//------------------------------// // 3 Ponyville, part 1 // Story: Bucking Magnets, How Do They Work?! // by SiMoS MCmuffin //------------------------------// After hearing that there was a dragon in the house Simon wasn't going to take any chances. He kept near twilight as they moved through the house, but kept looking around for bloodthirsty lizards. His right ankle wasn't gladly too sore anymore so he didn't limp anymore, but he wasn't about to take a part in a race with it either. Arriving in what seemed to be the main hall. They descended to the ground level by stairs along the circular wall of the room and approached a door on the opposite side of the front door. "You can wait over there Simon." Twilight said while motioning towards a table and a couch in the middle of the room. Simon took the advice while Twilight opened the door. "Spike? Spiiikee!" Twilight yelled to the kitchen. The air filled with melancholy of metallic banging sounds and soft thuds, as a spooked voice could be heard yelling in the midst of it all. "Spike! What have I said about sleeping on the kitchen table?" Twilight seemed to scold what Simon presumed to be her assistant. "Could you prepare a small snack as our guest has finally woken up. And after you're done with that, clean up this mess!" She said while rubbing her face with a hoof in annoyance. A muffled "Yes ma'am!" could be heard be heard behind her as she sighed and closed the door behind her and started walking to the table and couch. "Uuh. What was that about?" Simon asked her with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Ehh hehe..." She gave a nervous chuckle with a roll of her eyes. "That would by assistant number one, who should learn that the kitchen table isn't a place to sleep on!" She yelled the last part with a little hint of vice towards the kitchen. "Does this happen often?" Simon queried with an ulterior motive of finding out how dangerous this dragon seemed to be. "Well sometimes, but usually he's just a great help. I can't blame him too much though as he's still a baby, so I understand his weird sleeping habits." She answered with a soft smile and seeming to fall in thought. *Well can't be too bad if she doesn't seem worried.* Simon concluded and decided to try to change the subject "So can you tell me more about equestria, while Spike prepares the snacks?". "Well I do take pride in having a great knowledge about the kingdom." She said with a hint of pride in her voice. "Well if it's a kingdom, then you must a have king and queen to rule over it?" Simon asked thinking back to the middle ages on earth with all the sword clashing and 'die for your king' chivalry. "Well we used have a king and a queen, but unfortunately they were killed during the great war 2000 years ago. Currently we are ruled by their daughters, princess Celestia and princess Luna." She replied like reading straight out of a book. "That's unfortunate. Wait. you did say 2000 years ago?" A weird fact coming up on Simon's head. Twilight nodded in response. "So you're ruled by the same princess' now as 2000 years ago. Meaning that the princess' are at least 2000 years old?" A hint of smirk on Simon's face grew as he was sure she had told an error, but she just nodded sheepishly. Simon's jaw dropped a little. *This can't be right* thought ran through his head. "How old does the average pony live if the princess' are 2000 years old?" He replied in confusion. "Well I was reading a medical book just last week. I believe it mentioned the average age for a pony to be about 80 years, but the princess' aren't normal ponies. They are alicorns." She looked back at Simon to see him staring at her with doubtful eyes. "Okay, you said that there were 3 pony races. Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, so could you share some light on these 'alicorns' you said the princess' were." Simon said while still keeping his eyes locked on Twilight. "Oh, well all alicorns are considered royalty as they possess great magic abilities and are very rare. There's only 3 in the kingdom currently. Physically they have both wing and a horn, plus they don't age like normal ponies." She answered with a hoof on her chin. "Aaa... ok, I think I get it now, so there's actually 4 races of ponies. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns and alicorns, while the latter has the attributes of both pegasi and unicorns, but because they are so rare you didn't mention them earlier. And well they are immortal..." Simon replied a little lost at the immortal fact, his eyes starting to become a little dull as he tried to comprehend this new information. The sound of a door opening and closing snapped him out of his little mental malarchy. *Oh shit!* ran through his head as he had completely forgotten about the dragon! He quickly jumped over the couch for cover as he imagined fireballs to soon start flying all over the place. After a dozen seconds of silence and a lack of fireballs, chaos and general destruction. He slowly peeked out from behind the top of the couch. The only thing he saw was a Twilight staring at him with a raised eyebrow, while he glanced around the room for the dragon. A knock of teacup being placed on the table made him focus his attention there. Sure enough another teacup was set down on the table and he managed to spot a green and purple claw withdrawing to beneath the tabletop. He carefully started to peek out more from behind the couch in hope of seeing what he was up against. He kept rising and rising and was almost completely standing when a cough and a "Uhhh, what are you doing" coming from his right side made him turn in haste, but saw no one. "Down here." came from below his eye level as he turned towards the voice. There it was! The murderous dragon! holding a serving tray and dressed in an apron?... Simon's jaw dropped as he took a glance up and down the dragon and guessed that Spike was just a bit over 2 feet tall. With quick thinking Simon tried to think of way how to not make himself look like a complete idiot. "You're Twilight's assistant?" He managed to mumble. "Yep! The one and only, number one assistant!" Spike replied and did a little 'tadaa' motion with his hands. Simon let out a big whew and bent down to shake the little dragon's hand... or claw. "Name's Simon, nice to meet you Spike" He greeted with a defeated sigh as giggling could be heard coming from the table. "Haa haa. Very funny." Simon said as he turned back to Twilight who was still giggling at him. He walked back to the front of the couch and sat down feeling like such an idiot. "Hihihiii *snort haa haha haa.... You thought that Spike was somehow dangerous?" Twilight managed to ask after her giggles lost their momentum. "Well.... It's not everyday I get to see a real dragon as they're are completely mythological on earth and in most of the myths and stories they're usually involved in quite a lot of maiming and blood... Soooo I was expecting something. little. different." He announced to save himself from total embarrassment while looking towards Spike who didn't really seem so interested in this conversation as opposed to finding a new napping place. Spike glanced back at the two next to the table, but shrugged his shoulders and went to upstairs to continue his nap. "I see. OH! You need to tell me more about earth at some point. I'm just so excited to hear it from a real human! Oh! I need to write Celestia a letter about this soon!" She said while clapping her hooves together excitedly. Simon on the other hand was looking at the snack Spike had prepared. Unfortunately for him it seemed that there was a cup of tea and some fried hay or grass on a plate. Not wanting to seem impolite Simon gave a quiet cough. "Uuh. Twilight, I'm not very accustomed to eating grass or hay. Would you happen have any fruit, vegetables or meat even?" He asked a little embarrassed. "Did you say... meat?!" Twilight looked at him with a shocked expression. Simon, realizing that he may have come upon a touchy subject tried to do some damage control. "I mean! Fruits and vegetables are fine too! The thing is you see. We humans are omnivores..." He murmured with his head low and slowly twirling with his fingers. "Whew... I was starting to get really nervous there for a second. Unfortunately I don't think we have any fruit. We could go to the market to get some apples." She suggested. "You mean you don't feel bothered knowing that I eat meat?" Simon asked. Wanting to make sure that his new pony friend here wasn't scared that he would eat her. "No it's fine. Besides. You seem too nice of a guy to go around eating innocent animals" She smiled at him with her eyes closed. *She's actually kind cute when she does that...* Simon watched her with a little dreamy eyes, but snapped back to reality as he was reminded once again of his hunger by his stomach growling. "Thanks for the compliment, but are you sure that if we go to the market that other ponies won't freak out when they see me?" He said while looking at the cast around his left arm and the torn and bloody remains of his jeans. "No, if we have any problems I'll have a word with them and explain the situation." She reassured. "Well if you're sure, then let's go I'm starving." He replied accompanied by his growling stomach. They both headed to the front door and Twilight opened it with her magic. *I need to ask her more about this magic at some point.* Simon thought as he watched the doorknob being engulfed in purple glow and the door open. He squinted his eyes, when he stepped through as the sun shone into his eyes. "You never said what the town's name is by the way." He mentioned as he tried making out his surroundings. "Ponyville... Best place ever to happen to me." She smiled with reminiscent tone.