The chariot skidded to a halt in the center of town as a large group of ponies gathered around at the sight of their princess’s arrival. I ducked down, feeling a little self conscious, but kept my head up just enough to see what was going on. Celestia stepped out of the chariot, and I saw six very familiar ponies rushing to join the crowd. It was only my nervousness around all these new faces that kept me from jumping up in the air and squealing like an overexcited fanboy.
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD, IT’S THE MANE SIX! I thought ecstatically as Celestia addressed her subjects.

“Attention, citizens of Ponyville," she began, "I come here today with a guest from a far away land. He has just arrived here a few days ago, and I hope you will be kind to him during his stay. I know he may seem strange, but there is no reason to be afraid of him. Allen, come here and introduce yourself!”
I stood up slowly and climbed out of the chariot, stumbling a little as I stepped over the edge. I looked up at the numerous ponies that filled the town square and smiled nervously. “Hello,” I said awkwardly, giving a slight wave. They all stared at me and murmured amongst themselves. I narrowed my eyes when I heard one of them whisper “He looks so weird.”

Celestia scanned the crowd for a moment, and suddenly said, “Ah, Twilight Sparkle, could you and your friends come up here for a moment?” I watched as a gap formed in the crowd, slowly moving forward until the Mane Six were standing just a few feet away from me. I stared at them in awe; they looked exactly like they did on the show!
“Yes, Princess?” Twilight asked dutifully as she stepped forward. She kept glancing at me strangely, but for the most part kept her attention on the princess.

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, I must ask you and your friends to perform a task for me,” she said, and then turned to me. “Do you see this creature standing before you?”
They all nodded as Celestia continued: “This is Allen. He comes from a whole other world from ours, and has become lost here. I want you and your friends to take care of him until I am ready to send him home.”
Twilight seemed shocked by this. “But Princess,” she whispered as she stepped forward, quiet enough so only myself and the white alicorn could hear, “why are you asking us to care for a human?”
Wait a minute, I thought slowly, didn’t Celestia say no ponies knew about humans?

Celestia gave her gentle a look. “Twilight,” she said reassuringly, “this creature means us no harm. He is simply here so that I may see how his species behaves.” She looked up from her student to face the crowd once again. “Thank you all for coming here to welcome our guest. Allen, I hope you enjoy your stay. Farewell, my little ponies!” she said as she stepped back into the carriage, but turned to me one last time and spoke to me in a low voice. “I must ask, Allen, that you refrain from talking about the history you have learned from me, or how you knew of us before your arrival. I do not want to cause a panic.” I nodded, and the chariot suddenly took off. I stared after it until it disappeared in the distance.

I turned around to see several ponies approaching me, asking all sorts of questions.
“Why are you so tall?”
“Why do you only stand on two legs?”
“Why is he so smooth-looking?”
I started to feel a little uncomfortable with all the mares, colts, and fillies circling and poking at me. Just then, the Mane Six formed a barrier between myself and the herd.

“Now, listen up, y’all,” Applejack called out, silencing the din, “I know this fella seems strange, but that’s no reason to go buggin him with a million questions. Everypony go about yer business, and we’ll take care of him from here.”
The crowed let out a collective “Aww…” before dispersing. Then, the circle of ponies surrounding me turned inward and smiled at me.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Applejack said, “They were jes a little curious, is all. You are pretty funny lookin, though. Ah’m Applejack,” she said, extending a hoof. The rest introduced themselves one by one, each in their signature fashion: I could barely hear Fluttershy say her name, Rainbow Dash went on about being “the fastest flier in all Equestria”, Rarity judged my “drab outfit” and offered to make something a little more “fabulous”, and Pinkie Pie broke into a song-and-dance routine. Twilight, however, didn’t seem to thrilled about meeting me. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said simply, bowing her head.

Yes, I know who you are. I know who you all are! I wanted to say, but Celestia’s words about keeping my knowledge secret stuck in my head. “My name is Allen. It’s nice to meet you all. Uh, Celestia said something about staying with you?” I said, trying to contain my elation.

Twilight stepped forward. “Yes, we've already figured that out.” By the expressions on her friends faces, it looked like they had no idea what she was talking about. “You will spend one day with each of us: first with me, then with Fluttershy, then with Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, and finally, Pinkie Pie. Any questions?”
Pinkie shot a hoof into the air, but Twilight ignored her and gave me an accusing look. “Good. Then it looks like you’re coming with me. I’ll see you girls tomorrow,” she said, just before grabbing hold of my shirt with her magic and dragging me off.
“Hey, what gives?” I cried as we left earshot.
“I’m on to you, human. When we get to the library, you’re gonna tell me why you’re really here, or - what in Equestria is that?” she said. suddenly letting me go. I followed her eyes to see what caught her attention.

Lumbering towards us was what looked like a living block of cerulean glass. It was multi-faceted, like a gem, and two of the sides on the front glowed a dark blue. Its arms were intimidating; one of them appeared to be a broadsword, so long that it dragged on the ground beside it, and looked like it could be used to chop down a three-foot-thick tree in one slice. The other arm looked like a human arm, with a fingered hand, save for the fact that the whole thing was about as wide as I was. It didn’t have a head, so its face sat on where its chest should have been. It looked like it was scanning the area for something, but couldn’t find what it was looking for.

And then it saw me.

{HUMAN!} it screamed in a deep, enraged voice. It suddenly charged forward, raising its bladed arm into the air with incredible strength.
“What the hell?” I said aloud just as Twilight plowed into me, knocking me out of the way of the descending sword. I stood up and saw that the creature had buried half of its arm in the spot I had just been occupying.
I decided I had seen enough, and quickly turned and ran in the opposite direction, only to slam into another one of the gemstone creatures. It grabbed me in its hand and lifted me in the air, pressing its sword against my throat.
{FOR EQUESTRIA!} It shouted, and I cringed.
Just before I thought it was all over, the crystal creature let me go, causing me to fall to the ground. I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran away, quickly glancing behind me to see Twilight blasting the behemoth with rapid blasts of magic. I looked ahead and saw the rest of the Mane Six walking down the street.

“HEY! HELP!” I shouted to them, waving wildly. They turned and looked horrified when they saw what was going on behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that one of them had kept up with me, the other one probably still busy with Twilight. I ran past them, yelling “SORRY!” as I left them to deal with the creature.
I quickly ran around a corner and peeked back, seeing what the thing would do. It ran right at the others like a steamroller, and I was afraid it would just run right through them. Instead, when it was just a few feet away from them, it leaped high over them, and I finally realized what had been unclear to me before: it didn’t care about any of the ponies.

It wanted ME.

I turned around, tripping as I did, and saw the creature descending. I backed up just enough so that its bladed arm stabbed into the ground right in between my legs. I lifted my left leg up and rolled to the right, around the deadly crystal limb, mere moments before it tore out of the ground. If I had been there any longer, there’d be two half-humans in Equestria. I jumped up once again and kept running.

One of my strengths? I can run pretty damn fast in short bursts. One of my weaknesses? I can run fast in pretty damn short bursts. I was already starting to tire, and the only thing keeping me going was a massive adrenaline rush, and the wish to not get impaled by a couple of crystal statues.
Why haven’t I seen these things on the show before? I thought as I jumped over a bench in the park. I looked behind me and, sure enough, the thing was just a few yards behind me. Suddenly, I heard a loud crack, and looked ahead to see a tree falling over. I quickly ducked and rolled with timing that only a survival-based adrenaline rush can give you, and saw the creature get clothes-lined by the massive piece of timber. I looked at the base of the tree and saw Applejack, who was smiled at me, and ran over by my pursuer and began to rapidly kick it. It didn’t seem to be doing much at first, but her strikes did keep it down. Eventually, the thing finally started to crack, and soon after shattered into several pieces, which slowly turned to dust moments later. I noticed that buried deep inside it was a single, pure white crystal. I stared at it for a moment, until Applejack’s voice broke me from my daze.
“C’mon, sugarcube! We gotta help Twilight!” she called as she ran off. I followed close behind as we returned to the center of town.

Meanwhile, back at Castle Canterlot, Celestia was discussing the days events with her sister, Princess Luna. “You mean there’s a human? Here?” the midnight-blue alicorn asked with disbelief.
“Yes,” Celestia said, nodding, “but it is just a young boy. I think he may be much different from the humans we have heard of from the days of the great war.”
Their conversation was cut short as a guard burst in. “Celestia, terrible news! Ponyville is under attack!”
Celestia and Luna jumped up. “What do you mean?” Celestia demanded.
The guard looked uncertain. “All I heard is that there are massive, crystal beasts chasing that creature you brought there earlier today. Do you have any idea of what this could be?”
Celestia looked to her sister, who had a worried expression on her face.
“Sentinels,” Luna whispered darkly. Celestia nodded and looked back at the guard.
“Prepare the chariot. We have to get back there before it’s too late!”

I was completely out of energy now. The edges of my vision were starting to blur, and my breath came in short, haggard gasps. Fortunately for me, the Mane Six were making a valiant effort to hold back the creature, but this one was built more sturdily than the one Applejack took down; I knew they couldn’t hold it back forever. At least they tried, I thought as I collapsed on the ground, the cool grass feeling amazing on my face. I saw the creature stand over me, eclipsing the sun.
{ANY LAST WORDS, HUMAN?} It asked me as it raised its sword into the air.
“Yeah,” I said, deciding if I was going to go, I was going to go with a badass one liner. “Something along the lines of ‘fuck you’ comes to mind.”

Probably not the greatest I could have come up with, but you gotta cut me some slack; oxygen deprivation makes it hard to be witty.

It let out an enraged scream as it brought down its blade, which suddenly turned to dust, along with the rest of it, just inches from my chest. I looked up and saw Celestia and Princess Luna descending from the sky, their horns crackling with energy. Once again, I felt like squealing like a fangirl out of the sheer awesomeness, but all I could do was mumble an underwhelming “Yay” just as consciousness left me.

When I awoke, I was in Twilight’s library. It was nighttime, and I was lying in a very comfortable bed with a blanket pulled up to my chin. Every joint in my body ached, and my head felt like it had been bashed in with a steel pipe.
I also noticed I was no longer wearing any clothes, except for my underwear. I raised an eyebrow, and saw Celestia, Luna, and Twilight approaching. I looked up at them, confused.
“Rarity insisted,” Twilight began, “that she wash your clothes for you.” She still sounded pretty edgy about me; I had no doubt she’d interrogate me in the morning.
“They didn’t look very comfortable, either,” Luna added lightly.

“I suppose you want an explanation of what happened today, don’t you?” Celestia asked quietly.
I nodded. “That’d be nice,” I replied, surprisingly calm. Celestia sighed, and began her history lesson.

“At the start of the great war, we were afraid we had already lost. The humans’ savagery and cunning were too much for us, and they almost reached the castle. Had they done so, all would have been lost.
That was when the great wizard, Starswirl the Bearded, came forward with a design for a magical defense system: A series of crystal pillars, enchanted so if any humans were sensed in Equestria, they would summon guardians, called Crystal Sentinels, to attack the humans. They were made of a special type of crystal that was completely indestructible by any means the humans possessed. Before long, we drove the humans out of Equestria for good. Without any further need for the Sentinels, we buried the pillars deep underground, where they were eventually forgotten and assumed to be nonfunctioning.”
Luna nodded. “That is, until you came here.”

I stared up at them. “What am I supposed to do? Like you said, I can’t leave until the end of the week, when the spell is finished. Do I just sit here and hide until those things finally find me?”
Celestia gave me a hopeful look. “Actually, I have a gift that may help you.” As she said this, I saw a white crystal hover over to me. I recognized it as one of the crystals contained in the Sentinel that Applejack had defeated earlier. “The crystals that lie at the heart of a Sentinel have great magical capabilities. We infused this one with some of our own power, in hopes that you will be able to use it to defend yourself from attacks until we are ready to send you home.”

I reached out slowly and took the crystal. As I did, it became surrounded in a bright, white light, and began to transform, lengthening and shifting in my hand. When the light faded, I saw it had turned into a beautiful sword, looking as if it were carved from a block of white diamond.
“That blade,” Luna began, “Is just as strong as the Sentinels, if not stronger. It should serve you well during your stay.”

Celestia looked at me hopefully. “Well? What do you think?”
I studied the sword for a moment, and suddenly felt weak. “It’s nice,” I mumbled as my arm dropped, and I added, “but I would have preferred a katana,” just as I passed out again. I heard Celestia and Luna giggle moments before I lost my senses.