Life's Discoveries

Chapter Two: Discovery

My eyes were deceiving me. That had to be the only explanation, or so I thought.

"Is this a dream?" My thoughts asked.

I smacked an arm against the edge of a table, seeing if there was pain. Yeah, not one of my better ideas. Of course it hurt. What was wrong with me? The idea that I was where I thought I was shocking. Unbelievable, even. You don't know how it felt. You won't. Words cannot describe the feeling in your chest. There was an unnatural urge to scream in my heart. Joy swept through me like a wave onto a beach.

Oh yeah, I probably should tell you what was out there. I seemed to be around what was the Everfree Forest. From Friendship is Magic. The world looked... animated. Cartoony. Colorful. Very unusual for a forest, wouldn't you think, even if it was getting dark? I had always dreamed of going to Equestria.

"No. No, it is not what you think it is. It's a trick. It's just a trick." Well, that's what I told myself, trying to not get my hopes up.

I mean come on, would you believe you just got randomly transported to a fantasy world full of talking ponies? For all I knew, it could've been a cruel joke using a painting or picture or maybe I just got transported to a regular forest somewhere. I've seen weirder things than bright forests.

So, with my thought of it being a joke, I went out to see how they actually did it, and why they chose me specifically. I could take a prank. Even if it was unintentionally a little mean.

I went outside, leaving the two dogs some water, in case I was going to be out there for a while.

The scenery, it was so bright and colorful, and I don't mean pink and yellow everywhere. Just... the beauty of it. The shades of green.  And it was annoying, not because of it's nature, but because of how it looked against our property. It didn't 'blend' at all, so to speak. It was... wrong. I'm failing to describe it properly. I don't care how things look usually. I mean, it was just unnatural. It looked like someone poorly photoshopped a picture of a regular house in the middle of a drawing. It made my mind's alerts (For lack of a better term) go off. They were telling me that this wasn't right, and that something has gone completely and utterly wrong. I even looked wrong against it.

"Of course something's wrong! It's a painting put against the real world!" I shouted out, trying to get my brain to stop giving me a headache.

To prove my own point for no one other then myself, I ran towards what I thought would be a piece of paper or canvas.

To my surprise, I didn't run into anything.

"I'm standing on it. I have to be."

And I wasn't. The dirt was... well... dirt. I went up to a tree, and touched it. It felt like a regular tree, with the rough bark. It just all looked like it shouldn't feel the way it looked.

My mind was starting to accept the fact that I must of been teleported or transported somewhere. The hope that it was Equestria rose up inside of me once more.

I was a brony, so when I walked back outside to check on the house once more, I looked up. Why, well... there wasn't a reason, or, at least, I don't remember there being one.  Maybe I was just getting a feeling, or I was looking for something. But no matter the reason, I saw one thing other than the bright clouds, sun and sky. A flying creature. Equine. Gray. A mark of clear circles on its flank. Carrying some mailbags. Flying (What looked to me to be quite clumsily).

I yelled out "WOOHOO, THIS IS ACTUALLY REAL!".

Turns out that was a stupid move, because she started to look around. Before she was able to see me, I dove behind a bush, which are thankfully plentiful in forests. She moved on, not noticing my house. Thankfully that was covered by trees. Maybe that plus the walled eyes made it harder to see? I dunno. I should've asked her when I had the chance.

Getting out of the bush, I went back inside, and tried to absorb the real possibility that this might be Equestria.

Finally telling myself that what I was doing wasn't helping at all, I checked the dogs once more, locking them in the basement, to not cause anymore suspicion from the barking that was bound to happen if they saw a creature of sorts out of the windows. So, after that was done, I left.

After not even going a quarter of a mile, there it was. What I recognized as Fluttershy's cottage. Knowing Fluttershy, she would probably go hide under the nearest table as soon as she saw me. That is not how I wanted my first meeting to happen. So, hoping meeting another one of the ponies first and then having me introduced to her by one of them would go better, I went by her house quietly. Spotting a sign that said Ponyville was only a ½ mile away, I stopped.

"Miles?" I thought.

Of course, I should be in another universe. Or dimension. I didn't know how it worked then. I still don't, really. Anyways, I questioned myself. How they would have the same system of length was unknown to me, at the time. I dismissed it, promising my curious inner consciousness that I would find out later. So, I jogged, figuring I would be there in a few minutes.

When I arrived, I hid behind some bushes when I saw some unicorns coming towards me. This confirmed it. This wasn't the most well thought out, and most cruel joke ever. They didn't see me. After they passed, I got out of the bush. Looking around, I spotted a fitting alleyway for a nice secretive stroll through Ponyville.

30 minutes later...

"Ah, there it is," I said to myself after about a half hour walking around back alleys randomly through town.

The place I knew as Twilight Sparkle's tree house (or house in a tree, I guess...) was only a couple hundred yards away. I started thinking about what I would do. I eventually decided I would just knock and hope Twilight opened the door. Fairly bad plan, but would you have been able to think clearly after all of that? I figured it wouldn't be a total disaster if Spike opened the door.

When the coast was clear, I made a run for it. Thankfully, that part of Ponyville seemed to be residential, so it didn't seem very busy. I calmed down, and holding my breath, I knocked.

I heard a familiar voice that said "Coming!" It sounded JUST like her voice actor, Tara Strong. Or, I guess Tara sounded like Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. I had met Twilight. It was real. My favorite character, real.

"How am I so lucky?" I questioned no one in particular.

She opened the door. That was it. Twilight Sparkle herself was standing in front of me. I was a bit startled from my thoughts being broken, but she was much more startled than I.

I just asked her "Could I come in?" She seemed a little suspicious, but she let me in, so it went better than I expected. Then, the questions started flowing.

I had decided on my jog I would tell whoever I was gonna meet about them existing in my world right at the start. I introduced myself as my actual name, Robert Pickard, but told them she could just call me RJ or Rob. I told her I was a human. She seemed a bit confused.

"You're a what now?"

I told her again I was a human once again. She immediately ran to an aisle of books behind some others, and I could hear her pulling a few of the texts and scrolls out. After a few minutes, she came back and seemed to stare at me questionably.

It was already awkward enough. We hadn't even had a proper introduction, and I was already starting to be feared.

"OK Twilight, it's not really helping me out when you stare at me like that," I said.

She asked "Wait, how do you know my name?"

"Oh... um... uh... I'll explain later, but I know all your friends names, and the names of quite a few other ponies. But you see, I'm not from here. Equestria I mean. In fact, I'm not even sure if I'm from this universe. At least... I don't really think I am."

She was definitely growing more suspicious. Who wouldn't be, though?

"Fine then, prove you know all our names," she ordered.

I stated with immense ease, "You, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's most faithful student, Applejack, who works on her family's farm 'Sweet Apple Acre's', Rarity, the local fashion designer and clothes maker, Rainbow Dash, self-proclaimed fastest flier in all of Equestria, Pinkie Pie, the party pony, and Fluttershy, your animal loving friend."

She stared at me.

Then I said, "Oh, I almost forgot, Spike, your #1 assistant." I smiled. She just kept staring at me.

I sighed. "This is gonna be a story to tell someday."

After shushing her confusion, I asked her if she could get her friends to come to her house. She woke Spike up and introduced me to him. He was intimidated, I could tell. Unfortunately, he went back up to who knows where. I saw him peeking out of upstairs every once in a while.

Twilight told Spike to keep an eye on me. I didn't really mind. Not different from what I would have done at all, really. After looking around a bit, and seeing if I could possibly read their books (which I couldn't) I heard the door open.

I was instantly bombarded with questions as soon as they saw me. Pinkie Pie was able to say more nonsense then... well... anything, really. Should I have been surprised? No, I don't think so. I saw all of them, except for Fluttershy, who was hiding under a table shivering (Quite the ironic scene, trying to avoid that in the first place). After finally getting over my shock that this was really happening, I decided it would be best to make sure they knew I was not dangerous.

I told them "Hey, everyo- Er, everypony (I silently chuckled), I just want to get this out of the way, so please listen, I didn't come here on purpose, I don't know how I got here, I'm a human, I'm not going to hurt you at all, actually I hope quite the opposite, and my name is Robert, but just call me RJ, or Rob."

They were silent, and it seemed like they were stunned at my ability to talk.

So I said, "Also, I'll explain how I know this soon, but your names are (I looked at each pony as I said their name.) Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie," (Who was jumping up and down, whispering loudly into Dash's ear about my surprise party).

At this point, Fluttershy stopped shivering. She opened her eyes to look at me. They all seemed shocked even more.

Continuing, I said "I come from a planet called Earth, in the country known as the United States of America. I lived in the state of Utah."

They started mumbling to each other. I asked if I could sit down. I wanted to get the awkward stuff out of the way first. Twilight said yes, and they all stopped and listened again.

I sighed once more, trying to resist the urge to just blurt everything out. "My world is kind of different, and it may take me a while to get used to around here. I'm sure that you may have a hard time hearing what I have to tell some of you."

They all nodded in understanding.

"I also want you to know that I'm an omnivore."

Every one of them except Rainbow gasped.

Dash asked, "OK, what is an omnivore? It sounds threatening."

While she tensed up, I answered her question. "An omnivore is an animal or creature that eats both plants AND meat."

They all backed up when I confirmed their fears.

Applejack asked in a scared voice "Well, ya'll ain't gonna eat us, are ya?"

I started talking faster, wanting to get this over with. "No. The main animals humans eat are pigs, chickens, cows, goats, and turkey."

Fluttershy was gonna need a just a little bit more than that. So, I walked up to her and explained in my most confident voice "Fluttershy, I know this is hard on you. I need you to understand that it's very hard on me and other humans to go without meat. I'll become a vegetarian once things run out in my house or it rots, but I also want you to know it's not impossible for me to go without meat. Will it be easy? No. Do I eat anything even remotely similar to ponies, or anything equine except cows? No. Will I try to hunt? No. I-"

Fluttershy, the ONE and ONLY Fluttershy, hugged me. I think my heart stopped. What was going on in my mind when that happened? Nothing. Everything. You have not had a hug until you have hugged Fluttershy.

Then, she talked to me. "I'm sorry Rob. I shouldn't have freaked out. I have plenty of carnivorous animals. I don't know why I broke down when I heard you say you were one, will you please forgive me?"

"You are kidding right, Fluttershy? Of course I will! How could I even think of saying no to you?" I said while giving her a scratch behind the ears.

"I'm sorry too... Owlicious goes to the fields sometimes to... Well, you know, go hunt." Twilight said.

"Seriously, it's alright. I can understand why you would freak out."

With that out of the way, I needed to explain my world. That took a while. I explained our culture for the most part, excluding religion, the show, and things like poverty, the homeless, the starving, etc...

"That doesn't seem bad at all, my dear!" Rarity said as I wrapped it up.

"I haven't even started."

"Started on what?" Rainbow asked in her squeaky voice.

"Started to tell you about the bad stuff."

"Well, why can't you?" She continued.

"I don't want to tell you. Not right now, at least. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to trust me. Any other questions?"

Twilight asked me predictably "So, what do you study in school specifically?

"Me, specifically? Right now, I'm in the 8th grade.  I study Geometry, English, the history of my country in general, health, technology, and a few other things. I'll explain the education system to you personally later Twilight. I could probably give you a few of my textbooks, even."

I then moaned, because I would probably have to keep up with my work while I was here.

Nopony asked anything more, so I thought I would tell them about how I knew their names.

"Alrighty, let's move on. I would prepare yourselves here."

I cringed, then said very fast (Like I was admitting something that I had done) "I know that you're going to be confused, and I'll show you later, but you exist as a TV show on my planet." They stared at me.

"Oh yeah, no TV's. Come on, let's go to my house, I'll explain on the way."

After somewhat properly introducing myself to Spike and explaining to him what was going on, we all left Twi's house.

"Oh, uh, I'm not sure how the ponies here would react to you, Robert," Twilight said.

"Yeah, is there anyway I could possibly just sneak by?"

"I'm sure we could think of a few ways."

They distracted the ponies, and I sprinted though the shadows, trying to stay hidden. After I got past the last house, I slowed to a gentle walk, waiting for them to catch up. After they did, we walked in quiet, as we headed to what I guess was now my house... well... at least temporarily.

We got there, and Rarity instantly started talking about how bland the brown colored house with it's somewhat dead, crunchy, and as I'm sure it looked to them, odd grass. I just told her to stop and give me a chance to explain to them all why.

I opened the garage door with the push of a few buttons on the side, and they all gasped as it started to slowly go up mechanically. Of course, Twilight asked how I was using magic, and where it was coming from. I responded by telling them all to be patient, and it was getting clear that they were all getting a little anxious, especially Rainbow. So, I started to explain. In the garage was my bike, my mom's SUV, my dad's motorcycle, and the collection of 4-wheelers that we went on every so often. Since we humans don't have magic, I needed to explain to them why we had so much technology.

And, right on time, Twilight asked what the hunk of metal that was the SUV was.

I said "Ah, now that is gonna take a bit more explaining. Well, you see, you ponies choose magic, but in our world, we don't have magic, it doesn't exist."

She gasped.

"So we chose science, and we have all this cool technology that helps us in place of it. These things are all examples of the technology we have. These wonderful things are all quite cool, but I'll explain some of the best ones."

"This," I patted the mini-van, "is a car. An SUV to be exact. It's made to carry lots of people on a fast trip. It wouldn't take more than a few days to travel across the country. It travels on land, and it costs a lot of money, but it's usually worth it. It takes a fuel called gasoline. It's one of the main ways we get around on my world. The problem is, I don't know how to drive it. Too young for a license, unfortunately."

"How fast does it go?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You guys have miles per hour, right? I saw a sign back ther-" They nodded (In unison), wanting me to get to the point. "Well then, the law limits how fast you can go, and usually the fastest they'll let you go is 75 MPH. Ready to move on?"

Rainbow of course was now flying around it and inspecting it.

Then I pointed at the motorcycle. "That is a motorcycle, it is like a car, but it's a ton smaller and you're exposed to the outside. So we only use them during the spring, summer, or fall. Also, you have to balance on it, since it has only 2 wheels."

Then the bicycles. "These are like motorcycles, except they have no engine, so we use our feet to turn the little steps on the sides, which turns the gears, which turns the wheels."

I showed them our family's ATVs (Four-wheelers), which I explained as being like motorcycles, except you didn't have to balance.

Then suddenly, the dogs started barking. It was quiet from downstairs, but still unexpected. They all jumped, and Fluttershy asked what was making the noise.

I said "My dogs." Fluttershy jumped back up after cowering a bit from the door from where the noise was coming from. I just said they were very protective and wanted to help me.

They all went, "Awwwww," I blushed, and said I would calm them down. Fluttershy wanted to help, but I told her that they would bite if I didn't calm them down first.

She said, "Oh… OK then…" and seemed disappointed.

I told them all to act nice and not be scared, because our version of a dog was different from, say, Winona. So I got the dogs, not letting them see what was in the garage. I got a few treats, put them in my pocket, and held them by their collars.

They instantly started barking as soon as they saw the ponies.

"Territorial, I guess." I thought.

I calmed them down, and led the two dogs to Fluttershy. She reached out her hoof and they sniffed. They licked her leg. The dogs liked her quite a bit actually. She petted them with her hoof, which was a little awkward, but meaningful none the less. Next was Rainbow Dash, who Sully liked but Flint didn't. Flint and Dash were complete opposites.

Dash just gave a defeated "Hmph." As Flint walked to the next pony, who was Twilight.

Both dogs liked Twilight fairly well. Applejack asked if her dog Winona could play with my dogs later. I said yes, but not at the moment. So next was Rarity, who "Despised dogs, and liked cats much better." and refused to let them lick her. Finally Pinkie Pie, who the dogs loved. I let her give them the treats.

So, after that little interruption, I told them no more questions until I finished explaining how I knew their names, and how they didn't know me. I led them inside. They all gaped at my house's size. Well, we do have a big family. We get visits from extended family often too. Plus, our house is tall.

I said, "OK, first off, you're all celebrities with probably a couple million fans on my planet, including me. I am a fan of a TV show called 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'. Now I know you're going to ask what a TV show is. I know you have cameras, right?"

Some nodded yes, while some seemed to be stuck, including Rarity, who had dilated her eyes and just keep mouthing the words celebrity, famous, and stars.

"Overwhelmed, much?" I thought, amused.

"Well, on Earth we have cameras too. But we also have special types of cameras that instead of capturing still photos capture a video. A video is basically a bunch of pictures put together to make a "moving picture". Remembering my cell phone, I said I would be right back and got it. I set it up record a video. I said for them to say "Hi". I started recording and motioned to them to say hi. They did, suspiciously, but still. I stopped recording and showed them the tiny screen, and played it. They all looked in amazement at what I would consider simple and low quality.