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// Chapter 5. Meeting Twilight Sparkle 
// Story: A New Teacher 
// by Sparky Brony 
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"I have got to stop doing this." I moan as I rub my forehead. 

"What? Waking up in other ponies beds? I agree." A voice says. I think for a second, I know that voice.

"Oh, no, not that Twilight, I happen to like waking up in pretty mare's beds." I grin at her as I finally am able to open my eyes again. I'm greeted by a furiously blushing Twilight Sparkle. I grin at her, and for added flair, I waggle my eyebrows at her. I heave myself to a sitting position, and cradle my poor head in my hooves. "I need to stop crash landing."

I hear a smirk in her voice, "You do that often Wachowski?" 

I look up and glare at her. "In all my years of flying, I've had three crash landings, one because both engines on my plane decided to take a shit on me, two because that damn pegasus Rainbow Dash decided to grab on to me and force me to crash, and finally when I was trying to stop while racing that little speed demon." I stand up and trot around a bit. "For crying out loud, I've crashed more as a pony than I have as a human!" I stomp my front hooves to the floor. I'm gratified with her eyes going wide. I think I just insulted her friend. I can see some anger in her eyes, she huffs a bit. Well, that's the normal reaction of women to me. This mare is apparently no exception to that rule. 

"Just so you know, Sparkle, my name is Nicholas, my friends call me Nick. Please don't call me by my surname."

"Fine, Nicholas. So, do you want to explain yourself?"

Huh? I look at her quizzically.

"First off, when you woke up at Fluttershy's cottage, not only were you wearing a very odd outfit that she had to cut off, but when you woke up, you absolutely freaked out, to the point of passing out. Then, today, you wake up and decide to go out flying. And you ignore being told to come back here, requiring Rainbow Dash to retrieve you. I can see it now, you are still freaked out, but you are controlling it well."

I start trotting around the room. I have to move. I've been ADHD all my life, I know how to handle it, if I want to think, I have to move. Little miss princess here will scope out anything I'm trying to hide. So I had better come out  straight with her. "Well, a little over four days ago, I took off from Pensacola Air Station in Florida, with three other pilots. We were ferrying four F/A-18 Super Hornets to Kuwait for delivery to their Royal Air Force. About midway over the Atlantic Ocean, both engines suffered compressor failures. The likelihood of both engines doing that is about a hundred million to one. I had to ditch my aircraft and punch out. I floated in the water like a bobber for two days. I passed out, and woke up in your Fluttershy's bed. I freaked out because not only was I looking at Technicolor ponies, but after I discovered that I somehow became one myself, I couldn't handle it." 

I hold my hooves out at her.  "These were hands, I didn't have wings attached to my body. I wasn't covered in fur. I was a human. And now I'm here." Alright, maybe my control has gone by the wayside, I suppress a sob, but I have no control of the tears that are starting to run down my face. I ignore them as best as I can. "I flew off because I've been a pilot for a long time. I started flying with my dad when I was eight years old, and I joined the Navy so I could fly fighter jets. But one thing I noticed about this transformation. Flying is even better when you are a pegasus. It was the only thing that calmed me down. I've been flying for nearly twenty years. And I think I was missing out. But just like any human aircraft, when they are on the ground, they are ungainly, hard to maneuver, and a general pain. But once in the air, they become graceful, swift, powerful. I guess I'm a lot like that."

She takes a moment to digest all I've said. She does so pretty quickly though, "I don't know any of those places that you were talking about. I don't know what humans are. Are you saying you're an alien?"

I shrug my wings. "I guess you could call me that. I had never heard of magical talking ponies until that…urk." My tongue just tied itself in knots. I guess Luna wasn't kidding when she said I wouldn't be able to talk about what happened. I breathe heavily, "until I woke up here. Hell, I don't even know the name of this world."

"This world, it's Earth. But our nation is Equestria." 

"You call your planet Earth too?"

"Yes, just like Earth Ponies, those without wings or horns."

"And your nation is called Equestria?" I roll my eyes, I'm ready for plenty of pony puns.

"Yes, and we are ruled by two princesses. They are Celestia, and Luna."

I have to groan, which elicits a sharp look from Twilight. I'm pulled from my world by no less than one of their rulers. "Wait a moment, princesses? Do you have a king or queen?"

Now a smile from her, she wears her emotions on her sleeve. "No, silly. We have two princesses. At least we do now. For a thousand years Princess Celestia was the only one in charge, her sister had been banished to the moon."

That gets a reaction from me. "A thousand year banishment? How long do you ponies live?"

"Well, most of us don't make it to two hundred years. Most die at around a century of age. Celestia and Luna are alicorns, they have never told me their ages. But we know they have been alive for more than a thousand years."

I look at her, "you are an alicorn. Does that mean you will live for thousands of years?"

She looks down. "I don't know. I haven't asked. I only became an alicorn some months ago."

Now I'm really thrown for a loop. "What? You became an alicorn? I don't understand." I think my brain is broken. I sink my head back down into my hooves.

I hear a chuckle from the lavender alicorn sitting in front of me. "I was born a unicorn. I was able to create entirely new magic, which allowed me to ascend to be an alicorn. To be a princess here in Equestria, you can't be born into it, you have to earn it. Any pony with the right abilities, and the right growth and the ability to create has the potential to become an alicorn themselves. My sister-in-law was a pegasus before she was able to use the magic of love for herself to become an alicorn."

Alright, this world is weird. And now I'm stuck here. Maybe I should go and beg Princess Luna to send me back to the ocean. No, not going to do that, but it is tempting. Twilight is talking some more… Better listen. 

"Well, if you aren't from this world, maybe that explains why you don't have a cutie mark."

She really needs to stop hitting me with these bombshells.

"Beg pardon?"

"You don't have a cutie mark." She points at my flank. I follow where her hoof is pointing, and I discover that my neck is far more flexible than it used to be. I see a perfectly normal flank. I look back at her.

"And?"

I think she's starting to get mad again, one of her ears twitches and so does her right eye. It's actually kind of cute. I think I'll put her out of her misery. "Umm, Twilight, I don't know what a cutie mark is."

This earns a shake of the head from her. It's like I just told her the sky was mint green with purple polka dots. "You don't have anything to show your special talent?"

I grin at her. "Twilight, many humans are born, grow up, live, and die, never knowing of any special talent. And we certainly don't have any pictures showing up on our rumps to indicate what that talent would be. I'm actually lucky, I've discovered what my talent is, I can fly, I am an awesome pilot. I love the freedom of flight. But, no, I don't have anything that indicates that."

Uh oh, lecture mode from our friend Twilight Sparkle. She's about to get really spooled up on it too when she's interrupted by a knock on the door. That same purple and green lizard sticks his head in. "Lunch is ready Twilight."

"Thank you Spike." then to me, "Are you hungry Nick?"

I start to say no, but then my stomach betrays me with a loud gurgle. "I guess the answer is yes." We get up and I follow her. "By the way Twilight, I'm a Navy pilot, I actually go by my call sign most of the time. Would you call me Rocky?" We walk down the stairs into a the main part of this gigantic tree. More and more bookshelves with books of every possible type are all around me.

"Rocky? Why are you called that?"

I smile at the memory. "Because my wingman is called Moose."

Utter confusion from Twilight. My grin gets bigger. "Rocky, the flying squirrel."

I only thought she was confused before, but now she's completely befuddled. She starts talking only to drift off after a syllable or two. Looking at me as she takes a seat and points to another seat. I sit down, my grin is huge. 

"Rocky the flying squirrel, and Bullwinkle the Moose?" I prompt her.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." She finally says.

I bark out a laugh. "Geez, don't tell me you don't have cartoons in this world."

I think I've broken her brain, serves her right for what she did to me. She lays her head down on the table and starts massaging her temples with her hooves. After a few moments I finally put her out of her misery. I spend a few minutes explaining the cartoon show. After a bit she starts laughing. Her laugh is infectious.  I'm laughing pretty hard myself pretty quickly.

"So, you are telling me that you and your wingman are named after a cartoon show that was popular twenty years before you were born?"

I smile at her, "Yes, Twilight. He chose the call sign first, he was the big fan of Bullwinkle. I adopted the Rocky moniker after he chose Moose. The Captain of the Nimitz loved it."

"The Nimitz? What is that?" Now I had to explain the United States Navy.

We actually ended up talking about my world for a good couple of hours. Best of all, this is the longest time I have actually been conscious since I got here. Maybe things are looking up for me.

As we continue chatting, she brings up a sore subject.

"Well, I've told you a little about my family. What about yours." She sees my reaction and continues, "have I asked something wrong?"

My ears have folded flat, and I can't help it, my head droops down. I know I  have a huge frown on my face. I look at her. "No, Twilight. You haven't said anything wrong. Just my memories."

"We don't have to talk about that if you don't want to."

"No." I take a deep breath. "It's alright Twilight. I need to eventually get over it. And I've been told that talking it out is the best for healing. It's going to get a bit personal, if that's okay with you."

She moves to sit right in front of me. "I know that you just met me, Nick. So you will have to take this on faith, but I understand friendship very well, I've been studying it for over a year with my friends here. You are alone here, as an alien. And I don't know what the future holds, but I will let you know, I am your friend, for as long as you will have me as one. And you can trust me."

I scoff, "Twilight, as you said, I just met you. How can we be friends already?"

"Your best friend, you call him Moose right?"  I nod, "when did you and him actually become friends, not formally by saying anything, but just that feeling inside that says in your hears, this person is my friend."

I have to think back. Might as well tell her this story. It takes a few minutes, and she starts nodding while I'm talking. As I wind down, she smiles at me. "So, when you met him in the mess hall, within a few minutes of talking to him, you had a feeling of what kind of person he was, and you knew you would be friends?"

"I guess, yeah."

"And you did end up friends, didn't you?"

"Uh huh." She responds by clapping her front hooves together.

"See, you only knew him for minutes, and you became friends. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

I look her in the eyes, I'm thinking furiously. I look to the side for a moment. Then I smile as I look into her eyes again. "Okay, Twilight, I trust you."

A big smile from her. "And so, will you tell me about your family?"

I have a thought. "Why are you so interested, Twilight?"

"You are a new pony here, Nick. I'm always looking to learn, and your story is utterly fascinating."

I sigh, "Fine, but the part about my family is to be just between you and me, okay?"

"I promise, Nick."

"Fine." I bite my lower lip, it's hard, even after four years. "I was an only child. My parents doted on me. I was adopted, because they couldn't have any children. My dad, especially, was my hero. He was a private pilot, he had served in the Air Force for years. He arranged for me to be back seat in an F-16 fighter when I was fourteen, he had been teaching me to fly since I was eight years old in his old Cessna. I will remember that day for the rest of my life. After hours of briefing and teaching me how to use a flight suit, I was on the flight line with the pilot, a friend of his, a pilot he had trained himself, and he told the pilot to make me puke. It didn't work, I was whooping it up the entire flight. I screamed in delight the entire flight. That is what cemented my absolute love of flight, that half hour of bliss. That was where I decided to become a pilot myself. Well, fast forward, I was on deployment in the Arabian Sea. I was flying CAP, that's Combat Air Patrol, when I get a call on my radio, ordering me back to the ship as soon as possible. I landed and was led to the Captain's ready room. The Captain of the Nimitz was there, along with the chaplain, he sat me down and told me. My parents." I break down, I haven't told anyone, except for Moose, what happened to them. My eyes are closed, I'm trying to control my breathing. After a few moments, a pair of arms encircle me. I grab onto her. Twilight is hugging me. I'm sobbing like a child in her embrace. Eventually, I'm able to control myself. 

"There was a fire. They passed in their sleep." My mind unwillingly pulls up those horrible memories. The frantic flight halfway around the world, my dad's sister picking me up at the airport. The drive to what was left of the house. The wake, the funeral. It passed in a blur. "I never got to say goodbye. I had talked to them the day before the fire. After that, I just withdrew. I didn't talk to pretty much anybody. Even after I got back to my ship, Moose tried to get me to open up. I told him off pretty good. I did eventually apologize, but I lost a good number of friends because I stopped being a friend myself. Maybe because I isolated myself so much is why I'm here today. I rarely talk to my aunt, we were never really close. The only human I miss is Michael, Moose that is. I know the only human that will miss me being gone is him."

"I don't believe that Nick. Your Aunt, even though you didn't talk to her much, I guarantee you, she misses you."

"I guess so, but I can't do anything about it. I'm stuck here. And if I were to go back, I'm dead there already."

"So, coming here is a bit of a rebirth for you, huh?"

She moves back to her seat.

"I guess it is."

I look at her, I can't help but smile back, her smile is huge, and infectious. 

"Thank you Twilight Sparkle, I never knew how much friendship meant to me. Having so few true friends back home."

"You are very welcome Nick."

"It's Rocky."

Her grin becomes a smirk, "That was your old life, you aren't a fighter pilot anymore, you are a pegasus pony now. You are Nick now."

I have to roll me eyes at that. "Fine, Twilight."