Back To Equestria

by DubleTruble96

Catching Up

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, okay slowww down. One thing at a time, okay?"

The human sat there in the crystal castle, a huge holographic Cutie Map sitting in front of him as he sat in Pinkie's seat, the pony affectionately draped across his lap like a squirmy rose-colored shawl covered in cotton candy, on the receiving end of a belly rub.

"Aside from... the obvious... What did I miss...?" He said, glancing to Twilight- er... Princess of Friendship and Head Professor of the School of Friendship... Sparkle. This world's Twilight Sparkle... Ho boy, this was gonna be a long day...

"Okay... Well, how about we just cover the major events...?" Twilight said with a smile.

"Alright, that's... that'll work." He said, frowning while giving a nod.

"I ended up defeating a ancient demon god with the power of 4 alicorns-"
"Fast forward a bit, I know that part."
"Okay.. um... Rainbow Dash became a Wonderbolt!"
"HECK YEAH I DID!"

There was a pause while Rainbow Dash did several aerial tricks before landing back in her seat, brushing her chest with a hoof.

"But it's no big deal."
"Okay, um.. Congratulations." Austin said, almost questioningly. "Sorry I missed the coronation.."
"We also had a time-based adventure-"
"Leeeet's skip this one. My brain doesn't process paradoxes too well.."
"Okayyy.. uh.."

This went on for some time, a bit of this and a bit of that. A huge adventure was told and some.. not so huge adventures. Fluttershy's animal sanctuary, Pinkie Pie discovering Rainbow Dash's secret, yet another Daring Do adventure.. Most of the details were skimmed or skipped, but the major points where there.

"Oh, and then Sunset Shimmer showed up for a bit and-" Twilight started, but Austin quickly interrupted, giving her a puzzled look.
"Sunset who now?"

There was a beat and then the Princess' eyes lit up like a pinball machine. Why hadn't she thought of this ages ago?! A small frown turned into a small smile, then that smile slowly began to progress into a grin.. then a bigger grin. Soon, Austin was getting uncomfortable with the wide-eyed grinning alicorn staring at him.

"Ahem.. Twi?"
"EEE!" She squealed, getting up and running in place excitedly before she teleported next to him, her front hooves propping her up on the arm of the throne. "This is great! I wish you were here ages ago! C'mon I gotta show you something!"

Before our human hero could even open his mouth to protest, a bright flash of light encapsulated them both and suddenly they were in the library of the crystal castle, completely disorienting him for a moment as he steadied himself on a nearby shelf.

"I mean, why didn't I ever think of introducing you to Sunset Shimmer?! You're a human, she's a human-...Okay she was actually a pony but then she went through this mirror and turned human, and-"
"Whoa whoa, Twi! Slow...WHEW... Slow down! My head's still spinning here... What mirror? Who's Sunset?!" He said, rubbing his eyes.
"Oh, right.." The purple alicorn blushed a bit, grinning. "Sorry, just got so excited!"
"It's fine.. Talk to me. What are we talking about? What's this weird.. Alice in Wonderland nonsense is this..?"

Twilight trotted over and extended her hoof to a full-length mirror that looked like it was ripped right out of Rarity's vanity, and then connected to several sensitive looking devices, tesla coils and glass tubes and pumps, the wires of which were covered in a eerie magenta glow as electricity and sparks crawled all over their surface.

"THIS mirror!" She said with a big grin on her face. "This mirror acts like a gateway to a whole new world, just like yours! We've finally created a stable link from Equestria to your world, without the skydiving part."

Austin blinked, the expression on his face a twisted emotional smoothie of shock, anxiety, curiousness and probably 3 other feelings. He shook his head vigorously and looked at her, frowning a bit.

"Wait wait wait... are we talking my world or are we talking your version of my world...? 'Cause I feel like we're talking about 2 different worlds here."
"I'm pretty sure we're talking about your world, Austin." She said, point a hoof at him with a smirk. "Bipedal creatures with hands and feet, schools, cars.."
"That.. SOUNDS like my world, but I'm skeptical." He started toward the mirror before Twilight quickly stopped him in a panic.

"WAIT!" She said, gently pushing him away from the mirror. "This mirror changes you, Austin! When a pony steps through, they become... one of you, a human! And when a human steps through the portal coming back, they turn into a pony!"
"Okay... and...?" He said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, we've never tested it the other way! What if you turn into a pony on the other side? Or turn into one coming back through THIS way?"

He paused for thought, furrowing his brow. Twilight blinked in surprise, then facehoofed and extended her foreleg at him in a "seriously?!" kind of way. "You're STILL CONSIDERING IT?!"

Austin put his hands up defensively, smiling a bit. "Okay okay, I won't go through.. But... how am I supposed to meet Sunset...whoever if she's on the other side of the mirror?"

Twilight smiled and sighed a bit, levitating over a thick, leather-bound journal and a quill, scribbling into it for a few moments. The human opened his mouth to say something, but Twilight putting her hoof up quieted him. He frowned, watching her quill dance on the paper for a few moments longer before she put the quill down. More silence. Austin lowered his brow and opened his mouth again, but Twilight shushed him once more. He crossed his arms, his frown only worsening.

Suddenly, there was a strange orange glow coming from her book's pages, alerting him. His frown faded and he slowly took a step or two forward but Twilight pulled the book away, giving him a playful smile. "No spoiling it." She said, sticking her tongue out at him as the glowing book continued to make noises that he could only chalk up to parchment scratching.. Like someone was writing in the book but nobody was there. He sighed a bit, looking at her flatly.

"Twilight, I.."

But before he could continue, the mirror's machines began to go berserk, electricity flowing faster, pumps working harder, and the otherworldly glow from the center of the mirror began to get brighter and brighter. He backed away from the portal, never taking his eyes off it just in case it decided to grow legs and attack him or something. Then, before his eyes, a golden yellow pony stepped out of the portal, wobbling as she attempted to stand on her hind legs.

He blinked in surprise, watching as the mare continued to try and stay balanced, before dropping to all fours and giving a happy sigh and a giggle, trotting over to Twilight before they embraced one another happily.

"Twilight!"
"Sunset Shimmer! It's so good to see you again!"
"What was it you needed me to see?"

Twilight smiled, turning her head toward the elephant- er... human... in the room. Sunset's eyes followed and as soon as they settled on Austin, her eyes turned to pinpricks. She opened her mouth, as if to talk, but nothing came out other than soft choked words and gasps.

"W-What.. is..." She finally managed to start, but she was quickly interrupted.
"Sunset Shimmer, this is Austin! Austin, Sunset Shimmer!" She said, waving a hoof between the two of them with a big smile.

Twilight was quickly pulled away by Sunset as the pair turned around, whispering to one another. Austin frowned a bit, not appreciating that.

"Twilight, what in Equestria is... one of them doing here?! Did the portal malfunction? Does he know where he is?!"
"Relax, Sunset, he's been here for a while. It's a bit of a long story. He's not stuck here, and no, the portal didn't malfunction."
"But why does he look like... like that?!"
"He didn't come through the portal, Sunset. He came from.. okay well, he came from the sky-"
"He's an ALIEN?!"
"No! Not like that!"

Austin coughed into his fist, scowling at them as they turned around.

"Sooo..." Sunset said, grinning nervously. "Human, huh?"
"Yyyeah..." He said, crossing his arms. "I... hear you're quite used to seeing my kind...?"
"Well.. Yes, but... In there. Not... out here." She said, pointing a hoof at the mirror.
"Right. Fun stuff?"
"It's.. it's alright. I have a great set of friends and we get into all sorts of misadventures~" She said, rolling her eyes with a smile. "Annnd Twilight told me you do the same thing here?"
"I'd say I'm more akin to a lab rat for Twilight, but we're still pretty good friends."

Twilight snorted a bit, frowning. He most certainly was not a lab rat! If anything, he was the one who jumped at every opportunity to get hit with a spell or potion!

"So!" Sunset said, coughing into her hoof before giving a big smile that was clearly trying too hard. "You uh.. You've been here for a while, then? Looking like.. uh... like that?"

Austin crossed his arms and scowled now, quickly making Sunset backpedal.

"I- uh- I didn't mean it like THAT. I meant like.. You.. the mirror.. um.."
"I get it. And yes, I came in like this, I leave like this."
"Through the mirror..?"
"No, like Twilight said. My first entrance into Equestria was via a skydive... It's kind of hard to explain... There was this whole thing with a bunch of government agents, a god of chaos... Trust me, it wasn't my choice to come to Equestria screaming as I fell from 30,000 feet."

Sunset looked at Twilight, as if expecting an explanation, but Twilight could only shrug and smile. "I'll be honest, I was just as lost as you, Sunset.. I scanned a whole acre of sky in the area he allegedly appeared from, but I couldn't see any magical anomalies..."
"Okay.. so how do you get BACK then?" Sunset said with a frown, looking at him. "If not through the mirror, and probably not through the sky..."
"Pinkie taught me how to break the fourth wall."
"The...fourth wall."
"That is correct."

Sunset only looked more and more confused, trying to process all this information. She spent years in the world beyond the mirror, and not once saw anything that even resembled anything like she was being told. She didn't skydive when she entered the human world, and she didn't skydive on the way back. There was no wall she had to break to get in and out... It was just a mirror and a statue.

Austin looked at Twilight, lifting his hand toward Sunset questioningly. Twilight grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Hehe, well.. She's just trying to wrap her head around it. You gotta remember, she's not used to seeing your kind on this side of the mirror..."
"That's it. I'm checking out this mirror thing."

He started toward the mirror but both Sunset and Twilight quickly ran between him and the portal, each with a foreleg raised to halt him.

"AUSTIN STOP!"
"Yeah you don't understand! It's not what you're thinking it is!" Sunset said nervously. She was incredibly uncomfortable being a pony in front of a human, but she certainly didn't want this human going and getting hurt by reckless use of unknown magic.

He paused his advance, looking annoyed.

"Twilight, c'mon. You're like... magic mare extraordinaire. If something happens to me on the way there or on the way back, I'm sure you can fix it."
"Yeah, if you SURVIVE!" Twilight said, a few indigo hairs standing up out of her mane.
"Can I at least poke my head in there?"

Twilight and Sunset looked at each other, frowning. They wanted to say no, but on the same end, they didn't see anything wrong with it... As long as he didn't go all the way through, right? Twilight huffed and stepped aside, signalling Sunset to do the same.

"Fine. ONE peek. But that's it! We can't risk you getting hurt!"
"Thank you."

Austin approached the glowing surface of the mirror, blinking a few times before taking a deep breath as if he was about to dunk his head underwater, and shoved his head into the portal's surface. There was a pause as he stood there for a few moments, then slowly pulled his head back out, a flat expression on his face.

"Well... what did you see?" Sunset said. She felt like she knew the answer to this already, but she wondered if Austin, as a native human, would see something different. "Do you feel any different?"

He was silent, the same stony expression on his face as he turned and walked toward a shelf, plucked a book off it, opened it up to a random page, then shoved his face into it and screamed into the pages, making both mares jump in surprise. He kept screaming for a few seconds longer before he closed the book and put it back where it was, then went back over to them, looking as serene as before.

"Uh.." Sunset said with a frown, the lavender mare beside her looking concerned. "You...you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine.. You should really put a seizure warning or something on that thing." He said, pointing to the mirror. "Lots of flashing colors and stuff."

The two of them looked at each other, then back at him with nervous smiles.

"Right... So.. You don't feel any different?" The princess asked.
"Not particularly, no.."
"Well, that's...that's good." She said, almost sounding disappointed.

---

There was even more catch-up to do, and Twilight and her friends were more than happy to help their bipedal friend. The Changelings evolving, Ember becoming the new Dragon Lord, the whole adventure with Tempest Shadow. He was half tempted to ask who Thorax, Ember and Tempest were, but he'd rather not be playing Meet and Greet all day, so he bit his tongue.

Sunset was also there, getting introduced to Equestria's element bearers, not that she needed to be introduced. It was still nice to do, however. Eventually, though, Sunset needed to get back home, so she went back through the portal, promising to return for a visit some time.

Their human companion however was having a hard time wrapping his head around the newly expanded Cutie Map...

"So... after that whole thing with Tempest, the map just.. what, exploded outward with new areas?"
"Well, expanded would probably be a more appropriate term, but yes!" Twilight chirped, looking over the giant table. "There's Yakyakistan, Mount Aris, Seaquestria, Dragon's Roost-"
"Okay so uh... You get sent on friendship missions to those places too?"
"Well, we haven't been to EVERY new place yet, but I'm sure we will in time." Rarity said, waving her hoof. "And it's not just us, either! Starlight ended up getting sent on one recently, and so has Sweetie Belle and her friends!"
"So it's calling ponies from all over the place, huh?" He smirked, giving a light chuckle.

He reached down and waved his hand through the map's hologram, shivering a bit before quickly retracting his hand. "Whoa that's... tingly. Must be magic or something.."

The mares giggled from their seats, a few of them rolling their eyes.

"Okay so... We've got Rainbow Dash the Wonderbolt, Rarity the Franchisee, Fluttershy the Animal Sanctuary Tender, Pinkie Pie the Party Pony, Applejack the Dependable Farmer and Twilight, a literal princess. AND Starlight Glimmer, your student, and Sunset Shimmer, your...human-pony....friend from another world." He said, putting his hand to his head as he tried to remember everything he's been told thus far. "The Changelings aren't evil anymore, there's a new Dragon Lord, several new species re-discovered, a huge map that sends you on quests, and you even had PRINCESS CELESTIA in a play?"

They all nodded, giving quiet muttered affirmations, while looking between each other.

"Furthermore, you have a whole School of Friendship, and there was a magic mirror that I'm forbidden from using because... Something something vague magic." He finished, leaning on Twilight's chair, sighing.

"That about sums it up!" Pinkie giggled.

"And not ONCE did any of you think to invite me?" He frowned, sounding dejected. The mares all looked at each other, looking a little ashamed.

"Well...To be honest, Austin, you were pretty quiet for a long time. Your visits got less and less frequent before you stopped coming by altogether. And my duties as Princess were taking up a lot of my free time..."
"Yeah.." Rainbow's raspy voice said softly. "Same with my Wonderbolt training."
"My boutique doesn't run itself, darling.." Rarity said.
"And my animals need their caretaker.."
"Parties don't plan themselves you know!"
"And my chores need doin'."

There was a pause, then all the mares looked at Starlight. Starlight jumped a bit, before frowning. "Hey, don't look at me! I didn't even know about this guy until a few minutes ago!"

Austin frowned, looking a little upset, but he let out a soft sigh. "Alright alright... I'll... start coming by a bit more often... I guess my life was getting a little hectic too." He rubbed his arm, shrugging.

They smiled at him, giggling a bit. The giggling was contagious and he started to snicker too. Soon the whole room was erupted in laughter, even Starlight was having a good time! The laughter started to die down and Austin blinked, rubbing his eye.

"Ehehe.. He.. W-What... what are we laughing about?" He said, looking around. Nopony really had a proper answer. They just all shrugged and smiled.

"Good to be back." He chuckled, rolling his eyes.

Comments

[Andy Ray]

Whoa ! I smell spoilers ahead! Must not proceed yet!