The Storm

“Nice to meet you, Blue Typhoon,” said Twilight Sparkle.

“The pleasure is all mine,” said John.

“HiBlueTyphoonmynameisPinkiePieandIthinkyouareawesomeandIlikeyourunifrom!I’mgonnabebusythrowinga ‘WelcometoPonyvilleparty’, soifyouneedmetelloneofmyfriendsandthey’llhelpyououtbye!” blurted the pink pony before zipping away, which kicked up a small dust cloud.

“What the… I mean, I have no idea what the pink one just said,” said John, who was literally in the dust.

“She said something along the lines of, ‘Hi Blue Typhoon my name is Pinkie Pie, I think you are awesome and I like your uniform! I’m gonna be busy throwing a ‘Welcome to Ponyville party’. If you need me tell one of my friends and they’ll smell you out.’ Or was it ‘help you out?’ Pretty sure it was the second one,” said Twilight. “Anyways, that was Pinkie Pie.”

“Okay,” said John, his mind still spinning. He turned towards the orange pony (which he had seen earlier) and said, “And your name is?”

“Applejack, mah name is Applejack,” said the orange pony with her prominent accent.

“Got it, you’re Applejack. And your name is…” said John, turning to the white unicorn.

“Rarity, darling,” the white pony replied.

“And, let me guess, you’re Rainbow something, right?” said John, turning to the blue pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash, to be exact,” it said with a tomboyish voice. “Fastest flier in Equestria! Weather changed in ten seconds flat! I’m twenty percent cooler than anypony you’ll ever meet!”

“Right, so that leaves you,” said John, tuning to the yellow pegasus.

“I’m F…Fluttershy,” the yellow one whispered inaudibly.

“Come again?” said John.

“I’m Fluttersh… y,” the yellow pegasus said again, more audibly this time.

“Fluttershy, what a nice name,” said John.

Fluttershy suddenly became as red as a Coke label.

“You'll have to forgive her, she’s just a little… well, shy,” said Rarity.

“I understand,” said John. he looked at his leg and said, “I don’t mean to be demanding or anything, but could one of you take a look at…”

“OH! Of course! Here, stand still a moment,” said Twilight.

John stood where he was, and suddenly he saw Twilight’s horn began to glow and saw a pink aura surround it.

John’s eyes widened in surprise as he was enveloped in the same aura and suddenly appeared in what looked like a hospital. He also felt somewhat embarrassed to be surrounded in a glowing pink field.

“Miss Sparkle!” said a white pony with a bubble gum pink mane and tail trotting over. On her flank was a medical red cross surrounded by tiny pink hearts. The same symbol was on the the nurse’s hat.

“Nurse Redheart, I have a Pony here by the name of Blue Typhoon, he’s been bitten by a Timberwolf in one of his legs and he might need a…”  Twilight was suddenly interrupted by a sudden shout.

“Medic!” yelled John.

Twilight, the nurse, and a few other ponies there all looked at John with confusion and slight annoyance.

“Sorry,” said John, grinning sheepishly. He’d always wanted to do that.

“No worries, Miss Sparkle, we’ll clean and patch him up, and then he’ll be on his way,” said Nurse Redheart. She noticed John’s bloodstained leg and said, “Oh, a real doozy of a bite. But I’ve had to treat worse. This way, please, Mr. Typhoon.”

John followed Nurse Redheart into a room with an examination table. John immediately sat down on it as Nurse Redheart grabbed some alcohol and cotton pads. John gritted his teeth as he felt the burning sensation of alcohol against raw flesh. After the wound and surrounding area had been sterilized, Nurse Redheart produced a pair of tweezers and started looking for any splinters of wood in the cut. After removing a sixteen small splinters, Nurse Redheart then stitched the wound and wrapped a little bandaging around it. She then turned to John and said, “That should do it, Mr. Typhoon. This way, please,” said Nurse Redheart. After signing some medical papers, John and Twilight left the hospital and headed towards large treehouse (More like a house built into a tree), where a sign on the door read: Golden Oak Library.

“Nice,” said John.

“Why thank you!” said Twilight. She pushed open the door and they walked in. “The main floor is the library, and upstairs is where I live. I have a spare bedroom, which you can use, if you want.”

John nodded as his eyes swept around the library. “Do you have any books on geography?”

“Of course, dozens; what were you thinking about?” said Twilight.

“Well… I’m new around here… and I really don’t know the land too well, so I thought I might want to inform myself, if you didn't mind,” said John.

“Oh, well, that’s no problem! I’m going to be upstairs for a little. If anypony comes by or you need something, come upstairs and knock on my door,” said Twilight. “But let me get you a few books to start on, first. But, wow, you sure are one curious pony!” Twilight’s horn was suddenly surrounded in a purple aura, and a few large books, covered in the same purple aura, floated off of a shelf and onto a nearby table. She then turned and went upstairs.

John immediately went to work, despite the sight of levitating books. Much to his delight, the books were written in English. He flipped through the maps, graphs, and charts until he could name every single country, capital city, and sea in Equestria, as well as other far away countries and lands. Somehow, he managed to read two more books before his brain screamed for mercy and John stopped. He looked out a window and saw the sun had dipped a little towards the east, so he estimated that about an hour and a half or two hours had passed after he had begun reading.

Suddenly, he heard footfalls and he turned around to see Twilight and a purple and green lizard following Twilight as well coming down the stairs.  “Blue, there’s somepony I’d like you to meet. Spike, this is Blue Typhoon. Blue Typhoon, Spike. He’s a dragon,” said Twilight.

“Hi,” said Spike calmly. He held out a clawed hand and John held out his hoof and they shook hooves, and hands, in this case.

“Huh, I always thought dragons would be, more… intimidating, breathing fire and flying around, like Smaug,” said John.

“Smaug?” said Twilight and Spike at the same time.

“We’ve never heard of him,” said Spike.

“Err, he was a dragon… in a book I read…” said John.

“Oh, that explains it. What’s the book called?” asked Twilight.

“Erm… I forgot,” said John. He didn’t want to go into explaining The Hobbit, which (he assumed) obviously didn’t exist in this Equestria place.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Sounds like a good book,” said Twilight.

Suddenly, there was a loud rasping at the door.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Anypony HOOOOOOOME?” yelled a high-pitched voice.

“Ow, I used to have eardrums,” said John, his ears folded back against his head.

“Yeah, you’ll get used to it,” said Twilight. She walked into the door whereupon its opening Pinkie Pie rushed in and tackled John.

“Youhavetogottocometomyparty! Ifyoudon’tyou’llbemakingabigmistakebecuase…” Pinkie Pie was cut short when John stuffed one of his

hooves into Pinkie’s pie hole.

“Slow down! For Chri… just slow down!” said John after removing his hoof from Pinkie’s mouth.

Pinkie Pie frowned, took a deep breath and then, almost trying to mimic slow motion, said,”Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyouuuuuuuuuuuu haaaaaaaaaaaave gooooooooooooooot tooooooooooo…”

“Okay, just stop. You threw a bloody party for me and you want me to come,” said John.

“Well, not a bloody party, but I guess I could…” but Pinkie Pie was cut short again.

John face hoofed and said, “It was just an expression. And yes, the answer is yes, I will go to your party. When does it start?” said John.

“Seven ‘o clock, sharp,” said Pinkie Pie.

“I’ll be there,” said John.

Pinkie Pie beamed happily and then dashed out of the library. “IT’LL BE AT THE SUGARCUBE CORNER…” yelled Pinkie as she ran out.

“Sugarcube Corner?” said John.

“It’s a bakery,” explained Twilight. “It’s where Pinkie works.”

John nodded in understanding. “Tonight is going to be a long night…” he thought.  John suddenly realized how beautiful how Twilight looked. The light seemed to show off her slight curves, and her eyes, they were like amethysts, sparkling and bright. Her mane and tail were very silky and always had somewhat iridescent sheen to them. If he kept this train of thought up… other more (R-rated things) might surface. “Stop it!” John’s rationality scolded. “This is not how an RAF FIGHTER PILOT behaves!” John just sighed inwardly and mentally slapped himself multiple times on the face and snapped himself out of his fantasies. He even felt a little weird for being attracted to a pony. For the third time, he blamed the potion.

Suddenly, Twilight’s voice snapped his train of thought, “Could I ask you a few questions?” said Twilight. Her horn lit up, and piece of paper as well as a quill floated off of a desk and hovered in midair. “It’s just… you seem… different, with your R-A-F badge and those stripes on your sleeves.”

“Sure, if you’ll let me ask you some questions,” said John. He was very nervous, but he hid it and put on a straight expression.

“That’s fine with me,” said Twilight. “Firstly, what does your badge stand for?”

“Regional Aeronautics Flyers,” said John, hoping Twilight would fall for it.

“Are you sure? It looks like there’s a crown on it. Like  something to do with royalty,” said Twilight.

“Positive,” said John.

Then she scribbled something down and Twilight asked John another question, “What do the stripes on your sleeves mean?”

“That’s my rank. I’m a Group Leader,” said John. He didn't want appear cold or uncaring, so he just fabricated answers with a straight face.

The quill jotted down something quickly and Twilight said, “You said something about how you thought Applejack was right in her assumption that the grey and green ‘bird’ the landed in Sweet Apple Acres was actually a machine. Have you had experience with any such device, if that’s what it is?”

“No,” said John.

The quill moved again, and then floated back to the desk. After that, the piece of paper rolled itself up and floated over next to the quill and sat down beside it.

“Okay, my first question is how do you manipulate objects with you horn? Magic?” said John.

“Yes, Unicorns and Alicorns are the most magically gifted out of all the ponies,” sad Twilight.

“What’s an Alicorn?” said John.

Twilight looked surprised, but answered, “They possess the traits of a unicorn, a pegasus, and an earth pony. Not many Alicorns exist, they’re very rare; but when one is born, they have great talent and possess great magical capabilities. Currently, two of them rule Equestria.”

“So earth ponies must be the normal ones,” noted John. He then said, “Okay, one last question: who are the rulers of Equestria?”

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, both are Alicorns,” said Twilight. “And, just to let you know, I’m Princess Celestia’s personal student.”

“Alright, that helps. Do you have some books on Equestrian Government? Where I come from, Princesses don’t have the final say,” said John. From now on, he knew to keep his behavior at its best.

“Really?” said Twilight.

“Yes, we have a thing called Parliament,” said John. He explained how Parliament and the British government worked and how the Queen was more like a figurehead for the people, or ponies, in order to remain true to his guise. He then mentally slapped himself in the face for revealing his country's governmental system. “But what’s done is done,” he reminded himself mentally. “No use crying over spilt milk.”

“Amazing, this ‘England’, so where in England do you hail from?” said Twilight.

“Bath, in Somerset,” said John. Now he knew he was getting a little too lenient. But how could he to find a way out? John looked at the clock and said, “Oh my, look at the time!” He suddenly walked upstairs to the spare bedroom, leaving Twilight before she could object, and, leaving her to comprehend all the information he'd just given her.

At five till’ seven…

John straightened his clothes and sighed. He’d never been to real party before, and, he was nervous.

“Typhoon, you ready?” said Twilight from outside his bedroom door.

“Yeah, readier than I’ll ever be,” said John.

He and Twilight exited the library, and walked out onto the street. The moon had just risen, and its pale rays lit up the street. They walked among the thatched-roofed buildings until they came to a literal gingerbread house that would put the house from Hansel and Gretel to utter shame.

John knocked quietly. No response. He sighed and said, “Let me guess, she’s a real fan of surprise parties.”

“Yeah,” said Twilight. “And I mean a HUGE fan of surprise parties.”

John, preparing himself for the surprise, opened the door and stepped in.