Adventures in Competing · 4:49am Jan 31st, 2016
Random Charmony nonsense below the cut.
So, today, I competed in my school's competition and let me tell you, it was a trip. Was it exciting? Meh, maybe a little bit in some areas, but I'm gonna give a quick recap for the day.
This morning:
I woke up at 4:30 AM to prep myself for the day, since I had to be at the school by 6 AM, according to my teacher/sponsor. I fell back asleep and woke up just minutes before 5 AM, which caused me to get into a panic and flip out. I rushed to get my makeup on (hey, it helps keep me alert, no falling asleep after putting on mascara) and then I packed a small snack for me to eat on the bus (just a sandwich with some chips and an apple), filled up my 24 oz. water bottle, then began my journey to school...
...Only for me to see how pitch black it was at 5:45 AM this morning, hear laughter from the apartment complex across the street, and go back in to grab my whistle. Because no one is going to take a 5'4'' teenage girl seriously in a fight, and I would not be able to put up much of one, to be completely honest.
So, I make my down to the school, which is only a 5-10 minutes walk away and I literally take no turns to get there, so it's not too bad. However, my anxiety has got me wound up tighter than a jack-in-the-box, so every time I hear a noise, I find myself whipping around in different directions to make sure I'm not being followed. A leaf skittered behind me at one point and I legit let out a squeal. Another time, a car turned past me and it slowed down a lot, enough to make me get ready to burst into a full on sprint and ditch my stuff.
Eventually, I make it to the school parking lot where we're supposed to meet up... Only to find out I'm the only one who made it right at 6 AM, save for the bus driver. To avoid staying outside, she let me sit up in the bus with her, and we talked about me walking up alone. She was sympathetic towards me and offered to drive me home when we got back, and I agreed at her insistence.
Soon, everyone else begins to show up, and my teacher, who I will refer as Mr. C from this point on, arrives. A rather snotty principal I'm not fond of (super long story regarding a "dress code violation"; I'll tell if you ask) joins the group on teachers on the bus and she begins conversing with the bus driver, who talks about my walk to school with endearment. I try not to roll my eyes when the principal (I'm just gonna call her Prissipal, hehe) tries to make small talk with me, though I can see the look of recognition in her eyes and the lack of fondness she has towards me.
The bus is finally loaded up with students, and Prissipal begins to snidely take roll. I find myself up at the front of the bus and I'm sitting alone, with no one to talk to. Which is just as well, since I don't like talking whenever I'm in a car or bus, so being alone is fine by me. The bus launches off at 6:30 AM and we arrive at the competition site about an hour later (I spent most of the ride listening to Halestorm and imagining stuff for my SombraPie AU, heh). We finally get loaded off the bus at 7:40 and then we begin to make our way onto the campus for the first event of the day: News Writing, taking place at 8 AM sharp.
My cohorts, Steph and Trace, both join me in the computer lab where we're surrounded by other competitors, including a couple familiar faces from the last competition. I recognize a boy I sat next to during Feature Writing back at the beginning of January, and I recall seeing his entry being considerably lengthy compared to my own upon turning it in. Steph clarified that he was a notoriously good writer and always placed in the competition, but that she beat him once at a district competition (he actually placed in all four Journalism competitions this time). I find myself nervously glancing at him during the remainder of the competition.
I'm just gonna go ahead and say I didn't place in any of the events I was in. It's whatever, to be honest, hopefully I'll do better next time.
So, anyway, day goes on, and the next event is Editorial Writing, and the main topic was about dress code... Which I angrily wrote and finished in half an hour. Don't get me started over that nonsense.
Anyway, Mr. C had us gather the money the UIL provides to students for lunc ($6 each) and then he got me and my crew lunch at Whataburger. I had my first chicken sandwich from there and it was delicious. I was overly full from eating and drinking Dr. Pepper, but I earned it after stressing over competition stuff.
After eating lunch, we gather in the writing room again for Feature Writing, which was a rather weird and random prompt that was hard to write for, to be completely honest. My friends all complained about it when we were finished it and I heard some other kids talking about it from other schools, too.
Then, came the last event of the day: Headline Writing. Which, I gotta tell you, I am not good at. I didn't bring a pencil, as per the requirement for the competition, so I was stuck with using a pen. Basically, you just write a headline within a certain amount of spaces and lines that relates to a small paragraph of info. I was a little turd who tried to make puns, but it didn't really work in my favor because I kept messing up and had to scribble to correct my mistakes. The supervisor didn't provide any utensils and I was too embarrassed to ask for white-out. To end that event, I was one of the last people to finish.
After that, I met up with my other members, and we decided to go on a quest to find the scores. Trace and I walked all around the campus on a wild goose chase, walking up and down stairs, through cafeterias, locked choir rooms, and we eventually found ourselves in the judging areas... Where the scores had yet to be posted. I returned to the cafeteria and charged my phone while I watched classic DBZ with a friend on his laptop (I should really check on Dragon Ball Super sometime, tbh).
Finally, Mr. C showed up with the scores and revealed that Steph was the only one to place, with bronze in Editorial Writing. I wasn't surprised, since I'm new to all this, but I'm a bit peeved since the last time she wrote an editorial was at a district competition last year. I got counted off for little stuff that I could have fixed, but I panicked because the supervisor would shout out how much time we had left and it'd throw me off my groove.
BUT AM I REALLY
Anyway, we finally get the other scores for the other events, too, so we load up on the bus and head back. I spent the bus ride in solitude once more, but again, I wasn't bothered by it and found myself back in my SombraPie AU (and my mind started wandering towards next gen stuff, aw hell). The bus driver dropped me off after everyone got off and I've been chilling at the house ever since. I worked on some college work earlier, but I figured I deserved a break from typing and decided to watch Phineas & Ferb on Netflix (which I actually have yet to finish, but whatevs). Now, here I am, typing this up.
tl;dr I went to a competition, I didn't place, it was a day, and SombraPie kept distracting me. Nothing new here.
(...Psst. I'm bored. Let's talk about random AU stuff. Or competition stuff. Or just Charmony stuff.)
I now have to ask about the principal thing. I've had some wonderful ones in my time (One suggested that we only socialize in groups of up to 5 for safety reasons and banned Frisbees)
UIL?! WHATBURGER!? I know these words quite well! Me, being a Texan, knows these words quite well! (Especially for Whataburger, my favorite fast-food restaurant, thank you) I didn't know you were from the South! Wow, we learn things everyday.
Anyway, bummer on walking to school, I'm surprised your mom or dad didn't drop you off, my mother would have freaked if she knew I was walking alone in the dark. Though, hey, you made it back safe and that is all that counts!
Sorry you didn't get any places either, it's usually hard. And, heck, UIL is tough, I have been to a couple back in my Middle School and High School days, believe me.
In another note, I'm glad you were thinking of Sombrapie,too! While I was working a bit today, I was thinking about that couple myself. Mostly if Sombra was in the episodes, "The Cutie Map: Part 1 & 2", since Spike said he was going to stay in Ponyville with Macintosh, having a guy's day. And, I couldn't help but wonder of what it would be like if Sombra was forced to be involved.
(Further Note: Gotta be honest, Dragonball Super is more on the comedy side than the action. And, I'm more on the "meh" scale towards that series. I am hoping it will be better later, though.)
(EDIT/FURTHER, FURTHER NOTE: I am curious...how did the whole Principle thing happen?)
3724341
Well, this story might come off as pretty stupid, but here's why I'm not a particular fan of her:
It was sophomore year, and I had just walked into the cafeteria for breakfast. Then, Prissipal stomped over to me and snidely said, "You are out of dress code. Go to the disciplinary center and call your mother to get you different clothes to wear."
Now, let me paint you a picture of what I was wearing that day: a grey v-neck with a black undershirt, a knee length skirt with black tights and some tennis shoes (I never forgot). Our school dress code states that skirts cannot go above three inches above the knee, and that tights are highly preferred. So, of course, I was really confused when she told me that I was out of dress code and really peeved that she wanted me to skimp out on breakfast.
"What is exactly is out of dress code?" I asked her, gesturing to my outfit. "Also, I was about to eat breakfast."
"Your skirt is too short," she told me curtly. "And if you wanted breakfast, you should have worn something less distracting."
"Excuse me?"
"You can't go to class looking like that." She pointed towards the exit. "Go to the DC and have your mother get you something to change into."
I angrily trudged out of the cafeteria and marched to the DC, scowling and passively greeting my friends as they asked where I was going, to which I'd grind out a simple, "DC." None of them had to ask what I meant.
I finally arrived at the DC, and when I walked in, the supervisor looked me over and gave me a confused look. "What are you doing in here? School hasn't started yet."
"I was sent here because I'm 'out of dress code'," I replied, not even bothering to sound happy.
She arched a brow at me. "How?" I pointed at my skirt, to which she gave me an incredulous look. "For your skirt?"
"Yes. Can I go to the cafeteria?"
She shook her head. "I can't let you go unless you attempt a call to a parent or the principal comes to say you're OK to go. Sorry."
So, I sit there and waited, wasting time I could have spent eating breakfast waiting for Prissipal, who absolutely refuses to respond to the supervisor's calls on her walkie talkie. I tried to call my mom, but she doesn't get up early during school days since I walk to school, so she didn't answer. I didn't call my dad because of personal reasons and I figured he wouldn't be too happy to have to drive from a ways away to handle the situation.
The bell for class rings and I instinctively get up to leave, only to be stopped once more by the supervisor. So, I sit there for another thirty minutes, waiting for Prissipal to come down. First period is only 55 minutes long, meaning that I had spent over half the period in the DC.
Finally, Prissipal arrives with some weak excuse that she had been busy and figured I could wait, even though I had missed most of my class. The supervisor vouched for me and told her that I wasn't out of dress code and that she couldn't really enforce a punishment for my dress.
"OK, but I thought that her skirt was too distracting," she tried to argue. "I just don't want anyone to give her a hard time."
The supervisor rolled her eyes when Prissipal wasn't looking and she handed me a pass to go to class, apologizing for wasting my time. By the time I arrived to class, the teacher had finished instructing and had assigned a packet for students work on. He also counted me absent because I wasn't there for attendance and I was gone for most of the period.
Then, next period, I get a text from my father, a man I am not very fond of for a multitude of reasons, texts me in capital letters and starts screaming at me about being absent, accusing me of skipping school. I finally managed to get a word in about what had happened and when I brought up the dress code violation, he immediately jumped on the train of making me feel bad for dressing "innappropriately" and that my mother was "being too lenient with how I presented myself". He then segued into a conversation about me wearing makeup and lectured me about my grades. I got a text from my mom later on that he had texted her about it, too, and had screamed at her for the same things.
All because I wore a knee-length skirt. So, to sum it all up, screw Prissipal.
3724382 Honestly, I'd get pissed at that too. School administrators are the best. another of my principals almost reported everyone to the cops or something because these three "popular" girls stole someone's wallet and refused to own up (even when literally all of us knew it was them). Canada may have good education, but it comes at a cost.
Your Principal sounds like a real Cinch.
3724366
Yep! I live down in the South, too! I didn't know you did, either! Neat how things work like that! (Whataburger is freaking delicious to me, too, I love that place so much)
As for being dropped off/picked up, my mom's car is out of commission and the only ride we have is from my aunt, who lives a ways away. Walking was the best option, although it wasn't all that fun at the time.
Also, YES, I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT EXACT SITUATION. I am actually real surprised I haven't had any Sombra and Big Mac interactions in my fics, that would be hilarious. Add Spike into the equation and it'd be great. (Lol, I thought about the finale when Starlight joined the crew and Pinkie has to drag him out of the room while he shouts at Starlight like, "I DUNNO WHAT YOU DID, BUT WHATEVER IT WAS, I AM REALLY PISSED AT PINKIE FOR SOME REASON (but also a little turned on) AND I BLAME YOU FOR IT.")
Edit: As for the Prissipal nonsense, I replied right here 3724382
3724417
SHE REALLY IS. Never would have made that comparison, but dang, you right.
3724426
Man, nice! Though, my family and I will be moving soon, to Minnesota (Big climate change, I know), so I won't be in the South for that much longer. Still, I was still born and raised in Texas, baby!
(Gosh, I can go for a juicy triple cheeseburger right now, I love those! The chicken burgers are also very good.)
Ah, I getcha! I know the feeling. My mother's car was usually broken down when I was going to school, so I had to walk there all the time. Yet, the earliest I left was around 7:30, but I hated walking home in the heat, though. Texas is known for being dry and humid, it's just awful.
Big Macintosh and Sombra are pretty strong stallions, I believe. It would be so much fun to see them interact, and maybe have Spike trying to keep the peace. OH GOODNESS, I can totally imagine Macintosh and Sombra deciding to have a hoofball game, Spike being the referee or something! And, all the guys in Ponyville get on it! And, by the time the Mane six come back, all the stallions have broken bones (except Spike, who is tending to Sombra and Macintosh)!
(LOL! I would pay money to see Sombra yelling at Starlight animated. XD)
3724450
Oh my gosh, Sombra and Big Mac playing hoofball together would be freaking amazing. Pinkie would be so pissed that he got hurt while she was gone.
"I was gone for one day. ONE. DAY."
Edit: I literally just remembered the Epilogue from "Same Love?" and I wonder how this is gonna translate to hoofball, what with the tackling and all...
Sombra: ...Well, this is rather compromising.
Mac: Eeyup.
Sombra: Normally I'd be all for this, but I got a girlfriend and all, so...
Bulk Biceps: YEAAAAAAAAAAH! *dog piles on*
3724466
I'm sure Applejack would be angrier, Macintosh can't do his chores anymore. That will just pile up on her, it would be hilarious to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie scold both Macintosh and Sombra likes foals.
I think I find it most funny that Sombra is the one getting in a bit of a immature situation for once, since that is usually Pinkie's forte (at times). Role reversals are just fun to play with! 
(Also, read the dress code thing. That's terrible! But, hey, at least you took it better than I did. I didn't know about a certain dress code rule, and I ended up crying because I never get in trouble (got sent to DC). Also, this was not Middle School...it was sadly High School, Junior year. And, the rumor spread that I cried like a baby.
And, sorry to hear about the difficult relationship with your father. I definitely know that feeling. Despite me being an adult, my father and I still don't get along, and we butt heads all the time. So, I can relate to this situation.)
3724480
Sombra stays at home sometimes while Pinkie is working and his kids always get him into some trouble in some way, shape, or form.
Pinkie: WHY IS THE HOUSE COVERED IN GLITTER?
Sombra: Your son found your stash. I told you we should have child-locked it.
Pinkie: I'm gonna child-lock YOU if you don't help me get this cleaned up.
Edit: Eh, my relationship with my dad hasn't ever been good, so it's just something I've worked towards coming to terms with it. It's still a work in progress, though.
3724489
I just love how he is so calm about it too. He's like, "Well, that happened." and she's like, "YOU THINK!?" Pff!!! Mother!Pinkie for the win!
I also love how you sort of have Pinkie Pie and Sombra act like a bit of an old couple when having kids. 
(EDIT: Oh, yeah, I had this other thought. Considering, in these scenarios that Sombra is apart of Season 5, I was also curious about how he would feel about modern music. He is from a 1,000 years ago, and to see someone like Razzle Dazzle on stage, experiencing the effects, etc. I can't help but think he will be either intrigued or even a bit traumatized, "WHAT IS THIS NOISE?!")
3724493
I see them a lot like Bob and Linda from Bob's Burgers. It works so well for lots of stuff, and it's hilarious.
Sombra: Hey, are you putting something gross in our bed?
Kid: I'm taking something gross OUT of your bed.
Sombra: Oh.
Pinkie: Thanks, sweetie!
--------------------
Sombra: Pinkie, I don't know if I told you this, but I had a horrible childhood.
Pinkie: I know.
Sombra: You do?
Pinkie: Yes. It's the way you stand.
Sombra: The way I stand?
Pinkie: No one who had a great childhood stands like that.
--------------------
Sombra: Today's your birthday?
Pinkie: Yes, Sombra!
Sombra: Today's my birthday?
Pinkie: Yes, Sombra!
Sombra: Your due date was today?
Pinkie: Yes, Sombra!
Sombra: How'd it go?
Pinkie: How do you think it... good, it went very well!
Sombra: That's good. Boy or girl?
--------------------
Kid: Where do babies come from?
Pinkie: You all came from my vagina.
Kid: I knew it.
Sombra: Sweet lord.
3724512
I love that show, and I love it even more now.
I never thought of Pinkie and Sombra in those roles, now as I watch that series, I was constantly think of SombraPie. And, there's so many moments like that, too, I just love it. (Yet, with this thought, now I'm starting to think of Sombra in 'The Archer" role. Considering Bob and The Archer are the same voice actor.
)
3724515
YES, I LOVE ARCHER, TOO. That show is hilarious, and I can totally imagine Sombra and Pinkie doing some of the stuff on that show, too. (Though I think some of the more hateful lines between Archer and Lana definitely work well for the War AU)
Pinkie: Oh, so suddenly you don't have a death wish!
Sombra: Pinks, I've never had a deathwish, it's just that I don't believe that I personally even can die.
3724520
...That dialogue is so fitting, I can't even...XD
The AU sounds like a lot of fun dialogue between Sombra and Pinkie, I could just imagine all the possibilities. That mix in with some TFS sort of style, it will probably have me laughing out loud, and my family will think I have gone insane!
Nonetheless, it's all very fitting!
3724522
Of course, Sombra would try to be scary and intimidating, but this Pinkie is so sarcastic, he can't get through it without her making a comment and he just wants to freaking explode. I rather enjoyed writing their banter in MYM and I'm really looking forward to making some of my stupid ideas come to life.
Like, my personal favorite scene is them looking at each other scars, because I feel like that's romantic and a great bonding experience. Pinkie tracing over random slashes and kissing them, Sombra caressing scrapes and learning more about her... Also, it can be really funny once you think about it.
Pinkie: How'd you get this scar?
Sombra: ...Pinkie, you're touching my butt.
Pinkie: I know.
Sombra: ...When did I get a scar there?
Pinkie: No clue, but I'm not kissing this one.
3724546
LOL, I like to think, inside his head, he really did explode, and wish he would drag Pinkie into the explosion with him. XD
Oh, geeze, that is so sweet, tender, and loving...I love that sort of moments, it makes me feel all warm and girly inside.
...And, then I probably burst out laughing with that sort of dialouge. You sure know how to make me laugh and go "aww" at the same time, Harmony.
3724559
I don't know why, but I really like it. I think it's because this Sombra never really knew what love was (*song plays in the background*), so I just really like the idea of Pinkie being gentle with him and him just getting used to nice touches. It wasn't easy at first, like the time she tried to stroke his hair and he flipped out.
Sombra: Are you trying hit me?!
Pinkie: What? No! I'm just petting you!
Sombra: ...Huh. This is... pleasant.
Pinkie: God, you're damaged.
Sombra: Hush and keep petting...
I dunno, these two are nerds and I love it
3724565
Sombra is such a cutie-pie, despite enslaving everyone and causing a huge war.
This Sombra is really damaged, and I love that Pinkie is tender to him...once, you know, they stop killing each other. XD
At least you got the long day over with, right?
3724382
The irony.
...Is ButtonBelle Charmony? Cause I can talk bout dat aaaall daaaaay loooooooong ;)
3724382
... So, basically, 'Prissipal' is a staff member who
spews bullshittakes satisfaction about making a mess by spewing bullshit, and will try to wheedle her way out of situations if things look like they're about to go down for her?[Father's also an idiot, no?]
3725202
Bingo~
3725217
Has he/she done things like that to others?
If she has, I don't see why the board shouldn't put Him/Her out of a job.
If she hasn't, then you're probably the only victim of his/her bullshit that most people know of.