Chapters Prologue: New Beginning's.
Earth, 06, 23, 2012, Tucson, Az. 3:05 P.M.
"Huh, last day of school. Yay." To say that I was thrilled to finally be done with school was an understatement. In all honesty, I was really going to miss this place. Most of my fondest memories were of this school and of the people I've met while studying here.
"Hey, John." Someone called out my name. I turned around to see Taylor, one of my best friend's running to catch up with me. I gave him a wave as he caught up to me. He was huffing a little bit but when he got his breath he threw me a smile and raised his fist for a bump. I returned the gesture and we started walking again.
"So what are you going to be doing this summer?" He asked kicking a rock along as we walked down the street to my house. I thought about it for a little while. Shaking my head I gave him a shrug.
"Don't know. Now that I'm 18 my parents want me to go look for a job. So I guess I'll try that. Can't be any worse than doing nothing all summer long." I said with a sigh. Taylor gave me a somber look.
"So how are thing's going with you and Sera?" He asked an impish grin highlighting his face. I just rolled my eye's.
"How many time's do I have to tell you that nothing is going on between us," I said as I made my way around the block. I turned and gave him a smile. Trying to get my mind off of my non-existent love life I did one of the few thing's that gave me some form of joy in this world. I challenged Taylor to a competition.
"Wanna see who's get's home first?" a small glint in my eye. He chuckled and nodded his head.
"Sure. But you know I'm going to win like alway's right?" He said shaking his head. I just smirked.
"Hey, you never know I could alway's pull out a rabbit or two from the old hat," I said as I started to jog in place getting the blood flowing throughout my body. He just chuckled.
"Ok, ok fine. Why so eager to lose?" He asked. I just readjusted my glasses and waved a hand at him. Taylor was one of the track team's best but he had one fundamental flaw about how he ran. He didn't know how to pace himself. Sure he could outsprint most people but he could only hold that speed for a few minutes at most. Me on the other hand, I had no speed but I had taken up jogging around the track in P.E. whenever I could. Over the summer I had trained my body to be able to run several miles without over exerting myself.
"Here," Taylor said lifting up his hand.
"I'll set a timer." As he fiddled with his watch I felt something strange. The air itself began to feel warmer all of a sudden. I could feel the hair's on the back of my neck stand on end. Something was definitely wrong here. My brain went into overdrive trying to figure out what could possibly cause a localized ionization charge like this. The only thing's to come to mind were either,
A. a potential lightning strike.
B. a small scale solar flare.
C. Some random act of god only know's what.
A was not likely because there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. B was off the table because Taylor was still fiddling with his watch. So C it is. Some random act of nature or some such. Shoving my concern down I instead focused on our little race to come.
"Ok, I've got it!' He said as he held out his hand.
"Set the timer to count down from ten," I said.
"Way ahead of you there." He said. He wiped his hand up to his face.
"All right on your mark's." He said getting into his trademarked running position, knee's bent right leg in front of the other and his hand's resting on the ground. I just snickered and copied his position.
"Get set!" He said with glee. I could hear the timer going down.
Beep...Beep...Beep.
"And!" Beep.
"G-" BOOM! Tayler's announcement was ripped from his mouth as a horrendous thundering tore the sky asunder right above his and john's head. Taylor was driven to his stomach by the force of the blast and he was forced to cover his head as the ground began to shake violently. When all of the noise and motion stopped Tayler peaked out from underneath his arm's.
"Holy shit dude this you feel that?" He asked. When he didn't get a reply he looked over to where John was only moment's ago. He gasped in shock as the only thing left of his friend was a pile of clothing and whatever else his friend had on him at that point.
"Dude! John! Where are you!?" Taylor screamed as he frantically looked around. John Was nowhere to be seen.
Equestria, 06, 23, 2012, Ponyville. 10 Minute's ago.
"It's over Discord!" Twilight shouted as she covered her friend's in a protective bubble, canceling out The lord of chaos's foul magic. Discord meanwhile was laughing. "Oh that's what you think." Discord just snickered at Twilight and her friend's.
Little did they know Discord had a plan. A devious plan. A truly diabolical plan. A plan so evil he could only cackle in glee as he set it into motion. With a snap of his finger's time stood still freezing the six mare's in there track's.
He knew he couldn't defeat like before not now. However, he could do something far worse in return. Sure they would encase him in stone once more but he would get his revenge. His face practically split in two as he laughed with pure hysteria. He snapped his finger's once more and a small orb of purple energy formed in his hand's.
"Time to have one last bit of fun." With his plan coming to fruition he gave the space-time continuum a little shift and through the ball of chaotic power into the void.
"Oh, this is going to be so great." Discord said as he cackled with mad glee. He stitched up the hole in space-time and then with a snap of his finger's the flow of time continued as normal. Twilight and crew wore grim face's as there element's lit up with power. When Twilight was done casting the spell the combined power of the six element's shot into the sky like a rocket. Discord smiled as the prismatic beam of friendship began to arc back to the ground.
He began to cackle even more and in one last ditch effort of defiance, he struck a bold pose as the beam hit, forever freezing him with his demented laughter etched onto his face. When the whole of his body was encased in stone he fell from his throne and with a thud landed upon the cold dark earth unmoving and unfeeling.
"Oh thank Celestia that horrible ordeal is over." Rarity said as she and the other's descended to the ground after firing off the powerful spell the element's had used to imprison the lord of chaos.
"Yippee!" Pinky squealed as she did a cartwheel around her friend's. "Now that mister grumpy pant's is out of the way we can throw an awesome party!" She said jumping into the air, throwing confetti as she hung there for a few seconds. As the group of pony's all gathered around Discord they were snapped out of their happy thoughts by a bright flash of light. As soon as the light dissipated the whole group bowed before their ruler Princess Celestia who gave them all a soft nod.
"Now, now, no need for that," she said in a soft voice. The grin on her face disappeared as she looked upon the defeated villain. She hung her head and sighed.
"It's back to the garden for you discord," she said as she hefted the statue up with her magic. She smiled once more as she looked upon the six.
"Well, Twilight it appears that Equestria owe's you and your friend's another debt of gratitude." She said as Discord's statue winked out of existence. Twilight just blushed and nodded her head.
"Thank you, Princess. It wasn't easy facing down Discord but in the end, our friendship prevailed." She said giving her friend's a supportive smile. The whole group huddled together and shared a big group hug. Celestia beamed at the warm display of affection. Then she cleared her throat. All attention was once again upon her.
"Then I would like to welcome you all back to Canterlot tonight for a ceremonial banquet in honor of your victory." She said as her horn began to light up. the group was whisked away to the mountainside castle and all were deposited in the Great hall. It was a grant entrance to the inner working's of the castle's interior and was usually a bustling hub of movement to and fro. At this time, however, it was empty due to the Princess's declaring a state of emergency since Discord's escape.
"Now dear friend's let us discuss the night's festivities in greater detail," She said leading the group to the dining hall.
Equestria, 06, 23, 2012, Canterlot, 8:00 P.M.
Cold. A deep dark cold penetrated the very fiber of my being. I couldn't see or think. The only thing I could do is feel the overwhelming cold seep into my bone's and chill every part of my body. The only thing I could do was wait for all this torment to be over. Then as suddenly as it had come in a flash it was gone. My body had the feeling come back to it as I impacted the hard earth, the green grass doing nothing to soften my fall. Luckily I wasn't that far up in the air. Unluckily as feeling began to come back so did other less pleasant sensations. My whole body ached and throbbed in agony.
"he-l-p." I tried to cry out but my voice wasn't trying to cooperate. In fact, it felt like someone had taken sandpaper and blasted my vocal cord's with the stuff. I tried to move but a bolt of hot fury lanced through me so I decided to stay there wherever I was until the pain subsided. As my mind began to calm down I only had one thought go through it.
"What in the everloving fresh smelling scented hell happened to me?"
Meanwhile...
Twilight and her friends were enjoying their much-needed break from the party currently going on in the grand ballroom. The small group made their way out to a balcony overlooking the financial district of canterlot's elite. Twilight sighed and looked over at her friend's.
Rarity was looking out over the horizon already planning out her newest line of fashion wear. Pinky was hopped up on sugar and rapidly vibrating in place. Apple Jack was leaning against the wall to their left her stetson covering her eye's as she contemplated how she was going to make this whole ordeal up to her family when she got back. Fluttershy was laying on the cool stone of the balcony floor thinking of her animal friend's and how she was going to take care of them after all that had happened. Finally, Rainbow Dash was resting on a cloud she had happened to wrangle over and was lost in thought of how close they'd come to failing Equestria today.
Right now she was really glad that she and her friends were able to just sit back and relax. The day had been very hectic from start to finish. She looked over and saw Twilight's gaze drift her way.
"So Twi what's on your mind?" She asked rolling over and dropping to the balcony floor with ease landing on her hoof's like a cat. Twilight was snapped out of her examination and she looked over each of her friend's once more. She shook her head.
"Oh, you know just thinking about today." She said diverting her gaze back to the now star-studded, moonlit sky. Fluttershy piped up.
"Wandering how today could go from perfectly normal to really really scary?" She said walking up to the edge of the balcony with the rest of her friend's. Twilight nodded.
"Yes. Today started out just like any other, but then Discord show's up out of nowhere and start's wrecking the place." She said shaking her head. Pinky just giggled.
"Now come on miss frowny face." She said pulling Twilight over to her. She grabbed ahold of Twilight's face and contorted it into a frown.
"Now isn't the time for sadness." She said rearranging Twilight's face to now show a forced smile.
"Now it's time to have fun! We beat mister old grumpy pant's so let's go and celebrate!" she said bounding off back to the party. Twilight scrunched up her face as she rubbed it to get the feeling back. She heard more snickering coming from behind her and turned around to see Rainbow on her cloud once more laughing into her cloud. Twilight soon started to giggle as well. Pretty soon the whole group was laughing up a storm and making their way back to the festive night if only so they could not make the princess look bad by not attending their own party.
Equestria, 06, 23, 2012, Canterlot, 10:00 P.M.
The pain had finally subsided but in its place came exhaustion. I could do nothing more than stare up at the beautiful night sky and shiver as I got even colder. Now that the pain wasn't there to dull my sense's I could feel not only the cold, however. I felt almost like someone had wrapped me up in a soft wool blanket. It was nice and comforting against the cold even if it did little to counter the low temperatures.
"Oh god please let somebody find me." I prayed as I let my mind drift off to sleep.
Dream's came to John as he lay there in the fields of Canterlot. And like all those who dreamt under Luna's sky his dreams were no secret to her astute eyes. As she went about her nightly routine of dream monitoring she heard a soft cry for help come from the city's outskirts. Not being one to shirk her duty's she followed the cry for help to its source. Laying there exposed to the very force's of nature was a creature as strange as the very dream's she felt emanating from him.
Luna could not make out its gender from the air but from the masculine voice sounding out in its dream's, she guessed it was a male. He was just laying there not budging an inch huddled up in a fetal position his body desperately trying to conserve its heat.
"Who is this?" She asked herself. Swooping down to get a better look at the poor dear she touched down with practiced ease and went to get a closer look at the mysterious? Stallion she guessed. As she reached him she continued to scan his dreamscape. She couldn't make head's or tale's of half the stuff he was dreaming about so she just assumed that whatever he was, he had a wild imagination.
"Very peculiar." She mumbled to herself. Without a moment's hesitation, she scooped the sleeping creature up in her magic, slung him across her back and headed off to the castle. She had lot's of questions and she wanted answers.
Canterlot Castle.
Rainbow's had to turn in for the night. She watched as Pinky Pie continued to party her little heart out and laughed.
"She's going to crash so hard in the morning." She mumbled. As she turned to go to her room, however, she was stopped by a pair of Sable colored eyes.
"Wow!" She said as she leaped back to keep herself from running over the unfortunate pony. The pony, another pegasus by the look's of his wing's which shot out in surprise backed up a few paces.
"I am so sorry!" They both said in unison. There was a small awkward silence that followed but was cut short by the stallion as Dash got a better look at him now cleared his throat.
"So sorry about that-" He stopped as he fully realized just who he had almost bumped into.
"Dash?" He asked ash he looked at her with wide eyes. Rainbow for her part drew a blank. Then she got a good look at his coat.
"Wait a minute? Yellow coat, red mane, and a tail with both color's." Her brain jumped.
"Hot Shot!" She said giving him a warm smile. He returned it and the two gave each other quick hug.
"Wow Dash long time no see huh?" He asked as he began to make his way to the guest towers. Seeing that they were going the same way Dash decided to accompany him till she got to her own room.
"Yah long time." She said remembering her day's at junior speedster flight camp. She chuckled.
"So still the fastest mare in Equestria?" Shot asked as the two walked down the hallway. She smirked.
"You bet I am." She said striking a pose. Shot snickered at her antic's and rolled his eye's.
"And apparently still the attention grabber." He tacked on. She laughed and nodded. The two caught up with each other and by the time they had made it to Rainbow's room they had almost gone over there whole life's up till this point.
"Wow, so you're the head weather pony in ponyville?" Hot Shot said looking at Dash with interest. She nodded her head.
"You bet. It's a pretty easy gig once you get used to it." She said grabbing her door knob. She let out a long yawn which Hot Shot returned.
"Wow, Dash you seem to be full of surprise's." He said looking back to down the hall. He shook his head and sighed.
"Well it's been fun catching up with you," Dash said as she leaned on the door frame. Hot Shot chuckled and nodded his head.
"Yah it was." He said looking a tad bit nervice. "Hey, Dash are you doing anything tomorrow?" He asked looking a little flustered. Dash was too tired to notice but she gave him an answer anyway.
"No. Not much. Just going to chillax after handing Discord his own flank." She said nonchalantly. Hot Shot's eyes went wide.
"Wait, what?" He asked looking stunned. Rainbow waved it off.
"Ehh I'll tell ya more about it tomorrow. See ya." She said walking into her room and shutting the door. Hot Shot stood there and then he slowly began to make his way to his own room. Then he began to tremble in excitement.
"Yes!" He said pumping a fist into the air. He was going to go to bed with pleasant dream's tonight.
Chapter 1: Stranger in a strange land.
Equestria, 06, 24, 2012, Canterlot, Canterlot Royal Hospital, 7:34 A.M.
Warm. Soft. Those were the first things to come to mind as I awoke. As I opened my eyes I was shocked but not surprised to see the white roof of what I guessed to be a hospital room.
"Oh thank god," I muttered as I drew the blanket's up tighter around myself. Last night was a blur but the cold sensation was something my body would remember for a while. These blankets were a very warm welcome. As I snuggled deeper into the soft fluffy pillow's my mind raced with questions.
"What hospital am I in? Plus who found me?" I smirked. "Hell I wouldn't be surprised if Tayler had something to do with this." With my mind at ease I drifted off to sleep, confident that I was in good hands.
Luna was once again swallowed by the strange creature's dream's as he dozed off.
"Very peculiar indeed." She mused as she trotted to and fro about his dreamscape. Image's of strange, wondrous and even violent event's played out, all of them centered around this one individual. She watched as he, she was certain that it was a male, was running for his life from a strange vehicle of some sort as it tried to run him over. The scene switched to one of happier time's as he celebrated his birthday. Then just as quick she was whisked away to a frozen wasteland surrounded by a lava field.
"This is," She was stuck. Weird didn't even begin to describe it. Chaotic was a much more appropriate word. Suddenly she froze.
"This creature has never been seen in Equestria. All of a sudden it appears out of nowhere with its strange dreams and thoughts. This could be very bad indeed for us." She thought hard about a solution to her profound problem.
"Luna are you in awake?" Came the unmistakable voice of Equestria's other princess. Luna lurched as she pulled herself free of the strange being's dream's and awoke in her room in the castle. Luna shot up in her bed just as her sister opened her door.
"Hello, dear sister. To what do we owe this fine visit today?" Luna asked trying to not look like a little filly caught in the cookie jar. Celestia looked at her sister with an amused smile. Celestia cantered over to her sister's bed and sat down on its edge.
"Oh dear sister," She asked trying to keep a smirk off her face. "Did we happen to stumble upon another one of the noble's, more fanciful dream's?" She asked raising her eyebrows in speculation. Luna's blush turned her normally blue face a deep purple as she rapidly shook her head.
"Nay dear sister we did not!" she said hopping out of the bed like it was on fire. She composed herself as Celestia laughed her flank off. Once Luna was back to her normal blue coloration and Celestia was through with her hysterical laughter they both composed themselves. Celestia let out a few more chortles and settled down.
"Ok ok. Sorry, dear sister but I couldn't resist." Luna just rolled her eye's and chuckled along. Then her head sagged as she sighed.
"Dear sister we have a small problem," Luna said as she went and sat down on her bed. Celestia lost all cheerfulness as a serious expression took over her face.
"Luna, what's wrong?" She asked joining her sister on the bed. Luna was conflicted. She didn't feel comfortable about this whole situation. It all screamed of Discord. She just didn't want an innocent to get caught up in the crossfire.
"Tia there's something you should know," Luna said as she began to explain the strange event's that transpired over the last 12 hours.
Canterlot Royal Hospital, 8:00 P.M.
You know I don't see why people complain about hospitals so much. While I was asleep the nurse must have brought me some food because I awoke to the sweet smell of,
"Bacon?" I opened my eyes to see a tray of some kind sitting in my lap. I drooled over the food present. Bacon, egg's, toast and a nice size helping of grits.
"Oh my god!" I said as my stomach decided to show its gratitude by growling loudly.
"Oh don't worry body we'll get nice and full as soon as I find a fork. Or a spoon." I looked but couldn't find one.
"Here you go." Came a voice from my right. I looked that way but was distracted by a spoon appearing in my vision. I grabbed it and began to devour the food.
"You know sister I do believe I get what you meant by the term shaved." Came the same voice.
"Yes dear sister he does share some common feature's with the native species does he not?" Came another voice. Curious as to who was talking and what they were talking about I looked over to my right. And promptly dropped my spoon full of food. Two very big, very weird looking horses were watching me with wrapped attention.
"Uh, what the hell is this?" I asked mostly to myself. We stared at each other until one of them did the impossible. They talked.
"Good evening to you." I saw it. The big blue one opened it's no her mouth, that voice was definitely feminine, and words spewed forth. I was in shock looking around for any other source of the voice.
"Someone has got to be pulling my leg," I muttered to myself. Hastily not wanting to take my eyes off the two equines I looked around for anything that could be used as a speaker or voice projector. Nothing. I found nothing in my brief little scan of the room. Then the other one talked. I looked carefully at its mouth this time.
"No good sir we are not pulling your leg." She said. Huh, so two big female horses. Weird did not even begin to describe how I felt. I tried to get my legs moving again but they wouldn't. "Damn, must've fallen asleep." As I quickly scanned my surrounding's once more I tried to remain calm. "Exit! Gotta find an exit!" My brain screamed at me. Finally, I saw a door not to far in front of my bed. "Maybe if I could just reach the door!"
"Little one are you all right?" The voice jarred me out of my thought's and my head turned around to see the big white one looming over me. So, I did the first thing that came to mind.
"NURSE!" I screamed at the top of my lung's. The sudden outburst caused the white one to scramble back a little. Then the door burst open. "Yes sweet freedom!" My happy thoughts were quickly dashed across the rock's as I looked at my would-be savior.
"What the shit?" I squeaked out under my breath. My brain lagged out. Standing right in front of me was another horse like creature. But it was way smaller than the other two in the room. "A pony then?"
"What's wrong?" It asked looking around wildly. Then its eyes went wide when it saw the other two in the room.
"Princess's!" It exclaimed as it bowed to the two big horses. My eyes went wide.
"Wait, Princess?" I asked looking over at the other two animals. They both bowed in return.
"Rise little one thow have no reason to fear." The blue one said. The little pony looked back up and smiled? I was out of words. And patience. My eyes darted to the now open door. "Come on legs!" With an amazing amount of will power my legs began to move on their own. As quick as I could my arms clenched the blankets and hurled them off of me. Thankfully they landed on the group of equines as I sprinted out the doorway. I heard an 'eep!' from in the room but ignored all else as I ran down the hall.
"Gotta find an exit!" My brain was back in full gear as I frantically looked around. Then I saw it. An exit sign. I ignored all of the ruckus coming from behind me as I turned the corner and continued down the hallway at full speed. I chanced a look back. The little pony was hot on my heals.
"Damn those little guys are fast." just as I turned back around I saw a flash in front of me and came face to muzzle with the big blue horse from before.
"We have thee now miscreant!" It bellowed. My reflexes kicked in and I dodged to the left as it tried to tackle me to the ground. It looked momentarily stunned from the fall but I gave it no mind as I got back to my feet. I placed my hand on the wall to steady myself.
"Get back here!" I looked down the hall to see the 'nurse' come barreling down the hall towards me. As I pushed off the wall my world began to spin. I looked at the wall only to see that I was, in fact, leaning against a window. Said window was surprisingly loose and it was opening from my own weight.
"Shit," I muttered as my balance was now significantly screwed and I tipped out the window.
"AHHHH!" My flailing didn't help any. But luckily the 'fall' was only a few feet. That and there was a nice sized bush to break all of my 2-foot fall from the ground floor window. I landed on my back and gave out a week growl of pain. I groaned as I opened my eye's to see the blue one stick its head out the window.
"Are you quite done with your foolery for today?" It asked in an annoyed sounding tone. Me being a cheeky nitwit I just shake my head.
"I need to get home. I must have a concussion. Horse's can't talk!" I shouted to myself as I rolled out the bush onto my hand's and knees. As soon as my body hit the ground I just collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. I just couldn't go on anymore. Soon, however, a tingling began to spread throughout my body. I gave a weak cry of fear as I was hauled up into the air and brought back trough the window and came to rest on the blue horses back.
"There." It huffed. "Now stay there and keep calm. We shall return thow to thine quarters and them we can all sit down and talk." I just groaned. "What in the hell is going on here?"
Canterlot Royal Hospital, 8:15 P.M.
Luna traipsed back into the room with the strange creature slung across her back like a sack of potatoes. She gave her sister a nod and Celestia's horn lit up. Her golden aura lit up around the blankets, now folded neatly into a small pile, and hauled then off the bed. Luna's own magic flared to life encasing john in a soft blue glow as he was gently placed back into the bed. Celestia then tucked him making sure to get the blankets and sheets nice and snug around john's sleek frame.
He squirmed around a little bit but stopped as he looked up and saw Luna giving him a stern look. Her face softened as he stopped and stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Celestia cleared her throat getting the attention of all those present.
"Well, now the creature is subdued." She said inclining her head in johns direction. He just flinched at that and continued to look as far away as possible. She noted his reaction and continued.
"Shall we get down to business then?" She asked. Luna nodded as did the nurse. John just looked lost. She looked at him. Luna had informed her that he was indeed male as she was there when the nurse had to fit him into a hospital gown.
"Little one can you tell us your name?" Celestia asked looking to john face for any sign of change. It went from shock to recognition and them confusion.
"Um, do y-you mean me?" He asked looking Celestia in the eyes. She nodded and waited for him to respond. He looked at her then away and back to the door. She followed his gaze then locked her eyes back to him. He looked like he was contemplating running again. He heaved out a sigh and his shoulders slumped as he looked back to the group.
"John. My name is john." He said smiling a little bit. All those present gave a small nod of acknowledgment and Celestia continued.
"Thank you." She said looking to her sister. Luna looked a little lost.
"What kind of name is that?" She asked looking curious. John just chuckled.
"It's the only name I have." He said looking between the two sisters.
"So you two are both Princess's?" He asked looking a little more comfortable. Both Celestia and Luna nodded.
"Indeed little one. Thow art correct." Luna said puffing out her chest with pride. John giggled at that and Luna looked a little flustered.
"And just what is so funny?" She asked huffing again in annoyance. John just gave her a wave.
"It's just to funny." He said chuckling to himself. Luna was about to speak but Celestia brought a hoof to her shoulder. Luna looked back to see Celestia looking at her with a calm smile. "Be friendly sister." She asked through there bond. Luna just slumped down to the floor and grumbled. Celestia laughed and asked a question of her own.
"So John." She asked getting his attention. He looked from luna the Celestia, smile still on his face.
"Yes, Princess?" He asked. Celestia just smiled back.
"Well first off you may call us by our own name's." She said raising a hoof pointing.
"This." She said pointing to Luna. "Is my sister, Princess Luna." She said next she pointed to the pony.
"That is Nurse Bright Heart." Bright Heart just nodded and sat back down on a couch that she had gotten from somewhere. John gave her a wave which she returned. "How do they do that? And where'd that couch come from?" He was brought back to the moment by Celestia.
"And I am Princess Celestia." She said having gone around the room. John just looked around and sighed.
"Ok, so I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore." He said to himself. Luna perked up at that.
"Kansas? Where is this Kansas?" She asked. John looked stumped.
"Uuumm." He said scratking the back of his head.
"Well that depend's. Were exsactly am i?' He asked knowing he was not going to like the anwser one bit. He knew he was not on earth just from the sheer fact that horses were talking, so ergo he had to be on some other planet or possibly in some other dimension. He had money on both prospects being equally true but with his luck, he could just be fooling himself. Nurse Bright Heart cleared her throat.
"You sir are at the Canterlot Royal Hospital." She said looking cheerful. John just sat there.
"Ok new question. Where on earth are we?" All of the pony's looked at one another. John just looked at all of them.
"We're not on earth, are we?" He said looking defeated. They all shook their head's. John, for the most part, kept his mind together. "Ok just relax." He said calming down his brain which was running a mile a minute. "So what you aren't on earth anymore. Freaking out won't help anyone out. Just stay calm and see if there's a way to get home." With even more willpower than he thought he had, he kept a level head and facial expression. He turned back to the group and smiled.
"Ok, so what is this lovely place called?" He asked looking a little better. Celestia smiled at his determination. "He is very strong willed." She thought.
"You young one are on the planet Equis, in the kingdom of Equestria," Celestia said. John mulled over the information and compared it with his own theories on the matter.
"Ok, so that solves that." He said to himself. He shook his head. Right now he was out of questions. Trying to find a way home seemed impossible now. Not only was he stuck on an alien world with talking ponies but he was in a completely different dimension from his own. He was certain that if Equis was around in his dimension that one of the multitudes of satellites humanity had sent out would have found some trace of it. He was brought out of his melancholy thoughts by something touching his shoulder. He looked up to see Celestia looking down at him with sorrowful eyes.
"Do you know how you came to be here?" She asked. He just shook his head.
"Honestly I have no idea. One minute I was about to race my friend home. The next there was a loud explosion and I fell unconscious. I woke up last night feeling weak and cold and went back to sleep. Then I woke up here." He said giving them all the information he knew. The Princess's just nodded and looked to one another.
"If you don't mind me asking just what are you?" Nurse Bright heart asked. John looked confused for a few seconds. Then he chuckled.
"Oh, yeah, figures." He said looking at them then, to himself. "I'm what's known as a human." He said gesturing to his body. The ponies all looked at him with curiosity. Then Luna piped up.
"Oh. we thought thow was a shaved Diamond Dog." She said. John looked even more confused now.
"A Diamond Dog?" He asked a perplexed frown dawning his face. Celestia sensed his unease and clarified.
"A Diamond Dog is a native species to Equis. They resemble you in body structure but they are covered in this layer of course fur all over their body." Then on a side note, she added.
"They typically live underground and scavenge for gem's, minerals and anything else they can find. They rarely come up to the surface but it's not unheard of for them to do so when desperate for food or loot." She said. John looked curious now.
"So just to get this straight you guy's aren't the only sentient race on this planet?" He asked. All three ponies nodded.
"Yes." Luna piped up.
"We are but one race amongst many that inhabit this world. To the land of the far north there live the Yaks. To the east, the griffin's and dragons dwell. And to the far south on another continent live the zebras. To the west, there are some as of yet unexplored land's but myths and rumors abound about what could lurk there." Luna finished her little zoology lesson. John just stared.
"Dragons? There are dragon's here too?" He asked looking stunned. Celestia sensed his fright.
"Worry not little one. We have an 'understanding' with the dragons. They do not dwell in our land's unchecked and nopony in a long time has been assaulted by one." She said giving john an assuring smile. Celestia looked out the window and held a hoof to her mouth.
"Oh dear, it appears we have overstayed our welcome." She said motioning to Luna who too looked out the window. Her eyes shot open and she scrambled to her hoove's.
"Yes, dear sister you are correct. Come let us take our leave." She said looking a tad bit suspicious. John didn't notice. He was still absorbing all of the information he was given. He lay there thinking about how he was going to get out of this huge pickle he found himself stuck in. As the sister took their leave Celestia turned to the Nurse.
"Nurse, could you be so kind as to let us know when john here has made a full recovery?" She asked giving john a soft smile. He just looked flustered and proceeded to preoccupy himself by eating his now cold food.
"Of course your majesty's. I'll have his check up sent straight to you when he's as fit as a fiddle." She said bowing once more. Celestia nodded and the two royal sister's left the room. The nurse went straight to johns side.
"So let us see about getting you back into your cloth's." She said heading over to a closet set into the wall. John coughed at that as his face flushed a deep red.
Chapter 2: Meet The Apple's.
Equestria, 06, 27, 2012, Canterlot Royal Hospital, 9:27 A.M.
Three whole day's I had to stay in bed and eat some pretty decent food. That was about the only upside to this situation. The worst part was not being able to go outside and interact with any pony? I'd caught bits and pieces of their unique speech from passersby but I still hadn't gotten a good grip on all the local lingo. Right now I was somewhat overjoyed tho so the slang lessons took a backseat.
Today was my last day here. Yes! Nurse Bright Heart gave me a clean bill of health and was in the process of getting me set up with a little something from the Princess's themselves. We had met up the day before to iron out the details. Basically, if I was to go about my new life here in this world I would need some bit's (their form of currency here) for room and board. Princess Celestia declared that I was to be treated as a foreign ambassador which kind of made sense to me but still made me feel uneasy.
Anyway, as I was the one and only representative of my species was to be put under supervision. But the catch was that I was to go to a new place. A quaint little town called Ponyville to lay low for awhile. Apparently, this was supposed to be a sort of trial run to see if I could be excepted and fully integrate into pony society. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I could finally get out into the fresh air and meet new peo- er ponies. Within the hour I was discharged and ready to go. The Princess's had requested that I wait for them to escort me to the train station which I was all too happy to do.so I sat on a bench in the hospital's lobby and read a magazine on the latest culinary dish's.
Streets of Canterlot Same time.
"Sister art thow sure this is the wisest course of action?" Luna asked as she and Celestia made their way to the Hospital. Celestia nodded her head.
"Yes, luna. If what you say is true and this 'John' is indeed connected to Discord like you say then Ponyville is the safest place for him and us." She said as they walked amongst the crowded streets of canterlot. Their way was unimpeded by as every pony scrambled to make way for them as they walked past. As she thought about it this plan of her's made the most sense.
"Yes, dear sister. If he does become a problem the Elements of Harmony will be on hand to stop him. Plus with Twilight and her friends watching over him he should do just fine adjusting to our custom's." Smiling as she thought of one pony in particular that would be thrilled to be friends with Equestria's first alien.
"Yes, Pinkie will throw a party for the history book's when she finds out about this new species." Luna chimed in a smirk on her face.
"May Faust protect him from her wrath," Luna said a tinge of laughter making its way from her mouth. Celestia just chuckled. The two walked in silence for the rest of the trip. When they stepped through the double door's they were greeted with John jumping up from his chair giving them a quick wave. He walked rather briskly up to them and had a happy grin on his face.
"So Lady's shall we depart for part's unknown?" He said flourishing his hand in an exaggerated bow. The Princess's just chuckled at his antic's. Over the past three day's John had become more comfortable with the two and more of his friendly, cheerful personality was coming out as a result.
"Yes." Celestia thought.
"If anything ponyville will do him wander's." She really hoped her sister was wrong about John. It was hard to imagine this peaceful individual being the spawn of pure chaos and madness that Discord embodied. But the protection of her little pony's came first. She wasn't going to jeopardize that for anything in the whole wide world. So her sending John off to Ponyville was definitely the best course of action.
"Sister, shall we get going?" Luna asked snapping Celestia out of her thought's.
"Oh yes. Lets." Celestia said putting on a smile.
With all of his paperwork signed and stored away, John was officially discharged from the hospital and taken into the care of the royal family. The strange trio didn't lack for attention as they made their way to the train station. As soon as they got to the platform the train's door opened up letting its passenger's depart for whatever business they had planned while staying in the grand city. Most of them stopped however when they saw the royal sisters and their strange companion. The sisters were used t it and to his credit, John took it in stride.
If he was bothered by the looks he didn't let it show. Altho his body temperature shot up causing him to sweat profusely. This didn't go unnoticed by the sister's and Celestia made a note to tell Twilight to stalk up on extra deodorant. Finally, the sea of ponies thinned out to a soft trickle and the trio found themselves at the door to the train.
"So this is it huh?" John asked as he turned to the two sisters. They gave him a soft smile. John looked at the train. He had to admit he didn't expect to see anything like this here. He studied the layout of it and jogged it down to memory.
"Yes for now," Celestia said as she to looked at the train. Tho for different reasons. She was a little apprehensive about sending him off on his own. But she had confidence that the protective ward's they placed on his wild spark would hold out until she could get a letter to Twilight explaining more about the situation. As it was she was still tight-lipped about just what had happened. All's her student knew was that she was to expect a royal guest of honor and that she was to house and feed him until he could get on his own two feet. She chuckled at that.
"Hopefully Twilight will have everything ready by the time you arrive," Celestia said trying to break up the tension. John just looked at Celestia.
"Yeah well if she doesn't I could always give her a helping hand." He said flashing a smile. Celestia smiled back. Luna came up to the two waving a piece of paper in her magic hold.
"Here tho are little John." She said handing the paper to him. John took it snickering at the nickname.
"What is so funny?" Luna asked looking confused.
"Oh, nothing Princess just a little something from earth that called." He said unrolling the scroll.
"So what's this?" He asked.
"That is your paper's for safe passage to ponyville. it also will allow you to go about your daily business undisturbed by the general public." Luna said as she sat down on her hanch's. John had noticed several ponies do that and found it amusing. He snickered at the princess but let her continue her explanation.
"Now hear this. That paper will only allow you to go about in a legal manner. If you do anything illegal or otherwise dishonest and unlawful we cannot protect you." She said giving him a stern look. John gulped down his snarkiness and nodded his head.
"Got it, be a model citizen and stay out of trouble. Can do." He said looking back to the train. The whistle suddenly blared out as the conductor came out onto the platform.
"10 o clock train for ponyville is about to depart. All aboard!" He shouted. Very few ponies were heading that way apparently because only a few of those still left on the platform gave him any mind. John fidgeted about for a bit.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye for now." He said looking back to the Princesses. The both had soft smile's plastered on there face's. He was surprised however when he felt something warm and fuzzy on his cheek. He looked on as he felt his face heat up as Luna gave him a soft nuzzle.
"Stay safe little one. We shall not be out of contact for long. Thow forget's we can communicate through your dream's." Luna said as he went back to stand by her sister. Celestia then came up to give him a nuzzle as well.
"Take care little one. May your new life be happy and filled with adventure." Celestia said. When all was said and done John gave them both a soft hug and boarded the train. As the last whistle blew through the air signaling the train departure Celestia looked on.
"I really do hope this is the right course of action. For all our sake's." With her final thought's echoing in her head she and Luna made their way back to their castle.
Ponyville, 11:00 A.M.
Twilight was in full blown panic mode. The library was spotless. The living area was immaculate. The kitchen was pristine. Even the guest's bedroom was in tip top shape. But good old Twilight herself was a nervous wreck.
"Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" She yelled as she went around the whole tree house for the third time with her sixth checklist of the day. Spike meanwhile was sitting at the top of the stairs looking on at the frantic unicorn with mild amusement and annoyance.
"Twilight calm down already. The princess's both said that there was nothing to worry about remember?" He tried to reassure Twilight but she was to caught up in her rambling's and check list's to be coherent at the moment. Sighing Spike looked at the clock on the wall and noticed the time.
"Hey, Twilight?' He said trying to get her attention.
"Twilight?" He repeated. She was still down there worrying her little head off. Spike sighed and shook his head.
"Every single time." He muttered as he went the closet and pulled out a scarf. Even tho he was a dragon and didn't get cold all that often, this particular scarf had a special place in his heart. Mostly because Rarity made it for him. He wrapped the maroon knitted piece of clothing around his neck gave one last check up, she was still running around the tree house making sure everything was perfect, he rolled his eyes and headed out the door. He closed the door and headed off to the train station. Even if he wasn't particularly enthused about a new housemate he didn't want Twilight's panicking to make a bad impression.
11:05 A.M.
"Ok," John said as he departed the train onto the ponyville platform. Instantly he was bombarded by a menagerie of odd looks and soft whispers. His face lit up as he tried to look as non-threatening as possible. His rapidly building embarrassment was taken away by a voice coming from the back of the crowd.
"Has anypony seen a furless Diamond Dog around?" John looked around. when he didn't see one around he suddenly smacked himself in the face. "I'm going to get Princess Luna back for that one day." He muttered under his breath.
"Uh, yeah that furless Diamond Dog would be me." He stated as he waded through the crowd of ponies which was made all the easier as they all gave him a wide berth. Soon he was standing at the end of the platform and looking around for one Twilight Sparkle. When he failed to find the purple colored unicorn in question he began to panic. "Oh man, what if she's scared of me and won't let me stay with her? Then what?" His brain screamed as it went off on a tangent. Said tangent was swiftly interrupted as a voice cut through his train of thought.
"Uh hey, buddy are you the one Princess Celestia was talking about?" John pulled his brain back to reality. He looked around for the voice.
"Down here." It said. Reacting on instinct John looked down. And about promptly had a heart attack.
"Oh, sweet baby Jesus!" He said jumping back from the bipedal reptile that was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance that was becoming commonplace on his face. Spike, for the most part, felt indifferent. He sighed as he waved his hoof.
"Yup, you are definitely the one the princess wanted us to look after." He said he turned around and started to walk back to the through ponyville. John just stared at him. Then his brain clicked.
"Hey, wait! Are you spike?" He asked running to catch up with the baby dragon.
11:15 A.M.
As John walked with Spike a silence wafted through the air. It was beginning to make him uncomfortable. Just as he was about to break the ice tho spike piped up.
"Of course that's it." He exclaimed raising a claw to his face. John was confused.
"Uh, what's it?" He asked. Spike looked up to him.
"Oh sorry about that." He said looking forward once more.
"Well I was trying to figure out how to introduce you to Twilight without having her freak out but that doesn't seem like an option." He said looking glum.
"But then I had an idea." He said perking up a minute later. John was curious now.
"So what's the idea?" He asked.
"What? Oh Yeah! Well, the idea was to introduce you to every other pony first. That way Twilight would have some time to cool down and maybe even relax a little bit. And in return, you get to meet my best friend's." He said looking positively adorable. John couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Spike asked looking perplexed. John just waved.
"Oh don't worry. Your enthusiasm is just a much better welcome than what I was expecting." He said as he fell in line behind the young drake. Spike for the most part just shrugged his shoulders and followed the dirt road to their first destination.
11:30 A.M.
"Welcome to Sweet Apple Acre's," Spike said as he waved a claw to the vast field's of apple tree's that dotted the landscape on both sides of the dirt road.
"Wow, you mean one family own's all of this?" He asked looking at the sea of trees ahead of them. They had been walking for a good fifteen minutes now and for the last ten of those minutes, they were surrounded on all side's by trees. To say he was shocked was an understatement. In fact, he was a little overwhelmed and intimidated by the place. He really hoped the ponies in charge were of a friendly disposition.
"Yup. All of this is owned, harvested and shipped all across Equestria by the Apple Family." He said as his pace sped up a little. John was impressed.
"So how many ponies we talk'in about to take care of all of this?" He asked spying a house up ahead. "Oh thank god, were almost there. My feet could use a rest." He thought as his feet began to protest the walk already.
"Two." He stated in a simple tone. John gawked.
"What!?" He said looking impressed. He looked around at the massive amount of trees.
"You mean to tell me only two ponies take care of all this?" He said not quite believing it. Spike nodded his head.
"Occasionally they get help from their family but they have to come from all over Equestria and that's just not feasible to do every harvest season so they make the most out of who they have." John was astounded. That had to be a nice hard days worth of work.
"Speaking of which." He thought about it. Now that he was recently going to be living here he had to get some kind of job.
"What kind of job could I even do?" He thought about it. His skill set was sparse at best. He had just graduated from High School. He had spent the better part of his four years mostly interested in science and J.R.O.T.C. Now that he was here he doubted either of those would help him out all that much. From what he saw the most advanced piece of equipment they had was a steam powered train. so science was out. J.R.O.T.C. could be somewhat viable if they had a military but he still wasn't even sure if he wanted to go in that direction. John was roused from his musing's by the sound of soft thudding coming from up ahead.
"What is that?" He asked his impromptu tour guide. Spike just snickered.
"Oh, you'll see." He said. As the two continued their jaunt to the farm house on the hill the noise got louder. As the two came to the edge of a brown picketed fence the noise was louder than ever. Now instead of a dull thud, it sounded like a localized thunderstorm was descending upon the orchard. John had to cup his ears so as not to go deaf. He had to shout to be heard over the constant boom of something hitting wood at very high speeds.
"So Spike were;s this friend of your's?" He asked though the deafening sound. Spike just motioned for John to follow him. He obliged following him around to the other side of the barn. As John went around the side he stopped at the sight before him. Standing there in front of him was the most adorable looking animal he had ever seen.
"Oh. My. God." He was too stunned to speak. Instead, he just got down onto his knees and looked at the small pony in front of him. The pony to was looking at him with a sense of wonder. Spike meanwhile was too busy looking for Apple Jack and had gone off on his own.
"Hey, there little fella? Who are you?" He finally found his voice. The pony just looked at him with its head off to the side.
"Are you some kind of diamond dog?" It spoke as well. Johns' face went from a happy smile to a frown.
"Really? Again with the diamond dog thing?" He muttered to himself. His deep thinking had caused john to zone out. While he was stuck for lack of a better word Apple Bloom got up the courage to walk up to the strange creature. As she got closer she saw that he looked more like a shaved diamond dog than anything else. Plus as she got closer she gave him a quick sniff.
"He doesn't smell like one a' them dogs." She thought to herself. When she was just in arms reach of him she stopped and looked at him again. "Wow he's tall." She then began to circle him taking in all of his feature's. His skin was a dark brown tone and his messy hair was a deep shade of black. Other than the cloth's he was wearing and his height there were no other remarkable things about him.
She stopped her circling right in front of him again and sat there looking up at his face. He wore an expression of concentration. Apparently, he was concentrating to the point of not noticing Big Mac approaching behind him. Big Mac for his part stopped and looked at the strange creature with interest. He cocked his head to the side as his eye scanned all of johns feature's and filed them away in his memory. Then he saw Apple Bloom sitting there in front of him and looked between the two.
Apple Bloom gave him a wave and he came over to take a seat next to her. The first thing Big Mac noticed was the creature's height. If he was to stand up he would be at least as tall as Mac himself, seeing as Big Mac was a good 5" tall this creature had a greater height than most ponies around. Suddenly Big Mac saw some sense of recognition in the creature's eye as they lit up and went wide.
"Holy Crap you're huge." It blurted out. Mac just gave it a long look. Then his face softened and he replied with.
"And you're skinny." He said a soft smile drifting across his face. John just stood there for a sec before he gave himself a look over. True, he was as skinny as a twig but he liked to make up for his lack of brawn with an astute brain. Right now, however, he had other things to worry about. He gave the two a soft chuckle as he got up out of the dirt, brushed himself off and stretched out his arm's. Hearing a satisfying 'crack' made him wince for a sec but he quickly regained his composure and waved a hand to Mac and Apple Bloom.
"So I guess you two live here?" Asked. They both just gave him a nod and he starred off into the distance. He noticed the sound had stopped and he was thankful. Now that he had minny rest and got his brain back on track after his little zone out with the tiny pony, he made a note to get the two's name's, he looked around for spike.
"Hey have you two seen spike around?" He asked looking all over for the baby dragon. Big Mac just shrugged his shoulder's.
"Nope." He said in a deep southern voice. It made John pause upon hearing it.
"Huh, so they have different dialects of speech just like back on earth. Interesting." He mused.
As he continued to look around he felt a soft tugging on his pant leg. He looked down to see Apple Bloom pointing to the other end of the barn. He looked over there and saw Spike chatting with another pony. As he thought about it, he began to notice something that his brain had trouble processing. The stallion was big and red. The little kid was small and yellow. The pony Spike was talking to was a soft orange.
"Yup this place is definitely weird." He thought to himself. He looked back down at the kid.
"Thank's?' He said making motion wit his hand. The little filly got the hint and perked up.
"I'm Apple Bloom," she said excited to meet somepony new. She then motioned to the big red stallion.
"And this is Big Macintosh." She said as she trotted up to Big Mac. He bent down onto his stomach and she hopped onto his back. He got up with her staying very well balanced as he began to walk over to the orange mare. John just looked at the two, smiled and followed close behind.
11:45 A.M.
"So let me get this straight." Apple Jack said as she sat near the barn talking to Spike.
"Twi's done worked herself into a tizzy over this new ambassador that's supposed to be stay'in over at her place even tho she hasn't seen him yet?" She asked trying, to sum up, what spike had spent the better part of 10 minutes explaining. He just nodded.
"So ya'll decide it would be best to let him go and see the sight's around town?" She asked. Once again she got a confirmation.
"But first I wanted to introduce him to you and the rest of the girl's. You know sort of break the ice and let him ease into being here." He said looking to the side of the barn when Big Mac emerged from behind it. He was surprised to see john walking alongside them and the two seemed to be chatting like they were old friends.
"Well, would you look at that." He said smiling as Apple Jack looked over to her brother. She was shocked to see just how tall this creature was. He a good 5 inch's taller than her brother and he himself was a good 5 feet tall. Still tho he didn't give off a bad vibe. In fact, if AJ just went off of what she was seeing right now he was a good seed to be sure. It took a certain someone to get Big Mac talking like he was. So she relaxed her poster and went to go greet the newest member of Ponyville.
As she got closer she heard a little bit of their conversation.
"So a cutie mark is what you get when you find out what your good at?" John asked as Apple Bloom shook her head.
"Yup! Me and my friends are going out later today to go and find our's!" She excitedly bounced atop her brother's back. He took it in stride and gave AJ a soft smile. As she got closer john's gaze went from Apple Bloom to her. His eyes caught her off guard a little. They were a soft hazel color almost the color of lightning if she had to describe them. He gave her a pleasant smile and extended his hoof? She looked at his appendage and then over to spike. "So he's some kind of bipedal." She smiled as he took her outstretched hoof and gently shook it.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Apple Jack." AJ just chuckled. "Well at least Rarity will love his manner's." She rolled hr eyes.
"Now now no need to get all formal on me, Mr." She said sweeping her stetson off her head and fanning herself with it. John just chuckled.
"John. My name is john." He said looking to the small house off to the left. AJ saw where he was looking and cleared her throat.
"Boy worked up a real hankering with all that apple bucking." She said as she got through and placed her hat upon her head. She looked over to Spike.
"Say Spike would you and your friend here like to stay for a nice brunch?" she asked looking over to Spike. He looked over to John who gave him a shrug. Spike's eye's widened as he looked up to the sky.
"Uh sorry AJ but it's almost noon. We have to make the round's then get back to Twilight's before nightfall." He said as he waved a claw over to John who just sighed and went over to him.
"Yeah sorry AJ." He said using her nickname. She just smiled. "But spike is right. I'm under strict order's from both Princess's to remain out of ponyville's hair so I just want to get a feel for the town today." He said giving them all happy grin. Then he thought about it.
"But maybe next time when I can get a little more freedom." He said giving her a wink. She just chuckled as he and spike walked back down the dirt path.
"Well don't be a stranger John. Any friend o' Twilights is a friend o' mine." she said giving the two a wave. They both waved back and before long they were off down the road and out of sight.
"Well, he seemed like a nice stallion." Came a voice from behind the three siblings. They all turned around to see Granny Smith sitting on the porch smiling at them all.
"Granny?" AJ asked. "How long have you been sitting there?" Granny gave it some thought.
"Oh about a good half an hour or so." She said looking off into the distance. The three of them all gave each other puzzled look's and just shrugged.
"Welp, come on y'all. we got some brunch to fix up." AJ said as she lead the way back into their little abode.
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Chapter 3: Rainbows, Butterflies, and Party Supplies.
Ponyville, 12:00 P.M.
The walk back to ponyville was uneventful. John and Spike talked about how there live had been up till now. Turns out that just the day before Spike and his friends were celebrating the defeat of a villain. Discord had gotten loose and wreaked havoc on the poor town. Eventually, he was resealed in his stone prison thanks to Twilight and company. John meanwhile was contemplating something.
"So from what I can gather, I got here just a few hours after discord was defeated." He said looking deep in thought. He was so in thought that he didn't notice somepony was walking towards him also lost in thought. The two bumped into each other and landed on the ground. John lay there on the ground for awhile as he held onto his stomach. He opened his eye's to see if the other person was ok. His eyes landed on a pale yellow pegasus with a soft pink mane. She looked a lot better off than he felt at the moment.
"Excuse me Ms. Are you ok?" He wheezed out as he got into a sitting position. The Pegasus sat there for awhile before looking up see how the other person was doing.
"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. I was lost in thought about what to do about--" Her voice trailed off as she got a good look at who or rather what she had knocked over. Her eyes went wide and she zipped over to see if the strange creature she had hit was ok.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" she repeated as she began to look over john's body checking him for any scrapes and bruises. John just sat there as he was tended to. He felt awkward, to say the least. Getting a doctor check up was one thing. But getting a full blown examination from a pony he just met was a new experience.
"Um excuse me Mr?" John just chuckled.
"John." He said extending his hand. "And you are?" He asked. Fluttershy looked at his furless appendage and then looked to spike. He shook his head and she took his hand in her hoof and gave a soft shake.
"My name is Fluttershy," she said a bit timidly as she studied the skeletal structure of john's hand.
"Once again I'm sorry for running into you." John just stood there admiring Fluttershy's coat and mane paring. It was a soothing mix, to say the least.
"It's fine. I wasn't exactly paying attention to where I was going either." As the talked, Spike cleared his throat.
"Hey Fluttershy not to interrupt but you wouldn't happen to know were Rainbow, Pinky and Rarity are would you?" He asked. Fluttershy thought about it.
"Um well last I saw Rainbow was still teaching some new weather ponies the in's and out's of weather duty. Pinky was heading over to sugar cube corner talking about throwing a party. And Rarity was in her shop working on some new order's." She said listing the things off.
12:05 P.M.
Sugar Cube Corner.
Mr. and Ms. Cake were unsure of what to do. For the past half an hour they had heard crazy laughter coming from the kitchen and both were too afraid to go in and ask. So they both sat outside at the front counter taking orders. Somehow Pinky was able to keep up with, well whatever she was doing in there and the normal order's that were coming in so they left her to whatever crazy device's she had at the moment.
Ponyville Weather Station.
"Come on Hot Shot you can do better than that!" Rainbow yelled as Hot Shot completed his 50th lap around the track. He meanwhile was panting furiously.
"Wh-what -i-is t-t-the -point- of this?" He said gasping for air with each word as he dragged himself to the finish line.
"I've told you already this is to help build up your endurance. If we have to catch an out of control storm one day were gonna have to give it everything we've got to make sure it cause the least amount of damage possible." She said bringing Hot Shot a bottle of water. "Here drink all of this and take a fifteen-minute break. Next is wing up's" She said. Hot Shot just groaned and flopped over in the grass.
Carousel Boutique.
Rarity was hard at work on a one of kind dress from a special customer. She hadn't met the client but she was very specific on the style, patterns and color's to be used in its construction. She had just gotten done making the outline of the outfit. The dress itself was a simple one. It was a one piece made of soft red velvet fabric with a nice gold trim. The client had also asked for several bracelets made of silver with simple Ruby stones set into it for decoration. She worked diligently to perfect her client's
order and to ensure that she was not to be disturbed she had placed a noise dampening spell all over her room.
12:10 P.M.
Back in the street.
John, Spike, and Fluttershy had decided to head over to Sugar Cube Corner to check up on Pinky. Spike had explained how Rarity gets so engrossed in her work and Rainbow Dash was working right now. So the group got to talking as they walked and John had told Fluttershy all about how he got here, minus some details the Princess's had told him to keep secret. All in all, he liked talking to Fluttershy. She was calm collected and a really kind individual.
"So John how do you like it here so far?" Fluttershy asked. He thought about it.
"Well I've only been here a couple of hours but I love it here already. Thre's so mutch to do and see. Plus everyone is so nice and friendly." He said looking at everything along the way. Some ponies even stopped and waved. He waved back and got a few smiles. The atmosphere was so jubilant that john had little worries in the way of making friends. Then he heard a strange sound.
"Hey, you guys never said anything about having jet's?" He said as he looked around for the source of the aftermentioned noise.
"Uh, what's a jet?" Spike asked as he looked up at John. John looked back to him.
"You know it's a giant flying machine made of metal that kind of look's li-" His sentence was cut off however as the noise got louder. This time when he looked up he was speechless. Flying in their direction was what looked like a prismatic missile. Fluttershy gave the object a wave and it turned towards them.
"Um, Fluttershy is it really a good idea to get the missile's attention?" John asked as he backed up a little looking ready to run if need be. Fluttershy just giggled.
"Oh silly that's not a missile. That's our friend Rainbow Dash." She said still just as calm as ever. John was somewhat skeptical that the wild blur coming at them at a what he believed was a good mach 2 or more was a living creature but given his situation what he was and wasn't willing to believe at this point was wearing thin. The pony John guessed was getting closer by the second and a good ten seconds later was right on top of them. They stopped at a blazingly fast pace flared open there wing's and glided the rest of the way down to earth. John had to watch this one as she, he was getting better at distinguishing male from female now, came to a stop right in front of them.
"Sup everypony?" She asked as she trotted up to the group. As she neared she gave Fluttershy and Spike a soft smile. then her eye's settled on John.
"Wow Flutter's who's the Dog?" she said looking at John with mild curiosity. He was a little irked but hid it and put on a smile.
"The name's John." He said as he extended his hand. Rainbow gave him a look of surprise.
"Wow, dude. You speech equestrian?" She said her wings flaring in surprise as her eyes expanded to match. John just laughed.
"Yes, yes I do. So you must be Rainbow Dash?" He said taking a wild guess as he looked at her coat and mane colors. He began to notice a pattern here.
"Hey Rainbow! Wait up!" Came a loud shout from behind all of them. Rainbow just grumbled as she looked back.
"Hurry it up Hot Shot!" She yelled back. John looked beyond Rainbow and saw a red and yellow speck on the horizon.
"Oh my who's that?" Fluttershy asked as she tried to hide behind her mane. John looked at her and tried not to laugh and cry from just how cute she was being right now. He bent down and gave her a soft pat on the back. She looked up at him for all of five seconds before she sighed and leaned into his hand. He just smiled. Rainbow turned back to john.
"So we're you from?" she asked as she sat down. John just looked around decided to say screw it and plopped down on the dirt road as well while they waited for Rainbows friend.
"Well I'm from," John told her the whole story again minus a few details. Rainbow sat there and listened.
"And then the Princess's sent me on the next train to here." When he was finished Rainbow sat there for a second.
"So let me get this straight. Your some kind of interdimensional space alien that somehow ended up here with no prior warning or reason?" She said looking at him with a skeptical gaze. He nodded his head. She just looked from him to Spike. He gave her a nod.
"Well ok." She said still looking a little lost. "If the Princess's can trust you then so can i. Just don't cause any trouble while you're here." She warned giving him a soft glare. He in return gave her a mock salute.
"Yes, Ma'am!" He said laughing as he did so. Rainbow couldn't keep a smile from forming on her face. Just then Rainbows friend caught up with them. John gave him a concerned look.
"Hey, buddy you ok?" He said reaching out to the stallion. Hot Shot just stood there panting as he caught his breath and glared at the ground. He just waved the new voice off.
"Oh no, I'm just fine you know. I just need to catch my breath and probably go throw up somewhere." He said as his feet began to wobble.
"Wow, there big guy," John said as he caught Hot Shot who finally gave in to his overworked body. John was surprised at how light he was. He couldn't have been more than a hundred pounds. Which was saying something. John hoisted Hot Shot up and held him close to his chest as he looked over to the group. They stared as he hooked his arm's underneath Hot Shot's flank and set the upper half of his body over his shoulder.
"Ok, so where do we take this guy?" He said as Hot Shot groaned. Rainbow and Spike were on the verge of laughing and Fluttershy looked concerned.
"Oh my we better get him over to Sugar Cube Corner quickly." She said as she spun around and lead the way.
12:20 P.M. Sugar Cube Corner.
John was getting a lot of stares what with a full grown stallion slung over his shoulder and all but he mostly ignored them and kept on following Fluttershy. For one so timid she could take charge of a situation when she needed to. Finally, after a good ten minutes of walking, they came across a building that looked like it belonged in a little kid's fairy tale. John thought about that and where they were. "Yeah this whole place reminds me of a little kids fairy tale." He thought. As they got closer John was surely tempted to try and take a bite out of the building itself. He wrangled his thoughts in however as soon as they entered the building.
Row upon row of every kind of pastry, dessert, cake, and other surgery confection's imaginable lined the walls of the shop. John had to hold on tight to Hot Shot so he didn't just drop the poor guy and go look at all the tasty treats.
"Oh my god. I'm going to need a diabetes shot after just walking in here." He said. As he scanned the shop his eyes settled on two ponies sitting behind a checkout counter.
"Hello, deary's how may we help you?" The wide blue one asked in a sweet voice. John just stood there and pointed to Hot Shot.
"Oh dear, what happened to him?" She asked. At that, the whole group looked to Rainbow Dash. She just rolled her eyes.
"The doofus ran himself ragged that's what happened." She said as she went over to the counter. John followed as Hot Shot began to stir at the smell of so much food. When he came to he looked around.
"Huh. where am I?" He asked. Them he felt himself up off the ground. Then he felt something warm holding him like he was a foal. He craned his head over and came face to face with John.
"Heya." He said giving Hot Shot a smile. Hot Shot's face lit up and he instinctively wiggled about trying to get loose from Johns grip. John, for the most part, tried to hang onto the squirming stallion.
"Wow hold on there buddy. You nearly fainted a little while ago." He said. At that Hot Shot stopped his wiggling and just sat there. Finally, he huffed and laid his head back on John's shoulder.
"Fine. But you better not try anything funny," he warned. Then he thought about it.
"Hey what's your name anyway?"
"My name is john." There was a huge crashing noise from the back of the building and an instant later a pink blur came zipping out the back and nearly ran into John.
"HUH!! OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH! ITSYOU! YOURFINALLYHERE! OH, I HAVE SO MUCH PLANNED!! ITS GOING TO BE A SUPER AWSOME ULTRA AMAZING PARTY!" John just stood there trying to keep his balance as Hot Shot Tried to crawl further up John's chest to get away from the crazy pink mare that was assaulting them with her voice. John meanwhile was trying to not lose his balance or his hearing. The pink mare's ranting was cut short, however.
"Pinky!" Rainbow Shouted.
"Yes, Dashy?" She said in normal, not shouting and not run on sentence inducing voice. Rainbow gave Pinky an annoyed look.
"Pink's could you please tone it down a notch. Now as you can see we have two new Visiter's today." She said pointing a hoof to John and Hot Shot. They both gave her a nod. Pinky just Smiled and waved excitedly at the two.
"Now Pinky could you go on ahead and get something for our new friends here. "Don't worry about paying. I got this." She said turning to the two male's waving off their protest's. They both gave Dash a sour look to which she just stuck her tongue out at them. As she set the small gold coins down on the counter John stood there looking.
"Wow, you guy's use gold?" He asked. Spike nodded his head.
"Yup. It's one of our most abundant metal's around." He said as he and the rest of the group found a booth big enough to fit all of them. Fluttershy and Dash got on one side, while John got on the other and sat Hot Shot down next to him. Spike was having trouble getting up until John leaned down.
"Come here you." He said as he hoisted Spike up and sat him down next to him. Spike just laughed and took a seat. A little while later Pinky had gotten all of their food and brought it over to their table.
"All righty. So I'm Pinky Pie and I'll be your server for today." Pinky said as she came over to our table wearing a pair of roller skates. John was fascinated as she glided around the store on two hooves. How she kept her balance was a question he wanted to find an answer to. Fluttershy, Rainbow, Spike and Hot Shot all ordered a simple cupcake. John was looking through the menu for something less sweet.
"Um, Pinky do you guy's happen to sell something not coated in sugar?" He asked. Pinky gasped, Spike laughed, Rainbow rolled her eyes, Hot Shot grumbled as he ravenously munched on his cupcake and Fluttershy just sat there as calm as ever. Once Pinky got her hyperventilating under control she gave John a skeptical look.
"So you want something less sugary?" John just laughed.
"If it's not to much trouble?" He said a smile on his face. Pinky just looked a little lost as she literally racked her brain trying to think up something the store had that didn't have sugar in it. As Pinky's brain began to reboot Spike and everyponie else burst into conversation. John got through the whole menu and when he couldn't find anything worth eating set it down on the table and then preoccupied himself with finally taking in his situation.
"How has my life come to this? Me of all people being sucked into a world full of talking ponies. How sad is that? I'd better be able to get home. But first, I should at least enjoy myself while I'm here." "Hey, You ok?" The voice startled John for a sec. He dragged himself back to the present and saw the group looking at him. He just smiled.
"Yeah, guys. I'm fine. Just lost in thought is all." They all gave him a nod and went back to their conversation. John just sat there and thought about his place in this new world.
Chapter 4: The Dress Maker's Dilemma.
12:30 Ponyville Town Square.
After a good ten minutes of talking and just enjoying the company of other's John and Spike had to bid their friends goodbye. They still had one more friend for John to meet.
"Trust me you'll love Rarity. She's an angle." Spike said as he walked along. John had to smile and laugh internally. He could see that Spike really liked Rarity. He could remember when he was like that. Although he didn't put much stock in romance he could tell that the little guy was infatuated with Rarity. He was really eager to meet her just to see what she was like.
Spike continued to sing Rarity's praises as he took John back through town. John was still looking at everything with wonder in his eye's. "Just how could these little guy's make all this?" As he thought about it, he looked around. The ponies here were pretty small compared to him. He was only 5"5' and was about as tall as Big Mac but then every other pony he had seen was only about 3-4 feet tall.
The more he thought about it the only ponies he had met that were taller than him were the Princesses. "Huh. I wonder why that it?"
"And we're here," Spike said grabbing John's attention. "Huh, what?" John said as Spike knocked on the door of yet another strange looking building. "Who designs these thing's?" He and Spike waited for a little while before the door was opened.
"Good morning and welcome to Carousel Boutique. Where everything is unique, sleek, and magnif--" The alabaster pony that opened the door had stopped mid sentence as she got a good look at who was at her door. She stared up at John with a look of confusion. Then realization. Then horror.
"OH SWEET CELESTIA!" She said slamming the door on them both. Then she must have thought about what she had done because a split second later the door opened one more.
"Oh spikypoo!" She yelled as she grabbed him and dragged him into the store with her, leaving John outside.
"Um Hello?" He said looking lost.
12:40, Inside Carousel Boutique.
"Oh dear. That was just dreadful. To think that those 'beast's' almost got their filthy claws on you spike!" Rarity said as she pranced about the store locking every conceivable way into and out of the boutique. Spike meanwhile got over his infatuation long enough notice that somepony was missing. He shook the goofy grin off of his face and looked around.
"Um, where's John?" He asked looking over to Rarity. She, in turn, stopped trying to shove a huge table up against the door and looked back to Spike.
"Spike, who is this John you speak of?" Rarity asked. Spike just laughed and pointed his thumb at the door. Rarity thought about it.
"Spike, you don't mean that thing outside?" She said shuddering as she remembered her time down in the mines.
"Don't worry Rarity. He's not even a diamond dog." Spike said as he went to go open the door. Rarity began to have second thoughts but it was too late as Spike had already opened the door. John was still outside But now he was looking a bit peeved as he stood there tapping his foot on the ground. As soon as he saw the door open he let his disapproval be known.
"Ok look I know I 'look' like one of those diamond dog's but I can firmly attest to the fact that I'm not one of them." He said straining to keep his voice calm. Rarity looked about avoiding John's gaze. Spike just grumbled.
"Oh, will you two stop it all ready!" He shouted getting their attention.
"But Spiky!" Rarity whined. Spike held up a claw cutting her off.
"Look both of you have good reason's for acting they way you are but that doesn't mean you two have to behave like children." He said looking between the two. Now they both looked sheepish. John looked solemn as he thought about it. Rarity looked confused. John huffed in annoyance.
"Hey, Rarity." He said giving her a timid smile. "I would like to apologize for being so rude," She looked over to him with a smile of her own.
"Yes well, I to would like to say I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions." She said extending a hoof. John looked at it and a devious grin spread across his face. He accepted her hoof and began to formulate his little joke.
"My dear lady Rarity you are forgiven." He said as he gave her hoof a tender kiss. Her face lit up as her blush spread from her head to her hooves.
"Oh, um, well, I, don't," Rarity continued to stammer as she tried to think of something to say. John kept his straight face for only so long. He burst into laughter as Rarity just sat there. Her embarrassed grimace turned into a scowl as she narrowed her eye's.
"Oh, the audacity. A proper Gentalcolt does not toy with a mare's affection as such." She said as she huffed and turned back to her work. Spike just slapped his face.
"Why do I always find the childish one's." He said as he gave John a grin. One that John returned as he to entered the shop.
1:00 P.M. Ponyville Party Supply.
Pinky was ecstatic. Not was there 1 new pony in town, there were actually 2! She was going to have a field day planning out both parties! Sadly she only had a few hour's left before she could send out all the invitations. After all, the party was supposed to be at 6 o clock sharp and she would not be late for her own party! Pinky zoomed throughout the store gathering everything she would need for the night's festivities. "Oh, this is going to be the most super awesome amazing party ever!" She shouted.
Carousel Boutique.
"So Spike dear what pray tell has our beloved Twilight been up to today?" Rarity asked as she went back to her business. John with mild fascination as she levitated her tools to and fro about the store. Spike thought about it.
"Well, I don't quite know how she's been. I've been giving John here the grand tour of ponyville all day today. Taking him out to meet our friend's." Rarity looked from Spike to John who just gave her a wave. Then she shook her head.
"Well, I guess I could give you the grand tour." She said looking over to John. He smiled as he began to follow her all around the store.
"This is my workstation." Rarity pointed out as she made her way over to a simple wooden desk, one that had various fabric's, needle's, thread's and other odd's and end's strewn about in disarray. John had to admit, the sight reminded him of his home ec class in high school. For his last year, he was required to have a full schedule. So he chose the one thing he could stand, plus it helped that his mom was an excellent seamstress in her own right. While he enjoyed the class, he even got to participate in a fashion show, he would have liked something more active. His attention was brought back to the present by Rarity clearing her throat.
"Ah, hem. Done walking down memory lane dear?" She said looking a bit perturbed. John just stood there looking sheepish.
"Sorry Rarity. I had a little flashback to school." He said rubbing his head looking nervous. Rarity softened her gaze and waved her hoof. While she hated being ignored she could understand his reasons.
"Ah yes. To be young again and out on your own. Just you against the world." she said looking a little nostalgic herself. She quickly shook her head getting herself back on track.
"Now where were we?" She asked looking back to her sewing table.
"Oh, you were just about to explain how to thread the machine so as not to jam it!" Spike said the excitement in his voice causing John to giggle under his breath. "He really hang's onto everything she say's. I wonder if she even realize's her influence on him?"
One quirk of John's was recognizing the one thing he had never really had, Love. He could see it in others for others. But he never really had anyone who seemed to love him. Honestly, it depressed him sometime's. But then seeing the happy couple was more than enough to counteract any dought's he had about himself.
He felt like he had never really met the right person. Now, however, he was more than certain that his chances of meeting 'the one' was shot all to hell and back. Now he was stuck in a land of talking eqiunes. So 'romance' of any kind was out the window. "Man wish I had someone who looked at me like that." His thought's were once again interrupted, this time by a nudge to his side.
"Hey dude you ok?" John looked down to see spike giving him a concerned look.
"Huh, Oh! Yes, spike. I'm fine." He said trying to cover up his sadness with a fake smile. It worked because Spike then went back to intently listening to every little thing Rarity said. John's body must have been on auto-pilot because they were now in the middle of Rarity's shop examining all of her ware's.
"Now that you two have had the grand tour what do you think?" Rarity said as she made her way over to her kitchen. She then came back a few second's later with a tray of tea. She then lead them over to one of the many coaches's that adorned one side of the shop. John was lost in thought. He mostly zoned out for the most part but looking around he began to notice all the little thing's that made the place feel more like home.
"Well, Rarity I have to say I'm impressed. It would have taken someone back home year's to do all of this." He said as he waved a hand over the vast sea of clothing that was on display in the shop.
"The fact that you do all of this on your own is what really impress's me. All in all, i think you have a fine business here and I would very much like to count myself amongst your future customer's," he said. Rarity was momentarily speechless at that grand statement but soon composed herself.
"Well thank you, John, for your honest words. I really do appreciate the outside perspective you bring to thing's and I'm deeply grateful for your opinion." She said as she took a sip of her tea. John did the same as spike all but drained his cup in an instant. "Huh, I guess he doesn't need to wait for it to cool off." As john finished his tea he asked Rarity for the time.
"The time dear?" She said as she spied a clock hanging on one of her wall's.
"Well, my dear's it appear's to be around 3 o' clock." She said as she to finished her tea. "3. Wow time flies." Spike then sat bolt upright.
"Oh, horse apple's!" He screamed as he grabbed John and attempted to sprint out the door. All's he ended up doing was dragging John across the floor as he hauled tale to get out of there.
"So sorry to eat and run Rarity but we have to get over to Twilights! See you later at the party now bye!" Spike said as he ran out the door with John in tow. She snickered as she waved goodbye to the two.
"See you later Spiky wiky." She said as she gentily closed the door.