A Story And A Game

Sitting back on my new second-hand couch and a self-made hay smoothie in my right hoof I let out a relaxed sigh. I was ready. The house was ready.

Well, not entirely ready. The bedroom door still needed a second layer of paint, and the kitchen wasn't complete yet. Ponies use less cutlery than humans, but all of them have more than the pathetically few pieces of second-hand silverware in my drawer.
And the garden was still a mess of weeds and last year's leaves. And I still needed a better lamp for the bathroom.

But still, I was ready for tonight's house warming party.

I lifted my hind legs and rested them on the low, banana yellow table. It *snik* shifted under my feet and I immediately lifted them off again. Crap. Time to adjust the leg again.

In my mind I had dubbed it "the Table from Tartarus". "Yellow Devil" for short.

The table had been free, so I had been instantly interested. The pastel blue unicorn wanted to get rid of the ugly brown thing because it "wobbled a bit." No problem, I thought, give me a bit of wood, some nails and a hammer and I can fix it. A lick of black or anthracite paint and it'd be good as new. Better even, because it was free.

That was before I had to drag the thing all the way across Ponyville, yesterday morning. The thing was a solid, heavy wood and weighed a ton. No Ikea here, I grimaced.
Now, if Celestia had given me an earth pony's body it would have been easy. Or as a unicorn I could at least use magic to make it lighter or something. But no, I wanted to be able to fly.

And so my pegasus legs almost buckled under me while my still useless wings tried to keep it steady on my back. Apparently the weather was cooler than usual - Rainbow Dash had told me that autumn would be starting soon - but by the time I was home I had lost at least three buckets of sweat.
I had also dropped the table five or six times - I was lightheaded and lost count - but that didn't even dent the blasted thing.

And that's when things got really frustrating.

One leg had a crack that almost split it off in a wedge shape. That made the leg more wobbly and a bit shorter than the others.

It took me two hours struggling with my hooves, a hammer and some nails to realize that I couldn't repair it that way. And the leg had now completely split off. And my left hoof hurt where the hammer had just failed to miss it.

Also, I had forgotten to buy paint. Crap.

At the shop, five minutes after closing time, I bought glue - didn't ask, didn't want to upset anyone - and a bucket of paint. Under the kind but impatient eye of the light green shopkeeper I first selected the cheapest brand of dark grey I could find, but then grabbed a different bucket when I noticed the "100% scratch-proof" written on its label. Quite a bit more expensive, but I wanted to be able to put my hooves on the table without having to worry about scratches.

Back at home I applied the glue liberally on the split-off wedge, placed it back where it belonged and wrapped a few meters of twine around it to keep it in its place while the glue dried. I took extra care to position the wedge so the table wouldn't wobble.
When I checked it later that evening the twine refused to come off, being saturated with the already hardened glue. Crap.

I decided to just paint over it. I had spent enough time on just this bit of furniture. I had much more to do. And I was tired. So I grabbed a brush and opened the bucket of expensive, 100% scratch-proof paint.
Which was banana yellow.

Crap crap crappity crap.

In the bucket the paint merely looked yellow. However impossible it may sound, while applying it to the large surface of the table the paint somehow managed to become more yellow. By the time I was done the yellowness was almost overwhelming.

That could also have been a combination of paint fumes and exhaustion, though.

This morning, when the paint had dried, I placed the table back on its legs, in front of the couch. With a *crack* the glue let go. Although the twine held the leg in place, the table now wobbled more than it had ever done.

Crap crap, you know the drill.

And so here I was, pushing the leg back again. I had already found that if you did it just right, the leg would *click* back into how it was glued, exactly the right position to not wobble. And it would stay there until you moved the table. Or placed anything heavy on it.

I now had a very yellow, very heavy, definitely not free table that would *snik* automatically start to wobble under anything heavier than a glass of water. Yay.

Of course, in this colorful land chances were that Rarity would just call it a Bold Fashion Statement. I didn't care anymore.

I checked the box next to the couch one last time. Everything was still in there, and I marveled again how Heartwood had been able to craft the things I had requested so easily and quickly, using just his hooves.
It made me feel like a klutz. At least I had the excuse that I had been a pony for less than three weeks.

And so I was ready for tonight's house warming party. Now all I had to do is wait for Pinkie Pie to -
My thoughts were interrupted by the knocking on my front door. That must be the bright pink pony in question - she had that gift of making coincidences happen way more often than they should.

Even though I had been a brony before Twilight's magical mishap zapped me here, Pinkie's blatant abuse of cartoon physics was still shocking to actually witness in person. And that smile... It felt to me like there was something behind it that wasn't natural. That wasn't pony-shaped.

I opened the door to let the bouncing pink pony in. The next ten minutes were a blur. I had warned her that I wasn't the balloons-and-streamers kind of guy, but she still insisted that she had to decorate the place. And I must admit, she was good at it. She had even remembered to use less screamingly loud colors.

It made me smile to see her in her element again; she had been thoughtful and subdued around me ever since I told her she could throw me a party when she could create not the party she wanted but the party I needed.
I was afraid I had offended her with that, but apparently she had taken it as a challenge.

She probably didn't hear the *snik* when she placed the cake box on the table, and I *click* pushed the leg back when she turned away to grab the plates. Surprisingly it held under the weight of the cake - for now. I avoided touching the table, just in case.

Pinkie was just lighting the last lantern - a surprisingly tasteful dark blue with yellow swirls - in the corner of the room when the other guests started arriving.

Fluttershy was first. She was still a bit quiet around me, so I offered to help her feed her animals tomorrow morning. I'd have to rise very early, but it would be worth it to see her in her comfort zone, among her animals. People always get more chatty when their special talent is the subject. Even humans, even though they don't need a cutie mark to tell them what that talent is.
And I love talking to her. She's a good listener. Maybe I can return the favor tomorrow morning.

Fifteen minutes later all of the Mane Six had arrived. Spike was in Canterlot, studying under Celestia just like Twilight had done for years of her life, so tonight it would just be the six ponies that I thought I knew so well before I arrived here.
In real life they - and the world they lived in - proved to be a lot more complex than you could show in a 22 minute kids' cartoon. Everything here was so much more real.

When everyone had a slice of cake and hot chocolate milk or tea, it was Rarity - she had raised her eyebrow at the Yellow Devil but hadn't said anything - who smilingly asked for a speech. And so I stood, looked around at these alien but so familiar faces, and cleared my throat.

"Speeches are not my forte but yes, I do have a few things I would like to say. Mostly it's a big thank you. You have all been so wonderful for me these past few weeks. It was quite a shock to find myself in Equestria, and to become a pony myself. It is thanks to all of you that I could accept living here, and you helped me adjust enough that no-one... nopony here in Ponyville even realizes I'm not a pony.

"I would like to thank each of you. Twilight, for spending so much energy and time in researching a way back for me. That pesky magic cycle that means I'll have to stay for thirty moons is not your fault. Also thank you for helping me with all the papers and documents."
Twilight smiled but looked down. She was still feeling guilty over the accident. I'd have to talk to her about that again.

"Applejack, thank you for being there for me to talk to, and for helping me repair this house. Please also pass on my thanks to your sister - she did a wonderful job fixing the fence."
"Ah'm just glad we could help."

"Rainbow Dash, thank you for offering to teach me to fly. Now the house is - mostly - finished I'll have time and energy to train. Just remember that I'd like to walk before I can gallop. No loopings on the first day, please."
"I don't promise anything," she responded with a grin.

"Fluttershy, thank you for kindly listening to me every time I’m homesick for my world, my family, my friends."
She smiled warmly. I could see why she was chosen to be a model. She's effortlessly beautiful.

"Rarity, thank you for generously offering time and materials to decorate the house, the curtains and rugs... And I'm sorry about the table."
A round of chuckles confirmed that everyone had a similar opinion on the Yellow Devil. I wondered how many layers of paint would be necessary to fully get rid of that yellow? Would the paint be worth it?

"And Pinkie Pie, thank you for successfully throwing me the party that I needed."
Her smile couldn't be much wider without the top of her head falling off. I quickly continued before she had the chance to start talking.

"All of you, thank you for being here for me. For being the friends that I needed so much these weeks."

I looked around again. They smiled back. I suddenly realized that I had always more or less glossed over the friendship lessons in the show; just judging them on an analytical level. But here there were six ponies who lived these lessons, who were the embodiment of real friendship. Who had shown it to me. And yes, it felt like actual magic.

No way I could express that in words though, so I struggled a bit until Rarity raised her tea cup and said, "To friendship!"

I was quite sure that the sound of the mugs and cups hitting the table after the toast covered up the *snik*, and I used the sound of Pinkie talking a mile a minute to sneakily *click* reset the table leg again.
She was still talking when I had refilled everyone's mugs and cups.
"... learn about human parties. And tonight's going to be great too! He promised me he'd do a story or a game from his world!"

All of those big eyes looked at me. I had thought about this ever since I first discussed human games with Pinkie, a few weeks ago. No Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Pony for me. There were better games than that, and I planned to introduce some to Pinkie.

"Yes, Pinkie, I'm going to teach all of you a game from my world. I've adapted the theme a bit to fit Equestria, and it even comes with a story. In fact, it's quite a substantial story that I need to tell first, or the game would be very hard to explain."
"Oooooh! A story AND a game! What kind of story is it? Is it silly? Or scary? Or maybe -"
I cut her off; she could continue for ten minutes if I didn't.

"Pinkie? Pinkie, the story is one of mystery, and a long journey into danger, and a struggle against overwhelming odds. And it's about the six of you. And if you give me the chance I'll start it right now."

Every pony sat back, ready for the story. I saw Pinkie was almost vibrating in her seat.

"It may start off a little weird, but stick with me for a bit, and you'll understand."

I looked around at my friends one more time, cleared my throat and began.