The walk into town was odd to say the least. I was used to having no one see me because they were ignoring me, but to now be literally invisible was something incredible. The wide roads of dirt and grass felt so alien compared to the claustrophobic streets of concrete and asphalt I was used to. I had to chuckle to myself.
"What's so funny?" Lyra whispered out the side of her mouth as we walked along the path into town.
"It's just the little differences between what I'm used to and what's happening now I suppose," I replied softly.
"Let's try and keep talking to a minimum," Bon Bon murmured to the two of us at her side, "Or else ponies might wonder why we're all talking to the thin air."
"Maybe we're crazy," Lyra replied with a smirk, "and as we all know, crazy loves company!"
Fluttershy cleared her throat as she began to talk to us from behind, "Not to be an annoyance Lyra, but I believe the phrase is 'misery loves company.' "
"Eh, mine'll catch on too."
As a precaution, the four mares decided to surround me on all sides as they escorted me to the library, just to make sure nopony bumped into me and made my presence known to the world. Lyra was at my right, Bon Bon to my left, Twilight lead the way, and Fluttershy brought up the rear. We mostly kept away from the main streets to avoid traffic and accidental contact, which made things take a little longer than usual for everyone involved. After walking around a blue shed of some kind behind 'Dr. John Whooves' Invention Emporium', we rounded the corner of the building to see a massive tree with a door in its side and a balcony in its upper branches. I was amazed to now see that the Ponyville Library wasn't called Golden Oak just to be creative: the library literally resided in a golden barked oak tree.
"Almost there," Twilight muttered, "So long as nothing bad happens now we should be in the-"
"HEEEEEEEEEY TWILIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!" a voice yelled out from across the way, the suddenness of which startled us all.
Frazzled, the unicorn in question recovered quickly and sighed heavily, "clear."
A pink earth pony with a mess of a curly mane and tail galloped towards us, her every step exuding an enormous amount of pent up energy. As she screeched to a stop her whole body seemed to vibrate, and she looked to each of the ponies around me, "Hey gals! How we all doin'?"
"I may have had a minor coronary," Bon Bon mumbled after taking a nervous breath, "but otherwise, alright."
"Hi Pinkie," Fluttershy said with a smile.
"Hey Pinkie," Twilight replied, and she signaled to the others and I to keep going to the library, "What's going on?"
As we walked out of earshot, I heard Pinkie begin to explain herself, "Well, I was helping the Cakes with their babies just a few minutes ago when suddenly my Pinkie Sense started going bananas!"
As I stepped inside I was surprised by the fact that I didn't have to duck in order to get through the doorway. I suppose I still hadn't subconsciously accepted the idea that there were now flying ponies to consider when it came to building interiors. When I looked up, I marveled at the insides of the bizarre but remarkable place: bookshelves carved into the very wood of the tree ran across the entire first floor, while a staircase near the doorway grew up towards an open second floor, its layout surprisingly spacious while still conforming to the natural boundaries of the oak's interior.
"Sorry about that," Twilight said as she walked in then closed the door behind her, locking it shut as she did, "It was just a friend of mine and Fluttershy's."
"She certainly seemed excited about whatever her 'Pinkie Sense' is," I commented as I threw off my cover behind me, to which Twilight replied with a small chuckle, "She's excited about almost everything." As my shroud settled on top of the horse's head adorning the circular reading table behind me, it returned to its plain white color and completely draped across it.
"Huh," Lyra exclaimed as she saw the spell revert, "Good thinking Twilight!"
The librarian smiling knowingly, "You would not believe how many unicorns have misplaced an invisible artifact because they couldn't find them again once they put them down. There's probably a book somewhere in Equestria about all the times ponies cast spells with unforeseen consequences." She then looked towards a door on the opposite side of the room and trotted towards it, "Now then, let me just quick grab Spike and we can get started!"
I turned to the other three ponies as Twilight opened the door and disappeared into the basement, "Who's Spike?"
Lyra nonchalantly threw her hoof back, "Oh, he's just the little dragon that lives with Twilight."
My eyes bulged, "A d-dragon? Are you...serious?"
"Oh, you don't need to be scared," Fluttershy offered as she took the air and shook her forehooves softly, "He's actually quite friendly, and he's only a baby dragon. You don't need to be alarmed at all: he's really quite a wonderful little gentledrake!"
I then saw Twilight come back from downstairs, and sure enough there was a little dragon behind her, walking on his back legs like a human being. From his lower claws to the green spines on his head he was about two and a half feet tall. His scales were very purple, and I was quick to note, almost with disappointment, that he didn't have a set of wings on his back. He was looking at me as well, studying all my equally strange features. He then looked back over to Twilight and exclaimed, "Well, now I can certainly see why you wanted me to take notes!"
"Spike, this is Adam," she declared to him, and then she turned to me, "Adam, meet Spike!"
I got down on one knee to better reach him, and we shook hand and claws.
"This is really going to take some getting used to," I said as we finished.
He looked up at me quizzically, "What's that?"
"Oh, it's nothing," I replied, trying to divert away from my continually forced suspension of disbelief at all the new and mythical races I was getting introduced to, "So, dragon huh?"
"Yup," he replied with a nod, "and also Twilight's number one assistant! What exactly are you?"
"Oh, I'm a human," I replied.
"Well I suppose that's as good of a place as any to start," Twilight declared as she floated a scroll and quill over to Spike, who easily caught them as they approached. She then looked to me expectantly, "Just start with whatever you feel most comfortable telling us about yourself."
The questions started out with a personal bent. As we moved away from the topics solely concerning me I began to ease into the questions, and their scope of subject consequently increased, until we began talking about much larger and more esoteric issues: politics and governance, religion, ethics, technology, social customs. Hours slipped by as between the six of us we scratched the surface of human society as a whole, while simultaneously I learned some about equine life. We did notice a strange convergence as we continued our talk. Patterns began to emerge between our civilizations, and the first place that we noticed it came from probably the most bizarre one to find such a connection: geography.
"So you mean to say that you have your own versions of Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus, and Manehattan?" Twilight asked.
I shrugged, "I suppose so; though we pronounce them 'Philidelphia', 'Las Vegas', and 'Manhattan'.
"And even though we're using two different calendars with different benchmarks of significance, our two species both have a solar based 365 day calendar. They even use the same month names!" Twilight frowned as she looked up at the ceiling, rubbing her chin with her hoof as she did, "It's just too strange to think that these things would just be similar by coincidence. Still, what could it possibly mean?"
We each turned to our own thoughts as we pondered that same question. The silence was broken when a familiar but unexpected voice chimed in, "Beats me, but I'd bet a baker's dozen that Celestia knows!"
Startled, we all turned to stare at the earth pony from earlier, who had seemingly just materialized from out of nowhere. When she noticed that she had my attention, she waved a hoof at me, "Hiya Adam! Looks like you were the doozy I felt earlier." She stopped for an instant and thought to herself, "Adam. Aaaa. Duuuum." She then shook her head up and down a little as she thought, then she giggled, "That seems like a silly name! But then again, Pinkamena Diane Pie is a silly name too!" She then effortless began cartwheeling end over end towards me, until she stopped, balanced on her two hindhooves, and offered a forehoof to me, "You can call me Pinkie Pie; everyone else does!"
I didn't know how to respond. Had the secret of my existence in this town just been completely revealed? What was going to happen to me now that the damage had been done? I looked up to the others away from the pony waving her hoof around expectantly, hoping any of them had some idea of what was going on or what I should do.
Oblivious to my distress or to any of the other ponies' panicking, Pinkie began to muse to herself, hoof still outstretched, "You know what? We need to throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' Party! Everypony gets one. Even though you're not a pony I'm sure we can grandfather you in or something! Is 'grandfather' really the right word? I dunno. I guess it doesn't really-"
"Pinkie," Twilight yelled to get the excited pony's attention.
She immediately stopped talking and turned to look back at the one who had called to her, "Yes?"
"Right now there can't be a party of any kind," Twilight firmly declared.
Pinkie Pie looked back at her with a smile, "Whaddaya mean 'there can't be a party'? Of course he's gonna get a party! Everyone does!"
Twilight looked at her with an eyebrow arched, "Did Zecora get a party?"
Pinkie blankly looked at her for a moment, released a sharp hissing sound from her mouth, then replied with a small, "Oooooooh."
"Yeah," Twilight exclaimed, "We just want to avoid something like that from happening again."
Having been clued into the entire scope of what was going on, the pink earth pony looked up to me, her mane and tail appearing to somehow deflate. She finally lowered her hoof, only to quickly squeeze me tightly around the middle with a hug, "Sorry if I gave you a scare. I just get so excited when I meet new people, and I get so caught up in my excitement that I forget some really important things, like other's feelings." She looked up at me, her blue eyes full of empathetic remorse and compassion, "Are you gonna be ok?"
The rate at which this pony cycled through her emotions, each of which so incredibly intense she could barely contain them, was absolutely staggering to me. Still, I could see she was sincere, not simply apologizing as some sort of social formality. "Uh, yeah," I replied unsteadily, "I'll be fine."
"Oh good!" she replied with relief as her bright mood returned, and somehow managed to tighten her hold on me to an almost bone-breaking point, "Because I couldn't stand to see my newest friend become a sad-y, wadd-y-kins on me: not on my watch; not when I can help them! Speaking of-" she turned to Lyra and Bon Bon, "dontcha think he smells a bit funny?"
"Uh, Pinkie," Bon Bon pointed up at me, "you're right next to him. Also, you're crushing his organs."
"Oh," she then looked up at me apologetically and released me from her vice grip. All I could do for a minute was clutch my sides. "I bathe every day now," I wheezed a little, "maybe what I need is a new set of clothes."
"We know somepony who could help with that," Twilight declared with a smile, "and since you can't eat grass or flowers, you probably want to stop at Sweet Apple Acres for a bushel and a few recipe ideas."
"I'll have a talk with Rarity," Fluttershy chimed in, "she and I are supposed to have a spa day tomorrow. I'm sure she'd be delighted to have a new customer!"
"Applejack should be pretty easy to talk to," Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounded toward the library door, "I'll handle it!"
"Woah, hang on," I said as I shook my hands for everyone to stop what they were doing, "I thought the whole point of this secrecy idea was to not let anyone else know: now we're bringing in two more people?"
Twilight looked to me and put one hoof in the air to stop me, "I know what you're thinking, but don't worry. These two ponies are our friends. If we take them into confidence, they won't break it."
Pinkie Pie looked back to me, her facial expression surprisingly serious, "Just to be sure though, I'll make them perform," here her voice deepened a half octave, "the Pinkie Promise." Her face then switched back to her cheerful personality, like flipping a switch in its ease and speed, and she waved goodbye to us all, "I'm gonna beat it for now. See you all later!" With that, she flung the door open and leapt out into the darkening evening.
I blinked after a moment, then turned to the others, "She really is an odd one, isn't she? Sweet, but very odd."
Twilight gave a knowing smile to Fluttershy, who returned it.
Spike gave a good-natured chuckle as he finished rolling up the scroll he had been using, "Trust me; you have no idea how right you are."