Loathing Courtship Aftermath

With the exception of an extremely embarrassing Saturday morning, Pandora’s weekend passed by with relative normalcy. Cupcake had made sure that her boss actually read through the lesson plan her mother left for her, and Discord had had a good laugh at the entire situation. Pandora was sorely tempted to visit Scootaloo with a fake knife in her back, but decided against it as she continued to prepare for a return to school on Monday and sent out the occasional insult-laden message to Bruce. Bruce replied in kind, keeping up the derogatory banter with her when he wasn't getting a lecture from his parents and avoiding his 'crew' for the remainder of the weekend.

However, Monday was not destined to be a normal school day for anyone.

"What's with the crowds...?" Pandora asked as she and Cupcake walked through the front door.

"Big issue in the school paper. It’s the highlight issue covering prom. Something must have happened to really stir the rumor mill, sir." the shorter woman replied, grabbing a paper from one of the hallway stands.

"Oh, it can't be that big. It's just a dance where the football players and cheerleaders hump each other on the dance floor." Pandora shrugged. It wasn't until she noticed that she was getting quite a few more stares than usual that she began to feel somewhat concerned.

"Jeez, you'd think I'd never worn my 'wizard outfit' to school before..." she muttered, looking down at the frilly shirt and double-checking the cuffs of the purple, long-tailed overcoat. "I don't have anything on me, do I, Cuppy?"

"No sir, but there is something with you on it." Cupcake had gotten hold of a copy of the school newspaper. She held it up so Pandora could see the front page. Pandora let out a shriek. Quick as lightning, she snatched the paper and destroyed it with fizzing chaos magic.

The front page of the most read issue of the school newspaper was a title about candid prom pictures. Plastered across the very front, in terrifyingly high resolution, was a picture of her and Bruce mid-fall to the floor with lips locked and arms clinging to each other tightly.
__________________________________

"So, Bruce... you and the freak show, huh?" a heavy-set boy in a loose jersey with the name ‘Wrecker’ on it asked in disbelief. Bruce slammed his locker shut. Ever since he had walked into the building, he’d been getting interrogated by anyone and everyone. His own crew had been asking him questions for a good 20 minutes.

"What about ‘er?" Bruce asked, doing his best to play the entire situation cool.

"You're kissing her in this photo, and then people are saying you two disappeared before you hit the floor. Kinda raises a few questions, man."

"Yeah, disappearing for the whole night, the whole weekend? Suspicious." another of his crew, a lean boy with piercings in both ears and hair down to his shoulders covered partially by a beanie cap, chimed in.

"What's it matter to you guys what me and one sheila do, anyway?" Bruce asked.

"Just sayin', you got a reputation to uphold. People are already talking, saying that you and Queen Chaos Kooky are a couple."

"I'm not 'er boyfriend, if that's what you're sayin'."

"But you're not denying that you totally slept with her." Wrecker replied accusingly.

"So what if I did?!" he shouted, silencing them as he turned to face the both of them. If Bruce had any dragon blood in him, he had no doubt that there would be smoke plumes hissing from his nostrils. Instead, he simply worked with the intense scowl, furrowed brows, and clenched jaw that somewhat highlighted his scar as he continued to glare at his friends. A few long, silent moments later, his friend in the beanie, Gusty, spoke up again.

"Chill dude, chill. We didn't mean nothing by it, just trying to keep your reputation safe, man. You're the guy who punched a shark in the face when he was a kid, even the football team steers clear of you, but now you're... dating the freak?"

"We. Are. Not. Datin’." Bruce growled, "We're not datin’, we're not in love, we're not seein’ each other."

"But you're sleeping together." another of his friends quipped. This one was a more athletically built Seraph still in his track suit from morning practice named Lightning Rod, but he mostly just went by Rod.

"Oh, sod off, the lot of of ya!" the fisherman finally barked, "I can protect my own reputation and who I share my bed with ain't gonna change that."

"Yeah but it's.... it's her."

"So what if it is?"

"No, dude... it's her." Wrecker murmured as he pointed down the hallway.

Bruce turned and was simultaneously struck with a need to run for his life and a need to "tackle" the seething sorceress floating towards the group of "cool kids" with their de facto leader in the center. With lightning speed she flew forward and tackled him again, only this time there was no kiss and she soon had him by his shirt collar.

"How did they get a picture of us?" she hissed, her voice deadly.

"Your guess is as good as mine, bitch." Bruce replied plainly.

"Not helping!" Pandora said, literal fire pouring from her eyes for a moment before she continued her interrogation. "Who have you told?"

"No one."

"Horseshit."

"Swear on your grandmother's crown."

"I told you to leave Granny Tia out of things, flipper."

"It's a figure of speech, you twig!"

"Awww, how cute! They're totally doing a replay of Friday night." a shrill, almost too feminine voice cut in.

"Buck..." Pandora mouthed, instantly getting up and off Bruce only to find that her worst fear was in fact standing at the end of the hallway with a crowd growing around the whole scene. Razzle Dazzle, one part news girl, one part rumor machine, all parts nasty, and the worst person you'd ever want knowing anything private about you. She was dressed from head to toe in a pink so bright and obnoxious that the color practically screamed at you, with a headband holding back a tidal wave of blonde ringlets. Despite being no taller than Cupcake, her heels and hair managed to make her rival Bruce's height and with this latest piece of gossip to run with, she was practically buzzing with excitement as she started stirring up the growing crowd.

"Like, come on, we know you wanna kiss him again!" Razzle giggled, looking back at the gathering of students and flourishing the school paper. "Freak Show and Aquaman kissing before she teleported them away for a night of hot, steamy love."

"We are not in love!" Pandora and Bruce replied.

"Oh? I didn't say you were! Like, I was just referring to how you two totally hooked up all night long."

"Why you little-" Pandora started as she began walking forward. One hand was clenched in a fist and the other was readying a spell, but Razzle cut her off.

"What was it like having sex with a door, Bruce? She's totally got the curves and sex appeal of one so I figured you'd be dealing with, like, splinters or maybe termites, right?"

Pandora visibly flinched as Razzle spoke. The future Queen of Chaos was not easily hurt or stifled, and was definitely not one to back down from a fight when one was brewing. But like every other young woman her age, there were always certain buttons that if pressed, could cut deep and literally immobilize her. From before she could even dress herself, her mother had always said she was one of the most beautiful girls in the world. Her father doted on her and said the same thing, and more importantly, Bruce had been bold enough to call her beautiful on more than one occasion during their romp in the hotel room.

Part of her wanted Bruce to come to the rescue by going on and on about how lovely she was, part of her wanted them both to team up and beat the little brat standing in front of them to a bloody pulp. Much to her chagrin though, the part that almost surfaced as she stopped dead in her tracks with the spell dissipating and her fist unclenching, involved tears. She held them back though, and thanked her surrogate grandmothers for her ability to keep her war face on before she noticed that the half the reason she had been shocked into stopping was a firm grip on her arm.

"I don't give a rat's ass what you think you know, Razzle, but stay out of it. She's not my girlfriend, I'm not her boyfriend, we're not 'in love', and I got better things to do than listen to you drill holes in my ear drums with that high pitched pig squeal you call a voice." Bruce finally said, picking up his bag and letting go of Pandora's arm. "We both do, right?"

Pandora looked back at him for a moment, nodding slowly and conjuring her bag back to her shoulders and glaring at Razzle Dazzle with the same intensity that her mother had used when staring down Lord Tirek all those many years ago. The staredown only lasted a few seconds before Cupcake tapped her boss on the shoulder and they both walked off towards class, but the message was clear to everyone who was there.

This meant war.
_______________________

"Give it to me straight Cup, how long do I have?" Pandora asked as her desk shifted into a hospital bed complete with IV drips and a heart monitor that blipped Pandora's face instead of the usual heartbeat wavelength lines.

"Given how fast word spread when you asked Bruce in the first place, the placements of newspapers, school population, Razzle Dazzle's rumor underground, and staff interest in the story, my calculations have the news reaching the entire school by third period at the latest, sir." Cupcake said, looking over the clipboard that had magically found its way into her hands.

"Third!? I, I can't do this. I can see the light. Hold me!" Pandora replied, the monitor giving a steady, unending tone as she gagged and large black 'X's replaced her eyes. Cupcake placed the stethoscope that had been conjured around her neck on Pandora's wrist before smacking her cheek lightly.

"Sir, you can not socially kill what had no ‘life’ in the first place."

"Oh, right." the sorceress replied with a sigh. Her desk turned back to normal and her hospital gown shifted back into what she had worn to school but the heart monitor stayed on. The face beeping was now Bruce's instead of Pandora's before she waved it out of existence. "Still, I wanted anything between the two of us to stay that way, between the two of us. Now the whole school will know."

"I can hardly change the situation, sir." Cupcake replied.

"At least it can't get worse, right?"

"Good morning, Ponyville High! Mr. Freemane here with the morning announcements and boy do we have a spectacular morning's worth!"

"Oh lord." Pandora muttered. Before the usually soothing voice of a the school counselor continued on, she buried her face in her arms on her desk in an attempt to block it out or somehow make everyone in the room forget that she was sitting there. To her surprise, the announcements were relatively normal. No mention of prom other than it actually happening, no mention of scandal or rumors, there wasn't even a mention of the fight that almost broke out in the hallway earlier that morning, but much like her magic, high school is a very random place where even the best situations can be turned into the worst situation at the flip of a coin.

"And last but certainly not least, make sure you all get yourselves a copy of the school paper! The Candid Snaps segment is back with plenty of pictures of couples caught on and off the dance floor at Prom, with the newest couple in the school taking the front page!"

"Oh grandmothers, please don't let it happen."

"So if you see Pandora Sparkle and Bruce Carcharodon, make sure to congratulate them! And if you bet against me, pay up! Have a good morning Ponyville High!"

"Cupcake."

"Yes, sir."

"Add him to The List."

"Already on it."
______________________________

Cupcake's prediction was set off course by the morning announcements and the entirety of Ponyville High knew about Pandora’s prom night adventure. Students all around the school were busy spreading plenty of rumors with the help of Razzle Dazzle. Unbeknownst to Pandora, though she highly suspected it, Razzle had in fact had a word with Mr. Freemane and got the last 'announcement' put in. She had said it was a favor for a friend. Regrettably, the teachers of the school, while always enjoying the latest gossip around the school, were very distant from the way certain students truly interacted with each other when the eyes of the faculty weren't watching.

This lead to Pandora sulking the entire day until lunch and in an extremely bizarre choice, for her at least, she took lunch alone outside in a tree that she snapped into existence. Cupcake, ever faithful, sat and relaxed at the base of the tree and enjoyed her lunch with the mechanical precision that she did everything with. While she ate, she was also keeping a watchful eye for more rumor chasing students wanting a Q&A session with her boss.

Pandora on the other hand was far from enjoying her lunch up in her perch. An apple she managed to bring from home continued to dance on her knee as she started dismantling the sandwich her mother had made. As per the usual, she switched around what was where until she was satisfied with how crazy her meal looked, but the events of the day had left her with a deadened sense of taste so that she couldn't even enjoy the soda can she was sipping on. With a sigh, she tossed the hovering can-shaped mass of soda towards the school and gave a hint of a smile when it turned into a cloud that rained soda down on a group of freshmen students walking into the cafeteria.

"Stirrin' up trouble as always, eh, beanpole?"

Pandora jumped at the voice, sending the apple flying as she stood up and looked back at who had managed to sneak past Cupcake and climb up her tree. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was relieved to see Bruce leaning against the bark, a smirk playing across his stupid, cute, dumb, attractive face.

"Cupcake let you up?"

"Only way I'd get up here, right? Last time I tried sneakin' past'er she gave me a black eye, remember?" Bruce replied, taking a seat. "Takin' the whole thing badly, huh?"

"Queen Bitch herself is busy spreading rumors about how the fairy tale should now be 'Bruce and the Beanstalk', rousing the school into full crazy mode, and I'm the target of just about every jealous girl who ever wanted to get into your stupid pants. So yeah, I'm doing bucking fine, Bruce."

"You let that gal get under your skin way too easily, Pandora." Bruce replied, only to find himself held up against the tree by his collar.

"I've been called almost every variation of whore and slut since Razzle rigged the announcements, fish bait." Pandora whispered, glaring at him with a confused mixture of anger and sadness, and a want for the entire situation to just go away.

"I thought you'd be used to insults by now, it's the only way we talk." he whispered back.

"You make fun of my looks, my powers, and occasionally my boobs-which you refuse to admit are magnificent and drive you wild, but I know you. We know each other. We're rivals."

"So?"

"It's what we do, Bruce. We constantly fight over who's the best at causing people problems and all we really did was add a 'who's the best at sex' contest to the entire thing. Them.... Razzle... it's different for girls, ok?" Pandora replied, lowering him to the branch as gently as she could, but with all of her pent up anger and frustration, she barely managed to get him down without shaking him half to death.

"That bad, eh?" he finally murmured as he straightened out his jacket.

"Your ability for understatement is rivaled only by your arrogance, shark boy..." Pandora quipped darkly as she walked to the edge of the tree limb. As she walked, forward and her long-coat billowed a bit in the breeze, Bruce was once again reminded that not only was he dealing with a hormonal woman who just had the school turned against her in the most intimate of ways, he was also dealing with the daughter of two the most magically powerful beings on the planet. The view was stunning, to say the least with a certain cinematic quality to it; it wasn't until he noticed the black bars that blocked out a portion of the top and bottom of his vision that he realized she'd somehow put his vision into 'widescreen'.

Bruce blinked until his vision returned to normal and started forward before she turned back and looked him in the eyes. Ever since he'd known Pandora Sparkle, he knew of only two of her looks. There was the trademark mischievous grin and glint in her eyes before she played a prank on someone or went on an adventure, and then there was the evil smile she got when she was on the revenge trail. That night of prom, he was introduced to one he never thought he'd see when her playful grin took a lusty turn, and today he saw something he never believed existed.

The Princess of Chaos had a frown, and was visibly holding back tears. Whether they were angry or sad, he couldn't really tell, but it was more than enough to put a hold on the tough guy attitude he kept up.

"Panny..." he whispered, trying to find words while also trying to figure out whether or not to add a playful jab, "You're not gonna beat 'er. She's got too many friends, too many contacts, and way too much pull with the way that herd of sheep thinks."

"Then what do you suppose we do? Keep pretending it didn't happen? Dance around the school with flower necklaces? We don't even like each other." she spat.

"Yeah, but we both hate each other equally... I'unno Pandora, what would your dad do? What about your mom?" Bruce asked.

"I... mom would lecture about it, dad would turn her into a giant marshmallow or turn the tables somehow." she mused, tapping her chin slowly and walking around in circles both on the branch and in midair.

"Could always go with that last idea."

"How so?"

"Turn the tables? Dance around with the flower necklaces and all that. Only, you know, not actually dancin'." Bruce told her, walking forward and pulling her back onto the branch.

"There is no way I'm acting all lovey dovey for a shortstack like you, scarface." she growled in reply as jabbed her finger into his chest a few times.

"Didn't expect you to, slim. But you're the daughter of Discord. The Discord. Mischief is practically your middle name, right? Breakin' rules an' all that?"

"You're suggesting I actually turn her into a marshmallow?"

"Nah, more like let's see how many times we can break the rules using each other." the fisherman told her, giving a rather evil smirk of his own that she matched.

"Now you're talking my language." she smirked, before her expression took another serious turn, "But why the pep talk, shorty? We tolerate each other at best and you're not exactly known for even having feelings."

"For my reputation, not for you.” he replied, keeping up his trademark smug smirk.

“Excuse me?”

“I'm Bruce buckin’ Carcharodon; the guy who punched a shark when he was 8, has been in more fights than Rocky, and whose special talent is literally being tough and tenacious. I have a reputation to keep, and I can't have casual sex with just anyone... she's gotta hate me and want to kill me."

"Not kill you..." Pandora chimed in, running a finger down the center of his chest teasingly, "Maybe maim... maybe turn into a goldfish and dump into a pond for a month... or maybe I should just bind you to my tree and keep you here for the rest of the school day in just your boxers."

"You'll do anythin' just to get my shirt off, won't you string bean?"

"Come off it, Nemo, I saw the way you were staring at my chest Friday." Pandora purred, but before she could do anything more than tease her fingers over Bruce's shoulders the warning bell signalling the end of lunch sounded. Both rivals cursed under their breath before Pandora sent the tree back into the ground and stopped running her hands over her... whatever he was. She didn’t even really know at this point but she didn’t care.

"If we're really doing this, you're going to have a lot of bite marks by the end of the week." the trickster goddess-in-training said, glancing playfully at him from over her shoulder before she and Cupcake disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Pandorka."