//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Sun of My Heart // by BlueSun52 //------------------------------// New Friends Soul opened the door and walked into his first class. The next thing he knew, a paper ball was flying towards him and he ducked, letting it pass him. He looked straight to see some of the students throwing things at one another while others were just chatting with one another. Soul let out a sigh and started looking around for an open seat for him. He spotted one that was open near the center and decided to take it. He took a seat, placed his bag beside him and stretched for a moment. He looked around the room at the other students as they paid no heed to the new kid and continued with their own business. While he did feel a little left out, Soul did always liked being alone most times and took solace in the peace he had. But he still wanted to be part of something. Looking at the clock, he saw that there was still time to do whatever he wanted before class started and decided to pull out his sketch book from his bag. He reached into his bag and pulled out the sketch book that was filled with some of his drawings. He opened it up and looked over the artwork he had done. He eyed his favorite drawing of his made up spartan from his favorite game, Halo; holding up a pistol. He turned another page and saw his own design for a batman costume which he thought would look cool. He flipped another page and saw sketches of various things that weren't related to one another. While Soul was looking at his drawings, a cyan skinned, young man with black spiky hair was walking by him while he was whistling. The young man stopped as his eyes caught sight of some of Soul’s drawings. He looked at them them over Soul’s shoulder without him realizing it and was impressed by his drawings. “Hey, did you draw those?” he asked. Soul looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, I did,” he replied. “Wow, they look really cool.” “Thanks, though I kinda wish I could do better than this,” Soul admitted. “What do you mean? They look fine to me.” “Well they are, but I still have a long way to go,” Soul said. “I have a hard time with head shaping with the body and to get the eyes on them as well. Then I have to deal with those fingers which can be a real pain to deal with. The concept of the drawing is good, but I want to be able to draw like in anime styles. I tried doing how-to books and looked at other’s drawings but for some reason I still have trouble drawing them out and-” Soul paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, I got carried away. Name’s Soul.” “That’s okay, name’s Swift.” Swift then shook hands with Soul. “Are you new here or something? I haven’t seen you around here before.” “Yeah, just moved into town this summer,” Soul replied. “Well, allow me to say, welcome to Canterlot High,” Swift said. “Thanks I-” Soul paused for a moment and looked at Swift carefully. “Hey, wait. I think I remember seeing you earlier today.” “Really?” “Yeah, I saw you walking down into the school with someone else and then I saw you blush when you were looking at a girl. I think it was Pink-Hmph!?” Swift was pouring sweat from his forehead and blushed violently as he clamped his hand around Soul’s mouth. He looked over his shoulder to see Pinkie sitting at her spot with Rarity next to her. He then looked at Soul with a worried expression. “Please, don’t say that out loud.” Soul nodded and Swift removed his hand. “Sorry about that,” Swift said, apologetically. “No, it’s alright. I sometimes shoot my mouth off without even thinking,” Soul said “So, I’m guessing you like her?” “Well, yeah, everyone likes Pinkie.” “No, I mean...Never mind,” Soul said. The door to the room opened and coming in was a young women with very pale, yellow skin that seemed to be in her mid twenties having long crimson hair with a streak of pink with a rose pin on the side. Her irises were pale green. She was, no doubt, the teacher as she took a seat on the teacher’s desk and all the students started quieting and settling down. “Good morning, class. As some of you already know, I am Miss Roseluck and I will be your literature teacher for this semester,” she said. She then stood up from her desk and wrote down the her name on the chalkboard to make it official. After that, she faced the class. “Most of you are wondering why I’m introducing myself. Well, as it turns out we have a new student joining us today.” Soul got a little uncomfortable that he was the only new student in the class and was hoping that she wouldn’t try to call him up. “Mr. Writer, can you please stand and come introduce yourself?” she asked as she scanned the room for him. Soul let out a sigh and got out of his seat. He walked across the room feeling a bit awkward. When he reached the desk, Roseluck gave the young man a smile while he returned it with a small smile. She motioned him to turn towards the class. “Tell us about yourself, Mr. Writer,” Roseluck said. “Well, my dad goes by Mr. Writer so I go by my first name, Soul. My mom and I moved here about a month ago. My dad is not able to come with us because he’s still stationed over where we were as he is part of the National Royal Guard.” Roseluck nodded. “Thank you for telling us that, Mr. Soul. We hope that you both enjoy and have fun here at Canterlot,” she said. Soul happily nodded and returned back to his seat. “Now everyone, I want you to turn to the first chapter of your book and we’ll be doing some reading together.” After a few hours, Soul was in the cafeteria while he was waiting in line with the rest of the students. He saw what was on the school’s menu and saw that it was fried chicken Monday. His mouth was watering at the thought of having some of them and knew who would be making them. When he was next to grab his meal, he was facing an elderly, large woman who had pale green skin, white hair that was made into a bun tail and bright orange irises. She was wearing an orange scarf with polka dotted apples, a tan top and a dark pink skirt with an stained apron around her waist. “Well, howdy, grandson. Glad ta finally see ya make it here,” the woman said. Soul smiled. “Hey, Granny Smith, glad to see you again.” “How have the first classes been coming along?” “They’re coming along nicely,” he replied. “That’s good ta hear.” Smith then started placing food onto Soul’s tray. “You better get going, don’t want to keep all these nice folks waiting.” Soul nodded and walked away with the tray in hand. He scanned around the cafeteria for place to sit. He spotted Applejack and her friends sitting around at a table. He also saw Sunset sitting with them too. When he was looking at her, he blushed a bit and felt his heart race slightly faster. He was tempted to see if he could sit with them but felt that he didn’t want to take any of Applejack’s time with her friends. He walked around some more to see where he could sit until he heard his name being called out. “Hey Soul!” Soul looked to where the voice was and saw Swift sitting at a table with some other guys with him. Swift motioned for him to come sit with them and Soul happily walked over. He took a seat next to him. “Heya Soul, how’s it hanging?” Swift asked. “Haven’t seen ya since first period.” “It’s been good, though I wish the classes weren’t so far apart from one another. I swear, it’s like a maze here,” Soul replied. “Trust me, you get use to it,” said one of Swift’s friends. He was wearing a green army jacket with a grey shirt under it while a cog symbol was on it. He also wore blue jeans and black shoes with white streaks. He had a brown, spiky hair and brown irises. “Name’s Rivet by the way.” “And I’m Clyde in case you were wondering,” the other guys said. He had grey skin and black hair while he had teal irises. He wore a black t-shirt with a basketball with a music note symbol on it, and blue jeans. His grey jacket rested next to him. “Swift was just telling us about the drawings you make.” “Yeah, I draw some but not as good as I want to, though,” Soul admitted. “Give it some time and you’ll get use to it,” Rivet said. “Pretty sure a lot of artists had to go through a lot to learn how to draw.” “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Soul replied. He then looked over to Swift. “Hey Swift, I know that it’s probably none of my business but do you have a crush on Pinkie?” Clyde and Rivet stopped what they were doing and looked back and forth between Soul and Swift. Swift had a violent blush on him as he was trying to find the words in his mouth. “I...um….No…...Maybe…….Yes,” Swift said in a defeated tone. “ I had a crush on her since eighth grade.” Soul then had a puzzled look as he tried to figure out the math. “Wait, what grade are you in now?” he asked. “Eleventh grade.” “Oh, okay. I thought for a moment that you- What!? You’ve been crushing on her for three years?” Soul said in a surprised tone. “And you haven’t asked her out in all that time?” “.....No,” Swift replied. “I use to get nervous whenever I got near her. But now we’ve been in the same club and I've been building up a great friendship with her.” “Oh, well, I guess it’s better late than never,” Soul said. “So how long have you been in the same club as her?” “A year.” “Well, I’m sure- What!? A year? And still nothing?” Swift slowly nodded. Soul then looked at the other two. “And you guys haven’t helped him once?” he asked them. “Hey, I don’t have a girlfriend either,” Rivet said. “So it’s kinda hard to help a guy out when I have no idea how to be in a relationship.” “And I’ve tried to help but it always seemed to have….. a more or less bad outcome,” Clyde admitted. “At least my Boo and I don’t have that kind of problem.” “Your what?” “My girlfriend.” “Ah.” Soul then faced back Swift. “Well, if you made this long, I bet you're close to finally asking her out.” “I am, infact, I’m planning on asking her out at this semester’s dance,” Swift said. “Wait, this semester’s?” “Yeah, we have a dance at the end of every semester,” Clyde clarified. “First is the Fall Formal, than the Spring Ball and the last is the Summer Gala before we leave for summer vacation.” “Wow, that’s a lot of dances in one school year,” Soul said. “So you guys been going to them?” “I’ve been going to them since I’ve been going out with my boo,” Clyde replied. “I’ve never had a reason to go to them,” Rivet said. “So no.” “I’ve been to a few of them, but alone,” Swift said with a frown. “Speaking of girls, I guess you haven’t find any you like yet?” Soul blushed a bit. “Well, there maybe one girl I might like, but it’s too early to say,” he replied. Swift raised a brow. “Who?” “......No one,” Soul replied while making a scrunched face. ‘Ah crap, I think I’m doing that face thing. Curse you, Applejack!’ “Not sure if I’m an expert, but I think you’re lying,” Rivet said. “Might as well tell us, we already told you all of our crushes and girlfriends.” “Um Rivet, you haven’t told him your crush,” Clyde pointed out before Rivet gave him the ‘shut it’ look. “Who does he have a crush on?” Soul said with a sly smile. “It’s none-” “It’s Rainbow Da-” Before Swift could finish, he found a face full of mashed potatoes and fell to the ground. Rivet was able to to get the shot in, but realized that he had failed to keep Swift’s mouth shut. “Rainbow Dash? The one with the rainbow hair?” Soul asked. Rivet glared at Soul which made him wince but gave out a defeated sigh and nodded. “I can see why you like her, she is good looking.” “Alright, now that you know, you tell us your secret crush,” Rivet said and pointed his finger at Soul. All eyes were on Soul including Swift who wiped away the mashed potatoes and ate some of it. Soul felt nervous and a bit frightful but gave out a sigh. “I think I have a crush on….Sunset Shimmer,” he whispered the last words. “Who?” Clyde asked. “Sunset Shimmer,” he said a little louder. Rivet gave out an irritated sigh and took out a paper and pen from his pocket. “Just write the name down,” he said, handing them to Soul. “Why do you have a pen and paper in your pocket?” Swift asked. “Why do you have a picture of Pinkie in yours?” “Touche,” Swift said with a blush. Soul wrote Sunset’s name on there and gave the pen and paper back to Rivet. Rivet looked at the paper with Clyde over his left shoulder and Swift over his other. They looked at the name that was written down and then looked at Soul with shocked expressions. “Okay, first off, nice cursive writing. You’re really good at it,” Swift said. “Thanks, my mom taught me how.” “Well, she did a good job at it,” Swift happily said. “Second of all, whhaaaaaaaat!?” Soul looked at them with a confused expression. “What’s the problem? She seems like the nicest girl I’ve met.” “Yeah, she is now. Don’t you know anything about her though?” Clyde asked, concernedly. “Well, no. Why?” “You want the short version or the long version?” Rivet asked. “Because it’s going to be weird either way.” “The um, long version?” “Alright. Swift this is your department,” Rivet said. “Right.” Swift faced Soul. “Let’s start with how she was before.” Sunset was enjoying her lunch with the others as she plunged her fork into the salad she was eating and took a bite. She has gotten use to eating meat after living in this world for a long time but she felt like eating something more healthy like Fluttershy, who also had a salad. The rest of her friends were enjoying the food and chatted with one another. She took a quick glance around hoping to see Soul around. She really wanted to make sure that she made a good impression on him and to show how kind she was before he learns about her past. Sure, she was now friends with most of the school body after helping save them from a trio of mind-controlling sirens at the Battle of the Band but there were still some of them that still harbored grudges against her. She spotted Soul sitting at a table with some guys. She looked at them for a moment and recognize each of them. She knew Clyde right away, as he was Rarity boyfriend and he would hang out with them from time to time, she met Swift a few times over whenever she visited Pinkie at her club meetings and finally Rivet. Though they hadn’t really talked much, she could tell that he had no hate against her and had more of a neutral opinion about her. She raised an eyebrow as Swift was making strange hand gestures and body movements as if he was explaining a story to Soul. She then looked over to Soul who also had a raised brow combined with a puzzled look. Sunset couldn’t help help but smile a little as she stared at the boy. Her thoughts were going back to when she first met him and showed him around the school, and how he quickly saved her from getting hit by the soccer ball while she was pressed against him. She lightly blushed as she remembered how close his lips were to her’s. She shook her head violently and got the thought out of her mind. Swift then pointed towards Sunset for some reason and Soul looked over to her. Sunset panicked as she realized he was now staring at her from a distance and put on a sheepish smile. Soul smiled backed and waved at her. She waved back. She then turned around to her friends and let out a sigh. “Is something wrong, dear?” Rarity asked. “Oh, nothing,” Sunset replied. “I’m just hoping that I made a good impression on Soul today.” “Whatever would make you think you wouldn’t?” Rarity asked. “I have no doubt you showed Soul the best you can and that you were sweet to him the whole time.” “I was but I’m always worried that someone from here will tell him about the old me and he'll start to hate me,” Sunset said. “Look, even if he did find out, the chance of him hating you are slim to none,” Rainbow Dash said. “No doubt that everyone here would tell him all that had happen about how you were bad girl who turned into a raging she-demon to one of the school’s heroes. The only ones who would give you a bad name would be Trixie and the sirens.” Rainbow then looked to one table where Trixie and her female minions were sitting and Trixie gave Rainbow a glare which was returned with her own. She then looked over to where the sirens were as they were sitting at their usual spot away from the other students as Adagio was feeling around her neck where her pendent once was, Aria was sulking as always and Sonata was trying to put a spoon on her nose and keep it in place. After the Battle of the Bands, the sirens had lost all of their powers and had no choice but to continue their lives as teenage girls as their immortality was possibly gone and decided that, since the school had a high education, they would use whatever knowledge they could gather and try to live out the rest of their last, possible, mortal days. Most of the students still hated them but thought it was best just to ignore them since their powers were gone. “So you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Rainbow Dash finished, taking a drink from her soda. “You’re right. I guess I was just worried about nothing,” Sunset said. “Of course I’m right,” Rainbow Dash proudly said, earning an eye roll from the girls. “I mean it’s not like you have a crush on the guy.” She then had her eyes closed. There was a long pause at the table. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see Sunset slightly blushing and was looking away from the girls. “....Wait, do you?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Well-” “Oh my gosh, she does!” Pinkie shouted out. “Pinkie! Will you let our friend here say something,” Rarity scolded. She looked back at Sunset. “Do you?” “Tell you the truth, I’m not sure,” Sunset replied. “I mean he does look good and everything but I barely know him. Plus, I’m not sure how he’ll react when he finds out I’m from another dimension.” “Ah don’t think that’ll bother anything at all,” Applejack said. “Knowing my cousin, it won’t bother him one bit.” “What makes you say that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Because he’s a big sci-fi nerd,” Applejack bluntly answered. “This would be frosting on a cake. He’s into Star Wars, Halo, comic book heroes, and all that other stuff Ah hear from him. To be honest, Ah sometimes ignore him when he would go on and on about that stuff.” “So he would have no problems with me being a pony?” Sunset asked. “From what I understand here, that kind of stuff would be girlish to him.” “Ah think he’ll just ignore the pony part and just say you're an alien from another dimension,” Applejack replied. “Speaking of him, here he comes now,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing. The girls looked over to see Soul walked over to them. When he reached the table, he looked over to Applejack. “Hey AJ, can I talk to you in private for a moment?” Soul asked. “Um, sure, Soul,” Applejack said and got up from her seat. “What do you need?” “I just need to confirm something real quick,” Soul replied and motioned for Applejack to follow him. Applejack followed Soul out of the cafeteria and they both stood outside of it with the windows showing them on the other side. No one could hear what they were saying but their mouths were moving and every now and again their expressions would change and make hand gestures. “What do you think they’re talking about?” Fluttershy asked. “Heavens, if I know?” Rarity said. “Me too,” Pinkie said. “Oh! Do you think they’re talking about the surprise party I have for Soul?” “Pinkie, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise party if Soul knew about it,” Rainbow Dash said. “Also, how would he have known you were planning on throwing a surprise party?” “Maybe from Applejack?” “That’s true, but I doubt that she would tell him. She wouldn’t want to ruin a Pinkie surprise,” Rainbow Dash countered. “But I doubt that’s what they’re talking about.” “Well, what else could they be talking about, Miss Smartypants?” Pinkie asked, placing both hands on her hips. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but look at Pinkie with half lid eyes. “They’re talking about me,” Sunset said. All the girls looked over to her. “He probably already found out and is asking Applejack about it.” “But who could have told him?” Rarity pondered. -Two Minutes Ago- Soul looked at the guys with a raised eyebrow and a questionable look. “So let me get this straight,” Soul began to say. “You’re telling me that Sunset is from another world that is inhabited by ponies according to what my cousin and the others said? And the events that happened in the last year alone, you guys either missed it by chance or something came up and you didn't see any of it happened when Sunset tried to take over the school as a she-demon? Then you tell me that she was hit by a rainbow colored magic that changed her from bad-as-the-wicked-witch to a sweet-as-candy girl by another girl from said world who came to stop her with my cousin and her friends? After that, three evil sirens that came from the same world tried to take over the world by using their signing to take control of people’s minds? But the same girl that stopped Sunset came back and my cousin and her friends and Sunset joined together and sang a song that rendered the sirens’ powers useless and everything is back to normal? Besides the fact that Sunset is a pony from another dimension?” “Yes. That’s exactly what I told you, but shorter and differently worded,” Swift repled. “And you didn’t even try to make some of the hand gestures I worked so hard to make.” Rivet and Clyde rolled their eyes. Soul slowly nodded and let all the information he had gathered sink into his mind. He then got up and started walking over to where Applejack and the others were. “Where are you going?” Clyde asked. “I need to check something,” Soul replied. He walked over to the girls’ table and the guys saw him and Applejack walking out. They saw that they both were having a conversation and Soul was making some of the hand gestures as Swift did. “There, that’s more like it,” Swift said. “You can’t make a good explanation without hand gestures.” Clyde rolled his eyes again while Rivet just shook his head at Swift slowly. After a moment had passed, Soul and Applejack came back in and they both went back to their tables.with their friends. Soul sat back down where he was and looked at the three. “Yup, you guys were telling the truth,” Soul said. “What? You believe us that easily?” Rivet asked “No. That’s why I asked my cousin about it.” “And you believed her?” “Eeyup. She always tells the truth and I trust her,” Soul replied. “That and she’s a terrible liar.” “AH HEARD THAT!” Applejack shouted from across the cafeteria. Soul rolled his eyes. The school bell rang; signaling the end of the lunch period. “Well, we better get to our next class,” Clyde said. All the guys agreed and were heading out the cafeteria doorway. On the way though, Soul felt a tap on his shoulder and looked behind him to see Sunset standing there. He lightly blushed and was a little confused why she wanted his attention. Not that he had a problem with it or anything. “Hey Sunset, did you need something?” Soul asked with a slight nervous tone. “Applejack told me that you knew what I was like before we met,” Sunset said. “So I was wondering what you thought of me now.” “Not that different than when we first met,” Soul replied. Sunset looked at Soul with a shocked and confused look. “Really?” “Look if there’s one thing that I’ve learned, is that you gotta accept people for who they are now and not who they were,” Soul said. “Plus, I’m a sucker for the cute ones.” Sunset blushed. “Y-You think I’m cute?” ‘Ah crap, I said that out loud,’ Soul thought. He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry, that was a little forward. And yes, I think you are.” “No, no, it’s okay. I don’t mind,” Sunset said. There was a long awkward silence between the two until she spoke up again. “Hey, what class do you have next?” Soul reached into his pocket and pulled up a slip with all of his class schedules. “I have chemistry next,” Soul replied. “So do I,” Sunset said. “Do you wanna walk there together?” “Sure, I would like to,” Soul replied. The two walked together down the hallway enjoying the others company. “Okay, I have to at least hear this from you,” Soul began. “Were you really a pony?”