Equilibrium, Book 1: The First Human.

July 22, 1000.
10:34 A.M.
Outskirts of Ponyville.

"So mister human you got a name?" Dash asked as the trio trotted through the forest. John chuckled.

"My name is Manson You." He snorted as he failed to try and contain his laughter. Dash was confused.

"What's so funny?" She asked giving him a smirk. He just held his side's.

"Sorry just always wanted to use that." He let out a soft sigh as he got his composure back.

"But in reality my name is John." He said as he winced as his leg was jostled a little as Fluttershy hopped over a loose branch that had fallen on the dirt path.

"Sorry." She squeaked as she tried to give John a soft smile of comfort.

"Don't worry I'm good." He said trying to reassure her.

"Finally," Dash said as the trio began to break through the sea of trees. As soon as they got out of the forest they took a break as Dash stretched her wing's.

"Wow." John thought as he was lifted off of Fluttershy's back and settled on the ground as she too stretched out her wings.

"They are so beautiful up close." He sat there and watched as the two pegasi got the blood flowing into there wings once more. Afterward, they sat down in the grass next to john so as to provide him with some level of protection should the need arise. Dash's curiosity finally got the better of her.

"So John was it?" She asked as John gave her a grunt of acknowledgment.

"Yes?" He asked as he settled down in a comfy position so as not to disturb his leg.

"What kind of sword is that?" She pointed to his katana strapped to his belt.

"Oh, this thing." He unstrapped the sheath with the blade still in it and held it close.

"This is called a katana." He pulled the blade out showing them the subtle curve of the blade as it tapered to a sharp point.

"Its a blade from another country where I'm from and as you can see it is mainly used for cutting." He said as he put it back in the sheath. The two pegasi regarded the weapon with a small sense of fear but they both looked at the one wielding it.

"Any reason to have that?" Fluttershy asked as she pulled up a tuft of grass and began to flit it about in her magic. John watched with fascination as she did so but soon shook his head to get himself back on track.

"Um oh no. Not really." He said as he thought about it.

"I mean I carry it for self-defense but most people don't carry swords anymore for such purposes." Dash was confused.

"Wait if no one else has them then what weapons do they use?" She asked as John looked off into the distance. He was about to answer but was cut off as a blur of pink was seen streaking towards them.

"HEY!" Pinkie yelled as she sped towards them causing John to flinch when she came to a sudden halt right in front of the trio.

"Oh boy." He mused as she eyed him with a huge smile upon her face. He nervously tried to back up a little bit but stopped when his leg began to act up.

"Grr." He grimaced as he began to massage his leg just above his ankle. Fluttershy sensing his sudden bout of nerves fidgeted.

"Strange." She muttered to herself. Ruffling her feather's some Fluttershy got up and trotted over to pinky.

"Um, pinky?" She asked getting her attention.

"Yes?" She asked feeling positively gitty. Fluttershy cleared her throat before nodding to John.

"I think you're making our guest nervous." She said while Twilight, Rarity and Applejack made there way over the hill to the forest entrance. Slowly Pinky's brain began to chug away at the information she was given. Slower than before she looked from John to Fluttershy and back. Realization began to dawn on her muzzle.

"Ooooohhhhh." She drew out her conclusion as she gave John's frazzled face one more look of curiosity. Seeing Pinky come to terms with her own aloofness caused Fluttershy to smile. She then gave Pinky a pat on the back.

"Just take it slow with him ok?" She asked to which Pinky gave a salute.

"Yes, Ma'am." She then slowly trotted over to Joh who gave her a look of trepidation.

"He, he, Hey there," Pinky said nervously chuckling as she slowly brought a hoof up. John could see the restraint Pinky was using as her face began to sweat. Slowly he brought his own hand up and grasped Pinky's hoof.

"Hello." He saw the tension in Pinkys face melt away as they slowly shook hands.

"Oh, where are my manner's. My name's Pinky Pie." She introduced herself. John smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Pinky Pie." He pointed to himself. "My name is John." He said as he looked over to the last three ponies to arrive. John's breath hitched in his throat as at last the group was all assembled for him to see.

"Wow." He muttered as he took in the scene before him. Twilight gave him a look and then muttered to the rest of the group as she never took her eye's off of him. It kind of creeped him out a little. Slowly they all began to look at him. Now he was sweating bullets.

"They're all here. THIS! IS! AWESOME!" Fluttershy's mind raced as her ear's swiveled over to John.

"I'll definitely have got to talk to Twilight about this later." Finally John noticed they had all stopped muttering to one another and were intently looking at him.

Twilight gave the creature before her a look of contemplation.

"Where have I read about this thing before?" She just could not remember where she had read up on this being. It was tall by most ponies standards. Around five feet tall, had a skin tone that matched copper in its complexion, had eye's that matched the golden color of the guard's armor and had only a small bit of black hair on the top of its head and face. Realizing she was staring at it intensely she shook her head.

"Great probably freaked it out." Taking a deep breath she studied its face trying to get a read on it and seeing that it was wearing a pair of glasses.

"Well here's hoping for the best." She gave it a soft smile.

"Hello there. My name is Twilight Sparkle." She said raising a hoof.

"Oh boy big first impression. Don't screw it up!" Slowly John got to his feet as Fluttershy came over and allowed him to use her body as a lean to. John hobbled over to Twilight and the rest of the group as Fluttershy wrapped a wing over his back to help steady his wobbly footing. Soon they were all together in a small huddle around the human as John thought of an idea. Slowly he began to kneel down on his knees being careful to not tweak his leg any more than he had to until he was now a least at eye level with the group of mare's baring all of the obvious size differences between them. Slowly he held out his right hand as he used his left to hold onto Fluttershy who had knelt down with him to keep him stable. John smiled as he grasped Twilight's hoof and shook it.

Just like that all of the tension in the air was broken as the whole group let out a collective breath.

11:07 A.M.

"So let me get this straight," Twilight asked as the group all made there way down the dirt path towards Ponyville. John was one more confined to Fluttershy's back as she carried him along the path. He and Twilight had begun to talk about the circumstances of his arrival.

"You went and bought this trinket at some store where you loved and whilst riding home in your vehicle there was a strange flash of light and poof you ended up in the Everfree Forest?" John nodded.

"Yup," He said as he fished around in his pant's pockets for said trinket.

"And it's not on me at the moment so either I lost it in there," He thumbed behind them "Or it just up and vanished after sending me here." Twilight and the other's all listened with rapt attention. Then Twilight shrugged.

"Well, it's not any harder to believe then the whole Nightmare Moon incident." She stated as she began to organize her thought's and file certain information for later. While she was doing that John was filtering through a million questions of his own. He settled on the one that was most important to him at this time.

"So not to derail the conversation but just what can you and Rarity do?" He asked out of the blue. It caught Twilight off guard which caused her to stop and in turn the whole group.

"What?" She asked no understanding his request. He laughed.

"You and Rarity?" He nodded to the two who were at the head of the group.

"I mean to say what super power's do you two have." He pointed to each of the others in turn.

"Pinky can control water." She giggled.

"Rainbow can become a living lightning rod." She smirked.

"AJ over here is a geomancer." She looked shocked at that statement but didn't refute it.

"And Fluttershy is some kind of sanguine magic user I would guess." He shook his head. Fluttershy just nodded.

Finally understanding the question Twilight nodded.

"Oh, that's what you mean." She then laughed.

"Well, they're not super power's." She air quoted with her hooves stifling a giggle. John cocked his head.

"They're not?" He asked feeling very confused. Twilight shook her head.

"Nope, they're just the natural talents that we as ponies have." She stated as if it was common knowledge. John was thoroughly confused now.

"What?" He asked as he took this all in. "You mean that everypony out there has that kind of power at there disposal at any given time?" He asked causing Twilight to nod.

"Yes," she said as she started walking causing the other's to follow. John sat on Fluttershy's lap mulling this over. Fluttershy couldn't help but smirk as he thought about this new bit of info.

"Well shit. I need to tread very carefully." Fluttershy giggled as she raised a wing up and patted John on the back. He gave her a look of nervousness as she turned her head and winked at him.

"What?" Was all he thought as he looked at the back of her head. He shuddered as he thought of the implications of that gesture.

"Please tell me she can't hear my thoughts." Fluttershy's giggle at that thought caused John to go livid. Only two words came to mind.

"Oh. Shit!" John sat there frantically trying to not freak out as he went over all that he had thought about over the course of meeting his biggest idles.

"Oh crap! Oh shit! I'm so boned it's not even funny!" He started to tremble as he closed his eyes and tried to stop the oncoming panic attack from overwhelming his body. He just started to do some deep breathing exercises until he felt a soft presence make itself known on his front and back. Peeking through one eye he saw a set of yellow wing's had embraced his upper body. Looking to there owner he saw Fluttershy giving him a look of remorse.

"I'm sorry." She said in a demure voice as she turned her head and gave his side a soft nuzzle. That brought a smile to John's face as all of his worries vanished at the sight that had no dought melted countless fear's from its sheer adorableness. Taking one last deep breath he settled a hand on Fluttershy's head and patted her.

"It's, it's ok." He said as he recomposed himself. Slowly he began to look at the rest of the group. Pinky was hopping along as happy as could be. Applejack was looking off down the road. Rainbow Dash was lost in thought as she flew above them. Rarity was humming a little toon to herself and Twilight was smiling as she made her way down the road with five of her closest friends in tow. John sighed as he thought about all that had happened.

"If first impressions are the last ones you get to make then I really need to come clean with all of this." His mind made up he decided now was as good a time as any to get things out of the way.

"Just like a band-aid." That one simple sentence got everyponys attention.

"What was that dear?" Rarity said as the group all gave John a quizzical look. He laughed as they all gave him their attention. He sighed as he steeled himself for the upcoming conversation.

"Girl's there's something I need to tell you all before we get to town." He said looking off towards the small hamlet. Applejack smirked.

"About time you told us the truth." She smiled as she settled down on the side of the road soon followed by the others. John was shocked at first but then burst out laughing.

"Yeah forgot that I can't hide anything from you AJ." He said as Fluttershy set him down on the grass. The other's all began to settle down as well forming a semi-circle around the human as he thought of how best to broach this subject. Suddenly Dash flew into the air.

"Before we get into anything too serious I need to get the first aid kit." She said zooming off in the direction of her cloud home. As she did so John looked to the rest of the group.

"So how's the weather been lately?" He asked letting out a nervous chuckle.