A Journy thru August

August turned his head toward the door, seeing it finally open up.

"Oh, thank god! I was a little worried that no one was home."

His enthusiasm didn’t last long, as he didn't notice there wasn’t anyone in the door frame. However, the scent of fresh baked goods flowing from the door indicated there should be someone inside.

"Huh, open door but no one’s home…wait did I somehow stumble on a witch’s house?"

It was then that he heard the older voice clearing their throat, and he looked down.

What he saw was definitely not what he expected. It came up a little below his waist. It was green, with white hair, and covered in wrinkles, witha little shawl on its back. And, in honesty, it kind of looks like a pony.

August turned his head and stared out of sheer confusion. His heart stopped when it spoke.

"Not exactly thrilled about being called a witch, though I do like to dress like one on Nightmare Night. Ah, way, howdy there. What can I do to help you with Youngin?"

Its voice was kind of clear and had a thick, distinctly Texas style, accent—honestly, something you'd expect of a grandmother, not threatening in the slightest. The fact that it came from this thing made August's eyes go wide. He took a step back, checked his watch, put his fingers to his neck, and said

"I must have drank something really weird last night."

And then he fell flat on his back, out cold. Granny Smith, to her credit, didn't look surprised. She huffed, turned back inside, and shouted upstairs.

"Big Mac, come down here. I'm going to need your help to get this big fellow on the couch. He looks like he's had a little too much fun."

She then turned around and stared at Applejack and Twilight.

"Ya’all are scared of this thing. It looks like he's about to scare himself to death."

Utterly unphased, she marched into the kitchen and started a kettle of tea. Applejack and Twilight just stared at her and then at the door, both of them having shocked and dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

Twilight shook her head and went outside to take a better look at the creature and to help levitate him onto the couch, as it seems Big Mac had snuck past them as they were talking and was seemingly having a bit of trouble trying to get him on his back.

"Do you want any help with that?" Twilight asked, her natural curiosity already starting to rear its head.

"Nope," said Big Mac, though he quickly found himself having a bit of trouble lifting the considerably taller August. .

“Are you going to let me help anyway? Twilight asked, trying not to smirk a little.

Big Mac huffed and said, "Yup," finally giving up.

Happy to help, Twilight quickly set to work levitating the strange creature before them.

It was no wonder Big Mac was having trouble trying to pick him up; despite being the second-tallest stallion in Ponyville, this creature was still close to twice his height and must have been more than double his weight. Even with her magic, Twilight could feel his weight as she floated him over to the couch, his feet dangling off at the side.

As all this was going on, Applejack was sending Apple Bloom up the stairs, not wanting her around the stranger quite yet.

"But I want to see him; he looks so weird," Apple Bloom said, her head bobbing in multiple directions to try and get a better look. .

"You'll have time to look at him later, when we know if he's safe or not. Right now, he's out cold, so give him some space and go up and do your homework. I know for a fact that you have an essay due tomorrow."

"Awwwww dang, How'd you know about that?"

"Cheerilee saw that you were not doing your homework and started telling us about it. Now get up there and get it done, or no dessert for you tonight," Applejack said with a hint of smug satisfaction.

"Awwwwwwwww," Applebloom moaned in defeat as she slowly ascended the stairs.

Applejack stared up the stairs as Apple Bloom went up, only turning around when she heard the door close behind her. She walked over to where the creature was lying and took a good look at him.

He really was an odd one, only having hair on his head, a little bit of scruff on his face, a scar above his right eye, and what would look like a bite mark on his neck. If she looked closely she could see bruises on his neck and arms, along with one forming on his face.

He was certainly the biggest fellow she had ever seen. Not only that, but he might even be taller than the princess. However, most surprising was just his appearance as a whole.

She'd never seen anything like him, not even in all those fancy books Twilight had. His arms ended in weird little snakes, and it didn't look like he had hooves but something else weird on his feet. Of course recognized the denim of his pants, though that was about the only thing.

Twilight was standing a bit further back, not quite sure what to make of this thing right in front of her. It was something no pony had ever seen. She would have known about a creature like this existing, either straight out of the Everfree or something entirely new, and that weird thing he was controlling was some kind of really advanced machine. How does it work? How do they move? Her mind was buzzing and filled with thoughts.

g She'd have to contact the princess about this as soon as she got back. This could be a new discovery altogether—a new creature, a new nation, possibly hidden in the Everree.

As the pair continued to muse, August, eyes still closed, could feel them staring at him. One was less than a foot away. There was another further back, and possibly one in the kitchen. He could hear a kettle being boiled, meaning there were three of them in total. As he contemplated what to do next, he heard another voice clear their throat.

"Twilight, do you think this thing is safe? It looks like some kind of mutated minotaur. If it came out of the Everfree, there's no telling what it could do."

"I don't know Applejack; I have never heard of anything like it. I'll have to study it and take it to the princess when I can, but we have to make sure it's not hurt first. We'll wait until it wakes up and then ask it some basic questions to see if we can figure out where it came from and if it means any harm. At the very least it seems to speak our language, so we should be able to communicate with it without too much problem."

August’s mind was rushing with information as he heard loud clicking sounds coming from the kitchen on his right; it must be the green one. Both of those voices sounded much too young to be hers, and the one closest to him spoke again.

"Granny, do you want any help with that?" said the closer one.

A snort sounded to his right. "No, I'm fine, Applejack. I might not be as spry as I used to be, but I can handle a tray of tea."

From the sound He could tell she was next to him, yet he tried to stay still and quiet.

"I can tell you're not asleep anymore, stranger, so stop pretending and stiffening up, so I can get a good look at you."

She could tell he was awake? August briefly contemplated calling her bluff, but ultimately, opened his eyes and stared straight at her.

"You may be old, but your senses are pretty sharp. I can respect that" August opted to keep things casual as he sat up and took a look around the room, meeting eyes with the other ponies.

"Since I'm not being restrained and it doesn't look like any of you want to hurt me, I'm going to assume you're all just as confused as me.”

The trio nodded, though that only helped solve one of the problems he found himself with. “Good to know, but not much help. Gotta say, either I'm hallucinating or something very, very odd has happened to me, so mind if I ask what exactly all of you are?"

Of the three, the purple one stepped forward.

"Well, sir, I'm Twilight," she said, pointing to herself with her hoof. She pointed towards the orange one.

"That's Applejack, and the one with the tea is her grandmother,Granny Smith. All of us are ponies and as to where you are, you're just outside the town called Ponyville. Can we ask who you are and where you're from?"

He took a second to process that these are talking multicolored ponies, one of which had a horn in the middle of her head, and and he currently has no idea where he was. Only thing he knew for sure at this point was apparently these ponies really sucked at naming things.

Shaking that thought aside, he opted for the cordial route and answer their question in kind.

"My name is August, and as for where I'm from, I grew up in a place called Washington. It’s part of a country called the United States of America, but based on the fact that I'm on a farm and we have never seen talking ponies before, I'm going to say I am not at home anymore or anywhere near it."

While both ponies looked stunned by this info, Twilight seemed more intrigued while Applejack seemed to have some possible insight.

"Well, first up, howdy and pleasure to meet you August.” The orange pony offered him a tip of the hat. “Tell me, does the name Discord mean anything to you?" said the orange one.

He looked over at her, wondering if she meant a dictionary definition or if he liked causing discord.

"Uh, not recently. I mean I got up to some kind of crazy stuff recently, but I doubt that’s the kind of discord you mean.”

Surprisingly, that seemed to get her to relax a bit more and even chuckle a little at his retort. “Heh, well you’d be right about that. Sorry about the weird question, but I had to be sure of something.”

"Alright, then do you know how you got here?" Twilight asked, suddenly levitating a notepad and pencil out of nowhere.

"Not really.” August said while trying not to freak out at the sudden display of magic. “The last thing I remember was getting wasted in a field with my truck. I woke up this morning, and I'm in the middle of nowhere. My phone does not work, and the first thing I find is this farm."

Twilight’s pencil rapidly went across the page, her face deep concentration, making sure not to miss any details.

"Would you mind if I ran a quick scan on you to see if you have any injuries or if I could trace any magic on you?" she asked

August tilted his head and looked at her oddly.

"Magic…wait is that what you’re using to make that notepad float?”

Twilight nodded again, making August zero in on the horn on her head and noting the glow.

"Guess I shouldn’t be surprised magic is a thing after unicorns and talking ponies. But yeah scanning me, sure I guess? Not that I could stop you if you wanted to."

"I would never use my magic on somepony who did not want me to," She said, looking positively offended at such an idea.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to imply anything.” August said offhandedly while standing still to allow Twilight to do her thing.

Her horn glowed brighter, and a flicker of light went across August's body. After a second or two, the light faded while Twilight hummed over the results.

"Well, I don't sense any injuries on you besides some bruising and alcohol poisoning."

She smirked at that, which August returned with an annoyed glare as she continued speaking.

"But I do sense an odd magic in you. I don't know if it's yours or someone else's. Unfortunately, my skills aren't very suited toward the medical field, but I don't think it's harmful."

"Well, it's good to know I don't have magic cancer..hopefully. Though you keep mentioning a princess. Is she the one who rules this place?"

“You’re right on the money sonny. Rules the whole dang country.”

The green one, Granny Smith if he remembered right, approached him and held a cup of tea up to him.

"Oh? Thank you. What kind of tea is this?"

He asked, taking a sip.

"Just some good old Green Apple Tea."

August paused for a moment, not expecting that kind of flavor, but took another sip. It was oddly sweet and almost tasted like apple juice mixed with green tea. Not bad.

"Thank you; it’s very tasty."

Granny Smith smiled and handed…or hooved a cup to Applejack, who took a seat nearby along with Twilight.

"Yes, Princess Celestia rules over Equestria, the country you're in, with her sister Luna. They have ruled over Equestria for a very long time."

August took another sip, mulling over the information.
"I'm going to guess these princesses are very old if this place is as magical as it seems."

All the ponies nodded, Twilight especially. “I don’t know exactly how long they’ve been ruling for, but it has been for at least a thousand years…is that considered long for your…species?”

August let out a long breath and put his head in his hands, running his fingers through his dark hair.

"This is all a lot to take in. I'm talking to multicolored ponies who apparently can use magic. A lot of what I believe is starting to come into question. And I overheard you say you wanted me to meet these princesses, who are immortal or something, which, yeah that's probably a good idea. But to be honest, my head hurts so much right now, and I don't think it's just the hangover talking. Do you mind if we just stay here for a while, and we can go meet your princess later?"

The purple one clapped her hoofs and bore a large smile on her face.

"Of course, we can meet her when you're ready, but I will be sending a letter to let her know about this. We don't have to go meet her right away. For now, I think you should come with me to my library so I can run a few tests on you to make sure nothing about our world is messing with you if you really aren't from here, which you seemed pretty sure of. Why?”Questioned Twilight

"To be honest with you, it's because humans, that’s what I am by the way, are the only intelligent species on our planet. We've seen every corner of our world, from our deepest oceans to even the sky, and the only ponies we have aren’t magical, multi-colored or even capable of talking, much less having their own country.”

Twilight looked even more excited by this new information, practically vibrating in her seat.

“An entirely new species of creatures, no an entire world completely separate from our own.” Twilight was again writing away on her notepad, only pausing for a moment. “And you said your species are called human, correct?”

“Yeah, or if you want the more scientific term, Homo-Sapien.”

Again Twilight paused, though more from confusion by the word choice this time.

"Weird, that sounds like ancient equestrian, well before Princess Celestia's time.

August's eyebrows shot up at that revelation.

"Seriously, ancient equestrian? I highly doubt our two worlds are connected, then again, I'm open to anything at this point. I might as well just start accepting facts as fiction since I'm talking with magical ponies."

Applejack finally spoke up after hearing this again.

"Y'all keep saying that this ain't that odd to us. No offense partner, but you're the weird one. No fur, real tall, wearing those strange duds; y'all are pretty out of place right now," She said, blunt and without hesitation.

Shockingly, August simply puffed and grinned at her.

"You're brutally honest, aren't you?" he said, leaning in closer to her. "I like that. Honesty is a good policy, even brutal honesty."

"My big sister is the most honest pony in Ponyville!"

A much squeaker, higher-pitched voice shut up from the couch behind him. He saw a poof of red hair and a pink ribbon when he turned his head.

"Applebloom, I told you to stay upstairs!"

The small one, Applebloom, hopped from the back of the couch onto the seat next to August, poking his leg with her hoof.

"Are y'all really from another world? That sounds like something out of one of Scootaloo's books?" Applebloom asked as she continued to poke.

"From the looks of things, it would seem so." August smiled and petted the little fillies head, messing up her hair and making her laugh.

Applejack looked a little uneasy at him being around Applebloom, but smiled inside when she seemed safe and unthreatened, even giggling at him poking her with one of his hands.

"What are those things called, mister?"

She asked, grabbing hold of his hand with her hoof, moving it back and forth, and poking it. August could feel an odd gripping feeling coming from her hoof, almost like she had tiny fingers wrapping around his hand, which he could not see.

Probably more magic

"Okay, that feels weird. But to answer your question, these are fingers, I guess you could say they are like claws just not sharp.. Humans use them to pick things up, and based on that feeling I have right now, I'd say you have some kind of magic that lets you do that."

Applebloom just stared at his hand and kept moving it back and forth.

Applejack let out a big sigh and went to grab something out of the kitchen.

"It doesn't seem like you mean any harm now, so I guess you can stay here for a day or two. We've got an extra room upstairs, if you want. Applebloom can show you, but y'all better go take a shower because you smell like liquor."

August grabbed his shirt with his other hand and took a sniff and winced. He did smell a bit like cheap booze and sweat.

"Well, I appreciate it. Though, I'm going to guess the shower you guys have is too small for me, and as for the room." He pointed outside, "I have one. My trailer is kind of like my house. I can move it around wherever I want as long as I have my truck. Am I ever glad I invested in an electric truck and solar panels"

"You live in that thing," said Applebloom, looking out at the large hunk of metal..

"Yep, I travel around where I want when I want, and with that, I can live just about anywhere."

"Would you mind if I take a look inside with you, Mr. August?" said Twilight, staring at the trailer like it was made of gold.

“I guess there’s no harm. I've got nothing to hide but dropping the mister thing. I mean, I can't be any older than you; probably. how old are you, um, Twilight?"

"I'm 23; Applejack's actually 25; and Bloom over there is 10."

"Huh, I was wrong, I’m 26 at least, if our worlds had the same years, I'd be surprised, if they did, but let's leave it at that."

"Can I come to Miss Twilight?" said Applebloom. "I want to see what an alien's house is like.” Twilight prepared to say no, only to be met by the filly’s large, sad eyes.

Before Twilight could answer, August opted to speak for her.

"Eh, there shouldn’t be any harm," he said, getting up, picking her up with one hand, and setting her on his shoulder. Apple Bloom's tiny hoofs wrapped around his neck, and August stood right up, towering over Twilight.

"Wow, mister, you really are tall."

"I'd have to agree with Applebloom on that.” Twilight craned her neck up just to meet August’s eyes. “Are you average height for someone in your world?"

"Well, I'm about 6 feet tall, just a bit above average but not by much. Also should warn you, trailer’s a little messy since I wasn’t expecting guests." He drank the rest of the tea and set it back on the tray next to him. "Thank you for the tea, Ms. Smith; I appreciate it."

"Why thank you, young man. It's good to see there's still some youngins out there with some manners, even if he's an alien. If you do end up wanting to stay in the house, just let us know. It can't be too warm inside that metal thing, and the nights around here get a little cold."

August huffed. "That's why I have a heater, but I appreciate it. Would you like me to move it anywhere so it's not in your driveway, like behind the barn or something?"

Granny smiled again and said, "If you don't mind, youngin we'd appreciate it; don't wanna be scaring folks with that big thing now do we??"

August nodded his head and began to walk outside, having to duck his head as he walked out of the door frame. Little Applebloom was still clinging to his back.

"Hey, wait for me!" Twilight quickly ran after them, trying to keep up with August’s much longer strides.

August went up to the side of his truck, waiting for Twilight to catch up. The unicorn in turn found herself staring in awe at this impressive machine that was much larger than even him. Just looking at it made him stunned he apparently could move it around at his lesiure. His species must be years ahead of theirs. She was so lost and thought she epped and jumped when he set Applebloom down on her back.

"As much as I don't mind the piggyback ride there, kid, I kind of need to focus when I drive this thing, and I don't want you messing with me when I'm trying to drive it. You too should stand clear while I get this thing parked behind your barn, okay?" August said as he pulled out his he pulled out his keys and hopped in the car, slamming the door shut behind him.

Twilight immediately backed up far away from it, not wanting to be anywhere near it when he started moving it.

As soon as she was clear, the engine roared to life, sounding like an angry beast, and what she could see through the glass was that August seemed totally calm about it. The car slowly began to move back, with the trailer still locked behind it. It was amazing as she saw him slowly move it behind the barn, unhook it, and then move the truck in next to it.

"All right, girls, you can come in now," he said, waving them over.

Twilight could still feel the vibrations from the truck and her bones. It was honestly terrifying that he used monster-like machines so normally, her legs were shaking as she got closer.

Slowly, she was about to step foot into an alien's home, and she'd see things she never imagined. What would the inside look like? They have incredibly advanced technology and machines that could see the entirety of the world. Would they be able to fly?

"Welcome to Casa de August. Pardon the mess," he said, opening the door.

Twilight's smile grew as she stared inside. This was the start of a great series of discoveries and adventures.