//------------------------------// // 2 // Story: "O brave new world, That has such people in't". // by Initiate Brony //------------------------------// The inside of the Library was very comfortable, and I understood why homeless people like staying in them. After a brief moment of warming myself by the fire I took a better look at the interior of the place. Lots of books, but there also seemed to be quite a few personal effects for it being a library, maybe the librarian's stuff? Odd considering that most libraries I had been to had little to no personalization like what I was seeing. There was a stairway across the room, and curiosity simply got the better of me as I tip-toed up them to the next floor. This one still had plenty of books, but it had a few more windows and a couple of complicated looking telescopes in them. A coffee table in the center of the room also had what looked like parchment paper and quills neatly organized on it. How the ponies were supposed to write with hooves I hadn't the slightest clue. I tensed as I thought I heard something upstairs. Hardly breathing I crept to the next stairway and made my way up. The next floor had more books than the last with the same kind of shelves, the room itself had only one candle burning, a little fireplace with a chair and two sets of stairs, one going up to a window and the other ending on a landing. Against my better judgement, I walked up this last flight wanting to see if I could find the source of the noise. That's about when I noticed the snoring, loud, with a little mutter at the end kind of snoring. I thought I could hear other breathing as well but it was hard to discern. The origin of the snoring came from what looked like a little cat bed, whose owner was a.... a chubby little purple and green dragon Well I'll be dipped in hot grease, now I've seen everything. There was a larger bed adjacent to the little beast, a normal bed, just a little too small for me I guessed. Its occupant I could not at first identify, since she was turned away on her right side. Still curious as ever, I leaned in closer. She stirred for a moment and rolled back towards me. Is that a unicorn? Holy balls this place is magical. In accordance with Murphy's Law, this was the time when she just happened to open her eyes. Which truth be told entranced the shit out of me; a deep beautiful purple (and rather large considering the size of her head) with a few strands of her strange (what I would call) purple mane and purple/pink highlights. "Hi" I stuttered, a little loud. She blinked once and then her rather cute face contorted into a look of terror as she screamed in surprise at the strange two-legged beast that had entered her house and was now towering over her bed gawking at her. The sudden clamor took me aback and I lost my balance at the edge of the landing, tumbling down the stairs until I hit the hard wood floor. I heard her call out, "Spike, wake up!" before I blacked out. Ah not again. __________________________________________________________________ Ow. Unlike the last time I blacked out, this time my head throbbed and I felt a good bit of back pain as well. Though the surface I was laying on no longer seemed to be wood, I guessed it was blankets or sheets of some kind and I could feel my legs hanging off the end of whatever I was on. Opening my eyes I found myself in the small bed I had seen the unicorn in earlier, my legs a good couple of feet too long for the bed and partially covered in a rather soft blanket draped over my form. Reaching up to my damaged head I found it bandaged and sore like never before. Deciding to move it the minimum I let my eyes do the moving as I examined the room. I was on the small landing on the third floor of the (tree?)house, the window to my right had sunlight from the mid-morning sun streaming in and I could see ponies going about their daily routines in the street below. It wasn't a dream then. Got any more excellent observations captain? I groaned a bit as I slowly sat up, vision warping at the change in elevation. The small pet bed that had been occupied the previous night was empty, a crackling fire was present in the fireplace and the room was much warmer than mine back home in the morning. Taking it slow, I removed the covers and proceeded to get out of bed still wearing my clothes from the day before. I would need a shower in short order, the smell of dirty man is not a pleasant one. Really, your first thought is about hygiene? You are in a land of talking ponies and your first thought is about not smelling bad? Well yeah, if you haven't got your health you haven't got anything. Taking my time I wobbled my way down the stairs to the second floor, one hand steadying me against the wall and the other holding my aching head. I could hear a pair of voices downstairs, and I needed to know why I was still here with my wounds bandaged and not in a jail. Descending to the first floor I found the lavender pony who I had scared the daylights out of the night before speaking to the tiny dragon who appeared to be taking a letter for her. So that's how they write, they have a little dragon do it. This doesn't make me think of what drugs I must be on at all. Stopping part way down the stairs, I decided it would be best to announce my entrance this time. "Uhm, good morning miss," I almost whispered (I've never been good around new people). Unfortunately the mare still jumped in reaction to my voice intruding on her mid-sentence and turned about with her eyes wide. The (baby?) dragon also started at my appearance, dropping his quill with a look of surprise. I of course being the overly apologetic person I am, raised my hands as I went down the last few steps quickly uttering an apology; "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break into your house and scare you so bad. I just needed a place to stay and--" the rest of my apology consisted of a bunch of stuttering and mumbles as I attempted to explain my reasons which stopped when the purple pony held up her hoof Like a hand? for me to stop and motioned for me to sit on the small sofa in the center of the room. The piece of furniture creaked a bit as I sat down in it looking like Lurch. The pony still eyeing me, she nodded at the dragon whose name I was pretty sure was Spike and he produced a new piece of parchment. Sitting down in front of me the mare looked up at me with a studious look and took a breath to speak. "Who are you?", she spoke in a soft but serious tone looking me square in the eye. For a pony, she seems to have a pretty nice voice. I almost mumbled, "Jim, Jim Tailor," averting my eyes from her gaze, such forthrightness a bit unsettling for me. "What are you?" she replied, still looking straight at me. "I'm a human", at the question I could not help but look back up at her with a look of confusion. I followed up with; "Do you not know what a human is?" Granted if she didn't know what I was it wouldn't be much of a surprise, since I had never heard of a freaking civilization of intelligent ponies where I came from. "No. I have at least several books on every subject known in Equestria--" Equestria eh? That's a new one"--and not one of them makes any mention of anything like you," she said looking down with a sigh, seemingly upset at this fact. I didn't much care for being referred to as thing but the same could be said of her. Wanting to clear up any more questions before she asked them, I started again, "Well, I am nineteen years of age, I was born in California, and live alone while I attend a few college classes--" the mare's ears perked up at the bit of info and blurted out: "You're a student too! Oh what are you studying in? What university?" The pony's sudden rise of mood took me by surprise as her face lit up with a big smile and overall cheerfulness. I couldn't help but smile back, my face warming from a blush that I couldn't really help. I answered concisely, with the little purple mare nodding happily as she listened. When I finished she seemed to remember who she was talking to and her face turned a bit red turning away for a moment. "I am studying under our ruler, Princess Celestia--That's odd, I thought if someone was a ruler your title was king or queen. Oh screw logic, you're in a land of ponies for pete's sake--and she has me studying the magic of friendship." That last bit made me chuckle, and the enthusiastic pony turned to me with a stern look of slight offense, "Friendship is the most powerful magic in Equestria, this is no laughing matter Jim," she stated examining me with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. I stifled my little outburst and looked her square in the eye, "Magic? And of friendship for that matter? I mean, we have friendship where I come from, but nobody calls it magic except for little kids and some books that I've read," the concept was almost more foreign to me than this land and its denizens. "No magic?!" The pony sprung to her feet in a huff, "How can that be? How do you survive? How can society function without the magic of friendship?" A little hyper much? I held up my hands to signal her to calm down, she sat down again, but retained her inquisitive look. "My society is a capitalist society where we all compete for jobs and money, friends are usually limited to family and maybe a few people you meet at school--at least that's what mine have been like, I prefer my computer and books to people myself though." She took interest at the mention of books, and actually nodded knowingly, "I know how you feel," she replied,"but even I have friends that help me through the day, like Spike!" She gestured back over where the small dragon was now sleeping on the floor, using the large parchment like a pillow still clutching quill in hand. The pony let out a sigh, shaking her head with a smile, "Well he is just a baby dragon after all," I knew it! "Miss?" I inquired as my hostess turned back to me. "Yes Jim?" she answered in a charmingly sweet voice Wait what? "You seem to have me at something of a disadvantage, you know my name but I have no idea what yours is," I continued. Her eyes widened a bit, "Oh how rude of me, sorry, my name is Twilight Sparkle," she extended her hoof for a hand(or hoof)shake. Hesitating for a moment I reached out and we both seemed to experience a slight shudder as we both felt an appendage that neither of us was used to. After a short (a smidge awkward as well) moment I glanced about at the shelves of books "You think I could learn a thing or two about your home? I'll tell you more about mine," I offered. Twilight smiled and nodded. The following hours were spent exchanging stories of our pasts, (though I didn't disclose all of my secrets to somebody--somepony, got to remember that--that I had just met) and me reading through her extensive collection of literature. Twilight had to be the most interesting pony I had ever met, nothing too surprising there since I had never seen one until that day. She went on about her studies of magic, showing me how she could levitate objects Like a friggin' Jedi! and even teleport No Tardis required surprisingly on a whim and how she had a group of friends that she couldn't wait for me to meet. Before we realized how much time had past, the sun began to set, darkening the windows and making me squint to read the little text of a book about how the earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi actually make the seasons change by moving clouds, plowing fields and waking the animals from hibernation. The land would not function without the ponies. They truly are at harmony with their surroundings, while we humans were always changing ours to suit us. Deciding I had done enough reading I dog-eared the page I was on and closed the book with a yawn. Twilight glanced over as I set the book down, doing a double-take when she saw the way I marked my place. In a lavender flash she was right in front of me with the book open and smoothing out the dog-ear, replacing it with a small bookmark. She turned on me with a frantic look on her face her voice full of reproach, "Are you crazy?! Some of these books are centuries old! You might have torn it or caused a permanent crease or--" her little rant continued as I sat there dumbfounded at the sudden change in Twilight's demeanor. After a moment she stopped and just looked at me awaiting some sort of response, I fumbled over my words "S-sorry Twilight I just have a habit of saving my spot in a book like that," she went to interject but I placed a single finger over her lips stopping her, "but I do understand why you are upset, it was wrong of me to be so careless with your things I would react the same way if you were to do that to one of my Batman comic books." I smiled, nodding my head as I finished. Twilight nodded back, but then asked "What's Batman?" I shook my head and said, "I'll tell you some other time, but right now I need to take a shower or something, I stink," grimacing at my own stench. Twilight also gave a sniff before covering her muzzle with a hoof, "Its just upstairs on the third floor". "Thanks Twilight," and with that I stood, popping my knees, and made my way upstairs. The shower was pleasant enough, but not spectacular seeing as I was about two sizes too big for it, forcing me to take a bath/shower almost falling out a few times. Upon exiting the shower I re-bandaged my head as best as I could. There were some large blankets laid out for me and my dirty clothes gone. Time to look like an ancient Roman I guess, that's about how I looked after securing one of the blankets about my person, The slight draftiness is less than desirable, I noted as I walked downstairs. Twilight was on the second floor finishing a letter, and Spike was on his way upstairs. "Goodnight Spike," I said as he passed me on the stairs. He appeared to be still a little leery of me but nodded making for his bed. I waited for Twilight to finish writing to speak to her, "What's the letter for if I may ask?" She turned to me with a pleasant face, "Oh its just a letter to the Princess about you." When I responded with a frown she was quick to add, "Don't worry, you're not in trouble, she just might stop by at some time in the next few days to see you" she assured me with a smile. Her smile and tone helped but my uneasiness persisted, I would be meeting the leader of the country and Twilight's teacher. I wasn't one for first impressions, especially if the person is one of repute. Sensing my continued discomfort, Twilight came over to me and place a hoof on my hand, "You'll be fine," again with that adorable smile accompanying it. Simply nodding in response, I gave a big yawn, I had been walking most of the day and my system demanded rest. "Well, goodnight Twilight." I smiled and gave her head a gentle pat, walking past her towards the first floor stairs, my heart set on the small sofa from earlier, blanket in tow. "Wait, where are you going?" Twilight called after me as I started down the steps. "I'll stay on the sofa tonight, I think," I called back over my shoulder. "You sure? It seemed a bit too small for you earlier..." she advised, a bit of uncertainty in her voice. "I'll be fine, I've slept on worse Miss Sparkle, night." She called out a faint "Goodnight" and I laid down on the minuscule sofa in immediate discomfort. Shifting about for a few minutes to no avail, I decided to lay out the blanket near the fireplace and scavenge the sofa's cushions for pillows. Laying down on my makeshift bed I looked out a large window on the ceiling at the moon. Is it just me or do the craters on the moon look like a unicorn head? I made a note to ask Twilight about it in the morning and drifted into peaceful slumber. _______________________________________________________________ What at first seemed like it was going to be a restful night of sleep quickly turned sour. My dreams were filled with feelings of dread, anguish, regret. My family and friends' voices calling out to me across an abyss beyond comprehension which seemed to swallow me up and corrupt my very being with a horrible cold. As I accepted my fate, a dark blue flash of light broke through the darkness scouring it from sight leaving me sitting alone in a room of unknown size with a single light source on me. Wearily I looked about, spotting a dark form approaching. Silent as the grave I held my breath awaiting what horror my mind had cooked up to torment itself. "Greetings human." A regal and soothing voice said as the form came into the light, revealing a large unicorn, no pegasus, wait... this one was both. The new creature before me rendered me speechless, seeing as all I could utter was, "You're a, um... a duhh... hrm?" Still walking towards me the being continued speaking, "I am Luna, Princess of the Night, and it is my duty to watch over the dreams of my subjects," she cocked her head at me inspecting me, "no matter who they are." My dream just said that this is a dream. Is that considered breaking the fourth wall? "For many years I have walked through the dreams of ponies, watching as they battle their own demons and emotions, but never have I seen such darkness as in yours," she stated, looking at me in a therapeutic sort of way, "is where you are from really so terrible?" I sighed, looking up at her dumbfound, "Is everything here really so perfect that you can't recognize regret? Rage? Fear?" "Such emotions do exist here human, but it seems they exist in you far stronger than any pony." Luna paused, seeming to be deep in thought, "Perhaps you should venture forth and see for yourself Jim." She knows my name? Well she is in my mind With that said, Princess Luna's form shrank back into the beyond and the ground dropped out from beneath me.