The Chaos Experiment

Uni woke up refreshed. It was a strange and unusual feeling, considering he usually wakes up tired and sleepy. He completed the daily routine, got himself ready for school, and grabbed something to eat from his house before heading off to school, where Sunset and her friends were waiting for him outside next to the school mascot.

He went over to them and greeted them, receiving the same in return.

He sat there with them, waiting for school to begin in full. They sat and talked with each other about random topics. How they were, did they sleep well, were they ready for the test that was coming up? Sunset even asked Uni if he was okay after what happened to him, but after multiple times of being told that he was perfectly fine, she gave up and decided to trust his decision. Wait. What was that last part?

"A test?!" Rainbow Dash cried. "I hate tests!"

"Is it because ya'll're failin' all of 'em?" Apple Jack teased.

"NO! It's because...well...yes." Rainbow Dash looked down, and sighed in defeat.

Everyone laughed at that, laughing at Rainbow's expense. The poor athlete blushed furiously at the teasing, looking back at Apple Jack.

"Hey!" Rainbow screamed. "I don't fail all of them you know!"

It was true. Rainbow Dash did not fail all of her tests. In fact, she passed quite a few of them. Granted, they were either physical tests, or literary ones. The rest, she barely managed to scrape by enough to keep going.

The group made their way to class a few minutes after school began, making sure not to be late. Just as Twilight had mentioned back at their usual hangout spot, there was indeed a test to be had in their first class. The test took so long, in fact, that by the time all of the students were finished. It was time for class to end.

During their down time between classes, the girls walked the halls and talked. Mostly about the test they just took, that being the thing most fresh in their minds. Rainbow Dash did not like it.

Rarity, one of the group who just so happened to be looking around at he time, spotted a poster on the wall to their left in the hallway. "Um, girls?" she said. "Please look at this."

She grabbed the poster form the wall and began reading it aloud to her friends, who were now crowding around her so that they may view it as well.

"Come to the Fall Formal...drinks, snacks, dancing, bring a friend. School event...etc, etc, etc. Here you are, girls, have a look."

The poster was passed around from person to person as it was read, in much more detail than with Rarity, by each of the eight friends present, one by one. The group looked up in full realization of what this was. With a collective gasp, they all said at once, in perfect harmony...

"The Fall Formal!"

Neither of them had been expecting it to be so soon. They knew it was coming at some point, but never this soon. Neither of them had been preparing, and no one knew who they would bring. The only one left out of this was Uni, who simply stared at the girls as if they'd suddenly had a collective stroke.

"What's going on?"

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy before Twilight stepped up to answer him. "That's right. You're new. You don't know yet. The Fall Formal is a gathering for all the students of Canterlot High. It's a time where students can bond with each other and meet new people while also having a lot of fun."

"It's also a place where I get to show off my awesome dance moves!" Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"You mean the moves that broke a speaker and caused the whole thing to be canceled? Yeah, 'that' was awesome." Susnset's voice spoke out over the chaos of the moment.

Everyone laughed again, and this time Rainbow blushed in embarrassment a little less than before.

"So, it's a dance that the whole school attends to celebrate the students?"

"Basically." said Twilight.

"Cool..." He said, his hand to his chin in thought as he tried to think of who he would take.

Upon learning about the Formal, The eight friends went about their days normally. School ended without incident, all was well, and the group decided to visit Apple Jack's farm for some Apple Pie desert that she offered.

Tis continued over several days as they all got ready for the formal and went about their days. Twilight read and hung out with Spike, AJ fed them desert when they came from school, Rarity made everyone's dresses, Rainbow killed her time with sports, Fluttershy spent time with her animals, and on the day before the Formal, Pinkie threw a pre-party to get everyone pumped up.

It was then that Uni realized, even after doing all these things to get ready, he still had no one to take to the dance with him.

Everyone was taken, and he couldn't ask Lemon, because they were in different schools, so he ended up going without a partner.

While making his way through the many party-goers as they danced and swayed and pumped their fists to various styles of music courtesy of Canterlot High's very own DJ, who Uni came to know as DJ-PON3, he spotted a figure off to the side, standing next to the wall.

Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was in fact Sunset Shimmer. Surprisingly, she was alone as well. He would've sworn she would have someone to go with before now.

He made his way over to her and stood next to her, gaining her attention.

"What's up Uni?"

He looked over to her and smiled nervously. "Not much. Just...here."

"Oh really? You didn't come with anyone?" she asked.

"Nope. I'm all alone. What about you? Why are you standing back here instead of dancing with the others?"

"Crowds...aren't really my thing." sunset said rubbing the back of her head.

"Me neither. I can't remember the last time I went to a party."

'Oh but you will remember...'

"What was that?" Unis said, looking at Sunset to see if she heard the voice as well.

"What was what, Uni?" She asked, confused.

"That sound."

"What sound?"

"That voice."

"Voice? Okay, I think you've had a little too much punch."

"No, i'm-"

And then, it happened again. His eyes glowed, he rose into the air, and a sphere of psychic magic surrounded him, ripping everything from it's proper place, including sunset shimmer herself.

He was locked in his cage again, only able to observe what he did from behind his shell of a body.

The cage was stronger this time, and he knew he wouldn't be able to escape. Even then, he still tried. No disembodied voice was going to beat him.

He struggled against the bars, gaining no ground, as he expected. He kept going and going until he heard the voice inside his head again. But it was different this time. A different voice from the one before. He had no idea who it belonged to.

The voice was speaking to the people around him as it said, "Hello pathetic humans! Everything goin' well? All your ducks in a row? What about your day? How's your day been? Good? No? Well, too bad! Because i'm about to make it worse. Much worse!"

The voice he spoke with was not his own. It was more deep and gravely than his, and had an air of malice to it that was evident everywhere in it.

His magic began to go wild, catching people inside and spinning them around himself along with the rest of the things at the party. Sunset saw this and decided to intervene. She grabbed his hand gently and tried to bring him back with a familiar touch. "Uni, come back to us!"

Inside his mind, Uni heard the sound of a girl's voice. It was Sunset shimmer, although it took him a while to figure that out given how mentally broken and depressed he was at having his body taken. He had retreated to his cage of his own free will this time, until he heard this voice calling to him.

"Uni...Uni, come back..."

He turned toward the voice, new hope filling him as he heard Sunset's voice through his blocked senses. That same hope died the moment he saw that she was caught up in his magic.

But, that same hope reignited once again as anger filled him. Anger at the possibility of hurting his friends again. Of being controlled again. He grabbed the bars of his cage and began struggling once more. He finally managed to get free, only to feel the pain of his magic as it went out of control once more.

He managed to control it by himself at that point, returning to normal. But now, the Formal was ruined.

The event was forced to close and all the students went home. All except for Uni and Sunset, who sat with each other and talked about the incident.

"Sunset I-"

"I know, Uni. I know... I just wish...that there was some way I could help you. Some way I could make all that pain inside go away."

Uni couldn't believe what he was hearing. What did this mean?

"You've gone through so much...you came here with no memory of who brought you here. Whether you have parents or not. And now here you are, constantly tortured by something that I can't even help with. It's just...so frustrating! I want to be there for you. I want to be the one to catch you when you fall, to be there when you need me, to help you through your problems. I want to... I want..."

She trailed off. She'd been talking for a while, and he hadn't said a thing. She must've been boring him. She laughed inwardly, thinking, 'Of course I would bore him. All I do is talk. I never actually do anything to help him. All I can do is beg him to come back to me like a selfish brat who can't do anything by themselves. I'm pathetic.'

She chanced a glance over in his direction, only to see him...crying? Why was he crying? Had she said something to offend him? What was she saying of course she did. All she's been doing was talking about herself and what she wanted, without even giving half a thought to how he felt or how much pain he was in. She should be rushing him to a hospital, but instead she's crying again.

She stared at him until he suddenly stood up, looking her right in the eyes. His tears were gone, and there was something about his posture and his stare. He had this look on his face that said, "Whatever I have to do, i'm doing it", or something like that. She felt like she was looking at a different person all of a sudden. What he said next, shocked her to the core.

"Sunset, I...I like you. A lot. Like, a whole lot."

She stood up to look him in the eyes, awestruck at what he was saying.

"What do you mean you're no help? You're the reason i'm back to normal right now!"

Huh? What did he mean? She was the reason? "Huh? What do you mean? There's no way someone like me could-"

"Someone like you? You mean someone smart, beautiful, and kind? Someone strong, dependable, and determined? Because that's what I see when I look at you!"

Sunset was at a loss for words.

"When I was trapped in my own head after being taken over by whatever it was that tried to control me, it was your voice that brought me back. Yours and no one else's! No help? Never say that again!"

Sunset looked at him. All this time, and she never noticed. All this time, all these feelings the both of them were hiding for so long. They were coming out now, in this moment.

Without a single word, she went up to him, held him, and kissed him. A kiss which he gladly returned.

"I like you too, Uni." She said with a blissful expression. She could never have been happier than she was right now. And now, she was sure he felt the same.

The two stayed like that in each other's arms for a while before heading to their respective homes. The two of them would never forget this day for as long as they lived. For it was the day, they fell in love.