Bat to School (Incomplete)

[This is a soft cyoa, where the story goes will be decided by popular vote, and I reserve the right to say no to things I don't want to do.]

 

You are Scriptus, just your ordinary batpony with a love of all things learning. You and your two older brothers recently moved to Canterlot partially in pursuit of a better life, but mostly because Silverwing had to for his job, and he was still supporting the two of you financially. Your eldest brother, Sonar, is a not so successful Chiropteran throat screecher, and Silverwing is a low ranking royal guard. You're having breakfast with Silverwing when Sonar trots downstairs and into the kitchen.

 

"Hey Sonar, how was your performance last night?" You ask him.

 

"Terrible, I screeched my lungs out for half an hour, and when I was done, everypony just stood there and stared at me blankly."

 

"You do have that effect on ponies," Silver scoffs.

 

"Oh piss off Silver, don't you have something unimportant to be standing in front of?"

 

"Who were you opening for?" You chime in, trying to veer the conversation back on track.

 

"The Unicorns."

 

"Who?" You and Silver say in unison.

 

"Some up and coming act apparently, they sing about getting known while actually getting known at the same time, it pisses me off."

 

"But don't you want to get known Sonar?" Silver rebukes.

 

"Well yeah, but I don't sing about it. They also wear matching outfits, they sing about that too."

 

"You don't even sing in the first place, you screech." Silver cracks at him.

 

"Oh fuck off you know what I mean." Sonar starts to fume with frustration as Silver continues to wind him up. Not particularly in the mood to listen to your bickering brothers, you decide to head off to school a bit early. It was your first day at Canterlot High, and a little extra time would allow you to familiarize yourself with the place.

 

What should you check out first?

 

(Lunchroom, Atrium, Library, Gym, Athletic Field, Art Studio, Theater, Science Lab)

 

You weren't particularly inclined towards athletic activities, but you figured you may as well check out the gym. Who knows, maybe you could watch some of the other stallions work out? You follow various signs posted throughout the halls towards your destination, eventually finding yourself in the large, open gym. It was still pretty early, and there weren't too many ponies around. A light blue pegasus stallion was flying laps in the open space, and two grey unicorn stallions were fencing near the back.

 

You could try talking to them, or perhaps just watch, alternatively you could check out someplace else.

 

(Talk Pegasus, Talk Unicorns, Watch Pegasus, Watch Unicorns, Lunchroom, Atrium, Library, Athletic Field, Art Studio, Theater, Science Lab)

 

You decide to watch the pegasus for a bit, flying up to the rafters for a better vantage point. Your trace his strong, athletic body with your eyes as he does laps around the gym. He's a pretty good flyer, who knows what else he's good at? Your mind drifts off as you imagine him in all sorts of 'situations' with you. At some point he must have noticed you watching him because he stops doing his laps and tries to quietly sneak out of the gym.

 

What do you do?

 

(Talk to him, Creep on him even more, Talk Unicorns, Watch Unicorns, Lunchroom, Atrium, Library, Athletic Field, Art Studio, Theater, Science Lab)

 

You swoop down and land in front of him, trying to flash him a warm smile, "hey there, I'm Scriptus."

 

He backs away from you slightly, your toothy smile coming off as a bit more 'hello tasty morsel, I'm going to devour your soul,' than 'hello friend.'

 

His eyes shift back and forth nervously as he calculates the proper distance he has to stay away from you in order to avoid the possibility of you consuming him. "I'm Soarin."

 

"Nice to meet you Soarin!" You say in a chipper tone. You realize that you might not be coming off quite the way you intended to, and try to diffuse the tense situation by giving him a light tap on the rear with your wing.

 

He yelps and backs away from you even further, eyeing you warily.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just trying to be friendly." You say a bit defeated, this was the first time you've ever tried to talk to a regular pony and you were already royally fucking things up.

 

"Heh, yeah." He chuckles nervously, not quite sure what to make of you.

 

You try to explain your actions, "it's just, athletes often pat each other on the rear in a friendly manner, and you seem like the athletic type, and I just wanted to try to be friendly since it seemed like I was making you nervous, which was not my intention."

 

Soarin just stares at you as you over explain your actions to him.

 

"I um, read it in a book, perhaps the information was a bit dated."

 

"Right."

 

This wasn't going as smoothly as you hoped it would, what should you do?

 

(Explain that you're new, Panic and run away)

 

"I'm terrible sorry, you see my brothers and I just moved here recently and I'm a bit unfamiliar with your customs here in Canterlot."

 

"Yeah, I can see that." Soarin chuckled lightly, he was relaxing a bit, but he probably still thinks you're really weird.

 

"I was just admiring you're athletic prowess, I didn't mean to startle you, you're an excellent flyer."

 

"Thanks, I've been practicing for the Wonderbolts." Soarin smiled softly at your compliment.

 

"Really? That's wonderful! I'm sure you'll make it with your natural abilities."

 

"I sure hope so, it's something I've always wanted to do."

 

"Who knows, maybe someday you'll even become their captain."

 

"I don't know, there's a lot of competition out there, Spitfire still holds the school record for pretty much everything. But enough about me, where are you from? I don't think I've ever seen a pony that looks like you before."

 

"I'm from out west, The Galloping Mountains to be precise."

 

"Woah that's really far, why did you move to Canterlot?"

 

"My brother is a royal guard, we had to move because of his job."

 

"A royal guard! That's so cool, I'm sure he has plenty of interesting stories."

 

"Not really, he doesn't do much aside from stand around and look important."

 

"Oh," Soarin said a bit disappointed, "well I could show you around a bit since you're new here."

 

(Sure, No thanks, Flee)

 

"Really? That would be great."

 

"Come on, follow me."

 

The two of you fly through the halls as Soarin gives you a quick lay of the land, showing you where the various classrooms and other facilities are.

 

"It's not too hard to find things once you're here for a few days, and if you ever get lost they have signs posted everywhere."

 

"Alright, I think I got it for the most part." You smile at Soarin and give him a quick lick on the cheek. Soarin backs away from you and stares at you strangely. "I take it by the way you are looking at me that facial lickings are not a common way of expressing gratitude in Canterlot."

 

"A simple 'thanks' would have been fine."

 

"Oh, thanks, and sorry about that, I didn't mean to weird you out." You stand there awkwardly for a few seconds before a loud ring echoes through the halls, piercing your sensitive ears. You cover your ears with your hooves, trying to block out the sound. "Ahh! What is that infernal noise!"

 

"That's the bell, which means that it's time to head to class." Soarin didn't seem too bothered by the noise, neither did any of the other ponies trotting through the halls. Perhaps they were just used to it, it didn't seem like something you could ever get used to though.

 

"How often does it do that?"

 

"At the beginning and end of each class period, as well as 10 minutes before first period." Well that is just lovely, you get to hear that incredibly irritating noise 19 times a day, lucky you! "Anyway, I should get to class, I'll see you later." With that, Soarin was off, leaving you to stumble through the hallways to find your first class.

 

Soarin's quick tour and the various signs were enough to help you find your way to your first class, and you opened the door to see a brown earth pony with slick black hair, clad in a grey suit and yellow tie, in the middle of a lecture. It appears that you were just a little late to your first class, how do you react?

 

(Calmly explain, Nervously explain, drop all the spaghetti)

 

The teacher stops his lecture and looks over to you. "Can I help you?" All the other students are peering over at you with prying eyes, wondering just who you are and what you're doing here. This is the first impression you are going to be making to a bunch of other classmates and potential friends, so you had better make it a good-

 

"I-I-Im uh, I-I, new, n-not familiar, with, with school, late t-t-to c-classs." You blink nervously as you sputter out words with the fluency of a stuttering foal learning to speak a foreign tongue.

 

The teacher just looks at you with a mixture of confusion, concern, and pity.

 

"I-I'll j-just, sit down." You quickly trot to the back of the class and slink down into your desk, trying your best to make yourself less noticeable. You can hear the other ponies whispering about you, catching fragments of conversation, able to make out a few choice words like 'weirdo' and 'freak.'

 

The teacher goes back to lecturing, but you have trouble focusing on his lecture. You're too concerned with that horrible first impression you just made. It was only your first day, and you were already making yourself out to be an outcast. Being a batpony certainly didn't help either, you stuck out like a sore thumb, and soon everyone would know you as that weird new guy from way out west.

 

The day crawls by as you go from class to class, you do best to try and ignore all the ponies staring at you as you walk through the hallways, the loud sound of the school bell irritating you more and more. You just want the day to end, and were relieved to finally get a break for lunch.

 

The lunchroom has a pretty decent selection of food, what should you eat?

 

(Burger and hay fries, Sandwich and an apple, Spaghetti and soup, Taco and churros, Pizza and breadsticks, Dandelions and okra)

 

Most of the other ponies were eating a burger and hay fries, perhaps if you ate it too you could at least pretend you were normal. There were quite a few tables set up in the lunchroom, with lots of places to sit. Quite a few groups of ponies are sitting together and talking to each other, only a couple of ponies are sitting by themselves. You recognize Soarin sitting in one of the groups, you could try to sit with him, or sit someplace else.

 

(Sit with Soarin's group, Sit with another other group [large], Sit with another group [small], Sit with one of the ponies sitting by themselves, Sit by yourself.)

 

Maybe you could sit with one of the other ponies by themselves, that way you at least aren't a total loser by yourself; you can be losers together. You trot over to a red and black pegasus pony sitting at the far end of the lunchroom and sit across from him. He's busy scribbling something onto a crumpled piece of paper and doesn't seem to take notice of you.

 

"Hello, I'm Scriptus."

 

The pegasus doesn't look up from his paper and mumbles, "I'm Bleeding Edge."

 

"What are you working on?" You ask, trying to break the ice. He wasn't terribly easy to talk to, perhaps he was alone for a reason. He moves his hoof out of the way and reveals a crudely scrawled drawing that looks like it belonged on the wall of a mental asylum. Upon closer inspection you noticed that the crude drawing depicted what appears to be Soarin being decapitated while the rest of the flying squad watched in horror.

 

"I hate that stupid jock and his stupid friends, they think they're so cool, one day I'm going to learn dark magic, and then they'll be sorry, they'll all be sorry." Edge muttered angrily as he went back to drawing out his crass little murder fantasy.

 

"But you can't do magic, you're a pegasus, not a unicorn." You remark in a clear and logical manner.

 

Edge glares at you and raises his voice, "You can't tell me what to do!"

 

"Why do you hate Soarin in the first place? He's actually a pretty nice guy."

 

"If you like him so much why don't you go suck his cock faggot."

 

This isn't going well, and you're sure if you stick around it will only get worse, what should you do?

 

(Stay, Sit with Soarin's group, Sit with another other group [large], Sit with another group [small], Sit by yourself.)

 

"M-maybe I will." You mutter as a failed attempt at a witty comeback to his crude comment.

 

"Whatever fag." Edge mutters as he continues to doodle, ignoring you. You pick up your tray and trot over towards Soarin's table. The spot next to him is empty, and you sit down next to him.

 

"Hey Soarin." The group of ponies look at you curiously, they then shift their glances over to Soarin, as if awaiting some sort of explanation as to who you were and what you were doing here.

 

"Oh, hey Scriptus." Soarin's tone is pretty flat and you can't tell if he is irked by your sudden presence or not, "everyone, this is Scriptus, he's new here." Soarin turns to you and starts pointing out the various ponies at the table, introducing you to his friends, "and this is Fleetfoot, Lightning Streak, Misty, and Thunderlane."

 

"So where are you from Scriptus?" Fleetfoot asks curiously.

 

"The Galloping Mountains."

 

"Never heard of it." She says smugly, as if you aren't worth her time.

 

"Why did you move to Canterlot?" Misty asks sympathetically, feigning interest.

 

"My brother is a royal guard, he was reassigned to Canterlot."

 

"That's kinda cool." Thunderlane chimes in.

 

The group doesn't seem terribly interested in you, you could try to chat one of them up, or cut your losses and leave awkwardly.

 

(Talk to: Soarin, Fleetfoot, Lightning Streak, Misty, Thunderlane, Leave.)

 

You didn't really know any of them too well, but you at least met Soarin earlier, so he was probably your best bet.

 

"How were your classes so far Soarin?"

 

"Eh, not too exciting, except gym, gym was great. I beat my own personal flight record today!"

 

"That's really awesome." You say enthusiastically.

 

"He's still nowhere near Spitfire's record though, or mine for that matter." Fleetfoot says in her usual aloof tone.

 

"Nowhere near her record or her bed." Lightning Streak cut in, and Soarin just sighs. Lightning pats him on the back, "come on man, just let it go already, she's got her eyes on nothing but a successful career, she doesn't even take time off for lunch. You're an athlete, you could have any other mare in the school but you're still obsessed with the one mare you can't have."

 

"He couldn't have me either." Fleetfoot says stiffly.

 

"Like anypony wants you." Lightning sasses back at her.

 

"At least I'm not secretly lusting over another stallion." She snaps at him.

 

"Oh you did not just go there."

 

You ignore the bickering ponies and turn back to Soarin, "if you're having trouble with your schoolwork I would be happy to help you."

 

"Really? That would be great! I have practice after school but I could swing by your place later."

 

"Sure, sounds good."

 

"Awesome, thanks man. I kinda thought you were weird when I first met you, but you seem pretty nice."

 

"Um, thanks."

 

"Not too many ponies are that nice to me."

 

"Really, I thought you'd be pretty popular being an athlete."

 

"Well I am, but they nopony 'really' cares about me though, they just want to use my popularity to boost their own. Except Lightning, but between you and me, I think he has a crush on me."

 

"O-oh."

 

"Yeah, he's weird like that, nice guy though."

 

You finish up your lunch during your idle chit chat and soon enough your ears are graced by the shrill pierce of the school bell, and you head to your next class. You check your schedule and see that you're going to biology next, you locate the room easily enough and look around for a place to sit.

 

Most of the spots are taken, but a few are still open, and you're probably going to be lab partners with whoever you sit next to. You recognize Lightning Streak from the lunchroom, a white unicorn with blue hair is also sitting by himself, and unsurprisingly, so is Bleeding Edge.

 

Who do you sit with?

 

(Lightning Streak, Unicorn, Bleeding Edge)