Luke woke up from what was probably one of the best nights of sleep he had ever had. Defeating Van had really helped clear his mind, even if he was stuck in a whole different world and living with some weird talking lavender thing. The only real worry Luke had was getting back home, which compared to the pressure of saving the world and nearly dying, wasn't really so bad.
"*Sniff* I smell... food!"
Once Luke caught that scent, he quickly remembered just how hungry he was. Fighting a battle to decide the fate of the world really takes it out of you. Luke swung his legs out of bed and walked downstairs to investigate. Once he entered the kitchen he could see Twilight busily levitating ingredients and manipulating the frying pan.
"Oh man, that smells pretty good!"
"Oh, you're awake. Did you sleep well?" The lavender pony asked.
"The bed was pretty comfy. But I-"
Luke was interrupted by the loud gurgling of his stomach.
"*giggle* Sounds like you came down just in time. I'm almost done with breakfast."
"Great. I'm starving."
Luke sat down at the table, and tried to find comfort in the abnormally short chair. Twilight evenly emptied the contents of the frying pan onto two plates and hovered them over to the table. He wasn't quite familiar with the dish sitting in front of him, but he was hungry and it smelled good. He took his fork and dug right in, but stopped abruptly after a few bites.
"Bleh! What is this stuff?"
"Scrambled hay with grass garnish." Twilight simply explained.
"Oh yuck! Where's the grocer? I'll just cook my own meals if this is what you eat."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know you didn't eat hay."
"You know, I don't think you ever told me what you are. Are you some kind of baby uniceros?"
"I'm a unicorn. Not whatever you just said."
"I guess your right. Uniceros' are way bigger than you."
"Well what are you?"
"I'm a human."
"I've never heard of a creature like that."
"Hey, don't call me a creature. I'm a person."
"Well, I suppose we should try and figure out what it was that sent you here in the first place. But before we do that, we should probably introduce you to the town. I don't want people to start panicking by thinking your some kind of monster."
"And why would they think that?!"
"Well you certainly have the attitude of a monster."
Luke stopped himself from continuing any further. He was really beginning to act like his old arrogant self. This whole situation was just so annoying. He didn't know anything about this world, he would have to cook his own meals, and to make matters worse he would have to try and figure out a way home. The problem with the last one was that he had no idea how long something like that could take. he could be stuck here for months or even years!
"Sorry about that. I won't be so rude again. I promised somebody anyway..."
"You promised somebody?"
"I-it's nothing. So do you have any rice or noodles maybe?"
"I think I might have some in the pantry."
Twilight trotted over to the shelves and searched for the ingredients he asked for.
"Ah ha! I found a fresh bag of rice here." Twilight said as she floated the bag over to her guest.
"Thanks. I'll just make myself some rice balls."
Luke may not have been the best cook, but he certainly did get some experience during his adventures.
"Wow! I didn't figure you could cook."
"I didn't think you could either." Luke retorted.
"Hey, Twilight do we still have any gemstones? I'm hun-"
The new visitor to the kitchen stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the mysterious figure standing at the stove.
"Uh, Twilight? Who or what is that?" The new visitor asked.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. Spike, this is Luke fon Fabre. He's going to be staying with us for a bit."
"Uh, hi there." Spike attempted to communicate.
"Oh, hello. So what are you?"
"Can't you tell by looking? I'm a dragon."
"D-D-D-D-dragon?!"
"Calm down Luke. Spike is only a baby dragon. Wait, you have dragons where you come from?"
"I've met one..."
Luke was very loathe to bring up the subject. He had to fight a very powerful dragon inside Mt. Zaleho when they were trying to rescue Fon Master Ion from Grand Maestro Mohs. Unfortunately, they weren't able to stop Mohs from making Ion read the Planet Score, and Ion died. It seemed that Ion did this intentionally, so he could assist Luke by giving him his score, and so he could absorb the miasma from within Tear's body. Luke finally finished preparing his breakfast, and sat down at the table.
"So you said you wanted to introduce me to the people around here?"
"I said I wanted to introduce you to the ponies."
"So the whole town is populated by unicorns?"
"Oh not just unicorns. There are also pegasi and earth ponies, but I figure we should just start by introducing you to my friends so we can work on your skills at making first impressions."
"I said I was sorry..."
"I guess we should start with Applejack, she's always really kind to other ponies."
"Yeah but I'm not a pony."
"Oh you know what I mean."
--------
After finishing up their breakfast the pair made their way out onto a path that Twilight said led to Sweet Apple Acres.
"So who is this Applejack?"
"She's one of my friends. She works the orchard down at Sweet Apple Acres by bucking the apples out of the trees, baking treats from them, and selling the products."
"So she's a farmer huh?"
"Exactly! She takes great pride in her work and is a very dependable pony. I'm sure she'll be happy to meet you."
The two had finally entered the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Luke was taking in the fantastic sight as they walked further towards the buildings. Twilight trotted ahead to talk to her friend before introducing her to Luke.
"Well, howdy there Twilight! What brings you down to the farm this early?" The orange pony asked.
"I've met someone that I want to introduce to you. He's... from out of town, and I figured before I introduce him to anypony else, I should start with my friends." Twilight explained.
"Well shucks, Ah'm flattered! So where is this pony-"
*Much!*
"Oh man! This apple is delicious!" Luke exclaimed.
"Hey! You there!" Applejack yelled.
"Who me?"
"Ah don't know what you are but y'all had better be paying for that apple!"
"Oh sorry about that. It just looked so tasty. Don't worry I should still have some in here... Ah ha! Here it's five gald."
Applejack inspected the currency, but her scowl quickly returned.
"Just what the hay am Ah supposed to do with this?!"
"What are you talking about? Five gald should cover that easily."
"An apple is two bits ya dang idjiot!"
"Bits?"
"Ah ha ha ha... Applejack, this is the friend I was telling you about. Luke, meet Applejack. Applejack, this is Luke." Twilight quickly interrupted.
"So this is the friend y'all were telling me about?"
"Yep." Twilight nodded.
"The one that just tried to pass this... junk off as money?"
"Er..."
"Look I'm sorry! I had no idea you used a different currency!"
"Ohhhhh Ah get it. Y'all must be from some other country. Guess that explains the weird look and get up."
"Weird get up?!"
"Luke... we talked about this."
"I-I know..."
"I guess I can let it slide. It ain't his fault for being poor."
"P-poor?! I'll have you know I'm the nephew of King Ingobert!"
"(And Ah suppose a mite crazy.)" She carefully whispered to Twilight.
"L-look, I'll make it up to you. How about I help you with a chore or something."
"Ah suppose that'll be fine. How about you help me get the apples out of those four trees over there." Applejack nodded in the direction of said trees.
"Alright. Just get me a ladder and I'll pick them out."
"Nah. That'll take way too long. All you gotta do is..." Applejack positioned herself in front of a tree. "Buck 'em!" She said as she uncoiled her powerful legs to kick the tree.
All of the apples fell out of the tree easily enough, leaving Luke fairly stunned.
"She's pretty strong!" He thought to himself.
Luke sized up his first tree and positioned himself in front of it. He quickly let loose a powerful kick... which did absolutely nothing.
"Uh, y'all are gonna have to try harder than that."
"Okay, time to bring out the big guns."
Luke changed his stance so his right arm was behind him, positioned for a palm strike. As he thrust his arm forward, he stopped just shy of the tree trunk. Just as Applejack was about to ask what he was doing, Luke's palm focused a small red ball of energy.
"Raging Blast!"
The sphere intensified with energy and burst, sending out a shock wave that shook the apples out of the tree just as easily as one of Applejack's bucks.
"Yeehaw! Now that's what Ah'm talkin' about!"
"Heh, too easy."
"Alright then pardner. How about you knock the apples out of the last three trees."
"No problem."
Luke continued to knock the apples out of the next two trees easily. When he approached the fourth and final one, he was feeling pretty confident.
"You see? This is like second nature to-"
*Crack!*
Apparently this last tree was much weaker than the first three. Luke's arte actually splintered the trunk and caused the rest of the tree to collapse. Applejack and Twilight stood there with their mouths agape. After a moment, Applejack's eye began twitching as her scowl returned.
"Twilight. Y'all had better get your friend out of here... now."
Twilight galloped over to Luke.
"We should get going!" She quickly said.
The two of them began running out of the orchard as Applejack fumed about the loss of one of their precious trees.
"How did you even do that?!" Twilight finally asked once they were at a safe distance.
"It's a strike arte. I learned it from Master Van."
"Well next time be more careful about using something like that!"
"How was I supposed to know that last tree was going to be so much weaker?!"
"Look, let's just move on."
"Fine. So who are we going to see next?"
"Pinkie Pie. If I don't introduce you to her soon, she'll probably just throw a party at my house when she hears it from Applejack."
--------
The two were now standing outside of a building that looked like it was made out of nothing but sugary sweets.
"What is this place?" Luke asked as he inspected the strange structure.
"This is Sugarcube Corner. My friend Pinkie Pie works here as a baker."
"Well, let's go inside."
"Wait. I should probably tell you about her. She can be... strange."
"I'm sure she's not stranger than anything I've seen."
Luke was corrected very quickly when he entered the building. Inside the first room, a pink pony was dancing around with a small alligator clamping it's jaw onto her tail. Twilight looked at Luke who had an astonished look plastered on his face.
"Okay, so maybe she's stranger than anything I've seen."
"Oh, hi there Twilight! Gummy and I were just practicing our new dance routine! *Gasp!* Who's that?! I've never seen him in Ponyville before! Come to think of it, I've never seen anything like him before. What's his name? What's his favorite kind of cake? Is he nice? Does he- mmph mmmmph mph!"
"Pinkie, this is Luke." Twilight removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth in order to point to the human.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Pinkie Pie: Party Thrower Extraordinaire!"
"Uh, nice to meet you too." Luke slowly reached out to shake Pinkie's hoof.
"Oh, wait right here! I have to go grab something!"
Pinkie Pie darted off upstairs to collect whatever it was she felt she needed. On her way up, Luke caught a glimpse at an image on her rear. They looked almost like balloons.
"Hey Twilight, I've been seeing these symbols on you ponies all day. Just what are they?"
"Oh, you mean our cutie marks? These are symbols that appear when a pony discovers his or her special talent. My symbol stands for my affinity for magic." Twilight said as she pointed to the stars on her flank.
"So Applejack's was working on the apple orchard and Pinkie's is for throwing parties?"
"Now you're getting it."
"Hey guys, you might want to back away from the stair case." Pinkie called down.
"Why-"
*Crash!*
A large cart began rolling down the stairs before Luke could finish asking. Luke and Twilight barely dodged the cart before it reached the bottom.
"Pinkie! Just what were you thinking?!" Twilight scolded.
"Well I was thinking 'why do they call it experience grinding when your not actually grinding anything', but-"
"No! What were you thinking storing your welcome wagon upstairs?!"
"Well, where else would I keep it? The Cakes always don't have a shed Twilight."
"Man, she's a harder read than Jade." Luke thought to himself.
"Well, I have to start this thing up for Luke."
Pinkie was about to press the large button on the side, when Twilight levitated her away.
"Oh no, you are not starting that thing up in front of me again. It took me a week to get that cake mix out of my mane. I think a simple welcome will suffice."
"Awwwwww!" Pinkie uttered as she made the biggest puppy dog eyes imaginable.
"(Is she always like this?)" Luke whispered.
"(Trust me. You haven't seen how strange it gets.)" Twilight whispered back.
Luke shuddered at the thought that this little pink pony could actually be even more random.
"Well anyway, welcome to Ponyville! I can't wait until we become the bestest of friends!"
"Uh, sure."
"Well, we need to get going Pinkie. We'll catch up later, okay?" Twilight said to her friend.
"Okey dokey lokey!"
Twilight and Luke exited Sugarcube Corner in order to begin heading to their next introduction.
"All in all, I think that went rather well." Twilight cheerfully said.
"Well?! We nearly got crushed by that wagon!"
"True, but you did present yourself well to her, although Pinkie's friends with everypony."
"So who's up next?"
"Carousel Boutique isn't too far from here, so we're going to meet Rarity."
--------
Carousel Boutique sure lived up to its name. Out of all the buildings in Ponyville, it was probably the most beautiful of them all. Twilight led Luke inside, where they were greeted to fabric and ribbons floating everywhere.
"Working on a commission Rarity?" Twilight asked her friend.
The flying fabric halted and parted in the air to reveal a well groomed white unicorn with a dark violet mane.
"Oh no darling. I just had a stroke of inspiration as it were." The stylish unicorn answered.
"Well, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Luke fon Fabre."
"My what a positively fabulous name! So where is he?"
"Uh, behind this blue sheet here." The human responded.
Rarity moved the appendage of fabric that was blocking her view of Luke. Once she got a glimpse of the tall young man, she reflexively let out her shock.
"Oh my Celestia!"
"Wh-what's wrong?" Luke asked in his startled state.
"Th-that outfit!"
"What about it?"
"It's so magnificent!"
"Come again?"
"Oh this silk must be truly expensive! And the design! So simple yet regal! Turn around for me."
Luke did as instructed and turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees.
"That design on the back! It just screams: 'I may be noble, but I am fierce!'! Those pants are functional yet stylish. Oh, and your hair! It's simply beautiful! Oh, it tells me: 'I am going to change! I have to change!'!"
"You picked all of that up just by looking at me?"
"Oh, but of course! Fashion is my bread and butter! I can't wait until we get more acquainted! *Gasp* Ideaaaaa! You've just given me the inspiration for a new line of designs! But what to call it... Ah ha! As I am replicating your own looks, I shall call this line: Replica Model!"
"R-replica?"
"Is there something wrong?"
"N-no. Nothing's wrong."
"Well then, I simply must get started on this new line. Thank you ever so much for introducing me to him Twilight."
"Not a problem Rarity. We'll see ourselves out." The lavender unicorn responded.
The two friends left Rarity to her work and began walking to their next destination.
"You did excellent in there Luke!"
"I barely said or did anything."
"Rarity can be like that if she gets inspired or meets somepony with an excellent sense in fashion."
"So how many more of your friends are we meeting?"
"Just two more. Next up is Rainbow Dash."
--------
"So where is Rainbow Dash's house?" Luke asked.
"The sky." Twilight bluntly answered.
"What?!"
"She lives in a home on the clouds. She's one of my pegasus friends."
"Well, where does she work?"
"The sky." She answered once more.
"What?!"
"She's the town's weather manager. She's in charge of maintaining the weather schedule by moving the clouds."
"Well, then how are we supposed to find her if we can't get to her?"
"It's alright, she usually takes a nap in her favorite tree around this time."
Luke and Twilight approached a tall tree in the middle of a park. Looking up, one could make out what appeared to be a rainbow colored tail hanging over one of the branches.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called to her friend.
"*Yawn* What's going on Twilight? I was just in the middle of my nap." The colorful pegasus asked.
"I'd like to introduce you to my new friend here. His name is Luke fon Fabre."
"Oh, hey there." She swiftly greeted the human.
"So you're Rainbow Dash, huh?" Luke asked.
"The one and only!"
Rainbow took off from her spot on the branch and swooped down to greet Luke.
"Nice threads. You look pretty cool in my book."
"Gee, thanks. So you actually control the weather?"
"Of course! How else would it rain?"
"An excess of water fonons in the atmosphere."
"What the hay are you talking about? Fo- whatevers in the atmosphere? That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard."
"And I'm talking to a rainbow colored pegasus on a different world. Now that's the weirdest thing you've ever heard."
"Hey Rainbow, isn't that one of the storm clouds from this morning's thunder storm?" Twilight pointed to a gray cloud.
"Aw shoot! It must have drifted back here. Don't worry, I'll take care of this in a jiffy."
Rainbow darted off towards this rouge raincloud at high speed.
"Wait, Rainbow! Don't go towards it so fast or it might-" Twilight tried to warn.
*Krzzpow!*
The force from Rainbow colliding with the cloud caused it to expel a lightning bolt that was now headed straight for Luke. There was no chance to dodge, so Luke did the only thing he could think of at the time.
"HRAAAAAAA!"
Luke unleashed a maelstrom of energy around him, dissipating the lightning bolt before it could make contact.
"Whoa! That was truly awesome! What was that?" Rainbow Dash admired.
"Yeah Luke. I've never seen anything like that." Twilight asked as well.
"It was a second order hyperresonance. It can neutralize any fonon, including the ones in that lightning bolt." Luke explained.
"I still don't buy all this fonon mumbo jumbo, but that was seriously cool."
"I only had to do it because you nearly fried me..." Luke muttered.
"Yeah... sorry about that. I'll make it up to you by making you one of my friends. You're lucky to get such a position."
"And I thought I was arrogant before." Luke thought to himself.
"Well this was certainly interesting. We've got one last stop, so we'll see you later." Twilight said farewell to her friend.
"Later Twilight! Later Luke!"
"Okay so who's last?" The human asked.
"I saved the hardest one for last: Fluttershy."
--------
"So remind me again, why is Fluttershy the hardest one to introduce me to?"
"She's very shy. When I first tried to talk to her she could barely even tell me her name."
"Sheesh! That sounds bad."
"Oh not at all. She's actually really kind once she warms up to you. Plus she cares for all of the animals in Ponyville that aren't already owned as pets."
"Sounds like she would have loved Mieu."
"Who's that?"
"This little cheagle who got banished from his home and was ordered to serve me for a year."
"The poor thing."
"He actually enjoyed it. He was a real big help in stopping Master Van too."
"I thought Van was your teacher?"
"He was, but... I'll explain it later."
"Right. Well, we're here."
The pair were now standing outside of a cottage that had birdhouses and burrows as far as the eye could see.
"This is where she lives?!"
"Tear would be the happiest girl in the world if she saw this place!" Luke thought to himself.
"I told you she took care of all of the animals. Look there she is over there."
Over where Twilight was pointing a cream yellow pegasus with a long pink mane, was tending to the animals in the yard.
"I'll go talk to her first and get her warmed up."
"Alright."
Twilight trotted over to her friend in order to mentally prepare her for an introduction with Luke.
"Hey there Fluttershy. How are you doing today?"
"Oh I'm doing wonderful. All of the animals are happy and healthy, and the day is beautiful." The pink maned pony answered in a soft voice.
"Well that's good to hear. Listen, I have a friend I want to introduce you to, but I wanted to prepare you for meeting him."
"Why? H-he's not sc-scary is he?"
"Well he's a little bit strange, but he's a real nice guy."
"Well than it should be just fine Twilight. You really need to have more faith in me. I'm not as shy as I used to be. So where is he?"
"Looks like he probably went to the front yard. Let's go see him."
"Okay then."
Fluttershy and Twilight trotted over to the front lawn of the cottage to meet with Luke. As soon as they rounded the corner Fluttershy darted behind Twilight once she caught a glimpse of that strange bipedal creature that was towering over her. Okay well maybe it wasn't towering over her, but in her fear it seemed so much bigger!
"W-W-W-what is t-t-t-t-that?!"
"That's the friend I was telling you about. This is Luke fon Fabre."
Fluttershy was beginning to feel a little faint. She was supposed to try and communicate with this strange thing?! She probably could have made it inside, but she didn't want to risk going anywhere near that creature.
"So this is your friend Twilight?" Luke asked.
"Yes, this is Fluttershy."
"It talks?!" The quivering pony gasped.
"Of course I do!"
"Eeep!" FLuttershy uttered as she sunk further behind her friend.
"Luke! You need to be more gentle when talking to her!" Twilight scolded.
"Sorry. Hi there, my name is Luke."
Luke's outstretched hand was looking deadlier and deadlier each second to Fluttershy.
"I-I-I... M-M-M-M-my n-n-n-name is F-F-F-Fluttershy."
"Are you feeling alright?" Luke asked.
"Y-yes! I-I mean no! I-I don't know!" the shy pegasus panicked.
"Maybe we should come back another time Twilight."
"Wait, I know! Show her a picture of Mieu." The unicorn suggested.
"I think I might have one with him in it somewhere in here... Ah ha! Found it!"
Luke produced a group photo of himself and the others from when they had lowered the Outer Lands into the Qliphoth. Mieu was happily on his master's shoulder during the photo, so it might actually help convince Fluttershy of his kind character.
"Have a look at this, Fluttershy." Luke said as he held out the photo.
"Awwww! Look at that cute little thing! He's just so fuzzy and he has those long ears! He's just so cute!" Fluttershy beamed.
"You like him huh? His name's Mieu. He traveled around with me for a while. No matter what he always looked up to me and thought I was the best master in the world."
"If this cute little guy liked you, then I guess you aren't so scary after all. Sorry about all of that."
"It's alright. It's nice to meet you though."
"I'm glad to see you were able to smooth things over Luke." Twilight said, relieved.
"I'm glad to have met you, but I really need to get back to feeding the chickens. If you don't mind that is..."
"It's fine Fluttershy. We actually should be getting back to the library. We have a bit to discuss." Twilight assured.
"Okay then. I'll see you tomorrow Twilight. Good-bye Luke."
"See ya Fluttershy." Luke waved.
Fluttershy trotted back around to the yard to feed the chickens, so Twilight and Luke began heading back to the library.
"Well, all in all I'd say that went very well." Twilight said with glee.
"I just hope Applejack won't be too mad about that tree."
"I'm sure she's forgotten about that already!" Twilight lied.
So what do you want to talk about once we get to the library?" The human asked.
"I want to know more about your world. All that's come up today has only fed my curiosity."
This was fairly ironic to Luke as he was usually the one being taught about the workings of Auldrant.
"I guess I can try and fill you in on what I know. It's going to take a while though."
"Don't worry. I'm all ears."