Anthropomorphism

Chapter Four: New Friends, New Beginnings: Part Two

Edited by: TheDaringDone

After leaving your social studies class, you made your way back to your locker and stuffed your binder inside, intent on grabbing some lunch from the cafeteria. Your stomach growled like a manticore, voicing its displeasure at not being fed recently.

Not long after you started walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria, you heard somepony behind you call out your name. You glanced behind you and realized that it was Rainbow Dash, who waved you over when she saw that you heard her. You smiled and turned around, glad to see another familiar face.

"Hey Dash," you said as you approached Rainbow Dash and her two friends, whom were both Pegasi.

Before Dash could open her mouth, one of her friends, who had light gold fur and turquoise hair that looked as if it was made to look like she just got out of bed, interrupted her. "So this is the pony you've been going on about all day. You're right, he is pretty h-" she said, but stopped when Dash put her hand over her mouth.

"Shut up, Rain!" Dash whispered, loud enough that you couldn't help but overhear. "Not another word! Got it?!"

'Rain' nodded, her eyes sparkling with mischief. Rainbow Dash turned back to you, blushing. She gave you the cheesiest smile that you had ever seen, along with saying, "Eh heh, yeah, uhh, I was just telling her how, uhh, high-reaching you were." This was followed by more nervous laughter.

You were surprised to see Dash so flustered. If my memory serves right, she hasn't acted like that since the diner when the waitress said...oh. After a few moments of thinking, your mind put the pieces together. Does she have a crush on me? you thought, worried how quickly your easy friendship with Rainbow Dash could end with a few wrong words.

Hmm...what if I act like I don't know that she was going to say 'hot'? Dash must think that I'm completely oblivious, if she thinks that I'd overlook an obvious lie like that. Yeah, that just might work. Heck, maybe we can forget this whole thing ever happened, you thought, trying to bestow confidence in your own hastily constructed plan. You ignored the small part of yourself that told you that it would never work, not in a million years.

"Oh, uhh, yeah. I guess I am pretty tall, aren't I?" you said, hoping that your lying abilities weren't as bad as Rainbow Dash's.

Rain gave you a look of utter confusion that seemed to say, 'You're kidding me', while Dash exhaled in relief. Thunderlane, who was the third member of their little group, raised an eyebrow. Dash turned to her friends and said, "I'll see you guys later. I promised the newbie here that I'd show him around the school at lunch."

Wait, when did she say that?

Both Rain and Thunder bid you farewell, with the former still giving you a look of 'Really?' while the latter gave you a smile that made you think that he knew something you didn't. You waved goodbye as Dash shuttled you along the hall in the same direction that you were going before she had called you over.

You could have easily broken free of her grasp, but you let Dash drag you down the hallway and into the main foyer of the school. "Okay, I think we're far enough away now," she said you both came to a stop near the cafeteria. "Thanks for acting all oblivious back there. You were acting, right?"

Horseapples. Poker face, don't fail me now...

"Acting oblivious about what?" you asked, hoping that you weren't pushing your luck.

Dash's facial emotions were conflicted, as it seemed that many were vying for control of her face at the same time. You saw relief, disappointment, anger, anxiety, and a slew of others that you couldn't even begin to fathom. She finally settled on a slightly happy, albeit remorseful, expression.

"Never mind," she finally said. "So, up for that tour of the school?"

You would've accepted, if your stomach hadn't rumbled at the point in time. Looking over at the cafeteria, you asked, "How about lunch? I haven't eaten since breakfast..."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," agreed Rainbow Dash. You both started walking towards the back of the line-up that was waiting for their food. Smells like...macaroni and cheese!

As you waited in line, Rainbow Dash asked, "So, how's your day been so far?"

You had to think for a moment on how to answer that question. "Honestly, I've had more excitement my first day here than I'd have during an entire week at my old school," you answered. "I had a jumpscare while walking to school, somepony greased my lock and filled my locker with ping-pong balls, my drama teacher-" you stopped abruptly, realizing that you almost spilled the beans about Berry Punch.

"-Wasn't in today, so I got a free block. All in all, today's kept me on the tips of my hooves," you finished, not wanting to talk about social studies and the extremely hot teacher that had a great backside, almost as nice as Rainbow Da-

Whoa there! No! Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!

Fortunately, Rainbow Dash couldn't hear your internal monologue. Any further guilty thoughts were put to the back of your mind when you realized that you were next in line for food. You grabbed two trays, one for you and one for Dash, and paid for two large servings of macaroni n' cheese. As you and Dash went to go find somewhere to sit, as all the benches in the immediate vicinity were taken, she asked, somewhat suspiciously, "Why do you keep buying me food?"

"Because that's what friends do?" you responded, unsure why she asked. "If somepony's hungry, then why not help them out by buying them lunch?"

Snickering, Rainbow said, "Well, you're going to have to buy a lot more than that to satisfy me. A growing and athletic pegasus like me needs as much food as she can eat."

You raised an eyebrow. "I bet I can eat you under the table." A second after uttering that sentence, you realized what was implied by the seemingly innocent remark. Your smile disappeared as you slowly facepalmed with your free hand. Oh Celestia...Why did I have to use that choice of words?

You peaked out at Rainbow Dash through your fingers, expecting to see her explode in anger, confusion, or possibly even embarrassment. Instead, she was grinning, her eyes full of determination. "You're on!"

Wait, what?! "Uhh..."

Rainbow Dash noticed your apprehension and asked with a smile, “What? Afraid that I'll eat you under the table?”

Your face was arranged in a way similar to when you first learned where foals came from. Oh buck me...she had to say that, didn't she?

“Wha-? R-really?! Did you really just say that?!" you stammered.

Like the flick of a light switch, you saw Rainbow Dash’s eyes widen as she realized the alternate meaning of what you had said and what her response meant. Her face turned bright red and she tried to hide behind her rainbow coloured hair, similar to what Fluttershy had done, albeit having much less success. You saw her wings vibrate slightly, probably out of embarrassment. Great. How am I going to talk my way out of this one?!

"I...I..."

You winced, expecting some sort of physical retaliation from the pegasus in front of you. What you weren't expecting was Dash to begin giggling. As her giggles turned into a full-fledged cackle, she doubled over, holding her side and nearly spilling her tray of food in the process. After her laughing fit was over, she said, "Wow! I can't believe that just flew right over my head the first time! I never thought that I would be the one that needed an explanation for something like that..." Rainbow started laughing again. "I can't believe we both said that!"

You couldn't help yourself: you broke into laughter too. The sheer ridiculousness of what happened, combined with the worry that you had said something stupid enough to possibly lose your first friend in Ponyville, made you convulse with laughter.

After your sides stopped heaving, you wiped a tear away from your eye and wheezed, "Well, we are teenagers, aren't we?" After standing back up exhaling, you said, "I'm glad you didn't take that the wrong way. Some girls at my old school would-"

You stopped talking because Rainbow Dash was holding a hand over her mouth, snickering. What did I say this ti-..."Oh ha-ha," you deadpanned. "'Take it the wrong way'. Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."

She did. When Dash was finally done laughing at yet another of your poor word choices, you asked, "Still up for that eating contest? I doubt that even a pegasus as active as you can beat me."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" challenged Dash. You didn't answer. Instead, you looked away and whistled a few off-key notes, trying to appear as casual as you could manage.

"Oh, it is so on!" responded Dash, the determined look coming back to her eyes. She grabbed your arm and hauled you over to an empty alcove that was nearby. You sat down, opposite from Rainbow Dash in the U-shaped alcove and prepared to engage in the one thing you knew you were damn good at: stuffing your face.

"On my mark!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "Three!"

You leaned in closer, your fork at the ready.

"Two!"

The smell of the pasta wafted towards your nose, causing you to lick your lips in anticipation.

"One!"

Your face was practically in the pasta, the heat coming off in waves towards your face.

"Go!"

You dived in, shoveling the pasta into your mouth. You hardly chewed, opting instead to swallow the pasta whole in an attempt to gain a lead against your adversary. You ended up stuffing macaroni into your mouth faster than you could swallow it, causing you to have to stop and chew. You spared a second to glance at your opponent, who was using a strategy similar to yours. We'll see who has the bigger appetite.

As you continued to chew, you were becoming more and more aware of a peculiar sensation that was starting to find purchase at the back of your throat. What is that? you wondered as you chewed as quickly as you could. It's starting to get...hot? Not long after your sudden revelation, your mouth started to burn, as if you had eaten some hot peppers. What, did they put chili flakes in here? you thought as you looked at the tray of pasta that you held. You didn't see any of the telltale red that indicated the presence of chili flakes, but through your now suddenly watering eyes, you saw that the supposedly-yellow macaroni had a slight orange tinge to it.

Oh buck. Oh buck me... you thought as your saliva started to feel like it had surpassed the boiling point. Your throat felt like you had swallowed hydrochloric acid, then followed it up by chugging a bottle of habenero juice.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-! you thought as tinges of red started to creep up on the corners of your vision.

As the pain started to spread along your entire body, the tears started to flow freely. Through your intense heat-induced stupor, you thought it was a good idea to wipe your eyes with the same hands that had just been near the hot sauce-spiked pasta. Not long after, your eyes became yet another part of your body that felt like it was, quite literally, on fire. Your knee jerked, launching the tray of macaroni of cheese across the floor. You were beyond caring about such trivialities: you were too busy trying to keep the spasms of your body under control.

The sudden flight of your lunch caused Dash to stop eating. "What's the hay?" she asked after the tray clattered to the floor. After you failed to even acknowledge her, she said, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

You lifted your head and make eye contact with Rainbow Dash's. Through burning lips, cheeks that felt like they had been steam broiled, and a stomach that felt like the inside of a volcano, you managed to sputter, "H-h-h-ot!"

Instead of running to get some cold milk or something to help with the raging inferno inside of you, something you couldn't fully understand happened. Rainbow Dash's wings sprung outward, extending to their full length, an almost six foot span, in a second. She yelped, and through your red, hazy vision, you thought you saw Dash's face turn a shade of crimson.

"You did know! You bastard!" she yelled at you while simultaneously trying to fold her wings back into place.

Nononononono! Not what I need right now! thought the lone part of your mind that wasn't screaming from the heat.

"H-h-hot s-sauce in p-pasta! F-feels l-like my f-face is m-m-melting!" you managed to utter before a coughing fit took over. If you weren't in such excruciating pain at that particular moment in time, you might have been amused by the look of utter shock on Rainbow's face. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"O-oh," she eventually said. She blinked repeatedly, as if finally seeing the pain that you were in. "Come on," said Dash while she helped you to stand up, her wings still outstretched more than normal. "Let's get you to the nurse."

*********************************************************

In your hazy, heat-addled mind, you blinked and found yourself barely managing to walk down the hall. "You and your Celestia-damned tallness! If you weren’t so freaking hot...Why are you so...frickin'...heavy!"

Wha-?

You blinked, the hallways warping into what appearing to be the office. You glanced to the side and saw through bleary eyes that Dash was supporting your right side. Somepony else must have been on your other side, as you heard a grunt come from that direction.

Who-?

You blinked again, this time finding yourself lying down on a rough cot with something shining into your eyes. The sudden brightness caused you to wince and avert your eyes. Your nose felt like it was on fire, and the light was not helping the steady throb of your headache.

"Come on, open your eyes. I need to see if your pupils are still dilated," coaxed a voice from beyond the artificial light.

You grudgingly obliged, flinching as the light scorched your eyeballs. For an indeterminable amount of time, you laid there, forcing yourself not to blink. When the light finally took its leave, you exhaled, relieved. Closing your eyes against the light, you thought, Finally. I thought that would never end...

After laying there for almost a minute, you decided to try moving. You started by lifting your leg. Well, tried to at least. You couldn't actually tell if you had raised it or not. You slowly became aware of an all-encompassing numb sensation that was affecting your whole body, save your pounding headache. What the hay? Did somepony drug me? What happened? The last thing I remember was having an eating contest-

Your realization caused you to sit bolt upright. It felt really strange, not being able to feel your body. The only thing that assured you that you were sitting up was the feeling of the concrete wall behind your head. Not even your tail would respond to your commands. As you sat there, eyes still closed, the memories of your eating contest with Rainbow Dash and your subsequent incapacitation from the intense heat of the compromised pasta flooded into your mind, all at once. You immediately regretted your decision to open your eyes, as a flash of pain alerted you to your two orbs' discomfort.

"Where am I?" you asked as you shielded your eyes with a hand, your throat sounding incredibly hoarse.

"Easy there, easy. You've been unconscious for almost fifteen minutes now. Why don't you just relax for a second? Get your bearings," responded an older female voice from above you. Fifteen minutes? What, did they pour milk down my throat while I was knocked out?

You took her advice and continued to sit there, one hand holding your throbbing head, the other shading your eyes from the bright lights above you. Several deep breaths later, you had organized your questions into a cohesive list, from most important to least important.

Naturally, the first thing you asked was, "Can I get a glass of water, please?" It came out as a wheeze, but you thought that you got the message across. A few seconds later, a paper cup of cold, but not overly so, water was held in front of you. You grabbed it and drank greedily, already feeling relief as the cool liquid soothed your aching throat. Even though your hands were numb, you still managed to bring the water to your lips without spilling. Well, without spilling most of it, anyway.

After finishing the cup of water, you cleared your throat and asked, without looking up, "Where am I?" You sounded a lot less like an eighty year old chain smoker after you drank the offered water.

"You're in the school Infirmary, young stallion," answered what you presumed to be the nurse. "You were delirious from intense capsaicin irritation when your friends dragged you in here."

"Where'd Dash go?" you asked. Stupid! you thought to yourself after you asked. She probably doesn't even know who Rainbow is!

"Rainbow Dash said that she had to 'talk' to someone that worked in the cafeteria. She said that she would be right back."

Great, now I feel even stupider. You briefly wondered how the nurse knew Rainbow Dash. "Dash comes here often, doesn't she?" you asked, taking an educated guess.

The nurse laughed and said, "You could say that. Rainbow Dash currently holds the school record for most broken bones."

Why am I not surprised? Rolling your eyes, you said, "Yeah, that sounds like her." You gingerly removed your hand-shade from your eyes, which forced you to squint for a couple seconds before your eyes fully adjusted. With your vision fully recovered, you looked up at the nurse. Well, started to, anyway.

You realized that even while you were sitting down on the cot, you were still slightly taller than the white-coated nurse. Her light pink hair was done up in a bun and she was wearing a generic, white nurse's hat with a red cross imprinted in the center, along with a matching stereotypical white overcoat. Her snow white fur was just slightly brighter than her apparel.

"You wouldn't happen to know who the other pony who hauled me over was, would you?" you asked, wondering who it could've been.

"That would be yours truly," said a male voice from off to your left. The curtain was drawn back to show Thunderlane sitting in a chair whilst wearing a mildly amused expression.

What, was he just sitting there, waiting for me to ask? Mentally shrugging, you put the thought aside for now. Before you could open your mouth, you heard a buzzing sound and the nurse say, "Yes?"

You looked over to see her holding a walkie-talkie to her ear. After a mumbled response that you couldn't make out, she replied, "Alright, I'll be right over." She sighed and put the walkie-talkie away. "Seems like somepony went and broke their arm again. Thunderlane, would you make sure that he doesn't go anywhere while I deal with the break?"

"Yes, Nurse Redheart."

As the nurse left to go deal with the other pony who was injured, you blinked several times without moving. "No, don't ask the patient to not go anywhere. It's not like he is concerned with his own well being," you said dryly when the nurse was out of hearing range.

Thunder chuckled and rolled his eyes. A slightly awkward silence followed your comment. You tried to break it by saying, "What the hay happened? I know that somepony put some sort of hot sauce in my lunch."

Thunder shrugged. "You probably know more than I do at this point. Dash went to go talk to Pinkie to see if she knew anything." He paused for a second before continuing. "What's up with you and Dash, anyway? You moved here, what, three days ago?" he asked. You nodded, to which he replied, "Three days and she's already all over you. You work fast, my friend."

You felt rather than saw your cheeks become tinged with red. "I don't know what she's said or what her agenda is, but we're just friends right now." You exhaled, then continued. "Besides, from what Rainbow's told me, she loves flying more than anything. If you haven't noticed, that's not exactly something I can do."

Thunder seemed confused. "You two...aren't together?"

"NO!" you said, louder than you intended. Feeling embarrassed, you cleared your throat and tried again. "Err, no. No we are most certainly not."

The burly pegasus fell silent for a few seconds before responding. "If you don't mind me asking, why not? You could do a lot worse than hooking up with Dash..."

"I..." you started to say, but fell silent when you realized that you didn't know the answer. You drummed your fingers on your knee, unsure of how to respond. Do I consider Rainbow Dash just a friend...or do I secretly want something more? You felt your headache that had started to recede come back in full force. Ugh, I've been here for three days! Three freakin' days! Why is this happening to me, of all ponies?!

"I don't know," you finally answered. "I've never...actually...been in this situation before and I'm not quite sure how to go about it. Pleading ignorance has seemed to work so far."

"Wait, what do you mean 'never been in this situation before'?" asked Thunderlane. "You mean...you've never had a fillyfriend?"

You tapped your hoof against the linoleum floor in mild agitation. Should I tell him? you asked yourself. After a second if intense consultation, you decided that it didn't really matter if Thunder knew or not. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," you finally admitted.

Thunderlane was wearing a quizzical expression on his face after you admitted that you had never had a fillyfriend before. Before he could respond however, your conversation train was derailed when you heard a cheerful voice echo down the corridor. Both of you looked down the short hallway to see who the newcomers were.

The voice was revealed to be Pinkie's when her and Rainbow walked around a corner."It wasn't just any old hot sauce!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "It was Super-Duper-Nuclear-Waste-Hot Sauce! I had to get it specially ordered in from Stalliongrad and then the first day that I was going try it...somepony steals it!"

You saw that Pinkie was wearing what appeared to be an apron at first glance, but turned out to be a strange type of over wear, similar to overalls that reached to about knee level. The dark pink overall-type over wear was...complemented by a blue and purple striped sweater that Pinkie Pie wore underneath. You noticed that her legs were mostly bare, aside from some ankle length socks with similar colouring to her sweater. You thought that they would look rather tacky on anypony else, but on Pinkie Pie, they just seemed to fit.

"And you're sure that you didn't accidently put some into the macaroni and cheese?" asked Rainbow Dash, knocking you out of your mild stupor.

"I'm super-ultra-mega-quintupley sure! After I-" Pinkie stopped abruptly after she noticed you. Her eyes locked on to yours and before you knew it, she had closed the distance between you and her. You found your torso being crushed by pink pony as she burrowed her face into your shoulder.

What the-?

"I'm so-so-so-so-so-so-so sorry for what happened!" you heard her say between the sharp cracks coming from your sternum. "It's your first day here and you end up in the Infirmary and it's all my fault because somepony stole the hot sauce that I brought specially for me and-"

"O-Okay Pinkie," you managed to wheeze. You caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash glaring at Pinkie through her pink, curly mane that was practically in your face. Rainbow's face had inherited an all-too-familiar shade of crimson. "Y-you can let go now, Pinkie," you said embarrassed from her bear-like hug. By Celestia, she's strong!

"Oh! Sorry!" said Pinkie Pie sheepishly as she unwrapped herself from your midsection, oblivious to her friend that was glaring daggers at her. "I just don't want you to think that Ponyville is full of big ol' meanie-pants because of what happened! Jokes and pranks should be harmless and funny, not hurtful and cruel!"

"Uhh, y-yeah. I-it's okay, Pinkie. It wasn't your fault, so you have nothing to be sorry about," you managed to say, your mind still reeling. Telling her friends about me? Check. Jealous when another girl makes physical contact me? Check. Fan-frickin'-tastic...

You realized that you hadn't greeted Rainbow Dash yet, so you said, "Hi Dash. I guess that means you won by default, eh?"

Dash's glare turned into a grin when she heard you. "Yeah, I guess it does, doesn't it? How's it feel to be beaten by a girl who's smaller than you?" she asked teasingly.

You grimaced. "It doesn't exactly make me feel like the most masculine pony in the world. Especially not after you and Thunder had to drag my delirious flank in here."

"Quite frankly, I'm surprised that you're up and cognizant already," said a voice from behind Thunderlane. The voice was revealed to be Nurse Redheart after she stepped around the charcoal pegasus and walked towards you. "That spell must've worked faster than it said in the book."

Hallelujah. "I'm just glad that it worked," you replied.

"How are you feeling, as a whole?"

You concentrated on the various parts of your body for a few seconds before answering. "The numbness has started to go away and my tail seems to be working again, so that's good." You swished your tail to emphasize your point. "My throat still feels sore and I have a nasty headache, but I'll live."

The nurse nodded. "If you can walk, then you're free to go," she said with a smile as she stepped backwards to give you some room.

You attempted to stand on your own, but you just couldn't find the strength to stand up under your own power. You put your hands out and asked with a sheepish smile, "Umm, can you guys help me up?"

Smiling themselves, Thunderlane, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash grabbed your offered hands and heaved you to your hooves. Your legs wobbled a little bit, but you managed to stay balanced. Look mom, I can walk! you thought to yourself as you mentally rolled your eyes. "Hey, does anypony know when the bell is suppos-"

*BZZZZZZZZ*

That timing, you thought as you waited for the bell to finish ringing. "Thank you very much for fixing me up, Nurse Redheart," you said as the noise died down.

She smiled and replied, "Don't thank me: thank your friends," the nurse said as she walked down the corridor in the opposite direction. "They're the ones that brought you here."

You scratched the back of your neck in embarrassment, realizing that you hadn't thanked them yet. "Thanks Thunder, thanks Dash. You have no idea how much that would've sucked for me if you hadn't brought me here..."

"Don't mention it," said both Pegasi simultaneously. They both looked at each other and broke out laughing.

While Dash and Thunderlane recovered themselves, you dug out your schedule out of your blazer pocket. You unfolded it and checked to see what your next class would be. 'Home Economics 12', you read in your head. Oh boy...

"Does anypony know where the cooking room is?" you asked.

Without a moment's notice, you found Pinkie Pie to be practically in your face. Her eyes were less than a hoof away from yours. "That's my next class too! I'll take you there!" said the two-toned pink earth pony jubilantly, her eyes staring into your soul.

"Uhh, y-yeah. Sure. Great. Do I need to bring anyth-"

"Nope!" interrupted Pinkie Pie. "Just follow me!"

You quickly learned that by 'follow', Pinkie meant 'drag forcefully along'. Her hand latched onto your wrist with an iron grip and she towed you along behind her. You barely managed to wave goodbye to Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash before you lost sight of them through the sea of other ponies making their way around the school.

What is with girls and dragging today? you asked yourself.

Next Chapter: Chapter Five: New Friends, New Beginnings: Part Three Estimated time remaining: 56 Minutes