Where Magic Awakens Darkness in Canterlot High

It was a walk that turned into a sprint, almost instantly as William had exited his house. Earphones popped out, and he had thirty minutes. He just decided to go right ahead, and not risk being tardy and smudging his untarnished record, especially on his first day going to a new school in unfamiliar territory. But things around hit him strange. Posters that decreed ‘Wondercolts are the best,’ and ‘Wondercolts will bring it,’ seemed to spark a bit of intrigue in his mind, as well as the few people walking around. Such hairstyles made them look like walking art, and the smiling around here, whether soft or large, seemed to give him a creep. Ignoring the waves of countless people, walk signs, and music which blasted through a white and blue car that passed, he focused more on the fate of his arrival at hand. Turning sharply to avoid people, twisting his torso to keep from knocking things out of their hands, and ducking to avoid the distracted music lovers who walked the streets, his body looking like it was contorting as he did, even though running among masses was common for him, especially at the parties in his last county, running was the only way to make an exit.

The blocks seemed huge here, and he decided to stop, panting and gasping for air as he looked up. Coffee shop was the first thing he saw, printed on a sign, with the local logo on the bottom resembling that of a horse. Wondercolts? He just decided to shrug this off as he went inside. Coffee had already run through him as he stepped inside, greeted by a middle aged lady staring at the door from the counter, which was accompanied by a bell ringing. As he walked towards the counter, looks from a few people at the table, and a female with the same pink hairdo waved to him. Ignoring this action, he merely approached the counter, and held out a five.

“Well what can I getcha today, stranger?” The lady said, offering a soft smile as she held out a hand. “Mrs. Cake, pleased to make yer acquaintance.”

“Oh, uh, yes. Coffee. It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Cake.” He said, forking over the five as he looked back. Others were staring at him, and simply acted normal when he looked back. Expected.

“Well I can’t give ya a proper coffee if I don’t know yer name,” the lady said with a smile, placing the money in the cash register as she handed him back change, a dollar and a few cents.

“William. William Patrick.” The boy said as he shrugged.

“Well, glad to have someone new around here.” She said, handing him a nice sized cup, Styrofoam of course, with a plastic grip around it as he simply took it with a nod.

“Thanks,” he parsed, putting the change on the table as he turned to walk outside. Once again, in the corner table, the younger girl with the pink hairstyle waved. He simply nodded to her, acknowledging the action as he pulled the door back, holding his coffee in his left hand as he stepped outside, and took a sip. Almost instant pain surged through his mouth as he yelped, only to swallow the boiling hot coffee. He should’ve known it was no good cold. With the blowing of a raspberry, he tried to cool his tongue, wiping it with his right palm as he sighed. With his brow furrowing softly, he looked at his hand. It almost seemed like he went into a trance.

Standing there at least half a minute, William stared at the callused palm of his right hand, having fond memories and disdainful memories flash in mere seconds as he sighed. However, to anyone outside of his mind, he seemed to be distant and almost brain dead. However, he snapped back to his senses, reality going back into its dimensions as he reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. Eight ten. He still had time, and with a simple stroll, he continued onwards towards the enigma waiting-to-be-found Canterlot High.

Within a few short-seeming minutes, William had found the campus. He had almost mistaken it for a college by its size, until his eyes laid themselves upon the sign out front, reading Canterlot High – Home of The Wondercolts, and the large statue of a horse. With a great amount of hesitation, Willam began to tread along the concrete that lead to the front doors, only to hesitantly step up the stairway and through the doors. However, looking to his right palm again for just a second caused his eyes to seemingly ‘spark’ as he opened the doors to the new center of his education. He simply stepped inside, watching countless people walk around, mainly teenagers, but also an accompaniment of staff, which was able to be told by age-defining features such as jawline sinking, eyelid curvature, and apparent bodily features around the hairline and arms. The only thing that bothered him was the hair. They all looked like works of modern art. He just couldn’t help but feel like the only high-I.Q. individual or the odd one out, and he had no clue of which to assume.

No sooner than he began to step forward with his coffee to his mouth, a tall lady with an turquoise, pink, and aqua hair coloring with purple dress pants and a lemon-yellow dress coat approached, smiling. This lady had the oddest thing floating about her though; she seemed friendly, unlike all the other principals, actually sporting what seemed to be a human smile.

“Ah, William, I am glad to meet you. I’m Principal Celestia, and I speak for the entire faculty here when I say we’re glad to have a new student.” This seemed to bother William just a bit as Celestia raised a brow. “Something wrong?”

“No, nothing at all,” he quickly retorted. “Just one question though; why do all the hairstyles here look like modern art?”

“Well, we all have a certain way of identifying ourselves. It’s kind of what happens here at CHS,” Celestia answered, holding back a small giggle as she turned back, only for a slightly shorter lady with blue and silver hair to approach.

“Hello William, I’m Assistant Principal Luna, and I have everything you’ll need right here.” Luna only seemed exuberant as she reached into a folder she had tucked under her arm, and held a small bundle of papers. “You have your school map, student idealized pamphlet about why you should enjoy your stay here, a second schedule just in case you lose your current one, and lastly, our staff-written rulebook, and a student written guidebook for the crowds.” It was all a nice stack, which William graciously accepted as he now had one more thing to ponder; what choice of names were there people given?

“Thank you,” he merely answered as he turned to his right, walking away to find his first class as he took a sip of his now-warm coffee, the flavors making his tongue tingle as he smiled. William flipped the papers around to see the schedule and the periods, and a locker number, namely 718. This blew his mind as he seemed to flash to seeing that number on a mailbox, and the moment he snapped out, he was too late.

Pow! William hit someone, and frankly he was glad they weren’t cars because he’d be too broke for insurance, and he was surely glad when he fell back to his bum. With the impact of marble floors against his Ilium, he let out a soft groan, dropping his coffee as he happened to look up, seeing a girl on her knees, looking down with her eyes directed to her pen, which lay with her sheet music on the ground. Setting his items aside, he quickly got on a knee and reached over, picking up her papers with her, but never touching her pen, a small quirk of being in his mind as he patted the stack’s edges softly to line all the papers up. This girl seemed normal, long black hair, but it was, put into words, a lot of hair. He simply handed them to the girl as she smiled, taking them as she stood up slowly, the other sheets in her free hand as she spoke.

“I apologize, I was moving a bit slow this morning,” she parsed. “I am Octavia. And you are?”

William seemed reluctant, but gave his name anyways. “William. I apologize, I went into a small trance. Had a few thoughts, and I caused trouble by thinking.” He said, looking back to the coffee on the floor as he sighed. “Better clean that up.” He mused, taking his backpack off of his shoulders as he looked around. However, Octavia threw a finger up.

“I’ll get some paper towels,” she said, turning to make a stride to the women’s bathroom, only to return after a few seconds with the towels. But by the time she made it over, the warning bell had rung, signaling that the students would be late unless they got to class in time with their minute left to spare. Octavia looked around nervously, holding the makeshift cleaning supplies on top of her papers as she were only to be surprised, by the simple action of William grabbing the towels from her.

“Get to class. It’s my mess and I’ll handle it,” William mused, giving her a stern look. She raised her hand to object, but he shot a second look of pleading mixed with a small sense of agitation. “Go, now. Don’t be late. I got it.” With that last word, Octavia simply nodded, and smiled at him as she proceeded down the hallways, leaving him to clean his mess as he ordered, as the bell rang and the hallways went empty. Going onto his knees and moving his papers out of the way, he began to blot at the puddle of coffee that had been wasted, taking his time to get the puddle of caffeine up out of the floor. The halls seemed to desert themselves like players in baseball returning to their respective dugouts, or like ants crawling to their rightful storage chambers, as lockers were being slammed shut all around, and the buzz and chatter of the school seemed to die down into a special empty silence.

Ten minutes passed as Principal Celestia came upon William cleaning up the last of his mess, her shoes making soft clicks and clacks along the floor as she approached, only to see a nice wad of paper towels hunkered together as William sighed, wiping his forehead to get a single bead of sweat off. Within a few seconds, William felt the presence of the Principal behind him, but it could also be told by the reflection off of the marble floor.

“Hit a bump, William? You seem to be ten minutes late for your first day’s class and you don’t seem worried.”

“Oh, believe you and me, I am worried. Worried sick, but I made a problem, and I have to fix it. It’s not common courtesy to make a mess and leave it. It’s common courtesy to clean it up if you made it.” He admitted, shrugging as he took the paper towel and coffee ball to the hall’s corner trashcan, and slid it in, giving a relieved sigh.

“Irresponsible doesn’t come to mind right now, so I do not see why you should be worried,” Celestia stated bluntly as William sighed.

“Just let the Computer Sciences teacher know I’ll still be coming for class, even if I am ten minutes late.” William said this like he had just been given the option for a bad reputation or the chance to try again, and would rather take the bad reputation. And this gave Celestia a smirk.

“Well, if I escort you there, you’ll have no problem. You’ll have an excused tardy.”

“I need no excuse. No disrespect Principal, but I prefer to take what I earned, whether it be good or bad. Now I need to get to class, if you’ll excuse me.”

And with that last word, William tossed his bag onto his shoulders, and picked his papers up off the now semi-clean floor, and proceeded to his left, to the English wing.

“Electives wing is the opposite way,” Celestia corrected him before he got too far, which resulted in him walking by cool, calmly, and collected, with only a snap and a thumbs-up to the principal as he proceeded towards the end of the hall, and hooked a right to what he assumed was the Electives wing of the building. And for another time, he was right.

Opening the door to a confused teacher, a bewildered class, and the smell of fresh hardware fans blowing out hot air made this all the more difficult, but he’d still try to explain this as best as he could.