The Embassy

by bossfight1

Day 1: Orientation

Day 1, Part 1: Orientation

Ponyville Train Station, September 23rd, 2013, 4:00 PM

The train rumbled to a stop at the platform. I hadn’t looked away from the window for the entire ride from Canterlot, so when I finally turned my head away my neck felt stiff and sore. With a small gasp of pain I reached up and rubbed my neck. I stopped and looked at my hoof, still fascinated by my new body. Barely an hour ago I’d had fingers, and while being a unicorn would have its advantages in performing tasks that required a bit of dexterity, I still found myself missing my digits.

Hell, I was already kind of missing home. Mainly my family and friends; my older sisters both lived in Oregon, and had called to wish me luck with my ‘volunteering’. Gabe and my other friends were sad to see me leave the ‘civilized world’ (‘civilized’, in this case, meaning ‘place with internet’), but they supported my decision. I wondered how everyone would take the truth once Celestia and Brushstroke revealed themselves to the world. Would they be mad at me for lying? Angry that I so eagerly went so far from home? I shook my head; Cross that bridge when you come to it, Creed...

“Okay, everypony, we’re here!” Twilight said happily, standing up from her frontmost seat. I looked up at her and smiled; I couldn’t maintain even a slightly dour attitude here, knowing we’d be doing what I didn’t think was possible. I turned in my seat and looked at the other bronies.

Derek, a pegasus with a dark blue coat, white mane and stethoscope cutie mark, was busily flexing his new wings, eager to tear up the skies. Louis was a unicorn with a bright yellow coat, a brighter mane and a wrench mark. Dana was an earth pony, her mane color unchanged, a pure white coat, and a gavel mark. Colin was an earth pony as well, with a build similar to Big Mac’s. He had a light brown coat, a creme-colored mane and a cutie mark of a drawing easel. His magnificent beard had carried over between forms.

Shakily, I pulled myself from the seat and stood in the aisle. The more I walked, the more natural walking with two new legs felt. It did feel somewhat irksome when my tail kept swinging and brushing my hind legs, but the alternative was keeping my tail rigid while walking, and I couldn’t be arsed. Carefully I followed Twilight out of the train car, and onto the platform. While we’d had our car to ourselves, we weren’t alone on the train. Other cars emptied, ponies hefting their luggage out and greeting their relatives and friends. Our own luggage was going to be sent to Ponyville ahead of us, to give us time to adjust to our new forms without having to deal with several bags at once. We passed the ticket booth and got a good view of Ponyville proper.

The town looked bigger in person; I couldn’t recognize any of these buildings, and the population seemed to be a few digits bigger than the “small village feel” the show portrayed. As Twilight stepped off the platform, I stopped, looking at the ground in wide-eyed terror. “Shit.”

Twilight turned around. “Is something wrong?”

The others stopped behind me; I could tell they knew what the problem was. “Stairs,” I said, terrified.

“Oh, Claptrap, I know your pain...” I heard Louis say behind me.

“What’s wrong with stairs?” Twilight asked, approaching. She looked at us gaze down at our new hooves with uncertainty, and her features lit up with understanding. “Oh...”

“Maybe I should have played more ‘Clop’,” Colin said.

“Okay, okay...” I said firmly. “Let’s just try to...”

I barely made the first step before, in a painful blur, I tripped and ended up with my mouth full of dirt and a massive pain in my back. I spat out my mouthful of soil. “Fucking OW...” Twilight suddenly rushed up, making shushing noises. I raised an eyebrow.

“Ponies don’t... really use... profanity...” she said hesitantly, looking around to make sure nopony had heard.

“OH! Uh--” I said before a massive weight fell on my back, knocking the wind out of me.

“Sorry...” Louis groaned as he rolled off my back. The pair of us stood up and moved away from the stairs, clearing what appeared to be the landing pad. I looked to Twilight again.

“So, wait... You know profanity here?” I asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, they’re considered to only be in the vocabulary of minotaurs, griffons, and the like... A pony uttering those words might draw a bit of attention. You guys need to look as pony-like as possible for the next couple months.” As if on cue, Dana tripped down the stairs and landed painfully. I could practically feel the stares of the nearby ponies burning into the back of my head.

Colin managed to shakily get down the stairs without tripping, to everyone’s amazement. After Derek simply jumped from the landing, slowing his descent with his wings, we headed into town. Despite Twilight’s status of Princess, she didn’t seem to be drawing that much attention, save for a few friendly greetings and waves. We appeared to be near the town center; a dozen stands lined the sides of the road, the vendors selling various goods or chatting happily with their friends and customers. Near the town hall I could make out a familiar red stallion selling apples. My smile seemed to widen a couple inches. I even think I caught an “Eeeyup” as we passed.

Rounding a corner we spotted an unfamiliar building. It was a white building, two stories tall and with a rounded roof. The front steps had tall pillars on either side of the double doors. A sign stood some distance to the building’s front left, reading ‘Ponyville Embassy’. “This is where you’ll be staying,” Twilight said, leading us up the front steps and inside.

The first room looked like an office lobby, with a desk at the front, various benches on either sides of the walls, and a spiraling staircase into the upper level. A pair of guards stood on either side of the desk, doing their usual ‘palace guard’ glares at some spot slightly above them. As Twilight passed them they each sprang into a sudden salute without a word. Twilight rolled her eyes at them as we passed and approached the staircase.

Thankfully, a mouthful of dirt motivated me to be more careful this time. Though it took me about five minutes I managed to get up the staircase with no broken bones. Upstairs looked like a college dorm, with several rooms and a common room. At the far back looked to be a decent kitchen area with all the fixings. In the center right of the common room were several cushions, all gathered in front of a table and...

“A TV?” I asked. It was a 48” widescreen, too; how the hell did they manage to get this here?

Twilight seemed to bounce at the sight of it. “Oh, yes! Princess Celestia and Brushstroke had a few things from Earth brought here for you guys. You won’t have any... cable, I think you call it, but you can use it to watch your movies and the like. I’m just so excited to see what you guys brought from Earth, I can’t wait to start learning your culture! I want to know what music you have, what stories, philosophies, history...” She descended into a rant that Pinkie Pie would be proud of. We let Twilight ramble for a minute before she finally slowed down, giving a sheepish smile. “Well, heh, your things have already been brought from Canterlot. Mr. Creed, this is your room...”

She used her magic to open a door to the room at the corner of the floor. She shut the door behind me as I entered, and I got a look at my quarters. My bags were placed on a plain yet comfortable looking bed, there was a desk against the corner next to the window with an oil lamp, quill and inkwell, and a decent-sized dresser next to the door. It was basically the plainest dorm room imaginable, but it didn’t bother me; I had simple standards for living conditions. I nodded approvingly. “I like it. Guess I should start unpa--”

I suddenly felt the pain of missing my fingers flare up. I looked at my hooves, then at the zippered bags on my bed. I glanced up at my horn, but didn’t like the idea of cremating myself on my first day in Equestria. “Hoo, boy...”

- - - - -

Thankfully, using my mouth to move the lighter stuff was quite simple, and I at least had the promise of learning magic to manage bulkier loads. I still had to wait to get my laptop out, but that was hardly my biggest priority.

With my things all unloaded I threw myself onto the bed, bouncing on it experimentally. Just touching the thing made me want to doze off. I lay back on my pillow and gazed at the ceiling. I tilted my head at the lighting fixture in the center of the ceiling, and looked near the door. On the wall next to it was a light switch. Sitting up, I realized there were a few electric plugs around the room.

I’m pretty sure ponies had access to electricity already, I thought. That or they’ve snuck a few bits of human tech here like that TV. I hopped out of the bed and noticed a small mirror on top of my new dresser. Instinctively I made to inspect it, but stopped. This was the first time I’d see my pony self. I worried that my brain would freak out about it, but slowly decided to bite the bullet. I peered into the mirror.

Thankfully, my brain had prepared to face the transition. I had a thick mustache and what appeared to be a goatee. My eyes were a bright shade of red, and my black mane was a bit of a mess. While I wasn’t freaking out, the face I was looking at did not feel like my own. “Maybe someday you won’t look like such a stranger...” I muttered.

I turned and approached the door, but stopped. It had a round doorknob. Why in the hell would there be doorknobs in a society deprived of fingers? “Crap.” Resigning myself to the imminent slapstick, I leaned forward and wrapped my gob around the metal knob. It tasted like it had been recently washed. Gagging, I bit down and tilted my head to turn the knob. After a painful minute of my teeth failing to grip the knob, I managed to turn it enough to be able to open the door.

Spitting the taste out of my mouth, I entered the common room. Twilight was alone there, fiddling with the TV remote in her magic, scrutinizing every button, trying to discern their meaning. I cleared my throat and got her attention. “Oh, hi! All settled in?” She asked.

I nodded. “Nice digs we have here; you guys really went the extra mile for lil’ ole us.”

Twilight giggled. “Really, it’s nothing compared to how much our peoples could gain. Think about it! Pegasi aiding humanity in maintaining weather, magic helping to cure human diseases, human technology advancing ponykind’s by hundreds of years, over the course of a few months!” Her eyes glimmered with the promise.

“That’s assuming we can play nice with the ponies, which is a safe bet,” I said. My eyes fell on the remote. “You’re trying to figure that out, aren’t you.”

Twilight looked at the remote again. “Some of these buttons make no sense...” she murmured. “What does ‘VOL’ mean?”

“Oh, joy...” I muttered, not quietly enough, judging by Twilight giving me a deadpan look. I braced myself for Basic Tech 101 when a door opened and Colin came out.

“Hooves suck,” he said simply.

“Agreed,” I deadpanned.

“You’ll get used to them,” Twilight said cheerfully. “Once everypony’s ready we can talk about what we’ll be doing here.”

“Sounds good,” Colin said as he sat on a cushion next to me. “By the way, I don’t think I’ve heard about what you do for a living, Aaron.”

“Just ‘Creed’, thanks,” I said. “And I was hoping I’d be a game writer. Help the industry finally break free of all that ‘games aren’t art’ bullsh... crap. And also, hopefully avoid making certain... mistakes.” A vision of me hurling my copy of Mass Effect 3 out the window, screaming in rage, flashed in my mind. (Yes, I was still bitter. AND STILL AM.) “So, what about you?”

“I grew up in Michigan,” Colin said. “I graduated from Columbia College with an art degree. My passion’s always been drawing...” he peered at his hooves. “...which I guess I’ll have to learn how to do with my mouth now.” (I forced a ‘that’s what she said’ back down my throat.) “My passion really started after ponies came into my life.”

I nodded. “Lots of bronies say the same thing.”

Twilight tilted her head in thought. “Huh... We’ve had a real impact on you guys, huh?”

We nodded. “Honestly, that’s what Celes- uh, the Princesses were hoping for, wasn’t it?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said. She looked honored at the whole ordeal. “Still... I didn’t think Equestria would mean so much to you.” We smiled at her warmly. “What brought you guys to the show?”

“In all honesty?” I asked, rubbing the back of my head. “Curiosity. It’s what brought a LOT of folks to the show. We just heard that the latest incarnation of My Little Pony actually didn’t suck, that it was made by a really talented cartoonist, and that we should give it a chance.”

Colin shrugged. “I just heard it was a good show and decided to check it out.”

“I struggled with trying it out for a couple months,” I said. “Then one night I practically threw up my hands and said ‘FINE!!’ Twenty minutes later, I’d finished watching the first episode, I clicked on episode 2 and said ‘...Well, shit.’”

“Sounds familiar,” Colin laughed. The three of us laughed as Dana, Louis and Derek came out of their rooms.

“Okay, now that everypony’s here,” Twilight said as the laughing died down. “Let’s talk about what we’ll be doing here for the next couple months.” As the rest of us sat down, Twilight walked over to the front of the room. “All of you are to simply find ways to make a living in Ponyville. Find a job somewhere, have a presence here, help the ponies warm up to you.”

I raised a hoof. “That kind of feels like we’re just spying on them...” I said.

“Well, a fear the princesses have is that the ponies will believe that humans, with their history, are barbaric monsters,” Twilight said. “If you guys can fit in well enough, ponykind might see that humans are not entirely different to them, once the news breaks.”

“So, who else knows the truth?” Dana asked.

“Well, my friends know...” Twilight began.

“So, the Mane Six...” I said offhandedly. Twilight raised an eyebrow; I gave my mane a meaningful bop. “‘Mane’ Six. The Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “Anyway, Spike and Mayor Mare also know. Other than that, this is a pretty tight circle we have.”

“So what’s our story to tell the ponies if they ask?” Louis asked.

“You are all immigrants from the distant pony nation of Amareica,” Twilight began. Derek, Colin and I snickered while Louis and Dana rolled their eyes good naturedly. “What?” Twilight asked.

“It- It’s nothing...” I said between giggles. “We just realized we’re just gonna have to deal with more horse puns than before.”

“W-what’s wrong with puns?” Twilight asked, confused. “Everywhere in Equestria is named like that!”

“Not the same on Earth,” Dana said, grinning madly. “We don’t have ‘Humanville’.”

“Or ‘Walkburg’,” Derek chimed in.

“Or ‘Babyton’,” Colin said. We laughed for a bit before calming down and letting Twilight continue.

“Anyway, you’ll be the first Amareicans to move to Equestria, while the Princesses manage diplomatic relations,” Twilight continued. “So, more or less the truth... in substance, at least.”

“Won’t people question where Amareica is?” I asked.

“Ponyville is the only town that knows about ‘Amareica’,” Twilight explained. “And they’ve been informed to keep things under wraps. As far as anypony from out of town knows, the Ponyville Embassy is an all-purpose facility for griffons, minotaurs and the like.” When noone else had any more questions, Twilight continued. “Now, in order to fit in properly, you should leave any human technology you brought with you here in the Embassy. Avoid using human terminology, or profanity, as I mentioned... what else... Oh! And I know you’re familiar with quite a few ponies already, but it would be best if you pretend otherwise when you meet, oh, I don’t know, Time Turner or Bon Bon...” (Squee! I thought.)

“And avoid glomping ponies,” Derek contributed.

“‘Glomping’?” Twilight asked. “Do I want to know...?”

“Glomping,” I said informatively. “The act of simultaneously tackling and hugging someone. Usually performed out of overzealous love.” I thought about it for a moment. “Though we might be unable to hide smiling like idiots once we meet, for example, Trixie.”

“Trixie--?” Twilight asked, but she shook her head and got back on track. “That’s fine. Lastly, I think it would be prudent for you all to come up with pony-like names. Creed, I think your last name will suffice.”

“Sketch Pad,” Colin said instantly. “...What? It’s what I’ve always wanted my OC to be named...” he added, after noticing our stares.

Louis, Derek and Dana took a bit longer to create their names. “...Bolt Crank?” Louis eventually said, as if he was guessing. “Since I was majoring in engineering...”

“...Due… Process?” Dana said slowly, fluffing her mane while examining her cutie mark.

“Heart Rate,” Derek said, a bit more confidently. “Yeah, it might be taken by somepony else, but that’ll probably happen here, right?”

“Not very often,” Twilight said. “But it’ll do fine. Now, I think that’s everything. What say we give you guys the tour of town?”

All five of us jumped up with a small cheer and scurried for the door before Twilight could react. We hurried down the stairs and waited in the lobby, bouncing in place while Twilight descended the stairs with a bemused expression.

- - - - -

Speaking only for myself, the excitement for the tour was not just to see the town itself, but to meet the ponies we’d practically been worshipping for the past three years. Twilight’s first stop was to head to the library to check on Spike. The Golden Oaks Library was taller than I’d expected, easily twice as tall as my own house. The tree itself looked older, and there were a great deal of fallen leaves at the base of the tree.

Twilight swung the door inwards and let us in. “Spike! We have visitors!” The inside of the library had that feel of “bigger on the inside”; after all those Human fics I’d read, where the humans would need to duck under doors, this place seemed comfortably sized. Other than that, though, the show had done it justice. There were multiple shelves in the walls, a staircase leading to the upper levels, a table in the center of the room, and a door in the far wall leading into the kitchen.

We heard the sound of a broom clattering to the floor in the kitchen. The kitchen door swung open, and a purple blur came speeding out and up to us. “Is this them?! The ‘hum-muns’?!”

Spike seemed to have grown from the events of the show. His eyes looked more reptilian, he was at about eye level with me, rather than at the base of my neck, and a pair of bulges in his back hinted his wings growing. His voice had deepened somewhat, and the fins on his head were growing longer and farther apart.

“Humans, Spike,” Twilight corrected. “‘Hyoo-men’. And yes, this is them.”

“Man, I’ve got so many questions!” Spike said eagerly.

I held out a hoof. “I’m Creed, and it’s great to meet you.” Spike reached out to shake my hoof, but I shook my head. “Nah, nah, bro-hoof. Make a fist and bump it.” Spike did so and chuckled at the act. Spike introduced himself to the others while I checked out the books on the shelves. A variety of them were history books, biographies, magic how-to’s, and the like. After a minute I decided to look at a beginner’s level magic book. Since telekinesis was still an unknown to me, I had to pull it out with my mouth, carry it over to the table in the center of the room, and lay it flat. With my tounge I flipped to chapter one.

“Let’s see... foreword by the author, skip...” Lick. “Warning that magic is not a toy, skip- man, I’m gonna get a paper cut the way I keep flipping these...” A certain Happy Tree Friends Smoochie came to mind, and I shuddered. “...HERE we go... ‘Basic Telekinesis’...” Apparently unicorns had a dormant link of energy between their brains and their horns. With sufficient focus, the energy could be manipulated and shaped into what the caster willed. It was all just a matter of willpower. “Not unlike a Green Lantern ring, actually...” I mused aloud.

“A green what?” I spun around to see Twilight peering over my shoulder.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just seeing what I can learn about magic before I make my first inevitably disastrous attempt,” I said.

“If it’s telekinesis you’re starting with, don’t worry,” Twilight said. “Levitation is the first spell every unicorn learns. Here, try lifting this book.”

I turned to look at the book and took a steady breath. I ‘reached out’ to my horn with my brain. A low warmth surrounding my horn and a faint glow out of the upper reaches of my vision told me I was on the right track. Focusing, I looked at the book. A dim red glow surrounded it. “Yes, yes, that’s it!” Twilight said excitedly.

“Awesome!” I said.

“Dude, will you show me how to do that?” Louis asked. I glanced his way; the momentary distraction seemed to give the book the impression that I wanted it to fly over and smack Louis right in the face, and it was happy to oblige.

Whack. Louis flew back, clutching his muzzle and groaning. “Crap!” I said. I willed the book back over to the desk and let it go as I ran over to Louis. “Crap, crap, crap, I’m so sorry!!”

“It’s cool...” Louis said, checking to make sure he wasn’t bleeding.

“Facebook,” Derek laughed. “You’re doing it wrong.” I raised an eyebrow at him and my horn lit up. The book dutifully floated up beside my head. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Derek laughed, shielding his face with his hooves. Smirking I replaced the book on the table. I turned to see Twilight barely able to hide a smile herself.

I lit up my horn and gazed at the tip at the peak of my vision. “I wanna be able to do more than just levitate stuff...” I said. “You think you could teach me some tricks?”

Twilight stammered. “I, I don’t know, almost everything I learned, I learned from the Princess, I don’t know if I can be anywhere near as good a teacher...”

I held up a hoof. “If you can teach me to do some magic that doesn’t end up blowing me sky high, that’ll be enough for me.” I put on my best puppy dog eyes. “Please?” Twilight didn’t say anything; I realized that male characters on the show never had any major ‘cute’ moments, and saw the fault in my plan.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “All right, I’ll help, if only to keep you from hurting yourself.” She turned to Spike. “We’re going around town to introduce our guests to our friends.”

Spike groaned in disappointment. “But there’s so much I want to know!”

Colin gave him an encouraging nudge. “Hey, don’t worry buddy, we’ll be here for months. Stop by the Embassy sometime, we’ll answer any questions you have.” Spike grinned at him excitedly.

“Until then, we should get going,” Twilight said. “We only have a couple hours of sunlight left.”

“We’re gonna meet the rest of the Mane Six?” Louis asked eagerly, his reddened nose forgotten.

Twilight giggled. “Yep! Now, Carousel Boutique is the closest...”

“Actually,” I interrupted. “I vote we meet your friends in the order you got to know them when you got to Ponyville. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “...Oh, come on, every brony knows the order,” I said, defensively.

“Does it really matter?” Dana asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Fair enough; let’s head to Sweet Apple Acres.”

Comments

[dustor7689]

But the order usually starts/ends with some type/form of pain/arrest/death.