Determination

The three ponies were trotting along the Main Street, heading towards the bakery, his new home. When Tony approached the door, he halted all of a sudden, the memories of the day before still dawning on him.

‘Are they really going to forgive me? Or… or they want to cut me up and bake me!’ He shook his head and sighed. ‘That was probably the most retarded idea you’ve had so far.’

“Coming Tony?” the voice of Margaret snapped him out of his trance.

”Yeah, coming.”

The same bakery, nothing changed. Tony followed the couple through a door in the right, leading into a lobby where they left their clothing. He looked over himself. ‘Silly me, I have nothing to lay here.’

“Come with me.” The colt followed the unicorn stallion upstairs, in a room on the left side. Opening it, his mouth fell and his eyes widened in awe. The room was as big as the kitchen downstairs, with a bed large enough to hold 3 ponies, and a leather chair? ‘I hope that leather is fake.’ He gulped.

“This here will be your room, you have everything you need, from books” he glanced at the rather large bookshelf filled with books of different shapes and colors, lined up in such a way that he could see the color transition, like in a rainbow. “… to parchments and quills. About school, we might need to introduce you to the basics of writing, math, geography and physics, so you will be able to enter the school next year with the required knowledge.”

“Uh-uh.” That was all that he could say, still shocked by the magnitude of the change that was happening to his life.

“I’m glad you like it” said Dillon, with a soft chuckle. “You can rest for today, and tomorrow we can start working on your lessons. Next week we are expected at the hospital to change your bandages and inspect the wounds… again, I’m sorry for that.”

“It’s okay, Mister Dillon—“

”Call me Dillon, mister sounds too formal.”

“Alright, Dillon. But I think I will start right away with some reading, maybe some math.”

“But, can you read? Or, write? No offence Tony” said Dillon, trying to avoid his gaze.

“None taken, Dillon. I’ve managed to learn how to read and write a few years earlier.” He shifted uneasily.

“Alright then, we will come by later to check on you. Have fun!” said the stallion as he left the room. ‘I hope we won’t regret this…’

Back in the room, Tony looked over the bookshelf then picked a few books, some were math related, other books were basic physics terminology and formulas. ‘If only they’d know… I think I was nine.’

---

Tony and 2 other ponies, a pegasus and an unicorn were waiting outside a school, hoping that the foals playing inside the courtyard would be too distracted to notice them stealing from their backpacks. Among their lunch and pocket money, Tony wanted to take some of their books aswell, his dream of attending a school still lingering within his mind.

The other two ponies stood right beside him and formulated a plan.

“Look, I’m going to fly above and distract them to turn towards the school. Grinder, you take the bags with your magic and try and bring them in this spot. Tony, if they see us, try to block their way, delay them while Grinder here works on their backpacks.”

“Alright, but don’t forget about the books, Grinder.”

“Why would you need that bucking hay, Tony? It’s not like you can read or anything.” Grinder and Firefly laughed at their friend’s intention of learning.

“I can learn to read. Anyway, if you won’t save some books, maybe I won’t hold them off.” At this, Grinder picked him up with magic and slammed him into the fence.

“Now you listen here, you sorry excuse for a bucking pony, if you won’t help us I will make sure I break every bone in your body. The choice is yours.” He then dropped Tony on the ground.

Catching his breath, he nodded weakly.

“Alright, let’s get this rolling. Go ‘fly go!”

With a military salute, Firefly bolted into the yard and started throwing small rocks and calling names, earning some fierce replies from the foals below. He laughed at the small pegasi and unicorns that tried to reach him.

“I’m too awesome for dweebs like you!” he chuckled and did a barrel roll, avoiding everything the crowd was throwing at him.

In the meantime, Grinder was already working at extracting the backpacks and removing them of their contents.

“Hurry up Grinder, ‘fly is tired!” But Grinder did not listen, instead he started eating a daisy sandwich, earning a hoof in his snout from Tony. “Not without us you scumbag!”

Startled by this, Grinder put the sandwich aside, signaled for Firefly to retreat, then forced every ounce of magic into Tony’s body, sending him flying into the crowd of foals. In the meantime, their older siblings that came to pick them up had watched all of the act, but before they could capture Grinder and the Pegasus, they had bolted off, the only one remaining behind was a confused and angry earth pony.

“Hey, look, one of them remained behind!” one of the ponies shouted. The others stood at attention and glared daggers at the now helpless pony that took notice of his surroundings.

‘Oh no, no no NO!’ He looked around, trying to find a way to escape. One way. The back entrance to the school. With this in mind, he bolted off and ran as fast as he could to exit the yard, being chased by several angry ponies. He slalomed through the pedestrians and turned left into a dead end. Before he could back off, he was already surrounded. 'Buck, where the hay did they go!? They left me behind? Some good friends I made...'

Starting to hyperventilate, he shouted at them.

“Leave me alone! I didn’t do anything!”

“Shut up, prick. I will teach you not to mess with my sister again” said a brown coated earth pony.

"Yeah, show him Duster!" many of the other ponies present were encouraging the one they labelled 'Duster' to clean out the trash.

Before he could reply to him, his face met his back hooves, as he spun around on his front legs and bucked with all of his force. Normally, a kick like that would leave a pony unconscious, but Tony got up, his vision blurry from the hit and tears that now freely streamed from his eyes. His nose hurt a lot, and a reddish ichor was dripping from it. Instinctively he covered his bleeding nose, only to receive another buck in his chest, knocking out all of the air. The others started hitting and biting him, like a beast gnawing at its prey. He was helpless to resist.

“STOP IT RIGHT NOW!” everypony stopped and looked toward the source of the noise. At the entrance of the alley stood a white pegasus filly, with a bow as a cutie mark and a soothing blonde mane. “You have no right to harm that pony. Leave him alone.” Her request was met with snarls and growling.
“NOW!” She shouted from the top of her lungs, something similar to the Royal voice of Canterlot, rendering the crowd unable to speak any further. One by one, they all left the scenery, leaving behind only the filly and the broken pony, who was whimpering in pain.

“Hey, are you alright?” She asked, in such a soft voice that he stopped crying and turned to face her. He didn’t say anything.

“It’s okay, nopony is going to hurt you, I’m here to help. Let me take a look…”

Pain was replaced by fear. “W-what do you want?” he said, spitting some blood from his mouth. “Leave me alone.”

She ignored his request and started cleaning him of the blood. After a few moments she spoke up.

“It will hurt for a while, but at least the bleeding has stopped. Hey, are you alright?" Her question was met by a soft hug and a ‘thank you’. “It’s okay.”

‘There is something about this filly… her smile. Why does it feel so good to touch her? She’s so… soft.’His glance stopped on her backpack. She noticed it.

“Are you hungry?” she asked, expectantly.

“No, I just… can I … can I take a look at your books, just for a moment?”

The filly was surprised at such a question. “Of course. I can borrow them for you to read if you wish.” Tony gulped and sighed.

“I don’t know how to read, in fact I don’t know anything.” He looked at her with a sad frown.

“It’s okay, I can teach you! It’s simple really.”

The colt was taken aback by her proposal. “I-I’d love to.”

She gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. "Come with me, I’ll show you a spot where we can read without being disturbed. There is a park nearby.”

Together they walked to the said park, and sat on a bench. It was a beautiful, sunny day with gardens full of flowers and trees being occupied by birds that chirped happily around. In the middle, there was a fountain which portrayed Princess Celestia rearing up and raising the Sun. It was surrounded by roses of all colors.

”Oh, I forgot to ask, what’s your name?” the filly looked at him straight in the eyes, with an expectant grin.

“Tony. Tony Redmane.” She chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry, it’s just weird that your mane is black and, well…” she rolled her eyes playfully. “My name is Sundancer, Alexa Sundancer. Nice to meet you Tony. Shall we begin?” He nodded and gasped silently when the filly leaned on him to hold the book so they can both read at the same time. Suddenly he felt his heart pumping faster than ever and starting to sweat. It felt… good, to have somepony, especially a filly, lean against you. He sighed happily and focused his attention on the book as they began. After a while, he paused and got up. Sundancer looked at him puzzled.

"Are you tired, Tony? Or do you want to--" she stopped mid-sentence when he came back with a large red rose in his mouth and gave it to her. "F-for me?! That... that is so sweet of you..." she then leaned towards him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He could swear his face was set on fire, blushing furiously.

"Buh-uh..." He looked into her eyes. "Did I tell you that you are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes upon?"

She was blushing. "Uh, thank you...".She leaned back against him, giving a soft yelp when he put his forearm around her and leaned his head onto hers. "You are pretty determined to learn, aren't you?" she said, giggling playfully.

"Yeah, I'm pretty determined to learn. It seems so fascinating. Too bad other ponies hate school, it's a wonderful environment."

"Indeed it is..." she said, staring at the statue of the Sun Princess. "You're cute..."

---

Three hours passed, and he already finished a math book. He was working on geometry when he noticed the watch on the wall. ‘Three hours?’ Suddenly he realized something. His wristwatch was no longer there.

“What the hay?!” he bolted through the door and headed downstairs. In the kitchen, Margaret was humming to herself while preparing a new batch of sweets. Dillon was at the counter serving the clients. He saluted respectfully the clients then entered the kitchen and nudged the mare lightly.

“Um, excuse me Margaret, but, do you happen to know where my watch is? I had it on my wrist yesterday, can’t remember anything about it in the hospital though…”

“Oh, yes, they needed to remove it so they can put infusions. Don’t worry, I got it for you, it’s somewhere in my purse. Can you grab it for me, please? It’s in the lobby.”

“Alright, be right back.” As he walked to the lobby to pick up the purse, he asked himself out loud.

“Why do I need it anyway… it’s from my parents… whoever they were…” He then grabbed the purse and headed to the kitchen. “Here it is.”

Margaret took it and started searching through it. “Aha, there is is. It is quite a beautiful watch, where did you get it?” she asked, impressed by such a luxurious watch. “I hope you didn’t steal it or anything…"

“No, not at all. Jake…“ he cringed at the name. “Jake told me that its from my parents. Other than that I have no idea how it got to him.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Ah, by the way, Dillon told me you started studying, how far did you get?” she asked, a glint of happiness in her eyes.

“Well, so far I finished the algebra book, just started on geometry. By diner I hope to finish that too.” He said with a smirk on his face. Margaret was stunned.

“Y-you finished an algebra book in 2 hours?! That is fantastic!”

“It’s nothing, really… I hope I can recuperate enough to join a normal school.”

“At your rate of progress, I can safely say that in a few years, you will graduate the Manehattan Institute of Technology! I am truly impressed.”

“Thanks… wait, did you say that I could graduate the MIT?!”

“Yep, you really can.” She stopped working and went for a tight hug. “I believe in you. WE believe in you.”

He was speechless. His dreams would come true if he kept studying like that. But seeing that somepony believed in him only served in increasing his determination. A warm feeling coursed through him.

“I will not disappoint you… mother.” He hugged her and smiled.

“I know you won’t… son.”

Dillon stood in the doorway. “I don’t want to interrupt you, but we have some customers, Margaret” he said with a smirk on his face.

”Oh, shush you…” she snickered. Tony laughed and turned to see Dillon.

“Hello there, father.” Dillon came in and hugged him.

“We believe in you Tony. There’s one thing though.” He looked at Dillon questioningly. “If I ever catch you eyeing Margaret’ flank again, I’ll flatten your ass.” All of them laughed heartily and joined in a group hug.

‘Yup, a family…’

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