The Exchange Student

Have you ever been to the CN tower in Canada?

Connor's view was similar to this, but there were far less buildings and much more landscape. From here it looked as though he were on a mountain, and considering his experiences thus far it wouldn't be such a far stretch to think so. Pretty much underneath him (still on the apparent mountain) was apparently a city of some kind, minus skyscrapers, paved roads, cars, people...

Well, there were quote unquote "people", just not the "people" he had sorta kinda not really expected. There were instead ponies by the hundreds. Walking ponies, flying ponies, ponies sitting in carriages being pulled by, guess what? Other ponies! And every single last pony was a different color from the others around it, the entire population looking like all the colors of a box of crayons. Or colored pencils. Or paints. Or...

Oh yeah, and there were flying ponies. Did we mention those? Connor wasn't sure which was more surprising, the fact that there were flying ponies or the fact that there were pony-pulled carriages. But enough about that, let's talk about the actual city here. There were... ahem...

Small buildings

Tall buildings (not tall enough for a skyscraper though)

Cottages

Penthouses

Shops

Bakeries

Potatoes

Busy Streets

Dark Alleys

Guards

Business Men (Business ponies?)

Merchants

Street Performers

Street Cleaners

Muffins

A random Zebra

A few cows

Kids running in the street (assuming they're kids)

... basically, a whole crapload of stuff. That was just the stuff in the city though; beyond it was a vast landscape that could've stretched for miles. There were rolling plains in one direction, a massive forest in the other, and at the edge of it there was what appeared to be a small town. There was also another city farther off, the only indication it was there being something you could almost consider a skyscraper, but different... somehow. It was hard to tell. There were roads and train tracks connecting it all.

Then something in the sky caught his attention. It was a massive cloud, or collection of clouds, that were a little to the left of the town. There were ponies flying to and from the collection of clouds, so he could only assume it was a town all its own or something.

He was taking quite a few guesses here.

Before he could investigate further, though, a voice spoke up next to him: "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Connor nearly jumped out of his own skin. He relaxed a little when he realized it was the Queen of sorts next to him. She was looking out at the land ahead of them. He thought about bowing, but decided not to considering he was just assuming a whole crapload of stuff.

And you know what happens when you assume...

You make an ASS out of U and ME lolololoololololkjkjhjbmnchjhfjgvkjghljhjkhgl;kjfaslkjbDEAD.

...Ahem.

Anyway, he decided he would grace the queen with his response. "Y-yes, it is," he said. She looked over to him. "I suppose you've already seen the city?" "Nope," said Connor, a little sarcastically. He even stretched his neck a little, just to make the reference that much more apparent. It would be very hard to miss the city that was literally right in front of him. Luna, meanwhile, had not picked up on his sarcasm and was a little confused. "But- it's right in front of you! Look, there it is!"

Connor wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Uh... it was a joke..."

"Oh... um... ha ha?" She smiled awkwardly at him, and for a second he swore he heard a faint toy squeaker or something.

Silence.

"... How about we try this again?" said Connor.

"Yes, of course." responded Luna, and cleared her throat a little. "My name is Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, Princess of the Night. And you?"

"Connor Jackson. Was there a reason you came to see me, your highness?"

"Yes, I am to escort you to a meeting with my sister and I," she replied, walking back to the room. "We will review the details of your stay there."

"Alright then, let's go," he said, walking back in as well. She knocked on the door and it was opened from the outside (courtesy of a guard), and they walked out side by side. Deciding that this might take a while, he struck up a conversation. "So, you're a unicorn."

"An alicorn, actually," corrected Luna.

Connor raised an eyebrow. "The difference being?" He suddenly got poked by- feathers? He looked to the side. Yes, they were feathers alright, attached to a wing, attached to the Princess. "These," she said simply, and flexed them a little for emphasis before refolding them back to her sides.

... How had he missed those before?

"Can you actually fly with those?" he said, already knowing what the answer probably was. "Yes, as well as my sister and all pegasai," she replied, "why, have you not any pegasai in your homeland?"

"No, not really. Or any unicorns for that matter. Or even talking ponies. Speaking of which, what language does the guard outside of my door speak? I tried asking him something, but he didn't really answer me," said Connor.

"He speaks Equestrian, just as most other ponies do," she replied.

"Does that mean you speak Equestrian too?" he asked.

"Right now I am speaking Equestrian," she replied, "I am merely using a translation spell so that you and I may understand each other."

Connor blinked and thought about it for a second. "Oh right, magic, yeah. Is that what you did with my mother back there?"

"Her? I used a spell of deception for that. It is one of my favorite spells because you can get away with saying most anything," she said, smiling. "It will make the target hear only what they want to hear, or what you suggest the spell to say. Don't tell Celestia, but I think I enjoy using it too much."

Which explains the whole "joke" thing back there, thought Connor, and a few other things.

"Who is Celestia?" he asked.

"Oh, she is my sister," she said, "It occurs to me I should have mentioned that earlier. And just in time, as well, we are here." The two paused briefly at a giant set of double doors.

Luna walked right in, but Connor stayed behind for a brief second, given that he had no idea what was really behind those doors. He decided that being nervous and waiting here wasn't going to help anyone, and he walked through the now slightly-open doors.

Lyra only had to wait a minute, but those entire sixty seconds seemed like an hour. She couldn't believe it; a real human in Equestria? Unheard of! She could only imagine how accurate the stories were.

At the end of that minute she realized she didn't have to anymore, signified by the arrival of Luna, and then shortly after the human.

She was in awe of the creature, yeah, but she had almost expected a little... more. She had thought him to be a giant in comparison, but in reality he was only about a head taller than her. He wasn't very muscular, his clothes were a little ragged, he wasn't wielding a club or a katana or anything, and worst of all, he didn't have big, cute eyes like those ancient texts they dug up!

It was actually disappointing.

But, there it was, one human, as promised. It looked a bit scared, or nervous, or at least out of it's comfort zone. She found that although the human's face was quite different from a ponies, it was still relatively easy to read. She then realized that she was staring, but only after the human actually blushed a little and looked away. So that means that they were pretty intelligent! Lyra thought. Then after a few seconds she realized she should really stop staring.

"Hello, Connor Jackson," said Princess Celestia, "Are you enjoying your stay thus far?"

"Y-yes, Princess," he stuttered. The voice confirmed two things for Lyra. First, it was obviously a he. Second, he was speaking perfect Equestrian.

But I thought they spoke English, Lyra thought, This can't be right!

"Good," Celestia replied "Now, do you know why you are here?"

"Not really, no," he said, "Is it... uh... ok if I ask why exactly?"

"Of course," she said, "I'm sure it's been a little confusing thus far. You sent out the form to become an exchange student, yes?"

"Yes... what does that have to do with it?"

"We received the form. Would you like to stay here in our land of Equestria to learn our language? From what I can infer, Equestrian is not 'Spanish' as you call it."

"... I suppose I wouldn't mind," said Connor, "But what's the point if you have these translation spells? I don't really need to learn the language