Chapter 8 - Paths Cross, part 1
Chapter 8 - Paths Cross, part 1
Celestia sat at her desk, tiredly sagging over the paperwork for the new student CHS would be receiving. She had come in earlier than usual to make sure everything was as ready as possible for Twilight’s arrival. Of course, Celestia had known about Twilight’s transfer for weeks- she had approved the request, after all- but today, today was the day that she actually arrived.
The principal was being careful; she had taken down the pictures of Twilight being crowned princess at the Fall Formal that hung in the main hall, and took great care to find and hide any other semblance of the Princess’ time at Canterlot High. She had done everything she could to make Human-Twilight’s transfer as smooth as possible.
But boy, did Celestia have a bad feeling.
“Sister?”
The principal looked up as Luna entered her office. “Good morning, Luna,” she said with as much of a smile as she could muster while her sister took the seat across from her.
Celestia eyed Luna’s coffee enviously as the Vice Principal took a sip from the steaming mug in her hands. She took an unsatisfying gulp of tea, suddenly wishing she hadn’t sworn off caffeine years ago.
“Thank you again for leading today’s staff meeting, Lu,” she said, reaching out and taking hold of her sister’s hand. “I’ve just been swamped with paperwork regarding our newest Wondercolt. Has the rest of the staff been informed of the situation?”
“Yes,” Luna replied. “Everyone is aware of Twilight’s arrival and has been instructed to act as though she were completely new. And,” she gave Celestia’s hand a comforting squeeze, “everyone is prepared to do damage control with Sunset if need-be.”
“Good.” Celestia sighed, trying not to think about the headache this day would surely bring. “Though, I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Sunset will come around,” Luna said. “She’s a good kid at heart.”
“I know,” Celestia said with a soft smile. “I’m just worried about her. I know this will be as rough for her as it will be for Twilight.”
Luna returned the smile. “Well, they’re both very lucky to have you looking out for them.”
***
Twilight Sparkle looked at the school’s front entrance apprehensively through the window of her brother’s car. Her heart was beating quickly in her chest. Despite her excitement about getting some answers on those strange energy readings, the utterly terrifying notion of changing schools and meeting new people was crushing to her.
“You’re going to be okay, Twily,” Shining Armour said from the driver’s seat. “They’re going to love you, I guarantee it!”
“But,” Twilight signed, her hands shaking. She watched students lazily file into the building. Groups of people milled about the courtyard, chatting and smiling. Her breathing became short. “But I don’t know anyone and where will I sit in my classes the school year has already started and it’s a Tuesday, who starts school on a Tuesday-”
Her rambling was interrupted by a soft boop on her nose.
Shining Armour retracted his hand and gave her a patient look. “Deep breath in, Twi,” he said gently. “You know the drill. Breathe in, hold, breathe out.”
Twilight took in a deep breath, following her brother through the familiar breathing exercise.
‘Breathe in, hold, breathe out,’
It took a few minutes, as usual, but Twilight felt a bit better by the end. She smiled at her brother and pushed up her glasses. “Th-anks big bro.”
“No problem sis,” he responded with a chuckle. “Now go get ’em!”
With one last anxious glance out the window, Twilight opened the door and stepped out of the car. Shining Armour waved and drove off, the movement of the vehicle scattering fallen leaves around Twilight’s feet.
She hunched her shoulders, closing in on herself as though it would protect her from the eyes of her new classmates. It felt like the students were staring her down as she started walking towards the school.
Twilight’s own gaze remained firmly on the ground. ‘Calm down,’ she told herself with a shaky breath. ‘Nobody’s staring at you. It’s just your imagination.’
She spared a glance upward. ‘See? No one is- wait, hold on a second,’
For some reason, as soon as she approached the school, all eyes were on Twilight. Her eyes snapped back to the ground. ‘They actually are looking at me!’
So caught up in her anxiety, Twilight didn’t notice the boy in front of her until she bumped right into him.
“Oof, uh, e-excuse me, I-”
“Twilight?”
Twilight looked up, confused. The boy, who had deep blue hair, was grinning at her like she had hung the sun in the sky.
“We’ve got to stop bumping into each other like this,” the boy said, a laugh decorating his voice.
“Um,” Twilight adjusted her glasses, squinting a bit. She’d certainly never seen him before. “I’m sorry, I don’t- I don’t think we’ve met. I’m ju-ust transferring in f-from Crystal Prep.” She paused. “H-hang on, h-ow do you know my na-ame?”
Blue eyebrows scrunched together in surprised confusion. Whether it was from her response or her stilted way of speaking, Twilight didn’t know. She wilted under his probing eyes, feeling like she had somehow said the wrong thing.
Luckily- or, perhaps unluckily- a group of students saved her from answering.
“Hey, Twilight!” A girl with rainbow coloured hair approached Twilight.
‘Definitely unlucky,’ Twilight thought as more attention was drawn to her. She quickly studied the group as they drew closer.
The rainbow one was wearing a sports jersey and carried a soccer ball under her arm. Behind her, there was a diverse cast of four other girls. A girl with immaculate purple hair and pristine clothing strode next to a country-looking blonde. After them were two girls with pink hair, but Twilight noted that one seemed a lot more outgoing than the other; she walked with a bounce in her step, while the other hid behind her long locks of hair.
The group stopped in front of where Twilight still stood, anxious and confused, next to the boy.
“You’re back,” the rainbow girl continued. “We thought you couldn’t come through for another thirty moons!”
Twilight blinked. ‘This is getting ridiculous,’ she thought, even more confounded than before.
“Uh, guys,” the blue haired boy said before Twilight could attempt to respond. He seemed to have shaken off his shock, but his eyes remained trained on the purple girl. “Can we talk for a sec’?”
The girls look at him with confused expressions of their own, and Twilight seized the opportunity to leave while she still could. “Um,” she mumbled, “I gotta-gotta go, uh, m-meet with Principal Ce-Celestia.”
The nervous girl speed walked away, trying to ignore the many eyes that followed her as she burst through the front doors of the school.
‘What is with this place,’ she wondered, her mind racing. Several students waved to her and a few said hello as she passed them. ‘Why does everyone at this school know who I am?’
***
“Uh,” Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends watched Twilight hurriedly walk away. “Flash, what was that about?”
The boy was still looking in the direction that Twilight had gone. “I think,” he started, then stopped, looking rather tongue tied. “Um, I think something’s wrong with Twilight,”
The shocked faces of Flash’s friends stared back at him.
“Why,” Rarity started. “Whatever do you mean, dear?”
“Ah’m afraid Ah’m not following, Flash,” Applejack added.
“Yeah, I mean she seemed fine to me,” Rainbow said with a quirked brow. Next to her, Fluttershy remained silent with her eyebrows scrunched together as she watched the conversation.
Flash sighed. “She was wearing those glasses and the way she talked was… well, it was definitely different than how Twilight usually speaks,” he said. He rubbed the back of his neck, averting his eyes. “She didn’t recognize me. And she said she was just transferring in from Crystal Prep!”
The group erupted into confused calamity.
“Crystal Prep?!”
“No way,”
“Ah don’t believe it!”
Flash flinched, holding his hands out defensively. “Look, I’m as confused as you are! I mean, how does she not-”
He was interrupted by huge gasp and a blur of pink as Pinkie Pie zoomed to the front of the group. She popped up behind Flash, using his shoulders to leverage herself upwards so as to better address everyone, throwing off his balance and nearly taking him to the ground in the process.
The party planner took a deep breath. “That Twilight is obviously the Twilight from this world since it couldn’t possibly be the Twilight from the pony world since the Twilight from the pony world doesn’t go to Crystal Prep or wear glasses!”
Pinkie emphasized her words with her fingers in front of her eyes, curled into the shape of two circles in a makeshift pair of glasses. She hopped down from Flash’s shoulders, giving her friends a big smile.
“Er…” Flash’s face was a mixture of perplexity and disappointment as he straightened up. “Uh, yeah, I guess that makes sense. I mean why would she be back so soon? Of course she isn’t our Twilight, haha.” He shuffled his feet.
Rarity was the first to get over the shock of Pinkie’s revelation. She gave the still-rambling Flash a sympathetic look. “We know you miss Princess Twilight, Flash,” she said, then turned to the others. “But this is Twilight is our Twilight. We should welcome her just as we welcomed the Princess.”
The group voiced their agreement.
Applejack adjusted her hat. “Ah’m sure she’s mighty confused by now, seeing as all of CHS already knows who she is.”
“Oof, yeah,” Rainbow said. “We should prooobably do something about that.”
***
Twilight’s hands shook as she raised a fist to knock on Principal Celetia’s office door. She had gotten many greetings and high fives from the students roaming the halls, much to her confusion. ‘This is really weird. Could it have anything to do with those energy spikes?’
A moment after she knocked, a cheery voice invited her inside.
“Come on in!”
The purple girl took a deep breath as she grasped the turned handle.
The room she stepped into had a soft looking interior, with shelves full of books lining one wall and several filing cabinets donning the other. Natural light glowed through a large window behind a desk, at which sat a tall woman with shining hair.
The principal stood as Twilight came in. “Good morning,” she greeted with a warm smile. “You must be Twilight Sparkle. My name is Principal Celestia.” She held her hand out.
Twilight returned the smile, albeit with more anxiety, and shook the offered hand. “N-nice to me-et you,” she managed to say.
“Now I know you might be a bit overwhelmed right now,” Celestia said as she retracted her hand and began rummaging around the many papers that littered her desk. The woman eventually located the paper that detailed Twilight’s classes and handed it to her. “But I’ve made sure your first day will be as smooth of a transition as possible,” she said. “I have a pair of students that can show you around and escort you to your first class. Those two and their friends are quite the accepting bunch, so you don’t have to worry about talking too much if you aren’t comfortable.” The principal’s tone was gentle, but not overly delicate. Twilight was starting to calm down from her earlier panic.
Celestia continued. “I believe you all share first period together.”
As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.
“Ah, perfect timing.” The principal stood and made her way to the door. She opened it and greeted the group. “Hello, Rainbow Dash, hello Fluttershy. Come on in, our new student is already here!”
Just like that, Twilight’s anxiety spiked upwards as two familiar students walked into the office. Their shocked expressions were mirrored in Twilight’s own.
“Girls, I’d like you to meet Twilight Sparkle; our newest Wondercolt!”
There was a beat of silence as the two girls glanced first at Twilight, then at the principal. The girls seemed to be silently communicating something with the older woman that Twilight couldn’t decipher.
Finally the girl with pink hair- ‘Probably Fluttershy,’- spoke, giving Twilight a small smile. “We actually ran into her earlier out by the statue, but we didn’t get the chance to properly meet.” She offered a hand. “I’m Fluttershy. It’s nice to meet you, Twilight.”
Twilight shook her hand, then Rainbow’s, trying to return their smiles with minimal success. She could already feel her mind reciting her usual set of worries.
Before she could attempt to force out some form of greeting, Celestia came to her rescue. “Well, I’m glad you three are acquainted,” she said. The woman turned to Twilight. “You see, I chose Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to escort you because the two of them speak sign language as well. That way, you already have two friends to help you communicate should you need it.”
Twilight blinked. She had never received such considerate treatment from Principal Cinch, so she was a bit baffled at the effort Celestia put forward to make sure she adjusted well. She could feel a true, honest smile start to spread across her face; the first one she had managed since the week began. She nodded to the principal, hoping that the woman could see the thankfulness in her eyes.
Her message seemed to be received, as Celestia gave her a pat on the shoulder before moving to open the door once again. “You three should get going, if you want enough time to show Twilight her classes before school starts.”
“You can count on us, Principal C!” Rainbow Dash saluted the older woman as the three moved out into the hallway.
The door shut quietly behind them, leaving Twilight to awkwardly tangle her fingers together as there was a silence. ‘Well, they seem nice enough, and Shining Armour really wanted me to make some friends after Moondancer…’ She pushed the thought away. Her gaze flitted between the tiled floor and the lockers that lined the wall as she steeled her nerves. ‘I guess I should give it a shot.’
Twilight made a pointing gesture with her finger, then she pressed her index and middle fingers flush together on each hand and circled them around each other; “You two sign?”
Rainbow grinned widely. “Sure do!”
Fluttershy nodded. “I was nonverbal until around third grade and my uncle Discord is deaf, so my family and I all know how to sign.” She smiled at Rainbow. “I know Dash doesn’t really seem like the type to know ASL, but we’ve been friends for ages. When we met, she demanded that her parents let her take lessons.”
“Aw, it was nothing! Anything for a friend.”
Twilight noted the blush on Rainbow Dash’s cheeks at the comment, but the athlete was quick to change the subject. “C’mon, let’s get going. Don’t want to end up late for first period.”
With that, the trio started walking. Rainbow took the space to Twilight’s right, while Fluttershy kept in stride on the left.
The girls showed Twilight each of her classes, starting from her last period of the day then making their way to her first. Twilight found herself relaxing in their presence. Rainbow Dash did most of the talking, much to her relief, and she quickly found that Fluttershy wasn’t the type to try and prod her into conversing.
“We have a fifteen minute homeroom every morning,” The group rounded the corner to a hallway in the math wing of the school as Rainbow explained Canterlot High’s bell schedule. “Then we have periods one through seven, which are an hour long, and a thirty minute lunch splitting it up after third period.”
“Aaaand here’s our homeroom class,” Dash concluded the tour as the group arrived at their classroom. “You’re gonna love Mr. Doodle. He’s usually pretty cranky, but since we have him for homeroom he lets us do whatever as long as we’re quiet.”
She tried the door to see if it was unlocked yet as she continued. “Our whole friend group has first period together, so you can officially meet.” Upon finding no resistance, the athlete pushed the door open, sending an apologetic smile over her shoulder. “Uh, sorry again for the weird welcome.”
“We, um, sort of thought you were someone else,” Fluttershy added. The three entered the classroom together. It was empty, except for an older man with a clearly fake toupé sitting at a desk.
Twilight wrinkled her nose, following her new friends to their seats. “Everyone here seems to have the same thought,” she signed. “People keep saying hi, and everyone somehow knows my name already.”
Fluttershy and Rainbow exchanged glances, once again silently conveying a message that Twilight couldn’t understand. “Um, yeah that’s odd,” Fluttershy said. “But we might be able to explain.”
“It’ll have to be later, though,” Rainbow said with a gesture to the door. Students had started filing in and taking their seats, and a lot of people were staring at them. “At lunch would be best. It’ll be louder and we’ll have our own table, so there’ll be less obvious eavesdropping.” She raised her voice at the last two words and shot a glare at Sandalwood, who was using a textbook to poorly hide the fact that he was openly following their conversation. He jumped a bit when Rainbow called him out, then smiled sheepishly.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him before turning back to Twilight. “In the meantime, we can get to know you!”
Just then, three girls- ‘Of course they’re the ones from earlier-’ entered the classroom together. Rainbow waved them over. “Hey, everyone!”
The purple hued girl sunk a little further into her seat as the girls approached. ‘They all seemed like nice people, but…’ Twilight bit her lip. She knew she never did well with group dynamics. ‘Today’s going to be a long day, isn’t it.’
Hey everyone, I'm finally back; hopefully for good, this time!
Not gonna lie, I've been real stressed the last few months. Life has been pretty demanding, so I haven't really had the time to write until now. I'm going to try and keep a weekly or biweekly (every two weeks) update schedule. Worst case scenario, I only update once a month, but hopefully it won't come to that.
To make it up to you, both this chapter and this next one are pretty long. Hope you enjoyed part 1; part 2 is where shit hits the fan a bit 
I promise I'm not going to disappear for two and a half months again 
~Bitty Bug
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Yesterday's announcement had been especially awkward. "Attention, students: Tomorrow, we will be welcoming a new student to CHS, Twilight Sparkle. No, not that one."
... Celestia did announce that, right? Right?
"He won't tell us how it happened, just that it was 'worth it.'"
In any case, after that first impression, I worry how Twilight will react to all of that attention. It's positive, yes, but she doesn't know how to deal with that sort of thing. Dash and Fluttershy should be able to help, but we'll see how well they can buffer her against the likes of Pinkie and the peanut gallery.
And that's not even getting into Sunset's first encounter with her second Twilight...
Eagerly looking forward to more. Here's hoping life permits a quick update.
i'm so happy your back. you should have the first time twi see's sunset is when she's getting pushed around or something. don't have sunset see her but let twi see her. its just an idea obviously you don't have to i just think it would be a cool thing to happen.
9859901
That's a really good idea!
I already have something planned for their first meeting, but I really like the idea of Twilight seeing Sunset in a vulnerable moment like that. I think I have a good place for your idea in a later chapter, so I'll hang onto it
Thank you so much for the input!
I am soooo worried about the next chapter, When Sci-Twi bumps into Sunset.... I'm honestly not looking forward to part 2...
9859939
No problem. In another chapter you could also have sunset get hurt by someone (Gilda and hoops and scores are pretty common) while twi is around or something and asks why she's getting picked on. You probably should have sunset lie at that point if she doesn't already know about the formal and plus it's still a raw spot for sunset as well. Also maybe have sunset be able to use sign language (it would be a great way to explain how sunset learnt to use her hands)
Yay! New chapter, and we get Twily introduced to most of the crew.
Can't wait.
Looking forward to it! Be sure to take some “me time” to help the stress levels!