I need a new set of eyes, NOW!
"That at least doesn't look like a forest I am used too." I commented dryly, seeing the abnormality of a forest we were about to enter. And I thought the bridge we just crossed had been crazy enough, excluding of course all the other crazy stuff that just happened only minutes ago.
Back to the forest, it looked pretty dark. Almost no sunlight was coming through the branches and the trees...I couldn't even categorize them into anything similar I have seen. "The old road which leads to the castle should still be intact." Celestia mused. "Well, not exactly "intact", after all, a thousand years passed, but there should still be a dirt road left. If we follow this path, we should reach Ponyville within an hour or two."
As if on a silent command we all started following her inside. No one really said a word, not even Pinkie, who was jumping around with a constant smile on her face. Luna was constantly walking next to her sister, having body contact the entire time. I guess one thousand years alone makes you a little cuddly. I'm just surprised she didn't suffer any higher psychological damage.
Rainbow Dash was with Fluttershy the entire time, because the latter looked like she was ready to curl up in a ball and die. Rarity and Twilight were constantly walking together, obviously a little tense, but nothing too serious. As for Applejack, she was walking to my right side, glancing every now and then to either me or Luna. I guess she was curious.
And I got bored. Get used to it, this will happen a lot. And normally when I get bored I turn on my phone and listen to some music. Just I wasn't sure how they would react to me or when I would be able to recharge the thing. At this time I didn't know I was in the future, in case some idiots haven't noticed. Belief me those people exist, the author being one of them.
After some more walking I got really bored and just took out my phone, searching through my song library. "I hope you guys have nothing against rock music." I said and just started a "Raised on Rock" from the "Scorpions". The reactions of the ponies were just priceless.
Twilight and Fluttershy shrieked up, with the latter flying inside the branches of a tree. Celestia's head snapped towards me, while Rarity gasped and breathed like she just had a heart attack. Applejack shouted: "What in tarnation?!"
I think my favorite reaction was Pinkie Pie, who first started moving her head towards the rhythm of the music until she started a full dance when it got to the refrain the first time. Second place was definitely Luna, trying to use her magic on me. I knew because my shield activated, but Luna soon needed to catch her breath. Finally Rainbow Dash tried to slam me to the ground, but then again, you know? Shield. It looked like it really hurt and I felt a little bad for the girl.
But mostly I was laughing my ass off at their reactions. Celestia was (unsurprisingly) the first one to calm down, while I was turning down the volume a bit. "Nice thing, huh?" I asked, trying to stop snickering.
"That's a very particular artifact." Celestia stated, while looking curiously at the phone I was holding up. The others more or less recovered from their shock, though there was not much of a shock with Pinkie Pie.
"It's a smart phone." I replied. "Sorry 'bout scaring you guys, but I couldn't resist." I grinned like an idiot. Celestia approached me intrigued, holding Luna close to her side.
"It makes music?"
"Not 'make', you can put recorded music on it, but that's not its main function. Normally I can communicate with other people who have a phone of their own."
That seemed to somehow knock of them off their shoes, if they would wear any, especially Twilight, who was now pretty close to my hand and looking at the thing.
"Really? How does it work?" she asked excited.
"Well" I put my fist under my chin, thinking "I'm not an expert, but it sends invisible like waves towards a station, which then sends it towards a satellite."
"Ehh, ya kinda lost me already, sugar." Applejack said.
"A satellite is a giant station we shot out of our planet and they circle around it, basically catching the waves and sending them to their destination. That's as simple as I can put it for you guys."
"Wait a minute!" Rainbow flew up to me. "You said those satel- those things are pretty huge. Like how huge?"
"Eh...about the size of a building, from the...top of my hand I'd say. Why?"
"Then how the buck did you get those thing out of your planet?!" she exclaimed. "That's impossible!"
"As curious as I am to hear the explanation, we should focus on getting back to Ponyville first." Celestia stated calmly.
"If you say so." I shrugged. "Mind if I keep the music playing?"
"Yes, it could attract some rather violent creatures." Celestia said sternly.
"Aw, fine." I pouted a little, but got her reasoning. I turned my phone completely off and put it away. We continued our little walk through the forest, with everyone staying close together. Celestia even seemed to give Luna some energy for what she had lost by attacking me.
After ten more minutes Luna all of the sudden stopped. We all looked back at her, while she was staring to the side of the road. "What's wrong sister? Ponyville isn't far away anymore."
I walked up to Luna and saw that she was trembling slightly, while staring into that particular direction. I looked there too, but didn't quite get what she was seeing. I squinted my eyes a little bit and finally caught something. It was grey.
I walked towards the thing and brushed the plants away. It was covered in moss and looked a little ancient. "It looks like a road sign." I said aloud.
Celestia took a look too and immediately her face turned into a frown. "Oh dear." she muttered. She turned towards the rest of the group. "Could you please give my sister and me some alone time?" She looked at me as well. Knowing better than to ask, all of us walked a little ahead, until we were out of earshot.
I leaned against a tree, while the ponies were all gathering in a circle. "What do you think they're talking about?" Rarity asked directed at Twilight.
"I honestly have no idea."
"Celestia is probably comforting Luna." I called over. "Looked like she really needs it."
"Ah think, ah understand. Ah can't imagine being separated from mah sis, fer so long."
"At least she isn't dead." I didn't realize I said this, while I was looking down. I also didn't notice the others giving me a strange look. Some hoof steps caught our attention and we found out that Celestia was already finished with Luna, who was once again stuck under Celestia's wing.
"Let us go." she simply stated. We all gave her a worried look, but yet again, none of us spoke up. The rest of the trip went uneventful. We spotted some strange plants, like that blue one or those red berries with green spots, but no animals or monsters, which in a sense was disappointing. No monsters for me to see.
Eventually...
"Oh, oh, I can see the exit!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Wonder how everyone will react to a two legged omnivore." I mused. And I got another look. Anyone counting how many looks I have gotten today? Okay, maybe not THAT many.
"Um...excuse me...Sarah?" I barely managed to hear Fluttershy with her meek voice.
"Yeah?" When I turned to Fluttershy, she backed off immediately. Then she took a deep breath and flew a little closer again. "Uh...you're not going to eat any ponies...are you?" she squeaked the last two words. I snorted.
"Don't worry. Humans can survive without meat. Heck, there're tons of humans who don't eat meat at all. I'm pretty sure I can do without and aside from that, now that I really think about it, I think it's even forbidden to eat ponies from where I come from."
"Oh...okay." She whispered. I wasn't sure whether she was actually relieved or not, as she slowly flew backwards, hiding behind her huge mane.
"Darling" Rarity spoke to me. She motioned with her hoof to bend down, so she could whisper to me. "Fluttershy is an animal caretaker and she loves her animals and animals in general. Also she's very sensitive."
"Oh, sorry. Didn't know, but I'll keep it in mind. Uh, any advice how I can make her warm up to me?"
"Only one: take your time. I don't know her as well as Rainbow Dash."
"Thanks."
While we had our little exchange, we finally had made it out of the forest. So far I couldn't see much of a town around. There was only a cottage with a river floating nearby. Outside of it were some birdcages and houses hanging, but there were no birds for some reason.
We simply walked away from it towards the houses I finally could make out in the distance. "Why isn't anyone around?" I asked.
"Everypony must still be in the center around the town hall." Twilight said.
"Oh, I hope they're not too worried." Fluttershy said.
"You know Fluttershy, if they're not too worried, they could be described as people, ehh, ponies who don't care about their leaders." I pointed out.
"YOUR HIGHNESS!"
"Forget I said anything." I looked up towards where the voices came from and found two white pegasi in gold armor flying down towards us. I briefly wondered how they were able to fly with that armor, 'cause it looked pretty heavy to me.
The guards bowed, giving me a glance, but focused on Celestia. "Rise my little ponies. Today is a day of great joy. First I'd like to introduce you to my sister and co-ruler of Equestria princess Luna."
Celestia nudged Luna gently to step up. From the angle of things, the pegasi didn't see the nudge. I watched them carefully as Luna stepped up, holding herself quite well. Guess she never forgot how a princess is supposed to present herself. As for the guards, well...I'm pretty sure I saw them tense up more than just a little bit. And I swear I saw Celestia giving the guards the scariest glare before they started to bow.
"It...is an honor." One of them managed to get out.
"*cough* liar *cough*" Hey it was the truth. I even managed to get a snicker out of Rainbow.
After a few more moments Celestia told the guards that they may rise. Her sister stepped back, probably still a little uneasy.
"You have probably been wondering. This here is Sarah Teasdale. She's a creature known as a human and the bearer of a new, unknown seventh element of harmony."
Wait, the guards already knew about the elements? (Yeah, I have my moments)
"How's it hanging? Oh and if I hear you say a specific thing to my friend over there, I'll just ignore all ethics and make you guys my next lunch meal. Sounds like a deal?"
The two stallions blinked and gave each other a glance, before the left one spoke up. "You realize you're threatening the royal guard?"
"See if I care." I put my arms behind the back of my head. "Lu's been through a lot and she needs some friends and not some watchdogs."
Before we could really start insulting each other, Celestia raised her wing and stopped us. "Let us go to the rest. I don't want to worry Luna's and my subjects more than necessary."
"No need for us going to them, Cel. They're coming." I pointed towards a group, no, a herd of ponies coming our way. A COLORFUL herd of ponies, some of them flying towards us.
"HEY EVERYPONY!" Pinkie shouted and jumped repeatedly.
"Are alright darling?" Rarity asked me, seeing my totally pale face. I needed to rub my eyes.
"Just...not used to so many colors at once. I comparison to everything here, my world can be considered all grey. Humans...tend to have only a few skin colors varying from white to dark brown. Not to mention most of us don't paint our houses that colorful. And...I could go on for days."
I couldn't go on with the comparison anyway, since every single one of those freaking figment of LSD was staring at me wide eyed.
"W-what?!" I couldn't help but be so flattered at by many pairs of eyes staring at me. "Never seen a human? Oh well I guess not..."
"A HUMAN!" One of them shouted, getting out of the crowd, dragging another mare out of the crowd. The one who had shouted was a mint green unicorn, with a lyre as a cutie mark. Her mane was in similar color with a white streak.
The mare she had dragged along had a coat that was similar to human skin, only a little though and curly dark violet mane, with a pink streak and bonbons as a cutie mark. And she looked a little dazed. "See Bonbon?! I told you humans do exist!" Go figure...what are the chances?
"Is this the part where I am supposed to be creped out?" I asked.
"I dunno." Pinkie replied. "This author here doesn't make any notes. He's a spontaneous writer."
No comment. But I figured if there ever was a way on getting back home it would be through her.
Celestia used the awkward silence to whisper something to me. She wanted me to take off my necklace, so she could show it to her subjects. I nodded and gave it to her, which turned out to be a great mistake. One of the early things I learned about this world (when I was mentally writing this, I had no idea it was just a different time) was to never let my guard down in front of Lyra. The human obsessed mare had Twilight-Pinkie Moment Mix. That's how I got used to Twilight and Pinkie Pie having their moments fairly easy, because seriously? I thought the mare was about to rip my limps apart and ignored the laws of physics (you know, standing in mid-air, while giving me a full body examination).
One time she held my head with her magic. It surprised me a little and I took a few steps back, causing me to trip over a stone and fall. My head hit the chariot in the process, despite Lyra's attempts on trying to hold me up. It only accomplished for my neck to hurt, before I was out cold.
XIII
"Urrgh, anyone got the number on the plate of this truck?" I asked. What? You expect me to shout "good morning Vietnam" again?
"Ah good. You're awake."
I turned towards the voice. The smell of disinfectants entered my nose before my vision cleared. I was obviously in a hospital and it totally looked like any other hospital you and I have been in. In front of me stood a brown pony in a white lab-coat. He had a name tack on it, Dr. Hooves written on it.
"How are you feeling?" the doc pony asked.
"Have been through worse." I replied. I touched my head with my hand and confirmed there was a bandage there. "Minor headache, but nothing else. How long have I been out?"
"Most of the day. The sun is already setting and I advise you to stay for the night. We know nothing about your body's biology or anything, but from what I could tell, you can go out by tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me. Where're the princesses by the way?"
"They should still be in Ponyville. They mentioned they wanted to talk to you before they would depart. Do you feel ready to talk to them?"
"Yeah, sure." I shrugged. From the window I could see that the sun was already setting.
The doctor walked out of the room and I was alone for a few minutes. I noted dryly that I was still wearing my clothes. At least I found out why I felt so warm.
My brain was officially gone on vacation, but not before making reservations in the nuthouse for myself. I stopped thinking too much about the situation and simply relaxed. It didn't take long for the two to arrive in my room. I got up and swung my legs over the edge of my bed, facing both princesses.
"How are you feeling?" Celestia asked.
"Fine. Endured worst from when I landed here. How are things?"
"Tis was...thrilling." Luna said. "Our subjects have welcomed us back openly, especially laughter." She smiled a little. "We also wanted to thank thee for freeing us from the influence of the Nightmare."
"Freeing? I thought you kind of got mad and went into berserk mode or something. Like she was you, only evil."
Luna shook her head. "Alas, we allowed her to "aid" us in our foalish quest for "revenge" on our sister." she let her head hung. "We're sorry, but we feel rather tired at the moment."
"Well, I've been through a lot today too, but I don't think I'm going to fall asleep anytime soon. By the way, sorry to ask, but you got a place where I could stay?"
Celestia giggled. "Don't worry. For the time being I suggest you stay with my faithful student in the local library. As a thank you for helping all ponykind it is only natural that I provide you with a temporary home. I'll personally look into how you appeared in Equestria and will look for a way home for you. I don't want to let your hopes down, but I'm afraid it will take some time until me or one of our scientists can find something."
I just sighed. "Oh well, I guess I better make the best of it for the time being. Like enjoying Luna's night sky? You can't see the stars so well in my place. Too many city lights."
Luna's eyes lit up as I mentioned enjoying her night sky. I know the dog had said I needed to be in bed, but hey, I know a little bit about the law. I can leave a hospital whenever I want. I just have to take care of myself once I'm out.
"It is high time that we return now to Canterlot. You're always welcome at our palace. Farewell for now Sarah."
"Mind if I come along outside? I know the doc said I needed to stay in bed, but hell, it was only a knock on the back of my head. As long as nothing's cracked, I'm gonna be fine."
XIII
Once outside, with a little complaining from the doctor, everyone's eyes were on me of course. "That's some getting used." I muttered. "Can't wait to answer all the questions that are going to come up." I said sarcastically.
"Well then, the two of us will take our leave. Farewell." The two entered a golden chariot, which was carried by the two pegasi from earlier; at least I think it was them.
I watched them a little until they were only a dot in the sky. Once I turned around, I was of course surrounded by curious looking ponies in many colors and way too cute faces, especially the colts and fillies.
"Uh...hi?" I waved my hand weakly. "Does...anyone knows where Twilight lives? It looks like I'll be staying here for a while."
One of the ponies walked up to me and cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Sarah was it?" The princesses must have given her my name.
"Yeah, that's my name." I nodded.
"My name is Ivory Scroll and I'm the mayor of Ponyville. The princesses have instructed me to give you a tour through our little town." she told me.
"That sounds nice...I guess." I scratched the back of my un-bandaged head. "Lead the way I guess."
XIII
Our first stop was the marketplace, being the closest thing to the hospital. There were a lot of different little shops and stands. "Sheesh, now I feel even more like I just have been shoved to paradise."
"Why thank you. Ponyville is quite a unique little town, hosting earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns alike. Normally a town hosts more ponies of one of the three specific races."
"Sounds a little like racism to me." I commented.
"Well, it's not that bad." the mayor assured me. "In our early days, ponies preferred to stay with their respectable race. It is just a matter of what race was responsible for founding the specific town. There are exceptions, like Ponyville was founded by earth ponies. Yet over the course of time a lot of pegasi and unicorns came to our little town."
I memorized some of the more interesting stands, before we moved on. Incidentally we came across a river with a unique building on the other side of it. "Over there we have Carousel Boutique. Rarity lives in there and it is also her business. You wear a lot of clothes, so I guess you two will become friends fast."
"Eh...doubt it. We humans wear clothes because we need to. Not exactly much fur here to keep me warm." I held out my arms to visualize what I meant. "Besides, I have no money at the moment, except human currency."
"I see." the mayor nodded.
We walked through town again, this time in a completely different direction, until the smell of apples entered my nose. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it, until a farm came into view. It had a house, a huge barn a little away and lots of apple trees.
"This is Sweet Apple Acres, run by the Apple family. As the name already suggests, they're running an apple farm, alongside other things. Oh dear, look at the time. I'm afraid we have to cut this little tour short."
She was right; the sun was as good as gone on the horizon. I must have been out for quite some time. "Too bad, I guess. Can you bring me to Twilight's place in that case? The princesses said I could stay there."
"Why of course, this way."
The streets were almost empty by now, which meant less ponies looking at me with their curious eyes. But man, I couldn't get angry at them. They just manage to melt my heart with simply being themselves. "Hey if you're afraid of me, just say it. I won't mind."
"Oh umm..." As expected the mayor was taken aback by this. "Well I admit I was uhh...taken aback by your appearance. Especially since...well. Humans are an almost forgotten myth here. Everypony in Ponyville only knows because Lyra is obsessed with your kind."
"She doesn't happen to be..."
"Yes, it is her."
"Oh god..." I facepalmed.
"She's not so bad. Just a little too passionate sometimes."
"Bet you all dubbed her crazy until I showed up this morning."
I laughed at the loss for words of the mayor.
XIII
"A tree." I deadpanned. "A golden tree. Who the fuck designed this place seriously?"
"Can you please ask Twilight to show you around tomorrow? I'm afraid I'll be occupied the entire day."
"Sure thing and thanks for everything."
"Oh no." The mayor shook her head. "We have to thank you for saving our world. The princesses mentioned about your little debacle and how you saved Twilight from Nightmare Moon. That was very brave."
I scratched the back of my head a little sheepishly. "To be honest, I thought I was in a coma or a dream at this point. Ponies in my world...are a little bit different to say the least. Welp, see ya tomorrow." I casually waved with my hand, while approaching the door. I knocked at it three times and a voice answered from the other side. "It's open!"
I recognized the voice as Twilight's voice and opened the door. To my surprise it was completely dark in the supposed to be library. I tensed a little bit up, but went in none the less. "Uh Twilight? Where's the light switch?"
The lights were turned on at that moment, followed by a gigantic shout: "SURPRISE!"
I almost fell on my butt and again, THE COLORS, I SWEAR!
"Wha-...huh? 'Welcome to Equestria Sarah'?" I read the banner aloud. Looking around, there was a huge party setup with everything except alcoholic drinks. Or I just didn't see that stuff at the time.
Pinkie Pie was all of the sudden in my vision field. "Hiya Sarah! Good to see you're better! It's too bad you got knocked out, because you missed the 'Welcome back Princess Luna' party and then I remembered that you're new to Equestria and I was all GOSH and then I remembered that I never threw a 'Welcome to Equestria' party and then I was even more GOSH and then I knew I needed to make this the biggest and bestest party ever! Were you surprised? Huh? Huh? HUH?!"
"Uhh...what was that in the middle part?" I seriously wished I didn't give Celestia my element of harmony, but damage was done already.
Twilight was so nice to levitate Pinkie away from me.
"Did you set this all up, when I was knocked out?" I asked. "And you still had a party before that?"
"Eh, don't question it." Rainbow waved off. "If Pinkie Pie wants to throw a party, she just throws it."
"Can this day get any more crazy?" I asked. "Oh well, yolo."
"Yolo?" Rarity asked.
I smiled. "Short for: 'You only live once.' Like enjoy live."
"Alright everypony! Let's PARTAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
