“Wake up! Wake up! It’s the start of a brand new, fan-tabulous day!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up and down on my bed. I squeezed my face into my pillow a bit.
“Time for school… again.” I said wearily to myself.
“...Where you can meet a whole bunch of new friends and get invited to parties and tell jokes and-”
Pinkie kept yammering on until she was cut off forcibly by a lavender hoof in her mouth.
“Ah… what I think Pinkie is trying to say is that there’s so much you can learn today!” Twilight supplied.
I nodded drowsily as I sat up. Twilight had just enough of a point to overcome my ennui.
As I trudged past the bathroom into the kitchen, I heard a small, femenine “ahem” that drew my attention. Rarity was standing at the door to the bathroom.
“What? I’m tired.” I said.
“That’s no excuse.” Rarity said firmly. “It’s best to keep your habits clean; you never know when you’re going to meet someone new, and it’s always good to give off a good first impression.”
I sighed and entered the bathroom, grabbed my toothbrush and started scrubbing. After rinsing, Rarity insisted that I comb my hair as well, so I did. Then I went back into my room, changed out of my pajamas, and finally got back to the kitchen for breakfast.
“Most important meal of the day!” Applejack said as she placed a shiny, red apple on the counter in front of me.
“No time.” I said as I pulled a sugar-covered protein bar from the pantry instead.
Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Uh… I’ll eat on the move.” I said as I grabbed the apple she’d offered.
I picked up my backpack from the coat hooks on the way out of the front door, near-simultaneously taking a big, juicy bite out of the apple. It was fine, I guess. Probably not as good as a real Sweet Apple Acres apple, but still.
On the way to the bus stop I noticed a few other kids teasing a dog on the other side of a fence by dangling a piece of jerky just out of reach. I stopped to watch a bit, and it soon became very clear that they had no intention of ever letting the canine have a bite. Fluttershy was hovering nearby, but didn’t say anything; she just gave me a pleading look.
“Hey!” I shouted. The kid holding the jerky took a look at me, and became just distracted enough that the dog on the other side of the fence jumped up and clamped his jaws around the snack. While the kid was double-taking at the tiny scrap left in his hands, I quietly slipped further down the street and took a seat at the bus stop. Fluttershy sat next to me, smiling timidly.
My first class of the day was algebra, and my brain almost immediately shut down once the teacher began talking. Nothing she said made any sense, and once she gave us our assignment for the day, I had a bit of a headache.
“You can do this!” Twilight encouraged. “Just take it one step at a time.”
“Easy for you to say…” I murmured.
“It’s okay if you need help, too.” Twilight responded. “We all need it sometimes.”
I nodded slowly and raised my hand to get the teacher’s attention.
Later, in P.E. we were running the mile, and I was lagging behind. My sides ached, and my legs were begging for a break. Rainbow Dash was flying beside me, offering encouragement.
“Come on! You can do this! Are you gonna let this track beat you?”
“Nope” I puffed out between breaths.
“What was that? I can’t hear you!” Rainbow asked, a hoof to her ear.
“I said no, Ma’am!” I shouted a bit louder. There was no way I was finishing up first, but somehow that didn’t matter anymore. I clamped my teeth shut and pushed ahead harder.
By the time lunch period rolled around, I was breathing heavily, tired, and sweaty. I was grateful to finally get some rest, not to mention the cafeteria was serving pizza today; my favorite.
As I was walking towards my usual table, I spotted a flash of pink out of the corner of my eye. Turning to look, I saw Pinkie taking a seat across the table from a kid I only knew because he’d awkwardly introduced himself to the class about halfway through the semester. Pinkie, however, had never met him, and she was vibrating in anticipation of the event.
“Uh... do you mind if I sit here?” I asked the kid. He turned in a way that reminded me a bit of Fluttershy.
“Uh… yeah. Okay.” he said. I sat down across from him and noted how closely he was holding his notebook. As I started eating, he began scribbling discreetly. Pinkie began stretching to get a good look at the scribbles, contorting herself into odd shapes both under and above the table.
“What’cha drawing?” I asked; for Pinkie’s sake as much as my own curiosity.
“Oh… nothing. Just a… ..”
The new kid’s sentence degenerated into unintelligible mumbling very quickly.
“Sorry, what was that?” I asked. The kid bit the inside of his cheek.
“It’s… uh…”
Slowly, excruciatingly, the kid showed me his drawing; it was incomplete, but I could see two, large, expressive eyes, two hooves, and a poofy, curly mane. I recognized the pony sitting next to me immediately.
“It’s… a bit weird.” The kid said.
“Are you kidding me! It’s the best!” Pinkie shouted. Then she gasped in realization and said “Can you draw this face?” She proceeded to stick out her tongue, squint her right eye, and grin.
“It’s really good.” I added honestly. “You even got the curls in her mane just right.”
“You, uh… don’t think it’s weird that I’m drawing ponies from a girls’ show?” the kid asked tentatively.
I gave a short laugh.
“Heh… no. Or at least… not half as weird as I am. I love that show.”
The kid stared at the table, as if he was unsure what to do next.
“Oh.” He said.
“Is… Pinkie Pie your favorite?” I asked.
“Well, she’s the easiest to draw, I think.” the kid replied; “I don’t think I could really choose… they’re all so special… Sometimes I wish it was possible to have real friends like that.”
At that moment, my attention was drawn to Princess Twilight Sparkle, hovering just above the kid’s right shoulder and smiling encouragingly. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Yeah, well… never say never.” I responded. Then I took a big bite out of my pizza.
Author's Note
Is it cheesy? Perhaps. Hopefully it also summons the warm fuzzies.
