Several years ago my life changed forever, and for the better at that. I met this girl... Well, not exactly. She wasn't from my world, she was from another, one we had no idea even existed.
So, I took her in. I gave her shelter, food, and my companionship. In time, we began growing closer and closer, and eventually we fell for each other. It was sappy, sure, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
That was seven years ago, back when everything was peaceful and both of our worlds were out of harm's way. I moved to her world to get away from the evil in mine. If only I had known that living here might put both of our worlds in grave danger...
"So, our digestive systems allow us to digest all kinds of foods that you guys would probably gag on, and vice versa. The differences in our bodies our both great and small, which fascinates me greatly." I say as I point to the projector screen. I turn back to the classroom with a smile, looking at all the students gathered around the room. A pony with a green coat and a yellow mane raises her hoof near the front of the room.
"Yes?" I ask as I point to her.
"Isn't it true that you have a daughter?" She asks with a confused, yet sincere tone.
"Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"
"Well... she's a pony, right? A pegasus?"
"Correct."
"Is she adopted then?"
"Well... no, she isn't. You bring up a different topic though that has been confusing me for years. Our working theory is that by some unbelievable coincidence, our genetics, humans and ponies that is, are very similar. Princess Twilight and I looked into it a bit and came to the conclusion that there is such a small chance of a pony actually conceiving that it is mind blowing. It's a miracle that it happened really."
I look around the room, looking for anyone else that might have any more questions. I look at the clock on the wall and see that my time is up and it's time to dismiss the class.
"Well if that's all, I think we should call it a day. Thanks for coming everyone." I say with a smile and a wave as the room slowly empties.
"That was really good." Twilight says as she walks up behind me with a smile. "I'm glad you agreed to teach this class today."
"Well it was really cool getting to share human history and biology with a bunch of students that were basically blank slates. It'd be cool if other humans could come and live here, maybe mix our two worlds together."
"Aren't you afraid that someone who shouldn't be coming here or vice versa might cause trouble in either of the worlds?"
"I don't know, maybe we can do background checks or something. Point is, it'd be really cool combining both of our worlds, even if it's on a small scale. It would be nice to see other humans around here."
"Well, there would be others if you would actually let them visit you." Twilight says as she raises an eyebrow at me.
"Alex and Skyler? What do you mean, I see them all the time."
"You do, but it's always back on Earth. You never let them come here. What gives?" Twilight asks as we begin to walk outside into the streets of Canterlot.
"Have you seen the crazy shit that happens around here? Remember Tirek and how he almost destroyed the entire population?"
"You were on Earth visiting your family when Tirek attacked... You didn't see what we all went through."
"Well I saw the aftermath and that was enough proof for me that its more dangerous here than I thought. But hey, you got a sweet castle out of it."
"Yeah, but I do miss the library at times. It feels kind of lonely in the castle sometimes because of how big it is."
"Well, you've got Starlight and Spike there, they could keep you company."
"Yeah, they do hang around there a lot. What about you? How are you and Rainbow doing?"
"Oh we're good. She's still really protective of me even though I can obviously take care of myself. She won't let me go anywhere with you guys when the map calls you to different places. I missed you guys going to check out that village and everything!"
"Well, that's Rainbow for you." Twilight says with a chuckle. "She's very protective of what's her's."
"Well, she doesn't own me." I say with a laugh as I rub the back of my head.
"Oh please, you do anything she asks you to do and you do it immediately. You're head over hooves for her."
"I only do what I want to." I say with a smirk. We continue walking towards the train station in silence, taking in the sights around us as the sun begins to set over the horizon.
I've gotta say, I definitely wasn't expecting a world like this. I'd seen it in the show before... All the violence that could occur and all of the threats against the kingdom from that Chrystalis bitch to Tirek. Yet, despite all that, I've come to find great peace in this world, despite some of its flaws. One thing's for sure, however.
I'm definitely happy here.
As I say goodbye to Twilight as we go our separate ways from the train station, I look up into the night sky, admiring the view. The cool spring breeze flows through my hair and clothes, causing a small sigh to escape from my throat.
I close my eyes and start humming a little tune as I make my way through town. I watch as shops start closing for the night and ponies making their way home from their long day of work. It makes me feel a little bit guilty that I don't exactly have a job around here, and that Rainbow provides all of the income for us.
Well, not all the income I suppose. I've made some money doing odd jobs like today for example, though they aren't really enough to live off of. Rainbow's job as head of the weather team is more than enough to live off of for a good long while.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, confusing me at first until I look down to see a reminder I had set for myself for tonight. Twilight is basically my charger, as I showed her how to create the perfect amount of electricity to put into the batter. It takes time, but its the only way to charge my phone here.
"That's tonight!?" I say under my breath as I look down at my watch in shock. "How the hell did I forget!?"
I start jogging away from the path that leads from my house, and towards Sugar Cube Corner where a very important event was going to be occurring tonight. It doesn't take long to get there, but my lungs burn from the chilly air as I come to a stop a few yards away from the entrance. I already see a ton of ponies through the window, and if the music rumbling through the walls is anything to go off of, I'm totally late.
I run up to the door and open it, and I'm immediately hit by a wave of different smells, sights, and sounds, mainly the music blasting from the DJ stand across the room. As the song that's playing comes to an end, the room goes quiet and all eyes point towards me, the guy who didn't want to be seen at all coming in late.
"Shit..." I whisper to myself as I close the door behind me.
I spot Twilight across the room and mouth the words, "You didn't remind me!?" And in response she just gives me a shrug and a nervous smile.
"You're late." A raspy voice says to my left. I quickly look over to see a steaming Rainbow with an annoyed look on her face.
"Look, I can explain." I say as I hold my hands up in defense. She gets right up against me, stands on her back legs, balancing herself against my chest and looking me dead in the eyes. She holds the angry stare for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.
"I had you going there didn't I?" She says as she calms down from her laughing fit.
"Yeah, thought you were going to kill me or something." I say with a nervous laugh. The party goes back to normal, and all eyes eventually are taken off of us.
"Happy birthday Rainbow." I say as I flick the tip of her ear. She falls back down to the floor and gives me a smile before leading me over to a booth. We sit down opposite of each other.
"How was Canterlot?" She asks as she leads forward onto the table.
"Great! The class was really fun to teach, especially since everyone was so willing to listen. I'd do it again if I could... Hey, where's Star? She isn't here is she?"
"She's with Fluttershy back at her cottage. She didn't feel like it tonight so she volunteered to watch her."
"That's good. It's a nice party and all..." I say as I spot Applejack across the room with a barrel of cider. "But I don't think its suitable for kids."
"And it means we get some alone time tonight." She says as she leans forward a bit more in the booth. I put one finger on her head and push her back down into her seat, laughing as I do so.
"Nope, not tonight. I have to help Twilight rearrange her books or whatever tomorrow, and I need ALOT of rest for that."
"Oh come on, do you have to?"
"Yep, I already made a promise that I would. I don't know why I agreed to do that the day after your birthday. Sorry about that."
"Ah, its alright. I could use a good night's sleep too, what with Star waking me up every night because of nightmares or some other problem."
"For a five year old, she sure has a lot fears."
"Well, she wouldn't if you hadn't showed her all of those violent movies every time you take her back to visit Earth."
"Hey, it's our bonding time, and that's what I like to do with her." I say with a smirk.
"You watched Hunger Games with her and she was scared for months, and that was one of the tamer movies you two watched."
"Ah, whatever. She's tough, she can handle it." I look around us to make sure nobody is watching, and quickly lean over the table and kiss her on the tip of her nose.
"Dork." She says with a smirk.
"Seven years and you still call me that..." I say as I lean back.
"And I still love it."
"Son of a..." I mumble as my eyes slowly open, my ears being filled with the sound of my phone ringing next to me. I quickly sit up to turn it off, only to end up nearly kicking Rainbow out of the bed in the process.
"Hey, watch it." She mumbles quietly, still somewhat asleep. I ignore her remark and turn the alarm off, and head straight for the shower. I had promised Twilight that I would help her clean up and reorganize her giant collection of books. Why I had agreed to such a task was beyond me.
Once the shower is on, I start taking my shirt off, only for something to bump into my leg. I look down to see a very groggy Rainbow swaying around and yawning.
"Um, hi? Do you mind?" I ask as I move over to take back my personal space.
"I... I need to... shower too." Rainbow says between yawns, looking like she's about to pass out.
"Jesus, how long were you up last night?" I ask as I toss my shirt onto the sink. I grab a towel and toss it over by the shower to use when I'm done.
"I don't know, just let me in the shower already." She says as she passes by me, heading straight for the water I had just turned on.
"Uh, Rainbow I wouldn't do-" I start to say as she steps in. I'm cut off by a high pitched scream as Rainbow quickly jumps back out, soaking me and everything else in the room as she does.
"W-Whoa." She says shivering, trying to shake the freezing cold water off. "You didn't tell me it was that cold!" She says defensively like this is my fault for some unknown reason.
"Hey, I never told you to get in. Besides, you didn't even ask if it was cold or not." I say with a laugh as I step into the shower, having removed my pajamas. "Look, it isn't that bad." I say with a smile as I stand under the stream of water.
"Yeah yeah, it's probably warm by now..." She mumbles as she steps in behind me, letting out a sigh at the fact that the water has indeed warmed up a bit. "Y'know, we haven't visited Alex or your family or anyone in a while... Should we go today? I have the day off."
"Well, I'd like to, but like I said last night, I'm helping Twilight today to clean up her place. You can come if you want, and maybe we can visit them afterward. Say, do you think Fluttershy would mind watching Star again today? I wanna do something with Alex that I haven't done in forever, but it would be hard if she was there."
"Oh yeah, she loves Star..." Rainbow says with a smile, closing her eyes as the water rushes down her face.
"Alright, that's cool then... Alex mentioned to me he had some news last time we visited, you remember that?" I ask Rainbow as I start washing my hair.
"Yeah, but he said it was too early to tell you what it was. What do you think that means?" Rainbow asks as she bumps into the back of my leg.
"Hell if I know. It just better be good, because he had me in suspense for like a week after that wondering what it was and why he couldn't tell me. I mean, who the fuck does that right?"
The rest of the shower is spent in silence, taking in the peace for as long as it would last. Eventually we get out, and I get changed while Rainbow heads to the door to wait for me. I meet her there, and we head out into the town, though internally I'm dreading the chore I'm about to face.
As we walk down the road, we get smiles and waves from just about everyone we pass. News spread really fast about, well, everything within days of my permanent arrival here. Low and behold, they actually accepted me like I belonged here, which surprised me mostly due to the fact I was comparing what their reactions might be to the reactions of what people from Earth would probably do. It was really nice to see that practically everyone was accepting of me.
"Hey, dork." Rainbow says, snapping me out of my trance. I look down to my right to see her looking up at me.
"What?" I ask as I run my hand through my hair, realizing I'm going to need to get it cut soon.
"When do kids normally start school?" She asks, completely out of the blue.
"Uh... like, when they turn five or six, why?" I respond with a confused look.
"Why haven't we enrolled Star yet? Don't you think it's time that we-"
"Rainbow calm down." I say with a chuckle. "She's five, and the rules here aren't the same as the rules back home. You guys start school at around eight or nine years old. There's still plenty of time until we have to enroll her."
"But... I mean, she's not like other fillies." She says in a quiet tone. "The way she acts, I mean."
"What's wrong with the way she acts?" I ask with yet, another confused look.
"She's basically you with wings. She acts more like a human that a pegasus, and I-"
"What's wrong with that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at her statement.
"Nothing! It's just that... I don't want her to be bullied like I was for being different." She says, her voice becoming pretty quiet. I step in front of her and hold up my hands.
"Whoa whoa whoa. She's not going to get bullied for 'being different'." I say with finger quotes. "Being different is a good thing. I mean, she gets along with Scootaloo and them just fine, and hell they're almost three times her age."
"Well they've known her practically forever, and they know you, and... Do you think she'll be okay, y'know, when she does go to school?"
"I'm positive of it. Everyone loves her, even Fluttershy, and she can be difficult to make a good impression with." I say with a smile as I ruffle up her hair. "Now, can we get to the castle now?"
"Yeah, sure." She says with somewhat of a genuine smile. We start walking again until we reach Twilight's castle. We make our way up the stairs to the front door, and as I'm about to knock, the door slams open, scraping the edge of the wood against my knuckles.
"Ah fuck!" I yell as I grab my hand and bend over, pressing it into my stomach.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" A voice says with a gasp. I look up for a second to see a little purple and green dragon look at me with a worried look.
"It's... fine. Thanks Spike." I say, trying to force a smile through the pain. I sigh as pull my hand away to see a little bit of blood trickling down the back of my other hand.
"I didn't mean to!" He says as he opens the door a little wider. Rainbow just looks at my hand, her mouth hanging open a bit. She's always been a bit squeamish about blood apparently, but after she was shot at the warehouse, she's become deadly afraid of it, even if it isn't her's. I quickly hide my hand from her, looking back at Spike.
"It's fine, really. I've been stabbed with glass before, this is nothing." I say with an involuntary hiss as my shirt rubs against the open wound. "Can we come in?" I say as I stand back up straight.
"Y-Yeah, Twilight's been waiting for you." He says as he fully opens the door and stepping to the side to let us in. We walk past him, giving him a wave as he heads out the door and into the town. He yells back one last apology before closing the door behind us.
"You okay?" Rainbow says, regaining her composure.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Takes more than a scraped knuckle to take me down." I say with a laugh as I keep my hand out of her sight. We approach the main room where Twilight keeps all of her books and records and God knows what else. I push the door open and look around the room, but no Twilight. I do however spot Starlight moving around the room, dusting books on the shelves.
"Hey, Starlight." I say as we both enter the room.
"Oh, hey Matt. I didn't know you were coming Rainbow." She says as she puts the duster down and walks over to us.
"He dragged me along." She says as she points her head towards me, to which I respond with an eye roll.
"Hey, do you know where Twilight is?" I ask as I look around the room again.
"Oh she's in the bathroom, over there." She says as she points to a door down the hall. I quickly walk over to it, leaving Rainbow with Starlight in the library. I wait by the closed door until I hear it open. A startled Twilight jumps as I jump out in front of her.
"Matt!" She yells in both shock and probably annoyance. I laugh at her surprised look, and she glares at me until she notices my hand. Her face suddenly contorts into one of a different kind of shock. "What happened!?" She asks frantically, overreaction to the small scrape.
"Oh, I scraped it on a door... Yeah." I say, trying to keep Spike out of trouble. "Do you have any-"
"There are bandages and gauze under the sink, some alcohol too. Clean that up." She says like an overprotective mother. Her magic grabs my shirt and practically drags me into the bathroom. I give her a confused look, and she only stares me down, again, looking a little more worried than she should.
I spend the next minute or two cleaning up the wound, swearing a bit as I run the alcohol over it. Once I've wrapped up my hand, I follow Twilight back into the study.
We enter to see Rainbow and Starlight sitting around, I guess waiting for us to get back. Twilight's face lights up as I close the doors behind us, and she pulls a giant ass list out of nowhere, supposedly with her magic.
"Okay, let's get to work!" She says with an all too peppy attitude. Everyone lets out a collective sigh as she starts passing around different cleaning tools.
Why the hell did I agree to this?
