“Wait, what?” I asked, feeling the bottom of my stomach drop a couple of miles. “My grade is that low?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Miss Cheerilee replied, her usual smile replaced with a strange frown. “Are you studying before you come in, are you going over the homework? Is there anything that you’re capable yourself of doing to fix it?”
It was the end of second period and, to my horror, I’d been held back my Miss Cheerilee’s own request to discuss my latest English grade, which had come back as a low-tier ‘F’- the worst grade I’d gotten yet. I was appalled with myself.
“Yes! I swear, I studied for like an hour last night!” I said earnestly. “I mean, it’s was difficult as all Hell, but still! I did everything I could!”
“Then what’s the problem? You shouldn’t be having this much difficulty if you’re studying, is there something about the chapter you’re not understanding?”
“Err…” Truth be told, I wasn’t that good at English at all, despite my capability for speaking the tongue. It’s not like I was ever that good at talking in Spanish with Mom.
“Is it a problem with the fundamentals, or recognizing the various terms?” Miss Cheerilee asked, guessing I was too embarrassed to answer.
“Umm… I guess the whole thing itself?” I answered, staring down at my shoes and praying my face wasn’t turning red.
“Well, learning the fundamentals may be a block for you, but it’s easily overcomeable,” said Miss Cheerilee briskly, stacking some papers into a folder. “However, it will require some after-school tutoring, so you’ll need to spend atleast an hour here once classes are over.”
Unwelcome, but certainly not the end of the world. “Alright, will I meet you here or in the library?” I asked.
“Well, you see,” she replied, “My tutoring schedule is already full up, so I won’t be able to help you, but I do have a couple of student tutors who are helping me in return for extra credits on their record. I have a list right here if you’d like to look.”
As she handed me the sheet, I peered down at the timeslots that were available, ranging from noon (What spazz was willing to give up lunch? Why was this timeslot even on here?) to 5:30. I glanced up at the first tutor on the list and saw, to no surprise, that Octavia was one of them. Hardly surprising, seeing how good she was at music. I figured words must be her thing. She had open slots at 2:30 and 4:30 but that was it. She seemed pretty crowded. Strange thing was that the other student had literally no takers so far, a completely empty set. I laughed a little simply because it was so ludicrous a thing to see. Who on earth was this student? I glanced up and read the name-
Oh come on, I roared across the hollowness of my skull. Why did it have to be Sunset Shimmer?!
Miss Cheerilee gave a cough to direct my attention back to her and she said, “As you can see, you’ve got plenty of slots available to you, so just tell me what you want and I’ll pencil-”
“Octavia,” I said, my response so laughably prompt that Miss Cheerilee stared. “Octavia at 2:30.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, peering down at the schedule. “I know your Physics class with Professor Neigh ends at 2:30, won’t you be cutting it a bit close?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” I gabbled. “Octavia’ll be fine, she has a nice skirt- I mean a nice- aw hell, there’s no way to fix that.”
Thankfully, Miss Cheerilee wasn’t offended and instead burst out laughing at my blunder, and I was able to manage an embarrassed grin; she recovered from her spell and scratched my name down on the list. “You’ll start tomorrow at 2:30,” she said brightly. “Just try to be as on time as possible, alright?”
“You got it, I’ll be there,” I replied, swinging my backpack over my shoulders and running off for some food. Applejack had told me before start of class that we’d be getting roast beef again for lunch and I was hungry.
“How’d everything go?” Pinkie Pie asked me the moment I took a seat next to her, my mouth already gobbling down a forkful of roast beef.
“Gimme a fec,” I managed to say, and I swallowed and added, “it went fine, she just needed to talk to me about a few things.”
“Your grade sucks, don’t it?” Rainbow Dash asked shrewdly, stabbing a pile of green beans and smirking at me.
“Almost as much as your performance against Crystal Academy last weekend,” I replied, bringing my hand up for the incoming high-five from Applejack. Though we both were good friends with Rainbow, bringing her down a peg and messing with her had become a favorite hobby of ours.
Thankfully, Rainbow had learned to dish it out as much as we gave it to her. “So, still better than your attempt to try out for the varsity basketball team?”
I had no response for that and the bruise I had gained across my leg proved it. I could do nothing but smile sheepishly as the others had a laugh.
“What will you have to do, dear?” Rarity asked, politely waiting for the others to stop laughing.
I fumbled my food around for a few seconds, my pride waging war with my newfound honesty. Being around these girls had done me wonders but I wasn’t truly used to it yet. “Gonna have to get some tutoring,” I said, deciding upon honesty. “I’m startin’ tomorrow.”
“Oh, really?” Rarity asked. “Sunset Shimmer offered to help Miss Cheerilee in English class, is she your tutor?”
“Uh… no, she’s not. Octavia is, just fits better with my schedule,” I said, immediately lying so as to save my butt. Though Sunset and I had officially buried animosities I still tried to avoid being in the same room as her. They had to have known forcing to an agreement wasn’t going to make want to do it, but NO, they just had to get on their high horse and mess with me-
“Over here, darling!” Rarity cried, cutting through my inner monologue to wave to Sunset, who was walking over to our usual table. No more was she being struck by various foodstuffs or napkins like she had the previous two weeks, but if looks could kill she’d be have more holes than a pincushion. Celestia had been forced to stop the worst of the heckling as some of it was really intense and other students who would get hit by stray objects or food complained; I guess it had gotten pretty bad when one of Brad’s errant soaked napkins hit Snails in the face and sent him sprawling into the trashcan.
I rolled my eyes as Sunset came over, digging into the mashed potatoes as the others greeted her. I felt her glance over at me, but she didn’t say anything to me and settled for setting down and talking with Fluttershy about possibly volunteering at the local animal shelter. She had been keeping her distance from me for a while ever since we had “made up” and hadn’t really engaged me much at all. I suspected that she alone had deduced I hadn’t really bought her newly overhauled personality.
“Sunset, Sunset, didja hear?” Pinkie asked.
“Hear what?” the crimson-haired girl asked.
“Our friend here’s getting tutoring lessons for Miss Cheerilee’s English class! With Octavia cause that's better for the schedule!"
Well, so much for keeping it quiet, much less being tactful. Sunset would know full well that her completely open tutoring schedule would work better with mine and she just might say so.
Instead, Sunset gave me a smile and said, “Hey, that’s great! Octavia’s really good, she’ll help you out a lot.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said, feeling uncomfortable talking to her. I went back to my meal only to notice Applejack was staring at me with a rather inscrutable expression.
“Ah thought you and Octavia weren’t getting’ along,” she remarked slowly.
Uh-oh. “Nah, we’re cool,” I replied, avoiding her gaze. “We get along fine.”
She frowned at me for only a moment before she turned away, but throughout the rest of the period I could feel her looking at me from time to time. I’d been a fool to think that I could outsmart Applejack and she was probably going to make me answer for it later.
Just before I was about to leave for my next class, I suddenly remembered. “Hey, Dashie,” I remarked.
“Don’t call me ‘Dashie,’” she said with a shudder. “You know I hate that.”
“Of course I know, that’s the fun,” I replied. “Anyway, I’m going to go back over to the training center tomorrow for some practice, you still wanna come along and give it a try?”
“Oh yeah, definitely!” Rainbow said, her demeanor becomingly instantly charged. “Do I need to bring anything or do I just come empty-handed and ungloved?”
“They’ll have some practice gear for you, don’t worry,” I answered. “Just show up at 3 on Saturday and I’ll see you there!”
“Wait, what’re you two doing?” Applejack asked.
“She heard me mention I used to box and she wants to try it out,” I said with a shrug. “It’s been a while since I got to spar so I thought it’d be fun.”
“Just don’t forget, you two promised to help me out at the farm that evening sorting cider bottles,” she reminded us, “So don’t get stuck there too long, alright?”
“It’s just boxing, not a date! Sheesh, AJ, you act like my Mom too much sometimes,” I said flippantly. I noticed Dash shift a bit next to me but paid it no mind. I had a class to catch.
My seat in Phsyics class felt like it had hardened in the last five minutes, my eyes continually shifting between the clock and the chalkboard. I genuinely needed to pay attention to the lesson, as Professor Neigh had warned us that some of the material would be part of the final at school year’s end, but I could feel each minute counting down to 2:30. I knew I’d need to hustle on over to the library to meet up with Octavia, and Miss Cheerilee had warned me not to be late. However, Professor Neigh seemed intent on taking the lesson to the very end of the period and I could feel my timetable shrink ever smaller. I’d have to bolt to get there just a few minutes late, if this kept up.
“And, as you all remember from studying Newton’s Laws of Motion, our circular ball will be rolling down the hill with an acceleration of… Miss Rarity? Do you know?”
“Umm…” the fashionista kept glancing down at her notes in a desperate attempt for a decent answer. “Would it be… 5?”
“Nicely done!” Professor Neigh replied. I flashed a grin over at Rarity, knowing full well she had taken a wild guess. She was almost as bad at Physics as I was. She noticed me and waved for me to buzz off, which only made me want to laugh.
“And so now that we know the acceleration, does anyone want to take a gander and guess its momentum?” Neigh continued. “How about you?” he added, pointing straight at me.
My blood turned to ice. I’d lost concentration messing with Rarity and now I was screwed! “Uh…” I followed in my friend’s footsteps and took a peek at my notes, hoping I would have something to save my head. “I think it’s-”
Right before I could continue and BS an answer, the bell rang and I was instantly on my feet, packing away my things and rushing out of the class before anyone else could set foot outside the door. When I dashed into the library at 2:33 (Nearly knocked Ms. Raven, Principal Celestia’s secretary, off her feet), gasping for having run across most of the school, I saw my tutor waiting for me near the fiction section with a sour expression on her face.
All the guilt and awkwardness I had felt in so utterly rejecting Sunset Shimmer’s open schedule resurfaced at the sight of the angry girl waiting for me. Apparently not one to forgive a transgression, Octavia had no kindness for me. We didn’t like each other one bit and I knew full well I had done this just to spite my old persecutor instead of taking her help. I’d been hoping Octavia’s fire against me would have cooled down, but judging by her expression, I was straight outta luck.
“You’re late,” she said coldly, her silky accent doing little to hide her dislike.
“Are we seriously still doing this? I avoid you at all costs, woman,” I replied breathily. “What more do you want from me, a written apology?”
“If you try to avoid me, why am I your tutor? Sunset’s schedule is open,” she inquired, her eyes nearly reduced to slits.
“You were the best of a bad situation, I did what I had to do,” I replied shortly. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Sunset Shimmer’s head of hair somewhere behind me. My feelings of guilt increased as I was fairly certain she had caught those last couple remarks.
“That still doesn’t explain why you were late,” Octavia said huffily, bringing me back to the present.
“I had a bit of a rushed schedule,” I replied, taking a seat next to her. She looked at me, took a faint sniff, and moved her chair a few inches away from me. Oh, the fun we were having and we hadn’t even started. “You know when my Physics class ends.”
“Next time, get here earlier,” she replied, seemingly ignoring my last statement. “Are you ready to get started or not?”
“No, I somehow lost my backpack in the moments between I was standing and when I sat down,” I said. “Course I am, come on.”
“Alright, let’s start with this, then,” Octavia said, taking out a sheet of questions and putting them in front of me. I looked at the first question and my heart sank.
“Cosmologist Martin Rees has cautioned that our present satisfaction with the big bang explanation for the creation of the universe may reflect the ——- of the data rather than the ——- of the theory.
paucity . . validity
genius . . accuracy
relevance . . scope
destruction . . core
persuasiveness . . reality”
Suddenly, my problems with understanding Mom’s Spanish seemed miniscule. I could do nothing but stare helplessly at the question with no idea of what the answer was. I peered each answer in the hopes that the heavens would open and reveal to me the answer, but no luck.
“You don’t have a clue, do you?” Octavia asked disappointedly. When I didn’t reply, she gave a groan that could be heard halfway across
the library. “This is going to be awful.”
Oh, she had no idea.
“This is the place?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously, staring up at the sign. “I mean, yeah, it’s the West End, but seriously?”
Saturday had arrived in all its luxurious glory and Rainbow and I were standing outside of a dilapidated old gym bearing the name Manny’s Gym. Rainbow’s reaction was typical for those who didn’t live on this side of town; the exterior of the place was rundown and covered with graffiti, the gutters across the roof were broken and hanging from their bolts, and the wooden door looked rotted around the latches.
“How has someone not broken into this place and stolen a bunch of stuff?” Rainbow asked me.
“The guy who runs this place, Manny? He’s a former pro boxer and huge gun enthusiast,” I answered with a smile. “And he’s got a mean guard dog.”
“Sounds like a great place,” she said drily.
“Doesn’t matter how it looks long as the place functions,” I replied, shifting my bag onto my and pushing open the door. As I walked in, a myriad of memories rushed to the front of my mind: the first time I came here as a little kid, when I first put on my gloves, the day I won my first fight. Out of my old life, this might have been the one good thing I’d been doing for myself, and it felt good to be back.
“No way,” said a husky voice as I entered, and I turned to see a monstrous-sized man walking towards me, his moustache twitching as he smiled. “Hola, mi ariete. ¿Como estas? It’s been too long, hellfighter.”
“Hey, Manny,” I said, giving the old man a hearty slap on the shoulder. “Glad to be back, place looks pretty nice.”
Rainbow Dash gave a small snort that Manny either ignored or didn’t hear. “Yeah, just brought in some new equipment last month. New gloves for the younger folks who come in here, too. Ever since Martin and Castro had their match here three months ago, we been doing just fine.”
“Aw crap, I missed it?!” I asked, appalled. Though Martin was several years my senior, he’d been my mentor and trainer throughout the early years of my amateur career. “How is Daquan, man? Ain’t seen him in ages.”
“You ain’t been here in ages, mi ariete,” he replied. “Daquan left for Atlantic City, he’s trying to start hitting the east coast circuit. He said he’d drop by sometime next couple months, if he could. Now why don’t you tell me who your friend is and why you’re back here after being gone for a whole year?”
“Oh! Yeah, this is Rainbow Dash, she’s a soccer play at Canterlot High and she was interested in giving boxing a shot,” I answered. “As for why I ain’t been here, I’m guessing you heard about the fight at San Marino way back.”
“Yeah, I heard,” he said heavily after he’d shaken Rainbow’s hand (I noticed, with a chuckle, that she shook her hand afterwards since his grip was so tight). “You know I don’t want that kinda bullcrap in my gym, right? I wouldn’ta let you in here if I’d know you was gangster.”
“Don’t worry, Manny, I’m out. I ain’t seen Jester or any of his Wanyama cronies in a while. I’m done with that, you got my word.”
“Good. You can do better than that, ariete,” he replied. “Ring 3 is open if y’all wanna go. You come by soon and visit, alright? Have some fun out there, but fight right.”
“You got it, Manny. See you!” I called, heading over to the empty ring and dropping my gear.
“Pretty nice guy,” Rainbow remarked.
“Yeah, good guy,” I agreed. “He’s from here, came back after his pro career ended. Started up this gym to give kids and other losers a place to learn something decent. Strict, but he did alright.”
“Cool. Say, AJ wanted me to ask you something,” she said offhandedly.
“Yeah?” I felt dread as I knew I had a pretty good idea what it was about.
Rainbow, however, didn’t seem all that eager to say. She looked at me with a playful smile, looking me over as she was thinking. “Tell you what,” she said drawlingly. “How good are you at this whole boxing thing?”
I thought over my career in my head: 12 victories, three by KO, two losses. “I was pretty good for a teenager,” I said fairly.
“Alright, then try this on,” she said eagerly. “If I get three good hits on you, I get to ask you any questions I want, deal?”
“Deal,” I said with a superior grin. I’d play fair against her since she was inexperienced, but I was too good to let three hits get me. We both stepped into the ring and squared off, bringing our gloves to sparring position to begin the match.
Right from the start I could see Dashie was out of her depth- her stance was wrong, her elbows at the wrong angle, too much movement with the heels of her feet. But she wore a determined expression and was coming closer. She threw a punch at my arm-
I swerved and parried the blow, knocking it back easily. “Gonna have to try harder than that,” I said teasingly. “Keep your elbows down, you look like a chicken.”
“Chicken, am I?” she replied, throwing a hook that I easily deflected. And another, and another- she was going all out far too early, burning her stamina away. I was surprised, as I thought some of her athletic instincts would kick in, but I quickly realized her flawed thinking: boxing is a solo sport, and she was used to being a team player. She played like someone had her back.
Big mistake. Her next punch was swatted aside and I threw a mean hook on her shoulder, knocking her sideways. I rushed forward, putting my gloves all over her body in an effort to drive her to distraction-
She didn’t buy it, nailing me across the elbow and causing me to stagger. Taking advantage of my surprise, she managed to land a body jab across my chest and raised her fist to strike another-
I swerved and ducked behind her, planting a small series of punches across her back, pushing her closer and closer to the edge of the ring-
Rainbow’s speed came into play and she dashed away, trying to keep her distance from my reach. I settled for keeping my body in check and watching, creeping closer every few seconds to try and deliver a good body shot-
Rainbow rushed forward and threw another hook-
I again pushed it aside, adding a shot to the arm for good measure-
She swung back and struck a glancing blow across my shoulder, and I felt a trickle of shame run through me. Through her sheer effort and will, she’d gotten those three hits.
“Had enough?” she asked tauntingly, leering at me from across the ring.
I said nothing, merely flashing her a grin and launching myself at her. I landed punch after punch across her body, landing hooks and jabs from bottom to top-
Rainbow raised her gloves to try to parry the incoming blow-
Too late. I pushed her aside and threw a strong power jab, knocking her hard across the shoulders and sending her toppling to the ground. I’d won.
“Not bad, Dashie,” I said jokingly, untying my gloves and spitting out my guard into a nearby cup. “You’ve got good speed to offset your inexperience, I’ll give you that.”
“Hate… losing…” she muttered angrily, slamming her fists into the floor.
“Yeah, well it happens,” I said breezily. “And you did win the bet and got three shots on me, so you did at least get that.”
“Oh yeah, I did!” Rainbow replied enthusiastically, rising back to her feet. “And remember, as many questions as I want.”
“Sure, sure,” I said. “Let’s get off the ring in case someone wants to use it, but sure.” After a few minutes, we’d settled in to watch a young black kid who was taking lessons from one of Manny’s guys. “So what’s Applejack want?”
“She wanted to know how your tutoring session went with Octavia yesterday,” Rainbow grinned. “She wondered if maybe you weren’t being entirely honest about your schedule.”
“She was, was she?” I asked, the guilt resurfacing once more. “Well, how thoughtful of her.”
“You didn’t want Sunset to be your tutor, did you?” Rainbow guessed.
I gave a sigh. “Yeah, that’s right,” I said.
“You promised to bury it-”
“Yeah, cause you all had locked me in!” I replied forcefully. “You pretty much held me to it at gunpoint, what was I going to do? Say no?”
“So you lied,” Rainbow remarked.
“No, I haven’t tried to start a fight with her, have I?” I countered.
“But you’re not even gonna give her a chance.”
“She didn’t give me one when I first got here,” I said harshly. “She tried to get me arrested, if you recall.”
“Yeah, but that’s not who Sunset is anymore.” Rainbow looked at me, shaking her head with frustration. “AJ’s right, you know better than this. Can’t you at least give her a chance to be a good person?”
“Why?” I challenged. “What’s in it for me?”
Rainbow looked at me as if she had an answer, but decided against saying. “How’d your session with Octavia go, then? Are you two best pals?”
“Umm.” I’d been beat. There was no way around that the tutoring session had been a complete disaster, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the girls already knew that. “Fine, I’ll switch to Sunset Shimmer and see how she does. She does fit my schedule better, anyway.”
“Course she does,” Rainbow said smugly. “Now just don’t be too big a jerk to her, OK?”
“Fine, jeez! You win, what else do you want from me?” I asked.
“How about we go o-” She clammed up intsantly, her face turning as pale as sour cream.
“Go where?” I asked, feeling confused. “I thought you wanted to come here and try this out for a while. I didn’t hit you that hard, did I?”
“No, no, I’m good,” she said hurriedly, staring down at her feet. I was completely taken aback by the whole thing. “I’m just, just… I dunno, I’m good. Yeah, totally. 20% cooler.”
“Umm, sure,” I said, taking a drink of water from my bottle. “You wanna keep going or do you need a rest? I tried not to hit you in the head cause I didn’t think you could handle that sorta damage.”
“Can’t handle it?” she replied, regaining some of her usual verve. “Back in, we’re going for another round!”
She and I returned to the ring, though this time less of an actual sparring match and more of a training session, Rainbow learning from me the various moves and techniques Manny had taught me. She seemed fine, but that moment where she lost confidence was strange. Never seen her like that before.
The last week in October was a sudden change of weather, becoming bitterly cold almost overnight. It was an unpleasant reminder that the bite of winter was almost upon us, something I loathed. The holidays were never that good for Mom and me.
I’d mentally putting money on it all weekend and sure enough, just as I had thought, come Monday Applejack was waiting for me at our lockers with her hands on her hips.
“What?” I asked defensively. “You’re not gonna hold it against me, are you?”
“You’re gonna change to Sunset’s schedule, right?” she asked warningly.
“Yes, yes, I will, I swear,” I answered irritably, raising my hand up as a promise. “Jeez, you musta known I wasn’t ACTUALLY friends with her, when have we ever spoken to each other?”
“You shouldn’t hold it against her no more,” she said, hoisting her bag and walking beside me. “Sunset’s not the same girl she was before. She might surprise you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “Your sales pitch is great and all, but excuse me if I have my doubts.”
“Come on, be fair,” she chided. “You were with me.”
“Yeah, but I like you. Sunset’s been nothing but a pain to me.”
“Well she’s not anymore,” AJ admonished. “You should try judging her by who she is- not who she was.”
“Yes, mother,” I replied, growing ever tired of the constant reminders. Jeez, friends are good and all, but this crap was getting old. Sure, it’s easy for them and all, but me…
The my first two classes went by quickly enough, and all too soon I was standing in front of Miss Cheerilee’s desk to shift my tutoring schedule around. I got the feeling she was expecting this all along, as her smile was far too smug for my liking. It seemed like everyone was getting their licks in today.
“So, what’ll I need to do?” I asked after I penciled my name in on the bar- Sunset Shimmer: 3:30. “Where’s she gonna meet me, the library?”
“The library,” Miss Cheerilee confirmed. “Your sessions will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3:30, so make sure to keep track. I’m sure your grades will start to improve from here!”
“Yeah,” I said distantly, my stomach feeling hollow. I grabbed my stuff and walked out of the classroom only to find Applejack waiting outside, a self-satisfied smile traced across her lips.
“Oh buzz off, will you?” I growled. “You’re having way too much fun with this.”
“Only cause you deserve it,” she countered. “You shoulda been nice in the first place, ya know.”
“Will you please stop playing the role of den mother? It’s getting really old.”
“Fine, I’ll let it go,” she said good-naturedly, hands up in surrender. “Now let’s go get some lunch, ah’m starved.”
“Oh no, not this time,” I replied defiantly. “You’re just gonna want to rub it in all during lunch and I am not gonna give you the satisfaction.”
“Suit yerself,” she said. “But just so ya know, the apple harvest we did on Saturday? Probly the last one of the season, what with the bitter cold we’re gettin’. Granny Smith’s got apple pies, all sorts of other nice things on the menu today. It looked real good when we cooked it at home.”
“Not hungry, thank you,” I said curtly, my stomach immediately giving me away with a monstrous growl. I could feel my mouth beginning to water at the thought of apple pie. Sweet, wonderful apple pie… “Sometimes I think I hate you,” I said, leering at the cowgirl.
“Come on, ah’ll see if Granny’ll give you an extra slice,” she said, putting an arm around me. “Just play nice and who knows what’ll-”
“DANGIT, AJ!”
It had been an irritating day. AJ had kept her word and didn’t mention I had switched at all during lunch, but she kept dropping hints about it and continually gave me the same smug smile she’d had when I’d walked out of class. Between that and Rainbow Dash bragging that she’d gotten several shots at me in boxing over the weekend, I could feel my patience beginning to snap. Oh, it was all in good fun, but I was in a sore mood.
I had third period with Sunset and I knew by now that she’d have seen I was on her tutoring schedule, but she didn’t mention it to me or make any note of me at all. She, for the most part, kept her head down and focused on her work throughout the class.
About halfway through class I heard a rustling noise next to me and I looked over to see Snails poking at Sunset with a pencil, jabbing at every part of her body that he could reach. She was ignoring him whenever he poked at her head and back, but the moment he jabbed her in the right arm, she gave a ferocious start and winced as if she’d been cut with a razor. A couple of the students around her looked back with looks of disgust and turned back around, assuming Sunset was just being a nuisance.
I stared at her through narrow eyes, watching she put her left arm up her right sleeve and rubbed the jabbed arm gently, her breathing very gentle and controlled. It was so odd, like she was really thin-skinned or something. I felt like I should know the answer, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
She paused for a moment and, perhaps knowing she was being watched, looked up and saw me staring at her. I quickly turned away and hoped she hadn’t actually noticed. Didn’t want her to think I was concerned.
Eventually, despite all my dread and unwillingness, the end of the school day came and I found myself walking over to the library, having dropped off everything I’d need back in my locker. Thanks to the hour’s worth of extra time I had, I was able to be pretty leisurely and get myself in order, whatever the day required. I was rather glad I didn’t need to be rushing over immediately.
When I came into the library, I at first didn’t see here anywhere. Had she ditched me and left me to dry, become her normal self after all?
“Psst! Down here!” I heard someone hiss. I looked down the aisle and saw, in a corner near the back, Sunset waving to me eagerly.
“You’re very well tucked in here,” I remarked, looking at our location: the archives section, where pretty much only staff ever went to look. She’d chosen a pretty isolated part of the library.
“I thought it’d make things easier for you,” she said cheerfully, looking practically giddy that she had a tutoring session. “I wanted something where we wouldn’t be distracted by anything, so you can be more relaxed.”
“Umm… thanks,” I said awkwardly, doubt already beginning to creep into my mind. All the thoughts of dislike I had towards her were getting pushed aside yet again, just as they had when we’d buried the hatchet. This bright, pleasant face was a complete turnaround to what I’d known since the start of school.
“So, Miss Cheerilee said you were having trouble with the fundamentals,” she said, pulling out a chair for me. “I thought we could use today as sort of a gauge, so we can know where your skill level is. I’ve got some sheets with random questions, and you just take a few minutes to answer them. If you don’t know, then just leave a mark beside it and we’ll take a look, OK?”
“OK,” feeling more awkward than before. She knew what she was doing. I settled in and started work on the question sheet, doing the best I could to answer correctly.
“Thanks for letting me help, by the way,” she said after a minute or two. “You’re the first student who’s let me help them. I guess they’re still mad after all the trouble I caused.”
“Yeah, well,” I mumbled. “You know… Octavia don’t like me much.”
“I’m sorry, that’s no fun,” she remarked. “I hope she didn’t give you a hard time during your first lesson.”
“Well, no worse than usual,” I said quietly, scratching out an answer and moving on. After a few minutes, I handed the complete sheet over to her and watched as she got to work.
“Well, I think I know what your problem is,” she said after a moment. “You’ve got a bit of a block when it comes to deciphering definitions, but for the most part you’re pretty good. Here, let’s try this one out…”
And that’s how it went for the rest of the session. Sunset was a diligent, patient instructor who seemed fully committed to helping me out. As it wore on, I found my defenses against her starting to break down. A far cry from her sarcastic cruelty that I’d known her for, this Sunset Shimmer was helpful, patient, and supportive. I’d never seen such a change in a person before.
“So, does that make sense now?” I broke from my thoughts and saw Sunset looking at me.
“Uh, what’d you say?”
She gave a laugh. Not her usual derisive bark, but a gentle laugh that accompanied an endearing smile. “I’ve wrung you dry, it seems. I asked if this makes sense to you now.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah,” I said. “Really, thanks. This helped a lot.”
“No problem! Let me think… next time you get homework or a test turned in, let me know and we’ll look over it, OK? I’ll let you have the scratchwork from today so you can look it over. Think you’ll need anything else?”
“Naw, I think I’m good,” I said. “Thanks… Thanks, Sunset.”
“No problem,” she said, beaming. Her smile was the happiest I’d ever seen her, it was so unusual but such a pleasant sight…
“Well, if we’re good, I’m gonna go on home,” I said, whacking her on the shoulder. “Thanks again for-”
It’d been a glancing blow but Sunset acted as if I’d just shot her arm. She clutched it hard as she could and squeezed her eyes shut to block out tears.
“Whoa, I didn’t mean- Jeez, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, I swear!” I babbled, mortified.
“It’s nothing,” she said through gritted teeth. She tried to give me a smile to assure me, but she ended up just looking more pained than ever. “No worries, you’re fine.”
“Are you sure? You look like you’re really hurtin-”
Her hand slipped and the sleeve of her jacket was rolled back to reveal a multitude of scars and bruises across her arms. Lacerations of all sorts, some still raw and crusted with blood, and bruises that ranged from blue to deep purple.
The two of us stared at each other, unwilling to be the first to move. “It’s not what it looks like,” she began slowly.
I ignored her, grabbing her jacket and forcing it off of her as gently as I could. What I saw absolutely was appallingly repulsive: all the way from the wrist to the nape of her neck, Sunset was covered in cuts and bruises, one particularly nasty one on her left wrist was still oozing slightly. From my point of view, and mine was a very experienced one, this wasn’t the result of some accident. All of these had to have been committed intentionally. It was appalling, something I’d see in a gang fight, not here in the middle of Canterlot High!
“What in Hell..?” I muttered, absolutely horrified by the sight. “Sunset, what is this..?”
“It’s nothing,” she said quickly, her eyes pleading for me to listen. “I promise, it’s not as bad as it looks. I’m fine.”
“Fine? Girl, you look like you’ve been whacked by a chainsaw!” I whispered. “Are any of these being treated- are you seeing a doctor?!”
“No!” she cried loudly and she clapped her hands over her mouth. “Look, don’t tell anyone, please? I’m fine, it’s not a big deal, just don’t worry about it.”
“Why-” she was off before I could barely begin. I was completely shocked by the whole thing. I hadn’t seen anyone get hurt like that in a long time, not since my last big fight at San Marino two years ago. Unless she’d gotten attacked…
Holy Hell, had she been cutting herself?