Prologue - The Other
Prologue
Gregory Graystone’s arrival in Equestria was initially set off by events of his life back on Earth. That, and a number of coincidences leading up to his passing through the portal.
For him, it had started six years ago one December. He was twenty-two at the time, living in a cheap one-bedroom apartment and working as a swing shift employee at his town’s local grocery store, Shop Smart. He was underpaid and overworked, but he put up with it because he was in a bad place mentally at that time. He had a rather unhealthy diet, living from paycheck to paycheck on cheap prepackaged meals like ramen or cheap tv dinners, with fast food being a luxury for him. He suffered from depression, partly stemming from his poor childhood with neglectful parents and also partly due to his relationship at the time.
His girlfriend at the time was emotionally abusive towards him, but once more he put up with it because she would occasionally give him the affection he was craving from years of emotional neglect from his parents. He thought at one point that he truly loved her and was willing to spend the rest of his life with her, but as the years passed he began to resent her.
He learned that she was cheating on him during the Christmas season six years ago. When he finally confronted her and decided to break up with her, she turned everything around on him, blaming him for his lack of ambition and affection towards her. The men she’d been sleeping with were better at sex than he’d ever been, according to her. The morning after the break up, she packed her bags and skipped town.
He’d slunk further into his depression, blaming himself initially for his breakup. Finally, one of his coworkers, an older man who was one of the better employees at his store, confronted him and firmly told him that he needed help. The man, who was religious but not one of those outspoken types, gave him a card that directed him to a local non-profit counseling organization called Good Samaritan Ministries. He was placed with a counselor about fifteen years his senior named David.
Unused to sharing and talking about what was on his mind or in his heart, it took Gregory a few months before he finally began to truly open up to David. It started with a session where he’d broken down and cried, much to his later embarrassment, but it was from there that his healing began.
He began to learn better communication skills thanks to advice from his counselor. He began to accept that his ex had been a terrible girlfriend from day one, something he’d been denying for the three years they’d been together. He began to become more assertive in what he wanted, finally standing up for himself and formally requesting a switch from swing to morning shift at the store. The request was denied four times before he escalated it and managed to get his preferred shift and work days.
There were times when he would slip back into his bad habits, but whenever he did, David helped him to uncover the reasons behind his slips and would lead him into making conscious decisions on how to better prevent them from happening in the future. He was not perfect, by any means, but he felt that he was slowly getting better.
At the beginning of June of that same year, he was walking down the street of his hometown when he saw a Help Wanted sign in his favorite bookshop, Living Pages. He’d known the owner, a sixty six year old lady named Estelle, or Stella as she preferred to be called, for years and had spent many school evenings in said bookstore because he hadn’t wanted to go home. Immediately, he walked inside and applied for the position.
He’d gotten the job, which included a raise of about five dollars more an hour than what he had been making. He put in his two weeks at the store, then began his job at the bookstore. Compared to the loud grocery store, working in a quiet bookstore was heaven for him. Not only that, but he was given an earlier shift which meant that he had the rest of the day ahead of him after he clocked out at one thirty. He used that time to indulge in finding new hobbies for himself as well as keeping in shape. His town was located near several good hiking spots and a lake, so he found he had a love of swimming, hiking and camping near the lake’s shores. He also found a love for a few video games.
He also took the time to take some classes at the local community college. Nothing too strenuous but he took many different types of classes. Everything from Ancient Greek Mythology to The Bible As Literature and even an afternoon in person cooking class. He would take one class per semester so he wouldn’t need to take out a loan. He preferred not to have debt if he could help it.
He also took the opportunity to take a small vacation that first summer. He didn’t travel very far. He got a hotel at one of the beach towns about seventy miles west of town for one of the warmest weekends of the summer. He used the opportunity to relax and enjoy the water, the local community and the famous cheese factory.
When he was twenty-four, things began taking an unexpected turn for him. Late in September one year he was going through some book donations from a family who was moving away after their eighteen year old daughter had graduated high school. Some of the books in the donation box were some older My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic books for children. Gregory wasn’t quite sure why, but he found himself curious about the children’s show.
After work that day, he’d gone home and found the first two episodes online. From there, he was hooked. He spent as much of his free time as he could watching the show. Even so, he still kept to his schedule and would participate in the other activities he’d filled his life with. When he finally finished, he was a hardcore fan. He devoured any kind of media he could find. Online fan animations on YouTube, the comics, and fanfictions.
When he sheepishly admitted to his counselor his new fascination with the children’s television program, David didn’t judge. He said that his own twin daughters were fans of the show so he watched it with them. He himself wasn’t a fan, but he said that if watching the show helped Gregory to become a better person, then there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
The next event in his life that had led to his traveling to Equestria happened when he was twenty five. He walked into work one snowy February morning a half hour before his shift to see that the owner had bought a new computer for the shop. When he asked Stella about it, she said that one of the other store employees had found it for sale on eBay during an estate sale for a person declared dead and showed it to her. She asked him to set it up to replace their older one.
He spent part of his shift setting things up on the new computer, which, while it was a few years old, was infinitely better than the ancient clunker that Stella had. He wiped the browser history and installed the appropriate programs before transferring all the data from the old computer to the new one.
In August of that same year, however, Stella’s health took a nosedive when she suffered a major stroke. It broke his heart to see the once lively and smiling bookstore keeper bedridden and unable to care for herself without assistance. After his college classes for that summer were over (he’d been taking a karate and gardening class at the time), Gregory took on longer shifts in an attempt to keep the bookstore afloat, but at that same time, a real estate company contacted the store in the hopes of purchasing the property. He figured that the now bedridden woman would have no choice but to sell in order to help pay for her medical bills.
However, he surprised her by how fierce her negotiations were with the company, showing just how much life the older woman had left in her. In January of the next year, Stella managed to get a tidy sum for the store along with guaranteed work for those who worked for her. Gregory was saddened by the loss of a piece of his childhood, but he understood that Stella needed the money. She did, however, leave him with a few parting gifts, among them being the store’s computer. Since she was one of the few people in town he liked, he kept in touch with her even after his job was gone. He was happy to hear that she would make a full recovery, surprising the doctors. In just under four months, she was back on her feet. She got a new job as a librarian at the local library five months after her stroke.
He started his new job in February, two months after Stella sold the bookstore. This time he was working at the small bowling alley that had been built to replace the bookstore. It had meant a decrease in wages by two dollars an hour, but it was still something. And while it wasn’t as cozy as his bookstore job, he knew a few of his fellow employees and his new manager were all decent people. That was, until the manager was quickly replaced by a tyrant of a boss who seemed to make it his mission to make Gregory’s life a living hell along with all the former employees of the bookshop. Since there weren’t many jobs around town, Gregory had put up with it for two months before he realized enough was enough. He began looking for jobs in other larger cities with the intent of moving.
During this time, his job at the bowling alley became incredibly soul-sucking for him. The other people he’d once worked with at the bookstore who had also gotten the job because of Stella’s no-nonsense negotiations started quitting one after another, finding new jobs elsewhere in town or even out of town. He still went to see David, but thanks to the lack of staffing at his new store and the higher turn around rate, he had to cut back from once a week to once every two weeks for his meetings. David was there to lend a listening ear, and even encouraged Gregory to search for a new job if his old one was dragging him down. However, Gregory felt like he wasn’t financially stable enough to just up and quit. David helped him identify places in his life where he could temporarily cut back on spending so he could begin saving and get out of the job that was pretty much sucking the life out of him. Slowly but surely Gregory’s savings account began growing.
Finally, a year before he finally took the plunge and traveled to Equestria, his job and boss had both gone from bad to worse. Despite this, Gregory still didn’t have enough to live off of for even a month. That was when Stella, having heard about Gregory’s predicament thanks to a former coworker, came into his work one day and cut him a check for a substantial amount of money. When he tried to refuse, she actually grabbed him by the ear and berated him for not accepting help or even asking for it when it was needed. Gregory, feeling sufficiently chastised by her, sheepishly accepted the money and quit on the spot.
With his new amount of cash allowing him to live without a job for a year at most, he decided to first take a week off to just relax and recuperate from his job. He spent the first few days of his week off watching some of his favorite episodes of My Little Pony. As he did so, he began to wonder just what it would be like to live in the world of friendship and magic. The idea intrigued him, but he knew that it was just a fantasy. When the week was over, he began his job search in earnest, looking for places either nearby or in other cities in his state. Weeks passed, and then three months passed. Everything he tried fell through.
It was during one of these searches that he found the strange website, www.equestriatravel.com. It had mysteriously taken the top spot during his searches, and no matter what kind of antivirus program he ran, or which browser he used, it was always at the top of his recommendations. Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, even Yahoo had the website as a top recommendation. Finally, in a bout of frustration, he clicked on the link. His computer fan had whirred to life as the website loaded. For a while, he was afraid he’d broken his computer, but then the fan slowed down and the website appeared.
It was simply made. There was a darkened background showing an idyllic looking medieval style town with a mountain in the distance. Written in Comic Sans was a simple greeting and an invitation to, in the words of whoever made the website, “...escape your worries and your cares in the Land Of Equestria.”
It continued as he scrolled down, promising that he could meet the Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia, and even the God of Chaos Discord, among others. When mentioning each character from the show, there were photorealistic representations of the ponies in question with brief character descriptions. The images were incredibly lifelike in appearance, which made him wonder who the artist was, or even if the art was made by AI like MidJourney or Stable Diffusion. The website itself was almost like an invite to some kind of amusement park.
At the bottom of the page was a link. Something about the link compelled him to click it, and it opened up Google Maps for him. The computer fan whirred to life once more, and it showed a strange location out in the middle of the local woods. When he zoomed in, there was nothing there but forest. He took a screenshot of the page, closed both tabs then went back to his search.
A week later, he had become so frustrated with his failure to find a job that he decided to take a drive to clear his mind. He liked going out into nature, so he drove out of town into the woods surrounding his hometown. On a whim, he found himself driving towards the same spot where he’d seen the location of this so-called Land of Equestria. To his surprise, there was an old abandoned road that headed up a hill. He’d never heard of the road before, so he decided to do a little exploring. Turning into the road, which wasn’t blocked off, he headed up a winding roadway which led up to an abandoned log cabin in the middle of the woods. But that wasn’t what attracted his attention.
Sitting in the middle of the overgrown front yard, right where it had no right to be, was a swirling vortex of light yellow mist. It was just hovering there, moving around like some miniature galaxy. After parking his car, he got out and approached it. As he did so, he noticed that the grass surrounding it had been flattened in a perfect circle with a radius of around five feet from the vortex. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it for a while before reality set in. This wasn’t normal, he’d thought. At first, he thought he was hallucinating, that was, until he grabbed a nearby fallen branch and held it up towards the swirling mass. When the stick passed the threshold, Gregory felt a slight tug, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He pushed the stick in and out and the slight tug never let up. He pulled it back through and there was no sign of any sort of damage to it. When he let go while the stick was past the threshold, it hovered in midair for a bit before it slid through. When he looked at the other side of the swirling mist, there was no stick on the ground.
He tried something similar on the other side with another stick, this one a large thick branch that was a perfect walking stick, then a nearby rock, then some grass and finally a metal pole. Each one was pulled through after he let go of them, but he had the strength to pull them back out if he wanted to. While looking for something else to push through, he found an abandoned selfie stick lying near the cabin’s porch. That’s when inspiration struck.
As luck would have it, he had an older smartphone with him that would fit perfectly on the selfie stick. The battery only lasted about an hour, but an hour was all he needed. He attached the phone to the selfie stick, turned on the camera, began recording a video, and stuck the camera through. He moved the camera around while it was through the swirling vortex for a full minute before pulling it back. At one point while the phone was past the threshold, however, his hand accidentally touched the vortex. He felt a slight static shock from his initial touch. Aside from that, nothing else happened. After the minute was through, he pulled the camera back. To his relief, the phone was still operational.
The video started out looking out at a large lake with a waterfall falling into said lake. It was an apparently bright sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. When the camera moved to the left, however, he saw a sight that blew him away. There, sitting near whatever forest the camera ended up in, was a large tree shaped palace made of crystal. A very familiar palace. It glistened in the sunlight and he could see the massive star at the top shining brightly along with the purple flag on the right side of the castle. The two large spires and the tower were clear indications of what he’d recorded. He’d apparently recorded Twilight Sparkle’s Castle of Friendship, albeit from the back.
That wasn’t all. The camera caught a glimpse of something in the sky that made his jaw drop. At first, he thought it was a bird, but when it came flying overhead, he caught a glimpse of an equine figure. He’d captured footage of an honest to God pegasus!
The camera then moved right. He caught glimpses of more of the lake. The landscape on the other side of the lake was nothing short of paradise. Large snow-capped mountains, a large swathe of lovely woods, and in the lake the video had caught a glimpse of what looked like two ponies in a boat.
For the next half hour, he took more video on his phone. He’d zoom in before pushing the camera through, getting a better idea of the lay of the land. He saw that the objects he’d pushed through were sitting on the grassy plain wherever this vortex managed to end up. When the phone battery was nearly drained, he turned it off, got in his car, and reluctantly drove back home.
Aside from the minor incident with getting zapped by whatever the vortex, or portal as he began calling it, was made of, Gregory enjoyed looking through the portal at the scenery. Not much seemed to be happening, though, especially since the portal was right behind the Castle of Friendship. As he drove back home that day, a stray thought crossed his mind: Why not go through the portal to live in Equestria? After all, wasn’t that every brony’s dream? To make friends with the Mane Six and live a peaceful life among friendly ponies in Ponyville? However, he dismissed the thought as something silly. Sure, it might be a nice place, but his home was on Earth. It was a fantasy for him, after all. Besides, he reasoned, the portal was probably a temporary thing. He wasn’t ready to give up on the real world yet at any rate.
As the weeks passed and Gregory continued his search for a job, the thought of going to Equestria would sometimes come back to him. Initially, he put them out of his mind and focused on his job hunt, but as weeks without any successful job offers turned into months, and with the website being prominent more and more on his front page, the idea of traveling to Equestria began appealing to him more and more. Finally, the desire to see more of Equestria became stronger than he could resist. He gathered up his cheap laptop, a portable but high definition webcam he could connect to a usb and hopefully get live feed on the laptop itself, and something he could tape it to and traveled up to the abandoned house. To his relief, the portal was still there.
For the next three months, anytime he had free time set aside after doing his online job searches and video call interviews, he would go back to the portal and take more pictures and videos. He learned that the time of day between worlds seemed to match up. Anytime he came during the morning, the sun was rising, and anytime he arrived in the evening the sun was setting. Each time, the video showed the same view of the grassy area and the Castle of Friendship. He captured images and videos of the castle during the morning, then at evening and even at night. The images and videos of the moon he’d seen were phenomenal. It was larger in the sky than Earth’s own moon, and when he zoomed in, the surface was unlike that of Earth’s own moon. He watched the seasons change on Equestria, going from spring to summer in the span of those three months.
Finally, during his last autumn season on Earth, Gregory finally had enough. The itch to leave his town had grown to an itch to leave his world altogether. He made up his mind that he was going to travel to Equestria. There was nothing he wanted more in his life. His luck with finding a job in the modern economy had been lousy, and since he didn’t have a college degree, job hunting was a no-go, especially if he wanted to live alone.
However, he wasn’t a complete fool. He decided to broach the subject with David, but in a way that didn’t make him sound crazy. He talked with David extensively about taking time to travel and live as much on the road as he possibly could, seeing the sights and living life freely as much as he could. David listened, asked questions, and talked over Gregory’s feelings with him. Gregory had never felt this strongly about anything in his life, not even when he went to take college courses or explored new hobbies. He had lived in the small mountain valley town ever since he had bene born and he was aching to go and explore.
They spent a month’s worth of sessions discussing what he wanted to see. Gregory lied about what he hoped to see, basically explaining that he wanted to see the many wonders of his own country. David listened patiently to this as well. Finally, by the early part of November of that same year, Gregory was even more sure. David began helping Gregory plan for this new adventure of his, giving suggestions as to what sort of things he should buy to prepare. Of course, Gregory bought those, but he also bought more than that.
He might have been going to Equestria, but there were some modern technological amenities even he found hard to give up. If there was one motto he lived by, it was that fortune favored the prepared. He started by purchasing a number of pieces of technology he might need in the future. He started by buying a few portable solar panels that he could use to keep his tech charged just in case Equestria’s power grid couldn’t handle his tech. He tested them out and found that they worked pretty well, so he bought several more just in case his first broke.
Next, he bought a number of ebook readers and began to download many various books that he figured Twilight might like to see. Having worked in a library, Gregory had a particular fondness for the adorkable pony. She and Applejack were his two favorite ponies. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he showed her an ebook and how many books he could keep on the small device.
He had planned to take the computer and his cheap laptop with him since both were decently small, but he decided to buy a higher end gaming laptop as well. He figured that he wouldn’t be able to come back to his world since the website, which he’d read more carefully since he first discovered the portal, said that the journey to the Land of Equestria was a once in a lifetime opportunity. At least that’s how it had been before the website updated and stated that the portal would shut the moment he stepped through with his ‘ticket’, whatever the ticket was. He also bought spare parts for each of his computers just in case. After all, there was no harm in being prepared.
He bought a large number of one terabyte flash drives next and transferred movies, television shows, ebooks, computer programs and more onto them so he could watch them and show them off to the Elements of Harmony. But most importantly, he downloaded the entire MLP show, along with all of the G5 media he could get his hands on, onto a special flash drive as well as his main laptop. He was hopeful that with this glimpse into the future, he could get Twilight and the others to avoid whatever had happened to make the tribes split apart again. He wasn’t as big a fan of G5, but now that he knew the kingdom of Equestria was just a walk away, he hoped to help with his foreknowledge.
He wasn’t a fool, however. He knew that Equestria was a lot more dangerous than his current world was in terms of wildlife. Ponies might have lived in harmony with nature, but that was due to their magic. Humans had no wings or magic, so they had to pretty much control their environment. Since he had no other way to defend himself, he knew he had to go armed just in case. He also realized that the medicine for ponies might not work on him the same way. After all, he couldn’t always rely on the Elements of Harmony to protect him. He had his pride, after all. So, he first decided to buy as much medication that he felt he needed. Ibuprofen, cough medicine and cold medicine were just some of the over the counter medication he bought. He also bought a hefty first aid kit just in case.
One thing for which Gregory had his father to “thank” was his love of guns. He’d taken young Gregory to a shooting range many times when he was old enough to shoot. Because of this, Gregory had a gun license. The only gun he owned at the time was a Smith and Wesson Model 19 Snub Nose along with a good number of bullets for the gun. However, he knew that wouldn’t be enough.
He started by buying a pair of one of the best handguns on the market, the Taurus GX4XL Toro. With that purchase he also snagged six spare clips and a decent amount of bullets for the pistols themselves. After that, he purchased a decent AR-15 type rifle with a good number of magazines and bullets for it. He also bought a pair of tactical knives just in case he ever ran out of bullets and needed another way to defend himself.
When he realized that the amount of things he was taking with him would be very hard to carry through on foot, he decided to take his car with him. When that was decided, he took it into the local car shop for a tune up. Thankfully, there wasn’t much wrong with it and the cost to repair them was pretty cheap.
He also decided to go in for a tune up of his own, heading to the local hospital for a routine physical. Thankfully, he checked out as healthy there. He got the same answer when he went to visit the dentist.
Now that he knew he was taking his car with him, he decided to get more for the trip. Unsure as to how the toiletries in Equestria would compare to those he needed, he bought a container of toothpaste along with a good supply of toothbrushes, shampoo, soap bars and several shower puffs for himself. He knew bathtubs existed in Equestria, so he decided to be prepared just in case the shampoo and soap made for ponies elicited an allergic reaction from him.
As the time for his departure, early May, approached, he began selling off his furniture to make more money that he could use to purchase more that he’d be taking with him. He sold a lot of his belongings, ironically, to Stella. Eventually, all that was left in his apartment were the things he would be taking to Equestria with him.
In the weeks leading up to his inevitable departure from Earth, he began using the money he had left to buy certain foods in bulk, such as some military MREs along with a large container of different types of freeze-dried meat products that he figured he’d never get again in Equestria. He bought steaks, hamburgers, bacon, ham, chicken, sausage, fish and more. He also bought some canned soups and three entire packs of his favorite ramen, each pack having twenty ramen packets. He also bought several packs of some of his favorite drinks and sodas, since he’d never have them again along with plenty of drink packets he could add to water.
Finally, he vacuum sealed all of his clothes, blankets and the futon he’d been sleeping on after selling his bed for the trip and bought a number of new clothes just in case. He had no doubt that Rarity would be interested in creating clothes for a new creature who wore clothes all the time, but he didn’t want to take advantage of her generosity.
He also bought a few gifts for each of the Mane Six along with Spike. For Twilight, he figured unfettered access to all of his books and the entire latest Wikipedia download would be gift enough, but he bought a spare physical copy of one of his favorite childhood book series: The Chronicles Of Narnia along with a copy of the Harry Potter series.. He doubted very much that she’d enjoy some of the more mature books from his world, like the Game of Thrones series or potentially even Lord Of The Rings, but he bought a spare copy of the latter just in case. He also decided to give her a few of the pens he bought so she could potentially recreate them in Equestria.
For Applejack, he’d bought a number of different types of apple seeds from around the world and printed out papers describing what environment they were best suited for along with instructions on how to best care for them. Not only that, but he bought a paperbound cookbook with various vegetarian recipes which featured apples as a main ingredient.
For Pinkie Pie, he’d bought a sweets recipe book as well as a large number of Earth candies and chocolates for her to try. He’d downloaded a few homemade recipe versions so that he could give them to her so she could recreate them.
For Rarity, he’d bought some of the best clothing material he could lay his hands on. He was no fashion expert by any means, but a quick Google search and some research along with advice from a former coworker who now worked in a clothing store was helpful in that department.
For Rainbow Dash, all he could think of for her was a few magazines showing off different types of jet airplanes for flight maneuvers. Not only that, but he downloaded various videos from YouTube showing off the maneuvers in perfect HD. He figured she could use them during her Wonderbolts routine, seeing as she was already in them.
For Fluttershy, he bought up a few National Geographic magazines which heavily featured exotic animals. He figured that she’d really enjoy them. He also found some songs from Earth she might have enjoyed singing and printed out the lyrics along with their music sheets. He also downloaded plenty of manga and placed them on one of the ebooks.
For Spike, he got a few things. He liked the little guy, and wanted to make his gifts special. For one, he bought a couple containers of rock candy for him along with instructions on how to make more. He also bought a full set of Dungeons and Dragons in the hopes of introducing it to Spike and learning it together with him, although he figured that the Ogres and Oubliettes game was pretty much the same thing. He also decided that he’d make a habit of letting Spike play some of the video games he’d be bringing along since he was the only one who had the digits for the controls.
Finally, the day for his departure came. All that he had in his house left to him was his bed, which he sadly couldn’t take with him. He’d pretty much sold off all of his belongings in preparation for the day when he’d move out. His car was packed with everything he needed. All the money he had left to his name was about five hundred dollars, all in cash. He had some money stashed away to take with him to Equestria, but not because he was planning on using it there. It was more as a keepsake. He filled up a few gas tanks just in case, then stopped at the local diner for one last meal. He ordered more than he needed from the restaurant, setting most of it aside for his first few meals in Equestria. After he paid for his meal and tipped the rest of his cash towards his waitress, he hit the road.
“Winter Wrap-Up! Winter Wrap-Up! Let’s finish our holiday cheer! Winter Wrap-Up! Winter Wrap-Up! Cuz tomorrow spring is here! Cuz tomorrow spring is here!” Gregory sang with a chuckle as he took one of the turns up the hill.
It was the evening of May 4th, a.k.a. his last day on Earth. He was driving up the abandoned road to the old log cabin where he’d first discovered the portal to Equestria. He had music playing from his stereo, specifically his MLP soundtrack. He was singing along to one of his favorite songs as he drove carefully up the road.
“God, I can’t believe I’m about to do this,” he muttered to himself as he continued his drive up the abandoned road. His heart was pounding hard with excitement. He was twenty seven years old and he felt like a kid at Christmas waiting in anticipation to tear into his presents. It was hard not to keep from smiling.
Of course, he knew that this wasn’t going to be all fun and games, after all. This was a real living world he was going to, not some cartoon show. The realism he’d seen through the camera was enough to tell him that. That meant that there would be things he’d probably need to do. Getting a new job would be high on his list of priorities along with getting some form of citizenship. He had no problems working around town doing odd jobs. He’d love a simple but rewarding job on Applejack’s farm, since he had experience working for a few summers on a farm when he was a teenager. He had some baking experience from his classes, so he wouldn’t mind working at Sugarcube Corner. Working with Pinkie might be a challenge, but he’d take hyperactive pink pony over bitter angry coworkers any day of the week. Hell, he wouldn’t mind having some kind of teaching job at Twilight’s School of Friendship. He hadn’t seen it during his jaunts up to the portal, but that just meant either he was too early or it wasn’t in view of the portal’s exit point.
As he drove, he began to wonder about the things about Equestria. He wondered if some of the fandom characters would be in Ponyville, like Fluffle Puff. He also wondered if Lyra was a human fanatic. Was Doctor Hooves/Time Turner the actual Doctor from the show Doctor Who? He also wondered if Equestria Girls was a thing in this world. He hoped that was the case because he wanted to meet Sunset Shimmer. That, and he hoped that he’d be able to request food deliveries from the weird human world.
He shook his head. “Not the time for that kind of thinking,” he said with a chuckle. “Gotta focus on my driving. I can learn all about it later! All our dreams and our hopes from now until hereafter! All that we’ve been wishing for will happen at the Gala! At the Gala!”
He resumed singing along with the songs on his playlist until finally he reached the part of the road where the portal was located. It was still there, just hovering like some magical black hole. Putting the car in park but not turning it off, he got out and approached. The portal seemed to have grown bigger since he’d last seen it. The swirling glowing yellow mists also seemed brighter than it had before.
Quickly, he pulled out his phone and a new and stronger selfie stick he’d bought. After he tapped record, he put the phone through, feeling the familiar tug he felt whenever he stuck something through. He held it there, moving it around for about thirty seconds before he pulled it back through. When he looked at the video playback, he saw that the sun was just beginning to set much like it was on Earth.
Now confident that he’d be okay, he walked back to his car, got into the driver’s seat and faced the portal. Now that he was actually here, he found himself nervous. He bit his lip as his mind raced. Was he making the right decision? Was it really worth it to leave his life behind? Was he really about to abandon everything in this world just to meet some fictional characters created by Lauren Faust?
He shook his head. “I’ve come this far,” he said with determination as he put the car in drive. “Bye bye, Earth!” Putting his foot on top of the gas, he took a deep breath, then slowly pressed down on the pedal. With a wide grin, he urged his SUV forward. “Geronimoooooo!” were the last words he ever said on Earth.
As his car’s bumper touched the portal, he felt his vehicle accelerate slightly. He continued forward until the portal was a few inches from his face. He released the gas and the car still went forward.
He wasn’t sure what he expected when he passed through. Whenever the camera would pass through, it would show just blackness before autofocusing after it reached the other side. However, for Gregory, the portal simply passed through him, leaving behind a slight tingle. He continued driving forward until he was long past the long staff.
Finally, he stopped the car, put it in park, and turned it off. He quickly stepped out and looked back at the portal. To his surprise, it was still visible. Until it began to shrink. Gregory quickly pulled out his phone and began to take video as, like water going down the drain, the yellow mist began receding. Finally, with a slight pop, the portal was gone, leaving nothing but an empty space. The only sign that the portal had ever been there was a ten foot diameter circle of flattened grass.
Gregory didn’t react for a bit. He felt his heart pounding heavily now. He’d just lost his only way back to Earth. A part of him was sad that he’d left his world behind. Sure, he had a rather mundane life, but it had been the only world he’d ever known. And now he was the first person to traverse the multiverse from reality to fantasy.
He turned away, looking up at the massive tree shaped crystal palace. In the setting sun, the crystal castle glistened. He couldn’t help but stare at its majesty and magnificence. It did have a bit of a dullness to it, but he figured it was some sort of trick of the light. “Beautiful,” he said, the word being engraved on his heart as the first ever words he had uttered in his now new home world. He swore that he’d never forget the word.
The evening breeze felt amazing on his skin, but it also felt chilly. Judging from some nearby trees, it must have been sometime around spring. Still, it was cold.
He got back into the car, started it once again, and began slowly driving towards the castle itself. He winced at the thought that he was damaging the lawn and promised himself that he’d properly apologize and help repair the tire track damage if Twilight complained. He somewhat figured that the castle didn’t have any kind of garage for cars, so he settled for parking right on the side underneath an awning made of crystal. He reasoned that at least there it would be somewhat safe from the rain. He reminded himself to ask Princess Twilight if there was a more permanent place for his SUV.
After he got out of the car, he began grabbing a few of his bags. He knew that the castle had tons of empty rooms from the show, so he had high hopes that there was at least a temporary place for him to stay for the night. If not, he was fully prepared to set up his camping gear until he got a job somewhere and a place to stay. He didn’t want to impose on the princess since it was her castle, after all. He grabbed his bag of clothes first and quickly changed into a pair of jeans, a dark gray t-shirt and a maroon hoodie left unzipped. He then grabbed his bag of toiletries, pulled out one tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush, a bottle of shampoo/conditioner combo, a bathtub scrubbing brush, and a towel.
Next, he grabbed his laptop bag so he’d have some kind of entertainment, although he doubted he’d use it since he hoped to get a tour of the castle the following day. He grabbed his phone, one of his pairs of wireless earbuds, and an ebook reader with some of his favorite books downloaded onto it. He grabbed one of his solar charger power banks as well as charging chords.
Finally, after having grabbed a sufficient amount of luggage, he closed and locked his car, setting the alarm just in case some stray animal decided to get too close. He lifted his bags and began heading towards the front of the building. He reached out and touched the side of the building. It was cool to the touch and smooth. He couldn’t believe that he was actually there. It still hadn’t quite sunk in for him yet, but he was actually at the Castle of Friendship. He was in Ponyville. In Equestria itself! And he was about to meet one of his favorite ponies in the whole world.
He reached the front gates shortly afterwards and got his first glimpse of Ponyville proper. His smile only grew. He didn’t see many ponies around, but the buildings he saw resembled those of a proper medieval town, albeit with the same color scheme as the show version of the town. All was pretty quiet at the moment. So peaceful and serene.
At that moment, he saw two younger ponies approaching the front doors. One was a smaller and chubbier unicorn with a grayish blue coat and an orange mane and tail. There was a pair of white scissors on his flank. The other was a taller and lankier unicorn with an amber colored coat, turquoise mane and tail, and a snail cutie mark. Gregory hid as he watched the two approach the castle doors quickly.
“Hurry up!” the smaller pony told his companion in a voice that Gregory recognized immediately. “And everypony calls me the slow one!”
“Hah…hah…I’m coming!” the second taller pony said in a deeper voice that Gregory also recognized.
“Honestly, you’re the reason we always almost never make it home in time!” the first pony said.
“Hey, you’re the one who keeps on stopping at the shops and…” the second pony’s voice trailed off as the two entered the castle, shutting the doors behind them.
Gregory smirked. Of course the first ponies he actually saw in this world would be the two troublemakers Snips and Snails. However, his smirk fell as he realized something. Their conversation implied that they were staying at the castle as their home. That confused him. He didn’t know too much about them, but he figured they would be living somewhere in Ponyville. What had happened? Had Twilight opened up the castle to be used as an apartment complex or something?
As he was wondering, he realized that he’d forgotten something in his car. He turned back, unlocked his vehicle, and rummaged through his belongings. He finally brought out the small cardboard box that he’d carefully placed in the back. He opened it and looked inside. He breathed a sigh of relief. The German made glass dome clock that had once belonged to his grandmother was secure with no cracks anywhere on the crystal dome. He carefully put the clock back inside the box, slipped it into his backpack and made his way back to the front of the castle.
Slowly, nervously, he made his way to the castle door. He climbed the stairs, feeling his palms begin to get sweaty. When he got to the top of the stairs, he straightened himself, wiped his palms on his pants, and looked at the door. It was just like it had appeared in the show, gold with two hearts split down the middle by the double door design. On either side of the door were two purple arched windows with three white stars on them. Like the crystal before, it seemed a bit dull and there were some signs that some cleaning had been done recently to it.
“Come on, Gregory, you can do this,” he said to psych himself up. He took a few deep breaths, and raised his hand to knock. He paused as he moved his hand back. Once more, he hesitated. This was really happening. He was really about to meet one of his favorite characters from a television show! “Fuck it!” he said as he knocked on the door.
He heard the sound of the knock echoing inside. A few moments later, he heard the clopping of hooves on the floor, nearly identical to how it sounded in the show. As whoever it was approached, they began speaking, and Gregory’s heart leapt in his throat. It was the voice of Tara Strong, AKA Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship!
“I've told you, Snip and Snails, that you can’t keep cutting it so close to lock-up time. These doors will be magically locked for the whole night–”
The door opened, and there she stood. Twilight Sparkle. Gregory saw her words dying in her throat as she stared up at him, slack jawed and wide eyed. Gregory was already smiling. He imagined that she’d never expected to see a human here. The only other humans she knew were her friends from Canterlot High, after all. From behind her, he heard a few other ponies gasp in what must have been shock, but he was still focused on the alicorn princess in front of him.
First impressions were essential, though. He needed to say the right thing when meeting not only one of his favorite ponies, but royalty. Still, he managed to flub that right away. “Wow. It’s you. You're Twilight Sparkle.” Inwardly, he tensed and his first reaction was to try to salvage his fuck-up. “I mean, I know you know who you are,” he added as he scratched the back of his head nervously. “I'm kinda a fan,” he finished as he chuckled in embarrassment. When the silence continued, Gregory did what came naturally to him when meeting new people, or ponies in this case. He held out his hand. “My name is Gregory Graystone.”
He watched with anticipation as Twilight looked at his hand, then back at him. Gregory suddenly had a feeling that something was a bit wrong at that moment. He saw Twilight begin to waver on her feet. She opened her mouth, but all that she said was, “...Oh…” before her eyes rolled back up in her head and she began to fall.
Gregory felt panic rising up in him as she fell. He dropped the bags in his hands and rushed forward, catching the purple pony before her head hit the floor. Gently, he set her down before he looked up at the other nearby ponies. “Someone help!” he called out. “I don’t know how to treat a pony!”
Two mares, at least he thought they were mares judging by their somewhat feminine attire, rushed over and looked down at her. One was a unicorn and the other a pegasus. Gregory backed away to give them space, watching worriedly as they looked over her. One of the mares, the unicorn, simply looked at the other and sighed. “Somepony get her some water.” One other pony, a unicorn stallion, walked through another door at the order.
“Will she be okay?” he asked as he looked with concern at Twilight.
He saw her tense up before turning. There was a look of apprehension on her face as she slowly faced him. “S-She’ll be fine Mr…Graystone,” the mare said, and Gregory heard a hint of fear in her tone. She turned to face him completely. “So…by the way, h-how did you get past the guards?”
“Guards? I didn’t see any guards,” Gregory said, confused. There were never any guards in the show, he knew, so why would there be any here? Had something happened that sparked the necessity for guards?
“O-Oh, I see,” was all the unicorn mare said before slowly turning back to face the Princess of Friendship.
The second attendant, who was fanning Twilight with her wings, suddenly said, “She’s coming to.”
Twilight groaned as her eyes fluttered open. The stallion came back, a pitcher and a glass in his magic aura. Gregory watched with fascination as he placed the water glass and pitcher down beside Twilight. This was his first time seeing magic being used in reality, and despite the situation, it was somewhat hypnotizing.
The pegasus grabbed the glass with her wings, lifted it to Twilight’s lips and gently poured it down her throat. Twilight grabbed the glass with her front hoof a few seconds later, tipping it up and swallowing fast. The older unicorn mare who had spoken to Gregory approached. “N-Not too fast, Miss. Sparkle,” she said with a nervous expression. “Take it slow.”
Twilight looked up at her, then over at Gregory. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw him, but she slowly nodded and began taking slower sips. Finally, the glass was empty and she poured another glass of water.
All the while, Gregory stood near the still open door to the outside, watching Twilight anxiously. He might have seen ponies fainting on the show, but this was no show. For one, the ponies here weren’t cartoons. They looked real. He could see the individual hairs on their furs, manes and tails. He saw their expressive eyes, which while not as big on their faces as they would have been on the show, were definitely exuding more intelligence than the average horse. He could see the individual feathers on Twilight’s and the pegasi’s wings. Just like in the show, Twilight’s wings had a slightly different shape than those of a normal pegasus. He took note of the exhausted expression on her face and the bags under her eyes and grew more worried. The last time he’d seen any version of Twilight like this was during the Princess Spike episode.
However, she stood straighter and shook her head. “I’m alright now,” she said a bit shakily. “I just need some sleep.”
“B-But what about our…um…guest?” the pegasus asked, giving Gregory a wary look.
Twilight looked at Gregory again. Slowly, a look of determination appeared on her face. “I’ll take care of him…don’t worry.”
The other ponies in the room looked a bit more nervous at that, but Twilight’s words seemed to mollify them a little bit. “If you say so…” the older sounding unicorn said before turning to the other ponies. “We have work to do. Let’s go, everypony.” With that, the other ponies in the main atrium, which reminded Gregory of the opening scene of the Party Pooped episode, scattered and headed down one of the perpendicular hallways, eventually leaving Gregory alone with the Princess of Friendship.
When they were alone, she turned to face him, giving him a smile. “So…you’re a fan of me?” she asked.
Gregory’s smile returned instantly. He couldn’t believe it. He was actually talking to one of his favorite ponies in the show! “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you,” he said, being vague as he didn’t know if telling her about the show would cause her to break or not. He did plan on telling her about it, of course, but not at the moment. “You and the other Elements of Harmony. I’ve wanted to meet you for a while, but never had the opportunity until recently.” Once more, he extended his hand towards her. “It’s really nice to meet you, your Highness.”
Twilight winced at that, and her smile became a nervous one as she slowly extended her hoof. Gregory could see that she was shaking a bit. He noticed that, unlike the show, Twilight’s hoof appeared more like the hooves from the G5 show. Then again, she did look like an actual real life pony, not some animation.
She put her hoof in his hand, he wrapped his hand around it, and the two species shook hands/hooves in greeting for the very first time.
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Wow! I was not expecting a sequel. I look forward to it!
Since this Gregory is aware of fandom tropes, I wonder if he already knows who Jason Wright is?
And here we go!
Happy to see a continuation, the first story was an absolute banger.
11594029
Did you favorite a story you are writing?
11594037
I can favorite the parts you're writing, can't I? Hehe.
I think by shaking Gregory’s hand Twilight isn’t going to make the same mistake she did with Jason
Thus, the handshaking between Gregory and Twilight, marks the salvation of Equestria.
That's how they GET YOU! THAT'S HOW THE INFECTION BEGINS!
Oh Gregory, you poor fool, you are in for a big depressing shock.
Ayyyyyyy
Les fuckin GOOOOOOOOOOO
God I hope they dont rob him, with all the things he's brought.
damn shawty that was quick
Hmm... Wasn't there a magic-enforced flashback for anyone that visits ponyville on what happened? One that goes over everything that was done there? Or is that just activated when someone desires to "live" there?
Maybe since humans don't have magic, ol' Gregboy won't be getting any eye-opening flashbacks any time soon.
Either way best of luck, I'm watching with great interest.
I like this guy, he is not a mindless misanthrope for just a few reasons, of course, next to him I did not feel very happy to leave the earth and my species at all, although his reaction is correct, it could have been better, I hope with all my heart that the premise of the story is not so rosy the consequences must continue even if they are repaired the damage done must always persist even if it is minimized the truth is the truth
11594211
Maybe because he was dropped inside by the magic that brought him he never got the message.
He gonna to be shocked when he hears the whole story.
No offense man, but the romance tag alone makes me not want to read this. Wish you luck anyway.
P.S.: Geez people, that one guy out of a hundred doesn't want to read one story isn't anything to freak out about. Calm down.
11594278
Ok 👍
And so it begins. The sequel where another human attempts to put Equestria back to it's almost normal if better state.
Maybe during that time questions could be asked by the characters like, why Celestia wanted Twilight to take her place without asking her if it's what she wanted, and why Luna and Cadance were so on board with that idea without a second thought.
Oh boy this is gonna be good.
Can't believe it came so soon I know this is gonna be good
Let us hope that Twilight will actually make up for her mistakes, and not try to manipulate Gregory into helping her against the 'injustice' done to her.
"Romance" tag ? I bet it's going to go to AppleJack, instead of Twilight. Or maybe not. Who am I kidding!
Where is that Griffon hen when you need her?
11594425
I do not disagree, but there's a fair few to pick from
I’m curious which way this will go, I’m hoping that the writer will once again surprise us taking an untraveled path. Though I was expecting Twilight to send a letter to Celestia immediately to have him transported to Canterlot just to avoid causing a fuss in town… Right now the wound is still raw for those ponies, being called out isn’t exactly fun, especially when it has long term consequences.
Isn't Twilight cursed to blurt out her intentions whenever she meets a new person? I'm really curious how that will go.
Edit/correction: her faults, not intentions.
11594498
Celestia isn't a princess anymore.
11594502
That's rarity. Because she likes to pretend she cares but she really vain and greedy and selfish. Twilight just lost status and was forbidden to participate in the government and had her power shrunk. Applejack just has to suffer pain for her crime. Fluttershy gets to feel what Jason did when she ran away from him. Rainbow is paying for always being reckless and shortsighted by receiving the same lighting based pain she worked so hard to give him and losing her ability to fly. Pinkie was spared because she never directly interacted with him. All her pain is of her own making.
The reason I can’t root for Jason is the fact he indirectly caused the wendigoes to return and Equestria can’t fight back
11594552
The ponies did that.
Looking forward to seeing this series keep going. Thank you for writing the sequel!
11594552
I think you're calling that a little earlier. Yes, the Wendigos are going to be a problem. But you can't put that all on Jason. Sometimes things get blurry in the pursuit of justice. Heck, Justice, and revenge often are synonymous with one another.
more prominence for Jason please ¡!
Ayyy, something more to chew on for a while!
If Gregory ever finds a way to get internet he's gonna have a field day.
11594648
Exactly, and even if he did foresee the Wendigos returning, good luck combating centuries of racism that went unnoticed by everyone before their return becomes an issue when even if the racism itself was easy to deal with, every other race has been royally screwed over by a nation they thought was their friend and they are just now learning of it. I'm pretty sure Discord said he was going to confess to the other rulers anyway, so that alone would've contributed greatly, especially if proof of sabotage was unearthed during Equestria's attempt to right the wrongs.
Jason couldn't get his justice in any meaningful extent without basically destroying an entire country's reputation and the economy with it. I include the economy in this because of the lack of trade with other nations, reparations for stunts like The Idol and Discord, and all the non-ponies due for backpay or reparations like Cranky.
Though if you think about it, the return of the Wendigos might just be what Equestria needs to overcome its own hatred and prejudice.
11594552
Justice was served. That, was a better alternative than having ponyville burned to the ground.
If anything, evil spirits are never purged. Always dormant until their is an imbalance of some kind.
Also, Discord gets to live in this alternate universe. Although, he has to put up with a certain 'yandere'.
11594524
Yes, I was thinking of Rarity at first, but Twilight had a similar punishment:
Welp. Gregory will have a very rude wake-up call the more he explores Ponyville alone, and then any more information that will eventually shock him to realize that Equestria and his "heroes" are nothing like the show.
Let alone the massive amounts of problems and divisions since Jason's trial.
The same could be said about Twilight if she genuinely wants to be friends with Gregory. Though that also might not be healthy for her if she sees him as a "what if" in place of Jason (and humans in general had she bothered to study properly rather than a knee-jerk assumption). And that's not including the other girls, not to mention most of the Ponies in general in the rest of the now weakened and vulnerable Equestria.
And eh...
can't forget about the Windigoes returning to rue the now all alone nation/species.11594929
I forgot that part of her punishment. I thought you made a mistake because twilight although she has not much empathy she is pretty good about honesty unlike rarity who used spike for years.
I really hope we get a chapter that peaks in on the Crystal Empire. I have a feeling that behind closed doors what’s happened is finally hitting Shining emotionally.
The last story it felt like he was dealing with a combination of denial and shock. But by now he’s had time to adjust and come to terms with what’s happened. I can’t imagine the ideal picture of his family life being shattered is something that’s easy to handle.
I’d also like a peak on his parents, I can’t imagine their lives have gotten much better after this. Even if other ponies don’t necessarily “disagree” with their views, they still helped caused some the issues Equestria is now facing. Don’t forget they’ve also lost favor with the the rulers (including former princess Celestia) Princess Luna and Blueblood (if only for political reasons). Right now they might not be too welcome in Canterlot, especially as the economic situation sours. People are all for banning imports… until they realize how many things they bought aren’t/can’t-be made in their country….
Awesome, I just finished reading "An Alternative Ending". On one hand this story is just beginning, so I'll have to wait for new chapters. On the other, I won't be reading it instead of sleeping :)
Conversation between Gregory and Jason is going to be interesting.
LETS GOO
Let's go! I will watch this sequel with great interest :)
Can't wait for the next chapter the prologue is already good.
I wonder how Twilight and the others will interact with Greystone and especially when Jason gets informed about the new human.
I love your work and I mean no offense by this but I love an alternate ending so much that I don't want this new story to ruin the last stories ending minus the last few paragraphs. So I'm not going to read this one until it's finished.
11596445
That's cool. I like to binge-read as well. It maybe a few months before this one is finished, though.
The meeting with the rest of the elements is going to be awkward as fuuuuuck
11594039
I am curious as to what that means for your own story. Will you be ok with separating the two stories facts and whatnot, or with keeping up with the time between chapter postings? Because I don't want you to overwork yourself or stress yourself too much.
11599099
I'm still working on my other stories. I'm working on the next chapter of EaB, which hopefully will be out sometime this weekend.