Shipping Missionby armidChaptersPartners againNeed to knowHow to dateHistory ClassLack of confidenceA gut feeling.Dress upMission AcomplishedHis crushPartners againWalking through the hallway to get to our lockers, I tried to see what else he knew about her and it turns out to be A LOT! “So, what is she interested in?” “She really likes plants and she is even the President of the Gardening Club. I see her quite often in library and I believe she likes books, too.” “Ok, so far you two have 1.5 common grounds.” “Why 1.5?” “Because you two are into books and you are a little bittle into plants.” “Ok … but … but I can get interested in them more! Right?” When he said that, broke out into a huge smile; I’m talking ear-to-ear. “Look, buddy,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulder, “you shouldn’t change yourself just for someone else, even if you love that someone. Just be yourself, Ok?” “I guess you’re right” “Yeah, but you know what should you say instead of that?” I winked and he got the point. “You right!” we both said, pointing at each other. By then we were near our lockers and we started getting our books. Steely headed for Science class, and I wanted to start moving too but a familiar voice called my name. “Flame!” I turned around and it was no one other than Sunshine. “What is it?” I asked. “It’s about Steely Armor.” “What about him?” “Look, I know that he’s a little shy and mysterious, also unpredictable. So I thought I’d better tell you first.” “Tell me what exactly?” “That someone is into him!” I was shocked. “And who exactly are you talking about?” “Wallflower Blush.” “Well, things just got interesting.” “What do you mean?” “News flash: Steely already lost his heart to her.” “You have got to be kidding me!” “I’m serious! And now I guess we need to work on another project.” “What kind of project?” “A shipping project!” I winked. And just when she smiled, I knew that she was in. Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen. Need to knowWe started to talk on our way to class, and seeing what exactly we’re dealing with. “Why are we making this complicated? Can’t you just tell Steely Armor that she likes him, too?” “I’ve been his friend for ages, and trust me when I say whenever a girl looked at him, he’d vanish from that area, literally gone, reduced to atoms. And now what do you think he’ll do if he finds out someone actually is interested in him? Someone that he really is into.” “Fine, I get it. So what’s the plan?” “Look, I’m not a genius so don’t expect me to have a plan ready for this situation in a corner of my mind. I need some time to think about it.” “Ok, just don’t forget to wait for me after class.” We entered our class and, to be honest, I was so busy thinking about how we’re going to pull this off that I didn’t pay attention to the class at all. It wasn’t important stuff, anyway. After school was over I told Steely to head home and I’d call him in the afternoon. I then meet up with Sunshine right outside the school and from there we both started to walk together. “So, did you come up with something?” she asked. “I have something in mind but before we go into that I need to make sure this Wallflower Blush is a good girl and that she won’t play with Steely, he just ain’t experienced enough to see this stuff and that makes me worried. So tell me, what do you know of her?” “Well, how do I put this ... we had some stuff together.” “I guess it wasn’t the typical stuff.” “What do you mean?” “I think I’ve been here for long enough to know that nothing normal happens around here.” “OK, fine, just tell me how much did Steely Armor tell you about magic?” “To be honest he told me a lot, or at least he tried to. But I get that it came from another dimension and all that and he guesses that it must be brought to our world with a person or an artefact of that world. Also he really insisted that these worlds are completely the same, expect that they’re not. And that got me super mega confused.” “Then, you do know enough. You see, she had a problem engaging others and suffers from a serious lack of confidence, in a way that no one knew she was even studying here! She happened to find one of those artefacts and … it allowed her to erase peoples’ memory.” Fantastic! First someone who could see your memories and now they have something to erase them. “And that made the whole situation in her life worse. Anyone she tried to engage with and she couldn’t, she just erased that memory, like it never happened.” She slipped into an afterwards silence. “And what exactly does that have to do with you?” “She … erased every good memory that my friends had about me. And not just them, but the whole school.” “But, why?” “She … sort of … you know what, that doesn’t matter, because we took care of that and helped her to start getting over her problems. To be honest she is actually a really sweet girl.” There was something fishy about what she said, but I wasn’t sure what. “Riiiiiight!” “No, seriously, she is a really nice girl, and now that I think about it, she and Steely Armor are both shy and lack confidence; maybe they can get over it together.” “I hope so.” I still wasn’t really sure how I was supposed to feel about this. “I also hope she doesn’t get bothered about being watched everywhere.” “What do you mean?” “Before I tell you that, you must promise that you won’t tell it to anyone, not your friends or anyone! Alright?” “OK, I promise!” “Do you remember what I told you about Steely before? That he has cameras everywhere?” “Yes, I do, but he doesn’t have them in school, right? Unless … wait, you’re not telling me that he hacked into the school cameras, are you?” “Technically, no, he didn’t. He did do that at the last school he attended and they found out about it since he was connecting to the system with another device that was definitely not recognized as anybody in the school administration. So he tried a new tactic this time. He hacked into Vice Principal Luna’s computer, and now whenever he checks the cameras, it will be marked as her device.” She looked pretty impressed. I don’t blame her. Steely always does impressive stuff. “Wait, if he linked to the Vice Principal’s computer, he basically has access to most of the exam papers, too!” And that was what I thought she wouldn’t guess. At least not too soon! “No, No, NO! You’re getting it all wrong! Maybe he accessed the exam papers but he doesn’t need them to get those high marks!” “I was thinking more about YOU needing access to those.” She smiled. Even without her magic, she can figure stuff out fast. “Of course not … well, maybe for some special circumstances.” “Like what?” “Like geography. I understand nothing of it, and yet I have to pass it.” “Just for that?” She raised her eyebrow. “That’s not the point at the moment. Now let’s focus on our task.” “OK, fine. So what’s your plan?” we started to walk again and passed one building after another. “Well, I am going to talk to Steely and we are going to stick a note on her locker.” “What kind of note?” “Just an invitation to … well, to that café.” I pointed at it because we were passing it. “We should work on them individually and make sure they are ready to meet one another.” “So I take Wallflower and you take Steely.” “Exactly!” I stopped all of a sudden. “Well, OK, then, I’ll meet you tomorrow.” “You’re sure?” she asked. “I need to head back home, I’m still a little dizzy.” “Fine, so goodbye I guess.” “See you later.” I ran the rest of the way to home. After changing clothes and practicing a little violin I called Steely and invited him over. It was better for him that way, since I knew his mother would have double flipped if she heard anything of what we were going to talk about. Which she usually does. When he got here I took him up to my room. “OK, so listen up close because we are going to take action.” “NOW?” he shouted, but then he lowered his voice, “Uh … don’t you think it’s a little too soon?” “No, and don’t worry, I got you covered.” “I guess it’s fine, then.” His voice was shaky. “OK, then, let’s start,” I said and Beaky repeated my words. “Ok, then let’s start!” but I didn’t mind. “We are going to write a note, and stick it on her locker in the morning,” I said. “And what should we write in that note?” “We are going to ask her out.” He freaked out. Typical. “WHAT? NO, NO , NO, we are definitely not doing that!” “Aw, c’mon, isn’t that what you wanted?” “Yes, b ... but what if she turns me down? I don’t think I could handle that!” He started pacing around my room. He usually does that when he is anxious. “OK, sit down. Breathe. First of all, she won’t turn you down.” “But …” “… and second, we won’t write your name on it, so if she declines … and I don’t think she will … she won’t find out that we did it until later. OK?” He sighed like always. “So, what do we do now?” I could see that he was super mega unsure about everything. “Now we study!” “We study what?” “We will study how to behave near a girl. Do you like it?” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen. How to dateLesson one: Chill, You won’t start a good conversation with your date if you’re nervous. So there is no chance of warming up the mood to get to know one another. Take a few deep breaths and drink some water, this will help you to be relaxed. Lesson two: Start the conversation. It is advised to think about what is around at the moment, like the food that the restaurant is serving. When you talked about the subject, slowly change it. This can be done simply by telling your taste for food in the example above or talking about an experience that is somewhat relatable. Lesson three: Avoid! Avoid asking awkward questions and talking about uninteresting topics. This has a very devastating effect on the mood. Any unnecessary question is a huge mistake. “Are you getting these?” I asked Steely after I was done reading the third lesson of the book for him. “I should, but I’m not.” “Don’t worry; me neither.” “Where did you get that, anyway?” “My dad’s library. Now I’m beginning to wonder why he has this. I mean, who writes a 400 page long book about how to start a relationship with someone you love? And who would read it? Am I right?” “Yeah, yeah, sure, totally. Um, will your dad notice that it’s not there?” “I guess he didn’t even know it was there in the first place. Why?” “Uh … I wonder if it would be possible to borrow it for a while.” That was very unexpected, but it showed he’s willing to try. “On second thought, I don’t think it’ll be much help. I guess I need to come up with another way.” He sighed, of course. I was losing him. I thought of some of the Canterlot High teachers who didn’t seem to enjoy their jobs, like Cranky Doodle and Skull Mustache. And I began to understand why they may have felt that way. It was then that I decided to change my approach. “Listen, tomorrow night, you’ll be seated at a table in a café, waiting for her to appear. You are constantly looking at the door and the clock. You are nervous, and that is normal for your first time; just don’t let any stupid thought get into your head. “And then, she walks in. You stare at her and she will notice you and stare back. Then, you will give her a simple smile to let her know that she is on a date with you, that you’re happy to see her and you’d like her to be happy, too.” He was more attentive now. “She starts walking toward you and then you stand up and greet her and ask her to sit down. Make sure you hold out the chair for her. She will thank you and take her seat. Then you order something, and just after that one of you will start the conversation. Don’t plan on saying anything special, just let things slip by and in the end you just need to ask her if she would like to go out with you again or not.” He looked very shocked. “Man, the way you explained it sounds so easy!” “That’s because it is. And I know what you are thinking: ‘What if she doesn’t like me?’ Trust me when I say you are amazing. And don’t even doubt it. You are truly SUPER MEGA AMAZING.” “Thanks, man. You’re amazing too, you know.” “No, man, I’m not … I am FANTASTIC!” “You know what?” Just then he winked, and I knew what he wanted to say. “You right!” FANTASTIC. Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen. History ClassThe next day, I met up with Steely in school and we prepared the note there. He showed me Wallflower’s locker so I could stick it on it. I thought I had to wait until our first class, which was the beloved History with Professor Skull Mustache. I was wondering what shenanigans he is going to pull off this time around. I was walking near Wallflower’s locker where I saw Sunshine, too. “Hey!” I called and walked towards her. She recognized my voice and turned back. “Oh, hi.” “Yeah, hi.” “Everything is going the way you wanted?” “Yeah, so far so good. So what have you been up to?” “I was planning to get help from Rarity. I believe she can find Wallflower a nice set of clothes for tonight.” That gave me an idea. “That’s a good thought, but … do you think she has something for Steely too? He doesn’t really have a lot of clothes for occasions like this.” “I guess I have to ask her.” It was then that I saw Wallflower open up her locker. “Shh, she’s there!” I told Sunset and she looked confused but as soon as she looked at Wallflower she understood everything. I’ve never actually paid attention to her in class at all. Green hairs, a jumper paired with jeans. From where I was looking I could only see the back of her, which completely reminded me of broccoli. After she left I sneaked up to her locker and stuck the note on it. Little did I know that Sunshine’s noisy bone triggered in that exact moment so she read it out loud: “Wallflower, “My heart has been pounding faster since I saw you for the first time. And now all I can think of is you and I can’t stop. So please meet me tonight at the Black Café at 8:00. “Anonymous lover.” She smiled afterwards, “Did you write this or Steely Armor?” “What do you think?” “I say you ‘cause I’ve read your lyrics. Anyway, what’s the next step.” She started walking away. I caught up to here and we talked on the way to History class. “What you should do now is to make sure Wallflower is going to be there tonight.” “Ok, can do.” Then I remembered something. “One more thing: now that you are taking her to Rarity, don’t let her give Wallflower a makeover.” When we entered, Skull Mustache had just put down his bag. That meant we were late. “Are you two just going to stand there or you are going to take your seats?” He didn’t even turn his head a little to look at us. He had his back turned to us! This guy gives me the creeps. “Are you deaf or was I not clear?” he said and finally turned around. “Uh, no sir, we’ll take our seats right away.” I said and we both took our seats. He glared at us for a few seconds but after that he started talking. “Before we start the lesson, I need to inform you of something. It’s one of those bad news-good news things, so which one should I say first?” The majority of us told him to get on with the bad news, but he didn’t care. “I think we should save the bad news. Now, what is the good news, you ask? I decided to not factor in the marks of your project for your final grade, since it would have been a disaster!” Almost everyone cheered for that, expect for us course; we did achieve the highest mark after all. But it didn’t end there. “Now comes the bitter part: I worked on an exam for you all!” That blew the minds of all of us. The class went into an absolute chaos after that. But he managed to silence us just fine. “SILENCE!,” the Professor shouted, and slammed his hand on the table. “I don’t allow such behavior in my class, and next time, I promise you all that there will be consequences for repeating it.” He was pointing at us with his finger. He really likes his hand gestures as far as I have seen. “Now, when will the exam take place, you ask? On Wednesday.” That meant we had only three days to get ready for the exam. Which was totally not enough time for HISTORY! “Now,” he started again, “Let’s not waste a single instant. Since we have wasted enough time already.” Then he started drawing on the board as he was speaking. “Today, we are going to talk about how Warden the Wise managed to outsmart King Vendric and save himself from death.” He finished what he was drawing and stepped back so everyone could see it. “Uhm, sir, isn’t that a chess board?” someone asked but I didn’t bother to find him. “Yes, though we will get to that in a moment. So: King Vendric was not appropriate for ruling the land as he only cared about himself and his army. He claimed to be a great tactician but in fact what brought him victory in every battle was the sheer size of his army. The state of the country was terrible as a recent flood have destroyed all of the farmers’ crops. Vendric did not care and took whatever was left for himself. This act of his encouraged people to start a revolution, which was called: The Guidance of the Wise. It was organized by Warden the Wise, whose idea was to tell the king that his actions were wrong. The people did not start a war or even a simple conflict. Guidance is what a king needs. That was their slogan.” I can’t say I really like History, but the way he used his hands and changing the tone of his voice just didn’t let anyone get lost in thoughts or sleep. And if they did, well, I still haven’t forgotten how hard he can pull your ear. But man, it was so easy to fall asleep when Dusty Fossil was talking. But guess what, she didn’t even notice. On top of that, she just rambled on about stuff that wasn’t even necessary. I just want to say, Skull Mustache might be very grumpy, but he sure knows how to teach. “Vendric got frustrated and ordered his men to capture Warden and bring him to his castle. Warden did not resist, since he knew this was a chance to meet the king in person. Once they brought him in, Vendric took a look at him and laughed. His clothes were ripped and he looked like a beggar. ‘Is this the man who says I need guidance?!’ Vendric said. ‘Listen carefully now, I brought you here so my men could execute you in front of me. But before that, I want to show everyone that you only claim to be wise, but in fact you are nothing!’ He gave him three games to choose from: Backgammon, Chess and Checkers.” He took a breath before he continued. “Warden chose Chess, considering that Backgammon had too much of an element of chance involved in it, and he was not very familiar with Checkers. And now, we get to analyze their moves and see who came out victorious.” After that he went to the board and indicated each piece by letters. Just for us to not get confused he indicated them with two different colors. “So, Vendric held the white pieces and Warden held black pieces. Now let’s get to their moves.” 1: e4-e5 2:d3-Nf6 3: Nc3- Bc5 4: g3- Nc6 There wasn’t much that I could understand, but I could see that nothing impressive have happened yet. “And now this is where things get interesting.” 5: Bg5- Nxe4 “I know you all are surprised, since Warden just sacrificed his Advi-I mean, Queen. Vendric takes the Queen and starts insulting Warden, telling him that he just lost his most valuable piece. But soon, he became silent.” 6: Bxd8- Bxf2+ 7: Ke2- Nd4# “Vendric was shocked at how easily he lost the game. And every single servant and guard in the room witnessed his loss. Vendric freed Warden and chose him as his chancellor. Thus the state of the land became way better as he listened to Warden’s guidance.” To be honest, that story was kinda cool. Lack of confidenceAfter class was over, everyone was talking about how interesting the lesson was. To be honest, I thought it was fascinating too, but I was too disappointed with the whole exam thing to feel good about it. I caught Steely on the way to Wallflower’s locker and stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?” “Uhhhhh.” “Look, don’t even bother wondering about whether if she is going to come or not. She will. So for now let’s see what the frick frack snick snack should we do about History!” “Yeah, totally that is actually important….but you know-“ “NO!” But we tried to see if we could find the files for the history exam on Vice Principal Luna’s computer anyway. Turned out it wasn’t even there; not yet, anyway. So there were only two possibilities: either Skull Mustache hadn’t given the file to her yet but would in a few days’ time, or he’s keeping it to himself and won’t even share the file with Vice Principal Luna before exam day. I had hoped that he would give the file to Vice Principal Luna before exam day. But if I have learned anything about this guy it’s that he likes crushing his students. So I knew I had to think of something before it’s too late. I left Steely afterwards; he probably went to the camera and started watching the walking broccoli who stole his heart. But I only had eyes to find Sunshine in school. It took me a while till I finally saw her bacon hair. “Whooh man, where were you? I was looking for you everywhere!” “I was making sure that Wallflower wouldn’t back out from the date tonight.” “So, how did it go?” “It was harder than I expected but I convinced her anyway.” “So she will definitely come, right?” “Yes, she will.” While we were walking, I started to wonder about something. “Hey, uh, how did you find out she likes Steely? Cuz I doubt she just came and told it to you!” “Well, actually she did.” “Really?” “I was talking to her yesterday about how good they presented their project and all of that when I realized she was blushing much more than usual.” “O.K.” “And then I asked her about it, and she wasn’t going to tell me at first but I promised her I would keep it to myself … and I just broke my promise to her.” “Huh, that’s weird.” “Not that much. I mean I’m actually helping her to conf-“ “No, I mean that’s weird that you didn’t use your magic.” “Oh, well, I am trying to respect peoples’ privacy!” “Riiight! Anyway, don’t forget to ask Rarity about Steely’s clothes.” “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.” From there we parted ways. I tolerated the rest of the day and calmed Steely down about his date but the more time passed, his state got worse and worse. So after school, I took him to my home and tried to distract him a little by playing some games but even THAT didn’t help. His teeth were clacking on one another so fast that it could shred anything that came near them. I decided to leave him in my room for a while and call Sunshine to see how things were going on her side. “Hello, Sunset, how is everything?” “Uhm, it’s complicated.” “Let me guess, she is doubting everything about this whole thing and she is so nervous that you can hear the sound of her teeth’s clacking from another room. Am I right?” She sighed. “Close enough,. I guess your situation isn’t any better than mine.” “If anything it’s worse. I really don’t know what else I should do.” “You know, I think if we dress them up and make them look better they could both gain some confidence.” “That’s actually a pretty good idea. So Rarity had something for Steely?” “Yes, and I think you might want to bring Steely there first since it will take me some time to get Wallflower there.” “OK, sounds good to me.” She texted Rarity’s address, and as Skull Mustache likes to say, I did not waste a single instant. “OK,” I told him, we’re leaving.” “Wait, we’re leaving now?” “We’ve got a stop to make first.” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen. A gut feeling.The other perspective It was quite the day for Sunset Shimmer. Trying to organize a date for two of her new friends took some energy out of her, and her job was not done yet. Lying on her bed, she stretched her arm to pick up her phone intending to call Wallflower Blush to see if everything was fine. She did not pick up. At first she thought it wasn’t worth worrying about right away, but after a few more attempts she realized that something was wrong. Thankfully she knew Wallflower’s home address so she got ready as fast as she could and headed there. Many thoughts crossed her mind, but she cut each one at the root and tried to be optimistic. “She just silenced her phone, no need to be worried.” But then she asked herself “Who am I kidding?” It was crystal clear that there was a problem and it needed to be solved, fast. Wallflower’s house was not unfamiliar to her as she had visited there before, but she hadn’t done it alone. She had come there with Twilight to get information about how to take care of plants so Twilight’s little garden wouldn’t dry up. When the house was in sight, she ran up to it at full speed. Once she reached the door she didn’t hesitate and rang the bell. The door opened soon after she rang the bell. A tall woman stood tall. It was Wallflower’s mother. “Hello Ms. Blush. I wanted to see Wallflower,” Sunset said. She couldn’t disguise the nervous tone of her voice. “Oh, hello,” the mother responded, “Yeah, sure, she’s upstairs but she is in pretty bad shape. I don’t know what has gotten into her recently. She’s locked herself in her room and she won’t let anyone in.” Sunset realized that Wallflower’s mother was more worried that she herself could ever be. “Don’t worry, I got this,” she said as she stepped into the house and dashed up the stairs. The hallway, despite all the shelves with plants on them, looked dead. Sunset approached Wallflower’s room and knocked on the door. There was no answer. “Wallflower! Open the door! It’s me, Sunset!” Still no response. “Wallflower, what happened? Did you forget that you have a date?” “NO!,” Well, Sunset told herself, at least Wallflower was alive. “I haven’t forgotten, but how do I know it’s not a prank by one of those stupid boys, or why should I even go to it when I like someone else?” “Look, open the door and we can talk about this, OK?” “Sunset, I appreciate that you want to help me, but now I need some time to think so just leave me alone.” Sunset had only read Wallflower’s mind once, concerning her use of the Memory Stone, but it was enough to tell her about her suspiciousness, her insecurity, her overwhelming loneliness. Sunset decided to talk to her again but the sound of her own phone cut her off mid-action. It was Flaming Star; it appeared that he was facing a problem to Sunset’s. At first, all Sunset could think to herself was “You’re kidding!” But after a quick exchange of messages, she had a plan. Sunset knocked on the door again. “Wallflower, what if I told you that the boy you really like is the one who put that note on the locker?” “What do you mean?” Sunset’s words seemed to have sharpened Wallflowers ears. She was listening; that’s good. “I mean, Steely Armor is the one you have a date with tonight. I really shouldn’t have told you that, because it was supposed to be a surprise, but now you know.” “Are you serious?” “Of course. So, will you open the door?” Just after Sunset asked the question, she heard footsteps coming from inside Wallflower’s room. There was a slight pause, then the handle turned and the door opened. “You’re not trying to pull my leg, are you? That’s happened a lot, and you’ve kind of got a reputation for manipulating people.” Sunset shook her head. “That’s long gone. And if I was trying to prank you, I wouldn’t have come here to tell you the truth, would I?” Wallflower looked away, tugging at her unwashed hair. “Now let’s go, you don’t want to leave him waiting, do you?” “NO! I mean … OK ,,, but let me change clothes be-“ She reached out toward her closet, but Sunset grabbed her elbow and pulled her out of the room. “Don’t worry about that, I’ve got you covered.” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen. Dress upSteely is not used to motorcycles so he held on to me HARD. Although I have to admit, I was driving kinda fast and there was only one helmet which I was wearing. I mean, it wouldn’t have fit on his head anyway. But man, I can still hear his teeth chattering. Once we got there, he was confused cuz the place really didn’t look like a place we would go. “So…what are we doing in here?” “You could say a dress up. For your date.” “Oh, uhm, right.” We entered the shop and it was filled with clothes, but not the type we were looking for. We were looking around the shop when Rarity appeared. “Hello guys!” She smiled and came to us. “Should we start?” “Yeah, totally!” I said, “Just uh, where are the clothes that are…our type?” “They’re in that section!” she pointed towards the sign that said: Male. How the frick frack snick did we miss that? I pulled Steely with myself so he could look for what he liked among the clothes. “So, tell me a little about your taste of fashion; I might be able to help you,” said Rarity. I wanted to answer but I thought it would be better to let Steely answer; this was his date, after all. So I stepped back and pushed him forward. “OK, buddy, tell her about your ‘taste of fashion’.” He sighed, as expected. “Well, uh … I don’t have one. What do you suggest?” Rarity stepped back to get a complete look at him, then walked around him to see him from different angles. Steely kept still but he seemed more concerned with avoiding eye contact with Rarity. “Hold on, I think I know what suits you!” She disappeared after she said that. We waited there for a while. I looked around to see if I could find some hats for Steely and I actually found some that might have appealed to him. Rarity returned with many, many clothes hanging from her arms. She looked as if she was about to just collapse from the weight of those clothes. She put them on the desk and told Steely to come near. “Look darling, I have dressed up many people, and trust me when I say, the secret is always in the hair, so could you …“ “NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, I WON’T TAKE OFF MY HAT!” Rarity was shocked, and to be honest that was understandable cuz she doesn’t know why he wears a hat all the time. “OK, now, uh, listen, Rarity: Steely has a problem with his hair and it’s not very controllable. So he’d rather just hide it and not have to deal with it, and trust me when I say we have tried almost everything to fix it but nothing worked, so just don’t pass out, over-react or anything when I take his hat off, OK?” She seemed confused but nodded. “Steely?” “NO!” “Look, it’s not that bad. I even brought some hats to try on with your clothes, so we will hide it again. Deal?” He sighed. “Deal.” He took off his hat and his yellow hairs burst out. That surprised even me, but then I hadn’t seen his hair for a long time. Rarity didn’t pass out, but she couldn’t help staring at him with open eyes and mouth. “Thi ... this is your hair?” she asked. “Yes,” Steely answered. “Welll … we’ll get back to that.” She recovered pretty quickly and turned her attention to the clothes. She showed us a white shirt. “I guess this should fit you … perfectly.” She also gave us a black formal vest and trousers. That helped me choose what hat to give him. There was a black boater hat that I thought would pair up perfectly. He went to a nearby dressing room to change his clothes and while he was doing so I checked my phone, Sunset had messaged me that she is nearby and she asked if we were done or not. I replied: -Not yet, but we will be soon. I think. -We’ll be there in a quarter hour. Better not be there when we arrive. I got it. It seemed that Steely haven’t gotten ready yet so I decided to just stand there, but Rarity started a conversation which kinda help to pass a little bittle of time. “Excuse me for asking, Flaming Star, but for how long has his hair been that horrible?” “Hey, I can still hear you, you know!” Steely said from inside the dressing room. “Sorry, darling.” Sigh. “It’s OK. I should be used to it by now.” “As far as I know, since birth,” I said. “Oh, my! What a nightmare.” “Still listening!” I walked with Rarity to a counter at the other end of the store. “Uhm, I guess it is really horrible but it seems he’s gotten used to wearing a hat.” “I can’t even believe how he’s living like that.” She seemed to be exaggerating, and I wanted to answer but before I could do so Steely came out. “OK. How do I look?” he asked “Hold on, let me put this on your head first.” I adjusted the boater on the back of his head and stuffed as much of his hair as I could underneath it. “Now, let’s see.” I stepped back to look at him and I have to say he looked great, not super mega great but it was still great. “So?” he asked. “You look fabulous!” Rarity said. “Man, you are looking good.” “Really?” “Of course, take a look yourself.” He turned back and looked at the mirror. I think even he was amazed. We thanked Rarity for helping us, and she even let him keep the clothes for himself. So generous. I put his original clothes into a bag and then we exited the shop, and headed straight towards the Café. Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen. Mission AcomplishedWe reached the Black Café. Despite the name that made it sound like a hangout for Goths, the place looked very classy with wood paneling and wood floor. The tables were round and they were all next to a window, except for a large one that was in the middle and I guess it was for a less romantic situation. I found a table for Steely where I could totally see him from outside the window. He seemed to be impressed by the place and I couldn’t blame him; there were a lot of paintings to look at and many different wall hangings as well. Thankfully, all of that visual jazz helped him to calm down. “So, uh, you good?” I asked. “Yeah, yeah I guess I’m … fine.” “So I’ll just leave now, but don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on you from a distance, although I know you got this.” “I hope so.” He still sounded nervous and doubtful, but that’s normal for his first date. “I guess I’ll see you later, lover boy.” “Yeah, me too, and … thanks for everything.” “Don’t mention it.” I left the café and went to find a nice spot to settle down and watch the action. Luckily there weren’t many cars near the café so I just moved my motorcycle to the right spot in front of the window where Steely was sitting. I took out my phone and messaged Sunset. -we are settled, are you coming? -We are done, we will be there soon. Meanwhile I went and bought some sandwiches and drinks cuz I was hungry! I no sooner made my purchases and got back to my spot than Wallflower appeared. Rarity had provided her with a brown shirt, blue long skirt, and a pair of brown shoes. I wasn’t sure but I guessed she had also brushed her hair and given it a new style. Just after Wallflower went into the café, I called Sunset. “Hey, she is in now.” “Yeah I can see that.” “Uhm ... where are you exactly?” “Turn around.” When she saw me she ended the call and started walking towards me. Meanwhile I was watching how Steely was doing. They both were sitting on the table and the waiter had just come to them. As far as I could tell things were looking good. No sad or mad faces so far. Just the basics. “Nice spot you got there!” Sunshine announced that she has arrived. “Take this, you are probably hungry.” I gave her a sandwich and a can of soda. “Thanks, I had almost forgetting I even have a stomach!” She also leaned against my motorcycle and started eating her sandwich. “Are you sure they will do fine on their own, like shouldn’t we help them or something?” she asked. “Well, I don’t know about Wallflower but the Steely I know is making a list of what he should say in his mind already and is checking it right now. So no, he is not doing fine, but he’ll get it. It’s his first time, after all!” “I hope Wallflower doesn’t panic; she is not much of a talker and she’s had problems with engaging others previously. I wish we could at least hear them.” “We can’t just go and sit there, that will throw them off.” “Yeah, but, we don’t have to do that.” “What do you mean?” She looked at me and smiled. “Eat your sandwich first, then I’ll show you.” We both ate our sandwiches as fast as we could and drank our drinks as we hadn’t drunk anything for a day. “Now, follow me.” So I did. We went right beneath the window that they were next to. I really didn’t know what she had in mind but it didn’t take me long to realize. “Now lay low and be quite.” “What are you doing?” “You’ll see.” She took out her phone. I didn’t know what she was doing but I guessed she was messaging someone. Soon after that, the window opened outward, and we could hear everything from there. They both were talking and it seemed they were still warming up. “Uh ...” I guessed it was Wallflowers voice; it was strange, it was completely new to my ears even though she is my classmate. “Shouldn’t we order something?” “Oh, yes, yes. I almost forgot. So uh, what do you prefer?” “I’m not sure, uh, let me … take a look.” You could hear from Wallflower’s voice that she was as nervous as Steely. “Um, do you like pizza?” Steely asked. “Yes.” “So, we order pizza?” “Sure, seems like a good idea.” When he said that I wanted to shout out: “No! It’s not a good idea. The pizzas in this café are usually a piece of flatbread with a sliver of cheese and other ingredients which makes them not very tasty and overall it’s not worth spending money on.” They called the waiter to give him their order. Meanwhile Sunshine and I were staring at each other, cringing from how awkward that conversation was. But it got way better. “Steely Armor?” Wallflower said. “YES!” Even with us sitting underneath the window I could sense his panic. “I just … wanted to thank you for telling me those beautiful words in the note you put on my locker.” “I, uh ... I … and I wanted to thank you for coming today, it really meant a lot to me.” As painfully slow as it was getting up to speed, they were actually starting a nice conversation. “This is a nice place. I’ve never been here before.” Wallflower said. “I don’t come here very much, either. Well, never to be honest.” “So, uh, why did you choose this place?” “Because, uh … I wanted … I wanted this night to be special.” I was shocked by how well he was handling the situation. Soon after we heard the waiter bringing their order. That helped them to keep the flow going and they even started to talk about some nerdy stuff and so on that I almost thought they were communicating in a different language. But even so, I could still feel that things were going well. “Pst!” I tried to gain Sunshine’s attention. “Hey, what exactly did you do?” “I messaged Wallflower and told her to make sure the window is open because fresh air helps to calm her down.” I was kinda amused by how fast she thought of that. “How did you learn that?” “She’s president of the Gardening Club; fresh air comes with the job.” “Clever girl.” I said unintentionally. “What?” “Uh, nothing.” A while later, we felt that they were heading out. “Wait, what is happening?” she asked. “I think they are leaving.” We walked to the other side of the café and stayed behind a wall and peeked to see the action. “Is he?” she said. “He is.” Steely was asking to walk Wallflower home. And it seemed that Wallflower really enjoyed his suggestion. So they started walking together. They were both still shy and kept a little distance between one another but they were walking together and that was what mattered. I was so happy. My best friend just succeeded in his first date and it seems like they will probably go out together again. I was having a blast and I even hugged Sunshine, which was a little awkward. “UH, sorry, I uh just..” She smiled. “It’s fine, I … I understand.” “So I guess our second project is also done.” “It felt more like a mission than a project. A shipping mission you could say.” “Yeah, whatever. Mission accomplished.” “So, what now?” “They will probably tell us about it tomorrow. For now let’s just head home. And if you want, I can give you a lift.” “Hmmm,” she thought about my offer, “it’s quite late, I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” “Unless we crash, that would hurt a lot. Considering that I only have one helmet.” “Yeah, maybe I should rethink my decision.” “Oh, c’mon. I don’t drive that fast!” We both headed to my motorcycle and she sat on the back. I didn’t drive very fast, at least I tried not to. She gave me the directions to her house, and once we got there I dropped her off. Her house seemed to be pretty small, even for one person. I really wonder how she lives there. “Thanks. See you in school.” “Yeah, I’ll see you too.” I headed home, and went to bed right away since I was really tired. But I just couldn’t wait to hear the story from Steely tomorrow. Author's Note Stay paitiant for other stories Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen. His crushDear Diary, Despite all the shenanigans and crazy stuff that Steely and I did over the past years, I never thought a day like this would come: a day where he finally asks someone out. It was the day that Sunshine and I had to present our project, which in itself is another story for another day plus the weird envelope Prof. Skull Mustache gave us. I noticed he was acting a little weird but I didn’t ask him anything until lunch time, where he mentioned his problem. “Uh, Flame …”he said, I looked at him. I knew it was serious when I saw he hadn’t eaten his sandwiches. “There is something I wanted to tell you.” “What, exactly?” “Well, I sort of need help.” “Help for what?” “Uh, I … I don’t know how to tell you that, actually.” “C’mon, what is it?” “Well,” he blushed, “Prof. Skull Mustache partnered me with this … girl ...” I just cut him off there. “Who? Who? What’s her name?” I was so surprised! I’ve known him for ages and he is so shy, like he’d get embarrassed as soon as he saw a girl near him, not to mention how he hid when a girl saw him. And now he has a crush on one. Obviously our other friends are girls, too, but it seems he sees this relationship a little more as friendship than romance. And of course it all happened in a way that drove those thoughts from his mind and to stick with magic theories and that sort of stuff. It’s his comfort zone. “Wallflower Blush.” “Where is she?” “She sits right in front of you in history class, next to Micro Chips in science class, behind Rainbow Dash in math and calculus, right next to Fluttershy …-“ “Ok, Ok, I got it.” It seemed that he was really into her, though I imagine it’s a little hard not to follow your crush if you had eyes everywhere. “So, what does she have that got to you?” “Well, she’s very clever, and smart, also kind and…” he blushed again. “Cute?” “What! Uh, uh, NO! Maybe.” He turned his face away from me. Things were getting interesting. “So let me guess. You wanna know how to impress her?” “Yeah, and maybe even …” “Ask her out? No problem. I’ve got you, buddy!” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Partners againWalking through the hallway to get to our lockers, I tried to see what else he knew about her and it turns out to be A LOT! “So, what is she interested in?” “She really likes plants and she is even the President of the Gardening Club. I see her quite often in library and I believe she likes books, too.” “Ok, so far you two have 1.5 common grounds.” “Why 1.5?” “Because you two are into books and you are a little bittle into plants.” “Ok … but … but I can get interested in them more! Right?” When he said that, broke out into a huge smile; I’m talking ear-to-ear. “Look, buddy,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulder, “you shouldn’t change yourself just for someone else, even if you love that someone. Just be yourself, Ok?” “I guess you’re right” “Yeah, but you know what should you say instead of that?” I winked and he got the point. “You right!” we both said, pointing at each other. By then we were near our lockers and we started getting our books. Steely headed for Science class, and I wanted to start moving too but a familiar voice called my name. “Flame!” I turned around and it was no one other than Sunshine. “What is it?” I asked. “It’s about Steely Armor.” “What about him?” “Look, I know that he’s a little shy and mysterious, also unpredictable. So I thought I’d better tell you first.” “Tell me what exactly?” “That someone is into him!” I was shocked. “And who exactly are you talking about?” “Wallflower Blush.” “Well, things just got interesting.” “What do you mean?” “News flash: Steely already lost his heart to her.” “You have got to be kidding me!” “I’m serious! And now I guess we need to work on another project.” “What kind of project?” “A shipping project!” I winked. And just when she smiled, I knew that she was in. Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Need to knowWe started to talk on our way to class, and seeing what exactly we’re dealing with. “Why are we making this complicated? Can’t you just tell Steely Armor that she likes him, too?” “I’ve been his friend for ages, and trust me when I say whenever a girl looked at him, he’d vanish from that area, literally gone, reduced to atoms. And now what do you think he’ll do if he finds out someone actually is interested in him? Someone that he really is into.” “Fine, I get it. So what’s the plan?” “Look, I’m not a genius so don’t expect me to have a plan ready for this situation in a corner of my mind. I need some time to think about it.” “Ok, just don’t forget to wait for me after class.” We entered our class and, to be honest, I was so busy thinking about how we’re going to pull this off that I didn’t pay attention to the class at all. It wasn’t important stuff, anyway. After school was over I told Steely to head home and I’d call him in the afternoon. I then meet up with Sunshine right outside the school and from there we both started to walk together. “So, did you come up with something?” she asked. “I have something in mind but before we go into that I need to make sure this Wallflower Blush is a good girl and that she won’t play with Steely, he just ain’t experienced enough to see this stuff and that makes me worried. So tell me, what do you know of her?” “Well, how do I put this ... we had some stuff together.” “I guess it wasn’t the typical stuff.” “What do you mean?” “I think I’ve been here for long enough to know that nothing normal happens around here.” “OK, fine, just tell me how much did Steely Armor tell you about magic?” “To be honest he told me a lot, or at least he tried to. But I get that it came from another dimension and all that and he guesses that it must be brought to our world with a person or an artefact of that world. Also he really insisted that these worlds are completely the same, expect that they’re not. And that got me super mega confused.” “Then, you do know enough. You see, she had a problem engaging others and suffers from a serious lack of confidence, in a way that no one knew she was even studying here! She happened to find one of those artefacts and … it allowed her to erase peoples’ memory.” Fantastic! First someone who could see your memories and now they have something to erase them. “And that made the whole situation in her life worse. Anyone she tried to engage with and she couldn’t, she just erased that memory, like it never happened.” She slipped into an afterwards silence. “And what exactly does that have to do with you?” “She … erased every good memory that my friends had about me. And not just them, but the whole school.” “But, why?” “She … sort of … you know what, that doesn’t matter, because we took care of that and helped her to start getting over her problems. To be honest she is actually a really sweet girl.” There was something fishy about what she said, but I wasn’t sure what. “Riiiiiight!” “No, seriously, she is a really nice girl, and now that I think about it, she and Steely Armor are both shy and lack confidence; maybe they can get over it together.” “I hope so.” I still wasn’t really sure how I was supposed to feel about this. “I also hope she doesn’t get bothered about being watched everywhere.” “What do you mean?” “Before I tell you that, you must promise that you won’t tell it to anyone, not your friends or anyone! Alright?” “OK, I promise!” “Do you remember what I told you about Steely before? That he has cameras everywhere?” “Yes, I do, but he doesn’t have them in school, right? Unless … wait, you’re not telling me that he hacked into the school cameras, are you?” “Technically, no, he didn’t. He did do that at the last school he attended and they found out about it since he was connecting to the system with another device that was definitely not recognized as anybody in the school administration. So he tried a new tactic this time. He hacked into Vice Principal Luna’s computer, and now whenever he checks the cameras, it will be marked as her device.” She looked pretty impressed. I don’t blame her. Steely always does impressive stuff. “Wait, if he linked to the Vice Principal’s computer, he basically has access to most of the exam papers, too!” And that was what I thought she wouldn’t guess. At least not too soon! “No, No, NO! You’re getting it all wrong! Maybe he accessed the exam papers but he doesn’t need them to get those high marks!” “I was thinking more about YOU needing access to those.” She smiled. Even without her magic, she can figure stuff out fast. “Of course not … well, maybe for some special circumstances.” “Like what?” “Like geography. I understand nothing of it, and yet I have to pass it.” “Just for that?” She raised her eyebrow. “That’s not the point at the moment. Now let’s focus on our task.” “OK, fine. So what’s your plan?” we started to walk again and passed one building after another. “Well, I am going to talk to Steely and we are going to stick a note on her locker.” “What kind of note?” “Just an invitation to … well, to that café.” I pointed at it because we were passing it. “We should work on them individually and make sure they are ready to meet one another.” “So I take Wallflower and you take Steely.” “Exactly!” I stopped all of a sudden. “Well, OK, then, I’ll meet you tomorrow.” “You’re sure?” she asked. “I need to head back home, I’m still a little dizzy.” “Fine, so goodbye I guess.” “See you later.” I ran the rest of the way to home. After changing clothes and practicing a little violin I called Steely and invited him over. It was better for him that way, since I knew his mother would have double flipped if she heard anything of what we were going to talk about. Which she usually does. When he got here I took him up to my room. “OK, so listen up close because we are going to take action.” “NOW?” he shouted, but then he lowered his voice, “Uh … don’t you think it’s a little too soon?” “No, and don’t worry, I got you covered.” “I guess it’s fine, then.” His voice was shaky. “OK, then, let’s start,” I said and Beaky repeated my words. “Ok, then let’s start!” but I didn’t mind. “We are going to write a note, and stick it on her locker in the morning,” I said. “And what should we write in that note?” “We are going to ask her out.” He freaked out. Typical. “WHAT? NO, NO , NO, we are definitely not doing that!” “Aw, c’mon, isn’t that what you wanted?” “Yes, b ... but what if she turns me down? I don’t think I could handle that!” He started pacing around my room. He usually does that when he is anxious. “OK, sit down. Breathe. First of all, she won’t turn you down.” “But …” “… and second, we won’t write your name on it, so if she declines … and I don’t think she will … she won’t find out that we did it until later. OK?” He sighed like always. “So, what do we do now?” I could see that he was super mega unsure about everything. “Now we study!” “We study what?” “We will study how to behave near a girl. Do you like it?” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
How to dateLesson one: Chill, You won’t start a good conversation with your date if you’re nervous. So there is no chance of warming up the mood to get to know one another. Take a few deep breaths and drink some water, this will help you to be relaxed. Lesson two: Start the conversation. It is advised to think about what is around at the moment, like the food that the restaurant is serving. When you talked about the subject, slowly change it. This can be done simply by telling your taste for food in the example above or talking about an experience that is somewhat relatable. Lesson three: Avoid! Avoid asking awkward questions and talking about uninteresting topics. This has a very devastating effect on the mood. Any unnecessary question is a huge mistake. “Are you getting these?” I asked Steely after I was done reading the third lesson of the book for him. “I should, but I’m not.” “Don’t worry; me neither.” “Where did you get that, anyway?” “My dad’s library. Now I’m beginning to wonder why he has this. I mean, who writes a 400 page long book about how to start a relationship with someone you love? And who would read it? Am I right?” “Yeah, yeah, sure, totally. Um, will your dad notice that it’s not there?” “I guess he didn’t even know it was there in the first place. Why?” “Uh … I wonder if it would be possible to borrow it for a while.” That was very unexpected, but it showed he’s willing to try. “On second thought, I don’t think it’ll be much help. I guess I need to come up with another way.” He sighed, of course. I was losing him. I thought of some of the Canterlot High teachers who didn’t seem to enjoy their jobs, like Cranky Doodle and Skull Mustache. And I began to understand why they may have felt that way. It was then that I decided to change my approach. “Listen, tomorrow night, you’ll be seated at a table in a café, waiting for her to appear. You are constantly looking at the door and the clock. You are nervous, and that is normal for your first time; just don’t let any stupid thought get into your head. “And then, she walks in. You stare at her and she will notice you and stare back. Then, you will give her a simple smile to let her know that she is on a date with you, that you’re happy to see her and you’d like her to be happy, too.” He was more attentive now. “She starts walking toward you and then you stand up and greet her and ask her to sit down. Make sure you hold out the chair for her. She will thank you and take her seat. Then you order something, and just after that one of you will start the conversation. Don’t plan on saying anything special, just let things slip by and in the end you just need to ask her if she would like to go out with you again or not.” He looked very shocked. “Man, the way you explained it sounds so easy!” “That’s because it is. And I know what you are thinking: ‘What if she doesn’t like me?’ Trust me when I say you are amazing. And don’t even doubt it. You are truly SUPER MEGA AMAZING.” “Thanks, man. You’re amazing too, you know.” “No, man, I’m not … I am FANTASTIC!” “You know what?” Just then he winked, and I knew what he wanted to say. “You right!” FANTASTIC. Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
History ClassThe next day, I met up with Steely in school and we prepared the note there. He showed me Wallflower’s locker so I could stick it on it. I thought I had to wait until our first class, which was the beloved History with Professor Skull Mustache. I was wondering what shenanigans he is going to pull off this time around. I was walking near Wallflower’s locker where I saw Sunshine, too. “Hey!” I called and walked towards her. She recognized my voice and turned back. “Oh, hi.” “Yeah, hi.” “Everything is going the way you wanted?” “Yeah, so far so good. So what have you been up to?” “I was planning to get help from Rarity. I believe she can find Wallflower a nice set of clothes for tonight.” That gave me an idea. “That’s a good thought, but … do you think she has something for Steely too? He doesn’t really have a lot of clothes for occasions like this.” “I guess I have to ask her.” It was then that I saw Wallflower open up her locker. “Shh, she’s there!” I told Sunset and she looked confused but as soon as she looked at Wallflower she understood everything. I’ve never actually paid attention to her in class at all. Green hairs, a jumper paired with jeans. From where I was looking I could only see the back of her, which completely reminded me of broccoli. After she left I sneaked up to her locker and stuck the note on it. Little did I know that Sunshine’s noisy bone triggered in that exact moment so she read it out loud: “Wallflower, “My heart has been pounding faster since I saw you for the first time. And now all I can think of is you and I can’t stop. So please meet me tonight at the Black Café at 8:00. “Anonymous lover.” She smiled afterwards, “Did you write this or Steely Armor?” “What do you think?” “I say you ‘cause I’ve read your lyrics. Anyway, what’s the next step.” She started walking away. I caught up to here and we talked on the way to History class. “What you should do now is to make sure Wallflower is going to be there tonight.” “Ok, can do.” Then I remembered something. “One more thing: now that you are taking her to Rarity, don’t let her give Wallflower a makeover.” When we entered, Skull Mustache had just put down his bag. That meant we were late. “Are you two just going to stand there or you are going to take your seats?” He didn’t even turn his head a little to look at us. He had his back turned to us! This guy gives me the creeps. “Are you deaf or was I not clear?” he said and finally turned around. “Uh, no sir, we’ll take our seats right away.” I said and we both took our seats. He glared at us for a few seconds but after that he started talking. “Before we start the lesson, I need to inform you of something. It’s one of those bad news-good news things, so which one should I say first?” The majority of us told him to get on with the bad news, but he didn’t care. “I think we should save the bad news. Now, what is the good news, you ask? I decided to not factor in the marks of your project for your final grade, since it would have been a disaster!” Almost everyone cheered for that, expect for us course; we did achieve the highest mark after all. But it didn’t end there. “Now comes the bitter part: I worked on an exam for you all!” That blew the minds of all of us. The class went into an absolute chaos after that. But he managed to silence us just fine. “SILENCE!,” the Professor shouted, and slammed his hand on the table. “I don’t allow such behavior in my class, and next time, I promise you all that there will be consequences for repeating it.” He was pointing at us with his finger. He really likes his hand gestures as far as I have seen. “Now, when will the exam take place, you ask? On Wednesday.” That meant we had only three days to get ready for the exam. Which was totally not enough time for HISTORY! “Now,” he started again, “Let’s not waste a single instant. Since we have wasted enough time already.” Then he started drawing on the board as he was speaking. “Today, we are going to talk about how Warden the Wise managed to outsmart King Vendric and save himself from death.” He finished what he was drawing and stepped back so everyone could see it. “Uhm, sir, isn’t that a chess board?” someone asked but I didn’t bother to find him. “Yes, though we will get to that in a moment. So: King Vendric was not appropriate for ruling the land as he only cared about himself and his army. He claimed to be a great tactician but in fact what brought him victory in every battle was the sheer size of his army. The state of the country was terrible as a recent flood have destroyed all of the farmers’ crops. Vendric did not care and took whatever was left for himself. This act of his encouraged people to start a revolution, which was called: The Guidance of the Wise. It was organized by Warden the Wise, whose idea was to tell the king that his actions were wrong. The people did not start a war or even a simple conflict. Guidance is what a king needs. That was their slogan.” I can’t say I really like History, but the way he used his hands and changing the tone of his voice just didn’t let anyone get lost in thoughts or sleep. And if they did, well, I still haven’t forgotten how hard he can pull your ear. But man, it was so easy to fall asleep when Dusty Fossil was talking. But guess what, she didn’t even notice. On top of that, she just rambled on about stuff that wasn’t even necessary. I just want to say, Skull Mustache might be very grumpy, but he sure knows how to teach. “Vendric got frustrated and ordered his men to capture Warden and bring him to his castle. Warden did not resist, since he knew this was a chance to meet the king in person. Once they brought him in, Vendric took a look at him and laughed. His clothes were ripped and he looked like a beggar. ‘Is this the man who says I need guidance?!’ Vendric said. ‘Listen carefully now, I brought you here so my men could execute you in front of me. But before that, I want to show everyone that you only claim to be wise, but in fact you are nothing!’ He gave him three games to choose from: Backgammon, Chess and Checkers.” He took a breath before he continued. “Warden chose Chess, considering that Backgammon had too much of an element of chance involved in it, and he was not very familiar with Checkers. And now, we get to analyze their moves and see who came out victorious.” After that he went to the board and indicated each piece by letters. Just for us to not get confused he indicated them with two different colors. “So, Vendric held the white pieces and Warden held black pieces. Now let’s get to their moves.” 1: e4-e5 2:d3-Nf6 3: Nc3- Bc5 4: g3- Nc6 There wasn’t much that I could understand, but I could see that nothing impressive have happened yet. “And now this is where things get interesting.” 5: Bg5- Nxe4 “I know you all are surprised, since Warden just sacrificed his Advi-I mean, Queen. Vendric takes the Queen and starts insulting Warden, telling him that he just lost his most valuable piece. But soon, he became silent.” 6: Bxd8- Bxf2+ 7: Ke2- Nd4# “Vendric was shocked at how easily he lost the game. And every single servant and guard in the room witnessed his loss. Vendric freed Warden and chose him as his chancellor. Thus the state of the land became way better as he listened to Warden’s guidance.” To be honest, that story was kinda cool.
Lack of confidenceAfter class was over, everyone was talking about how interesting the lesson was. To be honest, I thought it was fascinating too, but I was too disappointed with the whole exam thing to feel good about it. I caught Steely on the way to Wallflower’s locker and stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?” “Uhhhhh.” “Look, don’t even bother wondering about whether if she is going to come or not. She will. So for now let’s see what the frick frack snick snack should we do about History!” “Yeah, totally that is actually important….but you know-“ “NO!” But we tried to see if we could find the files for the history exam on Vice Principal Luna’s computer anyway. Turned out it wasn’t even there; not yet, anyway. So there were only two possibilities: either Skull Mustache hadn’t given the file to her yet but would in a few days’ time, or he’s keeping it to himself and won’t even share the file with Vice Principal Luna before exam day. I had hoped that he would give the file to Vice Principal Luna before exam day. But if I have learned anything about this guy it’s that he likes crushing his students. So I knew I had to think of something before it’s too late. I left Steely afterwards; he probably went to the camera and started watching the walking broccoli who stole his heart. But I only had eyes to find Sunshine in school. It took me a while till I finally saw her bacon hair. “Whooh man, where were you? I was looking for you everywhere!” “I was making sure that Wallflower wouldn’t back out from the date tonight.” “So, how did it go?” “It was harder than I expected but I convinced her anyway.” “So she will definitely come, right?” “Yes, she will.” While we were walking, I started to wonder about something. “Hey, uh, how did you find out she likes Steely? Cuz I doubt she just came and told it to you!” “Well, actually she did.” “Really?” “I was talking to her yesterday about how good they presented their project and all of that when I realized she was blushing much more than usual.” “O.K.” “And then I asked her about it, and she wasn’t going to tell me at first but I promised her I would keep it to myself … and I just broke my promise to her.” “Huh, that’s weird.” “Not that much. I mean I’m actually helping her to conf-“ “No, I mean that’s weird that you didn’t use your magic.” “Oh, well, I am trying to respect peoples’ privacy!” “Riiight! Anyway, don’t forget to ask Rarity about Steely’s clothes.” “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.” From there we parted ways. I tolerated the rest of the day and calmed Steely down about his date but the more time passed, his state got worse and worse. So after school, I took him to my home and tried to distract him a little by playing some games but even THAT didn’t help. His teeth were clacking on one another so fast that it could shred anything that came near them. I decided to leave him in my room for a while and call Sunshine to see how things were going on her side. “Hello, Sunset, how is everything?” “Uhm, it’s complicated.” “Let me guess, she is doubting everything about this whole thing and she is so nervous that you can hear the sound of her teeth’s clacking from another room. Am I right?” She sighed. “Close enough,. I guess your situation isn’t any better than mine.” “If anything it’s worse. I really don’t know what else I should do.” “You know, I think if we dress them up and make them look better they could both gain some confidence.” “That’s actually a pretty good idea. So Rarity had something for Steely?” “Yes, and I think you might want to bring Steely there first since it will take me some time to get Wallflower there.” “OK, sounds good to me.” She texted Rarity’s address, and as Skull Mustache likes to say, I did not waste a single instant. “OK,” I told him, we’re leaving.” “Wait, we’re leaving now?” “We’ve got a stop to make first.” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
A gut feeling.The other perspective It was quite the day for Sunset Shimmer. Trying to organize a date for two of her new friends took some energy out of her, and her job was not done yet. Lying on her bed, she stretched her arm to pick up her phone intending to call Wallflower Blush to see if everything was fine. She did not pick up. At first she thought it wasn’t worth worrying about right away, but after a few more attempts she realized that something was wrong. Thankfully she knew Wallflower’s home address so she got ready as fast as she could and headed there. Many thoughts crossed her mind, but she cut each one at the root and tried to be optimistic. “She just silenced her phone, no need to be worried.” But then she asked herself “Who am I kidding?” It was crystal clear that there was a problem and it needed to be solved, fast. Wallflower’s house was not unfamiliar to her as she had visited there before, but she hadn’t done it alone. She had come there with Twilight to get information about how to take care of plants so Twilight’s little garden wouldn’t dry up. When the house was in sight, she ran up to it at full speed. Once she reached the door she didn’t hesitate and rang the bell. The door opened soon after she rang the bell. A tall woman stood tall. It was Wallflower’s mother. “Hello Ms. Blush. I wanted to see Wallflower,” Sunset said. She couldn’t disguise the nervous tone of her voice. “Oh, hello,” the mother responded, “Yeah, sure, she’s upstairs but she is in pretty bad shape. I don’t know what has gotten into her recently. She’s locked herself in her room and she won’t let anyone in.” Sunset realized that Wallflower’s mother was more worried that she herself could ever be. “Don’t worry, I got this,” she said as she stepped into the house and dashed up the stairs. The hallway, despite all the shelves with plants on them, looked dead. Sunset approached Wallflower’s room and knocked on the door. There was no answer. “Wallflower! Open the door! It’s me, Sunset!” Still no response. “Wallflower, what happened? Did you forget that you have a date?” “NO!,” Well, Sunset told herself, at least Wallflower was alive. “I haven’t forgotten, but how do I know it’s not a prank by one of those stupid boys, or why should I even go to it when I like someone else?” “Look, open the door and we can talk about this, OK?” “Sunset, I appreciate that you want to help me, but now I need some time to think so just leave me alone.” Sunset had only read Wallflower’s mind once, concerning her use of the Memory Stone, but it was enough to tell her about her suspiciousness, her insecurity, her overwhelming loneliness. Sunset decided to talk to her again but the sound of her own phone cut her off mid-action. It was Flaming Star; it appeared that he was facing a problem to Sunset’s. At first, all Sunset could think to herself was “You’re kidding!” But after a quick exchange of messages, she had a plan. Sunset knocked on the door again. “Wallflower, what if I told you that the boy you really like is the one who put that note on the locker?” “What do you mean?” Sunset’s words seemed to have sharpened Wallflowers ears. She was listening; that’s good. “I mean, Steely Armor is the one you have a date with tonight. I really shouldn’t have told you that, because it was supposed to be a surprise, but now you know.” “Are you serious?” “Of course. So, will you open the door?” Just after Sunset asked the question, she heard footsteps coming from inside Wallflower’s room. There was a slight pause, then the handle turned and the door opened. “You’re not trying to pull my leg, are you? That’s happened a lot, and you’ve kind of got a reputation for manipulating people.” Sunset shook her head. “That’s long gone. And if I was trying to prank you, I wouldn’t have come here to tell you the truth, would I?” Wallflower looked away, tugging at her unwashed hair. “Now let’s go, you don’t want to leave him waiting, do you?” “NO! I mean … OK ,,, but let me change clothes be-“ She reached out toward her closet, but Sunset grabbed her elbow and pulled her out of the room. “Don’t worry about that, I’ve got you covered.” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Dress upSteely is not used to motorcycles so he held on to me HARD. Although I have to admit, I was driving kinda fast and there was only one helmet which I was wearing. I mean, it wouldn’t have fit on his head anyway. But man, I can still hear his teeth chattering. Once we got there, he was confused cuz the place really didn’t look like a place we would go. “So…what are we doing in here?” “You could say a dress up. For your date.” “Oh, uhm, right.” We entered the shop and it was filled with clothes, but not the type we were looking for. We were looking around the shop when Rarity appeared. “Hello guys!” She smiled and came to us. “Should we start?” “Yeah, totally!” I said, “Just uh, where are the clothes that are…our type?” “They’re in that section!” she pointed towards the sign that said: Male. How the frick frack snick did we miss that? I pulled Steely with myself so he could look for what he liked among the clothes. “So, tell me a little about your taste of fashion; I might be able to help you,” said Rarity. I wanted to answer but I thought it would be better to let Steely answer; this was his date, after all. So I stepped back and pushed him forward. “OK, buddy, tell her about your ‘taste of fashion’.” He sighed, as expected. “Well, uh … I don’t have one. What do you suggest?” Rarity stepped back to get a complete look at him, then walked around him to see him from different angles. Steely kept still but he seemed more concerned with avoiding eye contact with Rarity. “Hold on, I think I know what suits you!” She disappeared after she said that. We waited there for a while. I looked around to see if I could find some hats for Steely and I actually found some that might have appealed to him. Rarity returned with many, many clothes hanging from her arms. She looked as if she was about to just collapse from the weight of those clothes. She put them on the desk and told Steely to come near. “Look darling, I have dressed up many people, and trust me when I say, the secret is always in the hair, so could you …“ “NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, I WON’T TAKE OFF MY HAT!” Rarity was shocked, and to be honest that was understandable cuz she doesn’t know why he wears a hat all the time. “OK, now, uh, listen, Rarity: Steely has a problem with his hair and it’s not very controllable. So he’d rather just hide it and not have to deal with it, and trust me when I say we have tried almost everything to fix it but nothing worked, so just don’t pass out, over-react or anything when I take his hat off, OK?” She seemed confused but nodded. “Steely?” “NO!” “Look, it’s not that bad. I even brought some hats to try on with your clothes, so we will hide it again. Deal?” He sighed. “Deal.” He took off his hat and his yellow hairs burst out. That surprised even me, but then I hadn’t seen his hair for a long time. Rarity didn’t pass out, but she couldn’t help staring at him with open eyes and mouth. “Thi ... this is your hair?” she asked. “Yes,” Steely answered. “Welll … we’ll get back to that.” She recovered pretty quickly and turned her attention to the clothes. She showed us a white shirt. “I guess this should fit you … perfectly.” She also gave us a black formal vest and trousers. That helped me choose what hat to give him. There was a black boater hat that I thought would pair up perfectly. He went to a nearby dressing room to change his clothes and while he was doing so I checked my phone, Sunset had messaged me that she is nearby and she asked if we were done or not. I replied: -Not yet, but we will be soon. I think. -We’ll be there in a quarter hour. Better not be there when we arrive. I got it. It seemed that Steely haven’t gotten ready yet so I decided to just stand there, but Rarity started a conversation which kinda help to pass a little bittle of time. “Excuse me for asking, Flaming Star, but for how long has his hair been that horrible?” “Hey, I can still hear you, you know!” Steely said from inside the dressing room. “Sorry, darling.” Sigh. “It’s OK. I should be used to it by now.” “As far as I know, since birth,” I said. “Oh, my! What a nightmare.” “Still listening!” I walked with Rarity to a counter at the other end of the store. “Uhm, I guess it is really horrible but it seems he’s gotten used to wearing a hat.” “I can’t even believe how he’s living like that.” She seemed to be exaggerating, and I wanted to answer but before I could do so Steely came out. “OK. How do I look?” he asked “Hold on, let me put this on your head first.” I adjusted the boater on the back of his head and stuffed as much of his hair as I could underneath it. “Now, let’s see.” I stepped back to look at him and I have to say he looked great, not super mega great but it was still great. “So?” he asked. “You look fabulous!” Rarity said. “Man, you are looking good.” “Really?” “Of course, take a look yourself.” He turned back and looked at the mirror. I think even he was amazed. We thanked Rarity for helping us, and she even let him keep the clothes for himself. So generous. I put his original clothes into a bag and then we exited the shop, and headed straight towards the Café. Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Mission AcomplishedWe reached the Black Café. Despite the name that made it sound like a hangout for Goths, the place looked very classy with wood paneling and wood floor. The tables were round and they were all next to a window, except for a large one that was in the middle and I guess it was for a less romantic situation. I found a table for Steely where I could totally see him from outside the window. He seemed to be impressed by the place and I couldn’t blame him; there were a lot of paintings to look at and many different wall hangings as well. Thankfully, all of that visual jazz helped him to calm down. “So, uh, you good?” I asked. “Yeah, yeah I guess I’m … fine.” “So I’ll just leave now, but don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on you from a distance, although I know you got this.” “I hope so.” He still sounded nervous and doubtful, but that’s normal for his first date. “I guess I’ll see you later, lover boy.” “Yeah, me too, and … thanks for everything.” “Don’t mention it.” I left the café and went to find a nice spot to settle down and watch the action. Luckily there weren’t many cars near the café so I just moved my motorcycle to the right spot in front of the window where Steely was sitting. I took out my phone and messaged Sunset. -we are settled, are you coming? -We are done, we will be there soon. Meanwhile I went and bought some sandwiches and drinks cuz I was hungry! I no sooner made my purchases and got back to my spot than Wallflower appeared. Rarity had provided her with a brown shirt, blue long skirt, and a pair of brown shoes. I wasn’t sure but I guessed she had also brushed her hair and given it a new style. Just after Wallflower went into the café, I called Sunset. “Hey, she is in now.” “Yeah I can see that.” “Uhm ... where are you exactly?” “Turn around.” When she saw me she ended the call and started walking towards me. Meanwhile I was watching how Steely was doing. They both were sitting on the table and the waiter had just come to them. As far as I could tell things were looking good. No sad or mad faces so far. Just the basics. “Nice spot you got there!” Sunshine announced that she has arrived. “Take this, you are probably hungry.” I gave her a sandwich and a can of soda. “Thanks, I had almost forgetting I even have a stomach!” She also leaned against my motorcycle and started eating her sandwich. “Are you sure they will do fine on their own, like shouldn’t we help them or something?” she asked. “Well, I don’t know about Wallflower but the Steely I know is making a list of what he should say in his mind already and is checking it right now. So no, he is not doing fine, but he’ll get it. It’s his first time, after all!” “I hope Wallflower doesn’t panic; she is not much of a talker and she’s had problems with engaging others previously. I wish we could at least hear them.” “We can’t just go and sit there, that will throw them off.” “Yeah, but, we don’t have to do that.” “What do you mean?” She looked at me and smiled. “Eat your sandwich first, then I’ll show you.” We both ate our sandwiches as fast as we could and drank our drinks as we hadn’t drunk anything for a day. “Now, follow me.” So I did. We went right beneath the window that they were next to. I really didn’t know what she had in mind but it didn’t take me long to realize. “Now lay low and be quite.” “What are you doing?” “You’ll see.” She took out her phone. I didn’t know what she was doing but I guessed she was messaging someone. Soon after that, the window opened outward, and we could hear everything from there. They both were talking and it seemed they were still warming up. “Uh ...” I guessed it was Wallflowers voice; it was strange, it was completely new to my ears even though she is my classmate. “Shouldn’t we order something?” “Oh, yes, yes. I almost forgot. So uh, what do you prefer?” “I’m not sure, uh, let me … take a look.” You could hear from Wallflower’s voice that she was as nervous as Steely. “Um, do you like pizza?” Steely asked. “Yes.” “So, we order pizza?” “Sure, seems like a good idea.” When he said that I wanted to shout out: “No! It’s not a good idea. The pizzas in this café are usually a piece of flatbread with a sliver of cheese and other ingredients which makes them not very tasty and overall it’s not worth spending money on.” They called the waiter to give him their order. Meanwhile Sunshine and I were staring at each other, cringing from how awkward that conversation was. But it got way better. “Steely Armor?” Wallflower said. “YES!” Even with us sitting underneath the window I could sense his panic. “I just … wanted to thank you for telling me those beautiful words in the note you put on my locker.” “I, uh ... I … and I wanted to thank you for coming today, it really meant a lot to me.” As painfully slow as it was getting up to speed, they were actually starting a nice conversation. “This is a nice place. I’ve never been here before.” Wallflower said. “I don’t come here very much, either. Well, never to be honest.” “So, uh, why did you choose this place?” “Because, uh … I wanted … I wanted this night to be special.” I was shocked by how well he was handling the situation. Soon after we heard the waiter bringing their order. That helped them to keep the flow going and they even started to talk about some nerdy stuff and so on that I almost thought they were communicating in a different language. But even so, I could still feel that things were going well. “Pst!” I tried to gain Sunshine’s attention. “Hey, what exactly did you do?” “I messaged Wallflower and told her to make sure the window is open because fresh air helps to calm her down.” I was kinda amused by how fast she thought of that. “How did you learn that?” “She’s president of the Gardening Club; fresh air comes with the job.” “Clever girl.” I said unintentionally. “What?” “Uh, nothing.” A while later, we felt that they were heading out. “Wait, what is happening?” she asked. “I think they are leaving.” We walked to the other side of the café and stayed behind a wall and peeked to see the action. “Is he?” she said. “He is.” Steely was asking to walk Wallflower home. And it seemed that Wallflower really enjoyed his suggestion. So they started walking together. They were both still shy and kept a little distance between one another but they were walking together and that was what mattered. I was so happy. My best friend just succeeded in his first date and it seems like they will probably go out together again. I was having a blast and I even hugged Sunshine, which was a little awkward. “UH, sorry, I uh just..” She smiled. “It’s fine, I … I understand.” “So I guess our second project is also done.” “It felt more like a mission than a project. A shipping mission you could say.” “Yeah, whatever. Mission accomplished.” “So, what now?” “They will probably tell us about it tomorrow. For now let’s just head home. And if you want, I can give you a lift.” “Hmmm,” she thought about my offer, “it’s quite late, I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” “Unless we crash, that would hurt a lot. Considering that I only have one helmet.” “Yeah, maybe I should rethink my decision.” “Oh, c’mon. I don’t drive that fast!” We both headed to my motorcycle and she sat on the back. I didn’t drive very fast, at least I tried not to. She gave me the directions to her house, and once we got there I dropped her off. Her house seemed to be pretty small, even for one person. I really wonder how she lives there. “Thanks. See you in school.” “Yeah, I’ll see you too.” I headed home, and went to bed right away since I was really tired. But I just couldn’t wait to hear the story from Steely tomorrow. Author's Note Stay paitiant for other stories Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
His crushDear Diary, Despite all the shenanigans and crazy stuff that Steely and I did over the past years, I never thought a day like this would come: a day where he finally asks someone out. It was the day that Sunshine and I had to present our project, which in itself is another story for another day plus the weird envelope Prof. Skull Mustache gave us. I noticed he was acting a little weird but I didn’t ask him anything until lunch time, where he mentioned his problem. “Uh, Flame …”he said, I looked at him. I knew it was serious when I saw he hadn’t eaten his sandwiches. “There is something I wanted to tell you.” “What, exactly?” “Well, I sort of need help.” “Help for what?” “Uh, I … I don’t know how to tell you that, actually.” “C’mon, what is it?” “Well,” he blushed, “Prof. Skull Mustache partnered me with this … girl ...” I just cut him off there. “Who? Who? What’s her name?” I was so surprised! I’ve known him for ages and he is so shy, like he’d get embarrassed as soon as he saw a girl near him, not to mention how he hid when a girl saw him. And now he has a crush on one. Obviously our other friends are girls, too, but it seems he sees this relationship a little more as friendship than romance. And of course it all happened in a way that drove those thoughts from his mind and to stick with magic theories and that sort of stuff. It’s his comfort zone. “Wallflower Blush.” “Where is she?” “She sits right in front of you in history class, next to Micro Chips in science class, behind Rainbow Dash in math and calculus, right next to Fluttershy …-“ “Ok, Ok, I got it.” It seemed that he was really into her, though I imagine it’s a little hard not to follow your crush if you had eyes everywhere. “So, what does she have that got to you?” “Well, she’s very clever, and smart, also kind and…” he blushed again. “Cute?” “What! Uh, uh, NO! Maybe.” He turned his face away from me. Things were getting interesting. “So let me guess. You wanna know how to impress her?” “Yeah, and maybe even …” “Ask her out? No problem. I’ve got you, buddy!” Author's Note Make sure to cheek out other chapters too. Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
