When I was young, my Grandpops always told me that when I grew up, I would need to find myself! My identity! My passion! My reason to be! I didn’t have the luxuries that many kids at that age had every morning: A warm breakfast! A warm bed! A good morning kiss from a mother, and a passionate hug from a father!
It was a rough life! Losing the people I once called friends later was worse for me!
All I had left was only my strength of will! I wanted to become strong and survive by myself! That’s what I decided when I hit adolescence! That and make proud to the unconditional love from the old man who raised me for almost all my life! He eventually had a lucky shot in an expedition and earned a small fortune that was big enough to give me the best education that money could offer nearby one of the most peaceful towns on the globe: Crystal Prep Academy!
To be honest… I hated the school and the stupid girly uniform I had to wear every day!
But Grandpops wanted to give me the stuff he didn’t have… so deep inside, I didn’t neglect his wish. It didn’t mean it was a nice experience! Especially when your schoolmates were assholes to the core!
Most especially was the case with the old Champion leader of the lower class that ruled the lowly ‘peasants’ like me during our first year: Lighting Dust!
She was an arrogant bitch who thought she was too awesome and powerful than she really was! Everyone from the lower class bowed to her like she was the big cheese of the school… Except for two guys: Me! And…
“Hey, you! New one!” She spoke to a guy walking to his class. He ignored her. “Hey! I’m talking to you!”
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?”
“Do you dare to talk to a Champion Leader like that, wimp?”
“You a Champion Leader? My ass!”
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“That sounds like Nitty!” Sparkle said.
I tried to not laugh at her funny tone on how she pronounced that nickname. “Yeah! Let me finish the story!” I said.
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She reminded him of the duties and rights that a Champion Leader had on the school! Things that he would eventually inherit later. “Now go and bring me some peanut butter crackers! The extra sized!”
He ignored her.
“HEY! The vending machine is on the other direction!” One of the Dust’s assistants ordered.
“Here’s my answer!” The guy raised his hand and made a ‘friendly gesture’ with one of his fingers.
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….
“Uh! That really sounded like Nitpick!”
“Just wait for the next part! Like every good story, the first few arcs are always boring and full of dull plot development! Like in Knight Seiyamus!”
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….
He and I shared most of the classes together, but we didn’t talk to each other! We felt it was bothersome at the time, only speaking to each other when it was time to work on teams in certain classes. We never memorized our names, even when the teacher passed list every single class.
We also ignored Dust every single day, much to her displeasure. It was funny doing that! One day we noticed that we ignored her the same way! So, in a wordless conversation, we started to see who could ignore her in the most annoying way possible. Of course!
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“That’s so rude!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Just listen to the story!”
Sparkle and her dog nodded.
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But we didn’t know we were brewing a great deal of a trouble. It seemed that Dust at that time belonged to a street gang near the Downtown District! The most infamous location from an otherwise, safe city. The safest city in the world, in fact.
One day, during a certain September 19th, the guy and I needed to buy some materials near that district for a homework of ours. It seemed that one of our teammates suggested that there was a special store nearby that sold the merchandise at a rather cheap price.
It was a trap! Of COURSE!
We were surrounded in a dark alley! And walking slowly toward us, Lighting Dust was looking at us with displeasure. “You punks have annoyed me far too many times on school! My friends and I will give you some proper lessons of finesse and socialite!”
“In other words, you are too much of a pussy to challenge us at school by yourself!” The guy said cynically.
I started to like his attitude from that point onward.
“KILL THEM!”
We obviously wouldn’t take her demands so easily, and both of us were too fed up to ignore this chance to get vengeance. She underestimated us by having the sheer numbers at her advantage! But there was more than meet the eyes! For we did more than stand our ground!
One of the Dust’s lackeys grabbed the guy from his shoulders and shoved him away. He stumbled back and fell back roughly to the wall. As soon as he charged to his apparent victim, the guy swung his fist in a vicious uppercut and broke his opponents chin with a mighty cracking sound!
“NICE SHOT!” My fist trembled in excitement in front of me.
But there wasn’t time to think anymore! While the guys were trying to beat up the guy, the gals of her group tried to gang on me! Fools! Grandpops taught me a thing or two about self-defense... Like doing a fucking ROMERO SPECIAL!
“BLEUGH!” The gal that received my technique was down on the floor in convulsion.
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“YOU WERE IN A STREET FIGHT!?” Sparkle shouted in fright.
“SHUT UP!”
Sparkle and her dog shut their mouths.
Good! Those two must learn… Wait, did the dog…? …What the hell?
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….
Another of my attackers tried to punch me but my right hand caught her incoming punch and I used my free arm to BREAK IN PIECES THE JOINTS OF HER SHOULDER!
“GYAAAHHH!” Her screams of agony made echo on the alley.
AND THEN, IT BECAME AN ALL OUT STREET WAR! ONE BY ONE, THE ASSHOLES TRIED TO CLOSE THE GAP BETWEEN US! THE GUY DUCKED WITH HIS SENSES ALL OF THE INCOMING PUNCHES WHILE I WAS PARRING AND STRIKING MY FOES TO THE GROUND!
“HEY! WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO FIGHT LIKE THAT!?” I asked to the guy while throwing a gal away.
“GRANDFATHER!” He shouted while evading some kicks. “BUT I’M NOT AS GOOD AS HIM!”
“COOL!” I made a liver blow to a gal. “HEY! THE NAME IS GILDA!”
“NITPICK!” He caught the kick and bended its foot.
“TOO LONG! I’LL CALL YOU NIT!”
“GOOD FOR ME! HATE MY NAME!”
Nit used the momentum of one of his adversaries to crush his nose with his knee and throw him away to the floor like a filthy ragdoll that deserved to be destroyed! I charged forward and grappled another of the gangsters to the point of nearly asphyxiate her to death with my arms!
The fight continued for several minutes! No one was backing down! No one would admit defeat! But eventually, Dust looked around and saw that her forces were decimated, and that her once supposed victims had the upper hand now!
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“Then what happened!?” Twilight asked scared while hugging her dog.
I could feel that my smile was malicious enough because Sparkle and her dog were trembling in fear… I couldn’t help it! It was a nice memory!
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“You know, Gilda… I don’t hit girls unless it really is a life or death situation!”
“Oh, Come on!” I crossed my arms. “Fine! I wanted to do this fight on my own anyway!”
“Try to be merciful!” He grinned, giving me his certainly welcomed blessing.
“No promises!” I cracked my fists while giving away a terrifying smile.
But… unlike her lackeys… Dust wasn’t a pushover.
We exchanged heavy blows! Parrying them in turns for several minutes and looked at each other with raging intent when the fight was at its climax! We hadn’t land a single hit and that frustrated us! We stood there in a defensive position for several seconds, and when it was finally time to strike, Dust released a lighting broad kick and I barely avoided it on time! I instinctively pinned her down, grabbed her from the legs, spun her around like a yoyo and threw her away to the wall, leaving her unconscious!
The battle was over.
“Well, that's it! Let’s go grab something to eat!”
“Sounds good to me!”
Nit and I leaved them there and had dinner in a local store nearby. Curiously, we asked for the same damn hamburger combo. We started talking about what happened moments ago… And we started to bitch the hell up about our homework’s materials and rushed our food to our bellies. We barely arrived on time to another local who had what we needed and called that day done.
That night, I started to think about what I experienced so far in my life! I reinforced what I wanted for me for the rest of my life! So during next day of classes and onward, I decided to change my style to match the Real Me! I started to use the male’s school uniforms like the punk I was!
I stumbled with Nit that day and… it just clicked on us! We found in that shitty school someone to pass the time with! Someone we could rely upon!
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“And from that day forward, Lighting Dust hated us! And the school’s students of the lower class learned to respect us eventually!”
Twilight and her dog were baffled. I don’t blame them! It’s just an awesome story!
“You are lying, right!?” Twilight was twitching her eyes. “You didn’t do that, RIGHT!?” She was really anxious.
She must be really amazed by my story!
“Hell yeah! Oak knows when I’m lying! Right?”
“Absolutely!” She said with sincerity.
“You. Are. CRAZY! YOU TWO COULD HAVE KILLED THEM! AND WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BECOMING FRIENDS WITH EACH OTHER!?”
Perhaps it’s not an awesome story for wimps like her!
“They were at fault at that for being a group of bullies! Besides, the ones that were from the school went the next day with bandages and they are fine by now! Right, Oak?”
“I’m still surprised you didn’t go to jail that day!”
“That’s not what you said when we told you the tale!”
“I know, but someone must have sympathy with Miss Sparkle’s good heart!”
“Are you saying you enjoyed hearing that!?” Sparkle was breathing heavily. “You are saying that you enjoyed their suffering!? Even if they were meanies, they didn’t deserve such beating. RIGHT!?”
“OH! YES! THEY DID DESERVE IT!” Oak made a face delight and cheerfulness. “Dust was a thorn to some students of the school! Including us! She and my dearest friends had a feud for several days after that incident! It was a political nightmare to the Champion leaders!”
“Especially to Sug! That little fight of ours was the catalyst that made us friends with her later!”
“You mean-?”
“Yeah!” I pointed to the heavens. “Sugarcoat became our friend ten days later! Another tale full of exciting shit awaits you!”
“I have a magnificent idea, Miss Sparkle! My beloved friend wants you to being able to make friends with another ideology, correct?”
“Ah… yeah! Something like that!”
“Then why don’t you hear out the rest of the tales on how we became friends with each other? I’m sure it will show you that there is more than one way to make great friends in this short life of ours! You don’t have anything to lose! We could go to the Dazzles and invite you and your dog a meal! That if you are not busy, of course!”
“What do you say, Sparkle? It’s rare that Oak invites someone out of the blue! You are the second one to achieve that! Lightbulb being the first!” Gilda patter her back.
“But Young Lightbulb does not count! After all, you and my beloved friend invited him!”
“Lightbulb already knew of your friendship before me?” Twilight hugged her dog to her chest.
“Are you jealous, Miss Sparkle?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
“Hehe…You are a bad liar! It’s okay! Soon you’ll learn to be honest with yourself! So! What is your answer, Fair Maiden?”
“…Alright! I accept your invitation!”
“Excellent!” Oak was happy.
“We must grab Sugarcoat and our belongings before we head there!” Gilda stood up. “I should go for our stuff! You drag the troll here, Oak!”
“Miss Sparkle! Why don’t you go on my behalf and bring my intellectual friend with us? I’m sure she is stuck in the office doing her chores while eating her cookies!”
“B-but… I don’t think that she would listen to me!”
“Just tell her that Moonlight has come! She’ll understand!”
“… I can’t! I’m scared of her!”
“May I know why, Miss Sparkle? She bleeds red like you and me!”
“That’s a creepy way to calm someone down!”
“Hehehe! I get that a lot! I know that Sugarcoat despises you for cheating your way with CHS during the Friendship Games! But you must confront your past fears! Besides, Sugarcoat has changed for the better these past several months! And you really want to make friends, don’t you?”
“Yes but…!”
“Tell me something…Are you trying to make friends because you want to form deep connections with others? Or are you trying to make friends just to fill a void that is in your heart and don’t feel alone anymore?”
Sparkle’s pupils contracted by the way Oak asked those questions. Oak, I love you as my sister… but you are scaring her!
“Do I really am scaring her?” Oak asked curiously.
“Stop reading minds!”
“UH!?” Sparkle was baffled.
“Just go and bring Sugarcoat! We’ll meet you here! Consider this a test of courage!”
“A test of courage?” She thought for a moment her answer. “…A-alright! I’ll come back here in a few minutes! Come, Spike!”
“Wafff!”
She followed her suggestion and went to where Sugarcoat was. Something clicked on my thoughts several minutes later after bringing our belongings outside with Oak.
“Ah... Oak…?”
“Yes, my mighty friend?”
“You said that Sug was eating her cookies – Now - In this precise moment. Right?”
“Yes, why are you-!” Oak realized the calamity that was approaching to Sparkle. “Oh gracious goodness!”
“…I’ll be back in a minute.”