Three
Chapter 6: Chapter Five: Budget and Weather
Previous Chapter Next Chapter“Seriously, Graze! What’s the matter with you?!” a blonde mare shouted, violently dipping a cotton ball into a small, clear vial of alcohol. “Look at what you did to yourself!” The mare examined her patient’s body full of sore, black and blue marks.
“I know, and I’m sorry, Ditzy,” I apologized in a raspy voice, unable to look the gray mare in her golden eyes. Where are Kill and Joy during these times? They never EVER talk when Ditzy’s angered. Never.
We don’t like conflict, Graze, Joy explained.
Well, I kinda do, but not with her. That’s your problem, Kill backed out with his brother.
Can you at least give me some moral support!? That’s what you’re here for! I exclaimed, desperately asking them for help.
“No, you’re not. You said you won’t have done it against those three stallions and once again, Mr. Graze must fight the one who helped him.” She said, sitting on her haunches with folded hooves. One glance at her, and those same golden eyes were straightforward and focused on me. Pissed vex. “Look at me, Graze.” I disobeyed. “Look at me.”
Glaring at the mare with a black and blue eye, it was a game I could not ever win against her. “The cotton ball is waiting,” she managed to muffle with the small ball clenched gently between her teeth. “Take off your vest, and let me see.” With a sigh, I obeyed, relieving myself of the white and vertically black striped vest.
Without a sound, the cotton ball made impact with the wooden floor, leaving a damp spot of alcohol where it laid. I was ashamed to show her the copious amounts of black and blue ranging from my neck to the back. What happened next, was a complete, utter shock. She embraced me.
“Ouch, that’s tender,” I chuckled, smiling until I felt a drop of water on my back. My smile disappeared and I embraced the mare tighter, ignoring the pain. It was obvious that she was in more.
Physical wounds will always heal, Graze, Joy appeared before me and informed. It is the emotional pain that stays forever. Next time, vessel, think before you act and learn to ignore Kill.
The other conscience appeared, bemusedly shaking his head at Joy’s advice. I’m disgusted knowing that you had as much influence on this as I did.
Yeah, stop being so saddlesore, Joy retorted.
“I don’t like seeing you get hurt! Why do you do this to yourself!” the mare cried. “Please Graze... please, just stop before you really get injured. There is no need to fight and squabble over small stuff. Okay?”
“Okay,” I nodded, nuzzling her neck. Realization hit me and only now did I notice that I actually nuzzled her. At least, I didn’t mean it in any romantic way... I think. I, for one, know she hugged me out of comfort...right? Honestly, I am oblivious to these kind of signs, even if they’re right in front of my face.
“Good,” she sniffled, wiping away her tears. “I know you are hard headed, so... knowing you, I am going to save these for later,” she said, standing back up and carrying the vial of alcohol to her kitchen’s counter. “That doesn’t mean you go senselessly fighting anypony, you hear?”
“Hmph, I still won,” I joked with a smirk, flickering my tail with the usual added sass. With this, of course, came consequences. “Oh c’mon, it was a joke!” I begged of the mare, seeing as she turned her back on me. Maybe that wasn’t my smoothest move...yet.
“Anyways, did you find a job? You do know we can’t just live off the school, right?”
“Yeah, I’m working weather under supervision of Cloud Chaser.” Ditzy tilted her head, confused about who I was talking about. “You know, our soon-to-be art teacher, hopefully by next semester, and the school’s one weather control pony?” Which I somehow managed to say in one breath.
“Nope, not ringing a bell, but guess what?!” she waved off a bit too excitedly. Her mindset, I was pretty sure of, was not in complete match with her physical well being, though her eyes were still puffy from previous tears. “I’m the new mailmare!” She smiled, continuously dancing on the spot out of pure glee as her hooves lightly tapped against the wooden floor. The mare seemed so happy about getting this job, it was as if our argument never occurred. “I cannot wait for tomorrow!” she squee’d out of delight. “Graze, when do you start?”
“Well, I start tomorrow... hopefully.”
“Ohoho! How are you, Cloud Chaser?” a light grey pegasus stallion greeted the weather pony from behind a wooden desk. I couldn’t help but focus most of my attention onto his face. Not because the desk covered his body from the neck down, since it didn’t, but his red eyes pierced through the darkness of the office. The office wasn’t that dark, it just was my wild imagination that did that whenever I did visit the office in previous schools. I always remember it being like a short trip to Tartarus... an air conditioned, well lit Tartarus with coffee. Who needs Celestia’s sun when you got artificial lighting?
“I’m alright, Principal Shadow Mark. How’s the paperwork and budget treating ya?” Cloud asked with a smirk, seeing as he had somehow managed to instantly stress the principal.
With a sigh, the principal fiddled with his goatee that adorned his chin.
That goatee... I don’t know why, but I have the strangest urge just to walk up to him and touch it, Kill said, staring at the black piece of facial hair as the principal continued his rambling about paperwork... something about it being too much, or asking Chaser to look at the stacks upon stacks of paper which the desk hardly gave its best effort to withstand.
“Look at it, Chaser! Look at it! It’s so big, it just never ends!” the principal complained once more.
Dear Celestia! Hahahaha! DID HE JUST SAY THAT?! Kill laughed, rolling on his back as he snorted at the principal’s choice of words.
…Yup, this school is far from normal, Joy facehoofed, speaking the truth. All the teachers and even the principal seem to be weird.
“Don’t worry, Graze, I got this,” Chaser whispered beside me. “Once he starts talking about his paperwork, it soon leads to--”
“THE BUDGET! HOW CAN I FORGET ABOUT THE BUDGET!”
“Wow, Shadow Mark, calm down for a second and take a breather. I need to talk to you about two things,” Chaser interrupted the principal before given the chance to completely stress himself.
The principal somehow managed to instantly rid himself of the stress, hearing of an upcoming matter. “Oh? And what would that be?”
Something’s not right with this guy, Joy said, unsure of the school’s headmaster.
Yeah, I know, right? Who wears a hoodie indoors? Kill said, somehow managing to look at the smaller details of life. But, I gotta admit, it’s a nice hoodie.
“I would like to take this pony under my wing,” Chaser said, literally hovering his right wing over me. “I’m going to teach him everything I know about weather, and more. I’ve seen him fly, and he’s pretty damn good.”
“And more?” the principal queried.
“And more,” Chaser repeated himself, finalizing his answer.
“Hmmm... and more...” Shadow Mark, yet again, repeated himself.
“Yes, sir... and more,” the jacketed pony sighed, bemusedly.
“Ah, yes! And more! I like it!” exclaimed Principal Shadow Mark as he slammed his hooves on the desk, agreeing to Chaser. “You do know that since this pony--”
“Graze,” I interrupted, introducing myself.
“You do know that since Graze is now under your wings and assisting you with the weather, you will have to bathe him, feed him and take him for daily walks... wait, no... that’s for a pet... I miss my cat, Frenchie. You have any pets, guys?” Shadow Mark asked the two of us.
“Get back on topic, sir,” Chaser reminded the pony.
“Ah yes! I meant that you’re going to have to share your salary with him. You do know that, right?” Shadow Mark asked, ensuring Chaser knew of the consequences of sharing work.
“Of course, sir, and that’s the second thing I wanted to talk about... I would like to start my own art class.”
Upon such a sensitive topic, Chaser knew that this would be the response from the principal, a heavy sigh. “Chaser, we’ve talked about this many times before, the budget just simply cannot handle all of this. Princess Luna has already been gracious enough to fund this school as her sister, Celestia did with the School for Gifted Unicorns. I simply cannot take advantage of this,” the principal rejected Chaser’s offer in a more serious tone than previous pleasantries.
“Sir, I will not allow these ponies to grow up just based on scientific facts and literature, with Charge and Anarchy. They need balance, creativity, and to learn how to think outside the box. Also, I’ve already gotten a few who are willing to learn,” Chaser calmly said, presenting his argument respectfully as possible. He was not going to give up on this. “I’m sure as a fellow artist who paints the night with her stars, Princess Luna would be more than happy to watch as her students enjoy creating as she does for us.”
Shadow Mark did not want to go against Princess Luna’s wishes or pass on any ideas without her consent. “Fine,” the hooded pony agreed, trotting out from behind his desk, and to the both of us, lending out his right hoof as Cloud happily shook it. “You’re fired, Chaser.”
With those spoken words, the machinations of the stallion’s mind crashed, no longer functioning properly as he was in utter disbelief that the principal would do such a thing. The hooded pony snickered, no longer able to hold his deadpan expression. “Pftchahahaha! You should see the look on your face, Chaser!” Shadow Mark wiped a tear from his eye, continuing his fit of laughter. “Whew, don’t worry, I’m sure Princess Luna would say yes. I shall send her a letter, okay?”
Gently place the pony upon the pedestal of propaganda, and allow him to shit bricks... I like this guy, Kill nodded in approval.
“Hahahaha, you’re freaking twisted, you know that?” Chaser implied.
“Oh, but that’s how I get the job done.” The two members of staff then shook hooves, as Shadow Mark then looked towards me. “Graze, am I correct?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied with a nod.
“You’re going to be just fine under Chaser’s wing. I have complete faith in all members of staff in this school, so I assure you, there is no need to worry,” Shadow Mark said, finishing his sentence with doubt as he brushed his goatee with his hoof. “Actually, now that I think of it, a lot of crazy stuff does happen here, but thanks to these guys, the school is still standing!”
Knew it, Kill and Joy said in unison.
“Anyways, I really should get back to work, as well as, the two of you,” the grey robed stallion then retreated behind his fort of paperwork. “I’ll let Omnius know that you’re leaving.”
For the life of me, I didn’t know why the principal would allow the janitor to do somepony else’s job. Just to reassure myself of the situation, I needed to ask, “Isn’t he the janitor?”
“Well, yes... but, he is also my secretary... and the lunch pony... and the groundskeeper... etcetera.” Wow, I almost feel bad for the overworked guy... almost. “But, no need to worry! He is actually very efficient! For the life of me, I cannot comprehend on how he does these things so fast! He actually wanted extra jobs since he got the other done in... ten minutes?” The principal said, enticed within his own monologue. “Oh, I’m sorry for my rambling, bad habit... or is it a good habit? I guess talking can be either good or--”
“Okay! Sorry sir, but we have to do weather stuff!” Chaser hurriedly said, interrupting the sentence as he literally used his head to shoved me out the room, safe from Shadow Mark’s rambling. “You do not want to get caught in that, Graze. EVER!”
“Yeah, he can go on forever,” Omnius, the secretary, said with a roll of his eyes. Conveniently as the multi-jobbed pony exhaled deeply, a shout was heard from within the next room, otherwise known as, The Principal’s Office.
“Omnius! I need your advice on something!”
“Dear Princess Celestia, buck me sideways,” the blue jump suited pony cursed himself with a sigh, trotting towards the windowed door. “Save yourselves,” Omnius advised the two other pegasi.
And with that honorable motive of self sacrifice, we fled out the school and took to the skies.
Clouds. Soft, white, pillows for a pegasus, everywhere. You’d think by now, somepony would have found some sort of magical way to invent pillows out of the most comfortable material to sleep on. Clouds.
“Ah, this is the life, Graze. Just to lay down and watch the sky!” Chaser exclaimed on a drifter, laying on his back as he gazed at the vast sea. Since clouds can’t technically move by themselves, a drifter is when a pegasus lightly pushes it, as it sails along the sky, of course, soon coming to a stop. It’s one of the advantages of being a pegasus. One that we all loved.
“So, when do we actually start working?” I asked, curious as to why we were still relaxing for the past two hours.
Oh c’mon! The one teacher that allows us to relax, and you ask when to start work?! Geez, Graze, learn to relax, Kill scolded, hoping for the easy way out.
And this is the reason why we never do our work... Kill, snarled Joy, glaring at the miniature pony as he relaxed beside me in Chaser’s position.
“Agh, don’t be a Mr. Charge, we’ll get to that soon,” the jacketed pony said with a smirk, “and also, you aren’t qualified yet,”
“What do you mean, not qualified?! You told Shadow Mark that I flew great!” I quarreled with Chaser.
“Look, some ponies got it, some ponies don’t. Not many have even come close to passing my test,” Cloud said, rolling off his back and onto his haunches. “None.”
“Oh yeah? And what would that so called ‘test’ be?”
“Oh, nothing much, just a race... against me. You fall ten seconds behind, and you’re out,” he explained, rummaging through his pockets, pulling out a pair of goggles.
Pftch, ten seconds is a lot, somepony is quite full of themselves, Joy folded his hooves.
Who the hell does he think we are to fall ten seconds behind?! Kill challenged the stallion.
“If anything, we won’t fall back by five,” I promised the stallion.
“We?”
Buck. I cannot believe I just said that outloud. “I meant to say, I, as in, I don’t have mental issues.” Through the awkward silence was a gust, a gust so light that even the sound of it passing by could have been heard.
I was sure that the stallion believed I had some sort of mental disorder, infamously known as, schizophrenia.
The pegasus said nothing, but I just had to reassure him. “No, I do not have schizophrenia,” I blatantly said out. Truth be told, what I have is something completely different. I do not spaz out, I do not randomly breakdown or such like that. I am in control of my own mental health.
Yeah, there is nothing wrong with having voices in your head. In realization to what he had said, Joy simply facehoofed at his own poor choice of words.
With a hint of doubt, Kill snickered as he flew from the cloud’s surface and onto his favorite place, my shoulder. Nice going, Joy. Yeah, Graze is totally not schizophrenic...
I simply coughed, disrupting the awkward silence that filled the air. How foolish was I to slip up and make that mistake. “So, we going to start this race or what?”
“...OH! Wait what? Sorry, I was in a daze...” the jacketed pony shook his head and relieved himself of the awkward tension. “Yeah! Three laps around the school, you fall five seconds behind, you’re out,” the experienced flyer reminded me, stretching his wings with an arched back. “You ready?” He asked, looking through his flyer goggles. I nodded. “Good...” Cloud Chaser paused with a flare of his wings, inhaling deeply through his snout.
Kill and mostly Joy observed the pegasus’ actions as he rapidly flapped his wings, preparing for flight. Hey, it sorta looks like Cloud is going to--
“One two three go!” And the next thing I knew, there was nopony there, but just his outline, a lone cloud, and a few mantis-green feathers.
… get a headstart, Joy pointed out... a bit too late.
GOGOGO! WE CAN STILL CATCH UP! Kill demanded, shouting at the top of his lungs seeing as Chaser had already made it two seconds away from a still target. Damn that sucker is fast!
Advancing from a hasty gallop to becoming airborne, I heeded chase after my fellow racer already two seconds away. I couldn’t allow him to pass five. Of course I was going fast, the only problem here was, he was just faster, but I did what I could to maintain our two seconds distance apart. I flapped harder, putting stress on my wings.
Graze... this guy is all about speed, he’s not even trying, Joy pointed out. Do you remember yesterday? He appeared out of nowhere, as if he instantaneously teleported, figuratively speaking.
A light whistle distracted me from my conscience, coming from the only pegasus in the sky. Unbelievable. He was flying backwards. “C’mon, man, I’m not even trying! You want those bits, don’t you?” He taunted. “Mmm, those sweet, tasty, twenty five bi--CRASH!” A green, flaming meteorite took down the airborne pony.
“Well, that was new,” I watched as both Chaser and the flaming rock were sent crashing towards the surface.
Wait, was he about to say twenty five bits? Kill asked with rejoice. That’s a lot!
GRAZE! YOU NEED TO HELP OUT CHASER! Joy shouted, actually paying attention. With an immediate loop, I began my descent with a mighty flap of my wings, placing my hooves in front, cutting through the air resistance. Upon closer inspection, surprisingly for Chaser... he was pretty much still intact, and not... you know, dismembered from that amount of force.
Closing the distance between the two of us, I actually saw Chaser... hear me out on this... punch the flaming rock! “GET OFF ME, YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR A CHEESE GRATER!” I heard Chaser shout, bucking the flaming green object once more, slightly releasing its grip from the pegasus... I didn’t even know meteors could grab. “GRAZE, HEADS UP!” The teacher warned, uppercutting the rock with his right hoof so hard that the green flames were extinguished.
“Wait a second,” I squinted, observing the so called ‘rock.’ It wasn’t a meteor! It had the anatomy of a pony! IT WAS A PONY... a messed up, hexagonal eyed pony.
With great reflexes, I caught the smaller pony between both my hooves, keeping distance from it as it tried to snap and repeatedly headbutt at my face. “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?!” I shouted, pulling my face back to prevent physical contact such as its futile attempts at headbutts or jabs from its horn. “LOOKS LIKE A BUG!” It struggled some more from my grip. “STRONG ONE TOO!”
Once closing the distance between the two of us, Chaser hovered beside me as we both constantly flapped our wings, preventing the whole shouting dilemma. “Nice catch,” Chaser replied, a bit impressed. “That’s a changeling, nasty lil’ buggers that feed off love.”
“Love? Why would the changeling come for us?” I asked the weather pony. “Dude, I’m not gay.”
“He was heading for the school, not us. One thing about universities is that they’re packed with hormone crazy students desperate with their love, and one things that to changelings, love is love,” Chaser explained. “Yeah... I’m not gay either,” he cleared the air of awkward tension once again.
“Are you hurt, though? That was a nasty hit,” I said, observing the half beaten, exhausted pegasus.
“Yeah, I’m fine. My real concern is this changeling. We have to warn Shadow Mark and Charge about this,” Cloud Chaser replied, fixing his disheveled mane at the back.
“Why? It’s just one little bug,” I said, pulling my head back once more at its attempt to headbutt.
“Because, these nasty things appear in swarms, and maybe, since one is here, they’ve already infiltrated the school.” Chaser then looked down at the building, standing tall and strong, undamaged by any changelings so far. “As we speak, any of our friends can be one of them,” he then looked at me, more serious than I’ve seen the relaxed pegasus in the past few hours. “I’m gonna need you up here more often. We can’t allow any more changelings inside.”
“Does this mean I get the job?” Chaser nodded with a smile. “YES! YES! YES!” I exuberantly cheered, hugging the changeling still within my hooves, prancing around midair and kissed it on the cheek. “Yuck, tastes nasty... what do I do with this?” I asked, still with the bitter taste in my mouth.
Don’t worry, Graze. You just fed that changeling for a day, Kill snickered, laying on my shoulder.
“Let him free, we don’t want to allow things to get any worse as they already are.” Following Chaser’s orders, I released the changeling as it retreated to the opposite direction of the school. “Right now, Graze, the school as we know it, is under attack... trust no pony.”
Alone in his office, Shadow Mark sensed danger afoot as his ears twitched upon the sound of beating wings. He gently laid the quill in his possession upon the desk as he slowly trotted to the window, seeing one lone changeling in retreat. He whispered to himself. “Beware, beware, the changeling season is here.”
A/N: Omnius has joined the pre-reading party! Thank you, man!