"They're all.... horses?" James asked, looking around. This looked like the type of thing his little sister would have dreams about.
They were in what appeared to be a town, with lots of conflicting architecture. Like, the main buildings and shops and stuff all had this really old, rural look to them, but there was certain places, like the hospital and the random burger joint a few yards away, that had a very modern appearance. It was very weird to look at.
"No, Spinel, they're ponies." Pinkie corrected, leading James through the street, bouncing. She was still smiling.
'Okay, that makes me feel... so much better..." James really hoped he could leave this sometime soon.
"OH! Look, it's Applejack!" Pinkie exclaimed, pointing at a cart a few feet away. Behind it was a hulking mass of red, wearing denim overalls with a green shirt underneath. Standing beside.. him(?) was a shorter pony person, wearing a traditional cowboy hat, and a plaid red button-up that looked tied at the bottom. The rest of her outfit was hidden behind the cart, which had an insane amount of apples sitting on top of it.
As James was taking all of this in, Pinkie grabbed his hand. "C'mon! I want you to come and meet her!"
"Uh, wait a minUTE!" Pinkie shot forward once again, dragging James along with her. If she kept doing this, James was probably going to be sick... 'if gems could get sick that is. Can gems get sick? Did it say that somewhere in the show..?' James put a gloved finger to his chin as he visibly thought about it.
Suddenly, Pinkie stopped defying the laws of gravity, and stood in place in front of the cart. This sudden stop caused James and his newly rubbery limbs to tumble to the ground.
"Hi Applejack!" Pinkie beamed, hands behind her back.
"Uh, hi, Pinkie." Applejack sounded concerned. She leaned over the apples in the cart, trying to look at the noodly form of James/Spinel on the ground. "Are they alright?"
"Spinel? Oh, she's fine!" Pinkie was smiling still, but it had suddenly shrunk as she ducked down. "You are okay, right?" Pinkie sounded worried.
"Yep. Never better." James stood up, slowly scratching his head.
"Good!" Pinkie looked relieved, standing up as well.
"Spinel, eh?" Applejack also began smiling. "You must be new in town!" She put her fists on her hips. "Well, in that case, howdy! Ah'm Applejack, and this feller right here is named Big Mac!" He gestured her head over at the big red guy.
"Eeyup." Big Mac grunted, giving his own slight smile.
"That little one over there is Applebloom!" Applejack pointed over at a small, red haired pony, who was conversing with two other small ponies. "She isn't really old enough to help with the business quite yet, so we just let her tag along so she can talk to her friends. Speaking of which..." Applejack looked at Pinkie again. "What're you buying?"
"Oh, nothing right now! I'm showing Spinel around Ponyville." Pinkie said, waving her hand.
"Alrighty then. Well, Spinel, feel free to swing by Sweet Apple Acres if your looking for a job, or heck, even a friend to talk to." Applejack smiled warmly, tipping her hat.
"Oh. Well, I definitely think about that." Spinel... I mean, James said, pleasantly surprised. He liked this girl's vibe a lot more than Pinkie's. She seemed like a decent... person? Does that term fit here?
"Nice! You two are already friends!" Pinkie cheered, before grabbing Spinel's hand. "Anyway, I gotta go and introduce Spinel to the others. See ya around Applejack!" She took off at reasonable speeds this times, waving at Applejack, who waved back.
"See y'all later!" Applejack then went back to standing there, waiting for customers.
Pinkie was powerwalking while holding James' hand, and he was kinda starting to get used to it. He still didn't like it, though.
"So, what do you think so far?" Pinkie asked, looking back at James.
"About what?" James asked, looking at Pinkie with a confused expression.
"About Ponyville, silly!" Pinkie gave an exaggerated snort that James had only heard in cartoons. Maybe it happened all the time in real life, James didn't know, he didn't know enough people to have a proper scope of their laughs.
"Oh. Well... it's nice." This much was true. Despite the weird architecture, and multi-colored pony people walking around, Ponyville was a very nice town. The streets were clean, the locals were kind, the shops seemed to be selling things at reasonable prices, and there didn't really seem to be anyone homeless. Wait, hold the fucking phone, is that a castle sticking out the side of a mountain in the distance?? "Wait, hold on, Pinkie-"
"Yeah?" Pinkie stopped her pursuit, and looked back at Spinel.
James pointed at the castle in the distance. "... Wot"
Pinkie looked confused, before looking over at the castle. She then smiled. "Oh, of course you wouldn't know about Canterlot!"
"That... didn't answer my question." James muttered.
"Don't worry, my good friend Twilight will be able to answer all of your magical and Cantorlogical questions later. But for now, you still got the rest of my friends to meet!" Pinkie then got into a sprinting position. "Fluttershy, here we come!"
"Pinkie..." James pleaded.
"Hold on!"
"Pinkie, NO-"
They were now in front of a cottage, outside of Ponyville. It was surrounded by various streams of water and birdhouses and gardens and other nature shit. James wasn't really paying attention, because he's pretty sure if he had a heart right now, his chest would've exploded. He's still on his feet, but he's leaned over, panting heavily, despite his lack of lungs.
"Here we are!" Pinkie gestured with her hands, towards the cottage.
"Awesome..." James groaned, trying not to die.
Pinkie knocked. "Oh, and, I'm going to tell you right now, Fluttershy scares pretty easily, so use a soft voice." She muttered.
James sighed, rubbing his head. "Of course, her name's literally Fluttershy..." He muttered.
The door to the cottage opened, revealing... Is that a rabbit?
"What the..?" Spinel asked, leaning over. He squinted at the small demon. "How did a rabbit open the door?" He looked over at Pinkie questionably. "Is this Fluttershy?"
"Nope! That's just Angel Bunny." Pinkie said, before leaning over as well. "Hello, Angel!" She put on a baby voice. "We're here to see Fwuttershy, can you go get her? I want her to meet Spinel." She motioned to the gem in question, who stood there awkwardly.
Angel stared at Pinkie for a few seconds, before rolling its eyes, and waving for the two of them to come inside. It hopped away.
"Oh. We're just.. going in, okay, let's go!" Pinkie said, motioning for James to go in first.
"O...kay...." James shuffled into the cottage.
Pinkie walked in as well, shutting the door behind her.
James looked around them; they appeared to be in a living room, with a very nature-based aesthetic. It had a couch, coffee tabl- IS THAT A FUCKING LA-Z-BOY?? Okay, this is probably the best place so far.
"Huh, I've never seen that chair before." Pinkie said, looking at the recliner chair. She then shrugged. "Eh, probably nothing." She went over to sit on the couch.
"Can I sit in it?" Spinel asked, staring at the chair. He looked desperate, and he was. He's never sat in a La-Z-Boy before, but he's had literal dreams of this.
"Why are asking me? I don't own it, silly!" Pinkie said, laughing slightly.
"Oh, I dunno... can you?" Said the chair.
...
WAIT-
"Did the chair... did it just say something?" James looked over at Pinkie, horrified.
"OH!" Pinkie gained a look of realization, before giving a neutral expression. "That's just Discord."
"...Pardon?"
The chair poofed into a multicolored cloud of smoke, filling the room. Pinkie started coughing lightly, but James simply stood, unaffected by the weird smoke surrounding him. After a few seconds, standing, no, floating in the chair's place was... WHAT THE FU-
"Hello, Spinel." The thing said, smirking.
"What the fuck are you?" James asked, an awestruck expression slapped across his face.
"That was... rather rude..." His smirk was gone, replaced by an annoyed grimaced. He suddenly went back to smirking. "Eh, whatever. You're trying to adjust to this new world. Oh, I can't imagine how... difficult it's been for you." He put on a weird, mournful expression.
"Trust me bud, I've been through a lot worse." James lied, crossing his arms, trying to look... well, not like a teenage boy trying to mimic a cartoon character.
"Oh, I'm sure you have..." It leaned forward, its smirk deepening. Does this guy know something? "Oh, where are my manners! I am, as I'm sure you've realized, am Discord, the spirit of chaos!" He did it a weird pose, prompting James to deadpan.
"DISCORD, WHY IS THERE SMOKE EVERYWHERE?!" Another voice called from upstairs.
Discord suddenly looked like he made the biggest mistake imaginable."Uh, NO REASON! JUST, um, PUTTING ON A MAGIC SHOW FOR THE ANIMALS"! He looked at James and Pinkie, the latter of which staring off into space and the former... well, still deadpanning. "OH, eh, YOU HAVE VISITORS! PINKIE AND J- I MEAN, SOMEONE SHE'D LIKE YOU TO MEET!"
'Pinkie and J.' James ran that through his mind a few times...
This guy definitely knew something.