A Fallen Leafby FoxxehSquirrelChaptersChapter 1: Like A WaterslideChapter 2: Like A PortalPrologue: The Beginning Of AutumnChapter 1: Like A WaterslideA Fallen Leaf A fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based creation. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasboro, and was created by Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement intended. Chapter one: Like A Waterslide ~ It was October 23rd. 8:30 in the morning. A building stands, unattached to every house around. A large, brick building. Hanging on the side of the building is a banner that had the name of the building printed in very large, neat letters: Humanville High School. The banner was decorated with confetti and glitter. There were very bright pastel colors splattered across the edges. Autumn could tell that the banner was relatively new, seeing as how the corners and edges were still crisp and didn’t seem to show any signs of wearing down. He noticed a single light hanging above the set of heavy double doors. Though the bulb was not lit, he could only imagine what it must look like at night, being the only thing shining in its proximity. Just above the light and below the banner, was another sign that said “Welcome!” in obtrusive hot pink letters. Autumn Leaves was standing there, daydreaming about what his life would be like for the next two years in this institution, its pale red and brown bricks standing out in the sunlight. He was transferring in as a junior, as he had completed his freshman and sophomore years at the Canterlot High School for Gifted Students. Autumn’s parents had been given a special task of managing the Humanville Water Purification Center, or HWPC for short. He had just arrived in the small town just a week before today, so he could get used to the feel and scenery of his new home. The view from his room wasn’t that bad. He lived on top of a hill overlooking the town. It would be unfair to say he was rich, but his house is definitely noticeable from the lower parts of Humanville. He had just moved from Canterlot, in which mostly wealthy ponies reside. It still had the formal taste of Canterlot, but with hints of the rustic charm of his new town. So, as I was saying before, Autumn was standing and staring for so long that he hadn’t noticed a big, yellow school bus pull up behind him to begin unloading its daily haul of passengers. Students upon students passed him, many paying no attention to his presence. He noticed a girl with short blonde hair, and a wonky eye that made her look kind of silly. He also spotted a boy who wore a brown suit with a red bow tie. His hair was somewhat spiked up. He gave off an air of intelligence. And Britishness. Towards the last of the passengers, one girl with wild, electric-blue hair and purple shades bumped into him. She was wearing a white tee shirt and a pair of white pants. There was a pair of headphones hanging around her neck. A musical note appeared to be on the outside of both of the speakers. He could hear loud electronic music with frantic bass that he could feel when they touched. “Oh, um . . . “ Autumn stammers. “Excuse me.” The girl lifted her shades, revealing a pair of large, magenta eyes. For some reason, Autumn had thought they had been red at first, but with closer inspection, he saw that they were indeed more purple-ish. She blinked once, then smiled, revealing shiny white teeth. “Nah, it’s cool. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” she replied. She then less than gracefully turned around as another girl with blackish-grey hair, wearing a grey dress lighter than the gray of her hair prodded the first girl along. After they started walking again, the girl in the dress noticed the pink bowtie around her neck had become crooked. She quickly adjusted it then blushed, fearing somebody may have seen her. She must be pretty uptight, Autumn thought to himself. He then shook his head. Look at me. I’m already making assumptions, and I don’t even know what she is like. He quickly got over it, as he began to slowly walk towards the double doors of the building. It seemed like an eternity before he reached them. He paused for a moment to think if he really wanted to do this, but he realized he had no choice. So he reached for the handle and pulled. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a blur of a rainbow passed him through the open door. He stood there out of surprise, then he realized what had just happened, and caught a glimpse of the figure at the last second. It was a girl, with all of the colors of the rainbow dyed into her hair. At least, he was pretty sure it was dyed. He saw that she was wearing a light blue tank top, and short black track shorts. She was sporting a pair of white and light blue running shoes. She quickly jolted into a room at the end of the hallway. He was confused as to what was happening, but he just decided to shrug it off. He stepped into the building, and the door closed ominously behind him. “Must have been the wind,” Autumn remarked. He then turned back around, only to see some of the many posters and artworks that have been hung on the walls of the school. There were paintings and drawings of various boys and girls in heroic and comical poses. Some of them were done very well, others not so much. There was a large mural displayed above a case of awards, trophies and photos of sports teams. The mural displayed two young girls playing it what seems to be a castle courtyard. One had pink hair, while the other had shorter, dark blue hair. He thought they looked familiar. There was one picture, however, which stood out to him. At first, he thought it was just something in the corner of his eye. But after he turned towards it, he was greeted with multiple rays of sunlight reflecting off of extremely clean and shiny gems of all shapes and sizes. There were fire-red rubies and baby-blue sapphires scattered all across the picture to make it positively glowing. Next to the picture, there was a photo of a beautiful girl whose purple hair curled like one of the water slides at the Canterlot Water Park. He used to enjoy going there as a kid, and still relished the thought of going again. She was wearing a very white dress made of silk (don’t ask me how I know that), and a necklace that had three shining diamonds in charm form attached to a clasp at the bottom. Below the picture was a name, but he didn’t care much for that. He was too stricken by the photo to notice. In fact, he was so captivated by the girl, that he didn’t notice somebody else sneaking up behind him. “Well, shewt,” a voice behind him said. He thought he recognized a southern country accent in the voice, which also sounded female. He reluctantly turned, not wanting to look away from the beauty he was currently occupied with. When his vision met the new person, he immediately noticed how much tanner she was compared to the girl in the picture. Granted, that girl was pretty pale to begin with. “Ah knew Rarity is pretty an’ all, but Ah didn’t think that just a picture o’ her could do that.” The tan girl that was talking to him had long blonde hair which was tied into a ponytail at the end with a red band. She was wearing a brown cowboy hat, a plaid button-up shirt with an orange tee-shirt underneath, and jean shorts. She also had boots on. I guess you could say she was the local cowboy (or cowgirl, if you would rather have that) in town. Her face was mottled with freckles, and she was wearing a big smile which accentuated her strong features and green eyes. “I- Wha?” Autumn replied, startled by the sudden intrusion. Were it not for her, he probably would have been staring at that picture for the rest of his life. “Now Ah haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new, or sumthin’?” the girl asked. Autumn could easily pick out the curiosity in her voice. She waited for an answer while he tried to get his thoughts straight. “I, uh . . . Yeah,” Autumn began. “I just moved here from Canterlot last-” “Canterlot?” the girl interrupted. “One of mah best friends is from canterlot!” She said this line particularly loud, which caused a few heads to turn, and caused Autumn to blush a little out of shyness. He did notice that one head, however, lit up when she said that. “Did I just hear somebody say Canterlot?” a voice said. Another girl, this time a little younger and shorter, approached us. She was wearing what looked like a school uniform. She had on a brown sweater over a white shirt, with a rusty red tie tucked beneath the sweater. The sleeves were long and hugged her arms snugly. She wore a medium-short skirt that hung down to her knees. The brown of the skirt matched the brown of her sweater. The boots she wore matched the rest of her outfit. She had long violet hair with thin streaks of pink and lighter violet. She was wearing a headband to hold her hair in place. On the accessory was a picture of a star, then six smaller stars around it. He felt like she looked familiar. Something about her made him think of school back in Canterlot. “Eeyup,” the blonde answered. “This fella used to live there.” She pointed a thumb towards Autumn, who then tried to back away a little. He couldn’t get away in time before she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “He seems awful quiet for one o’ them rich folk.” The purple haired girl blinked. “Well, it is nice to meet a fellow ‘Canterlotean’. I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” She extended out a hand, and had a small smile on her face. If anything, Autumn thought it was kind of cute. “I’m Aumntnmn . . .” he mumbled. Twilight blinked, then asked again. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” “I’m Autummnhm . . .” he mumbled. I guess being outward to others wasn’t exactly one of his strong points. “Sugarcube, ya’ need ta speak up! How are we gonna know who you are if you won’t tell us yer name?” the blonde asked, turning to face him. “Now now, Applejack, I’m sure he is just a bit nervous, today being his first day and all,” Twilight responded. At this point, Autumn was shaking in his shoes. Not enough to be noticeable, but he definitely felt it. Twilight turned back to Autumn. “Now, why don’t you just try to calm down, and tell me your name?” Autumn was feeling conflicted feelings. He felt scared that his privacy was being invaded by two people that were trying to make a big deal about knowing his name. And he also felt flustered that they would pay attention to him. He hasn’t exactly been good with other people, especially girls. He took a deep breath. “HiI’mAutumnit’snicetomeetyou.” he blurted out, all of his nervous energy being released at once. If anything, it just made him more nervous and embarrassed. “Oo-kay,” Twilight responded, a look of confusion falling on her face. “No matter. I’m sure we can get you to open up more. All we need to do is help you.” Autumn blinked. People aren't usually this nice to him. He felt a little better. “Now, where do you need to be? I can guide you around the school.” “The main office,” he said quietly. But it wasn’t too quiet that the others couldn’t hear him. “The main office?” asked the one called Applejack. She pointed to the door underneath the mural. “It’s right there.” Autumn look to where she was pointing, and sure enough, there was a sign next to the door that read ‘OFFICE’. “Oh, uh . . . Thanks.” Autumn replied as he began walking towards the door. Applejack and Twilight stood there, watching him as he talked to a woman at the front desk. “Kinda reminds me of Fluttershy,” Applejack suggested. She scratched her head with her finger. “He’s all quiet an’ shy an’ stuff.” “Oh, come on, Applejack,” Twilight replied. “He just needs a little time, is all. Then he’ll come out of his shell. And I can’t help but feel like I know him . . .” A couple short minutes later, Autumn returned from the office with a folder and some documents. One, however, stood out to Twilight. Probably because it was the one on top. “Ooh, is that your schedule? Lemme see.” She commanded as she snatched the paper from his hands. “Hey, I-” Autumn was interrupted by Twilight once more, as a large smile began to grow on her face. “Your first class is Calculus? That’s mine too! We can go there together!” Twilight seemed very excited about the idea of making a new friend. She doesn’t particularly know anybody else in her Calculus class, because the rest of them were all seniors, and she was only a junior. “I’ll finally have somebody to check my answers with!” Autumn looked dumbfounded. How could she be so excited about Calculus? I mean sure, he was good at math, but it was one of the most boring subjects he could think to talk about. “Now, ahm not one fer that fancy-shmancy mathematics, but that is a might impressive that another junior can keep up with Twilight.” Applejack remarked. She reached for the schedule, but Twilight pulled it away before she could wrap her fingers around it. “Wait. What?” Autumn used that last compliment to force himself to feel more comfortable around these two. “You mean there aren’t any others taking it?” “Not juniors. You don’t see many going into the more advanced classes anymore. I guess the expectations of students are just getting lower and lower,” Twilight explained. “May I ask, what school did you go to before coming here?” “I went to the Canterlot High School for Gifted Students. It is really-” He was interrupted once again. He felt it was really getting old at this point. “Really? I went there as a freshman! Though I don’t remember ever seeing you.” Twilight tilted her head up a little and began rubbing her chin while she was trying to remember. “Yeah, weird, right.” Autumn knew that they were in the same grade, and even shared a few classes. The problem was that he was even more shy there than he was here. In Canterlot, most everybody else was able to outshine him in something, so he hardly stood out. And sitting in the back corner of the classroom didn’t help either. Autumn has never been an outgoing student, always opting to pass on activities that required him standing in front of others. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good student, and got his work done. He had spoken with teachers about his ‘condition’, and they agreed to let him just turn in his papers instead. “Anyways, let’s see what else you have on here . . .” Twilight said, before Applejack finally got a hold of the sheet and took it away. “Heeeeey!” “Oh, quit yer complainin’. I wanna see it too,” Applejack began to look through the many words on the page. She began speaking out loud. “You’ve got Chemistry, and-” She rubbed her eyes. “Acting? Sorry, hun, but you don’t seem to be the most outspoken person,” she began, then showed the paper to Twilight. “Twi, ain’t this when Rarity has that class too?” She pointed at the row that had the acting class printed. “Why yes, I believe she does. But I’m sure he’ll still enjoy it.” Applejack took the paper back. “Then it says English, and,” Applejack began to grow a large smile on her face. “You’ve got phy-ed with me an’ Rainbow!” Autumn blinked. “Rainbow?” He looked confused. He had no idea who that was, but felt some sort of familiarity coming from the name. “Yep. She is one of the best athletes in this here school. Second only to me, of course,” the blonde boasted. “But I gotta say, she is one tough cookie.” Rainbow. Autumn couldn’t help but ponder that word. Did it have something to do with what happened earlier today at the door, when he saw a streak of all of the colors of the rainbow rush past him? He shrugged it off, then focused his attention back to the two girls. “She can be super competitive, however,” Twilight then turned and pointed towards Applejack. “So can she. Last year during the annual ‘Running of the Leaves’, she and Rainbow Dash got into a huge fight over who was better at running. It got way out of hand.” After a couple minutes of talking about classes and stuff, a loud chiming noise started coming from the speakers that were high up in the wall. A very loud and excited voice started blaring out random noises and crazy laughter. “HELLOOOOOO, everybody. This is your daily announcer, speaking. I’m Pinkie Pie! Which I think is funny, because I’m not a pie. I’m a human!” The voice was rather high pitch, and Autumn could tell that she was trying to suppress giggles. It didn’t seem to work that well, as a moment later, the voice began to break out in fits of laughter. Then it happened. “Today is a sooooooper special day! Do you wanna know why? Okay, FINE! I’ll tell you! We’ve got a new student in our midst, I can just sense it!” Autumn stood there, dumbfounded by what he was hearing. “Ooh, ooh, I think he’s also from Canterlot! Can you believe it? A student from Canterlot going to school HERE?” “How-” Autumn began, as he was interrupted once more. “He is also talking to two of my bestest friends in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!” Autumn could hear her gasp. Loudly. “Do you think he will be my friend? Hey, hey new person, will you be my friend? Oh, that’s a silly thing of me to ask. Of COURSE he will! I mean, who WOULDN’T want to be friends? You are such a silly person, Pinkie.” Noise could be heard through the speaker, as well as two other voices. A struggle could be heard, then suddenly, the voice from before came again, in a very sing-songy matter. “You can’t catch me! You can’t catch me!” Just then, the door to the office flew open, and out came something Autumn wasn’t prepared for. He couldn’t imagine something so . . . crazy, something so spontaneous being contained in this school. Only something of his worst nightmares could make him shake like he was now. Standing in the doorway, was a VERY happy, and VERY pink girl. Her huge blue eyes and giant teeth seemed to glow, as she stood there, grinning at him. He wasn’t prepared for what would happen next. End of Chapter 1 Chapter one is done, and didn't take that long to finish. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Chapter 2: Like A PortalA Fallen Leaf A fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based creation. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasboro, and was created by Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement intended. Chapter 2: Like A Portal ~ Autumn wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen. He held mixed feelings of curiosity, fear, anguish, and anxiety. The pink thing standing in front of him was just standing there, grinning. And not your ordinary ‘happy, rainbows and sunshine’ grin. This one spread from ear to ear (almost quite literally), and held like a stone. It was almost like her face had been broken and rebuilt to always be smiling. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past her. This girl seemed to still be a bit younger than Twilight and Applejack. She had curly pink hair that really poofed up in the front. She was wearing a hot pink tee-shirt over a lighter pink long-sleeved shirt. She had a short pink skirt that fell to her knees, like Twilight, which matched colors with the top piece. One thing he noticed, however, was she had a pair of small earings attached to her lobes, though he couldn’t get a good look at them. A bombardment of questions and laughter began, as a calmer, more adult voice spoke over the intercom. Autumn also noticed more than a few heads turned his way, which made him want to just disappear and never return. He couldn’t handle all of this pressure for much longer, and was beginning to doubt that choosing to take the acting class was such a good idea after all, if there were any other people in this school like the smiling mass of pink standing before him. “Hi I’m Pinkie. Who are you? Are you the new person? Of course you are! I’ve never seen you before! Will you be my friend? Of course you will! Why wouldn’t you? Do you like cupcakes? I do! Aren’t they DELICIOUS? Where did you come from? Do you want some candy? Because I’ve got some and I would LOVE to share it with you!” The girl kept talking, not needing to breathe. So many questions. So many in such a small amount of time. Her grin didn’t break, as she continued the assault. “What is your favorite color? Mine is PINK! But that is kind of obvious. Do you like pink? Because I do. Wait, I just said that,” She then broke out into a fit of laughter and began rolling on the floor. Even more heads were turned this way. Autumn tried to hide behind Applejack, before she bent down and pulled Pinkie off of the floor. As she was getting back up, he noticed that the earings were three balloons: A central yellow balloon, flanked by two blue ones. “Calm down, Pinkie. Before you break something,” The blonde began. “Now, Autumn, why dontcha introduce yerself ta her so we c’n get past everything.” Pinkie jumped back up with the help of Applejack, still with that crazy grin on her face. Autumn swore that that grin was going to haunt his dreams for years to come. “Hi, I’m Autumn,” he began, as he held out his hand, expecting a handshake. “It’s nice to-” He was interrupted AGAIN, when instead of accepting the handshake, Pinkie jumped at him in a great big hug. “I’m Pinkie. But you already knew that,” She said, through her still exposed teeth. “We’re gonna be the bestest of best friends!” Autumn already knew he was going to regret coming here. He could feel the figure being pulled off of him. “Pinkie, stop that. Or you’ll hurt him,” Twilight came to his rescue and apologized for Pinkie’s behavior. “She’s always like this.” Autumn pushed himself off of the floor and dusted himself off. You know, for being one of the supposedly ‘sanitary and top-rated’ schools in Equestria, that part of the floor sure was dusty. “Yeah, I kinda figured,” He replied. He heard the other person on the intercom system stop talking, as a second ding came. Autumn figured that it was for telling students to get to class. The halls sure were full now. “Is that the bell for class?” “Why yes, it is,” Twilight began. “Perhaps we should go. You can come with me.” She said goodbyes to the other two, then dragged Autumn off to the math class. They had to climb a couple sets of stairs, as the math and science departments resided mostly on the third floor. At the top of the stairs, Twilight stopped to wave at somebody in a classroom. She was a darker skinned girl, who had a mohawk with black and white stripes. Even though Autumn felt intimidated by it, the warm smile on her face put that fear to rest. The girl looked to be wearing traditional African clothes. She had a necklace of many small wooden masks around her neck. The mask at the bottom of the chain had a strange swirl on its forehead. “Now, the class should be right around this cor-” she started, as they turned the corner. Much to her dismay, they stopped in front of an admittedly pretty girl. She had long, straight silver hair and was wearing sky-blue and lighter purple clothes. Nothing outside of your standard shirt and pants combo. She stood there, blocking Twilight and Autumn’s path. “Not now, Trixie. Can’t you see we’re busy?” “We? What’s this, you’ve found yourself a new boyfriend?” Trixie began. Her voice sounded very pompous and boastful. You could tell she was full of herself from a mile away. Even the perfume she wore (don’t ask) promoted selfishness. Twilight blushed at this remark. Autumn just stood there, too surprised and flattered to do anything. “What? Boyfriend? It’s nothing like that!” Twilight quickly replied. The blush only grew stronger. She thought that it was a good thing Autumn hadn’t noticed (at least, she hoped he hadn’t), otherwise their friendship to come would be that much more awkward. “He just transferred here from Canterlot! I’m just-” She was interrupted as the other girl started to talk again. “Ooh, new indeed,” Trixie walked seductively around Autumn, brushing his shoulder with her well maintained hand. “Well, if there is ever anything you need, and I mean anything, then you can just come see momma Trixie and we can fix all of these problems.” Autumn blinked, unable to speak. When he tried, all that came out was a mix of ridiculous squeaks and stutters. “How cute.” she replied, as she blew him a ‘I want you to be mine’ kiss, then walked away in a very elegant manner, her hips swaying back and forth with each step. Autumn blinked once more. When she finally got around the corner they had just emerged from, Twilight let out a deep sigh she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “Ugh. I just can’t stand her sometimes. She is just so, so . . .” She began thinking of a name for Trixie. “I don’t know,” she finally gave up. “At any rate, we should get to class.” The blush was finally fading from her face. But not Autumn’s. A moment later, they approached a doorway into the Calculus room. Autumn noticed a bunch of seniors - at least 20 - sitting on desks and talking to each other. When they entered the room, all eyes turned to him. Including the teacher. He wanted to hide. So many judgmental figures staring at him at once. He almost tried to run away, but Twilight held him in place. “Ah, looks like we’ve got new meat!” The teacher began. He was a bit older than a couple other teachers he’d noticed in the halls. He had short brown hair just falling over his forehead. He had a pair of inexpensive glasses. He had a grey suit on, with a red tie. He looked very formal. “Now, if you would come to the front and introduce yourself.” Autumn gulped, then began slowly walking up to the front. This is exactly what he feared. He thought to himself, they are only seniors! What could go wrong? When he reached the front and turned towards the other students, now attentively sitting in their desks, He saw they were all smiling. One was even laughing, although she was covering it up with her hand. Autumn had no idea what was so funny. As he began, he felt something swell up in his throat. His nervousness was getting the best of him. Then he looked over at Twilight. She was patiently smiling, waiting for Autumn to speak. The look on her face reassured him that she was there for him. He swallowed then began talking. “My name is Autumn,” Nothing changed in the crowd. He looked back to Twilight. Nothing changed. Then he looked at the teacher, who had faked falling asleep as a joke, but then woke up with a startle when he noticed Autumn looking. “Ah, yes. Autumn,” He recovered. “Mind telling us where you’re from, Autumn?” This question didn’t help make him feel much better. Mostly from the way his name was said. “I’m from Canterlot.” That is when everybody else including Twilight broke out into laughter. Autumn just stood there, scared of what was happening. He felt tears begin to rise. He had no idea why they were laughing at him, and he wanted them to stop. He was just barely to make a sentence with the tears about to come on. “I don’t get it. Whad’I do?” They kept laughing. The teacher walked up to him, just finishing up his round of laughter. “Oh, don’t worry about it. We were only joking,” he began. “Only trying to get you to loosen up a bit. You’re acting as stiff as a board. Now, let’s find you a seat . . .” He began looking around for an empty spot Autumn could sit in. Then his face lit up. “There you go. There is an open seat right in front of Twilight,” He pointed to her. He didn’t feel much better, but Autumn cheered up a little. “I believe you two have already run into each other.” Autumn walked over to take his seat. Looking from the front of the classroom, his spot was in the rightmost column of desks, the second one back. There was one desk in front of him, and two behind Twilight. Five columns in total. He shot a smile towards Twilight as he sat down. She noticed, and smiled even more. As soon as Autumn sat down, the teacher spoke to him. “Talk to me after class, Autumn.” Class passed by slowly, as Autumn merely watched the teacher (whose name he later discovered was Mr. Johnson) throw problem after problem on the board. He heard some groans related to the math and a lot of pencils scratching on paper. He also heard a girl humming. More time passed, as even more problems went up. Autumn resorted to doodling to distract himself. On his paper (while everybody else had plain ol’ numbers), he drew a picture of a strange mixture of creatures. It had the head of a pony, antlers, and a lion’s paw, and some other random animal parts. The drawing gave him a strange sense of deja vu. After admiring his work for a short while, Autumn heard Mr. Johnson declare the class to be over. Most of the students left, except for Autumn, Twilight, and a couple of the seniors. Autumn tucked the drawing into a folder and turned to Twilight. “Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you,” she began. “Somebody has to show you to your next class.” She gave him a pleasant smile as he got up to talk to Mr. Johnson. He made his way to the desk. “Not too boring, I hope,” the teacher began. “Wouldn’t want you to fall asleep during class.” Autumn felt surprised at this remark. In the Canterlot High School for Gifted Students, teachers would always regard the students in a purely polite and formal way. This was just the opposite. Perhaps he was foolish to expect more from a small town such as Humanville. “That won’t be a problem, sir.” Autumn stood there, just waiting for something to happen. Mr. Johnson then turned to him, still sitting in his chair. It looked very comfortable. Autumn looked into Mr. Johnson’s eyes and noticed something malicious, even evil almost. He felt like they were staring directly into his soul. Like they could see into the deepest and most private chambers of his conscience. They were almost like portals into nothing. “Now, here is what you will need,” Mr. Johnson began. “I trust you already know how to do this stuff, so here is tonight’s homework.” He handed Autumn a sheet of paper which had ten sets of numbers on it. It didn’t appear to be too difficult. He was also handed a textbook of about 650 pages (which was quite heavy), and another sheet of paper that asked a bunch of different personal facts. “I like to get to know my students on a more . . . personal level,” Autumn felt like he was going to say something else. “Make sure you get those back to me tomorrow morning.” “Sure thing, sir.” Autumn replied. He dared to look into Mr. Johnson’s eyes once more, but didn’t see or feel the same thing from earlier. In fact, they were completely different colors. Strange. The day passed by as would a normal school day. In chemistry, nothing much happened. Autumn recognized the blue-haired girl from earlier listening to music, then the blonde girl with the weird eyes. He thought he saw a girl with pink hair hiding behind a book, but when the class ended, there was no trace of her. Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie all met him outside of the classroom. After talking for a bit, they all went down to the cafeteria. After retrieving his food, Autumn was distracted by thoughts of the pink-haired girl. He was so preoccupied that he lost sight of the three girls. He stood there, looking around until he saw Applejack waving a hand for him. He walked towards the table she was at. His breath was taken by what he saw. At the table, along with Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack, there sat the girl with the purple hair he saw earlier. She was sitting gracefully, munching on a salad. Next to her were two other girls. One was the pink-haired girl from earlier. She had a necklace just like the purple-haired girl, except with three butterflies instead of diamonds. She was calmly smiling as the other girl who had rainbow-colored hair was standing on her seat and telling a seemingly amazing story. As Autumn sat down, Applejack introduced him to everybody. “Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, this is Autumn,” Autumn noticed them stop what they were doing just to greet him. “Autumn, these are Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.” “Why hello, Autumn. What a pleasure it is to meet you,” Rarity said. Her voice sounded very elegant. “I must say I’ve never seen you around before.” “Well, duh! That’s because he is new,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed to Rarity She was now wearing a light blue sweatshirt, but the same track shorts. She then turned to Autumn. “Pinkie wouldn’t stop talking about you. She said you were some smarty pants from Canterlot.” Rarity’s eyes lit up. “Canterlot? Autumn, we simply must get together to chat sometime. It would be my pleasure to invite you to my boutique. “ Autumn didn’t know what to say. Instead, he just looked at Rainbow Dash who now had a hiding Fluttershy behind her. “So,” she began. ”I hear you have gym with me and Applejack. I wouldn’t worry too much, though. You have no hope of keeping up with me.” Autumn already thought she was too arrogant for her own good. “Yeah. Twilight mentioned something about that,” he replied. He then remembered what had happened before he entered the building. “Hey, have I seen you before? You look familiar.” Rainbow Dash thought he was trying to flirt with her. “In your dreams, kid. We’ve only just met,” she began. “And besides, you’re not cool enough for me.” Autumn blinked, then tried to reply when he was interrupted by Fluttershy, who was no longer hiding. “Um, it’s nice to meet you,” she said. She was wearing a simple yellow dress. It looked a lot like Rarity’s. Her voice was very timid. He could tell all she wanted was approval. “It’s nice to meet you too . . . Fluttershy, was it?” he noticed her light up a little. He turned back to Rarity. “And yes, I would like that.” As the conversation died down and broke into different conversations and sounds of eating, Autumn just sat and thought about everything that has happened so far. He had already met some of the people he was probably going to spend the rest of his school years with, and they turned out to be really nice and welcoming. He felt like he would enjoy his time here. However, there was one thing that he couldn’t get out of his head. It was Mr. Johnson’s eyes. Something felt off about them. While he was thinking about that, Rarity got his attention then started to talk. “So, may I ask what your next class is?” she asked. “I have Acting. Seems kind of-” He was interrupted once again. “Ooh, that is the class I have!” She seemed to be positively beaming. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you to the auditorium. That is where we have the class. There is a lot more room for activities.” Autumn imagined Rarity on stage reciting an old poem, but then quickly snapped back to reality when everybody started getting up. “What’s happening? Why is everybody leaving?” Autumn inquired. He then noticed a ringing that resonated through the whole room. It was very loud. “That’s the fire alarm,” Rainbow Dash said. “But it’s usually nothing.” “Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “Except there wasn’t any announcement about there being a drill today.” Everybody then began to worry for the safety of the school. At that moment, a group of teachers, Mr. Johnson included, motioned for them to leave the cafeteria and head outside into the courtyard, away from the danger that a fire could pose. There was an orderly line from the door, as the students moved quickly and efficiently out the front of the school. When everybody was across the courtyard, they could see flashes and strange lighting coming from one of the classrooms. It was on the third floor. Then, out of nowhere, the window broke outwards, and something flew out. Nobody else seemed to have seen it but Autumn. He watched as it flew up into the sky, then eventually disappeared completely. “Oh my, I sure do hope nobody has been caught up there,” Rarity began. “It would be horrible if anybody got hurt.” That is when all hell broke loose. Well, here it is. The story is going to pick up a bit after this. The first chapter was a little slow. Prologue: The Beginning Of AutumnA Fallen Leaf A fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based creation. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasboro, and was created by Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement intended. Prologue: The Beginning Of Autumn ~ There is a day that many people fear and anticipate. A day that marks the beginning of adulthood, and which makes the strong tremble and the weak cry for their mommies. A day that truly tests the strength and willpower of a person, their ability and mental fortitude. But that day isn’t today. In fact, that happened about seven weeks ago. Today is the day Autumn Leaves transfers to the Humanville Highschool. Autumn is a moderately skilled teenager in both athletics and academics. He has a moderately built body, standing at about 5 feet and 10 inches, having just the right amount of body mass. His hair is the color of autumn leaves, a blazing orange on the right side, and a golden yellow on the left. He is wearing a moderately white tee-shirt, and a pair of moderately blue jeans. His shoes are as moderate as the rest of his outfit. On his left wrist, he wears a silver bracelet. The bracelet is used to hold a charm - a special symbol that displays who its wearer is and what he is good at. That charm is given to everybody in Equestria when they come of age. Autumn’s charm is a maple leaf, because it represents the day he was born: The beginning of Autumn. Well, here it is. This is my first fic for anything, so go a little easy on me. The prologue is a bit short, but I don't want to give too much away about my OC. You will discover everything as the story progresses.
Chapter 1: Like A WaterslideA Fallen Leaf A fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based creation. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasboro, and was created by Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement intended. Chapter one: Like A Waterslide ~ It was October 23rd. 8:30 in the morning. A building stands, unattached to every house around. A large, brick building. Hanging on the side of the building is a banner that had the name of the building printed in very large, neat letters: Humanville High School. The banner was decorated with confetti and glitter. There were very bright pastel colors splattered across the edges. Autumn could tell that the banner was relatively new, seeing as how the corners and edges were still crisp and didn’t seem to show any signs of wearing down. He noticed a single light hanging above the set of heavy double doors. Though the bulb was not lit, he could only imagine what it must look like at night, being the only thing shining in its proximity. Just above the light and below the banner, was another sign that said “Welcome!” in obtrusive hot pink letters. Autumn Leaves was standing there, daydreaming about what his life would be like for the next two years in this institution, its pale red and brown bricks standing out in the sunlight. He was transferring in as a junior, as he had completed his freshman and sophomore years at the Canterlot High School for Gifted Students. Autumn’s parents had been given a special task of managing the Humanville Water Purification Center, or HWPC for short. He had just arrived in the small town just a week before today, so he could get used to the feel and scenery of his new home. The view from his room wasn’t that bad. He lived on top of a hill overlooking the town. It would be unfair to say he was rich, but his house is definitely noticeable from the lower parts of Humanville. He had just moved from Canterlot, in which mostly wealthy ponies reside. It still had the formal taste of Canterlot, but with hints of the rustic charm of his new town. So, as I was saying before, Autumn was standing and staring for so long that he hadn’t noticed a big, yellow school bus pull up behind him to begin unloading its daily haul of passengers. Students upon students passed him, many paying no attention to his presence. He noticed a girl with short blonde hair, and a wonky eye that made her look kind of silly. He also spotted a boy who wore a brown suit with a red bow tie. His hair was somewhat spiked up. He gave off an air of intelligence. And Britishness. Towards the last of the passengers, one girl with wild, electric-blue hair and purple shades bumped into him. She was wearing a white tee shirt and a pair of white pants. There was a pair of headphones hanging around her neck. A musical note appeared to be on the outside of both of the speakers. He could hear loud electronic music with frantic bass that he could feel when they touched. “Oh, um . . . “ Autumn stammers. “Excuse me.” The girl lifted her shades, revealing a pair of large, magenta eyes. For some reason, Autumn had thought they had been red at first, but with closer inspection, he saw that they were indeed more purple-ish. She blinked once, then smiled, revealing shiny white teeth. “Nah, it’s cool. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” she replied. She then less than gracefully turned around as another girl with blackish-grey hair, wearing a grey dress lighter than the gray of her hair prodded the first girl along. After they started walking again, the girl in the dress noticed the pink bowtie around her neck had become crooked. She quickly adjusted it then blushed, fearing somebody may have seen her. She must be pretty uptight, Autumn thought to himself. He then shook his head. Look at me. I’m already making assumptions, and I don’t even know what she is like. He quickly got over it, as he began to slowly walk towards the double doors of the building. It seemed like an eternity before he reached them. He paused for a moment to think if he really wanted to do this, but he realized he had no choice. So he reached for the handle and pulled. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a blur of a rainbow passed him through the open door. He stood there out of surprise, then he realized what had just happened, and caught a glimpse of the figure at the last second. It was a girl, with all of the colors of the rainbow dyed into her hair. At least, he was pretty sure it was dyed. He saw that she was wearing a light blue tank top, and short black track shorts. She was sporting a pair of white and light blue running shoes. She quickly jolted into a room at the end of the hallway. He was confused as to what was happening, but he just decided to shrug it off. He stepped into the building, and the door closed ominously behind him. “Must have been the wind,” Autumn remarked. He then turned back around, only to see some of the many posters and artworks that have been hung on the walls of the school. There were paintings and drawings of various boys and girls in heroic and comical poses. Some of them were done very well, others not so much. There was a large mural displayed above a case of awards, trophies and photos of sports teams. The mural displayed two young girls playing it what seems to be a castle courtyard. One had pink hair, while the other had shorter, dark blue hair. He thought they looked familiar. There was one picture, however, which stood out to him. At first, he thought it was just something in the corner of his eye. But after he turned towards it, he was greeted with multiple rays of sunlight reflecting off of extremely clean and shiny gems of all shapes and sizes. There were fire-red rubies and baby-blue sapphires scattered all across the picture to make it positively glowing. Next to the picture, there was a photo of a beautiful girl whose purple hair curled like one of the water slides at the Canterlot Water Park. He used to enjoy going there as a kid, and still relished the thought of going again. She was wearing a very white dress made of silk (don’t ask me how I know that), and a necklace that had three shining diamonds in charm form attached to a clasp at the bottom. Below the picture was a name, but he didn’t care much for that. He was too stricken by the photo to notice. In fact, he was so captivated by the girl, that he didn’t notice somebody else sneaking up behind him. “Well, shewt,” a voice behind him said. He thought he recognized a southern country accent in the voice, which also sounded female. He reluctantly turned, not wanting to look away from the beauty he was currently occupied with. When his vision met the new person, he immediately noticed how much tanner she was compared to the girl in the picture. Granted, that girl was pretty pale to begin with. “Ah knew Rarity is pretty an’ all, but Ah didn’t think that just a picture o’ her could do that.” The tan girl that was talking to him had long blonde hair which was tied into a ponytail at the end with a red band. She was wearing a brown cowboy hat, a plaid button-up shirt with an orange tee-shirt underneath, and jean shorts. She also had boots on. I guess you could say she was the local cowboy (or cowgirl, if you would rather have that) in town. Her face was mottled with freckles, and she was wearing a big smile which accentuated her strong features and green eyes. “I- Wha?” Autumn replied, startled by the sudden intrusion. Were it not for her, he probably would have been staring at that picture for the rest of his life. “Now Ah haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new, or sumthin’?” the girl asked. Autumn could easily pick out the curiosity in her voice. She waited for an answer while he tried to get his thoughts straight. “I, uh . . . Yeah,” Autumn began. “I just moved here from Canterlot last-” “Canterlot?” the girl interrupted. “One of mah best friends is from canterlot!” She said this line particularly loud, which caused a few heads to turn, and caused Autumn to blush a little out of shyness. He did notice that one head, however, lit up when she said that. “Did I just hear somebody say Canterlot?” a voice said. Another girl, this time a little younger and shorter, approached us. She was wearing what looked like a school uniform. She had on a brown sweater over a white shirt, with a rusty red tie tucked beneath the sweater. The sleeves were long and hugged her arms snugly. She wore a medium-short skirt that hung down to her knees. The brown of the skirt matched the brown of her sweater. The boots she wore matched the rest of her outfit. She had long violet hair with thin streaks of pink and lighter violet. She was wearing a headband to hold her hair in place. On the accessory was a picture of a star, then six smaller stars around it. He felt like she looked familiar. Something about her made him think of school back in Canterlot. “Eeyup,” the blonde answered. “This fella used to live there.” She pointed a thumb towards Autumn, who then tried to back away a little. He couldn’t get away in time before she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “He seems awful quiet for one o’ them rich folk.” The purple haired girl blinked. “Well, it is nice to meet a fellow ‘Canterlotean’. I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” She extended out a hand, and had a small smile on her face. If anything, Autumn thought it was kind of cute. “I’m Aumntnmn . . .” he mumbled. Twilight blinked, then asked again. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” “I’m Autummnhm . . .” he mumbled. I guess being outward to others wasn’t exactly one of his strong points. “Sugarcube, ya’ need ta speak up! How are we gonna know who you are if you won’t tell us yer name?” the blonde asked, turning to face him. “Now now, Applejack, I’m sure he is just a bit nervous, today being his first day and all,” Twilight responded. At this point, Autumn was shaking in his shoes. Not enough to be noticeable, but he definitely felt it. Twilight turned back to Autumn. “Now, why don’t you just try to calm down, and tell me your name?” Autumn was feeling conflicted feelings. He felt scared that his privacy was being invaded by two people that were trying to make a big deal about knowing his name. And he also felt flustered that they would pay attention to him. He hasn’t exactly been good with other people, especially girls. He took a deep breath. “HiI’mAutumnit’snicetomeetyou.” he blurted out, all of his nervous energy being released at once. If anything, it just made him more nervous and embarrassed. “Oo-kay,” Twilight responded, a look of confusion falling on her face. “No matter. I’m sure we can get you to open up more. All we need to do is help you.” Autumn blinked. People aren't usually this nice to him. He felt a little better. “Now, where do you need to be? I can guide you around the school.” “The main office,” he said quietly. But it wasn’t too quiet that the others couldn’t hear him. “The main office?” asked the one called Applejack. She pointed to the door underneath the mural. “It’s right there.” Autumn look to where she was pointing, and sure enough, there was a sign next to the door that read ‘OFFICE’. “Oh, uh . . . Thanks.” Autumn replied as he began walking towards the door. Applejack and Twilight stood there, watching him as he talked to a woman at the front desk. “Kinda reminds me of Fluttershy,” Applejack suggested. She scratched her head with her finger. “He’s all quiet an’ shy an’ stuff.” “Oh, come on, Applejack,” Twilight replied. “He just needs a little time, is all. Then he’ll come out of his shell. And I can’t help but feel like I know him . . .” A couple short minutes later, Autumn returned from the office with a folder and some documents. One, however, stood out to Twilight. Probably because it was the one on top. “Ooh, is that your schedule? Lemme see.” She commanded as she snatched the paper from his hands. “Hey, I-” Autumn was interrupted by Twilight once more, as a large smile began to grow on her face. “Your first class is Calculus? That’s mine too! We can go there together!” Twilight seemed very excited about the idea of making a new friend. She doesn’t particularly know anybody else in her Calculus class, because the rest of them were all seniors, and she was only a junior. “I’ll finally have somebody to check my answers with!” Autumn looked dumbfounded. How could she be so excited about Calculus? I mean sure, he was good at math, but it was one of the most boring subjects he could think to talk about. “Now, ahm not one fer that fancy-shmancy mathematics, but that is a might impressive that another junior can keep up with Twilight.” Applejack remarked. She reached for the schedule, but Twilight pulled it away before she could wrap her fingers around it. “Wait. What?” Autumn used that last compliment to force himself to feel more comfortable around these two. “You mean there aren’t any others taking it?” “Not juniors. You don’t see many going into the more advanced classes anymore. I guess the expectations of students are just getting lower and lower,” Twilight explained. “May I ask, what school did you go to before coming here?” “I went to the Canterlot High School for Gifted Students. It is really-” He was interrupted once again. He felt it was really getting old at this point. “Really? I went there as a freshman! Though I don’t remember ever seeing you.” Twilight tilted her head up a little and began rubbing her chin while she was trying to remember. “Yeah, weird, right.” Autumn knew that they were in the same grade, and even shared a few classes. The problem was that he was even more shy there than he was here. In Canterlot, most everybody else was able to outshine him in something, so he hardly stood out. And sitting in the back corner of the classroom didn’t help either. Autumn has never been an outgoing student, always opting to pass on activities that required him standing in front of others. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good student, and got his work done. He had spoken with teachers about his ‘condition’, and they agreed to let him just turn in his papers instead. “Anyways, let’s see what else you have on here . . .” Twilight said, before Applejack finally got a hold of the sheet and took it away. “Heeeeey!” “Oh, quit yer complainin’. I wanna see it too,” Applejack began to look through the many words on the page. She began speaking out loud. “You’ve got Chemistry, and-” She rubbed her eyes. “Acting? Sorry, hun, but you don’t seem to be the most outspoken person,” she began, then showed the paper to Twilight. “Twi, ain’t this when Rarity has that class too?” She pointed at the row that had the acting class printed. “Why yes, I believe she does. But I’m sure he’ll still enjoy it.” Applejack took the paper back. “Then it says English, and,” Applejack began to grow a large smile on her face. “You’ve got phy-ed with me an’ Rainbow!” Autumn blinked. “Rainbow?” He looked confused. He had no idea who that was, but felt some sort of familiarity coming from the name. “Yep. She is one of the best athletes in this here school. Second only to me, of course,” the blonde boasted. “But I gotta say, she is one tough cookie.” Rainbow. Autumn couldn’t help but ponder that word. Did it have something to do with what happened earlier today at the door, when he saw a streak of all of the colors of the rainbow rush past him? He shrugged it off, then focused his attention back to the two girls. “She can be super competitive, however,” Twilight then turned and pointed towards Applejack. “So can she. Last year during the annual ‘Running of the Leaves’, she and Rainbow Dash got into a huge fight over who was better at running. It got way out of hand.” After a couple minutes of talking about classes and stuff, a loud chiming noise started coming from the speakers that were high up in the wall. A very loud and excited voice started blaring out random noises and crazy laughter. “HELLOOOOOO, everybody. This is your daily announcer, speaking. I’m Pinkie Pie! Which I think is funny, because I’m not a pie. I’m a human!” The voice was rather high pitch, and Autumn could tell that she was trying to suppress giggles. It didn’t seem to work that well, as a moment later, the voice began to break out in fits of laughter. Then it happened. “Today is a sooooooper special day! Do you wanna know why? Okay, FINE! I’ll tell you! We’ve got a new student in our midst, I can just sense it!” Autumn stood there, dumbfounded by what he was hearing. “Ooh, ooh, I think he’s also from Canterlot! Can you believe it? A student from Canterlot going to school HERE?” “How-” Autumn began, as he was interrupted once more. “He is also talking to two of my bestest friends in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!” Autumn could hear her gasp. Loudly. “Do you think he will be my friend? Hey, hey new person, will you be my friend? Oh, that’s a silly thing of me to ask. Of COURSE he will! I mean, who WOULDN’T want to be friends? You are such a silly person, Pinkie.” Noise could be heard through the speaker, as well as two other voices. A struggle could be heard, then suddenly, the voice from before came again, in a very sing-songy matter. “You can’t catch me! You can’t catch me!” Just then, the door to the office flew open, and out came something Autumn wasn’t prepared for. He couldn’t imagine something so . . . crazy, something so spontaneous being contained in this school. Only something of his worst nightmares could make him shake like he was now. Standing in the doorway, was a VERY happy, and VERY pink girl. Her huge blue eyes and giant teeth seemed to glow, as she stood there, grinning at him. He wasn’t prepared for what would happen next. End of Chapter 1 Chapter one is done, and didn't take that long to finish. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
Chapter 2: Like A PortalA Fallen Leaf A fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based creation. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasboro, and was created by Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement intended. Chapter 2: Like A Portal ~ Autumn wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen. He held mixed feelings of curiosity, fear, anguish, and anxiety. The pink thing standing in front of him was just standing there, grinning. And not your ordinary ‘happy, rainbows and sunshine’ grin. This one spread from ear to ear (almost quite literally), and held like a stone. It was almost like her face had been broken and rebuilt to always be smiling. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past her. This girl seemed to still be a bit younger than Twilight and Applejack. She had curly pink hair that really poofed up in the front. She was wearing a hot pink tee-shirt over a lighter pink long-sleeved shirt. She had a short pink skirt that fell to her knees, like Twilight, which matched colors with the top piece. One thing he noticed, however, was she had a pair of small earings attached to her lobes, though he couldn’t get a good look at them. A bombardment of questions and laughter began, as a calmer, more adult voice spoke over the intercom. Autumn also noticed more than a few heads turned his way, which made him want to just disappear and never return. He couldn’t handle all of this pressure for much longer, and was beginning to doubt that choosing to take the acting class was such a good idea after all, if there were any other people in this school like the smiling mass of pink standing before him. “Hi I’m Pinkie. Who are you? Are you the new person? Of course you are! I’ve never seen you before! Will you be my friend? Of course you will! Why wouldn’t you? Do you like cupcakes? I do! Aren’t they DELICIOUS? Where did you come from? Do you want some candy? Because I’ve got some and I would LOVE to share it with you!” The girl kept talking, not needing to breathe. So many questions. So many in such a small amount of time. Her grin didn’t break, as she continued the assault. “What is your favorite color? Mine is PINK! But that is kind of obvious. Do you like pink? Because I do. Wait, I just said that,” She then broke out into a fit of laughter and began rolling on the floor. Even more heads were turned this way. Autumn tried to hide behind Applejack, before she bent down and pulled Pinkie off of the floor. As she was getting back up, he noticed that the earings were three balloons: A central yellow balloon, flanked by two blue ones. “Calm down, Pinkie. Before you break something,” The blonde began. “Now, Autumn, why dontcha introduce yerself ta her so we c’n get past everything.” Pinkie jumped back up with the help of Applejack, still with that crazy grin on her face. Autumn swore that that grin was going to haunt his dreams for years to come. “Hi, I’m Autumn,” he began, as he held out his hand, expecting a handshake. “It’s nice to-” He was interrupted AGAIN, when instead of accepting the handshake, Pinkie jumped at him in a great big hug. “I’m Pinkie. But you already knew that,” She said, through her still exposed teeth. “We’re gonna be the bestest of best friends!” Autumn already knew he was going to regret coming here. He could feel the figure being pulled off of him. “Pinkie, stop that. Or you’ll hurt him,” Twilight came to his rescue and apologized for Pinkie’s behavior. “She’s always like this.” Autumn pushed himself off of the floor and dusted himself off. You know, for being one of the supposedly ‘sanitary and top-rated’ schools in Equestria, that part of the floor sure was dusty. “Yeah, I kinda figured,” He replied. He heard the other person on the intercom system stop talking, as a second ding came. Autumn figured that it was for telling students to get to class. The halls sure were full now. “Is that the bell for class?” “Why yes, it is,” Twilight began. “Perhaps we should go. You can come with me.” She said goodbyes to the other two, then dragged Autumn off to the math class. They had to climb a couple sets of stairs, as the math and science departments resided mostly on the third floor. At the top of the stairs, Twilight stopped to wave at somebody in a classroom. She was a darker skinned girl, who had a mohawk with black and white stripes. Even though Autumn felt intimidated by it, the warm smile on her face put that fear to rest. The girl looked to be wearing traditional African clothes. She had a necklace of many small wooden masks around her neck. The mask at the bottom of the chain had a strange swirl on its forehead. “Now, the class should be right around this cor-” she started, as they turned the corner. Much to her dismay, they stopped in front of an admittedly pretty girl. She had long, straight silver hair and was wearing sky-blue and lighter purple clothes. Nothing outside of your standard shirt and pants combo. She stood there, blocking Twilight and Autumn’s path. “Not now, Trixie. Can’t you see we’re busy?” “We? What’s this, you’ve found yourself a new boyfriend?” Trixie began. Her voice sounded very pompous and boastful. You could tell she was full of herself from a mile away. Even the perfume she wore (don’t ask) promoted selfishness. Twilight blushed at this remark. Autumn just stood there, too surprised and flattered to do anything. “What? Boyfriend? It’s nothing like that!” Twilight quickly replied. The blush only grew stronger. She thought that it was a good thing Autumn hadn’t noticed (at least, she hoped he hadn’t), otherwise their friendship to come would be that much more awkward. “He just transferred here from Canterlot! I’m just-” She was interrupted as the other girl started to talk again. “Ooh, new indeed,” Trixie walked seductively around Autumn, brushing his shoulder with her well maintained hand. “Well, if there is ever anything you need, and I mean anything, then you can just come see momma Trixie and we can fix all of these problems.” Autumn blinked, unable to speak. When he tried, all that came out was a mix of ridiculous squeaks and stutters. “How cute.” she replied, as she blew him a ‘I want you to be mine’ kiss, then walked away in a very elegant manner, her hips swaying back and forth with each step. Autumn blinked once more. When she finally got around the corner they had just emerged from, Twilight let out a deep sigh she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “Ugh. I just can’t stand her sometimes. She is just so, so . . .” She began thinking of a name for Trixie. “I don’t know,” she finally gave up. “At any rate, we should get to class.” The blush was finally fading from her face. But not Autumn’s. A moment later, they approached a doorway into the Calculus room. Autumn noticed a bunch of seniors - at least 20 - sitting on desks and talking to each other. When they entered the room, all eyes turned to him. Including the teacher. He wanted to hide. So many judgmental figures staring at him at once. He almost tried to run away, but Twilight held him in place. “Ah, looks like we’ve got new meat!” The teacher began. He was a bit older than a couple other teachers he’d noticed in the halls. He had short brown hair just falling over his forehead. He had a pair of inexpensive glasses. He had a grey suit on, with a red tie. He looked very formal. “Now, if you would come to the front and introduce yourself.” Autumn gulped, then began slowly walking up to the front. This is exactly what he feared. He thought to himself, they are only seniors! What could go wrong? When he reached the front and turned towards the other students, now attentively sitting in their desks, He saw they were all smiling. One was even laughing, although she was covering it up with her hand. Autumn had no idea what was so funny. As he began, he felt something swell up in his throat. His nervousness was getting the best of him. Then he looked over at Twilight. She was patiently smiling, waiting for Autumn to speak. The look on her face reassured him that she was there for him. He swallowed then began talking. “My name is Autumn,” Nothing changed in the crowd. He looked back to Twilight. Nothing changed. Then he looked at the teacher, who had faked falling asleep as a joke, but then woke up with a startle when he noticed Autumn looking. “Ah, yes. Autumn,” He recovered. “Mind telling us where you’re from, Autumn?” This question didn’t help make him feel much better. Mostly from the way his name was said. “I’m from Canterlot.” That is when everybody else including Twilight broke out into laughter. Autumn just stood there, scared of what was happening. He felt tears begin to rise. He had no idea why they were laughing at him, and he wanted them to stop. He was just barely to make a sentence with the tears about to come on. “I don’t get it. Whad’I do?” They kept laughing. The teacher walked up to him, just finishing up his round of laughter. “Oh, don’t worry about it. We were only joking,” he began. “Only trying to get you to loosen up a bit. You’re acting as stiff as a board. Now, let’s find you a seat . . .” He began looking around for an empty spot Autumn could sit in. Then his face lit up. “There you go. There is an open seat right in front of Twilight,” He pointed to her. He didn’t feel much better, but Autumn cheered up a little. “I believe you two have already run into each other.” Autumn walked over to take his seat. Looking from the front of the classroom, his spot was in the rightmost column of desks, the second one back. There was one desk in front of him, and two behind Twilight. Five columns in total. He shot a smile towards Twilight as he sat down. She noticed, and smiled even more. As soon as Autumn sat down, the teacher spoke to him. “Talk to me after class, Autumn.” Class passed by slowly, as Autumn merely watched the teacher (whose name he later discovered was Mr. Johnson) throw problem after problem on the board. He heard some groans related to the math and a lot of pencils scratching on paper. He also heard a girl humming. More time passed, as even more problems went up. Autumn resorted to doodling to distract himself. On his paper (while everybody else had plain ol’ numbers), he drew a picture of a strange mixture of creatures. It had the head of a pony, antlers, and a lion’s paw, and some other random animal parts. The drawing gave him a strange sense of deja vu. After admiring his work for a short while, Autumn heard Mr. Johnson declare the class to be over. Most of the students left, except for Autumn, Twilight, and a couple of the seniors. Autumn tucked the drawing into a folder and turned to Twilight. “Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you,” she began. “Somebody has to show you to your next class.” She gave him a pleasant smile as he got up to talk to Mr. Johnson. He made his way to the desk. “Not too boring, I hope,” the teacher began. “Wouldn’t want you to fall asleep during class.” Autumn felt surprised at this remark. In the Canterlot High School for Gifted Students, teachers would always regard the students in a purely polite and formal way. This was just the opposite. Perhaps he was foolish to expect more from a small town such as Humanville. “That won’t be a problem, sir.” Autumn stood there, just waiting for something to happen. Mr. Johnson then turned to him, still sitting in his chair. It looked very comfortable. Autumn looked into Mr. Johnson’s eyes and noticed something malicious, even evil almost. He felt like they were staring directly into his soul. Like they could see into the deepest and most private chambers of his conscience. They were almost like portals into nothing. “Now, here is what you will need,” Mr. Johnson began. “I trust you already know how to do this stuff, so here is tonight’s homework.” He handed Autumn a sheet of paper which had ten sets of numbers on it. It didn’t appear to be too difficult. He was also handed a textbook of about 650 pages (which was quite heavy), and another sheet of paper that asked a bunch of different personal facts. “I like to get to know my students on a more . . . personal level,” Autumn felt like he was going to say something else. “Make sure you get those back to me tomorrow morning.” “Sure thing, sir.” Autumn replied. He dared to look into Mr. Johnson’s eyes once more, but didn’t see or feel the same thing from earlier. In fact, they were completely different colors. Strange. The day passed by as would a normal school day. In chemistry, nothing much happened. Autumn recognized the blue-haired girl from earlier listening to music, then the blonde girl with the weird eyes. He thought he saw a girl with pink hair hiding behind a book, but when the class ended, there was no trace of her. Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie all met him outside of the classroom. After talking for a bit, they all went down to the cafeteria. After retrieving his food, Autumn was distracted by thoughts of the pink-haired girl. He was so preoccupied that he lost sight of the three girls. He stood there, looking around until he saw Applejack waving a hand for him. He walked towards the table she was at. His breath was taken by what he saw. At the table, along with Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack, there sat the girl with the purple hair he saw earlier. She was sitting gracefully, munching on a salad. Next to her were two other girls. One was the pink-haired girl from earlier. She had a necklace just like the purple-haired girl, except with three butterflies instead of diamonds. She was calmly smiling as the other girl who had rainbow-colored hair was standing on her seat and telling a seemingly amazing story. As Autumn sat down, Applejack introduced him to everybody. “Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, this is Autumn,” Autumn noticed them stop what they were doing just to greet him. “Autumn, these are Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.” “Why hello, Autumn. What a pleasure it is to meet you,” Rarity said. Her voice sounded very elegant. “I must say I’ve never seen you around before.” “Well, duh! That’s because he is new,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed to Rarity She was now wearing a light blue sweatshirt, but the same track shorts. She then turned to Autumn. “Pinkie wouldn’t stop talking about you. She said you were some smarty pants from Canterlot.” Rarity’s eyes lit up. “Canterlot? Autumn, we simply must get together to chat sometime. It would be my pleasure to invite you to my boutique. “ Autumn didn’t know what to say. Instead, he just looked at Rainbow Dash who now had a hiding Fluttershy behind her. “So,” she began. ”I hear you have gym with me and Applejack. I wouldn’t worry too much, though. You have no hope of keeping up with me.” Autumn already thought she was too arrogant for her own good. “Yeah. Twilight mentioned something about that,” he replied. He then remembered what had happened before he entered the building. “Hey, have I seen you before? You look familiar.” Rainbow Dash thought he was trying to flirt with her. “In your dreams, kid. We’ve only just met,” she began. “And besides, you’re not cool enough for me.” Autumn blinked, then tried to reply when he was interrupted by Fluttershy, who was no longer hiding. “Um, it’s nice to meet you,” she said. She was wearing a simple yellow dress. It looked a lot like Rarity’s. Her voice was very timid. He could tell all she wanted was approval. “It’s nice to meet you too . . . Fluttershy, was it?” he noticed her light up a little. He turned back to Rarity. “And yes, I would like that.” As the conversation died down and broke into different conversations and sounds of eating, Autumn just sat and thought about everything that has happened so far. He had already met some of the people he was probably going to spend the rest of his school years with, and they turned out to be really nice and welcoming. He felt like he would enjoy his time here. However, there was one thing that he couldn’t get out of his head. It was Mr. Johnson’s eyes. Something felt off about them. While he was thinking about that, Rarity got his attention then started to talk. “So, may I ask what your next class is?” she asked. “I have Acting. Seems kind of-” He was interrupted once again. “Ooh, that is the class I have!” She seemed to be positively beaming. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you to the auditorium. That is where we have the class. There is a lot more room for activities.” Autumn imagined Rarity on stage reciting an old poem, but then quickly snapped back to reality when everybody started getting up. “What’s happening? Why is everybody leaving?” Autumn inquired. He then noticed a ringing that resonated through the whole room. It was very loud. “That’s the fire alarm,” Rainbow Dash said. “But it’s usually nothing.” “Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “Except there wasn’t any announcement about there being a drill today.” Everybody then began to worry for the safety of the school. At that moment, a group of teachers, Mr. Johnson included, motioned for them to leave the cafeteria and head outside into the courtyard, away from the danger that a fire could pose. There was an orderly line from the door, as the students moved quickly and efficiently out the front of the school. When everybody was across the courtyard, they could see flashes and strange lighting coming from one of the classrooms. It was on the third floor. Then, out of nowhere, the window broke outwards, and something flew out. Nobody else seemed to have seen it but Autumn. He watched as it flew up into the sky, then eventually disappeared completely. “Oh my, I sure do hope nobody has been caught up there,” Rarity began. “It would be horrible if anybody got hurt.” That is when all hell broke loose. Well, here it is. The story is going to pick up a bit after this. The first chapter was a little slow.
Prologue: The Beginning Of AutumnA Fallen Leaf A fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based creation. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasboro, and was created by Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement intended. Prologue: The Beginning Of Autumn ~ There is a day that many people fear and anticipate. A day that marks the beginning of adulthood, and which makes the strong tremble and the weak cry for their mommies. A day that truly tests the strength and willpower of a person, their ability and mental fortitude. But that day isn’t today. In fact, that happened about seven weeks ago. Today is the day Autumn Leaves transfers to the Humanville Highschool. Autumn is a moderately skilled teenager in both athletics and academics. He has a moderately built body, standing at about 5 feet and 10 inches, having just the right amount of body mass. His hair is the color of autumn leaves, a blazing orange on the right side, and a golden yellow on the left. He is wearing a moderately white tee-shirt, and a pair of moderately blue jeans. His shoes are as moderate as the rest of his outfit. On his left wrist, he wears a silver bracelet. The bracelet is used to hold a charm - a special symbol that displays who its wearer is and what he is good at. That charm is given to everybody in Equestria when they come of age. Autumn’s charm is a maple leaf, because it represents the day he was born: The beginning of Autumn. Well, here it is. This is my first fic for anything, so go a little easy on me. The prologue is a bit short, but I don't want to give too much away about my OC. You will discover everything as the story progresses.
