//------------------------------// // Secrets Revealed // Story: Being Brave Part III // by artman7391 //------------------------------// The day had turned to dusk as Cory and friends sat to a nice jug of freshly brewed cider. Though of course they were underage to drink such a beverage, it was technically not illegal in their world. "Boy. You always seemed to get it the worst. Didn't ya Cory?" Katie proclaimed as she took a swig of cider. "So you guys have been looking for me all this time?" Cory asked as he did the same. "Ever since that fall formal at Canterlot High." Camden Added. "Wait. You guys went to Canterlot High?" Cory asked with a stunned look. "Yep. From the moment we got expelled, our folks were able to save up some money to enroll at a much better school." Jolene explained. "But you see the thing is that everyone at that school was separated according to their interests and cliques." Rachel added. "Then how did you guys stay together?" Cory asked. "We just formed our own clique called the "Outsiders." Tony explained. "It may have not been a real clique but everyone else thought so." "Then one day, out of nowhere, came this....person, with a rather abnormal yet optimistic attitude, and out of a single day and night, turned our school completely upside down." Camden said. "She was like a teenage Mary Poppins, with a bottomless handbag of tricks and trades." Tony added. "Thanks to her," Katie further explained. "in what seemed less than 24 hours, all the cliques just vanished. Everyone became friends with everyone else. There were no quarrels, no distances, not even a rivalry anymore. I mean, this girl got appointed to Princess of the Fall Formal for goodness sake. " "Then, as strangely as she entered our school," Jolene added "she vanished, without a word, without a sound, without a sigh. It was like her work there was done." "And why not?" Tony added. "I mean, the next week, the school was completely different from what we remembered. It was now a school full of laughter, joy and happiness. Just the way we dreamed it to be. And it was all thanks to this one weird yet magical girl." "What's more." Rachel Added "That girl taught us that friendship may not be easy, but it's certainly something worth fighting for. Thanks to her, we took turns searching the whole country for you. Sometimes it was the two of us, sometimes it was the three of us, sometimes we took turns, and sometimes a few others at the school tagged along. "Then, just this morning." Tony added "We came across our old hangout shack, and next thing ya know, we ended up here, where we found you at last." Cory tried to hold in a chuckle, knowing exactly whom and what they were talking about. "Well, thanks for not giving up on me." He said "By the way, what was that girl's name again?" "I think her name was Twilight Sparkle." Katie pondered. At that moment, a bit of the cider fell out of Cory's mouth in a fit of laughter. "You OK?" Jolene asked. "Yeah I'm fine." Cory lied. "It's just, one thing I can't understand is, why was our old principal so indifferent on friendship?" "Look." Rachel sighed "There's nothing that excuses what he did to us, but, as we attended our new school, we started to learn some things. See, one of our educators used to be really close friends with him." Cory spat out a whole chunk of cider upon hearing this. "Wait, did you just say friend?!" He asked with a shock on his face. "Stiffson had a friend?!!" "Ya might say they were inseparable for about 6 months." Jolene explained. "I tell ya what. It was really hard to get her talk about that part of her past. It all started when the two of them met at about the same age we are. He was a transfer student from out of town, and she was on the honor roll. Though she was pretty popular around the school, she was one of the kindest, most pure hear-ted teenage girls you could meet. As for Stiffson, well, he was a far cry from the principal we knew." "In fact." Katie added solemnly "He used to be a very kind and shy young boy who didn't want any trouble. It's not that he didn't have any support, after all, he did have a mom and dad. He just had trouble fitting in with the crowd. He didn't have a friend in the world. One day, our teacher noticed he was sitting all alone at lunch. Being the sweet woman she was, she decided to sit down and talk to him. From that moment on, for the next half year, they did almost everything together. They went to fairs, shopped for clothes, played games, even made a secret handshake." "Don't we have that photo booth pic she gave us?" Tony asked. "Oh yeah." Katie reached into her pocket and took out a small photograph of two young individuals. "She said she didn't want it anymore. Too many memories." As she gave it to Cory and he took a closer examination of it, he noticed how silly and happy the two looked. One of them being a tall girl with a large pony tail, and the other, a small, scrawny boy with a rather rascally haircut. Clearly this was not the Stiffson he knew and feared. "But as time went on." Camden added. "Stiffson started to grow more possessive of her." "Possessive?" Cory asked "Yep." Tony replied solemnly "Every night he would call her, drop gifts at her doorstep, even go as far as sleep near her front yard. She just couldn't keep Stiffson off her. And like all friends, she grew very concerned about his behavior. I mean after all, she had a great many other friends too who needed just as much attention." "So one day," Camden added "On the week before prom, she decided to invite him over to the dance so she could introduce him to her companions. But like all possessive individuals, he thought this meeting would be solo. So he scrubbed himself three times that day, put on his dad's cologne, had his parents rent the best tux they could find, and bought a bouquet of flowers that would make a funeral director envious. He believed it was gonna be their night and their night only. But apparently, that wasn't the case. As he entered the school, opened the doors to the gym, and meshed into the crowd of prom goers, he saw his sweetheart mingling with another man. Though it was only another one of her many friends, he was completely crushed at the sight. Upon seeing Stiffson, she ran over to explain. But it was too late. He had already disappeared out the door and into the hallways. All she could find of him was the large bouquet of flowers, to which she broke down in a pool of tears. Luckily of course, she had friends to support her from that devastating night." "After that, no one ever saw him at school again." Katie added "But they did sure see him around the neighborhood plenty of times. They saw how his behavior changed. How his mannerisms grew more cynical. How he hardly ever tried to talk to anyone and even when it he did, he spoke in a serious, deadpan voice. Something happened to him. Something...just...snapped. Like all the humanity and innocence in him melted away. As if the sweet boy our teacher knew and liked died from the face of the earth. To this day, we just don't understand how someone can turn so mean, so cruel, so bully-like, all because of one little misunderstanding." Cory eyes were still fixed on the photo, to which he promptly tucked into his pocket and let out a sigh. It was at that moment Twilight trotted over to check on her son's progress. "Hey there." She said "I see you found company.' As she said this, Tony leaped into the arms of Katie while everyone else but Cory took a few steps back in shock. "Di..did that..winged...horned...pony thing just talk?" asked a rather petrified Camden. "I believe the proper term is Alicorn." Twilight corrected them. "You guys got a lot to learn about Equestria." "Cory?" asked a spooked Jolene "What's going on here?" "And why does that pony look and sound so familiar?" Tony asked. "Uh..guys." explained a rather shy Cory "I'd like to introduce you all to Twilight Sparkle." "It's a pleasure to finally meet you guys." Twilight said with a respectful nod. "I overheard you all attended Canterlot High while I was there." "Wait, wait, wait, hold on." Jolene said. "You're Twilight Sparkle?" "Yes." explained a confused Twilight. "You're the one set up that musical number in the cafeteria?" Camden asked. "Yes." said Twilight "...and led us in fixing the gymnasium for the school dance?" Tony asked. "Yes." "...and thus united us a school which led to you winning the fall formal?" Katie asked. "Yes." "You're...a PONY!!??" Rachel asked. "Yeah..Don't you remember that confrontation outside the school." They all looked confused. "Sunset turning into a raging she-demon?" They looked as though she didn't know what she was saying. "Turning you all into teenage zombies?" They still looked dumbfounded. "She tried to get rid of us, the magic counteracted, and all six of us grew wings a tail and pony ears?" They all shrugged their shoulders. "Everybody in the school saw it." "We...kinda left for Camden's house after you were crowned to celebrate." Tony explained. "Oh, in that case, yes, in my world, I'm a pony. An alicorn pony to be exact, who is also the Princess of Friendship, and who recently, jointly adopted Cory here." To which she gave Cory a motherly pat on the back. "Wait, did just say adopted?" Camden asked. "Um, guys." Cory explained as he cleared his throat. "This is my new mom." "And I'm one of his new siblings." Said Applejack who trotted out of nowhere. "Sorry to interrupt, but I overheard ya finally got reunited with yer friends. Then she turned over to the five humans as they still tried to wrap their heads over talking ponies. "Howdy." She said as she tipped her hat. "I'm Applejack, and let me just say it is a pleasure to see y'all at last. Cory here's been tellin me so much bout ya." "Wait, hold on." Tony said as he got out of his state of shock. "You got adopted by ponies, and one of them is a princess, who just happens to be the one that won our school's fall formal." "You might say that." Shrugged a prideful Cory. "Dude. You...Are....The luckiest guy in the world!!" Said a rather enthusiastic Katie. And so all his human friends gathered around him, ready to ask questions, ready to explore this new world, ready to discover something extraordinary.