Learning to Love and Tolerate
Cake and Trust
Twilight Sparkle awoke to hear the sounds of pages being turned in quick succession. She looked to Spike's bed and confirmed that he was still asleep, as usual. She trotted down to the library proper to see the creature she had met yesterday, and had Apple Jack tie up in an old shack the day before. “Hi.... Alex.” She said with slight confusion. He was surrounded by stacks of books, and was currently reading one. Although she hesitated to call it reading, as all he appeared to be doing was flipping a page glancing at the left, then right pages, then turning to the next set.
“Ms. Sparkle.” he replied without breaking rhythm
“How are you doing that?” She asked.
“My brain processes information at a higher rate than most, plus I have an Eidetic memory.” He closed the book. “Anyway, you have good timing, that was the last book.”
“In... the section?” Twilight asked hesitantly.
“Library.” Alex corrected. Twilight's eyes widened. Alex shrugged. “What do you think I've been doing for the last twelve hours?”
“Sleeping!?” She replied incredulously.
Alex blinked, then smacked his temple. “Right, of course, you would think that.”
“Are you trying to tell me you don't sleep?”
“No I totally sleep. Just not as often as most people.”
There was a slight pause. “Your species is quite odd.” Twilight commented.
Alex snickered “Trust me I'm not exactly the prime example of a typical human.”
She tilted her head slightly “Really? How so?”
He thought for a second. “...Let's just say there are a few... anomalies in my body that wouldn't be found in a typical human specimen.”
“Really like what?” She asked.
Alex chuckled. “Not yet, I need to know you way better before I start sharing the details of my anatomy.”
She sighed in disappointment. “Okay, fair enough, I'm still wrapping my mind around the whole 'Parallel universe' thing you told me about yesterday. So, I should probably limit the amount of new information I take in anyway.”
He pointed at her in affirmation. “Exactly, though I have to admit, you took the concept surprisingly well. For most people I usually end up explaining it again a week later, but I can tell you understand the core concept at least.”
She couldn't help but smile at this. “Well, to be fair it isn't too different from Star Swirl the Bearded's theory on alternate time-lines. Just on a broader scale.”
Alex looked away thoughtfully. “Star Swirl the Bearded: Historical figure. Wizard. Specialized in time related magic. Kind of antisocial based on his work.”
Twilight's eyes widened. “How did you-”
“I told you I just finished reading the inventory of your library, like two minutes ago. And don't forget the eidetic memory.” he got up. “Which reminds me I should put these back.”
“Wait!” She said worriedly. “You have to put them on order-”
He cut her off as he continued to put the books away. “Alphabetical order, first by title, then by author. Then separate by genre, then by publishing date.” He looked at her with a smirk. “Your slightly obsessed aren't you.”
“I'm not-”
“Think, what's the exact definition of obsessed?” She thought for a second. “Okay maybe I'm a little obsessed, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing!”
“I never said it was.” he replied. “In fact the pursuit of knowledge, is one of the few obsessions that should be encouraged. Even if you are a bit anal about organizing.”
He placed the final book on the shelf. “So hey, I was planning on exploring your town and see if I can't gather any further data then what your books could provide, and I figured 'hey so long as I'm living in this girl's house and eating her food, I might as well do some shopping.' Unfortunately I don't have any of you're currency, do you people use currency?” Twilight nodded. “Right, so if you're short on anything I can get it for you, but you are gonna have to pay for it. Hopefully I can get a income before this becomes a problem, but for now... yeah.” She couldn't help but smile. This guy was clearly trying to make the best out of a unusual situation.
He had stated yesterday, that he never intended to come to Equestria, but the device he used to travel between dimensions had malfunctioned, and brought him here by accident. With far less equipment then he would have wanted for a world in their current time-frame. So he was basically stuck here until he can make another dimensional device, to take him back. Noting the fact that finding and/or making the necessary materials for a device that can pierce time and space in this era was going to take a very long time.
She mentally thought over the shopping list she had been preparing for her weekly shopping day. She then remembered something Pinkie had told her a few days ago. “Actually now that you mention it; there is something you can do for me.”
“What's that?” he asked.
“Well one of my friends, Pinkie Pie...”
Alex snickered for a second “Sorry, sorry, continue.”
”....wanted to celebrate my first week in Ponyville.... I manged to convince her to tone it down so that it would just be me, and my friends instead of the entire town, but she insisted that she make me a, quote 'super-ultra-mega-awesome-super-cake' unquote.”
He smirked “She sounds like an entertaining person.”
“That's one word for her. Anyway she said it would be done today, so if you could drop by Sugarcube Corner, that'd be great.”
“I see, where is this 'Sugarcube Corner'?”
Twilight grew a knowing smile “You'll know it when you see it.”
He headed toward the door. “Alright then I should be back in a couple hours if all goes well.”
Twilight held up her hoof “Wait!”
Alex paused “What?”
“Um, just remember that most ponies here still haven't seen you. So try not to do anything too, unusual.”
He chuckled. “Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've been dropped into a new world without any preparation. I'm fully capable of blending in.” He paused for a second and snickered. “Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to stare at random objects and people for long periods of time, in a town full of ponies who have never seen a human before.” He left before Twilight had a chance to respond.
Well this is certainly going to be an interesting day. Twilight thought. Although I can't think of a single normal day I've had since I got here. This was a pretty accurate assumption. From the moment she set hoof in Ponyville it had been a constant barrage of events that made her constantly reevaluate her definition of normal. First she met the six ponies who would later become her friends in an... oddly sequential manner when she thought about it. Then by that night Nightmare Moon, arrived proving a nearly forgotten myth true, after which Twilight, and her soon-to-be friends went on a adventure, through the Everfree Forest during which she: re-discovered the elements of harmony, used them to defeat Nightmare Moon, reunite Princess Celestia with her sister, and then become a permanent resident of Ponyville.
Three days later there's an explosion in the sky, and Fluttershy says she found an unknown creature covered with weapons unconscious by the lake. They decide to remove his weapons, and then leave him tied up in one of Apple Jack's shacks overnight, to give Twilight time to get all the lab equipment the had available together, so she can make evaluations. Of course early the next morning during Apple Jack's one bathroom break it escapes only to be found by Rainbow Dash. After a brief chase it cooperates, and Rainbow takes him to the library. The entire day pretty much consisted of him introducing himself as Alex Anderson: human traveler from an alternate universe who showed up here by accident, having him explain exactly what an alternate universe is, him trying to convince her to give him his equipment back, which she adamantly refused, and finally him meeting Spike whom he labeled “The Chihuahua of dragons.”
Twilight heard a yawn from her bedroom. Speaking of which. Spike slowly made his way down to the main library. “Morning Twilight” he greeted groggily.
“Hey Spike, glad to see you're up.”
He looked around. “Where's whatshisname?”
She chuckled “Alex, had some things he needed to do so he went out for a while.”
He arched an eyebrow “You let him leave?”
“He's not our prisoner Spike!” She reprimanded “So long as he stays out of trouble, he's allowed to do what he needs to in order to adjust to our world.”
“So wait, you buy all that 'alternate universe' stuff he was talking about?” he asked a little surprised.
“If he wanted to lie to us, I'm pretty sure he could come up with a story that's far less crazy sounding then what he told us.”
“So you believe him because of how crazy it all sounds?”
“Right, why would someone claim their from an alternate universe, when it would be so much easier to say they're from, a distant island that no ones ever heard of?”
“I guess that makes a little sense, but- hurk! Incoming!” Spike spewed out green fire which transformed into a small scroll. “Ah, that must be Celestia's reply to my letter from yesterday.” Being the dutiful student she was, Twilight sent a detailed account of Alex's arrival to the Princess while he was busy finding something to eat in her fridge. (Not an easy task for an omnivore in a herbivore's home) “What does it say?” Spike asked. Twilight read aloud.
“Dear Twilight
I wanted to thank you for bringing this to my attention. Of course I trust you're judgment;
however, I strongly suggest that you err on the side of caution until you know more about
this Alex. The decision is entirely up to you. I will say that the nature of the weapons he
bears concerns me, and thus recommend that at the very least, you restrict his access to
them until you know he can be trusted.
You're concerned teacher,
Princess Celestia.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Spike commented
“Well that was my plan to begin with. Just because I'm ready to believe his story, doesn't mean I won't still keep, an eye on him, but I'm not going to treat him like a criminal either.”
“Fair enough.” Spike conceded. He was ready for this conversation to be over. “Well I'm going to fix up some hay fries, you want any?”
Twilight gave him an incredulous look. “Hay fries... for breakfast?”
Spike looked back at her with a half-lidded expression. “What's today Twilight.?”
She thought for a second. In all that had happened the last couple days she had honestly forgotten. “Wait Monday's today?”
Spike pointed in confirmation “Exactly,” Monday was supposed to be he weekly shopping day. “and since Alex ate the last of the apples, all we have left is some hay, and cider.”
“Hay fries it is then.” She said. “While you're doing that I'm going to see if I can't find anything on alternate dimensions, or humans.”
“I thought you already went through the library, and found nothing.” Spike said confused.
“Well yeah, but I was distracted at the time. Maybe I missed something.” Spike shrugged and moved on to the kitchen.
The next few hours where filled with Twilight carefully sifting through every book on biology, zoology, ancient myths, scientific and magical theory, everything that might contain something involving trans-dimensional travel, or advanced bipedal primate-like creatures with opposable thumbs. In the end it proved no more fruitful than her first search. All She ended up with where a few vague theories by Starswirl on alternate time-lines, but nothing nearly as extensive as completely different universes, each with different rules, and people to the point where you would never be able to tell which ones where connected. This seems to confirm his story, there's no way that there wouldn't be something about humans unless they never existed here in the first place. Unless of course I'm simply missing the one book that tells me everything about humans, but I find that unlikely. Though it probably wouldn't hurt to check the Canterlot library when I get-
Her train of thought was cut off by a series off hurried knocks at the door. Oh, that must be Alex. She thought as she casually headed for the door. She was urged to move quicker when the hurried knocks turned into a constant pounding. She opened the door with magic, and was nearly run over by Alex rushing in holding something in his arms. Twilight quickly closed the door again, and hurried over to Alex's side as he placed his cargo on the center table. She gasped to see Pinkie Pie's unconscious body. The words “Oh crap,” where uttered a total of 27 times by Alex during this period. “What happened!?” She asked.
“Uhhhh, okay” Alex answered in a panicked voice. “So, I was wrapping up my little exploration trip I went to Sugar Cube Corner like you asked. No ones at the front desk. I ring the bell. I'm look around. My back's turned to the desk. Next thing I know I feel someone wrapping their... hooves apparently around my neck. I react. Flip her over my back. Next thing I know there's a unconscious pink pony lying on the ground in front of me who was probably just glomping me to say hello. So I brought her here.”
“Why, didn't you just bring her to the hospital?”
“Yeah. Hi doc! I'm an alien from an alternate universe, and I am carrying one of your citizens who is unconscious. What's that? You want me to go with these nice men with shiny helmets, and pointy spears? Okay!” Alex finished this presentation with an over dramatic thumbs up and grin.
“Alright alright, I get it!” Twilight exclaimed.
“But what do you expect me to do? I can't perform a healing spell without knowing more about the injury, and most of my lab equipment is still in Canterlot. I don't have anything beyond a first-aid kit”
“You don't. I do.”
“Look, we've been over this I'm not going to risk-”
“When I flipped her over, I did it with the force required for someone roughly my size. She's a lot smaller, which means she hit the ground really hard. She more than likely has a concussion, she might even be bleeding in the brain. We wont know until I get to my medical equipment.”
Twilight wasn't sure what to do. I still don't know him that well. But Pinkie's really hurt she might even die if he's right about her brain bleeding! He might be lying, he might've attacked her, and is using her to get his weapons.
”Look I just want to make sure she's okay. I know you don't know me that well, but I need you to trust me. Please let me help her. I promise to give it all back the moment I know she's okay.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Fine. Spiiiike!” Spike peeked over the bed alcove.
He'd been watching the whole time. Not sure what to do. “Are you sure Twilight?”
“She's sure.” Alex said hurriedly. Spike looked back at her. She nodded. He retreated out of view. “And wipe it down while you're at it. I don't want bird crap gunking up everything.” Twilight looked back at Alex in surprise. He smirked. “You didn't really think I spent the entire night reading did you?”
“Incoming!” Spike called out as Alex's utility harness was thrown over the edge.
Twilight decided to discuss this later, caught it with magic, and levitated it in front of Alex. “Take only what you need.”
Alex nodded and pulled out a cylindrical object from one of the fifty pouches on the belt. He called up to Spike “Where are my sunglasses!?” A pair of Bobster Chargers came flying over.
Twilight caught them and passed them over while asking. “Are these really necessary?”
He flipped the frame open with a flick of his wrist, slid them on in a stylish manner and said “Yes.”
She rolled her eyes Watch out we've got a bad-flank over here.
He looked ahead blankly for a few seconds. Then at Pinkie. He arched his eyebrow, then looked at Twilight, then looked at the door while grabbing the left hinge on his glasses. “Huh.” he said with the sound of slight bewilderment.
”What?” Twilight asked.
“Your bone structures are denser then I thought.” He glanced at Pinkie then back to Twilight. “She's fine.”
Twilight shook her head “Wait what?”
“She's fine.” he repeated “I mean she's going to have a headache when she wakes up, but other than that...” he shrugged
“So all that was for nothing?” She asked
“Yeah pretty much.”
“Well then you know what means.” She said as she waved the harness in front of him.
“Yeah, yeah.” He placed the cylindrical device back in it's pouch.
“Can I keep my glasses though? I kind of need them if I'm going to find a way out of this dimension”
She pondered this for a second. “Fine. But just the glasses.” he nodded as she moved the harness back to Spike.