//------------------------------// // Ch. 5 (Slow Starts, Quick Endings, and Old Territories) // Story: Another Chance // by EldinKaiser //------------------------------// It was Monday, in the early morning. I'm guessing around 2 or 3? I was laying beside of Lemon, just thinking about starting up school tomorrow. I was nervous. What if there are some students there that recognized me? I didn't want to go. I was scared. What if they convince Lemon to leave me because of what I used to be. I curled up to Lemon, trying my best not to start crying, though was failing horribly. My nerves causing my body to shake. "P-Please don't leave." I pleaded out in a gentle whisper repeatedly, though was silenced when I felt her start to stir. "Kitten, is everything alright?" She asked, slowly sitting up. I looked at her and held her close to me. "I-I'm sorry for waking you up." I said, trying my best to muffle my sobs. She sat up and looked down at me "Sonata, what's wrong?" She asked in a worried tone. "I-I'm scared." I said, looking down at the bed in front of me. "Of what?" She asked. I took a deep breath, trying to regain my thoughts and form a sentence. "I'm scared that when we go to school tomorrow, someone might recognize me and try to run you away from me." I said, tears now flowing freely from my eyes now. She looked over at me and moved closer to wrap her arms around my shoulders. "Sonata, I would never plan on leaving you. If I did, I would have left you when mom told me to leave you." She said in a comforting tone. "I-I know, but it's still lingering in the back of my mind. What if..." I said, my body shaking once more at the thought of losing her. I felt her thumb and finger placed against my chin gently as she turned my head to face her as she gently placed her forehead against mine. "Sonata, I couldn't imagine me spending a day without you. I'd be lost without you." She said softly. I looked back into her eyes once more, my whole world instantly piecing itself back together. I trusted her, more than anything. I quickly wrapped my arms around her, placing my head under her chin and just let it all out. "I-I'm sorry, Lemon. With my past, I've lost so many because of what I done. And now that I've found someone who means so much to me, I'm terrified of losing you too. I trust you more with my life and don't want to be with anyone, but you. I'm just scared..." I cried out, cradling myself up against her. She wrapped her arms around me once more, holding me tight. "As long as I'm living and breathing. I'm always going to be here for you. Even if I was offered a life of fame and fortune. I would turn it all done, so I can be with you." She said in a warm and confident tone. I nodded softly, tears still streaming down my cheeks. "If you want, I'll talk to the dean for you, tell her that you felt sick and was running a temperature." She said as she began to rub along my back. "N-No, that's alright. I want to go with you." I choked out. "Are you sure?" She asked as I nodded. "Alright, kitten. Then you may want to get some sleep. I've felt you tossing and turning all night." She said with a soft smirk, not helping the case I felt bad for even waking her up. "C'mon, lay back down with me." She said as she began to lay down. I looked at her, finally managing to smile. "I love you, my beautiful Lemon Blossom." I said, leaning down to kiss her before laying my head on her chest. "I love you too, kitten." She said wrapping her arms around me to hold me close. When I woke up, she was already out of the bed. I sat up, yawning out softly with the blankets perched over my shoulders. "Lemon?" I called out. "In the shower!" I heard her call back. I stood up, stammering to the doorway with the blanket being the only thing covering me. "What time is it?" I yawned out. "It's probably just turning seven." She replied. I nodded softly, still stammering through the house. Suddenly the heavenly scent of breakfast began to fill the house. I walked into the kitchen to see her dad standing there, with all burners on the stove going. "Oh, hey Sonata." He said casually. I blushed deeply, darting back into the bedroom and shut the door behind me. "Hey, dad's here by the way!" She called out once more. I glared at the door slightly, trying to find my school uniform. "Yeah, I figured that out when I walked through the house, half naked." I called back to only hear her laughing out. "That's not funny!" I pouted. "It is a bit. At least from my perspective." She replied. I finally came back out of the bedroom a few minutes later with my hair a matted mess still. She came out finally with a sly smirk on her face. "So, trying to show my dad your goods?" She teased. "Well, if I would have known he was here, I wouldn't have stammered through the house almost naked." I said. "Hey, don't worry about it. I didn't see anything. I just heard you moving around and figured it was you." He said, pulling out three plates from the cabinets. "So are you excited for your first day at Crystal Prep?" He asked, bringing the plates over to us. I looked down, remembering everything in vivid detail from last night. "Y-Yeah, just kind of nervous." I stated. "Don't be nervous, Sonata. I know about your past and even after that, if I had doubt in you, I would have sided with Avalon." He said, grabbing three mugs and filled them up. "W-Wait, you know about me?!" I asked, my nerves beginning to go into shock again. "Tried to take over a school. Was defeated by those seven girls. Yadda Yadda. All that matters is that you are not that same person." He said with a smile bringing the drinks over. I looked up at him and nodded softly. "Though will say this much. Didn't believe in magic or any of that type of shit until I saw that on the news. Though from the person I saw then, to the person I see now is completely different. Who I see now is a sweet, pure, gentle, and kind-hearted young woman. Someone who I am proud to have date my daughter." He said with a smile. I blushed softly and smiled. "Thank you so much, sir." I said. He shook his head. "No, don't call me sir. You're not one of my soldiers. You're family now. Call me dad." He demanded. I looked over at Lemon who was thrilled with his statement and nodded softly. "Thank you, dad." I said, a gentle smile forming. "Now hurry up and eat, you two. I gotta get you to school." He said, digging into his own plate. "Dad, how are you gonna take us? You have a motorcycle." "And a truck. And a jeep. And a car." He said, finishing her statement. "Oh...Ok then." She replied. I was running around the house frantically trying to find a hair brush. "Lemon, do you know where my hairbrush went to?" I asked, digging through the drawers in the bathroom. "Kitten, just use mine. It'll be ok." She said, I shrugged and grabbed her's quickly trying to brush my hair as she was packing up her bag. "C'mon Sonata. Ya should have done this earlier." Her dad called out. "Sorry, I know I'm slow." I pouted out. "J-Just give me one minute." I said, trying my best to hurry up. Finally, I rushed out of the bathroom, grabbing my bag and darted out behind Lemon and Citron, shutting the door behind me. "Thought we may have to leave without you." He said with a soft chuckle. "Not funny." I pouted. I looked over to see him shrugging slightly. "I was just kidding around." He replied. We walked up to a small truck that only had one row of seats. "Hmm, you wanna sit in the middle, Sonata?" Lemon asked. "It doesn't matter to me." I said, jumping in and slid into the middle with Lemon sitting beside of me. I smiled and rested my head on her shoulder as she quickly wrapped an arm around me to pull me closer to her. "Aww, so cute." Citron teased. "What? It's what couples do." I said with a smirk. "Yeah, you're right." He said, jumping into the truck. We finally arrived at the school after ten or so minutes of driving. It felt like my stomach was in my throat. The memories from last night flashing through my mind. Panic instantly settling in. Lemon looked down at me, seeing my reaction. "Kitten, it'll be ok." She said with a smile and kissed the top of my head. I looked at her and nodded softly as she grabbed my hand and lured me out of the truck. "We'll see you later dad!" She called out, shutting the truck door behind her. He gave one honk of the horn as he pulled off down the road. I began to look around, the other students looking at me closely. I tightly grasped Lemon's hand and hid behind her, worried about what was going on through the conversations. She looked behind me and tilted her head to the side. "Are you going to be ok, kitten?" She asked me. I looked up at her and nodded shakily. "Y-Yeah, just trying to get over what all was going through my mind last night." I said, forcing a small smile. She rose a brow at me and released my hand to quickly wrap it around my shoulder and held me close to her, helping me put my mind to ease. "See I told you she was a lesbian." One of the students said as they walked by. "Oh, stop it. You know about how many shitty boyfriends she's had. Maybe she found someone who treats her nicely." Another one snapped back, which actually made me feel a little bit better. "It's still disgusting." The snobby one said. I looked at her, growing somewhat irritated. "E-Excuse me." I called out. She turned to face me, to only step back, cowering a little bit. "I-It's you. You're one of those things who tried to take over Canterlot High." She said, backing away from me. "Things?" I asked myself. "You listen here!" Lemon called out, standing in front of me. "Because your dad's rich you think you have free reign to say whatever you please. Well, listen here punk, she's a beautiful person. She may have had a bumpy past, but we all have. No one is perfect." Lemon said, glaring at the girl. "You think you have the right to talk to me like I'm some low commoner?!" She snapped. "I can have you expelled from this scho-" She froze in fear as she looked over at me. I didn't know why either, until I looked in the reflection of a nearby window to see my eyes glowing red. I quickly glanced down to cover my face with my bangs, hoping not many people saw that. "W-Well, just watch out how you talk to me." She said, turning to leave. Lemon looked over at me and grabbed my hand. "Don't worry about them Sonata, they're just a bunch of spoiled brats." She said, as we began to walk into the school to only have everyone clear a path for us. "Hmm, this is weird, usually there's little to no room to walk this time of day." She said, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, maybe it's because you're with me." I said, extremely ashamed. We made out way down the hall and stopped at a door with 'Dean Cadence' written on the door. "Well, I guess this is your stop." Lemon said, slowly releasing my hand. "How long do you think that this will last?" I ask. "Eh, when I went through this, I had to sit through a whole block, so about an hour and forty-five minutes, give or take." She said with a smile. I nodded softly and smiled in return. "Well, I'm gonna head on to class. I love you, kitten." She said, quickly leaning down to kiss me. "I love you too, Lemon." I said as she turned to leave. As I turned to face the doorway once more, this woman with long purple, pink, and yellow hair was standing there. "Ah, yes. You must be the new student Citron Zest told me about." She said, flipping through papers on a clipboard. "Sonata Dusk, right?" She asked. I nodded softly, looking up at her. "Y-Yes, Ma'am." I said, still unsure about even being here. She looked down at me, raising an eyebrow. "You look familiar, Miss Dusk. Have you been here before?" She asked. I shook my head. "No, ma'am. I'm a new student here. Just really nervous is all." I said with a fake chuckle after. "It's alright. No need to be nervous." She said, reassuring me with a warm smile. "Please, come in and take a seat." She said, leading me inside. I walked over to her desk, sitting down in front of her. "So, your father, I guess, wishes to register you here?" She asked. "W-Well, he's not really my dad. He's my girlfriend's dad. I've never actually known my father." I said, looking down. She looked at me and a small smile crept along her face. "So, you and Lemon Zest are together I take it?" She asked with me nodding softly. She began to smile a bit more. "That's so cute. I've seen that girl come through here time and time again over her ex-boyfriends. None of them treated her in a proper manner either. Maybe she needs a girlfriend to set her straight... NOT that I want her to be straight or anything like that." She said, trying to not sound rude. "I understood what you meant ma'am." I said with a smile. "Well, the reason that you are here is for a class of conduct. We have all of our students go through this, so don't stress out if you feel like you've been randomly selected." She said, leaning over to pull something from her desk. --- As I was walking down the hallway, more and more people was stepping aside. "What in the world is going on? Did I just randomly sprout a third arm or something?" I asked myself. "Well, look at who it is." Fleur Dis Lee said from behind me. "It's that dyke with the freak of a girlfriend." She mocked. I paused and turned around. "Excuse me, I'm sorry. It's hard to understand you. Usually when you talk, you're on your knees taking a load from some guy." I said, glaring at her. She pulled back in shock. "Why I'd never!" She exclaimed. "You will for the right price." I said with a smirk. She stormed up to me, the both of us eye to eye. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't have you expelled, Lemon?! Unlike your petty self, I have connections." "One reason? Sweetie, I have a list. One: I'm nicer than you. Two: I'm prettier than you. Three: I don't look like a twig. Four: I haven't slept with each and every member of the shadow colts. and Five: I don't have to make a living on my knees. Need I go on?" I said with a grin. --- "Alright Ms. Dusk, that just about wraps it u-" "What?! She started it!" I heard Lemon's voice call out from the hallway to be tossed into the room with me and Dean Cadence with this blue skinned, purple haired woman standing behind her. "Oh no, Lemon, what happened now?" Dean Cadence asked, burying her face in her hands. "Fleur Dis Lee was calling me a dyke. I came back with a few comments of my own. She slapped me and I punched her." She said with a smile on her face. "Lemon! That is NOT something to be proud of. What did I tell you?" Cadence asked. "To ignore it, but Dean Cade-" "No, buts!" The other woman snapped. "Not even a month ago, you were suspended for the same exact story." The woman said. "Principal Cinch, I'm telling the truth!" Lemon exclaimed. "I do not care! You are lucky her parents are not going to take you to court for assault!" She snapped out. "Oh, so if her parents have money, she can do whatever she likes, insults whoever she pleases, and step on anyone she chose to, but since I don't. I'm the one getting in trouble for her hitting me first." Lemon said. "No one claims to have seen her strike you first. Everyone is pointing the finger to you!" Cinch said. Lemon stood there for a second, anger building up inside of her. "You have working security cameras all through out this school. If you don't believe me, then look at them!" She yelled out. "We do not have to Ms. Zest. You are not the one in charge here. I am!" Cinch growled back. "Yeah, and we see how that's going. You're allowing richer, more privileged students step all over the less privileged! Fantastic job!" She snapped. "I do not have to stand for this, Ms. Zest! You are trying my patience!" Cinch said. "Both of you! Stop!" Dean Cadence called out. "This is my office, I refuse to have this going on here. Lemon, if what you are saying is true. Then let's watch the footage." She said. "Dean Cadence, please just trust me on this." She pleaded. Cadence nodded and turned to open up a cabinet with several monitors in it. "Which hallway did it happen in?" "D-Hallway Ma'am." She said. Cadence knelled down and began to rewind the type. "This is just a waste of time Ms. Zest!" Cinch stated. "Now hold on. Let's see what happened before we jump to conclusion." She said, finally stopping it. "Alright, let's see what happened." Cadence pressed play with Lemon just casually walking down the hallway. Suddenly within the tape I can hear "Well, look at who it is." Fleur Dis Lee said as she stood behind Lemon. "It's that dyke with the freak of a girlfriend." "Excuse me, I'm sorry. It's hard to understand you. Usually when you talk, you're on your knees taking a load from some guy." We continued to watch it with the exchange of words until finally. Wait, the screen froze. "Dean Cadence, what's going on?" Lemon asked. "It seems to have froze, one second." She said, leaning down to try and fix the problem. It skipped all the way to when Lemon was holding her cheek in shock and then reached out, punching that girl in the face to only quickly be pulled off from an adult man and Principal Cinch. Cadence paused it to look at Lemon. "N-No, I have the hand print of my cheek Dean Cadence. She struck me first!" She said. "Lemon, I'm sorry, but it looks like you hit her first." She replied. "Dean Cadence, if I may." I asked. "The video obviously skipped for a few seconds. Isn't there another camera that's pointed within that direction?" I asked, doing my best to help Lemon out. She looked at the monitors once more, a sly smile slowly beginning to form. "Actually, there is." She said, reaching up to another monitor and began to rewind it to the exact moment to see that Fleur was, in fact, the first one to hit first. "Looks like she was telling the truth after all." Dean Cadence said with a big smile. "W-Well, that doesn't matter! Lemon should have not fought back and with this being her third offence this year alone. She is to be kicked out of Crystal Prep Academy." Cinch said, curling up her nose towards Lemon. "Wait! What's going to happen to her?!" Lemon snapped out. "She will be suspended of course." Dean Cadence went to say. "No she won't. She was antagonized by Lemon t-" "No, just shut up." Lemon demanded, interrupting Cinch. "I'm screwed either way..." She said, grabbing her bag and storming out of the office. I rushed outside of the office to see Lemon on the other side of the hallway, breaking down with her phone in her hand. "D-Dad, I-I need you to come pick me up." She said in a shaky voice. "Well, yeah. What happened though?" He asked. "I...Can I explain it when you get here?" She pleaded. "Um, sure. I'm still at your place cleaning up from breakfast, give me about five minutes and I'll be up there." He said. "Thanks dad." She said before hanging up the phone. I walked over to her and sat down beside of her. "A-Are you alright?" I asked, cautiously reaching out to grab her hand. She just shook her head. "Sonata, this isn't fair to me. She started it. She was the one who threw the first hit. And yet, I'm the one who gets in trouble. It's always like this around here." She cried out. "How dare you! Lemon didn't influence Fleur! If anything Fleur was antagonizing Lemon! Are you saying that you wouldn't have done the same thing?!" I heard Dean Cadence call out. "My word is final, Mrs. Cadence! She is to be expelled from Crystal Prep Academy. She'll be fortunate enough to even get into Canterlot High with the report I plan on giving her. And if you try to go against me, I will have your job!" Cinch said from inside. I immediately got up and opened the door. "Excuse me, but from what I've witnessed my first day here at Crystal Prep Academy is atrocious. You have clear evidence that one girl started the conflict and you choose to ignore it? What kind of sick and sadistic place is this?! Only thing I've witnessed here is a school that is led by a corrupted principal." I said, removing my jacket. "This isn't what I was hoping for here at Crystal Prep. I was hoping for equality for all students. Not this bogus crap." I said, tossing my jacket on the ground and storming back out to see Citron kneeling beside of Lemon, his face growing more red by the second. Surely enough, as I stepped out, Citron stormed in, slamming the door behind him. "What kind of fucking bullshit is this?!" I heard his voice boom out. "Don't you dare raise that type of tone with me! Do you have any idea who I am?!" Cinch snapped. "You're a jacked up, failure, piece of fucking shit for a principal! Now do you have any idea who I am? I am Colonel Citron D Zest of the 1/120th Flamethrowing Haymakers! When my ex wife told me about this school, I had the same hopes that Sonata had, but apparently I was in the wrong. Every cent that I invested in this place. I demand back. I also demand to have the security tapes of the past hour minutes." He growled out. "By law, yo-" "By law? No no no. Trust me, I can have this room filled with lawyers and attorneys and they will tell you that I have the right to that tape." He stated. "Now you have 5 seconds. Exactly 5 fucking seconds! In the next 5 seconds I have better have those tape in my hand. If I don't, I'll personally get them myself" He said, his body trembling with anger. Cadence looked at him instantly handing over the tapes. "Thank you miss." He said with a genuine smile to Cadence, then turned towards Cinch and opened the door back up. "Now, you're probably asking yourself. 'What am I gonna do with these?' Well, it's simple." He said, reaching down to grab the jacket I tossed down. "I'm going to take you, that girl, and her parents to court and sue all of you for each and every cent you have." He said with a smile. "And trust me, from what I've heard. There's a LOT of students that would be willing to step in for me." He said, the smile growing ever more. "Now, you have a grand fucking day." He snapped before turning towards me and Lemon. "C'mon you two. Let's get home." He said, marching out in front of us with the both of us following after him. "So, where do you two wanna go?" He asked as he opened the door to the truck. "I-I just wanna go home dad." Lemon said, looking down at the ground. "Well, how about this. Instead, we go and get you some ice cream, maybe take you two to the movies, That sound good?" He asked with Lemon nodding softly. "What about you, Sonata? Is that alright?" "It's whatever she wants to do." I said, doing my best to comfort her. "Also, we need to get you two enrolled into a different school." He said, going to pull out, but was stopped by a blue haired man. "Oh for fuck sakes." Citron said, stepping out of the truck. "What do you want?" The man walked up to Citron and smiled. "I will do whatever it takes to help you out. The same goes for my wife, Dean Cadence. We've seen her run off excellent students just so she'll get a bigger pay check." He said. Lemon and Citron looked at him in shock. "Well, that'd be greatly appreciated of you both. And if you have any tapes that may have been tampered with, please bring them to my attention as well." Citron said. "Will do. Oh by the way. My name is Shining Armor. Retired Captain, sir." He said with a smile. "Well, thank you for all your help Captain, but I'm gonna take these two and try to cheer them up. You take it easy." Citron said before getting back in the truck. "Oh, one other thing. Canterlot High School is probably one of the better schools around here. Principal Celestia and VP Luna will take her in as long as you explain the situation. Plus, my little sister is down there now and she loves it. Just something to think about. I'll do my best to write a referral so all allegations are cleared" He said before walking away. "You all have a nice day!" He called out before running back to the school. Citron looked over at me and Lemon as he got back in. "Is that alright with you two?" He asked. "D-Dad, anywhere is better than here." Lemon said, as she laid her head on my shoulder. I didn't pay no mind to what was being said, my only focus was trying to cheer up Lemon. About thirty minutes later, we arrived in Canterlot City. I began to look around, realizing the location and where we were heading. "Excuse me, Citron." "Yes, Sonata?" "Where are we going?" I asked. "Well, like I said, I need to make sure that you two are in school since I'm the legal guardian for the both of you now. Seeing as how CPA pulled that stunt, we're going to talk to Principal Celestia about enrolling both of you here." He said right before turning into Canterlot High's parking lot. I looked around to see Sunset and the others sitting in front of the statue, watching us pull in. We stepped out of the truck and began to walk past everyone who was eyeing us down, almost immediately. Finally as we came up to Sunset and the others, I heard them whispering about something, but wasn't able to understand. "Hey Sonata." I heard Sunset call out as she walked up to us. I looked up and smiled softly. "H-Hey Sunset." I said, a smile finally creeping along my face. "What brings you two here?" She asked, the others coming up behind her. "Well..." "I got into a fight at CPA over who I was with. They ended up tampering with the tapes and they was still taking that girls side." Lemon chimed in with a smile on her face. The others looked at her in shock at her reaction. "So who are ya with?" AJ asked. "Well, Sonata of course." She said, forming an even bigger smile as she wrapped her arm around me to pull her close to her with me resting my head on her shoulder. "Awww! So cute!" Pinkie exclaimed, causing both me and Lemon to blush. "Yeah, she's helped pull me out of some dark times." Lemon said, making me blush even more. "Well you two make an adorable couple." Rarity stated. "T-Thank you." I finally said, trying to pull my hoodie over my head to hide my blush. "So, I'm guessing you two are here to talk to Principal Celestia?" Sunset asked. "Yeah, though I'm not exactly sure if I'll be allowed back in." I stated. Sunset looked at me and laughed softly. "Sonata, I destroyed the front of the school as well as caused a massive hole in the ground. If they allowed me back in, then they'll let you back in." She said. I nodded softly and felt Lemon tug on me a little bit. "C'mon, I think dad's wanting to hurry up and get this over with." She teased. I nodded softly and followed Citron and Lemon into the school. "I'll see you all later!" I called out, waving back at them as I walked in the school.