New World, Friends, and Life

by Warrios

Chapter 9

My friends led while I followed. There were some decsions on where I could go first or who I can meet. There were so many options to chose from so I decided to just have them lead and I follow. I pray I do not act like a idiot at all at this event. Rarity wanted a gentleman, or in pony case, a gentlecolt to accompany her. Applejack was going to sell her produce of apple products made by the Apple family themselves. Fluttershy wanted to head to the Canterlot Gardens to see the animals. Pinkie, being the party pony she is, wanted to, you guessed it, party.

The Gala was actually a bigger event than I thought it would be. I didn't even have to duck to get through doorways, which I was pretty happy about. Ponies walked from room to room, some of them with their noses held up high while they walked with another pony or they would occasionally stop to engage in conversation with other ponies. I was the center of attention. I can feel the eyes bearing into my back, which made me really nervous. I am not one for massive crowds. Like, more than just a few groups of people.

I marveled at the ancient room that we walked into, and massive crowd of ponies in the middle of the room. I followed the girls into what looked like a dance room. The room has huge, decorations all around. Along the ends of the room were tables, some were empty while the others were filled. Ponies danced in the center of the room, each one with a partner. We found a table to sit at in a corner. I had to grab two chairs in order for me to sit down.

"So, what do you think of about the Gala, Michael?" Twilight asks as we settle in at the table.

"Well it's bigger than I thought, I'll give ya that," Glancing around, I noticed ponies from other tables glance at at us whispering something to each other, but once I make eye contact they look away. "But all the ponies staring at me is creeping me out."

"Don't let them bother you," Rainbow said. "You'll get used to it. They'll will lighten' up to you eventually."

"Boy I hope so..." I said under my breath, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand.

A stallion wearing a tuxedo with a tray on his back trotted up to the table. He offered us some drinks, which looked like punch, with a red-tint to the liquid. I took a quick sip just out of curiosity to find it to have a sweet aftertaste. I shrugged, taking another sip from the beverage.

We sat at the table for awhile, passing the time by having a friendly conversation about the Gala. I learned that the last Gala they went to, it did not go as planned. Each of them had a certain goal. Twilight's goal was to have a nice chat with Princess Celestia, but she was busy greeting the guests to talk with her. Whenever she tried to talk to her mentor, a interrupter would approach, not letting her talk to her teacher and be ignored. Pinkie wanted to party. That's what she is good at, but the other ponies are not into her type of 'partying'. Rarity had the ogle eyes for a stallion named Blueblood, and he treated her like shit. Apparently he was more of a drama-queen(king?). He expected her to do everything for him, from opening the door for him to protecting him from getting himself dirty. Pretty much, anything a guy would do to be polite to a girl, but in his case it was totally opposite. Fluttershy wanted to see all of the cutesy wootsy animals, but they hid from her so she... went into rage mode from the way they put it.

The music that played was...okay for this type of party, but the music was really not my type. I believe the genre is classic. A low rhythm echoed through the room from a small group of ponies that stood on the stage. Two stallions and two mares, each playing a certain instrument. One stallion played the piano. He had a light brown coat, with a light tan mane and tail. His cutie mark is reversed musical notes, two beamed white ones and two beamed black ones.

The other instrument played by the other stallion was a harp. He had a purple coat, with a cobalt blue mane and tail. His cutie mark was a lyre.

One mare with a cyan coat, brown mane and tail played the sousaphone. The other mare had a light gray coat, medium gray mane and tail with a Treble Clef as a cutie mark played the cello. What surprised me was the gray mare was standing on her hind legs to play the instrument. The only time I ever see a pony stand like that is when they grab something, but they use their front legs to keep their balance.

"Hey Twiley!" a voice calls out from the distance. We all turn our heads to the source of the voice. A white stallion trotted in out direction. He was a unicorn, with a white coat, with a dark and light blue mane. His cutie mark consisted of a shield with a purple star in the middle and three smaller stars on top. The cutie mark looked quite similar to Twilight's. Just take out the shield and add some more stars. Taking a guess, with the similarities, this is Twilight's big brother.

"Shining!" Twilight squealed in excitement. She jumped up from her seat, running toward the stallion. They embraced each other in a loving hug. "It's great to see you again, BBBFF!"

"You too, little sis!"

I leaned over to the table, and whispered, "BBBFF?"

The girls giggled. "It means Big Brother Best Friend Forever." Rainbow replies, rolling her eyes.

Ahh so my speculations were correct...

The stallion named 'Shining' broke the hug. Twilight really brights up when she speaks with her brother, which got me to thinking, what he does for living. He seems to be quite buff himself, similar to Big Macintosh. He doesn't really look like a farming-type. Perhaps he just exercises a lot? The two chatted with each other, so I bright back my attention to my friends sitting at the table.

"What's his story?" I asked, pointing a thumb back toward their direction. "I kind of guessed he was Twilight's brother, just from the similarities, cutie mark and all.

"Oh he's the Captain of the Royal Guard!" Rarity beamed.

Captain of the Royal Guard? I thought. From what I read in a history books, the royal guards protect the royal sisters. It seems that Twilight's family involves royalty? Her brother is a captain of the royal guard and Twilight is Princess Celestia's personal protege. I don't know about her parents, since she really has not mention them during my time here. She has told me that they live in Canterlot, where she used to live before moving to Ponyville. I made a mental note to not make Twilight upset, or to not tick this dude off. I don't want to cause any trouble around him, with his roll and all. He could probably put me in jail before I could even blink.

A gentle poke on my side brought me away from my thoughts. I turned my head to see Twilight standing there with her brother. He looked me up and down, as if he was sizing me up.

"What's up?"

"Michael this is my big brother, Shining Armor; Shining, this is my new friend, Michael Scott." she greeted us, point to each of us as she said our names. I smiled held out my hand, and he put his hoof in it and we shook hands...hooves...whatever. We shook... GAH! I don't even know anymore!

"Great to meet you, Shining Armor," I said as I shook his hoof. "My name is Michael, as Twilight said. And before you ask, I am a human, and apparently the first one in the land of Equestria. I arrived here around a week ago and your sister was kind enough to offer me a place to stay."

A mare slowly made her way to us from a crowd behind Shining. I didn't get a good look at first, due to the large crowd of ponies that were still in the way. Her coat was bright pink, with a mane of several colors of pink, yellow, and purple. I noticed a horn sticking out of her head, resembling a unicorn. From afar, she looked quite beautiful, but once she came into view I noticed the folded wings on her side, the color of the pink trailed off to a light shade of purple. I noticed she was another alicorn, but I only read about two princesses in the history book. She was around Luna's height, with a cutie mark that looked like a sapphire crystal heart. I wonder what her talent means?

Twilight gasped. "Cadence!" She ran over to greet the mare.

"Who's....what are they doing?" I trailed off once I witnessed probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life.

"Sunshine, sunshine,
Lady bugs awake,
Clap your hooves,
And do a little shake!"

They did a little dance. They started with crouching and stomping in place, then laying down with their hooves covering their eyes, to sitting on their haunches and clapping their hooves, to turning around and shaking their flanks. They giggled and embraced each other in a loving hug.

"That has got to be the cutest thing I have ever witnessed."

Shining laughed. "It's a little dance they come up with when Twilight was little," he replied. Twilight and the mare walked toward us. Having a close up view, she had purple eyes, just like Twilight's. My suspicions were correct of her being a princess, she wore a yellow crown with a small purple diamond embedded in the middle. "This is my wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

Mi Amore smiled, waving her hoof. "Just call me Cadance, please."

"Well its great to meet you, Miss Cadance." Cadence offered a hoof, and I took it gingerly, brushing my lips against the decorative hoof slipper. "Again, It's an honor to meet you both," I finished, bowing deeply. They assured me that the honor was all theirs, and proceeded to join the party.

After the two left, I decided I wanted to walk around a bit. Get a feel of the place. Maybe I will run into one of the Princesses, they can't stay in one place all night right? Finishing the drink that sat in front of me in a few gulps, I set it back down and stand up from my seat.

"If you excuse me girls, I am going to walk around a bit," I announced, fixing my suit and adjusting my glasses.

"Alone?" Twilight inquired. "Are you sure you want to walk around alone? Especially since nopony has seen you before, you could be pestered about all day."

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Twi. I'm a big boy. I can handle myself if anything happens at all."

*****

You know, being the center of attention could be quite amusing sometimes. When we pass a group of ponies, one would either gasp, and point at me, or star at me with either awe or, mainly from the uptight ponies, would be disgusted to where they let out a disgusted sound, then turning away and trotting off. Some ponies approached me and introduced themselves and I would politely do the same back.

I walked over to a serving table. It was decorated with tons of delicious looking food. An assortment of foods, desserts and snacks. The sweet food made my mouth water. The food actually looked good, but I stayed with the sweets, only because I don't really want to find out what hay and flowers tastes like.

I eyed a plate of cookies. Some were just plain, others were decorated with toppings, chocolate, vanilla and others. I grabbed a small one including a napkin, taking a bite. As always, the food here never ceases to amaze me.

I walked over to a massive window that looked out to the city. It was dark now; the lights from the streets lighting up the night. The moon illuminated a soft glow. The night here in Equestria was, really, really beautiful. Back at home, I never have seen many stars in my life. I recall a time when I was small and I was a boy scout - my troop planned a camping trip to a camp called Camp Echockotee and we had to sleep in a make-shift tent. Of course, I was a scaredy-cat, and I just could not sleep out in the open. But, the stars were really awesome. There were millions, so I was awestruck at the struck.

I am even more awestruck now than I was at the time.

Thousands, hell, even millions of stars surrounded the moon. Its as if Princess Luna was is a artists and uses the night sky as her canvas. If she were an artist, I would buy her work.

I lost myself in thought as I just stared at the sky. For the past week, I have been in the land of Equestria. I am on another world. How am I going to get back? That question has been nagging at me. Its not like I can find some ruby slippers, tap the heels and chant "There is not place like home" three times and poof! I'm home. I have friends that are probably worried about me. My boss is guaranteed to be pissed. And Sara? She probably feels guilty, if she found out at all.

I am going to have to have a chat with Twilight about this later.

"I see you are enjoying the view," said a voice behind me, making me jump a few feet. The voice giggled. "I apologize I didn't mean to frighten you."

I turned to see Princess Celestia herself standing there smiling at me. I just now realized that I was around her height, if not, a few centimeters higher. I smiled back, bowing to show my respect. "Princess Celesita," I greet, raising from my bow. "And.. don't worry about it, I get a little jumpy sometimes." I laughed. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. I thought you were busy greeting the guests."

Celestia walked up next to me. "My sister and I are taking turns. After thirty minutes I will return and she will head off to frolic with the guests. It pretty much alternates."

I gave it some thought before nodding in agreement. "I see your point, have your sister get used to being around her subjects right?" She nodded. I look looked out the windows, looking at the moon that as high in the sky. It amazes me actually see the starts in the sky. Being used to living in the city, you never see much stars.

"My sister really put some effort for tonight didn't she?"

"Yes, yes she does. I have never seen a night sky so beautiful. Hell, not even as many stars."

Celestia raised an questioning eyebrow. "Light Pollution," I explain. "Our cities are so big, the lights block away the stars so we cannot see the stars at all."

"So, you humans never see the stars?"

I shook my head. "If you lived far enough away from the cities, you will be able to see the night sky. I only experienced it once in my life, which was years ago. But the nights here are much, much more magnificent."

Celesita laughed. "If Luna were to hear that, she would hug the life out of you."

I laughed with her. "I probably wouldn't mind. Hugs are good for you."

"It makes me so happy to have her back after so long. It pained me to have to banish her. The end result was that she lost her sanity, vowing to make night eternal. So I took a drastic measure..." I could see tears moisten her cheeks and her eyes filled with sorrow. "I banished her to the moon for one thousand years."

I noticed that she was about to cry her life out, so I did the only thing that came to mind: I hugged her. I put a arm around her neck, pulling her into a caring hug. I know what it felt like about family. Family is everything. Everyone gets miserable when something drastic happens to family. I know how she feels.

Celestia opened her eyes in surprise. She relaxed into my friendly gesture. After a few moments she broke the hug, saying, "Thank you." She stood next to me once again, stretching her wings. She looked back at me. "I guess my student was right about you."

I looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"When I received Twilight's letter about you, I was reluctant to let you stay there. Its not every day a strange creature that walked on two legs just shows up claiming that they are from another world. When I read that you were a meat eater, I was about to send my guards to pick you up." she narrowed her eyes at me. "You haven't killed any innocent creature just to eat have you?"

My eyes went wide, shaking my arms back and forth. "No no no no no no! I would never kill just to eat. Sure, I hunger for meat, but I would never ever kill innocent animals for my own pleasure. I wasn't raised to be a sadist. The closest to meat I would ever eat is fish, since that is what I hear what ponies can eat. Don't get me wrong, I want to eat meat. Only because I need the protein to stay healthy. I could eat beans and nuts to the list for proteins, hell even bugs," I cringed. "Nah, scratch that, yuck!"

I was pretty much ranting nervously, saying what ever came out of my mouth. I do not want to piss her off, being powerful goddess and a ruler after all. Beads of sweat traveled town my face, and I began to stutter with my words. It all stopped until she put a hoof on my shoulder.

"Don't get so nervous, I understand," she reassured. "Just as long you don't hurt my little ponies, I won't have to have my guards hunt you down. I had this feeling to trust you when I read the letters she sent to me."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew! You had me worried there for a minute."

Celesita smirked and raised an eyebrow. "What, did you want to spend time in the dungeons?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"No? Because, it sounds like you do..."

I planted my face in the palm of my hand. "I am just going to shut my mouth now."

She laughed. "I'm just teasing you."

There was a awkward silence between us two after that. I stood nervously on my feet.

"So... what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, its a topic I would rather talk about in private." she replied, her horn starting to glow.

"Well, where to you want-" I was cut off as there was a flash of light, and my vision was blinded by whiteness.

I opened my eyes to see only whiteness. I felt so dizzy I thought I was going to vomit right then and there. I put a hand on my head, blinking constantly, trying to get my vision back. "What happened?" I asked as I realized I no longer heard the constant chatter of ponies anymore. It was quiet where ever I was. Did she just teleport me somewhere? "Celestia?"

"Give it a moment," I heard her say from somewhere behind me. "The blindness and dizziness will pass. It's common side-effect for first-timers."

I kept my eyes closed for a minute or two before I began to rub them. The whiteness was gone once I opened my eyes again, but I still felt dizzy. The room seemed to be spinning. I closed my eyes again.

"Ugh... is this what it feels like to teleport? Remind me to never do that again." Seriously, this is a really awkward feeling. I feel like I rode on a roller coaster for five hours straight.

After a few minutes of holding my head, the dizziness finally resides. I took the chance to look around the room I was in.

I seem to be in what looked like a study. The room had a fireplace, burning wood to keep the room nice and warm. Bookshelves surrounded the room, filled with books of all colors. A desk sat at one end of the room, stacked with towers of paper in sheaves. A strange cot sat on the floor, with a pillow in front of the fireplace. I noticed a table next to a window that looked out to the world with a few chairs surrounding it.

I noticed Celestia standing behind me with a smile. "Welcome to my study, Michael."

"Nice place, your Highness."

"Just call me Celestia, we are alone." She said. "But when in public, especially when around my guards, you will have to be formal."

I nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, your Hi-" She game me a stern glare. "Err... Celestia." I gave her a innocent smile.

She nodded and pointed to the table near the windows. "Please, have a seat." I sat down at the end of the table and Celestia sat across from me. Her horn glowed and a tea pot with a appeared. "Tea?" she asked. I shrugged and accepted.

"So what did you want to talk with me about?" I asked, taking a sip of the tea. It was not half bad. It tasted quite fruity, like strawberries.

"Well," she starts, taking a sip of her own tea. "First, I wanted to learn about yourself from your perspective. I have read Twilight's letters, but I want to hear them from you."

I set my tea down and licked my lips. "Sure thing,"

...

...

...

For the next few minutes I spent my time telling her about my self. I pretty much explained my whole life almost. I told the story of my parents and how I never really knew them (she was quite upset from this, telling me she was sorry) and that my grandma raised me until I was able to move out to the open world, and how she died. I mentioned all of my great friends I had over the years. I even told her a few funny moments of my life.

"...and to this day, his teacher became good friends." I just finished telling her a story about a friend of mine and his friend played a joke on one of the teachers. Luckily, his teacher had a great sense of humor or that would have ended badly.

Celestia laughed along with me. "You have many interesting friends, Michael."

I put my now empty cup of tea down. "Yeah, I was always the type of person to make friends. I guess its my good attitude and demeanor I have all the time. I'm just always friendly to others and BOOM! New friend." I cross my arms and smile.

"I noticed you haven't talked about ...mares? Is that the right term for it?" she asked. My face paled a bit, and my body froze up. "Oh, I'm sorry did I touch a sore subject? You don't have to talked about it."

I back looked at her. "No no... its okay. I was the type of person to be... well, shy around girls. Sure, I'll be friendly around them but once in a while I will begin to get nervous. I would sweat. I would have a hard time forming up words and things would come out of my mouth. Sometimes what I say is just incoherent. Most of the time it would just be the first dates, though."

Celestia nodded, pouring more tea for herself. "Well, now that we have that over with. I wanted to know..." she leaned forward in her chair. "How did you get here?"

I let out a long drawn-out sigh. I straightened myself in my chair, putting my elbows on the table, looking at Celestia in the eyes. "Well, it all started like this: I recently had a break up with my girlfriend, Sara, and I took it pretty hard. I just walked out of her house without another word over to my car–" I made a mental note to check the Everfree for my car. I feel like a total idiot forgetting about it. "–and drove off back to my house. I was just about ten minutes home. I was alone on the road. It was dark out and all I could see was the moon. I drove in silence, trying to figure out why Sara broke up with me. I thought it was a pretty good relationship." l looked out the window as I continued to recite that night. "I noticed that it seemed to get darker out and the air seemed more...hostile, for some reason. The air seemed heavier and I noticed it started to get foggy out. I slowed down to avoid colliding with anything in my path. Then I noticed a figure just... appear out from the fog. I realized it was a tree and I panicked. I collided with another tree. I was tired that night – so I just fell asleep right then and there."

I tapped my head as I tried to remember the rest. "I woke up I believe a few hours later. I was dazed and confused, oblivious about where I was. I exit my car to find myself surrounded by trees. I thought that I just swerved off the road but I found out later that I wasn't even near a road. So, my boy scout instincts kicked in and I searched for a way out."

"After running from some wolves, I found a building that was a part of a tree, but nobody was home so I moved on. I noticed a clearing in the trees and I thought I found civilization. So, I ran toward the light. But like and idiot I trip and hit my head on a large tree root the grew out of the ground.... then I woke up in Twilight's library."

Celestia hummed to her self as the story I gave her sink in. She closed her eyes for a few seconds as if she was making a decision on something, then opened them, looking back at me. "I have never heard anything like this before. My guess is that the fog had something to do with you appearing in the forest. Furthermore, its disturbing to hear that fog could do something like this. I will have to do some research is any such thing exists."

"I do have a question, and this has been bothering me: Is there a way back?" I asked, shrugging as I did so.

"I have done some research on old spells and I believe I do have a way back."

My heart sunk in my chest, and my eyes went wide. There is a way back?! I can go home whenever I want, see my friends again and live happily ever after? At the same time I was being a bit judgmental. I have had a blast so far living here. I have new friends, a fantastic job, and hell even Ms. Cheerilee loves me. I actually like it here.

Do....do I want to go back?

Don't get me wrong, I miss all of my friends, but is that what I actually want? Did me disappearing in the fog and ending up in a place of paradise happen by chance? Was I in the right place at the right time? Was I just a lucky son-of-a-bitch?

"You don't know if you want to go back do you?" Celesita guessed, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I shook my head looking back at her. "I...." I stopped looking for the right words. I looked down. "I don't know.....*sigh* Don't get me wrong, Celestia, I really miss my friends back home but its not everyday something happens like this. I...feel at peace here....I need some time to think...if that is okay with you."

She nodded once again, giving me a small smile. "I understand. Here's is a proposition for you," I looked up at her, wondering what she is offering me. "I will give you a week to decide on what you want to do. Once your week is up I will show up at the library to await your decision, or you can have Spike send me a letter should you decide earlier. Do you agree?"

I pondered on her words as she spoke each one. She is giving me a week to let me make my decision. I get to decide my fate. Stay or go home. I smiled and nodded.

"That is fine with me Celestia."

"Good. Now, are you ready to return to the party?"

I looked at the time on the clock to see its 7pm. "Yes. I am."

Her horn started to glow a faint pink color. "And, Celesita," she looked at me. "Thanks."

She smiled and nodded her head.

Then I was gone in a flash of light.

Author's Note:

I apologize for the really late release of this chapter. School has been on my ass, with my mid-terms approaching and all of the other important tests that I thrived to pass.

Also, my monitor crashed on me. I had to go out with my dad to get a new one.

Just a quick note: Don't expect the chapters to come out quickly. Final Exams will be coming in a few months, so I will need to prepare for those tests.

See you soon,

- W

Comments

[Ivellios]

He was just lucky not to throw up after being teleported.

[FicusCat]

Classic HiE story with a lot of loopholes and things making no senses, just like NotABrony and FicCritic says.

It's not bad, but all these errors and nonsenses rub me in the wrong sense to make the story enjoyable for me.

[Warrios]

2324177
Now that I reread the story myself, I agree with you.

The way I was pretty much writing this was like this: I wrote what came to mind.

I never gave the story much thought. I think of something, then I write it, and post it.

I might just reconsider, rewrite the whole thing, and actually give it some thought first before posting.

But first I have to prepare for some major tests coming up in a week or two.

Thank you for your opinion though, I appreciate it.

- W

[Seraph973]

Well, at least he wont completely become a vegetarian. Though Celestia was being very harsh about not allowing him to hunt.

[zeldawolffang]

man those Final Exams must be one hell of a dozy

[Theagames10]

I guess your dead then, right?

That's sad, I was looking forward to more chapters :(