"Um...Steel?" Mrs. Cadence asked, "Why do you have an umbrella in the classroom?" It was 9:00am in the morning at Canterlot High School; Mrs. Cadence, the biology teacher, was checking the attendance of her class when she noticed that one of her students, Steel Blaze, had an umbrella by his side.
"Oh, you know," Steel replied as he looked out the classroom window at the storm that was raging outside, "I just like to be prepared at all times." Before Mrs. Cadence could ask Steel what he meant by that, the classroom door opened to reveal Flash Sentry covered from head to toe in snow. Suddenly, Flash started shaking his body back and forth like a wet dog to get the snow off of him. As he shook, several students screamed as they tried to protect themselves from the flying snow.
"Hi Mrs. Cadence," Flash said as soon as all the snow was off of him. "Sorry I'm late; I got held up in gym class. We were outside in th-" He stopped abruptly, as he looked around to see most of his classmates with snow on their bodies and angry looks on their faces.
"How nice of you to join us, Flash," Mrs. Cadence said annoyingly as she brushed snow off her shirt. "Perhaps you can continue to explain why you're late during detention." As Flash walked toward the only empty seat in the classroom, Cadence looked out the window at the blizzard that was brewing outside. "I'm surprised that Celestia called for classes to resume today, even during this storm."
As Cadence looked out at the storm, Steel shook off the snow that covered his umbrella. Of all the people in the room, he was the only one with dry clothes on. Yep, he thought as he rested his hands behind his back, it's always nice to be prepared.
"Come on, Octavia," Flash pleaded to the cellist, "how many times do I have to say 'I'm sorry'?" Steel, Flash, and Octavia were walking down the hall toward the cafeteria for lunch. Most of the students were heading there as well; they all looked the same: miserable and covered with snow.
"When you decide to stop shaking off snow like some dog." Octavia said through gritted teeth while staring daggers at Flash. She grabbed her hair and started ringing the water out of it like a towel. "Anyway," she said, "nice touch on the umbrella, Steel. I think you're the only student in the school who's not wet."
"Like I said guys," Steel said as he looked back at his friends, "I always like to be prepared."
"HEY STEEL!!" said a voice from in front of Steel that made him jump in fear, mostly due to the fact that the voice was shockingly familiar. Steel turned and saw that he was face to face with Sonata Dusk, one of the sirens who tried to enslave the students during the Battle of the Bands last spring. Behind her were Sonata's "friends" Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze, both giving Steel, Octavia, and Flash looks of utter revulsion. After they were defeated by Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms, the girls were offered the option of attending Canterlot High as full-time students. When they reluctantly accepted, the responses of the other students toward them were mixed. Sonata, with her bubbly attitude and her innocent humor, won the affection of many students. Adagio and Aria, however, were met with negative results; they were often met with glares and hostile looks.
"So Steel," Sonata said, "What do you think of this storm? Crazy, huh?"
Steel didn't know what to think; looking at Sonata's adorable face caused his face to turn beet-red and sweat all over. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was: "Uhm....Well....I-I-I-I-I"
"I know, right?" Sonata said with a giggle, "It’s freezing outside; that's probably why you're shivering, right?
"Uh...Y-Y-Yeah." Steel said as he smiled a bit nervously.
Suddenly Aria spoke up. "If you're done talking to him, Sonata," she said grumpily, "I'd like to go to lunch now."
"Oh sure," Sonata replied as she realized the time, "Well, see you tomorrow Steel." As Aria and Sonata went into the cafeteria, Steel noticed that Adagio was standing in front of him, and she was not happy.
"Listen punk," Adagio said as she jabbed Steel in the chest with her finger, "Do us all a favor and stay the hell away from Sonata, you stammering idiot."
If it were Sonata herself speaking, Steel would have listened immediately. However, this was Adagio talking, and Steel was not going to back down. "What a shocker;" he said "Even after you and your friends were humiliated at the Battle of Bands, you're still hopelessly trying to be a controlling BITCH!" Steel smiled as he saw Adagio's face turn livid with anger.
"Alright, alright." Flash said as he stepped between Steel and Adagio, hoping to break up the conversation before it got violent. "There were probably some words there that probably shouldn't have been said. Let's just go our separate ways."
"Fine." Adagio and Steel both said. However, as Adagio walked into the cafeteria, she and Steel exchanged looks of disgust and utter hatred toward each other. As she continued into the cafeteria, Steel breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well," he said, "that could have turned ugly; right, guys?" As he looked back at Octavia and Flash, however, he noticed that they both had smug grins on their faces. "What?" Steel asked.
"Always prepared for everything, huh?" Flash said with a sly grin.
"Um..." Steel began as he moved his eyes back and forth nervously, "Sonata just cut me off guard, that's all."
"Are you sure about that?" Octavia asked, "Are you sure you weren't just hypnotized by her radiant eyes?" At this, Flash and Octavia burst into fits of laughter while Steel gave them both a look of annoyance.
"Listen,” he said with a tone of annoyance, “let's just go eat lunch." However, as they started to walk into the cafeteria, a voice came up on the loudspeaker.
"Attention, students!" the voice of Vice Principal Luna began, "due to the severity of the snowstorm, Principal Celestia has made the decision to close the school for the rest of the day. Please make your way toward your mode of transportation, return home, and stay there until further notice."
Almost instantly, the students got up from their chairs and rushed out of the cafeteria. The traffic of students was so intense that Steel, Flash, and Octavia were almost trampled on. As Steel poked his head out of the crowd, he noticed that Flash and Octavia were a good 100 feet away from him. Knowing that they would never hear him among the noise caused by the other students, Steel made his way to the front doors of the school. When he reached them, he pushed them open, only to be greeted by a huge gust of wind and snowflakes hitting his face.
As he looked for his car, Steel knew that Celestia was wise in closing the school for the rest of the day. Besides the howling winds and a good foot on the ground, visibility was nearly impossible. Steel could barely see his own hands in the storm; it took him nearly five minutes to find his car. When he got into his car, he started up the engine and drove out of the school parking lot.
Driving in the snow was more difficult than Steel could ever imagine. The roads were extremely slick and the salt on the road was barely enough to melt the snow off the roads. "Jesus," Steel thought as he swerved from side to side, "Principal Celestia should have just closed the school last night." However, after a few minutes of driving around, Steel saw that he was slowly approaching his house. Then again, Steel considered it more like a mansion than an actual house. He and his parents had inherited it from his mother's Aunt Thatcher when she died. Steel knew that they moved there only to make Aunt Thatcher happy, but he honestly would have preferred to live in a small suburban house.
As he pulled into the driveway, Steel noticed that his parent's cars were not in the driveway. "They must have left already," he thought. Steel's father was the CEO of a corporate business that specialized in building weapons for the military. Steel's mother, on the other hand, was a missionary worker who traveled around the world trying to help those in need. How they got together, Steel could not understand. A few days ago, his parents told him that they were leaving on separate business trips. His father would be going to Saudi Arabia to meet with some diplomats, while his mother would be helping out the children in Southern Africa. They had trusted Steel to look after himself and keep the mansion up and running while they were away.
As Steel walked into the house and closed the door behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked around his home. It had two floors with 14 rooms, including four bedrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 living rooms, 2 dining rooms, a laundry room, a gaming room, an indoor pool, and even a music room. The music room was Steel's favorite place to hang out. He would write songs for Flash and his band, Octavia, and even Vinyl Scratch when he had the time to do so. However, there was one part of the music room that Steel didn't like. Situated in the middle of the music room was a white grand piano. It was a gift given to Steel by Aunt Thatcher, who left it for him in her will. Although Steel knew how to play the piano, he hated having the instrument in the music room; he saw it as more of an eyesore than an instrument.
Steel walked over toward one of the kitchens so that he could make himself a sandwich for lunch. Just as he walked into the kitchen, however, there was a knock at the front door. Cautiously, Steel walked over and pressed his face against the peephole. He saw a curvy figure wearing a pink winter coat, a purple hat, and a pink scarf that covered her face. She looked vaguely familiar, but Steel didn't think of it as he opened the door to greet her. "Can I help you with something?" he asked.
"Hi." she said, "I was trying to get home and the road to it was blocked off by the snow. I have some friends who live there; could I use your phone in order to call them?"
Noting the urgency in her voice, Steel let her inside. As he closed the door, he asked "So, could I get you anything to drink? Maybe some water, tea, juice, soNATA?!" He had turned toward the woman just as she took off her hat and scarf to reveal herself as Sonata Dusk.
"Yeah," she said, "I need to use the phone so that Adagio or Aria can pick me" As she went into one of the living rooms, she poked her head out and said with a giggle, "Oh, and I'll just have water."
Steel walked into the kitchen both in shock and fear. Although his mouth wasn't moving, his mind was racing. "This is insane. What is she doing in my house?".
"Hey Steel," Sonata suddenly said from behind him. The sudden voice made Steel jump about a good foot in the air. "I tried calling Adagio and Aria," she said, "but I couldn't get a hold of them."
"W-w-w-well," Steel stuttered as he realized how close Sonata was toward him. "We should p-p-probably watch the n-n-news to see what’s up."
As they turned on the news, a reporter came on the TV with a breaking news announcement. "We have just received word," he said, "that Hay Street, Clop Avenue, and Mane Boulevard have all been deemed inaccessible by the town mayor."
"Mane Boulevard?" Sonata said with a tone of concern, "That's where I live."
"In addition," the reporter continued, "our meteorologist tells us that the storm is to continue until four days from now. In another related story, Canterlot High School has announced that it will be closed for one week due to the storm. The principal has encouraged all staff and students to stay in their homes and look on the school website for any future updates."
Sonata suddenly perked up. "Wait a minute," she said, 'if this storm is supposed to last for the next four days and I can't get to Mane Boulevard, then that means I'll have to spend a few days here with you!!! Isn't that great, Steel?"
Steel didn't respond; he was too shocked about the report to say anything. He was going to be spending a week at his home with the one girl he had trouble talking to at school. However, he knew that what was done was done and he couldn't change it at all. "Yeah," he said as he looked at Sonata, "how about I give you the tour of the place?"
