Home Is Where The Herd Is

"Ahhhh!" I screamed as I fell to my death. Or at least I would have had I not rolled down the hill the cliff led to.

I somehow managed to avoid breaking my neck, at which point I stood up, sparing a look back in the direction of the situation I'd just left.

I couldn't hear anymore roaring, so that was good, but I also couldn't hear the voice of the person who saved me, which didn't bode well for the situation, but something told me that whoever they were, they'd be just fine. After all, they were able to stand up to...whatever that thing was.

I left the cliff behind and made my way down the dirt path before me. The good news was, I'd finally found civilization. There was a town just a few miles out from where I was standing. I could see it over the small bump of a hill this path made.

The bad news however, was that now that I had found my way there, would I be accepted? I had no idea what these people were like. They could dislike outsiders, and I could end up in the dungeons or whatever. Then again, there was always a chance they could be kind and receptive of me.

And so, with positive thoughts in my mind I made my way to the town.

When I got there I was pleasantly surprised to find the name of the place was...Ponyville? I read it on a sign just outside the tiny little village. Seriously, the place couldn't have held more than fifty people, max.

So imagine my surprise when, to my eyes at least, there appeared to be many more people than that.

There was a girl who looked to be a magician, if the strange star patterned witch's hat on her head was any indication.

There was a girl who appeared to be a perpetual drunk, a girl running around with a mailbag, and guy so buff it was as if he lived at the gym.

There was also a group of girls running around the town, laughing and playing. By their height, I assumed they were kids, teenagers most likely. With all this commotion, It came as a surprise to me that no one noticed me. At least, not yet that is.

Speaking of noticing things, it came to my attention that most of the villagers were female, and that all of them, regardless of gender, had some kind of strange tattoo on their right shoulders.

The group of girls from before all had what appeared to be a tri color shield, each with different symbols inside of them. Is there some kind of importance to these tattoos? Why did those three girls have matching ones when all the rest did not?

It was a question for another time it seemed, as I was too exhausted to think. I quickly looked around for a place to rest, and came across a set of four benches, all perfectly aligned into a square and bordered around the edges to separate them from the outside world. There was even a tree to provide shade from the harsh rays of the sun.

It was as if it was put there just for me. I quickly made my way over to it and sat down, eventually deciding to lay down instead, closing my eyes and opting to take a quick nap and figure out just where I was when I finally woke up. I soon found myself drifting into dream land, snoring softly as I slept.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle! Who'd'ya think he is?" Apple Bloom whispered, looking down at the man before her with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know, Apple Bloom. I'm still trying to figure out where he came from." Sweetie belle answered her friend, raising her own eyebrows as she stared at the creature.

"I wanna know that, too. He certainly isn't from Ponyville, I know that much." Scootaloo parroted, copying her friends' expressions as though they were all somehow mentally connected. Such was the deepness of her friendship.

All three girls had caught sight of him out of the corner of their eyes, but they dismissed it, thinking it to be a trick of the light, or a figment of their-admittedly overactive-imaginations.

But now that they could see that he had in fact, been there, they just had to figure out what it was.

"So, where do you think he's from, girls? Canterlot?" Apple Bloom suggested.

"He certainly has the fashion sense." Scootaloo gestured to his clothes.

"I can't imagine why a Canterlot noble would want to pay visit to our little town." Apple Bloom supplied.

"Princess Celestia visits all the time, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle said to her friend.

"Oh! Yeah, right." The country girl chuckled to herself.

"Wait a minute!" Sweetie Belle suddenly shouted. "Do you know what this means, girls?!"

The two others shook their heads, slightly confused as to why their friend was so excited.

Sweetie Belle's smile only widened. "It means that we're the first Ponyvillians to ever entertain a noble!"

The shout caused the group to quickly quiet down, as they watched the creature toss and turn in its sleep.

"Oops!" Sweetie Belle whispered. "I almost woke him up!"

They tried to keep themselves under control, but their old childhood excitement got the better of them, and the trio couldn't hold it back anymore. They shouted "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER HOSTESSES! YAY-!"

They quickly put their hands to their mouths to stop the yelling, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

The man stirred, and its eyes opened slowly. Each individual second those eyes opened felt like an eternity to the three of them. They were frozen in shock at having been found out. What would it do to them?

I was busy having a nice dream when all of a sudden the sound of yelling woke me from my slumber. I slowly opened my eyes to look and see who had disturbed my sleep, only to see the three girls that had ran past me before.

I slowly picked myself up off the bench and sat up straight, looking down at them. The poor girls looked scared out their minds. They were shaking, crying even.

"P-please don't hurt us, Mister! W-we didn't mean to w-wake ya up..."

I wasn't mad at them, but they were so adorable I doubt i could stay mad even if I tried. I smiled and bent down to look at them, lifting my hand to pat their heads.

Of course, they didn't know this, and shrank back in fear of my hand, but when I began to pet their head, they visibly relaxed, leaning into my touch with a smile on their face.

My smile turned into a grin. "Relax girls! I won't hurt you. I'm not even mad. See?" I pointed to my smile with my free left hand's index finger.

They all smiled back and I stopped petting them. "So, what are your names, girls?"

"I'm Sweetie Belle!" said the one with the two tone pink and purple hair. Her voice was cheery and carried with it a politeness that intrigued me.

"I'm Apple Bloom!" The one with the bow said as she pointed to herself, her chest puffed out. She had a country accent that made me smile all over again as I heard it. She was so cute.

"And I'm Scootaloo!" Said the one with the boyish hairstyle. Her voice matched her hair in its boyishness and so did her outfit.

In fact, all their outfits seemed to match them perfectly. Scootaloo had on a pair of blue and white shorts with a rainbow lightning bolt design on the side, and a simple white T-shirt, along with sneakers that matched her shorts.

Apple Bloom had on a green plaid button down shirt and some brown work pants, though she too had on sneakers with an apple design on the front.

Sweetie Belle had on a simple redish, almost pink dress. It was very cute and made her look like a little princess in my opinion.

Now, i'm no expert on fashion, and I had no idea how I knew those outfits matched them. They just sort of...fit to me.

"And whatever would the three of you want with me?" I asked in the kindest voice possible, just in case they were still a bit afraid of me. I even brought out my smile again just to be safe.

They smiled back again, showing that I had gotten my message across, and then Apple Bloom spoke.

"Well, we were kinda wonderin' who ya are." She twiddled her thumbs and looked away blushing, as if it was embarrassing for her to ask the question. I think she was trying to be considerate of my feelings when it came to suddenly being asked a question like that. It was nice of her to do that even though she didn't know me.

"Well, my name is Mike Vilmont. It's very nice to meet all of you." I answered her as politely as I could in return for her consideration.

"It's nice to meet you, too, sir!" Sweetie Belle smiled wide at me.

"Well, aren't you polite. Mike is just fine though. No need for formalities." I said. I didn't want them to think I was some stuck up guy who stands on ceremony or something.

"I learned it from my sister! Okay. Just Mike then." Sweetie Belle said, still smiling. Her happiness was infectious.

"Come on, Mike! Ya gotta meet someone!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, yanking me from my seat on the bench and nearly dragging me along with them.

Fortunately, Apple Bloom realized her mistake and let go of my arm.

"Oh, sorry, Mike. Guess I got a little too excited, huh?"

"It's fine, Apple Bloom. Who are we going to see?" I asked, curious as to just who was so important it warranted being dragged by my arms all the way there.

"Our friend Twilight. She's a princess!" I heard Apple Bloom answer me despite not looking at me anymore. That certainly qualified in the 'drag me there quickly' category. And they were her friends? Just who was this princess of theirs?

"She lives in that castle over there!" Scootaloo called out, pointing in the direction of a giant crystal castle literally jutting out from the ground.

'How in the world did I miss that?' I asked myself as I sweat dropped at its sheer size.

Apple Bloom had taken to dragging me along again, but I didn't mind this time. I was much more interested in meeting this Twilight. I wanted to see just how the other half lived, so to speak.

The rest of my thoughts were canceled as we made our way down the path to the castle. I couldn't wait to find out more about this place.