//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: The Sun of My Heart 2: Love's Flames // by BlueSun52 //------------------------------// Tales of Friendship and Love - Part III After recovering from Greg’s attack and watching a group of city workers remove the tree from his bike and taking it somewhere to get it repaired, Soul was at the Sugarcube cafe with most of his friends. Sunset and Treble were talking to one another as Sunset wanted to get to know her boyfriend’s old friend. Rivet and Rainbow Dash had gone back to their homes, Fluttershy was watching over Greg who was placed inside of a glass jar, Night was enjoying a soda, Swift and Pinkie were there to hang out with everyone, and Clyde and Rarity came by the store and decided to chat with them when they saw that everyone was there. While all this was going on, Soul let out a sigh as he slumped down in his spot and laid his head on the table. Sunset noticed this and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Are you still bummed about your bike?” she asked. “Eeyup.” “Is there anything I could do to make you feel better?” “Eenope.” “Are you sure? Because-” Sunset leaned over to Soul’s ear and whispered into it. After hearing her out, Soul’s lips were pursed and his cheeks were a shade of red. “.....Okay, you just proved me wrong,” Soul admitted. “You wanna head back to my place for a bit then?~” Sunset asked with a sultry tone, giving him a wink. Soul gave a toothy smile. “I would defin-” “Heya everybody!” Sonata greeted as she came in through the front door. With her was a pale green-skinned young man with dark brown hair and red eyes. He had on camo pants with brown combat boots and a black t-shirt with a white sleeveless shirt that had a picture of the Sword of Damocles shattered in the middle and a hawke. “Hey Sonata, how are you doing?” Pinkie asked as she waved at her. “Oh, and who’s that with you? I’ve never seen him befor- OH MY GOD, I’VE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE!” Pinkie rushed up to the young man and started shaking his hand frantically while giving him her usual trademark smile. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! Are you new here? Where did you come from? Do you go to our school? What about Crystal Prep, do you go there instead? You don’t look like it. How do you know Sonata? Why do you have a beard? It makes you look like an old man or something. What kind of shirt is that? Is it true that your author is Grann? What about-” The young man was starting to sweat from fear as the girl bombarded him with questions, and the fact that she was literally up to his face and making their noses touch didn’t help. Swift let out a sigh as he went over to her and covered her mouth, pulling her back a few feet. “Sorry about that. She gets really excited when she meets new people,” Swift explained. “I-I can see that…” “His name is Warhawk. He’s been at our school for a while now since the beginning of the new school year,” Sonata explained. “We met shortly after the whole crazy thing with Discord.” “How did you two meet?” Treble asked. “Well, he tackled me when he thought that Discord was still offering the award and we-... Wait, who are you?” “Oh right, name’s Treble. I used to go with Soul back at our old school.” “Oh cool, what was he like there?” Treble looked over to Soul for a moment before looking back at Sonata. “Pretty much the same,” he said. “Only, you know, has a girlfriend now.” “Hey, I changed a lot,” Soul retorted. “I’m one of the most popular guys at school, am I right y’all?” There was silence among the group as they either avoided contact with Soul’s eyes or let out awkward coughs. Even Sunset hesitated to answer him. “Oh, you guys all suck,” he commented. “And you, we are not going to do that, Sunny! I’m not in the mood anymore.” Sunset lowered her eyelids. “It’s uh, nice to meet you all,” Warhawk said. Walking into the cafe as well, Applejack was coming with another young man. He was grey-skinned with slicked black hair and brown eyes. He wore a dark grey hoodie with Chicago logos on the back and a pair of denim jeans with black and white tennis shoes. Underneath his hoodie was a white t-shirt that had ‘Drug Free’ written on it. “Howdy y’all. Ah wanted ya guys to meet Straight Edge here,” Applejack said. “He’s been here for a while since the new school year.” “Hey everyone, just call me Punk.” “What’s with all the grey guys lately?” Clyde asked himself quietly. “Hey, Punk,” Warhawk said. “Hey, Warhawk.” Straight said. “You two know each other?” Clyde asked. “Yeah, we met up during our first day at Canterlot,” Warhawk replied. “And ever since, we’ve been good friends,” Straight added. “Well, it’s nice to meet you-” Swift was about to say until Fluttershy cried out. “Oh no, I accidently dropped Greg and he got out of the jar!” “WHAT!?” Soul screamed. Soul let out a scream and, in a fit of terror, flipped the table over just so he could get it out of the way. He ran straight towards the door before Greg could get a chance to attach himself to his face once more. Just as Soul grabbed onto the handle of the door, he looked back to see if Greg was behind him. Unfortunately, the last thing he saw was Greg himself as he latched onto Soul’s face, making him fall backwards out the door, screaming. After the gang recovered from Soul’s outburst, they looked outside to see him screaming and waving his arms around as he ran around on the sidewalk with Greg still attached to his face. “Oh dear,” Fluttershy commented. “Does this kind of stuff happen all the time?” Treble asked. “No, it usually happens only once a week or so,” Night answered. “But for this to happen twice in one day, that’s rare.” “Is he going to be okay?” As if on cue, Soul kept on screaming and running until he smacked against a utility pole with Greg jumping off of him at the last second. Soul fell back on the ground unconscious as he let out a weak groan. “Yeah, he’s going to be okay,” Pinkie answered. “By the way, how did you meet Applejack, Straighty?” “Just call me Punk….. and never say that pet name again,” Straight said. “Anyways, we just kinda bumped into each other. I was helping my folks get some of their stuff together because they just flew in from Chicago and Applejack came along and helped out.” “And get this, his folks are both CM Punk and AJ Lee!” Applejack said. “No freaking way!” Swift said. “Yep, it’s true,” Straight confirmed. “That is so awesome!” Treble commented. “My folks happen to be multi billionaires.” Everyone looked at Treble with raised brows. “What?” “Dude, stop trying to be the center of attention, it’s not cool,” Clyde commented. “But-” Just then Zero and Twilight walked into the cafe. “Hey guys, Greg got on Soul’s face again?” Zero asked. “The usual,” Applejack replied. “Why does Greg always do that?” Twilight asked. “I never understood why he does that. Tarantulas are actually friendly to people. I even heard there’s a college campus down in Texas that has a bunch of them and the students consider them pretty much pets.” “Who knows? Maybe it might have something to with climbing a tree?” Pinkie guessed. “That, or it could be that God was punishing Soul for peeking at Sunset through the window when he was trying to hook Swift up with me at the last Fall Formal, and now Greg is forever the very thing that’ll torment Soul for the rest of his life…. Or that spider really holds a grudge.” Everyone in the room was silent as they stared at Pinkie’s revelations with shocked expressions. “I…. I don’t think that’s any of them, Pinkie,” Sunset said. “So, how is the science project going?” Clyde asked Zero. “It’s, um, going good,” Zero replied nervously. “We decided to go with making a plastic volcano.” “A plastic volcano?” Rarity asked. “Twi dear, I thought you would do something more complex and amazing than that.” “Normally I would, but…. Let’s just say there was an incident and we decided that it would be best to go with a plastic volcano,” Twilight explained. “What happened?” Swift asked. “Well-” Zero was about answer until Twilight grabbed Zero’s lips and shut them tight. “Nothing happened,” Twilight answered angrily. “So don’t look into it, got it?” She glared at Swift angrily. Swift gulped. “Y-Yes, ma’am,” he said. “You know, now that I’m thinking about it, the Fall Formal will be coming up soon in a couple of weeks,” Rarity mentioned. “In fact, this will be our last Fall Formal before the end of our time here at CHS.” “Yeah, it is…” Clyde said with a hint of sadness. “Heh, that was when most of the group finally had someone special to them besides me and Rarity.” “Hmhmm, that was when Pinkie and I went out together and went on our first date after the dance,” Swift said. “It was also when Fluttershy and I became a couple too,” Night said, gazing over to Fluttershy as she gazed back at him. “That was the dance that got Rainbow Dash and Rivet together as well,” Applejack pointed out. “And Soul and I went there too and we kissed right at midnight together for the first time,” Sunset said as she daydreamed about her boyfriend who was still unconscious on the ground. Her eyes widened when that thought occurred to her. “Oh crap, Soul!” Sunset got up from her seat and went out to get Soul. After a moment, she brought him back inside as he clung to her weakly. She was able to set him down back on his spot. He groaned as he rubbed his forehead due to the massive amount of pain. He looked to Sunset with a weak smile. “Thanks Sunny, I really appreciate it,” Soul said. “You’re welcome, babe,” Sunset said before giving Soul a peck on the lips. At that moment, Rainbow Dash and Rivet came in as well. When Rainbow Dash saw Soul, she froze up for a moment before giving a nervous smile. “H-Hey Soul, how’s it g-going?” she asked. “Well, besides my bike being destroyed and my mortal enemy, Greg, latching onto my face twice today, I say it’s been going good so far,” Soul deadpanned. “I see you got your clothes on.” Rainbow Dash looked down to see that she was wearing her usual outfit instead of her pajamas. “Yeah, I thought I needed to change into something more public,” she replied before frowning. “Listen Soul, I'm really sorry about what happened to your ride. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, I’m willing to do it.” “Anything, you said?” Soul asked. “Anything.” “Wear frilly dresses for a whole week at school.” “......What?” “I said, wear frilly dresses at school for a whole week and we’re even.” “...... Can’t I just go naked instead?” “Tempting, but the whole frilly dress thing is more fun,” Soul replied. “And we all know you wouldn’t go naked anyway, so might as well go with the dresses.” “You monster!” “Noted. Rarity, would you mind if you could give Rainbow Dash some dresses to wear?” Rarity made a wide smile. “Yes, I can!” she answered. “Oh, this is great! I have so many dresses that Rainbow Dash could wear that would be perfect for her. So many designs we could try out! Oh, it’ll just be so much fun!” “Oh god, kill me now,” Rainbow Dash prayed. “Come now, darling, we must get you fitted for school tomorrow,” Rarity said as she got up and grabbed Rainbow Dash by the arm. “We have a lot to try out and so much to do!” Rarity pulled Rainbow Dash out of her chair and dragged her along towards Rarity’s home. Rainbow Dash had a terrified look on her face as they exited the building. Once they were gone, everyone in the room started to laugh. “Oh man, that was a good one, man,” Night commented. “She’s never going to forget that.” “And I’m going to be documenting the whole thing,” Soul said with a smug smile. “This can’t possibly get any better.” His phone was ringing and he looked to see his mom was calling him. “Hey mom, what do ya need?.... Ah huh…. Ah huh?............ Ah, I see…… that’s good to know…. Love you too, bye.” He hung up his phone and placed it back in his pocket. “What did she say, babe?” Sunset asked. “She was telling me that the guys at the mechanics told her that the Harley is going to be okay,” Soul answered. “She’ll be repaired and looking brand new when they’re done with her.” “That’s great to hear!” Sunset chimed. “And it won’t cost us a thing. Apparently she and dad were able to file a report about it to the city, and they’re pressing charges against the workers that did this for not following the Code of Conduct,” Soul explained. “So everything works out fine in the end.” “Glad to hear it- Wait, what about Greg? Where did he go?” Clyde asked. Soul’s eyes widened as he pursed his lips. Coming out of Soul’s hair, Greg crawled out and lowered himself down to Soul’s eye level as the two stared at each other. Soul was sweating nervously as Greg glared at him with all eight of his eyes. “Motherf*****.”