> Accidents Happen
>  by Bronze Inkwell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Accidental transport
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a cool summer night as I walked along the road, trying to get to my job. I only lived about a mile away from where I worked, so when the temperature isn't too cold or hot, and the weather isn't rain or snow I walk to my job at the local supermarket instead. However, I was coming in so late as I had to change out the price tags. My store did it every Friday so I was working a midnight to 8 a.m. shift.

I was currently wearing clothes that were allowed by the store's rules. I had on a black polo with black pants, and had a grey backpack on my back. My boots were brown, and softly clacked against the asphalt with every step. Sure, I could wear red or white, but I didn't really think it would look that good. On my head I wore a black baseball cap with an orange Among Us bean on the front. I usually stored my work hat in my locker at work.

I had a slightly tan skin color, though I did have a few brown spots here and there across my body. My hair was a nice dark brown, and it fell nicely around my head. I was a guy, don't get me wrong, but for some reason my hair was that of a brunette's. Straight at the start, but curled lightly at the end. This caused the hair that wasn't covered by my hat to lightly bounce as I walked.

I had a semi narrow face, making my head almost similar in shape to that of a standard Mii. My eyes were a dark green, mixed with a bit of brown. I lived in a more rural area, so while there weren't any sidewalks for me to walk on for most of the trip, it was still nice.

As I walked, I looked into the night sky with a sad grin. Sure, the night was nice, but due to light pollution there were barely any stars. I closed my eyes and just let myself walk forwards without a care in the world for a moment. I went to take a deep breath and I must have caught a breeze of fresh air as when I breathed in there was none of the pollution that one would normally smell. It was then that a smile crossed my face as I continued to walk, not noticing that my steps now began to echo back to me.

"Man, for some reason I have a feeling that tonight ain't gonna be so bad." I spoke to myself until I bumped into something. I opened my eyes as I stumbled back, afraid I had bumped into a recycling or trash bin. Except, when I looked at what I bumped into, I was face to face with a marble pillar instead. I blinked rapidly in shock and turned around.

Behind me, was a rapidly closing portal. The edges of said portal were a mix of gold, purple, light blue, and a dark blue. My eyes widened in shock and I made a mad dash for the portal but by time I got to it, it was already gone. I could only look at where it was in shock, wondering what in the world just happened.

After a few moments I spoke. "What kind of Harry Potter shit is this?" I said, waving my hand through the area where the portal was. My hands only passed through the air. There was no fake wall, no strings, no mirrors, nothing but air. As I slowly came to this realization I looked up and around.

I appeared to be in some kind of royal hall, if the marble pillars were anything to go by. I absentmindedly walked back to the one I had bumped into, and ran my hand up and down the flawless surface. "Man, this is one nice lookin' place, whoever owns it must be shitting gold bricks to afford something like this." It was then that I heard something, a feminine giggle. Whirling around to the source, I found myself looking at 4 anthropomorphic equine women of varying shapes, sizes, and colors.

The biggest one was a pure white and wearing a flowing white gown that was just inches from touching the floor. She had a gold tiara with a single amethyst gem in the center. Just in front of said tiara though was a long, spiraly engraved horn. Her hair was like a solid aurora borealis, that went down to her where her feet would be, but in place of feet, were hooves. She also had gold bracers/bracelets on her wrists, with a fleur de lis shape. Gold slippers could also be found on her hooves with a similar shape to the bracers on her wrists. And lastly she had on a gold necklace with an amethyst in the center. She had maternal magenta eyes that looked at me in curiosity.

I can also tell all of them are female based on the fact that all of them had a feminine figure with breasts. At least, I hoped this was true. For all I know these were considered males wherever here is. The second biggest was a dark blue and she was wearing an elegant black dress that sparkled in the light. The dress hugged her figure nicely, accentuating her curves. She had on an onyx tiara that had a crescent moon made of pearl in the center. Her hair was more like a cloud that had been painted with the night sky. She had light turquoise bracers and slippers that were about half of a fleur de lis shape. Her eyes were a beautiful cyan and held a bit of mirth in them as they looked at me.

The smallest was a light purple, maybe lavender, wearing a violet dress with deep yellow accents. While not the color combo I would have gone with, it actually looked pretty good on her. She had normal, straight, violet hair, with a pink and purple streak in the center. She only had on a gold tiara with a spiky pattern, the tips ending in small amethysts gems. Her eyes were a vivid violet color that looked at me in shock and worry.

And the second smallest was bright pink in color, but wore a simple sky blue dress. She also had gold slippers and bracers that were similar in shape to the dark blue one's. Her amethysts colored eyes were scanning me, looking at me in curiosity. Her hair was an odd mix of purple, yellow, and magenta. In all, they were incredibly beautiful and pretty, yet the only one that wasn't taller than me was the purple one. The pink and dark blue ones were roughly the same height, but still an entire head over me. The white one, however, was over two heads taller than me. The purple one being roughly my height from what I could tell.

It was the dark blue one that had giggled, if its expression was anything to go by. I took them in for a few seconds before speaking. "Either I'm dreaming, I'm dead and angels are actually somewhat equine in shape instead of just humanoid, or I have been transported to another universe, planet, and slash or dimension." I said to myself as I took a few steps back, reaching into my jacket pocket and grasping the only weapon I had, a box cutter. "Who and what the fuck are you?!" I shout in confused shock, getting into a semi defensive stance.

"It's okay, calm down. We aren't going to hurt you." The white one said, holding her hands up in a placating manner as she stood from her throne, taking a few steps towards me.

"Bullshit! You literally just portaled me from my world to… wherever the fuck here is!" I yelled, glaring at them. I knew I wouldn't be able to do much against unknown aliens, but at least I would go down swinging.

"Please, your being here is entirely by accident. We have no intentions to harm you." Said the pink one, standing from the throne she had been sitting in. I don't know why, but her voice actually made me calm down a little.

"Accident? What do you mean by accident?" I ask, perplexed.

"Well, I was trying to contact a friend I had made in another dimension." The purple one responded, gaining my attention. "However… something went wrong. I don't know what, but somehow it led to what was supposed to be a window into her dimension becoming a destabilized portal. I was trying to shut it but then you walked right through it. After that it sort of just, well, collapsed in on itself."

"I understood all of that to a degree. But just a recap, you were basically trying to do interdimensional Skype, but instead ended up opening a portal to my world." I said, and got confused nods in return. "Then that means you can put me back, right?" The four look at each other for a bit.

"Um, maybe." The purple one said with a sheepish look.

"'Maybe'. Of course it's 'maybe'. When is it not 'maybe'? Everything is fucking 'maybe'." I grumble to myself as I rub a hand over my face. "Well that's just great. Goddamn it, why does the weird yet amazing shit always happen to me!" I sigh, then remove my hand from my face. "Well, if I'm stuck here for the time being, I might as well make the most of it." The four were now looking at me oddly.

"You seem to have accepted this rather quickly." The dark blue one asks.

"Yeah, well, it's either shock or because I'm a very logical person that I'm not reacting like anyone else would." I state as I cross my arms in a relaxed way.

"I… see." The white one said, a bit confused. "Anyway, I think introductions are in order. I am Princess Celestia, it is nice to meet you." Celestia looked about to go into a small bow but stopped herself. I'm pretty sure she didn't know if bowing was either a sign of respect or a sign of hostility where I'm from.

"Yes, bowing is considered a sign or respect. Though I much prefer the more classic, shaking of hands." I say, raising my right arm into a ready pose for a handshake. The Princess smiled and walked down from the dais her and the other's thrones were situated on. When she was right in front of me, I realized how much taller she was than me and it made me blush a little. I had a thing for females taller than me, so what? However, finding such females was hard considering I was as tall as my dad, who was 6 foot 5. She had to lean down a little as I raised my arm to meet hers.

When our hands touched, I felt a small tingle go down my spine as I held her hand. It was covered in a fine layer of soft, silky fur which felt incredibly Nice against my skin. "Nice ta meetcha. I'm Dylan." I said as we shook hands. Did I forget to mention how incredibly soft her hand was? 'Cause it is incredibly soft.

The princess giggled, and nodded as we ended our handshake. "Same." Her voice had a humored tint to it, which made me grin in return. The other three, by this time, had also walked down to greet me. The next one was the pink furred one.

"I'm Princess Cadence, a pleasure." She said as we shook hands.

"Trust me, the pleasure is all mine." I said with a blatantly obvious jokingly flirty tone, making the pink princess laugh. I grinned, knowing I had accomplished what I had wanted to do. The next one was the dark blue female.

"Mine name is Luna, tis an honor to meet ye." She said as we shook hands while she bowed a bit.

"Nice to meet you Luna. Like the old style of speaking you got going on there, very unique." Luna blushed a bit, rubbed her left arm with her right one as she backed away.

"We thank ye." The last one was the purple one.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, but I mainly go by Twilight." I made a face at that.

"Please don't tell me you're not a vampire or something. 'Cause if so then I'm afraid I can't even be acquainted with you." They were all confused at that. This resulted in me giving my own view of the Twilight series. Now Twilight was making the same face I had.

"My name suddenly feels violated." She said, her muzzle scrunched up.

"How about I just call ya Twi, cause if I use your full name that damned series would just come back to my mind." Twilight agreed to this with a nod.

"Yeah, besides the fact that vamponies and were-ponies don't exist, those attributes just don't make any sense."

"And yet, most of the female population likes it because of one reason or another." I said, shaking my head. "I myself enjoy things with lots of lore to explore. Like the Doom series. It might be dark and even a little sad, but I still think it's pretty freaking sick." This greatly confused them.

"Doom series?" Cadence asked.

"How can lore become ill?" Luna asked.

"I don't mean literally sick, it's more slang for 'awesome' or some word similar to that. As for what the Doom series is, well, it's quite a long story that features demons, hell, a man who is literally too angry to die, and the death of a pet rabbit." This made them gasp.

"Why does such a horrid story exist?!" Cadence cried out.

"Because we can. And besides, that's just fiction. If y'all knew what some people of human history did, well, you'd think Doom was a bright, shiny, though very gory, day." I chuckle, then let out a yawn. "Ugh, goddamn. Y'all don't happen to have a spare room I can use till I can get a place of my own, do ya?" I say, rubbing my eye a bit.

"Of course, and you're welcome to stay for as long as you need as our honored guest." Celestia said with a warm smile.

"Thanks Celestia. Uh, I guess I'll see ya tomorrow morning… or later today, depending on what time it is here." I say, looking around for a clock.

"Tomorrow morning. Now come along, we have a lot to discuss after you wake." Celestia says, leading me out of the throne room. I wave goodnight to the others with a smile on my face, and they return the gesture.

As Celestia and I walked down the corridors I can see that they seem to have something akin to knights that would protect castles like in movies I had seen. Though instead of steel armor or even chainmail, they wore gold armor. I looked up to Celestia with a puzzled look. "Okay, I get gold is flashy and all, but why the hell do you have them wearing it as armor? It's a soft yet very dense metal. An average hammer could tear through it and it makes whoever is wearing it super slow having to lug around the armor." Celestia looks down at me, then at her subjects wearing the armor, a small frown on her face.

"Hmm, your kind seems to know a lot about such things." I just nod.

"Well yeah, but we've moved past things like metal armor. Metal armor hasn't been used in well over 300 years give or take. Sure we learn about it in history class or see it in medieval museums, but other than that, it is not really applicable. I mean, have you seen metal armor stop an arrow? Sure, it's good for slashes, but puncture attacks? Might as well be wearing paper." Celestia nods at this, contemplative.

"I see. And I am to assume your kind has stopped using swords and bows?" I made a so-so gesture with my hand.

"Kinda, archery and fencing are considered sports nowadays. No, the real danger is from guns. You try stopping a pinkie sized projectile traveling faster than the speed of sound." I say, raising my pinkie finger. Celestia's eyes widened as she understood the analogy.

"Yes, I suppose that would be rather hard to dodge, much less block. But how does such a weapon work?" I actually have to think about this for a bit.

"Well, we have this material called gunpowder. It has a wide range of uses but it all focuses on explosions. We used to use it to shoot cannonballs out of cannons as well as muskets and flintlocks. But nowadays we use it for sticks of dynamite and bullets. Heck, that's not even the most dangerous thing. We can turn a simple aerosol spray into a homemade flamethrower." I paused to wave my hands and get back on track.

"Anyway, the simplest way I can explain it is this. We pack a small amount of gunpowder into a section of a bullet, then put the part that is fired from the gun in front of the gunpowder. When the gun is used, the gunpowder is lit making a small explosion which propels the bullet out of the gun at high speeds." I explained. Celestia has her lips pursed but nods in understanding.

"A handheld cannon. Such a device has so much potential, good and bad." I nod along with her.

"Yep, and I just explained a handgun, I didn't even mention semi-autos, automatics, shotguns, sniper rifles. The list goes on. Even then there are different types of bullets. 50. Cal, armor piercing, thermite, tracers, and a whole lot of others I don't even know of. When it comes to the art of death dealing, we've certainly perfected it with our current level of technology." Once more, Celestia nods in agreement.

"Yes, your race certainly sounds dangerous." We turn a corner and start to go up a flight of stairs.

"And very paranoid. That was the other reason I don't really want to go back. With how much our culture paints anything that isn't human as a threat, they'd be more likely to shoot first, ask questions later or even never." I tell her as we crest the stairs. We were now in a long hallway with a set of double doors at the end with a stylized sun on each door. She leads me to a door which is right next to the double doors.

"I see. I thank you for your concern for us. But it is wise you get some sleep. My room is right there so if you ever need anything, as one of my guards to see if I am available. If not, then my sister, niece, or Twilight should be able to help you with whatever you wish to discuss." I nod but pause.

"Any particular reason my room is so close to yours?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"So I don't have to have another guard detail watch you. Our guards are more than capable of being able to watch over us while we sleep. That, and to make sure I will be instantly alerted if you tried anything. As it stands, you are the only human in Equestria. And that puts you on the endangered species list." I was going to comment on that but after a bit of thinking I shrugged.

"Eh, makes sense. Well, g'night princess. See ya when I get up." I said, opening the door to my room. But what I got was more extravagant than any hotel room I had stayed in. A massive bed that looked like it belonged to a queen, a custom made rug in the center of the same stylized sun Celestia had on her doors, a connecting bathroom, an open balcony and other such things. I was about to turn to Celestia, and ask that I get downgraded but she seemed to expect this.

"No, I will not be putting you in a different room. And if you want a more 'common' room, then you'd have to stay in either the guard barracks or the maid's quarters." I sigh and turn back to my room. Walking in I took off my boots and set them next to the door. I placed my backpack beside the bed and after doing so, I sat on said bed. Immediately I could feel how soft and how plush the mattress alone was.

"Holy shit, this feels amazing." I said, bouncing a bit. "Feels like a damn cloud." Celestia giggled as the horn on her head glowed. A corner of the sheets and blankets moving to show that the mattress was, indeed, a cloud. My eyes widened as I saw this happen. "Cloud bed… telekinesis… the hell kinda world did I fucking drop into." I rhetorically asked in a faint whisper as I looked from the glow around the sheets and blankets corner, to Celestia, then to her horn.

"One of magic. It seems your world does not have magic, yes?" I nod at that.

"Magic is only fantasy and sleight of hand to humans." I say in awe, poking the arua that held the blankets and sheets. The aura felt warm, like a comfortable ray of sunshine.

"Hmm, I suspected this. I think the next few days shall be filled with quite a bit of learning about our two worlds. I will need to cancel a few appointments, as well as day court." Celestia said, but added the last part to herself.

"Yeah, I would imagine so." I then sighed before flopping back on the bed. "Celestia, can I be honest with you?" I asked, wanting to get something off my chest.

"Of course Dylan, and I promise to keep it between us." I nod, but frown.

"I'm worried Celestia. Worried about my future, my family back on Earth, what your subjects will think of me, and a whole slew of other things that I can't think of at the moment." I stared at the ceiling, letting myself get lost in it. A few tears come to my eyes as I descend deeper into my little rant. "I'm afraid that they'll fear me. I'm afraid of what they will be willing to do to get rid of me. I'm… I'm scared Celestia. And I don't know what to do." I hear Celestia walk closer, before pulling me back to a sitting position. She sat next to me, then pulled me into a hug. I let myself cry into her shoulder as we hugged each other.

I could only repeat what I had said earlier over and over. "I'm scared… I'm scared… I'm scared." I don't know how much time passed as Celestia comforted me, but after some time I fell asleep in her arms.





Celestia felt Dylan slowly slump in her hold as he fell asleep. She felt terrible for being one of the causes of his current state. She had really wanted to see how her old student was doing, and when Twilight presented her a way to do that, she jumped at the chance. It took a considerable amount of magic to do the spell, and it seemed like, just for a second, it would work. Then Dylan walked through.

Celestia sighed, disappointed in herself for acting so hastily. She would do everything in her power to make it up to Dylan. She slowly released the hug, and using her magic removed Dylan's clothes till he was just in his boxers. She then slipped him under the covers while taking his clothes to get washed. Looking through his pockets, she took out a black bar that seemed electric in nature, a plastic device that held a small blade, a cable of some kind with a box on one end, and a folded piece of leather. She set these items, except for the one with the blade, on the nightstand beside the desk.

She would need to have either Rarity or one of her dressmakers make Dylan some more clothes in the morning. For now though, these clothes would need to get washed. She quickly made her way to the royal washroom, and had the bat pony maids get to work on cleaning Dylan's clothes with directions to his bedroom and instructions on what to do with his clothes. The maids nodded, and got to work. Celestia smiled and teleported back to the throne room where her sister, niece, and Twilight waited. "There you are sister, what took you so long?" Luna asked.

"He wanted to get some things off his chest before he went to sleep." Celestia explained. The three nodded before beginning to discuss what to do with the human.

"I do not think he will wish to stay in the castle. From what I have gleaned, the gender roles of our society and his are reversed. Similar to the dragons or the minotaurs. So, like a mare, he will wish to get a job and provide for himself." Twilight explained, as she looked over some notes she took after Dylan left. The other princesses nodded.

"Yes, however I don't think any of our subjects will be willing to give him a job. They are quite speciesist if their encounter with Twilight's zebra friend is anything to go by." Celestia said dejectedly.

"Not to mention how most of the threats to Equestria lately have been from other species that were previously unknown to them. Not including myself and Fizzlepop." Luna stated with a frown.

"Which just makes the problem even worse. Hmm, I might be able to get him a job in the Crystal Empire. But I don't think he is mentally stable enough for two sudden changes in environment. In a few months, maybe, but now would be too soon." Cadence said, sad she wasn't able to help her new friend.

"I don't think Ponyville would work either, what with Discord and Pinkie living there." The others immediately agreed to that.

"I might be able to find him something here in the city. But with how nobles are I doubt many would be that willing." Celestia sighed, rubbing her face.

"Hmm, there might be a few. I know Fancy Pants and his sister Fleur De Lis do employ species outside of ponies. Griffon guards, Minotaur workers, I think they even have a dragon working there though for what reason I have forgotten." Luna stated.

"There is also Saffron Masala and her restaurant. Though I don't know how good of a cook Dylan is." Twilight added in. It was then Cadence snapped her fingers and pointed at Twilight.

"What about Rarity's Canterlot Boutique? I'm sure Sassy Saddles would appreciate some help. Dylan might even be able to give her some design ideas." Cadence suggested with a smile. Twilight nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea. Though, what he'll be doing is up for debate." Twilight replied then pursed her lips in thought.

"Maybe something in the music industry? I don't know why but I think he is musically inclined." Celestia offered.

"We could ask to hear some music from his world. I myself think he has a nice voice. Though how it translates to singing is unknown." Luna said.

"That is true. But I think we should also talk about his diet. I'm sure you all also saw his canines." A round of nods to Twilight's observation.

"His race is obviously a predatory one. Yet he has no claws or anything other than intelligence and ingenuity. There is more than one way to be considered a 'predator'." Cadence added in.

"And his race seems fairly violent. You all saw how he reached into his jacket for a weapon, presumably." Luna said, crossing her arms.

"You are correct. Though this seems more like a tool than a weapon." Celestia said, showing the red and black plastic device. She put her thumb on a sliding piece of plastic and when she slid it, a metal blade popped out with a few clicking sounds. The exposed blade was barely an inch long. Luna scrunched up her muzzle at the sight of it.

"I would not even count that as a knife! What purpose does that thing even serve?" Luna asked, taking it and giving it a few swings. "And the blade is so thin! It can snap it off with ease by pure accident." Luna said, tapping the not sharp side of the blade.

"Hmm, perhaps there is a material in his world that needs to be cut so often, they developed a tool for anyone to use to cut it." Twilight offered.

"And what kind of material would that be?" Luna asked.

"I'm… not sure. But it must be mass produced enough for his kind to have a tool specifically for it." Twilight theorized.

"I think we've established he alone isn't that much of a threat. His entire race, however…" Celestia trailed off, imagining what horrors had been wrought on his world.

"I think he has barely scratched the tip of the iceberg. He talked about those muskets and flintlocks like they were old weapons from a bygone age. Who knows what kind of weapons an entire army has at their disposal in his day and age." Cadence stated, holding her arms and shivering a bit at the thought.

"That is one of the reasons why he didn't want us to find a way home. To protect us." Celestia sighed sadly. The others paused, thinking about this new information. "He knew, just from taking a look at our castle and guards, that we would be practically defenseless against his race… that is before he knew about magic." This caught their attention. Seeing that, Celestia continued. "He was shocked to see me use magic, and that his mattress was actually made of clouds. He told me himself that magic, to his race, is nothing more than tricks to the eyes and something of fantasy. Speaking of which, how did you know about the weapons he spoke of when he talked to me Cadence?"

The love Alicorn blushed, and rubbed her hoof against the carpet. "I miiiight have cast a scrying spell from a few seconds after you left to before you shut the door to his room. I'm sorry aunty, it's just, his emotions were all over the place. But out of all of it I could pick out a sort of attraction towards us. Though more prevalently, towards you. I really wanted to see how he would react to being alone with you. While I wasn't able to read his emotions, he seemed to really enjoy your company."

Celestia shook her head, sighing. "Cadence, I'm very disappointed in you. I expected such behavior from Twilight but not you. We'll talk about this later, but for now, final thoughts before we must be off to bed ourselves?"

While it took a bit for Twilight or Luna to speak up, they eventually did. "A world without magic. That must be why his race had to create such weapons." Twilight said, barely believing such a thing was possible.

"Most likely, yes. But as my sister said it is getting late. I bid you all a goodnight." Luna said, bowing to the others. The others bid her goodnight, and headed to their rooms to sleep. Luna stated in the throne room however to conduct night court.
> Day One of Questions: Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I began to wake up, I happily pulled the blanket and sheets on top of me closer. The feeling of how soft and silky they felt brought me a feeling of sleepy bliss. However, as I began to further wake, the events of last night came back to me. I quickly looked down at the elegantly stitched and beautifully styled blanket that was on top of me. Then I snapped my head up to look at the room around me. Feeling reality settle in, I flopped back down onto the bed.

"Holy fuck, last night wasn't a dream. All that shit actually happened." I muttered, running a hand through my hair. As I let this information sink in, I looked to my arm and saw there was no jacket sleeve. Going further down my arm and I saw I had no shirt. Shifting my feet and legs, I was glad to feel that I still had my boxers. But other than said article of clothing, I was naked. I looked around and saw, to my confusion, my clothes were neatly stacked and folded on a dresser.

I quickly got out of bed and grabbed my clothes before running into the bathroom. Not many knew this but I was very self conscious about my body so I really didn't like being without clothes unless I knew I had total privacy. I closed the door, forgetting to lock it. I rested my head on the door, looking at the tiled floor. "Damn, why the hell am I nearly naked? Did… Celestia do that? Why? Was she… no, she's a princess. But then again… no, no, there's no way she would be interested in me like that. We literally just met." I said, wanting to end this train of thought. "She probably just wanted to get my clothes washed. Yeah, that's it."

Turning from where my head rested on the bathroom door, I took in the bathroom. It was luxurious to say the least. Hot tub, bathtub, and shower combo. Golden faucets for the immaculate white marble sink. Even the toilet looked pristine. Don't ask how, it just did. "How the hell can they afford this shit." I ask no one as I look at the large tub. Looking around I saw that, instead of the usual handles to manage the temperature, there were two rectangular crystals. One blue, one orange. Tapping the bottom of the orange crystal, a small bit of water shot out of the shower head.

I hummed and slid a finger up the crystal. As I slid my finger up that bit of the crystal began to glow. This caused water to shoot out of the faucet. Testing the water, I found the higher I slid my finger, the hotter the water became. "Oh, I see. So it's like one of those high tech baths where you use a tablet or something to set the temperature." I think out loud as the water begins to steam. Deeming that too hot, I slowly slide my finger back down the crystal. I reached out and touched the falling water. I was happy to feel that it was almost the exact temperature I wanted. Looking back to the crystal, I saw I was a bit under halfway up the crystal.

"Huh, I wonder why they want the water to able to get so hot." I shrug and get out of my boxers. Throwing them over to my clothes, I begin to wash myself. Or, at least, I would have if there was any shampoo or body wash. That's when I remembered that, unlike a hotel, anyone coming to stay here one was probably expected to bring their own cleaning products with them for their stay. "Oh well, guess I'm just doing a quick rinse."

While I showered, I didn't hear the knocking on my bedroom door, nor the opening of the bathroom door. I let my body relax, a grin coming to my face. "God I needed this." I thought out loud. "Would've hated to smell all nasty and shit." I said as I put my head under the stream of water. "Still, I wonder what we're going to be talking about today." I paused at the feeling of hunger pain as I pulled my head from the stream of water. "And I hope they don't mind feeding me. Damn, how long has it been since I last ate?"

Doing a mental count, I cringe. "That must have been roughly 14 hours ago. No wonder I'm so damn hungry." It was then that I paused again before chuckling. "Look at my stupid ass, talking to myself in the shower." I sigh, rubbing the back of my head. "I need some friends." It was then that a thought came to me. "I wonder if those princesses would be interested in being friends with me."

I quickly brush that thought away. "Nah, I'm just some weird alien to them… a very short alien. Geez, I wonder exactly how tall Celestia even is. I'm willing to bet she's at least 7 feet tall. Though that begs the question, should I add the horn? That thing is at least another foot of height. Nah, that would be like counting a hat." I continue to ramble about this and that as I rub and scratch away what dirt and sweat I had on me. I didn't hear the soft closing of the door as I turned off the shower.





Twilight was red faced as she leaned back against the door to Dylan's bathroom. She was able to take very accurate notes of his body structure, except for his feet that is. Those were hidden by the tub. She had seen everything else though. His toned ass, a good sized, though flaccid, breeding tool. She just couldn't get those things out of her mind. She tried her best to get said images out of her mind, but it was no use.

She was no pervert, by any means. Yet she was unable to help herself to a peak at the body of a male human. Sure, Sunset had shown her those through a screen, but there was a significant difference between images on a screen and reality. She heard the knob to the bathroom turned and she spun around to face Dylan, fully clothed, and drying his head with a towel. "Damn, even the towels here feel amazing." He says as he removes the towel, only to look at a red faced Twilight.

The two stared at each other for a while, until Dylan backed up, and twisted the knob a few times. He then swung the door back and forth on silent hinges. The entire time his face got redder and redder. "... If you don't say anything, then I won't either." I quickly agreed to this. He nodded and walked over to the dresser, putting the towel on top of it. Walking to the side of the bed, he picked up his backpack and set it on the bed.

He began putting the things Celestia put on the nightstand into his backpack, but after he was done that he reached in and pulled out a gray winter cap. After fitting said cap on his head, he put his backpack on his back, sliding his arms through the straps. "Alright, lead the way." He said, some of the redness fading from his face. Twilight nodded rapidly and hurriedly made her way to the door.





'Why the hell was she peeping on me in the shower!? I should be angry, I really should. Yet for some reason I feel… flattered? Proud? Fuck if I know.' I said in my mind as Twilight and I made our way to what I presumed was breakfast. We didn't say anything the entire walk, sticking to the agreement of not talking about it. 'And why the fuck did I not lock the door?! This could have all been avoided if I simply did that one thing. Wait, for all I know she could have used a scrying spell or something at any point to see me naked in the shower.'

Thoughts like these continued to swarm in my head until we reached, what I presumed to be, a dining hall. When Twilight opened the door however, I was confused to see a much more modest dining room. Still, it looked like it belonged in Buckingham Palace or something like that, but it wasn't a dining hall like I expected it to be. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were already there, going over some papers as they ate their breakfast. Upon hearing the large, heavy doors open however, they looked up to see me and Twilight enter.

I took a quick note of how they were dressed though. Luna was still wearing what she had been in last night. Celestia and Cadence were in fuzzy robes however. Yellow for Celestia and light blue for Cadence. Twilight wasn't in either type of clothing. Instead she wore something more akin to a young adult librarian. A light pink blouse with a dark indigo vest on top. She had a light purple skirt that went down to her knees. No socks or shoes though, which was understandable.

"Ah, Good morning Dylan. Did you sleep well?" Celestia asked, gesturing for me to sit at a spot next to her. I changed course to make my way over to said seat while taking note of the stuff on the table. Luna looked like she had finished a bowl of soup if the residue left in the bowl was anything to go by. Celestia and Cadence were eating pancakes. While they all had different glasses of different drinks, water for Luna, orange juice for Celestia, and apple juice for Cadence, there was still a pitcher of water in the center of the table along with two empty glass cups.

"Yeah. Thanks for having my clothes washed. Kinda slipped my mind that I don't have anything else to wear at the moment." Celestia nodded with a smile, noticing my careful word choice.

"You're quite welcome. Now then, what would you like for breakfast?" I thought about it for a second before responding.

"Chocolate chip pancakes please." Luna paused what she was doing before looking at me.

"Chocolate… chip… dear sister, how have we never thought of that before!" Luna said, wide eyed. Immediately she slammed her hand on the table, making it wobble a bit. Soon after a nervous looking maid came from a set of doors off to the side of the room.

"Y- yes prin-" The maid was cut off however when Luna shouted.

"Maid, have the chefs make us some pancakes, but this time, pour some chocolate chips into the batter!" The maid, a bit confused, nodded and quickly made her way to what must have been the kitchens.

"Y'all have maids and chefs. Honestly, not that surprising." I said as I looked at the much smaller double doors than the ones me and Twilight walked through to get here. I then turned back to them with a raised eyebrow however. "But y'all seriously never thought to add chocolate chips into the mix?" To this, Twilight shook her head.

"We have, but Luna is… a bit old fashioned, and isn't exactly used to how things are now." Though confused, I just nodded along.

"Okay then. So, what are we going to talk about today?" I ask, kinda excited.

"After breakfast, we will be heading to my study for a more private and comfortable place to discuss our worlds and how they differ." I nodded at that, but my question still wasn't answered. Thankfully Celestia seemed to notice this. "First we will need to discuss your dietary needs. As an endangered species of Equestria, we shall do our best to make sure your dietary needs are met." I nod at that, seeing the logic.

Luna said the next part. "Next, anatomy. We are to presume that you have relative knowledge of your species' medical norms? Heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, height and weight, things of that nature?"

"Uh, sorta. I know a few things, but y'all will need to record the rest. As of right now, I ain't sick or hurt so this is the perfect time to record that stuff." I said, a bit weirded out but understanding that it was necessary.

"Good, that'll make this much easier." Luna said with a small smile. The next to speak was Cadence.

"And lastly, we will discuss social norms. There is a lot about pony society you will need to understand if you are going to be living here. It will also help us understand you as well. We ponies are very expressive, from our ears, to our tails. You, however, have a lot less to go off of. Your eyes are one thing, but other than that you are a bit hard to read." Yeah, I had to agree with her there.

"Alright, sounds like a plan. So, uh, while we're waiting for our food, what y'all want to talk about?" They seemed to think on this for a second before Twilight spoke up.

"How about you talk about yourself a bit. We'd like to get to know you a bit better." The other princesses immediately agreed to that.

"Alright. 20 questions it is. What'd y'all like to know?" I ask, crossing my arms on the table.

"What's your favorite color?" Cadence immediately asked but shied back after she saw the gazes of the other princesses on her. I leaned back, thinking hard on this.

"Favorite color huh? Hmm, hard to say. I think… purple. And I mean that dark, royal purple, ya know? The one that goes real well with black. I always thought it looked kinda ba- er, awesome." I said, nodding to myself.

"My turn." Luna says with a mischievous grin while looking at her sister. "Which do you prefer, night or day?" This one was much easier.

"Night. Definitely night. My eyes are a bit light sensitive, so I prefer the dark. That, and when I walk to work, it's usually still dark out. But man, do I just get this amazing view of the moon sometimes." I lean back, looking at the ceiling with a grin. "I especially love it when it's a semi cloudy night, where the moon is kinda shining through the clouds. A kind of haunting beauty, you know?" I ask while looking back at Luna, only to find her blushing, hard.

"That is quite nice to hear Dylan. You should see Equestria at night sometime." Celestia says, grabbing my attention before I can ask Luna what was with her.

"Yeah, that'll be cool. So, next question?" I ask Celestia, making her think.

"Hmm, dog or cat?" Celestia asked, and I had this answer already picked out.

"Dog. Always a dog. Sure, cats are fluffy and cute and all, but a dog will do anything for you if you love it and train it right." I then get a more nostalgic look as I close my eyes. "Man, I had this one dog back when I was still six. Big pepper furred dog. He and I were inseparable back then. However, when it stormed he would climb into my bed cause he was so scared of the thunder. One time, when we weren't home though, it stormed and we came back to find he had jumped out a window, then hid under the porch of one of our neighbors. He was about roughed up but after a visit to the vet he was right as rain."

"Sounds like you really had a special bond with him." Twilight said with a soft smile.

"Yeah. I did. But, like all things eventually do, he died. I'm over it by now, but damn do I still miss 'im." I said, wiping away a tear. I was about to ask for the next question but the side doors opened again, showing the maid from before wheeling in a cart filled with chocolate chip pancakes and pancake essentials. I'm talking syrup, whipped cream, sliced banana, powdered cinnamon, the works. Luna used her telekinesis to pick up a plate and take all but two pancakes. Celestia, seeing this, took those pancakes and put them on another plate just for me.

"Thanks." I said with a smile. I looked over the cart, and spoke to the maid. "Excuse me, can I get the syrup and whipped cream please?" The maid, not expecting to be addressed by me, nodded a bit jerkingly.

"Of course." The maid then proceeded to give me a generous amount of whipped cream, and then poured some syrup on top of it. I gave her a smile and a nod which she returned. Feeling my hunger rear its head again, I began cutting into my flapjacks with a butter knife. I split them into eighths, then began to eat. The pancakes were perfect. Soft and fluffy, with the chocolate chips adding a bit of chocolate sweetness to it.

"Mmmm! Man, these are good!" I said after swallowing my mouthful.

"This is one of few things we actually choose to indulge in, having our staff get the highest quality ingredients to make our meals." Celestia said, a tad bit of sheepishness creeping into her tone. After swallowing another bite, I respond.

"Fair enough. Oh, do y'all have French Toast here? If not, I'd be glad to make y'all some. I'm not much of a chef, but the few things I do know how to cook, I can make pretty well. My skills in the kitchen focus more on the baking side of things. My family was amazed at my natural talent for sweets. I thought my stuff was pretty good, but nothing to get excited over." I say, actually being a bit humble. Celestia was staring at me wide eyed.

"You can bake? You really-"

"-really don't seem like the type, yeah, everyone says that." I said, talking over Celestia mid sentence. No, I did not care if I came off rude.

"We take it you have heard that a lot?" Luna says with a raised eyebrow.

"You have no idea." I say, stuffing another piece of pancake into my mouth. I look at Twilight, waiting for her question. 

She took a bit to think of her question, but eventually asked it. "What's your family like?" I pause in my chewing, then continue before swallowing. During all this, I hadn't even really thought about how my disappearance might have affected them.

"My family… is a bit weird. Broken, kinda. My Mom and Dad were married at one point, but then they got divorced. I had been bounced back and forth between their homes quite often. I mainly stayed with my Mom, and visited my Dad on the weekends. They were still fighting over me and my brother at the time. Eventually Dad won some kind of legal case and it became the reverse for me. I stayed with Dad and visited my Mom. At the time Dad lived relatively close to my mom's house. But after he had custody of me, he moved away with me."

The princesses gasped a bit at that. "I barely got to see my Mom after that, and I resented my father for it. That's Mom and Dad, but I haven't talked about my brothers and sisters, as well as my step-mom and step-dad. My step-dad, God was he cool, even if he smoked. He was always such a chill guy that I felt he was more like my dad then, well, my dad. Then there's my step-mom. She's a scientist, and I really don't like her. She was always bitchy at me for no good reason. I guess it's one of the reasons I have low self-esteem and have no confidence."

My frown soon turns into a grin however. "My older brother though, now he was the best. We fought a lot as kids, but eventually that mellowed out. After that, we became practically inseparable." It was at this point my grin turned sad. "But he was 2 and a half years older than me, and eventually we grew apart. He got a girlfriend. A job. He… didn't have time to spend with me. Recently he married his girlfriend and moved to Germany, some place very far away, like, an entire ocean away, to support his now wife with her schooling."

"I'm happy for him, don't get me wrong. I just… miss the way things used to be. You know?" They nod at this. "Anyway, at some point my Mom gave birth to my first sister. A few years later, my step-mom gave birth to my younger brother, then a second sister 2 and a half years after that." Done, I lean back in my chair. "Alright, my turn for each one of you." Looking at them I purse my lips. "Hmm, Twilight. What's your favorite kind of book to read?"

"Magic Theory books. Mainly those written by Starswirl the Bearded." Twilight said cheerily.

"So basically the magic version of science books. Cool." I said, then turned to Celestia. "Alright Celestia, what do you find the best part of being a princess is?" Celestia was a bit shocked at my question, then began to think about it.

"That is a very tough question. I think I find the best part is knowing that, everyday, I help ponies who are in need one way or another." Celestia said with a reminiscent smile on her face.

"I'll have to ask for context later, but that sounds very nice." I say with my own smile. I then turn to Luna, and think about what I want to ask her. "So Luna, you have a favorite type of music?" I ask the lunar princess.

"I don't quite get one of the newer, more popular genres of music nowadays, but I find it enjoyable. I believe it is called 'electronic' music?"

"Oh you mean dubstep? Yeah it's pretty good. 'Think I have a few songs on my phone, one sec." I say, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my phone. "One of my favorites is this one song called 'Crab Rave'. My older brother introduced me to it and it is one of the funniest ones I have seen or heard." I tell them as I look through a playlist of downloaded YouTube videos. "Let's see. No, no, n- wait, there it is." I say, turning up the volume as I start the song.



At first the only sound was the gentle crashing of waves on a shore with a few seagulls in the background. The princesses were confused until slowly, the sounds of snapping clicks could be heard, getting louder with each second. Suddenly, it is incredibly loud. As the song really begins, I watch their expressions. Luna seems to like it if her large smile and the little dance moves she is doing is anything to go by.. Celestia and Cadence are bouncing a bit to the Caribbean like music that is the background of the song. Twilight is taking notes, though I can see her subtly moving side to side with a small bounce.

As the song comes to a close, I turn down the volume and put my phone back in my pocket. "That was quite a piece! The tropical music blending seamlessly with the dubstep was just wondrous!" Luna cheered with a huge smile. It was honestly kind of adorable.

"Yep. The video is pretty funny though. But I'll show y'all that later." I say before putting the last piece of pancake in my mouth.

"Well, seeing as we are all finished eating, let us move to my study. Sister, I wish you a good rest." Celestia said as she and her sister stood, then pulled each other into a hug. I was confused about this.

"Wait, I thought she was going to join us?" I asked, pointing at Luna.

"My sister has a more nocturnal sleeping schedule. I'm willing to bet she's trying her best to stay awake as is." I give a nod of understanding.

"Ah, I understand. She's a night owl. Well, have a nice sleep or something. Huh, never really had to think about that. Can't say goodnight as it time of day is wrong, and good morning, afternoon, and evening is used as a greeting." I thought out loud, making the others pause and think on my words as well.

"That… is quite odd. I myself never had to think about such a thing before." Luna said with a scrunched up muzzle. Twilight however looked to be on the verge of having an aneurysm. Her eyes were moving back and forth, as if searching through a mental library while her hair began to become out of place. Thankfully Celestia came to snap us out of the funk I had put us in.

"We can think on that later. For now, we should be off." Celestia said, guiding me, Twilight, and Cadence to the door I had entered through. I gave Luna a smile and a wave as I left, which she returned with a smile of her own.
> Day One of Questions: Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As we, me and three of the four princesses that is, walked down the halls of the castle, I looked them over a bit. Just as I thought, Celestia had some trunk back there. But that wasn't the thing that had grabbed my attention. No, that would be their tails. You read that right, tails. Each one identical to their owner's hair. This explained why it seemed like their hair was so long, because it wasn't. They just had tails.

To me it didn't make much sense, but due to the amount of shit I've seen from cartoons and movies that had the topic of alien civilizations in it, I didn't think too much about it. It's not like they had tentacles or eye antennae or something like that. Heck, tails, wings, and horns are practically tame compared to that shit. As I was lost in thought, I failed to realize the others had stopped. This led to me bumping into Cadence. She stumbled forwards, then turned her head to give me a questioning glance. Seeing this, I smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, I was thinking about your tails." I explain, causing them to blush a bit. Twilight's and Cadence's tail swished a bit though. I didn't get why they were acting this way though. "Something wrong?" I ask the pink princess.

"N- no. I forgot you don't know what that means. If you look at a mare's tail, they'll take it that you are… interested in them. Or, in a different scenario, you're thinking about your mare friend in a sexual way." Yeah, that's quite a bit of culture shock. I could feel my face heating up as I quickly raised my arms and shook my hands.

"Nonononono! No, I was just, uh, humans don't have tails, so I found it kinda fascinating that y'all did. I just thought your hair was really long, which it still is to my standards, but to see y'all had tails kinda, you know, surprised me." Cadence's blush goes away a bit and she nods.

"Okay, I understand. Though, I do wonder why we stopped." Cadence says, turning to Celestia who had been staring at us.

"I had forgotten that we needed to get clothes for Dylan, so I was taking us on a detour to the palace's sewing room." Celestia explained. I nod in agreement with pursed lips.

"Yeah, I don't know how long I can wear just these. Need some variety, you know?" Celestia nods. "And I guess we can talk about my anatomy while we're there. I imagine that I will need to take my clothes off to have accurate measurements, huh?"

To this, Twilight nodded. "Yeah, that's what my friend Rarity always says. She's a fashionista who owns three boutiques, one being right here in Canterlot." I nod in respect and from being impressed.

"Nice. I know a bit about sewing from a misconception in middle school. See, while we were picking our extra classes, there was one called 'Project Runway'. At the time, I thought it was about aeroplanes or something. First class, I find it's actually about clothes and stuff. I ended up liking the class, and have walked away with the basic knowledge of how to use a sewing machine and patching holes in my clothes." I say and lift the side of my shirt. Twilight looks close and sees the misformation of the fabric.

"See? Not my best work but, eh, if it works, it works." Twilight nods at that.

"I think Rarity would find that story pretty funny. It's quite rare to see a stallion take an interest in sewing." I shrug at that.

"I blame gender norms for that." I say pointedly. "Honestly, I don't know why everyone is like that. If you enjoy something, so what? What does it matter what it is? If a guy likes sewing, he likes sewing. If a girl likes sports, she likes sports." I shake my head at this. "It just doesn't make sense to me, to be honest. Same thing goes for same sex couples. If a guy likes a guy, or a girl likes a girl, I'm not gonna complain. Love who you want to love, no matter who they are… well, as long as their not underage, cause that's just pedophilia, and I do not accept that shit."

The three were now looking at me a bit surprised. "That is… quite an open mind you have." Celestia says, shock clear in her voice.

"Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not into guys. But I ain't gonna berate a guy that is. I'd just tell him, 'hey, I don't swing like that'." I say in a 'matter of fact' way. Celestia giggled, before nodding.

"That's very kind of you. You're quite the open minded individual, aren't you?" I shrug.

"For the most part, yeah." After that, we soon reached our new destination. Opening the door, Celestia held it open for us to walk through. When I finally crossed the threshold into the place I like to call 'the sweatshop', I saw a group of ponies that had stopped working on their various projects. All turned and bowed to the three princesses.

"Good morning my little ponies. I have a special request for you all. My friend here currently only has one set of clothes. Please make it your top priority to have a full wardrobe made for him. We will be coming by after dinner to see the designs you have made." Celestia said, bringing me forwards. I give them a small wave, a bit sheepish from being the center of attention. They smile back and bow, something I was not expecting. One of them steps forwards, a smile on her face.

"Good morning, I'm Platinum Needle. It is a pleasure to meet you. If you'll come this way, we shall take your measurements and ask you a few questions." The female unicorn pony said. She had a platinum colored mane and tail, with a more gray coat of fur. She wore a dark blue T-shirt with shorts that matched her coat color making it look like she was bottomless. I nod to the unicorn and with a crowd of whispering and muttering seamstresses, I'm taken to a back room.





The three princesses watch as Dylan is taken into another room, and after a thought, Twilight goes after them. Seems like she was going to take this time to take her own measurements and ask some questions. This left the princesses of the Sun and of Love to talk to each other. "So, last night you said he had some affection towards us. Can you tell me what kind?" Celestia said, trying to make small talk while they waited.

"Well it certainly wasn't familial affection. Though what I find odd is that, from Twilight to you, he had the greatest amount for you. Maybe he has a preference of some sort when it comes to finding a special some… human?" Cadence looked up to her aunt, her head cocked in the 'I don't know' position. Celestia thought about it but shrugged, having as much of a guess as Cadence. Cadence shrugged the question off, and continued. "If that is the case though, then maybe there is something about you that he likes."

Cadence went over the comparison between Celestia and Twilight, and all that she found was the size difference. But Twilight and him were roughly the same height, wouldn't he have liked that? Or maybe he likes his mates to be bigger than himself? That gave Cadence some pause and she decided to voice this thought. Celestia blinked upon hearing that thought, and found herself blushing a little. Ponies liked her for her body, yes, but when they wrote her letters of love or claimed their love for the solar goddess in court and other such things, they focused on all of her attributes except her immense height.

So for Dylan to be the first, well, it would certainly be surprising if that were the case. 'Maybe, just maybe…' Celestia thought, a small smile coming to her face. She imagined herself cuddling the human, having himself tucked into her arms as she spooned him. All her past lovers always liked to be the 'big' spoon. But it is kinda hard to be that when your significant other is almost twice your height. She heard a gasp and a giddy squeal come from Cadence.

"Oh Maker above, are you actually developing a crush on Dylan?!" Cadence squealed in joy. For as long as Cadence knew, Celestia nor Luna ever had a significant other. So for her aunt to show even the slightest hint of attraction towards the alien stallion, well, it was simply an opportunity she couldn't pass up. Celestia blushed at the accusation, a shocked look on her face. Before she could rebuke her niece's claims however, the door to the other room opened to show a blushing Dylan.

However he was immediately followed by an excitedly curious Twilight. "Twilight, I am not going to talk to you about… that, okay? I understand you want to know everything, but I'd rather a medical professional do… that, than some self proclaimed scientist. Speaking of which, why the hell are you even trying to be like one? Aren't you a princess already or something?" Dylan asked incredulously, turning to face Twilight.

Dylan watched as Twilight stuttered for a response, only able to perform sections of a single word before cutting herself off. "I- Well- It- Uh- You-" It went on like that for a while. "Look, if you want to ask your medical professionals about the details of my junk, be my guest, but I will only allow a medical professional to even get near my nads." Dylan says whilst pointing at where my dick was underneath my clothes. Twilight huffed, but nodded.

"Okay, fine. We'll have an exam set up tomorrow." Twilight said, exasperated with a blush on her face. Dylan gives a firm nod and turns to see Celestia and Cadence looking at him and Twilight in flustered confusion.

"Don't ask, just… don't." Dylan said while raising a hand and shaking his head.

"Um… Ooooh-kay? Since you are done here, let us get my study so we may talk privately." Celestia said, very confused. She had a bit of an idea of what had happened, and knew she would need to talk to Twilight about boundaries… as well as her job. Dylan did have a point, Twilight was a princess first and foremost, not a researcher or scientist… even if that's what Twilight would have become if not for Celestia intervention that is.





Entering the solar princess's study, I was shocked at the interior. The room was massive, enough to fit a whole house inside. Though, given how big Celestia was, the upsizing of the room was kinda understandable. The room was circular for the most part. The only exception being the entrance and the large fireplace in the back. On each side of me the walls had many bookshelves. A quick glance showed me that we did not share the same written language though, so I had no idea what the books were about.

The desk in front of the fireplace was sized to fit Celestia's frame, with an equally big chair behind it. The wood work on the legs and edges of the desk were immaculate. Effigies of ponies, flowers, and the sun had been carved into the wood. The wood floor was covered in a large area rug that was in the shape of, you guessed it, the sun. Now that I thought about it, there was a lot of sun imagery when it came to stuff about Celestia.

"Damn, pretty snazzy." I said with a low whistle.

"Your kind certainly has come up with a lot of slang words, haven't they?" Celestia asks with a raised eyebrow. I shrug in response.

"Kinda, some of the words I use are just made up. But then again, aren't all words made up?" Celestia was going to respond then paused, and after some thought soon found that I was right.

"That… is a very interesting perspective. A true one, but interesting nonetheless." Celestia said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I walk a mile to work everyday, alone, so I have a lot of time to think. Sometimes my thoughts go into the philosophical." Celestia nodded at that.

"Ah, I see. Well, let's get comfortable, shall we?" Celestia asks as she sits behind her desk, gesturing for the three of us to sit in chairs that had suddenly appeared in a flash of magic.

"Never going to get used to Teleportation." I mumble as I sit down in the chair. I take a small notice of the fact that the bottom part of the back of the chair is open to allow tails to be put through them. Cadence giggled, having heard me.

"Maybe you will in time." She teases. I roll my eyes at her.

"Be that as it may, let us begin." Celestia said as she took a piece of parchment from a drawer, opened the inkwell that was on her desk, and got a quill from another drawer. "First thing's first, what do you need to eat?" Celestia asks.

"Well, if I remember correctly, humans are omni… somethings? Uh, what was the word again? Omnibus, Omniverse, Omni…" I trail off, not remembering the word.

"Omnivore?" Twilight asks, a bit scared. I snap my fingers and point at her.

"Yes, that. Humans are omnivores, so we need meat or something with protein in it to survive… I think." I turn back to Celestia while putting my hand on my small tuft of chin hair, scratching it. "I know there are vegans who only eat plant foods, so I imagine they eat substitutes or stuff of the like. But yeah, most humans eat meat for the high protein count it has. We can't eat it raw, though I think some types of fish, if prepared right, can be eaten raw. Don't exactly know which though." I say with a shoulder shrug.

"We can also drink milk, water, stuff like that. Hmm, I know there are certain plants we can't eat. Just not which ones exactly." The ponies nodded to this. "Uh, anything else, anything else, uh, hmm, I think fruit falls under veggies. Uh, Oh! Grains, we need grains. Pasta, bread, stuff like that, you know?" Celestia and Cadence nodded, while Twilight didn't look at all impressed.

"You're quite vague, you know." Twilight stated, not happy with the lack of more precise information.

"Well sorry I'm not a walking encyclopedia." I said, a bit annoyed. "Normally I can look this stuff up on my phone, but without access to the internet, I can't look up jack squat. And before you ask, no, I have no idea where that saying comes from." I say, sensing the impending question. Twilight just looked at me deadpanned.

"I guess that also goes for about half the stuff you say?" Twilight asks.

"Roughly. Though some of it I just make up on the spot. For example, sometimes I say Mam-ma-jamits, when something goes wrong. Why and how did I create such a word? I was like, 10." I say with a shrug. "Wasn't exactly allowed to use words like 'Damnit' or 'Shit'." I explain casually.

"Speaking of which, how old are you?" Cadence asks, quite curious.

"I will only answer that if y'all answer the same question." I say with a shit eating grin.

"I'm roughly 2000 years old. I lost track of my age a few hundred years ago." Celestia explains. I blink at this.

"Huh… So you're, like, immortal or something? Can't die by aging but can die by normal means? Or are you just long lived like Asgardians? And no, you are not supposed to know what those are." Now it was Celestia's turn to blink in shock. She had certainly not expected such a response. Most had taken her age at face value but here I was, questioning it.

"I… don't really know. Me and my sister had ascended into becoming an Alicorn. As far as we know there haven't been any others before us. While in the early years after our ascension, there were a number of attempts made on my life, the security we had stopped each one. We have fought in wars, but never suffered a wound that could be considered fatal. But, until proven otherwise, I think we are immortal, but can still be killed by normal means." Celestia said, thinking hard.

"Huh, that makes a certain amount of sense I suppose." I then turn to Cadence expectantly.

"I'm still in my early thirties, and Twilight is in her early twenties. Wouldn't want to let you know everything after all~" Cadence said with a teasing wink.

"Hehe, touchè. Well I'm 20, going to turn 21 in a half a year." They all looked shocked at this.

"You're 20 years old?" Twilight asked, not believing my words.

"20 and a half, but yeah." I become a bit sobered as I lean forwards, looking at my lap. " 'Was all ready and prepped to head to college. Now… now I'm stuck here. Nothing but the clothes on my back." I then give a sad chuckle. "God, sounds like those stories from before World War 1. Traveling to a 'new world' with absolutely nothing. But with a fantasy twist to it." I lean back, looking at the ceiling. "But to everyone back home, I just… disappeared. I left nothing for anyone to remember me. I wonder how they're doing…" I trail off, thinking.

"If they still think you're missing, then I think they'll be doing everything in their power to find you." Celestia says softly, her eyes radiating kindness and concern. I give her a soft, though sad, smile in return.

"Yeah, probably." The room goes quiet after that, none of us really knowing what to say next. Sensing the awkward atmosphere, I decide to change the topic. "Uh, how about we move to sociatal norms?" I ask, and with a bit of hesitantance, they agree. Relieved to be off the topic, I look to Cadence first.

"So, uh, any idea on where to start us off?" Twilight looks a bit offended that I didn't ask her so I make it quick to clarify. "No offense, but you seem like a bit of a shut in, and I don't ask Celestia because she's been a princess for over 1000 years, and that alone is cause for some type of worship. So I'm willing to bet ponies don't act as casual around her as she would probably like them. This leaves Cadence, the wildcard cause I seriously haven't heard almost anything about you."

Judging from Twilight's offended yet resigned look, and Celestia's wince, I was right on the money. "You're quite observant, aren't you?" Cadence says with a giggle. I shrug in response.

"Hey, two plus two equals four. I'm just making connections where I see 'em. I might be as thick as they come in certain aspects, but I can still see the obvious when it's presented right in front of me." Cadence chuckles at that.

"Right, well I think the first thing we should talk about is body language. Ponies are very expressive, from our ears to our tails." Cadence said, and I could see her tail move back and forth behind her. "I think it's important that you should be able to read our expressions, and us yours." I nod at this.

"Makes sense to me. Should we start with ears first?" Cadence nods. She then pointed at her aunt, and we began a sort of game. Cadence would make an emotion behind me, and Celestia would copy it using only her ears. I would then guess what that emotion was. Sad, alert, and annoyed were easy, but emotions like anger were a bit harder to read. Sadness was their ears lying flat on their skulls, while angry was similar, though they were angled to be a bit behind their heads.

However I was quick to figure out it was actually quite similar to dogs and how they emote. While it would take me some time to learn everything about their ears, I got the gist of it. I told them that we could skip the face, seeing as humans had small facial features so their larger ones made reading facial expressions quite easy. So we went right to the tail. This actually was more like a cat than a dog, but still had some dog aspects. Happy was a wagging motion, sad or scared was having it tucked against their legs, and mad or agitated was short flicks.

It was actually kinda cute seeing Celestia's tail wag if I'm being honest. After a few more minutes of practice, we decided to stop and talk about something else. "So what about you Dylan? What are emotional cues humans have?" Twilight asks.

I have to stop and think about that one. "I don't know about most humans, but I do have a few tells." I then look straight at Twilight. I sharpen my gaze and tense my arms. Twilight looks me up and down in concentration.

"You're… mad?" She asks more than states. I nod, letting the tension go.

"Like Cadence said, our facial features are quite similar, so the only real tells we have are our posture and arms. Tense muscles mean anger or fear, slumped shoulders for sadness, stuff like that." Twilight nods, writing what I said down.

"So other than not having a tail or movable ears, we're practically the same when it comes to showing our emotions? This is very intriguing. I wonder what else humans and ponies have in common."

"Well if that's it for now about body language, what about social norms? I don't want to accidentally insult someone while I talk to them." I say, rubbing the back of my head.

"Yes, nor do you want to accidentally ask a mare on a date." Cadence says with a smirk. I blush at that thought.

"Yes, definitely not that either."

"I guessed that, so I think the first one we should talk about is gender roles." Cadence continues. "How is it back in your world Dylan?"

"Well, that depends on where in the world, but mostly everyone is equal where I'm from. Though, it wasn't always like that. But I'll table that for later. However, there were some aspects where guys were expected to do certain things. For example, it's usually the guy who tries to ask out a girl. There are also jobs. Construction, for example, is a job you wouldn't expect a woman to go for. They can but it's just not expected and I can tell you this, they would be heckled and cat called constantly." The princesses nod at this, seeing my logic.

"I see, then I think it is safe to say that it is the exact opposite case here." Celestia says, and my eyes widen at that. But, after a moment of thought, I realize that that's not the most bizarre thing.

"Huh, interesting. Kinda reminds me of a movie back where I'm from. I'll tell you more about it later. It will take some getting used to, being in a female dominant country that is, I can tell ya that much." I said, adjusting my hat. From there we talked about various topics that revolve around social norms. Day to day conversation. How some stores have solid prices and others bargain and haggle. Even going to the more… romantic side of things. Speaking of which. "Hold up, wait a minute, back it up, say that again." I say pointing to Cadence.

"We ponies are polyamorous?" Cadence asked, confused. I sat there stunned, looking at her with wide eyes. After about a full minute of process I finally react.

"Man this place is fuckin' wild" I shake my head in exasperation, taking my hat off and running a hand through my hair. "I can understand the reasoning enough, I've gathered enough context clues to figure out that y'all outnumber your males by a significant amount. Therefore having one male with several females does make up for the lack of males. I think it's the same with wolves and lions back home. Not exactly a hundred percent sure. But actually having it as a societal norm is still quite bizarre to me."

"Then that means your race is more monogamous?" Celestia deduced, which I soon confirmed with a nod. "Hmm, then I suppose it will take some time for you to be comfortable with our dating practices. But that's nowhere here, that will come with time. Speaking of time, I do believe it is time for lunch." Celestia said as she stood from her seat. She was soon joined by the rest of us.

"Sweet, I startin' ta get hungry." I said with a grin. We made our way out of the study, and back to the dining room we were in this morning. During the walk, I decided to talk with Celestia. "Hey Celestia, what's for lunch anyway?" I asked the tall mare.

"I don't know, what were you thinking of having Dylan?" I hummed while pursuing my lips. I thought about it for a bit before deciding.

"I was thinking of having a grilled cheese and some ramen soup. What about you?" Celestia hummed, thinking.

"You know what, I think I'll have the same. Though, I must ask, what's Ra-Men?" The way she said the word made me chuckle.

"It's a Japanese type of noodle soup I think. I think I have some in my backpack." I say, pulling it off my shoulders and holding it in front of me. I look around and in the very front, I find a single pack of Maruchan chicken flavored ramen. I give the pack to Celestia as I zip up my backpack and put it back on my shoulders.

"Hmm, looks quite interesting." Celestia says, looking over the plastic wrapping. "And this material is quite strange. What is it?"

"It's plastic. We make it out of a byproduct of refined oil. You'd be amazed by all of its uses." Celestia gave a hum of thought as she looked over the wrapping once more, rubbing her hands over the plastic.

"It feels quite smooth, yet, it is very… crinkly." Celestia says, a bit confused.

"That's plastic for you. Though on the opposite side is hard plastic." I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. I pry the hard plastic protective casing off, and hand it to Celestia. Her eyes widened at the severe difference.

"Incredible. And your kind has mass produced such a material?" Celestia asks, to which I nod.

"Keep in mind though that in either way, it is incredibly fragile. Plastic like that," I point to the ramen package, "is easily tearable. While hard plastic, when bent to a certain point, snaps and breaks. Though that also depends on the thickness of the plastic and how it is made. Plastic is a very versatile material. However, it melts fairly easily, and it lasts for a very long time. Like, it doesn't decompose for decades, maybe even a whole century or two. So trying to throw it away isn't really a good idea." Celestia nods in agreement and understanding. Soon we come up on the dining room, but instead of stopping there we go into the connecting kitchen.

The chefs inside are understandably a bit shocked to see not only me but the 3 princesses as well. Celestia steps forwards, then begins to speak. "Good afternoon my little ponies. We feel like making our own lunch today. So you are dismissed until dinner." The chefs were a bit unsure, but bowed to their princess, and with a bit of magic on their part, left us a completely clean kitchen.

"Huh, looks like I'm making lunch." I said, taking the ramen package back from Celestia. After searching for a bit I set out a skillet, a small pot, a butter knife, some bread, and a good number of sliced cheese. I also was able to gather some cinnamon, paprika, and garlic powder.

"Garlic Powder?" Cadence, who was watching me along with the other two, questioned.

"Yeah, I mix it with the ramen. Really helps bring out the chicken flavoring." I respond as I fill the pot with water. I set it on the stove and turn it up high. "Alright, while this does it's thing, I want to know more about y'all. Feel like I've been telling y'all everything about me but I barely know anything about any of you." I say, not looking back at them as I check the grilled cheeses.

"Hmm, alright. What did you want to know?" Celestia asks. I shrug and answer back.

"Whatever comes to mind. Tell a story about your life, something you like, whatever. Just something for me to listen to."

"Very well. Though, I don't think my life has been that exciting recently. What about you Twilight?" Celestia deflects.

"Oh, uh, well not that long ago me and my friends, along with my assistant, had to travel way out of Equestria."

"Oh cool. See anything interesting?" I asked with a bit of excitement while I stirred the ramen, breaking up the noodles.

"We did, actually. We went to Mount Aris, home of the Hippogriffs. While it wasn't in the best shape at the time, it was still quite interesting to see."

"Sweet. Sucks you didn't see it at its best, but you know, stuff happens. Anyway, what exactly is a Hippogriff? I mean, I know about Griffons back in my world, but I've never heard of a Hippogriff." I could tell they were a bit shocked by my answer, cause there was a few seconds of silence.

"A Hippogriff is sort of a mixture between a pony and a griffon, without the lion part that is." Celestia responded while I added some butter into the ramen, and flipped the grilled cheeses.

"Ah, I get ya. A crossbreed. Not exactly a minority, since it is classified as their own species and has their own territory from the sounds of it." I could almost imagine the fish look Twilight was giving me. "Hey, I might not be smart in the science sense, but I'm actually well versed in mythological animals… though I guess they aren't mythological here. You know, it's actually quite strange. Y'all call yourselves unicorns, pegasus… es? Pegasus's? What's the plural for pegasus?"

"Pegasi." Cadence supplies.

"Yeah, right, that, and you just said you have griffons and I do think there are hippogriffs from somewhere, whether from ancient myth or pop culture, in my world. It's weird that stuff in my world, magic, creatures of mythos, and such, is real here, yet not in my world. Makes me wonder that, at some point in time, my world did have all that. Yet, because of how we are, we hunted all of that down to extinction. Yet I don't think that's possible either. There'd be some record, or at the very least a fossil or remains of something mythical if we did hunt it down at some point in history." When I stop talking I realize I went on a bit of a rant, that and the food had finished cooking.

I rub the back of my head, a blush on my cheeks from the embarrassment that I was thankful they couldn't see. "Hehe, sorry. Mouth ran away from me. Uh, back to your story Twilight?" I ask the youngest Alicorn. She blinked, her mind having been running a hundred miles a minute as she mentally noted my words.

"Oh, yes, right, well in Mount Aris we found an entrance to an underwater part of the hippogriff city, where all the hippogriffs had moved after using their magic to transform into sea-ponies." I stop looking for plates and bowls to blink in shock at that.

"Wow, that's fuckin' wild. So wait, if they all moved there, then that means the surface was abandoned, why?"

"The same reason we were going there in the first place. You see, a tyrant that goes by the name Storm King attacked Canterlot, taking it and Equestria over. Celestia sent me and my friends to go find the hippogriffs, hoping they would help us."

"Shit, that doesn't sound good. Though we've had our fair share of tyrants though. Most 'ave ended up with them either being captured or killed. Hitler, worst guy in history, committed suicide to avoid being caught. He knew that if he was, he would be tortured, and rightfully so. Bastard was trying to commit genocide. If you don't know what that is, it's the extermination of a group of people or species." I say back, having found the plates and bowls while Celestia retrieved the silverware.

"Oh Maker, that sounds horrendous. We've had some try many things, but never genocide… except maybe Chrysalis." Cadence spat out that name with much venom.

"Chrysalis? What do you have against a shell that a bug makes for their metamorphosis?" I could tell I stumped them with that.

"You know, I've never thought about that, her name is related to what Dylan just explained. Same goes for King Thorax. Wait, are Changeling names based on bug parts and processes? I'll have to ask him next time I see him." Twilight thought out loud.

"Wait, y'all have Changelings?! Fucking hell, this world's more like Supernatural than I thought." I curse, though I was pretty sure they weren't talking about the same ones I'm thinking of.

"You know what a Changeling is?!" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Yeah, creepy little shits. I wonder what other similarities this world has to Supernatural." I then grimace. "I really hope y'all don't have vengeful spirits or demons, cause I am not about to die to one of those. Then again, I could take what I've learned from Sam and Dean and fight back. Now that would be cool. Don't know if I'd survive it, cause the hunter life is very tough." I shrug a bit after I get done pouring some of the ramen into each bowl.

"I think we might be talking about two different things. Do you mind explaining your version of a Changeling?" Celestia asks quizzically.

"They're kinda like shape shifting parasites that feed off of a parent's life force. A queen changeling makes drones that shapeshift into a kid, the queen swaps the drone with the child the drone shapeshifted into, and the drone then drains the…" I trail off, trying to remember the word as I set the grilled cheeses on plates. "Uh, something fluid of the parent till death, bringing the liquid back to the queen. Like a parasitic ant colony. They can't be seen normally, only by reflection can you see what a changeling actually looks like. They have empty eye sockets with gray skin, and their mouth is similar to a leach, but with many more teeth. The only way to kill 'em all is to kill the queen with fire. They have super strength, agility, teleportation to a degree, and invulnerability, burning the little shits is the only way to kill them."

"That, that, that's horrifying?!" Cadence stuttered out, looking like she had seen someone kill a kitten.

"Yep, that's why Supernatural was such a hit horror show. Two brothers going after the, well, 'supernatural' to protect people from it. It's not real, and I don't think it would be a good thing if it did. But this is an entirely new world, so if some of the things in the show did exist here, I wouldn't be that surprised." I say, the food now ready for everyone. Together we take our respective plates and bowls to the dining room. However the whole time they were silent. Once we had sat down, they spoke up.

"Dylan, are you alright? You seem… a bit erratic." Cadence questioned.

"Yes actually, I'm quite excited to learn as much as I can about this world. I am an alien in a world of magic. You have to admit, it sounds pretty exciting. As for my erratic behavior, just another small hitch my autism has inflicted me with. I can never simply just sit still and do nothing, unless I am trying to sleep. Without something to occupy my mind, it tends to roam. And trust me when I say, it goes to weird places when it roams."

They are a bit shocked, understandably, by my quick explanation. "That's why I usually either listen to music or have a fidget toy for one of my hands to mess with. But all this is vastly more interesting, so until the novelty wears off, I'm gonna be like this for a while… probably. Again, weird brain chemistry."

"I… see. Your mind is hyperactive and doesn't like doing nothing, yes?" Celestia summed up.

"In a nutshell, yeah." I confirm.

"Hmm, well let's not let this food get cold, we can continue to talk later." Celestia said, getting a bit of ramen on her fork. It slipped off. She tried again but was met with similar results.

"Here, try it like this." I then put my fork into the ramen and scooped it like the fork was a spoon. Then I twirled the fork till the ramen was sure to not go anywhere. The others did the same and after taking a bite their eyes widened.

"This tastes amazing Dylan! The texture of the noodles are a bit odd, but not unlike noodle soup." Twilight analyzed for the table.

"I was bored of the same thing over and over, so I experimented a bit one day. This isn't the final product, as I'm still testing, but so far this is the combination I like most." I tell them, taking a bit more ramen and slurping it, not even bothering to chew. I simply sucked it up and let it slip down my throat at the same time. I then took my grilled cheese and dipped it in the broth.

The others saw this and copied me, and we're delighted by the broth filled grilled bread and melted cheese. "Mmm, this is great. Reminds me of when I was still a pegasus." Cadence said, remembering her days of when she was a sick foal in an orphanage, the caretaker would always make her soup and grilled cheese. "Can't believe I almost forgot about how great this is."

"Sounds like y'all usually have a much different palette." Celestia nods and then speaks after finishing chewing.

"We all have dietitians who dictate what we do and don't eat. They help us keep our 'royal figure' as it were." Celestia said, gesturing to her body. I couldn't help but blush and look away.

'Was it just me or did that seem a bit… seductive? Nah, you just imagining shit.' I think to myself. Of course though my mouth had other ideas of keeping that to myself. "Well they are doing a good job, I must say." '... Brain what the fuck.' They all blushed at my words, and I swear I could almost see Twilight's and Cadence's tails wagging. It was a lot harder to tell with Celestia though seeing as she was sitting opposite me and her tail and hair was always waving in an unfelt breeze.

"Thank you Dylan, that is very nice to hear." Celestia said, actually a bit happy. Even though most nobles say the same thing, they hadn't even nearly gotten the same reaction as Dylan had elicited. She wasn't actually developing a crush on the resident alien, was she?

(To be continued in part 3)



























Back on Earth





"The hell do you mean you can't find him?!" My mother yelled at the top of her lungs into the face of a stoic general. "Why the hell is the military even involved?!" She yells, pointing at the quarantine tent in the middle of the road and then at the various military personnel surrounding the tent.

"I'm sorry ma'am but that information is classified." This was clearly the wrong thing to say.

"Then you better unclassify it real fast." She says with a glare. Behind her, the rest of my family had similar glares, save for my brothers and sisters who weren't there. The general sighs, shaking his head.

"Fine, but if one word of this escapes then you'll be in federal prison for the rest of your lives." The general turns, gesturing to them to follow him. Doing so, the general leads my family to the quarantine tent. Stopping at a window that was hidden from view, he gestures for my family to look inside.

Doing so, they all gasp when they see the glowing fracture of energy floating in the air. "What in god's name is that?" My stepfather says in shock.

"From what we can tell, a rip in space time. When it was stable, your son seemed to have stumbled through it, and soon after it collapsed. Not completely though, as you can see. Who or whatever made this must have been doing a test, which has failed. In all likelihood… your son is dead." My mother begins to tear up, and is hugged by my stepfather, who is just stunned, unable to properly react to the news.

My father looked utterly defeated, and my stepmother was trying to comfort my dad. "It's news I wouldn't wish on any parent, but I ain't gonna lie. We're going to try and figure this out, and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to save your son. That is, if he is surviving, wherever he's found himself." The general says, then turns back to the crack with a cautious glare.
> Day One of Questions: Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once we had finished lunch, we decided to head back to Celestia's study. However, it was determined that instead of talking about their world, we would start talking about mine. I was mostly okay with this. 'Mostly' because there are aspects of humanity that, one, I really hated, and two, I felt uncomfortable talking about. The first one, how humans treat each other based on minor differences.

The second, well, the worst of the worst basically. Murders, rapists, pedophiles, Hitler, shit like that. I mean I could imagine they might have that stuff here as well, but I have a really hard time believing that with how awesome their world seems. Then again, I haven't actually seen anything beyond this castle, so I might be a bit biased. I mean yeah, humanity has done plenty of good stuff too, but to me it just seems like the bad outweighs the good.

When we finally get back to Celestia's study, I take in a deep breath to steady my nerves as I sit down. "Alright, so, what do y'all want to know?" I ask them, looking around. Twilight, obviously, was first.

"What's the most advanced piece of technology in your world?" She asked excitedly. I blink and have to think on that.

"Well that depends really, as there are several different lines of technology. There's gaming technology, there's space tech, movie tech, and a whole lot more that I can't remember at the moment. But the one I know best is gaming tech. The most advanced technology we have for gaming is a VR headset. Basically it's goggles with screens inside them, which are shaped in just the right way to make it seem like you aren't wearing anything, and you're just… there."

Their eyes were wide in awe as I did my best to describe a VR headset. "Then you also have two controllers, one for each hand. Obviously you use those to move around and do stuff in the game. I don't have one myself, though I've always wanted one, but to me it is the highest level of technology we've achieved when it comes to video games."

"That sounds incredible. You could go around the entire world from the comfort of your home!" Twilight exclaimed in excitement.

"And then some. Who says what happens has to be realistic? You could be the hero in an action movie. You could be a survivor of a zombie apocalypse. You could be an explorer of outer space." Twilight's eyes got wider and wider. "And that's the beauty of video games. Books allow you to imagine the story, movies show you the story, but video games? You are in the story. You are a character that influences the outcome of the story. You can make friends, build relationships, hurt, kill, protect, become sad, feel proud, be angry, be happy, anything is possible. Everyone says 'it's just a game'... But it's not. It's… an experience."

The others wipe a few tears away as the pink princess responds. "That sounds truly incredible Dylan. Perhaps one day you can bring such games here for us to experience?" Cadence asked.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't want to get copyrighted. Most I can do is tell y'all about them." They nod in understanding. "So, next question?"

"Yes, how do relationships work in your world?" I blink in a stupor from Cadence's question. That was something I hadn't thought of. Relationships might work differently here.

"That's… a bit of a loaded question. From what I know, seeing as I've never been in a relationship before, I think it works as a guy asks a girl out on a date and if it goes well they become boyfriend and girlfriend. Sometime later if the relationship is still going well then they get married. You know, a one on one relationship. Though that's how it works in America, the country I'm from. I think there are only one or two places in the world that do it like you ponies."

"Interesting. While you can have a one on one relationship here, it wouldn't exactly be seen as normal and the mare is usually seen as selfish by other mares." Cadence tells me.

"That… oddly makes a certain amount of sense. Since having multiple partners is the norm here, a one on one relationship could be seen as odd." I think out loud, rubbing my chin in thought. To me this was incredibly fascinating. There was so much nuisance and depth to everything here, I just wanted to explore it all.

"I think the next question belongs to me." Celestia says with a small smile. "If you were to live your life here, what exactly would you look for in employment?"

That gave me a good amount of pause. The silence lasted for a good minute until I spoke up once more. "I'm… not sure. I'm not really exceptional at any one thing, you know? A sort of, Jack of all trades kinda guy. You have me do something, and if I'm taught well, I can do it. But when it comes to jobs where your work is more open to interpretation or imagination, like clothes making or such, then I'll find myself overwhelming myself with even the tiniest detail. So I would like a job that's straightforward, something I can understand with enough effort."

Celestia nods in understanding. "Yes, there are a few ponies like that. If you'll allow us, we do have a few ponies in mind who would happily employ you." Celestia says, then gestures to the others.

"One choice is a pony named Saffron Masala-"

"Wait, based on naming conventions that I have gleaned, saffron relates to food, and masala sounds like an Indian dish. So an Indian restaurant, yes? Yeah, no thanks. I tried working in the food industry once, and I just couldn't keep up. I'm just too… detail oriented." Twilight was a bit put off by my sudden interruption but quickly rallied.

"Alright, well one of my friends, her name is Rarity, owns a boutique here in Canterlot. Maybe you could work there?" I think about this for a moment, but shake my head.

"Nah, I don't think that would be a good idea. If the customers are as high society as I think they are, and if their lines of thinking are similar to that of one of the old ages of my world. Even if I did do good work, me being a different species would deter customers." Twilight had to admit, she hadn't thought of that.

"Maybe you could work in the modeling industry?" Cadence suggested. This immediately earned her an incredulous deadpan. "I'm serious. You being another species will earn you points for being exotic." I wanted to argue against this, but she did have a point. If this world was as okay with other species as I thought it was, then maybe my being an alien in this world could earn me a few points.

"I suppose, but I'd need to work on my body a lot more. Not that I would be opposed to having a better looking body, don't get me wrong. I just have a confidence issue. Though maybe extreme exposure therapy could be what I need." I thought out loud.

"Our last thought would be something in the music industry." Celestia said. "Maybe music from your world could spark quite a bit of interest."

"A valid point, but if we do establish a stable connection with my world, even in the far, far future, then I don't want to be the target of copyright." Celestia hummed, nodding.

"While that may be true, that doesn't mean you can't sing some of the songs that are being produced." I shrug at that.

"Yeah, I suppose. Still, all of those sound like big jobs, you know? Me? I'm just… a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had a plan, sort of, and now… I think I just want to process it before I make any big life choices." They look at me with soft, understanding smiles.

"Cadence and I can understand that more than you think. Though it wasn't as sudden as yours. Before I became an Alicorn Princess, I was just a unicorn learning about friendship." Twilight said, a small smile on her face as she remembered the past.

"And I was just an orphaned pegasus that got lucky. Celestia trained us before we ascended to becoming Alicorns, so we were a bit more prepared, but neither of us would have ever thought we would end up where we are today." Cadence said in a more comforting tone than Twilight had.

I gave a soft hum, processing this new info. Maybe, just maybe, this was a second chance just waiting for me to take it? I knew that, for now, I wasn't prepared to take it. Maybe once I had properly acclimated to my new surroundings, I could take it. After all, it was waiting for me. "Thanks for telling me that. It's kinda nice to have someone who can sympathize with you. Or is it empathize? I can never remember which is which."

"Neither can I." Celestia and Cadence said at the same time. After that we all had a small laugh.

"Alright, alright, let's move on." I said after we had stopped laughing. The next one to ask a question was Celestia again.

"So Dylan, what can you tell us about your world's history? I imagine it must be quite bizarre if it churned out such amazing technology." Celestia said, a bit excited. However, that excitement soon went away at my barely visible wince.

"Yeah, that's one word you could use to describe my world's history." I sigh, leaning back and rubbing the bridge of my nose. "To be honest, bloody is a much better word. There's a lot of stuff in our recorded history, a lot of the more prominent stuff isn't exactly nice stuff. It'd take me at least a week just to cover a decade, so could I get another question?" They were a bit stumped at my response, but eventually Celestia nodded and began to think of another question. Eventually, she did come up with one.

"Alright, what about the food in your world? What is it like?" I had to think about this for several moments.

"Well… I can't say for the rest of the world, but food in America is pretty good, at least to me. And most stuff is easy to prepare, well, except for certain stuff which takes hours in advance to prepare. But the kind of stuff you can find from other countries is just crazy. I'm sure at least one of you can relate to that."

"Oh, me and Cadence can, most certainly. Though I do not think Twilight has yet to try out cuisine from the other lands. Though some of them have a carnivorous diet, which we simply can't eat." Celestia explained.

"No, not really, other than Spike that is. Speaking of, I should probably send him a scroll, telling him I'm going to have to stay here longer than I thought. If you'll excuse me." Twilight said, then teleported away.

"Spike?" I ask, turning to Celestia.

"Twilight's adopted dragon brother." I made a face of understanding then paused.

"Dragon. There are dragons here? Fucking awesome! Oh, I wonder if they'll understand the dragon language of Skyrim! Oh, that would be awesome! I could finally flex my skill which everyone thought was useless!" I said, more to myself than anything.

"Hmm, maybe. Would you mind giving us an example?" Cadence asked. I nod and clear my throat.

"This is a part of a song based off of the game. 'Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein, vokul, mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin, kogaan mu draal!' It's just the first part, and I don't do it anywhere near how it is done professionally, but still pretty awesome even without the soundtrack behind it."

"Hmm, no, I have never heard a dragon utter anything like that before, not even a thousand years ago. Though I must say, you have a really nice singing voice. Are you sure you wouldn't be interested in joining the music industry? I'm sure with some proper training, you could be the next 'big thing' in Equestrian pop culture." Celestia said, tilting her head a little bit.

"Eh, maybe. Just as long as they don't ask for anything from my world. Like I said, if we somehow manage to create a stable way back and forth, I don't want to be hit with any copyright strikes, sued for ripping off someone's song, you know, stuff like that." I said while wagging a finger in a no-no gesture. Celestia nodded in agreement.

"Of course. Though I would like to hear some more music from your world. As I'm sure Cadence, Luna, and Twilight would as well." I nod then give her a grin.

"Only if y'all return the favor. Like hell am I going to pass up the opportunity to listen to music from another world!" Celestia giggles then nods.

"Fair enough. You know, sometimes you remind a bit of Twilight's friends. A bit boisterous, yet also quiet and reserved, simply content to just listen and observe. Though you are by no means shy. And you always tell the truth how you see it." I shrug at her observations.

"All that is true to a certain degree. To say I always tell the truth is obviously a lie, and I'm actually quite shy when it comes to meeting new people, but after they don't immediately dismiss me they do find I get really excited really easily. It's part of having anxiety. I'm fucking terrified of everything all the time. Hell, most days I walk to work, even though I know I did nothing wrong, I just have this unreasonable sense of foreboding that my boss is just going to say, 'you're fired, get your stuff and get out'. Yet it has never happened. That's how scared of everything I am. I'm scared that if I say the wrong thing at the wrong time, y'all will just decide to lock me up." They look at me with wide, yet sympathetic eyes.

"Oh Dylan, that sounds horrible." Cadence says, coming over and giving me a hug, something I immediately try to wiggle out from.

"Yeah, no, none of that please." I say after she let me go. I shake my arms and chest, like I was shaking off a bunch of invisible bugs. "Unless I say so, please, don't touch me. Another condition I have is autism. One of the things that comes with it is that I'm wholly uncomfortable with others touching me that I'm not familiar with." Cadence winces at this.

"Sorry, I didn't know. Ponies by nature are really touchy feely. So if we see somepony in distress, we try to make them know they aren't alone, to give them comfort."

"Oh yeah no, I get that, but for humans, unless it's a really close friend or family, no further than a cousin, then it's just weird, and that's without having what I have. I sometimes don't like it when even my mother touches me." Cadence nods at this, understanding.

"I should have guessed, very similar to the griffins actually. Still, I'm sorry that I caused you that discomfort Dylan." I wave a hand a her.

"Water unda da bridge." Cadence giggles at the goofy voice I used. Suddenly, a purple flash of light announced the return of Twilight, and she was looking at me sheepishly. I suddenly had a bad feeling.

"So I know you wanted some time to adjust before meeting my friends… but my friends were kinda with Spike when I sent the letter." I facepalmed.

"And they are curious about me and want to meet me." I place my hands together in front of me, palm to palm, and take a deep breath. After a few seconds, I speak once more. "Fuck." I say, pointing my hands at the ground.