Chapter 1: Another world, a different way
I was walking calmly in the streets of Canterlot, heading to the castle of Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria. Why was I heading to her castle? Well, I'm a unicorn, more precisely a student of hers, along with several other unicorns. What we study is basically all that is related to unicorn magic, mostly magic spells. And seriously, this mostly gets a bit boring if you already know many of these spells. Oh, by the way, my name is Lightning Bolt, Lightning for short. Sounds like a good name for a pegasus rather than a unicorn right? Well, I do have the ability of shooting lightning bolts, so I guess this ability has something to do with my name. I mostly have a tough personality, but I'll admit that sometimes I do embarrass myself for thinking that I'm tough or cool enough to do certain stuff.
So, after entering the castle, what I saw was a rather eye-catching figure: an amber colored unicorn with red hair that had yellow highlights. Apparently, she was someone I just knew a few weeks ago, but of all the students I know, she was probably one of the only ones I find interesting, not to mention beautiful. Her name is Sunset Shimmer, damn, she even has such a beautiful name.
“Hey, you're early today.” I said curiously.
“I’ve got something planned for today.” She said with a devilish grin.
“I hope it’s something good.” I said facing her. ”Well, you’re always full of good surprises, so this one’s surely no exception; the last time we got a good prize.”
“Yeah yeah, you’re talking about that magic spell that we found, right? The one that gives you wings?” She said with a plain tone and narrowed eyes. “If so, then you’re the only one who 'got a prize' from that.” She pointed at me.
The "prize" that we found was basically a piece of paper that contained the instructions for a magic spell that gives you pegasus wings, something that seems impossible to find, but somehow we found it. At first, I got an idea of what would a unicorn at our age with wings would look like, but then Sunset simply decided to cast the spell on me, to which I, like someone stupid, just agreed. It turned out to be better than expected though, but the problem was that the wings were very visible to everyone, something that I surely wouldn't want, and unfortunately, I couldn't hide the wings, nor did we know a spell that makes the wings disappear.
The next thing I knew was that Sunset was several inches closer to me. “So, Lightning, remeber that crystal mirror we saw in one of the castle rooms?” She asked switching the topic.
“How can I forget. We even got warned while just looking at it.” I chuckled, but then realized what was she really up to. “What, are you planning on something to do with it?”
“Yeah, we both know it’s not just an ordinary mirror, I think it’s a some sort of portal to another world if I’m not wrong. So, I was thinking, what secrets could the 'other side' of the mirror be hiding, maybe there’s something interesting. I'm sure that if I'm the ruler of Equestria, everything would be better. ” Sunset finished the sentence almost whispering, though I mostly ignored it.
“Hm, you know we can get caught, right? But yeah, sounds better than spending the whole morning in this damn castle...”
“Who cares, we’re not gonna get caught, I know so. And if we do get caught, we’ll just tell that we’re looking for Princess Celestia or something.”
“Fine.” Was all I said.
Sunset and I went through the castle halls and to the room where this magical crystal mirror was. But unfortunately, our luck ran out a bit, or at the very least that was what we thought.
“Sunset Shimmer, what are you doing here, I thought I banned you from the castle?” The ruler of Equestria suddenly asked us from behind, with a higher voice than usual.
Banned from the castle? What the fuck is she talking about? I thought.
“Guards, please take these two out of the castle, now.” Celestia ordered to two royal guards that were accompanying her.
“Wait, why me?” I asked surprised with what the princess said.
She responded a scowl, briefly observing the 'new' wings that I had.
I backed a bit, surprised by her reaccion. Sunset however, was still eager to argue. “If you make me a princess now, it’ll—”
“Enough!” Celestia shouted to us. And without warning, the two guards surrounded us, and pushed us out of the castle, I almost triped, but gained balance afterward.
“This is the biggest mistake that you ever made, princess!” Sunset said to Celestia, annoyed by everything the princess has said to her.
The guards escorted us, Sunset’s eyebrows looked like they formed an incomplete triangle, while I just stayed blank, though I had a feeling that this was gonna get worse, or maybe not. Apparently, the royal guards, not only the ones that were with us, always looked like they’re spaced out or something, so surprise attacking was easy. And that was exactly what Sunset was thinking.
Sunset stared at me with her vicious scowl, still looking quite beautiful however. I could already read her mind and know what was she up to, so I just nodded to her. Immediately, when the chance came, she kicked the belly of the guard that was on her right, knocking him off to the wall, I followed, kicking the face of the guard by my left, and shooting him with one of my lightning bolts from my horn. Both guards were eventually brought down, surprisingly.
“Pathetic royal guards, just walking like idiots.” Sunset said turning her face to me. “I told you this would be a success.”
Rolling my eyes, I looked at her deadpanned. “Yeah, like you’ve said it from the start. But yeah, that was kinda surprising, I always thought royal guards were ready for anything.”
“From what I've seen until now, they just seem to be fucking idiots, and they’ll just respond if they really know what they’re doing.”
“Hm, yeah. But what was that that Celestia said to you before, you know, something about you being banned from the castle?” I said switching the topic.
“Oh, forget that, the Crystal Mirror is just steps away from where you’re standing.” She said with smirk, pointing to where the mirror was. And without saying anything, she pulled me toward the mirror, both of us fell into the portal of the mirror or the mirror of the portal or whatever it’s called. Our bodies twirled while passing through, until finally we entered another world, the other world that Sunset was so desperate to see.
By the time we came out of the portal, both of us got blasted forward, our faces almost hit the ground. Sunset landed on her back, while I landed face down, and if that wasn’t unfortunate enough, my forelimb was literally underneath me when I landed, almost breaking it.
“Ah, shit! Gah, that hurt a lot.” I murmured angrily as I tried to stand up, only to notice that it felt much harder for me. It wasn’t because of what happened when I landed, but there was definitely something odd happening. Sunset, still lying on the ground, reached her forehead, only to feel her bare skin and that noticeable wavy lock of red hair that she always had ever since.
Something was obviously missing. “Where in the fucking world is my horn?!” Eyes narrowed, same as before, she glanced at me, but instead of protesting about everything else, her eyes were now as wide as they could get.
“What?” I said flatly.
Completely stunned by my appearance, or at least that was what I thought she was looking at, Sunset immediately looked at herself, only to notice a feeling of unease. I looked at both of us speechlessly, with the same reaction as Sunset.
“OK, so we’ve literally lost our damn magic, and how we look is now fucking different?” She said looking at the ground. I remained still on the spot where I fell, but then attempted to walk like I would back in Equestria. It felt odd however, like my legs felt longer than my arms or something, and it was pretty unstable.
“You look more stupid than Celestia’s guards.” She started saying blankly, but let out a small giggle, despite the current situation that we were in.
Much to our surprise, and also embarassment, someone passed near us, a somewhat strange look started to appear on her face. Looking from bottom to top, it semeed like the majority of what she was wearing was blue. Her hair was somewhat white, but I could rapidly distinguish it from pure white. Her skin was blue, but it was distinguishable from her clothes.
As soon as Sunset saw her, she instantly stood up on two legs, but she almost couldn’t balance herself, leading to more confusion for the girl that was in front of us. After a few moments however, she started walking away, still with a confused look.
When she was at a greater distance away, Sunset tried to gain balance, this time a little more successful, and afterwards, much to my surprise, she glared at me, but it was a somewhat false glare.
“What did I do now?” I asked confused.
She kept glaring at me, but later stopped to speak. “If you didn’t do that fucking pose of yours, we wouldn't have got embarassed.”
“Can't I try to walk like I did back in Equestria? Besides, that's what you would've also done anyway.” I said pointing at her.
She rolled her eyes, and later looked away from me. She looked at our surroundings with a curious expression in her face. I turned to my right where the horse statue was, I first paid attention to the far background however, which seemed like a similarly familiar site to one back in Equestria, if I could only remember the name of that place. Looking attentively, all I could see were presumably very tall buildings that, from where we were, pretty much looked like long sticks. But my interest suddenly turned toward the horse statue that was in front of us, let's not forget, that was where Sunset and I came from, but what was even the sense of a horse statue in a world where the inhabitants aren't horses. Maybe because it has a connection to Equestria or something, who knows?
I looked toward my back, and to the huge building that was in front of us. The huge structure had an impressive amount of windows, it was majorly pinkish maroon, a color that I probably just invented, it also had a big blue dome on its roof, which was surely made of glass.
“So, what now? I'll surely not go back to Equestria.” Sunset spoke while looking at the same thing that I was looking.
I turned towards her. “I dunno.” I said flatly. Lacking ideas of what to do, I just said what first struck my mind. “Hey, even if you don't have your horn or magic, you look much better in this world.” I said with a small grin.
“Oh, shut up.” She said grimacing.
“But it’s true...”
She groaned while frowning at me at the same time. “You know what? Let’s just enter through that door over there and see what’s inside.” She said pointing at the entrance of the pinkish maroon building.
“Fine, whatever.”
Soon after entering, Sunset's lower jaw dropped down to the floor, shocked at how large that place was. “This place... is enormous.”
Noticing this, a smirk grew on my face. “Well, we have to be logical and reasonable, if the outside is huge, then the inside should be the same, that's obvious.”
Hearing that, Sunset's mouth returned to normal size, and faced me in an instance. “Ugh, shut your fucking mouth up!” She said, throwing me a disgusted look.
All I could do was laugh, which just pissed her off more. She suddenly grabbed my chest, and looked directly into my face. “Did you even hear what I said before?”
“Yeah yeah, whatever.”
She clenched her... uh, hoof, I guess, into a ball, signaling that she was still kinda irritated. She then let go of my chest, but pointed at my face. “You'll see.”
Footsteps can be heard getting closer with each step, this indicated that we weren't the only ones there. As the place was enormous, we could see who was walking toward us from a far distance. Interestingly, it was another girl, and like Sunset and the girl that we've seen outside, she was wearing a skirt, and knee-high... uh, shoes? Seriouly, we don't wear these types of hoofwear back in Equestria, so God knows how they're called; I don't even know if they're called hoofwear.
As the she was heading toward us, she raised an eyebrow. “Hey, I've never seen you two, you must be new around here. Welcome to Canterlot High School, CHS for short. My name's Rainbow Dash, nice meeting ya.” She offered a... hoofshake? Again, I don't know how that is called in this world.
The atmosphere in the place became quiet, but I instantly broke the silence by introducing myself. “Uh, I'm Lightning Bolt... um, nice meeting you as well.” I said awkwardly, not sure if the latter of what I said is true. But either way, I shook her hoof, or whatever these things are called.
Sunset gave a strange look at first, but then introduced herself anyway. “OK, uh... I'm Sunset Shimmer.” She said without extending any... I guess I should still say hooves for it.
“Sweet, I hope everything goes awesome with you two. Oh, if you need some help with something, you can always go to the principal's office,” She said pointing to where it was. “Her name's Celestia, but to be more respectful, just call her Principal Celestia.”
Obviously, all of this was strange and surprising for me and Sunset, not only the name of the principal, but also the name of the school.
“I guess I better get going, I hope you two will have a great time here. See ya!” Rainbow Dash walked away from us, waving her hand.
When she was far enough, I started talking to Sunset in a lower tone than before. “Damn, all of that was strange, everypony that... I-I mean, everyone that we've seen until now seems to be wearing clothes at all times as well, very different from Equestria.”
Sunset wasn't paying much attention to me, instead, she had a surprised look on her face. I gotta admit I also had a pretty surprised reaction, but hers was just, uh, more surprising.
“Has Princess Celestia followed us?! Is Canterlot now a school in this world?! Is—”
“Whoa, calm down Sunset.” I said, interrupting all of her doubts, which obviously are also my doubts.
“Okay okay.” She rapidly answered. “You know what, let's just go to the principal's office and meet... well, you know who.” She narrowed her eyes, with her teeth gritted.
“Hm, maybe the name 'Celestia' is just a coincidence, though I do doubt 'Canterlot' being in the same situation.”
She stopped to think for a moment, but gestured a "come with me" with her hoof, or whatever, indicating that I should follow her. “I really doubt any of these names are just a damn coincidence, remember that horse statue before, you know, where we both came from? That definitely has a connection to our world.”
As we entered, all that we saw was a large newspaper that was being held by someone. We were still pretty confused, but when the newspaper was held down, we finally saw how the principal was. She had the same colors as Princess Celestia, or maybe she was her. Sunset and I suddenly felt a feeling of nervousness and a bit of unease.
“Good morning, how can I help you?” She started speaking. As she put her cup of coffee onto the table, she looked at both us with some curiosity. “You two must be new here, a warm welcome to CHS for both of you.” She said with a kind voice.
Sunset already had her eyebrow raised, and a somewhat shocked face. However, her nervousness had almost gone by then. I remained silent, without making any funny face expressions, but inside, I was as surprised as Sunset. Seriously, the voice of the principal is the same as Princess Celestia back in Equestria, her skin and hair colors were also the same. The only things that weren't the same is that the principal didn't have the large horn that the princess had, she had clothes, like the rest of us, and her hair wasn't flowing. Just imagine if the same situation that Sunset and I were in happened to you.
“Uh, yeah, a fellow student called Rainbow Dash had already welcomed us, but I guess another welcome is appreciated.” I lied in the last part, but no one seemed to have noticed except Sunset. Trying to brake the awkwardness a little more, I somehow introduced myself. “Oh, uh, by the way, my name’s Lightning Bolt.” I said, a little short of words.
“My name is... well, I guess Rainbow Dash also told you my name already,” The principal said as she raised an eyebrow and smiled a little, and then turned toward Sunset. “And what’s your name, young lady?”
“I, uh... well, um, I-I mean, I’m Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset said discontinuously.
Principal Celestia looked a bit confused, but continued to talk anyway. “Hm, what nice names you two have. Anyways, I hope both of you enjoy it here at CHS, and don't forget, this is Canterlot City after all, so there should always be something fun to do!”
“Yeah, uh, we shall meet you again.” I said awkwardly.
The principal chuckled. “I shall meet you two again both then.”
I was kind of dumbfounded at the moment, and a little surprised as well. Sunset however, was already heading toward the exit door. I waved somewhat strangely at the principal, and then followed Sunset.
The next thing that the principal said had made both of us blush a little. “I guess you two are in somekind of relationship?” She asked kindly.
We stood in front of the door freezed on our spot, our cheeks redder than Sunset's hair. I was the first to turn around, and l said the first thing that I could say. “Uh, I... we, um, no. We're just, uh... friends.” Even I didn't know what was I talking about, Sunset and I were just classmates, or at least that was what we were back in Equestria.
“Friends?” The principal raised an eyebrow. “Okay then.”
Without saying anything else, nor looking at the principal, Sunset and I exited as fast as we could. And once outside, both of us stopped, still blushing a bit. Without looking at each other, Sunset started talking. “What was all that about?”
“I have no fucking idea.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Ever since we came out of the portal, it was all strange. But I think that's something expected.” I looked at Sunset, only to receive a scowl from her. “Not what you wanted to hear I guess.” I smiled nervously.
Sunset sighed eventually. “No, but I think I've just noticed something, everything and everypony here... I-I mean everyone here has somekind of counterpart of something or someone back in Equestria. But everything and everyone here lacks magic.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
That scowl of Sunset came back as soon as I asked that question however. “Are you really that stupid Lightning? There's a city called Canterlot in this world, there's also someone called Celestia here, and I guess there are a lot of other things with the same names as those back in Equestria.” She explained a little annoyed.
“Oh, now I get what you mean.” I said. The only thing that she gave in return was another scowl, unsurprisingly.
We walked toward the exit of the huge building, which, much to our surprise, was a school. What we saw as we exited however, were two, somewhat smaller, students. One was quite slim, while the other one was a bit fat. “Those two look like they can help us around.” Sunset turned toward me with a smirk, to which I did the same to her.
Just outside the school building, two students, smaller and shorter than me and Sunset, stood there, facing their backs at us. From the looks of it, it seemed like they were doing nothing. The one on the left was smaller, his hair was orange, and his skin looked like a mix of blue and gray. He was quite fat. The one to the right however, was a little taller, but very slim. He had amber-colored skin, similar to Sunset, and turquoise hair.
"Hm, these two look like they can help us, but don't they look like kinda dumb and stupid?" I said scratching my head.
Sunset stood still, thinking at the same time. "If they're stupid enough to understand that we know very little about this place, but not stupid enough to know things about this world, then they're the type of people that can help us." She explained.
"Okay, we can try."
As we walked nearer, one of them, the taller, turned toward his... uh, friend? "Hey, do we know who these two are?" He said pointing at me and Sunset.
"No." The shorter one answered.
The taller one looked at us for a moment, and a cheerful smile appeared on his face. "Oh, oh, they're new students!" He said as he extended his right... uh, you know what, I'll just call it "forelimb".
"What do you think?" I whispered to Sunset.
Looking at the two, she stood still, thinking again. "What if we just introduce ourselves? These two seem different from the other students that we saw before."
"Hm, seems fine to me." I answered with a low tone.
Sunset cleared her throat while taking a step forward. "Em, my name's Sunset Shimmer. And, uh, this is Lightning Bolt." She said pointing at me with her right hand.
The taller one withdrew his forelimb, but the smiled that he had was still on his face. "Nice to meet you Sansut Shimmer and Latnung Bolt."
Sunset and I threw a glare to each other, but we were able to calm ourselves. "Um, it's actually Lightning Bolt and Sunset Shimmer." I said.
"Oh, okay." They both said in unison. By that time, Sunset and I continued to exchange disgusted looks. Rolling my eyes, I turned toward them.
"And what are your names?"
Glancing at each other, they instantly introduced themselves.
"I'm Snips." The smaller one said.
"And I'm Snails." The taller one said afterward.
I raised an eyebrow. Hm, what short names these two have. I thought to myself.
"So, could you two help us around. Uh, by this I mean if you two can answer questions and stuff, or perhaps let us know more about this place." Sunset said pointing at the two students.
"Ooh, ooh, of course we can help." The orange haired one shouted excitedly. The taller one just nodded.
Sunset turned toward me with a small grin. "Let's see if they can truly help us." She whispered.
I returned the grin to her. "I'll ask the first question to see if they do know something." I faced the two, and lifted my right forelimb while pointing at its upper part. "So, uh, what are these called again?" I asked, hoping they were stupid enough to properly answer the question.
They were, lucky for us. "Oh, these are called hands, that's an easy question." The smaller one answered.
Oh, so that's what these fucking things are called.
"And how about these?" I pointed at the five long things that projected from the so called hand.
"Those are fingers, they're part of the hand. And the hands is part of the arms." Snails said, pointing at the two very long things that projected from my torso.
"And the arms are connected to the torso by the shoulders." The orange-haired one said rapidly, pointing at the very end of the so called arm.
Sweet, nice to know. I thought as I smirked.
Sunset also had her own doubts, and noticing that I stopped asking any more questions, she immediately asked the two students. "So, uh, what creatures are we again?"
"We're humans silly." Snails briefly chuckled. "Your questions are easy."
"Then, uh, what was this city called again?" Sunset continued asking.
"Oh, that's an easy one. It's called Canterlot." Snips said. Although we already knew what this city was called, we just wanted to make sure. Hearing the name "Canterlot" in a totally different world is still quite strange however, at least for us, which is kinda obvious.
"And in what part of the city are we?"
"We're in Manhattan, close to the northern part I think." The turquoise-haired one answered.
Hm, Manhattan? Sounds very familiar, doesn't it...? Sunset thought as she rubed her chin.
At that time, we were heading to a quite large green open space, which I then noticed that it was a soccer field. Soccer isn't really that common back in Equestria, and I've never actually played it. Perhaps I'll get a chance to play it in this world? Maybe. "Cool soccer field you got in this school, it's larger than others I've seen." I said in a somewhat lower tone than before. I've actually only seen soccer fields in photos, so I don't really know how big they were.
"Yeah, there's always lots of space here." Snails commented.
"Hm, what other types of sports do you play here?" I asked curiously.
Rubbing his chin, Snails narrowed his eyes to me, but his face later went back to its normal state. "All kinds of sports, from American football to swimming, baseball and badminton, as well basketball and volleyball. But there are still a lot more than just those." He said cheerfully.
A little amazed to be honest, but besides soccer, the sport called "American football" somewhat caught my attention.
Hm, American football, maybe that's what Equestrian football is called in thia world?
Sunset promptly thought of a different question to ask. "Can I ask a different question? Uh, how about something related to magic... hm, do you kinda use or believe in magic?" Sunset asked unsurely.
"Magic? Um, we like magic tricks, and that's magic I guess, but I don't know if there are real magic spells or fairy wands or other stuff like those..." Snails said caressing his chin.
Hm, interesting, if that's true, then I truly don't need my horn in this world anymore, seems fair. Sunset thought smiling devilishly.
We continued asking questions about the world that we were in, until we finally had no other big doubt, or, to explain it better, the doubts that we had, at least almost all of them, were answered.
"So, uh, I guess you two should be heading to your, uh, classes?" Sunset asked plainly.
"Oh, yeah, we should do that." Snips said like someone foolish. They both suddenly walked away from us before we could say anything. It didn't really matter to us anyway.
"Well, seems like those two were fit for the job." Sunset said confidently. "I'll admit that was lucky though, not so many people have that kind of stupidity to answer questions that probably everyone here already knows."
"Huh, yeah, at least we're not gonna be laughed at, that's for sure." I stopped to think. "Hey, how about taking a closer look at the soccer field, maybe I can even learn how to play the sport." I smirked looking toward the big soccer field just several steps away.
"In your dreams, I can go and look at it, but I didn't come to this world for sport, I can here because I wanted to find more power, you know that yourself. And yes, we may not have magic here, but it'll be easier to manipulate people here."
"Are ya sure?" I said, still grinning.
"Of course I'm sure!" She said looking at me with her vicious scowl.
I exhaled. "I'll just go to the soccer field." I said flatly.
"Fine, do whatever you want, I'll go on my own."
I headed to the soccer field, receiving several looks from many students, mostly because I was new. I ignored them however, and just minded my own business. As I was looking at the goal, something that felt like wood bumped into me.
*crash*
"Ugh, what the fuck?" I whispered to myself as I fell to the ground. While placing my hand over my chest, I turned toward the thing that bumped into me, only to see a blonde girl with a farmer's hat, and obviously, like other girls in the school, she also had knee-high boots. At first, we just stared at each other, I had my eyes narrowed for some reason. It seemed very strange, and a bit stupid, to wear a farmer's hat in a school.
"Who are ya? You seem to be new here." The blonde girl asked curiously.
I stood up from the ground and cleared my throat. "Eh, yeah, I am kinda new here. And not many people know me, ya know?" I said scratching the back of my neck.
"That's obvious." She laid the wooden box that she was holding, the one that I've bumped intp. "Oh, and sorry for bumping into ya. Call me Applejack, what's your name?"
"I'm Lightning Bolt." I took a look at the wooden box that was on the floor. "So, is that apple juice?"
"Nope, that's apple cider, which is kinda different from apple juice."
Apple cider, a drink that I've only tasted once or twice. It was back in Equestria, the brothers... uh, I think they were called Flim and Flam, were quite popular, so from what I remember, I just tried a small amount of their apple cider, which didn't really taste that bad, so I guess apple cider in this world has the same taste? Probably.
"Hm, may I taste the uh, cider?" I asked out of the blue.
"The cider's fer the school cafeteria, so you should pay fer it." She said rubbing her chin. "But considering ma family makes quite a lot of apple cider, perhaps you could have some." Grabbing a bottle with her right hand, she tossed it to me. "Just this once, ya hear me?"
"Fine, whatever."
After entering the school, what Sunset had in mind was going to the cafeteria for some food, but the problem was that she couldn't find it. And there was actually another problem, she didn't have money to buy anything.
She found the principal's office, which is to be expected since both of us were there before. Most of the corridors had green lockers, so it's easy to get lost. Sunset headed toward to the right, but then ended up in another corridor full of green lockers. She went to the left until the end of the hallway, a few steps more and what she found wasn't actually what she was expecting.
"This isn't the cafeteria." She mumbled to herself as she tried to remember what that big place was. While looking around, she realized it could only be one thing. "Damn it, this is the gymnasium. Or gym. Whatever works." She said with an annoyed look.
As she walked passed it, someone with pink hair suddenly grabbed Sunset's shoulder. "You're new here, aren't you? Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie." The pink girl said with a wide smile as she extended her right hand for a handshake.
"I'm looking for the cafeteria, not for someone." Sunset said, still a little annoyed.
"Oh c'mon, cheer up!" The pink girl said with a happy tone. "At least tell me your name?"
"Argh, fine, call me Sunset Shimmer then!" She said turning away without doing anything else.
"New students... always very strange, but I know I'll always get to know them better." The pink girl grinned and mumbled to herself. Seeing that there wasn't anything else to do there, she hoped toward the opposite direction from where Sunset was heading.
"Are ya finished with that?" Applejack asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yeah, kinda." I ruminated for moment. "So, I think I'd still go with apple juice instead of cider if I was to choose."
"Argh, I didn't ask your opinion, but for your information, apple cider is healthier, it ain't sweetened like apple juice, ya know?"
"Yeah, yeah..." I rolled my eyes. "Healthiness is something, but taste is another."
"Gosh darn, ya would prefer the unhealthy than healthy?" She pointed at my face.
"Goddamn." I smirked as I imitated what she said before, but in a more offensive way. "Sometimes, yeah."
With brows furrowed even more, she shook her head and slapped her forehead, and then carried the wooden box that I bumped into. "I'll go to the cafeteria, I shall se ya later then."
"Uh, yeah... later, of course." I stood motionless for a few moments until someone tapped on my shoulder.
A little surprised, I turned my head rapidly to see who tapped me, but what I saw was a rather familiar face, and unsurprisingly, a familiar hair. "I see you met one of my friends." She said smiling smugly. "Care to join me for a soccer practice?"
"Wait, so that blonde girl that I've just met is your friend?"
"Yeah, got a problem?"
"Um, no. It's just somewhat of a coincidence I guess." I shrugged.
"So, soccer practice?" She begged me.
I drew an exhale as I scratched my head. "Uh, what if I told you that I don't know how to play."
A bit shocked, and kinda perplexed at the same time, Rainbow Dash could only give a face with jaws dropped to ground. "How? I-I don't believe you, like, really? You seem like the perfect guy for this type sport, or any sport to be honest."
"Well, uh, back in my, um, old school, I didn't really play soccer much. I was kinda more into other sports actually." I said, a little unsure.
Still a bit surprised, Rainbow took a few steps toward me, and playfully punched me on the shoulder. "Dude, you gotta know how to play soccer, or else you're, uh... uh, you know what, just come with me." She said as she grabbed my wrist.
"Whooaa!"
Sunset was walking through more corridors, which obviously had green lockers everywhere. Even though desperate for finding the cafeteria, she stopped to think. "Damn cafeteria, is there any other place that I haven't checked?" She mumbled to herself. Remembering that Canterlot High is such an enormous place, she instantly thought about a second floor. "Hm, this place is huge, so there should be more floors, right?" She walked back to the entrance and desperately looked at her surroundings until she found stairs the led to a higher floor. "Double damn it, how did I forget about these stairs." She climbed them until reaching the second floor. Seeing that the place was still very large, she decided to walk at a more normal speed so she wouldn't miss anything important.
Walking farther from the stairs, Sunset found another large space, though still not the cafeteria. What she saw was nothing more than a librabry, the school's library. But a distinct reaction came out of Sunset. "A librabry...?" Her thoughts then shifted to all the magic spells that she used to learn from different books back in Celestia's castle. "All those magic spells, the dream of becoming a princess of Equestria..." She sighed. But that defeated face of hers was later replaced by a pale grin. "Well, at least I don't have to worry about a Princess Celestia in this world." She murmured to herself as she walked pass the school's library.
"Oh, come on Rainbow Dash, I know what's a penalty kick!"
"That was just if you don't remember."
A small smile grew on my face. "Maybe you're the one who forgot what's a penalty kick." I said with a nudge.
"Hmph, I'm the captain of every sports team here at CHS, so why would I damn forget about a fucking... uh, penalty kick?" She ended the sentence with an unsure voice tone, and mildly blushing cheeks.
I laughed. "Hah, seems like you can't even remember the word." I was able to control my laughs in an instant. "So, let's continue the 'soccer practice'?" I said in a mischievous way.
The way I said it just made her blush a little redder than Sunset's hair. "Y-you know what, let's just continue with it." She looked at me with a vicious glare, similar to the ones that Sunset gave me.
I couldn't help but laugh a little more, not caring about anything else.
"S-so, are we gonna continue or what?" Her tone became flatter than before, and she crossed her arms, still blushing though.
"Fine, fine." I said, still with a smug smile.
From the opposite side of the field, someone, who by way I don't know, was walking toward us. He was orange, well, most of his body was orange, his hair was striped with two shades of orange, one darker than the other. Oh, and by the way, if I still didn't say how my hair is, all that I have to say is that is blue, two shades of blue. One was baby blue, yes, it sounds pathetic, doesn't it? And the other shade was a blue that has my first name, so I guess the name's lightning blue? Probably.
The orange guy went nearer to us, his face seemed like that of a kind man, but his appearance was overall tough, not as tough as me though.
"Hey fellas, how's it goin'? What are you two playing?" The orange guy asked.
"You have eyes, right?" Rainbow replied.
"Oh, yeah, can I join you two?"
"Is he your boyfriend, Rainbow Dash?" I asked out of the blue.
"WHAT, NO!" Rainbow shouted immediately. The question alone had made her face like a bomb about to explode. Seriously, it was far redder than a tomato, wait, is that even possible? I dunno.
I laughed loudly, and the orange guy joined, despite the question being about him as well. This just made Rainbow Dash more irritated than before.
Grabbing my chest, Rainbow furrowed her brows more. "Listen, Lightning, he is NOT my boyfriend, I don't even have one." She let go of my chest, and tried to calm herself.
"Hey, you're new at CHS, my name's Wonderfire, nice to meet ya." As usual, he extended his hand for a handshake, like the other students that I've met.
I narrowed my eyes for no reason, or perhaps there was. "I'm Lightning Bolt." I said as I shook his hand.
"So, let's go have lunch? I'm starving." Rainbow said like everything was back to normal.
"Yeah, of course." Wonderfire said.
"Yeah, let's go." I nudged Rainbow, and then gave her smirk. What I was expecting was a scowl or something, but surprisingly, she actually blushed a little.
Walking through more corridors, Sunset's tummy suddenly growled, indicating that Sunset was very hungry, well, it's kinda obviously since she desperately wanted to go to the café.
A few steps she took until she met a rather familiar person, a person with pink hair and skin. "Wait, that's the pink girl from before, right?" She mumbled as she bit her lower lip. What made Sunset more confused was that the pink girl was holding a balloon in her hand.
The pink girl hopped like a small kid toward Sunset, cheerfully and blissfully. Sunset just frowned at her.
"Heya, Sunset Shimmer, how ya doin'?" She said happily as she lifted both of her hands to the air, along with the balloon that she had.
"How did you remember my name that easily?"
The pink girl went closer to Sunset, smiling cheerfully. "Well, I remember it, so I guess... uh, it remains in my mind? And besides, I like meeting new students, and who wouldn't a new friend. You can never have too many!"
Heh, yeah, friends... Sunset thought arrogantly.
"So, what were you looking for anyway?" The pink girl asked curiously.
Before Sunset could say anything, her stomach growled again. Hearing this, the pink girl figured out what Sunset wanted at the moment.
"Oh, so you're hungry. Aaand you're looking for the cafeteria, right? Then it's just right there." She said pointing to the where the café was.
Without saying anything else, Sunset went straight forward to the where the cafeteria was. Unbeknownst to Sunset however, the pink girl followed her silently.
Once inside, Sunset walked rapidly to where the food was, but once there, it was when she realized that her pockets were empty. Her eyes went as wide as saucers.
Fuck, no, I forgot that didn't have money.
"What's wrong? Don't have money, do ya?" The pink girl came out of nowhere, or at least that was what Sunset thought.
"GAAAAH!" Sunset screamed. But the surprised face what later replaced by one of her vicious glares. "Ugh, why do you have to sneak up on people like that? And how did you fucking know about the money situation."
The pink girl brought her index finger to her mouth. "Shhh, don't say those bad words, it's uh, bad."
"Fine." Sunset said scowling.
"So, about your money situation," The pink girl pull out a small stack of dollar bills of different amounts from her pocket. "Here, have this." She gave Sunset part of the stack. "This just happens once, okay?"
Sunset grabbed the money from the pink girl's hand, and kept most of it inside her leather jacket, yeah, I'm serious, that jacket of hers is full of secrets pockets on the inside, so hell knows what she's keeping in them. "Okay." She said a little annoyed.
Instead of directly buying food however, Sunset walked toward her right. Unexpectedly, familiar faces popped up from the opposite side of the café. "Hm, is that the rainbow girl from before? And is that... Lightning?" She said with a raised brow. She became more confused when she saw the orange guy by my side. "Huh, I wonder who that orange guy is." She said whispering.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!!" The pink girl suddenly shouted when she saw the rainbow-haired girl.
Looking at who called her, Rainbow's blushing was replaced by a coy smile. "Hey, Pinkie Pie!" She said as she walked closer to the pink girl.
I glanced at Wonderfire, who was already buying food for lunch. I was gonna say something to him, but I hesitated and went to where Sunset was. With a smug smirk, I nudged Sunset the same way I did to Rainbow. "So...?"
"So, what? Da fuck are you even doing here?" Sunset frowned.
"Um," I cleared my throat. "I'm hungry, got a problem with that?" I said. My eyes drifted lower until I saw that Sunset had dollars in her hand. "Hey, where'd you get that?" I said pointing at her right hand.
Sunset took a quick look to where I pointed, and realized what was I talking about. "Oh, uh, well, that pink girl over there felt kinda bad for me because, uh, you know..." She scratched the back of her head.
"And she gave you money? Because you didn't have? Huh, that's a bit strange."
"Who cares? It was just for lunch. Oh, and speaking of which, I'm starving!" She said as she caressed her hand over her stomach. Afterward, she went to where the food was served, and probably bought whatever she wanted.
"You're new here, who are you?" Someone said behind me. As I turned, an unfamiliar figure stood there with a welcoming smile. It's obvious though, how could I be familiar with the people here if I've just been here since late morning. It's 1:30 p.m. by the way.
"Oh, well, uh," I cleared my throat. "My name's Lightning Bolt, and yeah, I'm new here."
"Nice to meet you, darling. I'm Rarity." She kept smiling. Her hair is like something that I've never seen before, well, the same goes for Rainbow as well.
Darling? Well, this is odd. I continued to stay still, thinking.
After a few seconds, a voice that came from the same girl caught some of my attention. "Are you okay, darling? You were kinda spaced out. Would you like me to help you with something?"
"Uh, no thanks. And, um, what's with the darling thing?" I asked narrowing my eyes.
She giggled. "Oh, pardon me, I'm just used to calling everyone 'darling', whether they are friends or strangers."
"Strange." I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "So, uh, what are you doing here?"
"What, can't I eat lunch or spend time with my friends?" She said smiling smugly, at the same time that I pointed toward Rainbow and the pink girl beside her.
"Wait, so Rainbow's your friend?" I said to her.
"Of course, and Pinkie Pie as well." She said confidently.
So the name of that pink girl is Pinkie Pie, really reflects her appearance, huh? I thought as I looked toward the pink girl.
"Howdy, Rarity... and, uh, Lightning, again." The same blonde girl from before greeted us, though a little deadpanned when she said the last part.
"Well, hello Applejack, I was just going to grab my lunch, by I've met this... uh, wait? You two know each other?" The white figure alternated looks between me and the apple girl.
"Eh, yeah, we do know each other. We've met in the soccer field, just before I joined Dash for a soccer practice." I explained.
Looking at me with narrowed eyes, Applejack took a step closer to me. "Well, just remember that there ain't gonna be any free apple cider next time."
"Wait, what happened?" Rarity asked confused.
"Just let the apple girl tell you, I'm gonna get my, uh, lunch money, from my, em, backpack, um, yeah." I said awkwardly as I walked backward, toward the exit of the cafeteria.
Once outside, all I could hear was... well, practically nothing, the hallways were calm and empty, or at least most of them. Looking at my surroundings, the first thing I saw was a blue-haired guy, one that had sapphire blue hair. His skin was a bit similar to mine, but my skin was a little yellower. Sounds like a cool guy, right? But let me just tell ya, my striped blue hair is simply better because it looks much more awesome, and that's just for starters, the rest of me just looks much cooler than anyone here, except for maybe Sunset, but how can I compare myself with a girl? No idea.
Continuing along, I saw someone who looked familiar to me, one that was easy to... 'manipulate'.
"Hey, Snips, how's the day going?" I said with a false smile.
"Hi, Lightning, nice to see you again." The orange-haired student said blissfully, though his voice did still sound a bit stupidish, if that's even a word.
"HEY! SNIPS! Over here! Let's go eat in the café together." Someone said at the end of the hallway, then I realized that it was just Snips's pal Snails.
"I'm right behind you." Snips said happily as he walked away from his locker, a mistake that wouldn't be paid off.
Looking at how the orange-haired student walked away, I started thinking. "Hm, he left his locker open," I mumbled to myself as I smirked. "And nobody's out here to see me, so perhaps..." I didn't finish what I was saying, as I was already looking inside Snips' locker. "Huh, quite a lot of stuff, but what I need now is... bingo!" I managed to find what I needed to find, money for my lunch, and luckily, there was more than enough in Snips' backpack.
I headed back to the café, this time directly toward Sunset, not to any other girl, seriously though, why am I meeting a lot of girls, and not so many guys in this school? Nah, it's probably just a coincidence.
"So, you were gone for a few minutes, where were you?" Sunset said to me as I sat down on the chair that was in the opposite side of the table that she was in.
"I actually managed to get some, uh, lunch money."
"From where?" She said raising her right brow.
"From a student that is a little fat and a bit stupid to be honest." I said with a smug grin.
Sunset chuckled. "Heh, I wonder what would he do if he found out." She paused to think. "Maybe he'd go like 'where did my money go, did I spent it all in candy?'" Both us laughed at what Sunset said.
"Well, I'd better get some food right now, I'm starving." I said.
"You better!"
After I had chosen what I wanted to eat, I sat down on the chair that I occupied before. Sunset and I had a surprisingly fast lunch, and then when exiting the café, both of us were assigned to a class by principal herself, who went straight for us just to say the important piece of info, or perhaps it wasn't that important. Also, it was kinda strange for a principal to just come toward us to just say in what class we were in.
All went good to be honest, though we did initially embarrassed ourselves for not bringing any school material, but in the end, all went good.
It was the afternoon, and it was a good, strange day, at least for me and Sunset. Outside the school, we say everyone walk away from the school, which is obvious, most, if not all, were going back to their houses. Sunset and I however, have got to fix a problem, first of all, we didn't have enough money, and second of all, we didn't have a home, that is if both of us are staying in this world.
Author's Note
Hey, guys. So, uh, if you're wondering who's Wonderfire, all I gotta say is just that he's an invented character, nothing else.
