Magic, Information, And A Confrontation
CHS Cafeteria
Early morning usually bothered Soul Writer and his friends. Today, on the other hand, was a rare occasion. Everyone in Soul’s group had gathered, some in confusion, others in silent knowing; today had drawn the attention of Rivet, Clyde, Swift, Zero, Treble, and Artemis.
The group sat together at the table, waiting for Soul to speak since he called the meeting.
“Thanks for coming guys, I know none of you like being up early but this couldn't wait till lunch,” Soul said.
“Yesterday, if any of your respective girlfriends haven’t said anything, or you don't know, Sunset has a new bully on her…”
Artemis was the first to speak.
“Soul, there isn't anyone left in CHS that bullies anybody, even Trixie has been more placated than normal since the end of last year. Why would someone surface now?”
Rivet was next.
“Besides that Soul, who would be so bold as to try and bully Sunset Shimmer? She's not exactly an easy target, plus her friend is always around her 24/7. When would this have happened?”
“It happened after gym, that new boy Shuffle Suite did it.”
Clyde tapped on the table, calling the group to his attention.
“Soul, I do appreciate the concern for Sunset, but why would Shuffle personally attack her?”
Soul sat down, pulling out a single sheet of paper. On it was a ven diagram, one side had Sunset’s name in it and the other Shuffle’s; the intersecting part had “Problem?” written in it.
Next to speak up was Swift.
“Okay, just to hazard a guess, there could have been some bad blood between the two.”
Soul nodded silently placing his finger in the intersecting part of the circle.
“Yes, but the issue isn't the problem. Shuffle made that very clear in the warning he gave her yesterday; the issue is that this happened a few months ago, and if all of you notice, that couldn't have happened since the girls were away on a band road trip, remember? Plus Shuffle said this happened in Vanhoover, which was the opposite direction they went.”
Each boy sat in Silence, letting the new information sink in; this made no sense to any of them, but it didn't make it any less serious.
After a few minutes, Zero spoke up.
“Instead of talking about what's wrong, why don't we focus on fixing it? I don't know about you guys, but along with the events of Camp Everfree and all of the magic actively floating around, none of us want more drama, do you?” Zero turned to Soul, waiting for a response to his blunt question, but instead, Treble was the one to speak up next.
“Why don't we just smash his kneecaps and make him apologize for this obvious mistake, besides I need some payback from the flagpole Incident.” Treble pulled the chair from under the table, ready for combat.
Soul cringed, shaking his head quickly. “No, violence shouldn't be our first resort; we aren't barbarians.”
Treble put the chair down. “Maybe not you….” he grumbled.
“What I think we should do is try and defuse the tension between them, let Shuffle get out all of his feelings.”
“But what if he doesn't want to talk to Sunset, Clyde? There is a very real chance that if he was alone with her, he would have done some kind of damage.” Rivet retorted quickly. Soul held the bridge of his nose, unable to say a single word as the group divulged into ideas, helpful or harmful alike.
“GUYS!” Soul shouted, finally annoyed at being ignored.
“What we should do is very simple; that is, keep trying to reach Shuffle. Maybe someone will get him to open up to them.”
Each teen sat there thinking… violence shouldn't be the way unless it's absolutely necessary. After a few seconds, Zero realized something.
“I do remember that there have been times where he was conversing with Trixie during the beginning of the year, maybe he’s said something to her?”
Treble laughed out. “Come on, this is Trixie Lulamoon we are talking about guys. What are the chances he would open up to her? She barely does it to Sunset, even after they became friends.”
Soul gasped, an idea forming in his head. “Exactly, Treble! And thanks to that remark, I have a plan! I'll see y'all at lunch, I have someone to find, later!” with that, Soul quickly got up and left the table.
“Well, since he wants to try diplomacy, who else wants to have chairs at the ready if this all goes to hell?” Treble said, a stack of chairs at the ready for the group.
Soul jogged through the school, intent on finding on a certain sapphire mage.
“You better believe I got tricks up my sleeve,
And I captivate, 'cause I'm powerful and great-ea-eat”
Trixie sang out as she bent over, getting her morning snack out of the vending machine. Soul approached her from the side as Trixie turned accidentally, bumping into him.
“I apologize Soul Writer, Trixie was lost in her own world this morning,” she said as she tore open the container to her peanut butter crackers.
Soul shook his head as Trixie took a bite of her first cracker, not forgetting why he sought out Trixie.
“No, it was my fault, I should have made sure you knew I was here, but that's beside the point. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
Trixie nodded. “Trixie was just heading to the library, but for the boyfriend of Sunset Shimmer, Trixie is willing to accommodate a few moments of her time, but if you would be quick, someone is waiting for Trixie.”
Soul took a moment to gather his thoughts.
“Do you know anything about a boy name Shuffle Suite? Zero said you converse with him regularly.”
Trixie let out a haughty laugh.
“Well, lucky for you, Trixie has built a small rapport with this particular individual, but information like that doesn't come around easily… if you were to convince me of sharing it, I would gladly do so.”
Soul rubbed the back of his jeans; his wallet was going to feel this one. But, as he reached to pull out his wallet, Trixie burst out laughing.
“You… actually believed I wanted money?!” Trixie exclaimed, holding her sides, trying incredibly hard not to fall over. Soul groaned in annoyance; this wasn't getting him anywhere.
“Trixie, please, this is incredibly important and I'm not in the mood for jokes right now.”
As Trixie recovered from her little joke, she put her arm around the teen.
“Soul Writer, the happy-go-lucky boy of CHS is in a dour mood, which is a rarity if I've ever seen it, but yes, Shuffle is my lab partner in Chemistry. He doesn't talk much but he's incredibly intelligent, and resourceful too.” Soul listened patiently as Trixie continued speaking.
“But beyond what he chooses to tell me, I don't know much.”
“Any info you have is fine Trixie, it's just… there is something going on between him and Sunset, and I'm worried that if we don't get to the bottom of it, he might try something.”
“Well if it helps, maybe Trixie can ask him since she is about to meet him in the library today?”
Soul cringed. If it was anyone else, that would be a great idea, but a case like this, discretion should be kept.
“It's fine Trixie, you have a good morning. Later” Soul said, leaving back to the cafeteria.
“Odd boy, but I can see why Sunset fell for him,” Trixie commented to herself, turning the corner and heading for the library.
Shuffle had been sitting in the back of the library, his chemistry textbook open, a bunch of notes scattered around the table, along with a decently thick work packet; he was slowly working each equation, making sure nothing was wrong with each one, lest his mother force him through one of her lectures on quadruple checking your work when messing with incredibly volatile chemicals.
Trixie entered a few moments later, quickly finding the boy, his head down in his work. Unbeknownst to either of them, Shuffle had been singing, it was low enough no one could actually hear it around him, but Trixie could hear it plain as day once she was closer, and what really caught her off guard was how well he could do it.
“Everglow,
You'll never know
The beauty I see when you open your shadows
Everglow,
They'll never know
The worlds that I see in the darkness you don't show.”
Just from hearing along, Trixie couldn't tell if it was either natural skill or he had been taught.
“Still not as good as Trixie,” she said quietly, listening to him for just a few more minutes before clearing her throat, which actually got Shuffle’s attention.
“There you are, I could have sworn you were going to skip out on work again,” he said bluntly.
“Trixie didn't mean to last time, Shuffle. She had something more important to do than lousy school work.”
Shuffle shook his head. “Whatever, just grab your packet. I'll let you copy my work to catch up, I don't plan on failing this early in the year.”
Trixie chuckled as she pulled out her own packet of paper and began copying it.
“You, fail? Ever since Mr. Hertz gave out any assignment, Trixie has watched you turn it back in either the next day or by the end of class, if she could hazard a guess. Your grade must rival that of Twilight Sparkle’s, if not surpassing it.”
Shuffle nodded at the compliment, retiring his gaze back to his papers. Trixie followed behind, copying Shuffle’s answers.
A few minutes pass, as nothing could be heard but the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional question between the two. Once Trixie finished up the next question, she finally chose to ask about something that was picking at her mind.
“There have been some rumors about you and Sunset Shimmer, care to tell your great and powerful partner about it?”
Shuffle tensed up, his writing comes to a screeching halt; this wasn't something he wanted to talk to anybody about, and besides, who would care what happened between two nobodies, right?
“No, whatever you heard was wrong, nothing is going on,” he said hastily, not looking at Trixie.
“Is that so? Then why would her boyfriend come around asking Trixie questions about it? If it helps, Shuffle, I didn't say anything to him about anything, beyond that we were lab partners.”
Shuffle gave her an incredulous stare.
“If there is drama, why do you care? It doesn't affect you. This is a personal matter and something I should be getting back to.”
Shuffle moved to get up from his seat when Trixie grabbed his hand.
“Look, I've done some messed up things in my life… I’ve manipulated others, used some as slaves, and have been a grade-A bitch to others, but after talking to someone about it, it made me feel better, ya know? It might not balance out what Sunset did to you, but if it does help, Trixie lives right next door to you. It's not good to keep these emotions hidden forever.”
Shuffle was silent. Everyone and he did notice EVERYONE, said that they wanted to help. What is it about this school that draws them to help each other?
Mass hypnosis?
Some kind of drug in the food?
There has to be some logical reason. This isn't some sap story; people are greedy, manipulative, and will do just about anything to better their own goals.
“Why do all of you say that…?” Shuffle muttered a little too loudly.
“Do what?”
“This, the “we want to help you” act, it does get rather old after six other people say it.”
This time Trixie was the one to look confused until the perfect retort came to mind.
“Because Friendship is magic here. I assume you don't know about the “incidents” in the last two years, huh?”
“Incidents?”
“Yeah, the one where actual magic has been at CHS,” Trixie said, before the morning bell rang, shocking both of them. Neither had noticed that they had moved closer together.
Shuffle quickly grabbed his stuff, a blush forming on his face that, along with this new revelation about magic, was a change of pace for the teen.
“Meet me at lunch, I want to hear everything about these incidents, okay?”
Trixie nodded as she collected her stuff as well, heading to her class.
“Magic existing? It's impossible! I mean, next thing you're going to tell me there's an alternate dimension consisting of talking goats or something.” Shuffle said, weaving his way through the students congregating in the halls with practiced precision.
Shuffle entered his first class of the day. Chemistry, he felt, was going to be an easy task today, since the teacher was going to be out for the morning. Vice Principal Luna was going to sub for him, and since they were working on that packet, he had it basically done, so he could work on the questions he was going to ask Trixie at lunch.
Shuffle sat down at the back of the class like normal, already placing paper down on a desk, quickly scratching away every question that formed in his mind. Unfortunately, fate conspires against Shuffle today in two ways.
As the students came in, Shuffle heard a scraping of a stool next to him, when dread crossed his mind.
Trixie was in his chemistry class.
“We could have walked to class together, you know that right?”
Shuffle actually smiled, which surprised Trixie, but before he got the chance to remark with something witty, the bell rang.
Luna walked in as the late bell rang. Shuffle paid her no mind, keeping at his own work, as morning announcements came on, once again ignored by the teen, although he did hear something about a formal.
After announcements, Luna stood in front of the class.
“As you all know, Mr. Octavius was called away on an urgent family matter, so today, since I'm filling in, I asked my sister if we could have a guest today, and she agreed. So for today, please welcome, from Canterlot Chem., The head of the science team, Ms. Tesla Bolt!”
“Wait…. What?” Shuffle noticed the name, praying he was wrong. Well, in the wrong department, he was on point.
Tesla entered the room as students gave greetings to Ms. Bolt. Shuffle actually tried to lower himself so he wasn't seen.
As per custom by now, each student went around introducing himself/herself, and all went without incident. Before he could be noticed, Shuffle quickly ducked under the table, hiding, which was another error he made; he forgot about, as the introductions passed by him, the length of the table, which promptly caused him to smash his head on the ledge as he came back up. Yelping in pain, he resurfaced as Luna made her way to the table.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes ma'am, just hit my head picking up my pen,” Shuffle responded, rubbing his head. Turning around, he didn't notice Tesla had made her way across the room, but when she got closer she recognized Shuffle almost instantly.
“Shuffle, I didn't know you were going to be here!” she enveloped him in a hug.
Some students stared in confusion.
“Oh I'm sorry, is this your girlfriend Shuffle? I didn't mean to interrupt you two, I just saw my boy and had to give him hugs, he's always so grumpy at home.”
Trixie stifled her laugh, thoroughly enjoying this little moment.
“Ms. Bolt, I know he's your son, but we must get started, plus if he gets any redder, he might actually pass for a tomato.”
And that's when the class laughed. It made sense for a mother to hug her son affectionately, and the fact that this bright bubbly woman was the mother of the silent boy in the back was ironic to the point it was almost comedic.
“You’re right. I'll be here all day Shuffle, so let's have lunch together, it's been so long since we’ve done that. Maybe if you would stop locking yourself in your room, that could be fixed.”
A few snickers could be heard, and a viable blush was on Shuffle’s face as he sat back down. The two women went back to the front of the classroom, as Shuffle put his head down. This was so embarrassing.
Chemistry went without any issues, Tesla’s lecture going off with very little if any problems and any that popped up Luna took care of quickly.
As the class wound down from the activity Tesla had them working on, the bell rang. Everyone got up and left the room. Shuffle tried to sneak out with the crowd, though this didn't work as Tesla pulled her son off to the side.
“Don't worry, I won't be the long sweetie, I just wanted to ask how you're doing with your little girlfriend?”
Shuffle sighed. “She's not my girlfriend mom, she's my lab partner, that's it.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, oh. I mean, ever since we moved to Canterlot, you haven't gone out to try and find friends, beyond the first weekend. It was good to see that you improved, but since it wasn't true, I won't hold you any longer, I'll see you at lunch, okay?” Shuffle nodded as the two embraced.
“Don't worry mom, I'm managing fine, just focus on your work and don't somehow blow up a potato clock,” he said jokingly, smiling as the two parted, Shuffle to his next class and Tesla back in her chair.
“You know, he doesn't really talk to anyone during lunch,” Luna spoke up.
Tesla turned to her old friend.
“Yeah, reminds me of you back in high school, eh Nightmare?” she joked, dredging up Lunas’ goth phase.
Luna laughed as she hugged her friend. “God I hate you so much.”
“Hate you too!” she says jokingly as more students filed in.
Lunch finally rolled around, a time Shuffle was looking forward to, two pages in his hand and a tray of food later he was sitting at his usual table waiting.
And he waited…
And he waited some more…
After about thirty minutes of waiting and eating, Trixie finally showed up.
“Jeez, I thought you forgot,” he said.
“No, Trixie didn't forget, I just had to dodge a few fans.”
“I thought you liked being praised?”
“Trixie does, but the two she had to hide from creeped her out, plus I think one of them stalks me here.”
“Do you know their names?”
“Snips and Snails, why?”
“Well Snips can't really do anything, and Snails, he's just a follower. Snails actually have a crush on you, so if I could guess, he's trying to win your attention.”
Trixie pondered, noticing how Snails tried just about everything in the cliché book of romance.
“Oh, well that's something one wouldn't expect…” she said, clearly worried about the whole situation.
Shuffle nodded, taking a drink from his can. “So while you sort out this whole mess with your number one fan, how about we talk about this magic you were going on about this morning?”
Trixie nodded and began her tale, starting back before Princess Twilight had shown up.
A good few minutes pass as Trixie rapidly recalled each event from the “Fall formal”, to “Gaia Everfree”, each story getting more outlandish than the last.
“Okay… so you’re saying that, basically, there is a parallel world that's accessible from the statue out front of the school, and it's composed of copies of the students and faculty from CHS, plus these random seven girls have harnessed this power multiple times to save the world from destruction or domination.”
“Yes, didn't Trixie just explain all of that?”
“Ok, a more cynical person would discount this as a load of crap, but I myself would like to see if you're not lying, obviously.
“Trixie has no reason to lie to you Shuffle,” she said defensively.
“Okay then, time for a practical test. If you aren’t lying, and all of this IS true, then I should just as easily walk over to them and ask to see their abilities, yes?”
Trixie nodded hesitantly.
“Well then, shall we?” he said, getting up and heading over to the table that had the seven “magical girls” at it
The humane seven were sitting at their usual table, enjoying each other's company, the only one who wasn't enthusiastic as normal was Sunset Shimmer, who was looking down at her journal, reading and rereading the return message from Princess Twilight.
Dear Sunset Shimmer,
Sorry it took so long to respond to your messages, running a school along with my duties as a princess of Equestria has been keeping me distracted, and with spike having just gone through his molt, he's been practicing using his wings with Rainbow Dash. But to answer your question, going about thinking another Sunset is out in that world isn't farfetched, considering you’re friends with my counterpart, but with the incident with this new boy, maybe the best thing to do is to actually sit and talk with him, maybe that could help, but if something goes wrong, let me know, I could come over and help. Also, I got in contact with Terra Quake, he works around Ponyville as a construction worker, and after I spoke with him, he wanted me to tell you that he had forgiven you for whatever it was you did. I think everyone at Princess Celestia’s school didn't hold any kind of grudges against you, so you’re safe on that end.
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle
She smiled, happy to know that her past mistakes in Equestria weren't much of a problem anymore, at least.
“Girls, I'll be right back, I need to go do something.”
Each of her friends gave her a nod and returned to talking.
Sunset quickly got up, determined to bring this situation to a peaceful end, but as she turned, bag in hand, she bumped into another and noticed it was the person she was about to look for, Shuffle Suite.
Both stood in silence, waiting for the other to begin for only a moment, but both decided at the same time to speak up simultaneously.
“We need to talk.”
Both nodded and left the Cafeteria.
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I sure hope things get better
Oh come on! Just when they're about talk things out you have to stop there. Still good chapter there dragon. Looking forward to the next.
dem typos doe
9105463
OH COME ON I COMBED THIS 7 TIMES what did I miss?
9105809
ninja typos m8