In between worlds

I sat in my chair, my feet propped up on the desk. After having been sitting there doing nothing but stare at the other empty desks in the classroom, and play angry birds on my phone which I just got back, there was clamor from outside the room. I put my phone into my bag as the door opened and several small ponies, foals, as I learned an hour prior, walked in engaged in a large group conversation. They did not immediately notice me, but when one finally did,  she stopped dead in her tracks blocking the rest of the group. Her eyes went wide as she let out a shrill cry. She pushed through the crowd and ran into the hall screaming about a monster in the classroom. I expected the type of reaction and payed the rest of the class no mind. I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling, waiting for the professor who was told of my arrival. The quiet that came after any sort of outburst was rather short lived; one of the other fillies in the class decided it was her job to remove me from the room.

“Hey freak, what are you doing here? Get out!”

I turned my head back to the door. “This is my spot,” I told her.

Most of the class was rather shocked that I was able to speak but the filly at the front just seemed angry. “I told you to get out!” Her horn started to glow. A chair at the front of the room was lifted off the ground and flung towards my head. I pulled my feet off of the desk and put my arms above my head. It hit my arms with a dull wooden thump leaving my arm red with a few small scrapes.

“Oh, so you want to play rough? Just remember, you started this shit.” I started pouring energy into my hands and horn covering them in a blood red energy. Five desks were lifted off the ground and started to rotate around me. “So, you want to back out yet?”

The courage seemed to drain from her body. She stood rigid from my display of magic, shocked beyond belief. She ran out of the room. I lost sight of her for only a second before she tumbled back into view having hit something in the hall. An elderly unicorn with a tan coat and a greying brown mane walked into the room followed closely by the filly who ran away earlier. With this I began putting the desks back into their rightful places.

“What is going on here,” he asked the class? “What could possibly make you all so frantic?” It was now when he finally noticed my presence in the classroom. “Oh, so it’s you. I was hoping class would have started before you arrived.”

The class was confused, they pelted the professor with questions like what was I or what was I doing here. He paid the class no mind as he walked to his desk. He put his bag down and turned his attention back to the class. “I'd like to introduce our newest student.” There were numerous groans be he would have none of that. “Settle down, he’s here to stay. Come up and introduce yourself.

I stood up and walked to the board. I levitated a piece of chalk into my hand and proceeded to write my name. “Hello, my name is Alex Rai Murterbaux, It’s nice to meet you all. I will be joining this class for the foreseeable future,” I said with a bow.

“Very good, now lets get started shall we?” I walked back to my seat at the center of the room pulling the stares of the children with me. “Now that we have finished with the basics of levitation we can start learning more complicated magic, but first can anypony tell me the two basic groups of magic?”

Several hooves went into the air. I looked around the class and saw that i was the only one here with no knowledge on the subject, I would have to change that. The professor called on the student to the right of me, she had been looking at me differently than the others. Instead of afraid she seemed almost intrigued. “The two types of magic are elemental and arcane.” She looked to me again and gave a wide grin.

“Correct, now in both of these there are three sub categories. In arcane there is light, dark, and neutral, while in elemental there is ocean, sky, and land. Land magic consists … what are you doing?” I looked up from my laptop and saw the professor and the students staring more intently that before.

“What?”

“What are you doing,” he asked again.

“I’m taking notes,” I said turning my screen to the front of the room. He seemed shocked as if he had never seen a computer before. I looked around at the other students and saw they each only had a quill or a pencil. “Oh, you guys don’t have computers.”

“Well, as long as you’re being productive,” he said hesitantly. “Lets get back on topic shall we? Land magic consists of earth and fire magic, ocean magic makes use of water and ice, and finally sky magic which controls air and lightning.”

He continued blabbing on about magical theory for another hour before the class was actually over. I continued taking notes on my laptop which most of the other students ignored save for the occasional glance to see what was on my screen. It was nice being ignored, mostly. That one child next to me seemed to stare constantly. I soon found that she was in several of my classes, not just magical theory. She was in modern spell casting, magical history, even that beginners potion making class i was taking so i wouldn’t have so much free time in between two of my classes.

At about noon, 17:00, when the day was nearly done, we had our lunch break out in the yard before our last class. There happened to be a large number of picnic tables on the grass but I took up a spot underneath a large tree away from the others, content with my solitude. I sat there in the shade eating my lunch, my computer charger absorbing electricity from my hands. I was rather content sitting there, lunch in one hand and computer charger in the other. It was perfect; sometimes you forget how much you can miss Doctor Who when you go without it for half a week.

Ten minutes into lunch that little filly from my classes decided she wanted to sit with me. Normally I would have been too absorbed in my show to notice her but she just stood out too much to. She trotted towards me, a wide smile across her face adding to her pure white coat and blinding yellow mane. It was almost painful.

She sat down in the sunlight and said, “Hi Alex.” I looked at her for a moment before nodding back. I went back to my lunch while she sat there and watched me eat- I was really getting creeped out. I was creeped out before but once you have someone watch you eat as intently as she did… it wasn't fun. I wanted to keep eating but i just couldn't with her there.

“Is there something you want?”

She wasted no time before asking, “What are you?”

“Human.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s what I am. It’s me, one of three.”

“There are more of you?” I sat there while she bombarded me with questions. There were repetitive, things like 'where are you from?'', 'where is that?', and 'how many of you live there?'. I ended up having to describe New York City in detail and was then told that there was a city very much like that here called "Manehatten", I shit you not. I was still being blinded every time I looked in her general direction but I was starting to get used to it. We the finally reached the question that i knew would freak out ninety percent of the population of this world- what did I eat.

“Oh, you don’t want to know.”

“Please, I'm really interested. Why, can’t I know? Is it something gross?” While she had been watching me eat a sandwich like what I had didn’t show its contents.

“You sure you want to know?” I put real emotion into my voice this time. She was annoying but not terrible, I didn’t want to scare her.

“Oh, please, please, please!”

“Alright. You see these teeth here,” I said opening my mouth and pointing. She nodded. “These are called canines, like a dog. We have these so we can eat meat.” Last time I told a pony about this there were several gasps and one pony who passed out, but this girl just sat there and smiled.

“Oh, that’s so cool,” She said, overflowing with excitement. “I have a pet blue jay. We feed it seeds and fruit, but sometimes it flies away and comes back with bugs, and one time a baby bird.” At that moment I realized that this was probably the single most interesting being at this entire school. More importantly I could eat meat around her and not have her freak out. Maybe.

Lunch ended with the two of us on rather good terms. We kept up a rather lively conversation and drew the eyes of many still-frightened students. we had to part ways at that point- as she and I had different classes- but she insisted on meeting after school so we could keep talking. Before I could dissuade her she scurried off to her last class. I walked down the barren halls to the my final class. I reached the room and opened the door, sitting down in the center seat I had claimed for all my classes. The professor began writing on the board and the class began.

“Hello all, and welcome to Beginner's Alchemy.”

On day three I was rather bored with the routine I had set up. Go to classes, talk with that strange child, go back to the castle, and practice the spells I needed to learn. By then I had already learned short range teleportation, separation of hydrogen and oxygen through magic, and was making fully formed fireballs that would fizzle out when they were a foot away from my hand or horn. I was getting so far ahead in my classes that i was becoming even more hated than before, but then again the other students were twelve or something and weren’t worth a single damn, meaning they were worth less than one three hundredth of a fuck. They were worth less than a damn. Thirty danms equal a shit and ten shits equal a fuck. So worthless.

My boredom seemed incurable during the afternoon of the fourth day. I returned to the castle and asked the nearest guard where vista was. He didn’t get it, so I asked where PC was. When he still didn’t get it after using her initials, I slapped him across the face and walked down the halls until I reached a line and a very large and pretentious set of golden doors. I, as the spectacular asshole I always was and forever will be, skipped the line of ponies and walked into the room. There were numerous complaints by the waiting ponies but I ignored them. Besides, the guards had been given orders not to stop me or my friends should we ever need to speak to her.

I found myself a the large white stone throne room, where we had crashed through a window nearly a week ago. The princess was sitting on a large golden throne, hence the throne room, with a vacant and slightly smaller seat next to her. I walked up to her and waved and was given a smile in return. I waited for the pony she was speaking with to finally shut up and move on; when he did the princess beckoned me forward.

“Hello Rai. I'm glad you're here,” said the princess, a smile on her face. “You’re the first to accept my offer for assistance. What can I help you with?”

“Yeah, I'm just really, really bored,” I said walking up and taking a seat in the smaller throne next to her. The guards on duty looked shocked by my actions but i knew the princess was fine with it so I made myself comfortable.

My conversation with the princess was short. Afterwards she instructed a unicorn guard to guide me to a rather large underground room. The walk was short; after arriving the guard took up a post in the corner of the room. She said she would be there shortly but she would still have to see to the concerns of her subjects. Staying true to her word, she arrived minutes after myself. She teleported into the room with a small pop and a flash of light.

“You wanted to learn more about magic?” I nodded. “Very well.” There was another small popping sound and the room was suddenly filled with fist sized rocks, each identical to the other. “Now, I want you to pick up as many rocks as possible using your magic.”

“That’s all?” She nodded and I began to lift several stones off the ground. She and the guard both looked rather impressed by the display. I held the stones above my head and began to fashion a crown out of the rotating stones. “So, how’s this?” I asked.

“For somepony- sorry, someone- who has had their magic for as long as you have it’s quite impressive, but let me ask you this. Are you controlling them all separately?”

I moved the rocks away from my head and let them fall to the floor and said, “Yes, this is the most I can move once. I can’t focus on more than seven objects at a time.”

“That is what makes this feat impressive. Most are only able to control three of four items at a time, but seven…” She turned to the guard, saying a few words before looking back to me. “While I do have business to attend to, Dusk Star here shall stay and instruct you on mass levitation.” Before I was able to get a single word out she teleported away, leaving me in a room full of rocks with the unicorn guard. We both stood there for an unknown amount of time, staring each other down before the silence was finally broken.

The guard walked towards me. He stopped about three feet away before squinting and asking, “Which one are ya again?” in a southern accent.

“Wat.”

“Which one are ya boy,” he yelled. “What’s yer name?”

“Oh, I’m Rai.” I said, holding out a hand. It was met with a rough hoof and a rather violent shake. I took my hand back, gingerly cradling it after it was so brutaly handled.

“Well, it seems I’m to be yer teacher fer a while. So, what'cha know about the ‘mass levitation spell’ anyhow?

“Absolutely nothing.”

“Well, shoot. I didn’t think you were such a greenhorn with what you did just a moment ago.” I just shrugged. “Well alrighty then. So, let’s start with a demonstration between the two,” he said. His horn began to glow a deep blue before spreading to four stones around him. They each began to lift off the ground and move in a pattern in the air, tracing out a shape.

“Alright, so that’s regular, now what’s mass?”

“I’m getting to it.” Without his horn glowing any brighter his magic seemed to spread to an even greater number of rocks, pulling each of them from the ground. When every rock with an orange glow had been pulled off the ground, there were nearly thirty stones in the air. I looked up in awe as they began to form a ring above him. “Now ya see the difference, boy? The mass levitation spell is nearly the same as levitation but ya don’t focus on all the things yer pickin up, ya think of it as like one big thing.”

The remainder of the day was spent on me unsuccessfully trying to learn this new spell. The entirety of the afternoon of the fourth and fifth day after school was spent in that room trying to lift rocks. At the end of the fifth day I had finally managed to lift fourteen five stones in one levitational grip. After having used plenty of magic during school, using it underground became a serious chore those two days. I later found out that my teacher had only been using one levitation field for all the rocks he had lifted on the first day, and that it took him only three days to master. And here I was thinking I was hot shit for being able to hold five.

The sixth day went rather well at first but then started to go a little off track as the day went on. It started off with classes, which went well enough but started to go crazy when the day ended. The blinding yellow and white child I had been talking with started to drag me to her house. She had been telling me that her parents had been wanting to meet the friend she had been talking about so much and decided that she would bring me to her house. I tried to protest against the idea, but she would have none of it. In the end I was being dragged, with magic, by my backpack to her home. It was like something out of a cartoon; the small talkative one dragging the antisocial one to some sort of gathering.

“Here we are,” she said in a singsong voice, finally releasing me from her magical deathgrip, “my house.” It was more like a mansion than a house. From my room in the palace I had a rather good view of Canterlot, and from there I had seen this home stand out among the others. Until now i had always thought it was a small hotel or a museum based on its size but this was a shock.

“G.D.”

“Hm?” She looked over at me questioningly.

“Sorry, it’s just... really big,” I said. “This is seriously where you live, Sunny?”

“Yep,” she said with a smile. “Let’s go!” She opened the door and walked into a massive atrium before announcing her arrival. “MOM, DAD, I’M HOME. I BROUGHT A FRIEND!”

There was the sound of hooves coming from one of the rooms and we were soon greeted by a pony wearing a vest and a bowtie. “Hello young madam, your parents are out back,” he said looking only at her, almost ignoring my presence entirely.

“Thanks.” She walked on, gesturing for me to follow. When we reached the back of the house we stepped onto a large open area surrounded by hedges, with four unicorn ponies sitting at one of the tables drinking what I guessed to be tea. “Hold on a moment, I need to give them some kind of preparation.”

“What for?”

“Oh, well… my mom and dad weren’t exactly expecting… someone who’s not a pony. Don’t worry about the others; my uncle is really open minded.” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to prepare myself but I was at least happy, rather proud actually, that she had taken my talks on race equality to heart. Damn the system. While she walked to their table, I started practicing my advanced levitation with pebbles. There were a few seconds of distant conversation followed by a loud gasp, I looked up and figured that was my cue.

I walked over to the table, pebbles still in the air. “Hello,” I said going against the rather tense mood of the table. The ones sunny had been standing near I assumed to be her parents, both looking rather baffled by my presence. Both of her parents were stark white but with different mane colors. Her father had a short blue mane slicked back with an absurd amount of hair gel while her mother had a long purple mane which she had obviously taken around an hour to style in the morning. With that awkward introduction bearing no fruit, I turned to whom i presumed to be her uncle. I held out a hand and greeted the ‘progressive one’ instead. “Hello, my name’s Alex.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you old chap. I’ve heard plenty about you from my niece over there,” he said with a nearly English accent, like sort of English but kinda shit. “She did fail to mention that you were not a pony.” He seemed nice enough with his fantastic mustache and slicked back blue hair, but one can never be too sure, especially with that fancy jacket and purple bow tie.

“All good, I hope. I don’t believe I have your name.”

“Ah yes, I do apologize. My name is Fancy Pants,” he said as he shook my hand. “And this here is my wife, Fleur De Lis,” gesturing to the mare to his left. She, following the trend of this entire family, was also white, so very white, and had a long pink mane which was curled at the ends. She was the pony version of a trophy wife; the amount of makeup, the confident aura, and the constant striking of poses, such a fucking trophy wife.

I continued talking to Mr. Pants for some time while Sunny’s parents just seemed baffled. Sunny and i both had fun talking with her uncle and spoke mostly of my origins and Fancy’s work. Were even able to get her parents, who were subtle racists, to join in. They really didn’t seem that keen on me associating with their daughter but when I needed to go back to the castle I did flip them off; it was nice. Before i was even able to leave the grounds of the estate I was thoroughly questioned on my living conditions.

“So, we were never told where you were staying now that you’re living in Equestria,” said Sunny’s father, whose name was too lame for me to bother remembering. “I suppose you are staying in an apartment somewhere, no?” He seemed rather uninterested and began to take another sip of his tea.

“Well, I’m actually staying in the castle”, I said, gesturing in its direction. All the tea in his mouth was immediately emptied onto the grass.

“WHAAAAA?”

Yeah, I’m officially a guest of the crown or something. Well I kinda sorta have to go, my tutor is going to be furious if I’m late,” I said running off. “It was nice meeting you all. See you at school tomorrow, Sunny.”

When I finally came arrived at the castle, Dusk was super pissed. I ended up having to learn the next spell while doing a handstand; it’s a good thing I took gymnastics. Who’s gay now! By the end of day seven, I had learned another three spells from class and private tutoring. Now in addition to what I knew I could make a ball of light, but that was stupid cause fire spell. So, Dusk Star taught me how to move water for ocean magic, which is completely different than levitation, and how to make a shield. I learned the shield rather quickly but it was weak; I had Sig punch one when he got back from his week at the boy scouts, guard camp, and it was like punching glass, really weak glass that shatters but doesn’t cut your hand. My spells kind of suck. It was a crazy week but tomorrow’s the day. The day the three of us have all anxiously been waiting for.