The Sound of a Heartbeat

by Orion97

Introducing The Alien

"Hey, hey,wake up, we're here. You got 5 seconds to get up and don't think I won't drag you off that seat. 5...4...3..." A mare's voice woke me up from my sleep. My eyes adjusted from the blur of slumber just enough to confirm it was Vinyl Scratch reaching for my legs, ready to fulfill her promise.

I tried my best to wake up quickly but I was just a moment too slow and found my face about to collide with the floor. Luckily Vinyl seemed to be in a good mood since she used her magic to stop me just a few inches from the ground, then set me down gently.

I let out a breath of relief after my near collision; I've fallen face first on the floor before and it was not pleasant.

"Oh come on, you know I'm not that cruel, but you do need to get up, I've fallen asleep on the train before and ended up all the way in Phillydelphia." Vinyl chimed as she led the way off the train and into the station.

Just as we walked away from the train station she turned around to tell me something. "I know I said Twilight could probably help but I don't know for sure, even if she does it'll probably be a while before you can go home."

"It's alright, I suppose I can find somewhere to sleep" I breathed, I had no clue where I'd stay, not only was I a stranger here I was completely broke as well.

"Well if you'd like, you're welcome to stay at my place, there's plenty of room in it." Vinyl offered kindly.

I perked up right away now that I wouldn't have to sleep in an alley or something. "Don't get too excited hotshot, I'm not that easy." She winked back at me before laughing to herself, leaving me with a dumb looking expression of embarrassment and confusion.

"Take it easy, I'm just having a little fun with ya, let's hurry up and get to Twilight's though, no sense in standing here all day." She said before leading the way once more. Before I knew it we had reached a huge tree-house like structure in the middle of town. If things in the show really did correlate to this place then that would be Twilight Sparkle's place.

Vinyl knocked on the door and we waited for only a breath of time before the door opened revealing Twilight Sparkle, she promptly greeted us and gestured us inside.

"Welcome Vinyl, who's your new friend?" Twilight asked right away.

"My name is Anders, it's nice to meet you!" I smiled warmly, trying to give a good first impression.

"Mine is Princess Twilight Sparkle, welcome to the Golden Oaks Library!" She smiled.

"Yo, Twilight, there's actually something specific we wanted to talk to you about, we thought you might be able to help." Vinyl said, straight to the point.

"Oh? What is it, there's certainly plenty of things I can help with." Twilight said before looking as if she had forgotten something important. "Oh! Please excuse me, I can be so careless! Please take a seat, I'll be right back with refreshments."

While she was gone Vinyl and I took her suggestion and sat down. In an unbelievably short amount of time Twilight was already returning with the drinks. "So what is it you need help with?"

"Well you see, the thing is, Anders isn't exactly from this world...technically he's an alien." Vinyl did her best to explain. Twilight gave me a puzzled look while I waved awkwardly, trying to not seem like a scary alien.

"I gotta say, he's kinda cute for an alien, bit of a big head if you ask me." She said while rubbing her chin. Honestly I wasn't quite sure whether to feel complimented or insulted, maybe a bit of both.

"How did he get here?"

Vinyl blushed when she explained it "Well...he kinda woke up in bed with me..."

"Vinyl! I know its been a bit of a dry spell but-"

"No, no not like that! He just woke up in my bed this morning! I swear he wasn't there last night, right Anders?" Vinyl looked at me, pleading for me to back her up.

"I don't know Vinyl...last night was pretty good..." I flashed an evil grin

"Vinyl! You haven't even known him that long! I mean-"

"He was kidding. He really did show up next to me this morning and we're trying to figure out how, he doesn't know how he got there anymore than I do." When she was done talking to her she looked back and whispered to me. "Remind me to strangle you later."

"Oh, well that is odd. Even I'm not sure how that could have happened. We might need to talk to Princess Celestia about it. I'll write her a letter now, I won't be long, feel free to sit here and chat if you'd like." Twilight said as she walked upstairs to begin writing no doubt.

"Thanks Twilight!" Vinyl shouted up to her.

"You know, for an alien you sure don't seem to be freaking out much." Vinyl commented.

"I'm not one of the kind of people to get freaked out easily, I'm more of the kind that finds it all interesting and it just makes me want to explore one, it's exciting." I mused.

"Cool, I'm like that way too. New can be pretty exciting, even with the changeling invasion sure it was kinda scary but it was also kinda exciting at the same time.

"Yeah and anyway..." I began to speak but got distracted with one of my other thoughts.

"Anyway...what?" She asked.

"I just realized I'm naked."

"Yeah, someone's slow on the update and so?"

"I've never been naked in public before. It's a cultural taboo where I come from." I said, now more conscious of how exposed I felt.

"Well no one will really notice unless you're laying on your back if that bothers you. I understand it might have been taboo where you're from but it's not a big deal here." she explained.

"Guys, she wrote back." Twilight said as she came walking back into the room. "She said she'll come here personally to meet him, she said that the culture shock could be a bit much for his first day."

"Sweet, she say when?" Vinyl asked enthusiastically.

"She should be here in about an hour." Twilight said, reading from the letter she had received. "She encouraged you two to remain here until she arrives, until then make yourselves at home." She smiled before plucking a book off a shelf and laying down to read it in silence.

"Alright, cool." Vinyl said, turning to face me. "So, anything you want to talk about?"

"Actually, yeah. I was wondering, why do you always wear those shades over your eyes, even indoors?" I finally asked.

"Oh...um okay, here I'll show you, just promise not to freak out or anything." She pleaded as she took off her shades, though her eyes were still closed. When she opened them it revealed a pair of vibrant, crimson red eyes, in truth they were unique but very beautiful.

"Wow..." was the first word to come out of my mouth.

"I know it's not normal, please don't make fun of them." She told me.

"No no they're actually really beautiful, I've just never seen anything like it, I can't understand why someone would make fun of them." I had never seen someone with red eyes before, in truth they were hard to not look at.

"Thank you, I'm glad you think so. Though there's something else you should know..." Vinyl leaned in to whisper closely. "I'm a vampire..." She grinned as I knocked myself out of my side trying to back up, before laughing to herself.

"Ahahaha, the look on your face! Sorry, it was the only chance I'd get to do that. Besides, we're even now." She said with a smile still on her face.

"I'll admit that was a good one." I said trying to not act embarrassed.

"Yeah, you have really nice eyes too you know?" She said kindly.

"Thanks, you wouldn't say that though if I still had my old eye color, brown eyes, I never really liked having brown eyes personally."

"Oh brown eyes aren't bad, at least they don't scare children." She said dismissively.

"That has happened before? And don't tell me it wasn't the least bit fun."

She couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Okay I have to admit, though I felt guilty it was kinda funny. Nightmare night is fun."

"Heh, well you could steal souls and probably not scare people as much as one of my friends. He told me last Halloween, the equivalent of Nightmare night, that he laid in the grass as still as possible to look like a prop and whenever a kid got close he'd leap up and scare the poor guys half to death! Robert was a great guy I hope I see him next...time..." I say as my mind catches up with what I said.

What if there isn't a next time? What if I can never go back, what if I can never see home again? I began to think to myself while holding a long stare against the wall ahead of me.

This might be a nice place, at least from what I've seen and I like meeting new and interesting people but...I have family, close friends like Robert. Would everyone think I was dead? Would they care? Is there even a way back home?

"Anders. Anders! Are you okay?" My attention snapped to Vinyl as she started calling my name. I realized a lone tear had begun to roll down my cheek and that I had spaced out for a bit.

"Yeah uh...I'm fine, really..." I choked out a lie.

"I'm good at spotting liars and as it happens it looks like you kinda suck at it. What's bothering you?"

"I haven't stopped to think about it much until now but...what if I can't go home. Imagine waking up, without warning, in an alien world without a clue as to how or why or if you'll ever return. Just dropping everything, friends, family, all of it. It's lovely here, you proved that the people here seem to be kind as well. A strange person wakes up in bed with you and rather than call the authorities like many back where I come from would you decided to hear me out and give me a chance, something I'm grateful for."

Quietly I felt myself pulled into a hug. "It's alright, where there's a will there's a way. Try to think about the positives." she encouraged me.

"Thank you, means a lot. So what's the most stressful thing that has happened to you?" I asked out of curiosity once the hug ended.

"Oh I would have to say the opening night of my club. Even with my friend Octavia helping I was terrified. The place was packed and rather than stay up at the DJ table the entire time I let some songs just go on their own and I was pacing around making sure it all ran smoothly. The bar, the lights, the dance floor and everything else. There are a lot of moving parts to opening up a club and anyone of which could have spelled disaster, the stress only mounts when you invest most of what you've got into it." she explained, it was clear that even the memory of the event brought back a little stress with it.

"But you did it, and you said there was an invasion but I'm sure it'll pick back up soon." I said encouragingly.

"Thanks, and ponies are returning in growing numbers, hopefully I'll be able to survive off of something other than noodles soon." Vinyl chuckled lightly.

"Yeah...so anyway we've still got awhile before the princess gets here...up for checkers?" She asked with a smile that dared me to say yes.

So with that we found one of Twilight's checkerboards and played on the floor across from each other.

About forty minutes and several humiliating defeats later I slumped in defeat while Vinyl beamed in proud victory as her 5 kings descended like vultures upon my lone piece.

"I don't get it...I'm not great at checkers but I am fairly good...just...how? You didn't even pause!" I said in confusion.

"First off, never let me pick whatever the competition will be of. I practiced checkers until I could do it blindfolded just for situations like this." She stated proudly.

"You're joking"

"Am I now?" She grinned mischievously.

"Hey, Princess Celestia is here!" Twilight called out from where she was reading, it was right by the window and she must have caught them landing.

Without more than a couple moments of delay there was a knock at the door and Twilight rushed down to admit Celestia inside. Two royal guards stood watch outside.

"Good day, Twilight, I received your letter. Is this the pony you mentioned?" The tall white alicorn said as she gestured to me.

"Yes, Princess Celestia." Twilight bowed politely, Celestia returned the gesture.

"So tell me, you have never been to this world before correct? And Twilight mentioned you said you were a human before arriving here." She asked in a gentle tone.

"Yes. I erm...woke up in bed with Vinyl this morning completely unsure of how I got here or why I was a pony." I admitted.

"Interesting...I believe you accidentally ventured through a dimensional portal. They are known to pop in and out of existence unless properly sustained. They can take the traveler to another dimension, based on what they have subconsciously chose." She explained as if this happened at least once in a while.

I sat almost dumbstruck for a moment before speaking up again. "But this happened after I fell asleep. And other dimensions exist!?"

"You are here, aren't you? One must have appeared where you slept and taken you with it. That also makes sense why you arrived here in the same fashion. Believe it or not this does occur though not with any real frequency or predictability. If and individual fell through the portal they fall here and if they are running, they are usually running when they arrive here."

Some of what she said was finally starting to sink in, though that seemed to bring up just as many questions. "You said I subconsciously chose this place? I didn't even know it was real." I confessed.

"Hmm...Twilight, Vinyl. Would you mind if I went on a short walk with..."

"Anders."

"Yes, would you two mind if I walked with Anders? We will be back shortly." She politely asked them.

"Sure. We'll just discuss things ourselves until you return." Twilight smiled as Celestia guided the two of us outside.

Once we were a short distance away from the library Princess Celestia picked up the conversation. "Anders, I understand what you might want to say something but I equally understand how awkward it could feel. Am I close?"

If I didn't know better I'd be ready to say she was psychic, though being thousands of years old must give you some incredible insight.

"Yes...where I came from, this entire world is just a story, a children's show actually." I continued to tell her more, explaining all of it, from what bronies were to how big the fandom was. Even admitting that I had a few posters and had written a few stories about it, leaving scarcely a detail behind, even if one of the stories I wrote happened to be a romance story about Vinyl. It was without a doubt the most awkward moment of my entire life. At least Celestia seemed to be very understanding.

"That's quite fascinating, not likely you ever expected to ever meet the subject of your stories, did you." Celestia helped herself to an easy smile while I continued walking with rose red cheeks, evidence as to how embarrassed I felt.

"No kidding..."

"Well if it helps you to feel any better, remember that there are virtually infinite other dimensions, countless numbers of which your world is a story to them. In some of those worlds there are those writing romance stories about you!" Celestia grinned shamelessly as she watched the look on my face transform into one of near impossible awkwardness. Right now, somewhere, some guy was writing about my love life like some sick puppet-master. Maybe there was one where Vinyl had written a similar story about me. It really felt like a lot to take in at once.

Our conversation smoothly transitioned into topics about what life was like here in Equestria as he found our path back to the library. Once we were back inside I realized that apparently I still looked the same that I did when Celestia told me about the other dimension thing.

"Um Princess? I think you broke him..." Vinyl said as she cautiously waved a hoof in front of my face, snapping me from my stupor.

"I'm fine I uh...the princess just told me some stuff that caught me off guard a little..."

"So, young Anders, do you wish to tell them or do you desire me to do so?" My heart sank as she asked. I was silently hoping, even if just somewhat to keep it a secret...though I doubt that was going to happen.

"Go ahead please...I'll go find a pillow to hide under..." I moaned as I found the largest pillow within sight. As Celestia began telling them I buried my head so deep I wondered if I'd ever find my way back out again. Through the pillow I could still hear most of the conversation.

"So you're saying that he-" Vinyl began as I tried to will my ears to not work.

"Posters? That kinda-" I caught Twilight speakin up

"That's kinda flattering, in a way." I heard Vinyl admit.

For what felt like hours, though was probably closer to several minutes Celestia told them everything I told her. Every. Last. Detail. Even through the pillow I could sense the questions Twilight was itching to ask as well as hearing Vinyl biting back the urge to burst into laughter.

As soon as they finished talking I withdrew my head from the pillow, my rosy red cheeks leaving me feeling vulnerable. Once they were in view Vinyl rolled on her side and laughed until I would have sworn I saw a few tears. Twilight held a bemused expression though she seemed a little unsure what to think at the same time. Vinyl and Twilight began talking to each other about it and sharing their personal thoughts while Celestia whispered to me.

"Sorry Anders, it felt like it would benefit you the most in the end if they knew. In regards to if you can return home...it's possible but it might be awhile. When I return to Canterlot I'll put out an alert for the guards to keep an eye out for strange portals, anomalies or disturbances."

"Thank you very much, and I have to agree I suppose. I appreciate how understanding you are."

"Alright, well I should be going." Celestia said. "If you have any more questions, write them in a letter and ask Spike to send them. I shall respond as quickly as I can. Oh and one more thing" Her voice sank down to a whisper. "Good luck." Celestia looked at me, then Vinyl while she was still occupied talking to Twilight. She smiled when a familiar look of embarrassment found its way to my face. "By the way...most mares love dinner dates." Celestia winked. I swear, she was enjoying this.

Celestia stood up tall and addressed all three of us now. "Farewell to each of you, unfortunately I need to return to my duties in Canterlot. It was a pleasure to meet you, Anders." She nodded as we returned our our goodbyes before departing.

With Celestia to no longer act as a barrier I felt like a death-row inmate. Mercy would not come soon.

Vinyl was the first to begin the torture.

"So how was my story like?" She asked, barely able to contain her laughter again. I looked to Twilight for help.

"Twilight...help...please..." I begged.

She rubbed her chin for a moment before responding with an absolutely evil smile. I had a decent guess as to the kind of thing she'd say. I silently weighted whether I could reach her in time to cover her mouth with a pillow. I only made it half way with the pillow when she said it.

"You two should go on a date!" She blurted out.

"What!?" I cast a defeated look her way. I don't remember Twilight being this cruel in the show. She was the true villain!

"I said. You two. Should go. On a date." She spoke up slowly, in a crystal clear, unmistakable tone while I glared daggers at her. Oh I will get even.

"Ooh, maybe we should." Vinyl added, joining Twilight's sick, twisted game. I wasn't quite sure whether they were actually serious or joking. Either way my mouth spat out the first thing my poor, confused brain could come up with.

"Uh...okay, where would you like?" I stammered, apparently it caught them off guard as it took a few full moments to respond.

"Ummm...I guess that restaurant a couple blocks from the club? I've always wanted to go but never actually went, maybe this Friday I guess..." She nervously said. The awkwardness in the room was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

"Well...I should find a book on electronics maintenance, some of the stage lights haven't been working properly and I don't know why." Vinyl said as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Mind if I stay here a while too and look at some books?" I asked Twilight.

"Uhhhh...Oh! Sure. Sorry, for us teasing you. I didn't see that coming, best of luck to you two. I'm going to go back to reading, if you get hungry we have plenty of food, but please keep it in the kitchen, don't want the books getting messy.

Finally left with some time on my own I decided to start reading up on Equestria, there was bound to be plenty of things worth knowing that weren't mentioned in the show or were completely different. Maybe Sombra was actually a good guy for all I knew.

For most of the day I read various books about culture and history in Equestria. All of the customs and traditions and taboos. There were many similarities but there was also a lot of things that were easily different here. I learned a number of interesting things. I didn't know that many stallions referred to "cutie marks" as "talent marks" which really shouldn't have surprised me. Equestria seemed to be a very fair place, there was very little racism or sexism to my relief, though this affected a number of things.

In most parts of the world human society is patriarchal or male-dominated. Equestria isn't patriarchal or even matriarchal but somehow balanced. Back on Earth I know it was very taboo for a man to hit a woman, even if she had cheated on or stole from him. Yet if he hit her for virtually anything at all, most of the community would ostracize him.

In Equestria, neither was true, while violence was less common and not encouraged, stallions hit mares just as often as the other way around. Rather than either be ostracized it appeared most ponies simply try to figure out why the other would do that and try to work to a solution, seems like ponies are much more forgiving and understanding than most people. I found a book that gave a summary on the numerous other sentient races in the world. Apparently any culture having one gender dominant was a rarity. Though with dragons some of the cultures seemed to border on matriarchal.

Interestingly it also seems that gems here are distinctly different from Earth, they are far more common and usually more beautiful than back on Earth and they even grew. That's why they cost only a fraction of the amount they do back home. Apparently gems seem to grow fairly abundantly, though some of the larger races, most notably dragons. They eat gems as a secondary food-source.

Before I knew it night had already descended and I had barely scraped Equestrian culture. I saw Vinyl getting up from where she was reading and looked like she was ready to head home so I'd have to finish what I was doing as well. Vinyl checked out a couple books on music theory and similar subjects I'd be hopelessly lost with. I checked out probably half a dozen books on culture, history, social structure and physiology on most of the sentient races in Equestria, which there evidently seemed to be many of.

After saying goodbye to Twilight we head outside to the train station and back to Canterlot, the bright moon was just climbing to its rightful place in the sky as we marched on. After boarding the train we found an empty car and settled into the cozy velvet seats just as rain started to break through the sky, filling the air with the steady, yet comforting sound of rainfall. Within only minutes Vinyl was out like a lamp. I continued reading more about the different sentient races of Equestria before quickly letting the almost musical tune of the rain sing me to sleep.

On the ride back to Canterlot I had some of the most interesting dreams of my life, some of them, I never would have expected...

Author's Note:

*looks how long since this story was updated/created* ouch...yeah I promise I'll update more. I tried to be easy on the 4th wall here. I wanted to establish much of the story elements