Once I finished my tea (it was a little difficult working a straw with a beak, but I eventually got the hang of it), Fluttershy led me out the door, and we began walking down a long dirt road. Inwardly, I was thankful; the walk was giving me plenty of time to adjust to four legs, and being able to observe Fluttershy walking also helped a lot. I even managed to move my wings, folding them closed.

Through the trees, I could vaguely see a looming crystalline structure in the distance, glistening in the sunlight. "What's that?" I asked her.

She followed my gaze, and chuckled patiently. "That's the Castle of Friendship."

I did a double-take, stopping in my tracks. "Wait, a Castle?! And it's dedicated to... Friendship?"

She chuckled. "I know it sounds odd, but friendship has a lot of power in both this world and yours."

I considered this for a moment. "I suppose that makes sense. Y'know, in a general sort of way."

She shook her head. "No, I mean that Friendship is literally powerful."

Somehow, I froze even further. What did she mean by that? Literal power? And not just here, but in my world, too?

Then I remembered the last Friendship Games. While I wasn't actively participating, I remembered seeing lots of vine-things attacking the second event, and one of the CHS students – the rainbow-haired one, Rainbow Dash? – was flying around with wings, fighting them. I was so frightened that I'd spent the rest of the Games at home.

And suddenly, pieces clicked into place, and the already flimsy 'trained attack-plants' story shattered into a million pieces.

Fluttershy saw my shocked expression and asked, "Um, are you okay?"

I shook away the dizziness. "Just reconsidering some things I'd seen back home."

She looked me over for another moment before smiling, and we continued on.

Eventually, the trees thinned out enough to where I could see a small town in the distance. Tan houses with thatched roofs were arranged haphazardly around a gazebo-like Town Hall.

Oh, and there was also the gigantic, tree-like Castle made entirely of crystals. I suppose that's noteworthy, too.

My jaw hit the floor – not literally, but it wouldn't have surprised me with the way that today had been going – at the marvelous sight. It looked so real, yet not at all real at the same time. Just beyond it, I could make out the spires of a purple building sitting at the base of a mountain, and even further in the distance, a large city hung from the side of another mountain.

And yet, here was Fluttershy, acting as if this was a normal sight. Well, granted, it probably WAS normal for her, but she was still acting REALLY dismissive of it!

I prompted a response by asking, "So, what is this place?"

She turned back and smirked knowingly. "This is Ponyville."

The moment I stepped within the town limits, my senses were assaulted by a loud blast of candy-scented strips of paper being shot at my face. Instinctively, I leapt back, but my new quadrupedal figure couldn't perform what I intended, and I tripped onto my back.

Then suddenly, everything went pink.

"Ohmigosh, there's a new creature here! And he's a griffon, too! Ooh, I just know Gallus will want to meet him as soon as possible! C'mon, Fluttershy; let's bring him to the school!"

The timid mare tried to say something, but it was already too late; I was hoisted onto a strange-looking vehicle by a pink pony, and we were off.

The wind whipped at my face as we careened through Ponyville at speeds rivaling that of a car. I could vaguely see colorful ponies out and about as we zipped through the streets, but we always passed too quickly for me to make out any features.

Except, of course, for the pink pony pulling the wagon. Her hair was a textbook example of a rat's nest, curling every which way and littered with various candies. An image of 3 blue-and-yellow balloons adorned each hip, and the manic look in her light-blue eye as she glanced back at me told me that she wouldn't stop for ANYTHING.

So I resigned myself to simply cling to the back of the cart and scream.

Two terrifying minutes later, I flew forwards as the cart came to a sudden stop. I sailed through the air for a brief moment before my face plowed into the dirt, and I skidded to a stop.

The pink pony giggled. "Oops, sorry! I thought you were holding on."

I picked my face up and glared back at her. "I WAS."

She blinked. "Then you must not know how to hold on very well, because it should've been easy to stop yourself from flying off – especially with those sharp claws of yours!"

I groaned. "So, who are you, and why did you kidnap me?"

She giggled. "I'm Pinkie Pie, and I didn't kidnap you; I brought you to the School of Friendship!"

"The School of Friendship...?" I began to ask, but trailed off as I looked at where we were.

It was incredible! That purple building I'd seen earlier was sitting right in front of me! Now that I was closer, I could see more details, such as the emblem on the front door, the waterfalls on either side of that door, and the moat surrounding the building.

'Wait, if this is that purple building, then that means the Castle is...'

I turned around and immediately staggered back. The Castle of Friendship stood TOWERING above us, a lot more intimidating up-close.

My jaw hit the floor – LITERALLY this time – and Pinkie started giggling. "I know, isn't it great?! Now come on, let's find Gallus!"

Before I could even recompose myself, she'd slid under my body, picked me up onto her back, and began carrying me into the School.

I couldn't believe my eyes; the halls were filled with so many creatures! Of course, the majority was ponies of all colors, but there were other things there, such as dragons, what looked like yaks, bug-horse-thingies, odd ponies with lion's manes and giant horns...

And other griffons. It reassured me to see that I wasn't the only griffon around, but then I started to think: why WAS I a griffon? Why couldn't I have been a dragon, or a yak, or a bug-horse?

But not one of those lion-ponies. Their horns looked like giant d–

Before my mind could go any further into the gutter, Pinkie unceremoniously dumped me onto the ground in front of a blue-and-yellow griffon.

For some odd reason, he was looking at me with confused recognition.

The pink pony began, "Gallus, I'd like to introduce you to–"

"Graff?" Gallus interrupted, helping me up. "What're you doing here?"

I balked. How did he know my name? Why was he acting like we knew each other?

It was then that Fluttershy caught up to us, huffing and puffing. "Don't... do that... Pinkie!"

Pinkie chuckled abashedly. "Whoopsie. Sorry, Flutters; I was just so excited to introduce Gallus to Graff here, but it seems like they already know each other."

She looked confusedly between us all for a moment before she gasped. "Oh, I see! Gallus knows THIS world's Graff."

"THIS world's?" Both Gallus and I gawked.

She blushed. "I'll explain later."

Gallus looked like he wanted to press further, but relented.

Pinkie looked between Fluttershy and me, before she over-exaggeratedly gasped. "Ohh, RIGHT! Wow, this is so exciting! I haven't met someone that came here from over there before — well, except for the one time with the cruise ship, but that doesn't really count since I already knew them. How're you adjusting? Is it funner over there, or over here? Do you like it so much that you want to move here? Are you gonna visit Sugar Cube Corner every day? Or how about every other day? Every Friday? Every other–?"

Mercifully, Fluttershy stuck a hoof in the pink chatterbox's mouth. "He's just passing through," she explained simply. "We were actually headed to the Castle before you... found us."

Pinkie seemed to calm down (and by that, I mean that she dialed it back from 12 to 11 out of 5). "Oh, I see! Well, can I at least give you the welcoming that comes with my Welcome Wagon?"

I blinked. Was THAT what the vehicle I'd ridden was called? Welcome Wagon.... Ugh, puns; I hate them more than I hate bland colors.

But from the look in Pinkie's eyes, I could tell she wasn't going to take no for an answer – or if she was, it'd have repercussions that I wouldn't want to face. "Sure, why not?" I groused.

She practically exploded with energy as she cheered. Then, with an almost cartoonish motion, she dragged her cart inside and pressed a button on the side. Some small hatches opened, revealing various woodwinds and stringed instruments that began playing an energetic tune.

"Brace yourself," Gallus stage-whispered to me, and I gladly obliged.

♪Welcome welcome welcome
A fine welcome to you!
Welcome welcome welcome
I say "How do you do?"
Welcome welcome welcome
I shout, "Hip Hip Hooray!"
Welcome welcome welcome to Ponyville todaaay!♪

She slid onto her knees, and added a "Wait for it..." as the music began to wind down. When the last note played, an oven on the side of the wagon blasted open, spraying cake batter everywhere. The cannons on the back tried to fire a round of confetti, but only a small flicker of light came out.

Pinkie Pie fell into a laughing fit. "Oops, guess I accidentally put the ammunition in the oven instead of the cannons!"

I wiped cake off of my face. "How does that even happen?"

Fluttershy looked over the scene in front of her.

Then she started laughing, too.

Her laughter was so infectious that I couldn't help myself; I started laughing as well. Even Gallus joined in, and he seemed like he should've been 'too cool' to do so.

I took a glob of the cake batter and popped it into my mouth. While it had the aftertaste of used-up gunpowder, it was still rather delicious; it reminded me of candied pears.

Finally, Fluttershy wound her laughter down. "Alright, we really should be going. Bye, Pinkie Pie; Bye, Gallus."

Gallus waved as she began to leave. "See you in class, Professor Fluttershy. I can't wait to hear the story behind this one!"

I blinked. PROFESSOR Fluttershy? She's a teacher?!

I thought back to our encounters, and I realized that, in a way, that made sense. She was rather kind, like my teacher back in kindergarten.

I smiled as I got up and began walking after her. I may have only been here for an hour at most, but I was already starting to like this place.

Author's Note

Edit (2/23/2024): Changed one of Pinkie's lines to account for the Spring Breakdown special.