A door opening.
A door closing.
Sounds of hooves on a wooden floor.
A reassuring voice beginning: "Hey... hey! Are you waking up, yet?"
I was laying on a table covered with a blue blanket over it for comfort, along with some pillows.
I mumbled something, straightened up, opened and closed my eyes in an attempt to get a hold of the situation: I was in a house, with dozens of books on shelves, and some littered here and there in piles: a library. It was made almost exclusively of wood, with some stairs leading up to a second floor on which there were more books, a bed, and a window looking out into the star-filled night panorama. And just sitting there, in front of me, the purple pony looking up to me with her deep attentive eyes: like a student awaiting her teacher's words. It was cute, but unsettling too.
"Umm..." Is all I could say.
She smiled heartily, "Welcome back! Your name is Charles, right? I am Twilight Sparkle, a student of Princess Celestia researching the magic of friendship here in Ponyville. I do not know if you remember very well, but you kinda passed out from blood loss about two hours ago in the Everfree Forest, and I brought you here, to my house, to help you with your burns and wounds!"
"Wait, take it slow... Princess...? Magic of friendship...? Ponyville...? What is this.. I don't even..."
The coherence of my phrases were somewhat limited by the sleepy and maladroit state I was in. A general feeling of uneasiness hung about the room: a strong atmosphere of malaise...
I was pretty damn confused about everything already, then suddenly she mentions this stuff about princesses and magic and all that friendship crap. It's just making things worse. Ugh... There's also this terrible headache I got!
"I sure have a lot of questions for you... 'Twilight... Sparkle'."
"What kind of a name is that, anyways...?"
A black pile of clothing was lying near the leg of the table, most probably my jacket..
I sigh tiredly and grumbled, covering my face with my hands and rubbing my eyes to wake me up. I look down and notice bandages covering some parts of my chest as well as the majority of my left arm, they were stained with the earth-brown tint of dried blood... I felt a discomforting irritation all over my body: quite particularly my back, where the burnt tissue was worst. (Second-degree, mostly.)
I groan again and place my arms on my bare legs.
...
My bare legs...
"WHERE ARE MY PANTS???"
I jumped in surprise and got off my resting place. I tried to stand on my feet but then an intense sensation of pain and aching overcame me due to my injuries and caused me to fall right next to the pony.
Now immobilized on the floor, I could only let out a small whimper of agony.
Twilight screamed and distanced herself in a reflex. Later realizing my distress, she approached me in a hurry.
"Oh my Celestia, are you alright?!" she exclaimed.
*Whimper*
"Oh, right!"
She tried her best to help me up, it was pretty difficult because of our proportions, but she was managing it. This, however, brought us to very close proximity, and my head was resting on her shoulders during some time. (Yeah, it was awkward.)
I remarked something interesting, though, her coat was surprisingly clean and her mane held a very peculiar scent: an aroma of... lavender; it was pleasing. (Lavender... hmm, how fitting.) So far, welcoming and cute ponies with personal hygiene and perfume! Not so bad I guess, could be worse.
Wait, but then there's the pants issue...
Now completely sitting, I felt my visage start to get warm and redden. I tried to control and dissimulate it, but then she said:
"You know I only took them off to tend to your leg burns, right? Don't get all crazy and red about it!" she giggled.
Her straight-forward response took me by surprise, but the tension between us was starting to dissipate.
I couldn't help but laugh a bit too.
"Yeah, that does make sense, I guess I was so shocked I didn't realize the obvious... :/ "
"Here they are," she said while telekinetically bringing over my pants, who were now glowing, like her horn.
My smile dropped. I now had the most stupefied expression on my face.
"How the hell did you do that??" I asked.
"Do what?"
She set down my pants on my lap.
"That! They were floating! Damn it, they were floating!"
She seemed pretty confused.
"My magic? Charles, you're not making any sense..."
"You're not making any sense! NOTHING IS MAKING ANY SENSE." I exasperatedly stated.
Using the furniture for support, I succeeded in standing up, and staying up this time. I walked slowly with a limp over to the wooden stairs and sat down on one of them. She followed me and took place right next to me.
"What's wrong?"
I had a sudden rush of information: strange new planet, pegasi and unicorns, talking ponies, princesses and magic. Shit, this is a lot to take in.
I'm pretty sure I was hyper-ventilating by now, but I must keep my cool.
"All right, calm down, Charles, no need to panic. Stop acting like a child and be a man! What do you do when you are confronted by a series of results that turn an experiment on its head, potentially ruining your conclusions and rendering all previous work useless? You do not give up, curl yourself up in a corner and cry! No, you take it in, analyze it and make sense of it all. In the end, it becomes all rational, right? Everything has a logical explanation, right? ... Who am I kidding, in the past weeks the frontier between what I thought was real and fiction has been shattered utterly, I'm pretty sure what Twilight just did broke at least a dozen laws of physics... But damn it, Charles! Simmer down and decipher your experiences... So what if nothing follows the rules you thought were to be strictly followed? What if you can change the laws of reality? Maybe this world does not abide by them at all and possesses its own set of laws? All you have are the facts, and the facts do not lie. If they contradict the rules then those rules must be changed. This is quite the thought to chew on..."
"There are many problems with what I've lived recently, Twilight. You see, my world is very much different from yours, I believe. And this is all very exotic and foreign to me..."
"I don't think I quite understand you."
"Ok. Allow me to give you some examples. Firstly, I think my world is in fact an entirely different planet."
Her face lit up when she heard this.
"Another planet?! That is amazing! Then alien life does exist, this is astounding!"
"Hmm, if you think that is strange, hear this. My planet, which bears the name of Earth, does not have unicorns or pegasi, or giant lizards and talking ponies. The only intelligent life on it are us: the humans. We dominate our world with an iron hand, modifying vast expanses of land for our use at our will. Building amazing urban centers and incredible skyscrapers... And our technology advances exponentially in a unique singularity. Every day, we become even more capable of manipulating what is around us. We have became true masters of nature, submitting it to our rule. In my world, moving around things like you did telekinetically is not possible, this 'magic' as you call it, does not exist."
She looked perplexed.
"No magic...? No ponies...?"
"Indeed, there is no 'magic', it would sound like a ridiculous concept to anyone on Earth. There are ponies, however, but they are very much different from the ponies of this land.... whatever this land is called."
"Equestria."
"Equestria? Very well. They are radically different. They do not speak, they do not think, they do not feel. They are not persons, merely animals following instincts without reason. As a matter of fact..."
I began to observe Twilight with great detail, analyzing her anatomy.
She smiled at me and shot me a confused 'What are you doing' look.
"Oh, sorry Twilight, it's just that you are a fascinating creature."
"Oh really, you think so? What a compliment to give a mare, Charles. I guess I am flattered!" she giggled cutely.
Twilight continued: "I could very well say the same about you!", and gave me a playful hit on the shoulder.
"Hehe, thanks. I did that because although you do look in a way like a pony, I noticed your physiology is really different from that of a pony where I'm from. You possess many interesting characteristics that are almost human, I'd say! Your genome is obviously completely different, therefore I think it would be somewhat misleading for you to have the same name as your Earth equivalent."
"You know, that is really interesting." Twilight said with a thoughtful look.
"Indeed."
"Well, we'll delve into pony-human genetics later. We must talk practicals now. I have some blankets and pillows we can lay on the floor for you to use as a bed for tonight, and I would not mind accommodating you as we search for a solution to your problem."
Trying to sound as posh as I could: "Why, that is most generous of you, Twilight! Indeed, I am very much grateful for your hospitality, madame Sparkle..."
"Hey! Cut it out, you're making me feel old!" she answered laughing.
"Very well then, would the lady prefer to be addressed as mademoiselle Sparkle?"
We shared a chuckle, and I felt a strange emotion grow in me, one of harmony and peace. I felt good.
"So tell me more about you, Charles. I barely know anything about you!"
"Well, where should I start? My last name is Crowne, and I lived in Montreal, a city in a country named Canada... Wait, do you have similar political entities here in Equestria? What about your leaders?"
"Yes, we do have nations here as well. There are many names for each one, but we here in Ponyville belong to one of the two pony nations: the one with Princess Celestia as our sovereign. She, along with her sister Luna, hold the title of Monarchs of Equestria, although they are only so in a de jure way, and... Ugh, it's actually really complicated... We can talk about pony politics later, they make little sense and always end up giving you a headache!"
"I am actually very interested in how Equestria works politically, but if you want we can leave that for tomorrow. So, as I was saying, I lived in Montreal, a very nice city overall, much better than many others. I wasn't however, of very high social status... I belonged to the lower-middle class, and my family was hit terribly by the economic crisis that was going on at the time... But I don't think you want to be bored by such stories."
"No, no! It's interesting! I want to know more about your family."
I raised my eyebrows.
"My family? You want to know about my family? You sure know how to pick them..."
I let out a great yawn, it was getting pretty late.
I continued: "I can tell you lots about them, but I'm exhausted and ready to hit the hay..."
"I can understand your exhaustion, but why would you want to punch your food?"
"...What? Oh! The hay, right. Oh never mind that, it's just an Earth expression...!" I said while smiling.
"Silly Twi!"
"Oh, ok, Charles. You're right, though, it is pretty late, we'll continue speaking of this tomorrow. This sure was a really informative and interesting discussion: I can't wait to write about this to Princess Celestia!"
Using 'magic' (I still can't completely believe that.), she moved the blankets and pillows to set up my bed.
"Indeed it was, Twilight. Thanks again for the sleeping accommodations."
"You're welcome, good night!"
"Good night."
"So she keeps direct correspondence with the monarch? That's interesting... It could come in useful..."
"I can certainly say today was a good day, and it feels good having a roof over your head instead of the dirt, insects and leaves I had back in the forest. I still miss my brothers, though, they must be dead worried about me. I don't know how much longer I'll be staying here, but at least I know they'll be spent in a nice way."
"You know what, Charles? Just think of this as the long, peaceful vacation you've always deserved!"
I smiled as the soothing comfort of the night took me away into my awaiting dreams...