Sweet KatalYst (or 'Harmonics') by TeXXy

You remember that one annoying kid in every class; we all do. The quiet one with long hair who constantly made drum beats on his desk and occasionally hummed a repetitive yet catchy tune all day, every day. Every class had one, and in Cheerilee’s fourth grade class, this specific colt went by the name of Alex.

        Alex was a light blue pegasus colt. He had a long, dark blue mane and tail. His cutie mark was a small circular mark, mysterious in shape; similar to his blunt, quiet personality. Alex never once in his life had many friends. He preferred to stick to himself, only expressing his true identity through his love for music as any absolutely artistic pony would. Alex loved to be different; it offered a contrast to the world as opposed to the boring, average wear of a blunt lifestyle based around being as similar to somepony as one can, which tends to be a common feat of ponies in and around Ponyville. This town happened to be where Alex subsided as his lonely yet open-hearted attitude spread amongst the students of his class.

        Alex trotted into his class and sat down as he always did. He liked to sit near the window and watch ponies bustle about the town in a common chaotic harmony that every pony seemed to be highly accustomed to. It induced thought in the young pony’s mind, a kind of thought that inspired many works and ideas in an art one may call music. Alex loved music. It was his life, one of the few things he actually cherished. Electronic music was more his forte than any other genre he heard. The exhilarating beats and synthesis created a very magnetism of a metaphorical euphoric ‘field’ for the young pony, letting him truly indulge his self into his own world and thought. An escape, as he called it.

        As Alex pulled out the necessary various school supplies from his bag, he looked to the side of his desk to see three fillies he’d never seen. The three most beautiful fillies he’d ever seen, and it seemed they were all friends, calling themselves the “Cutie Mark Crusaders”. Alex jerked his head forward as he looked to the front of the room and saw his teacher, Cheerilee, behind her desk, preparing for class to start.

        “Okay, everypony, class is beginning. Take your seats!” Cheerilee said in a sweet tone, as she did every morning.

        Cheerilee turned away and began to write various vocabulary words on the chalkboard. Alex’s concentration faded as he looked back over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ faces in awe of their beauty. In spite of all three ponies having such stunning appearances to Alex, one filly by the name of Sweetie Belle seemed to catch his attention as though she were a lonely cloud

        “Alex! What are you doing? You are not paying attention to me!”

        “S... Sorry, ma’am. I’m just a little out of it today, that’s all.”

        “All right, Alex, but you need to pay attention. You have a test coming up, and your grades don’t seem to be doing very well.”

        “Okay, Ms. Cheerilee.”

        Alex looked down at his desk and flipped open a large book. The book was no longer than any other textbook, however it was much thicker. Each page was dull with extreme wear to the degree that it almost crumbled into dust each time Alex opened it. Continuing to carefully flip through torn and vandalized pages to find the appropriate page for notetaking, Alex released a sigh as irrelevant thought raced through his head. He could not stop thinking about the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and more specifically, he could not stop thinking about Sweetie Belle.

        Alex occasionally glanced over to see Sweetie Belle, embracing what sheer beauty he could before Ms. Cheerilee noticed and shouted at him. He was used to continually getting in trouble for not paying attention, cheating on tests, or talking in class. He was usually always focused, he simply never tried.

        Alex looked through his books for his math homework. As he quickly flipped through the unorganized notebooks and textbooks, he soon realized that he did not have his homework. It was at home, on his kitchen table.

        “Aw, man.” Alex said audibly. He slammed his forehoof down onto his desk in anger, and then sighed.

        “What’s the matter, Alex?” asked a sweet, smooth voice from the filly next to him. He turned to see his heroine, Sweetie Belle, smiling at him in curiosity.

        Alex was enraptured by the sheer voice of his ace. Her mane seemed to flow in a way that was not native to Alex. The sun from the window that Alex was sitting by shined onto Sweetie Belle, brightening her already lucid appearance.

        “I... I um... I just, I forgot my h... homework... and my grades aren’t doing too hot.” Alex stuttered out, trying not to choke on his words.

        “Well, if you want, I could give you my homework if you want. My grades are great! It won’t hurt me.” Sweetie replied with a luminous grin that seemed to stretch from ear to ear.

        “Are... Are you sure? Would you really do that?”

        “Sure, why not?”

The alabaster filly turned and looked into her saddlebags for a minute, then using her mouth pulled out a clean, completed sheet of paper. She leaned toward Alex, who grabbed the other end of the paper with his mouth and gently pulled it away.

“THNK YOO SWEE BELL!” Alex said, the paper still in between his teeth. Sweetie laughed.

“What did you say?”

Alex dropped the paper onto his desk and looked back to Sweetie.

“Sorry about that.” Alex sheepishly giggled. “Thank you, Sweetie Belle.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. Hey, why don’t you hang out with the girls and I today during lunch?” Sweetie leaned back and pointed her head to her two friends. They looked at Sweetie and winked, then turned their attention back to their teacher.

“That’s Scootaloo.” Sweetie said, pointing her right hoof at an orange filly with a purple mane, with deep, mysterious violet eyes. She pointed to her other friend, who was a bright yellow filly with a red mane and a big, pink bow. She had orange eyes. “That’s Applebloom.”

“Sure, I’ll hang out with you guys later. Thanks, again, for letting me have your homework. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to you.”

“I guess we’ll get to that when the time comes.” Sweetie Belle laughed and turned away to face Ms. Cheerilee.

Alex sat and inspected the paper that Sweetie gave him. There was a small spot where saliva soaked into the paper. Alex looked at it and bit his lip nervously.

“Maybe if I licked...” Alex thought for a moment. “No, no, that... that’s creepy.”

Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours as Alex waited and watched the clock for his lunch period to roll around. When it finally did, he ejected his self from his desk. As his hooves hit the floor, so did his face. Alex was in such a nervous trance that he could barely stand, his entire body trembling with awkward emotion that he’d never felt before in his life. As he steadied himself and stood, he looked to the left to see three fillies giggling and pointing at the distressed colt.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” Alex asked.

“You... N... Nothin’...” Applebloom said, trying not to laugh.

“Hey, chill it. I only fell.” Alex said, brushing his self off with his hoof.

        “Sorry, Alex. We’re just poking fun, is all.” Sweetie giggled, lightly nudging Alex on the shoulder.

        The three fillies began to walk off, talking and giggling. Alex raced ahead, squeezing between Applebloom and Sweetie.

        “Hey, what gives?” Applebloom asked.

        “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to push you out of the way.” Alex apologized. He looked at Sweetie, who swiftly winked at Applebloom. He looked back at Applebloom, who simply nodded.

        “Uh. Don’ worry ‘bout it, Alex. That’s quite alright.” Applebloom said. She trotted over to the opposite side of Sweetie Belle, where Scootaloo was walking. Applebloom whispered to Scootaloo, who promptly left her friend’s side. Applebloom and Scootaloo trotted away, leaving the two school ponies alone to converse and spend the lunch period together. The ponies walked outside.

        “So, what do ya’ wanna do, Alex?” Sweetie asked confidently.

        “I dunno. What do you usually do during lunch? I usually just sit around wishing I had food.”

        “Well, I usually play with Scootaloo and Applebloom, but they... left. Don’t you eat lunch?”

        “Nah.”

        “That can’t be healthy.”

        “It isn’t.”

        Sweetie and Alex continued to talk, lightening up around each other as every minute slowly passed. Laughing and talking the lunch & recess period away, Alex and Sweetie slowly began to trust one another, slowly revealing secrets and continuing to talk, jumping from topic to topic as the time passed. As the final bell finally rang to dismiss students from their only free period during the school day, Alex and Sweetie began to walk back toward the school, still talking wildly.

        As Sweetie and Alex pushed open the large door to the school building, they were stopped by their teacher, Ms. Cheerilee.

        “You two may go home. The school day was cut short. It’s Princess Luna’s birthday.”

        “Wow, thanks Ms. Cheerilee!” The two students said in gleeful harmony.

        Sweetie nudged Alex, and raced off towards home. Alex followed close behind. As they arrived, Sweetie slowed her pace and took a breath. Alex did the same. Amidst his panting and wheezing, he heard a familiar voice from behind.

“Hey, Sweetie! Hey, Alex!” Scootaloo said.

“How’s it going?” Sweetie asked.

“I’m doing okay. How are you two?” Scootaloo replied

        “I’m fine, a little tired.” Sweetie said.

        “They don’t think it be like it is,” Alex said, still panting. “But it do.”

        “All righty then. You guys wanna hang out for a while since school is out? Applebloom has to work with her brother.” Scootaloo asked

        “Sure.” Alex and Sweetie replied.

        “So, what do you want to do?” Sweetie asked the two.

        “Why don’t we play Truth or Dare?” Scootaloo suggested.

        “Sure. Alex, you go first. Truth or Dare?” Sweetie asked, leaving no room for his word.

        “I, uh... Dare, I guess.” Alex replied, feeling confident. Alex was willing to do anything to prove his fearlessness. Alex never had many friends, he was lonely. In spite of the neutral, jaded emotion constantly being felt by the small colt, being a loner did bring some upsides, like being reckless and adventurous. Alex did a lot in life for a colt of his age. Most other colts would be off playing organized sports or working to get their cutie marks. Alex already found his talent, so nothing seemed to have importance to him. He made music and he created adventures for his self. What more could he need?

        Love, maybe, but as a small colt, things like this were seemingly out of his reach and out of his league. Neglected by family at a young age, Alex never learned to love. Alex never had social activity, he never felt the warm feeling of any kinds of love in his life.

Love. One aspect of life that can sway the decisions of anypony with even the smallest touch on their hearts. It's impossible to put such feelings to words, or even explain it. It comes to you as a feel rather than being audibly present. The feeling of love, from a touch to the sweet smell of somepony's perfume, it is ever present in the world we live in. We see those with a glance, and claim to love them at first sight. We cling to them and adore every aspect about them, even though we may not comprehend why we do it. Sometimes it isn't love, but it is the love of a sister or a brother. When the things we know turn on us, and we find ourselves looking to someone that we see as a sister or a brother to help pull us out of the rut in life. If they can help us to aspire to be something greater, then they hold a higher standard in our hearts. They become our obsession, every little thing about them seeming greater than the next. We find them to be our idols, and try to make every aspect of our life just as theirs is.