It was decided that Greg would be moved to the stage where the Mayor would be speaking from in the middle of the night when every pony else was asleep. Princess Luna escorted him there to make sure he wouldn't be spotted.
The two enter the back of the stage. It wasn't overly big, but big enough. Twilight asked Applejack to bring a small barrel of apples to the location. Flowers weren't the tastiest thing for the human, but they did fend off hunger for a while.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Luna asks, taking two apples from the barrel and passing one to Greg.
"I'll be fine, Your Majesty." He says, taking a small bite from the apple. "I'm sure there's a lot for you to do."
Luna shakes her head. "Not really." She admits. "All the activity happens in the morning under my sister's watch."
Greg raises an eyebrow. "What about..." he says, snapping his fingers, trying to remember the name of that city, "Manehattan?" He finally remembers. Luna nods. "Even Manehattan is dead at night?"
Luna nods. "I wouldn't use that term, but in a sense, yes."
Greg sits down and leans against a support beam. "Well, if you've got nothing to do, then by all means, Your Majesty, stay." He says, taking another bite of the apple.
Luna smiles and lays down across from Greg, looking him in the eye. "Please, call me 'Luna', Greg." She offers. "What do you do for fun?"
Greg bobs his head, thinking of a few things. "I play video games; listen to music; roller coasters are fun too, even though Kate was afraid to go on them..." he says, trailing the latter with a depressed tone, but he shakes that out of his head, "I had more, but I forgot." He continues.
Luna perks up. "I'm sorry to cut this so short, Greg, but it's time for my sister to do her job."
Greg nods. "It's okay." He said understandingly. "If you see her, tell her I'd like to take a look at the shuttle."
Luna nods and takes another apple with her for the trip back to Canterlot. "Enjoy your stay, Greg." She says before flying away.
Seeing her fly away put a smile on Greg's face. The past year was traumatic for him, sure, but moments like this made him wish he could share them back home. Maybe he will, and publish it as sci-fi.
The curtain on the stage slowly opens, the light from the outside shines on Greg's face, waking him up. He looks to the source and sees Twilight. She smiles at him and enters the back.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." She teases.
Greg stands up and stretches, popping some joints in the process. Hearing this made Twilight wince. "It sounds worse than it really is, Twilight, so don't worry."
The purple Unicorn shakes her head. "If you say so." She says. "The mayor will be here shortly." She continues, floating a mug to him. "I brought you some coffee."
Greg takes the coffee and yawns. "I want you to be honest, Twilight. How xenophobic are the ponies here?"
Twilight rolls her eyes. "Well, they were afraid of Zecora for the longest time, but after an incident with a stupid blue flower, they came around. But she was the only one they were afraid of."
Greg nods. "The Poison Joke. I read about that." He says, taking a sip of the coffee.
Twilight nods. "Yes. Since then, they've been more open to strangers. I'm sure they'll like you." She assures him.
A small smile works its way onto Greg's face. "Thanks, Twilight."
The curtain opens once again, this time the mayor enters. "Good morning you two." She greets. "Are you ready, Greg?"
He shakes his head. "No, but let's get the ball rolling."
The mayor returns outside. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" She opens in a rather hammy fashion. "Our world is full of amazing creatures: outside of ponies and our Zebra cousins, there are Minotaurs, Griffons and even the dreaded Changelings," she continues, "but today, I am here to introduce a new species to you."
This was Greg's cue. Twilight takes the coffee away from and he straightens his clothes up. He looks over to Twilight for approval, she nods, but uses her magic to straighten out the more inconspicuous wrinkles... something Rarity might do.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts of Ponyville! Meet Greg Sanders, the Human!" She finalizes.
Greg steps out from the back of the stage. The reception was a mixture of gasps of shock and awe and quiet murmurs. The front row audience consisted of Twilight's friends, he barely knew Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, but was more familiar with AJ and Rarity. He approaches the mayor and shakes her hoof. "Thank you, ma'am." He says before taking the small podium.
Greg examines the microphone in front of him for a second before taking it into his hand. "Thank you..." he begins, glancing to the mayor, then back to the crowd, "everypony." He continues, clearing his throat. "I understand that I must be a bizarre being to look at." He adds, sitting down at the edge of the stage to be almost eye level with everyone else. "Rest assured that I am not here to harm any of you and I do not intend to stay long." He says, getting some disappointed noises from the crowd.
Apple Bloom, along with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle approach him. "This is the one who rescued me and mah brother and sister!" Apple Bloom exclaims, eliciting more murmurs among the crowd.
Greg nods. "Yes." He says. "If you will recall nearly two weeks ago, there was a series of fireballs and explosions in the sky." He continues, getting sounds of agreement from the crowd. "That was the aftermath of our escape. If you have questions about what happened, Twilight Sparkle will answer them." He says, standing back up. "Thank you all for the warm reception. To be honest, I was not expecting it. My species is inherently afraid of things we don't understand. I was like that as well... until I was abducted."
A party whistle blows and confetti flies everywhere. "Come on, everypony!" Pinke Pie yells. "Let's party at Sugarcube Corner!"
Greg felt annoyed by the pink party pony's interruption, but that quickly subsided. "Let's go." He says.
Greg stands in a corner with Twilight and the mayor. "See?" Twilight asks, poking her hoof into Greg's side. "I told you there was nothing to worry about."
Pinkie Pie skips to the three. "This party is for you, Greg! You should join us!" She yells, grabbing him and pulling him away from the others. "Let's dance!"
Greg wasn't much of a dancer back home, that was Kate's department, but he didn't want to disappoint those who accepted him without really knowing him, so he loosens up. Pinkie Pie would be his first partner.
An hour later and nearly twenty partners later, the party was beginning to wind down. Greg rarely ever saw more than two of any of the beings during his captivity, but the diversity in the confectionery alone was amazing and to actually be on an alien world would make scientists back home jealous. Ponyville had been friendlier to him than any city he visited.
There was one last song to be played, it was a slow one and his next partner would be Applejack. "I'm surprised you didn't want to do this sooner." He comments.
AJ blushes. "Well... Ah wasn't exactly sure how to do this-"
Greg lifts her forelegs up, startling her a bit before he places them on his shoulders. Like this, her eyes were level with Greg's chin. "One step at a time." He suggests. The mare nods.
It was mid afternoon at Sugarcube Corner. The party was finished, leaving Greg, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and the Cakes. Greg is sitting on a stool by the display talking to Cup Cake.
"I bet Pinkie's parties drum up a lot of business." He says, taking a bite out of the pie in front of him.
"They sure do." She giggles. "We're lucky to have her here."
Greg takes another bite of the pie. "Thank you for your hospitality, Missus Cake."
She nods. "Oh sure. No problem at all."
Twilight trots up to Greg. "I'm sorry, Greg, but I need to go and run some errands."
Greg smiles. "No problem, Twilight." He says, finishing up his pie. "Now that everyone knows about me, I think I'll take a walk around town."
After helping the Cakes clean up the shop, Greg exits Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie Pie at his side. "That was fun, Pinkie. Thank you."
The pink pony hops in place. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Greg." She says before skipping away. "We'll see ya later!"
"He is not a monster!" A filly yells out.
"I heard he eats baby ponies." Another says.
"Are they talking about me?" Greg thinks to himself as he approaches the source of the conversation. When he gets there, he sees a group of fillies. He recognized Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo right away, but the other two... a light pink filly with a purple and white mane and tail, and the other is mid-gray with a silver mane and tail.
"He does not!" Scootaloo yells.
"Oh yeah?" The pink one says, poking a hoof into Scootaloo. "How do you know?"
Greg facepalms and groans quietly. "Kids are the same everywhere, aren't they?" He thinks to himself before approaching the group. "Because I don't." He says calmly.
The gray one suddenly became nervous. "DT... I think we better, like, leave." She says.
The other one sticks her nose in the air, turns around and the two walk away. "Don't come crying to me when he tries to gobble you up, Cutie Mark Crusaders!" She yells before the two giggle at each other.
Greg walks up to the other three, rubbing the back of his neck. "What the heck was that about?"
Sweetie Belle trots up beside Greg. "Those two are ALWAYS doing that." She says with a crack in her voice.
"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." Scootaloo says. "The two rudest fillies in Ponyville." She continues, looking up at Greg. "And we share the same class with them."
Greg shakes his head. "I dealt with the same riffraff back home. My antagonizers were male, so I handled it differently."
Scootaloo has a twisted grin on her face when he said that. "You'd beat 'em up, right?" She asks.
Greg nods. "Yeah... but by doing that, I'd be the one who got into trouble, so I don't recommend it."
Apple Bloom nods. "Yeah, and it's difficult to get their parents to do anything about it."
Greg looks down to the three. "They haven't dealt with me." He says. "Do you know where Diamond Tiara lives?"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders take Greg to Diamond Tiara's house. Greg straightens his clothing and clears his throat before knocking on the door.
"Coming!" A male voice says from the inside.
Apple Bloom looks up at Greg. "That's Filthy Rich, her father."
The front door opens and Filthy Rich looks up at Greg and lets out a surprised yelp. "Who are you?" He asks. Before Greg could speak, he remembered. "You're Greg Sanders. Forgive me."
Greg nods. "And you're Mister Filthy Rich, right?"
Filthy raises a foreleg and the two shake. "What can I do for you?" He asks.
"This is about your daughter." Greg says.
Filthy lets out a frustrated groan. "What did she do this time?"
Greg crosses his arms. "She started spreading rumors about me." He says. "Saying something about me being a monster that eats baby ponies."
Filthy shakes his head. "Not surprising." He says. "Unfortunately she's out with Silver Spoon right now at Celestia knows where." He continues. "Where are you staying? When she comes home, I'll take her over there myself."
Greg smiles. "I'm staying at the Golden Oaks Library."
Filthy nods. "Then that's where I'll take her." He says. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."
After the civil exchange, Greg and the girls head to the town square.
"What are you three going to be doing?" Greg asks.
"Were going to try to find our cutie marks." Sweetie Belle answers.
"Yeah! We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, after all." Scootaloo chimes in.
Greg raises an eyebrow. "Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you." He says. "Just try not to get into trouble about it."
Scootaloo laughs. "Too late on that one, Greg." She says. "Hey...!" She continues, looking at her friends. "Maybe we can get-"
"If you're thinking about helping me with the shuttle, no." Greg interrupts. "That thing is beyond me... and to be honest, I don't want to see any of you get hurt for trying to help me." He continues, looking at the forlorn fillies. "I'll tell you what though, if I can get it up and running again, I'll let you three ride in it."
Greg starts walking in another direction. "Where are you going?" Sweetie Belle asks.
"I'm heading back to the library. I don't want to miss Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara." He answers, continuing his walk to the library.