Galen sat up and blinked. "Wow, waking up from a lucid dream is a lot different than waking up normally. Usually I'd lay in bed another half hour."
The Unicorn groaned and slid off his bed. "Back to quadruped hell. Felt nice having fingers again, even if it was a dream. Well, dreamscape I guess, but still."
Galen's conversation with Luna had been interesting. He had told her about some of his hobbies such as video games and building Lego sets. Two things he couldn't do without hands, he noted bitterly. He'd also explained why his dreams were so chaotic compared to a normal Ponies'.
"Essentially, the dreams of humans are usually based on aspirations, hidden desires, or simply the events of the past day. Dreams are fleeting and nonsensical, and very few of them are actually remembered. It's basically the brain's way of keeping itself occupied during down time."
Luna had found the concept odd, but decided to save her questions for a later time in favor of telling Galen some things about herself. The basic gist he had gotten from it was that she REALLY needed some friends. Apart from her sister, Luna didn't seem to talk to anyone. Most ponies were hesitant to accept her given the legends that had been told about her evil persona Nightmare Moon over the centuries. That combined with her Alicorn status would make it rather hard to bond with anyone.
"I'll need to find her someone to hang out with. Whether that'll be me or someone else remains to be seen."
Galen adjusted his glasses for the 4th time in 10 minutes. "I'm gonna need to see if I can get a replacement pair. These things just don't do the trick when my eyes are the size of dinner plates."
After eating and fumbling a toothbrush around in his hooves for 20 minutes, Galen laid down on the couch and shuffled his playlist while he waited for Twilight to arrive.
"This is gonna require a lot of walking, isn't it?" Hopefully hooves don't get worn down like feet tend to."
Laying on the couch, Galen started to let his mind wander. I'm surprised I'm taking this so well. Being flung into another dimension and separated from my family and previous life is normally the kind of thing someone would take a while to recover from.
Galen stopped his thought process and stared at the wall blankly. Y'know what, maybe it's because I haven't been thinking about it much. I'm going to continue doing that now.
After about 15 minutes, Galen heard a knock at the door. "It's open! Don't expect me to reach that knob myself!"
The door was enveloped in a magical aura and opened to reveal Twilight and Spike.
"Hi Galen! Ready for your tour of Ponyville?"
"...It's gonna take a while to get used to that name. But sure, I'm good to go."
"Great! Oh, wait, before we leave, I got you this!"
Twilight levitated some saddle bags over to Galen. "Um, thanks? this is like a backpack, right?"
"If that's what humans call saddle bags. I thought I'd give you a pair in case you ended up needing to carry anything during our trip into town."
“Oh, cool. I guess I’ll just tuck my phone in there then.”
“Why would you need to bring that along?”
“In case anyone tries to call me. That and I tend to get fidgety when I go somewhere without it, as most people in my generation do.”
Twilight frowned. “That seems… unhealthy.”
“Yeah, but I’m not in a real rush to fix that issue. So, are we gonna go or what?"
"Oh, sure! I've prepared a list of places that we can visit in the most time efficient order."
"That seems unnecessary. I don't have any pressing matters to attend to today, so why don't we just take our time?"
Spike rolled his eyes. "That's what I tried telling her. But trying to talk Twilight out of making a list is pretty much impossible."
"Okay, well, can we not use the list? Having a set direction and time limit makes this feel more like a chore."
Twilight seemed to be a little perturbed at how her plan was being blown off, but sighed in acceptance. "Fine, I guess this is your tour, so it wouldn't be fair to do it in a way that would make you uncomfortable."
Spike's eyes lit up in excitement. "Hey Twilight, what if we gave him the tour using the same route we used when we first arrived? Wouldn't that be cool?"
Twilight hummed in thought. "That's actually a really good idea Spike! As long as Galen's okay with it!"
"Sure, I don't see a reason to object.”
"Great! Then let's get started! Our first stop would be Sweet Apple Acres. It's Just outside town."
"And how far away is that?"
"Oh, It's just a few miles."
Galen groaned.
"Okay, well at least there's one positive thing about this body. If I were still human, I would've been out of breath by now."
Twilight, Spike, and Galen were coming up on the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. The walk had taken around 45 minutes, and a good portion of it had been uphill.
Twilight gave Galen a confused look. "Really? I assumed that the longer legs would make walking less strenuous."
"Yeah, you'd think. I suppose you ponies must have better endurance than humans. Then again, I was never especially fit, so maybe I'm not the best benchmark."
"Fascinating! Perhaps I'll have to do more research on humans after I figure out how to change you back into one."
Galen gave Twilight a wary look. "Don't go thinking about making me some sort of guinea pig. I'm not exactly keen on being experimented on."
Before that conversation could continue, Spike spoke up. "Hey, there's Applejack right now!"
The two ponies looked over to see the farm-mare trotting up to the entrance of the farm. "Well, Howdy! Gettin an early start on tha tour ah see?"
Twilight smiled at her friend. "Yep! I had originally planned to have us come here later, but we decided to take the same route I did when Spike and I first arrived in town."
"Well, that's a mighty fine idea! Ah'm sure Galen here will get to see all the sights in Ponyville that way. Come on this-a-way, ah'll give ya the introduction to Sweet Apple Acres."
The first thing that Galen noticed upon entering the farm proper was the amount of trees. "That's... a lot of friggin apples. Is that all that's farmed here?"
"Well, not all. But it is tha main focus. We Apples have prided ourselves on our apple trees for generations! Say Galen, What's yer favorite type?"
"Well, Honey Crisp I guess. Though Red delicious is also pretty good."
Applejack went over to one of the baskets that were stored nearby and came back with an apple in her hoof.
"One Honey Crisp, on tha house!"
Applejack hooved it over to Galen, who fumbled with it for a moment, trying to get a good grasp with his hoof before biting into it.
"That... is the best apple I've ever eaten! What are you putting into these things? That was incredible!"
Applejack wore a proud smile on her face. "Well, that's fine praise indeed! We here at Sweet Apple Acres put all our love an' care into every single one of our apple trees! And the results show in every apple that's harvested!"
"Well, in any case, I know where I'll get my apples from now on. This is way better than anything I could get at a store."
"Well, If Ya'll will follow me, ah'll introduce Galen here ta the rest of us at this here farm."
As Applejack led the way back to the farmhouse, Twilight spoke up. "You know, when I first visited Sweet Apple Acres, I arrived in the middle of the Apple family reunion. All of Applejack's relatives were here!"
"Huh. That must have been an experience."
"I'll say! They could barely fit everypony in the house!"
Spike giggled. "They also convinced Twilight to eat with them, and she ended up getting a stomachache from eating so much!"
Twilight gave Spike an annoyed look. "Yes, I guess I did eat too much, but It's only because I needed to make sure that the food was up to par for the Summer Sun Celebration!"
Applejack chuckled. "Wouldn't that jus' mean ya need ta taste everything once? Ya seemed to enjoy them apple fritters enough, if tha 3 ones ya ate are anythin' ta go on."
Twilight blushed as Galen smirked. "Hey, I get it. I tend to eat more than I should when I have something I like. It's why I usually get an upset stomach after pasta night."
Applejack spoke up as they neared the house. "Well, it's about time ah introduce ya ta the rest o' mah family livin here on tha farm. In fact, there's mah Granny Smith on tha porch! Howdy Granny! We got guests!"
The old mare snorted and startled awake, jerking up in her rocking chair. "Wha! Who's there?! Ah, that you Applejack? An ya brought one o' yer new friends, Twinkle, was it?"
Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Ah, it's Twilight actually, Miss Smith."
Granny Smith squinted her eyes. "Tha's what ah said, ain't it? An' who's this? Ya finally go an find yerself a Stallion AJ?"
Applejack blushed in embarrassment while Galen's eyes widened and he reared his head back a little. "Oookay. Very uncomfortable way to start a conversation. I just met Applejack like two days ago, I am in no way interested in her in that way." Not to mention that she's a completely different species, so yeah, HELL no.
Granny grunted and leaned back in her chair a little. "Pity. ah was hopin ta see some great grandfoals 'fore ah passed."
Applejack managed to recover her wits while Twilight and Spike giggled at her and Galen's embarrassment. "Come on Granny, quit messin with mah guest. This here is Galen, tha new arrival ta town ah mentioned."
Granny Smith's eyes widened a smidge. "Ah, so yer the feller who's house showed up outta nowhere? must'a been quite a shock for ya."
"Shocked doesn't begin to describe how I felt."
Granny gave a small chuckle that turned into a cough. "Well, Ponyville's far from tha worst place in Equestria ta end up. Real nice folk here. Been a close-knit community since the town was founded."
Galen hummed in acknowledgement Wouldn't a close-knit town be more wary of people, or ponies I suppose that they didn't know? Then again, these ponies seem to be a lot more welcoming and trusting than humans, so who knows.
Granny' eyes drooped a little. "Well, don't let me keep ya. Ah need ta get back to mah nap anyhow. Ah'm sure you'll get 'long real well with mah granddaughter, hehehe..."
Applejack groaned silently as Granny Smith fell back asleep. Galen rolled his eyes. "Does she try to get you hitched with every guy you meet?"
"Nah, Granny ain't bein serious. She's jus' tryin ta embarrass me. Don't think 'bout it none."
"I'll do that. It's how I've gotten through my time here so far."
Twilight and Spike had watched the exchange with entertained smiles. "Well, who's to say you won't get attached while you're here? You never know."
Galen gave Twilight a look. "Yeah, I don't think so. No offence to you ponies, but humans are one of, if not the only intelligent species in my world, so the idea of having a romantic relationship with another species is inherently off-putting for me. Not to mention I was never very romantically involved to begin with."
Twilight frowned in thought. "I suppose that makes sense. If humans are the only civilized species where you come from, it'd make sense that falling in love with a pony would be a weird concept."
Galen nodded. "Exactly." That's not to mention that we have ponies that are animals in my world, but it's best not to mention that.
Applejack led the way into the house, and upon entering, they were greeted with two more ponies. A small yellow filly with a red bow in her hair, and a rather large red Stallion.
"Galen, this here is mah big brother Big Macintosh an' mah little sis Apple Bloom. Ya can call mah brother Big Mac fer short."
Galen raised an eyebrow. Like the burger? "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm new in town, which I'm assuming your sister already mentioned. I'm taking a tour of the town today, and this was our first stop."
Big Mac nodded and gave a simple "Howdy." Apple Bloom raced up to the former human and looked at him with curious eyes.
"Big sis said ya were from another world! That's so cool! Is it true that yer one of them 'Hyu-mens'? Do hyu-mens get cutie marks too? They must, since ya got one too! What's it mean?"
Galen looked over to Applejack and whispered. "What the hell is a 'cutie mark'?"
Applejack gave Galen an odd look. "Ya don't know what a cutie mark is? How can't ya... wait, never mind, dumb question. A cutie mark is the markings on a pony's flank that signifies their special talent. Ponies only get em when they discover what they're best at. Little Apple Bloom here's been talking about gettin' one nonstop fer months now."
Galen looked over at the marking on his flank. It appeared to be some sort of gear with arrows spiraling around it both ways. 'Cutie mark'? Seriously, that's what this ass-tattoo is called? That's got to be the most humiliating thing to call it, my god.
Galen looked back over to Apple Bloom. "Well, to answer your questions, yes I am, or was, I guess, a human. No, humans don't get 'cutie marks'. Mine appeared when I got turned into a unicorn. I also have no idea what it means. It seems pretty abstract."
Apple Bloom looked disappointed. "Really? How can ya not know yer own special talent? Everypony knows what their cutie mark means as soon as they get it!"
Applejack chuckled. "Come now sis. Galen just said he weren't even a pony till a few days ago. He might need ta take some time ta figure out what his talent is."
Galen shrugged as best he could with his current body. "Well, I have more than one talent. Most people do. I'd have to guess what the mark represents is the talent that's most prevalent. And that might take some time to figure out."
"Well, what're ya good at? It must be one of those things!"
"Well, I'm pretty good at video games, I've got a bit of a knack for cooking, and science and math come pretty naturally to me. I know quite a bit of history too, but that's mostly because most of my family are history buffs."
Twilight hummed. "Well, none of those things seem like they would match your cutie mark. Maybe if you had a reference for other cutie marks you'd have an easier time figuring out what yours means. "My cutie mark represents my talent for magic!"
Galen looked at Twilight's mark, which seemed to be a small collection of twinkling stars. "Well, the mark itself looks pretty ambiguous, I don't really know if that helps my case. Seems like some marks are easier to decipher than others. I'm assuming Applejack's talent has to do with apples?"
The mare in question chuckled. "Well, ah suppose that one's fairly obvious huh. Yeah, mah talent lies in farmin apples. Most of us Apples have had cutie marks related to our craft."
Apple Bloom bounced on the tips of her hooves. "Ah know! What if ah help ya figure out what yer cutie mark means! Maybe Ah'll figure out what mah own special talent is too!"
Galen smiled slightly "Y'know what, sure kid. Just make sure not to go too crazy, okay?"
Apple Bloom frowned a bit. "Why're ya callin me a goat mister? It some sort of Hyu-men thing?"
"Oh, sorry, kid is what humans call their children. It's probably gonna take me a while for me to get used to pony phrases."
"Oh, okay. That's kinda weird."
Twilight was starting to get a little antsy. "I'm sorry to rush, but we should probably get going if we want to see the rest of the town today Galen. It's already almost 11."
Galen rolled his eyes. "I think you're being a little hasty, but fine. it did take a while to walk up here, so maybe you have a point."
Applejack tipped her hat. "Well, it was nice o' ya ta stop by. Ah'll see ya later then. Ya'll have a nice ay, y'hear? Ah've gotta get back ta apple-bucking anyhow."
Apple Bloom Started racing upstairs. "Ah'll get started on a plan for figuring out yer cutie mark! Nice ta meet ya mister Galen!"
Big Mac, who Galen had forgotten was even there with how quiet he'd been, trotted past them out the door with a quick "See ya 'round"
Not much of a talker, that one. Understandable I suppose.
Twilight smiled and waved goodbye to Applejack. "Now, next up on our list should be Rarity's boutique! We can see how she's coming along with your new clothes!"
Spike's eyes glossed over "Oh, I can't wait! I haven't seen Rarity in forever!"
Galen gave Spike a strange look. "Dude, you literally saw her just yesterday."
"I know, it's been so long!"
Twilight shook her head in amusement. "Spike really likes Rarity, it's best to leave it be."
Galen rolled his eyes. oh boy. That kind of crush won't end well. If for nothing but the age gap.
Twilight pulled out a checklist that she's made while they were walking to Sweet Apple Acres. Well, that's our first stop down! On to Rarity's!"
Galen sighed. "What did I say about lists? It makes this feel like a job."
Twilight giggled sheepishly. "a-heh. sorry."