“Come on, Silver.” Angel said as he sat in front of a T.V, “The season 2 finale is coming up in 10 minutes! You already ignored all of the other season 2 episodes; just watch this one!”
“Sorry, but I got to go and get some school supplies.” Silver said. He had one hand on the door.
“On a Saturday morning?” the brony said suspiciously, “You can get them in half an hour.”
“Sorry, bro, but I promised myself I would stop procrastinating.”
“Why don’t you like the show?” Angel asked sincerely, “Is it because it was made for little girls?”
“You know that I only judge based on quality, not background. My Little Pony is a good show, but it just doesn’t click with me.” He turned and smiled apologetically, “Sorry, friend.”
“Whatever.” Angel said grumpily, “You know, someday, you’ll regret that you didn’t watch the whole show.”
“When that day comes, you can say ‘I told you so’, okay?” the white-haired boy said as he opened the door and left.
________________________________________
“Well, Angel, you told me so.” Silver said under his breath as he remembered that day. He was currently standing in the Golden Oakes Library, looking at the volumes of books and occasionally glancing nervously at the windows. Thankfully, there were no snooping ponies; only the night.
After the awkward introduction, and terrible joke, Silver was herded by the six ponies to the library. They made the walk bearable by introducing themselves to the human. Silver already knew most of the information they gave him(having already watched season 1), but there were some things that were new to Silver, like the fact that Twilight Sparkle was now a princess and something called an alicorn. Silver decided it was best to play ignorant, so he didn’t bring up anything about the princesses or the Elements of Harmony.
Silver looked all around the library trying to find something to entertain him. The six friends were in the kitchen, no doubt talking about the human. He casually glanced at the kitchen door; it was ajar and he saw six pairs of eyes staring at him through the small opening.
Silver grinned, “If you keep on peeping like that, I’m gonna have to start charging you.”
The door immediately closed and the human could hear hurried whispers on the other side. As the whispering intensified, it suddenly stopped and the door opened again. This time, Twilight Sparkle stepped through and she walked toward Silver. Behind her was a small, purple dragon that Silver knew, but he didn’t let on.
“Who’s the little guy?” Silver asked.
Before Twilight could answer, the dragon said, “My name is Spike, and I’m a dragon.”
“Neat.” Silver said.
“So, yeah!” Spike said, sounding slightly deflated. Silver suspected Spike was hoping for a much different reaction. The dragon continued, “I’m a dragon, so you better not think of doing any funny business around here, or else you’ll have to answer to me.”
“Okay, tough guy, we get it.” Twilight said fondly, “Why don’t you go and make us some tea.”
Spike looked as though he was ready to protest, but stopped after one look from the princess. He merely nodded and tried to look threatening as he walked away, which failed after he stumbled over his own tail.
“Don’t mind him.” Twilight said after Spike was back in the kitchen, “He can get a bit over-protective, but he really is a nice baby dragon.”
“No problem; this isn’t the first time an over-protective figure threatened me.”
“Okay then.” Twilight said, not really sure how to respond, “Do you mind if I can ask you a few questions?”
“Sure.” Silver said nonchalantly.
…
“Really?” Twilight said, confused, “I thought you would be more secretive or talk your way out of questioning.”
“I don’t think I will get anything from keeping secrets from you ponies. So, might as well spill my guts.”
“So you aren’t scared anymore?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m still on the borderline of having a mental breakdown, but I might as well try to stay calm.”
“Great.” Twilight said as a look of relief appeared on her face, “I thought you would act much more eccentric.”
“The night is still young.” Silver said as he sat on the floor to be at eye level with the princess. Twilight chuckled, slightly nervously, as she too sat down. Her horn glowed and a scroll and quill appeared,
“Okay then, first question; what is your name?”
Silver raised an eyebrow, “Really?”
“We have to do this by the book.”
“What book?!”
Twilight sighed as she summoned a book out of thin air. The cover read: ‘Interrogation 101’.
“Why did you get the book with the menacing title?”
“Because it had a lot more appropriate questions for questioning someone unknown. All the other books just had interview questions for jobs.”
“How many books about questioning are there?”
“We’re getting off topic.” Twilight said exasperatedly, “Please, let’s just do this by the book! First off: what is your name?”
“Silver Lining.”
“Gender?”
“Contrary to popular belief, I am male.”
“Age?”
“Old enough to vote.”
“Vote for what?”
“The president of the United States.”
“Who is?”
“One of the leaders of the United States”
“What is the United States?”
“A piece of land located on Earth.”
“Is Earth your place of origin?”
“Yes.”
“Where is Earth located?”
“Parallel to Equestria.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow, “What does that mean?”
“I have no idea. It just sounds right. All I know is that I doubt you will find Earth or my kind in any book. We are rather secretive.”
Twilight scrutinized Silver’s answer for a second longer before continuing, “What race are you?”
“Human.”
“How would you describe your race’s culture?”
“Overly complex. Human is the general term for all of my kind on Earth, but there are a lot of different types of humans with different cultures. It’s like you ponies and your different tribes.”
“How did you get to Equestria?”
“Magical coin.”
Twilight instantly stopped writing and her ears perked up, “Magical coin?” she said.
Silver nodded and showed her the angel coin around his neck, “This little trinket did some weird magic, and now I’m here. I barely know how it works, so I doubt I'll be able to answer your questions about it.”
“Do you mind if I can examine it?” Twilight said. Silver couldn’t help but smile as Twilight’s face lit up at the prospect of studying foreign magic.
“Knock yourself out.” Silver took of his necklace and handed it to the alicorn, who began to rifle through her collection of books. Silver was amused by how Twilight acted like a kid in a candy store as she observed the coin and read her books. He then turned his attention to the kitchen door, which again had curious eyes observing him.
Sighing, Silver walked toward the kitchen. Once the ponies saw he was coming, they shut the door. Silver opened the door, and saw the five ponies sitting around a table, building a house of cards.
“Hello, Silver.” Rarity said the instant the human opened the door, “What brings you here?”
“Magic coin.” Silver said. He looked at all of their smiling faces, “I was just wondering if y’all were spying on me.”
“Why would was want to spy on you?” Rainbow said as she added a card to the card house, which was more like a palace.
“We would never invade your privacy.” Fluttershy reassured.
“We would only do that if we wanted to surprise you.” Pinkie said with a smile, earning her stares from the ponies that screamed ‘Stop talking right now!’
Silver saw that Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all had straight faces, so he turned to Applejack, who was the only one not looking at him.
“So no one was spying on me?” Silver said, staring intently at Applejack. The farm pony was now sweating bullets and shifting nervously. She opened her mouth, but Dash quickly blocked Silver’s vision,
“Listen here,” the rainbow haired-pegasus said, “no one was spying on you. You’re not that interesting.”
Silver held back a smile; these ponies were trying so hard to be courteous to him. Silver bowed his head, “I’m sorry that I accused you of something you didn’t do.”
The human glanced at the ponies, all of whom shared a momentary look of guilt. Silver thought it best not to pursue the subject, so he went back to Twilight.
________________________________________
Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack waited with baited breath as Silver left the room. As soon as he was gone, one of the kitchen cupboards burst opened and Spike fell out, along with pieces of parchments and quills.
“Ready?” Spike said as he passed back the ponies their notes on the human.
“I still say spying on Silver doesn’t feel right.” Applejack said as she took her position in front of the door crack.
“Come on, AJ.” Dash said, “You know the old saying; you learn a lot more about ponies when they think nopony is looking.”
“I don’t think that applies to this since he is with Twilight.” Rarity noted.
“Hush!” Pinkie whispered, “They’re talking!”
________________________________________
Silver re-entered the library and found Twilight searching through her books. He walked toward Twilight and crouched down beside her,
“Did you find anything?”
“No.” Twilight said, sounding disappointed, “I have tried every book about magical artifacts, but not one of them even hints to a magical coin.” She turned to Silver, “Can you tell me anything at all about this coin?”
“All I know is that it can do whatever the owner asks for. It’s kind of like a genie. I just say ‘I wish’ and I then ask for something.”
“Can you show me?”
“Sorry, Twilight, but I can’t. It uses energy every time a say a command, and transporting me to Equestria used up nearly all of its energy.”
“Why did you decide to come to Equestria?”
“I didn’t choose it. My friend made the chose for me.”
“Oh, so I’m guessing that you will be going back to Earth soon? I mean, it can’t be that far away.”
Silver sighed sadly, “I can’t go back to Earth for another six months.”
The alicorn’s eyes widened, “What?! Why not?”
This was the question Silver was hoping to avoid. If he said that he was from a different universe, or different dimension, that would open up a can of worms. He also couldn’t say that the angel coin was his only ticket back to Earth, or else that would bring up some unneeded questions. Instead, Silver said,
“My kind has a strange tradition. Once one of us reaches a certain age, which I just reached, we are task to go out into the world for half a year. If we return before the time is up, than we are banished from ever returning home.”
“That’s terrible!” Twilight said, “What do you have to do for the months you are gone?”
“It's up to the human to decide what to do, but most people just record their findings about the outside world. And all we are given are the clothes on our back and the coin, which is called the angel coin.”
Silence followed Silver’s lie. Twilight seemed to have bought it since she patted the human’s shoulder sympathetically, “If you want, you can stay here in Ponyville. This library has a lot of space, so I’m sure I can let you stay here.” Her eyes suddenly lit up, “I just got the greatest idea!”
“I doubt it, but go on.”
“You said that many of your kind usually record their experience, right? Well, you can do that in Ponyville since things are always happening here. I can be your mentor and you can be my pupil!”
“Wait…what?!”
“This is so exciting!” Twilight giggled, ignoring the dumbfounded human, “I can be to you what Princess Celestia was to me. Don’t worry, I promise to be the best mentor any human can ask for. By the end of the six months, you can go back home with your many tales of Equestria. This can even build better relations between Earth and Equestria.” Twilight then summoned a journal with her magic and handed it to Silver, “You hold onto that; it will be where you write your findings. Now, wait here while I go and get us some food. I’m going to start by teaching you everything about Equestrian history.”
Twilight practically skipped to the kitchen, no doubt to tell her friends the news. Silver however, just stayed in his spot, his mouth hanging slightly opened as he stared at the journal in his hands,
“What the hell just happened?”