Strange New World

by Boopy Doopy

Rocket

Tory did not sleep in Sapphire's bed last night, despite how uncomfortable he was on the floor in the guest room. His sleeping conditions the last week hadn't been great, but he couldn't take the bed away from Lake. If he was stabbed recently, and uncomfortable and sore moving around, he was sure his friend would've accommodated him, too.

Sapphire did offer, and he did consider the proposal, he had to admit, but he decided against it in the end. He had a good idea of what her plans were, and while he was okay with flirting, he wasn't okay with ponies sexually. A month was not long enough to get to that point when looking at them. Even if she was cute as a human.

“Come on,” the mare said, a little seductively. “You sleep in the same room as Roxie, and that's not a problem. And there's so much space on my bed. You could really spread out like a big, strong earth pony should.” It got him to smile and look away for a moment, but his mind wouldn’t be changed. Even if she did grin back and wiggled her hips and swished her tail.

Okay, maybe she was kind of pretty as a pony, too, he reluctantly admitted to himself. This world and body was messing with his head. She had a sly, mischievous look that almost got him to say yes. Almost.

“Maybe another time,” he told her instead. “Cause I know you'll keep me up all night.” And that was that.

Another uncomfortable night on the ground was what his refusal earned him, followed by a boring day of community service and a library trip. Lake had to stop after only a couple of hours—it was remarkable he was even able to go that long despite having just been stabbed—so after a while at the library, they spent another day at Sapphire Glow’s house doing nothing once again.

This wasn't much of an adventure so far, even living in a strange new world like this. It was just so boring and familiar—for the most part anyway. Why couldn’t they have been mystical aliens in an unfamiliar world instead of dumb horses? Ones who had to do community service and deal with the kinds of things humans dealt with every day?

It was especially dreadful for himself. Roxanne worked on magic—not only could she shapeshift, but also levitate objects by making her horn glow. And Lake, for his lack of adventurous spirit, was able to float in the air for a good thirty seconds. What did Tory have? The gift of being slightly stronger and the ability to pick up trash with his mouth for the 5th day of community service. Great.

“Oh, turn that frown upside down,” Roxanne grinned, now a yellow pegasus stallion Tory had never seen. “Look on the bright side: you don't have to feel every little drop of anxiety Lake gives off every few minutes. Or how badly Sapphire really wants you and how much she hates you denying her.”

“She's not lying,” Sapphire said in a singsong voice from her usual spot at her desk.

“See? Is that really what you want?”

“Don't answer that,” Lake said as he lay on his back on the couch. Then he wiggled his wings beneath him and sighed. “Man, these things can get uncomfortable… I'm gonna have to preen them again already.”

Yes, this world was messing with his brain, and all of theirs. How the heck was even Lake past the point of caring that he was laying on his back, fully exposed? But then it’s not like Tory cared much after the first few days. There might have been some level of cognitive dissonance going on, on all of their parts.

“Yeah, well, super strength—if it's even that super—isn’t really that much to write home about.” Nor was being the only one who had to use his mouth for everything, or really being able to do anything cool like the rest of them. He really was just kind of lame.

“You're the leader, Tory,” Roxanne said in one final comment. “You're supposed to be boring.”

Yeah, sure. He would take it, he guessed. Not like he had a choice anyway. He wasn’t even sure if he was the leader, if there was one. Hopefully the guy they were supposed to meet would figure something out and get them back home.

He had a relatively good night’s sleep despite another night on the floor—he was really gonna eventually have to sleep in Sapphire Glow’s bed just to keep his back in good condition, wasn't he? How long did Lake say it took pegasi to heal? Hopefully not longer than a few more days. Tory was starting to feel stiff after a week of this.

The morning was spent doing more of the same nothing until finally, after lunch was had, Sapphire mercifully grabbed the things she would need and instructed the three to follow after her. For the first time, they walked in the opposite direction down the street, away from the main part of Manhattan. The magic was still unbelievably tense, but it got a little better once the houses cleared out some and the concrete turned into dirt. Wherever the club was at, it was rural.

And it was far, too—farther than the justice center and the place they did community service was. It must have been a good four hours of walking they did, watching the suburban part of the city turn into lone standing trees, and then to fields of grass and hills they passed by along the road. He let Lake lean into his side as he began to get tired, and then Roxanne, too, as she still had to recover from being in Norway. He guessed if there was one good thing about being an earth pony, it was that he was strong enough to let his friends lean on him without issue.

“Don't worry,” Roxanne whispered teasingly. “We'll make room for Sapphire to lean on you if you want, too. It'll just be lonely without you in the guest room. Right, Lake?” It got the stallion to smile and shake his head from the other side of him.

More boring walking came until they were finally stepping up to what looked like a large, red barn house. It was a lonely looking building, standing in a green field of grass with nothing around it, but empty, it was not. There were a good fifteen or twenty ponies here, of all kinds that he saw. Earth ponies and pegasi and unicorns littered the ground in front of the building, many of whom wobbled around on two legs, as though pretending to be humans.

It was incredibly strange to look at, but thankfully, Sapphire Glow didn’t copy them. She did have more energy compared to her usual personality, and turned to talk to them while walking backward. There was a giant smile plastered on her face.

“It's still unbelievable that you guys are actually here!” the mare whispered loudly, although there was too much chatter around them to make out what could be said. “I actually have three humans at my Humans in Equestria club meeting! We always talked about it, but this is actually happening!”

“Well I just hope they can actually do something to help us,” Lake said quietly. He took a deep breath after that, and sighed. “Man, though, it feels so much better out here. Less tense.”

“Mhm, that's why we hold it out here instead of in the city,” Sapphire explained. “Much less magical pollution, which means less interference from ambient magic in any of our spells. It's pretty nice.”

It sounded nice. Tory could feel the difference, and it seemed like Lake and Roxanne were perking up again slightly. Hopefully they'd find answers and a solution to get to America again from Equestria right here and now. Or at least get a step closer.

What are we gonna do about Roxie though? he suddenly wondered silently. She didn't look that great after several days back on Earth, but then none of them did. But more importantly, how was she able to keep her powers there when Tory changed back to normal? Would that happen to him? Not that he had any powers, but if he did?

“I don’t think these ponies are gonna be very helpful,” Roxanne commented casually. “I don’t get much of the same intensity from any of these guys—not the same kind of intensity you have anyway.”

“Eh, it’s just a hobby for most of them, that’s not a surprise,” Sapphire replied as she waved a dismissive hoof. “You just need to wait until you find Record Keeper. He’s as serious as I am! Or maybe we could even go to Ponyville to meet our club’s founder, Lyra Heartstrings! She’s way more into humans than I could ever be!”

“We’ll keep that noted,” Tory nodded. Hopefully neither of those ponies had the same fetish Sapphire Glow had. Double hopefully these ponies that tried to walk like humans didn’t crowd around them once Sapphire told them what was going on. Lake probably wouldn’t like that much.

Before too long, they were entering the building, moving towards the front despite Lake’s insistence on staying in the back. Not just toward the front, but it was the very front row they sat in. The building seemed a bit like a church, with seats that looked like pews, and a podium in the front for speaking. Tory was imagining this being more like a convention style gathering rather than a service. Was someone going to be giving a speech?

The ponies gathered in and sat down, not quite packing the place as much as he expected. There were plenty of open spaces around the four of them as the general chatter of a few dozen ponies filled the room. It seemed like there was an excited buzz in the air to him; Sapphire Glow certainly seemed excited as she sat close to him, more focused on whatever pony would be standing behind the podium to talk.

“How many people did you tell about us?” Tory asked quietly.

“No one but Twilight Sparkle and Record Keeper yet,” she whispered back. “I know better than to have loose lips. And speaking of loose lips—”

“Is that him?” Roxanne quickly interrupted before Sapphire could finish. It was probably for the best anyway.

They all looked in the direction of Roxanne’s pointed hoof. If Tory had to pick out of the crowd anypony he might guess was the stallion Sapphire Glow talked up, the one who stepped up to the podium would probably have been the first pick.

He was a brown unicorn with a long, deep red mane and thick black glasses in front of gray eyes. His build sort of reminded Tory of a stereotypical nerd, but not exactly. He walked with a sense of purpose, and seemed to have an air of confidence about him. Enough at least that even Tory could tell. He was definitely ‘the man’, just based on how he carried himself.

Lake stared silently at him and Roxanne laughed at something while Sapphire Glow nodded her head. “That's who I was telling you guys about,” she whispered to them. “He's been to Earth before, a few years ago. I didn't think he'd be the one opening today though. I wonder why!”

The stallion, Record Keeper, looked around the room with a sort of smug grin on his face, turning his head until he finally landed on the four of them. He lingered his gaze on them for a very long moment, long enough that Lake's face was turning slightly red and both Roxanne and Sapphire were waving back at him, the latter with more enthusiasm. Did he wink at them, too?

“Yeah, he knows it's us,” Roxanne said quietly. “Saph told him about us in her letter, remember? So who else could he think is here with her today?”

“Roxie’s right, I did,” Sapphire Glow confirmed in a whisper. “He's definitely gonna want to meet you after the meeting.”

“If… if he is who he says he is, we definitely wanna meet him, too,” Lake replied. Tory couldn't say he was wrong. He hoped Sapphire wasn't exaggerating when she said he was legitimately on Earth, and he knew a way back that was easier to get to than Norway.

The guy stood on his hind hooves, like he was trying to walk like a human, and leaned over the podium to look at the crowd. “You know, there are humans among us here today,” he started casually. A glance to Lake showed that the initial statement made him anxious again as he shifted around in his seat. Roxanne put a gentle hoof on his shoulder and whispered something to him that seemed to settle him back down.

“We're all humans here, really,” Record Keeper told the room. “Every single one of us. And I know when we're able to all show Equestria that humans do exist, they'll believe it too! Am I right?” He sounded a lot more confident than Tory expected, or maybe just less nerdy than he looked. It got the crowd to cheer and applaud as he looked around at all the ponies. He gave a particularly smug look to Sapphire Glow, who returned it back to him.

“And I think,” he finished, “that we should all take this session to reflect on that fact!” the stallion declared loudly. “That there are humans among us, both seen and unseen, all around us! May we be more like them! More confident and graceful, and able to see the things other creatures can’t!”

“This sounds like a religious service,” Tory whispered quietly to Sapphire Glow. “Are they gonna start praying next?”

Record Keeper didn’t. Instead, he stepped down away from the podium so someone else could trot up to speak. “I think those are great words, guys!” some new mare said. “Now I wanna take this opportunity to thank everypony who…”

Tory saw Record Keeper waste no time in plopping down in the seat on the other side of Sapphire Glow and grin widely at him. “Hey, human,” he said with a wave of his hoof, not exactly quiet, but it didn’t seem like any pony paid particular attention to him anymore. “Haven’t seen you around here.”

---

The club meeting was uninteresting, to say the least. Tory didn’t particularly care about committee meetings and budget reports—what kind of things did these ponies even need to budget for anyway? He really thought he was going to get something better than alleged human sightings in this world and ways to balance on hind hooves.

The ponies around them had mixed interest; some of them listened intently, while others turned to chat in small groups. Whoever stood in front of the podium speaking at each point didn’t seem to mind. This club really was just a club—a group of people who met up and just talked to each other.

Roxanne whispered to he and Lake about how this mysterious stallion Sapphire was over the moon about wanted to play coy until they were in a more private space. Even Sapphire, who chatted nonstop for almost a month about what everyone would think about the three of them being humans, had the sense to keep that information to herself for now. It must have been hard for her to do, from the way she was squirming around her seat, but she maintained her composure. When other ponies asked about the three, she highlighted that they were ‘friends who were interested in humans’. It seemed to satisfy them after a few questions and a hoof shake.

After about two hours of speeches and stories and reports being given, someone brought out sandwiches and cookies for everyone, signifying the end of the meeting. A lot of people hung around eating and talking to each other, but Sapphire and Record Keeper quickly found a quiet spot outside the building to finally talk. Tory expected an all business attitude from the stallion, just based on how he carried himself. But he couldn't say he was too surprised by the same excitable attitude Sapphire Glow gave them all the time. This was a level down from that at least.

“I can't believe there's actually humans here!” the stallion whispered loudly. Not so loud though that others would hear. He seemed to be restraining himself from completely crawling over them and gushing like Sapphire Glow did.

“Not only here, but actually at our Humans in Equestria club!” Record Keeper said. “I almost thought Sapphire was pulling my leg, but you're actually here, just like she said! How did you get here? Are you from Das Moneys, too?”

“Des Moines, but no,” Tory explained. “I assume she told you all about it, but the long and the short of it is that a portal appeared in his apartment.” He gestured to Lake as he said, “We all went through it, right before it decided to disappear, and were kind of stuck here now. And we were told that you know another way to get to Earth again?”

“Oh, absolutely!” he nodded with a grin. “It's in the mysterious south! I'll tell you though, it took me almost a solid three months to find it, and then I could only stay for less than a minute when I got there. Are there really hailstorms there every day?”

“I don’t think so,” Tory answered quickly, “but how do we get there? Is there any way it won't take 3 months?”

“Well, if you got here through a worldgate, you could always just go back through the one you came through. They're meant to be highly stable once they form, so that they can last for ages without issue, so long as they're not being crossed through several times a day for months.”

“The one to Lake's apartment disappeared though,” Sapphire explained. “Or, well, it disappeared on this side at least. The one I was telling you about did that too, and Lake was the only one that was able to make it stable and stay.”

“Huh, that's interesting…” Record Keeper trailed off, then turned to give a wide grin to Lake. His face went red as he looked away, and Roxanne laughed at something again.

“I guess that makes you special, huh, guy?” the stallion said. “I wonder why it turned you into a pegasus then. I would've thought you'd be a unicorn if that's the case.”

“I'm just… built different, I guess, what can I say?” Lake shrugged, flexing his wings a bit. If they were implying what Tory thought, then that officially made himself boring according to a random portal to an alien world. It was official.

“But uh, if you don't wanna go on a long adventure to the mysterious south—which I know Saph and I wouldn't mind—you could probably just talk to Princess Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot. Her court is open to everypony, after all. Oh, and I bet we could stop in Ponyville and show you three off to Lyra Heartstrings! We absolutely have to!”

“Oh, I was already planning on it, not even a question.”

“We don't want to be shown off if we can help it,” Roxanne said quickly, before Tory could. “And if you're certain that this princess will hear us out and can actually help, it's better than the options available. I'd rather get back before all my stuff gets sold, if it hasn't already.”

Except Roxanne looked bad back on Earth again, Tory thought. What was it that Sapphire was saying before? That if they stayed too long they'd potentially turn into ponies permanently? It seemed like that already happened to her, even if Sapphire changed into a human despite being a horse her whole life.

“We'll figure it out later,” his friend said in response to his thoughts. “If there's a way to just pass back and forth as we please, it probably won't even be an issue.”

Yeah, right. Because everything was easy for them thus far. It would have been nice though if they hadn't waited around forever and Sapphire Glow brought up heading to the pony queen's court directly earlier. He still couldn't imagine that it would be as easy as just walking up to her, since Sapphire never got a response from her.

“When can we leave though?” Tory looked between Sapphire and Record Keeper. “Is there any way we can set off now?”

“At the very least not until our community service is done,” Sapphire shook her head. “It might actually be kind of hard for me since I'm technically on probation, but I'm sure I'll—”

“You guys are talking kind of loud,” Lake suddenly interrupted, shifting his wings around. His voice was quiet and matched his discomfort as Tory suddenly noticed that the five were getting a few curious looks and cursory glances. Not that he knew why it would have been a problem if other ponies heard. The more there were, the more help they would get, he figured. But Lake looked like he didn't like it, and the others, too, were now a little more shifty eyed. Couldn't Roxanne read emotions and say for certain whether it mattered or not?

“Maybe we should continue this conversation at my place,” Sapphire Glow decided abruptly. After a second of pause though, she qualified it with, “After I get some more food. These things are only once a month.”

Tory couldn't see the harm in that.

Comments

[Alfonnimo]

I just came across this fanfic. I'm going to take a look at it to see if it's interesting.

[Boopy Doopy]

11950252
It's appreciated

[Alfonnimo]

Doesn't anyone else think it's a bad idea to get involved in what is technically a convention of Humares clearly obsessed with anything human? Just me? OK...

This goes to favorites. I love this story.

[GreenLion]

The plot is good, the characters are interesting, and with their quirks, I will wait for the sequel.