Chapter 2
August 26 23°C/73°F
"Ah, I see you came back. That's good, it means you are the one. I was afraid I might have scared you off with my previous speech, but luckily I was wrong," Discord said from behind the café table, merrily sipping his tea. "Soon your challenge will begin, and you might want to hurry up before things get too hot."
Flash woke up the following morning to the irritating blare of his alarm clock. It was seven o'clock, just enough time for him to get back into the dull routine. He grabbed his toiletries and clothes and headed outside. At the other end of the hallway was the bathroom, and right at the doorstep was Time Turner wearing a brown robe. "Hello there Flash! Did you sleep well?"
Still groggy from the rude awakening, he managed to answer. "Good enough, though I'm still somewhat tired. I wish I had a week more to rest."
"Well, you know what they say: there's no rest for the weary," he history teacher said with a cheery voice and promptly entered the bathroom.
Flash followed, and noticed the bathroom was large enough to hold four of everything. Ten minutes later he was done with his shower and headed to the kitchen for a quick breakfast.
To his surprise, Cadance was up, wearing a personalized pink nurse uniform. "Good morning to you sir! I hope you slept well."
"Well enough after a two day trip and eight hours of rest. I'm sure a zombie has more life than me," he answered as he rubbed his temples.
"You're quite the comedian, aren't you?" she responded with a chuckle as she continued fiddling with her frying pan. "Anyways, eat up. I'm sure Twilight will join you shortly but you might as well start eating, she eats pretty quickly." She served him a large portion of scrambled eggs.
After thanking her for cooking, he started eating. Halfway through his plate he saw his fellow classmate taking a seat next to him. "So you wanna walk with me to school?" she asked with a grin as she began devouring her plate at blinding speed.
"I think you should slow…" Flash started, before realizing his sentence was now useless; in about half a minute she had managed to finish eating. "Never mind."
"Come on! I need to get to school now! I have a project to turn in!" Twilight said as she rushed for her backpack.
The walk to school was somewhat pleasant, if a bit too long. Fifteen minutes long to be exact. He was starting to like the atmosphere this town carried, it was serenity at the most simple form.
"So why don't you tell me about yourself? I want to know as much as possible about my new neighbor!" said Twilight as she fiddled with her Botphone.
"I'm not that interesting. Just the son of a couple of bookworm archaeologists living in Manehattan."
"Okay so your parents like history, but what about you? What do you like?" she inquired.
"Me? That's an odd question. I like boring stuff like cartoons, boxing, swords, books, guitar and general fun," he shrugged. "So I answered one question, so now I get to ask you one."
"I suppose that's fair, what do you want to know about?"
"What's that project you have to turn in?"
"Oh that? It was just a fifteen-page thesis about the importance of responsible cellphone use and the dangers of phubbing poses to social life."
"Sounds… entertaining. So what's the purpose of it? Other than helping keep busy during summer."
"Oh, it's just an extra credit project. Oh, and it could earn me the chance to represent Canterlot High during the next Scholastic Tourney in December," Twilight answered giddily.
"That's pretty ambitious, I hope you win."
"Oh I'm sure I will win, no one tries out for these things. Maybe Sunset Shimmer, but she's not likely to win. She's got bad writing habits, tends to put commas out of order and stuff," she answered.
Suddenly their phones buzzed simultaneously; upon inspection, he saw a Harmonyspace notification. A new friend called Wondercolt. There was no face, just the logo of a horse. He showed her the message.
"How on earth did you get a friend request from Wondercolt? And it’s so creepy that I got one at the same time!" Twilight showed her phone, and sure enough there was the same profile.
"Who's Wondercolt? I remember some girls talking about it on the train here, but they were mostly talking about nonsense."
“That’s the mystery: no one knows. Wondercolt is the school’s mascot, but the school has warned us that they didn’t create the profile, so it’s anyone’s guess as to who Wondercolt is,” she said as she out her phone away. “The thing is, Wondercolt only sends out friend requests to outstanding students. So why is he inviting you?”
"Maybe because he looked me up and thought I had some potential." Flash smirked.
“I doubt it. No one knows that you’re new, and if they did there’s no way they could locate you so fast. And you haven’t done anything for the school, so Wondercolt is just breaking his pattern,” replied Twilight.
"Get out of the way!" a voice shouted as a rainbow-haired girl with cyan skin dashed through them, barely dodging Flash as she jumped unto the rail before them and grinded her way down. Before landing on the ground, she jumped once more, making a full spin before landing on her backside.
Flash rushed to help her up. "Are you all right?" he asked as he extended his hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks anyways. This sort of thing tends to happen." The girl dismissed his help, merely shaking herself before standing up again.
"Are you sure? That looked like a nasty fall," he asked as he picked up her navy blue backpack.
"I've had worse, trust me," she replied as she grabbed her backpack. "But thanks for asking. Hey, you're new here right?"
"Yes I am, how could you tell?" he asked with a grin.
"I don't recognize you from any of the sports clubs, so I thought you were either a new guy or a techie," she replied as she began skating away. "See ya later!" She turned around and waved at Twilight. "Bye egghead!"
"Um, who was that?" asked Flash with a puzzled look.
"That was Rainbow Dash, our sports prodigy. She loves using a different ride every day. The last day of school she used a skateboard, and on April Fools Day she used a tricycle to grind through the main entrance. She nearly got suspended if it weren't for the principal who found it funny." said Twilight as they stepped down to the courtyard. "She got her friend invite last semester after the Wondercolts won the Regional Cup."
"So how many sports teams do you have?" he asked as they approached the school entrance.
"About ten. Most are seasonal, but the only ones that are open all year round are the swim team and the basketball team," said Twilight as they entered the main hall. There was a large crowd amassing in front of the billboard, some students were hugging friends while others cried uncontrollably.
"This is an outrage! How dare they put me in Mr. Time Turner's classroom!" cried a white-skinned girl as she stomped the ground. "I clearly should have been with Mr. Hoity Toity!"
Flash turned to ask Twilight, "What's with her?"
"Mr. Time Turner is known for being a little different when it comes to study methods. His idea of a good history exam is telling us to build dioramas of either the Siege of Osanala or the Battle of Staliongrad."
"Really? That sounds awesome!" exclaimed Flash as he adjusted his backpack. "Most teachers would make you read a boring text and tell you to extract the most complex of emotions that are only clear when you've been hit by a brick."
"Not if you're Rarity, prodigy fashion designer, it isn't. She wanted to be part of Mr. Hoity Toity's class. He's the one you want if you plan on learning about fashion. That and also if you want to avoid your hair from getting singed during science experiments." The bell suddenly blared, causing all the voices to die off as the students looked at each other in amazement and horror. Twilight quickly glanced at the list. "We'd better get going or you'll be late for class." Before Flash could reply, he was dragged away from the bulletin board.
"Wait! I don't even know who my homeroom teacher is!" Flash protested
"We're both in Time Turner's class, I saw your name just below mine," replied Twilight dismissively as she paid more attention to the signs above the classrooms than the young man she was dragging. After a couple of minutes, they burst through the door of Classroom 2-D. "We're here!" roared Twilight as she kicked down the door. To her surprise the brown-haired teacher was still not in attendance.
Flash managed to recognize Rainbow Dash sitting in one of the desks, talking to a group of students. The sports prodigy slowly turned her head to face Twilight and gave a chuckle. "Twilight, you know better than anyone that Time Turner is never on time."
Twilight's face turned pale at the sight of her. "Since when are you early for class?"
Rainbow hopped out of her desk and walked toward the girl. "Well, miracles do happen. Maybe I decided to change my irresponsible ways." she replied.
"The queen of tardies, having a change of heart? Please, I’ll burn a book before that happens.
Rainbow merely shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? I'm one of a kind."
"Having fun without me Twilight?" came the voice of Time Turner from behind, startling most students as his presence was revealed. "You don't have to stop just because I'm here," he added as he settled a large sword on the table.
Half of the class resumed talking, the other half (including Twilight) immediately sat down and opened their notebooks. After a nudge from Twilight, Flash followed her lead. "Why are we staring at our notebooks again?"
The girl didn't answer, her eyes were focused on the teacher. "Alright ladies and gents, you can put your books away because I've got something to tell you," said Time Turner as he clasped his hands and sat on his desk. A few minutes passed as the classroom settled down, occasional whispers were hushed immediately. "What I have to tell you is this: happy first day of school!" exclaimed the teacher.
He turned his gaze to Flash with a smile. "My name is Time Turner and I will be both your homeroom teacher as well as your history teacher.” he paced around the room, looking at different students. “What does that mean? I hear you ask. It means that if you have a problem with the old Imperium, you can ask me for help. If your girlfriend dumped you before the Fall Formal for a jock, you can ask me for help on getting revenge.” he allowed a few chuckles to pass then grabbed a list on his desk.
“So, you know each other. You’ve shared stories of all sorts in the past. How do I know this? Because I have a magic list that says so.” he waved the piece of paper to his class. “And out of the thirty students here twenty nine were here last year. The only new one in the list is Flash Sentry.” He let the list fall back to his desk and pointed his index at the blue-haired student. “So introduce yourself!”
Flash stood up and walked toward the teacher’s desk, avoiding eye contact with his fellow classmates. Once he reached the blackboard he turned to his instructor. “Where should I start?”
“How about the basics: name, your previous school, a hobby, favorite dog, your preferred sushi. Trivial stuff like that.”
Flash looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Okay, I guess that’s a good start.” He faced his classmates: “Hello everyone, as Mr. Time Turner has mentioned, my name is Flash Sentry. I was born and raised in Manehattan, where I attended Midgar Academy. I like music, games, boxing, reading, Shiba Inus and Futo Makis."
“Very well ladies, I just made your jobs easier. Now back to your desk Flash. I have to talk about something that is not celtic or nordic mythology, so it’s gonna be dry.” Time turner said, prompting the class to heave in frustration in unison.