Just Passing Through

Chapters

The Beginning
Close encounters of the human kind
Gathering
The Dungeon
Magic
Human Presence

The Beginning

On a night like any other in the Everfree forest, a very strange occurrence was taking place. It was something unexplainable. Even Princess Celestia was baffled as to why it would happen. It had happened before. Every 1000 years or so, a strange creature would emerge and kill ponies in an angered rage. But the time in between each event would be so great, that many ponies would wonder if they were true at all. After some time, they became stories told from generation to generation. Fairy tales and legends used to keep young fillies and colts in line. All the stories that were told had the same moral: Behave or the Human will come and take you away.

A bright flash illuminated a path deep in the Everfree forest. When the flash receded, a car was flying down the path. The human driving noticed the sudden change of scenery and quickly brought the speeding vehicle to a sliding halt. The human inside was baffled at the sight. The second before he was on the highway and now he was on what appeared to be a logging road outside the town where he lived. He slowly took in his surroundings, taking in the sights of large trees all around him. His mouth was hanging open in surprise. Even more surprising to him was the fact it was dark. He stole a glance at the clock on the dash board. It read 3:43 pm. Figuring that the best thing to do was to get out of the car and make sure that the surrounding were in fact real and not a sudden case of mental illness, he got out of the car and walked towards the trees.

As far as he could tell he was not seeing things. The trees and bushes were actually there. The breeze he felt around him made him shiver and that was one more thing telling him what he was seeing was in fact real. Out of the corner of his eye he then noticed something on one of the trees. From a distance it looked like one of the trees had a face. Walking over to the tree he realized it in fact did have a face. It was somewhat startling at first but when he got closer he saw that it wasn’t moving and wasn’t going to suddenly come alive and eat him. Staring at the face for a minute suddenly brought a look of thought and a second later a look of denial.

“No it can’t be that.” The human said to himself in the dark night. Staring at the face for a few more seconds the human chuckled to himself. As soon as the sound came out of his mouth the face burst into a cloud of pink smoke.

Crying out in surprise the human suddenly fell backwards landing on his rear with a thump. All he could do was stare at the trunk of the tree that only a second ago had a face on it. After five minutes he was still on the ground staring open mouthed at the bare trunk of the tree. Suddenly snapping back to his senses, he got up and turned back to his car. Thoughts spun in his head. Thoughts about how he couldn’t remember doing any kind of drugs in the last couple hours. But in the back of his mind a song was being sung. Those words found his way to his lips. “Giggle at the ghostie.” He sang slowly to the night.

Figuring that all of what he was seeing was coming from a lack of sleep the human went back to his car and got in. It wouldn’t be the first time he slept in his car. As he settled in he thought about how what had happened and how he just wanted to surprise his family with a visit before his birthday. He had comfortable thoughts until he slowly slid into unconsciousness.

The next day brought sunlight over the car where the human slept through the night. The bright light hit the human right in the eyes causing him to immediately bolt upwards hitting his head on the roof with a loud smack. “Every god damn time.” He muttered to himself as he slowly got up and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked horrible. His hair was pointing in all directions and he had massive bags under his eyes. He looked normal enough to his own eyes. Being a university student he didn’t have much time for sleep so he normally looked this way. Flattening his hair as much as he could he slowly opened the door to the car. Stepping outside he noticed that the forest was extremely thick and that the sunlight that woke him up was only coming through a small opening in the branches above him. Looking around at the rest of the forest he took a deep breath. The air here was clean. No trace of smog or exhaust that was usually present everywhere he went. It was calming. It felt as if he was just waking up in a new world.

Suddenly realizing his hunger the human turned and started looking through his car for the food he had brought for the trip. Pulling out a sandwich the human began to eat. After the sandwich he pulled out a small cooler and pulled out a bottle of water. Thinking it maybe was a good thing he packed all that extra stuff for the trip.

After the improvised breakfast, he began to think of what to do about his situation. Should he stay put and wait for someone to pass? Of should he go down the path he was on till he found an exit? The last plan seemed the best so he got in the car and started the engine.

Driving in thick brush wasn’t a new concept to him. After all, most of the people in the town he grew up in owned trucks and made it a hobby to go “mudding.” But the car he owned was small. Going at the pace the tucks went at was next to impossible. So he always made sure to watch the path and make sure there wasn’t anything in the way that would cause him to crash. But the path he was on seemed like it was walked on often. The ground was hard and only had the occasional pothole. And the road was wide. Most roads in the woods were narrow. This one had enough room to drive two more cars alongside his! Not that doing that would be smart.

Soon enough he began to see the forest thin out and the path ahead become wider. Soon enough he was on the edge of the forest overlooking a great field. The land around him was generally flat with many hills around the edges and further off there was tall mountains. The beauty stunned him. The sights were some of the best he’d ever seen. All the grass, bushes and trees were a lush green and the sky was a deep blue. It was breath taking.

Coming back to the real world the human looked around the field looking for buildings or people. But he saw nothing. But off in the distance he could see a thin line of smoke trailing up into the blue sky. Seeing that as his best hope as to finding out where he was he began the drive towards it.

When he reached the source of the smoke he stopped short. It was a small cottage. But what was unusual about it was that it was made out of an entire tree. It was a lovely sight. And it must have taken quite some work to make it. But anyways it was a place where he could figure out where he was.

Stepping out of the car he slowly made his way towards the cottage. He was nervous. He wasn’t the type to normally knock on strangers doors without a good reason. But it was good enough he figured. As he continued his walk towards the cottage something started to bug him. He felt he had seen this cottage before. He just couldn’t place where.

Walking up to the door something was wrong. The door was small. It was big enough that he could walk through it, but it was considerably smaller than a normal door. Thinking nothing of it he quickly raised his hand and knocked three times.

Inside he could hear what sounded like someone getting up from somewhere on the other side of the cottage. After that he heard nothing for a few seconds. Then right on the other side of the door he heard a light clopping sound. It sounded like someone wearing hard soled shoes was taking a few steps towards the door. Slowly the door opened and he looked down at the figure that was standing before him. It was yellow and pink.

Standing in front of him, her eyes growing wide was Fluttershy. She was looking very frightened. All the human could do was take a slow step back and stare open mouthed. The human stared at Fluttershy and Fluttershy stared at the human. This exchange went on for a few seconds. The human then started opening and closing his mouth as if he was trying to say something but all he could say was a small “oh” before everything went black.

Close encounters of the human kind

Fluttershy was doing her normal chores around her home. It was a normal day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Fluttershy was in a good mood and feeling happy. She had the feeling that today was going to be special. She was looking forward to later in the day when all of her friends where going to get together to have a girls day. It was Twilights idea after she had found a book all about what friends were supposed to do together. Not really something that needed advice from a book, but it was still a chance for her to be with her friends.

After finishing feeding all the animals and checking up on the sick and injured, Fluttershy decided to rest on her couch for a while. Fluttershy enjoyed the little time she got to relax. Taking care of so many animals was hard work. Normally on her little break she would have a snack or read a book, but today she felt like she just wanted to lie down and rest.

After a few seconds of lying down, Fluttershy heard hoof steps outside her cottage door. Something was different though. They sounded slow and heavier than normal hoof steps. A second later there was the sound of three knocks on the door. Looking at the door wondering who it was Fluttershy flew quietly to the door and landed in front of it. Taking a few steps towards the door Fluttershy opened it.

To her surprise and utmost horror, stood a creature that she thought was just in fairy tales. It was taller than Fluttershy and stood the same height as Big Mac. The creature stood on two legs and had short brown hair on its head. It had small beady eyes that were open wide staring at Fluttershy. Looking at the middle of the creature it saw it wore a sweater that had strange writing on it and was wearing pants. Something that was uncommon in Equestria. Looking back at its face she could tell by some of the features that it was a male and the expression it wore told her that it was just as surprised as she was. It was a human.

Fluttershy stared at the human and he stared back. This went on for a few seconds before the human took a step back and stuttered out a small “oh” before he collapsed at her feet. Jumping back in fright, Fluttershy stared at the motionless figure before she shuffled forward and slowly reached out and poked him with her hoof. At this time Angel came up to where Fluttershy was to see what all the commotion was about. Looking at the figure before him and seeing it out cold on the ground, Angel looked up at Fluttershy and nodded approvingly at her for taking out the human by herself.

Coming back to her senses, Fluttershy turned to Angel. “Angel, go get Twilight and the others. Tell them to come here right away,” Fluttershy said with the confidence that was not usually seen in her.

Angel saluted quickly before hopping off in the direction of town. Fluttershy turned back to the motionless figure and thought about what to do.

“Oh what should I to do? All the fairy tales said that humans would attack ponies. But this one didn’t. Maybe he was just as surprised as I was. Yes that was probably it. But now what? I can’t just leave him here. He could wake up and attack me,” Fluttershy thought aloud. She was still afraid of what would happen, but she still knew she had to do something.

Making up her mind, Fluttershy inched forward until she was standing over the human. Again she reached out a hoof and poked him. Again there was no response. So, trembling with fear, Fluttershy reached down and grabbed onto the sleeve of his sweater with her teeth. Pulling as hard as she could she could only make the human budge a few inches. Knowing that she couldn’t give up she kept pulling the human into her house.

Floating through his own mind, the human was trying to make sense of what just happened. He had knocked on the door to a cottage and Fluttershy answered. Then he fainted. Never before would he have expected to come face to face with Fluttershy so he thought it might be a normal response. It isn’t every day that you run into a pony from your favorite show. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe he would wake up and he would be in his bed. Yeah that was probably the first thing he should do. But still swirling in his mind he couldn’t help but think that if this was a dream he might never want to wake up. But
still in his mind he knew that was probably not the best idea. He knew he would miss his family and friends.

Slowly waking up the first thing he noticed was the blurry ceiling. Blinking a few times didn’t solve the problem so he guessed his contacts must have fallen out. Realizing he was lying on his back he tried to reach down to his belt where he kept his glasses in a pouch. But making the move he realized he couldn’t move his arms. Looking at his wrist he saw his arms were tied to the bedpost. On a bed he did not recognize. Eyes growing wide he looked around at where he was. He was inside a bedroom that was from what he could see, very clean. Looking around the room he couldn’t see much. Blurry objects that could be anything.

Deciding the next course of action would be to try and get out of the bindings holding him onto the bed he focused his attention at his right hand. The knot was simple and poorly tied so all he had to do was pull and the knot came loose. As quickly as he could he could he reached over to his left hand and quickly undid the bindings there as well. Then sitting up he undid the ropes around his ankles as well. Grabbing his glasses and putting them on he got a good look at the room. It was small and had a homely feel to it. Looking out the window he saw a field and the forest

Getting out of the bed as quietly as he could he made his way to the door. Pausing with an ear on the door he listened for any presence outside. Hearing nothing he slowly opened the door and peeked out. Outside was a small hallway and at the end was a staircase leading down. Slowly he slid out of the bedroom and started tiptoeing towards the staircase. Putting his foot down on a loose floorboard caused a low creak to echo down the hall. The reaction downstairs was immediate. A loud crash and many frightened squeaks made the human realize he was caught. Slowly up the stairs came the sound of unsteady steps. Slowly the human could see what seemed to be a football helmet peek over the top step. Staring at it the human’s mouth hung open as big scared looking eyes slowly came into view. Fluttershy made a quiet peeping sound before disappearing again. Seeing this, the human walked towards the stairs trying to see the yellow Pegasus again. Looking down the stairs he could see Fluttershy slowly backing into a corner in the room. Speechless he descended the stairs still staring open eyed at Fluttershy.

“S-s-stay away f-from me,” Fluttershy stuttered quietly. Hearing this, the human stopped moving and started backing up realizing he was scaring her. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” The human said staring at the ground in shame. This time it was Fluttershy who looked surprised.

“You t-talk?” Fluttershy said in a quiet voice that could barely be heard.

“Well why wouldn’t I. I’ve done it my whole life. Why? Is it surprising to you?”

“The s-stories always s-said that humans s-spoke in a weird language.”

“Well I don’t speak in a weird language. And come on you don’t have to be that scared of me. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Taking a few steps forward the human saw Fluttershy back further into the corner. Stopping, the human tried to figure out a way to make her less afraid.

“Maybe I should tell you who I am first to… Break the ice. Does that sound like a good idea to you?”
Fluttershy looked around the room nervously before nodding her head slowly.

“Well my name is Alan Clarke. I’m 18 years old and I am a human. I am a University student and I am studying to be a teacher. And I don’t hurt ponies. Um… I can’t really think of anything else right now so is there anything you want to know?”
Fluttershy stared at the ground while she tried to work up the courage to talk. “H-how d-did you get h-here?”

“Well I can’t really say I know how I got here. I was just driving along the highway outside Vancouver and suddenly I’m in the forest. It really scared me. I mean I had no idea where I was. But at least I now know I’m in Equestria.”

“How do you know about Equestria?” Fluttershy said with a bit more confidence than earlier. “How do you know where you are, if you have n-never been here before?”

“Uh… that is something I will tell you about later. But what I’m noticing is that you aren’t as afraid of me now. Am I right?” Alan took a few more steps forward, but Fluttershy was still looking frightened so he stopped and looked down at the ground.
“I’m sorry Fluttershy… I-I Don’t want to frighten you.”

Fluttershy looked up at Alan with a look of confusion on her face. “How d-do you know my name,”Fluttershy stuttered while staring confused at the human before her.

“Uh… well you see… um…” Alan looked all around the room, obviously nervous about the explanation he was going to have to give. As he was looking around however, the sound of hurried hoof steps caught both of their attentions and their heads turned quickly to the door. The door burst open and standing there was the other Elements of Harmony. Looks of confusion as they stared at Alan and Alan stared back. This went on for a few moments before Rainbow Dash swooped over to Alan letting out a barbaric yell before her hoof collided with his crotch.

Gathering

Twilight Sparkle was studying like she does every day but today was different. Today she was reading the last book she had in the Ponyville library. It had been a while since she moved there and she had made sure to study every book. Every book from “Aaliyah’s Amazing Animals” to “A Zebras Guide to zoology”, she had read it all. Closing the Zebras guide to Zoology, Twilight wondered what to do now that she had read everything. Twilight yelled up the stairs to get her number one assistants opinion on the matter.

“SPIKE! Could you come down here for a minute? I need your thoughts on something.”

Spike appeared at the top stairs dragging his favorite blanket behind him. It was obvious that he had been napping only moments ago.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you. But now that you are awake I need your help deciding what I should do now!”

Spike stared at her, angry that she had interrupted his nap for something so pointless. But thinking back to when she had gone temporarily insane when she didn’t have a letter to send to the Princess, Spike decided it was probably not the best idea to judge at what she thought was important.

“Well why don’t you go visit one of your friends. Like… Rarity! That’s an excellent idea let’s go!” Spike immediately dropped his blanket and ran down the stairs and skidded to a halt next the door staring at Twilight with an excited look on his face. Twilight giggled before trotting towards the door.

“Well I guess we could. But just this once okay? And only for a bit.”

Opening the door Twilight saw a small bunny hopping as fast as his little legs could take him. Twilight instantly recognized the bunny as Angel.

Angel hopped over to Twilight and started waving and jumping up and down.

“Okay Angel what is it? You want something to eat? No, that can’t be it. Oh! Is Timmy stuck in the well? Wait I don’t even know anypony named Timmy.”

Angel face palmed and started pointing in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage and started jumping up and down. Then Angel pointed in the direction of her other friend’s homes.

Spike looked over towards Twilight to see if she understood. But, Twilight’s face was blank and it was obvious that she had no clue.

“Really Twilight? You’re good enough to be Princess Celestia’s personal student but you can’t figure that out? I think he wants us to gather our friends and head over to Fluttershy’s place. She might be in trouble. Am I right Angel?”

Angel nodded rapidly before turning around and heading towards SugarCube Corner. Twilight was red in the face from embarrassment from not seeing what Angel was trying to say.

After a few seconds Twilight started scanning the sky hoping to see her rainbow maned friend. After scanning for a few seconds she saw a multi-coloured tail hanging over the edge of a cloud.

“Rainbow Dash! Wake up!” Twilight shouted hopefully loud enough to wake up the slumbering Pegasus. After a few seconds Rainbow Dash head poked her head over the side of the cloud.

“Oh… it’s you Twilight. What’s up?” Rainbow Dash then hoped over the side of the cloud and fell towards the ground opening her wings at the last second and landed gently in front of Twilight.

“Ok Rainbow I need you to go and get Applejack and Pinkie and get them to the library. I will go get Rarity. Tell them that something might have happened to Fluttershy,” Twilight instructed Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow could tell that it was urgent and nodded. “Sure thing boss.” And with that she toke off into the sky. Twilight then turned in the direction of Rarity’s Boutique and bent down so Spike could climb on her back. Taking off galloping, she ran to get Rarity.

When Twilight returned she saw Rainbow did what she was told and got Pinkie and Applejack. They were all standing around looking at each other worriedly. Twilight and Rarity quickly ran up and came to a halt. Applejack was the first to speak.

“Alright sugercube, what was with sendin’ RD to round us up for? All she was goin’ on about was that Fluttershy is in some kind of trouble. What happened?”

“Yeah Twilight, I was just getting ready for my biggest party EVER! And Rainbow flew over and told me to come here. What gives? IS Fluttershy really in trouble?” Pinkie said in her usual manner.

“Ok look,” Twilight said stepping into the middle of the group. “All I know is that Angel ran up to me and started pointing
towards Fluttershy’s cottage and started jumping up and down. I couldn’t tell what Angel meant right away but Spike suggested she could be in trouble. So let’s quit wasting time and go.” Twilight then turned and started running towards Fluttershy’s cottage, her friends close behind.

Quickly running up to Fluttershy’s door, Twilight and the others could hear a colt’s voice inside and thought the worst. Throwing the door open they all saw to their horror a human standing in front of Fluttershy and both of them staring at them.

They all stared at each other for a few seconds before Rainbow Dash flew over the group letting out a yell as she went. Her hoof smashed into the human’s crotch. Rainbow jumped back and prepared for the human to attack. But no attack came. Instead the human held his crotch and fell to his knees. He stared at all of them, his face contorted in pain. A single tear found its way out of his eye and down his cheek. The human then fell onto the ground sobbing quietly.

“Look I found its weak spot,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly turning towards her friends. Her friends however were still staring in shock at what happened.

Twilight shook her head and stared angrily at Rainbow. “What did you do that for? Rainbow you need to think things through before you do things. If it really is a human we need it in one piece so that it can be thoroughly examined. Now look at it…” Twilight pointed a hoof at the sobbing human who had now curled up into a fetal position. “You broke it!”

“I’m sorry I just thought that if the stories are true we need to stop it before it hurts anypony,” Rainbow dash said avoiding eye contact with Twilight. At this point Fluttershy had trotted over to her friends.

“But Rainbow, I don’t think he was all bad. I mean he can talk,” Fluttershy explained while taking her helmet off.

“Wait a minute… It talks!?!” Rainbow said looking confused at Fluttershy. At this point all of Fluttershy’s friends had gathered around.

“Ok sugercube what nonsense are you spoutin’? You read those stories. They don’t talk! They make weird sounds nopony understands.” Applejack questioned Fluttershy. Before Fluttershy could answer they all heard a voice behind them.

“I…I t-talk.” Alan managed to cough out before his head feel back against the floor with a loud thump.

“Well would yall look at that… It does talk. I’m sorry Fluttershy but I thought you were spoutin a lot of hooey, but you were right. And it speaks perfect Equestrian.”

“Fluttershy I hate to interrupt your… human explanation but there is something I must know. Why is it in your house?” Rarity said speaking for the first time since they arrived.

“Well first of all he is not an it… he’s a colt and his name is Alan.” Fluttershy said staring at the ground, nervous that all the attention was on her.

“You named it? Fluttershy this is the weirdest pet I’ve ever seen you have.” Rainbow Dash spoke looking at Alan expecting him to jump up any second.

“No I didn’t. He said that was his name. And he showed up on my doorstep and fainted so I tied him to my bed but… um he kind of escaped. ” Turning towards Alan, Fluttershy took a few shaky steps towards him. Still unsure about what Alan would do. But her instincts to help others told her to see if he was alright. Before she could get too close a purple hoof stopped her.

“Fluttershy, I know you feel the need to help him but we need to tell the Princess first. Maybe she will know a way to send him back from where he came. In fact I’ve already made the letter and Spike sent it.” Twilight turned to her assistant and he nodded at her. Suddenly Spike let out a burst of green flame and a letter popped out of the fire. “Look there is her reply now!” Twilight took the letter and quickly opened it. It only had four words on it. It was a warning. It read “STAY AWAY FROM IT!” Twilight was surprised by the abruptness of the letter but quickly started heading towards the other side of the room beckoning her friends as she went.

When she and her friends had all gathered on the other side of the room far from Alan she showed them the letter.

“I don’t know why she said stay away but we should listen to her… She is the Princess so she knows what to do.”

On the other side of the room Alan was starting to get to his feet. It was painful but eventually he managed to stand. Looking up and seeing no one, he stared to scan the room looking for the ponies he idolized. Turning all the way around he finally saw them. They stood on the opposite side of the room backed against the wall.

“W-what’s the matter? I-I’m not going to hurt you. You know what I’m just going to go outside for some air. Yeah that seems like a good idea I’m going to do that.” Alan turned around and started limping towards the door. The ponies on the other side of the room were too scared of his zombie like movements to do anything. Even the brave Rainbow Dash and always moving Pinkie didn’t move a muscle. None of them noticed the commotion outside.

When Alan reached the door he stood for a second to catch his breath. Turning his head back he looked at the ponies behind him. “Not coming? Ok I’ll be back in a minute.” Turning back to the door, Alan pulled it open only to be greeted by a dozen swords pointed at his throat.

The Dungeon

Alan stared at the shining blades pointed at his neck. Slowly he looked up to see who was wielding the shiny weapons at him. He saw that the swords were held by twelve angry and somewhat scared unicorns wearing royal guard armour. Standing behind those unicorns was another row of unicorns. They were unarmed but their horns pointed at his head. And towering over all of them was Princess Celestia. She was wearing shining battle armour that seemed to glow with the power of the sun.

“Wow I have really shitty luck today,” Alan managed to squeak out before a spell from one of the unicorns caused electricity to flow through his body causing him to fall to the ground twitching.

One of the unicorns then came up to him. “Stay where you are criminal scum!” Shackles were shoved painfully onto his wrist and pulled behind his back.

“Hey what gives? I haven’t done anything!”

The guard didn’t answer but instead kicked him in the stomach. “Stop resisting!”

Alan doubled over winded and couldn’t say anything. He was promptly hauled to his feet and pushed to the ground in front of the Princess.

“Human… You are being arrested and will be sent to the Canterlot dungeons. This is preventing any violent acts you may commit. What do you have to say?”

“W-what have I done? I just found myself here and I haven’t committed any crimes. I would never hurt anyone.”

Celestia turned and stared into the sky. “What you say may be true. But it may also be false. In the past your kind has come here and killed many of my ponies. We cannot risk that happening again.” Celestia turned back and bent close to Alan. “I am doing what is necessary for my people. Will you come peacefully?”

Alan bent his head down in thought. “I will go peacefully. But I hope you will see that I am actually good and not evil like the humans that you had visit you before.”

Princess Celestia smiled and turned towards the large gathering of guards before her. “Prepare to move out to Canterlot.” Turning back to Fluttershy’s cottage she saw the Elements of Harmony standing in the doorway. “I will need you all to come to Canterlot as well. We need to question you all about this human.”

Twilight nodded and they all made their way towards the carriages in the yard. Two guards hauled Alan to his feet and shoved him hard in the back to get him to start moving. Alan turned to the pony responsible annoyed.

“Hey you don’t have to be so rough!”

Before he could start walking again the guard he yelled at turned and kicked him square in the side of the face. The force of the kick knocked Alan’s glasses off his face and blood started pouring out of a gash on his cheek. Alan fell to his knees but quickly got back up. Princess Celestia turned around to see Alan’s face bleeding and the guard getting ready to kick again.

“STOP! We need this human alive and uninjured. Go and wait by my personal carriage we need to discuss your actions.” The guard who kicked Alan bowed quickly and trotted over to her carriage. Princess Celestia trotted over to Alan and examined his face. Alan spit out a tooth along with a large amount of blood onto the ground. Celestia frowned and stood up tall.

“There is nothing we can do right now about it. When we get to Canterlot we will get my personal doctor to fix you up.”

Alan just nodded. He was in too much pain to answer properly. The other guard lightly pushed him in the direction of the waiting carriage and Alan got in. As Alan got in, Twilight picked up his fallen glasses. She looked over at him and felt her heart sink with sadness.

As soon as the carriages stopped on the Canterlot airstrip, Alan was rushed inside the castle and down into the dungeon. The further down into the dungeon they went the colder and darker it got. In the cells along the hall were ponies that had done horrible crimes. Every pony in the cells backed into the corner when they saw Alan pass. This made Alan feel worse. Eventually they came to a cell separated from the others. Alan was pushed inside and he fell to the ground.

“You will stay in here until we need to examine you,” Princess Celestia said. No sign of emotion showed on her face. “I will send my doctor down to fix you wounds….” Celestia suddenly looked sad. “I am sorry for what the guard did. He was scared of you and his emotions got the better of him. Are you feeling alright?”

Alan looked up at the Princess standing in front of him and he sighed. “I guess I’m fine. I think I’m just a little upset that this was how you all reacted to me. I mean I’ve never hurt anybody! I can see being scared of something you’ve never seen before but … not throwing me in a dungeon and locking me away. What will it take to get all of you to believe I’m not a bad person? That is all I have to say your highness.”

Celestia looked at Alan for a few more seconds before turning around. “They act this way because of the stories told about your kind. The ponies think they are fairy tales, but that is nowhere near the truth… Long ago almost one thousand years ago a human came to this land. It was a something nopony had ever seen before… Without mercy and without prejudice it attacked. It killed the old, the young and anypony else that came in its way… I sent my guardponies after it, but it took three divisions to take it down.” Celestia turned and looked Alan in the face. “After that I put tales about the human in books. It was my way of making sure my ponies would be afraid of humans, and avoid them if they were seen. Now if you will excuse me I need to go.” Celestia turned to go but was stopped by Alan saying something.

“I’m sorry for what my kind did to your ponies. But I assure you… I am not like that.” Princess Celestia smiled. “I know you are not like that. I can tell by looking at you.” With that Celestia walked off down the hallway. The guardponies shut the barred door and took up positions next to it. Alan sighed and leaned up against the wall before falling asleep.

Alan was woken up by the sound of hoof steps coming down the hall. Alan could see a brown unicorn colt with a jet black mane coming towards the cell. He was wearing a white lab coat and a pair of glasses. When he reached the cell he showed the guards something and was let into the cell. He stood at the other end of the cell staring at Alan and Alan stared back. After a few minutes the colt coughed and stepped forward. For some reason he started talking very slow and loudly while making lots of motions with his hooves.

“HELLO THERE. MY NAME IS DR.HOOFSTADTER. I WILL FIX YOUR WOUNDS.”

Alan stared at the doctor and shook his head. “I know what you’re saying you dolt.”

Dr.Hoofstadter’s face dropped as he realized how much of a foal he must have looked like. “Oh. Well is it alright if I look at your wounds? The Princess informed me that you are not dangerous but I will still ask that you stay over there. I can do it from here.” Dr.Hoofstadter’s horn glowed red and he closed his eyes. Using his magic he pulled out a pad and quill and began writing. At the same time Alan could feel the gash on his face healing and his tooth that was knocked out start to grow back in. After a few minutes the healing was done.

“That was amazing how did you do that?!?! Wow! I wish I could do something like that!” Alan looked at the doctor who was already out the door and going fast down the hall. Alan realized that the ponies were still afraid of him and he looked at the ground. The sound of more hoof steps made him look up again. Coming down the hall was Princess Celestia and all of the Elements of Harmony. All of them entered the cell and stood in a semi-circle around him.

Celestia stepped forward and smiled at Alan. “We have questioned Twilight and her friends and we have found out from what they have seen you are not evil. I will now examine your soul to see if that is the truth or you were just putting on an act. Are you alright with this?”

Alan nodded and tried to stand. Falling several times he suddenly was encased in a purple glow and brought to his feet by Twilights magic. “Thank you. If you need to I will let you.”

Celestia stepped forward and put her horn to Alan’s head. A bright yellow glow surrounded Alan and it looked as if he was being hit with a gust of wind. Several minutes later it stopped. And Celestia stepped back.

Alan looked around and saw Princess Celestia had a look of shock on her face. “What happened? Did you find evil in my soul or something?”

Celestia shock her head. “No… I saw…Magic!”

Magic

Alan was as surprised as Celestia was. “Magic? What do you mean magic? I’ve never done anything magical in my life!”

Twilight stepped forward with a very confused look on her face. “But Princess, are you sure? It can’t be magic… Can it?” Princess Celestia was staring at the ground deep in thought and it seemed she didn’t hear her. Behind the Princess the other ponies were talking amongst themselves, they were trying to come to terms with had just been told. Eventually Celestia looked up. Her expression was one of excitement. “I may have a few ideas as to why you have magic, but they cannot be discussed here. Follow me and we will go to my private chambers.” Saying this Celestia turned and started trotting down the hall.

Alan was unsure what to do. He started to follow but it felt awkward walking with his arms chained behind his back still. “Um… Princess… A little help here?” Alan said feeling embarrassed. Princess Celestia looked back and realized what the problem was. Giggling a bit she used her magic to take the chains off. “Sorry about that. I guess I forgot to take them off in the excitement.” Alan was less than amused though. His wrists still hurt from being held behind his back for several hours. Looking at them they were red and chaffed.

Princess Celestia could tell Alan was upset and she bent close to him. “I am sorry about how we treated you. I had to be cautious about this situation. I had to do what was best to protect my ponies from another tragedy like what happened a long time ago. Can you forgive me for how you were treated?” Alan looked into Celestia’s eyes and saw that she was sincere in her apology. “I have been taught since I was young to forgive those who have hurt you. How I was treated was horrible but I will forgive you. You were doing what was best for your ponies,” Alan said. Alan was speaking the truth. He always had a forgive and forget mindset. Princess Celestia nodded and stood tall. Immediately she turned and headed down the hall motioning for them to follow her.

As they were walking down the hall the ponies surrounded Alan. All Alan could think was that many bronies would kill to be surrounded by the mane six. Looking at all the ponies Alan could see all of them studying him. The first pony to actually talk to him was Pinkie.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and you’re new here so that means I get to throw you a party! It will have to be bigger than all my other parties ‘cause it’s a ‘Welcome to Equestria and Ponyville’ party! I’m going to invite all the ponies in Ponyville! No wait! All of Equestria! This is going to be the most awesome party ever don’t you think?!?!” Alan was a little surprised by the how excited she was but then again it was Pinkie. “Um… Sure?” Alan didn’t know if it was possible for there to be a party that all of Equestria went to, but he wouldn’t doubt Pinkie trying to do that. Hearing his response Pinkie started bouncing higher with excitement.

Rarity was the next to introduce herself. “Well hello there darling. I am Rarity, designer of fine clothing. I must ask you though. Who designed your outfit? It is very… unique.” Alan looked down at his clothes. He never put any thought into what he wore. And he defiantly didn’t wear designer clothing. “I uh… Just wore whatever I felt like.” Rarity gasped and started shaking her head. “No, that will not do. When we get back to Ponyville I will design you some new clothing! Though, I have never designed human clothing before. I could be the first human designer in all of Equestria! Oh! Idea!” Pulling a sketch book out of seemingly nowhere, she began to sketch out designs. Alan thought that having designer made clothes would be pointless for him but wasn’t about to tell her no. Besides having an outfit designed by Rarity would be cool.

Reaching the end of the hall, they came to a winding staircase that led up to bright sunlight. Reaching the top Alan saw the beauty of the inside of Canterlot. He had never seen anything like this. The only thing he had seen that was similar was the parliament buildings. The hall was bright with windows overlooking the land. Alan couldn’t see outside very well because his glasses had been knocked off back in Ponyville. What he could see however was the wonderfully blue sky and the green of the garden. He made a mental note to find his glasses and come back to see this sight again.

Continuing down the elegant hall, Alan noticed that Rainbow Dash seemed to be avoiding coming near him. She was flying on the other side of the group of ponies furthest away from him. Whenever he tried to make eye contact with her she would look away. Before Alan could talk to her though, they had reached giant double doors that went all the way to the ceiling.

Using her magic, Princess Celestia opened the doors and ushered them inside. Inside was a room the size of a house. High walls towered over them and giant pillars held up the ceiling high above them. Off to the side was a large four poster bed along with various personal things and to the other side were two large doors. The only ones not captivated by the scene were Twilight and Princess Celestia. Going to the center of the room, Princess Celestia beckoned them closer. Gathering in front of Celestia, the ponies and Alan waited to hear what she had to say.

“Before I tell you about why I think your soul contains magic, I will explain some things to you about our kind and the magic we possess. Everything in Equestria contains some kind of magic. Pegasus ponies need it to fly, Earth ponies need it to stay in touch with the earth, plants to grow and so on. Magic runs this world. It raises the sun in the morning and the moon at night. Do you understand Human?”

“Yeah it makes sense. In my world though the sun and moon rise on their own and we aren’t connected to the earth by magic,” Alan said. He knew about the magic of Equestria before so it didn’t really surprise him. But when the ponies heard him say that things happened on their own they all gasped like it was something bad.

“Yeah right! Next thing you’ll be saying is that the weather controls itself,” Rainbow Dash said mockingly. “Or that the animals take care of themselves,” Fluttershy added in a small voice.

Alan looked at them all confused. “Yeah of course they do… What is it weird that humans can’t control things the way you can?”

They all nodded looking somewhat surprised. “I think we should talk about this later. I want to find out why I have magic,” Alan said excitedly turning towards Celestia.

“Very well then. I think that humans have magic much like ponies have magic here. But in your world, it is sealed away in your soul. At one time humans could probably use magic but it got locked away. Humans could have once had a connection with the earth but lost it long ago. I believe that your world is as magical as ours but you just don’t know it,” Celestia said facing Alan.

“Well I guess that would make sense, but why would we lose our magical connection? And is it possible to release the magic in my soul? Do you think you could do that Princess?” At this point Alan had started to inch forward until he was right in front of Celestia’s face with a huge smile on his face.

Celestia took a step back at looked at Alan’s excited face. “I could try, but there is no guarantee it will work. Do you still want to try?” Alan just nodded very fast. “Very well then. Everypony step back. I don’t know what could happen so be careful.”

Celestia took a few breaths to calm herself and pointed her horn at Alan. Concentrating she sent out a bolt of light that surrounded Alan with a golden glow. Slowly the light got brighter and Alan was slowly lifted into the air. Soon the light was so intense that all the ponies had to look away. The only pony who still watched was Pinkie who had on a pair of sunglasses.
Suddenly the light went away and Alan fell to his feet. The ponies started to come closer to get a better look but stopped when Alan looked at them. His eyes were wide open and glowing white. Blinking a few times the glowing went away.

“D-did it work?” Twilight asked Alan.

“I don’t know… I don’t feel different. I don’t think it worked,” Alan said looking at the ground disappointed.

“Well let’s see…” Celestia looked around before trotting over to her night side table and picking up a glass. “Let’s see if you can do basic levitation!” Trotting back she put this glass on the ground and stepped back. “Now concentrate on the glass and focus your energy. Bring up power from within you.”

Looking at the glass, Alan did what he was told. He concentrated on the glass and could feel something rising in him. Nothing happened.

“You have to believe you can do it! Negativity causes failure,” Twilight said encouragingly.
Alan nodded and tried again. Closing his eyes he focused. He could feel power rising inside him and he tried to focus it on the glass. Opening his eyes he kept trying.

Without warning Alan’s eyes began to glow dark blue and so did the glass. At the same time all the ponies’ jaws dropped as they looked on. Alan continued to concentrate and slowly the glass began to slowly rise up. Alan started getting excited about being able to possess magic. Wondering what he could do, Alan started to put more energy into it. The glass then shot upwards like a rocket and smashed into the ceiling, showering them with shards of glass.

“Heh heh… Oops?” Alan laughed nervously.

“That went better than I hoped. But we need to get you to study and focus your magic. I am going to leave the responsibility of that to Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia said exclaimed turning to face Twilight and the other ponies.

“Whaa…?!?! But Princess, how am I supposed to do that? I’ve never taught somepony how to use magic from scratch. I don’t even think I’ve read a book on how to do it!” Twilight stammered, unsure about what to do.

“Now Twilight, consider this a chance to study a live human. We could learn valuable information about how humans act in their own world. Are you up to the task?” Celestia said walking up to Twilight and the others. “I am sending him and all of you back to Ponyville. There I want you and the other Elements of Harmony to keep an eye on him. I will go with you to assure the citizens that there is nothing to fear about the human and to accept him with open arms.”

“Yes Princess, we will do our best to watch over him and help him adjust to life here in Equestria,” Twilight said bowing low.

“Good. Now the carriage won’t be leaving for a few more hours so you all have the chance to rest up a bit before we leave. But I suggest you talk to the human and answer any questions he has. Introduce yourselves and get acquainted,” Princess Celestia said while walking out of the room. “I need to go deal with some royal business so I will find you when the time comes to leave.”

The ponies bowed as Princess Celestia left the room and Alan quickly did the same. When the door closed behind Celestia, Alan turned to look at the ponies. “Hi, I’m Alan. I…” Alan was interrupted by his stomach growling. The last time he ate was in the morning when he was still in the Everfree forest.

“Well,” said Twilight taking a few steps towards the door. “I think the first thing we do is get some food. We can do introductions while eating. But before we go… I think these are yours.” Twilight used her magic to give Alan his glasses back.

“MY GLASSES! Oh thank you I would have been blind if you didn’t find them! Thank you thank you thank you!” Alan then rushed over to Twilight and gave her a tight hug.

Twilight squeaked and stood still. When Alan let go she turned around blushing.

“Now that we’re done with that… Follow me to the kitchens.”

Knowing that the best thing to do was to just to do what she said Alan followed. Besides he was quite hungry. Going out the door Alan followed Twilight along till they got to the royal kitchens.

The kitchens were empty except for a single pony on the other side. Seeing Alan, the pony bolted out of the room.

“Well it’s nice to see everypony is still afraid of me,” Alan said annoyed.

“Well they just don’t know you yet. I’m sure that once the princess tells everypony that you won’t hurt them, they won’t do that,” Twilight put in.

“Well if the ponies are even a little bit as arrogant as some humans, then not everypony will accept me,” Alan said.

“Oh ah’m sure they’ll accept ya sugarcube! It’s not like you’re gonna eat them… Ya don’t eat ponies right?” Applejack said trying to help.

“No I don’t eat ponies,” Alan said turning to look around the kitchen. He walked around looking in various cupboards.
Twilight pulled open a large refrigerator and pulled out food and placed it on the table. “Now I got a daisy sandwich, hay fries and apples. Dig in!”

Alan looked at the food Twilight pulled out and frowned a bit. Picking up an apple he took a bite. It was sweeter than any apple he had eaten before. Alan quickly made the pile of apples disappear.

“Whats wrong… Don’t like daisy sandwiches or hay fries?” Twilight asked Alan. Fluttershy came up and whispered something in Twilights ear. Looking embarrassed Twilight spoke again. “Ok so as Fluttershy pointed out you may not eat the same food as us.”

Alan raised his eyebrows. “Ya think.”

“What do humans eat…? Well besides apples,” Rarity added.

“Food,” Alan said with a blank look on his face.

“Ok that’s a start. What kind of food?” Rarity asked.

“The edible kind. Well I eat fruit and veggies like you… But not hay, flowers or grass... But I found some pasta over here so I’m going to make some. Do you want me to make some for all of you as well?” Alan asked.

The ponies slowly nodded their heads. They were unsure about having a human cook them food. They didn’t know what he would make them or if it was even edible for them.

“Don’t worry. Before I moved my mom taught me a good vegetarian spaghetti. I think you’ll like it!” Alan said happily.

“Oh so that means humans are herbivores like us right?” Twilight asked.

Alan stopped and turned around. “Well no… We’re omnivores...”

Rainbow Dash was confused. “Omniwhat?”

Twilight turned to her. “It means he eats both plants and meat.”

Alan started to make the spaghetti again. “Normally I eat chicken, pork or beef. But don’t worry! I’ve never actually killed my food so I’ll probably end up being a full vegetarian here.”

The ponies started to watch as Alan prepared the sauce. They watched with amazement as he chopped the vegetables and up them in the sauce. Pegasai and Earth ponies always had a tough time cutting things and Unicorns couldn’t really do it either without magic, so watching him chop vegetables without it amazed them.

Soon they were all eating a big bowl of spaghetti. “This is good! Is your cutie-mark cooking related?” Twilight asked with interest.

“Actually humans don’t get cutie-marks,” Alan said.

“Then how do you know what your good at?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We just know I guess.”

“Oh and another question,” Twilight said looking up at Alan. “How did you know Fluttershy’s name before she told you?”

Alan’s eyes went wide. “Shit.”

Human Presence

Alan’s eye’s darted from one pony to the other trying to quickly think up an excuse. “Well you see it’s… Um… Magic,” Alan stuttered out nervously. “Yeah magic! That’s how I knew her name.”

Twilight looked around at her friends around her and saw that they were confused as well. “But you were just told that you had magic a little while ago. How could you use that magic when you didn’t even know you had it?”

“It’s magic I don’t have to explain shit…” Alan looked around the group again and saw that they didn’t buy it. “Ok maybe it wasn’t magic it was… A good guess! Yeah I looked at her and I guessed that her name was Fluttershy!”

Looking around again Alan saw that they still didn’t believe him. “Look even if I told you how I know, you would never believe me.”

“But-um Lying isn’t good you shouldn’t hide things from others you should tell them the truth. But you know whatever you want to do is fine…” Fluttershy spoke quietly from behind Applejack avoiding Alan’s gaze.

It was at this time that Alan’s heart exploded from over exposure to cuteness. Quickly recovering Alan started to explain.

“Well it’s like this…” Alan was suddenly interrupted by the door behind him opening. Alan thanked his lucky stars for the interruption and turned around to see who it was. Standing in the doorway was none other than the Royal Princess of the Night: Princess Luna. Alan could only stare with his jaw on the floor.

“WE WELCOME THEE ALAN OF HUMAN LAND TO THE WONDEROUS NATION OF EQUESTRIA. WE ARE PRINCESS LUNA, RULER OF THE NIGHT. WE HAVE BEEN SENT BY OUR SISTER TO BRING THY TO SEE OUR HUMAN ROOM.”

“Uh Princess…” Twilight said stepping in front of Alan. “Remember the volume.”

“OH WE ARE SORRY HOW IS… This?” Princess Luna asked while entering the room.

“Better. Now you said that you were going to take us to the human room. I’m sorry Princess but in all my years living here I have never seen any… Human room,” Twilight said.

Alan shook his head to remove himself from his daze. “Yes Princess what is a human room? It sounds kind of... Evil.”

“Yes, well it is a guarded room that only Princess Celestia and I know of. It contains all kinds of human artifacts found in Equestria over the last 1000 years. We have been informed to take you to this room before our departure,” Luna said turning to the door and motioning them to follow.

Going down the hall Twilight trotted alongside Alan. “Don’t think that you managed to wiggle out of your explanation.”

Alan laughed. “I know. It would just be easier to explain when we got back to Ponyville.”

Twilight gave Alan a strange look but shrugged and started to move over to talk to Luna.

They travelled down till the end of the hall and went down a winding staircase. They went lower and lower for several minutes. Eventually they reached the bottom and came upon a large black door with many carvings on it. The carvings were all depictions of what looked like a human attacking ponies and then the human being killed by guard ponies. It made Alan and the girls uneasy looking at it. In the center of the door was a hole much like the one in the door that guarded the Elements of Harmony. Luna stuck her horn in the hole and used her magic to open it.

Stepping in the room Alan could see many book shelves to the left and what looked like many display cases on the right. Using her magic again, Luna lit the torches on the wall. A gasp swept through the group as they looked at the items before them. On the book shelves there were many books. Some of them looked very old while some looked relatively new. In the display cases sat many different objects. Some held clothing looking like they were from many different eras. Others held cups and other household items. Alan was amazed by this and went forward to look at the cases. The other ponies also went and started looking at the various objects. Twilight being the bookworm she is, went and started on the books. All the other ponies went the cases to look at the things in the cases. Princess Luna followed Alan.

“So human, what do you think of our human room?” Luna asked.

“It’s interesting… I mean you have clothes that look like they’re hundreds of years old and books that look the same.” Alan turned towards the Princess. “Where exactly did you find all this?”

Luna smiled before walking past him and started looking at the other cases. “These artifacts were found around Equestria. Found by ponies they were brought here to show them to Celestia. She took these items and erased their memories of the object so that they could not remember. Princess Celestia wanted all evidence of the human who visited long ago to be locked away so that the ponies may forget the horrible happenings of that time. That is why she locked you in the dungeon when you arrived. She didn’t want the same to happen to the ponies. She wanted to be sure you were not a threat to our land. As of right now she is informing the press of your arrival and that you are not a threat. From what we have seen it is not going very well.” Luna stopped and turned towards Alan. “We warn you. There will be some ponies who will not take your presence too kindly. Be careful.”

Alan smiled at the Princess. “I will… Now before I ask you anything else I just want to know… What is in those bags over there?” Alan pointed to the corner where several bags were sitting.
Luna trotted over to them and motioned him to follow. Opening the bags revealed… Socks. Large bags filled with human socks.

Alan looked at them for a second while frowning. “So that’s where all the left ones go…”

Turning back around, Alan saw that everypony was gathering around one glass case. Curious, Alan walked over to see what it was. Inside was a suit of chain mail along with a Viking era helm. The chain mail was missing pieces and looked very battle worn. The helm had a large hole at the temple and various scorch marks all over it.

Luna stood next to Alan and took a deep breath. “That is the armour of the human that came a thousand years ago…” Luna turned to Alan and looked up at Alan. “Do you recognize this armour?”

Alan nodded. “Yes. This armour belonged to a Viking. But don’t worry! Nowadays there are only descendants of them.”

Rainbow Dash nudged forward so that she was directly in front of the group. She had her face pressed right up against the glass. “Vikings? That’s a stupid sounding name… But at the same time it sounds kinda scary.”

Alan just nodded before turning and walking towards another case. This one was filled with the Vikings weapons. Princess Luna followed. “We do have one thing to thank the human for.”

Alan turned around to face her. “Oh?! And what would that be?”

Luna walked up to the case containing the weapons and continued. “Before the human came we only had unicorn magic and our strength to protect pony kind from threats. We duplicated his weapons and used them as our own. Using them we managed to defend ourselves in ways that we never could before. It was because of these weapons that we have had such a long period of peace.” She turned towards Alan. “They have an intimidation factor that brute strength cannot compare to.”

Alan smiled at the Princess. “Well that’s one good thing.” Alan though felt somewhat uneasy in the room. They had so many

items from the human world, yet they hid it. It was like they wanted to shield Equestria from the humans.

Alan looked at the ponies looking at the cases. Pinkie was bouncing from case to case looking at whatever could be used in a party, Rainbow Dash was staring at the armour and weapons and Rarity was going over the clothes. Looking around though, he could see Applejack wandering through the cases while Fluttershy was stuck to her like glue. Not seeing Twilight, Alan wandered over to the book cases to see if she was there.

Coming around one of the shelves, Alan found Twilight surrounded by books. Twilight was going from book to book looking frustrated. Alan managed to walk up without her noticing.

“Something wrong?” Alan asked. Twilight jumped into the air, surprised at the sudden company.

“ALAN! Don’t do that! You scared me half to death!”

Alan couldn’t help himself and bust out laughing. “OH wow Twilight! That was too funny! But in all seriousness, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just that… I can’t read these books.” Twilight said, staring at the ground.

Alan was confused and took one of the books in front of her. “But these books aren’t that hard! I mean this one is only a kid’s book!”

Twilight threw her arms in the air in frustration. “I just don’t get it! I look at the words and they look really weird like they’re in some other language!” Twilight stopped talking and looked at Alan. “I think I know. We may share a common language speaking… But our writing systems are completely different!”

Alan thought about this for a second before looking Twilight in the eye. “You know if you want, when we get back I could teach you the human alphabet.”

Twilight turned and nodded. “Yes that would be lovely.”

Twilight quickly put the books back in the proper spots before heading back towards the display cases. Alan started to follow her but his path was blocked by Rainbow Dash.

“Oh hey Dash! How are yo…” Alan was silenced by her hoof in his mouth.

“Don’t you act all friendly with me! I know what you are.”

Alan spat out her hoof. “Oh? And what would that be?”

Rainbow scowled at him. “You know what you are! You’re a spy! You came here to begin a human invasion. You want to enslave all pony kind!”

Alan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. None of this was true. He didn’t even know why he was here. For all he knew it was just some kind of dream.

“Okay none of that is true. I don’t know why I’m here. I was going home to visit my family for a few days before I suddenly appeared here! I never asked to be here! I never asked to be taken from my world and thrown in a dungeon just for being me!” Alan said angrily. Suddenly realizing he didn’t mean to burst out like that he hung his head and apologised.

Dash took a step back during Alan’s rant and just stood there through it her mouth hanging open. Coming to her senses she started to talk. “Well I guess I’m sorry for accusing you of being a spy. But don’t think I won’t keep my eye on you!” Dash turned to leave but suddenly stopped. Looking back at Alan she too looked at the ground. “Oh and sorry about the whole… Kicking you as soon as I saw you thing.”

Alan looked up and smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t my first time being hit in the nuts and it probably won’t be my last.”

Rainbow’s head snapped up and looked up at Alan with a look of horror. “I hit you where!?!”

Alan chuckled nervously. “In the nuts, but don’t worry about it! I’ll probally still be able to have kids.”

Dash turned and trotted off. She was feeling worse now than she did earlier. She knew how important manhood was to a male. She was certain that Alan would get his revenge later on. She made a metal note to keep an eye on him from now on.

Alan looked around at the books for a few minutes before heading back over to the display cases. Noticing his arrival, Princess Luna motioned for him to join her.

“It is time for us to leave. We have been informed by Princess Celestia that the meeting with the press have concluded and we are to meet her upstairs to await transportation to Ponyville. Now follow us.”

Alan took one last look at the room filled with human things and followed along. He couldn’t help it but he felt that something bad was going to happen.

It's late, I know, don't tell me. Things got busy with final exams and visiting family. I wrote most of this chapter on my way home on the ferry so at least I did something productive while I was gone. I'm back home now so I can get back to my normal schedule. Things will get better. Plus I re-did some stuff with the plot later on in the story so it will be different than what I originally planned on doing. Enjoy and see you in a bit!