The Castle

The three humans stood at the entrance of Twilight's castle, looking at the massive interior while the Princess of Friendship and her apprentice welcomed them. They were dumbfounded. The castle was gigantic. The ceilings were high, the hallways were long, and the rooms were spacious. Just being in the doorway was a little overwhelming to them. Living in a castle was nothing more than a fantasy to the teens less than a day ago, and now they were going to be in one in a different universe with two ponies and a baby dragon.

The looks of awe and wonder on the faces of the new residents of Ponyville put a small smile on Twilight's face. Starlight chuckled a little. Watching the humans made Twilight realize that they still had their bags on their backs. She compared the ones on their backs with their saddlebags taking a mental note to ask about that later. For now, however, it was rude to have them just standing there with their bags.

"You three should put your bags down. Starlight and I can put them in your room while you get accustomed to your new home," Twilight said. The new castle guests smiled and set down their bookbags and laptop bags next to them; a purple glow quickly engulfed the bags a second later. The bags lifted into the air, and Twilight walked off with Starlight. "We can give you a tour of the castle after we rest a little. You can explore, but try not to get lost," Twilight said.

The humans didn't get lost entirely. Cameron led the way, taking seemingly random turns and moving through rooms and they got to a dead-end, Cameron retraced their steps and only got a little confused on the way back. His friends didn't help much, second-guessing and questioning where they were what they brought to the table. They eventually got back to the main foyer after taking several wrong turns and slight detours due to curiosity.

Spike was waiting for the three to get back. He was a little unsure of himself, having to lead the three humans around the castle for their tour, alone. Spike was one for a bit of small talk now and again, with both strangers and friends, but he didn't know how to approach them. The only humans Spike had talked to were his friends' counterparts and Sunset Shimmer. He's never had any other conversations with humans. He knew he would have to get over that for the tour because he had no help at that moment. Twilight was already working on her assignment given by Princess Celestia, and once she starts, it's hard for her to stop. He would ask Starlight for help, but she's taking a nap. It was all up to Spike to lead the way with creatures that were two to three times his height. No big deal. They seemed pretty nice, just not to each other, but that didn't matter at the time.

When the humans got back and saw Spike, they each waved slightly at him, calming his nerves ever so slightly. Cameron, the tallest of the three humans, looked down at the purple, baby dragon and smiled.

"We're ready to get this show on the road," he said. the two behind him nodded, and the tour began.

The tour was much more manageable than Spike expected. Nate, Cameron, and Kendra listened carefully, paid attention, and even laughed at a few of his jokes. It was by the end of the tour where he would show the newcomers their rooms; Spike got a little curious about the clothes they were wearing.

"So, what's going on with your clothes?" He asked.

They each looked down at themselves. The humans were each wearing simple blue jeans and basic sneakers with t-shirts. The t-shirt designs of their shirts were what caught Spike's attention. Kendra's shirt depicted a pizza and a hot-dog getting into a boxing match with the text "Food Fight!" above the picture. Nate was wearing a regular striped shirt; nothing special was on it, which slightly confused Spike. Cameron's shirt just had text that said "Ford since 1903" in a fancy font.

"What about them?" Nate asks back.

"What do your shirts mean?" he clarified.

The three of them stopped and looked at each other. They thought about it for a second before answering.

"They don't really have a meaning," Kendra stated blandly. Nate and Cameron nodded. Spike was taken aback for a second, confused.

"They don't?" He asked again, looking for clarification.

"There is no inherent meaning in our clothes," Nate began," they're just designs that we like. Sometimes they can mean something because of the reason it was made, but usually, the designs are just for fun." Nate looked at the small dragon for a reaction. Spike looked a little confused but decided to give up on understanding the fashion industry. Clothes in Equestria had the same function, it seemed. They were strictly for the style, used for special events or protective gear. Spike had seen the casual clothes in the human universe, and they all had to do with the wearer's special talent, so having casual clothes that didn't mean anything in terms of your ability was a bit of a stretch to him. He would have to talk to Twilight about it later.

At last, they reached their rooms. Kendra's bedroom was spacious. A bed, wardrobe, dresser: that was it. The bed was previously adjusted to fit a human comfortably. She stepped inside and looked around, seeing her bags sitting next to the bed. She nodded in approval after looking throughout the room, which didn't take her long. Across the hall was Nate and Cameron's room. It was similar to Kendra's room: spacious, had a wardrobe and dresser, bags next to their previously adjusted beds. The only difference was the beds. Where Kendra's bed was made to fit one person and some breathing room, to fit both beds, the two beds were turned into a bunk-bed, to the delight of both Cameron and Nate.

"I call top bunk!" Cameron called. He quickly moved to the ladder and climbed to his bunk. Nate walked over and sat down on his bed. He felt the mattress and smiled at Spike.

"Hey, Spike. Thanks for the tour, man. this place is going to take some time getting used to, but the tour really helped." Nate laid back, letting his body slightly bounce on the mattress. The other two put their two cents in while Spike smiled back at the humans. Nate suddenly sat up, quickly adding, “Oh, and tell Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer? –Was that it? Anyway, tell them we said, 'thank you,' too."

Spike nodded as he left the humans alone, smiling. The sincerity in Nate's voice completely removed the doubts Spike had toward the humans. They were decent people, at least. They had manners and weren't shy to show kindness. They may act strange to each other, but they were at least friendly to strangers, especially since their situation was incredibly unique.

Twilight had been working hard at finding a solution for the 2-3 hours they had been back at home. She meticulously looked through each book, trying to find a hint of a solution. A small knock on the door didn't break her concentration, knowing it had to be either Spike or Starlight knocking to see her. Reflexively, she answered the knock with a "Come in," not looking up from the book she was scanning through. Spike slowly came into the library, standing by the door.

"Hey Twilight," he greeted, looking at the stack of books beside her. The pile was slightly taller than the last time he was in the room that day. "Make any progress?"

Twilight sighed and put a bookmark in between the pages before closing the book. She turned to look at her Number One Assistant. " Nothing so far," she started, “how was the tour?"

"It was good. They're actually pretty cool," Spike replied. "I actually just came to check on you and tell you that they said, 'thank you,' so I'll be off. Gotta help Rarity with gem collection and stuff. See ya."

"Bye, Spike," Twilight called back. With that, Spike slipped back out of the library. Twilight smiled softly and quickly went back to work.

Nate and Cameron laid down in their bunks, both looking up, but sharing different views. Cameron stared at the ceiling, trying to take in as much detail of the blue gem that made up the castle as possible before breaking the silence. "Hey, Nate?" Cameron called down.

"Hmm?" Nate, who was lost in thought, snapped back to his strange new reality. He was staring up at the mattress and the wooden frame that kept the bed holding his best friend above him. He didn't try to focus on anything, instead opting to focus on nothing as he thought.

"You know that forest we appeared in front of?" Cameron called back down to his friend.

"Yeah. What about it?" Nate answered. Cameron called back down, moving to the edge of the bed. He looked down at his friend, a certain glint in his eye.

"I'm going to explore it tomorrow."