Connor
Connor sat on the bus looking out the window with his chin in his hand. He was still fuming from earlier that morning. The larger than normal breakfast that he had did help a little to calm him down, but it was equivalent to trying to use a tiny garden hose to put out a raging forest fire with a rumbling volcano in the back ready to burst again.
He wanted to think of something to try and cope with his now new visitor from another world that was going to be staying at his place for who knows how long. But his mind was still that state of constant boiling, but not quite spilling over. When he finally got off the bus and was at school his mind had calmed down to a rolling boil that allowed for coherent thought process, but he didn’t wanted to think about home right now. So when the first school bell beeped across the high school campus he was thankful to have classes to take his mind off of it.
School could not have gone any slower today. His mood had been simmering in the back of his head all day and Connor had been doing anything and everything to keep his mind off of what was waiting for him after school. He was putting extra effort into the work he was given during class in an attempt to keep his mind off home, however that was not going as planned. The teachers were barely handing out work if any because they were so close to the end of the year.
His mind was asking itself on how he should treat Twilight. Could he treat like a pet? No, she seemed to have too high of standards and dignity to be treated like his dog. Should he treat her as an equal? No, that wasn't right either; her lack of knowledge of his world clearly put him ahead of the pace so they weren't equals on that ground. He hadn't gathered any extra information on how extensive Twilight's knowledge was on his world, but until proven otherwise he had the upper hand. His mind finally settled on the thought of subordinate; not quite equals in the sense but still treated with enough respect.
School ended and when he got home Connor had planned out his speech on how to deal with this purple pony now living in his house. He opened the front door and entered the house.
“Hello?” he called out. Connor was still hopeful that his visitor might have somehow disappeared on him while at school.
“Hello Connor! I'm in here!”
Nope, it was still here.
Twilight's voice came from the kitchen and dining room and he could hear some clinking like silverware against ceramic. He made his way to the the door that lead to the kitchen and dining room and looked around it. Twilight was sitting there eating a bowl of cereal and had stopped eating to look at him. Connor was about to dive into his speech about who was in charge while she was visiting when his eye caught something. She wasn’t holding the bowl or the spoon and yet somehow the spoon continued to move the contents from the floating bowl to her mouth. He could just barely make out a slight purple tint around both objects. It looked funny because normally an object would have a thin black outline under normal white light. Now it looked like that was replaced with a purple one.
“What, are you doing?” Connor asked slowly.
“What do you mean? I’m having food that you offered to me.” she raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“No, I mean why is the bowl and spoon floating in midair?” he pointed to the objects in question.
“Oh, that is my magic doing a levitation spell.”
Connor didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure if he wanted to comment on the new idea of magic in his world or go back to his original plan of discussing order of command. But what he did do was go and check the front door to make sure no one outside was looking in then checked the back yard through the sliding glass door for any prying eyes.
Connor turned to face Twilight, “Okay, so apparently you can use magic, too? What else, those wings actually work and you can fly as well?”
“Of course I can use magic, I am an alicorn. And I can fly as well; well I’m not the best at flying but I can still do it. And I used both abilities to find some food to eat. You have a lot of strange looking food here.” Twilight set her bowl down on the table as she said all this then took flight so as to demonstrate her point.
Connor didn't know what question to ask next because he was still absorbed by that fact that this hor- ; sorry, pony. This pony could could fly like a bird (albeit, a bird that was still learning to fly by the looks of it) and possess the impossible feats of magic. So he had answered the 'who' and 'what' parts of his five “W” questions; next on his question list was 'when' and 'where' .
“Okay, so when did you discover that you could use magic and where is it coming from?”
“Well it is very faint, but the last time I was here I had an encounter with a fellow resident from my world that resulted in a magic battle.”
“And I'm assuming that this happened at Canterlot high?”
“Correct! During the battle, we used the magic of friendship to defeat her. It appears that some of that magic had remained in this world as a sort residue from the aftermath of the battle. And if my theory is correct, through the law of diffusion, the magic must have began spreading across the land.”
That last comment Twilight made about diffusion slightly surprised Connor. Even though her knowledge of his world was limited, she seemed to have a good understanding of scientific laws and theories. Then again, his expectation for the general populace to understand basic scientific knowledge was pretty low. Its the price you pay for living in a country filled with idiots; but I digress.
There was one thing that stuck out as odd for Connor though. The bit about 'magic of friendship' thing. “Wha-, magic of... No; you know what, I’m not even going to ask about the whole 'magic of friendship' thing. What I will ask of you is if you can find a way to use that magic to disguise yourself as a human. At least for a while until you go home. Right now, I have to get ready for work; I will see you when I get back.”
Twilight nodded and landed back on the ground. She levitated her bowl and spoon into the sink that was partly full of dishes and went back up stairs to the TV room where she continued to manipulate the limited magic she had in an attempt to make a usable disguise. While that was going on Connor prepped himself for work and was out of the garage and on his motorcycle in 15 minutes. He was leaving a good 30 minutes before he needed to get to his job, but he was going to use that extra time to hopefully blow off some steam through euphoric pass time of riding on two wheels.
~~~
Thursday morning, Connor's two alarms went off again. He rolled around in bed a little trying to block out the loud noises emanating from two different sources. He fumbled for his watch sitting on the night stand and looked at it; it read 6:00 in the morning. He set his watch back on the stand and got out of bed to go through his morning routine again. He showered, got clean clothes on, put on his watch and glasses, and stuck his wallet, phone, and motorcycle key in his pockets. He put on sneakers this time instead of his boots because he was feeling he wanted to change it up a bit. He didn't want to check on Twilight in the TV room because he knew the consequences of staying up for over 24 hours. Since she had arrived here, it seemed that she didn’t get a wink of sleep. So, he let her sleep in without any interruption; besides, she knew how to find food in his home without help.
He had breakfast, then cleaned up after himself before grabbing a light, navy blue, pullover fleece to put on and his helmet. He was going to ride to school today. He pushed the start button on the right handle bar and the four pistons purred to life again. He grinned to himself again before putting his helmet on rolling out of the open garage and left for school.
School was normal today as it was every other day and when Connor got home he was ready to entertain himself with music and shenanigans from the internet. He walked in through the front door and called out, “Hello?”
“Hello!” Twilight called back.
Connor heard her voice coming from the living room off to his left. He took a few paces forward and peered in expecting to see a purple pony. Instead he saw a white teenage girl with purple themed hair and clothes reading a book from one of the shelves on the love couch placed in the living room. Her top was a blue button up shirt and a pair a jeans with a unique violet six pointed star surrounded by five other white stars sown into the side at her hip. She wore purple hiking boots that came up over her ankles and white socks. All in all, it was a very functional outfit and there was no need to seem more feminine with a skirt or anything (thankfully). The girl had a comfortable air around her and looked cute enough to be good friends, but Connor was not interested in any kind of emotional relationship with this girl.
“Twilight? Is that you?” Connor narrowed his eyes as to investigate any kind of hint that might tell him otherwise.
“Yes, how do you like my new look?” the human Twilight lowered her book and spread her arms slightly to invite critiquing of her handiwork on the disguise.
“Are those clothes apart of the illusion or did you borrow some?”
“They are apart of the illusion. It's easier to maintain an illusion that has a more form fitting look to it than it is to have a form with a look that is affected by outside forces like a billowing dress in the wind. But this isn't a permanent illusion and I am still a pony underneath it.” The illusion of a girl disappeared briefly to reveal a purple pony sitting on the couch horn glowing and levitating a book for her to read, before the girl quickly came back sitting properly on the couch with a book in her hands.
“Makes sense,” Connor remarked.
“Sooo...” Twilight continued.
“Yeeesss...” Connor was eyeing Twilight suspiciously. Her tone of voice and lead in into the next part the conversation was setting off caution warnings inside his head. she was about to ask something that was going to require some serious clearance on his part.
“I was wondering...” Twilight began.
“Yeeesss...”
“Just maybe...”
“Yeeeessss?!” He said loudly, gesturing with one hand to egg her on.
“DoyouthinkIcouldvisityourschool??”
Connor stood there is suspense staring at Twilight for a few seconds with a frown on his face. “No.” Connor deadpanned before quickly turning around to move to the kitchen.
“Please? I've been to a school before, and I know how to fit in. I can just slip in on the classes and no one would notice!”
“Uh-huh, NO one will notice the new girl coming into class dressed in purple less than 4 weeks out from school ending.” He called back sarcastically from the kitchen.
“It can be just for one day. It can be tomorrow! It won't be a problem at all!”
“I’ll think about it...”
This was the excuse his Dad had used on him for years. It was the phrase he used when he was delaying a decision for Connor's own good, or as his underhanded way of saying 'no'. The conversation was dropped, but Connor's mind had a habit of brooding on past experiences and running 'what if' scenarios. Right now his mind was running the 'what if Twilight actually came to school with him?' simulation. He forced the thought from his mind and would come back to it later. Currently today was his Friday for work and he had fifteen minutes left before he had to leave.
That night Connor laid in bed letting his mind run the 'what if Twilight actually came to school with him?' simulation. He couldn’t keep Twilight locked up in his house completely while he waited for a new portal to open up for her to jump back through. He was going to need to keep her contempt and happy while she stayed here, which meant he was required to take her out.
He thought about how his peers would react to a new girl that was with him on a Friday but had never shown up any time earlier in the week or the school year for that matter. Twilight looked like a young junior, so he didn’t need to worry about her looking too out of place. He could probably come up with an excuse that might satisfy and nosey questions that might come his way but his biggest issue would be the teachers. If he was going to smuggle a new student through all of his classes he needed to come up with a solid story that would gain favor for overlooking a new student in their class for a day. Perhaps he could pass Twilight off as a relative maybe? The more his mind ran the simulation the more it seemed plausible that he could pull this off. He rolled over in his bed and went to sleep thinking up of a valid story to pass off on everyone.
~~~
On Friday morning, Connor woke Twilight up for the ride to school. They both sat together on the bus ride there and Twilight was as excited as can be. She wore the same outfit as yesterday but had no backpack to complete the look. Connor only just realized this after they had boarded the yellow school bus and were over half way done with the route. Hindsight is 20/20 as the saying goes. Connor was nervous the entire way there. In his mind it was for good reason. One can sit there and think and theorized and plan out any scenario to perfection and as soon as one tries to implement it, the entire could plan fall to shit.
The bus driver didn't really ask too many questions about Twilight when she got on the bus, the simple 'What's your name?' and 'How come I haven't seen you before?' . Twilight gave her name and with the interjection of Connor convinced the bus driver that she was a sister who was transferring to his school and wanted to check out the school and get familiar with it before she started next year. Connor had made up the entire story on the spot and some how it passed as convincing. He had still been trying to come up with a story to tell others since last night but was struggling with covering for minor details. Turns out the best story was the simplest one. Since the sister story seemed to work, he decided to stick with it for the time being.
Once they got off the bus, the real challenge would begin. With a cover story set for Twilight, all Connor had to do was just convince his teachers to let her sit in for today only. Not too hard; he had six periods with six different classes and six different teachers that needed convincing. But he forgot a couple of crucial people he had to be able to persuade; his friends.
“Hey, Connor!” a student was making his way towards the pair that stood a few meters away from the recently departed bus. Connor recognized him instantly as Micheal, one of his close friends.
Micheal was a student that Connor had met at the beginning of his freshman year in high school. This was a time before either of them had their own forms of transportation and both rode the bus to school. He had brown hair with a stylized cut and was more fashion sensible then Connor with his designer sun glasses and 100 dollar sneakers. He could pick up on the implied dirty or rude comments faster than Connor did, which made Connor look slow and in turn the butt of many jokes.
They had met at the same bus stop and slowly grew to become close friends. Since they lived so close to each other, they had met up together at both of their houses at one time or another to play video games. While Connor was super competitive with racing and stealth action, Micheal was super competitive in first person shooters and 3D fighters. They shared a polite interest in each other's choice of games and enjoyed playing both types. Though they did share differences.
For one, Micheal enjoyed the use of recreational drugs and cigarettes. Connor didn't like doing either, but he did not raise any problems with it because Micheal knew the health risks that came with his choices. When Micheal did try to offer Connor, he made clear that he was not interested in that kind of stuff. He would have said 'Drugs' , but he didn’t want to sound as cheesy as the anti-drug preachers that passed through their school every now and then; come on, its high school, and Connor was already struggling to maintain a relativity normal reputation. Their second difference was their choice in preferred transportation. Micheal chose to go with the used ricer car. You know, the old car that was slightly lowered with angled wheels and the large fart cannon coming out the back that did nothing power-wise except make a loud annoying noise that makes your ears bleed. On the other hand, Connor had gotten a nice used sports bike for about the same price Micheal paid for his car but Connor had a lot more power, a nice sounding exhaust, and it cost less to maintain and repair. This wasn't as big of a draw back in their friendship as the drugs were, but it did provide for some interesting conversation material.
Micheal approached Connor and exchanged their usual 'Sup' and 'Yo'. He turned and faced Twilight and gave her the look over before speaking again.
“And who's the new girl? Did you finally get a girlfriend, or is this your mail order bride?” he sneered.
“No, this is actually my sister that I didn't know about. She's transferring to here next year, but Mom and Dad wanted her to see the school for herself so she can get a idea of where everything is.”
Twilight gave a innocent smile as if to play along with the story and to emphasize her being new here. The problem was Micheal had been over to his house many times before. That means, he has had the un/fortunate experience of meeting Connor's entire family of two younger brothers, the dog, Mom and Dad............ is it clear now? Or do I have to spell it out?
Micheal knew that the sister tale was a lie and Connor could read it on his face. If Micheal wanted to speak openly, he probably would have said something along the lines of, “Are you serious? You expect me to believe this shit?” but at the request of Connor pleading eyes to just play along, he pretended to believe the story.
“Your sister, huh?”
“Yes! My name is Twilight sparkle and I’m Connor's sister. What's your name?”
Twilight stuck out her hand and offered a hand shake, apparently completely oblivious of silent conversation between Micheal and Connor. Connor cringed at the painfully naïve cheerfulness and out-of-place demeanor that Twilight was exuding from her greeting. It was a greeting that said 'I have been completely sheltered my entire life and have no idea of how kids my age interact with each other!' . Micheal politely shook the offered hand but his mental alarms for crazy girls were blaring loudly inside. This girl was more than just a little off.
“My name's Micheal and I’m Connor's only friend.”
“Ha ha.” Connor said in a deadpanned voice.
“Sorry, the walls and your hand don't count as friends.”
“And designer sunglasses and a 50 dollar hair cut do not make you cool.”
“Yes they do. Before I even left the parking lot, three girls came up to me and were like, 'Damn, Mikey! You lookin' fine! Can we come home with you tonight?' and I was like 'We don’t have to go home to have fun, if you know what I mean' .”
Connor rolled his eyes at another of his friend's grand tale of all the babes asking him to have their baby. He had never really seen any girls actually approach him in that fashion, so Connor just took the stories with a grain of salt. Twilight however, was left standing there unsure of what exactly the two boys were talking about and was readying to ask about it, but the school bell rang before she could speak up.
“Aaw, I was about to get to the good part.” Micheal whined.
“Sorry, but I have to get my 'sister' to class before were late. See ya.”
“Hang on!” Micheal called out.
Connor stopped and turned to face his friend jogging up to them to get one last word in.
“I'll be coming over to your place so we can discuss about your, 'sister' .”
He held up air quotes as to make a point and gave a skeptical glare. Micheal wanted to know more about this and he was going to come over to find out.
“Uh, sure. How about Saturday?”
~~~
Classes that day were easy. Everyone was pretty laid back and weren't worrying about much except for what they were planning on doing when the final bell rang. The teachers were not very hard to convince either. After his encounter with Micheal, Connor decided to change the story to Twilight being his cousin instead of sister. A couple of his teachers were a bit confused as to why her parents would try to transfer her so close to the end of the year but agreed to let her sit in on class for today.
With the teachers taken care of, Connor could relax a bit more and just wait for the day to end. Twilight was having an ecstatic day with exploring and investigating everything she could in the class room. She would read any books she could get her hands on, stare and examine all of the posters and displays, and talk with all the peers and teachers in her crusade to learn all that she could. His classmates found Twilight to be a little too bubbly but they grew to like her and would invite her into the conversations. The teachers appreciated having another student that was excited to learn too, instead of the average bored teenager who could care less about finding sine and cosine of a triangle or what the net speed of two objects when they collided.
Connor was impressed by how well Twilight had integrated herself into the student life. She didn’t talk too much but seemed to listen more and learn about the different life styles of every student. Although, Connor wondered how well Twilight would retain her innocence after spending some time with the more foul mouthed and dirty minded students around school.
The school bell rang again for the final time for today and everyone rushed to get out of the hot and stuffy building and portables. Connor's final class was in a portable so the walk to the bus was pretty short. They boarded and sat down on one of the brown padded benches together.
“That was fun! And you were worried that I wouldn't fit in.” Twilight said proudly.
“Yeah, I have to admit, you surprised me at how well you handled yourself. But hopefully that portal will open back up soon so you can get back home.”
“Do you not like having me here. I mean, I know I showed up so suddenly and it was a lot for you take in, but I hoped that I could become more than a nuisance to you.” Twilight looked dejectedly at Connor to her left.
“No, no, its not that. You've earned some of my respect with your resourcefulness and ability to blend in for the most part. Its just that I think it would be best if you returned back to your world so that you can go help your Canterlot high friends.”
Connor would be reluctant to admit it, but he had some trust issues with people. Not in the sense of being paranoid and distrusting, he just didn’t have that many true friends that he could truly trust and rely on. He still had plenty of friends around him, but Connor always liked the idea of having that close knit group of friends that he could entrust important or private matters to be handled properly by.
Connor blamed most of his trust issues on his brothers because of his decade's worth of experience of them never being able to deliver on anything. So the fact that he was stating that Twilight had earned his respect, and in turn, some trust in her meant a lot to Connor. It was not something he handed out lightly.
Twilight smiled at his truthfulness and sat back on the bench with a contempt expression. But Connor was not so satisfied. He still had to deal with Micheal if he really did come over and started asking questions about Twilight. Micheal was a good friend and he had trusted Connor to keep his smoking habit a secret, so just maybe Connor could trust him to keep Twilight's true nature a secret as well.