//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Cross-Transfer Traffic // by Daxn //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle smiled to herself, as she strode towards the schoolyard with her head held high; a new black and purple backpack hung on her shoulders, but- even weeks ater he transfer- she otherwise wearing her old Crystal Prep uniform. The schoolyard before her, aside for the pedestal of the statue destroyed a week ago during the climax of the Friendship Games- which had been rapidly renovated- was criss-crossed by two concrete paths showing only minor signs of wear. The population of the yard, at that hour of the day, was composed by four early bird students sitting on the grass or on the small steps of the entrance. They all were  either reading or toying around with their phones, the only actual birds visible in the area begin crowds and pidgeons roosting over the windows' cornices and on the flagpoles. Looks like I'm early today, Twilight Sparkle giggled to herself at the thought, still moving forward. I guess it's one of the perks of living closer to the school. Twilight then stopped to survey the area,  to find a place to sit down while waiting for school to start. She identified the north-east corner of the two paths' crossroad to be a good place to stop and sit down. She went there and sat down, with her knees close to her chest and placed the backpack close to her right side. She pulled out a book and, once she set it on her knees, opened it at the chapter she was studying about, one about nucleid acids, signaled by a pink hair clip on the first page of the chapter in question. After reading a few pages on the subject at hand and a quick rattling off of several mathematical formulas, she interrupted her reading with a sigh and looked around her. She saw the schoolyard slowly filling up with students, who clustered in small groups as the small parking lot in front of the yard filled up with moped scooters, motorbikes and bicycles. Inside a small crook of approaching students, Twilight spotted Applejack. She quickly set the book back in her backpack and got up. She then waved at Applejack, who waved back before she walked out of the crook and crossed the lawn towards Twilight. “Good day Applejack!” Twilight said, once she was close enough to actually hear, while she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Applejack took a step forward and gave a friendly pat on Twilight’s shoulder, which made her pitch forward. “Howdy Twilight, how are you today?” she asked, as Twilight recovered from the pat and adjusted her glasses again. “I feel really good today, thank you very much. And you, Applejack?” she said, bowing and smiling a little, trying her best to keep eye contact with her friend. “I’m as good as ever!” Applejack said, as she hooked Twilight’s neck with her left arm, causing her to bow down. Twilight felt somewhat overwhelmed by the action, but not enough to ask Applejack to stop doing so. After a lull in the conversation lasted a few moments, Applejack moved her arm away as she bent forward setting her left hand over her forehead like a sailor on a ship looking for land. Twilight noticed this sudden change of stance and tried to follow Applejack’s gaze. She saw- inside the crowd of people- an unexpected as unpleasant surprise. It was a tall grey skinned boy wearing black trousers and a dark gray t-shirt with a huge thermometer printed on the front to walk in. Twilight fixed her gaze on him, her knees shaking a little and her heart beating faster at this sight. Is he… ? No, that’s not possible…  please, tell me it isn’t him! Twilight said, as she took off her glasses and used her skirt to hastily wipe them clean. Applejack stood up again, showing confusion on her freckled face. “Do ya see that Twilight? Am I really seeing what I think I’m seeing or am I going nuts?” Applejack asked, in a voice that betrayed disbelief, not that Twilight could blame her for that. Twilight put her glasses back on her nose. What he’s doing here? Better yet, how he can be here? Twilight shook her head. “You’re asking if I’m seeing a grey boy walking through the crowd towards us?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Yep,” Applejack stated dryly, and Twilight shook her head. “Then I do.” The guy was looked left and right with a concentrated frown. He then stopped at the scaffolding and set his hands on his hips. “Man, I knew that I wasn’t much a morning person and all, but this is ridiculous,” he said, clearly to nobody in particular. His words only caused further puzzlement to Twilight Sparkle, who, however, didn’t dare to move forward and ask. Instead, Applejack walked up to him. “Quicksilver, is that you?” Applejack asked. He recoiled and moved his hands forward towards Applejack, almst stumblign on the statue's pedestal. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! How did you know my name?” What? You once claimed you were famous around here, why are you surprised? Twilight thought, widening her eyes in surprise, before massaging her forehead with her left hand. “Your face was all over the newspaper! Your case was all over the place, even had a minute of silence for ya!” Applejack said, before she held her temples and shook her head violently. I don’t blame her. it’s all so… mind-boggling? Yeah, that may be the right word. Twilight thought, her curiosity bringing to move closer to Applejack and Quicksilver, to hear the conversation better and not miss any element of the ongoing conversation. He tilted his head, his face wrinkled by a frown of confusion and concentration. “I was on the newspapers? How’s that possible?” He asked, his tone of voice underlining irritation. “And, one minute of silence? But why?” Applejack shrugged and grimaced. She clearly didn’t achieve any further understanding about the situation, Twilight could tell, and currently, she was just as clueless as her friend was. “I dunno, they just said you went to a party outside town and then you got in a car crash 'cuz you passed with the red… that’s what the newspapers said, at least,” Applejack shrugged. “I mean, gotta trust the newspapers about somethin’, right?”  Twilight briefly snapped out of her bafflement androlled her eyes at Applejack’s statement. That depends on which newspapers you’re talking about, Applejack.  “Sooo… the principal has had a minute of silence for me, just because I was brought to hospital?” Philip said, as he moved his head back into place and scratched it. “That… doesn’t make much sense. Isn’t that kind of thing issued only when somebody dies or something?” “Yeah! That’s why I don’t get it Aren’t you dead?” Quicksilver froze, staring deeply into Applejack's eyes, mute as a dead fish, leaving behind a tenseful and awkard silence. Twilight bit her lip, bracing herself for the worst that could come from him, sweating, biting her lip and slowly moving her arms crossed over her face. Please, let him be calm! He then rose his left hand and opened his mouth, before rpaidly shutting it close. "Pretty sure I'm alive..." Quicksilver said with a frown, massagin his chin. "But, then again, I could be wrong. Maybe it's just me not remember much of my past." He's calm for now. Twilight thought, as she let out a deep and much-desired sigh of relief, wiping sweat off her eyebrow. "Yer' telling me that you have amnesia? But ain't that caused by hits on the head?" Applejack grimaced briefly. Quicksilver started to fiddle around with his fingers and rapidly look around, after a recoil that rivaled the one of a big piece of artillery. "Um... not exactly.. you see..." He said, as Applejack turned her ear towards him. "I just had s little procedure tha-" Before he could finish that sentence the school bell rang, cutting him off. He immediately turned aroudn and rushed inside the school building, leaving applejack and Twilight behind. "He acts mighty strange," Applejack muttered as she set off to walk inside. "then again, who wouldn't, if you were begin told you're actually dead." That may be true, but it does not explain... pretty much anything about him right now, really. Twilight thought, massaging her chin as she remained still while people walked inside. Maybe he is a little bit drowsy and he will be back to his rather belligerant self later? Twilight stopped her train of thought to look aroud her, noticing that everybody else had gone inside. She shrugged, fixing the bookbag on her shoulders, and then set herself off to walk inside the school.