"Ugh, school..." Eddy grumbled as he had just finished getting dressed in his room in the townhouse that the Peach Creek Gang would be staying at. As everyone had breakfast in the common room, Ben turned to ask Double-D a question.
"I wonder what we'll do for classes. Do you have an idea, Double-D?"
"Well, earlier this morning, I contacted Principal Celestia to have her pull some strings so we could all be in the same classes together. Apparently, the classes are very large. What we're starting with first will be Math."
"Oh great, way to start the day," Marie sarcastically replied.
"Word on that, sister..." Ben groaned as he stirred his oatmeal.
"Spoon please!" Ed said as he tried to scoop his cereal with his hands.
NEXUS
"Alright, class. Before we begin, I'd like to introduce you to our new students." Ms. Cheerilee said. "Would you all like to come and introduce yourselves?"
The first kid to walk in was tall. He had feathery orange hair, a unibrow, and emerald green eyes. He wore a green jacket, a red and white striped undershirt, purple pants, and black boots.
"Hello, I am Ed Alba! I like chickens and gravy and comic books and buttered toast!"
The second one to walk in was mid-sized. He wore a black beanie on his head, and it had yellow/blonde hair sticking from underneath it. He had a gap in between his two front teeth, and he seemed quite slender. He had aqua-blue eyes and wore a red t-shirt, purple shorts, red socks, and light blue sneakers.
"Salutations, new classmates. I am Eddward Anton, but my friends call me 'Double-D'. I do sincerely hope we'll get along quite well in this coming school year."
The third one to walk in was relatively short. He had spikey blue hair and seemed to be quite grouchy. He had chocolate brown eyes and wore a yellow t-shirt with a red vertical stripe and purple collar, light blue jeans with a wallet chain attached, and red sneakers.
"The name's Eddy McGee and you better remember it, because I'll be the coolest guy in school!"
The fourth one to walk in was in between Ed and Double-D's height. He had short green hair, a purple jacket, a black long-sleeved undershirt, blue jeans, white sneakers, and emerald green eyes.
"Roscco's my name. I'd like to get along well this year."
Next was a boy with curly and unkempt black hair as if he had never combed a day in his life. He wore glasses over his hazelnut eyes, a pale complexion, a black turtleneck, blue jeans, and black dress shoes.
"Yo, I'm Ben Shigura. Please don't confuse me with Akira Kurusu from Persona 5. I hope we can get along."
After him was a boy with tanned skin, a unibrow, blue hair, a yellow shirt with a horizontal red stripe, light blue baggy pants, and red custom-made shoes. He had dark brown eyes and his teeth were an unnatural green.
"I am Rolf Yvorik, the Son of a Shepard. Rolf shall gladly endeavor in this new domain of education, yes?"
Next was a boy with buzzcut auburn hair under a red baseball cap, green eyes, a green sweater, black shorts, white socks, and black running shoes.
"'Sup, name's Kevin. Better watch your step because I'm gonna be showing off my stuff soon."
After him was a pretty girl with blonde hair in a bob cut, a black t-shirt with a white tank top over it, purple jeans, black shoes with white soles, and baby-blue eyes.
"Hi, my name's Nazz Van Bartonschmeer! Totally happy being here today!"
Next was a boy with buzzcut black hair, dark skin, a white t-shirt, torn navy jeans, and sandals carrying a board of wood with a smiley face on it.
"I'm Johnny Teubifor and this is my best pal, Plank! Hope we can get along!"
Following him were two younger kids. A girl with long auburn hair, olive green eyes, a pink top, blue jeans, and pink shoes. Holding her hand was a timid-looking boy with fluffy light blonde hair, a retainer, pale blue eyes, a cyan sweater, white khaki pants, and black shoes.
The last three were a trio of tough-looking girls. The first had curly orange hair that covered her eyes, a white tank top with red polka dots, blue jeans, and black shoes. The second had blue hair with bangs covering one of her eyes, a black top, green cargo pants, and black boots. The last had freckles, long blonde hair, braces, and a grey t-shirt with red shorts.
"We're the Kanker Sisters! I'm Lee and these are Marie and May. Don't cross us and we won't cross you."
As the new students all began taking their seats, Crydius kept his gaze on Ben.
"I swear I've seen you somewhere before... but WHERE?"
Eddy has his head on the desk with one hand on his head and the other holding his pencil. He turned to Ed, who was sitting next to him, and saw he was doodling monster battles in his notebook.
Double-D was doing his work with relative ease. Rolf was studying his math problems hard before coming up with his best answers while Ben groaned and banged his head against the desk several times in frustration.
Roscco, who had been sitting at the desk in front of Crydius, noticed the black-haired boy's gaze directed at Ben. The green-haired boy did his best not to be bothered by it, but he had a feeling something was going through Crydius' head.
"Hey, what was the answer for this one again?" May asked Fluttershy, who she was sitting next to.
"Oh, I know that one!"
Hey, Sockhead, lemme see your sheet real quick" Eddy whispered to Double-D, who sat behind him.
"Eddy, you need to learn how to handle yourself at school without my help."
"I'm bored!" Kevin said to himself as he leaned back in his seat.
Soon, Class was almost over as Cheerilee addressed the non-transfer students. "Alright, everyone. Last week's math test has been corrected. Please come get your test once I call your name."
"Man, thank goodness we weren't here last week!" Eddy chuckled awkwardly as Double-D rolled his eyes while Ed was busy in his own little world, as usual. Roscco turned to see a certain shy-looking individual with short purple-pink hair as Crydius talked to them.
"Hey, Crona. How'd you do?"
"Not too well. I'm not very good at Math."
"Right... Wait, hold on. Didn't you join the Second Year's Study Group or something?"
"Yes, I did. I hoped it would improve my Math."
"And?"
"Well... I did go. And... We did do Math, I guess, but... I... can't really say I learned anything."
Crydius looked surprised to hear that. "You're kidding! The study group is led by Twilight and Sunset, right? They're the school's top students! How did you not learn anything?"
"Well, you see..." Crona awkwardly turned to where Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were seated. "It was really hard to focus. For everyone."
Seeing as the two girls in question were acting lovey-dovey to each other, Crydius could understand why his friend would have trouble. Especially because Rainbow Dash was glaring at them and crunching up her own paper in her hand.
"Ah. I see."
It was then that Roscco decided to make himself known. "Hey, if you need any help, I can lend a hand along with Double-D."
"Hello there!" The sock-hatted boy in question said, turning around to wave at Crona, who shyly returned the gesture.
"You're gonna have to get used to that. They act like that all the time." Flash said as he leaned over to Ben, who nodded in understanding.
NEXUS
Next on the schedule was Art Class. Thankfully, it was a free day, so the students were allowed to draw and/or paint whatever they desired.
Ed was very free-spirited, so his pictures were always incredibly random, drawn in some erratic, yet intriguing visuals; Edd took a more attentive approach to his work, and while it wasn't always the best stuff, it was always clear what his message was going into the project; Eddy had the attention span of a gnat, and this showed in his stuff, which always looked rushed and sloppy.
Ben, who just did what his hands led him to do, often drew strange scribbles and shapes mixed. He had no clear goals in mind and he often denied having any artistic talent to speak of.
Rolf had a very unique style of painting, typical of a person from a strange and exotic village and it showed his love of nature and animals. Kevin had a pretty straightforward way of drawing while Johnny created all sorts of bizarre and exotic designs.
Nazz often took inspiration from her dreams and experiences to paint some pretty creative pictures. Jimmy showed his childish, innocent nature in his drawings and Sarah showed some of her inner character in her artwork, which consisted of cute stuff mixed with nature and animals.
The Kanker sisters, despite having somewhat similar personalities, all had extremely different art styles: May's was a more classical style, allowing her to excel at such things as painting and sculpture; Marie's had a very gritty, grunge look to it, making it perfect for t-shirt designs and sketches that filled her notebook; Lee was very hands-on in her style, and she did best when she was working with clay or some such material, allowing her to shape her own creations.
As for Roscco, he dunked a paintbrush in some black paint and began tiptoeing behind Eddy, who was focused on his drawings.
"I see Eddy's blue hair; I must have it painted black!" The green-haired boy sang to the famous Rolling Stones song as he slapped Eddy's head with the paintbrush, streaking his hair black.
"Better have your will ready..." The short teen growled as he grabbed a nearby marker board and began chasing Roscco around as he laughed.
"Dorks..." Kevin sighed as he worked on his art piece. He was never good at expressing his feelings through art. Usually. He seemed to have a knack for drawing what he liked.
Ed seemed to have hit it off quite well with Pinkie Pie, who was excitedly peering over his shoulder to see what he was drawing.
"Ed is finished!" Ed proudly said as he walked over to Double-D and presented his art piece which was a near-perfect copy of the Mona Lisa... except that she was holding an M60 Machine Gun.
"..." Edd looked at Ed's work for a bit before speaking out. "Time for you to cut down on Call of Duty, Ed."
"No, I've been playing Battlefield, Double-D!"
"Same thing."
NEXUS
After Art was Science. Sunset and Twilight were shown to be quite talented in it. They even allowed Double-D to join them since he was fascinated by their work.
"My, my! Intriguing!"
"The mixing of the chemicals has been completed. The subject is stable." Twilight said, taking notes. "Exposing subject to a higher temperature. Waiting to analyze any reaction."
Double-D nodded as he added to the notes. "Estimated Time: Fifteen minutes."
"Subject does not seem to be responding," Sunset said, discreetly moving closer to Twilight. "Slightly raising the temperature and very close observation seems in order."
Twilight noticed and blushed as Sunset got closer, Double-D rolling his eyes when the two started getting romantic with each other in a very intimate sense. However, his attention on them was taken away when he heard Eddy speak to Ed.
"Hand me that Hydrogen, will yah?"
"Sure thing, Eddy!"
Roscco noticed this quicker than everyone else, his eyes shrank down in terror when he realized what was going on.
"HYDROGEN?! OH, DEAR GOD RU-!"
*Insert Skibidi Bap Mm Dada BOOM Meme*
Eddy's table was a smoldering crater with the boy in question covered in ash. Ed, who was also in the blast epicenter, merely shook off the soot with a laugh.
"Do it again!"
"DON'T DO IT AGAIN!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as Fluttershy was cowering behind the desk they were using and shaking like a leaf.
"STUPID!" May snapped angrily. "Don't you know never to mix ferric oxide with an aqueous suspension?!"
"Will you let go of me anytime soon?" Ben asked Pinkie Pie, who was hugging his back like a koala.
"Nope!" The party-happy girl chirped with an unbothered smile. Sarah groaned as she was holding Jimmy like Shaggy holding Scooby-Doo while Johnny laughed as he came down from the ceiling.
"Whooo! Plank says do it again, baby!"
"NO!" More than one person with common sense yelled out.
NEXUS
It was now lunchtime in the cafeteria as the Peach Creek Gang all found a table for all of them to sit together. As they were talking, they noticed Twilight, Sunset, Flash, and their friends approaching them.
"Hey, do you mind if we sit here?" Twilight asked as Roscco smiled.
"Sure, the more the merrier, as they say!"
The Mane Eight all sat down with the Peach Creek Kids. Pinkie Pie and Ed almost immediately got sucked into their little conversation while Double-D found it easiest to speak with Twilight and Sunset. Rolf listened with admiration to Applejack as she described her family's apple farm, Ben and Johnny did small talk with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and Roscco and Flash traded music-related stories.
"I gotta ask, what in tarnation was Eddy thinking trying to burn hydrogen for?" Applejack asked while cutting into a slice of apple pie.
Roscco nodded in agreement with Applejack's question as he bit into some smoked salmon. "Eddy, you have to admit, asking Double-D is one of your habits. So why didn't you ask if what you were burning was OK?"
"I just didn't know, okay?!"
"Darling, what on Earth is that?" Rarity asked Rolf, who was eating a sandwich that had a whole cooked crab in it.
"It is one of Mama's unique dishes that Rolf personally knows how to craft himself. It is called the Crab Wheat. Try it, yes?"
Rarity wrinkled her nose in slight disgust as she politely shook her head. "No thanks, darling. I think I'll stick with what I'm eating..."
"Wait, so Double-D knows how to play an instrument?" Flash asked Roscco, who grinned.
"Yeah, '88 Fingers Eddward' is the nickname we use for him when he lets it loose!"
Double-D sighed in embarrassment. "That instrument is so annoying..."
NEXUS
The last class of the day was PE and the teacher Coach Jane Doe announced that today's PE exercise would be Dodgeball.
"Alright, maggots! Listen up! If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!"
Jane marched in front of the crowd of students like a commander lecturing his soldiers.
"Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor."
Jane stopped and turned towards the students, standing at attention as he held up a dodgeball.
"Today, you shall attempt to replicate that greatness by partaking in the most entertaining form of non-lethal warfare: Dodgeball! You will be split into two teams, but in this game, much like on the battlefield, it's kill or be killed!"
Double-D was shaking like a leaf, his face pale as a sheet and Vietnam flashbacks running through his head as Nazz looked at him worriedly.
"Double-D?"
"No questions? Well then...PLAY BALL!"
As soon as those words left the coach's mouth, the balls started flying everywhere.
"Whoa!" Flash said as he ducked down and turned to see Double-D curled up into a ball and shivering.
"IT'S JUST LIKE GYM CLASS ALL OVER AGAIN!"
"Something tells me you didn't have a good time at your old school..." Flash said worriedly to the sockhatted boy. Twilight yelped as a ball narrowly missed her, Sunset having pulled her out of the way just in time.
"You okay, Twilight?"
"Ugh, no. I'm no good at this kind of thing. And from the looks of it, Double-D isn't really good for it either."
Sunset saw the boy in question bunched up on the ground and shaking while Flash, Ed, and Ben caught any balls that flew their way.
"Yeah, he's got it pretty bad. But we've dealt with crazier things than this."
Rainbow and Crona were watching Twilight and Sunset.
"Ugh... those two are at it again."
Crona just smiled. "I think it's cute."
"Well, I think it's time for some long-awaited payback!" Rainbow said with an evil grin as she threw her ball at Twilight. "Hey, Twi! Heads up!"
Twilight yelped as she flinched, only for Sunset to catch the ball with her open palm, her eyes glowing dark red before shooting the ball back at Rainbow, smashing her in the face and splattering blood everywhere as Crona paled in horror at the speed and force demonstrated.
"OH MY GOD! RAINBOW, ARE YOU OKAY?!"
"Looks like Rainbow Dash ain't gonna look very dashing now!" Eddy laughed before noticing Fluttershy giving him a death glare. "I'll shut up now..."
Not satifyed with this, Fluttershy grabbed a ball and, in a suprinsiglty brutal display, threw it at Eddy with such force it caught fire and seemed to manfiest the snarling of a wolf. Fortunately, it didn't hit any of the other students. UNFORTUNATELY it DID shatter a hole in the ewall.
Roscco slid under a Hail Mary of dodgeballs before smirking as he shot the dodgeball in his hands with precision, hitting Pinkie Pie in the shoulder and sending her flying back.
NEXUS
The following is a newspaper summary that, in the following years, would come to be known as the only source of information on this event.
The first dodgeball game of the Peach Creek Gang's new school life went right into the school's history books due to several noteworthy incidents.
Student Council President Peridot was sent to the infirmary no less than 3 seconds after the game started due to getting hit square in the face and losing consciousness. She made a quick recovery, but her glasses were beyond salvation. About two minutes or so later she was joined by Rainbow Dash who got injured in some as of yet unknown accident. The only witness, Crona, refused to testify.
Later in the game, Rarity headed to the infirmary as well, claiming she was deadly injured. Turns out she broke the nail of her left index finger.
Flash sentry suffered the worst out of all; being hit in…well…let's just say that EVERYONE sympathized with him after how hard and where he was hit. However, he claimed the pain was worth it for shielding Twilight.
before Ben managed a knockout on Sunset, only to be taken out during the milliseconds of pride and happiness of having actually hit someone.
The game ended with the only players left on the field being all of the Ed Squad (yes, even Double-D), Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Marshall Lee, Lapis Lazuli (though the latter two were suspected of having used flight to cheat), and, very surprisingly, Twilight Sparkle. All received high marks…
And complimentaryt therapy for Double D and Twilight, who is seemed had also suffered…bad prior experiences involving round, bouncy objects in sports.
NEXUS
As the school day ended, the Peach Creek Squad headed back to the townhouse, bidding farewell to the Mane Eight in the process and glad to have made new friends.
"Well, I'd say that was a very successful first day of school, don't you guys think?" Ben asked as the others nodded.
"Man! But did you see Sunset at PE back there? That chick is crazy!" Nazz laughed.
"Love conquers all!" Ed said simplistically.
"Yeah, but she practically KILLED Rainbow Dash out there!" Ben said. "I think I even heard the Unreal Tournament Announcer say 'Headshot'!"
"And that was only the first day!" Roscco laughed.
As the gang headed home, they didn't notice Crydius and his group spying on them from afar. Crydius kept his eyes trained on Ben especially.
"That guy has some crazy power..." He then looked at his palm, the symbol he had on it since birth was glowing. "Almost like my own Just what are you?"
Closing his hand into a fist, Crydius smirked as he turned to the rest of his squad, who all gave similar grins except for Crona, who still looked rather shy.
"Well, ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary friends... Things are getting a whole lot more interesting."
NEXUS
The Mane Eight were on their way home themselves. Flash was talking with Sunset and Twilight before a green glow caught his attention.
"What's wrong, Flash?" Twilight asked.
"You girls go on ahead. I'll catch up."
The seven girls headed off as Flash stayed behind, approaching the green glow closer. After pushing away some bushes, he saw it was a green gauntlet-like band with a central core in the shape of a watch head that was black with a green hourglass symbol on it.
Curious, Flash picked it up and, against his better judgment, put it on his left arm, surprised that it felt quite snuggly. He could swear he saw the silhouettes of strange creatures of all kinds flashing across the hourglass symbol.
Seeing as how the girls weren't too far away, Flash quickly ran to catch up to them, not realizing that this strange accessory would give him the chance to stand alongside them and their amazing magical capabilities.
Knightmare Lord A/N:
I did 90% of this chapter so Mrotrax wouldn't have too much on his plate. I'll mostly handle the story writing, he'll do edits and additions here and there. We hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Mrotrax A/N:
Indeed and thank you KL! I just added some scenes to the dodgeball game.
HAPPY AMERICAN THANKSGIVING!
Stay safe and well!