- CHAPTER 1 -
THE NEWBIE AND THE CAPTAIN
It's a beautiful morning in Canterlot High, a quick glance at your watch lets you know that it's a quarter past ten. Your name? Rainbow Dash, the coolest girl of this High School. And right now you're just relaxing with your friends on the bleachers in front of the school's soccer pitch. After having a healthy lunch at the school's cafeteria you and your friends love to chill, play some soccer or gossip outside before returning to class at a half past ten.
You're accompanied by your best friend (and sometimes rival) Applejack. Twilight Sparkle, a big nerd that transferred here not so long ago from Crystal Prep Academy. Fluttershy, a shy girl you befriended when you both attended Cloudsdale Elementary and whom you had to defend from her bullies. Pinkie Pie, your random and party animal friend who you love to play harmless pranks with to unsuspecting individuals, especially Principal Celestia. Rarity, an uppity girl that is quite skilled when it comes to clothing and fashion, and last but not least Sunset Shimmer; a kind-hearted girl with multiple skills and hobbies.
"Ahhh...this sure is bliss, nice sunny weather with a nice cold breeze, the birds are singin' and the flowers are bloomin'," Applejack happily says.
"Indeed, this morning is just perfect dearie," Rarity replies before letting out an inspired sigh, "some days you just have to enjoy the ambiance."
"Yeah, a boring ambiance if I must say...AUGH! I wish I had something to do!" You exclaim.
"Like your homework?" Twilight replies with a smirk on her face.
"Please...I am NOT that desperate, Applejack? Don't you want to play soccer with me?"
"Nah, I'm still kinda full from the lunch I had...We can play any other time Rainbow Dash," Applejack shrugs.
Suddenly you notice something out of the ordinary as you tilt your head to check the other end of the bleachers. He's reading a book and he seems to be enjoying it.
”Oh, it's just the new kid. Hey girls, have you ever wondered why the new kid is always alone?” you ask your friends.
The girls look at the quiet teen peacefully reading what it looks to be a complex book and listening to music on his earbuds.
”Err, I dunno. He doesn’t talk much,” Pinkie Pie replies, “he usually leaves once classes end for the day. I've never seen him hang out with anyone after school.”
”Come to think of it…I think he’s in my history class. He never utters a word unless the teacher asks him a question.” Sunset Shimmer adds.
”And he always eats lunch by himself on those bleachers, never in the cafeteria.” Fluttershy adds.
”Huh…” you say while juggling a soccer ball with your thighs. “Weird.”
”He doesn’t seem like a bad fella. Perhaps he’s just very shy.” Applejack says, “just like my brother.”
”I always run into him on the hallways, and he always has his earbuds on,” Twilight Sparkle adds, “usually bobbing his head to the music, he always looks like he has to go somewhere.”
”How long has he been in our school?” You ask as you catch the soccer ball in mid air with your hands.
”About a month or so, I remembered how he introduced himself back in Ms. Harshwhinny’s class. He was so nervous and stuttered a lot.” Rarity says with a smile, “everyone laughed at him.”
“What’s his name again?” You ask.
”Anonymous,” Rarity replies, “or Anon for short.”
You’re now Anonymous. And you transferred to Canterlot High a month ago. What can you say about yourself? Not much, both you and your family used to live in a place called Seacrest County. If you had something good to say about that place is that you're not living there anymore. Life is good here in Canterlot, and while you don't fit much in here you're glad your classmates aren't giving you a hard time like the ones at Seacrest County High.
Perhaps it's for the best, before arriving here you told yourself not to stand out, just blend in and mind your own business and that strategy has worked...or so you thought.
"HEY! NEWBIE!" A girl calls from the other side of the school's bleachers.
You raise your head a bit and suddenly spot the most popular girls in this high school looking at you. They start giggling once your eyes meet their gaze. Were they talking about you? They are probably telling each other how much of a loser they think you are. The few times you’ve tried to communicate with your classmates they usually feel uncomfortable by your presence and manner of speech.
That’s it, you’re getting out of here, you immediately pack up your things and get off the bleachers.
You’re Rainbow Dash again.
”Aww…he’s leaving already?” Pinkie Pie says, “I wonder what’s wrong with him, he looked real sad once he saw us.”
You ponder a thought for a second, and then you snap your fingers. Then you kick the soccer ball hard enough to travel from your location to his, landing a few feet away from him.
”HEY!” You yell at the newbie, ”would you mind passing the ball back?”
“Umm…o-okay!” he replies.
He awkwardly walks to the ball and kicks it real hard. The ball flies back to you real quick.
”WHOA!” you yell before dodging the ball, fearing it would hit you in the face. Sadly, the ball hits Fluttershy in the face instead, causing your friends to freak out.
”Fluttershy? Fluttershy! Are you okay?” Rarity asks Fluttershy, who tries to hold back her tears but fails in the end, sobbing in quite a disheartening way.
”WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM KID?!” You angrily yell at the new student.
You're Anon once again. Congratulations! You’ve done it again! You’ve ruined yet another simple request. You really want to get out of there as soon as possible because those girls, the most popular girls in this High School are surely gonna hate your guts from now on.
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kick the ball that hard!” You yell back.
The girl cries even louder. Making you feel like a hot piece of garbage. But instead of running away but your conscience tells you to go check on the girl you hit and apologize, even if it means facing the wrath of her friends. Your nonexistant social life will be tarnished by them.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” You uncomfortably say, “a-are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you!”
”What on Earth was that Anon?!” the girl known as Rainbow Dash yells, “why did you kick the ball that hard?! What’s wrong with you?”
“I-I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash! I-I wasn’t thinking straight, I just…kicked the ball and-”
”And look at what you did you psycho! Letting out your frustrations like that isn’t-”
”It’s okay Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy interrupts a rabid Rainbow Dash with such a sweet and compassionate tone of voice as she wipes, ”he didn’t mean to do that, it was just an accident. Right Anon?”
Wow, Fluttershy doesn’t look mad at you, her face is starting to get red however, but she's not mad at all, Rarity even takes out a handkerchief out of her purse to wipe away the dirt and tears on Fluttershy's face.
“Of course it was an accident! I’m so sorry…” you apologize once again.
”Lucky you Anon.” Rainbow Dash sighs, "anyways…do you mind explaining to us what made you kick the ball like that?”
“Well I…uh, I guess my mind kind of drifted away back to my days as a soccer player,” you say before letting out an awkward chuckle.
”Wait what? You used to play soccer?” Rainbow Dash asks, her tone of voice went from having a thirst of blood to a legit interested one.
“Yeah, back in Junior High…not anymore though.”
”Oh yeah? Why’s that?” Rainbow Dash asks.
”Mostly because of my teammates, whenever I messed up my team made fun of me...”
”Really now? And what happened?” Rainbow Dash keeps asking to learn more about you, despite you showing clear discomfort when recalling those painful memories you thought you had suppressed.
“We lost once again thanks to you Anon!”
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-“
“You are useless! Why do you even bother coming to practice? How did you even make it into our team? Your mom must've slept with the coach to let your sorry ass join the team."
"Ha ha...maybe she had to do it twice to convince him!"
"No! That's not true! Leave my mom out of this!"
"OR WHAT?!"
”Anon? ANON!” Rainbow Dash yells, making you shake your head and blinking, "are you okay man? You kinda spaced out on us and we were starting to get worried."
“Sorry...well, long story short; I was kicked out of the team even though I wasn’t that bad,” you say before letting out a sigh.
”Really now?” Rainbow Dash asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, although I was good at doing other things like dribbling the ball, shooting and running very fast-”
”Well then…show me,” Rainbow Dash interrupts you as she grabs the ball.
“Show you what?” You ask.
”How good you really were obviously,” Rainbow Dash smirks before placing the ball on the middle of the pitch, "you and I, whoever scores three goals first wins.”
“But I already told you that I-”
”Yeah, don't worry about them...we’re gonna play one against one, just you and me, so just chill okay?” Rainbow Dash interrupts once again.
Aww, what did you get yourself into? It’d be real embarrassing to lose against her.
”I sure hope you didn’t lose practice…because that shot was really fast!" Rainbow Dash happily says.
”And it was painful…” Fluttershy adds rubbing her cheek with one hand, "...oww."
”I’ve never seen such speed like that before, you probably have a hidden talent waiting to resurface. Come on, let’s play already! Or are you afraid to lose to a girl?”
“…Very well then,” you say as you place your backpack on the bleachers next to Fluttershy and then you take off your jacket. Then, you do your usual warmups and stretches.
You work out every morning before coming to school by yourself; however, you haven’t touched a soccer ball in a long time.
”Come on, what’s taking so long?” Rainbow Dash asks, it looks like she's starting to get a little impatient.
“Hang on…” you say as you stretch your legs next to the girls, “alright, I think I’m ready…”
”Alright man, first one to score three goals wins okay? Another rule: no shooting outside the penalty area okay?”
“Okay…” you say.
”Heads or Tails?” Rainbow Dash asks as she takes a coin out of her jacket’s pocket.
“Tails…”
Rainbow flips the coin.
”Heads! I win! Which it means I get to choose the goal and kick the ball first.”
“Alrighty then…does that even matter? I mean, we're just gonna play a quick match.”
"Protocol Anon, you should know that..." Rainbow says before choosing the goal; she really seems eager to see how well you play. Well then, you won’t disappoint her.
Rainbow kicks the ball and quickly dodges you; you follow behind.
”Don’t be intimidated pardner! You can beat her!” Applejack shouts with a very charming southern accent from the bleachers.
As soon as Rainbow reaches the penalty area she lifts her leg to shoot the ball. You're ready to take your chance!
You’re now Rainbow Dash. And you're about to score the first goal thinking to yourself how easy this is. As you are about to kick the ball you look down and see Anon sliding and stealing the ball from your feet, then he quickly stands up and dribbles the ball to your goal.
“What the-?!” You exclaim demanding an explanation and not finding the proper words for what you just witnessed, "...when did you-?!"
It was such a clean slide! You didn't see him coming at all, your friends start cheering for the newbie, even Fluttershy. Feeling a bit humilliated you start chasing Anon. He’s not as quick as you, so you catch up with him with ease. However Anon keeps dribbling the ball and puts his feet to work. He moves the ball in an expert-like way and…he got past you?! And as soon as he enters the penalty area he kicks the ball just as fast as he did before.
It's in...
”Woah! I did it!” Anon says.
”WOOO! Good job Anon!” Pinkie Pie yells from the bleachers. This is totally not good.
“Pffft...You were lucky newbie,” you say, feeling a bit distraught and kind of angry.
"I-I'm sorry," Anon doesn’t know what to say, so he just hastily apologizes.
“Ugh, don’t be...let’s keep playing okay? Lunch break is about to end,” you say to him. He just nods before you both walk to the middle of the pitch to resume the match.
You decide to have a little fun first by taunting him. You even walk around him in circles, dribbling the ball with your feet and thighs even, Anon, instead of trying to steal the ball away from your feet, he runs to his goal to try his luck at blocking your shot.
“What’s wrong? You're gonna play goalie instead? Psshh…like that’s gonna stop me,” you say as you raise your foot, “here you go!”
You kick the ball as hard as you can straight towards his goal. However Anon doesn’t use his hands to stop the ball. Instead he slides to prevent the ball from getting inside the goal. He blocked the ball using his calf. Then he immediately stands up and runs after the ball.
“WHAT?! No way!”
("That Anon just doesn't give up. Oh well...") you think to yourself, ("the ball is going out of bounds anyways…")
Or so you thought, because Anon was able to recover the ball, then he starts running at full speed towards your goal. The girls cheer once again; he just dribbles the ball.
”What’s the matter Rainbow Dash? Can’t beat the new kid?” Applejack teases you.
“Get back here Anon!” You shout, and start running after him.
That does it! You’re the best athlete in Canterlot High! You’re not gonna let this rookie put you to shame; you run after him and quickly catch up once again. This time he’ll get to know your more advanced skills; however, he doesn’t look afraid, instead…he looks somewhat focused.
“Try to dodge THIS!” You say before sliding in a very aggressive way.
Anon does a quick trick with his feet.
"What the-?! Where’s the ball?!" You say, looking for the ball, it was right in front of you! As you lift your gaze you find Anon jumping over your legs while the ball lands right in front of him. He pulled off a successful chip. As soon as Anon reaches the area he kicks the ball once again, which quickly makes its way to the goal.
”GOOAAAAL!” Pinkie Pie cheers, “that’s two–nil Dashie!”
Anon, instead of celebrating, he helps you get back on your feet instead.
”That was a pretty cool goal dude, you’re pretty good,” you say after letting out a sigh.
”Y-you too,” Anon uncomfortably says.
You resume the match once again. One more goal and you will lose. You quickly kick the ball and try do a chip over Anon’s head. Anon runs towards the ball and jumps, hitting the ball with the top of his head.
Darn it! You didn’t kick the ball high enough. You gave Anon a chance and now he's running towards your goal, this time however you run towards your goal instead of trying to steal the ball from him. As soon as you reach the area you’ll turn around and wait for Anon to shoot the ball.
When you’re finally near the goal you turn around and see a ball about to hit your face.
”Watch out Rainbow Daaa…“ Anon tries to say.
The ball hit you right in your beautiful face, hard enough to make you fall on your back. Your face hurts a lot; your friends quickly run towards your goal to assist you.
”I-I’m sorry Rainbow! I didn’t see you were there! You just got there so fast! A-are you okay?” Anon tries to apologize.
”That had to hurt, a lot!” Pinkie Pie says.
”It was an accident! I swear Dash!” Anon repeats himself.
Rarity and Twilight help you get back on your feet.
”Is it a bad moment to declare Anon the winner Dashie?” Pinkie Pie says, “the ball went across the line after all.”
“Wha-?”
You turn around and see the ball inside the goal.
“Auuuugh…” You say, accepting your defeat.
You just lost fair and square against a mighty foe. How on Earth did the new kid get the best of you?! Anon just lets out an awkward chuckle.
”Yeah…so, no hard feelings Rainbow Dash?” Anon asks, looking quite embarrassed.
You squint at him, but then you just chuckle.
“Sure…good game Anon, you’re pretty good. I guess I underestimated you…after all you kept saying how bad you actually were. Was this your initial intention?” You ask, demanding an answer.
”Uhh…no, I was telling the truth! I swear!” He replies, raising his palms.
“Ha ha...very funny Anon, don’t make fun of me like that,” you say as you dust yourself off.
”I’m serious! I always screwed up big back in Junior High…yeah, I trained a bit to get better, but my teammates always outclassed me, and they ALWAYS got mad at me if I did something wrong,” Anon says, trying his best to explain himself.
You just rub your face to alleviate the pain, feeling unconvinced by his words. But it does seem like Anon is quite tough on himself, although he’s pretty darn good at soccer.
”Are you okay?” He asks, looking legitimately concerned over the ball he kicked right into your face.
“Yeah, I think I am…owie, that’s gonna hurt tomorrow,” you say as you touch your jaw.
”Sorry,” he apologizes. Again.
The bell rings, lunchbreak has ended, you’ll have to keep an eye on the newbie. He’s gonna regret being so careless.