> A Break From Reality
>  by CDFA
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: A Flash and a Scream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

You'd never really think it'd happen to you.

I spent 17 and a half years watching television, playing video games about disasters. I had always taken somewhat of an interest in this, but I also had a fear in the back of my mind of these. I had a fear that one day someone would come up while I'm sleeping in physics class and shoot me. I had the fear that I'd be sleeping and an earthquake would come and destroy everything I owned. I feared that a car would just come and smash into me, killing me instantly upon impact.

You never really think that those kind of things happen to "real people", though. Those are just things that happen in areas so far away from us. Those kinds of bad things would never happen in our lifetime. I assumed that I'd never have to go through any kind of pain inflicted by the world or by others. I've never had a broken bone, I've never been in the hospital, nobody in my family had ever been majorly sick, and I've never spent any time dancing with death.

That was until the New Year's Eve party.

I didn't really want to go. Neither did my brother. But we had to go, because we were the children and the parents were the parents. My mother and father sat in the front, while my brother and I sat in the back. My dad wasn't the greatest of people, and would often drive erratically to show his dominance, that he would show his children a good time and have fun, even if they didn't want it. He was like a child. He was a portly man, with a chubby face that reeked of child-like style. Not the style that is mostly associated with children, with purity and hope. This was the face of the bully who would call you names because you didn't have the latest toy or were smart. That's exactly what he was, except he filled his bullying with sarcasm and hypocrisy.

My mother, on the other hand, was. . . different. Imagine her as an average 5'6 woman who got sat on (probably by my dad) and is now 4'11'' (and three quarters, according to her), and that would describe her physical stature. She was a caring mother who devoted her entire life to us, but she always had an issue with self-praise. She would do things for us not for our benefit, but rather so we could thank her and tell her that he is the best. She would yell at us if we didn't give any sort of praise to her for doing basic acts. She was a good mother, though. I don't know why she chose to be with my dad, it was pretty stupid.

My brother could have dealt weed if he wanted to. He was eighteen, and always seemed to have a scowl on his face, as well as an untrimmed neckbeard. He could have been in college, but was denied from every school he applied to. He didn't care much, though, he just wanted to get back to DOTA2. That's what his life was. If he wasn't playing it, he would be watching videos about it, learning how to get better and stronger. Somehow he always seemed to have money, though. He WAS the favorite son, since unlike me, my brother took an interest in my dad's business and was more patient with him, so that might be why. Anyways, he was one of the closest people to me that I had known in my life.

Which reminds me. Hi. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Joseph Strickland. As I said, I was the ripe age of seventeen and a half, a senior at Pali High School. If I could describe myself, I was the odd combination of a seemingly normal person and a perverted 4chan browser. I was about 5'10'' at the time and had a pretty average build for my age. My neckbeard was starting to grow, but my chinhair as well as my mustache were fully grown. Apparentley I had some sort of innocence in my generic brown eyes, but I didn't really see it. For some reason, I was oddly popular at school for my sense of humor, but I still took an interest into many things that people would find odd. . .

For instance, ponies. I was a fan of a show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." My brother had introduced it to me, and, after some time, I took a heavy interest into it. Right now was probably my highest time of interest. My iPhone background was of one of my favorite ponies, Rarity, and I was thinking about the fanfiction I was writing at the time with my ex-girlfriend.

My ex-girlfriend. . . Pauline was her name. She was a great looking woman. She wasn't the "ideal blonde" that everyone thought of, but she was still great. We met on a pony group, and she fell for me and asked me out. Sadly, she was three hours away from me, so it was a struggle to stay together. I put in my all. . . but she broke up with me the day after Christmas. I was never really too sure as to why, but that was just life. That's how people worked relationships. . . or at least people that weren't me, as I fully intended this relationship to be serious and long lasting.

But enough about my life. The car trip. I was dozing off out of boredom. My brother and mother had fallen asleep, and I had no real connection with my dad. Traffic during this time was always pretty high, especially right now at 6PM,. My dad was playing. . . some station, I don't remember, something about politics, which he pretended to be interested in. Anyways, he had completely missed our exit. We hadn't passed it, but the carpool lane was pretty far from our exit, less than a mile away. My dad, desperate to show us a good time, saw an opening that would lead straight to the exit.

Wrong move, dad.

Nobody really even realized it when it happened. But everyone that was sleeping had immediately woken up as they felt our car spin around in circles, crashing into the cement every so often, the boxes of tools that he used clanking and crashing along with the grinding metal. I heard a scream from my mother, a scream that I wish never to hear again in my life. My brother. . . I don't remember, but he was out of his stupid apathy for once. I too, was frightened, and thought about what would happen if this was it. Dammit, I spent thirteen years in school to die right before I graduated. I didn't even want to go to this. I'd rather be online with my friends. But my dad wanted to take us to a party. Nice going, dad.

I looked to my right as we were spinning and noticed the cement heading closer and closer to me. We had stopped spinning, and at this point, it was the final impact. I could see the broken glass going closer and closer to me. I always had a fear of getting broken glass in my eye. It came closer and closer. . . too clo-

Darkness.

"Hey, get someone quick! There's someone lying here!"
> Chapter 1: Ponyville?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"He looks stupid" A brash voice stated.

I opened my eyes, startled by the voices, and noticed six girls hovering over me, around my age.

"OOOOOH! HE'S AWAKE, HE'S AWAKE!" A pink haired girl screamed, as she zoomed into my face, he breath smelling like candy and cookies.

The other girls zoomed into my face, intrigued by my awakened state. Was I really that interesting? I've only been told once that I've been physically appealing, so what's up with five girls on top of me?!

"GIRLS! Give him space! He obviously is startled! Who knows if he's even from here!" A voice screamed from behind them. They moves away instantly to reveal a purple haired girl with red-rimmed glasses. She was a decent looking person, wearing a school uniform, her slight curves protruding from the button-up shirt and skirt. "Girls, this man looks very famished and tired! We don't know if he's from here, or if he's suffered from anything. I want all of you to get food and water for this man, and meet back at my house in thirty minutes! Got it?" She commanded.

"Got it!" The other girls stated happily, darting off to get supplies for me.

Did I really look that bad?

"Heh, sorry about that, my friends can be a bit off sometimes. Anyways, what's your name?" She asked.

"Oh. . . I'm. . . " I managed to stammer out. I didn't know how long I had been out, but it was long enough to make me feel terrible.

Wait. . . how did I go out?

. . . Where did I go out?

. . . Who was I?!

The question lingered in my head. "What's your name". . . I knew for a fact that my first name was Joseph. But. . . what was my last name?! Last names are important, you know! Last names are how you know who your family is!

. . . Who was my family?! Where were they?!. . . What did they look like? I tried remembering my past. I knew that I had a mom and a dad, and an older brother, but who were they? I couldn't remember faces, I couldn't  remember names, I could only remember information. I knew that I didn't like my dad, my mom annoyed me sometimes, and my brother was a smartass, but I had no names or pictures to go with it. . . only information.

"I'm. . . I'm Joseph. . . but I don't know my last name" I managed to breathe out. 

"Ah! Amnesia! Well, that's fine! Do you remember where you're from?" The purple haired girl asked me, oddly happy that I had amnesia (Which I didn't! I remembered lots of things! Just not the important ones!)

"Um. . ." I thought for what seemed like forever.

I decided to run through my entire life in my mind. This was not good at all, any sane person should be able to remember at least their name and home! My name is Joseph. . . something. I have a brother, named. . . something. . . I live in. . . somewhere. I go to. . . something High School. I'm in band, and I play tuba and a bunch of other instruments! (Finally, something I remembered!). I had a bunch of friends, like. . . someone, and that one guy, and another person. . . and. . . Oh! My favorite television shows was The Littlest Pet Shop! I was a Shopper, and it was a big movement where a bunch of young adult men started watching the show and showed an interest in it. Why don't I remember the important stuff, though!?

"No." I meekly replied.

"Ah. I see. Well, can you at least walk?" She asked. I wasn't sure if she was implying that I was a baby or if she was concerned for my health.

"I can try, but I might need some help" I replied. I actually wasn't sure, but it'd be rude of me to just say "No, please carry me back to your house, weird stranger girl with the hyperactive friends."

She grabbed my arm and helped me up, draping my arm around her once I was standing. We walked for what seemed to be about twenty minutes, and she knew just about everything! She told me about the history of this place, as well as the school that she attended, the buildings we passed by. . . she sure knew about every piece of trivia possible. She was a lot like my brother that I can't seem to remember, except she seemed to like having friends and didn't seem like the type to play online games. I learned that this town was called "Ponyville", named after farmers who brought horses here to graze as they traveled up the. . . something trade route. I'm not one for remembering big words. Anyways, she was new like I was, as she came from the capital city of Canterlot, moving here to partake in the public school system away from her parents. We arrived at her door and I realized. . . I had forgotten something!

"What's your name?" I ask, interrupting her in her speech about the school's wonderful math classes.

"Oh! I can't believe I forgot! My name is Tina! Tina Hamilton! But you can call me Twilight." she giggled.

"T. . . Twilight?" I asked meekly. 

"Yeah! Twilight Sparkle! I got the name because when I moved here, there was a big shooting star around Twilight time, and when it went away, I was just moving into my house! So they called me Twilight Sparkle!" She stated, incredibly happy to have a second identity.

That was the stupidest nickname I had heard in my life. But. . . at least she wasn't called "New Kid" or something. After all, if she was new kid, and I had just come in. . . I'd have to be new kid! I had never been new kid before! Crisis averted.

"Oh! I just remembered something about meteors! Did you know tha-" Twilight began to continue.

"Hasn't it been thirty minutes?" I asked politely, interrupting her speech that I knew would go on for hours (we had started the trip with her talking about the amazing math classes). 

"Oh! Why yes it has!" Twilight giggled as she opened the door. Inside, the other five girls were lounging around the assorted furniture within the room.

Before I could say anything, I was grabbed and thrown onto a dusty couch, and surrounded by the five girls that had been on me earlier.

"He-" I managed to speak before my face was filled with water, as it seems as if a bucket of water had been dumped into my mouth in a form of hospitality.

"PINKIE! You're going to kill him!" the brash voice stated, looking at the pink haired girl.

"Heh, sooorrry!" She giggled, reaching into my mouth to grab the water out. She was unsuccessful, and my body began twitching from the lack of oxygen. Pinkie took her hand out and my body naturally rolled off of the couch, and the water fell to the floor as fast as I did, my head making a large smack as I hit the wood flooring. 

"Pinkie! You musn't treat such a nice young man like that! Now, here, let ME show you how it's done!" A regal voice stated.

"GIRLS! Once again, we don't know his condition! I found out that he has amnesia, and doesn't remember anything! We need to help him regain his memories!" Twilight commanded. I managed to get myself back up and sat on the couch, staring at the six girls.

"Now, first, we must begin by introducing ourselves." Twilight stated. She pointed at the pink haired girl first. "I already introduced myself, so we'll start with Pinkie."

"HIIII!" she wailed as she sat next to me. "I'm Diane Vaughn! But you can call me Pinkie! They call me Pinkie because I love the color PINK! I love all SOOORRRTTS of other things too, like parties and candy and cupcakes and fun and games and rides a-" Pinkie bounced on the couch as she gave her spiel of her life's enjoyment. She seemed like a little child, her hair messily falling downward, reaching halfway down her back. She wore a cute little T-Shirt advertising a cupcake store, and had a short pink skirt, with blue. . . frills? I'm not one for women's clothing, but there was something blue somewhere in that skirt.

"PINKIE!" Twilight belted out. 

"Oh, whoopsie! Sorry!" Pinkie giggled as she got off of the couch. 

"Allow me to go next, please!" The regal voice stated, sitting on the other side of me. "My name is Victoria Stewart. I design dresses. But most of my friends call me Rarity, mostly because when they see me, they think 'Ah, she's such a rare being! Nobody could EVER be so fabulous and grand as her!'" Rarity stated. She had a much more mature look to her than Pinkie, wearing a white dress with. . . one of those little jacket things that aren't really jackets but they're not really shirts. Women's fashion was not my strong suit. Anyways, her body was to die for. With her curves, her size, and her beautiful purple hair, that flew down elegantly to halfway down her back, she could have any man she wanted, and she probably had teenagers falling to her feet to even get her to say hi. (Hell, even I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. . . in the good way.).

"Yeah, or they're like 'Oh, it's so raaaare that someone this terrible could exist!'" The brash voice murmured, giggling after her statement.

"Oh shut it, you!" Rarity scowled as she growled at the voice.

"Heh, you're too easy! Anyways, my turn! My name is Kelsey Hopkins. But my nickname is Rainbow Dash! You can probably tell why! After all, I'm ONLY the captain of the Cross-Country team, AND the track team! I could probably be captain of every team if I felt like it!" Rainbow giggled, obviously confident in herself. She seemed like quite the sporty type, her body lacking very many protruding curves but seeming quite nimble. She had short rainbow colored hair, slightly flustered from her "intense speed" She sure was into rainbows, as she had rainbow wristbands and a rainbow design on her blue leggings. What did rainbows stand for again? I swear, they were a symbol for something.

"Ah think it's mah turn!" a southern voice stated, sitting where Rarity previously was.

"Mah name is Augustine Jackie Whitacre. Me an' mah folks work over at the Sweet Apple Acres farm round ten miles yonder. Most folks call me Applejack, though, and some even call me AJ. Yer preference, though, sugarcube." She calmly stated.

Hot. Damn.

Rarity had me a bit flustered, but Applejack was. . . she was something else. She was dressed in probably the most generic cowgirl outfit possible, with a plaid orange button-up, denim short shorts, and a cowgirl hat, but she sure was something to look at. She had quite possibly the perfect body, and unlike Rarity, she didn't seem to be all that mean. That sugarcube just got me. She sure was nice. Granted, I'm not her type, I'm pretty sure. Damn.

"H-H-Hi" I stammered.

Applejack giggled contently, and walked back over to Twilight.

"I thought there wa-" I started to ask.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" A voice shrieked. I looked back and saw Rainbow carrying a shy looking girl, as she spun around in circles trying to escape.

"This is April. April May. We call her Fluttershy. You can probably guess why." Rainbow blandly stated, trying to keep Fluttershy calm. "She likes animals."

I stared nervously. Is it really natural for someone to be that timid? Were these girls doing something to her? I couldn't judge either way, I had only known them for about 45 minutes.

"Now that's all done! Now, Joseph, would you be able to introduce yourself as best as you can?" Twilight asked.

"Uuum. . . yeah. . ." I thought for a second, trying to recollect the broken memories I had. "My name is Joseph. . . I think my middle name is Tony. Joseph Tony. Uuum. . . I don't know where I came from, but I'm a senior in high school. I had a lot of friends, but I don't remember their names. Uum. . . I like music. I play the tuba, bass trombone. . . aaah, the euphonium, the bassoon. . . uuum. . . I can kinda play trumpet and french horn. . . uuum. . . I. . . I like music. . . and uuum. . . my . . . I had a girlfriend but we broke up, I think. . . and um. . . My favorite TV show is Littlest Pet Shop. . . I think."

The room fell silent for what felt like forever. I was always nervous around people. I was good about hiding it, but that's when I'm at home, where I'm comfortable. . . this was not home. I didn't even know where home was! For all I know, I could live here, and my house could be next door!

"I CAN PLAY THE FLUGLEHORN!" Pinkie spurted out, breaking the silence.

"Oh. . . I've always wanted to play that." I stated to her as happy as I could (which turned out to be a weak stammer). 

"Well, I'm honored to meet you!" Rarity stated. "But we MUST think of a nickname for you!"

"NO." I stated, my original voice peeping in for a quick second, louder than I wanted to. "I MEAN. . . um. . . You guys don't even know me yet! I can't have a nickname just now!" I stated, returning back to my meek stammer. I wasn't really a fan of the whole nickname thing. They all had very pretty names. . . especially Augustine. . . but if that's how they live here, then that's how they live here. 

"Heh, just as I thought, you're an idiot!" Rainbow giggled. She was met immediately with a slap to the face by Applejack.

"Don't talk about this little feller right here like that! He's startled and scared like a newborn puppy! Give him time!" She growled.

"You know what newborn puppies like to do?" Twilight stated, breaking the growing conflict. "Sleep. Joseph sure does need a lot of it. Now, did you girls bring food and snacks?"

"OOH! I brought COOKIES!" Pinkie stated, handing me a box of chocolate chip cookies.

". . . Something perhaps less sugary? He hasn't had food in a long time! He might get sick if he eats that kind of stuff!" Twilight stated. The other girls gave her blank stares. "Ugh. Fine. There's some bagels by the door. Go ahead and take some, then take a nap on the couch. You're going to need as much sleep as possible!" 

I immediately obliged. After all, I wasn't one to deny a good nap every once in a while. Twilight lead everyone out of the house, probably to discuss my fate, as I wolfed down a few bagels and laid on the couch. As I drifted off back into darkness, I had to wonder. . . where was I? Who was I? Who were these people? If this isn't home, will I ever return to home? But before I could ponder on these thoughts, sweet darkness took me back into its arms.
> Chapter 2: The Steps Into a New Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke from the oddly comfortable couch around 8 AM the next morning, the house being incredibly well organized, a busy Twilight moving books in and out of the bookshelves that surrounded all four of the walls of the house. With this rest, I finally had time to reassess my situation. I was in a strange and foriegn land, no recollection of my home, being taken care of by six high school age girls, all who had very distinct and almost polar opposite personalities. It baffled me how these people could be friends. There's the nerd, the bubbly one, the fashionista, the sporty one, the shy one, and. . . the country one. . . I giggled at the thought of her face. I immediately threw it out, though. After all, I had just recently broken up with my first ex-girlfriend, and I couldn't just go off to her like that! Besides, what if she wasn't all she seemed? I had made a promise that I wouldn't deal with love any more, why was I thinking so much about it now?! More importantly, why was I thinking about it at a time like this! I have to get home!

"Oh, you're awake! Hi Joseph!" Twilight giggled, putting a few books down on a nearby table, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Hey Tina." I said shyly. "Last night sure was. . . weird."

"Heh, don't worry, we'll help you! See all of these books? I'm sure we can find SOMETHING that can make you remember home! Besides, I have a little helper that helps me every day! He's young, but he's so dedicated to helping me! He'll be sure to find something!" She stated happily. She had a bright sense of radiance to her voice, a sort of nerdy charm. She seemed like quite a normal person, not the type to spend all of her time working with books in the deep darkness of her tiny little home (that seemed more like a library than anything else).

"Helper?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, his name is Spencer! I call him Spike, though! I've known him ever since he was born!" Twilight stated. She seemed like she wanted to say more, but she calmly stopped herself before making any other statements.

"Oh, that's cool. Is he a brother or a family friend?" I asked her.

"Ah! Yes! A friend! Family friend!" Twilight exclaimed, forcing a smile. I knew she was lying. However, I could tell that it probably wasn't the greatest idea to ask about this Spencer person. It seemed as if he had a very dark past, a past that Twilight didn't seem to want to share.

I stared at her for a bit, thinking of how to turn the conversation away from Spencer's past. Although I wasn't very good at social situations, I could at least tell when someone really doesn't want to talk about something, and this was definitely one of those times. "So, you said he was coming soon?" I asked her, hoping that it was the right thing to say.

"Why yes! In fact. . . " Twilight stared down at her watch, moving one of her fingers in time to what seemed like seconds. "3. . . 2. . .1. . ." As if like clockwork, the doorbell rang. "COMING!" she yelled out, walking away from me to open the door.

I looked down at myself. I hadn't even though to look at my body during this entire experience. I could have been naked, and I probably wouldn't have noticed until someone told me. Luckily for everyone, though, I wasn't. Currently, I was covered with a maroon blanket with a small logo on the front. I moved my head up to see that the logo was from the Carousel Boutique. As much as my body resisted, I moved the blanket to the side to reveal my body, shivering with the sudden coolness of the air. I was wearing nothing special, just my senior jacket and a pair of jeans. My sho-

Senior jacket?! Don't senior jackets usually have names on them?! I looked down sharply, and took a look at my sweater. This definitely brought memories back, of my homeland. I remember a friend of mine, his name was. . . a name. Anyways he was, complaining about how the jackets did not have our school's name on it. I sighed, loathing the person in ASB who decided to not put our school's name on it. Before I could explore myself more, Twilight walked in with a small boy of around ten years of age, wearing a purple jacket, purple shorts, and purple shoes. He was holding Twilight's hand with one hand, and was using the other to play around with his full green hair.

"Spencer, this is my friend Joseph." Twilight stated in a motherly voice. If Twilight weren't so young, I would have assumed just by the voice that Spencer was her son.

"Hi! I'm Spencer, but you can call me Spike!" He stated happily, outstretching his hand. His voice had a sort of raspiness to it, as if in the transition of his voice reaching a man's tone. I stared at him for a few seconds, his dopey smile and his outstretched hand. What he had failed to realize was that the couch was on the other side of the decently sized room, and I could not reach it from the couch that I was at. I couldn't remember my home, but I could at least remember that I hated getting out of bed. Twilight shot me a glare that struck deep into my soul, motioning to get out of bed and shake his hand. I obliged immediately to her silent message and walked rather awkwardly to Spike, and shook his small hand.

"He walks funny! I like you! What's your name?" Spike immediately blurted out before I could introduce myself. Twilight and I both giggled happily. He was just the cutest thing.

"Ah, well I'm Joseph. I don't know where I'm from, but I'm staying with Tina and her friends for a little bit." I shyly stated. His happiness and cuteness intimidated me. He was either the purest child that I would ever meet, or one of the most manipulative. I didn't feel evil from him, though, and I pushed the thought out of my head. I was overthinking things way more than I should. But I have reason, right? After all, I don't know this town very well! What if this is some town where the feminist regime takes men when they turn 18 and sacrifice them to their leader? Spike had been the first guy I had met in this entire town! I had to be extremely careful and not too trusting if I were to survive this. . . but they all seemed so nice and willing to help. . . 

"Spike, I have a special mission for you today! Find as many books as you can about history of counties outside of Equestria! Probably ones that speak English!" Twilight told Spike, caringly. "I'll be back home in a few hours, I'm going to go show Joseph around."

"Allright, Twilight!" Spike retorted happily as he skipped towards the shelves of books farthest away from the door.

"Now, shall we?" Twilight asked, holding out her hand. I almost about panicked. I had never been comfortable with girls at all, or holding hands. I could remember in PE. . . PE in. . . somewhere school somewhere, I would get nervous holding hands with people when we had to do certain activities. Even in high school, it took so long for me to build the confidence to hold my ex's hand! I had to think fast. . . what if I scared her, what if she thought I was creepy, my palms getting sweaty as I held hers, my fingers nervously moving and squeezing against her hand. . . I held her hand as softly as possible. I could feel my face heating up, my mouth trembling slightly. I don't know, she was kind of cute, but I wasn't nervous because I liked her like that or anything, I just didn't want her to think I was creepy!

She lead me outside, and I finally was able to see the town for the first time. Most of yesterday had been filled with unfocus and confusedness, and I couldn't appreciate the town for what it was. It was a small town, smaller than any that I had ever been to. I saw no big corporations, but rather people walking to and from small businesses, seemingly ran by families.

"Do you remember anything about home, Joseph?" Twilight asked. "I mean, not like, a name, but do you remember what you did all of the time?"

"Um. . . " I pondered on this. I wasn't much of a social butterfly. I was active in school and was always out of the house, but I never went to hang out with friends. "I was thinking we could. . . just walk around and see what I can find." I answered.

"Oh, allright then! I know just about every building in this town, so be sure to ask me if you have any questions." Twilight stated. Her and I walked in completely opposite directions, stopping once we realized that we were holding each other's hands. I blushed harder than I already was. "Lead the way!" she stated. I could barely see it, but I noticed a little blush. I wasn't sure if that was a blush of embarrassment for pulling on my arm and not letting me lead, or. . . something else. . .

I walked slowly around the town. Her house seemed to be dead in the center of a cul de sac, filled with stores. I read them off in my head as we walked around. I noticed a flower store, with three teenage girls hanging out by the front door, one of them holding a watering can. I looked at the flowers, hoping that maybe I would remember something about home. I remembered something, alright, but it was  that I was never one for nature and could never even remember holding a real flower. I sighed and stared at Twilight.

"You know, I wish I could remember home. Not saying this place is bad or anything, but don't you just hate it when you forget something and try to remember it, but can't?" I asked Twilight, giving a heavy sigh afterwards.

"Oh yeah! I know what you mean! Like, I remember this one time. . ." She rambled on about how she had a test at school and she was trying to remember the volume of her encyclopedia that she learned about. . . something. She found out that it was. . . somewhere. I hadn't been paying much attention to her, though, I was too busy looking at all of the stores and trying to find something out about home, or at least something that sparked my interest.

"Ah! Tina!" A regal voice called from behind us.

"Victoria! Hey there!" Twilight called out, turning behind her, recognizing the voice. "I'm taking Joseph along to see the town!"

"Oh well that's just fabulous! You can show him my store later!" Rarity stated. "Carousel Boutique!"

"I'll be sure to do that! Aren't you supposed to be there, though?" Twilight asked inquisitively. 

"Oh, yes, but I just HAD to get supplies for school clothes! I want to be the grandest person in the entire school on the first day! Granted, I already am, but I have to outdo myself!" She stated with an odd sense of determination.

"We wear uniforms." Twilight bluntly sighed.

"Still, darling, you can make a uniform look fabulous! I can't tell you any of my secrets, though! If you'd like, I'd just LOVE for you to come down and we can work on prettying up your uniform too!" Rarity giggled.

"I'll pass. But thanks for the offer. I shouldn't keep you waiting, though, you should go! I'll talk to you later!" Twilight replied. I could tell that she had no intentions to go to the boutique or pretty up her design. However, it seems like a pretty nice place, and Rar-. . . Victoria seemed like a very nice person (these nicknames were going to annoy me to no end). She was awful pretty too, so it might be worth my time to get to know her.

"Ah, yes, I must spend time on this! Farewell, darlings!" Rarity giggled as she walked hastily towards her home. She was the only person I think I would ever meet that could walk so fast in such high heels and not trip.

"That Rarity sure is something, right? heh" Twilight giggled, staring at me.

"Yup." I said apathetically.

"But she DID remind me! We need to get you signed up for school! How could I forget! School starts tomorrow! How did I forget, this is just terrible!" Twilight walked around in circles, letting go of my hand to place them both on her forehead. "I'm so stupid, aren't I! Come on!" Twilight grabbed my hand and sprinted towards the school, forcing me to sprint to keep up with her. It was at this moment that I remembered what I hated most. Running.

We arrived at the school after roughly 2 minutes of sprinting through town, my only focus being to not fall and kill myself. When we arrived, I panted heavily, almost falling to the floor. 

"D. . . Dammit, Tina. . . are you part. . . of the track team. . . or something?" I managed to breathe out during heavy pants.

"No, I just had to get here as fast as possible! After all, school is the most important building in all of town!" Twilight stated boldly, not seeming to be tired at all. "Now come on, let's go inside!" she grabbed my hand and walked (thank goodness) with me into the main office.

"Miss Hamilton, so nice to see you!" The receptionist stated. 

"Hello, Mrs. Twombly. I'm here to register my friend Joseph for school! He's new in town." Twilight stated happily.

"Ah." There was a moment of silence. "Just get his parents to fill out this form and turn it back in ASAP." she stated, adding a sort of emphasis on ASAP. She seemed just as bland and uninterested as any secretary that I had ever met.

There was a slight moment of silence, once again, as Twilight stared at me. "He doesn't have parents. Or at least, he doesn't know where they are. I found him lying on the road and took him in!" Twilight stated, looking back at Mrs. Twombly.

"Ah. Well then take it to his guardian" Mrs. Twombly scoffed. She didn't seem like a very nice person at all.

"I'm his guardian." Twilight replied apathetically.

"I see. Well in that case" she pulled the papers away. "I can't let you register him. The school requires that a parent or guardian above eighteen years of age register him." 

"Bu-"

"Those are the rules."

Twilight sighed and stared at me. I honestly didn't really care, school wasn't my top priority at the moment. My mind was still filled with the desire to return home, to leave this place. . . not that it was a bad place or anything, I just knew that my family was probably worried about me. I hope.

"REGINA!" A booming voice called out from behind a closed door. The door opened and a largely built man, his mouth almost nonexistant from his dark black beard, walked towards the receptionist. "I need you to make an announcement that the Jazz Band is looking for another trombone player! Anybody who is willing to learn can come in!" He stated. She silently nodded and wrote the message on a sticky note.

"Sir. . . I don't go here. . . but I can play trombone." I shyly stated.

"You don't go here? Where do you go, chap?" The man asked.

"Um. . . I don't go anywhere. . ." I folded my arms to block my jacket in embarrassment. "I kind of just moved here. . . I don't know where my parents are, and my guardian is Tina over here. I just tried to apply for the school but I can't." I explained.

"You sound so nervous, kid! Don't be!" The man replied.

"Oh, I have a speech impediment. I'm not scared or anything!" I hastily stated. While it was true that I had a speech impediment, I was actually scared out of my mind. Band directors weren't always the nicest of people, and I wasn't even entirely sure what I was doing. I was probably just spiting in his face something like "Hah, I can play this instrument, but I can't join your band!"

"I see. . . " The man stared at me and thought for a bit. "Follow me. You too, Tina."

Nervous and confused, I followed the strange man, with Twilight following behind me. I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. Like, sure, he just mentioned the Jazz Band and all, but I didn't know this place that well! Mrs. Twombly didn't seem like she cared that much about my safety either, so I had to follow this man with fight or flight senses, sprinting at any sign of danger. He lead us into a single room with double doors. We entered to see sound proofing covering all four of the walls. Either this was the band room or this was put in place to block out my screams of torture.

"You said you play trombone, right?" He asked me.

"Yeah. I also play Tuba, Euphonium, Bassoon, and I can kind of play trumpet and french horn. I'm do- I mean, I'm also interested in learning a few other instruments, like Oboe, Tenor Sax, Bari Sax. . . oh, and I can play Timpani and Chimes and stuff like that" I explained to him, stating a seemingly prepared speech to him. I always enjoyed telling others the things that I could do. Not in a cocky way or anything, just that I enjoyed sharing the skills that I worked so hard to achieve.

"Hm." He stated in a muffled tone. "Well, go into my office, and there's a Bass Trombone there. There's a mouthpiece in there, all cleaned up and stuff, Schilke 60."

Yes! Schilke 60! That was my favorite Bass Trombone mouthpiece! I walked into the office and saw the case, already opened, a shiny Yamaha YBL-830 sitting on the desk. It had obviously been used, but still, this was a nice instrument! I hastily set it up and returned to the band room, where I noticed a stool and a music stand sitting where I previously was. Tina had pulled up a chair and sat quietly, eager to see how well I played. Damn, I hated audiences. I wasn't much of a solo player, personally. That's why I played Tuba, they were the bass of the band, but few people would write a song where the tuba is the melody or anything. 

I sat down on the stool and stared at the music. There were a variety of songs I had never heard of sitting in the folder, some seeming about the level that I remember playing at, and some even harder.

"Now. . . um. . . pull out the song Count Bubba."

Count Bubba. My heart almost jumped at the mention of that name. Quite easily one of my most favorite songs that I played in high school. I scavenged through the folder and saw the song, immediately pulling out all three pages towards the front.

"I want you to play the soli section." I'm surprised he didn't give me time to warm up or anything. I had no idea how I'd sound on this instrument. Would it be muffled nothingness or would it be a rich bass tone? 

"Sir. . . could I warm up for a bit first?" I asked shyly.

"Oh! How could I have forgotten? Sure!" He replied.

I sighed to relax myself. This guy was going to put just about anybody in the band. I didn't go to the school, but still, it was nice that I got to play an instrument after so long. I placed the mouthpiece towards my chops and. . .

Yes! This tone was pretty good! Granted, not amazing, but it was rich, supported, and didn't sound all that bad! The best part was. . . I could go louder. It was time to unleash the pedals.

"Oh man. . ." I could hear the man sigh as I unleashed a pedal Bb at about a Forte level. I looked straight into his face, and saw an incredibly smile coming from it. "Go ahead, whenever you're ready!"

Oh, I was ready. I pulled up the song, snapped a relative tempo, and before I knew it, was playing Count Bubba. Granted, it wasn't the same without the rest of the trombone section, but either way, I kept on pulsing on. I finished the soli section, and was lead with a trembling roar of laughter and an earthshattering applause. 

"I love it! I love it I love it I love it!" he roared. I could hear Tina nearby, also clapping and cheering. "Now, come. . . Joseph, was it? I'll put the instrument away, please follow me back to the office."

I happily followed his path, and noticed Tina following behind me. I held out my hand, and she happily grabbed it. What was I doing?! Happiness. . . happiness like this sure did outweigh fear, I guess. I'm not entirely sure why I did what I did. . . but it felt nice, having a friend there to watch my successes, especially someone so much successful as herself. 

"REGINA!" His voice boomed as he entered the office. "I'll sign this kid's papers. Get him a schedule. You do APs, kid?" 

"Um. . ." I stuttered.

"You know, like, Advanced Placement classes? Like, honors?" Twilight asked. I suddenly remembered school again.

"Yeah, kind of. I think I remember my schedule from my old school. . . I had Physics. . . AP Government. . . Jazz Band. . . AP English. . . and uuum. . . I had Calculus, but I dropped it, and I forget one of my classes." I stated, my head in the air trying to remember my school life. 

"Allright. . . " Mrs. Twombly sighed as she put in my information for a schedule while the strange large man and I worked together to fill out my papers.

We worked for about five minutes before finishing the information. We asked Tina to be my medical contact in case of an emergency. Mrs. Twombly fought to uphold the rules, but this man had such a presence that she had no choice but to oblige. After finishing, Mrs. Twombly took the paper and reviewed the information. 

". . . Last name?" she scoffed.

"Last name?" I asked. She rolled her eyes. 

"Hamilton." Twilight stated. "Joseph Hamilton." Mrs. Twombly silently filled out the information and handed me a schedule.

I wanted to say something, but I knew to keep my mouth shut. After all, I get to play an instrument! I had no reason to take that away by saying something so silly! 

"Sir. . . if I may ask. . . what is your name?" I asked the large man that had pretty much saved my life.

"I'm Mr. Acevedo, Director of Bands!" He stated happily. Acevedo. . . a name that I'd remember. . . and that sounded so familiar to me for some reason.

"Thank you. Thank you Mr. Acevedo" I stated solemnly.

"Don't mention it! Hey, we have a Wind Ensemble and Winter Drumline too, would you like to join?" He asked me, a beam of eagerness shooting through his eyes.

"PSSHAAW! I-I-I mean. . . y-yeah." I replied entusiastically. Today was just getting better and better.

By the end of the ordeal, walking back to the band room, playing on a few more instruments, I secured a spot playing Tuba for the school's Wind Ensemble (chairs would be determined later) and the Bass V spot on the schools Winter Drumline. I thanked him immensely for all that he had put in for me, and Twilight and I left to return home. The sky was a darkening blue, as night approached us.

"SQUEE! Joseph, I'm so happy!" Twilight giggled, hugging me happily, her leg kicking up behind her as she did so.

"I'm happy too!" I replied, being legitimately happy and not so confused for once, almost forgetting about the situation at hand. "But this schedule SUCKS!" I groaned as I showed her my schedule:

JOSEPH HAMILTON:
1. AP English - Dodswell
2. AP Government - McFerguson
3. Jazz Band I - Acevedo
4. Physics - Martinez
5. Drama - Webber
6. AP Music Theory - Acevedo

"EEP! You have AP English first period?! So do I!" Twilight giggled as she jumped up and down estatically. School was really important to her, I guess. "Let's see. . . I don't remember everyone else's schedules, but I hope you get to see them too!"

"I hope so too. . . One thing, though. . . Hamilton?" I asked her, nervous to ask.

"Oh! Well. . . I had to come up with something! Besides, I'm taking care of you, right? I can be like your mom!" She replied, a sense of nervousness in her voice.

"Oh. . . well, can you be my sister, then? Being my mom would be hella awkward." I replied casually, frightening myself with how well I dealt with the situation. I guess I felt relieved, I was so scared she would freak out or just do something crazy. 

"Oh! Yes, sister, of course! Now come on, 'bro', let's go home!" She happily giggled.

Bro. . . it felt nice. I was something to someone. I couldn't remember much of my family, and even though this was only pretend, it still filled me with happiness to be considered a brother to someone. I've never had a sister, and Twilight seemed like the perfect person to be a brother to. She was so kind and caring, so willing to help me with whatever I needed, so smart. . . Granted, it was all pretend, like a group of friends saying that they're family or something. I held my "sister"'s hand and we walked home together. When we came home, Spike was laying on the couch, sleeping. 

"Heh, guess we got home a bit late, didn't we!" She expressed quietly. She walked over to Spike and pet his head. "Spencer. Speeencer. . . you gotta get back home! They should be expecting you soon."

Spike shot up, realizing his tardiness. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't able to find much, I just got so tired that I fell asleep! I'm sorry!" Spike nervously cried.

"Shh shh, there there. . . It's fine, Spencer, just get home. We have lots of time to look for his home." Twilight calmly replied. She gave Spike a hug and sent him on his way. "As for you, you need to sleep early! You can't stay up late and do well on your first day of school!"

I sighed. I never liked sleeping early anyways, it was still so bright and I could do so much. However. . . sleep would be nice. I could finally think things through once again in my sleep. I laid down on the couch and grabbed the blanket that Spike was using earlier. I laid and stared at the ceiling, wondering about my fate. I wasn't very alarmed by any of this at all, for some reason. Granted, I was never really close with my family, but shouldn't the average person have been scared by this?! I am a natually apathetic person, but still! Why wasn't I screaming and looking for the police? Why wasn't I trying to hard to get back home?! Before I could ponder on these questions, the sweet arms of darkness took me into its abyss.
> Chapter 3A: School Days
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"EEEEP!" I heard a voice scream.

It was the third day that I was now in this new foriegn land. I don't think I've ever really been this confused in my life. I didn't know where my home was, I didn't know who my friends were, I couldn't remember faces or anything. But I still remembered that I HAD a past life, and I remembered so many things from it. I was now here, in the company of six teenage girls, all who had a special charm in some way. It wasn't all bad, though. Granted, now that I've had time to really think about this situation, I realized that a normal person would be crying for home. . . but really, this was so much happier. I've only really gotten to know Twilight, but the other girls seemed incredibly nice. Hell, the school I went to seemed like a fun place too. I missed my old friends, but there were always times where I wanted to recreate my life. I wanted to just leave the stress of home sometimes, and now this was my chance. It was. . . relieving. Still, I needed to focus on getting back home! I could take my time, though. . .

"Ah! Joseph! I'm so sorry! My shipment for AP Study Test Books came in and I dropped them!" Twilight apologized from across the room, putting a stack of nine books on the table near the couch I had slept on.

"Twilight. . . it's. . ." I took a look at the clock mounted above the door. "Four Thirty. In the morning. What are you doing up?"

"DUH, silly! School! I have to be early for the first day! I have to get ready and make sure to study!" She explained. For being so early in the morning, she sure was wide awake. I never really knew when she went to bed, which scared me a little bit.

"What time does school start?" I groaned, moving my blanket closer to me. 

"8 o'clock!" Twilight replied happily. There was a deep moment of silence, as Twilight had her goofy enthusiastic grin on her face, and I had a look of utter despair. 

"Oh. . . Welp, good night, see you in two hours!" I exclaimed, pulling the blanket on top of me again, covering my head.

"Oh no you don't! You have to be wide awake for learning!" Twilight exclaimed, tugging on the blanket. "What if you're still sleepy in your first period and there's a test!? Aren't you worried?!"

"Meh. I never really cared much about that anyway." I sighed, still under the covers.

"Well. . . well. . . I'll sit on you until you get up!" Twilight giggled, desperate for a way to get me out of bed and awake in her insane learning mood.

Twilight no.

"If you don't get out RIGHT NOW, I'm gonna do it!"

Twilight.

"Here I come!"

Twili-

I could feel my face reddening as I felt her posterior laying across my stomach, moving side to side to comfort itself atop of me.

"FINE! Fine! I'll get up!" I yelped, still blushing. "Just. . . get off of me!"

"I knew I could figure you out!" Twilight giggled, getting off of my stomach. I'm not sure weather she meant that she could figure out that I didn't like people sitting on me or that I liked having butts close to my Jontron. . . but I dismissed the thought from my mind. I have to stop being such a pervert, this isn't the time or place for that! I pulled my head out of the covers and stood up, wobbling slightly from my tiredness.

"So. . . books?" I asked Twilight, pointing to the stack of books on the nearby table.

"Oh! Those are AP Study Guides! I got one for each of your AP classes!" She giggled, handing me three large softcover books, each marked with my name and a small happy face.

"Tina. . . I like the books and all, but I really don't want to study! After all, like, I never really study for the big tests like that. I just pay attention in class and do the review." I explained calmly. All Twilight could do was stare at me, as I could feel the tension rising as she stared into my eyes, her lips trembling.

"How do you live with yourself?! Honestly! NOT studying?! You ALWAYS need to study!" She growled, still staring at me with eyes that pierced into my soul. 

"Eep." I whimpered. "Fine, I'll study! I'll study! Just don't be scary like that!" I couldn't really say I was the bravest marshmallow in the candy kingdom, and this cute little girl just broke down the incredibly tiny wall of self-confidence that I had in me. This was going to be a fun experience.

"Good. Now let's start with AP English. . ."


* * *


"Come oooon, Joseph! We're going to be late!" Twilight moaned. For once, she wasn't kidding. School started in twenty minutes and I was still trying to do last minute packing for school. I should have known to mention 'Hey, Tina! I really would need a backpack for school! We have three hours until we have to go! Let's go to the store and get one!' Luckily for me, she had an extra bag lying in her supply closet. Unluckily for me, it was the girly backpack she had last year. I really felt embarrassed to have it on me, for on the front, there was a picture of her as a pony. Or at least I assumed it was her. After all, she had the same hairstyle and the same spunky demeanor. 'You remember April? She likes to draw, and one say, she was like 'What if we were all horses!'' she told me when I asked her about it.

"Fine, fine, I'm all good!" I whined, jogging over to the door. Before I could think about anything else, I felt a familiar hand grab me. I knew exactly what I was about to go through. . .


* * *


"Twilight. . . You're going to. . . have to. . . stop doing this. . . to me. . ." I panted, slightly less so than yesterday, as Twilight stood in front of the school, feeling accomplished. The school itself wasn't anything special. It felt like my old home's rival school. . . something that wasn't my school school. The buildings were all blandly grey and concrete, with art of our mascot, the pony (They took this "Horse Grazing" history thing pretty seriously, I guess) on every building, relating to the subject that the building contained. As I walked onto the campus, the bell immediately rang. At least Twilight got me to school on time, even if I almost had to die going through it.

"Allright! First class! E - 221!" Twilight exclaimed, grabbing my hand and walking towards the building with the pony reading a book. Honestly, the school wasn't really that big in terms of people. I wasn't fighting to walk to my class, but it was large and spaceous. If I wanted to run around in circles to reach my class, I had the space to do it without hindering other people. It was definitely a lot more comforting than my old school. Twilight took me up the stairs adjacent to the doors and lead me to the classroom marked "Mr. Dodswell - E221 - AP English Literature and Composition" We entered to see a fairly empty class. I took a look at the clock above the whiteboard, and saw that school didn't start for another five minutes. Phew. At least I got time to adjust to people before class started. 

"TIIIINA!" A voice screamed from the front of the class. I looked over to see a group of three girls giggling and waving at us. 

"Ah! Roseluck! Hi!" Twilight exclaimed. "Oh, it's so nice to see you! Break was so short!" 

I looked at the three girls inquisitively. My first social event since meeting the six girls. Once again, no guys around. They were all pretty nice looking and all. They wore T-Shirts each with different flowers on them. The one that had called out Twilight was a red haired girl with a lighter red streak through her hair (Like, legitimate red, not that orange hair that people call red hair for some reason). She wore a light tan shirt with a picture of a rose embroidered on it. Behind her were two girls, one with green hair (Normal hair I guess wasn't the norm in this town) and another with blonde hair, both bushily rolling down to their chest. They both wore pink shirts, the green haired girl's shirt being a lighter shade. I couldn't see from the angle I was standing at, but I assumed that there was emboridery on their shirts as well.

"Oh, I KNOW! The flower shop was SUCH a drag!" The red haired girl sighed.

"And whooooo's this good looking guy?" The green haired girl giggled. "You get a boyfriend that you didn't tell us about?"

"No, sillies! This is Joseph. He. . . he just moved in!" Twilight stated, giving an awkward smile. She was a terrible liar.

"Oh, well how nice to meet you! I'm Lilly!" The yellow haired girl stated happily, waving hello to me.

"I'm Daisy!" The green one stated, waving at me.

"I'm Rose!" The red haired girl stated. "It's so nice to meet you!"

"Heh. Nice to meet you all too. Glad you all are so friendly." I stated shyly. I was never that good of a new people person, honestly. I was scared they would think I'm creepy because I had a "pedo-stache" or because I just kind of came out of nowhere.

*Ding!*

Twilight jumped into the seat in front of Roseluck, while I chose to sit next to her. Honestly, I had always hated sitting in the front. It was so hard to sleep while I was in the front of everything. However, I could tell that this wasn't a class that I would be sleeping in. After all, I had Miss Enthusiasm over here with her. . . enthusiasm, for both her AND I.

"Hello class. I'm Mr. Dodswell. I'm your AP English teacher" Mr. Dodswell introduced himself. He seemed just like any other boring teacher, he wore a grey sweatervest and stood at a pretty average height. He was maybe around. . . 50? I was no good with ages. He wore thick rimmed glasses and had thinning and greying hair, and spoke in a very monotonous voice. "Let me take attendance. . . " He went on, calling the name of everyone in our class, a list that I don't even remember. The only person that seemed to be missing was a guy named Jimmy Russell. Damn, a guy would be nice to meet sometime. The class itself was incredibly boring, and if it weren't for Twilight, I would have definitely been out. We didn't talk about much, just about how he had high expectations for us, and how this was a college level class. He proceeded to tell a story of how over the break, his cat got loose and he had to chase it around the entire city. He felt it neccesary to describe every part of the city that he looked for the cat.

Thanks a lot, cat, for making first period suck.

Luckily, the class was over before I even knew it, as the bell heavily rung, and students seemed to move like zombies towards the door. Honestly, I couldn't tell if it was because of the teacher or because it was still too early for life to be happening after such a long break.

"Joseph! What's your next class?" Twilight asked me as I finished packing my things.

"Um. Oh. . . AP Government." I replied meekly.

"Oooh! Rose!" Twilight called to the red haired girl. "Joseph has the same second period as you! Can you show him where it is?"

"Sure thing, Twi! Let's go, Joseph!" Rose stated happily. Rose was the prettiest out of the three gi-

Joseph. Stop yourself. I can honestly say that I've been finding more and more people pretty at this school. I'm not sure what it was, but I felt a desire to be in a relationship more than ever. I couldn't really pinpoint the reasons for my desire, but even within the first hour of school, it was already consuming me. She was so nice and friendly and she had nice hair. . . 

"So. . . where are you from?" Rose asked me as we walked to the building with a pony that looked like it was giving a speech.

"Oh. Um. . . " The question I had been dreading. "I'm from. . . " I remembered quickly skimming through a textbook at my desk in English that stated 'Published in. . .' 

"Manehattan! I'm from Manehattan!" Did every town have to have a pony pun? I'd honestly never even heard about such a town.

"Oh, I'm so jealous! I've always wanted to go there!" She giggled, putting her hand up in a fist to cover her mouth. 

"Yeah, it's. . . nice. So do you know who else is in Government?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah! It's second semester, so I already know who's in all of my classes! There's. . . Harley, Christian, Lyre, aaand. . . Rarity!" she listed off "I don't really know much of the other people there. Sorry!"

"Oh, it's fine. The only person I know from there is Rarity. . . and you, of course" I gave a nervous smile to her, not wanting to seem mean on my first day.

"Heh, you're silly! Now, come on, it's G - 101, so it's right in here!" She stated, opening the door for me. I walked in as the bell rang, and noticed Rarity sitting in the back, messing around with her hair.

"Oh, Joseph, darling!" She wailed as she noticed me. "Come over here, dear!" I had no choice but to oblige. Rose walked up to Rarity with me, sitting in the seat in front of her. 

"Darling, how has your day been? Have the other people been treating you nicely? Oh, I sure hope they have, I would be particularly ANGRY if anybody hurt a hair on you!" Rarity went on and on. . .

"Um. . . no. . .no battle scars as of now." I nervously replied. Rarity was either a morning person or put some special sugar in her Wheatie-Os this morning. 

"AHEM" I heard from the front of the class. "If you'd excuse me, Miss Rarity, I'd like to start my class."

Rarity folded her arms and rolled her eyes as I took the seat next to her. Obviously this wasn't the first time these two had conflicted.

"No need to reintroduce myself. For you new guys, I'm Mr. McFerguson. I don't tolerate much other than paying attention up here. Got a problem with it? Then I got a problem with you in this class." He gave a nasty glance to Rarity, who pouted and folded her arms tighter than natural physics probably allowed.

The class was honestly stupid. If I had any motivation to get back home, it would be to get my old Government teacher back. I don't remember his name or face, but I remember that he was a great teacher. He made everything so easy. This guy, though. . . he kind of expected us to know everything. It was fine for me, since I natually had Government as my best subject, but still, I had so many questions during the class. Still, I was so nervous about everything. What if I asked a dumb question! People would look and me and be like "Wow how did he get into this class? He's so stupid, he probably is some richo who paid the principal to be in here." or something like that. Still, it was a pleasure. Rose and Rarity were fun to be around, even if they were forced to sit straight up and not talk to me. I kind of enjoyed the company, the fact that I had friends nearby me, and if there was a zombie apocalypse here, I wouldn't be stuck her alone. . . or something more friendship related, I'm no good at allusions.

*Ding!*

This day was going by fast. At this point, I honestly didn't give a dang, school was a drag so far. 

"U-Um. . . Rose. . . Do you know where the music class is?" I asked Rose. I would have asked Rarity, but. . . she seemed a bit flustered today, especially when I did something with her. For instance, I lost focus and stared at a pencil bag she had on her desk, and I almost died when she noticed me and turned fifty shades of red. I'm not sure why anybody would blush because someone looked at their pencil bag, though. . .

"Oh. . . um. . . Christian!" She called out towards two tall guys walking out of the class.

Guys. Yes.

Two guys walked over towards us, both wearing black vests with white long sleeved shirts underneath. One of them had brown hair, roughly the same color as mine, in a formal sort of. . . not mess like mine was, it was hard describing man hair. The other one had blue wavy hair that went down to about his shoulders, hugging his head as it went down.

"My friend here, his name is Joseph. He's new here and needs help finding the band room." Rose asked them.

"Dude, don't even worry. We got this." The blue haired one casually replied.

"Yes, Rose, we'll show him from here. Thank you" The brown haired one added in, in a much more formal tone than the other guy. The three of us went out the door and headed back outside.

"So you the new bass bone guy?" The blue haired guy replied.

"Uum, yeah." I shyly replied. At least they spoke like they had an ounce of music knowledge.

"Fantastic. My name is Christian. Christian Anderson. That over there is Harley Ferguson. As you can tell, we are also part of the jazz ensemble" The brown haired guy explained.

"Oh, cool! What do you guys play?"

"I play Trombone 3 and Christian plays Alto 1. Like, dude, he's freaking good. Like serious" Harley explained.

"Trombone 3? So you're sitting next to me. Nice." I replied, giving a soft smile.

"Yeah, it's nice having someone else sit next to me. There's also Ron and Peter, but they're both juniors, you ain't gonna see them around much except for band and all. I'd be first, but this is my first year playing trombone. I mostly play Euph, but jazz seemed cool." Harley informed me.

"Nice. I'm a tuba player mostly but I've been playing bass bone for a while too." I explained to him. Damn, it was nice not to be so shy. I wasn't even all into Jazz, I couldn't name a single Bass Trombone player nor did I listen to Jazz much. However, it was cool having friends that I could relate to more than "Wow they're nice"

Christian and Harley lead me inside of a building marked with a pony playing the piano (How did horses even play the piano? Honestly.) and I was lead straight into the band room, the same one I had been in earlier for my "audition".

Apparently we got there early, as there were only four other people setting up equipment.

"AY YO GUYS WE GOT A BASS BONE PLAYER" Harley yelled out from the door. I wanted to slap him in the face. Luckily for me, so did Christian, and unlike me, Christian had the balls to do so. The four people setting up walked over to me and smiled.

"Dang, we've been waiting for a bass bone for a long time!" A multi-shaded blue haired girl exclaimed.

"Yes, yes we have. Honestly, it's so nice to have anybody join our ensemble. But I'm being rude, my name is Elizabeth. A lot of people call me Octavia, though." A black haired girl wearing a grey suit explained to me. If Christian was formal, then this was the epitome of formal. She politely outstetched her hand to shake mine, a gesture I surely followed. "I play the Alto Saxaphone. It's so nice meeting you.

"Oooh! Me next!" The blue haired girl exclaimed. She wore a fairly tight white shirt with blue and pink neon lights running in random directions about it. "I'm Candace! But you can call me Vinyl! I play drumset!" she exclaimed.

"Heh, sorry if she's a bit weird, she. . . she had some special sugar in her Wheatie-Os this morning!" Harley butted in. Once again, I wanted to punch him. Nobody steals my unsaid metaphors. 

"I did NOT! I'm just FRIENDLY, thank you very much!" Vinyl exclaimed, almost falling over from. . . a force that I didn't even know existed.

"Heh. On with the introductions, I guess. I'm Frederick. I'd share my nickname, but it's pretty much the same as my real name, and I refuse to explain how it's different." A narrow-eyed slender man stated, drawing attention away from Vinyl and Harley. He has light blonde hair that was kept in a small ponytail on the back of his head, going down his neck. Christian and Octavia couldn't help but laugh at the mention of his nickname. "Shut up, you two. Anyways, I play piano."

"I'm last! I'm Brittany! I play Bass!" A bubbly brown haired girl exclaimed. She definitely looked like she could lose a few pounds, and her bright blue 'Carousel Boutique" T-Shirt didn't help aleiviate that issue. Still, she looked nice.

"We gonna socialize or we gonna warm up?" A familiar booming voice called from behind us. All of us looked to see the class filled with many more students, and Mr. Acevedo sitting at the front of the ensemble. We all silently walked to get out instruments and began warming up. It felt incredibly nice to be in a real ensemble for once. Granted, I kind of wish that more of those six teenage girls were around. As much as they were weird, it felt like they were nowhere in my school. Damn, Diane played trumpet, she could have been here!

Band was nice, either way. Harley was a nimrod, but he was good enough at trombone anyway. These guys really knew how to play, though. I almost felt kind of inferior, just based on how skilled each person was. Granted, it wasn't like I did bad or anything! It's just that for once, I wasn't really the best. It sounds so cocky of me, but honestly, I've always been one of the best in music, which motivated me to stay in it so I could eliminate the "one of". It was a fresh start for me, a definite wake up call. We read a piece called "Pegasus" today, which honestly was one of my favorite pieces. I remember playing a few years ago at my nameless high school, and honestly, it was incredibly fun. Before I could have time to truly enjoy it, the period was over. 

"Dude so Joseph, you're good." Harley mentioned to me as I was putting my instrument away.

"You really think so?" I asked him, reverting to my timid nature.

"Yeah. Like. Dude. Like. . . Like. . . " Vinyl flowed into the convesation, her eyes looking unfocused.

"Good." Harley finished the sentence for her.

"Damn. . . well, thanks." I responded. I was a humble person, I never once bragged about my skills. Sure, sometimes, I'd mention it, but I never was like "Yeah, I know I'm good." Still, though, it was well appreciated. However, before I could take the time to let the compliments soak in, I realized that I had to sprint to my fourth period class.

"Hey. . . um. . . Vinyl. . . you know where physics is?" I asked Vinyl, hoping to not get to loud of a response.

"Duuuude. Dude. Duuude. Dude. I know EXACTLY where that is!" She grabbed my hand and sprinted off out of the building. Luckily for me, she didn't sprint like Twilight, she only sprinted with the motivation of special Wheatie-O's, which weren't actually much motivation at all. Granted, we crashed into a building with a pony wearing safety goggles and pouring some sort of liquid into another liquid at the speed of weed. I couldn't even tell what class we were going in, but somehow I ended up in. . . some science class. She let go of my hand and rolled to her seat. . . which wasn't much of a roll, it was right next to the door. I stood by the door, not seeing anybody that I really recognized. Sure, Frederic was in this class, but he was already sitting around a bunch of other people that I didn't know. Suddenly, darkness overtook me.

"Guess who!"
> Chapter 3B: The Seeds of Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Guess who!" A familiar voice giggled.

It was the beginning of fourth period when I heard this. The other three periods had been pretty nice. Granted, I wanted to sleep in two of them, but at least I met a bunch of grand new people along the way. Like, Rose, Rarity, Christian, Harley, and a handful of others. It surprised me, how easy it was to make friends here. These people didn't even think of me as "the new kid" or "the weird person that's from out of town." They all seemed to have a childlike innocence about them, and sincerely wanted to be my friend. I enjoyed this feeling, and it could only get better through the next three periods. But I can honestly say that my happiness leaped to new heights upon hearing that small two word phrase.

"AUGUSTINE!" I yelped, almost screaming. The entire class stared at me, wondering if Applejack had pulled a knife on me or something. . . everyone except for Vinyl, who was taking on the magic quest of sitting in a chair without falling off.

"Heh! You're quite the silly filly, sugarcube!" She giggled. This obsession with horses and ponies around here really startled me. Granted, it was silly of me for that to be one of my top concerns, but it was a bit off. I let it slide though, seeing as she sounded like a farmgirl. She probably worked with horses every day, and silly filly was likely one of those phrases her whole family used.

"I'm silly?! You're the one that grabbed me and made me scream in front of everyone!" I playfully retorted. Honestly, it scared me a little bit. I knew she was trying to be friendly, but I was still new. I trusted many people in the world, but I still had to stay on my toes in case there were any dangers I couldn't pinpoint. I was happy that it was Applejack, but still . . .

"Ah, mighty sorry, feller." Applejack replied. 

Damn. I hope I didn't make her feel bad, that'd be terrible. She'd be like "Look a yall at this here spooty patooty little mumpkin being the meanest little humfrumpter in the cabbage patch," Or however she spoke like, I never actually met someone with an accent like hers.

"Aw, don't be sorry, I'm the one that should be sorry! I was just being so weird and stuff and I'm SO tense and it's so not nice of me!" I wailed, hoping to redeem myself.

Applejack rubbed my head playfully. "Don't feel bad, sugarcube, I was only playing. Now, come on, the girl that sat next to me transferred out, so we can sit right together!"

Yes. Fifty shades of yes. I had a class with Applejack, AND I sat next to her?! This was going to be a fun year.

I walked over to the tables. Unlike most classes, where there were simple individual desks, all facing the front of the room, this class had three large black tables with four chairs on each side. I could sit next to Applejack and, to the view of the teacher, be sitting in front her. It was odd, I guess, but it seemed more practical for a science class than basic desks.

"Hello, class. I noticed we have a new student here." An upbeat, nasal voice pierced my ears. "So let's all give a super welcome to Mr. Joseph Hamilton!" He began clapping as he walked towards me. A few people joined in out of politeness, but nobody seemed enthusiastic. This could go two ways. One, they could think that I'm such a terrible person and someone spread a weird rumor about how I just got out of jail and am hiding in a school before I plan out my next country extermination attempt as the police try to find me, or. . . they could all be tired. Before I could ponder on this more, I felt a pair of hands press onto my shoulders. I immediately freaked out and grabbed hold of Applejack's hand.

"Aw, he's a little jittery! But that's okay, I'll be happy to be your best friend! Everyone else will be, too!" He told me as he rubbed my shoulders. I squeezed Applejack's hand a bit ha-

I thought about what I was doing. I could care less about the scary man rubbing my shoulders. After all, if he was going to abduct me, he wouldn't do it during class. There were witnesses. I cared more about my hand.

I sat there paralyzed until he left, easing my muscles and letting me act on what my mind was so feverishly telling me to do. I immediately pulled my hand off of Applejack's and shoved it into my sweater.

"Heh. . . eh heh. . . I'm. . . I. . . " I managed to nervously mumble out. She probably thinks I'm creepy now, right? She'll be like 'Oh Joseph get away from me, you're such a pe-'

"Perfectly fine, Ah know that Mister Lua can be a pretty crazy critter at times. Heck, if ah was from stange land like you was and some guy did that to me, ah'd probably hold your hand too!" Applejack kindly replied.

Note to self: Take Applejack to a strange and foreign land and get a creepy physics teacher to grab her shoulders while I sit next to her.

Still, though, I was incredibly embarrassed. She was just so pretty and so nice, and her kind words didn't help at all! I found Rose to be nice looking, and Twilight was sweet, but Applejack, well, she made my mind race and my palms go sweaty whenever I even thought of her. She was just so amazing, and I was screwing things up so bad! She probably thinks deep inside of her mind that I'm just some weirdo, and that I'm being too touchy grabby with her or I'm being too jittery around her.

I wonder if she knows.

After that initial scare, the rest of class went along nicely. Applejack and I switched seats because I noticed her struggling to see the board. Also, I kind of wanted to sit behind her. This class was so boring, and my mind was just racing, wanting to turn my head around just to get a good look at her face. Granted, sitting behind her wouldn't let me look at her face, she had gracious blonde hair that she pulled into a ponytail as it flew down and flowed natually halfway down her back. She was oddly reluctant about moving, though. She claimed 'No no, sugarcube, I'm all fine back here!' However, the teacher heard us and started walking towards us with a creepy smile. 

"Any commotion here, friends?" He asked, leaning his head in between us.

We silently shook our heads no, in fear. He walked back to his desk and continued his lesson.

"You win, partner." Applejack breathed out nervously. We immediately switched seats and I silently appreciated her presence for the rest of the period, until the bell rang.

That was the happiest sound of the day. As much as I loved being near Applejack, the teacher scared the living hell out of me. I'd have to use up all of my inner strength to survive that class without pissing myself a few times.

"Hey sugarcube. . . um. . . ah was just wonderin'. . . Rarity got moved from her fourth period an now she ain't get second lunch anymore. D-Do ya wanna. . . eat with me?" Applejack asked me, scuffing her foot into the ground nervously.

"U-Um. . . yeah. . . yeah! Sure!" I stated, subconsciously emulating her sudden nervousness. I guess having a teacher like that broke even the strongest of people! I was so happy that I got to eat lunch with Applejack, as it let me spend more time with her and I didn't have to struggle through the awkward first lunch where I had to explore the perimeter, finding a familiar face to associate myself with. We both walked outside and observed the fairly bustling campus. Granted, it wasn't as busy as my old school, but it was noticeable enough for me to have concern. Crowds weren't really a fear of mine, but I never enjoyed being around them, even if they were incredibly small. Applejack knew where she was going, though. She motioned me out of the crowd towards a chain link fence with a few tree stumps nearby.

"Here we go! Ah always loved sittin' here, but Rarity was too much of a fancy schmancy ta eat over here, so ah had ta sit in one of them big tables over there. They were so mean over there, I couldn't even begin to describe!" Applejack explained.

"That's terrible to hear. I'll try being nice to you!" I kindly replied. I wanted to say and do as much as I could to persuade her to have ultimate trust in me. All I wanted more than anything was her trust and acceptance, as a friend. . . but these desires conflicted with my other desire. The desire to go home. As much as I wanted to show Applejack my best, even though it was only mediocrity, I also wanted to spend time finding a way to get home, or at least remember home, and get out of here. Not that this place was bad or anything. I sighed softly and lowered my head as I turned these thoughts over in my head, trying to work out this conflict.

"Aww, sugarcube, what's wrong?" Applejack asked kindly.

"Oh. Um, nothing." I lied, giving a soft smile. I wasn't exactly the best kind of liar.

"Now, pardner, ah've got a lil sis and a big bro, and ah've been around so many other people. Ah know when someone is sad."

"You have a brother and a sister? Tell me about them!" I seriously didn't want her to find anything wrong in me. After all, what if she saw that I was weak and she'd not like me all that much?! After all, no girl likes a weak guy!

". . . Ah'll work out a deal with you. Ah'll tell ya 'bout mah family if ya tell me 'bout yer sadness."

I sighed, and obliged. "It sucks not having memories."

"Aww, shucks, that IS pretty sad ta hear there. Ah wish there was more ah could do."

"You can do nothing. But it's not bad or anything, Twilight's already helping me. You're being helpful by being so nice, though."

"Aww, thanks there, sugarcube. But ah could always do more ah guess."

I smiled nervously. I didn't want to seem like I was too eager to accept help. I remember my ex, and how she always complained that I had no idea about social cues. I took everything people said literally. What if this was one of those social cue things! I don't know, I'm just paranoid about it, and especially when it came to Applejack. . .

"So. . . your family?"

"Oh! Well, ah got a big bro named Macintosh. His girlfriend is Cherry Lee, and she's actually a co-teacher over in that there English class that Twilight's in. She wasn't at school today, though. Um. . .Ah got a sister that's just a little girl, Beatrice. Then there's mah two cousins that go here, Brandon and Carlton! They're the sweetest guys but all they do is just yap yap yap!"

"Do they have any of those stu-, I mean. . . do they have any nicknames too?" 

"Oh, sure! Mac's name is Big Mac, then Cherry's name is Cheerilee. Beatrice's nickname is Applebloom, then Brandon and Carlton are Braeburn and Caramel."

These names puzzled me beyond belief. The only one that made sense was Big Mac's (and maybe Cherry Lee's.). Before I could ask her about it, the bell rang across the campus.

"Well then, sugarcube, it was surely an ho- I mean, a pleasure eatin' with ya! Where ya off ta next?" Applejack asked me. I hadn't realized this before, but Applejack had no food on her. Granted, neither did I, as I rushed to pack my things from all of my intense pre-school studying, but the subject of her food never really entered my mind.

"Oh! Um. . . Drama." I replied.

"Well then! Yer gonna go ta the big pony on the stage! That's our auditorium, and Drama class is in there!" Applejack explained, pointing to a building not too far from my location.

"And how about you?"

"Me? Ah, I'm headin' ta Child Development, back in the science buildin'"

"Child development?"

"YEAH!" Applejack probably said that much louder than she wanted to, startling me a bit. "Uuum, don't worry! It's not like ah WANT a baby! Heck, I don't want babies for a LONG time! Heh, who'd even want a baby! They're so annoying and um. . . um. . . silly."

"Yeah, sounds about right. Idunno, it'd be fun, though."

"Yup! But not now! I'm not wantin' a baby at all! Nope nope nope! Ah. . . Ah gotta head to class now! See ya, Joseph!"

"Catch you later, Augustine!"

She jogged off back to the science building. It didn't seem like she was late, though, most people were still throwing away their trash and socializing.

I probably said something wrong, didn't I. Yup. I said something wrong. Damn social cues and their confusingness. I sighed and shook my head. I wish I was better at stuff like that.  I picked up my backpack and attempted to regain my thoughts of happiness before I proceeded.

I walked into the auditorium and noticed students sitting around the seats near the front of the stage. I looked around to see any faces that I recognized. Suddenly, after a bit of searching, I found one.

"Rose!" I exclaimed. Three classes with Rose? This day just kept on getting better and better.

"Joseph!" Rose exclaimed, incredibly happy to see me. "It's so cool that we have three classes together!" 

"I know! So are your friends here, too?"

"Yeah, they just ALWAYS get here late. They have lunch while I have my fourth period, and they ALWAYS like to spend every second of lunch outside of class."

"Nice. It's a bit chilly outside, though, I'd rather be inside!"

"Heh, that's exactly what my boyfriend says!"

Boyfriend?

"Oh! There he is right now!" she exclaimed, making a discrete point towards him. I was witness to a stunning display of manliness and adorableness walking down the aisle, as he walked in with a cowboy hat and denim jeans, wearing a light yellow plaid shirt. He walked with a certain kind of ruggedness, like he spent much of his time working on fields and not caring so much about his presence. He sat next to Rose and took off his cowboy hat, revealing more of his flowing blonde hair, a blonde bushel on the top of his head, the wavy strands flowing down to no farther than his neck.

"Braeburn, honey!" Rose giggled in happiness, hugging Braeburn.

"Rose, my cute little fritter!" Braeburn replied, kissing her softly on the top of her forehead.

They engaged in hugging for a slight moment while I stared and grew feelings of jealously. My ex girlfriend and I met online, though an internet group that another friend of mine introduced me to. We only really met once, and we were both nervous to do very much physical action. It pained me that I had never actually done anything intimate like that with a girl. I watched as they rubbed noses together and gave small playful kisses, and longed for such a feeling to enter my life.

My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar and somewhat welcome voice. "Oh! Heavens yes! Joooseph!" it called.

I turned back to see the same purple haired girl that had been in my Government class.

"Darling, you remember me, yes? Yes! Now it's just so delightful that we get to share ANOTHER class with each other! Especially my FAVORITE class! Oh, I just love drama so much!" Rarity exclaimed. "Don't you?"

"Oh, um. . . yeah." I replied, nervous by her incredibly happy demeanor. Why was she acting all like this around me, so weird and tense and frilly? I'd expect Pinkie to do that, but not her. . .

Our Drama teacher, Mrs. Webber came out and smiled. "What do you guys think of this? Beauty and the Beast!"

Daisy and Lily, whom I hadn't even noticed walk in, gave a small little cheer. Rose and Braeburn were still being somewhat playful, and Rarity looked with a look of excitement.

"Um, yes, for the part of Beauty, what dress will I have to create? I have to start now so I can practice gliding around the ballroom  with my one prince charming!"

"That's what you'll be finding out! Um. . . Daisy! Help me pass out these packets. These packets contain audition lines for  all major characters. If you'd like to be a part of stage crew or a background character, please come talk to me after I finish speaking. Auditions are next monday. All lines must be memorized, and I will not be answering any questions regarding context or how the character should be played, that is your job. The best person gets the part. I will place you where I feel you will best succeed. You have the rest of this period to practice. Tomorrow we will be studying the history of this play. Go to work." The teacher explained, much more lively than most of my other teachers, yet not creepy like Mr. Lua. She seemed very matter of fact and didn't seem to like much fluff when addressing people, a trait that I admired but also feared. I had a bad habit of explaining things way more than I should.

"Oh, I wonder who the main female lead of this play is! Why, I'll be so glamorous, I might just have every other part while I'm at it!" Rarity explained onward, apparently believing that I was interested. Rarity was nice and all, but still, she could be so cocky at times.

Nothing much really happened during this period. I didn't expect much from my audition, but I still wanted to give effort. I decided to group myself up with Braeburn and the three flower shirt girls, while Rarity decided to join in. We sat around with a casting list, trying to figure out where we wanted to be.

"Ah wanna be beast!" Braeburn called out. It was at that instant that I realized that Braeburn was the Brandon that Applejack was talking about during lunch, just based on his heavy southern accent. Was her family just experts at being good looking? 

"Oh, and I'd sure love to be Beauty! I heard she absolutely LOVES roses, she'll be perfect for me!" Rose stated dreamily, giggling and looking up slightly, probably imagining herself as Belle.

"Um. Pardon me, Miss Rose, but you should definitely reconsider. After all, her name IS beauty, and. . . heh, I KIND of fit the name, don't you think?" Rarity butted in.

"I guess. However. . . may the best actor win! I wish you the best of luck!"

"I won't be needing luck, I just have skill! Plus, when I'm Belle, I'll have my little friend Joseph here be my Beast! Isn't that right, Joseph?"

"Um. . . actually, I was planning on auditioning for Gaston." I replied meekly.

"GASTON?! That little twerp! Oh, he's SO cocky, and SO self-centered. Darling, you need a character that fits you!" Rarity explained.

"Lil Rarity, if ah could make a su-" Braeburn inputted.

"Hey guys the bell is about to ring!" Daisy exclaimed, almost jumping on top of Braeburn. We all knew what he was going to say to Rarity, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause a commotion on my first day at the school. She wasn't lying, though, the bell WAS about to ring. This period had gone by way too fast. It wasn't a bad thing, though. As much as I enjoyed hanging out with the flower girls and Braeburn, Rarity was starting to get a bit on my nerves with her attitude. I didn't unpack anything, choosing to hold my packet in my hand, and walked out of the class at the first sign of the bell, eager to go to my final class of the day. . . AP Music Theory.

I hurried myself back to the band room to see the class filled with twenty desks facing the whiteboard. I wondered to myself just how did they get there? After all, just three periods ago, I was sitting on a stool, and I knew there were probably other classes he had. I looked around and noticed Octavia and Vinyl sitting around in the back of the class, Vinyl sleeping on her desk while Octavia placed her books out neatly, waiting for class to start.

"Hey Elizabeth!" I exclaimed as I walked towards her desk.

"Oh, hi there, Joseph. I've got an open seat behind me if you need somewhere to sit." Octavia replied. "And. . . try not to wake Candace up. She's mad because her biology teacher got mad at her for being high during class."

This world was so normal yet so insane at the same time.

I sat down as the rest of the students filed in. The class wasn't huge, maybe about twenty people, but AP Music Theory was never a popular class anyways. The group from Jazz Band walked in, and sat around me, with Brittany on my left and Harley on my right. 

"Hey guys. Welcome to any new kids we got here!" Mr. Acevedo exclaimed. "We're going to be doing some ear training to get ourselves back into the swing of things! I'll play an interval, and you guys tell me which interval it is on your paper!" He walked over to the piano and played the first interval.


* * *


"Come on, Joseph, you didn't do that bad!" Octavia told me after we finished grading the paper that we had written our answers on.

"Yeah, dude, at least you didn't do as bad as Candace!" Harley exclaimed.

"Shut up! I'm a drummer!" Vinyl moaned.

"You play the timpani in concert band." Frederick stated coldly. "What did you even get anyway, Joseph?"

"I got a five out of ten." I moaned.

"Oh. I got a ten out of ten," Frederick replied, once again with a very cold tone. I'm sure he wasn't hateful or anything, just his voice naturally sounded slightly like he wanted to murder everyone.

"Frederick, you can't compare with anybody, you're a piano player! After all, it's Joseph's first day, he did very good!" Christian replied. 

Before Frederick could reply, Mr. Acevedo called the class back to attention.

"Hey guys, we only have a few more minutes left in class! Let me just give you all a few reminders! Firstly, Wind Ensemble practice starts at 6:45 in the morning! Please be there on time. Percussion section, please be set up by 7:00," Mr. Acevedo announced, glaring at Vinyl upon mentioning the percussion section. "Please. Anyways, that's all for today, please place the desks back against the wall."

Upon this statement, every person in the class stood up and picked up their chairs. Everyone except for Vinyl. Octavia giggled nervously and picked up Vinyl, holding onto her so she wouldn't fall.

"Joseph, if you're at all able to. . ." Octavia asked me, still holding Vinyl.

"Oh, sure!" I replied. As soon as I stated this, the bell rang. After putting away Octavia's desk (Harley helped put away Vinyl's desk), I walked back outside. The sun shone brightly in my eyes as I navigated my way to the front of the school. You know, I wasn't really sure of what was supposed to happen after school ended, Twilight never told me at all. I sighed and decided that she'd have to come to the front of the school sometime. I sat for roughly ten minutes before hearing a familiar voice.

"Augustine?" I asked myself as I turned around and saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash were behind me, quarreling.

"What do you MEAN you were faster than me?! You aren't even a runner!" Rainbow Dash moaned.

"Still, I ain't no runner, but ah won that race fair and square!" Applejack replied.

"WhatEVER! You go back to your little 'discus' and leave the races to me!"

"Well ya don't have ta be so rude about it!"

If it weren't for the fact that this was a public school, I would have beat up Rainbow right there. I didn't know her very well, probably the girl out of the six that I met that I knew the least. Besides Fluttershy, but I'm doubting I'll ever get to really know her. Nobody is EVER rude to Applejack like that, especially when I'm around.

"Ah! Joseph!" Applejack called out. "We was just havin' a little playful banter over here. Can ya believe it, Kels won't admit that she lost!"

"I DIDN'T LOSE!" Rainbow sighed heavily, rolling her eyes.

"Sure, sugarcube, keep tellin' yerself that. So where ya headin' ta, Joseph?" Applejack asked me.

"Um. . . gotta wait for Twilight, I think. I honestly don't know," I replied.

"Oh, Twilight's got some school club stuff to do. Science Olympiad or somethin'." 

"Oh. Damn. I don't have any plans, then."

Applejack scraped her foot on the ground nervously. "Ya know, if ya ain't too busy, ah could take ya ta mah house. Folks won't mind. You'll get ta see Brandon and Carlton and Mac and Cherry Lee and all the other people I was talkin' with ya 'bout durin' lunch. . . that is, if it's ok with you! It's completely fine if it isn't, though! Ah know it's weird of me! After a-"

"Sure." I answered calmly.

"Really?! Come now, let's go!" Applejack exclaimed, grabbing a hold of my hand, tugging me along.

It felt nice being pulled along by her. This entire time was nice. She giggled as the wind flew past her hair, throwing golden sunshine into the air in front of my face. I had trouble keeping up, but I was determined to not seem tired to her, to look strong, to look big. . . I just wish I wasn't so scared about how she thought of me. I know she's a nice girl, but still, I want her to find me. I wish she would just be able to see me and be like 'Man, that Joseph sure is a great guy' or think about me when she slept or just come up and hug me every time she saw me. I wish she would sit down on days when I'm sad and hold me in her arms and tell her that I'm great and that she cares about me and everything is okay.

I wish I didn't have to leave. I wish I could just be here. With her.

If only she wanted that, too. . .
> Chapter 4: As My Mind Falters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"He's in a coma right now, Mrs. Strickland. Your other son is recovering fine from his broken arm, but Joseph was hit right at the impact point. It's a miracle he's at least somewhat conscious. We will keep him on life support for as long as we feel we need to. . . but I cannot guarantee when he'll be awake. The coma must run through its natural course. We will do everything in our power to ease this pain and bring him back, but for right now, I can say nothing more than to be patient and have God on your side. . ."


* * *


"Joseph! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" I heard a voice scream.

"Tina. . . Tina. . . it's four in the morning," I moaned.

It was now Wednesday, and I positively could say that things weren't incredibly perfect. The past two days had been pretty torturous to me. To start things off, after school on Monday, I got to go to Applejack's house. Her family was incredibly nice and hospitable, but I couldn't stop staring at Applejack as she showed me around the house and the barn. Just as I suspected, she was a farm girl, but her family wasn't too southern for my taste. I enjoyed the quality time that Applejack and I got to spend together. Granted, it was pretty short, as Twilight came in after about two hours and took me back home, after Rainbow had told her where I was. I liked it though. Especially her brother and cousins, they were all incredibly nice. . . and borderline cute. . .

Tuesday was about as bland as any other second day. The first day of school is always exciting, there's new adventures to experience, there's new sights to see, new people all around. . . but the second day was incredibly bland. Nothing much happened worth mentioning except that I was completely unaware that I was a part of the school's Wind Ensemble and missed the first practice. I received a pretty huge scolding from Octavia and Brittany about it, especially since Brittany was also a tuba player. But today was officially going to be my first day of Wind Ensemble. It would have been great, except for this little interruption. . .

"I know, I know, but we HAVE to get some studying in before we go to school! What if there's a pop quiz in English today!" Twilight moaned.

"Oh yeah, a quiz about the importance of always keeping extra kitty litter," I mumbled as I rolled around on the couch.

"JOOOSEEEPPH!" She whined, stomping her foot on the ground. "Fine, don't wake up. I'll just sit here. . . alone. . . studying. .  ."

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll wake up. . . " I sighed as I threw the covers off of me, shivering as I wore my same attire from since I got here. "Since we're up. . . can we solve a huge problem?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I believe it's been. . . four or five days that I've been wearing these clothes. I like them and all, but. . . do you happen to have any boy clothes?" I didn't expect her to have any. After all, the only guy clothes she had would probably be Spike's old clothes, but he was no more than eight or ten. Those wouldn't fit me at all!

"As a matter of fact, I do. . . Follow me." Twilight replied, walking me to a closet marked "B.B.B.F.F"

I got myself up steadily, trying my best not to fall over from exhaustion, and walked with her to the closet. She opened it up and immediately I saw an array of sporty attire, all in what seemed to be in my size. She dug through the clothes and found a framed picture of her and a jock-type man, probably around my age at the time of the picture, wearing a Letterman jacket with denim blue jeans, having long blue hair poofing around his head. He was happily laughing as he hugged a younger Twilight.

"That's my brother. Rowland, his name was. . . or is, I should say." Twilight explained. She stared at the picture for a few seconds. "He was captain of the wrestling team at his old high school back in Canterlot. Last I heard of him, he's training for the Royal Guard, but he never talks to me, he never send me letters. . . I always worry so much about him, how he's doing, if he's getting into trouble. He was my B.B.B.F.F."

Twilight began to sniffle softly, wiping a tear from her eye. There was a moment of silence after her statement. I was never good at sad situations like this. I wasn't entirely sure what to say to her that would make everything better. Also, I had questions of my own, questions that would probably be wrong to ask at this time. . .

"B.B.B.F.F means Big Brother Best Friend Forever," Twilight added in, knowing the question that I intensely wanted to ask. "Anyway, I don't know what's. . . if he's still here . . . like where he is. . . if he's still. . . " Before Twilight could say anything more, she broke into a fit of tears, holding the picture closer to her. She attempted to say more, but all she could do was stare at me as the memories of her brother filled her mind. Her kind purple eyes looked at me as she attempted to put on a smile and not scare me, but her fragile body couldn't handle it. She sniffled and teared up and bawled for what seemed like hours.

"Tina, I. . ." I tried to find something to say to make her happy, something to get her mind off of her uncertainty. . . just something!

Before I could think of anything, though, she grabbed me and cried onto my chest. "Don't leave me, Joseph, I. . . " She caught herself mid sentence. All she could do now was stare at me once again, and bite her lip as I stared back into her. Her generally bland but controlled hair had now been frizzled, probably from a combination of the early morning as well as her emotional state.

"I've s-said too much, um. . . p-put on the clothes." Twilight managed to breathe out, still sniffing into my jacket.

I wanted to do something! I wanted to comfort her! After all, she's done so much for me, and I should repay her! I should do something about this! However, I couldn't think of any words to say, any actions to do, anything that a normal person would immediately think of doing. It pained me inside, especially because. . . well, if I couldn't deal with Twilight, then what would happen with Applejack, when I'm all nervous and jittery anyway?!

I grabbed a shirt from the box, still keeping a watchful eye on Twilight. The stained blue shirt said "Canterlot High Wrestling Team Champions!" on the front. It would have been awful nice if they put a year on it or something. Anyways, I put on the shirt, discarding my jacket and other shirt to the side of the couch.

"R-Row. . . you look nice," Twilight sniffled, trying her best to calm herself down. "Please, excuse me." she calmly walked out of the room, and I could hear a door closing and being locked in the distance. I sighed deeply. What kind of man was I? Men were supposed to be dominant for a reason. They're supposed to always have the right thing to say to calm people down, they always have to be caring and kind and gentle but strong, and they're supposed to make everything better. But what did I do? I said nothing. I'm now wearing her possibly dead brother's shirt as she cries and I'm not comforting her. I was too nervous to comfort her, though. I don't know why, she's been the person I've put the most trust into during this time, and I'm still a nervous wreck around her.

Before I could wallow in my pity, the front door blasted open and a loud voice called out.

"JOOOOSSEEEEEPPPPHH!" A familiarly bubbly voice screamed.

"DIANE! Heh, Joseph, are you here?" A familiarly formal voice called out, thankfully softer than the last.

"Um. . . hi Elizabeth." I replied meekly, walking towards the front door.

"I'm not about to have you miss practice again. Diane lives right around here, and I always walk her, so she gave me the idea to have you walk with us. Now, are you ready?" Octavia explained with slight force in her tone. ". . .also, hello, excuse me for my rudeness."

I sighed and grabbed my things. Honestly, I wanted to stay with Twilight, but. . . I don't know. I don't know why I chose to go to practice instead of stay with Twilight. Maybe it was because I just wasn't thinking, maybe it's because I felt bad enough for hurting her in the way that I did. . . my mind was kind of a wreck at that point. But I chose to walk with Octavia and Pinkie over to school, assuming that it was some time around 6:00.


* * *


When we arrived at the band room, a number of students were already there, warming up and setting up percussion instruments.

"Joseph! Thank GOODNESS you came today! If you missed today I couldn't even DESCRIBE how horrible third period would have been!" Brittany exclaimed as she burst out of the back instrument storage room. "Now let me get your instrument."

She grabbed my hand and led me to the back room, where an array of decent quality instruments were stored. Not many people were in here, as it was probably still fairly early. However, I noticed a girl with a combination of dark blue and pink hair setting up a Bassoon, exclaiming into her phone 'Lyyyre! You NEED to get here, I'm so alone without you!'

Brittany pointed to a gray case, probably much bigger than it should have been. I opened the case and noticed a Model N St. Petersburg Tuba, complete with a Schilke Helleberg mouthpiece. "That'll be yours. It's got a few dents, but it's still good." Brittany explained. I immediately grabbed it and began warming up. Granted, I should have buzzed on the mouthpiece a little bit before playing, but I was simply too excited. An overwhelming feeling came over me when I got the chance to play my instrument once again! I didn't sound as good as I would have liked, but that'd all come back with time. I sat by Brittany and stared around the room. I could see some people from Jazz Band already set up, warming up. Octavia was sitting in the principal chair spot for Clarinet, while Frederick sat at the principal chair spot for French Horn. Before I could look for anyone else, though, Mr. Acevedo stepped on the podium, and all was silent.


* * *


Practice ended roughly an hour later. It was honestly a relieving experience being able to play in an ensemble again. As I expected in the back of my mind, Vinyl was late, and received a bit of a scolding. She didn't really seem to care, though, as if the scolding was a common thing to her by now. Everyone was stellar, except for one trumpet player who's tone was painful to listen to. 

"Can you believe it?!" Pinkie screamed from across the room, assumedly to me. "The two freshmen said that I played so loud and my tone was so bad!" She ran up to me and tugged on my shirt. "You heard me, right?! I was good, right?!"

This explains everything.

"Um. . . I wasn't paying attention," I meekly replied.

"Oh. Well tomorrow, you should! Because it'd be so so fun if you went up to those meanies and were like 'Diane is the best fluglehorn player in all of this school and you're silly if you think she isn't!'"

"You play the trumpet."

"I know! But I REALLY wanna play the Fluglehorn! That's why I played trumpet in the first place, silly!"

"Oh. . . " I stared at her for a second. She reminded me of someone that I knew in the past. . . but I couldn't remember who. Anyways, before I could reply, the bell rang, and I walked off to my next class, waving bye to Diane.

I walked into class and noticed that the desk next to me was empty.

"Joseph!" Rose called out from her usual seat.

"Oh, hey Rose!" I replied

"You ready for that big audition in Drama today?"

Oh no. The audition was today?! I wasn't unprepared, but it wasn't like I was completely ready for it.

"Y-Y-Yeah." I stammered. "I bet you are too."

"Oh, of course! Brandon and I practiced our parts yesterday, and I'm so confident!" Rose giggled. "But you know. . . I'm scared about that bitch Victoria."

The last three words she said. . . 'That Bitch Victoria' spun around my head a little bit. Rarity seemed friendly. . . at least around me. . . how could anybody call her that? Sure she's a bit cocky at times and a bit self-loving, but still. . .

"Rose. You can do this. After all, you're the prettiest person that's trying out for the part." I stated colloquially. There was a long silence as Rose gave a soft smile and a giggle. I couldn't tell on my own, but based on Lilly and Daisy giggling behind Rose, I was probably blushing or doing something silly with my face out of pure embarrassment.

"What? Did he say something funny?" Rose asked Lilly and Daisy.

"I don't know, why don't you ask that stop sign over there!" Lilly giggled, pointing towards me and my completely red face.

Someone please kill me. . .


* * *


Crisis averted, she ended up just giggling and dismissing the statement. I should be more careful with my words, though. After all, hadn't I always been thinking about Applejack? Why would I say such things about Rose? I mean, they were true, but still, isn't that bad in a social setting? That's an honest question, I've been generally sociable, but I've never been put into a deep social situation like that. Most people talked to me because I seemed to know information and I liked to make jokes. . . but I was always timid around complimenting people. What if they took it the wrong way?! What if it caused me to lose a friendship?! Living a social life was so hard. . .

The next three periods were entirely uneventful. In Government, we read our book in class as Rarity whispered to me about how much she wanted to be Beauty while I hid my face from Rose, hoping she wouldn't inquire about the previous incident. Jazz Band was just normal antics, we worked some sections of Pegasus again and went off on our way. Luckily for me, I got off the hook of Octavia's scolding, as Harley had missed practice and was now the receiver of the rage of Octavia. Fourth period was honestly a blur to me in terms of content, I just remembered Applejack's sweet flowing hair bouncing from side to side as she looked at her notes and looked at the screen. Some sort of animalistic feeling inside of me wanted to just grab it and rub it on my face, as well as do. . . other things to her. . . 

I'm glad that with all of the abnormal things happening, my hormones decided to be normal. . .

Anyways, the bell rang and brought me back into reality. I packed my things and silently followed Applejack to our normal lunch area.

"So you were sayin' that you gotcher fancy little play thing today?" Applejack asked me as she sat down on a stump, tossing her bag onto the nearby grass.

I walked towards my own little stump and threw my bag onto the floor. I was never really one to be careful with my possessions, a trait that I should really learn to stop.

"Oh. Um. . . yeah. Funny story about that, though!" I stared straight at Applejack with a goofy grin on my face. "So I'm in first period, and Rose and I are talking about the auditions, and I accidentally blurt out that she's the prettiest girl trying out for the part! I was so embarrassed!"

I giggled to myself softly, not paying attention to the fact that Applejack wasn't giggling along with me. I looked up after my giggling fit was done and saw her biting her lip and nervously kicking the grass.

"Oh. Um. . . do you think she's pretty, though?" She asked me in a very solemn tone.

"Well, yeah! Her boyfriend is so lucky to have her, she's pretty cute." I stated ignorantly, unaware of the tone that Applejack was using. There was a moment of silence as she scraped the ground with her foot a bit more and continued biting the tip of her lip.

"What? What's wrong? Did I do something bad?" I asked Applejack, growing slightly concerned. I hadn't said anything wrong, had I? I was just telling a silly story!

"Nah, sugarcube. . . nah. . ." Applejack sighed, holding her arm. "Ah. . . Ah gotta head off to. . . a class ta. . . take a test. Ah'll see ya later, Joseph." She sighed once more as she picked up her bags and left the area, walking towards the track. Was she going to make up a mile or something? I've never been that much into track and field, I couldn't really tell. But it pained me a little bit how she walked off like that. I honestly didn't think I did anything wrong! I was just telling her a story like all friends tell stories! Maybe her and Rose have a bad history or something and she doesn't want me to be friends! Maybe she. . . I couldn't think of anything. I groaned loudly as I placed my head between my knees, contemplating what I could have done so wrong.

It never really hit me until much later.

The bell rang and I grabbed my bags and walked to class, much faster than usual. In my slightly moment of self-pity, I completely forgot my last minute studying for the audition! This day was just getting completely worse and worse! I walked into the auditorium and saw Rarity prancing around the stage in a white silk dress, jewels bordering the entirety of the cloth. Rose was sitting on the stage, toying around with a pencil while a few other students were behind her, trying to memorize their lines at the last second.

"You like it, Joseph?" She called out. It was kind of scary how she knew exactly when I walked in. It was almost as if she was waiting for me or something, waiting for me to see her in that dress that she looked so nice in. . .

"Yeah." I replied dumbly, trying my best not to stare. I could feel my heart racing slightly faster as I saw the jewels accent her full and large curves, both in her front, back, and sides.

"Oooh, I knew you'd love it! I want to wear this when I'm Belle and you're the Prince! I'll walk on stage and say "Oh, some day my prince will coooome!, and you'll awaken from your beastly state and become a beautiful prince! Maybe we can even kiss on stage! Wouldn't that be something!" Rarity explained on and on, still twirling around the stage. "Wouldn't that be so exciting!"

She put odd emphasis on the "kiss" part of her sentence. I tried not to think much of it, but still, it brought me to some sort of concern. Mostly because I didn't plan on being the beast in the first place! I wanted to be Gaston! Even if she got the part of Belle over Rose, she'd have to be the one running away from me and hating me during the play! She knew pretty well too that I definitely did NOT want to be the prince. Still, I let her enjoy her little stories. It wouldn't have been all bad to kiss her, after all. . .

"That's Snow White you idiot." Daisy exclaimed as she and Lilly walked from behind stage towards where she was standing.

"Oh shut it, you two! You shouldn't treat a lady like that in the first place, especially one in such regal clothing as this!" Rarity exclaimed, giving an odd combination of anger and eloquence in her tone. 

Daisy and Lilly walking in could only mean one thing. Before any conflict could arise, the bell rang, and everyone rushed to fill a seat in the auditorium. I looked around and saw Braeburn and Rose cuddling, Rose nuzzling her head on Braeburn's chest softly as they both smiled. Although I'd just hate to break up their little love session, I really didn't want to sit by anybody else in the class. Mostly everyone was a stranger, Daisy and Lilly could get annoying really fast, and Rarity was. . . I could imagine bad things happening if I sat next to her. I took a seat two seats away from Rose, so I wasn't too intrusive. Mr. Webber walked from backstage and sat down on the piano seat, quite a distance away from us.

"We'll get the major parts out first. Belle." Mr. Webber stated. Most students here were already used to his bluntness, and every woman that was trying out for Belle went onstage next to the piano. There were a total of about five girls, one being Rarity, one being Rose, and three other girls that I didn't know all too well. One of them was Katelynn, the first chair flute girl from Wind Ensemble, but I never really had the chance to speak with her.

"Victoria Stewart," He stated. She stepped forward and gave a little curtsey, a gesture that received an empty response. "A Change in Me. Start at the chorus."

She sighed softly, giggling, an air of arrogance filling the room as she stared into the stage lights. She breathed in and belted out the first words of the chorus. "AND IIIIIII" she belted out. Sure, it sounded nice, actually, but it definitely reeked of overconfidence and arrogance, as she sung as loud as she could, a vaudeville type of performance of the song. She finished the chorus and smiled, curtseying once again, and walking back to her spot. A few freshmen and I gave an applause, but the room was mostly silent.

"Rose Nolan." Mr. Webber stated. She walked to the front, where Rarity was once standing. Mr. Webber had no intentions of restating the instructions, as he began the piano and Rose took a deep sigh. 

"And IIII. . ." Rose sung, in a much softer but still full tone, almost having a smile as she sung her words. "III never thought. . .I'd leave. . . behind. . ." She continued the song and swayed lightly across the stage as she sung, keeping her voice confidence but also soft and calm. As the chorus finished, she giggled softly and bowed, receiving a large reception from the crowd.

"Ain't she a beaut'," Braeburn whispered to me as we were clapping.

I shivered a little bit. I remembered my previous engagement with Applejack. Applejack had gotten mad right at the time when I was telling the story about calling Rose pretty. Sure, I thought she was, but there's a lot of people I think were pretty. Rose was pretty, Octavia was kind of pretty, Braeburn was kind of pretty. . . Did Applejack get mad beca-

"Katelynn Jones." Mr Webber stated, interrupting my thoughts.

The rest of the auditions went across nicely for Belle. The girls weren't as bold as Rarity nor calm and tender as Rose, but they weren't half bad. There was a huge amount of talent at this school, and I knew that some of those people up there were just starting at drama.

"Gaston. Everyone up." Mr. Webber exclaimed. 

I walked up to the stage, much to Rarity's disgust. Ron, the first chair trombonist from Jazz Band, walked up next to me. I hadn't even realized he was in my class, to be quite honest.

"Joseph Hamilton." Mr. Webber stated.

Joseph Hamilton.

That's not me. I'm not Joseph Hamilton. That's not my name, that's not my real name. I shivered as reality began seeping in once more. I didn't know who I was. I was born into this world as Joseph something. I had a family with the same last name, and I had a life before this. I was living almost a fake life. Throughout these past few days, I'd been enjoying myself so much, enjoying how nice these people were, how nice everything was in this place, how nice it was to be away from home. . . that I'd forgotten all about home. I haven't been bugging Twilight about research. Which reminded me. . . where was Twilight anyway?! Maybe I'll run into Spike at her house, maybe he'll help me find things out. I can't believe I forgot about home. . . I can't believe I forgot about my old life. Like, I wanted my old life back, right? That's why I agreed to stay with Twilight, so I could research with her to find my old home. I want to go home, right?

Right?

"First Verse of Mob Song." Mr. Webber bluntly stated. "Take two." I heard a few voices in the audience giggle. I guess I'd gotten a bit distracted.

"OH CAN IT YOU STUPID FRESHMEN!" Rarity wailed, almost throwing her chair over (if the chairs weren't bolted into the ground. Granted, people do crazy things sometimes. . .), turning back towards the giggling group. "I'd be DAMNED if you moved to a new place and had to perform in front of your peers in the third day! Why, I bet you guys can't even act! You guys won't even get a damn part! UGH, the AUDACITY of some people!" Rarity sat back down politely in her seat, fixing her hair and giving me a small wink.

I blushed. Great job not embarrassing me.

The piano stated and I took a deep sigh. I'm not really sure why, I guess since every other person did it before me, I felt obligated. Anyways, I began the song, doing my best with my half-decent opera voice "Through the mist, through the woods, through the darkness and the shadows it's a nightmare but it's one exciting riiide."

It wasn't my best work, to be quite honest. The range was pretty low for my singing range, but it was one of the few parts where Gaston actually sung by himself. I finished my verse and received a warm applause from the audience.

"GO JOSEPH! WOO! YOU'RE SO GOOD YOU COULD BE THE PRINCE!" Rarity screamed, standing up and applauding loudly.

Victoria. Stop.

"Ron Goodwin."

The rest of the auditions went along fairly nicely. Ron sadly forgot the words to the song and ended up being turned down on the spot, confirming me for the spot of Gaston. Beast came afterwards, with a stellar (although incredibly southern) performance from Braeburn. The rest of the minor parts involved reading lines from their characters on stage, with the help of Rarity when needed. Oddly enough, the auditions went along quite swiftly, and finished roughly a minute before the bell.

"Results after school. Complaints will have an automatic removal from the part. This is not a judgement of how I see you as a person, this is just based on your audition." Mr. Webber blandly stated. The bell rang and everyone proclaimed loudly how they felt about their audition.

"Oh I did so good!"
"I sure hope I get a part!"
"Ron you're an idiot!"
"I don't even care, I'm just here for the fine art credit."
"Can I re-audition?"

The voices filled the hall as I picked up my backpack and walked out silently.

"JOSEPH! Hold yourself!" Rarity exclaimed as she ran towards me. "Darling, that was fabulous, you have so much talent! You know. . . Belle and Gaston have some nice lines together. . . they even sing together a little bit. Would you. . . like to come over to the boutique and practice?" She blushed slightly and giggled, batting her eyes as they looked into mine.

Damn. Rarity was pretty annoying and all, but still, it'd be rude for me to turn her down. . . but I told myself I would go to Twilight's house and find out where home is! Right?! I'm supposed to make that a top priority!

"Yes." I stated. Am I crazy?! Why did I say that?! Do my brain and mouth just hate me or something?! She squealed happily and ran off. I sighed, mad at myself for choosing her self-interest over mine. But still. . . I could wait on the whole getting home thing. It's just a silly little house visit, right? I turned around and headed towards the band room for my sixth period.

I had a pretty relieving nap today, much to the dismay of Octavia. However, she was always busy with Vinyl, who thought that her pencil was more weed for her to smoke, and tried lighting it with her pencil sharpener, which she thought was her lighter. Before I could truly enjoy the rest, though, the bell rung and I sprang up. Mr. Acevedo frowned at me as my head shot up and looked at the board. There was nothing on it, but still, I guess Mr. Acevedo was the type of teacher that preferred all of his students to be awake in class. I picked up my desk and moved it towards the wall.

"EEEEAAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHH!" I heard from outside. Yup, results were up. I casually strolled outside to see Rarity grabbing her hair and screaming.

"MRS. POTTS?! OF ALL THE NERVE!" Rarity screamed, tears forming in her eyes. "Sure, she gets a SONG and everything, but still, she's an OLD WOMAN! How does he expect ME to play an OLD WOMAN. I WON'T EVEN GET TO BE IN THE SAME SCENE AS JO-" She coughed and stopped herself before she could scream the word to the full public. She sniffled and sobbed continuously, having to run away from the results towards the front of the school.

I walked up slowly and took a look at the list, after fighting through a multitude of people to see it.

Beauty and the Beast Cast
Belle: Rose Nolan
Beast/Prince Alan: Brandon Shumaker
Gaston: Joseph Hamilton
Lumiere: Ethan Roble
Cogsworth: Peter LaFonte
Mrs. Potts: Victoria Stewart
Chip: Daisy Thompson
Lefou: Lily Maldonado
Babette: Katelynn Jones

There were more names, but they were all blocked by the shorter freshmen looking at the list. I smiled seeing all of the names I wanted on that list. Rose and Braeburn would be such a great pair on stage together. . . it just was terrible that I had to spend the entire play being so mean to them. I still felt bad for Victoria, though. She was so cocky, so arrogant, but still. . . she had a drive, a drive to achieve her goal, and she failed. I wanted to ignore it, but I couldn't help myself. I walked over to the front of the school where Rarity had run off to. I saw her crying next to the math building (which was right next to the front of the school).

"Get away! Leave this foul creature alone to wallow in her self pity!" Rarity moaned.

"Victoria. I know this sucks, I'm not gonna say that it doesn't. But if it makes you feel better. . . I can still go to your house after school if you'd like. Even if we're not practicing lines, we can still hang out."

What was I doing?! I needed to get to Twilight's house! This was a great opportunity to just ditch her and go home! After all, I don't think I've ever said a good word about her other than that she's got a sweet ass and she could feed a village with her jugs, but. . . I still cared, for some reason. I cared too much to leave her by herself. My issue would be waiting for me to complete it, but Rarity's sadness. . . that had to be dealt with now.

"T-That w-won't. . .really?" She stuttered out as she brought her eyes to mine, still lying by the building.

"Yeah. You're always so happy, it'd be a shame to see you sad."

"Oh, you musn't associate yourself with such a foul sobbing monster as myself! I. . . I am nothing! I can't act, I probably can't sing, I know I can't dance. . . what am I?!"

"You're a b-b. . . b. . . beautiful person." I stammered out. Did I really mean those words? Yes and no. She was pretty, she was kind to me, but she had such a brash personality as well. She made me want to tear down walls and punch things. Still, though, she has been so supportive of me. . . she stood up for me with those freshmen.

But what about Rose? What about Applejack? What about anybody else that I knew?! They had all been so helpful too! Hell, I probably would rather have an ice cream party with Rose, or go find Applejack and tell her about how well I did on my audition! Still, I felt obligated. I felt obligated as a friend and companion to stay with her and tell her things that would make her smile. I felt the need to be with her right now. The words I spoke just felt so right to say, so right to travel into her sobbing mind and soothe her soul, soothe her soul with reassurance from a friend that she wasn't some monster, but a great person. But how much truth was behind those words? How much did I really find her beautiful? I couldn't really tell, but still, all I could think about was comforting her, consoling her, making her feel like a true lady.

"Oh, Joseph. . ." Rarity murmured. She raised herself up from the floor and stared at me.

"I've. . . " she wiped some tears from her eyes. "I've been waiting so long for you to say that."

She immediately grabbed me and pulled me closer to her. I faltered as I tried to not fall on top of her. For a petite lady, she sure was strong. She stared deeper into my eyes. Before I could process what was happening, she grabbed my head and pulled it closer, pressing my lips against hers.

I felt. . . feelings. Not just the feelings that a man feels when he is kissed, but different kinds of feelings. I had only been kissed on the lips once, by my ex-girlfriend whose name I can't remember. It was an awkward experience, to be honest, and she hated me for it. But this. . . felt more natural, felt more passionate. . . I found myself joining in. The thoughts of Applejack came racing into my mind. I admired her so much, and I had such passions to be with her. I still messed up today with her, I made her sad and I made her run away. To add on to that, here I am, kissing another girl out of nowhere. But it all felt so right, still. . . my lips against hers, our breath entering each others' mouths. . .

My mind could do nothing but falter as I engaged in this act. This unification of our physical bodies in the lowest level. But what was it I was feeling? Was it love, or just lust? 

It had only been three days in this school, and now I was stuck in this situation. . . this year was going to be quite interesting, both in negative and positive ways. . .

But what about home?
> Chapter 5: Creating Bonds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Really, Victoria, you're sweet and all, but you don't have to do this all for me."

It was about an hour after my previous ordeal. I had stayed with Rarity for a while, until she calmed down, and that ambitious zeal in her eyes reappeared. As a man to keep his promises, I agreed to go back home with Rarity. She had been acting very odd that past hour, even weirder than usual (a level of weirdness I thought couldn't be accomplished by mortal minds). Like, she just came to me out of the blue and kissed me! I wasn't very sure if she was acting different due to her sadness, some other womanly emotional thing, or if it was just because I was around. 

I sat on the couch nearest to her door as Rarity handed me a small tray of muffins, each with small smiley faces on the top of them.

"Oh, nonsense! After all, I wouldn't want to be a bad host, now would I? A lady’s biggest skill in the house isn't her cooking or cleaning, it's how well she can be a host while the man is away working!" Rarity mentioned, as she handed a soft muffin treat to me. Being the hungry teenager that I was, I wolfed down the treat in one bite, getting crumbs onto my (or, Rowland's, I guess) shirt. 

"Ah, Joseph, please, do be a little more careful with these treats," Victoria stated calmly, wiping up the crumbs with a napkin she had placed on the tray.

I could do nothing but stare. I hadn’t before seen Rarity to be one to be so kind. If anyone else had probably even let one crumb slip from their mouth and land on her couch, they would probably be gone from school for the next three years with bruises from a slapping session worthy of the deepest parts of hell. However, I was just given a nice and kind response to be more careful. Which, knowing me, I wouldn't be able to change how clean I was, especially when it came to eating.

"Oh, now you've got a little smidge on you, let me get that," Rarity exclaimed as she pulled out yet another napkin and wiped my face with it. "You're such a baby when you eat! But, it's not like there's anything wrong with that, letting me wipe your cute little face when you eat!" she patted me on the head and went to eating her treat. 

She ate with a formality unlike any other, much like Eliza Doolittle, albeit without the brash ruffian history behind her. Her bites were controlled as she systematically ate each part of her muffin, not dropping a single crumb, always being sure that he make up was intact and her face was clean.

"You know, Joseph, you're actually pretty cute when you eat," Rarity stated with a smile and a soft giggle. "Or rather, I should say, you're a cute man overall." She got up from her seat next to the couch and cuddled next to me, nuzzling her soft purple hair on my body.

"Y-you're a pretty good eater too," I stammered, staring at her as she nuzzled up next to me. It was starting to scare me a little bit, how she was getting so close to me and all. I don't think any person in my life had willingly gone up to me and snuggled by me for any reason. "So I am really concerned about something," I butted in.

"What is it, darling?" she asked me, with wide open eyes and a concerned and loving smile.

I choked, but I knew exactly what I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask “Victoria Stewart, why did you kiss me today by the front of the school for almost no reason?” I wanted to ask “Was it because that's the way people work here? Is it like Europe or some land somewhere where people kiss to say hello?” I wanted to ask “Were you trying to make someone else jealous or something?” I wanted to ask “Why?”

But I didn't. The thoughts still poked into my mind every second I was there, but my timidness made me stop any action that I would have been willing to take. Instead, I was left as a nervous stammering mess.

"So, you make dresses?" I asked Rarity, after a bit of stammering around.

"Of course, darling! Why, I make all sorts of clothing, but dresses happen to be my speciality! Would you like to see some?" Rarity replied eagerly, putting her hand onto my hand as she stated this.

"Sure, I guess," I replied nervously. I remember reading a book somewhere about a crazy dress maker who took people into their homes and did all sorts of weird gory things to them, but I couldn't remember the subject of it for the life of me. This along with the questions I had with Rarity made me increasingly hesitant about not wanting to go, but as with all of my decisions, I forced myself into compliance by fear.

We walked around the boutique and she noted the large supply of quality one-of-a-kind dresses she had on display. There was a plain white dress with sparkly jewels encrusted around it, there was a bright red strapless dress with colorful jewels bordering it, pretty much every dress was painted with jewels and jewels covering almost the entirety of the work. All of her works seemed to be incredibly flashy and bold, even though they were, at their core, very simple designs. 

"And, for my last design, this is my favorite!" she stammered as she approached a case with a large blanket over it. A blanket with a Carousel Boutique logo on it ,of course. "I-I like it a lot," she stammered a bit more, her formal speech deteriorating second by second. She tugged on the blanket and revealed two sets of clothing, a puffy white dress, encrusted with sparkles and jewels that flew all the way towards the floor, puffing out on the lower area to cover an area much larger than a woman's actual size. Next to it was a nice looking, and thankfully not sparkly, tuxedo. The same kind that would be seen at any Men's Wearhouse. I stared at it for a while, wondering why this would be her favorite. It was still flashy, but it seemed like a much more serious work than her others. The tuxedo didn't even sparkle, which I assumed to be a trademark quality of her work.

"T-this is my absolute favorite," Rarity shyly said after a few seconds of looking. "Would you like to know why?"

"Um," I tried to find an answer, but couldn't think of anything other than "Sure."

"Well, I've had a dream, since I was a little girl. . . " She paused for a little bit, and I could tell she was getting slightly nervous. Was she going to tell a sad story of her past? "My friends and I would always see little plays and read little books about a grand woman, about the age of myself right now, she was SO lonely, living with her parents, and even though she had anything the world could give her, she was missing something."

She grabbed my hand and fiddled with it for a small while. Her hand was growing sweaty ever so slightly, a trait I thought her inhumane amounts of estrogen removed.

"What was she missing?" I asked, genuinely and ignorantly.

She pouted slightly, annoyed at my ignorance. "Well, she wanted to be lead down the aisle by her father, in the most beautiful dress, and handed off to her Prince Charming." She seemed to float closer to my body, now holding both of my hands.

"Oh, cool. I'm sure feminists would have an issue with that, though!" I stated a bit louder than I should have, having no filter in my mouth as my nervousness levels rose up. Why is she holding me now? Is she going to throw me into the case? Is she going to try and kill me or something? Am I going to be kidnapped? 

"Joseph. . ." Rarity began. I could see a few tears forming from her eyes, and her lips pouted more, in a combination of tears as well as her annoyance of my possibly tasteless joke. "Joseph, w-will y-you be my Prince Charming?" she stammered, staring straight into my eyes with tears forming around the edges as her pupils grew into humanely unachievable sizes.

It hit me. It finally hit me. She wanted me to be her boyfriend. She had done so many obvious things, she even kissed me, but I never realized it until right now! Sure, I thought about liking her when she kissed me, but I thought it would only be like petty love, when a man admires an actress a video game character in a sexual way. I never would have thought that she would really want to go out with me, but why?

More importantly, what do I say? Do I say yes or no? I so furiously wanted to say no, I so furiously wanted to say “Victoria, you're a pretty girl, but your personality is just so brash that I can't handle it! Besides, I'm trying to go home anyway, and when I plan on getting into a relationship, I imagine it lasting for a long time, and I'll hopefully be out of here within the week! I can't go off and get in relationships while I'm here! I need to focus on getting home! You're very nice, but no,” I wanted to belt that out the moment I heard her utter those words.

But she had been growing kinder. I had never been one to judge very quickly, and after all she was only the second girl in my life to actually admire me like that. But still, I need to have priorities! I have to get home, I can't just go off and go willy nilly into pretty Victoria's life while I'm trying to get home. It shouldn't be that hard to say no, right?

"Eh," I began.

You can do it, Joseph.

"Aaah,"

Rarity stared at me with her earnestly vibrant eyes, shining from the developing tears, as she squeezed my hands even tighter.

Just say no.

No.

No.

No.

"Y-Yes," I stammered out.

Joseph. What the hell. It was just so hard to say no to her, though! I couldn't hurt her feelings like that, after all! It would be rude of me as a person! Then what if I said no and she got really mad and she told all of her friends about it, and they all hated me! She's friends with Twilight, and she'll say "Oh no, Joseph, I don't think I can let you live here," and she'll leave me all alone!

But. . . what about Applejack?

What would she think?

Applejack. . . Augustine. . . what should she think?

I walked home at around seven or eight that night, after Rarity had expressed her complete joy of being with me in a relationship. Honestly, the entire thing irked me. I never really had any life plans to be with anyone. Love was not a goal that I intended to reach, but rather a bonus that I found rather nice to have. However, I thought about the small time that I knew her? Isn't it weird how she suddenly latched herself onto me just after five days of knowing me? It's not like I really knew her that well, and it's not like she even knew me that well! Besides, she knew I'd be leaving soon! At least I should be leaving soon, as soon as Twilight helps me find home.

Still, I was never really the type to just leave people like that. I always had trouble saying no to people when they wanted me to do things. I hardened up, I vaguely remember, after my break-up, but I still was a huge softie and a yes-man. Besides, Rarity was kind of cute and all. And her attitude had been improving dramatically, maybe I might end up liking this.

And what if I do end up liking it?

I walked towards the doorstep of Twilight's house and noticed Spike sitting sadly by the doorstep.

"Hey Spencer! What's wrong?" I asked him

"T-Tina she said she doesn't need me anymore, now that her big brother is coming home." Spike sighed out.

"Her brother's coming home? Well that's nice! But why wouldn't she want you to stay? I'm sure Rowland would be a cool big bro to have!"

"B-But that's. . . that's. . . I was only there because Rowland wasn't there. That's what she told me." Spike wiped a tear from his eye, "She knew me for so long, but she never let me come over until Rowland went to school, then she told me that I could come over and help her out, but now that Rowland is coming home, I'm back to being the useless person she doesn't talk to."

"Let me tell you what," I said, after a moment of silence. Why would Twilight do that to Spike?! He was what, eight? Nine? Ten? She couldn't hurt him like this! I know that Twilight wouldn't do this without a good reason, and I could hopefully make a better reason to keep Spike here! "I'll go in, and talk to Tina, and see what's wrong, and convince her to let you stay."

"Really?" his voice was filled with excitement.

"Of course, Spence! I'm sure she'll listen to me! If not, I'll just wait until Rowland gets there and he'll help me convince her!" 

It was kind of odd how Rowland was coming back home and Twilight had never mentioned anything to me. It was still Wednesday, and she was still mad at me, but why would she break out at me like that if her brother was coming home that same day? More important, to make this entire day weirder, why did Twilight kick out Spencer? What's wrong with having another friend in the house? He's a kid, anyway, and a pretty devoted kid, at that.

I opened the unlocked door and entered a pitch black room.

"SURPRISE! WELCOME HOME!" I heard a voice scream as the lights sprung on. The room was surrounded with party gifts, and pictures of Rowland's various accomplishments, such a picture of him wrestling with what looked like Applejack's cousin Mac, a picture of him graduating, and various others. Sitting in the middle on the couch was Twilight, giddily bouncing up and down upon seeing me.

"I, uhh, Hello?" I asked curiously, 

"HI! Hi! Oh, it's been so long, Rowland, you've changed so much!" Twilight stated as she got up and walked towards me.

What?

"Tina. I'm Joseph."

"What?! Was that your new nickname at school? That's just silly! You're Rowland, my B.B.B.F.F!" 

"Tina."

"I have so much fun stuff for you! We can read books, and fly kites, and do all kinds of things!"

"TINA."

Twilight fell harshly silent at the screaming of her name.

"Tina. I'm not Rowland. I'm Joseph."

"No! You're Rowland! Rowland Hamilton! You're back home because you love your little sister so much! Now I don't have to have Spencer to keep me company, since I have you!" Twilight hugged me tightly, giggling as she did so.

"But you can't just kick Spike out like that. He's like, ten."

"B-But, I only took care of him because I missed you. I wanted someone to be with." Twilight sniffled, still hugging me.

I stared at Twilight in deep silence. What was wrong with her? I'm not Rowland! I'm not I'm not I'm not! Or at least, I'm pretty sure I'm not. She was fine a few days ago, but now she thinks I'm her older brother, and she's breaking a kid's dreams while she's at it just so she can play pretend with me! Twilight was a nice girl, she was the closest thing I had to a sister, but now she's starting to scare me.

"T-Tina, T-Tina, I, It'd be fun t-to play pretend, but, I need to find out how to get home."

Twilight gasped as she hugged me tighter. 

"D-DON'T!" She stammered as she realized how loud she had screamed. "D-Don't, I, you mean so much to me, you don't know how hard I cried when you left for school, and now you're here, we can be together, forever, my B.B.B.F.F." She returned to her soft tone, sniffing occasionally from her tears.

I thought for a second. I wish I could continue with this “I'm not Rowland, shut up and go away.” After all, I wasn't Rowland! Why did she think I was? Why would she just suddenly break like this? She was my only chance of getting home, and now she's going insane on me.

But, through all of this weirdness, I felt good. I shouldn't have felt good at all, but I did. This entire day, I've been feeling. . . wanted. First, with Rarity, we had only known each other for five days, and she already wanted to commit to me deeply, she wanted me to be a bigger part of her life rather than just “The Lost Boy.” Now Twilight was wanting me to be with her as her older brother. She wanted me to stay with her, she wanted me to be with her, I actually meant something to her. Even if it was just a fake persona that she wanted, I still meant something to her to the point where my absence would deeply detract from her life. 

How had home been without me? I had never really thought of that. My only thoughts about home were “What is home, exactly?” and, of course “How do I get back,” but I never really thought about how much life would be different if I hadn't been there. The only person I could remember that deeply wanted me in their life was my ex-girlfriend, but my contact with her had dwindled away into talks about Littlest Pet Shop and other small topics, with conversations being few and far between, as well as short in duration, usually ending without a proper goodbye in the middle of a conversation. I tried remembering, with the small amount of memory that I had with me, but I could find nobody else that aspired to have me in their life, even though I couldn't remember names or faces, I could remember how I felt about people, and I could remember titles that they had. Still, nobody, not even my parents or my brother, which I could remember less than my friends.

I was actually wanted here. Within five days, two people wanted me in their lives forever. They cried to me, they connected with me, they deeply wanted what I had to offer. Not just “You play an instrument nicely, please join our band” or “You're funny, talk to me sometimes during class.” They wanted something much deeper, they wanted a real and strong relationship with me. Rarity wanted the loving sexual relationship, while Twilight wanted the brother-sister relationship that I could never remember having.

Not all was well. Spike's fate probably wasn't going to change, I still wasn't Rowland, Rarity still had a lot of personality flaws, and I still just lost my only helper in finding my homeland.

Still, even though there were probably more doubts and troubles than benefits, I still felt good inside, I felt like my life wasn't just an accessory to someone else's life, but rather, I was meaningful. At least one person would wake up and want to talk to me, want to be with me, want to hear my problems, come to me with their issues, and just make their life complete.

Maybe home wasn't all I had thought it was.

"T-Tina, D-. . ." I sighed deeply, biting my lip. "Don't worry. I'm not leaving, B.B.S. . . S.S. . . B.B.S. . . sister."

"REALLY?" Twilight belted, once again wincing after she realized her volume.

"Yes. But, please let Spike stay. I know he was only your ‘replacement brother,’ but you can't hurt him like that"

"I'll think about it, however, it is time for him to go home. I'll send him off, you go to bed."

I took the chance immediately to sprint to the couch where I slept, moving assorted party decorations off of it. I tried my best to go to sleep as fast as possible, this day was just too weird and I just wanted it to be over as fast as possible.

Still, this entire thing bothered me. Had I ever really been wanted in life? What had I been living for these seventeen years? I made jokes, I played instruments, I existed, but I never really meant anything to anybody. Maybe once I did, but at the time that I can last remember, I was just an accessory. With Rarity confessing her love for me, and Twilight becoming insane, suddenly I was a name rolling around in heads, a name that people wanted to hear. Not just as “The Funny Guy”, but “The man that changed my life forever. The man that I want to never leave.” Would this be temporary? I'm not too sure, but what mattered to me at the time was the present. My only thought of the future was “Get Out,” but even that thought was blurring out as this world opened up to me.

For the first time in a long time, I felt. . . happy.

Was home worth really going back to? Or was this break from reality, the reality of my homeland, just what I needed? Does home really want me? Should I even bother going back when I am loved here and, to the best of my knowledge, only tolerated and accepted there?

But the questions were left unanswered as sleep enveloped me and the entropy of the day disappeared into darkness.
> Chapter 6: Living with a New Face
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I thought we got to go in late on Fridays!" I screamed as Twilight jumped on top of me and the sun still struggled to rise above the horizon, the sky filled with darkness.

It was now, as I said, Friday. I had spent all of Thursday out of school with Twilight, as she pretty much abducted me and took me around town to do some fun activities. By fun activities, I'm implying that we walked around town for a bit and then went to the local library to study. I wasn't really all supportive of the act, to be quite honest. I decided to take the situation by the horns, though, and use the time to look up facts about lands far away from this area. I found pretty much nothing. Although, I didn't have much time to look anyway, as Twilight kept on pulling me to the side, asking me to help her with something or to see something silly she found in a book (and her definition of silly isn't necessarily the greatest).

Spending that much time with Twilight really was both an enlightening experience and a horrid one. I enjoyed being with Twilight. She was a nice girl and all, but it was still creepy being called "Rowland" by her and being seen as her biological brother rather than just the new guy in town. Still, I had to manage to live with it. After all, she was still the best link I had to leaving here.

Twilight was now sitting on top of me, playing with a strand of my curly brown hair.

"Did you really forget?! With school starting later, it gives us more time to study in the morning!" Twilight giggled as she dismounted me.

"Didn't you learn not to wake up your older siblings when they slept?" I sighed, grabbing onto the covers.

"But. . . you always used to wake up early to help me." Twilight sighed, pouting slightly.

"Well, fine" I sighed. If I was still going to be living with Twilight, I should at least keep the ruse up as best as I can. I arose from the couch and sat upright, where Twilight happily sat next to me with a beaming smile.

"You know, it's really weird how even though you're older than I am, you still told me that you go to my school." Twilight asked immediately.

I froze. I hadn't really thought of that. I am her "older brother" after all. I was apparently already out of college, according to her. More importantly, on an unrelated note, nobody else would be calling me Rowland there! I'd still be nice old Joseph Hamilton! I stopped to think for a moment. Just how could I keep myself to Twilight's expectations while not blatantly lying? I really just wanted to tell her, “I go to your school because I'm not your brother,” but Twilight was a nice girl, I really did not want to hurt her feelings at all. I had to think of something. . .

"Oh, For my g-guard training, I have to, um, be a TA. You know, for English, the same one that you have!" I stammered out.

"How fun! Isn't Cherry Lee supposed to be the TA for that class, though?" she asked me. I hadn't actually seen Cherry Lee since I had been in the class, but our teacher would mention "Oh yes, Cherry Lee, my assistant teacher, will do so many things." 

"W-Well now he has two! You know how off track the teacher gets, he definitely would benefit from having two!" I replied quickly.

"Oh, how great! I'm sure we'll have lots of fun, B.B.B.F.F!" Twilight exclaimed as she bounced on the couch happily.

"Yeah, It'll be loads of fun." I stated absentmindedly, trying to think of every possible action that could happen and how I could solve it.

I suddenly heard a knock at the door. I took a look at the clock hanging above it and noticed that it was around 6:00, the time where Pinkie and Octavia arrived. I wanted to just let them in, but then they'd call me Joseph, and it would crush Twilight's heart if not everyone played in the ruse that I had set up.

"TWILIGHT! Um, don't worry about the door, it's a few students who offered to escort me!" I quickly stated.

"B-But I thought we could walk together. Besides, school starts late on Friday, you said that yourself!" Twilight sighed

"Y-Yeah, I wanted to too! B-But the principal, um, the teacher guy, um, he wanted to see me early so I could, ah, get some one-on-one time with him! Plus, zero period still starts at the same time, and he told me to meet him during zero period!" I managed to stammer out, hopefully getting her off of my trail.

"I-I-I could come in and study in the library! They gave me a key so I can read whenever I want!" Twilight exclaimed, holding up a shiny silver key with a happy face drawn on the top with marker. She was so odd at times.

"No, it's fine. Besides, um, you aren't even dressed!" I said, noticing that Twilight was in a pair of purple pajamas, luckily fully clothed.

"It doesn't ma-, fine." Twilight sighed sadly, turning around. "But I'll be at school as soon as I get dressed!"

"Yeah, ok," I stated apathetically, turning around and rushing to the door before Pinkie broke it open.

"Elizabeth, Di-" I began as I opened the door.

"JOOOOSSSEEEEPPPHH!" Pinkie screamed "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE SCHOOL LIKE THAT WITHOUT TELLING US! WE WAITED HERE FOR A WHOLE FIVE MINUTES YESTERDAY!" She grabbed me and shook me around until I could barely tell what was up and what was down anymore.

"Y-Y-Yes. . . in a much. . . lighter mood," Octavia stated as she put her shoulder on the explosive Pinkie. "We really did not appreciate how you weren't present yesterday morning. Your absence caused me to lose valuable warm-up time, a time that I need. I feared you would do the same again today."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry." I hurriedly called out, hoping Twilight would still be struggling to change (Which knowing her, she probably wasn't). "Listen, I have an issue. Walk with me."

I explained my entire dilemma to the two, walking with strides much larger than usual and much larger than I'd like to take with me barely awake. I explained how I'm no longer Joseph according to her, I explained how obsessive she is with me, I explained that I had to keep this ruse up otherwise I'd deeply hurt Twilight.

"So, let me get this straight. She, after knowing you for a bit less than a week, decides suddenly that you're her long lost brother?" Octavia asked me.

"Yup." I replied.

"Hm. . . I've been friends with her since she moved here, we shared math together last year. She always spoke highly of her brother. I remember once, Frederic, you know Frederic, right? The piano player? Anyways, he asked Twilight where her brother was now. She got really tense and ran out of the room crying." Octavia explained. "Still, it's quite off how she would just claim that you're him now. I mean, your hair isn't blue, you don't really play any sports, you're not very buff, you're not as jocky, yo-"

"I get it." I butted in. "But why would she claim me as her brother?"

"OOOOH! I know! I know! I know!" Pinkie bounced up and down, piercing my half-asleep ears with her happiness.

"What is it, Pinkie?" I asked her, annoyed at her from my tiredness, hoping she wouldn't say something like “I just got a cupcake stuck in my butt,” or something.

"WEEELLLL! I was watching a TV show about this guy! He was like 'I had a sister and then she got kidnapped' so he was all sad! But THEN! But then, this girl and him became best friends, so his brain with like 'BOOPEDOIPIDOOP' and then his brain got all silly so he thought that she was his sister!" Pinkie explained happily. "Then he killed her!"

"Oh no, um. . . " I stammered at her last statement.

"Pinkie! Anyways, Joseph, I believe I saw that program as well. I believe Twilight is going through the same thing. I believe it could be a form of Post Traumatic Stress, where her mind alters itself to fill voids in their life. I am no expert on the subject, but I believe that Twilight needs psychological help. She's not insane or sick or anything, she just needs help." Octavia reassured me, glaring at Pinkie. "However, it's very hard to get her help. She's a very smart girl, and knows when she is being tricked. However, I believe with your position, you could convince her to see a psychologist. To the best of my knowledge, if you know a man by the name of Carlton McIver, his father is a local psycologist. He's in our grade, but I don't see him around much."

"OOOH! I see him during first period, AND fifth period, AAANND sixth period!" Pinkie blurted out. "I can ask him!"

Octavia and I looked at each other. For the few days I had known Pinkie, she didn't seem like one to be very responsible.

"I've got it! I'll ask Frederick to ask him! Then he can tell you during third period!" Octavia exclaimed.

"B-B-But I wanna help!" Pinkie moaned.

"Remember that time I asked you give Vinyl that essay for her second period last year? The one that you proceeded to use to draw pictures of cats on?"

"N-N-No!"

"Well, it happened, and I'd feel safer asking Frederick."

Pinkie seemed ready to use her spunkiness to win over Octavia. However, we had just reached the band room, with barely enough time to get ready. We were so late that we saw Vinyl sprinting towards the door.

"Oh damn." Octavia sighed, opening the door and hurrying herself in, unleashing the loud sounds of everyone warming up.

* * *

Zero period went along decently. I got a scolding from Brittany about how I missed yesterday, and how we got a new song to play, “To Tame the Perilous Skies.” The music itself seemed easy, just very long. However, the period itself was very easy, just playing through the literature we had already been given.

After band ended, I saw that I had about 15 minutes to head over to first period. I could possibly take my time. Then I remembered something extremely important.

Twilight.

I sprinted at a speed that would make Rainbow jealous, pushing through people to reach the English class. I opened the door and luckily, Twilight wasn't there. She was probably in the library studying or something.

"I. . . talk. . . me you. . . need. . ." I breathed out, holding onto whatever I could find to not fall over.

"Yes?" Mr. Dodswell asked me, looking up from his set of papers.

"My sis-. . . Twili-. . . Tina. . ." I stammered out, falling over to my desk.

"Take a breath, Joseph. Then explain your problem." Mr. Dodswell stated apathetically.

I took a few good breaths, and explained my situation to Mr. Dodswell, who listened in such a way to where I wasn't sure if he was paying attention or not.

"Well, Joseph, I guess I could help you. But you really must get your friend Tina some psychiatric help." Mr. Dodswell explained.

"Yeah, but. . . I don't want to hurt her or anything." I told him, looking away from him in nervousness. I felt so weak in the situation, honestly. As strong as I had been feeling the past few days (which wasn't even that much), this was the weakest and most helpless I had ever really felt. I was already pretty drained with my ordeal with Rarity, but now a promising scholar's future rests on my shoulders on a decision that I'm struggling to find the right answer to. Everyone is telling me to tell Tina to go to a psychologist, but still, it's not the easiest thing to tell someone to go do that. I remember a few times that friends of mine told me to see one, but I feared that I would be seen a fool by those around me, and to the best of my limited memory, I never remember seeing one.

"That's your choice. Just remember how it affects her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get to my lesson plan. For some reason, we seem to be a few days behind schedule" Mr. Dodswell stated.

"Hm, I wonder why. . ." I muttered, knowing exactly how much his tangents puts the class off schedule.

"What was that?" Mr. Dodswell asked me.

“N-Nothing!" I blurted out.

Twilight walked in along with Lily and Daisy, and pointed at me as soon as she saw me.

"T-THERE HE IS! MY B.B.B.F.F!" Twilight screamed, immediately hugging me.

"Tiiina, quit being silly, that's Joseph!" Lily butted in. I glared at both of them as Twilight nuzzled her face into my chest.

"I'll explain everything later," I mouthed out to the two, who, with their experience in mouthing out conversations during class, understood exactly what I was saying.

"Aww, he's so handsome, just like you said, Tina!" Daisy exclaimed nervously, speaking slowly as all people who try to act badly do.

"Y-Y-Yeah. . . um. . . yeah." Lily added in. The four of us walked to our seats, with Rose speedily walking in a few minutes later, her hair ruffled and her eyes having bags under them.

"Oh, Jo-. . . Rowland. Can you help me grade these tests?" Mr. Dodswell asked me, giving me a completely unnecessary wink.

"Um, yeah, sure!" I replied, happily engulfing myself in the task at hand.

* * *

The most awkward things that a man can experience in his life is grading his own test and seeing that he failed it. So it's a good thing that Daisy and Lily weren't in this situation. I got a decent score on my test, with Twilight of course getting a perfect score. The bell rang and immediately Twilight jumped over to the desk I was working at.

"Did you see me, Shining! I answered almost every question! I'm smart aren't I!" Twilight giggled as she bounced up and down.

"Yeah, of course!" I replied, trying to act happy and interested. Truth is, I was still worried. After all, The only people that were in on the act were Daisy, Lily, Mr. Dodswell, and me. What if someone walked by and ruined everything?!

"Well, I gotta go to class now, B.B.B.F.F!" Twilight stated. "So I won't be late! You would be so mad if I were late!" She skipped out of the door happily, giggling.

"Dude, Joseph, what's up with Twilight?" Rose asked me.

"Oh, nothing! She's just mentally insane!" I replied, with a bit of a harsh tone. I shuddered, realizing what I had just said. This situation had already been taking my better judgement away.

Rose growled at me, her eyes piercing into my soul.

"Fine, I'll explain as we walk to class." I stated, putting the tests back on Mr. Dodswell's desk.

* * *

"You know, I know a guy who's father is a psychologist." Rose explained.

"I know! I know I know I know! But, it'll make her feel bad." I exclaimed, annoyed that I seemed to be the only one to understand my side of the issue.

"Still, it isn't all that good to just le-"

"JOSEPH! Oh, you're such a silly man! Don't you know that when a gentleman such as yourself is in a relationship, he should NEVER speak with other women for an extended amount of time?" A familiar, regal, and somewhat snooty voice stated.

"R-Relationship?!" Rose almost screamed.

"Y-Yeah. . . Victoria and I are. . ." I stuttered out.

"IN A RELATIONSHIP! That's right! CLASS!" Victoria exclaimed, pulling me inside of the classroom and dragging me to the front. "I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! JOSEPH HAMILTON AND I ARE NOW IN A RELATIONSHIP!"

"Woohoo, the big Two Zero!" Christian exclaimed from his seat near the back. "I say about a week before you guys break up!"

"OH SHUT IT, YOU! I'll let you know that I intend for my relationship for Joseph to be VERY serious, isn't that right, honey boo boo?"

"Um. . . y-y-yeeaaahh" I stammered nervously, giving a weak smile to Christian.

"Oh, you're so adorable! He's just jealous because I left him. It wasn't my fault, though, he's got such a small di-"

"MISS STEWART!" Mr. McFerguson almost screamed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir! Just a little flustered, that's all!" Rarity giggled, as she turned her head to laugh at Christian, who was now laying his head on the desk. We walked to our seats, with me trying to shove my hands to Narnia in my pockets in my embarrassment.

"Now, class, chapter 25." Mr. McFerguson started.

* * *

"You're an idiot, Joseph." Christian said as he walked out of the class.

"Dude, I know. Like, real talk, I know you've only been here a week, but Rarity's trouble for you." Harley added in.

"I'm sure I'll be fine. After all, she seems to really like me and all." I replied. "But yeah, it's not like I'm deeply in love with her or anything, I'm deeply in love with A-" I blushed as soon as I uttered out the first letter of her name.

"OOOOOOH!" Both of them screamed, turning heads all around us.

"It's Rose isn't it!" Harley screamed. "Or is it Tina!"

"It's Elizabeth, isn't it! Don't touch her, she's my territory" Christian growled.

Duly Noted.

"Dude, I bet it Brittany! Like, they both play tuba, it's perfect!"

"What if he's bisexual! What if it's a guy!"

"DUUUDE, WHAT IF IT'S ONE OF US!"

"Oh God no. . . Joseph. . . you aren't interested in one of us, are you?!"

"Dammit guys, of course I'm not gay or anything!. . . Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! But. . . I'm not telling, she wouldn't even wanna go out with me anyway! But that's not the point. I KIND of like Rarity, and she really likes me, so that's all that matters!" I explained to the two of them.

"You're no fun, man!" Harley sighed. 

"Besides, aren't guys supposed to not talk about other girls while they're with one?!" I added in.

"You sound like you've never been in a relationship before!" Christian snorted. There was a moment of silence. "You have been in one before, right?"

"Yes, I have! But it was a long distance thing." I replied.

"Oooh! What was her name? Was she pretty? Is she tall?" Harley asked.

"Has she seen your dick?" Christian added in.

"G-GUYS!" I screamed. I wanted them to just stop. They had no evil intentions, but their words taunted me, trying to test my memory. I had no memory to speak of regarding the girl I dated, I just knew that I liked her and we broke up eventually. Sure, there were events that I remember, but I don't even remember what she looked like. "Guys, um, we're here!" I exclaimed as we approached the band room, with me taking large strides once again so they could stop their unintentional taunting.

"Joseph, I must speak with you regarding your situation," Frederick stated, standing next to the door, waiting for my entrance.

"GYAAH! Frederick, dude, you can't do that!" I stammered.

"I apologize. However, Elizabeth told me about your situation. I talked to Caramel, and he said that he would be happy to help out."

"Caramel?"

"Carlton. Carlton McIver. Related to Augustine Whitacre and Brandon Shumaker. You know?"

"AH! Yes! Yes!" I exclaimed loudly. Applejack's cousin! Maybe I could score big with Applejack here! I could be like “Oh look how strong I am! Bringing my friend in for help! Now will you please go o-”

Oh wait, I had broken that string with going out with Rarity, but it's not like it was going to work anyway! She showed no signs of liking me!

"Good. He wants to meet with you after school at the ice cream parlor. Don't worry about Twilight, she'll be studying for a test after school. I'll make sure she stays." Frederick walked away and warmed up his fingers for his piano playing. He was a bit odd at times, but still, very very helpful.

* * *

"Hey Applejack, guess what!" I exclaimed as we sat down at our usual eating area.

It was now around lunch time. Jazz band and Physics were the same as usual, I played my instrument, talked with Frederick about Twilight, went to physics, stared at Applejack's sweet body (in a bittersweet matter now that I was supposed to be committed to Rarity), and left fearing for my life as the teacher smiled at me creepily.

"What is it, sugarcube?" Applejack asked me, sitting down on one of the stumps.

"So, two days ago, after school. . ." I blushed nervously. Why was I telling her this anyway?! I'm telling the girl that I loved that I was going out with someone else! However, hear me out, I thought about this! Maybe if I told about this, and she liked me back, she'd be like "But Joseph, I like you!" and my life would be great! It was a necessary action! "So. . . I was talking with Victoria and. . . I'm now her boyfriend."

"HUZZAWHAT?" Applejack screamed, almost falling off of her stool. "Well, golly gee, good going there, sport!" She stammered as she regained her balance. "Good, going."

I noticed a tear falling from her eye as she ruffled around some papers.

"A-A-Augustine? Are you ok?" I asked her, legitimately concerned.

"Oh yeah, Ah'm fine, just, um, Ah'm so happy for ya, gettin' a, g-g-girlfrien' an' all. Tori's all nice and pretty and stuff." Applejack stammered out.

Oh! Well, if it was tears of joy, then it's all good!

"Phew! Man, I thought you were really sad or something!" I exclaimed.

"Listen, sugarcube, Ah just realized that mah Child 'Velopment teacher wanted me ta stop by durin' lunch. Ah'll. . . see ya later." Applejack sighed , picking up her bags.

"Oh, sure!" I replied. She walked speedily towards the building, wiping more of her tears of joy.

I sighed, putting my hands on my head. It was nice having confirmation, that Applejack really didn't like me in the way I wish she did, but it was still a pretty depressing moment for me. After all, my dreams were pretty much crushed. Now I can confirm for a fact that I'll never be able to go out with Applejack. I've learned that I have no real ability to change how people feel, no matter how hard I try. I know it's only been a week, but I've learned that attractions have to be pretty much instant for them to work. I remember trying so hard to get good friends to like me, but they had already known me too well and they never accepted. The only person that accepted was attracted to me as soon as she had met me. Life was terrible sometimes.

Before I knew it, the bell rung, and I hurried myself over to drama, trying to get the thoughts of Applejack out of my head. I only wish things could have worked out differently. I wish she could have felt different feelings about me. But I guess I can't get everything I want.

* * *
"JOOOOOOSEPH!" Rarity screamed as she saw me enter. "Mr. Lua said that we were going to practicing our lines on our own today! Wanna come backstage and help me practice?"

"S-Sure," I stated as I walked towards her, standing on the stage wearing another nice-looking dress as groups of friends sat around the edges, talking with each other about the events of their day.

She grabbed my hand and we went backstage, to one of the prop rooms. She looked around to make sure nobody was around, and closed the door behind us, locking it.

"V-Victoria. . . are you sure that this is the best place to practice lines? I like quiet places too, but it's a bit dark in here!" I stammered out.

"Ah, Joseph, you're so, so, have you ever had a girlfriend before?" Rarity asked me immediately.

"W-Wha? Well, yeah, once, but it was long distance! You're the first girl that I've seen in person for more than a few hours," I replied.

Rarity's face opened like a black hole in utter shock. "N-NEVER?! But darling, you're so good looking, and so charming! Why wouldn't ANYBODY want to go out with you?"

"Well, I have a few reasons. Fo-"

"Joseph! Rhetorical questions! Anyways, the reason why I came in here with you, isn't to practice lines."

"It isn't? Then what is it?" 

"Well, you've never had a real girlfriend, so I have to do this differently. Are you aware of the process in which a man becomes more accustomed to his lover?"

"T-They go on dates and have ice cream and talk a lot?"

"W-Well, yes, that is a part of it, but there's a more. . . physical part."

I completely understood something about this for once. I blushed intensely as I stared at her body. She swayed her hips slightly as she stared into my eyes.

"Now, I understand," Rarity began, seeing my nervousness "I understand that you're new to all of this, so I'll take things a bit slower than I'd like. But a lady must not be so accustomed to her own needs as much as a man's needs."

Rarity put her hand up and picked up one of her lusciously large breasts.

"Now, have you ever felt one of these before?" Rarity asked me. All I could do was hold my breath as my fear grew more intense. What if the lock was broken?! What if someone saw me?! What if there were video cameras?!

"I see. In that case, we must start from the very beginning!" Rarity sighed. She grabbed my hand, knowing that I wouldn't be willing to do it myself, and placed it on her breast. "Now come, darling, as my boyfriend, my body is yours to explore around!"

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. I had only dreamed of having a moment like this. Generally, my dreams made this moment seem much more glorious. However, now that I'm here, at school, about to feel this incredibly well-built girl's breasts, I became more nervous than ever. It's much different doing it in a public place for the first time than imagining yourself doing this at home with much experience. But I couldn't let Rarity down. I started off by squeezing the sphere slowly. My hand could barely move as I repeated the motion slowly a few times.

"Do you like it?" Rarity asked me, completely calm, as if this wasn't the first time a man had done this to her. I simply shivered in a weird combination of pleasure and fear.

"Now, would you like to see something. . . something grand?" Rarity asked me as I removed my hand. She didn't wait for an answer, knowing that my words probably wouldn't be coming out anytime soon. She reached behind her dress and pulled  down on the zipper, so the sleeves fell down to her waist, exposing her torso with only her bra on. "Now, here's every man's favorite part" Rarity giggled as she reached behind her once again, playing at her bra.

"Oh no. . . Oh God please. . ." I muttered, shivering and biting my lip. I was going to see it. I was going to see a real pair of tits (and probably the biggest I would ever end up seeing.). Why does this world have to be so cr-

And there they were. In their full and luscious glory.

"Come ooon, Joseph! I know you would love to feel how all of this feels, not just that one part you kept on groping!"

Rarity put her hands under her breasts and moved them up and down, squeezing them together at times, enticing me.

I actually really liked this (or at least the lower part of my body did.), but it felt so wrong, so very, very wrong. I felt less guilt since I had broken all thoughts with Applejack (or at least, I should have been trying. But I wasn't. I still liked her), but still, I had never been this nervous before in life.

"Do I have to force you to grab them?! Come oooon!" Rarity moaned, squeezing her two breasts closer together. My arms were frozen, and my eyes were fixed. "Fine! If you're not going to treat me like a woman should be treated, then I'll force you to!" Rarity screamed. She grabbed my head and shoved them into her breasts. "THERE. THERE YOU GO. You like this, don't you?!"

I liked it.

She pulled my head out and put her bra back on.

"This is a serious case, here. Joseph, if you're going to be the right man for me, you must learn how to pleasure a woman. I will do my best to help, but you must learn to grow out of your shell! For as long as we're together, my body is free to you as you want it. That is a woman's duty." Rarity explained as she finished putting on her bra. "But one more thing. . . A woman cannot alwaysbe the one being touched. Sometimes they should be the one doing the feeling"

Rarity drifted closer to me, pinning me to a wall. I could feel her hand moving down my body, reaching for my pants.

Is she going to. . . Oh God, she's going to. She's going to do it.

She started unbuttoning my jeans, obviously incredibly experienced at the act, and moved them down slightly, but not completely off, exposing me in my underwear. She got on her knees, so her eyes were fixed on where the button of my pants were.

"Very impressive, Joseph!" She exclaimed, as she played with my bulge. I moaned slightly. This was actually the first time that that area of my body had been touched by another woman, and I could tell why people enjoyed it so much.

"Now, we must hurry up this process!" Rarity exclaimed as she grabbed my underwear and pulled it down, exposing me. She moaned as she saw my length fall out to its full length.

"Oh, oh yes, you're no Christian. . ." She giggled as she put her hand on the length.

"OH GOD PLEASE NO!" I screamed in fear, trying my best to wither it out of her hands.

"Oh, Joseph, for such a bold looking man, your bravery really need work! I'll give you a day to work on it. However, this saturday. . . " Rarity got back up and moved her body closer to mine, my length now rubbing on her dress, in. . . that area. "This Saturday shall be so fun, big boy" She whispered in my ear as she rubbed her hips slightly on my length. She giggled and walked out of the room, with such sophistication and class that nobody would have suspected a thing from her. I put my pants back on and sat by myself for a few minutes. Was this really how relationships were supposed to work? It felt so good, but I barely even knew her, and she said that I was slow for a relationship! What, was I supposed to have sex with her within the first three days?!

. . . Oh no.

I composed myself, put my clothing back on, and walked back into the auditorium

* * *

"So I was in the supply closet, looking for a prop I needed! I grabbed it, and suddenly, a bunch of stuff was about to fall! I was so scared, that I yelled ‘Oh God Please No!’ and I got so nervous! I'm still kind of scared!" I explained to my group of friends in sixth period. We were working on an assignment where we had to transpose music to the different keys of each instrument, a long and tedious process.

"Sure. Looking for supplies." Harley snickered.

"I bet Victoria was a big help to you!" Christian added in.

"Duude. . . I hope you didn't knock over the weed pile I have in there." Vinyl moaned as she held onto her desk. I guess in Vinyl world, it was a windy day in the band room.

"If I could just ask one question, Joseph. . ." Octavia asked.

"Yeah?" I replied

"Why are you telling us this story? None of us are in Drama, we wouldn't need an explanation as to why you and Rarity were alone in the prop room."

"WE WEREN'T DOING ANYTHING BAD!" I screamed.

"You're a nervous wreck, kiddo." Brittany chimed in.

"S-S-Shut up!" I groaned.

"It's ok, man. I'm not sure where you've been, but lots of people have sex in high school, it's not that bad." Christian attempted to reassure me.

"W-We didn't have sex! She. . . she showed me. . ." I grabbed my chest

"OOOOH!" Harley screamed, startling the entire class. Mr. Acevedo glared at him. "I. . . I realized that um. . . this is in Treble Clef! Yeah!" Luckily for him, Harley was dopey enough that reading in the wrong clef would be an issue worthy of an incredibly loud exclamation.

"And, um, she touched it." I managed to murmur out.

Christian immediately grabbed Harley mouth as he let out another exclamation of excitement.

"So, was it great, or was it great!" Harley let out after Christian removed his hands.

"W-Well. . ." I noticed Octavia and Brittany going back to their work while Vinyl drooled on her paper. "I. . ."

The bell rang, and I sprinted out of my desk and to the door without so much as putting my desk back against the wall. I was free, free from the awkward, free from the uncomfortable se-

My line of vision went a pitch black as I heard a smack and the pressure of an object hitting me.

I laid on the floor as my entire class of 20 people laughed at me, while I laid facing the ceiling. I looked in front of me and noticed the doors. Closed. My head throbbed in pain as I realized what I had done. Frederick came and helped me up.

"Remember Carlton, by the way," Frederick stated calmly, not wanting to rile me up any more than I already was. I nodded and opened the door, walking out at a normal pace. My head was in deep pain as I walked to the front of the school.

I decided to walk on my own back home. Luckily for me, I didn't run into anyone, so I was able to head to the ice cream parlor on my own. I sighed as I put my head down on an open table. Today was a rough day, and this world was getting weirder and weirder. I had thought that maybe this was a paradise, but now my mind was riddled with so many tough decisions. The fate of Twilight's life is in my hands, Rarity wanted to tear off the little childhood I had left of myself, and I had to take care of schoolwork and the such. It was a horrific experience for me. Now more than ever, I just wanted to go home. I didn't want to be me. I wanted to escape back into my natural home. I didn't mean anything to anyone, but still, at least I didn't have to worry. I didn't have to stress, I was just the guy that people was friends with, and I didn't have to worry about anything.

If only there was something, or someone. that I could feel like I mean something to them, without having to be stressed out about them all of the time, without having to worry about their lives, with them caring about my comfort. That's the kind of reality I wanted.

I looked up as I heard a bell jingle as the door opened.

"Ya must be Joseph," a voice called out to me.

And so the hopeful solution to all of my troubles had begun.
> Chapter 7: Looking Deeper Into Others
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, Twilight all of a sudden decides that she's yer brother and that ya need mah dad ta help ya out?" Caramel asked me.

It had been about ten minutes since Caramel first walked into the ice cream parlor. We had purchased ice cream bowls and were now sitting inside by a window, as kids around my age made their way back to their homes, joking and talking amongst one another. I noticed Applejack walking by herself. She seemed so distressed. Her hair was breaking from its generally contained state as she stared at the ground, kicking a rock along her path, with her hands in her pockets. She pulled out a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. I'm not entirely sure why, though. After all, she seemed perfectly healthy when she left today in lunch, and I hadn't seen anybody notably sick. I didn't know everyone in the school, however. I stared at her with the desire to hold her. For no reason whatsoever I just wanted to be by her, especially when she looked so distressed. I didn't even know what was wrong with her, but it would mean so much to find out, so I can kick the ass of whoever made her sad.

"Joseph!" Caramel called out, poking me with his spoon.

I had met Caramel once while I was at Applejack's house, so it wasn't completely awkward being with him. He wore a plain looking caramel colored T-Shirt with three blue horseshoes on it, and wore a pair of slightly worn blue jeans. He looked nothing like the son of a well-esteemed psychologist, to be quite honest.

"Yeah! Y-Yeah, that's it." I sighed.

Caramel stared at me for a few seconds, and then shifted his eyes to my ice cream, seemingly thinking to himself.

"How long have ya known her?" Caramel asked me.

"Hmm, About a week." I replied, counting the days on my fingers.

"I see. Describe to me how you guys met"

"Well," I began "I'm. . . can you promise not to tell anybody else about this?"

"Sure thing, partner."

"Allright. Anyways, she was one of the first people that I met when I came here. When I came here. . . when I came here. . ." I paused for a moment. Should I really tell him that I don't know where I came from or why I came here all alone? Like, they were fine with teens living on their own around these parts. Twilight lived by herself, and Applejack was the only person I knew that had even any sort of mention of her parents (or, grandparent. But still. . .). However, I knew Caramel could be so helpful, since he might be able to find a way to tap into my mind and regain my memories, or do whatever psychologists do. However, he could also think I'm insane, coming from some unknown land and having no memory of it. What if he told everyone else?! Rarity already knew, but all of my friends would think that I was so weird! I knew that they knew I was the new kid, but they hadn't really taken the time to analyze where exactly I was from. . . they just seemed to accept me, a fact that I heavily appreciated.

"When you came here?" Caramel stated in a questionable tone, as I had drifted off into thought.

"Oh! Yeah! Um, When I came here, Twilight just instantly took a liking to me. She was the first person to come up and offer me to go to her house, offer me food, clothes, and a shelter. It wasn't even a contest, she just assumed the role. She signed me up for school and everything, and she even gave me her last name!" I stated.

"Food? Clothes? Shelter? Didn't ya have yer own stuff, though?" Caramel asked me.

I stopped for a second and tried thinking of what to say. I seriously didn't want him to know. I blushed a deep shade of red and stared at him.

"Well, you see, I actually don't know where I came from. I just kind of. . . showed up." I told him.

"Ya. . . showed up? Do ya know where ya came from?"

I stared at him in silence.

". . . Yer family?"

I stared at the ice cream now as it slowly melted, his caramel topping mixing with some of the melted ice cream.

"Ah see. . . ya know, Joseph, ah'd really like ta get ta know a bit more 'bout your circumstances. You. . . Ah'm interested in ya."

"I-Interested?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side.

"Yeah. A normal looking guy who doesn't remember where he came from, probably not from this town, just appears here. Ah'm not a psychologist or anythin', but yer case seems interestin'."

"Oh, ok. . . Wait, what about Twilight?!"

"Oh! Oh! Yeah yeah, ya busy tomorrow?"

"Not necessarily, I've got a date with my girlfriend tomorrow, but I'm not sure how long it'll last."

"G-G-GIRLFRIEND?! Y-You only been here a week and you gotcherself caught up in some sort of lovey dovey hootenany!" Caramel exclaimed as he stood up, slamming his hands on the table. The parlor wasn't necessarily too full, but the few people around the area stared at him oddly. "C-Congratuations." Caramel muttered as he sat himself back down. "Anyways, you could walk Twilight over to my house tomorrow. Ah think you've been there before, with Applejack, mah cousin. Even if yer not able ta stay, all we really need is her. We only need ya ta discuss payments"

"P-Payments?!" I almost screamed. I had barely enough money to pay my ice cream! (It was in some weird currency that they called 'bits'.)

"Mah dad's work ain't too expensive, but he can't be doin' charity work fer Twilight. However, for yer case, ah'd be willin' ta take ya in fer free." 

"B-B-But I don't even have a job! I'm living off of a completely insane seventeen year old girl's money!"

"Who's that pretty girlfriend of yours?"

"Victoria Stewart."

"You can pay."

I sighed and slammed my head against the table. I guess this break from my homeland didn't necessarily mean a break from financial responsibility.

"Now, if yer free, we could walk over ta mah house right now. Ah'd sure love ta let dad meet ya and all."

I thought for a second. As much as I wanted to get home, and as weird as Caramel seemed, suddenly being so interested in me, I'd rather be outside than go home to see Twilight right now, who would probably tie me up and play dress-up with her big B.B.B.F.F. As fun as that sounded, I would rather not.

"Sure" I replied, realizing that I had barely touched my ice cream. We both got up, and I took some bites of my ice cream before throwing it away, half-finished. I looked at Caramel's cup and realized that he had barely touched his ice cream as well.

"Now" Caramel asked me as he opened the door "Since yer here, ah need ta talk with ya."

"Sorry, I don't remember much about home."

"No, not about that! But. . . it's about mah cousin, Applejack."

I shot up to attention as I heard the mention of her name.

"Anyways, she's been real out of it the past few days" He began. "She says that there's some boy at school that's been ignoring her an awful lot and has done the meanest things."

"WHO IS HE?!" I screamed, not caring about how loud I was.

"C-Calm down partner, hold your horses!" Caramel exclaimed. "I-I don't know, but he's in our grade apparently. She didn't say much about him, she just started crying all of a sudden. She told me 'Why doesn't that boy like me?! I do so much to make him happy and he doesn't say anything? Does he know anything about how to make a girl feel special, especially a girl that likes him?'"

I bit my lip. Applejack liked another guy. Why was I so surprised? After all, I already learned from today that she didn't care enough about me to stop me from having a girlfriend, and now I know that she had feelings for another man. It sucked terribly, as I still loved her so much even though I was stuck with Rarity. However, this changed nothing! Nobody should EVER be mean to Applejack! Nobody should ever make her feel not special and not like the greatest person of all! I swore to myself that whoever says another mean thing to her will receive a PERSONAL beating from me, no matter who he is.

". . . I'll kill him."

"D-D-DUDE!" Caramel exclaimed "P-Please man, calm yerself! If ya need psychological help for yer outbursts, mah dad can help too! Yer gonna have ta pay for it, though."

"I DON'T HAVE OUTBURSTS!" I paused for a second and bit my lip once more "I'm just a little flustered. B-Because. . . "

"Because?"

"Well. . . Applejack is really pretty, don't you think?"

"Ah'm her cousin."

"I know, I know! But, I think she's really pretty and really nice, I want to just sit alone with her and cuddle her and make her feel special, even when other people don't, I want to play with her in the grass under the stars, rolling around and laughing, just being happy. . ."

"Did you prepare that speech up?"

"N-No! T-That's just how I feel about her!"

"Well, partner, it's too bad that you already gotcherself a girlfriend. Plus, Applejack still really likes that boy that she saw. Love sure is a cruel thing."

"Sure is. . ." I sighed, placing my hands in my pockets.

We walked in silence through town for a good fifteen minutes, seeing as older businesspeople walked around town, making appointments and just looking busy without actually doing anything, as a lot of good businesspeople are known for. I was still kind of mad that Applejack had liked someone else. If only I had done more, if only I hadn't said yes to Rarity. She might have actually been interested in me and dumped that other mystery man for me.

"Here we go!" Caramel stated, breaking the silence as we approached Applejack's barn.

"W-why do you live here? Aren't you her cousin?" I asked curiously.

"Well yeah, but mah dad and mah other cousin, Braeburn, decided ta live here so we could go ta school. Braeburn lived with me originally, so when dad and I moved here fer school, he came along."

I nodded in understanding as we entered the house.

"Caramel! What's up with ya and bein' out late like that!?" A booming voice shouted from behind a wall.

"Dad! Dad, it's just me! Ah've got someone you ought ta meet!" Caramel called out.

The house, which I failed to describe before on my last visit, was incredibly cozy, with nice dark wooden walls surrounding the area. A fireplace sat on the right end of the house that burned heartily, adding to the coziness of the home. I was half tempted just to lay down on one of the couches by the fireplace and just sleep. However, before I could do so, a familiar face walked by.

"DYUHUHAWHAT?!" A female southern voice screamed, one that was incredibly pleasant to my ears. "J-J-Jo-Jo. . . h-hi."

"Hi Augustine." I replied politely. I knew she didn't like me all that much, or at least as much as I wanted her to, but I still had to be courteous to her.

Before I could say anything more, she turned around and hurriedly went back the way she came. I heard her accidentally kick a few things while going back to wherever she was going. Out of the same door, a seemingly larger version of Caramel came out, almost eerily similar to him, with the same hairstyle, the same colored shirt, and similar accents. If it weren't for his "Stable Hospital" logo on his shirt, and his slight height difference, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. 

"Ah, don't mind little Jackie, she's always skittish when she sees new people." The larger Caramel stated.

"Really? Ah alw-" Young Caramel stated.

"So! Who's your new friend?"

"His name? Joseph, Ah'm pretty sure. Ah wanted ya ta. . . inspect him."

"Joseph! Ah'm Dr. Sal McIver. Ah am the head doctor of Stable Hospital. Feel free ta call me Dr. Stable if ya so choose ta." Dr. Stable outstretched his hand, which I took and shook. It still looked and felt incredibly similar to Caramel's, which creeped me out slightly, but I shook the thought of of my mind. "So what's this about testin?"

"Well," I began "Let me explain everything as much as I can. . ."

* * *

"Ah'll do it." Dr. Stable stated cheerfully, after writing down a page of illegible notes. "You know, Twilight's been a sweet girl and all, she loves comin' down to the hospital and helpin' out with nurse things. Ya know, ah've been tryin' ta get ol' Carlton here to spend some quality time with her!"

Caramel gave a deadly glare to his father, who only laughed.

"Ya gotta find some girl soon, Carlton! What, if we become desperate enough, we might just marry ya off to Augustine!"

You wouldn't dare, I thought to myself, clenching my fists. Caramel saw my reaction and giggled softly.

"WHAT?!" I almost screamed, as my tension increased from the mention of Applejack.

"Nothin, nothing. . ." Caramel giggled as he regained his composure. "Jus' 'memberin' a funny joke an' all."

"Well, Joseph," Dr. Stable began again "Ah think you gotcherself a deal, and ah'll be sure ta help ya with yer payments. However, that Victoria girl has got a chunk of change, ya should be fine."

I sighed at the notion of payments and grabbed my backpack, ready to head back home. 

"Just remember, Jo" Caramel called to me. "Get Twilight on yer side about goin'. Ah know she can be a bit stubborn, but it ain't gonna help her one bit if she doesn't want to go."

I sighed to myself and clenched my fists again. That was going to be the hard part. It wasn't like I wasn't aware that Twilight really needed psychological help, but it wasn't the greatest thing in the world to be told “You're insane, you need help," especially to the person who I was living with. 

"I'll do it," I half-heartedly replied as I waved goodbye and walked out the door without looking back at the two Caramels.

I never really got to truly appreciate the walk back home. Whenever I walked from school to Twilight's house, I always ended up having something else on my mind. I always would try to appreciate the nice scenery that decorated this foreign land, but I always seemed to get caught up in my thoughts, like how Twilight was going to react when I told her that I wanted her to see a psychologist! It was so wrong of me to live my life here as her brother, especially if it turns out that her actual brother is dead or something. Plus, what happens when I go back home?! (Or if. . .). She'll be lost forever thinking her brother abandoned her for a second time!

Plus, now that I think about it, I hadn't met up with Rarity this entire time! Knowing her personality, she would be incredibly mad at me! Granted, we had plans for tomorrow, which I had mixed feelings about, but still, my limited knowledge of being in a relationship is the constant contact with one another, an issue that destroyed my only other relationship. Granted, I didn't truly love Rarity as much as I should have. . . I still really wanted Applejack. . .

Applejack truly was beautiful. . . I wish I could have stayed longer, honestly. I could have done whatever she does at home. I always thought her to be the type to secretly be really girly and play with stuffed animals or dolls and have tea parties, and hide everything under her bed so Mac or Braeburn or Caramel wouldn't see any of it and see her as some sort of tomboy. We could have done so many things, we could have talked, we could have joked around, we could have played, we could have. . .been something. . .

I'm getting off track! I promised myself that I wouldn't get sidetracked! Now, back to Rarity, I had a date with her tomorrow, which, from my limited knowledge, would be a mixture of loving as well as anger towards my inability to be with her today, but still, even though I didn't really feel for her as strongly as I did for Applejack, I had made a commitment, a commitment to be with her, and I had to do everything in my path to do so! After all, I feared oh so greatly what would happen if I left her. . .

Before I knew it, I was at the foot of Twilight's door, where I could hear her laughing from inside. I opened the door and saw her with a large cardboard box marked "Rowland and Me!~", decorated with pictures of cute ponies and stick figures. Twilight was laying on the couch where I slept, looking at a picture of the real Rowland who was wearing a silly costume of some cartoon character I probably hadn't heard of, chasing a young Twilight around the loft of a house. I saw two adults sitting behind the action, smiling and holding hands. I sighed, knowing that the moment had come, the moment to break all of her happiness.

"ROWLAND! Oh, I'm sooo happy to see you!" Twilight giggled as she immediately rose from the couch and came to hug me.

"H-H-Hi" I managed to stammer out, her hugs squeezing what little muscle I had in my stomach out of me.

"Ooh, Rowland, guess whaaaat!" 

"Y-Ye-Yeah?"

"I just got us two tickets to go to the localmuseum! We're going to see an entire exhibit about the Trojan Horse! Won't that be fun!? Didn't you think it was so cool?! You know." Twilight's focus on my loosened as she grew more solemn and looked towards the ground "Before you left?"

"Oh! Um, yeah, it is really cool!" I managed to reply. I'm assuming that in this crazy foreign land, the Trojan Horse was the same thing, where soldiers from some ancient land got on this giant horse thing and invaded some city state thing. Knowing about Rowland, he probably would have enjoyed such a creative military feat. Granted, I wasn't very good at emulating his possible excitement.

"Aren't you happy, Rowland!?"

"Yeah! I-It's just, we can't go tomorrow. . ."

"Why not?" Twilight lost her grip on me and stood politely straight in front of me, her arms folded behind her back and her eyes growing in width as they refocused onto mine.

"Well. . . well. . ." I searched for the words "You. . . "

I sighed as I closed my eyes. . . if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right.

"YOU'RE INSANE AND YOU NEED HELP." I screamed much louder than any human being probably should ever scream.

Twilight jumped back out of fear and confusion. "W-What?!" she yelped.

"I'm not Rowland!" I began. Any sort of hesitation would make me just. . . I wouldn't be able to do it. My heart grew with intensity as I tried to get the words out as fast as possible, nervous about how she would react. "I'm Joseph! I don't know much of who I am, but I know that I'm Joseph! You're a great person, Tina, but I don't want to live my life as a lie when I don't even know who I truly am! I appreciate you taking care of me, but I am not your brother, I am just a stranger who just popped in and wants to. . ."

I was right, I began to hesitate on my last words. It wasn't like it really meant anything that I said anything more than "I'm not Rowland", but still, did I want to go back home? I wasn't all too sure. It had been an issue bouncing around in my head, back and forth and back and forth for countless times. I had come to this place wanting nothing more than to just to get home, but I'd changed since then, in little less than a week. I meant something to people, a feeling I never remembered back home. However, I didn't want to be a lie. This place was so nice, though, and I loved people here. I had all forms of love here, from the love of friendship, to the love of my "family" that took care of me while I was here, to the deepest form of human love. I may have tasted these feelings back home, but it was so much stronger here.

There was dead silence in the room. I couldn't start again, it was just Twilight and I staring at each other, finding the right words to say.

"Rowlan-"

"I'M NOT ROWLAND!" I screamed once again. "I'm not, I'm not, I'm not! Stop it, Tina! S-S-S. . . S-S. . .Stop. . ."

I don't know what overcame me, honestly. My legs began to tremble as I looked at Twilight, such a bright young girl, about to be ruined because I was too stupid to just make everything all better. I was weak, I was fallible, I was nothing more than the reason for her downfall. I was. . . Tears began to fill my eyes as I fell to the floor. Before I had thudded on the ground, tears began flowing out and the moans of horrid depression and sadness roared from my eyes. It was stupid of me, to bring myself down so low, to just fall on the ground like an unstable statue would, to crumble and break all over the floor. Girls were smart, they just ran to their rooms and cried on their beds for hours on end, but I had broken in the most vulnerable of places.

I had expected Twilight to simply run off and cry like she usually did regarding the subject of her brother, but I couldn't hear footsteps at all. I felt an arm on my shoulder. I looked up and noticed Twilight, her lips trembling but still attempting to form a smile.

"I-It's going to be ok, b-b-bro. . . " She attempted to comfort me, but the pain was too much for her, to see me in such a desperate situation while denying a truth she had set so close to her heart. She fell over and began sobbing as well, her head buried into my shoulder, her arms wrapping around my neck. "I-I l-love you. . ." she breathed out as she tried to stop the tears. Our rivers flowed for eternal seconds as we let out all of the pains of the past few days into her living room floor. But even eternity ended as our rivers ceased to produce any more, and we looked into each other's eyes once again.

"I. . . psychiatrist. . . Carlton. . . he wants to see you. . . tomorrow. . ." I stammered out as Twilight continued to leak out the last of her tears.

"But I want Rowland. . . " she pouted

"B-But I'm not him. We'll find him, though, I'll help, I promise." I managed to whisper to her.

"I want him now."

"I know, but you're strong, and he's strong, we'll find him, and I'll do it as soon as I can. You know why?"

"W-W-Why?"

"Because. . . because I love you. . . sis."

"B-B-" Twilight's eyes shot up in confusion.

"I know, I'm not Rowland, but you just, you've done so much for me, I consider you like a sister. Even if we can't be Rowland and Tina, we can still be Joseph and Tina, the second bestest brother and sister crew out there."

Twilight's lips shook and trembled as the desire to cry once more grew from her. There was silence as I braced myself for this moment, but release never occurred.

"I. . . want you to sleep with me." Twilight calmly stated after a fight to keep her body in control.

"WHAT?!" I screamed, scooting back from her slightly.

"You, I mean, Rowland would always sleep in bed with me when I got sad. It would make me feel better, always"

I sighed a huge sigh of relief. If there was anything I didn't need, it was another reason to get Rarity mad at me. "Sure. Let's go now." I replied as I did my best to get myself up. I held out my hand so both of us could assist each other. However, our weak state made this task seemingly impossible, and I ended up falling over on top of her, her hair spun out to fill the floor in the best way it could as I landed directly on top of her, my eyes on top of hers, my body on top of hers. I blushed a shade of deep red as she giggled and ticked me in the stomach. We rolled around as I decided to join the antics as well. I wasn't much of a good tickler, but Twilight was very nice and just went along with it, giggling and laughing as we rolled around the floor of the house. 

After about ten minutes, all we could do was pant from exhaustion due to our activity. We managed to get up on our own, ready to head to her bedroom. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the room, with the door already open. It was organized incredibly nicely, almost as if she had OCD or some disorder of the sort. Everything, including her "Rowland is the best B.B.B.F.F" wall was organized in a fashion where no picture was out of alignment, each different sized picture was placed to make perfect squares. The floor was seemingly vacuumed of any sort of item that wasn't floorboards, as the perfectly cleaned room emulated the elements of a showroom on television. I looked around the room, interested in just how any human being could organize their pencils by the number of times used, to always have the least used pencil when working on homework.

I turned around and noticed Twilight, wearing nothing but a bra and panties, her nicely sized breasts being shown off by the lack of material on her bra.

"GYAH!" I screamed, almost knocking over her desk as I jumped back. "I have a girlfriend!"

"O-Oh. . . " Twilight sighed "Rowland was always fine with it. . ."

Note to self: Rowland was a pervert. . . A pervert with good taste.

"It's fine, it's fine, but I'm not getting naked or anything"

Twilight giggled softly and jumped onto the bed, pulling the sheets over her. I removed my shoes, attempting to find someplace nice to put them, and crawled into bed with her.

Twilight rolled over towards me, so her body was in contact with mine, and looked into my eyes once more. "You know, even if you aren't my brother, I'll always consider you one." Twilight smiled as she wrapped her arms around me once more, her warm body sending chills down my spine. "Don't leave me, please, whoever you are, I want you here."

I wrapped my arms around her body in compliance. This felt so much more natural than with Rarity. I guess because it hadn't been so forced. With Rarity, she just got naked and whipped out my dick without my consent. However, with Twilight, there was something much more serene about the entire situation. And we were "brother and sister" as well, so my mind wasn't filled with sexual thoughts (Although, don't get me wrong, they might have been there). However, my primary thoughts were simply that I had wounded Twilight. I hadn't known her for that long, I don't know how long she had been waiting for Rowland. Her hopes and dreams of finding him just died, probably not for the first time. I just wanted to comfort her. I held her tightly against my body as she fell into the comforting abyss of sleep.

She had so much trust in me, in someone who had just hurt her so badly. Is this what family was like? Is this why the love between a family was so special? I didn't know, I had such distorted thoughts regarding my family that I couldn't even describe them if anyone asked. . . but everything, for once, felt right. There were still conflicts I had, but everything felt right as I cuddled Twilight, the only "family" I really had with me. She wanted to stick with me forever, she wanted to be there for me and with me, as I tried my best to be there for her. Even if she didn't always like it, I would always think in her betterment so she doesn't end up ruined. She wasn't going to stick with me because she had intentions of bearing my children like Rarity, but rather because of a true deeper love, the love of family, a love that I had never felt before now.

I stared at her as she slept, and I don't know what overcame me. I leaned in slowly and gave her a kiss on the forehead, hopefully in efforts to comfort her even more, after I had hurt her so much, I loved her, loved her like the best kind of sister, the sister I never had. My mind was comforted with the vision of her sleeping face as I fell into the soft arms of sleep, as it ensured me that tomorrow would be the beginning of a recovery, and that although this place still had its bumpy times, maybe this was the place right for me.