My Little Human: Friendship Across Worlds

DEET DEET DEET DEET DEET DEET

Twilight groaned and reached out a hoof to silence the alarm. Wait... her hoof felt kind of strange...

Tamara cracked open her eyelids to see not a hoof, but a human hand reaching out towards a digital alarm clock. Then yesterday came flooding back to her. Spike. The amulet. Twilight freaking Sparkle the purple freaking unicorn.

“Ugh.” Tamara/Twilight's fingers curled into a fist, which crashed down onto the snooze button. She kicked off the blankets and got up, stumbling bleary-eyed into the living room to find Spike slumbering on the couch.

“Wake up, Spike,” Twilight shook him awake, then threw together breakfast for both of them.

“Until we find the others and get back to Equestria, I'm going to have to keep living my human life so we can survive,” she explained to him. “I can't just turn back into a unicorn, things work far too differently here.”

“What do humans do all day?” Spike asked between mouthfuls of ready-made waffles.

“They have jobs just like ponies do. My occupation in this world is pretty much the same as in Equestria, except I'm not everypony's go-to girl for magic. I don't think magic even exists natively in this world.”

“While you're at work, I can use the amulet to find the other ponies,” Spike declared.

“Not a good idea. A human your age should be at school.”

“I'm not going to school!” Then his expression became pensive. “We don't know how many ponies have been shoehorned into this universe. Maybe there are some foals here who didn't escape Discord and Trixie's wrath.”

Twilight nodded. “I'll take you to the local elementary school before work and get you enrolled, make up some kind of story to explain how you got here. Don't let anypony else get hold of that amulet unless you're absolutely sure they're a pony in disguise.”

Meanwhile, across town...

The front door lock clicked and the door was pushed open to admit the townhouse's owner. Amelia Pyton, having completed her walk of shame six city blocks from her latest booty call, was a mess. Her dress was rumpled and smelled of various substances, her hair was in less than impressive disarray and her makeup was smudged. Fortunately, her faithful pink handbag had survived the wild night as usual, which she dumped in the entryway after putting her phone on the hallway side table. Amelia kicked off her shoes and trudged upstairs for a shower as her phone buzzed, the SMS icon displaying on the screen. Some time later, freshly showered, cleaned of makeup and other icky residues, she picked up the phone to check her messages:

hey pinkie – I had a gr8 time last nite will call l8r. <3 mike

A smile immediately plastered itself on her face as she texted back:

<3 u 2 I had fun ur my favourite sexii boi :D

Amelia, or Pinkie as her friends called her, quickly dressed and left for her job at the cafe across town. It was a busy morning, but things slowed down around lunch time. One of her regular patrons was on staff at the local library. Amelia didn't care much for reading, she was more into partying, drinking and other such activities. But this librarian did have a blog which the party barista did read on occasion, mainly because she had a secret passion for science fiction that she would never, EVER let slip to anyone in her social circle.

Tamara, the patron in question, breezed in for her usual latte and sandwiches and the two exchanged pleasantries, Tamara mentioning she had a little brother she had to enrol in school locally this morning, since their parents were going through a rough time.

“Awww, I'm sorry to hear that,“ Ameila told her. “Why don't you bring him in for some cake sometime while you're doing some blogging?”

“I might just do that. Hey, how's it going with Mike?”

“Awesome!” Amelia gushed. “I was at his place last night and he sent me a text this morning saying he'd call later. He called me Pinkie, it was so adorable...”

Tamara smiled appreciatively, then her face clouded over and she looked strangely at Amelia, looking almost shocked. “Pinkie Pie?” she said in a strangely wonderous voice.

“Pinkie Pie? Oh my God, that's so cute! I don't know if Mike wouuld call me that though, it's probably a little too cutesy for him. I had a hard enough time getting him to call me Pinkie because he's not really into the whole nickname thing and... hey, what's up?”

Tamara grabbed her lunch and fled out the door. “I gotta go, bye!”

“Bye...” the bubbly barista could only stare in bewilderment as the librarian dashed out the door of the cafe.

Twilight could barely focus on work. Her realization that she possibly may have found Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, the bubbliest pony in Ponyville, was raging at the forefront of her mind. She had to get the amulet to Amelia, which should be easy enough given that she had already suggested bringing Spike in to meet her. The end of Tamara's shift couldn't come fast enough and Twilight practically flew to Spike's school, where he was waiting patiently at the gate for her as she had instructed him to do.

“Hey, Twilight,” he said in a dismal tone. “I didn't find anypony here. I kept activating the amulet all day, using names of all the foals I knew, but-”

“I think I found Pinkie Pie,” she blurted out, stopping the dragon mid-sentence.

“Really? Where? How?”

“This woman I know at the cafe close to the library, she talks just like Pinkie, her nickname is Pinkie and she likes parties! Come on, we can get there before the cafe closes, I'll need your amulet to find out for sure if it's really her.”

“I'm pretty sure it's just the bearers of the Elements who are stuck in this world,” Spike told her as they headed for the cafe where Amelia worked. “If there are any other ponies here, I haven't detected them.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked him. “Did you check for any of the schoolteacher ponies? The Princesses? Derpy?”

“I checked for Cheerilee and Professor Chalk, but that's it.”

Twilight held out her hand for the amulet. “Let me have that for a second.” Spike removed the chain from his neck and Twilight held the amulet in her hand. Unlike the last time she touched it, it did nothing, the cool metal and mineral resting in her palm. “How do I activate it again?”

“Just say the name of the pony you want to find. If they're nearby, you should get a sensation inside you that tells you if they're close.”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight told the amulet. It immediately responded by giving her a semi-physical tug in the direction of the cafe.

“It must be her, Spike!” Twilight grabbed his hand and bolted off in the direction indicated. “Let's free her mind!”

A loud gurgling and hissing erupted from the percolator as Amelia prepared the umpteenth cappucino of the day. Filling the order and accepting payment, she caught a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. Tamara was back and it looked like she brought her little brother, fresh from his first day at a new school. She fully intended to ask about Tamara's weird behaviour, though.

“Hey, you're back! Is this your little brother? Hi, I'm Amelia! What's your name? Cool necklace, Tamara, where'd you get it? What was the deal when you were here earlier, you seemed a little freaked out?”

Twilight held out the amulet. “Here, want a closer look?”

“Sure!” Twilight and Spike both held their breath as Amelia's fingers closed rapidly around the artefact, her glossy pink painted fingernails shining under the accent lights of the cafe counter. Then she scrunched her eyes shut, convulsed briefly and fainted. Fortunately, none of the other patrons noticed. Twilight dashed behind the counter and tried to shake her friend awake. “Amelia? Amelia!”

After a small eternity, Amelia's eyes opened.

Pinkie Pie burst into a huge grin. “Twilight? Spike? Oh goody goody goody! Two of my bestest bestest friends are here!” Then her grin faded. “How in the name of Celestia did we get here?”

Twilight and Spike sighed with relief and smiled at the humanized earth pony. “Come on, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight told her. “We'd better get you home so Spike can fill you in on what's been happening this past week.”