Chapter 17 - Homecomings part 1
Ok, so I previously said that this was going to be the final chapter of the First arc. 
And it was supposed to be that. It was going to be this very long chapter but...
I came down with the post Seasons Blues, as I like to call it. 
If I didn't post something soon I would've kept this on the backseat for some more time. And I know how crappy it feels when an Author doesn't update their story. So...
I hope you like this. And Happy belated New Year shout out to all who read my story.
“And that’s all as far as I know.” Discord finally ended the tale Sunset was so curious about. And by the grim look in her face, he deduced that she regretted hearing some of it. “But you don’t have to worry about any of …”
“How can you say that?!” Sunset said coming a little stronger than she meant to. “This…all of this…is terrible.”
Never had she imagined how far the whole “delinquency problem” went. She like many others, thought that the murmured stories about Everfree and their thugs were just that, stories. Stories meant to intimidate others and create a reputation, much like she had done when she became her school’s Queen Bee. But unlike her, Everfree’s claims were not only true, they were severe.
St. Everfree had the reputation of housing the worst and toughest individuals around; because of it, the school became the center of all activities relating to street gangs. Everyone who wanted to prove their toughness and strength enrolled there and either joined to move up the ranks of a gang or created one form the ground; And those who didn’t enroll into Everfree, formed their own gangs to fight against the Everfree ones.
Whenever be from Everfree or not, all gangs wanted the same: to rule St. Everfree.
It was said that those who ruled Everfree could rule the city. And so, the school became a beacon that attracted all the scum and villainy towards it, keeping it focused, contained. That is until it crumbled into the ground.
“Hard to imagine, but it’s all true.” Discord nodded somewhat solemnly. “You guys at Canterlot High are lucky; you lived your lives carefree, unaware of the dangers lurking in the shadows cast by the big city.”
Now that Everfree was gone and the gangs scattered over the place. All those gangs that wasted their time and effort trying to conquer and rule a school, had turned their gazes away from the beacon and will now burrow themselves where, until now, had been untouched and fertile ground.
With Canterlot High District being one of said grounds.
“We gotta tell someone!” Sunset suggested the most sensible idea she could think of. “We got to tell the police!” But this only caused Discord to chuckle.
“Really, Sunny? You think the police will do anything after doing nothing for so long?” He smiled despite the bleak nature of his words. “All gangs know how to evade or at least not catch the attention of the police.” Unless they did something ‘High Profile’ or screw around near the “Nice” parts of town and “Rich” neighborhoods, the police didn’t get involved.
“Kids will be kids, they say.”
“Well, we got to do something!” Sunset was wracking her brain for some kind of answer to this predicament.
“We? Why even get involved?” He looked at her oddly.
“Because this is my home!” She declared momentously. “And the home of my friends! I can’t just stand around doing nothing when evil looms and threatens our home!”
“Hn! Getting quite ahead of yourself, aren’t you?” Discord snicker fanning down Sunset’s sudden enthusiasm, before getting serious. “Do you even know the full implications of what you are saying? The danger you’ll put you and your friends on? The hell you’ll go through? The pain of broken bones? The scars of every cut and open wound? The blood that will be spilled? All the things you will lose? Do you? ”
“Ehm…” She quickly got quiet after hearing that. She didn’t like the picture he was painting with his words. “I…” She wasn’t afraid of putting herself in the line, but she felt uncomfortable doing the same with her friends’ lives.
“Thought so.” Discord nodded sagely. “Besides this period of, ehm, ‘re-structuration’ will not last nor change things either.”
“What makes you so sure of that?” Sunset looked at him quizzically.
“Because...” He said with the biggest grin Sunset had ever seen. “When those Cattle Rustlers go back to their home, word will get out that I am still around. Kicking all sort of…butts!” He refrained from cussing right in front of girl.
“You will… protect us?”
“Protect is kind of a strong word…” Discord said rubbing his chin. “Once word in the street hits other gangs that the Higher Powers of Everfree are still up and running, everything will go back to be the way it was before.” And that meant gangs fighting one and other, wasting time, energy and resources, for the privilege of taking down said Higher Powers.
‘Speaking of which… I wonder about the others.’
When he stumbled into the alleyway where he fought the Bulls, there were also the defeated bodies of Chrysalis Soldiers with all sort of paraphernalia scattered around. Though he didn’t give it importance before, now he realized that those Soldiers’ equipment was meant to battle him and him only.
Goggles and masks to prevent him from using any sort of substance to blind them; special gloves to catch any sort of bouncing projectiles; even small Swiss Army Knives for cutting ropes or any sort of tangling traps.
Even the soldiers themselves were small and with not much muscle mass; trained specifically for speed combat. A specialized team trained and equipped to defeat him.
‘But such specialization was their downfall.’ They were so prepared for him and his chaotic way of fighting that when it came to fight the exact opposite type of fighters they were unprepared. ‘Even worse if they were surprise attacked by the Bulls.’ Had it not been for them, he would’ve had to fight Chrysalis soldiers whom would’ve been a far difficult challenge.
‘If they attacked me, could they also have attacked the others?’ Discord knew that the others could defend themselves no problem. But if their opponents were as prepared and specialized as the ones he lucked out, there is a chance they were defeated.
‘Leaving Lil’ Chrisy as the sole victor.’ Yet if they weren’t defeated… “Oh boy, class tomorrow is going to be so fun.” He said out-loud, confusing the heck out of Sunset who had no idea about his whole train of thought. “Now Sunny, let’s get out of here.” He said as he walked up the door.
“Why?” She still had some questions she wanted to ask him.
“Well, if we spend more time in here Tree Hugger is going to get the wrong idea of what we are doing here.” He turned around to face her and pointed out his thumb towards the door.
“The wrong idea about what…?” Sunset asked as she looked at the knowing face he was giving to her. That’s when she got realized what he was referring to. “W-wait! You don’t mean…”
“Come on, otherwise people will start telling tales about you and me.” He gave her a cheeky grin enjoying the mortified look on her face. “Seriously Sunny, you are so easy to mess with.”
“I am not!”
“Keep proving my point, Sunny.” He chuckled as he turned to grab the knob.
And just as he was about to grab it, the knob turned itself and the door was opened by someone on the other side.
“Sunset, are you in here? Tree Hugger said that…eek!” The sudden arrival, a light goldish grey girl with very long pale cerise hair and the biggest cyan colored eyes Discord had ever seen, froze on the spot as soon as said eyes fell upon Discord dishevel looks.
“Oh! Hello there, the name’s Discord. What is yours?” He introduced himself slightly surprised by her sudden entrance, but not enough for him to butch a cool mannered greeting.
“Fluttershy?” Sunset called out for the girl, who didn’t respond to her and instead kept staring at Discord while her eyes got as big as saucers.
“Fluttershy? Is that your name?” Discord inquired as forward as ever. And his earned him a result he frankly hadn’t expected.
The girl fainted in the spot.
“Whoa there!” He moved quickly to catch her by the waist so that she wouldn’t impact onto the floor like a sack of potatoes. “Now this is quite the first impression.”
“Discord! What did you do to her?” Sunset yelled at him, as she came next to him to check upon her friend.
“Hmm…Is she anemic or something?”
“No.”
“Well, then I have no idea.” He answered honestly. “Unless of course she passed out after seeing my beautiful face.”
“Yeah. I’m sure that’s the reason.” Sunset rolled her eyes as she took hold of her friend’s limp body.
[x-x-x]
“Looks like tomorrow all of this is gonna hurt.”
“I’m no stranger to pain.”
“Whatever you say, tough guy.” Trixie rolled her eyes at his whole Grand and Mighty attitude of his. He wasn’t fooling anyone of the fact that he was in pain. Men. Figures that all acted the same. “And that’s it.” Trixie said as she finished place the last bandage around his abdomen. She had no idea if he needed them or not, but she had seen this sort of thing on TV before. It wasn’t as if having the bandages hurt him more than he already was. Besides it proved as an effective barrier so that she could stop staring at his naked torso.
“Good.” Sombra said with a nod as he inspected the bandages seemingly content. “Let us continue.”
“Continue with what?” Trixie looked at him confused. Weren’t they already done?
“Now I need to tend my legs.” He said as he unbuckled his belt.
“W-WAIT JUST A SECOND!” Trixie closed her eyes as her face turned red once more.
“What are you shrieking for, woman?” Sombra had his hands over his ears. Really this one had been more deafening than any of her previous ones.
“WHAT ARE YOU EVEN THINKING?” The said yelled once more but thankfully less loudly than before. “YOU CAN’T TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS INSIDE MY ROOM!”
“Why?”
“LIKE YOU EVEN NEED TO ASK!”
“Very well… you take them off.”
“THAT’S EVEN WORSE!”
“I don’t have time for your aversions. These pants have to come off.” Ignoring her protests, he then unbuckled his belt and went on to try to unbutton his pants.
“Oh no you don’t!”
What followed was a struggle that, in hindsight, could’ve been avoided by having better communication; yet for both participants, reason and shame weren’t in their minds right now. This was a struggle for dominance. To see who was right and who was wrong. And the only satisfaction to be gained was the right to say ‘Told you so!’
Unfortunately for them, their fight distracted them enough for them to not notice that two individuals had arrived and entered the house.
“Won’t you cut it out!?”
“NEVER!”
“Trixie! We convinced our parents to let us spend the night with…” The enthusiasm in the recently arrived pair went completely quiet once they saw what they had stumbled upon.
Their friend Trixie was on her knees with her hands grabbing the half pulled down pants of a shirtless boy.
“Fuchsia…Lavender…” Trixie said looking at her friends who sported very red cheeks and stunned expressions on their faces. After everything that happened, she had totally forgotten about them coming over to her house.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Lavender said too casually as she and Fuchsia slowly backed away from the room and closing the door.
It wasn’t until the door fully closed with a small ‘click’ that it dawned into Trixie what she was doing must’ve looked like.
“W-Wait! It’s not what you think!” She called out to defuse the situation before this misunderstanding could grow into a scandal. As she opened the door to her room she turned to Sombra. “Don’t go anywhere!” And with that she was off, leaving Sombra alone again.
“Finally.” Sombra sighed before resuming what he was doing.
After his pants came down to his ankles he examined his injuries. Primarily, the bloody mess that were his knees. He fell to his knees several times through the course of his fight, and although on the outside his clothes weren’t ripped or damaged, the skin on his knee was severely brushed by the fabric because of the friction.
The wound wasn’t deep enough to see any fat, muscle or bone; that was good. It also stopped bleeding, so that was a good sign too.
“Minor injury. Looks worse than it really is.” He said to himself. Mostly to distract himself of the pain he felt now that he was looking at the injury up close. “I just need to clean up the wound with cold water…” and as soon as he said those words he realized something.
“She was right…should’ve taken my pants off inside the bathroom instead of here.”
[x-x-x]
“You are looking better than ah expected.” Granny Smith noted as Tirek sat down at the Kitchen table with her after his trip to the bathroom.
“I heal fast.” Was his not committal response.
“Is that so?” She said not pushing the issue, but not forgetting about it yet.
“I have to. Otherwise they will think I’ve gotten weak.”
“Who?”
“…”
“Who would think ya gotten weak?” She insisted leaning forward a bit, curious about the answer.
“The wrong kind of people.” The ominous tone of his voice was enough to convince Granny Smith with what she was about to do.
“Mah boy, I want ya to come work for me at this farm.”
“What?” Tirek asked surprised by the declaration that came out of left field. “Look Granny, I’m not interested in your offer.”
“Why? Too busy getting inta fights?” She jabbed back much to his chagrin.
“If you think just because you help me I owe you…”
“I didn’t help ya because I wanted you to be indebted with me.” She cut him off somewhat offended, crossing her arms in front of her. “Ah did it because it was the right thing to do.”
“I didn’t ask you to help me.”
“You didn’t have to, yet Ah still did. Now I’m askin ya to consider my offer.”
“Why should I? Besides I’m no farmer.”
“Have you even tried it before?”
“No.”
“Then how do ya know?” When Tirek remained silent after that, she continued. “You might find you are looking for.”
“And what would you know about what I’m looking for?” He shot back irritated at the idea she pretended understand what he wanted.
“I can see it in yer eyes.” Granny sighed reminiscing of day long past. “Those are the same eyes of someone I knew a long time ago. He found what he was longing for, and you can do the same.”
Tirek closed his eyes and remained quiet considering the words of the old lady. He remained silent for a whole two minutes, before he sighed and stood up from the chair.
“Sorry lady. I’m not interested.” He then turned around to leave the place.
“You’ll never be strong if ya keep running away.” Her words made Tirek stop dead on his tracks. “What yer doing, running away, and closing yourself in more and more, will not help ya.” She said as he slowly turned to face her. “Being alone doesn’t make you stronger.”
“And playing Apple Picking Rancher will?” He asked with sarcasm oozing out of him.
“I can prove it to you.” She stared at him with steel in her voice. It almost made him believe her. “Tomorrow. After classes come here and if you aren’t convinced then, I’ll never bother you again.”
Tirek was about to refuse once more, but before he could get a word in, Granny added. “The least you could do for a lady that help ya and didn’t send you to the hospital where you should be right now.”
“Guilt-tripping me now, are you?” Tirek almost laugh, “Can’t say if it suits you or not, old bat.” Then again, old ladies were always good at making the younger generations feel like ungrateful brats. “One chance.” He lifted one of his fingers. “I’ll give you one change to convince me that your old-maid ramblings are true.”
“That’s all Ah need.” She smiled.
And Tirek didn’t know why that smile unnerved him so. As if he already had sealed his fate.
[x-x-x]
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I don't know why but I feel like I can imagine just a few hundred ways this can go...
REALLY?!?!?!?!?!? Are you that daft, Sombra?!
Also, that scene with Sombra and Trixie? My only response is this:
Dear god Sombra, you're a fucking idiot!
Well, I hadn´t laughed this hard in a while now, so that´s a good start.
First off, Sunset and Discord.
I must point out that I sensed a huge tone swift there. The beginning of that scene felt very serious and it was pretty easy to understand that.
There was absolutely no narm; it was a legitimate interesting and well put together scene.
One I thing I particularly enjoy about this fanfic is how easily the tone goes back and forth between comical and dramatic. For all the good laughs and lighthearted attributes of the characters there is always something dark.
Sombra is fun as hell, but he can still kick your ass.
Discord has an ominous aura around him; you can never tell how he will react. I like to think that he is going to protect the school just for the fun of it, which fits his character perfectly.
Tirek and Chrysalis are, however, the most serious villains. They barely have any comedic elements and are in fact legitimate threats to their adversaries. They are what´s usually called a Knight of Cerebus
And that´s fine! I like threatening villains who collide with their surroundings yet still merge with the environment. That´s the line you keep skipping on with success every time.
I sincerely recommend you to add the "Dark" tag, given all the violence, use of drugs and thus.
The scene with Trixie and Sombra... seriously, I fucking lost it. I´m not usually a fan of misunderstandings in comedy (in drama is far worse), but here it just worked. I suppose I´m kind of immature. Well.
But seriously, the dialogue was amazing.
One piece of advice, though. Try not to explain the joke.
The joke is much more effective if you allow the audience to understand it. It´s still funny, just not as much as it could be.
I also enjoyed the interactions between Tirek and Granny.
The bit of "the only weakness in you is your cowardice about change" was pretty clever. I am really looking forward to seeing Tirek in the farm.
Hell, now we get a perfect excuse for Applebloom to interact with Tirek AND Scorpan. Maybe she can be the bridge they need to make amends.
We also get the chance for Dash and Tirek to talk, because after all this build up I am really looking forward to seeing those two having a conversation. It will end badly, possibly violently, but hell, I wanna see it!
All in all, it was a great chapter. Fantastic humor, amazing drama, actual character development...
I really love this fic. I can´t wait to see what you have in store for us!
Talk to you later!
Granny is Maz Canaza