Hello, fellow readers! And welcome back to Calm after the Storm! Last time, we have seen what happened on Stylite's first day at Crystal Prep, so let's flip it around and see what his brother Pixel was up to. Not much to say other than, what do we have today?
johannvanguard: Always good to see you, dude! I'm glad that most of it kept you on your toes. As for his brother, we are about to see.
Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let us continue!
Chapter 2: The New Wondercolt
Pixel stood in the courtyard, staring at the school as he was rather nervous. He arrived early in order to get an early look and yet, he finds himself not even approaching the stairs to the doors as his backpack was feeling heavier by the minute.
"Come on, just breathe..." He told himself before taking and letting out a deep breath, "You know people that go here. They can help you get through the day."
"You bet we can!"
Pixel screams in surprise at the sudden voice in his ears, jumping away a bit before turning around to see Pinkie standing there.
"H-How long were you there?"
"Just for a second." She casually answers, "Everyone else is here too."
She was right as Sunset and the others were coming over, the group looking a bit concerned for him by his reaction earlier.
"You all right, sugarcube?" Applejack asks the obvious question.
"Uh, well..." Pixel places his hands on his hip as he responds, "I-I'm fine. Just, really nervous..."
"Don't worry about that!" Rainbow simply said as she walks over to him, "Most of the students here are pretty cool. You'll fit in no time!"
Pixel was caught off guard by Rainbow suddenly pushing him from behind, the others following in tow as they head to the entrance.
"W-Wait! I'm not ready!" He tries to excuse his hesitation, but they weren't gonna hear it.
"Come on, you won't move forward until you take those steps." Sunset counters with, though she understands what he means as they enter the foyer.
Various students have already shown up earlier as some are looking through their lockers or chatting with their friends, Pixel observing how they interact among themselves for a bit before Fluttershy spoke up.
"Just relax. No one is here to hurt you."
"I-I hope not..." Pixel was unsure what it was, but her voice was rather calming as he starts to relax a bit.
"We can assure you that, darling. Being tense all the time is quite tiring." Rarity has a point there.
Rainbow has finally stopped pushing him as they stop by the principal's office, Pixel starting to feel nervous again as Sunset briefly explains why. "We get our schedules from here. We have to go prepare for class, so we'll see you then."
"O-OK, see ya later." With a small wave, he sees the girls head off to their lockers and turns to face his next objective.
With a deep breath, he steels himself and walks on inside.
Entering the office, he sees the principal and vice principal looking at the former's computer as they were having a small conversation that was wrapping up.
"I'll be sure to look into that." The vice principal simply said before she looks to see Pixel standing near the doorway.
The two look at him for a moment before he spoke, "H-Hi."
"Hello there. You must be the new transfer student, correct?" The principal was correct, which he confirms. "Y-Yes, ma'am. Pixel Stellar."
"I'm Principal Celestia, and this is Vice Principal Luna."
"I trust that you didn't have much trouble finding your way around?" The latter asks him as he goes to take a seat.
"Yes, ma'am. I actually met the Rainbooms over the break and they showed me the way." He briefly explains with his answer.
"Well, that's quite the stroke of luck." Vice Principal Luna then starts heading towards the door, "I have to get some work done. Hope you enjoy your first day."
"I hope so as well." He admits as she walks past him and exits the office, closing the door behind her in the process.
This leaves Principal Celestia with him as the former spoke, "If I may understand this correctly, you were originally going to transfer to Crystal Prep with your brother, but couldn't because...?"
"There was only one spot available. Plus, I doubt my grades would be good enough for that school." Pixel clarifies for her.
Principal Celestia types on her keyboard real quick before clicking on the mouse twice, showing her what he means. "Well, they are good grades. However, Crystal Prep is rather prestigious to have those among their students."
"Figures..." He mutters while scratching the back of his head.
"Of course unlike them, we allow any students to enter as we believe they can reach their best with proper guidance." Principal Celestia reassures him, which made him smile a bit.
"That's good to hear." He then remembers something, "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to get my schedule here."
Looking down at her desk, she shuffles through some papers before pulling out what she was looking for. "Here it is."
Handing it over to him, she made sure to tell him. "If it's not what you want, come to me after school for any changes."
Taking it and adjusting his glasses a bit to see better, he looks over what classes he has for the day.
"Biology, Math, Lunch, Gym, and Art." He quickly skims through it before speaking, "I-I'll give these a shot."
"Good to hear. Have a nice day." Principal Celestia ends their conversation, which Pixel soon stands up and leaves the office to start his day.
Entering into his first class, he looks around at the students sitting at the desks who also looked back at who entered. First bad sign, none of the girls are in here.
"I don't think I recognize you. Are you new?"
He looks over to the teacher who was currently standing in front of her chalkboard, which he then realizes he didn't respond back yet.
"Y-Yes, I'm the new transfer student."
"Name?"
"P-Pixel Stellar." He heard his voice raise a bit out of sheer nervousness, which made him freeze up a bit out of embarrassment.
Taking a look at her attendance clipboard, she then sees the name at the bottom. "Ah, there you are. Please, come on up."
Taking a moment to process that, he hesitantly walks up to the front before the teacher spoke up.
"Please welcome Pixel Stellar, our new student at Canterlot High."
The students either wave or said hi in response, which eases him a bit before she continued.
"Would anyone like to ask any questions about him before he takes his seat?"
And his body tenses back up as he sees a couple of students raise their hand. The teacher picks on one to ask the first question.
"Which school did you come from?"
That was an easy one to answer, "I-I used to go to one from out of town before moving here during the winter break."
The teacher then picks another hand that was raised, who asks the second question.
"Are you someone who needs glasses or just wear them for show?"
"N-no, I need them. I can't see very well with my normal eyes."
One last hand was picked as the third student asks the third question, "How do you like it here so far?"
"O-Oh, it's been nice. I already know a couple of people and uh, I can tell this will be a different experience."
Once the hands were gone, the teacher then points at an empty seat. "You can sit there in the back."
Seeing the desk second from the window that was in the very back, he simply nods before heading straight for it and sitting right in. The class went on for a bit, teaching a lesson about how plants can be varied from edible to medical, the differences being noticeable if you know which one is which by their appearances. The teacher then told them to match up which plant is which on the worksheet on their desks and are given the rest of class to figure out the differences.
"Sounds simple enough..." Pixel said to himself as he looks down at the worksheet.
Looking at the pictures, he did like how each plant looked with some being really nice to look at. Next to them was a line to write a letter, E or M, as his matching choices. He was struggling for quite a bit, especially towards the end when it came to flowers, but manages to finish it. Now with his sheet completed and some reasonable time to spare, he looks around the classroom and out the windows to see what was outside.
Though, his vision seemed to have been confused for staring as the student sitting near the window notices him looking her way. Not really sure if he was or not, she just does a simple wave that got his attention. His confusion turns to wonder as he sees the girl sitting there.
Long moderate aquamarine hair matches her grayish tangelo eyes and light greenish gray skin as she wore a light/dark striped brown sweater, blue pants, and black boots that is most likely due to the cold weather still outside.
Realizing that he was staring for way too long, he quickly waves back with an awkward smile that confuses her a bit. Probably thinking he made it worse, he quickly looks away and tries to hide his face with his hand.
"Good job, Pixel. You stare off into space and creeped a girl out..." He mumbles to himself, hoping that she wasn't thinking that.
He waited for a few moments before hearing a pencil against a desk in her direction. Taking a peek by moving his hand down a bit, he sees something he did not expect. On a blank sheet of paper she held up just above the desk towards him, she wrote one word:
"Hi"
He was rather surprised at this, but quickly goes to his backpack next to his desk and pulls out a blank sheet of paper himself. Putting it down, he takes his pencil and starts writing down something before showing it to her:
"Nice to meet you"
She shows a brief smile before writing down something else, putting it back up to show it:
"Wallflower"
He was confused for a moment before writing down a response to it:
"I like that flower"
He was more confused at her blank stare before she replies back:
"My name is Wallflower"
Realizing that he made a mistake, he was quick to recover on his feet:
"I like that name"
He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that he saw her cheeks go red for a brief moment before she wrote on her paper once more:
"I like yours"
He couldn't help but smile at that, his earlier nervousness was gone now that he has met someone else who is also shy like him.
The morning continues on, leading to him entering math class for second period. Unlike first period though, he recognizes one of the girls in there who happened to be Fluttershy. She sat in front of where he sat, which is in the middle row near the door, as the class went underway by refreshing their memory with some questions on the board and allowing them to work together to solve them. There were about twelve in total, so it shouldn't be that hard.
He then sees her turn around and starts a conversation with him, "How was your first class?"
"H-Honestly, it went well enough." He simply said as a response, "I didn't have any of you there, so... that was a bit scary."
"Oh. I'm sure that you hung in there." Fluttershy tries to assure him, "Since you're here now and all."
"...A-actually... I-I made a new friend." That got her attention.
"Really? Who was it?"
"U-Uh... h-her name is W-Wallflower..." He was quite quiet when he said that, but she manages to make it out.
"Wallflower? I don't think I've met her." Fluttershy tries to recall, but couldn't.
Pixel was gonna continue, but then realized they haven't done their work yet. "Oh yeah, math."
"Oh, you're right!" Fluttershy quickly changes her priority to this for now.
The two were quick to take out the equations. Pixel wasn't the best at math, but Fluttershy made up for that as she assisted on the harder ones. They manage to finish just in time as the teacher continues the lesson with a new way of mixing and matching numbers into the equations. Replacing the previous equations on the chalkboard with different ones that is about the new lesson, the two decided to get those out of the way before getting back into their conversation.
"So, you're friends with Wallflower?" Fluttershy reiterates to get back on track.
"Yes. Though, since you said you didn't know her, I'm guessing it's because she's a wallflower-" Realizing what he said, he couldn't help but feel bad. "Oh..."
"Well, I'm sure she appreciated you talking with her." She eases him by reminding him of the silver lining.
"This is the most talkative I've seen you in class, Fluttershy."
Pixel and Fluttershy turn to where the new voice is coming from, seeing another girl looking right at them with her purple eyes. She has long light gray hair with bluish gray streaks and pale blue skin as she wore a zipped-up blue hoodie over a purple dress that has a magic wand design, blue pants, and blue boots with white stars on the shoes.
"And it's with the new student as well? Trixie would like to know why." The girl most likely referred to herself as she spoke.
Pixel was a bit curious as Fluttershy replies, "He's a friend we met over the break. He's shy, but very nice."
"Really now? Well, gaze upon the greatness that is the Great and Powerful Trixie." She finishes her sentence with a confident smile.
"O-OK." Pixel simply said in response, making her look at him with a bit of annoyance.
"She's a magician." Fluttershy clarifies for him.
"Oh really? Then, may I see a magic trick?" He asks out of curiosity.
Trixie happily obliges, mainly to show off her skills, and does a simple one. She pulls out her magic hat and reaches inside it, which Pixel was expecting the classic bunny, but was subverted when she pulls out a small bouquet of flowers. She then takes a step further by putting the bouquet horizontally and places her left hand next to her right before moving the left in one swift motion, condensing it into one single flower.
"Voila. One of my new hat tricks I made, but haven't shown off yet." Trixie mentions before handing it to him, "Be grateful for such an honor."
"That was very nice." Fluttershy compliments as he accepts the flower, giving her a round of quiet applause.
"Y-Yes, it was." Pixel agrees with that, "A-And thanks for the flower."
"Trixie accepts your gratitude." She was rather smug with her words, which the other two simply shrug off.
Lunch starts as Fluttershy enters the cafeteria with Pixel in tow, along with having a conversation with each other.
"You girls are lucky to get the same lunch." The latter said.
"You're not wrong about that. It's rather convenient when we want to talk about our school activities and plans for the day." Fluttershy admits as she opens the doors, "Now we have you in the group."
"I-I'm happy to be." He simply said in response, which Fluttershy simply smiles at.
The two went into the line to get their food and goes to the usual table the others sat at as two of them were discussing something.
"And ya want us to write a song about, what exactly?" Applejack wants to make sure she is hearing this right.
"What's it like during the creative process. And I don't just mean the sewing world." Rarity clarifies her suggestion to the others.
"So, are we singing instructions on how to do something or...?" Rainbow questions.
"No, nothing like that. It's kinda like-" Rarity then notices Fluttershy and Pixel coming over, "Oh, hi!"
The others greet them as they took their seats, "Good to see you're holding up well." Rainbow comments, mainly towards Pixel.
"Don't remind me..." It may not look like it, but he does feel a bit tired mentally due to his adjustment here.
"Best to keep ya strength up. You're halfway there." Applejack told him as a way of encouraging him, which works somewhat as he starts eating his lunch.
"Actually, I just realized something." Sunset spoke up, getting the girls' attention. "We barely know anything about you back when we met at the Christmas party."
Pixel knows where she was going with this as he recalls talking very little with them, "That's true... Anything you want to know?"
Rainbow takes the first question and asks it before anyone else, "Video games, like or hate?"
Pixel perks up at this immediately, "Love them!"
The girls were surprised at the shift as Rainbow continues, "What type of games do you play then?"
"I dabble in the recent titles, but I'm more of a retro guy myself." Pixel's attitude was much different, most likely because of how confident he sounded now compared to before. "And I'm talking the classics. Blazing Rage, Fairy Tales, Plumber Bros, Legendary Adventures, Supersonic Boom, Dreamy Dimension, the list goes on. Fighting games, RPGs, platformers, anything that catches my interest is what I played."
The girls were just stunned at this side of him, though he took it differently. "S-Sorry, I tend to get carried away with that stuff."
"Oh no, I am glad to have another gamer in this group!" Rainbow was ecstatic about this before deciding to brag a bit, "And maybe a new partner to test my skills against."
Pixel grew a smirk on his face as he heard this, "Skilled, eh? Well, I accept your challenge anytime."
"Are there any modern games you like?" Sunset wonders out loud, due to also dabbling in games herself.
"Um... There's Karma, Devil's Cry, Silent Heaven, Ringtail Raccoon, Dual of Souls, Keys of Hearts, and I've recently tried out Rise of Tirek."
"Have you heard about the sequel getting announced?" Sunset was rather excited about that.
"There's a sequel? Hope it improves the gameplay, at least. There were a lot of ways to break that game in half." Pixel points out.
The three were now engrossed in their conversation as Fluttershy spoke with the others, "Guess to break out of his shell, we ask him about something he likes."
"A video game themed party? Sounds very digital, I like it!" Pinkie casually mentions a new idea before stuffing her mouth with some candy.
Lunch ends to give way to third period, which happens to be gym as Pixel kinda dreaded this part of the day. He wasn't much an athlete, or even goes out often to exercise. Sports aren't really his forte, not even bothering to play the games based on them. Luckily, Rainbow and Applejack have this class as well as the three enter the gymnasium.
"Y-Yay, sports..." Pixel was actually a bit sarcastic at that comment, which the two didn't hear.
"Don't worry, dude! It'll be fun!" Rainbow tries to lighten his indifferent attitude, to no avail.
"I appreciate the enthusiasm Rainbow, but not everyone's a sports person." Applejack told the truth to her friend before turning to Pixel, "Is there any experience you remember having with sports?"
"...Does watching count?" He pretty much sums it up in a nutshell.
Once their class got changed into their gym clothes, the coach decided to just have them play a sport of their choosing for the whole period. It was somewhat close, but it came down to dodgeball in the end. The class split into two sides with balls in a line in the middle of the court.
Pixel was rather nervous, one of two reasons being that Rainbow and Applejack are on the enemy team. Along with barely any experience... yeah, he doubts this will end well.
The game begins, those most eager to throw ran for the balls and started chucking them at each other while backing away for distance. Pixel stood in the back, mostly away from the action as he observes. Most of the students were not that much more build than him in terms of muscle, with one exception who happened to be on his side.
The student was the most muscular guy he has ever seen, having light gray skin, light amber hair, and strong red eyes. He may have been a big target, but proves to be rather quick on his feet to maneuver his dodges. Pixel was rather curious as to who this guy was, almost not aware of his feet moving himself towards the guy until reaching within a fairly decent distance. He was about to speak, only for his voice to be gone at the moment. Where was the confidence he had earlier?
As Pixel was trying to push himself to speak and introduce himself, he was pushed right back down... hard:
SMACK!
Too focused on speaking up, he was unaware of his surroundings as the bulky student dodges a ball that flew right past him, the next target in the path being Pixel's head as it bounces off on impact, knocking him down to the ground. All he heard was the sound of a whistle going off, followed by his friends' voices calling his name before falling unconscious.
Pixel finds himself in a classroom of sorts, one that he recognizes from his old elementary school. He was surprised at how well-kept it was, looking exactly the way it did when he graduated from it as a dull light came in through the windows to show the interior. Though, he doesn't remember it having thick shadows along the walls and corners as streams of it started coming down to the floor.
"W-What's happening...?" He questions as he sees the streams going along the floor in front of him like snakes.
The shadow snakes continue to slither around Pixel, walling him in before rising from the ground. They gave shape as they rose, forming into that resembling humans. All shapes and sizes were made as there was now a crowd of shadows surrounding the boy, staring at him with nothing but hollow eyes that shook him to the core. Before long, he could hear voices echoing in his head.
"Wow, look how scrawny he is!"
"Glasses? Must be one of those nerds!"
"Why are you so quiet?"
"Not like he can fight back!"
"Hey, look! He's crushing on the new girl!"
"He's just gonna lose, anyways!"
Lines he had heard before are loud and distorted, making him hold his head in pain as he tries to keep himself from falling over. They became louder and noisier by the second until eventually merging into white noise. Despite his best efforts, his legs buckled below him as he fell to the floor in pain.
"W-Whyyy... I-I don't-" He has no clue on what was happening around him.
His vision was becoming blurry as he looks upon the shadows, seeing them come closer ever so slowly as their empty eyes remain on him. He wanted to run or even move, get away from this however he could. Despite laying on the ground, he finds himself pinned down by something as the shadows were closing in and leaning over him.
His mouth wouldn't move, not even twitch as their hands came down upon him. He wanted to yell, shriek, just scream! Anything! ANYTHING!
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
The silence in the nurse's office was shattered as Pixel screams at the top of his lungs, shooting right up into a sitting position as he held the edges of the bed he was on for dear life. Rainbow and Applejack were on full alert as the nurse was still processing what just happened.
"W-What happened!?" The former shouts in shock as the latter was thinking the same thing.
The three simply watched him as he was now shaking like a leaf, his eyes staring at nothing but dead ahead as Applejack decides to do something to calm him down. She remembers her sister having nightmares a couple of times, so she hopes that the same applies here.
"It was just a bad dream, Pixel. Nothing to worry about." She said, trying to reassure his safety.
"Yeah. We're in the nurse's office now." Rainbow chimes in.
Pixel blinks, only moving his eyes as he looks at his surroundings. They are right, he's not at the gym anymore, but he's also not at... that school.
He tries to ease his way into relaxing, slowly letting go of the edges to reveal his hands were rather red from the tight grip he had as the nurse whispers to the other two.
"I rarely see anxiety like this. That nightmare must have been terrifying." She was rather concerned for the boy, which the other two agree on that part.
It was slow and the girls had to help him at least a little bit, but he manages to get back on his feet without much difficulty. Though shortly after, he winces as his head was hurting and held his hand on the spot it was at.
"Here you are. Luckily, it's only a minor bruise. Should heal up in about two weeks, but he does need some rest. He can try to continue his day, but I recommend he goes home." The nurse advises the girls on his condition, giving them an ice pack in the process.
"All right. Thanks, Nurse Redheart." Rainbow thanks the nurse before her and Applejack then help Pixel out as they exited into the hallways.
"Ya heard her. It's up to you if ya want to go to class again." Applejack repeats for him to process properly.
"..." Pixel was rather quiet, most likely thinking over his options as Rainbow lets out a small sigh.
"This sucks. His first day at CHS and it ends early because of a stray flying ball." She comments, unknowingly thinking the same way Pixel was feeling right now.
He was devastated. First day at a new school where he isn't a complete stranger to everyone and what happens? It was better than his first day at the other school, at least. He meets someone else who is also socially awkward like him, gets a neat little flower from a magician, and talked about his favorite hobby during lunch. All that goodness then smacks him, literally, back into reality when he wanted to introduce himself to someone the normal way.
Trying his best to put up a brave front, he makes his choice. "...I'm going to class."
He had his low voice again, but the girls heard him well enough. "Really? Huh, guess you're more stubborn than you look." Applejack admits.
"In that case, fourth period is about to start. What's your last class?" Rainbow asks in order to help him out.
"I-It's..." He winces again at the pain, which Applejack hands him the ice pack for him to place on his sore spot. "...Art."
"Art? That's good, Sunset takes that class!" Pixel was glad to hear that, he really wants someone to talk with in order to get through the rest of the day.
"Rainbow, aren't ya forgetting something?" Applejack reminds her, which her friend immediately knew what she meant.
"Here." Pulling something out of her pocket, it turns out that she was holding onto his glasses.
Seeing that he couldn't wear them due to the ice pack, she improvises a bit as she unfolds them and places them on his head kinda like a headband.
"T-Thanks." He simply said, the two smiling in response before escorting him to his last class of the day.
Entering the art room, Pixel was rather nervous about drawing attention to himself as the students were starting on their paintings on their canvas. Among the group of students, he saw Sunset sitting down at an empty canvas with her supplies in tow as she was trying to come up with something to create. He quickly made his way to an empty seat to her right, just wanting to sit down and talk at this point.
Upon sitting down was when Sunset notices him, and his injury. "Hey, Pi- What happened?"
"...Accident." He kept it straight to the point, not wanting to even think about it.
She was still genuinely concerned about it, "How bad is it?"
He moves the ice pack away for a few seconds, showing her the red mark on the right corner of his forehead. He then puts it back on as he spoke, "Still hurts. Want to talk to ignore it, even for a bit."
Sunset understood what he was talking about, "OK, I'm all ears. What do you want to talk about?"
Pixel briefly looks at the empty canvas before asking her, "What are you about to paint?"
"Not sure yet." She chuckles a bit as she admits that, "Might be another sunflower like usual."
Upon hearing that, he briefly remembers the kind of flower Trixie gave him earlier and pulls it out from his zipped-up hoodie. Turns out, it was actually a sunflower.
"Weird..." He mutters out loud as Sunset sees the flower in his hand.
"Whoa, that's weird." She repeats what he just said, "Where did you get it?"
"Trixie showed me one of her tricks. This was the result." He answers.
"Really?" She sounded a bit surprised at that, "How... oddly nice of her."
"She has quite the ego though." Pixel flat out said as he moves the ice pack away for a bit, putting it down next to his seat.
Sunset chuckles at that as she now has something to paint, grabbing her brush and dipping it in some red paint before starting her work.
"You got something?" He asks her.
"Yup. Though, I'm gonna add a little twist to it this time." She mentions before changing the topic, "I forgot to ask before, but what made you get into video games?"
Pixel simply smiles as it was a rather nice memory, "It was my birthday. Sty got me a game system with one game in particular for both of us to play. The rest of that day was him teaching me the controls and surprising him with each new trick I figured out. To this day, I still have that game and play it from time to time."
Sunset listened while painting at the same time, though her attention wasn't diverted as she continues the conversation. "Aww, that was nice of him. What game was it?"
"Blazing Rage Three: Fangs of the Wolf. It's Sty's personal favorite of that series." He gladly answers, "Heck, he even got his new look from the protagonist of the game."
"Is that so? Well, that ponytail works for him." She compliments his brother on his choice of appearance, which made Pixel actually laugh for a brief moment.
"No lie, I think you're the first one to say something nice about it." He said during his little fit of laughter.
"OK, come on." She didn't really believe that part, "You never met someone that told you that?"
"Not that I know of." He simply said as his laughter died down.
Sunset then realizes that he hasn't even touch a brush, "Not gonna paint today?"
"I was thinking that, but..." He pauses, looking like he was thinking of something before continuing. "Considering what happened earlier, I'm not really in the mood now."
"That's unfortunate." Sunset stops painting at the moment as she continues, "You know what gets me to paint?"
Pixel looks at her, admittedly curious of what she might say as she spoke. "Find something that sparks some inspiration, something to get your creative juices flowing."
"...Inspiration, huh?" Thinking through what he likes, it took a bit of time to choose before he gazes at the canvas with a determined look on his face as he puts his glasses over his eyes.
"Sunset, brush me."
Tempting as it was to be literal, she didn't want to ruin his moment as she hands him a spare brush. Once she does, he was quick to start. Dipping it in paint, moving it along the canvas, curves and spirals, even tapping the tip of the brush here and there, she couldn't help but watch him go at it. It was like watching a more precise Pinkie, who wastes so much paint, but he didn't even waste a drop as he puts on the finishing touches.
"Now THOSE are sunflowers."
Sunset look at his painting in awe, taking in what she's seeing. Seven sunflowers were in the foreground with one in the center being a bit closer than the others as the background was a glorious sunrise over green hills and meadows. However, the kicker was the flowers were not only different kinds of sunflowers, but were also color-coded to represent himself and the others. Yellow pedals with a red core was his, yellow/red pedals with a cyan core for her, and even rainbow pedals with a cerise core for Rainbow. The others were the same pattern with the pedals being their hair color and the core being their eye color.
"Pixel, this is... amazing." She couldn't believe what she was seeing as he chuckles at her compliment.
"Thank you. Guess you girls are something special."
Her full attention shifts onto him now after hearing that. Realizing what he just said, he tries to shift focus onto something else instead.
"I-I like how your painting is coming along. Looks very colorful."
She didn't shift her eyes though as she gives a small smile, "Thanks."
Pixel kept quiet as he scratches his head, realizing a little too late that he touched his bruise and winces at the sudden pain. Sunset goes to pick up the ice pack to place it on his bruise, catching the boy a bit off guard as he just stares at her. Her kind smile can be seen on her face, which he then shifts his eyes away.
"All of you... are so nice."
His words made her understandably curious, "Well, we're friends. You know?"
Pixel just stood there, repeating her words in his head as he heard how genuine it was. Closing his eyes, he then forms a small smile before muttering something that honestly perplexes her.
"No matter how many times I hear that... I always fall for it."
The school day has ended, leaving the students to do whatever they had planned for the rest of the day. Some going to hang out with their friends, part-time jobs, or just heading home. Pixel was sitting at the stairs as Rarity and Pinkie were being caught up with what they missed.
"That is quite unfortunate. I can understand why you don't like such games." The former sympathizes with him, which was broken by the latter's stifling laugh.
"I'm sorry, but the way I imagine the hit was more cartoony than it should." She apologizes for it as Pixel was now thinking the same thing, getting a quiet chuckle out of him.
"I like cartoons." He simply said before turning his head to talk to Sunset, "Are the others out of school yet?"
"They already texted back, saying that they'll be here-"
"Yo!"
She was interrupted as the sound of a motorcycle was heard, followed by the group seeing Visor and Stylite on the former's motorcycle as they cruised onto the concrete pathway with Levin's bike and Shade's skateboard catching up soon after. Stylite quickly hops off the back of the motorbike as Sci-Twi gets off from the back of Levin's bike, followed by Levin himself as Visor turns off his bike and takes off the helmet, and Shade already heading over earlier than them because of his skateboard.
Stopping and kicking up his board to hold onto it, he was the first one to ask the obvious question.
"You feeling all right?"
The others caught up as Pixel answers, "A bit better now, yeah."
Stylite didn't waste time as he goes to sit down next to his brother, "You sure? Let me see it for a sec."
Pixel removes the ice pack to show his bruise, which his older brother takes a closer look for a moment.
"Yeah, it checks out." He confirms, mainly to himself as he pulls back. "I have gotten a few to the head over the years."
"Which explains the hat?" Rainbow decides to go for a light jab of a snarky comment after hearing that.
"Firstly..." Sty removes his cap to show his head without it, "It's perfectly fine now, thank you very much."
That actually got a small chuckle from the others as he puts his hat back on, "And secondly, I was about to mention a nasty one I had gotten two years ago."
"You're talking about the 'bullseye', right?" Pixel was right on the mark with that, which Sty confirms. "Exactly."
"Why did you call it that?" Sci-Twi was rather curious about the nickname.
"Simple." Sty then removes his hat again for a visual reference, "Someone threw a basketball at me and it got me right in between the eyes. Plus, that's also where I decided to wear caps a lot more."
Sty puts the cap back on as Shade wonders out loud, "How bad was it?"
"Let's just say, I was surprised it wasn't bleeding." The former kept it short before turning to his younger brother, "But either way, how did your day go?"
"Other than the obvious... it was a very good day." Pixel admits with a small smile, "And the Rainbooms made it much better."
"They better, since I'm not here watching over ya." Sty comments in a lighthearted tone.
"What about you guys?" Pixel shoots the question back at the Crystal Prep group.
"Me and Twi swiped history class clean." Levin confidently say with a smirk.
"Yup. The questions given on the board were pretty simple." Sci-Twi agrees with him on that.
"My first demo blew the class away." Visor was pretty happy about that fact.
"And my bench got a good grade in woodshop." Shade casually mentions.
Sty was the last one to answer as he spoke, "Mine went pretty well. Met some students who were kinda interesting and was able to have the principal consider having fun for a change."
The Rainbooms were rather surprised at this, "Wait, you literally told the principal that she should lighten up a little?" Rainbow vocally said what they were thinking.
"If it means I get to have these guys in the Games with me, which wasn't my choice by the way, then I'd gladly take it." Sty clarifies for the others to understand before turning to Pixel again who was placing the ice pack back on his bruise, "Did you meet anyone new, by chance?"
"U-Uh, I met this magician in second period." He simply said, which Fluttershy clarifies for them. "It was Trixie."
"That girl again?" Visor mutters, mainly to himself.
"Let me guess, she showed you the classic bunny trick?" Applejack takes off her hat and does a pulling motion from the inside of it as she said that.
"Actually, she pulled out this." Pixel pulls out the sunflower he got from her, making Stylite smirk.
"A girl gave you a flower?" His teasing tone was something his younger brother did not look happy to hear.
"It's not that way and you know it." Pixel mumbles as he puts his flower back in his hoodie, denying his older brother's thought.
"Oh come on, I know you. You'd be that guy that exchanges notes with the girl without the teacher noticing." Sty casually pokes fun at how well he knows his brother, unknowingly making Pixel blush a bit in embarrassment as he looks away.
Thankfully, no one noticed that part as Sty stood up to his feet and holds his hand out to his brother, "Let's get going, we gotta get some stuff for that bruise you got."
Pixel looks at his hand for a moment before accepting it, getting pulled up onto his feet before all of them took their leave from the school.
And done! OK, this took longer than I thought it would. Although, I hope this matches the previous chapter in terms of interest.
By the way if you want to, feel free to guess what real-life games Pixel were referencing. Some are more obscure than others, just a heads-up.
So, the Rainbooms help Pixel get accustomed to his new surroundings and gotten to learn more about him.
As for Pixel himself, he got to meet some familiar faces from before and even a new one. Although, things take a slight detour after an accident at the gym. Despite that, he manages to make it out with only minor injuries.
And just like that, their first school days have already passed by. From here on out, it's gonna be the group mainly hanging out with some stuff eluding to the Games until they finally arrive.
With that said, thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!
