"Good morning, everyone." My mother greeted as we all filed in the backyard for breakfast.
"And good morning to you, June." Celestia greeted with a smile, sitting down in one of the patio chairs. I myself grabbed a couple extra folding chairs to make room for everyone.
"Did you all sleep well?" Mom asked everyone, earning nods or verbal responses from everyone. "That's good. How about the three of you, did you all have a smooth first night?" She asked, turning her attention to Celestia, Luna, and Shining, who all nodded.
"Yes. While it is very difficult adjusting to your human form, we managed well all the same." Luna replied, and I couldn't help but chuckle. We seriously had to do something about her way of speaking. Twilight, who was sitting across from me, also giggled, most likely having the same thoughts as me. Luna glanced over at us, and cleared her throat. "I-I mean...It was kind of hard adjusting, but, yes. I slept fine." She restated, in a much softer tone.
"That's good to hear," I spoke up, smiling.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Rainbow asked, sitting back in her chair and sighing contently.
"Dunno," I shrugged in response. "I guess just hang out." After a small moment of silence, I then looked at Celestia. "By the way, Princess."
"Yes?" She responded with a small smile.
"Is there anything you can do about Twilight and Rarity's magic? Since you're able to use it, I'd only assume you can help them out."
Celestia shook her head, looking at the two. "Unfortunately, I haven't perfected the spell myself. In order to use the magic in your new form, you have to do the spell right the first time. If they were to revert back, and then change to human form once more, with the perfected spell, they could use magic. I have no effect on them at this point." She explained.
"Can't you just change them back?" Shining asked.
"Better yet," My mother cut in, causing all of us to look her way. "If they can't use magic, how can they even revert back?"
Everyone was silent, realizing my mother was right. How could they change back if Twilight couldn't use her magic?
"I'm currently working on a solution to that." Luna announced. "I offered my help to my sister, as I felt it would be a burden to have to master all of these powerful spells. Starswirl's writings are very vague, but I feel I understand more every time I study the spell."
"Well, that's good," Mom said with a smile. "Breakfast is ready!"
After finishing breakfast, I showed the newcomers around my house and told them a bit about the neighborhood. They were older and seemed more capable of handling these things, so I didn't have to worry too much if they wanted to walk out for a stroll. Shining spent time with his sister, eager to listen to her stories and what she's encountered. Celestia did everything she could to help my mother- she thought of it as a way of repayment, even though my mother put up quite a fight, not feeling right to have royalty help her with the cleaning. I actually couldn't find Luna for a while, until I heard her, Applejack, and Rainbow shouting from my room, of all places. Fluttershy and I, who were sitting out back with Rarity and Pinkie, excused ourselves to go see just what the hell they were doing. When we walked in, I saw them all sitting in front of my tv, playing one of my video games, Marvel vs. Capcom 3. AJ was rolling on the ground in laughter, most likely at the utterly dumbfounded look on Rainbow's face. Luna was grinning smugly, and looked up at me.
"Hello, Alex." She greeted from her seated position on the floor, in front of my couch.
"Uh...Hey, Luna. What's going on?" I asked, walking in and observing the screen. My eyes grew a few inches when I observed the win/loss ratios. She had beaten RD almost five times straight!
"We're playing these...'Video games', as you call them. We don't have anything nearly as entertaining in Equestria! Would you like to play?" She asked with a smile.
"Um..." I began with a snicker. Oh, man. I couldn't ruin poor Luna's fun here. I go HAM on MvC3, I couldn't spoil her fun.
"Please?" She asked, her deep blue eyes pointing at mine.
"If you insist," I sighed. I picked my usual team, and yawned, sitting on my couch, with Fluttershy taking a seat next to me. The match started, and I had trouble keeping up with her character's torrent of attacks. I started to panic as she picked off two of my three characters, until, somehow, she won.
"What?!" I choked, standing up, and causing Rainbow and AJ to burst out in wild laughter. "What?!" I repeated, utterly dumbfounded.
"That was much more difficult than when I played against those two," Luna said with a giggle, crossing her legs and looking up at me.
"...What." I muttered. "No, okay. I haven't even played this in months. Plus, I didn't even try. Let's go again." I said, straining to keep my patience in line.
"Guys, you gotta check this out!" Rainbow shouted out my door.
"What's with the yelling?" Mom asked, walking in with Celestia. Soon enough, everyone else crowded in to see me get my ass handed to me. I managed to win once, but Luna was a freakin' master at this game. I even put in other games- Call of Duty, Soul Caliber, and a few others I had downloaded, and she took to it like a fish takes to water!
"Okay, I give up." I scoffed, flinging my controller onto the couch and standing up. The girls began chuckling, and I couldn't help but snicker myself.
"Well done, Little sister. I believe you've gotten Alex's approval." Celestia said, obviously joking and looking over at me. While the look on my face looked angry, or upset, I actually wore a huge grin, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world that Luna was a gamer, and that she kicked my ass.
"Yeah, time for me to take my leave. I do think that I've taken enough ribbing today." I chuckled, eliciting laughter from the others.
Everyone went back to what they were doing, and Luna, RD, and AJ joined us in the back. It's strange, after talking with them all, excluding Luna...It felt weird. Like, they weren't ponies anymore. Well, okay, they obviously weren't, but, I mean.. They seemed human. They had all adjusted perfectly well.
It didn't seem right. They didn't belong here, did they? I felt horrible, thinking about something like that, but I knew that it just wasn't their place to stay here, and it wasn't mine to ask that they stay.
"Alex?" Fluttershy called out, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Uh, yeah?" I replied, sitting up straight.
"Is everything alright?" Luna asked, looking at me in concern.
"Oh, he's fine. Alex tends to just slip off in his own little world from time to time." Rainbow jested. I was about to speak in my defense, when my mother interrupted me.
"It's kinda like talking to a brick wall." She added. I looked over at her, mouth ajar in offense, when the others began to burst out into a giggle fit.
"Oh, please! I get it from you!" I shot back, grinning at my mother.
"Yes, yes. It's all true." My mother said, sighing in defeat. Sharing another laugh, we dropped the situation as quickly as it popped up.
It felt like we had all come together as a little family, and it felt like a huge relief for me and my mother. Things were usually lonely, with just the two of us, so we both needed this. Breakfasts and dinner were always together, and my mother got some gardening done with the help of the sisters, with Shining most likely doing the heavy lifting or other work.
Enough about them, though. Gray and Dana came over that Sunday night, because we had to study hard for the upcoming finals, especially with one having already passed. (We took Wednesday's final early, because Seniors had to go to graduation rehearsal Wednesday.) Celestia was rather impressed, with Twilight especially, at how hard we studied and worked together.
And it was all for the best. While our fellow students would groan, sigh, and scoff at the questions on the exams, the girls, Dana, Gray and I all breezed through them. Wednesday had come, and we were all getting ready to drive down to the event's center in town, where graduation ceremonies were held.
"So, Celestia, Shining, Luna," Christine began, walking into the kitchen with Shy and I. "How are you adjusting to Earth?"
"Quite well, thank you," Celestia replied. "We had some prior knowledge to this dimension, as Starswirl seemed to have encountered a human- which explains how he came across this spell in the first place."
"You're kidding?" I gawked, standing up straight. "A human went to Equestria? Who? When?"
"No one knows the name- Starswirl's writings were damaged throughout time. Though, judging by the writings and drawings, her name might begin with either an L or F. It seems as if that's what Starswirl would write next to her." Shining spoke up, leaning against the wall with crossed arms.
I couldn't help but chuckle, as I was pretty sure who it might be. But, I dropped the situation all the same.
We wasted no time getting to the rehearsal, which I honestly believed to be the biggest waste of a Wednesday if I ever saw one. It was essentially all crap we covered in school- Walk one at a time, grab the diploma with this hand, shake the old guy's hand with the other, walk down, blah blah blah yawn-o-rama. Though, I heard Pinkie and Rainbow plan a fun little prank involving a beach ball. So, it wasn't all that bad.
"Like I said. Waste of two hours." I scoffed, walking back into the kitchen when we returned home.
"Better than being at school," Applejack cut in, getting a slight chuckle out of me.
"She's gotta point," Pinkie added with a wink.
"So, three more days..." I sighed after a few moments of silence. The girls all gave me silent nods.
"I'm sorry, Alex." Celestia said with a gentle smile.
"Look, don't be," I replied. "It's for the best, really." I sighed and grabbed Fluttershy's hand, as her hand gave mine a gentle, comforting squeeze. "I understand, I completely understand. They don't belong here- they have lives back in Equestria. It'd be unfair for me to want them to stay." I smiled up at the princess, who nodded her head.
"You say that like we don't wanna leave," Rainbow grumbled. I looked over at her in mild surprise. "What? It's true. I mean, yeah, it sucks not having wings. It sucks not being back home, but...It was still totally awesome."
"It definitely was a new experience." Rarity added in.
"A bit of a challenge, yeah, but what can ya expect?" Applejack chuckled.
"We made a whole bunch of new friends!" Pinkie exclaimed with a wide grin.
"And we learned so much from you- from all of you."
"It was...Nice." Fluttershy whispered. At first, I was concerned with her input, but when I looked down at her, I could see why. Her eyes were watering, and she was blinking rapidly, as if struggling to not let any tears fall. I could practically feel the mood in the air take a deep nosedive, and I pulled her closer.
"...I'm so sorry, Fluttershy." I sighed, sniffling a bit.
"Why..?" She asked, pointing her bright, cyan orbs right up at me.
"I...I didn't mean to make this so hard on you... On all of you." I felt warm tears stream down my face every now and again, but continued on. "I should have never gotten so attached." I grumbled, slowly sounding more and more cynical as I spoke. "It could have been easier...For both of us, that way."
"Alex, no," Twilight spoke. "Don't be sorry. You've been nothing but amazing to us. To all of us."
"You were so generous, taking us in all of a sudden." Rarity said.
"And you never let us down, or let us give up." Rainbow added.
"You were nothin' but strong, openin' up to us, bein' honest, and lettin' us help ya." AJ said matter-of-factly.
"We had nothing but a great time! You were such an amazing friend to us!" Pinkie gushed, squeezing me in a bear hug.
"You were amazing, and treated us so well." Fluttershy said sweetly.
"And you taught us all a valuable lesson about friendship. Which reminds me, princess-"
"I think a letter is unnecessary." She said with a knowing smile.
I felt another pair of arms wrap itself around me, and turned to see my mom, who was burying her head against my shoulder and crying.
"Mom! What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" She assure me, chuckling and looking up at me with teary eyes. "I've just..I can't remember the last time I've seen you so happy." She smiled, and looked at the others. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but...Thank you all, so much. It's hard to believe a group of ponies could help my son like this. I'm just...I'm so grateful, to all of you."
"The pleasure was ours, June." Fluttershy said with a kind smile.
After I managed to clean myself up from being an emotional wreck, I joined the others as they started dinner. It felt so normal, so natural, now, to have everyone at my side again. It was still hard to believe that they were days away from going back home, but it felt a little easier on me, now. The more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that I would be alright. That I wouldn't let these lessons be for nothing.
Hours passed, dinner was done with, and everyone was ready to head to bed. I remained outside on the patio, looking up at the moon, when I heard the sliding door open, then close.
"It's so strange, not having to raise the moon on my own." Luna chuckled, walking towards the chair next to me and taking a seat. I didn't reply, only chuckled lightly at what she said, still looking skyward. "Alex...Are you sure you are going to be alright?" She asked worriedly.
"Of course," I replied with a smile. "It'll be difficult adjusting, but, I'm just glad I had them with me at all."
"I see," Luna replied with a smile of her own. I yawned silently, and she giggled softly, looking over at me. "You should get some rest." She suggested.
"Yeah, you're probably right." I said with a small laugh. I stood up and stretched my arms out, sighing contently. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Alex." Luna called to me as I walked inside.
"G'night, Luna."
I crept my way back to my room and reached my bed, pulling the covers over my head.
I was nearly asleep, when I heard my door slowly creak open, then closed again. Not really being coherent enough to give a damn, I only turned to my other side, when I felt my sheets lift up, and someone get into the bed with me.