The train was now rolling through the countryside at a good pace; then again this whole place seemed to be nothing but countryside with a few small towns dotted about. I could hear Celestia and Twilight talking about something; it sounded more like the babble of a teacher and a student then a ruler and her subject, but I was not really paying attention.
I took a look around the car. Rainbow was reading a book she had brought, Applejack was sitting across from rainbow; it seemed like if she was sleeping but I could not tell. Rarity and a yellow pony seemed to be talking about something in a magazine Rarity had brought along. The pink pony, Pinky Pie I think her name is, was sitting with Princess Luna; they both seemed to be admiring a cart of treats a pony was rolling through. The pony stopped at our seats. “Princess would you like something from the trolley?” the pony asked.
“No thank you, I have been trying to cut down on my sweets. Brian, Twilight, would you two like something?” Celestia asked.
“No thank you, Princess” twilight said.
I was about to say no thanks but just as I opened my mouth to speak my stomach answered for me with a loud grumble. “Well, it seems my stomach had to get its two cents in” I laughed.
“Then grab something” Twilight said with a smile.
“Ya, I would, but I don’t think my money is any good here” I said.
“Well if you want I could get it for you” Twilight said.
“No, no, I don’t wish to impose; that and it’s ungentlemanly for a guy to have a girl pay for his food.” I said but to no avail, for Twilight had laid down two small golden coins and picked up what looked like two apple danishes. With her magic she floated one over to me.
I opened my mouth to protest with a simple no thank you when the pastry was shoved in my mouth. I looked up from the pastry to see a cyan hoof at the end. “Just be thankful she got it for you at all” said the annoyed voice of Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow!” Twilight said in a scolding-like manner.
I bit down on the pastry and swallowed the piece that was in my mouth. “It’s ok Twilight. Rainbow, please don’t ever do that again, I could have choked on that you know” I said in a soft but firm tone.
Rainbow slowly slinked back to her seat without another word. I turned back to the pastry which I now held on my hoof. “Thanks” I said to Twilight before taking another bite.
Twilight smiled and after swallowing a bite of her pastry she said. “You’re welcome.” Twilight took another bite of her pastry. I turned to look back out the window. “Um, Brian...” Twilight said.
“Yes Twilight?” I said, turning back to her. She had finished her pastry and she now had a look like she was about to ask something embarrassing.
“Would…Would it be alright if I asked you things about your world” she said almost like she had to hold back till I gave her the ok.
“Sure, shoot” I said with a raised eyebrow.
“Shoot? Shoot what?” she asked tilting her head as Celestia just smiled watching us, which I have to say was getting creepy.
I faced… wait, would I call it a face hoof? “It’s just a term used to say go ahead.” I said behind my hoof.
Twilight turns a little red. “Oh, well, um, so what is the place you came from called?” she started off as a scroll and quill floated at the ready in her magic.
“Well, I come from a country of 51 states, I was born in the state of New York, but lived out most of my life till now in the state of Ohio. The country is called the United States of America. It is on the continent of North America.” I said as Twilight franticly jotted down everything. “Um, how are you doing that?” I asked pointing to how she was floating the parchment and quill.
“Oh, it’s just a simple telekinesis spell” Twilight said not looking up from her notes.
“Could you show me how to use some magic?” I asked Twilight.
“Don’t you know any?” Rarity piped up.
“Not a single spell and there is a good reason for that as well” I said
“What’s the reason?” Twilight asked.
“Magic, real magic is only in fiction and myth, my world has no magic. What my world has instead is advanced technology.” I said with a smile like 'I know, I’m cool' on my face.
“That would explain why our magical presents almost killed you. You had almost no resistance to it.” Celestia said as if it was no big deal.
I rolled my eyes. “So it seems.” I said.
Twilight looked to Celestia, who nodded. “Ok, I will teach you a few, starting with the telekinesis spell.” She said with a smile.
“Domo arigato sensei” I said with a slight bow.
They all gave me a confused look. “Domo ari, what now?” Applejack asked.
“Domo arigato means thank you. Sensei means teacher. It’s a language from a country called Japan.” I said.
Twilight turned a little red from being called teacher. “I...I…I” she said in a stutter.
“What? Not use to being called teacher?” I asked.
“Nn, no, in fact, I’m still kind of a student myself” Twilight said.
I raised an eyebrow but before I could ask Celestia piped in. “And a wonderful student you have been.”
“Well, that explains the way you two talk to each other.” I said.
Celestia just nodded.
“Well, anywho you were going to show me how to do that spell, right?” I asked Twilight.
“Oh, ya” Twilight said as she floated the saddlebag towards her and pulled out a few objects of different size and weight. “The basic idea is to think of the object like you going to lift it with your hoof” Twilight explained.
I took a deep breath to clear my mind of distracting thoughts, and then began to concentrate on a feather quill. I had closed my eyes to help with the concentration. It was not long before I felt an odd sensation; I opened my eyes to see the quill was floating a little in a shaky blue aura. I let a smile cross my face and eased a little too much on my concentration. Bad idea, for the quill soon shot straight up and right through the metal roof of the train car. I chanced a look around the car; everypony had a look of shock on their face, all except Celestia, who just had her never faulting smile on. After a few silent moments I gathered the courage to ask, “Was that normal for a first timer?”
After a few more awkward, silent minutes I decided to wave my hoof in front of Twilight’s face. “Hello, anyone home!” I said. After no answer I gave her a gentle shake. That too did not work. I heard a soft chuckle, looking around I could not tell from who it came from. I went to try to get Twilight’s attention again when my eyes made contact with one of the books she had laid out for me to practice magic on, the book’s title was 'A Beginners Guide to Magic'.
“Well I wish I had seen this sooner, she could have had me read this book to learn the basics” I said to myself. I pulled the book to me to find that it has some sort of spell meant to help young ponies open it with ease. I settled down and started to read the book that was obviously meant for young children.
After a bit of reading I had gained a better understanding of how to use magic then what my lame excuse of a Sensei had tried to explain to me. By the time Twilight came to I was floating two spell books and a large history book.
Man, Twilight brought along a lot to read.
“Wow, I’ve never seen somepony on their first try send a quill through metal.” she said before noticing that I now had three books floating in front of me. Twilight’s jaw was about to drop again but she got a hold of herself. “How did you learn that spell so quickly?”
“I had about three hours, and your spell books to look through” I said without looking away from the books.
“My my, he reminds me of a certain young mare that I know” Celestia said
“Who is that?” Twilight asked.
“Wait, wait, could everybody stop changing the subject, I mean I’m still in the dark about a lot of things, like who are these people we are going to see. What were their names again Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, or anything about this so called Crystal Empire” I asked.
“Well, Shining Armor is my brother and Cadence is my sister in law” Twilight said.
“What, then that would make you royalty?” I asked. Twilight blushed a little and was about to answer when there was a few growls of stomachs. Twilight's blush deepened. I looked around the car to see the others were blushing as well.
“It seems that in all the excitement everypony forgot to have lunch. Come now, I will treat you all to dinner” Celestia said getting up and heading to the door linking this car to the dining car. Luna and the others got up to follow leaving me and Twilight last.
“Come on Brian lets go” Twilight said getting up.
I got up, but almost as soon as I did, I lost my footing and fell. Twilight caught me by leaning on me. “Is the Princesses spell wearing off” she asked a look of concern on her face.
I shook my head. “No, I think I just got up to quickly” I said.
“Well, if you need to you can lean on me” she said with a smile.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll be fine.” I said as I started towards the door. Walking felt odd, maybe the spell was wearing off.
Me and Twilight soon caught up with the group in the dining car. They were already seated, and had left two seats open for us. I was now seating between Princess Celestia and Twilight. A Mare came up to the table, wearing what my best guess is a pony waitress outfit. The pony passed out some menus. “Can I get you all something to drink to start off with?” she asked.
“I’ll take some apple cider if y'all have any” Applejack said.
“I’ll have some tea if that’s all right” a yellow pegasus asked, her voice trailing off so much that it was barely a whisper in the end.
“I’ll have some tea as well” Rarity said.
“WE’LL HAVE MILK!” Luna and Pinkie Pie almost yelled.
“I’ll have a Nova cola” Crash said.
“Some tea would be perfect, thank you” Celestia said.
“I’ll have tea as well.” Twilight said
It was now my turn to order a drink. I looked through the menu and decided on the one thing that sounded normal. “I’ll have the sweet tea with little ice and a lemon wedge” I said.
“Ok I’ll be right back with your drinks.” The waitress said before walking off.
Celestia turned to me. “Now, on to a matter that needs a quick addressing, your name during your time here in Equestria. I would like it if you would choose one that best fits your new form.” She said.
"What, like how all of you have one loosely related to the tattoos on your butts?” I asked.
“They’re called cutie marks” Twilight said.
“Ok…” I said
“So, have you thought of a name yet?” Celestia asked me.
“Ya, I think I have one. The name’s Knight, Blades Knight” I said in the most Bond-like accent I could pull off.