Eric rolled over onto his back as the blurred soup of words and sounds that had plagued him ever since he returned to consciousness a few minutes ago slowly grew more cohesive. He had put together the feeling of movement and several voices, then more voices a few minutes later, one of them was this high-pitched, shrill voice that made it feel like a mixture between a xenomorph and icepick was trying to burrow its way out of his skull. Suddenly things were shaking, and it sounded like a scuffle was happening outside the dark realm of his consciousness. Finally, he scraped together enough sense to get his eyes open and took stock of his surroundings as the shaking finally came to a stop, finally, the full measure of the pain in his head hit him, and as he came to his senses he let out a groan.

"Christ, my friggin' head."

Wherever he was it was dark, and the cold, metal floor indicated that he likely hadn't dreamed the last hour or so of his suddenly very strange life. He finally managed to force himself into a sitting position and reached out for something to steady himself on as he stood. His hand wrapped around a cool metal bar. He frowned as he reached out his other arm hoping not to find another bar, he did, he found another, and another, and by then he knew his worst fears had been true. He was in a cage, being carted off to God knows where to be sliced open and studied by those horse-people. His mind trembled as he thought of the dark things that would be happening to him.

Suddenly without warning the darkness was stolen and replaced by light, blasting his eyeballs and temporarily blinding him as he felt himself suddenly jolted forward by a sudden shift in weight. For a few more moments there was silence, and then;

"What, is, that?"

The voice wasn't one of the ones he remembered, it was gravely, tomboyish, and carried a less cautious tone to it.

He managed to open his eyes and was greeted by the pinkest creature that he had ever laid eyes on in his life, the only think that was distinctly not pink about the creature was the blue T-shirt she wore and the pair of bright blue eyes that stared at him in a mixture of confusion, curiosity, and wonder. Behind the pink one was another horse-person, a pegasus dressed in a long blue varsity jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and a pair of faded, ripped jeans. His eyes, however, were drawn to the short rainbow-colored hair that sat on top of it's head. It's magenta eyes stared at him with curiosity as well as suspicion.

"What, what is it?"

Another horned head poked around the back of the wagon he realized he was in and he took stock of another kind of horse-person, one with both a horn and wings. Purple seemed to be the main color of this one, the only color differentiation with this one was the streak of pink that ran through it's mane. It wore a bit more formal clothing, a dress shirt and jacket paired with dress pants. But what drew his eyes was the crown on it's head. As soon as their eyes made contact, something flared in its eyes, some kind of excitement.

"You tell me, Twi, you're the egghead." The pegasus replied with an arched eyebrow.

"I-I don't know!" The words were said like a child receiving a Christmas gift, one that they couldn't wait to open.

"I do." Another, vaguely familiar voice said, hesitant, but confident in what she was speaking about.

Another Unicorn joined the group staring at him, and Eric recognized it as the Unicorn who had fainted when he had fell through the roof of the home. It seemed to look at him in the very same way the pink one did, but with less curiosity and more excitement, and a little bit of relief.

"He's a human."

"A human?" The Cyan one looked to the fainter, "Those are the things you were always on about, right, Lyra?"

"Yeah."

"It kinda looks like we do." The pink one finally spoke "Except it doesn't have any fur, and it's hooves are funny looking.

"They're called feet, Pinkie." The one called Lyra said, "and 'it' is a he, and 'he' can understand every word you're saying."

"Really?!" The purple one, Twi, suddenly climbed up onto the wagon and crouched in front of the cage in front of him, if he could have scooted back further he would have, but his back was already to the bars.

"Can you understand me?" The purple 'pegacorn' said to him, he didn't answer.

"Caaaan yooou" the pink one appeared next to the purple one saying the words slowly "Unnnndeeeerrstaaaaaand heeeeeerrrrr?"

'Twi' giggled slightly at the pink one's antics, and Eric couldn't help but smile slightly at the goofy display, the pink one seemed to lock on to his smile, and produced one of her own that was three times the size of his. The pink one, if Eric remembered was called Pinkie, pretty derivative, but fitting to say the least. She had an infectous smile that left the small mirthful smirk on his face for a few seconds even after Twi pushed pinkie away.

"What're ya'll doing' back there?" Eric actually blinked in surprise at the next figure he saw, a bright orange mare dressed in a red and black flannel shirt and jeans, coupled with a large blond mane a large-brimmed cowboy hat that gave her an overall southwestern America feel about her. Her green eyes finally settled on him, "now that, is a weird-lookin' critter!"

"Can....can I see?" a small, timid voice came.

"What am I, a zoo exhibit?" Eric thought to himself.

The mare that came next peeked at him through a large pink mane,her green eyes interested but fearful until she got a good look at him.

"Oh, my, he's....he's......"

"Weird?" The cyan one offered.

"Scared." The yellow pegasus said, nervously toying with a strand of her mane. "I've never seen any animals like him before."

"Probably because he's not an animal." Lyra remarked irritably, "and I'm sure he doesn't like being stared at like an exhibit in a zoo!"

"Quite right you are, Ms. Heartstrings!" A familiar voice replied, the Doctor came into view, ushering the group away from the wagon and nearly dragging Twilight away from the cage. "Our dear friend here is just sapient as you or I, and understands every last word you say to him. "

"Can he talk?" The cyan pegasus said skeptically "Like... a parrot would?"

"Just like you or me Ms.Dash, he is completely capable of independent speech."

"Oh yeah?" 'Dash' looked over to Eric, a smirk on her face "then why hasn't he said anything?"

"He did, Dash." Twilight replied, "he complained about his head?"

The pegasus blushed slightly, and she absent-mindedly scratched the back of her head.

"Oh, yeah, forgot about that."

"No reason to feel ashamed, Miss Dash," The Doctor came into view. "I'm sure we are all a bit confused, and maybe even a bit afraid." The Doctor made eye contact with Celestia, she shook her head, letting him know that the news hadn't been broken to the elements yet. The Doctor was about to turn back but noticed something, both Diarchs seemed, anxious, he would have chalked it up to the prospect of war looming on the horizon, but neither of them had looked anything close to nervous when they first appeared, but now, after the word "human" was being thrown around...

"The answer to your question Ms. Dash, is as Ms. Fluttershy suggested," the doctor said, filing away the question for later "he is scared by the numerous strange and unfamiliar creatures surrounding him, and he does not know whether to speak and risk angering creatures he understands very little of or to stay silent and hope that we do not cut him apart to study him."

Fluttershy gasped, "That would be horrible! Who would do something like that?!"

The Doctor frowned, "The world is not so nice as we perceive it to be, my dear mare, let's just say that our friend here was lucky that he landed here and not a place like the Griffon Kingdom. "

A long silence followed.

"But, enough about that, I do believe, It's time for some introductions!"

The Doctor then turned to Eric, who flinched as the rest of those present turned their eyes upon him as well.

"Now, I understand that you are likely very afraid and confused, but I'm going to ask you to trust me, and if you didn't realize, trust goes both ways, so if you trust me, then there might come a time where you might need me to trust you, and I'll think back to this time and I'll think; "ok, he trusted me, so I'll trust him."

Eric was a bit confused, but he believed he got the point of the Doctor's words.

"So, will you trust me, and answer a couple of questions? If you do, we'll let you out."

"We will?!" An annoyed and very familiar voice said indignantly. "Doctor, he is a-"

Eric bristled at the sound of his attacker's voice, and his tension was noticed by everyone present.

"Miss Drops, while I appreciate your concern, I believe I will trust the Doctor in this matter, the 'human' is he called?"

The doctor looked to the speaker and nodded, to Eric it was like the voice he heard was designed to convey a feeling of calm and kindness. For one reason or another, the voice calmed him enough to offer a nod.

The gathered mares seemed to bristle at the confirmation of his sapience, with Twilight looking as if she was about to jump for joy.

"Wonderful, now, may we know your name?"

Eric hesitated for a moment before answering. "Eric."

There was a moment of shocked and excited silence between the given answer and the next question,

"Eric, that's a fair name." The Doctor smiled. "Ok, Eric, do you know where you are?"

He shook his head.

"Do you know how you got here?"

Another shake of the head.

"WAIT, wait, wait, wait!" Twilight suddenly held her hands out, much to the chagrin of both the Doctor and Eric, who flinched at the sudden outburst.

"I need something to write on!"

Without warning, the alicorn disappeared in a flash of bright purple light, causing Eric to leap to his feet, pressing his back once again as his breathing reached a panicked crescendo and for a moment Lyra feared the human was going to try to run.

"Easy now!" The doctor held his hands up in a calming manner, "It's fine, everything's fine!"

"W-what, was t-that?" Eric stammered, stunned by the clear violation of the laws of physics.

"That.... is a rather complicated kind of power that would take more time than we have to explain, so bear with me here, we're going to call it magic for now." The Doctor sighed, and Lyra noticed a slight twinge of irritation in the stallion's voice as he spoke.

"Magic?" Eric stared at the doctor, "Right,"

"Doctor?" Celestia's voice rang out from beyond the human's range of sight, and the human became even more curious as to who the voice belonged to.

"Perhaps we should allow the human to leave the cage?" Luna's voice finished her sister's thought, "perhaps it would be better to continue such conversations within the castle walls."

The Doctor nodded. "Indeed."

Looking to Bon-Bon, the Doctor held his hand out for the key to the door, which she reluctantly relinquished, the doctor then inserted the key into the lock with one hand and flung the door open with the other.

"Terribly sorry about all of this," the doctor said to him. "I'm afraid the people here are a little wary of outsiders, though not without good reason.

Tentatively, Eric got to his feet, slowly peeking his head out to look at his surroundings, as the tarp that had covered the cage had only been lifted so he could see out of the front. He took in his surroundings, he appeared to be in the town he had seen when he had made his involuntary base-jump into this acid-trip of a world. The mares and stallion stepped back as the human nervously stepped out of the cage, and hopped off of the bed of the wagon.

"Now, I think-"

The Doctor was pushed aside as Eric's hand was grasped tightly.

"HIERICMYNAMESPINKIEPIEITSOSSUPERDUPERGREATTOMEETYOUWELCOMETOPONYVILLE!!!!!!"

Eric felt his hand nearly torn off as the pink mare shook his hand enthusiastically, smiling so brightly he thought her teeth might reflect the sunlight and blind him.

"ERICDOYOULIKEPARTIESILOVETHEMIHOPEYOUDON'TMINDIFITHROWONEFORYOU!"

"Uh..."

The mare gasped comically.

"INEEDTOGOMAKETHECAKE!"

The mare shot off in the direction of the town but was stopped by the southern-looking mare, who caught Pinkie, who was still running in place even as she was held back by her friend, her feet kicked up dust in a cloud around her legs as the mare realized she wasn't going anywhere.

"Now hold on there sugarcube," the mare said, "we still have a meeting to attend."

The party mare hung her head in disappointment and much to Eric's surprise, Pinkie's mane went from poofy and disorganized to straight in a matter of seconds.

"Awwww!"

"Don't you fret now Pinkie," the orange one chuckled, "ya can always do it after the meeting."

The mane suddenly regained its poofy nature and Pinkie's head shot up excitedly.

"OKAY!"

The mare flew from her friend's grip and suddenly wrapped Eric in a hug, then disappeared, shooting back off to the direction of the castle.

Eric blinked, and suddenly took notice of the cupcake that had been pressed into his hands without him even realizing.

"How...."

"Ah wouldn't think about it too much sugar cube." The orange mare gave another chuckle, as she approached the human, he meekly offered a hand, which the mare took in surprisingly strong grip and shook gently and firmly. "Mah name's AppleJack, but mah friends call me A.J."

"Eric." he replied, noting how he felt more at ease around the country mare, probably because she reminded him of home.

"Pleasure to meet ya Eric."

"Eric....."

The name was spoken by the same mares he hadn't been able to see before, as he turned to see who said voices belonged to, he was struck with awe, the two mares that stood almost inscrutably before him towered almost a foot and a half over almost everyone present, one of the two's coat gleamed snow-white, and her mane seemed to be made purely of liquid color, flowing ethereally in the non-existent wind, her pinkish eyes shone with a benevolent curiosity that set him at even more ease than Applejack had. The other mare's coat was an impossibly deep shade of dark blue, and her mane flowed in a similar manner to her counterpart, but instead of a myriad of colors this one's mane seemed to be made of the night sky itself, complete with stars that twinkled within. Her cerulean eyes seemed to twinkle with excitement, but that was the only sign of emotion on her otherwise expressionless face.

The awestruck human stared for a few moments, then took notice of the crowns both mares wore, it took two seconds before he put two and two together and decided to make a good first impression. He kneeled, bowing his head, and spoke with as much respect, eloquence, and dignity as he could manage.

"Your majesties, it is an honor and a privilege to make your acquaintance."

He remained there for a moment, silence overtaking the group until he heard the Doctor's barely audible scoff, and the equally quiet "oof!" as Derpy elbowed him in the ribs.

The Doctor glared at his companion for a moment before taking notice of the diarchs' responses, they seemed....confused, unsure of themselves, not openly, they were far too experienced rulers for any uncontrolled displays of emotion, but the Doctor had known both mares long enough to notice the chinks in their proverbial armor. Celestia seemed predominantly stressed, confused, but there was a bit of happiness there as well, and was that nostalgia he detected? Last he checked, it was Luna who had been the more interested in humanity. The lunar princess was nearly as stressed as her sister, but it was buried under excitement and expectation mixed with confusion, no wonder she was trying so hard to look expressionless, it looked to the Doctor as if Luna was about to explode in a mess of emotions at any second.

"The honor is ours, dear human, it has been many an age since I last laid eyes on your kind." Celestia intoned, her smile widening as she spoke

"You may rise," Luna added, a small smile of her own forming one her muzzle.

Eric did so, standing and clasping his hands behind his back.

"Thank you, your highnesses."

The Doctor took notice of the laugh Luna suppressed rather well, but he couldn't for the life of him understand why the Lunar diarch would be laughing.

"Curioser and curioser." The stallion thought to himself.

"I apologize for the disruption, your highnesses," Eric continued, "I understand my arrival has interrupted a meeting between you and your....advisors."

"Advisors...." Celestia smiled. "It is no trouble, my friend, we had barely even begun before Pinkie decided to disappear, she is a rather, unique individual, but there are seldom friendlier ponies in this town than her."

Eric simply nodded in response.

"But it is we who should be apologizing." Luna cut in. "It is not our custom for a visitor in our lands to be caged as you have been."

"It is.....understandable why I was, your highnesses, I happened to crash through the roof of one of your subjects."

Eric absent-mindedly rubbed the back of his head.

"A well-trained one at that, if I were in Miss...?"

He looked over to where his former attacker stood leaning against the wagon, watching him. The mare nodded in an apathetic manner.

"Bon-Bon."

"If I were in miss...Bon-Bon's position, I would have likely perceived my arrival as an attack of sorts as well, I am willing to forgive the misunderstanding."

Both Diarchs seemed to pause at his words, and seemed to suddenly become aware of the bruises and cuts he had sustained.

"You...were attacked?" Celestia whispered.

Luna turned her eyes to Bon-Bon who whithered under the suddenly wrathful gaze of the lunar princess.

"By her?!" Luna said, her voice containing a well-hidden venom.

The princess began moving in the mare's direction but was stopped by Celestia, who shook her head.

Luna offered Bon-Bon another glare, leaving the earth-pony scared and confused.

"It is fine, your highnesses," Eric said respectfully, confused as to why one of a nation's leaders would get so mad at one of their subjects on a stranger's behalf. "We happened to trade blows, so I consider us on even ground."

"That is very decent of you, good sir," Luna smiled at him. "I am L- PrincessLuna, diarch of the moon."

"And I am Princess Celestia, diarch of the sun." The white mare introduced herself, clasping one hand over the other and offering a small, respectful bow. " We are delighted to make your acquaintance."

Eric nodded respectfully once again.

"Sir Eric, as you have discerned, we were about to begin a meeting discussing important affairs regarding our nation," Luna explained, "We must return to these affairs, however, I believe that princess Twilight would be more than happy to allow you to wait within her castle until said meeting has concluded. If you would not mind, my sister and I would like to speak with you in earnest about your plans for the future after our business has come to an end."

"It would be a pleasure, your highness."

"Wonderful," Celestia smiled and turned behind her.

"Sergeant!" She called gently.

"Your Highness?" The sergeant who had stood in Pinkie's way walked forward and stood at attention.

"Please take care of the wagon Mr. Turner had brought with him."

"It will be done, your excellency."

The princess gave the Sergeant a respectful nod, and the Stallion turned, giving orders to several royal guards, who broke ranks, mounted the wagon, and began driving it off to some unknown location.

"Very good. It was once again a pleasure to meet you Mr?"

"Carter, your highness."

"Eric Carter." Celestia said, smiling "I believe I speak for my sister as well as myself when I say that we eagerly await our next meeting."

"I look forward to it, your highness."

"Celestia! If you would please wait a moment!"

The Doctor strode forward.

"Yes, Doctor?" Celestia's smile grew more mirthful as the stallion approached.

"I hope It would not be too much to ask a favor of you?"

Celestia raised an eyebrow, "what would that favor be?"

"My companions and I wish to join Mr. Carter in Twilight's castle, I have a few more questions I would like to ask him, and Ms. Heartstrings has been something of an independent anthropologist for several years."

Luna's eyes flashed, and she looked over to the unicorn, who gulped nervously.

"Is this true?"

"Yes, your highness," Lyra replied meekly.

"Then I see no problem with allowing you to join him, unless you have any objections, Mr. Carter?" Celestia looked to the human.

Eric blinked, caught off guard by the question, he looked over to the Doctor who nodded back to him, Derpy waved in a friendly manner, as did Lyra, who seemed to beg him to say yes with her eyes. Bon-Bon seemed indifferent but nodded to him once again.

With a bit of an inward sigh, Eric turned back to Celestia; "I see no problem with it, your highness."

"Very well, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, we must continue with our meeting, Sergeant, please have some of your guards accompany Mr. Carter, the doctor, and his companions to Princess Twilight's library, please.

"Yes, your highness."

The three mares that were called strode forward, Applejack looked to Eric, smiling to him and tipping her stetson to him as they stood nearby the princesses, Celestia's horn glowed for a moment, and in a brilliant flash of light, the five of them disappeared.

The sergeant called out four names.

"Privates Sundance, Wintersong, Tango, and Corporal Obsidia,"

Two stallions and two mares stepped forward, spears presented.

"Sir!" They stood to attention.

"Escort the princesses' guests to the castle library and stand guard!"

"Yes sir!"

A black mare garbed in golden armor strode over to Eric, appraising him silently but not letting any sign of personal opinion show.

"This way please, sir."

The other three guards took up a position around the group as the corporal began to lead them up the ramp. But before they could make any real progress, a purple flash came from behind them.

"Finally! Sorry, it took me so long, it took forever to find a pen that would still wri-"

Behind them, princess Twilight stood, a pen behind her ear and a large stack of papers in her arm as she looked around.

"Oh come on!" She stamped a hoof, not even noticing the group on the ramp, "where could they have-"

The purple alicorn gasped, "The meeting!"

In a flash of purple light and blank paper, the alicorn was gone once again, her departure sending the papers in her arms flying everywhere.

Eric turned around taking a deep breath and letting it out in a prolonged "Phheeeeew!" He flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked to his left to see the Doctor.

"Welcome to Equestria my friend, hold tight onto your sanity, and don't try too terribly hard to explain everything you see."

Author's Note

This is probably the most consistent I have ever been with posts so far, I doubt the trend will last but here's to hoping.

"Slam!"

"ANGSTY!"

Oh god, what now!

"Do you have any fat free milk!?"

What?
"Do. You. Have. Any. Fat. Free. MILK?! I need it for Eric's welcome to ponyville cake!!!!

What, but you're...... that's not even......ugh, it's in the fridge.

"What drawer!?"

Second on the left!"

There it is! Thanks Angsty!

Slam!

........

I'm not sure what's gonna give out first, my will or my sanity.