Sunday, August 23, 2015

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): People you meet may not take a liking to you at first. Don't get discouraged.

Early Morning

The sun is already shining through my window when I wake up. I feel like a zombie, and my head is killing me. I dig through my pocket and pull out my phone to check the time. It seems I've been asleep for about thirteen hours or so.

No wonder I feel like crap.

I sit up and look around the room. I really need to unpack, but right now all I want to do is wash my face, get something to drink, and maybe find some aspirin or something for my headache.

A knock sounds from my door. "Flash? Are you up yet?"

It's Cadance. I push myself to my feet and shuffle over to the door, opening it.

"Good morning!" she says perkily. "We're about to have breakfast in the dining room in a few minutes. Do you want to get some...thing...to...eat..." Apparently, she realizes I'm among the walking dead. "Are you...alright?"

"I overslept," I mutter. "Like, a lot. I just woke up."

Cadance frowns. "You weren't kidding when you said you were jet-lagged."

"I haven't really slept much the last few days," I say. "I've been busy wrapping up a few things in Seaddle and getting ready to come here." My parents put me in charge of turning off the power, water, and gas at our house, among other things. Between that and getting ready for this move, I really haven't had much time to rest.

"I see," Cadance says. "Well...why don't you freshen up a bit and come down for breakfast? I'll get some headache medicine for you."

"Thanks," I say. "Err...where's the bathroom?"

"Right across the hall and one door over," Cadance says, pointing. "You're the only one on this floor, so you shouldn't have to worry about any...accidents." She smirks.

"I get a whole floor to myself, huh...?"

"Well, unless we get any transfer students or something." She walks off down the hall. "Don't take too long!"

I round up my shoes, put them on, and head for the bathroom. Hopefully I don't smell too bad, because I don't really have time to take a shower right now. My clothes are all still in my suitcase anyway. I splash some water on my face, wash my hands, and dry off, then head downstairs.

I hear voices coming from the left as I reach the first floor. I look through a doorway and see four girls seated at a large table. One of them is Twilight. She already has her nose in a book.

"There you are!" Cadance says from behind me, making me jump. As I turn around, she presses a cold glass of orange juice into my left hand and two coated caplets into my right hand. "This should help with the headache. Go on in and sit down. We'll be bringing out breakfast in just a minute."

I swallow the pills; the cool sweetness of the orange juice wakes me up a bit more. I can smell something wonderful cooking nearby. I walk into the dining room and sit down. Almost immediately, all conversation at the table stops as three sets of eyes fall upon me.

"You lost or somethin', dude?" This comes from a girl with pale blue skin and wild hair in several different colors. Her rose-colored eyes are boring into me, challenging me. She's wearing a blue and white hoodie and blue track pants.

Seated across from her is a gorgeous girl with pale white skin and long purple hair styled in elaborate curls. She's wearing a black silk blouse, a long navy blue skirt, and high-heeled black sandals. "Elegant" is the word that comes to mind. A cup of coffee sits in front of her, and her deep blue eyes are focused on me, full of suspicion and curiosity. I get the feeling she's measuring me.

Next to Twilight is a pale yellow girl with ridiculously long cherry blossom pink hair and blue-green eyes. She's wearing a baggy green sweater and a loose green skirt. She looks terrified of me.

As far as first impressions go...I think I screwed this one up big time.

Twilight looks up from her book, blinks, and says, "Good morning, Flash." She looks at the others. "Girls, this is Flash Sentry. He's living here at the dorm now. He just got in last night."

"...WHAT?!" the girl with the rainbow hair yells. She stands up and slams her palms on the table. "Whaddya mean he's livin' here? Have you totally flipped, egghead? This is a girls' dorm! He's NOT A GIRL!"

Twilight shrugs. "I don't like it either, but the other dorms are all full. Cadance said this is the only place he can stay."

"Oh, that's right," the yellow girl says in a quiet, timid voice. "The Golden Oak dorm burned down." She looks at me. "You were supposed to stay there, weren't you?"

"I think so, yeah," I say. "That's what Cadance said anyway."

The elegant girl seems to be about to say something, but Cadance and two more girls walk in. One of the girls is pushing a cart loaded with serving trays, another is carrying stacks of dishes, and Cadance is carrying silverware and napkins.

"Breakfast is ready!" the girl carrying the dishes says in a cheerful sing-song voice. "Oooh, there's somebody new at the table! Hey there!" This girl's skin is a slightly different shade of pink than Cadance's, and her hair is a giant mess of bubblegum pink curls. Her bright blue eyes are full of good cheer, and she's wearing a striped T-shirt and cutoffs.

The girl pushing the cart has skin almost the same color as mine, dotted with a healthy smattering of freckles. Her long blonde hair is tied in a loose ponytail which hangs over one shoulder. She's decked out in a knee-length denim skirt, a green and white Western shirt, cowboy boots, and a brown Stetson that looks like it's been run over with a tractor a few times. Her green eyes widen as she catches sight of me.

As Cadance begins passing out napkins and silverware, she introduces me to each of the girls: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. She explains my situation while Pinkie Pie passes out plates and bowls, then helps Applejack lay out the serving trays. "So Flash is living here with us," Cadance concludes as she, Pinkie, and Applejack sit down. "I want everyone to be on their best behavior and get along, alright? I'm pretty sure you can all trust Flash."

"I swear I'll keep to my own floor except when I'm down here," I promise the girls. I wait until they've all taken food before loading up my own plate with toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, a glazed donut, and a couple of apple turnovers.

"Yeah, well...you better," Rainbow grumbles as she shovels bacon into her mouth.

"It's...nice to meet you," Fluttershy says quietly as she spreads cream cheese on a piece of toast.

"We'll have to have a welcome party for you!" Pinkie exclaims as she pours milk on a bowl of sugary cereal while cramming a whole donut into her mouth.

After breakfast, the girls all head off to do their own things. I help Cadance clear the dishes. While we wash the dishes, she goes over the house rules with me. It's pretty standard stuff: the dorm has its own wi-fi, we can keep some food items and snacks in our rooms and use the microwaves, hot plates aren't allowed, there's a ten P.M. curfew on school nights that extends to eleven on weekends, and small pets are allowed as long as we clean up after them.

I have the rest of the day to myself, but all I really feel like doing is unpacking and maybe doing a little websurfing. Tomorrow is the first day of school.

Early Afternoon

After I put away my things and take a shower, I decide to kick back in my room, watch some television, and play around online for a while. I'm finishing up an email to my folks when there's a knock at the door.

"Hey, we got pizza downstairs if'n yer hungry," Applejack's voice calls through the door. Realizing it's lunchtime, I close my laptop and head downstairs.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight are in the lounge, eating pizza off paper plates. "We can eat in the lounge?" I ask.

"We're not really supposed to," Twilight says, "but as long as we don't make too big a mess, Cadance doesn't mind."

I help myself to some pizza and a cola and sit down. The television is on. "So, what're you watching?" The volume is turned down; two men are flailing around animatedly on the screen. They're twins with red and white hair; one of them has a thick mustache. They're both wearing striped vests and straw hats.

"Eh...it's just some corny shopping show," Rainbow says. "The Flim Flam Hour. The stuff they sell is pure crap." She picks up the remote and changes the channel; an old Daring Do movie is on. Rainbow turns up the volume a little.

"So, what's there to do in town?" I ask.

"Oh, there's a few things. Mainly shoppin' though," Applejack says. "There's a movie theater a quick train ride away, an' a few good places fer grub."

I finish my pizza and wipe my hands on my jeans. "Thanks for the pizza," I say. "I should go up and practice my guitar for a bit." I pause. "That won't bother you girls, will it?"

"You play guitar?" Rainbow asks.

"Yeah. I only brought my acoustic with me from home, though. I figured it'd be a bit much to bring an electric guitar to a dorm, even if I could sneak an amp in here."

Rainbow chuckles. "Sweet. You any good?"

"I guess. I've been playing for six years."

"Cool. Play something for us sometime!"

"We'll see."

I spend the rest of the afternoon playing my guitar up in my room.

Evening

I join my dormmates for dinner. Cadance's husband, Shining Armor, is eating with us. He has white skin, and his messy blue hair is a lighter shade than mine; much like his sister, he has a streak in his hair—in his case, a very light blue. He's tall, broad-shouldered, and well-muscled.

"So, you're the odd guy out, huh?" he asks when Cadance introduces us. "Man, you're one lucky dog. The one guy in a dorm full of cute girls." He chuckles. Then, with a serious, almost terrifying expression, he adds, "Watch yourself around my sister, got it?"

Twilight facepalms.

"Now Shiny, behave," Cadance says, slapping her husband playfully on the arm.

There's a lot of food on the table: barbecue beef brisket, fried chicken, baked beans, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, cole slaw—it looks more like a picnic or a barbecue than dinner at a school dorm.

Shining Armor must be reading my mind, because he grins and says, "I thought it'd be cool to give you kids one last taste of summer before school starts."

As we load up our plates, Cadance asks, "So Flash, have you checked out Canterbook yet?"

"Canterbook?" I ask.

"It's the school's social media network," Twilight says.

"It's pretty much Canterlot High's heart and soul," Cadance explains. "Every student and teacher is on Canterbook. It has the school bulletin board, the community boards, study groups, study reminders, assignment reminders, chat rooms, private messaging, and even some stuff that's just for fun, like the daily horoscope app."

"Oh yes, the horoscope app is very popular," Rarity says.

"We're all on it, even the shy kids like Fluttershy here and the eggheads like Twilight who don't talk much," Rainbow says.

"This is the first I've heard of it," I say.

"You have your student ID, right?" Cadance asked. I nod, pulling out my wallet and the plastic student ID card that was mailed to me in Seaddle. "Just download the app onto your phone and your laptop and log in with your student ID. You should already have an account."

I pull out my phone; it only takes thirty seconds to find the Canterbook app and start downloading it.

"You kids have it so easy," Shining Armor says, chuckling as he stuffs macaroni into his mouth. "Everything's digital now. You don't have to carry around textbooks or workbooks or notebooks or paper or anything. All you need's a computer. Remember what it was like when we were in high school, Cadie?"

Cadance rolls her eyes. "Yes, we had to carry our books and go to our lockers between classes..."

"That must have been ever so difficult for you," Rarity says with a smirk.

The conversation moves on to favorite classes, teachers everyone hopes they either do or don't get, and what they're all looking forward to this year. For the most part, I choose to eat and listen in silence. After dinner, I return to my room, where I download the Canterbook app on my laptop. As soon as it's installed, I log in using my student ID. A message appears:

I've barely closed this message when a notification pops up:

I accept Pinkie's friend request, then I spend a little time filling in my basic profile. Canterbook shows me a list of students I might want to add to my social circle based on my interests. I don't know a single one of them, so I ignore that for now.

I notice the horoscope app, which I recall hearing about at dinner. Even though I don't believe in horoscopes, I decide to check it out on a whim. I'm a Virgo, so I look at my own horoscope first.

Virgo: People you meet may not take a liking to you at first. Don't get discouraged.

I reflect on the day I've had. At breakfast, some of the girls in the dorm were pretty hostile to me, but they seem to have accepted me fairly quickly.

I click 'Accept'. After a moment's thought, I type Twilight Sparkle into the search bar and send a friend request. I then peruse the rest of the horoscopes listed, just for fun.

Aries: Be careful around members of the opposite sex. You aren't ready for the pressure and you could end up getting hurt.

Taurus: It's alright to worry about your family, but don't forget to worry about yourself too. Trust your family to take care of themselves.

Gemini: Leave your attitude at the door. You're not going to get people to like you by being condescending and rude.

Cancer: Be careful of new people in your sibling's life. They're in a vulnerable place and could get hurt easily.

Leo: Everything is going exactly the way you want it to, but don't be overconfident. Use caution and good judgment and you'll succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

Virgo: People you meet may not take a liking to you at first. Don't get discouraged.

Libra: A new romance may be in your future. Keep your heart and your mind open.

Scorpio: It's good that you want to make friends with everyone you meet, but you need to be careful. Some people aren't as nice as they seem.

Sagittarius: No matter what you think, you are not God's gift to the world. Keep your ego under wraps or you'll alienate everyone close to you.

Capricorn: Doing favors for others isn't always to your best interest. Be careful; someone is bound to take advantage of your generous nature.

Aquarius: Don't meddle in the love lives of your family and friends. Let whatever happens happen on its own.

Pisces: You need to appreciate what you have instead of pining for things you want. Accept that some things are out of your reach.

...Interesting. Still, I've never put much stock in horoscopes. But as it takes all of five seconds to read a horoscope, and it might be good for a laugh, I subscribe to my daily horoscope. Before I close the app, I notice that there's also a special "Your Birthday Horoscope" feature. My birthday's coming up in a few days. I may have to pay attention to that.

Pinkie Pie sends an invitation to play something called Cupcake Party Legend. It's a cutesy yet strangely addicting puzzle game. I spend a little while playing that, then head out to the bathroom to brush my teeth. It's getting late, and tomorrow's the first day of school...I should get to bed early.