A ten-year old Peter sat on the couch of his living room as he watched an episode of ReBoot on Cartoon Network. It was a weekend, and his dad would be busy at the restaurant for the day until he returned home later that night. However, there was plenty to do on a Saturday to keep him busy, and the TV in front of him gave him plenty until he would join his friends to play some basketball at the nearby park.
The day was hot, even for the summer. Peter had already finished off two glasses of ice water from the fridge and he knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d have to refill and make some more.
Once a commercial came, Peter grabbed the glass on the table behind him and walked into the kitchen. Standing in front of the fridge, he found the pitcher and grabbed it, pouring in the last drops of water from it, only managing to fill half the cup. Peter shrugged it off, placing the cup on the table/counter and walking the pitcher to the sink.
Peter turned the faucet to its coldest possible setting and watched as the remaining ice cubes in the pitcher swirled around the pitcher and shrunk as the water weathered it down. Once the pitcher was three-quarters filled, Peter carefully carried it back to the counter with both hands. Walking back around to where his glass was, he filled his half-full glass nearly to the brim and put the pitcher back in the fridge.
As Peter took his glass of water back to the living room he took a generous sip to make spillage less possible. As he got off the wood floors and onto the carpet, he suddenly began to feel dizzy. His balance was beginning to falter, causing the water in his glass to rock out and spill onto the floor. Peter, in his reduced state of mind, tried to reach for the water but let go of his glass in the process. The glass thudded to the floor and spilled water all over the carpet.
“Wha…” he slurred. “Whass haffning?”
Looking at his left hand, he saw that it began to glow purple, getting uncomfortably warm as the glowing spread to this arm and his chest. Peter looked desperately for the phone, unsure of what was happening. He found it on a table to the right of the couch.
Peter tried to run for it, but his muscles were useless to him. His foot stepped lazily forwards, but the lack of strength or support caused him to roll his ankle slightly and fall forwards onto his stomach. Peter, using every ounce of strength that he could muster, crawled to the table as he felt the heat cover every inch of his body minus his head.
“Pehp…” he hoarsely screamed, “heeeeehhhlp!”
Peter’s legs were now paralyzed as he could only reach his arm out to the phone. As the brightness over took his face and head, Peter’s vision became brighter and brighter until he could see nothing but white–
========================================
The sting of cold and wet shot Peter awake and caused loud gasping to sound out from his lips. The gasps caused surprised gasps of the others in the forest-green bathroom he found himself in. Peter’s vision was instantly greeted to the orange mare with the cowboy hat. She had a mark on her flank of three red apples. Inside with her, there was an elderly looking mare with an aged-white mane and tail that was tied in a bun with a dripping wooden bucket in her mouth. Her flank mark was that of an apple pie. Lastly, there was a large red stallion with a short orange mane and tail as well as a yoke on his neck. His marking consisted of a large, halved green apple.
Peter was speechless. There was only one place that he knew of that had ponies with these kinds of colors, yet alone those who talked and used terms like “Celestia” and “anypony”. He truly was back in Equestria. He watched as the green mare took the bucket from her mouth and set it down.
“Now, listen here, you varmint!” the raspy voice of the elderly mare warned, shaking her hoof at him. “You’re going to tell us what you are and why you trashed our barn!”
“Listen,” Peter breathed, still winded from what was happening, “I’m sorry about the barn. Just please, I’m having a really hard time right now, and I’m… I’m just… and the car… and my… Jesus! Fuck!”
Peter slammed his fist into the porcelain tub he lied in, a new batch of frustrated tears forming on his face. The orange mare looked back at her two companions with more confusion. Then, she walked up to him and put her hooves over the side of the tub.
“Hey,” she cooed, “don’t worry ‘bout the barn. We’ll get that fixed up in a jiffy. Like I said, I’m just glad nopony was hurt. That would be the biggest tragedy. Now, just start from the beginning. Deep breaths now…”
Peter breathed slowly and more calmly as he was able to gather his thoughts.
“To…” he tried to say. “To answer your questions, I am a creature called a human. My name is also… Peter.”
“Well, I guess it’s nice to meet you Peter. I’m Applejack.”
The orange mare extended a hoof, which Peter shook with growing ease as the pony made him feel more comfortable.
“Applejack, huh? That’s… that’s nice.”
“‘Preciate it,” Applejack said, pulling her hoof back.
“Now, you might not believe a single word I tell you…”
“Try me,” the mare said, looking deep into his eyes with a cocky expression.
Despite himself and his situation, Peter couldn’t help but give a small chuckle.
“That’s better,” Applejack encouraged. “Now, what’s this tall tale that y’all want to tell me?”
“You see. I’m not actually from Equestria. I’m from a world called Earth.”
All three ponies cocked their heads, but stayed silent to let Peter further explain himself.
“Anyways, when I was a boy, I was sent here from a different world. There was an… accident… with a spell, and I lived in Equestria for a year with Celestia as my caretaker. When they found where I had belonged, I was sent back. Now, my pop owns a restaurant in the town where I live. That, along with me making friends with one of Celestia’s personal chefs, inspired me to become a chef myself.
“For years, I saved enough to buy and manage my own restaurant, and I was actually on a trip to the city of Manhattan, which I know sounds a lot like ‘Manehattan,’ hahaha, but I digress. That machine that crashed into your barn is what we humans call a car. Think of it like a carriage that doesn’t have to be pulled by ponies, it’s very large and spacious, and it can go very fast.
“Anyways, I brought all of my cooking stuff and some personal affects with me so I could start my new life and make a new home. However, this fog rolled in during my drive, and the next thing I know, I find that I’m not on the road anymore, and now my car is in your barn. And that’s the long and short of it.”
The three ponies looked at Peter like he was crazy. Peter rolled his eyes and threw his arms up, knowing that this was to be the case.
“So, now I’m stuck here. My car is probably all broken up, you need your barn repaired, and I have absolutely NO idea how I can get back home. How will my… oh no…”
“Oh no, what?” asked Applejack.
“My pop! I promised him I’d call him when I got there. I need to tell him where I am! Could I…?”
Peter flailed out of the bath and felt his pockets as he stood up, sighing in relief to see that the bulge his phone made in his front left pocket was still dry despite his watery wakeup. The three ponies looked at this alien device curiously as he took it out and examined it. Peter stared at the screen for a while before chuckling again.
“I don’t believe it!” he giggled. “I have full coverage out here! How is that–?”
Not taking a second longer to ponder it. He browsed through his phone’s contact list when a thought came to him.
“Wait, what could I even tell him?” he said to himself. “Just the bare details, I guess…”
Peter sat on the edge of the tub as he pushed the icon on the screen that dialed his dad’s home phone. Peter waited impatiently as the dialtone continued to drone on, knowing that his dad wouldn’t answer while he was running his own restaurant back home. Finally…
"Hey, this is Patrick Falwell, sorry I missed your call. Just leave me a me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks. Buh-bye."
*BEEP*
“Hey pop. I’m just calling to let you know that I’m not in New York yet. Just before you freak out, I want to let you know that I’m perfectly alright. You don’t need to worry. I got into a little accident and I’m staying at a bed and breakfast until I can get the car fixed. I’m not entirely sure when I’ll be back on the road again, but please, just know that I’m safe. I’d love to Skype you, but the internet here is a bit faulty, so please just call me back tomorrow morning. I’m a bit bummed out about the car and will be trying to sleep when you get home, so please don’t rush to call me. I’ll see you later.”
The last sentence seemed to hurt Peter as he pushed the red icon on his phone that ended the call.
“Hey, Pete?” asked Applejack. “Were you just talking to your pa there?”
“Kind of,” he answered with slight melancholy. “This device is called a phone. It allows people to talk to each other at far distances. How I can get him out… here is beyond me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s kind of hard to explain to you ponies, but there are devices up in space that transfer the calls to the people that you want to talk to. Since those devices don’t exist here, there shouldn’t be any logical way that I should be able to make any calls.”
“Ah’m sure it’s got something to do with magic. In fact, my friend Twilight would go bonkers over meeting something like you.”
Peter’s eyes shot open and he gasped, alerting the orange mare.
“Did you say, ‘Twilight’?” he asked. “As in, ‘Twilight Sparkle?’”
“Yeah,” Applejack said, a bit unnerved. “How did you know her last name?”
“You remember when I said that I was sent here by accident as a boy because of a spell? She was the one who did it! She said she was trying to get accepted into this prestigious magic school and when she did her entrance exam, her magic went haywire, and it seems one of the things that happened was, well, sending me down.”
Applejack looked at Peter with firm skepticism.
“It’s true!” called out the small filly’s voice.
Applejack turned around to reveal the small yellow filly for Peter to see.
“Apple Bloom!” scolded Applejack. “What did I tell you about staying in your room until I told you so?”
“But he’s telling the truth, Applejack!” the filly named Apple Bloom protested. “You remember that day you told me and the Cutie Mark Crusaders how y’all got yer cutie mark? Well, we learned from Twilight how she got hers too!
“She was taking some test and when Rainbow Dash did her sonic rainboom, she freaked out and began usin’ her magic all over the place! The only way for him to know something like that is if Celestia or Twilight told him about it, so he’s gotta’ know who Twilight is!”
Applejack knew well of Twilight’s cutie mark being connected to an entrance exam, but she never heard anything about this “freak-out” of hers. There was no way that Apple Bloom could have known about that as well without Twilight or someone familiar with the incident telling her or being told by this stranger. Two-and-two fit together; Peter had to have been telling the truth.
“Thank you,” Peter said to Apple Bloom, which caused her to smile. “Twilight and I became close friends during the year that I spent there. Celestia even told me she'd have tried to send me back sooner, but she told me that Luna was better at searching the cosmos than she'd ever be. I'll never forget those days; they were certainly among the best of my entire life.”
Applejack looked at Peter quizzically again before she produced a warm smile. Even the green elderly mare and the red stallion, whose faces were locked in a state of caution, were now much more at ease.
“Well,” Applejack said, pressing her hoof into Peter’s hip, “that’s good enough for me! Any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine!”
“Yes,” sighed Peter in relief, grabbing Applejack’s hoof and shaking it once again, “thank you for believing me.”
“I see that you’ve met met me and my lil’ sister Apple Bloom over there,” Applejack said, the small filly giving another wave, “so let me introduce you to the rest of my kin! This here is my big brother Big Macintosh…”
“Eeyup!” the red stallion answered with a smiling nod.
“…and this here’s Granny Smith!”
“Howdy do, Pete!” she said, walking slowly up to him to greet him.
Her movements were labored and sluggish, so Peter offered a favor and walked to meet her, picking her hoof up delicately and shaking it.
“Again,” Peter said, “I’m very sorry about wrecking your home, and I’ll do everything in my power to make it up to you.”
“Aw, shucks,” Applejack exclaimed, rubbing the back of her neck with her hoof and blushing, “y’all don’t need to do that. I’m sure by tomorrow afternoon, that barn will be looking newer than a shiny plow!”
“Are you sure?” Peter asked, sounding sheepish and embarrassed as he rubbed his own neck. “Because I don’t see myself getting to Manhattan any time soon, so I should help out a little.”
“Well, I guess you can help us pull that, what was it, car out of the barn?”
“I’ll definitely need to do that, but I’m talking about wood, nail and hammer, paint, that kind of stuff.”
“Again, we know it was an accident, so I don’t think it’s fair for you to go through that trouble for us.”
“Isn’t fair?” chuckled Peter. “I nearly demolished your barn! I think moving my car is the bare minimum of what I should ethically do.”
“Don’t try and use them fancy-schmancy words to try and fool me! Me and my family take care of the barn, so why don’t you and Twilight get together tomorrow and do some stuff? After all, it’s been… how long’s it been?”
“Fourteen years, but that’s beside the point. I don’t even know where she lives!”
“Aw, shoot, she just lives in the town over yonder the hill!”
“Really?” he asked, getting excited. Suddenly, he shook himself out of his excitement and gave the wheel back to logic. “What about the other ponies? I doubt they’ve seen a creature like me before, and I don’t want to waltz in just for them to treat me like I’m a threat.”
“I know you’re not a threat!”
“I appreciate that, but try telling that to dozens, I don’t know… hundreds of terrified townsfolk. There’s a saying back at home that I like: ‘A person is smart, but people are dumb.’”
Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith looked at Peter as if he spoke in gibberish.
“It’s an odd saying, I know,” explained Peter, “but this is the gist of it. A person on their own is rational enough to make a smart decision, but when one person in a large group starts to flip out, so do the rest of them; follow the herd.”
“Hmm…” pondered Applejack, taking his words into account. “I can see how that would be bothersome, but don’t get your mane in a tangle, Pete! I’m sure we’ll work something out. Say, Pete, you got a place to sleep tonight?”
“Well,” he said, “I was just planning on sleeping in the back of the car.”
“Hogwash! We’ve got the guest bedroom for you. I ain’t letting you sleep in that busted hunk of scrap!”
“But it’s my busted hump of scrap,” Peter mumbled under his breath, completely out of earshot from Applejack or the other ponies.
“First, you should get out of those wet clothes. I bet they’re mighty uncomfortable.”
“My luggage is in my car. Mind if I go get it?”
“Sure thing,” Applejack spoke as Peter made his way out of the bathroom, “just don’t let me catch you snoozin’ in that car, or I’ll hogtie you myself and wrangle you to the bedroom.”
Peter laughed heartily, more than he thought he should have given his situation. As he settled down, he looked at Applejack with a sincere face.
“You know,” he said, “I forget how unconditionally kind you are to your own kind here. It’s… actually quite refreshing.”
“Why sure, Pete!” she answered. “Wouldn’t your kind do the same?”
Peter turned his head away again.
“Not enough of them,” he said before he went down the hallway and found the stairs.
Applejack was puzzled at Peter’s response, but shook it off soon after.
“Big Mac,” she spoke to her brother, “help me get the bedroom set.”
“Eeyup,” the stallion answered simply.
____________________________________________________________
Peter walked down the hall to the door left open to him. In his right hand, he had a large suitcase. In his left hand, he had the bag for his laptop with a pillow wrapped underneath the arm. Upon entering, he saw a queen-size bed with a comfortable cotton comforter and silky sheets.
“Man,” Peter muttered. “They must treat their guests here like royalty.”
“You like it?” asked Applejack.
Peter quickly turned around to see Applejack looking up to him, smiling with hope that his accommodations were to his liking.
“Very much so,” he replied. “It still baffles me that after I crush your barn, you leave it all to yourself and your family and even give me a bed to sleep in.”
“Well, I know I can’t speak for the rest of all y’all of your kind, but we ponies take care of each other, and if you really are a friend of Twi’s, then you deserve nothing less than the best of our hospitality.”
“Thanks, Applejack. Twilight must be really blessed to have a friend quite like you.”
Applejack chuckled, her head coyishly cocked away and her cheeks blushing profusely.
“Aw, now yer makin’ me blush,” she continued to giggle.
“Anyways, I’m going to get into some PJ’s. Good night, Applejack.”
“‘Night there, Pete.”
Applejack turned and walked down the hallway to let Peter be. Closing the door behind him, he set his suitcase and laptop bag down and threw his pillow on the bed. He then picked up his bags and walked them to the foot of the bed where he set them.
Peter hoisted his suitcase to the bed and unzipped it open. Resting right on top was a pair of grey sweatpants and a beige Allman Brothers t-shirt with a truck carrying a giant peach on the front. Peter put his phone and wallet on the bed, slipped out of his shorts and Amadeus t-shirt, and slipped into the clothes he made for pajamas.
After stuffing the older clothes back into the suitcase, Peter pulled up his laptop case and pulled out a large Macbook from it, sitting at the back of the bed with it. Once he was logged in, he went straight to his iTunes library.
“I might as well listen to some tunes before I go to bed,” he said to himself. “I mean, it’s not like I can use my computer all that much while I’m here.”
That’s when his eyes went straight to the battery icon on the upper right hand corner of the screen. Peter was then confused as he saw the battery being fully green with a lightning symbol in it.
“Huh?” he muttered, peering closer. “And it charges without an adapter either?”
Peter then grabbed his phone and looked at the screen. Sure enough, it too was charging without a cord, as told by the lightning bolt on the battery icon.
“This world will never cease to amaze me.”
There was suddenly a knock on the door.
“Uh, come in,” Peter said, slightly startled.
The door opened and Apple Bloom walked inside.
“Oh, hello Apple Bloom. What are you doing up?”
“I wanted to check on ya’!” the small filly exclaimed. “After all, it’s not every day you meet an alien!”
“Apple Bloom!” shouted Applejack’s voice. “Get to bed and leave Pete be!”
“It’s fine, Applejack,” Peter assured her. “She can hang with me for a few before bed.”
Applejack’s head peered around the jamb of the door, making sure everything was alright.
“Okay, you two,” she said with a smile. “You two have fun, but I’m calling lights out in twenty. That means you too, Pete.”
Peter gave the orange mare a salute that signaled her to leave them be.
“So,” Apple Bloom began, now having her space from her sister, “what’s that thing on the bed?”
“Come on up and I’ll show you,” answered Peter.
Apple Bloom hopped onto the bed, and sat next to Peter’s knee. Once she was settled, Peter showed her.
“This is what we call a computer,” he explained. “This allows us to do a whole bunch of things, like look up information, watch movies, listen to music; the possibilities are endless.”
“You can do all that with this? Wow! Your kind must be incredible!”
“Yes, yes they can be.”
“I don’t think I can get internet here, but considering that I could make a phone call earlier...”
He looked to the Wi-Fi icon on the top of the screen and it showed that he was connected to something. Peter, confused, investigated. Upon getting to the Wi-Fi menu, he looked for the name of the hotspot that he seemed to be connected to, only to find no name there.
“To think,” mused Peter, “Equestria would make a hell of a vacation spot. Come to Equestra!” he silently exclaimed, mimicking a commercial. “Free magical Wi-Fi everywhere and the best coverage you could never get on Earth!”
“What?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Uh, nothing. But… oh! Here, let me show you this!”
Peter opened up Safari and went to the search bar and typed in “New York City.” Upon redirecting to a Google search, a small collection of pictures and a list of websites came up. Peter clicked on the shortcut that led them to Google Images. Apple Bloom was far too stunned as Peter blew through the web as if it were a simple book.
When a much bigger collection of images came up, Apple Bloom was wowed at all of the pictures of Times Square and the Empire State Building that gathered.
“Wow!” she exclaimed. “Was this where you were going?”
“Yes,” answered Peter. “Pretty amazing, huh? Many of the world’s greatest chefs have cooked and owned restaurants here. In fact, let me show you some of the better ones.”
========================================
Peter and Twilight browsed through a picture book of all of the cities of Equestria. Peter was especially wowed by the city called Cloudsdale, which looked to be made entirely of clouds and rivers of rainbows as well as being completely airborne.
“Now there’s a city I wanna’ go to!” sighed Peter.
“You can’t go there, Peter,” Twilight chided. “You’re not a pegasus.”
“I’m sure if you would, you could cast a spell to turn me into one.”
“Don’t be silly! That kind of spell would be way too hard, even if I was a mare!”
“Would not!” Peter mocked.
“Would to!” Twilight responded, her voice completely serious.
“Would not!” continued Peter.
“Would to!”
“Would not!”
“Would to!”
“Would not!”
“Would too to the infinitieth power! Ha! Try beating that!”
Peter merely chuckled and laid down on the floor, confusing Twilight.
“Still,” Peter said, his voice calmer, “it would be nice to get to see these places and not be so cooped up in here all the time.”
“Who knows?” replied Twilight, lying on her side beside Peter. “One day, maybe Celestia will let you.”
“C’mon, Sparky. You’re smarter than that. Those ponies would take one look at me and think that I was a monster.”
“Well, I don’t think you’re a monster.”
Peter turned over and gave Twilight a devious smile. Knowing what she walked into, she began to shudder in fear.
“Oh no…” she muttered.
“I’m not a monster, huh?” Peter asked, his fingers waggling. “We’ll just see about that!”
Twilight tried to get up and run, but Peter was far too quick. He grabbed onto her stomach and quickly brushed the tips of his fingers over her stomach and armpits. Twilight’s terror became incessant giggles as her arms writhed to break free but to no avail.
“Stop!” she screamed through her laughter.
“Tickle monster!” laughed Peter in a sing-song voice. “Tickle monster!”
It was already getting late, and Peter knew better than to get Twilight riled up before bed. He took his hands off of Twilight’s tummy and let her go, allowing her to catch her breath.
“One of these days,” Twilight remarked. “I’m going to learn a teleportation spell so you can’t tickle me anymore.”
“And while you’re at it,” Peter said, standing up, “learn a spell to turn me into a pegasus.”
Twilight huffed, but knowing that it was still all in good fun, gave a small chuckle.
“Well,” Twilight said, “it’s–”
========================================
“Time for bed!” called Applejack through the doorway.
“Aww!” whined Apple Bloom. “Just five more minutes? Peter’s showing me pictures of Mane– I mean, Manhattan!”
“You can look at them some more tomorrow. Right now, you need to get to bed. I don’t want you getting all tuckered out when Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo come over.”
“Alright. G’night, Peter! See y’all in the mornin’!”
Apple Bloom hopped off the bed as she trotted out of the room and to her own.
“She can be a real hoofful sometimes,” Applejack said to Peter.
“Actually,” he remarked. “She was quite pleasant. And what, are Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo her friends or something?”
“Yeah. And just wait until the three of them get together. Then you’ll really be in for a ride!”
“Can’t wait,” he said with slight sarcasm.
“Goodnight now, Pete. Sleep tight.”
“You too.”
Applejack shut the door behind her. Peter knew that tomorrow would be a busy morning for him as well. It seemed that neither Applejack nor her family would accept much help for the barn that he ruined, but knowing a family of farmers, they’d probably get up early to do any other work. It would be then that he’d repay them in his own special way.
Not to mention, his news to his dad would be of cause for alarm. He knew he was to expect a call early in the morning.
Peter turned his laptop off and slid it under the bed. He then put his phone on a table to his right and settled down onto the bed. It was too warm for covers, so he lied stomach-down on top of them with his head snugly into the pilow. He knew his father would be worrying about him over not being in New York, but considering where he was and who he knew, he couldn’t exactly complain.
His thoughts troubled him less and less as his mind drifted further and further into sleep.