"There he is!! The prince!!"
"Isn't he handsome?"
"He's so cute!"
Bacon sighed heavily as he made his way towards his locker, waving and smiling shyly at the girls who were whispering and giggling excitedly at him. It has been a week since he began his new life here in Canterlot High, and, for some strange reason, he had became somewhat of a celebrity. He opened his locker's door and began gathering his books for class. He received a few slaps on the back, and some high fives from passing students, all smiling and greeting him.
"What's up Bacon?"
"See you in class, man!"
"Chess match later, all right?"
Bacon nodded and waved at them. As he closed his locker door, Snips and Snails popped up next to him, both of them grinning stupidly.
"Good morning, master!" Snips said, both him and Snails giving him a bow. Bacon rolled his eyes.
"How many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to call me master." Bacon said irritably, passing them and making his way towards class. Snips and Snails came jogging up behind him.
"But you are our master!" Snips said, hastening his pace to match Bacon's. "We have to show you our deepest respect!" Snails nodded in agreement.
"If you really wish to show me respect, please stop calling me master." Bacon said. "Just call me Bacon."
"Your wish is our command master." Snips said. Bacon smacked his forehead, shaking his head.
More whispers and giggles followed them as they pass another group of girls, one of them waving her hand wildly at Bacon, who smiled and waved back. Snips grinned as the girl made a squeal of delight.
"Popular as the first day you were here, Prince." he said.
Bacon rolled his eyes. He remembered his first day. He had woken up late, and was making a mad rush down the hallway, trying to find his history class. He was so desperate to reach the classroom in time, he burst right in.
The entire class looked up at Bacon as he entered, startled by the his his sudden entrance. He rubbed his neck and smiled awkwardly at them. The history teacher, Mr.Paper, was staring at him with a sleepy look, his eyes half closed. "And how may I help you?" he asked softly, with a textbook in his hand.
"Um--I'm the new student sir." Bacon replied, catching a glimpse of Pinkie Pie waving madly at him.
Mr.Paper gazed at him, not saying a word. Bacon just stood there, wondering if he should say something. Mr.Paper stifled a yawn, and nodded his head slowly. "Yes...yes...the principal had informed us about a new student...though, I was expecting him to be a bit more punctual." Bacon smiled apologetically at him. "No matter," Mr.Paper continued, returning to his desk. He motioned the class with a lazy hand, "Please introduce to yourself to the class."
"Er..." Bacon stared around the classroom. Almost everyone had their eyes on him, except for a few who had fallen asleep, their head on their arms. He spotted Pinkie still waving her hands at him, half standing, he gave her a small grin. He also noticed Trixie sitting in the middle of the classroom, her mouth opened wide with shock as she came to realize who the boy standing in front of the class was.
Mr.Paper made an impatient noise. "Any time when you are ready." he said.
"Um..okay...er...Hello! Good morning, I'm Bacon Neggs. I recently just arrived to Canterlot, and today is my first day here in Canterlot High! I hope you all will treat me well." Bacon gave them a grin. Some of the girls begin to giggle.
"Is there any questions anyone would like to ask our new student?" Mr.Paper asked the class, motioning lazily at Bacon with the textbook.
Almost as if on impulse, Pinkie Pie stood up, waving both her hands at Mr.Paper. "Oh! Memememememememe! Pick me, Mr.Paper! Pick me!" Mr.Paper rolled his eyes.
"Good luck," he told Bacon. Bacon stared in amazement as Pinkie produced a long sheet of paper from her hair.
"I have plenty of questions to ask you!" Pinkie said, pulling out a pencil from her pocket. "First question, What's your name?"
"Er...Bacon Neggs"
"Oh! Your name sound so deliciously delicious!" she scribbled something down on the paper. "Are you like royalty or something?"
"E-Excuse me?" Bacon asked, confused.
"Well, your name sounds like breakfast! When you write it down, your name spells out Bacon N Eggs!" she giggled, along with several other students, Bacon included.
"Its like, you're the breakfast prince!" Pinkie said "Do you have any bacon with you right now?"
Bacon grinned, "Nope, sorry."
"Awwww...next question!" and she continued to bombard Bacon with all sorts of questions, most of them irrelevant.
"Favourite colour?"
"Violet."
"Blood type?"
"O-."
"Favourite food? Wait, wait! I know the answer! Is bacon ins't it?"
"Nope," Bacon shook his head, grinning. "Broccoli."
The looks on the entire class faces was priceless.
But from that point on, the class had picked up on Pinkie's nickname for Bacon. And soon, so did the rest of the school. Bacon never really minded the nickname. It wasn't insulting in anyway, just playful teasing. 'Prince Bacon' and "The breakfast prince.' made Bacon sound almost like a fast food restaurant's mascot.
"Great, now you're going to call me prince too?" Bacon asked Snips.
"It's what everyone's calling you anyway."
"I know, I know." Bacon glanced at his watch. "Look, the bell's going to ring any time soon, don't you two have classes of your own?"
"Uh-huh, but we want to at least make sure you reach your class safely." Snips said
"No way Snips, last time you two 'made' sure I reach my class safely I ended up being late for an entire hour!"
"Small miscalculation that's all, this time, we are positive that we will not make the same mistake twice."
"Miscalculation or no--" Bacon said, getting slightly annoyed "--that's a risk I ain't going to take." he spotted his classroom, and made a dash for it, leaving Snips and Snails behind.
"Well, we'll see you during lunch then master!!" Snips shouted. Bacon quickly entered the classroom. He sighed in relief as he made his way to his seat, greeting and grinning at his fellow students. He gave Trixie a tired wave as he sat down beside her. Trixie gave him a mocking grin.
"And a good morning to you, master." Trixie said, giggling.
"You actually heard that?"
"Of course I did, the great and powerful Trixie, has a very acute sense of hearing."
"Uh-huh, sure." Bacon said as he opened his textbook.
"Why do those two always follow you around anyway?" Trixie asked, curious.
"They want me to teach them something."
"And what might that be?"
Bacon didn't reply, he was not about to tell her that Snips and Snails asked him to teach them in the art of love. It happened on his third day at school, by then, Bacon was still getting used to being called prince. He just finish his morning classes when Snips and Snails suddenly popped up in front of him.
"Greetings! Do you remember us?" Snips asked, with Snails behind him, waving.
Bacon looked at them for a moment. "Yeah, I do actually. You're the ones who been telling me the bad stuff about Sunset Shimmer." he made his way through them. "Is there some other bad stuff that you wanted to tell me?"
"Actually, we were hoping that you might do us the honour and teach us something."
Bacon stopped in his tracks and turned to face them. "Teach?"
Snips and Snails nodded. "Yes, we want you to teach us the art of love!" Snips said loudly. Several students turned to look at them.
"The art of wha--" Bacon gawked at them.
"Love, the art of love."
"Now why on earth, would you think that I can teach you something like that?" Bacon asked with raised eyebrows.
"Didn't you notice the amount of girls that are interested in you?" Snips motioned behind them, true enough, there was a group of girls standing just a few feet behind them, swapping silent whispers to one another and gazing at Bacon with dreamy looks. There was a sudden increase in girls coming up to talk to him, or passing him in the hallway in groups, giggling. He remembered that only just yesterday, a group of three girls calling themselves the 'Crusaders' came up to him and asked if he wanted a princess. He was so taken aback by the sudden question, he made up a hurried excuse and quickly disappeared from their sight.
"We want to learn how to have girls like us!" Snails said. Snips nodded in agreement.
"So that's why we plan to serve you as our master. By hanging out with you, we can be sure to gather and learn your techniques!"
And they did just that, following him around everyday since then. But Bacon didn't really teach them any techniques or skills. He doesn't have any, or so he thinks.
Trixie snapped her fingers at Bacon. "Hello...earth to Bacon, do you copy?" Bacon grinned at Trixie and pulled out a piece of candy from his pocket, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth. He took another one out and offered it to Trixie. "Candy?" he asked.
"Do you always carry candy with you everywhere you go?" Trixie asked, accepting the candy and unwrapping it as well. "Do you like candy that much?"
"Force of habit, its a rather long story." Bacon said. "But its a habit that proves quite useful at times."
"I bet." Trixie said.
Their teacher entered and the classroom quickly fell silent.
*******
Fluttershy carefully carried her tray through the sea of student that have turned up for lunch, she looked around the cafeteria, searching for her friends. She spotted Rainbow Dash at one of the tables.
"Hey, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said, as Fluttershy took a seat opposite her.
"Hello Rainbow Dash, where are the others?"
"Probably still stuck in that mob over there." Rainbow Dash jabbed her thumb at the huge group of students surrounding the counter where Granny Smith was busy serving the hungry students.
"Oh my, I do hope they get their lunch without any trouble." Fluttershy said, picking up her fork.
"HEEEY GUUUYYSSS!!" Pinkie Pie's voice shouted from behind them, causing Fluttershy to jump and drop her fork. Pinkie was running towards them with her tray of food. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both flinched as Pinkie jumped and slid perfectly next to Rainbow Dash, her tray of food unharmed.
"Pinkie, you know its dangerous to run in the cafeteria." Rainbow Dash said as Pinkie gobbled down at her apple. "You could have hurt yourself or someone else."
"What?! No way, I've honed this skill since I was a baby."
"Running?"
"No silly, eating!" Pinkie said with a mouth full of apple.
"But I wasn't talking about-- urggh, never mind." Fluttershy giggled softly at them and started eating her salad. A few moments later, Applejack and Rarity joined them at the table, both exhausted from squeezing and fighting their way through the students. Rarity groaned.
"Look at my hair! My poor, beautiful hair." Rarity said. "I'm going to need to wash my hair all over again, and I just finished using my bottle of conditioner!" she sniffled loudly.
"Come on now, Rarity," Applejack said, placing her stetson hat on the table. "Its just a little bit messed up."
Rarity glared at Applejack as if she had just slapped her.
"A little messed up?!" Rarity said angrily, "You may not take proper care of your hair, Applejack, But I certainly do."
Fluttershy smiled to herself as Rarity and Applejack began to argue. She always enjoyed the company of her friends during lunch time, preferring to watch and listen instead of talking. She finished her salad and took a sip from her glass of milk. She looked around the cafeteria, watching the other students chatting and laughing merrily with one another. She spotted Flash Sentry tuning his electric guitar, talking to one of his friends. At the table next to him, Vinyl was listening to her music on her headphones, her head nodding to the beat.
Fluttershy let out a happy sigh, and rested her head on her hand. Sunset Shimmer showed up and took a seat next to Fluttershy.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" she asked them, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
"Dreadful!" Rarity wailed, pointing at her hair.
"Awesome!" Rainbow Dash said, giving Sunset the thumbs up.
"Super!!" Pinkie Pie shouted, showering the table with confetti.
Sunset giggled and continued eating her sandwich. She chatted with Fluttershy and Applejack, comforted Rarity and laughed at Pinkie Pie's antics. She was listening to a joke Rainbow Dash was telling her when suddenly there was a loud cheer as the cafeteria doors opened. The group turned their attention to the door, and saw Bacon walking in, with Snips and Snails flanking Bacon on both sides.
Fluttershy's face turned red as she saw Bacon, remembering the day at the animal shelter. She was so embarrassed with her own actions during the black out that she pleaded with Bacon to not mention about the matter ever again, or to anyone.
"There's nothing to be ashamed about Fluttershy." Bacon told her, as they prepared to leave the animal shelter. "Its highly understandable."
"I'm so so sorry about what I did. Please forgive me." Fluttershy said shyly, putting on her backpack. Bacon chuckled.
"You didn't do anything wrong you know."
"B-but still! It was uncalled for. How am I suppose to protect and take care of these poor little creatures if I couldn't even face my fears?" Fluttershy said sadly, petting the goat. "I wish I was more stronger."
"You will be, just give it a little time." Bacon said. "You know, I might be available to help you take care of these guys with you." He petted one of the dogs. "If you want to."
Fluttershy's eyes widened "Really? You really mean it?" she asked happily, "Um, I mean, if you are free that is." she added softly, staring at the floor.
"Of course." Bacon said "I mean, I'm practically best friends with them now," he motioned to the animals. Fluttershy chuckled.
"Okay then, you and me." She said, extending a hand, smiling softly. "Together."
Bacon smiled and shook her hand. "Together." Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat as Bacon's hand touched hers, and felt her cheeks getting hot.
"And here comes the prince!" Applejack said, cheering with the other students.
"What?! Oh no, I must not let the prince see me with my hair in this state! Quick! Someone cover me from this tragedy!" Rarity quickly hid behind Applejack's back.
"Mr. Tasty!! Over here!!" Pinkie stood up and began waving at Bacon's direction.
Rainbow Dash pulled Pinkie back down to her seat. "What are you doing Pinkie?" she asked
"Getting Mr.Tasty to join us!!"
"W-what?!" Fluttershy said suddenly, shocked.
"Duh, I want to have him join us for lunch!!" Pinkie started to wave again. "It is our duty as friends!"
"What do you mean 'our duty'? Applejack asked, her eyebrows raised.
"Well, remember when Sunset Shimmer was still evil and cruel to us, and how she tried to separate us from one another, to keep us from being friends? And then, POW! Twilight appeared and bought us all back together! And then, ZAP! We defeated Sunset Shimmer when she became a demon and tried to take over the school! Remember after the whole thing, Twilight asked us to teach Sunset Shimmer about the magic of friendship before she went back to her world? Well that's what I'm doing right now! To teach our new friend the magic of FRIENDSHIP!!" Pinkie wrestle her arm free from Rainbow Dash's grip and ran towards Bacon.
"Well, she does have a point." Applejack said, shrugging and shaking her head, as Pinkie shouted Bacon's name loudly.
"B-but, can't we do the whole friendship thing a bit later?" Rarity pleaded, still shielding herself from view. "At least until I fix my hair!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure the prince won't be bothered by the 'hairy' situation you're having." Applejack said, laughing loudly.
Fluttershy shifted uneasily in her seat, "M-must we really have Bacon join us? I-I mean, what if he feels annoyed, or w-what if he gets mad?"
"Come on Fluttershy, everyone knows the prince isn't anything like that." Rainbow Dash said, staring at Bacon, who was busy high-fiving the eco-kids, balancing his tray. Pinkie appeared behind him and hugged his arm.
Sunset Shimmer sat up straight, "I don't mind if he wants to join us." she said quietly, gazing at him.
They watched on as Pinkie started to talk to Bacon. After a minute, Bacon grinned apologetically to Pinkie and pointed to another table. Pinkie nodded and skipped her way back towards them. She sat down and took a sip of her drink.
"What happened?" Rainbow Dash asked, leaning forward.
"Oh nothing, Bacon said he had already been invited to sit with another group." Pinkie pointed over to a table where Bacon was sitting. He was sitting with a bunch of properly dressed students. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"The Chess Club?" she groaned. "What do they have anything to with Bacon?"
"He's in their club." Sunset said still gazing at Bacon.
"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, standing up. Several students stared at her. She smiled awkwardly and sat back down. "Why did he join the chess club?" she whispered "The chess club is so...so lame."
"He defeated their president in six moves." Pinkie said, munching on her unfinished food. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped.
"The prince defeated the chess king?" she asked, shocked. "The chess king?" Sunset nodded.
"Rumour has it, after his defeat, the chess king held Bacon hostage until he agreed to join their club." Sunset said. Pinkie nodded happily, stuffing her mouth with food.
"Anyway, looks like we have to teach Bacon another time. Sorry Fluttershy." Pinkie said. Everyone stared at Fluttershy, except Pinkie, who was still shovelling food.
"Why, what ever do you mean darling?" Rarity asked "Why did you apologize to Fluttershy?" Fluttershy stared at Pinkie with a confused look on her face.
Pinkie swallowed, and dab her mouth with a napkin. "Well duh, isn't it obvious? Fluttershy have this huge cru--"
DING! DONG! A speaker nearby went off, and the cafeteria fell silent. After a moment, vice-principal Luna's voice came on.
"Good day students," her voiced boomed over the speaker. "There will be an assembly in the gymnasium later on after lunch, all students are required to be present. That will be all, thank you."
"An assembly? What for?" a student nearby asked.
"Must be something important!" another student said. The cafeteria soon returned to its noisy state. Applejack looked at her friends, they all had the same confused look on their faces, except Fluttershy, who was red in the face, staring at her legs.
"Fluttershy, are you okay?" Applejack asked, placing her hand on her shoulder.
"W-w-what?" Fluttershy jumped, "I'm fine, p-perfectly fine!" Fluttershy gave an awkward laughing noise. Her friends stared at her. She laughed awkwardly again.
"I w-wonder what are they going to announce." Fluttershy said, looking away, her face burning.