And I thought we were normal. How wrong I was.

   I walk into town with a small smile on my face and with my right hand in my pocket. It's nice to know that I can have some alone time for a while. I run a hand through my mane and I enjoy the feeling of the warm sun on my face. So Refreshing.

"Excuse me son, are you the one known as Still Sonata and if so could I speak to you for a moment?" I hear the voice of what sounds like an older gentleman call from my left and I turn promptly towards the voice.

   I take a steady of the pony before and I can feel, only by a small margin, an air of peace around him. The pony has a thinning gray mane and is wearing clothes which seem to be befitting of a catholic priest. Odd; I hate most religions and therefore hold a near immediate dislike of their teachers. I guess I'm guiltier than I thought of being critical. I guess it's only natural since I'm not a religious person. I do however enjoy the look of regret in his eyes with which feels truly genuine.

"Yes sir?" I reply happily.

"Oh please you can drop the 'sir', son." He answers.

"Ok then. What do you need?"

"Please allow me to explain myself. I'm the local head of the purist church here which advises against the crossing of the world's races." He says and my mood drops a little.

"Please don't tell me this is about what happened a while ago with those other ponies." I say remembering that half shitty day.

"Don't worry son, you're not of any fault here. I was here waiting to apologize to you." He responds while waving his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"What would you need to apologize for?"

"Well, it would be more accurate to say I'm apologizing for somepony else. I'm sorry those three decided to take up a fight with you and you weren't at fault with, as you young ponies call it now, 'beating the shut out of them'."

"It really is fine. I shouldn't have reacted as I did as it was. One of them just threw a punch at the mare I was with at the time, as I was repaying a small debt, and I guess you could say I snapped. It's more my fault for losing my temper." I say trying to be humble. I'd like to leave this stallion with a good impression. Celestia knows I don't need any more enemies in my life.

"I thank you for your kindness, and regularly I might have agreed with you, but allow me to explain the situation. You see those boys aren't very... tempered if you will. Usually they just name call and we can't really do much about it. I've tried many things and, while I value their devotion to our cause, they take it too far. The catalyst of this situation wasn't them however. You see a certain feminine member of your church persuaded them with certain 'rewards' if you will which was ample reason for them to try to beat you." He explains with a tone of great honesty.

"So I was set up by somepony other than them?" I ask for some clarification.

"Yes. I've already discussed the matter with them and their families and they've forgiven you and don't plan on taking any legal actions." He informs me with haste.

"I wish had known this sooner. I wouldn't of reacted so violently if I had known." I lie. I wouldn't have done anything different.

"Like I said son, it's no fault of yours. I just hope we can put this behind us."

"It's all in the past now sir. I just hope nothing like this happens again." I assure him.

"I would hope so, but one more thing son. You aren't courting that other mare are you?" He asks and I sense a small change in his demeanor.

"No we aren't. I was just paying off I debt I had by relating her to a meal, which cost more than I bargained." I answer while raising an eyebrow. What is he getting at?

"Well that's quite good then. Just remember this," He says before walking past me, "if you do get romantically involved with her you run the risk of tainting our great race." He lectures in a cold manor.

"Don't worry; I have no plan of it." I reply before walking off in the opposite direction.

I don't like him anymore. Not a hint of his kindness was genuine in the end. I should've known though. I think as I run a hand through my mane again.

"But who tipped them off?" I say to nopony in particular.

I guess the obvious culprit would have to be Rarity. She's a good friend of Dash's so she probably notice the carnivore's teeth Rainbow Dash has and she is also the one who set up the eating event in the first place. Well ain't this a bitch. I thought she at least had a good enough heart to ignore my genetics. On well, I guess she wasn't worth the trouble in the end. I hate two faced people anyways. I'm better off without them. I sigh and try to think of something I could do for the day.

"It's a week day so I won't be able to hang out with anypony I know and I don't think Berry wants me going to school and if she does I think she'll tell me. Missing a day couldn't hurt anyway. I pull out my clock and check the time, which is now 9:01. I should have my magic back then. I think before trying to form a small box in my hand. At first I feel a little off but it then forms with the amount of ease I expected. I guess I'm back to normal then. Well, as normal as it gets in this new forsaken universe. It really is a rare privilege to have seen two worlds though. Score one for me.

   I walk along without any real purpose before turning off to my right. I might as well find a nice place to lie around for a while. I decide as I make my way towards the school. I doubt anypony will be walking around there for the next few hours so it should be secluded enough for a bit.

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   I walk up to the school at what is now about 10:15 and I stifle a yawn. I could use a nap. I didn't get much sleep last night so I believe I have a good right to some rest.

   I'd rather not draw any attention so I walk about 50 meters from the school before forming multiple small magical boxes and walking up them like stairs. After I reach a height that seems to be just above the schools roof, which isn't that high up since the school is only two stories high, I form a single long box in the air that reach over to the schools roof. The things I do for a nice nap. I hope nopony is up there.

   I jump off of the end of my box after reaching the roof and I roll a few feet upon my landing since I had been about 4 meters above the roof. I dispel my magic and walk around for a few minutes on the roof to get an idea of how it's laid out. The roof is really quite barren except for one door to get inside the building and a few vents that are expelling air.

   I sit down against the back of one of the walls around the door before I close my eyes and let sleep come upon me.

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"Well look who it is." I hear a voice say as a hand begins to tap on my head and my mind begins to work its way out of the various cobwebs of sleep. Well now what?

   I open my eyes and brush away the annoying hand at the base of my horn. I look up at the cyan figure above me and the pink bystander next to it.

"Well hello RainbowDash and PinkiePie. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I say sarcastically before rising off of the ground with a small jump.

"You're not the one who's supposed to be asking questions right now. What are you doing sleeping on the roof?" The cyan pegasus responds bluntly.

"I bet he was looking for aliens, or maybe a burrito? But why would a burrito be on the roof? Maybe it's an alien burrito? I will never know." The pink pony chimes in and I begin to question her sanity. What?

"Well in light of that accusation, I was simply up here because it looked like a nice place to sleep where I wouldn't be disturbed." I answer simply. "Although I see now I was wrong."

"So your own home wasn't good enough?" RainbowDash argues with a somewhat irritated tone of voice.

"It gets lonely there." I answer since I have no other response besides admitting my own lack of foresight.

"I bet."

"Moving on... Why are you two up here?" I say in an effort to redirect the conversations focus.

"Pinkie has convinced herself that she'll be able to hang glide off the roof and I came along to help make sure she doesn't hurt herself." She says and draws my attention to the pink pony who is now pulling a small hang glider through the doorway.

"And she thinks this is a good idea?" I ask as I come closer to believing this pony has little sanity. I've jumped into active fires before for money but that was different. I got paid to do that.

"Yeah. If you know anything about Pinkie it's that she has no understanding of letting go of something she wants to do after she's decided on it." She remarks before moving to stand next to me and whispering into my year, "Don't worry Twilight is going to make it glide regularly to make sure Pinkie doesn't hurt herself."

"Smart girl." I comment. It's a lie but it's a lie that for her own good.

"We've done this enough to know how to deal with Pinkie."

"Alright I'm ready." I hear the pink pony call and I turn to see her holding up the glider and wearing a helmet to match her purple shirt.

"Go for it." RainbowDash responds and the pink pony jumps off the edge of the roof and proceeds to glide away with a light purple mist leaving a trail behind her.

   Rainbow walks forward and leans off the roof with a 'thumbs up'. I peak my head over and I see TwilightSprinkleSPARKLE down in front of school waving. I guess it worked.

"That takes care of that then." RainbowDash says before flying down to the unicorn below us.

"She could've at least brought me down with her." I say before forming many long thin blocks with my magic which I use as a ladder to get to the ground. "Hello Twilight." I greet as I tough the ground and dispel my blocks.

"Good afternoon Sonata. I wasn't expecting you to be here." She replies.

"I guess not." I say and she begins to walk ahead and I follow along with Rainbow.

"So what have you been doing today?" Rainbow asks me while giving me a sideways glance.

"I woke up, took a shower, had breakfast, and talked to a few people about my job and my current living arrangements." I answer without thinking.

"So what job would that be?" She answers what now seems like an obvious follow up question. Fuck; I wasn't thinking.

"Oh yeah... I'm working as a... Trash collector." I say the first thing that comes to mind and I hope it's enough to convince them.

"Oh well that's... nice." The cyan mare responds on a despondent tone.

"It's a little underwhelming but I am getting paid for it after all." I remind her with a mild glare.

"He is right Rainbow. You can't expect somepony to get anywhere without starting somewhere." The purple unicorn remarks.

"That doesn't mean he has to start at the bottom." Dash says with a huff.

"Fair enough. So what are you two going to do?" I question as we walk what I believe to be aimlessly down the road.

"Twilight is going to volunteer at the library as usual and I'm going to go out for a run/fly down one of the old forest paths." Dash answers quickly. "What to come along?"

"I could use the exercise. Eh, what the hell? I'll go with you Dash." I answer and a small smile creeps across the blue mare face which I can slightly see in my peripheral vision.

"Alright. Twilight is it alright if we go on then?" Dash asks.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You two go have fun." The purple mare responds and Dash proceeds to run off towards the forest to the left.

"She isn't very patient is she?" I ask as I watch the mare run along in her black sweat pants and hoodie.

"Not usually." Twilight answers and I turn off and sprint after the pegasus.

   I catch up to the mare after about thirty seconds and we slow down to a jog as we enter the forest and I take note of the nice green leafy scenery and the small insects occasionally flying past us as we jog for about an hour in silence.

"Hey I need to talk to you about what happened yesterday." Dash says through a couple of breathes.

"Don't worry about it. Nothing too bad happened." I say dismissively.

"No. I'm not going to deal with any of that shit. You didn't need to get involved."

"It was nothing. Besides they threw the first punch at you. I have a personal obligation to not let something like that go unpunished."

"Yeah, but it wasn't any of your business. I've dealt with them before. They just hit me a few times call me some names and go. I learned to deal with it." The mare responds and I can see a sad expression forming on her face. Fuck; I need to diffuse this situation.

"That doesn't mean you should have to deal with it though. Look Dash, I used to deal with assholes like that before in the same way you are now. So I decided to punch back once. I got beat into the ground, but I kept at it until one day I was the one who beat them into the ground. It also did wonders for my dexterity, agility and strength but that's beside the point. The point is that after I made it clear that I wasn't just some piece of shit they could trample they respected me enough to stop. Now don't mistake for me telling you to start picking fights with them. I'm just telling you that if they try it again; you run away. Just run until you can find somewhere safe like a crowd and if you can't run, just come find me." I say with a smile of false confidence. I won't mention it took me a whole year to get back at those idiots.

"But what about you? Won't you get in trouble for it?" The blue mare says and she seems to be regaining some of her bearings. Either this stuff is easier than I thought or she's just a little melodramatic.

"Trust me; I have better things to worry about than ponies being a little scared or unhappy with me. I'd feel even worse if I didn't help. Just don't do what I did and take it all on yourself. What I did worked but it didn't do me any good. It only showed that I let my anger take hold of me. I'm not saying get revenge. I'm just saying... work around it." I counsel in a recount of all the advice I was given after I start to get revenge constantly. My family didn't give two shits but there were some nice ones who at least tried to help me. It didn't help much but I'm not near as violence prone as I used to be.

"And you figured all of that out yourself?" The blue mare says and stops in her tracks.

"Nope and to be honest I never took it all to heart. There were just some nice ponies in my past that kept me from becoming worse than I am. I'm just saying that I'm already a terrible pony. I just don't want to see anypony turn out like me. If you need me just come get me because in the end there's only one side of mr you may ever see and that is the good side of me." I say in a mysterious manner to try and sound much cooler than I really am. I'm always in the mood for a good facade.

"Well thanks for the advice." She says evenly. "I need to get home now so I'll be seeing you around I guess. Bye."

"Bye." I say and she flies up out of the forest and off to the west. I think that went well. But how do I get out of here? I think before activating an escape teleportation. Oh yeah, like this.

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   I find myself teleported convention in front of my home and I smile. Today hasn't actually been that bad. I just lazed around for a while; I think I scored some points with Dash. The only bad thing is I'm hungry. I think as I climb down the ladder and the smell of beef assaults my nostrils.

"What the hell?" I say as I reach the bottom of the stairs and I turn around to see a mare I had hoped not to see again for a while.

"Oh so you're already back then? I expected you to be out longer with RainbowDash." The magenta mare says from her position in front of the stove.

"And how would you know that Berry?" I say before walking closer and scratching the back of my head.

"I was watching. I need to talk to you about a few things so I was going to stop and get you from the roof of the school but you ran off with that pegasus so I thought I'd let you have your fun." She says before turning around with two plates, each with one steak which seems to be of the rib-eye disposition. I prefer T-bones, but I'm not going to complain about a free meal.

"So you're an omnivore too, huh?" I ask.

"Yeah, 3/8s changeling. Nothing you can see besides my teeth but most my insides are similar to theirs." She says before pushing one plate to me with a fork and knife. "I hope you like it rare because that's the only way I'll cook one."

"If you have it any other way it's like eating carpet." I say before taking a bite and my mouth almost falls apart at the delicious flavor. And to think I used to pride myself on my culinary skills.

"Agreed." She says while eating her meal at a much slower rate than I.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I ask without any real rush.

"You're starting to calm down a bit. That's good. Anyways, I came by to talk to you about your living arrangements. I'm fine with you living here but we need a cover-up for it. Thus, since I am your teach, I've always wanted to live underground and since I always wanted a colt to treat like my own but since I never wanted to deal with the first 13 years of their lives,  I went by the public office and had it arranged so that I'm your guardian now." She says and I nearly choke on the fragment of heaven which was passing through my esophagus.

"You're my what?"

"I'm now your legal guardian under the guise that your parent abandoned you and I've taken you in as my own." She reiterates.

"I'll be moving into that unused room over there. I won't be around a lot at night and you'll be gone during the day so we won't communicate much but I'll still be here."

"I don't have a choice do I?" I ask already expecting an answer.

"Not unless you want Spacial to live here." She mentions and I remember the seemingly icy mare from before.

"No I'm fine. Do Mac and Tunderback get this same treatment?" I mention after finishing 1/2 of the steak already.

"No. They both have families already but you're and orphan with no family at all from the looks of it. Besides they've been in this 'family' for years. I can trust them." She says through a mouthful of her own cooking.

"Fair enough." I grunt after finishing another fourth of my food. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yes as a few rules. You are now to say that you are attending night school when asked of your schooling and I will teach you what I feel is necessary, you will do anything I assign you to do, I may be living here but you still have a job with the family, no funny business she I'm home unless I approve of it, you will learn the traits of all 217 bottles of wine I won and you will not touch them unless I request them and finally please call me mom." She says calmly. 217 bottles? Fuck. Everything is fairly reasonable though and I guess I can stand to call her mother.

"Alright then, thank you for the meal." I say before putting my plate into the sink.

"What no objection?" She says in an almost hurt tone.

"Nope. I guess I should just trust what my mother says for once. Maybe you'll be more of one than the last one I had." I honestly say,

"What was wrong with her?" Berry asks innocently.

"We had... Problems to say the least." I finish before walking towards my room. "I'm going to sleep. Good night."

"But it's only 7:13." She whines.

"I'm sorry I'm tired. I'll talk to you more tomorrow." I say before walking not my room and collapsing into sleep on the bed. My whole life is upside down, yet I feel completely ok with it. I just hope I can find a way to live a normal life again. Or at least as far as that goes in pony society.