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Just the Beginning
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Alex had gone to sleep in his new room, and found he was sleeping rather well, considering the extreme circumstances he was faced with at this moment. But, he wasn’t comfortable enough to sleep in. So, when he opened his eyes at the crack of dawn, five thirty in the morning, he was awake, ready to fumble his way through some kind of morning routine.
Which raised the question, what was he supposed to do?
Well, he would normally brush his teeth, have a shower, get into a clean change of clothing, eat breakfast, and head out the door to school.
There were some changes to his old routine, obviously.
Problem one. No tooth brush. And as far as he knew, magic could fix teeth problems. So… No dentists here? His opinion of Equestria was getting better and better.
Problem two. No clothing. He was naked here. That was something he could not dwell on. The more he thought about being naked in front of so many girls, while they were naked in front of him, the more he had a… small problem. Well, a much bigger problem than when he was on earth. But regardless, a problem.
Problem three. School. Was he just done with that now? There were advanced institutions for ponies his age, but nothing that mirrored his world’s school system. They seemed to be finished with mandatory school at a young age. So, in all of their eyes, he was the age of a graduated stallion, despite having only a fraction of the knowledge of one.
Well, after knocking most things off his list, he was happy that he had seen a shower in his bathroom. There was nothing he loved more than having a forty five minute shower, so, he decided that he would begin his day with that.
Opening the large bookshelf, he flicked on the light in the dimly lit room, and closed the shelf behind him. Oddly, this room was completely covered in tiles, despite the rest of the building being nothing but hollowed out tree. Still, he didn’t really know if having lots of moisture in a wooden room would be a bad thing, so he shrugged it off as ignorance on his part. It just seemed odd to have an almost completely porcelain room in an otherwise wooden house.
Hopping in to the tub, he closed the curtain and turned the water on, feeling it cascade down to his head, and on to the front half of his body. It was the single most relaxing thing he had ever come across in his life.
The time in the shower passed quickly, as he let his mind wander across the vast canyons that had been the memories of Princess Celestia.
A large portion of him had wished he hadn’t seen what he did. It almost felt disrespectful.
Not because he had invaded the innermost thoughts of the royal ruler of Equestria, no. But because these memories humanized her to him… well, humanized in the sense that it made her seem like a normal person, or, pony.
He wasn’t exactly sure how much he had been exposed to at this point, because the more he thought about it, the more things he could recall from her memory. He felt as if he had these bonds between himself, and hundreds of different ponies. Ponies like: Princess Luna, Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, many many guards… It was almost insanity to him.
But, there was one pony she felt an immense amount of pity for. And that was him.
Celestia had seen the last few hours of his time on earth, and understood just what he had gone through…
Just what he had gone through.
And his mind went right back there.
The place that made his heart hurt, and made him feel like throwing up.
It was truly an amazing thing, for him to be thrown in to a place like this, at such a terrible time. It was like god was giving him an escape.
And, of that were indeed the case, he would do just that. Escape.
No thoughts about his parents. He wasn’t in that world right now. He was in happyland. No sad bullshit here. Just bright colors, and overly-friendly people to cheer him up.
“I love you guys…” Alex said to himself, resolving to push this out of his mind, “I’m sorry I’ll miss the funeral.”
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After getting out of the shower, he spent a good fifteen minutes working on drying himself off, by rubbing up against the towel hanging from the door. Of course, his back legs were still quite wet, and his man parts would have to air-dry as well. But otherwise, he had done a pretty good job, considering this was his first time using a towel in Equestria.
Looking at the clock hanging from the wall, he frowned at the small amount of time he had elapsed doing this activity. It was only ten to six.
Looking out the window, the ground was now fully illuminated.
Celestia had done that. But it was difficult. It gave her a headache every time.
Shaking his head, he rid his mind of the thought, and decided to scope out this library a little more.
Stepping out of the room, and skipping his usual dressing, he walked into the main section of the building, and decided to walk along the path of bookshelves, checking out each of the titles of each book.
Magic this, magic that, magic, magic, magic!
“Geez,” Alex mumbled, “ Twilight needs to expand her reading materials.”
Moving on to the next bookshelf, he found books on math and science, geography, some encyclopedias, and even a large section dedicated to children’s books. It was nice to see similarity between earth and here in the selection of reading.
Looking up the small staircase sticking out of the wall, he figured that was the path toward the room Twilight and Spike shared. It was cute how she took care of him as if he were he little brother. Alex assumed he was some kind of orphan, considering the fact that Spike was the only dragon he had seen.
Shrugging it off, Alex decided that he wanted to see what Ponyville was like, when no one was out in the streets. He figured it would be relaxing.
Walking to the door, he awkwardly hooked his hoof through the handle, and silently opened the door. He didn’t want to disturb the sleep of the ponies in the library.
Closing the door equally silently, he turned around and inhaled the fresh air and smiled. That was something he absolutely loved. The smell of dew on the grass, and the soft light that would bathe your body first thing in the morning. He was happy that the little things were the same.
Turning right, toward the meat of the town, he headed into a street and passed several buildings, each one looking incredibly similar to the last.
After a short jaunt, he arrived in a small circular clearing, with a large building decorated with horses around the round rooftop. The sign above the door read ‘The Carousel Boutique.’ Walking up to the window, he peered inside and recognized the white mare trudging around in a housecoat as Rarity. She had been at that party yesterday.
Being the guy he was, he couldn’t help but wonder what she would look like without the house coat on, before remembering that he had already seen her with no clothing on. It was a little disappointing to tell the truth.
Where was the excitement if they were always naked? It was like taking the ice cream out of an ice cream sandwich. You still had two delicious cookies to eat, but the best part was missing.
Deciding that he didn’t want to get caught peeping, Alex moved on with his exploration.
After another short amount of time, he arrived at the town hall he had met Princess in last night. He had simply taken a different path to get there. From where he stood, he could see the pastry shop Pinkie Pie had come from, the Library, the boutique.
This was just like any town on earth. There was a store for whatever you might need, a school, a gym, a library… It was another comforting thing for him.
Turning away from all of those, he saw a small hill overlooking the town just a few block away.
It was a different kind of place he could go, and it would give him a nice overlook of the entire town.
Again, he covered the distance in good time, considering his new, and confusing legs.
When he finally made his way to the top of the hill, he turned around and plopped himself down on the ground, before feeling the air rush out of his lungs at the sight he was presented with.
The town was actually larger than he had first anticipated. It went out in the opposite direction for quite a while. There was enough room for ten or fifteen thousand ponies in this town at least.
Looking up to the sky, he noticed a strangely shaped cloud hanging on even level with him overlooking the town. It was incredibly close to the ground, and was shaped like a house.
“A cloud house, huh?” Alex said to himself, realizing that he’d never be able to reach a house like that without first mastering some magic, or his wings.
Watching it idly, he watched as the front door opened, and that rainbow Pegasus stepped out of the house.
“Oh shi—“ Alex mumbled, looking around for some kind of cover to hide from her. They were close enough together that she would see him for sure.
The only thing even remotely around him was a small shrub. So, he decided to go for broke.
Diving behind the tiny bush, he hid as much of his body as he possibly could. However, being a horse now, he had a tail. But he just wasn’t used to that yet, and wound up leaving it hanging out for the world to see.
Silence was all he could hear, and wasn’t sure if she had indeed seen him. His cue to come out from hiding would have normally been the sound of a closing door, but he was willing to wager that a door made of cloud wouldn’t make any sound at all.
“Who’s there?” A voice called from just above him, “Why are you hiding?”
Peeking through the bush, he could see Rainbow Dash approaching him through the air, with a determined look on her face.
Deciding to go for broke, Alex stood up suddenly, causing her to stop in her tracks.
“Oh.” She said simply, her expression replaced with a very unpleasant one.
“Hey there… uh…” Alex said, blanking for a moment on her name.
“Seriously?” She asked, her tone flat, as she considered whether or not she should just fly away.
“Well, regardless of your strange pony-name,” Alex coughed awkwardly, “How’s your day?”
Dash shook her head and turned around. She wanted nothing to do with this conversation.
Alex growled quietly as she flew away from him. How rude was this chick?
He hoped that the rest of his time here wouldn’t be so bad around her, and others like her.
Because if all of this world was indeed real, which he was leaning more and more towards, then he needed to make sure the stay was as pleasant as possible. He was going to be here a while, after all.