Meandering Conversations and Sudden Interruptions
"Canterlot High. A place of many people, all gathered together in friendship and harmony. A true paragon of what a High School should be, in this dull and cynical age we live in. The teachers are beloved, the students all get along, and everywhere one goers, there is the feeling that this is a truly special..."
"VANIDICUS!!!"
Turning, the boy looked upon the face of Flash Sentry, who was currently glaring at him angrily. It was an expression matched by his tone of voice.
"How many times do we have to tell you to stop narrating like that? It's weird!"
The two boys were, at this moment, sitting beside each other along with a number of other male students from the High School, all of whom were occupying themselves with eating their lunches, until their companion had started giving his impromptu narration. Shrugging his shoulders, Vanidicus turned back to his meal, as did Flash.
"I swear, it's like your always trying to act like you're on stage or something."
Vanidicus turned to him.
"Sorry, I guess I just get that way sometimes."
Flash gave a sigh and a nod, acknowledging his companions words, before getting back to his meal. As time passed on, he glanced up from his food to observe some of his other eating buddies, such as Bulk and Big Macintosh, both of whom were competing against one another to try and see who could eat their meal the fastest. Naturally, this led to several bouts of gagging soon afterwards, which Flash couldn't help but chuckle at. On the other side of the table thought was a more quiet lad. Random Insert, noteworthy perhaps for his friendship to the school's local heroines, the Rainbooms, as well as his current relationship to one of their former adversaries, Sonata Dusk. As for Vanidicus, he was perhaps the strangest of them. Much like the Dazzlings, he too was a native of that other world, Equestria. A creature known as a Changeling, at least back then. Now, he was human like the rest of them. Chucking to himself after considering his current colleagues, Flash took another bite of his food, after which he was distracted by a sudden beeping sound. Looking up, he saw that it was Randy's phone, which he just now pulled out of his pocket to look at. A smile formed on the boy's face, leading to Flash raising an eyebrow at him.
"Good news, I take it?"
Randy nodded at that before speaking.
"I'll say. It's a message from Sonata. She wants to go to that new movie at the weekend. I'm just telling her it's on."
Flash smiled at his friend.
"Glad to hear you guys are hitting it off so well."
Randy gave another nod before getting back to his phone, ready to send the message. However, it was at this point that Bulk and Mac had finished their ill-advised eating contest, and the former turned to Randy before addressing him.
"I just don't get how you can be with a girl like that. I mean, aside from all that taking-over-the-world stuff, didn't she cause you to have a heart attack on top of everything else?"
That got Randy's attention immediately, and he looked up to Bulk with his eyes narrowed.
"That happened one time! The important thing is that she said sorry."
Bulk, getting the message, quickly backed down, prompting Mac to let out a chuckle.
"Y'all are lucky to have someone special an all. But don't y'all think it's a bit risky to date a Siren? They ain't exactly the most liked of girls. No offense."
Randy opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Vanidicus spoke first, in a tone far angrier than Randy would have used.
"How dare you besmirch the good name of the Sirens!"
Flash, after hearing that, slapped his forehead with frustration.
"Oh, here we go again."
Clearing his throat, Vanidicus gained a look of pride upon his face before continuing.
"The Sirens, and their magnificent leader, Adagio, are the most perfect and worthy creatures to grace your little world. You should be on your knees, thanking them for the right to be in their presence!"
The other boys all looked at him, clearly waiting for him to stop talking, which thankfully didn't take long as he soon got back to his food, apparently having finished his little tirade. Flash and Randy gave each other a look before turning back to him, Randy speaking up.
"Well...thanks for defending Sonata and all, Vanidicus, but don’t you think you go a bit overboard with all that? I mean, devotion is one thing, but what you have for Adagio is, well..."
He didn't finish, so Vanidicus looked up from his meal and tried guessing the rest of the sentence.
"Admirable?"
A snort from Bulk got the Changeling's attention, with the former correcting him soon afterwards.
"I think he meant it's weird."
Vanidicus narrowed his eyes at that.
"I am a drone. A drone requires a Queen, and Adagio is the perfect choice. She has all the qualities one could want from a monarch. Ruthlessness, drive, ambition. What drone wouldn't wish to be in the service of one as perfect as her?"
Bulk raised an eyebrow at that.
"Whatever, man. All I know is that there are plenty of girls out there you could be spending your time with. I mean, just look at them all! Not a bad-looking girl in the bunch!"
The large boy gestured his hand towards the rest of the cafeteria to emphasise his point, prompting the other guys to look out, if only to humour him. However, when they started really paying attention to all the girls out there, they began to notice, to their surprise, that their colleague actually seemed to have a point. Wherever they looked, at least where there were female students, they could not see one that they thought was unattractive. It was, perhaps, the first time any of them had actually noticed this before, with Vanidicus and Mac in particular looking at each other with surprise on their faces.
"Well..yeah! But that doesn't mean some aren't better than others!" Vanidicus commented.
Bulk chuckled at that.
"'I'll say. I know I've got my eye on more than a few."
Vanidicus opened his mouth to comment, but was stopped when Randy spoke up to interrupt him.
"Just so I know, is this discussion going to go into a place where we examine all of the girls like the best piece of meat at the butcher's counter? Because if so, I don't think me and Flash really want to be a part of that. No offense or anything, but I doubt our girlfriends would appreciate us being part of a discussion like that."
Flash nodded in agreement over that statement, but turned to Vanidicus when the latter started laughing.
"Oh please! You have a girlfriend, Randy. Flash here just has a magical pony Princess from another world who only occasionally chooses to grace him with her presence."
Flash once more glared angrily at the former Changeling, but it was Randy yet again who calmed everything down by raising a hand, stopping him before he said anything untoward. Flash let out an annoyed grunt before getting back to his food, after which Randy turned back to Vanidicus.
"Regardless, I just wouldn't feel comfortable with it. I'm friends with a lot of the girls and I don't want to talk about them like this. So, if it's all the same to you, I think Flash and I will just stick to our meals. But by all means, carry on if you wish, though I promise it'll probably end badly for you."
Vanidicus and the other two boys turned to Flash, where they saw him nod in agreement with Randy's proposal, after which he got back to his food, as did Randy. Seeing that their conversation was now down by two members, the other three boys turned to each other and left their companions alone for a while. With that established, Bulk spoke up at last.
"Okay...getting back to the point. All of the girls in this school are hot. Case closed."
Mac began to reply, but was stopped as a number of other CHS boys started arriving at the table, much to the surprise of all of them there. This new batch included the likes of Snips, Snails, members of Flash's band, as well as a few others from around the school, mostly from the other failed bands from the recent music contest. Needless to say, the boys that were already there were more than a little surprised at this unexpected invasion by their peers. However, their presence here was soon made clear when Snips spoke up.
"So...we hear you're talking about the girls? Count us in!"
That was, as expected, something of a surprise for all of them, though Randy couldn't help but slap his head in frustration over it.
"Okay, that does it! If those guys are getting involved, I'm out. How about it, Flash? Another table?"
Flash turned to the new group and, much like Randy, realised that this probably wasn't going to go anywhere he was comfortable, as evidenced by the grimace on his face. So, silently, he gave a nod to Randy before the two of them got up, their lunch trays in-hand, and started moving off elsewhere. Big Mac, watching them go, realised that he too would probably be less than willing to go through this, and so got up from his spot, gave a nod to the rest, and then walked off to join Flash and Randy. The rest of the group just let out a chuckle as they watched them go, Snips and Snails especially.
"Ha! Their loss! Anyway, let’s get back to the issue of the girls. So anyway, I was thinking that..."
However, the sound of someone nearby clearing their throat got their attention, and the boys turned their heads to see who it was. And when they did, their faces turned pale as they looked upon a collection of the school's female students, including both the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms, as well as many others, glaring at them angrily, with several cracking their knuckles. Gulping, many of the boys looked to each other with fear in their eyes, Vanidicus especially sinking into his chair, hoping Adagio wasn't going to see him there. Sadly for him, she did, and she soon walked right around the table before grabbing his ear and pulling him away from the rest of the boys, him letting out an occasional "yelp" every few feet. As for the rest, they looked on fearfully as the angry-looking girls closed in on them, with Rainbow Dash speaking to them in a rather unhappy tone.
"So...we hear you were about to discuss us as if we were bits of meat at a butcher's counter or something?"
Bulk groaned at that.
"By Faust, Randy is never going to let us forget this."
Far away however, on the other side of the cafeteria, Flash, Randy and Mac were all peacefully eating the remainder of their meals, only occasionally looking up to see what was becoming of their former eating buddies. Flash raised an eyebrow after looking up at the onslaught that now took place over there.
"Wow...that topic really didn't go very far, did it?"
Randy nodded at that.
"True. But at least it means the title is apt."
Flash looked up at his friend with a confused look, and would have asked more about that if it wasn't for the sudden and unexpected arrival of Pinkie Pie. The girl had appeared out of nowhere beside Randy and, to his shock, grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up, his face now an inch away from hers. Bearing an angry expression, Pinkie spoke.
"What have I told you? I'm the one who breaks walls, not you!"
Fearful, Randy nodded frantically at that, acknowledging her point. In an instant, Pinkie's usually bubbly demeanour reasserted itself, and she let go of the boy with a big smile on her face.
"Okay-dokey-loki! Just making sure!"
With that the girl started hopping away, after which Randy let out a sigh of relief before noticing Flash retaining his look of confusion. Letting out a groan, Randy spoke.
"Don't ask."
