The rest of Lightning Strike’s day passed in a boring haze. Having to sit out gym class because of his injury just made things all the more worse, since he could have used some physical exercise to distract himself from his current predicament.
He had, of course, been to this school once before during the Friendship Games, about half a year ago. He had borne witness to the abnormalities that had taken place then, though he didn’t know how real all of it had been. He supposed it must have happened, but after returning to Crystal Prep, Principal Cinch had worked nearly obsessively to deny that anything had occurred besides CHS ‘cheating’ in some non-specific way.
As he left his last class of the day to go to his locker, Lightning was aware of various other students looking at him. He had expected something like this. He was the new student here after all and not everyone would have seen him before. The cast on his arm would contribute to that.
He pushed open the front doors and breathed in the cool autumn air. Normally this would be an excellent climate to go biking in, but with what had happened before, he just didn’t really want to think about that topic. At least not until he got home.
“Hey! New kid!” a girl’s raspy voice came from behind him.
Lightning turned around, a mildly curious look on his face. There was a small collection of students arranged there, about six or seven. He sighed. Clusters of students wanting to speak to him wasn’t a good sign, if a lesson was to be learned from earlier. “What do you want?”
The leader, a rainbow haired girl wearing a blue jacket and a pair of skinny jeans with rainbow lightning bolts on the sides, stepped forward with a curious but cocky look on her face. Lightning vaguely recognized her from the Friendship Games, from the motocross segment of the tri-cross relay. “Thought I should introduce myself, seeing as you’ll probably be seeing a lot of me.”
“Oh, yeah?” Lightning was unimpressed. “Why’s that, then?”
“Because, new guy, I’m the most awesome and athletic girl here at CHS. Captain of every sports team, doncha know, not to mention lead guitarist for the Rainbooms. The one and only Rainbow Dash!” She held her arms out and closed her eyes, as if expecting applause.
Lightning didn’t give her any. “Well,” he said, turning around again. “That’s nice, but I need to get back home, so…”
“How was your first day at CHS, new kid?” Rainbow Dash sprinted around to stand in front of him. “Betcha it was way better than Crystal Prep.”
Lightning flinched, trying not to let his unease show. “Who said anything about Crystal Prep?” He asked warily.
Rainbow Dash smirked, which Lightning immediately took a dislike to. “I overheard some buddies talking about how you were from Crystal Prep. Got tired of them and decided to move here just like Twilight, am I right?”
A swell of dark anger rose up in Lightning’s chest and he moved to push past this girl. “Leave me alone.”
“Hey, I’m not done talking to you!”
“Quit acting like you know me,” Lightning snapped. “I didn’t choose to leave Crystal Prep. I was fine there.”
To her credit, Rainbow Dash only seemed stunned by this for a few seconds, allowing Lightning to get a few steps away from her. But then Rainbow suddenly zipped over in front of Lightning’s path with unbelievable speed, blocking the boy’s path.
“If you were fine at Crystal Prep, why’d you come here then?” the athletic girl challenged.
Lightning’s mood grew even more irritated as he recalled the reason for his change in school venue. “I didn’t have a choice, alright? If it was up to me, I’d still be at Crystal Prep! Now unless you actually want something from me, leave me alone.”
And with that parting remark, Lightning shoved past the speechless Rainbow Dash and sprinted back towards home.
It was late in the evening when Lightning’s phone chirped, alerting the youth to the fact that someone had texted him. He lay on his bed, apathetically bringing his phone to his face to see who the text was from.
When he saw the sender, a small smile graced his face.
‘Hey Lightning, heard you were starting at CHS today. Bummer huh? How’s things?’
~Indigo Zap
Lightning texted back, ‘Hey Indy. CHS is okay I guess, nothing on Crystal Prep though. How’s the rest of the motocross team holding up?’
The CPA motocross team consisted of Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, and a couple of other bike enthusiasts. Indigo and Sugarcoat were the best of them, hence why they had been chosen for the Friendship Games. Lightning remembered how they had come to visit him in the hospital when he had broken his arm, and he had been grateful for their presence. Now it looked like he would never see them again, and he felt a sense of regret and sadness in his chest.
‘Motocross team’s fine, but it’s not the same without you,’ Indigo texted. ‘Sucks that Cinch had to kick you out. I mean you already broke your arm in the crash, it’s not like you needed to be punished more.’
‘Well it was kind of my fault for riding like I was,” Lightning admitted. ‘Still when has Cinch ever been reasonable about running her school? I miss you guys already. CHS just has a bunch of nosy people who don’t know when to stop pestering me.’
‘LOL really? Do you need me and the team to come and back you up?’
‘Nah. It’s not worth it. Besides, I can’t see Cinch letting you set foot near CHS like that. You might get expelled too.’
The conversation dipped into talking about what they planned to do on the weekend, which Lightning was grateful for. Normally he would like to hit the streets on his bike for the weekend and maybe practice with the rest of the motocross club. Unfortunately, with what had happened, he wasn’t going anywhere; not with his arm and his bike in the condition they were in.
Eventually Lightning Strike said good night to Indigo, telling her to pass on the message to the rest of the motocross club. He placed his phone on his nightstand and headed off to take a shower before getting ready for bed.
Who knew? Tomorrow might be better than today.
“But not likely,” Lightning mumbled as he closed his eyes to sleep.
When Lightning arrived at school the next day, which was Friday, he noticed something immediately different. As he walked up to the front doors, there were several groups of people eyeing him and whispering. He paid them no attention and kept walking.
Suddenly, there was a flash of pink at his left side and he jumped in surprise.
“Hiya, Lightning!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “Good morning!”
“What’s so good about it?” Lightning grunted, continuing his path to his locker. “I’ve been better.”
“Well, I hope things get better!” Pinkie Pie replied enthusiastically. “Things are great here at CHS. You’ll see!”
She continued to skip along Lightning as he arrived at his locker, bouncing up and down next to him as he opened it and got his books out.
“Look,” Lightning said to Pinkie, slamming the locker door shut and startling some girls nearby. “Unless you want something, can you please leave me alone? I’m having a rough enough time as it is without you breathing down my neck. You’re invading my personal space here.”
“I just wanted to be welcoming and to let you know you can make plenty of friends here!” She never skipped a beat. “CHS is the friendliest place on earth!”
“Riiiight…” Lightning said and shook his head. “I’m not really looking to make friends here. Got some already, so if you really want to make me feel better, you can do so by piping down and letting me get to class.”
And without waiting to hear Pinkie’s inevitable reply, he slipped past her and strode off to the classroom. He glanced back to make sure he wasn’t being followed, and was satisfied to see that Pinkie was still standing back where he had left her. She had a thoughtful look on her face which Lightning immediately took to be a bad sign of things to come.
I miss Crystal Prep…
The whole school day, things had been even weirder, almost as though things could still get worse for him here. The other kids kept glancing over at him during classes and whispered to each other. He had no doubt they were talking about him, and he really wished they would all just forget he was sitting here. He didn’t need anyone trying to be his friend here and he certainly didn’t need anyone spreading rumors about him. Perhaps someone already did.
“When will this all end?” Lightning groaned and planted his face on his desk.
He stared at the cast on his arm, a constant reminder of the mistake that had cost him his place at CPA. While he did miss the place, any good feelings he might have had for Cinch had been obliterated the moment she had declared him expelled from the place. All because she couldn’t risk her precious reputation being besmirched.
At least tomorrow was Saturday, Lightning reasoned, trying to find a silver lining to cling to as the teacher droned on about things he had already learned last year. He was due for a visit to the doctor’s on Sunday to check on the progress of his broken arm, but before that, he planned to go see how much it would cost to fix his bike, or maybe buy a new one. Goodness knew he needed a pick-me-up after all he had been put through since the crash.
He sighed and tried to write down some notes. Lunch time couldn’t come soon enough, nor could the end of the school day.
The cafeteria was noisy, Lightning noted. He hadn’t noticed it yesterday on account of his foul mood, but today he was in less of a funk and had brought his own food this time. He chewed his bagel slowly as he flipped through the map app on his phone, plotting the best course to take to the mechanic’s then to the bike shop.
“Hmm, I’ll have to travel to the other end of Canterlot to get to both places…” Lightning mused. “Probably need to take the bus.” He took another bite of his lunch, enjoying the salmon and cream cheese filling inside the bagel. Going through with his plans would mean he would get to sleep in a bit, but the trips there and back again would take him most of the day if he set out at noon. Then after his arm healed, he could meet up with the motocross team and go riding together again, just like old times.
Old times, Lightning thought sourly. It had barely been three weeks and he was already thinking of his time at Crystal Prep as ‘old times’. A cold feeling swept over Lightning’s body. He clenched his teeth and stared at his cast-covered arm, glaring at it as if he could set it on fire through force of will alone.
He hated how powerless he was in the face of everything that had happened to him. He had no illusions about being anybody important; all he had wanted was to finish school and go to college, maybe become a professional motorcyclist. He had it all, a bright future and a prestigious school to graduate from. All gone because of one misjudged moment in the heat of the moment, and because that stubborn hag of a principal cared more about how her school looked to others than the welfare of the students who attended it.
Lightning stuffed the rest of the bagel into his mouth and packed up his things. At least nobody had tried to approach him while he had been eating. He had spotted the gang of guys sitting at another table. They looked over a few times, but thankfully they hadn’t bothered him today. He really didn’t want to have to deal with anyone, with how nosy everyone seemed to be in this school. He didn’t need to make more friends. He already had enough friends, and they were on the other side of the city.
As the school day ended and Lightning Strike made to leave CHS, he felt a little lighter. Tomorrow was Saturday, and he could do whatever he wanted, as well as forget about Canterlot High for a while. He pushed past the glass doors and almost instantly spotted Rainbow Dash and her gang of girl friends standing out there by the pedestal that had once supported that horse statue. A familiar face was with the athletic girl, one that Lightning recognized from Crystal Prep. It was Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash saw Lightning coming and nudged Twilight. Then the seven girls began to come up to Lightning, who sighed.
Ah, crap. Here we go again.
“Hey, Lightning. We just wanna talk,” Rainbow Dash started.
“Look, I know.” He raised his hands, willing for them to ward them off, but they didn’t. “And like I’ve said before, I’m not interested.”
“C’mon, just give us a chance,” Pinkie wheedled. “I can even throw a party for you if you want-”
“I don’t want a party, thanks,” Lightning said firmly. “What I do want is to go home and rest. So if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Ya haven’t been to Pinkie’s parties,” the one with the hat said. Lightning forgot her name, not that he wanted to remember it anyway. “Lemme tell ya, her parties can work wonders. It’ll make ya feel better.”
"Pass," Lightning told her. "I know you're just being friendly, but I really am in no mood to talk. I have things to do."
Twilight stepped forward. Ordinarily Lightning would have been happy to see a familiar face, but not when it was surrounded by all these others.
"If it’s homework you're talking about, I could help you study," Twilight offered.
"Twilight, you of all people should know that we learned all this material last year at Crystal Prep," Lightning Strike sighed in exasperation. "What I meant was that I have plans for the weekend and I want to go home so I can prepare. So can I go now?"
“Nothing seems to work on him.” Rainbow swung a fist down as they stepped aside to let Lightning Strike pass. “Twilight, you were from Crystal Prep. What do you know about him? He shut down everyone who wants to throw a party for him?”
"If what you told me is true, Rainbow, I think he may still be bitter about being expelled from Crystal Prep," Twilight said. "I do remember him vaguely from my time there. Lightning Strike was in the motocross club with Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap. He won a few awards for Crystal Prep in the inter-school championships last year."
"Yes, but how does that help us?" Sunset asked.
"Do you think that perhaps he just needs time to get over moving schools?" Rarity suggested. "It can't have been easy for him, especially with a broken arm on top of all that."
“I don’t think he seems happy changing schools,” Sunset said. “Remember what he said? About how he already had friends. He definitely didn’t want to leave. He must’ve been expelled and I think it has something to do with that arm of his.”
The seven girls watched Lightning Strike’s retreating form.
“Well, we can try again come Monday. Twilight, do you still have any contacts at Crystal Prep?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Maybe they can tell us how to get him to open up.”
“Couldn’t ya just use your geode on him, Sunset?” Applejack pointed out. “Save us a lotta trouble that way.”
Sunset fingered the gem around her neck. “I don’t want to use it for everything, AJ. He already doesn’t seem too happy with us; if he finds out I can read minds just by touching, he might never want me to touch him again.”
“And it seems like an invasion of privacy…” Fluttershy agreed. “Not that it hasn’t been useful, but still.”
“I’ll see if I can contact the girls at Crystal Prep,” Twilight decided. “At least we could get some closure. Nobody should feel alone, especially in a school as friendly as ours.”