//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 - After Class' Stalking part 2 // Story: The Students from St. Everfree // by Morex25 //------------------------------// “W-what?!” “I know how that sounds but think about it.” Discord carried on. “St. Everfree and Canterlot High joined together after Everfree crumbled to the ground. Two schools joined together, great disaster.” He lifted three of his fingers as he counted every part of the fortune that matched. “Do you see where I’m going with this?” “Y-You got to be kidding!” Adagio was truly appalled. Was he actually implying that SHE was the love of HIS life? That got to be the most cliché, trite and cheesy pick-up attempted she had ever witnessed. How could anyone say any of this with a straight face? “I’m afraid not! That was the fortune I got.” Discord said before taking his cup of tea and drinking it all with one gulp, he then brought the empty cup down to the table. “Mmm…not that bad.” And for the price in the menu it better had been. “Do…do you even hear half the things that come out of your mouth?” Adagio finally responded after the whole shock of Discord’s little line was over. “You cannot actually believe any of it.” He would have to be a colossal moron to do so. “Fate? Don’t be ridiculous!” “You are absolutely right.” Discord nodded in agreement. “If fate is real, then where’s the fun in living?” He really didn’t like the idea of the future been set in stone; that certain events were destined to happen and they had no say in it. The thought of being powerless to change any of it was what he most disliked about it. “Didn’t you just say that fate told you I …?” “Yes I did, but I never said the rest of the fortune was talking about you specifically.” He pointed out. “Did you actually think you were the love of my life?” he asked while enjoying the slight shade of red Adagio’s cheeks turn of embarrassment. “But…” Adagio tried to retort, but Discord continued talking not letting her had a word in. “I actually came here to actively defy the fortune, not to fulfill it.” He said almost sagely. He wanted to prove to that rhyming shaman (and to himself) that he was not powerless, that he had a say in his future, and that his decisions mattered. “I decided to prove I can create my own fate.” “Create your own fate…?” “So, you could say that to disobey fate I chose you.” Discord said as confidently as one could be before he stood up from his seat and called out. “You got a really good waitress here, Ms. Chai!” The owner of the tea shop turned around from monitoring other employees and took notice of both Discord and Adagio. “Not to mention that the tea was excellent.” Now he didn’t feel cheated because of the prices. “I may become a regular.” “Oh that’s marvelous news!” Cinnamon Chai said as she walked up to their table. “We really appreciate your business, young man.” “Discord. You can call me Discord, ma’am!” Said young man said as charmingly as possible, and Cinnamon Chai was eating it completely, despite his dishevel appearance. “Charmed!” The owner then offered her hand only for Discord to take it and plant a kiss on the back of her hand. “The pleasure is mine!” He grinned as he saw both Cinnamon Chai blush and Adagio giving a look that screamed ‘what the heck!’ Needless to say, he enjoyed the sight. “Oh my!” “Oh, look at the time!” Discord suddenly said looking at his wrist were a watch was supposed to be, but it wasn’t. “I have to go, but I shall come back on a later date for more of this delicious tea!” Taking out a wallet from his pants, Discord pulled out a 50 dollar bill and placed it neatly on top of the table. “This should enough for the cup I ordered.” “I’ll get your change.” Cinnamon Chai offered to do so herself but Discord quickly stopped her with a small hand wave. “That won’t be necessary! The rest is a tip for my lovely hostess!” Now this made Adagio’s eyes to widen in surprise. ‘That’s almost three times the price of the tea!’ Adagio thought astounded, and she wasn’t the only one. “Oh me oh my! That’s mighty generous.” Cinnamon Chai said as she pulled out a hand-fan from one of her sleeves and waived it towards her as a sign of her amazement. “I am many things.” Discord claimed very self-assured. “Now if you may excuse me, I have to go.” Then as he reached the front door he turned his head and said. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school Adagio.” And with that, he left the tea shop. Both Employer and Employee kept staring at the front door for a few seconds in silence. That is until Cinnamon Chai talked with a smile. “My, that a polite young man!” Then she turned towards Adagio and said. “Quite a nice catch you have, Adagio!” After that she turned and left towards the kitchen, leaving her employee behind, who had quite a red face. “…” Adagio remained quite not wanting to upset her boss by harshly correcting that comment of hers. Instead she focused the embarrassment and annoyance towards the one who caused all of it. ‘Who the heck does he think he is?’ Acting like that just to put her on the spot or play with everybody’s mind, and their perception of him. ‘Just… who is he?’ Once she thought she had figured him out, he went ahead and sent her another curve ball. Was he a nutcase stalker? Or a mad genius manipulator? She honestly couldn’t tell. ‘So, you could say that to disobey fate I chose you.’ Those words of his kept ringing on her mind. “Trying to act cool all of the sudden…” Adagio muttered under her breath. She might not know what Discord’s deal is, but it was damn sure she wasn’t going to sit there with her arms crossed. He wanted to play? Then she was all game. Now it was HER turn to try and mess with him. [x-x-x] Discord smiled mostly to himself after exiting the tea shop. It had been pleasant enough and the tea was actually not bad, he wasn’t lying when he said he might become a regular, even if Adagio decided to not work in that place anymore. But now that he was done with his visit, he had a few hours to do anything he wanted before he had to head home. And what better way to spend an evening than to keep playing around with his little stalker? Yes, it would be fun to see how well she can keep up, now that he was to take things a little bit more serious. [x-x-x] Sunset was pretending to read a magazine on the other side of the street to where the store Discord entered was. After she saw him staying in the tea shop without leaving immediately like he had done with the other place he visited, raised several questions. But the most pressing one was simply why. What reason did Discord have to visit that particular shop? It couldn’t possibly be solely because of the tea, could it? She had seen him entered several other places that were frankly cheaper and more in the style of someone ‘like him’ for him to get something to drink or snack on. So what made him go to that place? What was he looking for? What did he want in that place? So much was Sunset’s curiosity, she ventured into spying through the window. It was a risky move that could potentially get her discovered, but if it came to that she could played it like she was only looking to check the place out before deciding to enter or not. She had fool many people before with even less of a convenient excuse with her acting. Thankfully her calculated gamble paid off when she caught a glimpse of Discord speaking with none other than the leader of the trio of sirens turned human, Adagio Dazzle! Well, Sunset assumed it was the siren leader, because she couldn’t see her face, but she recognized the hairstyle right away. After catching both Discord and Adagio in the middle of their meeting, Sunset quickly dodged out of the window and hid behind a corner, to ponder what she just saw. What reason could the newly transferred student from the infamous “delinquent school” have to meet with Adagio, a siren turned human who until recently wanted to conquer the world using dark magic to put humans under her spell? Several possible answers came to mind and all of them spelled trouble one way or the other. Not too long after she started to think of several contingency plans just in case, Discord exited the tea shop with a grin on his face. Quickly, Sunset tried to move out of the way, hoping he hadn’t taken notice of her. Then the next second he began to walk away with an even faster pace than before. Sunset decided to give chase and kept on following him. Who knows? Maybe she would find out more about his meeting with Adagio, maybe not? But she was already deep into this; she had to see things through. As she followed Discord, unbeknownst to her, another group of shady looking people were also tailing the student from Everfree. [x-x-x] “So? All of this together or…?” An employee at a convenience store started to ask to the young teens in front of him but he was quickly interrupted. “No. We’ll pay separate.” Sombra and Trixie deadpanned at the same time. After surrendering the idea of making Sombra go away, Trixie ended up going to a convenience store to buy some snacks and a bottle of water, since all the screaming had left her a little bit parched. Close behind, Sombra followed her and grabbed a few things for himself. Trixie wouldn’t have minded, well more than she already did, if she hadn’t noticed that Sombra was purchasing all the things she wanted to buy but couldn’t afford that day. It was yet another way for him to show off his supposed superiority. He even bought the super crispy cereal with star and moon shaped marshmallows she liked since she was little just to let her know that he could, that bastard. After taking their foodstuff, both Trixie and Sombra left the establishment in silence. This quiet had formed way before they even entered the place. Instead of wasting time and energy screaming to each other, they decided to give the cold shoulder for now. So far the trip went from extremely irritating to simply frustrating and somewhat irksome; a very good improvement by the opinion of people whose ears hurt after hearing their hollers. Yet, this precious spell couldn’t last much longer because as soon as the two of them took a few steps outside, a very annoying voice yelled at them getting their attention. Turning around, Trixie saw that the voice belonged to someone from a group of five people, dressed in black. And by the looks of them, they weren’t there to simply chat with them. [x-x-x] After maybe half an hour of walking away from the small shopping district near Canterlot High, Tirek saw that he was getting farther away than he initially thought, since now he was looking at several trees with apples on them. “Where the hell am I even going?” He wasn’t readily to admit that he may probably be strayed away from his initial path. Getting lost was simply too lousy of a thing to happen to him. Yet, it happened because along the way he stopped paying attention to where he was going. It had been almost too long since he had this much quiet time to himself. Thought he wasn’t the most talkative or social of people, it seemed that the whole world could never let him have some peace to his own. But now that he had almost two hours to himself and his thoughts, it was kind of surreal. As if he had too much time on his hands, when a few days prior, everything and everyone was adamant on getting on his way with whatever nonsense they had going on. Simply put, he was getting kind of bored. Maybe, just maybe, he only needed to get use to the feeling. The feeling of being bored. After all, now that Everfree was no more and he didn’t have to keep an eye out for his little brother getting into much trouble anymore, having boring afternoons weren’t a very big price to pay. Well, that was what he was thinking about, until he heard several footsteps coming right behind of him. Eight, maybe ten people was the crowd of black wearing individuals that were surely looking for him. “Dammit.” Just when he was starting to believe things were about to change, the world had to remind him how little it cared. ‘At least it’s something to do.’ [x-x-x]