Anything I Can Do to Help?

[Chihiro]

[ooc: September 4th, late evening, open only to Chihiro and Derpy for now.] 


The young boy had been trying to sleep for the past few hours, but couldn't even do that. His stomach was filled with knotts, though he wasn't sure if it was because of moving to a new school, someone discovering his real gender. Though the main reason he could think of was the fact that this school was going to list people who were meant to fight each other tomorrow. He couldn't believe that it was going to be like this, what kind of school would allow this to happen. Why had he agreed to come here in the first place? 

Quietly, he walked down the stairs and closed the door carefully to her room before making the way to the main hall. He had managed to grab a bottle of milk before dinner ended, and he was hoping it would help settle his stomach.  As he drank, he felt more sad than ever, and felt his tears starting to come. 'No, no, don't cry.' he thought. 'You might not be chosen to fight at all...' 

[Deleted]

If Chihiro was paying attention, he would have heard the flapping of wings. Derpy was blissfully unaware of what all was going on, at least for the moment, and she was hungry. Her intent was to try and find some muffins, or maybe something else sweet to eat, but Derpy's little journey was brought to an abrupt halt when she took notice of Chihiro. That was one of those strange 'hoo-man' creatures, wasn't it? She had yet to actually meet any of them personally, in spite of interacting with them in classes, and this one just looked so... Down. Derpy didn't like that. The bubbly little pegasus wanted to try and cheer him up. She was good at that, wasn't she? Surely she could make Chihiro feel better.

The grey mare flew up above Chihiro and, in a manner similar to how she'd seen Rainbow Dash do in the past, she craned her neck down and looked at Chihiro. If the boy looked up, he'd see a pegasus looking at him from an upside down position. If that didn't get a laugh, Derpy didn't know what would. She could always offer him something to eat. Food made people happy, didn't it? Sure it did.

"Are you okay? You look all frowny," Derpy said.

[Chihiro]

Chihiro sniffed and looked up. He had only ever seen pegasus in books. To say he was a little surprised was an understatement, in fact he almost didn't hear her question. At looking at him upside down, the boy couldn't help but give a tiny smile. She was kind of cute. "...Oh, umm..I guess I am just nervous about tomorrow," he admitted, placing the empty bottle down on the table and then wrinkling his skirt with nervous hands. "I don't want to have to fight anyone."

[Deleted]

"Nervous? Why would'ja be nervous?" she asked. She legitimately didn't know what it was Chihiro was referring to, or why he would be nervous about it at all. All she knew was that the next day would be like any other day. At least, that was what Derpy believed. She also knew that she didn't like seeing Chihiro sad. Nervous. Whatever it was he was presently. She tried to right herself in the air, but ultimately tumbled down on the floor below and landed with a thud. Her lack of true finesse when it came to flying reared its ugly head, and she gave a sheepish grin as she got to her hooves.

"I'm okay," she told him, "but you shouldn't be nervous. Tomorrow's just another day, isn't it? Do... Is there anything I can do to make you not be nervous?"

She wasn't Pinkie. Making people laugh wasn't her specialty, nor was making them smile for all to see. She did like doing it, though, and she was good at cheering people up. There had to be something she could do to help Chihiro. She didn't want to just be told to sit there and do nothing. Not while someone was clearly not okay. She tilted her head to the side and realized that she didn't even know Chihiro's name. That wouldn't do. If she was going to be his friend, she had to know his name! But not yet. She wanted to know the answer to her questions first. Then she would introduce herself.

[Chihiro]

Chihiro sniffed and wiped tears on his sleeve. At least she had a good attitude, and was ready to be happy. Though this made Chihiro even a bit sadder, because this pegasus had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow. In fact, he wouldn't have known about either, but several students had been going around talking about it. He almost wished he had found out tomorrow. Because then he could at least sleep tonight.

"Thank you. I think i'll be okay. But maybe we can just talk." he asked with a smile. "I'm Chihiro Fujisaki.."

[Deleted]

She beamed; at least she had gotten him to smile. Derpy liked the idea of talking, too. Maybe over a snack and some hot chocolate... If they even had any hot chocolate. She was still getting used to the dorm life and hadn't quite worked out where everything was just yet. Now she knew his name on top of that. She sat herself down and clapped her hooves for a moment as her smile grew more gleeful. She hadn't even needed to ask! That made it even better.

"I'm Derpy Hooves. But you can call me Derpy for short. Everypony does," Derpy said. She could have explained why, but it didn't seem necessary. Instead, she got back to her hooves and went to stand at Chihiro's side. She wasn't really sure if Chihiro was a guy or a girl, but what did it matter? He was her friend... Or could have been her friend. She wanted him to be her friend. Whether or not he actually wanted that, too, was another matter entirely. But for the moment, the pegasus was content to just spend time with him. It was better than having cloud races or anything else that the sportier pegasi were apt to do. Ace flier Derpy was not. Good talker, though? That was something she thought she was without a doubt.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before. Maybe we keep missing each other. D'you think?" she asked. She would have talked with him sooner if she'd noticed him. Alas, this really was the first time they had encountered one another. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, though. She'd gotten to cheer him up.

[Chihiro]

Chihiro smiled a tiny smile, glad to meet Derpy, he didn't even care that her eyes were crossed or that seemed a bit...odd. He liked her already. "Well, its very nice to meet you Derpy." he said, though he couldn't help but wonder if Derpy could tell his real gender. His voice was certainly high enough to be a girl's but maybe gender didn't matter to ponies, pegasus and unicorns.

"I don't think i've seen many of the earth members. i've been kind of avoiding a few of them." he admitted giving an awkward laugh

[Deleted]

"How come? They seem nice! Well, the ones I've seen have been nice," Derpy said. Why in the world would anyone want to avoid their potential friends? Unless... Were these strange 'hoo-mans' and other animals being mean to Chihiro? Derpy frowned at that thought; she didn't like the idea of people being mean to anyone. Not in the least. But maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe Derpy was just assuming things that weren't true, and she knew that was a bad thing to do. She should have known better than to make assumptions about anything. After all, ponies made assumptions about her that weren't true. Like her being with that strange pony with the hourglass cutie mark. Absurd... Not that Derpy would mention it, though. She instead would focus on the good aspects. Not the fact that she was assuming anything.

"I think you should get to know the others. Then we could all share hot chocolate and muffins! Wouldn't that be fun?" Derpy asked. She liked the idea very much. The thought of it already had her tongue poking out of her mouth and brushing against the side of her little muzzle. She wanted muffins now more than anything. Chocolate chip ones. Yes, that would be a most wonderful snack to have. Oh, if only she knew whether or not there were snacks to be had in the dormitories! She wanted a snack so badly.

"I mean... I like muffins. What about you? Do you like them?"

[Chihiro]

Chihiro couldn't help but smile. He had to think about that, he guessed that he wouldn't be facing any of the other earth circle members so there was nothing to worry about. Maybe he was just worried that they would bully him like the other kids did back in his old school. "Muffins?" the question gave a more hopeful tone. He put a finger to his chin as if thinking. "I do like muffins, but i also like cookies." he said relaxing a bit. This was a much better talk.

"What kind of muffins do you like Derpy?"

[Deleted]

"Oh, all kinds! Banana nut, chocolate chip, blueberry, double chocolate chip... All kinds!" Derpy chirped. She let her wings flap a bit and flew up into the air at the mere thought of it. All kinds of muffins to be surrounded by. She would have loved that so much! Oh, but not the kinds of muffins that had been made that one time. The kind that had made all of Ponyville sick for a time. Even Derpy wouldn't touch them after what had happened. She chose not to mention those, though, because she was happy at the moment and didn't really care to think about those bad times anyway. Chihiro needed to have all the muffins he could! ...The only problem, of course, was that Derpy didn't know where to find them at the moment.

"Some ponies say I'm a muffin nut," Derpy said as she brought herself back to the floor. "They're probably right. I love muffins so much! They're so delicious and filling and... Muffiny!"

[Chihiro]

At the word Muffiny, Chihiro burst into a giggle. He had never heard a word quite like it before and it seemed so great to describe muffins. If nothing else it certainly cheered him up. Though where they would find muffins at this time a day was not going to be possible. They certainly weren't allowed outside their dorms at night, were they? "Well, I think you are a cool pegasus derpy. Having something you love is what makes you special."

[Deleted]

Her? Cool?

Derpy's ears fell back as a sheepish little smile formed on her face and she brushed a hoof against the ground. The grey mare had never really thought of herself as anything special or cool. If anything, she was as unimpressive as they came. She was a mediocre flier at best, had weird eyes, and probably was more of a nuisance than anything else to the other ponies. It was no wonder that some of them mistakenly called her Ditzy Doo instead of Derpy. She was a ditz. An airhead. Completely and totally uncool.

"Naw... I'm not that cool. Rainbow Dash is the cool one. She can fly super fast, like a... A... Bullet! Yeah, that's it! She's super duper fast and cool! I'm just plain ol' Derpy," Derpy said. There were other pegasi much cooler than she was, too. The Wonderbolts, for one, were among them. They were the elite fliers of Equestria, and most pegasi admired them. Who was she compared to them? Just a mediocre flier who crashed a lot, caused problems, and delivered mail. Even when she was delivering mail, which seemed to be less often than before since other, better ponies had been hired too, she messed up a lot. Derpy just didn't see herself as anything special at all.

"Even you're cooler than I am. I mean, you're a... A... Hoo-man, is it? I've heard that word around here a bit," Derpy said. Being human wasn't quite as cool as being a super fast flier or an elite flier, but it was still fairly cool in Derpy's opinion. Much cooler than being a lame flier like her.

[Chihiro]

Now that was something that made Chihiro blush. Cool was not a word that described him. Nerdy, pretty, cute or smart were words to describe him. But not cool. He waved his arm as if dismissing the gesture. "Ah, I'm not so cool." she said. "There are tons of more humans that are cooler than I am." rubbing his neck sheepishly, he kept smiling. As she remembered some the students in classes, there was one boy who had apparently been a detective and had an IQ of 200, who was in their circle as well.

"Well, if it helps. I like plain ol' Derpy, better than some cool Rainbow Pegasus. Derpy made me feel better."

[Deleted]

Derpy wanted to argue. She wanted to say that she was nowhere near as cool as Rainbow Dash or the other popular ponies like Twilight or Rarity. Even Applejack was cooler than she was. But there Chihiro was saying that she was cool. He liked her for who she was. This made her ears perk back up a little and caused her to tilt her head to the side in wonder. It wasn't every day that someone told her something like that. Honestly, it made the ditzy little pegasus feel pretty good. Her tail swayed a bit and she looked back up at Chihiro.

"D'you really think so?" she asked. Derpy really hoped that was the case. She didn't want to be let down. Not after she'd really begun to think that Chihiro was her friend. Besides, what reason did he have to dupe her? None that she could think of. Still, that one final bit of confirmation would have been lovely.

[Chihiro]

"Uh-huh." Chihiro nodded, smiling. "I...um.." he blushed. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to be friends? I've never had many before but...well...would you want to?" Maybe it was an off question, but it seemed like a spur of the moment thing to ask. Who would ahve thought that the young crossdresser would spend his evening talking to a pegasus about muffins and their hobbies. But he liked it.