As the first hints of sunlight began to shine through the slightly blinded windows, slightly flustering me as it began to shine in my eyes, I glanced towards the windows and let out a deep sigh. "Morning already?"

After the previous day's events I had decided that, rather than try to sleep in vain, I would read on as much of this world as possible. It was for that reason that my entire left and right sides on the couch were filled with books of various sizes.

If I had thought this world to be surprising before, it was nothing when compared to what I now knew. As it would turn out, the world I was in, properly labeled as "Equis", was filled with creatures that I believed to be mythical, and then some. Manticores, Griffons, Basilisks, all of these creatures existed in this world. As for the ones that I had never even heard of, draconequus, changelings, cockatrice, even something called a "timber wolf". As I read, I made a mental note to avoid these beings whenever possible.

I had also learned quite a lot about the main species of this world. Ranging from Cutie Marks, a mark that a pony receives once they figure out their "special talent", to the very workings of magic itself, a migraine in of itself but I digress.

I let out a yawn, lifting my arms over my head in a stretch. As I did so, the sound of footsteps could be heard behind me. I stayed silent, keeping my focus on the book in front of me rather than replying. That is, until a purple scaled hand began to swing left and right in front of my head.

I looked towards the source, seeing Spike standing on top of the pile of books that I had laid next to me. I faced his direction, awaiting for him to say whatever he had wanted to.

"Hey..." He said blankly.

"Hey..." I responded. "That was certainly a good conversation." He stayed silent once again, the slight tweeting of birds from outside being the only sound heard, before finally letting out a sigh.

"You okay?" He asked me with concern. Odd how he was concerned about the very same person who had scared both him and his friends off.

"Yeah... I'm fine. Like I said before, I just needed some time." He seemed skeptical, crossing his arms and tilting his head as if to add emphasis.

"You sure? This must be rough for you man." I chuckled at the statement.

"You have no idea." I replied with a saddened smile. It disappeared quickly though, as I took another glance out the window towards the sky. "I mean, its strange really. This entire situation seems so impossible, but here I am, living it." I sighed. "... I don't know why I'm so sad about it. There wasn't really much for me back home anyway."

"What do you mean?" Spike questioned. There was another moment of silence as my thoughts went into action, seeming to have an internal conflict with itself. My thoughts ended with a sigh, as I looked back towards Spike with a slight push of confidence boosting me.

"Spike. If I tell you, do you promise not to tell anyone, er, pony?" I asked, every bit of seriousness I could muster tracing my voice, despite my slight slip up.

"Um... You sure its a good idea to tell me something like that? After all, we only met yesterday, and we didn't really leave off on a good note." I let out a smirk as I heard him say this.

"Perhaps... But I can tell pretty easily that you're the type of person I could trust with a secret. Oddly enough, you're the only one I can seem to trust." Spike seemed to gleam with confusion at this point, my trust apparently misplaced by his belief.

"Rrrriiiiigggghhhht. Well, lets say you really do think I'm the only one you can tell this to. What about the others? Why wouldn't they be trustworthy?"

"Rarity, though she seems to be a very charitable person, also seems like the gossiping type, which worries me. Rainbow Dash would likely let it slip out if she ever became frustrated, despite how much she may not want to. Applejack seems like an honest pony, the kind that would hate or be unable to lie at any point, though I admire her stubbornness. Twilight and Fluttershy would both likely become really concerned about me, which I don't want at this point. Also, Pinkie Pie... I just can't seem to figure her out." I quickly responded, leaving Spike standing with his arms dangling and his mouth open.

"... Woah. How'd you do that? You basically figured out their personalities even though you only knew them for a day!" He exclaimed in amazement, gesturing with his arms as he did so.

"It's a gift I suppose. Ever since I was little, I could figure out a lot about a person by their voice and their appearance. It's not much, more like a general outline, but it comes in handy." Spike lifted a finger to his chin at this, a curious face plastered over his original.

"Then... Why me?" He asked simply.

"Because you're a lot like someone I used to know back home. Reliable, persistent, hardworking, yet a bit on the immature side, often going overboard at times even though you're often quite relaxed. It because of this that I think, and know that I can trust you." I told him confidently. "So, what do you think? If you're willing to promise, I'm willing to tell you." I raised my arm towards him, offering my hand to him as a deal. Rather than shake it however, he straightened his stance, confidence embedded into his expression as he began to make a gesture that I had never before seen.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I failed to stifle a laugh as I saw this, but I knew that he was being serious about keeping a promise.

"All right. Heh. You may want to sit down, we may be here a while."

"No problem." He said as he sat on the pile. "Twilight wont wake up for a while longer. " I nodded in confirmation as I made myself comfortable as well, placing my back against the adjacent book pile from Spike.

"I guess I'll start by answering the question you asked earlier." Just like that, I retold the tale that I hadn't told to anyone in a long time.

The two of us stayed like this for some time. As I told Spike of the tale that followed my eyes, he listened intently, chiming in whenever he had a question. Every word that left my mouth was analyzed by him carefully, as he made sure that he wouldn't miss a single detail. I would struggle at times, but he simply awaited me patiently as I gathered myself once more and broke through the barrier that was attempting to stop me. For a "baby dragon", he acted much more mature than most grown men from my world.

"... And that's that. That was the last time I saw my parents, or at least my mother. Afterwards, I got a pretty decent job as an engineer, just trying to pass through the days as they went on." As I ended my story, Spike seemed to stay silent in thought, likely wondering what he should say next.

"That's... Wow... And I thought you had it rough before... I don't know what to say..."

"I wouldn't either if someone had told me what I told you."

"But... All of that trouble because of your eyes? That's not fair at all! They had no right to judge you by how you look!"

"And my right to judge people is different how?" I asked with a smile.

"Because you never used it to hurt others!" He replied, standing himself up on his book pile. I chuckled again, shaking my head slowly.

"To each their own." I replied simply, a shrug in my shoulders as I did so. Spike stayed silent at this, having known enough about my story to understand what I meant. He sighed in frustration, sitting himself back down.

"So... What now?" Before Spike could reply, a series of distant clips filled the air.

"Looks like Twi's awake." Spike said, beginning to slowly crawl down from the pile of books like one would descend a ladder. When he reached the floor, he turned towards me once again.

"I'm gonna get breakfast started, you okay with pancakes?" I nodded, watching as Spike gave a thumbs up and headed towards what I assumed to be the kitchen.

A moment after he disappeared from sight, I heard someone, or somepony in this case, entered the room with a yawn. I turned to face her, only to end up looking a pillar of books that had apparently been behind me."Perhaps I read more than I thought I did."

There was a short silence once again. "Spike?" Twilight called out, seeking her assistant. Spike promptly responded from the kitchen.

"Yeah Twilight?"

"Why are all of these books just laying around in piles on the floor?"

"Oh, I think Richard was doing some reading last night." Spike replied.

"Oh..." I could hear a familiar sound through the wall of books that separated us, before seeing the wall begin to float away, one book after the other.

"Spike?" She called out again. "Do you think he'll ever forgive me for... You know." I swear I could faintly hear Spike stifle a laugh as he heard her say this, realizing that she had yet to see me.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Spike called out, an obviously strained tone in his voice.

"Huh?" Just as she said this, the last of the books forming the wall floated away, leaving me to finally see the purple unicorn. "What do you me- AAAAHHH!" She yelled in surprise as she looked my direction. A few of the books that she had been levitating fell down, making a loud crash as they hit the floor. I could hear Spike laughing loudly in the background, earning a roll of my eyes as I looked towards the kitchen door.

I looked back towards Twilight, seeing that she was sitting on her haunches as looking at anything but me. "How much of that did you hear?" She asked with worry in her voice.

"Enough." I replied simply.

"Oh..." She looked downwards towards the floor. I could almost sense the sadness that she felt.

"I'm sorry." We both said simultaneously. Twilight jumped up in surprise before looking at me with a wide-eyed dumbfounded expression.

"E-excuse me?"

"I said I'm sorry. Yesterday I was really stressed and I didn't mean to to yell at you or the others, so-"

"It doesn't matter that you didn't mean to, you had every right! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be stuck here! How can you apologize when I'm the only one who's done something wrong!" She frantically yelled out, a tinge of anger towards herself slightly detectable in her voice.

"Because you didn't mean to do it." I replied simply. There was a moment of silence as I let her take in the information before continuing. "You were trying a spell to get some new material for the library," I said gesturing around us, then pointing towards myself. "I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"...So you're not mad?"

"Not at all."

"You promise?" I mentally huffed as I noticed she had put on a face of caution. I began to think up a possible way to convince her, before I remembered a recent promise that Spike had made to me, and decided to use it myself.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye-OW!" Aside from forgetting to close my eye at the end, I followed the gestures that Spike had done earlier to the tee. Twilight put on a questioning face after seeing this though.

"Where'd you learn how to Pinkie Promise?"

"I picked it up." I replied. Technically I wasn't lying. Twilight didn't seem to convinced however.

"What do you mean by tha-"

"Breakfast is ready!" Spike called out from the kitchen. "Perfect timing."

Twilight gave one last glance at me before sighing and proceeding into the kitchen. I followed a few seconds after her.

As we finished the pancakes that Spike had served us, I couldn't help but marvel at how delicious they tasted. Not even the top restaurants in my state back home could make food this good, making me wonder as to the processes Spike went through to create them. Though, it was odd seeing twilight float her food to her mouth. It made me curious as to how earth ponies or pegasi ate.

"So, Richard, would you mind telling me why I came down to a fortress of books this morning?" Twilight asked, a hint of amusement in her voice. I chuckled in return, seeing the comedy of the situation when she had walked in.

"I was reading up on as much information of Equestria as I could. I figure that, while I'm here, I may as well make sure I'm not thrown into too much of a loop." Twilight nodded, before looking towards Spike and beginning to converse with him. I began to slowly drift into my thoughts as they conversed, soon finding myself in the familiar embrace of my own psyche.

Before I could dwell in my thoughts however, I noticed Spike's cheeks puff up before he let out a loud burp, followed by a green flame that materialized a scroll. Luckily, I had read about dragon species that had messenger abilities, so this didn't surprise me too much. Confuse, yes, surprise, no.

"What's it say?" Spike asked. Twilight floated the scroll in front of her, her eyes following along as she began to read aloud.

"Dear Twilight,

I am writing to inform you that I will be coming for a visit within the week. As of recent, an abnormal magic was detected in Equestria, and my sister and I are hoping for your assistance in finding it. Luna and I are seeking out the source even now.

Kindest regards,
Princess Celestia.

P.s. Discord has recently disappeared from Canterlot, please keep an eye out for anything strange."

If I hadn't believed her about being the student of royalty, I had now. As she read about Discord, I couldn't help but wonder who he was, or why he was so important to the princess. His name did ring a bell though. Twilight sighed as she finished reading this, rolling up the scroll and placing it on the desk. She gave me a smug grin before looking to Spike.

"I think the source of abnormal magic may be easier to find than they think. Discord though... I'm not to sure. Spike, ready a reply for Celestia and tell her about Richard." Spike nodded diligently, rushing from one room to the other as he obtained any writing supplies he believed necessary. Soon though, he stopped, along with the sound of rummaging.

"Uh Twi? We're all out of ink and paper." Twilight let out a groan as she heard this, comically slumping her head onto the table.

"Well this won't work. I guess we're gonna have to go to the market and get some." Twilight said as she floated over a nearby bag, her cutie mark stitched into the side. "You want to come with us Richard?"

As tempting as it was to see the other ponies that lived and interacted in Ponyville, I declined, telling her that I still had more reading to do if I wanted to have a better understanding of Equestria. She nodded her head in understanding before calling for Spike and making her way outside.

Taking one last look at the door she had left out of, I turned myself around and sat down on the recently cleared couch. I picked up a book labelled, "History of Equestria" with a recent date marking and began my new search for knowledge.

"I think I found a similarity between the mares in this world and the women in mine. They both take forever to shop." It had been an hour since Twilight and Spike had left and I was nearly done with the encyclopedia of a book. For the most part, I had skimmed through it, going over the broader parts of it and focusing on the more important or recent happenings. I was currently reading about the very individual that Twilight, and the letter she had received, had mentioned. Discord.

Being the god of chaos in this world, he reminded me a lot about the chaos gods from my world, such as Eris, or, though not labelled as one, Loki. If anything, I would say that his mind was a combination of the two that was squeezed into the body of a draconequus.

As I read about his more recent happenings, from escaping his stone prison to being put back in it by these, "Elements of Harmony", I couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. After all, though reason he was thought to be so horrid was because of his overuse of his abilities, it would have made less sense if he, the God of Chaos, didn't do something so unexpected and extreme.

"That's what I thought." I froze, unsure if how to react to this unfamiliar voice that was stationed behind me. Slowly looking behind me, I saw the unique and unmistakeable body of disorder that had called himself Discord. He was floating upside-down, looking down at me with his eyes of yellow and red as he seemed to smirk at my reaction.

"Ah, you seem surprised. How rude of me, my name is Discord, and you, are something of great importance aren't you?"

Author's Note

Well it looks like Richard and Spike got along swimmingly, though it makes you wonder who exactly Spike reminds him of though, doesn't it? Let alone the fact that Discord seems to be rather interested in Richard, much to his chagrin. Anyways, I'm glad I could update when I could and I hope to see you all later, and thanks for the support. (Speaking of which, the like and dislike ratio of this story is... Disheartening. But I won't let it get to me. I plan on finishing this story one way or another, despite anyone who dislikes it. Still open towards constructive criticism though.)

P.S. The video game reference from last chapter was cleverly hidden among the text in the ending, when it relayed the text, "different worlds, same sky, one sky". Kingdom hearts fans, you may begin you're rage.