Zero headed towards the principal's office like he was told after Discord’s obnoxious test. Most students would be nervous to do such a task, especially if the principal asked them to go there immediately. But for Zero, this wasn't the first time he’d been there over the past month, nor did it intimidate him that she called him in a stern voice. It was probably because she was getting sick of seeing Zero ‘up to no good again’ as some people would describe it. All in all, he knew he was just gonna hear another annoying lecture that’d go through one ear and out the other as he pretended to listen with smiles and nods, nothing new.
But what WAS new, however, was who he was walking there with.
Twilight Sparkle was walking right beside him as she too was called to the principal’s office, making Zero a little curious. He didn’t really know that much about Twilight. He remembered that she helped him with his grand entrance into Ms. Harshwhinny’s class on their first day and that she gave a really long lecture on where the word “phobia” originated from that put him to sleep, so he guessed that labeled her as “pretty damn smart.” There was also that video Swift showed him of Twilight and the others saving the school from Sunset and the Dazzlings; however, Soul explained that she wasn’t the same person and the Twilight in the video was from the pony world like Sunset. Not only that, the Twilight in the video seemed more… sociable than the one standing next to him, making Zero even more curious about why she was in trouble.
Deciding to end the silent stroll and his never-ending curiosity, Zero made an attempt to converse.
“Hey,” Zero addressed. “You have any clue why you were called?”
“I have no idea,” Twilight said as she finally noticed him. “I’m sure I didn’t do anything wrong. Do you have any ideas?”
“Nope, and I didn’t even do anything this time,” Zero defended. “But who cares? Celestia is just gonna give a five minute lecture on the importance of education or some other nonsense like that.”
“The importance of education is not nonsense,” Twilight argued. “Without education, we wouldn’t have most of the things we have today in our day-to-day lives. If humanity didn’t want to learn how the world and the universe work, we’d still be cavemen wondering why fire burns us or how wheels work.”
When Twilight finished rambling, she looked over at Zero and noticed that he wasn’t paying attention. “And you're not listening, are you?” Twilight asked with a disapproving look.
“Huh?” Zero asked after snapping out of his daydream. “Sorry, I got bored and stopped caring.”
Twilight sighed. “Let’s just get to the office.”
After another minute or two of walking, the two arrived at the office. The first thing they noticed was that Vice Principal Luna was standing outside waiting to greet them, making both Zero and Twilight give her a curious look.
“Vice Principal Luna, why are you standing here?” Twilight asked. “And why was I called here? I didn’t do something wrong, did I?”
Luna shook her head and gave Twilight a relaxing smile. “No, Twilight, you're not in any trouble whatsoever,” she explained before frowning and looked at Zero. “However, he on the other hand, is.”
“I’m confused,” Twilight wondered while raising an eyebrow. “Why did Principal Celestia call me here then?”
“And what did I do?!” Zero blurted. “I was just my minding my own business today while hanging out with my friends before Discord decided to pull a Loki on us.”
“All will be explained shortly,” Luna stated. “Twilight Sparkle, please wait out here for a few minutes while my sister talks to Mr. Gravity here.”
Twilight nodded as she sat down on a nearby bench next to the office. Zero gave an uninterested look as he walked up to the office door that Luna opened for him. Looking inside, Zero saw the same golden office that he’d been to about a dozen times now. It came with the usual stuff a principal would have: a calendar with some dates marked, a bookcase, and the large desk with a microphone on top. Zero chuckled as he remembered when he came to the office one time and Celestia had stepped out for a minute, so to occupy himself, he turned on the P.A. system and declared that he was taking over the school and did an evil laugh with some sinister music played from his phone. Sure, he got three hours of detention after he was caught, but he thought it was worth it.
“Something funny Mr. Gravity?” Celestia said in a stern voice while giving an unamused stare.
“Just remembering a hilarious joke I made two weeks ago,” Zero recalled. “Not my best work, but it’s a nice memory to look back on.”
“Well, since you're here, maybe you could share that joke with us.” Celestia smirked.
“Well, I would, but one, you were there, remember? And two, I’ve got a riverbank to chill at, so can we jump into the lecture and—wait, what did you mean by ‘us?’ ”
It took Zero a moment to notice that somebody was sitting next to the empty chair in front of Celestia. He took a few steps forward and the person spun the chair around to look at Zero. He gulped as he immediately recognized the person as his mother, White Star.
“Come on Zero, we all know how much I love your jokes,” White Star hissed with an angry look on her face. “Please tell me what’s so goddamn hilarious.”
Before Zero could do anything, Luna closed the door behind him. Having nowhere to go, he lowered his head in defeat and sat in the chair next to his mother. Zero crossed his arms and looked the other way.
“It’s… nothing, forget it,” Zero huffed. “So why am I even here, anyways? The only major thing I did was join the fun chase Discord came up with and do his stupid test.”
“And that’s exactly why I called you and your mother here,” Celestia said as she took out a blank test packet. “When Discord retrieved the tests from Ms. Harshwhinny’s class, I wanted to see how you in particular did on the test. Then I discovered that you were the only student in her class whose test I couldn’t find among all the others. But not only did I find a test with no name on it, but the test doesn’t have any work or answers written down. Care to explain?”
“Well, I don’t exactly care, nor do I want to explain, but what I do want to ask is what’s your point?” Zero sassed. “Discord said everyone passed, and last time I checked, I was part of that ‘everyone.’ ”
White Star gave a menacing glare at her son before speaking. “The point is that answering at least a few of the questions would have boosted that piece of crap grade of yours!”
“W-what's wrong with my grade?” Zero flinched.
“Only that you’ve been failing all your classes miserably and falling behind everyone else!” White Star explained.
“Hey, that's not true!” Zero argued. “I'm doing great in gym. My grade has to be at the top of the class, maybe even the whole school.”
“.........GYM IS THE EASIEST SUBJECT! IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FAIL!”
“Ah, that's where you’re wrong, my dear mother. If someone decides to do nothing, their grade can drop faster than Pinkie could down twenty cupcakes, so it's not completely impossible to—”
White Star gave a vicious look at Zero to the point he could almost see hellfire right behind her. “......I’m gonna shut up now,” he said while sliding back in his chair in fear.
Celestia coughed to get both mother’s and son’s attention as she took out a couple sheets of paper. “Not only are his grades drastically slipping, but he also has been causing a bit of a ruckus here at CHS. Over the past month and a half, he has swung into a classroom through a second story window using a rope, constantly slept in his classes, excluding gym of course, barrel surfed in the halls, attempted sword fighting with other students on the roof with toy swords and light sabers during class period, attempted—
‘Geez, why does Night have a crush on this lady again?’ Zero thought as he ignored Celestia’s lecture and could only hear her going ‘blah, blah, blah.’ ‘I mean sure, when she's not giving a lecture that I’ve ignored for the millionth time, she's kinda nice. But for Batman’s sake, she's not even attractive! Just look at those lips, and her eyes have crows feet if you look hard enough, not to mention her height. Now I know who's the real villain in Attack on Titan……… Ok, that might have been harsh. Anyways, if Night wants to crush on an older woman, he should look at Ms. Roseluck. She's at least attractive, not to mention she's around her twenties last I heard….Or was it Ms. Cheerilee? Whatever, they’re better to look at than Ms. Beanstalk-
“ZERO GRAVITY!” White Star shouted as she snapped Zero out of his thoughts. “Are you listening?!”
“Of course I was,” Zero replied cooly.
“Then what did your principal say?”
“......Something about the importance of learning, right?”
White Star looked liked she was just about ready to bury Zero alive until Celestia decided to continue listing his misbehaviors. “Moving on. Lastly, he's been messing with firecrackers and proceeding to throw them at a few students he greatly dislikes, setting the chemistry lab on fire, and he got into a fist fight with a few boys last week.”
*Slam*
“That last one is still bullshit!” Zero shouted as he stood up and slammed both hands on Celestia’s desk. “Those Diamond Dog punks were harassing Fluttershy for test answers and homework, so I stepped in and knocked their teeth out. I admit that I did some crazy stuff and I accepted the punishment for all of it, but why did I get in trouble for protecting my friends?!”
“I understand the reason behind your actions, but you wouldn't have gotten in trouble if you’d just contacted a teacher and-”
“And what?” Zero hissed. “So you can give them a lecture on why they shouldn't cheat and call their mommies about what they did?! So they can talk to them, hope they'll turn over a new leaf and be best buddies the next time Fluttershy sees them?! Sorry to burst your happy little thought bubble, but it doesn’t work like that. They'll just go back to the same thing but will be more careful on where to pick their targets! I said it once, and I’ll say it again: As long as I'm here, nobody, and especially not my friends, are gonna be bullied.”
Celestia gave a long sigh before giving Zero the same disapproving look. “Zero, I understand your strong desire to protect those close to you, but it's still considered an assault since you threw the first punch. That's part of the school rules and the state law. However, I did make sure to punish those boys for what they did also. Hopefully they won't be bothering you or your friends for a while.”
Zero sat back in his chair with an unsatisfied look on his face. He knew the Diamond Dogs were just gonna come for him and the others the first chance they got, so Celestia’s words meant almost nothing to him. He looked over at his mother for a brief moment as he was a little surprised that she hadn't drop kicked him into another reality for yelling at his principal. In fact, she hadn't said anything during his whole argument. He glance over at her for a second and noticed that her angry she-demon face was replaced with a look of… worry.
“Back to the matter at hand, I've overlooked your actions too many times now, hoping you would simmer down after a few disciplines and lectures,” Celestia noted. “I'm afraid that you leave me with no other option but to transfer you someplace more refined.”
Zero raised an eyebrow. “And where's that?”
Celestia took out a small brochure and handed it to Zero. “Crystal Prep Academy. It's a little far from here since it resides in the city, but it’s nothing a short bus ride can't fix.”
As Zero and White Star looked through the brochure about the school, Zero felt immediately turned off to the idea once he saw that the school looked too fancy and the students seemed a little stuck-up.
“I can't go here!” Zero exclaimed. “I don't wanna leave all my friends behind. Plus it looks too high class for my taste!”
“That's because they're wearing uniforms,” White Star noted with calm look.
“My point exactly!”
Hearing those words, Celestia gave a confident smile. “I figured you'd say that. That's why I prepared an alternative. Luna, would you send Twilight in, please?”
Luna opened the office door and Twilight walked in. She grabbed a nearby chair and placed it in next to Zero before sitting down.
“Twilight, you currently have the highest test scores, correct?” asked Celestia.
“Y-yes ma’am,” she confirmed.
“And it goes without saying that you also have the best grades among your peers,” said Celestia. “So I was wondering if you’d like to tackle a certain assignment.”
“What is it?”
“Twilight Sparkle, are you willing to be the tutor of Mr. Gravity here?”
Twilight’s face lit up at the idea and smiled. “Me, a tutor? I’d be happy to accept the assignment! I’ve always wanted the chance to teach someone all of my study habits and show them the wonders of learning. When do we start?”
“I'll let White Star decide on the terms,”said Celestia as she looked at Zero's mother.
“Hmm, how about from three to five at my house on the weekdays?” White Star offered. “You two can start today if you want.”
“Excellent,” Twilight agreed before digging through her backpack. “I already have all the necessary materials I need for today. We'll be able to get started right away!”
“Woah woah woah,” Zero halted while holding up his hand. “Nothing against Twilight here, but a tutor, really? Don't I get a say in all of this?”
Principal Celestia gave a half-lid look at Zero before showing him the brochure of Crystal Prep again, making Zero imagine himself in one of their uniforms and shudder. “Ugh, ok, ok, I'll agree to the terms.”
Celestia put the brochure away and returned to her warm smile. “Wonderful. Now that we're all in agreement, I'll let you all be on your way then. Zero, I wish you nothing but the best and look forward to seeing your progress.”
“No problem… Principal Long Legs,” Zero groaned as he whispered the last part under his breath. White Star heard it and grabbed Zero by the collar of his jacket before dragging him out in the hallway. “Ow! Mom, you're stretching the collars!”
“Sorry, I just need to talk to my soon-to-be genius son in private for a minute,” White Star said to Celestia and Twilight with a kind smile before closing the office door and dragging Zero further down the hallway. Once she was sure nobody was around or in hearing range, White Star let go of Zero and faced him. Instead of being filled with enough rage to scare a military sergeant, she looked at him with a look of disappointment and worry. “Zero… what's going on with you?”
Zero stared at the ground with a frustrated look as he refused to answer his mother, making White Star sigh.
“Fine, I'll talk, you just listen,” she began. “Why are you acting like this? I'd hoped that moving here would help you forget about Manehattan, that'd you start focusing on school work and wouldn't grow up to be some punk on the street. Yet here you are, begging for attention and causing trouble to the point that it's become second nature to you!”
“And so what if I am?” Zero mouthed off. “Who are you to tell me who I can or can't be, huh? I'm old enough to make my own decision and future.”
“What future?!” White Star exclaimed as she returned to her angry look. “Being the king of your generation by acting like the same reckless fool of a ten-year-old you used to be?!”
“I don't care about being cool!” Zero argued as he finally looked at his mother with a powerful glare. “I just wanna show my friends that I'll be the pillar of strength that'll always be there to protect them.”
“By getting into fist fights again?” White Star cross-examined. “You remember what happened the last time you got into a fight, right? You-
“It was different this time!” Zero interrupted. “I saw those Diamond Dog guys constantly harassing Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie showed up and stood up for her. It was two against three and I didn't want to see the girls get hurt, so I charged in and beat the crap out of all three of them myself while Pinkie and Fluttershy slipped away to grab a teacher.”
“They did what you should have done from the beginning,” she noted. “I understand why you took action, but you need to learn how to pick your battles.”
“Hey, by the time the teachers showed up, I had already send them running with their tails between their legs,” Zero assured while clenching his fist in front of his face. “If anything, they should be thanking me for dealing with the problem at hand and punishing the real troublemakers.”
White Star gave an exhausted sigh as she looked at Zero with a sympathetic look while putting down her son’s clenched fist. “Zero, you're not seeing the big picture here. If you keep acting like a problem child, you'll only end up in more trouble than you already are. Then, like the pillar you claim to be, you'll just end up crumbling down. Then you won't be able to help anyone, not even yourself.”
Zero clenched his fist tighter for a moment as he looked away from his mother’s eyes and went back to staring at the ground. He knew all too well it wasn't wise to get into fights, especially if he's the one throwing the first punch, but he couldn't give any bully the chance to hurt his friends. He didn't care about the risks or the drawbacks of protecting them; he couldn't allow his friends to be scarred from the pain…… at least… not again.
“Zero,” White Star said in a soft voice. “Do you… still blame yourself for what happened back in Manehattan?”
Zero flinched at her words for a moment before looking back up at his mother with his usual cheeky smile. “Who, me? Yeah right. My name’s Zero Gravity for a reason!” he beamed. “It means nothing brings me down. Manehattan is just, whatever, ya'know? It's all just a stupid city filled with crap I barely care about.”
White Star narrowed her eyes at him. “Then what about Hot Streak? When was the last time you called or texted him?”
“Hot Streak? I'm sure he'll find new friends to sing cartoon theme songs and reenact awesome moments with,” he said as he waved it off. “He’s probably forgotten all about me and moved on like me.”
White Star slowly kneeled down and touched the kanji on Zero’s shirt. “....But you're still wearing the shirt.”
Zero backed away a little defensively for a moment. “I-It's just a cool shirt. Plus the symbolism of wolves represents who I am.”
White Star glared at him for a moment before giving a defeated sigh and standing back up. She was going to bring her up, but thought it was better to stay away from the sensitive topic and let Zero focus on the tutoring for today. “Alright, I'm done interrogating you. Head on back to the house with Twilight and get started on your lessons.”
“Aren't you coming?” Zero asked curiously.
“I'm going to the homeless shelter to do a little volunteer work for a little bit,” White Star explained. “I'll be back by six.”
“Alright then.” Zero nodded before running back to the office to grab Twilight. White Star watched Zero leave with a sad look on her face and prepared to head off herself, knowing all too well of the feelings he was keeping lock away.
‘You’re not fooling me Zero… and you're not fooling yourself either.’
Later that afternoon, Zero was on his way home as Twilight was driving the both of them there. During the car ride, Zero tried to get out of this situation by persuading Twilight to do his homework for him or let him copy her answers on the next big test. Much to his disappointment, Twilight denied all of his requests. Arriving at his driveway, the two hopped out of the car and walked towards the door step.
“Ok, ok,” Zero said as he continued to pester Twilight. “How about if I take you shopping and buy you whatever you want out my dad’s—I mean my wallet and buy you whatever you want while I carry everything?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Look, I appreciate all of your offers, but if you just cheated your way through the school year you wouldn't be learning anything, not to mention you wouldn't really be earning good grades.”
Zero tilted his head. “.....And I should care because?”
“Because it would make you a dishonest person who doesn't understand the value of working hard at getting what you want out of life.”
Zero gave an annoyed groan and took his house keys out of his pocket. “Who cares if people think I'm dishonest? I don't need some stupid diploma to achieve my goal.”
“You can't do anything big in life without a diploma, so if you really intend on achieving your goal, then you might want to focus on graduating before anything. Who knows, you might learn something useful for a change.”
“Don't take this the wrong way, but I already get an earful from my mom and Principal Long Legs, so would you please can it with the lecture and save it for someone who wants to listen?”
Twilight rested her hands on her hip. “All I'm saying is that getting an education is a good thing, and you might even find it to be fun.”
Zero stood there for a moment in shock thanks to Twilight’s words. He then went up to her and gave a suspicious look as he poked Twilight in the arm.
“Uhh, why are you poking me?” Twilight asked as she was clearly uncomfortable. Zero keep eyeballing her until he finally stepped out of her personal bubble.
“Sorry, it's just that I've never heard someone speak such blasphemy in all my years,” Zero explained while rubbing his chin. “You must belong to that species I've heard so much about called Eggheads who think learning and fun go hand in hand.”
“I am not an egghead!” Twilight cried with a frustrated look. “And they're not a species.”
“Geez, I was just teasing. You're no fun.” Zero waved off as he went up to the door to unlock it. Before he could reach the doorknob, the door was swung up open and his father, Sound Barrier, stood before him while holding a shotgun.
“YOU’VE GOT A LOT OF BALLS COMING HERE WITH MY DAUGHTER!” Sound Barrier shouted as the shotgun made a clicking sound, making both Zero and Twilight scream in a panic.
“DAD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Zero screamed. Sound Barrier looked at Zero and Twilight for a moment before dropping the angry scowl and moving the gun away.
“Oh, it's you Zero,” said Sound Barrier. “My bad kiddo, I saw the car in the driveway and didn't recognize it. Then I heard someone trying to unlock the door and thought Wind came home with some older guy and assumed the worse.”
“Why didn't you think it was me?!”
“Cause you can't drive and you don’t seem like the kind of person to let a girl drive you places. Sorry for spooking you two.”
“Your spook nearly made me crap my pants!” Zero exclaimed before looking at Twilight who was still shaking. “Sorry about my dad.”
“N-n-no, it's f-fine,” Twilight stuttered. “It's not every day I get a shotgun pointed at me. Is it ok if I use your b-bathroom sir?”
“Sure!” Sound Barrier smiled. “Upstairs, third door on the right. And while you’re at it, get comfortable and make yourself at home. Kiddo, mind if I talk to in private for a little bit?”
“Uh, sure dad,” Zero agreed as he followed his father and locked the front door. As he walked with his father, he looked at Twilight for a moment and noticed her walking awkwardly. It didn't take long to realize that she must have peed herself thanks to the shotgun. After entering his father’s office, Zero took a seat as Sound Barrier closed the blinds to darken the room and turned on a single lamp as he looked at Zero with a serious glare. “You wanted to see me dad?”
“We need to talk about a few things kiddo,” Sound Barrier said in a serious tone of voice as he walked around the room with his hands behind his back. “First things first, where's your sister?”
“Wind texted me and said she was gonna hang out with her friends after school and will be home by dinner time.”
“And your mother?”
“She's at the homeless shelter for volunteering. She'll be back around six.”
“I see.” Sound Barrier finally took a seat and put his hands together as he kept the same serious look. “Zero, it's time we had a serious talk about one of the most crucial things in life: Women.”
“Women? Why do you want to talk about that?” Zero questioned.
“I'm about to leave to do a little investigating at a crime scene and collect evidence, meaning you and your friend are gonna be alone for a couple hours,” Sound Barrier explained. “And I have evidence that proves you're well aware of the birds and bees, so in case things get… heated between you two, I wanna give you something before I leave.”
“Dad, it's not like th—wait, what do you mean you have evidence?”
Sound Barrier turned the computer to his son and showed him the browser history of a few porn sites. “Next time you get curious about girls, clear your history.”
Zero gave a nervous look. “O-objection! I was dared! It was a one-time deal! Wind must have filled up your history with porn! Yeah, that’s it! She wanted to get me in—”
Sound Barrier chuckled at his freak-out. “Relax, I'm not gonna tell anyone. I did the same when I was your age.” He deleted the history after typing on the computer for a moment. “Except I never got caught.”
“R-right.”
Barrier turned the computer back to himself before looking at Zero and clapping his hands together with a sly smile. “Back to the matter at hand, tell me about your friend out there.”
“Her name’s Twilight Sparkle.” Zero chuckled at the name as it reminded him of the terrible Twilight novels that Wind use to read. “She's some brainiac from my school who's in a few of my classes. Other than that, I hardly know her.”
His father gave a few understanding nods. “Ah, I didn't take you for someone to be interested in smart girls. I thought you liked the energetic and quiet types.”
“Say wha—?” Zero tilted his head with a confused look.
“No no, it's fine. She's pretty cute.” Sound Barrier took something out of his drawer and stood up. “Now remember kiddo, a girl like her is sensitive, so don't do or say anything that might hurt her feelings. Show her how much you really care, prove that you're the man she was destined to meet, and when you feel like it’s time, use this.”
Sound Barrier walked up to Zero and kneeled down with a bow as he grabbed his arm. Then he put something in his hand and crumbled it into a fist before backing away with a smile. Zero looked at him with the same confused look before opening his hand to see the object.
…..It was an engagement ring.
“Dad, we just met! This isn't like one of those crappy love at first sight romance movies! And I'm too young to get married anyways!”
Barrier did a double take as he looked at what he had given Zero. “Oops, my bad.” He quickly snatched the ring back and grabbed something else before putting it in Zero's hand once more. “Here ya go, sport.” Zero looked at his hand again and blushed slightly.
….The item was a condom.
“D-D-DAD, I don't like her that way! She's just my tutor, that’s it!”
“Oh, well that's a shame.” Barrier was about to take back the condom but Zero closed his hand and moved away at the last second, making Sound Barrier raise an eyebrow.
“I never said I didn't want it,” Zero explained. “Besides, I might need it in case I bring over someone pretty like my friend Fluttershy.”
Sound Barrier rolled his eyes and gave a smile as he playfully punched Zero's shoulder as he walked past him with his suitcase. “Just don't become a player or manwhore. Otherwise, your mother isn't the only own who'll dig your grave.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Zero smiled as he followed his father to the garage and put the condom in his back pocket.
Sound Barrier hopped in his car as he gave a thumbs up to Zero before driving off. As Zero waved back and closed the garage he saw Twilight sitting on the couch and setting up some of the tools needed on the coffee table for today's session. Zero huffed as he walked over to her with a bored look.
‘Man, why did I have to get paired up with someone like her?’ Zero thought. ‘I wish I could've got Pinkie or that girl Night hangs out with, Minuette I think. Maybe then I could have someone cute or fun to talk to, or maybe play video games with.’ As he slumped down next to Twilight, she tied her hair in a bun and put on some reading glasses. She gave Zero a kind smile before picking a book about astronomy.
‘Well, at least she’s not Trixie, and I guess she’s decent-looking for an egghead. Maybe these two hours won't be so bad,’ Zero admitted before sitting up. “Ok, what are we doing first?”
“Well, I thought it'd be best to start off with science,” Twilight stated. “Principal Celestia showed me your grades and I noticed that your Science grade is a little shaky, but it's nothing a little studying can't fix. That, and Science is one of my favorite subjects.”
“Eh, Science got too complicated after elementary school,” Zero whined while scratching his head. “But I still like space stuff; I think it's still interesting.”
“Good, then we'll start with that and work our way into the harder concepts of space so you'll have a better understanding of it.” Twilight opened her book and turned to a page that talked about the planet Saturn. “Get ready to take some notes.”
Zero grabbed a nearby notebook and a pencil. “Alright, I'm ready.”
Twilight nodded. “As we speak, Saturn currently has sixty two moons, and only fifty three of them are named with the majority being fifty kilometers across. While the moons themselves are fascinating, there's one moon that stands out among not only the other moons by Saturn, but all the moons in the Solar System, and that moon is Titan. Titan is the only moon in the Solar System to have its own significant atmosphere. It should also be noted that, like Venus, the atmosphere rotates much faster than its surface. Are you getting all of this Zero?”
“If we're smiiiiiiiling today, come tomooooooorrow will it rain?!” Zero sang as one earpiece was playing music while he was drumming with two pencils. “I'll race through the oceans, and you’ll tear open the skies!”
“ZERO!”
“Huh?” Zero looked over to Twilight with a disinterested look as he paused the song. “What's up?”
“You’re supposed to be listening and taking notes, not jamming out to music, that's what's up!” Twilight scolded as she took Zero's headphones away.
“Oh, my bad,” Zero apologized with a cheeky, yet innocent smile. “You can go back to reading now.”
Twilight gave the young delinquent a suspicious look before turning back to her textbook. “Saturn was well-known to the ancients, including the Babylonians and far Eastern observers. In fact, thanks to its slow orbit around the Sun, which is approximately once every twenty-nine point four Earth days, but who's counting, right?” Twilight giggled. “Saturn earned the nickname ‘Lubadsagush’ from the ancient Assyrians. The name itself mean ‘oldest of the old—”
“YES!”
Twilight jumped at the outburst as she looked over and noticed Zero facing away from her and slouching. He was playing with a paper football and it looked like he was aiming for the fruit bowl at the nearby dinner table.
“With ten seconds left, Zero Gravity has to make another glorious shot in between the apple and the orange to win the game,” Zero mumbled to himself as he took aim. “The shot looks perfect, all eyes on him, the stadium is silent as he gets ready for the kick and—”
Before he could make the flick, Twilight took the paper football at the last second as she looked at him with an annoyed look.
“And Twilight becomes the buzzkill and steals the ball from the kicker, ruining the game for everyone. Twilight Sparkle, how do you respond to the disappointed fans?” Zero said in an announcer's voice while holding up an imaginary microphone to Twilight.
“Zero, you need to take this seriously,” Twilight lectured as she moved Zero’s hand away. “At this rate, you’ll be kicked out of school for sure and—”
“Save it,” Zero halted. “You're gonna say something like, ‘I need to study or I’ll be some bum on the street’ or ‘If I keep it up I’ll come to regret it later’ or some other crap my parents or teachers lectured me about.”
“Could you watch your language please?” Twilight asked politely.
“Fine, my bad,” he apologized. “My point is, I don’t need some stupid diploma to help me achieve my goal in life.”
“And what is your goal exactly?”
Zero leaned back on the couch as he gave a confident smile and stared out the window into the orange sky. “I want to have power so great that it’ll change how the world works!”
Twilight stared at him for a few moments with a confused look. “Change the world? How do you plan on doing something so big without a proper education, much less a high school diploma?”
“With determination likes mine, I can do anything I set my mind to!” Zero boasted. “Besides, I’m pretty philosophical, so I’m sure with a powerful combination of the two, I’m good to go!”
Twilight shook her head and sighed. “It takes a lot more than that to do something that big. And I find it hard to believe that you have any sense of philosophy with the grade you have in reading and writing.”
“Oh yeah?” Zero said with a smirk as he stood up. “Follow me to my room and I’ll show you.”
Twilight became a little flustered at his words for a moment. This was the first time she’d ever been alone with a boy her age, let alone in said boy’s house, so she felt a little uneasy with the idea of going into a boy’s room under these circumstances. Twilight cautiously stood up and followed Zero upstairs, keeping a small distance in case he tried anything funny.
As the two entered the room, Twilight was taken aback by what she saw. Zero’s room was a bit messy as a few remnants of water balloons were scattered around the door. His bed wasn’t made up in the slightest, and some dirty clothes were sitting in the corner of the room underneath what looked to be a mini basketball hoop. However, on the other side of the room was a computer desk that was almost clean, and a well-organized bookshelf by the window was filled with what seemed to be comic books of some sort. Some of the titles were a little strange to her as she walked over to the shelf to get a better look.
“Full… metal… Alchemist?” Twilight addressed curiously. “Naruto, Blue Exorcist, Fairy Tail, Bleach? What kind of comics are these?”
“They’re called manga,” Zero corrected as he went digging through his closet. “They’re Japanese comics that you read right to left.”
Twilight opened of the books and tried reading it the way Zero instructed. She knew countries like China and Japan had different styles of reading but never really tried the style herself. After flipping through the pages, she put the book back and continued to look around the room. ‘Strange,’ she thought to herself. ‘But interesting.’
As Twilight looked around the room a little more while Zero continued searching for whatever it was he was looking for, she looked up to the ceiling and saw a few posters with several cartoon characters on them. But there was one picture that both baffled and offended her slightly.
The picture showed an older-looking Zero with an intense look on his face wearing a tattered jet black robe and green pants. Lightning surrounded his left hand and was holding a black katana with small embers surrounding it in his right. He was leaping off an erupting volcano towards a terrifying dragon whose head was shaped like a Pi symbol that was about to breathe fire at Zero. The corner of the pictured showed the title “The Subject that Howls and Rages!” and underneath it had the name “Heavenly Quill” written in cursive.
“W-what is this?!” Twilight complained as Zero walked over to her with a candle and a box of matches.
“Oh! That’s a drawing my friend online made for me,” Zero chuckled with a grin. “I made a joke about how math is my arch-nemesis and Quill made a mental note of it and drew me this epic masterpiece for my birthday, although he personally felt ashamed of it since he’s an egghead like you and actually likes math.”
“What do you have against math?” Twilight questioned.
“It’s annoying, pisses me off, and it’s more complicated than the entirety of Kingdom Hearts to a newcomer.”
“Kingdom what?”
Zero rolled his eyes. “Never mind. I forgot who I was talking to for a minute.” He walked over to his computer desk as he placed the candle down and lit it with a match. “Could you close the curtains, please?”
Twilight nodded as she did what she was asked and walked over to Zero. The room was nearly engulfed by the darkness as the only sources of light were the small beams of sunlight sneaking past the curtains and the lit candle that Zero was staring at. Twilight looked at the candle and Zero with curiosity. “Why do you have a candle out?”
“It’s part of my example,” Zero explained in a calm voice. “Quick question: what is fire to you?”
“What is fire?” Twilight repeated as she pondered her thoughts for a minute. “It’s the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion that releases heat, light, and other various reaction products. Why do you ask?”
Zero shook his head. “Fire is a lot more than some fancy science words to say it’s gas or that it burns stuff. When you really think about it, fire is alive—or better yet… it’s pretty human.”
“It’s… human?”
“Well yeah, fire and humans are a lot alike. Just like a person, fire moves like it’s dancing. It keeps others warm if you get close to it. It can be beautiful, and it can hurt you and cause destruction just like a human being can. A person can brighten up your day just like how the sun rises up from the darkness of the night to brighten up the world. It can grow just like a person, and when the fire goes out, it dies. In short, fire is more than just ways to burn stuff and heat things up. It’s just as alive as any other human being.”
Twilight gave a surprised look. She was not only surprised at Zero’s poetic and philosophical words, but she was taken aback by the truth to his statement. She knew a lot of facts regarding fire, but she never really looked at it from the same perspective as how he viewed it. It was not only deep, but beautiful at the same time.
“Wow,” Twilight smiled as she gazed at the flame. “I hadn’t thought about it like that before. What made you come up with a conclusion like that?”
“Well, me and my old pal Hot Streak were watching one of our favorite shows and the characters said something about fire that made Streak go a little in-depth about it,” Zero explained as he put his hands near the fire. “At first he said a small flame could easily represent a human’s soul. Then I thought about what he said and went even deeper with his statement.”
Zero blew out the flame and opened the curtains to the window to illuminate the room once more. “That’s how my mind works. I can understand the meaning of a few simple words and be able to think more in-depth about it and take it to a whole new level.”
“In other words, we give you an inch and you’ll take a mile,” Twilight noted
“Something like that, yeah.”
Twilight smiled. “As impressive as your thinking is, it’s still not enough to change the entire world. There’s lot you need to learn before you even try anything big. Now let’s get back to the books.”
“Let me guess, more reading?” Zero groaned.
“Nope, we’re gonna try something even better.” Twilight stood by the bedroom door as she pulled something out of her purse. “Flashcards!” she beamed with a bright smile before heading down to the living room.
Zero’s head drooped sadly as he followed Twilight back downstairs.
‘Great, I bet Dad’s gonna get a kick out of my autopsy report when it says I died from boredom.’