A Blissful Planet

by VonArmen

Act II: Finding a Job ~ Prelude to Conflict

Act II: Finding a Job ~ Prelude to Conflict

Walking through the town gave me many an uncomfortable feeling due to all the staring towards my direction, as I expected. Figures that the one thing I suggest to myself not to do and I do it anyway. What the hell is wrong with me? Anyway, back to the topic at hand, their reactions were only what I believed to be natural sentient behavior: be afraid of anything you don’t know. This would have caused me to doubt my original hypothesis that I was on another planet, had it not been for the fact that the ponies’ mental processes seemed just as complex as that of a human’s mental processing. No way could research have progressed that far without me knowing about it. I chuckled a bit in response to my sentient being hypothesis while walking over to this town’s (Ponyville, if I recall correctly from reading the sign on the outskirts of town) Town Hall, to which Rainbow responded with a confused look as she walked next to me. It was amusing to me to think that this, of all things, would be a universal constant; fear of the unknown, I mean. I didn’t explain this to Rainbow, though. I doubt she’d understand the concept at all.

Opening the door to Town Hall found Rainbow and I in a relatively large structure resembling architectural designs from the human world. Of course, by “relatively large” I mean by pony standards, which means that this room was only around fifteen to twenty feet tall. Still enough room, just really small compared the town halls I was used to. As for the human part, I honesty had no idea where the ponies got their ideas for architectural designs, but I found it eerie to think that this town hall was so hauntingly familiar to human design.

I stood around in the middle of the entrance room to look around at the way the building was designed and how it was structured. Unfortunately, from the feel of it, (as I had tapped one of the support beams with the back of my hand) this place was not Earthquake resistant as the Japanese had made their buildings, for from the sound of the material I could tell that the metal used in the support beam was heavy, probably something like multilayered silver. This could be a bad thing dependent upon where this town’s located on the continent, I figured. Then again, the place isn’t that tall. I suppose, even if there was an Earthquake, it probably wouldn’t do too much damage. Looking up, I noticed a slight color change in the paint used on the roof, which suggested that this place had recently gone through repairs of some sort. Based on where the damage is, I thought, I doubt that an Earthquake would be the likely cause of this building’s partial destruction. If anything, I’d say that it was man- or in this case pony- made. Oh, why not? I’ll bite.

“Hey, Rainbow. Did this place go through repairs, recently?” I asked, pointing to the oddly colored paint. The initial response I got was that of an annoyed groan, one that prolonged for several seconds before she responded.

“Yeah,” she said, putting her face in her now-raised right forehoof, “Derpy…”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“Don’t bother. The less you’re around her, the less damage she’ll cause around you.”

I’ll have to see this “Derpy” later, the- Wait, wouldn’t that mean that she’s just going to cause damage no matter where she is? Why should it make a difference whether I’m around her or not? Unfortunately, this conversation came to an end before I got the chance to ask another question, as the Mayor had stepped out of her office after Rainbow had walked over and knocked on her door.

“Ah, hello, Rainbow Da…” the Mayor trailed off after looking first at Rainbow, and then at me. “And what would this be?”

I stepped in before Rainbow could get a word, “My current name is ‘Hurricane’. I was hoping to get a word with you regarding my current situation.” I surprised myself by doing this. Normally I was rather reclusive and didn’t talk much to strangers, especially after what happened on my planet, but here I am taking control of the situation. It was probably because of the fact that I realized I needed some form of income or another if I was going to be here a while.

“It- it talks?” she asked, clearly taken aback. Sentient beings are so predictable sometimes.

“Yes, I talk. I was hoping to get a word. Do you mind?”

“Er… Of course… Step right this way.” The Mayor motioned for me to step into her office with her; rather halfheartedly, I might add. I chuckled to myself, Perhaps it was the sword…?

Stepping into her office provided a similar sight as the entrance room to this Town Hall. Similar structure, same design; the only differences I could spot were the size and the personal touches she added in to make the room suit her more. Notably pictures of what I thought to be her family (or at least the people she was closest to) on her desk. There were a number of chairs about her customized desk, to which she motioned towards, suggesting that I take a seat in one of them. I, of course, took up this offer, as I was not going to stand the whole time we discussed things considering how long I had been travelling in that forest. Walking two days straight with barely any breaks was starting to take its toll on me.

I sat in the chair nearest me, while she took the one directly in front of her work station. The Mayor started to rummage in her belongings inside the now-opened desk, trying to stall for time so that she wouldn’t have to talk to me much. Clearly intimidated, I figured, no doubt because she doesn’t know me… or what I am, exactly.

“You needn’t be frightened of me, Mayor. I don’t pose a threat to you. Well, intentionally, anyway.”

She gave a nervous laugh, probably due to the statement I added at the end, (note to self: refrain from saying things that don’t help my case) and replied, “Right. Well, you wanted to see me to- what did you say? ‘Discuss your situation,’ was it?”

“That would be correct. Since I am obviously new here, I don’t have a place to live, nor do I have a form of income. I figure I can find a place to live myself, but I doubt the rest of your townsfolk would be so trusting of me to just give a stranger who just walked into town a job. Especially considering this stranger isn’t exactly one of your species.”

“So you thought you’d come to me to see if I have any job openings of any kind?”

Ha! She’s quick to pick up on things; then again, I suppose she’d have to be, otherwise she wouldn’t be that great a mayor, now would she? “You catch on quick. Yes, I was hoping to get some kind, any kind of job opening. I am fairly versatile in what I can do.”

“That so? Actually, there has been this Chimera running around the Everfree Forest ever since Cerberus abandoned his post a few weeks back. It’s been preying on anypony that goes too deep into the forest-”

“And you want me to get rid of it?”

“That would be the idea. I would prefer if you didn’t kill it and just sent it back to the Gates of Tartarus, but do whatever you can.”

“Tartarus exists here?” Okay, animals like Cerberus and the Chimera I can suspend belief enough to play along with, but seriously? The Gates of Tartarus? THE Gates of Tartarus? The very same Gates that house the most vicious of creatures AND Hades himself? You’ve got to be fu-

“Of course it does. From the way you make it sound, it’s like you’re from another plan…” she trailed off after realizing exactly what I was to the rest of the populace here. “You’re an alien, aren’t you…?”

I smiled (which she unfortunately couldn’t see due to my hood being over my head) and said, “Close enough, I think.” A pause occurred, mostly due to her being even more suspicious of me now that I confirmed her question. “Why?” I asked, becoming a bit more serious, “Is that a problem for you now? It wasn’t two minutes ago before I told you that.”

“Well, I-”

“On second thought, don’t answer that question. I’ll just have to prove myself by taking down this Chimera of yours. Dead or alive, if I recall that correctly?” She simply nodded her response.

“Consider it done, however I have no idea where the Gates are, exactly. Mind giving me directions?” I asked.

Instead of answering my question, she merely took out a piece of parchment from one of the drawers in her desk (out of which I still can’t figure out how she opened it with hooves) and gave it to me. “Here,” she said, “I think it’ll just be easier to give you a map rather than me trying to give you directions.”

Thanking her, I slipped the parchment into my cloak’s inner pocket and walked out of the Mayor’s office, only to find Rainbow waiting for me. Apparently she had been listening in on the conversation, for she had a rather skeptical look on her face that was directed towards me as I was walking out.

“You’re an ALIEN?” she asked incredulously.

“If my hypothesis is correct,” I responded, “Then yes and no, but for the sake of convenience you can call me an alien.”

“Huh?”

“To put it simply, I believe I’ve somehow managed to travel dimensions to your Earth, but since I’m from an Earth, I’m not an alien in the sense that you are referring to,” I chuckled, “I guess you can just call me ‘Doctor,’ then.”

She rubbed the side of her head with the bottom of her hoof, trying to make sense of what I just said, I figure. “You should really talk to Twilight if you want to discuss egghead things.”

I laughed. I actually laughed. It’s been so long since I’ve had a good laugh. “Well, I doubt any of your species would get the last comment I made. As for the first, I don’t think I can describe it any clearer than that, sorry.”

“Anyway,” she said, changing the subject, “You’re going to fight the Chimera? THE Chimera? You can’t seriously be doing that alone!”

“Is that worry I hear in your voice?” I questioned, teasingly. “I doubt it’s going to be as hard as you make it sound. Besides, if worse comes to worst I have a trick up my sleeve for fighting the Chimera. Don’t think I’ll need help.”

“You sure you don’t want backup? I could talk to my friends and we could help you fight him!”

“Her, first of all. Second, I suppose if one of your friends has a massive block of lead they’d be willing to spare, then I’ll gladly use the help.”

“Okay, that is, by far, the strangest thing I’ve heard you say yet.”

“Ah, good, I’m becoming more like the Doctor every minute.”

Rainbow gave out a groan of frustration, mostly due to my incredibly ambiguous statements that seemed, to her, to be irrelevant. Granted, the one about the lead with the Chimera was going out on an assumption based on literature from my Earth, so it could be irrelevant for all I know. Regardless, she didn’t understand any of it, which only further heightened her irritation with me.

“Look,” she said, more annoyed than I’ve heard her, “Let’s just go talk to my friends and we’ll help out with your hunt.”

I sighed, “If it’ll put your mind at ease, then I don’t see why not. That is, of course, assuming your friends even want to help a dimension-hopping stranger from an alternate Earth. Why is my life suddenly starting to sound like a Doctor Who episode?”

“I give up!” she exclaimed after another groan.

Rainbow is quite the card, I thought, smiling. Looking at her, I noticed she had a fairly slim physique, with a rather aerodynamically designed body. That’s most likely due to the fact that she can fly, considering she has wings. Her posture, as I just started to notice, is very triumphant, like that of a lion or an overzealous human, despite the fact that she’s lowered her head in frustration, of course. It seems as though she’s filled with pride, and I’m not quite sure whether to take that as a good sign or a bad one.

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As the two of us walked around town to introduce me to her friends, I got many a strange look from the other ponies that passed us by. Again. Can’t really say I’m surprised about that. Thinking I was troubled by it, Rainbow told me not to worry and said that the first of her friends she was going to introduce me to and ask for help (out of which I still don’t think I need) was called “Twilight Sparkle.” Certainly interesting name choices these ponies’ parents had.

Upon our arrival to Twilight Sparkle’s, the house was, from appearance, a massive tree. From the looks of it, it had a lightning rod to it, I take it so that this house wouldn’t burn down or completely split in half during the middle of a lightning storm. Wait, if Twilight has a lightning rod, wouldn’t that mean that harvesting electricity was possible during a lightning storm? Perhaps these ponies managed to discover the usage of electricity? That would certainly make my life easier.

Rainbow, instead of knocking on the door to get her friend outside, just barged straight into the tree-like house. I stood, utterly shocked at the fact that she just did that, until Rainbow poked her head back outside and motioned with one of her front hooves to follow her in. Reluctantly, I followed her, deciding to trust her judgment. Perhaps this was normal by this town’s culture?

Upon our entering of the house, I noticed an array of books, far more than anyone from my world ever had in their home, even me. And here I thought I was the weird, intelligent one… Regardless, after further inspection, I noticed stairs leading up somewhere near the left side of Twilight’s house and to the right was an entrance of what appeared to be a kitchen.

Rainbow flew up the stairs to look for her friend, leaving me down on the ground floor to explore a bit more. I first started checking the many bookshelves that lined the walls, hoping to find some answers to the questions I had about this place. Glancing through, I noticed that some of the books were printed in a different language other than English, one that I could not distinctly make out. I guess they have their own language, but… Why do they speak English and not their own language?

I didn’t get a chance to look through any of the books, aside from getting a quick glance, however, as Rainbow flew back down from upstairs. “Guess Twilight isn’t here,” she said, matter-of-factly. “We might as well just head over to Appleja-” she got cut off as the door swung open, only to reveal a lavender-colored unicorn with a purple mane with a pink stripe towards the middle of it. What is with the colors on these ponies? First Rainbow having a blue coat and a rainbow colored mane, and now this? At least the Mayor had fairly common colors in her coat and mane; well, at least from what I’m used to, anyway.

Walking through the door, the lavender unicorn greeted Rainbow. “Oh! Hey, Rainbow Dash. What are you-” she said, slowly glancing over to me. At this point I started counting in my head, 3… 2… 1…

“Gah!” she shouted, obviously frightened. Okay, the first time was kind of funny due to being completely predictable, but now this is just getting ridiculous. She immediately jolted back outside and slammed the door, to which it opened again only to show a small reptile-looking creature standing on his hind legs as I was. It had purple scales and green, almost fin-like spines running down from its head all the way to its tail. Is this… A dragon?

“I take it this is a Ponyville tradition to run away from visitors?” I asked openly, getting annoyed.

To my surprise, the reptile replied to my question, “You too, huh?” I stayed silent for a short bit to comprehend what just happened. This reptile, male from the sound of it, not only spoke to me, but AGREED with me. Now I’ve seen everything.

“What do you mean?” I asked, curious as to what he had to say.

“Oh, well the ponies of the town did the same thing to a zebra named Zecora. She would walk into town to try and find ingredients for her potions, but all the other ponies were afraid of her. I guess the same thing happening to you would only be expected, but I didn’t think it’d be from Twilight…” he explained, sounding a little disappointed after he said the last part. So that was Twilight, huh? I doubt that unicorn would be much help in a fight if it’s just going to run away from things that scare it off. Or, at the very least, run away from things that it doesn’t know about.

“Right…” I replied, unsure as to what to make of the situation. “Well, I suppose we should move on, then, Rainbow, apparently your friend doesn’t want to…” I trailed off after noticing Rainbow had left. Well, that’s just great. I sighed, Now I’m stuck in some meek unicorn’s house without anyone I know. Maybe I’m better off just doing this hunt by myself like I thought, especially if all of her friends are going to act like this.

“Hey, uh, I don’t think we introduced ourselves, yet,” the reptile said, trying to strike up a conversation. “I’m Spike! You are…?”

“Hurricane, apparently,” I replied. “Just out of curiosity, are you a dragon, perchance?”

“You bet!” Spike exclaimed enthusiastically. “This is probably rude, and I don’t want you to take it this way, but what are you?”

“A human. From an alternate universe, as well, if my hypothesis is correct.”

“Dude. That’s creepy.”

I raised an eyebrow at this, to which I responded, “Which part? The ‘me being a human’ part or the ‘I’m from an alternate universe’ part?”

“The second one, obviously. Why? Did you think that I’d think that you being a human was creepy? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of a minority here, too.”

I stammered, awestruck that someone like this even made this much sense here. “I… I just figured that everyone else has been doing it so far, what’s to stop the people who haven’t yet? I apologize, Spike, I didn’t mean to stereotype.”

“Stere- what?” Spike asked, “What’s that mean?”

I chuckled in response to this. Oh, the irony. Not only am I doing the exact same thing these ponies are doing, but they apparently don’t even know what it means. “I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.” It’s probably best you don’t know, I added in my head.

“If you say so. Well, anyway, I should probably get to my chores around here, even if Twilight left. I know I’ll get a lecture if they aren’t done soon.”

I take it that’s my cue to leave, I thought, walking to the door. Before I got the chance to open said door, however, it burst open, staggering me back a few feet. It was apparently Rainbow’s kick that opened the door, for she was dragging Twilight back by the tail with her mouth. So that’s where she went.

Rainbow was the first to speak in response, spitting out Twilight's tail and sounding about as annoyed as when she was confused before, “Twilight, this is Hurricane. He’s new here and I wanted to introduce him.”

I simply nodded my head to Twilight in response, to which I got nervous shuffling from this unicorn, as Twilight was getting back up from Rainbow’s dragging. I suppose I’ll actually need to strike up a conversation this time.

“So, you’re Twilight? I’ve heard a decent bit about you from Rainbow.” I merely got a nod in response. “… Okay, this conversation’s getting nowhere. I think I’ll just go take care of the Chimera, now, as that seems a lot easier to deal with than talking to people.”

I started walking toward the door again, only to be interrupted, not by Rainbow, but by Twilight, to which I heard “Wait!” So Twilight’s a girl, huh? Probably should have figured as much.

“Why are you getting rid of the Chimera? I just got a letter from the Princess telling me to take care of it. Are you under orders from the Princess?”

“So you can talk,” I replied, irritation showing in my voice. “To answer your questions in order, because your mayor asked me to, and no, I don’t even know who your Princess is yet. Well, personally, anyway.”

She gave a nervous laugh, most likely due to the first statement I gave, and then said, “Sorry about the spectacle earlier. I panicked after seeing you and didn’t know what else to do.”

“You’re not very good at lying, Twilight Sparkle,” I said back, “For you did know what to do in response to seeing me, and that would be running away from me as far as you could get, to which you needed Rainbow to drag you all the way back here so that we could even have this conversation in the first place. Had it not been for that, we wouldn’t be discussing this.”

Her eyes flashed a look of guilt and she hung her head down, looking towards the ground. Perhaps that was a bit harsh? Despite thinking this I still didn’t apologize. I was right, after all, and you know what they say: the truth hurts.

A silence lingered on between the three of us in Twilight’s house for what seemed like an hour, (even though it was probably only about ninety seconds) Rainbow giving a look of worry to her friend, then looking back at me with a fury in her eyes I had not yet seen. “What the hay is wrong with you?!” she shouted.

I kept level-headed, as I always try to do in every situation, and responded, “If you’re referring to the comment, it is not my fault your friend takes offense to that. I was merely stating the truth, no matter how much she didn’t want to hear it.”

“You’re heartless, you know that?” she asked rhetorically, anger still raising her voice. These words… struck a hefty blow on me, psychologically. She’s right, of course; in some people’s eyes I am a heartless, cruel individual who couldn’t care less about others. I thought I had learned to deal with that by now, but I guess I never really got over people saying that one. It may be trivial, but honestly I just can’t take everyone treating me as though I’m some sort of monster. Ten years is far too long for me to be dealing with that from my own species, it’s even worse now that I have another doing it.

“Yes…” I said, quietly, after a short silence, “I suppose I am.”

“Rainbow, stop!” Twilight suddenly found her courage after realizing that we got into an argument over this. “Don’t start an argument about this because of me. He’s right, it was my fault.”

I spoke up at this, “No, Rainbow’s statement is true. You may have been the one to run away from me, Twilight Sparkle, but I was the one who retaliated by saying what I did. If anything, I am just as much at fault here as you are. For what it’s worth, I apologize.” I knew this apology seemed hollow, and to be quite blunt I didn’t expect her to forgive me in the slightest after I gave it… which is why her reaction completely surprised me.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she replied, sincerely, “I was wrong, too. Friends?” Twilight extended her hoof in my direction, expecting me to shake it or something along those lines. I, however, was too awestruck at the fact that she was so easily willing to forgive me, despite my rather harsh attitude toward everyone I’ve met so far. Speaking of, I should probably go apologize to the Mayor for any inconvenience I may have caused her… Oops, I’ve strayed from the topic at hand, haven’t I? I’ll get back to what happened:

Instead of answering her, I merely extended my hand in return and shook her hoof, accepting her offer of friendship. Rainbow, in response to this, gave a sigh of relief that I had- what was the phrase she used? “Made up”? I suppose that’ll do- made up with Twilight.

“About time you two made up!” Rainbow said, relief prevalent in her voice. Twilight merely blushed at this, probably due to the fact that the phrase Rainbow used has the same connotation to it that my Earth has, as well. Because of that, I similarly looked away from Twilight, blushing slightly. It’s fortunate that I still had the cloak hood over my face, otherwise they definitely would have noticed. That is, of course, assuming at least Rainbow didn’t already notice that.

Regardless, I was the person to break the momentary silence caused by Rainbow’s comment, “Well, I truly do appreciate you introducing me, Rainbow, but I think enough time has passed since the Mayor gave me the Chimera assignment. If I want to hunt that thing down, then I need to get started as soon as possible. I don’t even know where that thing is in the forest, and if meeting all your friends (out of which I don’t know how many you even want to introduce to me) is going to take this long, then I think I’ll have to pass on the help entirely and the introduction thing. The last one being momentary, assuming the offer still stands.”

“You worry too much!” Rainbow said, cheerfully. “I’m sure we have plenty of time before-” Her statement was cut off, as a rather violent rumbling shook Twilight’s house and a familiar roar echoed through the streets of Ponyville. Same roar that I heard when I first woke up…!

Rainbow swallowed, clearly nervous at the impending danger that was approaching, “Me and my big mouth…”

Comments

[Material Defender]

Excellent chapter, though I am curious as to our human. He makes Doctor Who references, but he has a sword... so just what kind of human is he, exactly?

[VonArmen]

510758
You'll see once he meets Pinkie. Spoiler alert, by the way.