+Twilight, we need to talk+

I watched as Twilight mouthed the words as she read them, her eyes wide with shock. She read the message several more times before finally looking up at me. Her mouth opened and closed as she searched my face. Violet eyes met brown for the briefest of moments, then she snorted and backed up a few feet. She chuckled nervously to herself as she looked around.

“Nice try, Rainbow Dash, but I’m not going to fall for it!” she called as her eyes darted around, searching the dark corners of the room for the prismatic mare. This wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for, but I wasn’t going to give up now that I have started.

“Come on out Rainbow,” she continued, shifting her weight from hoof to hoof. “This isn’t funny!” Sighing, I leaned over and bopped her lightly on the nose. She squealed loudly and backpedaled. One of her back hooves got snagged on the rug, causing her to flop down on her back, wings flapping against the ground and legs swinging wildly in the air.

Quickly and awkwardly getting back on her hooves, she spun to look at me. I simply tapped a finger on the paper and presented it to her again.

+Twilight, we need to talk+ Her eyes darted between the words and my face, her wings still spread wide. She rubbed her temples with her hooves and began to pace.

“This can’t be happening,” I heard her mutter to herself. “This can’t be happening. This is a dream. This can’t be happening.” I waved my hand to catch her attention. Shaking my head, I point at the words one more time. She stopped pacing and just stared at me. I could tell the gears in her head were turning, and turning fast. I could almost smell the smoke.

“You’re intelligent? You can understand me?” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. I nodded once, never breaking eye contact with her. She swallowed loudly, wings rustling at her side. Chewing on her lip, she studied me intensely again, trying to process what was going on. Finally she spoke again, with just two words: “Prove it.”

Reaching down, I grasped a quill in my hand. Dipping it in the ink, I tapped the excess off. Placing the tip on the parchment, I scratch out one word.

+How?+ She seemed taken aback by the word; I don’t think she expected that. She blinked owlishly at me.

“Um, w-well… I-I-I… uh, w-who and what are you?!” she stammered, pointing a hoof at me. Dipping the quill back in the ink, I comply.

+My name is Max, and I am a human+ As I finished writing, she grasped the parchment in her magic and floated it over to her. Reading what I had written, she snorted once and flung the paper back at me.

“Horseapples,” she growled, glaring at me. “Humans aren’t intelligent enough to understand ponies.” Quickly picking up the paper, I dipped my quill in the ink for a third time.

+And yet we are having this conversation, aren’t we?+

“Y-yes, b-but… but, humans can’t… shouldn’t...” One of Twilight’s eyes started twitching and her right ear flapped wildly. Running a hoof absentmindedly through her mane, she took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm herself.

“Okay,” she said, exhaling heavily. “Okay, let’s just calm down and think a second. We can figure this out. There has to be a logical explanation, just think. Think. Think!” As she muttered to herself, I wrote out a quick message and passed it to her.

+Would you like a glass of water?+

“That might help a little, actually...” Twilight began before she snapped her mouth shut and her eyes widened. “Stop that!” She crumpled up the paper and chucked it at me. Ducking to avoid the projectile, I raise my hands in the air defensively and shrugged.

Twilight groaned and placed her head in her hooves. Slipping quietly into the kitchen, I opened up the cabinets and found a clean glass. Filling it with some cold water from the kitchen sink, I quickly returned to the main room. Twilight still had her head in her hooves, muttering to herself.

“This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.” Approaching her slowly, I offered the glass of water. Grasping it in her magic, she sighed and took a sip.

“Thank you--” she said, turning towards me. I nodded and grinned at the mare. Her eyes grew wide again and she sputtered.

“STOP THAT!” I ducked as the half-full glass of water flew over my head and shattered against the far wall. Rolling my eyes, I crossed my arms and stared at her.

This isn’t working out as I imagined. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I walked over to the crumpled up piece of paper. Bending down, I picked it up and smoothed it out. I picked up the quill and scratched out another message before passing it back to Twilight.

+I’m trying to work with you here, but you aren’t helping+

“I’m not helping?” she shrieked indignantly. “I’m not helping?! You shouldn’t even exist! There is no way that any human in Equestria should be doing what you are doing right now!”

My eyebrows shot up at this.

Equestria? Is that the name of this place? Well, that doesn’t really help… me… now. I froze as an idea entered my mind. It’s crazy. No, it was stupid and crazy, but it just might work. Grabbing the quill, I quickly wrote out the one sentence that might just turn this in my favor. Finishing the sentence, I turned and thrusted the paper into Twilight’s face.

She grasped it in her magic and reads what I had written.

+I’m not from Equestreea Equestria+

You could have heard a pin drop a half mile away. Twilight’s eyes grew bigger and bigger until I thought they were going to pop out of her head. Her magic failed and the paper fluttered to the ground. Her wings, previously returned to her sides, slowly began to spread again. Her mouth opened wider and wider until it about touched the ground. The gears in her head ground to a stop. Her entire body was frozen.

Then her brain restarted itself, and she was able to speak again.

And she did.

“WHAT?!”

If a month ago you would have told me all of what was going to happen to me, I would have called you crazy. But now, there I sat, sipping coffee with my owner as she came down from her self-induced panic attack.

I sipped at the black liquid and shivered. I didn’t much care for coffee back home, but the coffee here tasted a little better. Didn’t mean I liked it any better, but it wasn’t for me. The coffee was for Twilight. She seemed to calm down the minute she ingested the hot beverage. A couple of cups later she was actually able to think straight and continue our previous “conversation.”

“So, let me get this straight,” she said, pouring herself another cup of coffee. It was currently three in the morning and we were in the kitchen. Twilight was sitting across the table, eyeing me occasionally. I was just sitting there with a stack of papers, a quill and inkwell in front of me, and a cup of crappy coffee in my hands.

It had taken me a couple of tries to get the coffee maker working, but when I did the expression on Twilight’s face was well worth the effort. I don’t think she could even fathom a human being able to work such an advanced machine. Well, advanced for their world that is.

“You say that you aren’t from Equestria.” Given her current state, I felt it best to keep answers short and precise.

+Yes+ She glanced at my answer then proceeded to drain her cup and fill it again. I sipped my drink as I waited for the next question.

“H-how?” she finally asked, looking across the table at me. I raise my eyebrow at that. Placing my mug on the table, I grabbed the quill. Dipping it in the ink, I began writing out my tale. The only noise that filled the kitchen was the sound of a quill scratching on parchment.

Twilight shifted uncomfortably in her seat as I continued to write. I don’t think she could get her head around everything that had happened in the past few hours.

After several silence-filled minutes, I finished writing. Sliding the paper over to Twilight, I picked up my mug once again and sipped it. Shakily, she picked it up in her hooves and began to read.

+I’m not entirely sure how I arrived here. One minute I was at my work, then the next thing I know I'm smack-dab in the middle of some goddamn desert. To make matters worse, I found that I was no longer able to talk. Don't ask me why; I can't, for the life of me, tell you.

After about a day of wandering in the desert, I lost consciousness due to lack of water. I was found by a group of ponies and placed in a cage aboard a train. After two weeks of riding in horrible conditions I arrived in a large, white city. It was there that I was found by Princess Celestia. She thought I would make a good gift for you, so she bought me, cleaned me up, shipped me off and I arrived here. The rest of the story you already know+

“If you are intelligent and can understand us, why haven’t you tried to communicate before now?” Twilight asked, looking up from the paper. Grabbing another sheet of paper, I once again dipped the quill in the ink. I could tell writing like this was going to get old, fast.

+My own stupidity. Plus, I wasn’t completely sure what would happen to me if I was able to convince someone that I was smarter than most humans. I didn’t want to be dissected or anything like that+

“What would ever cause you to think that we would do that?” Twilight asked, scrunching her face up in confusion. I blushed a little as I wrote my response.

+Mostly stories from my world+

“That’s the only reason?” Twilight looked over at me, cocking an eyebrow. Shaking my head I reached over to pluck the paper out of her hooves. A quick flash of quill over paper, and I slid it back over to her.

+There was also the fact of how I was treated during my two week train trip+ At this, Twilight’s head shot up, ears alert, as she looked at me.

“Does this have anything to do with Fluttershy saying you were malnourished?” I nodded, frowning at the memory. An awkward silence filled the kitchen. Twilight fidgeted as she tried to think of something to say. I sat there, unable to talk, waiting for the next question.

“W-what made you change your mind?” she finally asked. Hanging my head, I wrote out the response.

+I read your letter that you were going to send to Princess Celestia+ Reading this, Twilight looked up at me, eyes ablaze.

“Then why did you act like that all week if you were intelligent?!” The ferocity in her voice caused me to flinch, and I hung my head lower, regret clear on my face.

+... reasons...+

“Explain.” It wasn’t a request, it was a demand. Running my hand through my hair, I picked up the quill.

+It wouldn’t really matter. They’d just be excuses for how I treated you+

“Humor me,” Twilight said icily, her steely gaze locked on me. Sighing, I place quill to parchment once again.

+I was frustrated. I went from being treated like an intelligent creature to being treated like nothing more than an animal. It was also something of a self defense measure. If someone thinks you are stupid and unintelligent, they’ll tend to treat you like you’re stupid and leave you alone. Be treated like an animal long enough, and you will become one. I got lost in the act, and for that I’m sorry+ Twilight glanced back and forth from me and the paper for several seconds before putting the paper down.

“I guess I can understand,” she said hesitantly. Sighing, she poured more coffee into her cup. “If I ended up somewhere where ponies were treated like animals, I think I’d be frustrated and upset too.” She looked up at me with a firm gaze.

“But that didn’t give you the right to treat me like that! It was completely unaccepta--” I slid a piece of paper over, cutting off her rant.

+I know, and although it probably doesn’t mean much, but I am sorry for that. I should never have done that, and nothing I say will ever make it right, but could you ever forgive me?+ Twilight stared at the piece of paper for a moment before looking up at me.

“I’m sitting here, having a conversation with a human,” she said, shaking her head, a small, strained smile on her face. “I think I can find it in myself to forgive you.”

+Thanks+ A slight pause, then I slid another note over to her.

+Does that mean you believe me as well?+ Twilight sighed heavily and laid her head on the table.

“Everything seems so unreal. I’m sitting here, having a conversation with a creature from another world, who happens to look just like one of the dumber creatures in Equestria. This shouldn’t even be possible, yet here we are...” she said, trailing off with a shrug.

+For what it’s worth, I believe that I am the same as your world's humans, only smarter+

“So, there’s a universe out there with intelligent humans in it,” Twilight said, mostly to herself. Leaning back in her chair, she sipped at her coffee and stared off into space.

We sat there in silence for a long time, both of us content to simply sit there with our thoughts. This conversation didn’t start like I had planned, but it had ended better than I thought. Twilight was taking it better than I thought she would, but there was still one question standing out in my mind, and I just had to know the answer.

+So, what happens now?+

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, tilting her head to the side.

+Are you going to tell anyone about me, or… what?+ Twilight turned her gaze to the window, staring out at the stars as she chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. Finally, she shook her head.

“No, no, I’m not going to tell anypony else about this just yet,” she said, turning back to me.

+Why?+

“Well, while it’s true that you wouldn’t get dissected, there are still some scientists up in Canterlot who would have a hayday with you, and I don’t think you want that.” That seemed reasonable to me, but that still didn’t answer my intended question.

+So, what do we do now?+ Twilight stared at the paper for several seconds, running a hoof through her mane. It needed a good brushing, but I don’t think she noticed, or cared, at the moment. She continued to stare at the words, her silence starting to make me nervous.

Finally she looked up at me, and gave me a small, but genuine smile.

“How about we start from scratch.” She picked up the letter she had originally intended on sending to Celestia. With a quick flash of magic, the paper was torn in two. As the two halves fluttered to the kitchen floor, Twilight held her hoof out across the table. Her eyes met mine; brown gazed into violet.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Would you like to be my human, as well as my friend?” Smiling, I reached out and grasped her hoof. Shaking it up and down, I nodded. Releasing her hoof, I grabbed my quill.

+Hello, Twilight. My name is Max, and I would be happy to be your human and friend+