//-------------------------------------------------------// My Equestrian Travels -by Applejacks935- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// 1. The Arrival //-------------------------------------------------------// 1. The Arrival My Equestrian Travels WARNING: Contains strong language Chapter one | The Arrival I’ll start by telling you that I am a brony. You’ll need to know that because this story kind of revolves around that idea of being a pony fan. However it all really started on Earth. My girlfriend Samantha came through the doors into the atrium. We both smiled as we saw each other and as usual I was waiting for her as she came late out of art class. We greeted each other and began to shoot the breeze. “What did you think of my new profile picture?” I asked sniggering. My new profile picture on Facebook was a customised pony. It generally represented me. It was sky blue with a green mane. It wasn’t a Pegasus, or a Unicorn, just a simple pony. My cutie mark was a book and quill as I loved creative writing because it was a great way to express myself. “It’s stupid, I can’t believe you watch ‘My Little Pony’, it’s so pathetic” she jeered as I just laughed and interrupted her. “It’s cool, I don’t know why but it just is” I said smiling simply at her. She replied with a smile and a sigh. We finished break just before the bell rang so I checked my iPod for the next lesson. It was German I enjoyed German but with our typically hyper friend Anna sitting behind us, it just wasn’t as fun. I ran upstairs to my locker and turned the key. As I swung it open I pulled my German books out and began to rush down the corridor to the German room after slamming the door shut. I just made it in before the bell with a spot of luck. German class flew by as I spotted a place on the school field outside which looked like a great place to sit down and just gaze out into the sky. I loved to just stare at clouds and pretended I was just flying through them. And I’ll be honest; I am one of those (possibly rare) people whose lives are controlled by dreams. I dreamt my life away at times, wishing I could just find that perfect life but unfortunately, nobody understood me. The bell for lunch went quickly after maths as I was itching to rush outside. I ran to my locker, chucked my books inside, slammed the door and ran outside to that one spot under a tree with plenty of shade. When I got there, I was out of breath. It was on the other side of our huge field! I sat down while I put my bag beside me. I just looked up at the sky and let my mind wander. I always wondered what being a pony was like. I always thought how strange it would be in Equestria with Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, all of them. I just put my headphones on and leaned back. Selecting a song was simple. Sky Trees by Solar Fields. I tapped the album and then the song. I tapped the repeat button as I wanted this song to play forever in my head. I gazed into the clouds and just laid there day-dreaming. I let my eyelids fold over my eyes and just slip into darkness. The cool breeze on my face just flowed perfectly past as I felt completely tranquil. Soon the wind died down to nothing. I waited for the breeze to return but nothing happened. Suddenly my music faded to nothing but I just left it. After a while I opened my eyes to see the clouds and leaves. No laughing or the sound of a football game between year 7’s. I looked down and to my surprise, the school was gone! It had been replaced with a woods. I looked around but nothing and nobody could be seen. “Hello?” I said nervously but no answer came. I became scared of the silence that surrounded me. “Hello?!” I shouted but once again no answer was returned. Something was very wrong and it was becoming obvious. My headphones and iPod had disappeared along with my bag. I got up and immediately fell to the ground with a thud. How odd, I could barely stand up. I know I was tired but this was strange. As I looked around, everything was like a cartoon. Perfectly coloured and all things perfectly shaped as I brought my hands forward to push myself off the ground…but wait. My hands were all stiff and felt like clenched fists. I tried to flex my fingers but I couldn’t. I looked down curiously and cried out in shock, for my hands were now sky-blue coloured hooves. “Holy shit!” I cried as I jumped up and fell backwards hitting my head against a tree. My vision went black as I felt the pain in my head. I felt like I was regaining consciousness as I heard a voice. It was a southern-American voice. “Hey! You okay?” I heard as the muffled voice became clearer. “Can yeh hear me?” The voice said. It was Female, youngish and in distress. I attempted to open my eyes but the sun was too bright. “Ahh damn it!” I shouted as I speedily shut them again. I caught a glimpse of orange and yellow. “Oh thank Celestia you’re all right! I thought you were dead or somthin’ just now” said the voice in relief. A second attempt to open my eyes and the sun wasn’t as bright as before and so I slowly opened my eyes to see an orange horse staring back at me with big green eyes. It looked a lot like Applejack…wait, it was Applejack! The voice, the yellow mane. This cartoon pony set me in a state of shock at first. “What the-?! Where am I?! What the hell is going on?! I cried as I tried to pull myself  away from this sight. I now realised that my hands were still hooves. I lifted them and looked at them in horror. “My hands! They’re…gone! What is going on?!” I shouted as I stared at the now frightened pony before me. “Chill! I just wanna know who y’are!” She said stressfully. As I gazed around in shock as I saw that this pony was indeed Applejack. I looked down at my sky blue body and then up at my deep green mane. My cutie mark was there. The book and quill was stuck like a tattoo on my flank. It was like I had designed a pony of myself on the computer but now I was living as that pony. “Who I am? Me? I’m Elliott, and you’re Applejack right?” I asked unsure of what she was thinking. She looked at me strangely and confused. “Elliott? That’s one strange name. Anyhoof, how’s you know mah name? I haven’t seen you around ponyville before” she said. I confirmed that I was in Equetria, it was becoming rather obvious now.  This was actually rather scary at first. All my school uniform had just vanished. I stared at my new body. “This must be a dream, it has to be! I must have fallen asleep under that tree” I said to myself as Applejack gave me yet another weird look. “A dream? This wasn’t no dream the last time ah checked” she said confused as ever now. “I’m terribly sorry; this is really weird for me. You see, I’m not from around here” I said hoping she would understand. She didn’t. “Where you from then?” she asked with a more serious look on her face. “I’m from Earth. Ever heard of Earth before?” I asked. That was a stupid question; however I waited for her reaction. She stared at me blankly and then she looked puzzled. “Earth? I don’t remember hearing that name from anywhere before” she said as I cut in. “Like I said, I’m not from around here. I don’t know how I got here although for some reason, I’m a pony now” I said as I tried to stand on all fours. I managed to do so and to my surprice, it wasn’t that uncomfortable. “I don’t understand, when you say you’re a pony now, that means you were somethin’ else before, right?” she said working it out in her head. “Yeah” I said hesitating. I was a bit worried about where this conversation was going. “So what were you before?” she asked sounding rather desperate for an answer. “I don’t expect you to understand but I used to be a human” I said nervously. She began to look deep in thought. “A human? I ain’t ever heard of humans before. Maybe Twilight will know somethin’ ‘bout humans” she beamed as she told me to follow her. “Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?” I asked in excitement. Applejack turned to me suspiciously. “How’d you know mah name and how’d you know her’s too?” she asked as she began to look a bit confused. I backed off a bit wishing I’d never said her name. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain on the way to Twilight’s house” I said trying not to act like I did something wrong. //-------------------------------------------------------// 2. New Friends //-------------------------------------------------------// 2. New Friends Chapter 2. New Friends As we walked through the apple farm, Applejack and I discussed my story. “So you were sitting under a tree at school and suddenly you appear in mah orchard?” she asked curiously. “And back in your world, we’re on a kids TV show which other humans watch. Then you draw pictures and write stories about us? Who the hoof came up with that idea?” she asked laughing. She and everyone…no, everypony were famous back on Earth and she just laughed at the thought. “Yep, that pretty much sums up a ‘brony’” I said chuckling. I was still confused about how I somehow turned into a pony but I guess I would find out more when I got to Twilight’s library. As we finally got onto the streets of Ponyville, I realized how different it was from anything I’d seen before. Everypony was kind to each other and going about their day. Not a single cigarette on the ground. No chewing gum to be seen. I could actually say this place was perfect. As I followed Applejack through the streets, I found myself at the front door of Twilight’s library. Applejack knocked on the door with her hoof and Twilight opened the door. Twilight smiled at Applejack and then she turned to me and smiled again. “Hey AJ, what’s up? I see there’s a new pony in town” she said as I came around next to Applejack. Twilight held out one of her hooves out to me as if she wanted me to shake it like a greeting. I looked at it confused and then I brohoofed her casually. She smiled. “So who are you?” she asked being quite chilled out. “That’s what I’m here for Twi. This here colt claims to have been a ‘Human’ from ‘Earth’” Applejack said and not long after that, Twilight turned back to see me. She stared at me confusingly for a moment and then invited us in. We sat down on some sofas as Twilight came in and sat down too. “A ‘Human’, eh? I did study mythical creatures with Princess Celestia once, and if you’re telling the truth then we must let her know right away!” Twilight said with a hint of excitement. “I’m sure you mean well Twilight, and although I’m a sample of alien life, I’d rather keep this quiet if you don’t mind” I said nervously as they both turned to look at me. “But why? This is important” and could mark a point in history!” she said disappointed. “I never got your name” she said as she began smiling. It was like she’d completely forgot about the whole ‘mark a point in history’ thing. “Elliott” I said as she switched her smile for a confused look. “Strange name, have you got a cutie mark?” she asked as she peered round to see my flank. She saw my book and quill and beamed. “You’re a writer? That’s pretty cool!” she said excited. “Well…um…yeah” I hesitated as I tried to think of what to say. “Well Twi, if Elliott here don’t want anypony knowin’ he’s an alien then that’s the way its gunna be” Applejack said firmly. Twilight sighed. She got up and went to the fridge. She opened it with her magic and took out three bottles of apple cider. She came back and sat down as she opened the bottles. “Well, okay fine, but you’ve got to promise me something then AJ” Twilight said on a serious note. She too had now become firm. “If you don’t tell anypony about his human life then neither will I. Elliott, I will provide you with a bed tonight seeing as you don’t have your own” she said now smiling at me again. As the both picked up their drink in one way or another and enjoyed them, I was having problems trying to grab my bottle with my hoof. Twilight was using her magic to levitate the bottle whereas Applejack was staring at me. “What in tarnation are you tryin’ to do?” asked Applejack, sniggering. I was trying to grab the bottle with my hoof but all I was doing was pushing the bottle around on the table. “Like this” Applejack said as I watched her like a student. She took the bottle in her mouth and leaned her head back, drinking the cider as it left the container. I copied and drank the fast-flowing cider. It was hard to keep swallowing and the cider was building up in my mouth so I lowered my head and placed the bottle back on the table. The cider tasted rather like the apple juice I’d tasted back home. I didn’t taste any alcohol but it had that fizz to it. We began to talk about how I got here and what a ‘brony’ was, which made Twilight laugh. Did all ponies think it was funny? As we all finished our drinks, Twilight spoke up. “So Elliott, what would you like to do? It seems that you know a fair bit about Ponyville already” she said encouraging me to give some ideas. “I’d love to meet Rarity” I said as I thought of what she might be like if I got to meet her face to face. I imagined she’d be quite happy to meet me. A new pony in town could only mean one thing here. A new friend, right? “Sure. Spike! I’m going out!” she called up the stairs. I heard Spike reply with an ‘Okay, see you later!’ from upstairs. As we left the library, I got the fresh air in my face and through my mane. Applejack had said farewell and went back to her farm. I had the urge to take some picture on my iPod but I remembered that I lost my iPod back in my world. As we began walking through pony I stopped for a moment and thought about what had happened to my world. Was this really just a dream that was very hard to wake up from? Had I simply vanished? Would people know I’m gone and would they miss me? A tear formed at my eye and ran down my muzzle. Twilight stopped and turned to see me standing there, staring at the floor. “Hey, what’s up?” she said as she walked back towards me. I brushed the tear away with my hoof. “My world is gone. I might never see it again” I said as I thought of the school field where I last was. “Hey, trust me Elliott, you may not know how you got here and you will miss your family but this change might be for the better” she said trying to be optimistic. Okay, maybe that's not the kind of thing Twilight would say but for all she knows I could have had a really shitty life! “But I may never see my family again!” I cried as Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder. “I felt the same way when I left Canterlot but you will get used to it” she said smiling hopefully. “But my family are in a different universe and I don’t know how to get back” I said as another tear formed and fell. I walked off and Twilight’s hoof that was on my shoulder had slid off. She galloped up next to me. “Maybe meeting Rarity will take your mind off things” she said as I looked up and smiled at her thankfully. As we arrived at the building which looked like the carrousel boutique, we both walked in and a bell chimed. As the door swung closed again, I saw the white pony with her long purple mane which flew round and she turned to greet us. “Oh hello Twilight, dear!” Rarity shouted from across the room. She was tending to some models she was designing clothes on. As she came over to greet us she saw me standing next to Twilight. “Hello, who are you?” she asked as I felt nervous trying to think up a pony name. She was now whispering and smiling jokingly. “Are you her special somepony?” she asked giggling. It was a very light giggle; it was actually kind of cute. I shook my head to her question and Twilight laughed. “No he’s just a new comer, I’m showing him around town” Twilight said and I sighed in relief. “Did you make all of these dresses?” I asked. I knew the answer but I just wanted to change the subject. “Yes darling, do you like them?” she said putting on a bit of a fancy voice as she admired them from afar. “I love them. You have great taste in colour contrast” I complimented while trying to sound intelligent. I did mean it though. I did like them, I wasn’t one to lie. “Why thank you dear, can I help either of you?” she asked in her posh English accent. “No thank you Rarity, just showing the new-comer around town” “Where have you come from?” Rarity asked intruiged. Nervously I tried to make up a name from somewhere in Holland. “Trotterdam” I said hoping that was a real place. By the way, I didn’t come up with that name. Trotterdam was originally thought up by a friend of mine. I take no credit. “In that case it wouldn’t surprice me that you have taste in colour like I do” Rarity said complimenting me as Twilight winked and mouthed the words ‘nice one’. “I’ve heard they do like their colours there” Rarity said smiling at me. By the way, in real life Rotterdam which is the real place is like 2 hours’ drive from my house. “Sorry to be rude and all but I’ve got orders to get delivered” she said as she turfed us out. When we got outside, it was late afternoon. I guess time flies when you’re having the time of your life meeting colourful talking ponies. “What would you like to do next?” Twilight asked me. To be honest I had no idea. “I don’t really know, what do you want to do?” I asked to see what she wanted to do for a change. She looked deep in thought. “How about we go back to the library and research some stuff about humans?” she asked. I nodded in agreement. We headed down the street that we had come from and arrived back at the library once again. We walked in on Spike who was reading some book. “Hey Twi, who’s that?” asked Spike as he saw me. Spike was taller than he looked on the show but it was still amazing to meet him. “Oh he’s just a new pony in town. He arrived here today so I said he could stay the night here” Twilight said as Spike looked back at me from Twilight. Spike jumped of the sofa and he showed me to a nicely arranged spare room on the second floor. As we entered the room I saw how the cartoon like world made the room look so colourful. It was a large room with a double bed so I was pretty happy to have that all to myself. Don’t get me started on how many bookshelves there were! Twilight had now entered the room and Spike had gone back downstairs to read whatever book he was reading when we came in. “I have just found a book that might help us!” she beamed. We galloped into her room where she pulled a book off the shelf. It wasn’t a thick, dusty old book like you might expect. It was actually quite clean for starters. I had guessed it was around 200 pages by looking at the thickness. Turns out it was about 140. Whatever, it was a good enough guess! “Let’s have a look” I said anxiously. Twilight flicked through the pages with her magic. We only found page after page of writing. We looked at the contents page although nothing was particularly helpful. All we found was myths and legends, etc. By the time we were done searching for to bed after a small snack of cookies and milk which was very fresh. Boy oh boy were those cookies tasty! I laid in bed, trying different positions of sleeping and after ages of tossing and turning. I fianally managed to drift off into a deep sleep. I had no dreams that night. I woke up once during the night expecting this whole thing to have been a dream, however I still woke up in the spare room of Twilight’s library, but I soon fell back to sleep. I was awoken the next morning by a faint thumping beat from across the street. As I looked around I sighed while remembering all that had happened the day before. As the thumping beat grew louder, I began to gaze around the room trying to guess where it was coming from. I trotted over to the window and pushed it open with my hoof as a wave of heavy bass seemed to blow me away. My eardrums almost exploded! I ran for the bed and covered my head in the sheets and pillows which only slightly muffled the blaring sound. My ears soon adapted and I slowly took the duvet away. I walked over to the window and peered out to the window across the street as a white unicorn with neon blue hair and magenta eyes opened the window. “Good morning Ponyville!” the unicorn shouted as I then realised who it was. It was Vinyl Scratch, my favourite pony in all of Equestria. I loved her music, style and especially her hair. She stood at the window nodding her head to the beat. I made it priority that I’d visit her next. I went downstairs to see if anypony was awake. Spike was making some breakfast. “Toast and Jam for breakfast” Spike said as I came to the table and sat down. Spike served me a plate with some jam covered toast on it. I slid it onto one of my hooves with one of my other hoof and I began to eat it off my hood carefully. Twilight came down the stairs and trotted over to the table. “Morning Spike, what’s for breakfast?” Twilight asked as she sat down and asked me how my morning was. Spike handed Twilight some toast and jam on a plate and she lifted it with her magic. She began to eat. “It went quite well, except that I was woken up by Vinyl Scratch this morning” I said in an irritated tone while the thumping bass continued in the background. Twilight smiled. “It’s Saturday, Vinyl does that every weekend” Twilight said looking as the clock. “It’s 10am now, any plans for today?” Twilight asked smiling. I looked thoughtful for a moment. “I plan to stay away from Pinkie Pie, I head she throws parties all the time!” I said throwing my hooves in the air as if to gesture a load of rising balloons. “Other than that I’d like to meet Vinyl and Octavia” I said as I thought of Vinyl. She’d be so amazing to talk to. I reduced myself to a whisper so Spike wouldn’t hear me. “I also want to get myself a name” I added as Twilight nodded. I pictured reaction to me not having a name. I laughed at that thought. After breakfast I walked to the door and waved good bye to Twilight. “I’ll see you later Twi, I’m off to see Vinyl and Octavia” I said as I opened the door. I was shocked when I turned to see Pinkie Pie standing right in front of me. She looked happily at me. “So it’s true, there is a new pony in town!” she shouted gasping and jumping up and down on the spot. She pushed me aside and bounced inside. Oh great! Now Pinkie had found out that I was here. I wasn’t sure how at first but then I remembered that Applejack or Rarity might have told her. “Pinkie, he doesn’t need a party” Twilight said in a tired voice. She was right, I didn’t need a party but it looked like I was going to get one anyway. “Hey Pinkie Pie. I love the fact that you want to celebrate but I really don’t think that-“ I started but I never finished. Pinkie cut in. “I know right I don’t think we’ll need cakes for everypony. People will be drinking! I mean who can beat cider?” Pinkie said at amazing speeds. “I’ll tell everypony in Ponyville!” she beamed as she trotted off leaving me open-mouthed. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, let’s get this over with” Twilight said as she walked over to me. “One small problem Twi, I still haven’t got a name” I said nervously. She perked up. “You’re right. We must get you a name as soon as possible” she declared and walked upstairs. I followed her into the main library room and she looked up at the large shelves of books and picked one out. “Filly names” she read the title aloud and she skimmed through the pages with her horn glowing all the while. “You’re a writer so…how about Ink Passion?” she looked up and I shook my head. By the way, just as a heads up, I didn’t think of any of these names. These were both taken from Yahoo answers. Please don’t give me any hate for that! “Silver Quill?” She asked looking up at me again from the book. I thought for a moment. Despite me being blue, it sounded pretty good. I nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a good name” I said and Twilight smiled. “It’s settled then” she said while I smiled in delight. “So Silver Quill, shall we go out and visit for a bit and visit Vinyl and Octavia?” she questioned and I rapidly nodded in excitement. We left the house and walked across the street. We arrived at the house and knocked on the door. The thumping beat had stopped while we were in the library so we didn’t have any worries about opening their door to even louder music. We waited momentarily and Octavia answered the door. She was a grey pony with a long black mane. She greeted us with a smile and a yawn. She then turned to me. “Good morning. I don’t believe I’ve seen you around Ponyville before. I mean I don’t go out much apart from shopping, playing a show or eating out but I take it that you’re new here” she yawned again and smiled. We walked inside and I decided to introduce myself with my new name which I now had. “Yes I’m new here. Silver Quill” I said as I stuck out a hoof as a greeting. She shook it. I was half expecting a brohoof; however it was clear that she wasn’t that sort of pony. We sat down on some sofas and chatted. “So, I hear you play the Cello” I said smiling. She nodded and lectured us about her career. It wasn’t a particularly interesting speech. It was actually quite boring but Twilight and I were kind enough to sit and listen. “So do you play an instrument?” she asked. I explained how I used to play the piano. All true by the way. I did once play the piano for a year and a half. It was very quiet. I was beginning to wonder where Vinyl was. “Is Vinyl Scratch home? She woke me up with her music this morning” I sad and Octavia shook her head. “No, she’s out at the music store at the moment. I’m so sorry that she woke you up. That pony makes too much noise!” Octavia laughed and I cocked my head to one side. “Noise? That is good music, never mind the volume. I quite like my fair share of wubs throughout the day” I said proudly. Octavia didn’t really approve, I could see it on her face. “It was great meeting you, but I should be on my way” I said standing on all fours again. She walked with us to the door and we left. I looked around at the streets and saw that most ponies were now out and about. Now where else should I go? “Do you wanna head back to the library?” Twilight asked and I nodded. I actually had no idea what I wanted to do. The one time you get to travel to Equestria and I don’t know what I should do! When we got in, we saw that Spike was reading a ‘Daring Do’ comic. I had never read them however they weren’t really my sort of thing. I sat down with Twilight and we had another bottle of cider and waited for the time to head out to the party.