An Escape

by CaptainKBX

Warm Welcomes

Cam and Twilight just stood in the half open doorway, slowly taking in everything. The library was filled with all manner of ponies. Cam noticed that not all of them were unicorns like Twilight; a few of them had feathered wings and some had nothing special about them at all. He also noticed that their originally happy and joyful faces were gone. In their place were ones of shock, awe, and even fear.

“Whoa, I’ve never seen anything like you before,” a bright pink pony cried. She bounced out of the crowd and landed in front of Cam, smiling jubilatiously. “Hi, my name’s Pinkie Pie. Do you like this party I made for you?”

“Oh no... Please don’t tell anyone about me. I don’t know what’ll happen if ponies find out there’s a human in their world,” He replied, shooting the other ponies worried glances. By now they were beginning to calm down, yet their faces still weren’t all that trusting. “Ah... well never mind about that. Still, I-”

“Humans, Is that what you are? Are others as tall as you?” the pink pony asked curiously. “What’s it like having two legs? I mean, you aren’t the first thing I’ve seen that walks on them, but I’ve never gotten to ask. Can you dance really well? Are you really flexible? Do you like vanilla?”

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted in an attempt to grab her friend’s attention. “I don’t mean to be rude, but Cam and I are really busy and you’re sort of interrupting us.”

“Oh, is that his name? Hiyah Cam!” his only reply was a small groan, which seemed to fly right over the energetic pony’s head. “So is Cam short for something?”

“Cameron.” the young man muttered.

“Cameron! That’s a neat name! Do you think you could make more nicknames out of it? Camera! Eron! Cammy!”

Kristen always called me that... Cam reminisced. His sisters voice echoed through his head, drowning away the pink ponies rambling.

“Cameron, you ok?” Pinkie asked, tapping his head lightly.

“What is it, Kristen?”

“Who’s Kristen? It’s me, Pinkie! You zoned out for a minute there.”

"What? I did?” Cam asked in confusion. “I’m sorry, Pinkie. I was just thinking about my sister. She always called me ‘Cammy’ is all.”

“No problem,” Pinkie said chipperly. This got Cam to make a small smile in return.

“What happened?” Twilight asked once her new friend seemed to regain his wit.

“Nothing, really.” Cam sighed. “It’s not important. What is, though, is that I need to take my mind off it.”

“Well, this is a party,” Pinkie stated. “I mean, what better way is there to have fun than a party? Seriously, I want to know.”

As Cam took a look around the room, the staring faces of a whole town’s worth of anthropomorphic ponies began to really freak him out. Many of them had opted to moving as far away from him as possible, though the kept their gazes fixed the entire time.

“I-I need a... glass of water or something, before I freak out.” Cam stuttered. There was a sudden flash of pink and a moment later Pinkie was holding a glass of punch in one of her hooves.

“Um, thanks. How did you....never mind.” He drank the punch slowly and turned to Twilight. “So, about those books you have.”

“Oh, right,” Twilight said, gesturing with her head towards some of the nearby shelves. Cam was about to take a step towards the books before he was pulled back.

“Come on, I’ve still got to introduce you to everypony!” Pinkie said happily.

New world, new social life, maybe? I guess I can try to give it a shot. Cam decided, straightening himself up. Pinkie tugged on him some more and brought him over to a small group of four ponies. “Um, hi there. I’m Cameron. Cameron Harrison” the boy introduced himself.

Three of the ponies approached him and identified themselves as Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. As the boy spoke with three of the ponies, the crowd seemed to easy up and slowly got back into the festive mood. learning their names and special talents - a hard feat over the chattering in the background - he couldn’t help but notice something was missing.

“I-I’m Fluttershy...” a timid yellow pegasus spoke softly from behind her mane.

“I couldn’t catch that, sorry.”

“Fluttershy... I’m Fluttershy.”

“Sorry? I still can’t...” the boy recognized something in this pony. She was almost as socially awkward as he was - if not more. “Oh, okay. Flutter...shy? That’s your name?” she nodded weakly. “I like it. It’s a nice name. Maybe... we can be friends someday?”

“And you already know me and Twilight! So what do you say, do we have a party?” Pinkie giggled.

“Say, Pinkie...” Cam said, realizing that something didn’t add up. “You threw this party for me, right?”

“Yup! It’s a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!”

“I’m really flattered that a party was thrown for me, but... how did you know I was here?”

“Oh, well I was out doing some late evening shopping for some party supplies when I saw Twilight walking around town with a strange creature, which turned out to be you. And then I realized I’d never seen you before, which meant I had to throw a party for you. That way you could meet everypony and make lots of new friends!”

“That was nice of you.” Cam responded. “But you probably should’ve let us know. I’m trying to get home after all.”

“Oh silly, if you had known then it wouldn’t have been a surprise party.” Pinkie said happily as she bit into some cake.

“Fine, I’m not complaining. First party thrown for me in... ages.” Cam sighed, but was quickly interrupted by a loud gasp.

“Well that just increases the importance of this party by about a million!” Pinkie declared, grabbing a party hat and sticking it on Cam’s head.

“Pinkie,” Cam sighed and shook his head a little. “I... this is so new to me. Things were... terrible in my world. It’s going to take me a bit to adjust.”

“If that’s so, then why do ya wanna’ go back?” Applejack asked inquiringly.

“I... I don’t know. There’s just something I miss about it.” Cam paused for a moment, a sad look quickly taking over his face. “My sister. I miss her so much already.”

“You have a sister?” Twilight asked.

“Ooh, a sister? Maybe she could come to Ponyville like you did! Ooh, and we can have a party for her!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Kristen is her name, but...” Cam frowned, slumping against the wall. “I don’t even know how I got here, so no way we can get her here. She’s just stuck there... and I was the only one who cared for her.”

The six ponies all stared at him with shock and sadness. After a moment Fluttershy moved forward and tenderly placed a hoof on his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that Cam, you must miss her so much.”

For a while nothing was said between the group, and the other guests went about their business. Eventually Cam looked back at Fluttershy and gave a soft smile.

“Thank you, Fluttershy. So... so much,” He whispered, carefully standing back up. “And, I’m sorry you all had to see that.”

“Don’t worry about it Cam, we understand,” Twilight said, levitating a few books towards them. “Besides, we’ll find a way to get you back home, wherever that may be.” Quickly she began flipping through them and scanned the context of each page furiously.

“So what’s it like where you come from anyway?” Rainbow asked curiously.

“Um, what do you want to know about?” Cam replied.

“Ya can start wherever works best for y’all.” Applejack suggested.

“I’m from a world where everyone is human, sort of like me. Humans are generally.. not as friendly as ponies.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rainbow asked inquiringly.

“Well, you guys threw me a welcome party. I haven’t even had a birthday party in years. And just the way Twilight’s been treating me is more of a stretch than I’m used to. If I’d gotten lost in my world I would’ve been completely on my own.” Cam sighed.

“Really? That’s... terrible. I’m sorry, Cam.” Fluttershy said.

As the group chatted, the rest of the party goers began to take interest. They ceased their festivities and fixed their attention on the group, trying to figure out what was going on with the guest of honor.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t you partying?” a mint-colored pony wondered.

“Sorry, we’re just trying to figure a few things out,” Cam replied. “Are you enjoying yourself at least?”

“Yep, Pinkie’s parties are always a blast to attend!” She exclaimed. “Oh, I’m Lyra by the way. Lyra Heartstrings.”

“Nice to meet you, Lyra, I’m Cam,” the boy smiled. “Now, we can get back to the party, we’re done figuring things out for now.”

“Great, cause I know some fun games you just have to try.” She said chipperly before pulling Cam forward.

“Easy on the arms!” Cam cried. Lyra noticed and loosened her grip.

“Sorry” she said sheepishly.

“It’s alright,” Cam said with a smile. “By the way, are these games even going to be compatible with my arms?”

“Well, we can find out! Ever play ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’?” Lyra asked curiously.

“Actually, yes. Well, if it’s like ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’ then I have.”

As Cam joined several ponies playing the game, it became very apparent that this version wasn’t meant for humans. At times, Cam had trouble with the blindfold, as it was made for pony heads. Other times, the board was far too low for him, and he ended up putting the tail on the wall a few feet above. After about a half hour the game was over, with Cam in last place.

“Okay, how about a game I can actually play? Do you guys have... playing cards?”

“We sure do!” Pinkie exclaimed happily.

“Hm... what games do you all know?”

“Ooh!” Pinkie chimed in. ”Go Fish! I love that game!

“Alright, Fish it is.” Cam smiled as he shuffled the deck Pinkie quickly handed him.

The ponies watched in awe as Cam shuffled the cards from hand to hand. The cards danced to and fro, merging together into one deck before he immediately split them up and repeated the process. Once the deck was sufficiently shuffled he dealt six cards to each player, including himself.

“Woah, Cammy! That was neat! Can ya do it again?” Pinkie giggled excitedly.

“Next round maybe, but first I’m going to beat you all.” Cam grinned as he prepared his hand along with the others, who were busy separating any pairs they currently had. Cam looked over his cards and was a little disheartened by his lack of. “Now, Lyra, have any Two’s?”

“Go fish, Cam!” Lyra laughed. The lad frowned as he drew a card from the pile. To his luck it was the very card he was hoping for. “You got a Ten, Pinkie?”

“One, two...yes, that’s a ten. Here ya go Lyra!” She said, happily passing her cards over with a smile.

As the game was coming to a close, a clock bell rang, indicating it was nearing time to end the party. In the end it came to a tie between Lyra and Cam. Waving goodbye to most of the ponies, the boy sighed. Whether it was sadness, disappointment, or perhaps relief, even he didn’t know. After a moment he turned from the door and went over to Twilight and the five ponies he’d met earlier.

“So girls. What can you tell me about yourselves?” Cam inquired. After a lengthy chat with each pony about their personalities, jobs, and families, he once again found Fluttershy to be the last one to give her introduction.

“And last, but most definitely not least is Fluttershy. You’re not gonna shy out on me, are you?”

“N-no, of course not, Cam.” she said softly. “I take care of animals, mostly. That’s what my cutie mark means. “

“What else do you do?” Cam asked. His reply was a nervous shrug from the yellow pegasus.

“You don’t do much else, do you?” He asked, only for the pony to shake her head nervously.

“You’re shyin’ out on me, Shy!”

“I’m s-sorry” the nervous pony began to sob.

“No, it’s okay, Kri-Fluttershy. Sorry, you reminded me of my sister a little,” Cam said comfortingly. “It’s okay, though. I was joking. What were you the element of?”

“Kindness.” she replied weakly.

“Kindness, eh? That’s always a good thing to be.” Cam sat next to the pony. “Oh, I want you to have something.”

“What is it?” The pony perked her head up a little, curious.

Cam dug around in his pocket for a bit, searching for the present he had.

“Aha, here it is!” he cried as he pulled a small object from his pants pocket. “Hold out your hooves? I have no idea how you can hold this, actually.”

As the yellow pony held out a hoof, Cam set a large round token in it.

“It’s a poker chip. I’ve had it for about... 6 years now. Always brought me luck. I found it one day while I was at the mall, it had been sitting right under our car.” Cam explained. “I always carry it with me, and miracles seem to happen. I remember one time I narrowly avoided a car crash. Had I not had the chip, I feel like I would’ve crashed.

“Another time, the weather got really bad, and we had a tornado near our house. By some miracle - which I attribute to the chip - our house was unscathed. I don’t know if the chip will give you the same luck it gave me, but at least you’ll have something to remember me by when I leave.”

“Oh, Cam, I couldn’t. What if you lose your luck?” Fluttershy tried to return the present.

“I’ll be fine. What’s important is that this is a token of my friendship. Something you can always look at and be reminded of me. So I insist, take it. Keep it.” Cam insisted. The pony softly smiled and held onto it.

“Oh, that’s right,” Cam smiled as he rose back to his feet. “I haven’t told you guys much about myself, have I?”

“No, you haven’t. We’d all really like to hear, though!” Twilight responded.

“Alright, I’m not quite sure what to say, but I’ll try.” the lad sighed. “I’m a fairly average guy where I’m from. Well, I was, anyway. I had a nice job, a car, a girlfriend, but lost them all.”

“You lost them?” Twilight asked. “How?”

“Well, my relationship with Gina began to fall apart after I got laid off. Things were going poorly for the company, I guess. In the economy state, I can’t really blame them, but... it still left me jobless. I couldn’t get another job, no matter how hard I tried, either, which I guess really made Gina break up with me.”

“Wow, that’s... I didn’t understand all that, but that sounds bad.” Twilight chuckled nervously. “How did you lose this ‘car’ thing? And what is it?”

“It was an ‘85 Subaru XT.” Cam said. “Oh, you mean what is a car in general. It’s a... carriage, but like... with a motor. It doesn’t need a horse or anything to pull it, just gasoline. And I couldn’t afford it after I lost my job. What all did you not understand, by the way?”

“What’s a Subaru?” Pinkie asked curiously.

“Japanese car company. They make some pretty nice cars.” He explained.

“What does ‘Japanese’ mean?”

“It means they’re from Japan, a country in my world. I’m from America, so that makes my car foreign. And old. Anyway, what else did you want to know about me?”

“What do humans eat?” Twilight asked.

“Well, we’re omnivores. We can eat meat and plants and whatnot.” Cam explained.

“I told you, Twilight!” Spike whispered. “He’s gonna eat us!”

“Spike!”

“But Twili-” Spike was silenced by an authoritative look from his caretaker.

“I heard that, and no, I don’t eat ponies,” Cam sighed. “Especially not sentient ponies. It would almost feel like cannibalism to me. I don’t think I’ll be eating any meat while I’m here with you.” He gave each of them a friendly smile. “I figure I’ll try to live like you guys for a bit. It might be fun!”

“I’m sorry.” Spike hung his head. Cameron knelt down in front of the dragon, who quickly flinched.

“Hey, buddy, I know how you feel. This is as freaky for me as it is for you - if not more. I’m scared too.” Cam smiled, before standing back up. “Anything else you guys wanted to know?”

“Oh, Cam, Ah was wonderin’... whut kinda job did ya have b’fore ya lost it?” Applejack asked.

“Nothing special. I was just a stockroom guy. Kept the shelves at the store stocked. Got me some money, but it wasn’t the best job in the world.” Cam explained. Just then there was a small chiming sound from the other side of the room. Cam turned to look and noticed a small clock on the wall.

“What does that mean?” he asked curiously.

“It’s getting late, everypony should be heading home.” Twilight explained. The five other ponies each got to their hooves and began making their way to the door and giving their regards as they left.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow! Bye!” Cam bid farewell. “So, I guess I’m staying with you tonight again?”

“Yeah,” Twilight yawned. “I’m heading to bed, you should too. We’ll find you something to do tomorrow.” She made her way over to a table and gathered some paper and ink in her magic.

“What are you doing?” Cam asked as he observed her dip a quill in the ink.

“Oh, I’m just sending a letter to my mentor, Princess Celestia, to see if she knows any way to help with your situation.” Twilight responded.

“Does anyone else need to know about me being here?” Cam inquired. “I mean, I don’t want to freak anyone else out. No need to start mass hysteria”

“The Princess can help us, Cam.” Twilight insisted. ‘Besides, she’s bound to find out sooner or later - if she hasn’t already.”

“Fine,” Cam shrugged. “Go ahead and let her know. I’m really tired out, so I’m off to bed.”

As Cam went to his own bed that had been set up, he began to contemplate the past day. He’d made more friends here in only a day than it seemed he ever had back home. And he’d made some of the best friends of his life as well. And Fluttershy. He could already tell she was going to be a very good friend of his.

~

“What’s the matter, Cam? Zoning out again?” a voice laughed cruelly.

Confused, the boy looked toward the source of the voice, dropping a box he’d been carrying. As the contents spilled out across the floor, he realized he was back at his job as a stockroom worker.

“Oh, infraction! I’m gonna have to tell the boss!” the voice teased from behind him. Cam turned to see it coming from a girl dressed in the same uniform as him.

“Gina? I-is that you?” Cam asked, dumbfounded at the sight of his ex-girlfriend.

“Of course it’s me, Cam. What’s the matter? You’re acting like you missed me.”

“I... did we break up? I can’t even remember anymore.” Cam sighed. Gina took notice of his sorrowful looks and giggled.

“Yes, we did. And you got fired for it. Now do you remember? Let’s look again, shall we?”

The entire stockroom began to fade away, and in its place the large, fairly plain office of his former manager materialized.

“I wasn’t fired, I was laid off!” Cam tried to scream to Gina, but she’d faded as well.

“Excuse me, Mister Harrison?” A deep voice questioned from behind a rotating chair. It turned around to reveal a bald man with a very sullen expression about him. It was Cam’s old boss.

“Sorry, boss. What’s up?”

“Your performance has been lackluster as of late. Is something wrong?” Boss asked, raising an eyebrow while maintaining a very serious expression.

“I’m very sorry, boss. I’m going through a lot lately and I might need some time off.”

“I have a name, you know. I’d appreciate it if you used it.” the bald man sighed. “Now, you do know the state of the economy right now, correct?”

“I do, bo- Mr. Carson. But you understand my situation, don’t you? Please, just give me some time off. I only need a few days. Week tops.”

“Cameron, look. WIth this economic situation we can’t afford to keep an employee who takes off at the first sign something might be wrong.” Mr.Carson’s voice had a somber feel about it. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to lay you off.”

“Mister Carson, please!” Cam pleaded. “I’ll stay, just please... I need this job!”

“I’m sorry, Cam,” Mr. Carson looked at his employee. “If it was up to me, you’d stay, but, the company is losing money. We can’t afford your services any longer.”

The room began to fade away as Cam screamed for his job back. Even as the area turned a featureless grey he continued to cry out. As he screamed and screamed, Gina came back into view, a triumphant grin on her face.

“Fired, and it’s all because of me. Isn’t that awful?” the woman chuckled.

“Gina... you knew this would happen. Why did you do that?” Cam asked, getting a wry smirk in response.

“What can I say? It was fun!” Gina laughed. “Let’s go back to your place, shall we?”

With a snap of Gina’s fingers, Cameron’s house materialized around the pair.

“How do you keep-” Cam was interrupted by the sight of his parents fighting. Before he could say anything else, Gina vanished.

“Why can’t you take me out like you take out those girls you work with?” Cam’s mother screeched at her husband.

“Why? Why? Maybe it’s because I can’t stand you anymore!” the man screeched back.

“Guys, please! I’ve had it with your fighting!” Cam came between the fighting couple. “Don’t you realize what this is doing to Kristen and I?”

As Cam spoke his sister’s name, the front door began to open. Neither parent seemed to take notice and instead kept at each other.

Speak of the devil, maybe she can help me stop this fight. Cam thought as he turned towards the door.

“Kristen, the parentals are fighting, did you want to help me stop them, or should we go grab a bite to eat at McDonalds or something?” Cam asked his sister as the door opened wider. Standing behind it was not Kristen, but rather a very sad looking Fluttershy.

“Oh, Cammy. Why do they always have to do this?” Fluttershy asked softly. “Let’s just go. Allons-y?”

“Fluttershy? Where’s Kristen?” Cam asked disbelievingly. Fluttershy cocked her head in confusion and looked at him.

“Cammy, I am Kristen. ”

Just then, everything faded to grey again, and Gina returned as had happened before. This time though, she did not have the same satisfied appearance.

“You weren’t supposed to see that.” Gina frowned.

“What’s going on? I’m dreaming, I already knew that... but why ain’t I in control? Just what are you?” Cam asked, growing angry.

“Me? I’m just your ex. Nothing special.” Gina smiled nervously.

“No, you’re not Gina. You’re something else.” Cam widened his eyes. “You...you’re the voice, aren’t you?”

“Ooh, clever, are we?” Gina grinned, snapping her fingers and disappearing.

“So if you’re this voice, why did you take me to this Pony world?”

There was a pause which seemed to stretch for days. Finally it was broken by a joyful chuckle.

“I was following orders.” Gina’s disembodied voice explained. Before she could continue, Cam awoke.

Comments

[Raven]

Something about it strikes me as abit rushed (no idea why), but other then that it's really enjoyable! Look forward to the next!

[Silent Ghost]

I like the mysterious tone you've set to the voice, but the rushed way you put it is sort of hindering it. Keep trying, don't give up, this is a very nice story and I enjoy reading it!

Also, 20 bucks it's Chrysalis being the voice (or it could be Discord, be kind of weird though, not sure how).