Chapter 14

“First day of school, sleepyhead! I hope you are excited,” Scratch said happily as she peeked her head into River’s room. “Ditzy already made breakfast.”

The filly opened her eyes and stared out of the window, an expression on her face that conveyed the opposite of excitement. Scratch left River alone to allow her to get ready. The fillies eyes stared blandly out of the window and at the distant woods wishing she could go there instead.

The mare returned to the kitchen where she had been enjoying her muffin and Lighting Buck energy drink. Thyme looked at the can and shook his head.

“I don’t think that stuff is healthy for you.”

“I don’t sleep,” Scratch laughed. “I run off of caffeine and earth shaking music.”

“If you say so.” Thyme went back to eating his cereal. In truth he was worried, Scratch was not exaggerating when she said that she didn’t sleep. She usually just sat on the couch cycling through her music and blasting it through her headphones all night.

Dinky and River entered the kitchen. Ditzy’s daughter was going through the list of fun that they were going to have together at school. River didn’t seem like she was listening. Both fillies sat down at the table and proceeded to fill their plates with steaming muffins. Ditzy was cleaning dishes by the sink and occasionally she would look out of the window with a happy expression. She looked up at a clock hanging on her wall.

“Hurry up and eat you two,” the grey pegasi said. “You don’t want to be late.”

River turned her attention to the clock as well. She let out a small sigh, not excited for the day’s adventures in the slightest. But learning some basic words to write down on paper would probably help her communicate. Originaly last on her list, socializing was becoming more important in her new life. Too bad there was going to be learning in a room full of other ponies. Those classmates would probably be curious about her and her problems would just build off of there.

‘I wonder what a pessimism cutiemark would look like?’ River thought humorously. ‘I’m getting good at it.’

Then she realised that was another thing that was going to dampen her ability to enjoy her day at school. Every pony she knew that was her age had a cutiemark. Even though, the filly admitted to herself, she didn’t know very many ponies her age.

River’s thoughts were interrupted when Scratch asked Thyme a question.

“Has any mail returned from Tavi?”

Thyme rummaged through the envelopes. “Nope. But your father's letter is here.”

Scratch’s ears perked up. “Is he coming?”

The stallion opened the envelope. “He says yes. But he also want’s to know if your sister has contacted you. She isn’t returning his letters.”

“She hasn’t?” The white unicorn chewed her lips nervously. “She's probably very busy.”

“Probably,” Thyme agreed. “Preparing for the wedding celebrations is undoubtedly time consuming.”

“Yeah, that has to be the reason.” Scratch still didn’t seem very sure.

Ditzy looked up at the clock again. “Alright you two, time to go. Have a fun day at school!”

Dinky cheered while River let out a sigh. Both fillies headed towards the door. One waved goodbye excitedly, the other trudged out, downcast and glum.

Dinky continued to talk about her school the entire way through the town. River, despite not showing it, actually was listening to everything the younger filly had to say.

“Too bad we won’t be in the same class,” the filly said as they neared the school. “Miss Cheerilee only teaches older ponies. I am still in the lower classes.”

River became even more nervous. ‘There goes the only friendly pony I will know here.’

Miss Cheerilee was standing outside of the door, waiting for her new student. “Hello River! Are you excited for your first day of school?”

The filly just looked up at the mare and shrugged. ‘The faster I get this day over with the happier I will be.’

Cheerilee let River enter then followed in after her. The filly stopped only momentarily to survey the other ponies sitting at their desk before heading to a seat in the back. All the while trying not to draw attention to herself. It was working until Cheerilee called for her.

“River, would you like to come up front and let me introduce you to the class?”

River stopped and all eyes turned curiously towards her. She let out a sigh and ambled up to the front.

“This here is Anemone Reverie but she likes to be called River,” Cheerilee announced. “She just moved here for an unknown amount of time so help her stay be as pleasant as it can be.”

“Miss Cheerilee,” a magenta filly wearing a little tiara interrupted. “We had to introduce ourselves on our first day of class. Why isn’t she?”

River looked at Cheerily with an expression that said, ‘go ahead, tell them. I can’t and they will learn about it anyway.’

“Well, River is unable to speak,” the teacher explained, slightly hesitant.

The foals started to murmur to themselves. River wished she had hearing as sharp as Scratch’s so their conversations could be revealed to her. The filly decided that now was a good time to take her seat and skirted around the edge of the room to the back.

“Hi,” a filly sitting to her left said. “My name is Sweetie Belle.”

River gave her no reply as Cheerilee started class.

“Can I sit next to you?” Dinky asked.

River looked up at the little unicorn that had joined her by the swing and nodded.

“How is your first day of school going?” the younger filly asked as she jumped into the swing next to River.

The silent pegasi shrugged. ‘Not too bad... yet.’

Dinky took the shrug as a positive response. The pair sat quietly as the other foals played around them. The grey unicorn would occasionally look over at the pony she considered a friend and thought of something to talk about. But like so many ponies before, having a conversation with someone that didn’t talk proved difficult.

“Do you want my chocolate muffin?” Dinky eventually asked. “All you brought for lunch today was a banana.”

River looked at the sweet smelling muffin that was held before her. She nodded and took it politely. ‘Your not so bad.’

“Hey Dorky,” hissed a voice that River remembered from class. “That muffin was for me.”

“Uh-oh,” Dinky squeaked.

River’s eyes slowly settled on the two fillies approaching them. One wore a silly tiara the other had large glasses. A bored look filled the silent pony's face. She had a feeling that these two would be trouble. But River had no intention of letting them be a pain.

“You know the deal Dorky,” the one with the tiara continued. “The chocolate muffins are for me. In exchange for me not telling the other foals that your swirly eyed mom still calls you her ‘Baby Muffin.’”

‘All those chocolate muffins and you aren't fat?’ River laughed in her head. She wished the bully could hear her. ‘A nickname for you could be Hippo Hips. From now on I will call you Hippo Hips’’

“New girl,” the pony with the glasses chimed in. River was slightly surprised that the attention was now being directed to her. “If it isn’t clear to you already, we want you to give us the muffin.”

River did the only thing that came to her mind that made up for the inability to verbally taunt the two fillies. She took a large, wet bite out of the muffin, smiling the entire time, then presented the drool covered half to the bullies.

“That’s disgusting!” Hippo Hips screeched. “No wonder your only friend so far is a little loser whose mom is a clumsy cross-eyed freak.”

Dinky broke out into tears. “My-my mommy isn’t a freak.”

Both fillies started to laugh at their own insults, obviously proud of themselves. The bullies were too absorbed in their presumed triumphs that they didn’t notice River slide of the sing and approach them until too late. The tiara pony soon found herself lying on the ground, dazed and in pain. A hoof shaped bruise forming on her face. The other bully’s mouth dropped open.

“Miss Cheerilee!” she screamed. “Miss Cheerilee, the new filly is attacking us!”

‘Oh shut up!’ River mentally growled before knocking her to the ground.

Many emotions arose in Scratch’s mind  when Cheerilee arrived at their house with River and Dinky in tow and told them what had occurred at school. But anger was not one of them. The mare knew full well that she would have done the same. In truth, she had beat up a few ponies back in school but always with a good reason.

After Cheerily has left Dinky and River sat at the table with Ditzy and Scratch across from them. Thyme stood in the doorway, watching over the procedings. After a minute of silence Scratch finally spoke.

“Well, good job River,” the mare laughed. The lack of seriousness took everybody in the room by surprise. “Those two won’t bother you anymore. So, what do you guys want for dinner?”

“I don’t think that-” Thyme started to say.

Scratch cut him off. “Shhhh-shush, Thyme. It’s how I solved my problems in school and it always worked for me. Plus, what else could River do?”

“She could...” The stallion was about to say ‘tell the teacher, but stopped himself. “I don’t know.”

Scratch smiled triumphantly. “River kicks flank! Don’t detract from that, silly.”

River was confused. She had expected anger, yelling and punishment. Vinyl Scratch, the filly was starting to realise, was one odd mare.

“They called you a freak,” Dinky wiped her nose with a hoof, fighting tears.

Ditzy smiled. “I have been called mean names my whole life. A freak least of all. So don’t cry my muffin, they are only words.”

“Okay.” Dinky stood up from the table. “I think I am going to go to bed now.”

“You're not hungry?” Ditzy asked.

“No.” The grey filly continued to walk away but stopped. “Could you sing a bedtime song to me?”

“Of course, my muffin.” Ditzy stood a walked out with her daughter.

When the pair had left Scratch looked over at River. “Other than beating the sour pulp out of those snobs, how was your day?”

‘Hitting those two was the highlight,’ River laughed in her mind. Outwardly she just shrugged and tapped the table four times, an action that said "good".

Scratch nodded in return. “Do you want to go back to school?”

The filly smiled and nodded, her confidence was surprisingly stronger than it was in the morning. She tapped the table, signing yes. Scratch chucked, taking it as a victory against River’s antisocial personality.

From the other room they could hear Ditzy singing a soft lullaby to her daughter. Scratch reconized it as a song she created back when the pair of them were in the orphanage. Ditzy had changed some of the words to make it more apropriate for a mother singing to her daughter instead of a friend to a friend.

“Sleep, sleep, little one

Your day was long and now it's done

No more tests, get your rest

When tomorrow comes, do your best

The world can be a scary place

Keep a smile upon your face

Do take care, I'll be there

To see you as a lovely mare

Sometimes you might feel all alone

Lost and scared, without a home

Trust in me, you will see

Let your mind be forever free

As you sleep the night time through

Let Luna's moon shine down on you

Like calm breeze, through the trees

Sleep little one, sleep in peace.”

‘Plus,’ River added. ‘I need to watch over my friend.’