A Different World

The spa, to say the least, was impressive. Marble floors, a steam room, hot tub, massage tables, mud baths (do those things really work), and plenty of other things I could in no way recognize.

After my guard had escorted me to said spa, an attendant greeted me and led me to the steam room where a surprse was waitng for me. I was so taken from what I saw that I had to be pushed into the room by the guards and more spa attendants, as I had frozen up.

Where they slid me, the floor was wet so it wasn't that hard, only made it worse.

On either side of me was Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, as well as six other ponies of various colors. Which wouldn't be bad, if it weren't for the fact that they were all in their birthday suits.

I was so going native, whether I liked it or not.

"So nice of you to join us, Selfen Surt," Celestia smiled as she stroked my neck gentely. "My, you're so tense. Are you scared of something? Luna assured me you had no nightmares."

That snapped me out of it. "What? How could she know?"

The other mares in the room all gasped and began whispering amongst themselves. I ignored them.

Looking at Luna, she smiled. My eyes were quickly drawn down a short ways. She didn't seem to mind. "I can travel the dreamscapes. Don't you remember our conversation?"

I looked back up at her face, and stared for the longest time. She wasn't serious was she? What goes on inside my head is sacred. I spoke carefully. "I can't recall what I dreamed. Please, refresh my memory."

"Well, upon entering your dream, I detected you were feeling some mild distress," Luna said as she sat back on the bench. "I used a spell to calm your mind, and then found you, transformed, lounging upon a strange metal monument."

Okay, I was starting to remember a few things.

"The place you were in was a desulote wasteland of sand, you said it was your home." Luna gave me a sympathetic look. "You also said that it used to be beautiful."

"My home?" I asked myself, thinking back. It was a rather barren wastlenad these days. I had made sure of that. So, it was legit, she could look inside my head. But, then, none of this was real, right?

I just had this stupid feeling.

"I confronted you, and, I apologize, I accused you of deceaving us." She did look sorry, casting her eyes down at the floor in shame. "But, you were open and honest with me, Selfen. You weren't afriad of what I might think of you."

"She told us that you said you were from a different world," a voice piped up, prompting me to turn and see a purple pony. Like Celstia and Luna, she had both wings and a horn. "Is that true? Are you from a serperate planet? or an alernate universe? or perhaps an entirely different dimension?"

"Yes, yes, and yes," I quickly told her. Hey, it was as good an answer as any. Again, My eyes were drawn downwards. Damn, it's been a long time. She didn't seem to mind either. Then again, she seemed more like the type who wanted to dissect me in the name of knowledge.

"Is it also true that the males of your world speak and stand upright." Her mouth was going a mile a minute. I answered to the affirmative. She seemed ecstatic. Her horn lit up and notebook appeared in her hands, along with a quill and bottle of ink.

"Whiskey - tango - foxtrot!" I yelped and practically leapt across the room in shock. My wings flaring out involuntarily. I stared at the purple pony in amazement. What had just happened?

They all became bewildered at my actions, a couple of them, specifically a white one and a cute yellow one, took a step back. The purple one didn't even seem to notice as she jotted down notes in the book. Celestia was holding her palms out in a disarming gesture, same as Captain Ivy had done when she found me.

The others just seems to be waiting to see what would happen next.

"Twilight," Luna chided, the purple one. "For a filly who claims to be so smart, how can you be so dumb?"

"Huh? What?" Twilight asked, looking up from her book. "Hey, where'd he go?"

Wow. What an egghead. A nuke could go off next to her and she would wouldn't even bat an eye. Well, she'd be vaporized before she knew what was going on anyway. But you get the idea.

Celestia turned to the pony, who I now knew was named Twilight. "You frightened him, Twilight. Put that book away, there will be time for that later."

"But... but...," Twilight sputtered, but a glare from the white princess subdued her. "Yes, Celestia. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to him," Celestia told her, pointing in my direction.

I watched as Twilight swiftly stepped up in front of me, head bowed. "I'm sorry for scaring you, sir. I promise I'll try to control myself in the future."

Not knowing what else to do, I reached out a hoof and patted her on the head. "Ah, no need for that. Stuff like that doesn't happen where I'm from. You can't just materialize a book out of nowhere and not expect some sort of reaction."

"Ha, big tough guy's scared of a little magic, is he?" asked another one of the mares, this one blue with a rainbow mane and tail. She had a cocky air about her, and a tomboyish glint in her eyes. Which, I supposed, helped make up for the fact she was noticeably shorter than the rest of the assembled mares. At least she could claim the biggest bust in the room.

"We don't exactly have magic where I come from," I responded with a snort. "Well, nothing like what I just saw. It's mostly just smoke and mirrors, not pulling stuff out of thin air."

The mare rolled her eyes. "Yeah-yeah. Excuses and more excuses."

Was she serious? I tilted my head. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

She started. "W-what? N-no. Er, that is, I mean." She was bad at recovering. "I'm sizing you up, pal. Maybe everyone else is fascinated by you, but I don't believe for one minute that a stallion could really ever talk. You're probably a changeling spy or something. Maybe even an advanced golem. I'm onto you, buster."

"I don't even know what half those things are, short stack," I snorted. She took offense to that.

"Short stack?" she cried, balling her hands into fists. "Why, I oughta..."

She was quickly wrapped and a blue field of light and yanked back and forced to sit on the bench beside Luna, whose horn glowed the same color. Interesting. I'll be remembering that. Luna gave the short mare a glare and shake of her head.

"That was most uncalled for, Rainbow Dash," the princess scolded her.

Rainbow Dash harrumphed and crossed her arms in front of her chest sourly. "Yeah. Let's punish the mare trying to keep everyone safe."

"He ain't lying about anything," an orange mare spoke up, glaring at Rainbow Dash, as were a couple others. This didn't seem to placate the sour mare.

The orange one turned to address me. "I'm mighty sorry about our friend. She tends to be a hothead, but is really a sweet filly when you get to know her."

"Am not," the mare in question protested. "Don't tell him that, Applejack."

Applejack shook her head and grinned. "Or else what, sugarcube?"

Wait. Wasn't her name Rainbow Dash?

"Anyway, I think introduction are long overdue," Applejack said after clearing her throat. "The name's applejack, partner. You've Met Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash."

So her name was Rainbow Dash. Right?

She then turned to the other two ponies. "And these here are Fluttershy..."

The yellow one blushed and hid behind her mane shyly. Wow. Her color pattern was so soft and easy on the eyes. I kind of felt the desire to cuddle her like a teddy bear. Not that I ever cuddled with teddy bears. Honest.

"And I'm Rarity, darling," the white one with the purple mane cut Applejack off. She eyed me in what I could only describe as hunger. Despite the fact I was towering over her and probably outweighed her by a few hundred pounds, I still felt a bit nervous. "My goodness, I can only imagine the grocery bills."

A laughed a bit. "A pleasure to meet you Rarity."

She blushed and waggled her fingers at me in a sultry fashion.

"And greetings Applejack."

She tipped her hat at me. What kind of person wears a hat in a steam bath? Moving on.

"I won't bite, Fluttershy."

Egad, I think she looked disappointed. Don't think - don't think. Move on.

"I hope we get to know each other better in the future, Rainbow Dash."

She just rolled her eyes and looked to the side.

"I look forward to telling you all about my world, Twilight."

She clapped her hands and tittered excitedly.

"So, that everyone?" I asked.

Applejack scratched her head. "No. Pinkie Pie? Where'd you get off to?"

"Where the good stuffs at," a voice from behind startled me.

I whipped around to see an excessively pink happy mare sitting cross-legged on the floor. Something felt familiar about her.

"What were you doing?" I asked suspiciously.

"Same thing they're all doing now," Pinkie pointed with a grin.

I turned to see where she was pointed. All the mares seemed to be examining my backside. Rarity and Rainbow Dash's mouths hung open, and they were drooling. Yipes. The rest were just blushing. But, what really caught my attention was the fact that Pinkie was sitting on the bench next to Rainbow Dash. How had she moved so fast?

I turned so that my proper end faced them and sat down. I couldn't help but blush myself and apologize. "Ahem. Sorry about that."

"About what?" Fluttershy asked. Breaking her silence for the first time. Was she panting?