The rest of the P.E class had been stressful, to say the least, for Vinyl and Lyra. The teacher definitely was irritated by the early intermission, and he knew all too well the two girls didn’t like him. They had watched the closet, as discretely as they could, during the entire session, hoping he would not go check what was inside. And that was without even taking into account his idea of what a sports class should be. Everyone was exhausted. But it was over.

“Boy!” Lyra exclaimed, taking off her shirt in such a nonchalantly sexy way that several cheeks in the locker room turned red, “This is finally done with! Now let’s get out of there and get Octavia before-”

She was interrupted by a knock on the locker’s door. Most of the girls let out a surprised gasp, as a voice came from the other side of the wood:

“Girls, this is your vice-principal Luna. I am afraid I need all of you to finish changing as quickly as you can and evacuate the gymnasium. Me and your principal have important business we need to attend here. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

The news generated several curious and irritated reactions from the students, all wondering why they had to rush after being finally released from such a physically exhausting class:

“What?”

“What the hell?!”

“Why?”

“Important business…?”

“Why in the gymnasium?”

“Hurry up, boys and girls!” The voice of principal Celestia shouted from the hallway, “You have two minutes!”

Lyra turned to Vinyl in surprise, incredulous about what was going on:

“What the fuck is happening?!”

Vinyl sighed, looking at the phone she had texted Discord with.

You know exactly what’s happening.

Lyra’s memory finally rebooted, as she understood the situation they had both triggered.

“Alright. Time for Sombra to get fucked.”

Done.
PS: We need to talk.

Discord smiled, revealing his abnormally long canine, and deleted the message he had just received. It was his turn to play a part in Sombra’s downfall now, and he was going to enjoy it. He looked at himself in the mirror of the teacher’s room, took a small pot out of his briefcase, and used the gel inside to arrange his hair, slicking them back just the way he liked when he was about to do something serious. Which was, admittedly, pretty rare. he perfumed his neck and buttoned up his jacket, smiling at his reflection in the mirror. He was happy. Everyone was happy when they knew a problem was about to be solved, like when a plane ticket was finally booked, or when their loud neighbor was moving out, but this… This was something big for Discord.

“Looks like these girls are as smart as they are entertaining…” He said to himself, passing two finger down his chin to adjust his grey goatee.

He thought about what Ms. Scratch wrote. ‘We need to talk.’ They had probably opened the bag. That was expected, of course, especially given Ms. Heartstrings’... impulsive nature. And they apparently knew what it was. He was most likely going to have to give the girls some explanations. But later. Now was the time to enjoy himself. After all, he had all the cards in his hands.

He grabbed his coat, took a last glimpse in the mirror, and switched the lights off before leaving the room. With an energetic pace, we walked in the large hallway towards the two principals’ offices. He liked them. Especially Celestia. She always acted all strict, but she had a soft side. A point he enjoyed reminding her, between two sarcasms. Her sister scared some of the students, the main reason being that of her love for dark spaces, which gave her office quite the menacing look. But he had seen her numerous times eating sweets or reading girly magazines: she was still a child. But now was the time to act serious, for once. Although he was positive he wouldn’t be able to resist annoying the principal at least a few times, willingly or not. He grabbed the doorknob, and pushed the door, not bothering knocking, and exclaimed as dramatically as he could:

“Principal Celestia! We have a situation!”

The sudden irruption obviously scared the woman, who almost jumped from he leather armchair and let go of her pink frosted sprinkled donut.

“Mr. Discord! How many times have I told you? Teachers are not exempt from knocking!”

“Well, you see, as a great man once said, ‘Talk fast, knock in last’.”

“Is this something you just made up again?”

“Maybe? What’s the difference, really? Tell me, how are you doing today? Isn’t the sun beautiful? I mean, the wind is a tad cold, but nothing too-”

“Mr. Discord, I’m quite busy, and as much as I enjoy getting news from the professors, there are certain matters that I don’t-”

“Precisely! Don’t worry though, you’ll soon be back to your sugary business! I just need your attention, as well as your sister’s, for an instant!”

“My sister? Why in the heavens would you need both me and vice-principal Luna here? I’m usually the one who takes care of the teachers’ matters…”

“Why, yes, but the current situation I’ve found myself in requires both of your presences. I’m sure she won’t mind being interrupted for a little while…”

The woman sighed before Discord’s eternal smile. She was too tired to resist his convoluted tactics. She looked at the half-donut with a touch of regret, and pushed a small button on her landline:

“Luna, can you come here for a moment? We apparently have some pressing ‘situation’ at our doorstep…”

After a few seconds of awkward silence, the dark blue-haired woman entered the room, wearing a simple black tank top, along with purple silky pants and equally purple heels. A moon-shaped brooch was decorating her wavy hair, which were almost moving on their own, as if they were motioned by a mysterious force.

“Yes, Celestia? What is it? I was just about to- Oh, good afternoon Mr. Discord…”

“Hello, dear Ms. Luna! May I say you’re looking absolutely lovely today! They say dark is fuel of nightmares, yet you could easily make any dreamer’s crazy wishes come true!”

“Mr. Discord, please…” Celestia interrupted, massaging her nose to forget the completely extraterrestrial conversation happening in her office, “Let’s get to the point: what is it that you required both of us here for?”

“Yes yes yes, of course! I shouldn’t keep you waiting, you have lots of work, I’m sure! I’m here today to talk about a colleague of mine… Mr. Sombra, our dear sports teacher.”

“The P.E teacher, yes.” Luna confirmed, “What about him?”

“Well as you may know, he has been involved in some sort of incident lately, regarding one of my students.”

“How… How do you know that?” Celestia asked in shock, obviously not expecting the discussion to go this way.

“Well, Ms. Melody is one of my students, and you two of all people should now I take good care of my students, especially when they have to face… adversity…”

“Alright, so, I’ve talked to the girls and their teacher, case is closed.” Celestia added, “Was that all? I’m afraid you’re quite late to the party.”

“Oh, dear principal…” Discord continued with his most theatrical tone, “I certainly wish that was the end of the story… Unfortunately, further development has stepped in the light of day… Not concerning the girls, no, but concerning Mr. Sombra!”

“What?”

“Don’t say ‘what’ like that Luna, it’s rude… What are you talking about, professor?”

“I’m afraid the man has been practicing some… extracurricular activities lately… I’m not going to put baby’s gloves, I’m a little concerned for the well-being of the students…”

“Their well-being? What are you saying? Is it that serious? What activities are you talking about?”

“So many questions, vice-principal… I wish I could bring answers to all of them, I really do, but unfortunately, I’m limited to what I’ve heard myself…”

“Which is…?” The principal asked with an annoyed impatience.

“I think Mr. Sombra might be smuggling… forbidden materials on school grounds…”

“What?!”

“Luna! But excuse me, what?!”

“Yes… Believe me, I was as shocked as you are at the moment, but I immediately came to you to seek aid. I’m not aware of the precise nature of what we’re talking about, but I believe it’s something.... far more than illegal… Something that easily-corrupted young minds could well be tempted by…”

“Wait wait wait… Let me get this straight…” Luna asked, still in shock, resting her back on her sister’s desk, “Are you saying Mr. Sombra, our P.E teacher, is smuggling drugs in Canterlot High?!”

“Oh my, I wouldn’t go as far as saying this…”

“...”

“...But now that you’re putting it like that, I must admit this was the conclusion I myself came up with when I learned about this situation.”

“When you learned… By whom?”

“You’re missing my point, dear principal! The important matter, the one we need to take care of right away, is the possibility of this man influencing our students in a way I couldn’t even picture!”

“Yes, you’re right…” Celestia admitted, as she was starting to hyperventilate, “We should… Call the police…”

“Wait…” Discord responded.

“Wait, Cel! Luna interrupted! These are just some accusations! We need to have something more thick than that if we want to involve the law in all of this! For the safety of the children, don’t you think it’s preferable to go and see what Mr. Sombra has to say for himself regarding these accusations first?”

“This is also my opinion, principal.” Discord nodded, “Getting the police on school grounds immediately wouldn’t do anything but scare the students and expose the school in a possibly unnecessary scandal.”

“You’re… You’re right…” Celestia breathed heavily, before suddenly standing up with a regained confidence: “Let’s go see for ourselves, the sports class should be over soon as we speak. We need to expose the accusations to Mr. Sombra, I am sure this is nothing but an unfortunate misunderstanding. Mr. Discord, you’re coming with us.”

“Of course!” Discord agreed with a large smile, “I’m sure everything will soon be sorted out!”

“Mr. Sombra!”

“Principal! Vice-principal! And you… What can I do for you?!” Sombra greeted with the fakest smile the world had ever seen in two thousand years of politics.

“Me and my colleagues need to talk to you about some urgent matters. I hope you have nothing planned.” Celestia answered, arms crossed and death stare going on.

“...Not at all, not at all… What’s the matter? I’m all ears!”

“We need to take care of something first.” Celestia continued, before walking towards the locker doors, followed closely by her sister.

“What do you want, you old psycho?...” Sombra hatefully uttered, as Discord looked at him with his usual smile.

“You’ll soon see, dear colleague.”

“Girls, this is your vice-principal Luna. I am afraid I need all of you to finish changing as quickly as you can and evacuate the gymnasium. Me and your principal have important business we need to attend here. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” A voice shouted from the other side of the room.

“Hurry up, boys and girls! You have two minutes!”

The two principals walked back to the men, quickly followed by students, who passed near the four adults, saluting them and leaving the gymnasium to finally end the school day. As the physics teacher looked around the room, he noticed two particular students, a girl with blue hair and large headphones and one with short mint hair and ripped jeans. He nodded at them with a confident smirk, watching as they obviously noticed him but did not dare to interrupt.

“Damn!” Sombra commented in a falsely impressed way, “That thing you want to discuss must be pretty important, eh?”

“It is indeed.” The vice-principal responded with a much more cold and serious tone.

After a couple of minutes, the flow of students finally stopped, and the room filled with silence. Celestia took a quick glance inside both locker rooms to check for any late student, and came back satisfied of the result.

“So! Everyone’s out now! What do you want? If it’s about last week’s incident, know that I’m gladly applying your request, by the way-”

“Mr. Sombra, I’ll be blunt.” Celestia interrupted. “There have been allegations concerning you lately. Quite worrisome allegations, may I add.”

“Allegations?” The teacher suddenly stopped, his eye instinctively gazing at Discord, “What allegations?”

“We have reasons to believe you have been involved in the transportation of objects that violate the school’s guidelines.” Luna explained, surprising Discord with her professionalism.

“...What? What kind of bullshit is this?!”

“Please, watch your language. As you know, we at CHS take the safety of both teachers and students very seriously. However, since these are just unfounded allegations, we haven’t placed you in any sort of legal procedure. I’m sure whoever claims that may or may not have made a mistake, but for the time being, I’ll ask you to grant us access to your belongings, so that we can proceed to a quick search.”

“You want to search my stuff? What happens if I refuse? I mean, I don’t want trouble with you, principal, but you’re no cop, unless I missed something! Also, why is he here?”

“Why, I’m here to explain what will happen if you refuse, as it is my duty as both a teacher and your colleague.” Discord cheerfully answered, his disconcerting calm troubling both the principals, “The school will have to start a legal procedure against you, to search not only your belongings, but also your house, your car, and also probably put you on a hold for a few months. For the cop part, though, I’ll let our dear principal explain the details of her career if she ever feels the need to.”

“What Mr. Discord means…” Celestia added, obviously tired of the man’s lack of any form of serious behavior, “Is that it would in everyone’s interest if you just accepted to have us search your bags, for the time being.”

“...Ugh, fine!” Sombra accepted, visibly both annoyed and bored, “Search! These accusations are unfunded, and I’m positive you won’t find anything but clothes and annoyance!”

He turned around and took a step towards the closet, when a white hand got in his way, forcing him to stop.

“I’ll go and check myself, if you don’t mind.” Celestia said, not breaking eye contact for a second.

“Ugh...fine. The teacher accepted. At this point he was too angry and/or annoyed to contest. Just a quick search, they’d realize they were wrong, and it would be done with.

“Alright then.”

The principal continued towards the small wooden door, followed by her sister and the two teachers. She grabbed the doorknob, entered the room, turning on the light and immediately grabbed the duffel bag lying on the table.

“Is that everything?”

“Yes. Yes that’s everything. Can we hurry up? False accusations really builds up an appetite.”

The woman sighed, looking at her sister before opening the bag. She took out the casual clothes Sombra came to school with, ignoring the smell, then came the newspapers, phone charger and tissues. After a few minutes searching different pouches, she finally noticed the medium-sized one located on the inside layer of the cover. She opened the zipper, to find a relatively big plastic bag, and her pupils widened.

“What is this?”

“What?! I could ask you the same thing! This isn’t mine!”

“Sister! What have you found?”

“I’m not quite sure…”

“Hey, I told you that wasn’t mine! I have no idea how this got he-”

“Silence! I hope this isn’t what I think it is... “ Celestia turned to the man on her left, “Mr. Discord, I know this is probably outside your field of competences, but could you try to identify the content of this pouch?”

“I… I’ll try, for sure.” Discord answered in a vaguely uncertain act. He took off part of the duct tape with his fingers, opening the bag and grabbing several small blue crystals between his thumb and index. As he examined the substance, Sombra’s eyes filled with shock and anger:

“This is not mine! I’m telling you, this is not mine! Someone must have planted that in my bag!”

“...I’m afraid…” Discord said, ignoring the teacher, “...We are looking at some variant of methamphetamine hydrochloride…”

“Which is…?” Celestia asked with a both curious and worried look.

“Crystal meth. Kind of. A powerful stimulant drug. I have never heard of such product though. Must be a rather modern formula… Maybe containing methylene?”

“That… will be enough, Mr. Discord… Thank you…” Celestia said, voice vibrating from the shock of the news. She turned towards the P.E teacher, who had been as astounded, but way more angry, as she had. Until now.

SLAP

The sound echoed in the whole gymnasium. Discord and vice-principal Luna almost jumped in surprise, whereas Sombra obviously wasn’t expecting that. He had now moved a few feet backwards, massaging his red cheek with his hand.

“Are you crazy?!”

Celestia did not answer. Instead, she grabbed the bag from Discord’s hands, and started walking towards the top left corner of the room. Here was a small water drain, covered by a metal grill, made to dispose of the dirty water when the gymnasium had to be cleaned every semester. She bent over, took off the grill, and proceeded to dumb the entire bag of blue crystals in the pipes.

“Wow.” Discord simply commented. “Was not expecting that.”

“Cel!” Luna yelled!

The principal slowly walked back to the three others, dropping the now empty pouch on the ground. Sweat was forming on her forehead, and her mouth was opened, yet she could not speak.

“Mr. Sombra… I… I’m expecting your resignation letter on my desk by tomorrow. Don’t bring it yourself... From now on, your presence on the school grounds is strictly forbidden…”

“Cel, what are you doing?! We need to call the police!”

“Calm yourself, vice-principal…”

“No! I’m not calming down, Mr. Discord! Do you realize what this man has done?!”

“What?!” Sombra shouted, finally breaking his silence, “I haven’t done anything! What the fuck are you saying?! You think you can just fire me, without anything to-”

“SHUT UP!”

Everyone looked at the principal’s face, now filled with bile and hatred.

“The only reason I’m not calling the police is to protect the school, its students and its other teachers. A police investigation most likely would lead to the temporary closure of CHS, and that’s something we cannot tolerate…”

She inspired heavily.

“Mr. Sombra… You have endangered not only the integrity of our system, but the safety of our students. For that, I will never, ever, regard you as a human being anymore. You have lost your right to speak on those grounds, except maybe thanking us for not sending you directly to prison. Of course, I guarantee full discretion on what happened here, so that the school’s image is not damaged by your exactions…”

She turned to Luna and Discord:

“I expect both of you to do the same.”

“Of course, principal.”

“What? But sister…”

“We’ll talk about this later, Luna.”

“...Alright. Just… get him out of here…”

“Of course. Mr. Sombra, grab your belongings and what’s left of your dignity, and please leave this school without any complications. Don’t make me regret my decision…”

The man’s eyes were now filled with every negative emotion ever experienced by the human race. His red eyes were even more bloodshot than usual, with face was read and his fist were so clenched, his knuckles had turned white. He was breathing slowly and heavily, like a wounded animal who still wanted to kill.

“This is…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. He grabbed his clothes scattered on the floor, shoved them in his bag, not bothering picking up the other stuff, and walked away, slamming the gymnasium doors behind him.

“...The sewage water should dissolve the crystals.” Discord commented, trying to break the now dead silence. “I’ll take the pouch and throw it somewhere the students can’t access.”

“...Thank you, Mr. Discord… You’ve been… of great help.” Celestia said, still in shock.

“Of course. It is my duty. I will of course keep all of this under silence.”

“Thank you.” The youngest sister responded. “Now, if you will excuse us, I think my sister and I need to talk.”

“Of course. I’m glad I could help.”

Discord walked away to the door, leaving the two principals with one another.

“Glad I could help…”

Sombra threw his bag in the truck of his small car, shutting it so strongly he damaged the metal. Whatever. It was rental. He opened the driver’s door, before stopping mid-motion, standing still, not bothering to look behind him.

“Are you happy now?”

“You know, I think happiness is relative. It’s like buying a new car: you are only truly happy when you realize all the good consequences it has on your life.”

“I should kill you right here, right now.”

“I certainly would not suggest that.” Discord responded with amusement, “You already barely escaped from this, homicide isn’t going to improve that. You don’t put out fire with gasoline.”

“How did you-”

“I’m a man of ressources, I thought you’d have gotten that a while ago.”

“You think you’re smart…”

“Oh I don’t think I’m smart. I do however, think you’re not. What did you think was going to happen?”

“So that’s it? You make me lose my job, send me away from here, just so that I can’t reveal your little secrets?”

“I do want to keep my chocolate cake recipe to myself, yes.”

“Don’t play dumb with me you old shit! You know what I’m talking about!”

“You mean what’s over there?”

Sombra looked to his right, where the teacher pointed his finger. There was nothing. Cars. In a parking lot, big news. When he turned back to his car, Discord had already disappeared. All that was left was a small candy wrapped in plastic, placed on the roof of the car.

A lollipop. Eggplant-flavored.

“RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Sombra yelled at the top of his lungs, kicking and punching the metal of the car under the setting sun.

“Hey Octavia!”

“Oh, hello Bon-Bon!”

“Sup!”

“Hello Lyra! ...That was a ‘hello’, right?”

“Haha sure it was! Had a nice weekend?”

“Uneventful, but the good kind of uneventful. I still cannot believe Mr. Sombra resigned… It seems like a divine blessing.”

“I know right?! That makes me think, we’re prooobably gonna have to thank Discord at one point, uh? Fuck, I didn’t think of that.”

“Haha I know that seems impossible Lyra, but you’ll manage, I’m sure!” Bon-Bon laughed.

“By the way! Octavia, how do you like my idea?!”

“Oh, you must talk about Vinyl’s gift… Well, I don’t really know much about these sorts of things, but knowing her, I am certain she will enjoy it.” The cellist answered with a smile warm enough to compete with the cold air of October.

“I’ll take that as a complete, one hundred percent approval! Bon-Bon, you agree?”

“Yup! I’m sure she’ll like it!”

“God I’m so fucking talented at picking gifts!”

“Oh dear, here she comes, lower your voice Lyra!”

“Oh fuck you’re right… Oh hi Vinyl! How’s it hanging dude?!”

The DJ climbed the steps of Canterlot High’s main entrance, bobbing her head to the music playing in her headphones, only taking the latter off when she arrived in front of her three friends. She shook Lyra’s hand in a way still unknown to Octavia, with many different quick movements. Then she proceeded to hug both Bon-Bon and Octavia, making the first one chuckle and the other one blush.

“Dude, we’ve got something to tell you!”

Yeah?

“You know, between Octavia’s parents, the party, and Sombra, it’s been a… tough couple of weeks, right?”

Totally.

“Can’t argue with that.”

“Oh my, it has been indeed.”

“...But you know… You’ve always been here to help us out, explain stuff to Octavia, give Bon-Bon indications, calm me down when I was freaking out… So… Thanks.”

Vinyl smirked at her three friends, before motioning her arms in the air:

Shut up, you’re going to make me cry. And I’m waiting on the maths test to do that job.

“No but like seriously, and-”

“I think what Lyra means…” Octavia suddenly intervened, “Is that we are all grateful for the support you’ve shown. That you have proved times and times again that you’re the best friend one could ever have…”

Vinyl didn’t answer. She just stayed motionless, eyes looking at the sky, for a few seconds. Then she grabbed the three girls, and pulled them together in a group hug, much to the laughter of every one of them.

“So!” Bon-Bon added, “In order to thank you, we got you a little something!”

Uh?

“Yes, a present! I know it’s not your birthday, but hey dude, you give me free rides, so I need to pay my bill somehow!”

“For the support and new music you got me to listen!” Bon-Bon cheerfully said.

“For the chance you gave me, the help... and the love.” Octavia added with a slight blush.

“For… a lot of things I’m not gonna elaborate on.” Lyra laughed, handing the DJ a small box, wrapped up in blue paper.

She tore down the paper with excitement, and opened the box, uncovering the mysterious gift. Her face lightened, and her eyes shined with surprise.

“We were not sure you were going to like it…” Octavia said.

“Fuck that! I was sure!” Lyra yelled.

Vinyl looked at her friends, and smiled. She put the purple sunglasses on, and looked at the morning sun.

Something told her this look was going to catch on.

All the students were gone. The class had started one hour ago. The square in front of the entrance was completely empty, and the giant horse statue was watching over the walls of CHS. A few cars were passing by, occasionally scaring the birds and butterflies wandering on the grass.

A normal day.

Suddenly, the stone pillar under the statue glew. Brighter. And brighter. And had came out of the light, then a shoulder, then a torso.

A girl fell on the ground.

In a strange new world.

Author's Notes:

Yes, you read that well.

Boys! What a fantastic adventure this has been! The first part of this story came to an end! Yes, you heard me, the first part!
Don't think this is done for good, I still have tons and tons of ideas for "Silent Love"! And I will write everything!

So, why stopping there? Well, three reasons:
-I have another, shorter story planned in between parts 1 & 2.
-Too many chapters in one story could scare a lot of new readers.
-I want to have different "seasons", because it's better for narration i.m.o

I cannot possibly express how writing this first story was an amazing experience, but writing is nothing compared to the love you guys showed me. All the support, the advices, the criticism, the encouragement! It's absolutely crazy. You're part of this story as much as Vinyl, Octavia, or me.

Alright, enough with the emotional stuff already.
What did you think of this big chapter (the longest I've written so far)? Of the end? Of my new profile pic? Tell me in the comments! And if you don't usually comment, please leave an overall opinion of this story, that would be more than amazing.

I love you all, see you in my next story. Oooooohhhh you're in for a treat!

Gros bisous, je vous aime tous, vous êtes des trésors,

Sagami.