During a peaceful morning, Zero and his family was having a nice and calm breakfast together. However, Zero himself wasn’t very calm, as he was wolfing down his waffles. After yesterday’s dodgeball game, he wants to get stronger and keep the competition as intense as ever, and take down Rainbow Dash if he can.
“Mom, One more waffle,” he asked while raising his fork in the air and food in his mouth.
“This is your tenth waffle, how are you not full?!” White Star asked while bringing the extra waffle on a small plate to Zero. “Better question, why are you drinking it with soda, it’s too early and unhealthy for you,”
“You know he eats a lot,” Sound Barrier explained while looking over his case file. “And besides, he almost never gets sick so he’s as healthy as a horse; it’s probably from my side of the family.”
“You know it dad,” Zero responded while drinking the last of his soda. “So how’s the case coming along?”
“Pretty interesting actually, but the prosecutor is obnoxious as always and won’t stop hitting on m-“
Before Sound Barrier could finish his sentence, a knife flew at the table and landed in front of him. When everyone looked at where it came from, they saw White Star looking at them with a peaceful smile.
“If you don’t mind dear, I would like this woman’s name and address so we can have a friendly conversation about boundaries.”
“H-h-honey, the prosecutor is a guy, I was going to say he’s been hitting on my client and she’s doing it to waste time and irritate me” Sound Barrier explained with all the color drained from his face.
“Oh,” she said while taking back the knife she just threw and kissing Sound barrier on the cheek with the same smile, “Good to know.”
Solar Wind cleared her throat to clear the scary and uneasy atmosphere and change the conversation, “So Zero, who are these crusaders you told me about.”
“Not completely sure,” He said while swallowing his last waffle. “But I know Soul’s cousin and Swift’s sister are part of it, and I think they’re will to be friends with you.”
“Really?!” She beamed while slamming her hands on the table in excitement.
“Yeah, I’ll ask them at lunch today so you can meet them all.”
Wind then got up from her seat and gave Zero a hug, “Thank you Thank You Thank you!” she repeated with a wide smile on her face, causing Zero to give a warm smile himself.
“Alright, Alright, you haven’t even met them yet, don’t get too excited,” He noted.
“Maybe I should wear my hair down today; I want to look nice when I meet them,” Wind wondered.
“If you want I can fix it up for you before you leave,” White Star offered.
“Ok,” Wind nodded while walking with her mom to her room.
“If you do, could you hurry? We’re gonna walk to school this time,” Zero explained.
“Why, you don’t want me to drive you,” Sound Barrier questioned.
“It’s not that, I want to walk off all those waffles I ate,” Zero explained while jogging in place. “Plus, you have a case to focus on.”
“Alright, Just keep an eye on your sister kiddo.”
“I will,”
As Zero goes to his room and waits for his sisters’ hair to be done. He laid on his bed and put his on headphones then scrolled through his playlist on his phone and played the song Asterisk by Orange Range so he wouldn’t get too comfortable and fall asleep. In the middle of the song, a light shined in his eye and distracted him. Once he investigated the source, he noted the picture frame on his side table was reflecting the light of the sunrise from the window; he grunted and began moved the picture over slightly.
At that moment he looked at it and smiled, it was a picture of a girl with snow white long hair and skin; her left eye was red and her right eye was violet and wore a pink dress with the Japanese character for fox on it. She had her arms wrapped around a younger looking Zero with black sweatbands on his wrists with the Japanese character for wolf and another boy with bright red hair and skin along with orange eyes and a red shirt with the Japanese character for ignis, they all had band aids on their arms and face and they all had a toothy smile.
Zero then took the picture out of the frame and looked at the back of it and read the poem that was on it.
“Whether it’s hatred, death, or a curse,
pain, suffering, or worse,
through the universe, stars, and beyond,
is our true unbreakable bond,
our feelings burn like an eternal flame,
cause we love each other all the same,
and we’ll always be together,
from now on and forever.”
Zero then put the picture back into the frame and set it back on the table, he always considered it a good luck charm for an everlasting friendship. Of course he didn’t need it since he was positive that Swift, Soul, and the others we’re already cool enough friends. But he didn’t use the charm for himself, it was for-
“I’m all done!” Wind announced while standing by the door way and flipping her hair. “What do you think of my hair?”
Zero gave a cocky smile before replying, “As bratty looking as ever.”
“Oh, come on, be honest,” Wind pouted.
“Fine, you actually look nice,” Zero said while walking pass her and patting her head. “Now come on, we gotta go,”
“Ok,” Wind nodded while following her brother downstairs. “By the way, what were you doing before I came into your room,”
“Just wishing you luck on meeting your new friends,” Zero said while grabbing the doorknob to the front door.
“Aww, you do-“
“HOLD ON A MINUTE,” exclaimed White Star while running down the steps. “Let me search your book bag,”
“Seriously mom?” Zero said exhaustingly, only for White Star to furrow her own brow.
“Yes, seriously.” After the crap you pulled on the first day, I’m going to be checking your bag like it’s an airport,”
“Ugh, fine,” Zero took off his book bag and gave it to her. Once he was clear, White Star gave it back to him and smiled.
“Good, now off you go.” She replied happily while opening the door for them. “Have fun you two, I love you,”
“I love you too mom,” Wind said cheerfully.
“Yeah, yeah,” Zero waved off while dozing off, only to be grabbed by the collar by White Star.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t quite catch that, could you repeat that for me” she said in stern voice.
“I-I mean, I love you mommy dearest,” Zero corrected with a nervous smile, causing White Star to release him.
“Thought so,” she smiled while locking the door behind the siblings.
“Geez, it must be that time of the month for her,” Zero commented with his arms crossed.
“I heard that!” White Star shouted from behind the door. “No video games for a week!”
“Son of a shit,” Zero cursed.
“Two Weeks!”
“Motherfu-“
“Wanna make it three,”
“Zero growled before replying. “No ma’am,”
“You know, speaking of the first day, you still owe me money for that bet,” Wind mentioned.
“Oh yeah,” Zero remembered, only to flick Wind in the forehead, causing her to wince in pain
“OW! What was that for?” Wind asked while holding her forehead.
“That’s for yesterday,” Zero explained. “I don’t mind you poking fun at me, but you cursed at me to the point trucker drivers and sailors would look down on you.”
“Hey, you know I curse a lot when I get excited or frustrated.”
“Yeah, to the point where soap isn’t enough to clean that mouth of yours.”
“What about you, you curse sometimes,”
“One, I’m old enough. And two, the keyword is sometimes.” Zero then put his hands in his pocket and began walking down the sidewalk to school. “As for the bet, your only getting half of the money you won, consider it a penalty for the cursing.”
“Hey, that’s not fair! That wasn’t part of the deal,” Wind barked while catching up to her brother.
“Well life’s not fa-“Zero replied, only to be interrupted by someone walking outside the house next door to his, he recognized the person right away and gave a loud groan.
“Ugh, it’s you again. How did I, the Great and Powerful Trixie get to be neighbors with someone like you?” Trixie ranted while walking up to the siblings.
“Who’s she,” Wind questioned.
“She’s Ms. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, she’s in most of my classes and talks like she owns the school,” Zero replied with his arms crossed and an inpatient look on his face.
“I’m the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Trixie boasted, ignoring Zero comment. “I am the most talented girl in Canterlot High, and leader of the band Trixie and the Illusions. You probably heard a lot about me,”
Wind tapped her chin before giving her an answer. “Nope, never heard of you till now,”
“Well I guess it can’t be helped, you two are new to the school.” Trixie then began walking down the side walk before turn back to look at the two. “Aren’t you two coming?”
Zero sighed and began to follow her with Wind. As far as he knew, there was no alternate route to school and he wasn’t going to ask his father for a ride and interrupt his thought process on his case, he was gonna have to walk with Trixie to school. Just as the thought came to his mind that he could conversate with his sister along the way, he looked over and noticed that she was putting her headphones in her ears and played Bet on It from one of her stupid high school movies.
‘Guess I’m gonna have to listen to music too,’ Zero thought as he took out his headphones.
“Hey,” Trixie said, stopping Zero from listening to music. “Did you bring your science textbook; Trixie didn’t get hers yet and wanted to know if I could borrow yours,”
“Are you kidding me, that book weighs a ton,” Zero complained. “All I have in my bag is some notebooks and a few mangas my mom surprisingly let me bring,”
“What about the homework Ms. Harshwhinny assigned us?”
Zero scratched his head in confusion, “We had homework? I was probably too busy reading, sleeping, or looking outside?”
“Ugh, how did a delinquent like you even get into high school anyways?”
“Well if you really want to know,” Zero started while putting his headphones back into his pocket. “As ghetto as my old high school in Manehattan was, it still had tests and quizzes. But that didn’t stop it from having lame security, so a friend of mine practically walked into the school and checked the teachers’ desk for the answers and memorized it for us. Then when it’s the day of the test, he does something to tell us whats the answers are,”
“You have Trixie’s attention,” Trixie said as she raised an eyebrow. “Continue,”
“Alright, say an answer is A, he’ll scratch his left ear. If an answer’s B, he’ll scratch the right. If it’s C, he’ll scratch his nose. And if it’s D, then he’ll tap his chin with his pencil. But it’d be too obvious if we all got a perfect score, so even if the teachers didn’t care, we would get some wrong on purpose and still got a passing grade. As for the written tests, we were pretty screwed.”
“So you cheated your way up to the top, why am I not surprised,” Trixie gave a cocky smile.
“It’s not cheating unless you’re caught. Therefore, I’m not a cheater,” Zero objected.
“Even if you do manage to cheat your way through high school, you’ll never achieve the level of greatness like some as beautiful and talented as me,” Trixie concluded while flipping her hair.
“Ok, I won’t deny that you’re attractive,” Zero noted freely, causing Trixie to blush slightly. “But, I’ll have you know I do have talent. I’m actually good at reading and writing, not to mention understanding the basics of science, as for my talent I’m very agile due to parkouring back in Manehattan and running up a tree and doing backflips with my hands tied behind my back, and I have a small, but decent sense of philosophy.”
“If you have a sense of philosophy, then why don’t you tell one of your philosophical thoughts,” Trixie requested while she smirked.
“You expected me to give you a quote this early in the morning, you crazy,” Zero yawned. “And as for greatness, I don’t particularly care to be as smart as you or to do well in school; it’s not going to help me achieve what I want in life.”
“Not that I care but what you do expect to do for a living then,” Trixie asked curiously.
“I told you that it doesn’t matter to me, what I want is power so great that it change the very structure of the world,”
Trixie was going to make a snarky comment but noticed Zero eyes after making that statement, his eyes were giving an intense look at the beautiful orange and blue sky, but it looked as if they were looking at something else, beyond the sky.
“What do you intend on-“
“WOOOOOAH!” Zero shouted in excitement as he stopped gazing at the sky and ran passed Trixie at the discovery he made. It was a small white bridge that from the looks of it, you could easily jump down without any leg injuries, but that’s not what caught his attention. On the side was a riverbank with beautiful and healthy grass and water so clear you could see the rocks at the bottom. And to top it all off was the beautiful sunrise in the clear sky.
Zero stared in awe at the sight, he always enjoyed seeing beautiful sites but he's never seen anything this beautiful before. The closest thing to it was Middle Park in Manehattan, but due to the tall buildings in the city he could never see the golden hour at such a sight…that and he was too tired in most mornings to care. As the morning wind blew passed him, he was reminded of some of the only good memories of city.
Six years ago
A young Zero was napping on a tree branch in Middle park, the birds were chirping and people in the distance were either walking around or playing with their friends, away from the constant hustle of the city. Just as Zero took a breathe of relaxation, an acorn hit him in the head, causing him to panic and fall to the ground, when he looked up he saw a kid with bright red hair with the Japanese character for ignis on his shirt tossing another acorn up and down.
“Hot Streak you punk, what was that for?!” Zero questioned while clenching his fist in anger.
“Whats the matter, little Zero can’t handle an acorn,” Hot Streak sassed while grinning. “Hey, he’s over here,”
Hot Streak called out to a girl who was running over to the par, she had with snow white long hair and the Japanese character for fox.
“Zero, we were so worried about you.” The girl panted while holding her knees. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“I was sleeping,” Zero shrugged while putting his hands behind his head. “So what’d do you want,”
Hot streak smiled and answered, “Last night I was working out nonstop and threw a punch at my old man, he told me I’m five times stronger than what I was yesterday, now I’m positive I can settle the score with you.”
“Oh yeah?” Zero said while butting heads with Hot Streak. “Well I ran around the park a few times and I feel ten times stronger than yesterday.”
“Then I’m a hundred times stronger than that,”
“I’m a thousand times stronger than that.”
“Actually I’m ten thousand times stronger,”
“Then I’m a hundred thousand times stronger,”
“Well I’m a million times stronger than that,”
“TOO BAD I’M PLUS TEN MILLION TIMES STRONGER THAN THAT!”
“THEN I’M A MILLION BAJILLION TIMES STRONGER!”
“I’M INFINTE PLUS INFINITE TIMES STRONGER!”
“INFINITE PLUS INFINITE IS STILL INFINITE DUMBASS!”
“HAVEN’T YOU SEEN GURREN LAGANN, SCREW YOUR LOGIC AND YOUR DAMN MATH!”
“Guys, why don’t you two do another fight or race to settle this,” The girl advised, hoping the two would stop another one of their arguments.
“Fine,” the two huffed in unison while crossing their arms and looking the other way, only for their stomachs to growl.
“Let’s have a race to the hot dog stand over there; I’m too hungry to fight,” Zero suggested. “The loser has to pay,”
“Sounds good to me,” Hot Streak agreed while getting to position. “Get ready to empty your wallet,”
“Hey, if your gonna talk crap about yourself, at least let me give you a reason to,” Zero smirked while getting to position.
The girl stood in front of the two and held a leaf in her hand. Once she let go of it, the two competitors started at it in with an intense look, once the leaf touched the ground. Zero was flicked in the forehead by Trixie and snapped back to reality.
“Snap out of it,” Trixie demanded, causing Zero to shake his head.
“Oops,” Zero chuckled to himself while scratching the back of his head. “Guess I zoned out there,”
“Why are you so surprised to see the bridge, haven’t you see it already,” Trixie questioned.
“No, why?”
“From this neighborhood this is one of the only routes to the school,” Trixie explained. “I’m guessing you have a short attention span as well,”
“Actually when we’re driven to school, he was sleeping,” Wind explained while hold an earpiece in her hand.
“Anyways, I might just come back here mor-wait a minute,” Zero then gave a curious look at Trixie before continuing. “Why are you still here?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why didn’t you just go on ahead without me?” Zero gave a sly look and rubbed his chin. “Unless of course didn’t want to be alone,”
“Please, the Great and Powerful Trixie does not need you company, I can walk to school by myself just fine,” Trixie confirmed. “Besides, I only waited because I wanted you repay me for listening to your boring but somewhat interesting life.”
“Just because I called you pretty doesn’t mean I’m gonna take you on a dinner date,” Zero said.
“No you fool, you gonna have to listen about my life,” Trixie exclaimed.
Zero sighed, he could just easily ignore her until he gets to the school like he’s done when teacher’s give him a lecture about sleeping in class, but it was only fair that he listen to her story like she did for him, that and it won’t be a lecture about why history is important in society or something.
“Alright, go ahead,” He approved while they continued walking towards the pathway to school.
“Very well,” Trixie began. “I was born on a Friday…..”
As they arrived at the school students were still outside sitting and talking while others were being dropped off by their parents. Zero was actually surprised at himself for not getting bored at her story, even if it wasn’t all that interesting.
‘Not gonna lie, this walk was actually better than I thought,’ Zero thought. ‘She actually kinda cool when she’s not talking about herself, even I don’t talk about myself this much.’
“And that is how Trixie became the Great and Powerful girl she is,” Trixie finished.
“Perfect timing too,” Zero noted as he noticed they’ve arrived at the school, he looked over at Wind as he noticed she finally took of her headphones, they both nodded at each other before she ran inside the school.
“Your sister seems pretty enthusiastic,” Trixie assumed.
“Well she’s finally gonna make some friends, she has a good reason too,” Zero explained as he noticed Fluttershy was handing out flyers for the animal shelter by the statue, she had a sad look on her face as he noticed that no one was taking one. “Speaking of friends,
I'm gonna go help one out.” Zero said as he begins to run off.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually going to take care of those rodents down at that shelter,” Trixie questioned.
“If I can put up with you, then a few animals should be a piece of cake.” He shouted as he continued running to Fluttershy, Trixie gritted her teeth at the comment and before huffing and walking into the school. As Zero got closer to Fluttershy, he braked right in front of her, scaring her into drop the flyer in her hand.
“Oops, sorry,” Zero apologized with an awkward smile as he picked up the paper.
“It’s ok Zero, good morning by the way,” she greeted. “Do you want to help out at the animal shelter again?”
“Yeah, and to top it all off, I have the money to adopt Spike,” Zero smiled with thumbs up.
“Really, that’s wonderful,” Fluttershy beamed. “I bet Spike will be so happy to finally have an owner, how did you convince your parents to say yes?”
“I did the one of the oldest tricks in the book and told them pets make you healthier and live longer, adults fall for it every time,” Zero chuckled. “Anyways good luck with the flyers, I’ll keep this one as a reminder to help you out after school, Later.” Zero then did a quick two finger salute and walked to the entrance of the school, Fluttershy smiled went back to handing out flyers.
“Canterlot Animal Shelter needs more volunteers, won’t you help an animal that can’t help itself,” she said while waving a flyer in the air, only to notice more people going inside. She was just about ready to pack it in and go inside herself when suddenly she got a tap on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, do you work for the animal shelter,” Said the voice from behind her. Fluttershy turned around as she recognized the voice. It was Twilight Sparkle, but not the Twilight Sparkle she knew.
“Um, yes,” Fluttershy responded softly.
“Oh good,” Twilight said. “You see, my parents want to adopt a dog. But thanks to the move, they’ve be so busy that they couldn’t find the time to look around town and find a pet store, so I was wondering if you could help me with that.”
“Well, if you take this flyer you noticed that there’s an address on there, and it should take you to the Canterlot Animal Shelter, I should be able to help you after school.” Fluttershy explained while giving Twilight the flyer.
“Perfect, I’ll see you then,” Twilight confirmed as she walked to the front entrance. Fluttershy was happy to finally get not one, but two people to come to the animal shelter, in the same day no less. Suddenly the school bell rang and Fluttershy gathered her things and hurried inside so she wouldn’t be late.
It was lunchtime in the cafeteria and Zero was sitting at a table helping Wind prepare to meet her new friends. She went on asking a million questions about if she looked good or what if something went wrong, making Zero more exhausted from each question.
“Ok, last question,” Wind reassured.
“Please let this be a reasonable question,” Zero exasperated.
“What if some zombie apocalypse happens, do I have to leave them behind or do I save them, or what if aliens attack the school when I start walking over there?”
Zero groaned loudly, he was getting ready to respond but then he thought of an idea. “Ok, I got an idea that will calm your nerves.”
“Ok, what is it?”
“First I want you to stand up,” Zero instructed. “Then close your eyes,”
As Wind did what he said, Zero got up and covered her, “Now your gonna walk and I’ll tell you where to turn and stop,” He explained.
“I don’t see how this is helping me,” Wind doubted.
“Well of course you can’t see. Your eyes are closed,” Zero laughed. Causing Wind to sigh at the bad joke.
“Just tell me where to go,” Wind moaned.
After a tedious and very unnecessary walk around the cafeteria, along with a couple of confused looks. Zero finally told Wind to stop walking, when she opened her eyes, she was standing in front of three girls. One girl had red hair with a pink bow on top, she wore a green shirt and blue pants along with orange boots. Another girl had pink and purple curly hair and wore a pink and yellow blouse and boots to match. The last girl had short dark purple hair and wore a black jacket along with green pants and boots and a greenish blue undershirt.
Wind panicked and turned around to give Zero a frustrated look. “You tricked me!” She whispered.
“No, I calculated the how much the sun weighs or whatever,” Zero replied sarcastically.
“You mean the mass?”
“Don’t correct me,”
“But, I’m not ready yet. What if they treat me like those girls from the other day,” Wind doubted as she looked at the ground. “What if…what if they make fun of me, what if they hurt me, WHAT IF THEY CUT MY-“
She was cut off by Zero grabbing her shoulders and looked at her with a determined look.
“Wind, I know I wasn’t there when you needed me, but I’m here now,” Zero confirmed. “We’re not in Manehattan anymore, so if you need anything, I’ll be there.” Zero patted Wind on the head and smiled. “Now show them how awesome the sibling of Zero Gravity really is!”
Wind finally looked up and gave a cocky grin before swatting Zero hand away, “You’re so full of it,” Wind chuckled, only for Zero to join in the laughter. They both high fived each other and Zero began walking away and join his friends. Wind then slapped both of her cheeks twice and took a deep breath. Before turning around and face the trio of girls.
“H-h-hi,” Wind muttered, “I’m new here and I was wondering if I could… sit here with you three,”
The three of them looked at each other before the girl in the bow replied. “Sure,”
Wind smiled with relief and sat down next to the purple hair girl, she was happy they let her sit down but she still felt uneasy.
“Hey, you won’t happen to be Solar Wind would you?” The curly haired girl asked, catching Wind by surprise.
“You know me?” She questioned.
“Yeah, my brother Swift and his friends told us about you,” Said the purple haired girl. “Saying you wanted to make a hundred friends or something.”
“Yeah, that’s me alright,” Wind confirmed, only to get a light punch on the shoulder by the girl in the purple.
“Well let me be the first, I’m Scootaloo,” The purple girl introduced while giving a thumbs up.
“I’m Sweetie Belle,” beamed the curly haired girl.
“And I’m Apple Bloom,” the girl with the bow said.
“AND WE’RE THE CRUSADERS,” they said in unison causing them to get a couple of glares from the tables nearby. Wind was almost blow back by the sudden burst but smiled at the carefree nature by the three.
“Wow, you girls are nothing like those two jerks I met on the first day,” Wind noted.
“Did one of them have purple and white hair and acts like one of those rich snobs,” Scootaloo asked.
“And the other one had gray looking hair with a silver spoon on her,” Apple Bloom described. Wind nodded at the description and the Crusaders moaned, they wished they were wrong with their description and hoped it was someone they wouldn’t have to meet.
“Of course it’s Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon,” Sweetie Belle sighed. “Listen Wind, don’t mind them. They’re just a bunch of jerks who thinks their better than everyone else.”
“That’s like my brother,” Wind added. “Expect he’s not a jerk about it.”
“Well don’t worry, if they bother ya again, we’ll be there to help ya out.” Apple Bloom reassured.
Wind looked upon the trio as they gave an honest smile, the uneasy feeling she had a moment ago dissipated. She felt as if she was under a warm blanket of trust....Trust that was once shattered long ago.
“So this is what it feels like to have friends again,” She mumbled to herself, only for the Crusaders to pick up on what she said.
“Ha, this is nothing,” Scootaloo said. “Once you make a hundred friends it will be even more wild,”
“To be honest, I don’t really care if I make a hundred friends. I just want to start making friends again.”
“What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked.
“Well...it’s a personal story but-“
“Oh…I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“No its fine, I don’t mind telling people secrets,” Wind assured. “Back in Manehattan, I got along with the other kids in kindergarten and grade school, I had tons of friends and we played together all the time.” Wind gave a sad expression before continuing. “Then middle school came along and everything changed, everything was so diverse and people were so mean and rude. My old friends moved away so I tried starting over and making new friends but it only made things worse."
“What happened,” Apple Bloom asked.
“One day a few girls cornered me in a bathroom and beat me up just because I have a fang in my mouth and treated me like a demon. Even as they hit me they called me devil and some other names, saying that I should go back to hell where I belong. They hurt me just for being a little different, then as sick joke…” Wind gripped her hair tightly and tears started building up in her eyes.
“…They tried to shave my hair off. I finally managed to run away but most of my hair was still cut.”
“That’s horrible,” Sweetie Belle cried. “Didn’t you parents do something about it?”
“I didn’t tell my parents because I knew they would’ve made a big deal out of it, and if those girls got in trouble they would take it out on me and probably do something worse. So when I home that day, I told them some of my friends tried cutting my hair but I didn’t go so well and I told them the bruises were from tripping and falling on concrete.”
“What about Zero, he must have done somethin.” Apple Bloom wondered.
Wind shook her head. “He never listened to me, every time I tried to talk to him about it he would brush me off or ignore me, and I didn’t want to make new friends after what happened so for the rest of my middle school life I became antisocial and completely shut out the world. Every day I would just stay in my room and talk to my toys, I only came out of my room just to go to school or have dinner with my family, and even then I barely talked.”
“But your so happy now so what happened,” Scootaloo asked.
Wind wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. “Zero happened,”
“Huh?” the Crusaders replied with a curious look.
“One day he came by room and asked me if something was wrong and I told him I was fine but he saw through my lie and gave me a hug and said I didn’t have to hide it anymore, then…I let it all out and cried on his shoulder and told him everything that happened and how I felt. He said he was so sorry and that he from now on he would listen to all of my problems and that he’ll be the shoulder I can always cry on if somethings wrong,”
“That’s so sweet,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “And this may sound rude but, why did he suddenly start caring all of a sudden,”
“To be honest, I’m not too sure myself. But I do know one thing, and this came right out of Zero’s mouth,” Wind said as she gave a wide smile. “No matter how much we fight or mess with each other, to Zero, I’m the one thing he loves more than anything,”
Apple Bloom smiled at the statement, “that’s awfully sweet of him, it kinda reminds me of how much Applejack and Big Mac really loves me, when I was little I used to get mad whenever I get grounded, but now I don’t get as upset anymore cause I know they do it because they love me,”
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “Rarity usually gets mad whenever I bother her when she’s making a dress or helping a customer, but when she’s not hang out with her friends or making out with Clyde, she teaches me how to cook or we go shopping,”
“Now that you mention it, me and Swift do get along pretty well, even if we mess with each other sometimes. I guess besides Rainbow Dash I kinda look up to Swift in a way, even if he is a nerdy goofball,” Scootaloo smiled.
“Yeah, older siblings are the greatest,” Sweetie Belle acknowledged.
As Wind looked over at Zero table and saw him and his friends laughing hysterically together, making her smile knowing that underneath all the insults they trade with one another, they really do love each other.
“They sure are.”
As the school day comes to a close, Twilight Sparkle makes her way to the animal shelter that Fluttershy told her about. Once she arrived, she was meet by loud barking and birds chirping, making her to cover her ears, she looked around and noticed Fluttershy was nowhere to be found. All she saw was some random guy by the counter.
“Excuse me,” Twilight shouted while trying to talk over the animals. “Have you seen-“
The man raised one finger up as a sign to give him a minute then picked up a dog whistle and blew on it, all the dog started to quiet down afterwards and some of the birds started to relax.
“I’m sorry, they usually get rowdy when someone walks in,” the man explained. “Can I help you with something?”
Twilight uncovered her ears and cleared her throat, “Yes, I was wondering if one of your coworkers named Fluttershy was around,”
“No sadly, she said she saw an animal getting injured and needed immediate medical attention or something so she she’s gonna be a little late, I’m filling in for her until she gets back what do you need.”
“Well, I was wondering if there’s a dog I could adopt,” Twilight asked politely.
“Take a look,”
Twilight scanned the room to find the perfect dog for family but it took her a second to think this might be a lost cause, most of the dogs looked very hostile and possibly…unstable. As she got close to some of the cages some of the dogs tried to attack her while other gave a disinterested look to her. Before she was ready to quit, she came across a dog inside a small cage away from all the other dogs, looking inside she saw a purple and green colored dog wagging its and giving off a healthy and peaceful bark.
“What about this one?” Twilight asked while pointing to the cage.
“Spike? Fluttershy found him not too long ago, he’s actually pretty playful unlike the other dogs,” the man explained. “So we keep him away from the others,”
Twilight rubbed her chin as she pondered her thoughts for a minute before continuing. “Is he for sale?”
“Yeah, he’s about 450,”
“Excellent,” She said as she paid the man.
“Pleasure doing business with you Ma’am, would you like an instruction manual on how to train your dog,” he said while holding up the manual.
“No need, I already have a copy of it along with professionals guide to animals and fun facts about dogs. Did you know they recently discovered that dogs can actually see in color, just not as well as we human can,” Twilight explained.
“No actually, I didn’t know that,” The man said almost intrigued.
“Interesting I know, anyways thank you for your business.” She said as she waved goodbye and Spike barked, only for the man to wave back and give a happy sigh.
A few minutes passed by and Fluttershy rushed into the shop with a cat in her arms and rested it on a pillow, nearly scaring the man at the counter.
“I’m so sorry that you had to fill in for me, but this poor defense cat was hit by a reckless driver and I couldn’t bear to leave it all alone like that!”
“It’s ok, I would have done the same,” the man explained. “Is the cat ok?”
“Thank you, I appreciate the understanding, oh and he’s going to be just fine,” Fluttershy reassured as she pet the injured cat. “Oh, did a girl with purple hair come in today by any chance?”
“She a friend of yours?”
“Not….exactly,”
“Yeah, she adopted little old Spike over there, isn’t that great,” the man exclaimed.
“Oh, that’s great news, I’m sure Spike will-“ Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide at a certain realization. “OH NO, this is horrible.”
“What, that Spike got adopted?”
“No!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “A friends of mine wanted to adopt Spike too, I didn’t think Twilight would want to adopt him too,”
“Well to be fair, the dogs here aren’t very friendly,” he noted.
“Well…they did attack my friend the other day,” Fluttershy admitted. “But, what am I going to tell Zero when he gets here,”
Just as she finished her sentence, Zero came sliding into the shop with his headphones in his ears, scaring Fluttershy and the animal in the process, thankful they were silence by Fluttershy putting her hand in the air rather than the dog whistle.
“Nothing like a D-tecnolife to get my blood pump,” Zero said while taking off his headphones, only to meet by the sound of barking yet again. “Oi Fluttershy, ready to get to work.”
Fluttershy began shaking and began rubbing her shoulders, “Um…before that I need to-“
“Oh yeah, before I forget, I wanna see how Spike’s doing, where is that little guy,” Zero questioned as he looked around the room.”
“Zero…Spike got um…” Fluttershy began.
“Oh, is he sleeping, I understand,” Zero figured. “I fell asleep in Ms. Roseluck’s class after I finished reading that boring novel, it wasn’t half bad but the pacing is sooo slo-“
“Spike was adopted!” Fluttershy exclaimed only to cover her mouth after she said the statement.
“….say what now?”
“Someone else came and adopted him today, I should have put him on the reserved animals list. I’m really sorry Zero, I hope you’re not mad”
Zero was about to ask who but he figured that Fluttershy wasn’t in the shop at the time and that they obviously wouldn’t reveal information like that. He lowered his head in defeat.
“No, I’m not mad Fluttershy, just a little upset,” Zero said sadly. “And I came up with the perfect name for him too.”
“What’d ya come up with,” the man asked.
“Either Ichigo or Drago,” said Zero. “Ichigo means number one guardian in Japanese, and Drago is French for dragon,”
“Pretty cool,”
“Um, Zero,” Fluttershy chimed in. “I know the main reason you wanted to come here is to adopt Spike but could you stick around and help out…if you don’t mind that is.”
Zero looked up and gave a soft smile. “Sure, just don’t let those dogs loose.”
“Don’t worry,” Fluttershy said. “First we’re going treat this cat with some medical attention, then we’ll move on from there. Now if you go down the hall, there should be a door that says medical supplies, bring some anesthetic and a few cotton balls,”
Zero cracked his knuckles and grinned. “Alright, let’s get started,” he then ran down the hall to do what Fluttershy ordered.
Back at the school, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna was finishing up the last of their paper work for the day before packing it in for the day.
“Are you ready, sister,” Luna asked.
“Just about,” Celestia replied. “There are a few new interesting students don’t you think?”
“Yes, there are some interesting characters running about, even the Twilight Sparkle of our world finally showed herself,”
“I know, it’s wonderful. She’s a wonderful addition to the Canterlot High. Hopefully there won’t be any more magical incidents like last year’s battle of the bands and the fall formal” Celestia exclaimed as she put the last file in her drawer. “Looks like that’s for today,”
“Wonderful, now let us go home and-“
*Knock Knock Knock*
“Now who could that be at this,” Luna said curiously.
“I’m not too sure,” Celestia said cautiously. “Come in,”
As the door opened, a man with brown skin and red eyes came through the door, he had black and white short hair and a white goatee along with a brown suit and a yellow tie with red polka dots.
“Why hello there Principal Sunshine and Vice Principal Lulu,” The man greeted cheerfully.
“Superintendent Discord,” Luna hissed. “What are you doing here this early in the school year?”
“Well, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d come over to visit my two favorite Principals,” Discord said with glee.
“I’m in no mood for your jokes Discord,” Celestia sassed. “Tell me what you’re doing here,”
Discord gave a malicious smile before explaining himself, “Well, I have an idea that you just might be interested in.”
The sisters raised their eyebrows and looked at each other before making a decision on whether they should hear it or not, then they nodded.
“It’s a little early in the school to come up with plans…..but we’ll listen to what you have to say.”
“Well of course you’ll listen,” Discord giggled as he began closing the door slowly, making the Principals worry about the decision they made.
“…..Because you don’t have a choice in the matter.”