> The Foreign Exchange Student
>  by FlameBow717
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Kids hurry up! We have to get to the airport or she’ll be waiting forever!” Michael Wallace yelled to his kids as they frantically put on clean clothes and ran out the door. His wife, Lori, was waiting in the minivan, as she had been the only one who hadn’t slept in.

“I’m working on it, Dad!” his eldest daughter Kristy yelled as she ran down the stairs and grabbed her coat, her long brown hair whipping through the air.

Kristy was sixteen and had her mom’s hair and her dad’s blue eyes. She was skinny for her age and didn’t do too well in school, preferring to text her friends all day and ignore her parents. She was always annoyed with something, be it her parents, siblings, or just the world in general.

“Just get in the car hon, we’re running behind and we don’t want to leave the student waiting!” Micheal said while running a hand through his short black hair. He turned toward the stairs and yelled, “Will! Jess! Hurry up!”

A split second after he said that, his son Will and youngest daughter Jessica came tumbling down the stairs, hitting framed pictures and landing in a pile on the ground.

“You guys alright?” Michael asked his younger kids while Kristy ran towards the car, phone in hand.

“We’re fine, Dad,” Will said while rubbing his forehead.

“Yeah, Will was just being stupid,” Jessica retorted.

“Was not!” Will shot back.

Will was twelve and looked just like his dad, only shorter. He was currently playing soccer and was always joking around. His father had been the exact opposite, always serious and a bit of a math nerd.	Jessica was basically a carbon copy of her mom when she was ten. Same brown eyes, same brown, wavy hair, and same happy go lucky attitude. 

“Do you want to fight, or meet the person who will be staying with us this school year?  Get in the car!” Michael said while pointing at the door.

The trio ran outside, the kids jumping into the far back seat of the blue mini-van while Kristy was already sitting in the middle left-seat. Michael climbed into the passenger seat while his wife cranked up the radio.

”The news of the discovery of Equestria and other intelligent life was a shock to us all. That was two months ago. Now, the leaders of Earth and Equestria have made the decision to keep the portals open for trade and to learn about the culture of the other world. Next, we hav- 

“I still can’t believe that aliens actually exist,” Lori said while she pulled out of the garage.

“Or that said aliens are colorful, talking ponies?” Kristy said while rolling her eyes and staring out the window. “Ugh, it sounds dumb even saying it,” 

“Honestly, could you imagine MEETING one? That would be awesome!” Will shouted.

“Well kids, I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon. But on a different note, how hyped are you guys for the new foreign exchange student?!” Michael said.

“I can’t wait to meet her! At least this year we get a girl instead of a guy,” Jess said.

“I thought Jack was great!” Will said, glaring at his sister.

“Was not!”

“Was too!”

Lori and Michael both sighed. Only two hours until they reached the airport.




“Mom, when’s breakfast?” Jess asked, her stomach growling.

“I told you, we’ll eat once we pick up the foreign exchange student and get back home. Now stop complaining,” Lori said.

The family walked into the airport, the sound of planes landing and taking off nearby. The place was bustling with people, and the Wallace family lost Will a few times, but they finally made it to their destination: Gate 17.

“Where is she?” Kristy asked, not taking her eyes off her phone.

“We probably missed her leaving the gate. We were running behind about twenty minutes,” Michael said.

“I’ll ask the security guard over there where she may have gone,” Lori said while walking over to a man with a security badge.

“May I help you?” he said with a gruff voice.

“Yes, we’re looking for someone. A foreign exchange student was coming in today and she’s staying with us,”

“Name?” he asked

“Lori Wallace,”

“Did you say Wallace?!” he said his eyes widening.

“Y-yes I did,” Lori said sounding worried. “Why?”

“Just... follow me. She’s over this way. I don’t know how you didn’t notice her. She really stands out yelling about looking for someone named Wallace and that they weren’t there when she got off the plane,”

“Sorry, we had some trouble getting here. Also, they didn’t even give her name when we offered to take her in for the school year and I still don’t understand why-” Michael said, then stopped abruptly.

“Honey? What’s wrong?” Lori asked her husband. He just pointed opened mouthed at something on the other side of the room. Lori turned toward where he was pointing and her jaw dropped too.

At the other end of the room, laying on a bench, was a pony. Her coat was light purple, almost lavender, and her straight mane and tail were a darker purple with a pink streak in the middle. She had a horn protruding from her forehead, as well as a pair of wings. She had some sort of star pattern on her flank and her massive, purple eyes were studying the crowd as if she were looking for someone. 

The group of people around her were making that hard to do though, even with a wing in front of her eyes, she couldn’t see through the flashing cameras.  She got up off the bench, dragging her luggage behind her as the paparazzi were being controlled by the security guards. 

“Enough!” yelled the guard standing next to the Wallace family. “Miss, they’re here,”

“Took them long enough,” she said with a smirk.

Much to their shock, the guards and the pony walked over to the Wallace family. The pony’s gaze locked with the Wallaces, bringing them back to their senses. 

“H-hello,” Lori stuttered.

“Hello! Are you the Wallaces?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Um... y-yes, we are, " Michael said, still staring. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was told to find somepon-er, someone, named Wallace, since they were the one that I would be staying with while I was here for the year,” she said while looking at Michael.

“Woah, wait a minute. YOU”RE the foreign exchange student?!” Lori said wide-eyed.

“Yeah, why?” the pony said nonchalantly.

“It’s just, um, we weren’t expecting you to be-” Michael said trying to find a way to tell her they weren’t expecting an Equestrian.

“Weren’t expecting me to be what?” the pony said with a confused look on her face.

Lori was trying to find a way to put this lightly “Um... well... we weren’t told that you’re-” 

“An alien pony,” Kristy said bluntly.

If looks could kill, Kristy would be long dead. Her parents and siblings glared daggers at her as she went back to her phone. 

“Ooooohhhh, they didn’t tell you I was an Equestrian did they?” the pony said while smacking her forehead with a hoof. “That explains the wide eyes and open mouths,” she gestured over to Will and Jess, who were still trying to process what was happening.

“Well... this is awkward,” Michael said while scratching the back of his head. The purple pony nodded in agreement.

“Very,”

“Dad... you said we could go get breakfast after we picked her up,” Jess said gesturing towards the pony. “We picked her up, so...”

“Yes hon, we’ll go get breakfast after we get... I”m sorry, what’s your name?” Michael said.

“Twilight Sparkle, sir,” Twilight said while flying up so she was at eye level with Michael. She held out a hoof, which Michael promptly shook while trying not to laugh at her name.

“None of that sir stuff, you call me Michael,” He put an arm around his wife “This is my wife, Lori, and that’s Kristy, Will, and Jessica,” he said nodding at his kids.

“Hi,” Twilight said.

“Hey,” Kristy said, not looking up from her phone.

“Sup,” Will said as he gave Twilight a fist bump.

“Hello,” Jessica said, looking at Twilight in wonder.

“Well, that takes care of introductions, so let’s go get Twilight’s stuff in the car and get something to eat,” Lori said with a smile as she reached for one of Twilight’s suitcases, only to have a hoof put in front of her.

“Thanks, but I can take care of that,” Twilight said, her horn lighting up.

“What are you...doing?” Will asked, only to stare in awe as the bags lifted themselves into the air. 

Twilight chuckled at his reaction. “I keep forgetting that you don’t have magic on Earth.” She tilted her head. "Also what's a car?"





The group went outside to the parking lot, Twilight's stuff levitating behind them. Twilight and Michael put the suitcases in the trunk and then got into the car, Twilight asking questions about how it worked the whole ride. They were able to answer the basic ones, but some of the people in the car got annoyed after a while as the mare kept at it.

"How does the engine wo-,"

"Just look it up on the internet!" Kristy shouted, making Twilight jump.

"The inter-what?" Twilight asked with a raised brow.

"The internet. You can look up pretty much anything on it," Will said.

"So it's like a library?" Twilight said, her eyes sparkling as she said the word, "library".

"Sort of," Lori said as she turned into the driveway to the house. "Alright gang, we're here," 

"Move it, people! I'm starving!" Jess yelled as she pushed past Kristy, almost knocking her out of the car.

"I highly doubt that you're starving, Jess," Twilight said as she struggled with the seat belt.

"Need a hand?" Michael asked.

"No thanks, I got it," 

After a few more minutes of Twilight struggling to release the seat belt with her hooves, Lori reached over and pressed the button for her. Twilight sighed and climbed out of the car and went to the trunk, where Will and Michael were taking her bags out. She quickly used her magic to carry the bags to the front door, where she and the kids were waiting for Michael to unlock the door. Michael and Lori walked up, arms around each other's shoulders.

"Twilight, welcome to the Wallace house, your home for the year!" Michael said with a smile as he unlocked the door.
> Settling in
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight walked into the foyer of the house, the Wallaces right behind her. She blinked as Will turned the lights on, revealing a hallway and a set of stairs leading upwards. There were two doorways leading to the left and right of the foyer, the one on the left leading to a sitting room with a large couch and tv, and the one on the right leading to the kitchen and dining room. The grayish-blue walls of the foyer had hooks for coats and some assorted pictures of the family on them.

“Nice place you got here,” Twilight said while wiping her hooves on the mat.

“Thanks. One of the advantages of being a computer software engineer is the paycheck. The amount of time I spend working is a different story though,” Michael said with a sigh.

“A what engineer?” Twilight asked as Kristy pushed past her and went up the stairs to her room.

“A computer software engineer. I design the programs and applications for computers,”

“What’s a computer?”

Michael’s raised a brow. “How do you not know what a computer-,” he smacked his hand against his forehead. “Right, no computers in Equestria,”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, you’re going to have to show me one sometime. I heard they use them at schools too?”

“Yeah, why?” Lori responded.

“I’m here to learn about human culture, history, anatomy, etc. But, while I already finished school in Equestria, with straight A’s by the way, I was told that I would be attending the local high school classes with everypony else,” Twilight said while pulling some papers out the outside pouch of one her suitcases and levitated them towards the Wallace parents. Will and Jess just looked at her weird.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that last part?” Will asked.

“I said that I would be attending the local high school classes with everypony el-”

“Right there. Did you just say, “everypony”?”

Twilight facehoofed. “Sorry, with everyONE else. Man, that is weird,”

“That’s exactly how we feel right now with you saying that and levitating a paper to me,” Michael said.

“Point made, Mike,”

Michael stopped reading and just stared at Twilight.

“Please don’t call me that. That’s my dad’s name,” Michael said his face somber.

“Oh. Did your dad...” Twilight asked waving a hoof towards the ceiling.

“Oh, no, grandpa is still with us. He just doesn’t get along with dad very well. Anyway, can we eat breakfast now?” Jess said walking toward the kitchen.

“That sounds great, but where will I be staying? I wouldn’t mind some time to unpack,” Twilight asked, causing Jess to groan that breakfast would have to wait.

“Oh, right. Follow me,” Lori said while walking up the stairs. Twilight just flew up to the top.

“Show off,” Michael muttered under his breath.

“I heard that!” Twilight yelled down the stairs.




Lori, Michael, and Twilight went upstairs into a hallway with three doors on the left and two more on the right. There was a small bench next to a window looking down at the yard at the end of the hallway.

The first door on the left was Jess’s room. The door was wide open, revealing a mess of games, toys, and clothes that made Twilight cringe.  There was only one place that was clean in the whole room: the easel that was set up in the corner. There were some paints of assorted colors on a shelf next to it and a half-finished picture of... something that Twilight couldn’t make out.

“Artist?” she asked looking towards Michael and Lori.

“Yep, and a messy one at that,” Lori said.

“Please tell me that I’m not bunking with Jess. Nothing personal, but I’ve been called an “organization freak” more times than I can count, and THIS is most definitely NOT organized,” she said pointing to the room.

“Nah, we’re not putting you with Jess. Your room is across the hall,” Michael said pointing down the hall.

“And the room at the end on the left?” Twilight asked.

“That’s my room. People other than me don’t go in my room,” Will said as he came up the stairs.

“So I can go in your room then?” Twilight said.

“Huh?”

“You said people don’t go in your room. I’m a pony, not a person. So does that mean I can go in?” Twilight asked, trying not to laugh.

“No, you can’t,” Will said. “And stop laughing!” he shouted to his parents, who were laughing so hard that they couldn’t breathe.

Will walked into his room and closed the door behind him, while his mother held up three fingers, and silently mouthed, “Three. Two. One.” Immense laughter came from Will’s room the minute she put down the last finger.

“Well played Twilight!” Will shouted from his room.

“Thanks!” she shouted back. She looked at Michael. “Now, where were we?”

“The room between Jess and Will is the bathroom that they share. At the end across from Will’s bedroom is your bathroom, which you be sharing with Kristy,” Michael said pointing to various doors.

"So the last room is Kristy's bedroom, right?" Twilight said nodding in the direction of the closed door with the "keep out" sign on it.

"Not just Kristy's. It's yours too," Lori said knocking on the door.

Twilight gulped. From what she had seen from Kristy on the car ride and at the house, Kristy wasn't the nicest person. She also had the feeling that Kristy didn't like her for some reason.

"Kristy, can you come out here for a minute. We need to talk about something," Lori said, trying to open the door, which had been locked. "And unlock this door young lady!"

"Why should I? I know that you're just going to yell at me about something," Kristy shouted to her mother through the door.

"Kristy, get out here!"

There was a groan from inside the room and the sound of a lock being turned. Kristy opened the door, jumping at the sight of Twilight. 

"What do you want, mom?" Kristy said with a hint of annoyance.

"We need to talk about the changes in living arrangements while Twilight is here," Lori said staring down her daughter.

"I'm not sharing my room with Jess, mom,"

"I never said you were going to be sharing with Jess. I am saying, however, that you are sharing your room this year," Lori said firmly.

"Who is there other than Jess..." she glanced down at Twilight, her eyes widening with realization. "No! Absolutely not! I'm not bunking with the alien horse over there!" she yelled pointing a finger at Twilight. 

"Kristy..." Michael said warningly as Twilight looked at the floor with tears in her eyes.

"I don't care! It's not happening!" she yelled, going to slam the door only to have it get caught in a purple aura.

"What the fu-" Kristy said.

"Kristy!" Lori shouted.

"-heck. I was gonna say heck," Kristy said, glaring at Twilight, whose horn was glowing the same shade of purple as the door. The door then opened all the way on its own and Kristy almost had smoke coming out of her ears as Twilight walked into her- now their- room.

The blue walls were covered in posters and the floor was covered in dirty laundry. There was a set of bunk beds in the far corner, the bottom one messy and unmade while the top one had random stuff on top of it. There were a pair of desks by the left wall and a large beanbag chair in the right corner. There was a door on the right, that Twilight assumed led to the closet.

"We'll give you a moment to settle in before breakfast," Michael said as he pulled the door shut, he and Lori heading downstairs to make breakfast.

"Thank you. I shouldn't take long," Twilight said as she went to unpack her suitcases.

"You get the top bunk, the desk on the left, and don't ever, and I mean EVER, open the bottom drawer of the dresser in the closet, got it?" Kristy shot at her new roommate.

"Got it," Twilight said as she looked up from her suitcase, a pile of books in her hooves. She glanced over to the pile of clutter on the bed. "Um, could you maybe move some of your stuff off the bed?" 

"I could, but I really don't want to," Kristy said as she sat down on the beanbag with her phone in her hand.

Twilight's ears twitched in annoyance. She had done nothing to harm Kristy, yet she was treating her like a pile of trash.

"I'm sorry, did we get on the wrong hoof, er foot?" Twilight asked.

"No. I just don't like you."

Twilight felt like she had just been punched in the muzzle. "What?! Why? We barely know each other! How could you say something like that without getting to know me?"

Kristy just grunted in annoyance. "Whatever. Just leave me alone alright."

Twilight did just that. She unpacked her things: some books, scrolls, some photos of her and her friends in Equestria, some boots, a scarf, and hat for the winter weather, a pair of saddlebags, some Equestrian hygiene products, a single blue dress with stars for formal events, and some other odds and ends. She then carefully organized her stuff by her desk, put her dress in the closet, and put the brushes and soap in the bathroom. The last thing she did was place a framed photo of her and her friends back in Equestria. She smiled as she ran a hoof over the picture. 

Kristy had been sitting in the beanbag texting her friends when her stomach growled.

"I'm going to breakfast. You don't have to come with me," Kristy said as she walked out of the room and down the stairs.

"Wait up!" Twilight hollered as she flew out of the room, taking one quick glance at the place she would call home or the next nine months. She smiled and closed the door behind her.
> Breakfast Introductions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kristy heard the sound of the door to her room closing as she walked into the kitchen. She glanced over at her dad and little sister, who were already almost done eating, while her mom and brother had just barely started. She sat down at her spot at the table, next to her mom and brother, where a plate of pancakes and bacon was waiting for her. She had just started to take her first bite of the pancake when the purple pony landed in the doorway.

"You have enough time to unpack?" Lori asked Twilight, not looking away from the stove.

"Mostly, yes. The bed still needs to be cleared off though," Twilight said, walking over to the table and sitting in the seat at the end, next to Will and Jess.

"Well, that's good to hear," Michael said as he took another bite of his breakfast. He glanced over at Kristy, a frown on his face.

"What?" She asked, looking up from her phone.

"Kristy. I don't know how many times I have had to tell you. No phone while we are eating a meal," Michael scolded with a hand out to take the phone.

"But dad, I'm waiting to hear back from Drew about what classes he has this year and I-"

"Who's Drew?" Twilight asked.

"Kristy's boyfriend," Jess said.

"Not that either of you should care," Kristy said glaring at them.

"And I don't care about what Drew has to tell you right now. It can wait. We have a long-term guest, and we should get to know her, not text about who knows what," Michael said taking Kristy's phone and putting it in his pocket, getting a groan from his daughter. 

Lori looked towards Twilight. "So, Twilight, care to tell us a little about yourself?"

Twilight put down her fork and swallowed a bite of pancake before responding. "Okay. Umm... I enjoy learning, reading, hanging out with friends and family, and science. I have a close relationship with my older brother Shining Armor and his wife Princess Cadence, as well as their daughter, Flurry Heart. I used to live in and run the library in Ponyville, and..." she stopped at the snickering coming from the Wallace family. "What?"

Lori was the first to regain her composure. "Sorry, sorry. But you live in Ponyville? That's the most on the nose name for a town I have ever heard,"

Twilight couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I guess you have a point. Anyway, my library got destroyed shortly after my coronation and then I-"

"Wait, hold up. You're related to a princess and you had a coronation? Does that mean that you're..." Jess said looking at Twilight with her eyes wide. 

"A princess? Yes, but I-" she stopped as the Wallaces all looked at her, looks of disbelief on their faces.

"Ar-are you serious?" Will said. "Princess, like as in castles and servants and crowns?"

"No, no servants. I can't expect ponies to do everything for me. As for crowns, I have one, but I almost never wear it and castles, well, it might be easier to show you. Can you excuse me for a second? I have some pictures to go get," Twilight said.

"Uh, yeah sure," Michael said in disbelief that he was sitting in the presence of royalty.

As Twilight went to get the pictures, the Wallaces talked amongst themselves about their houseguest for the coming months.

"Well, while she's certainly... different from our other foreign exchange students in the past, I think this will work out," Michael said, muttering, "princess" under his breath.

"Different? Try awesome!" Jess practically screamed into her father's ear. "I mean, pony princess, how much more awesome than that can you get?!"

"She seems very modest, considering she didn't tell us about the whole princess thing right off the bat. I like that. I'm good with this, what about you guys?" Lori said looking towards her husband and kids. Will and Jess nodded in agreement while Michael turned towards the one kid who hadn't said a word.

"Kristy? What do you think?" Michael asked his scowling daughter.

"I think you're all crazy! We are living with an alien. A freaking ALIEN! And you all just want to let it move in with us for the year!? What the hell!" Kristy shouted at her family, standing up from her chair.

"Kristy! Language!" Lori said to her daughter.

"But, you get to share a room with her! Isn't that cool?" Will said in Twilight's defense.

"No! It isn't cool! I find it degrading that I have to share a bunk bed with a freak-of-nature purple horse princess!"

"Kristy! She is our guest! How could you say something like that?"  Lori said, raising her voice.

"Hey, what's with all the yelling?" Twilight asked as she flew into the room, a book in her hooves. 

"Nothing. Kristy just doesn't like you," Jess said, glaring at her sister.

"I could figure that out from the fact that she didn't clean off the other bed or desk for me," Twilight said with a frown.

"Seriously Kristy! You couldn't have helped her with that?" Lori said, clearly starting to get angry with her daughter.

"I could've. I just didn't want to," Kristy said, getting glares from both her mother and Twilight.

"We will be talking about this later young lady. Sorry about that, Twilight. Now, what was it you had to go get?"

Twilight smiled as she set the book on the table. "It's my photo album. I put this together recently since I wanted to have photos of Equestria if I ever got homesick, as well as a way to show some of Equestria to you guys since I thought you would want to see what it looks like,"

Twilight started to flip through the book as the Wallace family crowded around, Kristy doing so only after her mother glared at her. There were pictures of her at her coronation, her castle, hanging out with her friends and family, and a wide shot of Ponyville that appeared to have been taken from the air. The Wallaces were in awe of the whole thing.

"Wow. They weren't kidding when they said that there was an alien civilization. Uh, no offense," Will said glancing at Twilight.

"None taken. We had a similar reaction, so, I get it" Twilight said, gently poking Will on the shoulder. "Anyway, there is something I need to talk about before we go any further."

"And what would that be?" Michael asked.

"I may be a princess, but I want to be treated like everypony else. That's why I don't introduce myself as Princess Twilight Sparkle or wear my crown.  I have my insecurities and flaws, but these wings, this title, I wasn't born with them. I was given them by Celestia herself. It also took a lot of begging from my end to convince Princess Celestia to let me come here due to my responsibilities. Luckily she and Luna are taking care of it. So please don't ever put princess before my name, Twilight or Twi is fine," Twilight said with deep seriousness in her voice.

"Hey, that's understandable. Trying to keep extra attention off you, since you already get enough for just being from Equestria. Also, you did it again with putting, "pony" at the end of words." Lori said with a smile as she pulled Twilight in for a hug, which she gladly accepted. 

"Sorry about that. And thank you. Now, with that out of the way, let's finish eating! Those are probably the best pancakes I've had in a long time!" Twilight said as she went for a bite of bacon. Michael's eyes suddenly went wide with the realization of what Twilight was about to do.

"No don't eat that-" he yelled as Twilight took a bite.

Twilight almost immediately gagged on the piece of pork, quickly running over to the trash can and spitting it out.

"What. Was. THAT!?" she yelled, looking at the Wallaces.

"That would be bacon," Michael responded.

"What's bacon?" Twilight asked in fear.

"Uh... so... bacon is a type of... um," Michael said, trying to find the best way to go about this.

"It's a type of pork. Otherwise known as pig," Kristy said, an evil smile spreading across her face.

Twilight's eyes shrunk down to the size of pinpricks. "P-p-pig!" she yelled, suddenly turning to the trash can, hurling at the thought that she had just eaten pig.

Lori ran over to the puking pony, placing a hand on her back. "Twi, I'm so sorry. It completely slipped my mind that Equestrians don't eat meat."

There was some laughter coming from behind the counter. Twilight stopped puking long enough to turn around and see Kristy laughing, getting glares from her family.

"Kristy! This isn't funny! She just did something that is considered taboo where she's from, and you stand there and laugh? That's it! Go to your room. NOW!" Michael said while pointing up the stairs.

"Whatever," Kristy said, muttering something under her breath as she went up the stairs.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Jess asked, motioning towards Twilight.

"I'm fine. I just can't believe you eat meat. Or that I just did. A warning would have been nice though, you know, BEFORE I took a bite of that innocent creature,"

"It won't happen again Twi. Promise," Lori said, holding the horrified mare in her arms. She then turned to her husband. "Michael, can you stay here with Jess and Will? I need to talk to Kristy and Twi about something," 

"Sure hon. Come on, guys, let's get breakfast cleaned up. Then we can finish talking to Twi about how things work here and how they differ from Equestria.

"Sure dad," Jess and Will said in unison as Lori and Twi went upstairs to deal with Kristy. 

"Kristy sure is in for it," Jess said.

"I just hope your mom goes easy on her," Michael said, feeling both sorry for his daughter and angry with her at the same time.
> Schedules and Shopping
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lori was about ready to knock down the door to Kristy and Twi’s room. She couldn’t believe the nerve her daughter had, laughing at Twilight as she ate the piece of bacon.

“Lori?” Twilight said from beside her.

Lori looked down out of habit, only to find Twilight hovering nearby so that she was at eye level with her. This got a small laugh out of the both of them.

“Yes?” she responded.

“Is Kristy always this, um... mean?” Twilight asked with a raised brow.

“She’s been like this since the beginning of the summer. She’s just always mad at everything and everyone. I don’t know what started this, but I’ve been trying to end it for a while now,” Lori said, sighing at the thought of how the last few months had been between her and Kristy.

“Wow. I hope that she’ll open up to you eventually. You seem like a great mother,” Twilight said trying to lighten the mood.

Lori smiled. “Thanks. Are you sure you’re alright sharing a room with Kristy? I can switch you to Jess’s room if you’d like,”

“No no, I can manage. I’ve dealt with worse. I can handle a teenage girl. Hopefully,” Twilight said looking towards the room she would be staying in.

Lori went to open the door, only to her frustration to it locked.

“Kristy! Open up! We need to talk!” she yelled at her daughter through the wooden barrier.

“Is the alien horse out there?” Kristy shouted. Twilight was clearly trying to suppress her anger at that comment as Lori answered her daughter.

“Yes, Kristy. Twilight is out here because this concerns the both of you. Now open the door!”

“I don’t think so. When the purple freak leaves, I’ll unlock the door,”

Twilight was about ready to buck down the door when Lori held her hand up, motioning Twilight to stop.

“Leave this to me Twi,” Lori said with a smirk. “Kristy, if you don’t open the door right now, I’ll show Twilight your baby pictures,”

Twilight struggled to hold back her laughter as she heard the door unlock. When it opened Kristy, was standing there, both horrified and angry.

“Alright, make this quick. I want to spend as little time with you as possible,” Kristy grumbled, her furious blue eyes locking with Twilight’s.

Kristy walked over to the beanbag chair and dropped into it as Twilight and Lori walked into the room. Twilight flew up to the now clean bed she would be sleeping in and layed down.

“Alright. First off, thank you for cleaning off the bed and desk, Kristy,” Lori said as she sat down at Kristy’s messy desk.

Kristy rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just say what you need to say, Mom”

“I was going to. The two of you are sharing this room, and as such, Kristy, you are to make accommodations so that Twilight here feels comfortable. Also, if I hear you refer to Twi as, “freak, horse, or alien” again, there will be serious consequences. Do I make myself clear?” Lori said while giving Kristy death glare.

Kristy sighed. “Yes.”

“Great. Now the other thing I need to talk about. Twilight?” Lori said, glancing up at the mare.

“Yes?”

“These arrived in the mail this morning,” Lori said, pulling two envelopes out of her pocket. “Your school schedules.”

Twilight was almost grinning ear to ear as she frantically grabbed the envelopes with her magic, reading the names at the top and then floating Kristy’s over to her. Kristy snatched it out of the air, moaning about the thought of going to school next week.

“Let’s see here: History 10A, Biology A, Anthropology, AP Calculus A, PE, English 10A, and Geography,” Twilight said, her smile wider and wider as she said each class.

“Dammit!” Kristy said as she read her schedule. “I have history and English at the same time you do, and the same teacher for bio,”

“Great! Maybe you could give me a hand finding my classrooms?” Twilight said.

Kristy looked over at her mother and sighed. “Fine. But there is a map on the back if you get lost,”

“Some of the classes are only for the first semester though, so you won’t necessarily have the same classes as each other all year,” Lori said while looking at Kristy.

Kristy was happy at that thought, but then she realized something.

“Twilight, did you say History and English 10?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Are you actually only a sophomore in high school?” Kristy asked with a raised brow.

“No, I was told that they put me there since that was where they had room and the curriculum covered more of the stuff I need to learn at the sophomore level than the senior level,” Twilight explained.

“So, how old are you then anyway?” Lori asked. “You seem more mature than someone in high school,”

“I’m twenty-seven,” Twilight said. “Honestly, I would have gone to a college, but none would accept me without the proper credits from high school on Earth,”

“Well, that explains a lot actually,” Lori commented.

“Huh?”

“Your maturity level, the way you acted when we met you, and the fact that you didn’t want to be held to a higher standard considering your status. They just didn’t seem like how a high schooler would act,” Lori said.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. We only have one week to get school supplies, so can we get a move on with that?” Kristy said, clearly annoyed.

“Right. You two get in the car, I’ll get Michael, Jess, and Will, then we’ll take care of that,” Lori said as she started to head downstairs.

“I call shotgun!” Kristy yelled as she ran downstairs after her mother.

“What the hay is a shotgun?” Twilight said to herself as she flew downstairs and out the door to the car.





The Wallaces and Twilight arrived at the local Walmart, Twilight ignoring the looks from the other shoppers at the sight of her. The group walked into the building, instantly greeted by the smell of fresh fruit and, to Twilight’s disgust, meat. They walked over toward the school supplies section, careful to avoid the deli area on the way.

The group was done getting pencils and notebooks and headed into the next aisle, where a boy about Will’s age with short blonde hair and freckles was shopping for school supplies with his dad. He turned around and smiled when he saw Will.

“Will! Over here!” he said waving to Will.

“Hey, Shawn. How you been?” Will said as he gave his friend a fist bump.

“I’m great, man. Hey, did you see-” Shawn stopped, his mouth dropping at the sight of Twilight. “I-is that an Equestrian!?”

“No, what gave it away? The horn, wings, or hooves?” Twilight said playfully.

“What is an Equestrian doing with your family, dude?” Shawn said, still staring at the purple pony.

“I’m here as a foreign exchange student for the year,” Twilight said, walking up to Shawn and holding out a hoof. “Twilight Sparkle,”

Shawn just stood there in amazement until his father poked him on the shoulder. “Sorry about him. He’s been freaking out about the fact that aliens actually exist since he really enjoys comic books. Um, no offense,” said Shawn’s dad.

“None taken, since I get the feeling I’ll be hearing that a lot more next week,” Twilight said.

“Owen, while it was nice talking to you and Shawn, we need to get moving,” Michael said to Shawn’s dad.

“Yeah, see you guys next week,” Owen said with a wave as he and Shawn left.

“Alright, let’s get the rest of the school supplies we need and head home,” Lori said as she and Jess went around the corner to the next aisle.

Twilight’s stomach grumbled. “Can we maybe grab some fruit on the way out? I won’t be eating meat anytime soon and you have practically no fruit at the house,”

“Sure! We should probably grab some other groceries while we’re here anyway,” Michael said.





About an hour of shopping later, Twilight and the Wallaces had a shopping cart full of school supplies, fruit, vegetables, and other odds and ends. As they went to the checkout line, the cashier saw Twilight and smiled.

“Is she the foreign exchange student this year?” the woman asked Lori.

“Yes Kara, she’s our foreign exchange student this year. Granted we weren’t told she was from Equestria, but it really doesn’t matter to us. Well, except Kristy,” Lori said, glancing at Kristy, who was engrossed in her phone.

“Doesn’t enjoy sharing the room?” Kara asked with a raised brow.

“That’s one of the reasons,” Kristy said not looking up from her phone.

“I figured. And how are you adjusting to life on Earth?” she said to Twilight.

“It’s different, but I’m adjusting well enough. I mean, minus the bacon incident this morning,” Twilight said, taking a second to glare at Kristy.

“Did she eat...” Kara asked.

“She took a bite of bacon on accident and Kristy just laughed at her,” Jess said, shooting daggers at her sister.

Kara was silent as she packed up the rest of the groceries, giving Kristy one look of disapproval. Kristy just rolled her eyes.

"That'll be eighty-nine seventy-six," Kara said as she typed up the total on the computer.

Michael swiped his card in the card reader and the family plus Twilight went to the car, piling the groceries into the truck. Twilight stopped and organized the stuff by what it was, which took about five minutes, much to the dismay of Kristy and Will who wanted to get home desperately.

"Can you hurry up back there!" Will shouted to Twilight.

"First off, I have much better hearing than you, so please don't shout. Second, I'm almost done. I just have to arrange the bags of apples and cherries in the right spot."

They finally got on the road after Michael convinced Twilight that it was as organized as it would get. They pulled out of the parking lot and got on the road towards home. But not before hitting a big pothole in the road, which sent the groceries flying all over the trunk of the car.

"Oh come on!" Twilight shouted as the apples spilled all over the floor, while Michael and Will did their best to not laugh.





"How do you find that funny! I spent a whole ten minutes organizing those!" Twilight said as she walked into the kitchen, grocery bags floating beside her.

"And it took ten seconds to make a mess of them," Will said, getting a laugh out of his sisters. Twilight just groaned as she trotted into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Anyways, who wants to play monopoly?" Lori said as she pulled the game out of the cabinet under the TV.

"Sure, we have nothing else to do for the next six hours," Jess said as she sat down next to her mom at the table.

Michael, Will, and Kristy sat down a the table, and after explaining the rules to a reluctant Twilight, they played the game. There was a lot of talking and frustration, but in the end, it was Michael who came out victorious. Jess's yawn and the fact that it was already eight o'clock made Lori decide it was time to turn in for the night.

Kristy and Twilight were asleep in their room when, at about midnight, Twilight got up to get a drink of water, she found a light on in Kristy's bathroom. Against her better judgment, she knocked on the door.

"Kristy?"

"What do you want Twi?"

"I just want to say I'm sorry if I did something to upset you today. If I did, I didn't mean to. But we are going to be sharing a room for the foreseeable future, and I don't want there to be too much tension between us."

Twilight was greeted by silence. She sighed and went back to her bed and fell asleep, hoping that her relationship with Kristy would get better over the next week.
> Bus Business
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been one week since Twilight had moved in with the Wallace family. They were all adjusting pretty well, minus Kristy, who wasn’t happy about sharing her room with a talking, purple equine. Twilight had tried her best to get along with Kristy, but she continued to ignore and make fun of her. It was now the first day of the school year, and the teen and the mare were just waking up.




“Could someone turn that thing off,” Kristy moaned as the alarm clock started beeping.

“I got it,” Twilight said, her horn glowing as she pressed the power button and turned on the lights.

“I meant the alarm, not the lights!” a blinded Kristy shouted as she sat up in the bed, hitting her head on the top bunk. “Ow,”

Twilight peeked over the edge of her bed. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, just getting used to getting up this early again. What time is it anyway?”

Twilight looked over at the clock. “6:30,”

“Great. I have time for a shower then,” Kristy said, walking over to her closet and grabbing a red t-shirt and some black yoga pants.

“Don’t take too long in there,” Twilight said as Kristy walked out the door to the bathroom. “I need to take one too.

“Yeah, well, I’m going first. Mostly because you left purple fur in there yesterday after you took your shower. And believe me, going after you wasn’t fun,” Kristy said with a smirk. 

“I both understand and take offense to that,” 

“Good,” Kristy said as she shut the bathroom door.




About fifteen minutes later, Kristy came downstairs to find her parents, Will, and Jess eating a breakfast of waffles and muffins. She sat down at the table as they heard the shower turn on upstairs.

“The bus will be here in about ten minutes guys. So eat quickly. And Kristy?” Michael said.

“What, Dad?” Kristy said.

“Shorter showers, please. Twilight needs time in there too,”

“Whatever,” Kristy said, rolling her eyes at her father.

“And don’t roll your eyes at me,”

“Again, whatever,” Kristy said as she took a bite of her muffin.

“So, how excited are you guys about school starting?” Lori asked as she looked at the clock.

“I mean it sucks that summer is over, but I get to see my friends again, so that’s good,” Will said.

“Same. I just wonder how people on the bus will react when they see us get on with Twilight,” Jess added, glancing up towards the bathroom.

“And Kristy? What about you?” Michael asked.

Kristy glanced up from her phone, looked at her father, and went back to texting her friends. Michael sighed, got up from his chair and grabbed his coat as he went to the door.

“See you guys at five. Love you,” he said as he went to leave for work.

“Bye hon!” Lori said to her husband as the shower turned off upstairs.

As Michael closed the door, Twilight came down the stairs, her mane and tail frazzled from the water.

“Morning everypo-one. Darn, that is a hard habit to break.” Lori and Will tried to hide their grins as Twilight sat down at the table. “I don’t know about you guys, but I am pumped for school!” Twilight said, grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, it’s so great,” Kristy mumbled.

“I know, right!” Twilight said.

“I was being sarcastic, idiot,”

“Oh,” Twilight said, her ears going flat against her skull.

Lori got up and went over to the window. Her eyes widened at the sight of the bus coming down the road. 

“Guys, the bus is here! Get a move on!” she practically shouted at her children.

The Wallace children and Twilight shot up from their chairs, running into and tripping each other as they frantically finished their breakfast and got their stuff packed. Will and Jess were almost out the door when their mother grabbed them and gave them the lunches they forgot in the chaos.

“Thanks, Mom! See you after school!” They said as the ran towards the bus.

Twilight was about to head out when Kristy pushed past her, knocking her into the coat rack. As the mare got up, Kristy hopped into the bus with her brother and sister, not even taking a second glance at the damage she caused.

“Sorry about her. I’ll talk to her later,” Lori said as she helped Twilight up.

“Hey, I’ve had to deal with worse. I can handle a teenager. Besides, she has yet to see me when I’m angry,” Twilight said with a smirk.

“I’m sure that we don’t want to see that. Now get a move on before the bus leaves without you,” Lori said, motioning to the door.

Twilight galloped out to the bus, much to the shock of the bus driver and students, who were not expecting to see a lavender pony run out of the house. 




As Twilight got on the bus and looked for an open seat, she couldn’t help but overhear the whispers of the students.

“Is that an Equestrian?”

“Why is there a purple horse on the bus?”

“Awesome!”

“They weren’t kidding when they said ponies,”

“I hope she’s in my class!’

“Look at those wings!”

“You think she can hear us with those huge ears?”

“Forget the ears! Look at that horn!”	

“Do you think she speaks English?”

“Who cares! The fact she can talk is cool enough,”

“What was she doing in the Wallace house?”

“She’s our foreign exchange student!” Will said, cutting off the whispers as Twilight found a seat next to a tall girl with blond hair. The girl just sat there, mouth hanging open, as Twilight sat down on the seat. She looked over at the girl and smiled.

“Hi,” Twilight said. The girl’s mouth remained open as she tried to process what was happening. 

Twilight looked around the bus. There were a few students in the front glancing back towards her and the girl. She saw Kristy sitting next to a guy with black hair, most likely her boyfriend. Will and Jess were chatting with their friends about their classes. There was a group of tough looking jocks at the back of the bus, talking about sports and a few people who were engrossed in their phones. Twilight was broken from her trance when the girl next to her spoke.

“Samantha,” the girl next to Twilight said while looking out the window.

“Huh?” Twilight asked, her brow raised.

“My name is Samantha,”

“Nice to meet you, Samantha. I’m Twi-”

“Twilight Sparkle, I know. More specifically Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Samantha said turning towards the mare.

Twilight looked at her hooves. “Please don’t call me that. I don’t really let people use that title when talking to me personally. It makes me feel like I’m better than everyone else when I’m really not. Also, how did you know my name?” Twilight said glancing at Samantha.

“I watch the news a lot. Your name is somewhat well known to humanity since Equestria made first contact with Earth. Honestly, I’m still freaking out that you’re talking to me. 

“Well, I can understand that. The Wallaces felt that way too,”

“What were you doing there anyway?” Samantha asked curiously.

“What do you mean?”

“The Wallace’s. I mean, are you staying there or something?”

“Yeah, I’m their foreign exchange student, as Will so graciously shouted to the whole bus earlier,” Twilight responded.

Samantha glanced over to the house as the bus started moving “So, how bad has Kristy been?” 

"What?"

"You know, the girl who texts everyone every little thing about her life who also bullied everyone over the summer?"

“Terrible! She called me, and I quote, “freak-of-nature purple horse” among other things,” Twilight said making air quotes. “She also refused to help clear the stuff off my bed, tripped me multiple times, and you would not believe the mouth she had when she called a bi- ” Twilight stopped for a moment. “Word that is considered a crime to say in Equestria,”

“Wow. I mean, I heard she had gotten worse, but damn, I didn’t think she was that ruthless,” Samantha said. Twilight’s mouth fell open when Samantha said damn. Samantha smiled as she closed Twilight’s open mouth.
“Oh, by the way, swearing is more common on Earth than it is in Equestria, so I’d not stare when people do it,” 

The pony put that information in the back of her mind as she asked the question she had wanted to ask Lori but never had the guts to.

"Why is Kristy so mean anyway?" Twilight asked.

Samantha glanced over at Kristy "Well, she wasn't always like that. I used to be part of her friend group until earlier this summer when she started to bully people. I'm pretty sure she started to be like this because Beth-"

The bus stopped abruptly, sending Samantha into the seat in front of them while Twilight fell out of the seat and onto the floor. 

"Oh my God! Are you alright?" Samantha asked as Twilight moaned.

"Yeah, just wanted to see what the floor tasted like. By the way, it tastes like dirt," Twilight grumbled as Samantha helped her up.

"Well, we're here. Riverford High School," Samantha said as the doors to the bus opened and people started getting off. "Come on, we don't want to be late, especially on the first day,"

Twilight started trotting towards the door with Samantha in tow, the latter almost tripping over Twi's tail on the stairs. Twilight stared at the big brick building in front of her. Students were frantically flowing in through the crowded front doors, a few glancing over at Twilight on their way in. Music was blasting from a massive stereo near the entrance. A giant banner hanging from the roof said, "Welcome back!" as well as a sign that said, "Riverford High School" next to the entryway to the building. 

"Well, here we go," Twilight said to Samantha as they headed into the crowd of people flowing into the school.
> First Day (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Samantha made their way through the crowd of students and into the school, Twilight folding her ears down at how loud the music and chatter of the other students were.

“Don’t worry, it usually isn’t this loud. The music is just a first and last day thing,” Samantha shouted as they tried to dodge the other students and get to their lockers.

“That’s good, cause this is chaos!” Twilight shouted back.

They continued to walk through the crowd until they found a spot at the wall by a hallway, which was labeled, “English Hallway” on Twilight’s map and schedule. She glanced down the hallway to see a few students at lockers, most of them busy talking with friends or staring at their phones.

“Do you know what locker you have?” Samantha asked.

Twilight glanced at her schedule. “Locker D-237, wherever that is,”

“Okay, so, the letter tells you what hallway you’re in and then you find the locker with that number. Then the numbers below it on the schedule is the combination for the lock. That make sense?” Samantha said.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. So, where is hallway D?”

“That would be the Science Hallway, which is upstairs,” Samantha said pointing down the hallway towards a staircase. “I’d help you find it, but my locker is in this hallway, and I need to get my stuff put away. I’ll see you in class, alright?”

“Yeah-wait, how do you know if we have the same class or not?” Twilight said, raising a brow at the blonde.

“I saw your schedule over your shoulder while you had it out.,” she said as she walked towards her locker, stopping abruptly to look at Twilight. “Ponies have shoulders, right?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and started down the hallway. “Yes, we have shoulders. I’ll see you later then.”

As Twilight left to find her locker, Samantha smiled at the thought of having classes with the Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“This is gonna be an interesting year,” she said as she opened her locker.




Twilight trotted down the hallway towards the stairs, glancing at the light blue walls and carpet that reminded her of a certain rainbow-maned pegasus from home. She smiled at the thought of her friends from Equestria and the thought of making new ones here.

”I wonder how they’re doing without me.” she thought as she flew up the stairs, causing a few students to have to duck in doing so.

“Watch it!” one of them said.

“Sorry,” she said to them as she landed. ”Okay, maybe flying in the hallways isn’t the best idea. Now, let’s see here,  D-234, D-235, D-236, ah ha! Here we go. D-237. A little tall, but this can work.”

As the mare opened her locker and put her saddlebags away, the locker next to her flew open as a girl tried to cram her oversized backpack into it.

“I swear, these lockers get smaller every year,” she grumbled.

“Really? They look big enough to me,” Twilight said, watching the girl continue to attempt to shove the backpack into the locker.

“How in the hell do these pint-sized pieces of metal look big enough to-HOLY CRAP!” the girl said, finally turning to look at Twilight.

“What?”

“You’re a pony!” she said dropping her backpack, the contents spilling out all over the floor.

“Yes. And?” Twilight said.

“What are you doing in a high school?” the girl asked, moving a lock of her short, brown hair out of her face.

“Learning. What else?” Twilight said.

“No seriously though. Why are you here?” the girl asked again.

“I was serious. I’m a student here,” Twilight said. The girl’s jaw dropped. Twilight facehoofed. “Is this the reaction everypo-one is going to have?”

“Probably. It’s not every day you see a purple unicorn with wings,” the girl said, snapping back to reality.

“Alicorn,” Twilight corrected.

“Huh?”

“I’m an alicorn, a combination of the other three pony races.”

“Oh, sorry,” the girl said as she started picking up the contents of the dropped backpack.

“Hey, I didn't know what a car was until about a week ago, so I can understand not knowing what the different pony races are," Twilight said as she picked up the stuff on the ground with her magic, causing the girl to flinch.

"What the-"

"Levitation spell. One of the simplest spells that a unicorn can learn," Twilight said as she put the girl's stuff in the locker, organizing it as she did.

"Sure must be convenient, being able to move stuff at will. I mean seriously, if I could do that, I'd-"

"Hey! Lydia!" a voice shouted at them.

The two turned to see a boy who looked almost exactly like Lydia running down the hall towards them. Well, minus the glasses he had on. He stopped by Lydia, breathing heavily like he had run a marathon.

"You know, you could have waited for me. I wasn't going to take too long," he said.

"Luka, you ALWAYS take too long," Lydia said, Twilight watching the argument.

"Whatever. These ours?" he said, nodding toward the open lockers.

"Nah. The one is her's," Lydia said, jerking her head towards Twilight, who had gone back to putting the stuff in her saddlebags into her locker. Luka looked over at Twilight, his eyes widening.

"Am I crazy, or is there a small, purple equine standing there?" he said, cleaning his glasses and putting them back on.

Twilight sighed. "No, you're not crazy. I'm just another student trying to figure out where her classrooms are before the bell rings. Also, I have a name, and it's Twilight Sparkle, not, "small purple equine". Get it right," Twilight said. "Sorry, I'm getting tired of the reaction to what I am. It's really annoying."

"I'd imagine. Being from another world and all though, I think that you'll have to deal with that most of the week," Lydia said, before turning to Luka. "Also, good job brother, you're the first person I know who pissed off a talking pony."

"You guys are siblings?" Twilight asked.

"Twins, actually," Luka said.

"I'm the oldest," Lydia went on.

"Only by eleven minutes!" Luka retorted.

Before the argument could go any further, a beeping noise went through the halls, causing a mass frenzy of students going into classrooms.

"Crap, that's the warning bell. See you two later, but I think we all should get going. Twilight, do you know where your first class is?" Lydia asked, frantically grabbing her textbooks and binders.

Twilight pulled out her schedule. "Room 233; history. You wouldn't happen to know where that is, would you?"

"Better. I'm in the class, I need to go there anyway," Luka said, walking down the hallway. "It's down here."

"I'll see you two later then," Lydia said as she went the opposite direction.





"Here we are. Room 233," Luka said as he and Twilight approached a classroom with a sign on the closed door that said, "Mr. Smith; History 10".

"So, are we supposed to wait for him to open the door, or do we just go in?" Twilight asked.

Luka glanced at his phone. "Well, class doesn't start for another five minutes, so I think we just wait for him to-"

Before he could finish, the door opened to reveal a smiling young man with brown hair and a short beard who was about a head taller than Luka.

"Open the door?" he said raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, that," Luka said, deadpanning.

"Well, I beat you to it. Please, come in and find a seat. The bell is going to ring soon." he said stepping back into the classroom.

"Huh. No reaction to me being, well, me," Twilight said as she walked into the room behind Luka.

"The faculty was briefed on what and who you are, and what to expect, so most of the stuff you can do doesn't faze me," the man replied as he sat down at his desk and turned on the computer.

"Well, that's good to hear. I've been getting crazy reactions since I got here," Twilight said.

"That does not surprise me one bit," he said as Twilight finally got a good look at the classroom.

The room was packed with desks, all neatly lined up in rows and columns, while the teacher's desk was in the front of the classroom, in front of the projector screen. A giant Riverford High flag was hanging on the wall at the back of the room, the blue-green background matching the walls almost perfectly, making the badger head stand out. There was a shelf full of historical books near the door, and posters of different historical figures from human history lined the walls. Twilight didn't recognize most of them, as she had only read through the first three chapters of the thirty-chapter textbook.

As Twilight went over to an empty seat near the wall by the bookshelf, students started to flow into the classroom, most of them stopping when they saw Twilight, while a few pulling out their phone to get a picture of the mare as she sat down. Twilight just smiled as the students finally dispersed to their friend groups, most likely to talk about her.

"This the reaction you were expecting?" a familiar voice said as they approached the desk next to Twilight. 

Samantha sat down and pulled out her textbook, smiling a Twilight. "Cause it's what I was expecting,"

"Tell me about it. You should have heard what he said." Twilight said, nodding the seat behind her, where Luka was.

"Oh give me break. That was a reasonable reaction," he retorted.

"Really? Saying, 'Am I crazy, or is there a small purple equine standing there' is a reasonable reaction?" Twilight replied, a small smirk spreading across her muzzle as Samantha tried to hold back her laughter.

"That's the funniest thing I've heard all day," she said.

"Funnier than asking if ponies have shoulders?" Twilight said as Luka's took his turn to try and hold back laughter as Samantha went red in the face.

It was at that moment that Kristy and another girl with her red hair tied back in a ponytail walked in, both glaring at Twilight and Samantha.

"Oh no. I completely forgot that Kristy was in this class!" Twilight said quietly to Luka and Samantha as her ears folded down.

"What's the problem with Kristy?" Luka asked.

"She hates me and I have no idea why!" Twilight said.

"Oh, you're fine. She seems to hate everyone," Luka said.

"She means that she hates Twilight more than the rest of us Luka," Samantha said as Kristy and her friend sat down on the other side of the room.

"Let's just hope she doesn't try anything," Twilight said, glancing over at the girl who had been nothing but rude to her since day one.

And then the bell rang.
> First Day (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Good morning Riverford High! This is your principal, Mr. Martin speaking, wishing all of you a great first day back to school! Just a few quick announcements before we start the day. First off, for any schedule changes, please go to the counseling office. Second, the list of after-school clubs and their meeting times will be posted on the wall at the main entrance. If you want to start a club, find a teacher willing to let you use their room and have them talk to me to get the club and times approved. Finally, please be sure to be on your best behavior, as I don’t want to see anyone in my office on the first day. That said, have a good day! Martin out,” said a voice from the intercom after the bell stopped ringing.

“Alright, you heard the man, he doesn’t want to see you in his office, and I don’t want to have to stay here after school to host detention, which means put the phones away,” The man sitting at the desk said. “Anyway, we’ll do introductions later, I need to take attendance before I forget. Let’s see here, Tara Albertson.”

“Here,” said the red-haired girl next to Kristy.

“Samantha Dymond.”

“Here.”

The teacher continued to go down the list of names, getting a response for all of them.

“Luka Spalsbury.”

“Here,”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

It was in that second that everyone looked towards Twilight, causing the mare to blush.

“Here,” she said, trying to avoid the stares.

“Kristy Wallace,” the teacher said, not skipping a beat.

“Here,” Kristy grumbled.

“All right then. Everyone’s here. Now that that’s out of the way, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Mr. Smith, your history teacher for the semester. A few things that you should know about me; I try not to be that strict guy who has lots of rules, but I will be that guy if necessary. I have a zero-tolerance policy for cell phones in class. If I see anyone on a phone at any point before the bell rings for second period, I give one warning, and after that, detention. So don’t try anything. I know all the tricks. If you have any questions about my policies, feel free to ask or consult the school handbook. That being said, you all have a pretest to take.” Mr. Smith said, pulling out a large stack of papers while most of the class groaned.

Samantha turned to Twilight. “Just so you know, this is world history, so it will cover everything from the Chinese Dynasties to the late 1900s.” 

Twilight just sat there, a blank look on her face. “The what Dynasties?”

Samantha blinked. “Nevermind. I’m just saying, since you aren’t from Earth, most of this is going to make zero sense to you.”

“Hey, I was top of my class back in Equestria through both natural ability and good study habits. I think I can handle a little history.” Twilight said as Mr. Smith put a packet of paper in front of her. Twilight picked up the pencil with her magic, which caused everyone in the room to pause, even Mr. Smith.

“I know I was briefed on this, but it is still so surreal to see a floating pencil,” Mr. Smith said.

“How does that even work?” Luka asked.

“Do you want the long answer or the short answer?” Twilight asked.

“Short answer.”

“Magic.”

“Now that is cool. I take it you can manipulate things other than writing utensils?”

Twilight shrugged. “Yeah, but the bigger the object the more draining it is for me. For example, if I pick up the desk, I would drain more magic than if I pick up this pencil.”

“As interesting as this is, you guys have work to do,” Mr. Smith said as he finished handing out the tests. “You have until the end of the hour to finish. Go!”





“That was the hardest test I’ve taken in years.” Twilight groaned as she, Luka, Lydia, and Samantha sat down at a table to eat lunch.

Luka looked up from his sandwich. “You do realize that it isn’t graded, right?”

“I know that. I meant it was hard to read and answer questions about how many people died in different wars throughout the years.” Twilight said, shuddering. “Seriously, the fact that there were not one, but TWO world wars. How does that even happen!?” 

“Yeah, people were pretty crazy back then,” Lydia said.

“Oh please, there are still people just as crazy now,” Luka said.

“But now we have better communication with other countries, so there shouldn’t be a third world war anytime soon,” Lydia said.

“Well, isn’t that one of the reasons Twilight’s here, to make sure that Earth and Equestria don’t go to interdimensional warfare? I mean, its only been a few months since first contact was made. We still don’t know much about Equestria other than talking ponies and magic. I take it you don’t know all that much about Earth either,” Samantha said.

Twilight smiled. “Which is exactly why I’m here. To help increase the understanding of cultural differences and traditions.”

“Question. What’s with the tattoo?” Lydia asked, pointing towards the stars on Twilight’s flank.

“Oh, that. Yeah, it’s not a tattoo. It’s my cutie mark,” Twilight said.

“Your what now?” Samantha said, looking up from her lunch.

“My cutie mark.”

“And that would be...?” Luka asked.

“A cutie mark is a symbol ponies earn when we find our special talent. The stars on mine represent my skills with magic. My friend Fluttershy’s represents her love for animals, Rainbow Dash’s represents her expertise with the weather and her skills in flying, etc,” Twilight said to the three dumbfounded humans.

“So it’s like a calling card to what you enjoy or are good at?” Lydia said.

“Pretty much, yeah. And I get the feeling that you won’t the only ones to ask,” Twilight said with a sigh.

“Yeah, considering you’re a talking purple equine, I’d get used to it while you’re here,” Samantha said, causing Twilight to slam her head against the table.

“What about everyday society here? I mean, I already know about the whole meat-eating thing after what happened last week- don’t ask, I don’t want to talk about it-, but what does a typical day look like here?” Twilight asked as she rubbed her muzzle.

“Get up. Go to school. Suffer. Go home. Sleep. Repeat,” Luka said, grinning.

“Can it smartass, you know what she meant,” his sister said, trying not to laugh.

“Alright, fine. People leave for work, kids go to school, the government makes contact with another dimension-”

Three humans and a pony could be heard laughing as the bell rang for the next class.




Cody walked down the hallway to the athletic wing of the school, where he felt most at home. Sure, he could keep decent grades, but he only needed those to stay on the football team after tryouts next week. That, and keep his parents off his back. Football was a blast last year; he was only a freshman, but even the seniors knew not to mess with him at game time. Now that he was a sophomore and had a reputation, this would just get better. And then the breakup happened. No matter how hard he tried to focus on enjoying his P.E. class this year, he knew that both his ex and her new boyfriend were going to be there. He had seen their posts. Not being subtle at all that they had P.E. right now.

Cody sighed. “Only one thing I can do now,” he said as he walked into the gym.

“Hold the door!” said a female voice behind him.

Being the gentleman he was, Cody turned to hold the door when it was caught in a purple aura and opened on its own.

“The hell?” he muttered.

“Thanks, Twi. Kind of forgot you could do that,” said a voice that Cody recognized as belonging to Samantha Dymond.

“Hey, Samantha. How was your summer?” he asked as she walked into the gym.

“Not as crazy as today, that’s for sure,” she said as she and Lydia walked into the gym.

“Agreed. Not every day you find out that the student with the locker next to you is a freaking pony,” Lydia said.

“A what now?” Cody said, his eyes wide.

“She means me,” said a third voice as the door stopped glowing and closed. Cody turned to the source of the voice to see Twilight.

“Damn. Now that is what I call a foreign exchange student,” he said before kneeling down while holding out a fist. “Cody Jewell.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she said as she gave the jock a fist/hoof bump.

"Hey, Cody," Lydia said.

"Yeah?"

"How you been holding up since uh, you know," Lydia said.

"I don't want to talk about the breakup right now, Lydia," Cody said, thoughts drifting back to who he would inevitably see in a few minutes.

"I figured. Luka wanted me to ask, so I did. Told him you probably wouldn't want to talk about it, but this is Luka we're talking about, so he didn't care."

"Where is he anyway?" Twilight asked.

"Taking his least favorite class," Lydia said.

"And that would be?"

"Math," Lydia, Cody, and Samantha said in unison.

"Yeah, I can see that. He never struck me as a math type."

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," said a sneering voice behind the group.

"Oh, buck," Twilight said while facehoofing.

Kristy walked over with a boy that Twilight recognized as the guy she sat with on the bus. "Seems horse-face found some people to talk with. And it just so happens that they are all losers too."

"Back off Kristy." Samantha sighed. "It's the first day of school, we didn't do anything to you, give us a break,"

"Ah, yes. The traitor didn't do anything to me. Sure."

"Kristy, I stopped talking to you because you made fun of people, dumped Cody for Drew, and then talked shit about him online. If anything, YOU betrayed ME when you started making me and our classmates miserable," Samantha spat.

"Samantha shut the hell up. No one cares what you think," Kristy's boyfriend said.

"I care about what she thinks. And we both think that you're an asshole, Drew," Lydia shot back.

"Wait, hold up. Cody, your ex is Kristy?!" Twilight said, huge eyes almost bulging out of her head.

"Yep," the jock said as Twilight's jaw dropped.

Before the argument could go any further, a tall, muscular man wearing gym shorts and a tank top blew the whistle to start class.

"Class starts now! Get changed into your gym clothes in the next five minutes so we can start. However, I need to talk to miss purple real quick in my office,"

Students could be heard snickering as Twilight trotted over the small office of the gym teacher.

"Okay, so here's the deal Miss Sparkle. By order of the school board and Princess Celestia, I can't have you doing all the activities we do due to the species difference, so you and I will figure this out as we go. Which means that you will probably be the scorekeeper for a lot of our games. You good with that?" he said.

"Yes, sir. I honestly don't find sports interesting at all in Equestria, let alone here, so this is actually a lot of pressure of my back," Twilight said as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. 

"Cool. Oh, and one more thing: the drill sergeant stuff is an act. I really don't care about whether you call me Sir or Mr. Cook. It just keeps the students from trying anything crazy in my presence."

"Thanks for the heads up then," Twilight said with a smile.

Mr.Cook returned the smile. "No problem."





"Well, I think we can all agree that this was the weirdest first day of school ever," Luka said as he walked out of the school with Twilight, Samantha, Cody, and his sister towards the buses.

"Yeah, it is kind of weird when everybody in the school is taller than you," Twilight said, the others laughing at her statement.

"True. Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Cody said as he started to walk towards one of the buses, the twins in tow.

"Yeah, see ya," Lydia said as she hopped onto the bus with her brother.

"You too!" Twilight shouted as she and Samantha walked over to their bus.

"Well, I other than the Kristy incident, I'd say today went well," Samantha said.

"Yeah. I really need to ask her parents about what her problem is," Twilight said as she walked onto the bus.

"In all honesty, no one knows what her problem is. She was like this at the end of last year and all summer, so good luck trying to figure this out from her parents," Samantha said as she sat down, the mare laying down next to her in the seat.

"Nothing wrong with trying," Twilight mumbled as the elder Wallace sister and her boyfriend sat down on the bus a few seats back.

Soon after Kristy and Drew sat down the bus started to head towards the middle and elementary schools, where Will and Jess got on. When the bus pulled up to the Wallace's house, Twilight said goodbye to Samantha and then flew to the door as the Wallace sibling walked over, where a smiling Lori was waiting.

"Hey, guys! So, how was the first day?" she asked the group.

"Great!" Jess said

"Meh," Will said.

"Crappy," Kristy said as she glared at Twilight.

"I thought it went pretty well actually," Twilight said.

"Great! We can talk more over dinner when Michael brings it home. It's pizza night!" Lori said as they went inside.
> A Pizza, a Package, and a Pony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael was just getting into his car with the pizza when his phone suddenly started ringing. He glanced down at the screen to see the caller ID: Mike Wallace; his father.

"Oh great," Michael muttered under his breath as he answered the call. "What, Dad."

"Hey, sport. Just calling to see if you're home yet or not," a gruff voice answered.

"First off, don't call me sport. Second, I'm on my way home with dinner right now. It's pizza night."

"Got any room for me and your mom at the table?" the elder Wallace asked.

"Sorry Dad, but I think we should give our foreign friend some time before meeting more people. She and Kristy already have had some issues at home, and I don't want you and mom to cause more issues," Michael said.

"Oh yeah, the foreign exchange student. I completely forgot about that. How are they adjusting to-" Mike said before being interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing. "One second Michael, I think my package just arrived." 

Michael waited while his father went to get his package, when he suddenly heard glass shatter and his father yelling.

"OH COME ON! NOT AGAIN!" Mike yelled.

"S-sorry, sir. I didn't mean to drop-" a female voice said.

"I don't care if you didn't mean to drop it! That doesn't change the fact that you did, not to mention the five other times you have! I can't believe that we actually have HORSES delivering mail now! I swear, before your kind were here, we didn't just DROP glassware on someone's porch and break it, nor did we have to deal with freaking equines taking jobs with their stupid wings and magic. Now get the hell off my property, you cross-eyed idiot!" Mike yelled as Michael heard crying and the sound of galloping in the background.

"Dad... what the hell was that?" Michael said.

"The stupid mail horse dropped the glass vase that I ordered three weeks ago for the SIXTH TIME! I know we made contact with an alien race, but that doesn't mean we need the damn horses delivering mail now!" Mike practically yelled into the phone causing Michael to pull it away from his ear.

"Dad, calm down. It sounded like it was an accident," Michael said as he tried to defuse the situation.

"Accident my ass! That is the SIXTH FREAKING TIME she has dropped it. This is getting ridiculous! Her job is to deliver mail, and she will be out of a job soon if she keeps this up. Not that I care about the job of a cross-eyed pegasus."

"Look, Dad, let's just talk about something else. What were you saying before the doorbell rang?" Michael asked.

"Oh, right. I was asking about the exchange student."

Michael went silent.

"If he finds out that Twilight is our exchange student, he's going to lose it!"

"Michael? You still there?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm here. Sorry Dad, but I just got home, and knowing Will, he will not be happy if he has to wait for dinner any longer," Michael lied as he pulled out of the parking lot of the pizzeria.

"Oh. Alright. I'll talk to you later then. Tell Lori I said hi," 

"I will. Bye Dad," Michael said, quickly hanging up. He sighed as he stopped at a red light. "It's alright Michael, worry about Dad later. You'll cross that bridge some other time. Right now you just need to get home with the pizza." 





"MOM! When will Dad get home? I'm starving!" Will yelled from the living room couch.

Lori sighed. "Will, how many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to shout at me when I'm in the kitchen. I am one room away from you. Just get up and walk over if you need to ask me something. And your father will be home soon. Just be patient."

"Is he always this loud?" Twilight asked as she walked into the kitchen, rubbing her ear with a hoof.

"More often than you'd think. Especially when it involves the first-day-of-school pizza," Lori responded.

"The what?" Twilight said.

"Every year, on the first day of school, our family has pizza for dinner. Will takes it VERY seriously, mostly because he is always hungry." Lori explained.

"Oh, so it's a family tradition. Kind of like how my brother and I have the Sibling Supr- " Twilight said before being interrupted by the front door opening and the smell of tomato sauce filling the house.

"Hey gang, I'm home! And I come bearing food!" Michael said as he closed the door.

"Aw, sweet! Kristy! Jess! Pizza's here!" Will shouted up the stairs to his sister's rooms, where the sound of footsteps could be heard.

"Will! I literally just told you: no yelling in the-oh nevermind," Lori said as she gave her husband a peck on the cheek. "How was work?"

"Same old, same old. I did get a call from my father on the way home though," Michael said, walking into the dining room and placing the pizza on the table where Twilight and Will were now sitting.

"Oh boy. How'd it go?" Lori asked skeptically.

"Better than I thought. There was some yelling, but it was all directed at the mail carrier, who apparently dropped the package for the sixth time or something. Also, he asked about meeting our foreign exchange student, but I had to decline due to some things he said over the phone," he said as Jess and Kristy sat down, Kirsty staring at her phone.

"What did he say this time?" Lori said.

Michael glanced over at Twilight, a frown forming on his face as he sat down. "I'll... tell you later. But right now, let's eat!" he said, placing the piping hot box on the table.

Seconds after the box was set down on the table, Will frantically flipped open the lid. His expression quickly changed from one of hunger and happiness to one of confusion. 

"Why is it half cheese? I thought you were getting pepperoni," Will asked his father while grabbing a slice of pizza from the box before quickly biting into it.

Michael cringed as Will got sauce all over his face. "I got half and half for two reasons. Reason one: it was three dollars cheaper. Reason two: Twili-"

"I can't eat meat, which is what I assume pepperoni is?" Twilight finished.

"Correct. So just save the cheese for Twilight, okay?" Michael said while the alicorn levitated two slices of cheese pizza over to her plate. 

"I'm never going to get used to that," Jess said, staring at the floating pizza.

Twilight giggled. "In all honesty, I think the hardest thing for me to get used to at school is being shorter than literally all the staff and students. Especially since I'm taller than average by Equestrian standards."

"How tall are you anyway?" Lori asked.

"By your measurement system, I have no idea. And Equestria's measuring system makes zero sense, so I really don't want to explain it right now."

"Guess we're not the only ones with a measurement system that makes no sense then," Michael chuckled. "Anyway, how was everyone's first day?"

"Mine was great! I already love my teacher and I got to play on the playground with my friends." Jess said happily. She frowned and turned to Twilight. "Though none of them believed me when I said that you were staying with us an exchange student."

"Wouldn't they have seen me on the bus?" Twilight said, tilting her head to the side.

"There are multiple buses, dumbass," Kristy sneered.

"KRISTINA CATHERINE WALLACE! Language!" Lori yelled as Twilight glared at the teen. 

"Ugh. Whatever," Kristy grumbled as she took a bite of pizza while glancing at her phone.

Michael sighed. "Kirsty, this is getting old. There are to be no cell phones at mealtime. Please put it away. I"m not going to ask again."

"Fine! I'm putting away the phone. Happy?" Kristy spat, cramming her phone into her pocket.

"No, I am not happy. You still need to apologize to Twilight for-" Michael said before being interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door. "One second."

Michael got up and went to the front door. When he opened it, he was greeted by a light gray pegasus with a blonde mane and tail. She was wearing a mail carrier's cap and holding a package in her hooves, as well as a clipboard and envelope under her right wing. The thing that stuck out to Michael though, were her eyes. They appeared to be looking in two different directions, and he could see that she had some wet spots on her face, almost like tear marks.

"G-good evening s-sir. I have a package and letter that were to be delivered to this address," she said with a very forced smile.

"Thanks, but I think you have the wrong address. I wasn't expecting any mail today. Are you sure it isn't the house next door?" Michael asked, trying to avoid staring at her eyes.

"Well, the package says it's for a "Michael Wallace", and I tried the house next door and they said he lived here. Does he live here, or were the neighbors just being mean?" she said.

"Yeah, Michael Wallace lives here, considering I am him. But who would be sending a package to me?" 

The mailmare glanced down at the tag on the package. "The sender would be one-" she said, her mouth dropping as she read the name of the sender.

"What? Who sent it?" Michael asked after a few seconds, causing the mare to jump and drop the package.

"I'm so sorry please don't yell at me I didn't mean to drop it!" she quickly said as she picked up the box and curled up on the ground.

"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down. Why would I yell at you?" Michael asked, kneeling down to meet her at eye level.

"W-well, the last guy I gave a package, I dropped it for like the sixth time and he yelled at me and called a cross-eyed idiot," she sobbed. "I have no control over how my eyes look! It's a medical condition!"

Michael sighed, realization hitting him like a truck. "This guy wouldn't happen to be Mike Wallace, would it?"

The mare looked up at him. "Y-yeah. How did you know?" 

"Cause he's my father. And I was on the phone with him when that package was delivered. It was a glass vase, right?" Michael said, the mare nodding. "And don't take it personally, he yells a LOT. I had to grow up with him yelling all the time. It wasn't easy, trust me on that." he added, scratching the mare behind the ears, causing her to giggle before lightly pushing his hand off.

"Thanks, I needed that. Anyway, the package and letter are from Princess Celestia," she said as she pushed the package towards Michael.

"Wait, Princess Celestia, as in THE Princess Celestia?" Michael said in shock.

"Yeah, THE Princess Celestia. No clue why she'd send a package here though. But my job isn't to wonder about the packages, just deliver them. See ya!" the mare said, flying off to deliver more mail.

"Thanks. I think." Michael said as he went back inside with the mail and walked over to the table, where the entire pizza was completely gone.

"Sorry, hon. You took too long so we continued without you. What's the package?" Lori asked her husband.

"Mail from a god, that's what."

"Huh?"

"It's from Princess Celestia," he said, causing the eyes of everyone at the table to widen.

"Wait, really? Why would we get a package from the ruler of Equestria?" Will asked, picking up the letter.

A loud coughing could be heard as Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof.

"Oh. Right. We have one of the other rulers sitting here eating dinner with us," Will deadpanned.

"Let me see that," Twilight said, the letter floating right out of Will's hands, the top ripping clean off as Twilight pulled the letter out and read it. 

"Dear Twilight. How was your first day of human high school? Hope you didn't get into trouble already. Not that I think you would, but you never know. Just wanted to let you know that your friends and I wanted to send you this care package. We each put a little something in here for you and I got you a prototype of something the humans are working on free of charge (for you at least). We miss you and hope that your efforts to make peace and harmony with Earth's youth go well. 

Your Mentor,
Princess Celestia

P.S. Luna says hi.

Twilight opened the package and started pulling out the contents, smiling more and more with each item. 

"Let's see here, a case of cider from Applejack, a box of cupcakes from Pinkie Pie, a bottle of perfume from Rarity, a brush from Fluttershy, and VIP tickets to the Wonderbolt's first show on Earth from Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, placing the items on the table. 

"Aren't the Wonderbolts the pegasuses that do ariel stunts?" Jess asked.

"The plural is pegasi. But yeah, they are. And Rainbow Dash just gave me 12 VIP tickets," Twilight said.

"Yeah, yeah, you got tickets to a flight show. Is there anything else in the box?" Kristy grumbled.

Twilight looked down to see if there was anything still in the box and found Celestia's gift.

"And from Celestia, we have a pen and a smaller box-what?" Twilight said as she looked at the Wallaces, who were all staring at the small box.

"T-that looks like a cell phone. Only shaped for a pony's facial structure." Will said in disbelief. "I can't believe that those actually exist. Or that you have one."

"How would she even use the touch screen with hooves? Seems pretty inefficient to me," Kristy said, genuinely curious.

"That might not be a pen, it might be a stylus for the phone," Michael said, picking up the piece of plastic.

"Well, we can look at that later. We still need to clean up dinner," Lori said, putting a plate in the sink.

"Agreed. We don't want to attract ants," Michael said.





It was after nine-thirty when Kristy was brushing her teeth and getting ready to go to bed. Her siblings were already in bed and her parents were downstairs talking, while Twilight was sitting in their-no her- bedroom reading a book. 

"She certainly is a bookworm," Kristy thought as she spat into the sink and put her toothbrush away. "Still can't believe I have to share my room with a freaking equine. 

Kristy went out into the hallway and down to her room, quietly opening the door. The lights were off and her roommate had fallen asleep on the beanbag chair in the corner, curled up in a little ball with a book between her forehooves. Kristy smiled as she got into bed. 

"You may look sweet and innocent now, but I know what you did. Even if you yourself don't. But I will have my revenge. Prepare yourself Twilight Sparkle, for you have a world of hurt coming."Kristy thought as she drifted off to sleep.