Zack didn't know what school he wanted to do. Since he had no adults to watch over him in life, he would have to fill out all the forms. Unfortunately for him, there were a lot of forms to fill out no matter what school he would go to. Although, he was jumping the gun a bit on this one. He still had to study for the test to skip a grade. Although he was naturally smart, he wouldn't get cocky on this one. He'd make sure that he was able to skip a grade. He had no friends, because, not only was he skipping grades, it just didn't seem all that important to him. Zack, however, would probably be trying to make new friends at this school, Canterlot High. It seemed to be an amazing school, or at least, he was told that. The description said that the school was really... magical. An odd choice of words if you asked Zack, but to be honest, schools try their best at those kinda things. To make their school seem like a magical dream. Unfortunately for Canterlot High, there was nothing magical about them, or school in general. At least, that's what Zack thought. Zack paced around his brownstone, which was not only big, but he had it to himself. He'd studied for the test, but couldn't help feel that it wasn't enough. Whether it was, or not, he was tired. It was tomorrow, but here he was, at 1:00 A.M., worrying about the test. Eventually, Zack found it easy to go to sleep, but it was 1:36 by then. Hopefully, he wouldn't be late getting to the place.
---5:45 A.M.---
Zack woke up, and looked at his clock. 10:45?! He had to get up immediately. He had to be at the place at 11:15, and he didn't want to be late. How would it look for him? Bad, bad, bad, bad... He quickly got dressed, ate cereal, and was ready to leave the door by "10:54". When Zack looked at his phone for any messages, it said that it was 5:54. Oh, right. He'd forgotten that the clock was behind. So, for 2 hours, he found himself studying, and, for 1 1/2 hours, he found himself playing games. When he checked the time, it said 9:24. Might as well go now, and get there early, right? To avoid the risk of getting there late. And so, he spent a majority of the day getting there, taking the test, and getting back. When he checked his clock, as he got home, it said 4:50 P.M. Because he was one of 12 kids in the city who were skipping a grade, he would be getting the results tomorrow. Fast comings, eh? Zack had spent the rest of the afternoon unwinding, and having fun. When he began to get tired, the time on his phone produced 3:30 A.M. If he was going to high school soon, he'd have to fix his sleep schedule. Future Zack's problem he thought. With that, he fell asleep on his gaming couch.
---A good and lazy Monday Morning---
Zack woke up at 12:21, since his sleeping habits were a bit... off. He'd checked his e-mail to see if he got the results of the test, but, it seemed as if there was no... answer. To pass the time, he'd decided to go check out this school, Canterlot High. Was it all sunshine and rainbows? Or were the students there demons? Who knew. He'd hoped that no one would notice him, because, he was rather... short for his new grade. And so, he was off to check out his new school. Maybe they prioritized being cool and cold, over being loving and warm. Who knew? Zack certainly didn't. As Zack got to the school, he'd noticed that it was a lot bigger. Looked like a castle of some sort... who knew? Maybe it was a castle. He'd gotten chills, however, from the school. Something about it didn't seem right. Oh well, right? Maybe he shouldn't judge this book by its cover. Zack walked inside, and attempted to find his way to the principal's office. Although it took him a few minutes, he eventually found it. When he looked at the emblem above the door, he was surprised; why the heck was there a sun? Maybe the principal liked daylight, who knew, right? Zack walked inside of the office, wanting to get a tour of the school. He was surprised to find out that the principal's hair was... multicolored. Except... it was perfectly multicolored. The shading was perfect, the transition from each color was perfect, and it made you feel safe. Very, very, safe. The principal recognized him immediately, probably due to his height.
"You must be the 8th grader transferring?" She asked, in a calm and soothing voice.
"Yeah, I am. I'm Zack. Zack Rivers." Zack said, answering her question.
"Are your parents here?" She asked, but soon realized she'd stepped on a landmine.
"Oh, no. They're all dead. I never had any siblings, my grandparents died when I was 5, which was 8 years ago, and my parents died 2 years ago, when I was 11." He said, in a perfectly fine voice. To her surprise, and suddenly to his, he wasn't hurt by this at all. It happened to young for him to really do anything, he guessed.
"I'm... I'm so sorry..." The principal said, now in a comforting voice.
"No reason to be. Stuff happens. Now, about transferring?" Zack said, wanting to get back to the topic at hand.
"I've already filled out the forms for you, if you want to attend Canterlot High, that is" She said, getting back to a serious tone, which Zack wanted to hear. He wanted to get this all over with.
"Yes, Ma'am! I'd love to attend this school... uh... Principal..." Zack said, hoping she'd finish his sentence, as he didn't know her name.
"Celestia. My name is Celestia. Principal Celestia, to the students, however" She said, going from serious, to a silly-like tone.
"I'd like to have a tour of the school, if that's okay with you" Zack said. And so, she toured him around the school, and showed him each and every individual class room. It seemed to be nice, so Zack decided that he'd start attending this school by tomorrow. The forms were filled and all, so, he decided it would be a nice gesture, and the school looked quite nice, too. It was going to be an awesome day tomorrow... or so he thought.
"One more thing, Zack" Celestia said, in a 'There's a catch' tone.
"Yes?" Zack said, becoming scared of what would happen next.
"Since you don't have any parents, three other new students will be supervising you at your house, if you decide to attend, starting today." She said, but started to continue "and will be living with you". Surprisingly, once again, to both of them, Zack was fine with this. And so, he'd gone home, ready to meet his best friends. He knew they would be guys, but hoped that they wouldn't be bullies. Oh well, he thought. Pretty sure nothing could go wrong right now! As he walked into the apartment, he saw three girls arguing; an Orange one with large hair, a purple one with pigtails, and a blue one who looked clueless; just on sight, he got a weird vibe from them.
Chapter 2 - A Little Song
Zack had saw the three girls, and immediately got a bad vibe. Not the 'Text Text Text don't care about child' vibe, but one much worse than that... one where... he didn't feel himself. Zack had walked in, and greeted the three girls.
"Hey, what's up?" Zack said, catching the three girls' attention.
"You must be the kid we're supposed to... watch over?" The middle one said, the one with the seriously big hair. Zack didn't feel right around these three. Nothing could be right to come from this. He was starting to wish he hadn't signed up for Canterlot High.
"Hi! I'm Sonata Dusk! It's gonna be fun living with you" Said the blue one, with the ponytail. She seemed to be genuinely happy about this arrangement. Zack didn't, however.
"I'm Aria." The purple one said, in a sarcastic tone which Zack knew he would get tired of eventually. For now, he'd decided to put up with it for now.
"And I'm... Adagio" She said, in a half-sarcastic half-scary tone, which put Zack in an even worse mood. Zack just decided to play video games, and then go to sleep. Dinner? He no longer wanted food, these three... didn't make him feel safe. He'd wanted to decline the principal's offer tomorrow, but... maybe they're safe?
"Nice to meet you? Do what you want, but I want to play me some good ol' video games! It's been a long day, so... I'm going to get right to it." Zack said, getting his Wii U started. He'd want to play Smash Bros, and get better with Pac-Man. He wasn't his... strongest point in the game.
"Don't you want to hear us sing?" Adagio asked, looking as if she was going to sing anyway.
"No. I want to play games, Adagio." Zack said, defying her already. But, much to his annoyance, she started singing some words about wanting to listen more, and, before Zack had a chance to run away, he was already "hooked" on the song. His eyes turned green, and he was under their spell. Instead of playing video games for the next 2 hours, he listened to them sing. When it was over, he wanted to hear more, except, he was tired.
"Better go to sleep now, Zack" Sonata said, generally caring for the boy, since the other two didn't really seem to. And so, she took him to bed, but before he went to bed, he noted that his eyes were green. Wow, I really am sleepy. My eyes aren't green, silly! he thought, and then fell asleep. For the next hour, the girls downstairs would be talking among themselves.
"Girls, did you feel that? A bit of our power was restored. We can feed off of this boy everyday!" Adagio said, not caring for the boy's future.
"We shouldn't do this to him often, Adagio, he could get hurt" Sonata said, once again caring for the boy.
"I'm gonna have to agree with Sonata on this one, not too often, Adagio. We could end up breaking him forever" Aria said, showing a bit of concern.
"Fine, I guess you're right" Adagio said, realizing the error of her mistakes. Little did the boy know, he would end up having a terrible time tomorrow.
---Lunch time, the next day---
Zack had gotten his plate, and didn't know where to sit. There seemed to be no spots open for him, except a table all alone. Oh well, he thought, that'll have to do, right? He sat down, but soon, there were girls calling his name. When he spun around to see who it was, he was expecting it to be his "care"takers. Instead, there were 6 girls calling out his name. A pink one, an orange one, a lighter shade of orange one, a yellow one, a blue one, and a white one. What if they made him feel uneasy too? He decided to sit with them, because they had asked him to (he implied this because they were calling his name). As Zack sat down, he got a chance to briefly introduce himself, and meet them, before his "care"takers arrived. They'd burst the door open, and started singing. In the middle of their song, Zack started feeling light-headed and nauseous, and whispering battle to himself. The others looked at him, and realized it was the Siren's magic.
"Battle. No, I don't want to battle. I won't battle. But then again, your guardians are telling you to battle. No, Zack, don't battle. I... I can't do this anymore. What do I do?" Zack said, confused, but slowly made up his mind.
"Battle!" Zack said, getting up, and screaming at the other students. They were all affected, except for the Rainbooms. Soon, Zack met up with the Rainbooms. He'd met them at the statue after school, where they met up with a 7th member named Twilight Sparkle. And so, they made the journey to Sugarcube Corner, beginning to talk about the Dazzlings.
"Hey... Zack, ah got a question" said the girl named Applejack, who seemed to be wondering about his safety.
"Yes?" Zack said, no longer under their spell.
"Did you feel something during lunch? When the girls were singing? Like, sick, or anything?" Fluttershy asked him, sharing her concern about him with the rest of her friends.
"I felt the same way I did yesterday, when they sang to me." He said, shocking all of the Rainbooms.
"What do you mean, yesterday?" asked Rainbow Dash, which was a pretty cool name if you asked him.
"You know, they sang. They're my guardians as long as I'm staying at Canterlot High. Except, they don't make me feel safe, and I didn't feel like myself. Not then, not now. These girls are very... odd, to be honest. Very, very, very, odd. I don't like being around them. I need help, and I need it fast. I don't want this, I don't like myself when they sing to me. Not only does it make me sleepy, but I don't feel like myself." Zack said, and with that, he'd left Sugarcube Corner. It was 6:30, better get home already. And so, Zack made the trip home, opened the door, and wasn't surprised, at all, to find the three girls there. Except, before he got a chance to escape, the same events that happened yesterday happened. They sung, Zack wanted to hear more, but was denied that. He then went to the mirror again, and his eyes were green. Since he was sleepy, he assumed he thought they were green, and that he was hallucinating. He went back to bed.
---Early Morning---
Zack got up, and checked the time. It said 5:10 A.M. He then went downstairs, and decided to hear another song, but, to prove his suspicion. When the girls finished, he went back to his bedroom, and looked in the mirror. Since he was freshly awake, he wasn't sleepy after the song. When he looked in the mirror, his eyes were green. He immediately made a note of it, and stashed it away where no one would find it. When he went back downstairs, he started to play the Smash Bros for Wii U game, and Aria shortly joined him, getting a little cocky.
"I may be new to this game, but I'm still going to destroy you." Aria said, a bit too confidently. They played until it was 6:30 A.M., which then, Adagio and Sonata were up, and wondered why they were playing the game.
"One more match, Zack?" Aria said, with a smirk on her face, sure she was going to win. She picked Palutena again, and Zack picked Yoshi. Zack easily beat her, and got up.
"Good game, Aria, but it looks like I'm better than all three of you when it comes to Knowledge, and gaming!" Zack said, getting a bit cocky.
"Fine. You're slightly better than me at that game." Aria said, showing that she's a little butthurt. Zack noticed it was 6:36, and started to leave.
"Where are you going so early, Zack?" Adagio asked.
"I'm gonna meet up with Rainbow Dash. Apparently" Zack said, and looked over to Aria "she's actually good at playing Smash Bros, so I'm gonna challenge her on this" Zack said, as he waved around his 3DS. After that, he left, and met up with Rainbow Dash. They had time to get in 7 matches, before it hit 7:11, where she was going to meet up with her friends. Zack said bye, ready to hit school early. Rainbow Dash, however, invited him to meet up with them at Sugarcube Corner before school started. Zack couldn't simply say no to that. He decided to go along with her, because he wanted to talk more about his "guardians". Were they really who they seemed?
