Fluttershy stared and gaped at the creature. It spoke. It actually spoke. She couldn’t believe her ears. The creature that had swooped in like a vengeful hurricane and saved her from the wrath of the timberwolves – that she had driven herself near to exhaustion in order to bring to safety – and had slept on her sofa was in fact not a creature at all. It was a person.
He stared at her for a long moment and frowned. The ape-thing folded its arms across its chest and crinkled its eyebrows.
"Ti les... gia tóra?" he tilted his head.
Fluttershy blinked and matched his facial expression. She willed her legs to stop shaking and focused on the last phrase. The pegasus did not know the individual words, but the tone and inflections sounded familiar. It reminded her of the brief snippets of Ancient Pegasopolin she heard in school.
"Nunc intelligis?" he gesticulated. The sudden movement made Fluttershy raise her cackles, but she held her ground. Fluttershy was reminded by the flowing and somewhat musical language that Twilight often used when she read from her spellbooks. She had explained it as an old unicorn language.
It occurred to Fluttershy that he was trying to communicate with her. The words of his first phrase suddenly made much more sense.
"Drêogan êow--” he began again.
“I-it...” Fluttershy interrupted the tirade with a whisper. “It was the first one...”
He stopped and narrowed his gaze on Fluttershy. She shrunk back and hid behind her mane, but she could still see his face past her hair, and she was sure he could still see her as well. Instead of lashing out, as she half-expected, he grinned.
“Ahh,” he hummed in a rich, yet gravelly voice, and spoke with an untraceable accent, “you speak Terran, although you might call it something different... Perhaps Common or Basic?”
“Umm...” Fluttershy quivered beneath his attention. “It's c-c-called Equestrian... We're sp-p-peaking Equestrian right now.”
His icy eyes twinkled and he smirked. “Of course it is...”
Fluttershy glanced nervously around the room.
“Perhaps,” he started, “you can tell me how I arrived here? I have a few questions...”
“Well…” Fluttershy pursed her lips. “How much do you remember?”
The creature hummed as he paced across the room. Fluttershy stood transfixed by his gait. One leg stretched in front of the other and he simply fell onto its support. His movement was controlled and fluid-like. She noticed the distinct lack of a swishing tail that would have otherwise provided him balance, but instead saw the subtle swing of his arms and the straightness of his spine that countered his top-heavy frame.
He leaned against a wall and scratched his face with his long fingers.
“I bethink…” he closed his eyes, “I bethink walking, or maybe I was working… Then there was a… commotion… I think I tripped? Yes, that sounds right. Then it was dark, and I was running. I recall trees and… you.”
The creature’s eyes snapped open and bored into Fluttershy’s. She eeped and flinched away, but the attack never came. Fluttershy slowly met his eyes and saw… concern? Fear? A heartbeat later it was gone - replaced by a cold and calculating gaze.
“I suppose I passed out on you…” he glanced at the sofa, “and you brought me to your hearth?”
“Well, yes…” Fluttershy ruffled her wings. “I couldn’t just leave you out there, especially after you…”
“‘Twas nothing. I am grateful all the same, lass,” he waved her off.
“Oh, alright. So… Umm… What are you, exactly?”
“Eh?” he quirked an eyebrow, “You’ve never heard of…? Well for now, let’s just say I’m a sojourner. Ain’t much special about me worth knowin.’ Now, what about yer friend out there? Are ya gonna invite her in or let her impersonate a lawn gnome all day?”
“What?” Fluttershy blinked. “How did…?”
“I’ve got good ears.” he grinned.
“Oh, that’s interesting…”
“What?”
“Umm… I said th-”
“What?”
Fluttershy blinked. A moment passed as the creature stared. His face was like stone, but his eyes twinkled with mirth.
“Rainbow!” she poked her head out the door and gave her friend a reassuring smile. “It’s alright. He seems safe. You can come in now.”
Rainbow Dash prowled into the room with her tail swishing, wings twitching, and her ears flattened. She glared at the creature through squinted eyes. He met her stare and turned the corner of his mouth in amusement.
“So…” Rainbow sized him up while Fluttershy glanced nervously between them. “What the fudge are you supposed to be?”
“Just a traveller that seems to have wandered off the beaten path a bit. You can call me Lyall.”
Lyall… Fluttershy rolled the strange word around in her head. A strange name for a fascinating new creature.
“Well…” Dash brushed her bangs aside, “The name’s cool enough, I suppose. Not as awesome as mine, though, but I guess helping Fluttershy out last night makes up for it. Name’s Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria and future Wonderbolt!”
“Greetings, Miss Dash,” Lyall replied as he folded his body forward and held a hand against his chest. Fluttershy clamped her mouth shut to avoid gawking. “And you seem to have answered my first question: ‘where the bloody hell am I?’ Equestria, eh? Has a nice wholesome ring to it. Are there only equines here?”
“Mostly just us ponies,” Fluttershy replied. “Although there are a few gryphons and donkeys. There’s also a baby dragon that lives in town.”
Lyall raised an eyebrow. “A dragon, you say? I’ll have to check that out. Oh, and before we continue this conversation… Miss Fluttershy, do you happen to have anything to eat? I am famished.”
“Oh, of course!” Fluttershy jumped and trotted to the pantry, “Umm… Is there anything in particular you would like? I’m afraid I don’t know what you can or can’t eat…”
“Anything without hay or grass should be fine!”
Fluttershy opened the pantry and peered through its contents. No hay or grass… she pondered. Fruit should be alright. He looks like an omnivore, so maybe some eggs and fish jerky.
She pulled out a few apples and sat them on the counter, then retrieved a skillet from a cupboard and placed it on the stove. The yellow pegasus hummed a soft tune to herself as she sliced some onions, peppers, and greens with a knife pinned between her primaries. Her dextrous movements saw several eggs and the vegetables cooking in the pan on top a thin layer of oil. Fluttershy sliced several apples and placed them in a wooden bowl once the mixture was sizzling.
A few minutes later and the pile of steaming scrambled eggs and greens sat beside several strips of fish jerky. She gently shifted the plate onto a cloth and balanced it, and the bowl of apple slices, on her wings before carefully walking back to the table. She set the plate in front of him and the bowl in the center.
Lyall’s eyes lit up at the spread. “My appreciations, Miss Fluttershy. Though, I am curious. I assume you are herbivores, yes? Why is it you have a stock of lutfisk?”
“I…” Fluttershy blinked. “I don’t know what that word means… Do you mean the fish? Well, I do a lot of veterinary work for the local animals, so I try to keep a supply of meat for my more carnivorous friends. Dried fish is cheap and easier to store.”
“Also,” Rainbow kept her eyes away from the fish, “We’re not complete herbivores. We still eat dairy and eggs and stuff. Just no actual meat.”
“Interesting…” Lyall hummed. “So, you were saying, Miss Dash, that these Princesses - these alicorns - control the celestial bodies?”
“Totally! Celestia moves the sun and used to move the moon before Luna, her sister, came back from her cosmic time-out or whatever. You must have heard of them, though, right? Everypony’s heard of Celestia, at least!”
“I can’t say I have,” Lyall smirked. “I’ve been to many places. Most people have their own ideas on how the heavenly bodies move across the sky. Lord knows I’ve heard some interesting theories. Now, you’ve mentioned these timberwolves. Are there any other less-than-pleasant critters wandering around beyond those trees?”
“Timberwolves are really the only ones you can’t reason with.” Fluttershy explained. “The others will generally leave you alone as long as you leave them alone. There’s cockatrices, manticores, hydras, and cragodiles, and we know there’s at least one pair of Ursas.”
“I’ve heard of the first three. They are, however, mostly legend where I come from. Never seen them for myself, though, so I couldn’t say for sure. The other two… I’m assuming cragodiles hold a resemblance to crocodiles, and Ursas are some sort of bear?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. Cragodiles are like very big and heavily armored cousins of alligators and crocodiles. Ursas, though… Nopony really knows much about them besides that they’re magical. Imagine a giant bear, bigger than a house, that looks like it's molded from the night sky. We’ve only ever seen an Ursa Minor. That was about a year ago. It was big enough to squash houses, and Twilight says the adults - called Majors - are a lot b-b-b-bigger…”
“I suppose we’ll just have to walk the other way if one pops out of the bushes, aye?” Lyall grinned.
“Nah, I could totally take one on!” Dash said before stuffing a slice of apple in her mouth. “Be-gulp-sides… Didn’t Twilight say that the Ursas hibernate for like… centuries? I don’t think we’ll see one anytime soon.”
“Ahh... That is a shame. They sound like quite a sight.”
“By the way…” Fluttershy met Lyall’s eyes. “I wanted to ask, if that’s alright I mean… What do you plan to do now?”
Lyall hummed in thought. “To be honest, I’m not quite sure…”
“Don’t you want to go home?” Fluttershy tilted her head. “I’m sure you have friends and family that are worried about you.”
“I’ll be fine…” Lyall grunted dismissively. “I am honestly not sure if going home is an option for me, however. I am from a long ways. Conventional travel won’t really cut it.”
“Why don’t you ask Twilight?” Dash jumped in. “She can probably magic something up with that egghead of hers.”
“Maybe…” Lyall shrugged. “Ain’t no rush, though. There’s a great big world out there, Miss Dash. Why not see some of it? I’ll think of it as an extended holiday, and if your friend can’t find a way for me to get home… Well… I’ll get over it.”
“Oh…” Fluttershy frowned. “Okay…”
She didn’t understand. Didn’t he have something to go back to? Fluttershy looked more closely at the creature. He didn’t seem that old. Lyall was old enough to possibly have children, but young enough to still have parents around. It was possible he didn’t have any friends, but it was unlikely. Even Fluttershy, shy as she was, still had Rainbow Dash and Zephyr when she was growing up.
“By the way…” Lyall cleared his throat. “I had one more question…”
“What’s that?”
“Mayhap I can have some trousers?”
Princess Luna sighed morosely as she trudged down the hallway. He hooves clacked against the tile with a steady rhythm as braziers licked at the darkened walls with waves of orange and red.
She sighed again, but it grew into a yawn. Luna stepped in front of one of the large glass windows along the hallway. Light from the fading sunset glittered on the steel wiring that crisscrossed the window pane and draped Luna in a shadowy cage. She pushed a lock of semi-ethereal hair away from her eyes and squinted down at the city.
Canterlot snuggled deep into the descending blanket of twilight. Street lamps flickered like fireflies from Luna’s perch. She could see the distant specks of ponies trotting the roads. Luna knew, from experience, that most of them were heading home for the evening. Others strolled along the walkways, dressed in fine clothes, and meandered to one of Canterlot’s many high class restaurants or other venues.
Luna pulled herself from the window and continued down the hallway. She passed a thestral night guard. He stooped into a bow and Luna nodded. The Night Princess stepped into a cozy room.
The room was illuminated by the glistening radiance of a crystal chandelier and accented by candlelight. A wooden table, two body-lengths long, sat in the center of the room with a half-dozen chairs. It was covered by an egg-white tablecloth and an assortment of dishes filled with food. Pastries, pastas, greens, and a variety of fruits were arranged in a beautiful ensemble of color.
“Good evening, Luna.” Celestia smiled up from her seat on the opposite side of the table. “Did you sleep well?”
Princess Celestia held a steaming cup of tea in her golden aura of magic. Her crown sat beside her on the table while her pale prismatic mane drifted in an unseen astral wind.
“Good evening, sister.” Luna yawned and took her seat at the table. “I slept soundly, thank thee. The curtains thou recommended worked splendidly. That, combined with the silencing enchantment I put up, let me sleep like a foal.”
“I'm glad to hear that. What are your plans for tonight?”
“I do not believe I shall hold court this evening,” Luna sighed. “Too few ponies are willing to fare to the palace at the late hour. Mayhap I shall con more tonight.”
“I'm sorry to hear that, Lulu.” Celestia set down her tea cup and poured her sister a mug of coffee. “Is there anything I can do?”
“I don't know if there is anything thou canst do.” Luna grabbed the mug with a thankful nod. “Either the peasants will come or they shant. We cannot force them to stand before us.”
“Hmm...” Celestia tapped her chin with a hoof. “Perhaps we just need to find your market.”
Luna tilted her head and blinked. “Prithee, sister. Why doth we need to go to the market? Surely a servant would be better suited for the task.”
“No, no...” Celestia shook her head. “I mean we need to find a demographic – a niche – that you can appeal towards. Most of the ponies I see in a given day in my court are the nobles and their hangers-on. It is very rare that I get to see commoners that aren't exorbitantly wealthy. I try to make myself available to anypony that wishes an audience, but unfortunately the nobles that flock around me tend to block anyone out that isn't part of their circles. There is not a lot I can do, but maybe you can do something.”
“What would that be?” Luna raised an eyebrow as she filled her plate.
“The nobles are obviously trying to avoid you. You're an unknown, and they don't know how to work with you. However, you can use that to an advantage. You can hear the voices of the ponies I can't. I imagine if you can appeal to the lower and middle classes, learn their concerns and try to address them, they will flock to your court.”
“But Celestia...” she said while slicing a chunk of pineapple. “I have already conned many of the tomes thou gave me. None of them have helped me understand the common ponies outside of their broader history. Should I send an agent to bring ponies in at random for an audience?”
“No, I do not believe that will be received well. Luna, dear, I am going to give you the same advice I gave Twilight...” Celestia grinned. “Get out of those dusty old books and make some friends.”
“But Tia… What if… What if they don’t accept me?”
“Then that will be their problem for not seeing what a wonderful mare you are. Besides, I am sure you will do fine. The world is a much different place than it was a thousand years ago. Many superstitions have died out, and ponies are on average far more accepting of new things.”
“Whither dost thee ween we should start?”
“Hmm…” Celestia pondered. “I would skip Canterlot for now, but there’s also Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Manehattan, Vanhoover, and Ponyville. We can draw up some fliers, if you like, and I would recommend taking a couple of your Night Guards along - just in case. Equestrian cities are some of the safest in the world, but no city can be totally scrubbed free of crime.”
“This… sounds feasible. Thou need not trouble thyself with those fliers, however. I would like to do them myself. Maker knows it has been forever since I have practiced any of mine art.”
“When do you plan on leaving?”
“Methinks three days will be sufficient.” Luna said as she finished off her breakfast and coffee. “Well, I must be off. I wish thou a pleasant evening, sister. I will guard thy dreams with diligence.”
“I know you will, Luna.” Celestia smiled as her younger sister trotted out the door with purpose in her step.