Just A Cartoon

Many mares and stallions were travelling on the Canterlot Express, most of which were idly chatting amongst themselves or attempting to consume the disgusting, cheap meals that the train service provided.

Some were not. ‘Some’ being six mares who looked particularly angry and four stallions who looked scared out their minds, one of which had to have his wings and fore-hooves tied behind him.

Twilight was looking at the four specimen of ‘aliens’ sitting across from her. She wasn’t scared of them but she found them strange. They weren’t all that different from Equestrians, though they had their minute differences, mainly in behaviour. They didn’t come across as hostile, but potentially dangerous, though that might be due to their lack of intelligence.

Twilight’s curiosity finally got the better of her. “So…what’s your planet like?”

Callum opened his mouth but Evan’s voice came out, “It’s a shit-hole!”

They all shot Evan an annoyed glance before turning back to Callum for an explanation. “Well, the people there are-”

“-all twats.” Evan finished before having a pink hoof slap sellotape across his mouth.

“As I was saying” Callum restarted, “The people there look a lot different to ponies but we speak the same language, our buildings are pretty similar and we have a lot of the technology that this world has, like trains, but on a more advanced level.”

“Interesting…” Twilight hummed, “How different do you look?”

“We’re biped.” Callum replied, “We have four limbs, two that we walk on and two that we use to… uh, pick up stuff. We aren’t covered in fur like you, but we do have hair on our heads, like manes. None of us have horns or wings either, so instead of using magic or flight to move through the air we use machines.”

Twilight frowned. “If you don’t have magic than how could your technology possibly be more advanced?”

“Electricity.” Jack joined in, “We use Electricity to power things. Almost everything in our world is powered by it.”

“Your kind seem intelligent, so I hope they have a good taste in fashion.” Rarity swiftly changed the subject

“Well, there are lots of different fashions in our world. Actually, if we were all humans and were in my world now, you would be breaking a pretty important taboo.” Callum said.

The ponies looked themselves over and turned towards Twilight for an expectant reply. “…I’m guessing clothes are important in your world?”

“Majorly.”

“Next stop: Canterlot Station.” The announcer… announced.

The stallions were ordered to stand by a still very annoyed pegasus while one of them was lifted from the ground and carried on Applejack’s back due to being restrained. The group stepped off of the train and walked towards Canterlot Castle in silence… well, it would have been silence if Pinkie Pie hadn’t come with them.

“Is there cake in your world? Or cookies? Or marshmallows? Is there even sugar? Or do you just eat healthy green stuff like cabbage and leaves and grass?”

“Yes, Pinkie, we have sugar. W-”

“What about cider? Do you even have apples? Or Oranges? Or Cherries?”

“Pinkie, our world ha-”

“What about Pancakes? Oh, and fruit salad! You gotta have fruit salad! How can you not possibly not go through life without trying fruit salad? It’s so nice, I mean…”

The stallions decided that it was best to tune out of Pinkie’s barrage of questions and focus on their surroundings. The buildings were taller and cleaner than Ponyville’s buildings, the streets were a lot smoother than Ponyville’s dirt and cobblestone roads and the locals all seemed to be wearing something.

Evan noticed that most of the ponies walked with their head tipped back and minding their own business, which annoyed him, seeing how he was bound, gagged and being kidnapped by the Element of Honesty.

Canterlot Castle was one of the most threatening buildings Rhys had ever seen. It was easily 40 times bigger than any of the buildings surrounding it, it was definitely more jewel-encrusted and many guards were patrolling the outer parts of the castle. Even Jack and Callum, who had seen it on before many times, felt intimidated seeing it up close.

The guards watching over the main entrance identified the six mares and retracted their polearms, forcing the doors open with a blue and green glow. The group trotted up the steps and opened the throne room doors. The stallions prepared themselves for the worst.

There, sat on her throne, was the white alicorn ruler of Equestria. Her eyes glimmered with a mix of interest and concern. She wondered if the so-called aliens were adverse in any way and, from the looks of it, three out of four of them weren’t. The Elements bowed in respect, shortly followed by Jack and Callum who bowed in fear of disrespecting their new leader. The only pony who didn’t bow was Rhys who was too busy examining the stained glass pieces in the windows.

His eyes fell on a piece presenting six ponies using some kind of head lasers to trap a black alicorn in a circle. Upon closer inspection, he recognised the six ponies as the mares who had brought him here. So… these things killed something over double their size using head cannons? Shit, I wanna do something like-

“Rhys!”

“What!?” He spun around to face the voice that called him, but instead faced a concentrating Celestia. Her glowing horn seized Rhys’ body for a few moments, then released him.

“My apologies.” Celestia spoke with a calmed voice, “I was simply scanning your body for any trace of harmful substances.”

“Okay? Why are we here, exactly?” Rhys asked, oblivious of the fact that the pony he was demanding answers off of once sent her own sister to the moon for a millennium.

“My subjects here have told me that you are from a different world.” Celestia spoke with slight uncertainty. “If this is true, than there is a way for me to send you home-”

“YES!” Evan bellowed. “Please, send me home! I can’t handle these annoying, disgusting creatures anymore! Just get me the fuck out of here!”

“Creatures? But we were partying earlier!” Pinkie narrowed her eyes furiously, “Were you fake partying?”

“Calm down, Pinkie.” Twilight spoke in a calmed tone, “The Princess was just about to explain how she intends on sending these stallions home.”

“Already!?” Callum shouted a little louder than he intended to, “…Uh, your Majesty.”

“Can’t we stay a bit longer?” Jack pleaded, “We won’t cause any trouble.”

Rainbow shot daggers at Rhys, “Yea, you won’t cause any fires either.” Rhys returned the gaze with one of his own.

Celestia suddenly felt something soft touch her hooves. She looked at the ground to see a wide-eyed, pleading white unicorn. “Please Celestia, You can’t send us back yet! You could keep us under twenty-four hour supervision for all I care, I just don’t wanna go back!”

“I do!” Evan rolled off of Applejack’s back, landing on the marble flooring with a thud. “Send me home!”

Rhys and Jack looked at Evan‘s desperate state, then at each other with knowing eyes. Even without speaking, they both knew they had the same idea. “Uh, Princess Celestia?”

“Yes?”

“I think it would be best if Evan stayed with us.” Jack grew a mischievous smile, “He could learn a thing or two.”

“And it would be quite dangerous to send him home all on his own.” Rhys added.

Celestia considered what to do with the stallions. They could potentially cause a million bits worth of damage to Canterlot alone, but then again, it’s only four stallions. How bad could it be?

“Alright, I’ll let you stay in Equestria, under the condition that you must be supervised at all times.” Celestia nodded to the elements, who nodded back in response.

Jack and Callum bumped hooves just before Evan dropped to his knees and shouted “NOOOOOOOOOOooooooo…!” He inhaled and repeated, but by the time he had done this, the room was empty. Even the Princess had gone to resume her duties elsewhere. His ears and face dropped. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all.

Meanwhile, Callum’s "sly" attempt to exit the castle failed due a suspicious purple unicorn. “Where do you think you’re going?” Twilight examined the stallion’s face. It was strange; he appeared to be wearing a sad smile.

“I just wanted to go to the Canterlot Gardens.” Callum almost shouted, but he returned to a normal volume, “There’s someone I wanna see.”

Twilight tilted her head slightly. “Who?”

“Somebody I’ve always wanted to meet…”

Jack fell to the marble floor for what seemed to be the hundredth time that afternoon. Rainbow dash floated down to him and gave him a disappointed, angry face. “C’mon, this is the easy part!” Rainbow Dash knew that she was going to have to keep an eye on this pegasus, so she considered teaching him how to fly so that she wasn’t always so close to the ground. And any excuse to have another flying buddy was a good excuse.

“How the hell do you keep balanced in mid-air? It doesn’t make sense!” Jack was getting angry, but not as angry as Rainbow.

“I’ve seen foals learn to fly faster than you! You’re pathetic!” Rainbow was beginning to re-think this new flying buddy thing. She knew Scootaloo had trouble becoming airborne but this was a full grown stallion for ponies sake!

Jack had had enough of this. She had been yelling like this ever since he first fell. “You know what? Screw this!” Jack yelled as he bolted down the corridor. Rainbow took this as a challenge; She wasn’t going to let him out of her sight.

“Get back here!” Rainbow leaped, spreading her wings and flapping with all her power. Jack took one look behind him to see the speed-demon rapidly closing the distance between them. He had to think of something. Fast.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t very good at thinking fast, so instead opted to just roll sideways into a wall. Rainbow instinctively dove to the right, unaware that small stand Jack had rolled behind held a very distinctive, fragile vase. By the time Rainbow knew what had happened , she had already used her face to destroy the decorative piece of pottery.

Jack looked up from his awful hiding spot to find a barely conscious Rainbow Dash. Jack wanted to make sure she was still alive by prodding her side, but only got a subtle groan. He heard clinking hoof steps accompanied by concerned deep voices and decided it was the best time to test how fast he can run away from guards.

Rhys was walking down the glimmering streets of Canterlot alongside Fluttershy and Rarity, taking note of the fine architecture, the beautiful weather created by the weather pegasi and the stunning array of finely dressed unicorns strolling down the clean, shimmering roads of the city.

“Well, I’m bored.” Rhys said deadpan. “Is their any sort of restaurant around here? I’m so hungry I could eat a-” Rhys held back on finishing that sentence.

“Well, we could go to the Gladiator. It’s only around the block.” Fluttershy suggested.

“Yes, we can accompany you with our world further over a salad.” Rarity turned from Rhys to Fluttershy “Although I don’t think I’ll be eating food from the Gladiator. I hear their food contains large quantities of fat. I will, however, be having a few glasses of red sparkling wine.” Rarity smiled at the thought of having the carnation red liquid fill her taste buds.

“Wait.” Rhys stopped dead in his tracks and stared. “You have alcohol in this world?”

“Why, of course we do! I’m assuming that your world has it too?” Rarity didn’t get a spoken response. Instead she got a small grin.

Rhys was starting to like this world.