//------------------------------// // Ch 7: Ponyville // Story: Enchanted // by The Whiskey Spirit //------------------------------// The next day came and Twilight had come to pick him up. According to her, they would be riding on something called a train. A long metal carriage that ran on tracks and could cross distances at incredible speeds. Supposedly, it would take them from Canterlot, which was where they were, to Ponyville in a little under two hours. Frankly, he couldn’t wait. Baring outright teleportation, the fastest he had gone had been when he put on Fu’ Ran’s Boots of Running and cast a spell that would speed him up further. He had slammed face first into a wall and broke his nose, but it was worth it. It meant he could stack the spells and had used that knowledge to Fu’ Ran’s benefit numerous times there after. Now that he thought about it, he might invest in adding a similar enchantment to his boots on top of the enchantments he already had on them. If he was going to start a business, he’d have a more reliable source of income than before, so he could splurge a bit on materials for himself. Twilight had to lead him through the city to the train station. It was the first time he had seen it up close, and he was glad that he hadn’t decided to explore earlier. The whole city looked like one big noble sector. The breeding grounds for stuck up assholes that thought themselves better than anyone else. That seemed to hold true in Equestria as well, as every pony they passed looked like they spent an hour in front of a mirror and had their nose turned up to him. It only reaffirmed his choice to not work for the Princesses directly. He’d have gone crazy in this city. As they got further from the castle, there were some ponies that didn’t have a stick up their asses. Sadly, they seemed to be a minority in the city. The walk took a grand twenty minutes of their time. All the while those bratty noble ponies seemed to treat him as if he were a ugly beast. To be fair to the ponies, he probably looked like one to them, but he wasn’t going to like it. Eventually, the pair had made it to a grand building near the edge of the city. Upon entering, a wave of noise washed over them. It was as if they entered a different world. Ponies going to and fro, staff carrying luggage, and people shouting over each other to be heard. The chaos was contrasted against the ornate make of the building. Marble walls were paired with golden pillars and trimmings. A roof of glass that let in the sun that hovered above. He might have appreciated the beauty of it if he wasn’t roughly shoved aside by a pony that sped out of the building. Him and Twilight shared a look before moving on. He stuck pretty close to Twilight. He doubted she would lose him, but given the moving spectrum of colours that surrounded him, he might lose her. Luckily, his presence seemed to have a bit of an affect, as a large portion of the mass thought to avoid the six foot alien. The pair made their way towards the opposite side of the building where a wall of dull metal stood. A wall of metal that had windows. It had taken Aurick a short moment to realize what he was looking at, and seeing as Twilight was heading straight for it, he could only assume it to be the train. It looked nothing like what he expected, though he had no frame of reference, so he wasn’t disappointed. Still, it felt weird to step inside the metal mass and sit down in one of the seats. There were already a number of ponies on board, and a lot of them just stared at him. Aurick didn’t like the attention, but he understood. He’d probably have the same look on his face if he was just sitting around and a beholder sidled up next to him. He tried to alleviate some of their surprise, and confused fear, with a wave. It worked surprisingly well. Of course, it didn’t make them comfortable, but it got a couple eyes off him. Some waved back, but a couple just averted their gazes. It was small, but it was an improvement. He simply shrugged and turned to Twilight, who gave him a reassuring smile. It wasn’t long there after that the train started to move. It had surprised him, but he stayed in his seat. It started slow, but gradually picked up speed. Especially, seeing as they were going down a mountain. At some point Twilight started to talk to him. She talked about what to expect when they got to Ponyville and how she’d give him a tour of the town. It sounded like a good time. All they had to do was wait for them to arrive. ~-~ A loud hissing sound pierced Aurick’s ears as the train came to a stop. As if under a spell, a vast majority of the ponies on the train got up and collected their belongings before exiting the metal vehicle. The pair waited for them to leave before they attempted to do so. The first thing Aurick saw when he emerged from the train was an overabundance of colour. While he was in Canterlot, he had noticed it had a distinct colour scheme. Where white and gold were the primary colours and all others were secondary. Ponyville was more like walking into a highly saturated village. Bright yellow roofs contrasted with the brown dirt that was topped with vibrant green grass. Buildings were coloured white, blue, pink, or anything the denizens pleased. It had the distinct feeling of a children's fantasy. And Aurick loved it. It was such a drastic contrast to the sometimes bleak and dreary cities he had been in. Sure, he had seen some beautiful sights in his old world, but they were never somewhere that someone lived. This town seemed to radiate peaceful happiness, and Aurick couldn’t help but smile at it. Twilight, of course, noticed his reaction and wore a pleased smile on her face. “Wait til you meet everyone.” She told him in a tone that promised only good things to come. With a gesture to follow, she began to lead him through the town. She had mentioned on the way there that she wanted to stop by her home first. She wanted to check on her little brother/assistant before she gave him the tour. Aurick had no qualms with it, so he followed close behind. He had already started to like the town better than Canterlot. The ponies seemed cautious of him, but weren’t acting like he was beneath them. A couple of the ponies didn’t even seem to care very much about his appearance and treated him like a normal person. Those ponies would smile and wave when they made eye contact. It could have been because he was with Twilight that they were so relaxed about his presence. If she was Celestia’s personal student, she’d probably have some clout in Ponyville. So if he was with her, he assumed there wouldn’t be any issues. At least until he could properly introduce himself at that party Twilight had mentioned. The walk wasn’t a long one, and the pair arrived at her house within ten minutes. Of course, Aurick didn’t realize this until the mare opened a door in the tree. He had to do a double take at that. What he had assumed to simply be a large tree had a door and windows installed in it. One of the branches had even been converted into a balcony. He hadn’t been expecting to find a house like that in this world. The last time he had seen one was in that secluded village of druids. The inside was fairly nice. The walls had shelves carved into them, holding numerous books. A table sat in the center of the main room that was connected to the floor. A couch sat on one side with a comfy looking chair on each end. A staircase ran up the side of the wall, leading to a second floor. In the side of that staircase sat a door that led somewhere and at the far end of the room was a pathway into a kitchen. Coming out of said kitchen was a small, purple dragon that had a sandwich in his hand. “Oh! Hey, Twi.” The dragon said, taking a bite of his sandwich as he approached. Aurick could hear a loud crunch from the food in his hand. Upon closer inspection, Aurick could see a ruby sitting between the pieces of bread. “Back already?” “Yep.” Twilight smiled and met the small dragon with a hug. “How’d things go while I was gone?” “About as well as it usually does. Lyra returned that book by the way.” “Oh, good. She had that for a while.” “Yeah, she said she had some trouble wrapping her head around the concept, but she was able to figure it out.” The dragon sat down on the couch as they talked. “That’s great. She should be able to perform even better than she could before.” “Yup. By the way,” The dragon pointed at Aurick who had started looking through Twilight’s collection of books, “Who’s he?” “Oh! Spike, this is Aurick! Aurick, this is my little brother, Spike.” “Mind explaining how that works?” Aurick asked, raising a brow. “She hatched me during her entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. So I was brought into the family.” Spike responded, taking another crunchy bite of his sandwich. “Wouldn’t that make her your mother?” Both of them sputtered and grew red in the face. “What? No! I was four when he hatched!” Twilight exclaimed, making Aurick shrug. “I don’t know how things work here. You hatched him. In my world, the hatchling would see you as its mother.” Twilight’s face scrunched up as she thought about that. “Your world is weird.” “That’s the way we like it.” Aurick responded with a smirk. “Wait. So this is the alien?” Spike asked, pointing at him with the sandwich. “He doesn’t look that strong. He looks more like one of those prissy nobles up in Canterlot.” “Hey! I will not be compared to a noble asshole. Not even by a dragon.” Aurick frowned at him. “Well, he has a point.” Twilight was the next to suffer his glare. “You’re dressed kinda fancily.” Aurick looked down at his still pristine clothes and frowned even more. What he was wearing wasn’t all that flashy in his eyes. Then again, ponies don’t need clothes. So clothes in general might just be seen as fancy. “I’ll have you know everything I’m wearing has an enchantment that has kept me alive in my adventures.” That got Twilight’s attention. It was like a switch flipped in her head that caused her eyes to expand as she stared at him. “I thought it was only the rings. You’re saying all your clothes are enchanted?” “Yes?” Suddenly Twilight was right next to him and was trying to examine every inch of his clothes. “What kind of enchantments are they? How many? What did you use to do it? How long did it take? How many times have you used them? What did you-” “Twilight!” Spike broke the purple mare out of her flurry of questions. Twilight, having realized what she had just been doing, had turned red. “So… that tour?” She managed to get out, and embarrassed smile on her face. “Yeah.” “Can I come?” Spike asked, a brow raised. “Sure thing, buddy.” Aurick was the one to respond. The small dragon pumped a fist in the air and rushed over to Twilight before hopping on her back. “Onward!” He grinned as he pointed towards the door. Twilight shook her head, but made her way towards the door all the same.