Chapter 1

Getting Situated

Standing outside the gates of my new home,New-Tech University, it was a new college that focuses on advancing towards the future."I just hope bump into some

familiar faces here." I sigh as I present my student I.D. to the card reader and drive thought the gates to I pulled up I see a familiar black and red chopper and blue

Honda civic SI, I park my Shelby and run inside to meet up with Sonic and Shadow,"Heh, why am I not surprised to see that were roomies again?" I greet them both

with handshakes as Shadow says,"It's good to know that there's gonna be a few familiar faces here." He said with a slightly somber tone,"Yea, Tails and Cream

Temple University in Japan, Knuckles and Rouge are working at the Smithsonian, and Sonic you know where Amy went off to?"I ask him but he just shook his

head,"She just told me that she was gonna travel the world, just like she always wanted to do." He hangs his head a bit. Shadow and I give him a reassuring pat on

the back,"Don't worry dude, she said she'd be back soon didn't she?" He nodded his head as we were exiting the house to grab our stuff from our vechicles."Yea, she

said she should be back in the middle of 2nd semester." I pop open my trunk and off load all the boxes I had, Electronics,clothes, and books. As I carry my stuff into

the house, I set the electronics box next to the T.V. stand where the sofa is."So we gonna checkout the rooms yet?" At the mention of this we all rush upstairs to see

who can grab the best room first and call it. I made it up first and found the big one with its own bathroom,"I call this room its mine I called it first."At first I heard

nothing so I peered outside my room to see if the guys were near by. They were actually unloading their stuff into the other two rooms, jokes on me they were all the

same (-_-;). After we got everything situated, we head to the main campus building to grab our schedules,school started next week and football try-outs were a week

after,"You guys doin football this year?" I ask them, Sonic simply nods but Shadow stands there with his eyes closed before I get a response from him."I dunno, I just

wanna wait for basketball and track and field, I don't think I'm up for doing 3 sports this year." Sonic and I laugh and we start cracking jokes,"So the "Ultimate

lifeform" doesn't think he can handle 3 sports this year?" Me and Sonic keep on laughing as Shadow changes from his calm demeanor to one that a bit annoyed and

agitated,"Ok fine jeez, I just wanted to make things fair for the other team is all. Me being on the team is an X-factor in itself, but the three of us together, that's just

overkill don't you think?" He's right back in highschool when we did sports,Knuckles and Tails included, our school ws unstoppable, the school board almost

banned the five of us from playing any sport at all, thank god it didn't pass."Alright so I got, Calculus, Physics, trigonometry,Phys-Ed, Autoshop,and two free periods,

you guys got any of my classes." I asked them both,"Well I have Physics 3rd hour and phys-ed 4th hour how bout you Shadow?" He quickly scanned his schedule," I

have Phys-Ed 4th hour and Autoshop 5th hour." Cool I got friends in at least two of my classes, and yes though he may not look it but Sonic is a bit of a science wiz;

guess Tails must have rubbed off on him."Alright now that we have everything taken care of today, you guys wanna grab some food at the mall?"They nod their

heads in agreement as we head to our respective vehicles,"Hey guys, how about we make this interesting, Last one there buys the others lunch?" They both smirk at

each other and we head out of the entrance. Thankfully the streets were pretty empty today so we burn through all the stop sings and stop lights we passed by.

Shadow and I came in first and Sonic came second,"Just goes to show Sonic, hot imports just can't stand against all american muscle." I say as I pat the roof of me

Shelby. Sonic got out of his car with his usual "whatever" look. We locked our cars and headed to the food court. As we wait in line to grab some Pizza, I look over at

the tables and notice 6 pastel colored ponies giggling about something,"Hey guys check em out." They fix their eyes over to that table and gawk, they were all so hot

in their own way, but we quickly turned around before they noticed us staring at them,"Why not go introduce yourself Strider, who knows you just might hit it off with

one of them, you too Shadow." Me and Shadow just stand there pondering the idea for a bit,"Nah, I don't think I got a chance with any of them, but Shadow might."

Shadow surprisingly nudged me on the shoulder,"Come on Strider, he may be right." To think Shadow would be the one to successfully coax me into talking to a

group of hot strangers,this has to be a joke. We got our pizza and headed to a table close to the group of mares. I pull my I-Phone out of my pocket to check the

time,"Seriously, its only 2:45? We got plenty of time to kill." They both nod their heads and we think about what to do next until I get hit in the face by a random

cupcake."OMIGOSH I"M SOOOOOO SORRY!" Said a girl with a fluffy pink mane,"It's no big deal." I wipe most of the cream off my face and throw the cupcake at a

certain laughing blue hedgehog."After I clean my face off the girl stares at me with her blue eyes for a bit before she finally speaks,"Well if you don't mind can we

start fresh, my names Pinkie Pie, Party thrower extraordinaire." She holds her hand out and I take it,"My names Strider, good to meet you Pinkie Pie." A Cyan colored

pony call out,"Hey Pinkie, whats taking ya?" She looks back,"Gimmie a second Dashie, be right there, sorry I have to cut this intro short Strider, but great meeting

you." She zips back to her friends and me and the guys just say in unison,"...What the heck just happened?" Sonic eats the cupcake that was on his face and wipes

off the cream that was left. I pop open the pizza box to grab a slice of pepperoni. As I take a bite I feel a tap on my shoulder; I turn to see a purple mare with a

horn,"Hi guys, sorry about that incident earlier." She said with a small smile on her face,"It's no big deal, my names Strider, and you are?" The mare just

turns slightly red,"Oh where are my manners, my name is Twilight Sparkle." I think to myself,"Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, I don't think these names could get any

weirder." I turn a bit further to see that the rest of her group was behind her.I turned back to look at the guys, Shadow was a bit red in the face, and Sonic was being

Sonic. I get up out of my chair and introduce my group to hers,"Well two of you ladies know me already, but as for the rest of you I'm Strider, and these are my

friends Shadow and Sonic." They all took turns introducing themselves. The orange mare Applejack, the yellow mare with the pink mane is Fluttershy, the Cyan mare

is Rainbow Dash, and the White mare is Rarity,I swear I thought I was at a name your own Ice-Cream flavor contest. Me and the guys couldn't keep our mouths shut,

at Applejack especially, she was wearing jean shorts boots and a red t-shirt, and a cowboy hat. Applejack had caught us and she started to blush a bit. "Excuse me

Strider was it, may I ask you something?" Rarity asked me, I snap back to reality and nod my head,"Where on earth did you get your clothes from?" I look at my

current attire, The usual Black Hoodie with kangaroo pockets, White T-shirt, Baggy black jeans, and Black and Blue high top sneakers,"I bought these while I was

overseas, why do you ask." Her eyes were glowing a bit,"It's just that you and your friend, Shadow, you both look so cique." Sonic blurts out,"Hey what about me?"

Rarity's eyes lose their glow,"Oh you, not trying to sound offensive or anything, but you just look so...plain."Dang as soon as she finished her sentence Sonic just

turned white with shame and huddled into a corner. Me and Shadow laughed but at the same time were curious,"Excuse me, Rarity was it, just what is so, um

cique about these?" Shadow was wearing a red and black striped collar shirt, Black pants with a wallet chain, and a pair of black airforce ones. "Well, although black is

considered cique on all men, some just add a little *oomph* to it, like you two do." We look at each other for a second or two but we don't notice anything, then our

eyes go to Sonic,"Hey blue blur, come back to the circle before we really decide to leave you." I say as he gets up and migrates back to us."I hope this isn't a weird

question but you girls wouldn't happen to be going to New-Tech University would you?" They nodded in unison and we chatted about our courses for about an hour or

so. Turn out I got 3 classes with Twilight, Phys-Ed with the gang, I get to spend two free periods with any of the girls, if I choose to do so instead of going home and

taking a nap or something. After exchanging our phone numbers we went our separate ways and headed back to housing."Alright, lets play some zombies guys."

Sonic says. I turn on the X-box and put in black ops 2. Twenty minutes in me and Shadow got bored so we decided to stop trying and find ways to screw Sonic over

til he got mad,"You guy...suck..." He puts the controller next to him and heads to the kitchen as the game ends. I check the clock, 5:45. I go into my room and

change into a pair of black and red basket ball shorts, a black under armor shirt and black running shoes,"I'm gonna head to the gym, any of you guys coming?"

Shadow shook his head and Sonic was on the couch texting Amy. The gym was a half mile away from housing so I took me no time at all to get there on foot. As I

was heading to the weight room, I noticed that some of the girls were here too, Rainbow was on the treadmill, and Applejack was on the leg-press. I didn't want to

bother them so I just went to the weight room and did an upperbody work out for 45 minutes. Afterwards it was 30 minutes of running on the treadmill. I don't know

if it was dumb-luck or fate just trying to pick on me, but the only open treadmill was the one next to Rainbow Dash. As I was mid way through my run,I felt

something touch my right shoulder, I shrugged it off and kept on goin until a wing was in front of my face. I almost lose my balance but I catch myself and turn to my

right only to see Rainbow Dash wave at me with a sly smile on her face,"Hey Rainbow Dash." I stop the treadmill and head to the track in the back. Time for sprints, I

strapped on the 15lb weights on my ankles and et up my starting block. After about 10 seconds I push-off the blocks and practice my 400m run. after I pass the

finish line I check the stopwatch on the side,"55.93s".Out of nowhere I see two sets of starting blocks next to mine and find Rainbow Dash and Applejack smiling at

me,"Hey partner, you wanna race?" It not like I wanted to decline but I didn't wanna accept either, I was just to busy admiring their work-out clothes, Rainbow had

cyan colored jogging pants and a white t-shirt, while Applejack had some short shorts and a tank-top."Earth to Strider, you can save the gawking for when we pass

you." I snap back to reality and nod my head. I take off my weights and take my place at the starting block. The automated starting gun pops and we rocket away

from the starting line. Applejack was up front followed by me then Rainbow dash, Around the halfway point Rainbow took the lead and I was last. At the final sprint I

managed to get ahead of them both. I check the clock,"48.86s" All that resistance training paid off."Ok,so you're fast, I like that but I'm still calling it a fluke." I just

chuckle and shake both their hands. We all head back inside and head to the smoothie bar,"You girls want a smoothie, my treat." Applejack looked like she was about

to decline but Rainbow Dash just blurted out a yes. After our little smoothie break we exited the gym,"Boy howdy, that was a mighty fine workout today." I just smile

as Rainbow Dash says,"Hey, if you're not busy tonight,wanna come over to Pinkies Party, I'll text you the directions." She was blushing as she asked me this,"Sure

just gimme a time I should be there by." She nods as we head our separate ways. As I reached the door to the house I got a text from Rainbow Dash,"Oh you can

bring Sonic and Shadow too" attached to it were the directions to the party." Guys, Rainbow Dash just invited us to a party, you guys wanna go?" Sonic looked up

from his phone,"I might be a bit late, I got a Skype date with Amy pretty soon, just bring me back some food would ya?" Shadow peers his head out of the

kitchen,"Yea, I just need to take a shower and change." So do I, I head to my room and hop in the shower, afterwards I look in my closet to find some nice party

clothes. A dark blue dress shirt, black slacks, my black and blue G-Shock watch and a pair of black High top airforce ones.I exit my room and wait for Shadow, He's

just wearing a white t-shirt, black jacket, dark-blue jeans and Black high tops,"Tell Amy we said hi, and text us if you need anything." Sonic just waved bye as I grab

my car keys off the key holder. Shadow had the map and was directing me to the house. It took about 15 minutes to get there. We exited the car and headed to the

front door,"Boy its pretty crowded,right Shadow?" He just nods in agreement as we scan the area, all these cars parked near the girls house. I rang the door bell.