Chapters Ch.1 - Welcome to Equestria
Lifting my head from the dashboard, I slowly widened my eyes to a windshield. Outside there was a trail and it seemed I was parked to the side of it.
my head was spinning. "Urggh" I groaned. I clambered out the door onto the grass for some air. Soon, I could think a little bit more clearly as my brain ached.
Oh man, why is my head is killing me?
This thought lingered on in my mind as my brain recovered from whatever had effected it in the first place. "Geez... where the hell am I?" I questioned. The smell of pine cones filled my nostrils as a slight breeze sprinted along the track.
My hatchback was oddly parked beside a dirt trail in a pine forest. Birdsong echoed throughout the trees as the dusty path made its way into the forest. The woodland itself seemed to be different than the one I was driving in. I didn't remember parking here either. But to be honest I didn't remember a lot from last night which was strange. The most I could remember was that I stopped and got gas and then hit the road again.
How did I even get here? Did I bash my head or something? I pushed this thought to the side as I needed to review more important matters. I started to think about where I could be. I checked my phone but it was dead. Presuming that I wasn't far from the main road, I started to think. "I need to find a town or the main road. I could then try to get back on track," I voiced.
I need to stop talking to myself.
I joined my car seat as my arm shut the door behind me. My keys were already in the ignition and I put back on my cap that was laying behind the steering wheel. Without any further things to think on, I commenced the engine to purr and accelerated down the ancient trail.
Bumping along the poorly maintained route, my car's engine whirred as I passed by the flora. Soon I came across a large field with a wooden fence next to it. I figured that I was going towards something like a road or a farm. If its a farm, I could ask for directions. These thoughts quickly got pushed aside as the fenced stopped and the forest continued on my left.
Great, just when I thought I was going somewhere.
I already had been driving for about half an hour at around 40 mph. There had been no signs or turnings on the road for miles and I haven't encountered any other cars either. I was getting impatient and thought I might have driven the wrong direction until I found a turning onto a better quality road. Unexpectedly, a wooden sign pointed ahead and read Canterlot .
It seemed strange that it was made of wood, it must have been an old road or something. The sign showed hints of decay and aging. I feel like it's a deliberate pun on Camelot or something about horses. Who would name a town around here 'Canterlot' anyways?
Pushing up my cap, I started to abide by the flow of the road. It was a faded black color. I was wearing gray sneakers and a mundane red hoodie. With them, I donned olive-colored cargo pants. I was not the pinnacle of fashion here.
Gray skies loomed above as the road winded and turned. The new trail seemed to be better preserved than the last with a smoother ride along it though still slightly annoying to drive on. Glancing down at my digital watch, the time was around 2:30 pm. The trees rushed by the vehicle while dust was kicked up by the wheels.
I decided to play no music to concentrate on the questions I had. How did I get here? Why was I so far away from a main road? Why do I have very little recollection of the previous night? I thought of multiple theories about why I had no memory ranging from some kind of party to hallucinations. I eventually just pushed it into the corner of my mind for another time. I became aware of a lone mountain ahead of me and it seemed to be where I was heading.
Presently, the sky started to brighten as the clouds looming above started to diminish in frequency; letting patches of the great blue to become visible. Trees became more sparse. And, the route steadily got better in quality as I continued. Soon enough the road flowed into another one but this road had a railway leading to Canterlot with a sign saying so. The trees changed variant also with it being a mix of broad-leaf and fir trees.
Lowering my speed, buildings came into my view. "This is new," I stated in my questioning. They looked like a mix of renaissance-victorian architecture but it still looked much different to anything I have ever seen before. The mountain was now very close. Many large buildings loomed above one another, competing in height. Very soon, my car rolled into the streets of the city.
This must be some kind of weird cultural street or something. Hopefully, I can find someone with some directions around here, I contemplated. The buildings seemed to be residential or anything apart from commercial because of the lack of any kind of storefront. Then again you don't really need a sign or anything as a matter of fact in front of your store for it to be a store. That's all really to get people into your store. I viewed the wooden carts occupying the street as I rolled down my window, I peeked out of it to get a better view of my surroundings.
To my surprise, 4 legged, multi-colored creatures occupied the road ahead.
In the first time in my life, I'm speechless...
Was I going insane? Probably. From what I could see, some had horns and some had wings, some had no wings or horn. There was about 5 of them. Some had satchels that were located on their sides with a strap holding the bags of leather together. I deduced with my logic in the mere few seconds of turning the corner to this sight; that they were horses. Horses with tattoos on their asses. I managed to let out a confused "Whaaa..?" They seemed to be talking to each other. They also seemed to be diverting their attention to me and my car with worrisome and confused expressions.
I'll just be leaving now. Quickly At that thought, I quickly shifted my gear into reverse and hastily drove out of the street. I audibly heard some voices from the horses as the gawked at the speed I left the town.
Stopping in a thicket of trees surrounding me and my car, I voiced "What the shit did I just see?" I was in a state of complete bewilderment and was in doubt of my own senses.
Did I really just see that. It doesn't feel like I'm dreaming or anything. This all could be in my mind though. I just saw horses with tattoos on their asses talking to each other. I didn't hear them talking though. I didn't even hear what language they were speaking if it was anything but English. I slumped back in my chair as the sounds of the forest poured through my window.
What do I do? I could stay here and pretend that I am delirious or something. Or... I can go and check out this horse civilization.
I was motionless in thought for a few minutes, reviewing my situation. Eventually, I concluded to go back into the city known as Canterlot and gather knowledge on the world around me because I doubt I'm even on planet Earth anymore.
I put on my jacket and grabbed my pack, which had some magazines, my notebook, and some other things inside. I left the car and decided it was necessary to keep it hidden from the locals. Covering my car with some sticks and fallen leaves, I started to walk back to Canterlot.
The wind gusted through the street as I re-entered the town. Despite my brief but obvious appearance to a seemingly less technologically developed species, the street was now empty. I figured that they left because of fear or that they had nothing better to do. There was only so much you can do in a street after all.
I spied a poster on the side of a nearby street light. I walked over to inspect what was on it. It was monochrome and had two images of unicorns with wings plastered on the paper. Under this, there were writing which read Royal Sisters to give a speech at Canterlot Castle on the 8th of February . It seemed to me that this is the event would have a lot of these small horse creatures attending it. Ripping the paper off the light and stuffing it in my pack, I continued down the street.
It was relieving to know they wrote and maybe even spoke my language from this text. It also seemed like they used the same system for dates as well from what I could see. If they are royalty, that means there is a form of monarchy in this place, I pondered. Though this had little influence on my situation, it was good to know. I steadily started to walk along the street again.
The design of all the buildings got pretty repetitive after a while but I was coming to a corner of the street where the road turned. I heard activity down the street. Pressing myself against a wall, I peeked around the corner to find that there were some of the creatures still there. On further inspection, the species seemed to be more like ponies and stood at around 3 ft tall. Some had left from earlier, in their places were ponies with armor and spears, like guards. there was three of them, one of which was talking to one of the ponies from earlier. I could just make out what they were saying.
"So this large metal box with wheels and windows rolled up with a rumbling noise," said a pegasus.
So they do speak English, I acknowledged.
The Guard pony replied with "Interesting, what happened to it and was there anything inside it?"
"Somepony said it went out of town and it had a weird creature inside, it had hands, no fur and resembled an ape."
"So, like a human?" the guard droned.
"Yeah, that's it!" replied the pegasus.
"They've been extinct for years. Quit pulling my leg, we've got a job to do," concluded the Guard turning to the other guards who were looking aimlessly at their surroundings. The stallion let out a displeased grunt to how the situation was being handled. They all exited the street.
From the dialogue, it seemed that humans are extinct. I didn't know how, why or even that they existed in this pony world of weirdness but it seemed to me that I would be interesting to regular ponies and scientists alike. If they even had scientists. Being noticed was probably inevitable if I was looking for some insight into this place. But I did not know how they would react to me here. Would they burn me at the stake or leave me to my own devices? At this point, there was only one way to find out and I would have to deal with the outcome.
Bags levitated beside horned ponies. Auras of varying colors surrounded their items and horns. I was taken by surprise by this at first but it was not that shocking to me taking into account how I'm in a different world with creatures that I've never seen before. If they could do that, what else could they do?
Everypony was eyeing me in unease and question. It didn't make me that nervous though, they were all quite small compared to a six-foot tall human. I was unsure of where the castle was, the buildings were so tall where I was and getting a vantage point would be tough. I decided to ask a pony for directions. Nearby there was a unicorn mare completely oblivious to me, I chose to ask them.
"Excuse me. Do you know where Canterlot Castle is?" I questioned as everypony in the street gawking at me in surprise.
"Yeah, it's about the direction of where the street is... going..." She trailed off as she turned to face me.
I acknowledged "Cool. Thanks, man."
"man?" No pony would've even heard that in this world!
Minuscule conversation erupted behind me from my interaction, slowly becoming louder. Before now they were only slightly whispering and continuing about their day after noticing me. I was getting nervous about the word about me going around. I decided to take to an alleyway to lose the crowd. Alleyways have always been a place where definitely nothing bad happened at all! I'll be just fine!
As though some deity read through my thoughts like an email. I came across three ponies with weapons as a gray-coated one pinned a blue pegasus to a wall. One was a unicorn mare, bearing a bat magically. The others were stallions, one was a pegasus held a knife in their hoof while the other levitated a bow. I curiously observed them.
"Do you have it!" bellowed one pressing the blue pegasus against the wall.
"N-n-no! I told you I-I don't have it!"
I love it when my brain foreshadows events in my life. I was unnerved by what I was seeing. I was lost in observation, that is until I noticed two others staring directly at me with piercing gazes.
"Gray?" spoke the unicorn holding a bat.
"What is it!?" he turned back to face the others, then noticing that their attention was drawn to something else he flicked his head to me. They all were now gazing at me.
"Uh... I think you should leave him alone, man." What are you Ray, fucking stupid! They have weapons you idiot!
"You hear that! The talking ape thinks we should let him go!" Gray motioned towards the pony they had pinned to the wall. They let out a snicker to the statement. "Why should we do that then?"
I reminded myself You've really screwed yourself on this one! "Hey! I'm not an ape, I'm a human and I have what you want!" I could feel myself mentally facepalm at this remark. I didn't know what compelled me to get into this position and I'm not that creative when it comes to lying.
"Well... what are you waiting for! Give it to us and we can all be on our merry way," he declared as he settled his glare onto the pony he had fixed to the wall.
"Not until you let, him go first. You have no use for him anymore," I pointed to the Pegasus against the bricks. I didn't know what made me think that was a good idea, but I was going with the reckless side of my brain.
"I think that's a fair point," announced Gray, convinced.
He released his captive and the blue pegasus dashed away as fast as he could. Holy shit that actually worked! Finally, he inquired, "Now about those scrolls."
I waited until the previously immobilized pony was out of sight and prepared to bolt. "Heh, heh. Well, I-I don't exactly have them," I told in a jumpy voice, tensely running one hand over my wrist.
"What!?" growled Gray.
I have made a terrible mistake.
I did not want to be here at all anymore. I quickly uttered "Gotta, Jet!" At that, I was leaving the alley in seconds. There was an uproar of commotion behind me.
Dodging ponies through the busy market area, I tried to head in the direction of the castle. An arrow flew past me, narrowly dodging my arm. Holy shit they're firing at me! After this thought a bolt of energy shot past me as well, hitting a bystander and sending them to the ground. "Mistakes have been made!" I nervously yelped.
Before I knew it, guards were in pursuit of me and the trio chasing me. The pegasi with a knife bolted for me, I quickly ducked to avoid the attack as they flew above me. Almost instantly, he crashed into a cart. Ponies were stunned by speed and dexterity as I swerved around bends and street corners.
Enraged ponies still pursued me through Canterlot as I got assaulted by a variety of projectiles and weaponry. Dodging through the crowd, I spied great walls of stone ahead of me. This must be the Castle. Proceeding with my sprint through the bustling masses, I ran along the wall until I found a gateway. At this point I was unsure about what to do next, this is the only direction I had other than to go to my car and the hordes of ponies made it very difficult if not, impossible to navigate at this state. This was the only place I had to go right now.
My feet slipped against the paved floor, nearly causing me to topple onto the ground while I tore through the air into the castle walls.
There were ponies everywhere in this large open market area. To my right on entering the area was the castle itself standing tall over many buildings while two other gateways were built into the wall. One on the right, in line with the palace and another directly opposite the one I was currently sprinting through.
I had nothing to defend myself with. All I had was my battery deprived phone and my wallet which had only my drivers license and other now useless plastic cards with no good coins and paper stuffed in its leathery confines. Market stands littered the area with vendors selling their wares, I viewed this as a usual sight as this was only a speech after all. It wasn't like I could stay around to hear it or even buy it. Whose to say it hasn't been said yet? The poster was vague about the details of the speech.
Focusing on the fact that I was being hunted by a number of furious, armed ponies, I kept running forward. Placing both of my hands the rim, I dragged a nearby barrel onto the ground. This left them to dodge the obstacle, amusing me as I looked back.
Suckers.
Pain erupted from my gut as something blunt smashed into it, a large piece of wood just struck me in the gut. I placed my arms over where it collided with me, as I drew back and onto the stall to my back. "Asshole," I remarked in a disgruntled tone. The unicorn with a bat skipped around the crowd to catch me. Regaining footing I prepared to fight.
Swiftly the bat flew right for my head. It was faster than I anticipated but I managed to slide backward, narrowly dodging the attack. I didn't really know how to fight. I have not been to one since high school but I knew an opportunity when I saw one.
I took my chance and swung my fist for his face which was in the open. Luckily, I impacted with her cheek sending her to the floor.
With this, I started to sprint through the market again with heat still on my tail. I grappled onto many objects as I tried to slow down the remaining two.
The wing of the pegasus looked mangled, presumably from when he crashed into the cart. My gut was still in slight pain, but I knew I had to ignore it to escape. "Come back here! We're not done yet!" hollered one pony behind me.
You'd think at 22, you not be chased by a bunch of multi-colored, ponies in another world, wouldn't you? I reflected.
Arrows and beams of magical energy kept whizzing past my fragile body as I ran for my life. This unicorn was a bad shot, even with his magic.
Another surge from my nerves flared up on my right calf and shin. But this time it was a lot more painful. This made me crashed onto the hard stone floor. It was like being stabbed by a stick or was that basically it.
Landing sideways I immediately stared down to see that an arrow pierced right through my lower leg. It poked through my shin after entering through my calf. "Oh fuck me! That smarts!" I cursed. Blood started to flow out and onto the stone floor.
I gingerly tried to stand up only to get a face-full of bat. It was a tough blow, a very tough blow.
I groaned as slowly everything blurred around me.
Wounds bled while muffled voiced twisted around me.
I managed to see the attacker get tackled by a guard before my eyes sealed and I shifted away into the void.
Voices filled my ears as steps collided on a hard surface. They got fainter as they changed positions. I forced open my vision to a door was closing behind whoever just left the room.
The floors seem to be polished reflecting light from the window with a table in the left corner of the room with some flowers. The room only had one bed inside; mine. To my understanding, I was in some kind of hospital room.
The one thing that seemed extremely out of place for me was the fact that I was completely naked. Why the hell am I completely naked? My memories seemed too real and fresh to be anything but a dream. Hopefully, I was not here because of something a little more serious.
I checked my leg to see if I was just delusional. A bandage wrapped around my right lower leg covering it from the damage I had taken. I then started to remember everything. Being stuck in an alien world, coming to Canterlot and getting shot in the leg with an arrow. Great, I am still in a place where I have no means to get back to my home, I have little knowledge of what to do and the place where I am.
To the table on my right, rested a book. It was a drab green and had the title of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue . It was written in red and was graphically plastered on a scroll above a yellow pony on a rope, dangling from a crocodile. The author was A.K.Yearling. It seemed like a good book, It sounded like an adventure novel.
Before I could get a chance to inspect its pages, the door swung open with a green aura surrounding the knob.
"...So yes, it is a human being. And it seems to speak our language, from public accountability." came a unicorn mare entering the room.
A beige coated pegasus stallion wearing armor entered the room, "Yeah, and the Princess wants to meet him, we don't even know his name!" Looks like they have not seen my wallet yet which had my license inside.
They were both oblivious to me being awake and staring at them judgingly. Silent observation got me into trouble once, so I decided to stay quiet.
"Just trust me. From public account, he wasn't aggressive or necessarily shy to ponies. He just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."
A blast of noise from my area as I forcefully shut the book in my hands. Both their heads snapped to me and fixed their gazes. I opened my mouth to speak, "Can I have my clothes back?"
"Uhh, sure they are in the drawer over here," spoke the light yellow unicorn as she levitated the folded stack of clothing onto my legs. Seeing the phenomenon did not really bother me. I was going to be here a while, especially with this new wound. At this point, I had to get used to it.
"Thanks, can one of you explain where I am and why am I naked?"
"You are inside Canterlot Castle's barracks, mostly used for training soldiers. This is the medical ward. We needed to assess your health, especially because you are going to meet the Royal Sisters in a week." answered the beige stallion.
"So what's your name?" asked the unicorn mare.
"It's Ray. Nice to meet you." I assured as I shifted a little under the sheets.
"I am Dr. Amber Closure and this is Commander Wild Bolt," told the Doctor.
Strange names.
"It is... interesting to meet you, Ray, I have been assigned to keep you out of harm's way until you are healed."
Looking down at the pile of clothing, I noticed my cap was missing. "Where is my cap?" I said looking around to see if it had fallen off of the pile.
"Cap? Oh, the black one. Yeah, I think somepony who is staying in the Castle took it."
"Can one of you get it for me, like right now if you can?" I put on a small smile to assure them I wasn't a danger.
"I'll see what I can do," ensured the Commander. He then left, leaving me and Dr. Amber in the room.
"Seems like you are quite fond of your hat. Why is that?" inquired Dr. Amber.
"It's rather personal." I droned with a stoic face.
Silence had fallen upon the room. The melody of the wind drafted in from the open window and was the only thing that was suppressing the awkwardness from the abrupt ending to the conversation.
She started to trot to the door. "Oh. Well then. I guess I should leave you to get dressed. Rest up, you will be sent some food in a few hours," Dr.Amber ended as the door clicked behind her.
I was soon able to walk again. I was told to take it easy on my leg so that I do not damage it any more. It was difficult to walk at first, I would limp as I would move but it would heal with time. They used magic to quicken its healing slightly. I had told the guard that the thugs wanted scrolls and that I did it to let them free a pony. Scrolls had been stolen in the city and one of the criminals confessed to stealing the scrolls.
They wanted to study me and my world so they gave me a temporary room in the barracks near the castle. During the last week, I have had an arrow in the leg and basically been confined to a building.
Several clangs on my door jostled me into reality. Laying on my bed half awake, I slowly jerked myself up to my disruptor.
"C'mon Ray! You're gonna see The Royal Sisters today!" bellowed Commander Bolt.
"Give me a minute," I replied.
It's gonna be a long day.
The only clothes I had were the ones on my back when I first got here. Of course, I cleaned them since I got here but I really needed more. I found magic perplexing, there was nothing like it on Earth so it was an entirely new concept for me to grasp with all these spells and stuff that can be used by unicorns and alicorns. I read about The Royal Sisters and the Elements of Harmony. The sisters were the leaders of Equestria while the Elements of Harmony were six artifacts of great magical power that have been used in the past to defeat tyrants. It seemed like something out of a video game.
I gave the Canterlot scientists my phone to study, it was not going to be very useful here anyway with no reception or charge. However, I kept my watch, it's battery wasn't going to give out for another few years. I was not allowed into the public and told it would be better if I was kept away from citizens until further notice though information was slowly being released to the public. They denied me to get my car and I was the only one who could drive it. So basically, nobody was getting my car for now. It annoyed me because I had some more stuff inside it like some other things inside it.
Soon I was walking with the Commander towards the Castle, my hands stuffed into the side pockets of my navy blue jacket. I pulled it forward to move up my pack on my back. "How have you been holding up lately," he asked.
We were on a path that was leading to a large door with guards positioned on both sides. "Well, it could be worst. I'm kinda missing my home and I'm still having trouble getting comfortable with ponies and magic."
"I can't believe that your from another world."We walked up some stairs and entered an extensive hallway with guards positioned every so often on the sides of the hall, parallel to each other. "You have advanced technology for Celestia's sake I mean that's just blown my mind." We passed silent statues, observing our every move.
"Well give or take a hundred years and your civilization may have technology just like mine." I echoed through the Castle walls. We remained silent for a minute while we passed through the maze of a castle.
"I heard some scientist call you an ape." He replied.
"He thinks I'm dumb because I'm human and that they died out in your world," my face was slowly turning stoic as I talked. "Well, I think they're just an asshole looking for some trouble."
We turned a corner and the Commander spoke, "Hey now, don't get another arrow in your leg, big guy." I chuckled at this.
Turning numerous corners, me and Commander Bolt came upon a large door shortly. Magical auras surrounded the door and opened it slowly. It was a throne room... with no one in the throne. "Well, this is your stop!" came from Bolt.
I walked in, the carpet cushioning the impacts with my sneakers. I observed the massive emptiness of the hall above. The door began to shift close as I walked into the room. I still had a slight limp but that would be expected from my wound.
The Commander started to speak, "Oh I forgot to mention they'll be a bit late. My advice: Don't do anything stupid."
The towering slabs of wood brashly sealed behind me. The red carpet laid upon the marble and lead to the throne, glorifying it. The throne room had stained glass windows covering the walls. The had the art of ponies on them. One looked like Luna's banishment to the moon. I had noticed also that only certain ponies were on the windows. A group of six was common among these outlets of light.
Looking around I noticed I wasn't alone. Four guards were in the room with me, watching my movements.
"Oh! I didn't see you there!" I spoke raising a hand in front of me as a friendly gesture. He just stood there motionless as ever. "Rigghht..."
I thought it would be best to leave them alone. I tapped my foot and folded my arms as I waited.
I was taken aback when the sounds of hooves filled my ears from the other side of the door. They then stopped just before it. I managed to make out "... look, if he is a human. He will speak their language, sister!"
"Luna! You don't understand!" cried out another voice.
Abruptly, the door swung open with great speed but an aura stopped the door just as it was about to hit the wall. The magic that enveloped the door was a dark blue unlike the color of the guards' auras. From this, a night blue alicorn quickly trotted up to me.
Standing at about my height. She spoke a language that was like nothing back home in a mildly excited tone. I stared at her intently with meager confusion until replying with "Uhh... What?"
"Excuse my sister. She hasn't seen any of your kind in a while." came a tranquil voice behind Luna. She stood at about nine or ten feet tall from what I could and had a white coat. She made me nervous, I felt like a bug under a boot. Both of their manes flowed like they were in a constant draft.
Hyperdelic.
"Let me introduce us, I am Princess Celestia. This is my sister Luna. And these are the Elements of Harmony," she motioned to the six ponies from behind her. I noticed that they were very alike to the ones in the windows. Now I have many questions.
Celestia towered over me. This deeply intimidated me. Her eyes were like spears, stabbing through my being. I was getting a little nervous until a pony nearby drew my attention away from her.
"Hello, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle," announced a purple alicorn mare who stood at the front of the group. She stood very slightly taller than the rest of the Elements.
A pinkie pony bounced towards me with great speed. She stopped right before my face and tried to heighten herself on her hooves She declared "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet ya!" as she shook my hand furiously with her hooves.
As she released her firm grasp on my hands which seemed strange as they had no fingers, an orange earth pony walked up to me. "The name's Applejack." She had a southern accent and wore a cowboy hat on top of her head.
"Hey. My name is Rainbow Dash. The coolest pony from here to Manehattan," she gloated, hovering lazily above the others who were crowding in front of me. Great, more puns on cities from Earth.
A white coated unicorn mare greeted "I'm Rarity. Darling, your clothes are quite... interesting." She stared at my clothes, I felt like my tastes were being assessed heavily.
"Hi, I'm Fluttershy," articulated in a hushed voice. A yellow pegasus mare stood behind the group, shying her sight away from me.
I introduced myself as well. "Umm... Hi. I'm Ray." I was confused about why this mixed group of personalities just acquainted with me. "Not to be rude thought but wasn't I only going to meet you two today?" I said, pointing to Celestia and Luna.
Quite charming aren't we, Raymond? remarked that second voice in my head at my laughable introduction to leaders of a country.
"Yes you were but I decided to let you meet the elements as well." I heard that alicorns are magically very powerful had separate spells they could use that unicorns could not. If I had any shot at getting back to Earth, it was with their help. "It's nice to meet you finally, Ray. Am I correct that you are from another world?" It seemed apparent that not much information about me has been spread around as of late. Some of the elements of Harmony looked confused and a bit shocked at this statement.
I thought it was obvious from the clothing I'm wearing? When humans went extinct, they were in a Dark Age where plagues and creatures took over the kingdom. Their clothes, of course, were much different from mine.
"Yeah. Do you have like a spell or something to help me get back home?" I inquired.
"Sadly, that is up for debate, some ancient spells may have the power to get you to your world. Earth isn't it?" calmy addressed Celestia.
"Yeah, it's commonly referred to like that but it is also less commonly known as Terra or Gaia though."
She replied with "Interesting. One of my Scientists has told me a lot about you. Sorry about meeting you after so long since your appearance, there were some complications. How is your wound?"
"Well, you know. It does what a wound usually does, it aches and compromises my movement a little but really it's healing well."
"That's good to hear." She stared into my eyes with a piercing gaze. She finally started "I heard from my head scientist that you have a form of transport on the edge of Canterlot."
A stream of light was drooping through the windows on the left. I liked the atmosphere. "Yeah, I do. I kinda want to see if it's alright you know. Cars cost money not just to buy but to maintain and refuel." Everyone was listening to me intently as I continued. "Especially when you're in college," I further conveyed with a thin smile.
"A student? What did you study?" spoke Celestia.
"Well, I was studying mechanical engineering. I have graduated." I noted that Celestia bore a light expression of surprise on her face. "Though I still actually needed to get a job."
Twilight butted-in the conversation, "Wow! A mechanical engineer from an advanced world!" she squeaked gleefully. Not the kind of Princess I was expecting, but okay. I acknowledged her curiosity. "This is amazing, I need to know everything! So, wha-"
She got cut off by Celestia who still bore a slight smile on her face "That's enough, Twilight." Her cheeks slightly reddened beneath her lavender fur as she slowly backed towards her group of friends.
"Sorry, about that. I tend to do that sometimes," she apologized.
I to her an assured her "It's alright. Don't worry about it." At this, she grew a meager expression of happiness as she looked towards me.
"Anyways" started Celestia. "Considering that you have kindly donated some of your technology to our scientists, would you like to go get your car ?"
I remembered that it had over half a tank of gas left inside it. "Umm, Really? I mean Sure. But it would be practically useless without fuel later," I declared.
"Later?" Celestia questioned with a perplexed face.
"Well, I have no way to make any fuel. It's a process that requires equipment your civilization just doesn't have. But you welcome to have the thing if you want."
Luna queried "Have you tried yourself making this fuel?"
"...No, but that's because it's difficult to make without the proper equipment." Rainbow Dash had a slightly bored face as we were speaking.
"Hm. I am going to let you retrieve your machine. However, the elements of harmony are going to accompany you on this trip," added Celestia.
Rainbow Dash perked up and turned to Applejack "I told you we were here to do something with the human!" She smirked at her and Applejack just shook her head.
"Celestia, I don't think that's really necessary. You could just send guards or scientists with him instead of us," Suggested Twilight.
"I think you'll better than the guards and scientists." She then directed her beam of attention to me smiling contently. "We will talk further upon your return."
I felt really nervous talking to her. I felt that if I did something wrong I would be hunted by a powerful being that could rip me apart in an instant. "M'kay, yeah. We'll do that then," I ended as my anxiety grew. I was worried about what would happen to me if I disproved her statement.
"Good. I will allow you to go into the public. Don't get hit by an arrow this time," she joked as she moved to her throne. I was thinking about how I could I was going to get my car through the public. This remark calmed me down somewhat and gave me the impression that her intentions were good.
We moved out of the throne room and into the hall. Looking back, I saw Celestia staring at me intently. She nodded my way. I nodded back to her.
Twilight took the lead as we moved for the front exit of the Castle. I was walking beside her while the others trailed behind.
I turned my head to Twilight. "I thought the elements of harmony were artifacts?"
"Well, we embody the elements and use their power to defeat "
"I guess that's pretty neat." I had no idea what to make of that. This was just a default response when I had no idea what to say.
Rainbow Dash inserted "You could say that." She looked at her hoof as she effortlessly flew above me.
Rarity conferred "Darling, your clothes seem a tad... ragged."
"I have no other clothes and my pants got torn by the arrow that went into my leg."
"Oh, that simply won't do!" She uttered, looking at the tear in my cargo pants as we progressed down the hallways. "I must at least repair these, if not make you something else to wear."
"What really, you've only just met me. And I have no money to give you in return."
"Don't worry, it's the least I could do for you as the guest in Equestria."
"Oh man, that's really generous of you. I owe you one." I said smiling at her.
"I must look at your clothes to make something similar. Especially the shoes."
"Why do you wear clothes like that anyway? Like, all over your body." Rainbow dash intruded again, Flying up near to my face
As I opened my mouth Twilight interjected, "Humans wear clothes to keep warm." Rainbow Dash seemed disappointed with the answer and flew back up above the group.
I said, "And to also cover up genitalia."
The group possessed slight grimace on their faces. "That was my reaction when I realized almost all of your species was naked."
Good job, Ray. You just made everything super awkward.
Applejack finally broke the absence of noise and asked, "So what your shoes for exactly other than warmth?"
"These shoes are called sneakers and they protect my feet from the ground and elements." I pointed towards my feet.
"Are they called sneakers because they make no noise?" Pinkie blurted out.
I chuckled at this remark and responded with "No. But when they were invented they were called 'sneakers' for that reason." We continued down the halls to the front gate.
Soon enough we were all at the gate going into the market area before the Castle. The gate was open and stairs led down to the open area.
I let out a sigh at the sight of the crowds of ponies in the market. I was happy that something was finally happening to maybe better my situation. I wasn't planning to live in that crummy room for long anyway.
Ch.3 - Vehicular Momentum
Ponies gazed at me in surprise. I was hidden away from the public for a few days, with little information revealed about me. I was still walking with a limp, my leg wasn't going to fully heal for a while. I could try to ditch this situation get to my car and go somewhere else. Though it pretty much was pointless. I had nowhere to go and I sticked out like a sore thumb, I was a human after all.
"So, do you know how you got here?"
"Nope, just woke up in my car. With no memory of what got me there. I had no memories of what I was doing hours earlier either," I responded to Twilight.
"Strange," she said.
"Your kind was to me when I got here." I added. "There are no intelligent ponies where I come from."
"Really? It must of been hard to adapt," Fluttershy spoke quietly.
I walked with a slight limp still, I was amazed at how fast it was healing. "Yeah but you get used to magic and walking among another species after a little while."
Twilight curiously asked "What do you mean 'used to magic'?"
"Well" I began. "To put it simply, there is no magic in my world. Or at least from what I can tell."
"No magic?"
"Nope, just us versus the wilderness and ourselves I guess" I started gloated "Though humans on Earth have accomplished things you would see as impossible by non-magical, or even magical means."
"Like what?" pondered Rainbow Dash.
"Well, we achieved supersonic flight," I responded with a smirk.
This stroked Rainbow Dash's ego a little. "I've done that," she said. Yeah, I'm not buying that for a second. She has wings, not jet engines.
"Flying that fast would be impossible without wings of your own," Twilight remarked with a smart voice. All they had were hot air balloons and zeppelins.
"That's why we built our own," I put on a slight smirk.
"Impossivle, I'm the fastest thing in the skies!" gloated the cocky Pegasus. Her face held confidence in it.
"I doubt that, there are things we built that are faster than pretty much every living being where I'm from," She looked at me with slight anger. "I mean no bird can go that fast back on Earth."
"Try me. Tough guy!" She huffed in a modest snobby tone at me. I was right, they were going to view it as impossible. "I bet I could go way fast--"
"C'mon y'all," Applejack interrupted looking at both of us. "There's no point in arguing. We gotta find that carriage o' yours." Finally directing her gaze to me.
We started to move again, Fluttershy and Rarity started a conversation about what I briefly caught was something about dresses, that I did not know fully about. Ponies kept staring but some just ignored me now, I heard that other intelligent species were had been introduced to the nation in the past. It like I was becoming a normality. This was slightly comforting.
My stomach groaned, breaking the awkward silence. "I could go for some kind of meat right now, jeez," I voiced. The elements stopped. They just started at me. "What? I'm an omnivore," I gave a slight smile at them, their society was not used to species of different diets.
Rainbow Dash finally spoke up "What's an omnivore?" The others were static still looking at me in unease.
Twilight then explained "Well, its a creature that eats foods of animal and plant origin."
"Eggheads," branded Rainbow Dash.
"Hey!" me and Twilight said in sync, stopping ourselves momentarily.
"I'm not an Egghead!" objected Twilight.
"C'mon, we're pretty close to my car," I put on a smile as I pointed behind me. The streets didn't seem as busy as they did a few days ago. The street we were specifically on seemed familiar to me, more so than the countless others we strolled through. I felt like my navigation skills were on point as I looked around. I had a resolute feeling that I had been here before.
I spied a small alleyway to my left. I leaded myself over to its entrance. I meandered before it, peering into the coat of black that filled the depths before me.
"Where are you going?" Twilight asked behind me.
I responded "Gimme a second, here." I continued my way into the hallway of brick and stone. I had a better look of the area now that I had a little more time to take it all in. A fence was at the back of the alley way, I vividly remembered acknowledging a barrier of some form at the back of the alley. Or was there? I wasn't directly sure
It seemed like it was the place where I encountered my assaultants "Ray, what are you doing?" Twilight again asked.
It was the only thing assuring the path I was taking was correct. I was navigating off of fuzzy memories mixed with a concussion. I decided to think it was the alleyway where I was met with a bow, knife and a bat. I abruptly strode out of the alley.
"So, what was relevant about that alley other than the countless others that we passed through?" uttered Twilight.
"It was where I met the thugs that wanted the scrolls." I then placed a hand on my neck and shyed my view slightly away from hers. "...And it was the place where I lied about having the scrolls to let them leave another pony alone."
"Did you even know, that they weren't common criminals in the first place?" Twilight put in a frustrated emphasis.
"Look, let's focus on the current task. We are very close. Like a couple hundred meters away." We soon came across the street at which I had rolled my car into. Currently a few ponies idled in the street. Wind reverberated across the mundane stone floor and against the walls of the buildings, playing its mundane song.
The next street led out of Canterlot and to the forest. Fewer ponies were in the street here, looking at me ponderously as we moved to the forest. "It's in this forest here. Not that far, fewer than 200 meters."
"If you say so," said Twilight.
We rigorously looked into the forest as we moved down the road. I parked my car on the left side from our view and did the best job I could at covering up in fallen leaves and twigs. There is only so much you can do with very few leaves and pine needles did not really work at covering it up.
Applejack stated in a straight tone "I see nothin'."
"Well, your 3ft tall... You can't really see above these bushes all too well." I replied. I identified a glint from the depths of the forest.
"That's easy for you to say," She then started to respond. "Bein' 6ft and everythin'."
I was too immersed in this beam of light to really care. However, I did say "There is something glistening in the sunlight over there." I stepped over a few shrubs into the forest. The trees laid bare of leaves as birds compassionately hollered their music into the the blue sky.
Twilight yelled as I trampled and clambered my feet over small shrubs."Is it your car?"
"I think so," I told as I continued into the amalgamation of trees. They started to slowly follow before me as I got closer to the shine. Rainbow Dash hovered curiously above the ground to see my car.
"So this is your car," She said as the red paint came into view. The others were busy discussing and trying to get a good view of the machine.
My feet stamped into a clearer area which I had parked my car in. "Yeah, this is really just it," I declared, scratching the back of my head. I was mentally preparing myself to explain it to them all. I started to rake some of the sticks leaves from the hood of the car. I did a bad job at covering this up. I guess it was from disbelief that this was all real.
Rainbow Dash eyed it judgmentally "It looks too bulky to move." It was a Ford Fiesta Mark III, a red hatchback. I bought it for cheap at a dealership a few years ago. The generation stopped production in the late 90s. It was a real bargain for what I got. It just needed a little repairing after I bought it, nothing extremely difficult.
Looking at the rest of the company, they all studied it intently. Twilight especially glimmered fascination in her eyes "This... is a lot different that I expected. I have so many questions," she said
"I didn't expect it to have such bright color, Darling." Rarity inquisitively looked at the vehicle.
"It a pretty common color for cars. Though cars were a lot less variant in color these days," I pulled my keys out of my wallet as I replied. The car was covered in odd sticks and old leaves from fall that remained from winter.
Twilight brushed her hoof across the car as I walked to the door "What do you mean cars are less variant in color these days?"
I then turned to face her, postponing getting into my car. "Well, this car is like 20 years old." I fiddled with the key for my car as I continued "Cars have been around for over a hundred years now and these days, people just have blander colored cars."
Twilight just stared at me and my car, she was probably marveling at how old the technology was. "So, do cars look like this?" Rainbow Dash was hovering above my car lazily before landing on it.
"Nope. There are many different types of cars. Some are over double the size of this one to transport goods places," I said while looking up at rainbow dash.
"Bet these things don't go that fast though." She smirked.
"You're pretty wrong on that one, my car does 144 mph. What's that like 230 kmh?" I did some rough math but that was about it. "This is the type of car, an economy class car that anyone would have."
"Are you being serious?" Twilight doubted me again on my technology.
"Yes. Why would I lie about something I can show you?" a hint of annoyance slithered off of my tongue as I finished speaking.
Twilight then excitedly ran up to me and said, "Can you please show me?" It was kinda adorable actually, her just staring at me expectantly with a passion to learn.
I chuckled "Well, lets start it up." With this I unlocked the car, making all of the ponies jump a little to the sudden mechanical clunk. Swinging the door open, I rested a leg in the car while the other was spread out idly on the grass. I put my cap in the glove box and slotted the keys into the ignition. I turned the keys and... it didn't start.
"Is this piece of junk on yet?" Rainbow Dash yelled from the roof.
"It's not junk! And, no it's not." I said. I turned the key and the car struggled to come to life. I needed to check under the hood in case there was a problem. I hoped that I didn't have to push this all the way to the castle. Sliding my hand under the wheel, I pulled back a yellow piece of plastic. The front of the car clunked.
"What was that!?" Twilight yelped as I got out of my seat and briskly walked passed her and Applejack who was on the left of the car to the hood.
"Don't worry, I'm just checking the engine." I then stopped in front of the car.
She trotted up to my right and asked, "Why? is something wrong?"
I fumbled around with a switch just under the tip of the hood. "Well, it's not starting and I had fuel, so something may be wrong with the engine," I said with an audible click . I pushed up the hood.
A gust of feathers swiftly flew into my face. "AHH!" I cried. Like that it was gone. A bird somehow managed to get into my car hood. "Jesus Christ, man!" I reacted to the fright, jumping back. Rainbow was laughing her ass off on the roof of my car.
"You should'a seen your face, dude!" she managed as she pointed a hoof at me. All the others were smirking at me and my display.
"Ray you've got something in your hair." Feathers were all over the ground and in my hair. I ruffled my hair to get them out.
"Heh, I guess it was kinda funny." I acknowledged. "Let's see if I can get it running."
I started to fiddle around the dirty engine, removing the feathers from it and scanning the parts for the source of the problem. I rolled up my sleeves and started to move my hands around the engine. I'd think it would be something to do with the spark plug or something but I wasn't too sure.
"So how does it work," Twilight evaluated the internals of the mechanism, looming above it. She had her hooves on the front of the car, she was standing on her hind legs. She was shorter than me, about 5,9. "Well, basically it works through pistons. Air, fuel, pressure, and electricity come together and form an explosion inside a chamber which moves the pistons. Thus creating power to move the vehicle."
"Steam engines work similarly to that but not with combustion to move the pistons," she said to me.
I motioned to the entirety of the workings of the car. "I know, we had steam engines in my world but of course better things came and replaced them."
"Jeez, you're much more of an Egghead than I thought." Rainbow was behind us and listening in to our conversation. "But your still Eggheads," Twilight just glared at her while I just shot her an unamused look. She then proceeded to fly up in the air and away from us.
Turning to Twilight, I declared with a smile. "I'll explain more about it later, we need to get this to the Castle."
"You're right. We need to fix it. And I don't have anything to write this all down on." I could give her my notepad and a pencil. I ran the thought over my head until I came upon an outcome.
I placed my pack on the dirt and I pulled out some of its contents. I tore a few pieces of paper from my notepad. "Will this do" I grasped a pencil and papers in my hands.
"Really. I mean, are you sure? Because I haven't been that useful."
Twilight levitated them in a raspberry aura towards her. "It's cool, I don't use my notepad that much and I can't say I've not enjoyed answering your questions." At this response, she smiled.
"So are you going to help me with this or what?" I motioned to the car's engine.
She started "Well..."
"It's fine, I think you can help me with this a little," Twilight gave me a quick smile before I continued checking the spark plug.
I discussed the basic car parts to her as I repaired it. She always wanted the most in-depth answer about the various components of the metallic beast. She helped me slightly with her magic as we conversed about my car. Presently, we had finished with the repairs and started to figure out how to get it through town.
Turning the key, the engine rumbled to life with an earthquake of shuddering from the idling motor.
"Woah!" Rainbow Dash called out as she was taken by surprise by the unexpected feeling.
Applejack scoured the front of the car. "Is it suppose' to make all of that racket?"
"Yep! Its all repaired!"
"Well, let's get this back to Celestia!" Twilight reminded with a smile.
I stretched my arm and opened the door on my right. They all just looked at me, puzzled. "Aren't you going to get in?" I spoke through the window.
Twilight let out a squee of joy as she suddenly radiated light from her horn. Twilight was engulfed in a blast of purple light. The light then amasses into the seat next to me. She in the seat next to me.
Twilight teleported next to me.
She just teleported.
"I... Uhh..." I stammered at Twilight. I didn't even know they could do that.
She seemed slightly bewildered by my reaction. "What is it?"
"Y-you just... teleported!" I stuttered.
She chuckled "Oh yeah... We can do that!" Twilight shifted her gaze away from mine and started to write on the paper that teleported with her. her scribbles were probably about the interior of the car as her eyes darted off of the paper a lot. She already wrote a lot about the exterior already.
To be honest, I didn't know what I was expecting from them at this point.
"...Okay..." The rest were looking at me, snickering at my fascination with the spell. I put on a more annoyed face and hollered out of the window "You guys gonna get in or what?" I started to step out of the car.
"Why are you getting..." -Twilight trailed off as I folded the seat so the three of them could get in- "out?" She looked at it and realized its function. "Genius."
"There is only space for three more though so two of you will have to stay outside," I sheepishly grinned over to them.
Rainbow Dash said, "I was gonna hang out here anyways."
Fluttershy nervously said, "I'll stay out here too." That was really useful that they both stayed out here. They could fly on top of the car but it wasn't like I was gonna go fast through the hordes of ponies in Canterlot.
"Okay, Cool. The rest of you can climb into the backseat." I rested a hand onto the head of the folded seat.
One by one, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie slowly and sat down in the back of the hatchback. "Cozy!" Pinkie added as they bundled together. They sat almost like humans did. I guess, standing on their back legs they could be at about average human height. I then thought how Princess Celestia and Luna would be if they stood on their back legs. Not exactly a comforting thought either.
"Pinkie, Darling. This isn't cozy, it's cramped," Rarity said. She wasn't even touching Pinkie but to be fair, it was a small hatchback
I folded back the seat. "Okay..." I uttered as I slammed the door behind me. "Let's get moving," I focused as I rolled the window beside me down. I grasped my seatbelt and pulled it over me, forcing it into its paired slot. "You guys might want to do buckle your seatbelts as well."
Twilight looked at I in a questioning expression. "What are they for?"
"Safety."
I slotted the gear into reverse. Twilight was then fixated on it with a shine of inquisition in her eyes. "What does that do?" I opened my mouth to respond but she cut me off "Actually, what does everything in here do?" She started at me
I chuckled slightly at her enthusiasm "I'll explain later. We're burning gas."
I couldn't turn around so I just looked in a mirror and reversed out onto the road. I drove pretty much every day on Earth since I got my license so I was alright at it.
"This is a lot different than I expected," said Twilight as I turned my car swiftly towards the city. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were now flying just above the car, startled by the sudden movement. They had previously been on top of the roof.
"Could you give us a little warning next time?"
"Was that a little too fast for you, Dash?" I smirked as I peeked through the window.
She tried to retain her cool from my remark "No! Just a warning would be nice next time!"
Placing my hand onto the gear, I tugged it and shifted it into first. And gradually pushed on the gas. The car accelerated down the dirt road at around 30mph. I presumed the pegasi were flying above the car but I couldn't be sure.
"This thing's pretty fast," Twilight commented on the acceleration of the car.
"We're not going that fast, I'll be going slower through the town. We don't want to hit anyone." The thought of accidentally hitting a pony had lingered on the edge of my mind for quite some time now. I wasn't too sure on how to deal with the outcome of hitting them. However, my horn would yell at them to move out of my path if things got a little too hectic.
"So when are you going to tell me about your vehicle?" Twilight asked me as I stared ahead.
I started to slow down as buildings coated the sides of the road. Ponies began to notice the large metal beast rolling into the street. "Like, after I talk to Princess Celestia? I dunno." Her eyes narrowed slightly at this vague response. I was doing 10 in the street as ponies responded with mixtures of shock, curiosity, and fear.
As we turned various corners, the number of ponies only grew larger. This only made me more nervous as we ventured closer to the Castle. The gate the market area was now down the road. There was only one problem at this point was that the car was entirely surrounded and ponies were all around the car. I couldn't even reverse out anymore. Now the car was at a dead stop and the crowd surrounding my vehicle were conversing and curiously looking at me and auto.
Looking at all the ponies enclosing me, I uttered, "This isn't good." I poked my head out of the window and yelled, "Could you get out of the way?" Many of them didn't even acknowledge my words as they conversed in their confusion.
I heard many words like "What is it? The Human is inside it! Where did it come from?" This only made me feel more anxious about all of it. Rainbow Dash started to tell ponies to move out of the way.
I looked at my wrist to my watch... 11:34 am.
I let out a sigh at our immobile status as Rainbow Dash now argued with a stubborn stallion about who knows what. I had contemplated honking the horn at them throughout the trip. The palm of my hand slammed against the center of the wheel. A bellowing noise erupted from the car as all the ponies moved away from the noise.
---------Twilight ---------
A monotonous, abstract bellow came from the metal beast I was in. I was alarmed at first until I realized that the human slammed his hand against the steering device of the vehicle. He let go after a few seconds and the car lurched forward out of the crowd which had spread away from us. My safety strap tugging onto my coat.
"What the hay!" I exclaimed as the car came to a slow steady pace. Ponies eyeing us as we passed through the gateway into the market area.
"Sorry, Twilight," apologized Ray, you could tell he wasn't used to doing that sort of thing. "Hey, at least we are out of that crowd now!" He was optimistic about all of this oddly, he had no idea what would be his future at this point. From what he has told us, his world is drastically different from ours and that pretty much anypony from Earth would be out of their field here in Equestria.
"Yeah, I guess so," I smiled at him before looking ahead and out of the window. The sun was falling into the market area, there was barely a cloud in sight at this point in the day. He looked actually quite happy, he had a cheery tone about him. It was still amazing to me that I got to speak to this hairless ape at all let alone actually see some of its technology.
Humans have never really been a species of diverse natural color like every other species on Equus. The white-skinned human next to me seemed to be the most boring in natural appearance with his brown eyes and hair.
My gaze floated to the control in front of me. Ray called it a 'dashboard'. An accumulation of buttons and switches stood proudly untouched in the middle of the car. In front of Ray were gauges and dials of all sorts that were left unexplained to all of ponykind. I was becoming increasingly curious. It was somewhat maddening that he decided to take a break from explaining all of it to me. Directly in front of me was only a plastic surface with a handle on it. It looked like to be openable and led to a small compartment behind it.
I enveloped my magic around the handle and pulled it open. Ray noticed the action but seemed to take no care of it and kept slowly driving toward the castle gate. I pulled out all of its contents with my raspberry magic. My excitement got ahold of me as I saw a letter and a small wrapped object.
All of my attention was diverted to the mass of paper in front of me. These were the only familiar thing in this marvel of technology.
The object was rectangular in nature and wrapped like a package in brown paper with tape sticking sealing it. It was about as big as a book.
The letter simply read For Raymond. .
"Can you... uhh, leave those alone?" He perked up next to me, trying to dodge ponies in the street. He put on a half-smile.
"Oh sorry. I was just curious." It was pretty rude of me just to go poking around his car. I quickly floated all of the contents of the compartment back into it. My mind still was in the mysterious letter.
The stairs ahead of us came to my attention as the guards looked alerted of the vehicle's presence. Rainbow Dash flew up to the top of the stairs and softly landed.
"Alright..." Ray murmured next to me.
"What's your plan here?" I asked.
"Well..." He started. "Pretty much nothing." This annoyed me that he displayed such carelessness in possession to a technology which is far advanced than anything on the planet. "But I did think it over and judged how I would get up the stairs." This didn't really change the fact that he didn't make a real plan for this.
Inquiring in a moderately annoyed tone, "Why didn't you plan this out?"
The others now were all looking at him with slightly disappointed expressions as the car jutted to a stop just before the first step. He turned to me, "C'mon, don't be annoyed about this. I didn't have much time to plan anyways and what was I even gonna plan out, an average speed I'll drive at through the streets?" His face held a friendly smirk of jokey reassurance.
"I hope you know what you're doing," I reminded him as he regained his attention to the stairs in front of us. The wheels jerked onto the first step. It slides onto the next and the next after until the back wheels of the alien craft lurched onto the steps.
It was a slow and anxious ascend to the top. The tugging of the car on the steps made me fear for the worst in the scenario but Ray had an expression of concentration painted over his face as the car worked along.
Sooner than I had anticipated, the ride of bumps and monotonous shaking was over and the car was at the top of the stairs at the gateway to the castle.
The guards looked at the car like it was a manticore in their astonishment as Fluttershy, who flew off the car earlier, landed back onto it with a soft *clunk*.
"Hey!" Ray smirked at the guards as we passed them by. The car was going faster than in the bustling streets of the city. They had barely anypony on them so it must of enabled Ray to drive without running down ponies constantly on his mind. We were just heading through the enclosed area just before the entrance to the castle.
"So is driving taught to humans when they are kids?" I asked.
He tried and failed to stave a snicker behind his hand while the other held the steering wheel. "No, not really." This caught the attention of the others as well. "You have to get a license to drive legally, which I have of course. You can get a license at 17 which is when I got mine."
Trying to keep my questioning in check, for now, I quickly noted down the information, still meagerly excited to learn more about this alien human's world.
We entered the castle through the heavy doors which had guards positioned on either side. The car buzzed it's way into the hall and ran along it passing guards that were surprised by the vehicle. It seemed like the halls could fit the width of about two and a half of these 'hatchback' cars in them
We twisted and turned into the hall toward the throne room where Celestia was. She was likely expecting us.
The heart of the car slowed as we gradually halted to the closed door. Ray poked his head out the window, "Hey, could you open the door?"
The door was draped in yellowy magic as it started to creak open. Ray gave them a brief "Thanks," in return.
He continued to guide the auto into the room where Celestia and Luna were busily reviewing scrolls of various inscriptions on them. They noticed the light hum of the engine as it flowed deeper into the room. The sun poured into the room through the windows like this morning with the only change being their angle.
Ray, again, put his head out of the window as the car heaved to a stop. "I got my car," he joyously said with a happy look. He had an upbeat air about him even though he had an argument with Rainbow alongside his current situation.
They were now staring at the car, Celestia and Luna's faces were seas of astonishment and confusion.
Ray got out of the car and stepped onto the carpet, "Well, what do you think of it?"
The sisters edged slowly to the vehicle as the rest of us got out. Rainbow and Fluttershy were already at the side of it. Ray stopped about 20 meters away from the stairs to the sister's thrones.
"Well, it's certainly... different from what I was expecting..." Luna opinionated to Ray who was by the driver's door, leaning onto the car. "Well, I thought it would look different and be a bit more... understandable," she paused again through her sentence.
"I agree with my sister that it may indeed need some explaining to us," Celestia stated.
Ray perked up slightly at this. "I'd thought you'd never ask."
With that, he opened up the internals of the car with a -click- . Thus began a long period where he explained pretty much everything about the car for an hour and me taking down more about this strange machine!
---------Ray---------
I kind of dreaded explaining this all to them at first, especially briefly going over the engine with Twilight, but I managed to get through with my mediocre at best skills in teaching.
I let out a sigh in my mind to complete it all. Twilight was busy inscribing down about what the indicators did. Everyone was standing in the front of the car with the exception of Rainbow Dash who left out of boredom. The others were talking to each other.
"Certainly remarkable. What does a mechanical engineer exactly do from your world?"
Celestia had turned to face me. "Well, mechanical engineers design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. This ranges from internal combustion engines like the one in my car to home appliances like refrigerators." Luna was also now diverting her attention to me. "In short, I build machines. Don't you have mechanical engineers in Equestria?"
"We do but mechanical engineers from your world seem to do many more things than in ours?" Celestia looked towards the car and then back at me. "I may have a proposition for you."
"Shoot."
"Would you care to design an engine like the one in your car here?" she requested
A job in an alien world where you design technology? Seems pretty sweet if you ask me. "Sure, what else have I got to do anyways?" I smiled.
Nothingness.
Well, it seemed like nothingness until I opened my eyes, which I regretted. I groaned as I pushed myself off of the amalgamation of papers below me. My face had been lying on a book about Equestrian history and under it, there were my papers from my work. I decided to instead make a truck instead of just an engine as I gave permission for scientists to look at my truck in detail. Which means they will take it apart slowly piece by piece for research.
They have done just that for the past few weeks. I guided them with dismantling when they wanted to study the material compositions of certain components. Most of the researchers were astounded by the technology.
I lied back in the wooden chair and rubbed my eyes. "Ugh, what time is it?" I said to nobody as I looked down at my watch. It was 12:09 pm. Man, how long was I up last night, I thought as I pinched my eyes once more. My desk was littered with papers and coffee stains. I really needed a coaster. The rectangular object in packaging my mom gave me on the day I got abducted was sitting on the edge of the furnishing, unscathed amongst the chaotic flurry that is my workspace.
I grasped the brown parcel in my hand. The material was stuck like glue to the object. It was packed tight. At first glance, it would seem that there was a cassette wrapped in it. That's what I remember mom telling me anyways. Did she tell me it was a cassette? This uncertainty grew. Then again, it all seems vivid like a dream. The past few months of my life seem like a dream oddly enough. Maybe I'm just still waking up? Dismissing the idea, I turned my view to more important things.
I forced the chair to part with my body as I meandered myself to get breakfast. Well, it was lunch really. Guards patrolled and sometimes guarded the length halls of the castle. I phased through the light as it wandered onto the carpet from the sun.
Making it to the dining hall, it seemed lunch was being served. Well, it was brunch for me at this point with my everything unready for the day.
"How long did you stay awake?" perked up a voice from the table.
I came behind a dining chair and pulled it out. "I don't really know, Celestia. I think I can start working on my truck though."
"What?" I asked plainly.
She sighed "That's good, Ray... But you do know that you are appointed to see the Doctor today, right?"
I stared at her with one of my arms stopped mid-way to reaching towards some of the stuff to cobble together a meal of some kind. "No."
"You have got about 20 minutes." She stared blankly.
At that second I grabbed a plain piece of bread and practically fell off the chair I inhabited. Stumbling on my own feet like a newborn child, I darted out of the hall and tried my best to get prepared.
Sprinting down the halls, my feet abruptly landed outside the door of the physician. It had a frosted glass window and a more human look to it than the other doors I had seen so far in my time in Equestria apart from the ones in the medical wing. It had a label, F.Scavenger .
With no time to lose, I grasped the metal handle and entered. "Doctor Scavenger?" A desk lay in front of me as I slowly stepped into the room. On it a folder and some papers. A plant stayed silent in the corner of the office as I peered around at the rest of the space. Nothing else really captivating, a door to another room, a picture, things that would be expected in a place like this.
"Doctor?" I asked again as I took a few more tentative feet into the room. I placed one hand on the edge of the desk and leaned over it and tried to peer through the identical door to my left.
The glass was also frosted. The only detail I got out of that was it was light in there as well. Maybe even a window was in there like this room. I removed my hand from the desk and took a few steps back. I pulled my cap forward and folded my arms.
As I tapped my sneakers on the hard floor, I drove my attention to the picture to the right of me. It was of a landscape of rolling hills, probably to calm the Doctor. Now thinking about it, what was Mr.Scavenger a Doctor of? I had assumed up until this point that he specialized in medical studies.
I was running late since I got in his office. I grasped the handle of the door and let myself in.
The faint sound of scribbling could be heard nearby as I scanned the room. There were a few things to note like filing cabinets, various undefinable instruments of science and a desk where a being was positioned, quickly inscribing away at some notes.
The first thing I noticed about him was he was wearing a lab coat. They looked bipedal but I couldn't really make out what species from here."Doctor Scavenger?"
This abrupt voice startled him as he visibly jumped and swiveled around to face me. "Y-you startled me there." He had red scales and wore a pair of rectangular glasses. It seemed like he was a dragon I had read about. There seemed to be a species of dragons in a society and some had more in common with mythical dragons. However, the wings seemed absent. There are two types of dragon in Equestria, one being massive ones that hoard everything they come into contact with while the other being more akin to humans. "So you must be the human?" He inquired.
"Yea-"
He cut me off. "Excellent!" he cried. He jumped onto his clawed feet and ran over to me with a mixture of papers in his claw-hands? Claws. "Hmm, average body type from definition..." The dragon proceeded to check my body. "Maybe a little on the scrawny side."
This is gonna be kinda tedious.
"So that concludes pretty much everything with the physical now as well."
I was standing in the middle of the room. He had tested me with several apparatus which I couldn't decipher the functions of. "So we're done now, Doc?" I pushed my hands into the pockets of my new pants. Rarity gave me some after she took some measurements of me a few weeks ago. I was really grateful for something different to wear.
"Not yet. From what you've told Celestia, you have no magic in your world?" Scavenger asked.
Looks like I wasn't done after all. I pulled my hands out of my pockets again. "Not that I know of. I don't exactly know or not though." He pushed his glasses up at this.
"Well on Equus and in Equestria especially, all creatures have a form of magic inside them. It's hard to define. It's like your soul but you can live without it." I've seen magic before but this is all new to me. I had no idea there might be some form of magic inside me.
Following on, I added, "Does that mean I might have magic?"
"Maybe." He replied unveiled a cloak from what seemed to me like a computer from the 50s. Wires and cables led to another machine which looked minimal compared to the computer. The other contraption itself had what looked like a space to walk into with two pillars of metal shooting above my height. He continued to set up the machines, leaving me in utter questioning of the clunky heaps of metal still. A transparent, blue crystal-like object with metallic pieces attached to the ends slotted into the machine with a clunk. The Doctor flicked a few switches and it all whirred to life.
I tentatively stepped up closer to the machine. "What does this do exactly?"
"It uses the magical energy of this crystal here to scan you for essences present in your matter."
Reading on magic, I pretty much was gonna scan me for magic. "Neat." I still had other queries. "Is it safe by any chance?"
"Well..." He started to slow down his pace. "I am unsure whether it will have any long-term negative effects... or even negative effects for that matter... However, I can say it works." He sheepishly smiled at me. It was kind of disheartening.
I sighed as I took off my cap and placed it onto a nearby table among other various components. "Let's get this over with," I stated while turning back to face him.
"Right!" he said with a little excitement as he started to operate the computer. "Step into the machine." I walked over onto the pad before me with a mix of intrigue and worry for my safety. "This will just take a second."
The machine started to light up like a Christmas tree as it whirred a monstrous tone. It shuddered a little, clanking its own folds of metal in the process of turning on. "Was it supposed to do that?"
"Yeah." He paused "Did, I mention it's still a prototype?" He had turned his head over to me once more, I could still see him through the large opening on the other side, facing the computer.
"I mean, I kinda got that part from that you are unsure of any negative effects." He had a blank face still as he now stared at a clipboard.
Was it me or did the surroundings, seem a little more blue-er "Now do NOT leave until I say you can... Unless you want to get your internal organs emulsified."
"WAIT, WHAT!?"
He pressed a button on the console of the computer "Here we go!" he bellowed excitedly. Everything seemed to be in a dark blue aura. It wasn't like the magic ponies used, it was clearer and felt funny.
You've either: Killed yourself or taken part in a needless experiment that also kills you.
Apart from my internal regrets, the scan was going well. Nothing was going wrong, the computer was printing results. It was printing something at least, not that I could tell from where I was standing.
"A-are you sure this isn't gonna kill me?" I asked with a nervous stutter. He was busy writing stuff onto a clipboard.
He looked up. "No. Just... try to stand still," advising in a more frustrated tone. I stopped my shuffling and stood in place. Time passed and with a few button presses, the aura dissipated like fire.
I looked around at the machine and shuffled my feet a little. "You may step out of the scanner," the Doctor ordered. I did just that. I Immediately felt like all the energy had been taken out of me.
I stumbled on my feet and started to lose my balance. The Doctor grabbed my arm, "I suspected this would occur..."
"What did you do, Doc?" I couldn't give enough energy to be angry. He sat me down onto a chair to rest. I didn't feel faint. Just like I had nothing in me to give. "Oh man..."
"It seems to me that you have so little magic inside you, that after the scan, it was all expelled from your body... He looked down at the coherent coats of paper dabbed across the computer. "Not to worry though. Humans produce magic with extreme haste, so you should be your normal self by the evening," fixing his eyes on me sitting in a chair with my head down as if I was feeling sick.
I jerked my drained body to face him. "Woohoo," I said in a sarcastic mutter. Some Doctor this is...
My shoes were slowly padding their way across the halls. I was still somewhat incomplete from that scan. He only estimated what the machine did to me as he never had a human subject use it before. He told me to come back if there were any unwarranted side effects apart from the drowsiness and that I would be notified of the results. The time for them to get to me was not guaranteed to be fast.
I passed by a large door to an outdoors section of the Castle. It looked like the gardens. I haven't really been there before. I wanted to try to do some work but I still felt exhausted, at least I could still stand.
Deciding I wanted to have a look around, I moved into the sun. It was a bright day with it being actually quite warm for a march day. there was barely any wind today.
I followed the path, my shoes softly crackling on the narrow lane. There were a few statues with well-cut grass everywhere. I came upon a fountain in the sparse trees. It led four ways, including the way I came from in a cross formation. The paths leading away from it winded to their destinations.
I chose the one that looked like it led away from the building.
A patch of more dense trees was now ahead of me, slowly swaying in the liquid wind. I walked up to it and put a hand to one of them on its bark.
It was slightly cold to the touch, though nothing was really perfect at this time of the year. I stared at it admiring it. It seemed to be pretty old I would have thought. I sat down toward the light, placing my back against its stable trunk. As a kid, I used to do this. I liked nature. If I was feeling sad or just wanted to be around the natural world, I would just sit down, let it pass as I appreciated it for what it was.
I kind of needed this for a while. With me being trapped in another world and it essentially impossible to get me back to Earth by magical means, I was stuck here. I sighed at this.
Nature was a way of escapism from my reality. The reality of me maybe never even seeing my world again. I looked at the rolling clouds. How they were moving above me with ease.
I pulled my cap down and started to drift away into the black.
My view was obstructed by a computer that looked like it was from the early 90s. The desk looked uninteresting, plain plastic like the computer. The chair too. There was barely text on the monitor.
I studied the room around me, there was a door. It seemed to be protected by a keypad on the wall near it. The glow of the computer screen barely showed its existence.
"Where on Earth am I?" I verbally pondered.
I sat down at the desk and looked at the screen.
What are you doing here?
The words seemed an almost sickly color with the only movement present being the flash of the vertical light indicating where I was typing.
I wasn't sure on what to type. Maybe I needed to have a specific command?
help
Answer the question.
"What the hell is this?" I again questioned.
Maybe if I answered it like a human being.
I don't know.
You know why.
"Creepy," I said, shuffling to be a little more comfortable.
Who are you?
What are you doing here?
And I was back here again. I reached up placing my finger on the button. I pushed down. Everything went black, there was now no light in the room.
My finger was still on the button. I pressed down again, nothing was there. My hand just moved through where the computer once was.
"Wha?"
I tried to push myself out of my seat but there was nothing there.
"Ray."
"Who's there? What's going on?" I replied to the muffled voice, trying to be as collected as I could while what felt like floating through a black void.
"Ray." It sounded like Celestia.
I waved my limbs in the nothingness. I didn't even feel like I was falling. "Celestia? I may need your assistance..." I was trying to contain my fears as I drifted in the darkness.
"Ray!"
"Raymond!" Celestia's voice bellowed toward me.
"Alright, Alright. I'm up!" I grabbed my cap and pushed it up against my head. Celestia was standing above me. "What's up?"
"We have matters to discuss... and also its dinner." Her tone was annoyed. I heaved my body up and peered up to her. On the note of time, it looked like the sun was starting to set. I must have been asleep for longer than I expected.
"Cool," I responded while rubbing my the bride of my nose.
She spoke neutrally, "Why are you sleeping outside?"
"Thought I needed a little break." She smiled at this. I believe she thought the same.
"You have been staying up late, working." She started to stare across the garden. "Speaking of work, I examined your plans and I believe our society has the knowledge to make the parts for it."
She turned her gaze toward me. "It is your wish to have assistance in this task."
I was silent for a moment and diverted my eyes away yo the surroundings. She has asked me this multiple times in the past. I always gave it a little bit of a thought when it came around. I moved my eyes up to face her's, "No."
"As you wish." She seemed as though to think for a second. She may have been doubting my skills. When your mom is a mechanic who teaches you a thing or two, you'd think you would have a basic grasp on some areas. "Luna is waiting for us in the dining hall."
"Well, I don't think Luna would appreciate her favorite human being" I exaggerated by pointed a thumb at myself. This gained a chuckled out of Celestia. We began to make our way to our destination.
I was sitting in a comfortable armchair of purple as Luna sat comfortably in their respective seats. There was a fire, spitting its flames erratically as it faintly cackled in the background of our conversation.
"I guess that makes sense... Though I find it quite hard to believe that some ponies still think you have control over the sun and the moon. But you know some humans think the world is flat."
"I cannot say its any different in our society either," Celestia responded. She had somehow convinced me to take the rest of the day off with them. They have some spare time in the late afternoon on a Sunday to do whatever they wanted. I don't usually socialize with Luna and Celestia either, with them often being busy. "What do you believe in?"
This came as a surprise to me, "Broad question." I looked into the mug of coffee laying in my hands, the black, liquid energy stared back up to me. "I don't really believe that the world is flat for starters..." I hadn't given this much thought in the past. "You know, I'm not really a Christian. I'm agnostic. And now I believe in aliens, not that I didn't before anyways." I had already explained most religions to them and researchers so they understood what I was talking about.
"Intriguing," Celestia stared at me expectantly.
"You could say that... But you know what's pretty cool? Talking to two thousands of years old creatures in a whole other world." I thought about this revelation however various times in the past and I were right, it was pretty cool. "And on top of that, I am working for them and sharing technology far above their own."
"How do you feel about this?" Luna inquired as she sat on a couch facing the fireplace. I rarely come into this room, mainly as I have nobody to really use it with.
"Frankly amazing. I am the first human of my society to do this sorta thing," I gave them a smile. "Anyways, I've got a question for you now." They both looked at me for me to continue. "Could you tell me more about the elements of harmony, I haven't found much material about them except for the fact that they are ponies themselves." I still retained a slight smirk as always.
The sisters looked at each other, it was like they had an entire discussion with that stare. They then looked back at me. "Alright," she sighed. " I suppose I can tell you in a bit more detail about them seeing as you have given us many sciences and agreed to even build an automobile for us."
"The elements of harmony were six artifacts with immense magical power, it is the magic of harmony. The most powerful magic known to Ponydom. They are now embedded in the tree of harmony to stop the Everfree Forest growing and destroying Equestria," I nodded to show my understanding. "The main six embody these elements."
"Supernatural artifacts?" I gulped down the rest of my coffee.
"Indeed, they have been used many times in the past to resolve conflicts in the midst of anarchy." I started to stare back into the mug again.
"I don't think there's anything like that back on Earth." I put the mug on the table beside my chair with it being empty. "If there was, bad things could have happened..." I was thinking about all the dictators and corruption back home. I guess this place was better that way.
Celestia and Luna were silent like they knew exactly what I meant. It was getting late, though I still felt a little depleted from the scan earlier. A neutral expression was engraved onto everyone's faces. "I think... I'm gonna hit the hay or something. This coffee is gonna keep me up for a while. See you tomorrow."
They had experienced tyrants throughout history which no human has ever faced. What they may have seen in me and my species in the past is conflict. It's only human to get into conflict, however. What worried me was their response as I walked out of the room; neutral gazes and almost complete silence. "One last question." Celestia was still looking at me with a mug enveloped in her magic.
"Shoot," I turned my body sideways to see her.
"What is war like on your world?"
I mentally grimaced about this answer. "Brutal but... there is no other option at the moment."
She sipped the edge of her mug tentatively and spoke, "See you tomorrow." She was staring at the fireplace.
I slowly walked away, Celestia was never like this. She always had a friendly and knowing look to her it was absent at the end of the conversation for an extended period of time. Anyways, it was kind of weird how she came and found me herself and didn't send a guard to find me. I decided to sleep on it, it was predicted I would still be like this no matter what I did apart from pass on the time.
