Class of 2012

by Blazer

1: The Roommate

Easing my backpack onto my bed, I sighed in relief as I began to pull out the textbooks one by one.

It'd been a decent haul from the school's used book sale—I had managed to find the more expensive textbooks for reasonable prices. While I was still missing most of the literature for my English class and a couple workbooks here and there it wouldn't take more than a couple of searches on Google or Amazon to get what I needed.

With my last chore of the day finished, I lay on my bed—my thoughts drifting to our incoming "guest."

Several years ago, a group of American scientists had discovered a strange fold in the fabric of reality. Further experimentation led to the opening of some kind of portal leading into another world. The true surpise lay not in how peaceful the first encounters were, but with what was encountered: an entire civilization of talking animals.

While there were a number of species of these walking and talking organisms, the majority of them had been ponies of three types: unicorns, pegasi, or 'normal' ones without horns or wings. These ponies showed great interest in the world beyond their own—a number of ambassadors being sent on behalf of their Princesses.

We originally thought they were only symbolic in nature but apparently their Princesses are true rulers. Like, 'having audiences with individual subjects of their kingdom and dishing out favors and solutions' kind of rulers.

Their interest in humanity sparked a grand exchange of information and civilians eager to explore each other's world in-person. The first wave of exchanges had occurred last year, one of my close friends having gone to a city called "Canterlot" for a full year of classes. We expected him to return a completely different person or transformed into a pony—the fact that neither had come to pass and that he came back as if nothing had changed reminded me that reality is often more disappointing than any set expectations.

He did bring some interesting observations of the Equestrian educational system: it only had Elementary school and College with no in-between. In a three-year period between those academic institutions, ponies took time off to discover themselves and earn their "cutie marks," a tattoo on their flank that appears when their special talent or life's calling is discovered. It gave ponies the opportunity to decide if a higher education was worth it regarding the nature of their cutie mark.

Going back to the exchange program, our application to be a host family had gone through to the ponies of this "Equestria" and we had been selected by a family of pegasi on the other side. My brother had left to live in a place called "Manehatten," as he was unable to join the family in a city of clouds. He mentioned he would be taking general education classes at the university there—it was disappointing how these talking ponies had mundane studies just like humans did.

The deep bark of our Rottie, Hannah, resonated through the hallway as someone pushed the doorbell.

"Kevin! Can you get the door? I think our guest is here!"

I thought back to the paper my mom had me memorize—the one with our guest's name.

Rainbow Dash.

I wasn’t sure if it was a guy or girl's name, but I knew I would be finding out momentarily.

Moving to the door, I quickly investigated myself—making sure I at least had clothes on. I was far from eager to relive my nightmare from last night of meeting our guest in my underwear—I really had to stop eating late night snacks.

Satisfied with my basketball shorts and loose grey tshirt, I opened the door without hesitation.

They were taller than I'd expected. Their head only came up to the base of my neck but they were tall enough to easily double my height if they reared up on their hind legs. They bore a sky-blue coat with a vibrant, polychromatic mane that remained fuzzy at the edges. Their cutie mark was a tricolor lightning bolt coming out of a small, cute cloud.

"Hello? Is this the Nakano household?"

Their voice was a mixture of raspy and musical. Feminine.

"Oh, yeah. You must be Rainbow Dash."

I opened the screen door, stepping aside to both allow the pegasus mare past and keep the door from closing.

"Come on in," I offered. With a stiff nod, she stepped past me, her tail tickling my fingers as it swished a bit too close to my hand. Closing the door behind her, I could already hear my mom proffering gratiutious greetings to our guest in the dining room.

"Oh, you look so pretty! I love your hair!"
"Thanks. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Nakano."
"You can call me Naomi. If you forget that one, feel free to fall back on 'Mrs. Nakano!'"

She gestured to me, "Kevin will show you your room."

I nodded to the pegasus, "Right over here."

Hannah lumbered into view, sniffing at Rainbow with mild interest before licking at her foreleg. The pegasus tensed slightly at the touch—my signal to get Hannah away from her.

Moving to the hallway, I opened the door to the guest bedroom while grabbing Hannah's collar.

"In here, I'll keep her from bothering you while you unpack."
"Thanks."
"Dinner should be ready soon. Let us know if you prefer to eat it in here."
"Okay."

I watched her look around the barren room for a moment before shrugging.

"But yeah... Welcome to my home. Looking forward to hanging with you this year."

She looked back, forcing a smile.

"Yeah. Me, too."
"Anyways, I'll leave you alone to get comfortable. I'll come by again to let you know when dinner's ready."

Ushering Hannah out of the room, I gently closed the door before turning to my dog.

"C'mon. She's had a long day."

Moving back to the dining room, I sat down and checked my phone for any messages.

"You get her all set up?"
"I told her about dinner and left her there. She seems nervous so I didn't wanna stick around too long."
"Poor thing; going to a totally foreign place is never easy."
"I feel like we should leave her alone for now. She's probably tired, too."
"Don’t you think we should have some icebreaking activities? Maybe some Scrabble?"

I scoffed. My mom was always itching to play that infuriatingly difficult game.

"Why do you always torture all the guests with that game?"
"Not everyone hates it like you do."
"I only hate it because you always win."
"Only because you get bored and give up halfway through."

I shook my head, moving back to my room.

"I'm gonna put my book covers on."
"I left your school supplies on your bed. I got you everything you put on the list."
"Thanks, Mom. Also, did you get a call from David yet?"
"Nothing yet. He might be too busy to talk tonight—he starts his classes tomorrow, too."

I clicked my tongue in disappointment. I really missed having my twin brother here. Now I didn’t have anyone to share the pre-class jitters with.

Or rather, the only other person I could talk to probably didn’t want to talk to me.

Moving to my bedroom, I started sifting through the shopping bags as I searched for my book covers. There was a lot that needed doing and tonight was my last chance to knock it all out.

***

"Kevin! Can you let Rainbow know dinner's ready?"
"Okay!"

I walked up to her door, getting ready to knock before hearing some unfamiliar voices inside.

"...crazy, but normal at the same time?"
"That’s one way to... but how's your host family?"
"Nice, I guess. Everything's so... and I'm..."
"...for you, Rainbow."

I knocked.

"Dinner's ready. Did you wanna eat it in there or at the table?"

There was a long pause.

"...I'll be right out."

I stepped away to let her finish her call. I had heard of this method of communication but never seen it. Every pony carried a 'scrying mirror' that allowed communication across the different planes. Humanity didn't have a solution for this problem yet, so humans who visit Equestria are given one matching pair of mirrors to allow contact with their significant others during their stay. Another gracious gesture from our interdimensional neighbors.

I glanced at the large mirror situated above the fireplace as if expecting David's face to be there.

If she was feeling homesick then why wasn't David?

I felt a little angry in that moment. Had he forgotten about me? Was Equestria that great?

These two thoughts bounced around my mind as I sat down at the table. Looking down at the table, it was a fabulous spread of a couple veggie pizzas Mom had made, although shortcutting the hardest part by using frozen premade crusts. While I wasn't thrilled about having to ditch all of our more carnivorous options for pony-friendly ones, at least pizza was still on the menu.

Taking a seat, I poured myself some water out of the Brita pitcher when I heard Hannah panting excitedly as unfamiliar footfalls echoed down the hallway.

Rainbow entered the dining room with a polite nod to each of us—our Rottweiler, Hannah, close behind. She took a seat at the head of the table as Mom passed her a plate with one slice of each pizza on it. Hannah sniffed at the plate nearest to her edge of the table but remained where she was—she knew better than to incur Mom's wrath.

"We also have juice if you want something other than water."
"Thanks, water’s fine."
"Sorry about our dog. She's a bit too friendly and ends up butting into everyone's business."
"It’s fine. I wouldn't have checked the 'okay with animals' box on the application if I didn't want her around. Plus I'm used to animals back where I come from."

I decided against pointing out how strange it was to hear a talking pony mention that. I wasn't sure what was considered "offensive" by pony standards but I was certain that statement wouldn't get me any brownie points.

I was caught off-guard when Rainbow turned towards me, mouth half full of pizza.

"So I guess we're going to the same school."
"Y-yeah. I heard you were place in the same grade, too."
"The top one, right? 'Senior' or something."
"Yeah. Country Day's a good school, too. Kinda sad you only get to enjoy one year of it, I guess."
"Oh. Right. You graduate after your senior year, huh?"

We all ate in silence for several minutes, enjoying the food while giving polite nods to each other despite everyone's discomfort. I rummaged through various conversation topics from life in Equestria to her occupation but I figured reminding her of her real home wasn't a good idea.

The front door opened as my dad entered the house. Hannah rushed over to greet him, panting excitedly. My dad's coos and hellos echoed over the small partition separating the dining area from the doorstep, making my ears hot with embarrassment as he rounded the corner—a box of Krispy Kreme donuts in his hands.

"Hey! Nice to meet you," he exclaimed, nodding to Rainbow. She nodded back, wiping her mouth with the back of her hoof as she flashed a quick smile.

"Hello. Mr. Nakano?"
"I'm Roy. Nice to meet you. How was the trip over? Everything go smoothly?"
"Yeah, it was fine. Hardest part was saying goodbye to my friend Tank. He's my pet tortoise."
"Hey, we know how important pets are. They're basically family, right?"
"Exactly! I'm glad you think the same."

He set the box down on the kitchen counter, tapping the top.

"Got everyone some donuts. Had mine in the car so the rest are yours. And Rainbow, welcome to our home. Anything you need, you let us know."

Giving a quick wave, he pecked Mom on the lips before moving to his office to change.

"Your Dad's pretty cool, Kevin."
"He's alright. Just don’t get him started on his favorite rom-coms or you'll be stuck watching Last Holiday on repeat."
"Huh?"
"It’s a Christmas movie with Queen Latifah."
"Oh."

Sensing that I made no sense, I stood up.

"Want a donut?"
"Sure."

***

"Glass!" I pulled up and flicked my wrist, sending the basketball sailing towards the backboard. It nailed the corner of the painted square before bouncing off of the rim—tumbling out onto the street below.

I clicked my tongue as Rainbow swept down, grabbing the ball before passing it back to me. Watching her fly was bizzarre and addicting—her tiny wings somehow supported her comparitavely larger body without issue and she flew without any wasted movement.

"So let me get this straight—you’ve practiced with the basketball team all last year but never played?"
"I mean, I had to show up to morning practice anyway since my brother was on the team. One day, the coach offered to let me practice with them."
"How were tryouts?"
"We have a no-cut policy since our school is so small—all you have to do is sign up when you apply for classes."
"Huh. Sounds pretty sad to me."
"If a 5'9" dude like me gets to play varsity basketball with no strings attached, I wouldn't call it sad."

Grabbing my own rebound, I gave her a solid chest-pass. She caught the ball and held it still, hovering in place.

"You guys do any other sports?"
"Yeah; for a small school, we have quite a few. Fall is volleyball and soccer, winter is basketball and ski/snowboard, and spring is cross country, golf, baseball and tennis."
"Whoa. Sounds like most of 'em are in spring, though."
"We do a lot of non-sport extracurriculars too—stuff like debate team, orchestra and theater."

Rainbow made a face before focusing on the hoop. She fired her shot—a long two-pointer distance-wise. It went in.

"Wonder if they'll let a pony like me do any sports."
"No-cut policy doesn't sound so sad after all, does it?"

She rolled her eyes, "Not that. I mean if the rules say only humans can play or something. I don't think I can sit still all year without doing anything."

I shrugged.

"Trust me—between classes and deciding a major, you'll have plenty to do."

Author's Note:

Reworked chapter 1. Have a much clearer idea of what I wanna do instead of running off of pure inspiration like when I first wrote this.