//------------------------------//
// The Dilemma 
// Story: Earth Pony 
// by Basmati 
//------------------------------//

"Grace. GRACE? Are you even listening to me?"

I immediately was broken out of my trance. "Sorry, Lydia. I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

We were both in school, just chatting at our usual place at the back of the classroom, when I started thinking about Josh's visit the day before. After I walked back home and into the Barn, Twilight immediately started asking me every single question she could think of - 'how old is he?', 'how do you know him?', 'where is he from?', 'how does he know me?', 'does everypony know me?', 'is he coming back?'. I answered them - well, all the ones that were easy to answer - and told her everything I knew about him; he's 17, in the year above me, he helped me with some bullies, and yes, he will be coming back. This morning, after I had arrived, he came up to my classroom, and we chatted, quietly, about Twilight. I told him exactly how we met and what happened, and he was amazed. I was just thinking about his reaction to it all when Grace broke me out of it.

"I hope this isn't you trying to get out of Lakeside. Because you promised you'd come this time, and you know how I feel about broken promises."

"I'm not trying to get out of Lakeside. Why on Earth would I-" I stopped. "Wait, Lakeside?"

Lydia turned towards me, her eyes burning with mild anger. "Do not tell me you forgot again!"

"Of course not." Truth is I had. But for the wrong reasons.

Every year, Lydia goes to Lakeside - a little town, remarkably, by a lake - with her family, and every year she invites me, and every year I can't go. Not because I don't want to; last year, my grandma died, so I was at the funeral. Year before, my dad broke his leg, while my mum was on a business trip, so I had to look after him.  Year before that, I got tonsillitis and had to have my tonsils removed. But, because I never go on any holiday with her, Lydia somehow got the impression that I don't like her family. Which is complete and utter bullshit - I love Lydia's parents! They're so awesome! But she thinks they're weird, so she gets really nervous about people meeting them.

But because Lydia had been getting really annoyed with the fact that I had never gone on holiday with her family, she made me promise that I would come this year, no matter what. Obviously, if I was in a coma or one of parents was in one, she would let me off, but that was the only exception.

But of course, I made that promise before the whole Twilight situation occurred. There was no way that I could leave Twilight alone while I go to the South East of England for 5 days! Even if I had Josh on board now, my parents would think it was strange if he kept appearing at our house, while I'm not there! There was absolutely no way I could do this without my parents and others knowing. And it was pretty obvious that the more people knew about Twilight, the worse it was going to be.

"So you're telling me that you have not forgotten about Lakeside? At all?" Lydia said, staring at me quite furiously.

"No, I haven't. I will come this time. I promised you - and nopony breaks a Pinkie promise," I added.

Lydia stared at me blankly.

"That's a pony reference, isn't it?"

"Eeyup."

"Oh God," she said, her face in her hands. "You are lucky we are friends and I, by default, have to put up with that."

"That I am. I am lucky to have you as a friend," I said, resting my hand on her shoulder. "Now," I said, standing up, "if you'll excuse me, I have a maths lesson that needs attending."

I picked my bag, and walked over to the door, turning back to wave at Lydia. As soon as I was out the door, my smile faded as I began contemplating my options.

"I'm screwed."


***


I was walking out of Maths when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around and found Josh standing behind me, grinning like a mad man.

"Oh, hey Josh," I said, turning back around and walking down the corridor.

"I had the best idea - how about we show Twilight all the Twilightlicious stuff? It would be so awesome!" he said, running after me

"I already told you - I haven't told her about bronies yet. I don't know how she'll react." Which was a valid point - imagine if someone came up to you and told you everything about yourself and then said they watched a programme about you. That would be creepy enough. Imagine adding the whole bronies thing on top of that.

Not a good idea.

I sat down on a bench and sighed. I was not in the mood to talk about this. 

Josh sat down next to me. "What's up?"

That boy - he doesn't miss a beat.

I explained the whole Lakeside situation to him, and he sat and listened quietly throughout the entire thing. Once I had finished, he put his hand on my shoulder and sighed.

"Grace, I understand this a problem, but you forget one major detail."

I turned to face him. "What?"

"Me!" he shouted, throwing his arms in the air.

I just stared at him, with a confused look on my face, which signalled him to carry on.

"Well, Twilight already knows me, so that's not a problem. There's plenty of space at mine - she can stay in my shed, or even in my room,"

"Really? Won't your parents be...I don't know - freaked out to see a magical purple pony in you room?"

Josh shook his head. "My parents don't come in my room. Mainly due to the fact that I'm a 17 year old guy, and they don't know what, or who, they'll find in there," he said, winking at me.

...

Yes, he actually said that.

"Too...much...information. Way too much. Seriously, don't ever say that again. Ever."

He started laughing at that, as I held my head in my hands in embarrassment and awkwardness. Josh can be great, but sometimes...I wonder. 

Why are guys so weird?

"But seriously," he finally finished. "It is no problem if she stays with me. I would be glad to do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course!" he said, grinning and resting a hand on my shoulder. "It would be so much fun! Just imagine it - Twilight Sparkle. As my room-mate! Talk about awesome!"

I looked over at Josh. He was smiling, grinning like his greatest dream was just about to come true, which, when you think about it, it probably was.

"Thank you," I said. He nodded and was about to say something in return, when I threw my arms around him in a hug. "Seriously, you have saved my life. And Twi's."

"I keep telling you - it's no big deal. Its a pleasure to it." But I still clung on, smiling. Because I now knew that for the first time ever, I had a best friend, who wasn't just stuck with me, but actually wanted to be there with me. And as I hugged Josh, I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks - happy tears.