//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Ponyville // Story: A New Life // by TwilightLuna //------------------------------// Walking outside to  Ponyville for the first time, Andrew raised a hand over his eyes to  block out the bright sunlight. After blinking a few times, his eyes soon adjusted to the light. From what he could see, the buildings had a very  medieval-style to them; timber-framed with thatched roofs overhanging  the upper floors. There were ponies of different color and manes as well  as strange marks on their flanks. They were going about their daily  business on such a beautiful day. Andrew looked over at Twilight and saw  one on her as well. Hers was a large star with five smaller ones around  it. He made a mental note to ask her about that later. Putting  his hands inside his pockets, Andrew decided to inquire about where they  were going. "So, where do you need to go in town?" Twilight  pulled out a piece of parchment from her saddlebag using her magic and  held it in front of her. "Just a few places. Let's see here...I need  more parchment, ink and quills, some food and talk to the mayor about  you." "Sounds simple enough." 'Why did she need my help then?' Andrew wondered to himself. "Let's  see. The stationary shop is just up ahead. Let's go there first." She  said looking at her list after putting a check mark next to one of the  items. Andrew and Twilight headed over to get the stationary that  she needed which just so happened to also sell furniture.  Whoever  heard of selling quills and furniture in the same place? Andrew asked himself. After that,  they stopped at the food stalls for groceries. The human insisted that  he carry the bags, which Twilight appreciated. "Well, I think you bought the entire market here." Andrew chuckled, lifting up all of the bags. Twilight rolled her eyes, "Oh very funny." "Is there anywhere else that you need to go? Twilight marked off the last couple items on her checklist with her quill before replying.  "Nope, that it is it. We're all done." She beamed with a satisfied  smile, "How about I show you around Ponyville and we can stop for a snack before we head back?" "I would like that. Did you have any place in mind?" Andrew asked. "There is the Sugarcube Corner. They have the best treats in Equestria. You'll love it." Twilight said, licking her lips. "Sounds great. Lead the way." Andrew motioned with his arm. As the two walked through Ponyville, Andrew's thoughts from earlier popped back into his head. "Twilight, can I ask you a question?" Twilight looked up at the human and nodded, "Of course. What's on your mind?" "I've been noticing that you ponies have these marks on your flanks. What are they?" Twilight repeated the human's words back to herself, "Marks on our flanks? Oh, you mean our cutie marks?" "Cue-tee marks?" Andrew repeated back with a confused look on his face. Twilight  nodded. "That's correct. All ponies are born without them but as we grow up, we discover what we're really good at. Once that happens, our cutie mark appears. On the rare occasion, a pony may not discover their special talent until much later than that. It's rare but it's been known to happen." Twilight turned her head to look at her mark. "My cutie mark represents that I'm really good at magic." "From what I saw earlier, I believe it." Andrew remarked. Walking  down a couple streets, they made it to the Sugarcube Corner. On the  outside, it looked like a regular shop except if someone poured  chocolate sauce over the roof. Andrew walked up to the front door and  held it open for Twilight. She smiled and thanked him. The inside of the  store looked like any child's dream come true. There were displays filled  with different kinds of cakes, cupcakes, and shelves filled with almost  any candy you could think of. Behind the counter was a mare with  light-blue fur. Her pink main swirled like the topping of a cupcake. "Oh Twilight, it's nice to see you and hello to your strange looking friend there." She greeted them with a sweet voice. "Hello  Mrs. Cake. This is Andrew." Twilight said motioning a hoof in the  human's direction, "He is new here and I am just showing him around  Ponyville. We decided to stop here for a little snack after doing some  shopping at the market. Is Pinkie here? I wanted her to meet him." Mrs.  Cake regarded Andrew with a warm smile, "She's out making a couple  deliveries but I'll let her know that you stopped in. It's very nice to  meet you Andrew and welcome to Ponyville. Do you know what you two would  like?" "Thank you Mrs. Cake. Everything looks so good here. I  wouldn't know how to decide." Andrew chuckled, still looking at  everything that the store had to offer. Twilight tapped her chin with her hoof, trying to decide. "I think we'll have two of my usual  cupcakes to go, please. Oh, and one of Spike's favorites as well." "Ah,  excellent choice. Let me go wrap those up for you." Mrs. Cake said  before putting them in a bag and putting it on the counter with her  mouth. "Here you go. That will be ten bits, please." "Thanks again Mrs. Cake." She said, paying for the treats. "Tell Pinkie I said hello." "I will, Twilight. It was nice to meet you, Andrew. Come back again soon." Mrs. Cake said, waving to us with her hoof. "Thank  you Mrs. Cake. It was nice meeting you as well." Andrew smiled,  grabbing the bag on the counter and adding it to the bags already in his  hands. Both of them waved back to her as they left. Re-adjusting  the bags in his hands, Andrew opened the door for Twilight as they left  and closed it behind him. They didn't get very far before Andrew  noticed something pink popped bouncing towards them. She had a poofy  mane and tail, almost like cotton candy. Twilight seemed to recognize  her cause she greeted her. "Hello Pinkie Pie. We were just in Sugarcube Corner but you weren't there. How are you doing?" The  pink pony just stood there saying nothing. Her overly-large blue eyes  just stared at the both of them. Andrew looked over at Twilight, then  back to the pink pony, and then back to Twilight. "Is she always like this?" "Not normally. She's usually very bubbly and excited over something." "Hello?" Andrew waved his hand in front of her face hoping to get a reaction. Suddenly,  the pink pony jumped up into the air, her hind legs reaching higher  than her forelegs. Her mouth hung open as she let out a long gasp before  she zipped into Sugarcube Corner faster than Andrew's ever seen  anything move before. "So..umm...just what was that?" Andrew asked, looking back at the trail of dust behind them. "That  was my friend, Pinkie Pie. You'll get used to her. In fact, this  reminds me of how she greeted me when I first came to Ponyville..."  Twilight trailed on. "Should I be worried?" "Very." The red door to the library glowed as Twilight used her magic to open it. Once inside, Twilight took off her saddle bags and they went upstairs. "I thought that we could have some tea with our cupcakes. How does that sound?" "That sounds great. Thanks." Andrew replied. Twilight  went to the kitchen and returned with a pot of tea and some cups. Andrew  grabbed the two cupcakes out of the bag and unwrapped one of them and handed it to her. "Now tell me, what is one of your 'usual' cupcakes?" He asked with a raised eyebrow while tearing off the wrapping. "It's chocolate with a strawberry filling. These have been a favorite of mine since I was a filly. My big brother, Shining Armor, would always get me one when I needed some cheering up." She recalled fondly. "It must have been nice to have a big brother to look after you like that." Andrew remarked thinking about when he took care of his sister when they were younger. He took a bite of the appetizing cupcake. Almost immediately, his taste buds were assaulted with the sweetness of the treat. "Oh wow! This is really good! I can see why you like these so much." "I'm glad you like it." Twilight let out a light chuckle, hovering the cup of tea over to him before sitting on the couch. "Do you mind if I ask you some question?" Andrew shook his head and responded to the unicorn, "Not at all. I have some for you as well." "Now, you mentioned before that your species was called hew-man. Is that right?" "That's right, my species is called human or homo-sapiens sapiens if you want to get scientific about it." Andrew replied before taking another bite of his cupcake. "That's fascinating. I hope that you don't mind me asking but do all humans look like you or are there different kinds?" Twilight inquired, writing down notes with a quill and notepad that she made appear with her magic. "No, we all look different otherwise we couldn't tell each other apart, unless you count identical twins. We're built the same way except for physical appearances like skin and hair color, height, eye color, those sorts of thing. Then you get into the different genders, male and female like I'm sure you have here." For the next couple hours or so, Twilight asked Andrew questions about where he came from. She was like a never-ending trove of questions. Every question that he answered led her to asking another one. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself at her eagerness to learn new things. Andrew couldn't really blame her though. He was the first human that she had ever seen and she wanted to learn everything that she could about him. Twilight took the time to answer some of Andrew's questions as well about Equestria "Unbelievable. It's like one new incredible discovery after another around here." There was a part of Andrew that wished that he could stay in Equestria and learn more but he knew that he needed to get home. He had a job and a family to worry about. Twilight chuckled.  "Believe me, there is a lot more to learn. I've been studying history and magic most of my life and there's still a lot that I don't know. That's why I keep studying every day." "That's very admirable." Andrew nodded. "More tea?" Twilight asked, finally taking a break. "Yes please." Andrew smiled holding out his cup. Using her magic, Twilight lifted the pot and refilled his cup. "This is really good tea." "Thanks. I get it from my friend Zecora. Maybe you'll get to meet her." Andrew put down his cup and noticed that Twilight was glancing over at him. "If there's something you want to ask, go right ahead. I don't mind." He said, trying to reassure her. Andrew took another bit of his cupcake. "Andrew, I've been wanting to ask you something. What those things are at the end of your hooves?" She asked, pointing a hoof towards his hand. "You  mean these?" Andrew held up a hand and moved his fingers around. "This is called a hand and these are fingers. They are very handy when trying to grab hold of things." "Very interesting. Could I have a closer look, please?" she asked "Sure." Andrew replied holding out his hand. Twilight  held his hand in her hooves, studying closely. Turning it over and back, she wrote down more notes and made a couple drawings of his hand.  He'd never seen anyone so interested in a hand before unless they were a fortune teller. Andrew couldn't help but notice how her hooves felt  touching his hand. They were warm and very soft. "You don't know  how exciting this is for me." Twilight squealed excitedly. "It'll take  me forever to organize my notes for my report. You don't mind if I ask  you more questions later, maybe even get some more sketches of you?" "Well, I suppose that..." Andrew began. Suddenly, they both heard the sound of the front door open and closing, followed by the sound of feet coming up the stairs. "Twilight,  I'm home!" The voice said, "Rarity wanted me to tell you that..." its  train of thought was stopped as it looked right at the human. What  Andrew saw was about three feet tall with emerald green eyes. Its body  was mostly purple except for a green strip along its belly. A line of  four large spines on its head trailing to shorter ones going down to the  tail. "I don't know what the hay you are but you better get away from Twilight!" Spike shouted. Spike  sucked in a huge lungful of air and opened his mouth to let out a  stream of glowing green flames. Andrew didn't think this little thing  could do much damage but he was wrong as he felt the heat from the  flames through his jacket. Shielding his face with his arms, Andrew  turned and tried to get out of the way. "Spike! Please stop it!" Twilight pleaded with him. "Are you serious? It could be dangerous." The dragon shot back pointing at the human, standing between them. "Yes I am, Spike! He's not dangerous and he's staying here with us." "W-What?" Spike responded back in a confused tone. Andrew  took off his jacket and stomped on it to put out the parts that were  still smoking. He was relieved that it didn't look too bad with only a  few scorch marks on it. Checking the rest of his clothes, he was  relieved that they were undamaged. He looked at Spike with anger in his  eyes. Spike's brave face quickly turned to embarrassment, and a little  fright. "Are you crazy? You could have killed me." Andrew fought  the instinct to grab the dragon by the neck and throttle him. Even if  the dragon just tried to kill him, he was friends with Twilight. So, he  didn't think that would be a good idea. "Andrew, are you alright?" Twilight rushed past Spike, to check on the human, "Spike, look what you've done!" "How was I supposed to know? I thought he was a monster trying to hurt you." Spike responded with a confused look on his face. "He's not a monster, Spike. His name is Andrew and he's a human from far away. You could have seriously hurt him." "I wasn't going to hurt him that badly, just until he left." Spike retorted which he soon regretted. She gave him a look letting him know that she wasn't very happy with him. Spike looked at the ground in embarrassment. "Your jacket is a mess." Twilight looked at Andrew with concern. "Yeah,  I'll be alright. The rest of my clothes are fine, no thanks to him!"  Andrew said while brushing himself off, staring at the dragon. "Look,  I know what Spike did was wrong but he didn't really mean to hurt you."  Twilight said, trying to de-escalate the situation. "So, this is the dragon you mentioned this morning?" Andrew asked, pointing at Spike. Twilight  nodded her head. "That's right. Spike, this is Andrew. He's going to be  staying with us until I can find a way to send him back to his home." "I'm  really sorry about that." Spike said, tapping the tips of this claws  together, his face looking down but his eyes looking up at the human.  They were filled with remorse but Andrew wasn't ready to forgive just  yet. "Whatever. Just don't do that again." He shot Spike a glare before walking away. "Andrew, I know you're mad at Spike, but he said that he was sorry for what he did. Can't you forgive him?" "I  don't know Twilight. Not right now. Maybe later." Even though Spike  said that he was sorry, some part of Andrew just couldn't forgive him.  He didn't believe in forgiving someone that just tried to kill you. "Fine but I hope you'll change your mind. You'll see that Spike can be a great friend if you just give him a chance." Looking  between Andrew and Twilight for a little bit, Spike finally spoke up.  "How about I got to the kitchen and heat up some of that vegetable soup  from the other day. Does that sound alright?" "Sounds good, thanks Spike." Twilight replied back. Spike left for the kitchen, leaving Twilight and Andrew alone. There was a period of silence in the room until Twilight broke it, "Andrew, I..." He  held up his hand to stop her, "Twilight, I'd rather not talk about it  right now if that's alright with you. If you're worried about me doing  something to Spike, I can promise you that I'm not going to touch a  single scale on him." At this point, Andrew just wanted this night to be  over with but he was hungry. "Let's just eat." Twilight nodded  and they made their way to the kitchen. Spike heard the door open as they  came in. "Oh good, you two are just in time. The soup is ready." He  hopped off of the stool and carried the pot of soup over to the table  and proceeded to fill the bowls with the delicious smelling liquid. Andrew  sat down on one of the chairs and Twilight sat down next to him while  Spike sat across from them. Taking the spoon, Andrew scooped up some  soup and blew the steam from it and put it in his mouth. Despite his  current sour mood, he couldn't deny how good the food was. "Mmmm!"  Andrew voiced with approval of the soup. "This tastes so good!" He  continued, consuming another spoonful of vegetables. He had to admit,  this was really good. "Did you make this Spike?" "I sure did!" He replied, putting his claws on his hips and puffing out his chest. Twilight rolled her eyes with a smirk, "Try not to inflate his ego too much." The  rest of the meal passed by without much being said. Spike did ask me if  Andrew would tell him about his world sometime. Andrew shrugged his  shoulders and told him that they would see. Not wanting to press his  luck, Spike left the topic at that. "Well, I'm beat. I'm heading  to bed." Spike said, letting out a yawn and stretching his arms. He put  his dishes in the sink before leaving the kitchen. "Good night you two." "Good night, Spike." Twilight said to her dragon friend. "Hey, don't worry about the dishes, I'll clean this up." Andrew offered, taking the dishes over to the sink. "Are you sure?" Twilight craned her head to look up at him. "Well, umm, thank you." She seemed slightly surprised at his offer. "Twilight,  it's the least that I can do," Andrew said sincerely. "I wouldn't be  much of a tree...house guest if I didn't do something to help out around here. Plus, washing dishes usually helped reduces stress and improves my mood." Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof. "I would never have considered that since Spike is the one that usually does the  dishes. When I do them, it's with my magic." Twilight turned to leave. "Well, I hope it works and you can work things out with Spike. Thanks again." She nodded before leaving the kitchen. "Hmmm, we'll see. I  won't make any promises." "That's all I ask." Twilight smiled and turned to leave before remembering one last thing. "Oh, I almost forgot. If you need to use the bathroom, it's located upstairs just under my loft, behind the door on the left as soon as you come up the stairs." "Thanks, Twilight." Andrew watched her leave and turned his attention to cleaning the dishes. Putting some soap on the sponge, he  scrubbed away the remnants of tonight's dinner. The warm water was  starting to feel good on his hands and was having an affect on him.  Either it was making him smile or making him have to pee. Andrew hoped that it wasn't the latter. After Andrew was done, he turned off the lights before leaving the kitchen. He walked up the stairs to the loft and saw Spike was fast asleep in his basket. Twilight was laying on her bed reading a book. She stopped reading when she heard Andrew come up the stairs. "Oh, hello Andrew. Done already?" Twilight asked, lifting up her head. "Yep, all done. I didn't know where anything went. So I left everything out to dry. I hope that's alright." Andrew replied back, putting his hands in his sweatshirt pockets and leaning against the bookshelf. "That's fine. Spike will take care of them in the morning. Thanks again for offering to do the dishes for Spike. He really appreciated it." "You're welcome. It was the least that I could do for your hospitality and the delicious dinner." Andrew smiled at the unicorn.  "I asked Spike to get the spare bed out of storage and  set it up for you. If it's too small, just let me know." Twilight motioning to the bed with a hoof. The bed was about the same size as  hers but with a green blanket. It wasn't his first choice of blanket  colors but beggars can't be choosers. He sat down on the bed. "No,  this will be just fine. Thank you, Twilight. Are you sure you wouldn't  want me sleeping somewhere else? I don't want to invade your privacy or  anything." "I appreciate the concern but you're fine." Twilight smiled back at  Andrew. "Oh, and feel free to read any of the books on the shelves." Andrew shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if you're sure, then I won't argue." "Good." Twilight nodded her head with a smile and went back to her book. Andrew  unbuttoned his long sleeve shirt and placed it on the floor. He then removed his shoes and socks and placed them next to the bed. Looking  over at Twilight to make sure she was still reading her book, Andrew  undressed down to his boxers and placed the pants with his other  clothes. Pulling back the covers, he slid under them. Even though  she was a pony who didn't wear clothes, it still felt a little awkward undressing in front of her. "Good night. You don't mind if I do some reading before I fall asleep, do you?" Twilight asked. "No. Go right ahead." Andrew replied with a chuckle. "Can I ask what you're reading?" "Oh! It's called Modern Spell Casting. I wanted to rule out some spells that may have brought you here." She replied. "Not a bad idea." Andrew rubbed his chin with his hand. "Hopefully you have some luck." "Thanks. It shouldn't take me too long. Not many spells could have done it." "Twilight?" "Yes?" She replied back looking up at the human from her book. "I never got a chance to say thank you for everything and for letting me stay here for the night." Andrew said. "You  are very welcome. I wouldn't be much of a pony if I had done  otherwise." She replied back with a smile. "Something tells me that if I  had come to your world instead, you would have done the same for me." "You're right, I probably would have." Andrew replied. "Good night, Twilight." "Good night, Andrew." Andrew  pulled up the covers and turned off the lamp. He turned on his side  and let his head sink into the soft pillow. The soft glow of the moon  hit the beds. The human looked out the window at the stars and sighed.