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Chapter 1: Where Am I?3,227 words
Chapter 2:Mane 6 Roundup!5,165 words
Chapter 3: My Name Is...3,099 words

Chapter 3: My Name Is...

Running Like Clockwork
Ch. 3:

Hello, My Name Is…

Finally.

Back at the library. Man, I have never been so happy to be at a library in all my life. I thought I would never get back here. I still can’t believe how this day has gone. First, I get accused of being a filly molester. Then, I get rammed into by a pegasus, followed by having to carry said pegasus all the way to the boutique, where I’m accused of being a filly molester again, insult the boutique’s owner (who is my 3rd favorite pony, next to Twilight and Pinkie), get into a fight, which wrecks the boutique’s kitchen, have what felt like my life getting sucked out of me by some weird gunk, and screaming like a little girl in surprise right in front of my favorite pony.

All in all, not good. And the day isn’t even halfway over yet. Ah well, keep calm and all that. I may be exhausted, but I decided to make it look like I'm anything but, so I don't make the others worry. I sighed as we walk up to the library’s door and motion to knock…

*TWACK*

… only to have the door smack me right in the face as it swung open and knocked me onto my back. Just bucking great. The pony on the other side of the door was not enjoying the fact that they just knocked me out with the door, so I’ll spare them.

“Oh my! Are you ok?” Twilight said.

Now, I know that I haven't been having a good day, and Lord knows this didn't help at all, but all things considered I believe I took this situation a lot better than I could've taken it.

“OF COURSE I GET MY FACE KNOCKED IN BY A DOOR! WHY NOT, WITH THE DAY I’VE HAD!” I replied furiously, still on my back with my face scrunched in pain and my front hooves flailing in the air above me. Fortunately, I’ve must’ve been blessed by whatever powers may be because the pain faded quickly. Unfortunately, those same powers that may be probably only did it so I can see that I’ve upset Twilight in my outburst.

Crap.

“Ah Hell.” I said. ”I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. I’ve just had a bad day. Forgive me?“

The purple unicorn perked up a bit at this, and gave me a small smile. ”Ok. Just as long as you’re not angry at me for opening the door on you face.”

“Deal. Let’s go inside. I have everyone here.” I motioned to everyone behind me.

“Good, I was just about to go see where you were. You’ve been gone all morning for what was supposed to be an hour long trek around town” Twilight said as we walked into the library. I bit my lip on this one.

“Well, I kinda ran into a few…diversions along the way. Nothing too bad though. Wasn’t too good, but not that bad.” I had to lie. I almost made her feel guilty about accidently opening the door in my face. If she found out all what I had gone through to get her friends here, she would feel extremely guilty for having me go through all the trouble to get her friends. And I was not about to let her feel that way. I wouldn’t be able to take the guilt!

We all went in and sat down around Twilight’s table. Twilight was the first to speak up. ”Hello girls, sorry for having you all here on such short notice, but there is something important that needs to be discussed. If you are not aware of the situation, our friend here claims to be from another world, and that he isn’t a pony, but in fact a creature called a human. Now, if you can just—”

At that moment, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “How do you know this guy isn’t just some jokester that’s pulling a fast one over ya, Twilight? I mean, this whole ‘human from another world‘ thing seems pretty far-fetched.” She then faced me and pointed a hoof at me, ”if you are from some other world, prove it.”

I thought for a bit on how to approach this, and came up with a way. I reached into the hammerspace and pulled out my iPhone, placing it on the table. The others looked at the item with confused looks on their faces, and Dash spoke up.

“ What is that?” the tricromatic pegasus asked.

“It’s called an iPhone. It’s the technological descendent to the telephone, a human invention that allows people to talk to each other from far away.” I tapped on the screen, which lit up, causing everyone to stare in awe. I was laughing inside, I really was. It was like showing a little kid a shiny new toy. “Its also a hybrid of the telephone and another human invention, the computer, which allows the user to utilize a multiple of it’s functions, such as access information, listen to music, write out documents, etc.”

“Well, that’s a mighty fine contraption you have.” Applejack exclaimed.

“I’ll say, this is nowhere near Equestria’s standards in technology.” Twilight said, gleaming at the phone. She picked it up with her magic to get a closer look at it. “Now do you believe him Dash?”

Rainbow Dash stared at the phone for a little longer, then at her friends and me, and groaned. “I guess so…”

“Ok, so now that we have that out of the way, can you please introduce yourself?”

I got up and stood in front of them all.

”Hello, I don’t know where to start really. I could give you my real name, but human names are different from pony names, and I haven’t thought of a pony name for myself. So I’ll skip it for now. My age is – “

I was interrupted all of a sudden as a pink blur suddenly tackled me to the ground. I fell backwards and looked up to see Pinkie Pie on top of me, speaking a mile a minute.

“Ohmygosh you don’t have a name yet? That’s terrible I mean you need to have a name otherwise no one would be able to call you and wouldn’t be able to invite you to parties or throw you parties! I mean who ever heard of a birthday party for someone who didn’t have a name!? You need to have a name and – oh! I just got an idea, how about I think up of a name for you! It’ll be easy for me, I come up with a lot of names everyday for parties and snacks and cupcakes and parties! Can I help you think up a name oh please, oh please, oh please?”

“Um… Sure?” was all I could say. I had no idea how to respond besides that. This made her smiled even wider, which I thought was impossible until she did it.

“Yay! I have so many ideas for a name for you! Like Lucky or Skipper –you look like a Skipper- but maybe we should have your name reflect your talent. What’s your talent? Lets see, your cutie mark is a Sword and Shield… oh! How about Valiant Shield! Or maybe Steel Shield, or Sword Shield, or –“ Pinkie was then cut off by Twilight, who magicked her off of me and placed her where she was previously sitting.

“Pinkie, we can decide on his Equestrian name later” Twilight said, before turning to me. “But she’s right, in a sense. For the sake of convenience, can you just give us your human name for now?”

I thought about this for a second, and then responded, though with a bit of scorn over not having an “Equestrian” name. ”My name is Nicholas Scorro. I’m 25 years of age, and my profession is secretary to the mayor of the Runa Islands.”

“Runa Islands?” Rarity said.

“Yes. The Runa Islands are a collection of islands off the coast of New York, founded 10 years ago by a man named Giorgio Runa. Giorgio was tired of the Manhattan city life, and –

“Wait a minute! I thought you said you were from another world!” Exclaimed the cyan pegasus, who had taken up a defensive pose.

“I am from another world. Why?“

“If you’re from another world, how could this so called ‘founder’ of yours be from Manehatten?”

“No, not Manehatten, MANhatten. MAN. It’s a different place.” I said, correcting her. She gave me a disapproving look, then returned to her spot.

“Now as I was saying, Giorgio Runa was tired of the MANhatten city life and all its hassle, which led him to take the life of a modern-day hermit. He loved the sea, and was a skilled fisherman, so he decided that he would get on his boat and search for a small island where he would live the rest of his life on, away from civilization. A few weeks after his search, he discovered a hundred-acre island with 4 other islands surrounding it about an hour and a half away from the mainland, completely deserted and undiscovered. It wasn’t even on the map he had with him! It was the perfect place to live. So he built a home on the main island, where he lived in solitude. Three months later, a couple arrived on the islands, seeking Giorgio. Like him, they too were tired of the city life, and have heard about him through mutual friends. They wanted a new life, and sought out Giorgio to see if they could somehow live on the island with him. Giorgio was reluctant at first, but after a while he realized how boring his life had become without other people, and eventually allowed them to live on the islands with him. As time passed on more people have heard of the islands and how serene it was, and have traveled to the islands to seek a chance to live there. This kept on going for about another 6 months, and after a while the new citizens of the island motioned to make the islands an official town, with Giorgio as its mayor. Again, Giorgio was reluctant at first, but eventually gave in and accepted the title. About a month and a half later, it was cleared as an official town.”

“Wow this ‘Gee-or-gee-o’ fella sounds like a mighty fine stallion, allowing others ta live on the islands considering he wanted ta live his life as a hermit.” Applejack said. “So, what, you’re his secretary? Must be pretty nice, huh?”

I suddenly frowned, and looked at the ground sullenly. “Unfortunately, no. Three years ago, Giorgio Runa disappeared at sea while on a fishing trip. He was never found and presumed dead almost a year afterwards.” I looked up to see a collection of sorrowful faces the others were giving me. I gave them a small smile. “Don’t worry. Many people miss him dearly, but we find closure with his disappearance. I only knew him for two years, so it was easier for me to accept what had happened. Not by much though…” I frowned and looked at the floor again. “… Sometimes it felt like I knew him my entire life.” Everything was silent for a little while, to which I decided to break the silence and carry on, “Well, I believe that is enough about me for now. So, do any of you have any questions about the human world?”

“Um, I have a question. I mean, if it’s ok…”

“Sure Fluttershy, what’s up?”

“Um, well, what does a human look like?” the yellow-colored Pegasus asked before shying away behind her hair- er, mane.

“Oh, well that is an easy one. I can explain it to you, but I think it would be better if I showed you instead.” I said, reaching for the iPhone, only to find that I didn’t have it. I looked around to see where it went, then found Twilight with it, tapping away at the screen. I wondered why I wasn’t barraged with questions at this point. I walked up to Twilight and tapped her shoulder, which apparently was enough to break her out of her trance and made her aware of her surroundings. She gave a sheepish grin and returned the phone back to me. I went through my pictures and found one that would help me. The photo was a picture of me with my sister and my two friends, taken about a year ago. I showed the photo to them.

“This is what human beings usually look like. We are bipedal creatures, standing on our hind legs, our forelegs called “arms”. We have two ‘hands’ where our fore hooves would be, with 5 fingers on each hand, much similar to Spike’s claws. The average height is usually somewhere between 5-6 feet, last time I checked, and mostly have no hair, save for the top of our head and a thin layer of hair on our arms and legs. Hair color is either black, blond, red, brown, white, or a mixture of any two.” I explained. They all looked at the photo in amazement, which is completely understandable. After all, humans are to this world as magical talking ponies are to our world. After a while, Twilight’s curiosity got the better of her.

“Um, excuse me, Nicholas?”

“Nick is fine.”

“Ok. Nick, who are these humans in the picture?”

I turn to look at the photo, a soft smile creeping onto my face. “This is of my two friends and my sister and me back in my world. The one on the bottom is Michael, a lawyer who works for the mayor. We met soon after I became the secretary, and became good friends. The one to my right is Chris, a childhood friend who I literally grew up two doors down to. Our friendship actually started with a fight, to which I apologized to him afterwards. We became friends ever since. He works various jobs across the island. You can call him a ‘jack of all trades’. The girl, obviously, is my sister, Victoria. She’s currently enrolled in college, earning a degree in education.” I paused to look at the picture, when I realized something.

There may be a chance that I can never get back.

That I am stuck in here in Equestria forever.

That I’ll never see any of my friends or family ever again.

Then I felt something on my shoulder. I looked up and saw a purple hoof resting on my shoulder, and the unicorn it belonged to looked at me with a comforting face, as if to say ‘don’t worry, everything will be alright’. The others were giving me the same faces, each giving me the same unspoken message. And just like that, any sadness was immediately erased. I smiled and looked up at my audience of ponies.

“Ok then, what else do you want to know about the human world?”

And so, for the next few hours I have been answering any and all questions the girls had. They asked various questions, to which I tried my best to explain. I was hit with every question under the sun; from the anatomy and bone structure of the human body to what we eat to whether or not we like parties. I told them about how we use technology and science in place of magic, that we are omnivores, which was then immediately followed by both a brief explanation of what it is and an unfortunately not so brief consolation that I wouldn’t eat them, and that humans, while not able to manipulate the weather, are still able to observe and predict it, which Rainbow Dash had trouble believing. Eventually, the Q&A hit a bit close to home, in the form of one pink pony.

“Hey, Nick, how did you know about us anyways?” Pinkie Pie said.

“Hey yeah, I mean it isn’t like you could’ve known about us since you are from a different world. Care to explain?” Rainbow Dash said, taking her defensive demeanor again. I began to freeze up, as I was hoping I could bull my way past it a bit longer, but I couldn’t come up with a single way to explain it without telling the truth.

Ah hell, might as well anyways. It was bound to come up sooner or later I thought. I took a deep breath and looked straight at them.

“O.K., before I tell you how I know about this world, I must warn you. This information will most likely change your look on your world completely. Do you still want to know?” Everyone nodded their heads yes. “Ok then. Well, you remember what I told you about the human invention known as the Television, right?”

“That box that shows what is happening in other parts of the world?” Rainbow Dash said, not backing out of her stance.

“Not exactly how I explained it but, yeah. And the reason I ask you this is because – “ just then we heard screams coming from outside. We rush outside to see the source of the screams – three little fillies cowering under 2 shadowy figures, both pegasi. I recognized one of the shadowy figures that attacked Fluttershy earlier. The other one with the short mane was probably the one who knocked Dash out of the sky. One of them had a sharp object in its hoof, raising it as if to stab the fillies.

I rushed towards the group and got between the fillies and the shadow pegasi, raised my forelegs over my head, closed my eyes and braced myself for a world of pain.

*CLANK*

…

Wait a minute, clank?

I opened my eyes to see my forelegs – only to see that they had been turned to metal! I stared at them, and then tapped one of them with the other, resulting in another clanking sound. I found a devious smile slowly creeping to my face, as now I may have stumbled on to an advantage. I looked up at my attackers, who were dumbfounded at what had just happened, and simply gave them a slightly wicked grin.

“Now you’re in trouble.”

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