Incident 1- "Welcome to Equestria”
It was the night before college. It was far from my first "first day", so I shouldn't have been so nervous, right?
Whether or not I should be nervous didn't matter. I knew what I wanted, and what I had to do to get there. I wanted to be a professional programmer, and nobody was going to ruin that for me.
Or, so I thought that night before. I was sitting in my room close to midnight listening to soft music and worrying my head off. Every time I tried to sleep, I thought about me going into the wrong classroom, or something a dumb 6th grader would do. Finally, my phone rang, grabbing my full attention. I checked the caller ID to find my sister calling. I reluctantly reached for the phone before deciding to answer it.
"Hello, Aj?" asked the voice on the other side. "The fact you're still up means you can't sleep, right?" I chucked in my sleep deprived state.
"You're getting better at this whole psychology thing," I complimented her. "Although that was easy. Tell me what I'll say next."
"You're going to tell me why you can't sleep of course." I sighed and rested my head on the pillow to my bed.
"That should be obvious," I remarked. "Why else would I not be able to sleep the day before college?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," she said with a chuckle. "Don't worry, college isn't as scary as it seems. Plus, aren't you like 18? I thought you said the butterflies in your stomach were things of the past."
"First of all, I'm 17. Second of all, what about you? Don't you have a huge fear of spiders?"
"Hey! Fears and nervousness are two different things." I could basically hear her shiver through the phone. "I hate those stupid spiders. Anyway, I've got to go. Tell dad and Bery I said hi and that I'll be there to see you leave, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," I said. Closing my eyes. I'll tell them in the morning." The phone made a low beep sound before shutting the screen off. Finally, I was able to shut my eyes and fall asleep.
The next morning was a rush. When I opened my eyes, I woke up to my younger sister, Bery standing over me, shaking me up.
“Hey Aj, it’s 8 already! Get up or you’ll be late!” At that sentence, I felt like I was already up, and into my pants, I jolted up so fast. After my initial shock and the realization that I had to get there to see my new roommate before my introductory class started, I started doing the math. Considering the college was about an hour from home, and to be on time for my class I had to be there at 10, I was pretty freaking worried.
"Thank you so much Bery," I said grabbing her in a hug. "Where's Rin and dad?"
"They're downstairs thinking you had major pre college jitters," she explained. "They sent me up to check on you, but it seems like you were as calm as a butterfly."
"Heh, irony," I said to myself before shaking my head. "Nevermind, tell them I'll be around in 45 minutes, okay?” She nodded her head vigorously, grabbed me in another tight hug, and ran out of my room, closing the door behind her.
In a fit a paranoia last night, I laid the clothes I wanted to wear out the night before, meaning all I needed to do was take my shower, groom myself, dress and get out. The only problem was, I’m no Speedy Gonzalez. It takes me about 45 minutes to do all that stuff thoroughly. Unless I wanted to leave in soaking clothes with my short, black hair uncombed and messy, I was going to take my time.
After hopping out of the shower at 8:32, I dried off and proceeded to work with my hair. I can’t even count how many times Rin called me more feminine than her just because I care for my hair.
Finally, after a combing, I looked at my bed, where my clothes lie. I donned a pair of black jeans and a grey long sleeve shirt. Over it, I wore a white pullover hoodie. I picked my normal black and white pair of sneakers my dad told me to clean a week in advance and hastily put them on. Finally, I grabbed my two suitcases full with my laptop, flash drive and clothes and scrambled downstairs to my two sisters and dad.
“Finally!” said Rin, my older sister. She was dressed in a lovely red dress that went down to her ankles. Under the dress, I could see she was wearing some sort of leggings that draped down the middle of her calves. Completing the royal look was a pair of expensive slippers. “Are you done? We’ve got an hour to get to your campus, and I’m not sure you’ll make your class.”
“What was even taking so long?” asked my father. Unlike my sister, he apparently didn’t think it was such a grand event. He wore regular worn jeans with a black t-shirt that was too big for him. He was a short man, shorter than even me, but his voice was still intimidating. “What, you trying to be late or something?”
“No, but standing here talking about it isn’t helping anyone,” I commented. “Let’s go before I’m really late.”
We all got into the car which was already started. Rin took the wheel, my dad took the shotgun seat, and I was in the back with Bery. Although I couldn’t wait to see what my roommate looked like, I also wanted the car to break down so I couldn’t get there. Nevertheless, the ride continued as normal. A bit later, Bery tapped me on the shoulder.
“Hey Aj, are you scared?” she asked.
“Of course not,” I lied. “It’s not like this is my first-”
“He terrified, Bery,” said Rin, receiving an evil eye from me. “It’s okay to be afraid, you know. I was when I first went to college.”
“Hmph,” grunted my dad. “That’s cause you’re a girl, Rin. I don’t expect that from my son.”
"A girl you allowed to take judo lessons," she retorted. The two stared at eachother for a bit until the light turned green.
“Well I think it’s okay,” said Bery. “I’m not going to make fun of you.”
“Thanks,” I said, closing my eyes. “You know for a kid, you’re pretty insightful.”
“What does insightful mean?” I smirked in her direction.
“It means you’re very smart,” said Rin. “And I hope you continue to be.” As Bery smiled and the mood in the car lightened, the butterflies in my stomach started to fly away. I actually started to feel better about going into the next chapter of my life.
Arriving on the scene, I instantly retracted my earlier thought.
Considering I was already late, I shouldn’t have been surprised when they dropped me off, said “bye!” in a reassuring tone, and drove off, leaving me to my own thoughts. I rushed towards the dorms and stopped right in the dorm office, panting and sweaty. The dorm manager looked up at me through his own glasses, probably confused.
“Can I assist you?” he asked politely.
“Yes, um, I uh, have a room-”
“Ah yes,” he said, sorting through his keys. “Don’t worry. You’re not the last latecomer. Your room number?”
“I uh, think it’s 203,” He sorted through the keys, finally picking one out of the group and handing it to me.
“If you’re right, you should be pair up with a… Silver? That must be a mistake or something. Ask him his real name when you get there.”
“Thanks,” I said bolting up to my room. Finally reaching the door, I took a few deep breaths. How bad could this Silver guy be? Then I thought about all that could go wrong. College has a way of matching you up with either the best person ever or the worst person you’ll ever meet. It also didn’t care which one you got. Fed up with my nervousness, I slowly opened the door. As the door opened, I found myself looking at a blinding light. After allowing my eyes to adjust, I looked into a strange setting.
Two women were inside the room I'd entered, both lying on the floor panting. A few seconds passed and one of these women looked towards the door, her eyes growing in surprise.
"S-sorry, is this the wrong room-"
"Lyra, it worked!" she squealed. "A human's here! I knew we'd get it eventually!"
"Are you sure he's not another earth pony?" said the other one with a disheartened tone. "Cause by now, I think I'll just take an F."
"No, really, he has no tail." The other woman popped up and looked at me as well.
"I can't believe it," she gasped. "I cannot believe it actually worked! Twilight, You're a genius!"
"I try," she said in a happy tone. "So, what do we do now?"
"How about telling me what's going on here?" I asked. "Are either of you Silver?"
"Silver?" asked the women in harmony. "Who's that?"
"Okay, neither of you two are Silver," I observed. I sighed and looked over the two. "So who are you two exactly?" The woman who saw me first stood up.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, student at Celestial Academy, magic division." Both her name and the school name threw me off. "Next to me here is my friend and roommate at Celestial, Lyra Heartstrings, anthropology extraordinaire."
"Pleased to meet you human," said Lyra tipping a metaphorical hat. "Welcome to Equestria."
"E-Equestria?" I asked surprisingly. "What's that?"
"It's our kingdom, ruled by the Princesses Celestia and Luna," said Twilight. "We used a great deal of magic to bring you from your world to ours, so we hope you enjoy your stay."
"My stay? W-wait, no, I can't stay, have an introductory class-" I checked my phone, seeing to check the time. It read 1:25. I took some time to contemplate what was going on.
“What’s your name?” asked the one named Twilight Sparkle.
“You can call me Aj,” I said, my voice unnaturally shaky. “B-but, I need to get to my class now-”
“B-but,” stuttered the one named Lyra Heartstrings. “We still need you here.”
“What would you want from me? Did you just want to see what a human looks like before sending me back?” Lyra and Twilight looked between each other, both with a look of nervousness in their eyes. Finally, Lyra turned to me and sighed.
“Well, you see, I kinda boasted to our classmates that I’d bring something new to the table. After forming a partnership with Twilight, she helped me summon you to this world, the purpose being to study you.” She chuckled nervously. “Knowing that, I also want you to know that you can’t leave this world for about… a month.”
“Oh, no… Rin is gonna kill me, dad is gonna kill me, my professors are gonna kill me…”
“W-well it’s not all bad,” said Lyra in an attempt to comfort me. “Look at the bright side.”
“What bright side?”
“I don’t know, but when we find it, we should look on it.” I sighed and tried to collect my thoughts. “Okay, so what’s the first thing I have to-”
“Twilight and Lyra!” said a voice loudly from behind me. I moved out of the way for a short, bright white skinned woman wearing a light pink blouse with a similar skirt all accented with gold. She also wore glasses covering her bright pink eyes. “Explain to me why I felt a large wave of energy coming from this location. And why there is a man in the dorms!”
“Fleur, don’t you see?” asked Lyra. “We did it. We summoned a human to this world.” Fleur made a complete 180, walked up to me and stared me in the eyes.
“You’re a human? I see they’re not as impressive as you made them seem, Lyra Heartstrings.” She backed up, pushed her glasses up on her face and flashed a clipboard into her hand. “It is still a violation to have unauthorized men in the women’s dorm. I expected better from you, at least, Twilight.” She wrote something down and ripped it off, apparently levitating it towards Lyra’s hands. Finally, she used her finger to call me towards her. “You, with me. Now.”
“Where are we going, exactly?” I asked. “Where should I leave these bags?”
“Wait, Fleur, you can’t take him,” said Twilight. “Summoning isn’t banned or even discouraged on school grounds. We’re not breaking any rules.”
“Maybe so, but I was still uninformed that a man would be summoned, and that a summoning of this caliber would be performed. Therefore, I’ve decided that this must be reported to Celestia.”
“No need, Ms. Dis Lee,” said a voice from behind me, startling me once again. A tall woman with bright white skin similar to Fleur's and long rainbow colored hair stood there. She surveyed the entire room, her eyes dabbling on the others, but stuck onto me. "I am right here."
"So, what is your opinion on the matter, Princess?" asked Fleur in a less than firm tone. Celestia's eyes did not deviate from my own.
"Well done Lyra and Twilight," she said, stunning Fleur. "This magic is very complicated, and I am glad to see you two managed to actually summon a human." After a while, words started to fade and all I could hear was a ringing.
"B-but, Princess," fumbled Fleur. "Rules are rules after all. They are put in place for our safety and well being."
"That is true, which is why I leave you with this," the long white horn I hadn't noticed before started glowing a yellow color. "Not only do I allow this human here, but I condone any and all experiments done. That is all." The flash of light seemed to free me from the spell she put me under. Fleur made a noise in defeat before walking past me. I shook my head, blinked a couple of times and turned towards Twilight.
"That woman... what did she just do?"
"That was our Princess Celestia, Ruler of the Sun," explained Twilight. "She's usually very lenient to my experiments."
"B-but what did she do?" I asked again. "It was like as soon as our eyes met, I couldn't tear them away, no matter how hard I tried. I started to to feel all weird before she just vanished."
"You were probably captivated by her," explained Twilight. "I know that when I first saw her, I couldn't stop thinking about her presence for a while. You'll probably get used to it soon."
"Nevermind that," said Lyra. "Did you hear what she said? Unrestricted experimentation!"
"I am also happy that she gave us such a privilege, but I think we should allow Aj to settle into his new surroundings, don't you?" asked Twilight. She turned to me, a smile on her face. “You’d like that right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “If I’m going to be staying here, I might as well get acquainted to this place.” I walking into the room and placed my bags next to a bed. I walked into the hallway and motioned down it. “After you?”