//------------------------------// // First Encounters // Story: Dawn of the First Day // by Miniscule Literary //------------------------------// How fantastic. The man practically skipped through the rolling green fields without a care in the world. Granted, this wasn't his world, but he couldn't care less. The strange visuals, the strange feelings, the strange creatures who inhabited the world; he knew exactly where he was. And it was fantastic. Alfonz was a man of many problems. Living in the heart of the city, in a less-than-stellar neighborhood, he had been struggling to pay his college bills for months now. His light brown hair was unkept, and his clothes were old and wrinkled. Juggling multiple jobs and his education, he had little time to have a social life. And with deceased mother and a missing father, he hadn't seen the luxury of family support either. But that was over now. He was free. He didn't know how easy it would be to make a living in a fictional cartoon universe, but it sure as hell couldn't be worse than the life he was already living. He was ready to start anew, no matter how abrupt it may be. Besides, exploring the magical universe of Equestria was an adventure in itself. Though one immediate problem remained: How would he go about introducing himself? "Direct approach hasn't failed me yet," Alfonz said to himself with a shrug. There was, however, the problem of figuring out where civilization actually was. Observing his surroundings, he eventually determined he was in a random field in a random location in a fictional cartoon world. Perfect. It was then that he noticed a figure in the distance. A pony, by the looks of it. It seemed to be heading toward the nearby lake with a basket. Almost immediately after this revelation, Alfonz felt very light headed and suffered from a bizarre but extremely potent dose of dejavu. Not putting much thought into it, he muscled his way through the tall grass and broke out into a brisk jog to catch up with his query. What better way to introduce himself than to start out with a lone pony and work his way up? Things were going well so far. He hadn't been in this new universe for more than a half hour and it was already a massive improvement over his own. "Excuse me, miss?" he called as he approached. The pony, a pegasus by the looks of it, nearly jumped out of her skin at his words, dropping her basket into the lake. The ducks she was feeding were quick to gobble up the rest of the food inside it, before the basket sunk to the bottom. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," he added hastily, reaching for the basket just before it disappeared. He looked back at the cowering pegasus and gave a nervous laugh. The longer he watched her, the more he noticed her gaze change. From outright fear, to curiosity, to...something else. "Oh, i-its no problem," the pegasus replied, speaking barely loud enough for Alfonz to hear. The two remained silent for a few moments. "E-excuse me, sir, if you don't mind me asking...what a-are you?" "I'm a human," Alfonz explained, placing a hand on his chest. "Don't have many of those around here, I take it?" It was a question more for her benefit. He already knew the answer. "No, I can say that we don't," she replied, blushing. The man raised a brow at this; it didn't seem like a thing to blush at. Perhaps he wasn't the only human in Equestria? "Do you think you could point me to the nearest town?" Alfonz asked, glancing all around to see if he could spot some sign of civilization himself. "I'm new to the region, and I'd like to find a place to stay." "Oh!" the pegasus replied, before she curbed her own enthusiasm. "Y-you could stay with me, if you want, sir..." Alfonz blinked, surprised at the pony' hospitality. Although refreshing and definitely better than the attitude of any of the humans he used to live by, he felt a little uncomfortable about accepting. It made him hesitate, even though the rational part of his mind urged him to accept. "I don't want to impose." "Its no problem," the pegasus assured with a nervous smile. "My cottage is right on the edge of town, so you could come and go any time you would like," she explained, before lowering herself closer to the ground. "But if you don't want to, I understand." "No, no, that's very generous of you," the man assured with an uneasy grin. "I accept, and I thank you for the offer." "Great, I'll show you into town," she replied, gaining some confidence only to lose it almost instantly. "I mean, if you w-" "That's fine, thank you, I appreciate it," Alfonz interrupted hastily. He didn't want to be rude, but that was already starting to get annoying. He felt another dose of dejavu as the two started off back up the hill, away from the lake, and hopefully toward civilization. Their trek was uneventful and quiet, even uncomfortably so. The pegasus, who he had come to know was, of course, Fluttershy, said very little, even when he tried to make conversation. She would glance over at him repeatedly, as if nervous, but say nothing. All they knew about eachother was their names by the time they reached their destination, and boy was Alfonz relieved when they finally did. It was a small, quiet cottage with impressive natural landscaping and a nice view of Ponyville looming in the distance. "W-would you like to come in?" Fluttershy asked timidly, gesturing toward the door with a hoof. "You know, see where you'll be sleeping..." "Thanks, but I think I'd like to go into town for a bit," Alfonz responded as gently as possible, glancing around. He'd rather avoid more awkward silence if he could. Observing his surroundings, however, revealed just how isolated the cottage was. Only a few homes dotted the street it rested upon, though none were nearly as impressive looking. As he walked away, the pegasus seemed to grow far more troubled, following after him with a few steps. "I could make you some tea, Alfonz!" she called as he walked away, her words much more urgent than before. "No thanks, I'll be back soon," the man replied with a wave, his discomfort only continuing to grow by the display. Were ponies this hospitable to such an alien creature? Fluttershy was the most timid of the bunch as far as he knew, and she was getting rather forceful less than an hour after they met. The whole experience made him uneasy. Alfonz encountered very little signs of life before he got into Ponyville proper. Those he did pass seemed very curious about him, and it wasn't long before he had a sizable crowd trailing behind him as he walked. He could hear murmurings behind him from the crowd, but couldn't make out what exactly the ponies were saying. He couldn't exactly stop and appreciate the scenery either. He felt he were almost in danger if he didn't keep moving at a steady pace. As he went further into town, the eyes upon him only continued to grow. Eventually he came to a stop near the center of Ponyville, near the town hall. Looking around, Alfonz finally realized the full extent of the situation: he was surrounded by a massive mob of ponies, of all different shapes and sizes, all staring at him and whispering about him. It seemed as though the entire populace had followed him, yet none had come forward to try and make contact. But that wasn't what unnerved him the most. The stare they were giving him made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. It was not the confused, untrusting stare he had expected. Instead, it almost felt as though they were staring at him...hungrily. Like he was a chunk of meat before a pride of lions. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the crowd. A unicorn had muscled its way through the mob, and it wasn't just any unicorn. It was the librarian of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle. Alfonz's favorite pony, by all means. "What is going on here?" she asked as she forced her way through, before she caught sight of the strange creature standing before her. Alfonz watched as her gaze changed similarly to Fluttershy's: mild fear turned to curiosity, which turned to something far different. "Uh, hello?" Alfonz croaked, pressed against the railing that ran around the town hall. He felt the need to put some distance between himself and the mob. "Hi," Twilight responded, giving him a strange, partially quizzical look. "I've never seen a species like yours before." "Heh, that seems to be the general consensus," he replied with a nervous laugh, inching a little further from the gradually approaching crowd. "Do you think you could, uh, help me, a bit?" It took a moment for Twilight to snap out of her trance to respond. "Oh, sure, alright," she replied with a bit of nervousness that seemed, to him, quite out of character. "We can...go back to the library, if you'd like." The crowd immediately erupted into protest. Alfonz clawed his way up onto the railing just to escape the tide of ponies surging toward him. What the hell was going on? This was not at all going as he intended. But the library was sure as hell better than his current location. "Yeah, that sounds great!" he replied with another nervous laugh, trying to keep his eyes on Twilight through the crowd. "I'll see if I can find it, meet you there!" "Maybe I can help!" she called back as her horn began to glow. Suddenly a loud bang sounded in front of him, and a torrent of smoke began to pour out of seemingly no where, obscuring the entire square and causing most of the crowd to erupt into fits of coughing. "Wow," Alfonz breathed, very caught off guard by the unicorn's actions. He soon realized he was wasting the opportunity, however, and fumbled to the other side of the town hall. Charging off into the city under the cover of the smoke, he waded through it as best he could before he could see again. The library was not particularly hard to find, what with Twilight waiting for him on one street almost as soon as he emerged from the smoke. "This way!" she called as she trotted off, with Alfonz jogging close behind...