Taking A Chance

by Valtyra

Chapter 3: Well hello there...

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Chapter 3:

James’s PoV:

I awoke to the feeling of cold, hard stone and pain. It was mainly in my chest, but various muscles around my body were hurting as well. I groaned as I raised myself up onto my knees to check my surroundings.

I was in some sort of ruins, obviously made an extremely long time ago judging from the damage from nature. Vines had grown around the pillars that had long since cracked and fallen apart, causing the roof to cave in. I could see the moonlight pour in from above, bathing the room in a silver glow; giving enough light to actually see.

I stood up, breathing sharply as my legs almost refused to work and staggered about. I went about searching for a way out and to maybe somewhere warmer. I looked down to the front of my shirt to find it ripped open. I remembered what happened and looked about; there was no sign of Alex.

“Alex!” I shouted, hoping that he would respond. When no such thing happened I began to get scared. ”What if he had been killed?” I questioned myself before shaking my head, ”Nah, I’ll find him...”

I carried on searching for a door. After another five minutes I had successfully found what looked to be the front door to the ruins. I pulled them open and rushed out, only to be blown in the face by a surprisingly strong gust of wind. I pushed through it and after a couple minutes of struggling against it, it stopped.

I looked about for a path and was pleasantly surprised to find one a few feet away. I followed it to a rickety old bridge that seemed to be repaired a while ago, though crudely. I carefully stepped onto the bridge, making sure not to step on any planks that looked old; not wanting to fall into the river below.

I jumped the last few planks and landed on solid ground, “I love you ground.” I said, falling to the ground, giving it a hug.

I jumped up, giving a small wince of discomfort and made my way forward. It wasn’t long until I heard the faint sound of a river and rushed forward to find the source. I emerged into a clearing on one side of the river. There was no visible way to cross so I had to swim.

Thankfully the river was calm enough and I made it, mostly. I was freezing cold by now and losing body heat every second. Soon I wouldn’t be able to make it anywhere.

I walked forward slowly, my body freezing, shaking and I beginning to get scared that I wouldn’t be able to get home. “I m-may have m-made a-a t-terrible m-m-mistake.” I stuttered out, trying to keep my spirits up, “I-if Alex w-was here, h-he’d laugh...”

I made it to the entrance of the forest, the sun was starting to come up slowly. It wouldn’t be enough to help me out. I could see small columns of smoke past the next set of trees, soon I would be warm.

The walk to past the trees felt like an eternity. I brushed past them and staggered onto the worn path, a stark contrast from the mud and gritty path of the forest. If I wasn’t dying i would have cared slightly.

I saw a small cottage just in front of me, almost mockingly standing just out of range. I stubbed my foot on a small rock in the road and fell onto my stomach. I looked up towards the cottage for any sign of help. When no one came, I felt unconsciousness take over, dropping my head onto the ground.

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Alex’s PoV:

I walked with Iron Shield for about five minutes before getting bored. I turned to him and started talking, I knew he couldn’t understand me but I wanted to have a little fun. “Now, I don’t want you interrupting me while I say this.”

He looked up to me, then back to the front.

“No please, I need to say this. Nothing you can say will stop me.” I hold out my hand and shake my finger at him.

He says a few things in Equestrian and shakes his head. We carry on walking until he stops outside the shop that he was tasked to take me to. It looks like the generic tailor shop, with a manikin and tape sign outside.

We walk inside, the shopkeeper tenses up seeing me before he notices Iron Shield and relaxes. They talk for a couple of minutes before Iron hands the shop owner a letter.

“Where did he get that, he doesn’t have pockets?” I say aloud, knowing they can’t understand me. The shop owner takes ahold of my hand in his magic and drags me over to the podium and levitates his tape measure over to him. I try and see him at work, but all I could see was the tape measure.

What I saw next blew my mind. They have the same numbers as us. I raised my eyebrows and decided to mention it to Celestia later.

The measurements went on for another twenty minutes before the unicorn trots off to the back room, closing the door. I look at Iron Shield, he looks at me and we both shrug.

I get off the podium and follow Iron out of the store. The walk back to the castle was unexciting. A few passersby gawked at me for a second before running off after they gained my attention. Fortunately no one was outright hostile.

We got back through the gates to see Celestia herself waiting for us. “Good time?” She asks, raising her eyebrow and letting a small grin pass.

“Oh yeah, I couldn’t shut him up.” I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Iron Shield looks up to me then over to Celestia before speaking.

Celestia nods for a bit, listening. She then replied, Iron shield saluted and trotted away.

“He says you were annoying,” She says, giggling.

“Oh well, we got it all sorted.”

“Good, I hope you didn’t scare any locals.” She asks, turning and walking inside.

“Of course not, they just so happened to be scared of my good looks.” I say, laughing.

“I wouldn’t know, I’m not up to date with your species standards on mating.” She says.

“I’m Human, a Homo Sapien.”

“Ah, okay.”

We walk for five minutes before we arrive at her quarters. “I have a surprise for you.” She says, smiling.

“Okay...?” I reply, skeptical.

“It’s just a bit further.”

I follow the Princess a bit more and come to another door, this one looked like any other in the area, with the exception of a small sun emblem above the door. “Is this my room?” I ask, turning to Celestia.

“Yes, I had the servants put it together while you were out. You don’t seem very excited...”

“I am, really. It’s just... I wouldn’t have expected this much kindness. I know you said you would, but still...” I reply, looking in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“You are very much welcome. Now, go in.” She opens the door with her magic and playfully pushed me inside, following closely behind.

I look around the room, it was finely furnished. It looks very much like Celestia’s in that it had it’s own writing desk, bookshelves and that the floor was still white marble, giving my eyes a hard time. “It looks great. Again, thank you.” I say, giving Celestia an impromptu hug.

She seemed shocked for a second before untensing and hugging back. I swiftly let go and sheepishly smiled, “Well, that was new. Never hugged a pony before.”

“That’s alright, I haven’t hugged a Human before.”

We share a chuckle before I run over to the bed and jump on it, puffing out the covers. “Hell yeah, new cover smell!” I shout, fist pumping the air.

Celestia stands there smiling, “I’m glad you like the room,” She looks about, “You might have to get some books though. The shelves look a bit bare.”

I stop moving and lean up, “I would, but I can’t understand your language, remember?” I reply, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sure Twilight would have something to say about that. She’s quite the reader. She’s teaching my sister, Luna, the new language; I’m sure she’d teach you as well...”

“Huh, That would be useful...” I say, “How long did you say it would take Twilight and her friends to get here?”

“She should be here by tomorrow morning at the earliest, unless something holds them up.”

“Okay.” I say, getting up. “Hey, didn’t you say something about your sister?” I ask.

“Oh yeah, would you like to go and check if she’s back yet? I’m sure she’d enjoy meeting somepony that speaks her language... so to speak...” She giggles.

“Sure, the more ponies I can talk to, the better.” I follow Celestia out of the room and down a few hallways. “What’s your sister like?” I ask.

Celestia turns to me, “She’s... different. She came back a couple of years ago and she hasn’t been out much. Frankly, this is a rarity to see her interested in something enough for her to go on some mission.”

I nod, “Sounds serious.”

“It is, but hopefully you can help her out though.” Celestia smiles and turns the corner. We come to a small door, about the same size and shape of Celestia’s. This one has a crescent moon on it, instead of a sun. Celestia trots up to it and knocks with her hoof.

We wait for a few minutes, “Maybe she isn’t i-”

The door opens, standing there is another Alicorn. This one is slightly smaller than Celestia, she has long flowing hair, with what looks like stars intertwined within. Luna says something to Celestia in the new language before turning to me, “Is it true? You can speak Old Equestrian?”

I move forward, “Uh, yeah...” I say sheepishly, before turning to Celestia.

She moves forward and smiles, “He’s to be staying here for a while and I said I would introduce you.”

“That’s very kind sister, this has brightened my day.” She grins, giving Celestia a hug.

Celestia breaks first and says sternly, “Now, tell me where you have been. You gave your guards the fright.”

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James’s PoV:

I cracked my eyes open, light from outside causing me to close them back up. When I felt like my eyes could handle it, I opened them up again and turned away from the light. I was covered in blankets, cold water bottles were tucked next to my stomach.

I was laying on a couch in someone’s front room. There were numerous bird houses hanging from the ceiling, small mouse holes at the bottom of the walls and I swear I could see a few animals scurry about.

Apart from those things, the room seemed very homey, almost as If someone had taken a considerable amount of time taking care of it, making every inch as good as it could be.

I dreaded getting up from the pain last time, but knew I would have to, so I pushed the blankets off me, feeling light headed from that small movement. I groaned in pain and got up off the couch, it’s frame creaking from my weight.

I stopped, hearing some noise from one of the other rooms in the cottage. Obviously the person that saved me was still here and I wanted to thank him or her.

I hobbled closer to the source of the noise, taking care to not knock any of their stuff about or scare the animals. I neared the door and knocked.

I could hear a few things get knocked over from inside. A few seconds later, the door unlocks and opens very slowly.

A bright yellow pony answers the door. It wasn’t something I was expecting, but after being attacked and thrown into a different world I wasn’t one to complain.

The pony says something in another language, obviously concerned. She flies up and gently moves me back onto the couch where she says something again.

The pony flutters off and into a different part of the house, leaving me to process that she flew and talked. A few moments later, she flutters back in with a bowl of salad in her hooves. She stops in front of me, grasping a piece of lettuce with her hoof. She brings the food close to my face where I take hold of it.

She says some stuff in her language, smiling gently.

“Thank you.” I say.

“You can’t understand me, can you?” I ask, receiving nothing but another piece of lettuce. "Well, this is just great..." I turn around and look outside, the sun didn't hurt my eyes anymore. From this cottage, I could see the town quite clearly and with it, the multiple ponies that wandered around. "This would has ponies as it's dominant species..."

The pony turns my head back to herself and hands me another piece of food. I take it and eat, knowing that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere if I didn't know how to find Alex...

I start to formulate some direction. Without anything to go on, I wouldn’t be able to do much, let alone travel. “If I ended up in some ruins, where did Alex go?” I was interrupted in my thinking by the pony handing me some more food. I pushed it away, only concerned with finding my friend.

The pony looked at me, concern showing. I smiled at her, making sure I was alright and not hungry anymore. She seemed to buy it and wandered off into another part of the house.

I got up and rushed to the door, finding it unlocked. I pulled it open and ran outside. The shirt I was wearing was starting to fall off me, so I took it off and threw it in the bushes, making sure to hide it before walking towards the town.