We just finished up classes and started to collect our things. We knew that tomorrow would be the start of club recruitment days, which would be held this Tuesday thru Thursday. I decided to look over what clubs the school has before deciding. They do it for three days to make sure that students have some time before joining, and it only happens during free study and lunch.
“I just talked with Chrysalis, and she plans to join the fashion club and give it a chance,” Rarity said with excitement. “The other members didn’t have a problem with her joining, knowing they can have more designer artist in the club.”
“Don’t those girls be able to design themselves?” replied Applejack.
“Working with the fabric designing is what they can do,” Rarity said. “But just drawing up the early concept is rare in our club. I’m just one of a few who can do this. And it’s the drawings that are created that others can use to bring it to life.”
“It’s all about inspiration, isn’t it,” said Twilight.
“That’s right,” Rarity replied.
As I was closing up my locker, I heard a commotion just from the lobby.
“Clubs are not some joke. They’re a way to work on your talents.” I can hear that it was Apple Bloom talking, with her Crusaders with her.
“Like you have any talents for anyone to see. You’re still a bunch of losers.” I saw a pink girl with the violet and white hair and a tiara hairpin in the back say that. She was with a gray girl with glasses.
“And what talents do you have, if you have any,” said Scootaloo.
As the argument went on, Applejack and Rarity came up to me to see what was going on. “Darn it. I wish those two girls would just stop bugging them,” said Applejack.
“Well, she is Mr. Rich’s daughter, so what can we do,” added Rarity.
“Which one?” I asked.
“The pink one,” Rarity replied. “Her name is Diamond Tiara, and her friend is Silver Spoon. She’s been staying with Diamond Tiara while her parents are overseas with some business partners.”
“And you can’t do anything because of her father?” I said. Both of them nodded. “Let me try something.”
Rarity stopped me and said, “Oh, you don’t want to get involved with them, dear.”
“Don’t worry. I got an Ace up my sleeve,” I said.
“Rarity, I think I know what he means by that,” said Applejack.
I decided to walk up behind the two girls, waiting for my time to strike, which was very soon.
Diamond Tiara said, “You’re just a bunch of losers.”
“No we’re not, and we can prove it,” Apple Bloom replied.
Diamond Tiara continued. “You got nothing to prove. How can you even prove anything when you don’t have…”
“HAVE WHAT, MISS!!!” I said, cutting off Diamond Tiara.
The two girls turned around to look at me slightly hovering over them.
“Do you know who you are talking to?” said Diamond Tiara.
“I’m sorry. I have a hard time remembering a bully’s name,” I responded.
“Excuse me, but did you just call me a BULLY?” she replied. “I have you know that my father has lots of money, and resources to put you in your place. I am to be treated like a princess.”
“Would that money be used to help in the funding of a new D.I.Y. Home store, and the resources used to file a lawsuit against some businessmen who was trying to sell another piece of land for the store on an unstable ground that lead to a sinkhole forming after the settlement was settled, meaning that lots of money would have been lost if someone didn’t caught it in the first place?”
“Why yes, it was,” said Diamond Tiara. “And it was thanks to a smart man from Manehattan who caught it in the first place. What was his name?”
I replied, “Ace O Spades. My FATHER!!!”
“Why yes it was,” she stopped for a moment as her eyes just went wide open, realizing what I just told her, “your…father?”
I remember when my father told me about what happen when he was called to Ponyville during the winter. I figure I use that as my ‘ace’ up my sleeve.
I looked straight at her and said, “Who need to respect whom now, miss?”
“Um…Oh look, my ride is here. We need to be going, right Silver Spoon?” She grabbed her friend and made a mad dash to the door, leaving the lobby.
“Wow. What happen to her?” said Sweetie Belle.
The girls started to join us in the lobby after seeing what just happen.
“When you said ‘ace’, I knew you were talking about your father,” said Applejack. “Granny told me that he knew Mr. Rich, whose family has ties with the Apple family.”
“I just remember what my father told mother and me that lead us to our move here. When you said Mr. Rich, I knew what I needed to do.”
“Looks like someone is full of surprises,” Twilight added. “Must be a good thing to have you here when others need help from someone like you.”
“I know.” I looked at the Crusaders and said, “If they try to cause any trouble, let me know. Any bully who messes with my friends, have to deal with me. I’m one who doesn’t like bullies who get to have it their way.”
“Thank you, Jack,” all four Crusaders said together.
“Well, I need to head off. Don’t want to keep Chrysalis waiting.” I saw her just waiting for me at the door.
As we were making our way to the car, Chrysalis said, “Nice ace you pulled there. Those girls were scared stupid when they ran off.”
“Well, there’s more to me than just my powers. But I have a feeling I’m about to get my next test from Celestia tomorrow.”
It was the first day for club recruitment, and I wanted to see what clubs were out there. But I knew Celestia had something planned for me, and it started after 4th period when I heard from the intercom.
“Sunset Shimmer and Jack Diamond, please report to the principal’s office.”
Sunset just looked at me with disgust when she knew I was called with her. As she walked off, I started to follow, but stopped and whispered to Twilight, “Keep your phone handy, in case something bad happens.” She nodded in response. I just knew that this would be Celestia’s next test for me. But if it involves Sunset in person, I need to be ready to warn Twilight if it becomes a problem.
When we arrived in the principal’s office, Celestia was there, waiting for us.
“Please close the door and take a seat.” I went to close the door while Sunset took one of the seats. I sat down afterwards. “Now I know that club week just started, and I’m in a good mood about this. Sunset, since you have never joined a club in the past 2 years, I want you to join one of the clubs this year.”
“WHAT?” Sunset replied. “You have got to be kidding. No one is going to want me in their club, and I’m not even interested in any of them anyway.”
“I’m not requesting it, I’m demanding it,” said Celestia. “This is a good chance to make amends for what you have done in the past.”
Sunset asked, “And how do you plan to make them accept me into their club?”
Celestia answered, “With Jack’s help.”
“I knew something like this would happen,” I thought.
Celestia continued. “You will be joining the same club that he will join, in agreement.”
“OK, I did not see that coming,” I thought again.
Sunset replied, “You mean I have to stick with the new guy? No way that’s going to happen.”
“If you don’t want to join one of the clubs,” Celestia stared straight at Sunset, “I’ll be happy to place you in detention during free study for the rest of the semester…with me.”
“Wow,” I thought. “She’s really pushing the limits with her.”
“Fine,” Sunset replied. “But what would happen if we can’t find a club to join?”
“I think there shouldn’t be a problem in joining one,” I said.
“See, he can help you out,” said Celestia. “Now go on and check out the clubs that are available.”
As the two of us were leaving, I looked back at Celestia with a concerned looked. She replied with a wink and a thumb up. I just rolled my eyes and started to walk out of the office. I knew I needed to warn Twilight about this, but not with Sunset nearby. I only had one option to go on, so I was able to slightly get my cell out, look up and selected Twilight’s number, and made sure the speaker was very, very low. Once I saw that she picked up, I decided to talk to Sunset, in hopes that Twilight would catch on.
“So, how come you never decided to join a club?” I asked Sunset.
“Because I was never interested in them. They were just boring.”
“But you wanted to be popular before your problems surfaced. Wouldn’t joining a club help out with that in the first place?”
“Why do you care,” she snapped at me. “Now that you’re new here, I’m being forced to join a club with you for the rest of high school.”
“Well, now’s the time to finally clean up your act. And I did offer to help you in starting a new life back when school started. Plus, we will be working together in science class when that project comes up. So, what’s it going to be? You want the past to drag you down in failure, or are you going to let me help you in moving forward?”
Sunset just stood in front of her locker, silent. I started to put my books away in my locker when she spoke.
“I heard what you did with scaring off that rich girl from what she was doing towards the other girls. That took guts to do that, and towards a freshman.”
“I just got lucky with what info I had going on,” I replied.
She paused again before she spoke. “You don’t plan to stop bugging me until I give in, do you?”
“You want me to answer that, because you should already know the answer.” I felt my pocket vibrate. When I slightly took out my cell, I saw a text message from Twilight.
Got the warning.
Look for AJ.Twilight
I hear Sunset closed her locker, so I put my cell back in my pocket. “Let’s get this over with, OK?” she said.
“Twilight, I hope you have a plan ready,” I thought.
We made our way to the gym, where they were holding the clubs for recruitment. Just outside the gym was Applejack. “I was wondering when you show up.”
“AJ, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“I figure I look into joining one of them clubs they be having. You did bring up about this place as being the last two years of high school to enjoy. So I figure that it’s best to enjoy every day of it.”
“I’m surprised that you would join some club when you didn’t find a club that you liked back then,” said Sunset.
“Well…that was then, and this is now,” said Applejack. “Maybe a club out there be more interesting than before.”
“Fine. Let’s just get this over with,” said Sunset.
As Sunset made her way into the gym, Applejack whispered, “Twilight warned all the clubs about her arrival with you.”
I whispered back, “Let’s hope this works.”
We walked in and saw rows of tables with one of the clubs at each table. Freshman students were walking around; looking into which club they wanted to join. Twilight and Cadence were watching over the area, helping students with whatever questions they wanted answered.
“Why don’t we start over there?” I pointed at the science club, where Moon Dancer and Lyra were.
We walked up to the science club, and Lyra introduced to us. “Hello, Jack. Thinking about joining the science club?”
“Just looking for now. How have you been handling the club in Twilight’s place?”
“Just fine,” said Moon Dancer. “We had a few who are thinking of joining our club so far. And we have a lot of ideas for club activities later on.”
“And we’re sure that joining our club can be helpful with your science project coming up,” said Lyra. “You’ll have more time and access to the items needed for your project, plus help from other members if you start coming up with problems. The more you learn, the better you can be.” She finished with a grin.
I saw Sunset roll her eyes as her response, so I said, “We’ll think about it. Thanks anyway.” We started to walk to another table when I looked back and saw both Lyra and Moon Dancer give thumbs up.
We came up to the nature club, where Roseluck and Sweetie Drops were.
“Rose, Sweetie, how’s the club going?” said Applejack.
“Club’s doing fine,” said Sweetie Drops. “Too bad Fluttershy couldn’t help out.”
“Well, she can be shy in front of so many people here, and Tree Hugger would be hard for people to understand,” said Roseluck.
“I know,” replied Sweetie Drops. “By the way, do any of you plan to join us?”
“Maybe,” Applejack responded. “I’ve been meaning to understand more about improving my work on the apple trees, if that’s possible.”
“Oh it is,” replied Roseluck. “It’s just not looking at nature, but knowing how to improve it. Having healthier fruit trees, like your apple trees, is what makes the nature club great.”
“That’s great to hear.” Applejack looked at us and said, “What do you guys think? Want to join?”
Sunset and me just looked at each other with concerned expressions on our face. “We might be on the fence with this club. Give us some time to think about it.”
We decided to make way to the theater club when I saw Chrysalis in front of the fashion club, which was next to the theater club. Rarity and another girl was at the fashion club table, while Trixie and another guy was at the theater club table.
“So you’re going along with the fashion club, Chrysalis?” I said.
“I am. I can learn a lot from them, and they might do the same from me,” she replied.
“I just know that you belong in this club after looking at your drawings,” Rarity said.
“Trixie agrees with your decision. Trixie believes that you can make nice costume designs for our club’s next play.”
“Just make sure you let us know what play you will be doing so we can start doing the research,” Rarity replied.
“Trixie agrees.” She looks at us and asks, “And will you be joining the theater club? Trixie was impressed with your acting last week.”
“While I might be good at that style of acting, remembering lines and playing the requested roles is more of a challenge,” I said. “I like to do things on the fly.”
“Well, you know where to find Trixie if you change your mind.”
As we were leaving, I could hear Sunset mumbling something. “Did you say something, Sunny?”
She just gave me a mean look, and then said, “It was nothing.”
I whispered, “For a moment, you said something about having to go through all this. If that’s the case, then just deal with it.”
I saw the athletic club up ahead, and Soarin and Rainbow Dash were running the table.
Applejack whispered, “Looks like they got someone to take over for Flash.”
I whispered back. “Good idea. No telling what would happen between those two.” I was pointing to Sunset.
“Hey there Jack, AJ, and…Sunset,” Rainbow Dash said. “Plan on joining the athletic club. I know I’ve been trying to get Applejack to join every time.”
“That’s because I’m no athlete, Dash,” Applejack replied. “But I might think about joining if these two were interested.”
“I’ve seen Dash run, and I know I can’t keep up with her at all,” I replied.
“Big Mac told me that you used to play the foot…” I placed my hand on Applejack’s mouth so she didn’t bring that up. Last thing I wanted others to know is my football past.
“I did some sports in P.E., but didn’t do well in any sport,” I said.
They gave me a weird glance, and then Rainbow said, “OK. Whatever floats your boat. But you don’t have to be an athlete to join. There’s more to it than just sports.”
“Well, let us think about it,” I said.
I removed my hand from her mouth as I was pulling her away. “What the hey was that for?” she whispered.
“I rather not get dragged into football again like last year,” I whispered back.
“Fine, but why bring it up in the first place Saturday.”
“That was my dad who brought it up, not me.”
After telling her that, we came up to the party club, where Pinkie Pie and Vinyl were.
Pinkie Pie said, “Hey there. Plan to join the party club? It’s going to be crazy fun. We get to plan events like both fall and spring homecoming, and even other events that the staff want us to work on, even the prom.”
Applejack was trying to tell her with her hands to shut up, but it was too late. I can see Twilight put her hand on her face in disgust.
“I think I’ll pass,” said Sunset, and started to walk away.
Applejack got close to Pinkie Pie and whispered, “What was that for? You know she did all those bad things last year, so why bring those events up?”
“I’m just doing what I always do towards everyone,” Pinkie Pie replied. I just shook my head and decided to go to another club.
The next one we came up to was the music club, where Octavia was by herself, talking to the Crusaders.
“Hey, girls. What’s up,” I said.
The girls turned around, and Apple Bloom said, “Howdy, Jack. Big sis. Looking for a club to join?”
“You could say that,” I replied. “Are you planning to join the music club?”
“That’s right,” said Sweetie Belle. “We want to start our own band, and we were hoping that the music club can help us with that.”
“Well, you’re in good hands with Octavia. Just make sure you follow her lead. Otherwise, you might disgrace the club all together.”
All of them replied, “We will.”
“Well, we might look around some more. I can see that Octavia is busy anyway,” I said.
“Here, take this,” Octavia said as she handed me a piece of paper about the club.
After looking at all the remaining clubs, Sunset and me decided to talk about the clubs tomorrow in private. After she left, Twilight joined Applejack and me.
“That was a close one,” said Twilight.
“Tell me about it,” I replied. “I’m just glad you caught on to our conversation.”
“Is this why the two of you were called to Principal Celestia’s office?” she asked.
“That’s right. She’s trying to give her a second chance, but knows that would be impossible without my help.”
“From the looks of what happen, I think she wants both of ya to join the same club, right?” Applejack said.
“That’s also right.”
“What is she thinking?” Twilight asked. “This is just crazy that she’s putting all this on you. I’m going to have a talk with her when I get a chance.”
“Don’t,” I said. “Let me deal with this.”
“Sugercube, I think you should let Twilight handle this,” said Applejack.
“I said I’d deal with this!” I said angrily. “My problem, my responsibility.”
I didn’t want to get them involved in all of this, because there are some things they don’t need to know. This was my test from Celestia, and I intend to pass it my way.