"Okay guys, dinner is-" I stopped in my tracks when I looked back to the living room.
Rainbow Dash, who was now lying on her back in front of the TV, must've gotten hot or something. Because as soon as I looked down; there she was. The silk dress she was wearing before? Gone.
I gawked in shock for a second, but then quickly turned away and shut my eyes tight, "RAINBOW! MOTHER OF- PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON!"
"Huh?" Rainbow asked confusedly, "How come?"
"Look, in the human world, we wear clothes for a REASON. We have… things… we need to cover up…"
"You mean thes-"
"Yes! Yes, I mean those! Put your dress back on, please!" I repeated frantically, trying ever so hard to hide the deep shade of red that now covered my face. I heard a bunch of random shuffling come from the living room, and then an awkward silence, save for the yelling of the television.
"They're back on," Rainbow Dash said awkwardly.
I took a breath and turned around, glad to see that everyone was fully clothed. They all stared at me skeptically, but I just shrugged it off and continued where I left off.
"Dinner's ready," I sighed in relief.
I had a bit of trouble deciding what I wanted to make at first. Part of me wanted to be easier on them and just make something quick, like frozen pizza or something. But another part of me wanted to make something huge to welcome them. It took some debate, but I decided I kinda just wanted to make garlic pasta instead. No meat risk, not too hard, but not too lazy.
We all sat around the dining room table and stared at eachother for a second. I was a bit confused as to why they hadn't started eating yet, but I nearly face palmed when I realized I was the only one holding a fork.
"Okay," I sighed, "Human lesson number one: forks."
I carefully explained to them how to wrap their fingers around this strange new utensil, mentally laughing as I did so. It was defiantly going to be a long couple of weeks.
After they started to get the hang of it, we all dug in and I began thinking about how the next couple of weeks were going to play out.
"Tomorrow's Saturday," I started, "So I'll be home all day. We should probably go shopping so you guys have more than just those dresses to wear."
"I agree, darling," Rarity started, "Although I am quite fond of this material."
"After that…" I continued, "Well, I guess we can just hang out. You guys need to get adjusted; I'll probably need to do some homework that I'm not doing now…"
"I can help you with your homework," Twilight perked up happily.
I smiled, "Thanks Twilight, but I have a feeling you're not gonna be the best at American History. The school system in this world is most likely a bit different than the school system in Equestria."
"Can I work with you anyway?" she asked, "It'll be interesting to learn the history of this world."
"I guess so," I shrugged, "It would help you get adjusted. In the meantime, though, I would suggest learning as much as you can from the internet."
"The internet?"
"Yea… Hold on a second."
I got up from the table and sped up to my room. My laptop was casually sitting on my desk. I grabbed it and ran down the stairs.
"This is a laptop," I started as I approached the table, "Or rather, a personal computer. Think of it as… the biggest library in the world. Only everything is condensed into here using the internet."
They all stared at me in wonder. I sat back down at my seat, and they all crowded around me and I booted up my desktop. I picture of Queen Elsa from Frozen lit up the screen. They all gasped in awe.
"To get to the internet, you click this button," I continued, clicking on Google Chrome. I demonstrated how you use your fingers to type, and I showed them my Facebook page. Then I proceeded to the search bar and typed in Wikipedia.
"This will probably be the easiest way to learn about the world," I explained, "It's not the most academic source in the world, but it'll defiantly give you the information you want. We'll start with 'human'"
I typed in the word and watched as the information popped up. It surprisingly seemed like a pretty lengthy page, going into detail about the growth cycle and body features.
"If you want to know about anything, type it in the search bar. If you run out of things to search for, just click on the related searches here. This site is pretty endless, so you'll know a ton in no time."
Twilight excitedly began to scan over the page. I smiled; getting them adjusted wouldn't be as hard as I thought it would be. As they all read, I quietly stood up and cleared the table.
"You need some help with that, sugarcube?" I heard Applejack ask as I walked into the kitchen. I nearly blushed at the name 'sugarcube'.
"Nah, I got it," I laughed it off.
I loaded the dishwasher and pressed start, then leaned back against the fridge. The reality of the situation was finally beginning to hit me. I had ponies in my house. And not just any ponies, the ponies from my favorite show of all time. The show had already become my life. It was all I thought about. And to have them here… I glanced over to the table. They were all happily chatting amongst themselves as they fiddled with the laptop. To have them here was literally a dream come true. But what was going to happen? As far as I could tell, Twilight didn't have her horn. How were they going to get back? Could they get back? How long would they have to stay with me? What would they do with their time?
"Olly? You okay?" I heard a voice ask. I snapped out of it to see Rainbow Dash standing at the entrance to the kitchen with a raised eyebrow. I nearly shook my head. Rainbow Dash was standing in my house.
"Yea I'm fine," I shrugged, "Just thinking about things. What's up?"
"Got bored," she shrugged back, walking to my side, "This whole internet thing is cool and all, but I think I can figure things out on my own."
I nodded. I had mostly booted up the thing for Twilight's benefit, since I knew reading was the easiest way for her to learn. I glanced over at Rainbow. There was a ton on my mind, and I'm sure a ton on hers as well. I grinned.
"Hey Rainbow," I started, "You wanna come on a run with me?"
At this, she perked up a bit, "You go running here?"
I laughed, "Yea, of course. We gotta exercise somehow, don't we? I mean, not everyone does… but it's not uncommon."
She frowned a bit, "But it's already so dark out."
"That's how I like it," I shrugged, "Good temperature, and no one else around."
With that we stood up, let the others know where we were going, and started out the door. She seemed a little skeptical on using her legs at first, but I demonstrated slowly, and she eventually got the hang of it.
"Did you feel that?" Rainbow suddenly said.
"Feel what?" I said, before suddenly feeling a small speck of cold hit my shoulder. I nearly cursed; I forgot about the rain.
"We better get back before it starts," Rainbow suggested.
I sighed, feeling the droplets hit me more constantly "It's pretty far… I don't think we'll make it in time even if we both ran at full speed."
"You wanna bet?" Rainbow got a competitive gleam in her eye, taking a racing stance. I was taken back at first, but then smiled, taking a racing stance as well. I pulled off my shirt and shoved it in my back pocket.
"You're on."
"Ready?" Rainbow started.
"Set…"
With that, we both took off running as fast as we could. Cold rain hit my face and matted down my hair as I advanced forward, neck in neck with Rainbow Dash. I thought about how cool it'd be if I could say that I beat Rainbow Dash in a race. I ran faster.
"I don't think so, pipsqueak," she yelled as she sprinted in front of me. I took a deep breath and imagined myself earlier that day, being chased by all the guys. I felt adrenaline shoot up into my chest and I quickly passed her, leaving her a good three feet behind me. I wiped away some of the rain that was dripping down my face and closed my eyes, letting my feet take control of my thoughts. It felt so good. I hadn't done this is a long time.
I thought about all the girls waiting back at the house. How did they manage to make their way into this world? Why MY world? Of all the places in the universe they could've ended up, why here? Why now? The world became nothing but an endless void in which I could keep running and thinking. I could barely hear Rainbow Dash trying to keep up behind me. I wondered what kind of life they would have to make in this world. I'd have to help them, but how? It wouldn't be easy. I thought of how messed up the world was, how many things these girls would have to see that they were never meant to see. I cursed to myself; I couldn't see them go through that.
"Olly?" I heard Rainbow Dash faintly call out. I couldn't respond; I was too busy thinking about how to deal with all of this.
"Olly! Hey!" I snapped out of it and stopped running. I looked around the see that we were very close to my house, and the rain was pouring around us. Rainbow Dash caught up to me and panted.
"It's raining pretty hard," she said between breaths, "I couldn't see you ahead. I called you like seven times! Why didn't you answer me?"
I paused, suddenly trying to catch my breath. I put my hands on my knees and gasped for air. Suddenly Rainbow looked concerned rather than aggravated.
"You okay, kid?"
"Yea, yea, I'm fine," I gasped, "Sorry, I got lost in thought. We better get inside."
She casually put a hand on my shoulder and we both walked up to the house, and entered through the back door.
"There you guys are!" Pinkie shouted, "Whoa, you're all soaked!"
I wiped some of the water away from my eyes, "Well, it IS raining."
"What took you so long," Twilight asked, looking up from the computer screen, "You guys had us a little worried."
"Olly here got all spacey," Rainbow said casually, almost squeezing out her hair.
"I'll get you two some towels," Rarity started.
"I got it," I countered, running up the stairs. I glanced over the balcony and noticed Rainbow talking to Twilight and Rarity in a hushed voice. All three of them looked extremely concerned. I shrugged and went into the bathroom.
I looked at myself in the mirror. My face was extremely pink, and I was soaking wet. I shakily pulled my inhaler out of a drawer and inhaled some of the medicine. I didn't often like to admit to other people that I had asthma, so I hid the inhaler in my bathroom. That way, if anyone found it and asked, it wasn't mine.
I felt my heart beat begin to slow down and my lungs begin to calm. I took a deep breath. Once I was sure I was breathing normally, I grabbed a couple of towels from the closet and made my way down the stairs again.
When I walked down the hallway, the three girls were still being secretive by the door, while the other three were still crowding around the computer. When I approached, the three by the door turned to me and smiled, as if they had casually been waiting here all this time. I was about to question them about it, but decided not to bother.
"Here ya go," I said, throwing a towel at Rainbow.
"Thanks," she replied. We both dried ourselves off. I looked up at her; her dress was completely soaked. I sighed.
"You wanna borrow some clothes?"
"If you don't mind, that would be rad," she replied smiling.
I went up to my room and grabbed a light blue T-shirt and some black basketball shorts. I always wore my clothes extremely baggy, so I was sure they would fit her. I made my way back down the stairs and threw them to Rainbow.
"You can change in the bathroom over there," I pointed down the hallway, "Second door on your right."
"Okay," she replied, and walked into the bathroom.
"Olly?" Fluttershy perked up from behind the computer screen, "I'm sorry… but… where are we all going to sleep tonight?"
"Well…" I began to think out loud, "You can either pair up, or you can all sleep in the same room if you want. There are two guest rooms upstairs and one in the basement."
"I don't mind parin' up," Applejack started, "Me n' Rainbow'll take the room downstairs."
"Oh! Oh! I wanna bunk with Fluttershy!" Pinkie shouted, hugging Fluttershy's head as if she were putting her in a soft headlock.
"Then I guess Rarity and I will room together," Twilight concluded.
"Okay," I replied, "Twilight and Rarity, you guys can room in my dad's office, and Pinkie and Flutters can take the other guest room. It used to be my sister's room, but it's been empty for a while now."
"Where's your sister?" Rarity asked.
"College," I shrugged, "We didn't really talk much, anyway."
"Where's college?" Applejack perked up.
"I read something about it," Twilight interrupted, "It's a school that kids go away to once they finish high school. It's to train for your special talent."
"You got the right idea," I replied, "But I wouldn't call it training for your special talent. Just training for the job field you want to go into. It might be your special talent, it might not. Completely depends on what the person wants."
"Why would you want to train for something that isn't your special talent?" Twilight asked.
"Because humans don't necessarily know what their special talent is," I replied casually, "A lot of people are good at a lot of different things. Sometimes it's hard to find your passion in life."
"But they're gonna figure it out even'tlly… right?" Applejack asked.
"Hard to say," I scratched the back of my head, "Some people do, some people don't."
They all seemed completely shocked by this, and we all stared at eachother for a while. I tried to find a simpler way for them to understand it in my head, but nothing was coming out.
"People just… do stuff," I ended up saying simply.
"Olly?" I heard Rainbow Dash call from the hallway. I turned to see…
"Olly, how to do put these on?" she asked, holding up the pair of shorts.