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Prologue - Bedtime Stories1,557 words
Chapter 01 - Arrival1,356 words
Chapter 02 - The Universal Greeting2,145 words
Chapter 03 - Cultural Awareness1,607 words
Chapter 04 - A Time For Levity2,256 words
Chapter 05 - Goodfellow2,256 words
First Interlude: Journals and stray thoughts801 words
Chapter 06 - A day in the life2,979 words
Chapter 07 - Wish You Were Here1,755 words

Chapter 04 - A Time For Levity

Chapter 4

With lunch over, Alan and Vinyl Scratch sit idly in front of the still nice and toasty grill, idly chatting about the differences in Equestrian and Earth technology. "So, for the most part, there's little difference, just less of it?"

"Pretty much, yeah. We might be a little behind simply because we like to have more social interaction it looks like."

"So, watching movies and playing video games at home isn't as big of a thing here, then?"

"Not really, no. But for me, I wouldn't actually mind having a couple favorites I could just watch on an off day."

Alan smiles, rubbing his hands together slightly as an idea pops into his head. "Say, how much time do you think we have till Pinkie's party?"

"Well, the party she already had planned for today was gonna start at 6, and It's just past 2 right now." Vinyl answers, idly scratching behind her ear. Her answer elicits a grin from Alan.

"How about I introduce you to a classic comedy then?"

"I thought your power was out?"

"Oh, it is," Alan says "but that hardly means I'm powerless. Ever hear of a portable DVD player?"

"Portable? So, we could... watch it out here by the fire?"

"Bingo. Give me a couple minutes. I'll be right back." With a spring in his step, Alan hops off his bench and walks back inside. The sound of some rustling boxes followed Alan's trip into the living room, with him soon enough coming back outside with a small silver player, and a box containing one of his favorite movies.

"So, what are we gonna watch?" Vinyl says, looking at Alan curiously while he fiddles with the player.

"A classic comedy. The Producers, the first movie Mel Brooks ever directed. Remember when we talked about WWII and Hitler and all that?" Vinyl nods in response. "Well, the surest way to truly defeat the memory of evil is to turn it into a joke. Brooks hit that on the head with this movie."

An hour and a half later, the two of them have caught the attention of half of the neighbors with their laughter, a couple of them even sticking around to watch the tiny screen with them. "Spriiiingtime for Hitlerrr and Germanyyyy" Alan begins singing.

By this point, Vinyl Scratch is pounding on the table, laughing. "Oh... oh... oh Celestia, stop stop, I caHAHAHHA I can't breathe!" Taking a deep breath, Vinyl tries to calm herself, only to catch Alan's eye and start laughing again.

"I told you it was a classic. Just so you know, though, Kennith Mars does about the worst fake German accent I've ever heard. Not that it didn't make him any less funny."

"Often the furher, he would say to me, Franz.... ow." Vinyl says, doing a dead-on impersonation, before the both of them break into another fit of giggles. Finally calming down, Vinyl smiles a sincere smile. "Man, though, I think you were right. About that defeating the memory of evil thing. Maybe that's something I should write Princess Celestia about."

Alan cocks his head to look at her slightly. "Is that something she'd need to know?"

"Well, the thing is, while a lot of ponies feel like the princesses are above a lot of our troubles, Princess Celestia encourages us to write her about interpersonal discoveries. In this case, I think it may help both of the princesses. Remember me talking about Nightmare Moon having been Princess Luna all along?" Alan nods his response "Well, I think if somepony made something like that Springtime for Hitler play about what happened a thousand years ago, maybe it would help to clear up any bad feelings left behind. I mean, Celestia was ready, and I mean READY to forgive her sister as soon as she came back. But Luna has only finally been herself since she came back."

"You sound like you know what Princess Luna would be feeling on the subject."

"Well, she won't straight out say how she feels on the matter, but she comes to parties I spin at a lot, so we've gotten to know one another on a friendly basis. Calls me her favorite student of the night." Vinyl chuckles a bit at the title. "Anyway, we didn't chat about the subject much, but I definitely got the feeling she still feels pretty raw about the whole thing. Mostly about how she herself acted."

"I see. So, you think maybe something like that could help her, I dunno, forgive herself?"

"Right on the nose, dude." Vinyl smiles.

Two and a half hours, some plotting, and some more movie watching later, Vinyl Scratch and Alan find themselves outside of the town square meeting hall among the multicolored throng of ponies streaming inside. Upon reaching the door, an unmistakable voice cries out.

"Hey everypony! It's the guests of the hour!" Pinkie Pie shouts, waving underneath a banner reading "Welcome to the 'Sorry your house blew up, feel better soon, Vinyl Scratch/Welcome to Ponyville, Alan Ryves party and questionnaire!" All eyes in the room follow the pair in question, giving Alan an unfamiliar feeling of being stuck in the spotlight.

Straightening himself up, Alan shakes the feeling by giving a slight chuckle "This is a pretty nice welcome. I'd like to start this off by saying that Vinyl's not going to be homeless anytime soon. She's staying under my roof, since I have the spare space."

"Also, I've promised to lessen my use of spells that could potentially blow up the house around me, since it's no longer my house I'm staying in. Alan's already proved to me he's the kind of guy Ponyville needs more of. Well, Ponyville needs more guys, PERIOD. Am I right girls?" Vinyl's joke gets most of the room roaring. Alan just now seems to notice the odd ratio of mares to stallions in the room himself, tucking the thought away for later.

After grabbing some of the food set out, Vinyl Scratch takes a seat on the front row, while Alan takes the stage behind a podium. Next to him is Pinkie Pie hovering over a box stuffed with questions filled out by the audience. As if realizing something, Alan calls out "Oh before I begin, whom must I talk to about getting the utilities turned on at my place?"

"That would be me." Spoke a dignified voice "But you needn't worry yourself about it too hard. I'll make sure to have a work crew out to you by noon tomorrow. As well, you need not worry about payment either. Just make sure to do something nice for the community, and we'll call it even."

"Ah, thank you, err"

"Mayor Mare." The tan pony spoke before sitting back down again.

"Well, thank you Mayor Mare, let's all have a round of applause for such a magnanimous official." Alan spoke, leading a round of applause. The crowd eventually settles down, and Alan nods to Pinkie.

"It's time for TWENTY QUESTIONS, with our host Alan Ryves, and his lovely assistant, Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie shouts aloud, once again setting the crowd alight with applause.

"Alright, miss Pie, our first question, if you please?"

"Okie-dokie, lokie!" Pinkie says with a smile, before digging into the question box and pulling out the first piece of paper. "First question is: what is your family like?"

"Ouch, first question and I'm already hit with a stinger. Well, I'm sad to say, I don't have much family left. I don't mean to be a downer, but you asked." Alan closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath to calm himself. "I had a brother and still have a sister, but she's a, well, mental invalid who's now in the care of the state of Texas, and my brother died late last year. My mother committed suicide after my sister was born. My dad died 6 months ago, after having been hit by a drunk driver." The crowd seems to quiet down significantly, the sound of a few whispered word of sympathy can be heard. "Don't worry about me, though. I've already dealt with the emotional baggage. Just show me a few more smiling faces and I'll be fine." Alan adds with the shadow of a grin on his face. "Next question please, Pinkie?" he says after a moment's pause.

"Okay! humm..... Here! 'What is your favorite music?" Alan pretends not to notice the smile light up Vinyl Scratch's face.

"A tough question, but a fun kind of tough. Well, I listen to a lot of different stuff really, and I'll give anything a try. That said, I tend to listen to a lot of electronic music. Techno and house and the like. I also listen to a lot of heavy metal, and also some classic rock. Recently, I started listening to a little rap."

After a moment, Pinkie takes another question out of the box "What is your favorite kind of birthday cake?"

Alan casts a sidelong glance at the pink earth pony, and chuckles "Was this your question?"

"Yuppers!"

"This one actually took me a long time to really figure out, but, eventually I realized I liked red velvet cake the best." Alan smiles. "But you know, while we're on the subject of baked goods, my absolute favorite pie is this one my grandma made. Coconut custard pie, with this meringue topping that was covered in coconut shavings. It was always the star attraction of any meal we had with grandma. This pie was so good, you had to stop everything to consider just how amazing the pie tasted. I still have grandma's instructions on how to make it in my kitchen." Alan chuckles, recalling "A note she wrote on the sidebar says 'If you're too cheap to buy real butter, don't bother making this!" A few more giggles erupt from the audience. By this point, Alan notices half of the audience salivating uncontrollably, so he clears his throat and gives an unsure "Next, please, miss Pie?"

"Huh? OH, right!" Pinkie says, taking a moment to wipe the drool from her chin before pulling out another card. "Oh, this must be Rarity's question. 'What are the clothing fashions at home like?"

"Wow, I'm the wrong dude to answer that one. I mean, I've got a few books with historical depictions of the things people used to wear in ancient times, but that's mostly a primer to a history course." Alan pauses to take a drink of water. "But, I'll answer as best as I can. First, let me start with the observation that ponies don't wear much in the way of clothes, probably because you have that coat of short fur on your bodies. Humans don't have that, so we wear clothing more or less all the time, except, of course for things like bathing or, ahem, primal mating rituals." a loud bark of a laugh can be heard from both Vinyl Scratch and a rainbow-maned pegasus mare in the front row at this comment. "There's a few nudist camps that popped up in the last century or so, but those are guaranteed to be located somewhere warm. As for me, a cotton t-shirt, denim pants, some cotton underwear, and a sturdy pair of shoes to keep rocks from cutting my feet are all I need, weather permitting."

Taking another sip of water, Alan looks over at the back of the room to the rather large surprise he had Pinkie Pie wheel in, thinking to himself for a moment before saying "How about we do one more question then take a break to stretch our legs and catch some food our gracious host has provided?"

Pinkie Pie smiles and nods, before pulling out one last card from the box. "What is magic like on planet dirt?"

"Heh, I see someone remembered my joke from earlier. Well, on Earth, magic is so rare, that it is thought to not exist at all. Physics became the prevailing science after alchemists and wizards and the like just started either disappearing or came up as frauds. The only evidence I have ever seen to prove magic is real on Earth brought me here, and honestly, I've still got no idea how in the heck it worked."

The sound of someone clearing their throat from the entryway caught everyone's attention. "Perhaps I can answer that question" Spoke a strange, tall, pale and white-haired man.

Author's Note:

CLIFFHANGER!

Also:

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Undead_Non-Brony

Undead_Non-Brony #1 · Nov 24th, 2013 · · ·

The Producers is hilarious, I love that movie

vesa123

vesa123 #2 · Nov 24th, 2013 · · ·

Merlin is here!! For answer your questions!!

YB #3 · Nov 24th, 2013 · · ·

Ah, this is getting interesting.

Not upvoting yet, this was entertaining so far but I'm waiting for the plot to thicken. I'll come back later, when you upload a new chapter. Keep going