The next day, I met up with Steely in school and we prepared the note there. He showed me Wallflower’s locker so I could stick it on it. I thought I had to wait until our first class, which was the beloved History with Professor Skull Mustache. I was wondering what shenanigans he is going to pull off this time around.

I was walking near Wallflower’s locker where I saw Sunshine, too.

“Hey!” I called and walked towards her. She recognized my voice and turned back.

“Oh, hi.”

“Yeah, hi.”

“Everything is going the way you wanted?”

“Yeah, so far so good. So what have you been up to?”

“I was planning to get help from Rarity. I believe she can find Wallflower a nice set of clothes for tonight.”

That gave me an idea. “That’s a good thought, but … do you think she has something for Steely too? He doesn’t really have a lot of clothes for occasions like this.”

“I guess I have to ask her.”

It was then that I saw Wallflower open up her locker.

“Shh, she’s there!” I told Sunset and she looked confused but as soon as she looked at Wallflower she understood everything.

I’ve never actually paid attention to her in class at all. Green hairs, a jumper paired with jeans. From where I was looking I could only see the back of her, which completely reminded me of broccoli. After she left I sneaked up to her locker and stuck the note on it. Little did I know that Sunshine’s noisy bone triggered in that exact moment so she read it out loud:

“Wallflower,

“My heart has been pounding faster since I saw you for the first time. And now all I can think of is you and I can’t stop. So please meet me tonight at the Black Café at 8:00.

“Anonymous lover.”

She smiled afterwards, “Did you write this or Steely Armor?”

“What do you think?”

“I say you ‘cause I’ve read your lyrics. Anyway, what’s the next step.”

She started walking away. I caught up to here and we talked on the way to History class. “What you should do now is to make sure Wallflower is going to be there tonight.”

“Ok, can do.”

Then I remembered something. “One more thing: now that you are taking her to Rarity, don’t let her give Wallflower a makeover.”

When we entered, Skull Mustache had just put down his bag. That meant we were late.

“Are you two just going to stand there or you are going to take your seats?” He didn’t even turn his head a little to look at us. He had his back turned to us! This guy gives me the creeps.

“Are you deaf or was I not clear?” he said and finally turned around.

“Uh, no sir, we’ll take our seats right away.” I said and we both took our seats.

He glared at us for a few seconds but after that he started talking.

“Before we start the lesson, I need to inform you of something. It’s one of those bad news-good news things, so which one should I say first?”

The majority of us told him to get on with the bad news, but he didn’t care.

“I think we should save the bad news. Now, what is the good news, you ask? I decided to not factor in the marks of your project for your final grade, since it would have been a disaster!”

Almost everyone cheered for that, expect for us course; we did achieve the highest mark after all. But it didn’t end there.

“Now comes the bitter part: I worked on an exam for you all!”

That blew the minds of all of us. The class went into an absolute chaos after that. But he managed to silence us just fine.

“SILENCE!,” the Professor shouted, and slammed his hand on the table. “I don’t allow such behavior in my class, and next time, I promise you all that there will be consequences for repeating it.” He was pointing at us with his finger. He really likes his hand gestures as far as I have seen. “Now, when will the exam take place, you ask? On Wednesday.”

That meant we had only three days to get ready for the exam. Which was totally not enough time for HISTORY!

“Now,” he started again, “Let’s not waste a single instant. Since we have wasted enough time already.” Then he started drawing on the board as he was speaking. “Today, we are going to talk about how Warden the Wise managed to outsmart King Vendric and save himself from death.” He finished what he was drawing and stepped back so everyone could see it.

“Uhm, sir, isn’t that a chess board?” someone asked but I didn’t bother to find him.

“Yes, though we will get to that in a moment. So: King Vendric was not appropriate for ruling the land as he only cared about himself and his army. He claimed to be a great tactician but in fact what brought him victory in every battle was the sheer size of his army. The state of the country was terrible as a recent flood have destroyed all of the farmers’ crops. Vendric did not care and took whatever was left for himself. This act of his encouraged people to start a revolution, which was called: The Guidance of the Wise. It was organized by Warden the Wise, whose idea was to tell the king that his actions were wrong. The people did not start a war or even a simple conflict. Guidance is what a king needs. That was their slogan.”

I can’t say I really like History, but the way he used his hands and changing the tone of his voice just didn’t let anyone get lost in thoughts or sleep. And if they did, well, I still haven’t forgotten how hard he can pull your ear. But man, it was so easy to fall asleep when Dusty Fossil was talking. But guess what, she didn’t even notice. On top of that, she just rambled on about stuff that wasn’t even necessary. I just want to say, Skull Mustache might be very grumpy, but he sure knows how to teach.

“Vendric got frustrated and ordered his men to capture Warden and bring him to his castle. Warden did not resist, since he knew this was a chance to meet the king in person. Once they brought him in, Vendric took a look at him and laughed. His clothes were ripped and he looked like a beggar. ‘Is this the man who says I need guidance?!’ Vendric said. ‘Listen carefully now, I brought you here so my men could execute you in front of me. But before that, I want to show everyone that you only claim to be wise, but in fact you are nothing!’ He gave him three games to choose from: Backgammon, Chess and Checkers.” He took a breath before he continued.

“Warden chose Chess, considering that Backgammon had too much of an element of chance involved in it, and he was not very familiar with Checkers. And now, we get to analyze their moves and see who came out victorious.”

After that he went to the board and indicated each piece by letters. Just for us to not get confused he indicated them with two different colors.

“So, Vendric held the white pieces and Warden held black pieces. Now let’s get to their moves.”

1: e4-e5
2:d3-Nf6
3: Nc3- Bc5
4: g3- Nc6

There wasn’t much that I could understand, but I could see that nothing impressive have happened yet.

“And now this is where things get interesting.”

5: Bg5- Nxe4

“I know you all are surprised, since Warden just sacrificed his Advi-I mean, Queen. Vendric takes the Queen and starts insulting Warden, telling him that he just lost his most valuable piece. But soon, he became silent.”

6: Bxd8- Bxf2+

7: Ke2- Nd4#

“Vendric was shocked at how easily he lost the game. And every single servant and guard in the room witnessed his loss. Vendric freed Warden and chose him as his chancellor. Thus the state of the land became way better as he listened to Warden’s guidance.”

To be honest, that story was kinda cool.