Chapter 6: So? How’d It Go?

The sound of chirping birds woke me from my deep and peaceful slumber, only to be accompanied by the sound of a sizzling I knew all too well. I realized the ceilings were a little low, but I decided to try jumping out of bed anyway.

I launched myself towards the side of the banister, and overshot by a decent amount, hitting my head on one of the slats on the ceiling. After hitting my head, I fell down the flight of stairs, landing face up in front of an unamused Twilight. “Morning Twi. Ow that kinda hurts, I had a little accident coming downstairs this morning.” I said, smiling sheepishly while I rubbed my head. It hurt quite a lot from the impact on the slat and the flight of stairs. Twilight rolled her eyes and dropped a pancake on my face then laughed.

“Come sit at the table Justin, I’ll get you some in just a second.” Twilight said, kissing me on the lips allowing me to get a subtle taste of pancakes. She walked back over the the stove flipping pancakes and putting a few onto a plate, levitating it over to me.

As I poured a copious amount of syrup onto my pancakes, I looked over to Twilight, “So what are we going to do today? As we went into the castle, almost got mobbed by reporters, had one of the princesses flirt with me and got permission to live here.” I said, stuffing my mouth full of fluffy goodness. “So what now-” I didn’t get any farther before a pink missile hit me in the chest, causing me to fly back into the wall.

“OHMYGOSHIMSOHAPPYTHATYOUCANNOWLIVEINPONYVILLEIHAVETOTHROWYOUANOWYOU’REACITIZENPARTY!” Pinkie Pie spoke so fast that I couldn’t even tell what she was saying.

“Pinkie how did you manage saying all that without taking a breath? You are at least half my size.” I said, trying to puzzle out how she could have done such a thing.

“Justin, don’t overthink it,” Twilight reminded me, “Besides we’ve leveled it down to ‘Pinkie being Pinkie.’”

I just sat on the ground, a pink mass of hyperactivity that was Pinkie Pie still sitting on my chest. I decided to just let it go and move on. “So, what are we going to do? Other than Miss ADHD over there throwing me a party.” I said, gesturing to Pinkie, who had gotten off my chest and began bouncing up and down near the doorway. “By the way, how did you get in here without destroying the doo-- wait, Pinkie being Pinkie, got it.”

“What’s ADHD?” Pinkie said, still bouncing up and down, “That’s fun to say! ADHD ADHD ADHD! Come on, say it with me! ADHD ADHD!”

I slapped my hand against my face and let it drag all the way down to my chin. “Pinkie, that’s not good by the- you know what? I don’t care, have your fun.” I said, not trying to explain it. That mare was far beyond any help that could be offered by any society.

“Well nice of you to drop in Pinkie,” Twilight said, walking her to the door, “We have to get ready for today as we have some errands to run. So, we’ll stop over at Sugarcube Corner after we’re done, okay?” Twilight said, as Pinkie hopped out of the door.

“Okie doki loki!” She said, hopping away. “See you in a bit Twilight!” She shouted louder than Twilight did at the castle. What?

I just stood there trying to puzzle this out but remembered what they had told me, ‘It’s Pinkie being Pinkie’ and I didn’t think about it anymore. “Well Twilight,” I said, after finishing the rest of pancakes, “Don’t we have errands to run? Or so you said.” I sat in the chair and smirked, leaning a bit far back I fell over onto the floor. Twilight and Spike stifled a laugh as I laid there. I sighed and got up, “Well Twily, want to go do those ‘errands?’”

Her ears perked up and faced towards me as if I said something of great value. “If you say so.” Twilight said, “Let me go get my bags, we’ll be out of here before you can say no.” I just rolled my eyes.

“Spike, how long does it take her to do her errands?” I said to the purple dragon laying on the couch. “Give me an honest estimate.”

He looked up at me, “An honest answer?” He said rolling towards me, “Well it usually takes her the entire day. Give or take a nap in the middle of the day, maybe because I’m a small dragon but hey. Maybe she won’t have much on her list is--never mind.” The drake said as Twilight walked down the stairs, a list at least as tall as me. I groaned.

“Oooh I just can’t wait to get started!” Twilight said, smiling and rolling up her list and tucking it in one of her saddlebags. “Alright Justin, let’s go shall we? We have a long day ahead of us.”

A deep groan emanated from my mouth as I followed Twilight out the door. “Is this really going to take all day?”

------------------------------------------------ Later that Day ------------------------------------------------

I sat down on a bench and yawned loudly, “Alright, what time is it because the last time I saw the sun out was a few hours ago.”

Twilight huffed and looked at me, “Oh come now, it hasn’t been that bad.” The purple unicorn said to me, “You actually enjoyed most of it, except the parts that had shopkeepers screaming in fear and running away.”

I sighed and laid my head on the back of the bench, “Well it did give me a chance to meet a lot of the local populace, even if they aren’t all as attractive as you.”

Twilight blushed, “There are plenty of other mares out there that are prettier than me, I could name a few but I don’t want any competition for my man here.” She said, hip checking me. “Especially if he is one of a kind.”

I laughed very loudly causing some of the townsponies to look at me, “Well if you want more of me then bring another human here! Actually that’s a bad idea, one of my kind is enough. We cause enough chaos as it is.” I chuckled quietly.

Twilight picked up her bags and began walking home, “You better hurry,” She said, “I’ll leave without you.” She winked at me and kept walking.

“Wait,” I yelled after her, “Didn’t we promise Pinkie Pie we would come over for a treat or something? If I’m recalling correctly that is.”

“Oh that’s right,” Twilight said, “ Well I don’t want you to have to drag all of these bags around for the whole night so let’s drop them off and then we will go to Sugarcube Corner. I just hope you have a high tolerance for sugar.” She laughed and continued walking home.

“Wait what’s that supposed to mean!?” I shouted, “Am I gonna die if I eat something there?!”

------------------------------- Later That Afternoon at Sugarcube Corner ----------------------------------

The doorbell rung as Twilight and I walked into Sugarcube Corner and scanned the room for the hyperactive pink mare. Suddenly a spotlight blinded me and I stumbled backwards, trying to block the sudden assault on my eyes. Falling to the ground I hit my head on the tiled floor

“SURPRISE!” I heard voices say as I got back up, moving out of the spotlight. I looked around the brightly illuminated room, all around it hung banners that said ‘Welcome to Ponyville/Equestria’ and others that said ‘Congrats on becoming a citizen party’.

“Pinkie did you plan this party for me?” I said to the pink mare standing in front of the crowd of other ponies, “But I didn’t do anything for you.”

“Oh you silly filly!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down, “You don’t have to do something to get something in return! That’s what friends are for.” She hugged me and started talking to some of the guests at the party.

Looking around I recognized many of the ponies I had met the first few weeks I had been Equestria. Seeing Medal Rose, the ticket stand pony from a few days ago, I went over to talk her. “Hey Medal,” I said walking up from behind her, “How have you been?”

Medal Rose made a small squeak and turned to towards me, her face red, “H-h-hey Justin. How’ve you b- I mean I’ve been great. Still working at the train station. How have you been?”

“Ah you know, just hanging around Twilight’s place,” I said laughing, “Generally making a nuisance out of myself, and speaking of nuisances I need to get a job or something. Sleeping is good and all but you can’t do it all day.”

“Well I would but I have a job to do.” Medal Rose said, chuckling quietly. “The more annoying thing is the wake up time, you have to be there before the sun rises! That’s before anyone is up, though I’m glad I don’t have the night shift like Star Shine over there.” She said, gesturing to a pegasus stallion with a turquoise colored coat and cobalt mane.

I smiled at her, “I bet that's a pain, as in boring that is.” I chuckled nervously, I’ve never been good with talking to women. “I’m gonna go get some punch and be back to talk to you soon, okay?” As I walked away, I heard some of her friends say something about me, which made Medal Rose blush then laugh with them. I was glad that I had made another friend besides Twilight, but he wasn’t sure how she would feel about that. He needed to see if she was really possessive or over-bearing, or something that would put him off.

“Oh hey Justin,” the voice in front of me said, “Heard you’ve been spendin’ some time with ol’ Twilight. How’s it been?” Rainbow Dash, the brash, headstrong, boastful resident speedster of Ponyville.

“It’s been good I suppose,” I said, not sure how to approach the subject with someone like Rainbow, “She’s been really hospitable and overall a good friend,” My eyes narrowed ever so slightly, “Why are you asking?”

“Oh no reason,” Rainbow said shrugging, “Just wanted to make sure she wasn’t like being too clingy and stuff, ya know.”

So she really was just asking, that or she has something that she’s hiding from me. “Well enough about me, let’s talk about you.” I said, grinning.

Rainbow Dash snickered then burst out laughing at the grin in my face, “Oh man that was the best thing I’ve ever seen.” She continued laughing before going into a coughing fit. “Just don’t do that without telling me next time.”

I laughed and looked over to my left and, seeing Applejack approach me, I turned her way. “Oh hey Applejack, what’s up?”

“Justin please, call me Aj everyone does. Everyone except Twi, it kinda gets annoying ya know.” Applejack said, her brow furrowing a little. “Well how’s it been living with Twi? I know she can be a bit overbearing and stuff like that.”

“So what is it with asking me how it is living with her?” I said, a hint of apathy coming into my voice, “I’m thankful for a place to sleep at night and a house to live in. She’s been nothing but caring and hospitable.”

“Bet you ten bits she’s sleeping in the same bed as him.” Rainbow Dash said to Applejack, “But I bet you I would already have won.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and shook Rainbow’s outstretched hoof, “You’re on Dash, ah would watch what yer doin if I were you.”

I was blushing so hard it felt like my face had been badly sunburned. “Okay we are going to switch topics because this is making me slightly uncomfortable.” I said, shifting my feet. “I’m going to go talk to Twilight now, have fun with your scheming and such.” They looked at each other and laughed. “Women, I will never understand them in the first place.” Deciding against my better judgement to drink the cider out on the table, I settled for some other drink that tasted like lemonade. Even though I couldn’t recall there being any lemon trees around. I shrugged and walked over to Twilight, lightly moving my fingers up her back. She quivered at my touch and looked at me with a sultry smile.

“Justin,” Twilight said, “do stay here. I wanted to include you in on this conversation, it's about mares.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Talking about women was one of my least favorite thing to talk about. Even if it was just a friendly conversation, it was one that was very low on my ‘To Talk About’ list. “So, uh, what are we talking about?” I said nervously, rubbing the back of my head.

Twilight and the other mare, who was Fluttershy started to laugh. “I didn’t know you would get startled that easily!” Twilight said, still chuckling. “Well Fluttershy just wanted to check up on you, that’s all. You being one of the last of you kind and all.” Twilight said, taking a sip from her glass of punch. I snatched the glass from her magic and sniffed it. Yup alcohol.

“Twilight,” I said, nervously thinking how to approach the subject, “Why are you drinking alcohol?”

She looked confused, then smiled, “It’s Applejack’s cider that she always brings to every party ever.” A kind of dopey smile came over her face. “It’s really good even though I can only have a few glasses before I get a little tipsy.” She hiccuped a few times before her magic flickered and the cup dropped. I caught it just in time so it didn’t fall to the floor. “Where’s my drink at? Where’d it go?” Twilight’s head moved around scanning to look for her fallen drink.

“Twi I think it’s time we got you home before you did something you might not want to do.” I said, taking a sip of the drink. It was surprisingly good so I drank the rest, not really caring if it had alcohol in it or not. “Wow that is good. Tell Applejack that her cider is good, but Twilight and I have to go.” I said to Fluttershy, she just blushed and nodded. I carried Twilight out of Sugarcube Corner and towards her house. “Twilight, no. You are not going to try to walk. Come on, let’s get you home before you make a foal of yourself. As you say.” Now I’m using pony mannerisms and terms. Ugh this world is really getting to me. I carried her out onto the main road from Sugarcube Corner and began heading towards the large crystal castle that stood at the edge of the town, facing west.

The sun had fully set and the moon had begun rising into the sky, a lovely full moon, which I could see the craters that formed the pattern of a unicorn or something. I sighed and stood still for a minute just thinking, something I hadn’t done in a long time. It wasn’t unusual for me to stop and think about whatever came to my mind, but I hadn’t done that since I had arrived in Equestria. Arriving at the castle, I wandered around trying to find where Twilight slept so I could put her to sleep. After a few minutes of wandering around, I found her room and tucked her into sleep and began to walk out.

A breath of green fire in front of me alerted me that I had been spotted and apparently was an unwanted intruder. “Sorry Justin!” I heard the dragon say as I felt like I was crammed into a box and popped back out again.

“Why hello Justin,” Celestia said, “I assume that you are having a good night?”

I groaned, “Why yes I am.”

Author's Note

Woah another chapter this fast?

Joking of course. I will be uploading semi-regularly now but enjoy.

(This was a fun chapter to write.)