Xamspona Tevopi/ Twilight Sparkle
Tupomi T'mi/ Pinkie Pie
Etpinego/ Applejack
Vivmay/ Rarity
Vemsa Hewl/ Rainbow Dash
Paxxila/ Fluttershy
Gilzia/ Celestia
Pyre/ Luna

“Lipos Eric, que reqi mo Wypujil Xamlight Sparkle and it is nice to finally be able to talk to you.”

I gave her a warm smile and a simple nod of my head, happy that I was finally going to be able to thank them for all they had done, “Yes it is, an-”

“Hi there!” Tupomi energetically shouted in my face, almost scaring the shit out of me, before she continued on, “Oh, my you have noooo idea how hard it was not being able to talk to you, because I said hi to you back in the field but I couldn't say anything else because you were talking all funny like, and then you got all grumpy-like because of those meany guards didn't let you leave, but I'm glad you didn't leave because then I wouldn't be able to talk to you now and be your friend, well I guess I should ask you if you want to be my frie- mmph mmm mmpph pphmh.”

My saving grace from the pink chatterbox came from an orange colored fist that somehow fit entirely into the pink woman's mouth, but probably the most amazing thing was that Tupomi was still trying to talk around the appendage without even missing a beat.

“Sorry about that Eric,” Etpinego said with a cute southern twang in her voice. “Poor darlin's been keeping that bottled up for the past few days.”

“mmpphh mm mph,” The pink woman annoyingly mumbled around the imposing fist as she rolled her eyes.

I had to laugh at the spectacle before me as Tupomi continued to try and convey her case to Etpinego from around her hand, as said woman grinned at the effectiveness of her mouth plug. The sound of my laughter got their attentions as I held my hands up in an attempt to ease the situation.

“It's quite alright Etpinego I can relate to the feeling of not being able to talk with someone.” I told them as I saw the curly haired woman smile brightly even with the object in her mouth. Etpinego gave a grin and a shrug of her shoulders before she removed her hand with an audible pop.

“Alright sugar but don't say I didn't warn y'ah nun.”

Tupomi recovered quickly as she slipped up next to me and hugged my arm again as she smiled ear to ear, “Gee thanks Eric you don't know how mean that is when I get cut off like that. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah I gu-”

“I mean you're trying to talk to someone so that you can be friends and then someone cuts you off, you know?”

“Kind o-”

“And then they just talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and t-”

“Tupomi!” I said a little louder to get her attention, the woman in question paused in mid jump and gently floated back to the ground as she smiled cheerfully at me. I stared at her a little befuddled at the feat she had just performed.

“Yeah Eric?” she chirped happily as she clasped her hands behind her back and cutely leaned over ever so slightly towards me.

“Yes I understand what you mean, and I do hope we can become friends. At the same time I know that y'all probably have a lot you want to ask me. Because I know there's a few things I would like to ask y'all,” as I said that I saw each of them nod a little, except Twi-I mean Xam, who was almost hopping as much as Tupomi was moments ago.

“But,” I said before anyone had a chance to say anything and I raised a finger to make my point, “I just ask that you allow me to keep using your real names as opposed to the translated ones. I think it'll make it a little easier for me as I begin to learn your language.”

Tupomi waved off my concern as she blew a raspberry, “pffbt, Of course you can call us by our names silly billy. What else would you call me? Pinkie Pie? Oooo! I love that name, I want to change my mind!” she said as she grabbed the collar of my blouse and began to shake me.

“No,” Vivmay said, causing Tupomi to stop joggling my marbles, to my great relief, “I believe that we should try and help dear Eric here adjust to our world however we can. Although I do quite like the sound of my name, 'Rarity.'” She said as she wistfully said her name as she stared out into space for a moment before coming back to reality, “ Has such a nice ring to it, don't you think?”

“Aww alright,” Tupomi said a little dejected as I saw her whole bubbly mood seem to deflate a little, but only for the briefest of moments before she was back to her usual self, “But you have to promise to let me throw you the biggest 'Welcome to Equus' party ever whenever you come to visit our town. Deal?”

I had to chuckle at her upbeat mood, but it was kind of hard not to be happy around her with how friendly she was as I shook her hand, “Deal.”

“Woohoo!” The pink woman shouted in victory as she bounced back over to the others.

With that I turned my attention to the princesses, “ I would also like to request the same for you as well if you don't mind. I know that Celestia, your name is Gilzia, but I don't believe I ever caught your name Luna.”

“My name is Pyre.” Luna said simply with a curt nod of her head which I returned gratefully.

“Pyre,” I said trying the new name out , “Thank you, and I also want to thank all of you for all that you have done for me so far. Even though I may have been a little difficult sometimes.”

“Aw shucks,” Etpinego said as she gave me a firm pat on the back, “twern't nothin' to it, especially after you helped me in that tussle with them timberwolves.”

She confused me momentarially as I recalled the incident in the forest, “Timberwolves? You mean the azcidi?”

“Yup, them'd be the ones sugarcube.” she replied happily.

I returned her smile, “Yes I would like to discuss the events of my arrival until now. Who knows maybe it might help shed a little light on why I'm here.

“But first let me reintroduce myself while I have a chance, my name is Eric Raymond Broussard. I am a Technical Sergeant in the United States Air Force, where I have served for the past ten years, and I am very glad to meet all of you.”

“Welcome to Equestria, Eric Broussard,” I heard Gilzia say from over by the table as she stood by one of the chairs at the end and gestured to the other seats, “we hope to learn more about you during our dinner.”

With that we each took our seats with Gilzia taking the seat at the end farthest from the door we came in while Pyre took the end closest. The girls took their seat on the side of the table to Gilzia's right with the fireplace to their back, with Xam taking the one closest to the solar princess. Followed by Vemsa Hewl, then Vivmay, then Etpinego and Tupomi, and finally Paxxila who sat to Pyre's left. I took up a seat in the middle on the opposite side as I prepared to face the firing squad that I was sure to come.

“Well Eric, as our guest I would like to let you know that our kitchen can prepare for you just about anything you may want.” Pyre said as everyone looked towards me wondering what I would ask for.

At that moment Xam must have thought that it was necessary to offer up suggestions as she began to excitedly ramble off different types of entrees and she scribbled away in the same notebook from breakfast, “Yes Eric what is it that your species likes to eat? Maybe you would like a lily souffle or perhaps a garden salad with a light oil dressing, what about something simple like a daisy sandwich.”

“Well as tasty as all that sounds, minus the flower part, what I could really go for is some protein. What kind of meats do y'all have here?” Yet as I asked them their expressions seemed to be mixed between worry and curiosity.

“Meat? So what are you, like some kind of predator?” I heard Vemsa ask me as I watched her blue wings flutter a little.

“Well yes,” I told her plainly, “where I come from we are the dominant predators.”

“Well you don't look like much of a predator to me,” was her reply as she crossed her arms as if to prove a point, before continuing., “Some of my griffon friends look a lot more terrifying than you do. You don't even have any claws or fangs or anything.”

Part of me wondered briefly if it was the greatest idea to be able to talk with Vemsa considering our recent 'disagreements', but in the end if I was going to co-exist with these 'ponies' then I was going to have to let them know more about me and that included from ones who didn't like me. Especially from ones who didn't like me.

“No I don't have any claws and our fangs are fairly small, relatively speaking, in regards to most other predators. But that isn't what made us the top predator. What put us on the top was our brain power.” I told her as I rested my elbows on top of the table and interlaced my fingers in front of my face.

“So your a bunch of eggheads?” She asked in a bored tone, almost sounding disappointed with my answer.

“Not all of us. I have met plenty of humans who I've wondered how they've survived as long as they had without getting themselves killed. Mainly it was our ability to think abstractly at a problem and usually come up with some sort of tool that would help us overcome our physical limitations to help us solve it.”

“Yeah like what?” Vemsa asked, challenging me to come up with an answer that would impress her.

“Well... take hunting for example,” I replied as I rolled my hand absentmindedly as I thought up what I thought was a good example, “human's ancestors had to survive in a world where they were not the toughest predator on the block, kind of like today. But by using their brains they quickly rose up to the top of the predator ladder.

“They created fire to warm themselves at night and light their surroundings to help scare off other bigger predators. In order to hunt the larger more dangerous prey they created atlatls that gave them a longer reach than they would normally, and made spear points and tools from stone and bone that was sharper than any set of claws or teeth,” At that time I noticed a couple of my audience members seemed a little disturbed by my little history lesson so I decided to change the topic quickly.

“So to answer your original question a little better, yes I am a predator but to be more precise I am an omnivore meaning that most of my diet does consist of vegetables and fruits and such, but I still require that steady intake of protein to keep my body healthy. But if it is against the law to eat meat in your country I shall do my best to get my protein source from some other means.”

“No the consumption of meat is not against our laws, for there are many different species that are carnivore by nature that call Equestria their home. Although unfortunately our stores are not usually packed with much in the manner of meat unless we are expecting dignitaries who require it like you do, but you are welcome to what we do have,” Gilzia said as she got my attention., “ I shall have our griffon chef Gustav, come in so as to discuss what is available so we can find you a suitable meal.”

“Thank you Gilzia, you are most kind, “ I told her with a small bow of my head in thanks, which she returned as she rung a little bell and a maid came in and bowed to her, “Gustav? That sounds a lot like a similar French name from the planet I'm from.”

“You mean Prench, darling.” I heard Vivmay say as she brushed a stray curl away from her face., “Chef Gustav was trained in Prance, where only the best cooks go to learn.”

“Prance? That brings something to mind that I've been meaning to ask. I've noticed a lot of similarities between things in your world and things from my world. Like Prance for instance. In my world there is a country called France where, just like your Prance, it is a place known worldwide for things like cooking and food. Now I'm all for believing in a few random coincidences as just that, coincidences, but with as many as I've been able to see so far I'm starting to think that there has to be more to it.”

“I believe my sister and I should be able to answer that, “ Gilzia said as we all turned our gaze to her, as she dismissed the maid and then turned her full attention to us before she continued. “Long ago before my sister and I came to be, even before the birth of this world, there where two beings who ruled the cosmos in peace. One was our mother Queen Harmonia and the other was an old and ancient god who's name is lost to the sands of time. Together they wished to create a world where all of their children could grow and exist together in peace.

“The world they decided upon was new and untapped, perfect for their utopia to thrive and thrive it did. For a time the children grew and evolved together and all was good in the world, but it was not to last.”

“What happened?” Paxxila's meek voice asked.

“One of the old god's previous children grew jealous of the new world and his younger siblings. So he took advantage of one of the gifts that was bestowed upon the children, the gift of self choice. He went to his siblings and tricked them, it is unknown how he did so but it is known that it caused them to become cursed. The old god, angry at what had happened, banished the older child but could not bring himself to destroy his children because he loved them so. Even after they began killing the other children and the curse began to spread into the hearts of the other children; our mother went before the old god and begged for him to stop them but he still couldn't do it.

“Eventually our mother could stand by no longer and gathered her children to her to lead them away to a place where they could be safe from the danger of the cursed children. So through a portal she lead them to this world, but even on a new world the effects of the curse lingered in her children in the form of the disharmony that existed before the appearance of Discord. Luckily with his imprisonment by the Elements of Harmony the lingering effects of the curse were all but eradicated. Still the bond between our two worlds has never fully closed and occasionally objects from the old world makes its way over to ours.”

“This however has worked in our favor,” Pyre added as the maids came back in carrying trays of fruits and other assorted appetizers. The maids bowed to Pyre and the others after they sat down the trays and excused themselves from the room again, “for we have been able to use these items to help continue to advance our own society. Every facet of our citizen's lives has been affected by the artifacts that find their way through, from the dam by Ponyville that provides power to even our language.”

What the sisters were saying was intriguing to say the least, even if it did sound a little on the science fiction side to me. Yet I had no reason so far to doubt what they had told me, that and my being here in itself was proof enough.

“So you're telling me that your people came from my world, and that one of these bonds that exist between our worlds is what brought me here?” I asked as I grabbed a shiny red apple and took a bite, savoring the crunchy sweetness as I chewed it in my mouth.

“We believe so, yes.” Gilzia said as another figure walked into the room.

He was a tall man, at least by the standards that I had seen so far, coming up to roughly my height if I had to take a guess. He was dressed in a white chef's double-breasted jacket that came down to about halfway down his thighs with a matching toque resting upon his head. Like many other people I'd seen he didn't wear any pants, instead his legs were covered in smooth tawny colored fur and ended in a set of paws. Swishing from under his jacket as he made his way over to Gilzia was a thin tail covered in the same brownish-orange colored fur and tipped with a tuft of bushy brown hair.

His hands weren't really hands, not like a human would know them, instead they resembled more like a set of eagle's feet as the scaly talons clasped each other once he had reached the princess. His face was a blend of fowl and man as he leaned in close so as to not miss what Gilzia had to say to him. The whole of his face was covered in a layer of short white feathers and he had no ears that I could see of. As he and her conversed I saw him look my way and I was reminded of a barn owl as I stared into his black eyes. Where there should have been a mouth and nose was replaced with a short yellow beak that was capped by a pair of long wispy black feathers that reminded me of a mustache. I was so transfixed by his appearance that it wasn't until I heard Gilzia speak to me through our link that I came to.

'Eric? Are you alright? Gustav has said that we have a selection of fish to choose from and chicken.'

'Yes I'm sorry, I spaced out there for a moment. I'll have the chicken please, if you do not mind.'

'Very well,' and with that she turned and whispered something to Gustav and with that he gave another bow and was on his way to prepare my meal I assumed.

“What about the mirror at the Crystal Empire?" Xam said bringing my attention back to the previous conversation before the entrance of the chef, “Couldn't we use that to send Eric back home?”

“Perhaps and that may be our most viable option right now, “Pyre said as she nodded slowly in agreement. “But because of Eric's immunity to magic there is no guarantee that he will be able to pass through. Plus we are not even entirely sure that the portal leads back to his world, more research would have to be done on the matter before we are able to take that risk.”

“What mirror?” I asked, eager to learn of anything that might be able to send me home.

“To the north, in the Crystal Empire, is a mirror that leads to another world and was built many years ago by a tyrannical ruler called King Sombra. But we have yet to figure out it's original purpose, yet we believe he was trying to tap into the rift between our worlds so as to help spread his dark influence.” Gilzia said as I saw her eyebrows furrow momentarily at some distant memory before she continued.

“The portal opens every thirty-six lunar cycles, unfortunately it already opened not but five cycles ago.”

“So that means that we can’t use it for almost another three years right?” I said to no one in particular as I thought about being stuck here for the next three years. “Is there any other way?”

“None that we really know of that don't require magic. The rift between our worlds is still mostly a mystery to us, because only someone as powerful as Queen Harmonia was able to form it to begin with,” Xam explained to me, she seemed concerned at my plight and I took a little comfort in knowing that I wasn't going to be alone in this journey. “That is what my friends and I were doing in the forest that we found you in originally, we were trying to collect more information about the rift and see what artifact managed to come through.

“It wasn't until we gave up our search for the day that we noticed that Etpinego hadn't returned and it was then that the locals told us that they had seen azcidi's roaming through the area. This was disturbing news because they are only found in the Everfree Forest and only heightened the danger of the situation. It was when we were about to go into the forest and look for Etpinego that Vemsa saw you two coming out. Unfortunately we were so worried for her safety that we jumped to the wrong conclusion.”

“It's okay Xam,” I told her waving off her concern, “water under the bridge as they say where I'm from, but that kind of raises another question as to what am I going to do till then? I'm sure I'll get a job but I don't know how to go about the process here in your country being as I'm a foreigner to your world.”

“I believe we can help with that,” Pyre said from her end of the table as she levitated a grape to her lips, “My sister and I shall have a word with the Minister of Immigrations in the morning about procuring a permit.”

“Thank you, both of you,” I said as I gave a curt bow to the two of them. “Now I just need to find a job.”

“Well what did y'ah do in your old world? Y'ah mentioned somethin' about servin' in somthin' called tha United States Air Force, maybe y'ah could do something similar?” Etpinego suggested.

“Yes I meant to ask what exactly that was?” Xam said as she chimed in, “Is it somekind of military unit? I would imagine that it is being as you are a sergeant of some sort.”

“That would be correct Xam. The United States Air Force is a branch of the military of the country that I come from. It's main sector of concern is air, space, and cyberspace dominance in protecting the people of the United States and it's interest abroad across the planet. During my time in I have worked as a mechanic on the RC-135 aircraft.” I told her as I finished my apple, setting the core on my plate, looking around the table I saw most of them looked at me like I had just spoken to them in a foreign language again. All except the princesses that is, the two sisters looked at me with calm attentive smiles while Xam continued to write down notes furiously as she flipped another page with her magic.

“So your people have control over the skies and the realm beyond the planet?” Pyre asked with great interest in her voice, “Have you traveled to other worlds?”

“Yes and no, we have sent probes to our neighbor planets in our local solar system and a few have made their way outside the system. Through telescopes like the Hubble we are able to see things outside our own galaxy to the very edge of our known universe. But as far as human's actually going to other places we have only been to our moon, but the last time we visited there was I think going on forty years ago.”

“Your species has gone to the moon? Why the moon?” Pyre continued with the line of questions seemingly amazed at our accomplishment but confused on our destination for some reason.

“Well during that time my country was in a stalemate of power with another nation that was known as the Cold War. During that time they would each try and outdo the other in political moves and technological might to prove their dominance over the other, and one area that gained a lot of publicity was the exploration of space.”

“But why space?” Vemsa asked, “What's so exciting about space?”

“Well humanity as a race have always been a highly curious species. We have always wondered about the unknown, in fact it was just such curiosity that led to the discovery of the land that would become the United States. And at that time being as we had already covered the globe in our explorations the next step was to go beyond our own planet. So back and forth we would go until one of our countries would reach the ultimate goal of putting a man on another celestial body, and being as the moon was the closest and most prevalent figure in the night sky it seemed like the most logical solution.”

“So who won the race?” The rainbow-haired woman asked, actually now interested in my tale.

“We did,” I said with a cocky smile that she returned. “Strapped to a three hundred sixty-three foot tall rocket , weighing around six and a half million pounds and producing almost eight million pounds of thrust we launched three astronauts from Earth at a speed in excess of sixty-one hundred miles per hour into space, and after three days in space they finally landed on the moon which was broadcast for the whole world to see. At that time the whole human race celebrated as one at our greatest accomplishments.”

“That sounds so awesome!” Vemsa said as she jumped out of her seat jubilantly, before she noticed what she had done and sat back down in her seat blushing slightly.

“Indeed it does,” Pyre said equally impressed as Vemsa, just in a more refined manor. “And you work on things similar to these?”

“No, I don't work on rockets or in the space career fields, my father is just big into astronomy so growing up he would talk about stuff like that as we would look through his telescope at night. I work on aircraft, more specifically big aircraft.”

“Aircraft? You mentioned them earlier, what exactly are those?” Gilzia asked as a group of servants came in carrying plates of steaming food.

My mouth watered and I seemed to zone out as my nose picked up the heavenly smell of grilled chicken. I tried to keep my stomach in check as it growled at the thought of getting a good meal in it since this morning. The servant sat my plate down and I saw that Chef Gustav had prepared a creamy chicken dish that was set upon a bed of what looked like linguine pasta. Taking my fork I stabbed it into the dish and brought my mouth, and once the food hit my palate I was hard pressed to not let out a moan in satisfaction. I thought I had tasted good food before but nothing compared to this, and as much as I wanted to shovel the whole plate down my gullet I wanted to savor each... creamy... flavorful... bite.

'Are you alright Eric?' I heard Gilzia's voice ring out in my head knocking me out of my food euphoria.

Opening my eyes I saw that everyone was staring at me, watching me make a scene over the heavenly food before me. Swallowing the bite in my mouth I felt my cheeks warm a little in embarrassment.

“Sorry, about that. Guess I didn't realize how hungry I really was,” I apologized to them before turning my attention to Gilzia. “This food is amazing, my compliments to the chef.”

“I'm sure that he will be glad to hear that,” Gilzia replied with a smile as I heard a suppressed giggle come from a couple of the girls and saw Gilzia's smile grow a little into a sexy grin. “Now about my question from before?”

“Question?” I muttered to myself as I quickly had to think about what was said prior to the food being brought, “Oh yeah, aircraft. Well they are pretty much as the name implies. They are heaver than air machines that use wings to provide lift and fly.”

“Flying machines?” Xam said as she stopped writing in her notebook and looked up at me, “How do they create the lift? Do the wings flap like a Pegasus' or a bird's?”

“Same shape and principles of lift from what I've seen of all of your wings, “ everyone with wings at the table seemed to blush a little when I said this for some reason, “but they don't flap like your wings to make lift. Instead they rely on an engine of some sort to either push or pull it through the air.”

“Incredible, and what do you use these aircraft for?” Xam asked earnestly, eager to find out more about the technology of my world.

“Well they are used for many things but for the most part it's carrying varying types of cargo vast distances, but that's in the civilian sector. The military sector however aircraft have become platforms for observation and both offensive and defensive means against any types of enemies.”

“Intriguing,” Pyre said softy from her seat, “do you think that you could build us one of these aircraft?”

I had to honestly think about that for a second, sure I had built model planes growing up and even the occasional R/C. But even that along with my knowledge of aircraft mechanics did I know if I could actually build a plane that would actually work.

“If I was to be honest with you Pyre I would have to say no, but I believe that I have enough knowledge to help y'all build one of your own.”

“Wonderful!” the night princess said as she gave me a wide smile and clapped her hands together in front of her, “We shall begin as soon as possible.”

“Um... excuse me.. uh... Eric,” came Paxxila's soft voice.

“Yes Paxxila?” I replied eager to actually hear from the quiet woman.

“Well I was wondering, um... if you don't mind telling us that is I mean, why don't you refer the princesses by their title?” she asked as she fidgeted with her hands while peeking at me occasionally from behind her pink bangs.

“Well,” I began as I rubbed my chin in thought, “I consider all of them my friends and it seems odd for me to refer to them by a title when amongst other friends, but with Gilzia and Pyre it probably has more to do with the fact that our bond makes it weird to call them that when we're so connected.”

“Wait,” Xam said as she put down her quill and narrowed her eyes at me, “what bond?”

Author's Notes:

Yay! Another chapter. Hope this chapter starts to explain some things but I didn't want to give everything away. As always next chapter ASAP.