Four more days.

Just four more days.

Four more mornings, plus one evening, and then it would be night. More importantly, it would be the Fall Hallows’ Eve Event (that was almost easier to say out loud, now).

It was easy to see the excitement on all of the students’ faces. Girls were giddy, speaking in hushed or excited tones, depending on the group; guys were nervous, murmuring but also bragging about with whom they would go. A few were still attempting to ask out members of the opposite or same sex, and surprisingly, few were rejected.

There were a few, however, who remained undecided. They decided to strike at it alone, thinking that they’d inevitably hook up with someone at the dance. But with how late it was, the chances of someone being free dwindled with every passing moment. It was risky.

Of course, according the tall, blue-skinned brute that walked beside two other, shorter boys, that didn’t matter. And to the richest among them, that was both amusing and preposterous.

“You are a jock!” Blueblood loudly protested. “You are supposed to have a date for any event! That is your niche in life; that is your trope!”

“Blueblood,” Brutos grumbled good-naturedly, “what have I told you about abiding by stereotypes?”

“Brutos, how can you possibly not see the importance of this event?!”

“I see it quite clearly, I’ll have you know. It’s not that hard.”

“Then why aren’t you getting a date?!”

“Because I don’t want one for the moment.”

“Brutos, you could get any girl to go with you just by flexing! Surely you see the advantages in that!”

“If by advantage you mean manipulation, then no, I don’t see that.”

Blueblood let out a disgusted groan. “Fine! I see you’re a lost cause! At least No Clue here has the sensibility of having a date!”

Clue blushed. Yes, it was true, he technically had a date; but at the same time, it wasn’t like he made it happen. It was just coincidence; happenstance; circumstantial.

Still, it had happened; and that had to mean something. No Clue was going to the dance with Rainbow Dash; and she had been the one to ask him out! Never in a million years had he thought that would happen.

In fact, it was just as surprising as the fact that—

“You don’t have a date yet either, Blueblood,” Brutos reminded the boy, “so don’t play ‘doting aunt’ on me.”

Blueblood harrumphed. “L-listen, that’s only because I haven’t made up my mind on who to go with!”

“Better hurry it up, man,” Clue said. “Your chances are already low as it is.”

He gave him a withering look. “Are you suggesting that I, Blueblood, am incapable of finding a companion for the night? Have you even looked at whom you speak?”

“Someone who doesn’t have a date yet,” Brutos commented. That earned him a light slap on the shoulder that barely phased him. “So, Clue,” he said, “since you’re going with Rainbow Dash—lucky you, by the way—what are your plans?”

“Huh?” Tilting his head, he asked, “What do you mean?”

“You know…” Brutos gestured vaguely. “Are you going to… make a move on her?”

Clue’s face grew heated. “That’s not… I’m not…”

“I meant that in an innocent way, man.” Brutos rolled his eyes. “I meant are you going to try some corny pick-up lines or something.”

“Why would I do that? We’re already going to the dance.”

“Yeah, but you’re going as friends. Don’t you want to leave as something more?”

“W-well…”

That realization had struck him early on; that really, they were indeed going as friends and nothing more. Not that Clue minded; any chance with Rainbow was a nice opportunity. It was a shame they didn’t hang out much these days; between conflicting schedules and hanging out with Blueblood, Clue saw Rainbow less and less. But the feeling in his heart was just as strong as when it had begun.

He rubbed the back of his blue-haired head. He’d need a haircut soon. “I mean, I guess I would like to be something more, with her… but… you know…” At this, he gestured just as vaguely as the other boy had. “This is… this is nice.”

Brutos raised an eyebrow. “But it could be even nicer.”

“Yeah, I guess. Still.” He let out a breath. “This is… just the first step. We go as friends and, at the very least, we leave still as friends. I don’t want to risk messing things up.” That, and, I don’t quite know what Rainbow really thinks of me. I’d rather confirm it than blatantly ignore it.

Brutos shrugged. “Well, whatever floats your boat, I guess.”

Clue then turned to Blueblood. “So? Any idea of whom you might go with?”

“I keep telling you, my options are great and numerous—”

“Then why haven’t you chosen anyone yet?”

“… Because most are already taken.”

“Well, who isn’t?”

Blueblood raised his hand; he curled his thumb and pinky in, leaving three up. “Blossomforth, Sky Drop, and Carrot Top.”

“Well, you’ve got four days until the dance. I think you could afford making a quick decision in that time.”

“Or maybe I’ll just ask the next girl I see.”

“Blueblood, don’t be so callous.”

“I don’t know the meaning of the world. Oop!” He suddenly stopped as they rounded a corner. “When opportunity knocks, cautiously open the door,” he muttered to himself; then, to his friends, he said, “Carry on, you two; I’ll be with you momentarily.”

He dashed off into the hallway, posture straight, a confident grin adorning his refined features. They watched him go, initially confused.

“Has he found another person to bother?” Brutos asked.

“Maybe he spotted a candy machine with two, free candy bars stuck in the slot,” Clue suggested.

“Why not steal candy from a baby while you’re at it?”

“He would, if the baby had some sort of peanut-butter delight in its grubby hands.”

Brutos smiled. “We banter a lot when Blueblood isn’t around, don’t we?”

Clue returned the grin. “Hey, it keeps the both of us practiced for when he does come and bother us.”

They went down the adjourning hall, heading towards their lunch spot. Students bustled and jostled by; from the snippets of conversation that No Clue heard, it was clear that the Eve was still fresh on their minds. One girl mentioned she’d probably go to Canterlot to buy her dress, while another insisted she ask Rarity for a custom-made dress. In another corner of the school, one group gossiped about who was going besides the students. Rumors had long been confirmed. Other schools were invited; including, much to the majority’s disdain, Crystal Prep.

Clue, new as he was, wasn’t sure what to make of it. On one hand, it would be nice to meet some new people. On the other hand, if the stories of the students there were to be believed, most were a bunch of condescending jerks. The closest comparison he could make at the moment was an entire student body of Bluebloods, but without his wish to be a better person, and completely focused on academic superiority.

The thought was both weirdly fascinating and terribly frightening. Clue would have shuddered had not for the company beside him.

“Hmm,” Brutos murmured. “Since we have so many other schools coming to our event, I’d imagine that little Miss Veil will be coming.”

“You think so?” Clue pondered it for a moment. “Yeah, I can see her definitely coming. She’s certainly livelier than her cousin. Think she’ll enjoy our school? I mean, it’s no Winnipiac… that place has got to be so much more advanced than ours.”

Brutos turned to him, giving him a knowing smirk. “Oh, I think she’d like it very, very much.”

His words and expression made Clue falter in his steps, and soon the taller boy was several paces ahead. “Why’d you have to say it like that, man?” he grumbled as he rushed towards him.

Just as he reached the boy, they heard a familiar voice call out to them from behind. Turning, they found Blueblood walking towards them. He grinned triumphantly. “And you doubted the words of the Almighty!”

“He’s a god, now?” Clue whispered.

“Maybe in his head,” answered Brutos. The two shared short laughs.

Blueblood reached them. “Laugh all you want, peasants, but your lord Blueblood has emerged victorious!”

“He hath slain thy beast!”

“Nay, he hath rescued a damsel in distress!”

“Ha ha ha. Very funny.” Blueblood rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t you two at least try a bit harder with your banter?”

“We try! We can’t help having a poor audience,” Clue protested.

“Scored yourself a date, Blue?” Brutos asked. “I’m surprised you managed that at all.”

“Ha! No lady can resist my natural charm!”

“I think they’d get sick of trying. So Blossomforth said yes, did she?”

“Indeed she did, my jaunty jock friend. Jealous? I wouldn’t blame you.”

Brutos shrugged. “Eh. She’s a nice girl. Anyone would be lucky to go out with her.” He leaned in. “So why, of all people, did she decide to go with you?”

Blueblood flushed and said, “What are you implying, Brutos? That she didn’t want to go to the dance with me consensually?”

“More like she was doing it out of pity.”

“As if! She was just as willing as I was to go together!”

“That’s not saying much. Didn’t you say you’d go out with the next girl you see?”

“Shut up, Brutos—”

“She probably didn’t have a date herself, and decided that Blueblood was okay enough to go with.”

The silence from Blueblood that followed Clue’s statement was deafening. His eyes nearly bugged out. “Wait. Seriously? I was just guessing!”

Blueblood chuckled sheepishly. “Y-yeah, well… you’re good at that sort of stuff, aren’’t you?” He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Turns out neither of us had a date. And, well, she said it herself: she’d be okay going with me. I believe her exact words were ‘You’re not that bad, Blueblood.’ Even smiled and winked.”

“Aww. That’s nice of her, Blueblood,” said No Clue with a smile. “Looks like your change is becoming more apparent.”

“I certainly hope so. I’d hate for it all to be for naught.”

“Well, it got you a date, so I’d say that’s a good sign.”

“Indeed so.” Blueblood tilted his head, looking at Brutos. “Which means you, my friend, need one yourself, just so that we’ve a full set.”

“We’re not a collection, Blueblood,” Brutos said. “Besides, I’ve already told you. I don’t particularly care for having a date.”

“Sure, you say that now. But mark my words, Brutos; you’ll be begging every girl the day before.”

The taller boy rolled his eyes. “Right, right, because you can somehow predict the future.”

“Stranger things have happened,” the boy reminded him.

They turned down another hall, with Clue taking the lead. He turned around and walked backwards, talking to his friends as he did so. “So! Four days,” he said. “I haven’t seen what they’ve been doing with the gym. Any of you guys know what’s up?”

“Besides having the Rainbooms play? Not really,” said Brutos. “I’d imagine that the Party Planning Committee is throwing something huge together.”

“Yes, the PPC is infamous for that,” said Blueblood. “Though they can get a bit overenthusiastic, if you ask me.”

“Well, Pinkie does love her parties,” said Clue. He reflected on that. “A lot, actually. Probably more than any person I’ve ever met.”

“She’s unlike any person any of us have ever met.”

“What about that teacher who works with the committee? Cheese Sandwich?”

“He and Pinkie certainly go hand and hand. They’re probably planning something huge.”

“Or maybe they aren’t because this school doesn’t have the funds for five party cannons,” said Blueblood.

“Now you’re pulling my leg. Pinkie has a cannon?”

“Brings it wherever she goes, apparently.” Brutos shrugged. “Maybe you’ll see it at the dance.”

Clue tried to imagine Pinkie with a high-grade celebration weapon, and found, to his slight horror, that it certainly seemed possible. That girl was absolutely crazy and bubbly; two dangerous combos that could probably end up with someone hurt. Hopefully that cannon isn’t loaded with actual cannon balls.

But he was so busy imagining that he forgot that he was walking backwards. Blueblood’s voice, sharp and sudden, stopped him long enough to turn, but not fast enough to slow him down and avoid a collision. Clue felt himself crash into someone else. They hit each other hard, and there was the sound of objects being dropped. He stumbled back, dazed.

“Oh, geez!” he cried. “Man, I am so, so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going and—”

Clue’s voice gave out as he looked over what had fallen. He saw pages of pages with uncountable scribbles. They were dated, written in a blue ink, and from what he was briefly able to understand, beautifully eloquent in their meaning. There was a dull click in the back of his mind—he thought he knew this from somewhere—but he pushed it aside, seeing that the other person was still on the ground. “Sorry, sorry; here, let me help you up.”

He offered a hand just as the person looked up. Both of their eyes widened; their pupils shrank; they instinctively pulled away in shock.

His were a cerulean pair of eyes that dug deep and wounding holes into Clue’s eyes like daggers of ice. He was instantly reminded of their last encounter weeks ago. In those eyes he found the same glaring anger, the subdued rage, but also the biting sting of defeat and degradation. The boy before him scuttled forward and grabbed the fallen item, tucking it into his yellow jacket, but throughout he kept his gaze on Clue. He seemed intent on boring a hole through his head.

Clue gulped. Already he felt beads of sweat gather on his face. This guy really is intense! was the only thought positive enough to register; the rest were more akin to screams, sharp and distorted and loud. They blocked everything out, even Blueblood’s concerned voice, and the sounds of the hallway and of the students that surrounded them.

“Uh—uh—”

He felt himself being righted by Blueblood, who pulled him back and stepped forward. “I apologize for my friend’s clumsiness,” he said, offering a diplomatic smile. “But I can assure you he meant no harm—”

His voice dried up as he was subjected to that same, slicing-cold gaze. The boy said nothing, but that was more than something.

What was that writing? Clue thought.

The boy suddenly turned his gaze back towards him, and Clue realized he’d also said that out loud. Once again, his glare answered for him.

Blueblood cleared his throat. “Er… right. Um… yes. I—that is, we—are sorry to have bumped into you, um… I don’t believe I know your name.”

The boy looked back at Blueblood for a moment, twisting his mouth into a frown. He slowly stood up, still not saying anything. Clue could see his jaw set, veins popping out of his thin face. He seemed angrier than he should have over a little bump.

He thought about what Rainbow had said a week and a half ago. He thought about what he had heard, what he had seen, and what he hadn’t seen. He tried to make that connection, to drive together a coherent thought. He tried to find the reason for this behavior.

He was interrupted by the boy suddenly pushing past him and Blueblood. He hit Clue hard in the shoulder, almost pushing him over, but he couldn’t tell if that was done on purpose. Startled, he didn’t have the chance to call out. The screeching in his head ceased, replaced with the sounds of the school once more. But he felt a pit of coldness and dread sink into his stomach.

Blueblood, he saw as he turned to face his friend, had a mixture of emotions on. But one of them was definitely anger. He balled his fists, and looked like he was going to go after the boy.

“Who the hell was that?” he asked.

Before Clue could answer, Brutos grumbled darkly, “That was Artifex Frost.”

“Sorry, who?”

Once again, Brutos interrupted him. “The newest asshole to Canterlot High.”

Clue stepped forward. “Whoa, hey, he’s not like that at all.”

“Really?” Blueblood crossed his arms. “The way he acted just now certainly supports that title.”

He couldn’t find the words to refute that. He sighed. “Look, I’m sure he’s just having a bad day. Come on, we’re missing lunch.”

Even as they resumed their walk, the topic could not be dropped. “A bad day? I don’t think so,” Blueblood muttered. “No one is that angry over a mere bad day.”

“Maybe Artifex is different.”

“Different is putting it nicely. Didn’t you see his eyes? There was an entire sea of anger there, Clue. And it was directed at you. A bit at me, but mostly at you.”

That certainly seemed to be the case. “Look, can’t we just drop it?” Clue pled. “It’s not worth pursuing.”

“Clue, you’re wincing,” Brutos said. “Here, let me see. Yeah. He hit your shoulder pretty hard.”

“I’m sure it was an accident! He wouldn’t… he couldn’t…”

“But he did,” Brutos insisted. “Therefore he meant it.”

“Why are you saying this? It’s like you’ve got a personal vendetta against him!”

“Now I do.” The jock crossed his arms angrily. “When someone beats on my friends, it’s personal.”

“I agree,” said Blueblood. “I don’t know who this Artifex fellow is, but it seems clear to me that he’s not a kind man.”

“I’m telling you, he’s not like that. He never was. He’s… he’s—”

“Then why’d he glare at you, Nostradamus?” Blueblood said. “Why’d he stare into your soul and look like he wanted to rip out your heart?”

“Now you’re exaggerating!”

“But so was he; no person should exert that much anger over something so trivial.”

“Well, maybe he’s—maybe he’s… ugh.” Clue rubbed his temples. This was going nowhere. “Just… let’s forget it, okay?” he asked them. “This… this isn’t something I want to deal with right now.”

Blueblood and Brutos shared looks. “Alright, Clue,” Blueblood said, sparing him his full first name. “We’ll forget it for now.”

Clue nodded. “Thank you.”

They walked up the stairs and sat in their usual lunch spot. No Clue took out his sandwich and bit into it. It was dry, unappetizing, and cold.