Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Tempers will run high today. Don't let it get you down. Everyone has bad days from time to time.

Early Morning

I was up half the night thinking, so I'm a bit listless this morning. I woke up after only a couple hours of sleep, so when Pinkie comes downstairs to start breakfast, I'm already sitting in the dining room with a spiral notebook which I've been doodling in for the past half hour.

"Hey Flash! You're up early."

"Couldn't sleep," I say.

"Oooh. I hate that. You end up all groggy and RAAAAR all day long." She peeks over my shoulder. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Coming up with my little emblem thing," I say. The page is full of various versions of the same symbol: a shield with a lightning bolt.

"Huh. Cool. Well, I'm gonna cook breakfast now. I think I might make biscuits for everyone this morning, how's that sound?"

"Sounds good." I look up. "Come to think of it...you cook pretty much every day, don't you?"

"I love to cook," Pinkie says. "I mean, what I really love is baking, especially cakes and cupcakes and cookies. But I love cooking other stuff too." She disappears into the kitchen, and I continue refining the design, trying to make it look like what I remember of...of the coat-of-arms on Chiron's cape.

A little while later, I hear swearing from the stairs. "Where the fuck—oh, for...who the hell did the laundry yesterday?!"

That'd be Rainbow Dash. Making all the noise, I mean. I have no idea who did laundry yesterday.

I hear Rainbow pounding on a door. "Applejack! HEY, APPLEJACK! Get the hell up!"

I hear a door open. "Ugh, Rainbow...th' dang roosters ain't even up yet! What th' heck's yer problem?"

"I can't find my towel!"

"You woke me up this early over a dadgum towel?!"

"I kinda need it right now..."

"Why're you even up this early?"

"My room was all hot and sticky, okay? I couldn't sleep! Now where the hell's my towel?!"

"Ah dunno...didja check th' laundry basket? Ah mighta left it down there..."

"Could the two of you please stop yelling in the hall? SOME of us need our beauty sleep!"

"Hey, what's all the yelling out here?"

Pinkie walks in, sighing as she pours me a glass of juice and puts a plate of biscuits and sausage in front of me. "Looks like everybody's gonna be all RAAAAR today," she says before heading back to the kitchen.

Rainbow walks past, grumbling and muttering. I hear the muffled sounds of her bumping around in the laundry room, then more swearing. She walks into the dining room. "Hey Pinkie, you got an extra tow..." She stops talking as she spots me sitting at the table eating.

Well, I was eating. Now I just have a piece of biscuit in my hand. My brain's kind of locked up.

Rainbow is dripping wet and completely naked.

Holy crap...even her pubes are...

That hair color is natural?!

Pinkie appears out of nowhere, wrapping a huge fluffy pink towel around Rainbow and pushing her out of the dining room. About two minutes later, Rainbow lets out a frustrated scream that shatters any semblance of early morning quiet that might have remained.

My brain unlocks, and I return to my breakfast, doing my best to ignore the raging boner I have now.

A minute later, a sleepy, bedheaded Twilight shambles into the dining room, wearing blue pajamas and rubbing at her eyes. "Uuuuuugh....why's Rainbow making so much noise at this time of morning?" She peers sleepily at me. "Hey."

"Uhh...hey," I say, waving a half-eaten biscuit at her. "Pinkie's got breakfast ready..."

Rainbow storms into the dining room, still wrapped in Pinkie's towel, throws a shoe at me, then stomps off in a huff.

Twilight blinks. "What the heck was that about?"

"She uh...just walked in here naked," I say. I feel my face heating up. "I uh...I saw everything."

Twilight frowns. "You saw Rainbow naked?"

"It was kinda hard not to," I say. "I was sitting here eating breakfast and she just walked right in."

"Oh," Twilight says. She grabs a biscuit off my plate and tears it in half. "You'd think she'd know better."

Pinkie walks in and gives Twilight a plate. "Rainbow'll calm down," she says. "She's just totally embarrassed right now." She smirks at me. "Especially after what you were staring at."

Twilight coughs suddenly. "WHAT?!"

"Oh, I saw Flash staring right at Rainbow's pussy," Pinkie says in a teasing tone. "Perv."

"It's not...I didn't—!" I fumble for something to say. "I couldn't help it! She has rainbow pubes! Her rainbow hair is natural! It's kinda hard NOT to stare at something that crazy!"

Pinkie giggles. Twilight stares at me, eyes half-lidded. Pinkie reaches over and grabs a lock of Twilight's hair, lifting the pink streak up. "FYI, this is natural too," she says, winking before she heads back to the kitchen.

Twilight splutters, face flaming.

I push my plate away and bang my head against the table a few times. "Is it too late to hit reset and get a do-over on this whole morning?"

One by one, the others come down for breakfast. Once I finish eating, I head to the lounge. It's still ridiculously early, so I pass the morning watching television and working on the coat-of-arms. It'd help if I could draw for crap.

Rainbow, now dressed—overdressed for a warm day like today, actually—shuffles into the lounge, looking surly. "Hey," she says.

"Rainbow, I'm sorry—"

She cuts me off. "Nah, it's my bad," she says. "You were mindin' your own business an' I was runnin' around like that..." She smirks. "Even if you did totally get an awesome show out of it."

"So we're cool?" I ask.

"Yeah, we're cool."

As it grows closer to time to leave for school, I join Twilight in walking Spike for the first time in a week. Spike barks happily and runs around my feet when he sees me, wagging his tail.

"Wow, I thought he didn't like me."

Twilight giggles. "I think he missed you."

Spike pees on my shoe again.

"Nope, that's a direct hit."

"Gah! Spike!" Twilight guides Spike away from me. "Flash, I am so, so sorry..."

"Don't worry about it. Really." I sigh. "This has been one crazy, messed-up morning..."

Twilight rolls her eyes and smiles. "Welcome home, Flash."

"Home. Yeah." I can't help but smile...

Morning

My first day back to school is...tense.

It starts in my first class. A lot of kids are staring at me. I glance around the room and I see some of my classmates engrossed in their phones.

I remember what happened that night, a week ago. I remember Cadance's explanation. I wonder how many of them are texting each other, gossiping about me.

Mr. Turner walks into the room, still wearing his inexplicable conquistador helmet. "Alright, phones away," he says. He notices me. "Welcome back, Flash. Feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." I notice half the class is staring at me. Their expressions are a mix of amusement, disgust, and suspicion.

Mr. Turner clears his throat. "Right, well..." He checks his computer. "Let's sign out of Canterbook, class..."

Between the lack of sleep the night before, the anxiety about Zodiac, and the realization that these rumors about me aren't something I can just brush off, it's hard to concentrate on classes. By the time the bell rings for lunch, I'm exhausted and frustrated and in a bad mood.

Lunch

The first thing I notice when I arrive in the cafeteria is my dormmates gathered at the table where I'd started eating lunch with Twilight and Pinkie last week. I can't help but notice a lot of kids giving me suspicious, dirty looks as I load up my tray.

I head over to the girls' table and sit down. The eyes following me are almost physically painful.

"This has been going on since Friday," Twilight says miserably, poking absently at her lunch with a fork. I can't even identify what's on her tray.

"Yes, we've...taken to sitting together. As a sign of solidarity," Rarity says.

"That an' all th' dirty looks we're gettin'," Applejack mutters, chomping into an apple.

Fluttershy shrinks into herself.

I'm starting to get angry. "This is stupid! What the hell is wrong with this school?!" I take a vicious bite of my hamburger.

"It's all her," Rainbow says. "She started that stupid rumor."

I shake my head. "No...no, there's more to it than that."

"What makes you say that?" Twilight asks, tilting her head.

Damn. I can't tell them what I know. I can't tell them what I saw in Zodiac. "Well...it takes more than just one nasty person spreading lies to cause all this!"

There's an uncomfortable silence.

"Well...you've got a point there," Rainbow says. "The rumors about me don't even have anything to do with Sunset Shimmer."

"What rumors?" I ask. I already know the answer.

Rainbow looks down at her tray. "I got into it with some of the guys on the soccer team last year," she says. "I...don't wanna talk about what happened, but...it got two guys kicked off the team. One of them got suspended." She sighs. "Their friends decided to get even with me. They started a rumor that...that I'm a..." She squeezes her eyes shut. "Lesbian." She looks around wildly. "But I'm not! You all know that, right?"

"Of course we do," Rarity says with a smile.

"Yeah, totally!" Pinkie says. "You've never hit on me even once!"

Rainbow blinks at her. "Uhh..."

I cough. "So some asshole guys started talking shit about you? How many people actually believe it?"

Rainbow sighs. "Most of the school."

"Funny thing is, it wasn't like this freshman year," Applejack says. "Ah mean, there's always been gossip an' rumors an' all, but...it didn't really start gettin' nasty like this until last year."

"Yeah, even Sunset Shimmer wasn't always like this," Pinkie says. "She's never been nice, but until last year, she just kept to herself. Then out of nowhere, she just started bullying people."

Nobody says much of anything for the rest of lunch.

After School

School is over for the day. I stop by the bathroom before heading home.

I'm washing my hands when four guys crowd around me.

"So which one was it?" one of them asks.

"I bet it was Twilight. They say you spend a lot of time with her."

"How'd you catch something from that nerd? Is she like, secretly super-freaky?"

"Nah, I bet it was Pinkie Pie."

"Yeah, she seems like she'd be easy."

All day long, I've been putting up with people staring at me. I've been tense and on edge. I've been angry at the way this school's gossip and rumors hurt people I care about.

This...is more than I can take.

I grab the guy who called Pinkie easy by the collar of his shirt and punch him in the nose. Then I throw him at the guy behind him, the one who insulted Twilight. The others back up defensively.

"Listen, you assholes," I snarl. "Those girls are my friends. They have done nothing to you. They have done nothing to anyone. And I don't care what you heard from that bitch Sunset Shimmer, nothing like that happened. What makes you think it's okay to go around talking shit about girls you don't even know?"

The guy I punched stands up, wiping blood from his nose. "Tch. We were just askin' a question. Loser."

"Yeah," one of the others says, "why you gotta be like that? You're the luckiest guy in school, havin' all that pussy right there in the same dorm..."

I've had it with this. I push one of the guys out of my way and leave.

Evening

I go straight up to my room when I get back to the dorm. I collapse on the bed, not bothering to take my clothes or even my shoes off.

I don't know how long I just lie there. I don't know if I was awake the whole time, or if I fell asleep. A knock on the door brings awareness of the world back to me.

The door opens slightly, and Twilight peeks in. "Flash?" She sounds concerned. "Are you okay?"

I sigh. "Hey Twilight."

She walks in. "You didn't come down for dinner...we haven't heard you practicing your guitar..." She frowns. "You don't look so good."

"I'm just exhausted." I sigh. "Today...really sucked."

Cadance walks in. "Flash?" she prompts gently. "You need to come downstairs...Vice-Principal Luna is here. She wants to have a word with you."

"Vice-Principal Luna?" Twilight asks. There's a note of fear in her voice. "What—?"

I stand up and follow Cadance downstairs. Twilight follows behind me.

The rest of the girls are gathered in the lounge, along with Shining Armor, who has a stern look on his face. Seated in one of the recliners is a woman with pale blue-grey skin and long, wavy hair in two shades of blue. A black crescent moon pin is affixed to the lapel of her blouse. She doesn't look terribly happy.

As soon as we enter the lounge, she stands up, folding her arms. "Flash Sentry?" she asks.

I nod.

"Four students came to my office after school. They claim you assaulted three of them in the restroom."

Twilight gasps. "There's no way Flash would...!"

Vice-Principal Luna holds up a hand to silence her. "Well, Flash?"

I stare right into her eyes, willing myself to be calm. "Did you know your students are spreading rumors about the girls in this dorm?" I ask.

Luna frowns. "Flash, I'm here about an assault—"

"There's a rumor going around that I was in the hospital because I caught a disease from one of these girls," I say. I wave my hand around at the girls for emphasis.

Luna stops short. "Is...is this true?"

"It's true," Rainbow says with a scowl. "The rumor, I mean. Not the...other thing."

Luna frowns. "Be that as it may...I'm here to address the matter of an assault on students."

I explain, in detail, exactly what happened in that bathroom. Twilight looks horrified. Pinkie's hair falls limp. Rainbow has a satisfied smirk on her face. Rarity looks grim. Fluttershy looks terrified. Applejack's eyes are narrowed. Cadance has her hands over her mouth.

Shining Armor looks pissed.

"So yeah, I got pissed off," I say. "I was tired, I was frustrated, I was angry. They pushed me over the edge. I couldn't take it. Those jerks saying stuff like that about my friends..." I look down, feeling my hands ball into fists. "I just couldn't take it."

Luna's mouth is set in a thin line. "Thank you for clearing this up, Flash. In the future, I'd appreciate it if you would come to me or my sister when such...filth is being spread about one or more of our students."

"I will."

"That goes for the rest of you as well," she says. "As for this incident...I'll be having words with those four boys tomorrow." She gives me a warning look. "I'll overlook what happened today, but if it happens again, I won't be so lenient next time."

"Thank you," I say. "I promise, it won't happen again."

Luna nods. "Goodnight, everyone."

As soon as she leaves, everyone lets out a tense breath. Pinkie jumps up and hugs me. "Our hero!" she says.

Rainbow grins. "Didja break his nose? Please tell me you broke his nose!"

"You don't happen to...know the names of those four guys?" Shining Armor asks.

"Sorry, Coach."

Shining frowns. "Well...at least I'll know to look for a guy with a jacked-up nose tomorrow. I can at least put one of them through hell." He stands up and claps a hand on my shoulder. "Good job, kid."

Cadance frowns. "Shining...don't encourage this. This was not okay."

I sigh. "Yeah...I totally lost my cool. I'm just so..." I shake my head. "Why do people have to go and say stuff like that?"

Twilight gets up, walks over, and hugs me. "I'm sorry your first day back was so awful," she says.

"Alright...it's getting late, so I want everyone upstairs," Cadance says. "Flash, you should eat something before you go to bed. They tell me you skipped dinner."

Everyone leaves. I head into the kitchen and make a sandwich, which I take up to my room. I should probably get a few things to put in my mini-fridge. After I finish eating, I try to do my homework. It's hard to get my mind off everything else, and I have a feeling I'm not going to get very good grades on any of it.

It's half past ten when I turn off the lights and go to bed. It's nearly midnight by the time I finally get to sleep.