"Well, nice to meet you, Circuit," Rainbow Dash replied, shaking his hand, "I was hoping maybe I could ask you out on a date, so I could get to know you better." Circuit was starting to wonder if he was dreaming or not, as couldn't believe that he had just heard what he thought he heard. He hardly knew Rainbow Dash, even though he had a crush on her, and yet here she was, asking him out. All the intelligible noise he could muster from his panic-stricken mind was "W... well, I... yes..." Rainbow Dash let out a squeal of joy upon hearing this. "Great! How's tomorrow at 7 at the 50's-style diner sound?" Circuit just nodded, not wanting to ruin it. "Cool!" she said, "see you there!" And she ran off towards her bus. After a few seconds, Circuit passed out.
Crimson managed to catch him when he fell, slight smile on his face. "Woah! Easy there!" He said as he checked his forehead, sighing with content. Looks like it had been one hell of a day...
A few weeks later... Rainbow Dash and Circuit had grown closer, not least of which due to the fact that he had moved in with her. He had also gotten more acquainted with Crimson as well. Soon, he introduced Rainbow and Crimson, and soon they too got along well. On this particular day, Rainbow Dash wanted to introduce some friends of hers to the other two. Circuit wanted to see how this would play out.
This would all be done in the form of a sleepover, with Circut and Rainbow inviting the rest of her friends to join in. Crimson was unable to sleepover, saying that he had prior commitments with family. On that night, Rainbow's friends arrived at her place and were eager to have a good time. Once they all got comfortable, Crimson arrived...
"Glad you could make it, Crim!" Rainbow Dash said, smiling widely. Circuit smiled as well. Over the weeks he'd gotten more comfortable with talking to others, which made things easier for him. He sat on his side of the king-sized bed that Rainbow Dash shared with him. However, there were also some people Crimson didn't recognize. He assumed they were the friends Rainbow Dash had mentioned. Sitting in an office chair in front of the flatscreen and playing Halo 4 on Rainbow's Xbox One was a young woman with slightly dirty pale orange skin, blonde hair and green eyes. She wore weathered rancher boots, each adorned with a trio of apples. She also wore a blue denim skirt, a white and green rancher's shirt, and a brown Stetson hat. "Why don'cha put your money where your mouth is then, huh? C'mon, ah'll have a go," she said into the headset in a thick Southern accent, presumably to a rather rambunctious player's challenge. Sitting in a corner was another young woman, busy turning through the pages of a Cosmopolitan magazine. She had purple hair, stark white skin, and blue eyes, and she was rather well-dressed. A third young woman carefully watched a tortoise as it crawled around the floor. She had light pink hair, pale yellow skin, and blue eyes, and she wore a white tanktop and a forest green skirt with pink butterflies on it. Sitting behind the girl in the chair was a fourth, peering from behind the chair to watch the other play as she chowed down on Doritos. She had frizzled pink hair, pale pink skin, and blue eyes. She wore a blue jacket over a white T-shirt with a pink heart on it, and a pink skirt with three baloons on it, one blue and two yellow. "Crim, I'd like you to meet my friends: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie," said Rainbow Dash, pointing to the girl in the chair, the girl in the corner, the girl watching the tortoise, and the girl behind the chair, respectively.
(Megapost 1 of 2) Crimson happily waved to the girls. “Pleasure to meet you, girls. I’m Crimson, but I really just prefer Crim for short. I’m not fussy” He chuckled at the end of the sentence, studying all of them to allow their names to sink into his memory. It’d only been a few weeks since he arrived, but it was starting to become easy to know names around the school, and the sorts of colorful people that it was home to. “Awesome!” Rainbow happily grinned. “Make yourself at home.” It wasn’t that long until another knock on the door occurred, to which the blue-skinned woman turned around to open. At the door dressed in warm clothes was a light-amber colored girl wearing a leather jacket over the top of a light blue skirt and denim jeans, but the first thing that Rainbow noticed was her brilliant amaranth hair with light apple green stripes, along with her shining cyan colored eyes. She slowly stumbled into the room, pulling her jacket close to her with one arm while the other held a bike helmet. “Sorry I’m late Rainbow, I had to stay behind at school.” Rainbow shrugged it off before letting her in. “It’s fine, everyone just arrived anyway. Oh! And here is one of Circuit’s friends, Crimson!” He said before waving to him, to which he just walked over. “He’s not from around here at all, he used to live on the other side of the planet.” Sunset seemed hesitant for some reason. She suddenly felt strange when she locked eyes with the other boy. This was the first time that she had ever met him, but something seemed…off, with him. “Hi! I'm Crimson or Crim for short; nice to meet you..." He happily says as he extended his hand for her to shake. But she looked down nervously at his hand. She knew fully well that he was completely fine, but yet at the same time, she felt wondering if she was dreaming or not… "I...uh-" Sunset said, taking a second take a second look at his face and his body. Rarity looked over at Sunset’s nervous expressions and almost called out to her. “Sunset! Don't be rude towards our new friend." Rarity nagged her. "R-right, sorry. “She said, accepting his handshake before a nice smile came to her face. "Hi Crim, I'm Sunset Shimmer. Welcome to Canterlot” Crimson just had a nice smile as the two of them shook hands before Rainbow looked over to the two of them, wrapping her arms around the two of them. "I will go order pizza for us tonight on the phone, I’m sure the two of you will get along great!” She said before heading off, but not before patting the two of them on the back at the same time. The two of them looked awkwardly at one another before they went to sit down. ------------------------------------------------------ Some hours later... As the sleepover went into the night, and after a few hours of entertainment, the girls all got dressed in their pyjamas with the exception of Crimson, who had to leave at some point in the night. Just while they were relaxing in the loungeroom, Rainbow’s attention focused around Crimson’s neck. "Say Crimson...what's with that old necklace you wear all the time?" She asked. "Huh? You mean this one?" Crim said as he pulled out the necklace to show. "This old thing?” "I'd like to know as well," Applejack asked. “I don’t think that I’ve ever seen you without it” Crim held it in his hand before looking at it, happily holding the tip of the necklace in his hand. “I was given this when I was about nine years old by my first BFF” "Your first BFF?" Pinkie curiously said, suddenly on the edge of her seat. “Yeah, it was on the day…” Crimson suddenly sighed. “The day that she moved across the country” Suddenly, all attention was on Crimson at the mention that this necklace was given to him by a ‘girl’. But what was special about it was that it was his first BFF. Pinkie and Flutters both turned around to face him like school children, as if he was a teacher telling a story. Crimson sighed again with a slight smile on his face. “Alright fine, I’ll tell you the story about her….Her name was Orchid Bloom, but I had the habit of giving her the pet-name of Orchy…” What followed was a sweet story between a much younger and carefree Crimson and another girl named Orchid, who even at such a young age, was fairly beautiful. Crim took the blame for every “accident” that happened for her, and always tried to visit her despite her parents not liking him very much because of it. The two of them went to kindergarden together, with small stories of sanding against the school bully’s. Then as the two of them grew up together, Orchid wanted to repay the times that he stood up for her, including the organization of his seventh birthday party. Then the tone of the story changed when Orchid’s father got a career on the other side of Australia when they were nine, and they both had to leave. On that day, Orchid gave him a special necklace, saying that her mother bought it but she picked it for him. Just moments before she left his life, Orchid did something that she “Learnt from a movie”, and by complete surprise, the two of them had their first kiss~. She said that one day, they will see each other again… The story went for longer than expected, but Crimson told Circuit and the girls what happened and answered questions whenever needed. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, months then turned into years, but Orchid and Crim sent letters to one another hoping to stay in contact. Many letters later, the girls were talking among themselves about Orchid, picturing her as a wonderful person who has had a profound impact on his life, and that they could hopefully meet this girl oneday. Then….Crim’s tone slowed down as the entire mood in the room changed. The story continued as Crim slowly to signs of sadness as the tone continued, but he did very well to hide it. During the last half of the story, with the two of them at the age of thirteen, Orchid had been visiting the hospital on a regular basis. Then...all of a sudden, a bombshell was dropped. On Christmas Eve 2009, Orchid Bloom, perhaps Crimson’s only childhood friend, died of Cancer….
Crim didn't really respond to the rest of them, other then suddenly receiving a giant grouphug that Pinkie decided to start. He seemed to be feeling better now that he told them the story from his childhood, but he never went any further then over the age of ten except for the times that he got letters from Orchid. After the warm embrace was felt, the sleepover continued as normal. But not before Crimson suddenly realized what time it was... "Crap! I was supposed to leave about half an hour ago!" Crimson suddenly leapt off the couch, to which Rainbow and Sunset followed. "I gotta head off, I'll see you all tomorrow" "Ya gonna be okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked him. "How far do you live from here, you need a lift?" Crimson just waved the suggestion off. "I'll be fine AJ, I only live about four or five blocks down from here. I'll just walk home" Fluttershy then spoke up. "It's really dark outside, are you sure?" Crim nodded in return. "It's okay, I used to do this thing all the time..." Rainbow nodded. "Well, come around anytime Crim!" The red-skinned teen nodded before zipping up his grey hoodie and adjusting his necklace. "Well, I'll be off...."
11:49pm, several blocks away from Rainbow Dash’s house. Canterlot, California. USA Spoiler: Music for scene The moon was well and truly out in the sky tonight, hanging overhead of the dimly lit streetlights of suburbia. Just outside, while Crimson was walking home, had a very light white power fall from the clouds in the sky. This was the first time that the teen had ever felt snow, and he wasn’t used to it. He had spent his entire life between the streets, the harsh Australian heat and the torrential rain that it sometimes brought during winter. But this was the first time that it actually snowed for him, as snowflakes began to fall onto his gloves below. This was a special moment, and he believed that some of his old friends back home would have loved this moment. Especially Orchid… But now, he was nowhere near home and with the snow now starting to fall harder with every minute. Despite living a few blocks away, he needed to check the time on his phone to ensure that he was home before midnight, but things were about to turn for the worst. Just at that moment, a hand quickly swipes Crimson’s necklace from his neck the moment he was distracted, loosely ripping through the back of his neck as it snapped. Crimson lifted his head to find the shadow figure running away from him, but what the thief had stolen from him was worth more than any of the possessions in the world. "Aw f**k! HEY!" He cried out. Looking about and noticing that there were no cops, he suddenly broke into a deep sprint to chase down the pickpocket, running as fast as he could and quickly catching up to him. The chase went down another block or two, there was no way in hell that this thief was going to steal the only thing he had left to remember the one girl who cared for him. This was perfect, the first time that he had ever felt snow, and now some dumb idiot stole his necklace. The thief made a hard right into a dark alley, but Crim was right on the top of him, following behind. Rats quickly darted away from the two of them, as an awful stench reached his nose. At the end of the alley was a lonely locked door, surrounded by two brick buildings and dumpsters. The thief made it to the door first, but panic struck him when he realized that it was locked. Quickly trying to open the handle before Crim could get his necklace back, the thief had realised that he had reached a dead end. He just needed to make sure that he had the advantage to make it in the building first. Instead, Crimson came to him. The moment that the thief turned around, a devastating boot to the chest sent the thief flying into the locked door hard. The thief cried out in pain as he was sent flying into the door, hitting it with enough force to leave an enormous mark of cracks in it. “Give it back!” Crimson yelled. The thief still had the courage to pull out a switchblade from his hoodie, but Crimson kicked it out of his hand and far away from him, just as the Australian grabbed the side of his head and slammed it into the dusty pavement below….once….twice. The pickpocket falls again and he quickly run to start punching him in the head with huge blows. "Not so smart are ya, d***head?” Crimson yelled again, slightly admiring the level of cover that the thief did to hide themselves. Even for a thief, it was very well done. “Stop….please~” The thief suddenly whimpered, as Crimson immediately held back what could have potentially been a killing blow. The voice belonged to a girl! Not a guy! He prevented the pickpocket from standing up and quickly remove the hoody and the face cover that she was wearing. And what he found almost stopped his heart completely. The girl had short violet hair, bright blue eyes and lavender skin. He recognised her anywhere, even if she stood in the middle of Times-Square. Crimson almost teared up at the sight, hesitating to head further. It was difficult to tell if he was dreaming anymore or not, but there she was, roughly about the same age he was and much more mature. He stood up and backed off, suddenly turning ghostly pale. “No….you’re dead Orchid….” He said, backing up. “You died almost five years ago…” Orchid looked at him sadly, bleeding profusely from her mouth before, almost on cue, multiple footsteps sounded right behind them. He turned around to count almost twenty people. Several of them wearing leather jackets, each with some sort of weapon in their hands. Couple of wooden bats, a chain, some butterfly knives. And all looking like they were about eighteen years old, more or less. It was very intimidating, but it wasn’t the first time. Most thugs back home usually had a very simular sort of weaponry. Since firearms were highly restricted back in Australia, most criminals relied heavily on melee or bladed weaponry. Due to the frequency of attacks against him, the majority of them being innocent, Crimson quickly learned how to defend himself when times were tough, ever since his first attack when his life started to spiral out of control since he was ten. Over time, became something….dangerous. At the age of ten, he was barely able to protect himself from a group of older teenage thugs, but after surviving almost daily raids for roughly seven to eight years had turned him into something menacing. He thought that he left this life behind him, but it seemed that nothing ever changed. He turned to face the large gang of armed thugs, suddenly stretching his arms outwards before cracking both of the fingers of his hands and his neck. This might possibly be the largest gang that has ever had the balls to rob a poor teenager blind, assuming that he was easy prey. Instead, things were about to get violent for them. Very violent… “Alright….” Crimson said before pointing towards the entire group. “Let’s get dangerous…”
"Did you girls hear something?" asked Circuit, "It sounded like shouting." The color drained from Rainbow Dash's face. "It sounded like Crimson's voice. Think something happened to him?" "We need to find him," said Circuit, "and make sure he's not hurt."
By the time that the group arrived, the police was already at the scene as red and blue sirens completely lit up the street, while at least three teams of medics came from ambulances. The scene they found was absolutely brutal, with all twenty of the injured teenage gangmembers completely devastated. Many of them appear to have severe blows to the head, chin, leg or torso area. Four or five of them suffered the worst, with direct headshots by what appears to be from a baseball bat that left them in a coma. Another member had every bone in his right leg completely broken, before a blow to his spine snapped it clean in two. From the police's point of view, this was an entirely self-defense motivated attack after an older woman in her 50's recorded most of the ordeal after hearing screaming from across the road. One thing was for sure, Crimson and Orchid were both missing... This would be resolved tomorrow morning. When the morning news came on...
Spoiler: Music for scene It was early in the next morning, and it was before school, but the woman on the local news began to speak up. "A local gang has been taken custody after a violent attack occurring before midnight nearby the Canterlot Shopping Centre. A concerned neighbor called 911 after hearing the sound of fighting going on. When officers arrived to the scene, they found the presumed leader of the gang; Raven Claw." The footage changes to the police and medics carrying the injured gang members into the hospital, while the entire street was locked down. "But that was just the begining, the police officers also found the remaining gangbangers with severe injuries as well. They were all taken to the hopsital, weapons found in the alley." The footage then changed to amateur-vision of the fight, showing a very distinct red teen in a hoodie fighting off his attackers with incredible skill, using a baseball bat. The footage however, is blurry, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out who it was. "Who took the gang down? A video from a witness revealed a teenager fighting off the entire gang by himself. As you can see, this young man bravely fought armed gang members from Canterlot's Pink Cloud. Within less then two minutes, all twenty members were completely taken down by the single teen. The attack was seen as an act of self-defense and the police are praising the actions of this mysterious hero, having accomplished what the forces have struggled to maintain for years. The mother of a gang member speaks out..." The rest of the interview was fairly standard report, but the news came to a shock to most people. Just moments after it was shown on the news, Facebook and most social media platforms went into a frenzy about the mysterious teen.
"Am I going insane? I swear I just saw Crimson on the news fighting some ruffians! Surely I must be half asleep!..." Rarity said before looking at the others, speechless as the news anchor commented on Crim's skill. The video on the screen continues to play, but not before the last image was of the gang leader, Raven, pointing a fully-loaded pistol right at Crimson. The video cuts off shortly after Silver Fang fires his gun. This was enough to cause all the girls to scream, and Fluttershy to faint out of shock... "According to our sources, the youth fighting for his life was nowhere to be found. But he certainly did Canterlot City a favor; the well-known gangbangers will be prosecuted after their injuries are properly attended over previous crimes they committed. There's still no info on the female accomplice." The television said.
The same morning, Crim's House. Canterlot, USA. Crim woke up in his bed, tight and cozy after the nightmarish night that he had beforehand. He was so relaxed, that he started to question if everything that happened was a dream. He slowly got out of bed, reaching over to check his phone. 23 missed messages. He wondered why for a moment, before checking his page on one of his social media accounts. Several messages on the wall asked if he was still alive, while some were impressed on how the situation was handled. Others were just to know if he was okay. It was weird. He was receiving many messages wondering about his well-being, then it hit him.... "....crap" Someone recorded him, and soon found the news report about him. Then, looking at his necklace on the nearby nightstand, he remembered about the sudden appearance of Orchid. If she never died, why did she lie? He spent weeks morning her death, and many days crying into his pillow being unable to deal with her loss. He decided that he was going to get more questions back at school, as he got dressed and prepared to head off.
Later that day... Circuit tapped his feet at the lunch table with the others, scared out of their minds. There were no details about Crimson's fate released, which worried them. Halfway through lunch, Circuit heard footsteps, and turned to see a familiar face approaching the table... "Crimson... you're alive!"
The cafeteria immediately fell silent the moment that Crimson walked through the room, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Crim just walked through the hallways like absolutely nothing happened, some students who were standing up actually backing away from him nervously. Soon, things slowly began to return to normal as conversation restarted, although it wasn't about what they were talking about before. "Oh...um...Crim?" Fluttershy said before taking out a cloth. "You have some blood out of your lip" She then leaned over the table before wiping the smudge of blood away from him, before sitting back normally. Crimson didn't really say much, he looked like he was deep in thought.... And he was....what the hell happened to Orchid?
