> Love Dashed Into Life
>  by Extradimensional Alien
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: New school, new people
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1

New school, new people






"Scroll! Be ready in five!" a deep thundering voice reverberated throughout one of the typical flats for military personnel and their families in Cloudsdale.

"Yes, father!" a teenager's voice sounded in response.

Thunder Barrel looked at his watch. Military man through and through, he valued punctuality a lot, and had this habit of measuring the time his son had remaining since... well, since his son learned what a schedule was.

Something scraped against the floor, and an eighteen-year-old boy showed himself out of his former room, having a rucksack behind him and a wheeled bag behind him (which he pulled with his left hand).

"I am ready!" Scroll Pen reported, giving a mock salute that would render Thunder Barrel apopleptic with rage if he were to see such a salute coming from some FNG (Freaking New Guy) who was yet to give an Oath of Service. But Scroll Top was his son, not an FNG from the boot camp, and he did not treat his own flesh and blood as such.

"Good," he said instead. "The sarge will be here soon. We write off this flat, and off to Canterlot."

"That said," Scroll adjusted his rather heavy rucksack, "why exactly did you decide to transfer me to Canterlot High? It's not as if there are no other schools in Cloudsdale. You did not have to change the flat and such..."

"Son," Thunder interrupted, "other schools would be no better. They have the same contingent you do not want to see in first place, but with even less tact and honour than Cloudsdale High. I am not putting you in one of those. Plus, I was Principal Celestia's former student, and I asked a few people before making this decision. Canterlot High really did a turn-around since their... less than fortunate days, they even managed to tie with Crystal Prep Academy at the latest Friendship Games. That said, are you sure that you don't want to..?"

"Heck no, father. I can't stand those rich snobs at CPA even more than those dumb hulks at school and you know that."

"Language, son. I know your opinion of many of your classmates, and deserved it may be in some cases, but not all of them are dumb hulks."

Yeah, like ninety-nine percent instead of one hundred, Scroll thought, but only said:

"Yes, father."

Ding-dong! the doorbell interrupted their conversation. Thunder Barrel opened the door, where a man with insignia of a sergeant was standing with a clipboard and a pen. The sergeant immediately stood straight and saluted to his superior. Scroll Pen internally rolled his eyes when he saw the man.

Honestly, do they all go through some form of thorough beating that makes their faces uniform? I swear, all sergeants have the same facial expression, he thought.

"At ease, sarge," his father's voice snapped him out of his musings. "Hand me the papers and tell me where to sign."

"Of course, sir. Please read the papers, and sign here," the sergeant showed the place for Thunder's signature, "when you are done."

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Thunder Barrel took care to carefully - but quickly - study every line of text that was on the papers. Several minutes later, he took the offered pen and signed all of them.

"Thanks," he returned the clipboard and the pen to the sergeant.

"Not at all, sir," sergeant replied. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted."

"We're gonna miss you here. You were a great example to follow, and the cadets just love your lessons."

"I know you will, but family is more important to me," Thunder barrel drew his son into a semi-hug.

"And nobody begrudges you for that decision, sir. It's just..."

"What? Speak freely."

"Some... kids are saying that had your son not... ahem... expressed his desire for transfer, you would have stayed."

"Typical underage grunts," Scroll Pen muttered, rolling his eyes. "I'm not even gone yet and they're already throwing me in dirt..."

"Son," Thunder Barrel warned him, and the 18-year-old teenager quickly silenced himself. The sergeant gave him a fleeting look that Scroll was unable to decipher, and continued:

"Yes, well, I get where Scroll's coming from - he just never fit in with anyone, and having no friends his age here won't do any good. Know that myself, used to be in a similar position. So I'm not holding it against him, or you, sir."

"Thank you, sergeant," Thunder Barrel said. "Son, your ticket with you?"

"Yes, father," Scroll showed his airplane ticket and hid it back in his poach bag.

"I will give you a lift to the airport, if you don't mind, sir," the sergeant said.

"You didn't need to, sergeant."

"My gesture of gratitude for what you have done for us... and for the guys in Griffonstone. My brother was stationed there; if not for your timely arrival, and your improbably precise bombing, well... consider that I just owe you one. More than one, actually. And I'm not that busy with paperwork today, so I'd like the chance to get out of that damn office for some time... oops, sorry, sir."

"Well, if you put it like that, I wouldn't say no. Just be careful not to get buried once you return. Lead the way, sergeant."

Three males left the flat, and Thunder Barrel locked it with the keys - keys that were no longer his or Scroll's - and gave them to the sergeant. Together, they went down and left the block of apartments that had been a home for them for several years...





The sergeant (whose name turned out to be Steel Drill - Scroll Pen had to call upon all of his internal strength not to laugh at that fact) drove them to the Cloudsdale Central Airport. He and Thunder Barrel were engaged in some small talk regarding Steel Drill's brother and the armed conflict near Griffonstone in general. Scroll Pen was simply gazing out of the window from the back seat, deep in thoughts on his past and on the uncertain future.

His time in Cloudsdale High has not been the most pleasant. He was different from many of his coevals. While many sons of the military officers that inhabited Cloudsdale were well on the way to become career soldiers or officers, he has made his choice to pursue a different path in life that was not related to the army. As such, he devoted more time to books and learning than to physical exercise (although he did that as well - his own father would not let him become a weak wimp, no matter his preferences in career, and physical prowess never hurt in self-defense). This initial rift between him and his classmates only widened when he discovered an interest in tabletop RPGs and videogames. Gradually, his interests became increasingly different from those of his contemporaries.

The rift only grew when Scroll managed to outshine his classmates in something, be it grades, videogames or even lasertag games. Scroll liked lasertag (one of the few things he actually liked as much as his coevals did), and while physically he was not as strong as many others, he used his smarts to compensate for his lesser strength. Getting shot by "that nerd", as he became known, did not endear anyone to him, unfortunately.

It did not help that the girls who attended Cloudsdale High seemed to pay more attention to the muscle mass and "manliness" than brains. While Scroll did not put his sex drive as the highest priority, privately he wished for some female companionship as well. Unfortunately, none of the girls he looked at as potential girlfriends seemed to have any common interests with him; if they had, then they were already dating someone - and if there was a Rule To Never Break, it was "Do not be a third wheel in others' love affair". His father made it crystal clear that if he ever broke that rule, Thunder Barrel would tear his scalp and then throw him into a sack of salt, and tar and feather him after that. Tempted as the young teen was to steal a girfriend from someone whom he believed to be a worthless sack of meat with more sex drive than brains, the fear of his father was greater.

All of this led him to resent his surroundings and the society around him, as well as try and put himself above everyone who surrounded him. But he realized pretty soon that this path would lead him nowhere, and arrogance would only lead to his downfall.

Which lead him to the day when he asked his father to consider the possibility of transferring him to another school.

To his surprise, Thunder Barrel did not try to pressure him to stay at Cloudsdale High. When Scroll presented his reasons for desiring a transfer, he listened very attentively, asked several questions, and then uttered an agreement. When Scroll expressed his surprise at his father's quick response, Thunder Barrel replied that he had come to the same conclusions, and that Scroll's happiness was more important than family tradition.

Still, Scroll Pen did not expect a transfer into another city. It helped that their family had a flat there, sure, but the young teenager did not expect his father to be on speaking terms with the school's principal.

Personal connections still matter, he deduced.

He and Principal Celestia (Scroll was quite amazed at the name) had a short online chat about CHS in general, as well as curriculum and some other things, after which the latter agreed to have him at her school if he wanted to. He didn't think twice before saying yes.

He continued his ruminations as they arrived at the airport, said goodbyes to Steel Drill, passed the rigorous security process and took their seats in the plane, before he decided he had enough and decided to catch a nap while they were flying.

They arrived in Canterlot several hours later. After taking their luggage, they proceeded to hire a taxi which drove them clsoer to the city outskirts. Scroll was intrigued as to where they were going, but when the taxi stopped in front of a well-kept two-storey house, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Dad?" he asked, surprised. "Is that actually ours?"

"Of course, son. You thought I would invade someone else's house?" Thunder Barrel replied with a short laugh.

"I just didn't expect this."

"Well, this was my parents' house, actually. They left it to me in their will. I used to live here before I joined the army. Come on, son, let's get our luggage once I pay."

Thunder Barrel paid the driver their fare, including a rather generous tip, and refused the driver's help in carrying the luggage. Father and son entered the house.

"Whoa," Scroll breathed out. "That's where we're gonna live now?"

"Yes, son. I'll show you your room, and then you go unpack."





On Monday...





Scroll Pen was approaching Canterlot High with a mixture of trepidation and excitement swelling in his stomach. His classes were about to start, and he could not reign in his accelerated heartbeat.

The school's building was magnificent; if it were to appear in some movie with medieval setting, it wouldn't look out of place at all; with some small adjustments, the building could actually be presented as a castle. Scroll knew, of course, that castles were built differently, but he could not resist the comparison.

He also noted that the horse statue that CHS boasted in front of entrance was busted. Only two back hooves remained of it.

Strange, he thought, walking towards the entrance. What happened?

Coming up the stairs, he pulled the door and entered. Inside, there were some people walking or chatting around, but not too many - there was still some time before the first lesson, and apparently, not many were early risers - and many leveled their curious looks at him as he entered. Scroll fidgeted with the straps of his backpack, feeling uncomfortable. One girl, who had fiery red and yellow hair and was dressed in short-sleeved leather jacket and aquamarine-green dress and dark-green stockings, approached him.

"Hi!" she told him with a smile. "Are you Scroll Pen?"

"That's me," Scroll replied, "but you have me at a disadvantage, Miss..?"

"I'm Sunset Shimmer," the girl held out a hand, and Scroll shook it, "and Principal Celestia told me to greet you and show you around before classes begin. That's kind of my duty."

"Oh, I see. Pleasure to meet you. Shall we start, then?"

"Certainly."

The fiery-haired girl showed him the essential parts of school - the lockers, the gym, the cafeteria, the library (Scroll was especially amazed by the library) and the locations of teachers' room and of Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna's offices. This took them no longer than twenty minutes, which amazed him, given that the school's building was by no means small. Sunset also told him how the classrooms were organized by floors and how they were numbered, so that he would easily find the needed classroom by its number.

In the end, they arrived at one of the classrooms where their English lesson was about to start. Scroll checked the time - there were two minutes left until the bell, plus-minus one in case the bell rang earlier or later. (He did not really expect that - in Cloudsdale High the bell was precise until a second - but who knew how it worked here?) When he entered, the classroom was almost full, and everyone gazed upon him with curiousity.

"Ah, you're here!" a voice sounded to the right of him; turning in its direction, he saw a rather young woman - no older than thirty-five, as he estimated - standing. "Welcome to Canterlot High, Scroll Pen! My name is Cheerilee, and I am your English teacher!"

"A pleasure, Miss Cheerilee," Scroll nodded his head as a sign of politeness.

"Everyone," Cheerilee addressed the class, "let me introduce you to our newest student, Scroll Pen, who recently transferred from Cloudsdale High! He moved here very recently, so let us welcome him into our school and our city."

A round of cheers, hand waves and hi's followed as the class greeted Scroll. The boy slightly blushed, not used to such attention.

"Where do I sit?" he asked Miss Cheerilee.

"In the first row, actually, in the middle," the teacher showed him his seat. Scroll smiled; he preferred such places.

"Thank you," he said, turning to move in the intended direction.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnng!!! The school bell started ringing, and he started moving - only to feel the air whoosh past him.

"Made it!" he heard a loud voice to his left; apparently, his owner was trying to be heard over the bell ringing. "I made it, right? Going in while the bell is not late, right?"

"It is borderline late, Miss Dash," Cheerilee said, in a sterner tone. "Take your seat quickly, and do try to arrive before the bell next time."

Scroll turned around to have a quick look at the person who almost rammed into him (and would have done so, had he not moved a couple of moments sooner). He immediately noted her dishevelled rainbow hair and beads of sweat on her forehead.

Trademark signs of a tardy person, he deduced. I suspect that she actually is late to classes on occasion.

Then he processed the rest of the information he got from his eyes: athletic build, short-sleeved jacket over a T-shirt and a skirt draped over tight training pants, trainers on her legs, and slightly shorter hair than what other girls had.

Apparently, prefers sports over academics, but will have to see later, he decided, turning away and taking his seat.

English lesson proved to be both relatively easy and enjoyable. Scroll never had problems with his English, be it written or spoken, but Miss Cheerilee proved herself capable of providing interesting (as he thought) tasks. Closer to the end of the lesson, she gave them a pop quiz in spelling, which elicited several audible groans (Rainbow Dash's might have been the loudest). While the words were not that common, Scroll managed to get them all right - or so he believed. He also sneaked a glance at others' papers as he collected them from his new classmates sitting behind him, noting several errors. His opinion of Rainbow Dash as an athlete not interested in academics only solidified as he saw that her paper seemed to have the biggest number of errors.

Seriously? She doesn't know how to spell "rhombus"? In this grade, they should have had geometry classes for over a year!

Another paper from someone named "Twilight Sparkle", however, proved to have no visible errors.

Well, it looks like this class is here and there in terms of academics. It appears, though, that I may have competition here in this field. This is gonna be interesting...

When the bell rang, he stayed slightly behind to take a look at his timetable as he exited the class room. He jerked a little as he felt a hand on his right shoulder, but it turned out to be Sunset Shimmer.

"Hey," she said.

"Oh, hi."

"How did you find the lesson?"

"Miss Cheerilee is a good teacher. I never had problems with English classes, but she still made it interesting. Even the pop quiz didn't throw me off."

"I'm glad. What's your next lesson?"

"Biology."

"It's in a different class from mine, think you can find your way? I can ask one of my friends to help."

"No, no, thank you, I have understood the school's layout. I'll be fine."

"OK. Meet me in the cafeteria after this lesson? I'd like to introduce you to my friends."

"Eh, sure," Scroll scratched his pen. Strange of her, to offer introduction to her friends. Then again, this school is in general friendlier than Cloudsdale High.

"Great!" Sunset beamed. "See you!" she said, walking away from him.





Canterlot High's cafeteria, as Scroll Pen learned, was pretty spacy, and offered more variety in terms of food than his old school did. He was surprised when he learned that CHS even offered vegetarian burgers. Cloudsdale High was less accepting of "choosy" students, and their vegetarian menu was minimal - only to be in accord with federal law. Even then, he could hear some officers say to his father that the "current generation was too damn picky for its own good" and that "the government should not pander to anyone" and how it "was better in their days". He privately thought that he was lucky to have been born when he was born, but he admitted that he sometimes himself could not understand the fuss about vegetarianism and veganism. From what he read, alternating between vegetarian and meat-filled diets was actually the best way to eat, and tried to follow it, but he really had trouble not eating meat. Fortunately, the cafeteria offered decently-sized meat balls.

The "cafeteria lady", however, fully conformed to the stereotype Scroll was familiar with. Granny Smith, a kind elderly woman, stood behind the counter to take note of what each student decided to take, and acted as the cashier, counting the lunch money with not fast but thorough and pedantic movements. As a bonus, she gave everyone a free fresh apple. Some students, as Scroll noticed, did not eat the fruits, but passed them around to friends or acquaintances.

He paid for his food and was searching for a free place to sit when he heard a shout:

"Scroll! Scroll, over here!"

It was Sunset Shimmer, and she was standing so that Scroll would see her. The newest CHS student nodded in acknowledgement and moved to the table where she was sitting with her friends.

"Hi, Sunset," he said, settling himself on the only free space that remained at the table.

"Hi," the fiery-haired girl replied. "Everyone, this is our newest student, Scroll Pen. Scroll, meet my friends," she waved around the table. The guy looked around at all the girls, noting that no students of his gender were present.

Then again, friendship circles do seem to be mostly gender-based along with common interest-based, he deduced.

"Hello," Scroll paid his attention to the speaker - the girl dressed in a uniform that looked out-of-place for a school like CHS, who was wearing rather thick-framed glasses. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, I transfered here recently as well. I have been here for a couple of months."

"Where did you transfer from?" the teenaged man asked.

"Crystal Prep Academy. They had some good curriculum, but... certain circumstances - which I am not ready to discuss - resulted in me transfering here. I feel much happier here, actually, even if curriculum is less... challenging."

"Yeah, Twilight's our number one egghead here," the girl with prismatic hair, whom Scroll had identified as the tardy one who arrived at English classes when the bell was ringing, ruffled Twilight's hair a bit, eliciting a small, but half-hearted (as far as he could determine) protest.

"Rainbow Dash, right?" he hazarded a guess.

"The one and only!" Rainbow jabbed a thumb at herself. "Your resident awesome girl and future star athlete!"

Holy crickets, does she have an ego, Scroll internally rolled his eyes.

"Also the gal with the biggest ego 'round here," a blonde girl with a Stetson hat on her head muttered. "Name's Applejack," she offered her hand for a handshake, which Scroll accepted, and noticed that she had quite a strength. "Ah'm just your average country girl from an apple farm."

Combined with her Stetson, her simplistic and practical attire and her accent, she has to be from a region where farms are widespread, probably Appleloosa or Ponyville, he deduced.

"A pleasure," he said, and turned to the pale-skinned girl with exquisite hairdressing, who was dressed in clothes he suspected to be not cheap.

"My name is Rarity," she said, flipping her hair. "I am an aspiring fashionista, and have an interest in fashion and clothes design."

"Charmed," Scroll replied, trying to put a haughty tome into his speech - only to realize that it probably sounded stupid, but Rarity seemed to pay no heed. He quickly analyzed his first impressions.

Attempts to imitate high-class manners and style, and from what I can gather, she even succeeds at that. Good clothes, very well-articulated speech, aura of a refined person. Yep, she can easily pass off as a high-class girl, if she puts more effort into it. Maybe she doesn't  even need to.

His analysis was suddenly interrupted when his field of vision became occupied by a face with the biggest smile he had ever seen.

"Hi!" the voice almost gave him a heart attack. "I'm Pinkie Pie, and I like making people smile and laugh, and I like to throw parties, with cakes and balloons and streamers and confetti and punch and party cannons! Do you like cake? What cake would you want for a party? What are your favourite colours? Would you like grape punch or cherry punch or cherry-chimichanga punch? Do you..."

"Brain overload!" Scroll shouted involuntarily, making the overly-energetic girl drop back. "Sorry, er, Pinkie, is it?"

"Yep!" Pinkie replied with a smile as if she had not just been shouted at from a point blank distance.

"I'm... glad to meet you, but why so many party-related questions?"

"Duh! Because you're gonna get a Welcome-to-Canterlot-High party!"

"Er, what?" the young teen boy was close to losing a jaw. "Why?"

"Because parties are fun, silly!"

"My advice," Sunset said, "don't refuse. She won't give up, and her parties are enjoyable, trust me."

"Alright..." Scroll drawled, trying to reboot his brain.

This one... defies explanations.

Suddenly, he noticed an eye looking from behind a wave of bubblegum-pink hair looking at him.

Huh? Why is her face so fully covered?

"And you are..?" he inquired, but only got a "meep" in response.

"This is Fluttershy," Sunset said. "She likes animals a lot and works at the animal shelter as a volunteer. Also, as you can see, she is very shy. Still, you'd do well not to make her truly angry. Last time that happened was not pretty."

"Er... It's good to meet you, Fluttershy," Scroll said, trying to defuse the tension. Fluttershy said nothing, but stopped hiding her face behind her hair.

Practically cripplingly shy, he deduced. But maybe she feels better in her comfort zone. I also bet she has a pet hidden in her backpack. I hope it has an air supply.

"So what's your opinion on CHS?" Sunset asked.

"I am still formulating it, but so far I like this school. I'd like to wait until the end of the day to summarize all my thoughts, though."

"You said you transfered from Cloudsdale High?"

"Yep, I did. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was kinda curious whether you had attended Cloudsdale Junior. You see, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are also from there."

"Really?" Scroll looked at his newly found compatriots. "Sorry, I really can't remember either of you from there. As far as I recall, Cloudsdale Junior had several campuses, in which of them were you?"

"Campus number two," Rainbow Dash replied, "both of us are from there."

"I was in third campus," the teen boy said. "So yeah, we never crossed paths. What made you move to Canterlot, if it's not a secret?"

"Well," Fluttershy spoke up for the first time; Scroll had to strain his hearing to distinguish her voice from background cafeteria noises, "my family wanted to move here, and Rainbow was unwilling to part with me. Her family owns a place here, so moving here was not a problem."

"So she basically followed you?"

"And I don't regret a single minute of it," Rainbow Dash took over. "Not even when Sunset was on her queen bee rampage... er, no offense," the prismatic-haired girl quickly glanced at Sunset, who gave her a wry smile.

"None taken," she said.

"Hold on a sec," Scroll interrupted, turning to the fiery-haired girl, "queen bee rampage?"

"Long story short, I used to be a stereotypical queen bee of CHS, and bullied or humiliated anyone who dared to stand against me. Nasty pranks, embarrassing someone in public or in social media, rumour spreading - you name it, I most likely did it. Until karma bit me in the behind so hard that I realized I was in the wrong."

"What happened?"

"A... former student of CHS managed to strip me of my popularity within days. Compare that to years I had spent to get to the queen bee position, just for perspective. She even managed to reunite this company - excluding Twilight, who was not here at that time," Sunset waved around the table, "and that was after I broke them apart. I got angry, and tried to hurt her... badly, but got my butt handed to me thoroughly by her and everyone here. She, however, was quite forgiving, and convinced them to give me a chance to redeem myself," the girl sat uncomfortably, looking away from Scroll.

"Well, I'll give you a credit of trust and say that I don't see a queen bee in front of me, but a good girl," the latter replied. Still gonna be on my guard for a while.

"Thanks," Sunset replied. "If honestly, part of the reason I greet the newcomers is to make a good impression before they come into contact with the local rumour mill and end up hating me."

"I don't like to base my interactions on rumour mills. While rumours do often have some basis, one needs to peel through layers of hearsay and what-not. It's tedious as Tartarus. Although I am curious how other girls came to accept you as a friend, given... ahem... what I know of your history."

"Long story short," Applejack said, "it took time, and an argument between us that Sunset was able to resolve, as well as her help with a... very important thing. Sorry, partner, ain't tellin' ya, it's kinda our very important secret," the farmer girl fidgeted nervously. Scroll internally raised an eyebrow, but said:

"It's OK, I won't pry."

"Thanks, fella."

"Break's going to end soon," Twilight spoke up, "let us finish our food before it's too late."

"Good idea," Sunset agreed, and the rest of the lunch time was spent in silence.





The next lesson (algebra) turned out to be relatively uneventful. Canterlot High's curriculum on the subject was no different from Cloudsdale's, so Scroll experienced no problem with it.

The real kicker was the last lesson of the day - Physical Education, which was to take place in open air.

Scroll Pen was a nerd - he never denied that, and carried the name loudly and proudly. However, high intelligence had a price, and as it happens in stereotypes, Scroll was not really athletic. He would not call himself weak per se, and he still engaged in some sporting activities - otherwise his father would verbally flay him alive; the retired war pilot would not stand his son to be a wimp, high intelligence or not - but when he looked at the local clique of CHS athletes, he knew there and then that him fitting in was out of the question.

While Sunset had assured him that the student groups did not isolate themselves, he was sure that him being considered good enough to be a fully-fledged member of the athletic clique was out of the question. One particular guy, who looked like he belonged in bodybuilding competitions, scared the willies out of Scroll when he approached the latter for a handshake. He introduced himself as Bulk Biceps, and defied the expectations one has from a burly-looking guy, being a rather approachable and friendly guy - although a bit loud sometimes, as Scroll learned the hard way when they finished talking.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, buddy," Bulk told him as they were coming closer to the running track.

"You think that?"

"Of course! I had my doubts too when I started here. All you need is the right spirit! Give it all you're worth, and be proud of yourself!"

"That... sounds good," Scroll mulled over the simple yet truthful words. Who knew that hulking guys had wisdom too? "Thanks, Bulk! I'm definitely gonna show my best!"

"YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH! That's the way of Canterlot Wondercolts!" Bulk declared, and went on, leaving a shell-shocked Scroll in his wake.

Damn that guy has a set of lungs on him, he thought as he recovered. He had to admit - Bulk's pep talk helped him get over his nervousity, and he decided that he would do his best. He only hoped not to embarrass himself in front of the girls. He still had "manly pride", after all.

It would be especially embarrassing, since many of the girls here are pretty attractive, he mused. Like any healthy 18-year-old teenage boy, he appreciated female beauty.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Rainbow Dash approaching him, dressed in a T-shirt and sports pants that comprised Canterlot High's sports uniform.

"Hey, Scroll," she called, "you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Duh! For the lesson, what else?"

"Ready."

"All right!" Rainbow clapped him on his right shoulder. "Hope you aren't gonna fall down by the end of the lesson, egghead!"

"Oh ye of little faith, Dash," Scroll was not about to let that one slide. "And seriously? Egghead?"

"I overheard Cheerilee and Vice-Principal Luna speaking 'bout you and how you managed to get two A's on your first day here. So yeah, totally an egghead," Rainbow put her hands on her hips, adopting a cocky smirk. "But do you have what it takes for P.E., smart guy? 'Cause Twilight here had to suffer for a while."

"Thanks for reminding me of that," the girl in question quipped sarcastically.

"No prob," the tomboyish girl apparently entered a sarcasm-blind mode. "Anyway, hope you're ready to see my awesomeness!" she waved and left him. Scroll shook his head.

"Is she always like this?" he asked Twilight.

"She does have an ego, but when it comes to sports, she knows her stuff. She is not the captain of like every CHS' sports team for nothing. Did she annoy you?"

"She sounds as if the only thing she needs from school is sports, not knowledge. I can appreciate the need for physical health, but calling smart persons eggheads and trolling like this? Not cool in my book."

"Oh, I understand how you feel... still, she is a loyal friend. Got to take the good with the bad."

"She isn't my friend," Scroll replied.

"But..."

"The fact we sat together doesn't make me her friend yet," the teenager replied. "Only an acquaintance. I do not call people "friends" on the first day I meet them. Sorry if I offended you."

"Don't be," Twilight smiled. "I'm very new to this friendship thing."

"Alright, everyone, line up!"

The students immediately hustled together to form several lines as Coach Iron Will approached them.

Scroll learned pretty quickly that Iron Will could easily approach the "Drill Sergeant" nastiness levels (having seen actual drill sergeants, he sa that level of nastiness first hand), only without colourful invectives - this was a school, not a boot camp. However, he could compensate it with some random rhyming lines which he seemed to easily conjure up on the spot. When one of the girls stumbled and fell due to an untied shoelaces, he quickly checked her for injuries and sent her away to the nurse (with Fluttershy volunteering to see that the injured student arrived safely), but added:

"Badly tying your shoelaces and bonking your head may end up on one day with you being dead!" the last three words were practicaly shouted. "Continue your exercises!"

The set of warm-up exercises was not that different from what Cloudsdale High offered. Once those were finished, the students spread around, doing other exercises like pull-ups, push-ups or crunches. Scroll did his best to carefully regulate how much effort he put into everything, trying not to overexert himself before the lesson was even half way. To his surprise, he found out that he did pretty decently - not on the top athlete level, but he had a higher than average result. When he managed to do nine pull-ups and jumped down, he heard a whistle. Turning sharply to his left, he saw Rainbow Dash leaning against another pull-up bar.

"Not bad," she said. "You actually have some strength in those arms."

"Thanks."

"Bet I can do more than you, though," the athletic girl gave him a self-assured smirk.

"Prove it," Scroll crossed his hands on his chest. Rainbow's smirk grew even wider, and she grabbed the pull-up bar. In less than a minute, she managed to do thirteen pull-ups.

"So how's that?" she grinned at him as she released the bar, putting her hands on her hips. "Pretty awesome, huh?"

Scroll felt irked that the cyan-skinned girl in front of him managed to outpace him in terms of physical fitness, but he was not the one to deny the obvious truth when he saw it.  and he opted to say:

"Credit where it is due, you certainly have strength in your arms."

"Duh!" Rainbow flexed her limbs. "I'm not the captain for nothing, y'know."

"All right!" Iron Will barked. "Today's task is twelve minutes running! Your objective is to run as many laps as possible in twelve minutes. And no groaning!" he raised his voice at several groans that came from several students. "Life gives no loan to those who moan and groan! Get onto the track! Start running once I fire the starting pistol! Stop running when I do so again!"

The students gathered on the track. By force of habit, Scroll picked a row behind the majority, closer to the left edge of the track, which had the shorter lap.

"Ready!" Iron Will had the starting pistol raised in the air, and one second later pulled the trigger.

Everyone started running. Scroll felt himself falling into his element. He was not much into sports, but he really liked running. It was a simple physical activity, if compared to, say, lifting, but whenever he ran, it felt somehow... liberating.

As the crowd became less dense, he found more place for maneuvering, and began outpacing students who were less inclined to run faster. Twelve minutes running was a familiar practice for Scroll, and he wanted to do well - better than a "C", anyway. He may not be athletic, but he would be damned if he allowed himself to get anything lower than a "B"!

I am not a perfectionist, but I still want my report card to be good, damn it! he thought. He took care to carefully pace himself, control his breath and conserve strength - burning himself before the time was out would do no good.

Four minutes later, Scroll found out to his surprise that he was slowly but surely approaching the athletes, who started running first. Meter after meter, he was slowly gaining ground on them, and even managed to outpace several before slowing down. As he did, he noticed one girl with short hair and a T-shirt with an image of tennis ball come closer to him.

"Looking good there, Scroll!" she winked at him.

"Thanks," Scroll breathed out, "and you're..?"

"Tennis Match."

"A pleasure."

"So how's Iron Will for you?"

Careful, Scroll, what if she's a snitch? the old instincts kicked in. Scroll replied:

"He's fine. I think I'll survive."

"Well, gotta give you points for optimism. Although if you keep running like that, you might even get on track team. Wanna try?"

"Not sure; truth be told, I'm more into academics than P.E."

"How come you run so well then?"

"My dad's ex-military, he wouldn't let me get rusty, so he got me into jogging, and makes sure I do exercises regularly. I like jogging and running, but not for sake of competition. Plus, I'm from Cloudsdale, remember? It's full of kids whose parents are military, I had to be at least on par with them."

"Why did you leave?"

"Long story short, my interests were so unlike those of many of my classmates that I was becoming a recluse. I'm not the most social person, granted, but I didn't have being a lone wolf on my agenda. And my dad saw it, so when I brought up this topic, he agreed, and transfered me here."

"Well, glad to have ya here."

"Heh-heh..." Scroll blushed, not expecting to hear that. "Thanks."

"I need a small break, mind if I lag behind?"

"Eh, I need a break too, actually," Scroll slowed down and started walking very fastly. This was his method of a small rest. Faster walking allowed him to replenish some strength while making progress in the task Iron Will gave the class. He walked half a lap when someone called him from behind:

"Hey, egghead, what's that stuff?" Rainbow Dash slowed down beside him as she caught up with him; apparently, she was a full lap ahead of him.

Holy grief, must she call me an egghead all the time? Scroll thought irritably.

"It's racewalking, or at least my attempts to imitate it," he replied.

"Whatcha do that for? We're running, y'know."

"It's my idea of a temporary rest. A compromise between regaining strength for further running and progressing."

"Say what?"

Holy crisps, it's not as if I spoke quantum physics! "See how others walk for some time before running again? I'm doing the same, but I'm walking faster, like racewalkers do."

"Got it. How long you gonna racewalk?"

"Almost finished a full lap."

"Heh. Well I gotta run further. Betcha I'll be ahead of you by two laps!" Rainbow Dash picked up the pace. Scroll growled internally.

OK, I know I shouldn't be nursing my wounded manly prise too much, but this is getting out of hand. If I get to wipe that smirk off her face...

Reaching the end of the lap, he picked up the pace and started running even faster than he had done before.

"Four minutes left!" Iron Will bellowed.

Crap, I'll have to push myself harder than I expected to, Scroll thought and added some speed. Turning around the U-turn, he saw Rainbow Dash approaching the U-turn ahead of him.

His eyes narrowed. He remembered a soundtrack from one of his favourite chase scenes in the movies, and started playing it around in his head as he focused on gaining ground on the rainbow-haired athlete.

His muscles started burning from the effort, and his respiratory system also felt the consequences of increased stress it was not used to, but the repeated song in his head, as well as his irritation, forced his body to move forward.

Rainbow Dash started the U-turn; as she did, Scroll already covered one half of the straight distance until it, and did not slow down.

"Three minutes left!"

Come on! Push harder! Scroll berated himself. Don't let this jockette get more bragging rights!

His breathing became heavier, and muscles were protesting the abuse he heaped on them, but he was slowly approaching her. Meter after meter, her figure was becoming closer and closer...

"Hey pardner," Applejack's voice broke his concentration, "what's got into ya?"

Blast, I didn't even notice her! So much for being aware of surroundings!

"Eh, just wanna wipe the smirk off her face," Scroll jerked a thumb at Rainbow. "She said she wanted to be two laps ahead of me."

"Ah, she riled you up," the farmer girl said. "Yeah, she does that. Ah wouldn't mind a chance to wipe that smirk of hers, too. Y'think ya have the strength to catch up to her?" she gave him a challenging smile.

"The question is: do you?" Scroll responded with a smile of his own, and increased his speed.

"Ah like the way ya think, pardner!" Applejack picked up the pace. Both of them pushed their bodies to the limits and outpaced one another. When Scroll would take the lead, Applejack would soon come ahead, but soon Scroll would push himself even further and outpace her.

The teenaged boy had to admit that Applejack was no slouch when it came to P.E. She had strong legs and an athletic build like Rainbow, and could easily give him the run for his money if she wanted to. He understood that she did not try to go full ahead and instead teased his ego with small advantage over him so that he would try harder.

"Two minutes left!"

"C'mon," Applejack breathed out, "work those legs, pardner!"

"I'm working!" Scroll had trouble articulating his words. His body was feeling the drain of energy; soon he would collapse.

Not before I catch up to that rainbow-haired jockette! his brain screamed, and he somehow managed to increase his speed slightly. Applejack followed suit.

Slowly, they caught up to Rainbow. Applejack overtook her from her right side while Scroll took the left one.

"Hey RD," the blonde called her with a smirk, "feelin' tired?"

"Ha!" Rainbow spoke in a raspy voice. "I can do it all day, AJ, you know that!"

Despite her bravado, Rainbow was feeling tiredness creep in, and Scroll could see that clearly. The athlete's T-shirt was sweaty, and tension was visible in her posture. The teenager slowly picked up the pace, while the cyan-skinned girl was distracted by Applejack.

"Really?" Applejack said. "Ya look as if you're ready to drop dead!"

"One minute left!"

"We'll see who's gonna drop dead in one minute, AJ, wait 'till... what the heck?!" Rainbow exclaimed as she turned her head forward - and saw Scroll Pen ahead.

When he heard her scream, he turned over his right shoulder and smirked, then re-focused on the track and ran further.

"How did he..?"

"Well, well, the fella looks mighty focused," Applejack said. "Think a certain friend o' mine is ta blame. Somethin' 'bout two laps ahead?"

"Why you..!" Rainbow Dash picked the pace, intending to overtake the new kid.

"Hey, wait for me!" Applejack shouted.

Scroll noticed that the prismatic-haired girl was gaining ground on him, and pushed himself against the pain in his legs and even abdominal muscles. Despite his efforts, Rainbow was getting closer.

Damn it! She's getting to me and she looks pissed! What to do... Oh! Imagine that if she gets you... she'll do something bad to you. Like, really bad... oh yeah, she'll castrate you! Run for your life!

He mentally facepalmed at what image he just conjured up, but the feeling of fear that every man has of losing his "pride" solidified well enough to push himself forward.

"Thirty seconds left!"

"Come on," Scroll growled at himself, "come on!.."

Despite all his efforts, Rainbow was getting closer and closer...

"Twenty seconds left!"

Scroll attempted to motivate himself even further by conjuring images of horrific vengeance Rainbow would exact on him if she caught him. The images got more and more gory to the point of ridiculousness, but all that he got from that was keeping the asme distance from the athletic girl for several seconds.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!" Iron Will shouted.

Scroll, Applejack and Rainbow pushed themselves to their limits. Scroll felt that his muscles were about to split apart, and he didn't need to look back to know that the cyan-skinned girl was closing on him now...

"Seven! Six! Five! Four!"

Scroll noticed that Rainbow's shadow moved to the side - she was overtaking him! In a desperate attempt to regain his advantage, he made a tremendous effort and worked his legs beyond extremes, and re-positioned himself slightly to the right, but Rainbow foresaw that and moved further to the right as well.

"Three! Two! One!"

Rainbow was relentless in her attempts to outpace him. Inch by inch, she was getting to him...

BANG! Iron Will's starting pistol rang across the air. Immediately, Scroll and every other student slowed down and stopped. The teen looked frantically behind him.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were behind him. The pistol's shot caught them before they managed to get ahead of him.

Well, technically, they got a lap on me, but not the whole lap, he noticed with satisfaction. He put his hands on his knees, bending forward from tiredness.

"So," he looked at Rainbow, victorious smirk on his face, "two laps ahead of me? You didn't even get one full lap ahead, Dash."

The rainbow-haired athlete breathed heavily, looking at him with annoyance.

"I'm still ahead of you," she reminded him.

"Yeah," Scroll managed to straighten himself, despite the burning in his abdomen, "but not by a full lap, and certainly not two, like you boasted."

"Fine. Enjoy your victory, egghead," she said as Iron will approached them and wrote in his notebook how many laps they ran. When he finished, he dismissed the class, and everyone rushed into shower.





"So, son," Thunder Barrell addressed Scroll Pen as he entered the house, "how's your first day at Canterlot High?"

"Splendid, Dad," Scroll smiled. "I already like it better here than back in Cloudsdale."

"Why do you sound so tired?"

"P.E., Dad. Had to work hard to ensure I bring no shame on our family," the teen replied.

"Was the end result worth it?"

Scroll thought back to Rainbow Dash's expression when the starting pistol rang and she realized she failed to deliver on her boast. The memory invoked a feeling of... accomplishment, which slightly soothed his aching body.

"It was, Dad. It was."
> Chapter 2: Adjusting and partying
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2

Adjusting and partying






Scroll Pen winced slightly as he moved around the house. His second day at Canterlot High was about to start soon, and his muscles were feeling the aftermath of the extreme strain he put them under yesterday.

I don't think I can handle a rematch, if Rainbow Dash demands one. Damn it.

Opening the balcony and letting the fresh morning air in, he began doing stretches while boiling the kettle. When he finished, the kettle turned off, allowing him to pour two cups of strong black tea - for himself and his father. Then he put some food on two plates and put one in the microwave oven. While the food was warming up, he did his exercises, wincing at each movement that involved his muscles.

"Good morning, son," Thunder Barrel greeted him, and smiled at his facial expression. "Feeling the burn?"

"Ha ha, father," Scroll smiled wryly. "It's gonna take more than that to stop me from morning exercises. Your food is warming up, and the cups are on the table."

"Thanks, Scroll," the older man took his cup and set it on the dinner table. When the microwave dinged, he swapped the plates and took his own, sitting down. Meanwhile, Scroll finished his morning exercises and waited until his food was ready.

As father and son were eating, a conversation started between them.

"So, son," Thunder Barrel said, "what exactly happened yesterday at your P.E. class that has you wincing today?"

Scroll explained shortly to his father about Rainbow Dash, her antics and how she provoked his manly pride to rise and how he struggled not to let her have a reason to be smug.

"So you didn't want to be beat by a girl?" the older man asked.

"Father, she technically already beat me. I merely struggled not to let her have the right to brag that she beat the nerd," he pointed at himself, "by two laps. And I succeeded, but at a cost. If she wants a rematch today, I'm unlikely to be able to do this feat again."

"So this Rainbow Dash has an ego, huh?"

"She does. And, much as I hate to admit it, she has a reason to - she is literally the captain of every CHS sports team. She knows her stuff when it comes to sports. Although this has a cost - apparently, her grades aren't the best around."

"I have told you not to estimate your coevals' intelligence merely on grades, son," Thunder Barrel's voice had a tone of disapproval.

"I know that, father, but she misspelled "rhombos" when Miss Cheerilee gave us a pop quiz!" Scroll raised his tone as incredulity seeped into it. "How is it possible to misspell "rhombos" when they have had geometry for more than one year?"

"Does she suffer from dyslexia?"

"She doesn't. Although if she caught one too many balls with her head..."

"Son," Thinder's tone had dangerous notes within it, "I know how you feel. But you have not known her for too long. Don't be haste in making assumptions."

"Yes, father," Scroll drank the rest of his tea. "I'm going, the lessons start soon. Have a good day."

"You too, Scroll. Love you, son."

"Love you too, Dad."





"Hi, Scroll," Sunset greeted Scroll Pen as he was approaching the school.

"Oh, hi, Sunset," he replied.

"How're you feeling? I saw you racing against Rainbow and Applejack yesterday."

"Sore, but I'll survive. When next P.E. arrives, I'll be good - or I hope so, at least. And technically, it wasn't racing. I merely did not want Rainbow to have too much of an advantage over me."

"How much was too much?"

"Two full laps ahead of me. I brought it down to a little less than one lap... a very little less, though."

"Well, that's still an achievement. No offense, but you don't look very athletic."

"None taken, I am a nerd. Nerds aren't usually athletic. I wouldn't even be as good as I am now if my father, who is military, had not drilled it into my head to do regular exercises, nerd or not."

"Kudos to your father, then."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Scroll!" Rainbow's voice interrupted their conversation. Turning to the source, Scroll intoned.

"Good morning to you too, Rainbow Dash." Gosh, she's pissed. Who crapped into her coffee this morning? he thought, noticing her scowled expression. Fluttershy and Applejack were tailing behind her, slightly worried.

"What is this talk I'm hearing about you beating me, Scroll?!" the prismatic-haired girl jabbed her finger into his chest.

"I beg your pardon?" Scroll raised an eyebrow.

"Goldurn it, Rainbow, could ya just wait a sec?!" Applejack shouted. Turning to Scroll, she said, "Ah'm sorry, Scroll, she musta heard 'bout the video..."

"Wait a second! What video?" Scroll interrupted.

"On MyStable. Do you have an account there?"

"I do, but I'm not really active on social networks..." Scroll took out his PonyDroid phone and started tapping at it, accessing his MyStable app. "Wow, I've got a lot of friend requests... Where's that video you mentioned, Applejack?"

"Just go to mah page or any of ours, it's on our feed."

"OK..."

Scroll went on Applejack's page, and found a video titled "New kid beat Rainbow Dash!", posted by someone called "Trixie". When he tapped "Play", he saw the footage of his "stand-off" with Rainbow Dash when Iron Will fired his starting pistol. The footage was apparently filmed on a mobile phone camera, and whoever did it was standing to the side of the track.

How did I not notice being filmed? Scroll thought, noticing that Rainbow was looking at his mobile phone's screen as well. When the video finished, he scrolled down to the comments section.



Trixie commented 28 minutes ago:

Ha, Rainbow got pwned!



Rainbow Dash replied to Trixie 23 minutes ago:

That didn't happen. I beat him by a lap.



Trixie replied to Rainbow Dash 20 minutes ago:

This video doesn't show that happening...



Indigo Zap replied to Rainbow Dash 17 minutes ago:

Hey Dash, whassup?! You losing your touch?



Rainbow Dash replied to Indigo Zap 14 minutes ago:

I'm not, and I said - I beat the new kid by a lap!



Applejack replied to Trixie and Indigo Zap 10 minutes ago:

It's true. I was there.



Trixie replied to Applejack 8 minutes ago:

Sure you were :D



Applejack replied to Trixie 3 minutes ago:

Are you saying I'm lying?! >:(



"Oh, piss," Scroll cussed. "That's what the fuss is about?"

"You know that what Trixie claims is not true!" Rainbow got in his face.

"I know," the teen boy put extra stress on the word "know", "and I'm gonna tell the truth to people."

He tapped at his phone, typing:



Scroll Pen replied to Trixie and Indigo Zap just now:

What Rainbow Dash and Applejack are saying is true. Rainbow was almost a full lap ahead of me when the starting pistol fired. She had claimed she would be two full laps ahead of me, and I decided to prevent that. Which resulted in what Trixie just posted.

Speaking of which, @Trixie, don't mislead people and rename the video.



He tapped the "Post" button. Everyone looked at their own phones as notifications popped up about the comment Scroll just posted.

"Thanks," Rainbow said, and went to move past Scroll as he raised a hand, stopping her.

"You could have been more polite, you know," he addressed the rainbow-haired girl quietly, but with a tone of anger. "I am not pleased that this Trixie person twisted the truth, and I get where you're coming from, but you biting my head off over this was like I just kicked your puppy was unwarranted and just outright rude."

With that said, he turned away and left for his class.





When Scroll left his geography class, he looked at his phone to see that he got a private message in MyStable.

Strange. Who is this? he thought. When he opened the MyStable app, he read:



Rainbow Dash wrote 21 minutes ago:

Hey Scroll, sorry I snapped at you. i thought you wanted to brag that you beat me and didn't refute Trixie coz of that.



Wow, didn't see that one coming. Also, damn that language bastardization! Scroll thought as he tapped back:



You wrote just now:

Hello. Apology accepted. As I said, I am not very active on social networks, so in cases like this, please don't assume that if I didn't say something, then the opposite is true. Just for future reference.



He sent the message and got a reply a mere minute later:



Rainbow Dash wrote just now:

k thx :)



"Urgh. Stupid leet-speak, or whatever it is called nowadays," Scroll grumbled.

"Hey, fella," he heard Applejack's voice to the right of him.

"Oh, hi, Applejack. Where're you going to? Geometry?"

"Eeyup. Ah hope we don't get too difficult tasks. Ah'm not that strong in mathematics."

"Not my strongest suit either, especially stereometry."

"Say, did Rainbow apologize to ya?"

"She did. Wait a sec," Scroll studied Applejack's face carefully, "did you... influence her decision somehow?"

"What? No. Nah. Totally didn't," the blonde girl replied, but her body language positively screamed that she was not being truthful.

"Really? I don't believe it."

"Alright, fine, ya caught me," Applejack's Southern drawl became more pronounced. "Yeah, Ah kinda gave 'er a small piece of mah mind."

"You didn't have to... but thanks."

"No prob, pardner. Anything for a friend."

"About that... you and your group started calling me a friend pretty quickly."

"Eeyup, and?"

"Well, I... kinda am not used to calling others friends right off the bat. I told Twilight the same yesterday."

"Yup, Ah know that, Twilight told us."

"She did?" Scroll was surprised.

"Ya didn't ask her to keep that a secret."

"Walked right into that one..." the teen boy muttered, and Applejack continued:

"Ah get where you're comin' from, pardner. You didn't have good friends to rely on, right?"

"Guilty as charged."

"Well, Ah'm not askin' ya to just start trustin' us with your secrets or life or such. That's the level of friendship ya don't start with. But just hangin' out and havin' fun? That's where ya can start, an' then look an' see if that person can be fully trusted or ya'll just leave them in your "fun circle", so to say."

"Hmmm... I'm not used to calling those in, how you put it, "fun circle", as friends... but..." Scroll pondered, falling into silence.

Can I actually do it? Call Applejack and Sunset and Twilight and all other girls friends, just up and like that? I'm not sure I can. I don't even know all of them that well, and Rainbow has already shown some bad habits...

"But..?" Applejack's voice shook him out.

"Let me get to know all of you better first, OK? I need some time."

"Fair enough. Pinkie Pie is plannin' to host a party for ya soon, so you'll have the chance to chat with us soon. That said, we sent friend requests to ya on MyStable..."

"Oh, right, sorry," Scroll took out his phone and opened the MyStable app, accepting friend requests from Applejack and other CHS students.

"Come on, the bell's gonna ring soon..."





After the class, Scroll Pen went for the cafeteria where Sunset Shimmer waved him over to their table again. The teenager was initially hesitant to go there, but then pondered a little.

Eh, what's the harm? They are nice - mostly - and I have not talked much to girls back in Cloudsdale. Gotta rectify this.

As he approached, a more... lecherous side of him surfaced in his mind.

And it doesn't hurt that they are quite good-looking, either, it added.

Scroll chastised himself for letting his brain run amok. Seriously, just because I have not been lucky with the opposite sex for several years does not mean I should start gaping at every girl here.

"Hello, everyone," he greeted the girls, sitting down near the edge of the table. Pinkie Pie, who was to his immediate right this time, immediately drew him into a hug.

"Hi, Scroll!" she exclaimed happily. A bit louder and my ear drums would be in trouble, the boy mused.

"Glad to see you too, Pinkie," he breathed out as the over-energetic girl released him.

"I just remembered I never got to know what you wanted from your welcome party!" Pinkie spoke the words at the speed that was close to turning her words into incomprehensible gibberish for Scroll.

"You really want to throw me a party, Pinkie? Do you do this for every newcomer?"

"Yep-yep! Sci-Twi here also had a party!" Pinkie drew Twilight Sparkle into a hug this time.

"Sci-Twi?"

"Just a small nickname from Pinkie," Twilight smiled, "because... well, I'm reasonably good at science. And she thought it sounded well."

"So how was the party?"

"A bit overwhelming, but it went fine. Just be careful with the punch."

"Why? Did someone spike your punch?"

"No," Rarity interrupted, "it's just that Pinkie's alligator managed to crawl into one of the bowls for it."

"Alligator?!" Scroll had trouble not slipping into the falcet from shock.

"Yep!" Pinkie stuck a hand inside her hair of all things, and after some rustling, she indeed took out an alligator and held it by the tail in front of his face. "Scroll, meet Gummy!"

"HOLY FREAKING PONIES!" the teenager slid closer to the left and nearly fell down, but managed to hold himself onto the table. Rainbow erupted into laughter, Applejack chuckled, and Sunset covered her mouth, but mirth in her eyes was plain. Pinkie kept smiling as if taking an alligator out of one's hair was a common occurrence. Meanwhile, Scroll was struggling to reduce his heartbeat and return heavy breathing under control.

"OK, I didn't see that one coming," he slid back into his seat, looking warily at Gummy. As the latter opened his mouth, Scroll noticed that the exotic pet had no teeth.

"Pinkie, did you pull out his teeth?"

"No, silly, it was done before I got him! He's totally safe, see?"

"OK, OK, I see that. And... did I hallucinate or did you pull Gummy out of your hair?"

"Don't question that," Sunset said. "Pinkie is... well, unique. She manages to defy reality somehow all the time. Trust me, not pondering too much on that will spare you the headache."

"OK..." Scroll muttered, and shook his head. "OK, Pinkie, what did you want to know? One question at a time, please."

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie was bouncing in her seat. "Do you like cake?"

"Er, so-and-so. I prefer chocolate cake."

"Would you like to try my punch?"

"As long as Gummy doesn't swim in it."

"Strawberry, cherry, grape, blueberry punch?"

"Grape punch."

"Wanna play games?"

"What kind of games?"

"Party games, like, "pin the tail on the pony", or "truth or dare", or "spin the bottle"..."

"OK, I got it. Sure, go ahead."

"Also, do you play videogames?"

"I sure do!" Scroll beamed. Pinkie emitted a "squee" sound and went on:

"What kind of music would you like?"

"Eh, just look at the track list on my MyStable account, you'll get the general idea."

"Okie-dokie, I think that's all I need!" Pinkie said. "Are you free this Saturday?"

"Yeah. Are you planning to throw the party on Saturday?"

"Yepperoni! Two p.m. at my house! Here's the address," Pinkie dug a paper out of her hair with her address written on it.

"Your house?" Scroll asked. "Won't your parents mind?"

"Nah, they won't be there."

"Noted. Who else will be there?"

"Just you, me and my friends! I... kinda thought you wouldn't want that many people to be there."

"Hmmm, OK, thank you for consideration, Pinkie."

This has to be a dream, Scroll discreetly pinched himself. His nerves replied with a small flare of pain. Nope, not dreaming.

"So, are you coming?" the pink-haired girl looked at him with a hopeful expression. "Pleeeease?"

Scroll noticed that other girls also looked as if they hoped he would answer positively. He felt nervousity rearing its head.

How did this happen to me? I am a social nobody and a nerd, yet my second day here and I am invited to a party with not one or two, but eight girls? That's... unbelievable, he thought. I can't be that lucky. What if this is a prank? But... I can't be a recluse forever. It's why I left Cloudsdale High in first place... oh screw it, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Yes, I'm coming," he said. Pinkie grinned with a "squee" sound and hugged him again. The teen boy flushed a bit, not used to generous displays of affection, but decided he did not mind.

It's not like she wanted to dig a knife into my back when I could not see it, he thought, returning to his food.





The rest of the day went on without a hitch, and Scroll Pen returned home with a good mood. His father was in the living room, reading a newspaper.

"I'm home," the teenager declared.

"Oh, hello, son," Thunder Barrel said. "How was your day?"

"Good. You won't believe what happened - I got invited to a party!"

"More like you accepted an invitation rather than received one," the elder man replied.

"Father, you know those "parties" I never went to were merely club goings and an excuse to get drunk. I hate that, did you forget?"

"I didn't. And this party is different?"

"Yes. One girl, Pinkie Pie, who is a head of the school's party planning committee, wants to throw me a welcome party at her house."

"Her house? I thought you weren't in favour of so-called "private parties" either. Or is she that attractive?"

"What?" Scroll's brain struggled to process what his father was referring to, and when it did, the boy sputtered in outrage, "Father! Of course it isn't a "private party"! Her group of friends will be there too!"

"And these friends are all girls as well?"

"Yes... oh no, father, don't you say it..."

"I see you decided to work your carefully preserved charm on more than one girl, I see."

"FATHER!"

"Alright, son, forgive your old man for teasing. But seriously, that's some big luck."

"We'll see. The party's on Saturday, two p.m."

"Alright, son, you're free to go. Just be home by ten, or warn me if this turns into a sleep-over."

"Thanks, Dad," Scroll smiled.

"I did not have you transfered here to stifle your social life. Go out and have fun while you're young."





The rest of the week went pleasantly well for Scroll. He made some new acquaintances, namely Micro Chips, Featherweight, Flash Sentry, Sandalwood, Lyra and Sweetie Drops.

On Wednesday, he fully expected Rainbow Dash to challenge him to do some feat that was impossible for him, and since his muscles were still aching, he awaited the next P.E. lesson with trepidation. However, when the time came, the prismatic-haired athlete did not do as he expected. Instead, both of them did the exercises at their usual pace.

The task of the day was a one hundred meters run. Students went by groups of six, and had to run as fast as possible - they were graded depending on time. The groups were selected very randomly - more athletic persons were often mixed with those who were not as physically strong. By some stroke of luck - good or bad, he could not tell, - he found himself in a group with Twilight, Bulk Biceps, Flash Sentry, some athletic guy he did not know and Rainbow Dash. Even more ironic was the fact that he and the rainbow-haired athlete had neighbouring lanes.

Figures Lady Luck would flip me off, Scroll thought. OK, brace yourself. Given how athletic she is, she would definitely outpace you, especially if she has a knack for running short distances very quickly. Just run as fast as you can, Scroll, and don't distract yourself.

At Iron Will's command, they assumed a low starting position. Scroll tensed his muscles like a coiled spring, ready to burst forward.

Blam!

At the sound of the starting pistol, everyone rushed forward at their top speed. As predicted, Rainbow Dash and another athletic guy went forward. Bulk Biceps was not moving his legs very quickly, but his steps were quite big, so he moved relatively quickly. He, Flash Sentry and Scroll turned out to be relatively equal in terms of speed, while Twilight remained an outsider.

Scroll pushed himself despite the flares of pain in his muscles, determined to at least stay in line with Bulk and Flash. He gazed strictly forward, focusing his sight only on the finish line in front of him, keeping everything else in his peripheral vision.

Very soon, he crossed the finish line, and gradually slowed down. Taking half a minute to restore his breath, he approached Coach Iron Will to check his result. As it turned out, he managed to earn a solid "B", which made him glad. He did not like "C" grades or lower.

"Didn't see that one coming," he heard Rainbow Dash mutter beside him.

"Pardon?" he asked her?

"Just thinking out loud, never mind," she replied and left hastily for the girls' lockers room. Scroll shrugged his shoulders and moved along.





Later that day, Scroll went to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite, as the P.E. lessons made him pretty hungry. Since Sunset and her friends were not there and he did not want to sit alone, he went to the table where Flash, Sandalwood and Micro Chips were sitting.

"Mind if I join?" he asked.

"No, sit down," Flash replied.

"Thanks. How's it going?"

"Pretty well," Flash replied. "What about you?"

"Well enough. So far, my time at CHS has been good."

"Glad to hear," Micro Chips said, and checked something on his mobile phone. Scroll looked at the device.

"Hey, Chips, is that a PonyDroid Jockey model?"

"It is."

"Stock or custom build?"

"Custom, Mighty Hoof 3.7.658, if that's saying something."

"It does, the developers of that one have a good reputation, and their builds do not crash the phone like some others. I prefer WarHorse 4.5.120 build myself, and my PonyDroid is a Royal Stud model."

"Royal Stud?" Flash commented. "Isn't that the line with hardened shock-absorbing case and reinforced screen?"

"Yep. Anyway, what were you talking about when I came around, provided it's not your secret?"

"Ah," Flash scratched his head, "I dunno..."

"Dude," Sandalwood said, "relax, he won't laugh."

"Won't laugh at what?" Scroll inquired.

"Well, the three of us play Dungeons & Dragons..."

"Dungeons & Dragons?" Scroll's face brightened. "Awesome! I didn't think anyone at CHS played any tabletop RPGs!"

"You like tabletop RPGs?" Micro Chips asked.

"Sure do! Hey guys, do you have an active campaign going on?"

"Yeah, about that," Flash said, "my elder brother, who was the master, left the city, so we can't start a new adventure. We were thinking on what to do, 'cause it's not fun with just three of us. We thought that either one of us had to be the DM and play at the same time or others would need to control two characters at once."

"I have DM'd on several occasions. Perhaps I could help?"

"Being a DM? Well, I don't see a problem, since none of us are that experienced in the game anyway. Guys?"

Neither Sandalwood nor Micro Chips objected.

"Great," Scroll said, "did you have an adventure you wanted to play?"

"Not really, we wanted to deal with DM's absence first."

"OK, can you drop me the scans of your character lists and the backstories in MyStable? I have a whole folder of PDFs with adventures, and if I know your characters, I can pick up one. And if you played some official published adventures, drop their names as well."

"OK, will do. Thanks, dude," Flash smiled.

"No problem, always happy to have some R&R with D&D."





Flash, Sandalwoods and Micro Chips sent all the materials to Scroll that very evening, so the latter was able to analyze their group's situation pretty quickly. He also asked the other boys about their previous Dungeon Master's playing style, finding out that it was more casual than serious. The previous DM focused on everyone enjoying themselves, sometimes sacrificing the rules or monster's stats and abilities to keep the party alive.

While Scroll was in agreement that the players should have fun, he also found issues with several instances where the DM bent the rules too much to bail the boys' characters out of situations that arised solely because of the party's recklessness, or because the characters did not use their abilities in time. He wrote in the chat on MyStable created for the future D&D session:



You wrote:

While I am not playing the "tyrannical unforgiving DM", especially since you haven't been playing for long, you still need to remember the most important rules from Player's Handbook and your characters' talents. Make talent cards if it'll make it easier for you. Constantly bailing PC's out of trouble of their own doing by bending the rules is not really good for the campaign.



Flash Sentry wrote:

OK, will remember that.



Micro Chips wrote:

Will do.



Sandalwood wrote:

OK dude



Scroll smiled. At least they aren't throwing a hissy fit, he thought and typed his response. The screen displayed:



You wrote:

Thanks for understanding, guys. When do you want to gather?



Flash Sentry wrote:

We're free this Sunday. 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Good?



You wrote:

OK, see ya :)



Wow, I can't believe my luck, Scroll thought. Not even a week and I found a group of D&D fans!





The rest of the week went along smoothly, with nothing of great importance, and soon, Saturday came - and the time for Pinkie Pie's party.

Scroll Pen was dressed casually in a brightly-coloured fleece and jeans, with a small bag slung over his shoulder. Having learned Pinkie's address, he made sure to learn the way beforehand, but he still checked his mobile phone on occasion, GPS positioning turned on.

Finally, he found himself in front of Pinkie's house, with three minutes to spare. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled.

OK, Scroll, don't mess up, he thought, pushing the ring button.

"Coming!" Pinkie's voice could be easily heard from the inside. The door opened, revealing the pink-haired girl. On seeing Scroll, she immediately "squeed" and enveloped him in a strong hug.

"You came! You came!" she exclaimed happily. "Oh I'm so glad you came!"

"Pinkie... can't... breathe..." Scroll breathed out. Please release me, please release me, I don't think my ribcage or any ribcage is designed to withstand such pressure...

His prayer was answered as Pinkie released him and he breathed heavily. The party girl skipped up and down in excitement.

"Come on in, come on in!" she beckoned the teen boy to enter, and Scroll followed her.

"SURPRISE!!!" the girls' shouting almost scared him - almost. The sudden shot-like blast from... something... that made streamers and confetti fly around did make him jump, however. Lokoing to the left, he saw something resembling...

"A canon?" he asked incredulously.

"A party cannon!" Pinkie corrected him.

"And... what is it for?"

"For parties, of course! Look!" Fast as a lightning, Pinkie dashed to the other side where another canon was located, and pulled a rope. Another blast, and more streamers and confetti flew into the air.

"That's... innovative," he remarked. "How does it work?"

"No idea," Twilight replied, approaching him. "I tried to disassemble one, and it shot streamers into my face even though I was not staring down the barrel."

"Blergh, you two eggheads are gonna party or do science?" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive, you know," Scroll retorted.

Silence reigned as the teen boy and the athletic girl stared down each other. Scroll felt that the atmosphere was changing, and not for the best.

I hate to concede to that tomboy, but the needs of the many outweigh my annoyance at her dismissal of science.

"...but I'm willing to shove my curiousity away for a while. So let's party!"

"Alright!" Pinkie turned on the stereo system, and music filled the room. To Scroll's relief, it was not the blaringly loud club music, but a rather pleasant melody that was more fitting as background music. He looked around and saw another girl with electric blue hair and purple shades.

"This is Vinyl Scratch, she is our school's DJ," Pinkie explained to him. "I'm sorry I forgot to warn you, but she reaaaaallllly knows good music, and I kinda needed her help..."

"Hey, I don't mind," Scroll interrupted, and Pinkie smiled.

"OK, now come on, time to taste the cake!"

Everyone proceeded into the kitchen, where indeed a cake was prepared and cut into slices, and glasses full of grape punch. To Scroll's surprise, it did not look like a stock cake from a shop, and Pinkie explained to him that she worked part time at Sweet Shoppe as a baker.

"Figures," Scroll smiled, "a good party girl baking party cakes is double the party. You should make parties for a living, Pinkie."

"Awww, you're so sweet," Pinkie gave him a smile with a half-lidded look that made him flustered.

"Let's dig in," Applejack offered, and everyone sat down, sampling the cake baked for the occasion.

Scroll found himself really enjoying the treat. He had not tasted good cake for a long time. He did not like stock cakes from supermarkets, and custom-ordered cakes from bakeries cost a lot, and his father was not the type to throw dollars on such things, finding it wasteful. His mother could bake well, and they all loved her cakes... but his Mom, Monsoon Breeze, was still on her tour of duty, and she and Thunder Barrel... did not part on best of terms.

Damn it, Mom, why did you have to spite father?

"Hey, whassup?" Rainbow's voice interrupted his musings. Shaking his head, Scroll replied:

"I haven't tasted a cake this heavenly tasty in a long time. Made me go to la-la land for a moment," he chuckled nervously.

"First time Ah saw someone go to la-la land 'cause of cake," Applejack snickered good-naturedly.

"Hey, you must have eaten dozens of Pinkie's cakes by now, but it's my first one," Scroll remarked with a humorous smile, prompting laughter from the girls.

"Touche," Rarity said, "although I deny the bit about having eaten dozens of cakes. I do have a figure to maintain."

Should have predicted that response, considering that she dresses in a way that accentuates her looks, Scroll thought, but his line of thought got interrupted when Rainbow and Applejack called BS on Rarity's claim, and after a small exchange of banters and ribbing, forced her to admit that she has eaten many Pinkie's cakes by now. The girls chuckled at her expense (Scroll noticed that even Fluttershy was hiding her mouth behind her hand, trying to hide her mirth in vain), and Rarity joined the laugh after several seconds of pouting.

Interesting, the teenaged boy thought, it is obvious they are teasing Rarity and having fun at her expense, but she does not seem to be too offended. Apparently, they are close enough that she knows they have no malice, or at least believes that.

"So, Scroll," Twilight attempted to start up a conversation, "how did you enjoy your first week at CHS?"

"So far, I like it more here than back at Cloudsdale. It's a good relief from all the jocks I had had to endure there."

"What sort of problems did you have with jocks?" Rainbow asked. "I remember having to protect Fluttershy from some bullies. Cloudsdale guys usually do not like what they perceive as weakness."

"Mostly it was them dismissing me as "that nerd" and me dismissing them as "dumb as rocks", and silent antagonism. Before Cloudsdale High, I had some fights with those that tried to bully me; when it was high school, most of them left me alone, except several, but even they left me alone."

"How did that occur?"

"Well, when "that nerd" suddenly snaps and tries to pummel you with a look that promises death, the usual reaction was "leave him alone, who knows if he'll kill you" or that. I am not usually aggressive, so I tended to dismiss their taunting and pranks as them being stupid. But if they crossed the line or tried to attack first, I had no mercy. They decided I was not worth the time."

"These jocks understand only knuckle sandwiches," the prismatic-haired tomboy said. "Should've socked them from the start."

"In retrospect, maybe, but I heavily dislike using violence as a first resort."

"Were there many bullies you had to fight with?"

"Not that much. Only several of them went to Cloudsdale High. However, as years went on, I noticed I was becoming more and more of a lone wolf. I simply did not connect with my classmates."

"Oh, that's not good," Fluttershy spoke up. "I know that feeling. I did not really connect with my coevals either."

"How come, Fluttershy? You're such a sweet girl, I'd think you wouldn't have trouble in that department."

Fluttershy meeped and blushed at the word "sweet", but continued:

"Well, I love animals a lot, but not many people love them like I do. Kids used to tease me as "animal freak". That, and... I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I'm... very shy."

"I did notice, but I'd never think people wouldn't want to be friends with a girl like you... then again, I have been a social cripple for years, so I have definitely assumed wrong."

"Social cripple?" Rarity asked. "Surely it was not that bad?"

"Cloudsdale is a city full of military types, and many kids plan to continue the dynasty of soldiers or officers. I am a guy that has no interest in joining the army, prefers reading to hanging out at gyms, and values brains over brawl in general. Three guesses as to whether I fit in or not."

"...point taken."

"That, and once I started hanging around with Cloudsdale's Dungeons & Dragons fans, my so-called social standing sank even lower. These guys are considered social rejects across the whole city."

"Whoa, wait," Rainbow interrupted him, "you play Dungeons & Dragons?"

"That, and other tabletop role-playing games on occasion."

"Oh my gosh, you're a total nerd."

"That's not nice, Rainbow," Applejack snarled at the tomboyish athlete, and others gave her a disapproving look.

"Pay her no heed, girls," Scroll tried to defuse the situation, "I am used to that. I don't really mind being called a nerd, since I am, well, a nerd."

"Yeah, er..." Rainbow spoke up again, trying to find the right words, "what I meant is - I totally get it why you wanted outta there. Cloudsdale is not known for its love for smart kids."

"Their loss and Canterlot High's gain," Sunset spoke up. "I, for one, am glad you're with us now."

"Hear, hear!" everyone supported her.

"Oh, thanks, girls," Scroll smiled a bit bashfully.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Pinkie took over. "Rarity, do you still have the Wondercolt regalia?"

"Wondercolt?" the boy asked.

"Canterlot High students sometimes refer to themselves as "Canterlot Wondercolts", after our sports team," Sunset explained. "As a sign of unity, students may put on fake pony ears and a tail, along with a blue pullover. It is meant to symbolize school unity. Pinkie, I take it you want Scroll to put those on?"

"Yepperoni! He's a Wondercolt now as well, isn't he?"

"Whoa, that's fast," Scroll said. "I haven't even been here for a month."

"Doesn't matter, pardner," Applejack said. "You're in CHS now, an' that makes ya a Wondercolt. An' if someone says otherwise, tell me an' I'll knock some sense into their heads mahself," Applejack rubbed her fist against the palm.

"I'll join," Rainbow spoke up. "Going against one of our own is not cool."

Damn, these girls mean business, Scroll thought at the girls' aggressive display. And they look like they can deliver on that threat, too. Note to self, don't piss them off... damn it, I really don't like Rainbow's antics sometimes, though... OK, don't piss her off enough to want to beat you. That's a compromise.

"What I would like is for you to put these on," Rarity held up the Wondercolt regalia, "and join us in a photo. We'll put these on as well."

"Oh, OK. Let's try it, then," Scroll agreed.

"I'll get the camera!" Pinkie's voice seemed to fail to catch up with her body as she left.

"Ahem..." the boy turned to the girls. "Anywhere here where I can change in private?"





Once the photo has been made and the cake was eaten, Pinkie called everyone to dance.

Scroll was never much of a dancer, and never bothered to develop any style of his own or learn one, so instead he just swung around and danced however he saw fit.

He had to give credit to Vinyl Scratch's DJ abilities. Pinkie must have informed her of his musical preferences, because all music he had heard was mostly retro, but the selection was still energetic enough for some wild dancing. Vinyl also had a talent in making remixes, as he concluded - he was never a fan of remixes, but when the girls convinced him to listen to several samples, he gave a thumbs up to the DJ. She beamed and returned the gesture.

Gummy participated in dancing, too... if flinging the tail around counted, that is. In Pinkie's opinion, it did, and Scroll decided not to bring up his dissent.

Several hours later, when everyone was tired from dancing, Vinyl turned down the volume to background levels and put some lower-tempo music, and everyone was lazing around. Pinkie ordered some pizza, and they were currently waiting for it to arrive.

Rarity insisted to make a selfie with Scroll, and the boy agreed - however, Twilight's dog, Spike, photobombed it by appearing behind them when they could not see. The indigo-haired fashionista scowled at the canine, while Scroll tried his best not to laugh out loud.

Applejack and Rainbow were going at each other on Pinkie's game console, playing some fighting game. Both were competitive and stubborn as Tartarus, and neither could gain a significant advantage, but some time later, Rainbow managed to beat Applejack, leaving the farm girl to scowl.

"Hey, Scroll," the prismatic-haired girl called him, "wanna play one on one against me?"

"That Power Fists of Magic III?" Scroll checked the title on the plasma TV screen. "Heh, OK. Wouldn't mind."

"Ya sure 'bout that?" Applejack asked. "That gal likes games a lot."

"Well, one of the reasons I was known as a total nerd is because I like videogames. So it remains to see who's at a disadvantage here," the boy smirked.

"Oh you're so on," Rainbow laughed, and they started a 1 vs. 1 match.

The athletic girl learned soon, though, that Scroll Pen was no easy opponent. In thirty seconds, he dropped her character's health bar to fifty percent while his own had ninety. Rainbow scowled, and stepped up her game, using her character's pent up arcana energy on more powerful attacks. To her amazement, Scroll managed to evade or counter almost all of them, and avoid getting splattered, retaining forty percent of maximum health.

"Credit where it's due," the teen boy said, "good combo. Against most people, it would work. But..."

Taking advantage of Rainbow's character's weakened state, he unleashed a stream of punches and kicks. Rainbow blocked and evaded as she could, but Scroll managed to intercept her character mid-air as she pushed the jump button, and after a series of punches dropped her health to ten percent. As the character landed on her back, Scroll pushed several buttons in quick succession, and his character flew upwards, only to land down hard on Rainbow's character. An animation of a bloody fountain played on screen, and Rainbow's health dropped to zero. The cyan-skinned girl gaped at the screen in disbelief, in danger of losing her jaw.

"I am not most people," Scroll finished.

"Well Ah'll be!" Applejack exclaimed in surprise. "How did ya manage that, Scroll?"

"Maybe later? I don't wanna give her ideas."

"Oh, you want this the hard way, nerd? We'll do this the hard way!" Rainbow declared, glaring at the boy.

Wow, what a sore loser. Well, if you want it, you are so gonna get it! Scroll thought.

"Bring it, jockette!" he taunted her.

Brown eyes met the magenta ones, narrowed and throwing metaphorical thunderbolts around.

"Oooohhh, we have a fierce competition here!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in excitement. "Vinyl, pump it up!"

The electric blue-haired girl gave a thumbs up and immediately put a medium-tempo music with heavy drums and bass. Meanwhile, Scroll and Rainbow picked up the controllers and started another round.

When the battle began, Vinyl turned up the volume, and the competitors clashed fiercely against each other.

Rainbow pressed the buttons on her controller like a madman, trying to make the notion of approaching her character a mad one, while Scroll was gazing hard into the screen, fingers flying in fluid motions, trying to hit the buttons in precisely set time, without an odd millisecond. The girls gathered around, looking at the screen as Scroll's and Rainbow's avatars clashed. The athletic girl was not going easy on Scroll, but the latter was even less merciful, or willing to budge. The battle was won by Rainbow - but by a very close call: only five percent of her character's health remained.

"Not bad," Scroll said. "As far as I can gauge, we have pretty even chances. Wanna set up a tournament? Best three out of five?"

Ding-dong! the door bell rang, and Vinyl turned down the volume.

"Pizza's here!" Pinkie declared, but nobody moved.

"Er, Pinkie," Scroll started, "shouldn't we..?"

"Get the pizza? Don't worry your pretty head about it, Maud will bring them up here!"

"Maud?"

The door to Pinkie's room opened, revealing a girl with rock-gray skin and violet hair, who was carrying a stack of pizza boxes.

"Hello, everyone," she said in a monotone voice. "Pinkie, your pizza is here."

"Thanks, Maud!" Pinkie took the stack of boxes and set it on the bed, then hugged her sister, who was gazing intently at Scroll.

"Um... Hello?" the boy tried.

"Maud, meet Scroll Pen, the newest guy at CHS!" Pinkie bounced in place. "Scroll, this is my elder sister Maud!"

"Pleasure to meet you," Scroll offered his hand. Maud looked at it, and then shook it. Her grip turned out to be pretty strong.

"The feeling is mutual," she said in a tone that was as dispassionate as rocks near the sea. "Have fun," she said and left.

Wow, is she an autist or adopted or something? She's the polar opposite of Pinkie! the teen boy stared at the door that closed after Maud in disbelief.

"Don't you want pizza?" Pinkie interrupted his musings. He saw the girls digging in the food, and decided to have a slice or several himself.

I wonder if they make good pepperoni here.

As it turned out, they did, and other types of pizza were tasty as well. When he ate several slices, Rainbow said:

"So, Scroll, are you still up for that tournament? Or are you a chicken?"

"Now that we had some pizza, I'm even more than up for it!" the teen boy's competitive streak flared up. Both sat down and picked the controllers again. Sensing the atmosphere, Vinyl pumped up the music again. Scroll set up a best three out of five tournament, and the battle began. Other girls gathered on bed, looking at the TV screen and players as well. Scroll and Rainbow themselves tuned out everything, intent on beating the Tartarus out of each other - metaphorically speaking.

Power Fists of Magic III was based on two cornerstones: brute force and so called arcana-augmented attacks. The latter ones required arcana energy that could be gathered by performing successful attack combos or certain feats; they also could gain some energy if they were hit by the enemy. On occasion, an orb of energy could appear on the battlefield, and the players had to undergo several quick-time events to gain as much arcana energy as possible. Different characters had different stats - some were more fit for brute force playing, and some relied more on arcana-augmented attacks, while others could do both, but with lessened efficiency.

This mechanics allowed for various playing styles, and both Rainbow and Scroll proved that. Rainbow was more of a brute-force player, using her honed reflexes in full, trying to punch and kick Scroll's avatar while blocking his strikes, but she also used arcana energy whenever she could afford to spend it, in order to deal heavy damage. Scroll, on the other hand, favoured arcana-augmented attacks, and utilized his extensive knowledge of them and various combos to unsettle the prismatic-haired girl; he used the energy sparingly, using the less-damaging attacks most of the time and unleashing the full power only when he was certain he could hit Rainbow's avatar. He also utilized his knowledge of tactics used for the game, which allowed him to rattle his opponent's nerves; however, his speed and reflexes were somewhat lower than Rainbow's, and the latter capitalized on that whenever she could.

Scroll managed to win the first battle when he successfully performed an arcana-augmented attack that took eighty percent of his energy reserves, but also dealt horrific damage and could easily drop the opponent's health bar by seventy-five percent. Rainbow tried to block it, but that particular attack was unblockable, which she did not know, and her avatar, which had only sixty percent of HP left, was splattered. Fluttershy closed her eyes with a gasp and Rarity made a face at the gruesome animation of Rainbow's avatar's death.

"Must these games be this... gory?" she complained.

"Hey, it's a fighting game, Rares," Rainbow said, "in real life fighting is not without blood too, you know."

"Maybe, but I don't know how the two of you aren't disgusted with such crude displays."

"Because it's not real life," Scroll said. "I cannot be sure how I would react if I saw this in real life, but this game does not have photo-realistic graphics, and its violence is sorta over-the-top - I treat it as extremely dark visual humour."

"If you say so, but I'd rather stick to Jewels of Fortune."

"Whatever floats your boat."

"Jewels of Fortune, Rarity?" Rainbow asked in disbelief. "You total casual."

"Get through the tournament first, Rainbow, before calling others casuals," Scroll snarked.

"Oh I'll get through alright..." the cyan-skinned girl growled.

During the next round, Rainbow carried out her threat successfully. She chose another character, which was more nimble and maneuvred better around the battlefield, and used the "death from a thousand mosquito bites" tactic on Scroll's avatar. The teen boy did his best to land a strike on his opponent, knowing that that particular character took hits worse than normal, but the speed combined with Rainbow's reflexes did their due, and soon Scroll's character lost all his health.

"Aww yeah!" the tomboyish athlete exclaimed. "What you're gonna say to that one, Scroll?"

"Good game, but we're not finished yet!" the nerdy boy maintained a cool facade as if his manly pride was not wounded at all.

"Aaaaand the tension rises!" Pinkie stood on the bed, holding a toothbrush like a microphone. "Our two cybercontestants, Scroll and Rainbow, are preparing to tear each other a new one! Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen!"

"Pinkie, it's not a casino or something," Applejack said.

"We still can place bets, right?"

"Pinkie, darling, I'd rather not do that," Rarity said. "There's already enough tension."

"Oooh, the contestants have made their choice of characters!" the pink-skinned girl returned her attention to Scroll and Rainbow. "Round three! Begin!"

The characters on screen clashed with force, obeying the game console's controllers. Neither Rainbow nor Scroll were intent on being merciful as their fingers moved over every button and stick. The girl's character was running helter-skelter, dodging and evading attacks while getting in several hits, while Scroll's avatar enacted an attack after attack designed to deal area-of-splash damage.

"Stop with the AOE, damn it!" Rainbow growled as her character's health dropped to thirty-five percent.

"Nope!" Scroll replied, and unleashed an arcana attack that claimed another ten percent from Rainbow's avatar.

"Oh you'll pay for that," the girl growled, and responded with her own attack. Scroll failed to evade in time, and his character got ensnared in a net.

"Oh snap," he cursed, violantly trying to release himself, but before he managed to do that, Rainbow dropped the character's HP to zero.

"Oh yeah! I'm awesome! Take caution! Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be!" she sang, doing a little victory dance.

"Did you come up with that on the spot?" Scroll asked, standing up to stretch.

"No, it's a song I wrote. We girls have our own band, the Rainbooms, and I'm the lead guitarist and the singer!" the athletic girl boasted.

Figures, Scroll thought, that the girl with the biggest ego would hog the frontman's place. Arrogant slike.

"And with Rainbow Dash taking the lead, our newest friend, Scroll Pen, is maintaining his cool facade!" Pinkie suddenly appeared near him, her toothbrush pointing at his mouth like a microphone. "Can our viewers have a comment? How are you planning to stand against the awesome Rainbow Dash?"

The teenager had to fight hard not to laugh. Instead, he craned his neck dramatically and intoned:

"Easily, Miss Pie," he said. "It's time for..."

Pausing for dramatic effect, he smashed his right fist against the left palm.

"...nerd rage!" he finished.

"Oh no, not the nerd rage!" Pinkie shouted, looking scared, but then quietly asked Twilight: "What is nerd rage?"

"I think it means that Scroll is pissed off," Twilight responded in moments before Vinyl Scratch turned on another piece of fast-tempo music and Scroll and Rainbow Dash started having at each other again.

This time, however, fates did not seem to smile on Rainbow. Scroll changed his character for the match to the one he was best familiar with; while his choice might not have been the most effective in countering Rainbow's character, he knew the combos and the necesary tactics by heart. His character also had a slightly higher resistance to enemy hits, and he planned to utilize that fully. As a result, Rainbow's character received hit after hit, and despite all her efforts, her HP bar remained lower than Scroll's. Soon, Scroll performed an arcana attack that left her character with no chance of evasion, and after several hits, she fell down.

"Well that one was quick," Applejack commented. "So it's two versus two now."

"The next battle is the decisive one, right?" Rarity asked.

"Yep-yep!" Pinkie said. "And there can be only one winner!"

"Oh, I hope it does not end badly," Fluttershy said, worried. "They are really agitated."

"I cannot calculate the chances of victory for them," Twilight scratched her head with a pencil, looking at her notebook.

"Well, I've got to say, they both seem to be passionate about these games," Sunset remarked.

"Get rrrrrreeeeeaaaadyyyyy foooooor... THE FINAL ROUND!" Pinkie's voice almost deafened everyone. "Contestants, choose your characters! Vinyl, epic showdown music!"

The DJ nodded, and put on a rock song. The game loaded, and Scroll and Rainbow clashed again. Everyone stared at both the screen and the contestants as intently as if they were watching Equestria Games.

Rainbow's character was running, sliding, jumping, flipping in mid-air, and punching and kicking. However, Scroll's character did not move as much, and merely blocked and evaded Rainbow's attacks, not moving as actively as in previous round.

"What's that fella doin'?" Applejacka asked. "He's gonna get his butt handed to him if he goes on like that.

"I don't know, Applejack," Rarity said, "he is not losing that much health points."

"Neither is Rainbow."

"Oh my," Fluttershy gasped as Scroll's character caught Rainbow's and smashed her back against his knee three times before throwing her away. "That's so cruel..."

"Yeah, well - holy ponies, that is even more cruel," Sunset gasped as Scroll's character received repeated kicks to his crotch and lost fifteen percent of HP at once. Scroll's eyes narrowed.

"OK, git, now you die," he snarled.

However, despite the statement, he did not change his tactic, although he put more effort in evasion than blocking now, and became slightly more active in counter-attacking, leaving everyone confused.

"OK, now I can't understand his tactic," Twilight said. "His arcana bar is ninety-five percent full, why doesn't he use it?"

"Does something happen if the arcana bar is one hundred percent full?" Sunset asked.

"I dunno - but it is now," Twilight said.

"Perfect," Scroll grinned wolfishly.

"Uh?" Rainbow only managed to utter this before Scroll moved his character close to her and pushed several buttons on controller at once.

The screen darkened, leaving only two characters and the ground visible. The picture became black and white, like the old TV.

"Girls, you might want to turn away," Scroll warned everyone. His character dealt severe trauma to Rainbow's avatar - and it was described in gruesome detail as if her body was X-rayed.

After thirty seconds of gratuituous violence, the screen returned to normal, and Rainbow's character retained only zero point one percent of health. Scroll pushed several more buttons.

"Get REKT!" he exclaimed triumphantly as his character bashed Rainbow's out of the arena and raised hands in triumph. Vinyl muted the music, leaving everyone in total silence. Rainbow could only gape as she read the words "PLAYER 1 WINS" on screen, denoting her opponent's victory.

"Tartarus flipping damn it, dude," she said to Scroll as the initial shock wore off. "I almost saw that one coming. Guess that makes you a winner."

"It's been a long time since someone made me sweat for victory," the boy admitted, and raised his fist. "Good game, Rainbow."

The prismatic-haired athlete looked at him for several seconds, and then they bashed their fists together. Scroll slightly winced at Rainbow's strength.

"And today's tournament winner..." Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply, "speaking" into toothbrush, "is SCROLL PEN!"





The rest of the party went with less excitement. As Scroll and Rainbow finished with their little rivalry, everyone dug into the remains of pizza (microwave had to have been used on occasion) and grape punch, followed by some chatting and sometimes dancing to Vinyl's selection of party music.

Scroll greatly enjoyed talking with the girls. While some of the subjects they talked about were not of big appeal to him - fashion and animals, for example - he still listened intently to Rarity and Fluttershy, and asked questions. When he himself was asked why fashion did not appeal much to him, he explained that his father, as a military man, prefered practicality over the razzle-dazzle, and passed this trait to him. As for the animals, he admitted that he just never gave a lot of thought to them, too absorbed in himself. Fluttershy invited him to the animal shelter to see the creatures she took care of, and after some deliberation, he agreed.

Applejack gave him a small gift - several bottles of traditional Apple family cider. He noticed Rainbow glance at the bottles, and Applejack explained that Rainbow was, as she put it, an "Apple cider addict", prompting laughter at the athlete's expense.

Scroll chatted a bit with Twilight and Sunset on some academical topics. Twilight prompted him to join the tutors' club, and he agreed, but asked to delay, since he wanted to gauge where he was in CHS in terms of grades. The girls agreed with his logic.

Finally, Pinkie asked him whether he liked the party, and he enthusiastically said "yes". Pinkie squeed and hugged him tightly, endangering his ribs again.

When the time came to go home, Scroll Pen felt really sorry to leave Pinkie's house. Despite his reservations, he had a good time.

He came home with a smile. He was not fully certain he could call the girls his friends now, but he surely wanted to hang around more with them. Even Rainbow Dash, who sometimes really annoyed him. Since he could not make others abandon her, however, he decided to accept her as a package deal. As far as he could tell, she was not a bad person per se. She could as well be one of those friends that just could drive everyone and everything - even stones - to hysterics, but would never abandon their friends. And he was told that Rainbow was very loyal to those she called friends.

Besides, I had a lot of fun competing against her in videogames. It's been a long time since someone actually gave me a challenge.
> Chapter 3: Dungeoneering and sundae
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3

Dungeoneering and sundae






"So how was the party, son?" Thunder Barrel asked Scroll Pen as they drank tea together after the evening meal.

"It was nice, Dad," the young teenager smiled. "Pinkie Pie was very accommodating, and invited a DJ who knows her stuff in retro music, a classmate of hers called Vinyl Scratch. We danced, made photos, had some pizza, chatted and even played videogames."

"Even videogames? I thought girls did not really like videogames."

"Well either Pinkie does or she just keeps the console for her friends. Rainbow Dash and Applejack really love going at each other when playing..."

"The same Rainbow Dash whose smirk you really wanted to wipe off her face on your first P.E. lesson?"

"The one and only. I played against her as well in Power Fists of Magic III."

"I can barely tell one of those games apart from each other, son, you know it. So who won?"

"We played a best three out of five tournament. And I won it," Scroll smiled broadly.

"And the count was?"

"Three versus two. Rainbow gave me a hard time. Credit where it's due, she knows how to play."

"Athletic and a video game fan? An interesting combination. That said, do you have photos on your phone?"

"Some, yeah. Pinkie also promised to upload some to MyStable."





Pinkie indeed uploaded the photos from the party, and the next morning, while Scroll was preparing himself for the D&D session with Flash, Micro Chips and Sandalwood, the discussion of said party was actively going on online.

Scroll glanced at the last photo that was currently open, where Rarity made a selfie with him and which was photobombed by Spike. The discussion went as follows:



Rainbow Dash commented 23 minutes ago:

hahaha, spike's cool :)



Rarity replied to Rainbow Dash 21 minute ago:

Cool or not, I'm kinda getting tired of my selfies getting photobombed. It's like a conspiracy.



Pinkamena D. Pie replied to Rarity 20 minutes ago:

A conspiracy of Spike's to photobomb Rarity's selfies? That's horrible! :((((



Twilight Sparkle replied to Pinkamena D. Pie 18 minutes ago:

Stop making things up, Pinkie. Spike was there by accident.



Rarity replied to Twilight Sparkle 15 minutes ago:

Sorry, darling. I know you love Spike, and I love him too, but this is getting ridiculous.



Scroll Pen replied to Rarity 12 minutes ago:

Relax, Rarity, I think the selfie's great. But if you really want an un-photobombed selfie, just ask me :)



Rarity replied to Scroll Pen 9 minutes ago:

I might take you up on that offer, darling ;)



Rainbow Dash replied to Rarity and Scroll Pen 7 minutes ago:

Yeah, don't forget to kiss.



Rarity replied to Rainbow Dash 6 minutes ago:

Rainbow Dash, that is extremely uncouth! >:(



Scroll Pen replied to Rainbow Dash 6 minutes ago:

I agree with Rarity, Dash, that's a highly inappropriate suggestion. What if she has a boyfriend?



Applejack replied to Rarity 5 minutes ago:

Did you expect something else from RD, Rares?

BTW, @Scroll Pen, nice look :)



Scroll Pen replied to Applejack 4 minutes ago:

Thanks, Applejack :)



Applejack replied to Scroll Pen 4 minutes ago:

No prob, saying it as it is :)



Rainbow Dash replied to Scroll Pen 3 minutes ago:

nah, Rarity doesn't have a bf, chill.



Rarity replied to Scroll Pen 2 minutes ago:

It's true, I don't have a boyfriend - not for lack of trying, of course.



Strange, Scroll thought, of all people, I'd think Rarity would definitely have a boyfriend. Pretty face, gorgeous figure, dresses well and, as far as I know, has a good personality... wouldn't she the best chances on dating market?

He started typing again:



Scroll Pen replied to Rarity just now:

O_O how come?



He turned away from the screen to get his box of dice. Not finding it in the usual place, he frowned, and went to check his rucksack. While rummaging there, he heard a ping from his computer, which meant that Rarity or someone else replied to him.

"Ah, there you are," he said, taking out the transparent circular plastic box with ruby-red dice within. He hurried back to the computer and saw the response:



Rarity replied to Scroll Pen just now:

Well, too many guys seem to be interested solely in my looks. And one guy I had dated thought that if I was generous, then he owed me nothing. But to me, relationship is not a one-way street, so we parted ways.



Recognizing the wisdom, Scroll decided to type something in response when another message popped up.



Rainbow Dash replied to Rarity just now:

also u tend to be a drama queen



Drama queen? Scroll thought, dumbfounded. Making sure he had his miniatures packed in protective box (metal would be more reliable, but damn it, metal models are too freaking expensive now, he thought), he heard two pings.



Rarity replied to Rainbow Dash just now:

Do not! Take that back!



Applejack replied to Scroll Pen, Rarity and Rainbow Dash just now:

@Rarity: Sorry Rares, but it's not just guys, although they were kinda rotten. You have pretty high standards for a person whom you'd like to date, it's no wonder many guys don't fit them.
@Rainbow Dash: RD, shut up.
@Scroll Pen: Why're you asking? Got an eye out for Rares? ;)



Scroll got flustered, and quickly typed a response:



Scroll Pen replied to Applejack just now:

Not at this moment. Was just surprised that Rarity of all people would have problems in romance.

Plus, I haven't been in CHS for long, so I'm not putting myself on dating market right now.



Suddenly, Scroll's wristwatch beeped, which meant it was time to go to Flash's place for a D&D. He gasped and quickly typed:



Scroll Pen commented just now:

Look everyone, I gotta run. I'm being a dungeon master for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and it's almost time. Talk to you later.



He turned off the computer, grabbed the essentials and ran out. As he said goodbyes to father and left the house, his phone pinged, and Scroll saw a response from Rainbow Dash:



Rainbow Dash replied to Scroll Pen just now:

dungeon master? sounds like a title for a porn movie >:DDD



As Scroll's eyes read it, he stared dumbfounded for a moment until his brain rebooted. A surge of annoyance flowed through him at the joke he just saw.

Asshole! he snarled internally at the prismatic-haired tomboy, and went in the direction of Flash's house.





Four travelers were fighting for their lives in the remains of a one majestic city.

Their mission was to retrieve a powerful and dangerous artifact that belonged to a line of wizards that went extinct. The city has fallen to malicious goblins long ago, but the goblins were not the cause of concern - if no one tried to deliberately attract the creatures' attention, it would be improbable to have a horde of goblins on one's tail, provided that Lady Luck was feeling generous to one today.

What did concern this group of travelers was that a band of mercenaries sought the same artifact they had just retrieved. This band of various beings was hired by a rogue wizard who fell from grace and consorted with dark powers. With the artifact in his hands, the fallen wizard could unleash uncountable woes upon the land.

Knowing this, the four people held nothing back as they tried to escape the city.

One of them was Bharash Ulimates, a dragonborn who excelled in fighting. In combat, he was the first one to start swinging his battle axe around, issuing challenges to his enemies.

Another one was Corrin Sentipedar, a halfling who skirted on the edge of the law, and was a master of unexpected sneak attacks between the chinks of enemy armour. He also was a master of words, keeping the attention on himself when needed and charming extra coins if he wanted to.

The third one was Regdar Nomadar, a human invoker, who made a pact with Raven Queen - a rare but not unwelcome sight, and his divine attacks turned the tide against the enemies on several occasions already.

And the last one was Enna Mu'sarena, a cleric who also followed Raven Queen and whose medical knowledge was invaluable.

As the time went, the quartet almost made their way out of the city when they were intercepted by the very mercenary gang they tried to avoid...





"Let's take a small break, guys," Scroll Pen said, "the next part will be the climax of the whole adventure, and whether you succeed or fail in your quest heavily depends on it. Let's stretch our limbs a bit and have some pizza while we're at it. Flash, we still have double pepperoni?"

"Yep, gimme a minute, I'll warm the slices," Flash left for the kitchen. "Who wants some soda while I'm at it?"

Everyone expressed their wish for a soft drink.

"Gotcha, guys. Be back soon."

"Man, a cliffhanger," Sandalwood mock-complained, standing up and stretching his back.

"Gotta say, Scroll, you kept us on our toes there," Micro Chips said. "I still can't believe we managed to stumble on that goblin patrol."

"Blame the dice," Scroll said dismissively. "A random encounter is a random encounter. I myself can't believe you managed to roll a 20 on a Stealth check and pass it when all your halfling did was grab some branches with leaves, squat on the grass and pretend he is a bush."

"Random numbers magic," Micro Chips grinned. "Besides, aren't such situations fun?"

"They are, but when they defy logic, it exasperates a little bit. Especially if it screws with the campaign. Back at Cloudsdale, I remember it when someone managed to roll a 20 on Streetwise, when the whole party was in a town where they have never been before and just could not know where to go. I was the DM there, too."

"So what did you say when you saw that?" Flash returned with the pizza and the soda.

"A few swear words directed at no one, and then I told him that he had absolutely no fracking idea where the right way was, but his gut told him to go to the north-western direction."

Everyone laughed.

"That said, I haven't heard of an Invoker class until we met you," Flash continued. "Where did you get it?"

"It is mentioned in another player's handbook, numbered two," Scroll munched on the pizza. "That book is for more advanced players, though, so I think that your older brother must have not known about it or just decided not to complicate things. You can make a pretty balanced party with the classes from the standard handbook; the handbooks number two and three are there in case players want to try something new, and you need to be careful not to ruin the balance if you add classes from expansions."

"I see. Gotta say, I like that class, though. Mind if we read the expansion handbooks just for reference?"

"Remind me to drop you the files after we finish today's session. Now then, ready to immerse yourselves in the story again?"

"Yeah, bring it on!"





"I see you haven't been idle," the mercenary closest to the quartet spoke in a way that was definitely not friendly. 

"How did you find us?" Regdar inquired.

"Our wizard has felt that you were carrying the Wrathstone with you with the help of some magical mumbo-jumbo. Basically, we only had to follow the Wrathstone's aura. Coulda gotten there sooner, but damn goblins and kobolds kept getting in the way, and then we noticed that the Wrathstone was moving. We doubled back here."

"So you're after the Wrathstone as well?" Enna asked.

"Isn't that obvious? Our contractor wishes to have the Wrathstone, and we are not the people to disappoint our contractors."

"Would that contractor be a certain wizard known as Amadeus Rothfall?" Corrin inquired.

"Does it matter who our contractor is?" the merc spat out.

"Yes it does," Bharash said, "because very few would desire an artifact as dangerous as Wrathstone, and fewer would want to use it for good. I am sure that if your contractor knew the truth behind Wrathstones, he or she would not be disappointed if you were to return empty-handed."

"Oh our contractor knows a lot about Wrathstones, rest assured. That said, why would you want the Wrathstone?"

"We want it gone," Bharash almost growled, "for this artifact has brought ruin upon the city where we lived. Me and my partners here might be the last survivors of Dennemargh; perhaps you have heard of it?"

"The city destroyed by something described only as the "wrath of demons coming from the crimson sky"? I have heard of it. But you do know that Wrathstones cannot be destroyed that easily?"

"We do. Let's just say we know a way around the obstacle."

"Well that just won't do at all. Attack!"



"Roll the initiative!" Scroll declared.

"Well, that escalated quickly!" Micro Chips said, rolling the icosahedron-shaped d20 dice along with the others...





Before anyone could utter even a word, Edna managed to cast her Lance of Faith. The golden light struck the leader of the mercenaries squarely in the chest, leaving sparkles of light next to him.

"I challenge you to combat in the name of my ancestors, my clan and my honour!" Bharash growled at the mercenary leader, showing everyone his fury of the Dragonborn, and charged forward, swinging his battle axe. The heavy weapon collided with the mercenary's armour, leaving visible damage. The enemy leader hissed in pain as the axe tore his skin, and thanked whatever deity he believed in that the axe did not have the energy to cut through his arm.

"Have some of this!" he swiped his two-handed sword, and Bharash roared as it pierced his hide.

"Good strike!" he praised his enemy, as his comrades burst into action. Corrin launched a shuriken that striked another mercenary, and Regdar cast his Avenging Light spell.

"You will not avoid the grasp of the Raven Queen!" he declared.

And then, mercenaries charged them...





"Snap!" Micro Chips exclaimed as he saw Scroll roll 17 on his d20 dice as an attack against Corrin.

"Twenty-six versus AC," Scroll said.

"A hit," Micro grumbled, and Scroll threw an octahedron-shaped d8 dice, rolling a seven.

"That's ten HP lost," he declared.

Micro Chips muttered several choice words, while Sandalwood said:

"Strength bonus equals plus three, then."

"No metagaming," Scroll reminded him, and moved one of the figurines representing a mercenary on the "battlefield". It stood straight behind Bharash's figurine, forming a straight line through him to the mercenary leader.

"One of the mercs attacks Bharash in the back," Scroll rolled a d20 dice. "That's sixteen versus AC, Flash."

"Miss," Flash said, looking at his character list, where the AC equaled 21.

"His hit grazes against Bharash's armour, failing to deal damage."





"You coward!" Bharash rounded on the mercenary who tried to stab him in the back. "You dare to fight dirty and attack from the back like a thief? I will tear your guts out through your colon for this and make you ingest them!"





"That was brutal, Flash," Scroll laughed at the latest threat made by Bharash. "You gonna live up to that promise or is that just Bharash talking shit?"

"I'll have you know that Dragonborn don't talk shit, Scroll," Flash said in his best impression of his character - which still turned out to be overplayed. "If he doesn't die before that, I will definitely do that to him."

Everyone laughed at Flash's antics, the blue-haired rocker joining their mirth in a self-deprecating humour.

"Yeah, well, you'd better survive before that," Scroll said. "There are three mercs ganging up on you now."

"Let them come!" Flash exclaimed, still roleplaying his character. "I shall smite them with my mighty axe of retribution and I shall know no fear!"

"With that much pathos, you should've played Dark Heresy," Scroll said, trying to get his words through the chuckles that burst forth at Flash's latest remark. "On the other hand, maybe not. You would wind up making speeches in pathos about burning heretics and what-not."

"Burning heretics?"

"Nevermind. Sandalwood, you ready to act? It's Edna's turn again."

"Yes, I am."





The heroes and the mercenaries exchanged blows with each other, aiming to bring their foes down for good.

Edna and Regdar were praying to Raven Queen to gain her favour and to punish their enemies, and it appeared that their deity of choice was being kind to them at the time, as they barely missed.

Corrin was desperately dodging enemy blows while flinging shurikens and doing his best to land his deadly tricks upon the enemy, but he did not always have the best of luck, and when the enemies managed to hit him several times, he started bleeding badly. Even with Edna's Healing Word, it was obvious that he would perish if their enemy was not defeated soon.

Bharash was roaring as he traded blows with several enemies at once. His foes were no slouches, and he already was in great pain from the wounds he gained. When one of the mercs hit him in the back, he roared in madness and swung his axe in fury...





"A natural twenty!" Flash cheered as the number "20" was looking up at him from the icosahedron dice.

"That's a critical hit," Scroll said, then checked his writings for something. "Bharash's axe cleaves through the mercenary's helmet, splitting the skull and embedding itself in his head. The merc's body twitches several times before Bharash pulls the axe back; after that, the corpse falls on the ground, splattering blood, skull fragments and brain matter."

"A fitting death for the backstabber!" Flash exclaimed in character.

"Must your descriptions be this gory, Scroll?" Sandalwood asked. "I know this is a fight, but, er, I'm not sure we need that detailed descriptions."

"Now where's the fun in that? Blood for the blood god!"

"HERETIC!" Micro Chips exclaimed.





Turning back from the backstabber, Bharash turned to his other enemies, ready to block another hit - but he was too slow, and another wound appeared on his limb.

"You're too slow, lizard," the mercenary leader taunted him.

"You dare..!" Bharash growled, struggling to remain afoot. Blood was seeping from his wounds, and his mind was clouded in rage; he had trouble articulating words at that point. Suddenly, the enemy leader gurgled as blood came from his mouth.

Corrin came from Bharash's side and made a surprise attack at the merc's unprotected flank. Already weakened by a battle with an enraged Dragonborn, he fell down on the ground.

Unfortunately, this left both Corrin and Bharash against the remaining mercenaries, who were not inclined to give them any mercy for their killed commander...





The situation turned grim for Bharash and Corrin, and Flash and Micro Chips, respectively, frowned as their position was unenviable. Sandalwood managed to cast an attack that killed one more merc, but the situation was still not in their favour.

"Scroll, can I ask you as a DM?" Flash spoke up.

"Yes."

"Can I make a delayed action - if an enemy attacks Corrin, Bharash pushes him away?"

"Thus becoming the target of the attack?"

"Yes."

"Hmmmm. Alright, for sake of amusement, let's do it. Delayed action of Bharash - push Corrin away, trigger - an attack on Corrin. You will replace Corrin in his tile, while Corrin will be pushed away from you one tile and knocked prone."

For sake of whose amusement? everyone thought. While Scroll was not a "kill them all" dungeon master, he still turned out to have a trolling streak which already gave them trouble.

As the turn of the mercenary arrived, Scroll declared:

"Alright, the merc tries to strike... Corrin."

"Corrin, get away!" Flash spoke in his "Bharash" voice, mimicking pushing his friend away. Meanwhile, Scroll rolled his d20 dice.

The number "20" looked up at everyone.

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

"Well..." Scroll looked at the blue-haired rocker. "Flash, you're so screwed."





Bharash pushed Corrin away, but was unable to dodge in time as a heavy two-handed sword sliced at him. A fountain of blood burst forth, and the proud Dragonborn fell on the earth...





"That's eighteen HP lost right there," Scroll said. "That puts your HP in negative, right?"

"Yes it does," Flash grumbled, putting the figurine representing his character on its back. "Now I've gotta pray to Random Numbers God that my saving throws from death aren't screwed."

"Actually, it might be better if you screwed one."

"Eh?"

"You'll see if you fail. Edna?"

"Lance of Faith!" Sandalwood rolled his d20. "Aha! Twenty!"

"What is it with RNG and the crits today?" Scroll laughed. "The lance pierces the merc's head, tearing it off, and the fountain of blood sprays from its carotid arteries as the body topples on earth, most definitely dead."

"Now I do the saving throws?" Flash asked.

"Yep."

Flash rolled the icosahedron dice, rolling an eight.

"That's a fail," Scroll commented. "Hold on..."





Regdar approached the fallen Dragonborn, holding a mysterious antracite-black artifact in his hand. Putting it on the wound that brought Bharash down, he dropped to his knees and chanted:

"Oh Raven Queen, I, your humble servant, beseech you: if it is not the time of this one to meet you, grant me the sign!.."





Scroll rolled a d20, rolling a seventeen.

"OK then," he said. "Bharash is considered saved from death and has one health point. The artifact used by Regdar is gone."

"What is this artifact?" Flash asked. "I never heard of that."

"Well, that was a leftover from one of my former campaigns where I used Regdar as my PC. The DM made this artifact up from scratch. Personally, I feel this is somewhat of a cheat, but since I brought Regdar into this campaign, I could make him use it as well. Anyway, after the victory over the mercs, you do not have any more problems on the way back to your base, so how about we call it a day?"

A chorus of agreements followed.

"Well, thanks for the game, everyone," Scroll stood up and started gathering his dice, game papers and figurines.

"Thanks, Scroll," Micro Chips said. "That was fun, although I kinda need to get used to your DM-ing style."

"You're welcome, and you'd better," Scroll smirked. "Let's clean the mess up, guys."





After all garbage was thrown out and personal belongings were collected, the boys left Flash's house and went in separate directions. Scroll Pen felt very happy that the campaign he had with Flash, Micro and Sandalwood went fine. A good company was a treasure when it came to finding people for the campaign.

Then again, the boys were different from the jocks in Cloudsdale. If all went well, maybe in the future he could call them friends.

For the first time in ages I would have male friends, he thought. I don't think I was friends with boys since I was... what, eleven, twelve years old? Blast, I can't remember.

Since middle school, the rift between him and the other boys his age began growing. While many boys were fooling around (in his opinion), he focused on his education and marks, which was detrimental to his standing in the social structure that the other boys built.

Not that he cared, anyway. He was outside it, and wanted to have nothing to do with it.

"Hey, egghead!" a familiar and slightly raspy voice sounded from behind

I wonder if I should chuck an egg at your head and call you an egghead? Scroll growled internally, then stopped, surprised at his own hostility.

OK, man, you don't like that callsign, but you've grown used to it, so why you're pissed? he tried to reason with himself, but wasn't able to find an answer in the short time he took to turn around.

Lo and behold, there was the prismatic-haired jockette, accompanied by Applejack and Rarity.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash," he greeted the athletic girl in a flat tone, then turned to the others, "Hi, Rarity, Applejack."

"Howdy, Scroll."

"Good day, darling. How are you doing?"

"Fine, just left Flash's house. We just finished a session of Dungeons and Dragons, and I was on my way home."

"We're heading to the Sugarcube Corner right now, would you like to join us?"

"Hmmm..." Scroll looked at his watch. He had time.

"Why not?"





As it turned out, Sugarcube Corner had good ice cream. Scroll was not a great fan of the treat, but the sundae he got was quite tasty. He ate slowly, so as not to get a brain freeze.

"So what is this "Dungeons and Dragons" game you have mentioned?" Rarity inquired.

"Well, it's a tabletop role-playing game where you pretend to be a certain character and cooperate with other players in your party to achieve a certain goal. Characters can be of various races, be it humans, dwarves, elves and others, and have classes which determine what they do and how they fight."

"Fight?" Rarity had a pensive look. "Does the game focus solely on fights?"

"No. In fact, there are skills designed for diplomacy, to charm, bluff, or intimidate other characters. But fights do happen."

"An' how do characters know what happens around?"

"One of the players is a so-called dungeon master..."

Rainbow snickered into her cup with sundae.

"Somethin' funny?" Applejack frowned at Rainbow.

"Well, just listen: "dungeon master", ha-ha-ha!" the cyan-skinned girl laughed. "That sounds so wrong!"

OK, jockette, payback time, Scroll thought, and said: "I see someone had read Fifty Shades of Grey, apparently."

Flat stares followed.

"I'm not into those kinds of books!" Rainbow exclaimed indignantly.

"Oh, so you're into dungeon porn, then?" Scroll struggled to maintain a flat look on his face. "If you want to re-enact it, find a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend, if your proverbial barn door swings that way."

"I'm NOT into dungeon porn!" Rainbow exclaimed, thrown off the rails. "And I prefer boys! Why do people think that I am lesbian or bisexual?"

Because you are a walking gay pride banner? Scroll was tempted to snark, but decided not to add petrol into the fire.

"Wow, Scroll's got some teeth," Applejack commented. "He got ya good there, RD."

"Did he have to bring up dungeon porn of all things?"

"Well that's what you get for making fun of the term "dungeon master", Dash," Scroll replied. "Honestly, this particular object of amusement is older than hills."

Rainbow did not reply, but instead shoved a piece of sundae into her mouth.

"That said, where did you three come from, if it's not a secret?" Scroll wondered.

"We went to the spa," Rarity said. "Although Applejack and Rarity were somewhat... reticent."

"I imagine," the young teenager replied, noting how Rainbow looked uncomfortable. "Neither of them look like someone who'd visit a spa, at least from the first look. How did you manage to strong-arm them into this, Rarity?"

"I did not strong-arm them, they came with me of their own accord."

"OK, I'm legitimately surprised. How come?"

"Well, Ah ain't really into that type of stuff, at least not as much as Rarity," Applejack said. "But sometimes it's just good ta relax there after all the hard work on th' farm. An' Rarity knows some real good pros."

"I see, and Rainbow? Judging by her face, she's the type that wouldn't be caught dead in the spa," Scroll looked at Rainbow while speaking.

"You're damn right I wouldn't," the athlete grumbled.

"Well, she joined us for the first time when she lost a bet. Complained a lot, but she actually enjoyed the massage..."

"Rarity!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Apparently, Rainbow considers this embarrassing and destroying her tough girl image. Hmm. While I wouldn't mind more payback for that stupid "dungeon master" porn-related joke, I think it would be too far.

"Did you know that professional sports competitors often employ masseurs?" he spoke up.

"Huh? They do? What for?" Rainbow turned to him.

"To loosen the knots in their muscles. While training them is paramount, it is no less important to let them rest and relax. Although, as far as I recall, the massage against muscle knots kinda differs from the usual relaxing massage one expects in the spa."

"Oh, Aloe and Lotus - my friends - can do all kinds of massages, except for those which require great muscle strength."

"Well, I think I can make do without all of that, 'cause I'm awesome," Rainbow made a cocky smile. Rarity pointedly ignored her friend's boast, and Applejack rolled her eyes, but it was Scroll who broke silence.

"Sure, until the moment when you drop face first into the mud when something goes wrong in your muscles because you weren't maintaining them properly," he snarked. "That would be reaaaaallly awesome."

He almost regretted saying this, as Rainbow was now looking at him with ire, her magenta eyes boring into his own and giving an intimidating look.

"Not cool," she said.

"What's not, to borrow your lexicon, "cool", is that you're being stubborn where it's not warranted, Rainbow Dash. Even the toughest body will break without taking care of it, and unless you happen to be an alien from another planet, you aren't an exception."

"Says the nerd who looks like he'll drop dead if he were to run a marathon, without getting to finish line," the prismatic-haired girl fired back.

OK, that was below the belt, Scroll felt his insides boil from stung manly pride.

"If I were to overstrain myself, yes. But that's what I got the grey mass called "brain" inside my skull for - to calculate how I can preserve enough strength to avoid such consequences."

"Alright, ya two, can it," Applejack demanded with a serious expression. Both Scroll and Rainbow looked displeased that they were interrupted, but thought it wise not to antagonize the farm girl.

The quartet finished eating their sundaes (of which there was little left) and paid for their food, leaving the Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow and Rarity went ahead, while Applejack kept slightly behind, keeping Scroll slightly behind.

"Can I tell ya somethin', Scroll?"

"Of course."

"Did ya get annoyed with Rainbow?"

The teenager slightly jerked, not expecting the blunt question, but recovered himself.

"Truthfully? Yes, I did."

"Listen," Applejack told him, "Rainbow isn't an easy person ta deal with. Doesn't help that you two have opposing views on some matters. But Ah've known her for long, and Ah want ya ta know - she isn't a bad person."

"I never said she was."

"Yeah, but with all that antagonism between ya two, ya might think she is."

"Applejack, have you ever considered becoming a psychologist?"

"Where'd that come from?"

"You just seem to read minds."

"Hay no, Scroll, Ah'm just a little more perceptive than those stereotypes 'bout blondes say."

"...I never thought you were dumb."

"Ah know ya didn't. Bottom line is, Ah know Rainbow is a friend that can drive a stone ta hysterics. Heavens know we all had a moment where we wanted ta smack her, even Fluttershy, an' she ain't no girl to wanna smack someone. But Ah'll let ya know this: if you can get used to her antics, then you'd gain a good and loyal friend."

"Well, loyal friends are quite hard to come by, but I just don't know, Applejack. From the time I've known her - admittedly a short time - she appears to behave like the dumb jocks back in Cloudsdale I never wanted to interact with."

"Ah dunno what kind of jocks you went to school with, but all Ah ask is not ta paint Rainbow with same brush that quick."

"Alright, Applejack, I'll give it a try. Truth be told, I enjoyed what little time we spent together - me and your whole group, I mean - and it's not like you'll kick Rainbow out just because I don't get along with her."

"Thanks, Scroll. Ya won't regret it."

I hope you are right, Scroll thought. Rainbow Dash has an ability to get on my nerves pretty easily.
> Chapter 4: Tag him/her with lasers!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4

Tag him/her with lasers!






A month has passed since Scroll Pen enrolled in Canterlot High.

He could safely say now that he did not regret it in the slightest. A month in CHS felt better than a year in Cloudsdale High. Previously, Scroll always walked to school with trepidation, since he had to worry about avoiding the persons he really did not need any contact with, and being careful not to get caught by someone who would pick a fight - an unfair one, with numerical advantage on the enemy's side.

Such events happened to him only three times in his living memory, and each of them had to end with him retreating, and then having to endure the jocks' sneers at the "coward". Scroll called bullshit on that - he was not stupid enough to let himself be beaten, and in his book, not going at him one on one and charging with the whole pack was the true cowardice, so he contemptuously dismissed the sneers.

Such was not the case at Canterlot High. While there indeed was a small pack of hooligans, they were nowhere near the level of Cloudsdale's jocks, and were not particularly threatening to him, so he did not have to worry for his life.

His social standing was also a lot better. While being a nerd still carried some penalties in that regard, Scroll managed to find acquaintances he genuinely enjoyed spending time with. Flash Sentry, Micro Chips and Sandalwood became the guys he talked with most often, since they had an active Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

Micro Chips was somewhat of a tech geek, and Scroll often found himself chatting with him on things related to information technology. Mostly it revolved around software they were familiar with, and the advantages and disadvantages of this or that program. Some other times, they talked about gadgets, like their smartphones, tablet PCs or something else. They also talked about videogames sometimes, although Micro Chips was not as much of a game enthusiast as Scroll was.

Sandalwood was a so-called eco-kid, and he made sure to tell Scroll of various ways to conserve energy and water. Scroll was not much of a Green Party supporter, but was surprised to discover that some pieces of advice did indeed cut the bills for modern conveniences, and have persuaded his father to try some of them. When they worked, Scroll thanked Sandalwood wholeheartedly.

Flash Sentry was something of a unique kind. Scroll was very surprised to learn that Flash played electric guitar and even had his own band, yet did not strut around like a peacock. The blue-haired rocker admitted that he had indeed had a period of having too high of an opinion of himself, and that it still showed sometimes, but after one big mess, an argument between him and his band-mates and a thorough dressing-down from his parents, he made sure to be a better person. Scroll had listened to Flash Drive rehearsing several times, and admitted that they played well for a garage band. Flash tried to get Scroll into modern rock music, but the latter was very slow to converse.

The new circle of acquaintances of Scroll's also included girls now, which he secretly was very happy about. He managed to get along with Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody, a strange artistic duet of a modern dubstep and beats fan and a classical music enthusiast. Their music was... unique in its own regard. Scroll did not particularly enjoy mixing old and new, but Vinyl and Octavia kept the balance somehow, and made quite enjoyable pieces. When Scroll discovered they had an account on one of the sites for independent music creators, he made sure to register there and spend some of his savings on donations to them. That earned him a gratitude and a promise of best tickets to wherever they performed.

He also got along with the inseparable duo - Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops. The mint-skinned girl had a passion for zoology, and the bicolour-haired girl had a thing for spy novels and movies. While both were not a topic Scroll was well-versed with, the girls managed to keep the conversations interesting. In return, Scroll shared stories of some of his Cloudsdale adventures, which Sweetie found quite interesting when it involved chasing or sneaking around.

Most importantly, though, he found great friends in Sunset Shimmer and her group of friends... well, almost all of them.

Scroll was the type of a person who valued intelligence in women, so he never had problems with someone having higher grades than him - provided they were deserved, of course; he remembered the scandal where one of the teachers had an illicit relationship with a female student in return for grades - but after the transfer, he had to get used to having competition in the academic field. Twilight "Sci-Twi" Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer were, as he learned later, two of the CHS' top students. Twilight had an advantage of having aced the curriculum of Crystal Prep Academy, while Sunset just strived to maintain her excellent academic record. Both girls could give him a run for his money in terms of grades and overall intelligence, which stung him a bit initially - he prided himself on his academic exellence, after all. Not willing to just give up, Scroll made sure to do his best in terms of academics as well and climb the ladder to the top. Having a challenge felt a little refreshing for him, so he did not complain.

Applejack and Rarity were an odd pair he could barely imagine as friends, due to their almost diametrically opposite outlooks and personalities, yet he had found himself caught in their conversations on several occasions. Applejack usually brought up her family, the apple farm she grew up and worked on or something agriculture-related as a topic, while Rarity delved into fashion and high-class art. Scroll mostly listened, absorbing their world views and occasionally making a comment. The alabaster-skinned fashionista had already managed to get him to agree to her getting his measurements, and he promised Applejack to come visit the Sweet Apple Acres one day. All in all, he genuinely liked the girls' company.

Scroll did not interact much with Fluttershy, as the girl was usually very quiet and he did not want to force her out of her shell, thinking it would do more harm than good. One day, however, one of the talks happened to turn to animals, and Fluttershy became so engaged in the conversation that Scroll could not believe he was seeing the same person. The young man was only moderately interested in animals, but he expressed his approval when he learned about Fluttershy volunteering at the local animal shelter. The girl felt embarrassed, but still thanked him, and told Scroll he could come and help at any time. Scroll promised to make a time in his calendar for that.

Pinkie Pie was an oddball who could incite either genuine amusement or drive to a headache, with no derivable pattern. Scroll could not find any reasonable explanation to the girl's hyperactiveness and an uncanny ability to appear at the right or wrong time (and was persuaded by others to spare himself the headache and drop the subject), and mentally facepalmed at her antics more than once. He usually could not stand airheaded girls, and Pinkie fit the bill perfectly - yet she was quite smart, despite what one would expect. Some time later, Scroll got more used to Pinkie being... well, Pinkie, and decided that the poofy-haired party girl definitely was a good friend to laugh with.

As for Rainbow Dash...

Scroll took Applejack's advice to heart, and tried his best to tolerate the cocky prismatic-haired tomboy. The task was not that simple, however.

The more they chatted, the more Scroll was sure that he and Rainbow Dash were almost polar opposites. Scroll valued academical success without denying the need to remain fit, while Rainbow seemed to eschew everything in favour of sports; not once and not twice did the young man facepalm mentally (or literally) when he caught sight of some grammatic or spelling error done by the cyan-skinned girl. There were times when he was sorely tempted to grab a dictionary (preferably a very heavy dictionary) and beat her senseless with it. His remarks on academics' importance were usually dismissed with a "nerd alert!" from her, which did not improve the situation.

While both loved videogames, it turned out that aside from some fighting games, their tastes barely overlapped. Rainbow preferred games where reflexes and reaction speed was the cornerstone - mostly first person or third person shooters, or racing games. Scroll favoured thinking and planning, which lead him to enjoy real-time strategies most of the time. He was not averse to other genres, though, if they necessitated tactical thinking. One time, he and Rainbow Dash got into an online match in Modern Battlegrounds 5, a first-person shooter where personal and small-unit tactics were as important as reflexes and reaction time and which both of them actually enjoyed playing. After some action in team deathmatch mode on public servers, she challenged him to a duel, and he agreed. Said duel ended with him gaining victory through knowledge of the map, correct loadout and clever trap placement, which Rainbow tried to counter with heavy weapons fire and anti-camping tactics; however, the final count was 51:43 in Scroll's favour.

Rainbow had a very unhappy facial expression the next day when Scroll saw her in school. Confirming her loss as the reason behind it from other girls, he concluded that Rainbow was quite a sore loser, which did not cast her in any favourable light for him.

Admittedly, he himself really hated being shown up by Rainbow Dash in P.E. class. Despite his best efforts, Rainbow remained a better athlete than him (and got better grades), and she never hesitated to remind him of it whenever he lagged behind her. Scroll usually put on a cool, disinterested face in response to her taunts, or responded with a snarky remark, but if his defeat was especially embarrassing to him, this usually resulted in him and Rainbow going at each other in an online game challenge, and Scroll not feeling satisfied unless he made the cyan-skinned tomboy eat his dirt in a game and got her to type a swear word (or several) in the game chat.

For the month, both settled into the routine of mutual trolling. One day, however, the situation escalated to a full-blown war...





Scroll Pen was genuinely impressed with the library that Canterlot High had at its disposal. Holding both mandatory curriculum books and advanced-level materials on certain subjects, as well as an impressive collection of both classic and modern literature, it took a lot of space in the building, which by itself was rather large and impressive.

The young teen was killing time while Miss Cheerilee was picking the books he needed. When the teacher and part-time librarian returned, he re-focused his attention to her. He wrote the date and his signature on the books' library cards and Miss Cheerilee put them away in a small folder with his name.

"Thank you, Miss Cheerilee," Scroll said.

"You're welcome, Scroll. Oh, may I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course."

"I've noticed that you hang around a group of girls that includes Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes, I do at times. Something the matter?"

"Yes, Miss Dash has several books that are overdue. Could you please remind her about this?"

"Yes, no problem. Should we cross paths, I'll tell her. Thank you again, Miss Cheerilee."

"You're welcome, and have a good day."

"You too, Miss Cheerilee."

Scroll exited the library and went to the vending machine to get a small snack. Putting in the money and choosing a chocolate bar, he went out to the stadium, as it was empty and he could do some of his work there in silence while breathing fresh air.

Or so he thought.

While the stadium was indeed empty at first, his studies got interrupted twenty minutes after he started. A small group of athletes, led by Rainbow Dash, arrived at the stadium, with Applejack and Fluttershy trailing behind.

"Oh, hey, Scroll!" the athlete shouted in her trademark loud, slightly raspy voice.

"Hey, Dash. Hi there, guys. Whatcha doing?"

"Came to practice here a bit," Rainbow proved her words by kicking a soccer ball upwards with her knees, changing it every time she hit the ball. "What're you doing over there?"

"Got some homework to do and I'm not in the mood to sit inside, so I came here. You came to practice?"

"Yeah, except Applejack and Fluttershy. Flutters is here to cheer for me, and Applejack just wants me to mess up so she could troll me."

"Ah resent yer accusations, Rainbow!" the blonde farm girl shouted. Scroll chuckled quietly, which was not unnoticed by Applejack.

"Ah said somethin' funny, pardner?"

"Sorry, Applejack, but I'll believe it when I see it. Your rivalry with Dash is a stuff of legends here. It's no secret that you want to one-up her at something."

"Wha?" Applejack was puzzled. "It's that wide-known?"

"Yep-yep."

"Well Ah'll be... wow. Didn't see that one comin'."

"Chill, AJ!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "This makes things better, 'cause more people will learn how awesome I am!"

Applejack facepalmed, and Scroll barely resisted the temptation to copy her.

"That said, Rainbow Dash," the young man called out to her, "I've been to the library, and Miss Cheerilee said that you have overdue books and asked me to pass this along."

"Ah snap, it's "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone" that I owe her, plus some school books," the prismatic-haired athlete responded. "Thanks for telling me, Scroll."

"No problem. Although... Daring Do? You're reading this series?"

"Yeah, it's way more awesome than all that boring reading stuff for eggheads. What? Something wrong with it?"

"Aside from the fact that what's written in those books shows what archaeology isn't? No."

"What do you mean by "what archaeology isn't", Scroll?"

"Exactly what I mean," Scroll looked up, his eyes boring into Rainbow's. "Daring Do is an adventure novel that has nothing to do with how archaeology works in real life. None of the recent archaeological expeditions in the last three years have discovered tombs filled with elaborate traps, or treasures of ancient gods capable of spelling doom for the whole mankind, and even though the part about fighting evil is partially true, considering that there are criminal organizations dedicated to robbing graves and selling antiques on the black market, a lone archaeologist cannot possess the skills of Daring Do unless they had served in the special operations branch of the military, and even then the whole skill set of the main character is barely realistic and sometimes contains factual errors. It may be fun to read about a badass archaeologist, but from the point of view of realism, Daring Do fails in that regard."

Silence fell as every person in the vicinity stared at him as he finished speaking.

Aaaaaaand now you have totally killed your social standing here, Scroll told himself. Then again, why should I have expected them to be into something classical?

Then he noticed that Rainbow was giving him a positively angry look.

Oops. The brown stinking mass of feces is about to hit a rotary circulation device designed for blowing air.

"Scroll?" Applejack spoke up quietly. "Brace yerself. Rainbow Dash's fan rage is incomin'."

"Thanks for the warning," the young man whispered back.

"So you think Daring Do sucks?" the prismatic-haired athlete did not disappoint, putting hands on her hips, eyes narrowed in outrage and firing invisible rays of death at him.

"I think that this book is not worth the hype that surrounds it."

"Jeez, what sort of an egghead are you? Don't you people read, like, every book?"

"I was not aware there are sorts of eggheads, although there are sorts of eggs, actually. To answer your last question, not necessarily. Daring Do is not a series that belongs to higher class of literature."

"Say what?" Rainbow exclaimed in a surprised voice. "But these books are bestsellers!"

"Quantity does not equal quality."

"So you're saying you're too good for Daring Do, now?"

Heavens above, you're so annoying! Before Scroll properly thought the situation through, he leaned forward in a challenging pose and said:

"What if I am? What are you going to do, Dash?"

"I'm gonna kick your butt and make you a fan of Daring Do!" Rainbow's expression was deadly serious.

Well done, Scroll, you've stepped into a shit-mire now. "Kick my butt? At what?"

"I dunno, pick your poison. I bet anything you can do, I can do better. But no videogames!"

Hmmm... in terms of athletics, Rainbow will certainly beat me, so I must find something to play to my strengths. Think, think! Where do you have a chance in beating her? Where did you fare well against jocks back in Cloudsdale, Scroll? the challenged self-proclaimed nerd thought furiously.

Then he remembered.

"Are there lasertag arenas in Canterlot?"

"Sure are," Rainbow said. "That new closed arena just opened recently. Red Lamp Shots Arena, it's called. It's mega-cool, they have several halls with changeable cover configurations, and many scenarios, starting from old wars to imaginations of future wars, and many options for loadout choice. You wanna try lasertag against me, Scroll?"

"Yes. This Sunday, two p.m. One-on-one duel. I'll make reservations. Don't be late."

"Alright, you're on! Get ready to get your butt kicked! In the meantime... Gang!" Rainbow shouted at her teammates. "Let's practice, time's a-wasting!"

Don't count your leftovers until they're actually left over, Rainbow Dash, Scroll returned to his hometask.

"Scroll," Applejack asked him quietly as Rainbow and the athletes began running around the field, "are you sure this is a good idea? No offense, but Rainbow's more athletic than you."

"None taken, Applejack. Rainbow made a mistake when she let me choose a thing to compete against her at. Back in Cloudsdale, I was very good at lasertag. Even those stronger than me were felled by my shots, so to speak. Lasertag is not only about physical strength, after all."

"How did ya win against those jocks, then?"

"It's all in the head, Applejack," Scroll tapped his temple. "Tactics, knowledge of terrain, good cover and correct loadout can negate the physical advantage, at least partially. And preserving strength for when it truly matters."

"So y'think you can win?"

"At worst I won't suffer a humiliating defeat. But yes, I can win. Or at least I estimate the chances of me winning as fifty percent."

"You sure got guts."

"Ha ha. Thanks, Applejack."

"Yay," a soft voice sounded to the side. Scroll felt his eyebrows rising.

"Was that... Fluttershy cheering?"

"Flutters rarely, if ever, cheers loudly."

"...she sure fits the "shy" part in her name."





"So you decided to go off against the top athlete while relying on your head?" Thunder Barrel asked his son as both of them ate their supper. "Gutsy, but not very smart. You do know that your endurance is not the best and you lose your advantage as time goes?"

"I know, Dad," Scroll replied. "But we will only play for one hour. I already made reservations via Internet and Rainbow doesn't mind."

"So what's our plan?"

"I will scout out the arena and check the terrain, to see where it is best to hide or camp, as well as plan for anti-camping tactics."

"You think that this Dash girl won't do the same?"

"It's possible, but unlikely. Whenever we played online, she seemed to put more importance on reflexes than tactics. It is unlikely that she has a different approach to lasertag."

"What if she does?"

"I adapt, like I always do, and gauge her strengths and weaknesses."

"How certain are you of your victory chances?"

"My gut says... about fifty or so percent, Dad. But do not worry. Even if she beats me, it won't be a humiliating defeat, like one of my first times when I lost twenty-five versus fifty."

"Well, son, then I will be very curious as to your results. I am afraid I won't be able to root for you on Saturday - the local military command needs me for some damn paperwork, and that's gonna take a long time."

"No prob, Dad. I appreciate the thought. I won't embarrass our name."

"You'd better not, son, or I'll marry you off to this Dash girl."

"Oh come on, Dad!"





The Red Lamp Shots Arena, despite its somewhat funny name, had the most impressive facilities Scroll Pen has ever seen, and he had played lasertag at military training arenas back in Cloudsdale, so he could afford calling himself a "pro" when it came to arena choices.

The big hall chosen for his duel against Rainbow Dash was themed after modern urban warfare and did not boast arrangeable cover, but the selection of lasertag weapons available for loadout was very impressive. Scroll had taken care to watch several matches in that arena before Saturday arrived, and has already managed to map several good camping points, as well as plans for attack - or withdrawal, if needed.

Most impressive. Even if Rainbow Dash had played here before, I should be able to dish it out properly, he thought.

Now, it was Saturday, 13:49, and Scroll was standing near the entrance to Red Lamp Shots Arena, when he saw the familiar rainbow-coloured hair... as well as other familiar hair. As the group came closer, he recognized other girls from Rainbow's usual posse. He raised his eyebrows, but otherwise maintained his composure.

"Sup, Scroll?" Rainbow raised her hand in greetings, a confident smile on her face.

"Doing fine. Hi, girls. A pleasure to see you, although I must admit I am surprised to see you here."

"We were curious as to how you and Rainbow would play against each other," Sunset Shimmer said. "I only vaguely heard of lasertag before."

"Is this fun?" Pinkie bounced in place.

"It sounds scary," Fluttershy almost whispered.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Scroll said, "infrared beams used in lasertag are harmless, so both of us will be fine... unless things come to fisticuffs, that is. However, fist fights are banned in lasertag games, so we should be fine."

"That doesn't sound reassuring..."

"Alright, let's get inside, our time's about to start," Scroll said, turning to the entrance. "Come on!"

"Oh yeah, this is gonna be awesome!" Rainbow shouted, rushing inside.





After getting inside and listening to the safety instructions, Scroll Pen and Rainbow Dash parted ways and entered their respective rooms where they would change to urban digital-pattern camouflage, get the sensors on their persons and choose their loadout.

Having scouted the area before, Scroll had an inclination as to how he would proceed. The area had several spots where he could have a decent view on the battlefield and cover most of the area, and he already saw the one that would suit him best from the end he was about to enter.

Which left the notion of his loadout. The duel did not have any limits on that, which meant he was free to pick whatever would suit him best. His choice would depend on two factors: terrain and Rainbow Dash's behaviour.

The terrain did not favour cumbersome weapons if one planned to stay mobile or wanted to be able to relocate quickly in case of emergency, so anything heavy or cumbersome was out of the question. On the other hand, camping spots were good for marksman and sniper fire, but sniper rifles would be useless at close distances. Marksman rifles would do better, but maneuvering around with them would be slightly problematic in the arena.

Rainbow's possible tactics were a potential big spanner in the works. Scroll doubted that Rainbow could break and enter cover properly, as this was something taught in infantry military academies, but depending on her speed, one would require either precise marksman fire or "spray and pray" tactics to get her while she was in the open. Another factor was whether Rainbow would try to rush him as quickly as possible and beat him in close quarters or try to rattle him from medium distance. He could theoretically deal with the latter, but not the former if he did not have a weapon with a suitable rate of fire. There could also be a problem of grenades being used to flush him out of cover, which added more prudence to keeing Rainbow at bay - but Scroll knew that sooner or later Rainbow would know where he was, and then he would need to change the marksman spot quickly. And if he needed to change his cover, the rate of fire would come into play, as chances of hitting Rainbow with precise fire dropped close to zero for him.

On some pondering, Scroll decided to pick an assault carbine with a collimator sight and a foregrip as his primary weapon. He could do marksman fire pretty well with it, and it was not as unwieldy as an assault rifle or a marksman rifle would be during movement. As for the secondary weapon, he decided to pick a pistol classed as a "personal defense weapon" - with automatic fire, that is - for emergencies, and several "frag" and smoke grenades.

Should do fine for a starting loadout, and then I will change if necessary.

"Alright, I am ready," he told the attendant.

"Good," the young man, only a decade older than Scroll, spoke into his walkie-talkie:

"We're ready."

"Alright, so are we. Let him out, the lass here looks like she will kick me in the balls if we delay further."

"Got ya," the attendant unlocked the door. "OK lad, you can move to the starting position. When the gong sounds, the game begins and I go back; then you're on your own."

"Copy," Scroll rolled his neck and moved out, standing on one knee within the red rectangle near his exit.

"The game begins in five," the loud announcement reverberated across the arena, "four, three, two, one..."

GONG!

Scroll sprung up, dashing to one of the predesignated positions on his left - a small personal bunker of sorts, with an opening specifically made for firing. The young teenager set himself into position and looked down the collimator sight, trying to determine where a certain rainbow-haired jockette would happen to be.

He did not have to wait long, as he saw Rainbow Dash running in his general direction while outside cover. Hastily aiming his gun at the sensors set on her, Scroll pulled the trigger.

The sound processors gave out the gunfire sounds, and a feedback device made the gun kick back - although not as much as an actual carbine would have - and infrared rays made the sensors flare up with red colour, meaning a successful hit. Rainbow made an impressive jump to the side and hid behind a low cover. Scroll traced her movement with his carbine, waiting for her to pop up. He did not have to wait long - as Rainbow stuck her head out, he managed to score a hit before she pulled back, thus "killing" her. He heard the athletic girl shout something (presumably a swear word) and go back to her starting position where she would start again.

A small buzzer sounded through the arena half a minute later, signifying that Rainbow was back in the game. Scroll repositioned himself slightly, and waited for his chance.

He did not have to wait long, as Rainbow Dash began approaching him, changing covers. He fired whenever she broke cover, hoping to clip her "health points" before she pinpointed his exact location. When there was little distance left, one of his shots hit her arm, which brought her HP count to zero.

"Blast!" he distinctly heard her swear this time, and barely refrained from shouting "Language!" at her. As he looked at her retreating form, he tried to analyze the situation.

Not good, she discovered my approximate location quicker than anticipated, and most likely will zoom in on me this time. I can rusk it and score one more hit from here, and then change my location. What should I do? Hmm... perhaps I could risk it and try once more.

He shuffled again and waited. Sure enough, the prismatic-haired athlete was approaching him, taking potshots whenever she could, hoping to make him duck and thus allow her to get closer - or land a lucky hit on him. Despite her visible frustration, she did everything she could to avoid being hit.

One of the infrared beams hit the sensor on Scroll's right arm, and the young man felt a sharp vibration, cursing as his gun was temporarily disabled - a side effect of imitation of ballistic shock - and he cursed, ducking and moving away. As he "recovered", he stuck out and landed a headshot at Rainbow Dash...

...who, in, turn, managed to fling a grenade at the bunker moments before he hit her. The grenade fell into the open slot - and judging by blinking lights, it was alerady primed for "detonation".

BOOM! The sound processor emitted a loud sound, and dozens of IR rays hit sensors on Scroll's body. Needless to say, he was "killed".

Whelp, there went my first rampart... he though dejectedly, returning to his starting area. Must move quick - maybe I'll gain an advantageous position before she detects me?





Scroll Pen could not remember when he had a lasertag duel this intensive. Usually, if someone tried to humiliate him by going at him in a one-on-one lasertag duel, Scroll could easily outsmart or outmaneuver them, and pounce on any weakness his rivals had. Since few had the same approach to lasertag that he had (and those who did virtually never tried to assert their "coolness" by duelling him), he rarely was truly threatened with a loss that was unacceptable for him. Typically, he could outwit any jock (or jockette, rare though they were) in a duel.

Rainbow Dash, however, proved to be a far more competent and competitive opponent. Her athleticism allowed her to endure physical exertion better than Scroll could, and she did her damnedest not to waste any strength and conserve energy, which in turn forced Scroll into an unenviable position: since he could not hold one and the same position for long, he had to change them regularly or even be forced to escape if Rainbow managed to catch him off-guard; but at the same time, he could ill-afford any stress.

Unlike other jocks he knew, Rainbow was actually taking him seriously. Scroll rarely dueled with opponents who took him seriously, and when he did, these were the hardest fights he had been in.

Heh. In for a cent, in for a buck, he thought grimly. Too late to chicken out now. Win or bust!

On the other hand, he felt strangely... flattered that Rainbow Dash did not want to underestimate him.

Knowing that his previous strategy will eventually make him lose, Scroll decided to change tactics. Instead of sticking to cover, he was trying to ambush Rainbow in random parts of terrain. Urban combat-themed arena had enough available cover for that, which he actively used to drive Rainbow nuts with surprise attacks from flanks or behind. She screamed foul words at him whenever he managed to score a headshot from behind, and swore revenge - which she executed by jumping out at him and peppering him with shots whenever she detected him. In return, Scroll silently promised himself that he would bitchslap the prismatic-haired jockette the very next chance he got whenever Rainbow "killed" him.

Unfortunately, this strategy, while it allowed him to keep the final count reasonably equal, had a significant drawback - as he had predicted, he was forced to move more actively, which meant that his energy reserves would begin to dwindle soon, and Rainbow would use it to gain advantage over him.

Not happening, he thought. During his running and gunning through the arena, he found a spot which left him relatively safe from three sides, meaning he could cover the only way to reach him. Even better was the fact that his hiding spot was not really easy to see, meaning he could hit Rainbow and remain unseen.

Noting that the count was thirty-eight to thirty four in Rainbow's favour, and there were only fifteen minutes remaining, Scroll moved out to the position he had marked for using.

The decisive part of their battle began...





Ding-diling-diling-diling-diling-diling-diling-diling-diling-diling!

When the bell signalled the end of the match, both Scroll Pen and Rainbow Dash were panting heavily, desperately trying to get oxygen in their lungs.

The last fifteen minutes have been brutal for them both.

Scroll has successfully managed to gain an advantage over Rainbow in his newest hiding spot, but the prismatic-haired athlete figured out where he was hiding pretty soon, and forced him out of cover with grenades - and into her sights. Not being the one to discard an advantage, she tried to use the cover herself - except that it did not do her any favours, since Scroll peppered her with grenades even more mercilessly. Since using the same cover would have ended with a cycle of "Scroll killed - Rainbow killed" there, both sides abandoned the idea and Scroll had to improvise while thinking furiously on his feet, since Rainbow was not going easy on him.

As such, the scale tipped to either his or her side as the time went, with no determined outcome - which only spurred two rivals to give their fullest even further.

In the end, both of them became riled up enough to forget about any complicated tactics whatsoever, and their duel became more ferocious. Scroll and Rainbow maneuvered around the arena, trying to catch each other unaware, the former trying to flank her or attack from behind and the latter running helter-skelter to throw off his aim or trying to get a jump on him so he would not be able to react in time.

While Scroll was feeling tired, the almost primal (as he would have described it) fight they were in now awakened a surge of adrenaline within him, giving him extra strength. While he still could not match Rainbow's speed, his agility was surprisingly still on par with hers - thanks to the terrain that did not favour quick running - and he used it to its fullest.

Still, in the end, the final count was fifty-three to fifty-five in Rainbow's favour - a result of her killing spree where Scroll had "died" five times before adapting to her hit-and-run tactics, and was unable to catch up with her in time.

Not saying a word, two opponents turned their backs on each other and went to their respective "bases". Scroll gave back the lasertag weapons, used the shower that the lasertag arena had and changed into his casual clothes. When he was done and went out, the rest of the girls (Rainbow excluded) met him.

"That was quite a show, sugarcube," Applejack told him. "Ah was surprised someone could make Rainbow sweat."

"I am full of surprises," Scroll smirked with some degree of arrogance.

"Are you OK, Scroll?" Fluttershy asked, worried. "You don't look really well."

"Well I just had some intense workout, and I'm really gonna feel it tomorrow, but I'll manage. Don't worry about me, Fluttershy."

"What's gonna happen now?" Twilight asked.

"Dunno. We did not have any bet. Rainbow did kick my butt, as she said, though."

"Are you OK with that?"

"Not really. I am somewhat frustrated. Lasertag is one physical activity where I am best at, but she still defeated me, so I'm afraid my masculine pride is somewhat bruised right now."

"I thought it was your butt? I mean, you did fall on it once," Rainbow Dash appeared. Scroll gave her a quick lookover.

Hmmm, appears that she is feeling it as well. Well at least she isn't invincible.

"No, it was my coccyx that suffered mostly," the young man winced at the memory.

"Coccyx?"

"More commonly known as tailbone."

"Oh. Could've said that instead."

"My own bruises aside, thank you for the game, Rainbow Dash," Scroll approached the rainbow-haired athlete, his right hand drawn forward. "It was a pleasure to duel against an opponent like you."

"Even if you lost?"

"I am... vexed a bit, to be honest, but I recognize a good lasertag player when I see one."

"Um..." Rainbow looked at his hand for a moment, thinking. Damn, that guy is still sportsman-like, although he looks like he wants to punch my face. And he is civil... did not see that one coming...

"Something wrong?" his voice interrupted her musings.

"Nah, nothing," the cyan-skinned tomboyish girl shook her head, and clasped his hand with her own, shaking it. "You're quite welcome, Scroll. You made me sweat really hard for me to win. I wouldn't mind going against you some other time. Heck, I'm not even gonna insist you take your words on Daring Do back."

"As I recall, we had no such deal. You simply said you would kick my butt."

"And make you a fan of Daring Do."

"That idea included making me eat my words?"

"I had thought of it at first. I also wanted you to say that on my phone's camera. But honestly, once I went against you, that thought kinda slipped away. In the end, I just... decided to throw it away."

"I see."

"However," Rainbow gained a serious expression, "since you still lost, I insist that you stop by my house and I lend you one of my Daring Do books, for two weeks."

"Vae victis," Scroll muttered. "OK, I'll oblige."

"That's the spirit!" the athlete slapped him on the shoulder. "Let's go right now! I don't live far from here."





In the end, Scroll Pen found himself near Rainbow Dash's house with Daring Do and the Quest for Sapphire Stone in his bag, which was slung over his shoulder. Other girls went to their homes, so in the end he and Rainbow were the only ones standing.

"Remember, two weeks," the cyan-skinned girl remined him.

"Got ya," Scroll nodded.

"Hey, Scroll, before you go, I have an offer for you."

"I'm listening."

"Canterlot High now has a lasertag team, and we want to take part in inter-school competitions, but our team is, well... kinda too green. I'm doing my best to train them, but I'm afraid we aren't up to snuff, especially if others are gonna be as tough as you, Scroll."

"They may be even tougher than me. I use my brains, but some have both brains and brawl. These were the hardest opponents for me, and I had trouble fighting against them when one-on-one."

"No kidding? Wow, that's gonna be tougher than I thought... anyway, Scroll, do you wanna join Canterlot High's lasertag team as a vice-captain?"

"Vice-captain?.. Wait, seriously?" Scroll's eyes widened.

"Yes, seriously."

"Why me?"

"Who else? No one even managed to get close enough to have a chance of victory against me. Yet you almost steamrolled me. That makes you, like, only twenty percent less cool than me."

"I assume that is a compliment to my skills?" Scroll asked wryly.

"Yep. And you know these fancy tactics, so I think Wondercolts would benefit greatly if you were to join."

"That means that you too would have to learn them."

"And I will," Rainbow turned even more serious. "Scroll, I want Wondercolts to win this game. There are guys in all teams that I sometimes have trouble dealing with, but we work well as a team, because we are Canterlot Wondercolts. As the captain, I must see if there's a possible talent nearby, and you definitely qualify. You just need some more endurance, as I could clearly see you were worse off the wear than me, and a bit more speed. I can train you along with others in that, and you can teach us how to outsmart our opponents. Of course, you can refuse my offer, it's not mandatory to participate... but I'll be honest, I really want you on the team, Scroll."

Scroll looked away to the side, thinking. He could practically see it - he and Rainbow Dash would definitely get into more arguments, or clash over something else. He really wanted to slap her sometimes for her abrasiveness, and he knew he annoyed her when he was in his nerd mode. How would two such personalities not ruin the team when the captain and the vice-captain were like this..?

Canterlot Wondercolts.

Rainbow's words struck him. He remembered something. Absent-mindedly, he looked at the background picture on his phone's screen.

The picture of him and the other girls at Pinkie's party for him, all in Wondercolts' regalia.

Something poked at his stomach like a lance.

I can't let them down, his voice spoke in his head, same yet different somehow.

He looked back at Rainbow's face. The cyan-skinned athlete was looking at him, presenting a brave facade, but her magenta eyes betrayed her nervous feelings.

Brown and magenta eyes locked on each other, and then...

"Alright," Scroll said. "I accept your offer."

"Really?" Rainbow asked again, in disbelief.

"Yes, really."

A second's pause, and then...

"Oh yeeees!" Rainbow rushed forward, and before Scroll knew it, her arms were around him and his ears were under assault. "This is so awesome!"

"Whoa, don't drop me!" Scroll warned her, trying to keep his balance. In desperation, he unconsciously wrapped his left arm around Rainbow, making her press her body onto him even more.

Oh snap, I can't fall, I can't fall, this will be very embarrassing..!

Stepping back, he managed to regain balance, and Rainbow let him go, beaming. Turning back to her house, she shouted over her shoulder:

"Next Saturday at the same arena, then! One p.m.! I'll bring the team so you'll see how we are! And don't forget to check our team schedule tomorrow!"

"Deal! Bye, then!" Scroll shouted back.

"See ya, Scroll!"

With these words, Rainbow entered her house, and Scroll went home.

Wow, this day surely was interesting. First, me and Rainbow all but murder each other, next, she offers me vice-captain's place... Damn, I'm crazy to accept that... then again, why not? She and others should surely make a better team to hang around with... And she was really happy when I accepted for some reason...

He recalled how "happy" Rainbow was, and recalled the feeling of her hug. He almost jerked in place, and felt blood rushing to his face.

Tartarus damn it, man, get a grip! Sure, that was surprising, but not worth getting flustered over!

Still, as he went further and replayed Rainbow's happy hug in his mind, some part of him thought that the hug felt really nice...