The Canterlot Exchange, ten thousand humans and ponies pass through its doors every day, on their way to destinations all across Earth and throughout Equestria. Some are wide eyed migrants, others are only passing through, or on their way to find the most exotic holiday of their lives. They are mavericks, heroes or just everyday travellers, but every one has a story to tell. These are just a few of the tales I've gathered from the Canterlot Exchange.
With thanks to Luna-tic Scientist, Lord of Dorkness and docontra for their help pre-reading.
Winner of the Transformation group 3000 Member Celebration Contest!
Chapters (10)
Interesting set up with a great deal of potential. Looking forward to reading more!
So that's how you're publishing this, huh?
Personally I think the longer one chapter gave it more a sense of urgency, a jumping between interviewers... but still, that's a minor nit-pick, and I can see the reason for more 'bite sized' chapters.
Still, glad to see this actually go up on the site! Well worth another read.
6823318 It's a fair point, but on the flip side there's a tendency for long text dumps to be skipped over because of the text overload. I thought, given this story has such obvious chapter breaks, I'd try the more segmented style and see how it goes over.
6823415
Fair enough reasoned.
Congrats on winning the contest. It was fun and enjoyable to read.
This was one of my top three votes in the contest. I enjoy this setting and world building quite a bit, and look forward to many tales being written in it.
6823415
Do you intend to change the story from what was submitted, maybe expand it in any way?
I've had the document with all the entries just sitting in a tab waiting to be read but I never got around to it. This one is sounding fun already. I'll hit the entry and run through the entire thing though. Have to agree with Canary though, the setting already has a nice feel to it.
If I remember correctly, this is the story I voted first. I'd love to see it expanded.
My interest is piqued. Following.
Hmmmmm. Interesting.
It's always interesting to see an Earth/Equestria story that takes place long after first contact. And this certainly looks promising! Have an upvote and some tracking!
I was one of the people who put this as their first choice for the contest. Glad to see it published.
Our interviewer is oddly well versed in human mythology.
At least the claws will help in working in her field.
6825812
i think that is pretty much a given, part of the book research I suspect. Though somehow I KNEW Terry had been a man before "she" immigrated, well admittedly it's cause she's an industrial welder, not really a female frequented career path (all the women I've known with the skill for it are artists)
Now I want to go through the portal, just to see what I'd come out as.
6825812
At no point has it been explicitly stated that our interviewer is from Equestria him/herself...
It might well be Equestian mythology that he/she is not well versed on.
Oh boy. You're not even assured to stay the same gender? That could be... Well, actually, I see that being abused.
Assuming the mirrors were created by Twilight Sparkle after reverse engineering the original. The Princess of Friendship would want the new forms to be as well suited and comfortable for their users as possible.
Hmmm, for a lot of birds of prey the females are much bigger and stronger than the males. That could be true for griffons as well. Welding requires a lot of finesse and is quite dangerous. For a person that uses their hands a lot claws could be adapted to much faster than hooves or unicorn magic. Perhaps for a large burly welder a female griffon is the best form for his personality and skill set. Although you would think a minotaur would be even better. Perhaps Terry will discover that he enjoys flying far more than he currently realizes.
6823299 Awesome, hope you have fun.
6823434 Thanks!
6823475 Right now it's as it stands, but I might get a bonus chapter together if this proves popular enough.
6823493 I'm quite fond of the setting too, but I'm more than a little biased
6823714 Great to hear you enjoyed it. I might come back to this universe, it's got some great story potentials in it.
6823811
6824258 Glad to have you aboard!
6825282 Great to hear, thanks for the vote.
6826023 I'm guessing pegasus, your avatar seems 'cloudy' to me
6826486 Just imagine what the complaints department looks like for those kinds of complains
6827072 You know, I quite like that logic. To bad Twilight didn't make the adaptation spell, though.
Oh and for everyone. Because my update scheduel is a little messed up due to a slow approval. Have a double update today!
Our interviewer is like a D20 rogue. High levels in both social and stealth skills. Getting into all the places she shouldn't be able to get into. And getting out of them with just as much ease.
Rainbow's not wrong though. As humans, we have a remarkable tendency to take extraordinary things and make them decidedly mundane. I suppose that's why we advance so much, on the other hand. When the wonder becomes the norm, you strive to find something else to replace it.
Edit:
Whether it's her own brand or a line with the faces of all the bearers, it's hilarious. 'Harmony Pop! Now available in Blueberry Dash'
Also, The soda
I wanna hear that story. I really wanna hear that story.
Alicorn Rainbow Dash is best Rainbow Dash
pre08.deviantart.net/e5e5/th/pre/i/2015/106/f/a/alicorn_rainbow_dash_by_haloheros-d7nwtmj.png
Weird, I could have sworn the uropygial gland was at the base of the tail. I'm not sure if that would make it more or less funny.
6827213 It's all in the psychology.
WHAT.
"Alicornhood. See if you can ascend today!"
I'll just leave this here:
I find this to be incredibly profound.
“Yeah...” Terry’s head shoots up. “Wait, gryphoness?”
Well looks like that will be a whole new can of worms ehh lol. If she didn't like being a gryphon now, being female on top of it from her previous gender kinda makes it worse LOL. Shame we won't see any more of these character's personal stories =<
6827213 Our un-ending thirst for knowledge and the unknown/unreachable. It was kinda what makes humanity so scary, if nothing kills us off. We will spend all eternity searching and tinkering with anything in our grasp to understand it to the point of trying to achieve god hood.
6827587 Griffons don't get a bird tail, so nature has to improvise.
Hmmm, my Changeling sense is tingling
*cough-cough*MISANTHROPE*cough-cough*
Fascinating story. Our protagonist is gathering data, but it doesn't look like it's for a book.
But if not that, then what? Would Rainbow Dash's standard comment to such behaviour be on the money this time? And even if it was, is harm or disruption actually the intent?
I look forward to finding out.
6829329 Quite possibly. Our interviewer appeared as a pegasus to Rainbow Dash last chapter, but as a unicorn this chapter.
Ooh, very interesting. I have no idea where this is heading, but I've got my seat picked out already.
The more I read this, the more I'm afraid this is suddenly going to turn dark.
6829872 The other curious thing is that the author makes an off-hand comment about being witness to RD's first rain-boom, which in the scope of this story would make the author a very old being. Something very curious is happening here, indeed.
6827587 Yeah, what 6829196 said. Putting that glad at the base of a lion tail would be... unsanitary lets say.
6828374 I'll confess, out of everyone Terry is the most likely to get another story. She's right at the beginning of of tale and I do love a good 'learn to fly' narative.
6830916 More unsanitary than right above a cloaca? Eh, whatever.
6827213
The funny thing is how much this also applies to the ponies. They move celestial bodies, control the weather, and Rainbow can casually break the laws of physics. Rainbow doesn't think of those as extraordinary though, so doesn't include them on her 'things made boring by society' list. I love writing Rainbow because of this kind of thing, her biases say so much about herself and her culture.
6827238 It's on my list.
6827398
6827959
6829329 That sounds like something a changeling would say!
6829531 Man, they just keep sneaking into my stories, don't they?
6829552>>6829948 Glad to have you guys aboard.
6830033 Just don't tell the Conversion Bureau people about this and it'll be fine.
6830749
6830970 Fair point, still doesn't make much sense to mix the bird and lion parts like that though.
6831001 As long as Griffons still lay eggs, I'm happy.
This is a really damn good fic so far.
6827213
We're able to take something extraordinary like flight and make it boring in a mere 113 years or however long it's been since kitty hawk
in that time we've gone from paper and wood contraptions that can barely stay aloft to supersonic fighter jets that can go Mach 4 
Prepare for more screeching
Very nice idea, good work.
Yeah, I could see that happening.
Yeah that's how I imagine an exchange between both worlds happening in the long term.
And this reporter just gets curioser and curioser...
I'm finding this fic utterly fascinating, and if it weren't updating so frequently, I'd be a twitchy mess.
A nice contrast with the attitude of the previous chapter's character.
Yup, this guy gets more and more suspicious. I can't tell if he's actually malicious, though. Those two on't always go hand in hand.
Well, it's better than the corporate work/money/greed sh*thole that is Earth. I'd rather live there than here.
I'm surprised humans have not considered finding a way to weild magic without the need of unicorns.
We are good figuring out how to do stuff Mother Nature didn't design us for.
I laughed way too much at this comment of hers.
There is a downside to this too many people experience. So much to study, so little jobs and opportunities to actually use it. I suppose in this setting Equestria might open up a new region for learned workers to possibly apply their skills?