Lori was about ready to knock down the door to Kristy and Twi’s room. She couldn’t believe the nerve her daughter had, laughing at Twilight as she ate the piece of bacon.
“Lori?” Twilight said from beside her.
Lori looked down out of habit, only to find Twilight hovering nearby so that she was at eye level with her. This got a small laugh out of the both of them.
“Yes?” she responded.
“Is Kristy always this, um... mean?” Twilight asked with a raised brow.
“She’s been like this since the beginning of the summer. She’s just always mad at everything and everyone. I don’t know what started this, but I’ve been trying to end it for a while now,” Lori said, sighing at the thought of how the last few months had been between her and Kristy.
“Wow. I hope that she’ll open up to you eventually. You seem like a great mother,” Twilight said trying to lighten the mood.
Lori smiled. “Thanks. Are you sure you’re alright sharing a room with Kristy? I can switch you to Jess’s room if you’d like,”
“No no, I can manage. I’ve dealt with worse. I can handle a teenage girl. Hopefully,” Twilight said looking towards the room she would be staying in.
Lori went to open the door, only to her frustration to it locked.
“Kristy! Open up! We need to talk!” she yelled at her daughter through the wooden barrier.
“Is the alien horse out there?” Kristy shouted. Twilight was clearly trying to suppress her anger at that comment as Lori answered her daughter.
“Yes, Kristy. Twilight is out here because this concerns the both of you. Now open the door!”
“I don’t think so. When the purple freak leaves, I’ll unlock the door,”
Twilight was about ready to buck down the door when Lori held her hand up, motioning Twilight to stop.
“Leave this to me Twi,” Lori said with a smirk. “Kristy, if you don’t open the door right now, I’ll show Twilight your baby pictures,”
Twilight struggled to hold back her laughter as she heard the door unlock. When it opened Kristy, was standing there, both horrified and angry.
“Alright, make this quick. I want to spend as little time with you as possible,” Kristy grumbled, her furious blue eyes locking with Twilight’s.
Kristy walked over to the beanbag chair and dropped into it as Twilight and Lori walked into the room. Twilight flew up to the now clean bed she would be sleeping in and layed down.
“Alright. First off, thank you for cleaning off the bed and desk, Kristy,” Lori said as she sat down at Kristy’s messy desk.
Kristy rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just say what you need to say, Mom”
“I was going to. The two of you are sharing this room, and as such, Kristy, you are to make accommodations so that Twilight here feels comfortable. Also, if I hear you refer to Twi as, “freak, horse, or alien” again, there will be serious consequences. Do I make myself clear?” Lori said while giving Kristy death glare.
Kristy sighed. “Yes.”
“Great. Now the other thing I need to talk about. Twilight?” Lori said, glancing up at the mare.
“Yes?”
“These arrived in the mail this morning,” Lori said, pulling two envelopes out of her pocket. “Your school schedules.”
Twilight was almost grinning ear to ear as she frantically grabbed the envelopes with her magic, reading the names at the top and then floating Kristy’s over to her. Kristy snatched it out of the air, moaning about the thought of going to school next week.
“Let’s see here: History 10A, Biology A, Anthropology, AP Calculus A, PE, English 10A, and Geography,” Twilight said, her smile wider and wider as she said each class.
“Dammit!” Kristy said as she read her schedule. “I have history and English at the same time you do, and the same teacher for bio,”
“Great! Maybe you could give me a hand finding my classrooms?” Twilight said.
Kristy looked over at her mother and sighed. “Fine. But there is a map on the back if you get lost,”
“Some of the classes are only for the first semester though, so you won’t necessarily have the same classes as each other all year,” Lori said while looking at Kristy.
Kristy was happy at that thought, but then she realized something.
“Twilight, did you say History and English 10?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Are you actually only a sophomore in high school?” Kristy asked with a raised brow.
“No, I was told that they put me there since that was where they had room and the curriculum covered more of the stuff I need to learn at the sophomore level than the senior level,” Twilight explained.
“So, how old are you then anyway?” Lori asked. “You seem more mature than someone in high school,”
“I’m twenty-seven,” Twilight said. “Honestly, I would have gone to a college, but none would accept me without the proper credits from high school on Earth,”
“Well, that explains a lot actually,” Lori commented.
“Huh?”
“Your maturity level, the way you acted when we met you, and the fact that you didn’t want to be held to a higher standard considering your status. They just didn’t seem like how a high schooler would act,” Lori said.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. We only have one week to get school supplies, so can we get a move on with that?” Kristy said, clearly annoyed.
“Right. You two get in the car, I’ll get Michael, Jess, and Will, then we’ll take care of that,” Lori said as she started to head downstairs.
“I call shotgun!” Kristy yelled as she ran downstairs after her mother.
“What the hay is a shotgun?” Twilight said to herself as she flew downstairs and out the door to the car.
The Wallaces and Twilight arrived at the local Walmart, Twilight ignoring the looks from the other shoppers at the sight of her. The group walked into the building, instantly greeted by the smell of fresh fruit and, to Twilight’s disgust, meat. They walked over toward the school supplies section, careful to avoid the deli area on the way.
The group was done getting pencils and notebooks and headed into the next aisle, where a boy about Will’s age with short blonde hair and freckles was shopping for school supplies with his dad. He turned around and smiled when he saw Will.
“Will! Over here!” he said waving to Will.
“Hey, Shawn. How you been?” Will said as he gave his friend a fist bump.
“I’m great, man. Hey, did you see-” Shawn stopped, his mouth dropping at the sight of Twilight. “I-is that an Equestrian!?”
“No, what gave it away? The horn, wings, or hooves?” Twilight said playfully.
“What is an Equestrian doing with your family, dude?” Shawn said, still staring at the purple pony.
“I’m here as a foreign exchange student for the year,” Twilight said, walking up to Shawn and holding out a hoof. “Twilight Sparkle,”
Shawn just stood there in amazement until his father poked him on the shoulder. “Sorry about him. He’s been freaking out about the fact that aliens actually exist since he really enjoys comic books. Um, no offense,” said Shawn’s dad.
“None taken, since I get the feeling I’ll be hearing that a lot more next week,” Twilight said.
“Owen, while it was nice talking to you and Shawn, we need to get moving,” Michael said to Shawn’s dad.
“Yeah, see you guys next week,” Owen said with a wave as he and Shawn left.
“Alright, let’s get the rest of the school supplies we need and head home,” Lori said as she and Jess went around the corner to the next aisle.
Twilight’s stomach grumbled. “Can we maybe grab some fruit on the way out? I won’t be eating meat anytime soon and you have practically no fruit at the house,”
“Sure! We should probably grab some other groceries while we’re here anyway,” Michael said.
About an hour of shopping later, Twilight and the Wallaces had a shopping cart full of school supplies, fruit, vegetables, and other odds and ends. As they went to the checkout line, the cashier saw Twilight and smiled.
“Is she the foreign exchange student this year?” the woman asked Lori.
“Yes Kara, she’s our foreign exchange student this year. Granted we weren’t told she was from Equestria, but it really doesn’t matter to us. Well, except Kristy,” Lori said, glancing at Kristy, who was engrossed in her phone.
“Doesn’t enjoy sharing the room?” Kara asked with a raised brow.
“That’s one of the reasons,” Kristy said not looking up from her phone.
“I figured. And how are you adjusting to life on Earth?” she said to Twilight.
“It’s different, but I’m adjusting well enough. I mean, minus the bacon incident this morning,” Twilight said, taking a second to glare at Kristy.
“Did she eat...” Kara asked.
“She took a bite of bacon on accident and Kristy just laughed at her,” Jess said, shooting daggers at her sister.
Kara was silent as she packed up the rest of the groceries, giving Kristy one look of disapproval. Kristy just rolled her eyes.
"That'll be eighty-nine seventy-six," Kara said as she typed up the total on the computer.
Michael swiped his card in the card reader and the family plus Twilight went to the car, piling the groceries into the truck. Twilight stopped and organized the stuff by what it was, which took about five minutes, much to the dismay of Kristy and Will who wanted to get home desperately.
"Can you hurry up back there!" Will shouted to Twilight.
"First off, I have much better hearing than you, so please don't shout. Second, I'm almost done. I just have to arrange the bags of apples and cherries in the right spot."
They finally got on the road after Michael convinced Twilight that it was as organized as it would get. They pulled out of the parking lot and got on the road towards home. But not before hitting a big pothole in the road, which sent the groceries flying all over the trunk of the car.
"Oh come on!" Twilight shouted as the apples spilled all over the floor, while Michael and Will did their best to not laugh.
"How do you find that funny! I spent a whole ten minutes organizing those!" Twilight said as she walked into the kitchen, grocery bags floating beside her.
"And it took ten seconds to make a mess of them," Will said, getting a laugh out of his sisters. Twilight just groaned as she trotted into the living room and sat down on the couch.
"Anyways, who wants to play monopoly?" Lori said as she pulled the game out of the cabinet under the TV.
"Sure, we have nothing else to do for the next six hours," Jess said as she sat down next to her mom at the table.
Michael, Will, and Kristy sat down a the table, and after explaining the rules to a reluctant Twilight, they played the game. There was a lot of talking and frustration, but in the end, it was Michael who came out victorious. Jess's yawn and the fact that it was already eight o'clock made Lori decide it was time to turn in for the night.
Kristy and Twilight were asleep in their room when, at about midnight, Twilight got up to get a drink of water, she found a light on in Kristy's bathroom. Against her better judgment, she knocked on the door.
"Kristy?"
"What do you want Twi?"
"I just want to say I'm sorry if I did something to upset you today. If I did, I didn't mean to. But we are going to be sharing a room for the foreseeable future, and I don't want there to be too much tension between us."
Twilight was greeted by silence. She sighed and went back to her bed and fell asleep, hoping that her relationship with Kristy would get better over the next week.