Walking the Path

The pony in front of me backed away, looking worried. I suppose it’s natural to feel fear when encountering two cyborgs (Have I mentioned that? No? Well, I’ll explain later.) and a robot, all combat-hardened. Still, I don’t like feeling like a threat. I clenched my rifle, but didn’t point it anywhere.

“Wait. Wait, I’m just as scared as you are. But we have to talk. We have to communicate.” I blurt out. Rather awkward to say that, but I tried to think of something. It also struck me that I had no idea if she would comprehend verbal English. Of course, I did see written English a whiles back, so whatever. Parallel cultures are weird like that. Rex is looking hostile. “Woah, Rexie. Don’t be mean to strangers.”

It does seem to reassure her. She seems to ready herself, and speaks.

“What are you?”

I paused, trying to react.

“Err, human. Homo sapiens, scientifically. I guess you might not know what a human is, but I am one. But, uh, what… what are you?”

“I’m- well, I’m an earth pony!”

“All of you? Ones with horns and… wings?”

“No,” she sighed, “a pony without a horn or wings is an earth pony.”

“Oh. Well, I suppose this is… first contact with an alien race? Is it? You would call me an alien, right? I don’t think I’m from around here.”

“An alien? I suppose. Wait… why are you here? Are you an invader?”

“What? No! I didn’t mean to end up here. I was just minding my business, when I just got… teleported somehow. And here I am. Look. Don’t be afraid, or hostile, or anything. I’m not a bad guy. I don’t have any reason to attack you, or any other… pony.”

“Okay? So how do you speak Equestrian?”

“I’m speaking English! I don’t know! Just some reason, our languages are the same! And, well, look, my current goal is to find some local authority so I can figure out what’s going on. I think that would be in Ponyville over there.”

“Sigh,” the mare speaks, seemingly more exasperated than terrified or suspicious, “I guess I’ll take you down there. Ponyville has a princess that you can deal with. Just don’t cause any trouble, and I promise she’ll deal fairly with you. C’mon.”

This pony starts trotting down the road to the village, and I, somewhat bemused at these sudden shocks, follow her. She starts speaking.

“So you’re saying you just teleported?”

“Yes! I don’t how or why, but we found ourselves transported a ways back. I certainly did not purposely come here with hostile intent.”

“O-kay. Now, what’s the deal with your dog?”

“Rex? Mechanical augmentation. Thanks to all those machine bits, he’s smarter, stronger, and can live for centuries. I’m not his first owner, you see.”

I added, “You’re reacting surprisingly well, considering I’m an unknown, frightening creature carrying deadly weapons. With two dangerous companions too.”

The little conversation cut off as we came closer to the town. And now that I am in proximity, the residents had seen me. One or tocolorful equines retreated, locking down their homes or running off down the street. But most of Ponyville’s population just stands there, half petrified and half bewildered by this strange arrival. Rather apathetic, relatively speaking. That was more welcoming than I would have expected, considering the circumstances.

I called out. “Hello? I’m not from around here. Can you lead me to where the princess dwells?” Then I heard something coming over to me fast. In almost an instant, SHE arrived. Pink fur. Pinker mane and tail. And the biggest, cheeriest smile I have ever seen, so wide it looked painful.

“Hi! I’ve never seen anything like you in town! But I heard you coming so I came to give a welcome! So hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I’m giving you a big welcome to Ponyville!” she says in a hyper, almost sugary voice. Before I could react, there was a whole insane song and dance number in front of me; she even had some kind of colorful welcome cart thing! It baked cake and threw out confetti, like something out of a circus.

Unable to speak, I slowly walked over and took some pieces of the cake and stuck it in my mouth. Light, fluffly, and sweet. The flavor was what I’d imagined a proper cake would taste like, not those horrible disgusting Fancy Lads cream pies. I turned to her.

“Well, thanks kid. You can bake well. I appreciate such great hospitality. But I’m here for a purpose. I’m trying to get some kind of audience with a princess she” pointing to the mare that had met me, “told me of. Can you help me?”

“Definitely! Princess Twilight is one of my best friends! She lives in the library a short whiles away! It’s actually built in a giant tree, but I don’t know how they made it without killing the-”

“Woah girl,” I said, holding up a hand, “you can talk to me later. Can you take me to the library?”

“Certainly! It’s right down that street!” she spoke, “Follow me!”

So the three of us started off in that direction. There were also a few fascinated villagers who were concerned enough to start following us on our way.

“As I was saying- wait, what’s your name, miss?”

“Sunny Days.”

“Thanks. As I was saying, you pony folk seem surprising calm considering that I’m not something you’ve seen before- let alone looking very dangerous. Yet you two especially stay calm and don’t seem too perturbed, taking things in stride.”

“Sigh. I guess it’s just all the strange things that seem to be attracted to this town. Chaos gods, ravenous hordes of bugs, odd beings from all over the planet. You’re not as shocking as you’d think.” She sighs, seeming resigned.

“Gee, my life gets rather bizarre too. I guess I’m not alone.”

Pinkie joins in. “You see, the other time a long time ago we showed undue fear to a newcomer simply because she was different. I guess some of us learned a less- oh, hey! There’s the library!”