Author's Notes:

Just for the sake of storytelling, Equestria Girls never happened in this story.

The passenger car constantly rocked as the train it was attached to pulled it forward, taking me and several other passengers to our destination. I sat near the back of the car, staring out the window as things like trees and rocks would occasionally wiz by; at first, I was lazily counting them just to pass the time, but after a while I grew bored of that and just decided to view the scenery. Eventually, I was nearly startled when I felt something being placed over my shoulder along with a female's voice speaking towards me.

"Are you alright Maurice? You've been awfully quiet."

I sighed before responding, still looking out the window. "No, I'm...I'm fine. Just uh," I shrugged, "a little nervous I guess."

"Oh, well uh... Don't be! Everything'll be fine, I'm sure you'll have a great time!" I could tell she was trying to sound positive, but even I could pick up the small hints of doubt in her voice.

I pressed my forehead against the window's cool glass, then made an amused sigh. "Sure, maybe... It's just...do you think they'll like me," I then rolled my eyes, "aaand possibly not freak out when I meet them?"

She release her own amused sigh before responding. "Maurice, they've read your profile and everything, yet still accepted you; what reason would they have to freak out about?"

"Oh, I don't know," I sarcastically said before I turned to her, "maybe the fact that I'm not a colorful quadruped like everyone else. Have you considered that, Twilight?"

Twilight, she was what they called in this world, a pony. Basically they're aliens that look alot like horses from my world which reside in this otherworldly land called Equestria. Oh, and apparently these ponies come in four flavors: earth ponies, unicorns, pegasus'es...eses, and alicorns--alicorns being a combination of all three and what Twilight was, also, did I mention she was a princess?

Actually, I shouldn't be calling them the aliens, it'd be more accurate to use that description on myself. You see, if it wasn't obvious by now, I'm not from here. Now I'm not saying that I'm from some neighboring country or something like that--no no, cause you see, I'm not even from this planet...dimension--where ever it is I am! I'm just a regular ol' human from the planet Earth who got zapped to this world with nothing but the clothes on my back and my charming personality.

"Well uh...nopony else seems to mind much," Twilight said, gesturing at the other ponies on the car who had all purposely sat a good distance away from me. They were all trying to keep their eyes forward, but some would feign a cough or pretend to drop something so they could pick it up in order to get a glance at me. I anticipated that something like this would happen, and that's why I chose to sit near the back, trying to look as non-threatening as I could, but despite this, the only ones who even sat near me were Twilight and her five friends.

These friends of hers who were chatting amongst themselves being Applejack, an orange earth pony apple farmer who has a southern drawl that I just love to hear; Rarity, a white unicorn and the sole reason I have more clothes than what I came to this world with; Rainbow Dash, a tom-boyish blue pegasus with a multi-colored mane; Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus...as well as the beast master; and then there's Pinkie... Yeah...I'm not even gonna try to describe Pinkie other than saying she's an earth pony, and um...pink.

"Whatever," I said to Twilight before crossing my arms and resting my head back against the seat. "I'm just gonna take a nap, mind waking me when we get there?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.

As I tried to sleep, I thought back to how it was that I ended up here in this world. About a month ago, I was on Earth, just hanging out with some friends of mine in the student lounge of the college we all attended. It wasn't until that I had to leave them to head for my next class that events were set in motion for me. See, it was raining on that day, which was no big deal for me cause I loved rainy days, as I'd often walk through such weather without putting on my jacket's hood, allowing my hair to get soaked. This time, I was walking through the campus, just to allow the rain to hit me; at first, it was normal like always, just a small sprinkle shower that was slowly but surely getting stronger, with me being the only one not to take the longer but dryer path.

Once I was halfway to my class, without warning, the rain intensified a little too quickly; it was like the rain dial was just moments ago set on one, then instantly cranked to eleven! Next thing I knew, lightning struck a tree that was a few yards ahead of me, followed by the loud boom of thunder a moment later. I was shocked, I had never been this close to a lightning strike before and my eyes stung from witnessing it along with my ears being deafened by the thunder. When I closed my eyes, I could still see the root-like image of the lightning that scorched the tree just now. When lightning struck a second tree, this time, one closer to me, I started to panic; I couldn't remember if it was safer to stand under or away from something in order to avoid getting struck.

Fearful of a third, I made a break for one of the nearest buildings. I was so close! I remember reaching for the door handle when...my vision was replaced by a flash of white... I never heard the thunder that time...

Next thing I knew, I was tossing and turning in--well, guessing by what felt like a blanket atop of me, a bed.

"It...it was just a dream," I said to myself before opening my eyes, only to have a mini-freak out when I saw nothing but white! "Oh, God! It happened! And I'm blind!" It was strange, I always thought being blind meant I would see nothing but pitch black, not white, but I guess blind people got it wrong since they don't really know what black is.

I then placed my hands over my face, ready to yell into them before I noticed that things got darker. Wait, what? I moved my hands away and was relieved that I could clearly see them. After a few shallow breaths to calm myself, I began to realize that I was staring at a white ceiling. Glad that I wasn't blind, I sat up on the bed and noticed that I was in an all white room; the only other colors I could spot being the bed's gray blanket and light blue hospital gown I was in.

It took a while for my brain to kick into gear, but I began to notice some strange things, like the fact that the hospital gown I was wearing didn't seem to fit me very well, how this room was illuminated when I couldn't find any lights in the ceiling...or anywhere at all, and the last but most important tidbit, THERE WAS NO DOOR!

"Huh," I muttered to myself, my brow raised after scanning along the walls from left to right. I then tried to get up, but stopped when I felt a sharp pain in my left forearm. Turning to it, I saw that there was a small tube piercing through the skin that was attached to an I.V. bag filled with some sort of liquid, which had most likely been providing my body with much needed fluids for however long I was out. After carefully removing the drop from my arm, I got up, then realized something: I was starved and really parched. Whatever was in the I.V. bag kept me alive and all, but it wasn't exactly filling or thirst quenching.

"Ugh," I complained as I rubbed my growling stomach. Suddenly, there was a shifting sound as some sort of drawer-like compartment slid out from the center of the wall opposite of the bed.

Curious, I walked to it and spotted a few items within it: a few flowers, some sort of gem that looks like something from a video game, and...is that hay? Sure, there were some other items in there too, but I ignored those as I focused on a bowl of water and a slice of toast.

In order to satiate my complaining stomach, I wolfed the toast down, sparing almost no crumb. Right when I was about to sip from the bowl, a female's voice startled me.

"Oh, good, they told me you just awoke."

I looked around the room, but failed to locate the source; it was as if the voice was coming from the very walls themselves. Confused, I tried to respond.

"Um...hel--"

"Twilight, I don't think it can talk," said what sounded like a younger male.

"Well, we'll just have to see," the female said. "YOU IN THERE!" I could tell that last part was directed towards me. "Can you speak? Do. You. Un-der-staaand?"

I didn't answer, as I was gawking at the walls. Who would ask that question?! 'Can you speak'? Of course I can! What kind of weird hospital is this?! The voice was silent for a while before speaking again.

"I'm going in there."

"What?! No!" yelled the male.

"Spike, how else are we going to learn from it if we don't interact with it?"

"But you shouldn't go in there, it could be dangerous! ...I'll go."

"What?" asked the female, sounding surprised that this 'Spike' person would offer.

"I'll go, tough scales and all, remember? If it bites me, I doubt I'd feel it." Starting to get a bit annoyed that they're referring to me as an 'it'...

"Well...a-alright, Spike. Just be careful."

As I stood in the center of the room, I rolled my eyes as I started to think that this was some elaborate joke being playing on me. Soon enough, I heard shifting noises from behind, as well as footsteps.

"Easy there, big guy," Spike said as it sounded like he was inching his way closer to me.

Great, I'm gonna turn around and it's gonna be either Chris or Will standing at the doorway before they have a big laugh at my expense.

"Alright, alright, very funny guys, but--" I turned around, only to spot no one there. "What the?"

"Uh...you can talk?" Spike said, his voice coming from bellow.

"It can talk?!" I heard the female yell before I lowered my eyes and...HOLY FUCK, WHAT IS THAT?!

I backed up against the farthest wall, staring wide eyed at what I could only describe as the result of a drunken mishap between Barney the Dinosaur and Godzilla Junior!

The purple and green reptile creature that was waist high slowly neared me as it held it's arms up defensibly. "Whoa, calm down, I'm sure you're probably confused and all, but--"

I then did what any sane person in my situation would do: I punted it away...like a football... This 'Spike' thing flew against the wall, where it stuck there for a few seconds before falling face-first onto the floor.

Seconds later, another creature entered the room, this one looking like a purple horse with a pair of wings and a horn. She then looked towards me and smiled. "Oh good, you can talk! Spike, let me take over for now. ...Spike?" She looked around the room before finding him face-down beside the door. "Spike, are you ok?" Still face-down, Spike raised an arm and gave her a shaky thumbs up before grumbling something. "Good," she said with a nod. "Just uh...walk it off, I guess."

For a moment, I just stood there and observed these two creatures before, "Phffft!" I started laughing.

"What's so funny?" The horse thing asked.

I waited for my laughter to die down a bit before responding. "I'm dead! I'm fucking dead!" I laughed a bit more before continuing. "It's the only way this shit can make sense! The lightning killed me and I'm in some weird ass limbo!"

The horse thing gave me a confused look. "Uh...I can assure you: you're not dead, and that this is real."

I looked at her, then shook my head. "Hold on, Ms. Ed. Let me just prove this to you real quick." I turned to the wall behind me, then smacked my arm against it as hard as I could. I then presented it to her and gestured to it with my other arm. "SeeEEEeee--ah, fuck!" I yelled before clutching my arm with the other.

The horse raised a brow, seeming to be amused. "What, did you break a bone or something?"

"No!" I shouted. "Freaking hit the funny bone..."

Well then, this is real... Shit...

After a few days of asking and being asked questions, I learned of ponies, Equestria, and a bit about its history, and in return, Twilight learned about me, humans, and Earth. When I described what happened to me with the sudden storm and lightning, Twilight hypothesized that the bolt that hit me was momentarily connected with this world, transporting me here; she said that such a thing was a rare occurrence, so rare in fact that it might as well have happened on my birthday...when the planets aligned...and hell froze over...

Eventually I found out through Twilight that I was apparently crapped out from the ether--my words, not hers--then plopped down onto some random street in Equestria's capital, Canterlot. Seems that I caused quite a stir, as the guards were called in to haul my unconsciousness body away. Also, it's a good thing that their ruler, Celestia, called for Twilight's assistance when she did, cause despite this being a peaceful land and all, Canterlot's scientists were all gung-ho about vivisecting me.

After Twilight deemed me safe enough, it was revealed that I was being kept in Canterlot Castle. Soon I was able to meet with the two princesses, as well as Twilight's friends, who all bombarded me with their own questions. Next thing I knew, I was trying my best to answer their questions; some were innocent enough, while others were more...personal--not sure why a princess of the moon would ask how big the average human's schlong is? Hell if I knew, it's not like I ever went to the gym locker rooms, only to approach some random guy and ask, "Hey, ya mind whipping it out so we can compare notes?!"

Things then got a little awkward when one of them asked why I had pointy teeth. I considered whether to tell them or not, but decided it was better if I answered truthfully. When I explained that humans were omnivores, they all gave each other a worried look...well, all of them except for Fluttershy and Pinkie. Fluttershy because she was used to caring for meat eating animals, and Pinkie because she was busy giggling before asking me if I was an 'omnomnivore'. Thankfully, with Twilight's help, I was able to convince them that I wasn't going to be eating anyone anytime soon.

So, for a month, I just lazed about in the castle, just staying in my room and not really doing much. Every time I did leave my room, all the ponies would give me strange and worried looks, like I was some loose tiger in the halls. The only ponies I even interacted with were Twilight, her friends, and the two princesses.

After a while, I found it strange that whenever I spent time with the girls, it was always with all six of them. When I asked them about this, they decided to be up-front with me and told me that because I was still an unknown, they had a power that would stop me if I were to try to take over the world or something. I thanked them for their honesty, and out of curiosity, I asked what this power was. When they said it was 'The Power of Friendship' I nearly lost it.

"Wait, so what were you guys gonna do? Love and tolerate me to death?!"

When they could no longer put up with my laughter and friendly teasing, they showed me what they meant, just to shut me up. Through a magical screen Twilight conjured, I saw this giant minotaur-centaur-thing that was smashing stuff before Twilight and her friends showed up--who for some reason, all looked like they were mauled by the 80's--what happened next caused my jaw to drop. I'm not gonna go into any details, but I will say, that the red guy with the horns...tasted the rainbow...

One day, right when I was starting to get bored with my daily routine of avoiding every other pony, Celestia herself came to my quarters and held a proposition for me. She pointed out that if one human were to get sent here, who was to say that another wouldn't? So, in order to avoid another dragon-punting incident, it would be better if another human were there to ease them in. Of course, that 'other human' would have to be me, but in order to ease another human into Equestrian society, I would have to experience it myself. So for this, Celestia asked if I would accept to take part in the cultural exchange program they had set for different species such as dragons, griffons and so on.

Basically, it was the Equestrian equivalent of the 'foreign exchange program' back in the human world, only the difference was that no one would be trading anyone for me, and the program actually gives money--or 'bits' as they're called here--on a monthly basis to the ones who are housing the creature.

It took me all of two minutes before accepting; mainly because I was bored, had nothing better to do, and hey, it actually sounds interesting. Next thing I knew, I was having my picture taken and was given a survey asking for information like my name, known medical allergies, birthday, and favorite foods. On that last one, I sooo wanted to write down 'cheeseburger', but knowing that these ponies were all herbivores, I doubted they'd be killing any cows for me--especially when they could talk as well.

And so, that's how I ended up on this train, heading towards a place called Ponyville, the hometown of Twilight and her friends, as well as the ones who accepted my profile. I then heard Twilight's voice and felt her hoof nudging my shoulder.

"Hey, Maurice. You up?"

"Um...it hasn't been more than two minutes," I said, not bothering to open my eyes.

"Heh, well you might want to get your stuff, cause we're here."

I decided to open my eyes and saw that she was indeed correct; I could see that the train was starting to slow and cottages were sliding into my window's view.

"We're heeere~!" Pinkie shouted in her usual excitement once the train stopped.

Twilight and I both got out of our seats, then retrieved our luggage from the overhead compartment. Once I pulled mine down, Rarity spoke towards me.

"Maurice, darling," she said before pointing at her luggage bag that was still in its compartment. "Would you be a dear and fetch my bag for me, hmm?"

Applejack, who was still sitting in the seat in front of Rarity's, turned back to her. "Rarity, what's stoppin' ya from usin' your fancy magic to get it yourself?"

Rarity placed a hoof over her mouth and gave a very lady-like gasp. "And deny this stallion a chance of proving to us all that he is a gentlecolt?! Never!" She crossed her hooves and looked away from Applejack. "Just wouldn't be proper."

"Proper, shmoper!" said Rainbow Dash, who was floating over the center aisle. "Here," she quickly grabbed Rarity's bag and hastily placed it on the floor beside her. "See, easy!" She then pointed at Rarity with her hoof. "Next time, Rarity, just get it yourself."

Rarity gave Rainbow a look before turning her head with a humph, then walked out of the train, using her magic to float her luggage beside her. Soon Applejack exited, followed by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie, leaving me, Twilight and...where's Fluttershy?

I looked around, and soon found her behind me, her hooves wrapped around her bag's handle, it was a bit further back in the compartment. I could see that she was clearly straining herself just to move it a few inches out, so I decided to help her out.

"Yo, Flutters. You need some help there?"

She shook her head as she flapped her wings a bit harder. "N-No, I--I got it," she said in that adorable, nearly quite voice of hers.

"You sure, cause..." I gestured at the bag that would take her hours to pull out at this rate.

She shook her head again. "Rainbow said that we should get our own bags, and I'm not going to ask you to get it for me because I'm not--ugh--strong enough to do it myse--" I placed my hands around her bag, then pulled it out and placed it on the floor. "--lf..." She then tried to give me an angry look, emphasis on 'tried'; I could not see this girl pulling off angry. "Maurice! I could have--" I shrugged, wordlessly cutting her off.

"You didn't ask me, that was a favor between friends. Big difference."

Her eyes went from me to the bag, then back again. "Well uh...thank you, I guess." She bit her bag's handle, then pulled it out of the train; luckily for her, the bag was the kind with wheels on the bottom.

When it was my turn to exit the train, I found that the girls were patiently waiting for me and that Spike was there as well. He had returned to Ponyville before us so he could find the ponies I'd be living with and have them meet me at the station. I'm glad Spike wasn't one to hold a grudge, cause a few days after the uh...football session with him, I apologized to the little dragon; I mean, I kinda had to, he was the only one in this world I could have a thumb war with. He just shrugged, said that it was fine and that stuff like that came with the job of being Twilight's assistant.

"Hey Spike," I said with a casual wave. "Did you find them?"

Spike nodded. "Yep, sure did. She's right over there," he said as he pointed to the benches by the ticket booth where a white unicorn mare with a short jet blue mane sat. She was wearing a pair of shades and headphones, and was smiling as she bumped her head up and down, possibly listening to music.

Nervous, I had Spike lead me towards the mare I'd be staying with, the six girls following from a distance for moral support.

I stood before the unicorn, then tried to initiate the introduction. "I uh..." I coughed into my fist to get rid of any nerves I still had. "H-hi, the name's Maurice." She didn't answer, as she was still bopping her head up and down. Curious, I waved my hand closer to her face to get her attention. "Eh...hello?" I turned to Spike and saw him roll his eyes before tapping the unicorn on the shoulder.

"Hey!" she said in a near shout as she jumped a bit before raising her shades, revealing her violet eyes. She removed her earphones before her annoyed eyes went to Spike, then slowly moved upward...to me. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke. "Huh, whoa. So you're the hooman."

Glad that she didn't seem to be freaking out or anything, I chose to not correct her and tried once again to introduce myself. "Uh, yeah. My name's Maurice. And you are?" I held my arm out, but then suddenly realized that she wouldn't understand what the gesture was. Right when I was about it pull back, she surprised me when she placed her hoof in my open hand.

"Hey," she said casually as she looked me in the eyes with a warm smile. "The name's Vinyl Scratch." I smiled before I gently shook her hoof, as things were already going alot better than I hoped they would.

I let go of her hoof then rubbed the back of my neck. "Sooo... You're the one I'm gonna be living with, right?"

Vinyl got up from the bench, then replied as she get herself a few stretches. "Yeah man, me and my roommate. She's not here right now cause somepony had to get more food since you're moving in an' all." As she continued to stretch, I noticed that her cutie mark was one of those musical notes--hell if I know which one, I'm not a musician.

"Oh, well uh...I'd like to meet her," I said.

Vinyl ended her series of stretches with a roll of her neck before she gave me a nod. "Here, come with me. I'll take you to the house, she should be back soon."

"Oh, well uh," I gestured for her to lead. "After you." She gave me a smirk before heading for the train platform's exit, but before I followed her, I turned back to Spike and the girls, then gave them a thumbs up. They all then cheered on my behalf, trying to be quiet in order to not disturb the other ponies waiting for the next train--except for Pinkie, who was cheering as loud as she could and was tossing confetti around that I didn't even know she had. I waved them goodbye and mouthed the words 'See you guys later' then followed after Vinyl.

As I followed Vinyl through Ponyville, I was being stared at by the townsfolk. Some were trying to be polite and not do that, but it was obviously difficult for them not to. The looks I got were either a mix of fear, worry, or surprise, while only the kids showed more curiosity than anything.

Thankfully however, Vinyl stopped. "Taa-daa~!" she said in a singsong tone as she gestured at a cottage that seemed a bit bigger than the others.

"This is it?" I asked, pointing at the home, hoping that it was so I could get a reprieve from the constantly staring eyes.

She nodded before she walked ahead of me, then opened the door. She then turned back to me as she waited by the door. "Yeah! Dude, just head on in, no need to be shy, you live here now!"

"Well you have a point there," I said as I walked past Vinyl, then entered.

At first, judging from the outside, I thought the interior would be a bit cramped for me, but I was relieved when I found out that that wasn't the case and the place happened to be quite spacious inside. The flooring was tiled, which matched the white of the walls, the furniture gave the place a comfy, modern look, and I could see a kitchen that connected with the living room, as well as four doors that led to other rooms.

Vinyl walked by me, then practically threw herself onto the leather couch in the living room. She then sat up and placed her forehooves behind her head while placing her rear ones onto the glass coffee table sitting in the living room's center.

"See those doors?" she said, gestured with her head at the three doors at the other side of the room. "The one in the middle, it used to be a guestroom, buuut I guess it's yours now. Why don't you go unpack."

Walking up to said door, I opened it and saw that the room wasn't as big or fancy as the one I had back in Canterlot, but it was still roomy. A wooden desk was at one of the room's corners and a nice cushy bed rested against the center of the back wall, along with a nightstand besides it that had drawers for my clothes and other stuff.

I turned back to Vinyl and smiled. "Thanks, this is nice."

She raised a hoof and waved it dismissively. "Nah man, think nothing of it. It's not like we were gonna have you live in the bathroom or something."

I walked in, started to unpack my stuff, then after a while decided to make some small talk with Vinyl as I did so. "So uh...who's this other roommate?" I asked, my voice a bit louder so Vinyl could hear me from the living room.

"Oh, you mean Octy--I mean, Octavia?" Kinda sounded like she was rolling her eyes there... "She's ight, a bit stuck up at times, but pretty harmless." I was about to ask another question, but stopped when I heard what sounded like the front door opening. "Oh, and speaking of Nightmare Moon."

"Vinyl..." said a female's voice. "Keep your hooves off the coffee table."

Looking through my room's doorway, I spotted Vinyl looking to the side, possibly at this Octavia person. "Hey, Octy, sup?" Vinyl said with a wave of her hoof.

"Don't tell me you forgot to pick up our new roommate from the train station?" Oooh, I like this Octavia person's accent. It was like...light British-y.

Vinyl lightly smacked her forehead with her hoof. "Whoops, totally flanked on that one." As she smiled, I saw her eyes slyly stare at me through the doorway. I remained silent, confused by what Vinyl was doing.

"Dammit, Vinyl." Octavia irritably said. "Go there right now! He might have been waiting there for hours!"

Vinyl raised her hooves defensibly. "Alright, alright, I'll go. But while I'm gone, ya mind giving his room a final look; see if it's clean enough an' all."

"Fine," she said with a short huff. I then heard hoofsteps heading for my direction. "Honestly, Vinyl, how hard is it to remember to pick up a griffon from a train station?"

Wait, what?! She thinks I'm a griffon?! I just stood there, looking at Vinyl like a deer frozen in the headlights while she seemed as if she were trying keep herself from laughing. Octavia's hoofsteps were getting closer and I didn't know what to do.

"Vinyl, go!" Octavia said in a half shout, staring back at her as she walked into my room. It was now I could see that Octavia was a gray earth pony with a long, well kept black mane, and that her cutie marks were also of some sort of music symbol--this one kinda resembling the fancy 'and' symbol I sometimes see.

When Octavia finally faced forward, her jaw went ajar and her face became one of confusion and possibly shock. Not really knowing what else to do, I slowly raised my arm, waved it, then introduced myself.

"Uh...heh, hi, the name's Maurice and um...not a griffon..."

From the face she was giving me, I thought she would scream, but instead, her violet eyes narrowed in a rage before she turned back to Vinyl who was laughing her ass off on the couch.

"Vinyl Scratch, you lying little shit!"