Author's Note

So I'm a little nervous about posting this next chapter, as we're going to see what kind of Equestria Arthur has landed in. I know he doesn' sound like he's from the past, but this is a fantasy story, so please just enjoy it. Also, if you're confused by how Spike and Twilight look and act in this story, that will be explained over time. Just know that this story is a few years after the main series ends, like 3 or 4 years.

If you like what you read here and want to support me, then please check out my Patreon and consider donating at least a dollar. Doing so will help cover my expenses, help me focus solely on my writing, and above all push me one step closer to my dream of world domination.

Welcome to Ponyville

Welcome to Equestria

“You said Fluttershy found him?”

“Yes. Apparently she found him in the outskirts of Ponyville.”

“What is he? Is he one of those 'humans' you mentioned before?”

“I believe so, but he seems different. I don't think he's from the same world Sunset Shimmer is in.”

“So he's not from the human version of Equestria.”

“No. I think he's from a completely different world. If he were from any form of Equestria, he'd turn into a pony, but he's still a human.”

“Twilight Sparkle, when he awakens and is settled in, send a letter to my sister and I.”

“I will. Thanks for showing up on such short notice, Luna.”

“If you call for me, I will be by your side always.”

Arthur was sure that he heard voices a little while ago. These weren't the same as the voice from before though. One was very authoritative and serious sounding, and the other one was slightly higher and analytical. He drifted off in the middle of their conversation, but he felt himself coming back to the land of the living. He was in a soft bed, the covers smelling very nice.

“Don't get up too fast,” someone said next to him. He recognized the voice as one of the women talking over him before.

“Am I alive?” Arthur asked, still not opening his eyes.

“Thankfully,” the woman said, “It looked like you fell from high up. I healed your wounds though, so you should be fine now.”

Arthur turned to face the person who saved him and slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, but as it cleared up he saw a purple face staring back at him. He blinked a few times to get his sight focused, now clearly seeing his savior's face. Purple, and somewhat like a pony's face, but with softer, more human features. The creature also had a small horn on its forehead, and the oddest purple mane that looked like regular hair. The sight looked strangely natural.

He blinked a few more times, trying to process what he was seeing.

“Um...”

“Are you sore anywhere?” the purple pony said. This creature could talk?!

“Uh...” Arthur's eyes were wide. He just heard a pony talk. It spoke... perfect English...

“Mister, are you feeling okay?” the pony asked, placing a hoof on his forehead. It was a regular horse's hoof, but bigger and wider, and the pony was using it like a hand.

“I... I... I...” Arthur, unable to process what he was seeing, fainted right on the spot.

“Oh my God! Mister! Are you okay?!” the pony asked, “Mister! Hey!”

Laughter was heard, and there were three new voices this time. One was raspy and somewhat loud, one sounded more proper like he was used to, and another one was deeper and had the oddest accent.

“He fainted?! That's the funniest thing I ever heard!”

“Dash, the poor thing must have been terrified! Based off what Twilight said he's clearly not from around here.”

“You gotta admit, Rarity, it is kinda funny.”

“Any idea's where he's from, Twilight?”

“I'm still trying to figure that out. I was going to ask him, until...”

“Until he fainted like a pussy?”

“Rainbow Dash, it's like Rarity said, he was terrified. I'm just glad he didn't scream and run off.”

“If ya need anythin, ya'll let us know, right?”

“I will. Thanks Applejack.”

Arthur heard a series of clops exit out of the room. He soon faded back into unconsciousness.

“Twilight, how is he?”

That voice... it was her...

“Physically he's fine, but he's in shock. I think that's why he's still out. Don't worry, he'll be okay.”

“I hope so...”

Arthur felt someone approaching his bed, and his hand pressed under two hooves. It felt very pleasant.

“He's not from this world, that much I'm sure. There's no telling how he'll react the next time he wakes up.”

“He'll be fine. All he needs is reassurance that he's safe.”

“Fluttershy, what are you...”

“Where ever you came from, know that you're safe now. I know that you're afraid, but everything will be fine. Twilight will take care of you.”

She spoke directly into his ear, her voice soft like a whisper. He wanted to open his eyes and see the angel next to him, but instead he felt himself fall deeper into the abyss of his mind.

Arthur slowly opened his eyes again. This time he was alone in the room, which he finally got a good look at. It was very nice, sort of like a castle's bedroom. The bed he was in was large, with purple curtains and dark purple covers. The door was somewhat big and blue.

Realizing now that he wasn't wearing his jacket anymore, he looked around the room. He saw it hanging on a coat rack next to the door. He slowly stood up and put it on, deciding first to look out the window to take in his new surroundings.

It looked like the sun was rising, which meant he was at least out for a whole day. Where ever he was, it was very colorful. It looked like there was a small town in front of where he was currently, which did appear to be some sort of castle.

“My God...” Arthur said looking around, “Where in the world is this?”

After working up the courage to step out of the room, he walked down the hall. As he walked, he saw more ponies walking around, only these looked male and wore purple armor. They all came up to just a little under his shoulder in terms of height, and they all had features that were human, yet still pony like in the slightest.

Arthur would have screamed and run away, but somehow he felt calmer. Something told him that these creatures weren't going to hurt him. One of the armored ponies, this one being an orange one with wings, a blue mane and tail, walked up to him. This one was one of the taller ones coming close to his shoulder.

“Greetings,” the pony said with a salute. Rather then take in the pony's extremely human mannerisms, he simply nodded.

“G-greetings...” Arthur stuttered.

“Princess Twilight is waiting for you in her study,” the pony said.

“Princess... Twilight...?” Arthur asked, remembering that name from somewhere. Did he dream that name?”

“Follow me,” the armored pony said walking off. Arthur took a deep breath and followed his escort, still trying to wrap his mind around the odd sight.

This pony is acting like a human...

The knight lead Arthur to a large brown door. He knocked on it (Arthur still amazed at how he was able to move his foreleg like that so naturally) and waited for a response.

“Yes?” a voice Arthur recognized called out from inside.

“Twilight, it's me,” the stallion said, “I have the human with me. He seems calmer than before.”

“Excellent, bring him in Flash.”

The stallion, apparently named Flash, opened the door and ushered Arthur inside. When he walked in, he saw the purple pony from earlier sitting on a pillow with a book in front of her. She seemed smaller than the stallion, but not by much. Sure enough, when she stood up Arthur saw that she was only a few inches smaller than “Flash”.

Arthur also took note that she not only had a horn like he remembered before, but she had large wings too. She wore a golden crown, golden hoof guards on both her front and back feet, and a large golden necklace around her neck. Her tail was the same shade of purple as her mane, but both of them had a pink highlight in them. She seemed to be wearing dark purple eyeshadow. On her hip was a symbol that looked like a purple star with five white stars surrounding it.

“Um... h-hello...” Arthur said, slowly getting on one knee and awkwardly bowing. This whole thing was weird, but he knew royalty when he saw it, and he wasn't going to risk upsetting anyone.

The purple pony giggled, “Flash, please leave us for now. I'll ask for you later.”

“Of course, Twilight,” Flash said before trotting out of the door and closing it. Was Twilight this pony's name? If so, why did that guard call her by her first name and not “Your Majesty”?

“You can get up,” the princess said, shocking Arthur out of his thoughts.

“Um, yes!” Arthur immediately got up and stood straight. The princess rolled her eyes smiling.

“Relax, I'm not going to hurt you,” she said, “My name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of the Stars and Friendship in Equestria.”

“It's a pleasure to m-meet you, Your Majesty,” Arthur said, his voice shaking, “Arthur R-Ravenot... madam.”

“It's nice to meet you, Arthur,” Twilight said, “And just Twilight is fine. I only have the guards and formal acquaintances use formalities.”

“Oh...” Arthur said, suddenly confused, “Then why was that one allowed to...”

“Oh, Flash? He's... a special case...”

The way she smiled told Arthur everything he needed to know. He guessed even a princess needed to have fun.

Twilight walked over to her pillow and sat down, “I know you're very confused right now.”

“Understatement of the year, yes,” Arthur said.

“So, do you have any questions?” Twilight asked. Arthur had a ton of questions, and he was trying to figure out how to answer them without offending the mare in front of him.

“First off, where am I?” Arthur asked.

“You mean where in this world, or what world?” Twilight asked.

“What... world?” Arthur asked.

“Arthur, I'm going to get the hardest part out of the way,” Twilight looked at him very seriously, “Where ever you came from, you aren't there anymore. This is not the Earth you know.”

“Not the Earth I know...” Arthur asked, “As in... I'm...”

“In another world, yes,” Twilight finished for him.

Arthur took a deep breath, trying to take that information in. Surely the couldn't be real. I mean, he was talking to a pony princess. This was something straight out of a fairy tail.

Did you mean what you said before? About wanting to go to another world?

“It's not possible...” Arthur said looking down.

“Arthur?”

“Please, Twilight, tell me exactly where I am,” Arthur requested.

“We call our world Earth, much like your world I imagine,” Twilight stated, “However, you're currently in the village of Ponyville, which is in the country of Equestria.”

Next stop, Equestria.

“My God...” Arthur said wide eyed, “He really did it...”

“Um, excuse me?”

“Can I sit down?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Twilight said. Her horn began glowing in a purple aura, and another pillow floated over to her. She placed it right next to her own and patted it with her hoof.

“Thank you,” Arthur said walking up to the pillow and sitting down. He was silent for a few moments, trying to process what he figured out. He was also attempting to wake up from this dream, which he still wasn't sure whether or not it was a nightmare.

“I understand this is a lot to take in,” Twilight said, “I promise you-”

“I'm in... another world...” Arthur said to himself.

“If you're afraid, or anything of the sort, I can-”

“Another... world...” he repeated, not sure if he was horrified or elated. Right now it was somewhere in between.

“Yes... we covered that already,” Twilight said apparently trying to move forward, “What I'd like to know now is how you're feeling about that.”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out myself...” Arthur said, beyond the fact that he was having an intelligent conversation with a horse.

“Do you need some time alone to process this?” Twilight asked.

“No,” Arthur said suddenly getting up, “What I need is to explore. Um, can that be arranged?”

“Certainly,” Twilight said getting up, “The ponies here are very easy going. Even if you get odd looks, they won't freak out or anything. I'll introduce you to my friends. They've all heard of humans before, and they even saw you while you were out.”

Did that include the one who rescued him? The one with the soft voice?

“Then let us depart immediately,” Arthur said.

“Hold on,” Twilight said with a laugh, “I need to let Spike know we're going out.”

“Spike? Who's Spike?” Arthur asked.

“He's my best friend and personal vassal,” Twilight said, “Wait here for me, okay?”

Twilight trotted away, leaving Arthur to take in his situation. He walked over to a book shelf and picked out a book, surprised that he could read what it said inside. They're language was exactly the same as human language, if not slightly more forward.

“Enjoying your first day?”

“Ahh!!!” Arthur screamed. He turned around and saw the man from before lying on Twilight's pillow as if he had always been there, “You're the one from before. The one who brought me here.”

“Very good,” the man said, “At least you're smart enough to connect the dots yourself.”

“Who are you?” Arthur asked, “And why did you bring me here?”

“As I said, I'm an advocate of chaos, anarchy, and mayhem,” the man said, “As for why you're here, isn't it enough for me to want to help out a friend?”

“You and I have never met before yesterday,” Arthur stated, “And you could have brought anyone here, but you chose me. Why?”

“My, you really are smart. You're just as smart as Princess Pride out there,” the man said pointing his thumb to the door, “You'll figure out exactly what your purpose here is eventually. When that time comes, you'll learn exactly who and what I am.”

The man disappeared in a white flash, confirming for Arthur that he wasn't human at all. However, he didn't think he was a pony either. Something about him seemed almost... godly.

A second later, Twilight walked back in, this time a purple dragon beside her. He was about Twilight's height walking on all fours, had large purple wings on his back, a pointed snout, and large green eyes. Arthur was frozen looking at the creature next to Twilight.

“H-h-hello,” Arthur stuttered, his voice cracking with fear.

“Arthur, this is my vassal, Spike. Spike, this is Arthur Ranvenot.”

“Right, this is the guy Rainbow Dash said fainted like a pussy, right?” Spike said, also sounding extremely human. His voice indicated that he and Arthur might be close to the same age.

“Fainted... like a... what?” Arthur asked, not sure what Spike had called him, but he was sure it wasn't a compliment, confirmed when Twilight whacked his arm.

“Spike, language!” Twilight scolded.

“Deny it,” Spike said frankly. Twilight just rolled her eyes and walked to the door.

“Let's go,” she said.

“He's... coming with us?” Arthur asked fearfully.

“Spike accompanies me all the time when I leave the castle,” Twilight said, “Don't worry, he doesn't bite. He's one of the few friendly breeds of dragons here in Equestria.”

As Twilight walked out of the room, Arthur slowly followed, wary of Spike's presence. Right when he got next to the dragon, Spike shot black smoke out of his nostrils, making Arthur scream and back away. Spike then burst out laughing.

“SPIKE!!!” Twilight shouted.

“Sorry Twilight, I couldn't resist,” Spike stated walking off after Twilight. Arthur caught his breath and walked after his two escorts, hoping that Spike would be the scariest thing he would see here in this world.