My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - The Soul Complex

by Nasic the Amazon

Chapter 3: Crystal Prep

“How are you today?” Austin asks as they pass one street to the next.

Sour Sweet and he had been walking for only 5 minutes, but no words were exchanged before then.

“You’re really talkative today… WHY TODAY OF ALL DAYS?!” she exclaimed, still looking at her phone.

They stopped at a crossroads as cars were passing by in front.

“W-well, I just need some way to relax, and talking is a way for me to do it”

He waited for a response. With that conversation, a lot of information was learned about this body and the context surrounding it. This person was called Jake, from what Austin could tell he is not keen on talking or interacting with anyone. Sour didn't really want to come to get him, which meant someone from school with authority made her do it. That would mean this person, before Austin took control over it, had high importance to the school, at least academic-wise. And his mental abilities also suggest such a theory.

Sour didn't respond, she just kept looking at her phone.

“How do you know when cars will pass by if you only look at your phone?”

She turned with an angry expression towards Austin.

“Ahhh, it's called MULTITASKING! But you being a genius should already know that” she finally responds waving her hands angrily.

He backed up for a second, afraid she might actually hit him. This made her stop.

“Sorry… I would never do that” she said while looking away.

“Oh, n-no problem! I'm used to it” he responded trying to make her feel better.

“You are?” she asked with curious eyes.

“AHM… I-I mean… NO!” he responded with a forceful tone.

He slipped up for a second but managed to make it so that they continued walking towards their unknown destination.

“I can't let anyone know I'm not the owner of this body. They might think I'm crazy! One thing is clear, I have gotta keep this cover-up. At least until I can confirm what is happening to me” he thought while walking behind Sour.

A few minutes go by and a few streets pass until they see the famous Crystal Prep school.
Immediately Austin recognizes this. He can't believe it but it proves what he had been thinking all along.

“I'm in the My Little Pony universe…” he thought while standing still, his mouth wide open as his eyes look with amazement.

Sour walked a few feet in front but turns around to see what has kept him.

“COME ON! Hurry up! Director Cinch wants to talk with you” she said with an annoyed face.

“Oh, Okay!”

They entered the school to find its hallways empty. Students were still in class. The hallways were so blue with lockers aligned on both sides.

“Ok, I am not familiar with the complete layout of the school but from what I remember… Nah I got nothing…”

Even with his new hyper memory, he can't seem to recall a concrete layout of the premises. The primary theory in his head is that the movies and TV shows didn't bother showing any real concurrent scenes that might help map out the school, at least for THIS one.

“Ok, I'll just continue to follow her. Gonna have to get some info from Cinch… that woman… I'm gonna have a serious chat with that selfish lady…”

He remembers the events of the 3rd Equestria Girls movie and how she almost got everyone hurt. They walked by a few hallways while students were in class. Everything was so organized, so clean, so CONTROLLED. Austin looked from a window at a mathematics class. The students were not friendly to each other. They didn't talk, they didn't interact… they only worked. The walk lasted less than a minute more until they reached a large white door that said, "Principal's Office".

“Alright, my job is finally done!” Sour said as she walked away still looking at her phone.

“O-oh, Thank you!” Austin said with a smile.

She turned around with a face of surprise only for it to become a little red.

“Y-yeah, no problem”

Sour walked a little faster away until she could no longer be seen.

“Okay, this is it! I Gotta take this chance to at least find out what my relationship to the school is”

He put his hand on the door hold and slowly opened it. The door didn't creek nor did it feel heavy. Austin could have easily lifted it. The door led into a reception room where multiple other students were seated. After they recognized him, they glared a little only to go back to what they were doing.

“It appears I'm not that liked here,” he thinks while looking at them in an unsuspicious manner.

He stands before the reception desk with two ladies viewing some computers and paperwork.
The ladies quickly look at him for a second only to be dismissed with a hand movement.
Austin’s smiling head looks towards the students who were sitting behind and for some reason, they looked at him again with those heart-stopping glares. He shrunk his head towards his shoulders and walked towards the nearest empty seat.
As he sat down the student beside him sighed and pulled the magazine closer to his head.

“So… h-how are you today?” Austin asked, looking at the roof.

As soon as those words left his mouth all the students seated looked at him with surprise, as if they just heard a person scream out of nowhere.

Austin felt a little ashamed from all the staring and decided to stop interacting for a second.

“These people really don't like me…” he thinks as he looks at his reflection from a mirror to his left.

Just as he is getting impatient, a mysterious woman opens the door that leads to Director Cinch's office. She was tall and her skin was really white as if she hadn't seen the sun in forever. She had formal attire and her hair reminded her of someone, someone from the series he loved so much.

“Mr. Walker, director Cinch is ready to see you now,” she said with a friendly smile.

Austin stood up as fast as possible as he realized who she was.

“PRINCESS CADENCE?!” he exclaimed in a surprised tone.

She took one step back as her expression turned to one of a startled child.
Immediately Austin recognized he messed up.

“Sorry…” he said with an embarrassed look “I- I hope you are well”

He walks towards her and they both head towards the door.

“You woke up in a good mood didn't you?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Second person to tell me that today” Austin responded with a fake smile.

“Is that so?” she says with another chuckle “So, are you?”

He looks at her with admiration. He never imagined a worthless failure like him would ever meet a high-ranking member in the MLP franchise. But of course, she doesn't even know she’s a princess.

“I… I don't really know. Today I woke up with a bit of a headache”

“Well, you seem to talk quite a bit more. You normally don't ever speak to your classmates or want to continue with a conversation”

“I see” he whispers under his breath.

They stop behind a crystal color door with the name “Director Cinch” in the center. Cadence opens the door and makes space so that Austin could enter.

“I'll see you after the meeting, Jake,” she says while closing one of her eyes while also smiling at him.

Austin’s cheeks turn a little red. He wasn't accustomed to being treated like this, especially by such a beautiful-looking woman. Come to think of it everyone in the streets and school has looked genuinely pretty, at least when you don't get weirded out by the sheer amount of different skin colors. He nods at Cadence and smiles. She feels genuinely surprised by that but continues with her duties and closes the door behind her as Austin enters and walks towards the main desk in the center of the small office.

He sees multiple rows of organized bookshelves and photographs of Cinch when she graduated from university and when she started Crystal Prep. Everything seemed so polished, almost as if it were a flash animation. No imperfections. In front of him laid two chairs, a desk, and behind it a larger seat with beautiful leather detail. The chair was facing the same way that he was, which made it impossible to see Cinch. He didn't say a word for some time, he didn't want to. Thinking began to sink in his brain. While walking here he managed to come up with some pretty simple questions that would give him some important information about this world. All of a sudden, Cinch turns around with a few folders and puts them on the large table. She made sure to move any items that were already there like the pens in her pen holder, or the laptop computer on the left side.

“Mister Walker,” she said as her look moved towards his eyes “It's nice to see you're in good health”

Austin looked at her with menace but laid off a little after he remembered she was a valuable source of information.

“Hello Director Cinch,” he said with a neutral voice.

“My, my, you woke up in a good mood today didn't you Jake?”

Austin rolled his eyes. It's the 3rd time he's heard that same comment.

“Yeah well, I wouldn't say I'm in a good mood. Just a little bit confused”

She looked at him with interest. She turned to the laptop and searched for a digital file.

“I see. This is the first Jake, you've never missed a single school class in all of last semester” she says while viewing “Jake’s” attendance records “We thought something happened so we sent a student to go check”

“It's not normal for students to stay home while they are sick?”

“Yes, but only if they submit a report for a rest request,” she says while moving her gaze back to Austin “But you are not sick, are you?”

He can sense a tense atmosphere building up. He knew that she was an authoritarian woman in the movies, but being right in front of her was something else. It wasn't just her tone and her body language, it was her eyes. She stands up and begins to walk around the office. There are multiple artifacts fixated around, from one gladiator helmet to a broken piece of what appeared to be a black emerald. Each of the multiple artifacts was maintained behind a thick glass cover.

“It would be a shame if our star student were to become sick just a few months from the Friendship Games with “CHS”

Austin’s eyes opened wide. CHS? That's Canterlot High School, right? The gears in his head began to move.

“A few months before the Friendship Games? I’m the star student? What happened to Twilight? I need to find out where in the timeline I am” he thought while preparing his line of questioning.

Austin turns to look at Cinch as she moves behind him.

“Director… What happened to Twilight Sparkle? Wasn't she the best student in the school?” he asked in a calm yet curious voice.

She looked at him with confused eyes.

“Don't you remember? Twilight WAS the best until you entered 3 months ago”

That can't be… In the movies there was never a “Jake Walker”, and Twilight WAS the best student in Crystal Prep right before she left for CHS. Wait…

“I think I get it! I'm at a point before the friendship games happen and before Twilight leaves! That makes it easy! I just have to search for Twilight who is investigating magic and see if she could help me find out what is happening!” he thinks before realizing something “But what if she HASN'T started her magic study? She only starts after Rainbow Rocks when two anomalies happen, right?”

“Speaking of “What happened”, I would like to ask why you were late for school today. As we already know, you normally don't do such things. We thought maybe you got in an accident” Cinch said while walking to her leather chair.

Austin stopped thinking about Twilight for a second and concentrated on her question. He decides to tell her part of the truth.

“I don't really know how to explain it, but today I woke up as if I were in a different body than the one I'm normally in. I was confused and panicked a little. Then I found Sour looking for me and I came here”

Cinch looked at his face for a few seconds and leaned back in her chair.

“You know Jake, we here at Crystal Prep are very keen on following rules. I think you already know that especially because you have never broken any of them” She says while looking at him with sharp eyes “Did you do drugs yesterday?”

He leaned back for a second. Drugs? Did she just say that in a cartoon movie? How can that be possible?

“I don't think so, at least to my knowledge it was a normal night to a normal day,” Austin said with a serious face.

This is different. Different from the MLP movies, different from the normal timeline.

Cinch looked at the clock that hung on top of the main door and sighed a little.

“I know losing a loved one is hard Jake, but you have to understand that doing such things will only get in the way of your success. What if she was here? Would your mother want to see you like this?” She said with a face showing pity.

What is she talking about? Losing a mother?
A few seconds go by while both of them don't make a sound. This makes Cinch look at the clock again.

“Well Mister Walker, I have a meeting in a few minutes with the school council so I'm gonna have to make this short,” she said while standing up “Make sure to not get into any trouble, you are a powerful asset to the school and we would like to… have you at full strength if anything happens”

Austin looks at her with angry eyes.

“I may be on a different timeline, but this woman is the same Cinch as the other one. Sharp and selfish” he thinks while starting to stand up.

Cinch guides Austin to the exit of her office and just as she is about to close the door she calls for him.

“Jake, stay out of trouble”

He looks at her for a second and turns back towards the exit.

“What was all of that about?” Cadence asks while looking at him with a worried face.

“Oh, that was just… I asked her a few things and she thinks I'm doing drugs or something”

Cadence gasps and leans closer to him.

“Please tell me you are not doing it! You know how people turn out with that stuff, right? especially in your young age”, she says with a worried face.

“Of course not. I just had a bad night yesterday and I couldn't go to sleep, that's all”

“That better be all mister! Or else…”

She seemed like a big sister. It hit Austin after he heard her talking like that. He is being treated just as she treats Twilight. That either means she treats everyone the same, or he has a connection to her that's under the surface.

“Either way, I do have to go now… you know, class,” he says while slowly walking to the door.

“But Jake, it's just about to be lunch” she responds as the bells ring all around the school, notifying the students that it's time to eat.

Austin waves at her and leaves through the door.

“Even better,” he says while understanding what has to happen next.