You aren't a bully

by Angrywritingskills

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Sunset Shimmer, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Human, Twilight Sparkle, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance
Length: 38088

Sunset Shimmer tells Twilight how she rose to power in Canterlot High. She didn't do it alone.

Set during Rainbow Rocks

After suffering an anxiety attack, Sunset confides in Twilight the secret of how she rose to power and effectively controlled the study body of Canterlot High. Sunset retells how she became the school's bully and what she did to make the original bullies of Canterlot High disappear.

Published 2015-03-07 03:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-05-19 01:14:03 UTC

Extent

“You don’t know the extent,” Sunset Shimmer said after taking a sip of her coffee. The warmth comforted her but didn’t fully suppress the wistful sadness. Late at night inside Sugarcube Corner wasn’t exactly where Sunset wanted to be. If it were up to her she would be sleeping to just forget the subject.

However, the girl sitting across from her wasn’t going to let that happen. “You’ve changed so much, Sunset,” Twilight Sparkle said to her newest friend, putting her hand atop Sunset’s. “Everything you’ve done in your past is done. I know you don’t want to hurt anyone any more. So all you can do now is be good.”

Despite this bright outlook, Sunset wasn’t fazed. “Again, you don’t know the extent,” Sunset took another sip of her coffee.

It was about two weeks ago that Sunset began having anxiety attacks. At first they started late at night while she was in bed and by morning Sunset would forget about them. But eventually they got worse and appeared more frequently, sometimes as many as five a day. All those added up and Sunset’s friends noticed. When they attempted to help thought Sunset had managed to avoid their assistance. It was only until the princess of friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle, arrived that it got serious. Twilight wouldn’t allow her friend to be in such agony for long.

And with the upcoming Battle of the Bands, Twilight wanted to make sure that everyone was ready for it.

“Really?” Twilight asked with an amused expression. “You turned into a demon and wrecked havoc on the school. What could be worse than that?”

Almost as if taking offense, Sunset set her coffee down and scowled at Twilight.

“They’re called scars,” Sunset growled. “And not all of them are worn on the skin.”

She looked into Twilight’s eyes, searching for some kind understanding. She found none.

“Ah forget it,” Sunset sighed. “It’s not important.”

“It is to me,” Twilight insisted. She leaned on the table. “I don’t want you to feel anymore guilt over your past. If it makes you feel any better, just tell me what happened that’s giving you this pain.”

Sunset took another sip of coffee and discovered it was the last. She set the mug on the table and exhaled softly. Then she looked outside into the late night. The sun wouldn’t come up for a while. They had all night to talk.

“What do you know about bullies, Twilight Sparkle?” Sunset asked, still looking outside.

“They’re usually big, mean, and spoiled. They can’t see past their own faults so they insult others for their own primal gain,” Twilight answered.

Sunset cast an eye on Twilight and she quickly regretted her answer.

“N-no not like you,” Twilight stammered. “Alright you were mean but I didn’t mean to insult you. Maybe you had your reasons. You could’ve learned it from someone or maybe you did what you had to do to survive.”

Sunset grinned sadly. “You were right the first time,” she said. “It was for my own primal gain. That’s all it was for me. To gain control and power over some high school.”

She turned to Twilight.

“But did you ever think that I was the first bully Canterlot High has seen?” Sunset asked.

Obviously this question stumped the princess that was unaware of the history of Canterlot High. Other than that yearbook she found in its library, Canterlot High never seemed like a place where lessons could be learned in its history. In fact the most action the school has seen had been Sunset’s transformation and that was quickly forgotten amongst the students. Most were too preoccupied with their own lives to care. And to them it was just a big party in the end.

“I guess not,” Twilight murmured, not being able to come up with a good answer.

“Well the answer to my question is no,” Sunset said. “I wasn’t the first bully at Canterlot High. In fact when I arrived there was more than a fair share.”

Twilight leaned in as she listened to Sunset’s story.

“I started school at the end of the first semester during freshman year,” Sunset started. “The snow had melted and spring was coming in.”

***

Lockers hurt, that’s a fact. They hurt the most when being slammed into. Rumor has it they were designed that way. Hard cold metal and those vents that feel terrible when pressed against. Not to mention the similarities they share with coffins. Both are big husks and once inside either there is no escape.

The student known as Paper Thin got to experience the pain of a locker, again. His frail body slammed up against the vent on the locker. Paper Thin had found himself on the wrong part of Canterlot High. For whatever reason there was this one spot that had fallen into disrepair. As such it became a favored hunting ground for the school’s bully.

Paper Thin’s attacker had lifted him off his feet and was only inches from his face.

“Let’s get this over with,” the bully spoke with a deep voice. “How much are ya carrying on you?”

“I only have my lunch money today,” Paper Thin answered while quivering and flinching.

“Take it out. Or do I have to go looking for it again?” the bully asked.

“Last time you did you found a bit more than what you asked for,” Paper Thin replied, blushing a bit.

“I thought it was Chap Stick,” the bully said also a bit flustered. He let Paper Thin down and let the skinny boy get his wallet out of his front pocket. As soon as it was in view the bully snatched it and went through its contents.

“Uh, three dollars,” the bully gagged. Lunch was two fifty. The bully quickly looked Paper Thin up and down before handing the wallet back. “You need this more than me,” the bully grimaced, clearly displeased. “You’re skinny enough as it is.”

“Um, thanks,” Paper Thin wearily took the wallet back.

“Don’t thank me!” the bully scolded. “Just get out of here, alright?”

Paper Thin hustled away but not completely out of the bully’s sight. He turned to say one last thing. “Hey Badger,” he said getting the bully’s attention. “You’re not that bad, compared to the others.”

“Aw shucks,” the bully grinned and rocked his heels on the floor. He quickly realized he was showing his softer side and went back to scowling. “I mean, leave now!” he roared and Paper Thin ran off.

Badger was left alone in the hallways and was quickly starting to regret letting his prey get away. Sure he did it because it was the right thing to do but now he had to find somewhere else to get money for food. Luckily next period would allow him to prey on some of the rich kids. They would have plenty of money to go around.

For the moment he decided to rest against the lockers instead of heading to his class.

The bully’s name was Badger and the name taunted him. It wasn’t his real name of course but it had stuck since freshman year. Freshman year had been the start of his career in being a school bully.

Innocently enough it started as a name to mock him. In the beginning he was known to have a loud mouth and a personality that annoyed people. He couldn’t help it but other students found him annoying. Always badgering people, and once someone pointed it out the name stuck.

Immediately Badger had rejected the name because it hurt his feelings to be called something he wasn’t. But as the days went on and the name calling worsened, something changed inside the student. He lashed out, not with words but with fists, and people got hurt. In that moment Badger took on the more animalistic approach to his name. And it seemed to suit him, he being a tall and naturally grisly looking kid.

In the coming weeks after his outburst Badger had found a new role in his high school career. With nobody wanting to be around him, he quickly adopted the role of a loner. And then when the pain couldn’t be kept in any longer, he unleashed it to the school. The role of bully fit him well as it did others that would eventually rise in similar ways to how he did. Finally he was able to take the hate he felt for his name and the mocking, and point it outwards to the student body.

However in the weeks after he started to bully he realized he couldn’t bring himself to be cruel to every student. Some of them deserved it but others were like him except they were small and frail. Badger quickly learned that preying on the weak and exploiting them made him feel awful. He quickly learned to pick his targets and only go after prey that was able to fight back or could take the abuse. And thus Badger made himself known as a confusing character to Canterlot High, but a profound one nonetheless.

After a minute of just standing still Badger decided it was time to head to class. His current class was a study, which was a free period to do whatever a student desired, so there was no rush. The only catch was he wasn’t supposed to be roaming the halls after the bell rang, which it did about a minute ago. Badger had no intention of getting in trouble with the teacher so he set out to hopefully sneak into study without anyone noticing.

He went halfway down the hall when something caught his eye. A girl was coming towards him and he didn’t recognize her at all. Her hair was this flurry of red and yellow and she wore a black leather jacket. She was carrying a bunch of books and had a backpack slung around her. The sight instantly raised Badger’s suspicion. She must be some sort of new girl. And she was hot as hell.

The new girl didn’t seem to see Badger standing there, and continued to walk forward with her eyes looking to the side. Badger sensed this and took this opportunity to exploit her neglectfulness. He stepped right in front of her as to block her path.

“Unf,” the new girl collided with Badger’s body and fell to the ground. Instantly everything she was carrying fell to the ground with a loud clatter. Badger just smiled and put his hand against the wall, leaning to the side leisurely.

“Have a nice fall?” he asked mockingly. The saying had bad timing because it was spring and autumn had been two seasons ago. Winter was left out. Good thing Badger had no idea it was spring time.

The new girl got up immediately and glared at her obstacle. “Who are you?” she asked with the angriest face Badger had ever seen on a girl. It rivaled Rainbow Dash’s angry face which he once saw after she was beat at a game of basketball. Afterwards Rainbow’s game of choice was soccer.

Back to the new girl. Badger for some reason was greatly amused by the ferocity. She wasn’t a pushover which meant she could be bullied without taxing his conscience.

“Who am I?” Badger looked surprised. “Lady I’m the guy that’s going to make you hate life in a few seconds.” Badger approached the new girl, his form towering over hers. He held out his hand and tilted her head under with a finger underneath her chin. “Now how about you get that backpack over there,” Badger motioned with his eyes to one of the objects the new girl had dropped on the ground. “And get your wallet, and give me about tree.”

His words were cut off by a blow to his abdominals. If he had seen it coming he would have braced for it but because he didn’t the air was knocked out of him. Another blow hit him in the chin and he staggered back. It didn’t take him long to understand what was going on. This wasn’t the first time someone had fought back against him, neither was it the first time it was a girl. But it was the first time the attack was so surprising and so swift. Still he quickly regained his composure to fight back.

He looked to see the girl was now charging at him. In those seconds he realized he was too late. The girl had moved like lightning and was now clinging onto him. Normally he would have simply ripped her off but this girl knew her stuff. Badger felt himself start to lose balance as the new girl drove a boot into his lower leg. Down Badger fell and soon found himself on the ground with the new girl’s boot on his neck. He knew he was defeated because he was at her mercy now but that didn’t bother him so much. From his position down on the ground he got a good look up new girl’s skirt, and that was worth an ass whopping.

“Again, who are you?” the new girl said now with a menacing tone.

“I’m Badger,” Badger answered not wanting to cause anymore trouble. “Who are you?”

The new girl grunted. “Sunset Shimmer,” she said and looked at Badger, still very angry. “What were you trying to do to me?” she asked.

“Oh,” Badger murmured to himself as he gazed up Sunset’s leg. “I was trying to get tree fiddy.” He felt Sunset’s heel push town on his throat. “I mean I was trying to get money to buy lunch,” he winced.

Sunset let pressure off a bit. “So what you’re saying is you were trying to take my lunch money? Like some kind of schoolyard bully.” She grinned wickedly at that. “How pathetic.”

Something about her tone made Badger take offense to that. “Hey,” he retorted. “It’s a living. Unless you actually like to pay for you own lunch?”

Sunset seemed to take Badger’s words to thought, even lightening the pressure on his neck some more. “So you’re the school bully?” Sunset said, looking down at her victim. “And your name’s Badger? What kind of dumb name is that?”

Badger also took offense to that, although he didn’t know why. “It’s a nickname, I didn’t name myself that. And I’m not the only bully at this school.”

“Hm what?” something Badger said had caught her attention. “How can you not be the only one? That makes no sense.”

“Well it’s complicated,” Badger felt the pressure increase on his throat. At least the view was still good.

“We bullies don’t usually have money to buy our own lunches. So there are days where we might have to go home hungry. Our only way to get food is to take lunch money from other students. But there are only so many kids we can take from so there’s always that situation where a kid already got his money taken from another bully. If he doesn’t have money to take then we don’t eat that day. Simple. Eventually it got so bad that we bullies arranged an agreement to avoid fighting each other. We split the school and only take when we need it.” Badger grinned nervously, hoping his explanation was good.

“Pathetic,” Sunset rammed her foot down hard on Badger’s throat. He soon felt like he wasn’t going to be able to breathe and started to struggle. “You share the prey instead of taking it all for yourself. You let yourself be swindled from what could be rightfully yours. If you got rid of the competition than you’d be better off.”

“Ack!” Badger choked. Sunset’s panties were the only thing keeping him from trying to really struggle and break free. “What’s the big deal? We aren’t trying to hurt anybody.”

Sunset kept a steady pressure on Badger’s neck. She lost herself in thought. “No, you’re not,” she mused. She then looked at Badger in the eyes. “How is it that someone your size is not already king of the school?” Badger didn’t answer and this annoyed Sunset. “I asked you a question,” she fumed. “Why aren’t you answering? What are you staring at?” Sunset followed Badger’s gaze and soon found a startling discovery.

“You girls really outta be careful about those skirts you all love to wear,” Badger smirked. “You never know who’s watching.”

This prompted Sunset to deliver her boot directly to Badger’s face. He yelped in pain and brought his hands to face as soon as Sunset’s boot left his throat. Sunset in turn pulled her skirt lower and turned around so that Badger wouldn’t see the flustered blush forming on her face.

Badger, after suffering a quick coughing fit, got up on his feet and shook himself off. Never before had he been bested by a girl. Although technically he let her win this was still a new one for him. What wasn’t new was the trouble she spelled. Badger, as well as the other bullies, had a rule. That rule was never go after someone that is too much trouble. This wasn’t an official rule, just a trick of the trade but it was important. If someone was dangerous enough for a bully to stay away, then that meant other students should stay away too. Whoever Sunset Shimmer is, she was trouble for the school and Badger knew it.

Still, she was hot. So all that was excusable.

Sunset turned back around and found Badger was still standing there with her. Unbeknownst to her, Badger has found something else to admire on Sunset’s backside. After a prolonged silence, Sunset was the first to speak.

“Well,” she said. “Do you want to carry my stuff, or what?”

Badger didn’t know what to say. “What?” he grunted.

“Pick my stuff up!” Sunset ordered.

Badger awkwardly bent over and began picked everything up. He thought about it and decided he actually did want to carry Sunset’s stuff. But he also wanted more. He wanted to walk with her to class, be with her in class, and sit next to her at lunch. He also wanted to hold her hand, walk down the hall, and hold a conversation with her. Then after that he wanted to hold her in his arms and press his lips against hers. Now Badger couldn’t deny he was falling for the new girl.

He grabbed one of the textbooks that had fallen. He looked it over quickly and found it was like the one he got in his math class. “You’re taking algebra too?” Badger asked.

“Go faster!” Sunset ordered again and Badger picked up the pace.

As he was grabbing the last bit of Sunset’s stuff he heard snickering. It wasn’t him so of course it was Sunset Shimmer. Badger was a bit nerved by this and stood up with her pile of stuff in his arms.

“What’s so funny?” Badger asked cautiously, almost afraid.

“You,” Sunset giggled in a mocking way. “You’re supposed to be a big tough bully and you even looked the part.” She flicked her head, waving her hair around. “But you’re really just this big, dumb,” Sunset tossed her head to the side and sneered, “perverted, scared, little loser freak.”

Badger was confused. “How can I be big and small at the same time?”

Sunset laughed. “And there’s more proof. You’re weak.” With a quick swipe of her palm she knocked everything Badger was carrying onto the floor. Without hesitation Badger went to pick everything up again and this pleased Sunset.

Sunset grinned in this evil way that made Badger’s neck hair stand on end. She knelt down and looked Badger in his eyes. “Growl,” she said.

“Huh,” Badger gasped.

“You heard me,” Sunset nodded her head. “Growl. If Badger’s your name then you ought to act like one. Do you even know what they are? They’re vicious little creatures that hate everything. Now growl.”

Badger hesitated and looked at Sunset’s piercing eyes. Their color was so mesmerizing; aqua is such a pretty color. Badger gritted his teeth, wanting to do his best.

“Grrrrr?” he tried. Sunset smirked and placed a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh. “Grrrrr. Grrrrrrrrr. Garrrarrrr. Rarrarrrrrrr.” Badger tried to make his growl deeper and deeper but it all sounded forced.

Sunset let out a quick laugh, stood up, and shook her head. “And you are what this world considers a bully?” Sunset looked him in the eyes again. “You aren’t a bully.”

That sent shivers down Badger’s spine. Of course he is a bully. It was an occupation he had earned all by himself and he was proud of it. In fact he was one of the more successful bullies at the school. But this new girl was destroying everything he ever knew. She was so scary to him. Almost evil.

Badger stood up, and as he did he began to tower over Sunset. From up high he was reminded how small the people around him are. It made this new girl less scary and he regained some confidence.

“I-I’m a b-b-bully,” Badger stuttered out. He was surprised that he was still nervous and it affected his speech. He tried to fight the urge to be afraid.

“Sure you are,” Sunset remarked sarcastically. She turned around and began walking down the hall. “This world will be easier to conquer than I thought,” she rubbed her hands together. “I’ll start at the top and topple the hierarchy until I become the queen of this school. No one will stand in my way.”

She held her hands in the air in a maniacal pose. Badger stood there for a while, listening to her monologue, until their eyes met. He didn’t understand what Sunset had said but he didn’t really care.

Sunset looked annoyed. “Well,” she said. “Are you going to come or not?” She continued walking down the hall.

Badger quickly realized he was still holding all of Sunset Shimmer’s belongings. He dashed down the hall to keep up with her. When he did finally catch up with her she reached into the backpack Badger was carrying and took her class schedule out.

Badger looked over her shoulder and glimpsed at it. “Hey we have the same study together,” he observed out loud.

Sunset quickly crumpled her schedule up so Badger couldn’t see it. “And I’m assuming you’ll show me where it is?” she asked.

“Of course,” Badger nodded. “It’s actually in the direction we’re walking right now. You’re pretty smart.”

Sunset seemed to take the compliment well which was good. What was also good was Badger now had an explanation to why he’s late to study. He’ll tell the monitors that he was showing the new girl to her class. It would save him from having to serve a detention. Also he got to spend more time with the new girl.

They arrived at the cafeteria which served as the study hall for the current period. Sunset quickly picked a table to sit at and prompted Badger to put her things on it. He did and attempted to sit down with her. But Sunset waved him off and told him to get lost. Badger obeyed, sensing hostility and he figured he could see the new girl later. After all they did have algebra together.

From a farther distance Badger observed Sunset sitting alone at her table. He too sat alone but it was different for Sunset. While he simply watched the clock or just slept to waste time, she stayed attentive and was always doing something. Even as Badger watched her she was going through her notebook and writing things down. Hardly did her eyes ever leave the paper.

In a way Sunset reminded Badger of the nerds of the school. They too were so studios and always occupied their time with work. But Sunset was too attractive to be a nerd. And since no one stereotype fit her, Badger decided she must be a special type of person. A hybrid of some sort. Part nerd and part something else.

His mind told him she was part bully. She definitely looked the part but Badger convinced himself otherwise. Something told him that she didn’t have what it takes to be a bully. Bullies aren’t smart and Badger knew this most of all.

Still Sunset was unlike anything Badger had seen before. A person that with the odds stacked against her could flip them over to her side with ease. Badger knew that anyone that could subdue him wasn’t an ordinary student. She was miraculous.

And he liked her. He liked her a lot.

***

“So what happened after you got to your first class?” Twilight asked.

Throughout the story, Sunset had trouble with a couple details. Some were too hard for her to remember, causing her to cringe at the memory. Others she simply didn’t remember, like they had been erased from her memory.

“Hold on,” Sunset held her hands on her head and gritted her teeth in concentration. “It’s hard to remember those days. Back then I was so driven that time flew me by.” She gave up trying and returned to a more relaxed mode. “Did you ever come across the situation when there just wasn’t enough time in the day to finish a book or finish studying an entire subject?”

Twilight looked at Sunset with a face of pure understanding. “Almost every day of my life.”

Sunset smiled at her and Twilight’s strange way of connecting but the smile quickly disappeared to a more morbid state.

“Well imagine that except replace it with effort to drive people apart,” Sunset muttered. “Every day was just another day to further my control of the school. It had become routine and I worked very hard to get where I was. Then it all came tumbling down.”

Sunset was trembling at this point with something Twilight was trying to decipher. Was it anger or was it regret? She got the feeling that Sunset was trying to forgive herself. But the skeptic in Twilight told her something different. There could still be a bit of the old Sunset Shimmer left, waiting to come back.

Finally Sunset calmed down enough to continue. “But in the end it was for the best.” She relaxed her shoulders. “Remember when I told you that I didn’t know there was another way? I meant it. I didn’t know how bad I was making other people’s lives. I needed you to stop me. And I’m thankful for it. I’ve never been happier.”

Twilight let out a sign of relief, glad to know Sunset was trying to make amends. “I’m happy that you’re happy,” Twilight smiled at the other girl. “Now tell me more about how you took control of Canterlot High.”

Truthfully, Twilight was very interested in this. How Sunset managed to become the queen of the school eluded Twilight’s understanding. It seemed a bit of a stretch to believe that Sunset came from nothing and quickly took over the student body. But beneath Twilight’s curiosity was compassion. She wanted to make sure her newest friend was going to be alright.

“Alright fine. Where was I?” Sunset said.

“You mention you got some bozo to carry your stuff to your first period class,” Twilight helped, quoting Sunset’s terminology.

“Oh right him!” Sunset exclaimed and put her head in between her arms. “What was his name? I can’t remember his name. Something animal sounding. Aargh,” Sunset laid her head on the table. “I forget.”

“Sunset,” Twilight said sternly but gently. “You’re never going to feel better until you get this thing off your chest.”

Sunset raised her head. “You’re right,” she replied. “It’s just so awful thinking about these things. You don’t know the extent.”

“You already said that,” Twilight told Sunset.

“Well it’s true,” Sunset answered. “The lengths I went to, the hoops I had to jump through, all of it was so bad at times.” Sunset paused to exhale. “Listen Twilight. I’ll tell you everything. Just be prepared to know that some of this gets pretty gruesome. I can’t remember all of the details such as the victims’ names but know that everything I say is what I know.”

“I believe you Sunset,” Twilight said, placing her hand of Sunset’s. “And I want you to know that no matter what you tell me tonight, nothing will stop me from being your friend.”

Sunset beamed. “Thank you Twilight,” she said in a soft whisper.

After a brief moment of pause, Sunset gained the confidence to tell her story.

“The first part of my plan was to learn about the social groups of Canterlot High. From there the strategy was divide and conquer.”

Author's Note

Just a quick short story that I though of one day. Eventually liked it enough to write it down.

Acting Tough

Badger arrived to Algebra class relatively early. Yesterday he had gotten through the door as the bell rang. Today he got in before the bell rang, so he was early compared to last time.

Immediately he began scanning the classroom until he spotted her. She sat in the back left corner of the classroom with a notebook on her desk and a pencil in her hand. Badger at once knew where he wanted to sit.

So he walked to the back of the room right where Sunset was. Unfortunately there wasn’t a spot next to her. The closest seat was already occupied by some dorky looking kid with glasses. Badger luckily had a solution for this. He approached the dork and smiled, almost wickedly. The dork returned the smile but did so nervously. He knew Badger’s reputation.

Badger snatched up the dork’s possessions which were on the desk and the backpack on the floor. He walked to the next desk over and placed the possessions on that desk. Then Badger walked back and picked the dork up. He placed him back down into the desk with his stuff, patting the dork on the head.

Now Badger had what he wanted, as he sat down in his new seat. Afterwards the bell rang and class got started. Except, for Badger, the class never really started. The only thing that started was his admiring of Sunset Shimmer. While the teacher lectured, Badger watched Sunset.

He propped his head up with his arm, resting his chin on his palm. And he watched Sunset from the corner of his eyes. At first he was cautious that she would catch him watching but as time went by he found she was more involved in her work than anything else, so he continued to watch her and just admired her. From her hair to her unique style of clothing, it was all so alluring. More importantly, he watched how she did this cute routine as she worked. She would put her pencil in her mouth and look up at the ceiling, trying to figure something out. Then the answer would come to her and she would gasp and return to work.

Badger was busy drowning out all background noise so he could just focus on Sunset. But due to selective hearing, Badger did hear something.

“Alright everyone, pair into groups of two if you want to work together on the next assignment,” the teacher announced.

Badger didn’t waste any time. He picked up his desk and slammed it aside Sunset’s, startling the girl that had been enveloped in her own world.

She quickly turned sour after a quick moment of surprise. “Who the hell are you?” she snarled.

“Who am I?” Badger questioned, slightly taking offence. “We just met two classes ago.”

Sunset replied by raising an eyebrow.

“You know, it’s me Badger,” he said trying to jog her memory. “I growled for you. Grrrrrrrr.” Badger still couldn’t do the growling quite right.

But this seemed to spark some memory in Sunset. “Hmph, thought you looked familiar,” she shrugged and went back to her notebook.

“Though you would have gotten a good look at me,” Badger leaned back and grinned. “Because I got a good look at you.”

Sunset’s eyes shot open and she dropped her pencil that she was holding in her hand. She turned and gave Badger an absolute death glare. However her face was flushed with color which made Badger snicker a bit. It was only until Sunset raised her notebook in the air, with the intent to swat the look off Badger’s face, did Badger cower.

“Ah! Don’t hit me again,” he wailed and flinched.

“Ahem,” a voice from behind them grabbed their attention. Badger, still flinching, looked out of one eye to see who it was. It was the teacher. Who else?

He tapped his foot on the floor in a repetitive pattern. “Badger,” the teacher said. Even the teachers called him by his nickname. At first Badger was annoyed by this but he later convinced himself he wasn’t, and just learned to accept it even though it hurt.

“What up, teach?” Badger replied, regaining his composure.

“Here’s the assignment you’re supposed to be doing with your partner, in case you forgot,” the teacher handed two papers to Badger. Badger in turn gave one to Sunset.

Badger began looking it over and sighed. Yep, there were math problems.

“You helping the new girl adjust to school here?” the teacher asked.

Badger put the assignment on his desk. “Yeah, teach. Yeah I am,” he cast a glance over at Sunset who was looking at her own paper, totally out of focus with the rest of the world.

“Well that’s good of you,” the teacher nodded. “Good luck,” the teacher turned around and began walking away, “you fucking prick.”

The last remark seemed to snap Sunset out of her trance. She looked at Badger strangely.

“I gave his son a swirly back in the day,” Badger explained with a laugh. “You should’ve seen it. He walked around smelling more rancid than horse shit for the whole day.”

“Horse shit?” Sunset narrowed her eyes, remembering her past form. “You’re disgusting.”

“What are you going to do?” Badger shrugged. He took another looked at his paper and quickly summarized the basic idea of it. It was stuff he had gone over in class over and over again. Despite the repetitive nature, Badger didn’t understand it at all. So he wasn’t going to bother try.

“Hey, Sunny,” Badger poked Sunset’s arm.

“What did you just call me?” Sunset growled.

“Um nothing,” Badger lied, sensing that giving her a nickname might strain their relationship. “I was just going to say that if you need help then I’m your man.” Badger began reaching into his pocket. “I’ve got a cheat sheet. Had one of the nerds make it for me.”

“No need,” Sunset stated, stopping Badger in his tracks. “This is easy arithmetic. What level of Algebra is this anyways?”

“Um,” Badger thought for a second. “I think it’s one step up from the special education courses.” This meant it was pretty much one of the most basic math classes that could be taken at a high school level.

Sunset groaned and threw her head on her desk. “I knew it. I truly am surrounded by idiots.”

“Hey I kind of know how to do this,” Badger looked at his paper again. He began searched his pockets and then started to panic. “Alright so I don’t have anything to write with.” That would mean Badger would go another day with failing all his assignments because he couldn’t write them.

Sunset lifted her head from her desk and looked at Badger. He looked back but quickly averted his eyes when they met with Sunset’s own. Although he didn’t know why, Sunset made him nervous.

“You know what you can do for me,” Sunset stated, pointing her pencil at Badger.

“What?” Badger asked.

“You’re a bully right?” Sunset grinned. “Or at least you think you are.” She chuckled.

“I am a bully,” Badger said coldly. It was one of the few things he was proud of. His reputation was one of the things he felt he could treasure.

“And I’m a horse,” Sunset laughed but quickly silenced herself with a hand over her mouth. “Anyways,” she put her pencil down. “I’ve noticed that this school has some kind of weird social caste system. You are going to tell me about it.”

Badger was confused. “A cast system? Like the ones you wear on your arm? I didn’t know there was a system to all that.” Badger gasped, holding the sides of his head. “What else do I not know about?”

“No, you idiot,” Sunset scowled. “A caste system is a system where you’re born into a certain group. So if you’re born poor you’ll live poor for the rest of your life. This school kind of follows this system except it’s more about social divisions than wealth ranks.”

“Ooooh,” Badger nodded, now understanding. “I guess that makes sense if you put it like that. I was never good at chemistry myself.”

Sunset blinked in astonishment, not believing what she heard. “You’re, ugh!” Sunset groaned. “You’re really pathetic. You know that?”

“You already mentioned that,” Badger muttered, still feeling the sting from their last meeting.

“Good, so you know your place,” Sunset grimaced. “But you do know what I’m talking about, right?”

Badger thought about it. Sunset wasn’t wrong; most kids in the school could identify what group they belonged to. It was confusing but Canterlot High somehow had allowed itself to become a school that categorized its students. Everyone thought it was shallow but no one objected. In fact most happily go along with their identities like Badger does.

“I guess I know what you’re talking about,” Badger said after thinking about it. “Kids here do like to segregate themselves.”

“It’s how it should be,” Sunset said, startling Badger by the notion. “It’s actually kind of nice. There are those on the top and those on the bottom. That’s how it should work.”

“Not really,” Badger said, softly. He thought back to how he was treated before becoming a bully. It’s not nice at the bottom.

Sunset seemed to not be listening to him. “The strong prosper because they’re strong and the weak will have to go without.” Sunset made a fist in the air. “Tell me, Badger,” she looked at him with a sneer, “why don’t you just make every kid in this school fear you? You can clearly do it. Or are you weak?”

Badger exhaled. Never in his life did he think he would find himself in this position. A bully like him was getting bullied. It was like how it was before he became who he is today. Other guys would push him around until he fought back. Sunset was different because she was a girl. Badger knew it would be wrong to fight back against a girl, although he didn’t understand why.

Still, the bully in him wasn’t going down without a fight.

“You know what?” Badger crossed his arms and glared. “How about you earn the right to ask those sorts of questions?”

“Excuse me?” Sunset snarled, taken aback by the sudden offence.

“Yeah, how dare you!” Badger snarled back. “You come here and try to boss me around. Me! Do you have any idea who I am?”

“Let me guess,” Sunset sighed, impatiently crossing her arms, knowing what he was going to say. “You’re a bully.”

“I’m a bully!” Badger boasted proudly. “I’ve tossed kids your size into every trash can in this school. There are people here with a collection of broken glasses because of me. When I walk down these halls, people get out of my way. And do you know why?”

“Because you’re about a foot taller than most kids at this school?” Sunset dully replied.

“No,” Badger said but thought on what Sunset had said. “Well kind of. But the real reason is because I’m a force to be reckoned with. If you want to fit in around here, you ought to know your place. And the only way to do that is to earn it.”

Sunset glared daggers at Badger who returned the stare. But eventually Sunset looked away which prompted Badger to take a well deserved victory smirk. And with the victory, Badger leaned back into a more leisurely position. His face wore a smug grin as he watched how Sunset seemed to be defeated.

Some kind of pleasure was derived from the scene. Badger felt happy that things were back to normal. This feeling of safety made it all the more terrifying when Sunset finally snapped out of it.

“So I need to earn my place here?” she said darkly.

Badger felt uneasy. “Yes? That is if you want to act like a tough girl.”

“Well then,” Sunset turned a cheek to Badger. “Hit me.”

Badger jumped, scared at the proposition. “What?” he choked out.

“Hit me,” Sunset pointed to her cheek. “I want to prove myself. I can take a punch.”

“Oh,” Badger coughed. He was visibly nervous. A persistent sweat was pouring down his face and his eyes darted from side to side. “I can’t,” he finally said.

“Why not?” Sunset asked angrily.

“I can’t hit a girl,” Badger explained frantically. “That’s like, a major no-no.”

“Why? Is it because you’re bigger than me?” Sunset retorted. “I’ve kicked your ass once. I can do it again.”

“Yeah but,” Badger coughed nervously. “I let you.” Sunset’s face contorted in shock.

“What?” Sunset barked. “You let me?”

“Well I was enjoying myself,” Badger shrugged. “Also I can’t fight back. I’m a guy and you’re a girl. We weren’t meant to fight each other.”

“Is that so?” Sunset stopped talking for a long amount of time. Her face was twisted into a look of disgust. “That’s actually strangely convenient yet repulsive at the same time.”

“Thems the rules,” Badger shrugged.

“The rules eh?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. Before Badger could react Sunset took a jab at his shoulder.

“Ow,” he rubbed the spot she hit him. “That hurt.”

“It was supposed to,” Sunset said and punched Badger again.

“Ah, quit it,” Badger pleaded.

“No,” and Sunset punched Badger again.

She wound back for another but by now Badger had enough. He grabbed her fist and forced her hand down against the desk. When she tried her other hand Badger brought it down to the desk too. That left Sunset with her feet free and she began kicking Badger’s shins. Her pointed boots really hurt but Badger decided he would have to take it like a man. So he bit his lip and waited for it to end. Eventually Sunset did stop the kicking and just resorted to staring at Badger with an upturned lip.

For a while they were locked into the struggle. Badger didn’t have to use much of his great strength to hold Sunset’s arms and Sunset had given up on trying breaking free. It was around that time that Badger realized something important.

He was holding hands with Sunset Shimmer. It was in a weird way, but still, they were connecting.

Slowly his mind went back to admiring the girl and Badger’s heart started thumping. This time he was the one that was blushing. His face burned from the blood and the sweat pouring down his face. And eventually his mind started to swim with romantic thoughts.

“Are you okay?” Sunset asked, seeming confused. “You’re hands are getting awfully warm.”

Badger looked down at how his massive hands covered Sunset’s. It came to his attention that he wasn’t forcing his hands onto hers anymore. They just laid there.

“You sick or something?” Sunset asked again. “You’re getting a bit red.”

“Oh um,” Badger covered his face, cowering now. His hands were off Sunset’s. “No I’m fine. It’s just a bit hot.”

“It’s not really,” Sunset shrugged. She was right the temperature in the room was pretty cool.

“Oh,” Badger quivered. “Then it must be you- I mean me!” Badger tried to correct himself.

“Uh huh,” Sunset nodded. “Hold it.” She put her palm on Badger’s forehead. “Well that settles it.” She withdrew her hand.

“W-what?” Badger stammered, afraid of what she meant.

“I’ve had you figured wrong from the start,” Sunset put her hand on top of Badger’s, which made the boy heat up even worse. “I thought I had to prove myself through being tough.” She gently stroked Badger’s knuckles. “But I think I understand now that girls aren’t supposed to fight boys.”

“Y-yeah,” Badger grinned, still nervous but at the same time excited. “I don’t know. It’s weird. I don’t get girls.”

“Heha,” Sunset laughed. “I know you don’t get girls.”

“H-hey!” Badger stammered, still blushing.

“Hay is for horses,” Sunset replied. “Now,” Sunset handed her paper to Badger, “take this to the teacher. I want to get a good grade.”

Badger took the paper. “You’re done?” he looked down the paper that was all filled out. “How? When did you do all this?”

“When you were babbling on,” Sunset responded. “I told you, this is easy arithmetic. Now go.”

Badger leaned back. “Alright, tell you what. If you get every question correct then I’ll tell you about this Caste system you want to hear about.”

“Deal,” Sunset grinned sinisterly.

Sunset watched as Badger stood up and walk over to the teacher’s desk. Badger triumphantly slammed the paper down in front of the teacher. They seemed to exchange some words that Sunset couldn’t hear. From their body language, Sunset could assume that the teacher was either suspicious or surprised. Eventually Badger did return with a big smile on his face.

“You got one wrong,” Badger said as he sat down.

“What?” Sunset grabbed her paper out of Badger’s hands. She went over it and found her mistake.

“Aren’t as smart as you think you are, isn’t that right Sunny?” Badger sneered. Sunset shot Badger an angry stare. “Don’t worry, I’ll still help you out,” Badger said. It wasn’t in his interest to get Sunset to hate him.

Sunset showed no appreciation. “Good,” was all she said back.

Badger looked behind him to a clock that was over the door of the classroom. He was glad to know lunch would be soon.

“So lunch is soon so I’ll tell you there,” Badger said. “You can really get a good impression there. Everyone shows their true colors.”

“Excellent,” Sunset grinned.

And soon after, the bell for lunch rang. The classroom quickly cleared out as eager students were quick to escape their work. Badger and Sunset were the last ones to leave as they had a longer journey to take, being at the back of the class.

Just as Sunset was about to exit, the teacher spoke up. “Sunset,” he said getting the girl’s attention. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Sunset was a bit alarmed and so was Badger. He stood there with wide eyes and looked worriedly at Sunset. When Sunset noticed Badger’s alarmed state she was quick to dismiss him. She flicked her head to motion for him to leave. But Badger stayed. Sunset then angrily pointed her finger out the door. Badger still stayed. It was until he looked and saw that the teacher was glaring at him too did he finally leave.

When Badger finally left, Sunset turned to the teacher. She hoped this wouldn’t be a lecture.

“Sunset,” the teacher began. “I know that transferring to a new school can be rough on kids your age. Trust me, I changed schools a lot when I was your age. I just want to know if you’re comfortable here.”

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked. The conversation wasn’t what she expected.

“Well I happened to notice that Badger seemed to target you out during class. And you two seemed to be horsing around back there for a while,” the teacher leaned forward in his chair. “I just want to make sure that Badger is behaving himself. He’s a bit of a troubled child.”

“Badger is fine,” Sunset said, carefully. She didn’t want to make the teacher suspicious. “He actually helped me find my first class today.”

“He did, did he?” the teacher looked skeptically at Sunset. “That’s interesting because he’s kind of a bully.”

“You don’t say?” Sunset rolled her eyes, recalling the title Badger seemed to love to call himself. “Listen, I need to get to lunch so was there anything important you needed to tell me.”

“Ah yes of course,” the teacher straightened his posture. “I just wanted to let you know that if Badger or any other student is making you feel uncomfortable then you can come to me and I’ll straighten it out.”

“Really?” Sunset asked. “That’s interesting.” She grinned as new ideas popped into her head.

“Yes, oh and another thing,” the teacher added. “You did exceptionally well on today’s assignment. So well I wonder what you’re doing in a class this low. Most students here barely know simply addition and fractions.”

“Yeah my classes are a bit jumbled around,” Sunset lied. The truth is she chose these classes at random.

“Well I don’t think you need to be in this level of class at your skill level,” the teacher said. “So I’m going to try and get you moved up. It could take a while but I’ll get you into a more appropriate classroom.”

“Thanks I appreciate that,” Sunset said although she could care less.

She left the class a little annoyed and a little bit happy to have learned something interesting. Her plan to gain control of the school would have to include the staff as well. The challenge was how to do it. She could learn about the student body from studying it and from her new acquaintance. But to get the staff to follow her would require more subtly than she knew she could muster. But their contribution would be invaluable.

She rounded a corner, hoping she was going the right way when her feet left the ground. Gravity seemed to leave her as she was scooped into the air. Slightly painful pricks erupted on her stomach as long fingers gripped her.

“Gotcha!” Badger gleefully exclaimed as he held Sunset. This was one of the ways he showed affection, grabbing people. He had watched couples do it before.

Sunset didn’t feel the affection. “Let me down, you big idiot!” she wailed, flailing her fists and feet around. Badger complied with a smile and the wailing Sunset was quick to respond to the affectionate attack.

“Don’t you ever,” Sunset barked, pointing her finger in Badger’s face, “do that again.”

“Aw,” Badger patted Sunset on the back. “You really need to have fun.” He opened the door to the Canterlot High cafeteria for her.

“Welcome to the jungle,” he said as he stepped in after her.

Clothes make the man

“Wait, so you decided not to be the tough girl?” Twilight asked Sunset, not really believing it. To her, Sunset was playing the role pretty well.

“Yeah,” Sunset replied with a shrug. “At least not in the way I think of it. I learned pretty quickly that when you act tough, people want to know how tough. So I came up with a better strategy, you know,” Sunset began looking at her nails, “work from behind the scenes to manipulate others to turn against each other. Then they become weak to my influence. That sort of thing.”

“Wow,” Twilight whistled. “That was oddly specific.”

“What can I say,” Sunset shrugged again. “When you play the villain for so long you get a good idea of what it means to act like one.”

“I guess that’s true,” Twilight sighed. “And what about this 'not hitting a girl' rule? When did you learn that?”

“Argh,” Sunset moaned, trying to concentrate. “His name escapes me. I can’t even remember his face. But a boy told me.”

“If you don’t mind me saying, I think that rule is extremely sexist,” Twilight said with disgust. “I mean come on. Do the people around here really think that girls are these petite delicate flowers that can’t fend for themselves? I’ll have you know that back in Equestria I had to fight a huge Minotaur that had no problem with pile driving my face.” Twilight slammed his hands on the table. “It hurt!”

Sunset couldn’t help but giggled at Twilight. “Oh it’s not like that at all. It’s more of an honor system with the guys here. Trust me; I’ve lived with them much longer than you. They just think that it’s disrespectful to hit someone that is weaker than them.”

“Hmph,” Twilight crossed her arms. “So human boys are like a warrior culture then?”

Sunset’s widened. “You would be surprised,” she said shaking her head. “You would be surprised.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

Sunset shivered. “How about I just continue on? You’ll see what I mean?”

“Alright,” Twilight nodded, “please continue.”

“The easiest place to witness the social groups was at lunch. As you probably already know,” Sunset started.

***

Sunset couldn’t help but notice how noisy it was inside the cafeteria. There was a flurry of constant chattering from the students around her creating a swarm of sound that engulfed the area. Strangely, it made Sunset think of a quieter time back in Equestria, all those days spent studying by herself in a quiet library. Now she was forced to go into a public education system. Yuck! Definitely a step down from being a direct underling to royalty.

She pushed out her thoughts of earlier life and focused on the task at hand. There wasn’t much patience left in her, she wanted answers now.

In front of her, lumbering rather slowly, was her guide to the school. Badger had his focus on multiple things at once. On one hand he wanted to get lunch because he was starving, but he was also scanning the student body in the cafeteria. Lunch was always full of tension amongst the students, there was always this insecurity that all the students shared. Whether it was choosing where to sit or who to sit with, all students at one point shared the anxiety that came with the lunch room. It was especially bad for a bully, their kind have no friends so there is nowhere for them to sit.

Badger led Sunset to the lunch line. Since it was the beginning of lunch the line was rather long, it stretched to the side walls and Badger and Sunset were stuck at the back.

Badger leaned close to Sunset. “Watch this,” he whispered with a smirk. He stood tall and looked down the line. “Follow me,” he said to Sunset and began walking. Sunset followed as Badger walked alongside the line of students waiting for lunch. They got near to the front of the line and stopped there. Badger clamped his hands onto the shoulders of two students..

“Beat it!” he snarled before flinging the two kids out of line. They stumbled, falling over their feet, until they finally halted. Badger gave them one last stare before they finally retreated, going back to the end of the lunch line to start over.

Badger turned to Sunset as they both stepped in line. “See,” Badger grinned, “being a bully has perks.” He looked at a girl that was behind him in line, who had watched everything. With a quick smile, he was able to make the girl very uncomfortable.

“At least you’re using your powers,” Sunset remarked as they moved forward in line.

Badger reached for a lunch tray when he quickly realized something. He retracted his hand.

“Do you have lunch money?” he asked Sunset.

“No,” she replied.

“Darn,” Badger slammed his hand down, “we’re not eating today then.”

He walked out of line and began going towards the tables. Sunset followed closely behind him.

“What do you mean we’re not eating?” Sunset ran to catch up, frustrated now. “I haven’t eaten all day. I’m starving.”

“Yeah well,” Badger took a seat down at an empty table, as did Sunset, “now you understand why bullies are always taking lunch money. We need it to survive. It’s more of a necessity than a luxury.”

Badger placed a hand over his stomach. It was beginning to growl and it would growl all day until it was sated. The noise would be paired with the pain which felt like a hole boring into Badger’s stomach. But the pain would come later, for now it would just be the sound.

“Grrrrr,” Badger growled, “Grrrrrararar,” he was trying to match the sound of his stomach, “Grrrrrrrooprrr.” He still had a ways to go.

Sunset peered at Badger. “You know,” she squinted her eyes, “if you want lunch so badly, then why don’t you take it now?”

Badger looked up at Sunset. “Grrrrrrrruoh?”

“Just go and take from the students that already have lunch,” Sunset explained. “Look,” she pointed to a nearby table, “those two girls just sat down. If you hurry you can get their lunches before they start to eat.”

“Oh,” Badger stood up, “okay.”

He began walking over to the table while his mind buzzed with thought. Why hadn’t he thought of such a genius idea? It made perfect sense. It he couldn’t get money then he could fall back on this idea. It was halfway through the year and only now did this possibility open up for him.

Bounding over to the table Sunset had specified, he reached over and grabbed the two trays from under the two girl’s noses.

“H-hey!” one of the girls protested. “Those are ours.”

Badger turned to the girl, his huge form looming over her. He didn’t recognize her but he did recognize what she was. She was one of the more well off kids in the school. Compared to Badger’s lifestyle she was considered wealthy. So Badger felt no remorse for taking their lunches.

When he set his eyes on the girl that had spoken, she started to cower a bit.

“You’re a rich girl,” Badger shrugged and began backing away, “Just get another. Or don’t. Wouldn’t want you and your friend here blowing up like balloons at the Thanksgiving parade. Actually, I think you’ve already started.” After that he turned around, leaving both girls feeling very self conscious.

Looking down at the two trays, he quickly decided which one he should give to Sunset. One had an actually meal while the other was just a salad. Sunset was getting the salad since she needed to keep that figure. The last thing Badger wanted was for those gorgeous hips of hers to go to ruin. And that flat stomach and all the other things he liked about her.

Badger sat back down with Sunset and pushed her tray to her.

“You know, you could make a good bully,” Badger commented. “You’re smart, which bullies aren’t, but you know how to be mean. So that’s a plus.”

“Hmph?” Sunset grumbled her mouth full of food. Badger stared at her. Human beings use utensils, it was common courtesy. Sunset Shimmer had plunged her mouth into her salad and ate it like some kind of beast. Badger decided to just ignore it.

Sunset swallowed with a loud gulp. “I don’t want to be a bully like you.” She rolled her eyes. “If the other bullies are like you then I’ll get the reputation of being a dense idiot.”

She went down and swallowed another pile of leafy greens. Badger started working on his own meal. His overwhelming hunger helped him to finish his lunch rather quickly, and with a quick gulp, Badger downed his milk. He looked back at Sunset who was staring at him with a skeptic stare.

“What?” Badger barked.

“You eat like an animal,” Sunset scorned.

Badger couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You used you face as an eating utensil!” he wailed. “Don’t be criticizing me when you got lettuce all over your face.”

Sunset touched her face and peeled off a leaf. When she realized her predicament she began to blush and wipe her face with her hands. Badger rolled his eyes at her, stood up, and walked away. He returned quickly with a handful of napkins. He placed them in front of Sunset who started to ferociously rub her face with them. Badger noted how she didn’t say thank you.

“Now,” Sunset, regaining her composure, placed the napkins down, “what can you tell me about the social groups here?”

Badger looked around the cafeteria, gazing at the different tables. He searched them, examining each student. To him they were all pretty much the same. They had money and Badger wanted that money. It was just that some prey is easier to catch than others.

“Okay,” he looked at Sunset, about to tell her, but he paused.

“Is there something wrong?” Sunset said, clicking a pen.

“Are you taking notes?” Badger asked, bewildered.

“Yes,” Sunset twirled the pen around in her fingers, “your point?”

Badger winced. “You really are a nerd,” he said. “Are you bad at social interactions or something?”

Sunset glared at Badger, her eyes piercing his soul. “It’s none of your business what I do,” she pointed her pen at him.

Badger just shrugged. He wasn’t looking to argue with the girl. In fact, he was happy to just have a conversation with her, no matter how weird it was. She was hot.

“Look around,” he made a sweeping motion with his arm, “notice anything noticeably different about each kid?”

Sunset peered at the students. “No,” she answered.

Badger groaned. “I thought you were smart. Look again,” he ordered, “notice how they dress?”

Sunset did look again, this time focusing more. At first she didn’t really see what Badger meant, but after looking longer she began to notice a pattern.

“Everybody dresses in a theme,” Sunset stated in amazement, and wrote in her notebook.

“Yep,” Badger nodded, “the way kids dress is how they are classified. It’s all in the clothes. You dress like a jock, you are a jock. You dress like a nerd, and guess what? You’re a nerd.”

“What are those other there?” Sunset asked, pointing with her pen.

Badger looked over to where she was pointing. “Oh those are the eco kids. Tree huggers, they love nature. Next to them are the fashionistas. They’re a bunch of spoiled rich kids. Mostly girls.”

“And those?” Sunset pointed to another table.

“Rockers, or band geeks as they should be called,” Badger stated. “They think they’re cool but they’re really lame.”

“And them?” Sunset pointed to yet another table. This time Badger grinned in excited me.

“Those are the ROTC Nazis,” he chuckled. “They’re hilarious to watch.”

As he said that, all of the ROTC Nazis stood up simultaneously from their table. In unison they pushed their chairs in and got into two file columns. Then they marched away, singing a cadence as they went.

“See?” Badger giggled. Sunset shook her head at the ridiculousness and went back to her notebook. She still had one question, however.

“Alright last one,” she pointed to another table. This one made Badger frown in bitterness.

“Oh, them,” he muttered, slouching down in his seat.

The table Sunset had pointed out was filled with five freshmen girls. Despite their relatively short time at CHS, they were already making an impact. Badger recognized this as a threat. And for a bully like him he had a reason to be skeptical.

“That’s an anomaly,” he pointed at the table. “That right there shouldn’t exist.”

“What is it?” Sunset asked, looking at the five girls.

“It’s mixing of the groups,” Badger spat, “and we can’t have that. It’s unnatural. See it creates a negative effect.” Badge began making circles on the table with his finger. “When the groups hang with each other they began to protect each other. When they do that it makes it hard for bullies to get money from them.”

“That does sound bad,” Sunset agreed. “So united they stand, and divided they fall.”

“Kind of,” Badger answered. “Just look at the two pink haired ones,” Badger pointed and Sunset looked. “There were once outcasts. They didn’t belong to a group. One of them was too crazy and the other was too shy. Nobody liked them. And if you don’t have friends then you’re an outcast. That’s another group.”

“What changed?” Sunset asked.

“A phenomenon,” Badger cursed. “Someone took a liking to them but it didn’t go as planned. Usually kids are initiated into a set group but this was different. This group is a combination of multiples. Why they did it, I have no idea.”

“But is it a direct threat?” Sunset asked, getting increasingly interested.

“Well,” Badger looked over, “at the moment, no. But if it spreads, then it’ll be a problem.” He flicked his head at the table. The girls seemed to be really enjoying themselves despite being so different. “One of those girls is an aggy. That’s short for agriculture. Another is a jock. Both of them are groups we avoid bullying.”

Badger looked at the table again. All of those different girls seemed so happy together. It made Badger sick because it violated everything he had been taught.

“Stop,” Sunset held up her hand. “Bullies avoid certain groups?”

“Of course,” Badger replied. “Some people are just too troublesome to bully. We mainly focus on the physically weaker students. Like the techies.” Badger motioned his hand to another table. This table was full of students with hunchbacks and calculators in their hands. There seemed to be doing homework.

“The correct terms are nerds or geeks. But some students insist on calling them techies. I don’t know, maybe it gives them a clearer conscience,” Badger shook his head as he watched the nerds finish all their homework in record time.

“I still don’t understand,” Sunset looked at Badger. “You’re a bottom feeder just because it’s too hard to after the real game. Why don’t you just suck it up and go after the more rewarding targets?”

“You obviously don’t know the game,” Badger shot back. “Some of these kids will fight back or just not respond at all, which means we get nothing. We bullies always learn it the hard way. When you act tough, people want to know how tough.”

“Hmph,” Sunset huffed. After that she decided not to pursue that topic any longer. Instead she found her eyes drifting around the cafeteria again. Now she was able to tell the differences of the groups that were hanging around. She didn’t know their names, but at least she could tell them apart. Although, there was one thing she didn’t get.

“Where are the bullies?” Sunset asked, grabbing Badger’s attention.

“The bullies?” Badger swung his head around, looking around the cafeteria. His kind was nowhere to be found. Eventually he just shrugged, not being able to find what he was looking for. “Figures they’re making themselves scarce today.”

“So they’re not here?” Sunset asked.

“Yep,” Badger replied. “Most bullies don’t come to lunch unless they’ve got money. And even if they do, they usually eat in the staircases or in the halls.”

“Why?” Sunset asked.

“They know they’re not welcome at lunch,” Badger told her. “Bullies always sit alone. We don’t make friends in what we do. Aren’t you wondering why we're sitting alone now?”

The thought had never crossed Sunset’s mind. She was more focused on learning about the student body than caring about interacting with the student body. However, upon looking around, she seemed to notice that some of the kids were giving her hostile looks. When she made eye contact they went back to their own business but the damage had already been done. Sunset hated them already.

“Badger,” Sunset said to get the boy’s attention, “tell me how a bully dresses.” She wanted to be able to identify one if she saw one. So she got her pencil ready and looked into her growing list of notes.

Badger looked down at his own clothing. “Look at me,” he said and Sunset look up from her notebook. He motioned his hand over himself. “This is how a bully dresses. If you want to be a bully, you have to look the part. That means dress mean and look like you’re dangerous.”

“Interesting,” Sunset muttered and continuing writing in her notebook. “Where’d you get those clothes anyway? You kind of stick out like a sore thumb around here.”

Badger coughed. “Thanks for noticing.” He looked down at his getup. The main part of his ensemble was a large oversized black hoodie which he wore every day. It went all the way from his shoulders to right above his knees. In fact everything he wore was very baggy. He wasn’t very proud of it but it’s just how he was expected to dress. All bullies dressed similar to this. Look as threatening as possible, that was the goal.

Although most students though Badger looked more like a well used bean bag chair than anything threatening. He wasn’t aware of all jokes that were made behind his back.

“These are hand-me-downs,” Badger explained, stretching out his hoodie. “I’m not a rich kid like most here.”

“Uh huh,” Sunset murmured, still writing in her notebook.

“It’s true!” Badger insisted. “I have nothing, and kids here have all they could dream of.” Badger looked over at Sunset and realized she wasn’t paying attention. Instead she still had her head in that notebook of hers.

“Watcha doing there?” Badger leaned across the table to observe Sunset’s work. But he was briskly denied when Sunset put her arm in front of her notebook to block his vision.

Badger couldn’t see what Sunset was writing, but if he did he would see a detailed list of clothing that the students around school were wearing. He would also see a sketch that Sunset had starting drawing of Badger himself. It was relatively under detailed but captured the basic elements of his wardrobe choice. Underneath it she wrote the word, outcast.

Badger returned to his seat and moped. He was bored. The only thing that was keeping him around was Sunset. He was constantly reminding himself that he was talking to a girl. It was awesome.

“Badger,” Sunset spoke, looking up at the boy.

“Yes,” Badger replied, eager to have a conversation with her.

“How would you say I dress?” Sunset motioned a hand down her body.

Badger couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A girl was asking him to check her out. It was a welcome wagon to just stare at her.

“Well uh,” Badger thought on it while, he looked directly at Sunset. She looked back with an eyebrow arched up.

“I’m waiting,” Sunset said impatiently.

“Well to tell the truth,” Badger started, “you dress like a bully.” Badger looked for a harsh reaction but Sunset just seemed to nod in agreement. “I mean you dress like a bad girl,” Badger explained. “Not that I know what a bad girl looks like. I only know from things like movies and posters.”

“Oh,” Sunset smiled devilishly. “So you say I look like a girl from a poster?”

Badger, realizing he had been caught, blushed a bit. “Y-yeah you do.”

Sunset smirked. “Thanks,” and she leaned back in her seat. Badger’s admiration was doing wonders to boost her ego.

“So,” Badger said to try and make himself feel less awkward.

“So,” Sunset said, “Are there any girl bullies around?”

Badger was caught by surprise. He snickered as he tried desperately not to laugh. “That’s hilarious! A girl bully! No never, that would be terrible.”

“And why’s that?” Sunset leaned across the table and glared at Badger. Under other circumstances Badger would have shied away, but now he was in his element. Bullying was one of the things he knew a lot about.

“Because,” Badger stared. “There are no girl bullies. You have to be a boy.”

“What?” Sunset shrieked. “That’s sexist!”

“It’s the truth,” Badger replied, knowing now he had her on the ropes. “There are no girl bullies here. We’re all guys because we can do it the best. Look at me,” Badger held his arms out, “I’m huge. And I’m only gonna get bigger.” He pointed at Sunset. “Now look at you. You’re a puny girl that is short and frail. Heck, even a nerd could stand up to someone like you.”

Sunset never looked angrier. Badger had found her weak spot, being called weak.

“Weren’t you the one that said I could make a good bully?” Sunset questioned.

This caught Badger off guard. He thought back. “Yeah I did say that but I meant if you were a boy you’d make a good bully. You’re just a girl so it doesn’t count.”

“But I’m just as strong as you,” Sunset insisted. “I beat you in a fight.”

“Yeah, okay,” Badger laughed. “Did you forget that I let you with so I could look at your underwear?” He looked up to see Sunset was red with anger. This only made the bully laugh harder.

“Keep laughing,” Sunset spat. “Because I plan on ruling this school one day, and when I do I’ll make your life unbearable.”

This caught Badger’s attention. “Y-you?” he said between laughs. “Don’t make me laugh. Wait. I already did.”

“Doubt all you want,” Sunset crossed her arms. “I’ll do it one day. And that day is soon.”

“Hmmm,” Badger grunted, he was calm now. “Well, I’ll have you know that right now someone already rules the school. So get in line.”

“What?” Sunset’s eyes widened. “Who?”

“A bully, actually,” Badger smiled. “He’s a big senior and he decides who lives or dies.” Badger chuckled a bit. “In a figurative sense anyways.”

Sunset glared at Badger. “So, what? Are you saying that I have to beat this senior for control of the school?”

Badger laughed at this. “Beat him? You can’t beat him. He’s about five times your size and it’s not because he’s fat.” Badger shook his head, almost pitying Sunset naivety. “Besides we’re just freshmen right now.”

“What does that suppose to mean?” Sunset snarled, angry at Badger for his sudden condescending attitude. It reminded her of her old mentor.

“It means we’re freshmen,” Badger clarified. “Freshmen are the little guys that are new to the pond. The other grades don’t take us seriously because we’re too new. We have no credibility.”

“I don’t understand the problem,” Sunset growled. “I’ll show them that I mean business. No matter the cost.”

“Ha!” Badger sneered. “Yeah right. Listen, let’s say you somehow dethrone the current ruler of this school. Even if you did then someone other than you would take his place. That’s because you’re a freshman and have no right to rule the school.” Badger paused. “Also you’re a girl and I’ll be surprised if any guy would listen to you.”

Sunset remained silent for a while. When she did speak it was harsh. “And you’re certain of this?” Her hands gripped the edges of her seat, turning her knuckles white. She was trying not to blow her top.

“Certain?” Badger snorted. “Absolutely. It’s called discrimination, Sunset Shimmer. Everyone does it, especially me. You just gotta learn to live with it.” Badger leaned back in his seat. “Maybe you will get to eventually have some influence in this school. It isn’t a bad goal. I tried too.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You tried to rule this school?” she asked, intrigued.

“Oh yeah,” Badger nodded. “I tried to make a name for myself here too. Make no mistake, I’m a newbie here too. My bullying career only started earlier this year. But you learn a lot after your first couple rounds. Lots of doors open and lots of doors close. The way I figure, if I make it to sophomore year I can finally get on the playing field. You have to be at least a sophomore to be considered relevant.”

Right then the bell rang. Badger stood up immediately with Sunset Shimmer quickly stuffing her notebook into her backpack. Again Badger walked with the girl, a little bit closer than last time. They were some of the last students out of the cafeteria so the hallways outside were slowly dissipating with students.

“What’s your next class?” Badger asked Sunset as they walked down the hallway.

“It’s chemistry,” Sunset said, remembering her schedule from looking at it earlier.

Badger cursed himself for not having that class currently. “Do you need help finding your next class?”

“Sure, why not?” Sunset shrugged.

The two began heading in the direction of the science wing. The halls were clearing out which meant they were going to be late. They were in the administrative hall, named so due to the administration having lots of offices in the hallway, when a booming sound was heard behind them.

Sunset quickly turned around to see what the noise but was quickly slammed into the lockers behind her.

“Get back,” Badger said briskly, pinning her against the lockers with his arm. His actions had gotten her out of the way of two students that came tumbling down the halls. They were the ones that made the loud noise.

The two students had gotten each other into a stalemate, both holding each other tight. One was clad in black while the other could easily be identified as a jock. From the heavy grunts and wounds on their faces, it could be determined they had been going at it fiercely for a while. And they both showed no signs of stopping.

The kid clad in black seemed to be getting the upper hand as he pushed the jock back, causing him to shake violently. When it seemed like the jock was starting the buckle the tables turned. Using the force the black clad kid was exerting, the jock was able to swing them until he rammed both of them into the lockers. From there the jock pushed with all his might to get his opponent to his knees.

But the black clad kid had no intention of letting himself be put into this situation. So, using all his strength, he pushed the jock off of him, successfully ending their holds on each other. Now they both raised their fists to fight a different style. The jock threw the first punch.

“Who are those guys?” Sunset whispered quietly to Badger. She was scared out of her mind but had no intention of showing it.

“I don’t know the jock,” Badger whispered back, equally as quiet but not nearly as frightened. “But the one in all black is the senior I was telling you about.” Sunset threw a surprised look at Badger. “His name is Warden, by the way.”

Warden ducked and effectively dodged the jock’s fist. Then he quickly jabbed the jock with his own fist. This sent the jock’s head back with a grunt and Warden used the time to kick the jock in his sides. By now the jock was disoriented and Warden bought himself a window of opportunity. He grabbed the jock by his wrist and using his other hand, went to town on the jock’s face.

Every blow made the jock slowly start to lose stability. Warden continually punched and punched, throwing his back into it. Eventually the jock collapsed with Warden still gripping his arm. Warden gave the jock a quick kick and determined he was out for a while. But it wasn’t over.

There was still fight left in Warden and for whatever reason he wanted to really make the jock pay. So using both hands he lifted the jock in the air. When he got to the point of maximum distance between the length of his arms and the floor, Warden threw the jock to the floor. There was a sickening crack as the jock’s body hit the floor.

It was over after that. Any remaining students quickly vacated the halls. The only remaining people were Sunset, Badger, and Warden. Warden still looked angry but conceded his victory. He began walking away, passing Sunset and Badger. He gave them a nod as he passed.

But before Warden could walk any further, the sound of a door slamming open got their attentions. In the doorway across the hall, stood a tall woman, looking directly at Warden. Badger recognized it was none other than Principal Celestia and he knew that Warden was going to be in deep trouble.

From behind Celestia ran out Vice Principal Luna, the cohort to Principal Celestia. She hurriedly headed over to the incapacitated jock and knelt down next to him. From out of nowhere suddenly came a gym teacher. Together they hoisted the jock off the ground and began hauling him to what could be assumed would be the nurse’s office.

Celestia stood in the doorway of her office, her foot tapping against the floor. “Warden, in my office NOW!” She screamed.

Warden rolled his eyes and marched over with nothing but an irritated groan. He disappearing into the office and Celestia closed the door behind him.

The only ones left were Sunset and Badger. Both of them instantly traumatized from the ordeal.

“And that,” Badger pointed, “is why bullies only take from the weak.” He breathed heavily. “Anyone else tries to fight back.”

“I see that now,” Sunset gulped, amazed by the vicious display of brute force. “That was insane.”

“No,” Badger shook his head. “It was just another day in the life of a school bully. It’s nothing personal. Remember that, it’s nothing personal.”

And Sunset would.

Smartest Girl in School

Sunset Shimmer suffered another anxiety attack after she told the last couple events that happened to her. It started with her pulse going haywire and then it became harder to breath. Eventually Sunset felt a feeling of adrenaline starting from her stomach and quickly coursing throughout her entire body. It made her jumpy and she finally resorted to putting her head down on the table and covering her arms over it. Sunset’s body then proceeded to shake violently as she whispered incoherent statements under her breath. These statements ranged from saying “I’m sorry” to “it’ll never be the same”.

Twilight had been quick to react to the situation. She knew there was no way to stop her; the anxiety would just have to run its course. In the meantime, she rubbed Sunset’s back in an attempt to calm her down. The only hope was for Sunset to recover and not be too scared to talk anymore.

Twilight looked up at the clock that hung on one of the walls of Sugarcube Corner. It was starting to get late and Twilight knew that the bakery would close soon. But Sunset still had a lot more to get off her chest and Twilight didn’t want to let this conversation get book shelved. She quickly saw that her friend Pinkie Pie was still working. She was probably the one closing shop tonight.

“Hey Pinkie,” Twilight called over to Pinkie.

“Yeah, Twilight?” Pinkie replied gleefully. Despite it being late at night she was still full of energy.

“We’re gonna need to stay a bit late,” Twilight pointed to the quivering Sunset. “Can you ask the Cakes if that’s okay?”

“Don’t worry about it Twilight,” Pinkie replied. “The Cakes won’t be back until tomorrow. They asked me to close for the night, so I’m in charge. You two can stay as long as you need.”

“Thanks Pinkie, I appreciate it,” Twilight nodded. Pinkie nodded approvingly and then disappeared behind a door, deeper into the bakery. Twilight silently appreciated that despite Pinkie’s out going nature, she still understood delicate situations. Actually, there was that one time with Fluttershy, but Twilight buried that memory for the moment.

It took a while but eventually Sunset did come to and she lifted her head up. Twilight was relieved that she was back to normal but was now cautious of how to proceed. Sunset didn’t show signs that she had shed any tears but she looked tired. It was as if the ordeal sucked the energy out of her.

“Twilight,” Sunset said breathlessly.

“Yes, Sunset?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“I think I want to continue on with my story,” Sunset swallowed painfully, casting a shameful glance down on the table.

“If it’s what you want,” Twilight said, softly. “I just want to know what triggered that reaction first, so we can maybe avoid it in the future.”

“I don’t know,” Sunset mumbled. “I don’t know at all. Everything I’ve done just seems to come crashing down and it hurts. It hurts to remember that there was a time where I was just so awful to people.”

“All that’s behind you,” Twilight spoke in a calm, almost motherly voice. “Sunset, you need to forgive yourself so you can let go of your past.”

“But will others forget what I’ve done?” Sunset wailed, this time dangerously close to tears. “You don’t know the extent!” She was back to the point of having another anxiety attack.

“Sunset, take a breath,” Twilight commanded, reaching across the table to take hold of Sunset’s shoulders. “You need to keep a level head. If you’re freaking out now, how do you think it’ll be when we’re up against the Dazzlings? Are you going to break then too?”

Sunset sniffled, dazed a bit. “N-no.” Her voice cracked.

“I said, are you gonna break?” Twilight repeated, more sternly.

“No!” Sunset exclaimed, with more conviction.

“Good,” Twilight released Sunset from her hold.

The two girls exchanged glances of peculiarity before giggling to themselves from the oddity. It felt good for them to be able to release some tension after the previous tense moment.

“I never would have guessed that you could be so motivating,” Sunset said to Twilight, finally done laughing.

“It’s what happens when you have an older brother eager to go into the service,” Twilight explained. “He’d always used to march around the house singing cadences to himself.”

“Like the ROTC Nazis,” Sunset joked.

“Yeah, exactly like them,” Twilight giggled.

“Now those guys,” Sunset sighed, “those guys were one of the groups I never touched. They just stayed in their own world and were out of my way.” Sunset sighed. “I wish there were more like them.”

Twilight saw that Sunset had calmed down. “Do you want to continue with your story?” Twilight asked, hoping to get to the bottom of Sunset’s mysterious uprising.

Sunset stretched her arms out. “Yeah, I’ve wanted to get this off my chest for a while now. And there’s this euphoric aspect that I think I’m enjoying.” She paused. “Where was I again?”

“You had just learned about the social groups in Canterlot High from observing them in the cafeteria. Then you had an encounter with someone named Warden,” Twilight said, quickly recalling the events.

Sunset reared her head back. “Warden, of course!” she exclaimed. “Right, he’s a very important part of all this. Well him, and this other guy, whose name escapes me.” Sunset shook her head. “Anyways, this part was close to the time where the Freshman Fair was taking place. Do you know about that?”

“I once saw a picture in a yearbook of our friends at it,” Twilight recalled the yearbook. At the time her friends looked so much younger. It made her think what Sunset looked like back then.

“Yeah that place,” Sunset moped, remembering regretful earlier experiences. “I never went. I had other things that I needed to attend.”

“Such as?” Twilight questioned.

“Well, I was finally starting to become acclimated to the workings of High School,” Sunset was smiling for this part.

***

“So, how was the first day here?” Badger asked Sunset. He pushed open the front door and held it open for her. She walked outside and felt the cool air hit her. It felt soothing to her skin and she found she had missed the feeling of fresh air after being cooped up in school all day.

“School sucks,” Sunset stated blatantly, walking down the front steps of the school. “Everything’s so regulated and bland. There’s no freedom.”

Badger snickered. “Well, this place isn’t necessarily the land of the free or the home of the brave.” He walked alongside her.

Badger had the time to rendezvous with Sunset at the last bell. He found her by what he assumed to be her locker, putting books away. This time she had remembered his name which was an improvement from their previous encounter in algebra.

Since school was now over, the student body was in the process of vacating the premise as quickly as possible. Everyone was eager to go home to get on with their lives which meant that there was a big hurry to leave. Additionally, it was Friday so everyone was looking forward to the weekend and the freedom that came with it. No more waking up early in the morning.

“You take the bus?” Badger asked Sunset who was walking next to him.

“Um, no,” she replied, looking straight ahead. “I walked here.”

“Cool, me too,” Badger lied. He took the bus every day but Sunset didn’t need to know that.

After a bit of walking they began passing by the statue that stood in the common area. This statue was easily the biggest landmark in front of the school. It loomed over the common area and seemed to watch over the student body like some sort of guardian. Sunset stopped in her tracks. Her eyes were glued in the direction of the statue and she approached it slowly. Stopping right in front of it, she looked puny next to its large size, like an child next to an adult. For a while she stared at the large blank space on the side of the base, and then she placed her hand on it. The feeling she felt from it was cool and lifeless. It contrasted with her warm body.

Badger walked from behind her and too placed his hand on the statue. “Yep,” he said, “that’s concrete alright.” He knocked on it with his knuckle before pulling away.

Sunset looked at him; a dazed looked in her eyes. “Do you know what this statue is?” she asked, breathlessly.

“A horse?” Badger guessed, looking up at horse on top of its base. “It’s supposed to be our mascot. I personally would’ve chosen a dragon or a falcon, but those two were already taken.”

“No, it’s not a horse,” Sunset said and went back to looking. Badger looked back up and still saw a horse statue so he wondered what Sunset was talking about.

Sunset still stared longingly at the statue’s base for a while. Badger noticed that there was a specific sort of sadness in her eyes but couldn’t place where it came from. He remained silent but wondered what got her so depressed about a stone horse.

Eventually she took her hand off the concrete and began walking away. Badger followed closely behind her, trying to figure her out. He had reached two conclusions by the time they both reached the edge of the street. Either she’s a fan of statues, or she’s a horse lover. Badger appreciated both characteristics.

“So, which way is your house?” Badger asked but quickly realized he sounded like weirdo for asking. He didn’t want to sound like a stalker.

“That way,” Sunset pointed nonchalantly. Badger was relieved that she didn’t take his question the wrong way.

“Hey, our houses are in the same direction,” Badger observed. “I guess that means we’re walking together.”

“I guess,” Sunset groaned and the two began the trek.

The walk through town was mostly just silence. Sunset didn’t have anything to say and Badger didn’t know what to say. He mostly just awkwardly stepped and kept his hands in his pockets. Sunset on the other hand looked at the ground mostly and pouted. The walking was awkward for both of them but it was what they had to do. Well, Badger could just take the bus but this made him happier.

Eventually, they found themselves at a four way intersection. Badger leaned over and punched the button on the street light to start the walk signal.

“So, my house is that way,” Badger pointed to his right.

“Mine’s is that way,” Sunset threw her arm out straight in front of her. Badger looked in that direction and shuddered.

“That leads towards a bad part of town,” Badger grimaced. “Everfree High school is down that way.”

“Yep,” Sunset agreed. The walk signal turned on and she stepped onto the cross walk. She began leaving without a goodbye.

“Yeah so, I’ll see you at school next week,” Badger yelled after her. “Or maybe I’ll see you around town?”

Sunset didn’t respond. She only lifted her hand up to signify a goodbye wave. That was all she left with.

***

“It finally hit me that there really was no turning back at that point,” Sunset explained. “The day I learned the portal finally closed was when I realized I was truly on my own, and I couldn’t take it back.”

“That must’ve been horrifying,” Twilight said, sadly. “I couldn’t imagine being in this strange new world without friends or family to guide me. Where did you stay?”

“Homeless,” Sunset replied, blankly. “I slept in between trashcans and covered myself with newspapers.”

Twilight put a hand over her mouth, shocked at what she just heard. At that moment, Twilight realized how lucky she was. When she arrived in this world for the first time she felt inside Canterlot High’s library. Sunset on the other hand had to be exposed in a dark, dingy urban environment.

“That’s terrible! Don’t tell me you still do that now,” Twilight cried.

“No I’ve got a home now,” Sunset remarked, worry free. She had gotten over her traumatic first residence in the new world ages ago. “It’s just during those first couple of weeks I was on my own, living off scraps. I licked a finished applesauce cup out of the trash once for food.”

“That’s so,” Twilight felt sick.

“Gross? I know,” Sunset cut Twilight off. “Trust me, after that I vowed to never live like that again.” Sunset exhaled. “And I didn’t.”

“How?” Twilight asked.

Sunset shook her head. “That’s a story for another time. I’ll tell you later but back to the bullies.”

“Right,” Twilight nodded, still interested in this story.

“You know, way back when, it was the bullies that ruled Canterlot High. At least before I showed up,” Sunset recalled. “They had a very different way of running it than I did. It was so lenient yet so strict, both at the same time. Rarely did they truly show off their power over everyone but the effects they had on the school were all there.”

“Was it bad?” Twilight begged the question.

Sunset thought on it. “It’s not that simple,” she finally answered. “It’s was more of a factor of life. Their way had been going on for so long that it was just normal at that point. It doesn’t justify them, remember they extorted and harassed students, but it explains why they acted the way they did.”

“How so?” Twilight continued further.

Sunset was about to speak but stopped herself. “Let me just tell you how I learned.”

***

For Badger, the weekend ended way too quickly. After arriving to his house Friday afternoon, he slept the whole day until it was the next morning. When he had awoken late into the morning, he found his parents had already left for work, leaving him home alone. At that point his mind had thought back to Sunset Shimmer and he wondered what the girl was up to.

So, being always curious, Badger went back to the intersection the two had departed at and looked for the girl, but didn’t find her. Disappointed, he went back home and stayed there the rest of the weekend which was a normal for him. Sunday rolled by and before he knew it Badger was back in school again, roaming the halls before the bell.

Inside his pocket was the daily catch of lunch money he stole from a nerd earlier. Now that business was done he was in search of his entertainment. He kept his eyes peeled for orange and red colored hair. Those two colors were some that would really stand out amongst the student body. For the most part the students all blended with each other and anyone that didn’t always stood out. Whether that is a good thing or bad depends on perspective.

Badger was on the verge of giving up his search when he finally spotted her. She was at her locker which Badger quickly made a mental note of its location. Cautiously, Badger walked towards her until Sunset finally noticed him.

“What’s up, Badger,” Sunset greeted him, closing her locker.

“Sup, Sunny,” Badger choked, realizing his mistake. “I mean Sunset, sorry.”

“Hmph,” Sunset yawned then started walking down the hallway, and Badger followed.

“I- I’ve been working on my growl,” Badger said, nervously. “I spent the weekend practicing, listen. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Grrrrrrrrarrrrrr! Grrrrra!”

“Badger,” Sunset stopped walking and glared at her follower, “shut up.”

Badger blushed and smiled cautiously. “Right, it needs a lot more work. I’ll stop now.” Sunset rolled her eyes and leaned back against the wall. “So how was your weekend? You know, living in the slums and everything.”

Sunset visibly shuttered. “It was fine,” she answered but Badger noticed her shivering.

“Really?” he said, bewildered. “Because I hear that place is the worst.”

“I think you’re the worst, Badger,” Sunset grimaced.

“Oh yeah?” Badger smirked playfully. “Well I think,” Badger stopped. His eyes darted around the hallway.

Where they stood now was another long hallway with lockers on each side. The lockers were all a bland beige color, very different from the norm. It took a while for Badger to realize it but when he did a cold shiver ran up his spine. The hallway they stood in was the most infamous hallway in Canterlot High. It had seen a lot throughout the years and not all of them were pleasant.

The hallway’s reputation was what made Badger’s skin crawl. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face, there was a presence around him he didn’t like. The only thing that it could be described as is terror. This hallway was the area of school where the most bullying happens, and it brought ruin to anyone found lurking around. As freshmen, Sunset and Badger were perfect victims. Badger knew his bully status wouldn’t help him here. The upper class men take no prisoners.

“Sunset,” Badger grabbed Sunset by the shoulder, “we need to go, now.”

“Don’t touch me!” Sunset shrieked, throwing Badger’s hand off here.

“Shhhhh! Keep your voice down,” Badger spoke through gritted teeth. “We can get into serious trouble right now. So let’s’ just leave while we still have the chance.”

Badger was on the verge of panic but he was just about to contain himself. What really worried him was Sunset. He felt the need to protect her and guide her. She had no idea of how the school works, Badger could sense it. And if he didn’t protect her, no one would.

Besides, she’s hot.

“Hey, Badger,” Sunset peered at her companion. “You’re giving me googly eyes. Stop it.”

Badger shook his head, unaware he had gotten lost in thought. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I just can’t stress how important it is to leave this place. Bad things could happen to people that wander here.”

“Mhm,” Sunset murmured, very uninteresting in what Badger was saying. “Actually, I have something to tell you.” She got up close and personal to Badger. “You know what you can do for me?”

Badger blushed. Sunset was pushing him up against the lockers despite him being much bigger than her. It was obvious he was letting her. Her small hands pressed up against his chest and her face close to his. Badger could feel her hot breath. He welcomed it.

“Y-you’re kind of in my p-personal bubble,” Badger stammered, trying not to look directly at Sunset.

“Are you complaining?” Sunset frowned.

“No, no maam,” Badger replied, obediently. “I’m just,”

“Just what?” Sunset pressed herself even more against Badger. “You’re what?”

Her aqua colored eyes stared right into Badger’s soul. They had an effect on him. They reduced him into a vulnerable state, effectively making him putty in her hands. Sunset smiled triumphantly at how Badger seemed to shrink under her stare. It fueled an instinct within her to be the best there was and have everyone know it.

“N-n-nothing,” Badger finally squeaked out, letting himself lose his will to Sunset.

Sunset smirked. “You’re right. You are nothing.” She gave Badger a little smack on his cheek and then pulled away. She left Badger standing there still in shock while she looked down the hallway. “There,” she pointed, “see that kid?”

Badger regained his composure at the sound of Sunset talking to him. “Who, that guy?” Badger pointed to a dorky looking kid down the hall.

“Yeah,” Sunset looked at Badger. “Go take his lunch money for me.”

Badger nearly had a heart attack. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, two things. First, that’s not the smartest thing to do right now. Second, why do you need money all of a sudden?”

“To pay for lunch, duh,” Sunset responded. “You need money to buy lunch, isn’t that obvious enough? In fact, you told me that.”

“Yeah, but,” Badger held up his hands, “we already found a better solution. We can just take lunch from kids after they buy it. Technically there’s no need to extort anymore.”

“I can think of several reasons to keep extorting,” Sunset paced back and forth. “But I think the most important reason is image. Do you really want to stop extorting kids? What if the other kids start talking? What will everyone think when you just pass them in the hall? They have expectations now. You’ll become a laughing stalk. Everyone thinks you’re a big tough bully but they’ll see the truth if you stop. Do you really want to risk that?”

“Wow,” Badger put a hand on his head and just let his mouth slack open in awe. “You bring up some very good points. I guess I never thought of maintaining image. I’ve always thought of it as survival.”

“Hmph,” Sunset smirked. “Don’t worry, not everyone is as smart as me.”

“Yeah, you’re wicked smart,” Badger nodded.

“Thanks,” Sunset grinned, egotistically. “Now, go get my money.”

Badger was now convinced that Sunset had to be the smartest girl in school. She may not know much about the workings of the social structure but she wasn’t letting that stop her. Badger made a mental note to listen to her more and see if she had anymore wisdom to impart.

A thought came to Badger as he was walking down the hall. With a flick of the heel, he turned quickly to Sunset. “Before I go,” he reached into his pocket, “I got some lunch money from another kid this morning. You can have it. This shouldn’t take too long but just in case the bell rings you can have the money now.” Badger dropped the cash he had gotten into Sunset’s hand. She greedily gripped it, holding the bills up to her face. There was no thank you but that was okay with Badger whom was getting used to it.

With an enthusiastic step, Badger marched towards the kid Sunset had pointed out. As he got closer, Badger realized who the kid was. It was Paper Thin, the kid Badger let go on Friday. Badger cringed; this would be awkward for him. Paper Thin probably thinks he’s made a friend in the bully. Badger cursed himself for letting his moral code interfere last time. He wouldn’t make the mistake again.

With a deep breath Badger picked up the pace, as Paper Thin was just closing his locker door, Badger came by and pressed him against it.

“Wah!” Paper Thin wailed, clenching his eyes shut. He briefly opened one eye, braving his attacker, and was surprised. “Badger?” he squeaked.

“What’s up?” Badger grinned weakly.

“I don’t understand,” Paper Thin said. “Isn’t Boxer supposed to-,”

“Shut up!” Badger snarled, getting more anxious now. “Just give me your lunch money, you know the drill.”

Paper Thin, hands trembling, reached down into his pocket and weakly took out his wallet. Badger grabbed it and tossed Paper Thin to the side. The skinny kid just fell down lamely and sat on the floor.

“I-I only have enough for lunch today, like last time,” Paper Thin commented. Badger raised an eyebrow and made an irritated face.

“Don’t expect a free ride every time I come around,” he growled. “You’re lucky I don’t stuff you in a locker right now.”

Badger extracted what he needed from the wallet’s folds and then carelessly threw it to the side. Paper Thin lunged for it and quickly recovered it for himself. On his knees, he stuffed it into his pocket again. Badger looked pitifully at the kid. Putting one foot behind the other, Badger threw his leg back, and then brought it forward. He kicked Paper Thin right in his ass.

“Aaah!” Paper Thin yelped, jerking forward from the blow.

“That hurt, you skinny runt?” Badger taunted. He kicked the scrawny student again.

“Ow! Yes!” Paper Thin whined, scrambling on his knees to get away. Before he could get away, Badger swooped in and picked him up. Badger grasped his victim’s skinny arms, holding him so their faces were inches apart.

“If you tell anyone what I did here, I will make sure that you have the taste of urinal water in your mouth for your entire high school career,” Badger threatened. He shook Paper Thin and then finally pushed him away. The nerd turned and started briskly walking away. Badger grumbled to himself and threw his foot into Paper Thin’s backside. “Hurry up!” Paper Thin listened and walked faster, but it wasn’t enough. “I said move!” Badger kicked him again.

“Ah!” Paper Thin groaned and walked even faster.

“Run! Run!” Badger shrieked and this time pushed the boy. Out of pure fear, Paper Thin rocketed himself into motion and rounded the corner in a flash. Badger breathed a sigh of relief that it was all over. He felt a bit bad but it was over so there was no reason to delve any further.

Just as it looked like the coast was clear, there was the sudden sound of footsteps. Badger craned his neck to where Sunset was standing. She was standing still so the footsteps weren’t from her. The footsteps only got louder and that was when Badger realized who it was. The footsteps sounded angrier the closer they came, which seemed to be from a stairwell down the hall.

Panic set into Badger’s mind as he stumbled over himself to run back to Sunset. He ran like a wild animal on a rampage back to Sunset’s position. Sunset looked at Badger as if he were crazy.

“Why are you running for?” she asked. Badger answered by grabbing a hold of her wrist and pulling her into motion.

“No time, we need to leave now,” Badger huffed, dragging Sunset behind him.

“I said don’t touch me!” Sunset wailed, but couldn’t break herself free so she was forced to follow closely behind. The two ran around the school until the bell rang and they finally parted ways.

Clash of the titans

“So these bullies,” Sunset held her hands out and spaced them apart, “they were all much bigger than any of other student. None of them were scrawny; every single one was massive in stature. This massiveness meant they had the most muscle in school.”

“Well they probably had to,” Twilight commented. “I mean, what they do kind of demands it.”

“I just want to know what they ate to make them so big,” Sunset chuckled. “Seriously Twi, if I could show you a picture of one you would know what I’m talking about.”

“I think I can imagine it fine,” Twilight mused, biting her lip. “I’m no stranger to big, hunky males, you know.”

There was a silence between the two. Sunset paused, confused as to where the conversation went. “What does that mean?”

Twilight’s eyes widened and she recoiled back. “Um, nothing, nothing,” she blushed. “Think nothing of it.”

Sunset eyed Twilight oddly. “Anyways,” she continued, “do you remember when you asked if human males were a warrior culture?”

Twilight nodded, recomposing herself. “I do.”

“Well to a point, bullies were a warrior subculture present in the school,” Sunset explained. “They operated through acts of violence, committing these acts on other students and occasionally with their own group. And when they did fight with each other, it was magnificent to watch. Whenever they fought you knew that someone was going to the nurse’s office. It was that fanatic and that’s what made it so amazing.”

Twilight cringed a bit. “So you liked watching kids being sent to the nurse’s office?”

Sunset saw this and sensed she may have overdone explaining her admiration of fighting. “No, no Twilight I’m not trying to glorify it. I’m just saying it was something extraordinary to watch. Imagine two forces of nature colliding,” then Sunset got an idea, “or two dragons fighting. Did you ever get the chance to see two dragons fight?”

“No,” Twilight answered, “but I have a good impression.”

“Right,” Sunset grinned, “you won’t see many fights at CHS anymore. Partly due to me but,” Sunset stopped and then continued, “yeah due to me.”

This intrigued Twilight. “Wait, you stopped fighting at the high school?” There was a small smile on her lips. “Sunset, that’s a good thing.”

“Well ,yeah,” Sunset exhaled. “It wasn’t as good as you think, unless you believe the end justifies the means.”

“I see,” Twilight murmured. She wanted to know more but decided to ask later because she still didn’t know how the story ends. “So these bullies though, how exactly did you contact them?”

“Well it was,” Sunset stopped herself. “I still can’t remember his name but he was the first. After that I met Warden. You remember him?”

“He was the bully that fought the jock,” Twilight stated.

“Good, well I got to chance to finally talk to him,” Sunset started.

***

After the ordeal in the morning, which was Badger and Sunset running around the school hand in hand, Sunset and Badger had split off to go to their classes. Just before lunch they would be able to meet up again. Until that time Badger was busy worrying about what he had done. Being in that hall was dangerous to begin with, but it could be safe as long as everyone followed the rules. Badger had unfortunately broken one of those rules by taking from Paper Thin. The sound of those footsteps reverberated in his head.

Sunset on the other hand had no idea of the reckoning that would occur. She was too new to understand how Canterlot High works. Her inexperience could be her downfall if she wasn’t safe. Lucky for her she had a protector in Badger.

Eventually the two did meet right outside the cafeteria. Badger walked with a slouch and constantly looked over his shoulders while Sunset walked more upright and confident.

“Hey Sunset, how was your day?” Badger said and then quickly looked over his shoulder.

“Fine,” Sunset grew annoyed and stopped in her tracks, “why are you looking around like that?” She turned around to face Badger.

“Oh, uh, no reason,” Badger lied. While he was looking around, he happened to notice a poster on the wall. “Hey look,” Badger pointed to the poster.

Sunset looked. The poster was an advertisement for an event at school called the Freshmen Fair.

Sunset squinted at the poster. “What is that?”

“Freshmen Fair,” Badger answered, “like the poster says. It’s a big thing for freshmen like us, or so I’ve heard.” Badger rocked back on his heels and put his hands behind his back, rubbing them together. He looked expectantly at Sunset.

Sunset on the other hand was looking at the poster. She put a hand under her chin and looked at the poster. “Hmmm,” she hummed in a low tune.

Badger bit his lip in anxiety. “So, uh,” he stammered, “y-you w-want to go? I-I could s-show you a-around, maybe?” He felt his face and ears get hot, and he knew he was losing it. A part of him was ashamed that he could be so overpowering to others but to this girl he was the total opposite. However, he was also fairly confident he was doing well with her. Maybe they’ll be boyfriend and girlfriend soon, which was his hope.

“Nah,” Sunset shook her head, “I don’t want to go to some quaint gathering.”

“O-oh,” Badger felt a pang of disappointment rack through his body. He wasn’t sad just disappointed. He decided he would try something different, still keeping his confidence.

“Yeah, I want to go somewhere exciting,” Sunset walked towards Badger. “Hang out with some of the movers and shakers, not a bunch of nervous little pipsqueaks.”

“Oh?” Badger took a new interest. “So you just want to see what people do around here? Okay, that’s cool.” Badger grinned in triumph. He could do what she wanted. “It’s a lot different than how it works where you live though.”

“Really?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “So, could you show me?”

Badger smiled. “Sure, I’d be happy to.” He leaned against some lockers. “You’d be surprised by.”

“Hey you!” someone shouted. It made Sunset and Badger jump at the sheer volume. Badger was turning to see who it was when a hand grabbed onto his throat. It brought him forward and then slammed him against the lockers. The sound of the slam echoed through the hall and so did the choking that Badger emitted.

Badger looked his attacker in the face, wincing the whole time. The assailant was a much bigger, much older looking kid. Mostly likely he was an upper classman, which explained why he was so big. Even Badger was smaller than him but only by a forehead. This kid was also dressed similar to Badger which meant one thing. Badger was being attacked by another bully.

“Ack!” Badger hacked. He desperately hugged his hands around his attacker’s arms, attempting to break free. “Box- Boxer!” Badger wailed. “I can’t breathe.”

The bully known as Boxer grunted in an annoyed manner. His eyes burned with anger and his mouth was a deep frown but he did heed Badger’s plea. Boxer let go and Badger collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. This wasn’t the end; Boxer didn’t give Badger any time to recover. He reached down and lifted the smaller bully up by his hoodie, putting his face into Badger’s own.

“You think I wouldn’t know?” Boxer slammed Badger into the lockers again, still holding him. “Huh! You think I wouldn’t know it was you? You runt, thinking you can run away and I wouldn’t know it’s you.”

Badger never thought he would be in this position. Being in conflict with another bully was something he hoped he would avoid, but it was happening. Badger knew there would only be one way to end this conflict, brawl it out.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Badger snarled, pushing himself off the lockers. He stood against the other bully’s might.

“You know damn well,” Boxer replied, slamming Badger backwards. “This morning you took Paper Thin’s lunch money. That didn’t belong to you! Our deal is you get him in the middle and at the end of the week. He’s mine anytime else.”

Badger frowned, getting angry himself. His fighting instinct was starting to kick in. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that we had an agreement. Oh that’s right, we don’t!” Badger locked his arms with Boxer and pushed, he began gaining ground. “We never discussed anything close to an agreement. Heck, we don’t even talk to each other. So I can do whatever I want. You stupid idiot!”

Badger had pushed his foe to the middle of the hall now, and the two were stuck in a standstill. Despite being a freshman, Badger was standing up against the upper classman. It seemed their strengths were equally matched as they struggled to gain any sort of upper hand.

Both of them didn’t see Sunset approach. “Hey ugly,” Sunset growled, suddenly appearing right at the two bullies’ sides. She looked angry. “Let him go.” She raised her fists in the air and began battering Badger’s attacker on his shoulder.

Boxer laughed. “Really? He smiled because he couldn’t even feel Sunset’s punches. After a few volleys, Sunset stepped back, bewildered that her attack had no effect. Boxer on the other hand had his focus on the small girl now. “You think you can take me?”

With a burst of energy, Boxer pushed Badger until he finally overpowered the freshman. Badger’s legs buckled and he fell on one knee, grunting in exhaustion he gritted his teeth and did his best to put up a fight. As it looked like Boxer would totally crush his opponent, the upper classman broke the grip. The standstill was over as Boxer broke from the struggle, leaving Badger still on one knee. In this exposed position, Badger couldn’t defend himself. Boxer threw his fist into the side of Badger’s face and sent the freshman down onto the ground, smacking hard against the floor tiles. It was hard to tell if Badger was going to get back up.

Boxer backed off from the other bully and then turned to Sunset Shimmer. With a wicked smile on his face, Boxer lunged for the flaming haired girl. Sunset was too shocked to react as a boy twice her size latched his hands onto her. Using his immense strength, Boxer lifted Sunset off the ground by her jacket.

“Let go off me!” Sunset shrieked, kicking her feet and fidgeting around.

“I ought to bash your head into the lockers,” Boxer snarled. “But I’d hate to mess up you’re pretty face," he sneered and fully extended his arms so Sunset was high off the ground.

Just as it looked like the upper classman had won, Badger came out of nowhere. He tackled the upper classman, causing all three students to fall to the ground. Sunset fell far away from the two boys and they landed on top of one another. Badger looked down at Boxer.

“You don’t touch here. Ever!” he shouted, full of venom and rage. Badger gave Boxer a punch of his own and another to pay him back for the blow received earlier. Badger’s punches sent Boxer’s head back into the floor with a sickening thump. That was when Boxer started showing signs of incredible rage.

As Badger was going for another punch, Boxer lifted the freshman and threw him off. They both scrambled to their feet, now standing a couple feet apart from each other. Badger glanced to Sunset who was a safe distance away, still lying on the floor but in okay shape. She was watching him and Badger knew this was his time to impress her. He brought his fist up in front of his face.

Boxer raised his fists into a fighting pose. “You want to fist fight now?” Boxer began flanking Badger. “This is my home element, kid. You’re done.”

They sidestepped each other in a circular patter before Badger finally struck first. He ran and threw his full weight into a punch, aiming for Boxer’s face. There was a look of glee as Boxer simply leaned to the side and completely dodged Badger’s attack. Boxer’s counter attack was a simple jab that collided into Badger’s face. The freshman bully reared back, grunting in agony. Now angrier than ever, Badger lunged forward again, with a similar style of attack. Boxer this time dodged the attack and used a more powerful uppercut to counter attack. The blow sent Badger’s head back and he stumbled back again, this time almost falling over.

“You’re fighting technique is atrocious,” Boxer commented, scornfully. Badger flashed his teeth and went for an all out attack. He charged his opponent with the intent of initiating another standstill. He was about three steps till contact when he was stopped dead in his tracks by something grabbing the hood on his hoodie. Badger skidded to a halt and just as he was about to do something, a fist came crashing dead center into his chest. The blow was powerfully enough to send him through the air and slamming into the lockers. Pain coursed through his body as he fell first onto his knees, and then finally onto his chest. Badger was defeated.

Boxer looked in shock as he lowered his fists. “Warden?” he said in astonishment.

The student in front of Boxer was bigger and taller than he. Warden was dressed in all black from his head to his toe. He was the tallest of all three bullies present and the most well built. That meant he was the scariest thing for anyone to come across at Canterlot High, a giant compared to the rest. He was the leader of the bullies and he played the role well.

Warden looked at Boxer with a wicked grin before then changing to an irritated stare. He lashed out and struck Boxer in between the eyes. The bully stepped back and held his face.

“Ow!” Boxer yelped.

“Beating up freshmen, eh Boxer?” Warden spoke in a deep commanding voice. “You’re even more pathetic than I originally thought.”

“Hey, you used to do the same when I was a freshy,” Boxer wailed.

Warden laughed. “Yeah but that’s over now.” He looked over to where Badger laid on the floor and how Sunset was watching them all from a distance. He adopted a sneer. “Boxer, let’s fight,” Warden raised his fists up.

“Wha-what?” Boxer stammered.

“I said let’s fight,” Warden clarified. He hopped a bit on his feet. “I’m feeling a little angry today. I want to blow off some steam right now.” Warden took a step forward. “You ready?”

Boxer visibly shook as he raised his hands up. He awkwardly stepped forward to get into position to fight Warden. The two bullies stood still for a second before Boxer made the first move. He hopped as close as he dare to his opponent and swung the first punch. His fist was like a bullet going through the air, so fast and very powerful. Warden dodged it with no effort.

“Alright you get the first strike,” he said, pulling his arm back. “And I’ll get the next.” Warden threw a punch back at Boxer. This punch was faster and convened much more power. It successfully collided with Boxer face and sent him flat on his ass.

Boxer held his cheek where Warden had got him. “Ah fuck,” he muttered. He got back up and again swung at Warden but had no effect. With another swing of his fist Warden sent Boxer right back down.

“Come on,” Warden chuckled. “I thought you were called Boxer for a reason. Who would give you such a misleading title?”

“You did!” Boxer shrieked. “You gave it to me when we first met.” Boxer got back on his feet. “I told you I took boxing classes and then you wanted to test my knowledge. You broke my nose and called me Boxer as a sarcastic joke. Now everyone else does it too.”

“Really?” Warden shrugged. “You must be lying. I don’t remember that.”

“You did!” Boxer lunged at Warden. The two bullies found themselves in a hold similar to how Boxer had fought Badger. However, Boxer was the one struggling against Warden whom stood tall and strong.

“Actually, now that I think about it, I’m not even here for you,” Warden said.

“What!” Boxer exclaimed.

“Oh, and Boxer,” Warden smiled. “You should’ve kept to punching because grappling isn’t your strong suit.” Warden tightened his grip. “It’s mine.”

In his last moment, Boxer realized his mistake. If Badger could overpower him in a struggle, then Warden would have no problem. Boxer quickly tried to release himself and escape but Warden had latched on. There was a glimmer of glee in Warden’s eyes, like he was enjoying himself. As he began to lift Boxer off the ground, panic fully set into the defeated bully.

“No, please!” Boxer cried. Warden only shook his head.

“Take it like a man,” he stated and raised Boxer higher. The big bully, Warden, finally had Boxer right where he wanted him. With such power, Warden vaulted Boxer into the floor face first. The sound he made was a mix between a thud and a splat. It sounded like it hurt, maybe he even broke something. Lying limp on the floor, Boxer was face first in a huddled position. Warden knelt down next to his defeated enemy. He put his ear close to the body, checking to make sure he didn’t kill his foe.

“Uuuuuuuuuh,” Boxer moaned, painfully.

“You’re fine you wimp,” Warden stood up. He lamely kicked Boxer while he was down. “Get up, get out of here, and don’t tell anyone.” Boxer shook but didn’t move. This angered Warden. “I said get up!” he shouted. He kicked Boxer hard this time.

“Uh!” Boxer groaned.

“Let’s go! I don’t have all day,” Warden kicked the downed opponent yet again. This time Boxer began to stir but it wasn’t quick enough for Warden. He kicked again this time making Boxer lurch forward. That got Boxer into motion and he began to crawl away. “Go faster!” Warden snarled and kicked Boxer right in the ass. Boxer stumbled but slowly got to his feet. He continued to stumble around, crashing into lockers, until he made it around the corner and was out of sight. Warden laughed a bit, maliciously glad to see his opponent leave.

Sunset didn’t know what to feel. She was still in shock but the gravity of the situation was slowly hitting her. While she lied on the floor, she had watched a clash of the titans unfold before her. It was amazing yet scary at the same time. At least the danger was over but there was still one problem. There was still a very tall and very scary bully now looking directly at her.

Warden began walking towards Sunset. His footsteps had a click to them as he walked, clacking against the hard tile floor. He stood right in front of Sunset. “You okay?” he held out his hand to Sunset.

That was something she didn’t expect. After watching this bully lay the smack down to two other bullies, this looked like it would be a trap. Though, something in Sunset was eager to take the hand and so she did. Warden gently raised her up, much to her surprise. At that moment the person in front of her looked different from the one that she had seen previously. It was a nicer person versus that bad person.

“Thanks,” Sunset muttered.

“Are you hurt?” Warden asked.

“N-no,” Sunset replied, dusting herself off.

“Are you sure?” Warden continued.

“I,” Sunset wobbled her arm she had fallen on. It was fine. “Yeah I’m fine.”

“Good,” Warden nodded. He looked over his shoulder to where Badger still laid on the floor. He stirred slightly but was pretty much beaten. “Badger!” Warden yelled. “Get the fuck off the ground. I didn’t hit you that hard.” With that Sunset noticed that the nice Warden was gone and the bad Warden was back.

Badger seemed to respond to Warden’s command and was slowly rising up. Using his hands he pushed his body off the ground but didn’t make it far, collapsing back down again. Warden watched and shook his head with irritation.

“Is he going to be okay?” Sunset pointed at Badger.

“As soon as he’s done being a pussy, maybe,” Warden shook his head. “But enough about him, I need to talk to you.”

Sunset took a step back, baffled. “Me? Why me?”

“Because,” Warden said with a smile, “you started all of this, and for that you need to answer for it.”

Sunset held her mouth agape for a moment before steeling herself and turning it into a snarl. She glared at Warden who at first was intimidated. Slowly the bully’s attitude change and he adopted a laidback attitude. He leaned against a locker with his hand.

“I’m not afraid of you,” Sunset growled.

Warden grinned. “Oh, I know and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I still remember when we saw each other in the hall, you and Badger.” Sunset quickly recalled that Friday when she and Badger had witnessed a school fight. “Everyone else ran while you two stayed put, and that amazed me. These two freshies weren’t afraid to face conflict in the face, while I watched how countless others ran away. That’s real inspiring.”

Sunset was at a loss for words. Out of all the things that could happen, she didn’t expect praise. “Thanks, I guess,” Sunset responded.

“But back to the real problem,” Warden got serious again. He looked back to Badger who was still struggling to get up. “I said get the fuck back on your feet! You’re a god damn embarrassment!” Badger started to scramble up but found himself back on the floor. Warden groaned in frustration. “I always forget freshies can’t take a hit to save their lives.” He shook his head. “Anyways, back to you.”

“Listen,” Sunset suddenly took on a menacing tone, “I’m not intimated by you at all. You think you’re scary? You’re nothing. I could take you. I took him,” Sunset pointed to Badger. Warden looked over and then back at Sunset, and laughed.

“Oh please, sure you did,” he agreed sarcastically, taking a step back. “The thing I’m trying to say is I know it was you that told Badger to take extra money.” Sunset took a step back and Warden stepped forward. “What you did breaks the rules around here. And we can’t have that.”

Sunset felt fear as Warden’s shadow loomed over her. “B-but I,” Sunset stammered.

“Thought nobody would notice?” Warden gleamed. “I have eyes all over the school and on top of that I keep a close tab on newbies like you two.” Warden crossed his arms. “You’re not above my rules, Sunset Shimmer. I hit Badger because he forgot the rules, I’d hate for you to suffer too.” Warden glared at Sunset who was beginning to feel small under the bully’s gaze.

“R-right,” she murmured.

“However,” Warden spoke up and shrugged his shoulders, “rules were meant to be broken. That’s a bully’s way of life. So in a way you’re doing alright. I really only beat Badger to keep up my reputation, he understands that.” Warden looked longingly at Badger, and then back at Sunset.

“What?” Sunset yelped. “I don’t understand.”

“Sunset,” Warden shook his head, “you are either born into power or you have to take it. Do you agree?”

A flash of her former mentor appeared in Sunset’s head. A bunch of lessons and conversations rang in her ears. Then there was the cold twist of betrayal that stung her heart. She grimaced. “Yes,” she replied.

“Then you know what must be done to have that power,” Warden said. “But I’m getting ahead of myself. You’re just a freshy, you still have to wait.” Warden turned around and began to walk away.

“Wait!” Sunset yelled, halting Warden. “Badger told me you run the school. Is that true?”

Warden looked at Badger, now on his hands and knees. “You’re not up yet, you weakling.” He looked back at Sunset. “Yeah it’s true.”

“How?” Sunset asked bluntly. “How did you do it?”

Warden stared wide eyed for a moment. A malevolent grin appeared on his face. “Tell you what I’m gonna do.” He looked down at Sunset. “Every year, bullies like me participate in something call the Rumbler.”

“Rumbler?” Sunset questioned.

“Yes,” Warden nodded. “At the Rumbler we decided who’s going to be the next leader. You can come if you want; I’m willing to talk about bulling there. I’m sure Badger will show you the way, if you ask him.”

“Will he?” Sunset rubbed her chin. Badger was on his knees when Warden walked in front of him. Immediately, Badger recoiled, holding his arm in front of his face. He finally pulled it down when he felt nothing attacking him but flinched at Warden’s presence.

“Badger,” Warden knelt next to him. “The Rumbler is happening next week; Sunset is going, be there.” He stood up. “And I expect your participation also.”

Badger nodded obediently. “Yes, I will.”

“Good,” Warden smiled. “See you two later.” With that he disappeared around the corner and two seconds later the bell ending lunch rang.

Sunset was furious. “Do you see what you did?” she scowled at Badger and gave him a light slap on the side of the head. “We missed lunch.”

Badger breathed heavily. “At least you didn’t take a fist to your face,” he tilted his head down. With a groan he spat blood on the floor. In the middle of the blood was a white speck, which Badger picked up. “Oh look, my last baby tooth finally came out.” He put it in his pocket.

“Gross,” Sunset stuck her tongue out, her appetite now ruined.

Ready to Rumble

“So this Rumbler,” Sunset yawned, “is the pinnacle of what bullies stood for.” She rubbed her eyes and blinked, trying to get them to feel less heavy.

“Tired?” Twilight asked. It was almost eleven at night. They were the only two left in the bakery. Pinkie had left them a key after they promised to lock the door for her so she could go home and get some sleep.

“Yeah,” Sunset replied, yawning again. “But I don’t want to fall asleep. I get nightmares if I go to bed thinking about this.”

“I see,” Twilight nodded her head. “Well, it ends tonight,” Twilight put a finger on the table. “All the fear, pain, and guilt. It’s done.”

Sunset frowned. “I doubt that. It’ll always be with me at some level. I just hope I can at least put the whole thing behind me and looked to a brighter future. But I’ll never forget what I’ve done.”

“That bad, huh,” Twilight said. “Even worse than the fall formal.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Twilight,” Sunset put her hand over her chest. “What I did at the fall formal and the events leading up to it was bad. But when I turned into that thing, I lost control. I regret everything that happened that night but I couldn’t stop myself. I needed someone to stop me, and that person was you.” She smiled at Twilight who smiled back. The smile only lasted a couple seconds however, as Sunset resumed a shameful expression. “But with the bullies, I had full control of what was going on. I could have shown restraint but I instead showed complete cruelty. And there were no pony princesses or elements of harmony back then to stop me. The school was at my mercy and I showed none. I hope you don’t expect a happy ending here.” Sunset looked down at the table. “Please don’t expect a happy ending.”

“Hmmm,” Twilight looked at Sunset. “So, tell me more about this Rumbler.”

“Let’s get ready to rumble,” Sunset chuckled, looking back up. “The Rumbler is a mass beat down. Bullies from CHS and all the neighboring communities come together to participate in a massive fight. The fight is an enclosed battle to the land man standing. More kids get hurt that night than in the entire year combined.”

“What?” Twilight exclaimed in shock.

“Did you expect something nicer?” Sunset raised her eyebrow. “You said it yourself, they’re a warrior subculture.” Sunset put her hand on her chin. “But maybe you don’t understand their value of tradition.”

“Could you explain a little bit more?” Twilight asked. “I don’t understand this. Everyone around here seems so docile. Well when they’re not under siren mind control, anyways.”

“Yeah most people are,” Sunset agreed. “Bullies were a different breed. They follow by examples set by their forbearers. The Rumbler was going on for countless years before I arrived. A bully’s way of thinking was to always do what their predecessors did before them. Each generation looked up to their previous generation for guidance so nothing really changed much. That’s why the Rumbler continued every year. Nobody came up with anything else.”

“But why did they do it?” Twilight inquired. “There must be a good reason they would want to put themselves through that every year.”

Sunset shrugged. “If I could I would ask them. The way I figure, bullies follow their leaders obediently. Remember, the Rumbler is to decide who will be the next leader of the bullies. It’s a kind of meaningless title, leader of the bullies, but I’ll elaborate later. Point is bullies are unoriginal. The Rumbler is just an idea that never got an update. A little bit of the past still living in the present.”

“Poetic,” Twilight remarked, shifting her eyebrows up while maintaining a stock expression. She shifted in her chair a bit to find a more comfortable position. “What was the crucible like?” Twilight asked, innocently.

Sunset sat up straight. “So imagine this,” Sunset held her hands out, “at least a hundred, maybe more, bullies all crowded in a confined place. Now imagine at least a crowd three times that size around the place watching these kids brawl it out. The volume from it all is so overpowering that it can be heard several blocks down. And it isn’t like it’s just a blare of random noise. It’s the screams of encouragement from the crowd, yelps of pain from participants, and people crying their hearts out!” Sunset stopped and held herself, shivering slightly.

“Sunset,” Twilight said softly, “what happened? What did you see?”

“After I went to one, I saw,” she gulped, “I saw war for the first time.” Her misty eyes blinked to stop herself from crying. “Maybe I’m being too dramatic but that’s the best way to describe the Rumbler. It’s a battlefield where the worst of bullying comes to life. All the anger, hate, and pain is displayed in this one showdown. And it’s all just to decide who is next to walk around with the stupid title of leader.” Sunset exhaled in frustration. Even after the fact, she still couldn’t understand the logic behind what she saw.

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Do you think an election would have worked?”

Sunset squinted her eyes. “This was an election. It’s the closest thing to a fair deal that was ever enforced at Canterlot High. It gave some people a chance to be leaders instead of followers.” Sunset looked to the side. “I officially disbanded it when I took control.”

“Was that a good thing?” Twilight asked, sensing more regret from Sunset.

“I ended unneeded violence, but I also started a new chapter of it.” She shook her head. “Let me just get on with this part before I get ahead of myself.”

***

Ten o’ clock and the night had full dominion of the sky. Lights from the town were the only thing stopping the darkness from completely taking over the landscape. Though, in pockets of the town and far away from the more populated areas, the darkness crept in to make the environment a bit more threatening. What made the pockets of darkness so threatening was how mysterious they were, anything could emerge from them at any moment. As fate would have it, in a pocket alongside a fence, two figures did emerge from the darkness. One was a tall and slender young man while the other was a girl with fiery hair easily identifiable in the night. The girl walked behind the boy with her arms crossed while the boy walked with a confident swagger.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Sunset asked Badger as she stomped on behind him.

“Hmm,” Badger looked over his shoulder to Sunset. He had met here about ten minutes ago at the intersection where they split apart. After school Sunset had ordered him to bring her to the crucible to which Badger complied. Although he never attended, he did know where it was held. Every bully knew how to get to the Rumbler; it was just came with the occupation. “Yeah I know where I’m going. We’re going to get there on time, don’t worry.” He turned around to face Sunset. “Hey listen, I’ve been working on my growling.”

“Oh, not now,” Sunset said under her breath.

“Grrrrrrrr! Ragrrrrrrrrarr! Grrrrr.”

“Badger,” Sunset interrupted. She held up her hand to Badger’s mouth. “Please do not do that when we get to where ever we are going. There will be other people present.” Sunset realized she regretted giving Badger the idea when they had first met. She made a mental note to never encourage anyone ever again.

“Okay, right. I have to get better at it,” Badger said, bowing his head. He understood that eventually his practice would pay off. It was his hope that one day he could impress Sunset. Then they would go out. Badger quickly covered his mouth and grinned to himself.

They continued walking. Sunset’s boot thumped against the concrete sidewalk, broadcasting her frustration. “Do you even know what this place looks like?” she asked, impatiently.

“Uuuuh,” Badger stopped and looked around at his surroundings. “I’ve never been to the place before, but I know where it is.”

“Great!” Sunset yelled, stopping in her tracks. “We’re lost.”

“No,” Badger protested. “It’s around here somewhere, I just know it.”

“Of all the rotten things,” Sunset exclaimed, holding her hands in the air. “I could be doing a thousand different things right now, but instead I’m at the end of nowhere with an idiot that can’t follow basic directions. If it wasn’t for you I could be conquering the school right now. In fact, I don’t even need your help. I don’t know why I’ve bothered with you for so long. You’re a little bi”

“Hey!” Badger turned around suddenly. His voice shocked Sunset out of her rant, causing her to jump back. “We’re here.” Badger pointed in front of him.

Where he pointed was to a large wooden fence that ran down the edge of the sidewalk. The fence went along until it ended at an intersection in the distance. Over the fence, towering high enough for it to be spotted from the sidewalk, were piles of junk. A bunch of assorted metals, plastics, and parts all heaped together.

Sunset scrounged her nose. “A landfill? The Rumbler is at a landfill?”

“A junkyard,” Badger clarified. “This is the place.” He began walking forward.

“Are you kidding me?” Sunset raced to catch up to him. “You bullies hang out in a junkyard? That’s got to be the dumbest place to hand out ever.”

Badger spun around and stopped. Sunset couldn’t react quickly enough and bumped into Badger. She staggered back a few steps and found herself in Badger’s shadow.

“Show some respect,” he said in a low tone. “This place is sacred.” Badger turned back around. “Bullying goes back farther than anything else I know. It’s got its place in history, you know.”

“Really?” Sunset rolled her eyes, stepping forward so she was in front of Badger. “How so?”

Badger looked Sunset in the eye. “When the first caveman found out he was bigger and stronger than his neighbor. Then he went to his neighbor and took his stuff and left the neighbor with nothing. It evolved from there.”

“Wow,” Sunset said, unimpressed, instantly disbelieving the logic the story told. “You come up with that by yourself?”

“No,” Badger replied, trudging forward. “It was taught to me.”

Badger’s words stuck in Sunset’s head for a second as she analyzed them. If he was taught then there must have been a teacher. For Sunset, this presented an opportunity. Maybe Badger’s teacher could teach her too. Then she could have the knowledge of bullying that Badger yields. Plus she has the brains to use it properly. It was a sound plan. Sunset saw great potential to harness the power of bullying. However, she didn’t know how to obtain the power.

Sunset raced to catch up with Badger. She found him in the light of a street lamp. He stood in front of a sign that read “The Junk Trunk”. To the left of the sign was a door in the fence that swept around the perimeter of the junkyard. Badger seemed to be giggling.

Sunset went over to the door. “What do we do now?” Sunset asked, looking at the sign.

“What?” Badger smiled. “You don’t know what you’re going to do?”

“Do what?”

“Do with all that junk,” Badger replied. “All that junk inside your trunk.” Badger burst out laughing, holding his stomach and bellowing loudly. Sunset didn’t seem to get it and quickly got annoyed.

“What’s so funny?” she snarled, stomping her foot on the ground.

“What, you don’t get it?” Badger wiped a tear from his eye. “Junk in the trunk. What are you going to do with all of it?” Badger rolled his eyes. “It’s a metaphor.”

“For what?” Sunset narrowed her eyes.

Badger hesitated for a moment, wondering what he should do. Finally he just turned around and stuck his back end out. “Trunk,” he said and wiggled around a bit.

Something clicked in Sunset mind and she quickly looked at her posterior before abruptly turning away. Blood rushed to her face as she came to realize what she hadn’t understood. While she was turned Badger took a moment to admire Sunset’s “trunk”.

“You’re really a difficult person to hang out with, you know that Sunset?” Badger said. He looked down at her. At least she was hot.

“Hmph,” Sunset turned to face him again. She looked aggravated to which Badger just shrugged in response.

“What are you going to do,” he said. “With all that junk. All that junk inside your trunk.”

Suddenly, the door, of which Sunset and Badger had been next to, swung open. Standing in the doorway was what looked like a guy that was halfway into adulthood but still had a teenage persona. He crossed his arms. Badger sensed hostility and he steeled himself. Sunset nearly jumped out of her skin at the surprise.

“I heard someone say the password,” the teenage man spoke in a hoarse, gruff voice.

“Password?” Badger turned to the stranger. “What, junk in the trunk?”

The teenager man shook his head. “The whole phrase. You guys were getting close but weren’t directly on.” He looked at the two that had arrived at his door. “Are you bullies?”

“I am,” Badger pointed to himself, proudly. “She’s tagging along.” The two looked at Sunset.

The teenage man’s face changed all of a sudden. He smiled. “Well, hello there,” he slicked his hair back. “What’s going on with you?”

Badger noticed the stranger wasn’t talking to him. This meant only one thing. Badger turned his lip up into a snarl. “Hey buddy,” he took a step towards the teenage man, “she’s with me. So back off.”

The teenage man returned the snarl. “What grade are you two in?”

“Freshies,” Badger responded. This seemed to have an effect on the strange teenage man. He stepped to the side.

“Go in,” he commanded with a sweeping motion of his arm. Badger glanced at Sunset before he too stood to the side.

“Ladies first,” Badger said. Sunset, although hesitating at first, briskly walked through the door. Badger gave the teenage man a dirty look before following close to Sunset. They emerge to something none of them have ever seen before. Instantly, they were changed forever.

***

“The first thing I saw was a boy, about our age, getting dragged by his legs,” Sunset stated grimly. The events of the day flashed in her mind. “His face was a bloody mess. Both of his eyes were purple and shut tight while his lip was dripping blood over his chin.” She paused. “I only saw him for a couple seconds but I remember everything. Two other boys were the ones dragging him and they disappeared into the crowd. I never figured out what happened buy I assume the worst.” Sunset shook. “Sometimes I think about it. That was the first thing I saw and it only gets worst from there. I feared for my life that night. I’ve never been more scared in my life. There was so much evil.”

Twilight reached to the center of the table and took a napkin from a dispenser. She handed it to Sunset who took it. She dabbed her eyes with it.

“That sounds awful, Sunset,” Twilight consoled.

“What do you know about evil, Twilight?” Sunset asked, still drying her tears. “Back in Equestria the bad guys were just legends. And the ones that did exist were so harmless in comparison.”

“I’ve actually had first hand experiences with bad guys,” Twilight commented. “Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek to name a few. They came back and with the help of my friends I stopped them. They’re not legends anymore.”

“I’ve read about them,” Sunset put the napkin down. “They were always bigger than life and so overpowering. I always thought that they couldn’t be real.”

“Want to know what I learned from facing them?” Twilight asked. She looked into Sunset’s eyes. “At first villains may seem unstoppable and there may be no hope left. But just when everything seems lost, you can have friends to pull you out of the darkness.”

Sunset looked unimpressed. Something that Twilight said had struck a nerve in her and it was having a bad effect. She cleared her throat. “First off, I didn’t have friends back then.” She glared at Twilight with cold, unnerving eyes. Twilight in turn shrunk back in her chair. “Second, these villains weren’t monsters from the past or demons with supernatural powers. They were people like you and I except they followed a life of intimidation and fear.” Sunset stood up and leaned over the table, suddenly intensely furious. Something was setting her off. “And as for darkness, Twilight Sparkle. I didn’t fight the darkness. I became it!”

It took a while but Sunset quickly realized what she was doing. Her body was leaning as far as it could over the table, angled so she looked ready to jump across and attack. She felt her knuckles start to ache and noticed they were driving straight down into the tabletop. She slowly released her grip and put her hands back to her sides.

“Oh no,” Sunset softly spoke and retreated back to her seat. She raised her hands to her eyes and began crying rivers of tears. Soft sobs escaped from her lips as she tried to get herself back together, but failed.

“Sunset?” Twilight sat up rigid in her seat, now over Sunset’s intimidation and concerned for her friend’s wellbeing . Sunset continued to sob into her hands.

“The… the bullies,” she said in between snivels. “They… they h-hate c-crying.” A couple more tears streamed down her face. “To them, crying is to show w-weakness. Crying is the equivalent to becoming what the bullies persecuting. Those who couldn’t stand up for themselves were the ones that fell to the bullies. Because they showed emotion. Because they were w-weak.” Sunset continued to cry.

Twilight was on the verge of crying with her. It tore her heart apart to see a girl that seemed to be trying so hard to change, be caught up on lies she learned at a younger age. In the conversation, Twilight had quickly pieced together that maybe Sunset had become the bully she once was through a learned response instead of her own merit. Twilight hypothesized that there was something or someone significant in Sunset’s past that turned her into what she became. While the past is something Twilight can’t change, she could do something. She could convince Sunset that the past mustn’t define her.

“Sunset,” Twilight held out another napkin to which Sunset gently took, again drying her eyes. “Crying or showing emotion isn’t a weakness. It’s strength. It shows that you’re alive and compassionate. If we all walked around not showing emotion or crying, what would we be? We’d be a bunch of savage creatures, destined to live lives of pain, hate, and intolerance. Is that what you want?”

Sunset sniveled and shook, but she heard Twilight. Though how her body racketed and her voice stammered, she heard Twilight.

“N-no,” Sunset responded. She didn’t look Twilight in the eye and instead looked down at her hands. “At the Rumbler, I never saw any of the bullies cry. Even when they were beaten and bloodied, they never showed weakness. Some looked like they would never recover from their injuries. Yet they never once showed if they were scared and sad.”

“This seems hard for you,” Twilight said. “Do you want to stop?”

“Never give up, never surrender,” Sunset blurted out, and then continued to sob.

“Hmmm?” Twilight looked at Sunset, leaning in closer.

Sunset looked back at Twilight. “Never give up, never surrender,” she repeated. “If there was one good thing, one lesson I could take away from the Rumbler that was actually good. It would be to never ever give up and never ever let yourself be defeated.”

Twilight smiled. “That is a good lesson.”

“Yeah well,” Sunset shifted a bit in her seat. “It was actually a mantra that bullies followed with a devoted conviction. They believed that defeat should only come after they literally can’t fight anymore. At the Rumbler, I saw a boy get ganged upon by bigger, older boys. They beat him into the ground, burying him under dirt, and finally had him down. But he never gave up. In the last moment he raised his hand as if to strike back. Then one of the boys stomped on his hand and broke it. The boy passed out from the pain later.” Twilight stared at Sunset with wide eyes. “Never give up, never surrender,” Sunset shrugged. “That’s what it meant to the bullies.”

“What does it mean for you?” Twilight asked.

Sunset put her hand on her chin, done crying but still feeling blue. “It means what it says. Never give up, never surrender. The bullies always thought that if you tried your hardest and never gave up, then there could be no regrets. One admirable thing about the bullies was their resolve. They truly believed in never giving up no matter how impossible something may seem. It’s why they participated in the Rumbler. Other than it being tradition they participated because they thought they had a chance to take it all. Despite the numerical improbability they fought because they had a chance to have everything they ever wanted. That’s really why they had the Rumbler.”

Sunset finished drying her eyes and found she had made a break through. In all her years after the Rumbler she could never figure out exactly why the bullies did it. Then it had come to her and she understood something that had plagued her for weeks. It brought a little bit of pressure of her chest and calmed her mind a little bit. She smiled at the resolved and Twilight, upon noticed this, beamed.

“So, what happened at the Rumbler?” Twilight leaned forward. Now sensing the tension was over.

“Well,” Sunset began, “I got a great viewpoint of the whole thing. It’s also where I began to learn how I could take over the school.”

The Climb

Inside the junkyard was something that could only be seen to be believed. Hordes of high school students crowded into a big open area. Most were on the ground where they stood so close to one another that they were almost touching. Some had climbed mounds of junk so they could sit at a higher viewpoint. All cursed and shouted at one another, creating a huge ruckus.

Sunset and Badger cautiously crept through the crowd. Neither of them knew what to do or how to act. For Badger, he wanted to remain unnoticed. Freshmen didn’t get respect and out of school it would be worse because now there are no rules to hold anyone back. Sunset on the other hand was scared but had an objective in mind. She was looking for Warden. His words about telling her about bullying rang in her ears.

“Sunset,” Badger called out. The girl had ran ahead. “Sunset,” Badger called out again, pushing through to get to her. “Sunset,” Badger finally got to her.

“What?” she spun around and stared at her companion. Badger stopped, eyeing her back. He wore a worried expression, one which Sunset did not share as she glared. It was enough to get her point across. She turned around again and took a step forward.

The step she took was abruptly halted. Two boys barged through the crowd, dragging behind them another boy. The boy being dragged was in rough shape, bleeding a lot over himself. Sunset only got a quick glimpse at him before he was dragged out of sight. She just stared blankly after that.

“Stay close to me,” Badger gently grabbed hold of Sunset’s hand.

“Don’t touch me,” the girl muttered under her breath but did not resist when Badger held her hand. Slowly, he walked her through the crowd to find somewhere that was less crowded. Both of them swerved around other kids, most of them bigger than the two. There was lots of screaming and zestful cheering. Everyone was acting insane like they were at some sort of bizarre ritual.

Sunset and Badger were slowly starting to become more frightened and anxiety was creeping into their brains. It seemed that there was no escape from the mobs. Sunset took it harder than Badger did. In Badger’s mind he felt that one day this would be him, that he belonged here even though it was frightening. For Sunset, it was the opposite. She wanted to leave this place, regretting ever stepping foot inside. The only thing that kept her from running away was Badger. It was more than his hold on her hand, she felt safe around him. There was something Sunset couldn’t explain but she felt dependent on him.

She hated that the most.

“This is over whelming,” Sunset said as they continued to walk. In front of them two bullies wrestled each other on the ground. Badger stepped over them and eased Sunset to follow.

“What?” Bader said, not hearing anything Sunset had said. He looked around wildly. “We need to get out of this place,” he yelled at Sunset. Looking up in the sky, he finally saw what he was looking for. “There,” he pointed.

Sunset peered her eyes. Badger was pointing to the towering junk piles. It was clear of Badger’s intention and Sunset nodded in agreement. Pulling Sunset behind him, Badger raced for the nearest pile. They had to go through a crowd but they came out fine. As soon as they got to the pile Badger let Sunset go and began climbing up. He took a few steps up, using his hands to give him more traction, before a boot came and kicked him in the face. He tumbled down onto the ground in front of Sunset. They both looked up to see a bigger than life bully looming over them.

This bully was covered in dirt and grease from head to toe. The filth made him harder to see in the night, looking more like a darkened form than a person. He stepped down from the junk pile, causing trash to come falling down.

“You have nerve stepping on my place,” the bully spoke in a gruff voice, maybe the side effect of heavy tobacco use. “Hope you’re willing to fight for your life.” The bully stood over Badger as Sunset watched in horror. Just as soon as it looked like it was the end for Badger, a voice spoke.

“Hold it,” the voice said. Everyone looked to see Warden arriving, holding his hand out. He walked over to the dirty bully, putting his arm around him. “They’re just freshies; don’t waste your time with them.” He patted the dirty bully on the back. “Go get something to eat.”

The dirty bully grunted before lumbering away. He disappeared behind the junk pile. Warden chuckled to himself. “Great guy. His dad owns this place. He’s the reason we get to have this.” Warden bent over and lifted Badger back to his feet.

“Thanks,” Badger murmured.

“Great guy?” Sunset tilted her head. “He looked like he was going to kill Badger.”

Warden shot Badger a disapproving glare. “That’s because Badger was stepping all over his turf. What the fuck, man,” Warden gave Badger a quick punch to the shoulder. “Show some respect.”

Badger looked at the ground. “S-Sorry,” he murmured.

Warden smiled and put an arm around Badger. “Just promise me you’ll actually fight him next year. I can’t bail you out every time.” The two began walking away, leaving Sunset behind. Warden looked over his shoulder real quick. “Are you coming?” he called to Sunset who quickly chased after them.

The trio arrived at another large pile of junk that too towered high above the crowd below. Warden ran ahead and stomped up the pile. He stood halfway up to the top and looked down at Sunset and Badger. With a flick of his head, he commanded the two to follow him up. Badger leapt onto the pile and began the climb. It wasn’t the easiest climb, his feet slipped and he found himself climbing with his hands, like an animal. Badger made it about halfway to the where Warden was when he looked back down.

Sunset was doing her best to keep up with the two bullies. She dug her heels into the junk in an attempt to get some footing but fell when the junk underneath her gave way. At the last moment she caught herself by digging her hand into the pile. Badger saw Sunset’s struggle and started to go down towards her. Before he could make it close to her, a can hit him on the back of his head.

Warden glared at him. “Don’t you dare help her,” Warden seethed. “You two have to make it up by yourselves. And if you fall and break something, it’s your own damn fault.” With gusto, Warden turned and continued to make his way up. Badger gave Sunset one last concerned looked before hauling up the junk, leaving her alone.

Sunset growled to herself and with a forceful heave she restarted her climb. The metal from the pile dug into her soft hands and her knees darkened from the filth. Up ahead, Badger was advancing quicker than Sunset, using his willpower and strength to overcome the obstacle. He still bore signs of struggle, however, such as his mouth set into a determined snarl. Warden stood looking down at the two, already at the top. With a kick, he sent a small landslide down towards Sunset and Badger. Badger took the brunt of it, blocking it with his arm. He picked up some debris and chucked it at Warden to get him back. Warden lamely deflected it with his fist and smiled.

Badger made it up first and stood next to Warden. The two glanced at each other and then to Sunset who was still climbing. She was determined but just not as fierce as Badger had been so she was going at a much slower pace. However, she wasn’t showing signs of stopping and slowly but surely made her way closer to the top. Badger, upon Sunset’s arrival, knelt down and held his hand out to his companion. Sunset reached out for it but before she could grab it Warden interjected. The king bully grabbed Badger’s arm and collar and threw him backwards. Badger landed in a pile of junk behind him, buried in the stuff.

“I said don’t help her!” Warden shouted, barring his teeth. He gave Sunset another stare and then left her alone. She retracted her hand and bit her lip in determination. Then she finished the climb strong, tearing up the junk underneath her. When she finally got to stand on her feet again she was amazed at how high up she was.

Where she stood was on a plateau of sorts made of junk. From up there she could see all of the Rumbler. The crowd looked to be moving as one single organism, furiously thrashing like a sea at the time of a storm. Sunset watched for a minute before turning away. The whole thing frightened her.

Badger emerged from the pile of junk he had been buried in and stood back up. He shook the filth off of him and stepped forward. Him and Sunset exchanged looks before they began looking for Warden. They found him sit on a throne, except this throne was a heap of junk piled together. A junk throne.

Before either of them could get closer, they were blocked by someone. The person who blocked them was a punkish looking girl with black clothing and black hair. She stared angrily at them.

“What are you two doing here?” she growled in a scratchy voice.

“They’re freshies,” Warden spoke up from his junk throne, not caring to look in their direction. “So leave them alone. Go be a bitch somewhere else.”

The girl seemed to get angry at Warden but only snarled a bit in protest. She looked at Sunset and Badger again before leaving, disappearing behind another pile.

After that was over, Sunset and Badger approached Warden and his throne. The spot they were at looked over the entire Rumbler, like a seat in a stadium. Warden rested his head on his fist and gleamed down at the whole scene.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” he spoke to no one in particular. “The pinnacle of what bullying stands for.” He swept his hand across the landscape. “All of this is what it is to be a bully.” He stood up. “To be a man.” Warden turned to Sunset and Badger, regarding them strangely.

“So this is great and all,” Sunset started, “but what’s the point of all this?”

Warden grinned at her. “You’re right. What is the point of this?” He snapped his fingers. “Badger, how about you answer this? Let’s see how much of a bully you really are.”

“Uh, uh, ah,” Badger gasped, shocked he would be quizzed on basic bully knowledge. “The Rumbler,” he gulped and began, “is when all bullies from Canterlot High and the neighboring communities compete in a massive fight.” He looked down at the crowd. “The fight is till the last man standing and whoever is left becomes the leader of the bullies.” Badger looked back at Warden to see if he did well.

Warden rubbed his chin. “Anyways,” he turned away and sat back on his throne, “we have this every year to decide who will inherit the title. Since the title is mine and I’m graduating this year, I have to pass it on.”

“Was my answer good?” Badger asked nervously, approaching Warden.

Warden shot Badger a murderous glare. “Shut up!” he barked to which Badger shied away.

Sunset leaned down towards Warden, placing herself in front of him. “Listen, you told me yesterday that you would tell me about bullying. I want to know everything. How would one like me have power like you?”

Warden seemed to ignore Sunset, not looking in her direction. He smiled lamely before stretching. He looked at Sunset and then at Badger.

“Badger,” Warden said, motioning for Badger to approach him. When he did Warden spoke again. “Your girlfriend is ambition. Do you encourage that?”

Both Sunset’s and Badger’s hairs pricked up at the word, girlfriend.

“Sh-she’s not my girlfriend,” Badger protested, his face reddening.

“I’m not his girlfriend!” Sunset stomped her foot, her face reddening even deeper than Badger’s.

Warden’s expression did not change, he still was stone faced. “You didn’t answer my question,” he stated coldly to Badger.

“I- uh, no I don’t,” Badger said. “She keeps talking about ruling the school or gaining power. One day I saw her taking notes about the different groups in school. I keep telling her girls can’t be bullies but she won’t listen. She,” Badger was silenced by Warden suddenly raising his hand.

“That’ll do,” he said and then looked up. Approaching them was the girl with the scratchy voice, in her hands was a megaphone.

“Warden,” she said in her scratchy voice, “it’s time.” She handed him the megaphone. “Start whenever you feel like it,” she shot Sunset and Badger a mean look before walking away again.

Warden stood up and puffed his chest out. He looked at Sunset and Badger before gazing upon the crowd. They were unruly as ever, still pushing and shoving one another. Most screamed insults and profanities. Sunset looked at Warden, wondering what he was going to do. As leader of the bullies, she figured he’d have some authority but she had doubts if it would be enough to control a crowd this size.

Warden gripped the megaphone tightly with one hand and held a detachable microphone in the other. “You may want to cover your ears,” he said to Sunset and Badger. Before either of them could react he flipped a switch on the back of the megaphone that read siren. A piercing sound filled both of their ear drums and immediately the two covered their ears. The effect it had on the crowd was sudden. They all heard the siren and at once looked to the source. It started with those closest to the junk mountain and continued to the farthest corners of the junkyard.

After about a minute or so, Warden turned the siren function off. A silence had fallen over the crowd, almost as if they were under a spell. Warden then brought the detachable microphone to his mouth.

“For everyone that has the balls to fight tonight,” Warden gazed down at the crowd, “prepare to lose them. Tonight you all will be competing for the title of leader of the bullies. It won’t be easy. Look to the people around you. They are your enemies. None of them will be standing by the end of tonight.” Warden paced back and forth. “Remember that the Rumbler is for only the toughest and strongest. We don’t accept the weak, fags, pussies, or runts. We do this because those before us did it and now we shall follow.” Warden cleared his throat. “Now I expect a good fight this year. There are no rules here, anything goes. You will only win if you are the strongest, meanest fucker out there. Who wants the title?”

A roar of cheer came from the bullies below. As if on command they all shot their fists up into the air. It resembled a salute of some sort like they were hailing Warden.

“Who wants the power?” Warden screeched, pacing back and forth. There was another loud outcry and another fist raising. The energy in the place was electrifying now. Warden stopped pacing and looked straight into the crowd. “Fucking kill each other,” he said and the fighting started immediately.

The scene that unfolded was that out of a war movie. The center of the junkyard erupted into conflict. This was where the bullies that were fighting for the leadership concentrated. They punched, kicked, and shoved one another in a fight of the ages. The rest of the junkyard was spectators surrounding the brawl pit, cheering the fight on from the sidelines. The volume was now overpowering and could be heard throughout the surrounding area. Lights in houses turned on and dogs barked at the uproar of violence that came from the junkyard.

Warden took the image in, breathing deeply and relaxing in his throne. He tossed the microphone to the side and stretched, putting his hands behind his head. “This is the life,” Warden breathed.

Sunset paid little attention to the fighting, either out of fear of watching or disinterest. Instead she again leaned over to Warden. “Warden, you told me yesterday that you’d tell me about bullying. I expect an explanation. And if you don’t I’ll throw you off this junk pile.” Warden shot Sunset a looked and held up his index finger.

“Alright , bitch, have it your way,” he muttered. “But first,” his eyes darted to Badger. He stood on the edge of the pile. “Badger,” Warden spoke but Badger didn’t respond. “Badger!” Warden barked forcibly but still no response.

Now it was Sunset’s turn. “Badger!” she said sternly and began to snap her fingers in front of Badger’s face. The bully finally reacted to that, jumping a bit and then stumbling like a disoriented drunk. “We were trying to talk to you,” Sunset reprimanded.

“Sorry,” Badger exclaimed. “It’s just, I, uh, there’s, ah,” Badger finally resorted to pointing. He pointed into the Rumbler, right into the heart of the fighting.

Warden was smiling. “Ah, you can see it too,” he stood up from his throne. “The glorious demonstration of power.” Warden clenched a fist out in front of him. “I remember my first Rumbler. The roars, cheers, and screams. All the pain and fear, yet the triumph and energy. Granted it was a much more turbulent period of history in my bay, but even today it keeps to that raw energy.” Warden looked at Badger and then stood to his side. They both loomed over the carnage below, like they were two predators ready to pounce or two ghastly apparitions.

Warden tapped Badger on his back. “Hey, go down there,” he nodded towards the chaos.

Badger instantly flinched at the notion. “Wha-what?” he breathed.

“I said get down there,” Warden gave Badger a light shove. “Remember when I said I expected your participation? Well here it is. Get down there.”

Badger stood on the edge and just stared. He shook in fear at the carnage below. Eventually, he turned to Warden, teeth chatting as he did so.

“I-I c-c-can’t go down t-there,” Badger stammered and shook.

Warden frowned. “Are you kidding me?” he balled his hands into fists. “You’re going to compete next year, right?” Badger nodded his head. “Then you ought to get used to it now,” Warden grabbed Badger’s sleeve. “Come on,” he began to pull Badger’s hoodie off, “let’s get this off you.”

Badger resisted, push his arms down to his side. “What are you doing?” he protested.

“You’re fighting tonight,” Warden stated. “I don’t give a fuck what you say.”

“So what does getting me naked have to with fighting?” Badger whined as Warden continued to try and remove the hoodie.

“I’ll show you,” Warden said through gritted teeth. He pushed Badger to the ground and the two wrestled with Warden pinned on top.

Sunset Shimmer watched on with half interest. She wanted to talk with Warden for her own purposed but this conflict with Badger interested her. She wanted to see how this would play out so for the moment she kept her silence.

After a bit of struggling, Warden did manage to rip Badger’s hoodie off. With the hoodie came Badger’s shirt, leaving his upper half exposed.

“There,” Warden said, dusting his hands off. He stood up and Badger too scrambled to his feet. “Now you’re battle ready.”

Badger awkwardly tried to cover himself with his arms. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re harder to grab now,” Warden said tugging at his own hoodie. “If you wore that hoodie then someone could easily have dragged you around.” Warden picked up Badger’s hoodie and folded it. “Most people down there will be bigger and stronger than you. Just make sure nobody grabs you and you’ll be fine. Focus on using your fists.”

Badger looked quickly back to the Rumbler. “I can’t,” he said again. “There’s no point. I’ll lose.”

“So?” Warden shrugged. “Most people down there will lose too. What’s the big deal?”

“Well,” Badger looked away, “it really doesn’t matter what happens. A freshman doesn’t have the right to be down there. Even if we win we lose.” Shame was prevalent in his voice, like he was disgusted with himself.

“Look kid,” Warden put his hand on Badger’s shoulder. “You wanna know who made that rule?” Warden smirked. “The upperclassmen. They eliminated an entire grade so they could have a better chance at winning this. That way there are less opponents. Clever yet deceitful.” Warden let Badger go and pushed him closer to the edge of the junk pile. “Now go show the upperclassmen what you think of their rule.”

“But aren’t you an upperclassman?” Badger asked.

“Yeah,” Warden replied, shrugging. “What you’re basically doing is telling me to go fuck myself.”

“Go fuck yourself?” Badger questioned.

Warden glared with rage. “Did you just say I should go fuck myself?”

Badger jumped. “N-no, I was just saying”

“Get the fuck out of here before I murder you,” Warden threatened.

Badger looked over the edge. It was a steep way down, he would have to be careful not to slip and fall. However, he was hesitant on making the first step. Just before he finally found the courage to make the first step, Warden felt he was taking too long. With a sharp kick the senior bully sent the freshman bully tumbling down the pile.

Badger tumbled and spiraled down, closing in on the center of the Rumbler. After hitting his back against the hood of a wrecked car, he was sent up into the air and fortunately landed on his feet on the way down. Badger found himself just at the edge of the Rumbler, on a mound of junk overlooking the fight. Right below him there was immense fighting going on. Bullies were getting thrown and punched everywhere. Nobody was without injury and the bodies of the bullies out of the fight were cast aside or laid where they fell.

Badger quickly steeled himself. He realized that this was it, his time to shine. The thought of winning perished from his mind, he wanted to fight. No, not fight. Prove himself. There was so much to prove and people he had to prove to. He had to prove he was a man, a true bully. Additionally, he had to prove himself to the other bullies. Most importantly, he had to prove himself to Sunset Shimmer. She would be so proud of him.

With a leap, Badger descended into chaos.

Warden, who was watching Badger the whole time, chuckled, and dusted his hands off. He turned back around, grinning to himself. Seemingly satisfied he sat himself back on his throne and resumed a leisurely position. Slowly, he turned his head until he stared at Sunset Shimmer who had been patiently waiting for this moment.

“So,” Warden said, looking at Sunset, “let’s deal with you.”

“Yes,” Sunset crossed her arms, “lets.”

Sunset's Teacher

“This Warden guy,” Twilight said, lowering her head into her hands. “What was he like? He seems to be a big part of this.”

“He is,” Sunset nodded, now lost in memory. “Truth is I kind of had a crush on him for a while,” Sunset blushed and averted her eyes. “He was this big hunky male. Heh, big hunky male, Twilight. You would know about them, right?” Sunset wiggled her eyebrows causing Twilight to blush.

“Aha ha, moving on,” Twilight nervously chuckled. “You were saying how important Warden was.”

“Yeah, but I was also saying how handsome he was,” Sunset stretched her hands over her head. Yawning too she suddenly stood up and began walking away.

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked, still seated.

“Nowhere,” Sunset replied, walking behind the counter of the bakery. She looked around kitchen area at all the cabinets and shelves. They were all aligned neatly along the walls, making the kitchen more spacious.

“What are you doing back there?” Twilight had walked over to the counter of the bakery, but hesitated to walk into the actual kitchen area.

“Do you think Pinkie has anything to eat back here? I’m a bit peckish,” Sunset opened the nearest cabinet and began rummaging through its contents.

“Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight exclaimed using the full name, meaning Sunset was in trouble. “You can’t just go through other people’s stuff. That’s stealing!”

“No one’s going to mine,” Sunset replied and continued her search. “Besides I’m not hurting anyone, I’m just trying to eat. I’ll pay back Pinkie or the Cakes if I have to.”

“Yeah but,” Twilight wiggled around a bit, “I thought you were above this now. You’ve been making such good progress. Please don’t slip back now. You’re just”

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” Sunset screamed at the top of her lungs. “Holy tits and ass, motherfucking dicks!” Sunset looked at Twilight whose mouth was on the floor. “Sorry,” Sunset blushed. “I guess remembering the bullies brought up some bad habits. This is how they talked to each other.”

“What in the world could have initiated that kind of response?” Twilight asked still in apparent shock.

“Twilight,” Sunset reached into the cabinet she was looking through and took out a yellow and white box. She smiled giddily while waving the box around and pointing. “Sugar cubes, Twi. Sugar cubes.”

Twilight shook her head to try and clear it. She rubbed her temples and blinked several times. “Sunset,” Twilight looked her friend dead in the eye, “bring those muthafuckin sugar cubes over here.”

The two girls’ Equestrian side kicked in as they opened the box. Taking turns reaching their hands in, the two former ponies devoured every last cube in the box in a ravenous spree. It left them highly content, cheering up their mood. The added sugar also rejuvenated them and for the time being, got them less sleepy.

“Damn, those were some tasty ass treats,” Sunset smirked, suckling her finger. “Know what I mean, B?”

Twilight, also suckling her finger, looked at Sunset strangely. “Sunset, you’re doing it again.”

The fiery hair girl smiled innocently before laughing. “Sorry, sorry it’s just,” Sunset fidgeted around and burst into a series of giggles. “Sorry, sugar high,” Sunset apologized and tried to contain herself.

Twilight sighed happily. To think that Sunset had started this night in a grief stricken panic, now she was actually enjoying herself. It was as if Sunset was lost in a good memory. Twilight figured that maybe there were things that Sunset actually didn’t regret. So maybe she wasn’t as bad a person as she made herself out to be.

After getting herself composed, Sunset resumed with Twilight. “So where was I?” Sunset asked still smiling.

“I just have a quick question,” Twilight said. “Were you and this Warden guy, friends?” This stopped Sunset’s sugary disposition. She leaned back in her chair and breathed in deeply.

“No,” Sunset answered. “Back then I never considered anyone a friend.” She closed her eyes, seemingly unsatisfied with her own answer.

“Oh,” Twilight disappointedly looked down.

“However,” Sunset reopened her eyes and Twilight looked back up, “we did do things that could consider us friends. We hung out, chatted, and enjoyed each other’s company. So if you want to call him my friend, then he was my friend.”

Twilight smiled. “I knew you couldn’t be that bad.”

“Yeah,” Sunset smiled, thankful Twilight was with her. “In fact, you could consider most of the bullies to be my friends. I hung out with them during the early years.” Sunset stopped, tears welling up in her eyes. “That’s why when I betrayed them, it was so bad.”

Sunset quickly covered her eyes and huffed her breath. In response, Twilight reached her hand out and rubbed Sunset’s forearm in an effort to comfort her.

“It’s alright,” Twilight said softly. “You’re above that now.”

Upon hearing Twilight’s words, Sunset suddenly steeled herself and stopped crying. She decided she had enough for tonight and mustered her confidence to trudge on. It was a step in the right direction to getting herself over her past.

“Warden was more than a hunky guy that I now consider a friend,” Sunset said. “He was my teacher.” Twilight took interest at the word teacher. “At the Rumbler he taught me what I needed to know to rule the school.”

***

Warden eyed Sunset with his dark black eyes. His right hand was held up and his fingers were engaged in a wiggling fit. An eyebrow arched itself above his eye in an inquisitive way which indicated he was a bit confused with how to continue. Sunset on the other hand just looked at him expectantly with her arms crossed.

“So,” Warden said wearily and quiet, “you smoke?” Sunset raised an eyebrow and Warden shook his head. “Never mine, stupid question. Freshies don’t smoke.” He looked back at the fighting, soon after and burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Sunset asked, a bit annoyed by his outburst.

Warden pointed. “Some guy just got hit in the head with a coconut,” he snickered and bobbed his head.

“Why would someone have a coconut?” Sunset looked to the crowd to try and find the culprit.

“Exactly!” Warden exclaimed, still laughing.

Sunset continued to look at the Rumbler before finally losing interest. What she wanted was to get answers from Warden. He was her ticket to power over the school and Sunset was keen on taking it as soon as possible. So for the third time, Sunset moved in front of Warden, blocking his view of the Rumbler.

“Tell me how to get power in the school,” Sunset said with her hands of her hips.

Warden rolled his eyes. “Why do you even want power in school? It’s really not that big of a deal.”

Sunset narrowed her eyes, surprised and shocked by what he said. However, mostly she was irritated. It was obvious he didn’t want to deal with her right now and Sunset knew it. Her ambition, however, wouldn’t let his laziness deter her. So she answered his question.

“I want power because I refuse to be another waste of oxygen that just walks around the halls to each class like a drone. I want to be a person that inspires dread into the normal day walker student. And I want to make my mark.” Sunset crossed her arms.

“Well,” Warden rubbed his chin, not really showing how he felt. “You’re ambitious, I’ll give you that. However,” Warden cast his arm over the entire crowd, “do you think any of them will let you do that?”

Sunset turned around and looked out in the crowd. She turned back around, scowling. “I don’t care about them. They can all rot for all I care. The only thing I care about is me.”

Warden shifted around in his throne, looking bored. “You’re gonna want to let go of that philosophy,” he said. “It’s going to hurt you. Lemme tell you something.” Warden crossed his legs. “With bullies, power comes from leadership. You’re only as powerful as the number of people that support you. These people,” he pointed to the crowd, “will never support you.”

Sunset gritted her teeth. “Why? Because I’m a girl, or is it because I’m a freshman?”

“Right and right,” Warden smiled. “Did Badger tell you that? He sure can be a smart one if he tries.” Warden tried looking over Sunset while staying seated. “Speaking of which, where is he?”

Sunset frowned but moved out of Warden’s way. He peered into the fighting, leaning forward in his throne to get a better view. Sunset too looked but with much less enthusiasm. After a good search neither of them found him and they gave up.

“Damn,” Warden leaned back. “Hope he ain’t dead.” He shrugged after that.

“I don’t believe you two, by the way,” Sunset blurted out. “I will have power, and I don’t care what you say.”

Warden let out a quick laugh which made Sunset angrier. She clenched her fists and took a step towards Warden, making it clear she was looking for a fight. Warden in turn stood up from his throne. The effect was pure intimidation felt by Sunset Shimmer. The leader of the bullies easily towered over the girl, much taller than Badger which meant Sunset was puny compared to the goliath in front of her. His shadow engulfed Sunset into darkness. She began walking backwards in fear and to get herself away. Warden responded by stepping towards, and causing her to move backwards even more. They locked eyes the whole time, Warden staring with harsh predatory eyes and Sunset looking back with wide alert eyes.

This act continued until Sunset, not looking where she was going, tripped over a small pile of junk and fell onto her back. This was when Warden decided to strike. He bent over Sunset and stuck his hands out. Sunset immediately flinched and shut her eyes as Warden took hold of her.

Gently as he could, Warden lifted Sunset up into a sitting position on top of the junk pile.

“You may want to have a seat,” Warden said, turning around. “We’re going to have a long talk.” He walked back over to his throne and sat down on it. There was an awkward silence between the two of them, with both fidgeting around a bit.

Sunset put her hand to the back of her head. “What are we talking about?” she asked, now calm. Warden’s gentle action confused her but relieved her at the same time. She wasn’t about to try fighting him again but she wasn’t looking to back down yet. Maybe letting Warden do his thing for a while would yield another opportunity for her.

“I,” Warden paused and shook his head. “Shit, I’ve never done this before.” He exhaled. “Listen, lemme tell you a story.” Warden leaned back in his throne. “Way back in the day the school you and I go to was a mosh pit of chaos.” Warden smiled, reminiscing. “The hallways were a fight for survival, no one was really left out. The bullies were at war with each other. See, we never took sides back then. Every bully was on his own and we viewed each other as an enemy. So everyone participated in a free for all for control of the school. This lead to many consequences and repercussions, and the smarter of us started to realize we were going to die out if we continued on this path. The school was starting to systematically punish us with detention and even expulsion.” Warden quickly bowed his head and then brought it back up, almost like he had to take a moment to pray. “The smarter of us realized that we needed leadership but we also knew that bullies would never take orders or recognize leadership. So they devised a way to make them follow. Thus the Rumbler was made.” Warden looked at Sunset.

“Why tell me this?” Sunset asked, not really interesting in all this.

“Because,” Warden explained, “it is history. Bully history is something only a few bullies really study and something that is limited but eventful. Still, it makes me happy to see how much we’ve accomplished.” Warden bobbed his head, grinning in a happy mood. “I’ll tell you what, Sunset. Let me ramble for tonight and I will help you get your power.”

Sunset crossed her arms. “Fine,” she spat. “This better be interesting though.”

Warden smiled. “This is just how it goes. I had to go through this too. You’ll enjoy it.”

“Go through what?” Sunset asked, peering at Warden.

“The trials of getting any type of power,” Warden replied. “Remember when I said you’re either born into power or you take it? Well, it can also be passed down.” Warden grinned, giddily.

Sunset gasped. “You would do that?” Her mind raced with the prospect of getting her power so easily.

Warden frowned. “Not for you, stupid.” Warden flicked his head towards the fighting down below them. “For the guy down there actually fighting the good fight.”

Sunset’s eyes widened at realization. “Badger?” she exclaimed. “You want him to be the next leader?”

“Maybe not the next,” Warden shrugged. “In fact he can’t be. The other bullies won’t allow a freshman to lead them. But I hope that he can be the leader, one day at least.”

“No offence to your choice,” Sunset said. “But Badger is an idiot. He’s just so dumb. There’s no way he could make a good leader.”

Warden clearly took offense to this. He snarled. “Oh really? Why, because he can’t read or write like a damn nerd? Or is it because he’s in those retard classes that every bully is in anyways?” Warden sat up straight in his throne. “Knowledge isn’t power when it comes to bullies. Bullies respond to one thing and that’s force. Something you will never be able to show.”

Sunset turned her head away. “Hmmph,” she grunted. “Badger just doesn’t seem like the fit. He’s a bit of a push over.”

Warden nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, but he’s a freshy. Right now that’s what he’s supposed to do. When he hits sophomore year that all changes.” Warden laughed to himself. “And think about it, he’s only a freshman. He’s massive for a freshy. Think about him as a senior. Probably gonna be the biggest bully Canterlot High has ever seen.”

“Another thing,” Sunset interjected, uninterested with Warden’s conversation, “he follows me around all school day. Does that sound like a leader to you?”

Warden nervously stretched. “No, but that’s why you’re going to be there with him.”

This took Sunset by surprise. “M-me?” she shifted backwards. “What are you talking about?”

“Behind every great man is a woman,” Warden remarked, “or his mom screaming at him. The point is both of you will hopefully lead together.”

“I don’t understand,” Sunset said. “How and why? Why would I lead with him?”

“Well, I mean I’d hope his girlfriend would be as part of this as he,” Warden smirked.

Sunset felt a weird tingling in her chest. Her face flushed. “He isn’t my boyfriend,” she said quietly.

“And why not?” Warden asked, crossing his arms. “He’s a great guy and it’s not like he’s ugly. Most of us bullies are just god ugly.” Warden laughed. “And even if you don’t like him that way, then at least do it for the power that comes with it.”

The last part gained Sunset’s attention. “Power?” she said.

“Yeah,” Warden nodded. “If you’re connected to him while he’s leader then you can possibly have some of it.” He clapped his hands. “It’s just what you wanted.”

Sunset thought on it. She had no intention of sharing power with anyone let alone some imbecile. However, if she could bump him off then she would be the only one left. An idea formed.

“I see your point,” Sunset said carefully. “But I don’t know if I should go ahead.”

“Tell you what,” Warden clapped his hands. “I want you to meet my sister.” He leaned in close to Sunset. “Remember when I told you that there are no female bullies?” Sunset nodded her head and Warden smiled. “I lied about that too.”

Sunset jumped out of her seat and ran to Warden. She pressed her face against his. “Tell me everything!” she growled with anger in her voice.

Warden grabbed her by her jacket and threw her to the ground. “Sit back down,” he snarled and Sunset scurried back to her pile, sitting back on it but still miffed. Warden quickly regained his composure. “As I was saying, there have been female bullies before. Although they are not identified as bullies, there were extremely similar.”

“How?” Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Every since I’ve asked, Badger has been telling me a girl could never be a bully. And I believed him.”

Warden laughed. “Badger doesn’t know. He wasn’t there when girls ran the school.” Warden smiled. “It was a vastly different time back then. For those that were there and remember, it was pure pandemonium.” Warden looked at Sunset with a smirk. “I’ll try to get you to meet my sister as soon as possible. She was a bully, one of the best.”

Sunset thought on this. It seemed like every moment plans needed to be changed to something more efficient to take over the school. If she could rule the school like these girl bullies then she should be successful like they were. She decided that she would have to sit down one day and make an official plan.

“Alright, deal,” Sunset replied to Warden.

“Good,” Warden gleamed, “good.” He looked away from Sunset and back to the Rumbler. His eyes became fixated on it and he relaxed considerable. “This is the life,” he said.

Down below them the fighting raged on. Bullies latched onto each other and tossed themselves to the ground. Fighting styles ranged from grappling opponents, actually fighting one on one, and even hit and run tactics. Those that didn’t exactly know how to fight wrestled with their opponent, exhausting each other and not accomplishing much. The bullies that knew how to fight maintained a stance and mainly punched and kicked in an effort to seriously hurt their opponents. Still there were some that chose no direct confrontation and instead fought in a sneaky fashion. They chose to sneak up on others and sucker punch them before running into the crowd. A couple of the sucker punches actually sent bullies onto the ground, effectively ending their participation.

On the sidelines, spectators cheered or stood silently watching. Those that cheered were mainly girlfriends of the bullies fighting. They encouraged their boyfriend to win but when he inevitably was incapacitated, a couple of the girls would drag him out. Then the girls would grieve over the defeated bully or reprimand him for losing if that was their relationship. The people silently watching were either nervous freshmen not yet ready to fight or bullies that chose not to participate. Each bully not participating had their reason and instead they strangely patrol the perimeter. Most of the time, they stood still and watched.

About ten minutes had gone by and at least an eighth of the bullies had been ejected from the Rumbler. They either laid on the sidelines cuddling their wounds and watching or were still out cold.

Sunset watched the Rumbler with confusion. “What happenes now?” she asked Warden.

“Now, we wait,” he replied. “The truth is the Rumbler usually lasts about half an hour or so. The longest was like forty five mintues.”

“Really?” Sunset said her opinion about this fighting changed negatively. It wasn’t so bad if it ended quickly, right?

“Yeah,” Warden shrugged. “The most important night of the year and the action ends too quickly to be really exciting.” He rested his head on his chin. “Reminds me of my first time having sex.” His comment caused Sunset to blush at the mere mention of sex. Warden looked a Sunset with a grin. “Sorry, forgot you freshies are shy about that type of stuff. That’ll all change soon,” he stretched. “Soon you’ll be talking about sex, birth control, and dicks.”

“Could we please talk about something else?” Sunset asked, turning her head to the side so Warden wouldn’t see her blushing.

“Sure,” Warden nodded. “Want to learn more about the Rumbler?” Sunset nodded, still not looking at Warden, and Warden started. “Well, no one knows when the Rumbler was first started but it is rumored to have stemmed from fights on school grounds. These would be mass fighting at schools which supposedly were power struggles. Eventually bullies got expelled so they decided to move it to somewhere else. The Rumbler’s location has changed every couple of years but it’s always been a grand spectacle to decide who will be kind. One king to rule them all.” Warden smiled happily.

“You mentioned this Rumbler is between Canterlot High and the neighboring communities,” Sunset said, recovering from her embarrassment. “Does that mean you rule over those communities too?”

Warden looked over the crowd. “No,” he said with scorn. “The other comminutes just come for the enjoyment but they don’t participate in Canterlot High rule.” Warden held his arm to the left. “The farm boys,” then he held his arm to the right, “and the hoodlums. They are the two basic groups that come here.” Warden grinned. “They hate each other. Two opposite cultures coming together to vent their hate in an arena. Pretty poetic. Then there’s us. The suburbs. Best of both worlds if you ask me.” Warden pointed his finger. “See the guys patrolling around the Rumbler? Well those are some of the guys that are from the other communities. Some of them patrol the place and make sure the fight is good. Quite noble of them, it’s very appreciated.” Warden turned to Sunset. “This is as much a competition as it is entertainment. Everyone wants to see the good fight and some will make sure it is.”

Sunset took in the information, cursing herself for not bringing paper to take notes like she did earlier. “What is it like being the leader? All that power and control must be exhilarating.”

“Hah!” Warden spat. “That’s what I thought when I took the job.” He looked at Sunset. “Trust me, being the leader of all the bullies isn’t what it seems. It’s more of a job, in fact. I’m more like a bully moderator, trying to keep everything in check.” Warden slammed his fist down in frustration. “I have to deal with such bullshit sometimes!”

“But they listen to you,” Sunset argued.

“Yeah,” Warden agreed. “But it’s not like they do what I say because I’m their leader, they do it out of fear. A fear I put in them and I have to constantly remind them that I did it.”

“Sounds like a good deal to me,” Sunset leaned back.

“Sure,” Warden flicked his head. “But it’s really taxing, exerting control. If there was a way to bring about order without having to manually use force that would be amazing.” Warden slumped on his throne. “Have you seen Badger, by the way?” Warden asked Sunset.

“I haven’t been looking,” Sunset turned to the Rumbler and glanced down. In the swirly vortex of violence she narrowed in. Eventually she spotted a shirtless boy skulking around the outskirts. “Found him,” she pointed down.

Warden followed Sunset’s finger down to the fighting. Eventually he too spotted Badger. “Good eye,” he grinned at Sunset. “Figured you’d be able to find your boyfriend.”

Sunset turned red with embarrassment. “He’s not my boyfriend,” she muttered, again denying any romantic ties she might have.

They continued to look down at Badger, tracing his movements. He seemed to move quickly like a mouse in a maze. However, he wasn’t like the other bullies. He didn’t fight and instead moved around. This seemed to upset Warden.

“Come on,” he groaned under his breah. “Fight someone, kid.”

Down below, Badger made his way through the chaos. The ground beneath him was muck and it seeped into his shoes, making each step an awkward squish. Worse was he felt bare without his top. He curse to himself, at times out loud, to whatever predicament was ailing him at the moment. He cursed Warden, the muck, the fighting, but not Sunset. Somewhere up there she was watching him and Badger knew it. It gave him the slightest comfort.

Around him, bullies fought with the fierceness of wild animals. There was punching, kicking, throwing, and even a bit of biting. Badger did his best to weave in and out of the disorder but had a couple close calls with bullies trying to hit him. At times he stepped over the bodies of the defeated and always looked down to give them a quick look before continuing on. His mission to himself was to avoid conflict. He didn’t want to fight but he knew that if he was pushed into a corner he would have no choice. So he ducked and dodged, feeling awkward and bare in the midst of pure violence.

After stumbling for some time, he found himself at the edge of the Rumbler. Behind him was a sea of aggression, in front of him was a field of staring eyes. Badger had trouble deciding which was worse. Before he could make a decision where to go next, he found someone was grabbing his arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” A bully snarled and pushed Badger back towards the Rumbler.

“I… uh… so,” Badger didn’t have any words and he found he couldn’t concentrate on speech.

The bully pushed him again. “You better not be trying to leave. You got yourself into this situation, so get yourself out.”

The bully continued to push Badger along until they got closer to the crowd of fighting bullies. Then the bully shouted. “Someone kill this runt!” he pointed and then ran away.

Before Badger had time to wonder what was going on, he was approached by two other bullies. These two bullies had signs of battle of them, scuff marks covered their arms and chests. They looked at each other and then at Badger, forming a quick truce with one another. With smirks they began walking towards Badger who began to quiver.

They were about to get within striking distance when they was a beastly roar. A bully behind the two bullies fell down and over him stepped a huge bully. Badger recognized who it was immediately.

“Boxer?” Badger murmured.

Boxer looked like a demon. He too was shirtless like Badger and this exposed his muscular body. It was the body of a fighter that Boxer possessed and it drew fear into Badger’s stomach. Badger himself was in good shape but he wasn’t like Boxer. Boxer lifted and he did it often. He had the barreled chest and big biceps.

More than that, Boxer knew how to fight. It showed all over his body. His chest was covered in mud like he had been wrestling on the ground, and his knuckles were red from the stress of punching. Images from their previous fight flashed in Badger’s mind. He knew that if it hadn’t been for Warden, Boxer would have trashed him. Now there was no escape and no one to save him.

“I’ve been looking forward to this,” Boxer started his monologue. “We never did finish our fight at school. I guess that okay because now I can really fuck you up in front of an audience.” Boxer held his arms open.

Badger gulped down a bit of his anxiety and let it settle in his stomach. “I’m going to be the one to fuck you up,” he said looking Boxer in the eye. His words were not threatening at all.

Boxer laughed in an almost evil way. “If it wasn’t for Warden, I would have rocked you. And now Warden isn’t here to fight for you.” Boxer took a step forward. “You’re gonna leave this place in a body bag,” he sneered and charged at Badger

Badger squeezed his eyes shut and accepted his end.

Payback

Warden glared down at Badger. “Don’t disappoint me, kid.” He was standing on the edge of his mountain, looking directly down at Badger.

Sunset also stood on the edge and she too watched Badger with anticipation.

“You knew this would happen,” she suddenly realized and glared at Warden. All the pieces came together for her. Warden had set the two up. Why else would Warden force him down there?

Warden blinked. “Of course, I was the one that told Boxer that Badger would be fighting. Time for a little payback.” Warden chuckled to himself

Sunset angrily gritted her teeth. “Badger’s gonna get killled out there and you’re condoning it?”

“Nonsense, Badger is going to win,” Warden replied, looking intently at the scene. “Badger is the one getting payback.”

“You saw what Boxer did to him last time?” Sunset asked as if Warden had been absent the first time. “If it wasn’t for you, Badger would be in the hospital.”

“Hah! Yeah right,” Warden sneered. “Boxer is a fucking pussy when it comes down to it. That little bitch isn’t that tough. Badger can fuck him up.”

“But last time,” Sunset reiterated.

“But nothing!” Warden was quick to shut her up. “Things happen down there that can’t be explained. Weaklings become strong, boys become men, and fighters forget how to fight. Badger can do it.” Warden looked at Sunset. “Never give up, never surrender.” Warden knelt down on one knee. “Don’t give up, kid,” he whispered.

***

Badger’s eyes sprung open like they were on a mechanism. A surge of energy that came from nowhere took him over. From deep inside himself, Badger felt something provide him with an amazing feeling of power. It was like he could lift a truck, throw a building, or rip apart steel. Suddenly Badger became an animal, a beast, a monster. For whatever reason, he felt a nostalgic sense of hate for Boxer despite never really conversing with him before. Although he couldn’t explain it, he liked the feeling.

“Graahaha!” Badger roared an incoherent statement. Boxer, still charging, jerked his body at bit in confusion at the outburst. This moment of hesitation was exactly what Badger needed. He pulled his fist back and punched Boxer as hard as he could. Badger’s fist collided with Boxer’s chin and stopped the charge in its tracks.

“You fucking asshole!” Boxer winced and stumbled back, holding his chin. After a moment of pain, He moved his hands to a boxing position and began advancing towards Badger. Badger mirrored Boxer’s stance, assuming if he copied Boxer then he would stand a chance. The two circled each other for a while, both hesitating to get close, until Boxer acted first. He aimed his left fist for Badger’s face but Badger quickly blocked it with his arm. However, this was what Boxer planned and using his right he swung and hit Badger in the cheek. Badger fell down with a pained expression while Boxer stood over him.

The fight looked about over at that point. The bigger and more experienced fighter had knocked the smaller and newer fighter to the ground. Badger was at Boxer’s mercy and he feared what would come next.

Just as Boxer was about to finish the job, his shoulder was suddenly grabbed. A fist darted for his face but Boxer quickly dodged it. For a second he stared into the eyes of other bully. This bully was more than likely a hit and runner that tried to pull a quick victory but failed. Now this bully was left with one option, run.

The bully turned to run away but Boxer now wanted his blood. With a quick reflex, Boxer reached out and grabbed the hit and runner’s hood. Boxer tugged and pulled his opponent to the ground where he proceeded to give punishment. Blow after blow to the head was given to this bully by Boxer with no sign of giving up.

At that moment, Badger, still lying on the ground, realized the genius of removing his own hoodie. Now nobody could grab him as easily so there was less of a chance of ending up like Boxer’s victim. Silently, he thanked Warden for his help.

Boxer stood up, satisfied with his work. The hit and runner was down for the count. His face looked like a swollen raspberry. Boxer smiled and looked back at Badger, who had gotten back on his feet.

“You waited for me?” Boxer sounded surprised. He cracked his knuckles. “Good. Now we can fight man to man.”

“Larawaraha,” Badger breathed with his mouth open, omitting weird noises. He staggered a bit in a peculiar fashion. His toes pointed inward and his shoulder slouched, leaving his arms hanging in front of him.

“You’re freaking me out, man,” Boxer stated, cringing at Badger’s odd behavior. This time Badger was the one to initiate combat. He advanced and attempted to grab hold of Boxer. It was a dumb move considering Boxer was a much bigger opponent so he easily threw Badger back. Badger tried again, this time with the intent of going for a tackle. He aimed for Boxer’s knees but the bigger bully had a counter for this. He scooped Badger up in his arms just as the smaller bully was about to wrap his arms around Boxer’s legs, and he threw Badger to the ground.

Badger rubbed his head whistle lying on the ground, thinking of what he could do next. “Gruuuuh, graaah,” he made more animalist noises.

“Geez, you really have no idea how to fight, do ya?” Boxer said. The tone of his voice carried a strange message. He seemed almost sympathetic or pitiful as he suddenly lowered his fists.

Badger quickly reactivated upon hearing Boxer’s voice and scrambled to his feet, charging again at Boxer. This time Boxer stood straight and caught Badger in his arms as the freshman bully got close. Boxer had Badger in a bear hug for a couple seconds before pushing him back. Confused but not deterred Badger tried to attack again but aimed up in the same situation.

“Hold on, time out,” Boxer said, throwing Badger again so they were separated.

“Huh,” Badger stopped and stared at Badger. His body buzzed with energy but the sudden break in the fighting calmed him.

“Keep your hands up,” Boxer resumed his fighting pose. “Like me,” Badger mimicked Boxer in response. “You have no chance trying to wrestle me around,” the two began circling each other. “The only way you’re going to win is if you knock me out. To do that, you’re going to have to learn how to punch.” Boxer jabbed at the air. Badger in turned tried too.

“I don’t understand,” Badger grunted, jabbing at the air.

“It’s really simple but it’s not something people learn naturally,” Boxer explained. “You have to maintain a stance so you maintain control. Fighting is about controlling the situation. Lose control and you lose the fight, got it?” Badger nodded in response. “Now try a combination.”

Badger stood with his knees bent and fists raised. With his left he did two jabs and finished with a punch from his right. “Like that?” he asked Boxer.

“Pretty much,” Boxer nodded. “Try putting more of the weight from your back into a punch. It’ll make it more powerful but you risk exposing yourself and losing control. Remember control is key. A punch is more than your arm. It’s your entire self.”

“I think I got it,” Badger said practicing a few more punches.

“Good,” Boxer raised his own fists. “Now let’s try this again.” He motioned for Badger to approach him, which the freshman did. “I’ll let you get some practice hits on me,” Boxer said.

Badger narrowed his eyes and went to work. He did his best to stick to a uniform style like Boxer had told him. He jabbed and threw punches at Boxer who was blocking and dodging them.

“That’s good,” Boxer commented. “Make sure you keep your feet active and harder on those punches! You’re punching like a girl.” Badger increased the volume and velocity of his blows. None of them landed anywhere important and after a while Boxer retaliated. He gave Badger a quick jab to the nose.

“Ow!” Badger’s head snapped back and he stepped backwards.

“Alright that’s enough,” Boxer dusted off his hands. “Should probably teach you about dodging. Alright look,” Boxer held his arm out like he was delivering a punch. “You can either dodge or block. Blocking involves using your arms to deflect a punch. You did that earlier so I assume you can rely on that experience.” Badger nodded in response. “Dodging is better than blocking. Blocking may not work all the time. I know a few tricks to get around a block. Dodging allows more mobility and you can easily counter. Watch, throw a straight punch at me.”

Badger complied, aiming straight for Boxer’s face. Boxer simply moved his body to the side and Badger’s fist hit the air. Badger grinned. “So dodging is moving the upper body to avoid a punch. The legs aren’t really used.”

“You learn fast,” Boxer complimented. “Yeah it’s leaning away. But to deal with a not so straight punch you have to duck. Try punching in an arc, we call that a hook.” Badger did so and Boxer tucked his head and Badger’s fist swung through the air. “That’s basically all there is too it,” Boxer said, his hands at his sides. “You fight smart and not like a maniac, and you can take on anyone.”

“Okay,” Badger said, still in his fighting stance.

“Listen, man,” Boxer started. “Bullies fight. That’s one of nature’s laws. You get good at fighting and nothing stands in your way. You can rule the school if you’re the best fighter there. Everyone else will respect and follow you if you prove you can fight. Got that?”

The two stared at each other. Badger stood still with his fists still raised while Boxer leaned over him. He expected a response from Badger and he eventually got it. Like lightning, Badger struck Boxer in the mouth, completely catching the bigger bully off guard. Boxer stumbled back and, holding his mouth, looked at Badger bewildered.

“Got it,” Badger replied, grinning sneakily.

At first Boxer was unbelievable angry, but then something changed. He began to smile and then laugh. “You fucking asshole!” he cried. “You caught me in the middle of a monologue.” He raised his fists. “I’m gonna kill you now,” he said with a lot of hate but still smiled.

Badger smiled too and then the two went at it.

Boxer threw a punch which Badger easily dodged, shifting to the right. Then Badger threw a right hook, leaning into it in hopes of getting a powerful punch in. However, it sailed through the air as Boxer ducked and then counter with a few blows to Badger’s chest. The hits emptied Badger’s lungs and he stumbled backwards.

“Fuck!” he gasped, now feeling defeated.

“You know you can aim for other things than the head, right?” Boxer asked with a sneer. “Anything goes in this place.” With that Badger got a rather devious idea.

“You’re a pussy,” Badger remarked.

Boxer frowned. “Alright, now you’re asking for it.” He gritted his teeth and stomped towards Badger.

Badger waited for Boxer to get close and then enacted his idea. Just as Boxer was within range, Badger aimed a kick right for his opponent’s crotch, the weak spot. Unfortunately, Badger struck too soon because Boxer saw it from a mile away. Luckily, Boxer didn’t have enough time to dodge so Badger did make contact. Still unfortunate, Badger found Boxer had caught his foot in between his legs, only inches away from Badger’s target.

“Shit,” Badger whimpered, sweat pouring from his forehead.

Boxer looked at Badger in the eyes. He too sweated in apparent fear. “You motherfucker,” he murmured, fear turning into relief that he had been spared a painful demise. Then the fear turned into anger. Boxer, using his hands, grabbed Badger’s leg and pushed.

Badger collapsed face first into the ground where his back now faced Boxer. Boxer loomed over him with the intent to finish the fight then and there. A sudden determination filled Badger and from the ground he spun around and whipped his hand blindly. The back of his hand made contact with Boxer’s right eye and the bully reared back in pain. It was just enough time for Badger to get back to his feet.

Badger resumed his fighting stance and quickly got close to Boxer so he could strike him. Boxer was just turning his head when Badger started to take advantage of the situation. Badger landed a good combination that sent Boxer falling down. The big bully caught himself with one hand as he fell as Badger loomed over him ready to strike again.

“Fuck this,” Boxer said exasperated at his situation. A sudden burst of strength lifted him up just in time to grab hold of Badger by his shoulders. Around that time, Badger realized what was going on. Boxer was going to his size to win the fight instead of doing a fist fight.

Badger began to squirm around in Boxer’s grip but Boxer held on tight. He moved his hands so Badger was in a headlock and now officially in danger. The smaller bully struggled to break free, thrashing his hands around and looking for something to grab. There was nothing he could do however, and Boxer was preparing to end the fight. Boxer let himself fall backwards and the top of Badger’s head collided with the ground.

***

“Great, he lost,” Sunset remarked, angrily. She pointed at Warden with her finger trembling. “You shouldn’t have made him go down there. Now he’s probably gonna have brain damage or something.”

Warden seemed to laugh at the notion. “You think we would notice? I mean, there isn’t much up there to begin with.”

“Warden!” Sunset yelled. “That brute is gonna kill him!”

“Fuck,” Warden rolled his eyes. Sunset was ruining his fun. “You girlfriends are always bitching.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“For the last time, I’m not his girlfriend!” Sunset wailed.

“Fuck buddies, whatever!” Warden snarled and stomped his feet on the ground. “The point I’m trying to make is Badger will be fine. He’s a fighter.”

“Really?” Sunset crossed her arms. “Because your fighter just got his skull crushed.”

“And?” Warden grinned. “You can fight with a busted up head. Never give up, never surrender.”

“What are you talking about?” Sunset asked, glancing back at the fighting.

“I mean Badger isn’t going to let a little pain stop him. He’ll fight till he can’t fight anymore.” He looked at Sunset. “That’s the bully way.” They both looked back at Badger.

***

Truthfully, the fall didn’t hurt as much as Badger thought it would. He landed on his head but it wasn’t so bad. In fact, the position he was in was favorable. Warden was right when he said grappling wasn’t Boxer’s strong suit. The way they landed Badger could easily get on top of Boxer because Boxer was on his back while Badger wasn’t. The only problem was Boxer’s arm was still wrapped around Badger’s head.

Badger grunted and began struggling to escape. The struggle resembled an animal that got its head stuck. No matter how hard it tried, the animal couldn’t escape. Like an animal, Badger made sounds of distress that modeled a hurt and terrified creature. He knew now that he had chance to win the fight but he had to break Boxer’s hold.

With his hands now, Badger pushed against the ground to gain more force to break away. He thrashed his neck around, wobbling back and forth to try and squirm out. Boxer tightened his grip to keep the headlock in place. He was out of options. Boxer didn’t want to continue the fist fight. He was afraid and he feared that Badger would find out.

However, Badger was aware his opponent was starting to break. It was obvious by the sudden change in tactics and how Boxer didn’t seem to fight but instead wasted time. Badger did want to win. He was motivated from the atmosphere and more than that, he was motivated to impress the people watching.

Badger continued to squirm around until, with a sudden pop, he was free. Immediately, his head jerked back and he hopped to his feet with quick reflexes. He felt reenergized like he had a period of rest. Boxer was still on the ground, about to get up, so Badger took his chance. Quick like a cat, he pounced on the now exhausted Boxer and pinned him in place. Using his legs, Badger withheld movement of Boxer’s arms by lying on top of them. Under the pressure of Badger’s weight, Boxer was immobilized.

No time was wasted for Badger to start his attack. His arms were like a machine gun, firing as fast as its mechanisms allowed. In his mind, Badger wasn’t really all there. He was focused on winning and because of that he didn’t let up. Boxer was at his mercy and mercy wasn’t something Badger was showing. Punch after punch landed and Boxer’s face was getting more damaged by the second. His cheeks were puffed up and his lips swelled and bled. Boxer’s eyes, which were shut tight, were badly beaten making them puffy and red.

In between the punches, Badger began to realize something. Maybe it was how heavy his hands were starting to feel or the further examination of Boxer’s face, but there was a sudden change in Badger. A kind of guilt seeped into his mind as his arms slowly stopped.

Quickly, Badger snapped out of his feral rage and stopped the attack. He held his fist in front of him and slowly uncurled them. All reason returned to him as he realized how much wear his knuckles had. They were practically red and they ached. Badger looked down at Boxer who laid very still with his eyes closed. The threat was over, Badger had won. For the life of him, Badger couldn’t think of a reason to continue.

He carefully stepped off Boxer’s body and stood over it. Boxer seemed to still be conscience but was clearly in a lot of pain. The pain was probably stopping him from moving. All that moved was his head which swayed back and forth. From his lips there was a low moan like a ghastly apparition.

Badger satisfied but riddled with guilt, turned around and began walking away. A rustling sound behind him caused him to stop and he turned around. What he saw shocked him. Boxer was on his knees and inches his way towards him. The bully held his arms in front of him and swung them aimlessly through the air. His left eye was closed tight and from his nose a river of blood flowed.

Badger thought he looked like a zombie for a second, which was terrifying. Boxer slowly pulled himself towards Badger, clearly driven to continue the fight. But why?

“Never give up,” Boxer spoke very quietly in a hoarse voice. Specks of blood left his mouth with every word. “Never surrender.”

Badger heard these words and understood immediately. Any bully knew the gravity of those words and of the reasoning behind them. It was an honor thing that bully had and Badger got that. His eyes were heavy with tears but bullies don’t cry so his eyes just soaked in the salty solution. It made them sting and his eyes turned red with irritation.

Boxer continued to crawl, showing he was still willing to fight. As long as he could crawl, he could fight. Badger knew what he would have to do to end it. So he took a step towards Boxer.

With no hate, ill will, or anger, Badger delivered the finishing blow to his opponent. A clear right hook send Boxer’s face straight into the ground as his body twisted and gave out. Badger won but he didn’t feel like a winner. There was still about another hundred bullies to beat if he wanted to win the Rumbler.

Now with conviction, Badger turned away to fight again. He made it two steps before he found another fight. From behind, a bully approached him. Badger didn’t see him until it was too late.

“What’s up?” a rather squeaky voice yelled at him. Badger turned around and saw a fist fly right into his face. That was the last thing he would remember of the Rumbler.