favor of addressing something different.

“Again, I do apologize about the early time of my arrival…” William said awkwardly.

“You keep saying that, too,” Pinkie grinned and raised her hooves to her cheeks, poised to make funny faces again. Seeing the almost mournful expression on his face, she carefully put her hooves back down and said “It’s okay, Will. You can talk to your Auntie Pinkie Pie about anything. Okie dokie lokie?”

He opened his mouth to retort, but slowly closed it again before nodding.

“Oki- yes.” William said simply. “Miss Pie, the reason that I interrupted you so early is because I wish to receive what I hope will be an unbiased and truthful reply, as I am not certain that-that Miss Dash would feel so obligated to do so about the… topic.”

“You sure are being awfully vague,” Pinkie said conversationally, taking a sip of her sugar-laden coffee.

“I wish to know more about my father.”

Pinkie Pie did a spit-take.

Coffee dribbled down her chin as she stared at him, and William bore witness to one of the strangest things he had seen all week.

Pinkie Pie’s bright blue eyes narrowed to pinpricks, and color immediately drained from her face. She looked utterly mortified at William’s statement, not even breathing anymore. Her normally bouncy and springy mane sort of began to… deflate, until it fell flat against her and lost much, if not all of its previous sheen.

In short, the sudden transformation that had apparently come over her scared William senseless.

For the longest time, Pinkie Pie only sat in front of William in dead silence as the last of the coffee dripped from her chin, quietly plinking against the checkered tablecloth.

“I-I’m sorry,” William stuttered eventually. “I didn’t know that asking about Discord was some form of taboo. I am terribly sorry for upsetting you, Miss Pie,” he apologized profusely.

“Discord?” Pinkie let out a shuddering breath at last, blinking as life slowly returned to her features. She quickly cleaned up her mess, and gave herself a thorough shake.

“I-I didn’t know – I mean, I’m so sorry – I’ll just g-”

“No, no, Will,” Pinkie wrapped a hoof around his shoulder, giving him a tight hug. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s nopony’s fault, you don’t have anything to be sorry for.” She chortled feebly, kindly patting the nervous boy on the head. “It’s just – well, you see – wow, this is – why are you asking me about Discord again?”

William noted the level of stress in Pinkie’s voice, and that she was continuously running a hoof over his head to distract herself.

“Because I trusted that you would give me an honest answer about what Discord is like, as I have not necessarily spent much time with my adoptive father and I wish to know more about the ‘God of Chaos’, as he deems himself,” William answered truthfully.

“… Well,” Pinkie Pie said finally. “He’s… okay, I guess.”

William was obviously unsatisfied by this answer, and Pinkie let out a pitiful chuckle.

“Discord is kind of – well, actually completely – crazy, but he’s really not so bad. Dashie seems to think that he’s okay, and even Fluttershy says that he can be really sweet sometimes.”

“Sweet?” William asked.

“Yeah, but mostly goofy. Totally loco in the coco,” she swirled her hoof around her head, and William watched as a couple of springs of her mane slowly began rising into the air as she did so. It was a little creepy and morbidly fascinating simultaneously. “But he’s alright once you get to know him, I suppose. I really wish we’d have a few more spells of chocolate milk like last time…”

Pinkie scratched her chin distractedly, lost in thought for a moment before quickly patting him on the shoulder.

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Pinkie asked slyly, and he nodded slowly. She guided him out of Sugarcube Corner, and he heard her singing after she had closed the door behind him.

“♪Chocolate rain – some stay dry, and some feel the pain! Chocolate ra~in…!♪”

William shook his head, frowning as he walked away even more confused than before.

A thought occurred to him much later, and he was really surprised that it hadn’t come to him immediately.

How in the hell did Pinkie Pie know who Sigmund Freud was?

Author's Notes:

A few things that I would like to say about this story.

I have been specifically informed by a couple of people who were kind enough to inform me the reasoning behind their like/dislike of the story, and one that cropped up multiple times caught my attention.
Apparently, I can only write a character well for a short amount of time, and then they devolve into a complete mishmash of out of character behaviors.

Firstly, one of my main PROBLEMS with so many stories is that they seriously downplay the intelligence and personalities of the characters involved. Just because I don't make Twilight a bibliophilic hermit, or Applejack a workaholic, or Pinkie Pie a sugar obsessed manic-depressive doesn't mean that 'I'm doing it wrong'.
Because they AREN'T just a bundle of stereotypes, they aren't just a collection of quotes and mental instabilities. They are characters in their own rights, with their own thoughts, and feelings, expressions and emotions, their own ideologies and beliefs, their own hopes and fears and comforts and preferences and ideas and IT DOES NOT MAKE ME A 'BAD' AUTHOR JUST BECAUSE I WRITE THEM DIFFERENTLY, GODDAMMIT.

To do that with a character - any character of any story, on that note - to deliberately downplay the characters is both an insult to the story and a slap in the face to the readers. It's an insult to the intelligence of the readers, and I refuse to do it simply for the sake of making YOU personally feel like the story would be written better because of it. I'm all for constructive criticism - or, hell, sometimes just plain criticism - but to insinuate that the only way a reader will understand a character is by making them stupidly simple and one dimensional is just something that I point blank am not going to love and tolerate.