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Chapter 3; A World Of Difference
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Explaining the show to Twilight Sparkle was, understandably, no easy task. I mean, it'd be the equivalent of an alien landing on my planet, and telling me that I'm a TV show to him.
"It doesn't make sense," Twilight began. "I don't want to believe you, but... You do seem to know things that only ponies should know. I mean you know about Canterlot, Discord, Celestia and Luna, Nightmare Moon, You've mentioned the names of my friends, you know about the Elements of Harmony, Hearth's Warming Eve, It's unfathomable!"
"I know it's strange. Believe me, coming from Earth, this place is strange too," I replied.
"Did you say Earth?"
I cocked my head a bit in apprehension. "Yeah... why?"
"Follow me. Quickly."
I didn't have time to ask why, before Twilight was running down the long dirt road we'd been walking along for the better part of half an hour. God these ponies can run fast on all fours, I thought to myself, struggling to keep up with the purple unicorn. It wasn't long before I started recognizing things. I glanced off to my right, and saw a large barn with an apple insignia just above the door.
"Is that Sweet Apple Acres?" I called out to her.
She didn't answer, but just kept running.
"Where are we going, anyway?"
Once again, no response. We kept running, me, of course, a few feet behind Twilight. Before long, I stopped paying attention, and began to try and recognize some sort of familiar structure. I tripped over Twilight, who'd stopped quite abruptly. She grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me back behind a bush.
"Ponyville is just beyond this bush. I'm not sure how the other ponies are going to react to you, so I want you to stay close, and be calm."
I obliged, and followed her closely. It was obvious that these ponies had never seen a human before. They'd come within a few feet, then back away, as if I were dangerous. Some of the more adventurous ones would come up, and take a close look, to which I'd respond with a "hello," or "hi, what's up." Some were terrified, but some gasped and talked to me with complete interest. We finally reached the library door, and Twilight made a head motion, signaling me to enter.
"Can I stay out here a little while and meet everyone?" I asked, still in a crowd of ponies.
Twilight put a hoof to her chin, as she did when she pondered any situation. "I would've had to have shown you to the rest of Ponyville anyway... So I guess it's fine." With that, she strode into the library shutting the door behind her.
The pony that I recognized as Lyra was one of the most interested of them all, even dragging Bon-Bon with her to talk with me. At this point, I decided to have a little fun. When Lyra and Bon-Bon had both finally approached me, I raised my hands in the air and made an announcement.
"I, Damien the Great, will now read the minds of these two ponies!" I called out, pointing to Lyra and Bon-Bon.
They both gasped in both apprehension and excitement. I pointed toward Lyra, and rubbed my temple with my other hand, eyes closed, doing my best to impersonate a mind reader.
"I'm getting something... You're name is.... Lyra!"
Lyra and Bon-Bon recoiled a bit with excitement. Bon-Bon approached with a wide grin.
"Oh, me next! Do me, do me!"
I laughed to myself and resumed my sudo-mind-reader stance.
"You," I began. "You are called Bon-Bon."
Lyra, and Bon-Bon and the rest of the crowd all murmured together in excitement. Just then, Twilight poked her head from the library door.
"Damien!" she called out to me. "Come inside! I have to show you something!"
"But I'm just starting to meet all the nice pony-folk!" I responded.
"Now!" she replied, her authoritativeness once again shining through.
"Ok, everypony, I gotta go."
I exited the crowd despite the various "aww's" coming from several disappointed ponies. At least I was making a good first impression. I trodded over, and knelt down to fit inside the door. The inside of Twilight's Tree-library-house-thing was just about exactly the same as the TV show. A desk and a large oak table were the only furniture visible in the lower level, and a large, leather bound book lay open on the table. She approached the table, and motioned me over to it.
"You said you were from Earth, correct?" she asked me. I nodded in return. "Ok. I've only ever heard of Earth once, and it was in this book." I peered down at the large, seemingly ancient book. Sure enough, it was written in English.
"It says here," she began. "That Equestria is one of few worlds formed by the Creation."
"The Creation?" I asked skeptically.
"The Creation was when everything in existence was... well... created. It says here that more than one world was created, the one known being Equestria. It also mentions that certain worlds were kept running by different forces, ours being magic. Another surprising thing it mentions is the possible characteristics of another world, whose name in what has been translated from the Old Language, sounds strikingly similar to Earth.
"You see in the Old Language, the 'th' sound we use didn't exist, and was instead replaced with the 't' sound. The book details 'Ert' to have striking similarities to Equestria, but at the same time to be altogether different. It says while our world is held together with magic, 'Ert's' bonds that keep it in check are more... 'automated and physical.' It goes on to say that all of these worlds have a certain bond between them; one greater than magic, or any other natural force."
I stood there, mouth agape, reading the same page over and over. Sure enough, "Ert" was written several times on the page, detailing how reactions on "Ert" were performed automatically, by some force other than magic. Every good brony knows that the Sun and Moon in Equestria are raised and lowered by the two Royal Princess Sisters. This book, however, was able to accurately determine the force that kept the forces on "Ert" in tact.
Twilight kept reading. "According to this, Ert and Equestria are two completely different worlds, with some kind of bond that goes beyond the bounds of magic and science."
"So what you're saying," I said, still trying to grasp the situation, "Is that I'm on a completely different planet?"
Twilight looked at me, and shook her head slowly. "No. According to the book... You're in a different realm of existence."