//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: An Interesting Acquaintance 
// Story: Prance en France 
// by Sunny_and_Auri_23 
//------------------------------//

Felix was sitting in his favourite spot under the attic window, the sun streaming through, musing over his day. His new acquaintance Marinette had really turned out to be the only one in possession of a single brain cell in his entire class, their classmates all appearing to have swapped common sense for the opportunity to be in Lila’s clique. It appeared that because of her resistance to zombification, Marinette had been isolated and left alone in the back by herself by his arrival, Lila Rossi deciding she would do everything and anything in her power to make Marinette's life difficult.
Felix just didn’t know why that bothered him so much.
Why did he care so much about the obvious hurt Marinette displayed from being cast out by people she had once considered her closest friends? He barely knew her. He decided it was because she appealed to Felix’s own sense of justice. From what he had seen in the short time period he had known her, Marinette was a rather talented girl with the nicest personality Felix had seen in a long time, being treated like dirt by a flock of sheep that had found a new master.
And Felix wanted to… help her. He wanted to help stop the oppression she was being put under. Marinette had gone out of her way to be nice to him that day when most of the class had ignored him and in the case of the redhead he assumed was Lila’s best friend, being downright hostile. Decision made, Felix vowed right there and then that  he wasn’t going to stand for Lila’s regime. He was going to help Marinette.
But how?
His question was answered then by a bright flash of light and swirling mass of energy appearing out of nowhere beside him. A wind blew from it, the papers on his desk flying everywhere, and Felix put an arm over his face in protection, making a beeline for the trapdoor out of the attic, about to shout out a warning to his mother who was downstairs before he realised she was out. Cursing, Felix opened the dial pad of his phone more than slightly afraid as to what was happening before something came out of the energy ball  before the light dimmed to a single point and disappeared leaving. And then the world exploded and all was white.

...

“Ow...”
“Geroff my wings!”
“Stop! You’re ruining my tail!”
“Mah hat! Where’s mah hat!?” 
“Oh my gosh I can’t feel my insides!”
“You’re not supposed to feel your insides, Pinkie.”
“Gosh darn it, Pinkie, what did ya do with mah hat!?”
“Oh hi Felix!”

Felix groaned and rubbed his face as he regained consciousness, automatically looking towards the source of the voice. He was met with the sight of a tangle of hooves and wings. He blinked.
Silence. 

“That bump looks bad, you should get it looked at.” the talking pink horse nodded at him in concern.
Felix put his hands on his head and-

“This can’t possibly be real. Take a minute to process whatever hallucinogen is taking effect here,  Felix.”, he seemingly calmed down, but then, faster than the eye could follow,, he lashed out. 

 “Can we please not be pursued and murdered for once in our lives?” the yellow horse mumbled quietly.
Amidst his impromptu duel with the flying horse with prismatic hair, Felix rolled his eyes, “If you can speak, a little tact and eloquence would not go amiss.”
The pearly unicorn gasped in offense, “Well, I never! You clearly do not know how to reflect eloquence in your distasteful fashion sense!”
Before Felix could form a response, the prismatic pegasus pushed him back, pinning him to the floor, “Take that!” Felix rolled his eyes again, seemingly less disturbed than before, and pushed the horse off of him with very little effort. It stared back at him in shock, “Woah… um… Twilight? Little help here?”
Felix was about to try and apprehend the intruders again, only to be caught in a fuschia aura that suspended him in mid air. Great.

“AH  HA FOUND MAH HAT!”

Subduing the nausea rising in his stomach from his bubble of weightlessness, Felix stared at the brightly coloured…ponies, accepting that they were very, very real.
This was going to be a long night.





The journey through the portal, however brief it may be, was a nauseating experience, and Twilight wished she was surprised. She was even less surprised by the fact that she and her friends were facing a creature she knew to be a “human” from her previous expeditions… that she’d rather not think about currently. The human was a male, around the age of fifteen as far as she could tell. He had blonde hair that Twilight could only guess was styled by the hooves, er, hands of a perfectionist. His clothing only supported that theory; a grey shirt with a black vest and tie, presenting him as an orderly and scholarly person. It honestly reminded her of herself, back during her days at Princess Celestia’s school. 

Though the fact that the human would be so apt at fighting was beyond her. It all happened in the millisecond she blinked, the human was standing perfectly still, muttering a few words of surprise. Then, faster than the eye could process, he was attacking them. 

It was impressive, really. Especially considering that she also wasn’t very athletically skilled during her days at Princess Celestia’s school. Unable to contribute to her friends without blasting apart the quaint room they were all situated in, Twilight just stood back with Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack as Rainbow dueled the strange boy. Pinkie was… somewhere. And Twilight had learned not to question her even stranger friend’s antics over the years.
Fluttershy whimpered beside her and mumbled, “Can we please not be pursued and murdered for once in our lives?”
The human replied as he continued to fight Rainbow, “If you can speak, a little tact and eloquence would not go amiss.” His voice was level and never wavered as he spoke. 
Rarity gasped in offence, “Well, I never! You clearly do not know how to reflect eloquence in your distasteful fashion sense!”
Twilight did not know much about fashion, but she had the slightest feeling that Rarity was not entirely truthful with that statement. In fact, she was almost certain that Rarity had tailored a similar outfit at Carousel Boutique. 
But before she could questioningly voice these thoughts, Rainbow shouted, “Take that!” and Twilight turned to see her pinning the human to the floor. The human, however, just rolled his eyes and pushed her off with ease. Shocking. 

Well, not that shocking since pegasi have hollow bones in order to take flight, making them significantly lighter than the average unicorn or earthpony. 

But shocking. 
As evident by the look on Rainbow’s face. “Woah… um… Twilight? Little help here?”
Twilight smiled exasperatedly at her prismatic friend before using her magic to suspend the human in the air. A few years ago, it would be difficult for her to even consider doing the spell for several safety hazards, since she still couldn’t stabilise the spell enough to hold a pony, let alone six. Though she’d recently managed to suspend an entire army of ponies; casting the spell thereafter had been much easier. 

“AH FOUND MAH HAT!” Applejack proclaimed, holding her stetson close to her chest, “I’ve missed you, Telulah.” 

The human crossed his arms and cleared his throat, “Now we have established that you all are magical horses capable of speech, would you mind telling me who you are?” he paused, examining the height at which he was floating in the air. “And would you also mind releasing me from this suspension?”
Twilight grinned sheepishly, “Oh heh, sorry about that.” she released him and placed him back onto solid ground. He briefly wobbled before standing with a rigid posture. She smiled, “My name is-”

“This is Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie appeared out of nowhere. “And this is Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack!” she happily listed off as she gestured to the ponies in question. “And I’m Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you Felix!”
Twilight muttered incoherently for a moment. “How-” she was almost about to ask the deadly question but was saved by Rainbow Dash as she stuck a hoof in her mouth.
“Yes. What Pinkie said.” Rainbow stated with a tone of finality.
Twilight shoved her hoof away and sighed, “Yes. It’s nice to meet you… Felix.” she hesitated as she said the foreign name aloud.
Felix stared at them with an unchanging expression, “Pleasure.” 
She was expecting a more… enthusiastic response, but she supposed not everyone was a socialite. Like herself, way back when. “Anyway, we have come through a portal from the land of Equestria in another universe. An omnipotent magical tree sent us to your universe to solve a friendship problem of some sort. I know, it sounds crazy-”
At this Felix seemed to become more interested and cut her off. “Like the tree from the legend of the tree of the fae? The origin of all magic and eternal balancer of harmony?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Why does the human know all this? It's literally our land’s secret. That literally only we know.”
“It's a bedtime story for children here.” Felix explained.
Twilight hummed, “The tree has always held some sort of foresight. And since it brought us here in the first place, I wouldn’t be so surprised to find a counterpart that exists in this world.”
“Fascinating.” Felix said, the gleam of knowledge shining in his eyes. “That counterpart is probably the source of lore and magic in this world.”
“That’s very possible, Felix” Twilight started. “In fact-
“Sugarcube, maybe we should actually focus on finding who we need to help with their friendship problem?” Applejack raised her eyebrow.
Coming back into a focused mindset, Twilight started thinking.“Sorry. Well since the tree brought us here, as in directly into Felix's attic, from what I can tell, I think it’s safe to assume that we’re here to help him.”
Rarity walked over to Felix and asked him “Is there anything wrong that would be considered a major friendship problem happening in your universe, Felix? A possible war because of a misunderstanding between political allies? A public figure setting a bad example? Or just two friends falling out leading to the end of the world?” Rarity probed with a charming flutter of her eyelashes.
“Actually,” Felix said. “Nothing so dramatic, and yet, important all the same. A… a friend I guess you could call her, though she’s really just an acquaintance, I don’t do friends-
Rainbow dash rolled her eyes. “What a surprise.”
Twilight shushed her though she couldn’t help but frown at his dismissal of friendship. “Felix, continue.”
Shifting slightly, Felix spoke in a sombre tone. “My acquaintance was a popular person, friends with almost everyone, from what I could tell, until a major incident left her alone, with her previous friends completely abandoning her. It wasn't her fault at all,  and yet for some inexplicable reason, they’ve all decided to leave her and treat her like trash.”
“Why? Why would everyone desert her like that?” Fluttershy asked.
Felix’s jaw tightened. “A very conniving liar, ousted by my acquaintance, and fueled by what was probably jealousy, lied even more even at the chance to change her ways, and turned the whole school against her. As the only one besides my acquaintance in possession of a single brain cell, I saw through her act, but what good will that do? Even now, she’s probably poisoning everyone against me so that I have no chance to stop her and her regime of lies from hurting my acquaintance, who does not, in any manner, deserve the vitriol being spewed against her every day, not just by the liar, but by everyone who has been fooled.”
Felix turned to the ponies who were listening with quiet sorrow, even Rainbow Dash, and with pleading eyes spoke.
“Please help me stop her. I can’t let my friend get hurt any longer by this.”
“We’ll help you.” Rainbow Dash said, oddly quiet. 
Fluttershy sent a sympathetic glance her way.
“The situation at your institution is appalling and I’m seriously concerned that adults are allowing this to continue. No wonder literal magic is being brought into play.” Rarity said.
“We will help you resolve this, Felix.” Twilight reassured, determination lining her expression.
“Thank you.” Felix responded sincerely. The purely relieved tone of his voice took Twilight by surprise, but she still returned it with a sincere smile. 
“Now let's all brainstorm. How can we help?”
“Ah’d say that first we should consider exposin’ the liar. The situation’ll prove immediately after that.” Applejack suggested.
Felix shook his head, “I’m afraid that is unlikely to work. The liar is too good at covering her tracks and everyone is too far gone to believe just the words I say, especially since my introduction to them today may have, ahem,  disposed them against me...”
Pinkie raised her hoof up, Felix raising an eyebrow. Twilight glanced at her and didn’t bother mentioning how unnecessary the gesture was, “Yes?”
“I think we should let Felix observe and take notes on the situation. What this person’s lies are, what her interactions with the other person are like and all that. It’s not like we can go out there in the open right?” She grinned.
Everyone just stared at her.
Pinkie nudged Felix with her elbow, “You like observing stuff don’t cha?” Twilight assumed that to be a completely normal comment to make, especially considering her own assessments of Felix. However, the slightly distant look in his eyes and faint redness of his cheeks gave her the feeling that Pinkie had made an observation of her own.
“I- I do,” Felix responded, quickly hiding his stutter, completely nonplussed, then continued, shaking off his confusion.
“You know what, that is not actually a bad idea at all. Let's do it.” He affirmed, 
Rainbow punched her hoof in the air, “Aw yeah!”
“It’s getting quite late now though. I’m going to go to sleep on time. Are you capable of conjuring another one of those disorienting portals or..?
“If it’s okay, we’ll just stay in your attic.” Twilight scratched the back of her head sheepishly, “I doubt the tree will let us back until we solve the problem.”
“Assuredly. Do you need bedding or anything else?”
Fluttershy shook her head and gestured at Pinkie who was already setting up six comfortable hammocks, “I think we’re alright, thank you.” 
Twilight gaped, “How-”
Saved by the Rainbow again.
Felix narrowed his eyes, “I suppose she is a scientific anomaly. How peculiar. Have any of you tried to study her abnormal abilities?”
Twilight nearly facehooved.