Shuffle sat on the sidelines of the class. Part of him wanted to get up and confront Sunset Shimmer, but the other wanted to vomit; this wasn't supposed to happen. Moving from Vanhoover was supposed to be a fresh start away from her.
“Why did she follow?” Shuffle’s mind raced across any and all possibilities he could think of.
“Yo, Sunset, since that kid over there is sitting out, we really can't have you play since the teams won't be fair,” Dash said but was cut off; before Sunset could respond, Shuffle suddenly got up and called out.
“If it's an unfair team size I'll have to play.” Shuffle said a little too quickly. Dash said nothing as Sunset went to Rainbow’s team and Shuffle to Applejack’s.
Iron Will stood in the middle of the two teams that had taken opposite sides of the court, both poised for the game to begin.
“Now, I want a nice clean game…” Iron Will took a minute to look at every student, “From all of you. We shall be playing with line rules; when I say so, the entire court will open up and there will be no safety for either team!” Iron Will moved to the side and blew his whistle.
The game began instantly as both teams charged the line, grabbing or knocking balls back to their teammates. Shuffle lagged behind watching the opposing team, who had begun their bombardment of balls, which only caused a few from his team to be eliminated. Dash teamed up with the pink girl and the two were a wrecking crew when it came to eliminations, Dash’s raw strength along with the pink girl’s unpredictably wasn't helping his team.
“Oof, nice throw Fluttershy,” Dash said as the pink-haired girl had eliminated a short boy who wasn't paying attention to the game.
On Shuffle’s team, it was Shuffle, Snails, whom Shuffle had recognized from weeks prior, and Trixie, oddly enough. On the opposing were two gruff looking boys, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Sunset. Shuffle moved behind snails and quickly leans into his ear. “I know you don't like me right now, but trust me when I say this, head right and I'll draw the balls from the other team and try to shave a few members off.”
The game
Snails looked at the older teen in confusion; it was weird having someone actually ask him for help, but he nodded wordlessly as the two executed their plan. Shuffle moved in a pattern matching Snails on the opposite side, as the lanky boy flailed idiotically, drawing the attention of Applejack and one of the gruff boys, whom Shuffle knocked out easily.
Trixie was unlucky; she took a ball to the chest, thrown by one of the other boys. Trixie wasn't happy, as she shouted towards the offending boy, who let out a condescending laugh.
“Not so Great and Powerful, you can't dodge a ball! Oh, but I think you like taking some balls too, don't you?” the boy said, the lewd comment eliciting blushes from most of the class, Shuffle and Snails; both had backed up, being the only ones left on their team. Snails were torn from his distraction as the two regrouped at the back of the court. The last boy was slowly making his way to the line as if goading the pair into trying something.
“Any plans boss?” Snails asked. Shuffle took a second to notice he was called boss, thinking nothing of it after. That moment, he made an idea, and retorted, “Just one…”
Snails peered at the teen. “What is it?”
“A hail mary…” Shuffle said as he burst forward, grabbing a ball nearby and rocketing it towards one of his opponents; luckily, it hit Sunset’s hip. She groaned in annoyance and walked off the court. Shuffle was proud of that shot, if not for the piece of revenge against Sunset, which only left Fluttershy and the two boys, and a single ball for them to defend themselves with, which was picked up by the lanky teen.
Shuffle and Snails backed up to the wall again, waiting for the two boys to make a move; Fluttershy, on the other hand, had backed away from the confrontation, for all intents and purposes, it was a two-v-two battle. Shuffle pulled snails close, whispering in his ear.
“Ok, I got one more idea, if you’re willing to listen again.” Shuffle said tentatively. From a simple glance into Snails’ eyes, one could see a fire had been lit within. Snails nodded, “Go for it, as long as we get some payback for that comment for Trixie.”
Shuffle smiled, he could tell this boy had a crush on the magician; it was written all over his face. Shuffle nodded to the other teen as he whispered his plan in Snails’ ear.
After a few seconds, Iron Will blew his whistle again. “NO LINE!” As if on instinct alone, both boys charged forward, Shuffle in front and Snails trailing behind, then the others charged forwards as well, balls in hand, throwing them as hard as they could muster. Tense moments passed as Shuffle got in front of Snails and took the barrage of spheres, eliminating himself and knocking them away from Snails.
“NOW!” Shuffle said aloud, and before the boys could even react, Snails threw the ball. Miraculously, he and Shuffle got a double elimination! Rainbow let out an audible groan. “Oh great, there goes an almost guaranteed win, but Fluttershy is still left. Maybe she can pull through.”
Fluttershy, on the other hand, was on the verge of tears, being last was sometimes a blessing but other times a curse, this being one of the latter times. Snails called out to the timid girl.
“Hey ‘Shy, catch.” Snails said as he tossed the ball at her. Fluttershy reacted instinctually and caught the ball, ending the game.
Iron Will blew his whistle as Rainbow’s team rushed to congratulate the girl, whilst Shuffle returned to Snails’ side.
“That was really nice of you to throw the game for that girl, dude.” Shuffle said as he gave Snails a firm pat on the back. Snails blushed as he rubbed the back of his head.
“Well, I know Fluttershy, and hitting her, even with a ball, wouldn't be worth having Rainbow Dash trying to kill me for hurting her friend,” he replied as the two walked back to the boys’ changing room.
The class ended a few minutes later, everyone had joined their groups of friends and were actively talking as they were heading towards their cars or busses. Shuffle broke away from the small group of teens that formed near him as he watched Sunset Shimmer interact with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack.
After a few minutes, Shuffle went through the double doors. The further away from Sunset, the better, he thought.
Shuffle quickly made his way to his locker, removed the books from his bag, and made his way towards the Bus zone so he could leave.
At Home
Shuffle opened the door to his house. The silence was deafening, but welcome knowing his mother would be home later; this would give him a good few hours to vent.
“What the hell is going on? I know for a fact I left Sunset back in Vanhoover! In the few weeks, we've been here, there is no logical way she would be able to not only track me down but establish some kind of relationship with, seemingly, the most popular girls in CHS!”
Shuffle threw down his bag on the couch, frustrated. This move was supposed to be a new beginning; were the Powers that Be torturing him for something? Shuffle took a moment to ponder the thought.
“Last time I checked, beyond the fight with Terra, she had no plans to move; it would probably be a good idea if I checked to see if Sunset was still in Vanhoover.”
Pulling out his phone, Shuffle went onto his social page on Hoofbook, his eyes looming on the few people that were on his block list, and there sat Sunset Shimmer. Shuffle cringed for only a moment and pressed unblock.
With a quick scan of Sunset’s Hoofbook page, largely the recent posts, Shuffle could see that Sunset was still posting from his hometown. From pictures of the familiar locale, and the shot of her and Terra's lip-locking in front of his old town's old water tower, Shuffle was not only confused with what was going on, but the fact that seeing his old friend hurt him.
Shuffle took a minute to reflect on this new information, and after reblocking Sunset, he got off Hoofbook. He was about to retreat to his room for the night, but his mother came up from her lab in the basement, smoke billowing from the door.
“WHOO, NOTHING LIKE A SMALL CHEMICAL REACTION FAILURE TO WAKE YOU UP!” Tesla said as she coughed some pink colored smoke. She turned towards the kitchen, intent on heading to do something, but she caught her son mid-stride up to his room.
“SHUFFLE BABY, HOW WAS YOUR FIRST DAY AT CHS!” she yelled.
Shuffle cringed from her yelling; if it was his guess, she probably temporarily deafened herself.
“Another failed project blow up in your face?” he asked as Tesla was shaking her head trying to get rid of the ringing in her ears.
“WHAT?!” “I THINK THE EXPLOSION MESSED UP MY EARS, I ASKED HOW WAS YOUR FIRST DAY!?” Shuffle facepalmed, groaning in annoyance, and after a moment he responded with yelling.
“IT WAS FINE BUT I GOT SOME WORK TO DO SO IM GOING TO GO TO MY ROOM,” He responded.
Tesla laughed out, “Jeez Shuffle, you don’t gotta yell. First day and homework already? What, did you get HarshWhinny as one of your teachers?” Tesla gave him a pat on the back.
“I’m about to get some food on, I’ll call you when it's done, ‘kay bud?” Shuffle nodded, went up the stair and collapsed on his bed, confused by everything that happened today, from Sunset showing up, to that one boy, Snails, the boy heckler from Gym; Shuffle remembered from weeks back how scared he and his friend looked when they were at his door, but later the fact he was willing to cooperate with him when those Diamond Dog boys were picking on Trixie. Shuffle chuckled as the memory came back to him, especially at the dumbfounded faces they wore as the two were eliminated from the game.
“Today could have been worse, but knowing a duplicate of Sunset lives here defies logic,” he mused as he sat down on his bed. “Is there some cosmic being above trying to torture me with this devil of a woman?” Shuffle sighed as he turned over and laid back in his bed.
“Well, if this is what fate has planned, fine. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to watch her; I KNOW there's something wrong, and I WILL get to the bottom of this, “Double Sunset” mystery!”
Shuffle relaxed into his bed. Tomorrow would be a new day, and the start of something life-changing for the teen; whether it’s good or bad, only the Wheel of fate will tell…