In Another World

"Would you tell us about those humans we saw?" Twilight asked Lacy.

They all sat outside of a restaurant at a big round table. Instead of chairs, there were haystacks. It was fine for ponies or even Spike, but Lacy knew that later every part of his body that made contact with the pile will be itchy and his pants won't help with this problem.

They already ordered some food Lacy only asked for a salad because every other meal contained at least one thing that wasn't edible for him.

"About Peter, David, and Vera, I can't tell much, I don't really know them. The two men were Adam's classmates, not really knowing them, only met them a few times, at parties hosted by Adam. I know that they're both students at a university, some kind of engineers, they learning to be. I don't remember what Vera's doing." he then drank from his glass of water. "Adam and Chris became my friends when we got the same dorm room. Victor was my friend since elementary school, then we went to the same high school. We-"

"Sorry..." Twilight interrupted. "Could you tell me about your school system, because I don't really understand it, I think I can make some assumption, but it'd be better if we could clear this up," she explained, and Lacy saw that the others were confused as well, except Rainbow Dash, who was bored hearing about school and education.

"Sure. Where I'm from, kids go to elementary school, when they're around six or seven years old. That last eight or six years, usually the former. There we learn basic things at first, like write, read, math, later more advanced things, like one foreign language, physics, chemistry, biology, history, literature, there are also other things, like Physical Education, art, music, etc. Then come four or six years of high school or some kind of vocational high school, which I can't talk about much, since I went to a normal high school. At that time I moved into a dorm because I lived far from where the school was. There you basically have the same classes as in elementary, just the things you learn are more advanced and detailed. Then you can go to college or university, or you can look for a job. Or there are other possibilities as well, but I don't wanna bore you with more details."

Twilight was about to protest, but seeing that her friend lost interest in the topic already, she didn't force him to continue.

The waiter pony came back and put food for some ponies, then went back to get the others as well. Soon everyone had food before them. They all started eating. The salad tasted fresh and was surprisingly good for Lacy, who was always the meat with meat kind of person.

Not bad, though I hope, that I won't have to stay here for too long, or I can get some kind of meat or other animal products, otherwise I'll get sick very soon.

"So you were telling us about your friends..."

"Right. So Adam and Chris became my friends after we got the same dorm room. Victor was the fourth there. Adam is that kind of man, who doesn't really care about the future, never considers the long-term effects of anything. Chris is that kind of person, who knows a lot of random facts, has an interest in many things, but in most things, he only scratches the surface. Also, he likes to take risks. Not in the sense of endangering his own life, rather in betting, or stock exchange, and other money-related things."

Lacy then took a short break in his monologue, because the girls and Spike were almost finished with their meal, but his plate was still full of vegetables and fruits. The food tasted better than whatever other vegetable or fruit he ever ate in his world. He remembered Twilight telling him that this whole place was magical. Magic was everywhere and in everything so in his food as well.

Now he only needed to talk about Victor. It saddened his mood a little because Victor was special. The girls all waited for him, and though some of them seemed impatient, none of them said anything.

"Victor. My best friend. We grew up in the same little town. There was only one elementary school and we got in the same class. In the first year, we were more like enemies. We were the best students in the class, we had the best grades. There are many grading systems around my planet, where I lived, it was a simple number between one and five, one is insufficient, two is sufficient, it was necessary to get at least a two in every subject to successfully finish the current class. Three is satisfactory, four is good, and five is excellent." he saw Twilight writing down the new information, while the others seemed to wait for him to finish this and go back to explaining his friendship. "We were the best in our class, full of fives, sometimes a four here and there, though most of the time he got more points than me. We were kids, and I could hardly handle, that he was better than me at almost everything, well maybe I was stronger, but after hitting him a few times, I got punished not only by my teachers but by my mother as well, since she knew Victor's mom. Also, my grandfather gave me a few lessons too."

"Now wait just a minute!" Applejack interrupted the story. "You're sayin' to us right now that you started fights with that best friend of yours?"

"Come on, AJ!" Rainbow Dash butts in before Lacy could react. "We had fought too. And we are still friends."

"That's right, but we were competing with each other. He just went and hit him, only because he made more points in some tests? There's a difference." Applejack explained.

"We were just kids who started school. I went there believing that I will ace everything, because everyone in my family told me that I'm a lot smarter than other kids because at that time I already could read, though not very well, and do some basic math. And let's just say that kids can do cruel things if they don't get what they want." Lacy told them. They were all surprised hearing this, but then some of them reminded the others, that the same applies to some fillies and colts as well, some of them even had experience in this, but based on what they said, it wasn't as problematic as in the human world.

"So the first school year, we weren't even friends, but then the next year, we made peace and became friends fast. Since then, he was my only friend, I could trust with anything. He never let me down and I tried my best to be just as a good friend to him like he was to me. We went to the same city for high school, then we moved to the capital city, he went to a university, I went to learn somewhere else, but we stayed in touch and helped each other. So that's why he is my best friend. Though he says a lot of stupid things, and not really a fan of my humor and personality, which is sometimes dark and morbid, but we accepted each other." Lacy finished.

"Yay! You and your friends are just like us!" Pinkie shouted. Lacy raised his eyebrow, waiting for her to explain it. "You are all different, but you are still the bestest of best friends and you will stay friends forever and after and you will go parties and events and everywhere else together and will do everything together, just like us." she finally finished. It took Lacy some time to figure out what she really said. Her high-pitched voice and fast-talking made it hard to understand her.

"Well, we aren't that different. We are similar in many things like we all play a lot of video games, they all learning in some kind of engineer faculty, have mostly the same taste in music. Also, we don't really meet much nowadays." finally Lacy's plate was empty. He was the last to finish his meal. He turned to Rarity. "Thank you for inviting me to this lunch. Never thought that this kind of food could be this good."

"You are welcome, darling. Now please come with me to the carousel boutique so I can measure you and make you some clothes."

"Alright, though if I'm being honest, it's starting to bother me accepting all this help."

"Don't worry about that." Rarity tries to reassure him. "You came here with none of your belongings and according to the princess, you will have to stay here for a while, and as your friends, we are obligated to help you out in this situation."

"Rarity's right," Twilight adds. "And Princess Celestia told you to make some friends. You already have some."

"Apparently more than I had in my world." Lacy murmurs, but some of the ponies heard him and shot him a worrying glare. "But is it really friendship? So soon?"

"Of course!" Twilight says. "The girls saw me as their friend the moment I met them, and I started to see them the same the next morning." she then looked away, trying to remember something. Soon she turned back to Lacy. "That reminds me, you didn't tell what changed, that you and Victor became friends after the first school year."

"Oh, that. Well, two things. First was, that every other boy in my class couldn't behave normally, or just ignored me, or bullied me, and since that time boys and girls stayed separated, there weren't many options left, and I also realized, that I enjoyed competing with him. The second thing was a chess club for the kids in the town. You know what chess is?" they nodded. "We both were signed up, I already played a lot with my grandparents, so I was pretty good in my liege. Even better than him. That was the only thing I was doing clearly better than him. Almost all of the games were won by me and that was enough for me to calm down."

After the explanation, most ponies left, because they all had their own things to do, while Rarity paid for the food, leaving a generous tip too. Twilight decided to accompany Lacy and Rarity, and naturally Spike tag along as well. As they walked on the streets, Twilight and Rarity were talking about something Lacy didn't pay attention. Ponies said hello to them or waved, which they returned.

Arriving at the boutique, Twilight sat down on the ground, holding a book and a quill with her magic, while the other unicorn and the dragon went to get the necessary equipment. Twilight told Lacy earlier that she wants to collect all the data she can get about humans into one book, and then send it to the princess, and also make copies for libraries around Equestria. Though Lacy mentioned that the information wouldn't be scientifically correct because of the number of test subjects, but since she already had a hundred percent of the human population of Equestria as test subjects, she couldn't get more.

Rarity got back with Spike and began measuring. It took some time to get every size she wanted, and of course Twilight wrote down everything as well. Meanwhile Lacy told some more about human dressing customs for different occasions, like workdays, weekends, ceremonies, events, parties, etc. Rarity promised him for dresses on every occasion, but Lacy declined this offer, saying, he won't need that much, and don't want to accept that as well. In the end, they settled with a few common clothes and a tuxedo, just in case. Lacy could accept it but promised that he will repay her some time.

After leaving the boutique with Twilight, Spike left behind, Lacy asked if there is some kind of park, which isn't were crowded. Twilight led him in the outskirts of Ponyville, where there was a small lake, a few trees, benches, and a clearing which was a perfect place for a picnic.

They both sat on a bench. Lacy then remembered to ask a very important question.

"Twilight, since I'm new here and all, could you tell me things that aren't allowed to do, or talk about it? You know, taboos, and such." the levander unicorn gave him a questioning look but then understood that he just doesn't want to do anything that is not allowed here.

"Of course! I think there is a book about it in the library, I'll look for it when we get home," she answered. Lacy gave her a nod and then turned his focus to the sky.

He missed the little town atmosphere. Since he went to high school in one of the bigger cities, he rarely went to his hometown, only on weekends, and school breaks. Later, when he moved to the capital, the visits became so rare, that he almost forgot how much he loved to go to the abandoned park which was on the outskirts of his hometown and people didn't live close to it. Nevertheless, he loved to go there sometimes, just sitting on one of the benches which were left there for mother nature, or take a walk in the forest nearby, or just laying in the grass, and relaxing, listening to the leaves, as the wind blows them, hearing the birds singing, or that few cars that travel on the nearby road. He truly missed it, and in the big city, there wasn't any place like that.

Suddenly he felt something tapping one of his legs. He opened his eyes, looking at Twilight, thinking at first, that it's her doing it, but she just stared at him, smiling. He looked down and was surprised when he saw a little unicorn foal, with amber coat and brownish mane and tail. For a while, the little one continued tapping his leg, but then looked up and saw Lacy looking at her. A staring contest started for a short time, then the little foal started smiling and raised her forelegs and pointed them towards Lacy.

"Cute," Lacy commented, then gave looked at Twilight, waiting for some kind of instruction on what to do with this situation.

"I think she wants you to lift her," Twilight told him.

Lacy wasn't sure if this is a good idea or not, but seeing Twilight's reassuring smile, and the little unicorn who stayed at that position, he couldn't resist and wrapped his fingers around the foal's body, then lifted her till she was at the lever of his neck.

"Hello there, little one. What are you doing here alone?" he started to talk to her, not sure if she could understand him since he wasn't sure of her age. The foal only watched him with awe. Then her little horn started to glow in a color similar to her coat. Lacy suddenly felt something pulling his hair and also had the same feeling when at the party his hand contacted Rarity's magic aura. He put the two and two together fast. The little foal grabbed his hair with her magic and pulled towards herself.

"What are you doing?" he asked, though didn't expect any answer. Meanwhile Twilight could only watch him with a smile on her face, trying to resist saying 'aww'.

As the foal finally reached his long hair with her hooves, she took some of it between them and started to move the upper hoof, like she was trying to comb it. Lacy thought it was adorable at first, but then memories flooded his minds and his mood dropped a little. It looked like she could play with his hair for some time, but then another pony appeared.

"There you are, Amber!" they all heard a female voice.

Both Lacy and Twilight turned to the unicorn mare, who now stood beside the bench they were sitting on. Amber, the little unicorn, didn't seem to notice her mom. She was still occupied playing with Lacy's hair. The mare had a dark pink coat and a lighter pink mane with a few light blue streaks. Her cutie mark was a comb and a scissor next to each other, vertically.

"Hello! I remember you! Yesterday that party was for you. I couldn't stay for long, because of Amber, she had to go to bed on time. I see she's taken a liking in you." she said while watched her kid, who still didn't get bored with Lacy's hair. "Oh, pardon me! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Perfect Mane! Hairdresser."

"Lazlo Kis. A pleasure." Lacy introduced himself as well.

"I hope little Amber didn't bother you for long. I took her out for a walk and then decided to relax a little and let her explore the place because she never goes far from me or her dad but this time after a short nap, I didn't see her anywhere, she wandered too far, and I became worried a little, but then I noticed you, holding her, and saw her smiling and playing with your mane, and then came here, to introduce myself."

She talked so much that it annoyed Lacy a little. It reminded him of all the times, when he was just a little kid, and went somewhere with his mother, or any grandparents, and they met their friend and started a long talking session, leaving Lacy bored.

Her eyes suddenly widened.

"Sweet Celestia! I almost forgot! I have to go! Come on Amber, say bye to Lacy, we have to go." she then used her magic to levitate the foal out of Lacy's hand and onto her back. The kid seemed to dislike it because the moment she was out of Lacy's grasp, she began crying. "I'm sorry sweetie, but we have to go, but I'm sure we will see him later, right?" she then glanced at Lacy.

"Sure," Lacy said, after a short pause, then lowered himself, so he could be at eye level with the crying unicorn foal on her mother's back. "Hey now. I'll be here for some time, so next time we meet, you can play more with my hair, if you want." he then ran through her mane with his fingers, which calmed her down, and started to giggle. The mare gave him a thankful nod, then trotted away, but she didn't get far before the kid started to cry again.

"Looks like foals like you," Twilight said after we didn't hear the crying anymore. "And you also know how to handle kids." she then added.

"Dunno, what they're liking about me..." he responded. "She reminded me of one of my little sisters."

"Oh... Will you tell me about her?" she asked.

"Maybe later. But now, I think it's time to go back to the library, I really need to know what I shouldn't do here."

"Of course, let's go. By the way, the first thing is, that please don't use those obscene words, we heard in the memory."

"Can't promise that, but I'll try."

"Well, at least not before any child. I knew Spike would ask about that later, since all these words were new to him, and I had to ask Rarity to persuade him to forget it."

"That I can promise. I have some practice in that, because of my sisters."

"Good."

We got back to the library, where she talked about the taboos. There were things that were similar to what humans had, like romance in outdoors are reduced to hugs and kisses, everything else stays indoors. There were more interesting ones that weren't forbidden, but ponies didn't really like talking about murder, rape, gory things, or wars. Since Equestria was a peaceful and prosperous nation and ponies could live in harmony, crimes were rare. Not only that, but murder or rape almost never happened since Princess Celestia is the ruler and that's over a thousand years.

Lacy learned some more about pony customs as well, then when the sun was setting, they eat dinner, Spike finally got back as well, and didn't start to question those words, instead he asked if Lacy wanted to see his comic collection. Though Lacy was never really a fan of those superhero comics, he decided to spend some time with the baby dragon, while Twilight stayed in the library part and started to make a plan for teaching Lacy more about Equestria and its inhabitants. She also remembered that Lacy wanted to have a job, so she created a list of possible workplaces Lacy can go to.

It was late at night when both the unicorn and the human decided to hit the hay. Spike was already sleeping, and it was hard to wake him up, so they didn't worry about moving quietly. Even though he felt tired, Lacy couldn't sleep. He never could fell asleep easily, it took some time, usually a few hours. He was just lying on his side and thinking about today.

Amber is adorable. And how she played with my hair. Probably saw her mom doing it. Reminds me of Maya... Ok. Not thinking about her before sleep, because then I'll never fall asleep. Think about something else. Like there is little to none crime here. This place is truly unbelievable.

Finally, his tiredness won, and he was soon in the world of dreams.