A New Dawn for Sunset Ch. 05
Needless to say, the class was surprised when Sunset returned along with a young silver girl with a crutch. As the flame-haired girl retakes her seat, the new girl hands Mr. Cranky Doodle a piece of paper who quickly reads it.
The teacher nods before addressing his students. "Okay, class. It seems we have a special guest today who will be attending Canterlot High at the beginning of next semester. Care to introduce yourself?"
"Hello," the girl bows slightly. "I'm Dawn and I look forward to getting to know everyone."
"Nice meeting you, Dawn," Cranky turn towards the rest of the class. "You may take the empty seat next to Sunset since it seems the two of you are well acquainted."
Dawn starts walking towards the empty desk as one of the students asks. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Mr. Cranky Doodle?"
"I'm fine sitting next to Sunset," the silver girl tells them as she sits down and takes out her own notebook and pencil.
"You heard the girl," the teacher says before turning back to the chalkboard. "Now where were we? Oh, right! To solve this sort of problem you'll need…" he then spots a raised hand. "Yes, Dawn?"
"No one can solve that problem. At least not correctly," Dawn points out. "The A and B are switched."
"That's highly un…" he turns to the board and then hums. Cranky then picks up the workbook. "What do you know?" he fixes the mistake. "Seems like I have a genius in my class."
Everyone then turns to stare at the new girl who is just casually taking notes.
.oOo.
Later, Sunset leads Dawn towards the cafeteria.
"Man! Math, science, literature, and more? You accel at everything. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer Crystal Prep?"
"I do my research, Sunset," Dawn shakes her head. "Crystal Prep may be a far more prominent school. However, they put much more effort into being better at everything over actually caring for their students. I fear if it wasn't for the Friendship Games event between them and Canterot High, their students would turn on one another for thirst for competition," the girl sighs. "You would think that whoever runs that school would see that it's an unhealthy learning environment."
"Yeah," Sunset nods. "After going against them in the Friendship Games before, I'm not sure I would have handled that kind of pressure. I'm pretty bright myself and had thought about attending Crystal Prep but like you, I had decided Canterlot High had a better environment."
"Are you sure that was the only reason?" the silver girl suddenly asks, causing Sunset to quickly turn and see that she's wearing a knowing smirk.
"Uh…"
"Come on!" Dawn moves ahead of the teen. "I don't want to miss lunch."
.oOo.
Just like in the morning, once Sunset entered the cafeteria, loud chatter became whispering.
the flame-haired girl sighed. But then a hand wrapping around hers caused her to look over and finds a smiling Dawn. This gave the former Equestrian enough confidence to continue through, leading the little girl to the lunch line.
"Oh, there's so many good stuff here," Dawn notes all food. "How will I choose?"
"It's really not much," Sunset smiles as she grabs a couple things. "They're quite simple," then shrugs. "But I guess as public-school lunch it has to be."
"Yeah! Many schools are pretty much required to give options not only due a students preference but also for allergy reasons," the silver girl made her choice of what to eat. "In fact, most school food taste plain due to any added flavor could upset some kids' stomachs."
As they got to the end of the lunch line, Sunset smirks. "Is there anything you don't know?"
A twinkle appears in Dawn's eye as she replies, "I can think of a couple things. But I'm working on changing that."
The flame-haired girl takes out her wallet to pay but halts as she sees that there's only a few bills left. "Dang!" and starts putting most of the food away.
"That's alright, deary," the green, elderly woman tells the teen with a sad smile. "I know things have been tough lately," she then types something on the register forcing the payment through.
Sunset smiles. "Thanks, Granny Smith. I'll pay you back. I promise."
"Take yer time, Sunset."
The yellow girl turns to the silver one. "I know that you don't like to be coddled but I can help you to a table, Dawn."
"I'll be fine, Sunset," she waves her off. "I can carry this myself. You just find us a table."
"Okay," Sunset turns around and lets out a sigh. "Not that it'll be heard," and starts crossing the cafeteria room as the other students stepped out of the way.
Dawn then looks up and Granny Smith with a smile.
The elderly Apple squints her eyes before they widen in recognition. "Why Ah'll be…"
The little girl holds a finger up to her mouth, signaling for Granny not to tell anyone and then whispers. "When I was little, I remember having some of your famous apple fritters."
Granny smirks as she reaches behind the counter to reveal some of the homemade apple treats and placed a couple on the tray. "I save these for special occasions."
"Thank you, Granny Smith," with that, Dawn pays for the lunch, manages to pick up her tray with one arm, and starts making her way across the room where she can see that Sunset is sitting by herself. However, halfway there, she is stopped by a small quiet voice.
"Um, uh, e-excuse me?" standing there is a butterscotch girl who is seemingly hiding her face behind her pink hair. "I-I'm Fluttershy," she then glances over to where Sunset is sitting, and the flame-haired girl seemed worried. "I thought I should warn you about Sunset. She's a terrible person."
"I've heard but I don't believe that's true," Dawn admits before gesturing at her patchwork crutch. "I don't think a terrible person would go out of their way to fix someone's crutch or give them food and shelter from the snow. Just show you know, I'm the kind of person who likes to return favors tenfold Now, if you'll excuse me," and walks past Fluttershy. "My friend is waiting for me."
Once taking her seat, Sunset asks. "Did she try warning you about me?"
"She did but it didn't work," Dawn takes one of the apple fritters and sets it on the yellow teen's tray. "I'm still sitting here after all."
Sunset smiles at the silver girl before starting to eat.
"Did you know that the Apple Family are lowkey millionaires?"
The former Equestrian did a spit take. "What!?" then looks across the room at her former friends and then over at the other members of the Apple Family. "They don't show it."
"That's because they always enjoyed the simple life. Outside of charities they don't like overspending money unless they have to. Most would see that as being stingy and cheap. In truth, they have a tradition of showing the younger generation the true value of hard work and money."
"Huh?" Sunset glances back at the Apples before turning back to her new friend. "You really do know everything."
Dawn smirks, "Not quite. At least not yet. Like for instance," she then points behind the flame-haired girl. "Why does that blue-haired boy keep glancing at you and not out of malice unlike the others?"
Sunset turns around and her eyes briefly meets the said boy's who quickly turn around. "Oh!" and faces Dawn. "That's Flash Sentry. He's my ex."
"Just your ex? No lingering feelings for one another?"
The former Unicorn shakes her head. "Not really. He's sort of in a long-distance relationship."
The silver girl leans in. "Oh? Anyone I know?"
"Doubtful. Twilight's from a faraway place. I'm sure even you wouldn't know about it."
"Try me," pride briefly shows on Dawn's face. "I know a lot of places. Even the smaller, lesser-known nations."
"But even you admitted not knowing everything," Sunset smirks and receiving a shrug from the little girl.
"Fair enough."
The two continued chatting over their meals until the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch.