Monday. First day of school after 2 weeks. It was very difficult for Tony to return to school. It meant homework, assignments, things that he had to do at home. The bakery, or so it was. He officially closed the bakery, since the Doctor gave him all of his money, and sweet Celestia, it was alot of it.

It was too painful to stay home too much. It felt… so empty without them. Everytime he got home, he did nothing else but cry. He felt all alone again. During the day, he would mostly go for a walk, even when it was pouring outside.

Eight o’clock. The bell rang loudly, prompting the student to enter their class rooms. As usual, he sat in the back of the class, away from other students. He had his gauzes changed everyday, not because it was needed, but to hide the device in his chest. Sweating made him consider changing them everyday. He was stopped by several students who wondered what happened to him. His reply was always the same, an accident.

“Good morning class.” Said a familiar voice. It was professor Michail Hoofinten.

“Today we are going to study the effect of—“ the professor continued with his lesson as usual. But Tony wasn’t focused today. Rather, he was thinking about a certain Pegasus mare that sat a few spot to his right. She didn’t seem to care at all.

“Mister Redmane, can you tell me te answer to number 2?”

“Sorry professor, can you please repeat the question?” he said, while trying to find the lesson in his book.

“What is the answer to number 2?”

Tony gave up. “I don’t know.” All of the class laughed. He embarassed himself. The laughter seemed to never end. The only ones who weren’t laughing were the professor, who was obviously very worried, and Sundancer. They didn’t join the class in the act.

“Settle down class. Tony, if you wish, you can go take some fresh air outside.”

“Thank you professor.” He got up and left the classroom for a few minutes. ‘I screwed up.’ He walked silently along the corridors, trying to calm himself. ‘I need to wash myself.’ With that in mind, he entered the bathroom to wash his face. He opened the flow and sunk his face in the sink. It felt refreshing. When he raised his head, he gasped when he saw Spectrum behind him in the mirror. Before he could react, Spectrum grabbed his mane and hit him hard against the mirror, breaking it, fresh blood now mixing up with the water in the sink.

“What’s the matter, Tony? I thought you had guts. Why were you looking at my marefriend like that? Do you want to have her? Huh? I’ll be dead before that happens!”

Tony felt himself lifted up then slammed hard against the wall, knocking out the air out of him. But Spectrum didn’t stop here, he continued hitting him, eventually landing such a powerful blow that Tony felt his mouth full of blood all of a sudden, accompanied by something solid. When he spat on the ground, amongst the saliva and blood there were two teeth.

“I told you I’d pull out your teeth.” He spat at him. “Consider this a start, if I ever catch you looking like that at my mare I’ll bucking kill you, you hear me Redmane?!” Grunting, he picked up and left the bathroom.

Tony sat there, on his haunches, leaned against the wall, speechless. His forehead was bleeding severely and his face ached. He moved his tongue around his mouth, trying to find the place where there were teeth missing. He felt strange. Instead of empowering him, the adrenaline rush sent his body into shock, rendering him unable to move.

He heard soft hoofsteps at the entrance of the bathroom. But he didn’t care. Why should he care? After all, everypony only tried to hurt him. He lowered his gaze to his front hooves, coated in blood. The new pony trotted in front of him and grabbed his face to lift it up. He was very surprised to find that the pony now holding him was none other than Sundancer. She looked worried. He didn’t say anything.

She pulled out some tissues from the drying machine in the corner and started wiping his face of blood. She gave up when she noticed the large gash that was on his forehead, bleeding profusely.

“Tony, listen to me, I’m going to get help, you need an ambulance.”

He didn’t reply, merely turning his head the other way to avoid her eyes.

“Tony…it’s going to be okay, you hear me? I'll be right back.” Sundancer then got up and ran through the corridors to the principal. Entering the office, she asked for help.

“Principal, please call an ambulance, we got a pony seriously injured in the bathroom, he’s bleeding severely!” Not wanting to wait for a reply, she bolted back towards the bathroom, where she found Tony now lying face down into a puddle of his own blood.

“Tony! Stay with me. Don’t you sleep, you hear me!?”

Several minutes later, a few paramedics entered the bathroom and placed the unconscious pony on a stretch and headed for the hospital. She knew exactly who did this, but she had to deal with him later.

---

Feeling slowly returned to the earth pony, going in and out. Eventually, he woke up and opened his eyes, to reveal a room he was quite familiar with. ‘A hospital, what a surprise…’ The clock on the wall indicated that it was close to 19:00 hours, almost 10 hours after the incident. ‘What can I say, I sleep like a rock.’ Light snoring caught his attention. To his left, standing on a chair, was professor Michail, who was reading a book. So it wasn’t him who was snoring. Then who? Turning to his right, he laid his eyes upon the sleeping form of Sundancer, who was resting her head on his bed.

The professor noticed that he was awake, so he closed his book and placed it on the chair next to him. Taking a deep breath, he approached the injured pony.

“How do you feel, Tony?” he said in a hushed whisper, so he didn’t wake up the sleeping mare.

“Like I got hit by a meteor… What is she doing here professor?”

”She spent the day here at the hospital with you, until I arrived. She fell asleep about an hour ago, she was really tired. Stress combined with exhaustion sent her over the edge.”

‘She was here all the time, with me?’

“Mhmm… mhhh…” she mumbled in her sleep, before waking up and stretching her wings and forelegs. She then looked him into his eyes.

“Hey.” Her disheveled mane rested upon her face, hiding part of it. It looked marvelous.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked her.

“I think I’m going to let you kids alone, see you at school, Tony!” said the professor, taking his leave.

“Alright, good night professor.” The professor nodded and left the room. They were all alone in the room. A few minutes of complete silence passed. She was the first to speak.

“Look, Tony, I’m sorry for everything, from the way I treated you to my friends’ behavior. I also owe you an explanation for why I left you so many years ago.”

He was taken aback. Was this her class mate, the same mare that threatened him a few weeks ago? “It’s okay, you don’t owe me anything.”

“No, you must know.” She sighed. “My parents were fighting alot back then, and I hated to be anywhere near them when this happened. So I resolved around sitting in the street, all alone. Until I found you that day.” She took a deep breath. “Well, you pretty much know how we spent every day after together, playing and studying together. I was happy with you, you truly were a good friend. But not everything lasts forever. Eventually, my parents broke up and I was forced to go live with my dad in Phillydelphia.” At this point she was sobbing openly. “Up until now I lived in hell, having to cope with some bucking assholes at school and a father who did nothing but drink up his mind. I despaired.”

Tony was speechless. ‘If only I knew…’

“I’m so sorry, Sundancer. I wish I was there for you. What happened next?”

She took a few seconds to stop herself from crying and continued.

“I ended up in such a situation that I wanted to kill myself. But a certain pony saved me. Not because he talked to me or anything, but he offered me protection in his group of bullies.”

“Spectrum?”

“Yes, him. I only accepted to evade all of the pain I endured so far. Of course I had to act as his marefriend, even though sometimes he exaggerated, like 3 years ago when… when he raped me…” She broke down completely now, crying like she never had before.

Tony couldn’t stand seeing the mare he loved suffering like that. Her pain was so similar to his. Despite his wounds, he rose from his bed and hugged Sundancer tightly.

“Shh, everything will be fine. I’m here now sweetie. I will take care of you, no matter what. You hear me, Sundancer?”

She gave a small nod. “Tony, when I heard your name in the first day, I was angry with you, but also sad. I wanted to talk to you so badly, to tell you how much I missed you, how much I actually loved you. I want to make up for all those years, Tony!”

He tightened his embrace around the mare and whisered softly. “It’s okay, Sundancer, I will always be here for you.”

She rose her head and smiled, tears still streaming down her face.

“Good girl.” He kissed her on the forehead.

“Oh Tony, I’m sorry, I soaked your bandages, here let me change them for you.”

‘Oh buck!’ he let go of her and covered his chest. “It’s fine really, no need to bother sweetie.”

”Silence! I know what’s good for you and you will listen to me, you hear?!”

‘She hasn’t changed a bit since that day…’ He thought, gulping loudly.

“Let’s see, what do we have—" she stopped. "*gasp* Tony, what is this?!” she asked, pointing at the arc reactor.

“Oh, that, well… it’s a long story. Do you want to come up in bed, with me? I promise I won’t do anything bad. I have a bed time story too.”

She chuckled heartily. “Oh Tony, you haven't changed one bit.” She said, as she climbed up in bed and cuddled against him. “Let’s hear the bed time story, daddy.” She snickered and kissed him playfully.

He took a deep breath and started explaining the situation to her. By the time he was done, Sundancer was crying yet again and embracing him tightly.

”Oh, Tony, I’m so sorry! I never thought... that you suffered so much.” she sniffed.

“It’s okay. At least, now I have a friend I know I can rely on, right?” he asked her, giving a wink.

“Of course, sweetheart. However, I think you need to be taught some respect…”

“Wha-hhhaaaaa…” he couldn’t say anything, having his muzzle locked into a passionate kiss with his lover, feeling her tongue pressing against his. His heart was racing and his mind was processing a million thoughts over. His breathing intensified. Then the kiss broke.

“Ah, wha… huh… is this heaven?” he asked, obviously entranced by the kiss.

She giggled playfully and hit him on the rump with her tail.

“Playing dirty huh? How about this!” he said, as he pulled her on her belly and climbed upon her, preventing her to escape.

“Tony, what are you… oooh… oh Celestia…” she moaned softly, as to not alert any ponies on the hospital corridors, while Tony was caressing her wings, which were now fully exposed, with soft kisses and licking.

After a fifteen minute session, she broke from her prison and turned around beneath him to look into his eyes, spreading her legs in anticipation. He didn’t wait for any invitations, leaning in and kissing her like he never had before, putting in it all the love he had for her.

“I love you Tony… I love you so much!” she cried tears of joy, having been reunited with her oldest and best friend.

He didn’t reply, he merely continued kissing her passionately. The night was just beginning for the two lovers.

Next Chapter: Interlude: Dashing in the Royal Guard Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 4 Minutes