For my first day at Crystal Prep, it was decided that Velvet would drive me to the school in the family SUV. Depending on how my day went, I could either get a ride with Cadance, or Twilight could show me how to get home from CPA on the public transit. Although I had not received a bus pass as of yet, they'd given me some pocket change to handle the fare if needed. Since we were going that way already, Twilight was riding along, rather than catching her usual city bus.

So it was that I was seated in one of the rear passenger seats of the vehicle, alongside my new foster-sibling. That in itself was an odd thought, I'd decided as I eyed up the apple I'd pilfered from the fridge on our way out. I'd spent so much time without Cantata now that the thought of being someone's sibling, if only temporarily and on paper, was foreign. The final paperwork had been taken care of, though, and I was legally Twilight Velvet and Night Light's foster daughter.

With one hand, I opened my tablet's protective case and powered on the screen. "Did you know that it is deceptively simple to split an apple in half?" I asked Twilight, dragging her attention away from a little black book she seemed to have been writing notes in. "I remember learning this trick when I was younger, after my father moved on to the Elysian Plains."

Carefully, I drew a line across the top of the Honeycrisp apple from either side of the stem using my thumbnail, making sure to show her the line. Once that was complete, I set it against my knee and used the meaty part of both thumbs to exert force toward my knee and away from the cut. It wasn't something I was used to doing with hands, but the principle didn't really change all that much between hands and hooves. The apple made a satisfying ripping sound as the fruit tore in two, and Twilight had a look of fascination on her face as I passed her one of the halves.

"I see," she commented as she examined the half of the apple I'd given her. "You create a structural vulnerability perpendicular to the already structurally weak axis of the fruit with the cut. Then you use leverage to create a stress that causes the skin and flesh to further split, which in turn weakens the structure and allows for a seemingly effortless split."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mrs. Velvet watching us through the rear view mirror. I couldn't be sure, but I thought there might have been a bit of concern present on her face. Oddly, it seemed more like she was watching Twilight than me. Wonder what that's about?

I just shrugged and immediately began eating my apple half with gusto. All I had really been able to bring myself to eat this morning was a piece of toast and a grapefruit, alongside a cup of black coffee. As it stood, that was slightly more than I usually ate, but I was likely going to need the energy, if not to remain functional, then at least to deal with potential featherbrained behaviour about my disability or status.

Twilight, however, seemed to be puzzling over something as she looked from the apple to me. What'cha thinking about? Whatever it was quickly sidelined as she saw me eat the core and calyx like they were just another part of the apple—which they were, but I mean, I get it; some ponies don't like eating cores either. Still, it was funny seeing her cringe momentarily.

"I know that the core of the apple is supposed to be nutrient rich and good for your gut bacteria," she said slowly as I finished devouring the apple before picking my teeth with the half of the stem that remained on my half. She offered the other half back, which I gladly accepted. "However, I still don't know how you can just eat the core like that."

I shrugged and bit into the apple half to hold it and began typing out an answer. Again out of the peripheral of my vision, I noted Velvet's reaction. Disappointed? "I thought we established that I was clearly part pony?" declared the tablet as I took the apple back out of my mouth to fix her with a grin.

Twilight just giggled before diverting into a conversation about the logistics of reincarnating in another world—not that she believed in that sort of thing. After all, not only would it be statistically impossible for me to wind up in a world where I spoke the same written and spoken language, but the amount of energy it would take to propel a consciousness between two realities and construct a body for it would be monumental. That would be insane levels of power beyond the scale of anything we could imagine.

Of course, using magic as an argument got nowhere with her. However, something I said did happen to catch her off guard. As far as this world is concerned, magic is just the catch-all for things not scientifically explainable at present. There could quite easily be a form of energy out there in the universe just waiting to be discovered, one whose applications border on the magical, if only someone, somewhere were to find it and study it.

I may not have been a unicorn, but since coming here, I still sort of missed being able to fly and walk on clouds. If rediscovering magic could grant me that, it would probably be the greatest thing that could happen to me in this world. Magic turning out to be real, and me being able to fly, especially if I wasn't the only one, would be amazing, because then I could show people here even just a fragment of Equestria's beauty.

Imagine what humanity could do if it could control the weather. Droughts would be a thing of the past.

Eventually, we pulled up in front of the school, but rather than unlocking the doors to allow us out, Velvet pulled the vehicle over and turned around to face us. Her expression was deadly serious, so I was immediately wary. "Eventide, before you go in there, I need to give you something," she explained. Reaching into her purse, she produced a bracelet that consisted of a black silicone band connected to either side of a metal plate. On the plate there was a red six pointed star with a rod and snake within to one side, and several things etched into the metal.

Eventide Construct
Peanut Allergy
O Negative Blood

"I need you to wear this at all times," she continued, pressing it into my hand. "Dr. Zecora called on Thursday to let me know that your blood allergen test came back positive for a peanut allergy. If you get anything to eat in the cafeteria for lunch, you need to make sure to ask that there's no peanuts in it."

I looked from the band to her in confusion, but nodded and stretched the band out to slide it around my wrist. She then adjusted it so that the metal plate was on the back of my wrist. This felt important, but at the same time, I got the impression that asking what an allergy was would eat up too much time. That was something I quickly made a habit of once I was introduced to the internet and the open source encyclopedia: noting things that I didn't understand about this world and looking it up when I had a free moment. If I still didn't get it, I could ask questions later.

Still, she didn't exactly have to warn me away from peanuts all that much. When I was on the streets with Cantata, we appropriated a bag of peanuts from a travelling circus and had a really bad experience. We got really sick, and Cantata fell out of the cloud we hid in. Sure, I kept her from hurting herself, but we instinctively avoided peanuts like the plague ever since.

"Wait, is that why we didn't have Pad Thai on Friday night?" Twilight asked as Velvet released the locks on the rear doors. She picked up her backpack from the space at her feet and opened her door. "That's probably for the best. We don't have any epinephrine at home, and according to statistics, Friday nights are typically busier for EMTs. Potential response time for an allergic reaction is not ideal."

Velvet nodded as I unbuckled myself and picked up my schoolbag: a black canvas bag with a shoulder strap and two pouches on the one side. I climbed out, noting on the SUV's console that I had half an hour until the start of class. Immediately, I noticed several eyes on me, many of which darted over to Twilight, who was quickly rushing into the school. Many began to whisper to their neighbours in a way that I really didn't like.

Twilight told me it might be like that, but wow I was not prepared to see it in action. She really is an outsider, isn't she?

Nobody approached me as I entered the school. I passed one or two teachers, but if any had complaints about my personalised uniform, none were made. Really, it wasn't all that different from anyone else's. I had the wine-coloured, white-trimmed blazer with my personal emblem, the long-sleeved eggshell blue blouse, the indigo ribbon threaded through the collar, and the uniform skirt, but I was also using a pair of leggings that matched the ribbon in order to provide extra warmth and modesty. Of course, my goggles hung around my neck to round out my appearance.

After stopping by the office to get a locker assignment and stopping to slap a lock on my locker, I made it all the way to the library without much fuss. Although there was a librarian at the check-out desk, the place was pretty much deserted and I couldn't see any other students. It was, after all, a huge space, and I found myself wondering how it compared to the royal archives back in Equestria. Just look at how many texts there are here.

Luckily, I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, so I made my way over to a section dedicated to encyclopedias. Browsing the spines, I slipped out the first volume and flipped to its index. Took a moment to find entries for allergy and allergic reaction, but by the time I'd wandered over to a table and taken a seat, I'd found the pages I was looking for.

As I read over the articles, I felt a cold chill. The phenomena described in this book as a Type-I allergic reaction matched to a T what I experienced with Cantata. The itching, swelling, breathing difficulties, and symptoms of shock that led to her falling out of the cloud indicated a rather severe reaction. But how did we survive, then? I kept on reading, but its treatment required something called epinephrine, or adrenal—

Oh. The scare from the fall must have caused our adrenal glands to secrete enough to stave off the reaction after we vomited it all up.

The pony understanding of biology was still in its infancy, and germ theory was an innovation of the last hundred years. It was really no surprise that there were certain foods that were labelled as 'potentially poisonous' on an individual basis and effectively treated as an 'eat at your own risk' sort of thing, or the result of curses. How many deaths have resulted from allergic reactions in Equestria? How many would have been preventable?

Resting my chin on one hand and staring down at the article, I barely noticed when someone walked up to the table. "Hey again, kid," came a familiar voice. It was a lot more mellow than the last time I'd heard it. When I looked up, I saw the girl I'd met in that jail cell—Jinx Charm—regarding me with a friendly smile. She was wearing a similar blouse and ribbon as my own, but she wore a knitted vest in the school's colours and indigo trousers rather than the typical girls' uniform. "Doing a little light reading before your first day of school?"

I quickly pulled my tablet case onto the table from where it hung at my side and turned the volume down to an appropriate level before typing out an answer. "Just found out today I was allergic to peanuts, but I didn't remember encountering the term before," I explained, holding up my right arm to show off the bracelet before glancing around. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I could trust her not to make a stink over me having been homeless before. "My father died when I was young, and without my mother in my life, I ended up slipping through the cracks and living on the street. Kinda had to direct my own education, but when you're just a little kid, you don't exactly know to look up those sorts of things. Apparently, I'm lucky to even be alive right now."

She looked at me in surprise before taking off her glasses and producing a small cloth from a pocket in her pants. As she cleaned the lenses, she shook her head. "Damn, I'm sorry to hear that," Jinx remarked before putting her glasses back on. "That you're coming to this school at all is really impressive, and I don't mean that in a classist sort of way. Cinch doesn't just let anyone get into CPA, and since you came in with Sparkle, I imagine her family's the one that sponsored you."

Her expression fell as she glanced over to the doors. "She might not be good with people, but you'd do well to stick by her and Glimmer," she added with a sigh. I followed her gaze toward a pair of girls chatting in the hallway. One had a greyish turquoise skin tone, short cut mulberry hair, and what looked like perpetual resting bitch face. The other was a girl with golden complexion, a freckled face, and rose hair up in a high ponytail. Based on the way Jinx is looking at them, I'm going to guess those two are high up on the social ladder. "Regardless of the petty social games you're going to run into here, those two are going places. The same can't be said for some students."

My first class was about what I expected. The maths professor immediately tried to start something when I answered attendance using my tablet. I immediately shut that down by repeating what I'd said to Mr. Willow on Thursday about the Americans with Disabilities act and requesting his issue with the tablet in signed and in writing on a school letterhead. That got a lot of surprised gasps and a few drawn out oohs from the other students in the room.

I think he took that personally, because for the rest of the period, he called me up to answer trigonometry questions on the board in front of the class more than once. I didn't put up a fuss, even when he tried to make me do them without a calculator. My request for access to trigonometric tables didn't make him any happier, especially when I pointed out the ridiculousness of memorising about five hundred forty-two individual values to any substantial degree, and that any navigator worth her salt would keep a trig table handy.

The only reason he didn't just throw me out was because he was well aware of the camera in the classroom. Oh yes, the school seemed to boast a state of the art camera system to ensure no academic dishonesty, and to deter any blatant violence. Starlight pointed it out on the tour, as well as noting that the only blind spots were the insides of bathrooms and changing rooms for obvious reasons.

Well, he also couldn't throw me out because I kept my demeanour calm and rational, and made sure never to come off as openly insubordinate. That was one of the social games I had to learn when dealing with nobility in the REN. The first one to lose their cool lost face. If you looked like you were retaliating, you would lose face. If you made things personal, you would lose face. Appearances were everything in controlling the narrative and therefore the situation. If he threw me out for doing as he told me, or not submitting to unreasonable requests, he would all but be admitting that he was retaliating for embarrassing him over the ADA thing.

At least, I'm pretty sure that's why he was doing it. It wasn't impossible that he was simply testing me to see how I would react to the pressure. It was either that, or I'd missed some facet of the social game, because despite everything, he almost looked pleased by the end. Given how strict this place is supposed to be, I shouldn't rule out either possibility.

The second period geography class was a lot more tame. It consisted of little more than note-taking on a lecture and students taking turns reading aloud from their textbooks. Nobody really cared that there was a new student, and the professor didn't really bother with making me read. Just take a book and sit down.

Before long, lunch time arrived, and I found myself walking through the hall, wondering what to do. Twilight was going to be taking her lunch in her lab, and I had no clue if either Starlight or Jinx would even be interested in having a sophomore joining them at lunchtime. Then again, I could always do some networking. You can never have too many friends when you're getting on your feet.

Luckily, I didn't really have to worry about handling any cash for meals. With all the money Mrs. Velvet was ~~wasting~~ investing in me, it would have been complete bullshit if meals at CPA weren't covered. All I had to do was go in, grab a tray, walk up to the service counter, and pick a meal option. Admittedly, it was a bit hard to convey that I had a peanut allergy over the din of the cafeteria, but I made do.

Eventually, though, I was walking through the cafeteria with a tray with my veggie wrap and a carton of chocolate milk. Starlight was seated at a crowded table, surrounded by a bunch of students I recognised from the team picture I saw in the archery club room, but noticed me and gave me a friendly wave. At another table, nearby was Jinx and another girl opposite of her. It was a lot less populated there, but the bespectacled girl was doing something with some strange cards laid out in an array between them. The girl across from her, a pale, cyan-haired freshman, was paying rapt attention as she spoke.

I didn't really know anybody yet, so I found one of the empty tables, sat my tray down, and then set my bag at my feet. The noise in the room died down as I quietly began to eat my meal. People around me began to whisper, but although it put me ill at ease, I remained stoic. Idly, I slid a straw into my carton of milk and began looking around the cafeteria for its camera locations, just in case. Two of them were in my field of vision, but based on their positions, I imagined I had a good idea where the other two were.

It didn't take very long for the horseshoe to drop. A pair of girls—the very ones that Jinx Charm had inadvertently pointed out this morning while speaking of petty social games—approached the table with their trays of food. The girl with the mulberry bob-cut looked down at me with barely contained disdain, while the other had a way-too-happy to be genuine look on her face. Neither exactly filled me with the warm fuzzies.

"Aww, look, Sunny!" the rosy-haired girl trilled with faux cheer. "The new girl thinks she can just sit at our table and get away with it."

Setting down my milk, I rested my chin on one palm while I brought my tablet up onto the table and opened it to the text to speech app. The fact that I seemed to be completely unaffected didn't seem to please 'Sunny', because she roughly set her tray down on the table and scowled at me. "Are you seriously ignoring us right now?" she spat before trying to calm herself down. "You're being incredibly rude by sitting at our table and ignoring us, but I could be convinced to forgive you if you leave now and remember your place in the future."

I considered her words for a moment before typing out a response. The cafeteria immediately went so quiet that a pin could drop, so I made sure to crank the volume of the tablet. "It is rather rude to presume that you can claim any sort of ownership over school property," I said through my tablet as I fixed her with a disinterested look. "There was nobody present here when I arrived, nor was there any sort of indicator of reservation. You can hardly fault me for not recognising any right of possession over an object indistinguishable from any other of its like in this mess hall."

To be honest, I half expected either of them to comment on the tablet, and how I shouldn't have it, or the fact that I was using it to speak. Instead, she simply narrowed her eyes at me. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"

I merely shrugged at her and tapped out a response. "You are correct; I do not know who you are." A nasty smile creased my face. "You act all-important, so perhaps you should enlighten me to your identity and how it relates to ownership over one of this institute's mess tables."

It was pretty damn clear that she was someone that was going to make my life difficult if I crossed her, if she fancied herself important enough to start trouble over the ownership of a table. I was probably bringing down all sorts of hell on my head, but there was just something about this girl that royally pissed me off. Maybe it was her self-aggrandisement, or the fact that she reminded me very much of a street-thug colt who made life hell for Cantata after Dad died, but I just did not like her.

It was the other girl who spoke up on Sunny's behalf. "Her father, Sonny Fiammata, is a very influential businessman here in Canterlot. You'd do well to remember that."

The name immediately rang a bell in my head, and not just because it was something I'd literally been slapped in the back of the head over. I looked from Ms. Cheerful Demeanour to Sunny before beginning to laugh. Oh sweet Celestia, her dad's a mobster? And she's seriously pulling this holier than thou shit? That's hilarious. The pair of them looked creeped out by the silent laughter, so after a moment, I calmed myself and threw on a dark smile.

After turning the volume down on the tablet I prepared a response. "Ah yes, I'm familiar with some of Mr. Fiammata's work," I said, clapping quietly. "It don's on me that I encountered one of his employees on the ninth, when he was causing a bit of trouble in Central Park. Skeevy guy, fancy suit... was harassing a homeless woman if I'm not mistaken." I threw on a thoughtful expression and then added on, "He had quite the fall, so I can't help but wonder how his nose is doing."

Ms. Rosy Ponytail looked a bit confused, more than anything else. Sunny, however, paled slightly, as her mask momentarily slipped to reveal worry... or maybe fear. She quickly schooled her expression and fixed me with a glare. "Fine, you may have this table for today," she announced, drawing a startled gasp not only from her companion, but the entire watching audience. She picked up her tray and turned her back on me. "In the future, however, I do hope you'll choose to sit elsewhere. Come on, Sour Sweet."

"Sunny Flare, what the hell?" the now-named Sour Sweet squawked. "This is our table. You're not seriously going to let her get away with this, are you?"

Interesting. So Sour doesn't seem to get the implication of what I said, but Sunny did. That means she's well aware of what her father does, and that he may even have said something about his goon in her presence; that Sour missed it means that she probably doesn't want anyone else to know anything other than that he's an 'entrepreneur'. That could be useful.

I gave them both a more friendly smile as I turned the volume back up. "Thank you, Ms. Flare. That is indeed a generous compromise," I said, gesturing at the spot across from me, where her tray had just been. "But please, you needn't leave on my account. By all means, stay."

She peered over her shoulder at me with barely contained hate in her eyes. "That's quite alright," she said in a flat tone. "I've just remembered a call I need to make."

Everyone in the cafeteria watched in shock as Sunny and Sour all but stormed out of the cafeteria. A low din erupted in the cafeteria, and over at Starlight's table, I could see the girl covering her face with a palm. At the table right next to the one I was sitting at, there were three girls looking at me with mixed expressions. One of them, another white-haired girl with glasses and her hair done up in twin ponytails, was shaking her head with a rather unimpressed look. The blue-haired girl next to her—a fellow goggles enthusiast—looked like she was trying to keep herself from cracking up. Then there was the pretty green-haired girl I'd seen in the Ponyville Plaza neighbourhood, looking at me in surprise. When she saw I was looking at her, she gave a sheepish wave.

The twin-tailed girl looked at me, and in a flat voice said, "You really shouldn't have done that. Sunny's never going to let this go." I just shrugged and returned to my meal. The other three did as well, but I considered asking if I could join them tomorrow. They seemed unbothered that I may have just stirred up the hornet's nest, and if I joined them at their table, it'd probably tweak Sunny's nose.

As I finished my meal, however, it occurred to me that it happened again. Just like with Cinch on Thursday, I'd practically become a different person. What was worse was that it was almost like I was starting to take pleasure in playing with Sunny. To be honest, it was starting to make my gorge rise. I wonder if this is what it felt like for...

As I climbed into the passenger seat of Cadance's car, the woman fixed me with a questioning gaze. "So how was your first day of school?" she asked, watching as I set my bag in the foot well and slowly pulled the seat belt across my front. As soon as I was buckled in, she turned her attention forward and pulled out of the parking lot. "Did you make any new friends?"

I just shrugged as I thought about the rest of my day. The cooking course and PE weren't classes I could use my tablet to speak in, so I was sorta just there. I probably could have pushed to use it in cooking, but the teacher was right in that hygiene was something to be considered when handling food. A result of that, however, was that I couldn't really converse with any of my peers in either class. Similarly, nobody in my morning classes had shown any interest in me, either.

The time between showering after PE and Cadance getting off work, I just sorta spent in the library, where I encountered Jinx again. She had to do some work for the librarian, but she still took the time to tell me I was insane for talking back to Sunny Flare. That left me free to do my homework until it was time to go. I figure, why not do it now so I'm free to do whatever later?

"My day was alright, I suppose. I only had to mention the Americans with Disabilities Act to my maths professor, and had a run-in the apparent queen bee of the school." I remarked, using the control on my door to crack the window open. "I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get any opportunities to interact with Twilight or Starlight during the school day, but I did get to see Jinx Charm again in the library this morning and this afternoon. She's pretty nice."

Cadance glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, smiling a bit as she drove. "Jinx? She's usually a pretty good student, as long as she remembers there's no smoking on school property," she commented with an appreciative hum. "Have you met her before?"

I nodded, but wasn't sure if she saw, so I quickly tapped out a, "Yeah." After a few moments, I decided to explain. "She was arrested over her ID by the same bad cop that attacked me on Thursday. She kept me company until Shining arrived, and even offered to teach me sign language."

Seemingly pleased with the fact that I was in good spirits, the school's dean was content to let the conversation end there. The remainder of the ride was fairly quiet, although my mind was still firing. Mentioning the interaction with Sunny Flare and Sour Sweet had dredged up the feelings that lingered after the interaction had ended. Again, I felt my stomach churn slightly, and I adjusted the window's openness to allow more of the air to blow against my face.

Ms. Cadance is supposedly a counsellor in addition to being the dean of the school, so maybe I could confide in her about this? It was probably the right thing to do, all things told. If there was something wrong with me, it'd be better to find out now, right? That was probably the case.

So why couldn't I bring myself to say anything? It was probably the fact that I couldn't be sure what would happen if I did tell her. Even if there was a bond of confidentiality, I got the feeling that if she felt there was something seriously wrong with me, or she got the wrong impression, she'd be obligated to speak to Velvet and Light about it. Even if I never dismissed the concern that this might not work out and might end up back on the street, the idea that they might throw me out seeped into my thoughts like a cancer.

It honestly scares me. Even if they've invested so much into me, I can't let myself get complacent... This won't be the factory all over again...

The ringing of Cadance's phone interrupted my mental spiral. Before I could put much thought into what was happening, she reached over to a button on the console and pressed it. "Hey, Shiny," she said aloud as we pulled up to a stop light. Turning to me, she motioned toward the window and then made a spinning motion with her index finger. I got the picture and rolled the window back up. "How's work?"

"It is what it is, although I'm going to be running a bit late tonight," came the voice of Shining Armour through the car's speakers. "Want me to pick up Chinese on the way home, Cady?"

A smile spread across her face as the light turned green. "Sure thing, hon; I'm just giving Eventide a ride home right now," she replied as she drummed her fingers along the top of the steering wheel. "Apparently her first day was relatively uneventful."

I heard Shining chuckle as we pulled onto the highway. "Hey Eventide," he greeted in a tone that seemed to indicate he was grinning. "You'll be happy to know that IA came to the decision to terminate Doughnut Quota with cause, something the union didn't even fight for once. From what I've heard, the district attorney might even be getting involved, so you'll probably never have to worry about him again."

Author's Note

Sorry for the short hiatus. I am now working on two stories in two separate fandoms, although the other story hasn't gotten much commentary yet on AO3.