High School sucks.
I'm just another face there. At least, I was. Somehow, I ended up a lot more popular than I intended, and I'm still not sure if that's a good thing. I was content with being just another guy, but I guess when life throws you curve-balls, you have to try harder not to let them smack you in the face.
Who am I? I'm an earth pony. Male, fifteen years old. I should be going into my sophomore year of high school, but nope. I'm a senior. We moved here right before the new school year, so not only would I be a new face in the senior batch but I'd also have to explain why I was so dang young to everypony! Oh well, surely it wouldn't be too bad. After all, High School was fun, right?
Right?
… Right?
Digital_Hex
A shameless self-insert by Digital_Hex
Chapter 1
"Digit! Time to get up!"
My day started off reasonably well. Dad woke me up at seven o'clock sharp, as we had agreed. I finally managed to slick back my wild white mane in a fashion that wasn't too weird, keeping the streaks of green in a uniform fashion throughout. My white coat had a delicate blue sheen to it, and after grooming it briefly I was nice and purty. Purty enough for me to stop caring, at least.
The last part of my short maintenance was slipping in my contacts. Now, this is where most ponies freaked out. I'd had to hide it from all of my friends at the last town we lived in, and I had no intentions of letting my one insecurity be wide-known.
My eyes were naturally black with a faint pink ring around a white pupil. The doctors all said that it was superficial, that my eyes were perfectly fine.
Bull.
I cast a final glance at myself in the mirror of my bathroom. My eyes were now 'normal', with a deep blue iris. Good, very good...
I straightened out my back, grinning confidently to my reflection. This year, things were going to be different! It was a new town, a new school! I was a new pony, pretty much!
The past three years, the years that I should have been in high school, had been solitary years, learning from books that my dad tested me on. That was all about to change.
I grabbed my back and slipped it onto my toned shoulders, sliding down the rail of the stairs, much to the irritation of my dad.
"Hey, watch it now!" my dad, Hammer Hoof, chided me.
"Seriously, when'd you get all stingy and not-cool?" I asked him as I rushed past him to the front door.
"I dunno, when'd you get so confident as to mouth off?" he asked, his serious tone offset by the obvious smirk on his face.
Yep, still cool.
I chuckled as I slipped out the door.
"Later, dad!"
I landed with all four of my hooves under me, the sun barely glinting on the horizon. I had maybe four minutes to get to school, and I knew from practicing the path (I like being prepared!) that it would normally take about ten minutes to get there.
I decided to take a tour around town, having only been here for a couple days now.
Down the hill I went, passing a bakery that smelled of fresh goods. I inhaled deeply as the scent wafted past me, filling my nostrils with the heavenly feel-good. My stomach grumbled, angry that I had skipped breakfast that morning.
Eh, a bagel or something wouldn't hurt anypony, I considered as I stepped into the bakery. It smelled even better on the inside.
"HELLO!" A very pink pony called out to me from behind the counter. I froze.
Please don't be talking to me, please don't be talking to me-
"I'll be with you in just one moment!" she yelled out, returning to the frazzled customer before her. She slapped a big blue bow on a cake box and waved as the poor pony darted out, nearly toppling me over.
"SO!" she said, voice tingling with excessive energy. "What can we get for you here at Sugar Cube Corner- Woah, you're tiny! You must be one of the middle-schoolers! But I've never seen you before!"
She stopped, putting a hoof to her chin. I, for my part, was trying to keep from exploding violently.
She called me short- No, she called me TINY! That's even worse-
"Oh well, I'm sure I'll see you again soon! Oooh, maybe I could throw you a party! Oh wait, you need something dont'cha? Can I get you anything?"
She leaned forward expectantly, her bright blue eyes blinking expectantly.
Of course, the only part I'd registered was still running through my mind, emphasized by the fact that she had to actually lean over the counter to see me.
She called me short.
I swallowed hard, wincing while taking an involuntary step back. She noticed.
"OH!" she called out, diving beneath the counter. When she came back, she had a baguette in her grasp.
"You look like you could use a baguette!" she said with a knowing grin. "I've only got this one here, so you can't have two!"
I raised an eyebrow, daring myself to speak.
"You only have one left? You couldn't have opened up that long ago," I reasoned. How could they have sold all of the baguettes this early?!
"Weeeeell," she began, taking a breath. "This yellow pegasus came in and said she needed all of the baguettes 'cause it was the first day of school and I can;t refuse anypony baguettes and when she got them she was sooo happy and I couldn't tell her that we only had one so I let her buy them but she was smiling so much I had to let her!"
She huffed heavily, probably low on oxygen after the outburst. I let her take a moment to catch her breath.
"So," she practically groaned, "Can I interest you in this baguette?"
I gave a shy grin. "Alright, how much?"
"For this here baguette, I'd normally charge three bits-"
She dramatically looked left, then right, then paused before looking left again. She motioned for me to step closer.
Curious, I took a cautious step forward, resting my hooves on the counter and pulling my torso up so my head actually broke the plane of the counter top. Yeah, that's how short I was. Not that I'm sensitive or anything.
Oh wait, I am.
She glanced back at me before looking around again at the empty room, then leaned in closely.
"Buuut," she said slowly and quietly, "Because I haven't thrown you a party yet, I suppose I could give it to you for..."
She whispered the next part slowly.
"Two bits."
I couldn't help but chuckle slightly. She definitely had character, I gave her that.
Reaching into my bag, I withdrew two shiny bits and slapped them on the counter. The pink pony smiled and handed me my baguette.
"Here you go!" she said, tossing the two bits into the air and swiping them out of their fall with a hoof. When she showed me her hoof, they were gone.
Neat.
"So," she asked as I sat in a chair for a small table next to the counter, prepared to start nomming on my fancy baguette, "How come I haven't thrown you a party yet?"
She let her face rest on her hoof, elbow propped on the counter.
"I dunno," I answered. "Probably because I just moved here."
Her jaw dropped.
"You just moved here! Oh my gosh! How did I miss that, I never miss that!"
She dove once again behind the counter, breathing heavily as she pulled out a confetti launcher and pulled the string on the back with her teeth, showering the room in multicolored paper scraps.
"I definitely have to throw you a welcome party now!" she said. Suddenly, she jumped into an entirely new topic as if the two were linked significantly.
"I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?"
I swallowed a piece of the baguette. "Digital Hex, but I prefer Digit."
"Oh!" she exclaimed, writing down on a small slip of paper she'd materialized from somewhere.
"How old are you? Why'd you move to Ponyville? What's your favorite color? Cake or cupcakes?"
I felt the bottom of my left eyelid twitch. I took another reassuring bite of baguette before answering her.
"I'm fifteen, I moved to Ponyville with my dad because of his work, my favorite color is a secret, and I prefer cake."
Whew, that was the most information I think I'd ever disclosed in one sitting!
"A secret?! But that's-" she stopped before giving it some thought.
"Fair enough. But if you're fifteen, how come you're so tiny?"
And cue eye twitch. Again.
"It's not like I'm sensitive to my size or anything," I huffed sarcastically. Pinkie Pie visibly cringed.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize-" again, she stopped. I guess a thought ran through her mind that was more important than apologizing to me.
"Waiiit, if you're fifteen then that means you're a sophomore, right? How do you think it'll be at Ponyville High? That's where you're going, right?"
I momentarily choked the piece of bread I was chewing on.
"Funny thing about that, Pinkie," I began. "I'm actually a senior."
Pinkie looked at me in disbelief.
"Honest," I said, raising my hooves.
"So you must be really smart, then!" she said.
I sighed and hopped down from the chair, turning to show her my cutie mark. It was a Pi symbol with a pair of blue over-ear headphones on it.
"I recognize that symbol from somewhere," she said, thinking hard.
"It's the symbol for Pi-"
"Right!" she said angrily, fire burning in her eyes. "That was the symbol that always tricked me in school! Just when I thought we were going to start going on a dessert-hunt, we had to instead do mathy-stuff with that guy!"
I cringed slightly. She let out a vented breath.
"Sorry," she said, back to her cheery self. "Pi and I just don't get along very well. Not as good as pie does! I love pie! It's even in my name!"
I laughed at Pinkie Pie. She was a fun pony.
As I tore another chunk out of my baguette, I absentmindedly slipped my hoof into my bag and pulled out a pair of deep blue, almost purple hoof cuffs fashioned as horseshoes. I small wire led from them to small earpieces that were similarly colored. I had a runic branding on them that was linked to my Walkmare.
I slipped in the ear pieces, able to hear my surroundings just as well as I could without them in, although there was a calming slight electric distortion to everything I heard. As I slipped on the cuffs, I felt a hum of bass around me, making the hair on my neck stand on end. In a good way, of course.
"What are those?" Pinkie Pie asked me, pointing at the cuffs I wore around my front hooves.
"Oh, these?" I threw my glance towards her, but my eyes glazed over the clock above the counter. I had less than three minutes before school started.
I choked, coughing as I shoved the uneaten half of the baguette into the side pouch of my saddle bag.
"I'm sorry, Pinkie, but I have to get to school!"
I slung the bag back over my shoulder as I tore out the door. Pinkie Pie waved to me as I left.
My hooves clopped furiously beneath me as I galloped in the direction of the school building, weaving between some ponies who were beginning their days. I did not want to be late on my first day of school.
"Sorry!" I called back as I nearly clipped an old green mare with a walker, her frayed gray hair done up in a top bun.
I winced as I felt one of my hooves slide out from under me as I slid on dirt, unceremoniously slamming my head against the ground a lot harder than I felt comfortable with.
Above me, the school bell rang.
I pried my face off the ground, taking in exactly where I was. The doors to the school closed behind me.
I'd made it. I was on time.
I raised a hoof in the air and instantly brought it down, hollering, "Ye-yeah!"
I instantly regretted doing so as everypony inside the entrance atrium of the school cast me a look. A look that screamed What da buuu-
"Sorry, ahehe..." I stammered as I rubbed the back of my neck, face going slightly red. I was overdoing it a tad, wasn't I? Yeah, I was...
Glancing around, I saw a short line formed in front of the office window. A sign above it alerted me that I would receive my schedule there. As casually as I could, I slipped into the back of the line, smiling like a madbuck when nopony stopped me. Score one!
"Name?" the old mare behind the desk asked me when I finally reached her.
"Oh, Digital Hex," I stuttered, taken aback by how bored her tone was. This was school, shouldn't she have been more excited about her job?!
"Here you are. Lockers are full up, so you'll be receiving yours at the end of the week. Next."
I winced as I stepped aside, mentally cringing at the public school system. My heart started racing as I looked at the list in my hooves, and my breathing quickened. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach fitfully multiplying in a sick, twisted internal orgy.
Maybe this whole school thing was a bad idea...