It had been an ordinary day for Twilight Sparkle: reorganize the library, see what her friends were up to, practice her magic a little bit, and maybe even learn something new about friendship.
Life in Ponyville was peaceful, especially for Golden Oaks Library with her number one assistant Spike, and that was the way she’d liked it. That being said, Discord’s “improvements” weren’t exactly a welcome change. Truth be told, she was still a little hesitant to trust him, but he’d behaved himself thus far.
Today was no different than most days, and Twilight gave a yawn while walking back to the library from Sugarcube Corner. It was the same old same old: Pinkie Pie let her sample a new recipe for her cupcakes, it was weird but surprisingly enjoyable, and she gave Pinkie her honest thoughts.
Twilight lit up her horn and opened the door to the library. “Spike, I’m back!”
Spike, a small dragon with purple and green scales, looked up from the comic book he was reading. “Hey, Twi. What was Pinkie’s new creation this time?”
Twilight licked her lips as she recalled what the party pony fed her. “Boysenberry banana.”
Spike looked at Twilight with a bit of confusion. “Isn’t that what she gave you last week?”
Twilight shook her head and levitated her bags onto a shelf. “No, that was...what was it? That’s right! That was peach kiwi.”
“She’s doing a lot of fruit themed cupcakes lately,” Spike said to himself. “She didn’t get any on you, did she?”
“Don’t worry, Spike. We’re not going through something like that again,” Twilight responded. The two of them had found out the hard way that, with enough of it, Pinkie’s cupcake frosting made an all-too-good substitute for super glue.
Twilight had not so much as gone upstairs and lay down on her bed with a book she had yet to read when a loud boom could be heard from out of her window. She quickly looked up to see a large, dark blue cloud swirling around like a tornado and touching the ground of the Everfree Forest.
For a moment, Twilight was afraid that Ponyville was about to be struck by a tornado. However, much to both her relief and curiosity, it had dissolved just as fast as it appeared, leaving no trace of anything having happened.
Twilight simply stared at the sky where the tornado had just taken place. She had the exact spot where it met the ground pin pointed. She knew she would have to go see what that was.
“What was that?” Spike asked, having joined Twilight upstairs.
Twilight blinked and shook her head, Spike’s words drawing her attention away from the forest. “N-Nothing. I’m going out, be back later.”
“You’re going out again? But you just got back,” Spike pleaded.
“This could be important, Spike. Hold down the fort until I’m back,” Twilight said, before rushing out the door.
Spike wandered back down stairs and looked out the window as Twilight ran toward the forest.
“I hope she knows what she’s doing,” Spike said to himself.
“Who?” asked Owliscious.
“Twilight,” Spike answered.
“Who,” Owliscious replied.
“Twili-, nevermind,” Spike said, walking away.
Twilight was getting pretty close to where the tornado happened. She didn’t ask any of her friends, not wanting to cause a needless panic. That being said, she was alone...in the Everfree Forest.
“Maybe I should have asked one of my friends to come with me. This place gives me the creeps,” she said to herself.
Luckily, she didn’t have to search much longer. Soon enough, she came across a strange-looking creature with long legs and short forehooves. It also had a rather short mane and no fur to be seen anywhere. Also, instead of hooves, it had these weird, claw type things, but with short nails. As well as that, it wore much more clothes than an average pony. To top it all off, it had a very short muzzle and what looked like a nose, but unlike anything Twilight had ever seen before.
Twilight was frozen. She didn’t want to wake the creature up in case it was dangerous, but she didn’t know whether or not it was sentient and would be able to talk to her. The researcher inside her also told her to do what she could to study the creature, but the unknown knowledge of its sentience got in the way of that as well.
She wouldn’t have much time to decide though, since it started to wake up on its own. Out of fear, she quickly ducked into a bush, looking at it as close she could. It stretched its limbs, eliciting a few pops that Twilight couldn’t help but cringe at, and then it made eye contact with her. She didn’t dare move and risk giving away her location if she hadn’t already.
Then, to Twilight’s surprise, at spoke. “Who’s there?”
It was with such great articulation and pronunciation that Twilight gasped out of surprise. From the sound of its voice, Twilight determined it to be a male.
The creature then got up, somehow standing on just its hind legs. He stared Twilight down and said, “If you can gasp, you can talk?”
Feeling no other way out of this other than try to converse with him, Twilight asked, “W-What are you?”
He seemed to calm down a little at the sound of Twilight’s voice. “What do you mean, ‘what am I’? I’m a man, for God’s sake! What are you supposed to be then?”
Twilight felt no other option but to reveal herself. Slowly, she stood up and faced the creature. In turn, he seemed to be put off by her appearance. “I’m a unicorn, of course.”
The creature backed away slowly and shook its head. “N-No.”
Twilight slowly stepped forward. “Are you okay?”
“You're not...y-you’re n-not...” he stuttered.
“I’m not what?” Twilight asked, growing confused.
“You’re not...you’re not real! Unicorns aren’t real!” he replied, running away from Twilight.
Twilight grew worried about the creature and started running after him. “Wait! What’s wrong? What do you mean, ‘unicorns aren’t real’? Wait!”
The creature kept running until he got close to the ravine that Twilight had nearly fallen down when she first came to Ponyville. “Watch out for the ravine!”
Her words were futile, as the creature tripped over something and tumbled down the ravine, falling unconscious. Twilight quickly and carefully ran to the ravine bottom to try to help the creature. She knew that she wasn’t strong enough to lift him on her own, so she lit her horn once again and delicately lifted him into the air and onto her back.
As fast as she could, she ran back up the ravine, through the forest, and into the library. “Spike?! Where are you? I need your help with something.”
Spike came rushing up to her. “Sure, Twilight, what is-what is that thing?”
Twilight teleported the creature from her back and onto the ground. “I don’t know, but it’s a male, and he called himself a-a ‘man’. But he fell down the ravine in the Everfree Forest. Can you help me get him upstairs and into the bed?”
Spike seemed a little hesitant. “A-Are you sure? It might be infected or something. We could put it on the table or something like that.”
“Spike! He took a serious fall and may be hurt. Come on, just help me get him into the bed,” Twilight chastised.
All Spike could do was shrug as he picked up the end of the creature and dragged him up the stairs, Twilight doing her best to hold up the head of the creature. Surprisingly, they had made it to the bed with much trouble and placed the creature onto it.
“Thanks, Spike. I’ll stay here until he wakes up,” Twilight said.
“As long as you’re sure its not dangerous,” Spike replied, walking down the stairs.
I’m not sure how long I was out, but I slowly came to and felt myself resting on something very comfortable. My head was killing me, which was weird. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep in that hospital bed. I gave a small grunt as I shifted around a little.
“Oh good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” asked a familiar, female voice.
Without opening my eyes, I grunted and answered, “Good, I guess. What happened?”
“You took quite the fall. I did my best examination, and there doesn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with you,” replied the voice.
I moved around a little bit, getting a little more comfortable. “W-Where am I now?”
“I took you back to the library where I live. Sorry for scaring you like that,” the voice explained.
“What do you mean? Have we met before?” I asked.
“Not exactly. When you saw me in the forest, you ran away, yelling ‘unicorns aren’t real’,” answered the voice.
“Unicorns, yeah right,” I said, finally opening my eyes. “Wait, unicorns?” I looked to where the voice was coming from, and sitting there was the exact same horse that had chased me through the forest. I shot out of the bed and pressed my back to the wall. “Y-You get away from me. I’m...I have to be seeing things. U-Unicorns aren’t real! They’re just mythical creatures that parents tell their children about to entertain them.”
The unicorn slowly stepped toward me. “What do you mean? Is that what you believe where you come from?”
The window behind me wasn’t budging, and I didn’t feel like I could break the glass. “Y-Yeah, and they sure as hell couldn’t talk either. I-I have to be dreaming or in a coma or something.”
“I promise you that you’re not dreaming. Please, just calm down, and I’ll answer any questions that you have,” replied the unicorn in a calm voice.
Despite still believing this was a dream, I could see sincerity in her eyes. Slowly, but tentatively, I sat back down on the bed. “D-D-Do you have a name or something?”
“Yes, my name’s Twilight Sparkle,” answered the unicorn.
’Twilight Sparkle? Sounds like something straight out of a little girl’s cartoon’
“Here, I got you a glass of water while you were asleep. I thought you might be dehydrated,” Twilight said as a glass of water floated toward me. It was engulfed in some sort of magenta aura. I looked at Twilight and saw that her horn was also engulfed by that magenta aura.
Quickly putting two and two together, I flinched. “Y-You can do magic?”
Twilight’s eyes went a little wide, and the glass hit the floor. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t consider the possibility that you might still be in shock.” The glass levitated toward me again. “Here, it won’t hurt you.”
Twilight seemed to have a friendly smile on her face. I trusted her and slowly wrapped my hand around the glass. She was right, it didn’t hurt and even felt quite pleasant.
“Th-Thank you,” I said, taking a sip of water. “W-Where am I? Is everyone here a unicorn?”
Twilight pulled up a stool beside the bed, and took a seat. “No. There are plenty of different creatures in Equestria, griffons, dragons, and there are even different types of ponies.”
“E-Equestria? I-Is that what you call this place?” I asked, excepting the fact that I was probably going insane.
Twilight seemed to light up a little at my question. “Yep!”
“A-And what other types of...ponies are there?”
“Well, there’s unicorns, obliviously, but there’s also pegasi, earth ponies, and alicorns,” Twilight answered.
’Christ, this place really is straight out if a little girl’s imagination’
“Can I ask you something?” Twilight suddenly asked me.
“Go ahead,” I replied.
“What’s your name?” she asked just little too eagerly.
I looked at her with apprehension. “What’s it to you?”
Twilight seemed to sense my suspicion, and rose her hooves in defense. “N-Nothing really, I just want to know what to call you. After all, I’m not really sure what you are exactly, no offense, and you obviously come from...somewhere else.”
I thought about Twilight’s words. They seemed to make sense, and I couldn’t think of a reason not to tell her.
“Jake...Jake Taylor,” I answered.
“Jake Taylor, that’s a nice name,” Twilight complimented, a little to my surprise. She seemed like the type to show unconditional kindness, at least by human standards, but knowing that she’d never seen a human before, I still couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t more suspicious.
“Th-Thanks,” I said in reply.
“A-And of you don’t mind my asking, what exactly are you?” Twilight asked.
I looked at her again and saw she now had a pad and quill levitating in front of her.
“Are you taking notes?” I asked.
“Again, no offense, but this is kind of a huge discovery. And besides, maybe I can find something about your species that could help me send you home,” Twilight explained.
I looked back up at the ceiling and nodded a bit to myself. “In that case, I’m a human, spelled h-u-m-a-n...wait did you just say you’re gonna help send me back?”
“Of course!” Twilight answered with a warm smile. “Don’t you wanna go back?”
Before I could answer, another younger voice rang out from the lower floor. “Twilight! Dinner’s ready!”
“Oh, one minute, Spike!” Twilight called back. She then looked at me and asked, “Do you want something to eat? Spike’s a great cook.”
“Spike?” I asked.
“Oh right,” she chuckled. “Spike’s my number one assistant and best friend. He may be a dragon, but he’s got a heart of gold!”
“Oh,” I replied. “Wait, dragon?”
Twilight chuckled at herself again. “Yeah, Spike’s a dragon, but he’s completely harmless and an amazing friend.”
I didn’t say anything as I processed the information I’d been told: ponies, dragons, magic, all that good stuff.
“Come on, I’m sure Spike can make something you’ll like,” Twilight said with another smile.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked, letting my suspicions show to the fullest extent.
Twilight’s smile faded and was replaced by a confused frown. “What do you mean? It’s only right, since it was kinda my fault you fell down that ravine. Besides, it’s what friends do!”
With that, Twilight walked down the stairs.
Friend? We were friends all of the sudden? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, I barely knew her, and still wasn’t fully convinced I just wasn’t insane. But then...I’ve never really had a friend before, and I had to admit, it felt a little nice.
Not having much better to do, I followed Twilight downstaris.