Canterlot Highjinks
A Dash Of Magic
"Hey, Sci-Twi, good to see ya!" one of the male students at Canterlot High greeted as he walked past the girl with square-rimmed glasses and purple hair tied back un-ironically in a ponytail.
Twilight, or 'Sci-Twi' as she had been nicknamed by some of her fellow students, could only offer a somewhat meek but nonetheless friendly smile in response, unable to wave back due to the lunch tray she currently held in both hands, the platter weighed down with wholemeal toast, mashed potatoes and a salad that was, upon closer inspection, ninety-five percent lettuce, with only a single thin, tantalising slice of perfectly crisp tomato standing out amidst the green.
"C'mon, Twilight, what's the holdup?" a familiar voice called from a nearby table. Twilight looked around in time to see Rainbow Dash waving her over, the brash, athletic girl with hair the colour of her namesake sitting with Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer, the latter of the group having left a space beside her for Twilight to sit down. Twilight started over, eager to sample her lunch and converse with her friends, when her shoe became caught in some chewing gum someone had carelessly left on the floor, anchoring her to that spot with its sheer stickiness. With an exasperated grunt, Twilight forcibly wrenched her foot free, only to stumble forward as a result, her lunch tray starting to slide out of her hands as she began to fall forward, crying out in alarm.
And suddenly Rainbow Dash was there, a trail of her namesake left in her wake as a result of her supersonic speed as she zipped over to calmly, effortlessly catch Twilight and her tray, straightening the stumbling girl so that she stood upright, her food items all still safely on her now repositioned lunch tray, albeit now scattered all across said tray and mixed in with one another.
"Now, what kind of awesome Canterlot Wondercolt would I be if I didn't look out for my friends?" Rainbow asked slyly, her voice dripping with confidence and a self-congratulatory air as she caught Twilight's eye, causing the purple-haired girl's cheeks to redden slightly from mild embarrassment. Twilight gave another meek smile, wishing that she hadn't drawn attention to herself like that.
"Heh. Sorry," she mumbled awkwardly, her glasses slightly lopsided. She reached up to push them back into place, but Rainbow beat her to it, gently straightening Twilight's corrective lenses with one finger, still smirking at her in that lax, decidedly suave way.
"Get a room, you two!" someone called out, and the entire cafeteria was filled with laughter. Her eyes widening, Rainbow Dash whipped her head around, glaring in the general direction of where the shout had come from, her face developing a crimson tinge to match Twilight's.
"Yeah, well… It takes one to know one!" she blurted out wildly, only causing the students to laugh even harder at her feeble attempt at a retort. Twilight gave a little moan of humiliation, striding past Rainbow to take her seat beside Sunset.
"Don't worry about it," Sunset told her with a knowing smile, patting her friend on the shoulder. "The seven of us are no stranger to attracting attention, not least because we all sprout wings every other five minutes."
"That just means we're awesome!" Rainbow Dash declared as she appeared back at the table with a burst of speed, sitting down and picking up her fork, twirling it through her spaghetti. She started to hum a popular song that had been circulating on Canterlot's local radio network lately, an unmistakable magical aura surrounding her being as she sat there, continuing to hum as she pushed a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth. Her ears suddenly turned animalistic, the back of each of them coated with blue fur that matched her complexion. A pair of feathered wings suddenly burst forth from her back, protruding magically out through her shirt as if the garment wasn't there. Finally, the unmistakable multi-coloured tail of a pony poked out of her lower back, trailing down onto the cafeteria's floor, and that was how Dash remained until she finished her lunch, the people at the nearby tables murmuring quietly in awe as they watched her.
It was then that something happened that made Applejack stop abruptly in the middle of taking a long gulp from a bottle of her family's prized apple cider, the glass beverage container still to her lips as her green eyes became locked upon a young teen at the next table who suddenly stood up, the boy peering over the heads of his fellow students, his mobile phone in hand. A small light flashed on the device and it clicked as the boy snapped a picture of Rainbow Dash in her 'Ponied Up' form.
Applejack wrenched the bottle from her mouth, spitting out cider as she leapt to her feet, glaring at the boy holding the phone with a mixture of alarm and outrage on her face.
"Hey!" the orange-skinned girl with flowing blonde hair snapped, her signature hat becoming lopsided in her moment of unrest. "Delete that there photo right this minute, mister!"
"Huh? Why?" the boy demanded, looking bewildered and annoyed. Kids his age were snapping photos and selfies with their phones left and right these days, so he didn't see what the big deal was. He became aware at that moment, however, that the students seated around him at his table were all glaring at him. In fact, the entire cafeteria seemed to be glaring at him.
"Come on, man. Delete it," the eldest boy at the table, Flash Sentry, told the younger boy, giving him an encouraging nod, his face serious, but his eyes communicating an unspoken message. Looking sad and disappointed, the freshman student hit the 'Delete' option on his phone's screen while his peers watched carefully. Once that was done, the boy sat down, still appearing confused and hurt. Flash gave a polite nod to Applejack before putting an arm around the freshman student and starting to talk to him calmly, the cafeteria's usual atmosphere quickly settling back in as though nothing had happened.
Applejack sighed as she sat back down. "Ah know he didn't mean any harm," she admitted. "He's the new kid on the block. Probably didn't know what tuh think when somebody decided tuh show off in front o' the whole school. Again," she said, glaring at Rainbow Dash, whose wings and tail disappeared abruptly, her ears returning to normal as well after a moment.
"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" Rainbow insisted, pouting. "It's not my fault I'm so awesome that I blew his little freshman mind."
Applejack sighed again in exasperated annoyance, Rarity rolling her eyes beside her. Pinkie just tittered in a silly way. Fluttershy, on her part, glanced around nervously and continued to chew her celery quietly, Angel Bunny peeking out of her backpack as the timid girl sat there.
It was an unspoken rule at Canterlot High School that the Equestrian magic Twilight and her friends shared was kept secret among the staff and students. After everything the group of seven had done for the school and its students, it was the least the numerous school-age teens could do, doing their part to make sure that Twilight and the others didn't get carted off to Area 51 or some such facility to be put under a scalpel to see what made them tick… or more likely, to see how their powers could be exploited by the darker side of humanity. That being said, posting photos or videos of magical occurrences on social media or the internet was a big no-no. THE big no-no.
"I think we need to start considering some sort of orientation regarding us for the new students," Rarity said. "It's only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, lets something slip out that they can't reel back in."
"We'll cross that bridge when and if we get to it," Sunset responded, setting down her fork and gazing at the grey tofu cube she had chosen for her lunch. She could've sworn she just saw it move of its own accord. "I wasn't very hungry anyway," she mumbled.
"Maybe I could make cupcakes to give out to all the new kids to welcome them!" Pinkie suggested eagerly. "Nothing says 'you can trust the super-duper, magically super-powered girls' like free cupcakes!" she said very fast.
"I think we should just be honest and up front about our powers to the new students," Fluttershy said in her soft voice. "You know, magic is kind of like animals," she began before Rainbow Dash suddenly interjected.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Say what?" she exclaimed. "How is being able to create diamond shields or make strawberry sprinkles explode or turn into crazy demons anything like animals?"
Sunset gave Rainbow a sharp glare, very aware of how uncomfortable Twilight suddenly looked. Even now, Twilight was still coming to grips with the full extent of her magic, and while her abilities didn't scare her as much as they once had, she still wasn't exactly eager to turn into her fully powered demonic self again. She still referred to her demon side as 'Midnight Sparkle', believing that it might gain sentience and take over her body permanently should she show weakness.
"Well," Fluttershy continued after a brief uncomfortable silence, "A lot of people are scared of animals at first, but once you get to know them, once you're able to get up close with them and really get a sense of them first-hand, you realise that they're not so scary. In fact, they can be absolutely wonderful!" she concluded brightly as right on cue, Angel Bunny hopped out of Fluttershy's bag and onto her shoulder, the girl reaching up to lovingly scratch the little rabbit's chin. The pair of them looked quite harmonious, it had to be said.
"Maybe she's right," Applejack said. "If we want tuh make a good first impression on these kids, then magic or no, we've gotta be open and honest! Honesty was a big part o' what brought us together in the first place!"
"Hear, hear!" Rarity said, raising her juice box in approval. "We'll show them that we wear our hearts on our sleeves!"
"We'll give 'em the most funnest of fun welcomes they've ever had!" Pinkie cried, producing a party whistle from out of nowhere and blowing it enthusiastically.
"We'll help them see how awesome we are!" Rainbow Dash declared, grinning broadly. "Oh, and how awesome they are. Maybe."
"We should go talk to Principal Celestia about our ideas!" Sunset suggested.
"We can ask her right now," Pinkie said, indicating at a spot over Sunset's shoulder, "Because here she comes!"
Twilight and the others turned to see that Principal Celestia had indeed stepped up to the front of the cafeteria, Vice Principal Luna at her side. The casual chattering throughout the cafeteria quickly ceased as the many students took notice of the headmistress and co.
"Your attention, please," Luna called out in a polite but strict tone of voice. "Principal Celestia has an important announcement to make."
"She's actually blonde at the roots?" Rainbow Dash whispered cheekily, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle her sniggering. Sunset, who had just taken a large gulp of fat-free chocolate milk, found herself spurting the dairy substance out through her nostrils as she struggled not to laugh at RD's comment. Twilight was quick to offer the fiery-haired girl a napkin, but not before a few onlookers got a chuckle or two out of the situation.
"As many of you may know, Canterlot High will be playing host to a group of new students throughout this week, or more accurately, new students-to-be," Celestia stated. "They are currently in their senior year of middle school and are here to experience a high school environment. I trust you'll all do your best to make them feel welcome, as well as bringing them up to speed on... certain matters," she said, glancing in the direction of Twilight and company.
"These new students-to-be are, much like the rest of you, here to learn above all else," Luna inputted, adding to her sister's speech. "That said, Principal Celestia and myself are looking to form a student body consisting of trusworthy and responsible individuals to represent our school and help show these newcomers the ins and outs of Canterlot High's day-to-day routine. Those interested in volunteering should speak to Principal Celestia or myself at our respective offices."
"Oh! Oh!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed eagerly, practically leaping up and down as she held her arm straight up, flailing it about wildly. Twilight and the others shook their heads in knowing amusement at their friend, raising their hands as well to concur with RD's eagerness to volunteer.
"Or you could just jump the gun right now," Luna muttered to herself. Celestia put a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"We hope that our new students-to-be will walk away from their time at Canterlot High richer for the experience," the headmistress concluded. "Enjoy the rest of your lunch break and thank you."
"Well, that certainly worked out nicely, I must say," Rarity mused aloud as Celestia and Luna made their exit.
"Of course it did!" Rainbow Dash declared, folding her arms and smirking smugly. "Principal Celestia knows that we've totally got this."
"We totally don't got this."
"Ya'll can say that again," Applejack said as she collapsed into the nearest chair at the table in Pinkie Pie's kitchen, removing her hat and wiping her brow with her sleeve. "Those young'uns from that there middle school sure know how tuh run a girl ragged."
"You know they've got too much energy to burn when even I'm feeling wiped out after one soccer match with them," Rainbow stated. "And I was just acting as the referee!"
Applejack scoffed. "Some referee. You spent half the match cheerin' fer one side! The umpire's 'sposed tuh be impartial!"
"It's hard to be impartial when one side's got an apple farmer on their team who keeps landing face first in the mud!"
"Well, excuuuuse me!"
"Girls, knock it off!" Sunset pleaded from where she stood, leaning against the fridge. "It's been a trying day for all of us."
"One of those kids kept making paper planes and throwing them at me when he thought I wasn't looking," Twilight said, polishing her square-rimmed glasses as she spoke. "That's not the kind of thing I need when I'm trying to demonstrate the chemical reaction of cola and mints." She pushed her glasses back onto her face. "And once Spike came wandering into the science lab, it was all over. I couldn't hold those kids' attention for a full five seconds! All they wanted to do was stop and pet the adorable talking dog, because of course they did!" With that, Twilight slumped down onto the tiled floor in a sitting position.
"This one boy kept pulling silly faces to scare my animals," Fluttershy complained, looking miserable as she sat opposite Sunset, her head resting face down on her arms. "And when I showed them the cute little tarantula I'd brought to class, they..." Her voice cracked. "They tried to squish him!" she wailed, breaking down into sobs. Rarity patted her on the back comfortingly.
"I know how she feels," the fashion-forward girl stated. "The group I was working with were either not at all interested in what I was trying to show them... or they were interested for the wrong reasons. I kept telling them, 'The sewing machine is for arts and crafts, not for larks and laughs!' Would they listen? No!"
"They wouldn't try any of my cupcakes," Pinkie moaned, sitting there with her hair 'deflated'. "I accidentally made one explode with my magic and suddenly everyone was afraid of me. Afraid! Of me! Can you imagine anyone being afraid of me?" she asked, her face inches from Fluttershy's head just as the shy girl decided to look up from her weeping. She took one look at Pinkie's wide-eyed and decidedly crazy-looking visage, screamed in alarm, leapt up and bolted to the far side of the table, shaking like a leaf. Sunset face-palmed.
"Alright, so we're off to a rough start," the fiery-haired girl said. "We just need to regroup fresh for tomorrow, that's all. If at first you don't succeed..."
"...Make Applejack the goalkeeper instead!" Rainbow Dash finished for her.
"What does that have tuh do with anythin'?" Applejack demanded.
As RD and AJ continued to argue, Sunset put her head in her hands. She could feel a headache coming on.
