• Published 15th Oct 2012
  • 19,167 Views, 1,070 Comments

Sunflower - Side Projects - Hoopy McGee



A collection of short stories related to Project: Sunflower

  • ...
28
 1,070
 19,167

Erin in Ponyville, part 1: Arrival

Timeline Note: This story takes place in February of 2039.

The bedroom was dark and peaceful, with a single full-sized bed in the center of the room. The only noises were the rush of warm air from the vents and some very mild snoring coming from under the heap of blankets on the bed. The only hint of the snorer's presence, apart from the noise, was in the form of a single foot jutting out from underneath the blankets.

The owner of both the snore and the foot snorted and jerked slightly, muttering something under her breath. She then rolled over, taking the opportunity to sneak her foot back under the covers where it belonged. Things seemed to be going well from that point onwards. The snore diminished to just the sound of deep breathing, and the sleeper sank deeper and deeper into slumber.

That is, until the phone on the nightstand next to the bed let out a loud shrieking and groaning noise, punctuated by a flailing electric guitar wielded with much more enthusiasm than skill. The result of this was the sleeper uttering vague and incomprehensible threats towards the device as a hand poked out from the pile of blankets on the bed, slapping around randomly until it found the phone, which was then shut off in an as irritated a fashion as a single limb could convey.

Quiet returned, at least for a few minutes. Soon enough, though, the vague shape under the covers rolled, shifted and sat up, pushing the sheets and blankets aside as she rubbed a hand through her bed-crazed hair while yawning hugely. She then stretched, yawning further, before finally getting out of bed. Stumbling, pajama-clad and half-blind with sleep, she made her way towards the bathroom.

"I need to change my alarm," Erin grumbled, knowing that she wouldn't. While it was true that there weren't many noises that were worse to be woken up to than her brother's old college band (which they'd called College Try in an attempt at irony), she’d mainly kept it out of nostalgia. That, and it was really good at getting her out of bed in the morning, especially on those days when she wanted to make sure she got up on time.

Typical early morning things happened in the bathroom, culminating with Erin eventually standing in front of a mirror, towel-wrapped and freshly showered, working a brush through her hair. She smiled a little at the sight of it, once again glad that she'd asked the Ascent team to replace her previous, somewhat mousy brown with Sunflower's lovely auburn. Her eyes had also been changed somewhat, to the deeper green she'd had as a pony, though that wasn't something she'd asked for. Somehow they'd just ended up that way, but she wasn't going to complain.

Her approval over her new appearance caused a small war between her vanity and her self-respect. Her self-respect told her that she should just be happy being herself, and to heck with whatever other people thought of her. Her vanity agreed, but pointed out that it was much easier to be happy with herself with a nicer hair color and prettier eyes. She managed to mollify the resulting outrage from her self-respect, at least somewhat, by reminding herself that she would have been able to achieve the same result with hair dye and tinted contacts.

After all, it wasn't like she had asked them to make her taller, or give her a nicer figure, or anything like that. Although, now that she thought of it...

She shook her head, banishing the thought. She would be going back to being a pony soon enough, so it wasn't like her bust size was all that important. Besides, she liked her figure as is. Usually. Most days, at least. Well, often enough. Besides, she'd have to buy all new clothes if they changed her too radically.

She put the thought out of her mind. Today was an important day, one she had been looking forward to for weeks. She was finally going to see her friends again, which she hadn’t done for far too long. This was her last chance before returning to the Ascent vat in order to become re-ponified, after which she would be moving back to Ponyville for good.

The only reason she used that god-awful alarm this morning was because she wanted to be at the Harmonics gate as soon as they opened up, so that she could make the most of her time in Equestria. Starting at eight in the morning today, the gateway would be open for seventy-two hours before closing again, per the orders of the Princesses Luna and Celestia.

As frustrating as it was being cut off from Equestria for so long, Erin understood the Princesses' caution. If the Veil of Equestria collapsed who knew what kind of horrible things could happen? These breaks helped to keep the Veil stable, allowing it to recover from any damage from the Harmonics gateways. The Earth’s could probably do with the recovery time as well.

There wasn’t any way to know what the current weather was like in Canterlot, of course, but it was winter in Equestria, matching the seasons here in Colorado. Erin decided to dress warm, donning a t-shirt first, in order to protect her skin from the wool of the heavy green and white sweater that was one of her favorite garments. It had been knitted by her grandmother and originally given to her mother, who had passed it on to Erin over Christmas.

Next came a pair of thick socks, followed by a pair of red jeans that she really liked. She noted, perhaps a touch too smugly for her self-respect to be happy with, that the jeans fit somewhat more loosely than she'd remembered from before. The Ascent diet plan had paid off it seemed!

After that came an unflattering but sensible pair of heavy boots, carefully chosen for warmth, durability and comfort, and containing no leather products whatsoever. She wasn't sure how her friends would react to her walking around with bits of animal skin on her, and she wasn't about to find out. Lastly came the red wooly coat that dropped down to her knees. She left it unbuttoned for now, not wanting to get all sweaty during her walk to the lab.

Finally ready, she left her room. Her ancient black luggage trundled along behind her as she pulled the handle, occasionally making unexpected detours to either side of the hallway with Erin having to stop and pull it back into place before she continued on her way. The luggage had also belonged to her mom, borrowed just for this occasion, and had been a wedding present when her parents had been married. After the third time the black case had slammed into a wall, Erin decided that it was probably time to buy her own luggage.

She’d been too tired when she’d arrived the night before to take in much of her surroundings, but as she walked along now she couldn’t help but notice that the Harmonics compound had changed dramatically since she'd left. Erin guessed that it had received a major makeover due to the fact that this was the primary location for two entire worlds to meet.

Gone were the sterile and somewhat grubby white corridors and fluorescent lights, in favor of sandy brown panels covering the walls, easily removable for maintenance purposes. The latest in "natural wavelength" fiber-optic lighting ran along the ceiling, casting a warm natural-looking glow over everything. The previous tile flooring had been replaced with squares of patterned red and brown carpet, which contributed to the contrariness of her luggage’s navigation. Tasteful pictures and paintings of landscapes, city skylines and the like dotted the hallways occasionally, adding welcome color and interest to what had once been a very utilitarian environment.

The gateway lab itself had changed as well. Now, the gateway was cordoned off, and guests were directed to an actual reception and waiting area, with comfortable cloth chairs for the several people already waiting before Erin arrived. The people in the room, all looking very dignified and important, looked up at her curiously, then resumed whatever activities they'd interrupted, be it reading a magazine, checking the internet on their tablets or phones, or talking softly to one another.

Erin parked her temperamental luggage next to an empty chair and wandered over to a nearby table, helping herself to a cup of fresh coffee and a Danish. She was adding sugar to the cup when a familiar voice spoke up behind her.

"Hey, kiddo. Looking good."

"Maggie!" Erin set her coffee down before she turned to hug the older woman, who chuckled and hugged her back. "It's good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Erin. Sorry I couldn't be there when you got in last night, but we were doing extensive testing on the new equipment."

"No problem. I got in okay, and the room was nice. After the flight and drive in I was more than ready to just crash."

Saying that reminded her of the fact that she hadn't had anything to eat the night before, and she took a big bite out of her Danish. Apple-flavored, nice and flaky, it tasted freshly made rather than defrosted just for the occasion. It seemed that they really had made some big changes since she'd been gone. She chewed and swallowed gratefully while Maggie talked.

"I can understand that,” the older woman said, adjusting her white lab coat. “How was home? Your folks still doing well?"

"They're both doing great!” Erin said, taking up her coffee again and giving it a stir. “Though, my dad is getting annoyed by the number of reporters who keep stopping by the house or calling and pretending to be old college friends of mine to find out where I am. He got a 'No Trespassing' sign, but they just ignore it, and it drives him nuts."

Maggie laughed, and they chatted comfortably for a few more minutes, drawing attention from the crowd waiting for the gateway to open. Erin noticed, with some discomfort, that she was now gaining attention from the others, even to the point of hearing her name whispered back and forth between those in the waiting room.

Maggie eventually had to excuse herself to start the procedures for re-opening the gateway, a process that took some time. Erin, her coffee in hand, took another Danish (raspberry this time), and made her way to her seat, trying to wait patiently. According to the clock on the wall, it was another ten minutes before the gate was scheduled to open, and by this point the reception area was pretty full.

A sudden drop in the background conversation made Erin look up with interest, only to stare in surprise at two ponies, one a light pink unicorn mare with a lavender mane, the other a sandy brown earth pony mare with a light green mane, who had just walked into the room. They were chatting excitedly to each other, and were carrying saddlebags that were simply stuffed full, nearly to bursting. The mares were talking and laughing, completely unaware that they were the center of attention for every human in the room.

A minute or so after the ponies arrived a slim young brunette in a black suit stepped into the room through an adjoining door. The noise of conversation faded as everyone turned to see what she had to say.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the young woman said, then noticed the ponies, "and our friends from Equestria. If I could have your attention?" The noise in the room had dropped immediately, and everyone looked at the woman in the suit. "The Harmonics gateway to Equestria will be opening shortly. I'd like to begin by bringing you back in small groups to check your documentation before sending you through. Ladies?"

That last was directed towards the ponies that had just walked in, who suddenly noticed how much attention was on them. They blushed and walked forward with quick steps. "Yes?" the unicorn asked.

"Guests visiting Earth from Equestria have priority when it comes to checking in for travel through the gateway," she said, ignoring the groans and mutters from a few of the humans in the waiting room. "If you two would like to come with me, we'll get you started."

The two mares eagerly followed the young woman, and Erin couldn't help but wonder what that was all about. Being on this side of the gateway meant that they had spent the last month on Earth. Were they tourists? Diplomats? She regretted not being able to ask them.

Erin spent the next twenty minutes or so revising an email that she was sending to her parents, since this would be the last chance she'd have for internet access until she returned to Colorado. She'd just sent it when the young woman returned and announced that Erin would be the next to be processed.

Erin blinked in surprise at that and stood up uncertainly, wincing slightly at the frustrated muttering now directed at her. Red faced, she grabbed her luggage and yanked it along behind her as she hurried through the side door. The intimidatingly polished young woman fell in beside her.

"Um, hi," Erin said as the pair of them walked down the wood-inlaid corridor.

"Hello, Miss Olsen. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Dawn Grady."

"Hi, Dawn. Um. Why was I next? I wasn't there first, or anything..."

"You have to ask?" Dawn said, with a hearty chuckle. "You're a national hero."

Erin, now extremely embarrassed, stammered a protest. Dawn patted her on the shoulder, explaining, "You're on the VIP list. This is one of the perks. I suggest you enjoy it!"

Shortly after that the two of them arrived at a door guarded by a man wearing a rather nice suit and carrying no obvious weapons. The guard opened the door, and Dawn wished her well and walked the other way. Erin walked in and was shocked to find how radically redesigned the Harmonics lab was since her last visit.

It still looked somewhat industrial, with electrical conduits and wiring trays along the ceiling, but some effort had been made to hide the more functional aspects of the room and make it look and feel much more comfortable. After all, it was any visitor's first impression of Earth.

Rather than the previous linoleum-tiled floor, a delicately patterned carpet stretched across the room, low pile as to not trip up anyone's hooves or catch on a claw from one of the representatives of the Griffon Kingdom. The lighting had changed to the same natural light fiber-optics that subtly lit the rest of the compound, and as much of the electronics as possible were hidden behind removable panels or folding walls. The effect made the room a nice combination of efficiency and warmth.

Even the Harmonics gateway itself hadn’t escaped a makeover. It was now bracketed by a thick frame of dark, carved wood. This made the gateway to the Equestrian side seem like it might be an extremely large framed photo rather than a hole into another world.

Another addition was a large wooden desk, with another suited man behind it. The man, middle-aged and with a salt-and-pepper beard, smiled and asked for her documentation. Erin fumbled in her bag for a moment before producing the folder she’d been given and handing it over to him. A quick glance at her paperwork was followed by a brief examination of her luggage for contraband, with Erin wanting to crawl away and hide when her carefully-packed underwear made a brief appearance, only to be discreetly tucked away again.

"Sorry ma'am, just had to make sure," the guard explained with a conciliatory smile. “The ponies have their rules, and so do we.”

Erin mumbled her understanding and gathered her luggage up, pulling it behind her once again as she approached the gateway. A guard in a suit stood on either side, both nodding to her as she walked up. She stepped through into Equestria, where she began whole process again with the Canterlot administration.

As the unicorn at the desk on the Equestrian side took her papers, Erin had a moment to look around. The Equestrian side of the gate had changed as well. If anything, it was much more radical than the differences on the human side of things. After all, there was no equipment on this side that needed to be accessed, though Erin noticed that the gateway was now bracketed by an oddly twisted pair of blue crystal pylons, with unfamiliar symbols carved into them.

The carpet on this side was a lush red, and the room she was in right now was huge, much larger than the entire gateway outpost had been before. Erin guessed that the original quickly built hut had been torn down at some point, and this new building was built in its place.

The effect was a little like walking into a church, or a high-end art gallery. Darkly stained wood trimmed the cream-colored walls, and the ceiling was arched into a conical shape, rather than flat, reaching up a half story in height. Along the ceiling were a series of stained glass windows which Erin realized, much to her shock, depicted the story of humanity and Equestria's first meeting, and the events that took place after.

There, on the first window, was a colored glass version of herself in pony form, stepping through a hole in the world. The next was one of her with her friends, a scene of them all sitting around a food-laden table, eating and talking. Another window depicted Celestia's fall after attacking the Tide. The window after that, she shuddered to notice, depicted Malachite facing off against the Tide by himself. The second to the last panel had her friends, with the Elements of Harmony, blasting the Tide.

The very last panel was a human that seemed vaguely familiar, bearded and dark-haired, bowing to Celestia and Luna, who were bowing in return. Erin didn't recall that actually happening, though, and she assumed it was some artistic license depicting the mutual friendship and respect between the leaders of both worlds.

"Miss?" the unicorn asked, and Erin looked around. He was smiling at her. "Sure is impressive, isn't it?" he said, in regards to the stained-glass windows.

"Yeah," Erin said, feeling numb. "I'm surprised. None of this was here last time I came through."

"Last time?" the unicorn said, looking confused. He turned to his paperwork and rifled through it. "I don't recall seeing an 'Erin Olsen' having come to Equestria before."

"It might be under Sunflower, though I don't think we were tracking visitors that closely when the gate first opened up."

The unicorn gaped at her, and Erin shuffled uncomfortably. The clerk looked at her, then up at the first stained glass window, then back down to her.

"Um. So... Am I good?" she asked, taking back her luggage. The unicorn nodded dumbly, and Erin took her chance to get out of there, feeling the unicorn staring holes in her back as she walked away.

It was terribly cold outside when Erin walked out of the gateway building, and she hurriedly buttoned up her coat. One knit cap and a pair of mittens later, and she was ready to be on her way. Her luggage rambled along behind her like a happy puppy as she walked to the palace along the recently installed broad walkway.

Fresh snow was everywhere, though the new walkway was nicely cleaned off. She made her way through the gardens, hurried past still more Royal Guards, and into the castle itself. From there, she walked through the hallways until she reached the front courtyard, doing her best to ignore the stares of the various ponies along the way. It wasn't that long ago that she wouldn't have gotten a second look walking through the castle, but now it seemed that every pony was fascinated with her.

Once she was back outside of the castle proper, she hurried through to the gradually-filling early morning streets of Canterlot. She hadn't expected to be processed through the gate so quickly, which left her with some time to kill before she had to be at the station. After a moment of consideration, she made her way to a small store nearby, from which eminated a welcoming aroma.

Once inside, Erin made her way up to the counter and smiled at the pegasus behind the counter. The pony, at first startled, smiled at her and welcomed her warmly. "Always nice to see a human in my humble little coffee shop," he said.

"Thanks!" Erin replied. A few minutes later, and she found herself sitting at one of the coffee shop's little tables with a large blueberry muffin and cup of coffee, which she sipped slowly.

She considered the pegasus' calm reaction to her presence. This close to the castle, she imagined it probably wasn't too unusual to see humans running around. She knew that there was a permanent ambassadorial staff, after all. It wouldn't be surprising if a coffee shop so near the castle grounds was occasionally visited by a human or two.

Erin pulled out her phone and glanced at the time. She still had at least another hour before her train boarded, so she set her alarm to go off in half an hour, to make sure she had plenty of time for the walk over. After a moment of consideration, she changed the alarm from her brother's attempt at rock and roll to vibrate, which she decided was much less likely to induce a heart attack in anypony who heard it unexpectedly.

Alarm set and with time to spare, Erin nabbed a newspaper off of an unoccupied table and read through it. Humans were still in the news, of course, but were no longer the lead story. Instead, some disaster in Hoofington was in the top spot, a collapsed bridge. Though there were several minor injuries, Erin was glad to note that at least nopony had died.

She flipped through the rest of the paper as she finished her muffin. There was some reporting on the economical and cultural ramifications of the Human/Equestrian treaty, most of which was wild speculation with various pony experts disagreeing with each other. Where some saw opportunity, others saw a major threat to the pony way of life.

The only thing that everypony seemed to agree on was that Equestria was now living through very interesting times, indeed.

Erin was so caught up in reading the news that she jumped a little when the vibration kicked in on her phone. She turned off the alarm, gathered up her things and buttoned her coat back up. As she left, she waved to the pegasus barista behind the counter, who waved back and wished her a good day.

The streets were filling up, now, and Erin made her way through the light crowds, with the ponies on the street occasionally having to jump or dodge slightly as her luggage made unscheduled lunges towards their legs. Erin apologized profusely almost the whole way to the train station.

When she finally arrived, she gave the surprised mare in the ticketing booth a few bits for a ticket, and boarded the waiting train immediately, glad to finally be out of the cold. The train wasn't leaving for another half hour, and so the Ponyville Express was mostly empty, though there were still a few ponies sharing her car who regarded her with wide and curious eyes.

Erin’s shoulders twitched as she felt the stares of the ponies on her. She reached into her bag, removed a pair of earbud headphones and her phone, plugged one into the other, and listened to music while pretending to be completely engrossed with the screen of her phone. Without an internet connection, though, she could only watch a movie or play the few games she had installed.

What felt like a million Sudoku games later, the train finally jerked and started moving off. Erin glanced up to see that the car she was in was now maybe a third full, with most of the ponies ignoring her for the most part, though she did catch a couple sending glances her way from time to time. Feeling a little more relaxed, she gave up fiddling with her phone, though she kept the music playing through her headphones, and watched out the window as the winter wonderland of Equestria rolled on by.

It looked like a completely different country, covered in snow. What few signs of habitation there were between here and Ponyville were now completely obscured under a glittering white blanket, making the countryside seem lonely and vast.

The distant heap of clouds that Erin now knew was Cloudsdale glinted in the distance, and she renewed her vow to visit that place just as soon as she could convince Rainbow Dash to take her there. Once she'd been re-ponied, of course. There was no doubt in her mind that pegasus was her first choice of pony types to change into. As much as she'd love to study with Twilight and learn unicorn magic, learning to fly was just too great of an opportunity to pass up. And walking on clouds? How could she turn that down?

Erin’s excitement grew as they got closer and closer to Ponyville. She was now able to pick out the occasional landmark in the distance, and she could feel a smile growing steadily on her face as the train got closer and closer to town.

The train pulled into the station at long last. Erin got out, hauling her luggage behind her, relishing seeing the familiar town under a blanket of glittering snow. Apparently, whatever snowstorm had passed through Canterlot had also passed through Ponyville. The occasional flake still fell from the overcast sky, but nothing that would cause her any trouble.

"Uh, do you need any help?" a pony asked her, and Erin looked down to see a familiar face. It was Carrot Top, and she was smiling nervously up at her. It hit Erin how strange it felt, being so much taller than ponies she was familiar with. Carrot Top had actually been a little taller than she had been as Sunflower.

"No, thanks," Erin said with a return smile. "I'm just going to the library, and I know where that is."

"Oh, okay," the pony replied, with an odd mixture of relief and curiosity. "Well, have a good time in Ponyville! You're our first human, I think."

"Thanks, Carrot Top," Erin said, waving as she walked away. "I'll see you later!"

Carrot Top smiled and waved after her, and Erin had silently counted all the way up to ten in her head before she heard the startled pony shout, "Wait, what?!"

Laughing, and feeling a great sense of mischief, Erin made her way quickly to the library, waving happily at the familiar ponies around her, many of whom were too stunned by their first sight of a human to wave back.

~~*~~

Twilight sipped her tea, an interesting blend that Celestia had shipped her for research purposes. Supposedly, it was a Zebrican blend designed to replenish energy and to enhance mental focus. Twilight decided that it was likely also a wonderful diet aid, as it tasted like moldy hay. She scowled and set the cup aside for the moment, and started going over the day's checklist once again.

"Twilight!" Spike called, breaking her concentration. "She's here!"

"She's here?!" Twilight tossed the checklist aside and bolted down the stairs so fast she nearly tumbled and fell. She skidded to a halt on the main floor and stared at her friend, who waved at her.

"Hi, Twilight," Erin said, a smile on her face, her now hairless cheeks red from the cold.

"Erin?" Twilight walked slowly forward, staring in awe. It was so hard to wrap her head around the fact that this was the same Erin she knew as a pony. As the human straightened up from hugging Spike in greeting, Twilight took the opportunity to analyze what her friend now looked like.

Her hair looked almost the same as her mane had, although it was styled differently, as it now came from all over the top of her head rather than a line down her head and neck like a mane. It was hard to tell what she looked like under her bulky red coat, but her hands were much finer and more slender than Spike's clawed ones. Her human face looked nothing like her pony face, lacking a muzzle and pointy ears, but Twilight was sure she saw some similarities in the joyful expression that beamed towards her.

Erin wasn't as tall as many of the humans that Twilight had already seen, though she was still considerably taller than herself. Though, if Twilight were to guess, they'd be about the same height if she was standing on her back hooves.

Twilight decided to test that observation by combining greeting and experimentation together, rearing up on her hind legs in order to hug the human tightly around the shoulders with her forelegs. Erin, laughing, hugged tightly back, her arms going across Twilight's withers.

Just as tall as she is, Twilight noted with satisfaction. Maybe a little taller, with the horn.

"It's so good to see you!" Twilight said as they disengaged. Her hooves clacked on the wooden floor as she fell back on all fours. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Twilight," Erin said. "Thanks for putting me up overnight."

"Oh, it's not a problem! I was thinking, if any of the girls were interested, we could come back here after dinner and maybe have a party!" Twilight didn't bother to explain her hope that the regular party would eventually metamorphose into a slumber party. She still enjoyed those, and aside from Pinkie Pie, her friends were so rarely interested these days.

"Yes!" Erin seemed enthusiastic about that, hopping a little as she clapped her hands together. "That would be great! I so want to see the others, too."

"Rarity has an order to drop off for delivery, but she'll be here soon," Twilight said. "And Fluttershy has to finish feeding all of her animals. Rainbow is probably dealing with clearing away the remains of the snowstorm, and AJ said she'd be a little late. Not sure where Pinkie is right now, but she said she’d show up later."

"Sounds great!" Erin said, enthusiastic. "When are we all meeting?"

"In about half an hour," Twilight said. "The Cafe Cartie. If you like, we can relax a little before we go?"

"Sure, let me take off my coat," Erin said, and proceeded to do so. Twilight watched with interest as the human shed her outer layer of clothing to reveal yet another layer underneath. And, if she wasn't mistaken, she could see yet another layer underneath the green and white sweater she was wearing over her torso. How many layers of clothes did humans actually wear, anyway?

She shook her head, mildly frustrated. She knew humans had odd hang-ups and taboos about their clothes, but maybe Erin wouldn’t mind her asking about it later tonight. After all, she’d been a pony for a while. Maybe the taboos weren’t quite as strong with her.

She put that out of her mind, for now, and instead concentrated on talking to her friend.

Author's Note:

First part of what I've planned to be a three part section of story.
Many, many thanks to BrilliantPoint for the wonderful editing job! You helped make this chapter better than I ever could have alone.

Also, there was this exchange:
"Thanks, Carrot Top," Erin said, waving as she walked away. "I'll see you later!"

Carrot Top smiled and waved after her, and Erin had silently counted all the way up to ten in her head before she heard the startled pony shout, "Wait, what?!"

BrillianPoint's comment: "Erin is such a troll. :D"

Indeed she is :twilightsmile: