Of Hearts and Gazing Eyes

by A bag of plums

Chapter 8 - A Spritz of Sherry

The next morning, there was a small meeting being called around the remains of the Wondercolt statue, with a certain pink party planner as the mastermind.

“Why are we all here this early, Pinkie?” Rivet yawned. He had received a text around breakfast time that Pinkie wanted to see them all about half an hour before they usually arrived at school. “I was still eating breakfast.”

The rest of the group waited impatiently for Pinkie to explain herself, shivering slightly in the morning chill.

“Here’s the deal, everyone,” Pinkie said, looking uncharacteristically solemn. “We’ve got us a Wondercolt who is in need of some serious friendship. It’s up to us to give it to him!”

“Are you talking about the new kid? The one who’s rejected us at every turn?” Rainbow Dash asked, pulling her scarf tighter around her neck. “He’d rather still be back at Crystal Prep. Why waste any more time on him?”

“Because,” Pinkie said, pushing her face up into Rainbow Dash’s own. “He’s not at Crystal Prep. Imagine how lonely it must be for him now! Obviously him saying no to us is just him being gracious and not wanting to waste our time!”

“I’m not sure that’s the reason…” Clyde muttered, but nobody else heard him.

“I’m sure we can get Lightning to be friends with us!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Pinkie Pie hasn’t failed to befriend a person yet, and I won’t fail now!”

“So what’s the plan?” Swift Justice asked supportively. “You do have one, right?”

Pinkie swelled up with pride. “I’m the head of the Party Planning Committee, Swifty! Of course I’ve got a plan.”

Swift’s face grew pink at being addressed like this, but he took it in stride and nodded.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that I have absolute faith in your plan,” Rarity said. “Just try not to go overboard with this, alright?”

“Oh, Rarity,” Pinkie giggled. “When have I ever gone overboard on anything?”

No one deigned to answer that.

“Anyway, the plan is-” Pinkie began, but suddenly she shuddered and a shiver went from her feet to her hair, causing her body to vibrate like a piece of stiff wire that had been flicked. “Woooo-ahh…!”

“What’s the matter, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked once Pinkie’s convulsions had stopped.

“I… don’t know,” Pinkie said, looking confused. “I mean, my Pinkie Sense hasn’t ever done that before, almost like it’s… something… new?”

In the meantime, Lightning Strike pulled up at the school on his bike, popping down the kickstand and taking out the keys. He sighed and took off his helmet.

“Back here again,” he mumbled to himself. “Seven hours of drudgery before I can actually go somewhere interesting.”

As Lightning began to move towards his usual waiting spot, he was mildly surprised to see there was someone else there. It was a girl wearing a dark blue jacket over a black waistcoat, with a dull red skirt and black stockings alongside a pair of tall boots. Her long hair was deep red, fading to dark pink at the tips. But the most interesting detail was that this girl was wearing some kind of covering over her right eye, in the form of some strips of black cloth. Lightning found that she looked somewhat familiar, but couldn’t place his finger on it.

“Good morning, Lightning Strike,” she said in the same voice from the art shop.

And that was when he realized. “Sherry Spritz?” He said incredulously. He hadn’t ever seen her without her cloak and hood, and the one eye that wasn’t covered was a bright, vivid, almost unnatural blue. “What are you doing here?”

Sherry unfolded her arms, leading Lightning to notice that she had some kind of pointed silver clasp on each of her jacket sleeves; six more were attached to the straps on the side of her skirt, three on each side. “Merlina wanted to make sure nothing bad befell you while you aren’t under the protection of the shop. Also, I came out here to cast that protection glyph on your house. In short, I am to act as your bodyguard.”

Lightning felt confused. “But aren’t you more magic than me? What if someone tracks you?”

Sherry tapped her eye patch. “Merlina had me surrender and deactivate most of my active magic spells and guards before coming out here. Besides, in a school like this with so many magical people about, nobody will notice my signature so long as I don’t cast anything too noticeable.”

Lightning was once again reminded of his ignorance of magical happenings, but decided to trust Sherry’s words. Since she was here on Merlina’s orders, that must mean that she knew what she was doing.

There was just one more little detail that Lightning was unsure about.

“So if you’ve left most of your magic behind so you can’t be tracked, then how are you supposed to be my bodyguard?” Lightning looked Sherry over. Eye patch aside, she looked pretty ordinary; there was a strange serenity about her face, but surely that wouldn’t help her defend him against any potential threats.

“Now that, you just leave to me,” Sherry said calmly. “Rest assured that I will take my task with the utmost seriousness; I will allow nothing to harm you without having to go through me first.”

Lightning Strike was somewhat taken aback. “Do you really think that I’m in that much danger?” He asked, looking worried.

“It doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what Merlina thinks. And if she sent me out here to protect you, then that is just what I’ll do.”

Lightning looked Sherry over again. She did look close enough to high school age to pass for a student. Her clothes also weren’t too outlandish, minus the eye patch.

“So you’re going to be following me around school? Did you enrol at CHS just for me?”

“Ah, no,” Sherry said. “I’m not technically a student here. However, I’ll be able to handle any and all awkward questions from the staff should they ask who I am.”

“Well… can’t find anything wrong with that. Anyway, this school’s a joke. I’m actually quite sure the staff won’t question you.”

Sherry smiled, the first time he could actually see it properly. “That bad, huh?”

Lightning shrugged. It was true that the school had been getting less on his nerves recently, although he didn’t know whether that was because he had something to look forward to after it, or because he was adapting to its crap factor. Either way, he was glad to have a friend here at his side, even if she wasn’t here completely legally.

“I’ve not set foot in a school for quite some time,” Sherry mused. “But if this place is anything like the school I went to before joining Merlina, it shouldn’t be too hard to get into the routine.”

“How… long is a long time?” Lightning had to ask.

“Long enough for the entire city layout to have changed,” Sherry replied. “Canterlot used to be a lot smaller. No cars, either.”

“I’d take it your lessons were taught differently as well,” Lightning assumed. “Did you used to have chairs?”

“Wooden chairs and long desks,” Sherry said. “I have kept up with the times enough to have an approximate knowledge of how everything works. I remember that the classes begin with the ringing of a bell.”

“Well, they still do.” Just then, the school bell rang, and Lightning hadn’t realized they’d be standing out there for so long. “Aaaand, we’re late.”

“That’s not going to be a problem,” Sherry said confidently. “Let us enter their parlour.”

Lightning gave Sherry an odd look, but shrugged and led her to his first class.

True to her words, no one asked her any questions and the teachers didn’t seem to realize she was a new student, or at least, a new face. If it was one thing Lightning learned today, it was that the school’s security stank.

Once they arrived at the classroom, History with Mrs. Harshwhinny, Lightning was curious as to how Sherry would deal with direct attention.

He pushed open the door and entered the classroom.

“You’re late,” Mrs. Harshwhinny said sternly as Lightning and Sherry came in. “And who is this?”

Sherry gently nudged past Lightning and fixed Mrs. Harshwhinny in the gaze of her exposed eye. “We were held up by an unavoidable incident,” she said evenly. “As for me, you were told about me coming in to sit in your class, remember?”

Lightning watched as Mrs. Harshwhinny considered this. Sherry backed away a step.

“Of course,” Mrs. Harshwhinny said understandingly, though looking a touch confused. “This school is full of unavoidable incidents. Just try not to let it happen again, alright?”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I got caught up outside,” Lightning said, then motioned for Sherry to go sit down as he rushed for his seat.

The class proceeded on as usual, only a great many curious glances were thrown in Sherry’s direction, where she was sitting at the back of the room. Her eye roved around the room, taking in everything in sight.

If it was one thing he was thankful for, it was the attention being taken off him. People had been buggering him since his first day here, especially Pinkie Pie. With Sherry here now, perhaps Pinkie would go after her instead. Maybe Sherry would be better at shutting her down.

Class was as boring as always, with Lightning, again, having already learned much further ahead at Crystal Prep. In fact, class was so boring today that he decided to raise his hand and answer some questions so they could end it sooner. Mrs. Harshwhinny had been surprised with his every answer, and by the gazes that were returning to him, so were his fellow classmates.

It’s not my fault you’re all so dull.

It sounded a bit mean, but most of them couldn’t even tell the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ and ‘there’ and ‘their’, so as far as he was concerned, it wasn’t an insult if it was a fact.

Homeroom soon concluded and he found his way out of class, with Sherry following close behind almost immediately. Unlike before school, Sherry’s face was impassive and blank, a stark contrast to the smile that Lightning was used to seeing her wear. It was, frankly, a little bit disconcerting.

Lightning stopped at his locker to switch books, while Sherry stood about a foot away, surveying the hallway as if looking for threats. Which she probably was, Lightning realized.

There were a lot of students in the hallway and Lightning quickly took the books that he needed and shut his locker. Sherry followed close behind him as he went to his next class.

After taking his seat, Lightning noticed that Sherry had positioned herself at the back of the room again, where she could see the entire space with ease.

As the other students trickled into the room, many of them spotted Sherry at the back of the room but didn’t say anything. Her one blue eye seemed to almost shine like a spotlight, roving around the classroom thoroughly.

“So much for a school of friendship,” Lightning muttered to himself. He could see why no one might want to approach Sherry, though. Right now, without her smile and wearing her eye patch, she cut a mysterious and imposing figure.

He still wasn’t sure he wanted someone following him around like some kind of over-enthusiastic guard dog, but he trusted that Sherry wouldn’t be too much of a bother to him. If Merlina trusted her to keep him safe, then he supposed that so long as nothing bad happened, he could just try and be at peace with her presence. Besides, she might act as a good deterrent if nothing else.

Lightning returned his attention to the front of the room, but he could feel Sherry’s eye on him. Oddly, he didn’t find it uncomfortable at all. He reached up and felt the gazing eye under his shirt; it was nice and cool against his skin.

Class went by slowly, but once it ended, Sherry stood up at the bell and moved towards Lightning to stand by his side.

Packing up his book, Lightning Strike glanced at Sherry. “Do you have to stay so close?” he whispered. “You’re kind of in my personal space.”

“Oh. My apologies,” Sherry took a step back. “I was only trying to guard you as closely as possible.”

Lightning sighed with a nod of understanding. “Okay, I get it that you guys are worried about me. But didn’t you say that since this school is full of magic anyway, nobody would notice us?”

Sherry gave him a serious look. “You can never be too careful. SCAR might know your face now. If they wanted to, they could storm this school and take you away.”

“And you can protect me from that?” Lightning was skeptical.

“I believe I can, but it won’t come to that. We’ll lay low until the magic you absorbed wears off, then you can go back to your normal job.”

Lightning sighed. “When I took this job, I didn’t think I would be in such danger.”

Sherry shrugged. “Sometimes, you just have to deal with surprises as they come. What’s your next class?”

“Gym.”

---

Gym class saw Lightning Strike on the bench again, though this time with Sherry sitting next to him. Coach Spitfire had asked very few questions about Sherry, taking her presence with cheery indifference after Sherry looked her in the eyes and gave some half-baked excuse. There was some kind of witchcraft at work here, he was certain, being used to addle the minds of the teachers.

Which left him sitting here watching his peers play a game of basketball. He glanced to his right at Sherry, who was also watching the game, albeit with little apparent interest.

“So…” Lightning said, trying to break the silence. “Is your eye magical or something?”

“What makes you say that?” Sherry asked.

Lightning swallowed. “Well, uh, it’s just that you seem to look people in the eyes whenever you tell them your reasons for being here. And they never seem to ask you to elaborate. I figured it was magic.”

Sherry turned to face Lightning Strike. He could see her one exposed eye, and now that he was up close, he could see that along the sides of her iris, there were what appeared to be tiny runes rotating in a circle slowly.

“Have you ever heard the saying, ‘the eyes are the windows to the soul’, Lightning Strike?”

Lightning nodded once.

“Well, magic is tied to the soul. Like a blazing inferno burning inside each wielder. The eyes are a potent conduit to the wellspring of magic deep within, and as such, the eye is capable of containing and channeling magic to a great degree. You still have Merlina’s gazing eye, which allows her to keep a watch over you and provide some degree of protection.”

“Uh…” Lightning said, not having expected such an answer. “So what does that mean for you?”

Sherry shrugged. “I had my left eye enchanted with the power of suggestion. It helps me bend the wills and minds of those who I look at in the eyes. I can mesmerize people into believing what I tell them, as long as there’s no direct evidence that points to the opposite.”

Lightning was impressed. “Wow. That sounds… pretty powerful.”

“You have a magical eye of your own,” Sherry shrugged again. “Take care of it, and it’ll do things for you too.”

Lightning reached up and pulled Merlina’s gazing eye out from under his shirt. Like always, it gleamed like a diamond, almost looking as if it were alive. He rubbed his thumb across its smooth surface, feeling how cold it was to the touch.

He let the eye fall against his chest, back inside his shirt. Then he asked, “Those SCAR guys, do you have history with them? Merlina seems to know them from the past.”

Sherry’s expression grew pinched. “I don’t know them exactly, but there are groups like them all over the place. People who want to restrict magic and get in the way of a fair market. Granted, if we were a larger outfit, we could take the fight to them, but as it is now we can’t afford any open hostilities. Which is why we are going with the stealth option.”

“Oh,” Lightning said, not quite understanding everything Sherry had said. “Are we going around to the art shop after school today? I mean, I know I can’t make a delivery because of the residual magic or something, but spending time with you and Merlina is honestly the best part of my day.”

Sherry Spritz smiled gently. “That’s very kind of you to say. We can certainly go back to the Heart’s Desire Art Supplier after school. Maybe we can do something fun, hmm?”

“That sounds good,” Lightning Strike agreed, secretly hoping that he would get to learn more about his employers.

The bell rang moments later and Sherry got up, brushing off her skirt. “Well, shall we get going?”

---

Comments

[DENKI_SHOCK_95]

I got the feeling that Pinkie's plan is going to backfire terribly.