Steven stares into the sky in disbelief. 'What just happened?' Steven thinks. He mutters to himself, "The sun just...there's no way..."
"Whoa, did it just talk?" says that same raspy voice from earlier.
Steven turns his head toward the source of the voice and notices a multicolored...no... "No. Nonononononono. That isn't...pegasus...pony..." says Steven bewildered. He looks around himself and sees six ponies, what could only be a baby dragon, and what appears to be a mixture of many different species. He suddenly realizes that it is a draconequus. "I s-suppose that c-confirms my s-suspicions..." Steven mutters rather quickly.
"It did talk!" yells the multicolored pony. "Twilight, how can it talk? What is it?"
The pony called Twilight thinks for a few seconds. "I'm not sure, Rainbow, but it doesn't appear to be hostile." She turns to Steven. "What are you? How can you talk? More importantly, where did you come from?"
Steven sits bolt upright, looks Twilight straight in her eyes and, gaining a bit of confidence at being declared 'not hostile,' says, "I'm...I'm a human. Humans can talk."
Twilight looks utterly confused. "A human? Um, sorry sir, uh, miss, but what IS a human?"
Steven laughs at being addressed this way. He had forgotten that they didn't know what gender he was. He notices a few questioning looks at this sudden outburst though. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that you had no way of knowing what my gender was," he says. This gets a look of approval and a sigh of relief from Twilight. "I'm male. Er, stallion? I'm a guy, anyway." Some of them giggle at his confused statement.
Twilight, finished with her giggling, says, "Male is fine, sir. Now, what is a human?"
Steven takes the time to explain what a human is while the others listen attentively, although Rainbow seems to be nodding off slightly. When he explains about hands and sticks his out palms up, however, Rainbow quickly leans in to get a closer look. Several minutes are passed with "oohs" and "ahhhs" until Steven finally finishes explaining about some of the various parts of a human and what a human is exactly. After he is finished, he stands up and introduces himself. "My name is Steven. Pleased to meet you all, if not a bit awkwardly." He already knows all of their names but asks as to avoid arousing suspicion, "What are your names? I caught yours," he points to Twilight, "and yours," he points to Rainbow. "Twilight and Rainbow, right?" They nod silently. Steven looks around at the rest of the group.
A tannish orange pony trots forward and holds out a hoof. "Mah name's Applejack, pleased ta meet ya Steven."
Steven shakes her hoof with his hand which results in another round of "oohs" from some of them.
The rest of them proceed to introduce themselves. Steven 'learns' their names one by one, eventually counting off Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Discord the draconequus (who conjured cotton candy out of thin air for him), Spike the dragon, and the albeit timid Fluttershy. However, he can't help but feel he is missing one of them. At about that time, he gets knocked off his feet by a mysterious pink blur. He looks up to find Pinkie giving him one of her famous hugs.
Pinkie releases him and says in rapid succession, "Hiya! I'm Pinkie Pie, but you can just call me Pinkie! So, anyway, I was thinking, I want you to be my friend, but you can't be my friend if I don't know you, but I kinda know you now, I mean, I know everypony around here, but I guess you're not really a pony or from around here, but I was wondering, will-you-be-my-friend?" she finishes blinking at him and smiling big.
Steven blinks and tries to process what Pinkie just said. He had seen this greeting coming but had hoped it would involve a little less dirt. He admits to himself that while Pinkie doesn't look it, she is quite strong. He blinks again and notices Pinkie still standing over him, smiling. He carefully says, "Well, I don't know..." Pinkie's bottom lip suddenly starts quivering as she gives him her saddest face. He then smiles and laughs. "Of course I will be your friend Pinkie," he says as she instantly gains her grin again, "and you know what I would like more than anything in the world?" Pinkie cocks her head to the side. He gestures her to lean in closer as to whisper it in her ear. She leans in while he cups one of his hands around his mouth. Amused, he slowly whispers the magic words in her ear.
"A party."
You would have thought that the world had exploded...twice, so they say. All Steven could see right then was a bunch of confetti, a pink blur which had to be Pinkie, and a cannon—and then more confetti. However, he did hear a bunch of different sounds ranging from a howling hyaena to a galloping walrus. Yes, a galloping walrus. It was just that awkward.
After Pinkie calms down as much as a party pony can, she decides to bounce quietly. Everyone stares at her for a few seconds, until Twilight speaks up. "Wait... How did you know that Pinkie loves to throw parties?" Everyone turns their attention to Steven with questioning looks. He looks around nervously, hoping beyond hope that he's not sweating.
"Well, you see, I, uh..."
Then Pinkie interrupts, "He must have seen my cutie mark and figured that I like to throw parties because of the balloons! Isn't that right Stevey Weevy?
Steven thinks to himself, 'Oh dear lord, Stevey Weevy? THAT'S my nickname? This is going to be a long day...' He notices that everyone is still staring at him as he forgot to answer Pinkie. "Oh yes, Pinkie. That's exactly how I knew you loved throwing parties. Thanks for explaining that for me."
Pinkie beams, "Oh it was nothing, Stevey. I could tell you were having a hard time, so I just helped out a little because that's what friends do for other friends!"
Steven rubs the back of his head and chuckles awkwardly. No one seems to notice this obvious display of nervousness, so he goes along with it. Twilight still seems a bit suspicious, but everypony else seems to have believed what Pinkie had said. No harm done, all in all. A minute or two passes by while everyone just enjoys their day over the excitement that has taken place since early morning. Peace could not reign, however, as Twilight suddenly jumps up, screaming for no apparent reason. Everyone looks around at her.
"I almost forgot! I have to report this new discovery to Princess Celestia! Spike, hop on!" says Twilight. He obliges, and Twilight speeds off with Spike clutching her around her neck.
"Well, Ah s'pose Ah better head back ter the farm. 'Nother day of apple buckin' fer Applebuck Season," says Applejack, and she leaves too.
"I need to get back to the Boutique and feed Opal. She must be dying of hunger by now. Oh my poor Opal..." says Rarity, and with that, she leaves as well.
Steven looks around to see who is left of the group. He sees Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Discord. It seems that Pinkie has disappeared again. 'Probably to prepare my welcoming party,' Steven chuckles to himself. He turns to see Fluttershy discussing something with Rainbow.
"...I could take him to my cottage, if that's alright with you. I'm sure he'll get along fine with Discord, and Angel will love him," says Fluttershy softly.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan to me. He probably couldn't come to my house anyway. Ya know, clouds and all. No wings," says Rainbow as she gestures this by shaking her wings.
"Alright then, it's settled. I'll take him to my cottage. We could maybe even have tea. Oh, I mean, if he doesn't mind tea..."
"I don't mind tea," Steven cuts in. Fluttershy looks rather startled but regains her composure quickly.
"Right...I should probably get going. I have weather duty today," says Rainbow. "See you guys later." And with that, she flies off at breakneck speed.
"We best be off as well. Lead the way, Fluttershy?" asks Steven.
"Well okay then. Come on Discord, we're leaving!" says Fluttershy.
Steven turns around to see Discord putting a bunny back down on the ground after spinning it around in midair. The bunny stumbles off dizzily.
"Coming!" yells Discord in a sing-song voice.
On that final note, the three of them head toward Fluttershy's cottage.
Prologue: The Bottom of a Void
Pain.
You feel pain; a different kind of pain. It feels like you are burning alive, falling in an endless void filled with nothing but fire. However, you soon find out that the void is not endless as you see a light below you. You continue to fall toward the light and, for the first time, ignore the immense pain surging through your body. You think of where the light might lead you. Where will it take you? What will happen to you? You remember the pain and decide that wherever it takes you is better than here. As you continue falling, getting ever closer to this mysterious light, you feel the pain start to fade away. The burning sensation you once felt is now but a slight tingle coursing through your being. The light draws nearer as you reach out to grasp whatever might be there. You touch the light with your outstretched hand. Your sight plunges into absolute darkness as your mind goes blank. You lose all focus on the light while the world around you fades into oblivion…
You begin to hear voices. You can audibly hear them though barely. They are speaking in frantic tones. ‘Why are they panicking?' you think to yourself. You pick up on the voices clearly now, noticing that there are six female voices and only two male voices. You hear one of the females begin to say something.
"What is this…this thing? Where did it come from? Better yet, why is it unconscious?" says the raspy female voice.
"I can't be certain, but it seems as if it fell from the moon. Based on its position on the ground and the angle of its body, I can safely assume the trajectory that would cause it to land in this exact spot would have come from this angle, which just so happens to be pointing directly at the moon itself," says another female voice, though this one seems a bit familiar to you. You can't place it, but you know that you've heard this logically speaking voice before. You stop thinking as another voice is heard.
"So wait just a darn minute. Yer sayin'…that this thing fell from the sky—"
"The moon, to be precise," cuts in the voice of logic.
"—the moon then, and it doesn' have wings? How in tarnation is that even possible?"
"I'm not sure. I'm just as puzzled by this as you are—"
A rather high male voice cuts in, "Hold on, I think it's waking up!"
"Alright everyone, get back! We don't know what will happen when it wakes up!" yells Ms. Logic.
You have begun to see light once again. You slowly open your eyes to the realization that everything around you is colorful. As you stare into the sky trying to regain your bearings, you see the moon give way to the sun…in the blink of an eye. That makes no sense to you whatsoever because you know how the cycles work. And then it hits you like a brick to the face:
You aren't on Earth anymore.
