Through the Cavern

"O-ok, whoever or whatever you are, you need to step away from my students at once!" Cheerilee said angrily "Girls, come over here, NOW!!"

"But Miss Cheerilee, you don't understand!" Sweetie Belle tried to explain, but her teacher silenced her with a glare. The three fillies ran over to stand with the rest of the class, giving everyone apologetic looks. Cheerilee took a deep breath "Now, slowly step away, and leave us be!"

Ricky rolled his eyes "Ok, first of all, I have no intention of harming you or your students."

"It talks!" The class shrieked and hid behind their teacher. However, one filly with an orange frizzy mane and blue rimmed glasses gasped and ran up to him.

"Twist, come back here!" Cheerilee cried, but Twist ignored her and instead approached Ricky in awe.

"Wow...two legs, arms, super intelligent....just like the myths said you were like!" She had a touch of a lisp, but Ricky wasn't interested in that "Uh...what exactly do you mean by myths?"

"Humans, of course! There's been stories circulating about them for centuries!"

Ricky was about to respond angrily, but then thought about it . He had already met a Pegasus and a unicorn, both of whom were talking about dragons living nearby just ten minutes ago. If mythical creatures in his world were commonplace in Equestria, then that would mean that in Equestria, humans were the mythical creatures "Actually, I have no reason to argue with you, Twist. Me being a myth in your world makes perfect sense. After all, in my world, unicorns and Pegasi are just myths."

"Exactly!" Twist turned and stuck her tongue out at one of her classmates "See, Diamond Tiara? If you would just give it a chance, you'll see that cryptozoology is NOT all hokum!"

"Hold up. So, are you telling us that mythical creatures actually exist? Think of the money we could get for him!" The one called Diamond Tiara gushed. Ricky could have sworn he saw brief dollar signs appear in her eyes. He made a mental note to stay away from her as much as possible.

"Yeah! The Canterlot Zoo would go crazy for this thing!" Another bespectacled, seemingly snobbish pony agreed. However, Cheerilee spoke up.

"STOP!! We don't even know how this thing got here in the first place!" The teacher pony slowly stepped forward "Now, would you please tell us just what in the name of Celestia is going on?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest ma'am, I have no idea how it happened either. You see, I was on a really boring field trip with my geology class, when I decided to duck off down a side tunnel and have some alone time. Then, I overheard your students, made my presence known, and then discovered that the tunnel I had come down had disappeared. Does that make enough sense do you?" Ricky shook his head in frustration. Cheerilee nodded slowly "Alright, I see. I thought I spoke to the staff here about making sure that those tunnels were blocked off."

"Wait...so does that mean you trapped me here, lady?!" Ricky yelled. Cheerilee threw up her hooves defensively "No! No, I mean that nopony knows what's down those tunnels, due to them being made off limits years ago. However a certain trio here..." Sweetie Belle waved at Ricky happily "...feels the need to risk their necks everytime we come here, so I asked that the staff do something about it. However, they are some of the laziest stallions I have EVER met. I'm guessing we now know, however, that one of those tunnels is an interdimensional portal of some sort."

"Ok...so then how do you explain this portal disappearing on me?" Ricky suddenly remembered the half-smoked joint in his hand and lit it back up "Don't mind me, I'm borderline stressing out at the moment."

"Well...most portals only open at certain points of time, so it may be 2 hours, 2 days, or even 2 months! I would think that for now, the only logical thing for you to do is come with us back to the schoolhouse. Fortunately, I happen to be a dear friend of Princess Twilight Sparkle, possibly the smartest mare I know. She'll be able to answer some questions for you. By the way, do you really have to do that in such a small area? You are around children after all..."

"Oh...sorry, ma'am. This princess, won't she be upset if we bother her?" Ricky asked, pinching out the joint and tucking it into his cigarette pack. The students started sniffing the air as well, some curious and some disgusted.

"Oh, goodness, no! Princess Twilight loves having ponies drop in to see her. She would be fascinated by your presence. " Cheerilee smiled happily. Ricky eyed her suspiciously "You know, for someone who was terrified of me a few minutes ago, you certainly seemed to have gotten friendly all of a sudden."

Cheerilee sighed "Look, I'm sorry. My protective instincts kicked in, you see, and well, frankly, I was not expecting to see such a rare creature let alone a supposedly fictional one, so I sort of panicked. Please, let me make it up to you somehow."

"Well, don't worry about it. If you can help me find out what the hell is going on here, that'll be just fine." Ricky smiled "My name's Ricky, Ricky Lahey." He grimaced as he spoke his last name.

"Well, it's a pleasure to properly meet you, Ricky. And I would appreciate it, Diamond Tiara, if you and Silver Spoon would keep you entrepreneurial aspirations to YOURSELF from now on. This...Ricky is our guest. Do you understand?" Cheerilee glared at the two fillies, who shied away from her gaze. As Ricky walked by, Diamond stuck her tongue out at him, and Ricky flipped her the bird. Shocked at seeing a finger for the first time, Diamond got far back.

"Alright, my little ponies and Ricky, on we go!"

***

"Are we there YET??" A green, slightly portly colt whined, desperately trying to catch up to the rest of the group. Cheerilee groaned audibly "We're still at least 15 minutes away from the entrance, Snips."

"But I'm getting tired...Can't we take a break?" They had been walking for about a half hour or so, and Snips had been griping for a good third of the trip.

"We could sing a road tune..." A tall gangly orange colt suggested, earning glares from his fellow travellers. Scootaloo shook her head profusely "Snails, I tell you this as a friend, but you've got quite possibly the worst singing voice I have ever heard." Ricky was surprised with her bluntness. Snails, however, seemed unaffected.

"I can live with that, Scoots." Snails slowed his gait slightly, allowing Snips to catch up.

"So...if I'm supposed to be a mythical creature, how are you going to explain me to everyone else? They're obviously going to be surprised." Ricky asked Applebloom, eyebrow raised.

Chuckling, Applebloom replied "The amount of weird things that go on here, I doubt you'll be TOO out of place. But if ponies try to bother you, we can take 'em all on!"

"I doubt that'll be necessary." Sweetie Belle added. As she spoke, Ricky was relieved to see the exit looming roughly forty feet or so ahead. He could see several ponies milling around, all of whom were about to see something extremely alien to them. At the thought of being the center of attention, he started to slow down, suddenly feeling apprehensive.

Scootaloo took notice of his sudden wariness "Hurry up, Ricky! We told you this won't be as scary as you think."

Cheerilee nodded "Just stick with the group, look straight ahead, and don't think about anypony else until we arrive at the schoolhouse. I guarantee you won't have any trouble." Ricky felt a little better at this "You sure about that?"

"Absolutely."

Ricky took a deep breath, held it for several seconds, and let it out "Ok..I'm ready. I can do this." He followed the class through the entrance of the cave, squinting at the bright sunlight. When his eyes finally adjusted, he was stunned at the magnificent sight before him. Applebloom took notice of his expression, smiled proudly and announced:

"Ricky, allow me to be the first to welcome you to Ponyville!"