I know that it's been a long time since the last chapter. A lot of real life events have prevented me from working on this very much. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Chapter 4: Lunch and Revelations

"This isn't Twilight's place. This is...my apartment. I-I m back home! But how?"

'Spike?'
'Twilight?'

Getting his bearing, Andrew slowly picked himself off the ground. Still a little groggy, he stumbled a bit before catching himself by placing a hand on a nearby bookshelf. Alright. Alright. There has to be a rational explanation for all of this..but what is it? Am I dreaming or is this real?

Andrew pinched the skin on his arm. "Ow, ow. Ok, I'm definitely awake."

*knock knock knock*

"Right. The door."

He took a couple breaths to calm himself down before making his way to the front door. Without even thinking, he unlocked the door and opened it slowly. Normally, he would have checked to see who it was first but his mind was still trying to process what was going on. Had he simply blacked out that night or had it all been real? If it was all a dream, it was the craziest one he'd ever had.

"Well, are you going to let us in or what?" Asked the voice on the other side of the door.

"Mom, is that you?" Andrew rubbed his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. He couldn't understand why his mom of all people would be here, not to mention his dad and sister.

"Well, of course it is. Who else would it be?" She chuckled as she gave her son a hug and ruffled his hair.

"W-What are you all doing here?" Andrew asked with some confusion in his voice. He was still trying to make sense out of what's going on.

"Oh, we were in the neighborhood and thought we'd stop by." His mother replied innocently.

"We live a couple states away from each other." Andrew deadpanned.

"Alright, alright. We wanted to surprise you with a visit. Can't blame a mother for wanting to see her son, can you? What took you so long to answer your door by the way?"

"I was..uh...in the bathroom. Yeah, real emergency." He thought of a response quickly.

"Sure. What's her name?" Katherine teased while she and their parents walked inside.

"There's no one here except me. Alright, [i]Kat[/i]?" Andrew responded rolling his eyes, closing the door behind him.

"Sure thing, Andy." She responded jokingly.

Both siblings turned to stare at each other for a few moments until their serious faces broke into grins and then laughter as they hugged each other. They went into Andrew's bedroom so that they could talk in private.

"How are you doing, sis?"

"I'm doing great, big brother. I start working at the animal shelter next month. I've missed you so much." She emphasized the last part with another squeeze. "What about you? How's work?"

"I'm doing alright. Work is going well. I might be getting that promotion." Andrew tried his best to sound excited but his sister saw right through it. She had known him long enough to know when he's hiding something.

"Well, that's great! She exclaimed happily until she saw her brother's face. Katherine looked around to see if their parents were in earshot of them and leaned in closer to him. "Isn't it?"

"Well, I.." Before he could finish his respond, their mother came into the room.

"And what are you two talking about?" Their mom stood at the doorway.

"Nothing, mom. Just brother and sister stuff."

"Well, do you want to go out and get something to eat?" Mom asked.

"Actually, I'm not feeling that great. How about we make something up here? I should have something that we can whip together."

"Alright, if that's what you want."

Their mom left the room and they followed behind her. "Hey, you still owe me $15."

"Yeah, yeah." Andrew replied, playfully punching her in the arm.

Andrew helped his mother make some sandwiches and heat up some soup. They all sat down to eat. As they ate, Andrew couldn't help but notice that his mind kept going back to everything that he had done with Spike and Twilight. It still felt so real to him. "It felt so real." He muttered to himself, poking his food with his fork.

"What was so real, dear?" His mother asked between taking a bit from her sandwich.

"Oh..umm nothing, mom. Just a weird dream that I had. That's all." He took a bite of his sandwich but there was no flavor to it. It didn't taste like anything, The flavor, if it had any, was that of a rice cake than anything else. He looked down at his sandwich and saw the lettuce, tomato, and bacon but he didn't taste any of them. The sandwich in his hand started to get blury, out of focus. Looking up from his hands, his parents and sister were becoming the same as well. He lifted his glasses to rub his eyes but it had no affect.

Shaking his head, he stood up and excused himself. "I-I'll be right back."

Something about all of this didn't feel right but he couldn't put his finger on it. Looking back at his family sitting at the table, nothing seemed out of place but he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. Suddenly, the voices of his parents and sister became more and more quiet until he couldn't hear anything that they were saying. Katherine had her hand to her mouth like she laughing about something but he couldn't hear her laughter.

"Mom? Dad?" He shouted as walked back to the table. None of them made any indication that they could hear him. They didn't even react when he waved his hand in front of their faces.

He placed his hand on his dad's shoulder but it went right through him. "What the hell?" Suddenly, everyone at the table melted away until he was alone.

"Wait! Come back!" Andrew shouted as he dropped to his knees and hung his head as a tear rolled down his cheek. Everything around him disappeared as well until everything faded to black. A few moments later, he was in an vast grassy field with a starry night sky. All he could hear was the wind blowing through the tall grass and his sniffling.

"Alright, who's there?" Andrew stood up, wiping his eyes on his sleeves. He shouted his questions until he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"A human? So it is true. What are you doing back in Equestria?" Asked the voice.

Andrew turned around to see a tall pony with dark blue fur and strange mane and tail that seemed to flow on their own. It almost looked like the night sky in the way they sparkled. Behind her horn sat a small black crown and around her neck was a neck piece with a crescent moon on it which matched the one on her flank. Her teal eyes gazed at him with surprise and concern. Twilight had explained to him the differences between pegusi, unicorns, and earth ponies but this pony had a horn and wings. She must be of a different species than the other ponies, he concluded.

"What do you mean what am I doing back in Equestria? I'm sorry but just who are you?" Andrew gave the pony a puzzled look.

"Oh, we..I apologize. I'm still not fully accustomed to socializing with others after my..banishment for so long. Our..my name is Princess Luna. My sister told me that Twilight had found a human but I did not believe it."

"So this was all a dream then and I was never home?" Andrew asked. He pinched his arm but he didn't feel anything. "Very strange..."

"I'm afraid not. You are simply dreaming. I am using my power so that we can communicate." Luna replied. "I assume that was your family?"

Andrew nodded. "That's right. My parents and my...sister."

"I am sorry. I know all to well what it is like to be away from one's family."

Andrew looked around him. "What is this place? I've never seen anything like it."

"This is the dreamscape where I can view the dreams of all ponies in Equestria. From here, I can protect them from their nightmares."

"So, why did you visit my dream?"

"I wanted to see if what my sister said was true. Twilight Sparkle wouldn't know what a human looks like but Celestia and I would."

"Are you saying that humans have been to Equestria before?"

Luna nodded, "That is correct, a very long time ago." She did her best to hide her sadness."But this isn't the time or place to discuss it. Our time is almost up anyway. I can sense the sun will be coming up soon."

"Wait. You don't happen to how to send me back home, do you?"

Luna sighed and shook her head. "I'm afraid not. My sister, Celestia, and I are still researching though. We will see each other again, I promise you. Farewell."

Luna melted into the background and disappeared as everything faded to black. This last thing Andrew saw were her glowing eye, watching him.

Andrew opened his eyes to the chirping of the birds outside. The dream was still vivid in his mind, his family and Princess Luna. "What the hell was that all about?" He muttered to himself. Seeing his family again weighed heavily on him. Even though it was a dream, it was good seeing them again.

Looking over at the alarm clock, it said 7:25. Spike and Twilight were still asleep in their beds. For several minutes, Andrew tried to go back to sleep but with no luck. Finally giving up, he resigned his fate of getting up and got out of bed. Putting his clothes back on, he slowly made his way downstairs, being careful not to wake the pony and dragon.

To pass the time, he decided to look at the various books Twilight had in her collection until one caught his eye, 'The Tale of the Two Sisters'. Looking through the book, he noticed a picture of the two sisters. The one looked like the pony from his dream. "Could that have been her?" He asked himself.

'Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestira, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land...' Andrew read intently until he heard hoofsteps and feet coming down the stairs. He looked up and saw Twilight and Spike.

"Morning you two."

"Good Morning. I'm surprised to see you up so early this morning. Is everything alright?" Twilight asked with concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a weird dream and couldn't fall back asleep, that's all." Andrew closed the book. "So, I came down here to do some reading. I hope you don't mind but I found this book on your shelf and decided to give it a try."

"Oh, not at all. You can help yourself to my books whenever you want. Which one is it? Did you like it?" Twilight asked, intently.

"It pretty good so far. It's about two pony sisters that ruled over Equestria." Andrew held up the book so they could see it.

"That's the story of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I like that story." Twilight looked at the book and then back to the human. "May I ask what made you pick out that one?"

Andrew scratched the back of his neck. "I'm not really sure. I could have something to do with my dream last night. Someone called Princess Luna appeared and talked to me."

"Princess Luna visited you in your dream?" Twilight was surprised that Luna would visit the dreams of the human.

"Yeah. She told me something really strange though." Andrew looked at his hands folded on his lap before continuing. He didn't feel like telling Twilight about the other part of his dream just yet. Not that he didn't trust her, he didn't feel like talking about it at the moment. "She said that humans have been to Equestria before, a long time ago."

"They have? I wonder why they are not mentioned in any of the history books. If they were here, then what happened to all of them?

"That s a good question. Maybe they are but not ones that just anypony would have access to, Twilight." Spike chimed in.

"You could be right, Spike. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been around for thousands of years. I'm sure they must know something about what happened. Though I wonder why she never told me about these humans before." Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof.

"I don't know but I'm sure there is a reason why. Something must have happened to them since they aren't around anymore."

"If you ask the Princess, I'm sure that she will tell you, Twilight."

"I wrote a letter to her the other day about Andrew but I haven't heard back from her."

"Oh, Luna said that two of them were searching for a way to send me home. Perhaps she's just been too busy to reply back to you."

"That could be it, I'm sure. She is busy ruling over Equestria after all." Twilight said.

"Luna did mention something that I didn't pick up on at the time. She said something about being banished for a long time. Do you know what that's all about?"

Twilight and Spike looked at each other before turning back to the human. "It's a long story that started about a 1,000 years ago." Twilight used her magic to open the book to the appropriate section.

"I'll start making breakfast while you explain everything to him, Twi." Spike offered.

"Thanks Spike." Twilight smiled at the dragon.

"Good luck, dude. You're gonna need it." Spike whispered to Andrew, before snickering and making his way to the kitchen.

Twilight rolled here eyes and groaned as Spike left, causing Andrew to chuckle.

While Spike was in the kitchen, Twilight explained to the human about Princess Luna becoming Nightmare Moon and her banishment to the moon by Princess Celestia. Andrew listened intently as Twilight told him how she had learned about Nightmare Moon's return and how she and her friends found the elements of harmony and used them to turn Princess Luna back to good. She also described some of their adventures together while learning about friendship. Andrew had many questions about Twilight's friends and the Princesses which Twilight was more than happy to answer. A little while later, Twilight and Andrew decided it was time for breakfast and made their way to the kitchen.

"You're friends sound like great people..er..I mean ponies. I've already met Rarity and she was very generous. I guess that's why she got the element of generosity." Andrew remarked.

"They really are. I don't know what I'd do without them. Ever since I started learning about friendship, I couldn't imagine my life without my friends. They're very important to me."

After having omelettes for breakfast, Andrew took a shower and went upstairs to get dressed. Downstairs, Spike and Twilight were going through the stacks of books that were spread out everywhere.

"What are you two doing?" Andrew asked as he walked down the stairs.

"Oh good, you're all cleaned up. Spike and I are just cleaning things around here after all that researching I was doing. I haven't have a chance to put any of these books back yet." Twilight said while putting books back on the shelf where they belonged.

Andrew looked around at all the piles of books everywhere, some were as tall as he was. He hadn't realized how much Twilight had actually done for him, for a complete stranger. Helping her clean everything up was the least that he could do.

"Where can I start?" He asked as he grabbed a couple books from a pile. Suddenly, those books were surrounded in a purple magical field which pulled them from his grasp.

Twilight looked at the human and shook her head, "Oh no no no. I couldn't ask you to help clean up. You're our guest. It just wouldn't feel right."

Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder. "Twilight, you've done so much for me already. You've let me stay in your home and tried finding a way to send me home. There's no way I could ever repay you for that. Please let me do this for you."

"Well, if you're sure. Thanks!" Twilight's face brightened with a smile.

After a few minutes of cleaning, Spike grabbed a scroll off of the table and opened it. His eyes shot open as he read the scroll's contents. His voice sounded like he was really worried about something. "Uh Twilight?"

"Yes Spike?" Twilight responded while levitating some books onto their propers positions on the shelves.

"Umm..You didn't happen to forget about something happening today, did you?" Spike asked nervously while looking between the scroll and the lavender pony.

"Hmmm...not that I can think of." Twilight shook her head and used her magic to pull the calendar off the wall. After looking at it for a few moments, she let out a gasp. "The lunch! I totally forgot!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed, momentarilly startling Andrew and Spike. She turned around and grabbed the piece of parchment from Spike's hands and paced back and forth while she read it to herself.

"Uh Spike, what's got Twilight so freaked out?" Andrew asked.

"You mean Twilight didn't tell you?"

Andrew shook his head at the dragon.

Spike sighed and continued. "Can't say I'm surprised since she's been so busy lately. She invited our friends over for lunch today so that they could meet you. That's a checklist of everything that she needs to do before they get here. She gets like this everytime she forgets something."

The lavender pony stopped her pacing and addressed both of them in a frantic voice. "We still need to finish cleaning, go to the market to get food, and make lunch for everyone. There isn't enough time to get everything done. Oh, why did I forget about this."

Andrew had worked under pressure before and knew keeping a level head is what they needed. He knelt down to Twilight's level and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to gasp and look up at him. "Look at me Twilight, it'll be alright. You keep working on these books while Spike and I will go to the market and make the food. Sound like a plan?"

Twilight was suprised that Andrew was taking charge and helping her out. "Are..are you sure?"

Andrew smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Absolutely. Spike and I have got this. Plus, I'm no stranger around a kitchen."

The human and dragon devised a game plan and left the library for the market to get everything that they needed. Andrew wasn't sure what ponies ate so he let Spike decide what to get. A little while later, they arrived back with bags of food in their hands. Once they got to the kitchen, they got started cooking.
"Alright Spike, I'll get started on these sandwiches while you get those cookies baked." Andrew said while he started prepping the vegetables for the sandwiches. "What kind did you say they were again?

"My famous triple-decker, nut-crazy vanilla-cream cookies." Spike responded proudly, folding his arms.

Andrew drooled at the description of the cookies. "That sounds really good."

"Hehe. Just wait till you taste them." Spike grinned at the human before giving him a more serious look. "Thanks for helping Twilight with this by the way. I'm sure she really appreciates it."

"No problem. It's the least that I can do, Spike." Andrew smiled back at the dragon as he was cutting the vegetables. "So, how many ponies are coming over?"

"Let's see..umm..five." Spike responded after using his claws to count.

"Five huh? That doesn't seem too bad."

"Yeah, you have nothing to worry about. They'll like you. You'll see." Spike said, looking up from the mixing bowl as he finished mixing the ingrediants together. He placed a batch in the oven, closed the door, and set the timer. "Need any help with those?"

"No, I think I'm just about done actually." Andrew replied, turning his head to the dragon.

Spike walked over and looked at all the sandwiches Andrew had made. His eyes got big and his mouth opened with drool coming out. "Those look great. Everypony will love those. Now, I know what Twilight and Fluttershy's favorites are. So, I'll show you how to make them."

"Alright."

After much cleaning, sorting, and baking, there was a few knocks at the front door which startled Spike from his dusting. "Coming!" Spike ran down the stairs, still wearing his pink apron and carrying a feather duster. Opening the door, the dragon was greeted by his pony friends. "Hello ladies. Oh..uh..Hi Rarity." Spike blushed while waving at her.

"Hi'ya Spike. So ummm, where is the 'special guest' of y'alls anyway?" Applejack asked as she walked inside. She kept turning her head like she was expecting something dangerous to leap out.

"Oh, he's still in the kitchen and Twilight is upstairs." Spike pointed upward with a claw.

"As I told you before, Applejack, you have nothing to worry about. He was very friendly with me and Sweetie Belle yesterday." Rarity said trying to alleviate her friend's concerns.

The four mares trotted upstairs and saw their best friend reading a book. They shook their heads knowing what a bookworm their friend was but they still loved her regardless.

"They're here, Twilight!" Spike shouted to the floor above.

"I can see that Spike." Twilight let out a chuckle before addressing her friends. "Girls, thank you for coming. I want to you to meet my guest. He's a long way from home and he has been staying here for the past couple days. His appearance may be a little strange but there's no need to be afraid."

A few moments later, footsteps could be heard coming upstairs. The said human came up the stairs carrying a tray of food.

"Alright Spike. That's the last of them." Andrew placed the tray of food on the table next to the other food they had prepared. Turning away from the table, he saw what he assumed was Twilight's friends standing there, staring at him.

Twilight smiled at Andrew and waved her hoof at her friends. "Andrew, these are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy."

The four mares stopped in their tracks and stared at the human, all except for Rarity who had already met him. The others didn't know what to make of the strange creature in front of them.

Rarity rolled her eyes and shot a glare over at her friends, "Girls, really? There's no reason to be so rude to our guest."

Andrew was getting a little nervous with all of them staring at him. So, he decided to break the ice. Taking a deep breath, he took a few steps closer to them and introduced himself to the mares.

"Hi, my name is Andrew. Its nice to meet all of you." He waved at each of Twilight's friends.

"Well, Ah'll be."Applejack stared at the human before shaking her head and holding her hat over her chest. "Name's Applejack. Nice to make yer acquaintance, Andrew."

"Nice to meet you as well, Applejack." Applejack placed the hat back on her head and extended her hoof which Andrew shook.

Andrew released her hoof and looked to the yellow pegasus sitting next to Applejack but a little behind her. Flutteryshy slowly walked over next to her friends. She had been hanging back to see how this creature would react to her friends.

"Um..excuse me. Umm..Twilight said that you were far away from home. Is that right?" Fluttershy asked in a quiet yet soft voice. She looked at the human from behind her pink mane.

"That's right." Andrew replied to the yellow pony.

Fluttershy looked at the human before trotting up to him and placing a hoof on his leg. "Oh you poor thing. I couldn't imagine behind away from home and my furry friends."

Twilight turned her head and looked around the room, "Wait, where's Pinkie? She was just here a moment ago. Where did she-"

"Hello!" A pink pony jumped out from behind the sitting chair, startling the human. She bounced around until she stoped in front of him. She had a poofy mane and tail, almost like cotton candy, and there was three balloons on her flank. The pony's two overly-large blue eyes just stared at him as she bounced up and down.

"So this is where you've been. I've been looking everywhere for you. Well not everywhere or I would have found you already, duh. Mrs. Cake said that Twilight had came in with with a strange looking creature that she's never seen before. I knew then that it had to do with my body shuddering earlier that day meaning that something you never expect to happen is going to happen. Whatever it is, it's a doozy. I know everypony and I mean everypony, in Ponyville. So, that means you are new here which is so exciting! I'm Pinkie Pie and I'm going to throw you a par-Mmfph..."

A hoof from Rarity came over the hyperactive pony's mouth but she kept talking. "That's quite enough, Pinkie Pie. I think the poor thing has got the idea."

Suddenly there was a booming sound of something coming through the front door, startling everyone. A blur of rainbow colors shot up the stairs and over everyone's heads. A wind followed behind it, messing up hairs and manes of everyone present. Rarity let out a shreek and whimper as she noticed her mane was no longer up to her marvelous standards. She busied herself styling it back to her satisfaction.

Andrew stared as the rainbow blur shot around the room until it stopped in front of him.

"Sorry I'm late, everypony. I was busy practicing some new tricks for the Wonderbolts and lost track of time." Rainbow Dash flicked flicked her main before taking a moment to look the unfamiliar creature up and down. "So are you supposed to be that thing that everypony in town is talking about? What in the hay are you supposed to be anyway?"

"Rainbow Dash! There's no need to be so rude. Our guest here has a name." Rarity chided her cyan-colored friend. "I must apologize for my friend here. Sometimes she leaves her manners in the clouds."

"Alright, alright. Where did you come from anyway? Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, you see I.." Andrew started before he was cut off by the pink pony.

"Oh, I know! He's from another world where everyone looks like him and everycreature like us can't talk. He touched a magic glowing thingy that sucked him inside. It then sent him crashing through the sky where he landed outside." She took a big breath before continuing. "Right?"

Everyone looked at Pinkie Pie dumbfounded. "Wait, how did you know all that?" Andrew asked, confused how the pink pony knew so much about what happened.

The pink pony just shrugged her shoulders non-nonchalantly, "Ehh, just a hunch." She ended with a big smile before hopping away. The other ponies just smiled and shook their heads.

"W-What was that all about?" Andrew gestured towards Pinkie with his thumb.

Twilight held her hoof to her mouth and giggled. "First thing about living in Ponyville is don't try to figure out Pinkie Pie."

Andrew closed his eyes and shook his head before looking at the mares again. "Pinkie is pretty much right but perhaps I should start at the beginning." He proceeded to explain to the ponies everything he knew about how he arrived there, starting his normal day at work and coming home to finding a glowing sphere inside his apartment and then waking up in Twilight's house. "And that's all I can remember happening until I woke up here." He leaned back in the chair and took at sip from the cup of tea.

The mares stared at him in disbelief. They were silent until Applejack broke the silence. "So yer say'n that yer from another world and everything you said was the truth?"

Andrew looked at the orange pony and nodded, "That's right."

"Another world huh? I guess that's kinda cool but not as cool as me." Rainbow Dash held a forehoof to her chest and chuckled before extending that hoof to Andrew. "Name's Rainbow Dash. Fastest flyer in Equestria."

Andrew went to shake her hoof but gave her a hoof bump instead. "Nice to meet you too Rainbow Dash. I must say, that was quite and entrance you made. I've never seen anything move that fast before."

"I am pretty awesome, aren't I?" Rainbow Dash's boasting caused a few eye rolls and groans from the other ponies. She came to the ground, folding her wings to her sides and joined her friends.

Twilight looked at each of her friends and smiled, "Thank you for coming over and helping our guest feel welcome. I know that none of us would want to feel alone being away from our families."

"Sure thing Twi. Happy to help!" Applejack proclaimed. Her friends all smiled and nodded as well.

"Now let's eat!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie, bouncing around.

Andrew followed the mares over to the tables that had been set up with a punch bowl, the sandwiches that he and spike had made, as well as a salad. After waiting his turn, he grabbed a sandwich and an apple. On another table, there was a barrel with a tap was set up.

"What's in here?" He muttered to himself.

"Why that is mah family's apple cider. Give it a try." Applejack cheerfully replied and filled a mug of cider before handing it to Andrew.

Andrew grabbed the mug and lifted it to his lips and took a sip of the cold brew. After letting the rich flavor linger in his mouth, he determined that it was the best cider that he'd ever tasted.

"This cider is amazing." Andrew took another sip.

"Well, thank ya kindly. Ah do appreciate a satisfied customer." Applejack bowed her head before raising it. "Now if only a certain Miss Rainbow Dash would let others have a taste as well."

"Oh..Umm..excuse me." A gentle voice came up from behind he human. The voice was soft enough that he wasn't startled by it.

Andrew turned around and saw Fluttershy standing behind him. He knelt down to her level. "Well, hello there. I'm sorry, sometimes I am horrible with names. sometimes I wonder how I can remember my own." He chuckled lightly. "You're Fluttershy right?"

Fluttershy nodded from behind her pink mane. "Oh..umm...that's right. I just wanted to say that I'm glad you're feeling better. That's all." She said before looking at the floor.

A puzzled look came across the human's face as he tried to determine what she was referring to. "Umm..thanks. What do you mean?" Andrew responded, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh that's right." Twilight appeared behind the two of them and chimed in. "I forgot to tell you that the night you arrived here, I went to get Fluttershy came by and have her look after you. Since I don't know much about medicine or human physiology for that matter. I thought that she would be best to make sure you were alright."

"I didn't notice anything wrong expect a bump on the head. So I told Twilight that it would be alright to take you home with her."

"Well, thank you Fluttershy. I appreciate it." Andrew went to place a hand on her shoulder but she backed away slowly.

"You're..umm..welcome." Fluttershy's cheeks blushed a little and she hid her face behind her mane again.

Andrew looked at Twilight, confused at the yellow mare's reaction to him.

"Don't worry about her. She's just shy around new ponies. Give her time."

Andrew nodded. "It's fine. I know what it's like to be around new people. In this case for me, it would be ponies."

Andrew sat down on the couch with his food and drink. For the next hour or so, he answered their questions about his world and what he did there. Rarity was curious about human fashion and what they wore. Twilight had more questions about science and discoveries that humans had made. Rainbow Dash didn't seem that interested. She was more interested in the food and chatting with Pinkie Pie. The more he talked with them and saw them interact with each other, the less he saw them as animals. They, especially Twilight, were curious about things, and even had hopes and dreams.

"Hey Pinkie Pie! How about saving some of those cookies for everypone else?!" Rainbow dash shouted at the pink party pony enlarged her mouth to a much larger size and proceeded to tip the entire tray of cookies over into her mouth. The empty tray landed on the table with nothing but crumbs and cookie and bits of chocolate.

Pinkie chewed and swallowed the contents of the tray before replying to the blue pegasus, "Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. I'm sure Spike made more. Riiiiiiight?" Against all laws of nature, Pinkie extended her neck till her head was next to Spike's

Spike turned his head to see Pinky's face grinning back at him. This startled and almost made him spill his drink. "AAHH! Geez, Pinkie. You scared me half to death." Spike took several gasps of air until he regained his normal breathing pattern.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, don't worry, there's another batch in the kitchen. I'll go grab it." Andrew chuckled as he went down to the kitchen.

A few moments later, Andrew came back upstairs and watched the ponies interact with each other. For the briefest of moments, Andrew forgot where he was. The ponies around him finally seemed like real people and not just talking animals. They didn't judge him or treat him differently, not like the people back home would. He grabbed the tray of cookies and walked out of the kitchen to join Twilight's friends. But that melancholy came crashing to a halt when Spike made a belching noise.

Spike burped up a scroll and Twilight caught it with her magic. She opened it and started to read.

"Its a message from Princess Celestia." Twilight chimed as she read it..

My dearest, most faithful student Twilight,

As you know, I have had Canterlot's best magic scholars look into your guest's situation. I regret to inform you that they have been unsuccessful in finding a way to send him back to his home. Please express to him my sincerest apologies. I would like to invite the both of you to come to Canterlot as soon as possible.

The silence was broken by the sound of of the plate Andrew was holding shattering against the wooden floor, sending its contents everywhere.

"What?"