Today has been a normal relaxing day and for once that was more than needed. I have always prided myself on being a reasonable skeptic, but after recent events I found myself having to accept things of fantasy and magic as real. I still don't quite know how to completely deal with and accept that. I'm hoping I figure it out soon. I entered the school cafeteria, hungry and eager for the half an hour-long break from classes. I noticed everyone else sitting together and happily chatting away with one another. This school certainly seems friendlier and more united than my previous schools. It's surreal to see different kinds of teens, from different cliques, interacting with one another. It appears anyone can be friends here, regardless of personality or status. After leaving the lunch line with my tray in hand, I began to make my way to my table. Along the way I received a few waves and nods, which I sheepishly returned. The friendly nature here is nice, but I am still getting used to it. I finally reached the table and found Big Mac sitting there, eating a sub.

"Howdy," He greeted me.

A simple greeting for most, but for him it's usually what he only says. It's rare for him to speak complete sentences, unless you are close to him like I am.

"Hey, having a good day?" I asked, before taking a seat.

"Eeyup."

Well, you have to not ask him yes or no questions for that, at any rate. Plus, he has been known to troll people by doing it anyway.

"Hey, are you busy this weekend?" He asked me.

It was a stupid question to ask admittedly, considering since other than school, I usually only with him for workouts at the gym.

"No, as always I have a lot of free time. Why do you ask?" I responded, before taking a bite from my own sub.

"Well, every year we have a country style party," He simply said.

"And you want me to come?" I asked despite knowing the answer.

He simply nodded.

"Why?"

He didn't respond, making me sighed in frustration. While he talks to me more than most people, he still has his moments. I swear he is the ultimate troll sometimes.

"Fine, I guess I can go."

I better not regret this. I swear his antisocial behavior is perhaps the most annoying thing I have to deal with. I swear he enjoys doing this kind of thing.

"Anyway, how have you been holding up since?" He began, before awkwardly pausing for a brief moment, "Well... You know."

He was without a doubt referring to the battle of the bands fiasco. That whole event will forever be a crucial moment in my life. When I first arrived, I heard the rumors of the fall formal and didn't believe in any of that, but now let's just say my entire skeptical side seems to have been destroyed completely.

"I'm fine. Well, as much as possible after you learned magic is actually real." I finally answered.

He nodded, before taking another bite of his sub, "Yep, we were all the same after the fall formal. Just give it time and you'll get used to it."

"I'll take your word for it," was all I could say in response to that.

I went back to eating my sub and tried to get my mind off that event. I found myself staring at the other side of the cafeteria, to where the newly dubbed Rainbooms are sitting. They are currently the most popular group in the entire school. Not only did they manage to save all of us from the sirens, but they have a popular band that continues to impress the student body. The interesting thing about their group, at least to me, is the fact that the group is diverse. I found myself staring at the one that I knew the most, Pinkie Pie. She is my opposite when it comes to social interactions. A part of me is actually slightly envious that she can easily express herself without worry at how it would make her look to others. How she can easily make friends with everyone. She is an exaggerated example of the kind of person I would like to be one day. Ever since we met, she has gone out of the way to befriend me and always finds a way to interact with me. It actually feels nice to have someone reach out to me, and I am glad to have met her. I moved on from Pinkie to the one other of the group I have met, Sunset Shimmer, former bully queen, as I have been told. I find it personally hard to believe that she was a cruel bully. Looks can be deceiving, I guess. I began to recall when I first met her.

I was currently sitting in the principal's office, waiting for her to finish my schedule. The worst part about going to a new school, at least for me, was always having to make new friends. Despite being able to talk fine one on one, I still have trouble shaking the feeling that I might embarrass myself. At least everyone seems friendly here so far.

"Here's your schedule," Principal Celestia told me, breaking me from my thoughts, "Sorry about the wait. The computers are slow today."

"That's fine," I assured her, "Am I free to go?"

"Not so fast. You will be given a school tour," She answered me, before making an announcement.

I considered arguing against it, but decided it was not worth it. Despite being more than capable of figuring where everything is on my own, it won't hurt just to get this over with. Besides, depending on how long the tour is, I might miss some class time.

"Alright," I shrugged my shoulders, "If you insist."

"She will meet you outside."

I simply nodded, before leaving the office. I wonder what my tour guide will be like. Hopefully, she will be friendly. After a few minutes, a light orange skinned girl, around my age, with red and yellow striped hair appeared. Wow, she looks hot. I quickly shook my head and hopefully managed to regain my composure, before she noticed. To my slight shock, when I looked at her again, she seemed to be lightly blushing.

"Oh, Hi. I'm Sunset Shimmer." She greeted me, before the blush disappeared, "Are you the one I am showing around today?"

"Yeah. I'm Marcus."

"That's a strange name," She commented, with a perplexed look on her face.

"That's kind of rude, don't you think?" I responded, before crossing my arms, "I mean I find your name a little weird, but I wasn't going to comment on it, until you did."

Seriously, since I moved here, I have been baffled at the variety of skin colors everyone else has. Thankfully, I noticed a few people with what I consider normal enough colored skin. God, I sound racist, but I'm sure you know what I mean. Never mind. Everyone's names here are also completely weird. What kind of place did I move to? To my slight surprise, Sunset seemed completely hurt and upset. What's up with her?

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to," she told me.

I sighed, as she continued to apologize and talk about how she would do anything to make things up with me. Why is she taking a small insult so seriously?

"Calm down," I finally told her, causing her to stop, "Look, it's no big deal. It was just a small comment. I know you didn't mean it and I'm not that upset about it."

"Right," She responded, nervously, with an embarrassed blush, "I just want this to go well."

She actually looks really adorable like this. If other girls are as attractive as her, I hope to find a way to socialize better and hopefully make a few good friends.

"It still can. Now let's move on and get to the tour," I suggested.

"Right. Let's," She simply said, before she regained her composure and began leading me through the school.

Little did I know that day she was desperate to turn a new leaf and make a new friend with someone, who didn't have to deal with her old behavior. Thankfully, she has come a long way and has managed to completely overturn her horrible reputation.

Since then, I have made little progress myself to improve my social skills and become more like the person I want to be. Sure, I have Big Mac and Pinkie, but I hope I am still struggling. Hopefully, I will find a way soon. Well, at least this school is much more friendly than my previous ones.

"Marky!"

Sometimes, it seems too friendly. Well, one student in particular can be at times. I couldn't even blink, before Pinkie embraced me. I could smell her perfume, which smelled like fresh baked pastries. It smells quite nice actually. For some reason I still don't understand, a part of me likes it when she does this. I think I can get used to this.

"Pinkie."

"I'm so happy to see you," she told me, before tightening the embrace to the point where her face was touching mine.

"Yeah, and everyone else in the whole school," I couldn't help, but quip.

"Yeah, but you are a special one," She responded cheerfully, before doing something I didn't expect, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

I felt my face heat up and I was completely stunned. I have never been kissed by a girl before. She was always affectionate but never like this.

"I know we haven't known each other long, but I consider you on the same level as the rest of the girls."

"I..."

"Oh. I almost forgot," She told me, giving me a huge smile, "I am throwing a huge party this weekend and would like for you to be there."

"I..." she placed a finger on my lips.

"I know you don't usually like going out, for whatever reason, but I would really like for you to be there," she told me, giving me a smile that made it impossible to say no, even if I wanted to.

This party could be my best chance to overcome my hesitation in becoming more social and maybe make some friends, or at least make a good first step towards doing it.

"Ok. Sure, I'll go," I answered.

"Really?" Pinkie asked with an adorable smile on her face.

"Yeah. How can I say no to an adorable girl like you?" I responded, before mentally facepalming.

I didn't mean to say that out loud. I hope it doesn't make things awkward between us.

"You think I'm adorable?" Pinkie asked me.

"Y-Yes Pinkie I do," I answered, hoping things will turn out well.

"Oh. thank you!" She exclaimed happily, before tightening her embrace.

Right, it's pinkie. I should have known her taking it the wrong way is practically impossible. Well, at least I wasn't embarrassed too badly.

"Hey! You two love birds might want to get in your seats, before class starts."

Pinkie and I both blushed in embarrassment, before separating from each other. I noticed a cute pout form on her face, before she moved to her desk. I sighed, as I made my way to mine. I spoke too soon. Well, at least Pinkie seemed to like my compliment. I began to recall when I first met her.

Throughout the tour Sunset would make small talk and we ended up making conversation. At first it felt awkward, but thankfully we found a topic we could talk a lot about.

"You seriously have never heard of Borderlands?" I asked in disbelief.

"No," She shook her head in confusion, "Is it any good? The way you ask makes it seem like something I should know about."

I took a relaxing breath, "Ok, I am going to name a few video games and tell me if you have heard of them."

"Ok."

"Elder scrolls."

"No."

"Fallout."

"Nope."

"Halo."

"Sorry."

"Call of duty."

"Is that about fighting war? I might check that out."

I sighed, before shaking my head, "At least look each of them up and see if they interest you."

"Oh, I will. It's kind of interesting to learn about a few franchises I have never heard about before."

Seriously, what is with this place? Not only are there humans with more skin color variety than I thought possible, with the weirdest of names, but now popular forms of media, apparently haven't been heard of here. Is this entire city separated from the rest of the world?

"Yeah, I guess it goes both ways. I mean there must be interesting franchises around here I never heard of as well."

We reached the gym and I found myself impressed with the size of the room. Seems like a nice place to play in. In the middle of the room, was another girl with light pink skin and darker pink poofy hair, that seemed to resemble cotton candy. When she noticed me, her eyes lit up in pure happiness.

"Is that a new student!" She exclaimed, before making her way to me in hardly any time at all.

"Uh, hi."

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie. What's your name? Do you like ice-cream? Do you like parties? W..." She was interrupted by Sunset placing a hand on her mouth.

Sunset sighed, as Pinkie continued to talk. After a moment she finally stopped, and Sunset removed her hand.

"Sorry about her. She's just always excited when a new student arrives."

"Of course, I am! I am friends with everyone in the entire school," She exclaimed, before shaking awkwardly.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Sorry. That happens every time I make that statement. It's telling me I am mistaken, but I am so sure I'm not."

"Well, you haven't exactly befriended him yet," Sunset pointed out.

Pinkie simply nodded, while I shook my head.

"No, that can't be it."

"What do you mean?" They both asked.

"Well, assuming what you are telling me is true, it happened before I arrived, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then I am not the problem. Or at least the only one responsible for the problem."

"No, I am so sure I befriended everyone." Pinkie argued, before shaking again.

I shook my head in disbelief, "There are hundreds of students. You easily could have missed at least one."

"Well, I suppose."

"Anyway, to answer your questions in order. My name is Marcus. Who doesn't like ice cream and Parties are a good time to have fun, I guess?"

"Wait, you actually understood her?" Sunset asked, stunned.

"Uh. Yeah," I answered confusedly, "She only asked three questions. It wasn't that hard."

"It's nice to meet you! I think we are going to be the bestest of friends. I really enjoyed your answer to my second question. Most people just say "yeah", but you are actually the first one to point out how stupid the question actually is. I can't wait to hang out more," Pinkie told me so quickly, I had to focus hard to understand what she was telling me.

"It was nice talking with you Pinkie, but I must finish the tour before the first class starts."

"Okie dokie lokie." Pinkie told her before Sunset and I made our way out of the gym, "See you later Marcus!"

To my surprise, not only does she not get on my nerves that much, but she has become one of my friends here. Goes to show how good she is at making friends, if she can do it with someone like me. I am really grateful for it. Even if I have no luck making more friends, at least I will still have her and Big Mac.

I have seen plenty of Equestria girls stories and decided to start my own. Some involving Ocs either have them be complete jerks or have the girls fail to understand you aren't entitled to friendship and forcing it on the character. I decided to do my own without those two issues.

Next chapter Marcus ends up tutoring a certain rainbow hair girl and might find himself enjoying it more than he thought he would.