The next day
Silver sable’s mansion
10/25/20
1:30 PM
Dakota POV

I had just dropped sterling off at silvers place after picking him up from the hospital and was in my room trying to clean my sunglasses when someone knocked on my door. Unsure of who it was, I opened the door and saw a maid standing there. I didn’t need anything cleaned at the moment so I wasn’t quite sure what she was doing until she said something.

“Sorry to bother you sir, but lady silver asked me to give you a message before she left a few minutes ago.”

She asked one of her maids to deliver a message? That sounded a bit strange but I guess it kind of makes sense if she needed to tell me something but she was possibly in a hurry.

“Ok. What did she say?”

“Lady silver wish’s for you to meet her at the sandwhich shop the two of you ate at a few days ago. There are several of her friends there who would like to speak with you.”

“Ok. Thank you miss. I’ll head over there right away.”

I went and grabbed my jacket before walking outside. I decided to take the fastest thing available and jumped in the demon before heading over to prime rye. Going through canterlot generated attention like usual, mainly because I’m not a pony and I’m from another world. But I feel like it’s more or less because these ponies also weren’t used to the sight of cars for the most part. Sure they had those carriages that functioned like cars, but they were still nowhere near as sleek, advanced, or loud. The removal of the muffler from the car was likely what got the attention as it amplified the sound of the supercharger a little bit, but mostly when the engine was reving up and down. I spiked the throttle at an intersection and managed to scare a few ponies, getting a bit of a laugh out of it as well. I was slowly memorizing the layout of canterlot more and more as I traveled more. I had learned about a few shortcuts that I had taken to get from silvers place to my destination but that was about it right now.

Eventually, I came up to where me and silver ate that night and saw her sitting outside with 6 other ponies. Who they were though, caught me off guard. I thought back to what that maid told me and replayed that message in my mind.

“There are several of her friends there who would like to speak with you.”

“Silver is friends with the element bearers? How?”

I unknowingly said to myself out loud as I pulled up closer and closer. They soon noticed me as they waved at me, seeming happy to see me. I pulled up to the curb directly next to them. After shutting off the engine and making sure I had everything, i stepped out and walked over, making sure to lock the car up. It felt even colder today than it did yesterday so I could only wonder about how cold the winter was going to be.

“Hey silver. You never told me you knew these mares. What’s up with that?”

I nonchalantly asked before hopping over the fence in between us and taking a seat between her and twilight sparkle.

“I was planning on possibly telling you yesterday but that whole fiasco with amnesia and then the two of us being busy yesterday made that a bit difficult.”

She did have a point. Getting situated in my new home with her did take priority and there wasn’t a whole lot of time to talk unless it was related to all the hauling we were doing yesterday.

A waiter came over and asked me if I had i wanted anything. I ordered the same thing I had for dinner a couple nights ago with silver after that race along with a water and some coffee. After doing that, I asked what the special occasion was for wanting to meet me again.

“I had already covered the majority of what you guys wanted to know. What else could you possibly have questions about?”

That’s when I noticed twilights excitement growing. I almost forgot that she was seated next to me as well. I had to mentally prepare myself for the amount of questions I was likely about to be bombarded with. Surprisingly though, she didn’t ask a bunch of junk at once. Instead, she explained that she was fascinated by human levels of tech and particularly, our transportation methods and asked me to tell her more about cars and how they worked.

“Well, that’s a big answer I can give you miss sparkle. Cars are luxurious and complicated machines. Some are slow and affordable, others, like that one that I arrived in, are fast and expensive. Certain vehicles like those trucks me and silver were driving yesterday, are designed to pull heavy loads over long distances, with an emphasis on the 'Home away from home' term, literally.”

I explained a bit more what all that meant, mainly what I meant about trucks and how they were built with the truckers in mind driving them. To my surprise, twilight then asked more about my ride of choice for today. I got up from my seat and explained it to all of them since it was certainly something special.

“This, my little pony, is a 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT demon. It’s special because of the new engine I had put in it that had 200 more horsepower than the original engine and after some fine tuning, now nearly makes 1200 horsepower.”

I unlocked the car and popped the hood to show them what made this car so fun and fast.

“Feast your eyes on the 7 liter supercharged V8 that is this cars engine.”

Unsurprisingly, twilights eyes lit up with excitement, but what did surprise me is that everyone else did the same as well, even coming over to take a look at it. I explained what certain things were and what they did such as the supercharger, coil packs, air filter, radiator, battery, alternator, and so on. They’re well all baffled by the things I said and what they do, mainly because I went into specific detail about these things. Twilight still remained intrigued before she asked me another question that I probably should’ve seen coming.

“Is there any possible chance I could get a close up experience and be in this car with you? I want to see what it’s like. You make. It sounds so exciting!”

I looked to her friends for approval. They just nodded, likely saying yes to get her to possibly stop talking.

“I suppose a a little trip around the city could be beneficial to both of us. I’ll let you ride with me, and In exchange, you tell me where we are at certain times so I can figure out the layout of this city better.”

“Deal!”

I shut the hood and got in the car. The engine roared to life once more as it made everyone jump a little bit from how loud it is. I had to clear a few things off the passenger seat so twilight could get in but it was nothing of importance. Once she got in, I helped her buckle up before she asked yet again what stuff did on the inside. I explained more about the radio, climate control system, and the gauge cluster on the drivers side. After getting everything situated and squared away, I shifted into 1st and slowly left, taking the purple mare around the city. I picked up speed in certain areas, mainly near the outskirts where there were less ponies to be in the way. I looked in the mirror as well to see rainbow dash and fluttershy both following us as well. They likely just wanted to make sure I didn’t take twilight anywhere suspicious or tried to hurt her.

After driving around for a bit, we returned to prime rye. I told twilight that a full power test wasn’t possible right now unless we went somewhere open and empty where there was no chance to crash into anything but she seemed to understand thankfully. I let her out and killed the engine before following her back to the table as well.

“Well? How’d it go? Did twilight go full egghead mode on you while you two were on the move?”

Rainbow dash piped up, acting like she hadn’t been following us the whole time but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“Not really. She asked plenty of questions, but not too many about the actual car. I’m guessing she was fascinated by how advanced human tech is.”

The purple mare in question still looked a little starry eyed as she eyed the car up, likely already wanting to go for another ride.

“Well, maybe I should continue to indulge her desire for knowledge about human tech. Who knows, perhaps the rest of you can learn a thing or two in the process as well.”

I simply put that idea out there to let them think about it. Unsurprisingly, twilight wanted to go again, so I decided to change things up a bit.

“Another ride sounds nice. I think I’ll show you what a big truck is like compared to a compact muscle car like this. Give me 30 minutes to go and get one.”

I was about to leave when silver jumped in the car with me and said she had something she wanted to talk to me about.

“Hey, what’s up? You got something important on your mind?”

I popped the question as I started driving away. She then proceeded to pull out some papers she managed to hide underneath the scarf she was wearing.

“Here. We promised you this, and we delivered on that promise.”

I took a quick glance at the papers but couldn’t tell what they were so I had to ask her what it was.

“It’s the papers saying you’re officially a citizen of equestria now. Along with them is some stuff you’ll need such as tax documents that you need to fill out, a social security card, and even an official canterlot ID card since I’m assuming you’ll be staying here since I’ve given you a place to live as well.”

I couldn’t believe it. They actually kept their word and made me a citizen of equestria. Normally that’s probably every bronies fantasy, to go to equestria and become a citizen, but I didn’t think it would actually happen for me. I managed to contain my happiness and put the papers in the glove box for safe keeping while thanking silver In the process.

“Thank you. I never thought this would actually happen. I doubt very few would actually go through this kind of effort for me. You really are a great friend silver, and I couldn’t be happier to have met you.”

She blushed and tried to say that it was nothing and I probably would’ve done the same for her if she somehow wound up on earth. Once we got back to her place, we parked up and decided on which truck to go back and show the element bearers. Deciding on the 389, we jumped in and drove back. This time we definitely got more attention due to the even louder engine, squealing of the brakes, and smoke blowing from the exhaust.

Once we were pulling up to the restaurant again, I flipped on the engine brake and that definitely scared everyone around a little bit.

“There’s plenty of room in here if you all want a ride.”

Naturally, the rest of them said no but twilight managed to somehow coerce her friends to ride along with us and soon enough, they all piled into the truck. They were impressed by how much bigger it looked inside compared to outside. It was a double bunk sleeper so they all had some room to sit down on both bunks.

“I’ll try not to go too fast or brake too hard so that you three on the top bunk don’t fall off.”

The turbo’s whistled as I moved away, beginning another trip around canterlot. The sounds the truck made were more than enough to keep them all captivated such as the air brakes squeaking, the engine revving up and down, and even the static coming through the CB randomly.

Deciding to give them something else to listen to, I slowed down and pulled out my phone, letting them get a taste of what classic rock back on earth sounded like. Soon the sound of familiar artists filled the cab as I began to sing along with a few of them as well. Eventually the songs stopped and I found myself at the gates to the city. There wasn’t enough room to turn around where I was currently so the only way to go back was to descend down the mountain then drive all the way back up. I explained it to everyone in the back and they seemed to understand it well enough. Soon the gates were opened and we were descending the mountain. I had to hit the jake brake almost immediately once I saw how steep certain slopes got. The sound of the Jake brake partially startled the element bearers but quickly adjusted to it once they realized it wasn’t the truck falling apart or breaking around then. Rainbow dash still decided to pipe up about it though and ask what the noise was about.

“What is that ear piercing sound?”

“That’s the engine brake. It’s helping to keep us from gaining speed while we travel down hill. At these speeds and In something like this, it could be pretty bad if we crashed.”

That seemed to satisfy her as she stopped asking questions. The sound of the jake brake echoed throughout the valley as we got lower and lower on the mountain, eventually reaching the bottom. There was a new gate at the bottom that wasn’t there before when I first arrived in equestria. It seemed makeshift for now, mostly being made of wood as no bricklaying had been started. The guards there let us pass before I turned around began the trip back up the mountain. The turbos were practically singing the whole time they whistled like crazy. The windows needed to be rolled back up because of how loud everything was. Once we were back in the city though, I took us back to the sandwich shop where we were originally. We set back down at the table we were originally at and picked up a new conversation topic.

I told them more about what earth was like, specifically Florida, and how me and sterling made a fortune running a slightly illegal repair shop near the Everglades while we actually lived in the Everglades. One particular sub topic though peaked rainbow dash’s interest. The fact that me and sterling raced on a regular basis at high speeds on mountain passes. What followed was basically a back and forth between me and the cyan mare. Apparently street racing was almost the exact same as sky racing in equestria. It was a head to head race between two rivals. The first to reach a certain point wins. Similar to street racing, a sky race could also be arranged in a way where the first Pegasus to either ascend or descend to a certain altitude along a set course would win, just like how the first driver to either reach the top or the bottom of a mountain would win. Driver/flier skill and technique was also virtually the same. Whoever could overcome any challenges and pass their opponent stood a high chance of victory. The only difference was the dangers. High speeds in a car traveling downhill was likely to kill you if you crashed or jumped a guard rail somehow. Things then shifted to the two of us talking about our fastest times and riskiest maneuvers.

“Wow! How did you get around him!?”

I was explaining to dash about how I beat a local in Georgia on his home turf using a certain technique from a certain anime I had grown very fond of over the years.

“I used the rain gutters to get some extra speed and slip past him on the inside. Dumb bastard thought that just because he was in a brougham, I wouldn’t be able to pass him because of how wide that car was. The look on his face though when I slid by him and dusted him on the straightaway. I was a bit worried though for him. That car has a fuck ton of understeer and he easily could’ve died that night if he wasn’t careful.”

“Wow. It sounds like it got nuts on the mountain.”

“It did, but he was a good sport about it and said that he’d gladly go again anytime I wanted to. Unfortunately though that ain’t possible since there’s no way for me to go home. It’s fine though. I’ve got an opportunity to start a new life and I’m not gonna let it go to waste. I’ve got citizenship now and after this wedding, I might have a job as well.”

I felt a little happy knowing that I was able to put my bad past behind me now and start fresh. Eventually though, we had to wrap things up and part ways for the rest of the day. Silver asked if she could ride with me back to her place and naturally I said yes. I waved goodbye to the others before dash called out to me, saying she’d love to hang out at some point soon. Once silver climbed in, it was a smooth ride home. Eventually though, the purple-ish mare spoke up, telling me something kind of surprising.

“Hey uhh….Dakota? Sorry about waiting to tell you this, but……my family kind of wants to meet you.”

At first I didn’t think much of it, probably just like her parents and any siblings she may have had is what I thought she meant, until she told me.

“That’s fine. I’m guessing it’s just your parents and probably some siblings?”

“N-No I meant my entire family. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, the whole shebang.”

I nearly slammed on the breaks upon hearing that.

“I’m sorry, what!? Your WHOLE family? As in every last one of them?”

“Y-Yeah. All of them.”

“How many family members are we talking here?”

“A…A lot. Like almost 100.”

I thought for a few moments before I turned back to her.

“Look I’m not angry. Just disappointed that you didn’t tell me this sooner. I probably have no right to be disappointed yet since we’ve only know. Each other for a week now, but still. When do they want to come and meet us? Tomorrow?”

“Within the the next two days they want to stay for 3.”

“Ok. We have time to get ready for them. Tell them it’s fine and they can come. I’ll tell Sterling about this so he’s in the loop as well on what’s going on. Again, it would be nice if you gave me a bigger heads up next time.”

“Ok I’m sorry! Please just don’t hate me for it.”

I merely chuckled at that, knowing I’ve got a lot of learning to do before I could get fully settled here in equestria.

“Relax silver. I don’t hate you. I could never hate a pony that’s helped me as much as you have.”

She relaxed a bit after I said that as we got back on the road.

Once we got back to her place, I went told sterling the news that silvers extended family was gonna be coming to meet us in the next couple of days and we had time to get ready. He wasn’t as caught off guard by it as I was but I still needed to tell him that it wasn’t a big deal and that it could be good for both of us. I told him if he needed anything before that time came, he needed to tell me or silver. Unsurprisingly, he told me he wanted his charger from earth. If you hadn’t guessed by now, we’re mopar guys and big v8s are our thing. I told him he’d need to go and find silver and tell her. He unsurprisingly got up and went to look for her. I figured since I got a few days before her family would come and see us, I’d take the time to familiarize myself with the layout of canterlot and perform vehicle maintenance to kill time.

For the first time in a while, I felt as if I was actually in a place where I belonged, where I was welcomed. Canterlot was certainly a welcome change compared to Florida. That much I was sure about. I went to sleep that night actually happy for the first time in a while knowing that my life was turning around even though it seemed like a fantasy. In a few days I would my roommates and hopefully they wouldn’t see me as an abomination or try to swarm me. Hopefully.

Author's Note

Apologies for how long this took. I’ve been getting settled into a new job and I’ve had little to No time to work on this. Sorry if it seems like a disaster even though I’m not great. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it though.