Inside the school…
Our professor was getting his class ready as always. In particular, the plan was to teach his students the history of chocolate and the cocoa bean to tie into Valentine’s Day. Why? To teach them economics of course. By going into how certain resources can affect the stock market, his aim was to teach those young minds how to use math to manage their money as they got ready to either head to college or search for a career freshly out of high school.
Plus, chocolate was a great dopamine reward to keep the mind active.
Though he also had a cooler filled with cold bottles of water at the ready--chocolate really did dry the mouth out.
“Alright, everything’s in place,” the man said to himself as he ran down the various items on his checklist. “Classes start in ten minutes, so I can take a breather for a--”
Tap-tap-tap…
The man’s train of thought would be interrupted the moment someone knocked upon Aidon’s classroom door.
“Odd,” he thought to himself as he placed his checklist on his desk. “It’s a bit early. Are they really that excited to get started?” Naturally, he went to check who it was. Surprisingly though, it wasn’t a student…
As soon as Aidon opened the door, he’d be greeted with Vice Principal Luna. The blue woman was standing idly at the door, biting her lip and staring at the floor with her hands behind her back. In short, something was eating at her, and uncertainty in the way her eyes darted back and forth displayed it all.
Aidon immediately noticed this, only to assume the worst. “...Ms. Luna? Is something wrong?”
She looked up at him and shook her head with a relieved expression. “Oh, no! No…not at all, I just…wanted to come see you and speak with you.” Just as the first time they met, Luna began to twirl some of her hair around her index finger with a nervous smile on her face.
“I see…” Aidon replied with a small smile, doing his best to help her feel more at ease, “Well, then--I’m all ears, Luna. What would you like to talk about?”
Before she could speak, a myriad of thoughts ran their way through Luna’s head. “Okay, Luna. Don’t mess this up. This is your one and only opportunity to make a good impression before classes start. Just say what you want to say…” Once she gathered her thoughts, she began to speak. “...I just wanted to give you--”
Clack-clack-clack!
The sound of heels rapidly approaching the door interrupted Luna. Just what was the source? “Oh, Aidon! Sorry--excuse me, sister--one second please.”
Aidon tilted his head as Principal Celestia suddenly walked into the door frame, “Er…?”
Perplexed, Luna would question her sister’s actions. “...Tia, what are you--”
“One sec, please, Luna,” Celestia held up her index finger to shush her sister, then quickly turned her attention to Aidon. “Anyway--I just wanted to give you a little something. You’re quite possibly the best teacher we’ve had here at CHS, and I’d like to personally reward you for your splendid performance…” she spoke with a tone that conveyed a sense of desire with narrowed eyes.
The man was taken aback by such words, and tried to deny her advances. “Oh, um…thank you? I suppose? But I really--”
“Here,” Celestia replied as she handed him a small, heart-shaped box, “Make sure you enjoy each and every one. I made them all myself, Mr. Aidon.”
“I…” Aidon stared at the woman for a moment and adjusted his glasses. Over Celestia’s shoulder, he could see Luna scowling and gritting her teeth. “...Thank you. But I really must get ready to start class. I’ll try them out later, alright?”
“Be sure you do,” Celestia replied with a wink as she walked away…smirking to herself.
“...Well that happened,” Aidon muttered as he looked over at Luna. “...Anyway, what was it that…” his speech slowed to a stop the more he looked at her. Luna was staring at the floor with a dark expression on her face--coldly neutral to the point of being unreadable. Aidon’s first reaction was to tilt his head and inquire, “...Luna? Is everything alright?”
“Everything is fine,” she replied with a blunt tone as she began walking off in a different direction. When she passed by a trash can, she tossed a red envelope into it, and continued walking while trying her best to hold back tears. The veins on her neck and forearm started to flare up as a result of her frustration. “Just. Fine…”
This left Aidon in a state of confusion as he watched the sisters leave his sight. “...What the…something’s not right.”
Outside…
Twilight had started to explain herself to Flash. “...Yes. I knew you’d be lonely around this time--it’s your equivalent to Hearts and Hooves Day after all. I never should’ve left you in the dark like that. I’m sorry…” she looked down at the ground and rubbed her left arm. “...Can you forgive me?”
Flash approached her and brought her in for a hug. “Of course I can. You’re a busy person--er, pony who lives in another dimension. You don’t have to apologize…I just need to be stronger and get over it. Can’t let my emotions bring me down, you know?”
“...That sounds like just what a real man would say…” Twilight replied as she placed her chin on his shoulder, “You’ve certainly grown since last we met…”
“...You really think so?”
“Yes…” Unknown to Sentry, Twilight had begun to subtly move her left hand down, around, and behind his body--her eyes then flashed a shade of green as a wide, erratic slasher smile crept onto her face. “...I do.”
CHINK!
Flash’s eyes drew wide as his pupils shrank. All he could feel was a sensation of pain shooting through his body, unable to move or speak. “...”
“You loser…” Twilight shoved him to the ground, and wiped the bloody knife of her fingerprints with a rag, and dropped it to the ground where it clattered. “You really think your perfect little pony girlfriend would actually come back to see you? Now that’s a joke if I ever heard one. You’re nothing. Nobody likes you. Nobody cares about you. You’re nothing more than a popularity magnet meant to be used by others.”
Flash clutched his chest with one arm, and tried to crawl away with the other, only to watch helplessly as Twilight stepped in front of him. All he could manage to say was, “That’s not true...and you’re not her.”
“Congratulations--you have a functional brain.” The fake Twilight’s eyes flashed green once more as she folded her arms, “But who I really am isn’t relevant right now. The fact of the matter is…” she knelt down to the injured boy and cupped his chin in one of her hands, “You’re pathetic. No one sees you for who you are. They only see the surface-level stereotype you’ve made yourself out to be. That’s why Sunset Shimmer broke up with you. That’s why Princess Twilight Sparkle has left you and never returned.”
“No…I’m…I’m better than that…I am!” Flash pleaded while sobbing, “I’m not just another guy at school! I swear!”
“Too late for that pity party,” the fake Twilight let his chin go, and stood upright. She then placed her boot on the side of his head, forcing him into the ground with her hands on her hips. “Maybe next time, you’ll learn to accept who you are, rather than covering it up with some generic rocker-boy persona. I’ve got you and the rest of you humans figured out Flash Sentry. You’ll all succumb to your basest instincts and be remade in the New World. Your love for her will be a nice appetizer though…”
“Gghh…h-help…!” Flash sputtered weakly as he felt more blood leave his body.
“Nobody’s coming for you,” the doppelganger continued, “Sit there and die quietly like a good little--”
BLAM!
A hard force knocked the fake Twilight away and roll on the ground a few paces. A green aura forced her body to change back…into the tan-skinned woman known as Lucide. “What the--goddammit! Who dares interrupt my feeding process--?!”
Moments later, a young man’s voice called out. The source of it all? A fist made of sand. “...Step to us…and get shredded, yo!”