//------------------------------// // CHAPTER 2 // Story: The Hand Of Fate // by The saiyan brony //------------------------------// Edited by Lolrainbowcat Once you finished signing up for the water polo club, you made your way to your next class. Gripping the handle to the gym, you pull the door and prepare for whatever life might throw at you. “LOOK OUT!!!”, is all you hear before you see a bright red dodge ball flying straight toward your face. ‘Oh Murphy you cruel man’, is all you can think before the ball collides with your face, sending you falling backwards to the floor for the second time today. The sound of footsteps echoing on the wooden floor of the gym could be heard as a familiar face looked down at you. “Hey there Sam, good to see you again." Once again you’ve had a painful encounter with Rainbow Dash. Pushing off of the floor with your arm, you turn to the blue menace that had caused you pain such pain twice today. “Please tell me this isn't how you greet new students at this school?” you groan while rubbing your sore face. “Nah, you’re just unlucky I guess. That and you came in during a dodgeball game,” she shrugged as she helped lift you off the ground. “So I guess we have the same P.E class then?” “Looks that way to me, though I'm starting to worry that this may become a thing with you around.” bending down, you grab the ball and toss over to Dash, who catches it and spins the ball on her index finger. A voice coming from your right gets your attention. “You there.” Turning your head, you see a woman in a violet dress with  golden hair walking up to you. “You are not wearing your P.E uniform. Why?” “Um well…” Before you could stutter anymore Dash steps in front of you. “Ms. Harshwhinny, this is the new transfer student.” Dash wraps an arm around your shoulder. “He doesn't have a set yet ,so how could he be in his uniform?” Ms. Harshwhinny pulled up a clipboard from her side and scanned the paper attached to it. “Ah yes, Mr. Evans I presume.” she stated, glancing up from her paper. You nodded. “Well, since you don't have the proper attire I can afford to be lenient on this matter.”  She soon pulled out a small piece of paper from her pocket and began to write something down on it. Once she had finished, she handed you the paper. ”This is for you. Go to the gym office later and exchange it to receive your P.E attire, but for today you will have to sit on the bleachers with Ms. Sparkle until you have them.” Taking the piece of paper, you nod to her and start to walk off in the direction of the bleachers. You turn to Dash before you continue, and thanked her for her help, to which she mouths ‘I got you’. Continuing your walk to the bleachers, you hear the sound of dodgeballs being thrown around as the class continued on. Looking up, you see a familiar face sitting on the bleachers. Her skin was a light purple, and she had violet hair with a reddish pink and purple stripe highlights, all of it thrown into a ponytail. It was your old classmate from Crystal Prep, Twilight Sparkle. You had expected to eventually bump into her at some point, but never did you think you would see her on your first day here, or even have a class with her no less. Walking up to the top of the bleachers where she sat reading a book, you steel your nerves as you wanted to apologize for not helping her back at Crystal Prep. Taking a seat a few inches away on her right, you notice that she isn't aware of your presence. Not wanting to bother her while she's reading, you decided to watch the other students play their game of dodgeball. To which you’re glad you’re not participating in since Dash is currently mopping the floor with the opposite team. In less than 3 minutes she struck out all of the opposite team member. Ms. Harshwhinny blowed her whistle to signal the end of the game and to start up a new one again. This however, snapped Twilight from her book at the sound of the whistle, making her look up to see that the game had ended. Before she could return to her book though, she took notice of you and a shocked look spread across her face. “Oh I'm sorry I didn't see you there,” she said as she gave you a warm smile. You wave your hand dismissively. “It's fine, I literally just got here,” you say as you returned the smile. In a moment though, you see that Twilight is staring at you rather closely. “Uh..is something wrong?” you asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable with how close she was getting. “Have we met somewhere before? You look kinda familiar.” Her eyes kept their focus on you until they widened. “You’re Sam Evans, the star boxer for Crystal Prep!! What are you doing here?!” You recoil a bit after having her yell in surprise, and from the fact that she actually knew who you were, even though you couldn't really say the same about her back then. “Well I just transferred here, and I WAS the star boxer for Crystal Prep.” Twilight turned her head with her eyebrows raised. "Was? What changed?” Similarly to Rainbow Dash, she hadn't yet noticed your condition. You twist your upper body to show her your reason for quitting. Letting out a loud gasp, Twilight cupped her hands over her mouth in shock. After what felt like hours she finally brought her hands down as she looked back up at you. “I-im so sorry, what happened?” You could see a genuine look of curiosity and sympathy in her eyes. “I lost it over summer vacation.” Gripping your left shoulder, you  relieved the painful memories of that day as they flashed through your mind, along with the unforgettable pain you had felt. “After I lost it, life at Crystal Prep was just awful. I was kicked off the boxing team and no other teams would let me join. And most of the student body mocked me for it." Letting out a deep sigh you hung your head in shame. “So I decided to transfer to here in hopes things would be better.” You turn back to Twilight, only to notice that she wasn't alone, that at some point you weren't aware that Dash had joined in on listening to your conversation. You see a look of sympathy in her eyes as well.You can guess that she heard the last parts of your story. “I'm so sorry to hear that.” Twilight spoke with tears building up in her eyes. Was she really crying for you? “It’s fine, I’m honestly somewhat over it." You were lying. “Besides it was my own fault for not being careful that day. And since we are apologizing I'd like to say I'm sorry to you too Twilight.” Twilight cocked her head to the side, confused as to what you meant. “Why are you saying sorry to me?” As Twilight asked her questions, Dash decided to head back to the game, but not before looking back at you. “Well I mean, I'm sorry about not trying to comfort you during your time back at Crystal Prep.” You hung your head back down in shame. “I saw that you weren't making any friends there and were miserable. I could have done something, but I just the turned the other way and acted like nothing was wrong” Before you knew it, you felt a warm embrace overcoming you. Twilight was hugging you.   “It's alright, I forgive you, even though I wasn't really mad at you for it, but thanks I appreciate the thought.” Letting go of your body, Twilight sat straight up once more with a wide smile. “So how are you liking it here so far?” You were left speechless, not because of the hug, but for the fact that she didn't hold a grudge against you. Had it been anyone else from your old school you would have been an enemy to them, but with Twilight it was completely the opposite. Maybe this school would be better than Crystal Prep. “Well this is my second period,  and so far I've been beaned in the head by a ball from the Prismatic Wonder over there.” You pointed over to Dash who had just landed another headshot on another student. “But other than that it's a pretty nice place.” Soon Twilight was chuckling and you found yourself joining her. ‘Hey you, if you can't laugh at your own pain then you have a poor sense of humor’. =============================== For the rest of your second period, you and Twilight start to catch up on the event after the Friendship Games. From how she turned into a demon (yeah, try to process that) to her adventure at Camp Everfree, and the boy she met there, which you of course tease her about, which earns you a playful punch on the shoulder. Once the class had ended, you decided to head off to your next class, but not before finding out why she wasn't taking part in class today. Turns out she forgot her uniform as well. The next two classes went on the same as the first. You introduce yourself, people stare at your missing arm ect,ect. It was lunchtime now, and you already had a lunch packed. ‘Now all you have to do is find a place to sit’. You were about to go a empty table in the corner of the cafeteria, when you saw Rainbow Dash flagging you down. “HEY SAM OVER HERE!!!” Dash waved her hand up and motioned you to join her. Seeing as it would be rude to ignore her, you decided ‘why not’ and made your way there. At the table were six other girls, one of which you already knew as Twilight. Taking a seat at the end next to Dash, you started to unpack your lunch. “Guys, this is the new kid Sam.” she said after giving you a playful jab with her elbow. “Sam, these are my friends”. You politely wave as you’re now betting they’d all have noticed your condition by now. A girl with fair white skin and purple hair was the first to speak. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance darling, I'm Rarity by the way.” You’re give a courteous nod to Rarity. “The names Applejack, nice to meetcha” Applejack had light orange skin and golden blond hair with a brown stetson hat. In the next second you were immediately faced with a girl with both pink skin and puffy hair. “HI I'M PINKIE NICE TO MEET YOU, HEY DO YOU LIKE PARTIES? WE SHOULD THROW YOU A WELCOME TO CHS PARR…..” Applejack decided to pull Pinke off you to which you give a thankful nod. “I'm Fluttershy...” You couldn't quite hear the next girl who had pale yellow skin and long pink hair. “What was that?” you asked cupping your hand over your ear. “She said her name was Fluttershy. Don’t worry, she’s like this with every new person she meets.” Your attention turned to the girl beside Fluttershy. She had light orange skin with fiery red hair and a couple of yellow highlights. “I'm Sunset Shimmer by the way.” She extended her hand out to you. You extend your hand out to shake, but as you did you couldn't help shake the feeling that you've met this girl before. Letting go you try to remember where you've seen her before. “Forgive me for asking this out of the blue, but have we met before?” Sunset gave you a gentle smile. “Well you probably don't remember me, but we both have the same algebra class during first period ” Thinking back on it, you now remember possibly seeing her at the back of the class If it hadn't been for everyone staring at your missing arm you would have taken the time to look over your classmates before you went to your seat so suddenly. “Oh, well that explains it then. Sorry about that.” Sunset waves it off to show you that no harm’s been done. You and the rest of the group start to eat your lunches and make small talk amongst each other. ================================ After lunch you had only two classes left, which flew by in no time. You remembered that you had to go back to the bulletin board next to the gym since you hadn't checked to see when the water polo club would start or where they would meet up. Having finally made it, you see that the water polo clubs met at Mondays through Fridays everyday, one hour after school ends. You debated if you wanted to go today, or just skip it and go tomorrow. But you rather not be rude and decide that you'll participate today. And with that, you head off to your house to pick up a pair of swimming trunks and a water resistant shirt. ========================= You're about eight minutes late due to having to run back to the school after you got your swimming gear and trying to find the pool. Turns out the school had both an outdoor pool AND an indoor one as well. Having finally found the door and hallway that led to the indoor pool, you gripped the handle, ready to open it. ‘hold up’. You stop before you could open the door ‘The last time two times I opened a door, I ended up getting smacked to the head by my a rogue ball. Oh ho not this time!!’. Quickly opening the door you immediately ducked down, and no sooner did you do so, did a volleyball zip over your head. “AHA!!! Not this time! I won't fall for it a third…” Before you could finish your rant of victory, you felt your head being hit from behind as the volleyball bounced off the wall behind you and smacked you on the back of your head, pushing you forward and causing you to fall into the pool with a loud splash. ‘Well...rule of three I guess’. You surfaced for air, and already knew who the culprit for your pain is. “Wow, we have got to stop meeting up like this.” You’d recognize that raspy voice anywhere. Looking up, you saw the same girl who had caused you so much trouble in this one day. She bent down and extend her hand out to you. “Need a hand there?” ‘Did she really just say that. Oh it's on now’. Gripping her hand with your own, you gave her an evil grin. “As a matter fact..." Wasting no time, you pulled on Rainbow Dash causing her to fall headfirst into the water. “I'm good, but thanks for the offer.” Off to your right, you could hear other people laugh, you’d guess those are the other members of the club. Dash surfaced and let out a laugh. “Ok, I had that coming.” Dash swam to the right where the other members waited. “This is my boyfriend Soarin,” she pointed to a guy with light blue skin and navy blue hair, “and there’s Spitfire.” Next was a girl with bright yellow skin and orange hair. “And then there’s Flash.” Next to Spitfire was a another guy with light orange skin with blue hair. “And you already know Sunset." You hadn't expected to see Sunset here, but there she was, wearing a very beautiful black two piece swimsuit which left little to the imagination. You could feel yourself blushing as she gave you a playful wink, no doubt noticing you staring at her. That alone made your face heat up; even with you being inside a pool. “Uh, nice to meet you guys.” “So, I'm guessing you're here to join the water polo club.” Dash asked while getting moving to the  water edge next to Soarin. You give her a nod to confirm her question. “Great, now we have even numbers. Alright guys, who’s ready to play.” The rest of the members all hopped into the water, making a large splash that ended up hitting you. You had noticed that none of them at any point were staring at you missing appendage,or even questioned why you would join with just one arm.This was the first time that nobody decided to stare at your missing arm, you realized in surprise.They just acted like you were a normal person. ‘You know, I think I'm gonna enjoy it here’.