> Solar Flare University
>  by Gamaholic2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Can't Get a Break
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh couldn’t wait to relax in his dorm room. After driving for the last day and a half, he finally arrived at Solar Flare University, obtained his map and key card, and moved as swiftly and surely as his legs would allow, without appearing to be desperate to the people walking by. It took him nearly ten minutes to get to the dorm where he’d be staying, and it was the closest one to the receptionist office, the heat of the afternoon sun making the short walk even more unbearable. Josh wasn’t one to complain about the heat, but even he had his limits.

Entering the building he was greeted with cold, refreshing air and he nearly collapsed right there. If he hadn’t been worried he’d damage his laptop he probably would have. He trekked on, and was pleasantly surprised that no one was around to watch him stumble his way to the elevator. His room was somewhere on the 20th floor, and he enjoyed the brief respite as he ascended.

The doors opened again and there was still no one out and about. Was this floor unoccupied, or was everyone still unpacking? Whatever, the solitude was even more relaxing than the air conditioning.

He found his room, unlocked the door, and found that someone else's stuff was already inside. Not that he didn't expect this, but he still found the sight unnerving. He had given a lot of thought into getting a single bedroom, but he knew this was the better choice. Not only was it cheaper, but he knew if he didn't suck it up and get a roommate he'd never make any friends. He just hoped they weren’t too overbearing.

The room had four separate parts, a foyer, two bedrooms, and one bathroom. The foyer had a couch, which was where his roommate’s bags were, and two windows. The wall the couch faced was completely barren, but it had a couple of power outlets and a large wooden desk, which immediately set his mind to the perfect way in which he’d fill that space.

He set down his stuff on the desk and wasn’t able to think of it much further as the hall had filled with sounds of people walking around and the muffled exchanges between them. He heard the door unlock and he steeled himself to finally meeting his roommate.

The door swung wide open and in it stood a yellow person with long, pink hair flowing down her back and over her face. She wore a green, long sleeved, thick T-shirt, and gray sweatpants. She was a little shorter than him, and despite the thickness of the shirt, it was apparent she had a lot to hide. She stopped dead in her tracks and a pair of yellow wings billowed out from her back and his steeled mind turned to lead. For a moment they just stood there. Whatever he expected, he had not expected to be rooming with one of them, especially not one of the opposite gender..

“Um, hi.” Josh said, waving his hand.

The equine screamed and shot back out into the hallway, causing Josh to flinch. Seconds later, a blue equine burst into the room, took one look at the puzzled human and tackled him to the ground. He was put into a full nelson and hoisted up. His captor was a little shorter than him as well, but she held more power than her frame suggested. The mass squishing into his back told him she had a lot to hide as well. 

He struggled a bit, but not to break free. He knew he wouldn’t be able to break out of her hold, so he just tried to get more comfortable. This was made even more difficult because her body was full of hard muscle, which wasn’t very comfortable when they were taut, nor when she’s handling him so roughly. The equine dug into his underarms and, ignoring his angry cries of pain, she half carried, half dragged him out of the room and flung him into the commons area where he was surrounded by many more equines.

“What the hell was that for?”

“Shut up! You’re not supposed to be here, human. How’d you get in and what were you doing in Fluttershy’s room?” The blue one said. She wore a tight, black shirt and form fitting jeans, and her straight, rainbow colored hair was just below shoulder length. He noticed that she sported some blue wings as well, ones that looked far more powerful than the yellow one's, this Fluttershy's. She was also slightly taller,  though not nearly as well endowed.

He stood up and with the burning sensation under his arms he struggled to keep the irritation out of his voice. “I was putting my stuff in the room the key told me to go into.” Holding the key up to the blue one, she snatched it out of his hand and examined it. “I ask again, what the hell was that for?”

“This can’t be right. You must have taken this off some mare and now you’re trying to steal something else.”

“I didn’t come to steal anything. The receptionist said to go into the building marked on the map, and that the key was marked for the 5th room on the 20th floor.”

“I don’t buy this for a second! This isn’t even your dorm, the human dorms are clear on the other side of campus.”

“Rainbow! What’s the problem here?” A purple equine joined the inner circle. She wore a purple sweater vest over a white dress shirt, and a purple skirt. Her hair was dark purple with a violet and pink stripe and in the center of her forehead was a horn. 

“This human broke into Fluttershy’s room and was trying to steal something!”

“Actually, I --” Josh said

“Shut it!”

“Rainbow! Don’t be so rude,” she turned towards Josh. “What were you saying?”

Having calmed down enough for his tone to be more pleasant he said, “I used the key I got to get in. I was just setting my stuff down in the room. I didn’t know these were the equine dorms. I didn’t even know they were separated until now.”

“See Rainbow, it’s just a mistake. If we just go to the receptionist they’ll put him in the right dorm. Now, show’s over everyone! Go back to your rooms!”

The equines quickly dispersed. Impressed by how the purple mare took charge of the situation Josh could see that she held their respect. “Thank you, I’m sorry about the mix up.”

“You better hope this was just a mix up,” Rainbow threatened.

“Rainbow! Since you seem so eager to get him out, why don’t you go get him his belongings,” Twilight ordered.

“Yeah, whatever.” Rainbow disappeared into the hall for a second and came back with is black satchel and suitcase. Amazed by her speed, he was unprepared when she shoved them in his chest, effectively knocking the wind out of him and almost toppling him.

“Thanks.” He said as he put the satchel on and dropped the suitcase onto it’s wheels. He, Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy boarded the elevator. The trip down was dead silent, further increasing the tension in the group. Fluttershy clung to Twilight, and Josh wondered if he had actually scared her. He did have one question cross his mind as the elevator doors opened.

“So, why was the dorm so empty when I came in?”

“Most of us were out touring the school. I’m assuming you missed orientation then?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yeah, I had to drive here, and there were a few problems along the way, so I missed it. I wasn’t too worried about it anyway. I’ll learn the layout soon enough and exploring makes it all the more fun.”

“Oh, you have one of those motor vehicles? Your human technology is very interesting. To think a train could be compacted into such a tiny body, and it doesn’t run on steam either.”

“It is kind of cool. The purring of the engine is sometimes more pleasant to listen to than my music. It does get tiring after a while though. I wanted to get out of it six hours into the journey, and I was relieved when I finally got here and could rest inside the dorms. I just wish they gave me the right room the first time.” They arrived at the receptionist’s office and Twilight turned towards him.

“Well, it’ll all be fixed soon. By the way, I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She extended a hand towards him and after slight hesitation he took it gingerly. Her hand clamped around his unexpectedly tight, and he quickly adjusted his own grip to try and match her own.

“I’m Joshua Dickerson, you can call me Josh, it’s nice to meet you.” 

They entered the office and the receptionist looked up from her computer. "Hi, how can I help you all?

"Yes," Twilight said. "It seems there's been a slight mix up. This human, Joshua Dickerson, was given a key to a room in the equine dorms."

"Oh, alright. We'll see about fixing that then."  The clerk went on the computer. After a couple minutes and questions, the clerk pulled up the information. "Well, actually, it seems he has been put in the Equestrian dorms."

Twilight reared her head. "There has to be some sort of mistake." 

"Well, that's what we have here in the computer. No matter though, if we have room in the other dorms..." She typed away again and after a minute she frowned again. "It seems like we don't have room anywhere else to put you."

"This can't be possible. A human can't share a room with one of us. I thought they were segregated for a reason."

"Well," the clerk said. "They are supposed to be, but we only did that as a precaution. As long as you're okay with it, it's not a problem."

"It is too a problem!" Rainbow said. "We can't let him live with Fluttershy!"

"Rainbow! We'll discuss this back at the dorm." Twilight turned to the clerk, "Thank you for your assistance."

"No problem, just let me know what you decide."

They didn't make ten feet outside the building before Rainbow said, "We can't let him room with Fluttershy, Twilight!" 

"Would you rather room with him?"

"Hell no! I don't want him in our dorm!"

"You heard the receptionist. He can't be moved anywhere else."

"Why can't he live back in the city, or in a tent?"

"It's against school rules to camp out on the lawns without permission, and it takes two hours to get out here from the city. He'd have to get up incredibly early to make it to class and he'd have no time for anything else."

"Yeah, waking up at 4 am doesn't sound very fun," Josh said.

"Fine! But I still say he shouldn't room with Fluttershy."

"Okay, but we'll have to ask the others in order to move him. My room is already full, and I won't make a decision without consulting anyone."

They traveled back to the dorm. Josh could feel his strength ebbing away from carrying his heavy bags around and just wanted to sit down. Of course, he didn't let this show. Being in a car all day doesn’t seem all that draining an activity, but even if it was it still felt like a lame excuse.

They entered the dorm again and rode the elevator back up, and when the doors opened Josh saw three other equine sitting on the couches. The pink coated one jumped up when she saw them and was suddenly in Josh's face.

"Oh yay! I was hoping you’d come back. I wasn't here when you came in and was sad I didn't get a chance to meet you. I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"

"Uh, hi. I'm Josh.” Pinkie backed off a little bit. Her large, curly hair was a darker shade of pink than her coat. She wore a yellow shirt that couldn’t have been more full, and a pair of short shorts. Normally, Josh didn’t like it when women wore such shorts, but Pinkie made them work, probably because she wasn't human. Thankfully, he wasn’t allowed to stare too long before the orange one spoke up.

“And why is he back here? I thought you were going to return him to the human dorms?” Her southern accent made the rest of her attire seem less out of place. She wore jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red flannel shirt. She put on a large, tan stetson over her blonde hair and stood up, brushing her long ponytail off her shoulder.

“Actually, it seems that Josh here actually is supposed to be in this dorm,” Twilight said.

“Really! That’s so wonderful! You know what this calls for? A PAR--” The orange one covered Pinkie’s mouth.

“Now hang on just a minute. Why would they put a human in our dorms?”

“The receptionist told us that the human dorms were all full. She even said that there really wasn’t a reason to separate the dorms, and that it was alright as long as we thought it was okay."

"Which we don't," Rainbow muttered.

"Well I have no problem with it," Twilight said. "But that still leaves us with the problem of who he's going to room with. We can't let him stay in Fluttershy's room."

"I guess," the orange one said. "Why don't I switch with him?"

"Hold on, Applejack," said the white mare. She wore a blue, collared shirt and a black, knee length skirt, both of which hugged her bountiful features nicely. Her purple hair was slightly curly, and out of the six equines, she was definitely the most beautiful. "Before we decide anything we need to get more acquainted with each other."

"Rarity's right," Twilight said. "In order to find out who should room with you, we have to find out more about you."

All eyes turned to Josh, and for a moment he stood in silence. Eventually, he said “W-well, what would you like to know?”

“What do you do when you go to bed, when you wake up, when you have free time, that sort of stuff,” Twilight said and sat down next to Rarity. 

“Okay, before I go to bed I usually stay up playing video games, or I read or write.”

“So, you’re generally pretty quiet at night, except for the video games. I’ve never played one before, but I’ve heard they get noisy.”

“Well, I’ll turn down the volume when you’re trying to sleep, but sometimes I’ll play well into the night trying to beat a level and I get pretty frustrated, but I’ve gotten better at raging quietly. My sister even commented on how I don’t wake her up anymore. But, I’ve gotten pretty good at video games in general, so I don’t get frustrated often and, as I said, it’s not the only thing that I’ll do at night. I’ve actually done a lot more writing recently. Haven’t touched a game in months.”

“What kind of things do you write about?”

“J-just whatever is in my head. Sometimes I’ll be walking around in public and I’ll find myself imagining something strange or cool happening. None of it’s really good.”

“Alright, well what’s it like for you to wake up?” Rarity said.

“I don’t have much to do other than basic hygiene. I’ll be up and out in ten minutes if I have to be anywhere. If I don’t, I’ll sleep forever.”

“And what happens when ya don’t have anything important to do?”.

“Normally I’ll just sit in my room and play games, watch tv, read or write.”

“What about parties, or being with people?”

“Unless you want me to hang out with you, I won’t get in the way, but parties aren’t really fun for me. They’re noisy, the music isn’t any good, and I don’t dance or talk to random strangers. It’d be more fun if we got together and played games.”

“Oh, you just haven’t been to one of my parties,” Pinkie said. “When I throw a party, everyone has such a blast! 

“Well then I will try one, but don’t feel bad if I slink away to play a video game.”

“It seems like these video games are pretty important to you. Most of us haven’t had a chance to play any of them. What’s so great about them?” Twilight said.

“Well, the stories are usually good, for one thing. The ones I’ve played have at least. The cut scenes and animations are pretty cool, and the music is often better than what normally plays on the radio. Obviously, the best part is the level of interactivity the game allows, and how active the battle system is has a big effect. Though, even if it’s not very active, the flashy animations usually keep me interested. They’re probably more fun with other people; I don’t have many people to play with, but it’d be better if I showed you. I’ve brought some of the best games ever and a few of them are multiplayer.”

“Ooh, that sounds like so much fun! We should totally go do that!”

“That does sound like fun, but not right now. We still have to figure out which room you’ll be setting up in.”

“Alright, final question, and this is the most important one: How comfortable are you with rooming with one of us mares?”

“I don’t have any problems with it. I’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to have a roommate, and I don't have a problem with Equestrians. I just want to be able to have some peace and quiet every so often.”

Rarity stared at him with an unwavering gaze, "Yes, but what do you think about rooming with a mare? Female Equestrians?"

"Oh, well, I've been living with my mom and sister for years, so I don't really mind."

"And what was it like living with them?"

"Frequently out of toilet paper, I had to shower in the evenings to get hot water, and the bathroom was just crowded with an assortment of lady products, but it didn't really bother me much. Sometimes I'd get called out of my room at inconvenient times, and they weren't exactly the most conservative dressers at home. They assumed I didn't mind, and I really didn't, but it did make things a little awkward sometimes. 

"Okay, but we're not your mother, or your sister, darling. We're college girls of no relation."

"Well, it shouldn't be too different. The bedrooms and bathroom are separate, so there's plenty of room for privacy."

"Hmm, yes, but you see," Rarity slid off the couch and started slowly walking towards him. "Those problems you had at home will continue here, but there'll be even worse as well." 

As she drew closer she started to swing her hips with every step. 

"Bathroom crowded with beauty products. 

Step. She stands a little taller, now eye level with him.

"Some progressive choices of clothing."

Step. She's now inches from him, her bust even closer, and starts circling around him. He turns his head to keep her in sight and as he can't turn any further he feels her lightly run her fingers across his upper back.

"Maybe we forget our clothes in the bathroom?"

Josh turned on his heel to face her and move a bit further away. She looked him straight in the eye and said, "Maybe you won't think twice about staring." 

Josh felt his face heat up, he forced his eyes into her own, knowing full well enough of the buttons were open. She took one step forward, her bust closing the distance just barely enough, his breath hitched in his throat, and she whispered:

"Maybe...we won't mind if you do?"

The void of silence fell on their floor. The mare began wrapping her arms around his waist. As she slid one hand up his back to his head and tightened her hold on him to draw him closer, he regained enough of his senses to resist.

"Um, Rare, you think you could lay off now? You've got him all tensed up and I think he quit breathin'." 

Rarity stepped back from him giggling. "Oh, I know. I already have my answer, I just wanted to see how far he'd let it go."It seems like he'd be the perfect roommate. Respectful, honest, and handsome." She giggled as his face turned beat red again.

"Uh, thanks...so who should I room with?”

"What the hell was that about?" 

"You need not worry about that right now, Rainbow." Rarity said.

"Well...okay, so Rarity probably has a lot of stuff to move, so I should switch with Fluttershy or Josh."

"Actually, I don't mind if he rooms with me."

Everyone turned to stare at Fluttershy, the other five in bewilderment. Josh was surprised as well, but it was too late for just shock.

Rarity was the first to speak up, "Are you certain, Fluttershy?"

"Yes. I think it'd be a good idea."

Rainbow scoffed. "Good idea? Have you forgotten what these humans have put us through?"

"N-no, but not all humans are like that."

"What makes you think this one will be any different?"

"He seems to be a nice fella, Rainbow."

"He could be lying for all we know!"

"I wouldn't lie about this! I promise you, no one will regret letting me stay here." Another stunned silence followed this outburst. He looked around, feeling sheepish, and saw Fluttershy’s eyes were glued to him. They looked stunned, but he saw something else in them, though he hadn't had much experience with reading eyes.

"And we believe you," Twilight said. "Rainbow's just trying to look out for what's best for Fluttershy." She turned to Fluttershy, "But, are you sure you're okay with this?" 

After a slight hesitation, “I-I’m sure.”

"Then it's settled, Josh and Fluttershy will share a room. 

"Well, I have to finish unpacking as well," Rarity turned and walked away to her room.

"Only because you couldn't help but pack everything but the kitchen sink!" Applejack said, following close behind. "It's a good thing he's not rooming with you, you'd bury him under your wardrobe the whole year."

"Nonsense! I only brought what I absolutely needed." She turned just outside their room and yelled back, "Also, even though you're not rooming in here, I shall require your services. You're the only human male on this floor." She entered the room, leaving Josh perplexed.

"If you call thirty different outfits for each season a necessity." No one heard Rarity's retort as the door slammed shut.

"What does she mean by that?"

"She's a fashion designer, and she hasn't had much practice on humans. That's only one of the things you'll have to deal with when living with us," Twilight sighed. "Anyway, I have to finish unpacking as well. See you guys later."

Twilight walked off and disappeared. Rainbow snorted and went to her room as well. Pinkie, looking sheepish, said "Heh, don't take too long to unpack, I'm throwing a party in a couple hours, so don't be late!" and walked off. Josh and Fluttershy stood in silence for a moment. 

“Well, shall we go get settled in?” Josh skirted around her to get to their room. That’s when he realized that Rainbow still had his key. “Um, could you unlock the door? I think your friend still has my key and I don’t think I should bother her at the moment.”

“Y-yeah, that'd probably be best.” Fluttershy opened the door and Josh set down his stuff on the desk again.

“So which room do you want to take?” 

“You choose first, I don’t mind.”

“Alright.” He looked inside each room and they looked pretty much the same. Same bed, same desk, same closet. Though the layout was different, the rooms were the same size as well.

“I guess I’ll just choose the one at the back of the unit.” He grabbed his stuff and threw everything in. He heard Fluttershy do the same, but they mostly unpacked in silence. Josh threw the bed sheets in the wardrobe, instead pulling out a sleeping bag that he laid on top of the bed. Next, he put the clothes he packed in the closet. He didn’t take up half the space it offered. There were mirrors on the inside of the doors, and he took a second to move the doors to make the Infinity Mirror effect. Satisfied, he pulled his laptop out and set it on the desk, plugged it in and booted it up. 

There was only one more thing for him to do. Grabbing his suitcase, he went outside to the foyer and placed it right next to the desk. From the suitcase he pulled out a TV and the smallest of his black consoles and set them in the middle of the desk. He connected their power cords, and the HDMI cable between them, all being fed behind the devices and desk.

Once he was done, he excitedly got up and went to knock on Fluttershy's door, but he hesitated. Instead, he went back to his room and set up one of his other consoles in there. He used the laptop as a monitor and put his suitcase into the closet. Exiting his room, he tried knocking on her door, but stopped himself again. He went back to the first console and turned it on, making sure the volume wasn't too loud. Having done that, he stopped in front of Fluttershy's door again.

Taking a deep breath, Josh raised his fist, but still did not knock on the door. He lowered the fist and instead went back to the console, turned up the volume, and put in the best game he could find.

He started up a new game and, after a short cut scene, was lost in the game.

He was just entering the first temple when he felt that he wasn't alone. He turned and Fluttershy was watching him play, and he wondered how long she was standing there.

"Hey," he said.

"What kind of game is that?"

"It's called Metroid Prime: Echoes for the Wii U. It’s a pretty awesome first person shooter game.”

“What do you do in it?”

“You really just run around and shoot things. It’d actually be easier for me to show it to you. You’ve actually caught me at a pretty good moment in the game.”

He started playing again and explained some of the things he was doing. He told her about the scan visor and how it fills the logbook, and he showed her the save point, and some of Samus’ abilities. 

"How can she fit inside that tiny ball?"

"She's pretty flexible, but it's not actually that small. It's one meter in diameter, so that's a little more than three feet. Samus would actually be bigger than either of us too, so we could fit inside that thing no problem. Though, that big gun on her arm doesn't seem like it'd fit very well, unless it gets smaller as well, which it could very well do, but I don't know."

He rolled her through the hole from the save point, and bounced her up on the ledge and to the door for the next room.

As he shifted Samus out of her morph ball form, Fluttershy said, "Oh, then I hope she doesn't get dizzy rolling around all the time."

He gave her a puzzled look before turning back and pondering the sentiment. Samus never swayed or anything after changing back from the morph ball, but now he thought about it, it was odd that she didn't. "I don't know. Maybe there's some sort of function that keeps her from rolling with the ball. I'd have to read up on that, but I guess it wouldn't make for a good detail to add in the game. Samus swaying around every time she gets out of the ball would definitely cause a few problems during battle. Which, by the way, one important battle is right in this other room." 

He entered the room, careful not to look up, and scanned several objects. Once he was done with that, he finally turned the visor to the giant cocoon in the center of the ceiling. 

Fluttershy gasped, "What is that?"

"That," he said as he finished the scan, "is what we will be fighting soon." 

He read the scan info out loud then moved forward and triggered the cut scene. The splinter eggs hatched and descended to the floor and Fluttershy gasped again.

"Aww, they're so cute!"

"Cute?" he asked, pausing the game.

"Yeah, they're like huge, adorable spiders or ants."

"Uh, sure, I guess they could be, but they're gonna start trying to kill me in a few seconds."

"Oh, are these what you have to fight?"

"Yeah, they're territorial creatures and will attack anyone who comes close to their nest."

"So then, why don't you just avoid their nests? They didn't do anything to you."

"No, but I can't go through here without fighting them. The game won't let me," he said as he looked away and rolled his eyes.

"Alright. If you have to."

He reared his head and looked back at her. Her ears drooped behind her head, her mouth was set, and her eyes were shimmering with tears. Josh's chest felt like it was being crushed with a fifty pound brick.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better about it, see what happens to them before we start fighting."

He unpaused the game and they watched as the Splinters became engulfed in a black cloud and he paused it again.

"What's happening to it?!"

"It's being corrupted, and the stuff doing it isn't very gentle either even after it's done taking it over. Now it'd attack me even if I could get away, and the poor thing's being hurt the entire time. I have to kill it now."

"Can't you just kill the thing possessing it?"

"Unfortunately, no. The only way to get rid of it, and to get out of this energy barrier, is to kill it."

Fluttershy's ears pressed into her skull, her mouth set again, and her watery eyes now flickered with an intense flame. "Those poor little critters. Alright, just make it quick. I don't want them to suffer."

He snorted in amusement and let the scene continue again. Once he was in control again he saw how intently Fluttershy was staring at the screen, and as he killed one of the dark splinters he leaned back into the couch and started exaggerating his movement of the wiimote. He also didn't use the lock button to target them, and he managed to damage all of them at least once and kill one. Then he got hit. It was the first bit of damage he'd taken since starting the game, and his hand faltered. He killed another, but got hit two more times. Just before killing a fourth, he took two more hits and quickly sat up on the edge of the seat. He locked on to the last splinter, and as he launched a charged power beam shot at it, it attacked as well. The last splinter disappeared in a black cloud of smoke, and Josh was now left with only nine energy points. He cursed silently as he hit pause.

"That seemed like a hard fight. I'm glad it's over."

Through gritted teeth he corrected her, "There's still one more to fight."

He took a deep breath and let it continue. A small cut scene played where the larger cocoon hatched and the alpha splinter fell to the ground. The scene ended and he quickly scanned the thing, and re-positioned himself and his arms as he read the description out loud. 

"This one doesn't seem to be possessed."

Ignoring that, he shot the creature a couple times and another black cloud appeared and engulfed the larger splinter. He charged up the beam, locked onto it, and began circling the arena. Once the health bar showed up he launched the first beam and as he charged it up again, it crouched and jumped at him, and he made Samus jump out of the way and shoot it with the beam and a missile right after. He repeated the process until the last shot, and instead of jumping out of the way he launched his last missile as it pounced. 

The missile hit as the splinter got half way across the arena and a cut scene began. Josh laid back into the couch again, and Fluttershy jumped up and yelled "Yay!" in what was the least powerful cheer he ever heard, even considering from himself, but he didn't care. His chest felt tighter again as she stared at Fluttershy's excited face, and as she landed he couldn't help but notice how she wasn't the only thing bouncing around.

She sat back down and Josh moved Samus forward, but was suddenly very uninterested in what was going on in the game. He stared straight at the screen, but wasn't really watching as he entered U-Mos' room and began the next scene. He leaned forward and gripped the wiimote and nunchuck a little tighter. 

U-Mos' monologue came to an end and Josh scanned whatever he could and left. He just got out of the elevator when something warm and furry grabbed his arm and pulled it into something big, squishy, and covered in cloth.

"Um, Josh? Would it be alright if I could play for a little while?"

"Y-yeah, sure, why not?" he said, putting on a smile and handing her the nunchuck. She released his other arm and took the controllers. He directed her out the doors and towards the red blast door in the same area. She burst it with a missile and retrieved the energy capsule in the room, then went out and to the first encrypted door, scanning as they went. 

Then, after grabbing the missile expansion in the elevator room he set her loose. Looking at her from the corner of his eyes, he noticed her long, pink mane was kempt and framed her face. As she coasted through the game, her expressions changed from curious as she wandered the areas--taking the time to look in every nook and cranny, which earned her another missile expansion--to shock and awe as she encountered new creatures--which she ran away from when they started to attack. There was an elegance similar to Rarity's, but it was much softer than her's. 

Her ears twitched from every sound and moved in seemingly random way whenever her expression changed. He just noticed she switched the thick, green, long sleeved shirt with a small, white t-shirt that left nothing to the imagination. The fur on her arms was smooth and glossy, and had kind of small, but hard and well defined muscle. Her wings stood out as wide as her shoulders, and covered her entire back, which had a nice arch in it while she sat up on the edge of the couch. She changed from her sweatpants to a pair of jeans that clung tightly to her lower body. They weren't stretched quite like her shirt, but he could tell they were sculpted masterfully, all the way down to her hooves. 

The hooves were kind of weird. He was glad they didn't lose their fur like on a real horse, and he wasn't particularly interested in feet in general, but this was certainly one thing he would have to get used to seeing. The wings were strange, too, though he was a lot more fond of the way those looked, as well as the fur. However, despite these details certainly being very prominent, and marked her as a non-human, he was far more interested in the mounds protruding from her shirt. The white fabric was stretched thin almost straight out, showing a bit of the green bra underneath, but the neck was still high enough to cover up to her collar bone.

He noticed that he had turned his head more in her direction for a better view and quickly snapped back to look at the screen. She had now gotten to the room with the morph bomb guardian, and was scanning the creature, much to his complacency. Then the fighting began and she tried running away from the creature until she found she couldn't escape. Then the black cloud had returned and possessed the guardian and the same determined she had before returned. She began circling it just like Josh had done with the alpha splinter, and locked onto the tail. Every shot made it pulse yellow and she became puzzled. She tried to look for something else to shoot, but was brought back to that little pink spot every time. Shooting it a couple more times cause the worm to rear it's head, and Fluttershy's confused look grew deeper as it lowered back down and started charging again. She had already suffered a few hits, but she was still good on health and knew how to dodge the bombs. 

She shot at the pink end until it reared up again and she quickly fired a couple shots at it, and her confusion dissipated. It took her only a couple more minutes after that to drain it's health bar. After killing it, she jumped off the couch, giving a soft squeak as she did. The noise was really cute, and her shirt bounced entrancingly again.

Cute. He never thought he'd say this about a girl in real life, but she was really cute. Kind, too, even with ugly bugs that try to eat you. Definitely shy and quiet one too. Best of all, it seems she's interested in video games. As he stares at his roommate, eyes wandering every which way, he can't help but think this is gonna be a great year.
> Are you sure?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Music was pumping. Lights were dimmed and colorful. Equines were dancing, but Josh didn't like any of it. It was hard enough to move with the little space available, and the lighting didn’t help at all, and because some of the bodies were the same colors as the lights, it was harder to distinguish open space and a furry wall of flesh. 



After a little more gaming, Rarity, who was now dressed in a rather low cut, purple shirt with an opened, button down black jacket and the tightest jeans, had come knocking and told he and Fluttershy that Pinkie's party was going on in the lobby downstairs. They went down after Fluttershy changed back into her outfit from before. It wasn’t a very big lobby, but Pinkie managed to hook up a couple of the upper floors and the party dispersed. 



The music was decent at first, though it didn't last long. He didn’t recognize some of it, probably Equestrian or just some songs that don't usually get repeated over the radio, but he actually liked those. Then she got to the mainstream pop artists. Great. 



He tried to find the elevator to go back to the room, but now he was in the middle of the huge crowd. The stallions were at least a head taller than he was and twice as thick, not really something new to him, and the mares, while roughly the same size or smaller than Josh, drew the stallions' attention, and were pretty thick in their own right.



He still managed to get through, but he did not end up near the elevator. Instead, there were a bunch of seats, which were just as good after being bounced around in the crowd. Sitting down, he scanned the room for any of the mares he knew, but to no avail. As always, the second he arrives at a party everyone he knows disappears. Rainbow left with Fluttershy soon after the party started, a crowd of star struck stallions absorbed Rarity, and he hadn't seen Twilight, or Applejack, at all.



Waiting for someone to find him, he noticed he wasn’t as enigmatic as he thought. Many Equines gave him strange looks, talked amongst one another while periodically looking back at him, many of the looks ranging from curiosity to fearful or angry. Equines passing by stiffened and walked faster. Others turned their heads up in what seemed like disgust.  



He leaned forward and hung his head. Everytime he looked up he expected it to change, but it didn't. He checked his pockets, but he forgot his game in the room. After a couple more minutes, he stood up, found the exit, and braved the crowd once more. He bobbed and weaved more aggressively and made it to the doors without any trouble. 



The tension dropped almost immediately after getting outside. The heat of the day still lingered, but it was somehow cooler than inside that building. There was still some sunlight lingering on the buildings. It was a little early for a party, but he knew it would run well into the night.



Strolling along, he took in the many large buildings of the campus. He had read something about them online before coming here, but the name escaped him. It was just on the tip of his toungue, but as usual he forgets it just as he thinks of it. Giving up on it, he came across a directory and decided to check out the human dorms. It didn’t take long to find them, but they were clear on the other side of the school. He sighed and made his way down the path shown on the map.



As he walked, he could see that no one else was outside tonight, and after fifteen minutes of walking he knew why. Even from this distance he could hear the music, the same kind of music he heard in the other party. The dorm building itself looked the same size as the other dorm, and he saw they too had to use multiple floors for the party. 



He moved closer to the doors and saw they had the same lock system for this dorm. Not really wanting to enter another party crowd, he walked off. Going down a new path, he started to wonder about what the next year would be like. He had been looking forward to it, but now he wasn’t so sure.



As he walked up a hill, sunlight shined in his face. It blinded him for a second, but soon the soft sunset became bearable and revealed he had come to a wide, grassy hill. At the bottom, a huge lake shimmered a bright red-orange. On either side of the lake rose large hills dotted with trees, which gave way to rocky mountains. The lake went on for a while before turning to the right and disappeared behind the banking hill. The sun sat just above the hills to the right and the sky burned a deep red around it before graduating to blue.



Turning away, he thought how it was such a shame he didn’t think to get his schedule so he could find out where his classes were. He'd have to get up early to find it in time, but he'd have to go to bed early to do that, and he couldn't go back to the dorm until the party ended. Parties were always so inconvenient.



"So you don't like parties either?"



The sudden noise made Josh jump. He spun around and saw a human girl standing there. She wore a simple dark blue t-shirt and jeans, neither of which hid her strong physique. Her dirty blonde hair shined in the sunlight and she was the same height as he was. She laughed as he took a deep breath. It sounded pleasant.



"Did I scare you?"



"Not really," Josh's hands shook a little as he slipped them in his pockets.



"Right. Anyway, I saw you checking out the dorm. I'm guessing you don't like parties? You didn’t go inside."



"No, not really. They tend to be more annoying than fun."



"Oh I hear ya. You know, you walk pretty fast. I saw you as you turned to leave and by the time I got out of that crowd you were already disappearing behind the hill.”



“Naw, other people are just slow.”



She laughed and turned towards the lake, "Parties are way too energetic, and that dorm is pretty small. It’s much more calm out here, and that sunset is so much more beautiful."



"I guess." 



The girl laughed again, "You guess?



"Well, yeah, I mean, it's nice to look at."



“Yeah, it is.”



Silence fell between them. Josh found a rock on the ground and kicked it down the hill and a breeze swept by. The light brown grass waved down the slope. Halfway down the hill evened out to a large platform before taking another plunge to the lake, making the waves seem to crash upon it, ripple out, and begin again further down the hill.



"You seem to have something on your mind." 



Josh turned to the lake and said nothing.



"You wanna talk about it?" 



Josh grunted.



"You can tell me, I promise to help you the best I can."



"It's really no big deal."



"Obviously it is if you’re wandering around out here alone.”



“I’m just worrying too much.” There was a brief pause. 



“Look, it’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, but if you don’t tell anyone then you’ll just continue to worry and it’ll never get better.” Silence fell once more, and after another moment she sighed heavily. “Alright. I guess I’ll see you around.” She started to walk away.



“I just don’t know if I’ll make any friends.”



She turned back with a puzzled look, “Why wouldn’t you make friends? There’s thousands of people here. One of them is bound to like you.”



“The people in my dorm seem to hate me, actually.”



“How can they hate you? Have you done anything when you got here?”



“Kind of. It was a misunderstanding, though. We cleared it up as soon as I got here, but their expressions ranged from fear to hatred back at the dorm.”



“It’s only been one day. They’ll get over it.”



“Maybe.” He dropped his gaze to the grassy hill.



She sat down on the hill, “But I bet you some of them would be willing to talk to you. Haven’t you met anyone yet?”



“W-well, there was this one girl…” 



“Ooh, a girl huh?”



Josh felt his cheeks burn as he scoffed again, “It’s not like that. I mean, she’s cute and all, but I’m not attracted to people just for being cute.”



“Oh, sure. I understand,” she said with a smirk.



“Anyway,” he said with slow emphasis, “She was nice, and most of her friends were pleasant as well.”



“Then why are you out here instead of trying to find them?”



“Not all of her friends like me. She was dragged off at the party by the one who started the trouble. I would have gone to look for them, but the rest of the crowd seemed uninviting, so I came out here.”



“Why doesn’t her friend like you? What happened?”



“From what I could tell, they were mostly just surprised that I was in the room. Somehow I was given the same room as this girl.”



“Well, that’s not unheard of. Other universities have full co-ed dorms.”



“That still didn’t stop her from putting me in a full nelson.”



“She put you in a full nelson? How big is this girl?”



“Well, she’s a little shorter than me…”



“You were put into a full nelson by a girl smaller than you?”



“Hey, she was pretty strong for her size. I didn’t want to hurt her either, so I let her do it.”



“Right. Did she hurt you, princess?”



“No, she didn’t. Can we get back to the real problems now?”



She smirked, “Sorry, go on.” 



“Anyway, whatever reason her friend has to dislike me, seems to be the reason many of the other people in the dorm don’t like me. I have to live in that dorm for the rest of the year, and I don’t feel very safe when half of them are twice as big as I am.”



“Why can’t you move into another dorm?”



“There were no spots available. We went to the student housing clerk and she said the campus was full.”



“You could switch places with someone. I know I wouldn’t have any trouble.”



“I don’t think that would solve the issue. Besides, I can’t just run away. I went through all that trouble just to stay in the room I was given, and I don’t really want to move out.”



“Well then, I guess you’re stuck.”



Josh sat down next to her, “I know.” Silence fell over them again for a few minutes. The sun now sat just above the mountains in the distance. Shadow slowly crept up the hill from the lake, and the sky was a bit darker than before.



She quickly stood up, “I guess all you can do is let me go talk to them.”



“What? No!” He quickly placed himself in front of her.



“Why not?”



“I don’t want them thinking I’m scared of them.”



“There are more important issues than pride here.”



“That’s...not really why.”



“Then why not? Wouldn’t it be better if they knew you felt uneasy about the other people in the dorm?”



“I don’t know, probably, but they don’t need to know.  I don’t want them to treat me any differently just because I can’t protect myself. Those girls I met seem to be well liked and very capable and would help keep me out of trouble.”



“Sounds like pride to me, and isn’t it kind of worse that you’re using them, people you don’t even know, as shields?”



“Well, it’s not like I can’t help myself, but I’m not using them as shields. I just know I’d be less likely to be in danger if I hung out with them as much as I could.”



“That still sounds like you’re just using them to protect yourself.”



“Well I’m not. I do like them as friends and I would hang out with them anyway. Besides, I’m most likely just being paranoid anyway, but if they know I’m afraid it would make me a bigger target. I don’t like that it has to be this way, I just know that it does.” 



She stood there in silence, glaring at him, “At least, until I can get through a semester here. Thanks to the mandatory gym class, and the martial arts club they have here, I won’t be helpless for long.” Her glare deepened as they stood there for another minute, their eyes connecting.



Then she looked down, sighed deeply, and punched his arm hard. Pain pulsated through his bicep, he raised his other arm, hesitated, took a deep breath, then started rubbing where she hit. Seeing this, the girl smirked and shook her head. “I don’t know, you did just get your ass handed to you by a girl smaller than you and you’re in pain after such a weak punch. You’ve got a lot to improve.”



Josh bowed his head and sighed, his arm still throbbing “Yeah. I know.”



“Fine, I promise I won’t tell anyone, but only if I don’t have to come and bail you out of a fight.”



“I’ll do my best not to piss people off, but you know how things can be.”



She laughed again, the sound surprisingly more relaxing than before, “Yeah, I do know.”



She walked off back towards the human dorms. He turned towards the sunset and he could just barely see a sliver of sun peaking over the mountain. The hill was almost covered in shade, and he could see small flashes of yellow every so often. He hadn’t seen fireflies in forever. Staring at them seemed to calm him, though he couldn't think of why.



“Hey!” 



Josh jumped once again and turned towards the source of the noise. The girl had come back around, and was now chuckling to herself. 



“By the way, my name’s Anna.”



Slightly irritated at himself, he paused to keep it out of his voice, “I'm--”



“Josh!” 



For the third time that evening he jumped and cursed under his breath. Forcing a straight face, he turned around and saw Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity walking towards him.



"We've been looking all over for you," Twilight said. She still wore her outfit from earlier.



"Pinkie Pie is about to put on the most spectacular firework show! You must come back to the dorm with us," Rarity said. 



"Okay," he looked back to see if Anna would like to join, but she was gone.



They started heading back. "What were you doing out here?"



"Just strolling around. Enjoying the view."



"Really? I did not assume you to be an aesthetic person," Rarity said.



"What's that supposed to mean?"



"No offense, dear, but your outfit is fairly bland."



Josh examined his black jacket, black sweatpants, and black boots. "I like black, though."



"It's not the black, it looks far too loose and casual. Fluttershy had the same problem before I met her. Clothes aren't meant to mask beauty, they're meant to enhance it.”



“I think I look pretty cool in these clothes.”



“Perhaps, though to me it looks as if you’d be pretty hot during the day.”



“I don’t go outside much, but when I do the jacket actually serves to keep me cooler. The heat is trapped on the outside, while the inside stays cool. I only get hot when I’m in an enclosed space.”



“I suppose you’re right, though I’m sure you’d stay as cool, but look more stylish in other colors.”



“Yeah. I have some gray jeans I think I look pretty cool in, and some pants I still have from my job.”



“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to take a look at your wardrobe. Maybe tonight after the show?”



“Sure, I didn’t bring a whole lot though.”



“That’s fine. We’ll just have to make due. Oh look, the stars are already coming out! These fireworks are going to look splendid against this sky.”



They reached the dorm and saw many of the equines standing around outsides. Some of them were on the balconies of the upper floors, which looked out on the field Twilight talked about. Josh wondered for a second on how he could have missed such a large feature of the scenery, four times in a row, but he didn’t focus much on it as they were now inside.



“Where was Pinkie planning to set them up?” Twilight asked.



“I think she said she’d launch them off the roof of the dorm.”



“Is that really the safest option?” Fluttershy asked.



“There is a large field she can direct them at from the dorm.”



“Where did she even get these fireworks?” Josh asked.



“Some of us have special talents for making fireworks. I’d assume she asked them to make some,” Twilight said.



“Oh, that’s cool.” They went inside and entered the elevator. Twilight pushed the button for the highest floor and the doors closed. They rode in silence, except for the noise of the elevator. Twilight’s remark reminded him of something.



“So, Fluttershy’s a pegasus and you two are unicorns, right?”



“Yes. What about it?”



“Why haven’t I seen you fly, or use any magic?”



Twilight turned to him with a puzzled look, “We’ve been told that some humans find our abilities unnerving, so we try to act as normally as possible. Besides, even though our magic comes from each of us individually, it’s still a bit harder to perform in your world. Why? Would you like to see it?” 



“Kind of. I mean, I think it’d be really cool, but if it’s too hard for you to do it right now, you don’t have to--Ack!” His jacket lurched forward and his face was suddenly inches from Rarity’s. A blue aura surrounded the cuff of his jacket, and he leaned backward as his jacket was pulled towards the white mare, whose horn glowed the same blue.



“Oh, Twilight said it was harder, but we’re still very good at it.” The aura faded and Josh fumbled a bit before regaining his balance.



“Pegasus flight is a bit harder as well. Rainbow is still a great flyer, but I’m still getting used to it. It takes even more wing power than usual, I prefer walking anyway.”



Slightly shaking, Josh grabbed the rail and grunted, “I’ve always liked the idea of magic. Every game I played with magic in it always shows it to be so powerful. I wish I could use it.”



“Right, you humans can’t use it, can you?” Twilight asked. The elevator door opened on their floor and she led them out. They went to the left of the elevator to a staircase that wrapped to the right.



“No, unfortunately not. The closest we can get to magic and flight is by manipulating physics and chemistry. That’s good and all, but if I have to use a machine to do something, then it kind of cheapens the effect, in my opinion.”



“But a machine doesn’t tire out. You can use it forever and it’ll never fail on you.”



“Only as long as the parts of the machine aren’t damaged, and they aren’t as versatile as a living being. They are incredibly useful, but they’re also incredibly dangerous. If one of those parts fails on you in a car, a plane, or an electric plant, then there can and will be serious consequences. You have to inspect every part almost constantly, and it costs so much to repair them.” They stopped at the door leading to the roof.



“Magic can have some serious consequences too. It’s probably more dangerous, especially when the caster doesn’t know what they’re doing. And if the caster is not physically or mentally able to perform the spell, it could misfire and hurt someone. And while a machine can be fixed and be fine for years to come, a person has to be maintained almost constantly.”



They paused for a minute. Embarrassed at his outburst, he conceded sheepishly, “That is true. I just wish that I could learn how to use it, but that seems unlikely to happen.”



“Probably. For us unicorns, it takes quite a bit of focus and energy to perform.” Twilight put her hand on the latch and turned back with an assuring smile. “I don’t know if it’s impossible for humans to learn to use it, but it seems like your species doesn’t even need it. I wouldn’t worry about it.”



“Yeah.” 



Twilight turned down the latch and opened the door. The roof was barren except for a large box in the center that Josh took to be the ventilation system. On the far end Josh could see four equines. Pinkie was examining the pile of fireworks, Rainbow hovered above the pile as well, Applejack was mounting some rockets on the concrete wall, pointing out towards the field, and another equine was helping her. This one had a black coat with a dull red mane and tail, but they were shorter than the manes and tails of the others’ and looked much less groomed. It appeared this one was a stallion, though he seemed smaller than average. He wore dark brown pants, a dark purple shirt, and a dark red collar. They all turned towards the newcomers with slight interest, except for Pinkie who stood and waved excitedly.



“Yay! You made it!”



“Yeah, it didn’t take long to find him,” Twilight said.



“So, how was my party? Was it better than the others you’ve been to?”



“Yeah, it actually was. I was impressed you were able to hook up a few of the upper floors to the sound system, and you started off with some decent music.” 

Pinkie let out a soft noise, like the one Fluttershy made earlier that day. Apparently it was a noise common with their species.

“There’s just only so much of a huge, dancing crowd I can take. I probably would have stayed if I liked the rest of the music, though.”

Pinkie seemed to deflate a little bit, “Oh, okay. Maybe next time we can look for songs you would enjoy then.”

“Yeah, sure. Next time.”


“So, these are the fireworks we have to choose from?” Fluttershy asked. Pinkie seemed to cheer back up.



“Yup. We probably won’t use them all, I really just want to test them out tonight.”



“Twilight said one of you guys probably made them.” Josh said.



“That would be Dusk here,” Applejack gestured to the stallion.



“They look pretty cool.”



“Just wait until you see them go off. Dusk gets mighty creative with his combustibles.” Dusk just stood there with a small smile. Josh could see a small portion of a horn hidden by his hair. It was pointier than Twilight's or Rarity's horn. He also had a pair of purple eyes, a bit lighter than his shirt. He may have been smaller than the other stallions, only a little taller than Josh, but he still looked pretty strong.



"So when are we gonna start firing them off?" Rainbow examined a rocket. Josh glanced up at her, walked to the pile, picked up a firework, and glanced at her again. The tip of the rocket followed.



"It seems to be getting dark enough," Twilight said. Josh looked skyward and the sun had almost disappeared, while stars twinkled brightly. 



"Just a few more need to be set up." Dusk said. He rummaged through the pile and selected some more. He and Applejack returned to the ledge and set them up. There were currently six of them set up, four in pairs of white and blue, and the last two completing the other two pairs.



There was one thing that confused Josh. "Why don't any of these have fuses?



"We won't need them," Dusk said. "Now there's just one more to set up."



Josh looked back to the pile, but Dusk did not go back to it. Instead he went behind the AC unit and returned wheeling a firework like none of the others. This one was a dark blue, almost violet, with a large splash of black on the bottom. Inside the black was a crescent moon, and when Dusk put it into place it stood a meter above the ledge, until they tipped it forward.



"What is that?" Josh said in amazement. 



"Just something I've been working on." Dusk answered. He tried to sound uninterested, but the underlying excitement was too obvious to miss.



"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up and light them!" Rainbow said.



"Patience is a virtue, Dash," Dusk replied, causing the girls to giggle. Josh chuckled to himself, trying not to let it show. Rainbow just crossed her arms and grunted. 



Dusk took a step back and examined the setup before nodding, apparently to himself. He looked out across the field, carrying Josh's attention, and saw the moon was peeking over the hills in the distance. Dusk nodded again.



Then, he took another step back and gestured for the others to do the same. Once everyone was a safe distance away, Josh saw Dusk's horn start to glow a deep red, his mane seeming to burn with it, and the glow enveloped his hands seconds later. 



He snapped his fingers and two of the pairs shot into the distance, sparks trailing behind them. A second later, he snapped again, the next two pairs shot out. He repeated this once more, and the last pairs were launched. A second passed again and the first pairs erupted. On either side of the rising moon, dark blue and white sparks formed a blue banner with a white crescent moon at the tops. Another second and the next two pairs exploded, forming the same objects, and then the next pairs did the same.



Dusk snapped his fingers once more and the final firework shot out. The sparks of the others were still shining a few seconds later as the biggest rocket burst. A huge, human-like figure was formed by the many dark blue sparks. On the lower sides of the body were some white sparks, but Josh couldn’t see the shape they formed from here. A black crown sat upon it’s head behind a long, pointy horn. Blue hair shimmered around the horn and crown and flowed out to the left side. Then two large, purple wings unfurled, and a pair of white eyes opened up. The wings beat once causing a powerful gust of wind to blow in the direction of the campus and the figure rose higher. Josh and the others were almost blown on their backs, and then it leaned forward and beat once more and it charged at the bystanders on the roof.



Josh almost turned and ran back into the building, but noticed the others were not worried at all. Instead they seemed to be ready for a fight. Except for Fluttershy, who had gripped Twilight and let out a small yelp. As it grew closer, however, the figure started to shrink and the banners began to fade. The sparks around it faded, but instead of leaving nothing there, they unveiled something else that continued to fly towards them at an alarming speed. Right before it flew over the roof, the figure uprighted itself and beat it’s wings a few more times, and it stopped just out over the ledge. 



Now Josh could tell that it was another equine, but this one was much different. For starters, she had both a horn and a pair of wings, both of which were bigger and sharper than a unicorn’s or a pegasi’s. Her mane and tail were blue, but they flowed around her in ghostly wisps. She was also much bigger than any other equine he had seen. Taller than a stallion, and fuller with a better figure than a mare. To top it all off, she wore a white gown that slung across one shoulder and around her back, and had a cut in the sides from her thigh down, and it did little to cover her black bra and panties. On her upper thigh was a black spot with a crescent moon that Josh took to be a cutie mark. After pulling his eyes from her body, he saw the others relax, yet she remained intimidating.



"Wow! That was amazing!" Pinkie exclaimed.



"Princess Luna! You made it," Twilight said.



The giant woman landed in front of Dusk and donned a small smile. "Yes, I had a long journey, but I have arrived. Not a moment too late either."



"So, that wasn't supposed to happen?" Josh asked, his voice weaker than before, and his eyes glued to her massive form.



"Well, everything except the wind and Princess Luna, " Dusk said with a shaky smile. "Though, I'm glad it happened this way, "



"I apologize if I have frightened anyone, but it has been a while since I had an opportunity for fun.”



"So wait. She’s supposed to be one of your princesses?" Josh straightened up and was suddenly embarrassed about his attire.



The Princess hesitated a moment, a frown returning to her elegant face. "Forgive me, but what is this human doing here? I did not think it likely I would see any of them so soon upon my arrival.”



“This is Josh, Princess. We invited him to watch us fire off some fireworks,” Twilight said.



“I see.” 



“And Josh. This is Princess Luna. She raises and lowers the moon in our world, and is one of the few Alicorns left in our world.”



“An Alicorn?” He asked.



“Yes. A hybrid of the three races in our world. Strength of an Earth pony, wings of a Pegasus, and horn of a Unicorn.”



“O-oh, so you would be the most powerful of your kind.”



“That would be correct.”



Silence fell around the roof. The princess stared at him and he became even more uncomfortable. He tried to focus on her face, but every time he met her eyes he’d look down, only to pass over her chest and jerk back up.



After what seemed like a lifetime, she looked back at Twilight, “I did not expect them to be so friendly on the first day. Is it safe to assume there are more enjoying the combustibles from below?”



“Well, actually no. Josh is the only human we’ve met so far, besides some of the school staff.”



“What? How can there only be this one? Surely others must have joined him to come say ‘hello.’”



“You see, the human dorms were already full when he got here, so they put him in a room with Fluttershy.” Twilight gestured to the yellow pegasus.



The princess’ eyes widened for a second, then narrowed even further than before as she examined Josh again. The renewed silence made him feel even more awkward and he just wanted to run back inside. He glanced around and everyone had an anxious look on their face, except Rainbow who wore a haughty smirk. Fortunately it did not last long.



Her eyes softened and, in a merry tone, she said, “You all have made friends with him, correct?”



Twilight let out a sigh and replied just as merrily, “Yes Princess, we have.”



“I haven’t.” Rainbow murmured.



“Then this is fine. Was there more planned for tonight?”



“No,” Twilight said, regret laced her words, “The fireworks were supposed to end the party tonight.”



“I...see. I realize you must have to be up early tomorrow to get to your lessons on time.” Princess Luna began walking to the door.



“Aww, Twilight! Can’t we go on for a little longer?” Pinkie dropped to her knees in front of Twilight, grabbed her hand, and gave her a sad puppy dog face. 



Twilight looked Pinkie in the eyes, the anguish on her face so profound even Josh could feel it, and he was normally immune to this sort of thing. Then she looked away and sighed, “Oh, alright.”



“Yay!” Pinkie bolted upright and reached the door in seconds, causing the princess’ dress to flourish.



“But only for a couple more hours!” Twilight ran after her.



“Awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed and flew down the building. “Party’s back on guys!” Cheering ensued.



“Whelp, might as well milk this cow fer all it’s worth.” Applejack disappeared inside as well.



“Yes, we should not let an opportunity such as this go to waste!” The princess strode inside as well, having to duck to get through the door.



Josh turned to the remaining equines, confusion flooding his brain, “The princess seems unexpectedly excited.”



“She’s still a person,” Dusk said. “She can have fun and be a princess.”



“Well, yeah, I guess.” They all stood there for a moment.



Fluttershy and Rarity strolled forward, and Rarity slipped her arm around Josh’s, “Shall we join the party?”



“Uh, sure.” As they opened the door, Josh turned back to the stallion who was looking out across the field. “You coming...Dusk?” 



Without turning around, he said, “I think I’ll pass.”



Hesitantly, Josh turned back inside and let the door close.


> Dawn of the First Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh jolted awake to a buzzing noise from the far side of the room. Groaning, he laid back down, zipped up the sleeping bag and pulled the flap inside, but the noise persisted. He opened the burrito and slid off the bed. His feet hit the cold tile floor and his face almost did the same as they slipped out. He shot his foot out before him and caught himself. The bed rested higher off the floor than others, and he curved too much on the way down. Didn’t help that he never took off his socks, though they did keep the cold out.

Now that he was awake, he crossed the room and unplugged the charged device, swiped the fingerprint scanner to unlock it, and swiped the red X to turn the alarm off. He noticed the time and nodded. Then he realized needed to pee. Real bad.

Stepping into the hallway, the bathroom door creaked open, Josh froze in place, and Fluttershy walked out. She stopped and stared at him with a smile before realizing he had a full view of the yellow mounds underneath her loose tank top and spun around with a small squeak. Not that it did her much good as it gave him another spectacle to stare at, accentuated by the hem she tried to push down. Despite her full features, he turned away out of respect.

“Uh...good morning, Fluttershy.”

“G-good morning,” she said before jumping into her room and almost slamming the door.

Urgency returned and he shuffled into the bathroom. As he walked in the air was thick with warm, soothing humidity. The door swung inside and stopped on a wall. Opposite this wall was a long counter with a long mirror above it through which he could see the dripping shower, and beside the counter was the object he needed. 

Once he finished and washed his hands, he jerked the door open, without letting it hit the wall, and slid out the room on the balls of his feet. He rushed back to his room, sliding across the threshold and grabbing the knob to pivot on his heel and thrust the door closed without slamming it.

He picked the phone back up before sitting down on the bed. Five minutes had passed and he now had nothing to do. He packed his bag the night before and he just needed to put on his jacket and he’d be ready to go.

Then he remembered what Rarity said yesterday. He looked at his current clothing, the same he had on last night, and he couldn’t help but agree that it was bland. All loose and black. He rose from the bed and opened the wardrobe and found the pants he told her about. He swapped the sweatpants with the gray jeans, tucking in his shirt and putting on a Pokemon belt. The mirrors showed his full body from both sides, and now he looked like a dork with his shirt tucked in. Then he saw the black dress shirt with the vertical white stripes. 

It is the first day, afterall. Wouldn’t want to start off the year with bad impressions, he thought. He donned it, leaving the top and bottom buttons undone and the shirt untucked. He looked himself up and down, standing straighter than before. It felt tighter than he remembered.

He stuck on his boots and slung his satchel across his shoulders, pocketed his phone, wallet, and a black folding knife with a purple dragon embezzled in it, and exited the room once more. Fluttershy’s door opened as he passed it and she came out wearing a pink, sleeveless shirt, and blue jeans. She had a yellow backpack on covering her wings, the black straps of which seemed to pull her chest together. Despite that, and the way her jeans hugged her lower body, she looked really cute.

Fluttershy frowned and dropped her head, her mane covering her left eye, and said “Um…hi.”

“Hmm? Oh! Sorry, uh, don’t mind me, I’m just lost in thought. It happens a lot, but I’m usually staring at a wall, or computer screen.”

“N-no problem. You look n-nice, by the way.”

“Yeah. You’re looking pretty good as well.”

“T-thank you,” she said, her cheeks growing rosy as a small smile grew on her face. “We should probably get going now.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, opening the door. “After you.”

She passed through the door in front of him. The backpack had an image of three butterflies on the front pocket with pink wings and blue bodies. He followed her out into the foyer, and they saw Rainbow sitting on the couch. She wore blue jeans over her crossed legs, and she wore a blue jacket with a golden lightning bolt on the zipper and white wings on either side of it underneath her folded arms.

“Good morning, Rainbow.” Fluttershy said with a smile.

“Morning,” she said also with a smile, but it faded when she turned to Josh. “What’s up, human? You’re looking spiffy today.”

“Thanks, where are the others?”

“That’s none of your--” She paused, turned her head down and closed her eyes. “The others went to breakfast, but Rarity’s still in her room. Probably frantically trying to find the perfect pair of shoes for her outfit from her hundreds.”

“I don’t have nearly that many, Rainbow.” Rarity came out of the room just past the couch. She wore a grey pants suit over a black dress shirt. The grey was slightly darker than her coat, but it was made from some sort of metallic fabric that made it look silver when it caught the light. She had a black purse on her right shoulder and a pair of short, black heels with a thick heel. The outfit was slim and… fitting, but the color and fabric almost distracted him from her figure.

“I’ve seen that look before,” Rarity said, making Josh pick his jaw up off the floor. “I thought we left Spike back at home.”

“W-who’s Spike?”

“Spike is a dragon, darling.”

“A dragon?” He pictured a large creature swooping down and torching him to nothing.

“Yes, though he’s barely into his teen stages. He’s had a huge crush on me since he and Twilight moved to Ponyville, but he’s still only as tall as my bustline, and the age difference is just too great! I suspect he’ll be quite handsome when he grows, but I suppose I’ll just have to let Sweetie have him.”

“Yeah, too bad for you, can we eat now? I’m starving!” Rainbow said.

“Yes, we don’t want empty stomachs on our first day.”

They piled into the elevator. Rainbow pushed the button for the first floor and the doors closed. Josh leaned on the bars as he felt the floor drop out beneath him. Rainbow leaned on the wall as well next to the button board, her arms folded across her chest and her head bowed with her eyes closed. Fluttershy stood with her hands held in front of her. Rarity also leaned with her left hand on the rail, her body turned towards him. With her shoes, she stood a couple inches higher than Josh. The light and shadows cast over her and highlighted her features. Her shoulders thrust back, showing off the curve of her back and behind, and pushed out her chest. Her right leg bent, the pants stretched taut over it and defining her thick thigh and calf. 

Josh tried to stare at the steel door, but he couldn’t keep himself from glancing at her. After a particularly long look at her, he turned his head down. Despite being about the same color, his outfit dulled in comparison, and not just because of the fabric. He didn’t have a jacket to go with it, it didn’t fit quite right, and just didn’t look as nice. Sure, it looked better than his other outfit, and at least he dressed up at all, but now he knew just how unimpressive it was.

He scoffed under his breath. Here he was, worried about his appearance when he never did before, always wearing the same sweatpants and jacket everyday. He didn’t even like to dress up, and now he’s imagining himself in an Armani suit, with a nice head and face of hair, and looking like the typical badass.

“Is something the matter, dear?”

He snapped out of his stupor to see they had arrived at the ground floor and Rarity held the door open for him. 

“Oh, nothing, sorry,” he said, vaulting out the door.

“No worries,” she smiled. “I often get lost in thought myself.”

They walked out the dorm, Josh holding the first door open until Rarity walked into the frame, then pushing off it to grab the next.

“Well thank you! You’re such a gentlecolt.”

Josh grunted and smiled in response. He followed them towards the mess hall, but once again lost himself in his head. He imagined himself in a glossy, black suit stepping out of a black car, he didn’t have much of a preference, with black sunglasses, a light beard and mustache and hair styled like Nightwing’s. The more he thought of it, the more awesome it looked. Most of it only took a bit of money and hopefully he’d be able to grow fuller facial hair. The suit, for one, he could get now.

He came back to reality and focused on the white mare in front of him, a familiar knot growing in his chest. He gave a huff at his reluctance. She wasn’t going to explode from a simple question. He just need a little help. He always needed a little help. He dropped his head and gave another huff, this one louder than the other.

“Is something on your mind, dear?” Rarity asked, making him whip his head up.

“N-nothing!”

“Really? Because you’ve been in a trance back there for quite a while. Is something on your mind?”

“Well, yeah, actually. I was just wondering, what sort of fabric is your outfit made of?”

“Oh, it’s a sort of blend of satin and wool, why do you want to know?”

“I just really like how it looks and I wanted to see if I could get a suit like that.”

“That can be arranged. I have a couple more bolts of it left that I could use.”

“Bolts?”

“Rolls of the fabric, like a spindle, but on a larger scale.”

“Oh, so you made that yourself?”

“Yes I did, as well as many other outfits. That’s why I wore this one.”

“So you could show off your work?”

“Exactly, and judging from all your staring, it catches the eyes quite efficiently.”

Josh’s face flushed as he turned away, “Y-yeah...you do look beautiful.”

“Well aren’t you sweet! You don’t look bad yourself.”

His face grew even redder, “Thanks, but I’m nothing compared to you.”

“Honey, everyone has their own style. It doesn’t matter what I wear, you have to make your outfit work for you, and I’d say you wear it splendidly.”

“I guess.”

“Besides, everypony pales in comparison to me,” she said.

“Hah, yeah, just you wait. I’ll have a black suit exactly like that and you’ll have some competition then.”

She gave him a wide smile, “We will see about that. Oh! Look at this beautiful building!”

They rounded a corner and a massive building sidled into view. The three-story mess hall looked like a scaled down version of the colosseum. They approached it from the north side and saw that the entrance was on the west side facing the rest of the campus, while the other side overlooked a grassy field to the east. Stone gave way to glass from the entrance, and the dome was completely made of glass. The entrance was preceded by a large staircase leading to the second floor. At the top were stone columns holding up the entablature, which was embezzled with a sun figure in one corner, two armour-clad female warriors kneeling back-to-back with shields out front and swords prepared to strike, and a moon in the other corner. Josh recognized the moon as Princess Luna’s cutie mark, something he memorized quickly since he couldn’t stop staring at it as she danced around last night. Anyway, if that was Luna’s cutie mark, then the other one, the sun, was the cutie mark of the other princess, Celestia.

He continued to stare at the embezzlement as they climbed the steps. Rarity’s figure rose in front of his gaze, giving him quite a good view as she ascended. This must be kind of like what you see when looking out the window of an airplane, with the illuminated grey clouds hovering above the city. Then the sun blinded him as the tree next to the stairs dropped from his sight. The one drawback of the window seat. Figures.

They reached the top and glass lined the entryway, with a stone frame which bore the words “Crustum Coliseum.” He knew coliseum meant colosseum, but he never heard crustum before. It brought “Crust” to mind, but the “Crust Colosseum” sounded off for a building.

The first doors opened up to a foyer in which there were five tall arches. Some faculty stood in front of each arch with short lines of students leading to them. The students were handing the faculty some cards, and the mares pulled out their IDs. The cards had their pictures on them, a number, and there was a black bar on the back of them, like a debit card.

“Um, do we need to give these guys our IDs?” Josh asked.

“Yes, they are our meal cards after all.” Rarity said.

“Oh yeah,” he remembered hearing the registration woman say that they keys were also their IDs and meal cards. Which brought up a new, and problematic, memory. “Well then I have a problem, because I never did get my card back from Rainbow.”

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy said, startling everyone. “You told me you’d give it back after the party.”

“Woops, heheh, I forgot about that. Can’t one of you just pay for his meal?”

“We’re only allowed to use the card once per meal. You have to go get it now because we won’t have time for it later,” Rarity said.

“Uhg, fiiine.”

“I’ll go with you,” Josh said.

“Why? Don’t trust me to--”

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy said.

“Alright, alright. Just don’t slow me down, human.”

She and Josh set out back to the dorms, but as they got outside, Rainbow’s wings billowed out and she took to the air, traveling at a high speed. Once he got over his initial surprise, Josh slid his arm through his satchel’s handle, gripped the strap and took off after her, slowing the rate at which their gap grew. He leaned forward, pulled his bag to his back and curled his toes as he stomped along, cutting through the air and increasing his velocity just enough to match her’s. Rainbow looked back at him and smirked, seeing him work so hard for a speed she casually kept up.

It didn’t take long to get back to the dorm at their speed. Rainbow landed and slipped through the entrance and shoved it closed, but he managed to set his foot into the space between before the door locked. Glad he was wearing steel toes, he flung the door open and chugged to the elevator, Rainbow already slipped into the stairwell. The doors opened as he pressed the button and a group of Equines occupied it. He shoved his way inside, the Equines protests lost on his ears, and hit the button for his floor as well as the button to close the doors.

Wheezing like an asthmatic, he leaned on the railing. The familiar metallic taste filled his mouth and his throat burned as he let loose a series of ragged coughs. He managed to regain a regular breathing pattern and posture before the doors opened again with Rainbow standing there. She looked a little flushed, but it was a good kind of flushed and he was certain she felt better than he did.

“Damn you’re slow! You look like you were just swept up by a tornado.” She laughed as he exited the elevator.

“I don’t have wings, nor have I ran like that in years, let alone with this awkward bag and boots,” he said between each pant.

“Whatever dude. Hurry up, I’m starving and you’re taking too long.”

“Get me my key and we’ll be on our way.”

She walked back to her room and quickly went inside. The room was almost identical to his, the only difference being there were clothes strewn about instead of wires. Then Rainbow appeared around the corner and threw the card at him. He managed to catch it, but then blocked Rainbow from moving past him.

“How about you take the elevator this time and I’ll take the stairs.”

“Why?”

“Just want to see if I can beat you in a race.”

As expected, Rainbow burst into laughter. “Are you serious?” she said, doubling over laughing. She spent the next minute trying to calm down.

“You done?”

“So, even after I completely...smoked you...without even trying...you want to do it again?”

“I figured you’d do it anyway, so what’s the problem?”

“I just didn’t think you’d want to be humiliated twice in one morning.”

“Just get into the elevator.”

Josh slipped his arm back through the handle and went to the stairs. When Rainbow entered the elevator he shot into the stairwell and jumped down each flight. Even on the twentieth floor, it only took a couple seconds to reach the bottom. He burst out into the foyer. The elevator door was closed, but he didn’t stop to check it and he slammed the outside door shut behind him. 

The wheezing and sore throat returned stronger than before, but he refused to stop. He was going so fast he could barely keep his balance and within a minute he could see the cafeteria. He reached the stairs and took them three at a time. Then a flash of rainbow colors passed him and Rainbow appeared hovering in front of him before touching ground.

“Even with a head start you couldn’t beat me. I applaud you for trying and all, but I really hope you didn’t actually believe you could beat me. That wasn’t even a good workout for me. You humans  are always so cocky when you really shouldn’t be.” 

She spun on her heels, folded her wings over her back, and whipped her tail from side to side. He bent over, heaving and gasping for breath. Once it even out, he stomped up the next step, lifting him up the last few steps. He slipped in the doors before they closed behind her, trying not to start coughing like a smoker. They went through the line and walked into the main building.

The floor was all white tile that shined in the morning sun streaming from the windows on the east side. The walls were painted a dark purple, serving to absorb the light reflected from the tiles. He and Rainbow parted ways, she going into a line that seemed to be serving vegetarian stuff. There were many other choices for food, and even he found it easy to find something he liked. He got some sausage and eggs, and even managed to find a firm, red apple. 

He finished filling a glass with apple juice and noticed a rainbow blur heading up a flight of stairs. He followed fast as he could with an open liquid, and as he climbed he took in the sea of people sitting on the lower floor. He saw men and women of all races, but it was all the dull white to black spectrum of humanity. Reaching the top, he saw the huge circular hole letting see down to the floor below, and all around the second floor were the many colors of the Equines.

Rarity’s reflective suit shined like a beacon in the crowd as she waved him over to the table. He slipped through the crowd and maze of tables and sat between Rarity and the orange one Applejack. As he went down, he let out a barking cough, making his throat burn.

“That doesn’t sound very good,” Twilight said across the table.

“He looks rather pale as well,” Rarity said, “Rainbow, he wasn’t like that before, what did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything to him. He’s the one who challenged me to a race when he can’t even run fifty meters without collapsing. It’s not my fault he’s a weakling.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight said.

“I’m fine, Twilight. I just need to eat something and it’ll go away.”

Silence fell on their table as he took his first bite. Looking around, Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack were already finished while Fluttershy and Rarity neared completion as well. They sat at a round, dark blue table with eight white, high-backed chairs. Twilight sat across from him and, going clockwise, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, him, Applejack and Pinkie with the seat next to Twilight empty. They were packed pretty well in the crowd, which made it hard to see around the room.

“So, what’s your class schedule today, Josh?” Twilight asked. 

He stopped his fork in mid air, “I don’t have any classes today until Calculus at eleven.”

“Oh, that when Fluttershy, Rarity and I have Calculus too.”

“Really, why would you have to take Calculus?”

“Well, only Twilight really needs it, but we wanted to make sure we had a couple classes together,” Rarity said.

“Alright. At least now I won’t be alone either.”

“That’s good. The rest of us have early classes. How’d you get the morning to yourself?” Twilight asked.

“Well, it just for now. the music class I’m taking is only on Tuesday and Friday mornings until October. Some strange thing where the class is split into two section, but you have to take both.”

“That is strange. Why do you think they’d do that? What are these music classes?”

“Written and Aural Music Theory. It’s probably just staging the learning process. Learn to listen to the music first and know how it all works, then learn to write it with the developed ear.”

“I guess that makes sense, so is Calculus your only class today?”

“No, I have Creative Writing at two thirty, and gym at four.”

“Don’t we all have a gym class at four?”

“Yep, they made all the freshman take some form of P.E.,” Applejack said.

“So we’ll all get to play games together!” Pinkie squeed.

“Yeah, though I think it’s sort of a “do whatever you want” thing. We can either play sports or go into the weight room. There’s even an indoor pool, though I probably won’t go in at all this semester,” Josh said.

“Why not?” Pinkie asked.

“I-I’m just not very interested in swimming.”

“More like he’s too embarrassed by his small and weak physique,” Rainbow chided him.

“You’re one to talk, Rainbow,” Applejack said.

“Hey, I may be small, but I’m no weakling.”

“Neither is Josh. He’ll show you, Rainbow. Once he’s gotten some food in him, he’ll kick you butt into next week, right Josh?” Rarity asked.

“Uhhh, I...don’t--”

“Today in gym, he’ll show you just what he can do in the weight room,” Rarity said.

“I’d be up for that,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun humiliating him three times in one day.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Uncertain of what just happened, he almost missed Rarity whisper in his ear, “And I’ll get to see those muscles of yours at work. Maybe...you’ll get to see more of me as well.” His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he turned to see her smiling at him, an unfamiliar feeling in her eyes.

She jumped up from her seat and said, “Well, shall we be off? Class starts soon and poor Josh hasn’t had time to finish. He’ll need it all for later.”

“Yeah, sorry I kept you talking,” Twilight said as she and the other mares stood up.

“N-no problem,” he said. “See ya.”

“Bye!” Pinkie said, already halfway to the tray receptacle yet fully audible.

He quickly lost sight of them as they disappeared into the crowd. He turned back to his breakfast, but he had little interest in finishing it. He pushed it to the side and pulled his laptop from his bag. He did munch on the apple while the computer booted up. The juices helped soothe his throat, and soon he found himself on the school’s internet, taking care of an online class while he waited.