Tuesday, September 22, 2015

2015
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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Someone close to you will suffer a blow to their pride today.

After School

Today is Music Club.

Everyone is crowding around me and Lyra, congratulating us for Saturday night. Trixie is sulking in the corner, glaring at me.

After the club meeting breaks up, Trixie stalks over to me. "Why do you get all the glory? What makes you so special?"

I sigh. "Look...Trixie...Vinyl asked me to play at the party because she heard me playing and liked it. If she'd heard you playing instead of me..."

Trixie turns up her nose. "Spare Trixie your false modesty. Everybody likes you. Everybody says you're lucky. Everybody thinks your relationship with that Twilight Sparkle girl is so wonderful. You haven't even been here a month yet, and you're already one of the most popular people here! Trixie demands to know what your secret is!"

"I don't have a secret," I say. "I'm just a regular guy. I've put up with a lot of crap since I came here. I've also made a lot of friends and have an amazing girlfriend. And I guess people really enjoy hearing me play guitar."

"You aren't answering Trixie's question! Trixie plays guitar! Trixie performs captivating feats of magical greatness! Trixie is the most talented girl at Canterlot High School! And yet Trixie is...Trixie is..." Trixie looks away. "Trixie is...treated like a joke." She clenches her fists. "How is it that you are everything Trixie deserves to be?"

"Maybe because I don't go around bragging about myself all the time? That's why people don't like you. All your bragging annoys everyone."

"Why shouldn't Trixie boast of her skills and greatness?"

"Yeah, okay, you can play the guitar alright. And whatever else it is you think you can do, maybe you can, maybe you can't. But..." I walk around to catch Trixie's eye; she turns to look at me. "Nobody's going to care about what you can do if you keep acting like you're better than them."

Trixie sniffs haughtily. "Trixie IS better than them!"

"No, you're not. Nobody is. Everybody's the same." I sigh. "You asked why people like me. It's because I'm not an asshole. There's your answer. See you next Tuesday."

Evening

I decide to do my homework in the lounge. It's strangely quiet. I don't know where everybody is.

I hear a shrill scream from outside and run to the door. Fluttershy is standing there, eyes wide in terror. "Flash! Help..."

She points a trembling hand.

Rainbow Dash is sitting against a tree, eyes squeezed shut, tears leaking out. She's grasping her left ankle.

Her left leg is covered in cuts, bruises, and blood.

"Oh my God...Rainbow, what happened?"

"Couple of jerks...after practice...jumped me and messed up my leg," Rainbow says. "I'm...alright..."

"The hell you are." I pull out my phone and call for an ambulance, then I call Cadance.

Thirty minutes later, I'm sitting in the waiting room with Fluttershy. We've let the others know what's going on.

Cadance and a doctor walk in. "She's going to be alright," Cadance says. "She doesn't have any broken bones...she did sprain her ankle, though. And there's...there's some muscle tearing." She looks down. "She's going to have to sit out most of the season...it's going to take a while for this to heal properly." She scowls. "I have to file a report with the police and let Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna know what happened. Would you go sit with her?"

"Of course."

"I'll wait here for the others," Fluttershy says.

I follow the doctor back to Rainbow's room. Her leg is propped up, with her ankle in a brace. There's gauze and bandages all over her leg. She has an IV in her arm and looks miserable.

"Hey," she says. "Thanks for..."

"Why did you try to walk home on that ankle?" I ask. "And don't tell me you didn't. I know you did. You should've called an ambulance yourself."

Rainbow sighs. "I didn't...I didn't think it was that bad."

"Bullshit."

Rainbow looks away. "I hate bein' weak, alright? I gotta be tough."

"Rainbow...this isn't tough. Risking messing up your leg so bad you'll never play soccer again? That isn't tough, that's stupid."

Rainbow snorts. "That all you came in here for? To tell me I'm stupid?"

"No, I came in here because I'm worried about you." I sit down. "What happened?"

Rainbow sighs. "The team captain had to transfer to Baltimare," she says. "Me and a couple guys were nominated to replace him. Coach picked me. The other two guys were pissed...decided they'd..."

"That's messed up."

"Yeah."

I squeeze Rainbow's hand. "Cadance is handling it. Those guys are gonna get expelled for this. Or at least kicked off the team."

"Yeah, but that doesn't help me," Rainbow says. "I won't be able to play for a long time...they didn't break anything, but the doc says they messed up my leg so bad it'll take a month to completely heal, and even after that, they'll probably bench me..." She starts to cry. "All I wanna do is play soccer. Why's everybody got a problem with that?"

I sit with Rainbow for a long time, holding her hand while she cries herself to sleep.