Torn Between Two Worlds

by Alex Barkhorn

Chapter 12

I heard my door creak open, and that was enough to get one of my eyes to crack open. Small, quiet, yet somewhat quickened footsteps were next to be heard, when they stopped right next to me. Without turning my head around, I spoke.

"Shout 'wakey-wakey' again, and you're walking to school." I told Pinkie, though I was obviously joking.

"Aww, how'd you know I was here?!" Pinkie asked with a dumbfounded expression. I chuckled and sat up on my couch, noticing Rarity was gone from the room. She probably needed to get herself primped for her first day. "Is everyone else getting ready?" I then asked, standing up and stretching.

"Yep! Me and Rarity were the first to get up! Well, Rarity wanted to-"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I know who 'Rarity' is." I said to Pinkie, giving her a wink.

"Ohhh! I mean, Raine got up early so she can get ready! And now Allison is in the kitchen making breakfast! Takara, Raven, and Faith are all waiting patiently in the living room!" Pinkie said, returning the wink and giving a bright smile. I returned the smile, though on a smaller level, and replied.

"Thank you, Patience. Now, if you'd please give me some time, I need to get dressed." I requested.

"Okey dokey lokey!" She replied, skipping out of the room and closing the door. I smiled and stretched again, and felt a bit refreshed. As childish as it was...Having that other person apparently does help my sleeping habits. I don't know how, and I didn't care. I felt refreshed, and ready to start the new day.

I only hoped the girls were, as well.

I slipped into some worn grey jeans, a black shirt and laced my boots up. Judging by the rising sun outside, and the weather of the past few days, a sweater wasn't needed. I combed my hair, using my hands, of course, and exited my room, after placing my sunglasses atop my head and grabbing my black and blue courier bag. Entering the kitchen, I saw that all ther girls were indeed packed and ready for school.

"Good morning, Alex," Fluttershy spoke up. I smiled and nodded, and the other girls also greeted me.

"Morning, girls. You all seem ready to go," I commented, looking over at Applejack, who was in the kitchen. Ignoring my amazement that Applejack didn't burn the house down, I decided to compliment her instead of question her. "Smells great, App- I mean, Allison. What is it?" I asked, standing behind her and looking down at the stove.

"Ah, nothin' much. Jus' some fresh eggs, toast, and apple juice. Ah figured that at least this was an acceptable breakfast here." She replied with a small smile. She served it on a plate, along with a glass of apple juice, and served me.

"Aren't you girls gonna eat?" I asked the others, eating while standing.

"Oh, we already ate. We're just waiting on you." Twilight said matter-of-factly, giving me a smart grin. I rolled my eyes, but on their way back to focus, my eyes stumbled upon the time.

"Oh, god!" I breathed. It was already seven o'clock! I usually left at seven ten, so I rushed my meal, and brushed my teeth. The second I popped back into the living room, the clock struck ten after.

"Perfect. Alright, girls. Let's go." I said with a confident smile. They all returned it and grabbed their bags, and we headed to my car. It was a decent sized truck, with room for four of them in the back, and two could sit up front, one in the middle and one in the passenger. I started the engine, and drove off to school.

On the way over, I went over my rules with them again. I'd taught them the basics of handwriting, which took them a while last night, but I said they should just stick to taking as little, and as shortened notes as possible, until their hands became more adjusted to writing. Honestly, I would very much prefer it if they avoided writing with their mouths. Keep quiet unless spoken to, don't answer questions you don't know, and do your best to avoid said questions, etcetera etcetera. Finally, I allowed them to give me questions of their own. Twilight was the first to speak up.

"Who's God?" She asked. The question caught me by surprise, and I blinked.

"God is...He's..." I began, looking for a way to word it. Clearly, she'd heard me mutter, 'Oh my god,' or even, 'Oh, god,' but I didn't think of explaining it. After a summarized version, she nodded, processing what I told her.

"Do you believe in him?" She asked after a moment of silence. I thought long and hard for a few silent seconds, and shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know. I want to. I really do. I find myself praying to some higher power that things would go well for me, but I find myself thinking, who hears it?" I sighed when I ended my reply, and pulled into the school parking lot. "Alright, girls. Here we are. Equitas High School." I turned off the engine, and we all exited. They stared at the school, and all seemed to be a bit intimidated, and anxious. Twilight and AJ gulped, and I smiled.

"Hey," I began, walking up between them. "Don't worry. We're all here for each other, every step of the way. You're all my friends, now. I watch out for mine." I said. They smiled thankfully at me, and I led them to the main office.

I stood out of the way as they got their schedules, glancing at the crowd of students outside the door every so often. I noticed a familiar face walk up to the door, and open it, stepping in.

"Hey, man. They get their schedules, yet?" Gray asked in a slightly hushed voice. I shook my head and replied.

"Nah. I think only...I think only Allison and Raven are left," I said, struggling to remember their new names.

"Who?" A voice chirped from behind Gray. Dana popped out from some mysterious space behind Gray, smiling at me.

"Oh, Dana! How was your weekend?" I asked her, accidentally ignoring what Gray was about to say next.

"It was alright. Not too interesting. How about yours?" She asked, hefting her books up in her arms.

"...Eventful. Very eventful," I said in half-truth, leaving out any details.

"Oh? What happened?" She asked.

Damn.

"Uh, just met a few old friends." I lied, pointing over my shoulder with my thumb, as the six girls approached us.

"Well, here we are," Twilight...Er, Takara said, holding out a piece of paper. At the top, it read, "SARANI, TAKARA. 12."

"Oh, are these the friends you mean?" Dana asked, giving them all a warm and friendly smile.

"Yep! My name is Pink-"

"Yep! Actually, only these two I remember!" I said, pointing at Twilight, then Applejack, as they were the most trustworthy of the group to keep the others in line. In fact, Applejack is the reason I was able to cut Pinkie off, as she was holding her back, much to the pink haired girl's dismay.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Takara Sarani," Twilight said, holding a hand out to Dana, and saying her name perfectly. Dana returned the handshake.

"It's a Pleasure. My name is Dana. Dana Summers." She said pleasantly.

"And Ah'm Allison Jackson. It's a pleasure, Dana." Applejack said next, shaking her hand.

"And these are all their friends that just moved here with them," I said, motioning to the others. They got introductions out of the way, while I inconspicuously explained to Twilight and AJ that I knew the two of them from a while back, but not the others. Getting the hint, we moved on to their schedules next.

"Anyway, Raine, you have Government with me and Grayson for fourth," I said, and checked Fluttershy's again. "And Patience, you, Takara and Faith have Algebra with me for fifth." I finished, purposefully leaving out that we all had sixth period off campus together. "Now, let's see...Tomorrow..." I began.

"Tomorrow? I though all six classes were today?" Twilight asked me, and I shook my head.

"We have this weird thing called a block schedule. Three classes each day. First, second, and third one day, fourth, fifth and sixth the next. It's annoying, I know.." I replied, muttering the last part. Perks of the schedule include more time for homework and such. The bad part, is that each class is an hour and forty damn minutes.

"Oh," She replied simply.

"Hey, looks like you have English with me and Alex first period," Dana said to Rarity.

"Lovely," Rarity replied simply.

"And then you have Psych with me second, Takara," I said to Twilight. She smiled at me, and looked down again.

"And you all have speech and debate with me third." I said to the six of them.

I took a few moments to think, while Gray and Dana compared their own schedules to the girls'. I was thankful that Christine managed to give them all classes with me and Gray, and also with at least one other when I didn't share a class with them. That way, they weren't totally alone in each class. The bell then sounded, and it was time for class. "Alright, girls, at the first break, meet me and Gray back here." I told them.

"Well, let's get started, then!" Twilight said excitedly, getting directions to her first class, English, from Gray, and she took Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack with her.

"You're with us, Raine," Gray said to Rarity. She nodded and began to follow us.

"And you have ecology with me right now, Faith." Dana said ti Fluttershy. Fluttershy nodded meekly, and stared at me with her large, scared eyes. I gave her a quick hug, one that she didn't return, but she nuzzled her head into my chest.

"You'll be fine. You have a class with Dana. She'll take good care of you," I promised. After a moment, she looked up at me with a smile, and nodded. She allowed Dana to take her, waving a small goodbye to me. I returned the wave, and me and Gray led Rarity to government.

Now, I know the ponies went to school, so I didn't worry about english, or those kind of classes. But government was new to these girls, so I was a bit worried for Rarity. thankfully, I was placed next to her, so I let her copy the majority of my work, though I did try to teach her what we were learning. She must have really tried, because she retained a bit of the information. An hour and forty minutes later, the bell sounded, and we made our way back to the main hall, where the office was.

"How was your classes?" I asked the girls.

"Oh, it was...Nice." Fluttershy replied with a light smile.

"Wasn't that bad. We had enough basic grammar schooling where we come from, so english wasn't too difficult." Twilight replied with a shrug.

"And the people? How were they?" I then asked.

"They gave us a few curious looks, but otherwise caused no harm," AJ answered. The others nodded in relative agreement. For the next fifteen minutes of break, I talked to the girls, and they seemed to be taking to my school quite well. To be expected, they were all, for the most part, an intelligent bunch. They didn't seem to have any social problems yet, either, so there's another plus.

Soon enough, the bell rang for fifth period. "Alright, Faith, Takara, Patience. Let's go to algebra," I said. After asking them to make sure, they confirmed that they learned a few basic math and algebra principles at their school in Ponyville, so I wasn't worried. If push comes to shove, they could just copy my homework, even if their handwriting was a bit messy. You should have seen Rarity's! Sure, it's improving, but...Still! Ever heard of chicken scratch?

"Where's our class?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, Allison, Raven, you both have fitness and weights with me. Gym's this way." He said, leading them to the gym. They gave me smiles and a thumbs-up, and I waved to them.

"Raine, looks like you have Fashion Design with me. Let's get going, shall we?" Dana said with a smile. I waved Rarity and Dana off, and looked back at the three.

"Alright, girls. Time for algebra...Joy..." I muttered, and both Pinkie and Twilight look excited, while Fluttershy wore her usual shy smile.

Fifth period went by without a hitch, much to my relief. In fact, my classmates seemed to take to Pinkie and her goofy and energetic attitude. She wasn't making a fool of herself, but rather, cracking witty remarks every so often. Makes it easier for me, since I sat two seats behind her, with Fluttershy right and front of me, and Twilight directly to my right. Pinkie and Fluttershy both asked their partners for help, who accepted with friendly smiles, and I gave a sigh of relief. Good. Everything was running smoothly.

Twilight didn't need much help, and we were halfway through the assignment, when the bell rang. Lunch time, then sixth, but we were allowed to leave, since we didn't have sixth.

"So, girls, how was your first day of school?" I asked them with a yawn.

"It was great! All these people are so much fun!" Pinkie said excitedly.

"And I loved learning all of these new things, this is such a great experience!" Twilight chimed in.

"It's...Nice." Fluttershy said quietly, earning a smile and a playful nudge from me.

"A lot is nice to you, isn't it?" I joked. She blushed lightly, and didn't reply. I waited at the usual spot, and Rarity and Dana were the first to return.

"So?" I asked the two.

"Well, Raine certainly has some interesting designs." Dana replied truthfully.

"Good or bad?" I asked quietly.

"...Interesting." Dana replied with a chuckle. Rarity only beamed at me with a wide smile, and she seemed to be enjoying her day as well. I returned the chuckle, and looked to my right, seeing Rainbow, AJ, and Gray coming our way.

"That's it. I'm not racing this one again." Gray said in mild annoyance, but was wearing a smirk, pointing at the small girl to his right. Rainbow playfully smacked his hand away, and grinned.

"You should know by now, I don't lose." She said.

"Ah, please. Me an' you tied, so don' go around braggin' just yet," AJ replied with a chuckle. Seems like they were getting to like school, as well.

"Good to see you're all enjoying your new school." Dana commented with a smile, seemingly picking up on my thoughts. The girls all replied with happy nods.

"Anyway, I dunno about you girls, but I'm beat. Think I'm gonna head home now," I said with a yawn.

"Really? You're already tired?" Rainbow asked with a quirked brow, crossing her arms.

"Well, yeah." Was all I could reply with.

"Whaaatever. Guess I'll head home, too." Rainbow said, walking out with me and Gray.

"See ya tomorrow, Dana!" Gray called back, as the other girls followed us out. Gray agreed to meet us at my house, and I started up my truck, looking around at the girls.

"So? Looks like you all enjoyed yourselves. Ready to come back tomorrow?" I asked, and they all replied with different, yet excited, responses, and they began chattering amongst themselves of their experiences and thoughts. I smiled to myself, and would reply to them on occasion.

Looks like things were going smoothly. For them, and for me.

Comments

[Iron Sides]

hmmm... seems to me things are going smoothly, but we all know that never lasts for very long...

keep up the good work man!

[Silver Sea]

interesting designs...
she made pony dresses.
I know.

[Insanity X]

385637 my thoughts exactly

[Katamariguy]

Thank goodness you avoided the whole herbivorism/carnivorism thing. Gets old after a while.