Chapter 84 - Meeting their expectations! Part 2
Several students found themselves working on incredible projects in the available rooms appointed by the Vice-Principal, sacrificing the hour of lunch for the sake of teamwork. The Drama Club received just enough funds to buy materials for their hand puppets and portable stages and worked relentlessly to not disappoint. In the soccer fields several students were practicing for the little magic show planned for the children. The show was directed by a girl called Trixie, leading a group of students from middle school, something that put her in an incredible good mood according to Sunset.
Soarin was helping with the heavy stuff besides very few guys from the soccer team. It seems that most of the team doesn’t approve of Nitty’s leadership and prefer aiding Rainbow Dash with Sunset’s ideas. Dancer, Lyra and Thunderbass’ friends were giving their opinions to Mystery Mint with several drafts for her flower arrangements. Even if she is from the Rocker group, it was nice to see that she liked cute ideas.
On the band room, Octavia was practicing her music session with Bulk Biceps and Thunderbass. They said that their performance was far from being the sound they wanted to achieve but it sounded so good to me that I thought they just wanted take their skills beyond the average.
As for me, I just existed.
I was in the gym hall, watching everyone preparing the place for the party of tomorrow. Walking from group to group, person to person, everyone turned down my offer to help them. They were polite, and they had a perfect explanation for that. All the projects had the right amount of people working on them.
I felt somewhat useless and I really wanted to help.
“Darling, yoo-hoo! Come here please!”
“In what can I help, Rarity?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to eat in Sugarcube Corner with us before going to the city. It would be delightful for the seven of us to eat together!”
“We ate together a few days ago!”
“Applejack, darling! You can never eat together enough times with friends, can you?”
“No, to be honest.”
“So… you don’t need any help?”
“Oh no, we are fine! Go back and continue your fair share of responsibilities, darling! See you later in class!”
“But-!”
“Keep giving your best, sugarcube!”
Both of them went outside with some boxes. Well, Applejack was carrying the heavy ones.
“Umm…”
“Midnight.”
Yes!
“Do you need any help, Nitty?”
“No, just wondering if you aren’t busy enough right now. I saw you a little weakened in the morning and I don’t want you to force yourself.”
“But I’m fine! And I’m sure I can help you with something! A check-list, perhaps!?” I hit his arm with my elbow.
“Thanks, but no. Go outside if you need some fresh air.” He went away, supervising each group he stumbled upon.
“Great.”
“Twilight! There you are!”
“Yes, Sunset? Do you need any help?”
“As a matter of fact, I do!”
AT LAST!
“In what can I help?”
“Could you deliver this folder to Principal Celestia? She needs it to keep accounts on the expenses we have done so far!”
“…That’s it?”
“Of course! Well, gotta go! Rarity needs me outside for a little surprise I have in mind!”
“No, wait!” She ran away with a big smile. “Oh, cheeseburger!” I gave a look of disappointment at the folder in my hand. “Well, at least I’ll do my best as a papergirl.”
….
Outside the Principal’s office, I breathed slowly to gain some of my confidence back. A silly thing to do since Principal Celestia was a kind woman unlike my old one. I knocked the door three times and, “Come in!” she gave me permission to get inside.
“Principal Celestia, I came here to deliver Sunset’s folder!”
“Oh, Twilight Sparkle! Come inside and I’ll be with you in a minute!” I took a seat. She was working on her laptop, typing at an impressive speed. Once she was done with her work, she folded it and locked her tender eyes with mine. “You said you have something for me.”
“Here it is!”
She inspected each page attentively. At first, she had an expression of approval, but slowly it became a face of doubt. “This needs a revision.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Look at this discrepancy, young one!”
It was the data sheet that contained the investments made so far. But something caught my eye. “They are not taking in consideration the materials for Pinkie’s piñatas and the costumes!”
“And by the looks of it, if you want to reach the goal you have in mind for those, you could end up hitting other vital areas in your delivery.”
“What should we do?”
“You are a brilliant girl, Twilight! Calculus Bridge speaks highly of you! I’m sure you can fix some of those calculations to make these ideas come to fruition!”
“…I’ll do my best!”
“Speak first with the representatives of the committee and work together to reach an agreement on how to proceed! Remember, if you need any help, my door is always open!”
I excused myself and got out of her office. Laying my back on the door for a moment, I was thinking on how to tell the others about this dilemma.
….
“And that is the situation, everyone.”
“Shimmer, we agreed that we couldn’t add more activities to our list! Those piñatas and costumes have to go!”
“I didn’t add those there!”
“What? Then who?”
“It was me!” Pinkie said. “I had this brilliant idea when I was thinking about a girl Twilight and I met in the orphanage and I thought this would make things funnier for everyone there!”
“We all reached an agreement that we would add any good idea to the list if it meets the requirements to approve it with the consent of EVERYONE present during our last meeting. With the resources we have, we can’t add more expenses now!”
“But the kids will like them! You can trust in Pinkie’s skills!” Rarity said. “Besides, Trixie and the others working in the magic show will definitely make some gorgeous costumes as well!”
“This isn’t about Pinkamena’s gifts or whoever this Trixie is.”
“You don’t know Trixie?”
“He must be blessed!”
He cleared his throat rather loudly. “We have enough expenses as it is and the students can’t donate more money just like that! Not all of us have deep pockets to give more than we can! Must I remind you that the fund raising we did for the flowers wasn’t the only one we have made so far? The cleaning products and sporadic small gifts to the people in the city were expensive in the long run and the recent collect to fund the flower idea barely made our budget into something workable. We still live under our parents’ roofs and we can’t spare more!” Most students agreed with his notion with a troubled face.
“But think about our chances to win this! There must be another way to make this work! We still have twenty days to think about it!” Rainbow said.
“Yeah… because thinking that we have too much time is always a good idea.”
“He is right. We can’t add another activity to our schedule.”
“Why not, Sunset?” An angry student said. “Most of the stuff we are doing is from your ideas! At least let us try to make space for the costumes!”
“Yeah!” Several students shouted.
“Hey, hey, hey! Calm down, people!” Nitty intervened. “It’s true that most of these activities are from Sunset’s group. But if we look at facts, most of them are the most economical activities to do!”
“Are you saying that you support her?” Dancer asked… a little hostile.
“All of what we’re doing now is possible because we managed to get the sponsors. She has the same right to give her opinion as everyone else, Dancer. The only reason that we approved the flower business is because Sunset cut off some of the previous ideas she had in mind so yours and the stages for the Drama Club could be made!”
“Not to mention that I really tried to administer our numbers so most of the activities you gave to us during our meeting got approved.” Sunset said. “Trust me when I say that I really want all of your efforts and plans to be recognized but… we simply don’t have the vast resources that Crystal Prep has.”
“Through Reem, I tried to ask help from the neutral rich people from the academy but they decided to aid Sugarcoat in the end. We are lucky that they are investing their money in the other activities that the academy is engaging besides this one. It is possible that Reem will lend us a hand but the best course of action is to think that we won’t get a concrete help in the future. And adding salt to the injury, we can’t give ourselves the luxury of time any longer.”
“We took into consideration that we need to study for our tests in two weeks and we’ll have only like three days to work in that period of time, not to mention that Spitfire’s team will be unavailable starting this Sunday with the Inter Tournament. Also, remember that some of you have part time jobs and cram schools to attend to and we won’t force you to quit your normal routine outside school for this. It backfired badly last time and I want for us to keep working united!” Sunset said with honesty. “We must do things smartly and do our best to win this time!”
The students who had a bit of anger quickly calmed down. I don’t think I could withstand that kind of social pressure and give an appeasing speech like her.
…She is so cool.
“You can’t be serious, Sunset!!” Rainbow stood before her with a confident expression. “We have made the impossible happen before! If we just Pony-Up to make things quicker - !”
“Pony-up?” Nitty asked.
“Oh, nothing! Just talking nonsense!”
“…Look, we have until Sunday night to reach a final decision. If someone knows a quick method to gather at least one hundred and sixty bucks, we’ll work on those new ideas without delay. But I will clearly say now that this money will only make us reach the bare minimum for those, so don’t expect more. If you screw up at something, there are no second chances! Understood?”
Our spirits dwindled, and his harsh truth affected us all.
….
After classes ended, I found myself walking to the library before going to the city with the rest. Miss Cheerilee welcomed me with a delightful smile, thanking me once again for finishing her presentation for her history class. I had curiosity in why she hasn’t taken the full position as a teacher but perhaps Principal Celestia is still looking for a replacement.
She allowed me to use one of the computers and I started a personal mission of mine; find a way to make things work. I seriously missed the comfort of my laptop and regretted the decision of not bringing it today. At least my puppy is making me company but I still wished that pets were allowed to roam free inside the school.
I arranged my glasses as I kept tapping the keyboard, making calculations in how to get the best optimization for our investments. I tried several methods to proportionate all the expenses for our goals but to no avail… “WHAT I CAN DO TO MAKE THIS WORK?”
“Shhh!” Miss Cheerilee came from nowhere.
“Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s you! I’ll let it pass since you always are so educated here.” The Miss took a seat beside me. “What are you doing this time, little genius?”
I could feel a warm sensation on my cheeks. “Well, I’m trying to find a way to optimize our investments for the competition!”
“That’s great! I know you’ll find a way!”
“…I hope so.”
I looked down to the floor, knowing deep inside that it was hopeless. Then, a hand reached the paperwork on the table. Miss Cheerilee read each page with a soft sight. She just said, “Sometimes less is more, Twilight. Try to reduce the fat from your meals. They may look good, but it doesn’t mean that they are that great for you.” She left the folder in my hands and walked away to resume her duties.
“Reduce… the fat?” I reviewed again every single piece of data that was available to me. Looking for excessive inversions or trying to see if there was something amiss. “Wait a minute.”
I surfaced the web and got inside Rarity’s MyStable. I looked through the albums where we had our last slumber party in her home and… yes! She must still have them! Something else caught my eye as well… it gave me an idea! Just a few adjustments to my calculations here and there…
“I MADE IT!”
“Shh.” Miss Cheerilee appeared again. “Oh, it’s you again! Did you make any progress?”
“Yes! I finally made the necessary adjustments to make it possible!”
“That’s wonderful news, Twilight! May I see it?”
“Of course!”
She gave a quick glance to the new and improved charts. “Let’s see… you want to cut the funds for the disguises and flowers?”
“I remembered that Rarity has several disguises kept in one of her closets! Instead of expending money on more, we could try and see if they could be retrofitted for the Drama Club and the magic show purposes! I’m sure that Rarity won’t mind! And about the flowers, according to my calculations, if we reduce the number from fifteen to twelve for each pot, we could actually save around sixty dollars. And if we take into account that two hundred dollars were going to be expended on the disguises…”
“You could make the budget sufficient with these changes! Well done, Twilight! You should go and tell you friends right away!”
“That I‘ll do! Thank you so much!”
I managed to find the girls and some other students. I explained the new format with the best detail I could give and all of them expressed an optimistic gesture. The girls surrounded me and praised my efforts. Sunset and Nitty nodded in approval with smiles of relief and walked away to apply the changes immediately.
Rarity brought from her home the disguises and the people who needed them were more than happy about the costumes’ quality and started to retrofit them for their play. Mystery Mint and Dancer had no trouble in reducing the quantity of flowers, giving us a sense of respite. The gym hall was livelier than before.
“Twilight!” One guy approached me. “I was wondering if you could take a look at this. These are the drafts we have in mind for the puppet stages!”
“Well… the measures are a bit disproportioned…” I took his pencil. “If you make it like this… and perhaps a curve here and here… Look at it now!”
“…Yeah!” He was pleased. “This really looks better! Thank you!”
“Oh no!” A student exclaimed.
“What happened?”
“My glue gun just broke! And we don’t have a spare!”
“Let me have a look on it!” I inspected it superficially and everything looked fine. I asked if someone could lend me a screwdriver and after a few minutes of tinkering with it, the gun was functional again. “Here!”
“Thank you, Twilight! You’re the best!”
“I’m glad I could help!”
“Hey, Twilight! Could you help me in this too?”
“Same here!”
One by one, many people came to me and asked for my help. I was almost overwhelmed by all of their petitions and there was only one thing I could do to keep track appropriately for such schedule and planning.
A CHECK-LIST!!!
Teamwork, perseverance, kindness! Uniting our strengths, we managed to make a great deal of progress to all the manual work! The morale was high, and this simply couldn’t get any better!
…
On next day, progress was going steadily still. All the students arrived earlier in the morning to continue the labor and not a single trace of half-hearted feelings could be perceived in the air. Whether it was during lunch break, asking permission to take a quick look on the drying of the glue for the stages, or even practicing for a few minutes the musical performance, the students were given their best.
“Midnight.”
“Yes?”
“Well done. If it weren’t for you, nothing of this could have been possible! You really came to the rescue and I shouldn’t have put you aside when you wanted to help. Keep this up and you could actually play a bigger part in this than me.”
“Are you serious!?” He nodded with a small grin. “I will do my best! You have my word!”
“Perhaps… this could actually work!” He said lighter, walking away to search for any anomaly in the vicinity.
“WELL DONE, TWILIGHT!” Sunset came from behind and nearly hugged me as hard as Pinkie. “We have made a tremendous progress in just two days! At this pace, we’ll have everything ready with a week of anticipation!”
“Darling, you are incredible!”
“I knew you had it in you, sugarcube!”
“That was amazing!”
“Amazing? It was awesome!”
“Super-duper great!!” Pinkie blew some party poppers.
“Oh, it was nothing! I’m just glad I could help!”
“You did more than helping us out, Twilight!” Bon Bon appeared to the scene. “You fixed something on the money investments that we weren’t aware of and coordinated a good deal of teams for the occasion! You did great! And I have big news, everyone! Principal Celestia received a call from the government institutions and they said that they are pleased with our delivery so far! WE CAN WIN THIS, GUYS!”
Lyra grabbed my hands and just smiled. Her shinning teeth full of delight. “LISTEN WELL EVERYONE! LET’S THANK TWILIGHT FOR HER EFFORTS AND LET’S CELEBRATE OUR TEAMWORK DURING TONIGHT’S HALLOWEEN PARTY!”
“YEAH!” The students shouted.
The girls gave me a group hug and everyone around us were either clapping or chanting my name. I felt important…
I felt needed!
…
When we were about to go to the city, Sunset’s phone rang.
“Yes, Mayor? Aha… … … … … … What did you say? … … … … Of course… … … We’ll be there as soon as possible.” She sighed a little troubled.
“What’s wrong, Shimmer?”
“Mayor Mare needs our helps in doing an important paperwork regarding the council’s agreement from last time. Her whole committee minus Raven fell sick after eating spoiled food in a restaurant and they can’t do the job on their own.”
"You got to be kidding me!"
"We need to go and help them in any way we can! They have been helping us learn new skills and we need to return the favor!"
"What? Then you won't be able to join us at Sugarcube Corner and eat cake!" Pinkie said.
“At what time does she need us to be there?”
“As soon as possible… it could also mean that we won’t assist to the party tonight.” She said a little depressed.
“Is something wrong?” Applejack looked concerned.
“I have already made an important meeting for today’s party and I don’t want to fail that person!”
“That person? What do you mean, Sunset?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s… a surprise, girls.”
Nitty thought for a moment, scratching his hair in a slow manner. “I’ll go right now and lend them a hand. You go to the institutions and enjoy the party when you are done there.”
“Are you crazy? I won’t let you go alone! We are a team now, remember?”
“Then we go together and before the party starts, you go ahead. I’ll stay with Raven to discuss other things she asked me about on a mail related to the academy.”
“But that means that you won’t assist and have fun with us!”
“For victory to be achieved, we must sometimes give away a little of our time. And if that means that I must miss this chance to assist to the party and have fun for the sake of our school, then that is a sacrifice I’m willing to take. If the Mayor ever receives extra funds from the state by surprise, having her on our good side could help us out in case that we need more resources. And even if she doesn’t get them, we’ll still have her support in the future for other situations.”
“That makes sense… But I -!”
“Oh my god, Shimmer! Can’t you read the message I’m trying to give you? I want to help because I can! If you really have an important business then I’ll cover for you today and on Monday you let me rest of all of this, ok?”
Sunset looked at him somewhat weird at first, but suddenly, she took a caring expression. “Alright, if you say so then we have an agreement, Bittersweet.”
“Call me to meet you at the school entrance and give you your costume if you find the time to have fun with us, understood? You’re going to look so handsome with my new creation!”
“Crystal clear, Rarity!”
Before I followed the girls to the path of Sugarcube Corner, I stayed with my friend to ask him something fishy about his reasons to stay behind.
“…You don’t want to go to the party, do you?”
“Midnight, shh!” He whispered. “Yes, I don’t want to go to the party and that’s because that thing Rarity made for me. It’s the romantic suit used by Antonio in the TV show that our Mothers watch at night in the Star Channel!”
“Yeugh…! I don’t like that arrogant guy.”
“I know! Besides… I don’t feel that well to be honest.” He put my hand on his forehead.
“You are -!”
“Shh!”
“No! You need to go home and rest! Let me walk you home!”
“No, I'll survive! And don't worry, I’ll rest later but I didn’t lie about the Mayor business. Every little help we can get is needed. Even with your adjustments, we don’t have enough spare money in case of an emergency. We must secure a possible contingency plan of sorts and most students… no, everyone is doing their best for this to have a shot. I can’t stop now while the odds are still against us.”
“Please try to not overdo it.”
“No promises. Well, I better go with Shimmer before she changes her mind.” He said tired. “Seriously, she is so insufferably righteous sometimes…” He hissed.
They both walked together to the Town’s Hall, and for a strange reason, I had a bad feeling all of the sudden.
…
My Dad came to pick me up in the retirement home and it didn’t take him that long to drive us to our house. I ran to my room and sported my new disguise for the party. I was a little proud of how I created it.
Who I’m kidding? I was amazed with it.
All those mini-lessons that Rarity taught me since we started our friendship served me well. I managed to make an accurate replica of Lord Everton’s coat, the Father of Science. She offered me to do matching disguise with the rest of the girls but I always wanted to use this as my first costume.
“Twilight.” My dog came to my side, barely able to keep his eyes open.
“Yes, my loyal assistant?”
“Why are you wearing that?”
“It’s my costume for the Halloween party! Lord Everton’s coat”
“Yes but... isn’t that supposed to be, I don’t know… scary?”
“And it is!”
“In what?” His voice was doubtful.
“Look! There are stains of incendiary powder in my coat! Scary, huh? All fake, of course!”
“…?”
“The eleventh century? When science was still deemed witchery?”
“Ah, I remember now! During the time when the Ancient Civilizations rose for the first time during the Dark Ages when the Black Sun Inquisition was taking place! When witchcraft was punished with public execution by order of the Fallen Eclipse!”
"Exactly!"
"Now that sounds scary! Try to not let them find you!"
“Good puppy! I knew you were paying attention to my loud thinking on all those occasions! Say… Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? It'll be fun!”
“Yeah. I’m sleepy and…” He yawned deeply. “Your mom wants me to be with her in the sofa watching TV. She is going to give me croquettes before I sleep.” He said softly, almost asleep.
“Try make your necessities in you know where before you go to bed, my little puppy.”
“Of course, Twilight. Now go and have fun.”
I patted his head and held him on my arms. I walked to the first floor and put him on the sofa. Dad stood up and mom gave us a blessing so we could return home safe and sound. The trip to the town wasn’t that long. The streets were so quiet and the police were doing their daily routine. There wasn’t a city as safe as Crystal State in the whole state.
Except Ponyville. But it was technically a town so… yes, Crystal State.
We eventually arrived to my school. Dad told me to call him half an hour beforehand when I wished to go home. He kissed me on my cheek and with the best mood I had in forever, my way to my first school party with my friends started.
This couldn’t get any better!
“Sugarcube! Over here!”
“Hi, girls! What are you disguised of?”
“A super hero team that Rainbow and I invented!” Pinkie said. “I saw it in a dream... in another world! And you?”
“Lord Everton, of course.” The girls looked at me weirdly. “The Father of Science?” Frowning faces formed in front of me. “The first man to ever create the first microscope and several mathematical inventions in the Old World? The man who aided the scientist of Zhonghua in creating the first predecessor of gunpowder and the eleventh count of Old Great Equine at that period of time?”
“As long as you are happy with it, we don’t mind what are you wearing!” Rarity said happy.
“Urmm…”
“Girls!” It was Sunset rushing to us. She had a green disguise that matched the girls, but hers sported a kind of golden armor. “I have a big surprise for all of you!”
“Really? What is it?”
“Well… why don’t you take a look over there?”
She pointed to the statue. A hooded figure came from behind it and walked toward us. A little puppy that was a virtual mirror of mine walked besides her and had a silly disguise. The girls gasped with a mix of shock and amazement.
I was dumbfounded.
She removed her hood, and my doppelganger from the magic portal smiled to me with a radiance beyond the common human. “Hi!”
“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” The girls shouted with joy.
“Princess… Twilight?”
“I’m back!”
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Interesting development. I must say nitpick is holding pretty well but for how long I wonder.
Well, let's hope Sci-Twi doesn't end up feeling like a replacement for Pony!Twi.... it could be catastrophic.
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I'm fired up and writing the next chapter. If everything turns as I plan in my
slaveryjob to give me a rest day, the next chapter will be released by Sunday evening at best and it will answer some of your doubts but if not, just be a little patient since my personal time is ruthless with me sometimes.Menos mal que Nitpick no fue a esa fiesta, aunque pensándolo bien, abría sido muy divertido ver a la Princesa Twilight reaccionando al lenguaje colorido de nuestro agradable protagonista y si se hubieran enfrascado en una discusión intelectual se habrían hecho buenos conocidos según Nitpick ya que la Princesa Twilight lo habría considerado un amigo, mal hablado, pero un amigo al final. Una interacción digna de un capitulo exclusivo.
Good thing Nitpick didn't go to that party, although on second thought it would have been a lot of fun to see Princess Twilight reacting to our likable lead's colorful language and if they had engaged in an intellectual discussion they would have become quite acquaintances according to Nitpick since the Princess Twilight would have considered him a friend, foul-mouthed, but a friend nonetheless. An interaction worthy of an exclusive chapter.
Translated by Google.