//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - After Class' Meetings // Story: The Students from St. Everfree // by Morex25 //------------------------------// No matter who much he tried, Scorpan couldn’t believe the situation that he had somehow got himself into. ‘Just remember why you are doing this.’ To prevent three girls from truly becoming something they didn’t fully grasped the consequences to. That and saving them from been influenced by worse influences like Chrysalis, who had taken him hostage by the way, or Sombra who was…exuberant. ‘But how in Tartarus am I going to begin this with?’ Scorpan thought anxiously as three sets of eyes stared at him expectantly. Currently, Scorpan and the trio known as the Crusaders where inside an empty classroom, a request of the boy, just to keep this whole thing secret; something he made the trio swear they wouldn’t tell anyone about this. “So… you want to be delinquents…?” Scorpan said somewhat lamely. Not really a good way to start things off. “Uh…before we begin… do you have any questions you want to make?” His offer was answered by the orange girl with short wild purple hair, whose name found out to be Scootaloo. “Are you really sure you know about this stuff?” Said girl asked with a look of doubt. ‘More than you.’ Scorpan wanted to say but he contained himself. It wouldn’t do him any favors being rude to them. “I can assure you I know about this stuff.” He was very positive of that, after all he had survived St. Everfree for years, which was no small feat. “If you said so.” Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders and lean back on a seat. It was clear by her tone that she didn’t fully believed him. “So…first of! What is a juvenile delinquent?” He posed the question rhetorically. “Well if you were to ask the law of this country it would say that it is a person who is typically under the age of 17 and commits an act that otherwise would have…” “Boring!” Scootaloo interrupted him in the middle of what surely was a long lecture. “Just show us what we need to do.” Scorpan fought a frown from forming on his face for the interruption. It was a major pet peeve of his being interrupted in the middle of an explanation. Always that someone went to him with any question, would always cut him off mid explanation. And in St. Everfree whenever he even got a chance to speak or say something, they would try to beat him up. So having this girl cut him off like that brought up lots of unpleasant memories. “Scootaloo! Don’t be so rude! After all we asked him for his help.” The girl with curly mulberry hair, whose name was Sweetie Belle, lived up to her name by calling out her friend’s behavior. “She’s right. That was not very nice.” The girl with red hair and a bow, Apple Bloom, also jumped into Scorpan’s defense. “You were the ones to ask him.” Scootaloo crossed her arms in front of her. “I wanted to ask the Big Guy dressed in black!” This caused Scorpan’s eyes to go wide open when he realized about whom she was talking about. “You wanted to ask by brother Ti…!” He suddenly stopped and clamped his hands over his mouth when he realized just what he blurted out. “THAT GUY’S YOUR BROTHER?!” The trio shriek at the same time, unable to believe it. When the initial shock of this revelation dissipated from the girl’s minds, they instantly bombarded him with question after question about their relationship. On his end Scropan was able to zone out the barrage of questions the girls asked him and concentrated in the dread that invaded him. ‘I screwed up! I royally screwed up!’ The one thing that Tirek has asked him to do, and he failed miserably. His brother was going to be SO upset if he finds out that he spilled the beans. He had to damage control this quickly. “Girls!” He called out making the three girls stop; eagerly awaiting an answer to their many questions. “You can’t tell anyone that Tirek and I are bothers!” “Why not?” Sweetie Belle asked in honest curiosity. “Do you not get along?” Somehow, she had nailed it in just one try. 'How in the…?!' Was the girl psychic or extremely lucky? Or maybe he was just extremely easy to read. “We are… passing through a rough patch…“ He tried to explain without getting into much detail. “It’s a guy’s thing… you wouldn’t understand…” “I kinda do…” Sweetie said. “I also got into fights with my sister Rarity. I still do.” She said with a somewhat gloomy tone only to revert back to a more cheerful one. “But we always reconcile!” “Yeah! Applejack and I squabble sometimes but that doesn’t mean we stop caring for each other.” Apple Bloom cut in with her own thoughts. “Nor we stop calling each other sisters.” Scorpan was frankly surprised their honesty and straightforwardness of the two. Then he turned and looked at Scootaloo expecting to hear from her too. “What? It’s not like I also have a similar story to share.” She said bluntly while crossing her arms and turning her face away. “I don’t have any siblings.” She muttered only to herself but somehow Scorpan managed to hear her and the hint of wistfulness under her whisper-like words. “I…” Scorpan wanted to say something but he couldn’t find any that seemed appropriate. Defeated, he turned to the other two with a sigh. “Thank you girls for your words,” He really was grateful for being so opened to him, “But, my … issues with my brother are … complicated.” More so for the fact that he was ignorant of the reason why they were so distanced in the first place. “The more reason to try and do something.” Apple Bloom stated very determined. Then her face brighten as an idea came to her mind. “I know, maybe we could help!” “What?” Help? Help how? “Yes, we know all there is to know about making peace with a sibling.” Sweetie Belle agreed nodding her head rapidly with much enthusiasm. “We could teach you.” “Wait.” Scorpan tried to get a word in but they weren’t letting him. “Yes, that way we can pay for your lessons, instead.” Scootaloo said as if thinking out-loud. “Were you actually gonna pay …?” He thought he was doing it for free this whole time. “It’s decided! We shall help you made up with your brother and you can teach us all about being delinquents!” Apple Bloom declared with the other too cheering said proclamation, leaving Scorpan without being able to protest. Not that he didn’t want to protest. He had several reservation with their new arrangement of their “deal”, but seeing their enthusiasm and determination to do something, even if it was ridiculous, made his own resolve become stronger. It was as if their passion was infectious, and he had gotten infected. “Okay, okay! I accept.” Scorpan finally conceded. “Just promise me that you won’t alter our deal any further.” This made the girls laugh, but also nod in agreement. “Thank you! Now as I was saying…” Scorpan went back to his lecture a little bit more positive than when he initially started. Maybe, just maybe, this whole thing wouldn’t be a bad thing after all. As the lesson went on, none of the room’s occupants noticed a figure spying on them from the other side of the door. She couldn’t make up what they were talking about, but whatever it was; Starlight Glimmer wasn’t pleased about it. [x-x-x] After a boring ride on a bus, Chrysalis made back in the city and to the outskirts of it where the Warehouse District was located. She walked through the empty lots until she reached her destination. “The Hive.” So it read on the entrance door with black spray paint, next to a depiction of a Skull painted neon green. The symbol of their gang. With a mighty pull, Chrysalis opened the heavy door to the side and entered the old warehouse. Inside four individuals where already waiting for her. “Chrysalis! Welcome!” the first of the four individuals saluted obediently. Iron Clad, a light grey young man with short slick white hair with black stripes. He wore an ivory sport jacket over a dark T-shirt and pants. Out of the four he had the most build, not as pronounced as someone as Tirek, but had well defined muscles. Because of this and his loyalty to Chrysalis and physical strength he was known by the subordinates as “The Armor”. “Finally, I was begging to think you wouldn’t show up.” the second one said cynically. Morpho, a dark lime green guy with messy light blue hair. He wore a dark navy blue coat over a lighter blue shirt and dark pants, not to mention stylish purple tinted glasses. Although he was lean and not very muscled he was no push over and he had a clever mind. For his ability to blend in, spying and gathering information, he was known by a network of planted spies as “The Camouflage”. “Shut up, your voice is annoying.” The only other girl besides Chrysalis said to Morpho in a irritated tone. Arachnia, a light indigo girl with dark purple shoulder length hair. She wore a black tank top and dark cherry sports pants. She too was lean but with well defined muscles that made her very nimble. What made her stand up above other were her incredible parkour abilities and her talent to break in unnoticed to any place. She was known by her infiltration team as “The Venom”. “…hmmm…” The fourth and final individual just hummed as he played with a butterfly knife macking it clank as he opened it, made it spin and close it repeatedly. Slash, a ghostly pale boy with very long burnt orange hair. He was wearing a tight skinned black top and dark red skinny pants with several cuts and gashes exposing his skin underneath. He was very thin almost to the point of sickness and he emanated an feeling that creeped-out everyone around him; that and his eerie fascination with knives made him the only one without subordinates under him. He was known as “The Claw”. And the four of them were the Chrysalis’ Four Generals. “Good, you are all here.” Chrysalis said pleased. “Now we can finally begin our meeting.” [x-x-x] Back in Canterlot High, Six girls were finishing up the last part of a song for Band practice. They were known as the Rainbooms, the name of their musical group, and as the heroes of the school who helped defeat the forces of evil magic in two separate occasions with the help of a magical princess from another world. “Man that was some good practice.” Rainbow Dash said as she packed her guitar in its case. “With the rate we are going we could go pro any day now.” Now that would be totally sweet. Playing for a crowd of thousands all clamoring her name. That was a dream. “And here I thought you wanted to go pro in one of the many sports you practice.” Applejack said looking at Rainbow as if she could read her mind. “Nobody says I can’t do both.” The sports girl answered with a grin. “Super Athlete by day; Rockstar by night.” “That would be the day.” The country girl said in as a jest, but deep down she thought that if anyone could accomplish something like that, it would be Rainbow Dash; either by sheer determination or outrageous stubbornness. “Although the idea of being a world famous musician is inciting, I much prefer to stick with the fashion business.” Rarity commented. It was her dream to one day make it in the big leagues and rub elbows with the highest names in the world of fashion. “I don’t think I would ever be ready to play for so many people.” Fluttershy said sounding a little nervous. If playing for the whole school was hard enough as it is, the idea of been seen by thousands of people, or even millions at the same time, terrified her. “Aw, but Fluttershy!” Pinkie appeared next to her fellow pink haired friend. “If you aren’t with us the band wouldn’t be the same!” She said trying to reassure her. “What’s just a couple of thousands of people staring at you, judging you, waiting patiently for you to make a mistake that can latch on and start …” But whatever she was going to say was cut short by Rarity who slapped a roll of paper on top of Pinkie’s head, like an owner disciplining their dog after they done something bad. “Pinkie, you’re not helping!” Rarity admonished before she turned and place her hand on to poor Fluttershy, who was visibly shaken by whatever mental image it had formed in her head thanks to Pinkie’s “encouragement.” “Pinkie’s ramblings and Fluttershy’s stage fright aside…” Applejack interjected. “I don’t think it would be appropriate to play in bigger scenes if we continue to ‘Pony-Up’ whenever we play.” After defeating the Sirens at the Battle of the Bands, it was an accepted fact by the rest of the student body that all six members of the Rainbooms were capable of using “Magic” and they transform accordingly whenever they played their instruments in complete harmony. But what they didn’t know was how the rest of the world would react to such occurrence. Of course, some pictures videos of them using magic were already up online, but the internet being a very skeptic place (for the most part) just assumed they were just special effects and computer generated graphics. The only ones who knew the truth were the students of CHS. “Yes, that would be difficult to explain.” Rarity agreed. The only reason why everyone at Canterlot High didn’t freak out was because they all saw experienced Magic first hand. The rest of the world didn’t have that luxury. “Maybe if we ‘hold back’ like we did on the first rounds of the Battle of the Bands we wouldn’t have this problem, right?” “But that would be totally lame.” Rainbow complained. I mean, holding back was against all she believed in. Being the best and giving her all was how she lived her life. “Am I right or what?” Everyone kept silence, pondering and gauging their own feelings on the matter. Well, except one person. “What do you think Sunset?” Rainbow turned towards the only one who hadn’t joined in the conversation. Although Rainbow wasn’t the brightest when it came to picking up on things like that, but even she could notice that the reformed bad girl was acting strange. “What do I think about what?” Sunset repeated, finally snapping back from her encapsulating thoughts. “Sunset? Is something wrong?” Applejack asked concerned. “You’ve been awfully quiet this whole day.” “Oh! No, it’s nothing.” Sunset tried to dismiss the whole thing but by the looks of everybody else, they weren’t buying it. “Are you sure?” Pinkie hopped next to her. “Because usually you are the first one to say something whenever we mention the whole “magical transformation”-thingy!” “Whatever it is, you can tell us, darling!” Rarity said while the rest nodded in agreement. “It’s just…” Sunset really wanted to get the whole “one-of-the-new-transfer-students-might-or-might-not-be-an-ancient-evil-tyrant-from-Equestria-that-wreak-havoc-whenever-he-went,-or-at-least-this-world’s-incarnation-of-said-tyrant.” out of her chest, but she didn’t want her friends to worry, especially when she didn’t have any concrete evidence besides the vague relation of their names. She had thought on writing a message to Princess Twilight with her book explaining the situation, but she opted against it. The first reason was because earlier Sunset had received a response from Princess Twilight for a previous conversation and nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary with it. No word of warning, no cries for help and no final words of goodbye; nothing that indicated that something as catastrophic as the Evil Tyrant Discord breaking free took place. Although with the Lord and Spirit of Chaos, one couldn’t be completely sure. The second reason was that if she was wrong, and she really hoped she was, and Discord hadn’t somehow gotten free from an magic seal created with her world’s most powerful magical artifacts, and was for some unimaginable reason posing as a transfer student at her school like a cliché plot from a Japanese comic, then Sunset would just end up embarrassing herself in the eyes of Princess Twilight for acting like a paranoid child with an overactive imagination. “Damned if you do, damned if you don't” the saying was. “I’m just tired…” Sunset said with a heavy sigh. She really was, all the mental debate she had done all day was very tiring. “Don’t you girls worry about me; I’ll be better after a nice relaxing afternoon and a goodnight sleep.” And now that she had say it out-loud, it didn’t sound like a bad idea. “If you say so.” Applejack said giving her a close look. Though Sunset didn’t appear to be lying, she wasn’t telling the whole truth either. For now she would take the Sunset’s word for it, but if the girl continued acting weird tomorrow, she would have to confront her. “Does that mean you are coming with us for a snack at Sugar Cube Corner?” Pinkie asked doing her best impression of a puppy dog. A very convincing tactic had it not being for Sunset being immune to it. “I’m afraid not Pinkie.” Sunset apologized, she really hated declining an opportunity to have fun with her friends and disappoint Pinkie. “Next time I promise I’ll go.” “Pinkie Promise?” Pinkie asked making strange motions that ended with her hand placed on her face where her right eye was. “Yes, Pinkie Promise.” Sunset smiled as she made the same motions as Pinkie, signifying her commitment. Gotta hand it to Pinkie, for being able to cheer up people even without intending to. Thanks what she liked a lot about her. Friendship has indeed become very important to Sunset. 'Yes. For her and my friends I promise I'll protect them no matter that' Even if it meant going out against Discord, Evil Tyrant or not.