I am actually hopeful that I will continue to adjust quite well here. The friendly atmosphere really goes a long way to make things more welcoming. This school is truly turning out to be completely unlike any other in many ways. I was in math class, carefully taking notes and paying close attention. I have always been a good enough student and math has always been one of my better classes. Ever since Pinkie invited me to her party, I found myself pondering all about it, every once in a while. Knowing Pinkie, it will definitely be crazy.

Suddenly, the bell rang, taking me out of my thoughts. I quickly placed my notebook in my backpack and left my seat. I began to make my way to my next class.

"Hang on a second, Mr. Anderson."

I turned around and made my way back into the classroom.

"I have a favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" I asked.

"I need you to help tutor a student and get their grades up enough to continue to play football and since you are actually my best student, I figure you will be the best student for the job." He explained, before going to his desk and pulling out a file.

"Who's the student?"

Before he could answer, we heard someone entering the classroom. I turned around and saw, a cyan girl around my age with long rainbow hair and a carefree smile on her face.

"I'm here to meet my egghead tutor, so I can kick the other team's butt in the next game," She called out, before the smile became a cocky one, "As always of course."

"Come on and meet him miss Dash," He simply said before rubbing his face in frustration.

Great, it looks like I am tutoring one of the most popular girls in school and it seems like she is a handful. Rainbow quickly rushed towards us, and I found myself a little taken back with how attractive she looks, and the best part is there is no iota of make-up on her face. It was all-natural beauty.

"Is this my tutor?" She asked in disbelief, as she looked me up and down and I could have sworn her cheeks reddened for a brief second, before it faded away, "He doesn't seem like an egg head to me."

"If he agrees to it Ms. Dash."

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders before a cocky grin formed on her face, "Well, as I'm sure you already know I'm Rainbow Dash, Captain of every sports team and proud member of the Rainbooms, the saviors of CHS," She held out her hand which I shook, "I don't know if you will be the best person to tutor me, but maybe we can have some fun?" She stated with a smile, "What do you say?"

"Like I told you before Ms. Dash. This is serious and not fun and games. You are beyond lucky to be given this chance."

"Yeah yeah. I know I'm too awesome not to be given this second chance to." Rainbow responded with a dismissive hand wave.

"I don't usually go to bars on weekdays, but I can make an exception." I barely managed to hear him mumble, before he turned towards me, "What do you say Mr. Anderson."

"Yeah, I'll do it."

"Awesome! Meet you after school," Rainbow told me, before leaving the classroom.

"Good luck Mr. Anderson. You are going to need it."

After school, I was waiting patiently for her outside. I hope this whole tutoring thing ends up going well. From what Pinkie has told me about Rainbow and what I saw earlier, her attitude might get in the way from learning.

"Have I kept you waiting long?"

I snapped out of my thoughts to find Rainbow, standing in front of me with the same carefree smile from earlier.

"No, you haven't," I answered, deciding to get this whole tutoring thing over with, "So, where do you want to go?"

"My place of course. Follow me and try to keep up," She answered, before leading me to her house.

On the bright side, her quickness might allow us to get this session done quicker, so I can relax for the rest of the day.

"You know," Rainbow began, before giving me a good look, "I still don't see how you are the best person for this job. You don't seem like an egghead."

"I assume that's a compliment."

"Heh. Maybe," She chuckled, "Well, you seem like a cool guy. I think we are going to get along well."

Well, at least one of us is completely sure of that. I just hope that means she is willing to listen and actually learn.

We arrived at Rainbow's house, and she gave me a nervous smile to my surprise. What could she be nervous about?

"My parents aren't home and normally they are against me having people without them there," she told me somewhat sheepishly.

As would any parent.

"But what they don't know won't hurt them or get me in trouble," She finished, before leading me inside.

We entered her room and she quickly kicked her boots off, before carelessly tossing them into a corner. Her room was slightly messy, with a bunch of various sports equipment on the floor. There were trophies and other awards on shelves, showing that her bragging wasn't just for show. There was even a small habitat with a pet tortoise, who upon noticing Rainbow, seemed to have become excited. Rainbow smiled before going to the habitat and gently picking up the tortoise.

"Yes, Tank. I'm finally home." She said before placing the tortoise back and turning to look at me, "Alright, feel free to sit on the bed."

The bed was somewhat messy and even had a rainbow in clouds theme to it. There was even a rainbow banner hanging above. When I got closer and found a spot to sit, I noticed various 1st place medals hanging on the wooden frame. Looking around, there were a few other decorations with the same rainbow theme. I found myself enjoying it, as I was always fascinated with Rainbows. Rainbow joined me a moment later, with a remote, which she used to turn on a T.V. in front of the bed. She then picked up a video game controller from a nearby dresser and used it to turn her console on.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, just having some fun," She began, before sitting on the bed, "I always like to relax after a long day of school with some Daring Doo and since I figured you were cool, you would be fine with this before we have to do our studying thing."

Figures, she would pull something like this.

"So do I."

"Yeah, I knew you would be ok with it," she told me, giving me a smile.

"No, I want to get this session over with, so I can relax at home."

"Come on. Just a couple hours and I promise I will try to listen."

I sighed, as I pondered what to do. Well, from what Pinkie told me and from what I've seen of her so far, she is incredibly competitive.

"Does your Daring Doo game have co-op?" I asked.

"Yeah, why do you..." She began confused, before her face lit up in realization, "Oh, you want to have some fun too. Hope you are ready to lose."

Yep, she definitely is. Like the old saying goes, pride comes before the fall. I just hope I can manage to win against her.

"How about a wager?"

"Oh," Her face lit up in amusement, "I'm listening."

"It's simple. If I win one game, we study first, and you will listen to everything I say."

"Alright," She agreed, "But if I win, well since this is your first time, I will go easy on you. You just have to clean my room. Deal," She held out her hand.

"Deal," I responded, shaking it.

Rainbow entered the co-op menu and gave me a cocky look.

"To make things fairer, instead of a race, we will be battling for the most points," she told me, before reaching for a second controller and handing it to me.

"How does it work exactly?"

"You just collect them as you go through the level, and you receive a bonus the quicker you finish."

Rainbow selected the game mode and started the match. She quickly rushed through the stage and collected points along the way, while I made it through at a decent pace and collected as many points as I could. When Rainbow finished going through, she placed the controller down.

"I do hope you are quick at cleaning up, so we can get this tutoring done, before my parents get home."

"You are so sure you are going to win."

"Well, what can I say?" She chuckled, "I have been playing longer than you have."

After a couple minutes, I finally finished the stage, and our scores were slowly being tallied up.

"Well, dude you had a good try, but there was no way you..." Rainbow stopped in complete shock, as her score stopped increasing while mine kept going, "H-how? What? No way."

After a few moments, my score finally stopped, showing that it was considerably higher than Rainbow's.

"Are you ready to study Rainbow?" I asked, before taking a notebook and textbook from my backpack.

"How?" She simply asked, completely stunned.

"Common sense," I answered, "The best way to get the most points is to find an ideal balance between taking your time to collect them and rushing through."

"Ok. I am a girl of my word, but I will beat you next time," she told me, before holding out her hand.

"We'll see," I responded, shaking it.

Nice to see my little plan worked out. Now just to get through this session and I'm home free for the day.

We have been studying for over an hour now and true to her word, Rainbow is listening. To my annoyance her notes are incredibly lackluster, so we are studying mine.

"Hey, can we take a break yet," Rainbow asked, scratching her head, "This is getting overwhelming."

"Maybe after another hour or so," I answered.

She gave me an admittedly cute pout, but didn't argue further, as I repeated the lesson one more time. After a few minutes I let her try an example problem.

"The only reason I'm doing this is to get back in the game," Rainbow told me, as she stopped writing, "I don't see how this will help me in the future."

"I am more focused on the here and now. Just get through another hour and we can call it quits for today." I responded.

"Fine," She groaned, before getting back to working out the problem.

After another hour of having her do problems and going over the steps, we finally decided to stop to her and my relief. Now that's done, I can finally relax for the day.

"Hey, you want a snack?" Rainbow asked me, "My parents usually get the good stuff."

"I guess one snack before I go won't hurt."

"Not so fast dude. You aren't leaving until I have a rematch," She objected.

"Fine."

"And this time I'll win because it will be a race," She finished, before doing a victory pose by raising her fist in the air.

Let's get this over with.

I skillfully dodged a trap with the controller in one hand and a microwave pizza in the other. Rainbow and I were actually neck and neck. I risked a glance at her to find her eyes narrowed in concentration and determination. There even seems to be sweat on her face. We each kept switching leads as we got closer to the end of the stage. I could feel my heart rate increase as I saw the end goal. In the end I managed to reach the end microseconds before her.

"You won again," Rainbow stated in a tone that wasn't angry or spiteful, to my slight surprise.

"It was close."

"Again. This time I will win."

"You aren't going to let this go until you do, right?"

"Nope and you better not let me win. That's even worse."

"Yeah, let's just do it."

We played a few more rounds and she managed to win a couple. While she seemed happy to finally have gotten a victory, she seemed a little peeved that I still seemed to be better overall.

"Ok, that's enough. This has been fun and all, but I have to clean my room before my parents get home."

"Behind on chores?" I asked

To my slight surprise, she blushed in embarrassment.

"Yeah, my parents are laid back and I want to surprise them with a clean room."

"Apparently, not enough to have done it earlier. Not to mention you were willing to have me do it for you, if you had won our bet." I couldn't help but quip.

"Yeah, well..." She could only stutter, as the blush got darker, "Whatever."

I watched for a few seconds as she quickly picked up some dirty laundry and made her way to a hamper.

"Would you like some help?" I asked.

She stared at me and blinked in surprise, "Seriously? You got lucky and managed to avoid doing it for our bet and now you are offering?"

"Yeah, you want it or not?"

She smirked, as she walked right up to me, "Sure, just make sure you don't touch my bras, alright?"

"Of course not," I stuttered, as I blushed in embarrassment.

"Got you. It's going to be fun to mess with you," She laughed.

"Let's just get to it."

"Alright, do a good job and you might get one as a prize."

I only gave her an unamused look in response, and she sighed in frustration.

"Dang, it's going to be harder to keep on messing with you, than I thought," She complained.

"Of course," I scoffed, "Who would fall for the same thing more than once?"

"A challenge huh. Bring it on."

In no time at all, Rainbow and I managed to completely clean her room.

"My parents will be here soon, so you better go, but first," She began before going to her drawer and pulling out a bra, "Your reward."

"Seriously?" I asked before shaking my head.

"I know you aren't falling for this again. I just thought it was worth a shot."

"The fact you are willing to tease someone you just met today with one of your bras three times is just plain weird and says a lot about you."

"I... It.." Rainbow stuttered, completely embarrassed, "Whatever."

"This has been fun. See you tomorrow." I simply said, before making my way out of her room.

"Yeah, later dude. I will be sure to get back to you tomorrow."

For the next few days, Rainbow and I continued to study and play her game. I continued to beat her every time during the points rounds, but we were still close during the races. She was even making great progress during our tutoring, and I have no doubt she will pass her next exam.

"This is much easier now. Now, I know I won't fail," she told me with a grin.

"Didn't you already know before we even started in the first place?"

"Yeah, but now I am twenty percent surer," She responded, trying too hard to sound confident.

"Well, you aren't the only one."

"Good. Now, it's time for me to kick your butt again," she told me, before picking up a controller.

"Last I checked I have five victories on you," I quipped, as I put my notebook and textbook in my backpack.

"Yeah, well today I will change that," She responded, with a light blush, before grabbing the other controller, "Let's just play," She finished, before she quickly tossed the controller at me.

I managed to catch it and sighed in slight annoyance, "Alright."

"Nice catch," She told me slightly impressed, "Do you play sports?"

"No, I just go to the gym often."

"Huh," She began to think, "Maybe you should join a sports team. I can't make you as good as me, but I might be able to turn you into a winner." She finished with a smile.

"I'll think about it."

"At least let me train you. Think of it as my way of paying you back for this. Maybe you can even be my personal tutor when I need help and I teach you how to play different sports,"

"Maybe. Why are you offering this anyway?"

"You seem pretty cool. Not anyone can keep on beating me at anything." She admitted.

"Ok, I guess we can give it a shot."

Later that night, I was lying on my bed, drawing in one of my notebooks. Playing with Rainbow and seeing Daring Doo made me want to do a few drawings of her, going on adventures. Now that this tutoring thing is over and done with, I can relax until Pinkie's party. It's going to be tough to be at a wild party, but I'm sure I will get through it and become more comfortable socializing. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate, as I received a text message. Rainbow and I exchanged numbers to keep in touch and speaking of the devil, she was the one who sent the message.

I was thinking we will start your training sometime next week. We will still be playing video games in between your sessions.

I smiled, before I sent her my response

Fine by me. I can't wait to keep on beating you at your favorite game.

What do you know? I made another friend already. Looks like I am doing well so far. I only hope I can keep it up.

This chapter was a lot of fun to write. I especially enjoy Rainbow's and Marcus' interactions.

next chapter Marcus goes to Pinkie's party and meets up with a certain someone.