I got up this Saturday morning doing my usual routine before my date in the park with Sunset. As I was getting dressed, I heard my mother calling me.
“Jack, a small package came in yesterday from one of your friends in Manehattan, Double Diamond.”
I replied, “Thanks, mom. I’ll come down to look at it.”
“I’ll bring it up to him, since I’m going that way,” Chrysalis said from downstairs.
I heard Chrysalis coming up the stairs and making her way to my room, with the package that was sent to me. I took the package and opened it, revealing what looked like a deck of cards in a leather casing with a belt clip. There was a letter also in it.
Hey Jack,
Coco told me about the new problem that you are facing. I’m sure you can’t take your blades anywhere, so I decided to fix up some “special” cards to use. They all have the “Jack of Diamonds” on the front side of the card. Be careful, because they are sharp on the edges, like razor sharp. It’s a special kind of metal paper that Professor River Song was able to acquire. I was able to pay for the customization of the cards. This should help you out with your current problem at the moment. We have a few more surprises for you, but that will have to wait for later.
As for your request that Coco told us to look into, no activity since you first encounter the lady two years ago. And we hope it stays that way. No sense having more problems on your plate. But if she shows up like before, we will let you know.
Stay Strong, and Safe
Double Diamond and Crew
“Looks like you now have a backup weapon if you need it,” Chrysalis said.
“And with the needle shot art that I can use, this makes it much more deadlier to use,” I added.
“But what’s the lady that he’s talking about?” she asked.
I let out a quick breath and said, “I’ll keep it simple. You understand that Sunset had some kind of wall around her soul months ago. Couple of years ago, Coco and me came across a lady that just didn’t feel right. She was having a meeting with one of the workers at the museum in Manehattan that we like to see on the weekends. She kept her face well covered, so we don’t know who she was. Since then, we’ve heard nothing about her seeing him again. All I know is that it has to deal with some ancient weapons, maybe the two blades that I have, I think. I’m still trying to piece everything together with Crystal Prep’s gifted students.”
“So you think Crystal Prep had outside help from the beginning?” she asked.
“If we’re talking about anything related to a person’s soul, then it’s possible, since there’s the story about the blades that I have containing the soul of their creators. But we’re a long way from finding out if they all connect in some way. I’m just trying to stay alert about what’s going on.”
Chrysalis crossed her arms and asked, “Do you like to think about this kind of stuff at times?”
“Only if it’s serious. And after hearing one of Coach Iron Will’s stories from his father, and the fact that having powers like what I have can make someone a…god, I have a bad feeling that this could be bigger than any of us even knows.”
“Better to be safe than sorry, my momma always said,” Chrysalis said. “You plan to take me to Rarity’s before your actual big date?”
“As long as you can show Coco this letter, sure. I want to make sure she understands what been going on as of late. If she feels like it, she can fill you in more about the issue. But that’s her call, OK?”
“Agreed,” she replied. “We can guess that everyone will be at the park, at random areas.”
“Knowing Twilight, she would want all the bases covered over there, and Rarity would grab you and Coco into it. If so, let Coco know what’s coming our way with Indigo’s group. This is the only chance we can get some answers to what Crystal Prep is doing.”
So we left the house and I went to Rarity’s place to drop Chrysalis off before making my way to Sunset’s place to pick her up. Once she was with me, we made our way to the park to meet up with Twilight and Flash. Surprisingly, Cadence and Shining Armor were also there with them. I had to reassure Sunset that they would be there to patch up everything that has happened in the past.
“Sorry, but my brother and his girlfriend wanted to come along,” Twilight said to us.
“Its no biggie,” Sunset replied.
“At least I can show you all what a friend of mine sent to me earlier this week.” I took out a few of the cards in its case to show to them. “Be careful. They’re sharp on the edges.”
Twilight took one and recognized the texture of the card. “Metal paper? That’s hard to find and modify. How did your friend get this kind of stuff?”
“Spoilers!”
Twilight face-palmed and said, “God, you’re just as bad as Doctor Whooves.”
“Well, the food trucks plan to be on the other side of the park, and I was able to find out which ones were going to be there today,” Cadence said.
So all six of us decided to casually walk around the park as we made our way to the other side. Cadence showed us which food trucks would be around in a couple of hours on her cell phone. Sunset recognized the grilled cheese truck that was going to be there. She said that they have the best, and biggest, sandwiches there. As we were walking, we saw four familiar faces jogging our way: Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Thunderlane, and Roseluck.
“Hi guys. Bye guys,” Dash said as they were passing us by.
Sunset was stunned at first, but just shook it off. As we continued walking, we came across a row of trees and some benches. Sitting at one of the benches was Fluttershy and Tree Hugger with a large notepad.
“Now I can see why you wanted to do your session on a Sunday,” I said to Tree Hugger.
“I like to spend my Saturday’s being one with nature,” she replied. “Plus, it’s a chance to display my artistic side.” She showed us the colored drawing on her notepad.
“It looks like the many colors of the fallen leaves in that picture,” Sunset explained.
“Oh, while I like the spring season, she loves the fall season because of the many colors that appear,” Fluttershy explained.
“I’m more of a winter person,” I said. “Just seeing the lights reflect off the snow at night is truly relaxing.”
“I doubt you’ll find something like that here like you did in Manehattan,” Cadence explained.
“Well, we’ll leave you to your art work,” Twilight said.
The six of us kept on walking. As we were getting closer to the other side of the park, we heard someone calling from behind us.
“Hey y’all, wait up.” We saw Applejack with Lyra and Sweetie Drops running towards us. “You wouldn’t be going to the food trucks, now would you?”
Cadence replied, “Yep. Why do you ask?”
“I was hoping that the dessert truck would be there,” Applejack replied.
Cadence brought her cell out again to show Applejack the list of trucks that would be there.
Applejack pointed at one of the listed trucks and said, “There it is. And the sub truck is planning to be there as well, Sweets.”
“Cool,” Sweetie Drops responded. “We’ve been meaning to get a sub for us to share, right Lyra?” She nodded.
“I guess the three of you are welcomed to come along,” Twilight said. “As long as no one else has a problem with it.”
All of us shook our heads and agreed with Twilight’s decision. When we made our way to the other side, we saw the food trucks starting to open up.
“Guess we’re a little early,” I said. “Why don’t we take a seat and give them time to get everything set up.”
We took a seat at some of the nearby benches, when Applejack asked us, “So, was there a food truck you wanted to see?”
“I’m only going for one of the salads from the green truck at the end,” Cadence said. “The others are going for the burger trucks.”
“Well, Shiny wants to try the cheese stuffed burger,” Twilight said. “We just want a regular burger.”
“We’re going for the grilled cheese truck over there,” Sunset said as she pointed to the yellow truck in the middle of the group. “They’re supposed to be big enough for two with how thick they make them.”
“Hey, Jack,” Cadence called. “Were there food trucks back in Manehattan, or was it just small food vendors on the sidewalk.”
“Just the sidewalk vendors,” I replied. “There wasn’t any room to park food trucks in the city, unless it was in the construction area with pre-made sandwiches. So vendors had to pull their food stations to the busy areas that were close to where they live. Those who lived near the park, museum, or courthouse had the best place to run their business. But the best thing about those guys was the fact that they love to talk about what was going on around the city. Coco and me would go to see a friend of ours who works at the museum, and when lunch comes around, a few vendors would be placed outside the museum, each one having different foods to sell. The three of us will get something to eat and exchange stories that each of us have heard around the town.”
“You’ll be surprised at the stories that these vendors have heard.” We looked over to see Octavia with Vinyl and Pinkie walking towards us. “I traveled to Manehattan one time with my parents when I was younger, and we met a vendor who had his radio on listening to a mixture of news and light music. He was a nice guy to talk to while we had a quick bite to eat. He loved the entertainment back when he was younger, and is glad that some of it hasn’t died at the time.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” I said.
Sunset noticed what was going on and said, “Is there a reason that we keep coming across all of our friends in our group today?” Then she started to stare at Twilight, who quickly noticed.
“Fine!” she said as she raised her arms into the air. “We were worried that the two of you would become easy targets after all that has happen this past week.”
“Enough to have about everyone watching over the area for us?” Sunset asked in anger.
“If Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense is spot on this morning, then you sure need it,” Applejack answered.
“Pinkie Sense?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“That’s right,” Pinkie Pie replied. “Whenever my body twitches, it means something bad is about to happen. And this one was a doozie. Oh, don’t worry about asking Twilight about it. Just like your gift, she didn’t believe it at first.”
“Pinkie Pie’s able to predict events that could happen in the current future,” Applejack explained. “You know, like a tree is about to fall on me in about an hour.”
“I can guess what’s about to happen, but I can’t predict the future, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Pinkie Pie added.
Sunset and I looked at each other. Then we both said, “Point taken.”
“At least I have a weapon to use, should I need it,” I said as I patted my hand on the deck of cards on my belt.
“That may not be the only thing you need,” said Lyra. “Moon Dancer and Trixie have been working on a new item the past few days, some kind of ‘magic trick’ for you to use.”
“Well, I’ll take whatever resources I can use,” I said.
We all noticed that the food trucks were ready to take orders, so we each made our way to the truck that we wanted to get our lunch from. Sunset and me went to the grilled cheese truck and placed our order. As he was preparing our sandwich on the grill, he asked us a question.
“Say, you wouldn’t be the new guy from Canterlot High that’s been talked about in the newspaper?”
I said, “From the football team? That’s me.”
“Nice. Been years since I’ve seen Crystal Prep get taken down a notch,” he said.
“You mean it’s happen before?” asked Sunset.
“Yep. Long before you kids were born,” he said. “But it wasn’t in any sport.”
“Think you can explain,” I asked.
“Sure,” he replied while cooking on our food. “Happened over…25 years ago, I think, while I was attending Canterlot High. Crystal Prep was a complete private school during that time, but had to work with the school board in order to compete in sports. It was one time that one of Crystal Prep’s teachers notices bribes exchanging between the school and the board. And some of that money was from donations and yearly payments for the students. Someone needed to help expose these illegal actions to the public eye, and our principal at the time, Mr. Discord, was the only one who could help.”
“Who was the teacher that reported this to Mr. Discord?” I asked.
“The same person who’s now the principal of Crystal Prep, Ms. Abacus Cinch. She showed Mr. Discord what she found out. The problem they had was asking someone whom they could trust. Luckily, I was a neighbor with Mayor Mare, who was just a worker in the local town hall at the time. She’s wanted to get into politics for quite some time. I told the principal to talk to her and see if she had any connections that she could find to have this looked at. But the big surprise was that it went straight to the president himself. A major investigation was taken place, and in a year, charges were placed on the headmaster and the director of the school board and some of its members. The government took over until they find someone who would take over as the new student board director. Ms. Abacus Cinch was selected as the temporary principal of Crystal Prep, which later became permanent.”
“I heard that Mr. Discord is the current board director,” I said.
“That’s right,” he said as he flipped the sandwich on the grill. “They were interviewing candidates for the job, and he was selected as one of them. But he refused the offer at the time. I think that was when Miss Celestia started working as the new VP of Canterlot High. When they still couldn’t select one of the candidates, they went back to Mr. Discord once again. From what I heard, he talked to Miss Celestia if she would take over as the new principal if he were to take the job. She was only the VP for a couple of years before moving up in the school. I’m sure you can understand what happened after that. Our school was able to maintain its tradition since Mr. Discord left to take over the school board.”
“What about Crystal Prep?” Sunset asked. “Not everyone likes them for being perfect.”
“Good thing you ask that,” he said. He took our sandwich off the grill and on a paper plate, cutting it into two and handing us our drinks. “He you go.” I paid the man for our food before he continued. “Crystal Prep started to recover and became on of the best private schools to attend in the nation. As for Principal Cinch, she did get married to another teacher at the school who supported her against the headmaster and the recovery of the school. It was a fine school, until news went out 16 years ago when someone tried to break into the school. Her husband was working late after basketball practice ended and came across the burglars. All that we knew was that he was fatally shot in the struggle. Another staff member heard the shots, found him in the hallway, and called 911. He died overnight in the hospital, and the burglars were never caught.”
“Was he a coach in the school?” I asked.
“Nope. He just stayed after classes for Principal Cinch to monitor the after school activities. And she was already pregnant with their first child on the way. She never had a chance to see him before he died. After that, everything slowly started to change with the school. In about five years time, after the birth of her daughter, the school started to set an example that every student had to work hard to survive the outside world, and proved that it could be the perfect school for all its students that attended. Soon then, they started to win in every event against every other school out there. Been that way for ten years, until a week ago, when they received their first loss from you guys.”
“I guess it could explain some things about how they became what they are now,” I said. I took a few bites from my sandwich and said, “This is a good grilled cheese sandwich you make, mister.”
“Thanks,” he said. “If you don’t mind me asking, but I read that you were a transfer student this year. Where did you come from before here?”
“Manehattan,” I replied. “Was there for two years. And before that, it was Fillydelphia for two years, and Trottingham for two years before that. I was even living in Appleloosa for a year and Baltimare for another year when I was much younger.”
“Sounds like you’ve been everywhere,” he said.
“Almost. I haven’t been to Cloudsdale, and we have a family friend who’s retired over there. There are a few places in the west that I haven’t been to either, since my dad was a construction foreman. It was in Baltimare that my dad started his first foreman job away from my hometown. He’s now the manager at the new D.I.Y. store over here.”
“Where were you born?” he asked.
“Vanhoover.” Sunset was surprised that I said that. “Spent my first…seven years, I think up there. The only thing I can remember up there was seeing the snow around the area during the winter. My memory was never that good at remembering everything else during that time.”
“Well a few of the truck vendors around here have come from Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Baltimare. We always like to talk and exchange stories that we hear from others in the area or news reports that we see or read. So if you ever want to talk about anything when we’re not busy, we’re always welcome to exchange stories or talk about events in the area.”
“Sure thing,” I said. “Well, it was nice talking to you. And keep cooking what you serve to others. It’s really good.”
As we waved goodbye and walked back to the benches, Sunset asked me, “You never told me you were born in Vanhoover.”
“You never asked,” I told her.
We continued to have our lunch as we rejoined the others who were having their own lunch.
“Hey, guess what?” Sunset told the others. “We just learned about Crystal Prep’s and Principal Cinch’s history, which could explain how they became what they are now.”
“Well, hold on to that story, because I just got a text from Moon Dancer,” said Twilight. “Her and Trixie are on their way over with the new ‘magic trick’ to display. I’m sure that Moon Dancer would want to hear about it as well, if it can help us.”
My cell started to buzz in my pocket. When I got it out, I saw a text from Chrysalis.
“Good idea,” I said. “Chrysalis, Coco, and Rarity are also on their way as well. We might as well get everyone together on this.”
“On it,” Applejack said as she was sending out messages to the others. “We better meet elsewhere to discuss all this. Same place in the park like last year, Twilight?”
Twilight nodded and we headed to another area where there was hardly anybody around, after finishing up our lunch. When we all got together at the area, we were waiting for Trixie and Moon Dancer to arrive, because Twilight told us how Trixie likes to make a dramatic entrance. And did she ever deliver.
“Behold, the Great and Powerful Trixie is here to display her newest magic trick for all to see.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “Can we just see what you have to show us?”
“Patience, Twilight, and you will see. In my right hand is a small orb that will make me…disappear.”
“And how is one small marble supposed to do that?” Applejack asked Trixie.
“Watch and learn. Now you see me, now…you don’t.” And Trixie smashed the small orb on the ground, creating a cloud of thick smoke. It was thick enough that everyone starting to cough.
“Very (cough) funny Trixie.” Twilight said while coughing. She went up to wave the smoke away, only to see that Trixie was no longer there.
Pinkie Pie expressed a shocked face, saying, “She’s gone.” But it faded when she looked at the back of our group. “Oh, wait. There she is,” pointing to her in the back.
Twilight was confused and said to Trixie, “How did you get from here…to there without us noticing?”
“She easily sneaked over there while we were focused on the smoke,” I said.
“Leave it to Jack to sense Trixie’s direction,” Chrysalis responded.
“OK, so how were you able to make those?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Moon Dancer said, “Trixie and me worked on getting the ingredients together and placing them into empty orb shells that can easily break, with enough force.”
Trixie explained, “We figure that some of the soul arts will acquire some stealth action, so this will make it easier to execute, like soul strike and soul slash.”
Moon Dancer added, “You’ll only have a 15 second window to do this, but I can take a guess that time slows down when you execute those two attacks.”
“I want to say that it does about two to three times its normal speed, but I’m not certain after practicing those moves this week,” I said. “But that can make things more discreet when I do so. How many were you able to make?”
“Only ten,” Trixie said. “And since I used one, we only have nine left with us.”
It was then that Pinkie started to twitch, and my soul senses started to go off.
“Oh boy. Trouble’s coming,” said Pinkie Pie.
“She’s right, and it’s a big group,” I added. “Trixie, hand me one of those and have the other eight ready, just in case.” Trixie was able to pass one to me to keep in my pocket. “Coco, you ready?”
“I’ve been waiting for two years, Jack. I just hope they have someone to carry that person off after I take one of them down,” Coco said as she was loosing her arms.
“Just as long as I get a piece of Dust myself,” Sunset added.
No doubt coming into view was Lightning Dust, Suri Polomare, and Brick Wall, along with most of the guys that were placed on suspension and the girls that we met the last time at our school. But somehow, I overlooked one detail that was masked in the sea of anger, Fleur de Lis. Lightning Dust held a tight grip on her arm as they were making their way here.
“This doesn’t look good, Jack,” said Rarity.
“I hope you have a backup plan ready?” Applejack added.
“Way ahead of you girls,” I said as I tapped my belt case with the metal cards. “Rarity, once she’s free, get her to come to you as fast as possible.” Rarity nodded in agreement.
When the other group stopped within yards from us, it became a stare-off between both groups.
“I was wondering when you were going to show your ugly face, Dust,” as I taunted her.
“Laugh it up, asshole,” she replied. “You’ve really caused us a lot of trouble these past few weeks.”
“That’s because you always create trouble, loser,” yelled Rainbow Dash.
Lightning Dust yelled back, “SHUT UP, DASH!!! The only reason it’s happening is because someone in our group didn’t want to work with us from the start.” Fleur was struggling to break free at that point.
“You better let her go, bitch,” said Chrysalis.
“Or what, you plan to wave your hands at us like you can’t even fight?” Suri replied.
“I’ll make it easy on you, Jack,” Dust said. “Either you take the pain from Brick Wall, or I’ll be happy to leave a few scars on her lovely face.” Lightning Dust drew out her switchblade from last time.
“Do that, and I’ll break that arm of yours in two,” yelled Sunset.
At that point, I was able to draw three metal cards without the other side noticing.
“Oh, I like to see you try, BITCH!!!” Lightning Dust said as she started to bring her blade close to Fleur’s face.
It was now or never. Ready to execute, I quietly said, “Soul Art #6, Needle Shot,” and tossed all three cards at Lightning Dust, striking her cheek, the hand that held her blade, and the arm that was holding Fleur in place. Dust dropped the blade and lost her grip on Fleur.
“Fleur, over here!” Rarity commanded, causing her to run towards Rarity.
“Shit!” Dust yelled in pain. “GET HER!!!”
Suri started to run towards Fleur, causing Coco to react. Coco was able to get behind Suri and locked her arms under Suri’s shoulders.
Coco kindly said, “I know you’re doing your job, but it’s wise to know that no one messes with my FRIENDS!!!” She flipped Suri backwards in a German Suplex, slamming Suri into the ground. Coco got back up and said, “Who’s next?”
Fleur was able to make it to Rarity safely. Lightning Dust was getting pissed at what was going on. She yelled, “BRICK WALL!!!”
“That’s it, you’re going down!” Brick Wall said as he was smashing his fist together.
I yelled, “TRIXIE, NOW!!!” She threw all eight smoke bombs at the group, creating a huge cloud of thick smoke.
I got out the last smoke bomb and looked back at Rarity, seeing that Fleur was holding on to her, looking away. Rarity nodded that it was clear to go, so I smashed the last orb and created a cloud of smoke around me. Now it was my time to strike.
“SOUL ART #2: SHADOW SLASH!!!”
Time started to slow down, and I was able to locate the football players in the smoke with my powers. I ran all to way around a knocked down each player in the group until the last one, making it look like something struck all of them at the same time, leaving Brick Wall in the center. When time resumed for me, I was in front of Brick Wall, still blinded by the smoke.
“SOUL ART #4: LIGHTNING JAB!!!”
I was throwing punches at Brick Wall’s body at lightning speed, shaking him up badly and causing him to fall to the ground in pain. The smoke started to clear up, and Lightning Dust saw where I was. She found her switchblade and started to race towards me, only to be stopped when Sunset grabbed her arm and twisted it, causing Dust to lose her blade again. Sunset did a sweep kick on Dust’s leg, causing her to be knocked down on the ground. Then Sunset placed her foot on Dust’s chest, holding her down.
Angry as she was, Sunset said, “No one, and I mean NO ONE tries to harm me, my boyfriend, or any of my friends EVER!!!”
Trying to breath, Dust yelled back, “I swear…you are dead…BITCH!!!” Sunset pressed her foot on Dust’s chest harder.
“HEY!!!”
We all saw where the call came from and noticed five girls coming our way.
“Great. Who invited the Elite 5 here?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Sunset released her hold of Lightning Dust, allowing her to catch her breath. Me, Sunset, and Coco started to pull back to our group.
When the five girls got to the other group, Dust said to the one with the goggles, “Nice to see you show up, Indigo. Maybe now you can teach these troublemakers a lesson.”
“No problem,” Indigo said, and she threw a punch at Lightning Dust’s cheek.
“What the hell was that for?” Dust responded.
Indigo grabbed her by her collar and yelled, “What you think it was for, jerk!”
“But we was just…”
“SHUT UP!!!” The girl with the freckles and ponytail named Sour Sweet interrupted Lightning Dust. Then spoke in a calmer tone. “You weren’t told to speak up, miss. SO ZIP IT!!!”
“We know you tried to break in to do damage and sabotage the school and get back at some rival students just to win a game,” said the girl with pigtails and glasses named Sugarcoat.
“And you know how much I hate cheaters,” Indigo added.
“And you think I was in charge of all of it, right?” Dust asked.
Another girl with a sun hairpin walked towards Dust. “Dearie, you might have fooled my mother,” Sunny Flare said before she changed her tone. “But don’t think that you can fool me or my friends as well.”
Brick Wall started to get up from the blows that I handed to him, and said, “Even if your mother is the principal of our school, that doesn’t mean that you can boss us around.”
Sugarcoat looked at Brick Wall, adjusted her glasses, and said, “Then maybe you should explain it to him,” pointing at the guy walking this way. From the looks of it, it was Long Shot walking our way.
“Long Shot, I…”
“I don’t even want to hear it, Brick Wall,” Long Shot replied, cutting him off. He got in front of Brick Wall, pointed on his chest and yelled, “How many times have I told you maintain your focus. Instead, you had to go off and pull a dumb-ass stunt that cost us about a third of our team. Or did you forget what happened last night when we almost lost to Cloudsdale because we had to step up to make up for our losses.” He started to look at the other players who were injured earlier. “You all are a disgrace to the team. I expect all of you to be at practice tomorrow.”
“But we were placed on suspension from the team,” said one of the players.
Long Shat looked at them and said, “Well guess what? You just volunteer for the practice squad…all of you. Now get out of here. I expect every one of you to be at school tomorrow.”
As the guys were trying to get on their feet, Indigo had one more thing to say. “Dust, you try to pull another stunt like this again, and you can kiss your basketball career goodbye. I plan to be the next captain of the team, and I don’t want players like you trying to damage our team like you did for the football team.” She let Lightning Dust go so she and the rest of the group can leave the area.
But as everyone was leaving, they forgot one person who was recovering from Coco’s attack, and a green haired girl with her headphones around her neck make sure they know it.
“Hey dudes, you forgot someone,” Lemon Zest said, pointing to Suri still on the ground. A couple of the girls ran back and carried Suri away with them, still feeling the pain in her neck.
Now it was Long Shot and the Elite 5 standing in front of us. Long Shot had his hand on his forehead, frustrated as to what was going on before he spoke.
“Thanks for calling me, Indigo. I should have known that he was doing this kind of stuff.”
“No problem,” Indigo replied. “I knew they were causing trouble, but didn’t expect to drag one of our classmates into the mix.”
Long Shot turned around and looked at us, mainly Shining Armor. “I see that your shoulder is getting better.”
“Give it some rest, and it will be ready for the rematch,” he replied.
“Depends on who’s in charge for the rematch,” Long Shot said as he looked at me.
“That’s for the coach to decide,” I said. “At least you’re doing what you can to keep them in line.”
“I guess I need to do harder than that,” said Long Shot.
“Long, do me a favor,” Indigo said. “See to it that Fleur gets home safely. We have some…business to discuss.”
Fleur heard her name and looked up. I decided to walk towards her and said, “Go on ahead. You’ll be safe with him.” Fleur nodded. “While you’re at it, see if to can talk to him. Maybe he’s a good choice to look into, if you know what I mean.”
Fleur took a moment to think about it before she spoke. “I will. Thanks.” She started to walk towards Long Shot.
As Fleur and Long Shot started to walk away, Long Shot looked back and yelled, “Hey Jack. You remind me of myself from a year ago when I had to take over for our star quarterback. I hope I see you in action again this coming Friday.” Then they started to walk away and out of view. Now the Elite 5 was all that was left.
Rainbow Dash walked up next to me and said, “Alright, Indigo. What brings you and your friends here? Want to cause your own trouble against us?”
“We’re only here to talk, Dash. But only to him,” Indigo said, pointing at me.
“If you want to talk, partner, then you can do it in front of us,” Applejack responded.
“I don’t think you have a say in this,” said Sugarcoat.
“You do know who you’re talk to, miss know-it-all,” said Twilight.
“You must be soooo smart,” Sour Sweet said kindly. Then she forcefully said, “SO SMART THAT IT COMES FROM YOUR SMART ASS MOUTH!!!”
“Now that wasn’t nice,” said Fluttershy.
“Miss, you need to just chill out,” Tree Hugger added.
“Hey, you don’t need to tell what my friend needs to do,” said Sunny Flare.
“Excuse me, dear, but your friend needs to learn some manners in respect,” said Rarity.
“And if you’re just acting like it, then go back to school,” Trixie added. “Oh wait, you are in school.”
“Dude, it’s you who needs to show some respect,” said Lemon Zest.
“This coming from someone who can’t win first place in a school that only focuses on first place,” said Vinyl.
“Yea, unless second place is another saying for first loser,” Pinkie Pie added.
Both sides started to stare at each other, waiting for one side to strike. Indigo and me responded at the same time.
“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!”
Indigo was getting frustrated at the issue. With my arms crossed, I was able to display two fingers for Indigo to noticed. She saw it and gave a small nod, knowing what to do.
“OK, if you care about your friend, then I’ll make an exception. Two of you can come along, that’s all.”
Sunny Flare said, “Indigo, we were given instructions to…”
“I’m making an exception, Sunny,” Indigo snapped at her.
“If two others can come along, then I’ll be one of them,” Applejack said.
“Sorry, farm girl, but I get to choose,” Indigo replied. “The little fashion girl up front, and the bookworm with the glasses at the back.” She was pointing at Coco and Moon Dancer.
“Sorry Indigo, but that’s not going to happen,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Stand down, Dash,” I said. “Just leave this to us, OK?”
“But…”
“You heard him,” Chrysalis said. “They can handle this themselves. Let’s just leave it at that.”
I replied, “Thanks, Chrysalis. Coco, Moon Dancer, you’re with me.”
Sunset stopped me for a moment. “You sure you want to do this?”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” I said. “If they carry what we think they have, then they could be looking for answers. And it’s possible that Coach Fleetfoot is pulling the strings on this meeting, if you heard what the principal’s daughter was trying to say. Look, tell the others about the story that we heard earlier today while I take care of this, OK?”
She looked at the Elite 5, then back to me. “OK. Just make sure you stay safe.”
“I will.” I looked at Coco and Moon Dancer, then turned to Indigo and said, “OK, lead the way.”