//------------------------------// // Chapter 60; Back To School // Story: The Wander Through Lands Unknown // by Tomas Lutwig //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer locked her apartment's door. Passing by the dead plant without a thought, her mind on other things even as the blinds on her neighbor's window shuffled as one of the slats lifted to show the dark interior of the room beyond. Had her mind not been occupied already, she might of heard mutters and whispered words from behind the window. 'Now how am I going to crush the soul of the new kid?' she thought making her way down the stairs towards her bike. His words came to mind from the day prior making her teeth clench and her lips slip back into a snarl. The possibility of using those words against him came to mind, however she shook her head. 'Too easy. Not to mention he seems a bit more... apathetic than the rest of the school.' Straddling her bike, she plopped her helmet on before taking out her key. With a twist of the wrist, the bike purred to life. Looking at the gauges she let out a mental sigh reminding herself to get gas later on the way home from school. Pulling out of the apartment complex, she made her way to school. As she pulled up the red light, the one that always seemed to catch her on her way through, she offered a look over her shoulder as a vehicle pulled up. Part of her expected the skinhead coming back for revenge, 'Heh I almost hope he does.' she thought brushing her hand past the boxy item in her jacket's pocket. The vehicle behind her however was a small dark green car. The driver seemed content trying to do her makeup in the mirror and paid the younger woman no attention. A pang of relief was pushed down as it surfaced. Turning forward again, she watched the light before it finally shifted back to green and she took off. The path to Canterlot High school was a well ingrained one that she was almost sure she could follow in her sleep. Thoughts drifted back to where she remembered getting on her Trakehn in the morning and the next memory was getting off the bike and walking into the school. Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the parking lot which was coming up quickly. Turning on the blinking light that signaled her turn, she waited between the double yellow lines, her thoughts of what subterfuge and exhortation she might use today rather than the traffic, which normally would have aggravated her. Looking up from her gauges, she spotted a clearance in the cars and sped through braking hard as she passed into the parking lot, remembering the last lecture the junior and senior classes had about 'zipping' through the student parking lot. Rolling her eyes she pulled into her spot and grabbed her things. Offering a look around, she found no immediate threat. The large pickup was nowhere in sight, and skinheads were a rare occurrence in these parts, with exception of the 'style resistant' members of the hard rock click, which held a few in their members. Making her way around the school's corner she pulled off her helmet and tucked it under an arm. The normal crowd of students making their way into the open doors with a few small groups staying outside, either to wait for the flood to thin out, or simply not caring about going into what they no doubt believed to be a prison. A lack of the annoying gray boy from yesterday was noted and a small smile appeared on her face as her eyes fell over the statue. Making her way towards the doors, students stopped, giving her a path towards the doors. She ignored the commoners for the most part, only nodding in her head that they had given her the proper respect as their de facto queen. As she walked into the school's main lobby she stopped. Perhaps it had been too much of a hope to assume the new kid had possibly been rejected from enrollment. He stood against one of the dividing walls, glancing at a sheet of paper before looking around. She watched his jaw work up and down a few times as he chewed on something. As he looked back up his eyes fell on her for a second, meeting hers, before drifting through the lobby. Was he, ignoring her? How dare he! She is the queen of this foolish school! Even if he was new here she wouldn't let this slide. Anger welled up in her stomach as she walked past him, offering a glare. A glare that promised future pain, embarrassment, and any other torture she could think of. I blinked as Sunset Shimmer walked by, offering a glare strong enough to make me wonder if I should have brought more than a simple knife. 'Geeze woman! I can understand being a little miffed, but I'd think getting cussed out by the vice principal is good enough in the short term. Already thinking about drawing and quartering me?' Shaking my head I looked back down at my schedule. Near the top a name next to the “Greeting Committee” was who I looked around in the crowd for. Earlier that morning I had been able to walk around the school and got the basic idea of where exactly the classrooms I needed were. Admittedly my stomach leapt with excitement at one of the items on the list. Right after lunch I'd be going to the shop for welding. A smile fell across my face not only at the initial discovery of the class, but also that the vice principal had been willing to give it to me after the little I had said on it. “Happen to have a class you like?” I jolted looking up to see the smiling face of Rarity. She stifled a giggle behind a hand. “I apologize, I didn't mean to surprise you. I was simply glad to see that you had managed to make it through the process with Vice Principal Luna.” Letting out a chuckle I scratched at the back of my head. “Yea, after you left for class it got interesting quickly.” A questioning look was edged with worry as she continued to look at me. Shaking my head I held up a hand. “Nothing too bad. Sunset Shimmer wasn't too happy with me inquiring about her welfare after the little tussle with that guy outside.” Rarity nodding, a knowing look spreading across her face. “Ah, yes as I said she's not the most approachable individual. It would be wise to stay out of her way if you wish to have much social standing in the school.” she said. A sudden silence in the lobby made the young woman turn around to see a tired looking girl entering the building her two toned yellow hair tied back into an unkempt ponytail. Her bright orange skin was hidden well behind a large jacket that seemed in place simply to hide her from those around her. Her face showed she was less than happy to be here, on the verge of a scowl of hatred even. Familiarity spiked in my mind as I looked the young woman over, she looked around for some escape from the large group of students that were giving her a wide birth, as if she had some sort of disease. Her eyes fell on me and I recognized them. 'Sundance?' I thought only to watch her wordlessly walk from the main lobby, heading I could only assume towards class. “Tsk tsk tsk” I heard Rairty's tongue click as she shook her head. “Poor girl. That's one reason I suggest to stay out of her way. Sundance tried to push back when Sunset started bullying other students into submission. I can't imagine what Sunset did to cause the entire school to avoid her like th- Darling? Are you alright?” My eyes had followed the tortured young woman, my hands balling into fists even as my teeth clenched to the point they both ached. Looking at Rarity I found fear and concern on her face. Blinking I let out a breath shaking my head, trying to calm down. 'You will pay for that Sunset Shimmer...' I thought to myself before putting on an apologetic look for the young woman in front of me. “I'm sorry about that. She looked... really familiar.” The look slowly faded from Rarity's face, though her eyes still showed that trace of fear. “I-it's fine darling. I must admit though, to elicit such a... strong reaction in you she must have reminded you of someone who did something quite devastating.” I shook my head looking down at the crumpled sheet in my hand, small tears having formed in the paper. Uncrinkling it slowly and carefully I let out a sigh. “No.” I said before looking back up at her. “No she reminded me of a close friend. Seeing her in that state... imagining my friend in that state was the devastating thing.” An understanding look fell over Rarity's face as she nodded. “I would be quite protective of my friends if the need arose, so I understand.” “Uh, excuse me.” A male voice spoke up making me turn to look at a young man approaching us. His skin was nearly normal colored, if a bit overly orange, though his blue hair stood against said normality. “Are you...” He looked down at a page in his had for a moment before back up at me. “Wandering Bindle?” I nodded, “I take it you're Flash Sentry?” I asked motioning with my own page to which he nodded. “So you're going to be giving me the tour of the school before first hour eh?” “Yep, though it looks like you might have already been given introductions.” He said offering Rarity a nod and friendly smile. “Ah, yes I apologize Flash. I don't mean to step on your or the Greeting Committee's toes.” she said, pushing one of her violet curls from her face. “I was simply getting to know our school's newest student, and resident ruffian fighter.” I suppressed a chuckle swallowing it back as Flash looked over at me, surprise written on his features. “Ah so that was you who fought off the skinhead that everyone's talking about?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. This time let the sound through as I scratched at the patchy beard on my chin. “In as much as it took for the vice principal to walk out there and threaten police action. All I did was get his attention.” I said shrugging. A light push came from the young woman next to me. “Oh come now don't be modest. You were very brave to stand up to that ruffian.” “Even if it was to protect Sunset.” Flash's voice sounded, much less enthusiastic than before. “I don't think we'll hold it against you though.” he continued as a coy smile formed on his face. I let out a breath through pursed lips before looking back over towards where Sundance had gone. “I might.” I said quietly as my thoughts turned dark. “Err, right! Well I'll let you two get on with it then!” Rarity said stepping back and offering a nervous smile. Smiling at her I nodded before she rushed off. “Looks like you might get a little lucky there new guy.” I heard Flash say making me turn to see him walking down one of the hallways. I offered a confused look to which he laughed before getting on with the tour. “...and here's Mrs. Harshwhinny's math class.” Flash said motioning towards the featureless brown door before turning back towards me. “Any questions?” Shaking my head I looked from the door back to the young man in front of me. “Not that I can think of. Less you got any advice on how to not fall asleep in math class.” Flash snickered at the joke before shrugging. “All I can say is don't do it with Harshwhinny. Last student who did earned a yardstick to the back of their head.” He said, a smile coming to his face at the memory. “Anyways I'm pretty sure we have English together last period so if I don't see you at lunch, then I'll see you there.” I nodded and offered the guy a friendly wave as he walked away. Taking note of the door number and such I rushed off towards the bathroom. 'From what I remember of school, teachers who tended to hit people with things then to be not very understanding when you have to use the bathroom' I thought. As I quickly used the commode and washed my hands, I felt someone give me a sound slap on the back. Turning around I saw the tail end of someone's leg fleeing from the bathroom. My eyes narrowed as I turned around to look in the mirror. A white piece of paper was taped to my back with the words “Kick me” written on them in bold black marker. My eyebrow rose as I pulled the note off and looked at it. 'Can't even think of something new' I thought crumpling up the ball of paper and tossing it for the garbage. The sound of a toilet flushing made me turn my head to see the large white form of a very well built and recognizable male stepping out of the stall. 'Hm, though it does make me wonder if someone wasn't waiting outside the bathroom.' A smile formed on my face for a moment before I turned back to the mirror and started fussing with my hair. Running some water in my hands I styled it back, like I had remembered doing at home, earning a questioning look from Snowflake. “Gotta look best on my first day” I said, to which he shrugged washed his hands and dried them. Snickering sounded as he made his way down the right corned hallway to the rest of the school. A loud and surprised “Yipe!” sounded before a growl and the sound of someone being beat. Making my way out of the bathroom, I turned over to see the pudgy form of Snips and the lanky form of snails sitting up on the ground both holding their heads. A sick satisfaction sounded in my head as I looked at the two of them before I put on a concerned look. “You two alright?” I asked offering my hands. Snips and Snails looked between one another before nodding and taking my hands as I helped them to their feet. “Yea. Thanks.” Snips said, his voice quite a bit less than friendly. “No problem, do you two need to head to the nurse?” I asked, still feigning concern. Snails answered this time, shaking his head slowly. “Noo. We're fine.” I opened my mouth to introduce myself, trying to continue my fake ignorance only for them to turn and walk away from me. A cruel smile formed on my face only for the bell to sound signaling only a few minutes till class started. Heading back towards Mrs. Harshwhinny's class, I found the woman herself holding the door open for the students that walked through. A disinterested look was on her face before her eyes fell on me and became curious. “I take it you're the new student people have been talking about?” She asked. I nodded only for her eyes to narrow. “In my class, when I ask a question I expect the answer to be 'Yes Ma'm' or 'No Ma'm'. Am I understood?” My internals twitched, 'Dear God it's boot camp again.' I thought before nodding again “Yes Ma'm” I said. Her features softened back to disinterest as she motioned for me to enter. “I'll assign you a book soon, for now you'll have to share with your neighbor please take one of the open seats.” she said. Walking into the classroom I quickly had multiple eyes on me. Blinking I looked around only to find the only open seat with a neighbor was next to a familiar looking blue skinned girl with off white hair. Making my way over she looked around the room to find that the seat next to her was the only open one. A smile crossed her face as I sat down and the conversations that had stopped as I entered the room started back up. “Hello, I am the Grrrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie!” she said offering wide sweeping gestures with her hands as if she was standing in the spotlight. I raised an eyebrow as something within me groaned that this was going to be less than pleasant. “Hello Trixie, I'm Wandering Bindle.” I said offering a hand and a friendly smile. The latter I was getting more and more effective at faking. She took my hand with a wide grin and gave it a dainty shake. “Trixie has no doubt you've heard of her before and is in awe of Trixie's magnificence.” I let out a mental sigh. “Unfortunately I cannot say I have, miss Trixie. I've only moved into town recently from... rather far away.” The show woman's smile faltered for a moment, “Never heard of the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie? You must be from far far away!” she said, making a show of herself. “Trixie supposes she could educate you on her greatness.” I offered the woman a confused look before she pulled a stereotypical magician's wand from her sleeve and extended it with a flick of her wrist. Pulling a compressed tophat from her backpack she smiles at me tapping it with the wand as it extends. Showing me the inside I see the black felt interior. Placing the had down on her desk I watch as she taps the hat three more times and says something quietly under her breath before loudly proclaiming, “One, Two, Lulamoon!” A puff of purple smoke belches from the hat before a pair of white dove fly from the smoke. I blink in surprise as one of the birds nearly fly into my face in their panicked flight. “Trixie Lulamoon! How many times do I have to tell you? No magic in my classroom!” Mrs. Harshwhinny's voice sounds making me nearly jump out of my seat as the dove fly up and flutter around the ceiling. “Sorry Mrs. Harshwhinny!” Trixie's voice sounds as she collapses the hat and wand back down before replacing them. Rushing towards one of the windows she opens it, after a few more moments of panicked flight both birds are shooed outside. I blink in surprise as the young woman sits back down, her smug grin returned. “Trixie can tell, now you understand her greatness.” she said leaning back in her desk. 'More like I'm trying to figure out how you did that!' I thought to myself before the bell sounded making me look forwards as to see a scowling teacher. “Alright, now that our resident magician is finished with her attempts to impress the new student. Please turn your text books to chapter eleven.” I let out a sigh as I walked down the hall. Trixie had been... interesting to share a textbook with. While she didn't constantly talk about magic, she did constantly say how much better she was than everyone else, including myself. On top of it, most of my memories of math were foggy at best, meaning a lot of what we were doing I couldn't remember all that well if at all. The next two classes had been similar with History being so different from either earth or Equestria that I had literally no idea what was going on. Economics were the closest thing that I could understand so far, though I still wasn't a fan of the class. On top of it, Sunset Shimmer was part of my Eco class. Glaring at me, finding time to launch spitballs into the back of my head, or generally making my life hell, at least in a sense of high school hell. Walking to the lunch room, I found myself unmolested by the school 'queen' or her pair of incapable guards. Looking over at the lunch line, I quickly noticed the fact that you had to pay for your food at the end, which caused me to shrug and look for someplace to sit. Students were scattered around the lunchroom arrayed at their tables by what seemed to be their clicks. I recognized a few of the more obvious ones being the jocks, artists, or what I assumed were either hippies or the tree huggers. Other groups stood out, but my eyes fell on a nearly vacant table, with one other occupant. My eyes widened at the sight of her and I started making my way over. Sundance was sitting alone, picking at her food and looking at her phone. As I neared I offered a more genuine smile before asking “Uh, hey is this seat taken?” She looked up at me before kicking the chair out towards me, “Have at it.” she said dismissively before looking back at her phone. Sitting pulling the chair back up I sat down across from her earning a confused look when she glanced back up. 'Guess she didn't expect anyone to sit with her.' “I'm Wandering Bindle” I said with a smile holding out a hand towards her. Sundance looked at my hand, blinking a few times as she looked from it to my face before putting down her fork and shaking it. “Sundance” she said simply before going back to what she was doing. Silence grew between us enough for me to notice that the rest of the lunchroom had grown similarly silent. Turning around I found that almost everyone had a very sudden interest in whatever was in front of them. With the exceptions of Rarity, and Sunset Shimmer. Rarity was offering me a concerned look before her lips formed into a wavering smile. Sunset Shimmer's expression was quite different however, being more towards a mix of anger, and amusement. Turning back towards Sundance, I found her still looking at her phone and seemingly ignoring me. “So what do you like to do?” I asked causing her to look back up at me. A sigh echoed from her as she did something on her phone before putting it face down on the table, focusing her attention fully on me. The look on her face was less than hopeful though, “So, I take it Sunset put you up to this?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. Blinking I shook my head. “No. Why would she?” Rolling her eyes Sundance slumped in her seat glancing past me. “Because she enjoys torturing me? Honestly at this point I couldn't tell you. My question being, why are you here?” I raised an eyebrow at her, looking over the annoyed and distrusting look on her face. “Because I'm new here? I don't have any friends and I'm not good at making myself known in a group? You looked like you were lonely so I thought I'd come over and say hello.” “Mhmm” she said, obviously unconvinced. “So you're saying the fact that you saved Sunset Shimmer from that guy yesterday was just a coincidence?” I shrugged. “Not only did I not know that the bitch kinda deserved her comeuppance, be it from a large angry man or by way of a swift kick in the ass, I'm not a fan of seeing scared women being picked on by large guys for little to no reason.” Sundance's eyebrows rose a little at my curse, though her eyes narrowed at my poor philosophical attempt. “Ah, so you see the lonely girl and think she's an easy conquer?” If this Sundance was anything like the one from back home, I knew I had struck a chord. Her voice had grown quiet and very methodical. I held up my hands trying to calm her down, preferably with humor. “Geeze, what's with people around here thinking I'm some kind of sex fiend? I'm as virgin as they come. I mean really, look at me” I said trying to make a show of myself. “A guy like me'll be a virgin till I'm in my forties, then I'll just pay a hooker to get it over with.” I finished it all with a smile as I leaned back in my chair. As I looked at Sundance, there was something past the shell of anger and apprehension. Rather than seeing what it was, she blinked and it was replaced by distrust and something almost like pity. “Hm. I see you also have a blindingly bright estimation of yourself. I believe I'll leave you too it before it rubs off.” With that she stood up with her tray and walked over to the garbage before walking out of the lunch room. The room was silent for a moment before someone started laughing. In seconds the entire room was practically splitting at the seams. Standing up, I spun on my heels staring right at Sunset Shimmer, the same hateful smile on her face in the sea of happily laughing faces. I had to hold myself back, as my hand shot into my pocket at lighting speeds, wrapping around the hilt of my knife. Something within me wanted to walk over to her, grab her by her scrawny throat, and spill her guts. To throw away the stupid pretext of niceties and simply slaughter her. My chest hurt as I walked out of the room, my ability to ignore the pain the lack of magic inflicted diminished considerably. Pushing myself I headed for the shop. My next class and the one after lunch. Silently hoping that welding's tendency to calm me carried over. My arm stuck out slapping into one of the metal double doors and pushing, the smell of metal struck me as it opened. The sound of my footsteps echoed through the room as I walked in, my hand still clutching hard at my chest as I tried to push down the pain. Looking around, I found what I was looking for. Zipping up my brown hoodie, I pulled the hood over my head and threw one of the helmets on over it, loosening it considerably to fit over the hood as well. A pair of heavy leather gloves lay draped over one of the machines which I quickly put on. Relishing quietly in the feeling of the rough gloves I had not even realized I missed. Scanning the machines I found one of the arc welders and pulled it from it's place into one of the booths. Grabbing some rods from a nearby electrode oven, I put them on top the welder before going to find some scrap metal. Which thankfully was quite abundant. Flipping the switch on the welder, I listened to it as it slowly thrummed to life. Reaching for a wire brush that was hanging on the inside of the booth, I started going to town on the scrap metal cleaning the grime and slag from the metal's surface. When I was content I reached up and flicked the vent on before putting a rod into the stinger and attaching the ground to the worktable. Flipping the helmet down I watched as the world went dark only for a point of light to shine through the green tinted visor. Smoke was sucked away by the vent as I drew an bead connecting the two pieces of steel together. The small of the burning flux, ozone, and molten metal nearly bringing me to tears as the feeling of satisfaction flowed into me. As I finished, I grabbed the chipping hammer next to the brush before lightly tapping the slag away from the weld. 'A roll of nickles is right' I thought nodding. “My my.” A new voice sounded making me spin around. Standing behind the welding curtain a man stood. The green tint of the curtain obscured him slightly, though I could still tell he was wearing a welder's smock atop of a thick long sleeved shirt and jeans. Atop his head was a helmet not dissimilar to the one I wore, if only for the fact that there was some kind of design or sticker on his. “Seems that our little trespasser is an accomplished welder, at least in fillets.” I cocked an eyebrow at the man who stepped back and motioned for me to exit the booth. Flicking off the vent and welder I stepped out only to earn a grin. “And he has a welder's etiquette too! Oh this is so exciting! Maybe I won't even have to write you up!” My eyes narrowed at his last comment, “Oh?” I said crossing my arms. The smile didn't fade in the least. “Oh yes! If you go by principal Celestia's rules, I should write you up and ban you from the welders for the rest of the day!” He said, a glimmer of expectancy appearing in his eye as he looked at me. I cocked an eyebrow again shrugging I took off the helmet, clicking the headset back to it's original size. Tossing it on top of the welder I started taking the gloves off and put them inside the helmet. “Oh come now, you're no fun.” The man's voice sounded again, this time disappointment sounding in his voice. Turning back to him I saw his arms crossed over the welding smock. “Put that stuff back on. I want to see exactly what I'm working with here.” A sly grin came to my face.