//------------------------------// // Dazzling First Day (Edited) // Story: Spider-Pip: Origins // by ZombieBrony22 //------------------------------// “If a coin comes down heads, that means that the possibility of its coming down tails has collapsed. Until that moment the two possibilities were equal.   But on another world, it does come down tails. And when that happens, the two worlds split apart.” Phillip Pullman, Golden Compass The alarm had a way of aggravating me. There I was, trying to sneak some sleep in at about 6:40 in the morning, and my bus comes at 7:25. Of course, my alarm didn't go off, meaning that I had about 15 minutes to get ready for school... So, you can see how I’d be in a bad mood already. Then, of course, all of my good clothes were in the laundry, meaning that I had to improvise... The result was me wearing tight jeans—like really tight jeans-- and a loose hoodie over a black T-shirt. Yeah, really sounded like a guy who has his life together... I suppose I might as well introduce myself... My name’s Flash Sentry, and my life so far had been one big dumpster fire. First, there was my ex... Sunset Shimmer—a true goblin if I’d ever seen one-- you’ll see why later... Then there were the five of her... friends? That doesn’t sound right but “lieutenants” sound too strong. Finally, there was me and my group of buddies. Most of them were either framed for crimes by the Rainbooms and expelled, or they smarted up and got up out of dodge. Well, it's one last year... how much worse could it be? How about we find out? I'd managed to make my bus and sit down without ripping these jeans when I saw a familiar face at the seat next to me, staring aimlessly out of the window. “Pipsqueak?” I called out. Pip— we all called him Pipsqueak, thanks to his small stature. He was one of my closest friends who was part of a career opportunity at Oscorp that didn’t work out so well, from what I’ve heard. He seemed to gain a bit of weight as well as muscle—he was no pipsqueak, that was for sure... “Oi! How’ve you been, Flash?” His British accent shone through as he turned to face me. “Eh. Same-old, same-old.” I replied. Pipsqueak’s voice seemed somewhat deeper than before, but he still seemed high-pitched with his chuckle. “Good to hear.” He smiled at me—his teeth strangely aligned... guess he didn’t need braces anymore. “Yeah... how was that college class?” I asked him. He stopped for a moment, glancing out the window. “Eh, it was alright—I just had to put up with the pain-in-the-neck CEO.” He told me. “Well, at least you didn’t have to put up with... them, over there...” I added. I stopped talking once I brought them up—my ex was kind of the boss of their crew, and so far, they’ve gone out of their way to make all of our lives a living hell. Mainly framing people for life-ruining acts, using their younger siblings for planting drugs, weapons, or even other... creative items in their lockers, one of them even made a few lucky students... disappear. The bus screeched to a stop and we had arrived... Canterlot High—a living nightmare. We left the bus and entered the building when a teacher asked me to see the principal... The Rainbooms did something already? That’s unlike them... As I walked toward the office, I heard exploding dye-packs be opened on freshmen, the scatter of hiding planted horrors in senior’s lockers, and the all-around dread of the new school year. I had reached the door labeled Principal Luna, and as I opened it, I expected the sounds of Vice-Principal Celestia demanding me to sit and explain myself again and Luna letting me go, but instead... I was met with three girls who I had never seen before—one had large orange hair, another had a long blue ponytail, and the last had purple pigtails arcing to her shoulders. Principal Luna was sitting in her chair, waiting for me—with a look of nervousness... “Hello, Mr. Sentry. How was your summer?” She asked me, almost ignoring the three new students. “Hey, Luna... it was good—I miss it...” This remark caused Luna to chuckle. “That’s good to hear... now, Mr. Sentry, I’d like you to meet Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze. You are to show these girls around campus today—they have all of your classes, so that should make things easier for you. Do you have any questions?” She asked me. Oh, I had a couple questions. “Can we talk alone for a moment? I just wanna ask some other questions.” Luna nodded and signaled the girls to wait out in the hall. As soon as they left and the door clicked shut, I leaned into the table. “Ms. Luna, please tell me you’re joking! It’s bad enough I have to look behind my own back, now I have three more to look after?! Luna, you can’t expect me to--” “First off, it’s Principal Luna to you, and second of all, I’m backed into a corner, here—Applejack volunteered to show them around, and you know how well that’d turn out. I panicked—it’s you or her, so please, please… I am begging you, back me up, here.” I, too, was backed into a corner and I made my decision... “So, this is our first class—don’t worry, Ms. Cheerliee is a great teacher, just learn to bear with her. We entered the room and sure enough, she was already all happy and cheerful—just like her namesake. “Good morning, students! It’s so good to be back with all of you. To start off today, I would like everyone to introduce themselves... starting with this row here.” She pointed over to the row on the far left, where Adagio was in the front seat. She stood and turned to face everyone else. “My name is Adagio Dazzle, me and my sisters are juniors, and we’re... new here.” Adagio said before sitting back down. I glanced around for a moment and saw that all of the guys were absolutely fixated on her... much to my annoyance. The last thing Canterlot needs is another diva. “Okay, next, please.” A few rows of students down and I saw Pipsqueak was up next. He rose up and cleared his throat before speaking. “My name’s Pip, I was here for the first half of my sophomore year, but I went to a vocational school for the second half... and here I am.” The juniors nodded and one of them even waved at “Pip” for him to wave back as he sat down. As the line of introductions continued, we finally reached Applejack in the far back (hey, that rhymed), who tipped her hat back and crossed her legs on top of the table in front of her. Her cowgirl boot/heel mix that her “friend” made for her. She was also wearing tight torn jeans and a deep red plaid shirt. She looked up and with her clothing combined with her eyeliner and her playful grimace portraying a truly sinister image, caused some of the freshmen to look away in fear. “...Ya’ll know who I am.” She smirked. There it was—the dread that we’ve all felt since my freshman year... since they arrived. The three new students then turned to me, and I simply sighed, waiting for someone to break the long silence. “Well we don’t.” Adagio boldly claimed. I was ready to chuck my laptop at her, hoping it would knock her out long enough for the Rainbooms to forget about her... Applejack moved her legs and leaned in, ready to lunge at whoever dared to mock her. “I’m sorry, can you run that by me again?” Applejack asked her, staring her down with a strong rage. Adagio didn’t falter—not even for a second as she leaned in as well. “I said that we don’t know who you are. We’re new, and I was hoping to know everyone’s name in my classes, but... oh, well.” Adagio shrugged her shoulders and turned back around, acting like nothing happened. Applejack simply chuckled and leaned back once again. “My name’s Applejack... and be careful who you talk to like that—others won’t take that sass so kindly around here.” No-one said a word—silence followed Applejack’s threat like a shadow. Cheerliee kept trying to start up the class again, but failed miserably. The class finally ended and the girls and I went to our next class... only to be stopped by an apple nailing a locker next to us—putting a large dent in it. We all turned to see Applejack holding another apple, tossing it in the air and picking it up. We went to head down the hall, but another one of the Rainbooms cut us off... “Starting already, Fluttershy? Seems a little early for your hairy little friends, don’t you think?” I asked. The pink-haired bully didn’t speak a word as she just smirked, starting to smile as the sound of electricity from down the hall, and I knew exactly what was coming. “Run!” The girls and I managed to avoid the rainbow-blur as the others began chasing us down, with the speedy one out of commission. The difference between us was staggering— the three new girls were running with looks of confusion and fear—as is expected. I, however, was running with a bold smile on my face—I enjoyed this, the thrill of the hunt, I guess you could call it—knowing that this is only the build-up to the big reveal... that excited me in a sick way, wanting to enjoy the run before the prey got cornered by its predators... I’ll stop. As we rushed for the other hallway, hoping to break away from the arachnid horde, we were greeted by Rarity, just standing in a dead end, and ran down the other hallway until we ran into another dead end-- the dead end, with the dim, sometimes-flickering lights... The rest of the Rainbooms were waiting for us... “H-hey, ladies! How’s.... how’s your summer?” I asked out of pure nervousness. “Life’s been peachy.” Rainbow Dash said, baring a similar sinister smile as she sped past us and next to the others. She then zoomed around and stood in front of Sonata, who tried to run in the other direction. Fluttershy then cracked her knuckles, intimidating Sonata enough to send her back to us. Rarity then used her powers to block us off—the diamond force-field catching the girls off-guard. Applejack then caught up with us, lunging next to Rainbow Dash, landing with the floor shaking slightly, soon followed by Fluttershy, who now used her powers to force some sort of small, rabid animal to emerge from her backpack... I never truly understood how she snuck all those animals and insects in... “So... where’s Pinkie?” I asked the girls, all of whom wore sinister smirks. “She’s still doing time... but she should be out real soon.” Fluttershy said, pulling the creature back. “Good to know. So, what’s this all about?” I asked them. Applejack stepped forward and signaled at Adagio. “This... is about teachin’ y'all who to respect 'round here.” She stated. “Girls, come on... it’s their first day, let them off the hook this one time.” I pleaded, knowing it was falling on deaf ears. They seemed to think about it for a second before smirking and beginning to walk towards us, causing us to move back to the dark, flickering light in the dead-end locker area... “Jus’ know that this ain’t personal, Flashy...” Applejack said, grabbing me by one hand and lifting me up into the air. Then, out of nowhere, the lights went off and we heard someone shoot out some kind of rope from his wrist and pull Applejack back, dropping me due to her being shot backwards. "Who did that?! Show yourself!" Applejack called. Everyone was struck in awe and simply watched the sight as I saw the silhouette of Pip for a split second-- adjusting some device on his arm, only for the lights to flicker, and for the device to go off again—this time launching a ball of goo on to Rarity’s hand keeping her from using her powers. “What the-- Get this off me!” Rarity screamed in horror, trying to pull it off, but finding it glued to her left hand. “Run!” A voice called out. Sure enough, we ran—we kept running until we were safe... Also, we managed to knock down Vice-Principal Celestia. “...Sister, this is what happens when we trust Flash Sentry to guide the new students around! Applejack volunteered, you should’ve let her go!” Celestia told her sister, while I was sitting outside of her office. “Celly, with all due respect, you know what they did to--” “I won’t allow myself to dive into rumors-- their records are clean!” There was a short pause, but I was certain that Luna shot Celestia a look. “O...kay, perhaps Ms. Pinkamena is a different story, but she’s being rehabilitated as we speak. You need to understand how much of a bad influence that... delinquent is-- he’s been charged with larceny, grand theft auto, and--” “I’m aware of his charges, sister, and they’ve all been dropped-- Captain Shining Armor told me as much.” Luna stated. “You don’t question how fast those charges were dropped? One day there, and the next day gone?” “And you don’t question how close the Rainbooms were to the case? They stuck to that case and many others just like it—you need to at least question that.” Luna begged her sister. There was a silence, and Celestia walked out of the door, but not before glaring at me and walking off. The Dazzlings were being shown around by some other student—Trixie, I think her name is. I’ve never met her, but I have friends who hang out with her, she sems nice enough. I took a moment to look the room over again—the pictures of Sunset winning three Fall Formals certainly stood out. Her first one was back when she was still pretending, all happy and honored... the second was ruder and more selfish, while the third was pure evil—diabolical, and insane. I wonder how she’s gonna look this year... Luna opened her door and signaled for me to come in. I closed the door behind us and took a seat, ready to hear light disciplining. “Flash... I know that things seem tough with the Rainbooms around, but you can’t let that stand in the way of what’s--.” “...Of what’s important, I know Lu—Ms. Luna, it’s just... I had to stand up for them, they got themselves in a corner and I couldn’t just stand there and let it happen. Besides, you made me look after them, I needed to deliver.” I explained myself. Luna took a moment and sighed, glancing over at a photo on her desk. “I know... I’ll write you a pass, you should get going. And please, watch where you’re running, this time.” Luna said, warranting a chuckle from me. “You got it.” It all seemed like yesterday—CHS almost functioned like compound, with all of the status quo and hierarchy drama. I, however, liked being on my own—no-one to keep me down or hold me back... But we all need an education, and I am not going back to Oscorp... Not after what happened with Twilight and Cinch. The school day slowly came to an end and I was left with my regular activities... Well, as regular as they can be, when you have the powers of a DNA-fused spider. The bus dropped me off by the city limits, where I looked around for an alley-way to change at. Sure enough, I found a decent one and ran in it, my suit in my backpack. I removed the white hoodie that was keeping me warm and put it in the bag, grabbing my suit first... Once the shirt was on and the mask was pulled down... I became Spider-Man. I shot out a web that stuck to a building wall and I used it to launch myself to the top of the building—a decent size and good enough to start my momentum. I went to one side and ran towards the other, picking my target to web-swing from. I found a nice crane and launched a web at it, grabbing my web before it detached. I leaped off of the roof and let myself swing into the city, anxious to find some form of crime to stop, someone to save... This is my home, and this is my part of the story... Allow me to tell it.