Author's Note
I shouldn't really be starting a new story, but this idea came to me the other day and I had to start working on it. This story is a lot more simple than my other fanfics, so it shouldn't take that long too write and get it finished up.
This is a heavy AU--all of the teenage characters go to the same school. That's why the school is called Canterlot Prep, as a way of joining the school.
Also I'm looking for cover art for this fanfic! If anyone's interested, send me a PM.
Content warning: implications of sex and illegal activity.
Twilight Sparkle
It’s kind of wonderful, and weird, and amazing to know that two people can look at the same situation and have very different feelings on it. Some may love the situation; others may hate it; and some may be neutral or not have any opinion.
One of those things is high school.
There are people who love it. Often, those are the popular people; the ones who are well-liked, who has everyone in the school wrapped around their finger. They seem to have catered the school to fit around their every need. They were invited to every house party, every big social gathering, and they loved the thrill of having the school bend to their every desire. Juniper Montage was one of those people.
There are people who just like school. Usually these people are well-liked and smart; they’re not high enough on the social hierarchy to be invited to every party, but they get a few invites now and again. They’re not low enough to be hated and deemed as an outcast, but they occasionally have people who hate them. Sometimes, they’re lucky enough to climb up the hierarchy. Wallflower Blush was one of those people, the lucky ones who climbed up the ladder and now sat at the right hand of Juniper.
There were popular kids, kids who got good grades and had friends, but didn’t like the early morning wake-ups or the general atmosphere. They hung out with their clique, more out of an obligation than anything else. They were invited to every party, but only went to a couple. They were classed as popular, but their number one priority wasn’t popularity; it was just getting on with high school life. Timber Spruce was one of those people.
There were people who didn’t care about school at all. People who thought the entire thing was beneath them and tried not to focus on school. They skipped classes, argued with teachers, and spent most of the time alone. Sunset Shimmer was one of those people, who’s only thought was just getting out of school and into a good college, far, far away.
There were people who didn’t care about the social setting but loved learning. There were people who love the social setting but hate the lessons. There were people who loved every second of it, and people who counted down the seconds until the bell finally rang and freed them for weekends, vacations or the two glorious months of summer vacation.
And at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, of the food chain that the high school students had created, were the people who despised the school. They didn’t hate lessons, because the lessons were their escape from the ff cruel bullying they received. They were treated like garbage—sometimes even worse. They dreamed of the day they left high school behind and when the days of bullying were nothing but a bitter memory.
Twilight Sparkle was one of those people.
Twilight Sparkle stared at herself in her full body length mirror, brushing her purple hair with a frown on her face. She scowled at her reflection, trying in vain to get the knot out of her purple-and-pink highlighted hair. She hadn’t slept well the night before, and her hair had obviously wanted to remind her off that fact.
She pulled the hairbrush through her hair, finally untangling the knot. As she did, she yelped in pain, clenching her teeth together to cope with the pain. “Ouch!”
Her painful yelp caught the attention of her puppy, and the faithful dog jumped out of his dog bed with his teeth bared, looking for whatever seemed to endanger his precious owner. The action slightly cheered Twilight up, and she knelt to the floor, calling her puppy to her.
“Come here, Spike.” The puppy jumped into her arms, nuzzling into her and tickling the girl with his fur. He glanced up to her and barked.
It was almost like Twilight understood him. “I’m sorry Spike, but you know I can’t take you to school. I wish I could.” She stroked him comfortingly and Spike licked her hand gently. It was almost as if they were having their own conversation. In some ways, it felt like they were. Twilight wished she could stay like that with Spike forever.
Twilight was pulled out of her cute moment with Spike as her brother’s voice echoed through the house. “Twilight! Come on, you don’t want to be late!”
Twilight sighed, picking Spike up and ruffling his fur before placing him back in his dog bed. “Sorry Spike, but I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
Spike barked in response, almost as if he was giving a wish of encouragement.
Twilight smiled back at him and made her way out of her bedroom and down the stairs. Shining Armor was waiting for her in the kitchen, already preparing breakfast for the two. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee, whistling a merry tune. Upon seeing his sister, he passed her the plate of pancakes, watching as a smile made its’ way onto her face. “Good morning, Twily.”
“Good morning, Shining,” Twilight smiled as she sat down, beginning to cut into her pancakes. She placed a forkful in her mouth and chewed absent-mindedly, a comfortable silence falling between the two siblings.
Shining Armor had raised Twilight for the past five years, after their parents died when she was twelve and he was twenty. It had taken a while to adjust to her brother raising her, but the two had settled and adapted well to the situation. Of course, they still missed their parents, but they found comfort in each other.
Shining Armor glanced over to her. “How did you sleep?”
“Pretty good.” It was a lie, but Twilight was good at lying now. She had spent the past five years lying about school to her older brother, so lying about her sleep pattern was just as easy. She knew she shouldn’t, but she didn’t want to upset Shining Armor by telling her the truth.
Shining smiled. “I’m glad.” He glanced down at his wrist-watch and his eyes widened slightly. “I better get going, don’t want to face the wrath of Spitfire again.” He chuckled at his own joke, and Twilight forced a smile to amuse him. He whistled slightly and spoke to Twilight as he slipped his jacket on. “Have a good day at school, okay?”
Twilight nodded her head as she chewed the last forkful of her pancakes. As she finished her pancakes, she carried her plate to the sink and placed the dirty plate in the water. Shining Armor smiled and kissed his sister’s forehead lovingly. “I love you, Twilight.”
Twilight smiled at him. “I love you too, Shining Armor.”
Shining Armor sent one more smile to his sister before he unlocked the door and left the apartment. Twilight watched as he made his way down the driveway to his car, getting and driving away.
Twilight sighed as she glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 7:15am, so she still had fifteen minutes before she had to make her way to school. She had already packed her bag the night before, so she was left alone with her thoughts.
The sound of the school bus making its way up her street echoed through Twilight’s ears, and she held her breath, almost scared that if she made a single noise, the occupants of the bus would hear her and come for her in the safety of her own home.
Twilight wished she could ride the bus. Riding a bicycle to school was awful during the cold, rainy and winter seasons, and she was always worried over whether something bad would happen to her bike. Someone could steal it, or destroy it, and she’d be stuck with no way home. She had taken to propping her bicycle in between Lemon Zest’s scooter and Sunset Shimmer’s motorbike, and nobody in school wanted to cross either girl. Riding the bus would be easier, but then she’d be subjected to bullying on the bus, and she received enough of that at school as it was.
Twilight didn’t even know what she did to warrant the bullying. Everything had been fine in elementary and middle school, only for high school to come along and push Twilight thoroughly out of her comfort zone. There was at least one silver lining; this was her final year of high school. Four more months, and she’d be out of that place, in a good college far away from high school and the memories of bullying would just be a bitter memory.
Twilight looked forward to that day.
Glancing up at the clock once again, she realised she had been lost in her own thoughts for ten whole minutes. The purple-haired teen blushed at herself, quickly filling up Spike’s dog bowl with food before getting her backpack and coat. She slipped the coat onto her body before slipping her helmet onto her head. She left the house, locking the door behind her and headed into the garage to get her trusty bicycle.
‘Well, here’s to another day of high school.’
It didn’t take long for Twilight to make her way to school, arriving at the gates to Canterlot Prep Academy fifteen minutes after she set off. The teenage girl began to hit the brakes, slowing the bike down. As it came to a halt, she got off the bike and pushed it into its normal space in the bike rack. A wave of relief overcame her upon seeing that Lemon Zest’s scooter was already there, meaning her bike would be safe from any would-be thieves or vandals. Twilight began to chain her bike to the metal bar and ignoring the world around her. She was in her own little thoughts so much, that she didn’t notice too oh-so-familiar red Ferrari that drove past her until it was too late, and one of the occupants had already thrown an empty fast-food cup at her head.
Twilight stumbled forward slightly, almost pulling the metal chain and untying the knot she had managed to create. She caught herself, saving the knot in the process and rubbed the back of her head. She could already hear the familiar laughter of the people in the car, the voices of two people in particular sticking out to her the most.
‘I just don’t understand why Juniper and Wallflower dislike me so much,’ the young teen thought as she finished securing her bike to the stand. She picked up the fast food cup that had collided with her head and made her way to the nearby trashcan to dispose of it. ‘Especially Wallflower. We used to be so close…’
Wallflower Blush had been Twilight’s best friend when they were younger. They were inseparable, and they did everything together. Wallflower was a little shy and Twilight was a little awkward, but when they were together, they were as confident as they could be. They understood each other in ways nobody else ever could. All that had changed when Juniper Montage came to the school, and suddenly Twilight saw less and less of her friend. Wallflower would no longer wait for her at the beginning of the school day or walk home with her. She started taking time to reply to Twilight’s texts and soon began ignoring her altogether. She refused to make plans with Twilight anymore, and soon Twilight knew why: because Wallflower had ditched her to become friends with Juniper Montage. Since that day, Twilight didn’t have any friends. Sure, she had acquaintances, people who she sat with during lessons, and she had Fluttershy and Applejack’s numbers saved on her phone, but she didn’t have anyone she could see herself spending time with outside of school. She only kept Fluttershy and Applejack’s numbers because they were the only ones willing to work with her for group projects, and the rest of the school either followed in Juniper’s lead and bullied her or ignored her and the bullying completely. At this point, her best friend was her dog.
Twilight was so lost in thought that she barely noticed that just as she was about to step out to make her way to the school doors, someone on a motorbike had skidded past her, almost colliding with the girl. Twilight gave a yelp of surprise and jumped back a little, while the rider of the motorbike seemed to momentarily take her eyes off the road to glare at her. The rider drove into her space, next to Twilight’s bike. Twilight’s eyes widened slightly as realisation struck her.
She had just almost been hit by Sunset Shimmer.
Not wanting to face the red-head’s wrath, Twilight quickly sprinted through the parking lot and across into the prestigious school’s front doors. She didn’t even stop running once she reached the safety of the school’s hallway and kept running to her hideout.
As Twilight reached the familiar brown doors, she pushed the door open and smiled upon seeing her hide-out. This was her safe spot, where people couldn’t hurt her or bully her and where she’d be safe from Sunset Shimmer.
Truthfully, she didn’t even know Sunset Shimmer that well. Not personally, anyways, but she knew of the rumours. That Sunset skipped school to meet with older guys and do…questionable things, that she was part of a secret underground fight club, that she had been involved in multiple police raids and got out of the situations through fighting and killing. Had Twilight not known the girl, she would have refused to believe such awful rumours, but Twilight saw the girl’s aggressive behaviour. Twilight had seen Sunset Shimmer’s violent tendencies; back in freshman year she had been the encounter of one.
Twilight shuddered at the memory. She had bumped into Sunset Shimmer in the lunch hall, knocking a necklace that Sunset was holding out of her hands. The redhead had immediately turned on Twilight, cornering the purple girl into a nearby wall. She was pinned between Sunset’s arms, and she had never seen such hatred in Sunset’s eyes as she gazed up at her.
“Watch where you’re going, nerd!”
The memory had stayed in Twilight’s mind for years. Had that incident not happened, Twilight probably would have been more inclined to not believe the rumours; but since she knew from experience that Sunset was a force to be reckoned with, she felt herself believing parts of the rumour mill.
Twilight shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about Sunset Shimmer. If she was going to go to first period and face those who bullied her, she at least wanted to have one good thing happen that day. Twilight quickly scanned the small selection of books that lay on the desk in her room. Quickly picking up The Notebook, she settled herself in her chair and began to read.
She wasn’t one for gushy romances, but the way The Notebook was written just made her feel warm inside. She was a little jealous of Allie and Noah: how she wished for a relationship like that. Someone to love her as much as they loved each other. Even if it wasn’t a romantic relationship, she still wanted a friend who he could rely on. A friend who she could talk to about her situation and they wouldn’t laugh at her, they wouldn’t call her names or belittle her.
They’d understand her.
That was what Twilight wanted the most.
She was so lost in her reading that she almost didn’t hear the bell. She glanced up in surprise, her eyes widening upon realising the time, and placed her bookmark on the page she was currently on. She placed the book back on the shelf and smiled.
“I’ll be back.” She sighed. “Not like I have any friends to spend my time with.”
The sad thing was, it was true.
