A Portal to a brighter worldView OnlineEquestria Gateway.comA Portal to a brighter worldEquestria Gateway.com A Portal to a brighter world Pinkie Pie sat on my bed and inquisitively stared at the keyboard and mouse that my hands took control of and how the monitor changed correspondingly. “Sooo do you humans have unicorns that use magic to make stuff like this thing?” Pinkie asked pointing at the computer. I was slightly lost in thought trying to think of what episode would cause the least problem if she were to see. “no its powered by electricity” I said without facing her. After the moment of silence I turned to face the pink pony whose eyebrow was raised in confusion. I thought to myself “Right they don’t have electricity in Ponyville all of their things are powered by magic or fire” “ It’s kind of like magic, I guess its human magic in a sort of way, anyway this machine is a computer and it can perform many functions but it’s also what I view your world from in the episodes I mentioned. “Okie.. dokie.. loki?” her voice pitched up at the last syllable in a questioning tone. I knew she really didn’t understand anything about it but it really didn’t matter she had no need to understand human technology. I came to a conclusion I would show her some of season 2 episode 24 “Mystery on the Friendship express” “Hey that’s me!” Pinkie exclaimed with excitement as she pointed at herself in the screen. “but how can that be me. I’m me unless I’m not me…” she trailed off. “it’s not exactly you it’s from the past, it’s called a video which is thousands of pictures all played one after the other you should recall this event” I explained to the confused little pony. There was a pause I expected some sort of response from Pinkie to what I had just said but heard nothing. I turned to face her. She was crumpled on the bed with her head in her hooves. I was off my chair and beside her in an instant. “Are you okay Pinkie Pie?” I asked her I had no idea what could have happened in such a short time to her or how to help a creature such as her. “I’m… fine *cough* okay maybe not so much… I just got this awful headache and I don’t really think I can move around right now” Pinkie sickly responded through the now flat hair that covered her face. My mind grasped at straws “It might be the travel to this world or how this world affects someone like you, I don’t know but only another pony would know what to do, we should get you home right away” I explained more to myself than to her. The only response was a groan from the Pink form. I reached under her to carry her to the nearby portal. She was quite light and quite soft. Her body was not solid like tensed muscle. She was kind of floppy for lack of a better word similar to moving a tired cat. As I moved her I could smell cotton candy from her mane. I walked the step it took to get the portal in the middle of my room carrying her. “Wait… come with me *cough* they’re never going to believe I talked to a human back in Ponyville unless they see one” Pinkie fought to say. I was in no position to refuse the request of a potentially dying pony so while holder her I grabbed the shirt off my desk and touched the portal with my arm and Pinkie in it. The portal expanded and enveloped us with wisp like tentacles and then everything went black. oOo The blackness started to fade as I slowly managed to open my eyes to be greeted by more blackness. I had no idea where I was all I knew is it was dark. I was ripped out of my daze by a loud thud and crack that sounded bonelike. I flung myself up onto my feet and looked toward the sound, all I saw was some form hitting against a wall or maybe a door. “Oh you’re awake goody, sorry about the noise just cleaning up a bit “the voice was familiar, memories of before started rushing back, that was Pinkie Pie. A crack of light filled the room accompanied by a Pink hoof leading me towards it. Pinkie and I walked up the narrow stairs illuminated by a small oil lamp dangling from the ceiling until we reached an old weathered looking door. As it opened the sunlight flooded into my face making me tempted to retreat back into the darkness. A few blinks and some squinting later my eyes had adjusted to the light. I looked down at myself; the housecoat I was wearing was ripped apart only leaving enough of it to hold onto my one arm and my shoulders, the muscle shirt I grabbed last minute was twisted tightly around my one arm underneath the remaining shreds of housecoat. My jeans on the other hand were nearly completely unsaved. I took off the shredded coat and unwound the shirt from my arm. On closer examination it was in fine condition so I put it on, the same could not be said for the coat. After I got myself into a condition that I could move freely in I turned back to the surprisingly quiet pink pony I had come here with. She was locking the door which we just came from with several different keys and chains. I shifted to look at the beaten down shed we had just left. “What is this for?” I asked “Oh nothing it’s just a littleshedfluttershysaidIcoulduse” she mumbled looking away to avoid eye contact. “ Aaaanyyyway lets go there so much to do and we should go see Rarity no, Apple Jack no, we should definitely see Twilight first” Pinkie bounced beside me then past me. I looked around the vivid green on the trees behind the shed and the brilliant clear blue sky above. As I turned around I saw the town of Ponyville in the distance just far enough to not be able to see any movement within the town. This world was amazing so much brighter and cleaner than my own, but it was more than that I had a strange feeling inside me… I felt… lighter. “Come on, Auron” Pinkie called back from ahead of me. I took a moment to soak in the magnificence of the new world.Speeding up my pace I caught up to where Pinkie was walking ahead of me. Her smile would have lit up the room if we hadn’t been outside in direct sunlight. “It’s good to see you’re feeling better pinkie” I genuinely commented. “mmmhmm I don’t know what was wrong with me but as soon as I came through the portal I was back to my usual Pinkie self and I’m doing especial great now that you’ll get to meet all my friends they're gonna love you” Pinkie’s voice picked back up to its normal hyperactive tone. I smiled it was good to see her back to normal I was really worried, even though I had only really met her earlier today the fact that I had known her from show made it seem like it had been a lot longer. oOo “And that’s when I said oatmeal are you cra oh we’re here” Pinkie cut off her story as we reached the entrance to the town. I was suddenly hit with massive tension about the fact that I, as human would just be walking right through the middle of Ponyville. That would be like an alien just strolling down the main sidewalk in a human city and was bound to cause trouble. “uh Pinkie have you thought of what everypony is going to think seeing something like me just walking through town” I asked her more than a bit worried but a touch exited that I was actually able to use the word “everypony” in a real situation. Just for an instant Pinkie’s face shifted to one of worry before it was back to her default smile “ Oh I’m sure will be great”. I was hardly reassured but continued walking. The moment I was in eye shot of the ponies of the town things got very quiet. I could feel the weight of their stares at me. I looked around. Almost every single pony within sight range had stopped whatever they were doing and were staring. Some with malice some with fear some with confusion even some who were just staring because their friend beside them was. To say I was uncomfortable would have been a terrible understatement, even Pinkie Pie was tense and she’s never uneasy. “Maybe we should see Rarity first” Pinkie whispered up to me and motioned to the nearby boutique. I followed her without question any chance to get out of the public’s piercing glare was welcome. Pinkie pushed the door open with her hoof and walked in I ducked under the doorway and followed through. The bell chimed notifying Rarity of potential customers. Rarity began her usual scripted greeting “Welcome to carousel boutique where everything is Oh Pinkie Pie what can I do fr” Rarity gasped and toppled into the mannequins and fabric behind her when her eyes drifted onto me. “Hey Rarity this is Auron he’s a human” Pinkie introduced me to the white pony without the slightest bit of discomfort. It never ceased to amaze me how rapidly she could change her mood. I tried to be as friendly as could. I crouched down to offer my hand in a handshake to her. Rarity nervously offered her hoof up in return. “Nice to meet you um.. Auron” I could see her begin to be less tense but she was definitely not at ease with the situation. Her eyes shifted over to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie I need to talk to you in private” “Okie Dokie Lokie” Pinky responded and followed Rarity’s lead to the back room. Rarity paused. “And Auron dear could you” She searched for the right word “just wait here for a moment and erm be careful” I was left alone in the boutique while they were talking. I sat down and took a look around me. The boutique had a round shape which would be quite uncommon for something in my world to be. The walls were a light purple as was the floor but at least half of the wall space around the room had a red curtain over it. I reached into my pocket to check my ipod’s time as I usually do when waiting for something. “4:00am” well that explains why I’m so tired. I looked out the window and saw that the sun was only just going down. I thought about what time that meant it would be here. “if its summer and it’s just getting dark so, it’s probably around 9:00pm here” I thought to myself. The door opened and the two mares walked out. Pinkie was her usual bubbly self and Rarity was drastically calmer than earlier and carried a look of determination on her face. “Pinkie Pie told me everything, and so I hear you may be in need of a disguise” Rarity asked as she walked up to me floating a measuring tape beside her. I opened my mouth to voice a response but pinkie answered for me with a “yup”. I stood up again as Rarity walked around me spinning the measuring tape every which way and getting increasingly worried. She would turn quickly to look at some of the piles of fabric she had some a table and looked back at me without any relief. “you’re pretty big dear… um I don’t think there’s anything in here that would help and even if it did you would only be a stylish uh whatever you are walking around Ponyville”. She stopped a moment and tapped her chin in thought. “Oh wait I know what would be just perfect follow me” Rarity proceeded to walked out the back door of the Boutique I followed behind her first and Pinkie Pie behind me. “Oh here’s that old thing” Rarity commented in front of an old wooden horse cart with a black tarp in the back. “It’s a crude disguise but a disguise nonetheless” Rarity sighed. Pinkie chimed in “You just hop in the back and I’ll pull you over to Twilight’s with that tarp no one with think anything we’re gonna be like spies” I obediently hopped into the back of the cart as Rarity levitated the tarp out and opened it up. “It’s was nice meeting you Auron I wish you luck with meeting Twilight I really wish I was able to do more” “Thanks for everything Rarity” I answered back to he, she paused a second with a puzzled expression. “Oh I didn’t know you could actually speak he he.. wait how do you know my name?” Before I could say anything back to her Pinkie interrupted. “well gotta go it’s getting dark bye” Pinkie pulled the cart away with me in it. The tarp was just over my shoulders as we got moving so I saw Rarity watch us go with an eyebrow raised. I pulled the tarp over my head to fully hide myself from the unknowing ponies. I guess Pinkie didn’t tell her “everything” after all.
Science and hospitalityView OnlineEquestria Gateway.comScience and hospitalityEquestria gateway.com Science and hospitality I sat quietly in the back of the cart as it rolled along the gravel trail. The darkness the tarp provided muffled most noise and left me alone with my thoughts. The fatigue of earlier had faded to a quiet numbness leaving my body reluctant to move but my mind highly alert. Of the many topics my mind swam around in I was left wondering what I would say to Twilight when I would meet her. Would I greet her like anyone else? Or perhaps it would be best to just keep quiet and let Pinkie take care of the situation. Before I could make a decision the cart stopped abruptly followed by a high pitched “we’re here!” from Pinkie. I pulled the tarp off of me and hopped out over the side of the cart, the small drop to the ground woke my body up a bit from it prior numbness. Pinkie Pie walked up to the door of the tree library and knocked. After a short wait the door opened. “Oh hi Pinkie Pie come in” Twilight casually invited Pinkie in unable to see me standing off to the side of the small doorway in the blackness of the night. “What brings you to visit at this time?” Twilight asked facing away from Pinkie as she walked back into the library. Pinkie motioned for me to follow her in or else I would not have come inside uninvited. “I wanted you to meet my new friend Auron” The Pinkie pony happily stated. “Auron? That’s a unusual name” Twilight voiced as she turned around to face where Pinkie and I were. She gasped and took a few steps backwards. This response was the same one Rarity had made and I figured that almost everyone er pony else would respond similarly, well except maybe Rainbow Dash. “WHAT IS THAT!?” Twilight shouted in panic. “He’s a Human” Pinkie casually answered. Twilight took a deep break to calm herself as she looked at Pinkie who stood with her usual happy smile. The fact that her friend was at ease around me encouraged her to be at ease as well. Her eyes moved upwards in thought. “A Human, hmmm I believe I recall reading about some of their kind in a cryptozoology book once” she mentioned as she walked up closer to inspect me. “Strange I was sure they were just an old pony’s tail, but you appear to be real” Twilight poked my leg with her hoof to verify that I was in fact there. I was relieved that she had reached calmness so quickly. She paced around me analyzing every aspect of what I was. Had I not been so tired I may have felt uncomfortable in the situation but instead all I did was yawn. Pinkie seemed to read my mind when she asked “Hey Twilight can Auron stay here for the night? My room isn’t really very big and I don’t want Mr and Mrs Cakes to be worried seeing as they are most likely already in bed”. Twilight halted behind me, I turned around to see how the request would go over. Twilight looked at Pinkie then to me and back. I saw her eyes flicker between worry and excitement as she thought about the request. “okay, he can stay here in the guest room” Twilight responded matter-of-factly “I look forward to being able to study him further and this will give me such an opportunity, follow me Auron” she walked towards the room beside her own I followed without any second thought. The idea of sleep was greatly welcomed at this time for me. “you can sleep in this bed… humans do sleep in beds don’t they?” I nodded to her as I sat down on the smaller than average bed. “Thank you Twilight for your hospitality” “It’s no problem Auron” She responded with a smile. I made a mental note to work to repay her tomorrow for this. The door shut as she left the room leaving the room only lit dimly blue by the moon. I overheard Twilight talking to Pinkie outside of the door. “Where did you find him?” “Oh well he sorta found me when I was in his dimension” “wait his dimension do you mean to tell me you went to a different dimension” “yup” “and how in Equestia did you manage that” “Well I found this book under some floorboards in this shed Fluttershy said I could use” “a book? Oh no… was this book called Grimoir-Osombra by any chance?” “ya that was the name howd you know?” “this is bad this is very bad that’s one of the darkest spellbooks none to pony kind” “well that doesn’t sound good” “How did you even cast something like that you’re an earth pony” “I donna I thought it was a cook book it said put salt in a circle with some chalk and uhh I had to make some funny shape with the chalk inside the circle and then some candles and then it said put something in the middle of my own choice so naturally I looked for a cupcake but I’d eaten the ones I brought so I looked around the shed for something” “Hmmm a spell that needs items to complete that even an earth pony could do” “Oh right I put a bone in the middle that I got from a pile of them in the corner” “YOU DID WHAT!” I passed out before I could hear the rest.
Shadows ablazeView OnlineEquestria Gateway.comShadows ablazeEquestria gateway.com Shadows ablaze The morning came and with it the light from the window passed through onto my closed eyelids encouraging me to begin waking up. Before I had even opened my eyes my body felt an unusualness of the surroundings. My eyes shot open and I immediately sat up, my mind swam over my thoughts to find the memories of where I was. The memories of the past day reappeared and filled my mind putting out the flames of the past confusion like a warm current. I sat down against the headboard of the bed and let my mind drift over the dreamlike events of yesterday that appeared to be not a dream at all. I suddenly remembered that I had been sleeping at Twilights house and the guilt of having done nothing at all to repay her hit my like a punch to the gut. I sat up from the bed and my mind began its usual morning checklist. I would usually take a shower first but… I thought to myself looking around, “I don’t even think ponies have showers” I thought to myself as I scratched my head in thought. I paused as I realized that my hair had not become oily as it normally would after this amount of time. “That doesn’t make any sense” I thought to myself. I’m a little insane about hygiene as it is something I pride myself on but do to the circumstance it appeared I was clean. I chuckled to myself dismissing the event as just another weird thing to happen today and compared to being in an alternate dimension with talking technicolored ponies it was quite small. I opened the small door to exit the room, ducking to get underneath the smaller-than-my-world rounded door frames. I looked into the center of the library where some dishes were set out with some food that seemed to resemble bacon and a small pile of flowers. On closer inspection the bacon was made out some sort of fried hay. I brought my eyes up from the food to see the two ponies that sat in front of each dish; Twilight and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was first to notice me after I had taken a few steps towards the table. “AURRRYYYYYY!!” Pinkie Pie exuberantly called out to me. I cringed a bit at her volume. I was kind of flattered aside from being deafened that Pinkie had already given me a pet name. Twilight caught onto my discomfort as she turned to Pinkie requesting that she speak a little softer. Pinkie whispered back to both of us “sssooorrryyy” “Good Moring” I greeted them with a smile. My smile was reciprocated by Twilight and met with one five times as big from Pinkie. “Can I get you something to eat er..” As Twilight asked she cut herself-off with another question. “What do humans eat?” I didn’t want to be picky but a pile of flowers and fried hay wasn’t the most appealing thing for me to eat. I also didn’t want to lead on that humans are omnivorous, since I didn’t need them with any more reason to fear me. “Do you have an apple?” I asked, deciding it was the safest thing to find and the first thing I could think of that both humans and ponies ate. “Sure” Twilight responded and at once her horn began to glow. There was a small burst of light and an apple floated towards me. It was fascinated seeing magic like that in real life. Rarity had used magic yesterday around me but I was far to tired to really appreciate it. I put out my hands to receive the apple. As it floated down into them I could feel its gravity come back to it as the aura faded. I stared for a little too long at the apple lavishing in the amazement of seeing their magic first hand. “I just teleported it from the kitchen there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it” Twilight tried to assure me. “Sorry, there is nothing wrong with it I’ve just never seen magic before in real life, you see in my world, we don’t have any magic” “Ya, that’s right they have Electricity over there” Pinkie added. “Electrici-what?” Twilight asked. I thought of how best to try to explain what electricity was to someone who had never seen or used it before. Luckily simplification of things is kind of a talent of mine. “We harness energy from things like explosions or natural processes and use that energy to power many different machines; it’s like powering Pinkie’s flying machine with energy from your river that was stored” “Hmm interesting, I’ll definitely research a spell to use natural energies in the future but there are more important problems at hoof” Twilight responded. “Pinkie, you said you had strange spontaneous symptoms soon after entering his world right?” Twilight asked Pinkie to which Pinkie nodded with an unfitting enthusiasm for being deathly ill. “That makes it hypothetically feasible that you too will experience strange effects here” Twilight explained to me. It made sense and it would explain why my skin wasn’t exuding any oil. “Have you been experiencing any anomalies in your anatomy?” Twilight asked me. I had no problem understanding her use of big words, I found it actually quite cute how she would say it and then wait a second expecting me to ask her what she meant. “Nothing serious or damaging, I’ve had a general feeling of being a bit lighter as well as my skin has seemingly stopped exuding any excess oil, it seem to be only positive changes” I answered her. “Your skin lets out oil? So you’re like frog in your world and you get all shiny for swimming and that’s why you aren’t covered in fur?” Pinkie questioned with a childlike demeanor. “Um no Pinkie its very different humans are not amphibians” I replied. Pinkie began to open her mouth to probably add another innocently curious question but Twilight cut her off. “Still we should get you back to your own dimension as soon as possible who knows what will happen if a creature from another dimension is away from its origin for too long” I shrugged in agreement, though I wanted to stay here I’d rather not die or cause some sort of rift that would destroy Ponyville or my own world. “Pinkie you’ll have to take him back to the portal” Twilight stated. “awwww, but he never even got a chance to meet Fluttershy or Dashie or” Twilight cut Pinkie off with an authoritative stare. “oh all right” Pinkie frowned as she walked out of the library looking back to me to follow her. oOo The walk to the shed was quiet and rather fast. Pinkie was a little sulky about not being able to do what she had planned with me coming here but she knew that she had to do what was right. An additional factor that kept her quiet was trying to keep off the main paths and not draw attention to me. We reached the deserted old shed which was barely bigger than an outhouse since most of it was underground. The door was blue, at least it was at one point, between the paint peeling, the weather discoloring it and the wood itself starting to decay away it was hard to tell. The rest of the shed was in even worse condition I don’t even think it was painted. As we walked closer a few tiny flecks of red paint left clinging to the decrepit wood panels revealed that it was in fact painted at one time. Pinkie began undoing the many keys and chains that held the door shut. I have no idea where she got the keys from. It took about two minutes to finish opening the door since the chain got caught on the hinge and some of the keys were reluctant to work on the ancient locks. The door swung open. Behind it was nothing but black and a little bit of stairs that could be seen leading downward. I followed Pinkie down the steps and noticed a few unnerving things. First Pinkie was really surefooted and comfortable in this dark shed that she apparently just borrowed from Fluttershy, as if she had walked down here many times before. The second thing was that there was a heavy nearly suffocating smell coming from somewhere in the darkness of this place. Come to mention it I had no idea how big this place was since the darkness made it impossible to tell if the walls were a few feet away or hundreds. The darkness of this place swallowed almost all of my senses and it got me thinking. Ponies’ eyes are far bigger than humans’ so not only would they have keener eyesight they could potently see exceptionally well in the dark. For many others these realizations might leave them unnerved them but to me it only made me curious. Curious about what this place is and curious about how much about these ponies the show didn’t show. “The Portal is over here Auron” Pinkie mentioned in an uncharacteristically neutral tone. I didn’t realize I lost track of where she had gone while thinking as I looked toward the voice. I could see her slightly lit up by the low red glow of the portal. I could have sworn the portal was kind of blue before. I walked toward the portal that would take me to where I belonged. My steps felt cold on the stone floor. Pinkie stopped me as I walked past her. “Hey I’m gonna miss you Auron” Pinkie spoke with some tears in her eyes. Though she and I had only met about a day ago it felt like a lot longer, for me that would be because I knew who she was for two years prior but she seemed to share the feeling. I could guess that would be just because that’s how she is; it’s just part of her personality to get really attached to a friend quickly. I thought for a moment of how much she did for Cranky after just meeting him. I crouched down to her level and put a hand on her head. “I’m going to miss you too Pinkie, this is just how things have to be” I stood up again and walked toward the portal. Suddenly the portal that was only a few feet from me started flashing violently. Within an instant brightly glowing tendrils of energy shot out the portal but not toward me like before. At least twenty translucent tendrils shot out, then as quick as they did they all shot back toward the middle of the portal. The portal itself imploded and became a brightly glowing orb about the size of an apple. I braced myself for whatever would happen next. The ball of energy erupted with blinding white light like a bomb and I flew backwards. I could have sworn I saw a field of blue in front of me for a second before I crashed into the far wall and blacked out. Within a moment I was woken up by Pinkie pushing on me. I groggily sat up from against the wall a put a hand to the back of my head which took a large part of the impact. I thought to myself for a moment, this was the second time I’d blacked out in only about a day and a half, that can’t be healthy. I shook my head back to the world at hand. Pinkie’s mouth was moving rapidly but I didn’t hear anything. Slowly the ringing in my ears faded and sound started coming back to me. “ARE YOU OKAY WHAT HAPPENED HOW MANY HOOVES I AM HOLDING UP DO YOU NEED A DOCTOR!” Pinkie blurted out to me in panic. She had probably said that before but I hadn’t heard her. “I’m alright, kinda” I tried to reassure her. My own voice sounded weird to me I guess the ringing in my head hadn’t faded completely. I looked down at my hand that I had just taken from the back of my head. It was red. That was blood. “Oh that’s not good” I thought to myself out loud. Next thing I thought, how the hell can I see my hand wasn’t this place incredibly dark. I nonchalantly turned my head to look around. Oh fire. OH SHIT FIRE. The whole room was engulfed in flame except for around three feet from where Pinkie and I were. “GET UP WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!” Pinkie shouted at me. I managed to drag myself up and staggered toward the doorway which luckily was within the three feet that wasn’t ablaze. Pinkie tried to help support me but due to the height difference it really didn’t work. The rest was a blur I think I recall Pinkie saying we should go to Twi’s right away or something. I don’t even know why. oOo I woke up in a bed somewhere. Looking around I recognized the surroundings. I was back at Twilight’s in the guest room. The only difference was that the bed was white and something was over one of my eyes. I tried to sit up but my body wasn’t listening very well and all that happened was a minor tensing and a pitiful slight movement upward before falling back to the bed. “I guess I was in worse shape than I thought.” I compromised to just listening to what was around me. “and that’s when the portal just EXPLODED well not really BUT THEN it EXPLODED AGAIN if it wasn’t for some weird blue shield of something we would have both been like exploded.” I heard Pinkie explaining to Twilight. I couldn’t tell if they were in the same room or not maybe they just had the door open and were in the main library. “A blue shield hmm” I thought to myself. I think I recall that too, but where did it come from.
No Pain No GainView OnlineEquestria Gateway.comNo Pain No GainEquestria Gateway.com No Pain No Gain I laid still on the bed; not by my own choice, while I listened to the faint sounds that surrounded me in the room. The light that filled the room looked to be morning light so that meant I must of been out all night. I scanned over my body. I could kind of move my neck, but that was about it I couldn't feel my arms or legs. That was a bit worrisome so I struggled to lift my head up and look to see if I was missing anything. Well that was one bit of good news, according to the shapes I could see under the sheets I still had all my limbs. I sighed as I put my head back down onto the pillow. As my head hit the pillow the bed made a little creak. Within a second Twilight had dashed into the room. “You're finally awake!” Twilight exuberantly commented. I thought to myself, finally? How long was I out anyway. I attempted to voice my question but no words came out of my mouth. “Oh sorry I’ll take off that anesthetic spell now so you can talk” Twilight apologized. Her horn began to glow and and immediately after a pink glow peeled off my body like a blanket. Within a moment I could feel my body again and with that came some slightly unpleasant burning and aching; whether it was from injuries or from being still too long I wasn't sure. I sat up and cleared my throat so I could speak. “How long have I been out and, what happened exactly?” “Well according to Pinkie who's been telling me everyday, the portal exploded and threw you and her across the room into a wall as well as lighting everything on fire.” Twilight answered passing a look to Pinkie who had come to stand beside her. “You passed out soon after leaving the “shed”, Pinkie ran to get me to help carry you to safety as soon as she could, you had quite a plethora of injuries” As she was about to mentioned injuries I could see Pinkie cringe. “You had two compound fractures in each of your legs, your left arm was severely dislocated, the elbow of that arm was severely hyperextended, you had three broken ribs, first and second degree burns on your torso, about twenty different lacerations all over your body and a concussion” Twilight concluded reading the clipboard that sat on the table beside the bed. I stared mouth agape at what Twilight with no words to comment. After a brief pause for me to try to take in what I had just heard I wondered how Pinkie fared since as she was in almost the same area. “How did Pinkie fare?” “Pinkie only had a few minor bruises and a little bit of singed hair. The mysterious force field protected her from the brunt of it.” Pinkie nodded in agreement. I sighed in relief that she was alright as well as thankful for the mysterious force field. “Oh I almost forgot, you've been unconscious for three days.” Twilight added. “three days...” I repeated to myself. It was a lot to take in. My way home was destroyed my body was in ruins and I’ve been out of it for three days. I guess it could have been a lot worse though. “So I guess you've been taking care of me all this time?” I questioned Twilight more as a small talk than for information because who else would have helped or been able to help a human. “well yes. but it wasn't all me I got some help from a few friends. Your anatomy is quite different from equine so I couldn't simply use healing spells or take you to the hospital I had to find another way. Conveniently we have somewhat of an expert on humans in Ponyville and she was very eager to help at the agreement that you’d meet with her when you’re better. I was also able to borrow some healing and aesthetic spell tomes from nurse redheart and with a little tweaking to account for your different anatomy they were able to work great.” Twilight concluded her briefing and gave me a moment to digest the information. “Thank you very much for the care I really don’t know how I can repay you, but what is my condition now?” I asked while looking around at my body. I didn’t feel too bad apart from a little achy the burning had subsided. “well actually you’re almost one hundred percent recovered now.” Twilight answered with a smile. “what? with all the injuries, I’m recovered in three days?” I questioned in bewilderment. “yup, everything worked out without complication.” Twilight read the astonishment in my expression. “Don’t people recover at this rate in your world?”. I chuckled a bit “well no, not even close, even with the medical care we have we have to mostly wait for the body to heal on its own and assist in the basic ways of stopping blood loss, infection and pain.” I cracked a little smirk. “Magic really does have some amazing uses, I’m sure glad I was here when I got this injury”. I pulled back the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. Upon revealing my legs I noticed that the pants that I wore were not my jeans. A moment after I realized I was not wearing my shirt ether. I cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Twilight. “where are my clothes” oOo A little over a three hours had past between breakfast and Twilight’s physical. Fifty push ups, around one hundred and fifty of various crunches, an abundance of running and a plethora of magical scans and I was deemed “one hundred percent”. It wasn’t a problem for me to do any of the exercises, after all it was my daily routine back in my world to do more than this plus my lighter body in this world made it all the easier. Pinkie had headed out after Twilight told her that a Glad-you’re-better party wouldn’t be the best idea especially since we don’t want most ponies to even know I was here to reduce panic. Though she did make sure to drop off some cupcakes for us. I’m not one for pastry but they were incredible. During the days I was out Rarity had copied the design of my clothes that were partially destroyed in the explosion and made me new ones. The pants were black and made of a slightly lighter and more flexible denim material while the shirt was a white muscle shirt made out of what I assume was cotton. I personally preferred the new clothes. I never really did like my cheap little black nylon like muscle shirt anyway but the fact that it was Rarity-made gave the clothes a little extra sentimental value. Twilight had teleported us prior to beginning to a large grass filled field so we would not be disturbed by wandering ponies. Teleporting kind of felt like if you were to move somewhere so fast that your insides never got a chance to catch up. I stumbled a bit at first but was able to get my stomach to settle and my head to stop spinning after a few moments. “Okay one last test” Twilight spoke with that type of leader like ambition I’d heard her use before. One thing was different however, she had an devious little smirk on her face. I turned to Twilight and cocked an eyebrow in question of what was to come. “Well, I’ve done some work studying your blood and anatomy and found something quite extraordinary” she paused for effect. “You have cells in your blood that almost completely match the cells only found in unicorns.” “Which means what exactly?” I asked the plotting little unicorn. “It means that You are the one who made the blue forcefield that protected you and Pinkie” Twilight smirked and looked away from me and into the sky in thought. “cool” I commented. What else can you really say to that. “And now we are going to get you to make another one” Twilight spoke as she began to turn to face me again. “How are we going to...” I was cut off by noticing Twilight’s horn begin to shimmer and her eyes start to glow. She wouldn’t. A fraction of a second later a blast of Pink energy flew by my head and smashed into a tree at the edge of the field. Had I not dodged to the side I would have been hit directly in the head by the laser. “are you trying to kill me?” I asked with a hint of sarcastic annoyance. She simply responded “nope” while at the same time charging her horn up again for what I’d learned would be another shot. I turned my torso sideways and avoided this laser aimed for my chest. There was no paused in between as immediately another laser shot towards me. I dropped my body into a lunged position and dashed to avoid the coming barrage. Running made me a harder target but I still had to jump and duck at times to avoid the projectiles. I couldn’t hear the blasts crash against the trees behind me at the edge of the field, which would probably be due to the distance. I had no idea how long she could keep this up or why she was doing it all I had time to think about was how to dodge the blasts. Just when I thought I’d found a rhythm to her shots a root caught my foot. I toppled over onto one knee and was directly in the path of four of the shimmering magical projectiles. I put up my hands in instinct to defend my self. What a strange turn of events that would lead to my death I thought in the moment. Suddenly my hands began to glow a blue hue and a field of energy released and hardened into a bubble like shield in front of me. The projectiles crashed into it and vanished into the air like their lights had been extinguished. Soon after the projectiles were stopped the shield faded and my hands stopped their glow. “There we go, I knew you could do it” Twilight smiled at me as if she had not even been there when she was trying to kill me. “Okay what the fuck was that about” I retorted with my past annoyance starting to burn with embers of anger. I may be a calm person but I’m not overly fond of attempts to kill me. “fuck? I’m not sure what that means but I was just getting you to use the shield again” Twilight innocently responded. Had she not been so darn cute I may have been able to stay mad but my anger quickly fizzled out. “by trying to kill me?” I questioned with a sarcastically raised eyebrow. “no, I told you before I wasn’t trying to kill you. These are just light beams, completely harmless, look” Twilight sponded firing a smaller blast at my chest. The beam hit and faded without me even feeling it, similar to a laser pointer. I felt a little stupid in assuming the unicorn in a kingdom built around kindness that had nursed me back to health would try to kill me. “Sorry about that, I overreacted I should have known you meant no harm” I apologised. “Oh not at all I meant for you to respond that way. Lyra told me that humans had a lot of warfare in their history so a natural response to being shot at would be to protect themselves or dodge. You actually dodged really well by the way” Twilight complemented. I didn’t know whether to be a little ticked that she manipulated me, happy about a compliment or impressed that she could understand and use my cultural past on me with so little time to know about it. Wait a sec Lyra? She was the expert on humans that Twilight talked about. I can’t believe that my worlds fandom was actually right. I opened my mouth a few times while I thought almost making a comment but then closing it revoking any sound in my loss for words. “Well played Twilight, well played” I chuckled back to her. Twilight smiled at that. She wasn’t called the smartest unicorn without reason. I wonderd if she summoned the root I tripped on too. “So what happens now?” I asked Twilight as she walked up next to me. “Well tomorrow we are going to teach you some magic, but right now” Twilight yawned. “We should call it a night”. I looked into the sky that was now darkening. I really didn’t think we’d been out this long. Twilight looked up as her horn began to glow. Based on her movements and the current time I suspected she was casting the teleportation spell. I braced myself and the pink energy enveloped us both. Within an instant we were back in the library. I staggered a bit on the landing and my head spun. It was going to take a little bit before I got used to teleporting. “I’ve had Spike replace the medical bedding for some more regular ones so you should be more comfortable” Twilight mentioned as we walked up the steps to her own room. “See you tomorrow” Twilight called softly in a yawn before she was out of my site. As I walked into the now rather familiar guest quarters I thought for a moment. In my time here I hadn’t actually seen Spike at all. “I mean I’ve been here other late at night, early morning or unconscious so that would make sense but.” I mumbled to myself as I got into the bed. “Could Twilight be intentionally keeping him from me? to protect him from me or to stop him from being jealous”. “No that wouldn’t make much sense she had no control over when I showed up or when I left to go to the portal” I thought as I put my head on the pillow. “well I guess she kind of had control over the latter but I’m being ridiculous about that, what would even be the point”. My eyes were shut and my mind began to drift to sleep. Author's Note This one has a slight swear sorry
curiosity can lead to strange thingsView OnlineEquestria Gateway.comcuriosity can lead to strange thingsEquestria Gateway.com curiosity can lead to strange things It was 2:00 am on Saturday night, I was in my dorm of the college. The dim computer screen and my silver lamp gently lit the room enough to be able to see. I was bored of the game I was playing so decided to wander the internet in search of something to entertain me. As I was a Brony that would most likely be something pony related. *Click* Suddenly an add for a site I’d never seen before called Equestriagateway.com appeared. It was unlike me to wonder on a popup site but since it was late, I was bored and it sounded pony related I figured “Why not”. The site was simple but elegant. It had no buttons no pictures but one in the center of the screen. It had a smooth light hearted pink title which read “Equestria Gateway” written in a font style very similar to the actual show. My eyes were drawn to the picture in the center of the screen, a simple animation of ripped fabric and inside it was some equestrian scenery slowly drifting back and forth, like looking through a camera that was on a chain swinging gently in a breeze. Below the picture was a button that said “click here for a pony to be delivered”. It looked like an obvious scam add but as I was bored anyway and I could just close the window if something started trying to install to my computer so I felt there was nothing to lose. *click* The screen flickered and I heard an unnatural buzzing coming from my screen. *THWOMP* Within a blink of an eye a pink form flew from the screen over me and dropped onto the carpeted blue floor just behind my chair. If I hadn’t been sitting sideways from my computer with my legs on my bed it would have crashed into me. I slid back on my chair to get a fully view of the form. My mouth stuck open in utter shock and confusion. It was a small creature, all pink though its hair was darker than its body. I got off my chair and knelt down beside the unmoving animal to get a better look. Its body was about three feet long from head to tail and it may have been around four feet standing but I couldn’t tell for sure in its current face down position on the carpet. The size of its head caught my attention the most it was nearly as big as its body. Its body was covered in a smooth fine fur that I could only compare to a short haired cat. Its head and tail sported a much thicker curled hair that was quite large. This, this was a pony but not just any; I think it was Pinkie Pie. Every logical thinking part in my head fought me on how this could happen, it didn’t make any sense it just flew out of my screen. I tried to get my head back to the real world to the little animal in front of me. Its body slowly moved up and down as it was breathing. I moved myself to the front of it and bent down to try to see its face. I couldn’t see much since its… her hair er mane was over any of it that wasn’t faced into the carpet. It gasped loudly and jumped onto its legs I gasped with it and I jumped backwards hitting against the wall behind me. It stood idly for a moment eyes huge and wide staring at me. I was sitting against the wall legs in front of me, completely transfixed at the massive blue eyes looking at me my mouth semi open in shock. “Hi there” Who are you. What are you” Are you gona eat me, I don’t taste very good even though I eat lots of cupcakes but well I’ve never eaten myself so I guess I wouldn’t know but still don’t eat me” The Pinkie fearfully spoke without a breath in-between. “I’m not going to eat you” I responded automatically though I could probably of worded it softer if I had thought about what I was saying first. “Oh Good” The Pink creature breathed out relaxing a bit. “OOOOO OOO your uh..” The little Pony fought for the words “a Brooooony.. Ya a Brony! That’s what they’re called I told my friends you were real every time I get a burning ear I said. That’s when a Brony’s watching nopony really knew what I meant I didn’t even really know but they didn’t really question much cuz they know my pinkie sense is never wrong”. “But I’d never thought I’d see one with my own eyes oooooooooo” She bounced around me looking at me from all different angles trying to decipher what to think of me. “And you can talk too and can you stand or do you just sit and move like that I mean I never saw a brony before I just kinda knew that they were there and my pinkie senses they just told me “yup that thing right there is a Brony pinkie” and I was so excited” She paused semi crouched looking like a cat about to pounce at a bird, awaiting my response. “Um actually I’m called a human” I corrected and I stood up revealing my height and the ability to stand. I could have just said “yes I could stand” or anything else would have sounded better but sometimes when a transdimensional pony just jumps through your computer you get a little dazed and at a loss for words. “wooooooohhhh you really big well not really that big but really tall and you don’t have any hooves of nothing” she looked up in awe and then down to my hands and feet. “What are those things how do they work I’ve never seen anything with limbs like that in Equestria well except for maybe griffons but those are different, speaking of Equestria where are we?” I crouched down to her level to look at her face while I spoke “well first these are called hands you uh.. hold things and pick things up with them” I raised my hand in front of her and moved my fingers around in explanation. “ and you are on earth… uh Canada to be exact” I responded to her other question. “WAAAwww cool so you can like hold something in each hand and speak all at the same time that sooo COOL” Pinkie ecstatically commented “oh and uh earth er Canada I’ve never heard of that place before I wonder how I would get back?” She looked around the room and spotted the swirling purple energy spiraling out from my computer screen. “OH I guess that would probably work” She explained as she pointed at the portal. I shifted and looked to where she pointed her hoof and in awe of the swirling portal projecting from my desktop. The portal swirled and made a sphere like shape a few feet from the desktop and a little less than a foot above the ground. The tail that fed the portal from my desktop detached from the screen and joined the portal that softly floated toward the center of the room. “But I’m in not real rush to leave there are sooo many cool things here” She spun around. “Like you” She smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back at the bright little pony. “You’re a Human and you’re a Brony how does that work OH and where’s all your fur and OH OH is that all part of you or are you wearing like clothes and do all humans do that and what’s this and and WHATS THAT and are you like soft or are you like hard like a turtle OH OH and can I touch you?” She bounded around my room and pointed all over and then stopped on the last question. “uh that didn’t come out right” she shifted her eyes to the ceiling in thought. I struggled to grasp at all that she just asked me “Okay first I’m a human just like you are a Pony and a Brony is..” I paused for a moment to think how to word it not wanting it to sound a creepy as a human who watches ponies. “a Brony is what we call humans who like Ponies like you” in hindsight that didn’t sound too much better than what I was trying not to say. “OHHHHH sooo YOU LIKE ME! YEY! WE can be friends I’ve never had a friend human and I’m friends with EVERYPONY” Pinkie exclaimed while bouncing in excitement. “OH and do you have like a name cuz I can’t just be calling my new friend human that be like you calling me Pony and I’m Pinkie Pie” Pinkie eagerly asked and sat down to wait for a response looking inquisitively at me her huge blue eyes filled with curiosity. “I.. er My names Auron” I responded. “orrr.. Aur. Auron Okay got it I’m Pinkie Pie” She grabbed my hand and shook it rapidly Her hooves were not visibly differentiable from her leg but I could feel where her hoof ended and her leg began. Her Fur extended down her arm but not onto her hoof. the fur was very smooth to the touch and her hoof was of the exact same color as it. In natural response to the handshake I closed my hand to grasp her on hoof and tame down the frenzied hand shake. She froze and stared at my hand that was gently closed three quarters of the way around her hoof. “woh its so different” Pinkie exclaimed in interest as she touched her hoof to my arm to examine it. “Its like soft but smooth and soooo…” she searched for a way to try and explain it. “flexible like a... well I’ve never seen anything like it” She lifted my relaxed arm and hand up to her face examine it. “and its all like hairless accept I guess for these little tiny hairs. She rubbed her face up against my hand and palm to examine it further. She let out a little squee and closed her eyes in a big smile with my hand against her face. Her eyes shot open again “SO what’s this?” She pounced onto me knocking me over and kneeling. Her hoof rested upon my chest over the soft gray housecoat I was wearing. The fabric was partially open so my chest could be seen. “It’s called a house coat, its a type of clothing, kind of like the saddles you wore in the winter or a dress” I explained to the pink pony sitting on me. “Well it’s not cold sooo… OH! is there a PARTY here and you’re dressed up for it! Can I come I LOVE PARTIES!” I tried to calm down the ecstatic pony “no pinkie it’s, there isn’t a party unfortunately, it’s just how humans do things” She stopped and looked at me with a confused expression. I tried to think of someway I could relate it to something she’d know. “It’s kind of like in Canterlot all the ponies are always wearing clothes just going about their daily lives” Pinkie’s face changed to one of understanding “okie dokie loki… but wait how do you know about Canterlot I thought we weren’t in equestrian?” she questioned confused again. “well… here every time twilight makes a letter to Celestia and some other occasions we are able to see it in an episode of My Little Pony” I tried to explain. Pinkie’s face grew even more confused. “you see us? Episode? My Little Pony?” Pinkie Pie questioned with her head tilted and one eyebrow up. “here I’ll try to show you come sit up here” I pointed to the bed beside my computer as I carefully moved around the portal and sat down in my chair in front of my computer.