The next day, on the day that the School of Friendship opened, and was now named as Friendship Academy, and have alligned themselves with Celestia, Cadence, Luna, Discord and some of the other students and teachers of Celestia's School of Magic, some students, old and new, went to look around the school while learning more about their said schedules and classes.
In an open field near the school, Sunset was with Raph and a group of students, as she was busy teaching her class on self defense and physical training.
"Welcome Students, it is an honor that I welcome you to my class, in which you will learn how to defend yourself and to physically train you for whatever threats may come to you." Sunset Shimmer explained as she looked at her students. "I will be your teacher, Ms. Sunset Shimmer, today, we are going to practice, in the art of a one on one fist fight, I've asked my acquaintance, Raph, to participate as your opponent for this practice."
"Alright, now, which one of you pipsqueaks wants to challenge me?" Raph said with a confident demeanor as he smirked towards some of the students.
"Perhaps, I'll go first." A voice said as a hand reached out.
The person revealed to be a young anthropomorphic female dragon with orange scales and a golden yellow underbelly, magenta spikes on her head and on her tail, golden yellow frills for ears and cyan blue eyes, she's known as Smolder, one of the students attending Friendship Academy.
"Alright, go on ahead." Sunset Shimmer said as she allowed Smolder to come forward and face Raph, while smirking.
Raph just smirked as he snickered. "You gotta be joking, a small dragon like you, taking on a big chimera like me?" Raph said as he smirked and chuckled. "Don't make me laugh, I can easily knock you out with one hit."
"Don't let my size fool you, whenever I'm out rough housing on some of my opponents, Smolder here always ends up victorious." Smolder said with pride while smirking.
"Alright then, let's see what you got." Raph said as he smirked. "Hope you don't like winning as much as losing."
"Okay...on your marks...get set...go!" Sunset shouted as then allowed Smolder and Raph to battle.
So Raph was able to pull out a few punches in order to hit Smolder, but every attack that Raph pulled, Smolder either dodged or defected it, she then stood on her two feet, and swung her feet around Raph in order for him to trip, which she did successfully.
"And Smolder wins this round." Sunset Shimmer said as Smolder smirked with pride.
"Ha! And you said you could knock me out with one hit!" Smolder said as she laughed.
Raph then growled as he got up on his feet. "That was just a lucky shot, Smolder." Raph said as he frowned. "I want a rematch!"
"Okay, but don't get angry if I beat you again." Smolder said as she smirked.
So Smolder and Raph started another one on one duel, with Smolder able to dodge more of Raph's attacks and beating him the same way she did during the first round, causing the students to become impressed.
"Ha ha! And the victory is mine!" Smolder said with pride as she chuckled, the class in return claps for Smolder,making her bow and smile with pride, Raph then growled in anger at his defeat. "Aw, what's the matter, too embarrassed from losing to small dragon like me? It see,s your ego is bigger than your height! It comes to show that you're just bark and no bite!"
As the class began to laugh with Smolder as they laughed at Raph, a sudden angered growl was heard from Raph, as he then got up on his feet, the laughter officially stopped as they were shocked to see Raph in a really angered phase.
"Oh is that so? Well then, I suppose you wouldn't mind going to round three, would you!?!" Raph asked out of anger as fire glowed from one of Raph's hand.
It was then Smolder became spooked, so she used her wings to fly as fast as she could away from Raph, while he started chasing her with a look of fury.
"Raph, wait!" Sunset shouted as she went after both Raph and Smolder.
Soon after, Raph finally managed to tackle Smolder and pin her to the ground, while also getting ready to fire some of his magic on Smolder, causing her to become scared.
"Wait! How about we just call it a tie!?" Smolder asked out of fear. "I was only joking back there! You win!!"
"A joke huh!?! Well let's see how much you laugh after I'm through with you!!" Raph shouted out of fury as he was ready to use his magic on Smolder.
"Raphael, stop!!!" A voice echoed as Raph stopped and turned to see Sunset with an angered expression. "Let Smolder go..."
Raph just growled as he let go of Smolder and looked at Sunset with an angered look. "You people are all the same! Always defending those who do nothing but taunt you!" Raph said out of anger. "I don't even care if I end up in some stupid dungeon! I'm through with this, and I'm through with being your slave!!"
So as Raphael flew away to be alone, Sunset was left in shock by how Raph looked, he looked as if he was betrayed by someone close to him, and she could've sworn that she saw bits of tears in Raph's eyes after he flew away.
Sunset sighed as she then helped Smolder get up on her feet. "Are you okay?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"I-I think so..." Smolder said as she was still shaken by the attempted attack from Raph, Sunset then used her wings to fly and went to the same direction as Raph went. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going after Raph." Sunset explained.
"But why go after him? He almost tried to kill me!" Smolder said as she was angered.
"It was because you let your pride get the best of you, and decided to push his buttons!" Sunset said as she looked at Smolder with disappointment. "Even when someone hurts you or is mean to you, you should not hurt them back or let pride get in the way of us, I know Raph isn't the nicest person to be around, but you should still treat him as equally as everyone else!"
So as Sunset took off to look for Raph, Sunset began to look around the mountains to see if she could find Raph anywhere, suddenly, she stopped when she noticed a small spot of red from up above one of the mountains.
Sunset flew closer and saw that Raph was curled up in a ball, and looked as if he was crying, this made Sunset feel hurt, sure she and Raph haven't been on the best of terms, but she could tell that something was wrong with Raph, and she intends to help him in any way she could.
So she flew down and landed on the mountain with her feet, and slowly moved towards Raph. "Raph?" Sunset asked with concern.
"Go away..." Raph said in a broken voice as he turned away from Sunset.
"Look, if this is about what happened earlier, I—" Sunset was about to try and reason with Raph, but Raph interrupted her.
"What? You just want me to apologize to Smolder, even though she was the one that made me lose my temper!?" Raph asked while angered. "So you could pet her get away with whatever she wants?! Is that what you want me to do!?"
"No, that's not what I meant to say." Sunset said to Raph,
"Then why don't you do me a favor, and leave me alone!?" Raph shouted in Sunset's face while facing away again.
Sunset didn't feel like leaving Raph alone, from how Raph behaved, it seemed that Raph knew something that Sunset didn't when she and her first met, she wanted to help Raph, but was sure that she was gonna face the same thing that happened with Smolder.
So Sunset took a deep sigh and lowered her head. "Alright...you want me to leave you alone, I'll do it, if you want to yell at me, go on ahead." Sunset said in the most sincere voice. "But even though you and I aren't on best terms, I'm always willing to help and listen to those around me, including you, so I'm willing to listen to you if something is wrong...you just have to tell me, and I'll listen..."
Sunset was about to turn away and leave, but was suddenly stopped when Raph turned back to Sunset and spoke. "I didn't always start off as the short tempered thief that you saw, when we first met." Raph explained in a calm tone, Sunset then stopped and turned to see Raph. "Back when I was little, I was completely different...I grew up living in a kingdom that was different than the one you ruled, known as Akhenaten, it was inhabited by other chimeras such as me, along with a few Lizardmen, I grew up living with the royal Lizardmenfamily Akhenaten, there was my mom and dad, and then there was my sister, Mona Lisa, as I grew up, me and Mona Lisa always played together and always rough housed on each other, which made my mom and dad annoyed, however...by the time I turned sixteen, I uncovered a secret that my parents kept away from me and Mona Lisa, my parents used vicious ways of getting others to obey them, such as physical, mental or even sexual torture, making them work day and night on their palace while whipping them to make sure they stayed in line...and even forced some of the people to give up their children to be killed, I found out earlier that I wasn't actually related to the royal family, and that I was only found by my step mother because they weren't able to have a son...so I tried to convince Mona Lisa to come with me to leave...but she didn't listen...so I was forced to escape by my own and fend for myself, while also trying to collect shiny items in order for me to either buy my own food or for me to buy some new clothes for me to wear...and what would you expect? Everyone thinks you're a jerk because you're part of the royal family, so I was forced to accept being hated so that I won't be seen as weak, and so I wouldn't let anyone take advantage of me again..."
Sunset couldn't believe her ears, Raph was forced to leave his home because his foster family used terrible ways on enslaving some of his people, and that Raph was forced to live alone while trying to steal stuff that didn't belong to him.
"Oh Raph...I had no idea..." Sunset said as she felt sorry for Raph.
"I never asked to be a person people hated...I never even asked to be spared by a family who only cared about themselves..." Raph said as he started to tear up. "I just...wanted to feel wanted....but who would accept a thieving, short tempered bully like me?"
Raph let out a few more tears as he continued sniffling, Sunset then then put her hand on Raph's shoulder, and made him turn over to her. "You don't have to be forced to be someone people hate..." Sunset said in a sincere voice. "Maybe if you were to tell someone of how you really felt, I'm sure they would better understand you..."
"But...but I thought that by doing that, I would've been seen as spoiled or weak..." Raph said in a broken voice.
"Raph...telling someone of how you truly felt, doesn't mean that you're weak or spoiled." Sunset explained. "It means that you can let other people understand you, and help you through whatever problems you may have...just like you're doing with me..."
Raph then stopped sniffling, wiped some of his tears and let out a small smile. "Huh, I guess talking about your feelings, isn't really as bad as I thought..." Raph said as he smirked, but then frowned. "So, I take it you're gonna put me in a dungeon, or banish me?"
"Actually, I was thinking instead, since we got off on a bad start during our first meeting, we could start over...as friends?" Sunset Shimmer asked as she let out her hand for Raph.
Raph then became surprised, but smiled as he then took Sunset's hand. "Sure, I'd very much appreciate that." Raph said as he smiled.
Then, both Raph and Sunset heard footsteps as they looked to see Smolder, who has actually been following Sunset and Raph and heard most of their conversation.
"Oh, what do you want now?" Raph asked as he was annoyed. "You want to challenge me again?"
"Actually, I came to apologize to you." Smolder said as she frowned.
"Huh?" Sunset and Raph asked with confusion.
"I'm sorry, I let my pride get the best of me and pushed your buttons when you didn't want to." Smolder said as she frowned. "I have no excuses for what I did, and I'm sorry."
Raph smirked as he then rubbed Smolder's head with his hand. "No worries, kid." Raph said as he smirked. "I shouldn't have gotten all angry on you anyway."
"Yeah, but I was the one who started it with my ego." Smolder said as she smirked.
"You're not the only one with a big ego." Raph said as he smirked.
"Race you back to the school!" Smolder shouted as she then took off to go back to the school.
"Oh it's on!" Raph said as he smirked as he then raced with Smolder.
Sunset just chuckled as she then followed Raph and Smolder back to the school, little did Sunset knew, was that her and Raph's relationship, will only increase as time goes on...
My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belongs to Nickelodeon
To be continued . . .