Chapter 2) Nice to meet you! I'm out!

Birds were singing, a gentle breeze blew through the open window, and a warm beam of sunlight shone down on me as I woke up. I awoke smiling, and for a few seconds I believed I was in my old childhood home with the woods only a stone's throw from my bedroom window. It was a lovely moment before I realized where I was.

I was on another world, a seemingly infinite distance lay between me and all I loved, and I was alone.

But even with all that hanging above me, I still felt too good to let it crush me. I stretched, shrugged, and said: "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. It's still beautiful outside and I'm still alive." I was reminded of a saying of my father's: If I'm above ground, it's a good day. Even on my worst day, I can still say that.

I used the bathroom, put on a shirt, and walked downstairs. I started to smell something delicious cooking. Following it to the kitchen, I found Fluttershy was at the stove.

"Mmmm, that smells great! Whatcha making?"

Fluttershy yelped and jumped in surprise. Her mane (it was so hard not to think of it as just hair) and tail seemed to frizz up for just one moment. She turned to me, ears back, and a blush on her cheeks. As she turned, I jumped, but for very different reasons.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't hear you come in. I was just making oatmeal and pancakes. I'm sorry, I didn't even think to ask what humans eat. You probably won't like it."

"N-no, that's great! I'm...amazed you eat such similar foods." Should I be, really, at this point? "Th-that's very kind of you to make it for me." I saw a small side table with two chairs so I took one, and tenderly crossed my legs. That should hide it very well.

She closed her eyes and smiled. "Oh it's no bother. It'll just be a few minutes. To be honest, I wasn't sure if you'd be up this early, but then again I'm not used to having company stay overnight."

With that she turned back to the stove. Meanwhile I tried hard to think of what to say while willing myself not to stare. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and make an attempt.

"Oh. That explains why you didn't change."

"Hmmm?" She turned to look at me in confusion.

"Well...I assume that's your nightgown?"

Fluttershy looked down and saw that she was indeed in her white, silky nightgown. And while it did cover everything, in the bright morning light streaming in through the window, it became just a bit transparent. What was also transparent was the fact that Fluttershy was not wearing a bra. I did my best to keep a calm face, my eyes fixed on the floor by her feet. Hooves, dammit! They're hooves!

Fluttershy emitted a loud squeak, turned crimson, looked at me for two seconds - as I raised my eyes with a zen expression - and ran out of the kitchen with a hurried, “Excuse me, I’m so sorry!” I insisted that my eyes should not follow her out. It was a hard struggle.

I got up and walked to the stove, calling over my shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll just watch the stove!” So I stirred the oatmeal and began flipping pancakes. As I finished making breakfast, I tried to get my mind off of what I had just seen. My internal dialogue wasn’t helping.

Dear God, her chest must open doors for her! How’d I miss that?

-You were more concerned with the ALIEN WORLD you had dropped into. What’s with you, you idiot? She’s not even human!

She’s pretty cute, though -

-She’s not HUMAN! You can’t be attracted to her, and she’s literally the first female you’ve met and the only inhabitant you’ve spoken to. Geez, how long has it been since you -

Too long, we can agree on that, but that shouldn’t make the big man downstairs so restless like he’s been yesterday and today. Anyway, that poor girl - MARE - must be so embarrassed. I should do my best not to make this any worse.

-You mean tease her about how she probably never has any stallions stay over? That’d just cement you as being the horrible person you are, eyeing up an innocent -

Right, I’m done. I need a distraction. Wow, this breakfast is incredibly interesting…

I began wondering what the pony diet must consist of. Oats? Obviously. Vegetables. No meat. No meat? That would be bad. Maybe eggs? I’d ask about protein later.

I saw there was a kettle on the stove and assumed it must be for tea. I began looking through her cupboards to find any. I found spices, various ingredients, and started taking things for the meal. I found cups, plates, and silverware so I began to set the little table. I looked in the fridge - a fridge? - and found what looked like orange juice, so I set it out. Eventually I found tea and set two mugs on the table. I put the pancakes in the middle of the table and poured the oatmeal into two bowls. It looked like she’d mixed in some berries and things already, and there was already syrup on the counter, so I didn’t go looking for anything else. I sat down at the table and waited.

You realize what you just did?

-Yes.

You went through a kitchen very similar to a human’s.

-Yep.

The whole setup and ingredients were practically the same.

-Yep.

And the labels were in English!

-Oh, yes.

What in the flippin -

-BEST. NOT. TO THINK. ABOUT IT.

Right, fine…

It was only a moment later that I saw Fluttershy - having put on a long shirt under her nightgown - attempting to slowly enter the kitchen as though trying, and failing miserably, at acting like nothing had happened. It was like watching a child trying to lie to an adult. Everything was written on her face and she couldn’t stop wringing her hands in front of her.

“Oh, th-thank you, Brendon! You didn’t have to do all this.”

“You’re welcome, but, to be fair, you didn’t have to either. So thank you, it was very kind of you.”

“Oh. You're most welcome. I’m sorry about - “

“-about what?” I asked, innocent as could be.

“About...oh...nevermind I - Oh! There’s the kettle! I’ll get that.” And with that, she poured the water into a little teapot and set it at the table.

“Great! Let’s eat!” and with that I dug in. Everything was delicious.

As we ate in silence, I could see Fluttershy was still uncomfortable so I tried to break the ice by asking her what she added to the oatmeal. She brightened up a bit at that and seemed grateful for the distraction. After that I asked her about her job tending all the animals, whether she watched any of the other animals in ponyville, and we chatted about this and that. I wolfed down my food pretty fast, but I figured I’d wait politely for her to finish so I poured myself another cup of tea, leaned back in my chair and gazed out the window at the beautiful morning sky.

Suddenly a little white bunny jumped onto the table with a surprisingly surly expression on its face. I did a huge spit take and instantly doused the little thing in (briefly) used tea. It glared at me sulkily, dripping tea onto the table while Fluttershy giggled behind it, causing it to whip around and glare at her.

“Ho, Angel, I’m sorry, but you should see what you look like!” said Fluttershy, trying to stifle her laughter. When she got it under control she gestured to me. “This is Brendon, he's a human. He’s just staying here until he goes home. I need to show him into town to meet my friends. Please be nice to him while he’s here.”

I smiled at the adorable little, wet hairball of a bunny, but I don't think he liked my amusement. He lept on my lap, still dripping, looked me square in the eye, and then gave me the "I'll be watching you" gesture with his tiny paw.

D'awwwww!

Then Angel shook himself like a dog right under my nose, spraying me with tea.

"Angel! That's not very nice!"

"No! That was great!" I said, unable to stop laughing, "I really had that coming." I was still laughing as I took a napkin, wiped my face and stood up. "Guess I should take a shower - I mean another shower. And then I guess we can go and meet the locals?"

"Oh, um, yes. That sounds good. I'll go get changed."

So after a quick shower, a change back into my clothes from the previous night, I was walking down the path to Ponyville with Fluttershy beside me. It was a bright, sunny day, the birds were singing, and the view as we left Fluttershy's house was beautiful.

We're a little above the town. It's so nice to be able to look down and get a view of what's waiting for me. A whole town of…other beings. But this air! It's so fresh!

Again I felt the effect of the air of this place, like it was giving me more energy. The smells seemed richer, the sound clearer, and I found myself smiling more than I expected.

You're just distracted enough to not think about your meds. Wait until later, then it'll all go away.

You go away!

I was right about one thing: I needed a distraction.

"You live in a really beautiful place, Fluttershy. It must be amazing to be out in the country like this.”

“Oh, yes, it is very nice. I don’t think I’d live anywhere else. I get to take care of dear, little animals and I have my best friends nearby.”

“That’s...that’s wonderful. Really, that sounds like a great way to live.”

“Thank you, but, ummm, are you okay, Brendon?”

“Huh? Yeah. I’m fine. Really. Thank you for asking.” I did my best not to look at her while I spoke. It bothered me how much of her talk sounded like a dream to me, and that unattainable dreams shouldn't be so simple.

We continued on in silence until we reached the edge of the town, when something came hurtling towards us down the path. There was only time to see an impossibly fast blur of pink, when suddenly there was a bright pink pony standing right in front of Fluttershy, waving her arms frantically. She seemed to be wearing a blue and yellow top, and a dark pink skirt with a pattern of balloons on it.

“What the - ?”

“Fluttershy! You’ve got to come quick! Twilight won’t wake up!” Her tone of voice was unbelievably bubbly, despite the worry in her voice, and it reached such high notes I was afraid my glasses would start vibrating. She then glanced over at me and instantly she was beside me, looking me straight in the face. “Oh hi - who’re you? - I’m Pinky Pie - I’ve never seen anypony like you before.” I was so stunned I barely had time to catch the barrage of words; there seemed no space between them.

Dear God, I never saw her move. Truly there is great power in this one.

“Uh, I’m Brendon. I’m...new...here?”

I felt my hand taken in a soft but unbreakable grip and bounced up and down faster than a drum solo at a power metal concert.

“Nice to meet you, Brendon! - Wow that’s a funny name. - Where did you - ?”

Fluttershy tried to jump in. “Umm, Pinky Pie, there’ll be time for that later. Did you say something’s the matter with Twilight?”

The pink puffy pony nodded vigorously. “Spike said he found her on the floor this morning, and he can’t get her to wake up. They’re sending for a doctor, or maybe they’ll have to take her to the hospital!”

“Oh dear! Well, let’s go!”

We all ran into town. I caught glimpses of various shops with a variety of different colored ponies all over the place. Some caught sight of us and stared wide eyed at me. Eventually I stopped looking, too self-conscious to think about all the looks I was getting. Eventually we came to a large tree-house that turned out to be the library as well as Twilight’s home.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie burst through the door while I kept a respectful distance behind them. Inside were three other ponies. There was an orange pony with bright yellow mane in short overalls over a flannel-looking button down, sporting a cowboy hat; a white unicorn in a rather elegant, corporate casual getup, with a very beautifully styled, purple mane that was accented by her purple eyeshadow; a blue pegasus with rainbow mane who wore tight, black jogging shorts and matching tank top; all standing near around a purple unicorn -wait! She has wings, too? - dressed in what looked like a knee length skirt, simple white blouse, and a purple and black hoodie who was laying on the ground. There was also some large, purple lizard-like creature that I could only take to be a dragon, except he was about maybe four and a half feet tall and standing on his hind legs, wearing a simple shirt with shorts. All turned to us as we came in.

“Oh, Fluttershy!” said the small dragon. “Don’t worry, we’re getting help. B-but I don’t know what happened to Twilight!”

I awkwardly tried to hide behind the two ponies in front of me, but eventually all eyes turned to me. The white unicorn blinked through her purple mane and asked, “Um, Fluttershy, darling, who is this you’ve brought with you?”

“Well, this is, um, Brendon. He’s a - what was it? Oh yes - a human. Brendon, these are my friends: Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Spike, you’ve met Pinkie Pie, and that’s, umm, Twilight Sparkle.”

I stepped forward and tried my best to look each pony in the eye as I spoke. All had such a look of surprise and wonder that I felt like I had something on my face.

You do. It’s your face.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you all. I’m from...another world, I guess. Twilight, here, accidentally brought me to Equestria.” I then told them the tale of how I’d foolishly followed the purple pony into this world.

Spike looked horrified. “A portal? B-but she’s been told to be extremely careful not to do that again! Princess Celestia said that something bad could happen! I need to get a letter to her right away.” He immediately whipped out a scroll and began writing on it with a quill. When he finished, he blew a small green flame on it, and the scroll seemed to burn up in mid air.

Umm...that’s how he sends letters? Makes about as much sense as anything around here.

“I’m sorry to bring this news,” I said, looking down. “And I wish there was something I could do.”

“Aw, don’t feel bad,” said Applejack. “You have done somethin’! Without you, we’d have never known what had happened to our friend. It’s a good thing you happened along.”

“Yeah, even if you do look a little weird,” Rainbow Dash added, looking at me with a squint and a funny smile. “You’re...kinda bald.”

“Yeah? Well you’re kinda furry,” I shot back, not unkindly. “I guess this is the first time you’ve seen a non-pony before?”

“Well, not really, darling,” said Rarity. “There are all kinds of creatures that live in Equestria. There are gryphons, buffalo, yaks, crystal ponies, changelings, and of course dragons - like little Spikey Wikey here, and even more.” When speaking of “Spikey Wikey” her voice went into cutesy baby voice.

Oh God, the cuteness feels like it’s invading my brain! Can you get an overdose of cute?

-Yes.

I asked the question, and I don’t know the answer.

-Still feels like Yes.

“Yeah, but we’ve never seen anypony like you before,” piped Pinkie Pie. “What was your name again? It’s funny!”

“Umm...Brendon. I’m sure it is funny. All of your names are strange to me. Your whole world is pretty new and strange. Though I guess it’s not too different. Luckily I met Fluttershy,” I said, walking over to her and putting my hand on her shoulder. “She found me last night, when I was wandering lost in the Everfree Forest. She saved me from a Manticore. It was amazing!”

Fluttershy turned a little crimson and whispered a tiny, “Oh, it was nothing,” and hid her face in her mane. It was so adorable I couldn’t help but smile.

“Wait, last night?” said Rainbow. “Did you just get out of the forest?”

“What? No, she let me sleep at her house. We came out of the forest very late last night.”

“R-e-a-l-l-y?” she said, drawing out the words as she slowly looked over at the yellow pegasus who seemed to be trying to make herself smaller.

“Yeah,” I went on, hoping my appearing ignorant would somehow make it all okay. “She’s such a kind pony, she even made me breakfast this morning!” Oh, way to go, that sounds WONderful.

“Oh my, Fluttershy, I’ve never seen you work so fast before!” giggled Rarity, trying to stifle her amusement. Fluttershy’s whole head seemed to be changing color and I felt the redness creep up into my face. I slowly took my hand off her shoulder.

“Come to think of it,” smiled Rainbow, “I’ve never seen her work, period. Since when did you get so bold?”

“Aw, come on, ya’ll!” interjected Applejack. “Can’t you see she’s embarrassed enough as it is? Besides, it’s Fluttershy we’re talkin’ about here. She’s the kindest pony there is, and ain’t no one gonna say she’s got funny motives or some such.”

“Oh, you know we’re just teasing!” said Rainbow Dash, grabbing Fluttershy in a side hug, and glancing at me with a smirk. I smiled back awkwardly, noticing an intensity in her eyes I found disturbing. Her mouth says this is funny, her eyes say I’m in trouble. Fun times ahead.

Spike ran into the midst of this, waving his arms. “How can you guys joke at a time like this? Twilight is out cold, and you’re laughing about a sleepover? What are you - ?”

His words were cut off by a brilliant flash that blinded everyone for an instant. My eyes were dazzled and it took a few moments to see what, or who, had appeared. A tall, white figure appeared. She really was tall, perhaps seven feet, with wings, a horn, a brilliant necklace, crown and dressed in a robe with a sun stitched on each side. Her multi colored mane and tail flowed with no wind, and her whole being radiated peace and dignity.

Royalty, indeed. This one is...different.

“Princess Celestia!” cried Spike. “Thank goodness! Twilight is - !”

“I’m aware, Spike,” came the impossibly calm and serene voice of this...pony(?). “Thank you for informing me, I -” She stopped as her eyes fell on me. “You! You’re a human!”

I raised an eyebrow.

“How’d you know that, Princess?” asked Applejack, and then it dawned on her. “You’ve seen one before?”

“Yes, I have,” the Princess said, eyeing me with what I could only think was sympathy mixed with pity, “And Twilight has visited them before.” Here she looked down at the unconscious Twilight. “I warned her not to try to go there on her own; the magic is too powerful and too unstable. I wish she’d listened to me.”

“Is...is she going to be alright?” Rainbow asked.

“I hope so, Rainbow Dash. I hope so.”

I couldn’t hold in my question. “Is there any way I can still get home?!” I couldn’t keep the rising panic out of my voice, but as I glanced at Twilight I felt awful. “I’m sorry, it’s not just about me. I know you’re worried about your friend. But…” Something was wrong. My head started to hurt and the room was spinning. “...I’m not...I’m sorry…” Everyone was looking at me, bewildered. My hand went to my head which kept pounding like a racehorse. “I...I hit my head…” My legs gave out and the last thing I heard was someone crying out, “Brendon, no!” before everything went black.

Author's Note

Yeah, couldn't hold it in any longer. Had to get some more out. Now let's see how terribly I can keep up the pace. PLEASE comment on what you think, even if to say it's crap. Constructive criticism is needed.

EDIT: Some grammar and removed a scene I just couldn't force to make sense. I may try to integrate it i to a later chapter. Maybe.

And thank you so much for reading!