Saccharine Arcadia

Chapter 2: First Impressions; Make Them Count.

Sweet Apple Acres, Orchards End:

“Did ya see that Big Mac?”

“Eeyup, sure did sis.” Came the deep reply.

“Seems the Princess has a visitor. What kinda critter is that anyways? Ya ever seen anythin’ like it?”

“Nnnope.”

“I recon we should follow it. Ya’ know, ta keep its paws… or whatever they are outa trouble. Just ta be on the safe side.”

“Whatever you say Applejack.”

Outskirts of Ponyville, East Road:

As the last of the day lowered itself, sinking into the distant hills, night came forth, bringing with it a blissful tranquillity and a different kind beauty to that which was present during the day. Rob peered up to the sky just in time to see the first star reveal itself.

“Wow.”

“Even the stars here are different. I sure as hell am a long, long way from home.”

He paused.

“Good riddance.”

With one final look he dragged himself away from the serene beauty of the night and proceeded down the road to his new home.

Eventually the orchards to his right ended and only a few short minutes after that Rob entered the edges of civilization. “Lucky for me everyone is at home, I’m sure they haven’t ever seen a human before and I’d prefer not to cause a commotion right now, it’s late and a lot has happened today, I’d just like some rest. Trans-dimensional teleportation spells really take it out of you!” he chuckled, rubbing his sore neck as he proceeded through the quiet streets of Ponyville aiming ultimately for the big tree near the centre.

“This really is surreal though, it’s like I’ve gone back to the fourteen-hundreds, everything is thatched and the roads are made out of loose stones dug from the ground, the streets are even lit by candlelight! Frankly I’m surprised I haven’t seen a castle yet.”

He thought while crossing a river.

Rob seemed to be approaching the centre of town as the streets were widening into what appeared to be a square. There was a fountain in the centre and a few buildings surrounding the edge. Two particular buildings caught his attention; the first was a garishly sickly building reminiscent of a cake. Upon walking up to it he read the sign on the door, it read: Sugarcube Corner. This surprised Rob because as far as he could tell it wasn’t on the corner of anything. The second building was round and resembled a fair ground ride, all the way from the flag positioned at the top to the prancing ponies situated around the balcony. The sign on this one read: Carousel Boutique.

“Ahh a cake shop and a clothes store. Come to think of it, Celestia wasn’t even wearing any clothes. Was she naked!? Are all ponies this way!?”

While pondering this thought, Rob spotted his destination, “Ahh, the large tree which was also a library or something… Suppose I’ll go make myself known.” Crossing the plaza Rob made his way to the large tree and found the door. Taking a deep breath he knocked three times.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous…” he said to himself while awaiting an answer. He kicked at a loose stone beneath his feet.

“Spike, Spike!” A feminine voice called from beyond the door. “Answer the door please.”

“I’m on it Twi.” A childlike male voice responded.

A few seconds later the door was opened revealing a small reptilian creature. Rob peered down at him. “Whoa! You don’t look like a pony?”

“T-Twilight, there’s some scary two legged thing at the door! W-what do I do?” The thing Rob guessed must have been Spike frantically shouted through the house while running away from the monster at the door.

“Calm down little fella, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Rob called after him.

“Darn right ya ‘aint!” came another voice from behind him. Barely turning in time for the assault, Rob was greeted by an orange blur which tackled him to the floor. He let out a groan as he was winded from the impact.

“Fuck that hurt. What the hell just happened?” Rob said, struggling to get his words out through gritted teeth.

“WHAT, is going on in here!” Rob looked up from his face down position on the floor to see a purple unicorn standing at the base of the stairs some way across the room.
She wore an angry expression on her face and was looking in his direction, not at him but above him. “Applejack, what are you doing barging in here and attacking our guest!?”

“Well, ya see Twi, me ‘n’ Big Mac here have been followin’ this ummm, thing, since we saw it with the Princess. We didn’t want it causin’ any trouble!” The voice from Robs back spoke apologetically.

“Hey, can you get off me?” Rob asked the pony sitting on his back.

“Bitches be crazy.”

“It can speak!” Applejack stammered.

“Why does everyone think I’m a bloody cretin around here…? Yes, I can speak, although you’re making it rather difficult by being on top of me.”

“With the Princess?” The little creature known as Spike mumbled from behind the purple pony’s legs.

“He was with the Princess and you doubted him?” She asked averting her gaze from the small lizard to the mass on top of Rob again.

“Well, I, err…” She responded somewhat confused.

“This can wait right? My back is killing me. Twilight, Twilight Sparkle, that’s you right?” The crumpled human on the floor said looking towards the unicorn at the stairs. She started forward.

“Arc, I presume?” She extended a hoof and the weight upon Rob was alleviated as the orange pony rolled off.

“Yes ma’am.” He spoke, trying his best to be civilised while rising to his feet.

“See, somepony has manners Applejack.” She shot the orange pony a glare.

“Hey, what can I say, I’m sorry ya big ummm… thing?” She turned to Rob.

“Smooth Applejack…” Twilight rolled her eyes.

Applejack nervously laughed and turned around, “Big Mac, come in here, don’tcha go slippin’ away when ya sisters in trouble, you’re part of this too!” She called through the open doorway. Somewhat feverishly a large, by pony standards, red stallion mooched through the door with his head held low.

“All right, everypony take a seat, some introductions are in order.” Twilight commanded. She walked over to Rob who had found a seat by the window and whispered in his ear “Don’t worry, Princess Celestia has informed me of your arrival. You’re safe here and I’ll also do my best to make sure no more of my friends assault you.” She giggled and trotted over to a make shift podium that had been constructed out of tables and chairs. “Ok everypony, as you can see we have a visitor, he may not be a pony but the Princess assures me he is kind, strong, generous and trustworthy, even if a little sarcastic and pessimistic at times.” She giggled again. “If you’re wondering what he is, then the answer is a ‘human’ just-”

“Just like in them ponytales Granny Smith used to tell us when we was just young colts ‘n’ fillies!” She looked at Big Mac who nodded and shifted uncomfortably on the sofa before returning her attention to Twilight.

“I like this one, says stuff and doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks.”

She coughed, “Ahem, yes Applejack, just like those tales. Anyway, he’s here to help us in our study of friendship and to start a new life. I hope you’ll all welcome him.” She looked at Rob. “If you’d like to introduce yourself I’m sure the others will follow suit.”

“Right.” Rob said as he stood up. He strolled over to Twilight’s strange altar construct and glanced at the room of ponies before him. They were all much smaller than Celestia was, she was on equal footing with him in that regard as they were both around six feet tall. These ponies on the other hand we only about four foot high, maybe six feet if they reared up on their hind legs but on all fours they were much shorter than him. All but the red stallion that was maybe a little taller, five feet perhaps. “Ok. As Twilight said, I’m a human, my name is Saccharine Arcadia but you can call me Arc for short. This is also my first time ever being around ponies so forgive me if I do anything wrong, I don’t mean to offend but I have no idea about the social concepts of you ponies, so I may accidentally get something wrong. Celestia has filled me in on a few things but I will mainly be coming to you guys I guess for any other sort of advice about how things work in Equestria. I want to thank you for your help in advance, and offer my services to any of you who need them. Well, with that I’ll leave ya. I do have one question though, ummm, how do I phrase this… Spike, what are you? You clearly aren’t a pony.” Stunned, wide eyes starred back at him from the audience. “I’m sorry. Did I do something?” Rob leaned forwards on the altar.

“Nope, we’re gonna get on just fine partner, sides from ya fancy words, ya seem nice enough. Name’s Applejack, I work on the farm you went past on ya way here.” She indicated to the stallion on the sofa to her left. “And this here’s Big Macintosh, ma older brother. Welcome to Ponyville!”

“Why do I find that accent so sexy…?”

Rob studied the two before him.

“Yup, these are definitely two peas in a pod, most definitely brother and sister.”

He looked at Applejack, she had an orange coat and sandy blonde mane which was tied into a ponytail at the end, her tail followed suit. She also had emerald eyes and wore a Stetson, cowboy hat.

“Very western.”

On her rump was her cutie mark, it depicted three apples. He turned to Big Mac. Big Mac had a red coat and a short cut orange mane, he wore some kind of neckerchief, a yoke perhaps, used to pull things. He also had green eyes and similarly to applejack had an apple for his cutie mark, only his was large and green. “Great, nice to meet ya Applejack.” He turned and nodded towards Big Mac, “Big Mac.” He added in recognition.

“Well I’m glad that’s sorted.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “Ok, Spike, your turn.” She bent down and looked at the nervous looking little creature between her legs.

Spike shuffled out from his hiding place and spoke. “I’m Spike and I’m a dragon, a baby dragon though. I’m also Twilights number one assistant!” He said proudly, closing his eyes and holding one finger out.

“Neat! So how old are you? I mean, you say you’re a baby but where I come from babies can’t speak until a certain age, let alone walk.” Rob asked the small dragon. He looked Spike up and down. He had a purple body with the exception of a bright green row of scales that traversed down his back and a lime green underbelly. He also had green eyes, a tail and was somewhat human like in appearance, walking on two legs.

“Well, in years I’m thirteen.” He replied. “Twilight hatched me when she was five.” He paced back and forth along the front of Twilights podium. “Dragons mature a lot slower than other creatures and live much longer too, it’s only natural I look so young.” He smirked.

“Enough bragging.” Twilight reprimanded the little dragon. Rob went back to his seat by the window. Moving up to the podium herself Twilight cleared her throat and began. “Anyway, lastly, I’m Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s protégé. I run the library here in Ponyville as well as live here. My home is yours while you’re here, unless you want to find another place to stay, and like the others, I wish you a friendly welcome to Ponyville!”

Her speech was met with a few claps and cheers as everyone rose from their seats to greet their new visitor ‘Arc’. Applejack was first and almost wrenched Rob’s arm of shaking his hand. Next came Big Mac who was more gentle than his sister had been. He leaned over to Rob and apologised for his sister, “I’m sorry Arc, she’s very instinctual and often acts before thinkin’, it’s been a problem on more than this one occasion.” He laughed out loud.

“No problem mate!” Rob said back.

“Well, he shares the same southern accent as his sister…”

“Mate?” Big Mac asked inquisitively.

“Yeah, it’s another term for friend where I come from.”

Big Mac’s face changed into a huge grin, “Good ta know, we’re gonna get on just fine, you ‘n’ me.”

“Yup, definitely brother and sister!” Rob thought to himself. “Great, we’ll have to get a drink together sometime, maybe when I’m more settled.” Rob said to the big stallion.

After that Spike and Twilight came over, the purple dragon was riding on her back. Spike had come out of his shell since their initial meeting and leapt at Rob’s chest, gripping on to his clothes and pulling himself up to the humans shoulders. “This is much better than your back Twi, I’m so much higher up here!”

“Shat a brick there, not gonna lie.”

“Spike, get down from there this instant, how rude of you!” She had an angry tone in her voice as she looked up at the dragon, furrowing her brow.

“It’s fine Twilight.” Rob told her. “It’s pretty cool in fact. No one would ever believe me from where I come from if I said I had met a dragon. Besides, Spike doesn’t weigh that much.”

“Well, if you’re ok with it… It’ll give my back a rest at the very least. ”

“Yippee!” The dragon in question shouted, almost falling off of Robs shoulder. He regained his balance with a nervous chuckle and a smile.

“Ok everypony, it’s late and I don’t know about Arc but I’m tired. If you all wouldn’t mind leaving I’ll see you tomorrow, I need to introduce Arc to the rest of the gang anyway… So, you two.” She looked at Applejack and Big Mac, “Out. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Applejack looked disheartened and pleaded to stay. “Come on Twi, I wanna get ta know him better!”

She was stopped by Big Mac who stared to drag her out of Twilights house by her tail. “We’ll see ya tomorrow.” He grunted through gritted teeth.

“Big Macintosh, you let go of me right this instant!” She wailed. Her cries fell on deaf ears.

“Aaaand stubborn too…”

Rob, Twilight and Spike looked out the door. “Bye!” They yelled in unison sarcastically while watching the couple fade into the inky blackness of night.

The trio returned indoors and all slumped down. “That Apple family sure is energetic…” Twilight sighed. “You must be hungry, would you like some food?” She asked as Spike walked towards the stairs.

“Hmmm, my first meal in Equestria. Sure, that’d be great thanks Twilight, just no hay or anything ok?” Rob followed her into the kitchen.

“Omelette all right?”

“Yup, sounds good to me. You mind if I take a look around while you cook it?”

“Nope, go ahead. I think Spike went up to bed though, try not to wake him.”

Walking back out of the kitchen into the main room they were all in for their introductions, Rob looked around. It amazed him that all of this could be inside of one tree. The room was circular and shelves upon shelves of books lined the walls, there was occasionally a ladder propped up against one. The only times the bookcases stopped was when there was need for a window or a door. Underneath one window was a table and underneath the other was the chair Rob sat on during the meet ‘n’ greet. Upon the table were assorted quills and ink, as well as a stack of paper.

Rob moved towards the stairs he had seen when he first arrived. Unlike normal steps they weren’t built into the house, they were carved out of it. He ascended each wooden platform until he came to another room. After looking around it he noticed that it wasn’t so much a room as it was a balcony, one which overlooked the lower part of the library, the area he was just in. This section of the library had yet more books on the walls and also housed a bed, Twilight’s he guessed.

To the left was a door to the on suite bathroom, Rob assumed. There was a towel hanging over the door so he didn’t enter just in case. Next to the bed was a table, laden with the same equipment as the one downstairs, there was also the bust of a unicorn on it. At the end of the bed there was a basket, it was small and inside it was a curled up purple ball, snoring away, unaware of the human creeping around the room.

Across from where he entered, Rob found another door with yet another set of stairs behind it. He climbed these and found himself in another circular room, only this one had no books. It looked like any normal room. There was a bed, a table, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe and a dresser, all in all it was pretty bland. The only thing of note was that there were two other doors exiting the room.

Rob walked over to the first and opened it “Ahh good, a bathroom” He said to himself. He left the room and closed the door behind him, determined to find out what was behind the remaining door. He went over to the right side of the room and approached the remaining door, he found there was a key in the lock, he turned it and heard a satisfying click as the bolt slid free. Opening the door he was greeted with a chilling breeze. He walked out into the night. Rob found himself on a small platform built within the top branches of the tree. There was a telescope attached to the hand rail angled sharply upward. Realising there was nothing else to see up there Rob quickly left, returning to the comforting warmth of the library just in time to hear Twilight call for him.

“Food’s ready!”

“I’m on my way!” He returned, bounding down the stairs. Entering the kitchen Rob took note of Twilight. She was the same height as Applejack but had a lilac coat and a three tone mane, predominantly indigo but with a pink and a purple stripe. Her tail was the same. She had purple eyes and being a unicorn she had a horn atop her forehead. Her cutie mark was a red star with multiple smaller stars around it. “Looks great!” He said before digging in.

After finishing dinner Rob been told that his room was to be the one in the top of the library and if he needed anything then he had only need to ask. Twilight had also dragged him into the library for a little ‘Ponyville induction’ lesson.

“Arc, this is simply a brief discussion on a few things I need to know and then a little Q ‘n’ A session at the end, where I hope to answer any questions you may have.” They both sat on the sofa that Big Mac had been on earlier. “Firstly, the Princess sent me a few books which I have quickly scanned over, they told me a little about the human race so I know about your necessities, luckily, they are similar to a ponies, so we’re ok on that front.” She said, holding up two books with magic, entitled ‘Complete Guide to Human Physiology’ and ‘Human Psychology and Other Related Subjects.’

“Great, she’s already intelligent and able to use magic, she’ll be reading minds next…”

“The only problem we may encounter is…” She fidgeted in seat and averted her eyes, a blush spreading across her cheeks. She gulped. “Love.”

“Haha, you worry too much!” He said, brushing the concern aside. “I hadn’t even thought of that, and hey, if the time arises then I’ll deal with it then. Besides, who’s to say a human can’t love a pony? We’re basically the same, only in different bodies.”

“The book says that humans, like ponies, build families and have children, a source of great happiness for them. I’m just worried that you’ll be unhappy here.” She showed concern in her voice.

“Don’t worry about it, this new life is already better than my last. Things couldn’t go better for me. And credit to you guys, the ponies here are a hell of a lot better in every aspect than most of the humans where I come from. There are some good guys though, my friends, but all in all, from what I’ve seen, the populace of Equestria is a shit-ton better than the earths.”

“What’s a ‘shit-ton’?” She asked innocently.

“You don’t swear? A ton is a unit, a heavy unit, of measurement where I come from and ‘shit’ is a swear word, one I probably shouldn’t use around you guys…” Rob rolled his eyes.

“So you used it as emphasis?”

“Exactly.”

“I learn something new every day!”

“More than one thing I assume.” Rob said sarcastically, gazing around the room at the books. “A nerd’s paradise.” He laughed.

“Hey!” She playfully shouted back. “But yeah, some ponies think I study too much.”

“Applejack?”

“Yeah, and the others!” She giggled “They only tease though. Anyway, onto the next item.” Regaining her composure she sat up straight. “Humans have no capacity for magic am I right?”

“Not that I know of. We have illusionists, but that’s just sleight of hand.”

She turned away, deep in thought. “Can I try something?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well, every living being has magical energy, it’s what sustains us, and it’s linked with our life-force directly. Basically, if you’re living, you have magic in you. I want to try a spell that Princess Celestia taught me to try and unlock some magic within you. Even if it works you won’t be able to do much to begin with as you aren’t innately aware you can use magic and your body won’t know how to respond to the new power inside it. Despite that, you want to give it a shot?”

“What could possibly go wrong?” Rob asked sarcastically, remembering Celestia’s painful dimension teleport spell.

“You could explode! Twice!” She exaggerated, making an explosion effect with her hooves.

“Twice?”

“Never mind… You’ll be fine.”

“If you say so. If I find I’m mush on the carpet, I won’t be happy.” He frowned.

Twilight stood up and walked closer to Rob who stayed seated. She placed her forehooves on his shoulders and closed her eyes. A look of concentration spread across her face and her horn began to glow, softly at first before slowly building up to a brilliant white light, it made Rob squint. The glow soon began to vanish and as it did, a warmth spread from Twilight to Rob, through his shoulders, starting where her hooves were. Once his whole body was warm she stopped and backed off, returning to her seat without even breaking a sweat.

“Oooh, tingly!”

“Whoa, you are epic at magic!”

Her cheeks reddened slightly, “Thanks. So, you feel any different?”

“Warm and tingly all over, but no, not really… What’s a really easy spell for me to try, just as a test?”

“Baby unicorns learn to levitate things at around six months old, it’s usually sporadic magic awakening though. Try and lift something small.” She told him.

Rob took the necklace that Celestia had given him off and held it in his palms. “Any tips?”

“Well there are two ways to do this, the first involves you creating a magical aura around something and lifting the aura that encompasses the item, and the second involves sending out a tendril of magic, one that’s connected to you, to act like a third hoof or arm in your case. You simply pick something up like you normally would. The second method is the easiest as the magic is still connected to your body, on the down side though, you can’t lift things as heavy or as far as you can with the first method.”

“Ok, first method it is.” Rob concentrated on the amulet, feeling it in his palms. He tried to push the warm feeling to the top of his body and then further, down his arms. He finally had all the magic concentrated at his fingertips, he was about connect it with the amulet when he heard a voice.

“Boo!”

He jumped and saw Twilights shocked face as he did. He turned around to find there was no one there. “What?” She asked.

“I definitely heard something.” He told her.

“Yes, you did!” The voice chimed again.

“Celestia?” Rob asked in his mind.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You were concentrating sooo hard that I just had to!”

“Bitch…” He mind-mumbled.

“You realise I can hear you.” She pouted.

“And you’re supposed to be a princess… What do you want anyway?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“You called me, remember?”

“I did?”

“Yeah, with the necklace I gave you.” She chuckled.

“My bad. I was just trying out some magic.”

“How’s it going for you?” She mocked.

“You obviously know already so give it a rest will ya. Man, and I thought you had some dignity when we parted earlier.”

“Humph, at least I can do magic.”

“It bloody hurts though! Anyway, I have to get back to reality, Twilight is probably wondering why I’m starring of into space.”

“Ok. Well, it was nice knowing you’re doing well and fitting in with everyone.”

“Kind Celestia is back I see.”

He imagined her sticking her tongue out. “Fine, be that way! Anyway, seriously, it was good to hear from you, I wish you good luck with your magic. I’ll see you soon.”

“See ya round.”

Rob snapped back to his senses, the amulet was in the same place in his hands. He looked up. Twilight’s worried face hovered above him.

“Arc! Arc!” She called.

“Yes?”

“You zoned out big time! Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I was just chatting with Celestia.”

“The Princess?”

“Yeah, she gave me this necklace and said I could communicate with her at any time. Come to think of it, it was a stupid idea to use this…”

“Wow, that thing must be worth a fortune. I knew I recognised the seal on it, it’s the sun, Princess Celestia’s own royal seal! She gave you this? She won’t even give me one of these!” Rob detected a hint of jealousy in her voice. “You must have made a great first impression.”

“I dunno about that. Anyway, I am curious, why haven’t you asked about me?”

“The Princess asked me not to pry too much. She told me I could trust you, and I trust her, so I trust you too.”

“Wow, that’s deep.”

She fidgeted on the sofa and changed position. “So, Q and A time! Ask away. I’ll try and answer the best I can.” Her shining purple eyes gazed at his, waiting.

“Ok, first up; cutie marks. What are they?”

“Good question. Well, basically, as each pony grows, they find their own talent in life, the one thing they are good at. A cutie mark representing that thing will appear on one’s flank when that happens. Mine represents magic, as that is what I excel at. Applejack and Big Mac have apples, this is because they run the farm and have been working with them since they were just foals. The Princess’ is what you see on the amulet, the sun. It’s her task to raise it each day. Understand?”

“Yeah, but, she… she raises the fricking sun! Now there’s magic and there’s that!”

“True. She also raised the moon for one thousand years while her sister was… away.”

“You know you’re a bad-ass when you’re able to raise the fucking moon and it isn’t even your special ability!”

“Yup, she is our ruler though after all. And ummm… fucking?”

“It’s another swear word, a bad one, don’t use it. Which brings me to my next question; Alicorns, what are they? Celestia and Luna are the only ones I’ve seen and they seem like gods.”

She pondered for a moment and blew her mane out of her face. “They aren’t gods so to speak. More like the best traits of every pony in Equestria bound as one. They are more like a superior race, containing earth strength, unicorn magic and pegasus flying capabilities, only tenfold. The royal line are the last remaining ones in the whole of Equestria as far as we know. They live for thousands of years though so to us they seem eternal and godlike.”

“Wow, mind equals blown.” Rob stammered, realising he’d been teasing a being that could turn him into ash on just a whim.

“I would never do that!” the voice reappeared, making Rob jump again.

“STOP THAT!”

“Hahaha, it’s priceless!” The alicorn joked.

“Arc?” Twilight asked, concerned again.

“Don’t worry, it’s the Princess again…”

“Ummm… ok. Say ‘hi’ for me.”

“Twilight says ‘hi’…” He repeated to the Princess.

“How diligent of her. I do love Twilight but it is a pain keeping up the ‘royal’ façade around everypony… Anyway it’s nice that you think so highly of me. I might just have to, ‘turn you to ash’ was it? If you didn’t.” She laughed again. “Anyway, I’ll go for real this time, I’ll leave you to your studies.” The consciousness fled his mind.

“Bitch…” Rob mumbled under his breath.

“Pardon?” Twilight asked, confused.

“She says ‘hi’.” Rob replied.

“Ok. Any other questions then?”

“Yeah, two. Both not that important…”

“Ask anyway.” She said, seemingly bemused with what the questions could be.

“Number one!” He said, as if preparing for something grandeur. “I saw a clothes shop outside. This confuses me, as so far, nopony has been wearing clothes… Do explain?”

“We do wear clothing but only on special occasions, not for just everyday life like humans do. As for how she turns a profit, I can only assume that she makes high quality clothing and not much of it, less of a more substantial quality. She does seem to sell to a lot of high profile ponies, especially of late. She seems to be getting the attention of a fair few models, actors and songwriters with her designs.”

“She?”

“I presume you’re talking about the Carousel Boutique across the road? In which case my friend Rarity runs it. You’ll be meeting her tomorrow.”

Rob flinched. “She’s not another Applejack right?”

Twilight laughed. “No, she’s more… How can I say… Refined?”

“That’s good, there are only so many Applejacks I can take!”

“I know what you mean. You wait till you meet Rainbow Dash though.” She laughed even harder.

“What’s so funny? I’m getting a bad feeling here…”

“It’s nothing, just another one of my friends that you’ll be meeting tomorrow.” She calmed down. “Anyway, your last question?”

“Yeah, you guys don’t have hands or fingers, how do you do things? I asked Celestia but I didn’t really understand.”

“Well, even earth ponies, the least skilled with magic can create small telekinetic magic, the same kind you were attempting earlier. We simply create fingers so to speak. Simple.”

“Easy for you to say, I’m worse at magic than both baby unicorns and earth ponies!”

“Practice makes perfect. You’ll get it eventually, I awakened your magic pool, it will come, it may just take some time.”

“That’s cool, beats no magic at all.”

The two sat in silence for a while before Twilight spoke. “Its two thirty and I’m knackered. I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.” She got up and slowly paced to the stairs, fatigue finally taking its toll.

“See you in the morning, good night and thanks Twilight.” He called after her.

Rob sat there a while longer, it sure had been a long day. Being dragged out of his own world and into Equestria was a lot for his mind to handle, luckily he embraced his new future with arms wide open. From Celestia through to Applejack and Twilight he had made new friends, something he was happy and grateful for. Smiling he rose from the sofa and tiptoed upstairs passing through Twilights room to get to his own. He heard Spike’s snoring and what he assumed must have been Twilights gentle breathing. He looked at her sleeping face tucked up in her duvet, she was really cute. He pulled himself away and ascended the second flight of stairs into his own room, he kicked off his boots and took of his t-shirt, throwing it carelessly to the ground. Next he unbuckled his trousers and they fell loosely to the floor, he then removed his socks. Keeping only his underwear on he crawled into bed and finally felt the intense drowsiness take over. “Yup, a long day.” And then he was asleep.