To The Other World

Chapter 3: Listen to the Beat, And to Me!

He nodded to himself, swallowing his nervousness. It didn't really help him, but he breathed in through his nose, and slowly exhaled. Hesitantly, he put the instrument to his lips, and his fingers on the right places.

He blew into the ocarina.

The music came out smoothly. He started to play the song "Tripping Up The Stairs", an old but universal jig that was upbeat and very happy. He thought it was funny that despite the name, it doesn't mean actually tripping. Back then, tripping up the stairs used to mean being very happy and dancing as you walked. Maybe it was just the right song to get them to like him. The upbeat tune moved through the air, into the ears of all the ponies surrounding him. He looked around, and kinda faltered on the inside not seeing any of them start to move. He kept playing though, and tapped his foot to the beat.

Emerson's fingers moved gracefully over the instrument, creating a perfectly beautiful piece of music. He noticed that some of the ponies looked at one another, and softly smiled. They were bopping their heads to the beat, and some even joined in with him, stamping their hooves as he did with his feet. He continued to play like that for a little bit. Nopony was doing much of anything, so he started to walk and move his hips as well, walking towards and back away from the crowd.

Eventually, comforted by the friendly demeanor of the creature, all of the ponies were enjoying the beat of the music, and began to dance with each other. He turned around to see Pinkie, equipped with her myriad of musical instruments, joined him, and the two of them were making a huge song together. He couldn't help but smile, and skipped along in a circle, letting the mood take him over. He noticed a cream colored pony with a cherry-red and pink mane was smiling, but wasn't dancing with anypony else. Taking the risk, he skipped his way towards her. A closer look revealed her man was the same style Rainbow Dash's was. Her eyes were a darker, pale green, and her cutie mark was a crimson rose with two vibrant green leaves. She stared up at him as he approached, and sat down on her flank as he skipped in a circle.

He did that for a little bit, not getting a response from her. Emerson got slightly annoyed at the lack of action, so he looked her in the eye and jerked his head, essentially asking her to join. Getting up slowly, she smiled and started to stamp her hooves again. He circled around her again, nearly losing his breath. But she did the same, laughing along. They pranced and skipped together, and bowed to each other. He spun away to the middle again, and neared the ending of the song.

When he played the last note, he put his ocarina down and catched his breath. He surveyed the crowd, who stopped dancing and looked at him again. His smile faded, unsure of what they were planning to do. It was kinda silent, but all of a sudden, all of the ponies were cheering and stamping their hooves, applauding his performance. He laughed and held his hands up, bowing and appreciating the praise. Pinkie Pie shouted at him, cheering and laughing.

One by one they started to get closer, talking to him and barraged him with questions and compliments. He laughed and waved to them. They asked who he was, and he said his name was Emerson. They asked what he was, and he said he was human. They asked how he was able to play like that, and he said with lots of practice. He looked at all of the ponies, and beamed brightly. 'Nailed it.' He thought to himself. Ponies gave him high-fives and, well, high-hooves, and the more adult ponies gave him hand-and-hoof shakes.

Over time, they loss interest and wandered back to their daily lives. He sighed a breath of relief, a massive weight freeing itself from his shoulders. Hands on his hips, he breathed in the fresh air, and put the ocarina back in his pocket. The fact that they were pretty impressed and happy with his music skills was good, now that he won't be exiled or something. These ponies didn't seem like that, but you never know; humans were pretty weird like that back in, like, the 1600s or something.

He saw one pony decided to stay behind, and he smiled. He approached her, and gave her a high-five.

"So, how'd I do, Twilight?"

The purple pony smiled and nodded. "You did good, I really enjoyed it! How long have you been playing that thing?"

"Um, maybe a year or so. It's not too hard to learn."

"Well, I'm very proud of you! It seems like everypony was liking it."

"Yeah, and I think they like me too!"

Her smile faded again, and she was a bit more serious. "Trust is a serious thing, Emerson. Once you have it, it's easy to lose, but harder to get back. I know that first hoof."

He nodded, understanding her. "I get it."

She smiled again, and started to walk off. She turned her head around when she noticed he wasn't following her. "Are you coming?"

He blinked, and quickly jogged up to her. They were just strolling through the town, some of the ponies now waving to him instead of just staring. He waved back to them. It felt pretty nice, and it reminded him of when he was in school. Being the popular kid at school, but the good popular. One that people wanted to be friends with, popular and the weird kids.

"So, Emerson?"

He snapped back to reality for a second. "Oh, sorry. Whatcha need?"

"You wanted to talk to me, right?"

"Yeah, I did..."

"Well, here we are then. Let's make you at home." They had both stopped, and Emerson got a good look of where they were. Standing tall in front of them was a gigantic tree. It's trunk had to be about 15 something feet wide! He noticed that the branches of the tree were redesigned to be balconies. The door had a moss covering over it, and the spaces between some of the branches and leaves were redesigned as windows. Two of the three balconies had a protective roof made of moss over it. A pretty scary looking beehive was attached to it as well. It was very fairy tale-like, and it had a certain aesthetic to it. He saw a sign posted out front, just a simple picture of a book. The front door had a candle on the top, and two slender black handles.

He whistled, nodding his head. "This is your home?"

She smiled proudly, and trotted inside. "Yep! This is also the Golden Oak Library, though not many ponies come by here. But what I love are all of the books! So many to read, so little time!" She held the door open for him. He raised a brow, and put his hand up to his head, and then down to the top of the door. She blushed a little bit and sheepishly hid her face. "Oh, right. You're not exactly pony sized, are you?"

He sighed, crouching down. "I can try, I guess." With a little bit of effort, he was able to squeeze himself into the house. He stood up once inside, and looked around. The wood of the tree had been cut out to make two floors, and some as bookshelves. There was another staircase leading downward as well. Some floral patterns were embedded into the wood, adding a very nice tone to the room. Other spaces had been cut out as cabinets or cubbies.

"Nice place."

"Thanks! Would you like some tea or coffee or...what do you drink exactly?" She called out from another room. 'Guess she walked off before I noticed.' He thought. He shook his head at her, and chuckled.

"Some tea is fine, Twilight. Thanks."

He sighed, and sat down on the floor. He took his pendant off, and opened it. His mom and brother were staring at him, smiling as if everything was normal. He always wondered about his mom. He never really got to know her, but he was certain that she was a good parent. His brother, on the other hand, rarely ever smiled. Emerson even asked him about that one time, and just got a heavy sigh for an answer. Roman was a weird guy to try and understand, he always tried to carry the world on his shoulders.

Always carried his family on his shoulders.

"Here you go, some Earl Grey always helps me relax after a busy day."

"Thanks," he muttered, grabbing the cup and saucer, the orange-ish drink rippling softly. "I don't mean to trouble you guys, you're all really nice."

She laid down, using her magic to drink her tea. "Don't be sorry, it's perfectly okay if I was in your situation. And that reminds me," she said, and a clipboard and quill floated to her. "we have some stuff to talk about."

He sighed, and held his hands together. "Yeah...we do."

They were quiet for a little bit, neither feeling comfortable starting the conversation. Eventually Twilight smiled awkwardly and drank her tea. "Sooooo...how's your day been?"

He shook his head. "I know, I just don't know what to start with."

The pony looked down, saddened. "Well, let's start simple. Why not tell me a little bit more about yourself?"

He nodded, thinking it was something. "Okay, I get it. Let's start over. My name is Emerson Scott. I'm 17 years old, born in November of 2001. I lived in St. Louis, Missouri, but you knew that one."

He was cut off, and he looked down at his mouth, seeing some purple magic covering his lips. "Not that kind of simple. Tell me about you, your personality and stuff." Twilight said. He wiped the stuff off his lips and coughed.

"I mean, there's stuff I liked on Earth. I don't know if that kinda stuff is here on Equestria though. I loved telling jokes and stuff, and I absolutely loved playing basketball!"

Her head turned, confused. "Basketball?"

He smiled and sat up, putting his hands on his legs. "Yeah! It's a sport where there are two 10-ft baskets with a hole in the bottom, and two teams of 5 players. There's a ball, and the teams bounce the ball and try to score it into the other team's basket to score 2 points. The further you throw it away from the basket, the more points you get. I love that game a bunch." He rubbed his chin. "I wonder if I can try and introduce it here?"

"Maybe. But I also want to know more about you. And...why you're here." He blinked in response. She sighed and drank some more. "Emerson...what happened before you got here?"

He stopped, and his smile faded. "I guess there's no beating around this. Even if I did say earlier I wanted to." He breathed in, held it, and slowly exhaled.

"It's a long story. And I don't know how to start it."

"What were you two doing before..."

His voice got a bit heavier, and he swallowed nervously. "Me and Roman just got back from high school, and like we always do. We were playing a card game, it was called Yu-Gi-Oh!. A-actually, here." He reached into his pockets, and carefully pulled out the stacks of cards, still in their protective sleeves. He handed them over to her, who levitated it. Blowing the dirt off, she spun one of the cards around, eyes widened with curiosity. He laughed again as she was studying literally every part.

"Woah, this is amazing! This is a card game?"

"Yeah. There are tons of them, but these aren't ordinary playing cards. You have lots of rules, and different cards. You trade them and stuff, and then you make a deck of 40 or 60 cards. But anyway, we played one of these every day when we got home."

She set them down and returned her focus. "So what happened next?"

A single tear slipped out, his breathing choking out. "We were just playing the game, having fun. He...he gave me this." He took off his pendant and held it in his fingers, opening it and revealing the picture of his mom and brother, though they both yellowed a bit. "He said to me that she was a part of our lives, even if we didn't know her. He said to take it because it was hurting him. So I did, and that was the last thing he ever said to me." He started to cry, trying his best to fight back the tears. Sniffling, he wiped his eyes.

Twilight leaned forward, and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Emmy, you don't have to go on-"

"No, Twilight! I need to, 'cause I need answers!" He shouted. Sighing, he removed her hoof, feeling how soft it was. Choking up, tears coming down again. "W-w-we heard a knock at the door. He got up to answer it. And it opened, and...and..."

Emerson couldn't hold it back any longer. He cried hard, the tears hot and heavy as they fell down his cheek. He could feel each of them hit his jean legs. He covered his face with his hands. Grimacing, his sobs muffled by his hands. He didn't want Twilight to see him like this, crying and vulnerable. Since he could remember, Emerson hated it when people saw him crying: it was a sign of weakness, it left him open.

Twilight didn't know how to feel seeing him. It tore her apart, and she didn't know why. She didn't really know him at all. Sure, he told her some things about himself, but they weren't really friends. Still...it was hard for her to see him like this.

"Emerson...I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how you feel." She leaned forward, and wrapped her hooves around him. He just sat there, and let the tears flow down, and mourn his brother. They stayed like that for a few minutes, her holding him, and he just weeping his pains away. His arms returned the hug, and he sobbed the hardest he ever had, his moans and cries echoing through the tree. The hurt in his voice seeped through the air, and it made Twilight cry a bit too. Crying and hugging each other, Emerson felt another weight on his shoulders lift. Was this the kind of pain, the kind of hurt that Roman talked about? It made him feel hard, like he wasn't a person anymore, just a sort of...existence. No wonder his brother always seemed unhappy; this hurt him a lot. How could anyone deal with this? He had a new respect for his brother, admiration even.

Twilight let go of him, and levitated a box of tissues from the room above them. Placing them in front of him, he sighed with a bit of a warble, and took one. He wiped his eyes and said, "Roman was killed. Roman was killed right in front of me, and I didn't do anything."

"No, don't say that!" Twilight said, a tad scornfully. "If it was that quick, then there wasn't anything you could've done. Don't blame yourself."

Ignoring her, he blew his nose, carefully wadding the used tissues and setting them next to him. "I stood up, and was ready to run up the stairs." He shook his head, confused. "I don't know why, but I just took the cards. Maybe it was because it was the last thing he did, or whatever, but I just had too. I ran upstairs into his room, and I hid in the closet. I heard the footsteps follow me, and they got closer. Next thing I knew, I grabbed something to hit them with, and I felt really dizzy. Not like regular dizzy, this was weird. I felt like a train hit my head, and everything was swirling." He sniffled again, reaching for another tissue. "Next thing I knew, I'm here."

Twilight listened closely, going back to writing stuff down. "I've never heard of that before. Princess Celestia might know a thing or two to help you."

"Princess Celestia?"

She nodded, and got up and grabbed a book off a shelf. The cover was brown with a picture of a horse. She opened the book and showed Emerson a page displaying two ponies, one white and the other blue, circling each other. The moon and sun were on the bottom and top, respectively. "She and her sister, Princess Luna, rule the land. Princess Celestia raises and lowers the sun, while Princess Luna raises and lowers the moon."

He raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean 'raise the sun and moon'? The moon rotates around Earth because of its gravitational pull, and the Earth rotates around the sun, which is a big star because of its gravitational pull. That's how night and day work."

The alicorn's eyes widened, and she feverishly wrote every word he said. "THAT'S AMAZING! New celestial information on another world!"

He chuckled again. "Anyway, how might she help?"

"Well, she's an alicorn, so she's lived a very long time. Over a thousand years."

Blinking at her and coughing again, Emerson threw away his tissues in a nearby trash can. "I'm sure she can help me, but I don't know how."

"What do you mean?"

"Could she send me back home? Will I be able to live here? Is she going to banish me or exile me or kill m-"

"PRINCESS CELESTIA WILL NOT KILL YOU!" She suddenly yelled out of pure shock, and he jumped back a bit. She cleared her throat and blushed slightly. "What I mean to say is that Celestia and Luna are benevolent leaders, and are the kindest ponies I ever met. She would never do that to you."

O-okay, I trust you." He said, and sat back down. "But I'm still all alone. What am I going to do? Where am I going to stay? How do I live? Make money? Star-" Twilight interrupted him by putting her hoof over his lips. This whole cutting him off thing was starting to piss him off.

"I can help you with anything you need. And besides, Rarity said you can be her assistant, so she'll pay you. I have an extra room downstairs, you can stay there for now. I added one recently, and had one for guests to come over, but plans change."

His jaw went slack. How could she be this kind? How could any of them be this kind to him, someone new? Something new? "Wow Twilight, I don't know what to say. That's really generous."

"It's my pleasure! And we can both gain something here!" She said with a smile, clapping her hooves together in a little celebratory motion. "You have somewhere to live, and I'll be able to talk to you whenever about Earth!"

He sighed and laughed, and ruffled his hair. "Sure thing, Twilight."

He wondered how this was going to play out.

The two of them stayed a while longer, enjoying each other's company and their tea. Emerson stopped crying as much, and when he did, Twilight decided to chat him up.

"So let me get this straight. You're saying that on Earth, the moon rotates around the Earth because of gravity? And the Sun doesn't move either; it rotates the Earth using its gravitational pull, making day and night?"

"Right."

"And that the stars weren't made by somepony, they were just there?"

"Yup."

"But how?"

He laughed at her confusion, and drank the rest of his tea. "Beats me. I never really cared for astronomy anyway."

She grumbled and flopped down on a pillow, which she brought to them to sit on. "But this is all so fascinating! I can't copy information if I don't have information!"

"Sorry Twilight." He popped his fingers. "Quick question. I was holding on to something when you found me in that forest. Did you see what it was?" At hearing this, she gasped and put a hoof to her mouth. He raised his brows as she didn't make another move. He set his drink down and his demeanor got a bit more serious. "Twilight, what was I holding?"

"N-nothing! Nothing at all, nope." She said, a guilty smile and avoiding his gaze.

"Come on, tell me. What was it?"

"I-I-I didn't see anything, honest."

He stood up, and brushed himself off. "Alright then, if you don't want to tell me, I'll find it myself." He turned to walk out the door, but as he reached it, Twilight suddenly landed in front of him.

"Wait, wait!" The human put his hands on his hips with a smug smile. She groaned, and hesitantly levitated something out of her bag. It was a small, circular object, mostly flat but was a tad thick. On one side, was an intricate pattern with two, rectangular holes in it. He plucked it from her grasp, and noticed what it was. "I'm sorry, this is all I found. I kept it to study, but I should've asked first."

He took a closer look at it, and flipped it over. The teenager's eyes widened when he read the words Jojo's Bizarre Adventure on the back.

"Something is supposed to be on this thing, but it's gone."