//------------------------------// // Welcome to Ponyville // Story: The Bat and the Teacher // by Ximer //------------------------------// Cheerilee sighed as another paper was placed in a stack along with the others she had already graded. School would be out soon, which made the tests on her desk some of the last she would be grading for a while. Not that she didn’t enjoy the break, but during the months school was out she felt as if she didn’t have a purpose. To make matters worse, Big McIntosh had ended their relationship, claiming he had found somepony else. Cheerilee wished she could say that it took her by surprise, but seeing as how her own students had been the ones to try and jump start their relationship, she always kept the possibility of a disappointing end in the back of her mind. She now had a lonely summer to look forward to, as her assumptions turned out to be true. Cheerilee rolled her pencil over her teeth as she looked over another paper, this one belonging to Apple Bloom. She had improved since the last test, and was making solid grades with the basic school work. She also happened to be the little sister of Big Mac, and one of the three fillies who set her up with him. She had meant well, but as Cheerilee had tried to tell them, she wasn’t interested at the moment. The mare marked her test with an A before placing it in the pile. Cheerilee let out a tired sigh as she got ready to file them away for the day. She would have gladly fallen asleep at her desk, if it wasn’t for her growling stomach and her bed being more comfortable than the wooden surface of her desk. “At least it was just half of a school day,” Cheerilee muttered to herself as she closed the door to the school house. “I felt so drained today.” She summarized that depression probably had a hoof in it. A pony shouldn’t fall asleep crying and expect to wake up refreshed. It wasn’t because Big Mac left her though; she had expected a relationship like that to fail. What made her cry were her own doubts about finding somepony on her own. “Am I really that busy?” Cheerilee asked aloud as she started her long walk home with her ears drooping slightly. As she walked, she noticed the town seemed a bit more lively than usual. Cheerilee wondered if the princesses were coming today, or if she had forgotten about some important pony stopping by for one reason or another. Whatever the cause for the excitement was, the mare’s curiosity was piqued. A train whistle sounded off in the distance, which was followed by another, much longer whistle that signified the thundering construct of wood and metal would arrive shortly. This prompted Cheerilee to move a bit faster towards the crowd; the exhaustion she had felt earlier replaced with new found energy. As she passed the dental clinic, Cheerilee noticed Colgate hang a sign with a picture of a clock on it over the door knob of the building. The mare wore an optimistic smile as she left. Colgate waved to Cheerilee when she noticed her walking towards a few of the other ponies. “Hello Colgate,” Cheerilee gave the mare a soft smile. “Anything new in the dentistry world?” “Not really,” Colgate shook her head as she matched her pace with Cheerilee’s. “Well, I take that back. There might be something new soon.” “Oh?” Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. “What’s the uncertainty?” “Didn’t you get the letter?” the blue unicorn asked in return. “The one that had the royal seal on it?” Cheerilee’s ears folded back against her head as she wracked her brain in an attempt to recall all the letters she had received. Try as she might, she couldn’t remember seeing one that had the royal seal on it, which made her nervous. What if she was supposed to do something, or be somewhere specific? “Umm, what did yours say?” Cheerilee asked with a nervous smile. “It said a human was coming to Ponyville,” Colgate replied, not noticing the teacher’s nervous expression. “Sorry, did you just say a human was coming to Ponyville?” Cheerilee’s trotting pace started to slow as she processed what her friend had said. “As in the thing that is supposed to be extinct?” “I know right?” Colgate’s smile became bigger. “Maybe I’ll be the first one to get a good look at those teeth!” Colgate continued to drone on and on about what she thought the human’s mouth might be like. Clearly the idea of potentially getting to make history was going to her head. Cheerilee didn’t have the heart to tell her that the chances of an extinct species suddenly reappearing in Equestria again were very slim. While the thought was exciting if true, Cheerilee had already reasoned with herself that this was either a very elaborate hoax, and somepony was going to jail for impersonating a princess, or it was some sort of advertisement for a museum in Canterlot. Whatever the case, the mare’s hopes weren’t as high as her skepticism. As the two mares joined the small crowd that had gathered around the station’s dock, the train pulled in, clacking nosily against the tracks. It crept forward at an increasingly slower pace until it eventually came to a stop, steam spewing from the engine’s sides with a loud hiss. The doors on the passenger cars slid open, but didn’t produce any ponies eagerly waiting to leave the station. Instead, there was a large figure that passed by the windows of the car that seemed to be having difficulty moving about. Cheerilee found herself mimicking the rest of the crowd as her eyes tracked the moving shadow against the windows. Finally, the figure stopped at the door before what looked like a Minotaur’s arm stretched out to place a hand against the door frame. It was an odd peach color that could have easily been mistaken for white, and it seemed much smaller than what should be normal for even an adolescent Minotaur. Cheerilee’s eyes widened when a tall, lanky creature emerged from the train. Two tiny blue eyes scanned the awe struck crowd nervously. A black tuff of hair sat upon its head, which seemed to be the only visible fur covering its body. The rest of the thing’s body was covered by clothing, which the mare assumed must be uncomfortable, especially for a creature its size. “This is a human?” Cheerilee whispered to Colgate. “I don’t know, maybe?” Colgate replied with an uncertain waver in her voice. Cheerilee tilted her head in confusion, having read about the creatures before. The Griffins had hunted them down during their failed invasion, believing that they were there to aid the ponies in the defense of their kingdom. Needless to say, the birds were thorough in their task, and an indigenous species was wiped out before help could reach them. How one had found its way to the princesses was an interesting thought to chew on. The mare noticed something on the human’s back that appeared to be a pony. It was grey with an unusually blue mane, and a pair of shades resting over its eyes. It wasn’t until the pony stretched that Cheerilee got a good look at it, or her rather. “Ugh…bat ponies,” she mumbled. --- The train was unsettlingly quiet, as Vesper and I traveled to Ponyville. The ride had been made private, save for a few guards that were at each of the doors. Vesper was falling in and out of sleep, having messed up her schedule last night when she decided to take a rather long nap on my stomach. Much to the mare’s dismay, her sleep cycle was now out of balance. “I can taste colors,” Vesper slurred. “You’re acting weird,” I said, leaning back against the comfortable seat of the train car. “…what does blue taste like?” “Vaaaaanilla,” Vesper giggled as her head came to rest against me. “Good to know,” I smiled as I played with her ears. “Nooo, you’re gonna send me to sleep…” Vesper whined, kicking her hind legs out of frustration like a child. The guards in the train car stared at us as Vesper threw her fit. I chuckled nervously as their expression shifted into a frown. I could only imagine what was going through their minds as they saw one of the defenders of Equestria throwing a hissy fit about sleep. Perhaps they held me responsible since she only started acting funny the next morning…when she was found sprawled out on top of me, wings and all. The whistle sounded, alerting us that we were nearing our destination. The bat pony at my side jumped up onto the ceiling…and stayed there. Vesper, like all thestrals, could hang and walk on ceilings without any visible grooves. This applied to hanging upside down in general really, which was one of her cooler abilities. Miraculously, the sunglasses that she wore defied the laws of gravity, as did a lot of things in this physics breaking world. “Hey, come on, you can’t stay up there,” I said as I poked the bat pony in her side. “Yes I can,” Vesper stuck her tongue out at me. “You can’t make me get down!” I raised an eyebrow at her declaration and tried to pull her off the ceiling, to no avail. It was as if she had stuck glue on her hooves before opting to hang upside down instead of return to her seat. Vesper smiled victoriously, her snickers coming out as a series of squeaking sound. Another whistle sounded, this time it was drug out for a few seconds before the conductor silenced it. I decided to take a different approach in my efforts to remove Vesper from the ceiling by placing both hands on her barrel. Vesper caught on, but as tired as the mare was she couldn’t move without falling down. “H-Hey, you wouldn’t do a tired mare that way, would you?” Vesper’s smile looked like a frown as she continued to hang upside down. “I don’t know, would I?” I smiled as I started to tickle the mare. Vesper tried to fend me off from her sides with her wings as the train began to slow down. Eventually the mare relinquished her hold on the ceiling in a fit of laughter. Unfortunately, she didn’t land on the floor as I had hoped. The mare fell on top of me instead, and decided it would be a good time to become dead weight on my back. “Ahh, so comfy,” Vesper commented as she draped her forelegs over my shoulder. Despite her light weight, she was heavy enough to throw me off balance as I stumbled through the train car. I had been so busy trying to get Vesper off my back that I didn’t notice the doors on the train were open. I realized this as I tried to support our combined weight against a closed door; I had to catch myself before falling flat on my face. As I stumbled out of the train, I was greeted by a small, quiet crowd of ponies. I was as silent as they were for a few seconds, scanning over the curious, but friendly eyes of the ponies in Ponyville. One pony had an annoyed expression as Vesper stretched while on my back. “I brought the human!” Vesper exclaimed before finally passing out. I wasn’t sure what to say or do for the small gathering, afraid that I would offend them somehow as they began to murmur amongst themselves. Thankfully, a lavender colored alicorn approached me after clearing her throat. Celestia had told me there was a princess in Ponyville, so I could only assume this was her. “Greetings, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said with a warm smile. “Welcome to Ponyville.” “Nice to finally meet you,” I said with a shaky voice. Twilight leaned in slightly, lowering the volume of her voice. “Is everything okay?” “Yeah, I just didn’t expect a welcome party,” I replied. “I’m not exactly used to being in the spotlight.” “You don’t have to worry, these ponies have seen dragons, yaks, and a few other things,” Twilight said in a matter of factly tone. “I bet you’ll make a few friends here if you give them a chance.” I looked up from Twilight to face the crowd, all of whom seemed to be eager for me to say something as their own conversations came to an abrupt end. I had expected them to be like the ponies in Canterlot, but they seemed more open, possibly excited about my presence here. “Um…my name’s Benjamin,” I said trying to sound confident. Several hellos came from the crowd that still seemed to anticipate something. Thankfully Twilight broke the awkward silence that followed, clearing her throat once more. “Well, I’m sure he’s had a long day, and this is all new to Benjamin. Why don’t give him some space for a while? I’m sure he’s just as eager to meet all of you as you are him.” With that, a few in the crowd dispersed, while those that remained gave a few friendly greetings or encouraging words as we walked past them. Then there was the mare with the annoyed expression again. She sighed as she turned to walk away, which stung me a bit, but I was used to it from Canterlot. I felt bad that I hadn’t been as exciting as a few of the ponies might have expected me to be. I made a mental note to be a bit more energetic next time. “Thanks for the save, Princess Twilight,” I said as I followed the alicorn, Vesper still asleep on my back. “No problem, and just Twilight will do,” Twilight replied. “I’m sure Celestia meant well when she sent out the notifications. I didn’t think you would mind a little welcome party.” “I’ve never been good with crowds,” I said, rolling my shoulders to keep Vesper on my back. Twilight giggled. “I didn’t think that many ponies would show up, since your kind went extinct in Equestria.” “You know I’m not made out of glass, right?” I asked rhetorically. “And are there other human outside of Equestria?” “Not exactly, I’ve been to your world before,” Twilight replied. “I never thought a human from that world would come here though…how did you do that anyways?” “Uh…I did a thing,” I looked down at the ground in embarrassment. “Well, what was it? You have to tell me!” I thought for sure Twilight might start bouncing from her excitement. I mumbled my response, my cheeks growing redder the more I thought about it. Twilight’s ears seemed locked on me as she struggled to hear me. I still found it interesting how she had been to the human’s world. “Sorry, didn’t quite catch that,” Twilight said, coming to a complete stop. “I got lost when I was trying to…do business.” I sighed, hoping she would pick up on what I meant. “Really? What kind of business, where you a park ranger?” Twilight seemed completely oblivious to what “business” in the woods fell under for humans. “Oh, maybe a biologist?” “...you can say it had to do with biology, yeah,” I nodded. “I knew it, you have the look of a pon- err, human that loves science.” Twilight beamed proudly, tapping her fore hooves together like a person would their hands if they were clapping. “Yep, I love science alright,” I chuckled nervously. Twilight began to drone on about what she had been studying. If someone had told me that I would eventually get to meet a book nerd pony, I would have laughed at them, but here I was, following a book horse through a town of colorful equines. Book horse, I liked the nickname for Twilight, it suited her. Eventually a castle appeared in the distance that seemed to be made entirely out of crystal. As we got closer, I was taken away by the size of the regal building. From the outside, it seemed incredibly sturdy and immune to any kind of outward attack, nothing like the celestial princesses’ castle. “Pretty impressive house you’ve got there,” I commented. “I think you’ll be even more impressed once we’re inside,” Twilight said, bringing an end to her theories on magic and just about anything that’s ever been put in a book. “Especially since you’ll be staying here a while.” “That’s cool,” I said while mentally cursing my fate. I had essentially traded one castle for another, albite a cooler one. “Is something wrong?” Twilight looked up at me with concern. “No, everything’s good, why?” I asked as the guards stepped aside to let us in. “You just didn’t sound as excited as I thought you would,” Twilight said. “It’s not every day somepony is told they get to live in a castle.” “You’re-whoa…” I stopped mid sentence as I saw the interior. The halls of the castle shimmered with vibrant energy, our reflections caught on some of the crystals that made up the walls. Our foot and hoof steps had an oddly pleasant echo to them as Twilight led me through the corridors. I felt as if I was committing an atrocity for walking through such a beautiful building with my shoes on. Even though I knew some mud had caked onto the bottom of my shoes no dirt seemed to be left behind, save for when we walked across a carpet. “Do you like it?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Yeah…” I dumbly replied, still awestruck by the beauty of the castle. There was one thing that struck me as odd though, I had yet to see a throne of any kind. If Twilight was a princess, surely there would be one. As I was about to ask, two doors opened in front of us as a purple mist surrounded the handle, or whatever qualified as a “handle” for ponies. Perhaps hoofdles were a thing in Equestria? Before I could ponder any farther on the matter, a pink blur materialized in front of me. When my eyes were finally able to track the creature that appeared from the pink haze, I saw a pony with wide blue eyes and a poofy mane and tail standing in front of me with a bright smile. “Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie!” the bubbly mare was certainly excited. “What’s yours?” “Benjamin,” I replied with the most enthusiastic voice I could muster. “Soareyoureallyahumanthat’scomebackfromthedeadorwouldthatmakeyouaghosthuman? BecauseIdon’tknowmuchaboutghosthumans,butIknowalittleaboutrealhumans,eventhoughthey’resupposedtobealldeadandstuff.Oh,oh,doyoulikecake?BecauseImadeacake,butIwasn’tsurewhattomakeitwithsoIthrewabitofeverythinginit!” I could literally feel my brain cells overheating as I tried to process everything Pinkie Pie was saying. “Simmer down there Pinky,” said a mare with a southern draw in her voice. “We don’t want ta go scare’n him none.” “Benjamin, these are my closest friends,” Twilight said as she led me into the round room that had six chairs, and an odd looking table, all made out of crystal. “Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Spike and Starlight Glimmer are out right now but I’m sure you’ll see them eventually.” “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, darling,” Rarity said, her accent seemed a bit out of place for Ponyville, resembling that of a Canterlot pony. “So what can you do?” Asked the blue pegasus identified as Rainbow Dash. “Can you shoot lasers from your eyes? Maybe crush boulders?” “Nothing that impressive,” I remained motionless as the mare circled me inquisitively. “I’ve got mad rock climbing skills though.” “Why don’t you just fly over them?” Rainbow asked. “No wings,” I replied with a shrug, nearly dislodging my passenger from my back. A butter yellow pegasus tried to hide behind her mane as she studied me. I smiled at her, hoping it would encourage her to talk, or at least say hi. Sadly, my smile only caused her to blush and look away She certainly lived up to the name Twilight had identified her with, Fluttershy. As the questions revolving around my world and myself were asked, I felt a little better about being in Ponyville, even if I had just traded one castle for another. Perhaps if I was patient enough I could get my own house, which was an exciting thought. Whatever happened, at least I wouldn’t be alone, as the weight of Vesper reminded me.