New to Equestria

New to Equestria - Chapter One: Off the Boat

The large wooden ship I had finally crossed the ocean in rocked on the waves in the dock, it had been five minutes since a pegasus shiphoof had come below-deck to fetch me from my slumber, and now I sat there in my bunk face-in-hand. Several months waiting in the vessel had finally paid off, it was almost hard to believe i'd finally made it to Equestria. The journey had been hard, I wasn't used to the rocking of a boat, none of us were, but thanks to my misfortune I was the one  human on board that threw up during the trip.

I got up and nearly banged my head against the ceiling, it's not that I was tall (not by human standards, anyway), the boat just wasn't really made to accommodate humans. Didn't have enough room to stretch so I decided to skip that part until I made my way up to the deck. I slipped on my dark brown boots, the front discolored from heavy wear. After that, I slipped on a vest manufactured to resist stab wounds, a CSPBA, looked like a ballistic vest but wasn't. Afterwards my field jacket came on, it was olive drab and came with a insulation vest, my Tac-gloves were already on, they'd become a familiar feeling after wearing them most of the ride.

I reached for my patrol pack, but instead decided to open it one more time, laying inside was flares, some medical supplies, canned food, canteen, and a file; which I pulled out and flipped open, it was the file I was to present to the Equestrian leadership.

Humanity has isolated itself from the rest of the world for a long, long time. Just before news of Discord, humanity built a wall, the "Great Wall", all the way around the human-controlled landmass. After the wall was erected we had deported all non-human citizens and closed our borders, archers and ballistae were placed to line the battlements. Fear of Discord caused weapon science to advance quickly, so the now-considered ancient weapons were quickly replaced by riflemen and howitzers.

After Discord our best scientists focused on medicine, due to the plague. After defeating the airborne menace we began to cure more sicknesses in order to minimize loss of life.

Humanity has had it good.

The year was now three-thousand-one After Discord, no one had been concerned about the world outside of our large continent until a year ago, when a trade vessel, lost from it's course, was spotted on the horizon.

The races we once knew, the griffons, the equines, and the rest had been forgotten. Shocked by their appearance, we quickly took them in, brought them back to health, and introduced them to our society, afterwards, preparations were made to send one man into Equestria, after all these years.

That file in my hand, that held my mission, basically; learn everything. What can I say? Humanity is a curious race. I was to proceed to the Equestrian capital immediately and make contact with the leaders of the country. I would return to the Human United Nation for my debriefing.

On board the same trade vessel we spotted on the horizon nearly a year ago, there were three humans including me. After realizing Equestrian individuals had names that reflected them, I was ordered by my superiors to come up with an alias that reflected what kind of person I am.

Silver Tongue.

It was the first thing that came to mind, and I quickly blurted it without thinking - I had to, if I didn't come up with something there was a long line a people begging for my job. Now, I will suffer for lack of creativity. It was printed on my official documents immediately and I was ushered onto the boat.

I tossed the file back into the patrol pack and closed it. Afterwards I took to one knee and looked under the bed, there was the two weapons I was issued for my adventure. There was a long sword, and an M14 Designated Marksman Rifle which came complete with scope and several magazines, after slinging both on my back next came the patrol pack, it went over the sheath and I clipped it at my chest. I grabbed my scarf (it was some mix between that and a bandana) off the door handle and pushed down on it before wrapping it around my neck.

I saw Tristan outside, he was the human being sent to the Griffon Kingdoms, he was a jovial sort of guy too, more so than me. He had a round face and a outgrown orange beard, but hardly any hair on his head, at just a foot shorter than me, he was like a tall dwarf. He acted like it too.

"Why hello 'dere sleeping beauty, 'welcome t' Equestria', the captain said." He said, scratching his beard.

I grinned. "Yeah, finally here. Too bad you have to sit in this bucket for another month or so."

"Aye, wish I could see that out there myself. But i'm more excited to see the rest of the griffons, they seem like me kinda folk."

"True, from what I could tell." I responded, scratching my own stubble. "Where's foxgirl?"

"Hey!" I heard the woman coming down the hall. "You're the one who doesn't have a real name anymore, heading to the Canidae Lands or not, I still have mine."

"Yeah," I huffed. "Don't worry, i'm only half-jealous."

"What?" Kinzie huffed. "Not a fox person?"

"No, I am not actually, especially after that stupid song that went viral in the music shops a few years back."

"Oh relax. If these uh..." She looked down at the piece of paper in her hand. "Roter Fuchs are sentient beings like we've heard it'll be fine."

We had begun to climb onto deck as a horn sounded, announcing the imminent departure of the two's vessel, the area smelled like your typical dock, looked like it too. The docking area itself mostly wooden, while the main platform, lighthouse, and other buildings were built from cobblestone. Salt lingered in the air.

"I suppose this is it. It was nice knowing you two." I said.

"Aye, we'll miss you lad." Tristan told me, a little more somber sounding now.

"Likewise, Silver. Hope to see you again." Kinzie said as she and Tristan walked onto the docking plank of a new boat.

The mast opened with a loud swooshing sound, with the windy conditions the ship was able to speed up with relative ease. The two humans leaned off the deck and shouted another goodbye while waving. Returning their wave as their ship drifted off, a sick feeling made itself apparent in my stomach. I really was alone now. I couldn't send a letter home nor receive one, I wasn't able to use magic. Radios, even if I had one, didn't span out across the ocean.

The boat began to pursue the setting sun at the edge of the sea.

What to do, what to do...

Humans had traded many of their belongings to the ship's crew in order to finance our adventures, so money wouldn't be an issue. I had several of the coins Equestrians used as currency, "bits", they called them. They were sized like a thick human quarter, which I scoffed at, paper money would be so much more easy to carry.

Either way, something other than water or ale to drink for once would be nice.

I turned away from the departing ship and willed myself together, the wooden platform was probably half a football field long, though there were longer docks, I couldn't imagine any Equestrian ship being that big. I was halfway across the length when  I realized that the platform was devoid of any being, aside for one furry bipedal... Thing. I could only see almost-doglike-but-not-quite ears protruding from behind the fold-scarred paper in it's glove-wrapped paws.

I put two and two together, that thing was one of those fox creatures. Turns out they did have some sort of sentient level of thinking, if this one was reading. I opened my mouth to call out to it but it pulled the paper down and looked at me first.

The fox made some sort of curious sound and looked at me questioningly, that's what I thought, at least.

"Hi..." I managed.

It's ear flicked at the sound of my voice, and blue eyes met my stare.

"Hey." It responded. I could tell the creature was a male by his voice, though didn't have a scratchy voice or spoke funny despite my expectations. He wore a thick brown hoodie and a dark green bandanna on its head, along with baggy jungle-themed camouflage cargo pants, dark leather boots on his feet. His fur was a orange with a white under his chin and went down his neck.

"New here?"

"Got here just..." He stuck a paw in a pocket with a patch on it, the patch itself had a crescent moon logo and the word Nachtschicht on it.

His paw emerged with a pocket watch and flipped it open. "An hour ago. Still haven't found the tavern."

"Tavern?" I said, tilting my head. "Like... A bar?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure this map is wrong."

"Here." I said, stretching out my hand. "Let me check."

He gave me the map, but looked at my hand warily, I found the problem right away and I started to question just how smart this fox really was.

"You were reading it upside down."

"What?" He growled, snatching it from my hand. He studied it for a moment and his mouth started to hang open. "Scheiße."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, just... Gah, the maps back home are much easier to read."

I shrugged in reply.

"Well, thanks for the help, the name's Heckler."

"Silver Tongue." I replied, Heckler snorted at that.

"Hah. What are you anyway?"

"We call ourselves humans. We're pretty far out across the ocean."

"Wow, so why are you here?"

"What is this? Twenty questions? Diplomatic stuff. You?"

"Adventure." He said, shrugging. "Give me a break, I was just curious."

"Curiosity is what got me stuck here until the next Winter Solstice. So you're heading to the Inn right?"

He nodded.

Traveling with Heckler would probably help me get around in Equestria, if I could persuade him to follow me, that'd be like extra protection and i'd have someone to actually talk to. It'd probably take only a few words and a strong to get him to tag along, my directive was to see the the ruler of Equestria, after all.

"Alright, i'll tag along."