A strange letter appears in front of a highschool dropouts apartment doorsteps, claiming to give him a second chance by attending highschool at a far away location. Little did he knew, he would be very familar with this new school in a different way
Set in the same universe as, How A Realist Saved The Show, however, it is not a prerequisite for this story. You can enjoy this story without having to read the first one basically.
It was a rather drastic decision for Trede Jackson, for he decided to drop out of high school just in between his sophomore year. Three years after that, he works as a pizza delivery boy at a local pizzeria, which wasn't getting him anywhere at the time. If only he would have a second chance to finish high school and obtain his diploma, then he would be able to live a better life than this.
But his wish seemed to have been heard when a strange envelope outside his door containing said chance. Would he be able to accept its terms?
This is the tale of Trede Jackson, an average-built man at about 5'9 and wearing some black work pants and a bright blue collared shirt as he stopped at a red light in his gray ford sedan, the digital clock on the dashboard just ticked to 8:30. He had just came back from a cruel shift as a delivery boy from a local pizzeria. The pay wasn't anything to write home to, but it was enough to support him only. His parents were off seas in their archeology venture at this time, so he never see them as much. Pretty much a lonely life for him, he could've gone through with attending college and planning a career path for himself.
But that dream of his turned stagnant a long time ago.
As the light turned green, he went to turn straight right to the entrance of his apartment villa and parked in the designated parking area for residence. He brought his car's engine to a stop and exited the vehicle, getting a large box of pepperoni pizza that's been heavily warmed up with the heat lamp. The pizza at his workplace wasn't bad or anything, just this batch was just been sitting below a heat lamp for nearly hours on end. Trede hoisted the box with his right palm on the center of the box and went over to his door number, unlocked the door with his key, and entered his dwelling.
"Man oh man..." groaned Trede, tossing the pizza box to the coffee table of his living room and sinking his bottom onto the sofa. "Life sucks for me so bad! My parents left to do their archeology trip, left me in this apartment with automatic rental payments, stuck being a delivery boy at a pizza joint, to which I didn't even apply. My dad's friend managed the place and hooked me up with a job. Sure, he welcomed me like family there, but minimum wage and a few tips are all I'm surviving with! I just...wish I could go back in time...yeah, like that will ever happen!"
A sour decision he made a while back that haunted him for the rest of his life, he dropped out of highschool during his sophomore year. The work and stress just kept on building until it caved in on him. His school didn't have any tutoring or summer school programs due to budget cuts. He wasn't sure if going back to finish school this late in his life, he'll be the oldest sophomore student out there at age 19. His close friends probably graduated and moved on better things to his belief, but he got the short end of the stick leaving school early. Just as he was about to turn on the T.V with his remote on his right palm, a strange set of knocks echoed behind him. It caused him to quickly turn his head at what appeared to be someone at the door.
"Who could it be this late at night?!" he curiously asked.
He dragged his feet over towards the front door and slightly cracked open it to peek out. No one was on the other side, so he must've seen it as some prank by the neighbors. However, as his pupils angled downwards, he noticed a white envelope with a red wax crest seal on the opening. The symbol on the wax appears to be some horse-like facial structure, but he couldn't fathom the idea that someone must've dropped this letter to him this late at night. So he picked up the envelope laying on the cold cement floor and closed the door, carefully inspecting every inch of it as he plopped back on the couch. It was rather unusual for an envelope to be personally delivered to his doorstep.
"It must've been from the next-door neighbor, no mailman ever delivers this late."
Trede forcefully broke the seal on the envelope and saw a folded-up letter written in fancy cursive, but it wasn't too difficult to readout. He carefully skimmed through the contents of the letter:
To whom it may concern,
You are being called forth upon to experiment in a 'back-to-school' program for former students that dropped out of school under their volition. This special program is only given to one lucky person under a lottery draw, and you're the one that's been picked for this once-in-a-lifetime chance.
This school may be...familiar...to your eyes, but it's far away from your current location. Nevertheless, we will be providing you with housing in the general area of the school and will be given funds in a bi-weekly payment. The goal is for you to start from where you left off and finish the three years you've missed out. Your credits will be transferred through your school district and receive a diploma upon completion of the three years you've missed out.
If you hereby accept these terms and want to take on this one-time chance, sign your name on the dotted line below. Alternatively, you can simply ignore this letter and proceed onwards with your future endeavors.
From,
A dear friend...
"What the hell is this?" Trede couldn't believe he was reading, "New program? They're telling me now after threes years after I dropped out!? It's something but, is it okay for me to go back to sophomore year this late? I'm a few years away from drinking age."
The blank line on the bottom of the letter was to sign his name for the program. If he were to go through with this, he would be the oldest one in his sophomore year. Students would make him the talk of the town, and probably respect him more because of it. But he had to think about the odd and unusual details regarding this new school.
"A high school that's far from my location? It doesn't give out the address or name of the school for me to google. This is probably some scam or an elaborate prank set up by my parents."
A stray pen was lying on his coffee table, next to the opened pizza box with a few slices already gone by. It would be fantastic to come back to high school and finished what he started. So far, his job pays decently enough. He grabbed the pen by leaning his chest to gain leverage with his arm and lazily got the pen to his grasp. The idea of getting back to high school and claiming a diploma wasn't that bad, he was determined now that his favorite series ended. This would be the opportune time to get a second chance and redeem himself.
"You know what? What the heck, signing stuff on paper doesn't usually end in some magical turn of events..."
He popped out the cap on the pen and went down to the dotted line to sign his name in cursive. Despite not finishing high school, he knew exactly how to write a signature. As soon as he finished, Trede tossed the pen on the coffee table and stared dumbfounded at the paper he just signed his name on.
"Alright, so I signed it..." he held the paper by his two hands, "I guess I have to mail it off..."
"Another one signed these!? Sheesh! Well, here you go then!"
"Huh?! Who was that!?"
The letter that Traded was just holding onto all the time immieidetly burst into a bluish flame and disintegrated from thin air, followed by the blue flames that were engulfing the environment around what was Trede's apartment circled him when all that he could see was his whole apartment being whisked away in series of flashing lights. He couldn't witness what was going on with his eyes as he started to get this dizzy sensation that caused him to collapse from the experience. Perhaps one of his employees spiked his pizza with a week-old mozzarella? Or what kind of contract he signed that was going to change him for the rest of his life?
"My head's pounding like I had a hangover...I would open my eyes, but there was some bright light I was sensing..."
Trede could only feel where he was lying, to which he felt a rugged carpet on some hard surface. The air he breathed felt...odd... It seemed to be oxygen because he was still alive and breathing. Nevertheless, all that Trede could do was slowly lifted his eyelids wide open to adjust his eyesight from this strange place. A few seconds in, he caught a glimpse at the exterior of the place. A mixture of uncanny decorum and furniture placement gave the whole atmosphere a mind-numbing experience.
"W-Where am I?" he groaned in agonizing pain from his head throbbing.
He would think quickly to get back up from lying flat on the floor, propping up his legs and pushing them upwards as he wobbled just for a split second. Now, he was getting a close look at his surroundings, but something clawing inside him was just eating him on the inside. He knew where he was, but at the same time, he never stepped foot in the area, like some sort of deja vu scenario. It was more prominent when Trede took a closer look at things.
"I feel like I've seen this place before," he was pushing himself to the brink of his cranium, trying to grasp on his exact location, "But where have I-"
"Oh, you're finally awake!"
"Hmm, who's that!?"
The loud echo he heard was made by a familiar tone of voice Trede believed to hear before. It was more prominent when a puff of dust appears out of nowhere in front of him, just standing near one of the stained glass panels. The creature was no stranger to Trede, he knew him as a reoccurring character and former antagonist from the hit T.V. show; My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.
"Hey, I know who you are!" Pointed put Trede with his big finger, "You're that Discord character from My Little Pony! And could this be your house?! I knew it looked familiar!"
"What? Surely you realize this is my domicile, don't you?" he playfully teased the human, "You Bronies always tend to focus on your 'best ponies' or 'favorite ships'."
"Y-You know about us!?" Trede gawked, "I thought you were all just some cartoon show based on a toyline developed by a multinational conglomerate?"
"That's what your world may perceive us, but Equestria and pretty much everything you know about it is a 'real place'"
"Wow! I just can't believe all of this..." he felt a tad mind blown by these new surroundings and a creature coming from a t.v. the show, "I'm really in Equestria!? This is totally ten times better than Disneyland!"
"My-My, you are certainly more enthusiastic than the other guy..." Pondered Discord out loud, seeing the bipedal all giddy, "So Mr. Trede, since you've signed the contract, you will be..."
"Stop right there, I know what's happening!" The smile on Trede's face wasn't going away any soon when he contained his excitement, "You wanted me to finish my high school term, so you're sending me to Canterlot High arent' you!?"
"My-my, you certainly are a sharp one," Discord pointed out, "I've prepared everything you need to fit into that world; documents, identity, and all of that boring junk I don't want to go over, all you got to do is to register. Say, you aren't seeing this is some elaborate dream you came up in your noggin."
"Don't worry, my dreams were shattered a few years ago..." he nonchalantly threw out, still harboring a big smile, "So tell me, you mention another guy? Is he in the same boat as me?"
"Well not exactly, he needs some serious dough and is willing to do some work for me to get paid, don't worry about him!" Discord vaguely answered to Trede, "So Trede! First things first, you must be aware of the 'other world' of Equestria, am I right?"
"Umm...YEAH!" he shouted out.
"Yes I see, so you need to be aware of a few ground rules," Discord waved a talon in the air to emphasize, "Be on your best behavior, I'm not there to bail you out when you get into serious trouble or give you a leg up. You're on your own over there, if you get expelled or you fail your terms, it's game over for you. You'll be sent back to your world with nothing but a dead-end pizza delivery boy!"
"Alright, I'll be on my best behavior." He nodded
Discord continued onwards, "Next thing, you won't be given any magic powers supernatural abilities to aid you. Your knowledge as a Brony and that world should suffice to get around. Also, no entering Equestria, you aren't a creature of origin and will remain human. "
"Aww, man...I wanted to see the castle..." Trede could sigh in utter disappointment.
"Lastly..." He gets fly placed his left paw on his shoulders to give him a nasty look with his eyes piercing daggers, "Keep your nasty hands off of Fluttershy! I know it's technically not my Fluttershy, but still! You can be friends with her, but not 'too' close if you get my gist."
"Heh, well..." Trede couldn't contain his laughter as he chuckled a bit, "I promise you that won't be a problem, anything else I should know?"
"There's one more thing to point out," he placed his claw on the bottom part of his chin, "I will not stop you if you decided to change up the plot, just be sure to have good judgment when doing so."
"Change the plot? What do you mean?"
"Oh! Will you look at the time!" Discord poofed up a small wristwatch on his left wrist as he tapped it with his claw, "The window of opportunity is almost here! I'll message you with finer details later, time for you to check out your amenities."
One snap later, A bluish vortex swirl appears right in front of where Trede was standing, seeing the strange swirl was mesmerizing. But it was short-lived when Discord lightly gave him a push behind his back and he jumped through the vortex to suck him up like a vacuum. Now back to the state he was in before; surrounded by bright colors and stripes as Trede's head was spinning. He may not know what obstacles or challenges he'll face, but all of that was put aside as his whole life is going to change for the few years to come.
"You may be wondering why I'm falling through so trippy wormhole with flashy lights and colors? Well, I just received a letter from some strange school about going back and finishing up my high school years and getting the diploma I never had. I received it pretty late at night and it was personally delivered to my doorstep, I thought that was a bit sketchy. So, after I signed my name on the dotted line, I got whisked away to some other dimension! Not just anyone, but Equestria for the manner! I couldn't believe my eyes and brain when Discord appeared out of nowhere and was offering me to go back to school at Canterlot High!"
"He mentioned that I won't be getting any second chances if I royally screw up or get awesome main character powers. I'll just be a regular old high school student with the knowledge of the world and its people. I don't know exactly how things will play out, but I'll just have to see when I get there."
Feeling like he was falling for 30 minutes straight, Trede was flailing his arms trying to grab hold of something. But it was overall a useless gesture as he kept on seeing the strips of light rising above him. He never thought traveling through a different world from another was going to be a long trek, but he just had to hang on there and...
*THUD*
"EEEOUCH!"
One major thud from falling a few feet off the ground caused Traded to groan in the sharp pain he sustained from his back landing on some hardwood surface. Before he could stand up, he rolled onto his side and placed his hand on the affected spots on his back that took the major fall. It took almost a few minutes for him to recuperate from the fall and slowly propped himself back up with his two legs. But as soon as his legs started to regain strength, he circled a full 360 degrees and noticed he wasn't in the same old apartment he lived in for three years. This one had a completely different floor plan with hardwood floors, new furniture, and other stuff he could've sworn he never bought in his life.
"I'm in some other apartment?" he took his time to walk around the room, seeing the different objects and trinkets, "It has some generic photos of landscapes and other stock images. What the hell is going on!?"
A familiar tone was ringing out loud within Trede's location, he knew immediately it was his phone. So, he dug around his right pocket and got it out, revealing the caller id to be: Uncle Discord.
"Uncle Discord?" Trede scratched his head with his left finger in utter confusion, "I don't have an uncle named Discord."
It took no time before he answered the call and an eccentric-sounding voice came alive.
"Oh! So you made it in the piece! Excellent job my boy, you're on the first few steps to getting into school! While disguised as your uncle by phone, I will be contacting you with updates on your progress and giving you pep talks; just like real uncles!"
"Discord? You're calling me now?!" He tried to get to the bottom of this, seeking more answers from him. "Did you place me into this new apartment with some tacky knick-knacks?"
"That's Uncle Discord to you! And yes, all of this was my doing. This apartment complex is a few blocks away from Canterlot High, a bus stop is just outside the complex. I've provided you with everything you need to settle in, I assumed you don't need to know how to use the internet or get around?"
Trede slowly followed through as he nodded along the way, "What about cash and the rent for this place?"
"Got that covered too, I've fixed you up with a bi-weekly allowance that will be sent to you via mailbox. An envelope with the first payment should be on the kitchen aisle. If you wish to get more money, I suggest finding a job around the city."
He moved across the living room to the kitchen aisle and found what he believes is a total of 300 dollars in an increment of 20 dollar bills sticking out from the opened envelope. Trede cracked a grim smile on his face, "I'm so flattered by all of this already, but I have this one question. You mentioned something about changing the plot, what do you mean by that?"
"Oh that? Well, you're just going to have to find out! I would start with exploring your new home for three years. It's currently Saturday over there, but you need to meet with Principal Celestia at her office later in the day. Good luck with your new life!"
With that, he hung up the call and left Trede with many more questions waiting to be answered. He decided to take this time to get familiar with his new living space as he checked every room and little detail he could find. The first stop was the open kitchen, where he took the fridge handle by his right hand and opened it up, empty.
"No groceries even? I guess I'll go grocery shopping later, I need to check out my bedroom."
The small hallway just to the right of the wall-mounted television had two doors just across from each other, assuming it was a bedroom and a bathroom. The next door he saw had a plaque hanging on it that read 'bedroom'. He pushed opened the doorknob and saw what a typical room contained; a bed in the corner, another door that presumably the closet across from it, a shelf and drawer just adjacent to the closet, an L-shaped black desk without anything on it.
"I may have to invest in a laptop once I get myself a job." turning away from the desk and quickly turning over at the drawer and closets, Trede went to see what clothing options he had, "These must contain some clothes for me, Let me see what else I'm decked out with."
Opening the individual drawers, he saw that it was packed with some essential items; pajamas, socks, graphic tees, and the whole enchilada of basic wear. Traversing through the closet door, Trede found tons of dress shirts in multiple varieties hung on the left side and so as the same for the pants hung on the right. He also spotted a couple of pairs of shoe boxes on the right side and an empty white hamper basket.
"All, I'm not even going to question how he got my measurements on point. I guess I should get out of my work clothes and prepare for my meeting.
He assumed this place had a bathroom when Trede went to open the door on the opposite side, and not to his surprise, it was indeed a bathroom equipped with the essentials; shower, toilet, sink, and a washer and dryer on the left corner of the room. It didn't take long before he strip down and went in the shower to cleanse himself for a few minutes, dry every part of himself with the tower on the towel radiator, and grabbed his clothes on the ground and layed it onto the washer. Putting on a fresh pair of boxers from the drawer, he carefully inspected the many pieces of clothing from the closet to check out his options.
"I'm not so much of a guy who cares about what he wears, but I want to establish a defined look for myslef if I want to attend Canterlot High.
It wasn't too long until something caught his eye, grabbing hold of three hangers with a set he thought should be good enough for his taste. Most of them were for formal dress shirts that you use once a week at a gathering, none of the other choices didn't pique his interest Placed them side-by-side on the bed as he grabbed onto the black collared jacket with 5 large buttons on the front.
"This jacket is from those school anime I watch? I think they're called a gakuran?" he took a closer look at the material and felt the jacket with his hands, "I don't know, but this one's calling out to me...it's perfect!"
A good 15 minutes to get dressed when Trede first began putting on his matching black pants one leg at a time, it was a perfect fit for him, he felt a bit afraid of how Discord managed to get his pants size correct. The next piece was the white long-sleeved dress shirt he buttoned up individually from top to bottom, adjusting the collar for a perfect fit. After he was finished with that, he moved on to putting on the black jacket over his white dress shirt while adjusting the sleeves to go past the black jackets. One more final adjustment later, Trede finally put on his white socks and opened up the fresh pair of black shoes from their box, and placed his soles inside them.
He was finally ready to embark on his exciting new life in this brand new and yet familiar world.
He got out of his room and went over to the kitchen aisle to get the cash left by Discord and kept it stashed deep in his left pocket. Reminding himself that he needs to spend some food and school supplies for classes Monday, Trede made sure he got his phone with him and grabbed the keys just on the hooks by the front door. Locking it from the inside and remembered his apartment number and location on the navigation app on his phone.
"So my phone already recognizes this foreign world and I can see the map of the city? It must be Discords doing again. I'll check out how internet life is once I'm finished with my supposed interview with Principal Celestia. But, I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm meeting her in REAL LIFE!"
Trede figured out he was on the second floor of this two-story apartment complex, it wasn't too far off from his actual apartment which made him feel at ease. He briskly walked down the stairs and passed a few cars parked in the parking lot before he found the bus stop just over the gate. A public bus traveled through different spots of Canterlot City, including a stop across from the school itself. After waiting almost 5 minutes, the oncoming bus stopped fighting in front of him with a few passengers on board seeing their faces from the windows. They weren't a core character from the show he recognized, so he just entered the bus, paid the fare, and sat near the open entrance as the bus driver closed the door and went on to the next stop.
"Okay, so from my place to the school should just be two stops in between, but coming back home would have to be five stops. Shit! I hate public transportation, why didn't Discord hook me up with a car or something?! But I can't complain, I'm really in a new world. So far, nothing out of the ordinary and no sign of the seven."
The next few minutes were spent on the bus as it traveled through the stops leading to Canterlot High school, the many attraction of his whole life ahead of him. The anticipation from Trede's mind was eager to be seeing the school as a reallocation. The bus finally came to a stop at the bus stop in front of the school. This was the moment of a lifetime, slowly standing up and walking out of the doors, Trede took his first few steps within the schools' area. Just as he would see it in the show; from the large structure of the school to the pony statue in the front of the courtyard.
"The school's a bit bigger than I thought, but I have only seen it on some tiny-ass laptop screen." He jokingly let out a chuckle before getting a good look around over at the few students it's in front either talking or playing some sport, "Not many students around on Saturday, given that no one even dares to show up on weekends. Before I go inside, I just want to try out something."
No one caught a glimpse of his presence, so this would be a perfect moment to stick his hand into the portal. But, he has noted Discords warning not to enter Equestria as he would remain a human being and would cause trouble over there. Nothing harmful to sticking his hand out, he believed. But, something deep down his mind finds the presence of the statue, odd. Yes, he knew of its abilities and secrets, but something doesn't add up. Trede left those feelings aside and powered walked over to the side of the statue containing the mirror portal, slowly easing his right hand and gently maneuvering it on the hard and cold concrete as he layed his palm flat...
"Hey, what gives!?" gasping, he vigorously pushed his right palm over multiple places on the statue base to find nothing reacting the portal, "It's not working? What happened to the portal to Equestria? Maybe it's rejecting me because I don't belong here?"
"Ahh, you must be that new transfer student! Good evening!" A soft-spoken feminine voice came from behind his back, "I've been expecting you. Your uncle spoke to me over the phone about you, I'm Principal Celestia."
"Huh!?" Trede turned himself around a complete 180 to see the tall and curvy woman standing ding next to him with her hands on her hips and in a stance. His legs were shaky, and his heart fluttering over the elegance and stature of the woman who stand before him, he had to blurt out, "I love you..."
"What?"
"What!?" He carefully turned over the subject as to not get instantly weirded out by the principal, "I mean, It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Principal Celestia. I always wanted to attend school here."
"Oh, you know about this school already? Must be from the website then?" She assumed, going over to the sink! let matters, "Your uncle Discord recently told me about you and your current situation, you've dropped out of your sophomore year just last year and transferring here to finish what you've started. That sounds wonderful, but, it was rather an odd commodity that your uncle didn't mention you by name."
"So he went ahead and slightly modified my backstory to be more forgiving and less severe, I don't mind shaving off two hears off my age. He never spoke my name to her? This must be the part where I give out a name to use for myself. I don't want to use my actual name, it doesn't feel right in this world of weird-ass names. Maybe something that sticks out while keeping it badass as usual"
"He hasn't told you my name yet?" He went with the context, acting surprised, "My name is...Yozora! It roughly translates to Night Sky, but I prefer Yozora myself."
"A pleasure to meet you, Yozora." Celestia offered her right hand for a formal handshake, while 'Yozora' graciously accepted it out of the blue. After their hands retracted, she went and gestured to him as she walked over to the front door, "Let's take this in my office, shall we?"
Trede, now taking the name Yozora, followed the principal along the pathway to the school's front entrance and inside the main hallway. No more than a few teachers and faculty walking along carrying a few papers on their chests, even Trede knew a few of them with a glance. The principal's office was just a few feet left from their little trek when Celestia opened the door and invited him in, making sure she pulled up an empty chair for him to sit in. As she get settled in her seat, she pulled up a manila folder containing a few files in hand.
"Let's see what I know based on what your uncle said on the phone," Celestia pulled up a file containing some information she wrote down, "Your parents are currently working overseas on an archeology expedition, am I correct?"
"Wow, he managed to dig through my personal life too? I don't know how he does it, but I'm not complaining."
"After they got an opportunity to go on a 3-year expedition to some ruins in a desert, they had to take that chance and leave me with my uncle Discord," Yozora answered nonchalantly.
"Interesting," she put up a small grin on her face, looking down at the paper on another line, "Next thing I want to know, why did you drop out of our second year in the first place? Was it because of your peers? Or about the way school life was for you?"
"Shit...that's a topic I never thought I'll ever touch again. There's no reason not to answer or keep quiet, I might as well spill out a bit of my reasoning."
"It's not that I was being bullied or anything like that," keeping himself from not showing off his weak side, Yozora continued before taking a big gulp, "I just stopped trying, that's all. I was fine during my freshman year, but as soon as I got to sophomore, the work just kept on piling and it got way harder. My old school didn't have tutors or summer school programs because of budget cuts. As for friends, they were willing to help me, and by help, they meant getting answers off of eachother for a small fee. It didn't feel right getting answers from someone else, I want to figure things out for myself, you know."
Celestia soaked in his backstory, taking a few nods silently as she moved over towards the next piece of paper, "I understand where you're coming from, luckily our school has excellent tutoring and summer school programs. The last thing I want from you is your fill out this form with your basic information and stuff and you'll be an official student here starting Monday."
The paper she slid across her desk was a typical registration form for the school, Trede carefully grabbed ahold of it while taking a pen from the cup on the edge of the desk, filled out each box with the appropriate information, and finished off with signing with his new name. He thought it would be okay to include his actual email and phone number. Momentarily, he slid the form back to her as she happily picked it up from the desk and placed it inside the folder.
"I guess we're all finished, welcome to Canterlot High!" she cheerfully let out a peppy tone, "Now, let me start you with getting you a tour of the school shall we?"
"Getting to see around the school upclose is sure a mind-boggling experience, however, I think I could manage remembering places based on the various shorts and specials."
"That won't be necessary." politely, Yozora shook his head at the principal, "I want to surprise myself in exploring this new school myself."
Celestia slanted her head, completely shocked by his decision, "A-Alright, I won't stop you then. Just be on the lookout for your email for your class schedule, and make sure to pick up your gym clothes at my office when school begins. You're lucky to be attending school just a few days before the Fall Formal on Friday night. "
"Hehehe, I'll make sure to drop by for a..." he was completely stopped dead on his reply as Yozora wanted her to repeat what she said, "Hold the phone! Say that again!?"
She once again explained more about the event, "The Fall Formal. It's a seasonal dance that will be taking place at the gym, it'll be the perfect time to get to know some students there. We even crown a lucky student to be the princess of the Fall Formal. But, I have strong feelings it'll be Sunset Shimmer once again, she's very persistent about being the top. You should meet her if you have the chance."
"Discord, that damn bastard! He sent me a few days before the first Equestria Girls film in the entire franchise. This is what he meant when I'd find out immediately. I knew it was fishy that the portal didn't activate for some reason. I can't believe I'm --hang on a minute...yes... it's perfect! Brilliant even! I can use my time here not only to finish high school but to shape the Equestria Girls plot to my liking. I know what happens, all the characters with their quirks, and watched all the specials from it. My school life's just getting much more interesting by the minute."
Curling his lips to a small smile, Yozora broke his short silence as he said, "I'll be sure to check on her when I have the chance."
After standing up from their seats, Celestia and Yozora each shared one more formal handshake across the desk before he waved bye and exited the office. Walking to the main doors with a big smirk on his face without anyone noticing his presence as he stood right at the front entrance and peeked over the horizon.
"From here on out, my whole life for the next few years will become much more interesting than a dead-end pizza job..."
"I never would've imagined I would be the first brony in existence to be sent into a fictional world filled with beloved characters that I've been a fan of! I just got accepted into Canterlot High, where I'll be meeting, talking, and hanging out with said characters for the next few years. Well, my main objective is finishing high school of course, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. I was sent before the first film started, back when Sunset Shimmer was a selfish and greedy girl who only wanted power. If I'm not careful, I might make a fool out of myself when meeting my precious waifu for the first time. But feelings aside, I want to stop her from stealing the crown in the first place."
It's currently Sunday, and Trede spent time at his new apartment home getting familiar with this new world. Just yesterday after he met with Principal Celestia, he went to the nearest grocery store to obtain every highschoolers choice of dietary substance; frozen pizzas, T.V. Dinners, and instant noodles galore. He couldn't ignore fruits, veggies, and the essentials in every fridge, so he bought some to fill up his fridge. Alongside groceries, he bought school supplies to go with it; pencils, erasers, notebooks, highlighters, and a one-strap bag for his stuff. Wearing nothing but some pajamas, he lazily layers horizontally on the couch and browsing through the channels on the television.
"Everything feels just so unfamiliar to me, all the channels and shows I use to know are either gone or completely different." He said out loud, "It's almost bedtime, I better check on that pizza."
His kitchen is equipped with a conventional stove-top oven, pretty convenient for a high schooler like him. He doesn't use it for homemade stuff, only for frozen or pre-made stuff ready to bake. He grab some oven kits and opened the oven door to reveal a crispy, bubbly pepperoni pizza hot to the touch. Gently grabbing the dish it laid on and placed it on a cooling rack behind him. Trede also remembered to separate the pizza from its dish to prevent any more cooking on the bottom from his pizza job. Waiting a few minutes to cool down the pizza and place it on a big enough plate. The last thing he did was grab the pizza cutter and slice at the middles to form its pieces.
"Now, all the groceries I've bought came to a total of 82 dollars, which included with bus fare gives me $204 left. I need to make sure not to spend money left and right and save up for a car. I may want to get a job at a pizza place soon, something I'm familiar with at least."
The morning came, and Trede was already at peak energy getting up and doing a few light stretches and checking to time. Just an hour before classes start when he came exiting out of his room and into the bathroom to do his morning hygiene routine. Once he got out of the shower and into his school clothes, he walked out with his satchel bag on his right and a banana half-eaten on his left and prepared to exit his home locking the key as well. He stared directly at his phone the whole time while tossing the banana peel at the trash can.
"The email Celestia sent me of my class schedule says I have English first period. I may bump into familiar faces, and may even encounter the Queen B of the school herself, but the important thing to look out for in the Fall Formal this Friday. I'll just see how the first day goes..."
The bus conveniently showed up as soon as he got his eyes off of his phone and saw much more people sitting inside. He doesn't mind standing on the ride to school as it was just two stops until he reaches it in the first place. The second the bus stopped in front of the school, A mass exodus of students on the bus walked out and entered the school property. This left Trede the last student out when he took a few steps forward to see much more students on the turf areas walking, starting, and chatting.
He inhaled and exhaled the fresh air of the outdoors to take in as he trekked for the main entrance, "Let's get the show on the road..."
His satchel was strapped along his shoulders and dangled down to his waist when he quietly passed the students who were staring at him intensely. Trede wasn't even close to entering and he already has people eyeing him, but he ignored their curious glares as he suspected being a new face around here. He knows how this goes; a New kid enters a new school, gets a huge audience looking at him, a bully enters the frame, tries to pick on him only to be saved by a potential long friendship. Typical high school antics he calls it. The students' constantly staring at him with a hint.
"Hey, is he new here?" Whispered a girl to the right of the halls looking anxious over him. "I don't recognize him!"
"A foreign exchange student, look at his outfit," another girl from the left side gossiped to her other friends.
"Dude, we have to do something, or 'she'll' tear him apart!" A slight bit of worry from a boy to the right side contacted another guy to his right.
He was almost halfway to the office, peeking with his peripheral vision at carious students engaging in small talk. But just when the moment couldn't get worse...
"Hey! You there!"
An immediate stop from Trede caused him to turn around to find out who called him out from behind his back. Trede kept his alert high, his breath steady, and his posture all confident when he stumbled upon an orange-skinned girl with two tones of red and orange with her hair and her piercing look strutting to his location. An indistinguishable grin formed with Trede's lips, hiding the Brony in him and containing the burst of excitement. The one who called him was none other than Sunset Shimmer, and he couldn't be so enthralled by her presence. Her posture was all sassy as Sunset leaned her hips to the right side and placed her right fist on her hip stopping just a few feet away from where Trede stood. The tension grew massively with every student in proximity giving them their full attention. If this was a regular high school, Trede would have immediately been frightened and swearing nervously over the school jock calling out for him. But this time, his whole heart started fluttering as he saw with his two eyes his all-time favorite character in the series. He had to keep his poker face to not show signs of weakness.
"Mmm...you must be the new transfer student the Principal mentioned to me this morning. What's your name?" asked Sunset Shimmer, showing her devious smirk to catch a glimpse of this fresh face she could torment.
"Yozora..." Nonchalantly answering his name straight up as Yozora began to pull up a large smile, "You must be the popular student a principal Celestia was talking about, Sunset Shimmer, is it?"
"Heh, alright Yozora," Sunset chuckled a minuscule amount getting to the gist of her meeting, "You're the newbie here at this school, so I'll let you off the hook for now. However, there are a few rules you must understand for you to even get a slight chance to survive here; Anything I request from you, do it! Don't speak to me unless you have something important or if I speak your name, and anything to tick me off or I find annoying of you will give you a bad time here. You understand me?"
"I have only one question, that's all." While Yozora requested a simple question from next she gestured her brow to permit him to speak out, "Where's the restroom?"
"No, why did I just say that as my first few words to her! This is like that dating sim I've played that has those boring choices!"
He hasn't received a verbal response at all, Sunset instead pointed her left finger over at the restroom doors just a few feet away from them. He friend around and spotted the boy's restroom sign.
"Oh, thanks..." Yozora closely examined the direction she pointed and slowly walked over to the boy's restroom.
With that out of the way, Sunset returned to her busy elsewhere while the students everywhere resumed their usual chatter. As for Yozora, he was still hung over his embarrassment of a first impression seeing his favorite character. The restroom itself was kept cleaned and pristine, way better than his old schools. He took this time to come to the sinks and washed his face turning the faucet to the cold water.
"Oh man! I couldn't contain it much longer, she may be a total bitch in the first movie, but...SHE IS JUST SO DAMN CUTE! She's letting me off easy today, but that means she's plotting for more. Maybe I should just hold off changing events and just play things out like in the film."
"Hey dude, you alright"
A voice coming from the entrance of the restroom popped in, as Yozora finished wiping his face with the paper towel and saw who called him. It took him by surprise, but he knew quite well who called him out. Yozora sighed one breath of relief.
"Oh, it's you..."
"Um? You know me?" Flash scratched his head as he found.
"Oh! I mean..." Scrambling to save this, Yozora quickly got his mind in check, "You're that Flash Sentry Sunset mentioned! Yeah!"
"So she's talking about me now..." Flash angled his head down in total embarrassment, "We used to date, but it was less about love and more of being used to garner popularity. Anyways, what's your name?"
Trede pulled out his right hand in an attempt for a handshake. "I'm Yozora!"
As the moment Flash accepted his handshake reaching for his hand to exchange, he let his name sink into his mind, "Yozora? Sounds foreign to me, you're not from here are you?"
"Well, yes, but I just change schools coming from a different state to finish high school." Yozora elaborated further, sleeping a somewhat straight face.
"Finish? Are you saying you've dropped out?"
Rather difficult to answer back as he stammered a bit. "Well...yeah...I happened to drop put during sophomore year, I just came back a year later to finish."
"Damn, that sucks..."
"Yeah, I have to relearn some of the stuff I've missed--"
"No, I mean, it sucks that you had to choose THIS school." corrected Flash, "It was this or that fancy prep school across the city, but I'll take that place over here as long as she's here."
"Oh? Is she that bad?" He pretends to act intrigued and clueless about the situation.
"Yeah it is, your best bet is to just stick with me and I'll show you how things work around here." Flash suggested as he went closer in on Yozora, "What class do you have first?"
Yozora answered whiled pulling up the phone of his class schedule. "I've got English with Ms. Cheerilee,"
"Oh wow!" he smiled, "You got the same class schedule as me, there's still time before
"Sure, I'm down once I get my gym clothes from the office."
"Ironically, we had identical schedules and it was very reassuring having a friend on the first day. It wasn't until later we exchanged contacts as I headed over to the office to pick up my gym clothes and assigned locker number. After staying in one spot to pass the time, I was greeted with a full classroom filled with students who stared at me like I'm in my underwear. English wasn't too bad at all, it's just reading and whatnot. Chemistry is where things take a roll on me, all these element memorization and formula. I didn't have to take notes that time because they had a quiz for the day, but tomorrow is where I'll start having to jot down notes. "
At the halfway point was lunchtime, and Flash Sentry and Yozora were walking across the hallway making it to the cafeteria. It was a rather nervous experience for him, he never sat down at lunchtime in three years. Lunchtime was split into two sessions o control the abundance of students entering the lunchtime. Even then, when they entered the cafeteria from the double doors, the line to the left was pretty packed with students collecting their lunch. Both guys paitnetly waited in line and advanced for each student that left the queue.
"You should sit with me and my buddies, I'll make sure to throw in a good word for you." nudged Flash, trying to get Yozora's attention as he stared deeply at the trays of food down the line.
"It's fine, I'm perfectly capable of finding a place to eat,' he humbly rejected Flash's offer, "I'm just going with my gut and finding the first seat I find."
"A-Are you sure you'll be fine? What if you'll bump into..."
"No-No! It's fine!"
Flash shrugged as to giving up on his generous offer, seeing him in front of the food line and grabbing a bowl of salad, a sandwich, and a carton of milk from the fridge. With Yozora however, he went straight for the wrapped-up chicken sandwich and got a small tray of fries placed on the main tray on top. After he exited the line, Flash went to his table with his friends all laughing. This left Yozora in a bit of a bind as he observed the vast room with students eating and chatting in their social groups.
"Alright, the first challenge in every new kid's nightmares; is where to sit at the cafeteria. Each table is divided into its social groups and the outsiders are left with diddly squat. I'll make sure to not be that guy who humiliates himself on the first day. Now, where to sit...oh! There's a vacant table over there!"
Rushing over the edge of the empty table and placing his tray of food on the end when Yozora finally marked his spot. He sat at the table placed his bag on his right side and began unwrapping his chicken sandwich. Cafeteria food wasn't the best-tasting meals he had, but this time was different. He took a few bites of the sandwich while panting vigorously over the spiciness of the breaded chicken patty.
"This spicy chicken sandwich ain't half bad, but the excessive spiciness could use a bit of sauce to balance it out. Now then, while I enjoy my meal, I should just sit back and observe how this school functions with Sunset Shimmer in--"
"--What do you think you're doing in MY spot?!"
The voice interrupted his train of thought when a sassy voice walked came in front of him and stopped the indulgence of his meal. It was no surprise, Sunset Shimmer came with her tray of food. Her eyes were cold as ice, a signature look she uses to frighten the students into getting what she wants. However, to her surprise, Yozora was completely unfazed by her piercing smile, he stood with a blank expression on his face.
"Hello there, care to join me?" he nonchalantly offered her a seat across from her, picking out fry and consuming it whole.
"I don't believe you heard me correctly, but this is MY seat!" she angrily repeated, "Sit anywhere BUT here! That's the first rule of this school!"
"I enjoy a good tsundere when I see one, but Sunset Shimmer isn't one in my heart. She's just so fueled with power and greed that it's getting to her. I'll just push her buttons a bit more to lower her authority..."
One straight chuckle from him, Yozora took two fries and shove themed down his mouth, "I apologize, I wasn't aware of the 'Sunset Shimmer manifesto' in the school handbooks. Please, if you would, care to sit with me if you're eager to enjoy lunch. You don't have to speak to me or such, but there are six feet of distance in this empty spot."
"Arrggh!" she gritted her teeth as her frustration grew immensely, "Have it your way! But tomorrow you stay away from this side of the table!"
Nothing seemed to defeat his hard-boiled stare as he gathered enough courage to remain seated at the table. It was at the point where Sunset had enough of his stubbornness, she scurried off to the next table to take over. It wasn't easy, but Yozora finally surpassed the second time of her antagonizing day of torture. He should receive a medal for that, but couldn't feel so good about himself. He still had to figure out how to stop her from entering Equestria to steal Twilight's crown.
"Perhaps the series doesn't need changing, I could just be that likable background character that people look in the background and say 'hey! It's that guy!' But, I just don't know what to --"
"Wow, you handled Sunset Shimmer so well!" yet again, another feminine voice echoed right in front of him. Sounding to be coming from a frail girl with a softness in her voice. "You're that Yozora from my chemistry class, aren't you?"
Yozora looked up from his seat and saw the most delicate-sounding and adorable face he could die for; Fluttershy. He knew well that the five were separated because of Sunset doing, but seeing an iconic character like Fluttershy in person couldn't make him so exhilarated on the inside. He slowly goes to greet the frail girl with a warm smile.
"Hey there, you know about Sunset Shimmer?" he politely asked, "I just simply told her there was a lot of space around this table. She was pissed off for some reason."
"Oh hello! I'm Fluttershy!" she returned the warm smile to him, treating herself with her sitting across from Yozora, "You're the first one I've met that could withstand her cruel demeanor. As for this seat, it used to belong to us..."
"Us you say?"
"I mean, my friends of course. Or perhaps I should say former friends..." she dragged her bowl of meat-free salad and stabbed a few bits of lettuce with her fork to twirl around, "This is where we used to hang out, but not after what they did."
"I wonder what happened behind the scenes to make all five of them split up like that. It wasn't well explained, but I think it had something to do with text messages?"
"That sucks, why did you ever separate in the first place?" He played coy, acting clueless about everything.
"It's a pretty long story, I don't want to go into details," Fluttershy had a water bottle on her side when she opened it up and took a few sips of it, proceeding on, "I've got accused of something I didn't do and at the same time, my friend acted very irrationally when she threw a party at my animal care shelter. It turns out we were getting on each other's nerves until we just stopped becoming friends."
"Hmm..." Biting another piece off his sandwich, and chewing for a good 8 seconds, he thought about her story, "That's a bummer, I thought you would be popular just like Sunset Shimmer."
"Oh, it's fine! I don't need to be popular to get by high school," Fluttershy assured him that nothing seemed bleak for her, "I'm doing better without them, gives me more time to focus on my job. Are you aware of the Fall Formal this coming Friday?"
Just when Fluttershy changed the subject, Yozora nodded, "Yes, Principal Celestia mentioned it a few days ago, why?"
"I suggest you vote for Sunset Shimmer to be the princess if you don't want any problems," she gave him a fair warning, taking a big gulp, "....Err...not that it matters since no one is going to run against her..."
"Lunchtime went as smoothly as possible, I've spent some time doing small talk with Fluttershy. Even though she says she's fine without friends, it doesn't bode well for me at all. I've got only a few days until the Fall Formal? I know, Discord said I didn't need to change stuff, but I can't turn a blind eye to this. Princess Twilight does not even need to come here if I'm here. After lunch, I went straight to my gym class where I was given a locker number and its combination before heading out to the track to do a mile. The rest of my classes were math, history, and art class at the end. It was fine, I'm pretty good at drawing and sketches. When classes are done, I'll just roam the school for any of the four girls affected by Sunset. I have a feeling I know where to find Rainbow Dash, so I'll head out to the fields after this."
He finished cleaning up his station gathering the used paint brushes and tossing them into the sink for rinsing and storing them in the appropriate cups. The last bell rang just a few seconds after cleaning up the table as most of the students began walking out of the art room one by one. Yozora calmy inspected his portrait of a fruit bowl on its easel, proud as ever on the inside. But, he wouldn't expect a slight amount of pressure that felt like a finger tapping on his shoulder which made him turn around to see a girl with luxurious violet hair and glistening eyes over his flawless painting.
"My-My! That is the most gorgeous creation I've ever seen coming from this classroom!" she happily gave him her honest opinion.
"Rarity, so I have art class with her and Chemistry with Fluttershy. Sad to not get the rest of the girls in the same class. I'll use this time to try to get more info on Sunset."
He scratched behind his head, chuckling over her compliment. "Hehe, well I should say you're the most gorgeous thing I've seen in this classroom."
"Oh... that's not the first time someone said that to me..." the girl's cheeks showed a bright red after she mewled, "I haven't even properly introduced myself, I'm Rarity, and you are?"
"I'm Yozora, I just recently transferred here today," he gave Rarity a welcoming smile on his face, preparing to wear his satchel bag on his shoulder, "You're the third girl I ran into today, I must be getting lucky with the ladies!"
"Is that so? By any chance one of those girls were to be Rainbow Dash?" Rarity's expression grew peeved, seeing the boy shook his head in silent, "Good, she may be the captain of the sports team --which may sound impressive-- but well let me give you some dirt on her; she's a no good, sneaky little, lying brute! Don't waste your time on her!"
"Geez! when did Rarity show this much hostility in the show? Even in the main series, the unicorn Rarity gets this insane when it's about her dressmaking."
"Woah there! Settle down..." he calmly tried to get her to cool off, "Why not we just walk around the halls while you tell me all about what this Rainbow Dash did to you?"
"Yes...that would be appropriate..." Rarity recuperated herself from her little breakdown, "I would like to get to know you better,"
"We walked a respectable 3 feet distance from each other to prevent anyone from getting the wrong idea while Rarity vents out her frustration over Rainbow Dash. She texted her that her dresses were always terrible and poorly made followed by a few combinations of emojis that form something only girls could decipher. All of this has Sunset's name written all over it, but I can't just accuse her without hard evidence. My best bet is to speak to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, they seem to be on good terms still."
The frustrated groan came from Rarity as she walked along the hallway with Yozora next to her. She grunted, "Ugh, I just can't forgive what that Rainbow Dash said about me and my dresses! I've painstakingly crafted each one of them!"
"Well, that does it." He reluctantly agreed, "Why aren't you still friends with your other friends?"
"Well we all started to get on each other's nerves, so we all agreed to stop hanging out. That was just last year." She answered back in a pout, "it's recommended that you don't speak--"
"I told you! I didn't send you that text!"
"Uh oh..." Yozora mumbled.
The rainbow-haired girl approached the two, coming out of the girl's locker room entrance with her arms carrying a soccer ball as she persisted to convince Rarity of what happened. But Rarity refused to believe her, mocking her, "Oh! It's the sports queen herself! Let's give a ripped-up potato sack to wear because that's way better than my dresses!"
"Rrrggh! You're so irritating! Breaking our long-time friendship over a stupid text!" Rainbow Dash barked at her, dropping the ball to the ground and letting her right footrest upon it, "I didn't even have my phone at the time! Someone else used it probably!"
"There's no way I'm going to trust you after that!" Scoffed Rarity, "You were always saying my dresses were too flashy or they weren't up to your liking!"
"Well, they are, but I would never ridicule how hard you work on them!" Rainbow Dash used her foot to raise the ball back to her arms. "I don't care what you make, as long as you're having fun doing it!"
"God damn it Rainbow Dash! Why did you have to work it like that?! Their constant fighting kept going on so long that I had to dip when they weren't looking. Sunset messed up their friendship, I plan to fox it before the Fall Formal. But I just have no idea how to approach this"
After taking his leave, he went straight to the front entrance and approached the bus stop. But, before he could walk past the statue, his phone began to ring out. It was from Trede's 'supposed uncle', so it was probably something important. He went to the side of the entrance as he checked for any observers in his way. Son as Trede found no one looking at him, he answered his phone and lift the speaker to address his uncle.
"Yo uncle! How's the 'family business' doing for you?" Trede casually answered with a playful smile.
"Yeah! It's going smoothly as ever! How's the new school doing for you champ?"
"It's amazing, met a few faces I've seen before, including Fluttershy. But don't worry! I'm not doing anything with her. We just spoke to each other at lunchtime." He sighed, "Let's just cut to the chase, why did you send me back to the beginning of this series? Won't it affect the timeline of future events?"
"Good question my dear boy! Yes, while you changing events from the past may affect the future, I just wanted to see how a Brony would change things up after knowing every single bit of what happened."
"Alright, I'm having trouble trying to fix the five girls' friendship because of Sunset Shimmer. I know she's going to go back to Equestria and steal the crown. But I just don't know when."
"This could be the perfect time for you because she steals it on a Thursday morning, plan accordingly and you may be able to thwart her. Be very careful, because I'm not assisting you with that. Everything you do there will be up to your own accord."
"Okay then, I'll be sure to think long and hard about what I'll do."
The second Yozora responded to Discord's warning, the phone call hung up on itself as he turned off the screen and placed it back in his pants pocket. One more scan around the area before he walked over to the bus station and waited for the upcoming bus. The sudden realization that he only had 3 days before Sunset Shimmer steals the crown. Tension grew on his forehead, he only had this we'll to stop her from doing so. Not only that, but he also wanted to rekindle the five girls' friendship as well. Even though he doesn't have to do anything, he wanted to remake the series his way.
"Tomorrow is when Sunset Shimmer will go all out trying to torment me being the fresh meat of this school, so I have to mentally prepare myself for anything that she does. I know how her character is, I just need to exploit that somehow..."
The next day came, and Trede got to his usual morning routine and prepared to get dressed up for today. He prepared a bowl of cereal from his kitchen table and consumed it spoonful by spoonful. The morning news was on the television screen, and Trede was browsing on his phone for something that might be useful for his plans. Tapping on the file manager and scrolling down to his 'Equestria Girls' folder contained multiple video files that he had downloaded over the years.
"Everything seems intact, I don't see any changes at all. I'll consolidate these when I need to brainstorm later, I have business getting my books at the library and preparing my locker. I don't want to lug four heavy books all day and strain my shoulder."
Riding the packed public transportation every day is very nerve-wracking; the hard plastic seats, crammed spaces, But it is what it is. As the bustle rattled along the road, it slowly came to a stop at the front of the school. The last step of the bus left him all alone walking to the main entrance and wandering the hallway. The students were minding their busniess around the locker rooms, leaving Yozora walking alone. It was rather quiet like any other library, but in truth, there was no one in sight as the librarian managed the counter. Receiving his books was as simple as giving put his name and student number, seeing the librarian preparing his books from the storage area, and stacking them on top.
"Thank you very much ma'am." he graciously thanked her.
"No sweat sweetie!" She waved goodbye from across the desk.
The next stop was his assigned locker number and set up his locker from the inside. Lugging his four textbooks was a chore, but he pulled it through when he reached his designated locker and turned the padlock to the combination as it unlocked flawlessly. He took his sweet time sorting his locker as he slammed down his books flat inside and gathered a few other useful things he bought at the store; sticky notes, folders, a compact whiteboard with a sticky side to place on the back of the locker door, a magnetic marker that can with it resting on the side, and other stuff that could prove useful on the future.
"Everything seems to be looking sharp today," Yozora smiled. "Maybe today will be brought for"
"You look like someone who takes school seriously..."
The voice coming from his left side was someone he expected would drop by his locker, Sunset Shimmer. She had her usual smirk on as she confronted Yozora up to his locker. Her arms were crossed, expecting to see tension along the new kid's face. But, Yozora took her by surprise and gave her nonchalance with his face.
"May I help you?" The clueless expression he gave her left Sunset to giggle.
"You're not like the rest of these students at this school, I can tell." she sounded very sarcastic in tone and expression, but she did have some curiosity keeping her grin up. "I thought you would be quite a mess on the first day, but you worked your way through and breezed through it like you're a regular."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" He seemingly scratched his chin.
"It means that you've caught my eye, new kid." she grinned. "I'm willing to spend my time here helping you make a name of yourself in this school as long as you give me assistance in what I want. What do you say?"
"Ah, I see, this is probably what Sunset Shimmer did to get Snips and Snails on her side. I don't want to be some girls lackey even if that girl is my number 1."
"If you want me to care about what you say, call me by name at least." Yozora felt a little peeved by her, keeping a big poker face.
Sunset huffed out a little out of her mouth, "I know, but Yozora sounds strange. I should call you by a nickname if we're going to the Fall Formal together."
"W-What?"
"If you're not hearing things correctly, I'm going to run for Princess of the Fall Formal and I'm going to win!" She continued her boasting, "Everyone here will know that because I'm way better than everyone. With you by my side, we could dominate this school together and become king and queen of this castle! What do you say?"
"...Not interested..."
"What?!"
"You probably wondering why I rejected you, simple really," he slowly huffed out, giving him some delay before blurting, "You were the one who broke the friendship of those five girls, aren't you?"
Sunset raised a brow from his accusation, "Oh? You think I've done such a cruel thing like that?"
"Coming from a girl who treats this place like her castle, I say I have a hunch about it." he gave her a stern look trying to get on her level of authority.
"Heh, even what you said could've been true; there's no way you could prove it to them." she slyly chuckled, "But, I guess you DON'T want my protection?"
He slowly grinned, "Trust me, I don't want protection with you around... "
Sunset grunted in a hissy fit when she kept her cold stare at Yozora, "Very well, I guess you can just roam free trying to find a place around here and probably end up lonely as ever. You had your chance with me, and you blew it. See-ya, new kid!"
Stomping her two feet onto the hard floors, she left the scene most irritatingly shoving students in her way in the middle of the hallway. Yozora took a deep breath next to his locker as he grabbed onto his English book and placed it in his bag for the first period. Just when the coast was clear, he walked further down the hall to reach his class, when suddenly he was stopped by another strange voice reaching out to him from the cracked doorway.
"PSST! HEY YOU!" cried a loud-sounding call for him, "COME OVER HERE!"
"Pinkie! Don't say it out loud!" another voice coming inside the classroom responded to the first one. "What if she finds out?"
Taking a quick detour away from prying eyes, Yozora quickly opened the classroom door the two girls were hiding in and quickly closed the door behind him. He didn't know what to expect, but he was inside an empty room with their desk neatly organized in perfect rows and all alone with the country girl herself sitting on the teacher's desk and another bouncing all joyful and carefree when Yozora was spoked by her energetic tone.
"Two girls alone with me in an empty classroom? Sounds like a scene from a manga I've read, but I wonder what the fuss is about summoning me here for? This could be the perfect chance to get some dirt on Sunset."
"First of all, welcome to CHS!" the pink-haired girl welcomed him, with a fast-acting handshake he wasn't prepared for, "I'm Pinkie Pie, and this is my former super-bestie and just friend who sees eachother once in a blue moon Applejack!"
"Howdy partner!" Applejack tipped her hat down as a way to greet the guy, "Your name is Yo-sore-hah!?"
"Um, something like that." he scratched his head trying not to laugh at his butchered name, "It translates to Night Sky, I'm from somewhere waaay out of this country."
Applejack scratched her head with her index finger, "Well darn, that name of yours sounds like total mumbo-jumbo to me, but I shouldn't be making fun of someone's name like that. I've seen you've met the pampered princess herself, Sunset Shimmer."
"What about her?" shrugged Yozora, "She seemed like your typical high school queen b acting like the high-horse she is."
"What?!" Pinkie dropped her jaw as she got right in front of Yozora to ask for more, "She's more than that, she aims for the top no matter what, even if it means sucking up to the Principal and Vice-Principal. You're lucky to even speak to her without getting hypnotized by her nasty tricks!"
"She's a total diva when it comes to what she wants in the Fall Formal." groaned Applejack, "We didn't have this problem last year, but everything changed when my friends stopped becoming friends."
"Bingo"
Yozora rested his bag on the empty desk to alive the weight of the book inside. He attempted to ask them some personal matters, "It always bothered me why you aren't hanging out anymore, I have classes with some of your former friends that mentioned you."
"Oh do? Don't bother trying to make friends with them, like when Fluttershy wanted a crazy party at a silent auction! But she ended up saying that she didn't!" grunted Pinkie Pie with her arms crossed from mentioning it, "And also, no one ever bothered to help set up for a huge party even though they said I told them never needed help in the first place!"
"Hmmph! One of them promised to show up at my bakesale, but never appeared at all! But let's not talk about that!" she answered with changed the subject over, "Sunset Shimmer may have gone easy on you yesterday, but the rest of your time here will be hell 24/7. You held on pretty strong, just watch out for anything she does and tries not to get on her bad side."
"Yep, total mess around here. I might try to convince them their friends didn't send them those messages. But that would mean gathering them in one place, perhaps I could get their cell phone numbers?"
"Too bad your friendship never lasted through school, but I'll take your advice. Let's exchange numbers shall we?" putting a reassuring smile on his face, Yozora curiously asked the girls' numbers in front of him.
"Woah-nelly! You can't be asking for girls' numbers on the first day meeting them." Applejack giggled for a second only to bring out her phone, "But alright since you seem like a fine person to trust."
"Oh! You can have my number too!" Pinkie Pie brought out her phone from inside the fuzzy labyrinth that is her hair and began tapping vigorously on it.
After receiving two phone numbers from Applejack and Pinkie Pie, they exchange one last goodbye for the day and left the classroom one by one with them walking side-by-side to the left and Yozora left standing out of the classroom entrance. It took him a while before a surge of brilliance coursed through his brain. If he would obtain all five of the girl's phone numbers, he could have pretty much summoned them to one place to solve their friendship problems.
"I already got Applejack and Pinkie's numbers, I could obtain Fluttershy's at chemistry and Rarity's in art class. But I'll have to visit the soccer field to get Rainbow Dash. Today is going to be a long day."
A few hours in, Yozora entered his chemistry class as the students entered one by one and sat at their designated desks. He noticed Fluttershy sitting just further down to his row, he quickly placed his bag on the seat of his desk and can't approach the girl to not brighten her from behind.
"Hey Fluttershy, it's me Yozora from yesterday."
Fluttershy turned around and immediately smiled in his presence, "Oh it's you! I forgot we had the same class, I was going to approach you and ask you to be my lab partner."
"Oh yes, it's lab day today." He snapped with his fingers, "Sucks that there was a quiz yesterday, I have no idea where, to begin with, notes and stuff. Do you think you can help me?"
"Sure! I'll help you get up to speed." She nodded, reaching for her bag and grabbing a light green notebook out of it, "You can borrow my notes when we settle in the lab station."
"Thanks, and maybe we can exchange numbers while we're at it?"
"Oh!" She blushed profusely at his sudden request, "My number? I've never given my number to a boy...unless we're dating."
Warning bells rang in the head of Yozora, remembering the words that were said by Discord a few days ago. "Keep her dirty hands off of Fluttershy he remembered.
"I-I'm not trying to ask you out to the Fall Formal or anything!" He blatantly raised his voice to not panic, "I just thought since we're good friends and you're helping me out in this new school, we could exchange numbers and keep in touch?"
"I mean...I would like to go to the Fall Formal with--"
"N-No! Not like that!" he blurted out, making her jump from his raised voice, "I just want to be friends, that's all!"
"That's all?" she raised a brow before taking a big sigh, "I guess It's alright considering you stood up to Sunset..."
"Gosh Dang, I manage to get her phone number without sounding like I'm trying to make a move on her. Now, time to get Rarity's number from my final class..."
Hours passed by...
"Lunchtime was a breeze for me, I decided to try out the school's pizza they served hot and fresh. It was okay, tastes like any old-school-quality pizza. This time, I sat at Flash's social group at the lunch table filled with hardcore rockers. Not the group I see myself hanging out with any time, but they were pretty chill with me there. My next goal is to obtain Rarity's phone number, which shouldn't be too bad since we sit next to eachother in the art room."
During the middle of art class, Yozora was following the instructor's directions on the art of calligraphy, holding up a fountain pen on his right and just getting the right angle as he swiftly steered the pen with a dropping of ink on his piece of paper. The class was practicing writing the alphabet in a font of their choosing. An interesting lesson and very fun for him. But the final bell rang and the instructor prompted everyone to drop their orns in their stands and clean up for the day. Not to mention, he was sitting next to the fashionista herself, Rarity, as she admired his paper.
"You're as stunning at this then you are at painting!" She gave an honest smile on her face, "You must be a natural at this!"
"You could say that, or I'm just lucky!" Yozora smiled back at her, "You seem like a person that would win Princess of the Fall formal in a heartbeat."
"...I appreciate that darling, but..." Rarity stumped her attitude as she tried her best to hide something from him, but failed when she gave in, "I don't want to get on Sunset's bad side again."
'Woah, is she that bad? I thought the students here were exaggerating all of this just to mess with the new kid--aka me." Curiosity filled Yozora's mouth.
"It's a rather cruel story I don't want to get into, let me focus on the inevitable future." She turned subjects very quick, "You probably don't have someone to accompany you in the fall formal."
"Yeah, you could say that again."
The bashful expression Rarity made with her cheeks turning red and her stare looking away at him made Yozora's heart race, "Well...this is probably going too fast for you, but would you mind if I were to accompany you to said dance? It's to be a bummer with Sunset being the spotlight, but we can still enjoy it by ourselves?"
"Is this happening?! Rarity is asking ME out to the Fall Formal? Someone that high caliber in my tier-list of favorites will give me the edge of popularity. But! I'm not going to betray my number one favorite regardless of timeline. "
"I hope you won't be heartbroken by this, but I have to refuse..." he killed her mood when her smile turned to an immediate frown, "Don't worry, this doesn't mean I don't want to be friends with you. I simply need time for us to get to have a better understanding with eachother."
"...I suppose you are right..." she bounced back with her elegant smile on her face, "Perhaps we could exchange cell phone numbers so that we could see eachother after school. I'll show you around the hotspots around the city someday."
Yozora nodded. "Sure, sounds like a plan!"
After exchanging numbers and testing out each other's messages, Rarity said her farewells and he saw her off in the hallways. The final number he needs to get was Rainbow Dash's--he had an idea where she was at this time of day.
Entering the boy's locker room from the entrance inside the hallway and navigating through a throw of lockers to the other door that leads outside the back where a majority of the fields are. Yozora can spot someone already occupying a goalie practicing her legs dribbling the ball, it was Rainbow Dash. No one was on the field with her and the bleachers were empty, just him walking within the pathway around the field.
"How am I going to approach this? I would simply go straight to her on the field, but that's too bold of me. Maybe I'll call her out to me? But then I would have to interrupt her. What to do in this situation—"
"You there!" The screeching voice of Rainbow Dash spooked him a bit, gasping when he heard her. Rainbow Dash stopped her legs from keeping the ball up in the air as it dropped to the ground. "You're the new kid?!"
It wasn't until she let the ball go from her sight that she powered walked to him, keeping a cold glare from her face. Yozora doesn't quite know what he has done to peeve her, he never had a class with her at all. Whatever it is, he would have to brace himself for anything. She stopped just a few feet away from him with arms crossed and everything.
"Yes, I am..." He slowly inched his way to engage in a conversation, "My name is Yozora,"
"Oh, I know who you are..." She scolded him from her stare alone, "You were with Rarity yesterday and I saw you two hitting it off. Well sorry to burst your bubble, she's NOTHING like she says she is."
He gave himself a huge facepalm in his mind as his worries started to drift away and move on to correct this situation, "You got it all wrong, we're merely classmates that have last period together. She was just showing me around the school@"
Rainbow flustered up, "Really? So you two aren't a thing?"
"No..."
"Alright, I guess you're cool. But still, what I said about her yesterday on that text message was true!" Rainbow's arms were re! eased from their crossed position, "I never said anything to her to offend her dresses! But, she still keeps accepting it as the truth! I mean come on! That was like a year ago! Can't she just forget it? I'm telling you, if you could stop a long friendship just by sending words over the phone, then everyone stops becoming friends! And another thing; another girl said I didn't come to her bakesale with the softball team, but we had a game at the same time! Now she shuns me for being a liar and an unloyal friend! And another thing..."
Rainbow rambled on about her former friends and how they got on each other nerves one day and just stopped hanging out one day. It dragged on for way too long that Yozora had to do something to get her to stop. He raised his two hands in parallel to gesture her to stop as he absorbed all the info dumped into his brain. "Now hold your horses, there! Take a deep breath and tell me; what you said to Rarity was true?"
"Yes, it was!"
"And the part of you saying you never had your phone on you, was that true too?"
She took little to no time to nod in agreement, "All of them are fully aware I don't call or text during matches. I mean, how would I when my phone is in the locker room?"
"Okay then, I'm seeing a certain pattern going on..." he carfully delve into the nitty-gritty, "I want to give it to you straight; I believe you never texted her those rude texts."
Rainbow blinked, getting off guard by the boy's open mind, "R-Really? I've told them a bunch of times and they never seem to bother hearing me."
"I guess they had trust issues after that whole debacle, I can understand that." he slowly went in for the hook, "Look, I got to head home now. How about we trade cell numbers and pick this back up tomorrow?"
"Oh...OHHHH!" she made a face of complete realization as she pointed her right index finger towards him, "I see what's going on, you're trying to ask me out to the Fall Formal! Aren't you!"
"Wait, hang on, let me--"
"I know your little scheme here! You're trying to butter me up by talking about my personal life and then you'll try to get my number and ask me out to the Fall Formal!" she gave out a little summary of the scheme he was attempting, "Sorry, you're probably a good guy, but I don't give out my number to anyone!"
"Ah shit, here we go again. Rarity is more open when it comes to giving out her number, but Rainbow Dash is a total of 180. But I need to push on somehow..."
"...Aww man, you got me!" he raised his arms like a crook getting caught by the police, giving a sarcastic cry, "First I reject Sunset Shimmer, then Rarity, and then got shot down by you..."
"Hold the phone!" It was until Rainbow Dash abruptly stopped him from continuing, "You rejected Sunset, of all people?"
"Y-Yeah, what's the matter?"
"Dude, that's hardcore!" she squealed as her magenta eyes sparkled, "The last guy who dated Sunset was so miserable, he had to break up with her in a month! She's like the self-proclaimed queen of the school and you turned her down? And Rarity also? She's the second most sought-after girl every guy drools over! You're more brutal than I thought!"
"Maybe this could be the only way to get her number, but I'll be betraying myself to my allegiance."
Yozora nodded before he stabbed himself in the back with his answer, "I guess I did, but it's just because she wasn't my type. I prefer the physically fit and active types; someone who's sports savvy and knows around every game. Also, they need to be a boss when it comes to playing video games."
Her eyes shot up, noticing the similarities to her over Yozora's preferred type, "Hey! I checkmark on every single category! But still, going to the Fall Formal with me? I appreciate it, but you could do way better."
"We don't have to go to the dance together, I just want to get to know each other that's all." He assured her no intentions of trying to score a date, "My close friends are far away, I just want to have someone to hang with after school. I've heard you got a reputation being the captain of every sports team here. So, what do you say? Want to hang out sometime after school.
"...Alright, you can have my cell," Rainbow placed a small curl on her lip, grinning, "If you can beat 1 on 1 with a little soccer match!"
Yozora could just silently gulp the moment he murmured his words, "A-Alright..."
Just a grim reminder that Yozora had going on, he hasn't played soccer since middle school, only passing the ball to the teammates who played. He placed his bag on the bleachers and jacket next to it before entering the field with Rainbow Dash and the ball. The match took a good 10 minutes and finished off losing 3-4, he couldn't believe he was actually on par with the sports queen herself. The two were out of breath and were sitting just on the bleachers as Rainbow Dash passed him a bottle of cool water from her duffle bag.
"Woo...That was the intense match for me," he took a few gulps of his water, taking a deep breath out, "No wonder you're the captain of the sports teams here."
"You're alright, I was just going easy only you to see how you did." criticized Rainbow Dash, cackling along the way, "But you did better than most people who challenged me one-on-one."
"She was going easy on me!? I don't want to face her when she's trying her heart out! But who cares, I've lost either way..."\
"Since you've impressed me, new kid, I'll give you my number anyway!"
"Really?"
"Yeah!" she gave him a thumbs up and a big smile, "Yozora, am I correct? You'll do fine here as long as you have a buddy with you to keep tabs on."
She picked out her phone from the side of her duffle pocket and the two exchanged numbers for a couple of seconds. To his surprise, Rainbow then took her time texting out what appears to him a schedule of the week a few times.
"This is your schedule I presume?" he asked her before getting a silent nod back, "It seems that we don't have any class together, bummer."
"It's cool, I'm pretty much free after school and some parts at lunch." Rainbow said as she picked up her water bottle and phone in the bag, "I need to head out to the lockers to take a shower and head out, I'll catch ya tomorrow!"
She grabbed her ball in between her feet and scurried off to the girls' locker room to leave Yozora alone sitting in the bleachers. The first part of his plan was already complete and it left him all tired and dirty. He took this time to catch the fresh air when he recollected his thoughts from within.
"Now, all I need to do is get them together and assess their friendship problems. I only have until Thursday morning for Sunset to steal the crown from Equestria, but I have no clue how am I going to stop that. Perhaps...I don't even need to do that...maybe I'll use her entering the other world to my advantage? It's still cloudy to me, I'll sleep on it tonight."