Pony Shore

by GoldenState3

He kept all of his bits in a bucket

Fluttershy was almost all packed for her first trip to earth. All that was left was to give Twilight Sparkle precise instructions on how to care for her animals. Twilight and Spike were going to be caring for her animals while she was gone. She'd only be gone for two months or so. It wasn't going to be like Rainbow Dash who only came back to Equestria when they had to film new episodes of their TV show.

"Think of all of the lovely earth animals I'll get to meet." Fluttershy said. "Look at all of these lovely pictures!"

She passed a massive glossy book of photos to Twilight Sparkle. Twilight took the book with her magic, and set it right back on the ground without even looking inside of it.

"I've seen the book Fluttershy. But I still don't like it. There's something suspicious about this whole thing. That one man seemed kind of squirrely. No offense." Twilight added to one of the Squirrels in the room.

The squirrel chattered back at Twilight, before hiding behind Fluttershy.

"Are you sure that he's a legitimate TV producer?" Twilight asked. "I've heard stories about humans."

"I can handle Discord can't I? Besides, Discord says that this guy made a TV show with him in it." Fluttershy said.

"There is still something I don't get. I mean, you're already a TV star, but why was he so insistent on having you?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know Twilight. Maybe Rainbow Dash suggested me." Fluttershy replied.

Fluttershy was done with everything now, and she was making a final check of the house before stepping outside. Content that everything was packed, she opened the front door. Twilight followed her for the first few steps, and then stopped.

"Good luck." She said.

Fluttershy walked towards the center of Ponyville. The main portal was located in the library, since the humans that decided that Twilight Sparkle was the leader of their little group. Besides, the library was just a good place for it. It was semi private, so Twilight could prevent foals from sneaking into the portal to have a short romp on earth, but it was public enough that a stranger wouldn't feel like an intruder barging into somepony's home.

Fluttershy studied the portal. It was glowing a strange harsh blue color, that reminded her of Trixie. There was a strange metallic smell coming from it. She cautiously stuck a hoof through. The hoof disappeared inside, and she withdrew it in terror. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she realized that her hoof was still intact.

She'd been there when Dash had left for the first time. Rainbow Dash had flown through the portal in one giant leap, accidentally uttering what Fluttershy now knew was a cliched human phrase. But still, she couldn't bring herself to step through the portal. The bravado that she'd felt leaving her house was gone now, the mere sight of the portal had drained it from her.

What would Angel Bunny do? If he had been here, he'd be trying to drag Fluttershy through the portal by now. So, Fluttershy closed her eyes, and half ran half flew into the portal.

The universe screamed with a horrible all consuming zap, and there was a flash of light that still registered as bright despite Fluttershy's eyes being closed. A few seconds later, Fluttershy was crashing into the ground. She extended her wings to try to correct herself, but her wings did nothing. She hit a hard rough surface.

She opened her eyes. She was in a small room, with white walls. The room was was a little larger then a closet. There was a tube in the ceiling that was giving off light. It was bright enough that Fluttershy was able to see without any trouble. She'd heard from Rainbow Dash that the humans had remarkable magic, and one of their strongest bits of magic was their ability to make light.

Fluttershy took a quick inventory to make sure that she was all there. She then checked to make sure that the portal was also still there. It was, although it was about two or three feet above the ground, and thus outside of Fluttershy's reach without her wings. According to Rainbow Dash, her wings wouldn't work here. The magic that was a critical element of Pegasus flight was absent from the Earth, and thus she was as land bound as an earth pony.

Not that bothered her. Unlike Dash, Fluttershy was completely ambivalent about her wings. While Fluttershy wouldn't quite like it if her wings would fall off, it wouldn't exactly put a crimp on her life style. She'd still be able to perform most of her duties like before, she just wouldn't be quite as fast or as good at them.

Fluttershy tried to open the door to the room, but she realized that there was something holding it closed. After she'd bumped against it a few times, the knob turned and, a man stepped through the door.

This wasn't Fluttershy's first human, but seeing one in their natural habitat was completely different then seeing one in Equestria. In Equestria, humans were forced to scrunch themselves down to pony size, sometimes having to go to extreme lengths like crawling on their hands and knees.

Having a full grown Human in a Human sized world was completely different then that. This wasn't a comical creature trying to fit itself into a space that had been designed for a creature half it's size. She was a creature half the size of a Human in a space designed for a creature double her size.

Fluttershy studied the Human. This was a female, or at least that was what the short section on telling humans apart in the book that the people responsible for the TV show had sent her would have led her to believe. Fluttershy tried to hide, but there wasn't any place that she could go.

"Aren't you just the cutest little thing!" The Human cooed.

She picked Fluttershy up, before the pony could react. Fluttershy tried to struggle, but the human had to good of a grip on her, and her wings just weren't strong enough.

"Put me down. Uhm, please?" Fluttershy begged.

After a few seconds, the Human obeyed, and placed Fluttershy back down on the ground.

"Oh, I'm Amanda. I'm on of the Interns for Pony Shore. That's the title of the TV show that you're going to be in." The Human said.

"I'm uhm... Fluttershy." Fluttershy replied.

She wasn't sure if humans greeted each other like ponies, but it didn't hurt to try. They stepped out of the room, and into a larger room. This room was filled with long lines of smaller walls that only reached part of the way to the ceiling, with each set of walls containing a Human working at a desk.

Amanda was leading her down one of the rows of little walls, and towards the far wall of the room. There were a number of silver doors mounted in that wall, and Amanda pressed a button between two of those doors. A minute or so later, the silver door in front of Fluttershy slid open, sending Fluttershy jumping back. She cowered behind a potted plant.

"It's an elevator silly. It'll take us downstairs." Amanda said with a laugh.

Fluttershy decided to trust her, and whatever magic the Humans used to open and close doors. The elevator had more humans in it, and a few of them were staring at Fluttershy with odd expressions. They must not of seen many ponies. There was an odd magical noise, and the doors closed.

The door opened again, and Fluttershy was looking into a small room with glass doors at the far end. Fluttershy stepped out of the elevator, her shoes clanking on the hard tile of the floor. Amanda was much faster than her, and she was already at the far end. The other humans were spread out between Fluttershy and Amanda, and she was making a conscious effort to avoid getting stepped on.

Amanda was holding the door open or Fluttershy when she made it to there. The room beyond the door smelled funny, with an odd smell unlike anything that Fluttershy had ever smelled before. In the room beyond, there was a series of oddly shaped metallic things. She thought that those were the things that the humans used to get around in, but she wasn't quite sure. Fluttershy stepped through the door, and into the room beyond. She was well and truly beyond anything that she'd ever even seen before, and she was truly stepping into the unknown.