"Alan! Wake up!" I heard as a pair of hooves nudged me on the side. I was just so tired though. The bed was so comfortable and all I wanted to do was sleep. It also didn't help that it felt like I had been awake the whole night because of my dream. Whoever you are, just let me sleep on this soft bed.
"Alan!"
Go away please...
"ALAN!"
Let me sleep...
"Okay then, ya forced me tah do this." I heard followed by a sound that sounded like somepony was taking a deep breath and then...
*TWEEEEEEEEEET!!!*
"ARGH!" I screamed while falling out of bed from shock.
"There! Ah knew that'd wake ya up." looking up I found a smiling Applebloom with a training whistle around her neck.
"What was that for?" I asked, standing up and glaring at her.
"Hey, don't you go blaming me. Ah wasn't the pony who slept in till noon." She said matching my glare.
"What? Noon?" Finding a clock in the room I found that I did indeed slept in till noon. This means I must have been asleep for fourteen hours. While I stood in shock that such a soft bed could have put me in a coma like state I remembered the words from the note on the door of the library.
"We should be back later in the day tomorrow..."
"I'M LATE!!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs causing a nearby tree to be void of birds.
"OhNoOhNoOhNoOhNoOhNo." I mumbled panicking and running around the room until Applebloom showed me the door.
I leaped down the stairs and took off as fast as my hooves could carry me.
"Ya forgot yer breakfast!"
**************************************
"This is it, I'm finally going home." I said now slowing down to a trot because I was now around a lot more ponies. "All I have to do now is find the library and then that pony Zecora told me about will help me get home!"
I stopped for a moment, taking in what was about to happen. Thoughts about Fluttershy, Applejack, and Zecora flashed through my mind.
"Maybe I should say bye before I leave." I said aloud while looking at the ground. I shook my head. " It's not like I know them that well. I know Applejack and Fluttershy said something about being friends but we did only know each other for such a short amount of time. There's no way we could be friends that quick."
"Hey there!" A nearby pony said waving to me. She had a blonde mane and had wings meaning she was a Pegasus.
"Oh..hi!" I waved back. "Do you need something?"
"No, not really. I just thought I'd say hi." The blonde Pegasus said before flying off.
"Well that was pretty nice." It's nice to hear somepony say hi even if they don't know you. It didn't even stop with her. As I kept walking down the road at least 3 other ponies said hi too.
"Oh no." I stopped dead in my tracks. "last time I was here it was Applejack and Fluttershy who lead me to the library...but now..." Nothing around me looked familiar from last time and I had absolutely no idea where to go.
"How hard is it to find a library shaped like a tree!?" I yelled gaining many strange looks from the ponies...again.
*Whoosh!*
Up in the sky I could barely see the after image of something fly by.
*Whoosh!*
It flew closer by again this time. Whatever it was, when it flew by it left a rainbow trail.
"A moving rainbow?" I said watching the rainbow go faster and start doing loops. I could barely keep up with where it was going until it finally slowed down.
"That's...not a moving rainbow." Slowly the figure landed. She spread out her wings to stretch and then brought them in to rest on her back. She was a bright cyan and had a rainbow colored mane. Her cutie mark was probably the most striking feature, no pun intended. It was a cloud with a bolt of lightning, but not a normal bolt of lightning, a rainbow bolt of lightning. Just looking at everything put together made me speachless but I did manage one word.
"Awesome..." There really was no other way to describe this mare.
Apperently hearing my earlier comment the cyan pegasus looked at me and then jumped into a quick spin in the air and landed, sticking the landing perfectly.
I was in even more awe of her talent. The only other pegasus I've seen was Fluttershy and the pony from my dream. To think that there are pegasi that can fly like this, though, is just...awesome.
"Snap out of it Alan!" I said hitting my head with both hooves. "This is no time to be starstruck. I have to meet up with Twilight Sparkle."
"Did you say Twilight Sparkle?"
"Ah!" I yelled nearly jumping out of my skin for at least the 4th time since I arived here. These ponies really need to work on not apearing out of nowhere.
I stumbled nearly having my face meet with the ground. My hooves flailed around as if having a mind of their own untill my back was finally grounded on...well...the ground.
Looking down from above the cyan pegasus looked as if she was ready to burst into uncontrolable laughter. Thankfuly, though, she didn't and managed to calm herself down save a few giggles.
"Hehe, here let me help you up." She said flying over me, grabbing my hooves and pulling me forward with enough momentum to get me back on all four hooves.
"Thanks..." I mustered, dusting myself off and trying to brush off the "scene" that happened.
"So you said you needed to go see Twilight?" She said still flying.
"Yeah, I'm already running late and to top it all off i"m lost too."
"I take it you're not from around here, huh?"
"W-what do you mean?" Bad liar.
"Seriously? Well for starters, you say that you're lost when Twilight's library isn't that far away. Also, most ponies don't get that amazed at me when I do my normal tricks even if they really are that awesome. Finally, I've never seen a pony you're age without a cutie mark. It's not too unusual for a pony you're age to not have one but i know for a fact that nopony here is like that except you."
"Wow, uh..." I said dumbfounded, "You catch on really fast. " I said realizing that it's getting a lot more difficult to hide who I really am.
"That's me. Fastest pegasus in all of Equestria." She said laughing a bit. "look, I'm not going to pry too much for now but you'd better not be up to any funny business. Care to tell me why you need to see Twilight?"
"Oh, I just need her to help me with something important." The cyan pegasus looked me in the eye. "It's a long story but the short version is that I really need to get home and a zebra told me that Twilight could be of assistance. I really need help."
The cyan pegasus thought fo a while. "Okay. You're a real weirdo but I guess I can help you. Follow me Alan."
"Huh? How did you know my name?"
"You do know you talk to yourself right?"
*****************************
"So you know my name but I don't know your's." I said while she flew and I walked to Twilight's library.
"My name's Rainbow Dash."
Truely a name that fits her perfectly.
"Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash. So you said you knew where the library was? Do you go there often?"
"Of couse, I go there a lot to see my friend Twilight."
"So then you and Twilight Sparkle are friends?" I paused for a bit. "What is she like? I mean, why are you two friends?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well...what makes you two friends?"
Rainbow Dash thought for a second...just one.
"We always hang out and have fun together. We never really fight over anything either. She's always got my back and i've always got hers. And, she's a true friend."
"True friend?" I said looking down a bit. "...but what if she had to leave and move far away one day? Would you still be friends?"
"You have lot's of weird questions. Of course we'd still be friends. it doesn't mater the distance because a true friend will always be you're friend. It might get difficult to talk to each other being so far away but if you really are true friends then it can only make your friendship stronger. You'll always have the memories of being friends and one day when you see each other again you can share new memories and make more together. Does that make sense?"
True friends...does this mean I've never had one before?
"I guess it does." I said falling silent trying to think if I ever had a true friend before. The silence was quickly broken.
"Hey Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash called out.
I looked up. It was Fluttershy, today sans basket.
"Oh, hi Rainbow Dash." She said in her sweet, quiet tone. "Hello to you too Alan. I heard from Applejack that you slept in very well this morning." She said smiling.
"You did huh?"
"Yes, she didn't want to wake you so she let you sleep in while she tended to her chores on the farm. She told me that she would meet us when she was done though."
That's right. Working on a farm ment that Applejack must have a lot of resposibilities. That was pretty nice of her to let me sleep in.
"So then you already know Applejack and Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked me.
"Heh, yeah. That's a long story too."
"No it's not." Fluttershy cut in. "Alan's is very kind. He helped me when I fell yesterday and made sure I was okay before anything else."
"Wow. That was pretty awesome of you Alan." Rainbow Dash said patting me on the back.
"Well, you know..." I said bashfully.
"Oh! Well here we are." Fluttershy said pointing out that we had just made it to the front of the library.
"So this is it." Iifted my hoof to knock. "Thanks girls. I couldn't have done this without you."
"Um, Alan? You're starting to sound weird again."
"What? Oh, right."
It was true though. If it wasn't for them and everypony I wouldn't be here. I owe them a debt of gratitude. I only wish I could repay them.
*Knock Knock Knock*
Outside we waited for a few seconds. The tree does look big. Maybe she's upstairs...
The door finally opened revealing a young green and purple dragon.
"Oh! hey Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy." Of course he talks. "Twilight just got here a little while ago. Who's your friend?"
"Awesome..." I said. " A dragon!"
"Spike? Who's at the door?" A voice asked calling out from the inside of the library.
It's Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and,,,"
"Alan."
"...Alan!"
"Be right there!" the voice called out.
"Come on in." Spike said motioning us to follow him inside.
The library was packed to the brim with books. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be a bookcase filled with books. There were even books stacked on top of each other in various places.
"I guess Twilight got right back to studying as soon as she got home." Fluttershy said trying to avoid the towering stacks of books that looked like they could fall any minute.
I picked up the first book I could find.
"The Mare In the Moon." I quickly skimmed through the pages. The book told of two regal sisters who controlled the rising and setting of the moon. The older sister rose the sun and the younger sister rose the moon. The younger sister grew jealous of her older sister and tried to bring nighttime eternal until the older sister, using something called the Elements of Harmony, defeated her sister and sealed her away in the moon.
"This looks like an interesting story." I said aloud.
"Oh that's no story. " I heard from behind me. "That really happened."
I turned around to find that that the voice belonged to a purple pony with a dark purple mane and tail with violet and rose colored highlights. Her cutie mark looked a lot like Polaris, the north star, surrounded by many other smaller stars. Right above her eyes, in the middle of her forehead, was a horn meaning that she was indeed a unicorn.
"Really?" I said unconvinced. "There were actually ponies who rose the sun and the moon?"
It wasn't just the purple unicorn who looked at me weird this time. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, And spike looked at me very confused.
"What? Did I say something weird?" I asked looking at everypony.
"I'll say, Alan. This has to be the weirdest thing you've said."
"What? What did I say?" I asked panicking
"Alan, everypony knows about the princesses. Celestia raises the sun and Luna Raises the moon. It's common knowledge for everypony, and I mean EVERYPONY." Rainbow Dash stressed.
"Oh no." My thoughts screamed. "What do I do know? I just let it slip that I knew nothing about the two most important ponies in this world. There's no way they can think I'm a pony now. I have no choice! If I'm going to get out of this mess then I'm going to have to think of a really good excuse...and fast. Amnesia? Locked away since I was a foal?"
"Well, you see...the thing is..." I began to say.
"Hey Alan!" Shocked to hear a familiar voice I looked past Rainbow Dash to find Applejack walking in the library followed by a white unicorn.
"Hey everypony! What's going on?" Applejack asked.
"Applejack! Rarity! Glad you're here. I need your help with this guy. There's something awfully suspicious about him."
"Are you talking about Alan?"
"Who else? Get this, he doesn't know who the princesses are!" Rainbow Dash said pointing at me with one of her hooves. A gasp came from the white unicorn.
"What? That's impossible. How else would he explain the sun an moon risin' an settin' everyday?" Applejack asked.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Rainbow dash said.
"Um, maybe he has amnesia." Fluttershy said speaking up a bit. "Or maybe the place he was from didn't talk about the princesses that much. He did say he was from very far away." Fluttershy, no. Please don't lie for me...
"Yeah Rainbow Dash. Did ya ever think ah that?"
"Well...it's not like Alan has been telling me anything. I did know he wasn't from around here. If that's the case then where are you from Alan? And, if you do have amnesia then how can you be so sure that the sun and moon aren't raised by ponies?"
"Rainbow!"
"Just let him answer!"
"Um...well maybe he..."
"Maybe he should answer..."
"Rarity? You too?"
The room was filled with arguments and accusations. Neither side seemed willing to let up. Until...
"Girls! Stop!" The Purple unicorn shouted. In an instant the room fell silent. "Look. Arguing will get us nowhere. I don't know who this pony is and chances are nopony else in this room really know who he is either. How about we just calm down and ask...Alan was it?"
I nodded.
"Alan, for the time being I will trust whatever you say but please, don't say anything to make me lose faith in you."
I didn't even know this pony. In fact, I didn't really know anypony in this room. But still, she said she would trust anything I said. I could just tell her the whole truth, even the parts I didn't tell Zecora, but if I do what then? Will she even believe me? Or will she think I'm some kind of freak? Why am I even stressing out over this? What if I do tell her and she just sends me away to have experiments done on me? That's what I would expect from someone from my world. I...Can't trust them. I don't even know them but...what if...
What if?
A gamble.
A chance.
A leap of faith.
Since coming here I have been shown nothing but kindness...more kindness then I have ever seen before. Some even called me their friend...
"Look girls...I..."
"Twilight! Twilight! You're finally home!" out of nowhere a pink pony appeared and hugged the purple unicorn with a huge smile on her face. "Oh, I'm so excited! We should have a welcome home party for you and Rarity. *Gasp!* And who is this? I've never seen him before. Are you new in town? My name's Pinkie Pie and..."
"Pinkie!"
Silence.
"Not now Pinkie, maybe later okay?"
"Okay Twilight." The pony named Pinkie Pie said and then sat down.
Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yes?"
"...heh, thanks." I guess this is it. "Okay everypony, I think I'm ready to tell you everything."
"Are you sure Alan?" Twilight asked.
"Yes. Even if it didn't come to this, I'm sure I would have had to tell you at some point." Okay here we go.
***************************
"Please hold all questions until I'm done."
They all nodded.
"My name is Alan and up until a few days ago I was not a pony."
Looks of confusion spread like wild fire. Some looked at each other while the rest waited for me to continue.
"A couple of days ago I was involved in a magic accident. I had been tasked with removing a witch from a town that had been suffering from her spells for some time. Upon meeting her we got into an argument that led to her firing an unfinished spell. Had she finished the spell I doubt that I would be here right now. The spell instead removed me from my own world and sent me here, to yours. Needless to say I was very scared at first, being thrown into a world where I was transformed into a pony, but I found help. A zebra named Zecora calmed me down and helped me put everything into perspective. After calming me down she told me that if I wanted help with my situation then I should go to Ponyvile and look for you, Twilight Sparkle. And so, here I am." I informed the girls that I was done talking with a nod. Imediately questions rose.
"What were you before...I mean, if you really aren't a pony." Asked Fluttershy.
"Something you probably never heard of so I won't trouble you with the word, but I will describe myself. I was tall and stood on two legs, not hooves. Instead of front hooves I had arms and at the end of were hands. Hands are a lot like claws but are not at all as sharp. I didn't have a tail either. My hair was black, though, but I don't think it was this curly. My eyes were light brown and not light blue. My body also wasn't blue, more of a tan color. Oh' and were I came from we always wore clothes."
"Where are you from?" Asked Rainbow Dash this time.
"Well it's a place that's a little different from this one. Not too different though. I lived in a small city before I started traveling. I don't remember the name of the town I was in last. There is one other thing. While there are ponies in my world, they don't talk or even fly. The only one's that could talk were my kind."
"That's...I don't really know how to respond to that."
"Just remember Rainbow Dash. It isn't this world, okay?"
"Okay."
"This witch you were talking about. You said that you were asked to get rid of her. What ended up happening?"
I looked down.
It wasn't my intention to do anything to her. When we first met she wasn't going to fight at all but when i metioned the town's people wanting her to leave she grew angry. We fought and when I dissrupted the spell a beam of magic not only hit me but her as well. It threw her against a wall. While the magic sent me here I don't know what happened to her. She may have been hostile to me but I can't help but think my actions may have done something to her. Last night in my dream I saw her motionless against the wall. All I think now is that maybe because of me she might be...she..." My lip quivered. I knew I didn't have it in me to intentionaly cause harm to someone else like that, much less take their life. "To have something like this happen...and all I wanted to do was go home. I'm so selfish."
Noticing I was feeling the full impact of my actions I felt Fluttershy's hoof on the back of my head.
"Fluttershy?"
"It's okay. I know you would never do anything like that on purpose. You might not realize it but you ARE very kind and unselfish at all. You're just scared but you don't have to be anymore."
"Fluttershy...I..."
"So then this is the whole truth then?" Twilight asked.
"Yes." I said calming my emotions down. "Everything"
Silence filled the room. Twilight stood still for a moment before moving towards one of the many book cases and then turning around to face me.
"Well then,"Twilight began. "your story is full of a lot of holes and we don't even know you that well outside of what you just said but you seem like you could really need my help. Seeing as there is no other way and you chose to share your story with us I guess I can try and help you." She said causing everypony else in the room to cheer.
"What? Twlight, you're really going to help me?"
"Alan, you have obviously been through a lot and now you are in an even more difficult situation than before. You trusted us enough to tell us your whole story. I think I speak for all of us when I say that you don't have to go through this alone anymore. You have us to help you now."
"Twilight.."
"Alan, are you really going to get all teary eyed on us?" Rainbow Dash asked to lighten the mood.
Come on Alan! Let's see that smile!" Pinkie Pie said bouncing around the room.
"Oh, okay...how's this?" I said, smiling as big as I could.
Everypony in the room burst into laughter.
"What?" I said feeling my face turn red.
"It's just that," Rainbow Dash said between fits of laughter. "You've been so serious this whole time, that it's nice to see you smile for a change. Even if you do look goofy."
I turned to look for a mirror and found that I did look pretty funny. It looked like the corners of my mouth were trying to escape my face.
"Okay, okay...I think that's enough for today." Twilight said recovering. "Now if we're going to help Alan then we'll have to figure out how to send him home. I'm sure there's a book somewhere in this library that can help us and I even had some new books delivered this morning. Ooh! This is going to be quite a doozy of an afternoon of studying! Leave it to me Alan. Spike!"
"Yeah Twilight?"
"I'm going to really need your help on this one. Bring me all of our books that start with a number or a symbol."
"On it!" The young dragon said, scurrying around and taking books off of shelves and placing them all around Twilight.
"Okay, for the time being I think you should relax and take a walk around town, Alan. This is going to take a while. Don't worry. As long as there is a way to send you home I promise I'll find it!"
"Thanks Twilight." I said feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. "I think I will take that walk."
"I'll go too, If you don't mind the company." The unicorn named Rarity said walking towards me. " It seems that most everypony else had a chance to talk with you. So I believe I should have a chance before you go back home."
"Me too! Me too!" Pinkie Pie said taking one leap into the air and then landing right in front of me. "I always love getting to know a new friend!"
"F-friend? But when Twilight finds a way to send me home I'm going to have to leave. There's no way we could really be friends for such a short amount of time."
"It doesn't matter how long we're friends. What matters is that we are friends." I heard Twilight say, eyes still buried in her book.
"You too Twilight?"
"Well...yeah! Alan, when I first came to Ponyvile I didn't have any intension of making friends at all. I didn't think it was important, but the more time I spent with my friends and the more I actually experienced friendship the more I realized that it was something I never wanted to lose. I don't know what your situation is but you sound a lot like I used to. Go out and talk for a bit. Embrace the idea of having friends even if it is for such a short time." Twilight walked up to me and held out her hoof. "Do you want to be friends with me? With us?"
I didn't know what to say. Before this, whenever I made friends back in my world it was never said if you were friends or not. You would just have to assume it if you hung out with them enough. No one has ever asked to be friends with me before. Even when I was young I was the one who asked to be friends. Twilight and the rest of the girls all want to be friends with me and get to know me...but in the end will we still be friends? If I was to leave tomorrow would they still remember me and our short friendship? And, if we were friends for a long time would we still be good enough friends to still want to be around each other? True friends who's friendship will never really end? Was that even possible?
"I...I don't want you to feel like you have to just because you happened to meet such a pitiful pony like me." In that instant Twilight put her other hoof up and instead of insisting on the hoof shake, lightly hit me on the head with her hoof.
"Alan, That has nothing to do with this. Today you and I met each other and you shared your story and feelings with all of us. Even if you weren't in the same situation I still like to think that we'd still have found a way to be friends"
"Us too sugarcube." Applejack spoke up.
"Of course I would!"
"I'd love being friends with a kind pony like Alan."
"Having a stallion around for a change might not be so bad."
"If you aren't mad about me suspecting you of doing something then I'd like to be friends too." Rainbow Dash said.
I will never understand what these ponies see in me. I show up out of nowhere and turn out to be the biggest burden on their lives. I meet these ponies for a few minutes and they already talk about being friends. Why? Could they see something in me that I have never noticed before? Back in my world I'll admit that I was lonely. Mot of the "friends" I've had in the past are all moving on with their lives. I have no more friends...but no I was just offered the friendship of six ponies. I don't even know how to respond. This was a new experience for my heart.
"Everypony..." I said feeling tears well up in my eyes. "Ah! nononono." I said hitting my face with my hooves. "It would be better if I smiled right? If you'll have me for a friend then... I guess it would be okay if we were friends."
Everypony laughed, this time along with me.
I felt...so light. I felt like I could fly. I've never experience such happiness. Even if I did have to leave tomorrow...I don't care. I have friends now and their sincere words will always be with me. Like Rainbow Dash said...It doesn't matter how far apart we might be. If we really are friends then we will always be friends, even if we are worlds apart.