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// Chapter 2. Welcoming comitee. 
// Story: Dimensional Shift 
// by SilverFlame 
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Authors note:  Last chapter kind of just dropped off at the end suddenly. This is mainly because at the time I just wanted to finish the chapter because I couldn’t think of anywhere to go from there. After posting it and seeing the response, I grew worried, I’ve never worked well under pressure, and to think people actually like this shocked and amazed me. Recently, I came across some inspiration. The song “The Call” performed by the Celtic Women. It put an idea for a scene in my head, and because of that, I stopped worrying about what to do next and instead decided to make major points that I want to get done and work towards them. Basically letting the story call me in the directions it needs to go. Hope it works well for you.


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Walking towards the town was actually quite entertaining. The two talked animatedly back and forth, and while I couldn’t even begin to try to guess what they were saying, the flow of the words was similar to English and seemed to be very upbeat. After a few minutes Rainbow Dash said something with a salute before flying off. I stood and watched for a moment before my attention was brought back to my now lone guide. She smiled happily and motioned to follow her again, and I realized we had stopped right at the edge of town.

I wondered for a moment if I would scare any of the townsfolk with my presence, and tried to convey that as best as I could to Twilight, mainly by pointing to some of the houses, then at her, then cringing in fear comically. She actually laughed at that, then shook her head no and motioned for me to follow her again. I guess I didn’t look that scary or something. Then again, this was the town that was shut down by a bunny stampede, so what did that say about me…

Wounded pride aside I followed after Twilight again, quietly marveling at the designs and colors of all the houses and businesses. A lot more than were ever shown in the cartoon, except maybe in far away placement shots. But the level of detail in every building was amazing. Each had a personality all their own, and no two were the same.

Before long I noticed that there were still ponies walking about, most looked to be heading home, but none of them seemed to be panicked by me. I got a few curious glances, but after they noticed Twilight by me they just shrugged and continued on. I assumed that when Twilight was involved, nothing seemed to shock them anymore.

Twilight waved at a few and exchanged words every now and then, always motioning for me to follow along when she started walking again. I followed obediently, my bag of possessions slung over my shoulder and smiling slightly at how she enjoyed every interaction.

Sooner than I expected we arrived at our destination, the library, and her home. Standing out in front of it was the rest of the main six. I blinked, wondering how they all got together so fast before realizing that Dash must have gathered them.  I guessed that was what the salute was about. 

Any other thoughts on the matter had been pushed from my mind as my vision was suddenly filled with a rapidly chattering pink face. Shocked and off balance from being tackled I fell over, thankfully not landing on my bag, though I still got the wind knocked out of me. Blinking rapidly and trying to breathe I looked up at Pinkie as she just continued on as if nothing had happened, though I heard the others talking as well. From what I could tell they were reprimanding her, uselessly I might add.

At this point, I only had one response for the situation, I laughed. Pinned down to the ground by Pinkie Pie as she chattered excitedly at me whether I understood it or not, her grin was infectious. Of course, very quickly I ran out of breath and started gasping, grabbing at my ribs and trying to roll a bit to escape. Laughing right after you got the wind knocked out of you is not advised by the way.

Finally the others managed to drag her off me to let me breathe, which I thankfully took, though still chuckling. I carefully sat up cross legged to stare at them. Pinkie was still chattering away and seeing as how reason had been thrown out the window I did what came naturally. I lifted up a hand to her face and “Boop!” poked her nose.

She stopped immediately and crossed her eyes to stare at my finger, her nose scrunched up cutely. The others stared at me in shock for a moment before Pinkie burst out laughing and I grinned from ear to ear. After that they joined in and shook their heads, Twilight sobering up quickly and opening the door to the library and motioning for everyone to get inside.

Ducking slightly to get through the door I quietly looked around at the first floor. Books were scattered everywhere and there was a large pile of them near a desk, seems I interrupted study time. I turned my head as Twilight started yelling at the stairs. A grumpy sounding response floated back down, followed soon after by an annoyed looking baby dragon who stopped halfway down the stairs to stare at me.

I waved at Spike and gave a smile before sitting down near one of the tables before clearing my throat to catch Twilight’s attention. Once I had it, and the rests, I pantomimed writing on my hand to try asking for a pen. Her eyes lit up and she nodded quickly before her horn glowed and before I could even tell where they had come from, I had a blank scroll and a quill pen floating in front of me. A small part in the back of my mind was thankful for that calligraphy lesson during art class in high school.

Quickly, I wrote out a key for our number system. A blank spot with a 0 below it, followed by a single dot and 1, two dots and 2, continuing up to 10. I turned the paper to the assembled ponies with a somewhat expectant look on my face and offered the quill. After a moment of staring Twilight seemed to be the only one that seemed to know what was going on and what I wanted. She looked to the others and I’m guessing explained it as they all started nodding slightly as she grabbed the quill from my grasp and below my own numbers wrote her own set.

Looking closely I realized that just like mine, there was one digit from one to nine, and two for ten. I grinned happily, thankful I wouldn’t have to relearn math in another base. I was actually afraid they would use base four or something. This was a good sign for me. Now that I knew their number system, I had something to work with. I quickly wrote up a few example questions in their numbers, simple stuff that kept to whole numbers and under 10. I answered some right and put an o next to them, and others purposefully wrong with a x next to them, again, I showed it to Twilight.

She looked momentarily confused by the extras I added, but suddenly started jumping slightly and chattering quickly to the others while pointing to the paper, more specifically, to the addition and other signs. I blinked, realizing I had used them out of habit and didn’t even second guess that they would be understood. But by the looks of it, they weren’t just understandable, but known.

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined by my stomach growling loudly. It seemed like that small snack of chips didn’t do much for me. I scratched the back of my head a bit before gently taking the paper and quill back and making a very quick and rough sketch of a few different fruit, bananas, strawberries, apples. Hopefully they had some nearby. Applejack grinned at the crude drawing of an apple and shouted over to Spike, who had finally made it down the steps. He ran off for a moment before coming back with the biggest apple I had ever seen, and tossing it to me.

I caught the apple right before it would have hit the ground in front of me and gave a smile and a nod before taking a bite. The crunch itself was satisfying, but the flavor was amazing. I usually prefer sour apples, but if sweet apples where I came from tasted like this, I would eat them all day. Savoring the flavor for a moment as I chewed I quickly moved on, devouring the rest of the apple down to the core. Wiping a bit of juice from the edge of my mouth I blinked down at the core, wondering what to do with it.

My unspoken question was answered as it was wrapped in a purple glow and floated over to a trash bid I hadn’t noticed. I nodded thankfully with a smile and leaned back against the wall and looked over the group, not sure what to do now. I could tell from the windows that the sun was now fully below the horizon, so everyone would be heading home soon I guessed. My attention was drawn back to what was going on in the room as Twilight started talking again, a note of authority in her voice and turned to Spike. He quickly pulled out a quill and scroll and started writing quickly. Once they both finished she nodded and opened a window slightly as he shot a small jet of green flame at the now rolled up paper. Sending it on it’s way out the window.

I looked around as the others started talking and heading for the door, each pausing to talk to Twilight, most likely giving her advice or offering assistance from her thankful smile and tone. While they wandered off, Spike came up to me and just stared at me with his arms crossed, clearly not impressed. I silently coppied his pose while staying seated, then grinned at him. He returned the smile before looking over his shoulder and talking to Twilight. She laughed a bit before responding and floating a pillow and blanket over to me. They were a little small for me, but I appreciated the gesture none the less. She motioned to a couch, again, slightly small for me, but it looked comfortable enough for me right then. I hadn’t realized how tired I had become from the long day, and it seemed Twilight had a long day as well as she yawned and started ascending the stairs. I sat down on the couch and pulled the blanket up over myself a bit before laying down, and with my thoughts racing this way and that, I drifted off to sleep.