*Poof!*
“Ugh… Wat…”
I rubbed my head with my hooves and slowly looked around me.
“HOLY SWEET CELESTIA OCTY WHAT IN TARTARUS IS…!? Octy..!?”
I had no idea where I was, I was just dropping some SERIOUS bass in Ponyville, and there was maniacal laughter, the blinding white light and the poof! Of course, these magical incidents tend to happen every other week, but on a generally minor degree.
I instantly realized that there was probably some serious gravity in the situation. I was in a crater. A smoking, burning, crater. Thoroughly clearing out grass and dirt for several hooves around it. It almost looked like an explosion had occurred right where she stood, but that was impossible, she wouldn’t exist if the explosion had hit her, or did it come from her?
“Holy… Mother… Of… Celestia…” My shades fell off my face, looking different now for some reason, and I realized that my whole body was, well, different in its own way.
“Bbbbbbbuuuuuuuuuccccckkkk…..”
I extended my, well, arms in shock, looking at the ends of them; I had very strange, webbed, hooves…? I flexed them, realizing I could grab my shades with them, I snagged them off the ground. I looked further down and realized I had more hoof… Things? But these had flat bottoms with small, stubby hoof-like things sticking out of the front. I further inspected various points of my new “body”; it seemed that everything was still intact and there, horn, tail, mane, all in good color and order. Why am I this, creature? Was it-
“Hey, are you okay down there!?” I snapped my head in the direction of the voice, and saw somepony, except this person wasn’t a pony at all.
“Hello..?” The voice called out to me.
I just realized that I was badly hurt, scratches and bruises traced my body, it wasn’t bad, but it hurt.
“Hellooo…?”
“Yes! Help me! Down here… Gah!” He looked down at me, and quickly noticed the obvious.
“You’re… What the hell you aren’t wearing any clothes!”
Wait, why would he be concerned about clothes? Clothes are only worn for special occasions, I always wore my shades, but that was different.
“Of course I’m not, there isn’t a party or anything going on, is there? But for Celestia’s sake help me already!” I didn’t think he understood the gravity of my situation right now. I looked upon him, and I realized that he was not a pony.
“WHAT IN TARTARUS ARE YOU WHAT THE CRAP!?!” I screech and back away from him.
He reeled back in surprise by my outburst. “What do you mean!?
“You’re… Not a pony…”
“What are you talking about..?”
Poof! I remembered what happened all of the sudden, thanks brain! I now knew that I am currently in another dimension.
Bucking great, and now I was, a, what did Discord say they were called? Hoomins! Or was it Humans…?
The man suddenly took a much closer look at me.
“What in the fuck are you, an alien or something?!” He backed up, seemingly terrified.
“I’m not an ‘alien’ pal, I’m a pony! Well, kind of… I guess?”
He looked at me like I’d just blasted him with magic or something, wide-eyed like a, well, like practically every creature in Equestria! I looked at him with a questioning stare, wondering why he was freaking out.
“I’ll help you I… Suppose?” His eyes flicked around within his head, a rather strange sight, it was so different from anything that lived in Equestria, and I guessed human’s faces were generally flat, but it would take some getting used to if I really was in an alternate universe.
“First, you uh… Need some clothes there...” He deadpanned at me, leaving me wondering why it was such a terrible sight.
“I don’t know how this is possible, but I just went shopping for my girlfriend and you look like exactly the kind of type and size for these clothes. But I think that you might… need it more than her right now..?” He tossed me down a bag full of clothes.
I pulled out some of the clothes, and I looked at them quizzically.
“Oh, the one you’re holding is what’s called a T-shirt, just uh… grasp it by the bottom and pull it over your head right now I guess, but don’t rip it with your horn… Umm… Thing.” I pulled it over my body and poked my head out of the top hole, but my arms were still inside.
“Ok, good, now pull your arms through those side holes there.” I did as he requested, and I slid them in, I wiggled my arms around until I felt comfortable.
“So! Next, pants, I didn’t bring any panties because I didn’t want to look like a pervert in the store… So… Make due for now? Just put your legs in the holes and pull the top all the way to your waist.” I slowly snaked them up until they were just below my tail, but with this, I realized that my tail would be inside of the pants. I looked up at him questioningly.
“Ohhhhh, crap, right! Lemme just… Got it!” He brandished a small, red object that looked like a tool. He pulled at a part of it, which extended outwards to what she realized to be a knife.
“Woah woah woah woah WHAT are you going to do with that exactly?”
“Well,” He exclaimed “I was hoping I could cut a hole for your tail..?” He smiled sheepishly.
“Oh yeah, umm, how about I do that part, you were already saying something about being a pervert?”
He blushed and facepalmed at this, handing me the knife. Luckily, since knives were apparently an inter-universal thing, it was not a foreign object. I quickly cut a fair-sized hole in the denim, pulling the pants over my tail and then slipping it through the hole, letting the beautiful blue streaks of fur breathe.
I caught the man staring at it in bewilderment with a mix of amazement.
"Impressive, huh?” I slapped him with it, chuckling lightly.
I realize that he’s actually pretty cute, with his green eyes, and his adorable little nose…
Wait, did I just..?
“Ow! Hey!” He laughed, rolling his eyes and grinning sharply. “Anyways, it’s time to start moving, I think you should probably come to my apartment, I’m going to check the news and see if there’s more of your kind, erg… How do I put this? ‘Arriving’ I guess. Oh! Yeah, by the way my name’s George Martin, what’s yours?”
“Nice to meet you… George…? Odd name! Anyways, my name’s Vinyl Scratch, otherwise known as DJ Pon-3, I’m the raddest DJ in Equestria, heck no, the ENTIRE PLANET!! Yeeeahh!”
“What? Really? I’m a DJ too! What is ‘Equestria’? Is it just another planet, or is it a separate universe? Is everyone there really a pony? Is is hard to produce musi…”
“Woah woah, woah, slow down there, pal, we should probably get moving anyways, speaking of which, how are you standing on two legs? Shouldn’t you be on all four of your hooves? In our universe, we’re not bipedal, we’re quadruped ponies”
“What? Oh, this is how we stand and walk here on Earth, we pretty much have to maintain constant balance, and it’s not that hard once you get used to it, heck, I think it will only take a minute for someone like you to learn how to walk.”
“But you have shoes on your hooves, why?”
“Oh, those are for protection and traction, because our skin is kind of soft compared to what hooves are made out of, I didn’t buy any on my trip though, sorry! If you want, I could carry you…?”
“Uh no thanks…”
“Alrighty then, so! You have nailed sitting down, now it’s time to stand! So, first, push off the ground with your hands, the- yeah you got it! Try to bend your kne- WOW you’re good at this, so you’ve nailed standing up on two feet!” He grins happily at me as I gawk at how surprisingly easy this is compared to when I tried it as a pony. It almost seemed too easy…
“So, next, you just want to raise a leg and just move it forwar- YES!!!” He happily exclaimed, “Ok, just keep repeating the motion alternating your legs and you’ll be set!”
I stumbled and fell several times, but by attempt number 6 I think I had the feel of it completely down.
“Awesome! Ok, so we need to get out of here, like, right now, we’re on the outskirts of New York City, and my apartment is… This way!” He pointed northbound, toward a city, gleaming and shining in the rays of the burning sun. After this, I looked more closely at our surroundings, and saw the beautiful, luscious scenery around us. Deep green leaves swaying with the light breeze, a gorgeous blue sky, truly a perfect day. After this, I shifted my gaze back to the regal, gleaming city.
“Sweet Celestia that is a massive city!” I marveled at the architecture for a moment before shrugging, realizing that architecture is boring no matter how fancy it might be, unless it includes an epic sound system.
“It took quite a while to get the whole thing built; it started about 200ish years ago, and is still in the works of growing to be a bigger and better city now!” He claimed as they arrived at the first street, a black, gravel-like path with strange amphibian-esque looking creatures dotting the sides.
“Ok, I cannot stress this enough, be careful when you’re at a road, we humans have these things called cars which pretty much allow us to go really far really fast without having to walk or sprint. The cars drive on roads, which are generally clearly marked black asphalt paths, they can go up to around 20 miles an hour when driving on roads like this, and even faster when they’re on a freeway or highway.”
“So it’s like a chariot…?”
“Yes, but there’s no manual labor besides pushing down the gas pedal and going like nrrroooooooow!” He stuck out his tongue at me.
“Are they the weird creature-esque things sitting on the side of the street?”
“Yes, and they’re parked right now, to start them you have to have the key, which you plug in to the designated slot, that’s what she said!” He chuckled, seeing me give him a questioning glance.
“Sorry, it’s supposed to be an ‘inappropriate reference’ as people call it, so, as I was saying. Once you do that, you turn it, which creates a spark which lights some fluids in the engine, annnnd then a lot of other stuff happens that I don’t happen to know, because the main focus of my studies is supreme wubbage!”
“Aww yeah, brohoof!” I ball my “hand” into a fist and pound it against his.
“Dubstep buddies?”
“Awww yeaa- Holy Celestia Octavia!!!” I saw her about a block away. I bolted after the nervous, but obviously arthropod human-pony mixture that was 100% Octavia who happened to be fully clothed. She instantly looked in my direction, terrified, and almost ran away, but she tripped and fell on her face like she would do. After she fell, a girl stepped out of the corner, an enraged, half terrified expression plastered to her face.
She looked at me and the expression instantly changed to “Wut there’s another one really?!” But I shoved her out of the way and grabbed Octavia, her eyes literally spinning from the impact.
“Octy!? Octyy…! Come on snap out of it!”
“Vinyl?”
“Yes, yes, it’s me, your beautiful marefriend DJ Pon-3!”
With this, our lips met, a powerful wave of bass enveloped my essence, pumping in my chest and shooting out of my lips to envelope hers, the moment lasted for what seemed like hours. Pure bliss pumping right into my mind, taking away reality, until the fleeting was over,escaping my grasp.
After breaking apart, I realized just how amazing it was to be a human.
Another music term thing!
“Woah woah woah marefriend?” Questioned the girl out of shock.
I pushed off of the cold, hard ground and rubbed the back of my head with my hoof... Wait, no, hand, and sheepishly grinned. “Yeah, it’s kind of a long story, we met at one of my concerts where we had to share the same stage and it pretty much took off from there. It’s actually pretty funny; remind me to tell you sometime!”
“Yeah, but on Earth, liking people of the same sex isn't exactly… Normal by normal standards, but it’s widely accepted among many people, so that shouldn't be a problem if you ponies are accepted as equals. That being pretty likely because you’re, adorable, as people might say.” She finished off, grinning madly.
“Oh really? You think that we’re cute? Prepare to have your FAC-” I was quickly interrupted by a slap from Octavia, sending me recoiling backwards, my shades falling onto the filthy sidewalk.
She quickly spoke up. “Vinyl, calm down! She’s just kidding! It’s a compliment anyways because, well, we are cute I guess…” She trailed off jokingly.
“Hey! I was joking! You don’t have to slap me in the face! Hands hurt more than you think, ya know!” I ended with a wince, bending down to pick up my shades while saying it, a small trace of humility in my voice.
“I know, but it’s both cute and adorable to watch you arguing!” She giggled lightly, further humiliating me.
I blushed, shying away just a small amount, leaving the conversation hanging out on a limb for a bit.
“Well, that was interesting, but anyways, nice to meet you, my name is Brooke Hills, and yours is...?”
“Oh, yeah, right! My name’s Vinyl Scratch, otherwise known as DJ Pon-3, the best DJ on the entire planet! Actually, my old planet, but maybe this one as well, we may have to crush some competition and make that happen!” I responded with sudden renewal, filling in the blank.
“So anyways... back to the original subject! They need a place to crash, I was thinking my apartment, since it’s larger than yours, plus, it has a great music setup, which I’m sure Vinyl here would like since she’s a DJ and everything.” George added, getting the group back on track to their original goal.
“Speaking of music, do you think I could bring my cello over for Octavia here to practice?” Brooke questioned hopefully.
I added to this. “So, you do what Octavia does too? I don’t really think this a coincidence, Discord is weirdwith how he sends people to alternate universes.”
“Oh yeah! I don’t think that’s just a coincidence, either. Maybe we were meant to find each other or some destiny-related crap like that, which at this point, I wouldn't question if that was the case. This probably being the case after all.”
“…”
“Anyways, Vinyl, this is my girlfriend, Brooke! And now that we've met, let’s get going! Yes, you can bring the cello, Brooke, although I think she used to have hooves so she’ll have to get used to hands. How do you play the cello with hooves anyways?”
“Oh, it’s magic I think, nopony really questions it, it’s a part of life where we’re from.”
“Ok then! The apartment is actually just across the street, you two put on these hoodies, and keep your heads down, we don’t want anyone to freak out because of you being ponies. Vinyl, I’m sorry, but you have to tuck your tail up into the hoodie, just for like a minute, okay?”
“Fine…” I grumbled, slipping on the colorful hooded shirts he tossed us, tucking my tail into the back of it.
“Ok, just follow me now, and be careful, there probably shouldn’t be many people here, because everyone is at work right now, as it’s a Thursday, and most students live away from here.” Everyone followed after him into magically opened doors, sliding out of our way just as we stepped in front of them. I didn’t question it, as it is only a simple matter for unicorns to move objects such as doors with their minds.
Like he said, not many people were in the bland, white lobby, so we were able to slide by without drawing any attention to ourselves, while it was probably a little strange for someone to wear a hood inside, nobody questioned it. Once we were out of the lobby and into a strange rectangular box of mirrors called an “elevator” we were finally able to talk.
“Nice! That actually went by quite smoothly! I’m wondering how thugs and gangsters would be able to make it in the world today without hoodies…” He trailed off, the sentence earning an eye of suspicion from Brooke, which quickly rolled her eyes, sighed, and broke into a soft laughter.
“Now, back on track! When we arrive at our floor, we just go directly to the first door to the left, I think it will have enough living space for all of us, if me and Brooke snuggled in the bed and you two shared the fold-out couch thing.” With this, I smiled at Octavia.
“Hear that Octy? We get to snuggle!” She snorts, landing a punch on my shoulder.
Ding!
“Okay, this is our floor, keep your head down and follow my lead, it isn't far.” We nod and comply with his request, flipping on our hoods and walking out of one of several elevators occupying the starch white room, one woman occupying it besides us. She eyed us suspiciously, by shrugged as her elevator dinged, announcing its arrival.
We banked left and continued walking for a few hooves, and we arrived at a sequoia-shade brown door, in which was a handle with a strange looking, golden device with a small, rectangular hole in the top. George took out a card from his pocket and inserted it inside, triggering a small green light to blink on the front of the device, letting him push down on the lever and granting them access to the apartment.
We stepped inside; closing the door behind us, and the silence was finally broken. “It’s a nice place, and I got a great deal on the price! The initial fee was pretty expensive, but I’ve saved a lot of money for an apartment of this sort, now, let us take the tour of awesomeness!!!” I facepalmed, glancing around, admiring the room before me. I was assuming it was a living room, a wine red couch and several similarly styled chairs adjourned it surrounding a wall-mounted flat screen TV. The room was mostly cream colored, save for several posters on the wall, decorated with all aspects of colors in seemingly random patterns.
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Somewhere on the planet, Justin Beiber gets arrested for egging someone with a machine gun, as well as assault and battery using said machine gun.
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“It actually looks like a pretty tight place so far.” I shrug, it was a little bit strange from general Equestrian taste, but it seemed fitting for someone with more modern interests.
We continued the tour into the kitchen, where chrome instruments of heat-inducing death to food caught our eyes. It looked like it wasn’t just for cooking the standard baked goods and occasional vegetable dinner. I realize that there are clearly other, stranger scents wafting in the air, and I decide to question it. “What kind of stuff do you make in here?”
He furrowed his brows at this, seemingly trying to put together a tough sentence, which he was. “Erm… How do I put this really? You guys only eat vegetables, right?” I nodded, raising one of my eyebrows. “Umm… Ok, humans, for the most part, have a very different diet from ponies and the equine species in general. Basically, we eat meat, I know it may sound strange, but it’s kinda been what we as a race have relied on for a good source of food...” He rubs the back of his neck, shooting his eyes to the left and right.
“What?!?” Octavia cringed, a frightful look on her face and wondering what life is for probably the 3rd time this week. I reassured her and patted her on the back.
“It’s Ok, Octy, just uhh…” I shot a look at him. “Do you eat… Ponies?” I cry on the inside at saying that sentence, I never thought I’d be uttering a word relating to a subject like this, eating meat in general was a foreign concept in Equestria, much less our own friggin kind.
“Fortunately, no, about 95% of the people on the planet don’t eat anything equine related on even a monthly basis, as ponies have kind of been friend to mankind ever since they were discovered. However, as you would see it, it’s kind of a depressing one, as ponies on this planet are not sentient and we pretty much used them as transport.” This clearly was an odd conversation for him, and I completely understood every single awkward shift on his feet.
I break the silence; it was already eerie enough with Octavia staring into space. “I’m not judging your species or anything, but why, exactly?”
“Guh, I don’t know, the animals were kind of just there, and we were right there with them, and, things may have happened and there were so many animals that there was no reason to stop and it took off from there okay?” He sighed. “Ok, let’s just move on with the tour for now, because frankly, this is really weird to talk about.”
We all nod our heads and follow him into the adjoining room, being a similar style to the living room, a dining room with a furnished set of red chairs and tables. Comically, a small vase of flowers and some candles decorated the top of the table.
“Daww, you shouldn’t have! The flowers and everything, it’s all so sweet! Muahahahahahah!” I grin, breaking the awkward tension, changing the subject.
“Haha very funny I have a girlfriend right have you know! Now don’t you hit on her, she’s my preciouss…!” He gave us a sarcastic Golem face, even though I didn’t understand the reference, I understood the message.
“I thought wubs were your only precious…” Brooke trailed off trollingly. “Sweetie, you’re my other precious, you really need to learn the concept of preciousses, and you’re so silly for believing that you aren’t precious to me!” He nudges Brooke in the shoulder tenderly.
“Anyways… can we please move on with the tour?” Octavia chides in to the oh so precious conversation.
“Yeah, sure, this way then!” We stroll over to a bedroom connected to the living room, the final destination in our small ‘Tour of awesomeness’. It wasn’t much, at first glance, a fair princess size bed, resting on a frame of gleaming oak wood, hugged at the top by similar night stands, with a dresser in the corner of the humble white room.
Something that really caught my eyes, however, was the strange set-up in the opposite corner from the bathroom, closet, and dresser. It was a large black screen surrounded by a plastic outlining, sitting atop a gleaming glass desk, different colored cables of all kinds ran in neat lines downwards into various doohickeys and thingamajigs, mainly a sleek black plastic box. There was also a keyboard (The piano kind) off to the side; ready to be used for what Vinyl could only guess was making the kind of music she loved!
She rubbed her hooves together. “If that’s what I think it is, then when can we get started?”