//------------------------------// // Ch1: The Optimist, The Bitter-Pants, & The Girls with Colorful Manes // Story: Canterlot Dorks: Canterlot High's Dark Secrets // by ThatUnknownPony //------------------------------// After their first encounter at the auditorium, Dizzy guided his new partner around the school, showing him the different classrooms and meeting places. "...and here is the science lab," he remarked as they stopped outside the room filled with beakers and chemicals. "Small tip, always come with some headgear on or you might lose your hair." Dizzy pointed out his own whited-out hair as an example, causing Crowned to giggle a little bit. "Heh heh heh, I guess..." taking a small peek at the classroom, he was surprised by the size of it. "Uhm, it's... a bit small, don't you think?" "Small?" while his comment surprised him, Dizzy remembered a small detail. "Oh right, you come from the school of snobbish and moneybags. Don't tell anybody about it or they'll wat you alive." "Of course not! Not in a million ye-" In that moment, Crowned noticed a cute couple walking through the nearby halls. "Wait, isn't that the blue-haired guy who left with Twilight?" In that moment, Dizzy turned his head to see his friend talking with the new girl, looking already in love with her. "Pfft! Lucky Brad, on top of being the teachers' favorite." "Wait, his name is Brad?" "Oh no, that's how we used called him," Dizzy began to explain, "but ever since the 'incident' he lost his 'Brad-ness' and he became... tamer. I still call him that way nonetheless." After hearing his story, Crowned looked again at the the couple, now grabbing hands. "They look really happy, don't you think?" "Perhaps too much for my tastes," replied Dizzy below his breath. The two of them followed Flash and Twilight as they kept talking with each other, until they arrived to the Cafeteria, where Dizzy stopped his friend dead on his tracks. "Wait, what? What's in there?" Crowned asked in confusion. "It's the Cafeteria. Do not go in there," Dizzy replied, looking pretty annoyed. "It's just filled to the brim with annoying people, you're better eating in the halls more cal-" His explanation was cut short when he noticed his friend already opening the doors to the Cafeteria, and that made him completely nervous. "HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" he shouted as he followed his partner trying to take him out of that place. But the kid with the crown ignored him and just looked over at the multitude of colorful boys and girls on the tables. "WOAH, THIS IS GREAT! I've never seen so much color in one place!" he shouted in amasement. meanwhile his grumpy guided arrived... well, grumpy, and started scolding him. "Grr, why did you come in here?" he asked clearly bothered by the place. "And what do you mean with 'color'?" "Well in Cry-" Crowned stopped himself remembering what his friend had suggested. "Ehem... In my other school we had to use uniform and it was somewhat uncomfortable, but here everyone wears whatever they want." "Oh, alright," Dizzy responded calmly, before going back into his grumpy behaivor. "Well, you saw, you met, we leave now." Dizzy tried to pull the new kid with him, but was unable, as he stood in his place like a statue. "OH COME ON, LET'S JUST GO!" "Please, Dizzy, let me meet them. I want to make new friends!" "Why? I'm your friend, I guess you'll have with one. Now let's go!" "Wait, really?" Looking at Crowned's excited face, Dizzy realized what he just said. It wasn't like he disliked the guy, as weird as he seemed, and perhaps getting close to him could make his job as a guide easier. "Well, yeah, I am now." Before he could add something else, he felt his new friend hug him real hard, almost pushing the air out of his lungs. "YAY, I HAVE A NEW FRIEND!" Crowned screamed in delight, as Dizzy struggled to breath. "S-STOP... HUGGING ME... I'M S-SUFFOCATING..." "Whoops, sorry!" the kid with a crown let go his friend, as he recovered the air that he was missing. "Sorry, I didn't have many friends in Crystal Prep and-" "Maybe another day you can tell me your backstory," Dizzy exclaimed, looking more and more nervous, "now, let's just go!" His new friend quickly noticed something was wrong with him, and was concerned about what was going into him. "Why are you getting so paranoid?" "IT'S NOTHING! JUST... ARGH!" Dizzy hid right behind of Crowned, looking over a certain group of girls with discomfort. "Uh, Dizzy?" Crowned looked at the same group as his friend, and he wasn't ready for what he saw. Passing near them, he noticed how curious this girls were: one had a long, pink hair with a white shirt and green skirt with butterflies on it, another one had a short, rainbow-colored hair wearing a shirt with a lightning bolt the same color as her hair, all looking very cheerful talking with each other. "Wait, who are them?" Crowned asked in delight, surprised by this colorful band of girls. "They're none of our business, can we go now?" "What an awful guide you are, I haven't even..." In that moment, Crowned laid his eyes over the single most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "Oh dear goodness!" "Crowned, I'm being serious," Dizzy exclaimed, still trying to pull his friend away. "If we don't leave at this moment... Wait, who are you looking at?" Turning his eyes towards where his friends was looking, the pale guy noticed the one girl he was focused on: Blonde, with a couple of freckles on her cheeks, with a cowboy hat and a white shirt with a green stripe on top, wearing a denim skirt, it was the prettiest girl Crowned had ever seen. For Dizzy, on the other hand... "...please don't say it." "What a beautiful girl..." the guy with a crown said in delight. "All of them are pretty, but her... My goodness." "I don't think it's a good idea for you to stare at her for a long time," his friend replied, slightly more scared than usual. "Why? What does she... MY GO-!" Dizzy had to cover his mouth to stop him from shouting, as he watches as the girl stretched her arms, slightly revealing her midriff exposing her marked abs and a cute navel that made him blush like a tomato. "I told you, she's not a pretty girl," Dizzy said exasperated, believing his friend was shocked instead. "She's really... masculine, let's just say. Seriously, she has no bother in showing those 'deathly abs' of her. She's-" "ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!" Crowned yelled despite his friend's struggles. "...Excuse me?" true to his skin, Dizzy got a shade of white paler than before. "Beautiful, with a cute face, a sweet midriff, those huge... tracts of land... Does she have a boyfriend?" Dizzy's eye twitched in disbelief, trying to comprehend his friend's train of thought. "Y-Y-You're insane..." he mutteredas he processed the information. "Only you get the big idea of falling for a tomboy like that far-" Realizing what he was saying, Dizzy shutted up for a second as he checked if the farmer was listening. Thankfully, she wasn't. "Listen to me, she's not worth your time." "B-But why?" Crowned wondered completely clueless. "Well for start-" In that moment a certain spiky blue-haired boy approached they pair, with a smug grin on his face. "Because she always beats him up," Flash started explaining, "she's very protective over her friends, especially her little sister, which this dork once tried to ask on a date." Dizzy blushed a new shade of red from what his friend revealed, shouting at him in complete embarrasment. "SHUT UP, YOU DAMNED BRAD!!!" "Pfft, you do but can't let others do, right, you fussy? Dizzy simply huffed in response, looking pretty angry about the uncomfortable revelation of his "past". "The name's Flash, by the way," he said while extending his hand to Crowned. "Nice to meet you, crowned pal." "Nice to meet you too! And I'm actually Crowned." Flash smiled at the coincidence and giggled in a friendly way. "Well, welcome here. I hope you don't get discouraged because you're stuck with this grumpy pants," said Flash as he pointed to Dizzy, who replied by huffing again, almost blowing steam from his nose, "but you can always count on me or the girls to give you a tour." "Oooh! But wait, weren't you with Twilight?" Crowned realized, noticing the rocker was unaccompanied. "Well, yeah." "And where she is? Where did you left her?" Flash smiled and nodded towards the table where the colorful girls were at. "...In better hands." Crowned and Dizzy looked to where he pointed, and noticed the group of friends greeting Twilight, like if she was an old friend that just came back. Althought they were aware she wasn't the same they knew. "D'aaaw, that's so cute," the boy with the crown smiled as he watched them getting so well together. "Yep, they're complete again," Flash added while happily grinning about the situation. "Yeaah..." Dizzy coughed a little before saying something else beneath his breath, "To ruin 'her' life again." "What did you say?" Crowned managed to listen to his friend, and was surprised by his sheer pessimism. "Don't listen to Dizzy, he's just angry," the blue haired buy explained, "he was the only fan of the 'old' Sunset Shimmer." "And who is she? Is she a nice old lady?" while his comment was sincere and innocent, Dizzy overreacted and began strangling him in a rather exaggerated way. "HOW DARE YOU CALL 'OLD LADY' TO A WOMAN AS FINE AS HER?!" Crowned was shaken back and forth as Flash tried to separated him from the pale guy. "Dizzy, stop! If it matters so much to you, then you should've explained our friend about the rules and the 'events' that have occured inside these walls." "What events? What's going on? And do you have painkillers for my neck?" Crowned couldn't help but look over Flash and Dizzy, rubbing his now sore neck. Dizzy groaned desperately and rolled his eyes. "If it matters so much to you, why don't you explain it yourself?!" Flash simply sighed in resignation and decided to explain. "You're a bitter-pants," he replied to Dizzy as he turned his head towards Crowned. "Okay, my friend, look: Those girls are the 'Rainbooms', well at least that's the name of their band." Crowned listened to him with curiosity, while Dizzy simply rolled his eyes as Flash continued telling. "Those girls are the most special part of the school, you see. Look," he began explaining as he was pointing to each one of the girls, "the one over there is Pinkie Pie. She's the cheerful of the group, always trying make everybody laugh and throws the best parties in the neighborhood; The fancy one with purple hair is Rarity. She's rich, fancy, slightly crazy and has half the school drooling for her, but has a sincere and generous; Fluttershy is timid, but a nice friend and confident, her kindness always brings joy to everyone; Then there's Rainbow Dash,the most competitive athlete and the most loyal friend one can imagine; I think you really want me to tell you about the farmer girl: her name is Applejack, member of the biggest family in the city and most honest person you will find; And finally, Twilight Sparkle, who despite just meeting this version of 'her', I can still feel something magical about her." After his long explanation, Crowned was overjoyed, looking at the Rainbooms in a new way. Dizzy remained in silence, still frowning. "Do you really believe they are that important?" the crowned boy said with curiosity, looking at his new friends. "Like you have no idea, friend," responded Flash with smiling. "You should really telm me what happened here one day," Crowned added cheerfully. "Anyways, thank you for telling me who they are. Can I... talk to them?" "I'd rather prefer to wait for later. They haven't seen Twilight in a long time." While the two were speaking, Dizzy was instead growing more impatient and nervous around something. "Okay, now that you told him everything, it's time for us to go before she appears." he said, trying to pull Crowned with him. "Before who appears?" "Sun-AAAH!" Dizzy screamed nervously and hid behind his friend, as a girl with a long red and yellow hair wearing a leather jacket passed near them, greeting Flash from afar as she sit near the other girls. "And who is she?" Crowned asked in even bigger confusion. "Sunset Shimmer," Flash began explaining, his voice slightly more serious. "She's... a special case. 'Old' was a bully who threatened everybody with her mere presence and had dominant tendencies. I know it well, I was her boyfriend." "Yeah, she had no time for annoyances like you," Dizzy snarked grinding his teeth, and was promply shushed by his friend. "But then, the 'old' Twilight appeared, and she gave us the power to oppose her. But then... there was an incident that made us realize the 'inner demon' that Sunset couldn't control." "YOU KNOW TOO WELL IT WAS THAT FARMER'S FAULT WITH HER GROUP OF FRIENDS!" Dizzy yelled exasperated. "SUNSET WAS TOTALLY NORMAL, AND THEN-" "Dizzy, if you want everyone to turn around, keep on yelling and they'll look at you even more weirded out than they already do." Realizing that, indeed, several students were looking at him with faces that exclaimed "What bit this guy?", ran away from the Cafetería, blushing so hard his whole face turned red. Crowned wondered what was all about. "Flash? What's bothering Dizzy so much?" The blue-haired boy sighed, knowing too well what he was going through. "The fool has a crush on Sunset, and a big one, so big that he's the only student that 'defends' the old Sunset, even thought the new one is more gentle, caring and empathic." "You mean she changed?" the crowned boy was now beyond curious. "But how did she change?" "That's where I was going. You see, a long whi-" Suddenly, the ringing of the bell made everyone go to their classrooms, interrupting Flash's story. "Ok, class time," Flash patted his new friend on the shoulder and guided him in Dizzy's absence. "Come along, pal, I'll show you wher your class is." Crowned followed Flash to his first class, where Dizzy was already sitting in a corner, still feeling ashamed. Recognizing his guide and friend, he decided to sit near him, hoping that could cheer him up. Thankfully, it did, and the rest of their day passed relatively well. The following day, Crowned arrived early at the school, excited about a brand new day at his new school. "What a beautiful day, just without Dizzy... wonder where he is." Hoping to find his among the multitude of students arriving with him, he accidentally stumbled upon a certain someone, falling to the ground. "Ouch!" "Oww, ar' y'ah okay, buddy?" the student said, in a southern accent. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Did I hurt... you..." Crowned remained silent, only smiling with delight at who was in front of him. With a honest smile on her face, Applejack extended her arm to help him get up from the floor. "Ne'h, don't worry about me," she replied gently, "but do you need some help, sugarcube?" "Eeeeeeeeh..." the young boy remained joyfully surprised, but managed to get a hold of himself. "I mean, YEAH YEAH YEAH!" AJ helped the boy with a crown to stand up, as he cleaned himself up. "Alright, feelin' better buddy?" Applejack asked with her cute accent. "Y-Yes, of course, I..." despite his attempt to remain calm, Crowned couldn't containt his excitement and rapidly shook her hand. "IT'S MY PLEASURE! I'M CROWNED!" "Woah, hold there, pal!" the farmer girl smiled at his little antic. "A'h know y'ahr feelin' excited for y'ahr first or second day, but calm down. A'hm Applejack, pleased to meet y'ah'" Crowned didn't respond. He just remainded smiling in a silly way, stunned by the beauty of the farmer girl. "Uhm, is everything okay, buddy?" she waved her hand over his face, hoping for him to react in someway. And what a way did he reacted. "A lot... I mean, ehm.... What a beauty... I MEAN, BEAUTIFUL DAY! Like you... I mean you understand, it's radiant... he day, not you... BUT NOT LIKE YOU AREN'T! IT'S JUST..." His sudden explosion of emotions caused Applejack to break into laughter, delighted by his responses. "Pffft! HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!! OH DEAR, THAT WAS FUNNY! A'h like you already!" "S-Seriously?" the crowned boy blushed the same shade as his friend Dizzy, still smiling. "Of course," Applejack smiled at him in return. "It's good to see that despite hanging around tha' bitter moron, he hasn't passed his attitude into you... yet." "Oh... you mean he's always been like that?" Crowned was now concerned about his new friend, if he had truly been than bitter all his life. "Personally speaking, yes. But he wasn't as much until... certain incident happened." "Was it that ugly?" Now he was legitly worried about Dizzy. "Well, A'h don't know if Flash told y'ah already in the Cafeteria yesterday, but Sunset-" "Wait, something happened that showed everyone about Sunset's 'inner demonds', right?" Crowned tried to guess. "But what happened? Did you make her angry? Did you expose her truth? Was she on her days?" Applejack tried to contain her laughter from all those guesses, and had to pause him before he tried to guess crazier stuff. "Oh no no no no! None of that!" the farmer girl let out a small chuckled, and managing to regain her composture, she continued talking. "You see, she... She literally became a ragin' she-demon." That answer, of course, left Crowned beyond confused. "...what?" "A'h know y'ah possibly don't believe in that suff: magic, demons, etc." she explained, looking at him with dead-serious eyes. "But I can assure you, if it wasn't for Twilight, this school would possibly not be here anymore. The magic inside her saved all of us. Well, with our help of course." Crowned was slightly confused, and couldn't figure out if it was because he was so lost in her stare or because of her actually being honest, but he actually believed everything she just said. "You say everything so secure and sincere... I can't think that you're lying." "A'hm Applejack the honest, and A'h never lie." Both of them smiled and looked at each other's eyes, making Crowned smile kindly. "How could I doubt you? I can feel you're telling the truth." "Heh, A'hm happy y'ah didn' freak out like others did," she responded with a warming smile. "Well, if that's true, then why did Dizzy got so bitter?" Applejack sighed a little, she didn't like to talk about the guy. "Everybody at school knows that Dizzy has a giant crush for Sunset, ever since we were freshmen. But the fool followed her even in her darkest days like a slave; and after the incident, everyone ended up hating Sunset for trying to take over the world, yet..." the girl tried to smile remembering the first days with the 'new' Sunset, and how she had improved. "Yet we accepted her as our friend, for we knew she learned her lesson, and still Dizzy blames us because of how everyone hates Sunset." "Oooooh..." Crowned comprehended what Dizzy was feeling, eveyrthing making more sense to him. "Now I understand why he's so... grumpy?" "He's an idiot," Applejack replied bluntly, and Crowned remembered the other thing he did to make her dislike him. "...well yeah, but still we can't let him be that way, I need to help him." "But wha'h? According to Flash, he tried to strangle you." Crowned once again adopted his "royal" stance and adjusted his crown like if he was an actual king. "Well, I am a King, and it's my job as a king to make everyone around me happy!" Applejack looked at the boy in silent shock, wondering what was going on suddenly with him. "Uuuhm, do you believe to be a king and that's wha'h y'ah use that little crown?" "Actually, this crown is..." Crowned cleared his throat, thinking about either telling her his backstory, or trying to find his new friend. "It's a long story, but first, I must go for Dizzy and help him out, it's my job." The farmer girl was still somewhat perplexed at the guy's odd attitude. "Really?" "I just said that I could help him, and that's what I'll do. Or do you think I'm lying?" Shocked by the way he replied, the two of them stared at each other's eyes again, and this time it was AJ who smiled. "Alright sugarcube, guess y'ahrr pretty honest, and A'h like that." Fixing her hat like a cowboy, the farmer smiled with a determined face. "So tell me, how can A'h help y'ah?" "Wait, YOU'LL HELP ME OUT?!" the crowned boy smiled with joy at her words. "Of course! I like to beat him but..." the cute blonde smiled awkwardly, feeling funny of actually being friendly to Dizzy, "Sometimes I feel bad for the idiot, so just tell me what to do for him to change." "Oh alright, well... I have a lot of ideas, the first one could be to plan a par-" Before he could finish his statement, a curious pink girl jumped from out of nowhere. "A PARTYYY?!" the girl screamed in delight, like if she knew what Crowned was about to say. "PINKIE PIE?!" Applejack scolded her friend for being... well, her usual self. "OH, I HEARD YOU WERE THROWING A PARTY, SO WELL, HERE'S PINKIE TO HELP WITH EVERYTHING!" Crowned was simply surprised at how fast and joyful she talked. "SO, TELL ME WHO'S THE LUCKY GUY!" "Uhm, Dizzy." Applejack was somewhat reluctant of saying who the party was for, and Pinkie's response showed why. "Oh. Uhm... Interesting, I suddenly lost all the excitement, heh heh," the crowned boy noticed how her smiled passed from a cheerful one to a nervous one. "Oh, but why?" he asked somewhat emotionless. "I mean, this couldn't be the first time I try to make a party for that bitter pants but... last time we tried he just kept cursing everybody... like... really badly." The pink girl's hair deflated for a moment, and suddenly looked pretty down and sad. "Why did you remind me?" "Oh sugarcube, calm down," Applejack said as she hugged her. "Our new Crowned friend has an idea." But after looking at Pinkie's reaction, Crowned wasn't as upbeat like before. "Uh, well... the idea of the party is useless now." Her apple friend realized his change in attitute and tried to lift him up. "Everything fine, Crowned?" The boy remained silent for a moment, before lifting his head up and looking at her. "How was Dizzy before? I mean, before 'that day'?" The two girls looked at each other for a moment, and nodding their heads, they decided to grab Crowned and take him with them. "A'h think we need to have this conversation somewhere more private." "W-Where are you taking me?" asked a really confused Crowned, turning his head to look at both of them. "Oh, we're going to see the others!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed back again to her cheerful demeanor. "Huh?!" The two of them pulled Crowned towards what Dizzy had told him was the music room, and effectively, the rest of the Rainbooms were already there, grabbing some instruments to practice their songs. "Hey girls, I brought us a new friend!" Pinkie then proceeded to pull Crowned towards everyone of them, much to his amusement. "This is Crowned. Crowned, I present to you the rest of my friends! This is Rarity..." "Hello, crowned boy," the fashionista said in her educated voiced. "...This is Fluttershy..." The shy girl, from whom Crowned easily noticed her remarkable buxom, hid behind Rainbow Dash, simply waving her hand saluting him. "Heh heh heh, I don't bite, I swear," the boy said jokingly, until her friend stepped up to greet him. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the #1 athlete in this school!" the girl with rainbow hair exclaimed as she shook her hand before being pulled towards the cute purple girl that just joined the band. "And, well, you already know me, Crowned," she said timidly, much to the surprise of the other girls. "Wait, YOU WENT TO THE SAME SCHOOL!?" Pinkie was more than shocked, her jaw almost reached the floor. The two of them blushed nerviously, remembering their time at the school. "Yeah, althought... We weren't exactly best friends..." Crowned explained, trying to divert his eyes from her. "We just talked from time to time." "Yup, JUUUST from time to time." the look on their faces clearly showed that they hid something, and that was probably the worst time to talk. Unfortunately, Applejack did catch that fact. "So, tell me wha' happened there that y'ah were transferred here?" she asked, looking at both of them, who quickly diverted their eyes and blushed. "Long story." The expression on both of them reading 'I don't wanna talk about it." "Hmhmhmh, the day you tell us that story will be very interesting, I suppose," the way Rarity teased them made them blush even harder, making the other girls laugh. "Leeeeeeeet's talk about other thing, like Dizzy-" Soon, the laughter was replaced by long groans of disconfort from the other girls. "...Is he really that bothersome?" "A'hm sorry sugarcube," Applejack began to talk, and Crowned blushed yet again hearing her call him 'sugarcube', "but Dizzy has been truly annyoing for us." "He always tries to ridicule us and blames us for what happened to Sunset," Rarity exclaimed with disgust. "IF I COULD I WOULD HIT HIM REAL HARD!" Rainbow said pretty angrily, "But Luna doesn't let me somehow." "He always ruins my attempts at parties because 'I have no right to celebrate' after the whole Sunset thing," Pinkie added, sounding more cheerless than angry. "...he doesn't like animals beyond cats and kittens," Fluttershy added with her low, sad voice. "And as soon as he saw me he stared at me kinda uncomfortable... like if he blamed me for something yet I'm just new in here," Twilight looked confused rather than angry, probably as curious as Crowned was. Looking at how angry and sad they looked, he decided to stand in front of them, and making a reverence he spoke with his "royal voice" as he considered it. "I-I'm sorry that I had to remind you of that, but I want Dizzy to stop being the angry guy he is, and try to redeem his actions. I want to find something that makes his heart positive again, or if it never was, do it for once. Because I am a king, and a king needs to make his kingdom happy, even if this isn't my kingdom." The Rainbooms looked at the guy without knowing how to react. While it was easy to dismiss him as just another crazy kid, there was something in him that sounded genuine. But there was someone else that heard, and really appreciated what he was doing for a friend. "Alright, King With No Kingdom." The Rainbooms and Crowned turned their heads to the door, from where Flash was standing with a smile on his face. "Maybe I can help you with something." "Hey Flash!" the boy greeted him with joy, "Good thing you're here. How could you help me?" "It's simple, you want Dizzy to be happy, then fix him a date with-" The Rainbooms instantly panicked and began screaming: "NONONONONONONONO!!!!" "Uh, why are you all screaming at me?" a sweatdrop appeared on his forehead, looking somewhat scared. "Flash, I know you want to help Dizzy, but Sunset is still recovering from-" Applejack nodded her head towards Twilight, who was just as confused as him, "-from 'that', and she needs to stay more with us for now." The blue-haired boy understood her worries, and apologized. "Fine, ok, but-" "NO 'BUTS' ABOUT IT, LITTLE BOY!" Pinkie exclaimed, standing in front of him like if she was a drill sergeant. "I WON'T LET OUR SUNSET 'BACON HAIR' SHIMMER GET SAD AGAIN. I MADE A PINKIE PROMISE, YOU HEAR ME?! PINKIE PROMISE!!!" Flash didn't know what to say to the crazy party girl, he was even terrified for a moment. "B-But Pinkie, I-" "Flash Sentry," Rarity interrupted this time, "As a gentleman you should know that things like this can affect a lady for a long time, it's not something that vanished within a week or two, not even three." "Rarity, I understand that, but-" "Uhm, you should not..." Flash just stood there shocked, that even Fluttershy was interrumpting him, "I mean... I-It's what I think... m-meep!" The boy remained in his place, waiting to see if Rainbow decided to interrupt. Or Applejack. Or even Twilight. "...can I talk now?" "...I think? ...You will tell me what happened here, will you?" Twilight asked in utter and complete confusion. "...Someday," the other girls replied in unison. "Ok, ok... Go ahead." Flash finally took a deep breath, and finally finished what he was going to say. "Crowned, fix Dizzy a date with Coco." "NONONONO..." the other girls began to scream, until they realised what he said. "Wait, who?" "Well," the blue-haired explained, "Yesterday when we were told to choose our partners, I noticed Dizzy was looking at one of the new girls, and from what I head that girl is named 'Coco Pommel'. I know Dizzy admires Sunset too much but, when I saw him looking at Coco, I saw something... different in him, so I thought that what better form to make him change that a small date with this Coco girl? Maybe it could give him some motivation if he knows there's a girl interested in him." The girls looked at each other, thinking about the plan he was suggesting, when suddenly Rarity began to giggle. "Oh, that girl signed for the Sewing Club, so I'll try to get as close to her, just to know how she is and prepare a date for the old grumpy-pants." "OH, OH, OH, AND I KNOW WHERE THEY COULD EAT!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "OTHERWISE I KNOW WHERE ELSE! AND IF NOT, I KNOW ANOTHER PLACE!" "And my critters could keep a eye on him!" Fluttershy said in delight. "THIS IS GONNA BE GREAT!!!" Pinkie then grabbed the other girls to plan out how they'd convince Coco for this surprise date, as Flash approached his friend Crowned to talk. "Well, I think you did it." "Do what?" the boy with the crown wondered, "You were the one who proposed the date." "Yeah, but without you, i doubt that could've happened. But now you have Twilight and the girls thinking about how to help Dizzy to get over his bitterness." "Oh, well..." Crowned blushed at his complement, "that changes everything. I actually feel better." The two of them smiled, looking at how the Rainbooms were coming together with a plan for his friend, even singing at the same time they came up with ideas for the ideal date. "These girls know that friendship is the most important thing, so I bet they're happy they can finally help someone in conflict in a long time." Crowned looked at how he was smiling, and for the first time in a while he felt like had done something important. "Flash," he said calling the attention of his friend, "thank you." "Heh, thanks to you, pal." Flash patted his friend on the back, "I think it's time to go to class before they put us an abscence" "Oh right! I guess I better get going." "Alright." Crowned was already on his way, when suddenly Flash stopped him for another moment. "Wait, before that... If you happen to find a perfectly round Stone... uhm... could you bring it to me?" Surprised by this sudden comment, Crowned simply replied with: "Uh... yeah yeah, sure!" As Crowned rushed to his class, Applejack realized what he had told to his new friend, and approached him as soon as Crowned was out of view. "Flash? Did you just told him about..." Flash expression became a mixture of serious and concerned, as he turned to face the blonde farmer. "I know Sunset said it would be a great risk if someone else like him knew, but..." once again, the boy smiled remembering what Crowned did, "I think his optimism convinced me he's different from the rest, and maybe give us a hand with this whole situation." "Which as you can see, Twilight doesn't know anything about." Applejack blushed a bit, knowing that she was hiding important things to her friend, but she felt it was for the better, and so did Flash. "I just hope she doesn't have to find out yet..." Twilight didn't hear exactly what her friends were talking about, but her curiosity to know about what happened in the school increased with what he managed to listen about. Later that day during classes, Dizzy was busy making a crude drawing of him with giant muscles beating the Mane 6 and Flash while holding Sunset like if he was her hero, that is until he felt like someone was breathing near his ear. He might've met him for one day, but he knew no one else who could be as curious as him. "Crowneeeed." he exclaimed slightly annoyed. "Uhm, what's that ugly thing supposed to be." "...me?" Dizzy didn't know if to feel embarrased, bothered or a mixture of both as Crowned looked real close to it. "...it looks like a salami with mushrooms shooting mini-salamies to even smaller salamies with hair." "I CAN'T DRAW WELL, OK?! Ugh..." Dizzy groaned and rolled his eyes, hiding that and the other bunch of scribbles he had drawn while his friend chuckled in a friendly way. "Calm down friend, there must be something that you're good for." "Like what?" "Perhaps numbers?" Crowned took a wild guess, judging by the books Dizzy had in his desk, covering his scribbles. Dizzy responded with a slightly smug face. "Ok, I don't want to show off, but I kinda have some facility with mathematics." "Great, cause I don't. In fact I hate them! Math? Meh, I get confused with all this tangents, imaginary numbers, crossed product, sines, volumen and measures of the teacher..." Dizzy couldn't help but laugh at how he totally diverged into thinking about the teacher's measures. "You idiot!" he tried not to yell, at the same time he giggled like crazy, "Okay, that made me laugh." Crowned smiled at this and continuously patted his partner on the back, something that took him by surprise. "Ok, ok, enough with the gestures," Dizzy was starting to feel somewhat weirded out, thought not angry. "Oh come on Dizzy, you need lots of cares." "Maybe... but not from you," he exclaimed, feeling somewhat embarrased, "S-Stop it. Now." "NEVEEER!!!" Dizzy blushed even harder when his friend hugged him and refused to let go. "H-HEY!!! CROWNED!!!" the pale boy shook his hands and legs, trying to free himself of the hugs, calling the attention of the teacher: a young woman maybe around her twenties, with brown hair, glasses, and wearing a white shirt with a large black skirt, who approached the pair as Dizzy struggled to get him away. "Ehem, Mr. Crowned, Mr. Dizzy, is it possible to know what's got into you?" she scolded them, making them stop arguing. "...Uuuh, I was just hugging my friend?" Crowned responded, trying to save face. "I was going to say something less sugarcoated like 'I was giving him the answers for the exercise'," Dizzy said in contrast, in his usual demeanor, "but it's your punishment, not mine." Crowned let his friend go and looked over to the teachers eyes nervously. "I-I'm sorry, Miss Raven, it's not happening again." The teacher sighed and responded in a more calmed way. "Listen, I don't want you to look at me like a villain," she began to explain, "You might be new here, but I don't want you to be 'hugging' Dizzy... besides, he's not worth it." "HEY!!!" Dizzy replied, knowing how the teacher some was sometimes a little bit trollish with her students. "Ooww, but I don't want him to be grumpy, I wanna be his friend." The somewhat innocent and friendly way he said it got the best of the teacher, who couldn't help but smile. "Oh Crowned," she said while patting his head. "You seem to be so... Innocent. I like that, maybe you truly are the friend Dizzy needs, but not the one he deserves." Dizzy nodded, until he caught what she just said. "Heeey, wait a min... Did you just-" Raven playfully covered his mouth, just to not ruin her comment. "Heh, I got the reference!" Crowned smiled in a similar playful way, to which Miss Raven approached to pat a little bit more on her shoulder. "You're pretty nice to be from Crystal Prep," getting slightly closer, she acted like a mentor for him. "Listen, if you ever have problems understanding my class or another one, don't doubt telling me about it and I can give you some special classes on the subject." Crowned tried to listen, but as much as he joked, he couldn't focus on anything other than the teacher's figure. It probably didn't help that she wasn't that much older than her students, nor the fact that her shirt really showed off her cleavage when seen that closely. He was so focused that he barely managed to snap on time for her to not notice... or maybe she did? "Oh, I mean... that's nice, Miss Raven," he replied, trying to dissimulate his blush, "Of course I'll do." "Alright then." the teacher mussed his hair and then directed her attention to Dizzy, this time with a mix of authoriatian and sarcastic voice, "You better not pass your bitterness to him, or else I'll make you write 'I will never talk again to Crowned' 28943 times on every chalkboard in the school, understand?" Dizzy knew she was just being her usual troll self, but he was not going to risk it, especially since he had heard of worse punishment actually being commited. "S-Sure, miss!" he said while loudly gulping. The teacher returned to the front of the class to continue talking about the formulás for the sine and cosine of an angle, while Dizzy laid his face over his desk in embarrasment. "Why does she keep menacing me of writing over all the chalkboards of the school?" he said under his breath, remembering if this was the tenth or eleventh time in a month. "Maybe she likes the way you write?" Crowned said jokingly, although his friend wasn't in the best mood. "You shut up, you lucky dastard!," he exclaimed in a voice not loud enough to be heard by the teacher. "I've had years trying to get on the teachers' soft spot and you don't have even three days here and you already became Miss Raven's favorite!" Unfortunately for Dizzy, he seemed to have hit the crowned boy in a sensible topic. "...if only it had been that way over there." "Don't change the to... pic..." the pale boy realized maybe too late that he spoke too much, again. "W-Where you as miserable or worse than me over there?" Trying to evade conversation, Crowned stood up and left the classroom in the middle of the teacher's explanation, something that took her and Dizzy by surprise. He even got saddened after seeing such an optimistic guy get down. The pale boy then realized Miss Raven was looking at him with dead-serious eyes, like if she was about to actually fullfil her punishment. Getting terrified of the thought, he ran away trying to catch his friend. "WAIT, CROWNED, DON'T LEAVE!!!" Dizzy screamed hoping that he could hear him, "I DIDN'T MEAN THAT, I USUALLY SAY NASTY THINGS BUT NOT NOW, SORRY!!!" Despite hearing his cries, especially with his naturally loud voice, Crowned simply ignored him and walked outside of the school. Dizzy followed him there, looking all around the fields, until he noticed him sitting behind a large old tree. "Crowned... wait..." he tried to talk, but he needed some air after chasing him around. "Please, forgive me. I didn't meant it, please." Crowned turned his head, still looking sad, and weakly muttered: "...I just ...need some time alone." Dizzy recognized those words, and the way he said, and the though terrified him even more than anything Miss Raven could do. He approached the other side of the tree and spoke with his friend. "...That's the way I started, you know?" The boy with a crown remained in silence, trying to get lost in his thoughts. "I mean, long time ago, something happened and..." Dizzy tried to find the words to convey it. "...I pushed my friends away, just to be alone like that. And then those moments became longer and longer, just getting so deep in my thoughts that... I finally ended up alone. Flash still talks to me but... the thoughts were so much I didn't want to be around him... my anger because of... that... it's what made me push them away." His friend knew what he was talking about: The day Sunset became a demon, and everyone turned their backs on her. "But... I thought you were angry about." "I am still angry about that!" Dizzy exclaimed, but then tried to calm about it. "Well, at least not as much... since... since I met you." Crowned reacted surprised by his words, his silence was now a stunned one, hearing his new friend say those words. "Well, I mean... I saw how sad you got and... when I saw your face I got... H-How to put this?" if the crowned boy was struggling with his thoughts, Dizzy was struggling with his words. "I kinda saw myself and... with your cheerfulness... and the way you are, well... I don't want you to end up like me. W-What I try to say is... I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I made you remember something terrible... I-I think it would be better if we never talk about it again, or... Or maybe you wanna talk about it?" Once again, finding himself in the dilemma of bringing back the painful memories, Crowned remained in silence. Dizzy got slightly more nervous, wondering if he was angry with him. "Heh heh heh, just look at me: giving you the advice everyone tells me, yet..." not knowing what to say, he wondered if telling his friend about his past might make him feel more secure. Sighing and taking a deep breath, he began to explain. "I've always loved Sunset Shimmer for years now, she's the prettiest girl in school, and I never had the guts to approach her and tell her how much I love her. Last time I tried something was on her birthday, when I gave her a "Slave for a Week" ticket I made... I was pretty silly back then, you know? Ok, maybe I still am. T-The point is that, after 'that day', I... I became paranoic, just thinking about how those girls ruined my Sunset's life. But I guess..." As he reflected on his thought, Dizzy felt something inside him, something that really irked him, and he wasn't willing to accept. Perhaps because he didn't want to feel like he was doing a bad choice, or perhaps because he didn't want to see the true as bad as it was, but watching his friend still depressed, it gave him the motivation to accept it. "...T-the thing is... I realized that.." he took another deep breath, as he continued, trying to contain his tears, "P-perhaps she had already ruined her life before that, and I was the only blind who workshipped the old Sunset... I-I guess I should've accepted that a long time ago." Hearing his friend accept the truth of things, and watching how hard it was for him to accept it, Crowned realized he had to do the same, even if the memories were painful for him. "...I-I used to be a total misfit in my other school. Everybody was... I-I don't know... Rude... I think it was the principal's fault for that, but I don't like to jump the gun on anything." The boy turned his face towards his friend on the other side of the tree. "I only had a couple friends, another crazy outcast who loved to play the accordion, and a girl with few expressions, but I managed to feel... happy around them. Then a total jerk came to school and ruined everything. He tried to steal the crown that my father gave to me, claiming to be 'king of the school', but I managed to take it away from him, only for him to turn everyone against me making me feel like... like some kind of ugly bug... it was worse than before. And then I met a kind girl among them. She was... really pretty, and... I had a nice experience with her, but her 'friends' didn't let me get closer to her, and those nasty guys got so angry that they blamed me for the wrecks they made, causing me to be expelled. Twilight tried to intervene, knowing me despite not talking too much, and would've got expelled too but instead managed to convince her brother to transate us to another school. I-I chose this school because I heard how everyone was friendlier here, while Twilight had other reasons she never told me about, and... well, here I am." Realizing all that his friend went throught, how he had some bad experiences with mean people, and how unlike him who brought everything onto himself, he suffered unfairly just for being in the wrong place with the wrong people, really made Dizzy think about how despite that he was so cheerful and nice. He knew that in Crowned place he would've become just like Shimmer, or worse. "My friend, I'm sorry for all of that," was all he managed to say, as he walked to him and awkwardly hugged his friend. "I-If I only knew..." "If you only knew how to hug, cause I don't think that's how it works." Dizzy realized the awkward position he was, almost throwing himself into his friend with his arms around his neck, plus the way his friend pointed that out, made the once grumpy boy burst into laughter. "DAMN IT, YOU CAUGHT ME OFFGUARD!" he couldn't control himself as he laughed like if he had been told the funniest joke in the world. "O-OK, THAT REALLY CRACKED ME UP. COME HERE, FRIEND!" Giving him a strong hug, this time a normal 'non-awkward' one, Dizzy pulled his friend closer as they embraced each other as friends, not realizing that just above them, the tree started to glow in a strange-magical way. They remained that way for a couple of seconds, as the mysterious glow moved across the tree and combined at the tip of one of its branches, slowly taking the shape of a smoothly round stone, which after finishing materializing felt from the tree right in front of the boys, scaring them. "AAAHHH!!!" the two of them sceamed at the top of their lungs while still hugging each other. After calming down, they both approached the stone, noticing the perfectly round shape of it. "Uhm, is it just me or this apple tree became a... stone tree?" Dizzy clumsily said. "Well, it's certainly looks strange." Crowned picked up the stone and examinated it. It wasn't heavy as it first appeared to be, and it was big enought to be carried with his two hands. Then he remembered what Flash asked him before classes, and wondered if that was what he meant. "I think we should bring this to Flash." "Uh, why?" the pale boy asked confused. "Because he told me that if I saw something strange, I should bring it to him." The clumsy guy just looked at the stone, and then back to his friend, wondering what the big deal was about. "Okay, if you say so. He's usually in theeeEEEEH!!!" Noticing his clumsy buddy get a new shade of white with a horrified face, Crowned noticed he was looking directly to the windows of the school, and noticed something really strange: On one of the windows, a couple of shadowy silhouttes were looking directly at them. But the odd thing was that they looked almost like shadows, but physically moving the curtains from an empty classroom, and both could've sworn that they could actually feel their stares. "Dizzy, c-calm down..." Crowned tried to maintain his composture, "Don't be scared, t-they might be just a couple of students watching us." "O-Oh, right!" Dizzy tried to convince himself of that, but couldn't, "A-Are you sure?" "Sure! Just calm down and..." They both noticed the shadows looking at every step they took, and Dizzy was about to scream when he noticed their eyes seemingly turning a bright red. "...Should we go around the school?" the pale boy asked his friend. "...O-Ok, sounds like a good idea." The pair grabbed the strange stone and ran away from the field running around the school, as the shadows disappeared, noticed by nobody else. Running as fast as they could, Crowned and Dizzy arrived to the school's soccer pitch, where they noticed Applejack was training with Rainbow Dash, who was throughing karate kicks and punches to the farmer, who blocked them with ease. "What's the matter, miss athlete? Is that all y'ah got?" the blonde girl teased her friend, blocking her movements. "DON'T BOAST AROUND ME, MISS 'WONDER GIRL'," Rainbow replied angrily, "THAT YOU MIGHT BE STRONGER, BUT I'M FASTER!" As she was preparing to throw a flying kick to her friend, the two boys approached them as fast as they could, carrying the odd stone and yelling as loud as they could. "APPLEJAAACK!!!" "Huh? Oh, sugarcube!" recognizing her friend, Applejack simply stepped out of the way of Rainbow's flying kick, as she propelled herself only to end up crashing on the floor missing her target. "Wh'ah are y'ah runnin' like that?" The two of them then started to speak at the same time as fast as they could, their sentences mixing with each other. "IWASWITHDIZZYATTHETREEWHEN... THISSILLYCROWNEDLEFTTHECLASSROOMBECAUSEIMADEHIMCRYAND... WESPOKEANDLAUGHANDTHEN..." they both took some breath and screamed in unison: "GHOOOSTS!!!" "HOLD ON, HOLD ON! ONE AT A TIME!" Rainbow ordered, as she cleaned herself off from hitting the floor hard, while Applejack was more interested in what they were carrying. "Wait a minute. Crowned, what is that?" "T-This suddenly fell from the large apple tree on the courtyard," Crowned explained, hoping he could trust him that he was being honest, and indeed she did. "From the apple tree, you said?" the farmer approached his hands to the stone, looking at it with great curiosity. "C-Can A'h touch it?" "S-Sure," Crowned said, still unsure of what was going on now. He then gave the stone to her friend AJ, and as soon as she had both hands on it, the stone began to shine in a bright white light, as it slowly morphed again from the cold, grey stone into the shape of a golden necklace, with topaz in the shape of three apples in the middle of it. The farmer and the athlete remained silent in surprise, while Dizzy had yet another freakout. "GAH! W-WHAT WAS THAT?!" Applejack grabbed the necklace and looked at it, still in stunned silence, then he approached the completely surprised Crowned, her face starting to show a great smile. "Crowned... this is... OH, CROWNED!!!" as if he wasn't surprised enough, the crowned boy found himself being hugged by her, as she spinned him around with joy. "MY SUGARCUBE, Y'AH DID IT! Y'AH FOUND IT!!!" "Yay?" he tried to speak, his voice muffled by... the place his mouth was close to. Even if he had no clue of what was going on, he felt more than happy. "I'm so glad I helped you." Dizzy tried to open his mouth, most probably to ask what just happened, but was interrumpted by Rainbow Dash, who had an excited grin on her face. "Hey guys, you'll help me find mine, right?!" she asked with her usual excited voice. "Wait, WHAT?!" Dizzy trembled in fear at her words, "YOU MEAN... THERE ARE MORE OF THOSE THINGS?!" "If I recall correctly, there are other 5 of those around the school," the rainbow-haired girl answered. "...and those ghost appear where those stones are." "Uhm, I think so?" Rainbow had no idea of what Dizzy was saying, so she had no idea of why then Dizzy plummeted to the ground unconscious. "eh, Crowned? I think Dizzy just-" "Is because we saw ghost... I think," Crowned said while still enjoying the hug he was receiving, while looking at Applejack, "J-Just keep congratulating me." "Wait, did you just say ghost?" AJ stopped her hugging and looked both at the fainted pale boy and her crowned friend, "Oh Crowned, A'h think it's better for y'ah to come with us later. There's a lot we need to tell y'ah about what is goin' on around here." "Let's just wait for this Ditz to react at least," Rainbow tried to poke Dizzy with a stick expecting a reaction, while his friend just looked amused, none of the imagining that it was just the beginning of something crazy, and a whole lot of problems awaited them in the future. END OF CHAPTER.