Pete Powell in Equestria

Sleep did not come easily that night thanks to Pete's typical nocturnal sleeping pattern. He wasn't a stranger to being up late nights, or all night, and then sleeping through the day. Most nights he didn't have to be on a train at eight in the morning though. Usually he would have nothing to do during the day, even in Equestria. So the night was spent experimenting more with his sword, testing new shapes and seeing if that would wear him out. It didn't and eventually he changed activities. After meditating, an on and off habit he picked up in college, and practicing some small spells, he tried sleeping.

It was well past midnight but he spent hours tossing and turning hoping for even a nap. He wasn't sure when but he did manage to drift off at least for a while. Sweat was pouring off of him as he woke, and he had a desperate feeling that he needed to remember something. A dream, surely, but why would a dream be something he needed to remember? Images were all he could recall and those faded within seconds. Swirling down a drain into his subconscious. Exasperated, he went to the baths located near his room and soaked. Whatever he was supposed to remember was gone from his mind now and he simply desired to forget that he should remember anything at all.

The baths of Canterlot were a sight to behold, at least in Pete's opinion. They reminded him of Roman bathhouses, large rooms with the baths set into the polished white tile floor. Mirrors lined one wall with several showers adjacent to them. Along the side of the bath sat several soaps and shampoos, most of which smelled like fruits and flowers. The human was worried the first time he used them, concerned that smelling like traditional pony food would bring unwanted attention. He then shelved those thoughts because people consumed just as much fruit and no human had ever tried to bite someone because they smelled like soap. At least not to his knowledge. Beyond one edge of the bath there were several windows which let in light during the day and gave a pleasant view at night. From the bath Pete could see it wasn't quite morning yet, so he had time to relax and forget his restless sleep.

One concern he had upon discovering the bath was the frequency it was drained at. A problem he knew human bathhouses had. When the water was changed he didn't know, but he had noticed it changed often. Perhaps even daily given the lack of grime and the clarity of the water. Bathrooms were important to Pete. He felt there was something sacred about them. A place where someone should be able to relax entirely based on the privacy they demanded for “business” to be done. Canterlot's bathrooms took his standards to a new level. The human wasn't sure he could ever go back to small cramped tubs and simple rooms after experiencing the royal baths.

Of course he couldn't say for sure these were the royal baths. Celestia and Luna likely had their own bathrooms. There had been a second door in Celestia's room that was shut when he visited her with Luna. If they did have their own he didn't know where Luna's would be though. Perhaps she had a hidden one, or maybe she even used the same one he did.

Awkwardly, Pete pulled himself out of the bath and dried off. His thought about Luna bathing in the same room had made him uncomfortable as he remembered her talk about the barracks the night before. She knew everything that went on in there, what wouldn't she know about her own bathroom? Returning to his own room Pete made a silent vow to ask the princess if she deigned to use the same baths as everypony else, or if she had her own private room. Phrasing it as a matter of security he hoped would take the strangeness of the question away. Knowing the castle better would be useful in his position as captain after all. It only made sense he would inquire about locations the princesses could be found in if something were to happen. Not only did it make sense, he also felt like it was his duty to be ready in case of an emergency. Sometime in his months of training he had grown to care about the world he was in. He had only opposed being there on moral principal after all. Once he learned the magic he wielded meant the princesses had to keep him close by there was almost a relief.

“You wanted this all along after all.” Pete sighed and watched the sky lighten from his window, the color of the city being painted by the light of the sun. “I'm a lucky bastard.”

Traveling to the train station wouldn't take long, so Pete stopped by the kitchens for a light breakfast. He'd found himself eating even less now that he was frequently active, something he would never have imagined feeling a decade ago. A simple sandwich, the request irritating the highly trained chef, was all he needed before setting out.

Meandering to his objective, the front gate of the castle, Pete thought how strange it was that the castle never seemed to have the kind of esteemed guests he assumed it would. Dignitaries were all that ever seemed to arrive, diplomats from various corners of the globe to speak with the princesses about one matter or another. Most of the castle was empty year round. He hadn't even seen the distant relative Blueblood. It felt like there should have been other guests at least some of the time. The halls were silent except for the sound of patrolling guards marching on thick rug that ran down the center of each passage. Red and gold was the theme of the most of the castle, until you entered Luna's room where the color scheme suddenly shifted to dark blues, blacks, and silver. Not even her wing was decorated in the colors, just her personal chamber.

Somehow it felt fitting though, following the red carpet embroidered with gold outside, the sight of the city below him and the sun slowly trekking in the East. The scene felt set by the colors and time of day.

Down the steps and almost straight forward was the train station and Pete's journey there was once again met with strange stares. The same ponies that waved the last time he passed through town waved again, and those that didn't almost inevitably stopped and stared. He was getting used to it. Humans looked monstrous to ponies after all. Tall, mostly hairless, simple colors, and anatomy that didn't make sense to the ponies that were used to seeing four legged creatures like themselves. Perhaps Celestia was right about getting good press for humans. At least it would ease his own dealings with the ponies in Canterlot.

The train arrived promptly on time, something most human transportation failed to do, and Pete had arrived early. He wasn't happy about spending another half hour or so sitting, but such was the nature of traveling. Sitting beat walking for half a day down a mountain.

Inside the train looked almost like any other Pete had seen in movies and television. There were cars with separated compartments, a dining car, and what he assumed were coach class seats without rooms. Simple wooden benches, essentially, with cushions on the bottom. He had been led to a compartment car, a perk of being a guard or a captain he wasn't sure, which was much more furnished than the unseparated benches. The upholstery was soft, and the padding inside matched. It was almost like a bed. Laying down crossed Pete's mind, but the compartment was too small for that. Ponies could surely lay and nap, perhaps even a griffon, but there was no way he could comfortably angle himself to drift off. Instead, he leaned against the window and stared out at the passing scenery.

Most of Equestria was empty. Large swaths of land were unused despite the presence of cities in some parts of the nation. Pete wasn't sure if the existence of such cities then were acts of hubris or deliberate space conservation. Taller buildings housing more ponies per square foot instead of making large single family or herd homes specifically to preserve the wilds that existed made a certain sense, but then places like Ponyville being a village made up of houses like that seemed strange. Sure, there had been towns in America, but Ponyville felt and looked more isolated than most of the towns Pete had seen. It had a single main road that stopped being paved less than a mile out of town, and the nearest settlement was Canterlot. Pete made another mental note to inquire about the defenses of the smaller towns in Equestria. Many humans had questioned what, if any, they had and he was in a rare position to be given that information freely after all.

Forty five minutes had passed since the train had left Canterlot, but Pete's cramped legs would have said hours. He had arrived at last at his destination however, and felt it best to stretch out off the train. Autumn was coming soon and the early morning air reflected that perfectly. Not that it bothered the human, he liked the cold, and his Equestrian sewn clothes were fairly well insulated. A small breeze left goosebumps on his arms, but the rest of him barely felt it. The cold weather did mean something more though.

Stepping away from the train station and out into the village, Pete saw Applejack and Xander setting up a market stall, surrounded by boxes of apples. Harvest time had come and gone and now was the time to sell produce. Smiling, he walked up and waved to the large man arranging crates. Xander stood up and waved back, attracting the attention of his four legged host.

“Well howdy there, Pete. Its been quite a while since we've seen you in town,” the farm pony said with a smile. A smile that caught Pete off balance. Applejack had never been his biggest fan.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied, stepping over to the stall and gently leaning on it, “Last time I was here I was scrawny and half dead twice.”

“Wouldn't being twice half dead make you just dead?” Xander raised an eyebrow towards Pete.

“Uhh, yeah, I guess? I mean, I came out of a coma, so I was half dead, then I came here and almost died again.” It was like recalling events from a past life already. Training and guard work had changed Pete in more ways than he realized.

“Well, ya did a lot of good out there, Pete.” Applejack smiled again, “And I hear you're part of the guard now.”

“Night Guard, and also pulling double duty as the official ambassador of the humans.”

AJ's smile faded and she looked away for a moment. “Listen, I know we haven't exactly seen eye to eye in the past, and I know I said things were okay when we left your place back in the human world,” she turned back to him with a half smile this time, “but I do find it hard to dislike you now that you're part of the guard. Call it nationalism or whatever fancy term you want, but you settled into a respectful position and we haven't heard any scandalous news or nothing so I think you must be doing a pretty good job.”

Pete rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Well thanks, Applejack. I didn't exactly plan on things working out like this, but yeah I'm doing my best. It's the least I can do with all the trust the Princesses have shown me.”

Xander nodded next to Pete, “From what Applejack has told me about you, it sounds like you've changed a great deal.”

A blush rose up on Pete's face. “From what she's told you, huh? Oh geez. I didn't expect that.”

The larger human put his hand on Pete's shoulder. “Don't worry. Most of it was positive.”

“Except for the part about you being a creepy shut in mizandrope.”

“Misanthrope,” Xander corrected, “a human that hates humans and society in general.”

“It's weird that y'all have a name for that kind of behavior.”

“I bet you have one for it too,” Pete suggested. “Just because you haven't heard it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.”

Applejack waved her hoof, “That's Twilight's business. I ain't got time for making sure things have names in a dictionary. I have to sell apples.”

Pete chuckled, “Speaking of selling apples, how is that going?”

“We sold most of them the other day,” Xander replied, pointing to the remaining bushels next to the stand. “That is all we have left.”

“Yep! Xander here was a good help selling 'em too. More ponies probably bought apples just trying to get an up close look at him than they did cause they want apples.” AJ smiled at that for a moment and then winced. “That's a little sad actually.”

Pete reached into his pocket and pulled out a pouch tied with string. The farmpony blinked and tilted her head, fully aware of what was in the pouch but confused as to why the man had pulled it out.

“Well, I'm not interested in just looking at humans, I can do that every day. What I haven't done though is tried one of the Apple family's apples. You know I like apples, and you talk a pretty big game about their quality, Applejack. So come on, gimme your best apple.”

“All right,” she said after a moment, grinning at the challenge, “You're on.” AJ browsed the remaining apples and sat a ripe red delicious down on the stall. “Two bits.”

Pete removed two coins from the pouch and placed them next to the apple, then picked up the fruit and took a bite. He wasn't sure if the difference in flavor and texture was because of how stores kept their fruit fresh or if there was an actual difference in how earth ponies grew food, but there was a difference. It was like a true apple, the flavor was much the same, but it was also much richer. There was no comparison he could think of. If there was a difference in taste quality between processed foods and fresh then the apple in his hand was a step above that. Even the skin had flavor, and that was always Pete's most hated part of the apple. Waxy was the best way he could describe the skin on an apple from his world, but this was soft and easily consumed with the fruit inside.

“Well?” Applejack smirked from the inside of the stand. Pete continued chewing and just gave a thumbs up, getting a laugh from the mare. “Tell ya what. Have a second one, on the house. It's not every day somepony gets to try one of our apples for the first time after all.”

Pete thanked her and picked up the second apple, depositing it in one of his large pants pockets for later consumption. He was glad that Luna had been able to get across the idea of cargo pants to the royal tailor, because between his coin pouch and badge there wouldn't be much room for anything else otherwise. Waving, Pete set off for his next destination, Sugar Cube Corner which was conveniently close by.

Xander, meanwhile, looked at Applejack with a look of confusion. “Apples are one bit, not two.”

AJ grinned, “Well, he got two apples, didn't he?”

“You were going to give him a second apple anyway,” he accused.

“Of course I was. He just needed to pay for it. I'm not Rarity; the farm has to make money.”

The large man scratched his chin, wondering if it was dishonest to not tell the price, or if it was honest to have given Pete both apples he paid for. He also began to wonder if these Elements of Harmony actually worked.

Inside Sugar Cube Corner it smelled like a combination of baked goods and hot sugar, and Pete had to resist the urge to pull his money back out and pay for more food. It was the first time since Earth that he'd had such ready access to familiar meals. He bet Pinkie would even make him pancakes if he asked. Against temptation he stepped over to Maxwell, who was sitting on a chair usually reserved for customers with a large book in front of him. Curious, Pete looked over his shoulder. The book was full of numbers in columns. More confused, Pete sat down across from the boy and waited. Moments later the hyperactive ball of pony known as Pinkie bounded onto Pete with a giggle, ensnaring him in a hug.

“What are you doing here?!” She was clearly excited, bouncing even in the hug and smiling ear to ear.

“I came to check up on the humans,” Pete gestured towards Max. “It is my second job after all.”

“Ooooh! Well, Max is doing great! Ever since we found out how good he is at math he's been doing all the record keeping for the store. He even found the Cake's ways to save money by buying a liiiiiittle more of some things.”

“Really?” The captain looked at Max with a raised brow and then back to Pinkie. “I'd have never guessed he was a math prodigy.”

“Yeah! He doesn't talk much but he's like a unicorn when it comes to numbers.”

“So I guess the Cake's are okay with him staying here for a while longer then?”

“Psh, totally! We weren't sure what to do, since you humans don't have cutie marks so we had no idea what he would be good at. That's a pretty big problem, you know. You guys should really look into getting something like them. Anyway, Mrs. Cake was doing the number stuff and Max saw it, then he leaned over and did it all in a flash, like Rainbow fast! Then we knew what he could do to help out, and he's not even bothered by it. He gets up every day and checks the books so the bakery is more on top of things than ever!”

Pete blinked and shook his head trying to process the pink pony's speech. He felt like time had to have slowed down for her to say so much. Max was happy though, or at least he wasn't complaining or in trouble so that was good. If any pony in town could tell what someone else was feeling it would be Pinkie, so Pete felt like the boy was in good hands. Or hooves rather.

As he stood up to leave, Pete stopped and looked back at Pinkie. If anypony would know where Dash was it was the party pony. Or so he thought. Pinkie confessed she'd been in the back all morning and Rainbow didn't usually stop in until the afternoon. She almost volunteered to help him find her, but Pete insisted he had to stop by the other mare's homes anyway to check in on the humans. Instead, Pinkie gave him directions to Fluttershy's cottage, Rarity's boutique, the Golden Oaks library, and wished him luck.

Walking towards Twilight's library Pete couldn't help but feel a small bounce in his step. The pink party pony was infectious like that even for a recently reformed misanthrope. Perhaps that was why her energy was so easily transferred. The void inside of Pete from lack of connection simply sucked in anything positive it could. He shook his head of the dark thought and pushed his way into the library.

Shelves of books he was unfamiliar with mingled with an all too familiar scent of a library, generating a strange mix of new excitement and familiar nostalgia. Weeks spent pouring over books for his English finals and thesis papers, months of reading old adventure and fantasy novels, childhood and adulthood all mashed together with the smell of ink and paper.

“Boy do you look happy!” Jake practically popped into existence beside Pete, startling the captain.

“Jesus H, man!”

Jake laughed and banged his fist on the table, “I don't know what's funnier, hearing human exclamations or that sappy grin on your face. Here to see somepony special?” He grinned and dragged the last word out.

“No, just here to see how you and Twilight are doing.” Pete sat at the table across from Jake and explained, “I used to be a writer, before all of this. Spent a lot of time in libraries with books.”

“Shouldn't you hate libraries then? All the studying and references and all that?”

“Not at all. I liked what I did.”

“So you went from writer to medieval pony guard without a hitch?”

“Well,” Pete crossed his arms and thought, “It wasn't without problems. I mean, I was a twig even before I spent all that time in a coma. Then suddenly I have to run miles every day. It's amazing my body didn't give out a second time. I was constantly exhausted, it seriously felt like I was dying.”

Jake nodded, “But now you're, like, built.”

“I'm fit,” Pete corrected, “Far from being as strong or muscular as I could be. My training got cut short after all. You could easily get this by doing some exercise every morning.”

“Hey, organizing the library and helping Twilight out isn't exactly easy work.” Spike said, walking down the stairs with a duster in his claw. “Jake and I are on our feet almost nonstop.”

“Speaking of Twilight, where is she? I wanted to ask her something.”

“Downstairs,” Jake pointed to a door in the back of the library, “Just knock before walking in.”

Pete thanked him and followed the door down a set of stairs to another door which he knocked on to be safe, as Jake had suggested. There was a bit of commotion from the other side before the door was magically pulled open by Twilight. Inside there seemed to be a laboratory with all kinds of machines and chemicals in test tubes. Pete had forgotten Twilight's interest in science as well as magic.

“Pete,” Twilight shouted with a smile, “Perfect timing. Come in here and grab this.” The unicorn levitated a strange piece of metal in front of her that connected to a huge machine.

Curious, the human walked in and grabbed the bit of metal, “Now what?”

“Channel into it like you do your sword.”

With a shrug Pete began channeling, and just like before he felt the surge of power travel from his core to his arm and into the metal. Various gauges on the machine suddenly sprang to life at different levels and intervals, the lavender mare making notes on a clipboard and mumbling to herself.

“Give it everything you have, Pete.”

He nodded in response and took a deep breath. He focused every ounce of power he could muster. The machine became noisy and the gauges maxed out before the whole thing suddenly fell silent, Pete losing the connection with the metal. He opened his eyes and tilted his head, staring at the piece of equipment.

“Did I … break it?”

Twilight laughed, “No, don't be ridiculous. Your readings were something else though. The machine measures magical potency and in what areas.” She gestured to several meters on the instrument, “Fire, water, air, healing, even darkness. They're all here. Your readings are...” She paused and sighed, “Rather close to my own. I hate to admit that, but numbers don't lie. With a few years of study you could be incredibly powerful.”

Pete put the metal down and shook his head. “And what happens with the other humans?”

“Jake makes the first few needles move, but that's about it. I haven't tested all the others yet, but so far they don't move them at all. You're an anomaly.”

“Maybe I'm an outlier. What if … I don't know, some humans are just magically inclined? When the humans got banished maybe something about traveling through the portal affected us.”

Twilight shook her head. “We would have seen something long before now. Something happened to you, Pete, and you alone. What that is I don't know. Yet.”

“Well, if you're looking into it I'm confident we'll get an answer eventually.” He smiled and Twilight returned it. “Speaking of getting an answer though, do you know where Rainbow Dash is? I haven't seen her all morning and, well, I kind of figured I would have heard from her by now. It's been months.”

Celestia's student chuckled, her horn glowing for a moment. “She's just outside of town, judging by her elevation she's on a cloud. That should make her easy to spot. Lone clouds are kind of unusual around here.” Twilight oriented herself with the front door above them and pointed towards the Everfree. “Head that way and you should find her pretty easily.”

Pete grinned, “You're gonna have to teach me that spell some time. If I'm going to keep losing a mare that can fly it would be seriously useful.”

“It could be fun having a student of my own.”

Pete gave a mock bow, thanked Twilight, and went back upstairs. He said his good byes to Jake and Spike, and stepped out of the library. Right, that was the way Twilight had pointed him, and so he set off. Everfree forest was visible in the distance from the library, but it was far from close. The treetops towered in the forest which itself stretched for miles. A good distance from the last house on the edge of town however a lone cloud, as Twilight had said, was also visible in the sky. Closer to the forest than he'd like it to be, but a certain rainbow colored mane was visible. It was almost like she was avoiding him.

That thought caused a pain in Pete's chest, and impishly he thought he would repay her for it. Silently as possible, he positioned himself under the cloud. A bit of tail could be seen poking from the bottom and it gave him his target. Holding his breath, Pete reached into his pocket and pulled out the apple. He cocked his arm back and threw the fruit almost straight up, through the cloud and it was followed by a dull thud and an exclamation of shock more than pain. Moments later a light blue face and magenta eyes peered over the edge of the cloud and down at him.

Rainbow Dash wiggled through the cloud, apple mysteriously clutched in a hoof, and floated down in front of him. She held the apple out and examined it for a moment.

“Does Applejack know you're using her precious apples as ammo?”

“No, but it was expensive as hell. Two bits per apple? Is the farm going under or something?”

Dash raised an eyebrow and the laughed, “Did she get you with the 'first time special' too?”

“Get me?” Pete squinted for a moment. “Are you saying the Element of Honesty ripped me off?”

“No, she charged you two bits, and gave you two apples.” Rainbow tossed the other apple at the human, who caught it one handed. “It's a prank she pulls on ponies she knows that haven't bought from her before.”

“I... guess it's funny,” Pete scratched his head and looked at the apple again. It was fine, despite having unceremoniously crashed into a mare's flank.

“So,” RD rubbed her head, subconsciously mimicking Pete, “I don't think you came out here to talk about apples.”

“No,” he put the apple back into his pocket, “I was actually here to talk about … us.”

The pegasus frowned slightly, “Yeah?”

“Yeah, like why haven't you tried to get in contact with me for the last four months?”

“Why haven't you?”

It was a strong retort. “I am now,” he responded weakly.

“Well, I'm not very good at, like, writing letters or talking about mushy stuff and stuff. You know that!” Dash puffed out her chest and tried to sound angry.

Pete deflated and looked away. “Yeah, me either.” He let that hang for a while, and Rainbow slowly exhaled.

“I guess I should have known that too,” she admitted.

“Didn't really talk to anyone that much about anything that mattered.”

“Still, you have more skill at writing than I do. You could have sent something.”

“You're right,” he looked back and smiled, “I could have. I'm sorry.”

RD blinked and backed up a little. “Well, I'm … sorry too.”

“We're both new to this, some more than others,” he chuckled awkwardly. “Herds and pony stuff.”

“Yeah, there's a lot of things I don't know if humans do or would really like the way ponies do.” Rainbow shrugged, “But I guess that wouldn't put you off too much.”

Pete exhaled slowly and took a step forward, pulling Dash close to him. “What's the pony culture say about kisses?”

Dash smirked and bit her lip for a moment, “Who cares what culture says? This girl says do it.”

Grinning, Pete turned his head to kiss the pegasus when something caught his eye. In the treeline behind them a pair of glowing yellow eyes was watching. Not just a trick of the light, actually glowing. They were too tall to be a pony or a griffon. Minotaur perhaps, but Pete doubted their eyes glowed. Actually he doubted anything that was safe to be around in this world had glowing eyes. Training kicking in, he moved, placing Rainbow Dash behind him and placing his hand on his sword.

“What the hay?!”

Pete pointed towards the eyes, “In the trees.”

RD squinted and then moved back. “Okay, I don't know who you are, but spying isn't cool.”

There was a loud grunt and the eyes disappeared in a cacophony of heavy footsteps and breaking branches. Whatever it was, it was large, the sounds disturbed birds in branches for miles around and the pair could hear things being broken for almost a minute after it fled. Worried, Pete stepped forward, but once more his training took over. Instead of following the creature he turned back to Rainbow.

“Back to town, now.”

“What's wrong? What in Tartarus was that thing?”

“I don't know,” Pete looked back one last time and then started walking briskly, “But I'd rather not find out when we're here alone. I'll go back to Canterlot and request some guards come by.” He grumbled as Rainbow Dash caught up to him. “So much for being an ambassador.”