The Bridge Between Worlds

by Artemis Orion

Chapter 4: Formal Introductions

Formal Introductions

I felt a little chilly, but that was to be expected if you were visiting a high mountainside palace.

I donned my black hoodie, thankful for its return, along with its contents. It was Twilight Sparkle that returned them to me. The lavender unicorn briskly trotting by my side. It seemed she had finally gotten used to having a human like me around.

And I've gotten used to them...

As Twilight guided us to leave the palace, I saw all of the other forms of ponies; the Pegasi, the Unicorns and the Earth ponies. But I wasn't as amazed as I saw them the first time. And until then, nothing could beat the sight of Princess Celestia, especially when she shouts in your face not more than a few minutes ago. We were just about to go beyond the outer gates of the palace...

"I'm so glad your here! It's not every century that a human arrives in Equestria!" Twilight seemed to trot with a bounce, probably from excitement. "In fact, your probably the only human in history to have visited Equestria! Oh, I have so many questions for you.."

"Twilight!"

She was cut off by somepony else. I turned around to find a young, blood red colt galloping towards us. He looked rather studious, wearing spectacles, but he didn't come off as nerdy.

"Ah Twilight! Glad I got a hold of...you..."

He ground to a halt, a meter away from where me and Twilight stood, side by side.

"Err.. ah... that is... umm..." He never took his eyes off me for a second. He sat, mouth open for one second. I drew a smile as he shook off his fears and greeted me.

"Good day to you Sir!" He was attempting to sound confident. "I'm Mr Trotter, one of the top Scholars of Magic in Canterlot! You can call me Trotter for short. I understand that you have been a victim of this horrible disaster of Magic?"

"Good day to you too! I'm Keith!" I felt somewhat cheery today."As for the incident, I wouldn't quite call it a disaster." I winked knowingly at Twilight. She grinned. Trotter raised an eyebrow in our direction.

"Hmmm... interesting. But I'm really hear because I caught word of the... what did you call it...? Harmony Stone?"

"You mean the rock with the Elements Of Harmony on its topside that brought me here via inter-dimensional portal?"

That cleared all understanding from his face.

"Uuhh... yes. It would seem we are talking about the same object."

I inserted my hand into my hoodie's top left chest pocket, pulling the ,now dull, disc-shaped stone from it.

I haven't held this for a while. I forgot how heavy it was.

At the sight, The bespectacled unicorn's eyes gleamed.

"Oh, my word! It looks... perfectly carved... absolutely symmetrical... almost unnatural!" He seemed to be struggling for words.

"Keith, I know that this may be a rather rash thing to ask from you, especially since we just met. And from what I've heard, that stone is your only way back home. But for the study of Magic, would you mind lending it to us for further studying? It is truly nothing we have ever seen before, and it would greatly help us expand our knowledge of..."

"Hold that thought Mr Trotter. Twilight, may I have a word with you?" She looked at me with a little concern.

"...Sure..."

I turned around, back facing Trotter, and bent to Twilights ear level.

"Who is this guy? Can I trust him?" I whispered.

"Of course you can! Trotter is an old friend of mine from the academy. He might not always be confident, but he's trustworthy."

"Well, okay... But if I end up not being able to return home later on, I'm blaming you." I replied jokingly, and returned my attention to the patiently waiting scholar.

I stepped toward Trotter. He almost took a step back, bur hesitated and decided better of it. I extended my hand holding the Harmony Stone.

"Here. Learn as much about it as you can. The more I know...I mean we know about it, the better chance we have of controlling it."

Ending that sentence, I felt a force push off my hand, as the stone levitated above my palm. It glowed a reddish hue, as did Trotter's horn, which was controlling the stone.

"My sincerest thanks, Mr Keith, from everyone of the Scholars! We will report to you if we have found any interesting properties from this stone! This, I promise!"

And with that, the colt took to his hooves and headed back into the palace, the stone followed suit.

"Well he seems happy." I returned my hands into their pockets to hang lazily.

"Oh he's always like that when he gets a big project." Twilight sighed, and turned to face me.

"You know... I didn't tell you this earlier... but in the time you were out, I took the time to examine the stone. It responded to none of the spells I knew. Keith, I'm sorry, but it might take a while for the Scholars to find a way to activate it."

"It's okay Twilight. I'm perfectly happy with staying in Equestria for the time being. It doesn't look like I'll get bored of it anytime soon!"

"Well that's a relief! We have so much to learn from each other; ponies and humans alike! I thought humans were just a myth! It looks like I'm going to have to apologize to Lyra soon."

"That's nice. So where we heading?"

"Well as soon as we get you acquainted with the rest of my friends, we'll get you something to eat..."

"Wait... the other five of your friends are here too?"

"Well, they insisted on coming! They were scared of what you might do, and decided that we should stick together on this. Also, Applejack feels a little bad for kicking you so hard..." she blushed for her friend, "although it was me that told her to do it...sorry..."

"It's nothing Twilight! Nothing but a bad memory now!" I replied chuckling.

We were now at the exit gates. The gold coloured bars blocked a giant wooden door, that I knew doubled as the drawbridge of the moat ahead.

"They are just beyond the moat, on the other side." She was smiling ear to ear "I can't wait for them to meet you!"

The royal guards ordered for the gate opened and the bridge lowered. Beyond it, I could make out a little muffled conversation...

"Oh can't we enter yet? What if Twilight's hurt?"

Well fluttershy sounded a little more assertive than usual...

"If that... that thing... lay so much as a hoof on our friend... I will totally-"

"Now Rainbow Dash dear, calm yourself. That creature doesn't even have hooves."

"Well Ah'm still concerned, if this waiting takes any longer, Ah'm goin' in mahself!"

"Girls look! They're lowering the bridge!"

As the drawbridge lowered, our forms could be made out, slowly revealing us the lower it went. I strolled forward, Twilight a few steps ahead.

"Hi girls-"

"TWILIGHT WATCH OUT! IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

With that, a rainbow streak came racing towards me! I braced myself for the worst. But the blow never came.

"Rainbow Dash! Calm down! He's friendly!"

Rainbow Dash hung in mid-air as she was magicked by Twilight.

"He's friendly? How can you be so sure? How do you even know it's a 'he'?!" Rainbow Dash was staring daggers at me. I had to stop myself from returning the expression with a Troll Face.

"Rainbow ,darling! At least try to be friendly!" Rarity approached me with confidence.

At least not everyone was scared of me, or tried to kill me...

"Greetings dear, my name is Rarity. I own the boutique down at Ponyville and I can proudly say that I am the only designer there!" She stuck a hoof forward. I awkwardly shook it gently with my right hand. Maybe they at least knew what a handshake was? She didn't seem offended.

"Nice to meet you Rarity, my name is Keith!"

Although there is no need for you to introduce yourself again. I know almost everything about you and all your friends...

I perished the thought. I didn't want to scare them off like that! I would seem like some sort of stalker. Maybe when the timing allowed it...

"Howdy Keith!" Rarity stepped back as Applejack came forward, removing her hat for salutations. "Mah names Applejack! I run the farm down at Sweet Apple Acres, along with my siblings of course."

Whose names are Big Macintosh and Applebloom...

Applejack spat in her hoof and extended it. Strange as it was, I responded similarly. I spat in my hand and high-fived her hoof, creating a tiny 'splat' sound.

At that moment, a flurry of cotton candy-smelling, pink fur filled my face.

"HI!"

It was the huge, somewhat crazy teeth-bearing grin of Pinkie Pie. For some reason, her face was upside down.

"I'm Pinky Pie! I live down at Sugarcube Corner with Mr. and Mrs. cake. Nice to meet you! I have never met a Human before! Well, at least up till now! Oh, I know what I'll do! I'll throw you a party as soon as we get back to ponyville! See, I know everyone in Ponyville and..."

I realized that Pinkie was sitting on Applejack's head, pressing her hat hard onto her face. Applejack refused to react. Maybe it was just a common occurrence with them.

"...so if you ever need a party of any kind whatsoever, you can find me and I'll get everything you need!"

"Thanks Pinkie Pie, I'll keep that in mind."

Twilight had finally put down Rainbow Dash down, but she still seemed rather defensive. Applejack attempted to introduce Rainbow Dash for her.

"And.. ah assume you already know that's Rainbow Dash.." she give a nervous smile, slightly embarrassed by Rainbow's display. That was until she flew right up to my face, her nose almost touching mine.

"I've got my eye on you, 'human'" heavy emphasis on 'human', "I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria! You don't want to mess with me!"

Hmm... maybe if I played it the way she did...

"Y'know Rainbow Dash, I have opposable thumbs. I could easily break you wings if you even try to get close..." I gave her a menacing grin. Her face gave a blank expression for a short moment, that broke into loud laughter. As soon as she recovered, she faced me once more, but at least she was smiling this time.

"Maybe you aren't all that bad. Okay, I'll let you live for now..." And with that, she turned tail and trotted back, chuckling to herself.

Well, I think that's everyone... oh wait... Fluttershy...

I spotted her, behind her friends, head down and mane covering half her face. She refused to look up.

"That's Fluttershy." began Rarity, "She's awfully shy, but she's a really good friend, if you get to know her. A true heart of gold, especially since she cares for all those animals..."

I took a slow step towards the yellow pegasus. She cowered further back, hiding her face fully with her mane. I heard her whimper softly, and it almost made my heart explode.

"So you take care of animals?"

"Oh...yes...in Ponyville... It's nothing much..."

She took another step backwards. I stopped pursuing questions from her, I didn't want to frighten her.

"Well, now that I've met everypony," I spoke up, "what's say we head on into town?"

"Yeah! I'm Starving!"

"Ooh, me too!"

"I guess it's settled then, dearies. To Canterlot!"

"Ah can't wait to see the look on everyponies' face when they see us trottin' into town with a human!"

Comments

[Artemis Orion]

Good evening everyone! (Well, evening to me anyway.)

As you can see, our character has just met the Mane Six, at the same time attempting not to cause a rift in the multiverse.
I figured it would not be best to bring up any alternate universe stuff yet, until all of them become closer friends.

Will Keith ever be able to return home? Does Rainbow Dash really want to kill him? Why are these questions always in triplets?

I really feel that this story is going at a real slow pace. But I always thought of it as a book to start with. Expect chapters in the double digits!
If you're enjoying this, stick around for the rest! Like I've said countless times, It's a learning experience, so all criticism and opinions are accepted with love and tolerance!

Until the next Chapter!
Artemis Orion

PS. Would anyone like to help me out with some cover art? I know absolutely nothing about drawing, and I can't use the Harmony Pendant as a cover forever. Full credit will be given to thee, not to mention all my bits and internetz! It would be really great if it came from the community. KTHNXBAI

[Fluttershy yay]

This is awesome!

Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to more chapters.

[TheWattsMan]

"Girls look! Their lowering the bridge!" needs to be "They're"
great story, BTW.

THIS IS PONYRIFFIC!

[Happy Thoughts]

So far so good! Maybe a bit predictable but still much better than most HiE stories I've read. Keep it up! MOAR!!!

[Wheelwright]

Seems to be going well so far. Nothing calamitous, nothing too bizarre (once you get past the whole pastel ponies bit) Need to work on the spelling/editing homonyms though. 'dawning' -> 'donning' 'hear' -> 'here'

I really shouldn't read so many HiE stories.. bad for my digestion I'm sure. Too many sweets is supposed to rot your teeth, right?

Hard to tell just where this is going to move. Is there a plot, or just an imagination exercise?

[Artemis Orion]

92824
Noted, thanks.

This story actually stared out as an imagination exercise. (le the first chapter)
But after i realized how much this fandom appreciated and supported what i was doing, i decided to make it a story with a better plot.

So hopefully u guys find interesting. And don't worry, this story will be going somewhere! Trust in my plan.

[EvilEnchantress]

now when do they find out that he's a omnivore (yes i know I post comments even though there are other chapters out)

[RealityCheck]

again, too quick, too abrupt, far too quick and ready to accept him, him far too ready to accept his circumstances.

[Calclor]

I dunno if Lyra actually thinks that humans are real, or it's just a fan thing.. If it is the latter, nice reference to the Anthropology fiction

[iloveportalz0r]

"pulling the ,now dull" - dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/eenope.png
"Well fluttershy sounded a little more assertive than usual"
"Rainbow ,darling!" -
"I'm Pinky Pie!" -
"Mr. and Mrs. cake" -
"I have never met a Human before!" -
"as soon as we get back to ponyville" -

[DF]

I can't say why, but my brain decided that Mr. Trotter sounds like professor Frink from the Simpsons. I didn't even notice until halfway through all of his lines.

[Diabolic Gnome]

i like how you put in that thing of My Little Dashie

[Orrkon]

So she doesn't remember that's sad

[NightWing4390]

"Y'know Rainbow Dash, I have opposable thumbs. I could easily break you wings if you even try to get close..." I gave her a menacing grin. Her face gave a blank expression for a short moment, that broke into loud laughter. As soon as she recovered, she faced me once more, but at least she was smiling this time.

I’m sorry, why would Rainbow Dash find that to be funny, I’d expect her to be pissed off.