A New Friend
Chapter 5: Getting Settled
Previous Chapter Next ChapterShortly after he got to the library he couldn't help but notice that books were flying everywhere, and even had to duck as one almost hit him in his head. He then decided to crawl across the floor to avoid any more of the flying books, and he managed to get to the unicorn who stood at the center of it. After making sure it was okay to stand he managed to stand, and looked at the unicorn who had her eyes closed.
"Hey, Twilight I'm back!" He called out breaking her concentration.
"Aaah!" She yelped in surprise. "Oh Brandon, sorry didn't hear you come in. So you had fun?"
"Yeah, after I woke up and had some lunch I looked around town a little. But I think you still might have to give me that tour, still had a little trouble finding my way. So what were you doing?" He asked looking at the books that laid on the floor now.
"Oh, I was reorganizing the library. I do it about every two weeks if they don't get knocked off." She said and looked at the window like she was expecting someone to crash through it. "Anyways after I get done I will be more than happy to show you around, but after that, you should start on those papers for your citizenship. But beforehoof you need to look through your stuff, maybe find those books?"
"Yeah sure. Hey thanks for sending that bag of money over, and sorry if I did anything to embarrass you." He said looking at the boxes and suitcase in the corner.
"Oh don't worry you didn't, and how did things go with Lyra? I saw a big crowd around you two last night, seemed like you were having fun." She looked at him with a smile.
"Yeah, we hung out a little, for some reason even though I only recently met her I already feel like we're long time friends. Don't know why, I mean it took me a month to get used to all of you, and the fact that I'm in another world. I would have figured that it would take me longer to make any more friends." He said, and Twilight was nodding her head in agreement.
"I understand, trying to get used to a new world and a new life would be hard. But you need to understand ponies here are widely more accepting than some of the other creature here, so they know how to make somepony feel welcome and comfortable. Now how about I give you that tour?" She asked and when he looked around he saw that the books were all put up on the shelves.
"H-how..." He trailed off, turning his head to her giggling.
"That's what you get for not paying attention, after all, I am Princess Celestia's personal student." She said still giggling a little and his eyes went wide.
"I meant to ask you about that. If you're her personal student then why are you here in a small town? Shouldn't you be at least in the same city as her?" He asked.
"Well I was studying in Canterlot, that's the capital, but the princess one day sent me here to check up on the Summer Sun Celebration preparation. Though she had another reason, she wanted me to make friends. And I wasn't exactly too thrilled with that, as I always preferred to study rather than make and hang out with friends. But it's thanks to the other girls helping me defeat Nightmare Moon using the Elements Of Harmony and then the princess assigned me here to study the magic of friendship, after of course telling her that now that I knew about how wonderful having friend was and I didn't want to leave them. So that's pretty much why I'm now living here and not with her." She replied and looked at his confused expression.
"Nightmare Moon? Elements of Harmony?" Was all he could get out.
"I'll explain later, but let's start that tour shall we?" She asked laughing a little.
"Yeah, yeah let's go." He said shaking his head out of the daze he was in.
After leaving the library and starting their tour by her explaining the history of it, as it turns out it was made from the earth ponies using their magic in order to keep the tree alive. Though he wasn't thrilled about the history lesson on the whole entire town's buildings, learning when and how they were built, he did start to think he started to get familiar with the town. Soon after they stopped at a cafe which he just ordered a lettuce sandwich and he felt like he could manage to navigate his own way now.
"So this town was started by the Apple family? Wow, that's pretty cool. You know I met Granny Smith, she was nice." He said after swallowing his last bite.
"I knew you would, and so I presume you also met Applebloom and Big Mac as well?" She asked and he just nodded in response. "Good, because the one thing everypony knows about Applejack is how her family means a lot to her. Especially after the accident with her parents."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I mean Applejack might tell me when she's ready, but what accident?" He asked knowing that this accident ended badly since he didn't meet her parents.
"Yeah, I think it would be better if I let Applejack tell you. So exactly how are you adjusting anyway?" She asked.
"Well like I said I seem to be adjusting just fine, but that's the problem though." He replied getting a curious look from her.
"Oh, and why is that a problem?" She asked.
"It's a problem because as we said, waking up in a strange new world without much memory. I should still be in all-out panic mode, but I'm not. Yes so far everyone I've come across is friendly enough but I still think I should at least be a little bit more cautious about this whole situation." He answered.
"I think I understand, maybe it's just who you were. I mean from what I've read just because you've lost your memory doesn't mean that you've lost your personality. So maybe the reason why you're adjusting so well is that you are a lot more accepting than what you realize." She gave him a concerned look before smiling again.
"You might be right, but still I'm a human in a world filled with magical talking ponies. And who knows what else." He said with a big sigh.
"And you're a human in our world like we've been trying to get into that thick head of yours we don't judge by species. We judge by how you act and what you've done, I know there will be some judging eyes but you just need to relax and try to make as many friends as possible. So please try to get that in there, because it's getting a little annoying having to tell you again and again." She said giving him a serious look.
"Alright, I'll try not to think too much about my predicament But I think we should head back to the library so I can see if I have anything on human's diet. You know to see if I can just live off of all the stuff you guys eat." He said standing up.
"You know you could just order that kind of stuff from the Griffon kingdom right?" She said and shivered. "If you do just please make sure I don't see it."
"Don't worry if there is a diet for humans to eat like you ponies then I'll stick with it okay?" He asked and she just nodded.
As it turns out the library wasn't too far from where they were, and to his surprise, he knew exactly where to go. Though he wondered why she had decided to let him lead the way instead was a little bit of a mystery. But they quickly got to the library without to much trouble.
"Alright I'll start on filling those papers out, I'll call you if I need any help. Which this will be a good chance for me to see if our written language is the same." He said.
"Okay, and when you take a break how about we start sorting through some of your stuff?" She asked pointing to his stuff in the corner.
"Of course, but I think for a majority of what's left today and a good part of the night I might just be filling those out. Want to get it done as soon as possible you know?" He asked turning his head to the stack of papers on a desk.
"I understand. I'll call you when Spike has dinner ready, you like vegetable stew?" She asked walking towards the kitchen.
"Don't think it would be that bad for me, and besides I think at very least fruits and vegetables might be healthy for me anyway." He replied sitting down at the desk.
"That's good to hear." She said before she left.
By the time she had called him for dinner he seemed to have gotten a lot done, he was surprised at how easy it was to read the language. He already knew the mere luck of them speaking the same language was extremely low, but them having the same written language as well. Granted a few words were different but he got the jiff of them.
"So how's the paperwork coming along?" She asked.
"It's going great, I've already got about a third of it done already." He said, and she nodded him in a little admiration.
"So I take it we have pretty similar written language then?" She asked after sipping some of the stew.
"Actually besides a few word replacements, like how you say everypony or anypony, stuff like that. We have exactly the same language." He answered.
"Well, then I can't wait to see what kind of books you have then, especially if I don't have to learn how to read another language." She said.
"So how many languages do you know how to read?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well I can read about, I say around twenty different of them." At this, he spat out some of the stew back into the bowl.
"You can?" He asked surprised, she and Spike starting laughing. "What? You just caught me off guard, but you must be a genius of some sort. No wonder you're the princess prized student." This made her stop laughing a bit and gave a slight blush.
"Well, I wouldn't call her a genius but yeah she's pretty smart," Spike said. "Ow! Why'd you kick me?" This made him chuckle which made Spike give him a curious look.
"Hey don't look at me, I have no idea why she kicked you." He said with a wink with Twilight, and she let out a small giggle.
"But yeah I guess that is pretty impressive, but that's nothing compared to the spells I can cast." She said with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, speaking of which since I have a good idea of cutie marks, what does your's mean?" He asked.
"It means my special talent is magic, do humans get cutie marks?" She asked back.
"No. afraid not. It's more of you have to spend your entire life looking for it. Some are lucky and find it, and even get a job in that area. But if I remember that was kinda rare, but I do get the impression that I did find my talent. I believe that I might have been somewhat good at writing." He said, and she gave him a look of excitement which he knew meant she must have an idea.
"Well if you at least get that impression then why don't you start writing a book? Ooo, I could even help and be your editor. This will be great.!" She squealed.
"Woah, first let's finish eating, then let me fill out some more of that paperwork. Then we can start discussing me writing a book, besides I would need to get an idea for one and then start thinking about it. But that still may take a little while since I want to get used to some of this world still, work on the farm with Applejack and her family to regain my strength and all." He said, and she looked down in embarrassment.
"Sorry I get ahead of myself sometimes." She said.
"Sometimes?" Spike asked.
"Hey, I've calmed down in that department thank you very much." She said back.
After managing to get through the rest of the meal with some more talk like they had, which he found funny as they acted just like how a brother and sister would. But he didn't say anything, he managed to get done early and started to work on the application again. He managed to get through five more pages before the two came into the room.
"Looks like you've got a handle on things, almost done and all." She said with a smile.
"Yeah, it's mostly just filler on laws and stuff which I read through pretty quickly. Don't worry even if I can't remember all of them I would never break the law, even if I have the faintest idea of what the laws are." He said still writing.
"Well since you seem just about done, how about you do the rest tomorrow. That way we can see what all you have." She said, and he just nodded.
They agreed only to do the suitcase seeing as how it was just clothes, but also because it was already getting late. So taking note of the clothes inside and reorganizing them, not his idea, they put it away. She quickly showed him the guest bed, which was unfortunate for him since they had to share the room. But after the day he had, he was tired and really didn't care.
---
"So I take it you're not a morning pony then?" Spike asked.
"Uhh, yeah I guess you're right. But then again I was having such a nice dream about roasted peanuts, though that seemed like a strange dream as well." He said a bit cranky.
"Well, it's not as weird of a dream than what you think. I mean dreaming about food is always a good dream to have.' Spike said.
Though he didn't reply instead he looked at the tea in his cup, Spike offered to make some coffee but he declined. For some reason, tea seemed to be calling his name, and it was great tasting tea too. It did what he hoped they do and woke him a little.
"So Brandon you ready to get to sorting through those boxes?" Twilight came in asking.
"Yeah, I guess." He said getting up slowly.
"Well, I defiantly see you're starting to get comfortable, even if it was only your first night here." She said giggling, and he looked down to see that he didn't have his shorts on.
"Oh come on!" He exclaimed and ran past in a blur.
"What was that about?" Spike asked.
"He isn't that comfortable without clothes on." She said with a smile.
"Sorry about that, guess after a little bit I got used to sleeping without anything on." He said coming back down the stairs in nothing but shorts.
"It's alright, you don't have to be ashamed of your own skin you Know? And besides, it just means that you're starting to feel more comfortable. But are you sure there isn't just another reason why you wear clothes all the time?" She asked.
"Well now that you mention it, I do think there is another reason. As you can tell I don't exactly have fur covering my entire body, thus leaving me exposed to the elements. I guess the clothes are made to help protect me from them, but it's still nice enough outside that I don't need that much protection." He answered.
"Makes sense, in that case after we get through the boxes then I want you to go to Rarity's shop. If you remember she's a fashion designer and I'm sure she would be more than happy to make you some clothes for the cold months." She said.
"Yeah fine, so let's begin shall we?" He asked.
They went through the little box first which seemed to be filled with personal stuff, like a picture of himself or something. But when they finished with it they realized that there was only one picture and that was of him, none of his family or friends. Most of it was stuff he couldn't remember, so they packed it back up and she had Spike put it into storage.
"Okay now for the big box, I hope this has books in it!" She said excitedly.
She was right, as the box was filled with nothing but books. He had to make sure she was okay because after seeing all the books from a different world it seemed like she would pass out. After that had been averted they started to sort through them all.
"Hey, looky here a cookbook on vegetarian food. Now I remember that there were humans who could survive off of plants and stuff, this should come in handy. It should tell us some food that will give me the best nutrients, though after a month of living here I might have already discovered some of these." He said smiling at his discovery, but when he looked he saw she wasn't listening.
"Oh my Celestia! History books!" She yelled and pulled out thick books, which he read the titles.
"American History, World History, and Ancient History huh," He said out loud. "You know you could keep some of these, I mean I might not read all of them."
"Really?" She had a twinkle in her eye when he said that.
"Yeah, but let's get these sorted out and I'll pick out the ones I want to keep, deal?" He asked offering his hand, but he remembered to close it to make things easier.
"Deal." She said excitedly.
After making sure that they got all of them out and sorted, he started to look at them picking out the books he thought he might be interested in. Which was just a few books that looked to be apart of the same series, but what did surprise him about all of it is he seemed to have magazines. Which they seemed to be fashion ones, pretty convenient if he did say so, but the one book that popped out at him was a medical book.
"Hey, I think I should run this by the hospital just in case." He said lifting up the book.
"That sounds like a good idea, but I'll do it. I'm going in that direction anyway and you should let Rarity have those magazines, so she will get a good idea on what humans clothing looks like. That and she'll want to take measurements, which it might take her a little bit to figure out since she never worked on a human before." She said grabbing the book out of his hand with her magic.
"Fine, after that I want to finish filling out the paperwork though. I wouldn't want to do anything that might break a law and they don't know what to do with me and all.' He said standing up with his arms filled with books. "After I get done with these I'll let you put them in the library or whatever, as for the rest of the books. well, I'll leave them to you."
"Okay, you can put those books that you picked out under your bed until you finish with them. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get going if I want to stick to my schedule." She said looking at the clock on her wall. "See ya later."
"See ya." He said and watched her leave, but before she walked out of the door.
"Spike!" She called.
"Yes?" Spike answered.
"Can you put away the books on the floor please?" She asked though he knew it wasn't really a question.
"Sure, whatever," Spike said a little annoyed.
Shortly after he put his books under the bed he was using and made sure they were more in the center. Then went and gathered the fashion magazines which he still couldn't believe he had. And after telling Spike he was going he made his way to the fashionista which he was lucky he remembered where it was at.
"Aaah!" He yelled in surprise as all of a sudden the pink mare was in front of him.
"Oh sorry didn't mean to surprise you like that, unless you like surprises like that. Then I could do it more often, most ponies would tell never to do that or ask me how I just appeared out of nowhere." He recognized who it was.
"Pinkie, no I don't mind surprises like that. Just keep them to a minimum okay? But did you want something?" He asked getting up.
"Well, I was wondering when your birthday is? And where are you going with those?" Pinkie asked. "Come on and tell me."
"My birthday is the twenty-fourth of this month, and if I remember I'll be turning twenty. As for where I'm going with these, I'm heading over to Rarity's. That way she can get an idea of what fashion is like where I come from, and so she could take my measurements." He answered, though he still wasn't thrilled on the idea.
"Okie dokie lokie, then bye!" And before he could respond she was gone.
"Where did she... never mind might want to get this over with." He said with a sigh.
----
"Now, now darling you don't have to be embarrassed. And besides, it's just you and me right now." Rarity said.
"I know, it's just considered indecent to be nude in front of a lady.' He replied.
"And I understand that, but this is a good way for me to get the right measurements. Now off with the cloths." She said glaring at him and he gulped.
"Fine, but could you at least look away?" He asked, and she just let out a small chuckle before turning around.
In her head, she thought she never met a pony who would be so embarrassed to take off their clothes. But she could understand the whole it being indecent and all. And when she heard him say it was alright to turn around, as she did she let out a giggle as he was standing there covering himself.
"Well, I can see you still have a lot more of getting comfortable before you get to the level of not being embarrassed about your own skin." She said walking over to him with her usual tool for this job.
Next Chapter: Working Schedule Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 60 MinutesAuthor's Notes:
Eyup ended it there. And before you all complain that some of the chapters sound the same, that's because i'm still setting up the world. And i'll also tell ya that soon i'll explain better on why he got so comfortable in the first place, again still setting everything up plot wise. Now I would like to say his reaction in the first chapter is actually base on a friends of mine who had gotten into a car accident and had memory loss due to a head injury. I wrote that new scene based off of what he told me what he did. So hope you enjoyed.