//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: The Meet and Guide // Story: My Little Brony: Life in Equestria // by OfficialTheDDJBron3 //------------------------------// Chapter Three - The Meet and Guide By the time I had reached the edge of Ponyville it was night. The moon was full and the stars seemed more beautiful in Equestria. It was chilly out in the cold. I wondered how long I was in the Everfree Forest to arrive in Ponyville so late. I was probably transported to Equestria in the afternoon. I decided to suck it up and take my chances. I walked into the shadowy village and looked around to see if I could be able to see anypony anywhere. “Psst!,” I heard a whisper to my left, I turned to see who it was. My heart thudded, it could be a pony. “Hey, get over here!” The whisper said sharply, and loud enough so only I could hear it. The voice was coming from behind a set of barrels. I slowly walked over to the set of barrels between two cottages. Maybe it’s not a pony, surely if I can understand the language, I thought. I slowly moved around the barrels to look behind them. My eyes widened in shock as I raised my hands over my mouth. It was a boy, just like me, he looked to be about around my age. He had tanned skin, as if he had been playing in the sun a lot. “Hey, who are you? I’ve never seen you around before, let alone a human.” The boy said as he stood up. He reached out his hand towards me. I knew it was a handshake. I reached out my hand and shaked his nervously. I was still stunned to find another human in this world. Could there be more? “It’s dark, you should follow me. Afterwards we can talk.” The boy said leading the way between the two cottages and into the main road through Ponyville. I followed obediently, confused and stunned by the sudden surprise. It was dark out, but I think we passed the sugarcube corner, given that I knew what it would look like. We turned to a right as I asked him a question. “Hey, how did you get here? In Equestria, I mean?” I asked, hopefully waiting to get an answer. “Same as you. I’ve been living here for about a year. Never knew that strange voice would send someone else here. We’re almost there to my house. I need to explain some things before I can let you out in Ponyville tomorrow,” The boy answered, “ The name’s Alexander, call me Alex if you’d like. I’m thirteen” I noticed a house up ahead, it seemed like we were heading for it. I guessed it might be Alex’s house. It must be cool to be thirteen and live by yourself. It’s also nice to know someone who’s the same age in a new world. “I’m Justin by the way.” I responded. Alex only nodded back as we reached his house. It looked almost identical to all the other cottages, except that each one looked slightly different. Alex took a key out of this pocket and slid it into the keyhole, turning it and pushing open the door. I walked in after him and took off my shoes, I always do that. He sat into a nearby chair and motioned me to sit on the couch. I took the time to look around very quick before I sat down on the couch. I noticed that the front door was in with the living room. A hallway led to a few other doors in it’s corridor. I sat down on the couch, which was gray. He said he wanted to talk to me on the way here. I wondered what it was. “You must have been recently transported to Equestria, right?,” He smiled and continued, “I’m going to have to tell you some things though. Things here are slightly different than the way they are in the TV show. I had to learn it the hard way,” He paused for a second and I nodded, I didn’t really have anything to say. “I have to teach you some stuff before you go out and start hugging some ponies and such things like that. First off, they don’t consider themselves animals here, remember that. Some other things are about your size. It’s kind of embarrassing when you’re looming over everybody. The best way to talk to anypony here is to politely kneel down, it makes them feel more comfortable when you’re the same height as them.” Alex paused again, he must be thinking on what to say next, I wondered why he was teaching me all of this. It seems reasonable, and since he’s been here a year like he said, this stuff must be true. “The ponies here in Equestria, they don’t like to have you act as if they were handled as pets. You know, the way humans usually act around cats or dogs. Petting them and talking to them weird. You gotta act like the ponies are humans, like us, or you’ll just be thought of weirdly.” Alex looked at me like he was waiting for a response from me. “Look, I think I get it now, they don’t act like animals, I got that. I have to act like they’re humans, not some kind of pet where I pet them and talk to them sweetly all the time, I think I already know that. Can I just get some sleep and start a living here?” I responded quickly, I'm pretty tired. Alex looked at the floor. “Man, it’s harder than you think here. I know more than you. I was transported to Equestria with a group of guys. There were four of us. Three of them were sent to the jails of canterlot. You don’t understand that they think of us differently than the way that we think of them.” Alex sighed. I was shocked. My thoughts were true. “Do the ponies understand our language?” I asked. “If you wear this medallion you do,” Alex pulled an amulet out from under his t-shirt and showed it to me. It was laced with gold chain links and a crystal that shined with the color pink. “I’ve got another, three more in fact, that were owned by the other guys.” Alex took another amulet that was exactly the same and handed it to me. I took it carefully and put it over my head and onto my neck. “I think I should explain some more, and why the other guys were put in jail. At first, I hope you’re like, not in like, attracted to another pony are you? It’s a pretty bad problem here if you do. Just to tell you ninety nine percent of the ponies here in Equestria are attracted to their own kind, as we are with our own kind. So you’ve got no chance if you were like the other guys. Even if you did say you loved another pony here, it’s going to end up tragically, so don’t even try. You could try to get a pony to love you I guess, it’s going to take a lot of patience though.” Alex looked and nodded at me to see if I understood. I nodded back in response. Well, I hope those guys weren’t really THAT crazy with the ponies here. It’d be a little horrifying to see a guy run up to a favored pony and start hugging them randomly. It might be a little cute though. Alex continued on with his speech. I looked at the wooden clock he had on this wall and it was a little past midnight. I hoped we finish this soon. “You actually have to work for a living here. You earn cash, or bits as it’s called here. I’m going to have to explain this to you, even if it seems crazy. You still need cash for the food and such still. Every world has their own currency I guess. From what I know, the technology here isn’t great. Mostly everything is either controlled by an infused metal box that contains magic that lasts basically forever, like my clock over there on the wall,” Alex pointed out. I had already seen it, I usually do wonder how ponies got their lamps and ovens to work. “Now here’s the most important part of my speech before we get to bed. It’s the food, Justin. We humans do need meat to survive, but here, killing an animal and cooking it is horrifying. You may get jailed for murder, this happened to one of the guys with me. Apparently he killed a doe, I knew he was stupid from the start. You have to get used to being a vegetarian here. Although we do use eggs in some recipes. The only protein you’ll find is the same way vegetarians in our old world found theirs. Eatings nuts and such. Another subject is that if you ever get sick from a sickness that humans have, but ponies don’t have, don’t worry about it. The professional unicorns up in Canterlot can heal anything with their magic,” Alex rubbed his eyes and stood up and stretched, “Well, I guess I’ll set up a bed on the couch for you. Remember all of these things I told you, it’ll help you a lot. Tomorrow morning I’ve got to get to Applejack’s farm to pick some apples. It’s my job. I’ll help you get accustomed to a pony first. They’re pretty used to having me around, so they’ll trust you too hopefully.” I watched as Alex covered the couch with some sheets. He gave me one of his extra pillows and a blanket for me to wrap myself in. He told me to wait for him in the morning, due to because he didn’t want me to wreck havoc on my first day in Ponyville. I laid down on my supposedly bed, the couch. I closed my eyes and went over all the things Alexander had told me recently. I’ll have to remember them in order to get around here.