High school.

Possibly one of the most boring things I have ever taken part of. Willingly, of course.

I arrived before school started -I had no idea when it started, turns out I arrived an hour early- just so I could try the portal again.

Pushing through the stone -took more pressure than it did yesterday, it seems Twilight found my note and decided to strengthen her shield- I tumbled through the portal. I managed to keep a lid on my yap this time, letting the only sounds to echo throughout the room be the clopping of my new hooves.

"That...just felt weird. Can't say I like it." Senkestu said, twisting his eyescarf to look around the room.

"Ditto on that. I heavily prefer hands. I'm just gonna take a look around, then we'll jump right back through. Can you keep an eye moving, see if anyone takes an unhealthy interest?" I asked, cycling my legs to familiarize myself with them. Finally I settled on a crawling motion. It wasn't exact, but it let me move and not look like I was flailing around.

I looked around the room to better acquaint myself, and immediately saw a new addition. A giant whiteboard, my letter taped to the exact middle of it. That wasn't the impressive thing about it though. Red lines, tracing to pretty much every word I had written out the day previous, going all across the board to little notes she had made. Everything from noting the way I did my 'L's to correctly assuming that I was a male, about in my 30's. 'Feather marks denotes that the traveler is a pegasus in Equestria.' 'excessive use of language suggests the human is short tempered, with a violent streak' 'he was hiding behind the mirror! why didn't I check behind the mirror? mental note, ALWAYS check behind the mirror whenever I come in the room from now on.' '

So Twilight had been a busy little bee. I was going to have to be even more careful. A shame, I will admit a perverse pleasure had been gained from pulling one over on her.

There wasn't that much else in the room, aside from another whiteboard, still pristine and white. I exited the room, peering both ways before I made my way forward. Walking down the hall, I stretched my wings, giving them test flaps to see if I could actually fly. Surprisingly, I could get airborn, but it was...hard. Surprising, right?

"The hell are you doing?" Senketsu asked the third time I got airborne.

"I'm testing out the capabilities of flight. Eventually, you'll get that ability too. So I might as well get accustomed to it, right?"

"I will admit...being able to fly does sound quite appealing..."

"Indeed. Whoa, hold up," I jumped in the air, hovering just above the door frame as two bodies walked through and down the hall.

It was Twilight, talking with a pony I didn't recognize. Red hair, in a short bob. Some shade of green for his body, and a pair of crossed rulers for his cutiemark.

They passed directly underneath me, talking animatedly about 'homing spells'. That didn't bode well. If Twilight found out some sort of spell or something that could lead her right to me, all my fun would cut short. I mean...It'd be bad. Somehow. Yeah. That.

After they were well out of earshot, I fell back down to the ground. Quickly making my way outside, I found myself on the edge of pony town. And no, I don't have any problem with pony puns. I just like to call it pony town. 'Ville' just sounds weird to me. Always made me think of A Hundred and One Dalmatians.

A shame that Twilights castle was based so far out of town. There was no one around, and if I was to return I ran the risk of being spotted by anyone wandering by. Twilight, specifically.

I cast my gaze about, but was disheartened by what I saw. More over, by what I didn't see. I guess I was sorta just expecting there to be gems sticking out of the ground every few feet. I guess if that was the case, they wouldn't have had any value within the shows universe. Even Rarity had to use magic to find gems, beneath the ground. And then she had Spike -or some other unlucky sod- dig them up for her. Although that line of thought led to an interesting possibility.

That led to some interesting possibilities in itself. Rarity would have tons of gems just lying around, right? And If I happened to help myself to a few of them, it wasn't like she couldn't go out and find more, right?

I made my way through town, keeping an eye out for a carrousel topped building. Once I found it, I slunk forward and opened the door.

"Welcome, welcome! Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique!" singsonged the happy little dressmaker. I didn't want to talk to this Rarity yet, although I guess it was stupid of me to assume that she wouldn't be here.

"Uh...hello."

"Hello? Smooth." Senketsu snarked at me. I made a mental note to get him back for that later.

"Hello darling, and might I say that is a wonderful ensemble you're wearing... if a bit dreary. And are you wearing...a skirt and shorts? My dear that is a fashion faux pas! Let me select something for you , this will only take a second."

"That's okay, I'm just here to deliver a message anyway," I replied, trying to cut her off before she got 'in the zone'.

"No no no, I won't hear of it! Try this on," she said, hovering an especially frilly 'dress' directly in front of my face.

"Um, no thanks. I don't wear dresses," I protested, waving the atrocity away.

"But... you are wearing a dress..."

"I'm wearing a skirt, and the only reason I'm doing that is because he's alive."

I don't know why I told her that. I guess I just wanted to screw with her a bit. My main goal here was to get Rarity to leave so that I could steal from her (god I know that sounds bad, but it isn't like it would hurt her in the long run. She could just go out and find more.) and hop back over to my...to the at least 'kinda' human world. I could probably get a fair amount for only a few gems. Might even be able to trade it in for gold, come right back and buy even more gems. Might seeds, baby!

"Alive? Now darling, I'm all for attaching persona's to ones clothing but-"

I cut her off with a guttural snort, garnering a look of disdain. "I'm not 'attaching persona's or anything like that. My dad was a bit of a scientist, he made Senketsu from something called 'life fibers' when I was just a young...filly." I stumbled over the word filly, almost inserting the proper wording. "Senketsu isn't just a piece of clothing, he's an actual soul attached to the fibers."

"Aww, you really care for me~" God damnit Senketsu shut up.

"So you mean to tell me," Rarity started, placing the dress she had been levitating back on the rack where she had gotten it from, "your garment is alive?" she asked, amazement wide in her eyes.

"Yes, but that's besides the point. Again, I just came here to bring you a message."

"But, a living garment-"

"No, stay on track here darling," I stated dryly, putting as much sarcasm as I could on her favorite word. I don't think she noticed. "Message."

"But, but-"

"No buts, MESSAGE. This yellow pegasi with a pink mane wanted me to ask you to come out to her house and help her make a bunch of outfits for her today, as soon as possible. She said you should bring as much fabric as possible, seeing as there's 'so many little critters'. Well that's that, not that you don't seem nice to talk to and all, but I kinda have studies to get back to." I turned to leave, but Rarity grabbed my new tail with her magic, holding me fast.

"She's got your tail. Senketsu remarked, oh so helpfully.

"Please dear, do stay for a minute, I don't even know your name!"

"I...can you let go please? You're going to kink the ends." I stated, trying to figure out some other wording I could use to make her let go.

"My apologies, I do know how much hard work goes into a good tail doo." With that she let go, using her magic to smooth it out. God damn it felt amazingly good.

"Uh...thanks. I guess. Well I do need to get going, so I guess I'll just tell you my name and be on my way. My name's Ryuko Matoi, his name is Senketsu. I guess I could come back after my tutoring, if you want..." I had no intention of just sauntering back in once I robbed her, but I didn't want her grabbing my tail again.

"My name is Rarity, it is truly a shame that you have to leave so suddenly, please do come back when you find yourself able. I'm sure I can find more than a few choice accessories that could go along quite nicely with, ah... Send cat soup?"

Senketsu started complaining, a grumbling that itched at the back of my head.

"Senketsu. Nice first try, though. Later Lady, have a nice day making little animal outfits or whatever it was she wanted you for."

I turned to leave once more, quickly exiting the shop. I crossed the street and hid in the bushes there, keeping an eye on the boutique. She didn't come out the front door, and after a few minute of waiting with some random branch poking me in the butt I was starting to get worried she might not have given my 'message' high priority.

Sure enough though, about ten minutes after I left, she came out from around the back dragging an ornate cart behind her. She opened her front door, and levitated several rolls of cloth out and placed them in her cart. She hung a little sign on her front door, and closed it.

She then hopped up on the cart, and with a burst of magical sparkles from her horn the cart rolled off.

I emerged from the bush, brushing off the random leaves. Going up to the door of the boutique, I could see the sign she left read 'Back by Noon'.

"Now what?" Senketsu asked.

"Now," I replied, pushing open the stupidly unlocked door. I don't think it even had a lock on it. "we just go in. These ponies are way too trusting."

"What exactly are we doing here again?" Senketsu asked.

"Gems are easy for unicorns to get in this world. Rarity has it the easiest, it's part of her special talent. These gems could be worth a lot more to me over in the human world than they could ever be here."

"So we're stealing from her?"

"Basically, yes. I'll pay her back when I'm able."

"That...I'm not comfortable with this, Ryuko."

"Whats not to be comfortable about this? It's not gonna hurt her, at most it will take her one more afternoon to get back what I'll take and more. And after all this mess is sorted out, I'll come back and repay her. No big."

Senketsu fell silent, and I started poking through Rarity's shop. It wasn't long before I found a chest stuffed with various jewels, so I started tucking them into my pockets. Finding myself with bulging pockets, I swiftly left, making a beeline towards Twilights castle. I didn't see anyone along the way, so I just went inside.

Similarly, I wasn't stopped within the castle, and easily made it back to the mirror room. As soon as I crossed the threshold a light in the corner of the ceiling lit up, continuously flashing.

"That's...new."

"Yeah. Yeah it is. Lets hope it just has limited usability and just tells her when someones been here, and doesn't record video or anything," I mused. That would be bad if she figured out who I was right off the back. All because I didn't expect her to 'activate keylogger' on her own stuff. Of course, if I was her I would have just shut the portal down whenever I wasn't using it. I had already proven I had gotten through the shield, and in that situation I would have shut EVERYTHING down till I knew for sure what happened.

I stepped back through the gate, giving a stretch as I returned to my normal stature. As normal as the frame of a girl that's a foot shorter than me is. I checked my pockets, and the gems I had managed to pilfer jangled around therein, unchanged.

"Happy?"

"Oh please don't tell me you're sulking."

"I'm not sulking," he responded.

"Well then how about a little pep in your step? We got a whole day of school to get through, and again. It's not like this is going to hurt her. And I'll pay her back! So no worries!"

I went back to the lost and found, found a fanny pack and jammed all the jewels in it. I had grabbed quite a few, so the thing was practically bulging with them. That was the only good thing about it, it was a puke green color that completely stood out against Senketsu's black.

Let it never be said that I have an eye for fashion.

"Hold it new girl!" a brassy, almost boyish voice called out behind me. Turning around confirmed my suspicions as to whose voice it was. Rainbow Dash. Rainbow haired, main guitarist for the Rainbooms. Bearer of the element of Loyalty. Well, her counterpart, anyway.

"Whats up, Pride Parade?" I asked, a slight grin and an inflection at the end to signify my merriment.

"Pride..hey! I'm not gay!" she claimed, placing her hands on her hips in a very 'peter pan'-ish manner.

"Never said you were," I lied, "Was just commenting on your hair. Love the doo ya got going. A shame a pretty girl like you doesn't swing my way, but hey, thems the breaks." Rainbow blushed at my implications, but managed to continue all the same.

"I...sorry, I didn't mean to say...'gay' like it was a bad thing..."

"Water under the bridge," I cut her off with a wide smile. "You wanted to talk to me? Also, it's Ryuko, not 'new girl'."

"Oh, uh...yeah. You were with Pinkies sister yesterday, right?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Maud, and yes. We had a lovely day at a museum," I laughed at the look of disgust that filtered across her face. Rainbow Dash probably would die of boredom if she ever found herself in a museum for any other reason than mandatory something or other.

"What?" she snapped.

"It wouldn't kill you to go to a museum once or twice in your life, you might find something that interests you," I told her.

"Bunch of old things that are decaying and gathering dust? No thanks," she retorted.

I took a step forward, putting my face less than a foot from hers. "Imagine this, a room filled with nothing but prehistoric weapons, a giant bone club that probably caved in the skulls of more men than we can count! A Roman gladius in a case only a few rooms away, one of the weapons most preferred by the best army on the planet! Only a few rooms away from that, planes! Every plane imaginable, hanging from the ceiling, displayed on the floor, each with a little itty bitty card that tells you when the plane was made and its specs!" I know I managed to hit a nerve with that last one, the way her face changed from one of red tinged embarrassment due to how close I was, to wide eyed wonder at the thought of avionics. I had her hook, line and sinker.~

"Ooooh, a plane girl, eh? Well you can could find all that and more, if you simply looked in the right museum," I flippantly stated, stepping back and giving her some space. "So, did you have an actual question, or were you just wondering about my personal life?"

"I didn't... I mean... You attacked that teacher, right?"

"I perpetrated self defense when he touched me without my permission, but in short yes. I grabbed his arm and threatened him. Not really attacking, per say."

"Oh..." she looked down at the floor sheepishly. "The way the rumors said it, it sounded like you full up whacked him in the face."

"Well you shouldn't always place stock in rumors, should you?" I asked, giving her another grin. "And I'm sorry, I'd really love to chat, maybe try to get you to see my side of things," I at this point had reached out a hand to give her a light whisper of a stroke across her shoulder, but she brushed it off as soon as she could, "or not. Regardless, we are both about to be-"

I was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing its klaxon call.

"Late. How comedically appropriate. Well, I guess I'll see you in third period. And so sorry, I didn't catch your name?" I had learned my lesson with Pinkie Pie. No more randomly letting these people know I knew them.

"The name's Rainbow Dash, and don't you forget it!"

"Well then, Rainbow Dash, see you later~."

"She's weird," Rainbow Dash whispered to the girl sitting next to her.

"What? How so?" Applejack replied, chewing on the end of a mechanical pencil as the teacher continued on to talk about the revolutionary period of Lithuania.

"For starters, she came on to me." Applejack gave her an incredulous look, as if to say 'so what?'. Rainbow Dash looked at her until she let out a startled gasp. "What? Oh my god, you too? Why does everyone think I'm gay? I'm not!" she hissed.

"Well shoot, I guess fer starters the hair-"

"This is natural! I don't even dye or anything!"

"Then the fact that the inside of yer bedroom has nuthin but pictures of girls-"

"Sally Ride, Pancho Barnes, Sophie Blanchard..anyway, they're all famous female aviators, c'mon, I've told you this at least a dozen times!"

"Sorry Dash, musta slipped my mind. I wouldn't have a problem with you if you were a homosexual, ya know,"

"I'm NOT gay," Rainbow Dash hissed back, gaining the attention of the teacher.

"Ms Dash, would you mind repeating what I just said? If you were paying attention, it shouldn't be a problem..."

Dash wasn't able to reply, much to the suppressed laughter in the class. After a humiliating round of laughter, the teacher bade everyone to quiet down, and for Rainbow Dash to 'actually pay attention and learn something'.

"Whatever," she whispered, with the teacher once more giving his lecture. "Anyway, she apparently didn't attack a teacher like everyone is saying she did,"

"No kiddin?" Applejack muttered, concentrating on writing down what the teacher had just said.

"Yeah, according to her she just grabbed his arm and told him off after he touched her."

"Pretty much what I figured," Applejack replied.

"What? And how did you 'figure' that?" Rainbow Dash asked irritatedly.

"Well, she weren't expelled, was she? I think that's evidence enough. The principal and vice principal are lenient, but it's right there in the school rules. A student attacking a teacher is to be expelled, no exceptions."

"Oh...well I guess that makes sense."

"Darn tootin it does," Applejack replied, erasing a typo.

"Well don't expect me to have memorized the rule book for freaking high school."

"I haven't memorized nothin', it's just common sense," Applejack retorted.

"You just said it was in the rules!"

"I skimmed it at one point, and remembered seeing it. Not like I memorized it."

"Suuuuuuuuuure."

"Miss Dash!" bellowed out the teacher, his face red with irritation. "I'd like you to stay after class, we need to discuss your blatant disregard for class etiquette."

"Awww, man!" Rainbow Dash whined, ignoring the laughs of her classmates.

High school sucks. End of story.

Three whole classes, and not a single instant of it worthwhile. A few students tried making friendly with me, but I brushed them off as best I could. Surprising how pushy a gaggle of girls can be.

I got hit on more often then I would have wanted too, and none of the gender which I would have. I punched the first guy, slapped the second guy, insulted the third. After that I got too melancholy to deal with it. I just started ignoring everyone that tried to talk to me, walking by as if they weren't there.

Maud hadn't shown up in any of the classes I had found myself in, but that wasn't all that surprising. I had been going to random ones, hoping I could overhear something interesting. So far, nothing more juicy than 'I hear Flash Sentry turned down another girl! I think being with Sunset Shimmer might have turned him gay-uh!'

I made a decision to try and find Flash Sentry, the 'Brad Bland' of this saccharine infused world. He wasn't a main character or anything, but he still had a wide range of friends. According to the movies, at least.

That being said, trying to find him among a sea of other hilariously bad colored hair styles turned out to be a lost cause. Senketsu wasn't much help either.

"How about that one?"

"That's a chick."

"Are you sure? I can definitely see a mustache."

"Positive."

"What about that one?"

"Nope."

"That one?"

"That was literally a medical dummy being wheeled by a teacher."

"Huh, it looked like it was running down the hallway to me..."

It seemed I'd have to wait till one of the lunch periods to find him. If the movie was anything to go on, he'd more than likely spend it with a couple of his friends, shooting the breeze and diddling around on his guitar. Might be able to break some common ground there, I don't play professionally, but I do have a dab hand at the guitar. Of course, I hadn't tried since I got here, I just knew my smaller hands were going to play havoc with my ability to play.

I entered the lunchroom, looking to and fro for the 'dude of canterlot high'. Waifu stealer at large. Seriously, the amount of hate that guy gets is insane.

"Heeeeeeey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"

I tried my damndest to ignore her. Pinkie however had other plans, continuing on until Applejack finally came over, a frown stamped across her face.

"Would you like eat with us?" she asked blandly, reminiscent of Mauds monotone.

"If I do, is she gonna keep staring at me the entire time?" I asked.

"She hasn't blinked... she is literally making her table shake... Ryuko, I'm scared..."

Applejack looked back at her table, and when Pinkie saw her do this she stood up and waved her arm frantically.

"More than likely. But I hate to say it, it'll probably just get worse if you don't come over."

"Worse? How could it get worse? Wait, don't answer that, I can tell just by looking at her. Fine, but I don't really have anything to eat right now. Gimmie a minute."

I walked off, all the way to the lunch line. Cafeteria food might be disgusting, but as long as I shoveled something down my throat they wouldn't be able to get me to talk.

"We aren't actually going over there, are we?"

"We don't really have a choice," I hissed back, smiling at the dumpy lunchlady. "If I don't go over there, Pinkie is just going to escalate."

"she scares me"

I tromped back over to the table which the human ball of sugar called her home. Plopping my tray of mild cancer down on the table, I looked at the expectant faces surrounding me. Rarity was noticeably missing. Well there went any reason I had for staying for any length of time.

I opened a bag of mild cancer, and pulled out what kinda sorta looked like a sandwich. Tasted like several different kinds of oil and grease.

"Sho," I said around a mouthful of quasi-food, "Did you need to tell me something?"

Pinkie didn't stop smiling.

"Is something wrong with her?" I asked, panning to look at the others.

"Nah, she's just being Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said dismissively.

"That doesn't exactly sound comforting," I mumbled around a mouthful of what I ASSUME might have been intended to be mashed potatoes. But why the hell would they serve that with a sandwich?

"I've always found it rather reassuring..." Fluttershy said-whispered. "In a way, you always know what to expect with her."

"In the effect that you never know what to expect?" I asked.

Everyone nodded as Fluttershy let out a strangled squeak.

"So, I saw your guy's picture in the trophy case, you all won a battle of the bands or something?" I asked, trying to ply them with small talk.

"We're the Rainbooms!" Rainbow all but shouted. "We came, we played, we were awesome!"

"Settle down, Dash," Applejack chastised. "In answer to yer question, yeah. I play the bass, Rainbow here is our main guitarist and primary singer. Pinkie Pie's our drummer, and Fluttershy adds a bit of extra flair with her tambourine. She even writes up most of our songs! Our keyboard guitarist is out of the country on a bit of va-cay, but Sunset here more than takes up the slack as our second guitarist."

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh! Ideaaaaaaaa!~ I just had the best idea ever. What if I...

"What about the purple skinned girl?" I asked coyly. "Gotta say, she looked awfully familiar."

A series of uneasy looks filtered their way around the table.

"In fact, I could even say that she looks a LOT like my best friend. Freakishly similar, although Twilight would never be caught dead without her labcoat." Everyone present twitched something fierce at the mention of Twilights name, and further confusion at the mention of 'her labcoat'.

"Oh? So the name... Twilight is also familiar to you? Well that's just weird..." I swallowed, to allow my words to be as clear as possible. "Seeing as Twilight almost NEVER comes out of her lab, and for as long as I've known her she's always said she would never be caught dead in a dress. But what did I see when I was looking in the case? Not only someone that looks EXACTLY like my friend, Twilight Sparkle," I noticed with glee that everyone at the table was silent, and trying desperately to avoid my gaze. "But apparently she was also wearing what looked uncannily like a dress, at an event called a 'Fall Formal'. Another Thing Twilight would never be caught dead at. Add that to the fact that there's been this nonsense of magic and whatever."

I nodded my head towards Sunset Shimmer, giving her a slight smile. "You don't even wanna know some of the more ridiculous rumors I've heard about you. One bad period and then you're the 'raging she-demon' of the entire school, amiright?"

"Uh... yeah... sure... that." She weakly replied.

"So... Seeing as you girls obviously know this girl, maybe you can tell me why she's been going around, pretending to be Twilight Sparkle?" I led, watching with delight as each and every single one rose as a single unit, each of them yammering excuses for why they had to leave.

By far my favorite was Applejacks. 'I think Applebloom is over there talkin' to a boy, she knows no datin till she's in high school!', indeed.

I pushed the tray of food away from me with a grimace. The joke was worth it, but the 'food' was not.

I think I'm going to be sick.

Author's Notes:

To anyone interested in participating, Feel free to leave a question for Ryuko and/or Senketsu in the comments! They'll be more than willing to answer in the authors notes of the next chapter, and give you each a shout out!