Heir: Visit Land of Ponies and Magic

[nintendonut1]

==>

You would be giggling like a doofus at city names like Canterlot, Appleloosa and Manehatten, but instead you're on the fence between annoyed and impressed at Pinkie Pie's eccentric demeanor. She actually... kinda reminds you of GG a lot. Except less green and waaaaaaay more pink.

The dancing is a bit much, but this pony is QUITE strong (as you assume most ponies are) in her play, so you don't try to fight it and gallop awkwardly in a circle with her. When she lets go, your momentum causes you to twirl a bit on your heel before coming to a complete stop yourself, and you lean against the wall, slightly dizzy.

At her friendly inquiry, you shake your head and clear your throat. "Me? Okay, I'm uh. From Earth. Washington, to be exact." This feels really weird for some reason. "I was playing this interactive game that I guess caused a bunch of meteors to start popping up, and my friend helped me with this weird game construct and I guess I ended up here."

You pause, then, "Oh, yeah! Um, have you seen another human like me? A lot taller, wears a hat and smokes a pipe? He bakes a lot so I thought I'd check here to see if I could find him."

[shiftyPotentate]

"Washington? I bet it's really clean there!" Pinkie giggled at her own joke, before thinking. She put a hoof to her chin and scratched it lightly, her poofed tassel of hair swaying as she shook her head. "Hmm... I think the Cakes said there was someone by like that before! He got some cake and cake ingredients and left a little while ago."

She blinked. "Wait. Hold on." She clamped John's head gently between her hooves and put her face right up in his, staring into his eyes. "You played a game? And it sent you here?" She gleefully let him go. "I wanna play! Where do we get to go if I play??"

Vinyl stepped in, having heard about the game. "Sorry about her. You said meteors popped up? Like, in space, like a meteor shower?" She shifted her glasses up, giving John a good look at her bright red eyes, which complemented her white coat and blue mane well.

[nintendonut1]

John: Ask Pinkie where your dad went

You open your mouth to do so, but she then squishes your face, and in place of your inquiry all that comes out is an eloquent raspberry. Classy.

You stagger a bit when she lets go; MAN she is strong! Between her and Vinyl's question, you really don't know how to explain everything. You suddenly have an extreme longing for Rose to get her internet connection back. You really suck at this.

Well, first you start by rolling your eyes. "Okay, fine, if you wanna be all technical, they were meteorites. The ones that hurtle towards the earth and cream anyone they land on." Now for the harder question. "Um, well... you need a game disc and a computer to play it. Um."

Do ponies even HAVE computers? You honestly have no clue.

[shiftyPotentate]

Vinyl stared. "Meteor...ites, that..."

"Turn people into cream?" Pinkie finished.

Enough was enough. Vinyl slapped Pinkie gently with her hoof. "Not like that, sheesh," she said exasperatedly.

"Ohhhhhh." The gravity hit Pinkie. "Wow, you got out of that?? I'm glad you're safe here..." Pinkie didn't seem to know what a disc was, but Vinyl on the other hand chimed up. "Oh, I know what you're talkin' about." She motioned for John to follow her.

She led him to her own house, a bit shinier and more technological-looking house (but mostly just for show), and inside, she had her collection of music. On vinyl and disc, she had a huge library of music. And to play said music, she had... well, it was a DJ's set up, a computerized device made to play music, but it was probably the closest anyone in Ponyville would come to it.

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

John: Don an apron like a skirt and dance the hula.

[nintendonut1]

What? No!! Crud!! You can't even escape the dumbest thoughts here!?

You brush off the command, trying not to look annoyed at the ponies. They did nothing wrong.

Either way, it looks like Vinyl's onto something! So, you follow. You can't really do much with the game discs still in your dad's car, but...

John: Observe the "computer."

Oh.

Um.

This is...

...not what you were talking about at all. Hm.

You bit your lip. "Uhhh, well... believe me, this is super cool, but... not really the kind of computer we need."

"...You know what." Time for some backtracking. "If you follow me back to my house, I can show you."

[shiftyPotentate]

"Huh?" Vinyl opened another door, showing... an actual computer system. And a pretty sweet-looking one, too. "I hadn't even SHOWN you the computer yet, dude!" She grinned, letting John into the computer room. Sure, most of this actual computer was optimized for music, but it had a keyboard (which Vinyl operated with her magic, though most ponies could probably manage to type despite having no fingers), a mouse, a screen, and a ponynet connection.

Pinkie busied herself playing some music and jamming to it.

"Is the game still at your house?" Scratch asked. "We can set you up here if you want, I don't mind letting you use it."

[nintendonut1]

==>

Oh oh ohhhhhhhh. Wow. Now you feel kinda like a tool. You shouldn't have assumed so quickly that ponies were technologically-impaired. This is cool!!

"Ha, man, sweet," you compliment, nodding at her inquiry. "Yeah... it's kinda weird. See, there's two parts to the game; two disks. One is running right now on my bedroom computer, and the other is in my dad's car. I haven't gotten the chance to run it yet, and I guess I need to pretty soon or else my friend could be in serious trouble."

Wow. Holy crap you nearly forgot about your friends oh my god what are you doing you need to get going--

John: Get going oh my god

"Shhhhhhoot. Shoot shoot shoot shoot--!!" You keep attempting to curse but this dreaded world continues to censor you. "Yeah, if you guys could help me get reconnected with my friends, wow, that would be awesome. Because if what happened to me is gonna happen to THEM too--shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooot."

Immediately you latch to the keyboard. At least the text is in English. "By any chance do you have Pesterchum installed on here?"

[shiftyPotentate]

Despite John's keyboard attachment, Vinyl nudged him over a bit and used the mouse. She pulled up a program that wasn't Pesterchum. Rather it was ePony, a multi-platform chat client. One of the services it offered, coincidentally enough, was Pesterchum. It asked for John's username and password.

"Is that what you mean? Because everypony uses ePony," she said with a tilted look. "I'm scratchingpon3, if you were curious. That's with a three at the end." (Incidentally, Pesterchum would be able to add this name, as scratchingPon3. It worked cross-platform.)

"Ooooooh, you should add me, Vinyl!" Pinkie said excitedly. "I'm medicinalpie!"

"I will as soon as this whole issue of John's is over, Pink, don't worry," the unicorn reassured her.

[Felix Falora]

John: Add Vinyl and Pinkie Pie

[nintendonut1]

That makes sense. Who knows! Maybe these ponies' knowledge of... music and baking will be... helpful later?

Oh whatever. They're just pretty cool ponies. You add scratchingPon3 and medicinalPie to your chumroll. Might as well while you're here.

Okay back to business.

John: Pester Rose

Alright. You don't know what good it may do, but you may as well give it another shot.

ectoBiologist started pestering tentacleTherapist

EB: okay okay okay.
EB: if you got my last messages, i guess i was being kinda melodramatic, but...
EB: for serious this time.
EB: are you there?
EB: because i'm starting to get worried about tg and gg.
EB: well, i mean, i guess you got tg covered, but i'm supposed to get gg in right?
EB: i could use some help here!
EB: i mean these ponies are being super cool and doing their best to help me, and if you're STILL not there i'm gonna keep asking them for help so yeah.
EB: ........
EB: ohhhhh my god rose where are you.

[shiftyPotentate]

John: Be the girl.

You are suddenly the other girl. Your introduction has been thorougly covered in an alternate canon situation such that simply stating your name will inform us of who you are.

Enter Name.

You are ROSE LALONDE. Your client player has successfully entered his Medium, or so it appeared. Though you can no longer see him or his house, it appears he has retained his connection to Pesterchum for the moment.

You wonder if he is all right or not.

Rose: Pester John.

Before you can do so, you recieve messages from John himself. Strange. You check them anyway.

ectoBiologist started pestering tentacleTherapist

EB: okay okay okay.
EB: if you got my last messages, i guess i was being kinda melodramatic, but...
EB: for serious this time.
EB: are you there?
EB: because i'm starting to get worried about tg and gg.
EB: well, i mean, i guess you got tg covered, but i'm supposed to get gg in right?
EB: i could use some help here!
EB: i mean these ponies are being super cool and doing their best to help me, and if you're STILL not there i'm gonna keep asking them for help so yeah.
EB: ........
EB: ohhhhh my god rose where are you.
TT: Hold, John.
TT: I'm going to look into this situation.
TT: Wait a moment.
TT: Did you say you are with ponies...?[/size][/b]

Rose: Ponder this strange development.

Either John went insane or he really is around "ponies". That's really all there is to ponder. And though the scrawlings on his posters would seem to be more evidence for the former, you are inclined to believe him.

Since he did not call them horses or equines, you briefly suspect for a moment that perhaps he has stumbled into a world akin to that of the popular toy franchise. A cruel joke from the game?

Either way, you begin looking into it.

Rose: Be the other girl.

And by other girl, you mean mare. Specifically, the most royal mare in Equestria. You lounge on your comfortable pillow, enjoying one of your rare days off. Of course, ponies can still come to you if they have issues, but you are not dedicated to the overseeing of Equestria on this day. It is your "me" time.

Speaking of you, who are you?

Enter name.

You are PRINCESS CELESTIA. And frankly, this second-person narrative format is very strange to you. But whatever who cares. As was previously mentioned, you are lounging on your off day. You would almost certainly never use any sort of ponynet-based instant messaging service. The very idea is essentially unknown to you.

And yet somehow...

Celestia: Be pestered by a girl from another universe.


TT: Greetings, Princess Celestia, assuming this message reaches you. If not, or of this is not Princess Celestia, please disregard what would appear to be the insane attempt of a madwoman to contact a fictional equine.
Who is this?
And for that matter, how are you conversing with me in this fashion?

You saw the screen pop up from nowhere. On closer inspection, it appears to be coming as a projection from your necklace. You spoke your words onto the screen, which is good, because you lack a keyboard.

TT: Oh, good.
TT: It seems my suspicions were well founded.
TT: I apologize for interrupting your life, Princess. I would not do so unless I believed you to be worth informing of the situation.
What do you mean?[/size][/b]

You proceed to have an informative conversation which will no doubt be shown to us on the next page, assuming there is not a predictable change in perspective.

>John: Receive predictable change in perspective.

[nintendonut1]

You blink at the keyboard, not expecting curt response. Or, maybe you were. This IS Rose you're talking about here.

But still, you take comfort in knowing that she's still around and that she's investigating. Her surprise to your whereabouts gives you the hint that yeah, maybe this WASN'T where you were supposed to end up.

Either way, she's stopped responding to you now, so she's probably busy. GG is also more than likely afk inspecting that explosion, and TG would probably just throw lame rap lyrics about the ironic awesomeness of ponies at you and be pretty much useless. Yeah, no thanks.

John: Take a moment to chill the fuck out.

At the moment, the situation is out of your hands. So with that, you double check your PDA and turn away from Vinyl's computer. "Looks like my friend's taking care of it. Geez. I was freaking out for a minute there."

[shiftyPotentate]

"So everything's okay?" Vinyl asked. "What's going on, anyway? You not supposed to be here or something? Cause you're always welcome in my pad."

"Mine too!" Pinkie chimed in. "Of course, everypony's welcome to mine! I love having company! Which is kind of strange because nopony ever comes over..."

The two ponies both express their openness for John's company, but as they do, Vinyl spots something outside. "Whoa, wait one sec, John." She hurried to the door, opening it. "Hey, what's the matter?"

A familiar voice could be heard sniffling. Derpy was just outside, and she was crying about something.

"Nothing, Vinyl..." she said glumly.

"This doesn't look like nothing, dude. Come on." She nudged Derpy into her house, closing the door. "Now, tell me, Derpy, what in Equestria's got you all leaky-eyed?"

She sniffed again, looking up at Vinyl. "Well... I... I don't know... but I have to go, they said..." She wiped her eyes with her leg. "Somepony got upset with something and then people were mad at me for something and they said I have to go... I can't go home..."

"What??" Vinyl and Pinkie were equally surprised.

"Mm hmm..." Derpy sniffled and sobbed quietly, looking absolutely heartbroken. "They said I can't live there anymore, but I told them I had to because my daughter lives there too... but they didn't listen..." She plopped down on her rear, looking at the ground. "And now I can't see her or live in Ponyville anymore so... I have to go, they said..."

[nintendonut1]

==>

All you can respond with confidently is a shrug. "Man, I don't even know. I really don't get most of what's going on in this game, but I guess my friend is working on it--"

John: Be Interrupted.

Vinyl stops your redundant explanation at the audible sobbing just outside. As Derpy is led inside, seeing your new pony friend teary-eyed and upset makes you shut up good and quickly.

You remain quiet as Derpy, her voice choked up and broken, does her best to explain what happened. And suddenly you start to feel sick. And angry. And upset. You want to scream into a pillow. You want to punch something, or preferably someone.

Just.

How could anyone do that. Was this acceptable pony behavior? To not just make fun of, but literally kick someone who's different out of their home??

How could anyone do that.

John: Offer comfort to Derpy.

Honestly, you don't know what to say. With the sheer awfulness of this situation, you doubt words of comfort would do any good. You wring your hands together for a moment, trying to figure out a way to be useful.

You then think back to earlier. Oh. Well, there IS that.

Cautiously, as if any movement you make could shatter the delicately somber air, you get up, approaching Derpy. When the other two ponies move aside, you kneel down and wrap your arms over her long neck, burying your face in her ochre mane. One of your hands begins to rub up and down her back in a soothing motion, and once you twice you accidently bump the base of her wing.

You don't say anything. You don't trust your stupid mouth to say the right thing. So you just hug Derpy and hope that'll do the job okay.