Pony Nation

"Good morning, ponies. Welcome to Planet Earth," the man said. "My name is Vincent, and it will be my honor to assist you with your inprocessing. Please follow me out of the Blink chamber and down the hall."

A moment later several more humans entered the chamber. Some of them approached the ponies, several of whom backed away at the sight of the towering beings. "Don't be alarmed," Vincent said. "My associates here are just taking your luggage to bring to the baggage terminal. After you've finished upstairs you'll come back down to claim it . If anybody - or anypony, as it were - has any questions at any time, please don't hesitate to ask. Follow me, please."

Vincent and a few of his coworkers turned and walked out of the chamber. The ponies cautiously followed him as their baggage was loaded onto carts and taken out of the room. Everyone walked out of the chamber and into a large atrium. It was a waiting area like the one in the Ponyville Blink Facility, except this one was much larger. The floor was a deep brown, the walls were white and clean with various pieces of artwork and photographs hung about. It was furnished with tables, chairs and couches just like in the Equestrian counterpart. As they walked down a connecting hallway, the carpet ended and the ponies' hooves clicked loudly against the marble floor. They echoed against the walls and high ceiling as they made their way down the corridor.

Applejack trotted alongside Rarity. "Is this real?" She asked her friend.

"Pardon, Applejack?" Rarity responded.

"Ah mean, is this actually happenin'?" The country pony asked again. "Did we really leave Equestria? Are we on another world?"

"It sure seems like it," Rainbow Dash chimed in as she looked about. "Everything looks different. The chairs are bigger, the ceiling's higher. I'll admit, I'm a little weirded out."

"I suppose we just need some time to adjust," Rarity reasoned. "Oh, would you look at these!" she exclaimed as she observed the pictures on the walls around them.

The art alternated between paintings of picturesque landscapes and photographs of towering cities. First a beach with rolling waves, then people walking through a sprawling metropolis, then gigantic mountains that stood like snowcapped sentinels. Fluttershy gazed at the images. "Oh, my," she breathed. "Are all of these pictures of Earth? I wonder where we are now..."

The group finally reached the end of the hall. In front of them was a security station like the one they went through on Equestria, except this one was empty and blocked by large gates. To their right was a set of three shiny steel doors. Vincent walked up to the doors, turned around and stood before the group.

"At this point I should let you all know that right now, you are on Floor One. Because all of you are new arrivals, you will be required to go upstairs to Floor Three for your inprocessing," he explained. Vincent pressed a button on the wall behind him. It lit up and all three of the doors slid open to reveal empty rooms. "These elevators will take you up to the inprocessing area. I hope none of you are claustrophobic, in which case we will take you up the stairwell. Come along, now."

Vincent and his associates escorted the ponies into the elevators. After a few trips, everyone arrived on Floor Three and entered a round room in between two hallways. Directly across from the elevators was a large plate-glass window. Vincent stood in front of the window, faced the group and said, "Before we get into all the boring paperwork and stuff, I want to show you all something very few Equestrians have seen so far. On the other side of the window behind me is your first glimpse of Planet Earth. My home. Come and take a look."

The eager ponies walked past him and up to the large window, which stood like a glass wall against the outside. They stood right up against it to the point of fogging up the glass, and the fillies and colts looked out from between their legs or upon their backs. As they gazed out Vincent introduced his city.

"Fillies and gentlecolts," he said proudly, "welcome to St. Louis. The Gateway City."

Before them flowed the wide Mississippi River, which looked like an immense moat in front of the tall concrete and glass buildings on the other side. The Great Arch reached up into the skies, and the ponies tilted their heads up in amazement.

"Wow," Rainbow Dash breathed as she hovered over the ponies' heads. "What I wouldn't give to fly over that!"

"Impressive, isn't it?" Vincent said, "The Great Arch is a symbol of the first journeys west the early Americans made nearly two hundred years ago. St. Louis was their starting point then, and it's where you all will begin your experiences here on Earth."

"Amazin'," Applejack whispered. "It's really happennin'..."

"Alright everypony, listen up," Vincent said, turning their attention from the view. "The next hour or so for you is going to be pretty dull, so let me help you move things along as quick as we can. We're going to start by going down this hall to our left. This is where we'll create your citizen profile and issue your identification card, which allows you to legally live and work in the United States. Just get a number at the ticket station and wait for a desk clerk to call you up. Make sure you have all of your personal information ready for them."

A team of four clerks processed the multitude of ponies in the waiting room one by one. To pass the time they all talked to one another about their future plans. Some of them asked Vincent questions, and some of the fillies and colts raced each other up and down the hallway while their parents filled out their paperwork.

When the last pony finished at the desks, Vincent rallied everyone together. "All right then, glad to see you all survived that," he joked. "Next up we'll take care of your sponsorships. Those of you who aren't aware, your sponsor is one or more persons who have volunteered to help you become accustomed to life on Earth. Sponsorship isn't required, but is highly recommended so that you don't become overwhelmed during your first weeks here. Whether you have a sponsor already or not, we'll help you link up with one."

"Thank goodness," Fluttershy sighed with relief. "I was starting to get worried about that."

"Do ya have a sponsor listed in yer paperwork?" Applejack asked her friend. "Cause Ah do."

Fluttershy took out her paperwork and checked. "Let's see...is this it?"

"Yep, that's it," AJ confirmed. "Ya got a sponsor, too."

"Me too!" Pinkie Pie said, waving her papers about.

"And I as well," Rarity echoed. "Do you have one too, Rainbow Dash?"

The cyan pegasus fumbled with her paperwork in her hooves. "Um, I dunno," she said as she flipped through the folded pages. "All this stuff doesn't say."

"Let's ask for help," Rarity suggested. She turned and called, "Mr. Vincent, sir! Could you assist us, please?"

Vincent walked over to them. "Certainly, Miss Rarity," he said, "how can I help?"

"Well, our friend Rainbow Dash here is having a problem finding her sponsor's name in her paperwork. We all found ours but," she started explaining until she stopped for a moment. Then she asked, "Wait, how did you know my name?"

"Your reputations precede you here on Earth," Vincent explained. "Everyone here knows of your friend, Princess Twilight, so naturally we knew in advance of your arrival."

"So when you say 'everyone here,'" Rainbow Dash asked, "you mean?"

"Everyone," he answered as he walked over to a flatscreen TV mounted on a wall. He pressed a button on it and continued, "Once the press found out, there was nothing stopping everybody in the country from finding out. Practically half of America is waiting for you right now."

As the screen came to life, the sounds and images of a live news broadcast flowed out from it. "We're still outside of the Blink Facility," a female newscaster shouted over the roar of a crowd gathered around her, "where hundreds, if not thousands of people have gathered to get their first glimpses of the Equestrian visitors."

The screen then showed an aerial view of the facility. At the front of the building was a sea of bobbing heads gathered around the front of the building like hundreds of colored dots. Subsequent camera shots showed closeups of people smiling and yelling their support. Some of them held up large hand-drawn signs over their heads in support.

"You're all famous here," Vincent said, "and your hooves haven't even hit the dirt yet.

Everypony gazed up at the screen in awe. Most of them were speechless, except for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

"Famous already?!" Dash yelled, "That's totally awesome!"

"Hundreds of people?" Fluttershy squeaked, "Thousands of people? All watching for us and waiting for us? Oh, dear..." She fainted.

"See, everypony," Vincent said as her friends helped her come around, "this is why we have sponsorships. To minimize the culture shock and, well, shock in general as demonstrated by our friend Fluttershy. Anyhow, Rainbow Dash, let's have a look at your papers."

"Here you go," Rainbow held them out and Vincent leafed through them.

"Hmm," he said as he looked them over. "Aha, here's why. These are military orders. Your sponsor is going to be your military unit, right here." He pointed to a spot on the pages. "I'm glad you got my attention on this. Listen up and I'll explain."

He turned his attention to the group again. "Alright, everypony, show of hooves," he called out. "Who here has any kind of military orders?" Rainbow Dash and several other pegasi each put up a front hoof. "Okay then, here's what I need you all to do. Take out your orders and go show them to one of the desk clerks you saw earlier. They'll bring you all to see the military liaison. She'll take care of you from here on out."

"Aww, you have to leave us?" Pinkie asked dejectedly. "Bummer!"

"It'll be alright, guys," Rainbow said. "I'll let Twi know when I make it there, then I'll talk to you all again soon."

"Ah'll get in touch with her too," Applejack said. "Talk care now, Rainbow."

"See ya later, Dashie!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Safe travels, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said.

"Goodbye, Dash," Fluttershy said. "We'll see you again."

As Dash and the other pegasi left, Vincent said, "Okay, now for those of you have sponsorship or need it, please follow me this way."

The group walked back toward the elevators, then passed them to continue down another hallway to another set of offices.

"Those of you who need sponsors, of of my clerks will be able to search our database and locate one who is registered in our system. If you have a name and phone number already, feel free to use one of our telephones to call them. Oh, and make sure you all get a free leg pouch and stylus. It'll come in handy - I mean, be useful - for dialing those numbers, and you can hold it with your magic or your teeth."

While most of the ponies stood in line at the desks, Applejack and her friends went to the row of telephones lined up against one of the walls. At one end of the row was a large bin full of black objects wrapped in clear plastic bags. In the front of the bins was a sign that read:

COMPLIMENTARY STYLUS AND POUCH PROVIDED BY
HORSELAND CO., WFU

"'Horseland Co., WFU?'" Applejack asked quizzically. "Who the hay are they? And what's 'WFU' mean?"

"Beats me," Pinkie said as the picked up a bag with a hoof, then tore it open with her hooves and teeth. She spat out the plastic and added, "Ew, don't eat the clear stuff!"

For the next hour, the office was full of chatter: ponies and clerks talking about placement and sponsorship options, newly sponsored ponies using the phones to call their human contacts, and everypony else talking about how anxious they were to go and meet them. Once every everypony had contacted their sponsors, Applejack called Twilight to inform her of their arrival.

"Okay, everypony," Vincent said, "now that you've reached this point, guess what? Now we get to go back downstairs to get your luggage and move on from here. Let's go!"

Everyone walked back down to the elevators and to Floor One, where the previously barricaded security checkpoint was now open. The group stepped through the checkpoint, turned a corner and found their luggage set in a neat, orderly arrangement in front of several counters. Vincent explained:

"Okay, my new friends," he said, "this is the transportation hub, your last stop before leaving the Blink Facility. These counters around you are transportation services available to you for reaching your final destinations. There are taxi and other regency services if you aren't traveling too far from here, and we also sell train tickets here if you need to travel across several states. You're, of course, free to hoof it to where you need to go as a cost effective option as well, but that may cost you time and a few hotel stays. Oh, and a note to all you pegasi: long-distance flight for you is currently prohibited under current EER guidelines due to concerns for your safety. I'm aware that you don't have airplanes or cellphone towers in Equestria, so we wouldn't want you flying into one of those and having an accident here. Before you buy any tickets, though, make sure you have the right funds by exchanging your Equestrian money for American dollars at the counter over there. Are they any questions?

Applejack raised a hoof.

"Miss Applejack?"

"Uh, yessir, mister Vince? Ah just wanted to ask ya somethin' about yer money here. Mah friend Twilight gave us each one of these debit card thingies with some money already on 'em. What Ah wanna know is, is five thousand dollars a lot?"

"I think it's enough."

About half an hour later, everypony had their travel arrangements made. Due to the proximity of her final destination, Applejack decided to make her journey on hoof. Pinkie bought herself a bus ticket, and Fluttershy and Rarity purchased train tickets. Once everypony purchased their tickets Vincent brought them together once more and led them out of the hub. As they neared the bus and shuttle platforms, the ponies could hear something that sounded like a dull roar at first but grew louder as they walked toward it. When they reached the three sets of glass double doors that led out to the platform, everypony heard the sound of triumphant cheering rattling the windows. They looked through the glass doors and saw why.

A multitude of humans were crowded around the doors. They yelled, screamed and pounded on the glass for about a minute until several security guards stepped in and cleared them away.

"Your public awaits," Vincent proclaimed. "From this point on you all are on your own. I hope that my staff and I were able to set everypony up with everything you need to start off your experience here on Earth right. I wish all of you the best of luck. You may leave when ready."

"I'm not ready!" Fluttershy cowered and hid her face in her hooves. "No no no no, I'm so very not ready! I want to go home!"

"Oh, sweet applesauce," Applejack whispered, and let her mouth hang open.

"Um," Pinkie said as she smiled nervously and raised a shaking hoof up to the crowds. "Hi?"

"Oh for goodness' sake, everypony!" Rarity exclaimed as she stomped a hoof and looked at her friends. "Pull yourselves together! We're not fighting Discord after all, we're just meeting humans. Now look out there: they're ecstatic to see us! I say we go out there, introduce ourselves and maybe even pose for some pictures before we part ways. Now who's with me?"

Her friends looked at each other, then outside at the people. They all smiled, looked back at Rarity and nodded.

"Very well then!" Rarity proclaimed. "The four of us will lead the way for everypony else. Applejack, will you push this other door open with me?"

Applejack put a front hoof on one of the glass doors in front of them. "You bet, Rarity, ready when you are."

"Okay," Rarity said as she took in a breath, exhaled and put a front hoof on the door in front of her. "On three. One...two...three!"

They pushed the doors open, then the four of them stepped out into the blinding, deafening fury of the humans crowded around them. They took pictures, jumped up and down and yelled their support.

"There they are!"

"They're here! The ponies are here!"

"Welcome to Earth!"

The four of them took a few steps forward, stopped and introduced themselves to Earth, one by one.

"Howdy, y'all!" the country pony proclaimed. "Ah'm Applejack!"

"Um, hello, everyone," Fluttershy said meekly. "I'm Fluttershy, and you all seem very...nice."

"People, behold!" Rarity said dramatically. "For the incomparable Rarity has arrived!"

"Hiya, I'm Pinkie Pie!" the energetic pony declared. "We're from Equestria! We come in peace!"