As Shuffle entered the establishment called ‘Sugar Cube Corner’, his nostrils were overwhelmed with the various aromas of pastries, cakes and fruits alike.
Being the tail end of summer break, the place was decently packed with the denizens of Canterlot. There were some elderly couples sitting together while enjoying what looked like a substantial piece of cake, as a woman was giving her child a delicious muffin.
Shuffle let out a slow breath and approached the waiting line, his eyes scanning the menu as he waited for his turn.
After a few minutes, Shuffle was next to order. He looked directly at the cashier, who was an older woman probably mid to late forties, her skin was an offset of blue and her hair looked like it was maroon with obvious grey hair intertwined; but the weirdest thing about her was the fact that her hair was swirled like cupcake frosting.
“Good morning young man, what can I getcha today?” The woman asked with an almost inhuman enthusiasm that was akin to a stereotypical ‘happy-go-lucky protagonist’ in a children's story.
Shuffle promptly responded. “Good morning to you too, can I please have a chocolate donut and iced hot chocolate please?” the woman nodded and asked for payment, to which shuffle gave her.
“Your order will be out in five minutes why not go sit down until it's ready?” The cashier offered, whom he promptly thanked and walked away from.
Shuffle took a minute to look around the Cafe, trying to find either an abandoned booth or an isolated table to sit at. After a minute, he found a space booth by the door, heading for it while getting out his phone as he waited for his order to come.
Five minutes passed in relative silence, except for the people around him conversing or the occasional yelling from children leaving. His eyes scanned the cafe trying to spot his food. To his surprise, a huge fluff of pink had obscured his vision.
As he tried to move the massive mound of pink out of his way, he was greeted with the sight of a light pink girl about his age directly in front of him with his hot chocolate and donut. Shuffle thanked the girl who set the tray down but she let out a loud gasp after.
“OHMYGOSHYOURENEWTOCANTERLOTIMPINKIEPIEILIKEPARTIESANDTHECOLORPINKDOYOULIKEPARTIESISHOULDTOTALLYTHROWYOUAWELCOMETOCANTERLOTPARTYWHATSYOURFAVORTIEFLAVOROFCAKEISITCHOCLATEIMGOINGTOGOPLANYOURPARTYNOWBYE!” Shuffle just stared at the pink haired teen who then defied the laws of physics by disappearing in a blur of pink.
Brain.exe has stopped working please restart,
Whilst all of this transpired a small group of boys had entered the Café and quickly found a booth to sit in.
“So why exactly did you text us this early, just to spy on a new kid?” One of them asked.
“Because Soul, with the slew of new students, we need to see if this one is a friend or foe. Considering what that Lone Wolf character from Crystal Prep did last year, wouldn't it be better to have a potential friend or at least a rival, who won't stoop to CPA’s level?” Another boy retorted tersely.
The boy, now dubbed as Soul, sighed in resignation, “I understand this Zero, but he doesn't look bad from where I’m standing. Just look at him.” The boys turned their heads towards Shuffle who was still stunned in silence from the pink devil that had appeared in front of him.
A third boy let out a chuckle, “I see he's met Pinkie Pie already. So since he's just sitting there who's going to go over first?”
Before anyone could say anything, another boy crashed into the cafe with a jetpack on his back, then another jetpack descended into the hole that the first made. Unlike the boy, the other jetpack rider had landed on her feet.
“Treble Baka! Why did you even nosedive?! You knew it was gonna hurt, yet you did it anyway.”
This Treble character had gotten up and dusted himself off. “Because, dearest sister, the author is an idiot but he likes making hilarious entrances. Besides, Ragga wouldn't let me actually get hurt. YA HEAR THAT DRAGON I’M F%&*ING INVINCIBLE!” To which nature responded with the thirty-second downpour of rain in the hole of the ceiling while it was sunny outside.
Treble grunted in annoyance. “Fine, I get it Dragon, I'll move on with the plot already, but first! Gaige, I do believe I owe you an ice cream.” To which the other person, named Gaige, let out a squeal of joy and quickly got in line.
Shuffle sat at the table, TRYING to comprehend what transpired in front of him. He didn't notice one of the four boys sitting down at his table. “Don't mind Pinkie, that's how she meets new people.”
Shaking his head, Shuffle looked at the teen who had randomly sat down in front of him. “Excuse me, but who are you and why are you sitting at my table?”
“Oh yeah, about that, I didn't recognize you from Canterlot High. Did you just move into town recently?” The unknown boy asked.
Shuffle took a second to observe the boy’s mannerisms, from his relaxed posture he didn't seem like he was looking for trouble, his silver hair was a chaotic mess but it somehow worked on him, contrasted by his deep indigo eyes, which in themselves were pools of calm, a welcome change to other kids his age.
“You still never told me your name, it would be a good idea to start there first.”
“Right, that would be a great idea to start with; name’s Soul Writer. Nice to meet you.” Soul said as he extended his hand toward Shuffle, who reluctantly took it. “Shuffle Suite, and to answer your other question, yes I will be heading to Canterlot High starting this term.”
The two released each other's hands whilst sitting in an awkward silence, Shuffle returned to his food, not paying attention towards this Soul character. Soul, on the other hand, turned towards his friends who ushered him to continue the conversation.
“How long have you been in Canterlot, Shuffle?” Soul inquired.
“About three days now, my mother and I moved here because she had to relocate since she got promoted at work.”
Soul sat there taking in the new information. “Well that does suck, it must have been hard. Did you have any friends at your last school?”
This caused Shuffle to tense up almost instantly as his eyes shot up at the silver-haired boy. “No, not really, I've always been an introvert. The few friends I did have will probably forget me and move on with their lives.” He said coldly, but Soul could tell there was an air of bitterness around that statement.
“Well then, if you want you could hang out with me and my friends.” Soul pointed at a table almost across the room. The four boys there were still watching them; Shuffle noticed they were staring and they quickly turned away, starting a conversation to cover their tracks.
“Yeah, no, I'm not into the whole ‘group outings thing.’” He said making air quotes with his fingers. “And besides, why would you even talk to me? A complete stranger, don't you know how dangerous that can be? Now if you'll please excuse me, I've got somewhere to be and I'm running late.” Shuffle stood up and made his way to the exit with his drink in hand.
Soul stood there, taken aback by how rude Shuffle had been. Thinking nothing of it, he returned to his friends.
“So how did it go?” Zero asked as soon as Soul sat back down with his friends.
“It was going just fine until you lot started staring, why were you even watching? Don’t you guys trust me with this?”
“It's not that Soul,” Artemis started, “We were just curious what was going on. But what made him snap back at you?”
“I don't know; it was going fine until I asked about his old friends, his response had a resentful tone to it. If I could take a guess, Shuffle was either made fun of back at his old school, or his friends were absolute jerks to him, kinda reminds me how Rainbow and Gilda were.” Soul sat back in his chair taking a drink of his soda after finishing his statement.
Whilst Soul and Artemis were talking to each other, Zero was watching Shuffle with curiosity, “He doesn't look like a bad guy, so why would he really be that hateful?” Zero pondered aloud. The two other boys turned towards Zero who was lost in his own thoughts.
Soul and Artemis continued talking about Shuffle Suite, whilst Zero had gotten up and left the cafe. He needed to know why Shuffle was unwilling to hang out with them.
Hours had passed since the incident with the four teens, and it was early dusk when he finally reached home. As he opened the door, he found his mother asleep on the couch with notes scattered everywhere, her reading glasses askew on her nose.
Shuffle let out a chuckle. “Okay sleepy head, time for you to get to bed for real.” He said aloud as he shook his mother.
Tesla reacted slowly to the ushering of her son. “Mmm- not tonight Flushy we can play tomorrow.” She said groggily. Shuffle was taken aback. ‘Flushy’ was his dad's nickname, used since they first got together. She was having a dream about him, so Shuffle laid her down on the couch again so as to not disturb her, considering she was probably enjoying her dream. He left for only a few seconds to get a pillow and blanket for her.
He didn't realize while he was doing all of this, his mind had flashed back to when his dad was still around.
Flashback
“And with this attack, I think I win the duel.” Shuffle said.
He and his dad were sitting at the family table, his father had had his arms cross in surprise; Royal Flush, a competitive card player, lost to his own son because he played him for a fool this game, and it made him proud.
“Yes, you did bud. Congrats on beating me fair and square.” The older man let out a proud chuckle as he collected his deck. “Now since you won, I guess I have to hold up my end of our deal.” Royal took out a box from under the table.
“I was gonna wait for your birthday, but a few weeks early won't hurt anyone so here.” Royal handed Shuffle the box, and promptly ripped the packaging paper off of the box and opened it. Inside was his own custom lightsaber.
Shuffle let out a squeal of excitement and thanked and hugged his dad multiple times.
The two shared this moment for a few minutes while Shuffle inspected his new saber; the hilt was silver and onyx in color, the blade was beautiful white. Shuffle asked his dad why his saber was white instead of blue.
“No saber is alike and this is yours, so the color is yours to pick. Just turn the knob halfway down the hilt.” His father replied.
Flashback End
Shuffle broke his daydream with a gasp, his mother was still sound asleep. He didn't notice it at first but he felt tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Damn it, mom,” he said under his breath. He went to his room, grabbed his saber and went back outside.
Standing in the yard in the late evening, Shuffle ignited his saber and began the steps his father had taught him on that day. His arms reacting without mental input. Nothing excited him more than being outside of his mind, beyond himself and his lightsaber moving in perfect unity.
On the other side of the street, Trixie had just finished up with her list of stuff to do for the day; she was coming home from the Curio Shop that Zecora ran, who had more flameless fireworks for her. She was carrying a few bags whilst behind her two boys carried the rest of her stuff. There was so much baggage, it kinda made them look like pack mules. One was lanky and tall, while the other boy was short and pudgy.
“Trixie, are we at your house yet? This stuff is really heavy.” The lanky one asked.
“Yeah, why do you need all of this stuff anyway? Aren't you already the best at magic Trixie?” The pudgy one asked immediately after.
Trixie had let out a groan of irritation, “These are supplies for my show you dolts! I can't be ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ without my handy stage props.” Trixie let out a haughty laugh as the two boys and herself approached Trixie's personal wagon. At the door, Trixie had fished up her keys and put them in the lock to unlock it.
The pudgy one accidentally dropped one of the bags, which held fireworks. One of them sparked as it hit the pavement shooting off in a random arc, exploding in the street, which caught the three's attention and Shuffle’s as well.
“SNIPS, YOU DAMN MORON!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH FLAMELESS FIREWORKS COST?!” Trixie screamed at the pudgy teen. Snips quickly grabbed the bag and took the lot into the trailer.
Shuffle turned back to his own activities, not concerned about what had happened.
Twenty minutes passed when Shuffle had decided to finish his exercises for the day. Holding his saber at his side, he turned around to go inside when he heard a loud shout from behind him.
“LOOK OUT!!!”
Before Shuffle had a chance to react, something struck him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.