//------------------------------// // The Four: Chapter One: The Stranger // Story: The Few // by EctopicEntropy //------------------------------// “Well, Twi, I’ll leave you to your experiment” Rainbow was saying as she left. I would have never said it within earshot, but I was glad she finally left. She was quite the hindrance in the lab, but now I could finally get some work done. As I worked, there was a crackling behind me. Strange, that’s not part of the spell. I turned around to see what it might be, and in a flash of pink light, a bipedal creature appeared. It glanced at me and spoke, in perfect Equestrian. “I do hope you’re Twilight Sparkle. Do tell, am I right?” “You are. How did you know?” “That’s a story for another time. I plan to settle here. Mind giving me a disguise?” I obliged, but mostly out of curiosity, to see if I could, since I had never transformed a living being. It took a lot of concentration, but it seemed to go off without a hitch. Instead of a bipedal thing in front of me, instead stood a perfectly functional, or seemingly so, male pony of brass coat and blonde mane. However, he did not seem to think the transformation went over as well, as he immediately fell flat on his face. “Right, I’m quadrupedal now. Gonna have to get used to that. And hooves. Oh my, this is interesting.” He then seemed to remember I was there, though I was still a little too stunned to say much. “My apologies, a little wrapped up in my new changes. Thank you, though, for this gift. If you don’t mind, though, I’d like to ask you to do it again.” “Like, in reverse?” He waved a hoof in a dismissive manner. “Oh, of course not. I told you, right? I’m staying here. I think I said that. Hmm. Memory’s not what it used to be. Anyway, I’ll be bringing a friend in in a moment. If he comes. Be back in a jiff!” He turned around, fiddled with something, muttered about it being hard to write with hooves, then conjured lightning from thin air and scorched words into my laboratory floor. He disappeared, but I’m not going to be here when he gets back. ----- “And this, David, is Equestria. Oh, and that’s what you had for lunch, I suppose.” I was saying to David, trying to not step in his fresh puddle of vomit. “Sorry about that, should have warned you it’s a little rough the first time.” “It’s fine.” He managed to say, stabilizing himself on a tree. “So, if this is Equestria, where are we?” “I don’t know. Last time, it spat me out into Twilight’s lab. Oh well, can’t be too far now, eh?” “Easy for you to say. I haven’t walked all my life.” “Come on, I’ll carry you.” We rode in the direction of the nearest town, and I was hoping I wouldn’t cause too much ruckus when I reached it, showing up with an alien and everything. ----- “I swear, he said he was coming right back.” I was saying, trying to calm Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who had come to assist me. “Well, then, where is he? I want to punch this chump.” Rainbow was all up in a huff, throwing jabs at the air. “Twilight?” Spike was calling down the stairs. “You have some guests.” “I have to take this, girls. Be ready for when he pops out of there.” “Oh I’m ready, alright. Wait, out of where exactly?” I just chuckled in response as I climbed the stairs to see who my guests were. Sadly, I was met by a biped on a horse. A very familiar, talking horse. “Hello again, Miss Sparkle! As promised, I brought my friend. You’ve got enough magic to transform him too, right?” “Yeah, but I may not want to.” I said, as the second biped observed the library. “And why would you not want to?” “Because maybe I don’t take too kindly to aliens showing up unannounced. First in my lab, and now at my doorstep! Where will you show up next, my bathroom?” The biped chuckled, but only the horse responded. “I don’t control where it spits me out. Magic’s a fickle thing, I’m sure you know.” “I don’t like you.” I told him, plainly. “That may change. I’m actually a likeable person -- err, pony -- once you get to know me.” The biped nodded in agreement. “Fine. I’ll transform your friend. But after that, you two are gone. Alright?” I cast the spell, and shooed the two ponies off my doorstep. “Good riddance.” ----- “So. We’re now two single ponies in a magical land of wonder. What do we do first?” I was saying to David. “Well, we’re going to need a job and someplace to stay. What do you say to getting started on that?” “I don’t want to work again. It’s such a drag.” “True that. Well, want to see if we can mooch off some people?” “Ponies, you mean. But no, I don’t think so. That’d be mean. Why don’t we use your charisma and my robotics to become entrepreneurs?” “I suppose that could work. This is Equestria, though. Who needs robots?” “The Apples?” “Remember what happened last time someone tried to offer them robotics?” “True.” I scratched my chin, rattling my brain for any forgotten schemes. “We could join the royal guard in Canterlot.” David suggested. “Hmm. That could work. It’s work, but it’s fairly easy, right? Until Canterlot’s attacked, anyway.” “Yeah, but it’s gonna suck if Canterlot ever gets attacked. We’d probably die.” “True. Say, is that Pinkie?” “It sure is. She’ll notice us soon, right? And throw us a party?” “And then I flex my robotics skills and show off and maybe generate some business?” “And then we take it to a bigger scale when we sell enough here?” “So glad we’re on the same page. So, how do we get her attention?” “Well, she seems to be buying some cherries. What say you and I go ask that kind gentleman -- err, gentlecolt -- about cherries?” “I have been curious.” I said as I started in the direction of the cherry vendor. However, before I could make it to him, I was tackled by something. “Found you!” A mint green mare shouted from above me. “I’ve been tracking you since you got here, and now I finally have proof! Living proof!” She cackled maniacally, but was cut short as a collar clasped over her throat and she was dragged off. “Was that Lyra and Bon Bon?” “Yeah. And they took off with something.” “What’s that?” “Our golden opportunity.” I said, pointing to Pinkie’s retreating flank. “But they may have brought a silver one.” David mused. “What ever do you mean?” I asked, picking myself up and dusting myself off. “Well, Lyra seems to be intensely curious about humans. Enough so that she seems to be crazy.” “So we go satisfy her curiosity, get undying gratitude from Bon Bon, mooch off her hospitality, then skedaddle before we overstay our welcome?” “I was just thinking of satisfying her curiosity, but your plan works, too.” We chatted as we followed the mad mare. It wasn’t hard, since everyone seemed to be chatting about how Bon Bon had had to drag Lyra off again, but only in the immediate vicinity of where she had been dragged. We made it to their apartment building easily enough, and the clerk gave us their room number. We found it fairly easily, mostly because of the sounds of fighting from behind the door. “I swear they’re human! I swear my spell works correctly!” Lyra was shouting, fairly close to the door. Taking the opportunity, I knocked. She answered, and greeted us with a giddy sort of glee. “Are you here to tell me that you’re remnants from the before times that have come to tell us the good news, that humans will walk this planet again?” “Not necessarily, no. But, I can tell you that your spell works. May we come in?” I saw Bon Bon waving frantically in the background, but I chose to ignore her, as Lyra eagerly agreed. “So,” I started, sitting on their couch. “I understand you may have some questions about us humans?” I patiently answered her rapid fire questioning, as David chatted up Bon Bon. It all went well, Lyra settled down after a while, and Bon Bon definitely seemed to be becoming more and more relieved. We talked long into the night, and Bon Bon invited us to stay over. There were only two beds and a couch, though. Confronted with this conundrum, Lyra invited me to sleep with her. I didn’t disagree, as a bedfellow was still appreciable. I just hoped she wouldn’t try anything.