I guess it would freak you out too, realising we are not alone in reality. I found out the hard way, with a few angry natives. As you might be thinking: "Is this guy crazy?" You would be right in thinking it; but no I'm not crazy. I remember it like yesterday. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping; well, that's how I remember it. In reality the day was pretty normal.
-BEEP-
"Hm?" I moaned, stretching my arm over my face in vain to stop the noise piercing my skull.
-BEEP-
"Alri-" I cut myself of as I yawned. I raised myself up, pushing the covers off.
-BEEP-
"Alright, I get it," I hit the 'stop' button on the top of the alarm clock. "Glorious silence," I said to myself. I got out of bed, my feet touching the carpet. I walked over to my body length mirror looked at myself.
Oh right, I haven't told you my name; it's Alex. No need to know my last name; very unlikely we're going to meet anyway.
I took a look at my slightly under-tanned body, "I really need to get out more," I said frowning. I realised I was staring at myself like a fool and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
Coming out of the bathroom feeling clean and new, I picked up some random clothes from my pile and put them on, "Better something than nothing," I said.
I picked up my bag which had my uniform and ran down stairs. Reaching the bottom, I grabbed my keys and put them in my pocket. I made sure I had everything, “keys check, wallet... Nope.” I ran back up and found my wallet under a stack of drink cans and pocketed it.
”Okay, keys... check, wallet... check”. I went downstairs and opened the door, I had to close my eyes to stop them being blasted by the sun.
Damn Summer.
-----
I got into work quite early, meaning I had time to lounge around before dealing with crappy customers. My co-worker came into the room, "What's up man?" he said holding out his fist, bumping it with mine.
"Not much, waiting for my shift to start, is it busy?" I asked him, hoping he would say no.
"Of course, it's always busy on a Saturday." Damn Saturdays.
My shift went by fast, without having too many incidents. I was only shouted at by a couple of people today. Once was by this old woman that came back into store after being served and complained that I under charged her, obviously it was my fault. Turned out she was reading the receipt wrong. She didn't even say sorry.
I left work with a better than normal attitude, things seemed up for me. I had money which is always nice, I was in good standings with my bosses and I only had one ass have a go at me.
I got back home after an uneventful trek and threw my bag on the bed. My flat-mate James shouted out from the front room, “Insert witty dialogue here!”
I chuckle and shake my head, “Seriously bro, I just got in from work.”
“Yeah so?” He says, walking into my room. “Come on, we’re going down the shops.”
“What, why?” I ask, a bit annoyed.
“To do shopping, duh.”
I roll my eyes and get to my feet, “Fine, but we better not be long.”
“Why, you got something important to do?” he asks sarcastically.
“Not really, I just don’t want to be long.”
Me and James leave the house and I lock the door, “What are you planning to get?” I ask, putting my keys in a pocket.
“Some food.”
“What food?” I ask.
“Edible food.”
I roll my eyes again, walking beside him. We walk for about twenty minutes before James found the store he was looking for. We walked into the store and looked about. James made his purchases and I bought a pack of wine gums.
We walk out and start to make out way back home, “Why did you buy an entire chicken? Do you even know how to cook one properly?”
“Nope.”
“Then why did you get it?” I ask, looking at him strangely, like usual.
“Why not.” He replied, giving me a smile.
I facepalm, “Seriously James, Seriously.”
We carried on walking for a bit. I pulled out my wine gums and open them up, offering some to James. He refuses and I shrug, turning to the front.
"Hey bro, did yo-" I said, trailing off as I was interrupted by a growing laughter.
"Did you hear that?" I ask, stopping on the sidewalk as a tear formed in the air around chest height.
"The hell is that?" James said, looking to me.
"Don't know bro." I reply, not really knowing what's going on.
The eerie laughing continued as we stood there watching the tear open wider. Out of it trotted a purple unicorn. He wore a blue cape which flapped about as air rushed past us into the tear. He gave a grin, causing me and James to shudder.
He held up his horn and a blue beam of light shot up to around twenty metres and created a dome around us, either sealing us in or keeping people out. It seemed like the latter as people didn't seem to notice us or the dome and literally walked past it without giving it a glance.
"What do you want?!" I shout, moving back.
"You're going to help me!" The pony shouts. He aims his horn and launches two beams of dark energy at us, one hitting me and one hitting James.
We both fall to the ground clutching our chests, I look down and see that dark energy start to grow out of the skin where the clothes had been torn and slither over our bodies.
I look back up to the pony to see him give a sad smile at me, he stands there for a little bit longer before he starts to walk back into the tear, but not before my Vision starts to fade.
-----
Thankfully I wasn’t dead. Well, I was close. Something unexpected saved my life, something that I knew couldn’t be real, but is.
“Urgh,” I moaned. I remembered that I had been attacked and mentally checked each body part to make sure I hadn’t suffered too much damage. All body parts seemed to be there.
I cracked open my eyelids to check my surroundings, the bed I was laying on seemed surprisingly soft for a hospital bed and the room was nicely heated to ‘just right’.
I opened my eyes and rose up, strangely I wasn’t in a hospital, but in some kind of medieval themed room which was a strange surprise, though not unpleasant. I pulled the covers off myself and got out of bed, the cold hard floor giving me the chills as my feet touched down.
I looked about, the light from outside giving the white marble floor an uneasy glare on my eyes. There were bookcases all across the right side of the room, they stopped just before a large window that finished just before touching the wall which the bed was up against. They stopped at a set of wooden double doors that looked like something out of a fantasy book with the large sun in the center and various pictures surrounding it, but not from any books I had read.
The other side of the room was much more colorful; the wall held many different scrolls, pictures and items of obvious interest to the person living here. In the middle sat a worn wooden desk, which the owner seemed to make use of a lot seeing as it bared many marks. There layed an open chest which was overflowing with scrolls.
I rose up, noticing that someone had taken my clothes off and the fact that I didn’t have a scratch on me. It seemed strange but I pushed that to the back of my mind as I pulled the covers over to me and tore them up into a makeshift toga. Unpractical, but I wasn’t expecting to fight or run any time soon.
James wasn't in the room so I assumed he had been taken to a different room. Mentally noting that I would have to ask about him, I carried on my investigation of the room.
I walked over to a desk on the left side of the room and flipped the cover of a book over to take a look at the title. Unfortunately it was in a language I couldn’t read and I placed it back where it was, making it look like I never touched it.
I walked over to the set of doors and listened out for anything behind it. Either there was nothing, or the doors are too thick to actually hear anything. “Hmm...” I mumbled, not sure what to really do...
On one hand I could stay in this room, or on the other I could open the door and see what’s outside. I chose the latter., I pulled the door open with a large amount of effort. It creaked open, alerting someone out there that I was awake. I could hear voices shouting now that the door was ajar.
I continued to pull the door, mentally debating whether this was such a good idea after all. Once the door was open enough for me to squeeze through, I popped my head out to see how many people were waiting for me.
I stuck my head out expecting people in strange clothes, not exactly my cup of tea but something I could handle if need be. What I got was something stranger and infinitely more difficult to handle.
Ponies, honest to god ponies were standing there holding spears at my throat. I blinked and slowly slunk my head back in the room. Ok, I seemed to be hallucinating, maybe blood loss or a concussion; not sure at this point.
I closed the door, hoping they weren't strong, they didn’t look too strong from what I saw. I lowered myself to the ground against the door, putting my head in my hands. I was hoping to wake up from this strangely calm nightmare.
-CRACK CRACK CRACK-
One of the ponies beat its hoof against the door, bringing me out of my state. It started speaking in a language I couldn’t understand. Ok, I must be in a dream... or a nightmare from what I’ve seen so far.
-FLASH-
Bright light filled my vision, causing me to cry out in pain, “Oh dear god!” I covered my face to stop anymore pain filled light and rose from the floor. Unfortunately I had been blinded.
Someone spoke something in a strange language. For some reason it felt kind and motherly, something I was not expecting.
My vision returned, with it was something I expected even less. In front of me stood a pure white, Unicorn... pegasus... It was a little taller than me. It’s ethereal mane blowing in the unseen wind, slightly distracting me.
“H-hello.” I replied, unsure of what to do.
The white unicorn blinked and coughed into its hoof, “Oh, I did not expect you to speak old Equestrian...” She said, tilting her head to the left, “I’m guessing you are quite distressed.” I nodded, “Please, sit down and I will sort this all out.” I nodded again and moved over to the bed. She trotted over to the door and opens it with, to my surprise, pure motherfudging magic. Her horn lights up together with the door and it swings wide open.
All the guards stood there with a blank expression on their faces.
The unicorn speaks to them, shaking her hoof around. They nod at times and some seem upset. Eventually the guards salute, moving away.
The unicorn turns around, closing the door and trotting back and sits down in front of me on the floor. I sit on the edge of the bed, staring straight at her, unable to comprehend her... or myself actually being here.
“What is your name? Do you have a name?” She asks, unsure.
“A-Alex... Where am I?” I ask back.
“Hello Alex, my name is Celestia and you are in my quarters, in Canterlot castle which resides in the city of Canterlot. It is the capital of Equestria.” She answers without missing a beat.
“So... I guess I’m not in Kansas anymore...” I mumble, mentally laughing.
“Was that your home?” Celestia asked.
“Oh no, I wasn’t from Kansas. I live in England, a different country.” I answered. “Am I dreaming?”
“I don’t know, are you?” She grins, knowing she got me there.
I sigh, “Okay, what are you?”
“Oh, an Alicorn, part Earth pony, part Unicorn, and part Pegasus. My sister is also an Alicorn, as well as another pony called Cadence, I’m sure you’ll get to meet them soon.”
"Okay... My friend arrived here as well, do you know where he is?" I also, hoping he was next door.
"I haven't seen another like you, I would have been told if another had been found."
“I have to send a letter.” Celestia got up and moved over to the table and levitated a sheet of parchment over to herself.
I slowly stopped my shaking, which until now I hadn't noticed and walked sheepishly over near Celestia, "Who are you writing to?"
She turned her head to look at me, "My student, Twilight. If anyone can work this out it's her... at least I hope so." She turned back to the letter and scribbled down some words in their strange symbols.
As I watched her write, a thought popped into my head. "Hey, why were there armed guards outside the room? Hell, why am I even here in your room!?" I spoke up, nearly shouting. Even though she looked sweet, I still didn't know her motivations.
Celestia sighs and turns around, "I was on my way to day court when I found you, obviously the doctors didn't know anything about your physiology meaning they couldn't help you and you are strangely resistant to healing magic. Only I could provide the required amount to properly heal you." She looked into my eyes, "My sister is predisposed with matters elsewhere, and with my schedule, the only way to heal you is to house you here." She turns around and finishes the letter, "The guards were there if you turned out to be a wild animal, or dangerous. Nopony here will hurt you while you are here, that I promise you."
I step back and sit back on the bed, "Why were my clothes taken?"
"They were removed because you recieved many injuries, no doubt from when you arrived. Mostly cuts and grazes though some were deep."
"I see..."
Celestia looks me over with a look of sympathy, "There are worse places to wake up than Canterlot, I assure you."
"I don't doubt it...." I reply. "Is it alright if I sleep for awhile, I'm kind of tired."
"Of course," Celestia summons some bed sheets out of thin air and I get up off the bed as she lays them out.
"Thank you." I say getting into bed.
"It's no trouble, I will give you your own room tomorrow and help you get back to your own world." She replied smiling.
-----
I awoke and looked about. I was unfortunately still in the princess's room. I got up out of bed and wandered over to the window and looked out.
It was a spectacular view of Canterlot, the sun was just about to rise past the horizon meaning that it was dark enough for the house lights of the city to be on, giving the city a luminescent glow.
I was impressed. Ponies did this, without hands as well. I turned around and made my way over to the bed again, I sat down on the edge thinking.
Would it be so wrong to see what this place had to offer? Sure I had a life and everything, but this place could be what I need, a fresh start...
I thought of James, what if I find him and he doesn't want to stay... It's not like I can force him, he'd have to go back without me. "Well, not like I can do anything in the middle of the night, I don't even know where he is..."
That's when I noticed Celestia laying on a couch next to the other side of the bed. She must have brought it in while I was sleeping. Feeling bad, I walk over to the other side and place some covers over her, to keep her warm.
All I know is that the Princess of this country is nice and I can stay a few days here to check things out.
I went to my side of the bed and got in. I laid down and closed my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.
I was rudely awoken by a ray of light illuminating my eyelid with pinpoint precision. I stirred and opened my eyes rubbing them with my hands to wake me up faster.
"I see you're finally awake." Celestia said, sitting at her desk. She was writing on some parchment. "Thank you for the blanket last night."
"Don't mention it, it's the least I could do for the person that saved my life."
Celestia kept writing on her paper and without looking back asked, "How are you feeling by the way, you didn't look too good yesterday."
"No... I thought it would take some time to process, but I did some thinking. I think this might do me some good."
Celestia turns around, an eyebrow raised, "Care to explain?"
"Well, I had a good life before. Well, I technically still do, but it isn't what you'd call exciting." Celestia nods, "The most exciting thing is when I'd get off work early. This might be what I'm looking for."
"Okay..."
"What I'm trying to say is, can you let me stay for a couple of days. I promise I won't be any trouble."
Celestia thought this over for a bit, before coming to the answer, "Alright, if you're sure."
"I am," I quickly reply, "thank you."
Celestia smiled, her horn lighting up and lighting up a message in flames.
"What was that!?" I shout.
"I just sent a message to my student, she's very excited about meeting you. In fact she's bringing her friends along as well, for they are inseparable."
"Twilight... Right?" I ask, not sure if I remembered correctly.
"Yes, she's extremely talented at magic, my personal protege in fact." Celestia seemed extremely proud of that, almost puffing her chest out while mentioning her.
"When will she arrive?" I asked.
"Sometime tomorrow morning, the trains to and from Ponyville are far and few." She says, thinking about it, "Should be enough time to get you some clothes and acquainted with the castle."
Celestia smiles and takes a look over me, "Hmm, might be hard for the designers to get it right first time, though Rarity could help after..." She closes her eyes and breaths deeply, "Alright, let's get some food; I'm famished."
I blink at her and shake my head, "Alright," I reply, throwing the covers off and stepping on the cold marble, shivering at the sensation, "where to?"
"The dining room," she says, getting up and trotting towards the door, "Don't worry about the guards, I've told them you are my personal guest."
"Ok."
I looked at Celestia, her mouth creased ever so slightly in a smile that, if you glanced, wouldn't be able to see, "What are you thinking about?" I say.
"Just what my sister would say looking at you. She would probably say how cute your claws are."
"That brings up another thing I want to ask about. How come we can understand each other, but I can't understand the other ponies, or read any words?"
"I'm not entirely sure, to me you're talking in old equestrian. It was made thousands of years ago and slowly fell out of use, merging with other languages before finally turning into what everypony else speaks.”
We started our journey towards the dining room, receiving suspicious glances every so often from guards and others as we passed them in the halls.
I stopped at some windows and stared out. What I saw was a view that took my breath away, a multitude of colors ranging from the deepest reds to the brightest yellows were streaking across the sky, lighting up a valley beneath us.
"Woah," I say, almost speechless by what I saw.
"Like it?" Celestia asks, grinning.
"Of course, it's beautiful." I respond, taking in the full majesty of it.
"Thank you, I designed it." Celestia remarked, making me look away from the aurora and towards her.
"Wait what?"
"Yeah, took me a couple of hours, but I finally got the colors right. I'm glad you like it."
"You... Designed it..." I said, my mind creaking along, refusing to belief it.
"Yes, do you not have them in your world?"
"We do, but they just happen in specific parts of the world. They are not created." I rub my temples, "How would you even do that?"
"Using magic." She says.
I sigh in defeat, not willing to increase my headache, I decide to continue on our way to the dining room, "Shall we continue?" I ask.
"Yes, let's."
We continue for a while more until Celestia stops in front of a pair of doors. "Here we are," She says, "the dining room."
Her horn and the door glow golden and the door opens revealing a grand room, befitting royalty.
"Incredible," I say, alerting a couple of the ponies already in the room to our presence.
Celestia giggled a little at my reaction, "Please sit at the table." She crosses the floor to the chair at the head of the table and sits down. Not sure where to sit, I take the seat next to her. Much to the disapproving stares of the other ponies.
"What's with them?" I ask.
"Oh nothing, they are just annoyed that you are sitting next to me and they aren't."
"Oh," I reply.
Celestia turns to me and asks, "Tell me about your home, what's it like?"
I'm a little taken back by this, "What would you like to know?"
"I want to know about you."
"Me? You could ask about anything and everything, why me?"
"Because you're here and I want to make sure you can be trusted," She replies.
I sigh, "I'm a twenty year old average guy, I spend my time playing video games an-"
"What are video games?" Celestia rudely interrupts.
"They are like... Moving pictures that you can interact with." I explain.
"I see..."
She didn't.
"Anyway, can you look for my friend, I don't doubt that he was brought here too; though I don't know where..." I ask.
"Of course, I'll have my best ponies out looking for him, and brought here, it must be tough to lose him?" She replies.
I shrug, "I guess, it's not like I can do anything here, I don't even know the places, let along how to get to them to start looking. But if I know James, he'll be fine."
"If your sure..." She says before turning her head and nodding to some waiter ponies. They walk over and place some trays in front of us. They take the lids off revealing some surprisingly normal bowls of oatmeal.
"Oatmeal?" I say, surprised.
"Yeah, what we're you expecting? Hay?" She giggles.
I smile and dig into the breakfast, my stomach thanks me.
I sit back after finishing the oatmeal and sigh. Celestia looks up but scrunches her nose, "I think it's time you got acquainted with the royal bathhouse." I look over before smelling myself, giving a small nod before getting up; receiving some more dirty looks.
I roll my eyes at the childish behavior and follow the princess. I catch a glimpse of the tattoo she has on her flank, "What's up with the tattoos?" I ask.
"The what?" She replies, looking back at me.
I point to her flank. She laughs, "You mean my cutie mark, it denotes what I'm good at, or my special talent. Mine's raising the sun." she explains.
"Ah I get it."
I didn't.
We arrive at the bathhouse and enter, the pony at the desk looks up to see us and jumps off her chair and bows. She starts speaking in "New" equestrian to the princess, meaning I just stand there awkwardly until they finish.
Celestia turns to me and says, "She wants to know what you want?"
"Just a normal bath please." I reply, "nothing too fancy."
She nods and translates. The pony seems slightly disappointed for some reason and trots away. Soon the sound of running water could be heard and the mare comes back out, slightly soapy. She says a couple of things and the princess turns to me again.
"It's ready, please hurry up." she asks.
I nod and walk into the room. Fancy toiletries are lined up in rows on a shelf on the left, just below eye level. A couple of them show a mare scrubbing her mane, and others are just generic bottles, but no doubt still expensive. “Some things are universal I guess...”
I look around the room. The floor’s tiled in dark, almost obsidian looking stone. It has small specks of silver running all along the floor making it seem like the stars themselves. Along the walls hung various towels and robes. “Why would ponies need robes?” I ask myself, confused.
I walk over to the bath that’s on the far side of the room and take off my makeshift toga and putting it on a spare hook. I place one leg in, checking it’s not too hot before submerging the rest of my body. Almost instantly I could feel myself relax.
I come out of the room washed and clean, wearing my makeshift toga again. “All done.” I say, smiling.
Celestia’s patiently waiting on a couch just off to the side of the door, “Good, let’s go and get you some clothes, you can’t wear that all the time.”
“Okay.” I reply, following behind. I turn my head to the receptionist pony and smile, giving a small wave. She stares at me and lifts a hoof, waving back,
“You know, this toga is quite comfortable once you get used to it.” I say, walking faster to keep up with Celestia.
“I’m sure. While you were in the bath I sent some guards to search the outlying villages.” Celestia slows slightly to help me keep pace, “Hopefully they will find something about your friend.”
“His name’s James by the way.” I reply.
We continue walking for a while until we arrive at the castle gates. “Here we must part,” Celestia says, looking over my shoulder. “I’m not sending you out alone, you will be escorted by one of my close personal guard. His name is Iron Shield.” She looks over my shoulder again, this time she smiles and nods. “Here he is. Alex, meet Iron Shield.”
I turn around and see a guard trotting towards us. He looked exactly like any other guard around the castle, even the face.
“Um Princess, how do you tell them apart? They all look the same.” I say, turning back.
Celestia giggles and walks to meet him halfway, “The armor is enchanted. My sisters guard have their own enchantments on theirs.” He bows in front of her and she speaks to him in Equestrian. He gets up and walks over to me. He takes a look over me, turns to the Princess and salutes.
“Don’t worry, he will make sure nothing happens to you while you are out there. He has his orders to take you to the tailor and nowhere else.”
“Sounds good,” I reply to Celestia. I turn to Iron Shield, “Shall we?” He looks up to me and tilts his head, before turning to the Princess, saying something in Equestrian.
She listens to him for a second before replying. Then she turns to me, raises an eyebrow and says, “I think you guys will have lots to talk about on your way there.” Celestia turns and trots off without another word, leaving me there with Iron Shield.
He turns and starts to walk towards the gate, gaining salutes from the guards in front of it. He says a few words and they open the gate for him. He gives a salute and carries on out of the castle grounds. I run after him, easily catching up.
“Hey, don’t just walk off like that...” I say, not getting a response, “oh, this is going to be a real fun time.”
I awoke to the feeling of cold, hard stone and pain. It was mainly in my chest, but various muscles around my body were hurting as well. I groaned as I raised myself up onto my knees to check my surroundings.
I was in some sort of ruins, obviously made an extremely long time ago judging from the damage from nature. Vines had grown around the pillars that had long since cracked and fallen apart, causing the roof to cave in. I could see the moonlight pour in from above, bathing the room in a silver glow; giving enough light to actually see.
I stood up, breathing sharply as my legs almost refused to work and staggered about. I went about searching for a way out and to maybe somewhere warmer. I looked down to the front of my shirt to find it ripped open. I remembered what happened and looked about; there was no sign of Alex.
“Alex!” I shouted, hoping that he would respond. When no such thing happened I began to get scared. ”What if he had been killed?” I questioned myself before shaking my head, ”Nah, I’ll find him...”
I carried on searching for a door. After another five minutes I had successfully found what looked to be the front door to the ruins. I pulled them open and rushed out, only to be blown in the face by a surprisingly strong gust of wind. I pushed through it and after a couple minutes of struggling against it, it stopped.
I looked about for a path and was pleasantly surprised to find one a few feet away. I followed it to a rickety old bridge that seemed to be repaired a while ago, though crudely. I carefully stepped onto the bridge, making sure not to step on any planks that looked old; not wanting to fall into the river below.
I jumped the last few planks and landed on solid ground, “I love you ground.” I said, falling to the ground, giving it a hug.
I jumped up, giving a small wince of discomfort and made my way forward. It wasn’t long until I heard the faint sound of a river and rushed forward to find the source. I emerged into a clearing on one side of the river. There was no visible way to cross so I had to swim.
Thankfully the river was calm enough and I made it, mostly. I was freezing cold by now and losing body heat every second. Soon I wouldn’t be able to make it anywhere.
I walked forward slowly, my body freezing, shaking and I beginning to get scared that I wouldn’t be able to get home. “I m-may have m-made a-a t-terrible m-m-mistake.” I stuttered out, trying to keep my spirits up, “I-if Alex w-was here, h-he’d laugh...”
I made it to the entrance of the forest, the sun was starting to come up slowly. It wouldn’t be enough to help me out. I could see small columns of smoke past the next set of trees, soon I would be warm.
The walk to past the trees felt like an eternity. I brushed past them and staggered onto the worn path, a stark contrast from the mud and gritty path of the forest. If I wasn’t dying i would have cared slightly.
I saw a small cottage just in front of me, almost mockingly standing just out of range. I stubbed my foot on a small rock in the road and fell onto my stomach. I looked up towards the cottage for any sign of help. When no one came, I felt unconsciousness take over, dropping my head onto the ground.
-----
Alex’s PoV:
I walked with Iron Shield for about five minutes before getting bored. I turned to him and started talking, I knew he couldn’t understand me but I wanted to have a little fun. “Now, I don’t want you interrupting me while I say this.”
He looked up to me, then back to the front.
“No please, I need to say this. Nothing you can say will stop me.” I hold out my hand and shake my finger at him.
He says a few things in Equestrian and shakes his head. We carry on walking until he stops outside the shop that he was tasked to take me to. It looks like the generic tailor shop, with a manikin and tape sign outside.
We walk inside, the shopkeeper tenses up seeing me before he notices Iron Shield and relaxes. They talk for a couple of minutes before Iron hands the shop owner a letter.
“Where did he get that, he doesn’t have pockets?” I say aloud, knowing they can’t understand me. The shop owner takes ahold of my hand in his magic and drags me over to the podium and levitates his tape measure over to him. I try and see him at work, but all I could see was the tape measure.
What I saw next blew my mind. They have the same numbers as us. I raised my eyebrows and decided to mention it to Celestia later.
The measurements went on for another twenty minutes before the unicorn trots off to the back room, closing the door. I look at Iron Shield, he looks at me and we both shrug.
I get off the podium and follow Iron out of the store. The walk back to the castle was unexciting. A few passersby gawked at me for a second before running off after they gained my attention. Fortunately no one was outright hostile.
We got back through the gates to see Celestia herself waiting for us. “Good time?” She asks, raising her eyebrow and letting a small grin pass.
“Oh yeah, I couldn’t shut him up.” I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Iron Shield looks up to me then over to Celestia before speaking.
Celestia nods for a bit, listening. She then replied, Iron shield saluted and trotted away.
“He says you were annoying,” She says, giggling.
“Oh well, we got it all sorted.”
“Good, I hope you didn’t scare any locals.” She asks, turning and walking inside.
“Of course not, they just so happened to be scared of my good looks.” I say, laughing.
“I wouldn’t know, I’m not up to date with your species standards on mating.” She says.
“I’m Human, a Homo Sapien.”
“Ah, okay.”
We walk for five minutes before we arrive at her quarters. “I have a surprise for you.” She says, smiling.
“Okay...?” I reply, skeptical.
“It’s just a bit further.”
I follow the Princess a bit more and come to another door, this one looked like any other in the area, with the exception of a small sun emblem above the door. “Is this my room?” I ask, turning to Celestia.
“Yes, I had the servants put it together while you were out. You don’t seem very excited...”
“I am, really. It’s just... I wouldn’t have expected this much kindness. I know you said you would, but still...” I reply, looking in her eyes. “Thank you.”
“You are very much welcome. Now, go in.” She opens the door with her magic and playfully pushed me inside, following closely behind.
I look around the room, it was finely furnished. It looks very much like Celestia’s in that it had it’s own writing desk, bookshelves and that the floor was still white marble, giving my eyes a hard time. “It looks great. Again, thank you.” I say, giving Celestia an impromptu hug.
She seemed shocked for a second before untensing and hugging back. I swiftly let go and sheepishly smiled, “Well, that was new. Never hugged a pony before.”
“That’s alright, I haven’t hugged a Human before.”
We share a chuckle before I run over to the bed and jump on it, puffing out the covers. “Hell yeah, new cover smell!” I shout, fist pumping the air.
Celestia stands there smiling, “I’m glad you like the room,” She looks about, “You might have to get some books though. The shelves look a bit bare.”
I stop moving and lean up, “I would, but I can’t understand your language, remember?” I reply, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m sure Twilight would have something to say about that. She’s quite the reader. She’s teaching my sister, Luna, the new language; I’m sure she’d teach you as well...”
“Huh, That would be useful...” I say, “How long did you say it would take Twilight and her friends to get here?”
“She should be here by tomorrow morning at the earliest, unless something holds them up.”
“Okay.” I say, getting up. “Hey, didn’t you say something about your sister?” I ask.
“Oh yeah, would you like to go and check if she’s back yet? I’m sure she’d enjoy meeting somepony that speaks her language... so to speak...” She giggles.
“Sure, the more ponies I can talk to, the better.” I follow Celestia out of the room and down a few hallways. “What’s your sister like?” I ask.
Celestia turns to me, “She’s... different. She came back a couple of years ago and she hasn’t been out much. Frankly, this is a rarity to see her interested in something enough for her to go on some mission.”
I nod, “Sounds serious.”
“It is, but hopefully you can help her out though.” Celestia smiles and turns the corner. We come to a small door, about the same size and shape of Celestia’s. This one has a crescent moon on it, instead of a sun. Celestia trots up to it and knocks with her hoof.
We wait for a few minutes, “Maybe she isn’t i-”
The door opens, standing there is another Alicorn. This one is slightly smaller than Celestia, she has long flowing hair, with what looks like stars intertwined within. Luna says something to Celestia in the new language before turning to me, “Is it true? You can speak Old Equestrian?”
I move forward, “Uh, yeah...” I say sheepishly, before turning to Celestia.
She moves forward and smiles, “He’s to be staying here for a while and I said I would introduce you.”
“That’s very kind sister, this has brightened my day.” She grins, giving Celestia a hug.
Celestia breaks first and says sternly, “Now, tell me where you have been. You gave your guards the fright.”
-----
James’s PoV:
I cracked my eyes open, light from outside causing me to close them back up. When I felt like my eyes could handle it, I opened them up again and turned away from the light. I was covered in blankets, cold water bottles were tucked next to my stomach.
I was laying on a couch in someone’s front room. There were numerous bird houses hanging from the ceiling, small mouse holes at the bottom of the walls and I swear I could see a few animals scurry about.
Apart from those things, the room seemed very homey, almost as If someone had taken a considerable amount of time taking care of it, making every inch as good as it could be.
I dreaded getting up from the pain last time, but knew I would have to, so I pushed the blankets off me, feeling light headed from that small movement. I groaned in pain and got up off the couch, it’s frame creaking from my weight.
I stopped, hearing some noise from one of the other rooms in the cottage. Obviously the person that saved me was still here and I wanted to thank him or her.
I hobbled closer to the source of the noise, taking care to not knock any of their stuff about or scare the animals. I neared the door and knocked.
I could hear a few things get knocked over from inside. A few seconds later, the door unlocks and opens very slowly.
A bright yellow pony answers the door. It wasn’t something I was expecting, but after being attacked and thrown into a different world I wasn’t one to complain.
The pony says something in another language, obviously concerned. She flies up and gently moves me back onto the couch where she says something again.
The pony flutters off and into a different part of the house, leaving me to process that she flew and talked. A few moments later, she flutters back in with a bowl of salad in her hooves. She stops in front of me, grasping a piece of lettuce with her hoof. She brings the food close to my face where I take hold of it.
She says some stuff in her language, smiling gently.
“Thank you.” I say.
“You can’t understand me, can you?” I ask, receiving nothing but another piece of lettuce. "Well, this is just great..." I turn around and look outside, the sun didn't hurt my eyes anymore. From this cottage, I could see the town quite clearly and with it, the multiple ponies that wandered around. "This would has ponies as it's dominant species..."
The pony turns my head back to herself and hands me another piece of food. I take it and eat, knowing that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere if I didn't know how to find Alex...
I start to formulate some direction. Without anything to go on, I wouldn’t be able to do much, let alone travel. “If I ended up in some ruins, where did Alex go?” I was interrupted in my thinking by the pony handing me some more food. I pushed it away, only concerned with finding my friend.
The pony looked at me, concern showing. I smiled at her, making sure I was alright and not hungry anymore. She seemed to buy it and wandered off into another part of the house.
I got up and rushed to the door, finding it unlocked. I pulled it open and ran outside. The shirt I was wearing was starting to fall off me, so I took it off and threw it in the bushes, making sure to hide it before walking towards the town.
Luna, Celestia and I walk into Luna's chambers. The dark room is refreshing compared to the other, bright, almost gleaming parts of the castle. The room is dark enough for sleeping, but still light enough to actually see stuff.
"Have a seat." Luna says, pointing to her bed. The crumpled covers indicating that we had just woken her up.
I sit down on the edge of the bed and looked about. Luna's room is almost a perfect contrast to her sisters. Celestia's room has only a couple personal items while Luna's has each wall covered.
Luna brings over a spare chair and sits down, "It's so nice to find somebody that speaks the old tongue. Tell me, how did you learn it?"
"It's my language. It's called English where I'm from." I reply.
Her face lights up, "An entire nation that speaks it, how exciting." She says, giddy.
"That's nice Luna, but can you get to the story?" Celestia asks, a hint of annoyance filtering through.
"Oh yes, of course. How silly of me." She clears her throat. "A couple of days ago, I felt a huge magical surge in Canterlot. Not willing to wake you after an 'encounter' with Prince Blueblood, I took it upon myself to investigate. I flew towards the area where I knew it came from, but when I got there I couldn't find anything other than a huge scorch mark on the ground."
She gives a look of annoyance, "Fortunately, while no proper evidence was left; the trail didn't end there. It left that place and traveled down Mane Street, towards the warehouses. I then... how do you say... Staked out the area, looking for anything suspicious."
Celestial and I nod, "Sounds about the time James and I arrived."
"Yes, I'll have to send some of the guards to investigate further." Celestia adds.
"There's another of your species?" Luna asks.
"Yeah, my friend. Celestia has some guards looking for him, but I don't know how long it will take." I reply, looking away, "I just feel so unhelpful. My friend could be hurt and I can't help him."
Luna looks down, her ears follow suit, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it's not your fault, it's that pony that did this."
"What pony?" Both mare ask.
"Um... He was... purple, if I remember correctly. He also had blue eyes... Other than that I can't remember anything."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner!" Celestia shouts, rushing out of the room.
"Woah, hold on!" I shout after her. She stops and turns around.
"I could have had almost every guard looking for this pony," She says, obviously annoyed at me, "Didn't you think it was important or something?"
"I... I don't know. It slipped my mind with everything that was going on."
"Stay here, I have to speak with Captain Shining Armor." Celestia gallops off and turns the corner out of sight.
I sigh and turn around to see Luna standing in the doorway. "Don't worry, she'll get over it. I don't understand why she's so upset though..."
She shakes her head and walks back in. I quickly follow suit and close the door on my way in.
"So... What's up Luna?" I ask, sitting down on the chair, letting her lay on the bed.
"What do you mean?"
"How are you? I've heard you don't get out much." I say, watching her wilt slightly.
"Um... Not really." It seems without her sister there as a support, she isn't that good at talking with ponies or people.
Seeing an opportunity to bond with the other ruler, I decided to ask about some of the items on her wall. "Tell me a bit about yourself. What's this?" I ask, pointing towards a few pieces of metal suspended inside a glass case.
"That's from a battle long ago, it's part of the only spear to actually hit me. I keep it around to remind myself that we are mortal in more ways than we'd like to admit." She explains. Although it's a sad tale, it's nice to see her smile; however small.
"Your sister is worried about you." I say, seeing that smile disappear. She looks about, not focusing on anything. "I don't know about ponies, but in my world, staying inside and not really talking to anyone is a bad sign." I continue.
"I... They still hate me." She replies. I let her continue, "When I came back, I had hoped they had forgotten about my past; I was wrong." She looks at me, "I did some horrible things, it's only right."
"It seems that you need to forgive yourself before anything. You're dwelling in the past too much. You have your entire room filled up with memories; you don't have room for any new ones."
Luna lays there for a moment and looks about, "I'm scared that I'll forget."
"If it means so much, it'll be impossible to forget." I reply.
She nods. "I have to think. Please let me be alone."
"Alright, but if you need to talk; just find me." I say.
"I... Will."
"Oh yeah, do you have a map of the castle, I don't know my way back. I was talking on the way here..." I ask.
Luna's horn glows for a second before a map levitates out from behind her, "I used to need this, but not so much anymore. You can have it."
"Thank you."
"It was... nice speaking to you." She says before closing the door.
I turn around and look at the map. All the place names are in New equestrian, meaning the only place I could go is my room as that's next to Celestia's. Thankfully her room is marked on the map for some reason and I start to move towards it.
Looking outside, I see that the sun is starting to set already, "Must have been a long talk..." I say, turning back to the front.
I finally find my room and walk in, only to find five ponies laying on the bed talking with each other. I stop and do a double take. Shaking my head, I do see five ponies on my bed. I clear my throat, getting their attention.
They all look over to me with different levels of uneasiness. The purple one looks almost excited while the others look uncertain. The unicorn jumps off the bed and trots up to me. She clears her throat and says "Hello."
I stand there for a second shocked, "You can speak 'Old' Equestrian?"
She stands there for a second in thought, "No... know small..." She replies, sheepishly looking at me.
I raise my eyebrows, "Better than nothing," I say.
She trots back to the others and says "Friends." while pointing to them.
I nod and wave to them. They all slowly wave back then speak to the unicorn. I try and remember the name that Celestia said her student has, "Twilight?" I said, getting her attention.
She grins and nods, her bangs swishing about slightly. She points to me, saying "Alex."
I nod back, causing her to smile and chat with her friends some more. I sigh and sit down on the chair next to my desk.
At that moment, Celestia came into the room, saying something in equestrian. She saw me and changed to old equestrian, "Oh Alex, I didn't see you there. How did your talk go?" She nods to the ponies in the room, Twilight rushes up and hugs her, making Celestia smile.
"It was alright, not sure if I helped... How did you know I talked with Luna?"
"I didn't, you just told me." She replied, grinning.
"Well... Okay then." I say, rolling my eyes. "Did you talk with Shining?"
"Shining Armor?" Twilight asks. Celestia explains what happened.
She looks towards me, "Sorry."
I shake my head, "Don't worry."
She tries to figure out what I said, but can't and looks at Celestia, who translates. She gives a small smile.
Celestia talked with Twilight for a few minutes. Afterwards, Twilight nods and turns back to me, "I... teach."
I look to Celestia, "Really?"
She nods, "Yes, turns out she loves to teach more than she loves to learn. Luna and you start in the morning."
"Alright, I better get some sleep then. It's getting late."
"Aha, quite right," Celestia says a few words to the girls and they scamper out of my room, leaving us alone, "Well, good night Alex." She says before turning and trotting out.
"Good night."
-----
I wake up, get out of bed and put on my clothes again. I would have to find the bath house again if I plan any kind of proper stay here.
I walk over to the door and open. Walking through, I see Twilight already up and trotting in my direction.
"Hello!" She practically shouted from down the hall.
I wave and walk towards her, "Good morning." She doesn't understand that, so I just say "Hello." which she does understand and smiles.
I follow her to the library and see that Princess Luna is already here reading. I walk ahead and say, "Good morning princess."
She turns to me and smiles, "Ah Alex, what brings you here?" she sees Twilight trot in behind me and gets excited, "Are you here to learn as well?"
I nod, causing her to squeal in excitement, "This is going to be fun," she says.
Luna speaks to Twilight, making her set up a board and a couple of desks. Twilight writes down the basics.
I spend a couple of hours learning them. Luna has already learnt them so she sat there bored. Sometimes she'll turn and annoy me when Twilight isn't looking.
We leave the library, I don’t really understand any words yet; but I can finally make out what words they say. “Urgh, finally... No wonder I hated school. Always someone annoying me.” I say, looking towards Luna.
She looks away sheepishly, “I was bored, I’ve been learning this for two years already.”
“Alright, alright.” I reply, walking alongside her.
A guard rushes out and towards is, bowing quickly, “Principissa, alius humanus invenerat in Ponyvillam.”
“Est quod verum?” The princess asks.
“What is he saying?” I ask awkwardly.
“He says he has news about your friend.” She says. “He’s in Ponyville currently.” she turns to the guard, “Praepara currum, meabo eo.”
The guard salutes and gallops off from where he came from. Twilight trots out behind us, “Inveniabunt humanum?”
Luna turns to face her and nods before turning to me, “We are to travel to Ponyville.”
“Let’s go.” I say.
We rush to an outside landing pad. My amazement grows when I see Pegasi flying about around it, getting ready for the trip. In front of me lands a chariot, pulled by two pegasi.
Luna jumps on and I hesitantly get in, holding onto the seat so hard my knuckles turn white. Twilight gets on and sits next to Luna. “What’s wrong?” Luna asks me.
“Oh nothing, we’re in an open chariot with no back to it and no seatbelts...”
“Don’t worry, nothing will happen. Trust me.” Luna says reassuringly.
I sigh, “Alright just go, I want to see my bro.”
Luna looks to the ponies pulling us, “Discedite.”she says, causing them to pull us into the sky at a breakneck speed.
Although the ride wasn’t bumpy, my phobia of heights still kept me clinging on the seat like a madman. “Are we there yet!?” I shout, much to the discomfort of the ponies.
“Actually yes we are.” Luna shouts back.
I open my eyes to see that we are indeed circling a small village, “Where would he be?”
“Celestia gave orders to keep him in the town hall, for his own protection.”
“What was he doing?”
“Apparently he was sneaking around town, scaring ponies. He was found by Fluttershy, who’s Twilight's friend.”
“Heh, sounds like James... Alright, can we land? I’m getting a bit dizzy.”
“Adplica.” The princess shouts, causing the ponies to bring us in for a landing next to, what I guessed, is the town hall.
I jump out, feeling better for being on solid land and run up the steps and push open the doors.