My Life with Nanaimo

by Mike the Red

A Chance Encounter

The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that the buildings in "Ponyville" looked an awful lot like the buildings in Sh'Koggo, the city Nanaimo and I had been "delivered to" by the undead Druids. I noticed that almost everything I was looking at was either exactly the same or nearly identical to what I had seen in Sh'Koggo. The only difference here is that it was almost exclusively ponies trotting on the sidewalks and through the parks. I also noticed that some of the ponies were walking on their hind legs, almost as if their bodies had been designed for that purpose.

"Ahem, are you going to stand here gawking all day long? Or are you going to come with me? I've been tasked with showing you around this town," the mare stated almost grumpily. "Name's Marigold Twist," she added tersely.

"Don't like humans much, eh?" I chuckled dryly. "It's been a dream of mine to visit Ponyville for a long time, but this place doesn't look a thing like what I had imagined."

"Oh? And what had you imagined?" she asked in an almost dismissive tone. She was walking now and expected me to follow her. I maintained a healthy distance between myself and the pony ahead. I had to raise my voice to answer her.

"Don't know if you ever knew of television," I stated, testing the waters to see how much was similar or not.

"Never heard of it," she said, her tone neutral. I decided to close the distance between us a little, now walking beside her. She was a tan coated earth pony mare, a single quarter note in dark chocolate brown being her cutie mark. Her coat seemed quite a bit rougher in appearance compared to how I had envisioned these ponies would look.

"How about video screens?" I asked, somewhat mirthfully. Vanessa and Makwela had kept my pony and I up until very late as we watched all kinds of videos on their video screen -- I was impressed by the holography and how realistic it all appeared.

"Yep, we have those -- I like to watch videos," she replied, her tone much brighter. I decided to drop the line of inquiry into that subject until later -- perhaps to meet with the mayor to find out more information. "But you didn't answer my question," she added, her tone returning to its more standoffish nature.

"Where I came from, there was this ... video ... about ponies living in Ponyville," I replied, not liking where the conversation was heading.

"Oh? I'm curious to know about it," she replied almost mirthfully.

"In those videos, the ponies depicted, along with their town of Ponyville was much different from what I'm seeing here -- and in fact, Ponyville looks an awful lot like Sh'Koggo, but with ponies instead of humans," I stated, trying to keep my tone somewhat neutral.

We were walking along a path that led us past several shops reminiscent of those I had seen in Sh'Koggo, but with ponies either trotting or walking on their hind legs, most simply choosing to ignore me even though I was a human. Amazingly enough, I caught sight of another human walking alongside a yellow pegasus mare with long pink mane and tail.

"Um, Melody, can we meet up with that pair over there? I'd like to ask that human a few questions," I added, drawing an almost irate glare from the mare.

"Ugh, you humans are all alike, the first time any of you see another human in Ponyville, it's like you have to talk to them," she groused, eliciting a sheepish grin and giggle from me in response. "Ugh, fine," she grunted as she turned towards the pair. Upon seeing us, the two of them likewise turned their path towards us. We met just a few moments later.

"So, what brings another human to Ponyville?" I asked, trying to remain somewhat nonchalant. I noted the cutie mark of the yellow pegasus. "So, you must be Fluttershy, correct?" I asked as I turned my attention fully to the pegasus.

"Oh, no, no, that's not my name, even though I've been asked about that many times," she replied. Her tone indicated some degree of shyness, but not to the level of the legendary one I had mentioned. "I'm a distant descendant of hers, and it was almost sheer luck that I ended up with a very similar cutie mark. My name is Butterfly Effect," she stated proudly. Oddly enough, her voice sounded fairly close to Fluttershy's, even though there were some obvious differences between the two.

"Stop trying to flirt with my mare," the human male interjected at this point. Upon catching his facial features, an image and a name popped into my mind.

"Emerson? Is that you, Emerson? What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously.

"Waitaminit, are you -- Mike?" he asked, almost as incredulously. "I haven't seen you in at least ten years!"

"Yep, and yeah, time goes by quickly when you're dead," I replied, tacking a dark chuckle onto the end of my response. This elicited a gasp from the ponies. "Yeah, that's right, I died and came here by sheer luck." This elicited a barrage of questions from both ponies as well as Emerson himself. I couldn't make out everything they asked, they all talked over each other.

"What say we get something to eat and discuss things," I suggested. "Um, I don't have any money," I added sheepishly.

"Don't worry, we mares take care of that for our stallions," the pegasus responded.

"Sounds similar to Sh'Koggo," I remarked almost dryly. "Um, Emerson, since you seem to have been here longer than me, why don't you let me know a little more about this place?"

He chuckled at me. "Y'know, Mike, it's been such a long time since I last saw you!" he grinned, then turned his attention to his pegasus mare. "Flutterbutt, this is the human I was telling you about," he giggled as he pointed at me. "He's pretty nice, very friendly..." he began but he let his words trail off softly. His mare nudged him at his side with a forehoof. He grinned sheepishly in response to this.

"We need to get going if we're going to eat and then head home before ten," Melody interjected. "We don't have a lot of time left." She inadvertently looked up to the sky to see the sun hanging pretty low in the horizon.

"Jeez, I didn't know it was already that late," I noted, a note of surprise evident in my tone. I too looked at the sky (which was basically the underside of the geodesic dome that encapsulated the city. I also noted the skyscrapers off in the distance, silently recollecting the image I had seen when I was in Sh'Koggo).

"Time passes differently here," Melody stated tersely and turned off towards the nearest restaurant. Almost instinctively we followed her, both Emerson and his mare accompanying me. We made a little small talk before reaching the restaurant. Melody entered without any hesitation, forcing us to follow her in short order.

"Not much for small talk, is she?" I chuckled, my mirthful tone irritating said mare.

"You have much to learn, human," she stated darkly, her tone indicating the gravity of her intent.

"Jeez, sorry about that," I offered sheepishly. Even Emerson seemed to take note of her severity, giving me a quizzical glance, the pegasus likewise appearing somewhat confused.

"You don't want to know what happens after dark," Melody intoned quite gravely, the tone of her voice indicating just how horrible such a fate would await the unwary.

"I was with a couple of other humans in Sh'Koggo, and they told me similarly dark stories of what happens to those unfortunate souls who get trapped outside after dark," I said, my voice wavering as I mentally recollected their stories. I involuntarily shivered at the thought.

"So you already know," she replied firmly, her voice sounding harsh and distant. "Let's get some food, I'm hungry too," she added, her tone indicating a level of annoyance that surprised me.

"Jeez, Melody, do you have to be so serious all the time?" I asked, tacking a light chuckle to the end of my query. She hardened her gaze at me.

"It gives me no pleasure to be tasked with showing you around Ponyville," she responded tersely, her tone darkening as she grew more annoyed by my ignorance.

"Jeez, no need to bite my head off," I responded meekly. I gave her a helpless glance.

"I don't even know you, so you need to understand my reluctance to perform the task I've been assigned," she said. Her gaze remained firm as she practically stared at me. Her gaze seemed to bore through me and gave me more than a slight chill down my spine.

"Melody, I hope we can get to know each other a little better by the end of my tour here," I offered, flashing a sheepish grin at her. At this point the waitress brought us some menus to look through, but given the fact that this was yet another of the Samantha's Kitchen chains, I already knew that I could order pretty much anything I wanted, regardless of the circumstances.

"Do you need some more time to look over the menu or do you know what you want?" the waitress asked, giving me a sidelong glance. "Ah, a new human visits Ponyville," she chuckled. "So what would you like?"

"A seafood sampler platter, with a Caesar salad and orange juice," I replied. Melody and Butterfly gave me a harsh stare. The waitress marked the order down as if it didn't bother her.

"And you ladies? And you, Emerson?"

Melody ordered a hay salad with extra hay and ranch dressing, Butterfly ordered a simple salad, and Emerson ordered a hayburger without the hay, fries, and a coke.

"Y'know, Emerson, you could order a standard burger," I said mirthfully. The two mares stared hard at me, giving me a very firm glare. I returned their glare at me.

"What?" I asked almost indignantly. "I'm a human, and so's Emerson -- and Samantha's Kitchen can cook pretty much what any one regardless of species wants -- and I can speak from experience," I added in perhaps the most nonchalant manner I possibly could. This display did not impress the two mares, whose stares grew even harder. I narrowed my eyes at them.

"Mike, please, don't make them angry with you," Emerson practically pleaded. "You don't know what they can do if you make them mad at you," he added, his voice quavering with trepidation.

"Oh, for the love of Pete, stop judging me by your standards!" I practically shouted at the two mares. My outburst gave them pause, the two of them looking at each other with surprise and giving me a look of apprehension. I wasn't finished here. "The two of you need to understand that we humans are different from you ponies despite the similarities of the cities -- and anyway, this place, like Sh'Koggo, reminds me of stories I used to write more than twenty years ago about a place I created as a world of fantasies, a world where everything basically worked in my favor, a world where I could get practically anything I wanted just by asking for it," I stated, my tone indicating exasperation at the current situation. The waitress returned with our food at this point. I turned my attention to her at this point. "Ma'am, is it possible that I might be able to get my food for free here?"

She looked at me somewhat quizzically but smiled warmly at me. "Let me get my manager, I'm sure she'd be willing to entertain your request," she replied almost mirthfully. The two mares at the table gave me a very dark glare and even Emerson seemed to be a little uncomfortable at this point. I hardened my stare at the two mares.

"Melody and Butterfly, I hope the two of you would be more acquiescent with regard to my request," I stated in a querulous tone. It was akin to me asking them to be nice to me from here on out. "Okay, since the two of you seem to be a little confused by my request, here, let me ask you this -- will the two of you be a bit nicer to me, since this is essentially supposed to be a world I created for my own personal fantasies?"

The mares gave me an absolutely shocked expression on their faces as they seemed to finally realize that this was indeed a world I had created many years ago. Emerson was likewise shocked and was left speechless, his mouth open, nothing coming out of his mouth -- until he grabbed his burger and took a big bite out of it. Upon seeing this, the two mares likewise began eating the food that had been brought to them. I looked down at my plate of food, my mouth watering at the sight and smell of the food that had been brought to me.

The waitress returned with her manager, the two of them approaching the table we had been seated at.

"Now what's this about you wanting free food?" the manager asked firmly.

"Ma'am, I was hoping that maybe all of us could get our food for free," I replied warmly. "By the way, my name's Mike," I added, tacking a chuckle on the end of my statement. The waitress and her manager nearly prostrated themselves on the floor in front of us. "Um, you don't need to do that," I said, giving them a nervous glance. Melody and Butterfly gasped at the mention of my name.

"Um, we've heard stories about a human named Mike," the pegasus intoned apprehensively. "It's been said he could destroy the world with a thought."

I chuckled before erupting into a full belly laugh. "Ha, I don't know who's been writing stories about me, but they've embellished things a bit much!" I chuckled loudly. "If I created a world for my fantasies, I'd have no intention whatsoever of destroying such a place!" I added, my chuckling causing the mares to smile. "And anyway, if this really is the world I created for my pleasures, perhaps you two mares would be willing to show me your goods!"

The two of them dutifully complied with my request and flagged their tails to show me what they had. Emerson stood in stunned silence, his mouth agape at how easily I was able to influence those around me. I raised an eyebrow at him, then asked for the mares to return to their original positions, as I was satsified by their presentation.

"Thank you, ladies, and I apologize for such an uncouth request," I grinned, tacking a chuckle onto the end of my statement.