"Yes Mom, I know......Yes, I KNOW I was gone for a week.......I've TOLD you why!! Why would I make something like that up?!.....No!....Mom, you know me better than that!........No, I don't use drugs....Look, I gotta get going now.......Yes.....No, I won't disappear for a week without calling......No....Okay.......Yes, I love you too.....Yes.......Okay......Bye."
I hung up and tossed the phone onto the couch and sighed, running my hands through my hair. I groaned and looked at the time. 2 hours spent doing nothing but try to explain to my mother that I was in a land of colourful ponies who needed help defeating an evil god of chaos. More like 2 hours wasted. I decided that I would just sit back and relax with a glass of pop and play some video games. I went into my kitchen and grabbed the 2-litre of Pepsi I had in my fridge, then opened the lid with a satisfying hiss. I poured the fizzy drink into a drinking glass and put the Pepsi back, then turned and started to walk back into the living room.
I sat in my chair and stopped. It was warm. The chair was warm. I had been standing for the duration of the phone call. So how is my chair warm, when I never sat in it? I pondered this, but then stopped. I had more important things to do. Like save the entire human race.....in Halo. I grabbed my Xbox 360 controller and pressed the center button. The console hummed to life and my screen flashed the 360 logo. I clicked Play Disc, and waited for the classic Halo theme to play it's epic song.
Instead, what I got was an 8-bit, upbeat song. I sputtered a bit and looked at the main menu of the game. In big pink letters, the title 'Super Mare-io World'. My expression was, needless to say, quite confused. The main theme was not Halo, or Mario. It was the 8-bit version of 'Pinkie's Singing Telegram'. I blinked and looked at my controller. It was pink, and on the back, was Pinkie Pie's cutie mark.
I dropped the controller and looked at the screen as if it was the scariest thing I've seen in my life. Who put this disk in my 360, why was my controller pink, and....WHO THE HELL IS BAKING CUPCAKES?! The scent of chocolate cupcakes filled the air, and I ran into the kitchen to catch the culprit. All I was greeted with was a freshly baked batch of cupcakes, with a rich chocolate iced top. My eye twitched. It's okay, I was only dreaming....Right? I heard an ominous giggle, one I had heard once before. It was coming from....MY BEDROOM!
I ran into my bedroom, heart racing. I didn't care WHO it was. I have things in my bedroom NO one should see. Nothing sexual, just private. I kicked the door in and-....nothing. Just another clue. Someone left an MLP toy on my bed. It was of Fluttershy. Who would do something like this and why? And where'd they get the game and controller? Because I'm keeping those. Those are awesome. I just sighed, then heard another giggle. This time from the bathroom. I got em now. I ran into the bathroom and saw something rustle behind the shower curtain. I grabbed it and tore it open and saw....nothing. I groaned, then saw a bottle of....something. It looked like shampoo. I took a better look.
"Rainbow Wash, the only shampoo with the magic of friendship and conditioner." I read aloud. That's just weird. Let's add up the clues:
1. The intruder is obviously a brony of some sort, or knows something of the show.
2. The intruder can also bake perfect cupcakes in only 5 minutes.
3. The intruder has already left behind 3 pony related things: A Pinkie controller, A Fluttershy toy, and A bottle of Rainbow Dash's shampoo.
Whoever this was, they were good. Wait...Cupcakes take about 10-40 minutes, counting prep time and baking. This person was impossible. So that left only one option....
"Pinkie Pie...."
I dashed into the living room, and, wouldn't you know it, the bubbly, pink party mare was sitting in my chair playing Super Mare-io World, eating a chocolate cupcake. She giggle-snorted and looked at me.
"Oh! Hi Austin!"
"Pinkie, what are you doing in my house?"
"I just wanted to visit! By the way, cool bedroom! I especially liked what was in the closet!"
My cheeks burned scarlet, then I lashed back with,
"Just stay out of there! Now what brings you back to Earth? Is Discord back? Equestria under attack? Fluttershy being a jerk? Rarity had a fashion disaster?"
"No no, nothing like that."
"Then what?"
"I wanted to give you this."
She tossed something at me. It was a bracelet, with the Mane 6's cutie marks as charms, and a 7th charm with a button, followed by an 8th charm, which looked like a speaker.
"What's this?"
"That's the Equestrian Communication Bracelet. It can be used to contact me or my friends at any given time, and we can help you out if we can, or bring you to Equestria to visit!"
"Weird...This is...extremely advanced...How does it work?"
"Just press the button, and speak into one of the cutie marks. You'll then be responded to by the corresponding pony."
"Wow. Wait, is that all?"
"Nope! I wanted to take you back to Equestria!"
"Why?"
"Just to visit us again. Twilight has been really missing you."
"It's only been 2 days..."
"I know."
I rolled my eyes. "Well, okay."
Pinkie giggled and smiled. "Hop on my back!"
"You sure? I'm kinda heavy..."
"Yep!"
"Okay...only if you're certain..."
I walked over and sat on her back awkwardly. She was kinda small, and I was pretty tall, so I had to bring up my long legs off the ground, putting all my weight on Pinkie's back and legs. But she just hopped, skipped and jumped right back into Equestria as if I was nothing more than air. I stepped off and looked around.
"You have GOT to teach me how to do that..." I said.
Pinkie smiled. "Maybe some other time."
We were outside the library, so the first thing I thought to do was knock on the door. A small baby dragon answered, and he looked up at me. I looked down at him. It was rather awkward for us both.
"Can I help you?" he finally said.
"Ummm...I'm looking for Twilight?"
"Who are you?"
"Austin...I'm a human."
"I'm Spike, a baby dragon."
"Oh. Sorry, I thought you were a giant lizard...."
"It's okay..."
Twilight came downstairs. "Spike, who is it-" She gasped. Then before I could react, Twilight galloped over and pounced me, pinning me face down to the ground.
"Hey Twi." I managed to mumble with my mouthful of dirt. Twilight tightened her grip on me and squee'd.
"Austin! I missed you so much!"
"I was only gone for 48 hours."
"I know..."
"Can I please stand up?"
"Sorry..."
She got off me and I stood up, dusting myself off.
"So what's been happening?"
"Nothing really. Just normal stuff. I'm glad you came to visit."
"Me too...So, can you show me around town so I won't wander around lost for hours?"
"Sure."
She showed me around, pointing out shops, restaurants, clothing stores (such as the Carosel Boutique) and a few other points of interest, such as Sweet Apple Acres, and Fluttershy's cottage. We finally ended up back at the library and she smiled.
"Any questions?"
"Just one. What's up with your writing?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the language you write in. The books you gave me were in fluent English, but everything else seemed like a random assortment of symbols."
"That's what Equestrian looks like."
"Is everything that's written, in Equestrian?"
"Yep. Except for a few English books I have around here. Those are the ones I gave you."
"So you can read and write in both languages?"
"Yep. After all, we're speaking English now, aren't we?"
"Touche."
I looked at Pinkie, who couldn't stop bouncing, then at Spike, who seemed to be giving me a very suspicious look. Finally, I turned my gaze to Twilight, who just stood there, smiling. I sighed a little. Something tells me my adventures were only starting...