Torn Between Two Worlds

by Alex Barkhorn

Chapter 24

"Stupid school. Stupid waking up early. Stupid... Stupid!" I grumbled in anger, yawning rather loudly and slipping on some black jeans.

Spring Break was finally over and it was back to school for seven more weeks, then graduation! Cool, right?

Nope. Terrifying. What was I gonna do after school? College? Trade school? Or straight into the workforce? I had no ruttin' idea.

"Wakey waaaakeeey!" I barely had time to shriek in surprise before I was sent tumbling over as a pink haired mess crashed right into me, knocking both of us flat on the ground. "Good morning, Alex!" Pinkie greeted with a grin.

"...Good morning, Pinkie. Any specific reason we decided to tackle me back into the world of the living?" I asked with a chuckle, sitting upright. She clambered off of me before coming to rest on her knees, giggling.

"Nah! I just thought it'd be fun!" She replied, giggling once again. I chuckled and rolled my eyes as I stood up and helped her to her feet.

"Well, it was worth a chuckle or two. Let's go get some breakfast, eh?" I suggested, leading her out of my room.

We managed to get to school on time, but, when we made our way to the usual spot, I noticed Gray was missing.

"Where's Gray?" I asked Dana, sitting down against the lockers.

"Dunno. He said he wasn't feeling too good last night. He's probably out sick." She surmised with a quick shrug.

"Huh. Damn. Guess that means you'll have Foods by yourself, Patience." I said, turning my head to Pinkie. She smiled and nodded confidently.

"No problem!" She assured me, giggling, and going back to talking to Rainbow Dash about... whatever it is those two talk about. Most likely choosing the next poor victim for a prank. I took a moment to tell Dana about what happened last night, concerning those two jackasses whom have yet to be seen since.

"You're kidding!" Dana gasped, and I chuckled, shaking my head.

"You don't even know the best part. Faith here gave them the dreaded Stare." I said, pausing to chuckle. "Those two were terrified." I added, breaking out into laughter. Fluttershy blushed lightly, averting her gaze and smiling lightly.

"Well... I don't like those two. They're nothing but trouble, and all they do is hurt my friends." She said quietly.

"Hey, it's no problem, Faith," Dana assured the pink haired girl gently. "It's a wonderful thing, what you did. People could learn from you. It's always important to stand up for your friends."

"Thank you, Dana." Fluttershy replied quietly, still looking at her hands on her lap. I was about to comment, but the bell sounded, signaling the start of first period.

"And so it begins," I quipped as I stood up, helping Fluttershy up as well. "Takara, girls, enjoy government. Dana, Raine, would you be so kind as to allow me the honor of escorting you to english?" I said in a mock British accent, bowing courteously.

"Thank you, good sir." Rarity replied, taking my arm in hers. I turned back to Pinkie with a smile.

"Patience, have fun in foods. And be careful." I warned, walking off.

"I gotcha Alex, don't you worry your handsome little head! Your Aunt Pinkie has it all taken care of!" She said, patting my head.

"...I'm a year older than you. I think." I replied, then chuckled at the deja vu. She waved goodbye, and walked off to her first class.

First Period Foods

"Patience?" The teacher lady asked Pinkie Pie, and she smiled, excited to answer a question.

"Yes, ma'am?" She replied ecstatically.

"What's an important aspect of baking?" She asked with a small smile, obviously happy with the amazing attitude of her soon to be star pupil-

( Sorry. Pinkie got into my laptop... )

Anyway, she went to reply, but got a great idea.

"~All ya hafta do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix!" She began, doing a little dance in her seat.

"She isn't..." A girl in the back whispered to her friend.

"~Now just take a little somethin' sweet not sour, a bit of salt, just a pinch!"

"She is!" The girl's friend replied, stifling laughter.

"Bakin' these treats is such a cinch, add a teaspoon of vanilla!"

"Patience," The teacher interjected, but Pinkie continued anyway.

"Add a little more, and ya count to four, and you never get your fill-a!"

By now, all the students were laughing aloud. Pinkie was about to continue, but noticed the students laughter was overshadowing her singing. She giggled lightly, but heard some comments that went her way.

"What's her deal?"

"What an idiot!"

"That's so stupid!"

Pinkie's laughter stopped, realizing they were no longer laughing with her, but, rather, at her. One or two of the students tried to stop the insults and laughter, and even the teacher tried to calm everyone down. Pinkie stared at the desk in front of her, no expression, but there was clear embarrassment in her poor, blue little eyes. She grabbed her red backpack, and bolted out of the classroom, ignoring the cries of one of her friends and the teacher.

First Break

"Where's Patience?" Rarity asked me when we approached our usual spot. I looked around, seeing Fluttershy, Rainbow, AJ and Twilight approach us, but Pinkie was nowhere in sight.

"Dunno. She's probably staying behind with a friend she made, or something." I guessed, shrugging my shoulders.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Dana said with a firm nod. We spent the rest of break discussing our classes and the dreadful homework we endured until, finally, the bell for second period rang. Twilight and I stood up to head over to Psych, stopping Dana before we left.

"Hey, you have gov with Patience, right?" I asked. She nodded in confirmation, and I spoke again. "Good. Ask why she didn't meet us here." Dana nodded again as she walked off, along with the other girls, to their respective classes.

Psychology went by without a hitch, as we were reviewing for an upcoming exam, but I was still thinking about the horrors of the previous day. That is, the horror presented by the day when the girls will have to leave me.

"Alex?" Twilight said with a stifled giggle. I blinked and looked up at her.

"Eh?" I mumbled, realizing it was just us two - even the teacher had already left to grab her lunch. "Oh, right. Let's get going." I said, standing up and grabbing my things. We walked to our usual spot, but, oddly, we were the only ones present.

"Where are they...?" Twilight asked quietly. We heard running and looked to our left, seeing Rainbow sprint up to us.

"You guys, quick, come on!" She ushered, running off in the other direction, ignoring the looks from other students.

"Wait, Raven!" Twilight called out, running after her friend, and leaving me in the dust.

"Takara! Raven!" I called out, but they were long gone. I groaned, and took off after them.

The chase led me to the newer wing of the school, where not many students lingered, so it was easier to run through the halls. Rainbow was stopped in front of the girl's bathroom, along with Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity.

"What's going on?" I asked, taking a second to catch my breath.

"Dana found Patience." Fluttershy informed me. I was about to reply, when I heard sobbing come from inside the bathroom, recognizing it as Pinkie Pie's. I had half a mind to rush in there, but my masculinity forbid me to do so.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'm not too sure." Fluttershy replied with the shake of her head. "But, Dana's in there with her right now. Hopefully she can calm her down," adding a reassuring smile to the end of her statement. I sighed and sat against the wall, waiting in silence.

The next twenty minutes went by without anyone coming through the door, and I had kept myself busy by running my hands up and down my wrists- a nervous habit of feeling the scars that I had picked up. The bell rang, and I stood up, anxious to get Pinkie and the others to our next class. I heard quiet sniffling, and looked up, seeing a crying Pinkie Pie... with completely straight hair. All curls and poofs were completely gone, and her eyes seemed dull and depressed.

"Patience...What happened?" I asked Pinkie, approaching her.

"Nothing, Alex. I don't want to talk about it. Let's just go to class." She replied timidly, avoiding any direct eye contact with me. She walked past the six of us and I looked to Dana for any explanation.

"Apparently, she got publicly humiliated in her foods class. Everyone was laughing at the poor thing." She explained sullenly, looking at the direction Pinkie walked off in. I sighed, and took off after Pinkie, with Fluttershy and the girls following right behind me.

I caught up to Pinkie, who hugged her backpack tightly, as we walked through the halls. We entered our Speech and Debate class, and, the first thing we heard when we came through came from Matt's big mouth.
"Heh. Looks like someone forgot the hairspray this morning." He said in that annoying, nasally voice of his. Pinkie heard this, and squeaked in fear, trying to exit the classroom. But, I managed to stop her.

"You say something, Matt?" I snapped, glaring in his direction.

"Oh, no, I was just commenting on the lack of bounce in her hair." He replied matter of factly.

"Piss off, Matt. I'm not in the mood for your shit." I hissed.

"Matt, calm down." Mr. Donnovan said, looking at Pinkie. "Is she alright?" He asked me. "Patience, do you need a minute outside to yourself?" He asked. Pinkie hesitated, before shaking her head and taking a seat.

Class went by much more slower than usual without Pinkie and I as a tag team of goofballs in the class. She remained quiet the entire class period, right up to the bell. Even the drive home was awkwardly silent.

I finally had enough. When we pulled up to my house I told the girls to go inside without Pinkie and I.

"Alright, Pinkie," I began when we were alone. "Spill it. What happened." Pinkie sighed, and looked up at me.

"I was in class, and... I sang. That's all I did... sing. Suddenly, everyone started laughing at me, and making fun of me. They weren't laughing with me anymore..." She replied sadly. I sighed and nodded, pulling her into a small hug. "I don't know what I did wrong... I thought I'd make everybody happy, and laugh with me." She said quietly.

"It's alright, Pinkie." I said, shushing her. "Some people...Some people just aren't good people. They don't know anything, and don't know a good person when they see one." I said soothingly. "You did nothing wrong." I reminded her.

"I know, I just...I don't like when people laugh at me, Alex. You should know that by now..." She said quietly.

"Hey, Pinkie." I said, pulling away and raising her head a bit so she made eye contact with me. "What's your element?" I asked her.

"Laughter..." She replied, already knowing where I was going with this.

"And what does that mean?" I asked.

"That I represent happiness...And laughter. And good feelings with friends..." She replied with a heavy sigh.

"Right. And it also means that you are able to laugh your trouble away. Pinkie, I wish I knew that when I was a kid. I wish I could have looked up to you, and followed your example by laughing all of my problems, worries, and fears away. You have a special gift, Pinkie. You're the essence of all that is happy and cheerful." I said, smiling at her. It took a few minute for my words to sink in, but, when they did, I could tell I definitely hit home with Pinkie. She smiled brightly at me and nodded.

"You're right, Alex." She told me, and her hair seemed to regain it's fluff and bounce.

"'Course I am." I replied with a chuckle. "Come on everypony, smile, smile, smile..." I sang softly.

"Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine." She replied in her singsong voice.

"All I really need's a smile smile smile, from these happy friends of mine!" We sang together. We figured, to hell with it, and sang the rest of the song. When we finished, we looked at the doorway, seeing the girls looking at us with smiles on their faces.

"Seems like you're feeling better." Twilight said with a chuckle.

"Yep! I'm feeling like the same old Pinkie Pie again!" Pinkie said, beaming at the girls with a mile-wide smile. My smile, while much smaller, was there all the same. Twilight approached us and grinned at me.

"Wow, Alex. You're good at cheering us up, aren't ya?" She teased.

"Hey, hey. Don't bite the hand that feeds." I warned her, warranting a small giggle. I looked over at Pinkie, who skipped inside, before stopping.

"Wait!" She said, running up to me and pouncing on me. "Thank you, Alex!" She said, releasing me from her hug and running inside. "I'm hungry! Are there any cupcakes left? What about brownies?" I heard her say from inside. I followed Twilight in, a smile still spread on my face. That was definitely a troubling moment, especially for Pinkie. It scared me to see that my world could have such an impact on these girls, especially Pinkie of all people. I was right, all along. These girls weren't meant for my world.

I realize now that I need to be more careful.

( Hey there, guys! Guess who's a high school graduate AND now 18 years old! Me :3
At any rate, thank you all for reading. And thanks to Pissfer for editing!
So, before I go into my whole self advertise crap, I'd just like to say a quick something.
A good friend of mine and an amazing writer on fanfiction, Neonz, said something to me the other day.
something I've only heard once and never thought I'd hear again.
She thanked me for inspiring her to write her amazing story. I was someone's inspiration to do something they love. A bud of mine, KaIoth, said the same thing. I never thought it'd be possible.
So, go out there. Live your dreams, if not to be recognized, but so you can look back at yourself later in life and say that you did something that made you happy, and, hell, might have made someone else happy as well.
Do you, man. Do what you love. Do what you dream of doing. The sky is the limit- and then some. Every single one of you are my inspiration, my muse for writing. So thank you all.
Now that that's over with, please be a pal and check out and/or follow my blog at
alexbarkhorn.tumblr.com
I'd really appreciate it, guys :3
Anyway, have a great day!
Also, updates hopefully every Friday :3

Comments

[TheMyth]

I think I know where Alex's next destination is gonna be after high school

[RaptorJesus]

This story is fantastic. Simply fantastic.
And I really hope it will end happily for everyone, they deserve it.

[garouken]

congratulations. i just graduated too and now working ever day for the last 2 weeks. so much fun

[M-Tails-P]

795667
The problem is they believed it immediately,(and Alex didn't even show them the cartoon show) and I feel that it was kinda rushed.

[Menoshe]

795680

Well, here I was trying to figure out who was replying to my comments, and I spent a good 5 minutes derping before having enough sense to look for the author of said replies instead of the replies themselves. Took me long enough.

[Joey JoJo]

Ok. Just reading the description made me favorite this story. Just WOW.
CONGRATS! I found another story to track.
*checks favorites list*

HOLY SHIT I GOT ALOT OF READING TO DO

[Alex Barkhorn]

Concerning J-Dude, I actually appreciate the constructive criticism, but there's a few things I'd like to say.
For one, take it easy. It's my first fic. Of course it's not gonna be perfect. I didn't feel the need to have Alex describe every little thing to them because it would have been unnecessary. I'm pretty sure people can paint their own picture, even though I hinted at a couple things here and there.
Second, the culture shock thing was also shoddy to me. I am completely aware that I could have touched on them being way more shocked about being television characters, but... I dunno. I just felt like they wouldn't be too worried about it in their situation.
And last, like I said, I appreciate the criticism, but you didn't have to completely call me out on it and make a big deal. A simple, nicely worded helping hand that didn't have 'fuck' written in very sentence would have sufficed and made me less upset with you and myself. Thanks for the lowering I self esteem. Next time I appreciate if you were a bit less hostile with criticism. Something like, "Hey Alex. This story has promise but there's a couple things I think you could have touched on or improved on, such as..." It makes both of us look and feel Better and it'd help my writing rather than hurt it.

Moving on to Madara reading my story, holy hell. DarkWing AND Madara are reading this. Squee~

[Aburi]

Just saw this one today.. All I can say is this:
Damn... this is good!

While the beginning was a little awkward at places it smoothed out quickly and the last dozen or so chapters have been really smooth. Or at least they seemed really smooth to me, which is a greater compliment I think because I was too absorbed in the story to notice any grammar, spelling or any other issues.

But what I'm the most impressed with is how you portray the feelings of the characters, especially Alex. There are a lot of fics that can make us happy, or sad, or full of da'aw. But you really bring Alex's own feelings to life. This is defiantly one of my top ten favorite fics right now.

[Spiffers]

799821 "Or at least they seemed really smooth to me, which is a greater compliment I think because I was too absorbed in the story to notice any grammar, spelling or any other issues."

You don't know how great that is for me to hear (personally) as that's about where I started editing the fic. I think I started hard editing it on chapter 17. I thank you for the (possibly accidental) compliment

[Joey JoJo]

What the BlazBlue Hell happened!?!
I left a comment about a day ago and it didn't show up!

Well regardless favorited and thumbed up this fic. Can't wait to read it.

[Alex Barkhorn]

800849

It actually did show up, dude >.>
That's why I had a fangasm because you're reading it xD

[xeno gundian]

Alex:come on everypony smile smile smile smile
me:NO
Pinkie:fill my heart with sunshine sunshine
me: NO NO NOOO
together all I really need' s a smile smile smile from these happy friends of mine!
me:BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!(starts to sing a long)