Beyond the Portal

by Firestar463

Chapter 8

“Nervous?”

Kyle jumped a bit as a voice came from behind him. He spun around to see Celestia giggling at him. He glared for a moment before allowing his face to return to its hopefully neutral expression. He risked a peek out of the window and glanced up at the sky. Almost midday. It would be time very soon. “A little.” he admitted, not allowing the full extent of his anxiety show. He knew he was far from pristine-looking - hell, He was still wearing the same clothes he had come to Equestria in. At least the bandages wrapped around his chest to cover his wounds were concealed.

Kyle looked around for what felt like the thousandth time. He was in a small room on the second floor of city hall, not far off from the main area. He closed his eyes, thinking back to how he had gotten here. It had been very early when Fluttershy had woken him up from his slumber, hunched over the table with a pencil in one hand and his head on a stack of paper.

Celestia had been waiting for him, so he quickly washed the dirt from his face and hair before following her. The moon had been high in the sky, but descending towards the west. Early morning. he had thought groggily. TOO early. Still, Celestia had had a good idea. She had snuck him into town in the dead of night to avoid other Ponies detecting him until the big reveal. Even the mayor was unaware as to why she wanted to hold a sudden press conference. Silently, Kyle wondered how Celestia had managed to secure permission without those details.

Oh, right. Princess. Duh.

Kyle glanced out the window again and felt his nervousness come back in full force. There had to be at least two hundred Ponies out there, all huddled around the front steps to City Hall. “Are… are you sure I need to speak?” he asked, his voice a higher pitch than normal.

“So Luna was right - you do get stage fright.” Celestia joked. “Just relax, Kyle. They’re not going to bite. You have the word of three princesses to vouch for you. All you have to do is answer some questions that they’ll undoubtedly have.”

“And then back to Fluttershy’s?”

Celestia shook her head. “While I appreciate her hospitality, Fluttershy’s cottage is a bit… small for a Human. Twilight Sparkle has agreed to take you in for the time being, as her residence is considerably larger. It would also keep you in close proximity to her in case she needs your help in researching how to send you home. Is that is agreeable to you?”

Kyle nodded slowly. He opened his mouth to speak, but a knock at the door silenced his thoughts. The door swing open, and Twilight’s head poked inside. “Two minutes.” She warned. “The coast is clear. Everypony’s outside. We’re the only ones still in the building.”

“About time.” Kyle muttered, more out of nerves than anything. He had been hearing the sound of hoofsteps trotting past the door all day. Celestia merely smiled and trotted out of the room behind Twilight.Kyle was much slower in leaving, his fear threatening to boil over. No. Not now. he thought viciously. He took a deep breath, forcing his muscles to relax as he walked down the stairs leading to the main area.

The doors to the outside were swung wide open, allowing a cool draft to blow through the room. However, a dark red velvet curtain covered the entrance, shielding the room from the curious gazes of the ponies gathered outside. Voices could be heard from the other side as the Ponies talked amongst each other. Celestia was standing next to the doorway, her face the epitome of calm collectedness. “It is time.” she said as Kyle stood opposite her. “I will introduce you, and then you will step outside. Just relax, answer some questions, and it’ll be over with.”

“Sure… whatever you say.” Kyle said quietly, closing his eyes. he heard the curtains moving as Celestia stepped outside. The voices stopped almost instantly. Kyle took deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. On instinct, he let his mind flow freely, opening himself to the Chi around him. Kyle’s muscles relaxed as he felt the familiar, if not entirely pleasant, sensation wash over him.

Chi energy rolled off of the Ponies in waves, drowning out the energy of the other life forms around. They were all focused on one thing - the Princess. Their unrestrained emotions bled into their Chi, granting brief, fleeting insights into their state of mind. Curiosity and excitement flew through Kyle as he rapidly hopped from mind to mind, getting snippets of what was going on outside.

Suddenly, the Chi changed - a subtle change, but one Kyle could easily notice, immersed as he was in the life-force. Curiosity was still present, for sure. If anything, it was stronger than ever before. However, much of the excitement had been replaced by other emotions. He sensed wariness from several of the gathered Ponies. Fear rolled off of many of them. Still others were filled with anticipation.

Kyle quickly realized that Celestia must have just revealed his presence. That was the only logical reason for a change in energy such as that. He forced his mind back into his own body, shaking his head to clear it. He heard Celestia’s voice coming from outside. “...here to answer a few questions you may have for him. Kyle Slater, please step forward.”

Show time. Kyle thought, sweat forming on the back of his neck once more. The little meditation session had helped, but not as much as he would have liked. Shaking his nervousness off, Kyle reached forward and pushed the curtain aside. Bright sunlight flooded the room as Kyle stepped forward, through the doorway, out to meet his fate.

Ponies. Ponies as far as the eye could see, filling the courtyard in front of the building, flooding out onto the streets that led to the courtyard. He could only make out two familiar faces, both right in front of him - Celestia, standing by the podium with her trademark smile; and Twilight, standing off to the side of the door he had just walked through. By the light… Kyle blinked as he looked out over the crowd. There’s so many of them…

Twilight coughed softly, and Kyle realize that he had frozen in place. With a weak chuckle, he forced himself to move up to the podium. Celestia nodded and stepped to the side, taking a position opposite Twilight next to the door. “H… Hello.” Kyle spoke to the crowd. His voice rang out over the audience, magnified by some spell to reach farther than normally possible.

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. All eyes were locked on him, the alien among them. “Well… I, uh… l-let’s start with s-s-some questions then?” he stammered, sweat rolling down the back of his neck. For a long moment, silence prevailed. Finally, a pony near the front raised a hoof. “Yes?” Kyle asked, fearing the worst.

“Are… are you really from another world?” A female voice asked.

Kyle blinked. He had been expecting to be bombarded with difficult questions about himself his world, his people… he hadn’t been expecting such a simple opening question. “Y… Yes I am.” he said, feeling slightly relieved at his luck. “I am from a world called Azeroth.”

Another pony raised a hoof, this time further back and off to the right. Kyle pointed, and a head popped up above the crowd. “How did you get here?”

Kyle paused, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. So far, things were going a lot more smoothly and a lot less stressful than he had feared. “I walked through an unstable portal.” he explained, his voice sounding a bit stronger now. “It seemed to be firing off to random places. I happened to walk through as it opened in the middle of the Everfree Forest, and it closed behind me.”

A murmur ran through the crowd, and Kyle could easily imagine why. In hindsight, charging through an unstable portal firing off to Light knows where might not have been the best idea. Another hoof on the edge of Kyle’s vision caught his attention, and he nodded towards it. “Yes?”

“Are there Ponies where you come from?”

Ah, there it was. One of the difficult questions Kyle had been dreading. “Yes… kind of.” he began slowly forcing himself to not stumble over his words. “You see, on Azeroth, we do have Ponies… but they’re very different from you all.” Silence. “Firstly, there are no Pegasi, Unicorns, or Alicorns - only Earth Ponies. Secondly… well, they’re not intelligent.” A collective gasp rang out. “Yeah… on Azeroth, ponies have no capacity for higher thought like you all do. They’re just... animals.”

Kyle was dreading the silence that he was certain would follow. To his surprise and relief, another hoof off to the left shot into the air almost immediately. “So, you Humans are the only intelligent life on your world?”

“No.” Kyle shook his head. “There are many others besides us. Gnomes, Dwarves, several different races of Elves, Trolls… That really only scratches the surface. There are several dozen different sentient creatures on Azeroth, each with varying intellectual capacities. Some are really smart, like the Gnomes and Elves. Others, like Murlocs… not so much.” A few Ponies chuckled at this.

And so it went for several more minutes, with more and more Ponies asking questions. Kyle began to relax, feeling more at ease. This was a subject he knew better than anyone else present. The crowd began to relax as well, talking amongst themselves and asking questions more frequently.

Celestia walked up to Kyle. “We’re about out of time. Just one more question.” she said to the crowd before stepping back. Several hooves shot into the air and Kyle had to suppress a chuckle at their enthusiasm. He pointed at a mint-green hoof, and all the others were slowly lowered. A matching-colored unicorn head shot out of the crowd.

“What are you going to do now that you’re here in Equestria?”

Kyle paused, and silence prevailed once more. He hadn’t given that subject too much thought. The events of the day before had driven the future from his mind, but this question brought it right back to the forefront of his mind. “I… I don’t really know.” he said finally. ‘I mean… I want to go back home, but I don’t know how. I guess until I figure that out I’ll… try to start fitting in. Get a job, maybe?” he shrugged. “Whatever I need to do, really.”

That seemed to satisfy the crowd. Kyle let out a sigh of relief and stepped back as Celestia took the podium again. “That will conclude this meeting.” she announced. “Again, I ask that you please accept Mr. Slater and treat him as you would anypony else.” The crowd murmured in agreement. Celestia smiled and stepped back, motioning to Twilight and Kyle as she walked through the curtain. The crowd began to disperse, and Kyle took one last glance behind him before walking after the Princesses.

“So, was it as bad as you thought it would be?” Twilight asked. Her grin was somehow both reassuring and teasing at the same time.

“You have no idea.” Kyle chuckled, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Thank the Light it’s over, at least.”

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad!”

“Maybe not as hard as I’d feared.” Kyle admitted. “But still something I could do without doing again.”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Well fine, when we find a way to send me home, you can come with me and introduce yourself in front of half of Stormwind, and we’ll see what your opinion is then!” he laughed, the relief of finishing the Questioning session filling him with mirth.

Kyle’s laugh was quickly cut off as the wounds over his chest made themselves known once more. He hissed quietly, clutching the punctures with his right hand.

“Are you alright?” Celestia asked, her expression quickly changing to that of worry.

Kyle waved his left hand dismissively. “Just the wounds from the other day.” he grunted. “Must have aggravated them just now.”

“Timber Wolves are no easy opponent to deal with.” Twilight remarked. “A pack of them nearly killed Spike and Applejack not too long ago. You’re lucky you got away as well as you did.”

“Question.” Kyle said suddenly, looking at Celestia. “You have the power to raise the sun, to move a giant ball of fire through the sky. Why didn’t you take care of the Timber Wolves yourself?”

“Besides the fact that I dislike hurting other creatures unless absolutely necessary?” Celestia remarked. “You claimed to be a soldier, one who fought with fists and agility rather than weapons and brute strength. I wished to see a demonstration. Call it curiosity, if you will.”

Kyle opened his mouth to argue, but didn’t speak. No matter how much he argued against this choice, it was in the past. Nothing could be done now to change it. “Just ask next time.” he grumbled, rubbing his wound again.

“Why not just heal yourself?” Twilight asked. “You took care of that doe the other day just fine.”

“Injuries are nature’s ways of letting you know you made a mistake.” Kyle explained. “This wound might hurt, but it is shallow, not life-threatening, and will heal relatively quickly. To try to heal it with magic would use far more energy than it is worth.”

At that moment, the curtains fluttered and another Pony waked in. This one was a beige mare, with a white-and-grey striped mane. She wore a pair of spectacles across her nose, and a white collar (With no shirt, for some reason Kyle couldn’t fathom). Her cutie mark depicted a scroll tied up with a blue ribbon

“Ah, Mayor Mare.” Celestia said with a smile. “I was wondering when you would arrive.”

Mayor Mare gave a respectful bow. “Just taking my time.” she said. “I figured you all would want a post-announcement meeting.”

“We were just finishing up.”

Mayor Mare noded and walked up close to Kyle. Kyle leaned backward slightly, a bit perturbed at the close proximity. Mayor Mare narrowed her eyes, looking Kyle up and down. “Well… I suppose if the Princesses say you’re alright, you’re welcome in Ponyville.” she said, finally stepping backwards. “Though you seem a bit… rough for my comfort.”

“I haven’t exactly had an opportunity to wash up properly.” Kyle grunted, slightly irritated at this mare. “Give me a tub and a razor and I’ll be fine.”

“A razor?!” the Mayor exclaimed, taking a few steps backwards. “What could you possibly need one of those for?!”

Kyle groaned and covered his face with his hand. Of course the Ponies wouldn’t shave. They were literally covered in hair. “Human males grow beards - rough, bristly hair on our face.” he explained, brushing his own stubble with his hands. It was clearly visible, though short, and gave him a bit of an unkempt appearance. “We either need to shave, or else grow it out and keep iit groomed to keep up appearances. My job on Azeroth encourages being clean-shaven, and I personally prefer it. A lot less messy, and a lot less work. Plus, it’s takes time to grow a decent beard, and during the in-between time you look like a wreck.”

“I see…” the mayor replied, taking a step forward. “My apologies. I was unaware of this.”

Kyle gave a dismissive wave. “Not a problem.”

“So… what exactly did you do for a living in your home world?”

“I’ll give you the full details in just a moment, Mayor.” Celestia interjected. “Twilight, would you mind showing Kyle to your home? He has agreed to stay with you for the time being, as we discussed earlier.”

“Alright. Come on Kyle. Let’s go get your arm… er, leather.” Twilight hastily corrected. Kyle nodded and followed Twilight out the door.

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“Finally made it.” Kyle sighed, slamming the door shut behind him. The trek through town had certainly been an… interesting experience. After the Question and Answer session, the few Ponies who had not been present had apparently been quickly brought up to speed. Kyle had gotten many strange looks as he walked through the town towards Fluttershy’s house. Most of their expressions were curious or even welcoming, but a few had been rather… guarded.

That mint one though… Kyle sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. He had recognized the mint-green unicorn from the announcement. She had been the one to ask the last question. He spotted her no less than half a dozen times throughout their journey. Every single time she had been staring directly at them with a big grin, and every single time he had caught her she had looked away as if she wasn’t interested. They had finally given her the slip at the edge of town, and hadn’t seen her at all on the way from Fluttershy’s cottage to Twilight’s house.

Kyle opened his eyes, looking around the building he was in for the first time. He had been surprised to learn that Twilight lived inside a tree, and was surprised again at the interior. The walls were lined with rows upon rows of shelves, each stocked full of books. “You live in a library… inside a tree?” he asked incredulously. He had seen the Night Elves make their homes in trees, sure, but never something like this.

“Yes I do. A bit unusual, I agree, but it works.” Twilight replied. “Do you like books?”

Kyle shrugged. “Not really my thing, but I’m not against them.”

“Well we have them in abundance, on nearly any subject you’d be interested in.” Twilight wandered up the stairs, looking around. “Spike?” she called out as she reached the second floor.

“In here!” Spike’s voice rang out from behind the staircase. Kyle moved over towards the stairs and saw another room, clearly a kitchen. Spike was standing on a stepstool over a stove, stirring a pot. Kyle sniffed, and the smell of cooking food sent his stomach growling.

“Oh, hey Kyle, what’s up?” Spike said offhandedly, turning back to the pot. “Twilight said you might be coming to live here for a while.”

“Yeah, I am.” Kyle said. He sniffed the air again. “Whatever you’re cooking, it smells amazing.”

“Thanks. It’s my specialty - Dragonfire Chili.” Spike looked over his shoulder at Kyle. “I know a lot of Griffons and Minotaurs use meat in their chili, but this one’s vegan. Sorry.”

“Eh, I didn’t expect meat” Kyle replied, only slightly disappointed. “Would have been more surprised if there was any, to be honest.”

“It’s still good. But you’d better make sure you have a drink on hand.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s called Dragonfire for a reason.” Spike chuckled.

Kyle smirked. “I ate a Cindergut pepper on a bet once.” he boasted. He neglected to mention that the experience had nearly killed him. “Do your worst. I can take it.”

“Alright, that’s enough you two.” Twilight chuckled as she walked into the kitchen. “That chili’s for dinner, right Spike?” Spike nodded. “Right. So Kyle, if you want lunch, we can have a daisy sandwich, maybe some hay fries…”

“Hay? Flowers? Sorry Twilight, I’ll pass.” Kyle said quickly.

“Huh? Oh, right! Sorry. Uh… Apples?”

“That’ll do just fine.” Kyle snagged an apple from the counter and took a bite with a satisfying crunch.

Twilight, meanwhile, looked at the apple closely. Kyle noticed this and raised an eyebrow “Fascinating… Those front teeth of yours leave some very interesting marks” she murmured to herself, writing on a notepad.

Kyle shrugged and took another bite, quickly finishing off the apple. Satisfied for the moment, he looked over at Twilight. “So… which room am I staying in?” he asked.

“Upstairs, first door on your right.” Twilight replied, not looking up from the paper she was writing on. Shaking his head in amusement, Kyle walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The first door on the left, he noticed as he passed, was the bathroom. He passed it up and instead opened the door opposite it, walking in.

The room was fairly spacious, more so than the tent Kyle had been used to. A single bed was pressed up against the far wall underneath a window. A nightstand with a candle and a box of matches lay next to the bed. A bookcase sat next to another door, which opened into a small closet. Otherwise, the room was barren.

Kyle removed the leather armor he had slipped on at Fluttershy’s and placed most of it in a corner. His belt, however, was laid out across the nightstand. Even if he didn’t wear his armor all the time, Kyle was resolved to not be caught in a fight without his brews again. He sat down on the bed, marvelling at how soft it was. His boots slipped off of his feet, and he laid down across the bed. His eyes immediately felt like lead weights, the stress of his early-morning wake up call catching up to him. Within seconds, Kyle was out cold.

Comments

[Greatmane]

You know, Monks still amuse me. Using your fists to punch a fully armored Kor'kron Warrior or Knight of the Silver Hand to death seems silly to me.

[Grahf]

4359622 well its the concussive force being delivered by the blow that does the damage and with enough training it is actually doable, also the chi help protect the limb from damaging itself

[tyrant6]

4359622 The original monks in earth history designed their fighting style to do exactly that. They were extremely poor and incapable of buying the armor and weapons needed to defend themselves from raiders and thieves while helping the local villages. So they made their bodies the weapons, and won far more often than not

[The Seagull Milker]

I wonder what Twilight wrote down about his teeth

[poisonicefire]

Anyone ever notice useally biased on either the horde or alliance players

[Firestar463]

4369045 The reason being that the characters in WoW Fanfics generally either come from the Alliance or the Horde. Think about how much sense it would make for a Human, raised in the Alliance for all of his life, to feel sympathy for the Horde and not hate them for sacking Stormwind, raiding all of the Eastern Kingdoms, etc. Especially if said Human is a soldier in the Alliance Army, which has spent all of MoP and a good part of Cata fighting directly with the Horde.

Personally, I've played this game for close to three years now, and played just about equal amounts on both factions. I understand the viewpoints and positions of both sides, but for the sake of this story I'm looking at it from an Alliance-heavy view.

Also, quick update, I just started a new job and training started the day I posted CH. 8, so I haven't had the chance to even start Ch. 9. Sorry, it'll be a while longer.

[poisonicefire]

K wonder what would happen if a worgen showed they would all run awy screaming probally

[Oubliette]

Second best fic for Warcraft-verse that I've yet seen. Sorry mr Author, but Rebirth of the Damned is a cut above. However, your story has a similar relationship to the other Warcraft fics.
(Rebirth drops Ponified Arthas Menethil in Equestria.)

[Kusac]

Akido would probably be the best against an armored person. That style is heavy on redirecting force and useing leverage to subdue people. Normal punches and kicks would do didely against platemail and not much against chain. The reason is that a gambeson is worn under the armor. It is basically padding to distribute the force of hits. Think of it as the padding underneath the hard shell of a football player and you get the idea. But this is a Warcraft crossover, lets just say that the chi lets some of the force through armor.