The Average Life of Apollo Coronis

I pushed open the metal double doors in front of me. Behind the doors was a large crowd of Six Element High students. Uniforms flew back and forth across the room with food trays either floating in front of them, resting on wings, or being held in the mouth of an earth pony. Picnic-style tables were spread across the rooms, and fillies and colts sat at said tables. The table occupants consisted mostly of couples feeding each other food. But a few ponies sat around who looked unamused by the unpleasant public displays of affection coming from the couples around them. I couldn't blame them really, as I wasn't the type to go around broadcasting my marefriend to the world.

The cafeteria tables were moved in a pattern that separated the different cliques of students from one another. The athletic ponies, the jocks, set their tables in a way that took up about half of the cafeteria. And the ponies who were considered "popular" were scattered around the athletic tables. Hiding in the darker corner of the cafeteria were what we called the "Discorded". If it wasn't already clear, the Discorded were teenage delinquents. They only had a couple of tables in their little den, but that was because there weren't very many of them. There was a large gap between the other cliques, mainly because they've been known to carry weapons. I know, it's crazy right? But that was the way these punks were. We weren't sure if Discord himself was up to something, or if they were just going through a natural rebellious phase in their teenage years. The remaining part of the cafeteria was filled with tables of either bookworms and nerds, or just normal high school students who weren't in a clique.

"I guess you should start looking for your marefriend huh?" Featherweight shouted over the loud talking students.

I pushed his face away from mine, "A little louder please. Some people in Canterlot might not have heard you!"

Pip stepped into the line for food, "Perhaps we could find the table that she's sitting at, and join you?"

I joined him in the line, and took a food tray with me, "Not a good idea. She didn't open up to you earlier, and she had a hard enough time talking to me before."

"I see." Pip replied, "Then perhaps we'll sit at the table behind her." He said, as he pointed to behind me.

I turned around, and saw a single filly sitting at an empty table. It was Shika, she didn't look very lonely. Her face was still buried in her book, and it looked as if she hadn't touched her food. Behind her was another empty table in the middle of the studious students section of the cafeteria.

"We'll just listen in on your conversations while we're eating." Featherweight said.

"Just be discreet about it, I don't want you to ruin this." I replied, as I moved my tray across the food counter.

An old mare scooped a chunk of the repulsive looking brown stew from a tall iron pot into a bowl, and then place it on my tray. I wasn't a big fan of the food our fair school provided for us, and that was probably the case with all the other students, and even some teachers. Fortunately, the food was free. Unfortunately, free doesn't necessarily mean appetizing. I would have been more than happier to run down the hill to the corner store to buy some drinks, and then walk all the way back up again. Sadly, students weren't allowed off the school grounds during school hours. The cafeteria offered water, milk, and juice at the end of the food counter for free as well. But half of the milk cartons were usually expired, and the water bottles were refilled with tap water and then washed out in the kitchen later. When it all came down to it, the juice was the only thing in this school that was considered appetizing.

We finally got our food and left the food counter. I followed Featherweight and Pip until they sat down at the table adjacent to the one that Shika was reading at. I swallowed in fear, gathered my courage, and sat down to place my tray on the table.

"Uh... I'm sorry, did I make you wait long?"

She lowered her book, and began to talk in the flat voice that I enjoyed so much, "No. I just got here myself."

I couldn't believe it, for once her sentence sounded... Well, not robotic. She sounded like a normal pony.

"That's good... So, are you eating something? Or are you already full on books?" I cringed at my extremely lame joke, and hoped the sound of the students around us had drowned it out.

She stared at me with her beautiful blank stare, and tilted her head adorably, "No. I was waiting for you."

Before I could reply with a "Thank you", she closed her book and stood up from the table.

"Did I offend her?" That's what I was thinking, and that was probably what Pip and Featherweight were thinking behind me too.

"Come. Follow me." She said, again in a flat voice.

I looked to my friends who sat at the table behind mine. They quickly looked back at their food, not wanting to attract attention. I could understand why they did that, it was already clear that Shika knew that they were eavesdropping. I turned to the filly who was already walking towards the cafeteria door. Realizing that she was already leaving, I chased after her.

Finally, I caught up to her.

"So... Where are we going?"

She turned to me, and then spoke in a voice that wasn't as dull or flat as she would usually speak in, "The roof. I hoped we could have more privacy."

For once, she seemed like a normal pony. I thought it was the perfect time to compliment her on one of her features, she looked as if she would blush if she heard me say something nice about her mane or her her hooves. But before I could, she stopped in front of set of lockers. Her horn began to glow a light pink, and one of the lockers began to glow with it. The padlock that kept the locker door shut started to turn left and right, until it finally fell off the lock clamp. The door flew open and a box that was wrapped up in a cloth sheet slowly floated out of it. Assuming it was her lunchbox, I decided not to ask what it was.

We proceeded down the hallway, and then finally ascended up the stairs and onto the roof top. It was a relief to feel the cool breeze through my mane after being stuck in those hot and dusty school halls. The roof was completely bare, not a single pony was up there. A long chain link fence walled off the edge of the roof as a safety protocol. Other than a ladder that led up to a higher section of the roof, it was completely empty.

I followed the mare to the chain link fence, and we both sat down on the wall the fence was stretched over. She placed her lunchbox on the wall between us. I was still wondering why this filly agreed to have lunch with me. Was it because of my looks? Surely not. Maybe she just wanted somepony to have lunch with, or she was tired of being lonely. This was eating away at me, so I decided to ask her.

"So... Why did you agree to have lunch with me? I mean, we only just met."

She untied the knot on her wrapped up lunchbox, and then stared at me with her blank eyes before replying.

"I... I'm not sure why. I just... Wanted to."

That answer was enough for me. Although deep inside, I actually wanted a deeper answer. But before I could complain about it anymore, she spoke up again.

"I think I may have packed... Too much food today, so maybe that was it?"

The unsureness and constant pausing in her speech was making my heart melt, metaphorically. But I was sure that this pony had more to say, but I couldn't force a shy filly like her to come out of her comfort zone. She was already breaking out of her shell as it was, so I decided not to push her any further.

She opened her lunchbox, and I was surprised to see the abundance of food! Fried fish, bread, apple slices, and sauces of all kinds! Sandwichs and fruit were beautifully arranged around the rest of the food, I nearly drooled over the large lunchbox.

Shika gave me a look as if I did drool over her food.

"W-What's wrong?" She stuttered.

"Uh nothing. This is just... Wow. Did you make this yourself?"

"Yes. I live alone, so I have to fend for myself. My part time job pays well, so I have enough for food."

That was the longest I've ever seen her talk before. I was amazed how much she's opened up to me in the short time I've known her. I mean, it was only lunch; and I was already talking with a filly who was known for being anti-social. I was still confused as to why she would be hanging out with somepony like me? A total stranger, a nopony. I wasn't even known around the school much, unlike our famous 'Student Council President'.

"What about your parents?" I asked, while I slowly picked up a sandwich from the lunchbox.

She looked down with a mopey expression on her face, "They're... Not around anymore."

I could already imagine what happened, and I immediately regretted asking the question. I wanted to make her feel better.

"I'm sorry. But if it means anything, I live alone too. My parents aren't around anymore either."

After a short pause, she replied, "Thanks. You're... Really sweet."

A compliment from the filly of my dreams? I felt like I was in a dream.

We both slowly picked at the lunchbox until we completely emptied it. I'm not going to lie, I would have chosen her cooking over the cafeteria food any day of the week. I hadn't had a feast as delicious as that in, literally, months. We still had time to kill before lunch had ended, so we spent the remainder of our break staring at the peaceful Ponyville below us. It was only then that I noticed the grey dull clouds from that morning had floated away, and the blue skies had revealed themselves to us. I would have wondered why it was cloudless, blue sky, day in the middle of winter; but I was enjoying myself too much to care.

*RING* *RING* *RING*

The sound of a high-pitched bell echoed through the campus.

"Well, we better get back to class." I said, as I dusted off my flank before standing up straight.

"This was... Nice..."

She blushed lightly, and then began to talk again.

"Can we... Do this again?"

I nodded, and answered, "Sure. I mean, if you want to. I'd hate to trouble you. I mean, it looked like you worked really hard on that lunch."

"Oh no! It was no trouble at all. It's really easy to make these kinds of things. If you want something specific, I'd be more then happy to make it for you." She said, excitedly.

That was the most excited I've ever seen her. I was glad to see that she was enjoying herself, even if it was for a short while. She packed up her lunchbox, and we both made our way down the stairs. We trotted through the linoleum hallways of the school, and both stopped when we reached our classrooms. Our classes were adjacent to each other, which made finding each other much easier.

Before she trotted into her class room, class two (2), she turned to me. I waved goodbye to her. And to my surprise, she smiled at me; and then waved back.

"I've got a feeling this is gonna be a great year."