//------------------------------// // Baiting the Hook // Story: Humans in Equestria // by Dyon //------------------------------// "Yeah, it wasn't too hard," I replied as I sat back in my desk with a smirk. Cherilee put the piece of chalk she was using down and walked over to me desk to see that I was in fact finished before taking the test with a smile of her own. "Well I hope you did very well," she said as she returned back to the front and laid the test out on her own desk before turning back to her lesson. I looked over to the board to see that the class was learning about isosceles and equilateral triangles. My attention was immediately lost, leaving me to look about the class and the ponies in it. Diamond Tiara, much against my expectations, was actually sitting in the front row looking like a perfect student. The librarian in training, Silver Spoon, was seated just to her left and that tubby colt was to her right. On the other side of that guy however was a particular southern yellow earth pony that everyone knew. I couldn't really get a good look at Applebloom since she was two rows directly in front of me, but I could see her telltale bow sticking up on her head. I had come knowing that I was going to see this particular pony, I mean, it is shown that she is in Diamond Tiara's class but I was getting a little light on breath. Applebloom was my favorite member of the cutie marks crusaders, baring Babs of course but she isn't often counted, and there she was sitting just a few feet away from me. I caught on that the teacher was talking about angles or something but this was so much more important. I knew that we were going to get to go outside for recess at some point, would we get nap time because I really wanted nap time too. I was tempted to slap myself to get my mind back on track but I remembered the whole hooves thing, that would have probably hurt. Anyways, we were going to go to recess and I could probably just introduce myself, was that creepy since I was actually in my twenties? No, I didn't think so. A new idea struck me suddenly, Steel didn't have a cutie mark so I could use him. He was in love with Scootaloo's backstory as much as he was with Diamond Tiara's so he might even agree to it. Yes, this idea was starting to come together, now all I needed was to get to recess without any real problems. "So Ash?" Was all I heard as I came out of my thoughts. Cherilee was standing at the front of the room looking back at me expectantly. Shit, I had fallen right into the not paying attention question without even realizing it, but I knew how to combat this one. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you. Can you repeat that please?" I said as I trained my eyes onto her. "I asked if you could tell me the area of this triangle," she said as she tapped a triangle with three written on each of its sides. "Of course it's..." Damn, what was the equation again. One half the base times the height, find the height by cutting the base in half and making two triangles, that gives a right triangle which i can take the tangent of, then I have more numbers... "Were you paying attention?" she asked pleasantly, tilting her head a little. "No, no give me a second. It's... I...no I can't do that in my head," I finished after a moment of trying to factor the polynomial. Cherilee turned and wrote three beneath the triangle and drew a line down the center and out a two next to it, she continued to write the way to get to the solution as she spoke to me once more. "Perhaps next time you can take notes or write down your work," she said as she finished the problem. I couldn't see it right now but I just knew that she was smirking. I face planted on my desk, completely unsurprised that I had gone and made the problem infinitely more complex than it needed to be. The class continued on while I continued to lay my head out on the desk and sulk, Steel was still finishing up his test, or at least I was assuming that he was since I didn’t bother to look back and see. I heard some intelligible whisper to my right, and after the sound came again I turned and looked to the teal unicorn sitting next to me. Wouldn’t you know it, but there was Snips right there and I had taken a seat next to the poor fool without even noticing. Not that anyone ever notices Snips, but right now it seemed like he had taken notice of me. “Hey,” he said in a low voice, which I was pretty sure had been picked up by Cheerilee with how her ear swiveled at the noise, though she continued to write on the chalkboard. Strange actually seeing ears just swivel like that, I wondered if mine did the same thing. “You are the new kid right?” “Yes,” I whispered back, “can’t talk or I will probably get in trouble again.” “Yea, yea. Anyways my name is Snips.” Now he wasn’t even caring to keep his voice very low. “Okay, Snips, can I please go back to lying my head down on this desk here?” I asked, still trying to conceal my voice. “Why do you look so down just because you answered a question wrong? I answer questions wrong all the time and look at me,” He continued with a smile and what seemed to be pride. “Right, I’m going to go back to…” “Still not paying attention Ashen Stroke?” Cheerilee’s voice rang out from the front, drawing my attention back to the teacher. “I…” She was giving me that glare, the glare that any woman can pull off and turn you to stone with, but with her being the teacher it was all that more terrifying. “I...no I guess not,” I barely managed to finish. “Please do pay attention from now on this material is very important,” she said as she tapped a square she had drawn. “Yes ma’am,” I said as I laid my head across my hooves and watched her continue with the board. “Psst.” Came another sound to my right, ugh. “Psst.” Okay so I was supposed to continue ignoring this until it annoyed me so much that I was supposed to explode right. “Snips, seriously I want to just sit here and pay attention. If you want to talk to me let’s wait until after class okay,” I whispered at him without taking my eyes off the board. “Alright dude,” I heard in reply. I was stunned really. Had I actually used my knowledge of how this situation was supposed to go to predict something? I looked around for a moment to see if there was any impending doom, but I found everything to be just fine. With a contented smile I sat back in my desk and actually felt a little bit better. The rest of the morning before break went as you might expect it. Cheerilee taught something to all the grade school students that brought back memories of when I was learning the material for the first time myself. Basic geometry seemed to be the primary focus of this morning’s class since we didn’t even finish triangles completely. The kids, or rather fillies and colts, didn’t really live up to what my expectations had been though. I’m not entirely sure if I had been expecting something great but by the time that the third pony had dozed off on their desk I was rather stunned, though I kept my silence about all of it. I know that some people just aren’t into math, honestly I’m really not that into it myself but it just comes easier than most things so I guess I’m good at it. This was supposed to be Equestria though, the place that is good and right with all things and here we have young ponies sleeping in the middle of class. Cheerilee to her credit would rouse them periodically, the two main offenders being Snips and Snails, but they would tend to go back to their personal napping time without fail. The math session went on for another hour before the break for recess was called, and all of the children, myself included, hurried out of the classroom and to the main yard. Steel had finished his own placement test just before the class had been dismissed and Cheerilee had taken it to her desk as she had mine. I waited for him at the door as all the other ponies rushed out of the building to go play, and caught sight of Cheerilee sitting at her desk and putting the tests into a manilla envelope. Steel made it over to where I was waiting without wasting too much time, but everypony else had already left so we walked out of the room and headed for what I assumed to be the recess area. “What took you so long with that test man?” I asked my orange compatriot as we walked at our own leisurely pace. “It was kind of hard for me to figure out all the dates,” he said, shrugging his wings. Okay now that he has done it, it is cool, and I am jealous. “What do you mean figure out the dates? How can you figure out those dates at all?” I asked with an arched brow. “I have my ways,” he replied simply before pulling ahead and exiting the building into the harsh sunlight. “Sure you do,” I muttered as I followed through the simple doorway to leave the pungent smell of the school building behind in favor of the fragrance of cut grass and the dust that comes off the loose gravel they place beneath the equipment to make the ground softer. The sun was peeking through the clouds every once in awhile but there were plenty of clouds in the sky to make the day pleasantly shaded as well as a cool breeze that ran across the yard. As the air brushed past my fur I felt positively electrified as all of the individual follicles were stimulated simultaneously and I knew that I just had to run somewhere, but where? There was a slide, always a good time but a bit tiresome and there was already a line of two fillies and a colt waiting. There was a set of swings, though sitting in those looked completely awkward, and they were all taken. There was a jungle gym, I have no idea how that was even supposed to work, and apparently nopony else did since it was completely abandoned; maybe it was supposed to be a perch for pegasi. Finally there was a round-a-bout that a few of the kids were playing on and having a good time with, but all in all there didn’t actually seem like anything I would want to do. Damn, I was absolutely in the mood to burn as many calories as possible and there was no activity for me to do really, maybe they had a gym around here somewhere, or there could be so boulders for me to try and move. Without really all that much to do I started to stretch my legs out while I racked my brain to think of something fun to do. I guess any real stretches I knew kinda went out the window since my limbs were near completely different now, so as I stood in the recently shorn grass I invented new ones as I saw fit. It was as I was stretching the calves on my back hooves that a voice broke my concentration, a voice that I could recognize near anywhere. “Why hello there, wacha up ta?” asked the yellow earth pony that came into vision as I turned my head to the left. Applebloom stood there looking as congenial as I imagined she would, and actually sincerely interested in what it was that I was doing. I pushed myself all the way back up to a standing position, having been doing something that might resemble a crude push-up. “I was...stretching.” It took me a moment to actually think clearly enough to say the words. Meeting Diamond Tiara had been a pretty strange experience when it had happened, but this was positively surreal. Here was one of my favorite characters in the entire fandom just standing there and being the perfect picture of innocence. Barring all of the metaphysical questions, how was I really supposed to not just completely freak out right now. “What’re ya stretchin’ for?” I suppose trying to carry on a normal conversation might be a start. “I was going to...go for a run. Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” I replied with a nod. “Where’re ya goin ta run to? Oh an Ah’m Applebloom by the way,” she said motioning to herself. “Ashen Stroke, and I guess I wasn’t really going to run anywhere, just kind of run around you know. You ever just get that feeling like you want to run?” I looked away momentarily to see if there was a course that I could set. I supposed I could just go around the school building a few times until I was feeling a bit tired. That would probably attract less attention than just running around the playground in loops like some crazy dog running around the couch. “Can’t say that ah have. You’re new to Ponyville aren’t ya?” she asked, slightly inclining her head. “What gave it away?” “Well ya don’t exactly talk like yer from ‘round here an’ I’ve never seen ya at school before,” she said, her reasoning of course being flawless. “Yeah, me and my brother aren’t from around here so we don’t know too much about Ponyville. It’s kinda hard on him you know, he can’t even flap his wings a little bit AND he doesn’t have a cutie mark either.” I began to try and stretch any of the muscles in my right foreleg with limited success. “Oh wow, really?” Gotcha. “Maybe he could join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” she exclaimed suddenly. Honestly I wasn’t prepared for the sudden loudness and I felt my ears fold back, incredibly awkward feeling, as I watched her do a little jump. “The Cutie Mark Whatnow?” I asked after recovering a bit, still trying to play my part. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders, it’s a club me an’ my friends made to try an’ find out what our cutie marks might be. What does ‘urs mean anyways?” she asked as she looked to my own mark, and expertly changing the subject; whether that was intentioned or not I wasn’t sure. “It means I’m good at writing stuff. Now about that club, do you think my brother would like it? I know it sounds like a bunch of fun to me, but he kind of wants to hang out with pegasi his own age you know?” Applebloom looked the air on her left for a second before focusing back on me. “Oh don’ worry ‘bout that. Scootaloo is in the club and she is a pegasus so that should be fine right?” she asked with a slight questioning look on her face, maybe I had committed a faux pa by saying he wanted to hang out with pegasi. “Well yeah if there is a pegasus he can make friends with that’s great. I think this whole idea sounds like tons of fun, but you should really ask my brother.” I looked around for a moment and spotted Steel standing by himself over near the jungle gym, not all that surprising really, and pointed him out to Applebloom. “We have to get back home right after school, but I think we’re free this afternoon, and make sure you mention this uh…” “Scootaloo?” she readily supplied. “Yeah make sure you mention Scootaloo to him and I will talk with him about it later alright. Been fun meeting you Applebloom, but I gotta run,” I said as I began at a jog to the corner of the building. “Nice meeting you too Ash!” I heard he call behind me as I took off. I quickly rounded the corner of the building and came to a stop, leaning up against the wall with a huge smile plastered on my face. I had actually competently completed my first encounter with my favorite member of the CMC and I didn’t make a complete fool of myself. If I was right about who Steel’s flying teacher was going to be then it wouldn’t be too long before I met Best Pony, and from there on I just had to find a way to meet Luna. That one was going to be especially tricky. “Step one: infiltrate the CMC, Step two:..., Step three: The World!” I was feeling so on top of everything that I may have done a little giddy, but very manly, dance for a few seconds before getting myself back under control. “Alright Ash now if all the piece play their parts you will have bettered your situation in a single stroke...ha.” With a laugh I resumed my jog once more and quickly picked it up into a run as I headed for the next corner of the building. I was feeling so electrified that it made me wonder why I had never really appreciated running before, in fact for the most part of my life I had downright loathed the activity with every fiber of my being. But right there, at that time, I couldn’t imagine near anything being as exhilarating. My hooves smacked the grass that spread out from the schoolhouse and made soft plodding noises with each strike, keeping tempo with my own heart that was starting to race a little faster by the second. Faster than I could even really know I had already rounded the next corner and was heading to the back of the schoolhouse once more where most of the play equipment was. I picked up my pace once more and was soon running as fast as I thought I could possibly go. I sped past the back of the building and continued along my path, aiming to run all the way to the tree line behind the school before turning once more to run along it. I was starting to feel the strain on my legs now, a slight ache and the occasional twinge that reminded me I was actually mortal and wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. My breath started to become more heavy as I closed in on the tree line and the slight aching in my “calves” and hindquarter started to become a low burn. It was kind of odd but for some reason the pain actually felt...good. Like just by feeling it I was accomplishing something. When I hit the tree line I took as hard of a right as I could and I soon found myself running beneath the shade of the trees that reached to block the sun above me. I now found myself running straight into the wind and I pushed against it, the electricity that it had put in me before was heightened and I pushed forwards harder. The waves of force rolling against my exposed fur made me whoop as I hit the halfway mark to my next turn, I’m not sure how long I had been smiling like an idiot. The burning sensation and the weight of my breath continued to increase, and for a moment I actually began to slow down before I realized what I was doing and picked up the pace once more. I hit the edge of the recess area and turn right once more to head back towards the building, and as I did so the pain in my side seemed to vanish for a second only to start coming back more slowly. I quickly passed my starting point and started on my second lap of the school though this time I was definitely more winded. I continued on my route until I ended up back on the other side of the building panting heavily. I slowly came down from my run to a trot, and made a small circle a few times before coming to a full stop. My breathing was short and shallow and my side was now killing me, but despite it all I felt good. I looked back out at all of the playing children who were having just as much fun as I just had, others were standing around and talking to their friends. It even looked like Steel and Applebloom were still talking to each other in the distance. Feeling a little too tired to even continue standing there I sat back on my hooves and started to focus on getting my breathing under control first, trusting my heart rate to follow soon after. I sat there alone for the next few minutes, just watching the ponies run around with each other and feeling a little bit bleary after running so hard for that distance. Don’t think I have ever tried to run so hard in my whole life, so at the time I was feeling pretty damn good about it. It seemed that I had even started to zone out again since I was brought back to my sense by the sound of Cheerilee’s voice. “Alright everypony, recess is over and it’s time for class to start again so come back inside please,” she said from the back doorway of the school before she headed inside herself. Reluctantly, the ponies stopped horsing around and began to file back into the building with a lot less gusto then they had showed leaving it. I picked myself back up off of the ground as well and found that my fur was covered in grey dust and dried sweat. I took a hesitant whiff and nearly gagged, but there wasn’t exactly too much I could do about it right now so with a shrug I also headed towards the entrance to the school building. Ahead of me I saw the unmistakable pink filly that I had been saddled to live with turn and give me a look I couldn’t place, though I knew that it wasn’t anything good. Now with my running high thoroughly stripped I also reluctantly made my way into the building.