The Un-Popular Ones

"And next up... We have a new student joining us today all the way from Manehattan!" Cheerilee smiles confidently to the class of foals. It was a a warm day outside on a Monday morning. All the foals just got to school right as the bell rang. a cheerful Cheerilee stood at the head of the class. Every row was full of the little ponies except for the back row. Only two other students were there, all of which usually were called "The Out Casts."  Cheerilee stood before each of them with a wide grin across her face. A cool breeze swarmed through the class, causing each student to relax.

"Ladies and Gentlecolts, I would like to introduce you all to our newest student: G-Sec." She moved to one side allowing the young colt to walk up from behind her. He was weak but had a lot of girth on him. He had squirmy legs, barely looking big enough to support his frame. His coat was a deep green, looking like dampened bushes. He wore faded, grey glasses that looked anything but classy. It had scratches, foggy lens and broken arms. he dipped his legs close to each other and shook slowly. He brought his head into his body, almost showing like he had no neck. His mane was completely matted down and shows that there was a lot of time spent on it, along with his tail. He let his dirty blonde mane and tail rest at ease but kept a careful watch on them. His eyes burned a dark orange but tried to avoid all eye contact.

"Well, would you like to introduce yourself?"

He shook his head slowly, despite a lot of encouraging faces.

"Oh no... I think he's shy." Sweetie Belle said.

"Shy? Like Fluttershy?" Apple Bloom asked.

"No... Worse." Sweetie responds.

The other of the formerly known as Cutie Mark Crusader members look at each other sadly.

"We should be his friend." Bloom says.

"But don't try to be to persistent." Sweetie says.

"What?" Scoots asks in a confused tone.

"Nothing... Just, don't try to be too rough. Be calm and collected."

All three of the fillies sit up straight and watch the new colt carefully.

"Uh... H-Hi..." He says in a timid and squeaky voice. He looks down at his hooves, almost dropping his glasses.

"Hi G-Sec." The class recites in unison.

"Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?" Cheerilee asks as she sits at her desk, smiling.

"Such as?" He asks in a way to not show any disrespect but still very quiet.

"Well, why did you come to Ponyville?"

"Bullies."

"Um... Okay... What do you like to do?"

"Math."

"Could you please not give word word answers?"

"I apologize."

The class giggles some.

"Alright alright... Take a seat in the back next to Short Fire."

G- Sec nods to her and shuffles past Sweetie's desk. She smiles to him but he keeps his head down until he reaches the back of the class. He takes a desk in the far corner, away from all the foals.

At lunch, the bell rings. All the fillies and colts run out to the yard except for G-Sec. He slowly trots out once everypony has left. Cheerilee stops him at the door.

"Ex-Excuse me ma'am... Would um... It be okay... For me to proceed?"

"G-Sec, listen. I know you're new and I can tell by how you act that you are shy. So, I'm going to give you homework. I know you may not like it but..."

"I apologize for interrupting you Miss. But I would just like to say that I do enjoy homework."

"What? Well... Never mind! That's beside the point. Just, listen. You need somepony to talk to. Somepony to listen to. Somepony to..."

"You need me to find a social associate?"

"No! You need a friend!"

"Oh... Same thing really..."

She facehoofs herself and shakes her head.

"Just... Find a friend. Okay?"

"If you insist..." He nods to her and trots out to the yard.

"Friends.... Friends.... I see no use for them. All that could possibly come from this is distraction from my individual projects." He says to himself, not looking. He accidentally bumps into a pony from behind.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" He says in a commanding but light voice. The colt he ran into was a young Pegasus. He  stood on a bench and turned to face G-Sec, who was not flank-first on the ground.

"I... I apologize Mister..." He blinks his eyes to gain his sight again. He looked up and saw the colt. His coat was bright orange. It resembled a bright star shinning in the distance. Or maybe a sunset shimmering. His main was a near dark red and was combed up to look confident, as was his tail. He looked at G with a confident expression, as if he was ready to bolt into the sky in wonder. His eyes burned dark like red coal.

"Hey... I remember you... I sit next to ya in class!" He says reminiscing.

"Uh... You do? I apologize. I wasn't really... um..." He curls up some and squeaks to himself.

"Wow. Not much of a talker are ya? Eh... It's cool. You need some help there?" He extended his orange hoof in a gesture to help the fallen earth pony. G-Sec looks up at it scared, wondering if it were a joke or a prank. Once he realized that nothing seemed out of place, he reached up to grab his hoof. The colt pegasus pulled him up with tremendous strength.

"Woah! You're light!" He said as G-Sec reached his hooves.

"Um... I uh... Yeah...." He blushed shyly and hid in his mane.

"Well, if ya ever need anything or somethin', call me."

"i... I um... Apologize for a such retort.... But... But wouldn't I need... Your name?" He peaked out slowly but had a stance to run off.

"Uh... I didn't understand ANYTHING that you said. Except something about my name. Well, I'm Short Fire." He stood in a powerful pose.

"Right...."

"Yeah! Remember me?"

"Not i the slightest. Well... I should... Be going..." He stood and turned back in the direction of the school.

"Wait! You seem lost. You wanna chill with me?" He showed a laid-back pose even though he was tense.

"I don't thi...." He looked off to the school room. Cheerilee was watching him through the window and motioned her hoof to talk to Short Fire.

"Well... I suppose..." He turns back to face Short Fire.

"Nice! We can do hecka things! Like... Like somethin' I like to do is like... Hang Out with all my friends..." He stood on his hind legs with his front legs outstretched wide to show a large amount of ponies behind him, or so he thought. In reality, nopony was behind him.

"Uh... Where?"

"You. You're... My only... Friend..." He sighed sadly and sat on the bench, using his front hooves to cover his face.

"Oh no! Please... Please don't cry!" G-Sec ran over to his side to comfort him. Short Fire was lightly sobbing.

"I don't cry! I just... Sprung a leak."

"Short Fire, please! I'm your friend! Please don't persist!" Short Fire smiled some and looked up at G-Sec.

"You are? Thanks... You know, you're not too bad for a geek." He smiled more, slowly topping to cry.

"And you're not too bad for a cockalorum. " He smiled back. Short Fire almost lost his expression from the intellectual insult.

"Uh... A what?"

"Oh... I apologize. Ponies were a bit smarter back in Manehattan. It basically means a bragger."

"Right... Okay. Well, let's go eat lunch, G."

"G? Is... Is that a... Nickname?"

"Yeah! You ain't had one ever before?"

"No... Thank you!" He smiled, tearing up happily.

"Of course G." He smiled back and they hug, like brothers.

Some time after the embrace begins, they finally end it and pick up their lunches. They walk off into the main courtyard. G-Sec stayed behind Short Fire as he lead the way.

"Hey there Diamond." He winked at her as she turns away, uninterested. He tries this cat-call method on a few more of the fillies until they reach one side where nopony else was: A corner next to the gate.

"The fillies here play hard to get, ya know?"

"No. Not really. I'm more interested in school."

"Right... What do you have for lunch?"

"I have... A Peanut Butter and Dandelion Sandwich with geometrically perfect cut up apple slices and a juice box. You?"

"Wow... Just saying a sandwich and apples would have been cool. I got a cookie, a milk and a sandwich."

"Yummy..." They each pull out their lunch box. Short Fire pulls out a box with Wonderbolts all over them. A Rainbow Dash sticker is on the front, larger than all the others. G-Sec pulls out a plain, silver box with only a sticker on the front to represent an addition sign.

"Wow... You really do like homework, huh?"

"Yeah... And I can tell that you have affection for a famous somepony."

"WHAT?! No!" He blushes hard.

"Yes you do."

"No! She's just a inspiration."

"Really? You're blushing with a high pulse and sweating hard. You have a heart shape in your eyes and the sticker is bigger than all others." He said all of that without looking up, taking a bite from his sandwich. Short Fire sits there in astonishment.

"I... Well I..."

"Am I right?"

"Uh... Maybe... Yeah...."

"Good. I don't think you can fool me all too well. So... Any other information you'd like to tell me before I discover it on my own?"

"Well... There's also... Hey! What's that?!" He yells, pointing off to a crowd of foals.

"Nice try... I don't fall for that stuff."

"No... Seriously. Look! That dude is getting bullied!" Short Fire said with urgency in his voice.

"Okay... Fine.... I'll fall for your trick." He slowly looks up to see a unicorn being bullied by a group of buff earth ponies.

"Sweet Celestia! We have to tell the teacher!" G says in anguish.

"Pff... Teacher? You really are a wuss, huh? I got this!" He says with confidence. He quickly runs over to the scene. G slowly shuffles there behind him.

A young colt unicorn stood under bulging, large earth pony. The huge earth pony was shinny white. He had a look of anger and was holding the small colt by his mane. He had a glisten in his eye of anger and let his shinny, silver mane roll over his face.

"You gonna finally stand up to me Breezey Boy?" He said with a scruffy voice.

"No... I never have... And don't really feel like it..." He said in a timid voice. He was a small and fragile unicorn. He was a deep blue, like the ocean. He had a dark grey mane and tail. He had a small horn that could barely be seen through his mane. He seemed to be resentful but tried not to show any expression. He had a light blue scarf covering his neck in a very suspicious manner.

"Well, then you'll be in a world of hurt!" The bully rubbed his front leg, ready to wind up.

"Hey! Put him down!" Short Fire yelled to him from a distance.

"Huh?" He turned to face Short, not letting the colt go.

"Yeah!" He stood up with a confident stance, although he was towered by the bully.

"Or what?" He looked down at him angrily, huffing out through his nose.

"I'll stop it!"

"Try it!" Short stood back a little to see G.

"Help me out..." He whispers.

"Uh... I suppose...." G slowly walked up to the bully.

"What the... Who is this?!"

"Uh... Excuse me sir.. My name is G-Sec... And... I um.... Could you please... Stop?" He squeaks some. The bully chuckles.

"Uh... How about... NO!"

"Okay..." He walks back to Short.

"What was that?!" Short asks, a bit angrily.

"I got information... Just... I need you to run up from behind him from that exact angle at precisely 9 mph..." He points to an area behind the bully

"Uh... Okay..."

"Then go for his legs..." G walks away to the trashcan and wheels it over to under the bully.

"I'm sorry... Just gotta..."

"Hey! Get this away from me!" He picks up G by the mane.

"Now! Short Fire!" G yells. He had just barely gotten to the spot and immediately ran as fast as he could, barely reaching the speed limit. He jumped at the last moment and kicked the bully in the legs, pushing him into the trash. G and the colt lad on the ground. The trash can rolls into the school building where the bully is promptly met by Cheerilee.

"Woah... G... Your plan worked!" Short walked up excited.

"I know... Just a few simple calculations... Are you okay?" He says to the unicorn.

"Yeah... Not much better than usual..."

"Um... Okay..." G stood up and let Short extend his hoof to pull up the unicorn.

"And who are you, exactly?" Short asks the unicorn.

"My name is Dusk Breeze."

"And who was that?"

"Gemstone. My bully."

"He won't bother you much longer. I've made sure of it." G says, barely showing some confidence.

"Oh really? How?" Th colt asks, barely really paying much attention to them.

"I've sent him to the teacher. She has been watching me and I'm pretty sure she saw the bullying. She'll handle it accordingly."

"Right. Thanks."

"Dude... You seem like... Low. No energy. Like you're goth or emo." Short Fire says, looking at Dusk confused.

"I'm whatever. I just... I don't know." He stands up.

"Uh... You wanna hang dude?" Short Fire asks again.

"Eh... I don't know."

"He just saved you from that bully!" He yells to Dusk, pointing to G, who shy's away.

"Fine... But I reserve the right to not answer you guys sometimes." He says, putting his hoof down, literally.

"Deal. Come on." Short leads in the direction of the benches.

"This is a very tumultuous relationship." G says to himself.

Little did he know, his life would change from the moment he bumped into Short Fire. For better... and for worse.