I slowly started to feel myself wake up from my nap. Hopefully I didn't sleep for too long, because I want to enjoy the day and look around town. Now that I think about it, what day is it even? I have a bad habit of forgetting to ask simple but surprisingly important questions. Maybe I'll ask Twilight while she interviews me.
As I sat up, I heard something that kind of sounded like wind chimes. I looked to my right and saw Twilight lifting a bunch of tapestries on the walls of my room with her magic while holding a smile on her face. Maybe she's decorating the room to make it more lively for me? That's sweet of her.
Without looking in my direction, she walks toward a desk on the other side of the room, and was levitating by the looks of them were writing supplies and books out of the saddlebags she was carrying with her.
She probably doesn't know that I woke up. Having thought about that, I felt myself forming a mischievous smirk on my face.
I slowly lifted the covers off my body, and softly stepped onto the stone cold floor, trying my best to not make any noise. I began to very slowly and carefully walk toward her, like I was a lion stalking it's prey. It's a good thing this floor isn't made of wood, because the creaking it would make would give me away.
As I stopped right behind Twilight, I slowly and very quietly inhaled deeply, and right as the last little whiff of air enters my body...
"BOO!"
"YAAAAHHHH!" She rapidly jumps in the air, and halts herself by flapping her wings.
I couldn't hold it in anymore. The next thing I knew, I was laying on my back on the floor, laughing harder than I ever had in quite a while. I could hear Twilight panting after I scared her, but I was too busy holding my stomach because I was laughing so hard.
"Alex!?" I heard her call my name in a shocked manner. She was obviously expecting me to be in bed while she was decorating. "I thought you were asleep! You scared me half to death!"
"I know.", I said in the middle of my childish giggling, however I felt myself starting to finally calm down. I looked up and saw Twilight cross her hooves and formed a disgruntled look on her face. I sighed, thinking I probably went a little too far. "I'm sorry, Twi. It was just too much of a golden opportunity that I couldn't resist. Hope you're not too mad at me."
She raised an eyebrow for a second, then sighed. She formed a small smile. "No," she said sweetly as she floats down and lands in front of me. "Honestly, I should be used to it by now."
I raised an eyebrow at that. "Whaddya mean by that?"
"Well when you have friends like Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, and on some occasions Spike , you'll get pranked maybe once or twice on a weekly basis."
I laughed a little while rubbing the back of my head. "Well it's nice to know that pranks are still a thing, even in another dimension." I looked at the desk and noticed the books and supplies. "What're these for?"
She perked up at that. "Oh! I just wanted to lend you some of my books and supplies in case you ever get bored. I was gonna wait until you woke up, but I decided to risk it... kinda wish I waited."
I chuckled at that. "Yeah, you probably should've." She rolled her eyes as a response. I turned my attention to the things Twilight brought and walked toward the desk. "Let's see what we got here."
I lifted my upper body on my desk and observed my new things. What I noticed first was the quill and ink, along with a couple pieces of paper... and by a couple, I mean a couple hundred if not more. Does she think I'm gonna write an essay or something on my spare time? I mean never say never, but still.
The next thing I saw was a pile of books. I lifted one of them and got a look at the cover. It shows a pegasus pony wearing a safari vest and hat hanging from a vine while crocodiles are trying to eat her... or are they alligators... either way she's hanging for her life while holding some weird looking statue. Yeah, it's not like she has wings or anything. There's probably a good explanation in the book if I ever decide to read it. I looked at the title. "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?"
"Yep!" She seems really excited about this one. "It's one of my favorite books of all time... along with the rest of them, hehe. It's about an adventurer who goes on these dangerous quests in search of valuable artifacts from ancient ruins all across Equestria." Gee, I wonder what this reminds me of. "I think you'll love it. I picked these out just cuz I think it'd be something you'd like."
"Huh...", I said out loud. "So she's basically this world's Indiana Jones? That's pretty dope."
"Who?"
I looked back at Twilight, who was looking at me with a confused expression. "Oh." I laughed sheepishly. "My bad. He's a famous movie character from back home. Fair warning for ya, I'm probably gonna be making a lot of references that you or anyone else will never get."
She suddenly smiled brightly. "That's amazing! So your home basically has characters similar to ours?"
I shrugged. "I guess, yeah. But for me, it's the other way around."
Twilight lifted her hoof to her chin. "That's very interesting. I can only imagine what else I'm about to learn!" She suddenly turns around and starts walking to the door. "Follow me."
"Huh? Where we goin'?"
She stops and turns her head toward me. "To the library, silly. I still want that interview, remember?"
"Oh, uuhhh... alright then. By the way, would it be ok if I also ask some questions? There's still some stuff I'm in the dark about."
"Of course! Ask whatever you want. I'm pre-tty sure I'll have the answer." She ended that with a wink. It's pretty obvious she'll have all the answers to my questions.
I chuckled while we both started walking out of the room and made our trek to the library. "I believe it. Also, what day is it today?"
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, as if she's wondering if I'm joking or not. "You don't even know what day it is?"
I chuckled sheepishly. "Yeeeaaaahhhh, apparently I have a bad habit of not askin' simple questions that're actually pretty important."
"Hmm... well, today's Friday. It should be sometime after 2."
I widened my eyes a bit, because that's actually really good info. Also it's good to know I wasn't sleeping for very long. "Y'all have the same time periods as us? That's pretty convenient."
She seemed flabbergasted by that. "Are you serious?! This is amazing! I really need to write this down."
"Let's get to the library first." She nodded as we both continued our walk.
It took a few minutes, with the castle being big and all, but we finally made it to the library. It's pretty big, but honestly it's not really anything special. If it was like that library from Beauty and the Beast, then I'd be really impressed.
The first thing I noticed about the library was the really tall and long bookshelf that's pretty much the same width as the majority of the room. In the middle of the library were 5 round tables. I also noticed Spike sitting on a pile of books, reading what looks like a superhero comic book. The kid's got good taste. I loved that kind of material back at home.
In the middle of reading, Spike raised his eyes toward us, and perked up at our arrival. "Oh, hey guys! What's up?"
I waved my hand. "Whattup, big guy?" I took one more glance at the bookshelf. "Pretty impressive setup ya got here, Twi."
"I know, right?!" I smiled at that. Someone's a little proud. She suddenly lifts herself in the air and starts flying around the bookshelf. "Everything is all organized alphabetically and perfectly, only by yours truly." She set herself up to be arrogant, but I'm pretty sure it was just for laughs.
"Ach-hem."
I looked at Spike with a raised eyebrow. He was looking at Twilight with a look of disproval. I heard Twilight giggle. "And you, of course."
"Mmm hmm." He went back to reading his comic book.
Suddenly, Twilight landed in front of me, and lifted a quill, ink, and a few pieces of paper out of her saddlebags. "Alright, let's start the interview, shall we?"
I made a sly smirk and gestured my hand toward one of the tables. "After you, Your Majesty."
She rolled her eyes at my light teasing, and walked to the table. She sat on one side, so I sat on the other. There weren't any chairs, so I had no choice but to plant my rump on the ground. Twilight placed the paper and ink cup in front of her and lifted the quill, ready to write. She then lifted out a rolled up scroll. "Okay, so the first thing I wanna ask you--"
"Hold up, Twi." I lifted my hand, stopping her and causing her to look at me with a confused expression. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask some questions first. This whole interdimensional travel thing is just as... well, exciting for me as it is for you."
"Oh, uuhhh... Yeah, sure. Whaddya wanna know?"
I looked in my brain for questions that I forgot to ask Celestia and Luna. After thinking for a bit, I found one. "Oh, well first thing I wanna know is what kind of pony are you and the princesses? Are you like a pegacorn... or a unisus?"
That actually made her laugh for a bit. She suddenly formed a snarky smirk. "You really don't know anything, do you?" All I could do as a response was give her a sarcastic smile. Once again, she laughed it off. "I'm just kidding. We're called Alicorns. It means we have the traits of a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony all in one."
Earth ponies. I guess that makes sense. Well it's nice that I now know what to call the regular looking ponies. "Celestia mentioned there's another one a' y'all?"
"Yep! My sister-in-law Cadence."
That grabbed my curiosity. "Sister-in-law? Celestia and Luna didn't say you have a brother."
"That's correct! He used to be the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot." Damn. I better not get on his bad side then. "Since he married Cadence, he's technically a prince now. They both rule over the Crystal Empire." The more I really think about, I'm basically tight with royalty. The thought garnered a chuckle out of me. This caused Twilight to look at me confused. "What?"
"Nothing... It's just that never in my life I thought about being close to royalty, let alone from another dimension."
Twilight giggled lightly. "Yeah, I'd be pretty dumbfounded if I was in your hooves-- er, I mean claws, hehe. So, anything else you wanna know?"
I put my finger on my chin, trying to think of what else I forgot. Almost immediately, I found a question. "Oh yeah! A lotta y'all keep mentioning these things called the 'Elements of Harmony'. What are they?"
She seemed happy that I asked that. "Oh, that's easy! The Elements of Harmony are ancient and powerful artifacts that represent a certain aspect of harmony. There are six of them. They represent magic, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, and loyalty. Me and my friends had to stop a villain from creating eternal darkness in the world. So with the combined power of the elements and our friendship, we stopped her."
My eyes widened. Just what the hell goes on in this world. "I'm kinda afraid to ask how many times y'all used 'em."
She chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head. "We may have used it a... pretty significant amount of times."
I blew out a spat of air in shock. "Just how much crap happens in this world?"
"Way too much, dude." I looked at Spike, who decided to chime in. "Waaayyyy too much."
I ruffled my hair a bit out of disbelief, because it seems impossible for a peaceful world like this to have so much crazy crap happen. "Geez..." I looked at Twilight. "So I take it you represent the element of magic?"
"Yep! Applejack is honesty, Fluttershy is kindness, Pinkie Pie is laughter, Rarity is generosity, and Rainbow Dash is loyalty."
I crossed my arms. "That's a little convenient that you met five ponies that just so happened to represent each element."
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly closed it. She started rubbing her head, as if a realization had come to her. "Huh... I actually never really thought of it that way."
I simply shrugged. "Ehh, it's no big deal. It was just a funny thought, really. Anyway, I think it's about time you started askin' stuff. I know you've been waitin' a while."
She lifted her hooves in the air and sprouted out her wings. "YES!" That caused me to jump back a bit, startling me. Twilight noticed my shock, and lowered her hooves and wings, chuckling sheepishly. "Hehe, I mean... yay." She ended that with an adorable smile and lightly clapped her hooves together like a child, causing me to chuckle. She then partially rolls down her scroll. "Okay, first question: What were you before your arrival to Equestria?"
I scooted up to the table and crossed my arms on it. "Well, I was once a human. We're basically upright, talking monkeys. We just don't have hair all over our bodies, except for the head and..." I looked back at Spike, who was still reading his comic book, then back to Twilight. "... other places." She then starts rapidly scribbling her quill on the paper, writing down what I said. I raised my eyebrow. "Are you gonna write everything I say?"
"Duh!" She never took her eyes off the paper. "I'm not missing a word." I simply shrugged as a response. "Okay, second question: Have you noticed anything weird since you turned into a dragon?"
I thought back to when I was with Flash in Canterlot. "Actually... yeah, I have." This caused Twilight to scooch up closer to the table and placed her hooves on it, staring at me with curiosity in her eyes. "When me and Flash went to Restaurant Row to grab a bite, we ran into some snarky pricks. Things got a little heated, but we left before anything serious happened. Flash told me during my scream-fest, my wings caught on fire for a split second, and my hair apparently went from green to orange."
Unsurprisingly, Twilight looked bewildered by my answer. "Are you serious!? Was it like... like magic?"
I shrugged. "Honestly Twi, I have no freakin' clue. I really don't know if it'll even happen again."
"Hmm... well if it ever does happen, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Anyway, next question. Hang on a sec." She starts rummaging through her scroll, trying to find a decent question. As she was scrolling, I noticed the scroll wasn't getting any shorter. "Ah, here's one! Oh wait, no. I'll save that for later." During her brief excitement, she accidentally drops the lower section of the scroll. To my absolute bewilderment, the scroll kept on rolling and rolling, and a few seconds later, it rolls out the door. I looked at Spike, who also watched what was happening. He looked back at me with a blank expression, and simply shrugged.
My right eye started twitching. This is gonna take while.
Twilight's been asking me questions for a solid hour or so, asking about my world's government, modes of transportation, animal life, sources of entertainment, pretty much every topic period. I even mentioned COVID, but I assured her that I didn't bring it with me. I answered all of her questions to the best of my ability, and she wrote down every single word. What's she planning on doing with this information? I also found out that there are cities with similar names to my world, but some words are replaced with horse puns. This world is absolutely ridiculous.
Twilight was rummaging through the scroll of eternity. "Ok, last question of the day."
"Wait, what?" That actually surprised me, because I thought she was gonna go through that entire list in one sitting. "You're not gonna ask all questions at once?"
Twilight chuckled. "Of course not! I wouldn't make you sit down all day while I ask questions. I know better than that."
"Sure ya do.", Spike quipped out.
Twilight groaned, but she brushed it off . "Anyway, last question, and this actually depends on if you remember it: Do you know how you got here?"
I ruffled my hair a bit. "Well, I was doing some school work one night, and as I was walking to my car to go home, I noticed a shooting star with rainbow colors. It was getting closer to me, and then everything went black. A two week coma later, I found myself in Canterlot Hospital."
That caught her interest. "A rainbow-colored shooting star?"
"Yeah, and when I told the princesses about it, they apparently think it's something called Althea's Comet."
"Althea's Comet?" Suddenly, Twilight drops her pen on the table and flaps her wings, lifting herself in the air. She goes to the very top left of the bookshelf, probably to look for something in the A section. She takes out a book and rapidly flips through every page. "Nothing." How the hell does she read that fast? She tossed the book away and starts scrimmaging through another one. "Nothing here, either." She tosses it away as well. She takes out another one. "No." She's kinda starting to sound stressed. Then right at that moment, she actually tosses the book toward me, albeit unintentionally. I yelped a bit and moved out of the way before the book can hit me. I better stop this before it gets hectic.
"Twi, I think you're just wasting your time!" I had to speak up in case she couldn't hear me up there. She turns her head towards me. "When I told the princesses, they were about as shocked as you are. I think this is the first time they've heard about this in quite a while."
Twilight sighed, stopping her book scrimmage. "Yeah, you're probably right." She lowers herself down to the ground and lands back near the table. "I'm still gonna ask Princess Celestia about this, though." Suddenly, she looks at me with a small smile. "Thanks for the interview, Alex. I've really learned a lot about you and your world."
I smiled lightly. "No problem, Twi. Although I'd be lying if I said that when I saw how big that scroll was, I was really not lookin' forward to it."
She giggled lightly. "I totally understand. I'll ask you more questions some other time. So, what're you gonna do for the rest of the day?"
I put my finger on my chin, thinking about what I should do. "Hmmm... well, I could visit your other friends, while also exploring the area. I know Rarity asked me to help her with something, so I'll probably do that. I don't know where she's at, though."
"Can I go?!"
"Yike!" I jumped when Spike just randomly showed up and screamed in my ear. I twitched my finger in my ear, trying to stop the ringing. "Dude, that wasn't cool."
"Hehe, sorry. But seriously, Twi. Can I go with him? He needs a guide, and I'm just the dragon for the job." He ended that with a confident puff of his chest, causing me to stifle a laugh.
Twilight was obviously contemplating on whether he should go or not. "Hmmm... well, I guess that doesn't sound like a bad ide--"
"Perfect! Come on, Flame! Let's go!" He suddenly zoomed right out of the library, obviously very excited.
"Hold up, would ya!? I barely know how to use these wings!" I sighed and turned back to Twilight. "I'll make sure he doesn't get outta my sight."
Twilight giggled lightly. "Thanks, Alex. See ya later?"
"Yep! See ya!" I turned to the door and started to run. However, I completely forgot that I couldn't even run properly, so not even a couple steps in, I trip over my limbs and fall on the ground, sliding on the clean floor for a second.
This is humiliating.
I managed to get myself up, but as I did, I started to hear snickering behind me. I looked and saw Twilight holding her hoof on her mouth, trying her best not to laugh out loud. I formed a disgruntled expression and felt heat on my cheeks. "Spike, wait up!" I yelled out as I started walking.
I walked out of the library, and started heading to the front door so I can join my new companion.