The Encounter

by Winter_Solstice

Pinkie

Well, that happened.

I thought I’d been freaked out before by the things I’d already seen, but that was nothing compared to being tackled and assaulted by those nightmare fuel ponies. In the brief conversation I’d had with Fluttershy, she’d never mentioned creatures like those. I was already having a hard time with the whole notion of talking equines, let alone the fact some are pegasi and some are unicorns. And alicorns. Can’t forget those.

Meeting their boss was a singular experience. As I lay there, surrounded by those freaks of nature, I heard a thud! and looked up to see two hooves planted in front of me. My gaze carried up until I met the eyes of what had to be royalty. Even without the crown, the pony’s bearing simply shouted “higher class.” My sense of reality took another nosedive as I squinted up at what had to be an Alicorn: wings, horn and an…ethereal mane and tail? The eyes I met were far from friendly, and the sense of menace that hung about her was almost palpable. Then she spoke.

Her voice rattled my teeth and shook my eardrums. From her inflection I knew I was being asked a question, but that’s as far as my understanding went. I closed my eyes tight and put my head back down on the ground.

Apparently that was the wrong thing to do, for suddenly I found myself being forced up and to my knees by my guards. The Alicorn spoke to someone behind me, and I looked around to see Fluttershy coming forward. Her eyes were red from crying, and I felt a pang as I saw her. Less than two hours ago, I’d frightened her into fainting. Now here she was crying…for me? I had to say something.

“Fluttershy, I’m so sorry I scared you before. Please don’t cry.”

I’m sorry too, Char-Elles. I didn’t know they’d treat you like this.

The Alicorn interrupted anything I would have said by taking over the conversation. Even though I knew I was the topic, her eyes were much softer and her tone much gentler as she addressed Fluttershy. That gave me hope. If this imperial being was on friendly terms with the only pony that could communicate with me, I might have a chance. That hope quickly faded as their conversation went on. It ended when I could hear a pleading tone to Fluttershy’s voice, but the Alicorn simply closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

“What’s going on? What did she say?” I asked. Fluttershy folded her ears back, stared at the ground for a few moments, and then looked me in the eyes.

They’re going to hold you as a prisoner at Twilight’s castle. Princess Luna says you’re too much of an unknown to let free.

“But…but I didn’t do anything! They can’t treat me like this!” She let her gaze fall once again.

I’m sorry.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

I got somewhat of a good look at the castle they brought me to, and it looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. I might have actually enjoyed the sight of it if I wasn’t bruised, battered and restrained. Now I’m stuck in a fairly large spare bedroom, so it could be worse. It seems weird that they didn’t throw me into one of the cells, for I’m most certainly a prisoner: there are more of those bat ponies guarding the door and flying by the big windows, and I shudder every time one of them looks at me with those slit-eyed stares. I don’t want to mess with them again.

I went over to the small bed and sat down. It’s soft enough, but I can tell I’m going to have to curl up while laying on it, or my feet will hang off the edge. Speaking of feet, I noticed mine was already healing. I’d read about this. Back on Earth, sports organizations used hyperbolic chambers on athletes to speed recovery from injuries. This world’s increased air pressure and elevated oxygen levels acted like a natural healing system, apparently. Already I could put my weight on the foot, and it didn’t hurt as much. One bit of good news in the middle of all this mess.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the throne room of the castle, Twilight was holding a meeting with her friends, including Princess Luna.

“This is amazing!” said Twilight. “An actual alien! Just think of all the things we can learn from it!” Fluttershy sighed and looked away, but remained silent.

Rainbow spoke up for her.

“It’s a ‘he’, Twilight. Some kind of stallion.” She looked at her friend and added, “Fluttershy likes him, so he’s probably not dangerous.”

Fluttershy looked at her in surprise, and then gave her a small smile of gratitude.

“And what do you think of him, Rainbow Dash?” asked Luna.

“Me? I could take him, even though he’s so tall.” She looked again at Fluttershy. “But, he didn’t do anything bad. He did scare her when she first saw him, but he carried her into her house when he could have really hurt her. So…I guess he’s alright.”

“Thank you, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy quietly. Rarity was sitting next to her and gave her hoof a squeeze.

“He sounds like he was most gallant, despite everything else,” she said soothingly. “What does he look like?”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and described him for the sake of Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike.

“As Rainbow said, he’s very tall. He stands on two legs like a minotaur, but he has no fur, except on his head. He doesn’t have hooves, but has hands like minotaurs or Spike's, but without claws.” His eyes are very small, and he has sharp teeth, so I think he’s probably a carnivore, but he can eat fruit at least.” Here she looked at Princess Luna. “He’s not dangerous, but very kind. It’s not his fault he’s here, and he just wants to go home.”

“Yes, Fluttershy, you said that before. But as I said, we cannot allow him to walk about free. Even if he’s not a threat, he’s frightening to other ponies. We cannot allow panic to ensue.”

“That sounds good to me,” said Applejack. “I could go without seeing…him…again, thank you very much. And he scared my sister and her friends something fierce, I’m told.”

Fluttershy tried once more. “That’s not his fault he looks the way he does. On his world, everypony looks like him. And Winona wasn’t scared but ran right up to him. Angel doesn’t like him, but the other animals weren’t scared either. Doesn’t that count for something?” She looked around the room.

“Well, I’d like to see him!” said Pinkie. “Just think: a new friend that’s not from this world!” She put one hoof to her chin in thought. “I wonder if he likes cake…?”

“And I heard two Guards had a hard time getting him down, and it took a couple more to hold him, so he must be really strong! That’s so cool!” said Spike. “Does he have any other powers?”

“Now, Spike, you know that’s ridiculous. The Guards couldn’t have captured him if he had any powers. But this is all speculation. I think it’s time the rest of us met him,” said Twilight.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I let my thoughts drift back to home. Try as I might, I couldn’t remember anything that had happened to account for my being here. Last thing I could recall, it was about three am when I’d gone to bed. I’d lain there for what had to have been an hour, as per usual, but I must have eventually dropped off. I thought harder. I…I could catch snatches of my dream. I was flying, but I couldn't recall where I was going. I tried to think some more but then gave it up.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Why would they be knocking? I went to the far side of the room and braced myself.

The door opened, and first two of those bat ponies scanned the room for me before entering. Once they found me, one entered and locked eyes on me while the other turned and nodded to whomever was behind him. Soon, that tall Alicorn princess entered, followed by a purple one. To my relief, Fluttershy entered next. I could see a few others waiting in the hallway.

It looked like they were all content to stay out there until suddenly a bright pink one made her way in. While the others had all stopped and were staring at me, the pink one’s gaze was more intense. Fluttershy had mentioned one of her friends was named ‘Pinkie Pie’, so this had to be her unless pink was a common color among these beings. I was about to dismiss her and focus my attention on Fluttershy, when the pink one came forward, staring at me all the time. The guards moved to block her way. The pink one kept her gaze on me but spoke to those behind her. The tall Alicorn spoke a question, and the pink one replied. After a moment the Alicorn spoke again, and the guards stepped back and allowed her to proceed.

The purple one said something to her, but if she heard her she gave no sign. I had no idea what her intentions were, so I backed up until I was against the wall. I put my hands up to ward her off and cast a ‘help me’ look at Fluttershy. She just shrugged. The pink one shifted her gaze from my eyes to my hands, then looked in my eyes again.

Then, she did something that caught everyone off guard: without warning, she stood up on her hind legs and placed her hooves on my hands. The purple one said something again, and she turned her head and replied, but turned back to me. She stared at me for a few more moments, and then…she smiled. I couldn’t help myself. I smiled back. Then she did something even more surprising: she came closer and then, she…she hugged me! I was shocked. At first, I couldn’t move, but then I hugged her as well. Breaking the hug, she said something to me. I looked at Fluttershy.

She said, ‘Welcome to Equestria.’

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Pinkie, what are you doing?! Stop!” said Twilight.

Pinkie kept moving forward. The alien backed up and watched her approach until he couldn’t move back any further. Twilight started forward but stopped when she saw the alien’s expression. He was just as confused as everypony else, but she could read no hostility. When he put his hands up, everypony tensed. Then, Pinkie surprised them all when she stood up and placed her hooves on his hands.

“Pinkie, please! We don’t know what he’ll do!”

Pinkie looked back at her. “Shh, Twilight. It’s okay.”

She turned back to the alien, and did something that made him…smile? Once he did that, she stepped forward and wrapped her hooves around his barrel. The alien looked just as shocked as everypony else, but after a few moments, he hugged her back. She then sat down and welcomed him, which he must not have understood. He looked at Fluttershy, who translated for him with a smile on her face.

When Pinkie turned and came back to the group, Twilight didn’t know whether to hug her or strangle her, but the atmosphere in the room had changed.

“Truly you are a singular pony, Pinkie Pie,” said Luna. “Why did you do that?”

“Because everypony needs a hug, Your Highness!”

Luna looked over at the alien, who still had a slightly stunned expression. “It would seem so.” She was silent and then turned to Twilight.

“I leave him in your care, Twilight Sparkle. Do as you think best.”

Comments

[Ledgion]

Very interesting story so far. I look forward to seeing what happens next.

[Die Pie WiM]

Awesome chapter! :) Already added this to my favorites after this chapter. Again, I know I said it before but the language barrier really adds to the conflict and makes things interesting to see played out. I also like how you've switched between characters points of veiw. It a nice change of pace from most stories I've read, my question is this; As the story progress do you think switching between character will become confusing? As more characters come into the story, I could only imagine it would make it harder for you to keep track. I could be wrong, but I always like hear what the author thinks about these things. Anyway, I'm rambling. Awesome chapter and I look forward to finding out what haopens next

[Winter_Solstice]

6276499
Again, I most certainly appreciate that! The next chapter will be out by this Friday or earlier.

6276976
Thank you again for the read.

To answer your question, no, it's not too confusing, as each character being introduced follows a pattern. It started out with the Human protagonist, then shifted to AJ's perspective for her reactions, then Human, then Fluttershy. So the pattern has been Human: Reaction, Human: Reaction. I did throw in that odd perspective, which I'll come back to, but for the most part that's how it will go.

[Jack Kellar]

This doesn't sound at all like the equestria that welcomed Scorpan. This is beyond the "wariness" threshold and into "gratuitous hostility".

I take back the statement of my enjoyment. But I'll read on.

[Pat_brony]

6983082
remember

it was pinkie pie

[JazzyWaffles]

“But…but I didn’t do anything! They can’t treat me like this!” She let her gaze fall once again.

This. Luna is committing an international crime right now, or at the very least would be if a human nation existed.

[Theresa]

8665578
She certainly being quite mean. She supposed to know better at her age plus her position it's very rude to lock someone up for being different. You think nobody learned from zecora