================================================================================
Chapter 4; Day 1
================================================================================
"So you're telling me that I'm in some sort of crazy time-space paradox or something?!" I asked Twilight, halfway between frustration and bewilderment.
"I don't know what happened, so I can't give you an answer," she replied in a tone that was surprisingly calming. "I've searched all over my library, and I couldn't find anything about traveling between worlds. As far as I'm aware, nopony even knows that there are other worlds besides Equestria. I doubt that even the Princess knows anything. You may be here for a long time."
I sat down on a bench that was clearly too small for me, and shook my head. Sure, it's every brony's dream to come to Equestria, but to be stuck here? What if I were stuck here for the rest of my life? What if I had to live among an alien species for the rest of my days? Was this what I really wanted? Don't get me wrong, Equestria was a wonderful place, and if I were to live there forever, then I guess I'd be perfectly okay with that, but something about leaving your old life, no matter how uneventful it is just seems... strange.
"So what now?" I asked the purple unicorn. "I mean, what do I do?"
Twilight shrugged. "Adjust," she said plainly.
"Adjust?" I repeated.
"You know, meet ponies, make friends, talk to the neighbors... You don't seem like any kind of threat, so I'm not concerned about that..."
"Where am I going to live until this all blows over?" I asked incredulously.
She gave the pony equivalent of a shrug. "I'm sure I can arrange for one of the town Inns to let you stay." She walked up to me, and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "It'll be all right," she said, obviously struggling at sympathy.
I could only look at her, and let a half-hearted smile out. "Thanks, Twi."
I got up, and began to head for the door.
"Where ya going?" she asked.
"Adjusting," I said with a little smile. I opened Twilight's door, and walked out into Ponyville town square with a sigh. Well what do I do first? I didn't have time to answer myself before a pink blur crashed into me. I landed flat on my back with a loud oomph and opened my eyes. There, mere inches away from my face, were the eyes of a familiar rambunctious pink party pony.
"Hi!" she said, obviously eager to make my acquaintance.
"Uh, hi," I replied, allowing a small laugh to escape.
"I'm Pinkie Pie, who are you?"
"I'm Damien, bu-"
"Nice to meet you Damien, how are you?"
"Um, I'm under a little bit of pressure," I replied, glancing down at my chest, which Pinkie was currently standing on.
"Oh... Right, sorry," she said sheepishly, as she stepped off my chest, and allowed me to stand once more. I dusted myself off, and faced Pinkie, who was already preparing her verbal barrage of sentences.
"Soooo you must be new here, because I've never seen you before, and I know every pony- and I do mean eeeeeeevery pony in Ponyville, and the fact that I've never seen you just doesn't add up!"
"Uh-huh..."
"And since you're new here, that must mean you've never met anypony here, I mean, unless you have family here, but judging by your appearance, and the fact that nopony in Ponyville looks like you, that's not the case, and if that's not the case, then that means you haven't made any friends yet, and if you haven't made any friends yet, I figure I could get a couple friends and meet you at Sugarcube corner, now doesn't that make sense?"
"Makes sense..."
"Good! I'll see you at Sugarcube corner at eight!" With that, she was off.
Guess I should've seen that coming, I thought to myself. With a heavy exhale, I started down what I assumed was the main street of Ponyville. Lyra and Bon-Bon were both sitting on a bench just off the road, and waved, and I, of course waved back. In the distance, I could see the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing some sort of tag game in a field. The smell of baked goods wafted from Sugarcube corner, and teased at my nostrils. In my trance, I hadn't even noticed a certain grey mail pony flying directly at me. I couldn't react in time, and we collided with a rather heavy thud. By the time I was up and dusting myself off, Derpy was firing off apologies.
"I'm sorry, so sorry. Sorry sorry sorry. Please don't be mad," she said, scrambling to pick up the various letters that had fallen out of her bag.
"It's fine. No harm done," I said to her, as I started picking up the letters. Her mood picked up immediately, as she faced me, the familiar grin on her face a little contagious.
"Hey, could you help me with all this?" she asked, her smile widening.
I couldn't help but to smile in return. "Uh, sure. Why not?"
"Yay!" She took my hand, and tugged, dragging me along.
"Hey," I laughed, "where exactly are we going?"
"I still have to deliver the mail to the West side of Ponyville," she said with a cheery tone.
I looked up at the sky, and took note of the position of the sun. "But we're going North!"
After about a good four hours, our job was complete and Derpy's mailbag was finally empty. We'd begun to walk back to Ponyville town square when she turned to me, mouth agape with a gasp of excitement.
"I have an idea!"
"Lay it on me, Derpy," I said, still being won over by her over-excitable nature.
"We should go see Rainbow Dash!" she shouted, now, tip-hoofing in a manner similar to what I'd imagine a small filly would. Rainbow was one of my favorite ponies, and I was supposed to acquaint myself with the town, so it would be an opportunity to familiarize myself.
"Uh, ok, sounds fun," I said.
Once again, she took hold of my hand, and begun dragging me along, eager to introduce me to her favorite pegasus.
"This is going to be so much fun!" she said, mouth once again parted in a somewhat childlike manner. "We can tell scary stories, or make macaroni art, or bake muffins!"
"I like muffins," I replied, playing into her excitement.
"My favorite muffin is banana," she said contently.
"I'm more fond of blueberry, myself."
"Rainbow Dash!!!"
I was a little bit surprised by the sudden shout, but looking ahead, I realized what she was calling for. About thirty feet up, sleeping lazily on a small puff of a cloud was a fimiliar cyan and rainbow colored weather pony. The slumbering mare perked up, and peered over the cloud.
"Oh, hey Derpy- whoa... What's that?" she asked, pointing a foreleg at me.
"Nice to meet you too," I called back, adding a bit of not unfriendly sarcasm.
Rainbow floated down to ground level, and circled around me, inspecting up and down, as if I were some sort of ancient statue.
"Sorry," she began. "You just look... Well, weird."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Well where I'm from, you guys would look little weird too." Derpy stood to the side, not paying much attention to the conversation, but instead choosing to carefully track the movements of a butterfly that had drifted over.
"Fair enough, but where are you from anyway?" she asked me. "The Everfree Forest or something?"
"I'm from far away," I responded. "You can ask Twilight if you want the whole story."
"Ehh, I'm not exactly in the mood for a lecture."
I laughed, and glanced at my watch, which, to my surprise, still worked. "Oh, crap."
"Crap?" Rainbow repeated. "What's that?"
"It's something we say when we're frustrated where I come from."
"Why are you frustrated?" asked Derpy, who was now wandering back in to the conversation.
"Pinkie said she wanted to meet me at Sugarcube Corner at eight. It's almost eight now, and I don't want to be late. Pinkie doesn't seem like the kind of pony you'd want to keep waiting."
Rainbow simply slipped her forelegs under my arms, and took flight, bringing me along with her.
"Come on, Derpy!" Rainbow called back to the grey pegasus.
"Hey, whoa! Be careful!" I shouted, as we lifted a good fifty feet in the air.
"Just relax. And welcome aboard Dash Air."
I laughed inwardly at the corny joke, but was filled with terror as she blasted off, screaming through the air just feet above the shingled roofs of the town.
"Slow down, a bit!"
"You'll be fine! Besides, we're almost there!"
I looked ahead, and sure enough, Sugarcube Corner was nearing fast. We approached it, and Rainbow landed; much more smoothly than take-off, I might add. She set me down, and I eventually found my land-legs. Derpy was staring at me with a simple smile. Oh, Derpy, I thought to myself, shaking my head. I recovered from my mild stupor, and approached the door of Sugarcube Corner. The windows were dark, and not a single sign of life could be seen.
I knocked on the door, half expecting the place to be empty; the door creaked open. All was dark inside. I stepped into the central area near the stairway, Rainbow Dash and Derpy following shortly after.
SURPRISE!!!
In an instant, the entire space was bright, and at least a hundred ponies seemed to appear from nowhere, all smiling and laughing. Streamers hung from the ceilings, punch and soda sat on various tables around the room. Pinkie even got DJ Pon3 to show. Beats thumped through the room, sending energetic vibes all around. My initial reaction of surprise, or, well... terror, was replaced with amazement. Pinkie was the first to approach me.
"How do you like it?" she asked happily.
"Pinkie, this is amazing! I really can't thank you enough for this!" I knelt down to her level and gave her a big bear hug.
"Glad ya like it! Hey, you still haven't met the rest of the gang!"
With that, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy all approached.
"Nice to meet ya, stranger. I'm Applejack." She extended a hoof, and I grabbed hold. I didn't expect a creature as small as her to have such a firm handshake- err, well, hoofshake, and was taken a bit off guard.
"Likewise. I'm Damien," I replied, still recovering a bit from the greeting.
Next to approach was Rarity. "I've never seen such an interesting creature. I can't wait to make some designs for you!" Classic Rarity.
Fluttershy pushed Applejack and Rarity apart, and unlike her normally shy nature- or, at least, that's what the show indicated- inspected me, and blasted me with a myriad of questions.
"Oh, my goodness, what species are you? What do you eat? Why is your species so tall? How did you get here? Oh, I have so many questions."
Applejack grabbed her by the shoulders, and plopped her down next to her. "Now, now, I'm sure that Damien has had a long day. Let's just let him enjoy the party."
I smiled to all six of them who, by now, were in their familiar group. "Thanks, you guys. Really, you didn't have to do this."
"Oh, but we did, Darling," replied Rarity, "it's only fit that we greet such a special guest properly." I could only smile in response, as everypony dispersed and mingled. I turned around to close the door, and noticed Derpy standing near the door, looking down at the floor.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.
"I wasn't invited... I- I better leave," replied Derpy, voice close to breaking.
"Well, Derpy, consider yourself officially invited! It is my party isn't it?"
Her eyes lit up, and a smile from ear to ear formed on her face.
"Really? You mean it?"
"Of course," I laughed. "Now, come on. Enjoy the party!"